Obama's People
Photographer Nadav Kander shot portraits of Obama's top advisers, aides, and members of his administration for the New York Times Magazine. Thanks to fecalface.com for the heads up on this one.
Lo-Jack for Cacti
Two thieves could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and possibly years in jail after pulling off one of the highest-profile heists in Arizona history. Their loot: 17 saguaro cacti they uprooted two years ago from Saguaro National Park near Tucson. The 35- to 70-year-old plants each stand five to seven feet tall (saguaros grow to well over 40 feet, but young plants like these are easier to steal) and can fetch $2,000 apiece from landscapers. "We have an active patrol," says the park's chief ranger, Bob Love. "But we can't be every place all the time." To stop the pillaging, Love and his team will imbed radio-frequency identification tags, like those used to identify pets, in 1,000 cacti throughout the 91,000-acre park.
BBC E-mail: Chile indigenous politics on the move
** Chile indigenous politics on the move **
How a history teacher in Chile is working to give the country's biggest indigenous group, the Mapuche, their own political voice.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7817883.stm >
[From: desert metro] The state of America
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/interactive/2009/jan/16/obama-white-house-obama-inauguration
[From: desert metro] China pins blame for financial crisis on America
desert metro spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/28/china-blames-america-for-credit-crisis
China pins blame for financial crisis on America
Ashley Seager in Davos
Wednesday January 28 2009
guardian.co.uk
China today laid the blame for the ?global financial crisis firmly at America's door but said it was crucial that it works with the new administration of President Barack Obama to prevent the crisis getting worse.
Speaking on the first day of the World Economic Forum, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao also insisted that the Chinese economy could grow by 8% in 2009 thanks to prompt action by his government to combat the worst effects of the credit crunch.
"This crisis has landed the world in its worst situation since the great depression of the last century," Wen told a crowded conference hall.
He made clear where responsibility lay: "Inappropriate macroeconomic policies of some economies and their unsustainable model of development characterised by prolonged low savings and high consumption."
He also cited "an excessive expansion of financial institutions in blind pursuit of profit, lack of self discipline among financial institutions and ratings agencies".
Wen appeared to be hitting back at the new US treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, who last week accused Beijing of manipulating its currency, to the annoyance Chinese authorities.
In another sideswipe at the Americans, Wen warned of the dangers of protectionism, a policy supported by some US Congress members in response to what they see as China keeping its currency too low. "Protectionism serves no purpose except to worsen and prolong the crisis," he said.
He added that the Chinese economy had grown by 9% in 2008 and should increase by 8% this year, but acknowledged that a lot of analysts have doubts the Chinese economy ? now the world's third largest ? could survive the credit crunch so well.
"To be honest, it will be a tall order to achieve a growth rate of 8% in 2009, but I still retain the conviction that we will achieve this. We have a stable financial system in China. The direct impact of the crisis on China is limited because of our banking system."
He claimed there were early signs of recovery in the Chinese economy, with lending starting to increase again.
"The harsh winter has gone and spring is just around the corner," he said, adding that the Chinese government was committed to boosting domestic demand in response to pressure from other countries which have complained that China was too focused on exports.
China is enacting a stimulus package equivalent to 6% of its gross domestic product, he added.
He said his government had already had contact with the Obama administration and was looking forward to an early meeting. He stressed that China was interested in continuing to build a strong, ?stable relationship with the United States, something that was in the interests not just of the two countries but the whole world, especially given the severity of the economic crisis, which has hit Chinese exports very hard.
"In the face of the financial crisis, it is imperative to enhance co-operation between our two countries. We should expand the regulation coverage of the international financial system with particular emphasis on strengthening the supervision on major reserve currency countries. We should put in place a timely and efficient early warning system against crisis."
The world must "strike a balance between savings and consumption between financial innovation and regulation, and between [the] financial sector and the real economy".
Wen also called on the world to provide greater assistance to developing countries, which were suffering greatly.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
Guardian News & Media has moved. Our new address is:
Kings Place
90 York Way
London N1 9GU
Tel: 020-3353 2000
Guardian Professional are based at 3-7 Ray Street, London EC1R 3DR and Ad Services are based at 3-7 Herbal Hill, London EC1R 5EJ.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit guardian.co.uk - the UK's most popular newspaper website
http://guardian.co.uk http://observer.co.uk
To save up to 33% when you subscribe to the Guardian and the Observer visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/subscriber
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Please consider the environment before printing this email
This e-mail and all attachments are confidential and may also
be privileged. If you are not the named recipient, please notify
the sender and delete the e-mail and all attachments immediately.
Do not disclose the contents to another person. You may not use
the information for any purpose, or store, or copy, it in any way.
Guardian News & Media Limited is not liable for any computer
viruses or other material transmitted with or as part of this
e-mail. You should employ virus checking software.
Guardian News & Media Limited
A member of Guardian Media Group PLC
Registered Office
Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG
Registered in England Number 908396
[From: dersert metro] New Bush neighbours to greet former president with sign of changing times
dersert metro spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/28/george-bush-yard-signs-dallas
New Bush neighbours to greet former president with sign of changing times
Yard signs welcoming George and Laura Bush are the work of an entrepreneurial-minded college student
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday January 28 2009
guardian.co.uk
There is no place like home, as George Bush will soon discover when he moves permanently into his new post-presidential neighbourhood in Dallas to discover an active fan club - surely one of the few on the planet.
The signs now dotting the verdant football-field-sized lawns of the exclusive Preston Hollow neighbourhood are the work of an entrepreneurial-minded college student who set up the Bush booster business before Christmas.
He has since sold nearly 800 signs at $20 (?14) each - most to supporters of Barack Obama, according to his father, Bill Bibb. About $2 from each sign goes to a local primary school.
"I think it's kind of a general feeling that people are just tired of the bashing of the president," Bibb said. "Everybody I talked to supports Obama but does not support the way the president has been treated since the elections. They feel it is disrespectful."
He added: "Not everybody agrees with everything that has been done in the past but he is our commander in chief - or was."
The Bushes made a surprise visit to their new home yesterday, spending about 30 minutes at the pricey Preston Hollow neighbourhood. People on their road have been especially supportive of the Bibb family business. "Ninety per cent of the homes on Bush's street have a sign," he said.
Bush's realtor alone bought 20. Other neighbours, some of whom have been generous donors to Bush's political campaigns, have supplemented the signs with banners.
The Bushes are expected to move in early next month. Both George and Laura are at work on memoirs. They plan to spend their weekdays in their Dallas home, and their weekends at the ranch in Crawford.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
Guardian News & Media has moved. Our new address is:
Kings Place
90 York Way
London N1 9GU
Tel: 020-3353 2000
Guardian Professional are based at 3-7 Ray Street, London EC1R 3DR and Ad Services are based at 3-7 Herbal Hill, London EC1R 5EJ.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit guardian.co.uk - the UK's most popular newspaper website
http://guardian.co.uk http://observer.co.uk
To save up to 33% when you subscribe to the Guardian and the Observer visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/subscriber
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Please consider the environment before printing this email
This e-mail and all attachments are confidential and may also
be privileged. If you are not the named recipient, please notify
the sender and delete the e-mail and all attachments immediately.
Do not disclose the contents to another person. You may not use
the information for any purpose, or store, or copy, it in any way.
Guardian News & Media Limited is not liable for any computer
viruses or other material transmitted with or as part of this
e-mail. You should employ virus checking software.
Guardian News & Media Limited
A member of Guardian Media Group PLC
Registered Office
Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG
Registered in England Number 908396
[From: desert metro metro] Late start for America's new dawn
desert metro metro spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/28/work-life-balance-obama-bush
Late start for America's new dawn
Obama has dispensed with Bush's early-rising regime, giving hope to those of us who do our best work later in the day, says Ravi Somaiya
Ravi Somaiya
Wednesday January 28 2009
guardian.co.uk
As Barack Obama settles into the White House, the differences between the way the old and new presidents manage their time will begin to show. Now it is time to break the puritan fiction that the only way to achieve is to get up early and live clean.
Ex-president Bush rose at 5.45am and was at his desk by 6.45am. He worked until 6pm, taking meetings in strict five-minute blocks. He ran three miles in 21 minutes before lunch every day. He does not drink. Women's skirts ? in his White House ? had to fall below the knee.
Obama gets up hours later ? aides during his campaign said he did much of his strategising after midnight. He smokes, he drinks beer while watching sports, and has mentioned keeping his regular poker night while president. He keeps a box of salted caramel chocolates on hand at all times. And the Narciso Rodriguez dress Michelle Obama wore on the night her husband won the presidency was a dangerous inch or so above her knees.
We now know that Bush's early rising just gave him more time to ruin things in his inimitable and boisterous style. Obama, having strolled in to work at a reasonable hour, probably found even the chair in the Oval Office no longer spins round and has a squeaky wheel.
Normal, vice-ridden, vaguely lazy workers must use this example to fight the stigma attached to arriving late, having stayed up until 3am watching Beverly Hills Cop II. Or eating seven cupcakes and some Kettle Chips for lunch.
The problem is that these dawn rats just won't shut up about the joy of seeing sunrises and consuming berries. It's a statistical fact that you are no more than nine yards from someone about to advise someone else of the productivity benefits of getting up early. Benjamin Franklin wrote a book called Early Rising: Natural, Social and Religious Duty. Aristotle said: "It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom."
You may argue that both Franklin and Aristotle got a lot done, but they just seem to have been so insufferably smug and loud about it. Which is perhaps why they drown out great late-risers, who tend to be less pious. Like Picasso, who once said: "I understand why they execute condemned men at dawn. I just have to see the dawn in order to have my head roll all by itself."
Or Robert Frost, one of the great American poets. Surely, if there was ever a candidate for early-rising greatness, it is he. He lived on a farm. Farmers get up early. The great and good, so we're told, also get up early. But no ? he milked his cows at midnight because he couldn't be bothered to get up at 5am to do it.
Once you start looking at the clean living lobby's case, it all gets very shaky. Churchill smoked, drank and swore. Hitler did none of these things, choosing instead to frolic wholesomely with his dogs in meadows. JFK added philandering to Churchill's vices, as well as sharing the wartime PM's cigar habit. In fact, the night before Kennedy banned all Cuban products from the US ? including his beloved Petit Upmann cigars ? he dispatched his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, to buy 1,200 so he'd have a stock of them.
Augusto Pinochet, on the other hand, was an early riser who enjoyed a nice morning walk rather than motorboating Marilyn Monroe or a meditative smoke.
But, even in the face of such overwhelming evidence, it is still hard to admit to your colleagues that you see 5am more often before bed than after it. Samuel Johnson, the 18th-century author who found time to compile the first dictionary, even succumbed to the pressure. He guiltily admitted: "I have, all my life long, been lying till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good."
In the case of former president Bush, we have the most high-profile example that Johnson sadly misinformed the young men of his acquaintance. So from now on, with a brand new president in office, indulge your vices and roll in to work late. It's for your own good.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
Guardian News & Media has moved. Our new address is:
Kings Place
90 York Way
London N1 9GU
Tel: 020-3353 2000
Guardian Professional are based at 3-7 Ray Street, London EC1R 3DR and Ad Services are based at 3-7 Herbal Hill, London EC1R 5EJ.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit guardian.co.uk - the UK's most popular newspaper website
http://guardian.co.uk http://observer.co.uk
To save up to 33% when you subscribe to the Guardian and the Observer visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/subscriber
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Please consider the environment before printing this email
This e-mail and all attachments are confidential and may also
be privileged. If you are not the named recipient, please notify
the sender and delete the e-mail and all attachments immediately.
Do not disclose the contents to another person. You may not use
the information for any purpose, or store, or copy, it in any way.
Guardian News & Media Limited is not liable for any computer
viruses or other material transmitted with or as part of this
e-mail. You should employ virus checking software.
Guardian News & Media Limited
A member of Guardian Media Group PLC
Registered Office
Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG
Registered in England Number 908396
NYTimes.com: What Do Women Want?
 |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
NYTimes.com: What Life Asks of Us
| |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
NYTimes.com: Coffee Linked to Lower Dementia Risk
| |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)