Monday, 14 November 2011
Thousands Rally to Resist Occupy Portland Evictions
10,000 filled the areas around the Occupy Portland encampments last night as the deadline approached for eviction. 12:01 am came and went but the cops could do nothing: too many supporters blocked their path. It was peaceful.
The cops waited it out and are clearing out the Chapman and Lownsdale Park camps this morning, tearing down the remaining tents. There is a General Assembly meeting at Pioneer Square at noon today. Occupy Portland will continue. The whole world is watching!
Lady Gaga’s tears for Kitty Brucknell
Gaga then stunned the show's judges by leading Kitty back to her dressing room to give her a cup of tea and some advice on how to launch her career.
A show insider said: "Gaga couldn't believe Kitty had been axed and thought she was one of the most talented and exciting acts in the competition.
"She thought that Kitty had been misunderstood and it reminded her of her own struggles to be accepted."
Kitty, 27, was axed when the judges voted her off following a sing-off with Misha B.
But as their verdict sank in, sobbing Kitty snatched the microphone from host Dermot O'Leary and sang an unaccompanied chorus of Gaga's hit Born This Way.
Gaga — who earlier performed her single Marry The Night after emerging from a mausoleum dressed as a decapitated corpse — responded by dashing onstage.
Who's she kissing now? Caroline Flack gets cosy with One Direction's Niall but Harry keeps a close eye on them
Who's she kissing now? Caroline Flack gets cosy with One Direction's Niall but Harry keeps a close eye on them
By KIRSTY MCCORMACK
Last updated at 3:30 PM on 14th November 2011
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She may have a thing for younger guys but it seems that Caroline Flack actually has a thing for boy bands.
After her much publicised kiss with One Direction's Harry Styles, the 31-year-old Xtra Factor presenter appeared to be moving on to band mate Niall Horan, 18.
Following the group's performance on X Factor last night, the Xtra factor host was pictured saying goodbye to the youngsters and enjoyed a lingering hug with the teenage singer.
But it certainly didn't go unnoticed as 17-year-old Harry kept a watchful eye on the pair.
Baring her tanned legs and wearing a black winter coat with towering nude stilettos, Caroline looked rather happy as she left the London studios.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Heavy D dead at 44: Rap legend collapsed Tuesday inside his Beverly Hills home
Rapper was raised in Westchester County
BY Bill Hutchinson
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, November 8 2011, 6:02 PM
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/heavy-dead-44-rap-legend-collapsed-tuesday-beverly-hills-home-article-1.974691#ixzz1dECIBXEB
The Westchester County-raised entertainer was taken by ambulance to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles about 11:25 a.m. and died 90 minutes later, cops told the Daily News.
Heavy D was conscious and talking when officers responded to a 911 call from his Beverly Hills condo, said Lt. Mark Rosen of the Beverly Hills Police Department.
IN MEMORIAM: STARS WHO LEFT US TOO SOON
Rosen said the portly rapper, whose real name was Dwight Arrington Myers, was having difficulty breathing as paramedics rushed him to the hospital.
The performer had just returned from Europe and was battling pneumonia, KTLA news in Los Angeles reported.
Rosen said Heavy D had come home from a shopping trip Tuesday and began laboring for breath as he walked into his condo building.
“He collapsed in an exterior hallway,” Rosen said. “There doesn’t appear to be any foul play. We believe it was medically related.”
The actual cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Born in Jamaica and raised in Mount Vernon, Heavy D rose to stardom in the 1990s as the frontman for Heavy D & the Boys.
Along with band mates G-Whiz, Trouble T. Roy and Eddie F., he made hip-hop history with hit songs like “Now That We Found Love” and “Nuttin But Love.” They also performed the theme song for the 1990s comedy TV series “In Living Color.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/heavy-dead-44-rap-legend-collapsed-tuesday-beverly-hills-home-article-1.974691#ixzz1dECaPN9L
Heavy D last performed in October at the BET Awards.
In recent years, he had ventured into acting, scoring small movie roles, including one in the 1999 film “The Cider House Rules.”
He won a cameo role as a security guard in the just-released film “Tower Heist,” starring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller.
“I’m definitely saddened by the loss of Heavy. He was a really good person,” said Damon Williams, vice president of programming for Music Choice, the multi-platform video and music network.
With catchy dance tunes that included R&B riffs, Heavy D was one of the first rappers to cross over to mainstream popularity, Damon Williams" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Damon+Williams" >Williams said.
“But I don’t think he ever lost his credibility with the hard-core rap audience,” said Williams.
Other friends took to Twitter to express condolences.
“I am deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Heavy D. A longtime friend and a beautiful person,” wrote Russell Simmons.
LL Cool J tweeted, “May GOD embrace the soul of Heavy D and Bless his family. I respected you Heavy and I always will.”
whutchinson@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/heavy-dead-44-rap-legend-collapsed-tuesday-beverly-hills-home-article-1.974691#ixzz1dECh6aCs
BY Bill Hutchinson
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, November 8 2011, 6:02 PM
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/heavy-dead-44-rap-legend-collapsed-tuesday-beverly-hills-home-article-1.974691#ixzz1dECIBXEB
The Westchester County-raised entertainer was taken by ambulance to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles about 11:25 a.m. and died 90 minutes later, cops told the Daily News.
Heavy D was conscious and talking when officers responded to a 911 call from his Beverly Hills condo, said Lt. Mark Rosen of the Beverly Hills Police Department.
IN MEMORIAM: STARS WHO LEFT US TOO SOON
Rosen said the portly rapper, whose real name was Dwight Arrington Myers, was having difficulty breathing as paramedics rushed him to the hospital.
The performer had just returned from Europe and was battling pneumonia, KTLA news in Los Angeles reported.
Rosen said Heavy D had come home from a shopping trip Tuesday and began laboring for breath as he walked into his condo building.
“He collapsed in an exterior hallway,” Rosen said. “There doesn’t appear to be any foul play. We believe it was medically related.”
The actual cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Born in Jamaica and raised in Mount Vernon, Heavy D rose to stardom in the 1990s as the frontman for Heavy D & the Boys.
Along with band mates G-Whiz, Trouble T. Roy and Eddie F., he made hip-hop history with hit songs like “Now That We Found Love” and “Nuttin But Love.” They also performed the theme song for the 1990s comedy TV series “In Living Color.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/heavy-dead-44-rap-legend-collapsed-tuesday-beverly-hills-home-article-1.974691#ixzz1dECaPN9L
Heavy D last performed in October at the BET Awards.
In recent years, he had ventured into acting, scoring small movie roles, including one in the 1999 film “The Cider House Rules.”
He won a cameo role as a security guard in the just-released film “Tower Heist,” starring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller.
“I’m definitely saddened by the loss of Heavy. He was a really good person,” said Damon Williams, vice president of programming for Music Choice, the multi-platform video and music network.
With catchy dance tunes that included R&B riffs, Heavy D was one of the first rappers to cross over to mainstream popularity, Damon Williams" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Damon+Williams" >Williams said.
“But I don’t think he ever lost his credibility with the hard-core rap audience,” said Williams.
Other friends took to Twitter to express condolences.
“I am deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Heavy D. A longtime friend and a beautiful person,” wrote Russell Simmons.
LL Cool J tweeted, “May GOD embrace the soul of Heavy D and Bless his family. I respected you Heavy and I always will.”
whutchinson@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/heavy-dead-44-rap-legend-collapsed-tuesday-beverly-hills-home-article-1.974691#ixzz1dECh6aCs
Monday, 19 September 2011
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Government moves towards new monthly benefit system
Many benefits are to be paid less frequently, it was announced today, in a move ministers say will better prepare jobless claimants for the world of work.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith wants the new Universal Credit to be delivered monthly, replacing mainly fortnightly payments.
The change is part of a raft of extra detail about the implementation of a major shake-up of the system being unveiled as the House of Lords starts to examine the legislation.
It is likely to further inflame opposition to the cost-cutting crackdown being planned by the coalition in an effort to slash £5.5 billion from the welfare bill in real terms over four years.
The legislation's centrepiece is the creation of a new universal credit to replace a complex range of existing payments such as child tax credit, housing benefit and income support.
It also imposes tougher sanctions on people who refuse work and replaces the disability living allowance with a new personal independence payment.
Serious opposition
Parts of the package have sparked serious opposition from disability groups, childcare campaigners and anti-poverty experts who claim many vulnerable people will be among the worst hit.
The Children's Society warned recently that a planned cap on the total benefits households can claim could make more than 80,000 children homeless and push many thousands more into poverty.
That came after evidence emerged of concern at a very senior level within the Department of Communities and Local Government that the move risked making 40,000 families homeless.
The Government says the aim of the Welfare Reform Bill is to "make work pay" and clamp down hard on benefit cheats, a cause Prime Minister David Cameron has personally championed.
He highlighted the changes as one of the means to tackle the causes of the recent riots in London and other English cities, suggesting they could be furthered toughened.
"With 75% of people in work being paid monthly, ministers believe it is sensible that benefits are paid in the same manner, helping claimants to get used to managing their money and bills over a four week basis to smooth the transition into work," a DWP spokesman says.
The change is likely to prove unpopular however, with experts suggesting many people are paid weekly or fortnightly and questioning whether low-income families will cope.
Writing in the Guardian last week Ruth Lister, emeritus professor of social policy at Loughborough University, said: "Research shows that many low-income families already struggle to manage inadequate budgets. To be required to do so on a monthly basis will only make it harder."
Written by the Press Association
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith wants the new Universal Credit to be delivered monthly, replacing mainly fortnightly payments.
The change is part of a raft of extra detail about the implementation of a major shake-up of the system being unveiled as the House of Lords starts to examine the legislation.
It is likely to further inflame opposition to the cost-cutting crackdown being planned by the coalition in an effort to slash £5.5 billion from the welfare bill in real terms over four years.
The legislation's centrepiece is the creation of a new universal credit to replace a complex range of existing payments such as child tax credit, housing benefit and income support.
It also imposes tougher sanctions on people who refuse work and replaces the disability living allowance with a new personal independence payment.
Serious opposition
Parts of the package have sparked serious opposition from disability groups, childcare campaigners and anti-poverty experts who claim many vulnerable people will be among the worst hit.
The Children's Society warned recently that a planned cap on the total benefits households can claim could make more than 80,000 children homeless and push many thousands more into poverty.
That came after evidence emerged of concern at a very senior level within the Department of Communities and Local Government that the move risked making 40,000 families homeless.
The Government says the aim of the Welfare Reform Bill is to "make work pay" and clamp down hard on benefit cheats, a cause Prime Minister David Cameron has personally championed.
He highlighted the changes as one of the means to tackle the causes of the recent riots in London and other English cities, suggesting they could be furthered toughened.
"With 75% of people in work being paid monthly, ministers believe it is sensible that benefits are paid in the same manner, helping claimants to get used to managing their money and bills over a four week basis to smooth the transition into work," a DWP spokesman says.
The change is likely to prove unpopular however, with experts suggesting many people are paid weekly or fortnightly and questioning whether low-income families will cope.
Writing in the Guardian last week Ruth Lister, emeritus professor of social policy at Loughborough University, said: "Research shows that many low-income families already struggle to manage inadequate budgets. To be required to do so on a monthly basis will only make it harder."
Written by the Press Association
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis
When the world’s financial bubble blew, the solution was to lower interest rates and pump trillions of dollars into the sick banking system. The solution is the problem, that’s why we had a problem in the first place. For Economics Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, the Catch 22 is self-evident. But interest rates have been at rock bottom for years, and governments are running out of fuel to feed the economy. The governments can save the banks, but who can save the governments? Forecasts predict all countries’ debt will reach 100% of GDP by next year. Greece and Iceland have already crumbled, who will be next?
The storm that would rock the world, began brewing in the US when congress pushed the idea of home ownership for all, propping up those who couldn’t make the down payments. The Market even coined a term, NINA loans: “No Income, No Assets, No Problem!” Enter FannieMae and FreddieMac, privately owned, government sponsored. Want that vacation? Wanna buy some new clothes? Use your house as a piggie bank! Why earn money to pay for your home when you can make money just living in it? With the government covering all losses, you’d have been a fool not to borrow.
The years of growth had been a continuous party. But when the punchbowl ran dry, instead of letting investors go home to nurse their hangovers as usual, the Federal Reserve just filled it up again with phoney money. For analyst Peter Schiff, the consequence of the spending binge was crystal clear: we’re in so much trouble now because we got drunk on all that Fed alcohol. Yet along with other worried experts, he was mocked and derided during the boom.
Have you taken out a mortgage, invested capital or bought shares? If you have, likelihood is you lost out in the latest bust. Governments promised decisive action, the biggest financial stimulus packages in history, gargantuan bailouts: but what crazed logic is this, propping up debt with…more debt? This documentary brings an entirely fresh voice to the hottest topic of
today.
The storm that would rock the world, began brewing in the US when congress pushed the idea of home ownership for all, propping up those who couldn’t make the down payments. The Market even coined a term, NINA loans: “No Income, No Assets, No Problem!” Enter FannieMae and FreddieMac, privately owned, government sponsored. Want that vacation? Wanna buy some new clothes? Use your house as a piggie bank! Why earn money to pay for your home when you can make money just living in it? With the government covering all losses, you’d have been a fool not to borrow.
The years of growth had been a continuous party. But when the punchbowl ran dry, instead of letting investors go home to nurse their hangovers as usual, the Federal Reserve just filled it up again with phoney money. For analyst Peter Schiff, the consequence of the spending binge was crystal clear: we’re in so much trouble now because we got drunk on all that Fed alcohol. Yet along with other worried experts, he was mocked and derided during the boom.
Have you taken out a mortgage, invested capital or bought shares? If you have, likelihood is you lost out in the latest bust. Governments promised decisive action, the biggest financial stimulus packages in history, gargantuan bailouts: but what crazed logic is this, propping up debt with…more debt? This documentary brings an entirely fresh voice to the hottest topic of
today.
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