Five Million Should Flee Tehran Over Earthquake Fears: Ahmadinejad
At least five million Tehran residents should flee Iran's capital because it sits on several fault lines and is threatened by earthquakes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday
"We cannot order people to evacuate the city... but provisions have to be made. At least five million should leave Tehran so it is less crowded and more manageable in case of an incident," Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.
Mr Ahmadinejad said the government could offer "land, loans at four per cent interest and substantial subsidies" in the provinces to encourage Tehran residents to leave the sprawling capital.
Tehran province has nearly 14 million inhabitants, eight million of whom live in the city, which straddles several fault lines. Experts have warned that a strong quake in Tehran could kill hundreds of thousands of people.
Mr Ahmadinejad said that 67 per cent of Iran's 74-million-strong population lives in urban areas.
Hedge fund manager John Paulson held a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for the Senate Banking Committee chairman last year. Many hedge funds enjoyed an enormously profitable year in 2009, in part because of good bets that federal dollars would be used to rescue “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions
John Paulson, one of the world’s richest hedge fund managers, has not been shy about spreading his wealth to Senate campaign coffers — or to the chairman of the committee that could directly affect his bottom line.
Paulson held a ritzy $1,000-per-head fundraiser for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd last year — and then maxed out his donation with $4,800 more for the Connecticut Democrat’s now-aborted reelection run.
Paulson is hardly alone.
According to a review of Federal Election Commission records, the nation’s 10 richest hedge fund managers have dumped nearly $1 million into campaign accounts over the past several years — with much of it going to senators who’ve given them a friendly reception on Capitol Hill.
And despite all the tough talk about a crackdown on Wall Street, consumer advocates and critics from other financial sectors say hedge funds would get off pretty easily under the regulatory reform bill Dodd’s committee approved last month
Elena Kagan - Justice Stevens More Conservative Replacement
Elena Kagan, President Obama's solicitor general, is rapidly emerging as a frontrunner to replace retiring Chief Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan is widely praised as an accomplished and intelligent attorney, but is far more conservative than Stevens and could shift the political dynamic of the high court.
Conservatives are responding favorably to the potential of a Justice Elena Kagan while liberals worry that, by choosing her, the administration would miss the opportunity to elevate a genuine progressive.
Justice John Paul Stevens to Retire From Supreme Court
A Liberal Voice for 34 Years, Stevens Clears Way for Obama's Second Nomination
Justice John Paul Stevens, 89, who served on the high court for a near record breaking 34 years, announced his retirement today, giving President Barack Obama his second chance to name a Supreme Court justice.
"Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court's next Term, I shall retire from regular active service as an Associate Justice," Stevens wrote in a letter to the president, stating his retirement would be "effective the next day after the Court rises for the summer recess this year."
Wall Street Journal asks "Why is NBC Telling You How to Live?
The tactic—General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal calls it "behavior placement"—is designed to sway viewers to adopt actions they see modeled in their favorite shows. This is the power of persuasion that NBCU hopes to tap. "Subtle messaging woven into shows mainstreams it, and mainstreaming is an effective way to get a message across," says NBC exec
In just one week on NBC, the detectives on "Law and Order" investigated a cash-for-clunkers scam, a nurse on "Mercy" organized a group bike ride, Al Gore made a guest appearance on "30 Rock," and "The Office" turned Dwight Schrute into a cape-wearing superhero obsessed with recycling.
The tactic—General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal calls it "behavior placement"—is designed to sway viewers to adopt actions they see modeled in their favorite shows. And it helps sell ads to marketers who want to associate their brands with a feel-good, socially aware show.
Unlike with product placement, which can seem jarring to savvy viewers, the goal is that viewers won't really notice that Tina Fey is tossing a plastic bottle into the recycle bin, or that a minor character on "Law and Order: SVU" has switched to energy-saving light bulbs. "People don't want to be hit over the head with it," says NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker. "Putting it in programing is what makes it resonate with viewers."
TV has always had the ability to get millions of people to mimic a beloved character. Ever since Carrie Bradshaw on "Sex and the City" stopped in at the Magnolia Bakery, fans of the show wait in long lines for the once-quiet shop's $2.75 cupcakes. When Jennifer Aniston as Rachel on "Friends" cut her hair, salons across the country reported requests for the shaggy, highlighted, layered look known as "the Rachel."
This is the power of persuasion that NBCU hopes to tap. "Subtle messaging woven into shows mainstreams it, and mainstreaming is an effective way to get a message across," says Lauren Zalaznick, president of NBCU Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, which oversees the effort.
Since fall 2007, network executives have been asking producers of almost every prime-time and daytime show to incorporate a green storyline at least once a year. The effort now takes place for a week in April and November. Starting April 19 this year, 40 NBC Universal outlets will feature some 100 hours of green-themed programming, including an episode of the Bravo reality series "Millionaire Matchmaker" in which a 39-year-old tycoon with an eco-friendly clothing line goes into a rage after his blind date orders red meat.
In June, NBCU plans a week in which programming will emphasize healthy eating and exercise: The idea is that viewers will watch the shows and then spring into action. "It's about incorporating a marketer's message into a thematic environment," says Mike Pilot, president of sales and marketing at NBC Universal.
While the network says it tries to incorporate green programming throughout the year, the special emphasis twice a year creates an "event" that provides opportunities to advertisers, an NBC spokeswoman says. For instance, a Wal-Mart ad focusing on locally grown produce ran this past November after an episode of the medical drama "Trauma" in which emergency medic Rabbit rescues a window washer dangling precariously from a building; medics are alerted to the situation by a man sitting in his hybrid vehicle.
Behavior placement gives marketers extra incentive to advertise at a time when digital video recorders equip viewers with an unprecedented ability to skip commercials, says Jason Kanefsky, a media buyer at Havas's MPG. "You're not forcing your way into a program in any shape or form," he says. "You're just nodding your head at a program." ABC, CBS and FOX have plenty of product placement but haven't taken the step into behavior placement, network spokesmen say.
TV writers and producers are less enamored with behavior placement. Already on the hook to create holiday-themed episodes and accommodate marketers in other ways, some producers and writers grumble about additional demands. Requests for green-themed storylines come at the start of the year when programming executives sit down with producers and lay out which company-wide themes and holidays they will be working into shows.
No College Degree, Massive Amounts of Debt, One Health Crisis from Bankruptcy, and Beholden to the Banking Elite
Being middle class today does not carry the financial security that it once carried in the 1950s and 1960s. Interestingly enough, many Americans at that time did not own stocks yet somehow they managed well because they had access to affordable housing without toxic mortgages and many had the ability to work with one company and have some kind of security from their company. It was a mutual relationship as even Henry Ford shook the auto manufacturing world by upping wages for his workers. Yet today, we are being fed distorted information from Wall Street that we need to have this system where workers are disposable entities only to increase the profits of the corporate class.
If people are hurting so much why are we paying billions in bonuses to a small group of people that really haven’t helped the country? In fact, many of these are directly responsible for our current economic problems. At the root, this has been the cancer that has eaten away at what it means to be middle class. Social government welfare for Wall Street and Darwinian capitalism for the rest of us.
The middle class has it extremely tough today not because of random events but purposeful and directed robbery from Wall Street. This was a methodical and planned dismantling of the system. First, let us walk through some details of the middle class to create a profile:
The most common household formation in the U.S. is a married couple. Certainly this has changed over time but this is the most common arrangement in the U.S. But this has also led to the two-income trap that we have heard about so often:
Even though nominal wages are much higher today, inflation has eroded the buying power of Americans so much that even two incomes today cannot compete with one income forty years ago. After all, if you could buy a car with $200 then $1,000 would seem like a lot. But what is a $50,000 household income when home prices cost $250,000? This is really the essence of what has broken the middle class apart. Prices rose to astronomical levels because Wall Street created speculative casino products and injected the virus into the system. The middle class today is fearful of even having enough to retire. But beyond even retiring, many people have very little saved:
