tagged w/ Thanks Again
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NEW YORK – "Thriller" a Broadway musical?
Producer James L. Nederlander says he has acquired the rights for a stage version of Michael Jackson's iconic music-video spoof of horror films. The show will include songs from two of the pop king's best-selling albums, "Thriller" and "Off the Wall."
"The Nederlanders and Michael Jackson represent live theater and musical excellence, so let the music begin," Tohme Tohme, a spokesman for Jackson, said Monday in a statement.
"I love the idea of making 'Thriller' a musical. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy has big secret, now what?" said Nederlander, head of the company that owns nine Broadway theaters.
No word yet on who will write the book for the show or what songs will be included in the production, or who will direct and choreograph.NEW YORK – "Thriller" a Broadway musical?
Producer James L.... more
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Rush Limbaugh has responded sharply to President Barack Obama’s comment about the radio talk show host, calling Obama’s economic stimulus plan "a trillion-dollar debacle."
At a meeting with Republican leaders on Friday, Obama told the lawmakers they shouldn’t be listening to Limbaugh if they plan on getting along with him.
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told the GOP leaders during a discussion about his planned stimulus package.
Limbaugh fired back in an e-mail to the Palm Beach Post’s “Page 2 Live” columnist Jose Lambiet, saying Obama is trying to shift the focus of the public debate from the stimulus plan to the radio talker.
Limbaugh, who has referred to Obama’s inauguration as "The Immaculate Inauguration," mockingly called the new president "The Great Unifier."
"If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of the trillion-dollar debacle," Rush wrote.
"The Great Unifier’s plan is to isolate elected Republicans from their voters and supporters by making the argument about me and not about his plan. He is hoping that these Republicans will also publicly denounce me and thus marginalize me."
Limbaugh continued in his e-mail to Lambiet: "I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing 'eternal' power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy, because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy.
"Obama’s plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR’s New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would simultaneously damage any hope of future tax cuts."
Obama's $825 billion stimulus bill is set for debate in Congress this week. [See the full story about Limbaugh’s e-mail in the Palm Beach Post — Click Here.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.Rush Limbaugh has responded sharply to President Barack Obama’s comment about... more
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CHICAGO (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc said on Monday that quarterly earnings fell more than 32 percent and warned of a tough year ahead as the downturn that began in the United States metastasized into a full-blown global recession that hit sales of its earth-moving equipment.
The company also warned that profit in 2009 would be under severe pressure and said that it would cut about 17,000 workers and buy out 2,500 others, to reduce costs in the face of what it predicted would be the weakest year for business since the end of World War Two.
The news sent the company's shares skidding more than 10 percent in premarket trading.
The company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $661 million, or $1.08 a share, compared with $975 million, or $1.50 a share, last year.
Sales rose 6 percent to $12.92 billion.
Analysts, on average, expected the Peoria, Illinois-based company to report a profit of $1.28 a share on sales of $11.97 billion.
After shrugging off the downturn in U.S. housing that sparked the worldwide crisis, Caterpillar and other makers of bulldozers, dump trucks and excavators have suddenly faced a world of challenges, including a drop in spending by their well-heeled energy and mining customers.
Results last week from rival CNH Global NV and a profit forecast cut from Komatsu Ltd starkly confirmed that global demand for construction and mining equipment took a sharp turn down in the fourth quarter.
"We knew Caterpillar was going to be a disaster." said Eli Lustgarten, an analyst at Longbow Research. "We just didn't know the magnitude of it. And it's ugly."CHICAGO (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc said on Monday that quarterly earnings fell... more
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MILWAUKEE – Jacqueline Sedlar and her 12-year-old daughter were walking home when the girl peered over a neighbor's fence and a pit bull took a chunk from her eyebrow.
Outraged, Sedlar contacted her city councilman, who introduced an ordinance banning pit bulls. But the mayor vetoed the ban in favor of an alternative "dangerous dog" ordinance that some say will be less effective in preventing attacks.
The controversy in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis exemplifies the struggle communities nationwide face in trying to address dog attacks. Some have banned pit bulls — a broad term that covers several breeds — and other breeds they consider most dangerous. But other communities are trying to "punish the deed, not the breed" with ordinances focusing on dogs with violent histories.
American emergency rooms treated an estimated 310,000 people for dog bites in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The estimate has fallen fairly consistently since 2001, when an estimated 366,000 bite victims were treated.
However, many dog bites do not result in hospital visits and are not reported, so no state or federal agency has a total count.
There's also no reliable data on whether some dogs are more likely to bite than others. A 2000 study cited by the CDC and other health agencies reports pit bull-type dogs were responsible for more bite-related deaths than other breeds from 1979 to 1998, but it cautions that may mean pit bulls are just more common than other types of dogs.
Still, that may help explain why pit bulls are the most frequent targets of proposals to ban or restrict specific breeds of dogs. The American Kennel Club reports 86 such proposals were introduced nationwide in the 2007-08 legislative season. Most were for municipal ordinances. It is not clear how many passed.MILWAUKEE – Jacqueline Sedlar and her 12-year-old daughter were walking home... more
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two U.S. military aircraft crashed in northern Iraq in the early hours of Monday, killing four soldiers, the U.S. military said.
"Four coalition forces members were killed when two aircraft went down in northern Iraq at approximately 2:15 a.m.," U.S. military spokesman Major Jose Lopez said. "The cause of the incident is unknown and is under investigation."
He gave no further details.
Air crashes have remained common in Iraq although while has waned. In November, a civilian cargo plane crashed in western Iraqi, killing all seven people on board.
Seven soldiers were killed when a Chinook transport helicopter crashed in southern Iraq in September.
(Reporting by Tim Cocks; editing by Andrew Dobbie )BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two U.S. military aircraft crashed in northern Iraq in the... more
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Wow, what ever happened to "cut our losses and get to hell outta there?" I was starting to warm up to that idea.Wow, what ever happened to "cut our losses and get to hell outta there?" I... more
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – A bomb planted on a bicycle exploded near a women's hostel in the northwestern Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan on Monday, killing five people and wounding several, police said.
Pakistan is struggling to stem growing insurgency by al Qaeda and Taliban militants, particularly in the northwest near the Afghan border.
"It was a cycle bomb. Five people died on the spot while the wounded were shifted to hospitals," police officer Bashir Khan said by telephone from the scene.
Khan declined to say if the women's hostel was the target. A hospital and a press club are also in the vicinity.
Dera Ismail Khan is 270 km (170 miles) southwest of the capital, Islamabad, in North West Frontier Province.
It is near the border with the South Waziristan ethnic Pashtun tribal region, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border.
Militants have unleashed a wave of suicide and bomb attacks and assassinations in response to military operations against them in the northwest, including the Swat valley where insurgents are waging a violent campaign to enforce strict Islamic law.
On Monday, a man and a woman were killed when a mortar bomb fired by security forces at a militant hideout hit a house near Swat's main town of Mingora, residents and police said.
The scenic valley was until recently one of Pakistan's prime tourist destinations, but militants who began battling security forces in 2007 are now virtually in complete control, residents say.DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – A bomb planted on a bicycle exploded near... more
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Former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga is due to go on trial shortly at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the use of child soldiers.
Mr Lubanga faces six charges of recruiting and using children to fight during the DR Congo's brutal five-year conflict that ended in 2003.
Prosecutors say child soldiers were used to kill members of a rival ethnic group, or as Mr Lubanga's bodyguards.
The case is the first to come to trial before the ICC in The Hague.
This follows a seven-month delay, as judges and prosecutors at the world's first permanent war crimes court disputed confidential evidence.
Mr Lubanga, who is expected to enter not-guilty pleas, insists he was trying to bring peace to Ituri, a region in eastern Congo wracked by years of conflict between rival groups seeking to control its vast mineral wealth.
He was the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and its armed wing at the time of the alleged crimes in 2002-2003, and still has strong support among his Hema community in Ituri.Former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga is due to go on trial shortly at the... more
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WASHINGTON – The White House warned Sunday that the country could face a long and painful financial recovery, even with major government intervention to stimulate the economy and save financial institutions.
"We're off and running, but it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Vice President Joe Biden, taking the lead on a theme echoed by other Democratic officials on the Sunday talk shows.
At the end of the Obama administration's first week, the party in power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue sought to lower expectations for a quick fix despite legislation expected to pass by next month that would pump billions of dollars into the economy. Democrats also opened the door for even more government aid to struggling banks beyond the $700 billion bailout already in the pipeline.
Congress has given President Barack Obama permission to spend the second $350 billion of a Wall Street bailout package even though lawmakers have criticized the Bush administration for the way it spent the first half. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she is open to additional government rescue money for banks and financial institutions. But she said taxpayers must get an ownership stake in return.
Biden said Obama's choice for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, will recommend whether more money is needed for the banks. Geithner could be confirmed by the Senate as early as Monday.
Congress is working on an $825 billion economic recovery package that dedicates about two-thirds to new government spending and the rest to tax cuts. Separate proposals making their way through the House and Senate would combine tax cuts for individuals and businesses, help for cash-strapped state governments, aid for the poor and unemployed, and direct spending by the federal government.WASHINGTON – The White House warned Sunday that the country could face a long... more
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