iBlognDax - World News and Current Events

Mosaic News - 11/10/09: World News From The Middle East

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:24:15 PST

Mosaic needs your support! Donate here: www.linktv.org “A New Lebanese Government After Months of Haggling,” Dubai TV, UAE “Saudi Arabia warns Yemeni rebels to retreat from border,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE “Taliban control parts of Nuristan province in Afghanistan,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar “Iran Charges 3 Americans with espionage,” BBC- Arabic “Islamic Economic Summit opens [...]

ft hood shooting 2:26 pm cst

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:41:20 PST

local breaking news clip from 2:26 pm cst - the clicking noise at first is the chat feature it was switched off ==== www.myfoxdfw.com … texas ft+hood killeen shooting breaking+news november 2009 random addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fvdhdesigns.com%2Fwordpress%2F%3Fp%3D11620'; addthis_title = 'ft+hood+shooting+2%3A26+pm+cst'; addthis_pub = '';

SHOCKING: EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER-DEPRESSION EDITION PART 4

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:39:50 PST

Video of one of the homes being demolished youtube.com/watch?v=ZsgOaCZ2Lag Guaranty Banks Holding Corporation received guess what? TARP money, thats right, YOU the tax payer paid for the demo. SHOCKING: EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER EDITION PART 3 Ever ask yourself what happend to the bail out money? Well, I found out where some of your hard earned [...]

Mosaic News - 11/9/09: World News From The Middle East

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:29:54 PST

Mosaic needs your support! Donate here: www.linktv.org “Pakistan suicide bombing kills anti-Taliban mayor,” Dubai TV, UAE “Palestinian children & Israel’s Separation Wall,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar “Palestinians warn of violence if peace efforts fail?” Press TV, Iran “Future of Palestinian Authority Is in Question,” IBA TV, Israel “Israel prevents medical supplies from reaching Gaza,” Al [...]

Swift wins 2nd straight BMI award for top song (AP)

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:45:10 PST

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Taylor Swift started what could be an interesting week with her second straight song of the year award at the BMI Country Awards Tuesday, when Kris Kristofferson was honored as an icon.

Swift won for her song "Love Story" — the night before she contends for entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards — Bobby Pinson won songwriter of the year and Sony/ATV Music was named publisher of the year.

BMI also honored Brooks & Dunn with the president's award.

"I just want to say to every songwriter and every loved one of a songwriter, thank you, because you are the reason I wanted to try Nashville," Swift said. "You are all my heroes."

It was Kristofferson, the 73-year-old songwriter of classics like "Sunday Mornin' Come Down" and "Me and Bobby McGee," though, and not the 19-year-old pop sensation Swift who had the audience's attention.

Willie Nelson, Patty Griffin and Vince Gill paid tribute to Kristofferson, who cried during Griffin's rendition of "Help Me Make it Through the Night."

"There's no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson," Nelson said. "Everything he writes is a standard and we're all just going to have to live with that."

Kristofferson admitted to being overwhelmed by the attention.

"You want the honest truth?" Kristofferson asked with a wry smile. "I'm very honored, but I'm really uncomfortable with everybody saying something praiseworthy and I feel stupid. I told Willie this is going to be really hard on me. He said, 'That's why I'm going like it so much, because you're going to hate it.' But I'm awfully grateful that what I love to do means enough to other people that I'm able to do it."

Ray Stevens was among the first to take a chance on a Kristofferson song, recording "Sunday Mornin' Come Down" a year before Johnny Cash turned it into a hit.

"Nobody had ever put that much money and effort into recording one of my songs," Kristofferson said. "I remember the first time I heard it — he's a wonderful singer — I had to leave the publishing house and I just sat on the steps and wept because it was such a beautiful thing."

Stevens was drawn to the song because he felt Kristofferson had a "spark."

"He was very talented, very smart and right on time with his style," Stevens said. "A lot of people since then have copied those songs that he put out so at this point in time it doesn't seem all that different. It still is of course. There are very few writers who get that spark at the right time."

Pinson is one of Nashville's hottest songwriters with four songs among the most performed in the last year. He co-wrote No. 1 hits "All I Want to Do" and "Already Gone" with Sugarland and also worked with Toby Keith on "She Never Cried in Front of Me" and Josh Gracin on "We Weren't Crazy."

BMI, or Broadcast Music Inc., is a performing rights organization.

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On the Net:

http://www.bmi.com

Swift wins 2nd straight BMI award for top song (AP)

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:45:10 PST

BMI also honored Brooks & Dunn with the president's award.

"I just want to say to every songwriter and every loved one of a songwriter, thank you, because you are the reason I wanted to try Nashville," Swift said. "You are all my heroes."

Willie Nelson, Patty Griffin and Vince Gill paid tribute to Kristofferson, who cried during Griffin's rendition of "Help Me Make it Through the Night."

"There's no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson," Nelson said. "Everything he writes is a standard and we're all just going to have to live with that."

Kristofferson admitted to being overwhelmed by the attention.

Ray Stevens was among the first to take a chance on a Kristofferson song, recording "Sunday Mornin' Come Down" a year before Johnny Cash turned it into a hit.

Stevens was drawn to the song because he felt Kristofferson had a "spark."

BMI, or Broadcast Music Inc., is a performing rights organization.

___

On the Net:

http://www.bmi.com

McGraw-Hill says committed to S&P; welcomes reforms (Reuters)

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:45:08 PST

BEIJING (Reuters) – McGraw-Hill Inc is committed to its Standard & Poor's unit, and welcomes tougher regulation aimed at further transparency and accountability in the credit ratings industry, its chairman said on Wednesday.

"The regulation that we are talking about, that we are hearing about, is very smart regulation that pushes for more transparency and accountability," Harold McGraw told reporters in Beijing.

The comments came a day after the United States unveiled a draft bill that would make it easier for investors to sue firms such as S&P, Moody's Corp and Fitch Ratings if they knowingly and recklessly failed to investigate or obtain independent analysis.

U.S. lawmakers have pushed for more oversight of credit rating firms after the companies failed to spot problems with debt linked to bad mortgages. The implosion of these securities helped contribute to the global financial crisis.

"Through the last two years, we have done a lot of work to strengthen these processes and make them more transparent ... and certainly to be held accountable," said McGraw.

He said he expects financial reform legislation to be approved early next year, adding that the company valued S&P's business potential.

"For us, Standard and Poor's is a high growth global business. We are fully committed to Standard & Poor's, it is a big part of who we are," he said.

McGraw had said in January that it may eventually become appropriate to split off S&P as a separate business.

But during the Beijing visit, he said the tighter regulation could also provide business opportunities for credit rating firms.

"(Regulation) puts the process in the right position to be able, going forward, to see the securitization market start to return," he said.

($=6.83 yuan)

(Reporting by Kirby Chien; Editing by Ken Wills)

FOX40.com: Northern California’s breaking news source

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:25 PST

FOX40.com: Northern California’s breaking news source addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fvdhdesigns.com%2Fwordpress%2F%3Fp%3D11574'; addthis_title = 'FOX40.com%3A+Northern+California%26%238217%3Bs+breaking+news+source'; addthis_pub = '';

Warhol's Michael Jackson portrait sells for $812K (AP)

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:36:24 PST

NEW YORK – A "Thriller"-era silk-screened portrait of Michael Jackson created by Andy Warhol has sold for $812,500 to an anonymous collector.

The artwork sold at Christie's in New York City Tuesday evening.

Christie's estimated that the portrait would sell for $500,000 to $700,000.

The 1984 portrait depicts a smiling Jackson in a jacket with squiggles of red and yellow in his hair.

The auction house says the seller is an anonymous private collector based in New York who bought the image from the Andy Warhol Foundation in the 1990s. It did not say who bought the artwork.

The image was one of 47 lots auctioned Tuesday, including two other Warhol paintings.