Rights Manifesto Slowly Gains Ground Despite Government Efforts to Quash It
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 29, 2009; A01
SHANGHAI -- When Tang Xiaozhao first saw a copy of the pro-democracy petition in her e-mail inbox, she silently acknowledged she agreed with everything in it but didn't want to get involved.
Tang, a pigtailed, 30-something cosmetology major, had never considered herself the activist type. Like many other Chinese citizens, she kept a blog where she wrote about current events and her life, but she wasn't political.
A few days later, however, Tang surprised herself. She logged on to her computer and signed the document by sending her full name, location and occupation to a special e-mail address.
"I was afraid, but I had already signed it hundreds of times in my heart," Tang said in an interview.
Hers is the 3,943rd signature on the list that has swelled to more than 8,100 from across China. Although their numbers are still small, those signing the document, and the broad spectrum from which they come, have made the human rights manifesto, known as Charter 08, a significant marker in the demands for democracy in China, one of the few sustained campaigns since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Those who sign the charter risk arrest and punishment.
When the document first appeared online in mid-December, its impact was limited. Many of the original signers were lawyers, writers and other intellectuals who had long been known for their pro-democracy stance. The Chinese government moved quickly to censor the charter -- putting those suspected of having written it under surveillance, interrogating those who had signed, and deleting any mention of it from the Internet behind its great firewall.
Then something unusual happened. Ordinary people such as Tang with no history of challenging the government began to circulate the document and declare themselves supporters. The list now includes scholars, journalists, computer technicians, businessmen, teachers and students whose names had not been associated with such movements before, as well as some on the lower rungs of China's social hierarchy -- factory and construction workers and farmers.
"This is the first time that anyone other than the Communist Party has put in written form in a public document a political vision for China," said Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, a human rights activist and director of the China Internet Project, which monitors conversation on China's vast network of electronic bulletin-board systems, blogs and Web sites. "It's dangerous to be associated with dissidents, so in the past, other, ordinary people have not signed such documents. But this time it is different. It has become a citizens' movement."
The party in China maintains a monopoly on power, but its authority is now being challenged in the charter and on a number of other philosophical fronts.
On Jan. 13, a group of more than 20 Chinese intellectuals signed an open letter calling for a boycott of state television news programs because of what they said is systematic bias and brainwashing, and separately, a Beijing newspaper ran a commentary that argued that freedom of speech is written into the constitution and that the authorities cannot solely decide whether something is "absurd versus not, or progressive versus reactionary."
On Jan. 7, a prominent Chinese lawyer, Yan Yiming, went to the Finance Ministry and filed an application demanding that it open to the public its 2008 and 2009 budget books, including information about its $586 billion economic stimulus plan. "Our government must exercise its power in the open sunlight," Yan wrote.
And early this month, the editors of the newspaper Southern Weekend echoed text from Charter 08 but did not directly refer to it when the paper expressed worry about the future of the state and said it supports "progress, democracy, freedom, human rights."
"The present situation of maintaining national security and social stability is grave," Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu warned China's leaders this month, according to state media.
Charter 08 lays out a comprehensive overhaul of the current political system by ending one-party rule and introducing freedom of speech, an independent court system and direct elections. It is modeled after Charter 77, which was put together by scholars and demanded rights for Czechoslovakia in 1977, preceding the collapse of communism by 12 years.
"The Chinese government's approach to 'modernization' has proven disastrous," the document states. "It has stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity and corrupted normal human intercourse. So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century?"
At the heart of the document is a call for rewriting the country's constitution to emphasize freedom.
"Freedom is at the core of universal human values. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom in where to live and the freedoms to strike, to demonstrate and to protest, among others, are the forms that freedom takes. Without freedom, China will always remain far from civilized ideals," the document states.
The evolution of Charter 08 is being closely monitored outside China to see how far the government will go to squelch it.
China's No. 4 official, Jia Qinglin, warned in the party's theoretical journal Qiu Shi in mid-January that the country should "build a defensive line against interference by incorrect Western thinking." Jia dismissed the ideas of a multiparty system and separation of powers as erroneous.
At Beijing University's law school, students who are party members have been warned not to get involved with Charter 08, as have researchers at the country's top government-funded research group, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
At least one man -- Liu Xiaobo, 53, a literary critic and dissident who spent 20 months in jail for joining student protesters in Tiananmen Square -- has been detained on suspicion of being one of Charter 08's organizers. His detention prompted an international outcry. Writers including Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood have called for Liu's release.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was "deeply concerned by reports that Chinese citizens have been detained, interrogated and harassed" since the document was posted. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao has responded that Washington should stop interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries.
Other prominent people who have signed the document include Ai Weiwei, son of Ai Qing, a famous pro-government poet well-known for his art and architecture. He Guanghu, a professor of religion at People's University who specializes in Christianity, also signed, as did Bao Tong, formerly a high-ranking party member.
Mao Yushi, 80, an economist who is credited with helping to keep the government on a path of market-oriented reforms, has publicly said that while he has not signed the document, he gave advice to its drafters and supports it.
"China is at a critical moment of transition. We must recognize the general values of the world and follow the trend of democracy," said Teng Biao, a Beijing-based lawyer. Teng was summoned by police after signing and was warned not to take further action related to Charter 08.
One significant aspect of Charter 08 is its less famous signatories, such as Tang.
By most measures, Tang is a model citizen. The spunky, 4-foot-10 Sichuan native who lives in Shanghai loves her country, pays her taxes, volunteers at a school for migrant workers' children and is a major fan of one form of traditional Chinese opera. She grew up the eldest of three girls in a rural area where she says the schooling was weak but she taught herself by reading everything she could get her hands on, from Japanese novels to political treatises about the Middle East.
She posted a blog entry in December titled "I signed my name after a good cry," which Chinese censors have repeatedly knocked offline. Nevertheless, it has been widely circulated via e-mail and on Web sites outside China.
"We all grew up by feeding on 'political melamine.' Fear has been consolidated into stones in our bodies," Tang wrote, according to a translation by China Digital Times, the news site edited by Xiao, the Berkeley journalism professor and human rights activist.
Tang was referring to the chemical that was illegally added to some infant formula and pet food manufactured in China, creating the appearance of higher nutritional content but sickening or even killing some who consumed it.
Tang said in an interview that her fear turned to anger after she noticed that her blog entries and other references to Charter 08 kept being deleted by censors. One night, she said, she was hit by a great sadness that she did not have freedom of expression. So she took action.
"If me, a little frightened person, signed it, then maybe others will feel inspired," she said.
Before her blog was shut down entirely Jan. 13, the comments section was filled by online friends who said they had signed Charter 08. Tang counted 17 so far.
"I also signed," one person wrote. "I cried when I knew Xiaozhao had cried. I wasn't moved to tears by her tears, but I cried out of frustration and helplessness." Another saw hope in the censorship: "They wouldn't have been deleting posts in such a crazy manner," he wrote, referring to Chinese authorities, " if they were not scared." A third person said he "prepared my clothes right after signing my name. I am ready. I don't want to go to jail, but I am not afraid of going to jail."
Tang said she, too, is ready to accept the consequences of signing: "I know exactly what may happen to me since I signed my name, but I am not afraid anymore. It is my right to express my choice to an idea by signature and I won't give up my rights."
Researchers Liu Songjie and Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed to this report.
2009年1月31日星期六
Favorite-city list
Top cities
(number is percentage of people who said they would like to live in the city)
Denver: 43
San Diego: 40
Seattle: 38
Orlando, Tampa, San Francisco: 34
Phoenix: 33
Portland: 31
Sacramento, San Antonio: 29
Bottom cities
Detroit: 8
Cleveland: 10
Cincinnati: 13
Kansas City: 15
Minneapolis: 16
Source: Pew Research Center
(number is percentage of people who said they would like to live in the city)
Denver: 43
San Diego: 40
Seattle: 38
Orlando, Tampa, San Francisco: 34
Phoenix: 33
Portland: 31
Sacramento, San Antonio: 29
Bottom cities
Detroit: 8
Cleveland: 10
Cincinnati: 13
Kansas City: 15
Minneapolis: 16
Source: Pew Research Center
Finding cheap airfares in 2009
Five strategies for finding cheap airfares in 2009
By Molly Feltner, SmarterTravel.com
Last year was rough for the airline industry. In response to the recession and jet fuel prices that nearly doubled between January and July, passengers saw dozens of airfare hikes, new fees for every imaginable service, not to mention major capacity cuts, three domestic airlines shutting down, and the merger of two giants, Delta and Northwest. For travelers, it was a year in which many pondered taking a staycation rather than face the cost and hassle of flying.
Is even more caution required in 2009? Here at SmarterTravel.com, we don't think so, and neither do you: A recent Smarter Travel poll shows most readers—78 percent in fact—plan to fly as much or more than in 2008. More than half of readers say they plan to book travel but are still holding out for the right deal. After reflecting on what happened last year and consulting with some of my fellow industry observers, I can tell you that while finding good air deals will be a challenge this year, there are some real opportunities for savings if you employ the following tactics.
1. Look for winter and spring sales
After experiencing a drop in demand for holiday travel, the airlines have been offering a bonanza of sales in January to win back customers. Thus far, most of the major low-cost and legacy airlines have advertised numerous good deals for travel as far out as June, even on international flights, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next few months. Keep an eye on the SmarterTravel airfare section for the latest sales.
"It will be particularly good through winter and spring, with lower airfare prices than in 2008," says Mike Fridgen, the Vice President of Marketing and Product for Farecast. "Travelers will benefit not only from lower prices, but from less congestion at the airport, on the plane, and in their hotel."
You may be tempted to wait longer and see if prices drop further, but if you see a price you can live with now, you should book, because the deals may not last long. "If the price of jet fuel increases dramatically or there are further capacity cuts beyond what's already been planned, prices will have to reflect those conditions," says Travelocity Senior Editor Genevieve Brown.
2. Factor in the fees
Before you book that super-cheap advertised fare, factor in what extra fees you may have to pay to determine the actual cost of your air journey. This past year, many airlines added charges for first and second checked bags, greatly increased overweight baggage fees, and started charging for everything from water to blankets. You could find a $200 ticket on Airline A is actually more expensive than a $220 ticket on Airline B when you realize Airline A will charge you $40 for two checked bags while Airline B charges nothing.
USA TODAY compiled a detailed chart showing which airline fees the major domestic airlines charge to quickly assess what extras you may have pay on top of the base fare.
3. Sign Up for deal newsletters and price alerts
You can find great deals the same way we at Smarter Travel do: by signing up to receive airfare sale e-mails from the airlines and other providers. "These days, good deals are gobbled up quickly. By signing up for newsletters and alerts, consumers can make sure that they are the first to know about the latest and greatest travel deals," says Clem Bason, vice president of merchandizing for Hotwire.
Not only will you find out about general sales, you may also gain access to exclusive subscriber-only sales. "Sign up for every airline's newsletters and frequent flier programs, and reap the rewards of promo code fares," says George Hobica, founder of Smarter Travel's sister-site Airfarewatchdog.com. "These are the real bargains now as airlines attempt to drive traffic to their websites."
Besides sale and promo code e-mails, you can also register for customized e-mails from sites that monitor prices on specific routes and alert you to pricing trends. These sites may help you decide the best time to buy fares. In my opinion, Farecast's alert service is the most reliable such tool out there, although it doesn't work for some smaller airports.
4. Target destinations with lower demand
Several U.S. destinations that rely heavily on tourists as opposed to business travelers have taken big hits recently, and some travel providers have responded to the drop in demand by lowering prices. "Travelers should absolutely look for destinations that may be hurting for visitors," says Orbitz Travel Insider Jeanenne Diefendorf. "Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Orlando are three hot destinations that have had incredible deals over the last several months, and travelers should put these spots at the top of their list when researching affordable vacations. You will find significant deals in these destinations, not only on airfare and hotel, but also car rentals, restaurants, and even entertainment and dining. "
While you can, in general, find good deals to hurting tourist destinations like Vegas, Orlando, and Hawaii, be sure to do your homework to make sure you're actually getting the best price possible. Compare prices from different providers and different airports, be flexible with your travel dates, and don't forget to factor in possible savings from hotel, car rental, and package deals.
5. Think beyond airfare
It's great to find cheap airfares, but in order to achieve maximum savings you need to look at your vacation as a whole and see where else you can find discounts. "Flight fixation can cause travelers to miss out on the bargains they can get on the other aspects of their trip," says Brown. "Hotel deals are so plentiful right now, that's where you'll find the best values."
While airlines can cut flights to address dropping demand, hotels can't cut rooms, and so in many cases they are forced to offer much bigger price cuts. With hotel occupancy rates down around the world, big discounts are showing up from all kinds of properties, from chain hotels to luxury resorts.
You should also look into packages combining the airfare and hotel components for potential savings. "Booking air and hotel together is probably the best-kept secret in the travel industry, and one of the easiest ways to save money," says Expedia Spokeswoman Amanda Hoffman. "On average, travelers save more than $200 when booking air and hotel together." All of the big online travel sellers including Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, and Travelocity sell airfare and hotel packages as do the airlines, but don't forget to check prices from sites that specialize in vacation packages, such as Go-today.com and Pleasant Holidays. Visit the SmarterTravel vacation section for a comparison of the lowest-priced packages to a variety of popular cities.
Read previous columns
SmarterTravel.com features expert travel advice and unbiased coverage of travel deals.
By Molly Feltner, SmarterTravel.com
Last year was rough for the airline industry. In response to the recession and jet fuel prices that nearly doubled between January and July, passengers saw dozens of airfare hikes, new fees for every imaginable service, not to mention major capacity cuts, three domestic airlines shutting down, and the merger of two giants, Delta and Northwest. For travelers, it was a year in which many pondered taking a staycation rather than face the cost and hassle of flying.
Is even more caution required in 2009? Here at SmarterTravel.com, we don't think so, and neither do you: A recent Smarter Travel poll shows most readers—78 percent in fact—plan to fly as much or more than in 2008. More than half of readers say they plan to book travel but are still holding out for the right deal. After reflecting on what happened last year and consulting with some of my fellow industry observers, I can tell you that while finding good air deals will be a challenge this year, there are some real opportunities for savings if you employ the following tactics.
1. Look for winter and spring sales
After experiencing a drop in demand for holiday travel, the airlines have been offering a bonanza of sales in January to win back customers. Thus far, most of the major low-cost and legacy airlines have advertised numerous good deals for travel as far out as June, even on international flights, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next few months. Keep an eye on the SmarterTravel airfare section for the latest sales.
"It will be particularly good through winter and spring, with lower airfare prices than in 2008," says Mike Fridgen, the Vice President of Marketing and Product for Farecast. "Travelers will benefit not only from lower prices, but from less congestion at the airport, on the plane, and in their hotel."
You may be tempted to wait longer and see if prices drop further, but if you see a price you can live with now, you should book, because the deals may not last long. "If the price of jet fuel increases dramatically or there are further capacity cuts beyond what's already been planned, prices will have to reflect those conditions," says Travelocity Senior Editor Genevieve Brown.
2. Factor in the fees
Before you book that super-cheap advertised fare, factor in what extra fees you may have to pay to determine the actual cost of your air journey. This past year, many airlines added charges for first and second checked bags, greatly increased overweight baggage fees, and started charging for everything from water to blankets. You could find a $200 ticket on Airline A is actually more expensive than a $220 ticket on Airline B when you realize Airline A will charge you $40 for two checked bags while Airline B charges nothing.
USA TODAY compiled a detailed chart showing which airline fees the major domestic airlines charge to quickly assess what extras you may have pay on top of the base fare.
3. Sign Up for deal newsletters and price alerts
You can find great deals the same way we at Smarter Travel do: by signing up to receive airfare sale e-mails from the airlines and other providers. "These days, good deals are gobbled up quickly. By signing up for newsletters and alerts, consumers can make sure that they are the first to know about the latest and greatest travel deals," says Clem Bason, vice president of merchandizing for Hotwire.
Not only will you find out about general sales, you may also gain access to exclusive subscriber-only sales. "Sign up for every airline's newsletters and frequent flier programs, and reap the rewards of promo code fares," says George Hobica, founder of Smarter Travel's sister-site Airfarewatchdog.com. "These are the real bargains now as airlines attempt to drive traffic to their websites."
Besides sale and promo code e-mails, you can also register for customized e-mails from sites that monitor prices on specific routes and alert you to pricing trends. These sites may help you decide the best time to buy fares. In my opinion, Farecast's alert service is the most reliable such tool out there, although it doesn't work for some smaller airports.
4. Target destinations with lower demand
Several U.S. destinations that rely heavily on tourists as opposed to business travelers have taken big hits recently, and some travel providers have responded to the drop in demand by lowering prices. "Travelers should absolutely look for destinations that may be hurting for visitors," says Orbitz Travel Insider Jeanenne Diefendorf. "Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Orlando are three hot destinations that have had incredible deals over the last several months, and travelers should put these spots at the top of their list when researching affordable vacations. You will find significant deals in these destinations, not only on airfare and hotel, but also car rentals, restaurants, and even entertainment and dining. "
While you can, in general, find good deals to hurting tourist destinations like Vegas, Orlando, and Hawaii, be sure to do your homework to make sure you're actually getting the best price possible. Compare prices from different providers and different airports, be flexible with your travel dates, and don't forget to factor in possible savings from hotel, car rental, and package deals.
5. Think beyond airfare
It's great to find cheap airfares, but in order to achieve maximum savings you need to look at your vacation as a whole and see where else you can find discounts. "Flight fixation can cause travelers to miss out on the bargains they can get on the other aspects of their trip," says Brown. "Hotel deals are so plentiful right now, that's where you'll find the best values."
While airlines can cut flights to address dropping demand, hotels can't cut rooms, and so in many cases they are forced to offer much bigger price cuts. With hotel occupancy rates down around the world, big discounts are showing up from all kinds of properties, from chain hotels to luxury resorts.
You should also look into packages combining the airfare and hotel components for potential savings. "Booking air and hotel together is probably the best-kept secret in the travel industry, and one of the easiest ways to save money," says Expedia Spokeswoman Amanda Hoffman. "On average, travelers save more than $200 when booking air and hotel together." All of the big online travel sellers including Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, and Travelocity sell airfare and hotel packages as do the airlines, but don't forget to check prices from sites that specialize in vacation packages, such as Go-today.com and Pleasant Holidays. Visit the SmarterTravel vacation section for a comparison of the lowest-priced packages to a variety of popular cities.
Read previous columns
SmarterTravel.com features expert travel advice and unbiased coverage of travel deals.
Future uncertain for Ford
Friday, January 30, 2009
Daniel Howes: Commentary
In what alternative reality could Ford Motor Co. deliver the largest annual loss in its 105-year history -- $14.6 billion -- burn $19.5 billion in cash in all of 2008, draw down its revolving credit line and get qualified applause from Wall Street?
In a world where perspective is in the eye of the beholder because business conditions are so awful. Ford's cross-town rivals exist on a federal lifeline: Chrysler LLC is looking for a deal, even multiple deals, to survive into the next quarter, and General Motors Corp. is bracing to deliver even more horrific numbers on last year's fourth quarter from hell.
We're numb. All of us -- investors and analysts, employees and retirees, the news media and ratings agencies. Progress is losing billions but staying the course, limiting the damage and reiterating the (qualified) statement that Ford expects to avoid government loans to fund its business.
Ford's $10.1 billion credit draw "does not reflect an imminent danger" of its "cash balances falling to dangerously low levels," Standard & Poor's said, reaffirming its rating on the automaker. "We could lower the ratings ... if we thought Ford total liquidity would drop below $10 billion by the end of 2009."
And JPMorgan said Ford's fourth-quarter earnings and cash burn were "better than expected," considering the relative economic collapse of the final three months of last year. Ford shares closed Thursday down 3.94 percent to $1.95, even as the bellwether Dow Jones dipped 2.7 percent.
Shares in GM plunged 7.02 percent to close at $3.18, yet one more small piece of evidence that investors continue to regard GM as considerably more troubled than Ford with its we-don't-need-no-bailout posture. For now, at least, it's a smart play for a company long plagued with an annoying tendency to make grand pronouncements only to fail on the follow-through.
The Blue Oval is projecting the image of an island of serenity amid plunging consumer confidence, abysmal car and truck sales and tight credit markets. For the first time since the early 1990s, the automaker recorded three consecutive months of retail market share gains in the United States in the fourth quarter.
That's progress. CEO Alan Mulally says Ford's product "pipeline is full," that its new 2010 Fusion sedan sets a best-in-class fuel economy standard that all Fords will match, that its Volvo unit is getting primed to be peddled to the highest (only?) bidder, that talks with union leaders and bondholders are continuing.
Encouraging, but not sufficient. The simple fact of Ford's predicament is that it, too, is eating cash at an alarming rate. Sales volumes in Europe, one of its bright spots, are collapsing. And Ford's concession talks with stakeholders, namely bondholders and the United Auto Workers, could run afoul of government guarantees secured by GM and Chrysler.
Meaning this: Just because Mulally says Ford "will not be disadvantaged" as GM and Chrysler push to avoid bankruptcy doesn't mean it won't be. GM, Ford and Chrysler aren't the only institutions playing the high-stakes game of restructuring the auto industry on the fly.
Asked what kind of economic developments -- beyond, say, the bankruptcy of GM -- could force Ford to plump for federal loans, too, Mulally wouldn't say. Not because he couldn't speculate, but because the speed of change the past few months has demonstrated a discomfiting inability among business leaders to predict economic developments with any degree of confidence.
Everybody's flying blind, hoping that the $819 billion federal stimulus package will begin to pay dividends later this year, that job cuts will slow, that consumer confidence will stabilize. Maybe. Or maybe not.
Daniel Howes: Commentary
In what alternative reality could Ford Motor Co. deliver the largest annual loss in its 105-year history -- $14.6 billion -- burn $19.5 billion in cash in all of 2008, draw down its revolving credit line and get qualified applause from Wall Street?
In a world where perspective is in the eye of the beholder because business conditions are so awful. Ford's cross-town rivals exist on a federal lifeline: Chrysler LLC is looking for a deal, even multiple deals, to survive into the next quarter, and General Motors Corp. is bracing to deliver even more horrific numbers on last year's fourth quarter from hell.
We're numb. All of us -- investors and analysts, employees and retirees, the news media and ratings agencies. Progress is losing billions but staying the course, limiting the damage and reiterating the (qualified) statement that Ford expects to avoid government loans to fund its business.
Ford's $10.1 billion credit draw "does not reflect an imminent danger" of its "cash balances falling to dangerously low levels," Standard & Poor's said, reaffirming its rating on the automaker. "We could lower the ratings ... if we thought Ford total liquidity would drop below $10 billion by the end of 2009."
And JPMorgan said Ford's fourth-quarter earnings and cash burn were "better than expected," considering the relative economic collapse of the final three months of last year. Ford shares closed Thursday down 3.94 percent to $1.95, even as the bellwether Dow Jones dipped 2.7 percent.
Shares in GM plunged 7.02 percent to close at $3.18, yet one more small piece of evidence that investors continue to regard GM as considerably more troubled than Ford with its we-don't-need-no-bailout posture. For now, at least, it's a smart play for a company long plagued with an annoying tendency to make grand pronouncements only to fail on the follow-through.
The Blue Oval is projecting the image of an island of serenity amid plunging consumer confidence, abysmal car and truck sales and tight credit markets. For the first time since the early 1990s, the automaker recorded three consecutive months of retail market share gains in the United States in the fourth quarter.
That's progress. CEO Alan Mulally says Ford's product "pipeline is full," that its new 2010 Fusion sedan sets a best-in-class fuel economy standard that all Fords will match, that its Volvo unit is getting primed to be peddled to the highest (only?) bidder, that talks with union leaders and bondholders are continuing.
Encouraging, but not sufficient. The simple fact of Ford's predicament is that it, too, is eating cash at an alarming rate. Sales volumes in Europe, one of its bright spots, are collapsing. And Ford's concession talks with stakeholders, namely bondholders and the United Auto Workers, could run afoul of government guarantees secured by GM and Chrysler.
Meaning this: Just because Mulally says Ford "will not be disadvantaged" as GM and Chrysler push to avoid bankruptcy doesn't mean it won't be. GM, Ford and Chrysler aren't the only institutions playing the high-stakes game of restructuring the auto industry on the fly.
Asked what kind of economic developments -- beyond, say, the bankruptcy of GM -- could force Ford to plump for federal loans, too, Mulally wouldn't say. Not because he couldn't speculate, but because the speed of change the past few months has demonstrated a discomfiting inability among business leaders to predict economic developments with any degree of confidence.
Everybody's flying blind, hoping that the $819 billion federal stimulus package will begin to pay dividends later this year, that job cuts will slow, that consumer confidence will stabilize. Maybe. Or maybe not.
China's Solution for Unemployed College Grads
State Jobs in the Boonies
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 30, 2009; A08
BEIJING -- Liu Yongquan thought he was well prepared for China's job market, with his degree in electromechanical engineering. But a long internship had provided no help in the way of connections, nor any real job experience. So after graduating in 2007, he headed for rural Laozhuanghu village in Xiji town, on the outskirts of Beijing, where he works as a librarian, passing out legal and health-care notices and conducting surveys.
"I'm not from the city, so this job can solve my residential permit problem. Second, the rural experience helps me in my civil service exam," said Liu, who is from Shandong province and now hoping for the stability of a state job. "I'm forgetting all my engineering knowledge, but this work doesn't need professional skill. It is enough if you are patient and careful."
Chinese officials, spurred by the global financial crisis that has slowed economic growth and nervous about the prospects of more than 1.5 million unemployed college graduates, have stepped up spending and bolstered programs to help graduates get jobs, including a two-year-old plan to send people like Liu to work as rural village officials. Unemployment among recent college graduates stands at 12 percent, according to government statistics, nearly triple the overall unemployment rate of 4.2 percent at the end of December, itself the highest in five years.
Finding work for new graduates should be one of the country's top priorities, China's State Council, or cabinet, announced this month. Party leaders are mindful that June will mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, when hundreds of college students demanding democracy were killed by government troops.
In Shanghai this month, Mayor Han Zheng announced a job stimulus package to help 213,000 new graduates, offering to pay for vocational training and to assist in setting up internships if jobs can't be found.
A jobs program launched in 2006 by top party officials to send graduates to the countryside is also getting a boost. So far, 78,000 graduates have signed three-year contracts to participate in the program, but more are scheduled to be enlisted this year, officials said. The Education Ministry has announced a new recruitment campaign, saying it has expanded the scheme to offer help in paying off the student loans of graduates who participate.
The Beijing municipal government announced this month that an additional 3,000 local college graduates will work as village officials this year, while Guangdong province has announced that all graduates who want government jobs will have to first work or train in rural villages.
In addition to getting graduates off the unemployment rolls, the goal of the programs is to build up local party organizations and gain more party control. In villages, Internet-savvy youth can help raise the quality of administration. Even better, the thinking goes, the graduates may be able to help stem the growing unrest among dissatisfied farmers, who are often on the losing end of illegal land grabs by corrupt officials and developers.
"We need more grass-roots officials who have close connections with ordinary people, who can lead farmers to get rich and make the countryside more stable, urgently," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said in late December, kicking off a slew of official announcements promoting the benefits of college-educated village officials.
For the graduates, it's hardly an ideological exercise. Unlike scores of patriotic students who volunteered to serve in the countryside during the 1950s and '60s, alongside more than 17 million intellectuals and elites forcibly sent down for reeducation during the Cultural Revolution, today's graduates are largely motivated by self-interest. Many have signed up to join the party to boost their chances of employment, but only a small number are approved. Those with no other alternative look to these jobs as a way to earn extra points on a civil service exam, collect other subsidies or qualify for a coveted residency permit to the closest nearby city.
Despite those benefits, until recently it has been difficult to direct thousands of young people -- whose expectations have been shaped by decades of steady economic growth -- in a China that is no longer a planned economy with assigned jobs. But with diminished opportunities available in the general economy, demand among graduates to participate in the rural programs jumped sharply this month. State media reported that in the municipality of Chongqing, the ratio of applicants to hires for the village jobs jumped to 16-to-1 this month, up from 6-to-1 for all of 2008.
"What's going on here is students being sent to the countryside either don't have jobs and want to use this to join the civil service, or they have no other option," said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst. "Lower-level party officials don't know what to do with them, so they say, 'See? We're doing local party construction.' This is really a shell game."
Those hired into village programs spend their time filling out forms, typing documents, completing agricultural surveys, distributing health-care advice and condoms, and, often, worrying about their next job, they said.
Many of the students are bored and uninterested in remaining in their villages, graduates and some local officials said. Not only are they not trained for rural work but they are not trusted by village leaders.
"It was difficult to find a job when I graduated. I didn't study very well, so I only got a few interviews," said Ye Ming, a computer science major from Beijing Union University who decided he wanted to be a civil servant. He began working in a village in Dasungezhuang town on the outskirts of Beijing about two years ago.
"At first, I thought I would have the power to suggest or advise the director of the village. But in reality, you cannot do what you want," Ye said. "The party secretary is the one who decides things. We are like servants without any power."
The hours, however, are good.
"It's very relaxing," said Song Xiaoting, a finance major from China Agricultural University who has been working in a rural village in the Pinggu district in the northern suburbs of Beijing. "I keep party construction [education material for party members] and study materials, complete all kinds of work summaries and write speeches and notices. In my spare time, I surf the Internet."
Because college graduates lack real work experience, villagers often don't trust their judgment, Song said. Village committee chiefs, meanwhile, are proud and believe the condition of the village needs no further improvement.
"I thought the village would consult me on economic development," Song said. "But there is no space for me to use my talents. Village officials just tell me what their decisions are and tell me to enforce them. The village committee and the party committee decide the most important work, such as development and how to structure industry. They rarely ask my opinion."
Yang Jie, who graduated from Beijing International Studies University with an English degree, tried to set up a Web site for her village, but local officials thought the Internet was a waste of electricity. "I am not as passionate and confident as I was three years ago," said Yang, who is struggling to find another job by June, when her contract ends.
Officials hope each rural village or community administration will have at least one college graduate by 2011.
In poorer areas, officials seem more welcoming of the graduates. In Shanxi province's Jishan county, village director Zhao Jianguang promises that graduates will be given some decision-making authority.
"Graduates can help change our way of thinking because they're more resourceful about searching for information," said Zhao, director of Xuecun village. "Farmers only learn about policies from local officials, but students can search the Internet and use it to help publicize our village's products. Right now, we don't even have an Internet connection."
The government should offer graduates real positions on village or party committees, Zhao added. "Right now, it is the college graduates who execute the ideas of village directors. The situation should be reversed. The graduates are young, well educated and energetic. At the village level, party members are too old."
Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 30, 2009; A08
BEIJING -- Liu Yongquan thought he was well prepared for China's job market, with his degree in electromechanical engineering. But a long internship had provided no help in the way of connections, nor any real job experience. So after graduating in 2007, he headed for rural Laozhuanghu village in Xiji town, on the outskirts of Beijing, where he works as a librarian, passing out legal and health-care notices and conducting surveys.
"I'm not from the city, so this job can solve my residential permit problem. Second, the rural experience helps me in my civil service exam," said Liu, who is from Shandong province and now hoping for the stability of a state job. "I'm forgetting all my engineering knowledge, but this work doesn't need professional skill. It is enough if you are patient and careful."
Chinese officials, spurred by the global financial crisis that has slowed economic growth and nervous about the prospects of more than 1.5 million unemployed college graduates, have stepped up spending and bolstered programs to help graduates get jobs, including a two-year-old plan to send people like Liu to work as rural village officials. Unemployment among recent college graduates stands at 12 percent, according to government statistics, nearly triple the overall unemployment rate of 4.2 percent at the end of December, itself the highest in five years.
Finding work for new graduates should be one of the country's top priorities, China's State Council, or cabinet, announced this month. Party leaders are mindful that June will mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, when hundreds of college students demanding democracy were killed by government troops.
In Shanghai this month, Mayor Han Zheng announced a job stimulus package to help 213,000 new graduates, offering to pay for vocational training and to assist in setting up internships if jobs can't be found.
A jobs program launched in 2006 by top party officials to send graduates to the countryside is also getting a boost. So far, 78,000 graduates have signed three-year contracts to participate in the program, but more are scheduled to be enlisted this year, officials said. The Education Ministry has announced a new recruitment campaign, saying it has expanded the scheme to offer help in paying off the student loans of graduates who participate.
The Beijing municipal government announced this month that an additional 3,000 local college graduates will work as village officials this year, while Guangdong province has announced that all graduates who want government jobs will have to first work or train in rural villages.
In addition to getting graduates off the unemployment rolls, the goal of the programs is to build up local party organizations and gain more party control. In villages, Internet-savvy youth can help raise the quality of administration. Even better, the thinking goes, the graduates may be able to help stem the growing unrest among dissatisfied farmers, who are often on the losing end of illegal land grabs by corrupt officials and developers.
"We need more grass-roots officials who have close connections with ordinary people, who can lead farmers to get rich and make the countryside more stable, urgently," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said in late December, kicking off a slew of official announcements promoting the benefits of college-educated village officials.
For the graduates, it's hardly an ideological exercise. Unlike scores of patriotic students who volunteered to serve in the countryside during the 1950s and '60s, alongside more than 17 million intellectuals and elites forcibly sent down for reeducation during the Cultural Revolution, today's graduates are largely motivated by self-interest. Many have signed up to join the party to boost their chances of employment, but only a small number are approved. Those with no other alternative look to these jobs as a way to earn extra points on a civil service exam, collect other subsidies or qualify for a coveted residency permit to the closest nearby city.
Despite those benefits, until recently it has been difficult to direct thousands of young people -- whose expectations have been shaped by decades of steady economic growth -- in a China that is no longer a planned economy with assigned jobs. But with diminished opportunities available in the general economy, demand among graduates to participate in the rural programs jumped sharply this month. State media reported that in the municipality of Chongqing, the ratio of applicants to hires for the village jobs jumped to 16-to-1 this month, up from 6-to-1 for all of 2008.
"What's going on here is students being sent to the countryside either don't have jobs and want to use this to join the civil service, or they have no other option," said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst. "Lower-level party officials don't know what to do with them, so they say, 'See? We're doing local party construction.' This is really a shell game."
Those hired into village programs spend their time filling out forms, typing documents, completing agricultural surveys, distributing health-care advice and condoms, and, often, worrying about their next job, they said.
Many of the students are bored and uninterested in remaining in their villages, graduates and some local officials said. Not only are they not trained for rural work but they are not trusted by village leaders.
"It was difficult to find a job when I graduated. I didn't study very well, so I only got a few interviews," said Ye Ming, a computer science major from Beijing Union University who decided he wanted to be a civil servant. He began working in a village in Dasungezhuang town on the outskirts of Beijing about two years ago.
"At first, I thought I would have the power to suggest or advise the director of the village. But in reality, you cannot do what you want," Ye said. "The party secretary is the one who decides things. We are like servants without any power."
The hours, however, are good.
"It's very relaxing," said Song Xiaoting, a finance major from China Agricultural University who has been working in a rural village in the Pinggu district in the northern suburbs of Beijing. "I keep party construction [education material for party members] and study materials, complete all kinds of work summaries and write speeches and notices. In my spare time, I surf the Internet."
Because college graduates lack real work experience, villagers often don't trust their judgment, Song said. Village committee chiefs, meanwhile, are proud and believe the condition of the village needs no further improvement.
"I thought the village would consult me on economic development," Song said. "But there is no space for me to use my talents. Village officials just tell me what their decisions are and tell me to enforce them. The village committee and the party committee decide the most important work, such as development and how to structure industry. They rarely ask my opinion."
Yang Jie, who graduated from Beijing International Studies University with an English degree, tried to set up a Web site for her village, but local officials thought the Internet was a waste of electricity. "I am not as passionate and confident as I was three years ago," said Yang, who is struggling to find another job by June, when her contract ends.
Officials hope each rural village or community administration will have at least one college graduate by 2011.
In poorer areas, officials seem more welcoming of the graduates. In Shanxi province's Jishan county, village director Zhao Jianguang promises that graduates will be given some decision-making authority.
"Graduates can help change our way of thinking because they're more resourceful about searching for information," said Zhao, director of Xuecun village. "Farmers only learn about policies from local officials, but students can search the Internet and use it to help publicize our village's products. Right now, we don't even have an Internet connection."
The government should offer graduates real positions on village or party committees, Zhao added. "Right now, it is the college graduates who execute the ideas of village directors. The situation should be reversed. The graduates are young, well educated and energetic. At the village level, party members are too old."
Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.
2009年1月28日星期三
Wave of layoffs in U.S., Europe show severity of the recession
By Barbara Hagenbaugh, Matt Krantz and Sue Kirchhoff, USA TODAY
Household names such as Caterpillar, (CAT) Home Depot (HD) and Sprint Nextel (S) said Monday that they are laying off a combined 35,000 workers in moves that stressed the severity of the worldwide recession and kicked off what is likely to be a week of gloomy earnings announcements, further job cuts and dismal data.
The layoffs continued Tuesday as Corning said it is cutting 3,500 jobs, or 13% of its payroll.
The news ratchets up the pressure on the Obama administration and Congress as lawmakers debate an $825 billion stimulus package intended to save or create millions of jobs. Far more job cuts are likely as consumer and business spending tumbles amid what many economists say is the worst recession the USA has seen since the Great Depression.
"Some of the worst job losses are ahead of us, not behind us," says Wells Fargo senior economist Scott Anderson.
STATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES: Indiana, S. Carolina see largest increases; see rates for all 50 states
He expects 3 million Americans to lose their jobs in 2009 — up from the 2.6 million who were cut last year, which was the most since 1945, the final year of World War II. The layoffs are happening in "all industries in all areas of the world," Anderson says. "This will be one of the worst job markets in the postwar period."
Chris McCabe, 48, of Mansfield, Mass., lost his job Jan. 4 as director of product quality at consumer electronics company Sonos. The father of two teenagers has seen a few job leads evaporate after prospective employers stopped hiring or his contacts at the companies were laid off. His daughter is hoping to go to nursing school after graduating from high school this year, but he isn't sure he'll be able to afford the tuition.
"I've reached out to friends … to see who they may know in Boston," says McCabe, who says he has several friends who are out of work. "I don't think I've ever experienced anything in my life like this."
The unemployment rate is forecast to peak at a 25-year high of 8.8% early next year, up from 7.2% in December, according to the median in a survey of 52 economists conducted by USA TODAY Jan. 15-22.
REBOUND? Majority of economists expect a slow recovery this year
The workweek began Monday morning with news of massive layoffs at several European companies, including electronics giant Philips (6,000 job cuts) and insurance and banking conglomerate ING, which announced it would drop 7,000 jobs.
Then came a wave of layoff announcements by U.S. companies. Among the largest:
•Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of large construction and farm equipment, said it would cut nearly 20,000 jobs and warned of a "dismal year for the world economy" as it reported its earnings.
The cuts, amounting to about 18% of Caterpillar's workforce, reflected how the slide in construction and mining worldwide has hurt the Peoria, Ill.-based company.
•Drugmaker Pfizer (PFE) said 18,000 people will lose their jobs as part of the merger of Pfizer and Wyeth announced Monday.
•Sprint Nextel, the nation's No. 3 mobile phone service provider behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, said it will cut 8,000 workers by the end of March as part of a plan to save $1.2 billion.
•Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, said it's cutting 7,000 jobs. Most of the cuts will come from closing Home Depot's 34 Expo stores, which sell high-end home decor items.
•General Motors said it is cutting production at assembly plants in Lansing, Mich., and Lordstown, Ohio, resulting in 2,000 job cuts.
Monday's cuts follow a series of layoff announcements last week, including a plan by Microsoft (MSFT) to eliminate 5,000 jobs.
Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at economic consulting firm MFR, says layoffs at big-name firms tell only part of the story.
"A lot of these are grabbing headlines, but the small- and medium-size companies that are so dependent on bank credit are withering on the vine," says Shapiro, who expects the unemployment rate to climb to double digits.
The widespread layoffs during the last several months have forced many ousted workers to lower their sights in seeking employment.
Over the weekend, Terry Ellis, 48, of Lewisville, Texas, turned in an application to work at the local Wal-Mart. (WMT)
The father of four lost his job with Verizon (VZ) last May after working for the company for 29 years, most recently as a purchasing manager. He hasn't had luck finding work and is worried about relying on his wife's salary as a pharmacy technician.
"Anything to pay the bills and put food on the table," he says.
Employers that are hiring report being inundated with applications. During the last three weeks, about 63,000 people have applied for 12,000 openings at CityCenter, a development on the Las Vegas Strip scheduled to open late this year.
In its search for people to fill jobs in gaming, hotel operations, food and beverage service, finance, engineering, entertainment and other areas, CityCenter is getting applications from people whose qualifications far exceed the jobs they're seeking, says Michael Peltyn, the company's head of human resources.
"We're not happy about the economy," he says. "But it sure hasn't hurt the applicant pool."
'It's really bleak out there'
Friday, the government is expected to report the economy contracted in the last three months of 2008 at the fastest pace since 1982.
Job losses are leading consumers to rapidly pull back spending either because they are out of work or because they fear their jobs could be in jeopardy. That is leading businesses to try to cut costs any way they can, including by cutting jobs or forcing workers to take unpaid leave.
Revenue fell 10% during the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, according to preliminary estimates from Standard & Poor's.
The numbers that matter most to investors and companies — earnings — are getting worse. Much worse.
In October, Wall Street was expecting companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 to report 46% higher earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter in 2007, says Ashwani Kaul, director of research at Thomson Reuters.
But now that 18% of the companies have reported, earnings are down 31%.
"It's bad," Kaul says. "It's really bleak out there."
It's not just financials, although losses by banks and brokerages are the biggest drags on earnings. Seven of the 10 sectors of the economy are expected to report lower fourth-quarter earnings for 2008.
So far, the future isn't looking any more promising. Earnings are expected to be down 21% in the first quarter of 2009 and 19% in the second quarter, Kaul says.
Even companies that investors thought a year ago could hold up during a U.S. slowdown are feeling the pinch. Among them: Caterpillar.
The company's struggles show the depth and complexity of the economy's troubles. The sudden collapse in worldwide demand for industrial commodities, ranging from oil to copper, stopped the boom for exploration and production, says Alexander Blanton, analyst at Ingalls & Snyder.
That means previously booming nations such as China and Brazil are postponing orders for new machinery.
"Caterpillar is diversified, yes," Blanton says. "But the problem is almost everything is going down."
Empty spaces at malls
It's not just industrial weakness, either. The failures of several large retailers have left malls with cavernous empty spaces.
As a result, mall operators aren't willing to break ground on new malls when the ones they have aren't full, Blanton says.
As the bad news accumulates, the International Monetary Fund is expected Wednesday to again lower its forecast of global growth for this year.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are expected to pledge at the conclusion of their two-day meeting Wednesday to keep interest rates close to zero while pumping more money into the nation's financial system to try to get credit flowing again.
The doom and gloom comes as President Obama presses Congress to quickly approve an economic stimulus plan that includes personal and business tax breaks, aid to states and local governments and public works spending.
The House will vote on its version of the bill Wednesday, and Senate committees begin pulling together a companion bill this week.
The stimulus plans also include more aid for laid-off workers.
The House version contains $27 billion to extend a federal program that provides an extra 33 weeks of unemployment benefits, on top of the 26 weeks of regular coverage provided in most states.
The bill also includes $9 billion to increase the average $300 weekly unemployment benefit by $25. Another provision includes $20 billion to boost food-stamp benefits and more for job training.
Obama touted the stimulus plan Monday in remarks at the White House.
"These are not just numbers on a page," Obama said. "These are working men and women whose families have been disrupted and whose dreams have been put on hold. We owe it to each of them and to every single American to act with a sense of urgency and common purpose."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said the House will not adjourn for its Presidents Day recess, set for mid-February, until the stimulus legislation is passed.
Obama is scheduled to meet Tuesday with congressional Republicans to see whether he can drum up bipartisan support for the plan. So far, Republicans have been cool to the stimulus package, calling it too heavy on spending and too light on tax cuts.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., says the stimulus bill contains too much wasteful spending, should focus more on small-business tax relief and should not provide refund checks to people who don't pay income taxes.
Cantor says that the billions of dollars of aid to states included in the bill is tantamount to rewarding legislatures that increased spending beyond their means.
"He (Obama) was elected based on the hope that people had that he could come to Washington and largely change the way things work," Cantor says.
Republicans also say the bill's public works spending won't take effect quickly enough. Obama has said 75% of the public spending would occur during the plan's first 18 months. But a Congressional Budget Office report released Monday night said only two-thirds of the plan's impact would be felt over the first 18 months.
"There is more power than people think for the federal government to pump out funds soon," says Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics, who has been working with lawmakers on the plan.
"Our recovery will be driven by the federal government. That's different from almost all the recoveries we've seen in the past three decades."
Stimulus plans alone won't be enough.
Bernanke has suggested the government use part of the second half of a $700 billion financial rescue fund created by Congress last year to unlock lending through strategies such as setting up a "bad bank" that would buy troubled assets, taking them off the balance sheets of commercial lenders.
The White House has pledged to use $50 billion to $100 billion of the funding to prevent home foreclosures.
As part of the initial half of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, the government has pumped in $300 billion in cash to help provide ready capital to banks reeling from fast-declining assets, or help stronger banks such as PNC Financial buy weaker ones such as National City.
The hope was that the cash would help stem losses at banks and ease credit.
In recent weeks, it has become evident that the government's actions failed to prop up the banks, restore much confidence in the financial markets or even inspire much lending. "We're going from one banking crisis to another in a matter of weeks, and we don't know if we're done yet," says Anil Kashyap, finance and economics professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
Kashyap says the government needs to take decisive action to stabilize the banking system. "The economy cannot grow if the banking system is impaired."
Contributing: David J. Lynch, Pallavi Gogoi, Julie Schmit and Detroit Free Press
Household names such as Caterpillar, (CAT) Home Depot (HD) and Sprint Nextel (S) said Monday that they are laying off a combined 35,000 workers in moves that stressed the severity of the worldwide recession and kicked off what is likely to be a week of gloomy earnings announcements, further job cuts and dismal data.
The layoffs continued Tuesday as Corning said it is cutting 3,500 jobs, or 13% of its payroll.
The news ratchets up the pressure on the Obama administration and Congress as lawmakers debate an $825 billion stimulus package intended to save or create millions of jobs. Far more job cuts are likely as consumer and business spending tumbles amid what many economists say is the worst recession the USA has seen since the Great Depression.
"Some of the worst job losses are ahead of us, not behind us," says Wells Fargo senior economist Scott Anderson.
STATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES: Indiana, S. Carolina see largest increases; see rates for all 50 states
He expects 3 million Americans to lose their jobs in 2009 — up from the 2.6 million who were cut last year, which was the most since 1945, the final year of World War II. The layoffs are happening in "all industries in all areas of the world," Anderson says. "This will be one of the worst job markets in the postwar period."
Chris McCabe, 48, of Mansfield, Mass., lost his job Jan. 4 as director of product quality at consumer electronics company Sonos. The father of two teenagers has seen a few job leads evaporate after prospective employers stopped hiring or his contacts at the companies were laid off. His daughter is hoping to go to nursing school after graduating from high school this year, but he isn't sure he'll be able to afford the tuition.
"I've reached out to friends … to see who they may know in Boston," says McCabe, who says he has several friends who are out of work. "I don't think I've ever experienced anything in my life like this."
The unemployment rate is forecast to peak at a 25-year high of 8.8% early next year, up from 7.2% in December, according to the median in a survey of 52 economists conducted by USA TODAY Jan. 15-22.
REBOUND? Majority of economists expect a slow recovery this year
The workweek began Monday morning with news of massive layoffs at several European companies, including electronics giant Philips (6,000 job cuts) and insurance and banking conglomerate ING, which announced it would drop 7,000 jobs.
Then came a wave of layoff announcements by U.S. companies. Among the largest:
•Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of large construction and farm equipment, said it would cut nearly 20,000 jobs and warned of a "dismal year for the world economy" as it reported its earnings.
The cuts, amounting to about 18% of Caterpillar's workforce, reflected how the slide in construction and mining worldwide has hurt the Peoria, Ill.-based company.
•Drugmaker Pfizer (PFE) said 18,000 people will lose their jobs as part of the merger of Pfizer and Wyeth announced Monday.
•Sprint Nextel, the nation's No. 3 mobile phone service provider behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, said it will cut 8,000 workers by the end of March as part of a plan to save $1.2 billion.
•Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, said it's cutting 7,000 jobs. Most of the cuts will come from closing Home Depot's 34 Expo stores, which sell high-end home decor items.
•General Motors said it is cutting production at assembly plants in Lansing, Mich., and Lordstown, Ohio, resulting in 2,000 job cuts.
Monday's cuts follow a series of layoff announcements last week, including a plan by Microsoft (MSFT) to eliminate 5,000 jobs.
Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at economic consulting firm MFR, says layoffs at big-name firms tell only part of the story.
"A lot of these are grabbing headlines, but the small- and medium-size companies that are so dependent on bank credit are withering on the vine," says Shapiro, who expects the unemployment rate to climb to double digits.
The widespread layoffs during the last several months have forced many ousted workers to lower their sights in seeking employment.
Over the weekend, Terry Ellis, 48, of Lewisville, Texas, turned in an application to work at the local Wal-Mart. (WMT)
The father of four lost his job with Verizon (VZ) last May after working for the company for 29 years, most recently as a purchasing manager. He hasn't had luck finding work and is worried about relying on his wife's salary as a pharmacy technician.
"Anything to pay the bills and put food on the table," he says.
Employers that are hiring report being inundated with applications. During the last three weeks, about 63,000 people have applied for 12,000 openings at CityCenter, a development on the Las Vegas Strip scheduled to open late this year.
In its search for people to fill jobs in gaming, hotel operations, food and beverage service, finance, engineering, entertainment and other areas, CityCenter is getting applications from people whose qualifications far exceed the jobs they're seeking, says Michael Peltyn, the company's head of human resources.
"We're not happy about the economy," he says. "But it sure hasn't hurt the applicant pool."
'It's really bleak out there'
Friday, the government is expected to report the economy contracted in the last three months of 2008 at the fastest pace since 1982.
Job losses are leading consumers to rapidly pull back spending either because they are out of work or because they fear their jobs could be in jeopardy. That is leading businesses to try to cut costs any way they can, including by cutting jobs or forcing workers to take unpaid leave.
Revenue fell 10% during the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, according to preliminary estimates from Standard & Poor's.
The numbers that matter most to investors and companies — earnings — are getting worse. Much worse.
In October, Wall Street was expecting companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 to report 46% higher earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter in 2007, says Ashwani Kaul, director of research at Thomson Reuters.
But now that 18% of the companies have reported, earnings are down 31%.
"It's bad," Kaul says. "It's really bleak out there."
It's not just financials, although losses by banks and brokerages are the biggest drags on earnings. Seven of the 10 sectors of the economy are expected to report lower fourth-quarter earnings for 2008.
So far, the future isn't looking any more promising. Earnings are expected to be down 21% in the first quarter of 2009 and 19% in the second quarter, Kaul says.
Even companies that investors thought a year ago could hold up during a U.S. slowdown are feeling the pinch. Among them: Caterpillar.
The company's struggles show the depth and complexity of the economy's troubles. The sudden collapse in worldwide demand for industrial commodities, ranging from oil to copper, stopped the boom for exploration and production, says Alexander Blanton, analyst at Ingalls & Snyder.
That means previously booming nations such as China and Brazil are postponing orders for new machinery.
"Caterpillar is diversified, yes," Blanton says. "But the problem is almost everything is going down."
Empty spaces at malls
It's not just industrial weakness, either. The failures of several large retailers have left malls with cavernous empty spaces.
As a result, mall operators aren't willing to break ground on new malls when the ones they have aren't full, Blanton says.
As the bad news accumulates, the International Monetary Fund is expected Wednesday to again lower its forecast of global growth for this year.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are expected to pledge at the conclusion of their two-day meeting Wednesday to keep interest rates close to zero while pumping more money into the nation's financial system to try to get credit flowing again.
The doom and gloom comes as President Obama presses Congress to quickly approve an economic stimulus plan that includes personal and business tax breaks, aid to states and local governments and public works spending.
The House will vote on its version of the bill Wednesday, and Senate committees begin pulling together a companion bill this week.
The stimulus plans also include more aid for laid-off workers.
The House version contains $27 billion to extend a federal program that provides an extra 33 weeks of unemployment benefits, on top of the 26 weeks of regular coverage provided in most states.
The bill also includes $9 billion to increase the average $300 weekly unemployment benefit by $25. Another provision includes $20 billion to boost food-stamp benefits and more for job training.
Obama touted the stimulus plan Monday in remarks at the White House.
"These are not just numbers on a page," Obama said. "These are working men and women whose families have been disrupted and whose dreams have been put on hold. We owe it to each of them and to every single American to act with a sense of urgency and common purpose."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said the House will not adjourn for its Presidents Day recess, set for mid-February, until the stimulus legislation is passed.
Obama is scheduled to meet Tuesday with congressional Republicans to see whether he can drum up bipartisan support for the plan. So far, Republicans have been cool to the stimulus package, calling it too heavy on spending and too light on tax cuts.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., says the stimulus bill contains too much wasteful spending, should focus more on small-business tax relief and should not provide refund checks to people who don't pay income taxes.
Cantor says that the billions of dollars of aid to states included in the bill is tantamount to rewarding legislatures that increased spending beyond their means.
"He (Obama) was elected based on the hope that people had that he could come to Washington and largely change the way things work," Cantor says.
Republicans also say the bill's public works spending won't take effect quickly enough. Obama has said 75% of the public spending would occur during the plan's first 18 months. But a Congressional Budget Office report released Monday night said only two-thirds of the plan's impact would be felt over the first 18 months.
"There is more power than people think for the federal government to pump out funds soon," says Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics, who has been working with lawmakers on the plan.
"Our recovery will be driven by the federal government. That's different from almost all the recoveries we've seen in the past three decades."
Stimulus plans alone won't be enough.
Bernanke has suggested the government use part of the second half of a $700 billion financial rescue fund created by Congress last year to unlock lending through strategies such as setting up a "bad bank" that would buy troubled assets, taking them off the balance sheets of commercial lenders.
The White House has pledged to use $50 billion to $100 billion of the funding to prevent home foreclosures.
As part of the initial half of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, the government has pumped in $300 billion in cash to help provide ready capital to banks reeling from fast-declining assets, or help stronger banks such as PNC Financial buy weaker ones such as National City.
The hope was that the cash would help stem losses at banks and ease credit.
In recent weeks, it has become evident that the government's actions failed to prop up the banks, restore much confidence in the financial markets or even inspire much lending. "We're going from one banking crisis to another in a matter of weeks, and we don't know if we're done yet," says Anil Kashyap, finance and economics professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
Kashyap says the government needs to take decisive action to stabilize the banking system. "The economy cannot grow if the banking system is impaired."
Contributing: David J. Lynch, Pallavi Gogoi, Julie Schmit and Detroit Free Press
IBM quietly cuts thousands of jobs
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With the recession forcing tech companies to announce thousands of layoffs, IBM Corp. is joining the fray — but not advertising it.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based company has cut thousands of jobs over the past week, including positions in sales and the software and hardware divisions. IBM says the cuts are simply part of its ongoing efforts to watch costs, and the company won't release specific numbers, even as reports of firings stream in from IBM facilities across the country.
Workers have reported layoffs in Tucson, Ariz.; San Jose, Calif.; Rochester, Minn.; Research Triangle Park, N.C.; East Fishkill, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; and Burlington, Vt.
Meanwhile, other tech companies such as Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Google Inc. have all publicly revealed job cuts as part of their strategies for riding out the economic crisis. More than 20,000 jobs will be lost from those companies alone.
One of IBM's biggest rivals — Hewlett-Packard Co. — is also laying people off. HP is shedding 24,600 jobs, nearly 8 percent of its 320,000-employee work force, as it digests the acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp.
IBM says it doesn't have to reveal the number of jobs it is cutting, since the Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to disclose only "material" events. And IBM considers its job cuts a regular part of the company's business model, since thousands of jobs are cut every year but are usually added back in other places.
Because of that, IBM contends it doesn't have to break out its layoffs in regulatory filings unless it suddenly changes course and makes substantially more or fewer job cuts.
That's why while IBM's head count keeps growing, topping 400,000 at the end of 2008, laid-off IBM workers have flooded online job boards with complaints about the company's stealth cuts.
One estimate of IBM's recent cuts put the number at more than 4,000 jobs lost since IBM's fourth-quarter earnings announcement last week. Those earnings contained an unexpected surprise: IBM forecast at least $9.20 per share in profit in 2009. IBM shares are up more than 10 percent since then.
To get the cost savings that will help spur the higher profits, IBM appears to have acted quickly. The estimate of at least 4,000 jobs cut comes from AllianceAtIBM, a union that is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and represents a small number of IBM workers.
The Associated Press reviewed one document sent to laid-off workers that identified some of the positions that were cut. Employees weren't identified by name, but positions and the workers' ages were listed. The document listed nearly 3,000 jobs.
In Vermont, IBM remained tightlipped about layoffs at its Essex Junction facility, but state Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden said the total number would be less than 500.
IBM recently employed 5,300 workers at the Essex Junction plant, down from 8,500 in 2001.
Jim Gallo, 48, who said he worked in IBM software support for 27 years, was among those let go from that facility. Gallo, drinking a Grey Goose and ginger ale at nearby Lincoln Inn on Tuesday, said he hadn't told his four children yet.
He said he has until Feb. 26 to find another job in IBM, but he put his chances at "slim to none." Gallo said he gets six months' pay as part of a severance package.
"It's too bad they're not doing what they were doing before. They offered some sweet packages for people to jump out," he said.
IBM's ongoing labor adjustments have led the company to add bodies in cheaper and higher-growth parts of the world, like India.
In 2007, the last full year for which detailed employment numbers are available, 121,000 of IBM's 387,000 workers were in the U.S., down slightly from the year before. Meanwhile, staffing in India has jumped from just 9,000 workers in 2003 to 74,000 workers in 2007.
Associated Press writer Dave Gram contributed to this story from Essex Junction, Vt.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With the recession forcing tech companies to announce thousands of layoffs, IBM Corp. is joining the fray — but not advertising it.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based company has cut thousands of jobs over the past week, including positions in sales and the software and hardware divisions. IBM says the cuts are simply part of its ongoing efforts to watch costs, and the company won't release specific numbers, even as reports of firings stream in from IBM facilities across the country.
Workers have reported layoffs in Tucson, Ariz.; San Jose, Calif.; Rochester, Minn.; Research Triangle Park, N.C.; East Fishkill, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; and Burlington, Vt.
Meanwhile, other tech companies such as Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Google Inc. have all publicly revealed job cuts as part of their strategies for riding out the economic crisis. More than 20,000 jobs will be lost from those companies alone.
One of IBM's biggest rivals — Hewlett-Packard Co. — is also laying people off. HP is shedding 24,600 jobs, nearly 8 percent of its 320,000-employee work force, as it digests the acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp.
IBM says it doesn't have to reveal the number of jobs it is cutting, since the Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to disclose only "material" events. And IBM considers its job cuts a regular part of the company's business model, since thousands of jobs are cut every year but are usually added back in other places.
Because of that, IBM contends it doesn't have to break out its layoffs in regulatory filings unless it suddenly changes course and makes substantially more or fewer job cuts.
That's why while IBM's head count keeps growing, topping 400,000 at the end of 2008, laid-off IBM workers have flooded online job boards with complaints about the company's stealth cuts.
One estimate of IBM's recent cuts put the number at more than 4,000 jobs lost since IBM's fourth-quarter earnings announcement last week. Those earnings contained an unexpected surprise: IBM forecast at least $9.20 per share in profit in 2009. IBM shares are up more than 10 percent since then.
To get the cost savings that will help spur the higher profits, IBM appears to have acted quickly. The estimate of at least 4,000 jobs cut comes from AllianceAtIBM, a union that is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and represents a small number of IBM workers.
The Associated Press reviewed one document sent to laid-off workers that identified some of the positions that were cut. Employees weren't identified by name, but positions and the workers' ages were listed. The document listed nearly 3,000 jobs.
In Vermont, IBM remained tightlipped about layoffs at its Essex Junction facility, but state Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden said the total number would be less than 500.
IBM recently employed 5,300 workers at the Essex Junction plant, down from 8,500 in 2001.
Jim Gallo, 48, who said he worked in IBM software support for 27 years, was among those let go from that facility. Gallo, drinking a Grey Goose and ginger ale at nearby Lincoln Inn on Tuesday, said he hadn't told his four children yet.
He said he has until Feb. 26 to find another job in IBM, but he put his chances at "slim to none." Gallo said he gets six months' pay as part of a severance package.
"It's too bad they're not doing what they were doing before. They offered some sweet packages for people to jump out," he said.
IBM's ongoing labor adjustments have led the company to add bodies in cheaper and higher-growth parts of the world, like India.
In 2007, the last full year for which detailed employment numbers are available, 121,000 of IBM's 387,000 workers were in the U.S., down slightly from the year before. Meanwhile, staffing in India has jumped from just 9,000 workers in 2003 to 74,000 workers in 2007.
Associated Press writer Dave Gram contributed to this story from Essex Junction, Vt.
Amazon gets ready for second-generation Kindle
By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY
Get ready for the next chapter. Tech analysts expect Amazon.com (AMZN) to open the cover on Kindle 2, the second generation of its groundbreaking electronic reader. On Tuesday, Amazon invited members of the media to "an important" news conference Feb. 9 at New York City's Morgan Library & Museum.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is expected to attend. But Amazon won't reveal the plot. "We are not sharing details," Amazon director of communications Drew Herdener wrote in an e-mail. The company has said there will be a new version of Kindle sometime this year.
Paperback-size e-book readers such as the Kindle or rival Sony Reader let bookworms cart a boatload of titles — more than 200 in the case of the first Kindle. But Kindle's real advance was in its wireless Whispernet network (built on top of Sprint's speedy EV-DO wireless network). Readers could search for and sample books, blogs and periodicals (including USA TODAY) right on the device and purchase new content in under a minute. Best sellers typically cost $9.99.
Amazon won't disclose Kindle sales. Mark Mahaney, director of Internet research at Citigroup Investment Research, estimates Amazon sold about 400,000 units last year and that Kindle hardware and book sales will contribute about $1 billion to Amazon's revenue in 2010. "It's pretty clear this is the iPod of the book world," he says. Mahaney also expects the new Kindle to drop to around $300, from $359. Minor design glitches will likely also be addressed. Pundits have criticized Kindle for its clumsy button layout and homely appearance.
Amazon underestimated demand for the first Kindle, which is still difficult to come by. Amazon's website says Kindle is sold out due to "heavy customer demand." Orders are expected to be shipped in four to six weeks, the website indicates.
What isn't clear, of course, is whether buyers will receive the first Kindle or the sequel. Whatever Amazon trots out, Tim Bajarin, president of the Creative Strategies consulting firm, doesn't expect shortages to be a major issue. "This time they at least know what the sales cycles have looked like," Bajarin says. "I have to believe they're going to be smarter about building and managing inventory."
Amazon stock closed at $48.44 Tuesday, down 2.4%.
Get ready for the next chapter. Tech analysts expect Amazon.com (AMZN) to open the cover on Kindle 2, the second generation of its groundbreaking electronic reader. On Tuesday, Amazon invited members of the media to "an important" news conference Feb. 9 at New York City's Morgan Library & Museum.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is expected to attend. But Amazon won't reveal the plot. "We are not sharing details," Amazon director of communications Drew Herdener wrote in an e-mail. The company has said there will be a new version of Kindle sometime this year.
Paperback-size e-book readers such as the Kindle or rival Sony Reader let bookworms cart a boatload of titles — more than 200 in the case of the first Kindle. But Kindle's real advance was in its wireless Whispernet network (built on top of Sprint's speedy EV-DO wireless network). Readers could search for and sample books, blogs and periodicals (including USA TODAY) right on the device and purchase new content in under a minute. Best sellers typically cost $9.99.
Amazon won't disclose Kindle sales. Mark Mahaney, director of Internet research at Citigroup Investment Research, estimates Amazon sold about 400,000 units last year and that Kindle hardware and book sales will contribute about $1 billion to Amazon's revenue in 2010. "It's pretty clear this is the iPod of the book world," he says. Mahaney also expects the new Kindle to drop to around $300, from $359. Minor design glitches will likely also be addressed. Pundits have criticized Kindle for its clumsy button layout and homely appearance.
Amazon underestimated demand for the first Kindle, which is still difficult to come by. Amazon's website says Kindle is sold out due to "heavy customer demand." Orders are expected to be shipped in four to six weeks, the website indicates.
What isn't clear, of course, is whether buyers will receive the first Kindle or the sequel. Whatever Amazon trots out, Tim Bajarin, president of the Creative Strategies consulting firm, doesn't expect shortages to be a major issue. "This time they at least know what the sales cycles have looked like," Bajarin says. "I have to believe they're going to be smarter about building and managing inventory."
Amazon stock closed at $48.44 Tuesday, down 2.4%.
2009年1月24日星期六
John Grisham's
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009
John Grisham's Charming Novel About Nothing
By Lev Grossman
Kyle McAvoy is a brutally overworked first-year associate at the high-flying, albeit fictional, Manhattan law firm Scully & Pershing. Fresh out of Yale Law — he edited the law review there — Kyle works up to 100 hours a week. He keeps a sleeping bag under his desk. He makes $200,000 a year, but he barely has time to spend any of it.
It's funny what an appetite we have for this kind of hardcore law-porn. Sure, Michael Clayton did it better, but you still get a buzz off of John Grisham's new book The Associate. The late hours, the fluorescent lights, the vicious competition, the fancy perks, the brilliant minds drowning in gallons of coffee and endless reams of paper. God knows they're not having much fun. But we are. It's a Tom-and-Huck scenario: they paint the fence, while we watch and pretend to get tired. Grisham doesn't try to glamorize it — in fact he works very hard to de-glamorize the way corporate litigation is practiced at high-dollar New York firms — but somehow it has the opposite effect. You're peering into a secret world of power and money. What more could you or any red-blooded American ask for? (Read TIME's 10 Questions for John Grisham)
By the way, Kyle McAvoy isn't any ordinary first-year associate. He has an ugly secret in his past: when he was in college at Duquesne, he and three other fraternity brothers were involved in an incident with a girl who may or may not have been passed out drunk while two of the frat boys had sex with her. Kyle has an ugly secret in his present, too: he may or may not have been there during, and hence implicated in, this possible-rape, but either way there's a video of the whole scene, and a mysterious organization is using it to blackmail Kyle into stealing the secrets of the corporations he is supposedly defending. The setup is not worlds away from The Firm, except this time it's the associate himself who's mixed up with the baddies. The firm is just along for the ride.
The Associate is a tricky balancing act for Grisham, in that there's nobody particularly likable in the mix here. The legal eagles of Scully & Pershing are cynical and joyless. The members of the mysterious organization are villainous to the point of cliché. (They have hairy hands and thin lips and slight accents — those bastards!) Even the possible-rape victim is shrill and self-serving and, well, cynical and joyless. As a result the book hangs on Kyle, and Kyle remains something of a cipher. He's got a kindly divorced father who lives in a small town in Pennsylvania and hunts deer, so we know we're supposed to like him. But mostly he just flip-flops between being angry and being very, very tired.
None of this is to say that The Associate is a bad book. God knows it's not hard to read — with the exception of a miscalculated subplot about one of the frat brothers going to AA, it ticks along lightly and pleasantly — it's crafted and paced with the same signature glossy perfection that makes Grisham, book for book, probably the best-selling novelist in the world. It's just that it's not about anything. In fact it's amazing that anybody could put together a book that is this compulsively readable while at the same time being almost entirely devoid of substance of any kind. When you read Michael Crichton or Scott Turow, their books wrestle with actual issues — the dangers of technology, the agonizing ambiguities of legal decision-making, what to do with underwater alien spheres, etc. The Associate is as close to being about nothing as a book can be — it's a masterpiece of almost ghostly narrative minimalism, a book of names without characters, a book with plot points but no plot.
There's something comforting about the meaningless hindbrain tension that The Associate generates in the reader — empty tension, the kind where there's nothing genuine at stake. Comforting too is the cozy quaintness of Grisham's little world. It's supposed to be a scary place, in theory, full of brooding criminals and impossible choices, but it's really a relic of the American past, one as sentimental and archaic as a Norman Rockwell painting. In a passage that appears, oddly, twice, as dialogue in two different characters' mouths, Grisham attempts to awe us with the high-level security surrounding Scully & Pershing's ultra-secret document room: "Pass codes change every week. Passwords every day, sometimes twice a day." I work for a magazine, and my e-mail password changes every 30 seconds. Where are the biometrics? Likewise Grisham thinks we need to be told that cubicles are nicknamed "cubes," and requests our amazement at the fact that the copiers in the law firm are "state-of-the-art color and capable of instant scanning, collating, even stapling." Copiers that staple! What a time to be alive.
The world of The Associate is subtly distinct from our own reality. Take a look at a thriller like Daemon, by Daniel Suarez, a software consultant who actually understands how cutting-edge networks work. This is a book that's got the shock of the new, that's so fresh and well-informed that it's still covered in metal shavings and PVC dust. Reality is everywhere in Daemon, and it's exciting and scary. But who wants to be excited and scared all the time? The Associate is high-calorie comfort food, a thriller that doesn't actually thrill.
Then again, contemporary reality does have some useful innovations. Like an enlightened approach to sexual violence, for example. Here's Kyle's frat brother Joey, a putative good guy and our second male lead, thinking back on his memories of that night with his frat brothers: "If a girl consents to sex," he wonders, "can she change her mind once things are underway? Or if she consents to sex, then blacks out halfway through the act, how can she later claim she'd changed her mind? Difficult questions, and Joey wrestled with them as he drove."
Wrestle, Joey, wrestle. You'll get there one of these days.
John Grisham's Charming Novel About Nothing
By Lev Grossman
Kyle McAvoy is a brutally overworked first-year associate at the high-flying, albeit fictional, Manhattan law firm Scully & Pershing. Fresh out of Yale Law — he edited the law review there — Kyle works up to 100 hours a week. He keeps a sleeping bag under his desk. He makes $200,000 a year, but he barely has time to spend any of it.
It's funny what an appetite we have for this kind of hardcore law-porn. Sure, Michael Clayton did it better, but you still get a buzz off of John Grisham's new book The Associate. The late hours, the fluorescent lights, the vicious competition, the fancy perks, the brilliant minds drowning in gallons of coffee and endless reams of paper. God knows they're not having much fun. But we are. It's a Tom-and-Huck scenario: they paint the fence, while we watch and pretend to get tired. Grisham doesn't try to glamorize it — in fact he works very hard to de-glamorize the way corporate litigation is practiced at high-dollar New York firms — but somehow it has the opposite effect. You're peering into a secret world of power and money. What more could you or any red-blooded American ask for? (Read TIME's 10 Questions for John Grisham)
By the way, Kyle McAvoy isn't any ordinary first-year associate. He has an ugly secret in his past: when he was in college at Duquesne, he and three other fraternity brothers were involved in an incident with a girl who may or may not have been passed out drunk while two of the frat boys had sex with her. Kyle has an ugly secret in his present, too: he may or may not have been there during, and hence implicated in, this possible-rape, but either way there's a video of the whole scene, and a mysterious organization is using it to blackmail Kyle into stealing the secrets of the corporations he is supposedly defending. The setup is not worlds away from The Firm, except this time it's the associate himself who's mixed up with the baddies. The firm is just along for the ride.
The Associate is a tricky balancing act for Grisham, in that there's nobody particularly likable in the mix here. The legal eagles of Scully & Pershing are cynical and joyless. The members of the mysterious organization are villainous to the point of cliché. (They have hairy hands and thin lips and slight accents — those bastards!) Even the possible-rape victim is shrill and self-serving and, well, cynical and joyless. As a result the book hangs on Kyle, and Kyle remains something of a cipher. He's got a kindly divorced father who lives in a small town in Pennsylvania and hunts deer, so we know we're supposed to like him. But mostly he just flip-flops between being angry and being very, very tired.
None of this is to say that The Associate is a bad book. God knows it's not hard to read — with the exception of a miscalculated subplot about one of the frat brothers going to AA, it ticks along lightly and pleasantly — it's crafted and paced with the same signature glossy perfection that makes Grisham, book for book, probably the best-selling novelist in the world. It's just that it's not about anything. In fact it's amazing that anybody could put together a book that is this compulsively readable while at the same time being almost entirely devoid of substance of any kind. When you read Michael Crichton or Scott Turow, their books wrestle with actual issues — the dangers of technology, the agonizing ambiguities of legal decision-making, what to do with underwater alien spheres, etc. The Associate is as close to being about nothing as a book can be — it's a masterpiece of almost ghostly narrative minimalism, a book of names without characters, a book with plot points but no plot.
There's something comforting about the meaningless hindbrain tension that The Associate generates in the reader — empty tension, the kind where there's nothing genuine at stake. Comforting too is the cozy quaintness of Grisham's little world. It's supposed to be a scary place, in theory, full of brooding criminals and impossible choices, but it's really a relic of the American past, one as sentimental and archaic as a Norman Rockwell painting. In a passage that appears, oddly, twice, as dialogue in two different characters' mouths, Grisham attempts to awe us with the high-level security surrounding Scully & Pershing's ultra-secret document room: "Pass codes change every week. Passwords every day, sometimes twice a day." I work for a magazine, and my e-mail password changes every 30 seconds. Where are the biometrics? Likewise Grisham thinks we need to be told that cubicles are nicknamed "cubes," and requests our amazement at the fact that the copiers in the law firm are "state-of-the-art color and capable of instant scanning, collating, even stapling." Copiers that staple! What a time to be alive.
The world of The Associate is subtly distinct from our own reality. Take a look at a thriller like Daemon, by Daniel Suarez, a software consultant who actually understands how cutting-edge networks work. This is a book that's got the shock of the new, that's so fresh and well-informed that it's still covered in metal shavings and PVC dust. Reality is everywhere in Daemon, and it's exciting and scary. But who wants to be excited and scared all the time? The Associate is high-calorie comfort food, a thriller that doesn't actually thrill.
Then again, contemporary reality does have some useful innovations. Like an enlightened approach to sexual violence, for example. Here's Kyle's frat brother Joey, a putative good guy and our second male lead, thinking back on his memories of that night with his frat brothers: "If a girl consents to sex," he wonders, "can she change her mind once things are underway? Or if she consents to sex, then blacks out halfway through the act, how can she later claim she'd changed her mind? Difficult questions, and Joey wrestled with them as he drove."
Wrestle, Joey, wrestle. You'll get there one of these days.
2009年1月22日星期四
IBM strong Q4 profits, no layoffs announced
BM on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2008 revenue of US$3.28 per share, a 17 percent increase year-over-year, but said total revenues for the quarter dropped 6 percent to $27 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial Network had on average predictedearnings of $3.03 per share and $28.15 billion in revenue.
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Net income for the fourth quarter was $4.4 billion, a 12 percent increase over 2007. For the full year, IBM posted company records for revenue, with $103.6 billion; pre-tax profit, with $16.7 billion; and earnings per share at $8.93.
The company also said it expected earnings per share of at least $9.20 in 2009.
IBM said the strong dollar contributed to its drop in fourth-quarter 2008 revenue. When adjusted for currency fluctuations, revenue would have fallen 1 percent, the company said.
Software revenue grew 3 percent, but Global Technology Services and Global Business Services fell 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, an indication that customers are pulling back somewhat on IT projects. However, IBM also reported service engagements worth $17.2 billion, including some 24 deals with a price tag higher than $100 million.
The company's press release made no mention of layoffs, which have been the subject of rampant rumors in recent weeks.
"Right now we're in wait-and-see mode," said Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the Alliance at IBM/CWA Local 1701, a union that is trying to organize workers at IBM, in an interview prior to the earnings release. "We do know people have been told to look for other jobs."
The union is calling on IBM to take certain measures to avoid layoffs, such as suspending its stock buyback program, eliminating executive positions and cutting executive pay. It also wants IBM to be transparent about where any job cuts are taking place and whether they are being moved offshore.
If it does cut jobs, IBM would be only the latest of its peers in the tech industry to do so as the worldwide economic crisis continues.
Forrester Research recently predicted that global IT spending would drop slightly overall this year, but then rebound in 2010.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial Network had on average predictedearnings of $3.03 per share and $28.15 billion in revenue.
The Total Economic Impact of BT Diamond IP Suite of IPAM Solutions: Download now
Net income for the fourth quarter was $4.4 billion, a 12 percent increase over 2007. For the full year, IBM posted company records for revenue, with $103.6 billion; pre-tax profit, with $16.7 billion; and earnings per share at $8.93.
The company also said it expected earnings per share of at least $9.20 in 2009.
IBM said the strong dollar contributed to its drop in fourth-quarter 2008 revenue. When adjusted for currency fluctuations, revenue would have fallen 1 percent, the company said.
Software revenue grew 3 percent, but Global Technology Services and Global Business Services fell 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, an indication that customers are pulling back somewhat on IT projects. However, IBM also reported service engagements worth $17.2 billion, including some 24 deals with a price tag higher than $100 million.
The company's press release made no mention of layoffs, which have been the subject of rampant rumors in recent weeks.
"Right now we're in wait-and-see mode," said Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the Alliance at IBM/CWA Local 1701, a union that is trying to organize workers at IBM, in an interview prior to the earnings release. "We do know people have been told to look for other jobs."
The union is calling on IBM to take certain measures to avoid layoffs, such as suspending its stock buyback program, eliminating executive positions and cutting executive pay. It also wants IBM to be transparent about where any job cuts are taking place and whether they are being moved offshore.
If it does cut jobs, IBM would be only the latest of its peers in the tech industry to do so as the worldwide economic crisis continues.
Forrester Research recently predicted that global IT spending would drop slightly overall this year, but then rebound in 2010.
2009年1月20日星期二
Obama Inaugurament Speech
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
2009年1月15日星期四
Older adults among newer members on social networking sites
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
Move over kiddos, social networking is attracting new — and older — devotees, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Wednesday. It finds that 35% of adult Internet users now have a profile on at least one social networking site. And among online adults ages 35-44, 30% have a profile.
Although the share of online adults with a profile quadrupled from 8% in 2005, Pew found that the young are still more likely to use these sites. Among 18-24-year-olds, 75% of those who go online have a profile.
The value of these sites grows with the numbers, suggests social pychologist Robert Kraut of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
He says his son and daughter-in-law now post pictures and videos of his new grandchild on Facebook. "So my wife and I are looking at Facebook much more because there's actual value."
Pew found that most adults use social networking for personal rather than professional reasons; about half of adult users are on MySpace and just under a quarter use Facebook. Just 6% use LinkedIn, geared for business networking.
"If you choose one site over another, you go to a site where there's already more people," Kraut says.
Adults say they use social networking for various reasons:
•89% to keep up with friends;
•57% to make plans with friends;
•49% to make new friends.
Some use the sites to organize with others for an event, issue or cause; flirt; promote themselves or their work or make new business contacts.
Of social networking site users, 51% have two or more online profiles; 43% have only one. About 60% let only friends view their profiles.
Cate Riegner, vice president of Netpop Research, a San Francisco firm that studies online behavior, says social networking grew 93% in the two years between 2006 and 2008. During that time, Facebook grew 500%. That site began for college students and opened to the public in 2006.
The Pew report is based on two telephone surveys — one completed in December of 1,650 Internet users 18 and over and a survey completed in May of 328 adults who use social networks.
Move over kiddos, social networking is attracting new — and older — devotees, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Wednesday. It finds that 35% of adult Internet users now have a profile on at least one social networking site. And among online adults ages 35-44, 30% have a profile.
Although the share of online adults with a profile quadrupled from 8% in 2005, Pew found that the young are still more likely to use these sites. Among 18-24-year-olds, 75% of those who go online have a profile.
The value of these sites grows with the numbers, suggests social pychologist Robert Kraut of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
He says his son and daughter-in-law now post pictures and videos of his new grandchild on Facebook. "So my wife and I are looking at Facebook much more because there's actual value."
Pew found that most adults use social networking for personal rather than professional reasons; about half of adult users are on MySpace and just under a quarter use Facebook. Just 6% use LinkedIn, geared for business networking.
"If you choose one site over another, you go to a site where there's already more people," Kraut says.
Adults say they use social networking for various reasons:
•89% to keep up with friends;
•57% to make plans with friends;
•49% to make new friends.
Some use the sites to organize with others for an event, issue or cause; flirt; promote themselves or their work or make new business contacts.
Of social networking site users, 51% have two or more online profiles; 43% have only one. About 60% let only friends view their profiles.
Cate Riegner, vice president of Netpop Research, a San Francisco firm that studies online behavior, says social networking grew 93% in the two years between 2006 and 2008. During that time, Facebook grew 500%. That site began for college students and opened to the public in 2006.
The Pew report is based on two telephone surveys — one completed in December of 1,650 Internet users 18 and over and a survey completed in May of 328 adults who use social networks.
2009年1月14日星期三
Seattle is nation’s No. 6 destination for moves
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
Despite a flagging economy, Seattle is the sixth most popular destination for movers, according to a recent study.
Las Vegas is the top destination for people making a state-to-state move, according to a survey by moving coordination service Relocation.com of New York. Las Vegas was followed by Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; Phoenix/Mesa, Ariz.; and Portland, Ore. Orlando, Fla.; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta and Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Fla. rounded out the top 10.
Some areas of the country fared worse than others. The Relocation.com survey indicated that for every 100 people looking to move to Michigan, 210 were looking to move out and for every 100 people looking to move to Ohio, 150 were looking to move out.
The opposite was true in North Carolina, where for every 180 people looking to move into the state, 100 were looking to move out.
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
Despite a flagging economy, Seattle is the sixth most popular destination for movers, according to a recent study.
Las Vegas is the top destination for people making a state-to-state move, according to a survey by moving coordination service Relocation.com of New York. Las Vegas was followed by Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; Phoenix/Mesa, Ariz.; and Portland, Ore. Orlando, Fla.; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta and Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Fla. rounded out the top 10.
Some areas of the country fared worse than others. The Relocation.com survey indicated that for every 100 people looking to move to Michigan, 210 were looking to move out and for every 100 people looking to move to Ohio, 150 were looking to move out.
The opposite was true in North Carolina, where for every 180 people looking to move into the state, 100 were looking to move out.
Green Collar jobs
“绿领”新工作 华人机会多
apolloalliance.org
美国现在失业潮是34以年来最惨的一次，11月失业人数暴增至53万人，远远高过预期的34万，并且还继续恶化中，工作机会在哪里？
“世界在变，总统也在变，”南加州华人环保协会会长容跃说，“奥巴马要用环保创造出许多就业机会！”确实，奥巴马在竞选时信誓旦旦，要投下1,500亿美元，在10年间创造出500万个工作机会，其中多是与节能环保相关的“绿领工作”。“这些工作不必非得是环保、科技专家才行，许多工作华人都能做，一定要趁这机会把握。”南加州空气管理局副局长张林怡表示。
“绿领工作”是什么？不同于付出劳力会被外包的“蓝领工作”，坐办公室会被裁员的“白领工作”，“绿领工作”是成长快速、不怕被裁员的工作，除了专业研发人员外，更包含安装隔热板（insulation）替住家节省能源的安装师傅、建造风力发电机替换燃煤发电厂的人员、还有建造绿色建筑或能源网络的建筑工。
奥巴马在竞选时承诺：在2012年任期退出前，要让美国10%的电力来自可再生的能源，例如风力；并在100万个家庭里安装隔热板，以节约冷暖气使用；并优先兴建阿拉斯加天然气油管等等。这些都需要大批人力。
要创造出高达500万个工作机会是可能的。因为截至2007年底，全美共有177万人从事与石油或天然气相关的工作，不全都是高阶人才，因为其中有半数以上的人是在加油站工作。《华尔街日报》指出，每投资1元在可更新能源或提升能源效率上比投资在石油和天然气能创造出4倍的工作。“绿领工作”不怕流失，因为气候变迁已是全球趋势，加上能增加美国的能源安全以及减少对外国能源的依赖，而能源是美国经济的基础，所以绿领工作机会是有增无减。
见全文： http://www.washingtonobserver.org/lifestyle_show.aspx?id=2864
亚军，《华盛顿观察》周刊(http://www.WashingtonObserver.org) 第2期，1/14/2009
apolloalliance.org
美国现在失业潮是34以年来最惨的一次，11月失业人数暴增至53万人，远远高过预期的34万，并且还继续恶化中，工作机会在哪里？
“世界在变，总统也在变，”南加州华人环保协会会长容跃说，“奥巴马要用环保创造出许多就业机会！”确实，奥巴马在竞选时信誓旦旦，要投下1,500亿美元，在10年间创造出500万个工作机会，其中多是与节能环保相关的“绿领工作”。“这些工作不必非得是环保、科技专家才行，许多工作华人都能做，一定要趁这机会把握。”南加州空气管理局副局长张林怡表示。
“绿领工作”是什么？不同于付出劳力会被外包的“蓝领工作”，坐办公室会被裁员的“白领工作”，“绿领工作”是成长快速、不怕被裁员的工作，除了专业研发人员外，更包含安装隔热板（insulation）替住家节省能源的安装师傅、建造风力发电机替换燃煤发电厂的人员、还有建造绿色建筑或能源网络的建筑工。
奥巴马在竞选时承诺：在2012年任期退出前，要让美国10%的电力来自可再生的能源，例如风力；并在100万个家庭里安装隔热板，以节约冷暖气使用；并优先兴建阿拉斯加天然气油管等等。这些都需要大批人力。
要创造出高达500万个工作机会是可能的。因为截至2007年底，全美共有177万人从事与石油或天然气相关的工作，不全都是高阶人才，因为其中有半数以上的人是在加油站工作。《华尔街日报》指出，每投资1元在可更新能源或提升能源效率上比投资在石油和天然气能创造出4倍的工作。“绿领工作”不怕流失，因为气候变迁已是全球趋势，加上能增加美国的能源安全以及减少对外国能源的依赖，而能源是美国经济的基础，所以绿领工作机会是有增无减。
见全文： http://www.washingtonobserver.org/lifestyle_show.aspx?id=2864
亚军，《华盛顿观察》周刊(http://www.WashingtonObserver.org) 第2期，1/14/2009
2009年1月13日星期二
Frequent business travelers list favorite hotels
By Gary Stoller, USA TODAY
Tony Goddard was grumpy as he entered his room at the Beijing Hilton after a tough workday two years ago.
He was alone on his 42nd birthday, and his urgent business trip to China had also made him miss Father's Day with his family.
TELL US: Other than location, what hotel criterion matters the most to you when you're traveling and why?
The unhappiness disappeared when the executive from Tully, N.Y., noticed a large birthday cake with his name on it and a card. Hotel staff apparently spotted his birth date on his passport.
"That was pretty neat," recalls Goddard, whose company sells machines to build aircraft. "That was over and above the usual service a hotel provides."
Many travelers choose a hotel based on location, but it often takes something more — maybe extra service, amenities or luxury — before a hotel becomes a favorite.
USA TODAY interviewed 360 frequent business travelers and asked them for their favorites. The travelers — who occasionally respond to travel questions as part of the newspaper's Road Warrior Panel — spent nearly 44,000 nights in hotels last year, or an average of 122 nights per person.
Their favorites are located everywhere around the world and range from luxurious lodgings to inexpensive chain hotels.
Freebies, courtesy count
For Goddard, who has stayed at the Beijing Hilton on at least 40 trips, the birthday wishes aren't the only reason it became a favorite.
On arrival, the hotel routinely upgrades him to a suite and gives him an assortment of freebies, including a bottle of wine, candies, cashews and flowers. Plus, the hotel general manager writes a personal welcome-back letter.
Consultant Steve Miller of Federal Way, Wash., recalls a single incident that helped make the Muse Hotel in New York his favorite. He ran out of toothpaste one morning and made a mental note to buy more.
When he returned hours later to the boutique hotel near Times Square, a new tube of toothpaste was on the bathroom counter. A note from the housekeeper said: " 'Dear Mr. Miller, I noticed you ran out of toothpaste, so I took the liberty of replacing it for you,' " Miller says.
"I've stayed in hotels around the world, including many five-star hotels," says Miller, who spent 76 nights in hotels last year and at least 100 nights annually in hotels the prior 23 years. "I've never had that happen before."
A more famous New York hotel — the Waldorf-Astoria — and Chicago's Palmer House were cited most often as favorites by the frequent travelers who were surveyed.
Coy Stout of Moss Beach, Calif., says he likes the Waldorf because it's an "Art Deco giant" with rooms "bigger than most Manhattan apartments." He appreciates the hotel's special reception desk for elite members of Hilton's frequent-guest program.
"My favorite thing about the Waldorf-Astoria," says Stout, who works in the biotech industry, "is a leisurely Saturday morning room-service breakfast served off fine china and white linen."
The Palmer House has "great, Old World charm" and "impeccable service," says Peter Juhren of Salem, Ore., who works in the construction equipment industry. It also has the "fastest room service of any full-service hotel I have stayed in."
Dependability of chains
Some business travelers say they travel so frequently that's it's all a blur, and they cannot single out a favorite. Others have a favorite chain and say there is little difference between hotels.
Nancy Ilk of Tucson says Marriott's Courtyard hotels are "great for the business traveler," with rooms always well maintained and clean. "The desk in the room is substantial, and the Internet connection is dependable and free," says Ilk, who works in the health care software industry. "Many of the Courtyards are new or recently remodeled, and some are in historic buildings like bank buildings in San Diego and Washington, D.C."
The Courtyard By Marriott in Kingston, N.Y., is the favorite of Kenn Marash, a horse show announcer from Harford Mills, N.Y., who stays at hotels about 280 nights a year. The rooms are very comfortable and stylish, "with different colors of paint, lots of real wood, curves on the spacious desk and recessed lights above."
"The back side of the hotel looks out over the edge of the Hudson Valley, offering a spectacular view of the Catskill Mountains," he says.
Like some travelers, Marash says, "My schedule doesn't leave any time for leisure travel," so he cannot recommend a favorite vacation hotel.
Others have plenty of recommendations.
For Chuck Stein, an economic development consultant in Dublin, Ohio, nothing in the USA beats the La Quinta Resort & Club near Palm Springs, Calif. The resort is "somewhat off the beaten path" and has 41 pools, five golf courses and rooms with tile floors and fireplaces.
"The linens are elegant, and the rooms are immaculate," Stein says. "There's consistently outstanding service and good value for the price."
The favorite of frequent traveler Susan Jacobsen of Alexandria, Va., is on one of the world's most beaten paths, the Las Vegas Strip. She says The Venetian has the best spa in the country and raves about the hotel's "attention to details, focus on luxury, consistently excellent food and fabulous pool area." Says Jacobsen, who works for a lawyers trade group, "I always feel like the red carpet is rolled out for me during my stay."
Tony Goddard was grumpy as he entered his room at the Beijing Hilton after a tough workday two years ago.
He was alone on his 42nd birthday, and his urgent business trip to China had also made him miss Father's Day with his family.
TELL US: Other than location, what hotel criterion matters the most to you when you're traveling and why?
The unhappiness disappeared when the executive from Tully, N.Y., noticed a large birthday cake with his name on it and a card. Hotel staff apparently spotted his birth date on his passport.
"That was pretty neat," recalls Goddard, whose company sells machines to build aircraft. "That was over and above the usual service a hotel provides."
Many travelers choose a hotel based on location, but it often takes something more — maybe extra service, amenities or luxury — before a hotel becomes a favorite.
USA TODAY interviewed 360 frequent business travelers and asked them for their favorites. The travelers — who occasionally respond to travel questions as part of the newspaper's Road Warrior Panel — spent nearly 44,000 nights in hotels last year, or an average of 122 nights per person.
Their favorites are located everywhere around the world and range from luxurious lodgings to inexpensive chain hotels.
Freebies, courtesy count
For Goddard, who has stayed at the Beijing Hilton on at least 40 trips, the birthday wishes aren't the only reason it became a favorite.
On arrival, the hotel routinely upgrades him to a suite and gives him an assortment of freebies, including a bottle of wine, candies, cashews and flowers. Plus, the hotel general manager writes a personal welcome-back letter.
Consultant Steve Miller of Federal Way, Wash., recalls a single incident that helped make the Muse Hotel in New York his favorite. He ran out of toothpaste one morning and made a mental note to buy more.
When he returned hours later to the boutique hotel near Times Square, a new tube of toothpaste was on the bathroom counter. A note from the housekeeper said: " 'Dear Mr. Miller, I noticed you ran out of toothpaste, so I took the liberty of replacing it for you,' " Miller says.
"I've stayed in hotels around the world, including many five-star hotels," says Miller, who spent 76 nights in hotels last year and at least 100 nights annually in hotels the prior 23 years. "I've never had that happen before."
A more famous New York hotel — the Waldorf-Astoria — and Chicago's Palmer House were cited most often as favorites by the frequent travelers who were surveyed.
Coy Stout of Moss Beach, Calif., says he likes the Waldorf because it's an "Art Deco giant" with rooms "bigger than most Manhattan apartments." He appreciates the hotel's special reception desk for elite members of Hilton's frequent-guest program.
"My favorite thing about the Waldorf-Astoria," says Stout, who works in the biotech industry, "is a leisurely Saturday morning room-service breakfast served off fine china and white linen."
The Palmer House has "great, Old World charm" and "impeccable service," says Peter Juhren of Salem, Ore., who works in the construction equipment industry. It also has the "fastest room service of any full-service hotel I have stayed in."
Dependability of chains
Some business travelers say they travel so frequently that's it's all a blur, and they cannot single out a favorite. Others have a favorite chain and say there is little difference between hotels.
Nancy Ilk of Tucson says Marriott's Courtyard hotels are "great for the business traveler," with rooms always well maintained and clean. "The desk in the room is substantial, and the Internet connection is dependable and free," says Ilk, who works in the health care software industry. "Many of the Courtyards are new or recently remodeled, and some are in historic buildings like bank buildings in San Diego and Washington, D.C."
The Courtyard By Marriott in Kingston, N.Y., is the favorite of Kenn Marash, a horse show announcer from Harford Mills, N.Y., who stays at hotels about 280 nights a year. The rooms are very comfortable and stylish, "with different colors of paint, lots of real wood, curves on the spacious desk and recessed lights above."
"The back side of the hotel looks out over the edge of the Hudson Valley, offering a spectacular view of the Catskill Mountains," he says.
Like some travelers, Marash says, "My schedule doesn't leave any time for leisure travel," so he cannot recommend a favorite vacation hotel.
Others have plenty of recommendations.
For Chuck Stein, an economic development consultant in Dublin, Ohio, nothing in the USA beats the La Quinta Resort & Club near Palm Springs, Calif. The resort is "somewhat off the beaten path" and has 41 pools, five golf courses and rooms with tile floors and fireplaces.
"The linens are elegant, and the rooms are immaculate," Stein says. "There's consistently outstanding service and good value for the price."
The favorite of frequent traveler Susan Jacobsen of Alexandria, Va., is on one of the world's most beaten paths, the Las Vegas Strip. She says The Venetian has the best spa in the country and raves about the hotel's "attention to details, focus on luxury, consistently excellent food and fabulous pool area." Says Jacobsen, who works for a lawyers trade group, "I always feel like the red carpet is rolled out for me during my stay."
2009年1月12日星期一
女人 women
If you kiss her, you are not a gentleman
如果你亲她, 那你就没有绅士风度
If you don't, you are not a man
可是如果你不亲她, 那你就不算男子汉!
If you praise her, she thinks you are lying
如果你赞美她, 她会认为你只是在奉承她
If you don't, you are good for nothing
但要是你不赞美她, 那你就一无是处了!
If you agree to all her likes, you are a wimp
如果你完全同她的话, 那你真无能。
If you don't, you are not understanding
要是你不同意, 那就表示你根本不了解。
If you make romance, you are an 'experienced man'
假如你把气氛控制的很浪漫, 你就一定是情场老手。
If you don't you are half a man
如果不是, 那你根本还不够成熟。
If you visit her too often, she thinks it is boring
如果你太常去找她, 她会觉得烦腻。
If you don't, she accuses you of double-crossing
但是如果你不去找她, 她会责备你欺骗她的感情。
If you are well dressed, she says you are a playboy
你要是穿的帅一点, 她会说你是花花公子。
If you don't, you are a dull boy
穿的破烂点, 那你又是笨头笨脑的家伙。
If you are jealous, she says it's bad
如果你吃醋, 她会说这样是不对的。
If you don't , she thinks you do not love her
可是如果你完全不吃醋, 她又会认为你根本不爱她。
If you attempt a romance, she says you didn't respect her
你如你试图对她调情, 她会认为你不尊重她。
If you don't, she thinks you do not like her
但要是你一直规规矩矩的, 她又会觉得你不喜欢她。
If you are a minute late, she complains it's hard to wait
你若是迟到一分钟, 她会抱怨等的多累多苦。
If she is late, she says that's a girl's way
要是她自己迟到了, 她会说女孩子约会迟到是理所当然的。
If you visit another man, you're not putting in "quality time"
如果你去找你的朋友, 她说你乱花时间。
If she is visited by another woman, "oh it's natural, we are girls"
如果是她, 她会说 "喔, 这很自然啊, 女孩子都是这样。
If you kiss her once in a while, she professes you are cold
如果你偶而才吻她一下, 她会到处说你这人很冷漠。
If you kiss her often, she yells that you are taking advantage
如果你经常吻她, 她会大叫说你吃她豆腐。
If you fail to help her in crossing the street, you lack ethics
如果你过马路的时候没有照顾她, 那你这人缺乏道德。
If you do, she thinks it's just one of men's tactics for seduction
要是你小心照顾她过马路, 她又会说这是男人的花招。
If you stare at another woman, she accuses you of flirting
你若是凝视某个女人, 她会指责你是到处对女生调情。
If she is stared by other men, she says that they are just admiring
如果是其他男人瞪着她看, 她会说他们只是欣赏而已。
If you talk, she wants you to listen
如果你跟她说话, 她希望你只要听就好。
If you listen, she wants you to talk
如果你只倾听, 她又要你和她说话。
Oh God! you created those creature called "WOMAN'
上天啊, 你创照了这些叫做女人的生物。
So simple, yet so complex
既简单又复杂。
So weak, yet so powerful
如此柔弱, 却又如此强悍。
So confusing, yet so desirable
让人又恼又爱。
So damning, yet so wonderful...
真伤人又奇妙。
如果你亲她, 那你就没有绅士风度
If you don't, you are not a man
可是如果你不亲她, 那你就不算男子汉!
If you praise her, she thinks you are lying
如果你赞美她, 她会认为你只是在奉承她
If you don't, you are good for nothing
但要是你不赞美她, 那你就一无是处了!
If you agree to all her likes, you are a wimp
如果你完全同她的话, 那你真无能。
If you don't, you are not understanding
要是你不同意, 那就表示你根本不了解。
If you make romance, you are an 'experienced man'
假如你把气氛控制的很浪漫, 你就一定是情场老手。
If you don't you are half a man
如果不是, 那你根本还不够成熟。
If you visit her too often, she thinks it is boring
如果你太常去找她, 她会觉得烦腻。
If you don't, she accuses you of double-crossing
但是如果你不去找她, 她会责备你欺骗她的感情。
If you are well dressed, she says you are a playboy
你要是穿的帅一点, 她会说你是花花公子。
If you don't, you are a dull boy
穿的破烂点, 那你又是笨头笨脑的家伙。
If you are jealous, she says it's bad
如果你吃醋, 她会说这样是不对的。
If you don't , she thinks you do not love her
可是如果你完全不吃醋, 她又会认为你根本不爱她。
If you attempt a romance, she says you didn't respect her
你如你试图对她调情, 她会认为你不尊重她。
If you don't, she thinks you do not like her
但要是你一直规规矩矩的, 她又会觉得你不喜欢她。
If you are a minute late, she complains it's hard to wait
你若是迟到一分钟, 她会抱怨等的多累多苦。
If she is late, she says that's a girl's way
要是她自己迟到了, 她会说女孩子约会迟到是理所当然的。
If you visit another man, you're not putting in "quality time"
如果你去找你的朋友, 她说你乱花时间。
If she is visited by another woman, "oh it's natural, we are girls"
如果是她, 她会说 "喔, 这很自然啊, 女孩子都是这样。
If you kiss her once in a while, she professes you are cold
如果你偶而才吻她一下, 她会到处说你这人很冷漠。
If you kiss her often, she yells that you are taking advantage
如果你经常吻她, 她会大叫说你吃她豆腐。
If you fail to help her in crossing the street, you lack ethics
如果你过马路的时候没有照顾她, 那你这人缺乏道德。
If you do, she thinks it's just one of men's tactics for seduction
要是你小心照顾她过马路, 她又会说这是男人的花招。
If you stare at another woman, she accuses you of flirting
你若是凝视某个女人, 她会指责你是到处对女生调情。
If she is stared by other men, she says that they are just admiring
如果是其他男人瞪着她看, 她会说他们只是欣赏而已。
If you talk, she wants you to listen
如果你跟她说话, 她希望你只要听就好。
If you listen, she wants you to talk
如果你只倾听, 她又要你和她说话。
Oh God! you created those creature called "WOMAN'
上天啊, 你创照了这些叫做女人的生物。
So simple, yet so complex
既简单又复杂。
So weak, yet so powerful
如此柔弱, 却又如此强悍。
So confusing, yet so desirable
让人又恼又爱。
So damning, yet so wonderful...
真伤人又奇妙。
Laid off? Consider free job training
Gerri Willis offers tips on re-starting your career in the changing job market.
By Gerri Willis, CNN
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Over two and a half million Americans lost their job last year. And more job cuts are expected this year. If you find yourself out of work, retraining may be the only option. Here is where you can find help free right now.
1. Turn to Uncle Sam
The Department of Labor sponsors a Web site called Careeronestop.org. You can find a list of industries with the largest employment and those projected to grow the fastest. You'll also be able to find employment and wage information.
There's also an education finder so you can locate colleges and schools that offer programs in your field of interest. If you don't have a computer, The U.S. Department of Labor can provide this information over the phone. Call 1-877-US-2JOBS.
2. Think non-profit
Your local Goodwill organization is also a good resource for you if you've been out of work for a long time, you have disabilities or a lack of education.
Goodwill organizations train people for jobs in IT, health care, retail, banking and landscape. On its Web site, the organization says it places someone in a good job every 53 seconds. As part of its career services, Goodwill helps people conduct job searches, write resumes and practice their interviewing skills.
While they're looking for permanent work, job seekers can also be placed in temporary Goodwill jobs - like the retail stores. To find your local Goodwill, check out http://locator.goodwill.org.
3. Resources for older workers
If you are over 55 and meet income requirements AARP has a Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). This program is free of charge and AARP staff will assess your job skills and interests, connect you with training, help you update your resume and provide you with job leads with employers.
As part of the program you will also work part time for a host agency for at least minimum wage. During this time, AARP will work with you to find a permanent part-time or full-time job. For more information, or to find a SCSEP program in your area, go to aarp.org and enter in SCSEP in the search tool.
4. Start your own business
Perhaps you've always wanted to be your own boss. Maybe now is the time to explore that dream. Go to the US Small Business Administration Web site at sba.gov. Here you'll be able to download online courses with topics that range from how to start your own business to preparing a business plan and building your Web site to tips on winning customers in a down economy.
By Gerri Willis, CNN
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Over two and a half million Americans lost their job last year. And more job cuts are expected this year. If you find yourself out of work, retraining may be the only option. Here is where you can find help free right now.
1. Turn to Uncle Sam
The Department of Labor sponsors a Web site called Careeronestop.org. You can find a list of industries with the largest employment and those projected to grow the fastest. You'll also be able to find employment and wage information.
There's also an education finder so you can locate colleges and schools that offer programs in your field of interest. If you don't have a computer, The U.S. Department of Labor can provide this information over the phone. Call 1-877-US-2JOBS.
2. Think non-profit
Your local Goodwill organization is also a good resource for you if you've been out of work for a long time, you have disabilities or a lack of education.
Goodwill organizations train people for jobs in IT, health care, retail, banking and landscape. On its Web site, the organization says it places someone in a good job every 53 seconds. As part of its career services, Goodwill helps people conduct job searches, write resumes and practice their interviewing skills.
While they're looking for permanent work, job seekers can also be placed in temporary Goodwill jobs - like the retail stores. To find your local Goodwill, check out http://locator.goodwill.org.
3. Resources for older workers
If you are over 55 and meet income requirements AARP has a Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). This program is free of charge and AARP staff will assess your job skills and interests, connect you with training, help you update your resume and provide you with job leads with employers.
As part of the program you will also work part time for a host agency for at least minimum wage. During this time, AARP will work with you to find a permanent part-time or full-time job. For more information, or to find a SCSEP program in your area, go to aarp.org and enter in SCSEP in the search tool.
4. Start your own business
Perhaps you've always wanted to be your own boss. Maybe now is the time to explore that dream. Go to the US Small Business Administration Web site at sba.gov. Here you'll be able to download online courses with topics that range from how to start your own business to preparing a business plan and building your Web site to tips on winning customers in a down economy.
Airlines go 2 years with no fatalities
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
For the first time since the dawn of the jet age, two consecutive years have passed without a single airline passenger death in a U.S. carrier crash.
No passengers died in accidents in 2007 and 2008, a period in which commercial airliners carried 1.5 billion passengers on scheduled airline flights, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal and industry data.
One major accident occurred during that time, last month's crash of a Continental Airlines jet in Denver.
Going without a crash fatality for a full year has been rare. Only four years since 1958 have passed without a passenger fatality, the analysis found. That makes the two-year string even more impressive, aviation safety experts say.
"It's a new record," says Arnold Barnett, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who has written extensively about airline fatality risks.
"While it doesn't mean risk is now non-existent," Barnett says, "it certainly means they have done a fantastic job at keeping all these threats at bay."
Barnett calculates that it's more likely for a young child to be elected president in his or her lifetime than to die on a single jet flight in the USA or in similar industrial nations in Europe, Canada or Japan.
"It's just more evidence of what has been the improving safety record that we've seen over the past several years," says Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes aviation safety around the world.
Overall risks of death on an airline flight have dropped dramatically.
Fatality risk fell to 68 per billion fliers this decade, less than half the risk in the 1990s, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data. Since 2002, the risks of dying on a flight plunged to 19 per billion, an 86% drop from the 1990s.
The fiery Continental Airlines crash Dec. 20 in Denver shows it can still be hazardous to fly. The jet turned off a runway while attempting to take off, breaking apart and bursting into flames.
All 115 people aboard escaped as jet fuel burned through the right side of the jet. The crash injured 38 people, five seriously, the NTSB said.
The crash helps illustrate why death rates have fallen, Voss says.
Government requirements during the past two decades have made planes safer in violent impacts and fires, reducing the likelihood of deaths, he says.
Technology improvements, more reliable aircraft and better training also have helped reduce accidents, Voss says.
The lack of fatal crashes creates new challenges for federal regulators and the airline industry. Further safety improvements must come from studying the minor anomalies of everyday flight.
"What we're looking at now is the risks before they manifest themselves into accidents," says Basil Barimo, with the Air Transport Association.
For the first time since the dawn of the jet age, two consecutive years have passed without a single airline passenger death in a U.S. carrier crash.
No passengers died in accidents in 2007 and 2008, a period in which commercial airliners carried 1.5 billion passengers on scheduled airline flights, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal and industry data.
One major accident occurred during that time, last month's crash of a Continental Airlines jet in Denver.
Going without a crash fatality for a full year has been rare. Only four years since 1958 have passed without a passenger fatality, the analysis found. That makes the two-year string even more impressive, aviation safety experts say.
"It's a new record," says Arnold Barnett, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who has written extensively about airline fatality risks.
"While it doesn't mean risk is now non-existent," Barnett says, "it certainly means they have done a fantastic job at keeping all these threats at bay."
Barnett calculates that it's more likely for a young child to be elected president in his or her lifetime than to die on a single jet flight in the USA or in similar industrial nations in Europe, Canada or Japan.
"It's just more evidence of what has been the improving safety record that we've seen over the past several years," says Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes aviation safety around the world.
Overall risks of death on an airline flight have dropped dramatically.
Fatality risk fell to 68 per billion fliers this decade, less than half the risk in the 1990s, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data. Since 2002, the risks of dying on a flight plunged to 19 per billion, an 86% drop from the 1990s.
The fiery Continental Airlines crash Dec. 20 in Denver shows it can still be hazardous to fly. The jet turned off a runway while attempting to take off, breaking apart and bursting into flames.
All 115 people aboard escaped as jet fuel burned through the right side of the jet. The crash injured 38 people, five seriously, the NTSB said.
The crash helps illustrate why death rates have fallen, Voss says.
Government requirements during the past two decades have made planes safer in violent impacts and fires, reducing the likelihood of deaths, he says.
Technology improvements, more reliable aircraft and better training also have helped reduce accidents, Voss says.
The lack of fatal crashes creates new challenges for federal regulators and the airline industry. Further safety improvements must come from studying the minor anomalies of everyday flight.
"What we're looking at now is the risks before they manifest themselves into accidents," says Basil Barimo, with the Air Transport Association.
Golden Globe winners and nominees
(CNN) -- The nominations for the 66th annual Golden Globes are listed below, with winners in bold:
Drama: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire."
Comedy or musical: "Burn After Reading," "Happy-Go-Lucky," "In Bruges," "Mamma Mia!" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
Director: Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Stephen Daldry ("The Reader"), David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon") and Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road").
Actor in a drama: Leonardo DiCaprio ("Revolutionary Road"), Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon"), Sean Penn ("Milk"), Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler").
Actress in a drama: Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), Angelina Jolie ("Changeling"), Meryl Streep ("Doubt"), Kristin Scott Thomas ("I've Loved You Too Long") and Kate Winslet ("Revolutionary Road").
Actor in a comedy or musical: Javier Bardem ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"), James Franco ("Pineapple Express"), Brendan Gleeson ("In Bruges") and Dustin Hoffman ("Last Chance Harvey").
Actress in a comedy or musical: Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Sally Hawkins ("Happy-Go-Lucky"), Frances McDormand ("Burn After Reading"), Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!") and Emma Thompson ("Last Chance Harvey").
Supporting actor: Tom Cruise ("Tropic Thunder"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder"), Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt") and Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight").
Supporting actress: Amy Adams ("Doubt"), Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Viola Davis ("Doubt"), Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader").
Animated film: "Bolt," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Wall-E."
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy ("Slumdog Millionaire"), David Hare ("The Reader"), Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon"), Eric Roth ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and John Patrick Shanley ("Doubt").
Foreign-language film: "Gomorrah," "I've Loved You So Long," "Waltz with Bashir," "The Baader Meinhof Complex,: and "Everlasting Moments."
Original score: James Newton Howard ("Defiance"), Alexandre Desplat ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), A. R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Hans Zimmer ("Frost/Nixon") and Clint Eastwood ("Changeling").
Original song: "Down to Earth" from "Wall-E," "Gran Torino" from "Gran Torino," "I Thought I'd Lost You" from "Bolt," "Once in a Lifetime" from "Cadillac Records" and "The Wrestler" from "The Wrestler."
Television
Best TV comedy series: "30 Rock," "Californication," "Entourage," "The Office" and "Weeds."
Best TV drama series: "Dexter," "House," "In Treatment," "Mad Men" and "True Blood."
Drama: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire."
Comedy or musical: "Burn After Reading," "Happy-Go-Lucky," "In Bruges," "Mamma Mia!" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
Director: Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Stephen Daldry ("The Reader"), David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon") and Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road").
Actor in a drama: Leonardo DiCaprio ("Revolutionary Road"), Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon"), Sean Penn ("Milk"), Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler").
Actress in a drama: Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), Angelina Jolie ("Changeling"), Meryl Streep ("Doubt"), Kristin Scott Thomas ("I've Loved You Too Long") and Kate Winslet ("Revolutionary Road").
Actor in a comedy or musical: Javier Bardem ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"), James Franco ("Pineapple Express"), Brendan Gleeson ("In Bruges") and Dustin Hoffman ("Last Chance Harvey").
Actress in a comedy or musical: Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Sally Hawkins ("Happy-Go-Lucky"), Frances McDormand ("Burn After Reading"), Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!") and Emma Thompson ("Last Chance Harvey").
Supporting actor: Tom Cruise ("Tropic Thunder"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder"), Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt") and Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight").
Supporting actress: Amy Adams ("Doubt"), Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Viola Davis ("Doubt"), Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader").
Animated film: "Bolt," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Wall-E."
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy ("Slumdog Millionaire"), David Hare ("The Reader"), Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon"), Eric Roth ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and John Patrick Shanley ("Doubt").
Foreign-language film: "Gomorrah," "I've Loved You So Long," "Waltz with Bashir," "The Baader Meinhof Complex,: and "Everlasting Moments."
Original score: James Newton Howard ("Defiance"), Alexandre Desplat ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), A. R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Hans Zimmer ("Frost/Nixon") and Clint Eastwood ("Changeling").
Original song: "Down to Earth" from "Wall-E," "Gran Torino" from "Gran Torino," "I Thought I'd Lost You" from "Bolt," "Once in a Lifetime" from "Cadillac Records" and "The Wrestler" from "The Wrestler."
Television
Best TV comedy series: "30 Rock," "Californication," "Entourage," "The Office" and "Weeds."
Best TV drama series: "Dexter," "House," "In Treatment," "Mad Men" and "True Blood."
Flooding becomes routine in Puget Sound region
As nature's buffers disappear, flooding becomes routine in Puget Sound region
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter
Winter flooding has become nearly as predictable as the rain in the Puget Sound region, where an ever-less natural landscape has lost its ability to absorb big storms.
"Just when you get over one, you are in another," King County Executive Ron Sims said of the floods. "I would like to think this isn't going to be as frequent, but these are going to be events not separated by decades, but by years."
Josh Baldi, who is helping to lead Puget Sound policy for the state Department of Ecology, sees in last week's flooding a legacy of land use that is exacting a predictable punishment.
"Every year it is like we have forgotten what happened the year before," Baldi said. "We have seen a crisis response, but not a policy response.
"You have to ask, how do we get out in front of this, what should we be doing differently?"
The floods show the need to protect what's left in the Puget Sound basin of nature's way of running water downhill in big storms, experts say.
Everything in the natural landscape slows and absorbs runoff, beginning with trees and soils. Western Washington's low-elevation forests are among the best in the world for timber production — and better than shopping malls, subdivisions, or roads at slowing and absorbing rain.
Yet as development presses out into the suburbs, we are losing lowland forests in the Puget Sound region.
"You fly over Snohomish County, and it looks like a forest by day, but by night, you see all the lights," said Brian Boyle, former state commissioner of public lands. "It's been subdivided.
"Kitsap County is gone. The forest may look like trees, but it's not a forest."
Statewide, about 1.2 million acres of forestland, almost all of it privately owned, converted to other land uses including development from the late 1970s to 2002, a little more than the acreage of Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks combined, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Every year in Western Washington, about 24,000 acres, or an area of working forests almost half the size of Seattle, mostly on private land, is converted to rural-residential and urban development, according to Luke Rogers at the UW College of Forest Resources.
The rivers themselves also have been altered, reducing their ability to manage high water. In King County alone, more than $7 billion worth of development was built over time in the floodplain, according to a county estimate in 2007.
King County has since been changing its development policies to greatly restrict development in the floodplain, and to buy out and remove some homes and mobile-home parks to move residents out of harm's way.
The county has also adopted a more work-with-nature approach to flood management, even taking out some levees to give rivers room to move.
But with so much valuable development already here, there is limited opportunity to restore natural conditions.
Rivers used to meander and to be able to stretch out in high water, filling their floodplains. And they used to be filled with large logs that created thousands of waterfalls in the main channel, dissipating the water's energy as it flowed to Puget Sound.
Not anymore.
Straightened, cut off from their side-channels, and straitjacketed in levees, their floodplains diked, filled, and developed, urban rivers like the lower Puyallup today are more ditch than river.
Less forestland, more development and altered rivers mean when big storms come, the natural landscape can't slow down the water, and soak it up. Instead of dissipating into the ecosystem over days, the rain becomes a flood of runoff, sluicing and blasting off roofs, pavement, and barreling down — and out — of rivers with no where to put it all.
"Every couple of years we have this, and I tell the same story," said Robert Naiman, a University of Washington professor and an expert on rivers. "Yet we continue to build and allow expensive structures and roads into floodplains, and we try to unnaturally constrain the rivers into something they won't do."
To some, the floods are a wake-up call from a stressed ecosystem. "There is such a legacy of how we developed the land in the 1950s, and we are not talking about a few missteps, we are talking about decades," said Derek Booth, a hydrologist and UW affiliate professor in geology and civil engineering.
"We don't notice the everyday degradation of our waterways," Booth said. "But we sure notice it when everything busts out."
Some experts predict the situation could get worse as the climate warms, bringing more rain, less snow. Cutting forests and paving lowlands also means more, and faster runoff.
"A warming climate shifts the mix of precipitation from snow to more rain," said State Climatologist Philip Mote. "And if you cut down all the trees and turn meadows into Wal-Mart parking lots, you are going to increase flood risk, no matter what the climate does. You can't say how the flood risk will change in certain areas, but the prudent thing to do now is allow for a range of possibilities before pouring concrete."
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter
Winter flooding has become nearly as predictable as the rain in the Puget Sound region, where an ever-less natural landscape has lost its ability to absorb big storms.
"Just when you get over one, you are in another," King County Executive Ron Sims said of the floods. "I would like to think this isn't going to be as frequent, but these are going to be events not separated by decades, but by years."
Josh Baldi, who is helping to lead Puget Sound policy for the state Department of Ecology, sees in last week's flooding a legacy of land use that is exacting a predictable punishment.
"Every year it is like we have forgotten what happened the year before," Baldi said. "We have seen a crisis response, but not a policy response.
"You have to ask, how do we get out in front of this, what should we be doing differently?"
The floods show the need to protect what's left in the Puget Sound basin of nature's way of running water downhill in big storms, experts say.
Everything in the natural landscape slows and absorbs runoff, beginning with trees and soils. Western Washington's low-elevation forests are among the best in the world for timber production — and better than shopping malls, subdivisions, or roads at slowing and absorbing rain.
Yet as development presses out into the suburbs, we are losing lowland forests in the Puget Sound region.
"You fly over Snohomish County, and it looks like a forest by day, but by night, you see all the lights," said Brian Boyle, former state commissioner of public lands. "It's been subdivided.
"Kitsap County is gone. The forest may look like trees, but it's not a forest."
Statewide, about 1.2 million acres of forestland, almost all of it privately owned, converted to other land uses including development from the late 1970s to 2002, a little more than the acreage of Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks combined, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Every year in Western Washington, about 24,000 acres, or an area of working forests almost half the size of Seattle, mostly on private land, is converted to rural-residential and urban development, according to Luke Rogers at the UW College of Forest Resources.
The rivers themselves also have been altered, reducing their ability to manage high water. In King County alone, more than $7 billion worth of development was built over time in the floodplain, according to a county estimate in 2007.
King County has since been changing its development policies to greatly restrict development in the floodplain, and to buy out and remove some homes and mobile-home parks to move residents out of harm's way.
The county has also adopted a more work-with-nature approach to flood management, even taking out some levees to give rivers room to move.
But with so much valuable development already here, there is limited opportunity to restore natural conditions.
Rivers used to meander and to be able to stretch out in high water, filling their floodplains. And they used to be filled with large logs that created thousands of waterfalls in the main channel, dissipating the water's energy as it flowed to Puget Sound.
Not anymore.
Straightened, cut off from their side-channels, and straitjacketed in levees, their floodplains diked, filled, and developed, urban rivers like the lower Puyallup today are more ditch than river.
Less forestland, more development and altered rivers mean when big storms come, the natural landscape can't slow down the water, and soak it up. Instead of dissipating into the ecosystem over days, the rain becomes a flood of runoff, sluicing and blasting off roofs, pavement, and barreling down — and out — of rivers with no where to put it all.
"Every couple of years we have this, and I tell the same story," said Robert Naiman, a University of Washington professor and an expert on rivers. "Yet we continue to build and allow expensive structures and roads into floodplains, and we try to unnaturally constrain the rivers into something they won't do."
To some, the floods are a wake-up call from a stressed ecosystem. "There is such a legacy of how we developed the land in the 1950s, and we are not talking about a few missteps, we are talking about decades," said Derek Booth, a hydrologist and UW affiliate professor in geology and civil engineering.
"We don't notice the everyday degradation of our waterways," Booth said. "But we sure notice it when everything busts out."
Some experts predict the situation could get worse as the climate warms, bringing more rain, less snow. Cutting forests and paving lowlands also means more, and faster runoff.
"A warming climate shifts the mix of precipitation from snow to more rain," said State Climatologist Philip Mote. "And if you cut down all the trees and turn meadows into Wal-Mart parking lots, you are going to increase flood risk, no matter what the climate does. You can't say how the flood risk will change in certain areas, but the prudent thing to do now is allow for a range of possibilities before pouring concrete."
2009年1月9日星期五
China's Net users take aim online
By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
BEIJING — Vigilant Internet users spotted news photos of a housing official and posted heated online discussions about his $15,000 Swiss watch and $22-a-pack cigarettes.
Two weeks later, Zhou Juigeng in Nanjing was fired. He is under investigation for an apparent "lavish lifestyle" that exceeds his government salary, according to the state-run China Daily.
The case illustrates how China's Internet users, operating in groups, can go after people they think have done something wrong by putting information about them online and allowing others to join in the harassment.
The phenomenon, in a country that heavily censors the Internet, has an unusual name — "human flesh search engine" — a Chinese phrase describing how individuals are hunted down and exposed on the Web.
"The frequency and variety of human flesh searches really flowered (last year), ranging from exposure of misbehaving children and corrupt officials to the nationalistic chasing down of people connected to the Tibetan riots," says Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei.org, a website focused on China's media.
"The searches can reveal corruption and corporate malfeasance, and issues that should be aired in an open society," he says. "But it is by nature a sensationalist phenomenon that can invade people's privacy."
China has more Internet users than any other nation: more than 250 million. These searches provide a form of grass-roots democracy in a communist country that tightly controls the news and public debate.
The Chinese government blocks access to many websites it considers subversive or too political. This week, the government launched a one-month campaign to delete vulgar and pornographic content from China's websites — but the power of human flesh searches is recognized.
People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, posted a list from Internet user Lan Feng of the top nine cases of corrupt officials overthrown by the Internet in 2008. Recent articles by the state-run Xinhua News Agency herald the new cyberpower: "Chinese netizens flex their muscles in 2008," and "Free voices on Internet new path to democracy in China."
Typical human flesh searches on Mop.com, a popular Chinese website, included a hunt for the identity of a pretty woman photographed on a Guangzhou bus and for a stall owner at Changsha railway station accused of bilking rail users of their change.
Six officials in Hengyang in Hunan province who were asleep during a speech commemorating China's 30th anniversary of economic changes last month were fired after people raised a ruckus online, Xinhua says.
Some searches turn ugly fast.
Wang Fei, a former employee of the Beijing office of advertiser Saatchi & Saatchi, won China's first court case last month against a human flesh search engine.
He was the target of harassment and death threats — including some painted on his parents' door — because his wife committed suicide after learning he had an affair. His wife's diary describing her pain was later posted online.
Wang sued an individual and a website that led the cybermanhunt reviling him and won $1,400. Justice "has been done with this result," says Wang's lawyer, Zhang Yanfeng.
The court decision could force Internet providers "to pay more attention to improper comments by their users," Zhang says. "You cannot violate other people's right to privacy and right of reputation."
Liu Renwen, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, says new laws are needed.
"The level of privacy protection shows the development of a civilized society in any country," he says, "but ethics on the Internet have yet to be established in China."
BEIJING — Vigilant Internet users spotted news photos of a housing official and posted heated online discussions about his $15,000 Swiss watch and $22-a-pack cigarettes.
Two weeks later, Zhou Juigeng in Nanjing was fired. He is under investigation for an apparent "lavish lifestyle" that exceeds his government salary, according to the state-run China Daily.
The case illustrates how China's Internet users, operating in groups, can go after people they think have done something wrong by putting information about them online and allowing others to join in the harassment.
The phenomenon, in a country that heavily censors the Internet, has an unusual name — "human flesh search engine" — a Chinese phrase describing how individuals are hunted down and exposed on the Web.
"The frequency and variety of human flesh searches really flowered (last year), ranging from exposure of misbehaving children and corrupt officials to the nationalistic chasing down of people connected to the Tibetan riots," says Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei.org, a website focused on China's media.
"The searches can reveal corruption and corporate malfeasance, and issues that should be aired in an open society," he says. "But it is by nature a sensationalist phenomenon that can invade people's privacy."
China has more Internet users than any other nation: more than 250 million. These searches provide a form of grass-roots democracy in a communist country that tightly controls the news and public debate.
The Chinese government blocks access to many websites it considers subversive or too political. This week, the government launched a one-month campaign to delete vulgar and pornographic content from China's websites — but the power of human flesh searches is recognized.
People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, posted a list from Internet user Lan Feng of the top nine cases of corrupt officials overthrown by the Internet in 2008. Recent articles by the state-run Xinhua News Agency herald the new cyberpower: "Chinese netizens flex their muscles in 2008," and "Free voices on Internet new path to democracy in China."
Typical human flesh searches on Mop.com, a popular Chinese website, included a hunt for the identity of a pretty woman photographed on a Guangzhou bus and for a stall owner at Changsha railway station accused of bilking rail users of their change.
Six officials in Hengyang in Hunan province who were asleep during a speech commemorating China's 30th anniversary of economic changes last month were fired after people raised a ruckus online, Xinhua says.
Some searches turn ugly fast.
Wang Fei, a former employee of the Beijing office of advertiser Saatchi & Saatchi, won China's first court case last month against a human flesh search engine.
He was the target of harassment and death threats — including some painted on his parents' door — because his wife committed suicide after learning he had an affair. His wife's diary describing her pain was later posted online.
Wang sued an individual and a website that led the cybermanhunt reviling him and won $1,400. Justice "has been done with this result," says Wang's lawyer, Zhang Yanfeng.
The court decision could force Internet providers "to pay more attention to improper comments by their users," Zhang says. "You cannot violate other people's right to privacy and right of reputation."
Liu Renwen, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, says new laws are needed.
"The level of privacy protection shows the development of a civilized society in any country," he says, "but ethics on the Internet have yet to be established in China."
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