Finals Preview? Heat visit Spurs on Sunday

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade looks up at a scoreboard after he was called for a foul on Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade looks up at a scoreboard after he was called for a foul on Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) goes to the basket in front of New Orleans Hornets forward Al-Farouq Aminu (0) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Friday, March 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan reacts after he was fouled while shooting against the Denver Nuggets during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in San Antonio. San Antonio won 100-99. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich signals to his team during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in San Antonio. The Spurs won 100-99. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

By the time the Miami Heat get on their plane to come home late Sunday night, they could have a stranglehold on the race to finish with the NBA's best record.

All they have to do is win at San Antonio. That, of course, is no easy task.

The Heat (57-15) take a two-game lead in the NBA standings over the Spurs (55-17) into their matchup on Sunday. A win would essentially provide Miami a four-game cushion with nine remaining, given that the Heat also would control any potential head-to-head tiebreaker with San Antonio.

If the Heat lose, the race for home-court advantage throughout the entirety of the playoffs could turn into a frantic, down-to-the-wire deal.

"It's always good to play the best, to play against the best," LeBron James said. "It'll be an opportunity for us. We just want to get better, man. The game Sunday doesn't define our season or how we go from there. We just want to continue to move forward and get better throughout the rest of the season."

Miami has won 28 of its last 29 games overall, getting back on the winning track at New Orleans on Friday, two days after Chicago snapped a 27-game Heat winning streak. But San Antonio has won 28 of its last 30 games at home, and facing the Spurs on the road is traditionally a painful expedition for many members of the Heat ? as it tends to be for everyone else in the NBA.

Dwyane Wade is 1-4 at San Antonio, sitting out three other Heat losses there during his career. Chris Bosh is 1-7. James is 3-7. Shane Battier ? a longtime player in the Western Conference ? has enjoyed eight wins from the visitors' side when facing the Spurs, and also been on the losing end 16 times there.

"It's obviously a very, very, very good team," Wade said. "Very tough place to play, so I think our mentality and how we approach the game is going to be important. You just try to go out there and compete, as we do every night, try to get a great road win. It's not going to be easy but that's kind of what we enjoy."

The only other meeting between the clubs this season was Nov. 29 in Miami, a strange game in that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ? citing a desire to rest his best players at the end of a long road trip ? sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green home before the game.

With guys like Patty Mills, Nando De Colo and Matt Bonner filling out the starting lineup ? they've combined to make four other starts this season ? the Spurs almost beat the Heat anyway, leading by five with 2:13 left before getting outscored 12-2 in a wild Miami finish that gave the Heat a 105-100 win.

Ginobili played just under three minutes in Friday night's win over the Los Angeles Clippers because of a hamstring issue, and Popovich indicated he probably won't be ready to face the Heat.

"I don't think he can play," Popovich said.

The Spurs have won six of their last seven games. Of those six wins, only one came by double figures, an 11-point victory over Golden State. The average margin of the other five wins in that span, over Dallas, Cleveland, Utah, Denver and Clippers was 3.4 points, and the only loss was a one-pointer at Houston.

"It's great challenges, good preparation for us for the playoffs," Parker said. "Denver is a great team, Clippers a great team and now we've got Miami. They're the best in the league. They went on the unbelievable run and it's going to be another great game."

This game could have been one of the most-watched among regular-season games in years if Miami had not lost in Chicago on Wednesday. Had the Heat won there and won in New Orleans, as they did on Friday, they would have been going for their 30th straight win on this trip to San Antonio in what will be touted either way as a potential NBA Finals preview.

"I just want you to know the Heat are going to be just fine," said President Barack Obama, a noted Bulls fan during a stop in Miami on Friday. "They're going to be OK. They are playing basketball the right way."

The Heat streak is gone, but standings-wise, it's still a big deal.

"Very good team, obviously the defending champs," Duncan said. "I think they won 62 in a row or something like that. It'll be a great game. I know our crowd will be excited and we'll be excited to continue our homestand."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has said everyone on his roster should be considered day-to-day for the remainder of the regular season. This is when teams like to ensure that players get some rest wherever they can.

And the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is already clinched, meaning all that's really left on the Heat to-do list before the opening round of the playoffs is finish atop the NBA's regular-season standings.

"The mindset will be, first and foremost, playing our game and making sure that we establish our identity," Spoelstra said. "That's the whole thing with us. When we do that and play the way we're capable, results take care of themselves.

"We don't want to get caught up in too much of the results. We have a big goal in mind. That's the No. 1 goal and that's the only goal we've talked about."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-30-BKN-Heat-Spurs-Clash/id-4e44a4d3cd8e439aa2b7e44cea23d222

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Tulsa Accountants | Business Accoutning | Succession Planning ...

Tulsa Accounting Firm and?Business Accounting:

One of the biggest challenges that you face as a small or medium sized Oklahoma?business owner is how to plan an exit strategy for?your small business when you are no longer willing or able to manage the business.? It is also one of the most ?ignored? challenges that small business owners face.? You have spent years managing and controlling your venture and the thought of not having the control is difficult to face.? Whether your company is extremely profitable or is just getting by, it can be disastrous for your family and employees if you ignore this task.

One of the first decisions that should be made is whether ?succession? planning is what you need or whether a managed shutdown is more appropriate.? Typically this decision is based upon the financial health and viability of the business itself.? The decision is also based upon whether there are family members or key employees that are willing and able to continue the company.

If you have determined that your business is viable enough to continue without you in the leadership role, you must come up with a succession plan.? Successful planning requires time.? You can?t come up with a plan and implement it immediately and expect it to be successful.? One of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is that its financial and leadership needs are so closely tied with the owner.? The owner?s finances are intertwined with the business.? Banks lend money based upon the owner?s assets and ability to repay.? Personal homes and other assets are often pledged as collateral for business loans.? These are the types of situations that take years to unwind.? Financially the business should be able to stand on its own in order to continue.

Key decisions to make for a succession plan:

• Who will take on the leadership role?
• How will the ownership of the company be transferred?
• What about family members that are ?left out??

If the Oklahoma business is not viable or there is no one willing or able to take on the responsibilities of continuing the company, a managed exit needs to be planned.? Minimizing complications for yourself, your family, and your employees should be your goal.

Key ways to simplify your business and prepare for a shutdown:

For a Free Accounting, Tax and succession planning consultation with a Tulsa Tax and Accounting Firm call 918-742-4538 or send me an email at Ask a Tulsa Accountant

?

Source: http://www.tulsaaccountinggroup.com/2013/03/tulsa-accountants-exit-strategy-for-small-business/

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State asks Sandy Hook charities how money is spent

Connecticut?s top law enforcement official is asking charitable groups raising money around the Newtown school shooting to disclose more information, an unprecedented step suggesting the state has questions about how contributors' money is being spent.

At least 69 groups are raising money around the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year, where 20 small children and six teachers were killed. Together, they've raised at least $15 million dollars from all over the world to help the victims' families and to assist the Newtown community.

But state Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein say the charities have not disclosed enough information about what they are doing with the money. The two officials want the charities to disclose how they?ve spent the funds they've raised so far and what they plan to do with the remaining money.

?This is a voluntary request for information, but we strongly urge you to participate so this important information can be provided, through our websites or other means, to the giving public,? Jepsen and Rubenstein wrote in a letter to the groups.

Ken Berger, CEO of charitynavigator.org, which helps contributors figure out which charities to trust, applauded Rubenstein's efforts.

?It?s an unusual step, absolutely,? Berger said. ?It?s great what the AG office is doing. We should see more of this to make sure the money gets to victims sooner -- and more of it goes the victims."

Berger said Caryn Kaufman, a representative for a group of Sandy Hook victims said on a recent TV show that only about $800,000 to under a $1 million have been given directly to families.

?It?s been 3 ? months, and so far less than a million (dollars) has been dispensed" Berger said, "So this is really bad and upsetting people a great deal."

After the December 14 shooting, several websites and Facebook pages were quickly created offering things like bracelets, bumper stickers or direct donation pages with Newtown and Sandy Hook remembrances and tributes. It's often unclear where those funds end up.

Weeks after the massacre, New York City resident Nouel Alba was arrested for raising money on Facebook for a "funeral fund" for Noah Pozner, one of the first graders killed in the shooting. The fraud was discovered by his family members.

Newtown itself has established two charitable funds, both accessible through the town's website. One provides direct aid to the families -- each family recently received $3,000 from the fund -- and another is for a public memorial.

Berger said those who wish to contribute to a charity can specify how they want a donation to be spent -- whether on school repair, aiding the victims' families, or in some other way.

Donors should also ask charities where the money goes and how long it will take to reach recipients, Berger said.

?If you don?t get a straight answer from a charity, go to the next one,? he said.

Connecticut officials have asked the charities to respond to the questionnaire by April 12. While the information will be made public, it's not meant to be an endorsement of a specific charity, officials said.

News Editor Grant Burningham contributed to this article.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/connecticut-officials-ask-sandy-hook-charities-disclose-contributions-215528315.html

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New EPA gas rules to cost one to nine cents a gallon

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards. The cost at the pump for cleaner air across the country could be less than a penny or as high as 9 cents a gallon, depending on who is providing the estimate.

An oil industry study says the proposed rule being unveiled Friday by the administration could increase gasoline prices by 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates an increase of less than a penny and an additional $130 to the cost of a vehicle in 2025.

The EPA is quick to add that the change aimed at cleaning up gasoline and automobile emissions would yield billions of dollars in health benefits by 2030 by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution. Still, the oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats have pressed the EPA to delay the rule, citing higher costs.

Environmentalists hailed the proposal as potentially the most significant in President Barack Obama's second term.

The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. For states, the regulation would make it easier to comply with health-based standards for the main ingredient in smog and soot. For automakers, the regulation allows them to sell the same autos in all 50 states.

The Obama administration already has moved to clean up motor vehicles by adopting rules that will double fuel efficiency and putting in place the first standards to reduce the pollution from cars and trucks blamed for global warming.

"We know of no other air pollution control strategy that can achieve such substantial, cost-effective and immediate emission reductions," said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. Becker said the rule would reduce pollution equal to taking 33 million cars off the road.

But the head of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Charles Drevna, said in an interview Thursday that the refiners' group was still unclear on the motives behind the agency's regulation, since refining companies already have spent $10 billion to reduce sulfur by 90 percent. The additional cuts, while smaller, will cost just as much, Drevna said, and the energy needed for the additional refining actually could increase carbon pollution by 1 percent to 2 percent.

"I haven't seen an EPA rule on fuels that has come out since 1995 that hasn't said it would cost only a penny or two more," Drevna said.

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute estimated that lowering the sulfur in gasoline would add 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon to refiners' manufacturing costs, an increase that likely would be passed on to consumers at the pump. The EPA estimate of less than 1 cent is also an additional manufacturing cost and likely to be passed on.

A senior administration official said Thursday that only 16 of 111 refineries would need to invest in major equipment to meet the new standards, which could be final by the end of this year. Of the remaining refineries, 29 already are meeting the standards because they are selling cleaner fuel in California or other countries, and 66 would have to make modifications.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the rule was still undergoing White House budget office review.

___

Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinacappiello

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/epa-taking-aim-auto-emissions-sulfur-gas-071021486--finance.html

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PFT: Romo gets six-year deal from Cowboys

Getty Images

When the Browns signed quarterback Jason Campbell, many assumed he?d potentially become the team?s starter in 2013.? And he?ll definitely get a chance to win the job, since he?s the first signal-caller signed by the new regime in Cleveland, after previously starting in Washington and Oakland.

For now, though, he?s getting paid like a backup, and not a lot when compared to other backups.? A source with knowledge of the contract tells PFT that Campbell?s contract pays out $1.5 million in 2013.

Specifically, he gets a base salary of $1.5 million in 2013, $500,000 of which is fully guaranteed.

That said, if Campbell can win the job, he?ll make more money via incentives.? Specifically, he gets $150,000 for 50 percent playing time in 2013, 65 percent results in $350,000, and 80 percent triggers $600,000.

In 2014, Campbell?s base salary is a bit higher, at $2 million.? He also gets roster bonus of $250,000 due the third day of the league year.

But there are escalators for 2014 based on playing time in the coming season.? Campbell?s 2014 base salary will increase by $500,000 based on 30 percent playing time in 2013.? 40 percent playing time in 2013 increases the 2014 salary by another $500,000.? Ten more percent in 2013?? Another $500,000 in 2014.? And if Campbell takes 65 percent or more of the snaps in 2013, his $2 million salary will double.

Still, his backup pay for 2013 is low, and that?s largely because Campbell?s options were limited.? Especially in light of the egg he laid when he had a chance during 2012 to sub for Jay Cutler in Chicago, during that Monday night debacle against the 49ers.

Campbell could have stayed in Chicago and backed up Cutler, or he could have gone to Cleveland with a chance to win the starting job.? If Campbell pulls it off, he?ll be paid more on the back end.

And if he plays really well in 2013, the Browns likely will tear up the 2014 deal and sign him to something better.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/29/report-deal-done-romo-gets-more-guaranteed-money-than-flacco/related/

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State asks Sandy Hook charities how money is spent

Connecticut?s top law enforcement official is asking charitable groups raising money around the Newtown school shooting to disclose more information, an unprecedented step suggesting the state has questions about how contributors' money is being spent.

At least 69 groups are raising money around the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year, where 20 small children and six teachers were killed. Together, they've raised at least $15 million dollars from all over the world to help the victims' families and to assist the Newtown community.

But state Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein say the charities have not disclosed enough information about what they are doing with the money. The two officials want the charities to disclose how they?ve spent the funds they've raised so far and what they plan to do with the remaining money.

?This is a voluntary request for information, but we strongly urge you to participate so this important information can be provided, through our websites or other means, to the giving public,? Jepsen and Rubenstein wrote in a letter to the groups.

Ken Berger, CEO of charitynavigator.org, which helps contributors figure out which charities to trust, applauded Rubenstein's efforts.

?It?s an unusual step, absolutely,? Berger said. ?It?s great what the AG office is doing. We should see more of this to make sure the money gets to victims sooner -- and more of it goes the victims."

Berger said Caryn Kaufman, a representative for a group of Sandy Hook victims said on a recent TV show that only about $800,000 to under a $1 million have been given directly to families.

?It?s been 3 ? months, and so far less than a million (dollars) has been dispensed" Berger said, "So this is really bad and upsetting people a great deal."

After the December 14 shooting, several websites and Facebook pages were quickly created offering things like bracelets, bumper stickers or direct donation pages with Newtown and Sandy Hook remembrances and tributes. It's often unclear where those funds end up.

Weeks after the massacre, New York City resident Nouel Alba was arrested for raising money on Facebook for a "funeral fund" for Noah Pozner, one of the first graders killed in the shooting. The fraud was discovered by his family members.

Newtown itself has established two charitable funds, both accessible through the town's website. One provides direct aid to the families -- each family recently received $3,000 from the fund -- and another is for a public memorial.

Berger said those who wish to contribute to a charity can specify how they want a donation to be spent -- whether on school repair, aiding the victims' families, or in some other way.

Donors should also ask charities where the money goes and how long it will take to reach recipients, Berger said.

?If you don?t get a straight answer from a charity, go to the next one,? he said.

Connecticut officials have asked the charities to respond to the questionnaire by April 12. While the information will be made public, it's not meant to be an endorsement of a specific charity, officials said.

News Editor Grant Burningham contributed to this article.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/connecticut-officials-ask-sandy-hook-charities-disclose-contributions-215528315.html

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UCLA hires Steve Alford as new basketball coach

FILE - This Feb. 23, 2013 file photo shows New Mexico head coach Steve Alford directing his team against Colorado State in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Collins, Colo. UCLA has hired New Mexico's Alford as its new head basketball coach, according to reports Saturday March 30. 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - This Feb. 23, 2013 file photo shows New Mexico head coach Steve Alford directing his team against Colorado State in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Collins, Colo. UCLA has hired New Mexico's Alford as its new head basketball coach, according to reports Saturday March 30. 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? UCLA hired Steve Alford as basketball coach on Saturday, luring him from New Mexico days after he signed a new 10-year deal with the Lobos.

Athletic director Dan Guerrero said Alford is "the perfect fit for UCLA" because he connects with a new generation of players and brings an up-tempo and team-oriented style of play to Westwood.

"He's ready for this stage," Guerrero said on a teleconference.

Alford agreed to a seven-year deal worth $18.2 million, with a yearly salary of $2.6 million, according to Guerrero. He will receive a $200,000 signing bonus.

Alford will be introduced at UCLA on Tuesday.

"I have been so fortunate and blessed in my life, and an opportunity to lead one of the greatest programs in college basketball history is once-in-a-lifetime," he said in a statement.

Alford's deal with New Mexico was worth more than $20 million over 10 years. Guerrero said Alford is responsible for a buyout of his contract in Albuquerque, but that UCLA would work out the details.

Guerrero said UCLA reached out to Alford first, not knowing whether he would be interested in the Bruins. Once he confirmed he was, the details were finalized early Saturday, Guerrero said.

"He's not the kind of guy that will shy away from what UCLA basketball is all about," the athletic director said.

Alford, who is 48, succeeds Ben Howland, who was fired last weekend after 10 years and a 233-107 record that included three consecutive Final Four appearances and four Pac-12 titles. The Bruins were 25-10 this season, which ended with a 20-point loss to Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Alford led New Mexico to a 29-6 record this season that included the Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles. But the Lobos were upset by Harvard in the second round of the NCAAs shortly after Alford's new contract had been announced.

His son, Bryce, was set to play for his father with the Lobos, continuing a tradition that Alford first established when he played under his own father, Sam, at New Castle Chrysler High in Indiana.

Alford had a 155-52 record in six years at New Mexico, with the Lobos making three trips to the NCAA tournament. He was selected Mountain West coach of the year three times.

Guerrero had said he wanted a coach who would help boost season ticket sales. The Bruins had just a few sellouts at newly renovated Pauley Pavilion this season.

"I think the UCLA family will embrace him. I think he'll be able to hit on all cylinders," Guerrero said. "He'll be able to energize the fan base in so many ways. Look at New Mexico, they get 15,000 a game, it's madness there."

His other head coaching stints were at Iowa (2000-07), Missouri State (1996-99) and Manchester College (1992-95) in his native Indiana.

Alford is a legend in the Hoosier state, where he starred at Indiana University from 1984-87 under coach Bob Knight. The Hoosiers won the national championship in his senior year. He also played on the gold medal-winning 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Los Angeles as a college sophomore. Knight coached that team.

Alford was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1987 and played four years in the NBA before starting his head coaching career at tiny Division III Manchester.

As a high school senior, Alford averaged 37.7 points and was Indiana Mr. Basketball.

Besides Bryce, Alford and his wife, Tanya, have a son, Kory, and a daughter, Kayla.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-30-BKC-UCLA-Alford/id-a0ebd1130c894a339ca160799ce6fcc4

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AP: Gas trade group seeks fracking probe

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? A formal complaint filed with New York's lobbying board asks it to investigate whether Artists Against Fracking, a group formed by Yoko Ono and son Sean Lennon, is violating the state's lobbying law.

The complaint obtained by The Associated Press was made by the Independent Oil & Gas Association to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

The energy trade group based its request for an investigation on an AP report that found that Artists Against Fracking and its advocates didn't register as lobbyists. Registration requires several disclosures about spending and activities.

A spokesman for Artists Against Fracking says the group's activities are protected because they were made during a public comment period. He also says celebrities involved in the group are protected because they are longtime activists, not lobbyists.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-gas-trade-group-seeks-fracking-probe-172054771.html

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Irish Left Review | An Anarchist Noel Coward? The World Turned ...

Music Review: The World Turned Upside Down ? Rosselsongs 1960-2010

And then the ?political songwriter? label can mislead into the belief that I?m writing songs in order to change the world? I have to point out that after fifty years of writing songs, the world?s in a worse state now than when I started, although I don?t blame myself entirely for that.?- Leon Rosselson

Why is the English singer-songwriter Leon Rosselson, now almost eighty years old, not a ?household name??

In the entertaining, informative and argumentative liner notes accompanying this 2011 set of four CDs he repeatedly muses on how, in his own words, he ?failed to become rich and famous?. Concerning the celebrated title song, World Turned Upside Down, he writes: ?Some people think it?s a folk song. Or that it was written by Billy Bragg. Which is, I suppose, fame of a sort.?

Success, he tells us, ?should have happened in the 1960s? There was the folk boom, the singer-songwriter boom.? At the same time, however, ?my songwriting style didn?t fit comfortably into the folk bag. Or any other bag, if it comes to that.? And anyway, ?the alternative culture was big business, the musicians were bought into superstardom by lucrative record contracts, ?the message ?liberate your minds? turned out to be both politically safe and eminently saleable? The guerrillas had simply, without their even realising it, been incorporated into the regular army of the enemy.? His songs The Ugly Ones (?the fetishizing of the beautiful people?) and Flower Power = Bread (from the fateful year 1968) savaged ?60s values, thus ensuring that Rosselson would not be thus incorporated but also, perhaps, that stardom on 1960s terms would elude him.

Another factor that may have militated against Rosselson?s popular success is the self-confessed absence of love-songs from his output (?love, a word that has rarely passed my songwriting pen?). Instead, he has specialised in what he calls ?relationship songs? entailing ?a sideways look at love, sex, marriage, relationships and angst??, here represented by Do You Remember?, Invisible Married Breakfast Blues (inspired by Brel and Pr?vert), Let Your Hair Hang Down, and the wonderful Not Quite, But Nearly. Jacques Brel?s example taught Rosselson that ?[y]ou could write songs by pretending to be someone else, by adopting a persona.? Here the feminist principle that ?the personal is political, the political personal? provided the rationale, but perhaps in an age when ?letting it all hang out? was the order of the day this approach was too oblique.

Nonetheless, in at least one vital way the 1960s marked Rosselson indelibly. The 1967 Six-Day War completed the Jewish singer?s alienation from Zionism and the state of Israel: ?After that, it became increasingly clear that the trajectory Israel was taking? was not an aberration from Zionism: it was Zionism?? In the 1995 Song of Martin Fontash (based on an anecdote from Primo Levi) he ?continues the argument between the Jewish values I identify with and Israel?s values as a colonising state?, concluding that ?Though they [Zionist Israelis] are Jews, they do not live within my heart.? Seven years later, in My Father?s Jewish World, we hear that ?[Israel] brings shame by torturing and killing in our name? (Rosselson?s parents were refugees from Czarist Russia, his father a lifelong communist).

Rosselson is not merely concerned with the contradiction between Zionism and ?Jewish values?, but courageously takes an uncompromising stance on behalf of Palestinian rights. The 2005 Song of the Olive Tree, perhaps his most beautiful composition, celebrates the abiding symbol of Palestinian sumud (steadfastness) while lamenting the fact that ?[h]undreds of thousands of olive trees have been uprooted [by Israel] since the beginning of the second intifada?.

On the double CD Celebrating Subversion by the recently formed collective of singers and songwriters The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, of which Rosselson is a guiding light, the Song of the Olive Tree is magnificently sung by the English-born Palestinian singer Reem Kelani. On The World Upside Down it is entrusted to the Scottish folk singer Janet Russell, also a member of the Roadshow. Another of Rosselson?s most famous and controversial songs, Stand up for Judas, is sung here by Roy Bailey and is best known in a version by Dick Gaughan. The song World Turned Upside Down itself, Rosselson?s homage to the 17^th century Digger pamphleteer Gerrard Winstanley is (as we have seen) indelibly associated with Billy Bragg.

The version of the latter by Rosselson himself (backed by his daughter Ruth) in this collection suggests another reason why he has ?failed to become rich and famous?: the lack of range and variety in his singing voice. With its vaguely Monty Pythonish quality (Eric Idle comes to mind!) it?s an instrument particularly suited to those ?topical/satirical? songs most typical of his early material, but also to polemical rants like his slashing attack on Tony Blair, Talking Democracy Blues (with its wicked paraphrase of Auden: ?Blair?s an amiable guy/Look, he wouldn?t harm a fly/But when he smiles children die??).

When passion or emotional intensity are required, as in the powerful The Wall That Stands Between (about ?the shameful campaign against asylum seekers waged by the gutter press? and ?the inhuman policies enacted by the New Labour government?), the result can sound understated. Rosselson objects to an early reviewer?s description of him as ?an anarchist Noel Coward?, but Coward was similarly deficient in vocal charisma. Coward nonetheless consolidated his reputation by piggy-backing on the atmosphere of patriotism (bordering on jingoism) understandably prevalent during World War II, an option entirely alien to Rosselson whose aim ?to depict a society based on an ideology of control, order, obedience, repression, domination of nature, deterrence, leading ultimately to the death of the planet? is hardly calculated to entice the average radio DJ.

It might seem that over four CDs and 72 songs (about a quarter of Rosselson?s total output), most of them sung by Rosselson himself, such a deficiency might prove fatal. Strangely enough, however, for me at any rate the effect is the opposite. One becomes used to the voice and knows what to expect and not to expect from it. When Roy Bailey or Liz Mansfield or Dick Gaughan sings a Rosselson song, the result can be a show-stopper. When Rosselson sings, the vocal idiosyncrasies are inseparable from his intractable and endearing integrity.

This, of course, is premised on the assumption that one is well-disposed towards Rosselson?s radical perspectives. Here is a comment from a You Tube viewer who clearly is not:

?However I later met and talked with Leon Rosselson himself, and it was kind of dismaying. He came across as a parody: a naive, stereotypical, unreconstructed socialist who understood nothing about economics, and truly believed that ?from each according to his ability, to each according to his need? was a workable system of government.?

Undoubtedly there are many who would consider this a recommendation. Not alone has Leon Rosselson been writing and singing for more than half a century, but he has remained faithful to a certain concept of political, social and economic justice. For those who share that faith, he will always be a household name.

(To buy The World Turned Upside Down for stg ?30 plus postage [outside the UK] see http://www.leonrosselson.co.uk/records.html)

Janet Russell?s version of Song of the Olive Tree

The World Turned Upside Down ? The DIggers ? Leon Rosselson

Dick Gaughan ? World Turned Upside Down (BBC 1982)

Source: http://www.irishleftreview.org/2013/03/29/anarchist-noel-coward-world-turned-upside-rosselsongs-19602010/

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What?s new and what?s not for women in war? A Yahoo! News chat

Last week, during his Ryan Seacrest-hosted special on The CW, Justin Timberlake said that music is the "most special" hat of the many hats he wears as an entertainer. Now, we can't psychoanalyze JT?as much as everyone may have wanted to during his year-long courtship of the world's attention. But, to be sure, music has given this man a lot: Timberlake's pop-star status has allowed him to pursue the very side projects that have transformed into his main career focus, as modern mega-celebrities are want to do with their "brand maintenance" these days. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/what%E2%80%99s-new-and-what%E2%80%99s-not-for-women-in-war--a-yahoo--news-chat-171220929.html

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Member of SEAL Team 6 killed, another SEAL injured in parachute accident

By Jim MIklaszweski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

A ?Navy SEAL from the elite SEAL TEAM 6 was killed and another SEAL injured Thursday night during a parachute training accident in Marana, Arizona, the military said. Details of the accident are not immediately available.

One SEAL was pronounced dead on arrival at the University of Arizona Hospital. The second remains hospitalized in stable condition.

Members of SEAL TEAM 6 carried out the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. All SEAL teams receive extensive parachute training, which is often required for hostage rescue or anti-terrorist operations.

The names of the two SEALS involved in the fatal training mishap have not been released pending notification of next of kin.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a24ed9f/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C290C17520A3710Emember0Eof0Eseal0Eteam0E60Ekilled0Eanother0Eseal0Einjured0Ein0Eparachute0Eaccident0Dlite/story01.htm

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Lawmakers rush to catch up on gay marriage

FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)

FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. is seen in St. Louis. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson. File)

FILE - In this March 28, 2012 file photo, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. speaks in Billings, Mont. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Matt Gouras, File)

FILE - In this March 21, 2013 file photo, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now lawmakers are in a mad dash to catch up.

In less than two weeks, seven senators ? all from moderate or Republican-leaning states ? announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause.

"As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Chief Justice John Roberts told lawyers urging the Supreme Court on Wednesday to strike down a law barring legally married gay couples from receiving federal benefits or recognition.

It was the second of two landmark gay marriage cases the justices heard this week, the high court's first major examination of gay rights in a decade. But the focus on the court cases ? replete with colorful, camera-ready protests outside the court building ? obscured the sudden emergence of a critical mass across the street in the Capitol as one by one, senators took to Facebook or quietly issued a statement to say that they, too, now support gay marriage.

For some Democrats, like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the reversal would have been almost unfathomable just a few months ago as they fought for re-election. The potential risks were even greater for other Democrats like North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, already top GOP targets when they face voters next year in states that President Barack Obama lost in November. After all, it was less than a year ago that voters in Hagan's state approved a ban on gay marriage.

Those four Democrats and two others ? Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia ? were swept up in a shifting tide that began to take shape last year, when Obama, in the heat of his re-election campaign, became the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential contender in the next presidential election, followed suit in mid-March. As support among party leaders builds, rank-and-file Democrats appear wary of being perceived as hold-outs in what both parties are increasingly describing as a civil-rights issue.

"They're reflecting what they're seeing in the polls ? except the most extreme of the Republican base," former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who supports gay marriage, said in an interview. "From a purely political perspective, if you want to be a leader of the future, you look at the next generation. They are overwhelmingly in favor of this."

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, cautioned in a USA Today interview that the GOP should not "act like Old Testament heretics."

Among Republicans, whose party platform opposes gay marriage, the shift in position has mostly been limited to former lawmakers and prominent strategists. Still, a distinct change in tone was palpable this month when Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney vetted last year as a potential running mate, declared his support, citing a personal conversion stemming from his son coming out to him as gay.

Rather than blast Portman for flouting party dogma or failing an ideological litmus test, Republican leaders shrugged, indicating that even if Republicans, as a party, aren't prepared back gay marriage, they won't hold it against those in their ranks who do.

In the Republican-controlled House, where most members come from lopsided districts heavily skewed to one party or the other, GOP leaders are not wavering publicly from their staunch opposition. In fact, when the Obama administration stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, it was House Republicans who took up the mantle. Democrats said Thursday that Republicans have spent as much as $3 million in taxpayer funds to defend the law, now before the Supreme Court.

"It's like immigration. The party realizes they are on the losing side of some of these issues," said former Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican. Kolbe came out as gay in 1996 while in office and will mark another milestone in May when he and his longtime partner get married in Washington.

"They want to make the shift, but you have got to do it in a politic and strategic way," Kolbe said. "It's a matter of how and when you take down one flag and run up the other."

Kolbe and Whitman joined dozens of other prominent Republicans in signing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down the law barring federal recognition of gay marriages. But with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, still defending the law and social conservative groups vowing payback for those who abandon it, prospects are slim that Congress will move any time soon to repeal it on its own.

"It's sort of a bandwagon effect among the cultural elite," said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, which opposes gay marriage. "Some of these politicians who have changed their position, those who live in more conservative states, may pay for that shift with a defeat in their next election."

If public opinion continues to move in the direction it has been for the last 15 years, what's true for the next election may not be true just a few years down the line ? even for Republicans.

When Gallup first asked in polls about gay marriages, in 1996, just 27 percent felt they should be valid. That figure climbed to 44 percent two years ago, and reached a majority by last November, when 53 percent said gay marriages should be recognized. Among independents, a key barometer for politicians, support has jumped 23 points to 55 percent, including a six-point gain since 2010.

Even among Republicans, support has grown by 14 percentage points since 1996, although there's been no significant movement among Republicans since 2010, when 28 percent backed legal marriage.

"A lot of Republicans have come to the conclusion we can't live one life in private but advocate another life in public," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "We all know families who are loving parents of the same gender who are raising great kids."

___

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-28-US-Gay-Marriage/id-48cd515be6ea4b479bd0ac8ee5f66052

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Japan's NEC in talks to sell mobile phone unit to Lenovo: source

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's NEC Corp is in talks to sell its struggling mobile phone unit to its personal computer venture partner Lenovo Group Ltd, a source familiar with the discussions said, confirming media reports of the negotiations.

NEC is also in talks with potential domestic buyers, the source said on condition that he wasn't identified.

NEC has until now said its mobile business is an important part of its overall operations. But after two years of losses the company is shedding assets to bolster profitability.

"Amid the rapidly changing market we are considering a number of ways to bolster the competitiveness of our mobile phone business, but nothing has been decided," NEC said in a statement through the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday in response to the media reports.

Lenovo officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Japanese phone makers have struggled to gain traction overseas in markets dominated by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc where they are also being challenged by upcoming Chinese makers. In Japan, the two foreign giants are whittling down their share of cell phone sales.

Last October, NEC cut its mobile phone sales target for the year ending March to 4.3 million from a previous estimate of 5 million units. Lenovo, the world's No.2 maker of PCs, is cranking up overseas expansion in smartphones after solid growth in China.

Japan's biggest cell phone maker, Sony Corp, is vying with China's Huawei Technology Co and ZTE Corp to be No.3 in the global smartphone market.

NEC also plans to sell its mobile services subsidiary NEC Mobiling Ltd for as much as $850 million, separate sources told Reuters this month.

Marubeni Corp's telecommunications unit and TD Mobile, a joint venture between Toyota Tsusho Corp and Denso Corp, are vying for the 51 percent stake, the sources said.

(Reporting by Maki Shiraki; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Ryan Woo)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japans-nec-talks-sell-mobile-phone-unit-lenovo-051330492--finance.html

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Watch: 'Kind Hearted Woman': Trailer

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Coming April 1 a special presentation from from flying an independent plants. From a award winning filmmaker of the farmer's wife and country -- I am of course from the spirit lake nation a story of one woman's -- Indian name is chanting and watch daily. That -- kind hearted woman trying to save herself. No matter how much pressure I'm under I am not connect cheering and profoundly I'm gonna keep this family together and intimate story she's just -- And then they knew that her dad was messing around with -- tomorrow. -- nothing like that an enormous human. -- -- -- -- -- -- From the critically acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland. -- woman. From flying independent lends special presentation. -- -- --

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/kind-hearted-woman-trailer-18826445

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Mozilla to bring console-quality 3D games to Firefox browser ...

3D gaming on a browser? Count us in. At this year?s?Game Developers Conference, Mozilla revealed that it?s working on a technology that could have us playing high-end, console-quality games on the?Firefox browser?without the need for any plugins and installations. Making this possible is?OdinMonkey ? an optimized version of JavaScript currently found on Firefox Nightly that are browser builds for testing purposes.?

A blog post from Mozilla announcing the project describes the highly optimized JavaScript as something that ?supercharges a developer?s gaming code in the browser to enable visually compelling, fast, 3D gaming experiences on the Web.? The project is being developed along with game developer Epic, so it?s no surprise that Mozilla ported Epic?s Unreal Engine on Firefox to demo a game called Citadel?(shown in the video below). It took Epic a total of four days to tweak the gaming engine to work on Firefox. The demo will be available for download online, but the company didn?t mention whether it will commercially release the Unreal Engine for Firefox browsers in the future.?

Mozilla hasn?t only been building this for its desktop version of Firefox, it?s also planning to bring the technology over to the browser?s mobile version for iOS, Android, and of course, Firefox OS. That means you may soon be able to play Web-based 3D games ? along with your arsenal of app games ? on your phones and tablets. Good luck getting any work done!

In addition to Epic Games, Mozilla has also been working with EA, Disney, and?ZeptoLab to port games to Firefox browsers.?The features are expected to roll out bundled with a stable build sometime in June, so we?ll probably hear more about what games will be available from the get-go as the launch date approaches.?

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/mozilla-to-bring-3d-browser-games-to-firefox/

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Could Chuck Schumer Be Well-Set to Chair Senate Banking Committee?

Could the "senator from Wall Street" become the "chairman from Wall Street?"

It?s the question being asked from the corridors of the Capitol to the cobblestone alleyways of lower Manhattan in the wake of this week?s announcement that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is retiring.

Johnson?s departure frees up the gavel on the influential panel and sets off a chain of musical chairmanships that won?t be finalized until 2015. The two leading contenders for the influential Senate Banking Committee chairmanship are Sen. Chuck Schumer, Wall Street?s home-state senator, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, a progressive Ohio Democrat who has made it clear he wants to break up the nation?s biggest banks.

Schumer is above Brown in the Senate?s seniority pecking order, but he faces a tricky political calculus. Schumer doesn?t need the Banking gavel to raise big bucks from Wall Street ? he already tops the Senate at that ? and a serious policy committee could prove a time drain and distraction for a politician with his eye on the long-term goal of becoming majority leader. He already heads the Rules Committee.

On the other hand, the Banking perch could help thicken his legislative resume while tending to the interests of his own state?s important and influential financial sector.

?It?s a tough call. I?m not sure there?s a wrong answer,? said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist and former chief of staff to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

It?s no secret that the bank lobby would rather see a Chairman Schumer than a Chairman Brown. It?s not that Schumer is seen as an industry champion; Wall Street lobbyists still fault him for not doing more to help protect the financial-services sector during the debate over the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. But the banking industry sees Brown as a far worse alternative.

?It?s just a lesser of two evils thing,? said one financial-industry executive.

With so much that could alter the political landscape between now and the next Congress, Schumer is unlikely to make a decision soon. His office didn?t respond to requests for comment. The bank lobby is also keeping a low profile for now.

?There is nothing to be gained by going out and lobbying for something that is not going to happen for a year and a half,? said Brian Gardner, an analyst with the financial-research firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. ?To go back a horse right now and push for something that may never come to pass seems to me to be wildly premature.?

Whoever is selected as the next chairman, Gardner wrote in a research note to clients this week, is ?in our view, likely to be less bank-friendly than [Senator] Johnson.?

Brown is among the Senate?s most ardent critics of the banking sector. After the committee's confirmation hearing this month for Mary Jo White, President Obama's nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, Brown was the lone dissenting voice in a 21-1 vote to approve her. He also has taken the lead, along with Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in trying to limit the size of banks that are deemed ?too big to fail.?

With Johnson?s retirement, the most senior Democrat on the Banking Committee will be Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, but he?s widely expected to assume the open chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee in the next Congress. Schumer is next in line after him, followed by Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey (who already chairs Foreign Relations) and then Brown.

The debate about whether Schumer would benefit more, politically, by taking the Banking gavel or staying atop Rules came to a boil this week. The Senate Rules Committee chairmanship puts Schumer in the middle of the internal mechanics of the chamber. ?In terms of building relationships, strengthening relationships, it?s incredibly powerful,? said Kofinis. ?But [Schumer] already has all that.?

Looming in the distance is a potential leadership showdown between Schumer and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., whenever current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., decides to retire.

In that potential tussle, bankers would also prefer Schumer. Durbin has long had an adversarial relationship with the banking industry, siding with retailers over bankers in the fight over swipe fees and advocating for bankruptcy reforms to make it easier for consumers to discharge debt.

?We in the industry may not formally weigh in, but we would definitely be lobbying a little bit ? to try and push Schumer over Durbin, and it would all be quiet,? said one industry lobbyist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

There has been some talk that Schumer would be unable to keep his post as the Senate?s No. 3-ranking ?Democrat and lead the Banking panel, but a senior Democratic aide dismissed that argument, noting that Sen. Patty Murray chairs the Budget Committee and is also a member of the Senate leadership.

The top spot on the Senate Banking Committee historically is a plum post for a lawmaker looking to shake loose Wall Street campaign dollars. But the last time Schumer was on the ballot, in 2001, he raised more money from the finance, insurance, and real-estate industries ? $5.485 million all told ? than any other senator, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Schumer, who has a reputation first as a political operative and message-maker and second as a legislator, has worked hard this year to buff up his legislative credentials. The Banking chairmanship would give him a prominent post from which to legislate in 2015, though historic breakthroughs this year on immigration reform or gun safety?could render that need moot. Schumer is in the middle of negotiating both legislative packages.

The prime arguments against the New York senator taking the job are that it could be seen as a detour from his leadership aspirations, bogging him down in legislative arcana rather than big-picture national politics. It could also be awkward for Schumer to lead oversight of Wall Street, which has become more controversial and higher profile since the financial crisis, while still catering to an important constituency in his state.

?It can be an important perch for your constituents, but, on the other hand, as someone who tries to court the liberal base to the extent he can, that?s going to be a pretty delicate balancing act,? said a former Senate Democratic leadership aide.

Schumer could also appease the left wing of the Democratic Party by clearing the way for Brown to take the gavel. ?He could score a ton of points with the progressives by orchestrating Senator Brown taking that spot,? said Jaret Seiberg, a financial analyst with Washington Research Group.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-chuck-schumer-well-set-chair-senate-banking-105120481--politics.html

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Stranded In SF? Corral Rides Shows Uber, Lyft, Sidecar And Muni In One App

Super Awesome Party A has just ended, and you need to figure out how to get to Super Awesome Party B stat... and preferably by spending as little money as possible. So what do you do? Muni? Uber? Lyft? Sidecar? Hoof it? You could switch between half a dozen different apps and try to figure out which of the options is cheapest and fastest... Or you could just open Corral Rides.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_Hd2nGoA2H4/

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Big question mark over what Cyprus can do to escape crisis

One solution, a tax on bank accounts, prompted a major backlash among Cypriots. Another solution, a Russian bailout, hasn't emerged yet.

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / March 20, 2013

Customers of Bank of Cyprus use the ATM as the bank remains closed for the second day in central Athens on Wednesday.

Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

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Cyprus is today looking at a ?Plan B? to save itself from a catastrophic banking default, though it appears that hopes for an immediate loan from Moscow, explored by Cypriot officials today, will not be forthcoming.

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Lawmakers in Nicosia on Tuesday decided against a highly controversial proposed levy on private bank depositor holdings that would impose a nearly 10 percent ?levy? or ?tax? on private bank deposits in order to secure an EU? bailout.

The possibility of private bank accounts being targeted by a government brought enormous world attention in recent days.

The Los Angeles Times today called the tax an ?expropriation? of funds in a piece that warns the Cypriot situation could trigger a larger crisis for the euro.

Now Cyprus still needs to find some $8 billion or find itself in default. It would be the first eurozone member to do so. Cypriot banks are already closed and may remain so this week until a solution is found, causing at the minimum, anger among citizens.

The tiny island represents all of 0.2 percent of the mighty eurozone economy. But its need for a bailout and its personae as a huge offshore shelter for Russian oligarchs ? brings speculation that a default will act as a wrench tossed in the mechanism of the EU economy, just as talk of the ?eurocrisis? was quieting down.

Today a visit to Moscow by the Cypriot finance minister for a possible bailout of $2 billion to $8 billion, yielded no offers according to Reuters.?

Cypriot political and financial leaders are huddling in Nicosia the capital, even as banks in Cyprus may continue to stay closed in coming days, if no solution is found.

In Europe, the Austrian finance minister claimed that the European Central Bank, which has provided a steady supply of loans in recent years to continental banks to avoid their default, will not do so for Cyprus indefinitely.

The Federal Reserve in Washington said it was committed to continue providing further liquidity and stimulus rather than adopt the kind of financial austerity the EU has shown a preference for.?

As Reuters put its, "If anything, developments in Cyprus, where the announcement of a tax on bank deposits to help fund the country's bailout sent jitters through the global financial system, are likely to reinforce the resolve of?Fed officials?to bolster the US economy."

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman today?cites an exhaustive report by the Financial Times showing the dimensions of Cyprus as an offshore haven for Russians, and speculates the oligarchs will soon realize they don?t need Cyprus and can find shelters elsewhere.

At that point Cypriot officials will give up on the Russian business and, Krugman writes, ?a resolution will become much easier. But they?re not there yet.?

The Russian business link is known as ?round tripping?:

This link occurs through CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] commodity-based shell companies that deposit transactional balances of their CIS-based legal subsidiaries engaged in oil, mineral, and metals exports, often involving transfer pricing and other tax minimization strategies. The Central Bank of Russia classifies Cyprus as the largest single source of FDI in the Russian Federation, with a total of $41.7 billion in cumulative inbound FDI into Russia?s non-financial sector between 2007 and 2010 (over 2.7x German levels)? Cyprus is also counted among the top FDI investing nations in several Central Asian countries (likely Russian capital reinvested via Cyprus, a process known informally as ?round-tripping?).

Sony Kapoor of the Brussels based reform-minded think tank ReDefine writes that an alarmist response to the Cyprus crisis as causing the fall of the euro is over the top. Spain and Italy are not in the same grooves or orbits as Cyprus and apocalyptic runs on banks in those nations are unlikely.

Mr. Kapoor also suggests that a levy or tax on the deposits of those banking in Cyprus may in fact be a better answer than the effect of a default.

?the alternative of sovereign default?would have been much worse; it is impossible to imagine a safe banking system in a sovereign undergoing restructuring of debt. Remember how much capital Greek banks needed after it defaulted? In fact, Cyprus would probably not have needed a bailout if its banks had not incurred huge losses on holdings of Greek debt. Add to this the complication that half of Cyprus?s sovereign bonds are under foreign (English) law that makes a successful restructuring of sovereign debt much harder. Moreover, Cypriot banks hold large swathes of its sovereign bonds, so it would be further bankrupted by any sovereign restructuring.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/4i304D_agVw/Big-question-mark-over-what-Cyprus-can-do-to-escape-crisis

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The Transistor Desktop

Reader Raghken was so enamored with the teaser trailer for Supergiant Games' upcoming title, Transistor (you can read all about it over at Kotaku) that he built this week's featured desktop around it. Even if you're unfamiliar with the game, the wallpaper is gorgeous.

If you are familiar with the game (or familiar with Supergiant Games' previous hit game, Bastion, you'll want to keep an eye out for Transistor. It looks great. If you're not into video games, just appreciate the stylized cityscape wallpaper, and the way Raghken incorporated Rainmeter into it like it belongs there.

Here's how he did it, and what you'll need to make it your own:

• The wallpaper, an HD screencap from the Transistor teaser trailer
• The Julius Sans One font for the Rainmeter widgets and system text (the same font used in the trailer)
• Rainmeter, a system tweaking and monitoring tool for Windows
• The Simple Media theme for Rainmeter for the time and date display
• The Elementary theme for Rainmeter for the weather
• The Rainbow theme for the app launcher in the upper left
• The Muziko theme for Rainmeter for the "Now Playing" display

With those themes and the right font, you should have no trouble making this desktop your own, or just tweaking it so it fits better with your workflow. If you do run into issues though, stop by the original thread in our #featured-desktop forum to ask your questions, or check out our guide to Rainmeter for tips.

Do you have a good-looking, functional desktop that you want to see featured here? Submit it?along with where you got the wallpaper, skins, and geeklets?to us for review. We have two different ways you can share it with us:

Linux, Mac, Windows, all are welcome. Whatever you choose to use, include a description of how you made your desktop when you send it in. Without that, we can't tell others how to make it for themselves so they can be featured too!

Original Post via #featured-desktop

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Kj5EY66obkQ/the-transistor-desktop

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