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WASHINGTON ? Michele Bachmann says she's not worried that a new Iowa poll puts her fourth among GOP presidential candidates.
But she won a straw poll in the state in August, was born in Iowa and is counting on a strong showing in the January caucuses.
Since the straw poll, the Minnesota congresswoman has struggled in the race, especially after Texas Gov. Rick Perry jumped in. Bachmann once led national public opinion polls, but got only 8 percent support in the new Iowa poll from the Des Moines Register.
Bachmann tells ABC's "This Week" that her campaign is "doing exactly what we need to do." She says she's campaigning heavily in Iowa and isn't worried about "day-to-day snapshots" of the race.
She's not saying whether Iowa is a must-win state.
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I would love to play Lust and Hope. :) This sounds like a really fascinating RP!
Now who am I gonna choose hmmmm.... I know Faith! Like last time!
Trick OR Treat My Pretties
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NEW YORK (AP) ? The Fukushima nuclear disaster released twice as much of a radioactive substance into the atmosphere as Japanese authorities estimated, reaching 40 percent of the total from Chernobyl, a preliminary report says.
The estimate of much higher levels of radioactive cesium-137 comes from a worldwide network of sensors. Study author Andreas Stohl of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research says the Japanese government estimate came only from data in Japan, and that would have missed emissions blown out to sea.
The study did not consider health implications of the radiation. Cesium-137 is dangerous because it can last for decades in the environment, releasing cancer-causing radiation.
The long-term effects of the nuclear accident are unclear because of the difficulty of measuring radiation amounts people received.
In a telephone interview, Stohl said emission estimates are so imprecise that finding twice the amount of cesium isn't considered a major difference. He said some previous estimates had been higher than his.
The journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics posted the report online for comment, but the study has not yet completed a formal review by experts in the field or been accepted for publication.
Last summer, the Japanese government estimated that the March 11 Fukushima accident released 15,000 terabecquerels of cesium. Terabecquerels are a radiation measurement. The new report from Stohl and co-authors estimates about 36,000 terabecquerels through April 20. That's about 42 percent of the estimated release from Chernobyl, the report says.
An official at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the Japanese government branch overseeing such findings, said the agency could not offer any comment on the study because it had not reviewed its contents.
It also says about a fifth of the cesium fell on land in Japan, while most of the rest fell into the Pacific Ocean. Only about 2 percent of the fallout came down on land outside Japan, the report concluded.
Experts have no firm projections about how many cancers could result because they're still trying to find out what doses people received. Some radiation from the accident has also been detected in Tokyo and in the United States, but experts say they expect no significant health consequences there.
Still, concern about radiation is strong in Japan. Many parents of small children in Tokyo worry about the discovery of radiation hotspots even though government officials say they don't pose a health risk. And former prime minister Naoto Kan has said the most contaminated areas inside the evacuation zone could be uninhabitable for decades.
Stohl also noted that his study found cesium-137 emissions dropped suddenly at the time workers started spraying water on the spent fuel pool from one of the reactors. That challenges previous thinking that the pool wasn't emitting cesium, he said.
___
Associated Press Writer Malcolm Foster in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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This undated handout photo, by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, provided the National Gallery of Art, shows Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a new show featuring leading black figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business. "The Black List" opens Friday featuring 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' project that also included a 2008 HBO film. (AP Photo/Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, National Gallery of Art)
This undated handout photo, by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, provided the National Gallery of Art, shows Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a new show featuring leading black figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business. "The Black List" opens Friday featuring 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' project that also included a 2008 HBO film. (AP Photo/Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, National Gallery of Art)
This undated handout photo, by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, provided the National Gallery of Art, shows Serena Williams. Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a new show featuring leading black figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business. "The Black List" opens Friday featuring 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' project that also included a 2008 HBO film. (AP Photo/Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, National Gallery of Art)
This undated handout photo, by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, provided the National Gallery of Art, shows John Legend. Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a new show featuring leading black figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business. "The Black List" opens Friday featuring 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' project that also included a 2008 HBO film. (AP Photo/Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, National Gallery of Art)
This undated handout photo, by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, provided the National Gallery of Art, shows Sean Combs. Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a new show featuring leading black figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business. "The Black List" opens Friday featuring 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' project that also included a 2008 HBO film. (AP Photo/Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, National Gallery of Art)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a show opening Friday, along with other leading black figures who may be lesser known.
"The Black List" features 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders in a project that also included a 2008 HBO film.
After a conversation with his friend, the writer Toni Morrison, Greenfield-Sanders began thinking of all the successful black figures he knows ? and how so many were unknown. He and collaborator Elvis Mitchell scribbled down 200 names on napkins over lunch.
"I've done the art world, I've done the music world, I've done the porn world, I've done politics ? I've done all these different worlds, and it's all about accomplishment," Greenfield-Sanders, who is white, told The Associated Press. "I thought it would be interesting: As a white guy, could I do this?"
Morrison, whose portrait is in the exhibit, and others encouraged him to pursue the idea.
His theme came from the historical term, "blacklist," referring to a marginalized group. Greenfield-Sanders wanted to turn the phrase into a roll call of distinction to show the broad range of achievements of African Americans.
The project began in 2006 before most people had heard of the man who would become the first black president. Then-Sen. Barack Obama was on Greenfield-Sanders' wish list, but he said his chances of photographing Obama became less and less as the 2008 campaign drew closer.
Between 2007 and 2009, Mitchell and Greenfield-Sanders arranged 50 interviews ranging from Laurence Fishburne and Tyler Perry to businessman Richard Parsons, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Gap fashion designer Patrick Robinson. Beyond celebrities, the project includes influential but lesser-known figures, such as playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and urban environmentalist Majora Carter.
"We knew we needed to have some celebrities," Greenfield-Sanders said. "You sell it by having Fishburne and Chris Rock and the other people that draw them in, and then they learn something from these other people."
After filming interviews with each subject, Greenfield-Sanders asked for a portrait sitting. Some gave him all the time he needed. In the case of music mogul Russell Simmons, he had 45 seconds.
Simmons, later a supporter of the project, was "difficult" at first, Greenfield-Sanders said.
"He had his cell phone in his hands throughout the interview," the photographer said. "I'm not going to mince words here."
The Smithsonian exhibit is the first to feature all 50 portraits and will be open through April 2012. A smaller version of "The Black List" has been shown in New York and Los Angeles. Greenfield-Sanders also created "The Latino List," with a similar concept that is on view now at the Brooklyn Museum.
For the Portrait Gallery, the exhibition brings more diverse faces into a museum that once barred living subjects from its collection. Its bylaws had required that anyone in the permanent collection be dead for at least 10 years.
"It tended to be more of a backward look at history, rather than a forward-looking one," said Ann Shumard, curator of photographs. "With the dropping of that prohibition, it has opened us up to addressing contemporary life and the individuals who are making American history as we speak.
"That's a far more diverse and interesting group perhaps than some of the folks ... in the past."
___
Online:
National Portrait Gallery: http://www.npg.si.edu/
___
Follow Brett Zongker at http://twitter.com/DCArtBeat
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Major business events and economic events scheduled for Wednesday:
WASHINGTON ? Commerce Department releases durable goods for September, 8:30 a.m.
WASHINGTON ? Commerce Department releases new home sales for September, 10 a.m.
American Electric Power Co. reports quarterly financial results.
Boeing Co. reports quarterly financial results.
ConocoPhillips reports quarterly financial results.
Corning Inc. reports quarterly financial results.
Ford Motor Co. reports quarterly financial results.
JetBlue Airways Corp. reports quarterly financial results.
Lockheed Martin Corp. reports quarterly financial results.
MedcoHealth Solutions Inc. reports quarterly financial results.
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. reports quarterly financial results.
Norfolk Southern Corp. reports quarterly financial results.
Northrop Grumman Corp. reports quarterly financial results.
Sprint Nextel Corp. reports quarterly financial results.
Visa Inc. reports quarterly financial results.
WellPoint Inc. reports quarterly financial results.
German software maker SAP AP reports quarterly financial results.
German drugmaker Merck KGaA reports quarterly financial results.
Dutch beer maker Heineken NV reports quarterly financial results.
Chinese bank Bank of China reports quarterly financial results.
BERLIN ? Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the German parliament on eurozone rescue efforts before a vote by lawmakers on plans to increase the firepower of the 17-nation bloc's rescue fund. Merkel then travels to Brussels for an EU summit.
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~Cinema Bizarre~
If I make a char can I make it half the animal and the human, what I was thinking of doing is making a neko.
I would also like to make it clear to everyone that the shifters can only have one human form and one animal form.
KK just wondering I'll make a char tomorrow.
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WASHINGTON ? Will Ferrell, who refined his impersonation of President George W. Bush on "Saturday Night Live" and later took his presidential act to Broadway, was awarded the nation's top humor prize Sunday night.
The TV star went on to make movies and co-found the popular website FunnyorDie.com, which won him the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
It was the Bush impression, though, that might have made the Washington crowd laugh ? and cringe ? the hardest Sunday.
"Washington is not a city much known for its comedy ? at least not the intentional kind," said PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill, who mentored Ferrell on his journalistic skills for the movie "Anchorman."
She introduced a clip of Ferrell playing Bush in "You're Welcome, America: A Final Night with George W. Bush" on Broadway. Dressed in a flight suit under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," he explained how Morocco had sent a special unit of 2,000 trained monkeys to fight terrorism "and make children laugh."
With that kind of comedy, Ferrell had accomplished something amazing, Ifill said.
"He got Democrats to pay and see and applaud George W. Bush," she said.
Conan O'Brien, Jack Black, Matthew Broderick, Ben Stiller and the rock band Green Day performed Sunday in Ferrell's honor, joined by Molly Shannon, Tim Meadows and Andy Samberg from Ferrell's "SNL" days.
The show will be taped for broadcast Oct. 31 on PBS stations nationwide.
Black opened the show with a song-and-dance routine for his friend and tried to lead the crowd in chanting "Will, Will, Will, will rock you."
"Will Ferrell, did you notice how I changed it from `We Will Rock You?" he said.
"It's about time he got some official Washington, D.C., props," Black said, noting that Ferrell had "reigned supreme" on "SNL" for seven years. "He's crazy funny. He makes you laugh so hard you cry and pee simultaneously."
Shannon, who said she met Ferrell while she was a waitress in Los Angeles, said that contrary to his TV persona, Ferrell is very serious and sweet to work with. As for the award, she joked "Will's agents and manager clearly bought this for him."
Some of Ferrell's famous sketches from "SNL" were played on the big screen, including his "Cow Bell" routine and "Craig the Spartan Cheerleader."
When he was finally awarded the prize, a bronze bust of Twain, Ferrell promptly dropped it on stage and tried to pick up the pieces. He joked that he had turned the prize down 13 times before but decided to accept this time because of the prize money (there's not any) and to be watched on PBS "by hundreds of people across this country."
He thanked his wife, Viveca Paulson, but told her the night was about him, not her. And he thanked the Kennedy Center as "one of the few places that uphold comedy as what it truly is, an art form."
Ferrell is the son of a teacher and Roy Lee Ferrell, a guitarist for the Righteous Brothers. He grew up in Irvine, Calif., went to college at the University of Southern California and got his start in comedy with the Los Angeles improv group, The Groundlings.
That's where he was discovered by "SNL."
Ferrell went on to make some outlandish movies including "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "Old School." He has also tried his hand at drama, including this year's independent film "Everything Must Go." One of his upcoming projects is a Spanish-language comedy, "Casa de Mi Padre."
Ferrell told the Associated Press he has tried different avenues as movie studio budgets tightened. He opted for projects with smaller budgets but more creative freedom.
Longtime collaborator Adam McKay and Ferrell also took their comedy to the Internet with the 2007 creation of the popular video website FunnyorDie.com. Since then, it has drawn an audience of millions for its original Web programming.
McKay, a former head writer on "SNL," said it was Ferrell's "Cow Bell" sketch that has always made him laugh the hardest.
Before the show, Ferrell said playing the Bush character is one of his favorite memories for its political laughs, especially when he took the character to Broadway.
"We hit it at the perfect time when people wanted some sort of comedy after the eight years we just went through," he said.
Thirteen other people have won the Mark Twain Prize since 1998, including Tina Fey, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg. It recognizes people who have followed the tradition of Samuel Clemens, the writer known as Mark Twain who used social commentary and satire to have an impact on society.
___
Follow Brett Zongker on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DCArtBeat
___
Online:
Mark Twain Prize for Humor: http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/marktwain/
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(Reuters) ? Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is advocating for regulatory control over the money-market mutual fund industry and believes the government should stop financing mortgages.
Volcker said in a recent speech that money market funds have exacerbated stress in the financial markets because they pulled back on short-term lending to European banks.
If money-market funds are to continue providing significant funding to regulated banks, they should be subject to capital requirements, deposit insurance protection and stronger oversight of their investments, Volcker said.
"The time has clearly come to harness money market funds in a manner that recognizes both their structural importance in diverting funds from regulated banks and their destabilizing potential," Volcker said in a speech last month that was highlighted by The New York Times on Saturday.
The speech, titled "Three Years Later: Unfinished Business In Financial Reform," also criticized the government's role in the U.S. mortgage market through government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Today, he noted, the U.S. residential mortgage market is almost entirely dependent on financial support from taxpayers. The federal government placed those entities into conservatorship in 2008 and has funded hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of losses on their mortgage portfolios.
"It is important that planning proceed now on the assumption that Government Sponsored Enterprises will no longer be a part of the structure of the market," Volcker said.
In his interview with the Times, Volcker acknowledged that it will take time to remove government support from the mortgage market, which is still struggling to repair itself, but said policymakers now have "an opportunity to get rid of institutions that shouldn't exist."
Volcker's opinions are highly regarded among some economists and regulators and he was a top adviser to President Barack Obama on financial regulatory reform.
But a measure he championed to restrict banks' ability to bet with their own capital, now known as the Volcker rule, has become a target for financial industry lobbyists seeking to blunt its impact on Wall Street profits.
(Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
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WASHINGTON ? The extreme funk that settled over the country during the summer has eased slightly, but Americans remain gloomy about the economy and more than half say President Barack Obama does not inspire confidence about a recovery.
A sizable majority ? more than 7 in 10 ? believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and, in a new high, 43 percent describe the nation's economy as "very poor," according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Among those surveyed, less than 40 percent say Obama's proposed remedies for high unemployment would increase jobs significantly.
The pessimism is not a good sign for the nation's recovery hopes and presents a more urgent challenge for Obama as he mounts his re-election bid.
About 4 in 10 think unemployment will rise in the coming year; just 23 percent expect it to decrease. And few expect the government to be able to help. Only 41 percent say the government can do much to create jobs, and less than 40 percent say the main elements of Obama's jobs proposal would increase employment significantly.
What's more, expectations for the coming year have not improved, with 41 percent believing the economy will remain the same, 27 percent saying it will get worse and 30 percent saying it will improve.
In a glimmer of a bright spot, less than a quarter of those surveyed say they think the economy worsened in the past month, compared with nearly half who felt that way in August. And Obama could find some solace in the poll's finding that 44 percent place heavy blame for the economy's state on President George W. Bush, while 27 percent put the blame on him.
Still, the public's mood is decidedly downbeat, creating yet another obstacle to economic growth, which relies in part on public optimism to spur demand.
Illustrating Obama's precarious perch, 9 percent of survey respondents who said he deserves to be re-elected said they could vote for one of the three leading Republicans seeking the presidential nomination.
"If Romney and Obama were going head to head at this point in time I would probably move to Romney," said Dale Bartholomew, 58, a manufacturing equipment salesman from Marengo, Ill. Bartholomew said he agrees with Obama's proposed economic remedies and said partisan divisions have blocked the president's initiatives.
But, he added: "His inability to rally the political forces, if you will, to accomplish his goal is what disappoints me."
Despite the high number of people who believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, Obama himself gets some benefit of the doubt. His approval ratings are holding steady, with 46 percent approving of his job as president and 52 percent disapproving. Obama's standing with the public is weakest on the economy and in his efforts to tackle unemployment, with about 6 in 10 disapproving of his handling of both.
Obama's standing still vastly exceeds that of Congress. In a slight improvement, Congress' approval ratings rose from its August low of 12 percent to 16 percent. Still, 82 percent disapprove of Congress, including 56 percent who say they "strongly disapprove."
Little illustrates the decline in the public's faith in Obama more than the sharp dip in confidence he has experienced since the highs he enjoyed immediately after his election. Specifically, only 43 percent of the respondents say they are confident that Obama "will be successful in bringing about the changes needed to improve the economy," compared with 72 percent who said they were confident of his abilities in November 2008.
"I believe he is doing all he knows how, but it's just not working," said Ann Anderson, 49, a college administrator from Homer Glen, Ill.
Democrats tend to stick by the president, expressing much more confidence in his ability to turn the economy around. More than 7 in 10 say they are at least somewhat confident of his abilities to improve the economy. Among independents, 37 percent are that confident and only 11 percent of Republicans share that view.
Still, the disappointment in Obama extends to some Democrats who believe he should stand his ground.
"When Obama got elected I was real hopeful for a lot of changes," said Dave Buerger, 60, a part-time registered nurse from New Salisbury, Ind. "Overall I would say that I'm real disappointed in his concessions to the banks and Wall Street and the Republicans. I think he needs to be more liberal and stand his ground more. I think he's given in too much."
When it comes to compromise, 72 percent of respondents said Republicans were not doing enough to cooperate with Obama, whereas only 47 percent said Obama was not doing enough to cooperate with Republicans.
Even as the public expresses disappointment in Obama and disapproval of Congress, only 41 percent of respondents say the government can do quite a bit or a great deal to create jobs. Three out of 10 believe government's impact on jobs is moderate and 29 percent say it can help create little or no jobs at all.
Similarly, a majority of the public does not hold much hope for the job creation prospects of either Obama's $447 billion jobs proposal or for measures proposed by congressional Republicans.
Obama's plan to create jobs by increasing spending on public works projects such as schools, roads and bridges finds only 37 percent of respondents believing it will create a significant number of jobs. Tax credits to companies that hire those who have unemployed for six months or more elicits a similar response.
Only 27 percent of the respondents said a Republican proposal that reduces regulations on businesses would create a significant number of jobs; 45 percent say it would create few or no jobs.
The poll, however, found substantial support ? 62 percent ? for a proposal by Senate Democrats to pay for Obama's jobs proposal with a surtax on incomes over $1 million. One quarter of the respondents opposed the idea and 10 percent said they were neutral. Though the surtax has little or no chance of passing, the poll results underscore the view of Democrats that the proposal has political appeal.
Anderson, the college administrator from Illinois, voiced cautious support for the tax on millionaires.
"That's a tough call. Yes, I do, but that's only because I'm not one of them," she said. "Should they pay their fair share? Absolutely. Should they pay a certain percentage? I don't know how to answer that."
But Teresa Rowe, 53, a dance team consultant from Richland, Wash., said she preferred an overhaul of the entire tax system.
"They'll go after the millionaires first and then those slightly below millionaires. It's a slippery slope," she said. "They need to look at the entire tax system and revise the whole system."
The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Oct. 13-17 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
___
Associated Press writers Nancy Benac and Stacy A. Anderson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.
___
Online:
Poll: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com
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President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, where he signed the renewal of the Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers. From left are, Deputy Labor Secretary Seth Harris, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., and United Steelworkers Vice President Thomas Conway. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, where he signed the renewal of the Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers. From left are, Deputy Labor Secretary Seth Harris, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., and United Steelworkers Vice President Thomas Conway. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama signs the renewal of the Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama signs the Korean Free Trade Agreement, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. from left are, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, and Korea Alliance for Free Trade Chairman William Hwang. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama is applauded in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 21, 201, after signing the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. From left are, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, Rep. Greg Meeks, D-N.Y., Ernst and Young CEO James Turley and Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama signed off Friday on the first three, and possibly the last, ? free trade agreements of his administration, deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that could be worth billions to American exporters and create tens of thousands of jobs.
The three deals were years in the making, and the difficulty of bringing them to fruition make it unlikely there will be another bilateral trade agreement during Obama's current term.
Obama signed them with none of the ceremonial fanfare that normally accompanies such triumphs. Republicans, while supportive of the deals, continue to find fault with Obama's trade policies. And nearly three-fourths of House Democrats voted against the trade measures.
The agreements will bring to 20 those countries that have free trade relations with the United States.
Trade will not go away as an issue, as the administration pushes ahead with a major Pacific rim trade pact, Congress and the White House scuffle over China, and Republicans take aim at Obama's policies during the presidential campaign.
But, "I don't see this administration coming up with new free trade agreements," said National Foreign Trade Council president Bill Reinsch. "For the next six months we ought to go after trade liberalization in manageable pieces."
Republicans accuse the administration of moving too slowly to find new free trade partners, resulting in U.S. exporters losing out to foreign rivals. The administration says it is promoting free trade but wants to assure that the other side is playing by the rules, that basic worker and environmental rights are observed and that deals promote U.S. job growth.
"From day one," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told The Associated Press, the guiding principle has been not just to complete the three trade agreements but "to develop a new paradigm for trade, and rebuild and restore America's confidence in our trading policy."
He added that the administration was on track to reach Obama's goal, set early last year, of doubling U.S. exports over a five-year period.
Trade officials, in justifying their approach, point to the 83 Senate votes for the South Korean deal, which was renegotiated by Obama to expand access for U.S. vehicles in Korea. That was the highest total ever for a free trade vote.
The accord with South Korea, America's seventh-largest trading partner, is estimated to support 70,000 jobs, and the signing capped a singular moment of triumph for a president who during the past year has seen his jobs agenda blocked on every front by unified Republican opposition. This time Republicans were his eager partners, urging him to move even faster to complete the long-delayed trade deals and move on to new ones.
Obama also signed legislation extending a program, a Democratic favorite, to help workers hurt by foreign trade. Yet the quiet signing ceremony and a low-key reception in the Rose Garden for those who might benefit from the agreements reflected the unpopularity of free trade pacts among Obama's core labor supporters, and the uncertainty of his future trade policy.
Supporters say the three deals are a winning proposition for American businessmen and farmers who now face high tariffs in those three countries, while those countries can ship goods to the United States with few or no duties. The deal with Korea could boost exports by $10 billion, erasing the current trade gap. Exports could go up another $1 billion a year to Colombia, one of the strongest U.S. allies in Latin America.
The three deals were initially signed in the George W. Bush administration but were slowed down as the Obama White House renegotiated changes and haggled with Republicans over the worker aid program. Democratic opposition was strongest against the Colombia deal because of that country's record of violence against labor leaders.
After the signing, Obama called President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and President Ricardo Martinelli of Panama to congratulate each of them. The White House in a statement said the president stressed the importance of meeting obligations of the agreements and of Colombia advancing labor rights.
The U.S. Trade Representative Office is now shifting its attention to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an economic alliance that would link the United States with Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, Vietnam and four countries that are already free trade partners ? Australia, Chile, Peru and Singapore. Going beyond cutting tariffs, the alliance would tackle such areas as financial services, intellectual property rights, government procurement, investment and conservation.
Kirk said negotiators had been "making really good progress," and they hoped to have the broad outline of an agreement when leaders meet in Honolulu next month for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
"TPP is the one game in town and there is going to be a lot of focus on that," said John Murphy, vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
But in a world filled with acronyms, TPP would have a tough time getting congressional approval without TPA. Trade promotion authority, also known as fast track, gives the president the authority to negotiate trade deals that Congress can either accept or reject, but cannot amend. That authority expired in 2007 and Obama, tied to Democrats and labor groups who oppose further free trade agreements, has not pushed for its restoration.
Last month Senate Republicans tried to revive TPA, but the measure was defeated on a largely party-line vote. Democrats argued that the TPA law has to first be rewritten to reflect changes in such areas as digital services and the environment.
Kirk also emphasized the importance of getting other countries to abide by existing trade rules. "Enforcement has been paramount to the work we have done on market access," he said, adding that "if we could get China to a better place where they were really opening up their markets," it would be a major windfall to U.S. exporters.
Mitt Romney, currently viewed as the strongest contender for the Republican presidential nomination, said in a trade policy speech this month that he would work to re-establish TPA and promote more free trade agreements. He also singled out China, saying that as president he would take punitive actions if China should continue to unfairly subsidize its domestic products and manipulate its currency.
The Obama administration was cool to legislation passed by the Senate last month that would make it easier to impose higher tariffs on China if it continues to keep its currency undervalued as a way to make its exports cheaper.
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, a group that has strongly opposed past trade agreements, said Obama may have to get tougher on China if he is to defend Ohio and other states where workers hit by foreign trade do not agree with his promotion of free trade.
She said Obama already has lost ground among Democrats, noting that a greater percentage of House Democrats, 71.4 percent, voted against Obama on the trade deals than on any other legislation since he took office.
Among other prickly subjects in the coming year, Russia is close to being accepted into the World Trade Organization, but U.S. businesses would not benefit from lower Russian tariffs unless Congress would repeal the Cold War Jackson-Vanik law that barred normal trade relations with the Soviet Union because of its policies on Jewish emigration. And the U.S. still has to make sure that South Korea, Colombia and Panama are ready to carry out their trade agreement commitments, a process that could take months.
But the Chamber's Murphy said they are for now putting aside their frustrations over trade. "This isn't the moment for that. This is a week for sunny optimism."
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Initial claims for unemployment benefits edged lower in the latest week, and the four-week moving average fell for the fourth straight week, indicating some improvement in the labor market, according to government data released Thursday.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/44966584#44966584
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Flickr user headwhop26 crafted this wallpaper to be informative, accessible, and overall beautiful. Commonly-used apps on the side, a huge time and date display overlay with a world clock, and a built-in Google search bar all make for a Windows desktop that looks sharp and helps you get right to work.
If you like the look of this desktop and want the same effect, here's what you'll need:
If you need help getting all of the components to look just right, head over to tutorial on setting up Rainmeter to get started, or ping headwhop26 on his Flickr page. If you have a Mac or are running Linux, you can approximate some of the same effects using GeekTool or Conky, respectively.
Do you have a great, beautifully productive desktop of your own that you'd like to share? Go ahead and post it to the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Flickr Group with a description of how you made it and it may be the next featured desktop.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/tD1ht58R3OM/the-offshore-desktop
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Kinect hack lets you manage your bank account with gestures, will occupy your living room (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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T-Mobile adds new daily and monthly plans for true commitment phobes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Legislation that would overhaul the controversial U.S. education law known as No Child Left Behind cleared a major hurdle on Monday when Senate leaders announced a bipartisan agreement on the bill.
The law, which went into effect in 2002, has been criticized as forcing teachers to adhere to a narrow curriculum to ensure students pass tests and imposing too harsh penalties on schools deemed "failing."
President Barack Obama recently began allowing states to opt out of some of the requirements in the law passed nearly a decade ago, saying Congress had been too slow to reform it.
Democrat Tom Harkin and Republican Mike Enzi, the two most powerful members of the Senate's Education Committee, forged an agreement on a bill that would give states more freedom to set the courses for their school programs.
"It will support teaching and learning rather than labeling and sanctioning, focus federal attention on turning around low-performing schools and closing achievement gaps, improve resource equity, and give states and schools the flexibility to innovate," said Harkin, who chairs the committee, in a statement.
The committee will take up the bill on Wednesday.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave the compromise a lukewarm reception, praising it for providing flexibility "while maintaining accountability at every level."
"I believe, however, that a comprehensive evaluation system based on multiple measures, including student achievement, is essential for education reform to move forward," Duncan said in a statement. "This view is shared by both national teacher unions and state leaders all across the country who are committed to doing a better job of preparing our young people for the global economy. We cannot retreat from reform."
No Child Left Behind was passed in Congress by both parties -- in the Senate its chief champion was Democrat Edward Kennedy. When it was signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, it ushered in an era of setting learning standards and testing students.
In September, Obama said states could apply for waivers from having to meet some of the standards set by the law, which expired four years ago and has been temporarily extended.
The U.S. government provides only about 8 percent of schools' funding but federal support has become more precious to school districts since the housing bust ravaged their primary source of revenue -- property taxes.
The Senate agreement would authorize grants to help local districts, improve school buildings, prepare students for college and support teacher development.
Obama has recently suggested repairing school buildings to provide jobs for unemployed construction workers.
The biggest educators' union, the National Education Association, said it was pleased with the agreement, noting it "recognizes the federal government's role is limited" in teacher evaluations.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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