Cash for Clunkers Suspended?

The U.S. government's wildly popular Cash for Clunkers program was designed to help the struggling auto industry by giving owners of old cars money toward the purchase of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. But now the program appears to be running out of gas. It looks as if the money to buy up used cars has already been used up.

Now the question is whether this program will be suspended or not?

I think it will be suspended because Congress had saved $1 billion for CARS program to rouse auto sales and they had planned to run program until the money finished or until November 1, whichever occurred first.

But unfortunately all money has finished in just first week, though the actual trouble is that no one really knows. According to the figures collected on late Wednesday, about 23,000 vehicles have been registered under this system and $96 million money has been used.

Six dead in Japan quake: officials

KURIHARA, Japan (AFP) - Six people were killed in Saturday’s powerful earthquake in northern Japan, officials said.Two workers, aged 53 and 54, were working on a construction project when they were hit by a
landslide, said a local official in the hard-hit northern town of Kurihara.
Rescue teams scouring by helicopter also found a body in a smashed vehicle in the mountains, said Yuichi Hachiya, a fire department official in Kurihara.
“We suspect the person was a visitor, but that’s just speculation. The person has yet to be identified as the body is now being transferred,” Hachiya told AFP.The other dead included a 48-year-old construction worker on a dam project who was hit by falling rocks and a 55-year-old man buried by a landslide while out fishing, officials said earlier.
A 60-year-old man also died after running out of his home in fright and getting hit by a truck.
More than 100 people were injured and 12 people missing in the 7.2 Richter-scale tremor, according to officials and media tallies.

By news.yahoo.com

Last Minute Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Father’s Day is tomorrow, so here’s a last minute Father’s Day Gift Idea. Since it’s too late to do shopping online and have a gift shipped, it’s up to you to head to the mall. Of course, if you live in the same town as dad, then there’s another gift you can give him for Father’s Day 2008.
One of the most valuable things you will cherish in the future are good times with dad. So why not give him the gift of time this year. Pick an activity you both like doing and tell him you want to spend the day with him doing it. Even consider leaving mom and the other family members behind.
Spending a full day with dad, whether it’s fishing, golfing, hiking or just driving around chatting is something he will cherish on Father’s Day and you will cherish in the future when you look back on a fond memory.

Iran deal 'full of opportunities'

EU policy chief Javier Solana has said the new package of incentives offered by world powers to Iran to halt nuclear enrichment is "full of opportunities".
Mr Solana, who made the offer in Tehran, said the six powers were ready to help develop Iran's nuclear energy programme for peaceful purposes.
The deal also involves trade benefits but Iran has warned it will reject any demands to halt uranium enrichment.

"We are ready to co-operate with Iran in the development of a modern nuclear energy programme based on the most modern generation of light water reactors," he told a press conference after meeting Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, as well as the country's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

Cell Phone GPS: Wave of the Future

With GPS technology now more commonplace in many new cell phones, that means that the location of anyone carrying a compatible cell phone can be accurately tracked at any time.Cell phone GPS can pinpoint the location of a cell phone within about five meters, which is up to ten times the accuracy given to us by triangulation. Cell phone GPS system tracking has been a part of the technology that makes of cell phones since 2005.

With GPS technology now more commonplace in many new cell phones, that means that the location of anyone carrying a compatible cell phone can be accurately tracked at any time. The GPS, or Global Positioning System, tracks your geographical location by interpreting data from 3 or more satellites.
Cell phone GPS can pinpoint the location of a cell phone within about five meters, which is up to ten times the accuracy given to us by triangulation. Cell phone GPS system tracking has been a part of the technology that makes of cell phones since 2005.

No on Prop. 98, Yes on Prop. 99

Cali voters, get out and vote tomorrow, June 3rd! Trusted sources tell me to spread the word about voting NO ON PROPOSITION 98! It is disguised as a measure to protect home owners from a government take over of the property through eminent domain, but WHAT IT REALLY DOES IS END RENT CONTROL LAWS IN CA!! Seeing as how rent control laws are one of the last remaining tools used to stop the crazy gentrification sweeping across the Bay, it is very important that we stop this measure from passing. The better alternative is to vote YES on Prop. 99, which does protect against eminent domain without dismantling rent control.

Purdum defends article slamming Bill Clinton

(CNN) – The Vanity Fair journalist who infuriated the Clinton campaign over the weekend with an explosive article that questions former President Bill Clinton's business dealings and behavior since leaving the White House strongly defended his reporting Monday in an interview with CNN.Todd Purdum, the national editor of Vanity Fair, stood by his article's most controversial assertions in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, including charges that aides to the former president believe his 2004 heart surgery fundamentally altered the 61 year-old's state of mind.

In a response of nearly 2,500 words–a quarter the length of the actual story–former president Bill Clinton's office fails to address a single factual mistake in Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article. Purdum, who has covered President Clinton on and off for 16 years beginning with his 1992 presidential campaign when Purdum was with The New York Times, spoke with dozens of current and former senior Clinton aides during the course of his reporting. Purdum also contacted the Clinton office long before the article's completionand had several conversations with staff regarding the president's participation. Vanity Fair stands behind the article and Purdum's reporting.

Ways of earning good money

If you are interested in making some pocket money here is the solution. It easy and it will only take you aproximately 5 minutes per day. Now you should not expect to earn hundreds of dollars, but if you are lucky and you convince others to join the network maybe you will. If this sounds good for you click here http://bux.to/?r=ciupikus, sign up and keep the good working. Only 5 minutes of the time you spend on the internet.

GTA IV gets 1.01 patch, freezing not fixed [Updated]

Looks like Grand Theft Auto IV got a little band-aid patchwork today with a 1.01 update. It's a small little tweak at 18 MB, and it supposedly will fix up those freezing problems everyone's been getting antsy over. So far, we've been playing with the new patch for the past few minutes and everything seems to be going smoothly.

[Update: Looks like the freezing issue has not been fixed after all. Many gamers are stating the problem is persisting. Apparently, this update only fixes multiplayer connectivity issues.]

Nick Cannon Mariah Carey Wedding Photos People Magazine

After six weeks of dating, thirty-eight year old Mariah Carey married Nick Cannon, twenty-seven, at her home in the Bahamas last Wednesday. The couple has not only confirmed the news to People Magazine,but a snapshot from the lover’s secret ceremony, eclipsed by a headline screaming “Mariah’s Secret Wedding!,” will grace this week’s cover of the celebrity weekly-on newsstands on Friday.

“We really do feel we are soulmates,” Mariah told People. “I never felt a love like this was in the cards for me.”“She is beautiful on the outside and 10 times as beautiful on the inside,” Nick gushes.

Japan news: Worries about weak digital demand from Olympics

May 5, 2008 - The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this summer have long been touted as a potential windfall for consumer electronics, but a pair of reports out of Japan suggest the numbers won't add up as high as previously hoped.But wariness among firms, particularly Japanese, has now entered the picture because of worries about the US economic slowdown and "tepid" domestic consumption, the paper notes. Orders and shipments typically spike at the start of an Olympic year in anticipation of soaring sales of TVs and related products just before the Games, but such supply activity hasn't happened this year.The Dai-ichi Life Research Institute has lowered its expectations of consumption of Japanese products this summer by about 25%, to ¥345.4B (US $3.27B), down from a forecast of ¥459.3B ($4.36B) back in December, notes the Nikkei daily. Consumption is lower than in previous Olympic years (e.g., the 2004 Athens Olympics saw a spending rise of ¥440B/$4.18B), partly because of rising prices and economic pressures on consumers.

Deepest Lake In Minnesota

Portsmouth Mine Pit Lake, sometimes called the Portsmouth Pit, is the deepest lake in Minnesota at over 450?feet (137?m), according to the most recent Minnesota DNR data. The 120?acre (50?ha) artificial lake is a former iron mining pit in the Cuyuna Range that has since filled with water.Named after French explorer Daniel Graysolon Sieur du Luth Duluth is the largest freshwater port in the world. The St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959 allowing oceangoing ships to reach Duluth.

Cruise Ship Mona Lisa Runs Aground Off Latvian Coast

RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- A stranded cruise ship off Latvia with nearly 1,000 people on board
will be evacuated Monday, the country's coast guard said.The Mona Lisa's captain had agreed to evacuate the ship after unsuccessful efforts to free it from a sand bank off Latvia's coast
coast guard officer Ruslans Kulesovs said.
The coast guard will evacuate passengers and crew onto two naval ships which will then sail to Ventspils, a port city in northwestern Latvia, Kulesovs said.He could not say how long the evacuation would take nor could he specify how many crew would remain on board the Bahamas-registered vessel.
Mona Lisa was on its way from Kiel, Germany, to Riga with 984 people on board when it ran aground early Sunday on a sand bank about 17 kilometers (10 miles) from the Latvian coast, officials said.
The cause of the accident has not been determined.Coast guard officials said the ship was not damaged and the passengers, mostly Germans, were safe and not at risk.
Once in Ventspils, the passengers will be shuttled to Riga some 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the east. The Mona Lisa is a luxury cruise liner that went into service in 1966.

Bad News Bears

The Bad News Bears is a 1976 film directed by Michael Ritchie. The film was followed by two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training in 1977 and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan in 1978, and a short-lived 1979-80 CBS television series, none of which were able to duplicate the success of the original.¹

In “Bad News Bears,” grizzled former professional baseball player Morris Buttermaker (Thornton) is bribed by a straitlaced lawyer (Marcia Gay Harden) to coach the Bears, a woefully inept youth baseball team. Buttermaker’s got to find a way to drive this gang of 12 misfits to a championship against their hated rivals: the Yankees and their overbearing coach (Greg Kinnear).²

One of the movies that started all of the cliches of the down and out team of ragtag misfits and losers. The Bad News Bears manages to do it in a realistic, interesting and funny way.³

When a little league team named The Bad News Bears are in need of a coach, one of the boy’s fathers turns to Morris Buttermaker (Matthau), a has-been minor league baseball player who now supports his alcohol and smoking habits by cleaning and maintaining pools. Taking the dysfunctional team under his wing, Buttermaker at first sees the kids as a lost cause because, let’s face it, the kids suck at baseball.⁴

Hollywood’s tradition of remaking classic movies continues with this 21st-century updating of the 1976 romp, THE BAD NEWS BEARS. Acclaimed director Richard Linklater (THE SCHOOL OF ROCK, DAZED AND CONFUSED) pays respect to Michael Ritchie’s original film by updating it rather than reinventing it.⁵

Yahoo! Stock Likely To Get Ripped

Shareholders of Yahoo! (YHOO) stock are likely to lose a high percentage of their investment later today when the markets open. YHOO stock closed Friday at $28.67/share.The stock had risen $9.49 over the past month due to Microsoft’s (MSFT) bid to buy the company for $30+ a share. Reports indicate that MSFT offered $33/share Saturday to Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang. Yang turned down the offer and countered with $37 bucks a share. Microsoft wisely walked away from the table, ending negotiations in the process.So Yahoo! shareholders and experts alike agree that the stock is set to get hammered today. It could fall up to 33% according to some pundits. Some predict it will drop all the way back to $19.18/share.

montanademocrats.org - Montana Democratic Party

Montana Democrats to host Sens. Clinton and Obama at annual Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner.

Butte, Montana will be the center of the political world on Saturday, April 5th as Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will speak to nearly four thousand Democrats at the party's annual Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner.

The two Presidential Candidates will be in Montana campaigning prior to the state's Democratic Primary, June 3rd.Melville rancher and Montana Democratic Party Chairman, Dennis McDonald, said that Montana's been at the forefront of the Democratic resurgence in the West and having both Presidential candidates in Montana will be another testament to that.

Vernal (spring) equinox 20 March 2008

March 20, 2008, is a date that most of us recognize as symbolic of changing seasons. As we welcome spring, people south of the equator are actually gearing up for the cooler temperatures of autumn.

What Happens at the Equinox?

Far from being an arbitrary indicator of the changing seasons, March 20 (March 21 in some years) is significant for astronomical reasons. On March 20, 2008, at precisely 1:48 A.M. EDT (March 20, 05:48) the Sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator. This moment is known as the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. For the Southern Hemisphere, this is the moment of the autumnal equinox.

Rituals and Traditions

Modern astronomy aside, people have recognized the vernal equinox for thousands of years. There is no shortage of rituals and traditions surrounding the coming of spring. Many early peoples celebrated for the basic reason that their food supplies would soon be restored.

juliana maureen redding - 21-year-old model found dead

Santa Monica Police found the 21-year-old aspiring model dead inside of her home on the 5100 block of Centinela between Idaho and Ohio Avenue. They are treating the case as a homicide.

Juliana Maureen Redding was found at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday after police received a call from the young woman's mother who had been unable to reach her daughter for days.

Police are not releasing details of how Redding died. They will not say if a weapon was involved or if the suspect forced their way into Redding's apartment.

One neighbor said that Redding had been living in her Santa Monica apartment for just a few months.

Another neighbor told Eyewitness News that she had plans to go out with Redding on Sunday night, but was unable to reach her.

You can find the video here

Kristen Davis tape - preview photo here

There’s a brand new rumor today that Kristin Davis, star of Sex and the City, has been caught in a sex tape scandal. The very very very NSFW picture here is said to be a cap from the video, with more supposedly on the way. So is it really her? Probably not, but I sure as hell hope that it is. In fact if you could get a close up of my heart right now, all you would see is a rainbow and Snoopy dancing.
It started with a photo on some guy’s site who claims that if you join some porn star’s site you’ll be able to access more pics in the members section. Anyway, people have joined and reported that there’s no other pics. Seems like someone wants to make a little profit by fooling people.
I'm waiting your opinions. Is she there or not?

Tiger Woods hamptons - Tiger has a brand-new lair

March 18, 2008 -- Tiger has a brand-new lair - a $65 million estate in the Hamp tons where he can send his chip shots flying into the ocean. Located on exclusive Gin Lane, Tiger Woods' estate is on nearly six gated acres with a 13,200-square-foot. The lush grounds feature an oversized seaside pool with spa, a tennis court, a lily pond and professionally groomed gardens.

It's just the latest acquisition the greatest golfer in the world has scored. Woods' portfolio includes:

* A $40 million estate on Jupiter Island, Fla., which was partially destroyed last year in a fire.

* A 155-foot-long yacht, Privacy.

* A 16,500-square-foot palace with pool and theater that he is building at the golf course he has designed in Dubai.