Obama calls $18B in Wall St. bonuses 'shameful'

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer January 29, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama issued a withering critique Thursday of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it "the height of irresponsibility" for employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their crumbling financial sector received a bailout from taxpayers. "It is shameful," Obama said from the Oval Office. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility."

The president's comments, made with new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side, came in swift response to a report that employees of the New York financial world garnered an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. The figure, from the New York state comptroller, drew prominent news coverage.

Yet Obama's stand also came just one day after he surrounded himself with well-paid chief executives at the White House. He had pulled in those business leaders and hailed them for being on the "front lines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now."

The president said the public dislikes the idea of helping the financial sector dig out of a hole, only to see it get bigger because of lavish spending. The comptroller's report found that Wall Street bonuses were down 44 percent, but still at about the same level as they were during the boom time of 2004.

Obama said he and Geithner will speak directly to Wall Street leaders about the bonuses, which threaten to undermine public support for more government intervention as the economy keeps reeling.

The House just approved an economic stimulus plan that would cost taxpayers more than $800 billion; the Senate is considering its own version.

Separately, Congress also passed a $700 billion plan last year to shore up the financial sector, one that drew howls of criticism about a lack of transparency.

"We're going to be having conversations as this process moves forward directly with these folks on Wall Street to underscore that they have to start acting in a more responsible fashion if we are to, together, get this economy rolling again," Obama said.

"There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses," Obama said. "Now is not that time."

Obama said Geithner has already had to step in to stop one company from taking delivery of a new corporate jet it planned to buy even after receiving billions of dollars of support from the government. That bank, Citigroup, canceled the deal earlier this week.

Obama's strong words overshadowed the other part of his message, that he wants to roll out, in the coming weeks, new plans to regulate Wall Street and get more credit flowing to consumers again. The president considers such steps to work in tandem with the economic stimulus measures unfolding in Congress.

One idea under consideration by the Obama administration is the creation of a "bad bank" that could take over the soured debt, like defaulting mortgages, that have corroded the balance sheets of banks and helped choke off lending. The president did not talk about that proposal or any others.

Should Microsoft give Windows 7 away for free?

January 29th, 2009

Everyone has recognized that Windows 7 is “Vista done right.” So should Microsoft just give the OS away for free?

Today, Gizmodo is suggesting that Microsoft should either give the OS away, or offer it “dirt cheap,” because the OS is quite simply the antidote to Poor consumer perception of Vista, especially with consideration to the Mac;

Vista’s resource hog ways with regard to the blooming Netbook industry;

The most important reason for ZDNet readers: Business users just won’t bite. Period.
On the other hand, Windows 7 has been welcomed quite warmly by critics, has been pared down in places to run on lesser hardware (Vista-ready debacle, anyone?), especially Netbooks, and business users are finally warming up to Redmond’s latest.

So Gizmodo suggests the following:

For starters, Microsoft needs to get rid of all the separate license types (OEM vs. upgrade vs. full) and trim the number of boxed configurations. Give buyers three versions, Home, Business and Ultimate, all at a reasonable price. $129 would be ideal for the first two, with $149 for Ultimate.

Second, every Vista user should get it for $49, or even less.

Apple gave away OS X 10.1 for free, and Microsoft should take a lesson there…perception is reality.
This isn’t the first time this has been suggested. All the way back on January 6, our own tech-broiling Jason Perlow suggested that “Windows Fixta 7″ should be free.

But here’s an even better idea: Microsoft should just allow Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 to show up as a Windows update, plain and simple. For those who don’t have high-speed connections, they can call in and request a CD to be mailed. Businesses can work out client licenses but shouldn’t get screwed, either.

This could be the biggest PR success of the tech industry.

“What of revenue?” all you penny pinchers ask. Well, the quick answer is that this is a short-term hit for a long-term solution: With a good product, Microsoft can reclaim the market share it lost to Apple and Co.

Let’s be frank: Just how much revenue does Microsoft get from consumer purchases (as opposed to the revenue from licensing Windows through computer manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo)? I’m willing to wager that it’s not that much, relatively speaking.

If it’s all about consumer perception, let’s just drop the direct price for consumers to $0. Let them pay for it bundled in the profits of a new computer, but don’t charge them for it without a new PC. This is the end of the age of boxed software, and God knows people replace their PCs more frequently than ever these days.

So: Buy a new computer, get Windows 7 (cost paid by manufacturer). Keep your old computer, Windows 7 is free, assuming you can run it.

With a free download, all those people who bought Macs could set up a dual-boot situation and review the OS for themselves to decide which will be their primary OS.

With a free download and robust Microsoft support, cost-cutting businesses can still stay relevant and upgrade their aging XP/2000 systems despite an economic downturn.

With a free download and a heavy marketing push publicizing the date that the download will be available (think the digital TV upgrade), Microsoft will get more press than if they are seen as trying to push and monetize another major product.

They won’t need to convince XP holdouts — it will be a no-brainer upgrade.

Everyone knows Microsoft still relies heavily on Windows and Office for its bottom line. If it wants to reinvent its business and get away from that — and toward the cloud, or the mobile phone, for example — it should use this launch to surprise everyone.

No one is ever surprised by Microsoft. A free Windows 7 could really change that.

Weather Channel Founder Blasts Gore Over Global Warming Campaign

John Coleman, now a weatherman at San Diego's KUSI, writes on his station's Web site that Al Gore is ignoring the faulty research behind global warming.

The founder of the Weather Channel is ridiculing Al Gore over his calls for action on global climate change, saying in a column that global warming is a "hoax" and "bad science."

John Coleman, now a weatherman at San Diego's KUSI, wrote on his station's Web site Wednesday that Gore refuses to acknowledge the faulty research on which the idea of global warming is based.

Coleman's lengthy scolding came as the former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and urged lawmakers to pass a bill that would put caps on heat-trapping gases and take the lead on a global climate treaty.

Coleman wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency is "on the verge" of naming CO2 (carbon dioxide) as a pollutant, and that seemingly all of Washington is on board with such CO2 silliness."

"I am totally convinced there is no scientific basis for any of it," Coleman wrote, describing the decades-old theory that increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere leads to global warming.

"Global Warming. It is the hoax. It is bad science. It is a high jacking of public policy. It is no joke. It is the greatest scam in history," Coleman wrote.

Urine test for welfare or unemployment

Like a lot of folks in this country, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare or unemployment because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their Asses, doing drugs, while I work. . . . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance or unemployment check?

Ohio firefighter quits band over Obama nod

I guess some people just cannot follow VERY simple instructions!!!!!

CLEVELAND – An Ohio firefighter says he's quitting a marching band after he was suspended from the group for nodding and waving to President Barack Obama during last week's inauguration parade.

Drum Major John Coleman says there are too many hurt feelings over the gesture he made when the Cleveland Firefighter's Memorial Pipes & Drums marched past the president.

The organization said the firefighter violated the proper decorum required in a military parade. The band leader said members had been warned not to make gestures, and Coleman was suspended from the group for six months.

Coleman says Obama smiled and waved first, and that he was just acknowledging the president

Letter offers clues to death of 5 kids, 2 adults

LOS ANGELES – In one upstairs bedroom, the bodies of twin 2-year-old boys were found beside their dead mother. In another bedroom, 5-year-old twin girls and their 8-year-old sister lay next to their lifeless father.

Officers discovered the horrific scene after rushing to a home in Wilmington, prompted by the father's distraught letter faxed to a TV station describing a "tragic story" and a call to authorities.

Police believe Ervin Lupoe, 40, killed his five children and his wife before turning the gun on himself. Both adults were recently fired from their hospital jobs.

"Why leave our children in someone else's hands?" Lupoe wrote in his letter faxed to KABC-TV. The station posted the letter on its Web site with some parts redacted.

The station called police after receiving the fax, and a police dispatch center also received a phone call from a man who stated, "I just returned home and my whole family's been shot." Police are unsure who the male caller was, but they suspect it was the father.

Officers rushed to the home in Wilmington, a small community between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and found the bodies.

All the victims were shot in the head, some multiple times, coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. The killings may have occurred between Monday evening and early Tuesday, based on neighbors' accounts of firecracker sounds, he said.

Although the fax — addressed to "whom it may concern" and explaining "why we are dead" — asserted that the wife, Ana Lupoe, planned the killings of the whole family, police Lt. John Romero said Ervin Lupoe was the suspect. A revolver was found next to his body.

It was the fifth mass death of a Southern California family by murder or suicide in a year. Police urged those facing tough economic times to get help rather than resort to violence.

"Today our worst fear was realized," said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."

Ervin Lupoe removed three of the children from school about a week and a half ago, saying the family was moving to Kansas, the principal told KCAL-TV. Crescent Heights Elementary School Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver said nothing seemed to be troubling Ervin Lupoe, and she did not ask why the family was moving.

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles released a statement confirming Lupoe and his wife were fired as medical technicians more than a week ago. The hospital said the firings followed an internal investigation but would not specify why they lost their jobs.

The letter indicated that Lupoe and his wife — both 40 — had been investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency to obtain childcare. He claimed that an administrator told the couple on Dec. 23: "You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out."

Lupoe's letter said the couple complained to the human resources department and eventually were offered an apology but two days later they were fired.

"They did nothing to the manager who stated such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are," the note said.

At the bottom of the letter, Lupoe wrote, "Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?" The phrase is frequently found in Internet discussions about the novel "The Da Vinci Code," Freemasons and Mormonism.

Kaiser Permanente said staff was "saddened by the despair" in Lupoe's letter "but we are confident that no one told him to take his own life or the lives of his family."

Lupoe's fax identified his children as Brittney, 8; 5-year-old twins Jaszmin and Jassely; and twins Benjamin and Christian, ages 2 years and 4 months. Winter confirmed the identities of the girls, but the boys' names were pending.

Lupoe got a state license to work as a security guard in 1989 and a permit to carry a gun as a security guard in 1993 but both expired in 2007, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.

Bob Pierce, a Long Beach attorney who represented the Lupoes in an auto accident, said the case did not involve any serious injuries and the family was expected to receive "well below $10,000," he said.

Lupoe called Monday to find out when the money might be coming, Pierce said. Pierce told him that it might be another week or two "and he said 'no problem.'"

To Amanda Garcia, everything seemed normal in the Lupoe house next door. Her neighbors always had a friendly wave and their five young children would play outside.

"They were happy, they had birthday parties," the 22-year-old Garcia said as she choked back tears near her home. "The kids were always outside on bikes, riding on their wagon."

Citigroup will not take possession of new aircraft - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK – Pressured by the Obama administration, Citigroup Inc. reversed course and said it will not take delivery of a corporate jet it previously planned to purchase.

The canceled deal comes amid a chorus of concerns from politicians who are worried about how banks that have received federal funds are spending the money. Citigroup has received $45 billion in capital from the government in recent months amid the ongoing credit crisis.

"Citi has no intent to take delivery of any new aircraft," the New York-based bank said in a statement Tuesday.

An official in President Barack Obama's administration reached out to Citigroup on Monday to reiterate Obama's position that such jets aren't "the best use of money at this point," and are "an outrageous use of funds" for a company getting taxpayer dollars, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to more freely describe private conversations.

In a statement late Monday, Citi said it had placed a deposit in 2005 to acquire a new corporate jet, and said it didn't plan to use government funds for the purchase. The New York-based bank noted that any cancellation of the deal would likely lead to millions of dollars in penalties.

On Monday, the New York Post reported that Citi was set to take possession of a new corporate jet, and was still planning to receive it even after it received the government funding.

With the cancellation of the deal, a deposit on the jet will be lost, but is recoverable once the jet is sold, according to a person familiar with situation. Citi was in the process of purchasing a Dassault Falcon 7X for $50 million, the person said.

Aside from not taking control of a new jet, Citi is also planning to cut the number of corporate jets in its existing fleet to two from five, said the person, who asked not to be identified because those details haven't been made public.

Corporate jets have become a hot-button topic amid the ongoing credit crisis as the cost of owning and operating them has come into question, especially for companies receiving financial support from the government.

In November, executives of automakers Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC were roundly criticized for flying on corporate jets to Washington to ask Congress for federal bailout money.

Obama criticized the automakers during the transition, and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily briefing on Monday that that view applied in the Citi case as well. So an official from the Treasury Department relayed this privately to Citi, saying it was the feeling of not just the president but also lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the public, according to the White House official who spoke anonymously.

Citi has been among the hardest hit banks by rising loan defaults and souring investments, and been one of the biggest receivers of government support.

The bank has received $45 billion in capital from the government as part of the U.S. Treasury Department's plan to directly invest in banks. The government is also providing guarantees on hundreds of billions of dollars of Citi investments in mortgages and other troubled investments.

Amid the struggles, Citi has been working to streamline its operations and shed assets in an effort to regain profitability. The bank has posted five consecutive quarterly losses, including a fourth-quarter loss of $8.29 billion.

Earlier this month, Citi reached a deal to sell a majority stake in its Smith Barney brokerage unit to Morgan Stanley. Citi has also announced plans split its operations into two units, separating its traditional banking businesses from its riskier operations.

It might take a while for Citi to recover its deposit on the canceled jet deal, as the market for corporate aircraft has softened with the economy.

Before the jet market cooled last year, speculators sometimes placed orders with no intention of taking delivery of the plane. They would sell their position in line.

"There was such a backlog — three or three-and-a-half year waits — people could buy positions and flip them for a profit," said Robert F. Agnew, president and chief executive of aviation consulting firm Morton Beyer & Agnew. "Selling a slot today is probably very difficult."

Agnew said buyers typically pay a few percentage points of the purchase price when placing the order, then a series of payments as production begins and other milestones are reached. They might pay about 35 percent of the cost before taking delivery, then pay the balance when taking the plane, he said. At that rate, Citi could have already spent $17.5 million on a plane it will no longer receive.

Agnew did note that upfront costs can be much lower where a strong relationship exists between buyer and seller, but said he was not familiar with Citigroup's arrangement with Dassault.

R.P. Blandford & Son moving out

REDLANDS - R.P. Blandford & Son, which has sold Scottish clothing and instruments in downtown Redlands for 25 years, is moving to greener pastures.

Skyrocketing rent prices have driven the longtime Redlands business out of town.

Cameron Tillery, co-owner of the store, said the owner of the building at 204 Orange St. nearly doubled the rent, making it difficult to stay in business in the same location.

"You'd think with the economy being like it is, that owners would try to do what they could to keep the businesses here," Tillery said Wednesday.

Tillery said the landlord planned to continue to raise rent every three months after the rent doubled.
Blandford's is not the only downtown business to close up shop recently. The Pantry, formerly at 19 E. Citrus Ave., Suite 104, shut its doors on Dec. 23. The Pantry's owner, Esther Lee, 34, said she would continue catering and event planning but without the use of the Redlands storefront.

In December, Lee said the advent of Citrus Plaza hurt downtown businesses.

"People that have been in the area for a while are saying that since Citrus Plaza opened, they've noticed a decline in sales," Lee said in December.

Blandford's does not face much competition from Citrus Plaza - none of the stores in the plaza specialize in clothing and accessories from the British Isles.

Blandford's is still a viable business, Tillery said.

"The business will still do well after the move," he said.

Tillery said he will move the business to Rancho Cucamonga to be closer to customer bases in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

Tillery, 47, and his wife, Diana, 40, also live in Rancho Cucamonga.

Cameron and Diana Tillery bought the shop from Richard "Paul" Blandford in January 2006 when Tillery looked to acquire a kilt for the couple's wedding.

"They opened up the store for us," Diana Tillery said. "My husband got measured for his kilt and he started talking about how he wanted to learn to play the bagpipes."

Kevin Blandford taught Cameron Tillery to play the bagpipes. Afterward, the Tillerys and the Blandford families grew close and eventually, the Tillerys took over R.P. Blandford & Son.

Diana Tillery said Paul Blandford is still involved with the business.

The shop was founded by Blandford, his late wife Madelyn and their late son Kevin.

The store rents and sells Highlandwear, from the ghillies (low-cut sport shoes with fringed laces) and kilts, hats and sporrans - the purse-like pouches that hang in front of the kilt - to bagpipes and accessories, and even contracts bagpipe players to perform at social functions from weddings to funerals.

They sell Scottish shortbread and other food items from the British Isles. They also sell bagpipe albums, some of which were produced by the store and performed at the University of Redlands. They have a full line of heraldry (coat-of-arms) accessories, and Highlandwear for men, women and children.

Cameron Tillery said Blandford's will still sponsor the Kevin R. Blandford memorial band, which usually plays in the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival.

"Redlands is still our home," Tillery said. "We still plan to be involved."

On Feb. 1, R.P. Blandford & Son will open a new store at 10980 Arrow Route, Suite 109, Rancho Cucamonga. For more information call (800) 686-1060 or (909) 483-1070.

Give a whole new meaning to Boom Boxes!

Taliban demands end to music on Pakistan buses

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Bus drivers in northwest Pakistan have begun removing audio and video equipment from their vehicles after Taliban militants threatened suicide attacks against those who played music or movies for their passengers, an industry official said Tuesday.

Transport workers in Mardan town received letters this week from militants saying that buses offering such entertainment were guilty of spreading "vulgarity and obscenity," Walid Mir, general secretary of the town's transport union, told The Associated Press.

The militants said they would check the buses and that suicide attacks would be carried out against vehicles that still had audio and video equipment — prompting union members to act quickly, Mir said.

The Taliban letter complained that traveling in buses that provide audiovisual entertainment was a "source of mental agony for pious people," according to a text obtained by AP.

"It is obligatory on us to stop such violations. We request you to remove the vulgar systems ... otherwise suicide bombers are ready," the letter said.

Mardan lies in the Northwest Frontier Province just outside Pakistan's volatile tribal belt where extremists among the Taliban, al-Qaida and local groups are waging a violent campaign against authorities in a bid to impose their strict interpretation of Islam.

Elsewhere in northwest Pakistan, extremists have targeted girls' schools, police posts and other symbols of authority.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime that was forced from power in late 2001 banned art, secular music and television, vandalized the national museum and destroyed artwork or statues deemed idolatrous or anti-Muslim.

Local police said they had no knowledge of the threat.

"Certainly, we can look into it if we receive a complaint," Mardan police chief Syed Akhtar Ali Shah said.
Mir said the transport companies had no plans to make a report.

"We did not report it to police because it is a matter of human lives. What can the police can do? It involves the lives of hundreds of passengers, and we do not want to put them in danger," Mir said

To boost recruits, US Army relaxes weight rules

Washington – The waistlines of America's youth are expanding, shrinking the pool of those eligible to join the US military. But an Army program is giving overweight enlistees a second chance – and helping the military with its own expansion.

The recently-introduced waiver program allows enlistees who don't qualify for the military because of their weight a chance to shape up after joining. So far, the program has helped the Army make its recruiting goals in what remains a tight recruiting market.

If the economic recession worsens, it could help the military's recruiting efforts as people seek stable employment. That could reduce the need for waiver programs. However, nutritionists don't see the trend of overweight Americans disappearing any time soon, ensuring the continuance of such programs in recruiting an all-volunteer force.

"We support any service who comes up with a scientifically defensible way of expanding the market [of recruits]," says Curtis Gilroy, director of accessions policy for the Pentagon.

Such waivers had been studied for years but the program wasn't implemented until fiscal 2007, when it admitted about 1,500 individuals through the program (just a small slice of about 80,000 recruits).

Recruits must pass a special battery of tests, including a "step test," and do a number of push-ups to demonstrate their physical abilities. If they pass and are enlisted, they have a year to comply with the Army's physical requirements, measured by "body mass index," a formula that estimates body fat based on weight and height.

Recruiting struggle
The Army's weight waiver program rests largely on a distinction between individuals who are overweight or obese and those who are physically fit but whose "body mass index," or BMI, doesn't meet Army standards.

"The point is to get the football-player kinda kids. It's not to get the couch-potato kids," says Beth Asch, a senior economist at the Rand Corporation who studies military recruiting.

The Army program is a "sensible move," says Ms. Asch, but to remain effective it must have oversight.
"There can be a temptation, not necessarily at the commanding level but at the ground level with the recruiter, who would want to slip in a kid who is overweight and has no business being in the Army," she says. "There needs to be monitoring."

So far, the percentage of those in the program who don't get into shape – and are then discharged from the Army – is low among both men and women. It roughly mirrors the attrition rates of those who don't take the special test, according to data provided by Douglas Smith of Army Recruiting Command.

The Army has struggled the most with recruiting. Although it has met its active-duty goals in recent years, it has had to issue other waivers and let in more high school dropouts in order to do so.

At the same time, the military is expanding through next year. The Marine Corps, which is not using the weight waiver, is growing to 202,000 and the Army will reach its "end-strength" goal of 547,000 this year.

Many experts would like to see the military grow even larger to meet demands.

The obesity challenge
Excess weight is the chief reason many individuals can't enlist.
It's no secret that today's youths gobble up french fries and suck down Big Gulps. At the same time, fewer are getting exercise. The percentage of young adults considered obese – with a BMI greater than 30 – has grown sharply in recently years.

Ten years ago, there were a handful of states across the country where about 25 percent of the population ages 18 to 34 were considered obese. Today, there are 26 such states.

"We know that is even going to increase because the [Centers for Disease Control] says the numbers are going to go up," says the Pentagon's Mr. Gilroy.

It's a big change from 50 years ago, when there was widespread fear that soldiers were "undernourished," says Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

Today, Americans live in an age of super-sized proportions. According to the National Institutes of Health, the average-sized bagel 20 years ago was three inches across and had 140 calories. Today's bagels average twice the size and have about 350 calories.

And more Americans are eating fast food, which is cheap, plentiful – and generally unhealthy. "There is no question that America is eating out," says Ms. Van Horn.