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George Washington was the very first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. It is interesting to look at the back-ground which prepared him for the role of first President of the United States. He was born on February 22, 1732, at a time when America was one of the British Colonies. He was born on his family's Pope's Creek Estate near present-day Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
In his youth, Washington worked as a surveyor, and in this way he acquired invaluable knowledge of the terrain around his native Colony of Virginia, which helped him later. In 1749, he was appointed as surveyor of the newly created Culpeper County. In 1752, Washington joined the Virginia militia and was appointed as a district adjutant general, and appointed Major at the age of 20.
In April 1775, fighting broke out, which started the American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence. Washington had a sound military back-ground, which aided his appointment as Commander of the Continental Army. At this time The British had besieged Boston, and Washington placed artillery on Dorchester Heights overlooking the city, and forced the British to evacuate it. In August 1776, the British launched a massive naval and land campaign designed to seize New York. Washington engaged the enemy for the first time at the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the entire war, a British victory which forced Washington out of New York and across New Jersey. On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington staged a counter-attack, leading the American forces across the Delaware River and captured nearly 1,000 Hessians. He followed this victory with another one at Princeton, which quickly raised the morale of his Continental army.
Not everything went Washington's way, as he suffered a defeat in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. France then entered the war, in support of America. In December 1977, Washington's army camped at Valley Forge for six months, during which time 2,500 of the 10,000-strong force died from disease and exposure. However, he organized a full-scale training program, under the supervision of Baron von Steuben, a veteran of the Prussian general staff.
In 1778, the British evacuated Philadelphia to New York, and Washington attacked them at Monmouth, driving them from the battlefield. Afterwards, the British headed towards New York, and Washington moved his army outside the city. He delivered the final blow to the British in 1781, after a French naval victory allowed American and French forces to trap the British army in Virginia. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, by which Britain recognized the independence of the United States.
At first, the United States was governed without a President under the Articles of Confederation, which were the forerunner to the Constitution. In 1789, Washington was unanimously elected as President, as he had gained a high reputation for his military success. He took the oath of office as the first President under the Constitution for the United States of America on April 30, 1789 at Federal Hall in New York City.
The 1st United States Congress voted to pay Washington a salary of $25,000 a year, which was a large sum in 1789. Washington's initial reaction was to decline the salary. However, he later accepted it, on the grounds that otherwise the presidency would be perceived as limited only to independently wealthy individuals, who could serve afford to serve without salary. Washington ensured that the titles and trappings were suitably republican, as he had no wish to emulate the European countries, such as his preference for the title "Mr. President".
Washington proved an able administrator. Whilst he reluctantly served a second term, he refused to run for a third, and so established the policy for a president to serve a maximum of two terms, which later became law by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.
At this early period, there were no political parties in America, and Washington warned against them, on the grounds that they would cause conflict and stagnation. Washington was a man known for his high values, as evidenced by the famous story when he cut down his father's cherry tree, and confessed "I cannot tell a lie. It was I!" Therefore, it is not surprising that his Farewell Address of 1796 forms one of the most influential statements of American political values. It gives advice on the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people.
After retiring from the presidency in March 1797, Washington returned to Mount Vernon, and devoted much time of his time to farming. On December 12, 1799, he went out on horseback in the snow to inspect his farms, and the next morning, awoke with a bad cold and a throat infection called quinsy. He died on the evening of December 14, 1799, at the age of 67. Modern doctors believe that Washington died largely because of his treatment, which included bloodletting, which resulted in a loss of five pints of blood.
Throughout the world men and women were saddened by Washington's death. Napoleon ordered ten days of mourning throughout France. On December 18, 1799, a funeral was held at Mount Vernon, and in the funeral oration, Henry Lee stated that of all Americans, Washington was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Diane_Cleak

For decades, we have held in contempt those who actively celebrate death. When we’ve seen video footage of foreigners cheering terrorist attacks against America, we have ignored their insistence that they are celebrating merely because we have occupied their nations and killed their people. Instead, we have been rightly disgusted -- not only because they are lauding the death of our innocents, but because, more fundamentally, they are celebrating death itself. That latter part had been anathema to a nation built on the presumption that life is an "unalienable right."
But in the years since 9/11, we have begun vaguely mimicking those we say we despise, sometimes celebrating bloodshed against those we see as Bad Guys just as vigorously as our enemies celebrate bloodshed against innocent Americans they (wrongly) deem as Bad Guys. Indeed, an America that once carefully refrained from flaunting gruesome pictures of our victims for fear of engaging in ugly death euphoria now ogles pictures of Uday and Qusay’s corpses, rejoices over images of Saddam Hussein’s hanging and throws a party at news that bin Laden was shot in the head. Read more at salon.com.
Killing of Bin Laden: What Are the Consequences?
By Glenn Greenwald
...I'd have strongly preferred that Osama bin Laden be captured rather than killed so that he could be tried for his crimes and punished in accordance with due process (and to obtain presumably ample intelligence). But if he in fact used force to resist capture, then the U.S. military was entitled to use force against him, the way American police routinely do against suspects who use violence to resist capture. But those are legalities and they will be ignored even more so than usual. The 9/11 attack was a heinous and wanton slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians, and it's understandable that people are reacting with glee over the death of the person responsible for it. I personally don't derive joy or an impulse to chant boastfully at the news that someone just got two bullets put in their skull -- no matter who that someone is -- but that reaction is inevitable: it's the classic case of raucously cheering in a movie theater when the dastardly villain finally gets his due. Read more at salon.com.
Celebrating Bin Laden's Killing: It's Complicated
By Petula Dvorak
A generation of young Americans slammed the door Monday on the great big boogeyman of their childhoods with an epic woot-woot and rounds and rounds of “U.S.A.!”
At the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, thousands of people — most of them college-age and in requisite flip-floppy collegiate gear — whipped up a raucous celebration right outside the White House gates that was one part Mardi Gras and two parts Bon Jovi concert.
There were cigars, a few beers, a lacrosse-stick-turned-flagpole waved by a kid who just climbed a statue, joining others aloft in trees and atop lampposts. Well past midnight, cars zipped up and down the streets of downtown Washington with women standing up through sunroofs waving ginormous American flags and guys blowing vuvuzelas, spring break style.
It felt a little crazy, a bit much. Almost vulgar. Read more at washingtonpost.com.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/05/03/liberals-sickened-usa-usa-chants#ixzz1opQriRjh

Tripoli, Sunday. A Nato air strike killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ‘s youngest son and three grandchildren, a spokesman said today, after rebels and Nato dismissed an offer for talks to end the crisis.

The house of Seif al-Arab Gaddafi, 29 (pictured), “was attacked tonight with full power,” government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told a news conference announcing the deaths in the Saturday evening strikes.

The Libyan strongman and his wife were in the building that was hit, but were not harmed, Ibrahim said, though others present were killed or wounded in what he deemed “a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country.”
“The leader himself is in good health; he wasn’t harmed. His wife is also in good health; she wasn’t harmed, (but) other people were injured,” he added.

Ibrahim later said intelligence on Gaddafi’s whereabouts appeared to have been “leaked.”
“They knew about him being there, or expected him for some reason,” the spokesman said.

Nato said it had staged airstrikes in Tripoli but did not confirm the Libyan claims. There was no immediate confirmation of the deaths either. At least three missiles had been heard exploding loudly over the capital earlier as jets flew overhead.

The transatlantic military alliance “continued its precision strikes against Gaddafi  regime military installations in Tripoli overnight, including striking a known command and control building in the Bab al-Azizya neighbourhood shortly after 1800 GMT yesterday evening,” a statement said.

Automatic gunfire, apparently in mourning, echoed across the capital following the announcement, while state TV showed flag-waving demonstrators whom it said turned out to mourn Seif al-Arab’s death.

Overjoyed rebels fired rockets, Kalashnikovs, TNT and 12.5 anti-aircraft machine guns for more than a half an hour, rocking the rebel capital of Benghazi with sustained gunfire and explosions to mark the moment.

“They are so happy that Gaddafi lost his son in an air strike that they are shooting in celebration,” said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, military spokesman of the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) headquartered in the eastern city.
Cars whizzed by the seafront beeping their horns as people shouted “God is greatest” below a night sky lit up by red tracer fire.

Ibrahim had earlier taken journalists to the remnants of a heavily damaged house in Tripoli, hinting but not explicitly indicating this was the one in which Gaddafi ‘s son had died.

Long, twisted rods of reinforcing steel bars stuck out of large chunks of blasted concrete lay in and around the structure. In some areas, the roof had caved in completely and walls had collapsed. A thick layer of dark grey dust covered the grounds.

Given the level of destruction, it was unclear that anyone could have survived, raising the possibility that if Gaddafi  was there, he had left beforehand.Nato vowed to stage more strikes, though the commander of Nato’s Operation Unified Protector stressed that “we do not target individuals.”

“All Nato’s targets are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the... regime’s systematic attacks on the Libyan population and populated areas,” added Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard.
In a speech on state television yesterday, Gaddafi had said Nato “must abandon all hope of his departure.”
Artical source:-
googletrends.com

When it comes to the Royal Wedding, U.S. media outlets have out-published the Brits, according to The Nielsen Company, which analyzed online buzz in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia following the announcement of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton in November 2010. The study of buzz on social media (blogs, message boards/groups) and traditional media finds that while the United Kingdom creates the greater overall level of consumer buzz about the Royal Wedding, the United States has the highest share of news coverage by traditional news sources, such as the online versions of newspapers and magazines.

U.S. News Media Take the Crown

Since the couple’s November 2010 engagement, there have been thousands of news posts about the Royal Wedding and its participants by U.S. news outlets, accounting for more than .3% of all news coverage immediately following the engagement and a steady stream of articles since. This share of news coverage from traditional media sources is considerably higher than in the U.K. and Australia. Given the varied number of news outlets, the share of news coverage is the best metric for comparison among the three markets; the share of news coverage by U.S. news outlets is more than twice that in the United Kingdom and Australia at the most recent measurement on April 3.

Kate vs. Prince William

Though Kate has received considerable interest online, Prince William continues to be the more popular subject of social media discussion in the United Kingdom, both by buzz volume and share of all buzz. William is also mentioned more often in the United States and Australia.
Overall the U.K. makes up a larger share of buzz about the Royal Wedding and its participants, while the more populous U.S. market had a greater volume of buzz since the engagement was announced.
Note: For the purposes of this analysis, Social Media use is defined as buzz from blogs and message boards/groups. Traditional Media includes posts/updates from the online counterparts of print and broadcast news outlets, online news publishers, industry publications, and wire services.
Article Source:- 
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/royal-wedding-buzz/

ABC News invites you to witness Prince William and Catherine Middleton exchange wedding vows after nearly a decade of courtship.
From Buckingham Palace, Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters will anchor live coverage of the royal wedding on the ABC television network starting at 4 a.m. ET.
If you aren't near a television, no need to worry. Catch ABC's live broadcast everywhere we are: ABCNews.com, ABC News' Facebook page, your mobile phone and on the ABC News app for iPad.
ABC News is your front row seat to the royal wedding. Don't forget to visit ABCNews.com where you can watch and share your favorite videos from the best moments of the day, sign the royal guestbook to leave a note for William and Catherine and view photos from the royal wedding in our slideshows.
Plus, join the conversation and interact with ABC News on Facebook and Twitter.
David Muir will be on-air with the ABC News team to cover your reaction of this historic day. Follow him on Twitter (@DavidMuirABC) and ask him all your royal wedding day questions, share your thoughts on Catherine Middleton's dress and let us know what you think are the best #royalmess and #royalsuccess moments.
Follow @ABCRoyals, the official royal wedding Twitter from ABC News. In the week leading up to William and Catherine's big day, @ABCRoyals will be tweeting the latest royal roundup from London. On April 29th, @ABCRoyals is your source for every detail and headline from the royal wedding, as they're happening.
"Like" ABC News on Facebook to vote and tell us what you think about Queen Elizabeth's hat, the sure to be infamous wedding gown, what could go wrong at the wedding, and much more.
On Friday night, ABC News will continue to be your all access pass for all of the wedding details. Watch a special 20/20 with Barbara Walters 9/8c on ABC.
Article Source:-
http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/abc_royalprom_110415_wg.jpg

Dressed in a police uniform, Aman Mojadidi once set up a fake roadside checkpoint to hand out real money to befuddled Afghan motorists used to paying, not receiving, bribes.
Then, during last fall's parliamentary elections, the Florida-born Afghan artist took his antics a step further by covertly pasting Kabul walls with faux campaign posters that featured him in a black turban with a gold-plated pistol hanging around his neck.
"Vote for me," the posters urged. "I'm rich—and I've done jihad."
The stunts are part of a campaign the 40-year-old Afghan-American has been waging for the past three years against the excesses of the Afghan government, ranked as one of the world's most corrupt. In the process, he has become the leading agent provocateur of the nascent Afghan art scene.
"I think Aman can be a leader for Afghans in showing what provocative art can do in Afghanistan," said Tamim Samee, founder of Afghanistan's Contemporary Art Prize, a four-year-old competition meant to nurture the country's young artists.
In recent years, Mr. Mojadidi has helped train young Afghans about street graffiti, worked with Mr. Samee on the annual arts prize, and joined forces with expats who have injected a jolt of inspiration into Kabul's evolving artistic community.
"No one's doing as provocative and unusual stuff," says Nikki Diana Marquardt, Mr. Mojadidi's Paris-based art dealer.
Kabul is now home to a small-but-growing number of experimental musical acts, including a heavy metal band and a popular indie group inspired by Britain's pop sensation Oasis.
Filmmakers have used American and European government money to produce movies on everything from Afghan women prisoners to the region's unusual sport of buzkashi, under which players on horseback vie for possession of a dead goat.
Veterans of that struggle, known as mujahedeen, occupy the top rungs of power in President Hamid Karzai's administration—and many of these once-respected fighters have come under withering criticism for enriching themselves while on government service.
"Jihad," proclaims Mr. Mojadidi, "is the Afghan bling."
Mr. Mojadidi, who spent his teen years as a vegetarian, high-school dropout and surfer in Florida, most famously channeled widespread contempt for the country's corrupt leaders by adopting the persona of "Jihadi Gangster"—a comical blend of Afghan mujahedeen and American gangsta rappers.
The most controversial photograph from his "Jihadi Gangster" series—"After a Long Day's Work"—featured Mr. Mojadidi sitting on a couch in front of a gold-plated prosthetic leg and a table filled with alcohol, cashews and jade-tipped bullets.
With his black turban and golden gun hanging down below his long gray beard, Mr. Mojadidi was pictured blithely using a remote to switch TV channels as a scantily clad woman with a blue burqa covering her face fawned over her man.
The limited edition photos—one of which was auctioned off for $14,000—have caused an uproar in Kabul.
When Afghan censors saw some of the tamer photographs from the series featured in the December issue of Kabul's largest English language magazine, Afghan Scene, they angrily forced the publisher to cut out the images—literally, with scissors—from 9,000 already-printed copies.
"This is not a Muslim fighter, he is Indian or something," said government censor Abdul Raquib Jahid as he jabbed his finger at one of the banned photographs. "This is an insult—or a blasphemy—to jihad."
As it happens, Mr. Mojadidi, who sometimes describes himself as a "Southern Fried Afghan," comes from holy warrior stock himself.
His uncle, Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, was one of the country's most famous anti-Soviet mujahedeen in the 1980s, and, until recently, chaired Afghanistan's Senate. Mr. Mojadidi himself briefly traveled with his uncle's anti-Communist fighters in 1990 to the front lines in Afghanistan.
At the time, dressed in Converse sneakers and the traditional Afghan shalwar kameez, the artist even fired a couple of mortars at the Soviet-backed government's tanks outside Jalalabad. He drove back to Pakistan the next day, filled with his first jolt of conflict reality.
"I grew up saying: 'I'm Afghan,'" Mr. Mojadidi recalls. "But when I came on that trip when I was 19, I remember thinking: 'I'm not that. My experience is completely different.'"
The next time he returned to Afghanistan was in 2001, when he joined his uncle in a triumphant convoy from Pakistan to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime.
The uncle, Mr. Mujaddedi, who had served as interim president of Afghanistan after the fall of the Soviet-backed regime in 1992, oversaw the drafting of a new Afghan constitution.
The white-bearded Afghan leader chuckled quietly when he was first shown his nephew's photographs of the "Jihadi Gangster" series.
"I don't agree with him," Mr. Mujaddedi said while looking over the images in his office as former Taliban government officials sat nearby waiting to confer. "This will make people upset and create problems for him."
Controversy, of course, is what Mr. Mojadidi is courting. His recent run-in with Afghan censors was just the latest round of cultural shenanigans.
In his first big attempt at performance art, Mr. Mojadidi bought an Afghan police uniform in 2009 and set up a fake checkpoint on a road outside Kabul.
Some of his filmed experiment, which he called a "reverse bribe," made its way onto "Danger Bell," Afghanistan's premier political satire TV show.
With video cameras rolling, Mr. Mojadidi flagged down cars, checked their papers and then offered a personal apology—along with $2 worth of Afghan currency, a significant amount of money here—if the drivers had ever had to pay off a police officer in the past.
On the video, most of the drivers appeared perplexed and initially hesitant to take the cash, perhaps fearing it was some sort of cruel trap. But only four of the 20 drivers turned down the money.
Artical Source:-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703916004576271262475103684.html?mod=WSJ_Ahed_LEADTop

"Pardon if you've already mentioned it, but Twin Peaks is currently streaming via Netflix," he says. "I know there have been a number of releases of this series on DVD, some of good quality and some not so good. The quality of the streaming version is very good (both video and audio)." That's great news!
Brad adds, "Even better, it actually includes the original broadcast version of the pilot episode, which has been hard to find other than in the $100+ Definitive Gold Box Edition."
Since I have an older edition of the DVDs without the broadcast version of the pilot, this is one of the best things I've heard all day. Pass it on.

Dozens of large fires burned out of control Monday in Texas in what officials described as unprecedented conditions that show no signs of abating soon.
"We're experiencing conditions never seen in Texas before," said Marq Webb, a public information officer with the Texas Forest Service, which was devoting massive resources to the effort. "Yesterday, we had 1,400 people and that number will go up today," Webb said Monday in a telephone interview from the service's incident command center in Merkel just west of Abilene.
In all, the Forest Service has been asked to help battle fires covering some 700,000 acres, he said.
Thirty-one fires were being fought in East Texas; another 11 fires in West Texas, officials said.
"We've had 19 consecutive days of just super-dry weather, relative humidities in the single digits," said Forest Service spokeswoman C.J. Norvell in Midland. "What we're seeing right now is winds that are typical of spring, but everything else is typical of late summer -- no rain, vegetation that's just super dry. When you combine those two, it really has not boded well."
The Wildcat Fire just north of San Angelo has led to the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes, Norvell said. The same fire threatens three small communities just north of Saint Angelo -- Robert Lee, Bronte and Tennyson, she said.
A predicted change in wind direction from south to southwest could worsen the prognosis, she said. "This little change is going to test some infrastructure and fire lines that we've set up," she said.
The fires have a variety of causes -- some of them acts of nature, such as lightning strikes -- but most of them acts of man, said Webb. Those include anything from fence welding to debris burning, despite the fact that burn bans are in effect for 195 of the state's 254 counties, he said.
Texas authorities have made an arrest in connection with one of hundreds of blazes scorching the state in what a Forest Service official called the "perfect storm for wildfires."
A man was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, which is a felony under Texas law, Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Palmer Buck said early Monday. The man, whom authorities did not immediately identify, was being held under a $50,000 bond.
According to Buck, the man started a campfire at a homeless camp in a remote area, which got out of control and prompted evacuations. The fire burned about 60 acres.
"We're experiencing conditions we've never seen in Texas before," he said. "We have a huge area of Texas with abundant fuels and they are tinder dry -- and I'm talking about probably half of the state."
Monday's forecast was worse than Sunday's, "and tomorrow's supposed to be worse than today," he said. Though temperatures are expected to dip Wednesday, they were predicted to ramp back up on Thursday and Friday.
Such weather has taxed the resources available to fight the fires. "We're stretched pretty thin right now," Webb said.
Conditions this spring are the driest they've been in Texas since 1917, said a Texas Forest Service spokeswoman.
Authorities have responded to 7,807 fires across more than 1.5 million acres since this year's wildfire season began, Gov. Rick Perry wrote over the weekend in a letter to President Barack Obama. Perry requested that the federal government declare Texas a disaster area. Fires have affected all but two of the state's 254 counties.
Perry noted that one firefighter has died and 18 others have been injured, while 244 homes have been destroyed and another 8,514 threatened residences "saved."
In the Possum Kingdom complex west of Fort Worth, approximately 90 head of cattle were killed by the fire, said Webb.
In southwest Austin, 10 homes suffered major damage and six suffered minor damage in a 100-acre area, said Matt Curtis, a spokesman for Mayor Lee Effingwell. Curtis said Monday morning that the fire was contained, though firefighters were expected to spend the day looking for potential flareups and hotspots.
Officials were to decide later in the day whether to allow evacuees -- some 50 of whom spent the night at a shelter -- to return home, Curtis said.
"Luckily, this fire happened in a somewhat unpopulated part of that neighborhood," he said. The multi-jurisdictional effort included the Austin Police Department, the Austin-Travis County Fire Department, the Austin-Travis County EMS, the Travis County Sheriff's Department and the Texas Forest Service.

A recent wave of state tobacco tax increases, designed to pump revenue into cash-strapped local governments, is inspiring an increasingly dangerous cigarette smuggling industry where big profits lure violent criminal gangs and drug traffickers into the booming illegal market, according to law enforcement officials and court records.

• STORY: State taxes on cigarettes

 Artical sourse:-
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-05-02-atf-cigarette-smuggling.htm

 The fallout continues from Friday’s indictment of the founders of three online poker companies as the Full Tilt Poker sponsored Onyx Cup has been cancelled at least temporarily but most likely forever.
The Onyx Cup was set to be a series of six tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $100,000 to $300,000. According to sources close to the television production of the series the first event, scheduled for May 11 and 12 in Las Vegas,  and the following one scheduled for July 7 -8, have been postponed and most likely cancelled as Full Tilt Poker leaves the U.S. market.
Full Tilt Poker has not yet released any official statement regarding the Onyx Cup and has not responded to a request for comment.
The next televised poker domino to fall will most likely be the PokerStars-backed North American Poker Tour. ESPN was scheduled to air new episodes of the North American Poker Tour on Monday but those episodes are unlikely to air. With no new NAPT events scheduled the likelihood that Jason Mercier’s and Vanessa Selbst’s historic back-to-back wins at Mohegan Sun last week are the tours last is extremely high.
ESPN has also removed the PokerStars sponsored Inside Deal from the ESPN.com website. No official word has come from the network as of yet but the ESPN Poker Club - which was powered by PokerStars - is no longer available for download.

He will propose reducing spending on healthcare programmes for the poor and elderly and on defence, and raising taxes on the wealthy, aides have said.
Republicans are certain to reject Mr Obama's tax increase proposals and call for deeper spending cuts, analysts say.
The contrasting ideas are set to play heavily in the 2012 election campaign.
The US government budget deficit is expected to reach $1.4 trillion (£860m) this year, and both Democrats and Republicans say curbing spending should be a top priority.
Buoyed by the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement, Republicans have won a series of policy victories, including forcing $38.5bn in government spending cuts for the remainder of the current fiscal year.
'Non-starter' Mr Obama hopes to retake momentum from Republicans on the issue as the 2012 presidential campaign warms up, analysts say.
In a pre-emptive attack on Tuesday morning, Republican House Speaker John Boehner called any proposal to raise taxes "a non-starter".
Republican Representative Paul Ryan, the powerful chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee, said he was pleased Mr Obama was talking publicly about spending cuts but said: "We don't have a problem because Americans don't pay enough taxes."
Mr Ryan has outlined a 2012 plan that would slash $6.2 trillion from government spending over the next decade, in large part through cuts to government programmes that serve the elderly and the poor, analysts say.
His plan would also drastically reduce taxes for wealthy Americans, analysts say.
The House is due to vote on Mr Ryan's proposal on Friday.
US political observers expect the fight over the government budget for the fiscal year beginning 1 October to be bruising, as Republicans and Democrats push their competing visions.
Last week, the US government came within an hour of shutting down as Republican and Democratic leaders battled to reach an agreement on a budget for the next six months.
The deal reached just before midnight on Friday cut $38.5bn from the budget to 30 September.
for more details below ...............
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13067836

Apple's latest line: New 3G iPhone hits the streets
The wait is over. Apple's new iPhone 3G goes on sale today, promising to download information twice as fast as its predecessor, featuring a built-in global-positioning system (GPS) and running hundreds of new software programs, including one from the Associated Press that uses the GPS to determine the iPhone owner's location and automatically send him or her local news articles. Other software includes eBay Mobile, which allows iPhone users to shop and to track bids on any items they are selling as well as programs from Facebook, MySpace, Sega and Travelocity specifically designed to work on the device's touch screen. Also, unlike its predecessor, which debuted in June 2007 retailing at $599, the new iPhone will cost a more reasonable $199 for the eight-gigabyte model and $299 for the 16-gigabyte model, if your sign a two-year contract with network provider AT&T (the only phone company licensed to support the iPhone in the U.S.).
It doesn't take much of a fortune-teller to predict a new iPhone in June; the first-generation iPhone went on sale in June 2007 and the iPhone 3G in early July, 2008. But take all these reports with a big spoonful of salt: They all depend on bloggers reading articles based on other people's interviews, and then interpreting what the original source might have meant to say based on what the blogger read that the reporter wrote. "This could easily be a misunderstanding on the part of the reporter, a misquote, or a combination of signs, portents, and omens, but it's certainly an interesting little tidbit," says Engadget.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached a last-minute budget deal on Friday, averting a government shutdown.
With a midnight deadline looming for a government closure, the compromise between the Democrats and Republicans requires lawmakers to approve stopgap funding to keep federal agencies running into next week until the budget agreement can be formally enacted.
The plan calls for $39 billion in spending cuts. There was no immediate comment from the White House or congressional Democrats.
A shutdown would have idled hundreds of thousands of workers and carry political risks for Obama and his fellow Democrats as well as opposition Republicans, who would be seen by voters as failing to make compromises.
Leaders of the House and Senate were at odds on Friday over the reasons for not reaching agreem
ent.Democrats said they were at odds over federal funding for birth control. Republicans said spending cuts were the issue.
After narrowing their differences, the House was set to vote later on Friday night on a short-term funding bill to keep the government running until the longer budget plan can be enacted into law.
Without an agreement, money to operate the federal government for the next six months would run out at midnight on Friday and agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service would begin a Despite the apparent resolution of the impasse, the bitter political fight raised questions about the ability of Obama and a divided U.S. Congress to deal with bigger issues looming down the road, from raising the federal debt ceiling to reining in budget deficits, as the 2012 presidential election campaign gathers steam. The leadership of the world's lone remaining superpower has been consumed for days by the budgetary infighting that could bring large swathes of government to a standstill.
for more details.......
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/132424/20110409/government-shutdown-2011-crisis-averted-for-now.html

The Atlantic basin is facing a busier-than-average hurricane season, in part because of unusually warm water in the ocean, according to a seasonal hurricane forecast released Wednesday morning.

Luck does not really play a part that much in winning the USA Hot Lotto. Now, you can hit the jackpot by simply taking the risk, learning the game, and applying some useful strategies and systems that would increase your probability of winning in the game. You do not have to be a super genius to analyze and scrutinize the game, but you must be wise enough to realize that the USA Hot Lotto is purely a probability game. Once you are good in manipulating probability, you will have a greater chance of earning the top prize and become an instant millionaire.
A brief review of the game
Before going into the tips, here is a short review of what a USA Hot Lotto is and how it being is played.
This type of lottery is being played in selected states in the US, such as in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Kansa, Minnesota, Montana, and New Hampshire. From a number range of 1 to 39, the player must choose five to make up his set and one number from 1 to 19 to be his “hot ball.” The ticket would usually cost for about a dollar. To win a prize is to get the five numbers in the set, and to win the jackpot is get a right match of the hot ball and the five numbers in your set. However, you should remember that the numbers in your set and the hot ball cannot cross over during the draw. For example, if you have the winning set of five in your ticket, which is composed of the numbers 7-14-26-33-35, and your hot ball is 14, you only win for your set, and the number fourteen cannot be repeated for you to win the jackpot for your hot ball. Another 14-ball must also appear during the draw for your hot ball.
The winning tips
The rule of thumb for you before deciding for your set is to remember that those numbers that frequently appear during the draw have the highest probability to be drawn again. So keep your bets on those, especially if you are a beginner. After you mastered the pattern, you can start your strategy by betting on a set with a combination of odd and even. Then, try to analyze again the winning set if it contains groups of 10′s, 30′s, etc. if you haven’t seen any numbers from 11 to 19, then don’t try to put your luck on them. Instead focus on the most commonly seen number groups. Lastly, never bet on a number that did not appear on any USA Hot Lotto draws in the past, it will least likely to come out on the next draw.
End notes
USA hot Lotto is one exciting lottery game. It is full of excitement, as well as surprises. And compared to other lotto draws, you have a higher likelihood of winning in this game. However, you need to improve your chances of taking home millions of dollars as a grand prize by picking the best game strategy and system that would deliver positive upshots.

 Washington (CNN) -- With a short video on BarackObama.com, the sitting president of the United States has launched his bid for re-election.
Using what apparently will be one of his campaign slogans, "It begins with us," the campaign has told supporters that the kickoff of the campaign has started and that means the race for contributions is on.
The familiar-looking blue "O" over red and white stripes is back again for 2012. And at the bottom of the website, the candidates' names are clearly identified: OBAMA-BIDEN -- for Vice President Joe Biden.
Shortly afterward, Obama sent an e-mail to supporters to say he will also file papers Monday with the Federal Election Commission.
"We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. It never does. But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we've made -- and make more -- we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest," Obama said in his e-mail message.
He is expected to host his first re-election fundraiser in Chicago on April 14, according to the sources.
The president is making his campaign official slightly earlier than is typical for an incumbent so he can get a jump on fundraising in a season that's likely to shatter all records.
Obama's team has been asking campaign bundlers to raise $350,000 each, no easy task since campaign finance laws limit gifts to $2,500 per donor.
Two sources tell CNN the campaign team hopes that in total its bundlers will raise $500 million, leaving the campaign to raise another $500 million and amass a record-breaking $1 billion war chest.
According to these sources, the president has made calls to top donors, and conference calls are planned this week to supporters and key Democratic groups.
Biden is already planning to be in New Hampshire on Monday and will meet with key supporters in that crucial early voting state.
For the past few weeks, Jim Messina, who will manage the campaign, and Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, have been flying around the country meeting with frustrated donors working to get them re-engaged.
So far no Republican contenders have formally announced. But these days, the likely Republican presidential contenders are making endless visits to key early voting states and meeting with supporters across the country.
One top Democrat says, "The Republicans are out there day in and day out beating up on the president -- they're basically running without filing. So to say we're going first isn't totally fair." This person adds, "No one wants to start running now. The president is engaged in the country, this is about getting (campaign) staff up and running."
Additionally, top Democrats say two former White House staffers are likely to set up a third-party outside spending group.
Former deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, former aide to then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, have been approached by Democratic donors who are concerned about countering the influence of Karl Rove and the Koch brothers in the upcoming 2012 election.

Both the National Wildlife Federation and Huffington Post have just published articles about the federal government’s response to the spike in dolphin deaths in the Gulf. Since January, about 200 dolphin carcasses have been found on Gulf state shores and beaches in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Roughly half of the carcasses are newborns or stillborn infants. (This number does not include the nearly 90 that were found dead immediately after the Deepwater Horizon blowout and the ensuing months.)
At the moment no one knows exactly why there has been such a large surge in Gulf dolphin deaths. In order to help document the very disturbing trend, the National Marine Fisheries Service hired contract wildlife biologists to collect specimens and tissue samples. However, these scientists were also instructed to keep their discoveries to themselves. One of the biologists said, “This throws accountability right out the window. We are confused and angry because they claim they want team work, but at the same time they are leaving the marine experts out of the loop completely.”(Source: TheDailyMail.uk)
The gag order is related to the ongoing criminal investigation against BP. The dolphin deaths could become evidence in that case. However, it also seems the public has a right to know about a potential link between the oil spill and dolphin tragedy, because the federal government said months ago most of  the oil had disappeared. If the public finds out the government lied about the extent of the oil spill, the blame surely can’t be limited to BP. In fact, it has been quite obvious with various oil drilling permits allowed in the Gulf since the disaster, the government is really not on the side of the marine life living in the Gulf. Elected politicians are making the decisions on behalf of the oil industry, and could care less about the wild animals.