Entertainment Headlines: American Idol, Elvis and Ali
by RomBox.com
CKX, Inc. owners of American Idol, Elvis Presley, Graceland, Muhammad Ali, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Woody Allen, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry and Carrie Underwood announced their director had resigned.
CKX, Inc. (Nasdaq: CKXE) and 19 Entertainment Limited announced today that last night’s Wednesday premiere of American Idol drew approximately 30.3 million viewers, retaining 100% of the Tuesday night audience for the first time in five years, and for the first time ever, surpassing the Tuesday night season premiere in the key 18-34 adult demographic. In addition, this is the first time in five years that American Idol’s Wednesday premiere has increased over its Tuesday debut in Adults 18-49. The Wednesday show was the highest rated telecast of the season on any net among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34.
No More Naked Hiking
Apparently some in Switzerland are not amused.
From
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,604273,00.html
“”We have do something to prevent this objectionable behavior before the weather gets warm again,”
Putin:”We are not invalids”
“We don’t need help. We are not invalids. We don’t have limited mental capacity.”
Loosely translated:
“Stop patronizing us, capitalist-imperialist pig man. Go away or I shall taunt you again.”
From:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/28/news/companies/dell.davos.fortune/index.htm
Security Update: White House’s Microsoft Outlook Email Outage
by The Membrane Domain
Full Article
Headline: The President gets to keep his Blackberry, but the White House can’t keep their Microsoft server running for email.
Federal Reserve’s Position on the Housing Crisis
The Federal Reserve continues to offer plans for owners of distressed real estate.
“The goal of the policy is to avoid preventable foreclosures on residential mortgage assets that are held, owned or controlled by a Federal Reserve Bank,” Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote in a letter Tuesday to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
Under the program, homeowners would be offered lowering the amount owed on the mortgage, reducing the interest rate or lengthening the term of the loan.
Interest Rates: Federal Reserve Auction Yields .25% Rate
by Widgette.com
On January 26, 2009, the Federal Reserve conducted an auction of $150 billion in 84-day credit through its Term Auction Facility. Following are the results of the auction:
Stop-out rate: 0.250 percent
Total propositions submitted: $136.051 billion
Total propositions accepted: $136.051 billion
Bid/cover ratio: 0.91
Number of bidders: 102
The awarded loans will settle on January 29, 2009, and will mature on April 23, 2009. The stop-out rate shown above will apply to all awarded loans.
Institutions that submitted winning bids will be contacted by their respective Reserve Banks by 11:30 a.m. EST on January 27, 2009. Participants have until 12:30 p.m. EST on January 27, 2009, to inform their local Reserve Bank of any error.
How low can interest rates go?
Real Estate: Toll Brothers Builders Offers 3.99% 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
The Philadelphia area builder Toll Brothers announced an in-house financing plan on the purchase of their new construction houses. The APR is 4.05% 30-year fixed for loan amounts up to $417,000. The rate can be locked in 270 days prior to your closing.
An Old Killer Strikes Anew
The malaria parasite finds new tricks. Artemisin is the best drug against malaria, extracted from the annual wormwood plant (Artemisia annua) known to the Chinese herbalist for a millennium or two. From the New York Times, we find that the malaria parasite is evolving resistance to artemisin. A resistant strain of the parasite has been found along the Thai-Cambodian border.
The full article may be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27malaria.html
Whitehouse Briefing: Auto Industry To Adhere To MPG Standards
SUBJECT: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
In 2007, the Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA). This law mandates that, as part of the Nation’s efforts to achieve energy independence, the Secretary of Transportation prescribe annual fuel economy increases for automobiles, beginning with model year 2011, resulting in a combined fuel economy fleet average of at least 35 miles per gallon by model year 2020. On May 2, 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking entitled Average Fuel Economy Standards, Passenger Cars and Light Trucks; Model Years 2011-2015, 73 Fed. Reg. 24352. In the notice and comment period, the NHTSA received numerous comments, some of them contending that certain aspects of the proposed rule, including appendices providing for preemption of State laws, were inconsistent with provisions of EISA and the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007).
Federal law requires that the final rule regarding fuel economy standards be adopted at least 18 months before the beginning of the model year (49 U.S.C. 32902(g)(2)). In order for the model year 2011 standards to meet this requirement, the NHTSA must publish the final rule in the Federal Register by March 30, 2009. To date, the NHTSA has not published a final rule.
Therefore, I request that:
(a) in order to comply with the EISA requirement that fuel economy increases begin with model year 2011, you take all measures consistent with law, and in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency, to publish in the Federal Register by March 30, 2009, a final rule prescribing increased fuel economy for model year 2011;
(b) before promulgating a final rule concerning model years after model year 2011, you consider the appropriate legal factors under the EISA, the comments filed in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the relevant technological and scientific considerations, and to the extent feasible, the forthcoming report by the National Academy of Sciences mandated under section 107 of EISA; and
(c) in adopting the final rules in paragraphs (a) and (b) above, you consider whether any provisions regarding preemption are consistent with the EISA, the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA and other relevant provisions of law and the policies underlying them.
This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
The Secretary of Transportation is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE, January 26, 2009
Stimulus For Who?
Texas Straight Talk – A weekly column
Congressman Ron Paul, TX – 14 (Jan 26, 2009)
This week the House is expected to pass an $825 billion economic stimulus package. In reality, this bill is just an escalation of a government-created economic mess. As before, a sense of urgency and impending doom is being used to extract mountains of money from Congress with minimal debate. So much for change. This is déjà vu. We are again being promised that its passage will help employment, help homeowners, help the environment, etc. These promises are worthless. This time around especially, Congress should know better than to pass anything of this magnitude without first reading the fine print. There a many red flags that I have found in this bill.
At least $4 billion is allocated to expanding the police state and the war on drugs through Byrne grants, which even the Bush administration opposed, and the COPS program, both of which are corrupt and largely ineffective programs.
To help Big Brother keep a better eye on us and our children, $20 billion would go towards health information technology, which would create a national system of electronic medical records without adequate privacy protection. These records would instead be subject to the misnamed federal “medical privacy” rule, which allows government and state-favored special interests to see medical records at will. An additional $250 million is allocated for states to nationalize individual student data, expanding Federal control of education and eroding privacy.
$79 billion bails out states that haphazardly expanded their budgets during the bubble years, but refuse to retrench and cut back, as their taxpayers have had to, during recession years.
$200 million expands Americorps. $100 million goes to “faith-and-community” based organizations for social services, which will further insinuate the government into charity and community service. Private charities are much more efficient and effective because they are directly accountable to donors, while public programs tend to get rewarded for failure. With its money, the Federal Government brings its incompetence and its whims, while creating foolish dependence. This is sad to see.
Of course the bill is rife with central planning projects. $4 billion for job training, much of which will be used to direct workers into “green jobs”. $200 million to “encourage” electric cars, $2 billion to support US manufacturers of advanced batteries and battery systems, which is yet another function of government I can’t find in the Constitution. Not to mention $500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects, $70 million for a Technology Innovation Program for “research in potentially revolutionary technologies” in which government, not supply and demand, will pick winners and losers. $746 million for afterschool snacks, $6.75 billion for the Department of Commerce, including $1 billion for a census.
This bill delivers an additional debt burden of $6,700 to every American man, woman and child.
There is a lot of stimulus and growth in this bill – that is, of government. Nothing in this bill stimulates the freedom and prosperity of the American people. Politician-directed spending is never as successful as market-driven investment. Instead of passing this bill, Congress should get out of the way by cutting taxes, cutting spending, and reining in the reckless monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.