| Indian gambling law stacks deck against communities, Baird says
Congressman Brian Baird sees need for significant reform of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the 1988 federal law that has spawned an explosion in Indian casinos. "I think there's room for a lot of improvement, frankly," the Vancouver Democrat told The Columbian's editorial board Monday. "The deck is so stacked right now, in terms of process, against the local community." Baird, however, continues to remain neutral on the big casino proposal inside his own congressional district: the Cowlitz Tribe's plan to build a $510 million gambling, shopping and entertainment complex on 152 acres west of La Center. Instead of taking a yes-no position, Baird has pushed for an open federal process, even though he sees deficiencies in that process.
Wall Street continues to bounce
The high-tech Nasdaq composite index has added just eight points to 2,358. Meanwhile there has been a substantial rally on the British market. Financial and resource companies have benefitted from the expectations of a US rate cut. London's FT-100 index has jumped 96 to 5,885 - a rise of 1.7 per cent. Yesterday in Australia, the market was hammered as investors returned from the Australia Day holiday. The All Ordinaries index plunged 132 points to 5,755 - a slump of 2.5 per cent. BHP Billiton shares shed $1.10 to $35.70. The major banks were also sold off heavily. ANZ tumbled $1.04 to $26.45 while the Commonwealth lost $2.00 to $51.71. On the Sydney Futures Exchange the Share Price Index 200 contract closed up 43 points at 5,764.
Category: virtualization
Between the Lines Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives StackSafe unveils virtualized staging and testing solution Posted in: IT Management Datacenter virtualization Demo 08 At Demo 08, StackSafe introduced its Test Center, which it claims is the first virtualized staging and testing solution for IT operations. According to the company, 65 percent of companies software changes the major cause of downtime, noting that changes after often not tested prior to deployment to production environments. It's the "patch and pray" approach. StackSafe imports live software systems into a virtualized sandbox to run a battery of tests on proposed changes for unexpected failures, interoperability issues, anomalies and performance problems.
Violence Errupts
We broke into small groups. First mistake: the decision to go over to the unknown soldier’s tomb separately, so as not to attract attention. It was a mile or so away. With Louis-Georges and a couple of Russian friends, let’s call them Boris and Serge, I bought token flowers, set out for the site. Nikolai had spent the morning negotiating in the hotel with police representatives. He’d described the afternoon’s plans; they’d assured him he would have adequate protection. One of them, I’m told, a Colonel Vyacheslav (he wouldn’t give his last name) specifically warned there would be right-wing demonstrators, but said they’d be kept separated. Under the Kremlin there’s an enormous… what? Morgue? Crypt? Bomb shelter? No, shopping mall.
December 2007
He needs to stay out of dangerous situations like this in the future or he could have end up almost losing his freedom like Jason Williams, almost lost his his career like Sebastian Telfair; or worse, his life like Ben Wilson, a one time top ranked prospect from Chicago who was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people in 1986. This latest incident is just another reminder it's getting a lot scarier out there all the time and there is a growing problem in our society with the increased number of hand guns that are finding their way into the hands of wreckless teenagers who have no qualms using them to settle disputes without thinking about the consequences. .
Fed Rate Cut Expected
In the category of positive reports was news Tuesday that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods jumped 5.2 percent in December, the biggest increase in five months, and demand in a key series that tracks business investment shot up at the fastest pace since last March. The House, worried about the possibility of a downturn, overwhelmingly approved a $146 billion economic stimulus bill on Tuesday. Passage in the Senate could be slowed by an effort to expand the measure. Whatever the Fed does Thursday, analysts said that further rate cuts are likely until the central bank is sure that the economy is back on sound footing. Bernanke pledged in a speech on Jan. 10 to take decisive action to combat a slowdown. Many economists believe the funds rate could fall to 2.5 percent before the Fed stops easing.
EBay chief bids to regain momentum
It takes a lot to anger the normally unruffled Meg Whitman, president and chief executive of eBay. Google managed it in May when it tried to hijack an eBay sellers’ conference. Ms Whitman says: "We thought it was a direct, competitive intrusion in our most important community event of the year." But whereas some Silicon Valley executives would have used the incident to sling as much mud as possible, – after all, Google is said to have tried to lure eBay’s customers to a rival payment system – that is not Ms Whitman’s style. Instead, she exudes a blend of serenity and steeliness. Traits displayed by her company’s subsequent decision to pull its $100 million (£50 million) advertising account with Google. Ms Whitman may have to take a more animated stance – and look a lot meaner – in 2008 if eBay is to convince Wall Street that it is not just another dot-com business with a glorious future behind it.
Fancy a weekly Showbiz feast?
Well look away now if you don't want us to spoil your Coronation Street viewing. But if you'd like a tit-bit of insider goss, gather around. The word is David Platt's new girlfriend is to reveal she is pregnant in Coronation Street. It's all on the soapy downlow at the mo. But a little birdy from inside the show told Sky Showbiz that this storyline is a shoe-in. Apparently Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) confides her secret to Gail (Helen Worth), but admits that she is not sure whether the baby is David's (Jack P Shepherd) or by a previous lover called Matthew. Gail raises the possibility of an abortion, telling Tina: "I'm not trying to tell you what to do, and you're completely within your rights to tell David about the baby.
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