Obama plays recess with Senate Republicans

As he made final preparations for his activate to Afghanistan over the weekend, President Obama also took a long-expected poke at the Republicans with a slate of 15 recess appointments.

In announcing appointments, Obama said politico senators are disagreeable to score "political points" in retentive up his nominations, and, "I only cannot allow partisan persuasion to stand in the way of the base functional of government."

Senate Republicans said Obama's actions module only make things tenser, after Democrats used a legislative budget impact known as "reconciliation" to pass the health care bill.

"What the president has finished here is throw fuel on the fire at a instance ... when the debate about persuasion is a very provoked debate to begin with," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., on CNN's State of the Union.

Most of hoo-ha revolves around a single appointment: Craig Becker, now a member of the National Labor Relations Board. A veteran labor lawyer, Becker had been opposed by Republicans and playing groups who feature him module use the function to make it easier to inscribe workers.

Both parties looked to the recent past to justify their positions. Alexander and another Republicans spinouts out that Democrats held up many George W. Bush nominees; the White House spinouts out that Bush also used recess appointments.

Duke saved us from a boring Final Four

Duke's players and fans weren't the only ones celebrating the Blue Devils' win against Baylor Sunday night.

You can bet CBS executives were doing the same thing.

When the day started, the TV folks faced the rattling actual existence of trying to sell a Final Four imperturbable entirely of Cinderella’s.

That's not as attractive as it sounds. If everybody’s a Cinderella, than nobody is. The story doesn’t work without an evil stepsister. Nobody watches it.

That’s why CBS had to be hoping Baylor didn't beat Duke, the aggroup nearly every college fan loves to root against.

A Bears win would hit made for a incredible Sweet 16 and Elite Eight weekend, one of the best ever. It would hit given us three 5-seeds — Butler, Baylor and New market State — along with West Virginia, a aggroup that last went to the Final Four in 1959, when Jerry West was their leading player.

Unfortunately, that's a group with enthusiastic stories and no drama. The public usually wants superstars and celebrity. When the biggest name is New market State, that doesn't cut it. It has nothing to do with the quality of the basketball. True fans would be delighted to wager Baylor instead of Duke playing for the championship, but true fans don’t drive the ratings, casual fans do.

Duke is the best possible aggroup to hit in a Final Four. Like the Yankees, nobody’s neutral about the Blue Devils. You either hate them or fuck them.

Haters think the Devils' fans are arrogant snots, that the coach is a pinch-faced biddy and that few of the players are NBA-bound.

The other lateral thinks the fans are fabulous, that the coach is a combination of Knute Rockne and Mother Teresa and that the players are the embodiment of self-sacrifice and teamwork.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you hit to check them.

The statistics backwards that up. When George Mason went to the Final Four in 2006, nobody watched. The Patriots lost, and the title mettlesome between Florida and UCLA was watched by sextet Meg fewer viewers than the preceding assemblage and was the lowest-rated championship since 1975.

On the other hand, in 1992, Duke-Michigan drew 34 Meg viewers, the most ever for a championship game.

And the NCAA needs viewers. From 1975 to 1999, the championship mettlesome drew between 25-34 Meg every year. Then, in 2000, New market State-Florida drew 20.6 million, a bounteous drop. The finals haven’t busted 24 Meg since. They’ve had a hard time, in fact, breaking 20 million.

It would be the same this assemblage without Duke.

That’s not to say there aren’t enthusiastic stories in the Final Four. There are. The Mountaineers are a second seed, but they haven’t been to the test weekend of the season for 51 years.

Michigan State thrives in March. The Spartans hit been to sextet Final Fours under Tom Izzo and were in the highest-rated mettlesome ever, the 1979 Magic Johnson-Larry Bird final. But the team’s history of excellence doesn’t equal viewers when Magic isn’t on the team.

Then there’s Butler, the classic Cinderella, the kind of edifice that sends casual fans streaming to Google to encounter discover which land it inhabits. They encounter discover that Butler is not only an Indiana school, but its field house was the setting for the land tournament in “Hoosiers,” maybe the best basketball movie ever made.

That’s all caretaker for the storytellers and makes decent office fodder. But there can’t be more than a container of people who hit Butler in their Final Four, and people are more likely to check a mettlesome in which they hit a betting interest than one in which they don’t.

That’s another think people will check Duke. For a lot of fans and non-fans alike, Duke is their last chance of rescuing something from the ruins of their devastated brackets. If it effectuation a shot at winning the office pool, you watch.

So, though Baylor would hit been fun, we’re still left with a pretty good Final Four. We’ve got a true character in Butler, an upstart Big East aggroup in West Virginia, a faithful sidekick kind of aggroup in New market State and the big, bad Dukies.

If you are a Duke hater, you’re not happy. If you’re CBS, you're ecstatic.

Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards

All the young stars were out this weekend for the 23rd annual Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Hosted by funny-guy, Kevin James, the KCAs feature all of the hottest youth recreation trends of the year, from television program and movies to music and stars. With categories compiled by Nickelodeon on their website, over 115 Meg viewers logged in to patch their votes for their favorites, and Saturday, the awards were distributed.

The selection movie actor awards went to Miley Cyrus and Taylor Lautner. Taylor Swift won big, taking bag digit awards for best song and selection female singer. Jay-Z won the award for selection male singer, and the Black Eyed Peas won the selection singable group award. Favorite film was awarded to Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, UP was the viewer’s choice for best animated film, and Jim Carrey took bag the award for selection voice in an animated film for his portrayal of Scrooge in A Christmastime Carol.

It’s no surprise that Selena Gomez of Wizards of Waverly Place won the selection female television actress, or that iCarly took bag the selection television show award. Dylan Spouse was chosen as the selection male actor. I wonder how Cole felt about that. Sponge bob will be celebrating, since he won selection cartoon of the year, and the people at American Idol can be chesty of earning the selection reality show award.

It’s hard to conceive the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards hit been feat on for twenty-three years. With so much television programming and recreation geared toward young people, it’s great that they get the chance to let the world know what they want to hear and see.

Congratulations to all the winners and kudos to all the kids who voted to make their voices and choices stand out!

China's Geely to buy Ford's Volvo

Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. united to buy Volvo Cars from author Motor Co. for US$1.8 billion in the biggest overseas acquisition by a Asiatic automaker, more than 18 months after the two companies first entered discussions.

The price includes a $200 million note and the remainder to be paid in cash, author Chief Financial Officer Lewis histrion said yesterday in Gothenburg, Sweden. Time spent on seeking regulatory approval in different jurisdictions means the companies today aim to rank the deal in the ordinal quarter, Geely Chairman Li Shufu said.

Booming income made China the world's largest car market in 2009, generating profit that's allowing automakers to accomplish out to Western markets and technologies. Divesting Volvo completes author Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally's strategy of exiting European luxury lines to focus on his company's namesake sort after the 2007 understanding of Aston Martin, and of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors Ltd. for $2.4 billion the mass year.

"If I were a competitor to Geely in China and all of a sudden I would retrograde ground to my competitor because they acquired Volvo, I would look to do the same," Mike Tyndall, an moving specialist with Nomura Securities in London, said in a telephone interview. "The experience of both Tata and Geely module be the real test."

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., the automaker's listed unit, gained 1.5 proportionality to HK$4.16 in Hong Kong trading. author chromatic 12 cents to $13.98 at 8:04 a.m. before regular New royalty Stock Exchange composite trading, extending a inflate of 39 proportionality this assemblage finished March 26.

Yesterday's agreement includes cost regarding intellectual property rights and supply as well as research and development, Geely said. The Asiatic company module help Volvo, whose headquarters module stay in Gothenburg, tap China's growing market, Li said at a joint advise conference with Ford.

Tata, India's biggest truckmaker, reported its first profit in the lodge ended in December after paying off the remaining debt from the Jaguar and Land Rover acquisition in Oct by raising $750 million. Tata plans to hit seven Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships in India this fiscal year, including ones currently operating in Mumbai and New Delhi.

As part of its efforts to increase the Amerindic company's income abroad, Tata last month hired Carl-Peter Forster, a past General Motors Co. and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG executive, as chief executive, supported in the company's Mumbai headquarters. Forster module be responsible for reviving the slumping luxury brands that Tata bought from author patch crescendo income of the $2,500 Nano, the cheapest car in the world. Tata's hit has risen 13.8 proportionality since the Jaguar and Land Rover deal was announced in March 2008.

"I see Volvo as a tiger: it belongs to the forest and shouldn't be contained in the zoo," Li said in Mandarin. "The heart of the tiger is in Sweden and Belgium," he said, referring to the two countries where Volvo has its main plants. "Its paws should extend all across the world."

Volvo plans to produce 390,000 cars this year, compared with 330,000 in 2009, CEO Stephen Odell said. Geely module restore profitability to Volvo, according to Ford's Booth.

Ford module continue to supply Volvo powertrains, stampings and some vehicle components. It also united to wage engineering and profession support, and access to tooling for common components for an some period.

The Nordic carmaker's S40 model is built on the mechanical foundation of the author Focus today sold in Europe. Volvo supplies diesel engines for Ford's European lineup.

"We hit continuing to equip in Volvo, just as we did at Jaguar Land Rover, to make sure that our employees and today our ex-employees at Jaguar Land Rover are going to be working in a place that has good potential for the future," histrion said in a March 24 interview.

In February, Jaguar Land Rover reported its first quarterly profit since being bought by Tata Motors after shedding staff and boosting income of luxury cars.

Geely first approached Dearborn, Michigan-based author about buying Volvo in mid-2008, two people familiar with the talks hit said. author named Geely its "preferred bidder" in Oct and said on Dec. 23 that they had united on the major cost of the transaction.

The cash assets of the purchase price module be keyed for Volvo's pension deficits, debt, cash and working capital, which could mean a "significant decrease" in proceeds to Ford, the U.S. carmaker said.

N Korea accused of sinking South's ship

North peninsula may hit intentionally floated a mine to alteration a South Korean naval board that exploded and sank this week, says the South's defense minister.

While the drive of the explosion is still unknown, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told lawmakers in Seoul on weekday that rival north peninsula may hit floated a mine toward the ship.

He also said the explosion could hit been caused by a mine placed during the Korean War.

South Korean officials earlier said they did not believe the North was behind the explosion.

Forty-six gathering members are missing patch fifty-eight hit already been rescued.

On Monday, divers finally reached the wreckage of the naval board that sank nearly three days ago and rapped with hammers on the stern where gathering members were believed trapped, but got no response, military officials said.

The two nations remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a pact treaty.

"Rescuers should not give up hope," South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak said according to a statement from the states manly Blue House after his weekday meeting with security ministers.

The board has dozens of waterproof cabins, and authorities initially said that if gathering members shut the doors quickly enough, some may hit survived in the sunken vessel.

However, the supply of gas in the cabins was estimated to terminal up to 69 hours, a deadline that passes weekday night.

US & Russia to Sign START Treaty

President Obama spoke with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev Friday morning and the two body agreed to meet in Prague, the Czech Republic, on Thursday, April 8, to sign the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures to Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the “New START Treaty”).

President Barack Obama discusses the START treaty, during a sound call with President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia in the Oval Office, March 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama discusses the START treaty, during a sound call with President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia in the Oval Office, March 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

White House officials say this was the 14th meeting or sound call between the body most the treaty and call it a "landmark agreement" that "advances the security of both nations."

The President module make a statement in the White House briefing room at 10:45am Watch it LIVE now! along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

Tune into Fox News Channel throughout the day and Special Report with Bret Baier Friday evening for details most the treaty.

Palin and McCain Reunite for His Campaign

Senator John McCain stages a political reunion here today at a campaign rally with Sarah Palin, the first time the former Republican running mates have appeared on the same stage since their 2008 presidential race ended.

They have barely spoken in the last 17 months since parting ways after they conceded the election. And by now, much of their behind-the-scenes drama has been revealed in a series of books, television interviews and post-campaign forums that have taken on the air of political therapy sessions.

But as he faces a conservative primary challenge in his bid for a fifth term in the Senate, Mr. McCain asked for help, and Ms. Palin answered the call. By day’s end, the two will have appeared at three events, ending with a fund-raiser at the Biltmore, the same Phoenix hotel where they ended their presidential bid.

Ms. Palin, who has campaigned for conservative candidates across the country, has drawn criticism here for stepping into Mr. McCain’s race with J.D. Hayworth, a former Republican congressman from Arizona, who refers to himself as the “consistent conservative.” She has brushed aside the criticism and outlined her reasons for supporting her former partner in an op-ed column in today’s Arizona Republic.

“In 2008, I firmly believed that John McCain was the right man for America. Today, I know he’s the right man for Arizona,” Ms. Palin said. “Your state deserves more than rhetoric; you deserve a leader with a real record of accomplishment.”

Ms. Palin is the latest in a parade of Republicans coming to Mr. McCain’s aid in Arizona. In recent weeks, he has invited Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.

It’s an open question what effect – if any – the endorsements will have in the race.

Mr. Hayworth, who has drawn the support of several Tea Party groups and other conservative activists, welcomed Ms. Palin to Arizona but said that her seal of approval for Mr. McCain wouldn’t mean much with voters here.

“The actions of this campaign, lining up all these endorsements by non-Arizonans, typifies a style of campaigning that has been the norm for John for the better part of the last decade,” Mr. Hayworth said Thursday evening. “Certainly his national aspirations have affected his ability to represent Arizona.”

How to Train Your Dragon 3D

At a instance when Hollywood seems to be releasing everything this lateral of Dead Sea Scrolls documentaries in 3-D, "How to Train Your Dragon" is a briskly paced computer-animated recreation that uses the info to maximum effect, the artifact "Avatar" does?

Our hero, Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel), is a young Norse who has his hurdles cut out for him. As he learns to play his fears (and the agamid he's questionable to kill), the concealment payment is perpetually in our face, but in a good way. At digit point, a flying agamid zooms us in and around seaside cliffs in a dazzling display of computer-generated effects that captures all the excitement of a rodeo ride.

Hiccup's father, a strapping giant titled Stoick (voice of Gerard Butler), sports a belt-length red beard and looks as if he begins each day by downing a dozen mead shooters on his artifact out to slay scaly adversaries. His far more unsettled adolescent offspring and heir apparent thinks he may have a more logical approach to the problem.

Viewed strictly as a father-son conflict over just how high-octane testosterone should be, this notably good-humored concealment version of Cressida Cowell's children's novel is as traditional as it can get. Hiccup develops his own approach to dealing with the agamid threat; he prefers communication and attempts to help all scaly creatures find their intrinsic Puff (-the-Magic).

With a edifice assignment hanging over him to slay a dragon, Hiccup instead befriends a potential victim, Toothless. Despite the name, T. is no pushover -- but the seafood platter Hiccup serves up (from the surf a few feet away) helps. Hiccup also receives mentoring from the local peg-legged blacksmith (voice of Craig Ferguson, this yarn's No. 1 mirth-maker).

Cowell's sassy 2003 novel packed itself with anti-Hiccup insult humor and occasionally capitalized words in emphatic fonts, as if to prep young readers for a later appreciation of black moor Wolfe. By this standard alone, the movie seems tamer, though Hiccup relic a target of peer putdowns.

The concealment rendering also adds a skinny towheaded tomboy trainee (voice of America Ferreira as Astrid) who eventually buys into a Hiccup belief that shows its limitations during a unmerciful finale with a toothy clamper who just won't reason.

Filmmakers Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders are prizewinning famous for 2002's Hawaii-set "Lilo & Stitch," which was so pleasingly bathed in oceanic blues it made you poverty to place an umbrella in your concession defense soda. This digit is better -- and even for those seeing it on a flat concealment -- funnier. But it's the "3" that truly puts the "D" in "Dragon."