 | ||||
 | ||||
 |  | |||
 |  |  | ||
 | ||||
 |  |  | ||
 |  |  | ||
*10% off coupon ends tonight at Midnight PST. Deep discounts on items above are only while supplies last, so hurry!
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/MyL6sH9ti4s/story01.htm
kyle orton best buy kohls coupons cyber monday deals 2011 cyber monday deals 2011 sugar bowl cybermonday deals
HONG KONG (Reuters) ? Apparel brand Gap Inc (GPS.N) said on Friday that it aims to triple its store network in China next year, one of the latest foreign brands to target the country's consumer spending growth.
Redmond Yeung, president of China for Gap, which competes with Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co Ltd (9983.T) and Esprit Holdings Ltd (0330.HK) in China, said the company aimed to operate 15 stores in the country by the end of the fiscal year to January, and to triple that number to 45 in fiscal 2012.
"The China market so far has far exceeded our expections," Yeung told reporters on the sidelines of the soft opening of its first store in Hong Kong.
"We are very happy with the results we have achieved in China. That is the reason for this store growth target and why investment in this area is increasing," he said.
Gap, which operates about 400 outlets in Asia, has eight stores in Shanghai and Beijing and plans to open outlets in Hangzhou and Tianjin before the end of this year.
"It is a big investment, but it is good as we control everything," Yeung said. "(China's) 12th five-year plan is very clear that retail business in China is going to grow and double in the next five years ... we would like to be part of that."
San Francisco-based Gap, which also operates Old Navy and Banana Republic brands and competes with Zara owner Inditex SA (ITX.MC) and Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMb.ST), was targeting China's growing middle class, Yeung said.
China's fashion market is expected to triple to more than 1.3 trillion yuan ($201.3 billion) in the next 10 years, driven by rising consumer affluence, Boston Consulting Group said in July.
Per capita spending among urban consumers was 1,150 yuan per year, roughly a fifth of the level in Britain and the United States, it said.
Foreign retailers have flocked to the booming China market, but fragmented distribution networks and the inability of some to localize their products has seen companies pull out, including Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) and Home Depot Inc (HD.N).
"Nothing is easy in China but everything is possible," said Yeung. "We are optimistic we can open a lot of stores ... We are committed to expanding in this market."
Concerns that luxury demand could wane hit the shares of some companies in September, but Burberry Plc (BRBY.L) and LVMH Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (LVMH.PA) have since released optimistic outlooks. Germany's Hugo Boss AG (BOSG_p.DE) had also revised up its sales targets.
Last week, Gap said it earned $193 million for the third quarter ended October 29, compared with $303 million last year.
(Editing by Chris Lewis)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/bs_nm/us_gap_china
badgers the killing fields the killing fields texas killing fields burzynski pete seeger gazelle
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.rssmicro.com/rss.web?q=Wedding
the brothers grimm penn state football weather boston grimm fairy tales grimm fairy tales gold rush gold rush
Traders Richard Cohen, left, and Lewis Vande-Pallen, right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, Nov. 21, 2011. Stocks are taking a sharp fall in early trading Monday amid reports that a congressional committee will fail to agree on a plan to cut the U.S. government's budget deficit.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders Richard Cohen, left, and Lewis Vande-Pallen, right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, Nov. 21, 2011. Stocks are taking a sharp fall in early trading Monday amid reports that a congressional committee will fail to agree on a plan to cut the U.S. government's budget deficit.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The worst week for the stock market in two months ended with a whimper in thin trading Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 4.8 percent this week, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.7 percent. Both had their worst weeks since Sept. 23.
Major indexes wavered throughout Friday's session, which was shortened because it's the day after Thanksgiving. Worries about Europe's debt crisis flared up again after Italy had to pay 7.8 percent to borrow for two years at a debt auction. It's another sign that investors are increasingly hesitant to lend to European countries.
The euro slipped to $1.32, losing 2 percent this week against the dollar. The drop puts the euro at its lowest level since Oct. 4.
Higher interest rates on government debt of Italy, Spain and other European countries have rattled stock markets in recent weeks. When borrowing costs climb above the 7 percent threshold, it deepens investor fears about a government's ability to manage its debts. Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to seek financial lifelines when their interest rates crossed the same mark.
The Dow fell 25.77 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 11,231.78. Of the Dow's 30 stocks, Chevron Corp. lost 1.6 percent Friday, the biggest drop. Travelers Cos. Inc. added 1.2 percent, the largest gain.
The S&P 500 lost 3.12 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,158.67. The Nasdaq composite dropped 18.57, or 0.8 percent, to close at 2,441.51.
Trading volume was 1.6 billion, less than half the daily average.
Markets were battered this week as governments in Europe and the U.S. struggle to tackle their debts. The Dow lost 248 points on Monday as a Congressional committee failed to reach a deal to cut federal budget deficits. It plunged 236 points Wednesday after investors balked at buying German government debt.
Retailers traded mixed on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season and usually the busiest day of the year for retailers. Amazon.com Inc. dropped 3.5 percent. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. inched up 0.4 percent.
A record number of people were expected to show up at stores this weekend to take advantage of deep discounts. The National Retail Federation estimates that 152 million people will go shopping over the three days starting on Friday. That would be an increase of 10 percent from last year.
AT&T's stock dipped less than 1 percent. The company said Thursday that it is budgeting to pay $4 billion in break-up fees if its attempted $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom falls apart.
Four stocks fell for every three that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
Associated Pressal sharpton izon heart attack grill gaddafi dead steve wynn lytro camera lytro camera
ANKARA, Turkey ? Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday signed a deal with Turkish state-run petroleum company, TPAO, to search for oil and gas offshore in the Mediterranean and onshore in Turkey's southeast region.
The deal allows the companies to search for oil and natural gas and to produce and share any discoveries. Offshore search efforts will concentrate off the Mediterranean coast of Antalya.
"God willing, we will reach important signs and with these signs ... TPAO, will reach gas and oil discoveries," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.
Turkey has recently carried out a seismic search for fuel sources in the Mediterranean in response to a Greek Cypriot search, which Turkey opposes on the ground that it undermines the rights of Turkish Cypriots.
U.S. firm Noble Energy has said that exploratory drilling off the coast of Cyprus may yield between 3 to 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Turkey and Greece also have long-running disputes over delineating the Mediterranean and Aegean seas for exploration.
Taner said however, the deal signed Wednesday was "technical work far from any political speculation."
"We hope that (the deal) will be beneficial to both our country and to Shell," Yildiz said.
homeland homeland andy rooney 60 minutes andre johnson andre johnson arrested development arrested development
Last year, we wrote about email software company Xobni's survey that showed that going completely offline from email over the holidays is a thing of the past. And this year's survey from Xobni reports that even more adults will be checking email over the holidays. According to the survey 79 percent of U.S. working adults have received work-related emails on the holidays; and 68 percent plan to check emails during Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/B1BPt9uAwHs/
50/50 50/50 dreamhouse pan am susan g komen whats your number whats your number
Looking to match your Black Friday with a similarly noir games console? You're in luck. Nintendo has confirmed what we saw on promo literature last week, with a 3DS bundle that includes a special edition (possibly Hyrulean-crafted) console and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. Nintendo says the bundle, arriving alongside a similar Flame Red iteration with Super Mario 3D Land, can be snapped up for $200. However, bargain hunters should be able to sniff out some cheaper deals come Friday.
Continue reading Nintendo gives thanks to gamers with special edition Zelda 3DS bundle
Nintendo gives thanks to gamers with special edition Zelda 3DS bundle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink
Joystiq | | Email this | Comments
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/pN2XhmJZcX0/
drake take care tracklist drake take care tracklist dr murray trial herman cain take care drake cain accuser real housewives of atlanta
A survey, using innovative technology, has offered an insight into people's showering habits.
The average shower lasted eight minutes - much longer than previous studies suggested, using almost as much water and energy as the average bath.
The information was compiled from "data loggers" that recorded 2,600 showers by 100 families over a 10-day period.
The survey was carried out by producer Unilever, which wanted to find out how people were using their products.
According to the data, an eight-minute shower used 62 litres of hot water, compared with an average bath's 80 litres.
And, it suggested, that if people were using a power shower - an appliance that adds extra pressure to the water flow - then an eight-minute shower would require twice as much water and energy as a bath.
Hilde Hendrickx, a behavioural scientist in Unilever's R&D department, said that the company decided to carry out the survey because "quite a large proportion of our (products') environmental impact occurred when people used them".
Referring to shower and bath products, she added: "We know that 95% of the associated greenhouse gas emissions are related to people [using] our products because they have to use hot water."
Coming cleanPreviously, data on showering behaviour had been collated by asking households to complete questionnaires. But this approach had a number of drawbacks, Dr Hendrickx explained.
"The problem with that is that people do not often have a very good insight into their behaviour because it is a habit and they may not be very aware of what they are actually doing," she told BBC News.
"When it comes to time perception, most people are not very good at estimating at how long it took them to do a particular activity."
Hence the need to find a different way to record it, she said, but the challenge was getting reliable data on a private activity.
"People would not take too kindly to someone standing next to them with a clipboard."
In order to overcome this, the company's R&D department developed a data logger that they called a "shower sensor".
"It is based on acoustics and temperature, so it basically picks up the noise of the water as it runs through the pipe," Dr Hendrickx explained. "It also picks up the change in temperature."
She added that by using algorithms, researchers were able to extract the necessary information about people's showering behaviour from the raw data.
The findings, she said, challenged some long-standing assumptions, such as people showered, on average, for five minutes.
'Fascinating peek'Paula Owen, an independent environmental consultant, said the survey gave a "fascinating peek into the bathroom-related habits of the British public".
"Most people have now got the message that, generally, taking a shower is more environmentally friendly than a bath, but what this research shows is this is not necessarily the case," she told BBC News.
Dr Owen, who produced "eco action trump" cards to help people understand the environmental and economic impact of everyday activities, said that she recommended that people took four-minute showers.
"Unfortunately it seems that message is not getting through," she said.
"The results here show that the average time spent in a shower is double that. This wastes not only water, but also the energy needed for heating the water too.
"People always consider the running costs of cars and phones, but no-one considers the running costs of everyday appliances such as showers, washing machines and TVs."
The survey suggested that taking eight-minutes showers would cost an average UK family ?416 a year; using a power shower would see the annual bill soar to ?918.
But Dr Owen said there were a number of options available to people who wanted to cut their water and energy bills.
"Water companies often give away timers that help you limit your time in the shower and attachments are available to fix to your shower head that will reduce the flow but not the bathing experience," she explained.
"If you are partial to singing in the shower, pick a short pop classic to shower to; and when lathering up think about turning the flow off until you are ready to rinse."
Dr Hendrickx acknowledged that the survey was not representative of the entire nation, but added that there were plans to conduct more surveys in the future.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-15836433
sexiest man alive kentucky basketball heather locklear bob costas krzyzewski patti labelle childish gambino
LOS ANGELES ? Two routines stand between the three "Dancing With the Stars" finalists and the show's disco-ball trophy.
Reality star Rob Kardashian, TV personality Ricki Lake and actor and Army veteran J.R. Martinez will each perform two numbers on Monday's final dance-off. A new champion will be named Tuesday.
Lake and professional partner Derek Hough have been front-runners throughout the season, consistently earning high marks from the judges. Martinez and partner Karina Smirnoff have also ranked high with the judges, occasionally topping the leaderboard. Kardashian has steadily improved under the instruction of partner Cheryl Burke, and the pair finished in second place during the show's semifinal competition.
Judges' scores combined with viewer votes determine which contestant is dismissed each week. The star with the highest combined total will win the "Dancing" crown.
___
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.
___
Online:
http://abc.go.com/
reno wildfire osu osu reno news syracuse denver broncos shonn greene
This image from video footage released by Students For A Free Tibet via APTN purports to show Buddhist nun Palden Choetso engulfed in flames in her self-immolation protest against Chinese rule on a street in Tawu, Tibetan Ganzi prefecture, in China's Sichuan Province Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Students For A Free Tibet via APTN)
This image from video footage released by Students For A Free Tibet via APTN purports to show Buddhist nun Palden Choetso engulfed in flames in her self-immolation protest against Chinese rule on a street in Tawu, Tibetan Ganzi prefecture, in China's Sichuan Province Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Students For A Free Tibet via APTN)
This image from video footage released by Students For A Free Tibet via APTN purports to show mourners gathering at Tawu Nyitso Monastery for a candlelight vigil to pay their respects to Buddhist nun Palden Choetso who set herself on fire in a self-immolation protest against Chinese rule in Tawu, Tibetan Ganzi prefecture, in China's Sichuan Province, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Students For A Free Tibet via APTN)
BEIJING (AP) ? A Tibetan rights group has released graphic video of what it says is a Buddhist nun engulfed in flames on a city street in one of several apparent self-immolation protests against Chinese rule.
The video, released Monday by Students for a Free Tibet, purports to show Palden Choetso, whose death on Nov. 3 in predominantly Tibetan Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province had previously been reported.
The video shows a woman in nun's robes standing on a street corner covered in bright red flames. She collapses to the ground after about 15 seconds.
Additional footage shows about 10,000 mourners gathering at a monastery for a candlelight vigil on Nov. 6 to pay their respects to the 35-year-old nun while about 1,000 monks and nuns hold prayers inside.
The video also shows Chinese security forces in riot gear shadowing monks and nuns taking part in a protest march, and a column of armored paramilitary police patrol vehicles traveling down a country road. The New York-based Students of a Free Tibet said it obtained the video from sources in the region.
China restricts journalists' access to Tibetan areas of western China and to Tibet itself, and it is nearly impossible to verify statements about conditions there.
At least 11 monks, nuns, and former monks have self-immolated this year in what are seen as acts of desperation in the face of tightening controls over Tibetan life and Buddhist culture.
Most ignited the flames while calling for Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
China claims Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries.
Authorities routinely deny Tibetan claims of repression, although they have confirmed some cases of self-immolations and accused supporters of the Dalai Lama of encouraging such acts. The Dalai Lama and representatives of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India say they oppose all violence.
Associated Presstemple grandin texas rangers marie osmond st louis cardinals josh hamilton beavis and butthead cardinals
TRIPOLI, Libya ? Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, considered Moammar Gadhafi's heir apparent, long drew Western favor by touting himself as a liberalizing reformer but then staunchly backed his father in his brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days.
Moammar Gadhafi's second son, 39, went underground as Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces in late August and his whereabouts remained unknown even after Gadhafi was captured and killed by revolutionary forces on Oct. 20.
But on Saturday, the National Transitional Council's justice minister, Mohammed al-Alagi, told The Associated Press that Seif al-Islam had been captured deep in Libya's desert Friday night by revolutionary forces from the western mountain town of Zintan who had been tracking him for days.
The International Criminal Court has charged Seif al-Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on dissent as the uprising against the regime began in mid-February and escalated into a civil war. Gadhafi also had been charged.
Seif al-Islam always stood apart from his siblings, who were better known for their antics and eccentricities than their achievements.
Educated in Britain and fluent in English, Seif al-Islam found favor among prominent Western intellectuals, exhibited his paintings at galleries around the world, and won plaudits from world leaders and rights campaigners with talk of democracy and development.
He was long touted as Gadhafi's heir apparent and the man who would modernize and reform the country, but that position was always far from certain, and he faced fierce resistance from hard-liners in the regime as well as his younger brother, Muatassim, who served as national security adviser.
Muatassim was also killed on Oct. 20, according to officials of the transitional government. Killed earlier in the civil war were younger brothers Seif al-Arab and Khamis. Gadhafi's other son, al-Saadi, fled to Niger in September, where the government has said it is treating him as a refugee. Their mother, Safiya, and sister Aisha fled to neighboring Algeria.
Seif al-Islam presented a dapper image to the West, with his shaved head and fashionable glasses. He pushed for modernization in a country crippled by decades of his father's idiosyncratic regime, and advocated normalizing Libya's long-strained relations with the West. In a 2008 interview with The Associated Press, he even spoke of moving Libya from one-man rule to a constitutional democracy.
But in the end, Seif al-Islam was indeed his father's son.
In a televised address five days after anti-government protests broke out in the eastern city of Benghazi as part of the wider Arab Spring uprising, a haggard-looking Seif al-Islam warned of "rivers of blood" if demonstrators refused to accept government offers of reform.
"We will fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet," he said. "We will not lose Libya."
The rambling, 40-minute speech marked Seif al-Islam's transformation from the man long viewed as the best hope for reforming his father's regime into a fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who played an active role in France's early support for the Libyan rebels, alleged that Seif al-Islam was at least as much to blame for past atrocities against Libyans as his father.
"His arrest is a real important moment. It's the real end of this war," Levy said during an interview in London.
Born in 1972, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi was the oldest of seven children of Moammar and Safiya Gadhafi. He had one older half brother, Mohammed.
He earned an engineering degree in Libya and a business degree in Austria before wrapping up his education with a master's degree and doctorate at the London School of Economics in 2008.
His engagement in Libyan politics began in the 1990s, when he became the president of the Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations. The organization has acted as an intermediary in several disputes and helped lead to a rapprochement between the Libya and the international community after years as a pariah.
Seif al-Islam often acted as an envoy for his father's regime, and in 2002 and 2003 helped broker the agreement that saw Libya renounce its weapons of mass destruction program and begin its journey back into the international fold.
He lobbied militants to release hostages, funded research at the London School of Economics, welcomed world leaders and Western intellectuals to his country and portrayed himself as a champion of economic and social reforms.
In 2009, he aided talks in Britain that eventually secured the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
But his public role cost him at home, and in his rivalry with Muatassim to succeed their father.
A 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable released by the website WikiLeaks said that Seif al-Islam's "high-profile role as the public face of the regime to the West has been a mixed blessing for him. While it has bolstered his image ... many Libyans view him as self-aggrandizing and too eager to please foreigners at the expense of Libyans' interest."
___
Lucas reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Meera Selva contributed to this report from London.
spear of destiny rock hill sc kate middleton pregnant national book awards jessica sutta houston astros matt barnes
"I don't know how the judges scored the last round. It could have been or should have been a 10-8 round. But that doesn't take anything away from Dan Henderson. He is a legend and those are the type of fights that create a legacy," said Rua.
Rua is looking forward to seeing a replay of the fight.
"I'm going to rest with my family now and take care of myself. Then I'm going to go back and look at the tapes. I want a rematch and I think this would be another great battle and one the fans would definitely want to see," said Rua.
FightMetric backed up Rua. The Brazilian outlanded Henderson 26-0 in significant strikes over the final minutes and 79-8 overall in the fifth.
John Morgan, 2009 MMA Journalist of the Year, scored it a draw as did Adam Hill from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto scored it 48-46 for Rua.
Will Angland at Bleacher Report wrote a strong piece saying Rua was robbed.
psat brenda song mountain west mountain west rickross rickross uganda
chilis snow white and the huntsman snow white and the huntsman philip rivers chanukah chanukah 11 11 11 meaning
NEW YORK ? The Republican Party and the tea party seemed to be a natural political pairing. But what may have seemed like another politically beneficial alliance ? Democrats and Occupy Wall Street ? hasn't happened.
Although both Democrats and the Occupy protesters have similar views on economic inequality and corporate responsibility, each holds the other at arm's length. There's little benefit to Democrats in opening their arms wide to a scruffy group that has erupted in violence, defied police and shown evidence of drug use while camping in public parks across the country ? much as the prospect of such a pairing delights Republicans.
Many protesters, in turn, are contemptuous of Democrats, arguing that both political parties are equally beholden to corporate interests and responsible for enacting policies that have hurt the middle class.
Both sides may be missing an opportunity. Polling shows the public supports the message of the Occupy Wall Street movement even if people have reservations about the encampments themselves. And political observers say Democrats may be missing a chance to reinvigorate their base.
"It's injecting energy and life into progressive ideas and values, and it's showing some weak-kneed Democrats they should be more aggressive on those issues," Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic strategist and longtime labor leader, said. "I don't think it will translate into boots on the ground or a clear organization for the 2012 election, but it will definitely help shape the debate."
Occupy Wall Street hasn't been easy for risk-averse elected officials to endorse.
The movement has lacked leadership and a clear focus, and illegal behavior has turned off some politicians. Mayors, citing concerns over sanitation and public safety, have begun to crack down on the encampments, and police in riot gear have cleared protesters from several cities, including New York, Portland, Ore., and Oakland, Calif.
Republicans have largely dismissed the Occupy Wall Street as a band of anti-capitalist ruffians, while trying to goad Democrats into embracing the movement or answering for its excesses.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has called the movement dangerous class warfare, while Michele Bachmann called the protesters "ignorant" and "disrespectful."
So far, Democrats have tried to have it both ways ? embracing the movement's economic concerns while steering clear of its rougher edges.
"I think people feel separated from their government," President Barack Obama told ABC News. "They feel that their institutions are not looking out for them." The president has said his jobs plan, which would boost taxes on high earners, is a way to address some of the protesters' concerns.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has gone a step further, posting a petition, "100,000 Strong Standing With Occupy Wall Street," that blames Republican policies for the nation's economic discontent.
But many Occupy Wall Street activists say they are disillusioned with Obama and have no interest in helping him or other Democratic candidates.
"The Occupy movement is rooted in the idea that the political system is broken to such a degree that we can no longer work through the Republican or Democratic parties," Tim Franzen, a spokesman for Occupy Atlanta, said.
"This is not about politics. This is about people," said Marsha Spencer, an Occupy volunteer in New York. "We've lost our government. It's not by the people, for the people anymore. We need to get it back, and we don't need a political party to do that."
Such talk has frustrated some Democratic leaders, who say engaging electoral politics would make the Occupy Wall Street movement more effective.
"I want them to get up and start registering voters, start playing towards the 2012 election," former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said at a seminar at Harvard University last week. "Not just the presidential, but congressional and Senate elections and state legislative elections. That's where they can make real change."
At least one candidate seems to be channeling the energy of the Occupy Wall Street movement: Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor challenging Republican Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
Warren's campaign has drawn national attention after she described how the rich should pay more in taxes since they had benefited the most from government policies. Warren later claimed to have laid the "intellectual foundation" for the Occupy movement but stressed that protesters need to obey the law.
While Warren's campaign has drawn intense grass-roots enthusiasm ? an estimated 1,000 people jammed a volunteer meeting in Boston on Sunday ? Republicans are eager to turn her ties to the Occupy movement against her.
Crossroads GPS, a Republican super PAC with ties to former George W. Bush political director Karl Rove, released a television ad in Massachusetts linking Warren to rowdy Occupy protests. The group also called on Warren to "condemn the Occupy Wall Street movement for the escalating criminality, violence and extreme radicalization."
For their part, Republicans recognized an electoral ally in the tea party movement soon after its inception in early 2009, when activists began protesting government spending and the federal bank bailouts.
While many tea party members claimed to be nonpartisan, they were mostly white, older and Republican-leaning and shared the GOP's goal of limiting government and cutting spending. Obama was the poster child for the opposite view. Tea party activists helped drive many of the angry congressional town hall meetings protesting Obama's health care overhaul, and the sweeping Republican victories in the 2010 midterm elections were fueled in large party by tea party enthusiasm.
While the Occupy movement has not had similar tangible goals, activists say it has already had an impact on the political dialogue.
Labor leaders say the movement's message of economic inequality was a factor in Ohio, where voters overwhelmingly repealed a law curtailing public employees' right to collective bargaining. And some are crediting the movement with successfully pressuring Bank of America to drop its plan to charge customers a $5 monthly fee to use their bank cards.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced legislation last week to prevent banks from circumventing state-level caps on interest rates. In an interview with The Associated Press, Whitehouse credited the Occupy movement for renewing public focus on banking practices.
"I'm hoping we can take advantage of some of that interest and energy in this," Whitehouse said.
Karin Hofmann, an Occupy activist in New York, said she was sure Obama's decision to delay approval of the controversial Keystone oil pipeline was a reaction to the Occupy movement.
"We've changed the whole conversation. It's been a paradigm shift," she said.
___
Associated Press writers Erika Niedowski in Providence, R.I., and Leonard Pallats in Atlanta contributed to this report.
ipod nano watch dancing with the stars elimination dancing with the stars elimination nexus prime nexus prime new iphone new iphone
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Olympus Corp's biggest shareholder, Nippon Life Insurance, has reduced its stake in the 92-year-old Japanese firm but said on Thursday that it would keep supporting the company, now battling to survive a massive accounting scandal.
Camera and medical equipment maker Olympus is being investigated by police, prosecutors and regulators after admitting this month to hiding investment losses for decades and using payments linked to acquisitions to aid the cover-up.
Nippon Life, which cut its holding to 5.11 percent from 8.18 percent, said it had done so due to uncertainties surrounding the company but would still back the firm.
"Our basic stance is that we will continue to support Olympus due to the company's high technological strength in its core business and because it is in the public's interest," said Akira Tsuzuki, an official at Nippon Life.
Olympus, which employs nearly 40,000 people, is the global leader in endoscopes and its optical technology may have defense applications.
Olympus may sell assets to help pay down $3.4 billion in debt under a plan aimed at keeping the support of its banks, the Nikkei business daily said. Their backing is vital because the firm is relatively highly geared and is expected to have to make some hefty writedowns after its accounts are put straight.
The once-proud company put forward the debt-reduction proposal at a meeting with creditors on Wednesday, offering to cut its debt by about 260 billion yen ($3.4 billion) over the next three years, the Nikkei said.
The paper quoted a senior banker as saying Olympus did not face any imminent cash crunch.
DUBIOUS PAYMENTS
The dubious M&A payments included a huge $687 million fee paid to obscure financial advisers for Olympus's $2.2 billion purchase of British medical equipment firm Gyrus in 2008. The fee is the world's biggest, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Share in Olympus, which has lost about 70 percent of its market value since the scandal broke last month, jumped on Thursday, surging as much as 18 percent in heavy trade.
Investors are betting that the firm will escape a delisting, although executives deemed responsible for the scandal may well face criminal charges.
Fumiyuki Nakanishi, strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, said banks were major shareholders as well as lenders to Olympus and none of them would benefit from a delisting, which would effectively cut the firm off from equity capital markets.
"The big shareholders of Olympus are the banks. They're the ones that are going to suffer if Olympus shares turn into scrap paper," said Nakanishi, noting Olympus still needed to meet a December deadline for publishing its half-year accounts.
"If Olympus does hand in its results by December 14 and there are no further uncertainties, the stock will continue its climb on a view that it will not be taken off the Nikkei 225 or be delisted."
TO DELIST, OR NOT?
The Tokyo Stock Exchange has put Olympus on a watchlist as a possible prelude to delisting.
If the firm does not meet the December 14 deadline, it would be automatically delisted. The bourse can still delist its shares depending on the scope of the misstatements. But a securities watchdog source has said it might recommend that the company be fined, a move that could decrease the risk of delisting.
"Institutions and funds are selling their holdings of Olympus, but as long as the company looks as if it might avoid delisting, hedge funds and speculator traders will keep buying it back, looking for short-term gains," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.
But, he added, "the rising trend could turn around quickly" if the company began to look like it might miss the deadline.
In a sign Olympus expects its core businesses to keep ticking over, the company showed creditors a tentative operating profit forecast of 35.6 billion yen for the year to March 2012, the Nikkei said. That would be significantly lower than a previous forecast of 50 billion yen announced in August, but about flat on the figure it announced for last year.
Some experts say, though, that it may be difficult to prevent delisting, given past precedents and the Tokyo exchange's rules, which state that a firm will be delisted if it has made "false statements" in its annual or half-year reports and those falsehoods would have a material impact on the shares.
Olympus has told its creditors that its acquisition costs for Gyrus were overstated by 33.4 billion yen ($434 million) at the end of fiscal 2010, the Nikkei said, though an independent panel commissioned by Olympus was still probing the matter.
If this were the only writedown, such an amount would put a big dent in the company's equity but not destroy it.
At Wednesday's meeting, which involved about 100 bankers, two major creditors, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), said they would continue to support the firm, multiple sources told Reuters.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is the core banking unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and BTMU is the main unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Olympus' interest-bearing debts stood at about 650 billion yen ($8.45 billion) on a consolidated basis as of end-March. SMFG and BTMU have total loans of over 400 billion yen to the firm, which also borrowed about 100 billion yen in syndicated loans, according to banking sources.
($1 = 76.950 Japanese Yen)
(Additional reporting by Mari Saito, Yoko Kubota, Lisa Twaronite and Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
gene simmons my bloody valentine mario manningham mario manningham holes houston texans houston texans
SANTA ANA, Calif (Reuters) ? A plan to sell Crystal Cathedral, a California mega-church known for its "Hour of Power" broadcasts, to a Roman Catholic diocese for $57.5 million was approved on Thursday by a U.S. bankruptcy judge.
Losing out in a bankruptcy bidding war for the towering 31-year-old church, famed for its 10,000 panes of glass, was a Protestant-affiliated university that offered more money but whose proposal was deemed less favorable for other reasons.
U.S. District Judge Robert Kwan ultimately ruled that the diocese had the best plan for paying off the ministry's entire projected debt, including an annual annuity of roughly $300,000 for its founder, retired televangelist Robert Schuller.
Announcement of the decision capped 14 hours of hearings spanning two days.
Located in the Orange County city of Garden Grove, about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the ministry filed for Chapter 11 protection in October after falling $50 million in debt.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange envisions eventually using the cathedral as a new place of worship for its 1.2 million congregants, but would give the existing Protestant congregation three years to move, court papers said.
Schuller's daughter, Carol Milner, told Reuters the diocese provided the best bid because it would allow for religious services to continue at the site indefinitely, even if it meant the current congregation would have to relocate.
"I don't think it's quite hit me," Milner said in tears, after the ruling. "I'm relieved to know that for decades and centuries the sanctuary will be a sacred place, a place where I can pray and sit down on a bench."
Chapman University, whose proposal initially was considered the preferred bid, had offered to lease back the property to the Crystal Cathedral ministry for 20 years. But Milner said she learned that the school planned in the long run to convert the landmark building into a theater.
Moreover, Milner said, Crystal Cathedral ministry bylaws required any potential buyer of the site to be a religious institution, a stumbling block for Chapman despite its affiliation with the Disciples of Christ denomination.
The bankruptcy marked a sharp blow to a congregation that got its start in 1955 when Schuller and his wife, Arvella, began holding services in a rented drive-in theater.
Schuller went on to become an internationally known televangelist through his "Hour of Power" broadcasts before retiring as senior pastor in 2006.
Testimony during the bankruptcy court proceeding revealed that 70 percent of the church's revenue comes from those "Hour of Power" broadcasts, which continue.
The judge said he expects the sale to be finalized by the end of the year.
Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange attended Thursday's court hearing and called the outcome "bittersweet."
"I have the deepest regret and sympathy for the Crystal Cathedral that they had to take this legal action," he said.
Crystal Cathedral's senior pastor, Sheila Schuller Coleman, who now heads the congregation, said that even though her church's board decided to accept the diocese's offer, she still holds out hope for a "miracle" to keep the cathedral.
"If it's God's will for us to move, we believe it will be where He needs us most," she said in a statement. "It does not mean that our ministry will be diminished."
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Steve Gorman and Cynthia Johnston)
facebook news boardwalk empire torrey smith torrey smith packers bears boeing 787 johnny appleseed
New York ? Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann give the controversial Bush-era interrogation technique a thumbs up ? and liberals gasp in horror
During Saturday's GOP presidential debate, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann revived one of the most spirited arguments over the war on terrorism by promising to revive the Bush administration policy of waterboarding terrorism suspects to get them to talk. Sen. John McCain, the GOP's 2008 nominee and a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, said he was "very disappointed" to hear candidates advocating the use of simulated drowning, which both McCain and his former rival?President Obama flatly called "torture." Is it a bad move to embrace a policy that has been at the root of some of the most damning criticism of George W. Bush's presidency?
This made the whole GOP field look bad: "There is no reasonable argument that waterboarding is not torture" ? we prosecuted Japanese officials for doing it in World War II, says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. Plus, "there's plenty of evidence that it doesn't work at all." The fact that so many candidates are still for it ? Rick Perry likes waterboarding, too ? makes it appear that the entire GOP presidential field has "gone off the rails."
"Republicans for waterboarding"
Liberals are just trying to make Republicans sound crazy: The GOP candidates know waterboarding is controversial, says Ken Shepherd at News Busters. They just disagree with President Obama, and view simulated drowning as a legitimate enhanced interrogation technique in certain, limited cases. But instead of simply reporting the news, the pro-Obama, liberal media is trying to use this difference of opinion "to attack the Republican presidential field as insane."
"New MSNBC host Wagner: Pro-waterboarding GOP candidates building 'house of crazy'"
Unfortunately, conservative voters lap this up: "That there's still even 'debate' over whether the United States should engage in torture is a national embarrassment," says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. But in the post-Cheney GOP, "it's become practically a party norm to support torture techniques that America used to consider unthinkable." Sadly, pledging to revive waterboarding makes you sound presidential to GOP voters, not crazy.
"Republicans return to the torture 'debate'"
View this article on TheWeek.com
Get 4 Free Issues of The Week
Other stories from this topic:
Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newslettermeteor shower tonight district 9 district 9 pandaria pandaria artie lange baby lisa irwin
NEW YORK ? Chelsea Clinton began work at NBC News on Monday, the second daughter of a former president at the network.
NBC said it had hired the 31-year-old Clinton to work on projects for "NBC Nightly News" and Brian Williams' newsmagazine, "Rock Center." She will report stories for the feel-good "Making a Difference" series.
The only child of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is pursuing a doctorate at Oxford and working for the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative.
Former President George W. Bush's daughter Jenna Bush Hager does stories for the "Today" show.
NBC said Chelsea Clinton wasn't available for an interview, but issued a statement: "People who imagine and implement solutions to challenges in their own lives, in their communities, in our country and in our world have always inspired me."
Recent "Making a Difference" stories highlighted a 7-year-old boy raising money for a friend with cancer by racing go-karts, a marathon runner raising money for his mother who suffers from Parkinson's disease and rock star Bon Jovi opening a restaurant where people who cannot pay for meals can do volunteer work to earn food.
Besides Clinton and Hager, NBC News also has just hired Meghan McCain, author of "Dirty Sexy Politics" and daughter of 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain. She will be an analyst for MSNBC.
NBC News President Steve Capus was not available for an interview, the network said Monday. He told The New York Times that he was approached this summer through an intermediary about Chelsea Clinton and asked her in for a meeting.
"Given her vast experiences, it's as though Chelsea has been preparing for this opportunity her entire adult life," Capus said in a statement Monday.
Star power can be attractive to a news network, although it has pitfalls. ABC News was criticized a decade ago for airing an interview with President Clinton conducted by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. NBC notes that Chelsea Clinton will be reporting features, not breaking news, for the network.
The hiring also raises the question of whether that may give NBC News an edge in getting future stories involving her parents, or at least the appearance of one. Jenna Bush Hager's father gave his first post-presidency interview to NBC's Matt Lauer.
___
NBC is owned by NBC Universal.
josh hamilton beavis and butthead cardinals jennifer nicole lee jennifer nicole lee chris harris peter schiff
'Jack and Jill' and 'J. Edgar' make the top 5, as does the irrepressible 'Puss in Boots.'
By Ryan J. Downey
Henry Cavill in "Immortals"
Photo: Relativity Media
The folks at Relativity Media must be feeling as powerful as Olympian warriors.
The small distributor celebrated its biggest movie debut ever over the weekend as "Immortals" topped the box office with a better-than-expected $32 million. With future Superman Henry Cavill leading the cast, the 3-D epic set in ancient Greece successfully fended off the latest new releases from Adam Sandler and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sandler's "Jack and Jill," in which the comedian plays dual roles as a twin brother and sister, was #2 with a $26 million debut. The film's opening was less than that of his "Just Go With It" from earlier this year and most Sandler comedies in general. The broad comedy had a reported $79 million production budget. The "Jack and Jill" opening weekend number was barely enough to beat last weekend's #1 movie, "Puss in Boots," which was #3 this weekend with $25.5 million for a $108.8 million total.
DiCaprio's "J. Edgar" opened at #5 with $11.5 million. The Clint Eastwood-directed biopic played on significantly fewer screens than "Immortals" or "Jack and Jill." None of the weekend's new wide releases have been well-received by film critics, with "Jack and Jill" suffering the worst fate of the three. The film sat with a paltry 3 percent on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer at press time.
"Tower Heist" dropped 49 percent in ticket sales during its second weekend of release, landing at #4. The caper comedy was directed by Brett Ratner, who made headlines last week when he stepped away from producing the 2012 Academy Awards broadcast following his use of a distasteful homophobic slur at a "Tower Heist" Q&A. "Tower Heist" star Eddie Murphy also stepped down as Oscar host shortly thereafter. The caper comedy made $13.2 million over the weekend for a $43.9 million total.
Filmmaker Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" earned $265,000 in just 19 locations. The dark and fantastical film has enjoyed impressive reviews from film critics (with Kirsten Dunst's performance figuring prominently) and had been available on iTunes for some time already.
Next weekend's new releases include director Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," with George Clooney in a role that has already generated Oscar buzz, and a little movie called "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."
Check out everything we've got on "Immortals" and "J. Edgar."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674287/immortals-jack-and-jill-box-office-sales.jhtml
bieber baby justin beiber dia de los muertos dia de los muertos david arquette lionfish lionfish
NEW YORK ? The sound of insistent drumming bounces off the sides of nearby office towers announcing the location of the Occupy Wall Street home base long before its inhabitants are otherwise seen or heard.
Turn a corner in Zuccotti Park and you're likely to run into a drum circle or find someone strumming a guitar. Maybe it's an amateur trying to keep spirits up, or it could be the real deal ? recording artists such as David Crosby and Graham Nash.
Music and musicians are woven into the fabric of the Occupy Wall Street protest, much as they were in movements, confrontations and protests of the past, from the American Revolution to slavery to the Civil War, suffrage movement, labor movement, civil rights movement and Vietnam War. But no defining anthem such as "We Shall Overcome" or "Which Side Are You On" has yet emerged for the protesters who have taken on corporate America.
"Every successful progressive social movement has a great soundtrack. The soundtrack (for Occupy Wall Street) is just as democratic and grass roots as the movement," said singer Tom Morello, who was given an MTV online music award for his performance of "The Fabled City" at Zuccotti Park last month. A clip of the performance has spread widely online.
Morello, who performs solo as The Nightwatchman and was a member of Rage Against the Machine, has also brought his guitar and sung at Occupy demonstrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Nottingham and Newcastle, England. Just before midnight Wednesday, he performed near a darkened kitchen area at a demonstration in London.
He has also volunteered to contribute to an album of protest songs that Occupy Wall Street is putting together as a fundraiser this winter.
If Occupy Wall Street has no anthem yet, it's partly due to how a new generation experiences music: through personalized iPod playlists streaming through headphones instead of communal singalongs.
True to a movement that claims to speak for the 99 percent of Americans who aren't super-rich, Occupy Wall Street embraces many forms of expression. Musicians across several generations and styles have given their support.
"The more the merrier as long as you're going to bring in positive vibrations for the movement," said Kanaska Carter, a singer-songwriter who traveled from her home in Canada to camp out at Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan near Wall Street. She helped arrange Morello's appearance and is shown in the video clip of his performance, standing near him holding a guitar.
Crosby and Nash's manager sent an email to Occupy Wall Street's website asking if the musicians could perform. Crosby quietly came a few days earlier to check out the scene, worried that cold weather would make it difficult for him to play guitar, said Beth Bogart, who helped show him around. The day of their visit was warm, however. Because police don't allow amplification, the performance was decidedly old school. The audience heard only as far as the singers' voices could project.
Bogart couldn't hear Crosby and Nash, but "you could just see the energy," she said. "When the whole audience started singing you could see their spirit lifted. It really was a good vibe."
Among the first New York performers was Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, an indie rock cult favorite who played a long set. Rapper Talib Kweli performed and so did Michael Franti. A 92-year-old Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, veterans of the labor, peace and civil rights movements, sang "We Shall Overcome." Sean Lennon and Rufus Wainwright offered an irony-drenched version of Madonna's "Material Girl."
Kanye West and Katy Perry walked through Zuccotti, but didn't perform.
Then there are those drums, beaten steadily by about a dozen people who call themselves Pulse. Police and protesters have limited the hours of drumming to help neighbors work and occupiers sleep.
An Internet-connected, do-it-yourself culture allows people beyond those at Occupy demonstrations to join in. They can write their own songs and spread them on Twitter or YouTube. The band Atari Teenage Riot has made a new video for its song "Black Flag" that includes clips from Occupy demonstrations sent in by fans, said Shannon Connolly, vice president for digital music strategies at MTV. While she's staying in Zuccotti Park, Carter has written movement-inspired songs "Stand Up to Wall Street" and "Game of Chess" that she's put on her websites.
"The movement is not waiting for superstars to grace it with their presence," Morello said. "It's not waiting for a Diane Warren-penned anthem featuring Rihanna and Drake."
Occupy Wall Street's nature as a sometimes unfocused expression of dissatisfaction plays into the diversity, too, said Amy Wlodarski, a music professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
"There's no centralized musical figure because there isn't a coherent value that is going to be communally expressed in song," she said.
Yet from the earliest days of America, music has been a cornerstone of protests and conflicts and movements. Music provided a voice for the disenfranchised and stirred people to fight injustice. The Revolutionary War produced "The Liberty Song." "Follow the Drinking Gourd," with its escape directions for fleeing slaves, was the anthem of the underground railroad, while "Battle Hymn of the Republic" gave support to Union soldiers during the Civil War. Women fighting for the right to vote in the early 1900s had "Suffrage Song." There was even a protest song about lynching, the jazz-infused "Strange Fruit."
The labor and peace movements created some of the more enduring music, with such artists as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. "We Shall Overcome" was born during a strike in 1945. Based on an early 20th century gospel song, it became the theme of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Meanwhile, anti-war sentiments flared in such songs as "All Along the Watchtower," "Blowin' in the Wind," "Give Peace a Chance" and "What's Going On?"
Socially conscious music never went away. Such artists as Bruce Springsteen, OutKast and Bonnie Raitt continue to take on injustice. Others also give voice to social issues from the economy to anti-war to the environment to abuse. "We Are the World" galvanized anti-hunger efforts. Rappers such as Public Enemy and N.W.A. offered messages from the streets. Steve Earle puts a string of progressive causes to music and Neil Young recorded a disc of opposition to the Iraq War.
The more current protest music is not noticed as much as the music of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s because music is increasingly a more individualized experience. People rarely gather at each other's homes and pump up the volume on their stereos for a shared listen of a hot album. Instead, friends might burn a CD for a buddy or share a download of a tune.
But if Occupy Wall Street needs a song to call its own, Texas songwriter James McMurtry's seething "We Can't Make it Here," written in 2004, is a virtual blueprint for the movement. It tumbles with images about damage done to the country through corporate greed and political neglect. McMurtry knew he had something the first time he played a version of the song, then unreleased, during a visit to an Austin radio station.
"I had some really nasty emails on my website before I had even gotten home," he said.
Hopeful that things might change, McMurtry stopped performing what is probably his best-known song when Barack Obama was elected. He has since started playing it again. McMurtry said he's going to make "We Can't Make it Here" available for free on his website in a gesture of solidarity, and is encouraging fans to make their own videos to accompany it.
"I'd be glad to let them use that song," he said. "Whatever helps."
Morello, who has done what amounts to a tour of Occupy demonstration sites, considers it his job as a musician to "keep steel in the backbone and wind in the sails of people who are standing up for economic justice."
"I've been down there a couple of times," said MTV's Connolly. "There's always music. It's sort of a thread that runs through it."
jack the cat frank lucas house of wax lego man lego man cheryl hines john lackey
If Occupy Wall Street protesters and tea partiers agree on anything, it?s the loss of a stable middle class. Yet while the public debate has focused on overarching federal policies, neither group has pointed to the threat right here on the ground: the inequity of place.
Real estate agents and home buyers have long known that location ? where we live, learn, shop and join in community ? determines most of the opportunities available to Americans. Opportunity is the touchstone to becoming a member of the middle class. As much as brains, pluck or work ethic, geography is destiny ? for better or worse.
Continue ReadingUnfortunately, destiny for most of us is looking worse these days because of two developments often viewed as unconnected: fiscal stress on cities and the demographic transformation of greater metropolitan America.
First, towns and cities are now often unable to pay for the services their residents need and expect because of declining revenues. Towns and cities are going broke. To avoid bankruptcy, many are firing teachers and firefighters. They are cutting services because federal and state aid has shrunk and property taxes are insufficient to make up the difference.
Local officials from Trevose, Pa., to Stockton, Calif., face the same deficits, according to my research. They worry about delivering the essentials of the American dream to residents ? many of whom face unstable employment and risk foreclosure. This crisis facing local governments predated the Great Recession, but it?s growing worse because of it.
Compounding this is the fact that all do not feel the pain equally. Like the increase in income inequality, there?s a municipal wealth gap between smaller haves and the growing areas of have-nots.
A favored few cities or regions have managed to maintain a healthy tax base by keeping out expensive undesirables ? such as special-needs kids and affordable housing ? while attracting corporate parks. This leaves the others to shoulder the burdens of an economically diverse population with dwindling tax resources. The resulting inequity reduces opportunity in the very places that need it more.
These places are at the forefront of the second crisis factor: the demographic transformation of the inner suburbs, towns closest to the city border. These accidental laboratories of racial and ethnic diversity are America?s demographic future.
The non-whitening of the first suburbs has progressed rapidly, producing most of the past decade?s population growth and a majority of the schoolchildren in the greater metropolitan areas. While many non-Latino whites have moved to outer suburbs or back into cities, blacks, Latinos and Asians have taken their place on the close-in urban periphery.
This reversal of traditional migration patterns is also changing the meaning of suburbs. They were first created as upper-middle-class enclaves. But with their good schools and strong amenities, suburbs also nurture the continuous development of America?s vital middle class.
Now, at least in the inner ring, the suburbs are areas of higher density and crippling poverty. This is why, for example, parts of East Orange, N.J., and Compton, Calif., resemble the South Bronx of old ? if far more car-dependent. They lack public transportation access to jobs.
Social shifts have economic consequences for all of us, wherever we live. As modest income groups move to older suburbs in search of affordable housing and the American dream, the tax base can?t keep up. What a city could provide in schools and services, a suburb can?t.
the big year breast cancer walk breast cancer walk detroit tigers major league major league mlk memorial
