Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771307454/
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Amazon is again announcing an expansion to its Amazon Instant Video lineup, with today?s addition of back catalog content from Scripps Networks, home to HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel and Travel Channel. The deal involves ?hundreds? of episodes of past seasons, and is notable for being the first online-only distribution agreement Scripps has signed to date, according to Amazon?s announcement.
That statement could be misunderstood to imply that this is the first time Scripps Networks has licensed its content for streaming, and that?s not the case. The company already has an agreement in place with Hulu, where you can find episodes from several of its most popular shows now. It also distributes video (in some cases, just clips) to YouTube, AT&T?s U-verse, and last summer it stuck a deal with Comcast, as well. We?ve asked Amazon to clarify what it means by noting this is an ?online-only? deal, since it could mean that Scripps Networks TV shows won?t be available in Amazon Instant Video on mobile. We?ll update when we hear back.
Update ? Amazon explains what it means by that, saying that while up until this point these shows have been available for streaming a la carte, such as with Hulu?s free service, but haven?t yet been packaged within a subscription service, like Prime Instant Video. The company says it did not mean to imply by saying ?online only? that the streams would not be available on mobile; they will.
In addition to being able to stream these new shows starting today, many will also be available for purchase and download, Amazon says.
Scripps Networks owns channels that primarily pump out low-cost reality programming, but have produced some small-scale hits which include things like?Rachael Ray?s Week in a Day; Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations; Cupcake Wars; Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; House Hunters and House Hunters International; Iron Chef America; Man v. Food; Selling New York and Selling LA; Throwdown With Bobby Flay; Chopped; Ghost Adventures; and Yard Crashers.
?One of the guiding principles at Scripps Networks Interactive is to make our valued lifestyle content accessible to consumers wherever and whenever they want,? said Henry Ahn, Executive Vice President of Content Distribution and Marketing for Scripps Networks Interactive in a release. ?Licensing content from our extensive library to Amazon provides our millions of avid fans with yet another opportunity to engage with our entertaining and informative content. And the Amazon platform is a great complement to our branded products such as books, cookware, furniture and accessories, lighting and more.?
This may not be the only deal Scripps Networks has in store. During its Q4 2012 earnings call, CEO Kenneth Lowe responded when asked if the company was talking to Netflix and Amazon: ?we are, in fact, talking with everybody and being judicious about it.?
?We?re weighing, frankly, as we have been, all along the upside of the incremental revenue against any downside it might create in terms of ratings competition for the incumbent business model, if you will,? Lowe said at the time. ?But I?m confident that we?ll have some announcements coming in the next few months as to some of those distribution deals as the discussions have advanced very well.?
Amazon has been very, very quickly ramping up on its content and distribution deals for Amazon Instant Video. This year alone, it has signed new agreements with CBS, won the exclusive subscription streaming rights to PBS?s ?Downtown Abbey,? and signed a deal with A&E Networks. In late 2012, the company added ESPN content, EPIX, Turner and Warner Bros.
Today, the company says it offers over 150,000 titles for rent or purchase, and its streaming subscription service has grown to over 38,000 movies and TV episodes. That?s up from 145,000 titles for rent or purchase and 33,000 titles in mid-January, to give you an idea.
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon?s...
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Feb. 28, 2013 ? The bacteria that cause acne live on everyone's skin, yet one in five people is lucky enough to develop only an occasional pimple over a lifetime. What's their secret?
In a boon for teenagers everywhere, a UCLA study conducted with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute has discovered that acne bacteria contain "bad" strains associated with pimples and "good" strains that may protect the skin.
The findings, published in the Feb. 28 edition of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, could lead to a myriad of new therapies to prevent and treat the disfiguring skin disorder.
"We learned that not all acne bacteria trigger pimples ? one strain may actually help keep skin healthy," said lead author Huiying Li, an assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We hope to apply our findings to develop new strategies that stop blemishes before they start, and enable dermatologists to customize treatment to each patient's unique cocktail of skin bacteria."
The scientists looked at a tiny microbe with a big name: Propionibacterium acnes, bacteria that thrive in the oily depths of our pores. When the bacteria aggravate the immune system, they cause the swollen, red bumps associated with acne.
Using over-the-counter pore-cleansing strips, LA BioMed and UCLA researchers lifted P. acnes bacteria from the noses of 49 pimply and 52 clear-skinned volunteers. After extracting the microbial DNA from the strips, Li's laboratory tracked a genetic marker to identify the bacterial strains in each volunteer's pores and recorded whether the person suffered from acne.
Next, Li's lab cultured the bacteria from the strips to isolate more than 1,000 strains. Washington University scientists sequenced the genomes of 66 of the P. acnes strains, enabling UCLA co-first author Shuta Tomida to zero in on genes unique to each strain.
"We were interested to learn that the bacterial strains looked very different when taken from diseased skin, compared to healthy skin," said co-author Dr. Noah Craft, a dermatologist and director of the Center for Immunotherapeutics Research at LA BioMed at Harbor?UCLA Medical Center. "Two unique strains of P. acnes appeared in one out of five volunteers with acne but rarely occurred in clear-skinned people."
The biggest discovery was still to come.
"We were extremely excited to uncover a third strain of P. acnes that's common in healthy skin yet rarely found when acne is present," said Li, who is also a member of UCLA's Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging. "We suspect that this strain contains a natural defense mechanism that enables it to recognize attackers and destroy them before they infect the bacterial cell."
Offering new hope to acne sufferers, the researchers believe that increasing the body's friendly strain of P. acnes through the use of a simple cream or lotion may help calm spotty complexions.
"This P. acnes strain may protect the skin, much like yogurt's live bacteria help defend the gut from harmful bugs," Li said. "Our next step will be to investigate whether a probiotic cream can block bad bacteria from invading the skin and prevent pimples before they start."
Additional studies will focus on exploring new drugs that kill bad strains of P. acnes while preserving the good ones; the use of viruses to kill acne-related bacteria; and a simple skin test to predict whether a person will develop aggressive acne in the future.
"Our research underscores the importance of strain-level analysis of the world of human microbes to define the role of bacteria in health and disease," said co-author George Weinstock, associate director of the Genome Institute and professor of genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. "This type of analysis has a much higher resolution than prior studies that relied on bacterial cultures or only made distinctions between bacterial species."
Acne affects 80 percent of Americans at some point in their lives, yet scientists know little about what causes the disorder and have made limited progress in developing new strategies for treating it. Dermatologists' arsenal of anti-acne tools ? benzoyl peroxide, antibiotics and Accutane (isotretinoin) ? hasn't expanded in decades. Most severe cases of acne don't respond to antibiotics, and Accutane can produce serious side effects.
The research was supported by a grant (UH2AR057503) from the National Institutes of Health's Human Microbiome Project through the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
Co-authors include co-first author Sorel Fitz-Gibbon, Bor-Han Chiu, Lin Nguyen, Christine Du, Dr. Minghsun Liu, David Elashoff, Dr. Jenny Kim, Anya Loncaric, Dr. Robert Modlin and Jeff F. Miller of UCLA; Erica Sodergren of Washington University; and Dr. Marie Erfe of LA BioMed.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/iBGU6EmqX9Y/130228080135.htm
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FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Newport News, Va. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
The Capitol plaza is seen as automatic spending cuts are set to take effect on March 1, in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate to discuss what to do about automatic cuts to the federal budget, White House and congressional leaders said. The meeting is set to take place hours after the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will have officially kicked in. This suggests both sides are operating under the assumption a deal won't be reached to avert the cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? With big, automatic budget cuts about to kick in, House Republicans are turning to mapping strategy for the next showdown just a month away, when a government shutdown instead of just a slowdown will be at stake.
Both topics are sure to come up at the White House meeting Friday between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker John Boehner. A breakthrough on replacing or easing the imminent across-the-board spending cuts still seems unlikely at the first face-to-face discussion between Obama and Republican leaders this year.
To no one's surprise, even as a dysfunctional Washington appears incapable of averting a crisis over economy-rattling spending cuts, it may be lurching toward another over a possible shutdown.
Republicans are planning for a vote next week on a bill to fund the day-to-day operations of the government through the Sept. 30 end of the 2013 fiscal year ? while keeping in place the new $85 billion in cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 8 percent to the military.
The need to keep the government's doors open and lights on ? or else suffer the first government shutdown since 1996 ? requires the GOP-dominated House and the Democratic-controlled Senate to agree. Right now they hardly see eye to eye.
The House GOP plan, unveiled to the rank and file on Wednesday, would award the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration with their line-by-line budgets, for a more-targeted rather than indiscriminate batch of military cuts, but would deny domestic agencies the same treatment. And that has whipped up opposition from veteran Democratic senators on the Appropriations Committee. Domestic agencies would see their budgets frozen almost exactly as they are, which would mean no money for new initiatives such as cybersecurity or for routine increases for programs such as low-income housing.
"We're not going to do that," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "Of course not."
Any agreement needs to pass through a gantlet of House tea party conservatives intent on preserving the across-the-board cuts and Senate Democrats pressing for action on domestic initiatives, even at the risk of creating a foot-tall catchall spending bill.
There's also this: GOP leaders have calculated that the automatic cuts arriving on Friday need to be in place in order for them to be able to muster support from conservatives for the catchall spending bill to keep the government running. That's because many staunch conservatives want to preserve the cuts even as defense hawks and others fret about the harm that might do to the military and the economy. If the automatic cuts are dealt with before the government-wide funding bill gets a vote, there could be a conservative revolt.
"The overall sequester levels must hold," said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.
Little to no progress has been made so far between House and Senate leaders and the White House, and given the hard feelings engulfing Washington, there's no guarantee that this problem can be solved, even though the stakes ? a shutdown of non-essential government programs after March 27 ? carry more risk than the across-the-board cuts looming on Friday.
The funding plan for the rest of the fiscal year will be a main topic at the White House meeting on Friday, the March 1 deadline day for averting the across-the-board cuts.
Obama, speaking to a group of business executives Wednesday night, said the cuts would be a "tumble downward" for the economy, though he acknowledged it could takes weeks before many Americans feel the full impact of the budget shrinking.
The warring sides in Washington have spent this week assigning blame rather than seeking a bipartisan way out. In a glimpse of the state of debate on Wednesday, Republicans and the White House bickered over whether the cuts would be under way by the time Friday's meeting started. A spokesman for Boehner said they would be in place; the White House countered that Obama would in fact have until midnight Friday to set them in motion.
The cumbersome annual ritual of passing annual agency spending bills collapsed entirely last year ? not a single one of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the budget year that began back in October has passed Congress ? and Congress has to act by March 27 to prevent a partial shutdown of the government.
By freezing budgets for domestic agencies, the Republican plan would deny an increase for a big cybersecurity initiative, additional money to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal and money to build new Coast Guard cutters. GOP initiatives such as more money for the Small Business Administration or fossil fuels research would be hurt as well, but there's little appetite for the alternative, which is to stack more than $1 trillion worth of spending bills together for a single up-or-down vote.
But the GOP move to add the line-by-line spending bills for the Pentagon and veterans' programs to the catchall spending bill would give the military much-sought increases for force readiness and the Veterans Administration additional funding for health care.
That approach has few fans in the White House, which is seeking money to implement Obama's signature efforts to overhaul financial regulation and the nation's health care system, or within the Democratic Senate, where members of the Appropriations Committee want to add a stack of bills covering domestic priorities such as homeland security, NASA and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI.
"You need balance," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "We feel as strongly about the domestic side as we do defense."
The catchall spending measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR inside Washington, was originally seen as a potential must-pass measure to avert Friday's cuts or make them less severe. But no serious talks to avert the cuts have been under way.
On Thursday, Democrats will force a vote on a measure that would forestall the automatic cuts through the end of the year, replacing them with longer-term cuts to the Pentagon and cash payments to farmers and installing a minimum 30 percent tax rate on income exceeding $1 million. But that plan is virtually certain to be toppled by a GOP-led filibuster vote.
Republicans in turn are considering offering a measure that would give Obama authority to propose a rewrite to the 2013 budget to redistribute the cuts. Obama would be unable to cut defense by more than the $43 billion reduction that the Pentagon currently faces, and would also be unable to raise taxes to undo the cuts. The GOP plan would allow a resulting Obama proposal to go into effect unless Congress passed a resolution to overturn it.
The idea is that money could be transferred from lower-priority accounts to accounts funding air traffic control or meat inspection. But the White House says that such moves would offer only slight relief. At the same time, however, it could take pressure off of Congress to address the sequester.
In the House, where Republicans in the past Congress passed legislation to replace the cuts, Boehner has said it's now up to Obama and the Senate to figure a way out. The Senate never took up the House-passed bills, which expired when the new Congress was seated in January.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on: Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on: Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pauses to listen to questions as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on: Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on: Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Facing criticism from Republican lawmakers, Chairman Ben Bernanke stood behind the Federal Reserve's low-interest-rate policies Wednesday and sought to reassure members of Congress that the central bank has a handle on the risks.
In his second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee that the bond purchases are needed to boost a still-weak economy and that they have helped create jobs for average Americans.
The bond purchases are intended to lower long-term interest rates. That encourages more borrowing and spending, which generates growth.
Still, Republicans said the bond purchases could generate higher inflation.
"We have gone too far in monetary policy and the monetary easing and it is in this member's opinion time to pull back," said Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif.
Bernanke said the Fed is weighing the costs and the benefits.
"We plan to have a continual discussion and review of both the costs and the benefits and try to make sure that we are taking the right steps given those costs and benefits," Bernanke told the House panel.
Bernanke's remarks during his semiannual monetary report to Congress largely repeated comments made a day earlier to a Senate panel.
The Fed chairman made clear that the Fed's low-interest-rate policies are giving crucial support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment. He also acknowledged the risks of keeping rates low indefinitely. But he expressed confidence that such risks pose little threat now and gave no signal that the Fed might shift away from those policies.
The aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds had kept borrowing costs low, he said. And that, in turn, has helped strengthen sectors such as housing and autos, he said.
Bernanke rejected a suggestion by Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., that the Fed's policies were mainly helping the federal government with its borrowing needs and big banks and foreign governments.
"This is very much focused at the average American citizen," Bernanke said. "Our estimates are that we've helped create many private-sector jobs. ... People are able to buy houses at very low mortgage rates, refinancing at low mortgage rates. People are able to get car loans at low rates."
The low borrowing rates have boosted demand, Bernanke said, and that has helped to lift home prices, making home owners feel more financially secure.
"In a lot of dimensions, we have, I think, benefited Main Street and that's certainly our objective," Bernanke said.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Lindsay Lohan's attorney has suggested to prosecutors that the actress serve as a motivational speaker and perform non-jail activities to resolve her latest criminal case, according to a letter obtained Tuesday.
The letter from lawyer Mark Heller proposed several alternatives for Lohan, who could be sent to jail if a judge determines her actions in a traffic crash violated terms of her probation in a previous theft case.
His letter states that Lohan's turbulent home life has deeply impacted her and requires a different approach in the case.
The actress plans to spend time recording public service announcements and make "periodic visits to schools, hospitals, and other venues where she may provide inspirational talks, encouraging children to pursue positive goals and avoid bad habits," states the letter filed on Friday and released by the court Tuesday.
Heller also proposed the establishment of a nonprofit foundation in Lohan's name to benefit young people.
The actress "has made a commitment to herself to elevate her life and participate in activities which will advance her desire to lead a model life," Heller wrote in a motion seeking a delay in the case that returns to court on Friday. Trial is now set for March 18.
Lohan is charged with three misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, lying to police and obstructing officers from performing their duties. She has pleaded not guilty.
The actress could face 245 days in jail if she is found to be in violation of her probation.
The star of "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" was sentenced to psychotherapy in November of 2011 in cases involving theft and drunken driving charges, but she has not been required to attend counseling since being placed on informal probation in March 2012.
Those terms were imposed by Judge Stephanie Sautner, who is retiring and will no longer handle Lohan's case.
The crash that prompted the current charges occurred in June on Pacific Coast Highway while Lohan was on the way to a movie shoot.
Terry White, chief deputy city attorney in Santa Monica, declined comment on the letter. He said discussions about a possible resolution are scheduled to take place this week.
Lohan, 26, was on her way to a beach shoot with another person for the TV movie "Liz and Dick" when her car crashed into the back of a dump truck. Police allege she lied about being behind the wheel.
Heller is also seeking dismissal of the charges against Lohan, arguing that police ignored her when she said she didn't want to be interviewed without her attorney present.
Lohan was at the hospital at the time, not in custody, and showed no signs of impairment when officers gave her a field sobriety test, the lawyer said.
___
Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lohans-attorney-seeks-deal-prosecutors-203949506.html
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And the best way to do that is to be gracious and helpful as you move to a?new job?or step into self-employment. Even if you?re being ushered out, staying upbeat and professional can mean the difference between a good recommendation and good riddance.
?It?s always better to leave a door open than to open a new one,? said Jodi Glickman, president of Great on the Job, a communication training firm. ?You always want to leave on a high note so people will want to work for you again.?
So as you give your two weeks? notice, think through the ways you can shine and help ease the transition. ?Don?t rush out the door? without tending to relationships and future references you may need, saidBarbara Herzog, a career coach in Washington, D.C.
Here?s a half dozen ways to build relationships as you?re saying good-bye at the office:
1. Tell Your Most Valued Coworkers First.?The day you give notice, or as soon as possible afterward, call or visit ?the four or five people who have been most supportive of you,? said Herzog. These are your mentor, your best friend at work, the person who hired you ? in short the professionals you want to cultivate for the future. You want to tell them yourself you?re leaving.? Be sure to tell them how valuable their support was. If it seems appropriate, offer your help to them, their families or their nonprofit causes in the future.
2. Show Respect and Appreciation.??There is some credit due? since your work and development on your current job were a crucial part of why you landed the new one, said Glickman, whose posts appear on the?Harvard Business Review blog. ?Be appreciative.? This is important especially if you?re going to work for a competitor. Have a candid conversation with your boss explaining the value you expect to gain from your new job and expressing appreciation for her support and opportunities. Draw the distinction between your personal success and your attachment to the company you?re leaving, said Glickman.
3. Find Your Replacement.??I always encourage people to find their replacement? before they leave, said Glickman. If your boss prefers, tap your network and come up with at least three good prospects. Give your employer ?a head start? with people who are pre-vetted, she said
4.?Exit Without Negativity.?Even if you think your insights may help your colleagues or the next employees, don?t share anything negative or that needs fixing, said Herzog. ?It is counterproductive to your career,? she said. Instead, make your comments generic and be sure to say you ?appreciated the support of my supervisor and colleagues.?
5.?Send a Thank You Note.?Make the effort to send a?thank you note?to your supervisor and another senior manager who aided your career. ?Be specific about one or two things that meant a lot to you,? said Herzog. The thank you should be separate from a very short, two- or three-sentence resignation letter, and may be sent a few weeks after you?ve departed.
6. Follow Up.?Set a Google Alert so you stay in touch with news and changes at your former employer. Touch base with some of your contacts there three to six months after you?ve left. Send a ?thinking of you? note, article or piece of information, said Glickman. Then schedule a breakfast, lunch or coffee meeting and see if you can bring something valuable to them.
These approaches can work equally well for staffers departing or freelancers moving on, Glickman said, and smart employers also understand the value of good relations with their alumni networks. ?It makes good business sense to leave on good terms,? she said, since you never know when you will looking for work or someone to hire in the future.
This story was originally published by?Glassdoor.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-leave-your-job-on-good-terms-2013-2
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OTAKI, New Zealand (AP) ? Sandra Vidulich is so excited about the leather boots she ordered through Amazon that she rips open the box in front of the postman and tries them on.
"I looove them," she declares, as the driveway at her tree-lined home in rural New Zealand briefly becomes a catwalk. "They're cool."
For now, a boom in Internet shopping is helping keep alive moribund postal services across the developed world. But the core of their business ? letters ? is declining precipitously, and data from many countries indicate that parcels alone won't be enough to save them. The once-proud postal services that helped build modern society are scaling back operations, risking further declines.
The United Kingdom is preparing to wash its hands of mail deliveries entirely by selling the Royal Mail, which traces its roots back nearly 500 years to the reign of King Henry VIII.
The U.S. Postal Service sparked uproar this month when it announced plans to stop delivering letters on Saturdays. New Zealand is considering more drastic cuts: three days of deliveries per week instead of six.
It's only in the past few years that postal services have truly felt the pinch of the Internet. Revenues at the USPS, which delivers about 40 percent of the world's mail, peaked in 2007 at $75 billion.
But the decline since then has been rapid. USPS revenue in 2012 fell to $65 billion, and its losses were $15.9 billion. It handled 160 billion pieces of mail that year, down from 212 billion in 2007. And it had slashed its workforce by 156,000, or 23 percent.
Elsewhere, the news is just as grim. La Poste in France estimates that by 2015, it will be delivering 30 percent fewer letters than it did in 2008. Japan last year delivered 13 percent fewer letters than it did four years earlier. In Denmark, the postal service said letter volumes dropped 12 percent in a single year.
The Universal Postal Union, which reports to the United Nations, estimates that letter volumes worldwide dropped by nearly 4 percent in 2011 and at an even faster clip in developed nations. Developed countries closed 5 percent of their post offices in 2011 alone.
And while Internet shopping continues to grow, postal services that once profited from their monopoly on letters find themselves competing for parcels against private companies like FedEx.
U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he doesn't believe the service can ever regain the revenue from packages it has lost from letters. He said axing Saturday mail deliveries, while keeping six-day-a-week package deliveries, will save the service about $2 billion a year.
Donahoe said he thinks ending Saturday letter deliveries will keep the USPS a solid proposition for years to come.
"People still go to their mailbox every day and they wait for their mail to come," he said. "It's part of American life."
And it has been since the beginning. The postal service's role was defined in the Constitution, and Benjamin Franklin was the first postmaster general. The short-lived Pony Express achieved an enduring place in American folklore. Even the modern system of highways and airline travel grew from pioneering routes developed by the postal service.
"It's easy to forget how central this institution was to commerce, public life, social affairs," said Richard John, a Columbia University professor who has written a book on the postal service. "It was once very, very important. Of course, that was then and this is now."
Even now, however, much depends on the post office. According to the Envelope Manufacturers Association, the postal service is at the core of a trillion-dollar mailing industry in the U.S. that employs more than 8 million people.
And for delivering a paper letter cheaply, there is simply no alternative. If rural residents were ever charged the actual cost of mail rather than the subsidized standard rate, John said, the costs would be prohibitive.
The value of the mail goes beyond money in many places, including rural New Zealand. The postal carrier serves as a focal point for the community.
John Lahmert, the postman who delivered the boots, has been delivering mail to farms around the North Island town of Otaki for 18 years. The 72-year-old independent contractor seems to know everybody on his route and doesn't mind stopping for a chat.
Noeline Saunders greets him at the gate, wondering if her citrus trees have arrived. Not yet, Lahmert tells her. Barry Georgeson, a semi-retired farmer, calls out a greeting and wanders down to pick up his letters.
"We don't like change," Georgeson said when asked about the possibility of mail coming just three times a week. But he said he could learn to live with it.
Many seemed resigned to a reduced service.
"I think people can genuinely understand that the world is changing," said New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. "And while some people are still very reliant on the mail, for a lot of people that's a fraction of the way they receive information."
About 7 in 10 Americans said they'd favor axing Saturday deliveries if it allowed the post office to deal with billions of dollars in debt, according to a poll by The New York Times and CBS News.
Some countries, including Australia, Canada and Sweden, have already cut deliveries to five days a week. Others are tinkering with partial privatizations.
Exactly what Britons might expect under a privatized service remains unclear. Some speculate it could mean cutbacks.
Royal Mail's Chief Executive Moya Greene declined to comment for this story: "We're simply not doing interviews about the planned sale," spokesman Mish Tullar wrote in an email.
In policy documents, the UK government said six-day-a-week deliveries and standardized letter prices remain vital but that private investors will provide more financial stability than "unpredictable" taxpayer funding.
While letter volumes are falling in developed nations, the reverse is true in some developing countries. In China, mail deliveries are up 56 percent since 2007, driven by a more than fourfold increase in premium express mail, according to figures from China Post.
Yet people in China are accustomed to having their mail show up late or disappear altogether. As Internet use increases in the developing world, mail may never become as essential as it has been elsewhere.
Not everybody is ready to give up on letters. Reader's Digest sends out about 500,000 pieces of mail each week to people in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia as it tries to entice them to buy its merchandise.
"A lot of players are going for a digital strategy, and fewer are doing the direct-mail approach," said Walter Beyleveldt, managing director for the Asia Pacific region. "Because of that, the mailbox will get emptier. It will potentially become an exciting place to go and look."
New Zealanders, however, may be looking there half as often as early as next year, if proposed changes to the New Zealand Post's charter are approved.
The government is accepting public comments until mid-March. A quarter of those received so far were mailed in, a rate considered unusually high.
The other 75 percent? Email.
___
Joe McDonald in Beijing, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Pauline Jelinek in Washington and Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report. AP researchers Yu Bing and Monika Mathur also contributed.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/worlds-postal-services-struggle-lower-demand-071303113--finance.html
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About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world?s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2011 revenue).? The Company has approximately 34,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our Web site at www.cbre.com.???
To be considered for a position with CBRE, please apply online at http://cbre.com/careers.? Click on ?Search and Apply? on the left side of the screen.? If a pop-up window does not open, please check your browser?s settings.? On the login window either login with your existing username and password or click on ?Register Today? to create one.? Once you are logged in you can either apply for specific jobs or submit your general application using the link at the bottom of the page.
Current CBRE employees should apply online through the myHR section of Employee Self Service.
EOE & AA Employer M/F/D/V
The Financial Consulting Group (FCG) provides sophisticated financial underwriting and analytical services to investors and occupiers of real estate including Real Estate advisory companies, REITs, private investors, financial institutions, private companies and public corporations. As a division of CB Richard Ellis, the Financial Consulting Group leverages the proven experience and local market knowledge of CBRE real estate professionals worldwide to provide custom analyses, which allow their clients to make informed real estate decisions. In 2011, the Financial Consulting Group was engaged in over 2,800 assignments with combined market values of $108 billion.
Responsibilities:
CBRE, the nation?s largest commercial real estate services firm, is seeking qualified individuals for its Financial Consulting Group (FCG). FCG is used to facilitate an informed decision-making process for all stages of the valuation, underwriting and tenant/corporate advisory services process. FCG designs and customizes its work to communicate information in the consistent professional manner required by real estate investors, financial institutions and Corporate CFOs.
Specific responsibilities will include:
Work with the DC Area tenant representation sales professionals to develop financial models and deliver business strategies to CBRE clients for their real estate decision making needs.
Prepare various financial analyses used for both landlord and tenant representation; analyses include corporate occupancy strategy, lease vs. own, and lease renegotiation analysis.
Provide sophisticated financial analysis which models a client?s current and future occupancy costs by providing cash flow projections and pricing of various leasehold interests across multiple property types
Create financial models which use a variety of decision making metrics to help clients make real estate occupancy decisions, those metrics would include pre- and after-tax cash flows, US GAAP profit and loss impact, and earnings per share impact, on total and discounted basis.
Gather and track critical financial data points for research and negotiation purposes
Review, analyze, comprehend, abstract and interpret various types of real estate documents, including leases, rent rolls, budgets, operating statements, expense reconciliations, loan agreements, and other information used in the analysis process.
Strategize creative alternatives with co-workers and clients
Ability to present analysis results in a formal setting to audiences with a wide range of financial acumen.
Qualifications:
Qualifications:
Strong hands-on experience of financial terms and principles Discounted Cash Flow, IRR, NPV, Time Value of Money, Return on Equity, etc.
Strong knowledge of US GAAP and an understanding of how real estate lease obligations impact a company?s P&L and Balance Sheet
Requires immediate to advanced Excel experience with formula auditing, VBA macros, template building, and Pivot Tables.
Team player and strong work ethic
Ability to understand and carry out general instructions in standard situations.? Ability to solve problems in complex situations.?
Ability to think creatively to resolve problems
Solid organizational skills and ability to manage multiple assignments with changing priorities
Highly developed verbal and written communication skills ? ability to interact effectively and professionally with a wide variety of internal parties (managers, analysts, sales professionals, clients)
Willingness to work hard in a transaction oriented environment
Close attention to detail and strong organizational skills.? Ability to multi-task in order to meet client deadlines
Decisions made with general understanding of procedures and company policies to achieve set results and deadlines.
Intermediate to advanced skills with Microsoft Office Suite including PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Access.
Bachelor?s degree (BA/BS) in Real Estate, Finance, Accounting, or Economics from four-year college or university required.
5 to 10 years of financial analysis experience in commercial real estate
Real Estate License required.
?
Required Skills
Source: http://www.selectleaders.com/candidate/viewjobdetails.do?jid=27909
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New York-based cable company Cablevision is suing cross-town content partner Viacom. The lawsuit is over Viacom?s requirement for Cablevision to carry a bunch of channels its users don?t watch in order to have access to a bunch of channels they do. Viacom has 8 channels Cablevision wishes to carry, but Viacom bundles in a bunch of channels viewers don?t watch and its customers don?t care about.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/YzfS7ubL1GI/
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By Ryan J. Downey
Seth MacFarlane at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702558/oscars-funniest-moments-2013.jhtml
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What if you could actually grasp the sword you pick up in a video game, or if surgeons could feel their robots hit bone? That's the promise of the Tactilous glove, which won this weekend's Upverter + Y Combinator Hardware Hackathon. Watch as we demo the Frankenstein-meets-Nintendo contraption that lets you touch objects in virtual reality.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/oGjxcf3Nn_M/
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John Eldridge died of tuberculosis in 1962 just a few weeks? shy of his 45th birthday. For much of his life he?d been involved in the British film industry and yet, today, his name would barely register with even the most fervent of cinemagoers. He started out as an assistant editor whilst still in his early 20s and first made an impact directing propaganda films during World War II, oftentimes in collaboration with the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. During peacetime he continued to ply his trade in documentaries ? to greatest effect on the Edinburgh ?city symphony? Waverley Steps ? whilst slowly shifting into features. As director he helmed a trio of likeable Ealing-esque comedies (Brandy for the Parson, Laxdale Hall and Conflict of Wings), but was arguably doing the more interesting work as a screenwriter. He penned the spiv noir of Pool of London, a bunch of charming little ventures for the Children?s Film Foundation and the fondly-remembered Peter Sellers flick The Smallest Show on Earth. His final assignment was among his finest and still ranks as one of the more nuanced portraits of youth to be produced in this country: 1962?s Some People.
The film came from fairly inauspicious beginnings. Its producer, James Archibald, worked almost exclusively in the documentary field (Some People would represent his sole excursion into straight fiction) and throughout his career would put together promotional items for the Duke of Edinburgh?s Award Scheme. These unassuming miniatures cropped up intermittently throughout the sixties and seventies and were generally well-meaning, occasionally dramatized affairs with titles like In Search of Opportunity and When You?re Young. None of them are particularly notable nowadays (though a very young Jane Asher appeared in one, 1960?s Design for Living), but then none of them had the ambition of Some People. You see, the 1962 feature was also intended to promote the scheme ? which, for those in the dark, sets out to help Britain?s youth by improving their employability, life experiences and physical fitness ? though Eldridge used it as a mere jumping-off point. In his hands Some People is a snapshot of a very particular era first, promotional tool second.
British cinema during the early 60s was going through a transitional phase thanks to the input and influence of the ?Free Cinema? movement and the theatre?s ?Angry Young Men?. Whereas representations of youth in 1952 could be summed up by the scaremongering juvenile delinquent pic Cosh Boy (the first homegrown ?X?-certificate movie), by 1962 more sympathetic portraits had begun to emerge. This was the time of Tom Courtenay?s Borstal boy in The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner and Rita Tushingham?s pregnant teen in A Taste of Honey, characters who have since become figureheads of the British New Wave. The production company behind Some People, Vic Films, was heavily involved in this period, funding John Schlesinger?s A Kind of Loving and Billy Liar among others, and that seems to have had an effect. The cast is made up of mostly unknowns, the juvenile delinquents at its centre are treated with sensitivity and the entire production was filmed on location, in this case in a Bristol complete with authentic regional accents.
To be fair, the trio of lads who make up Some People?s main characters aren?t really delinquents. They?re at an age where they chain smoke but have yet to take a real interest in booze. Their passion is for their motorbikes, though that particular pleasure is denied them following a bit of tom-foolery under the Clifton Suspension Bridge. (Just one of the many refreshing location choices at a time when the British film industry was split almost solely between London and grim portrayals of the North.) Thus the boredom sets in, and the petty behaviour, or at least until Kenneth More?s benign cardiganned choirmaster offers them a potential outlet: the use of the church hall as a place where they can bang out a few tunes, one of them being more than proficient on the piano and all three owning guitars. Such a description potentially gives the whiff of some ?let?s put on a show? musical (especially with the presence of kindly Kenneth More), but this couldn?t be further from the truth. The gang aren?t working towards putting on a gig or cutting a single; they?re just hanging out and killing a bit of time. Indeed, Some People is at its best when it simply hangs out with them: a single-take stroll around a shopping centre than sounds entirely ad-libbed; a quiet chat down the pub between father and son.
Had the film been made two years later it would likely have been very different. Some People pre-dates Beatlemania and A Hard Day?s Night and therefore comes from a time when the British pop movie was of a quainter, quieter variety. Whereas the US instigated the trend with Rock Around the Clock in 1956, our first foray into big screen rock ?n? roll came with The Tommy Steele Story the following year. Shortly afterwards we had the likes of Rock You Sinners, The Golden Disc and a spin-off movie from the BBC?s The 6.5 Special, but if you had a few hits under your belt and were hoping to make the transition into cinemas then you tended to get lightweight comedy musicals. Adam Faith, for example, made What a Whopper, a farcical Loch Ness Monster tale co-starring Sid James and Spike Milligan. Billy Fury and Helen Shapiro, meanwhile, acted for a very young Michael Winner in Play It Cool. The energy and invention that typified A Hard Day?s Night simply didn?t seem like a possibility.
Of course, the music was much quainter too. The kids in Some People seem to be channelling The Shadows more than the most, right down to the fancy footwork. (The title song, incidentally, would be covered by former Shadow Jet Harris shortly after the film?s release.) In reality it was Bristol-based band the Eagles providing the tunes with the help of Valerie Mountain on vocals, another Bristolian thus adding to that authenticity. She?s lip-synched by Angela Douglas, though the rest of the onscreen band had musical credentials. Lead actor Ray Brooks, who plays Johnnie, learned to play guitar whilst a teenage redcoat at Butlins and was very almost signed by Andrew Loog Oldham. Drummer Frankie Dymon Jr, who would later venture into political activism, later recorded a Black Power-influenced album entitled Let It Out: Poems In Words And Music. (The character?s ethnicity is pleasingly uncommented on throughout.) And David Hemmings, playing Bert, had first found fame as a child opera star for Benjamin Britten. He would also make an LP with the Byrds in 1967 by the name of David Hemmings Happens. By that point he was one of the decade?s fully-fledged stars thanks to his appearance in Michelangelo Antonioni?s Blowup. In fact, seeing the baby-faced Hemmings in Some People only goes to show how far off this all was. As said, the film comes from a different era ? it feels as though it?s on the cusp of something and that makes for fascinating viewing.
In his autobiography, Learning My Lines, Brooks recalls a Sunday morning listening to Radio 2 during which time Some People?s title tune is played. Brian Matthew, host of Sounds Of The Sixties, talks about the song, the film, Valerie Mountain and the Eagles, and David Hemmings. But he doesn?t mention Brooks and this appears to sting a little: ?What about me? I screamed in my head. But no ? airbrushed out, unrecognisable, not worth mentioning, ego sunk.? To be fair to the actor it?s not as though Some People was his only major role. He subsequently appeared in Ken Loach?s Cathy Come Home, did plenty of television including a two-year stint on EastEnders, and was the narrator of children?s favourites Mr Benn and King Rollo. Perhaps not Hemmings-alike stardom, but it?s been a solid career nevertheless. Furthermore, it?s probably safe to say that Some People itself is the real recipient of the airbrush. The film has gradually slipped into obscurity since its initial release, barely cropping up on television (the most recent was on satellite channel Bravo during the mid-90s) and never appearing on VHS or DVD.
In part, this is likely to down to the unassuming nature. Some People refuses to try as hard as some of its contemporaries in presenting a more ordinary walk of life on screen. There?s no fuss to be made about the characters it?s portraying or the times they live in. As such the details are allowed to breathe: Anneke Wills wearing her jeans in the bath so as to get them sufficiently tight; Angela Douglas at work in a cigarette factory; the biker fashions and the cheeky, knowing dialogue. The decade would arguably produce more authentic portraits of British youth as the years progressed (John Fletcher?s all-improvised 1966 short Paddy?s in the Carsey and Barney Platts-Mills? Bronco Bullfrog stand out in that crowd), though nothing quite compares from this very particular period. In fact, that may very well be the other reason for its obscurity. Some People resides in a limbo somewhere between the teenage years as documented in Colin MacInnes? Absolute Beginners (first published in 1959) and the over-exposed ?Swinging? sixties as defined by Time magazine in 1966. Its era has yet to become a source of fascination or nostalgia ? it?s either too early or too late for that ? but then that only makes it all the more intriguing and ripe for reappraisal.
Some People is getting a very rare big screen outing this week as part of the regular Flipside strand at the BFI Southbank (Thursday February 28th, 6.20pm). It will also make its long-awaited DVD debut on the 24th of June courtesy of Network.
Source: http://thequietus.com/articles/11484-some-people-john-eldridge-review
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Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing to deliver the central bank's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing to deliver the central bank's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, to testify before the Senate Banking Committee hearing to deliver the central bank's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing to deliver the central bank's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke pauses before testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing to deliver the central bank's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Ben Bernanke sent a message Tuesday to Congress: The Federal Reserve's low-interest-rate policies are giving crucial support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment.
The Fed chairman acknowledged the risks of keeping rates low indefinitely. But he expressed confidence that such risks pose little threat now.
Delivering the Fed's semiannual monetary report to Congress, Bernanke sought to minimize concerns that the central bank's easy-money policies might cause runaway inflation later or dangerous bubbles in assets like stocks. He sought to reassure sometimes-skeptical senators that the Fed is monitoring potential threats and can defuse them before they hurt the economy.
Several Fed policymakers said at their most recent meeting that the Fed might have to scale back its bond purchases because of the risks. Those comments, contained in minutes released last week, fanned speculation that the Fed might soon allow long-term borrowing rates to rise. Stock prices fell sharply.
But Bernanke gave no signal that the Fed might shift away from its low-interest-rate policy. He said its aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds had kept borrowing costs low. And that, in turn, has helped strengthen sectors such as housing and autos, he said.
On budget policy, Bernanke urged Congress to replace the automatic spending cuts due to start Friday with more gradual reductions in budget deficits in the short run. He noted that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the automatic spending cuts that take effect Friday would shave growth by 0.6 percentage point this year.
"Congress and the administration should consider replacing the sharp, front-loaded spending cuts required by the sequestration with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run," Bernanke said.
Economists said Bernanke made clear the Fed has no plans to scale back its pace of bond purchases.
"That policy will continue to be supportive for growth, with no sign of imminent plans to scale down (the bond purchases) and certainly no plans to remove accommodation for a very long time," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.
Addressing concerns that the bond purchases, which have pushed the Fed's balance sheet to a record high above $3 trillion, could trigger high inflation, Bernanke said:
"Inflation is currently subdued and inflation expectations appear well-anchored. We do not see the potential costs of the increased risk-taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more-rapid job creation."
He said that over the past six months, the economy has grown moderately but unevenly. Bernanke said the pause in growth seen in the final three months of 2012 "does not appear to be a stalling-out of the recovery." He said growth appears to have picked up in the past two months.
Shortly before the Fed chairman spoke, several reports pointed to surprising economic strength: Americans' confidence in the economy rebounded this month, new-home sales jumped in January to the highest level since 2008, home prices rose at a healthy pace in December compared with a year ago and profits of U.S. banks jumped last quarter to the highest level in six years.
Bernanke was asked whether the Fed's bond buying could push its balance sheet to $4 trillion. He said that it has no target for how much in bonds it plans to buy.
He noted that the Fed's balance sheet is less than that of the Bank of Japan, which has battled for more than two decades to strengthen the sluggish Japanese economy.
Asked about possible threats to the U.S. economy from Europe's financial crisis, including new fears about Italy, Bernanke said that the exposure of American banks to Italy's debt was small.
He said a bigger threat could emerge if investors grew worried that the debt crisis might suddenly be worsening. He doesn't foresee such a threat, Bernanke said.
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President Barack Obama on Monday is expected to implore the nation's governors to put pressure on Congress to avoid the sequester as Obama speaks to the nation's governors at the White House.
Members of the Obama administration, heads of federal agencies and others have been issuing severe warnings to Congress regarding the sequester-- $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that will go into effect March 1 absent a budget. Warnings have been released threatening fewer responders to handle wildfires, reduced food safety inspection, less help for vulnerable Americans and on Friday, widespread flight delays and cancellations.
"Travelers should expect delays. Flights to major cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and others could experience delays up to 90 minutes during peak hours, because we have fewer controllers on staff. Delays in these major airports will ripple across the country," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters at Friday's White House press briefing after announcing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans massive furloughs and closing air traffic control towers if the sequester goes into effect.
The White House on Sunday night released state-by-state reports detailing what they say would be "devastating" impacts on each state as a result of the sequester, but the topic of the sequester was notably absent from Obama's speech Sunday night to the governors, who are in town for the National Governors Association's (NGA) annual winter meeting.
Instead, the president at the White House dinner struck an appreciative tone, commending the governors for steering their states through tough times.
Democratic Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware, chair of the NGA, followed Obama's address Sunday night by emphasizing the absence of politics from the night's celebration. "On this one night it?s a relief -- politics doesn?t drive the conversation. We don?t speak of partisan issues or presidential aspirations," Markell said.
But Markell did note the sequester.
"One thing for sure is certain -- you don?t let issues fester. You get to deal with education and health care, and even the sequester," Markell said to laughter and applause from the audience.
Republicans such as Speaker John Boehner have publicly stated their opposition to the sequester, though others have threatened they are willing to let it go into effect.
Some Republicans over the weekend continued to accuse the administration of exaggerating the sequester's impact.
"They have plenty of flexibility in terms of discretion on how they spend money. There are easy ways to cut this money that the American people will never feel," Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said on Fox News Sunday.
The president is slated to address the governors at 11:05 a.m. ET from the White House State Dining Room. Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden are also scheduled to speak.
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