Latoya Jackson knows who killed Michael Jackson

Two weeks after the death of Michael Jackson, the conjecture about the causes of his death had happened to the tributes to the King of Pop. If this week claimed that the police did not rule out the hypothesis of murder and investigating all medical Jackson, this Sunday Latoya Jackson throws more fuel on the fire and sensational claims in two British newspapers, the News of the World and The Mail on Sunday, his brother was murdered and that she knows who the murderers.

In the News of the World, that the whole page entitled "I know who killed my Michael," Latoya says that several persons responsible for the disappearance of his brother and that reason was "a conspiracy to take money from Michael". Their statements are known two days after the police chief of Los Angeles admitted that the murder was one of the research, something that has no doubt Latoya. "There was a conspiracy. I think it was all for the money. Michael was worth over 1,000 million dollars in assets for broadcast rights of music and someone killed him for that. Worth more dead than alive," says the singer's older sister, who no names at any time about who might be murderers.

Latoya says that this "group of people" stole $ 2 million in cash and jewelry from many of his brother's house, which he hooked to drugs, it isolated from family and friends to feel alone and vulnerable " and that forced him to work to exhaustion to keep making money.

Michael, according to the testimony of Latoya, did not want to give the series of 50 concerts that were to have begun Monday in London. "Less than a month ago, I said I thought Michael was going to die before the actions of London because he was surrounded by people who did not harbor the best intentions in his heart," said Latoya, who describes his brother as a person " very docile, quiet and loving, which people use ". "I never thought that Michael lived until an old man," says the interviewee, believe that Michael Jackson was "the single person most of the world" and that "sooner or later it was something terrible to happen."

In interviews reveal other details such as the singer did not die in his bed, but on the doctor who was living with, Conrad Murray, who accused of disappearing from the hospital he was transferred to the singer when she began to ask questions. "He just mumble something and said something like 'Michael did not, sorry." Something was not right. I thought it was strange, "he says.

Latoya says that it was he who insisted that he did a second autopsy after seeing the corpse that had puncture marks on her neck and arms, "and predicted that knowing the final results will be a shock for all world. It also says that he hopes is a testament to his brother after 2002 in which Michael Jackson hopes that their children live with Diana Ross. Latoya says that it will never cease to live with her biological mother, Debbie Rowe, which was accused of being part of the type of people who "stood for Michael because he was interested in her money."

Latoya is confident that the children remain with Jackson and offers some details of how to react to the death of his father. According to his story, the children did not stop mourn until they were able to spend 30 minutes next to the body of his father and was able to dismiss him. Paris will put a collar around one of his hands, after which, according to Latoya, "said Dad had to work too hard."

Americans for Prosperity starts a no stimulus petition drive

A group calling themselves, "Americans for Prosperity" has started a so-called no stimulus petition drive concerning the proposed economic stimulus package. Does this group involve concerned Americans in all financial categories or does it simply reflect the "haves" striving to hold down the "have not’s?"

Last month nearly 600,000 Americans lost their jobs, bring us a whopping three-and-a-half million loses during this recession. A recession, some have yet to even acknowledge.

I have a hard time watching John McCain (and others) urging everyone to run online and sign a silly petition. I don’t remember him doing that when Bush blindly announced the first bailout plan, Sure we all squawked when the CEO’s arrived in private jets and even giggled when they were asked if they couldn’t have “jet pooled” But I don’t remember any call for Americans to sign a petition!

And there were plenty of talks about how Bush’s invasion has set our Country into a spiral of debt. If ever there had been a need for Americans to ban together, it was then. But again, no petition was circulated and promoted by members of Congress!

In a time where Congress needs to come together, they seem bent on staying apart. One could argue they are simply setting the stage for their next election. On the other side, one could argue they are truly standing by what they think is right. But a petition, does anyone seriously believe that would have any impact?

And where was this group during the first bailout? Oh that’s right; it was mainly a bailout for the rich. So, maybe, just maybe if people promoting this petition were to lose one of their 7 (or was it 9) homes, they might be able to understand the need the average American. Remember, the idea here is to stimulate the economy which will in turn, help us all.

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Source: Examiner

Blink 182 back together!

Blink-182 are back together, the reunion confirmed after the Grammys. The reunion of Blink-182 for 2009 was broke by David Kennedy earlier this weekend with word of a new album for 2009.

Thursday night, David Kennedy told fans that even as A&A is about to put out a new album for 2009, so too is Blink-182 to everyone’s surprise.

“I’m trying to write a statement about how Angels is all good while Blink is coming back”.

Asked if no A&A album would be released in replacement for Blink-182, Kennedy added

“No sir. … It will be a good creative year and I want to make sure that comes across.”

And just to make sure it was super clear, another fan said, hey is Blink-182 reuniting?

“Yeah, putting out a record.”

The three appeared this Sunday as presenters at the Grammy Awards. Now after the awards show , Blink-182 issued the following official statement Sunday evening from Los Angeles:

“Hi. We’re blink-182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We’re back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy.

“Summer 2009. Thanks and get ready…”

2009 is going to be a great year!

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Source: Lalate News

Eluana Englaro, finally, has died

Italian news agencies have reported that the woman at the heart of a right-to-die debate has died.

Senators who had been debating a bill designed to prevent Eluana Englaro's feeding tubes from being removed observed a minute of silence when the news was read out.

The ANSA agency, citing local, regional and law enforcement officials, reported Monday that Englaro died in the clinic in Udine where she has been cared for the past week.

Apcom news agency also reported the death, citing people close to the family.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Italian senators raced Monday to discuss a bill designed to keep a woman in vegetative state from having her feeding tube disconnected, the latest twist in a right-to-die case that has consumed Italy.

The bill aimed at keeping Eluana Englaro alive is expected to win quick approval. It was proposed by forces loyal to Premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose conservative lawmakers have solid majority in Parliament.

Englaro, 38, has been in a vegetative state since she was in a car accident 17 years ago. Her doctors have said her condition is irreversible. Late last year, her father won a decade-long court battle to allow her feeding tubes to be removed, saying that was her wish.

In line with the high court ruling, medical workers on Friday began gradually suspending food and water for Englaro. Citing privacy rules, they have not given updates on the procedure.

But Italy's center-right government, backed by the Vatican, has been pressing to keep her alive, racing against time to pass legislation prohibiting food and water from being suspended for patients who depend on them.

After debate, the legislation reached the Senate floor late Monday. The final Senate vote is scheduled for Tuesday, despite amendments that some center-left opposition lawmakers have promised. The lower house scheduled its vote for Wednesday.

Alessandro Pace, constitutional law professor at Rome University, said the law could not apply to Englaro because of previous court rulings but it could affect future right-to-die cases.

Health Minister Maurizio Sacconi, however, has said the text of the law might undergo changes to make sure it can be applied to Englaro.

Her case has stirred strong emotions on both sides of the right-to-die debate. Protesters have been staging daily demonstrations in front of the medical facility in Udine, in northeastern Italy, where Englaro is being cared for.

Italy does not allow euthanasia but patients have a right to refuse treatment. But there is no law that allows them to give advance directions on what treatment they wish to receive if they become unconscious.

Berlusconi has said stopping feeding Englaro is tantamount to the "killing of a human being who is still alive" and claimed that Englaro could in theory even bear a child.

Englaro's neurologist, Dr. Carlo Alberto Defanti, has said aside from her brain injury, Englaro was strong and in good health. In an interview published Monday in the Corriere della Sera newspaper, he said doubted she would die in the first week without food and water.

"From the moment of the suspension to death, some 12-14 days could pass," he was quoted as saying.

Berlusconi's government passed an emergency decree Friday to prevent Englaro from having her tube disconnected. But the move led to a rare institutional crisis, as the country's president, Giorgio Napolitano, rejected it on the grounds the decree defied court rulings.

The Englaro case has drawn comparisons with that of Terri Schiavo, the American woman who died in 2005 after an fierce right-to-die debate.

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed in March 2005. Congress passed a bill to allow a federal court to review the Florida woman's case, and then-President George W. Bush returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. A federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.

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Source: The Associated Press

Bernie Madoff's Victims: The List

HSBC "has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn...HSBC’s exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Mr Madoff. HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture. Under the typical terms of these deals, if the US authorities recover any funds from Mr Madoff, HSBC will be paid first, with its clients suffering the first tranche of losses." (FT:)

Access International. $1.4 billion

Fortis Bank. $1.4 billion

Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested in funds which outsourced their management to Madoff securities, although this is a tiny fraction of the division’s $25bn of assets. (FT)

Tremont Capital. Fund of funds. $3.3 billion invested. (FT)

Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff. (FT)

Union Bancaire Privet: $1.1 billion

Benbasset & Cie: $935 million

BBVA: $404 million

Maxam Capital Management LLC. Combined loss of $280 million. "I'm wiped out," said Sandra Manzke, Maxam's founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said. (WSJ)

Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said... Fairfield Sentry has a record of more than 15 years with an annual return of 4 to 6 percentage points above benchmark interest rates, according to a marketing document dated this month that was prepared by Zurich-based NPB New Private Bank Ltd. On an absolute basis, returns exceeded 10 percent every year from 1991 through 2000. Since then, they ranged from 6.4 percent to 9.8 percent...The strategy is a “split-strike conversion,” where the investment manager buys shares of large U.S. companies and enters into options contracts to limit the risk, the document says.

Fix Asset Management. Bloomberg: Fix Asset Management, which had an account worth at least $400 million with Madoff Investments. The firm said it’s checking with lawyers about the holdings. “We are very shocked,” John Fix, the son of founder Charles Fix, said by phone from Greece. “We put in redemptions in the past few months and got our money back no problem. We are just so surprised about all this.”

Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff.

Santander. WSJ: The eurozone's largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of €2.33 billion ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mainly through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund. More than €2 billion belongs to institutional investors and international clients of its private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it said. The remaining €320 million belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where Santander is based.

Thyssen Family. Source sends the following: Thybo Investments grew out of a family office for Thyssen. They have been in fund of funds it seems since 1989. Thybo International is a "proper" fund of fund but it's newer share class G invests only in one manager - and i'm 99% sure it's Madoff as the returns are almost the same. Some more info. The fund started in Jan 2007. Ernst & Young. Luxembourg are the auditors. UBS Luxembourg is the administrator. Thybo states on their webpage: "Our track record incorporates audited financial statements at both a composite firm-wide and individual portfolios level."

Ira Roth's family. WSJ: Ira Roth, a New Jersey resident, who says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff's firm, is "in a state of panic." He said his 86-year-old mother-in-law has been living on the investments' returns, and he has been using the funds to pay college tuition.

Sterling Equities. Fund controlled by Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the NY Mets, confirms it had money with Madoff.

Stephen Abbott, a San Francisco lawyer. WSJ: [Abbott] and two siblings had several hundred thousand dollars invested with Mr. Madoff. They inherited the trust from their father, who had befriended Mr. Madoff years ago. Performance remained steady through the current bear market, he said. "People were floored," he says. "We were making money in this lousy market." He says he is concerned about recovering the money but "you have to get philosophical about this stuff. It could be worse; we still have our health."

Palm Beach Country Club. Source: CNBC's David Faber

Lawrence Velvel, "69, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, said he and a friend may have lost millions of dollars between them (AP). "This is a major disaster for a lot of people," Velvel said in a telephone interview from his Andover, Mass., office. "You work all your life, you finally manage to save up something, and somebody who's entrusted with it, it turns out suddenly he's a crook. Lots of people are getting fully or partially wiped out." Velvel said he wants to know where government regulators, as well as accountants and others at Madoff's company, were when the money was being lost." (AP)

Loeb Family. Source: CNBC's David Faber

J. Ezra Merkin. GMAC LLC Chairman. WSJ: Mr. Merkin, the chairman of former General Motors Corp. financing arm GMAC, is also a money manager at Ascot Partners LLC in New York. Ascot, which had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter to Mr. Merkin sent to clients Thursday night. Mr. Merkin said as one of the largest investors in Ascot, he believed he had personally "suffered major losses from this catastrophe."

Norman Braman. Former Philadelphia Eagles owner

Leonard Feinstein, co-founder of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond. (WSJ)

Mort Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman, the chairman of real-estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff (WSJ)

Richard Spring. WSJ: A Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about $11 million -- or 95% of his net worth -- invested with Mr. Madoff. "That's how much I believed in him," Mr. Spring said.

Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity. Lost $37 million.

Members of half-a-dozen country clubs: WSJ: "Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, investors say. One of them estimated that investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined. One of the largest clusters of Madoff investors was in Florida, where losses could be substantial. Mr. Madoff relied on a network of friends, family and business colleagues to attract investors. According to investors and agents, some of these agents were paid commissions for harvesting investors. Others had separate, lucrative business relationships with Mr. Madoff. "If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money," one investor says. "Everyone wanted to sign up." Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff's clients. "Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff," he says. Two of his investors said that among his clients, Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he'd take down half the world with him."

Bramdean Alternatives in the U.K. 9% of portfolio.

Banque Benedict Hentsch, Geneva-based private bank, $47.5 million.

Nomura and Neue Privat Bank. "Marketed access to Fairfield Sentry Ltd., a fund overseen by Mr. Madoff and sold through Fairfield Greenwich. The shares offered by Neue Privat and Nomura were leveraged three times -- meaning $3 of borrowed money was added to every $1 of capital invested in order to magnify returns, greatly increasing the potential losses for those investors." (WSJ)

Unicredit. The Italian firm had unspecified amount with Madoff via its Dublin-based Pioneer alt-asset group. (MarketWatch)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Unspecified (Newsday).

Robert Lappin Foundation in Massachusetts closed its doors today and is citing relationship to Maddoff fund. $8MM foundation plus personal holdings. Foundation supported Jewish organizations throughout North Shore of Massachusetts. (source: Jewish Journal)

Wunderkinder Foundation, a Steven Spielberg charity. In the past the foundation "appears to have invested a significant portion of its assets with Mr. Madoff, based on regulatory filings. In 2006, the Madoff firm accounted for roughly 70% of the foundation's interest and dividend income, according to regulatory filings. A representative of Mr. Spielberg confirmed that the foundation has suffered losses on its investments with the Madoff firm. He said he didn't know the size of the losses and couldn't comment further, including on whether Mr. Spielberg had any of his own money invested with the Madoff firm." WSJ

BNP Paribas. "BNP Paribas's exposure, the extent of which is not clear, may stem from BNP's lending relationship with a fund of funds that was a big Madoff client, said people familiar with the matter. A BNP spokeswoman declined to comment." WSJ: BNP, France's largest bank by market value, said it could lose as much as 350 million euros as a result of the alleged fraud. The bank said it has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services. BNP Paribas, however, said it is exposed to these funds through its trading business and lending to hedge funds that had invested in Madoff's funds.

Ira Rennert. Vicky Ward of Vanity Fair, said on CNBC."Heavily, heavily invested."

Englebardt family of Los Angeles. (Reader)

Swiss private bank Reichmuth & Co. "said its clients had an exposure of some 385 million Swiss francs to Madoff funds. The bank said Reichmuth Matterhorn, a fund that invests in other hedge funds, faced a potential loss of about 8.6% on its exposure to Madoff. That amount represented about 3.5% of the 11 billion Swiss Francs Reichmuth & Co. has under management, the bank said." (WSJ)

Union Bancaire Privee. UBP spokesman said the bank's clients have "limited" losses related to Madoff, but wouldn't be more specific or comment further. (WSJ)

EIM Group, the European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets, had a number of non-U.S. investors into funds overseen by Mr. Madoff, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, EIM assets at risk are less than 2% of what it manages, which means losses could top $200 million. (WSJ).

UBS: ""Very limited" direct exposure to the Madoff funds...But the Zurich-based bank's wealth-management arm helped clients in Europe and possibly elsewhere invest with Mr. Madoff, according to investment professionals in Europe who spoke with some of these clients. UBS is currently reviewing its clients' exposure to Mr. Madoff's funds, according to the person familiar with the matter. The person said the funds weren't on UBS's list of "recommended" investments for its U.S. clients, but that they may have been among the firm's suggested investments for overseas clients." (WSJ)

Stephen A. Fine, president of Biltrite Corp. (Reader)

Avram and Carol Goldberg, former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain (Reader)

Helfman family of Miami. (Reader)

Saul Katz, co-owner of the New York Mets.

Irwin Kellner, of Port Washington. (Reader)

Carl and Ruth Shapiro, donors to Brandeis University, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Fairfield County, Connecticut. Bloomberg: First Selectman Ken Flatto and other elected officials in Fairfield, Connecticut, thought the 58,000- person town’s pension fund was holding up well amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The 18 percent decline in total assets since the end of June looked smart compared with the 31 percent plunge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and total assets of $286 million left a cushion over the $270 million of estimated liabilities. Flatto’s mood darkened yesterday when he heard Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street executive who oversaw $42 million of the assets, had been arrested and charged with fraud. “We classified this on our portfolio as one of the more conservative investments,” Flatto said in an interview. “You rely on your experts and your managers to be honest.”

Royal Bank of Scotland: $330 million

Nomura: $302 million

Aozora Bank: $137 million

Various Boston families: The Boston Globe.

Jeff Katzenberg. Dreamworks CEO has "millions" in Madoff losses. (WSJ)

Gerald Breslauer. Jeff Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg's financial advisor. WSJ: According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Breslauer himself has likely sustained heavy losses in the Madoff affair. He customarily invests alongside his clients, say these people, and has sometimes been a larger investor than the people he represented. People familiar with the matter said Mr. Breslauer was known to be a Madoff investor.

Yeshiva University lost $100 million to $110 million. (NYT)

Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said it had $10 million invested with Mr. Madoff, about 8 percent of its endowment as of Nov. 30. The organization said it would work to recover the money. (NYT)

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System: $5.7 million exposure to Madoff Securities in the form of a gift from a donor who insisted that it be invested that way. “The donor who contributed the funds has graciously agreed to reimburse the health system for any financial loss,” the organization said in a statement. (NYT)

Ramaz School lost some $6 million invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter sent to board members and two parents whose children attend the school. (NYT)

SAR Academy, a Jewish school in the Bronx, had roughly a third of its $3.7 million in assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to an e-mail message it sent to donors and parents. (NYT)

Chais Family Foundation in Encino, Calif., announced over the weekend that its losses had forced it to stop operating, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The foundation had $178 million in assets in May 2007, according to its tax form. (NYT)

JEHT Foundation. May have lost hundreds of millions. Will cease operations. (NYT)

Arpad Busson. Uma Thurman's billionaire fiance runs hedge fund, EIM, which was reportedly exposed to roughly $270 million of products sold by Madoff (Mail on Sunday)

Accountants Scott Sosnik & Larry Bell. Accountants who worked for many of Madoff victims claim that they too lost money.

Swiss insurer Baloise. $13 million. (Reuters)

Swiss Re: Less than $3 million (Reuters)

Burt Ross. Former Ft. Lee, NJ mayor lost $5 million.

Maimonides School. Boston school lost $3 million. (Boston.com)

Charles & Cindi Nadler Foundation. $10 million.

Tufts University $20 million (Boston.com)

Alexandra Penney. Artist and author lost bulk of her life savings. (Daily Beast)

Robert Chew. Colorado-based investor. (TIME)

Fair Food Foundation. Detroit-based urban farming group. (NYMag)

Pasha S. Anwar and Julia Anwar. Investors first to sue Fairfield Greenwich. (DealBook)

Pedro Almodovar. Famed Spanish film director has $240,000 "at risk" (Bloomberg)

More as we get them...

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Source: ClusterStock

Yes, Obama could

Kennedy Collapses At Obama Luncheon

Breaking news that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has collapsed at the luncheon for President Obama. Paramedics have responded, no word yet on his condition. Early indications are that he may have had a seizure and it does not seem yet that he has been taken to a hospital.

Given his health and the stress of the day it is not unusual for a seizure to have happened and we can hope that his recovery will be quick. But we are hearing both good and bad reports.

Also possible word that Senator Byrd also collapsed (Now Capitol Police state that Byrd is fine.

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Source: The moderate voice

Obama's Inaugural Speech

"My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor - who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Barack Hussein Obama

John Muir first modern preservationists

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland. Arriving in San Francisco in March 1868, Muir immediately left for a place he had only read about called Yosemite. After seeing Yosemite Valley for the first time he was captivated, and wrote, “No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite,” and “[Yosemite is] the grandest of all special temples of Nature.” After his initial eight-day visit, he returned to the Sierra foothills and became a ferry operator, sheepherder and bronco buster.

John Muir (1838–914) was one of the first modern preservationists. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, and wildlife, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, were read by millions and are still popular today. Muir’s activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. His writings and philosophy strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.

The John Muir Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded occasionally by the John Muir Trust for outstanding contributions to wildland conservation.

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Source: UB News

Did the press ‘misunderestimate’ the president?

At President George W. Bush’s final press conference Monday, he thanked the press for their work.

“Sometimes you misunderestimated me,” Bush said, recalling one of his most famous gaffes.

The Buzz says, no, Mr. President, some just misoverstood you.

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Source: Kansas City

Bush Says Farewell To The 'Klieg Lights'? Bush's Public Comments On Obama

There is a lot of talk over a remark that Bush made about Obama and his future as our president. Bush was quoted in saying "He'll make the decisions he thinks (are) necessary," Bush said. "When I get out of here, I'm getting off the stage. I believe there ought to be one person in the Klieg lights at a time and I've had my time in the Klieg lights." Many are wondering, what exactly are Klieg lights?

A Klieg light is considered movie lighting, they are lights that illuminate through the use of a tungsten-halogen filament. Basically, instead of saying spotlight, Bush decided to use the word Klieg lights. Which was invented by John H. Kliegl and brother Anton Tiberius Kliegl. Most notably Kliegl lights are used to convert scenes in movies from day to night. The lights were invented in 1911.

According to UPI, Bush said he "hoped the tone in Washington was different for Obama than for him. While noting that the White House and Congress "did find some good common ground ... the rhetoric got out of control." He congratulated Obama and said that "President-elect Obama's election does speak volumes about how far the country has come," he said. "It's going to be an amazing moment." A real class act from our President.

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Source: Post Chronicle

Heritage Wealth Management Exec Fakes Plane Crash

Marcus Schrenker, was, or is, an Indiana businessman whose financial management companies, Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management, were under investigation. Now it appears he apparently bailed out of his small plane and let it crash in what may have been an attempt to fake his own death.

Now why would Schrenker do this? Well, reports are that he has been sued for $1.4 million:

In court papers filed in December in federal court in Indianapolis, collection agent Creative Marketing International claims that Marcus Schrenker, acting as an insurance broker, failed to remit commission reimbursements of $1.4 million to National Western Life.

That's just part of it. Also, according to AP:

On Friday, two days before the crash, a federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and in favor of OM Financial Life Insurance Co. The OM lawsuit contended that Heritage Wealth Management should have returned more than $230,000 in commissions because there were problems with insurance or annuity plans Heritage had sold.

So, besides the lawsuit, there was also a judgment already in place.

According to authorities, Marcus Schrenker made a fake distress call and secretly parachuted to safety near Birmingham, Alabama. Meanwhile, his plane flew on autopilot, eventually crashing late Sunday more than 200 miles away in a swampy area of the Florida Panhandle.

His distress call said the windshield had imploded and he was bleeding, but after finding the plane, authorities could find no such evidence.

At any rate, the name Heritage Wealth Management, in these days of Bernie Madoff ponzi schemes, should raise red flags all over the place.

Authorities are still searching for Schrenker.

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Source: Huliq

Gretchen Carlson ignored Fox News' own reporting that Fitzgerald requested Obama delay internal review

On the December 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends First, following President-elect Barack Obama's announcement of his intention to release results of an internal review of contacts between his aides and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office next week, co-host Gretchen Carlson stated: "[T]here is varying discussion about whether or not prosecutor [U.S. attorney Patrick] Fitzgerald went to him [Obama] and said, hold off for another week, 'til Christmas week, when a lot of people won't be paying attention to the news, when a lot of people are on vacation." Carlson added: "[T]his is, you know, the best time to leak the hottest information that you have if you don't want a lot of attention on it. You know, so, was is that or is it the fact that the Obama camp just wants to release it at a time when nobody's paying attention?" But contrary to Carlson's claim that "there is varying discussion" about whether Fitzgerald "said hold off for another week," Fox News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett previously reported that Fitzgerald's office "confirms that it made a special request of President-elect Obama's transition team that it not release any of the information involved in this internal search."

During the December 15 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Garrett reported: "The U.S. attorney's office in the Northern District of Illinois confirms that it made a special request of President-elect Obama's transition team that it not release any of the information involved in this internal search. And what we do know is that the internal search says there was no inappropriate context." Garrett concluded his report by stating: "Bottom line is: They say it was OK. Everything was on the up and up. And on December 22nd or sometime later after that, they will release this information for the public to scrutinize -- are not doing so at the request of the U.S. attorney."

From the December 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends First:

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): And it's an interesting thing that's happening sometimes with the president-elect. When he gets some question he doesn't like, he tries to stop it in its tracks. Take a listen to what happened when Chicago Tribune reporter John McCormick tried to ask a question, let's say unrelated to education.

[begin video clip]

McCORMICK: Over the weekend, the Tribune reported that Rahm Emanuel, your incoming chief of staff, had presented a list of potential names that --

OBAMA: John. John. Let me just cut you off, because I don't want you to waste your question. The story that you just talked about, in your own paper, I haven't confirmed that it was accurate and I don't want to get into the details at this point. So, do you have another question?

McCORMICK: There's no conflict between what you said your hands-off approach and the possibility that it's --

OBAMA: John, I --

McCORMICK: -- it presents some --

OBAMA: John. I said, the U.S. attorney's office specifically asked us not to release this until next week.

[end video clip]

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): So, what is going on there? Clearly, he does not want to talk about the question that the reporter asked. And when you're having a press conference, you know, the reporters can ask anything, and then again, the person at the microphone can answer any way they want to. But is he simply being smart when it comes to a politically hot potato right now or is he following the instructions of the prosecutor in this case who's said, don't talk about anything until next week.

CARLSON: Well, but the report from the inside of the Obama campaign was supposed to be released this week. Now there is varying discussion about whether or not the prosecutor Fitzgerald went to him and said, hold off for another week, 'til Christmas week, when a lot of people won't be paying attention to the news --

DOOCY: Except us.

CARLSON: -- when a lot of people are on vacation and they're not -- this is, you know, the best time to leak the hottest information that you have if you don't want a lot of attention on it.

KILMEADE: Right.

CARLSON: You know, so, was is that or is it the fact that the Obama camp just wants to release it at a time when nobody's paying attention?

KILMEADE: Dana Milbank writes today that his answers have been very JV -- junior varsity. And he says that Stephen Hayes -- by the way, he quotes Stephen Hayes, who's a -- who writes for -- he's a conservative columnist.

DOOCY: He's got a typewriter.

KILMEADE: He says: It seems as though President-elect Obama tries to be so boring that no one will even notice that he's avoiding taking any questions on anything, any -- on virtually every issue that has arose over the last three months.

DOOCY: True.

KILMEADE: It's true. The press coverages have been kind of boring.

DOOCY: You know, they have been.

From the December 15 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

GARRETT: Good evening, Brit. The U.S. attorney's office in the Northern District of Illinois confirms that it made a special request of President-elect Obama's transition team that it not release any of the information involved in this internal search. And what we do know is that the internal search says there was no inappropriate contacts.

Let me read to you a section of that particular statement released by the Obama transition office. Give me just one second, Brit. If you can read -- there we go, guys. Give me just one second. That the president-elect's staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of successor as a U.S. senator.

The bottom line, Brit, is that the transition office looked at all the various staff contacts, confirmed that President-elect Obama didn't talk to Governor Blagojevich. No one on the staff did in an inappropriate way, that's their terminology. I've asked them to discuss with me what inappropriate means. Is it a legal term? Does it mean nothing unethical? Does it mean nothing criminal? They won't get back to me on that.

Bottom line is: They say it was OK. Everything was on the up and up. And on December 22nd or sometime later after that, they will release this information for the public to scrutinize -- are not doing so at the request of the U.S. attorney.

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Source: Media Matters

Shoah Foundation tames 8 PB with tape and automation

The Shoah Foundation, founded by Stephen Spielberg to preserve Holocaust survivors’ narratives after Schindler’s List and now a part of the University of Southern California, has conducted interviews with thousands of survivors in 56 countries. The Foundation has 52,000 interviews that amount to 105,000 hours of footage.

CTO Sam Gustman says the footage was originally shot on analog video cameras, then converted to digital betacam and MPEGs for distribution online. It currently amounts to 135 TB. However, the Foundation is converting the footage to Motion JPEG 2000, which will create bigger files–about 4 PB of data, Gustman estimated. Each video will be copied twice, bringing the total to 8 PB.

Gustman says the Foundation received a $2 million donation of SL8500 tape libraries, Sun STK 6540 arrays and servers from Sun Microsystems in June. The Foundation has an automated transcoding system running on the servers, and that takes up the 140 TB of 6540 disk capacity for workspace. Sun’s SAM-FS software will automate the migration of data within the system, to the 6540 and then to the SL8500 silo for long-term storage.

We’re hearing a lot in the industry these days about rich content applications such as this one moving to clustered disk systems, but Gustman said disk costs too much for the Foundation’s budget. He sees the potential for an eventual move to disk storage, but “disk is still too expensive–four to five times the total cost of ownership, mostly for powerand cooling.”

Another advantage to the T10000 tape drives the Foundation plans to use is that they will eliminate having to migrate the entire collection to disk during copying, transcoding and technology refreshes. One T10000 drive can make copies or do conversions directly between drives in the robot, and the virtualization layer with SAM-FS means that can happen transparently.

However, as an organization charged with the historic preservation of records, Gustman agreed with others I’ve talked to about this subject in saying that there’s still no great way to preserve digital information in the long term. “The problem with digital preservation right now is that you have to put energy into it–you can’t just stick it in a box and hope it’s there 100 years from now,” he said. “Maybe there’ll be something eventually that you don’t have to put energy into, but it doesn’t exist yet.”

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Source: Search Storage

2 from area die in crash on Indiana toll road

Two Marines from the Toledo area were among four people who died Sunday night when their car crossed the median on the Indiana Toll Road and was struck head-on by a tractor-trailer, Indiana State Police said.

Kyle Sporleder, 20, of Sylvania and Rodney Echelbarger, of Holland whose age was unavailable, were pronounced dead at the scene. Also killed were Lauren Diefenthaler, 19, of Ypsilanti, Mich., and Aaron Esposito, 23, of Novi, Mich., troopers said.

The car driven by Mr. Esposito was eastbound on the toll road, which is I-80/90 in Indiana, about 8:15 p.m. Sunday when he lost control on snowy pavement, crossed the median, and collided with the truck, troopers said.

The truck driver, Duane Rigdon, 53, of Carlsbad, Okla., was not hurt.

New Carlisle is about 10 miles west of South Bend, Ind.

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Source: Toledo Blade

RCA Dome Implosion Destroys Colts Former Home

Indianapolis has become a major sports town in the last two decades, thanks to pro football and college basketball. The center of this movement was the RCA Dome, which housed the Colts every week and hosted many a Final Four. Memories of Peyton Manning, and college basketball national championships, flooded the RCA Dome for almost 20 years. Those memories are now all that is left of the RCA dome, after it was finally imploded this morning.

At 9:30 a.m., the RCA Dome was imploded, as 800 charges were set off within 30 seconds. Even with this implosion, some of the stadium was still left over. However, crews will take down what is left of the RCA Dome structure themselves in the next few weeks.

The RCA Dome was imploded at 24 years old, as it was built in 1984. Originally called the Hoosier Dome, the stadium was completed in a hurry, in anticipation of a football franchise being brought to Indianapolis.

In 1984, the Colts finally became that team in their infamous move from Baltimore. The Hoosier Dome was ready for them by then. Seating over 60,000 fans, the Hoosier Dome also became a popular spot for major college basketball games.

The Hoosier Dome hosted four NCAA Final Fours. In 1991, it was the home of Duke's famous upset of undefeated UNLV. In 1997, Arizona completed a surprising national championship by defeating Kentucky in overtime. In 2000, Michigan State won it all in the dome over Florida, who then won their own national title in Indianapolis in 2006.

In 1994, the Hoosier Dome gave away its naming rights to RCA. The newly christened RCA Dome hadn't seen many football highlights from the Colts, at least until Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy arrived. One of the final RCA Dome highlights was the Colts' comeback win over the Patriots in the 2007 AFC championship game, paving the way for the Colts' long awaited Super Bowl title.

Despite being a relatively young stadium, the RCA Dome did not last too long. Ultimately, Indianapolis built a new home for the Colts, as Lucas Oil Stadium opened this year. With a retractable roof, Lucas Oil Stadium will host a Super Bowl and a Final Four over the next few years.
The Colts got off to a rocky start at Lucas Oil Stadium, losing their first two games there before rebounding in the second half of the season.

While this happened, the RCA Dome was being set up for implosion. Even the roof that covered the RCA Dome had to be deflated and taken down before today's implosion.

Once the rubble is cleared from the implosion, the space that held the RCA Dome will be cleared to make way for an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, which is connected to Lucas Oil Stadium.

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Sources:

• YouTube- "RCA Dome Implosion Indianapolis" www.youtube.com/watch
• Indiana News Story- "RCA Dome Reduced to Rubble" www.theindychannel.com/news/18324177/detail.html

Pentagon chief seeks plan for Guantanamo closure

The Pentagon is working on a proposal to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that would be available to President-elect Barack Obama once he takes office, a defense official said on Thursday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked his staff to come up with a plan to address the thorny issue of how to close the prison in southeast Cuba that Obama has pledged to shutter after he officially enters the White House on Jan. 20.

Guantanamo has about 250 detainees including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks. The prison has come to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States up to allegations of torture.

"(Gates) has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down -- what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility while at the same time, of course, ensuring that we protect the American people from some dangerous characters," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

"If this is one of the president-elect's first orders of business, the secretary wants to be prepared to help him as soon as possible," he said.

Like Obama, Gates has said Guantanamo should be closed. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Gates has agreed to stay on in the Obama administration. He has said closing the prison will require legislation by the U.S. Congress.

"The request has been made, his team is working on it so that he can be prepared to assist the president-elect should he wish to address this very early in his tenure," the press secretary said.

Among the issues to be settled before the prison closes are what to do about the military commissions system, trials under way and about 60 detainees that U.S. officials have approved for transfer to their home countries.

The Guantanamo tribunals are scheduled to reconvene on Jan. 19 for pretrial hearings for Canadian captive Omar Khadr, who is set for trial the following week on charges of murdering a U.S. soldier with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan. (Reporting by David Morgan with additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami, Editing by Howard Goller)

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Source: Reuters

Hilda Solis Said to Be Obama’s Pick for Labor Post

Representative Hilda Solis, a California Democrat, is President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for Labor secretary, according to a Democratic official.

Solis, 51, is a four-term member of Congress with an extensive record on environmental issues. Her legislative accomplishments include spearheading a bill to provide workforce training for “green-collar” employment. Such initiatives are a hallmark of Obama’s plan to address the country’s energy needs and create new jobs.

Obama has promised to push an ambitious labor agenda to strengthen unions, protect jobs and bolster the middle class. The president-elect is set to announce the Solis appointment tomorrow in Chicago. Solis is a favorite of labor groups including the Service Employees International Union.

“We’re thrilled,” said SEIU President Andy Stern, who canvassed door-to-door with Solis when she first ran as a state senator. “She’s been as strong a voice for justice for SEIU workers like our janitors and homecare workers as we’ve ever had.”

Solis would succeed Elaine Chao, who has held the job for all eight years of the Bush administration, making her the longest-serving Labor secretary since Frances Perkins under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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Source: Bloomberg

Greek youths hang protest banners from Acropolis

Protesters hung two giant banners off the Acropolis on Wednesday, with slogans calling for mass demonstrations across Europe and "resistance," after days of violent protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Athens.

About a dozen protesters held the pink banners over the walls of the ancient citadel, Greece's most famous monument, one bearing the word "Resistance" written in large black letters in four languages: Greek, English, Italian and German. The other called for mass demonstrations across Europe on Thursday.

The banners were taken down after two hours.

"There can be no justification for this action. This hurts the image of our country abroad ... it is unacceptable," government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said.

Student demonstrations are already planned in Athens and Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki on Thursday to protest the Dec. 6 police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

The riots that followed the teenager's death are the worst Greece has seen in decades, feeding off widespread dissatisfaction with the unpopular conservative government and anger over social inequality and economic hardship.

Hundreds of shops and banks were smashed, torched or looted as gangs of masked and hooded youths rampaged through cities night after night, setting up burning barricades in the streets and clashing with riot police who fired large amounts of tear gas. Retailers say the damage will cost them euro1.5 billion ($2 billion) in lost income.

More than 300 people were detained or arrested in the rioting.

Although the rioting has abated, small-scale attacks continue.

Police said about a dozen youths on motorcycles set fire to a police bus in central Athens. The driver managed to escape the fire and no one was hurt.

Also Wednesday, about 40 protesters occupied the offices of the Greece's largest labor union, the GSEE.

"I believe they have chosen the wrong target ... The GSEE does not govern this country. So it's wrong to undermine the labor unions," GSEE leader Yiannis Panagopoulos said.

About 100 high school students gathered outside the capital's main court complex, pelting riot police guarding the building with stones, eggs, rocks and yogurt to demand that those detained in the riots be freed.

In Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki, police said a bank and a local citizens advice office were firebombed before dawn Wednesday in attacks that caused damage but no injuries.

After a week of violence, many protesters have begun using different tactics to make themselves heard.

On Tuesday, a group of youths stormed their way into Greece's state television and radio studios, forcing broadcasters to put out anti-government messages.

Ten young protesters disrupted a state NET television news broadcast of the prime minister's speech, appearing live on national television carrying banners that read: "Stop watching, get out onto the streets" and "Free everyone who has been arrested."

In Thessaloniki, protesters broke into three local radio stations, agreeing to leave only when a protest message was read on the air.

Greece's opposition Socialists have accused Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' conservative government of mishandling the crisis and worsening the effects of the global economic downturn. The Socialists are calling for Karamanlis to resign and call new elections, a demand he has rebuffed.

Parliament starts debate Wednesday on Greece's 2009 budget, which includes at least 4 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in new taxes.

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Source: The Associated Press