She will be joined by Ledisi and Melanie Fiona at the show, airing live on Sunday on VH1.
By Jocelyn Vena
Jordin Sparks
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1698955/jordin-sparks-whitney-houston-vh1-divas.jhtml
school closures being human being human chicago news chicago news golden girls robert e lee
UN ambassador Susan Rice, once perceived as a natural replacement for Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, has withdrawn her name from the nomination process. It now seems likely that President Obama will pick Senator John Kerry for the role.?
This file photo shows UN Ambassador Susan Rice leaving a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rice has withdrawn from consideration for secretary of state.
AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File
EnlargeSusan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the?United Nations?and a close confidante of President Barack Obama, withdrew her name from consideration as secretary of state on Thursday in the face of what promised to be a contentious?Senate?confirmation battle.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Rice has drawn heavy fire from Republicans for remarks she made in the aftermath of a Sept. 11 attack on the?U.S. mission?in?Benghazi,?Libya, in which four Americans were killed, including Ambassador?Chris Stevens.
"I am highly honored to be considered by you for appointment as secretary of state,"?Rice said in a letter to Obama. "I am fully confident that I could serve our country ably and effectively in that role. However, if nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly."
Her decision increases the odds Obama will turn to Senator?John Kerry, chairman of the?Senate Foreign Relations Committee?and the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, to replace Secretary of State?Hillary Clinton?when she steps down early next year.
Rice's surprise withdrawal spares Obama a potentially bruising nomination fight in the?Senate, even as he grapples with congressional Republicans over tax, debt and spending policy to avoid the "fiscal cliff."
An announcement of Obama's national security team could come as early as next week. Officials say Obama is giving serious consideration to nominating former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his defense secretary to replace the departing Leon Panetta.
Obama had harbored hopes of picking Rice, 48, as the nation's chief diplomat. She was an early foreign policy adviser to him when he ran for president in 2008 and became the first black woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the?United Nations. She was widely seen as a natural replacement for Clinton.
But?Rice has faced relentless criticism from Republicans about comments she made days after the attack in?Libya.
She went on five Sunday television shows on Sept. 16 to say that preliminary information suggested the assault was the result of protests over an anti-Muslim video that was made in?California?rather than a premeditated strike.
The video, posted on the Internet under several titles including "Innocence of Muslims," mocked the Prophet Mohammad and portrayed him as a womanizer and a fool.?
U.S. intelligence?officials have since said that militants with ties to al Qaeda affiliates were involved in the attacks, and acknowledged there were no protests.?Rice?has said she relied on talking points from intelligence agencies when she spoke, and Obama has angrily denied suggestions the?White House?played down terrorist connections for political purposes.
The?White House?has said Rice's comments were based on the best information she had at the time.
The?Libya?controversy, combined with a combative style and an eagerness to engage in partisan politics, undermined Rice's case, and visits she made to Capitol Hill in late November seeking to bolster her potential nomination did not help.
augusta national blake griffin pau gasol marlins park marbury v. madison 2013 lincoln mkz burger king mary j blige
With all of these patent wars ongoing, it's actually astonishing that these companies have any time to get anything done. In fact, we often wonder how much more could be done if needless, incessant litigation weren't around to muck things up. All that aside, Apple and LG Electronics are likely celebrating a victory today, as a verdict in a San Diego courtroom has found that neither company infringed on an Alcatel-Lucent unit's patents for "electronic devices including phones and computers."
The trial at hand began on November 27th, as it saw A-L accuse Apple and LG of infringing up a "video-compression technology that allows data to be sent more efficiently over communications media, including the internet and satellites, or stored on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Various versions of the iPhone, iPod, iPad and MacBook were named on the Apple side, while LG's Chocolate Touch VX8575, Bliss UX700, Touch AX8575, Lotus Elite LX610, Mystique UN610 and Samba LG8575 were also pinpointed. Of course, Apple can only rejoice so hard -- earlier today, it lost a patent verdict to MobileMedia.
Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, Mobile, Apple, LG
Source: Bloomberg
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/v9S4AyL3nIY/
merle haggard ladainian tomlinson mark wahlberg pipa keystone xl sopa bill sopa and pipa
As we hinted at time and time again, Google has released its native Maps app for iOS…before Christmas. The timing couldn’t come soon enough, as many people have become frustrated with the built-in iOS 6 Maps that Apple offers. Even Apple’s own CEO took it upon himself to apologize for the not-so-polished product, an stand-up act which I actually applauded. Today is about Google Maps, though. The company has spent the past seven years refining its offering, making its internal systems run quickly to keep up with as many detours, traffic conditions and new apartment complexes that it can. All of that hard work paid off with this app, it’s absolutely gorgeous, runs as smooth as a video game and is a complete user experience overhaul from any Google Maps experience you’ve ever had. The new swipe gestures to bring up menus, as well as the great detail in which information is displayed are clear as soon as you open the app. Good thing, because 50% of the Google Maps usage comes from mobile devices, obviously. Now here’s the bad news on this version of Google Maps, there are no biking directions, offline mode (although as soon as you get a route, it is cached on your device), indoor maps or offers as of yet. This would seem to be incomplete, but clearly the team wanted to put together a fantastic Maps app that serves the need of iOS users right this moment. Yes, Google didn’t want to pack everything in too tightly until the world had a chance to play with it. Fair enough, but some of these things would have been nice. But yes, overall, it’s that good. I took it for a spin yesterday and was able to figure out its new UI immediately. Basically, the map is the UI. All of the menus are neatly tucked away, pulled up and out with gestures that are masterfully designed for iOS. If Apple had only waited a bit longer, this could have been the experience that shipped with iOS 6. It also complete with a brand new SDK so that developers can start integrating it into their apps. I spoke with Google Maps for Mobile Director, Daniel Graf, and while he said that Google didn’t hold out as long as it possibly could to release this, I would say that waiting until Apple’s infamous Holiday App Store freezeSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SokRzKg0iM8/
bowl games sons of anarchy adriana lima blake shelton miranda kerr victoria secret fashion show SEC Championship
WASHINGTON -- New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday that he has joined Campaign to Fix the Debt, a controversial debt-reduction group funded by corporate CEOs and private equity billionaire Peter G. Peterson. Bloomberg, a political independent, will join former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (R) as a national co-chair of the group.
?The federal deficit poses a serious and eminent (sic) threat to the U.S. economy,? Bloomberg said in a statement. ?Congress and the White House have an obligation to work together to ? implement pro-growth policies that increase long-term policy certainty for business and investors."
The Campaign to Fix the Debt has emerged as an influential voice in the lobbying effort surrounding ongoing budget negotiations in Congress, in part because of a high-profile public relations blitz reported to have cost more than $30 million.
But as The Huffington Post reported, the group's bipartisan leadership masks politically conservative backing, and the group's leading council of CEOs is made up largely of Republican political donors. Bloomberg, a billionaire media mogul, was a registered Republican until 2007.
Fix the Debt's policy recommendations also tend to favor corporations and the very wealthy, including calls for lower corporate taxes on profits made overseas, steep cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and putting an end to tax breaks that benefit the middle-class, like the mortgage interest deduction. Members of the group are careful not to get too specific about policy during public appearances, instead focusing on the dangers to investors and corporations if Congress and the White House don't reach a deal.
Bloomberg adopted this position in an op-ed Wednesday in The Washington Post. "While the tax revenue and entitlement cuts being discussed are both less than what I and many others believe are necessary to maximize long-term growth, the specifics of the deal are to some extent less important than the act of getting one," he wrote.
Bloomberg is the second high-profile mayor to join Fix the Debt in recent weeks. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) also signed on to the group earlier this month, citing his support for reforming Social Security and Medicare. Democrats in Los Angeles responded by circulating an online petition urging Villaraigosa to withdraw, which garnered by 20,000 signatures.
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/michael-bloomberg-fix-the-debt_n_2286599.html
Martha Raddatz Chris Lighty JJ Watt johnny depp jerry sandusky raul ibanez >>>tedenta reactID: 49518">completely wrong
Do you know an MMA fan who proudly reminds you at every opportunity that he's been watching since UFC 1? Who complains about the rules and time limits "ruining everything?" Who rewatches PRIDE fights every weekend? Well, if you drew this person in Secret Santa, Cagewriter has the perfect gift.
Lenne Hardt, the woman who melodically and memorably announced fighters during introductions during PRIDE bouts, will record your voicemail message or ringtone. Here she is introducing Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE 33.
That's pretty awesome, and it can be your name that she's saying. Voicemails and ring tones start at $50, and she'll also do wedding announcements. Check it all out here.
mike adams janoris jenkins john edwards trial brandon weeden felicia day nfl 2012 draft st louis rams
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Steven Spielberg's Civil War epic "Lincoln" led the Golden Globes on Thursday with seven nominations, among them best drama, best director for Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.
Tied for second-place with five nominations each, including best drama are Ben Affleck's Iran hostage-crisis thriller "Argo" and Quentin Tarantino's slave-turned-bounty-hunter tale "Django Unchained."
Other best-drama nominees put forward by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association are Ang Lee's shipwreck story "Life of Pi" and Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller "Zero Dark Thirty."
Nominated for best musical or comedy were: the British retiree adventure "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; the Victor Hugo musical "Les Miserables"; the first-love tale "Moonrise Kingdom"; the fishing romance "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; and the lost-soul romance "Silver Linings Playbook."
Globe attention can give contenders a boost for Hollywood's top honors, the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 10, three days before the Globe ceremony.
The directing lineup came entirely from dramatic films, with Affleck, Bigelow, Lee, Spielberg and Tarantino all in the running.
"It's very gratifying to get this many nominations from the HFPA for a film I worked so hard on and am so passionate about. I look forward to having fun at the Golden Globes with my cast mates and fellow nominees," Tarantino said in a statement.
Filmmakers behind best musical or comedy nominees were shut out for director, including Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables" and David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook."
Along with Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in Spielberg's epic, best dramatic actor contenders are Richard Gere as a deceitful Wall Streeter in "Arbitrage"; John Hawkes as a polio victim trying to lose his virginity in "The Sessions"; Joaquin Phoenix as a Navy veteran under the sway of a cult leader in "The Master"; and Denzel Washington as a boozy airline pilot in "Flight."
Dramatic-actress nominees are Jessica Chastain as a CIA analyst hunting Osama bin Laden in "Zero Dark Thirty"; Marion Cotillard as a whale biologist beset by tragedy in "Rust and Bone"; Helen Mirren as Alfred Hitchcock's strong-minded wife in "Hitchcock"; Naomi Watts as a woman caught up in a devastating tsunami in "The Impossible"; and Rachel Weisz as a woman ruined by an affair in "The Deep Blue Sea."
For musical or comedy actress, the lineup is Emily Blunt as a consultant for a Mideast sheik in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; Judi Dench as a widow who retires overseas in "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; Jennifer Lawrence as a young widow in a new romance in "Silver Linings Playbook"; Maggie Smith as an aging singer in a retirement home in "Quartet"; and Meryl Streep as a wife trying to save her marriage in "Hope Springs."
Nominees for musical or comedy actor are Jack Black as a solicitous mortician in "Bernie"; Bradley Cooper as a troubled man fresh out of a mental hospital in "Silver Linings Playbook"; Hugh Jackman as Hugo's long-suffering hero Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables"; Ewan McGregor as a British fisheries expert in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; and Bill Murray as Franklin Roosevelt in "Hyde Park on Hudson."
Competing for supporting actor are Alan Arkin as a Hollywood producer helping a CIA operation in "Argo"; Leonardo DiCaprio as a cruel slave owner in "Django Unchained"; Philip Seymour Hoffman as a mesmerizing cult leader in "The Master"; Tommy Lee Jones as firebrand abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens in "Lincoln"; and Christoph Waltz as a genteel bounty hunter in "Django Unchained."
The supporting-actress picks are Amy Adams as a cult leader's devoted wife in "The Master"; Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln in "Lincoln"; Anne Hathaway as a mother fallen into prostitution in "Les Miserables"; Helen Hunt as a sexual surrogate in "The Sessions"; and Nicole Kidman as a trashy mistress of a Death Row inmate in "The Paperboy."
Kidman was a dual nominee, also in the running as best actress in a TV movie or miniseries for "Hemingway & Gellhorn."
"As an actor you look for roles that are rich, complicated, and that stretch you and this year I was blessed to find two," Kidman said in a statement. "To have the chance to play them was a gift in itself and to then be acknowledged this way is icing on the cake."
"Quartet" star Smith also had a second nomination, for supporting actress in a TV series, miniseries or movie for "Downton Abbey."
Snubbed completely was the low-budget critical darling "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which won top honors at last January's Sundance Film Festival. Also shut out was the stripper hit "Magic Mike," which had good buzz for supporting player Matthew McConaughey, who also earned acclaim for roles in "Bernie" and "Killer Joe." Another film to not notch a single nomination was "The Hobbit," a prelude to the "The Lord of the Rings" films, which all got Globe nods.
With three nominations, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" was a surprise inclusion Thursday, since the film had virtually no awards buzz behind it.
There will be some friendly rivalry among the hosts at the Globe ceremony, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Both were nominated for best actress in a TV comedy, Fey for "30 Rock" and Poehler for "Parks and Recreation."
Fey and Poehler follow Ricky Gervais, who was host the last three years and rubbed some Hollywood egos the wrong way with sharp wisecracks about A-list stars and the foreign press association itself.
The Sarah Palin drama "Game Change" leads TV contenders with five nominations: including best movie or miniseries and acting honors for Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris and Sarah Paulson.
Best TV comedy series nominees are "The Big Bang Theory," ''Episodes," ''Girls," ''Modern Family" and "Smash." TV drama picks are "Breaking Bad," ''Boardwalk Empire," ''Downton Abbey: Season 2," ''Homeland" and "The Newsroom."
Globe acting winners often go on to receive the same prizes at the Oscars. All four Oscar winners last season ? lead performers Meryl Streep of "The Iron Lady" and Jean Dujardin of "The Artist," and supporting players Octavia Spencer of "The Help" and Christopher Plummer of "Beginners" ? won Globes first.
The Globes have a spotty record predicting which films might go on to earn the best-picture prize at the Academy Awards, however.
Last year's Oscar best-picture winner, "The Artist," preceded that honor with a Globe win for best musical or comedy. But in the seven years before that, only one winner in the Globes' two best-picture categories ? 2008's "Slumdog Millionaire" ? followed up with an Oscar best-picture win.
Along with 14 film prizes, the Globes hand out awards in 11 television categories.
Jodie Foster, a two-time Oscar and Globe winner for "The Accused" and "The Silence of the Lambs," will receive the group's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.
With stars sharing drinks and dinner, the Globes have a reputation as one of Hollywood's loose and unpredictable awards gatherings. Winners occasionally have been off in the restroom when their names were announced, and there have been moments of onstage spontaneity such as Jack Nicholson mooning the crowd or Ving Rhames handing over his trophy to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon.
___
Online:
http://www.goldenglobes.org
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lincoln-leads-golden-globes-7-nominations-135912848.html
sign of the times keystone pipeline purim acc tournament big ten tournament big east tournament 2012 solar storm
