not nearly as good as the original, but it does have it's way....
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Memphis... We have a Problem
$900 Million for new Signs at Kinkos? WTF!!
FedEx Swings to Loss
Filed at 1:17 p.m. ET
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- FedEx Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss Wednesday and offered a gloomy outlook as it wrestles with a slumping U.S. economy beset by soaring fuel costs and falling prices for homes.
FedEx, considered a bellwether for the broader U.S. economy, predicted 2009 earnings of $4.75 to $5.25 per share, well below Wall Street expectations of $5.92 a share. The international package delivery company expects to earn 80 cents to $1 per share in the first-quarter of the current fiscal year. Analysts forecast $1.27 per share.
''Looking ahead to '09, we do expect conditions to remain extremely challenging and we anticipate in both the first quarter guidance and the yearly target the current economic weakness will continue and the current level of fuel costs will not mitigate,'' chief financial officer Alan Graf said in a conference call with market analysts.
FedEx posted a loss for the just-ended fourth period of 78 cents a share, or $241 million, compared with a profit of $610 million, or $1.96 per share, for the same quarter last year.
Excluding one-time charges, FedEx earned $1.45 per share for the fourth quarter. Revenue rose 8 percent to $9.87 billion from $9.15 billion a year earlier.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected $1.47 per share on revenue of $9.6 billion.
FedEx, which owns the world's largest cargo airline, spend almost $1.4 billion on fuel in the fourth quarter and those costs represented 14 percent of total operating expenses, said Edward Jones analyst Dan Ortwerth.
FedEx customers pay fuel surcharges, but that does not cover all of the increases. The company's fuel costs for the quarter were 54 percent higher than for the same period last year, Ortwerth said, while the surcharges were up less than 30 percent.
''They don't try to recover the entire increase in fuel because that would really hurt the customer and they have the sense to invest in long-term customer relations,'' he said.
But higher costs for fuel mean higher prices for FedEx services.
''The prices have gotten high enough that people are looking for other ways to ship their goods,'' said Morgan Keegan analyst Art Hatfield.
The fuel surcharges, which are added to the company's basic shipping rates, were 28 percent for June and will increase to 32.5 percent in July, Hatfield said.
''So for every dollar you spend to move a product, you're spending an extra 32 and a half cents because of fuel,'' he said.
The generally sluggish economy, with high fuel cost adding to the troubles, also slows inventory and product shipping by business and industry.
''The weak U.S. economy, particularly in housing, in automotive and financial services, dampened volume growth and substantially affected our bottom line,'' FedEx chairman Frederick W. Smith said.
Smith said, however, that FedEx was confident it could weather the domestic economic troubles by holding down expenses, limiting capital spending and continuing to grow the company's international business.
Fourth-quarter earnings included a one-time charge of $891 million for the expected costs of renaming the company's office service and copying division from FedEx Kinko's to FedEx Office.
FedEx had predicted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.45 to $1.50 a share. That projection was lowered last month from earlier company guidance of $1.60 to $1.80 a share, due largely to rising fuel costs.
For 2008, FedEx reported earnings of $3.60 a share, down 44 percent from $6.48 the previous years. Yearly revenue was put at $38 billion, up 8 percent from $35.2 billion.
FedEx shares fell $2.50, or 3 percent, to $81.83 in morning trading.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Obama Takes Detroit!
Headed down to Joe Louis Arena last night to see Barack Obama LIVE! He was indeed like a Rock Star as others have said before. Wasn't sure I would make it, with the traffic and last minute decision to go and all.. but I did and was glad.
I ended up running into a number of people I knew (birds of a feather) amongst the crowd of 21,000 people which surprised me since I don't really know that many people. Hopefully they will vote for The Man, or even better, campaign for him.
This was my first political rally. I have never seen a president or vice president or even a potential one. Not to mention a Nobel prize winner! Al Gore was there to endorse Obama...Bonus all around.
It was mostly cheers, chants and an all together good feeling in the crowd. A few boos did sneak in, mostly towards McCain but also when Hillary Clinton was mentioned. I was glad that Obama put a stop to it though, this is about coming together, not as in other campaigns which only want to divide and conquer. Gov. Granholm also got her share of boos, which did surprise me a little. I guess she has lost some of her star power (along with Michigan losing jobs) since I saw her last.
Obama's speech was good, centering on the economy, jobs, energy, and in honor of Al Gore, the environment. ALL reasons I support Obama.
Watching all the secret service and media was interesting as well. From my vantage point, it was hard to see the inner workings of what was really going on. One thing that did catch my attention though was sign placement. When you walked through the metal detectors at the entrance to Joe Louis Arena everyone had to take out there Cell Phones and Cameras, turn them on and hand them to security as we passed through the scanners. We were also told No banners or signs were allowed in.. how then I wondered did all those "hand made" signs appear when I see these rallies on TV? Easy... the campaign must have had a number of hard working kids out back making them! One by one, they were handed out to those who were seated behind the soon to arrive Obama. I guess that does keep the message on target, but as with much of life, all is not what it seems.
After the rally, I chilled out in my seat for a bit to let the crowd thin, a killer headache had taken hold (guess I should eat now and again?) and I had a 90 min drive ahead. I headed out to the parking deck and then spent the next 45 mins looking for my car! I was NOT happy!! Ugghhh.. I knew which parking deck I was in, but couldn't remember anything else. After searching and searching, I never really thought the Mini was stolen, but was a bit upset that my memory is as nearly useless as it seems. Finally after going around and around I decided to head to the roof and walk down, level by level.. which did the trick.. Level Four, Red Section. And I was on my way!
And WE are on OUR way.......... OBAMA 08'
Obama/Gore Thrill Detroit Crowd
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Gore Endorses Obama
DETROIT — Al Gore made his debut in the 2008 presidential campaign Monday night, encouraging voters to back Barack Obama because "take it from me, elections matter."
The former vice president's speech at the Joe Louis Arena was part endorsement and part blistering attack on the man who denied him the White House eight years ago.
"After eight years of incompetence, neglect and failure, we need change," Gore said. "After eight years when our Constitution has been dishonored and disrespected, we need changes."
In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed election to George W. Bush, who captured Florida and its electoral votes after a divided Supreme Court ended the re-count of ballots. Since then, Gore has made combatting global warming his signature issue, and has been recognized worldwide for his effort _ from an Academy Award to the Nobel Prize.
Obama stoked lasting Democratic anger over the 2000 outcome when he recognized Gore as "the winner of the popular vote for president."
"You remember that," Obama said as the crowd of 20,000 erupted in raucous applause.
Gore is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, but he stayed out of the primary campaign.
It's the second time Obama has rolled out a major endorsement in Michigan, where he did not campaign during the primary because its election violated the party rules. Obama is counting on a win in Michigan in November, but brought Gore and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards to help validate him among Democrats in the state after skipping their primary.
"I'm grateful Al Gore came to Detroit tonight," Obama said. "But I'm ever more grateful for everything he's done in the last 40 years for this country."
Gore announced his decision in a fundraising e-mail earlier Monday. "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States," Gore wrote.
Gore told the rally that the Democratic primary was a contest between a strong and inspiring field of candidates, but "now we've made our choice."
He said Republican candidate John McCain deserves respect for all he has done for this country and for his willingness to debate his party on climate change and other critical issues. But he said the 71-year-old McCain's "age and experience" aren't the same as Obama's judgment, noting the Democrat's early opposition to the Iraq war.
He said Republicans criticized President Kennedy for being too young and inexperienced to be president as well, but Kennedy noted that Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Christopher Columbus all accomplished great things before they reached their mid-40s.
"I feel your determination after two terms of the Bush-Cheney administration to change the direction of our country," he said. He accused Bush of myriad missteps, including a botched response to Hurricane Katrina, economic problems, foreign policy mistakes and allowing lead-tainted toys and poisoned pet food in from China.
"Even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter," he said. "This election matters more than ever because America needs change more than ever."
The Republican Party pointed out that Gore's 2000 running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, has since left the Democratic Party and become an independent and is backing McCain.
In response to Gore's harsh critique of Bush, GOP spokesman Alex Conant said, "This election isn't about changing the past, it's about changing the future. It's telling that half of the 2000 Democratic ticket endorsed John McCain early in the campaign, while the other half waited until Barack Obama had been the presumptive nominee for weeks." Obama clinched the nomination on June 3.
Obama and Gore were introduced by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primary. She held up a navy blue pump and said, on behalf of women everywhere, that she was proud to say she's supporting Obama.
She was loudly booed at the mention of Clinton's name, and Obama chastised the crowd for that when he spoke. He said he's a better candidate for having run against Clinton.
"She's tough," he said. "That's why this race took so long. She's a fighter. And we need fighters in the Democratic Party because we've got a lot to fight for."
___
On the Net:
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Internet destabilizes every hierarchy it contacts. It erases every barrier to entry.
Forget What Clinton Did Wrong. What Did Obama Do Right?
Posted June 9, 2008 | 08:57 PM (EST)/HuffPost
Read More: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Rospars, John McCain, Joshua Green, Scott Goodstein, Social Networking, Off The Bus News
There have been numerous postmortems about "what Clinton did wrong," but I don't think that can really be analyzed outside of "what Obama did right."
Much of it was laid out in a fascinating article in the Atlantic by Joshua Green, where he recounts Obama's early courting of Silicon Valley techies and the social networking architecture they subsequently helped to build. It turned his campaign into a virtual machine for organizing volunteers and generating money:
When My.BarackObama.com launched, at the start of the campaign, its lineage was clear. The site is a social-networking hub centered on the candidate and designed to give users a practically unlimited array of ways to participate in the campaign. You can register to vote or start your own affinity group, with a listserv for your friends. You can download an Obama news widget to stay current, or another one (which Spinner found) that scrolls Obama's biography, with pictures, in an endless loop. You can click a "Make Calls" button, receive a list of phone numbers, and spread the good news to voters across the country, right there in your home. You can get text-message updates on your mobile phone and choose from among 12 Obama-themed ring tones, so that each time Mom calls you will hear Barack Obama cry "Yes we can!" and be reminded that Mom should register to vote, too.
"We've tried to bring two principles to this campaign," Rospars told me. "One is lowering the barriers to entry and making it as easy as possible for folks who come to our Web site. The other is raising the expectation of what it means to be a supporter. It's not enough to have a bumper sticker. We want you to give five dollars, make some calls, host an event. If you look at the messages we send to people over time, there's a presumption that they will organize."
The true killer app on My.BarackObama.com is the suite of fund-raising tools. You can, of course, click on a button and make a donation, or you can sign up for the subscription model, as thousands already have, and donate a little every month. You can set up your own page, establish your target number, pound your friends into submission with e-mails to pony up, and watch your personal fund-raising "thermometer" rise. "The idea," Rospars says, "is to give them the tools and have them go out and do all this on their own." The organizing principle behind Obama's Web site, in other words, is the approach Mark Gorenberg used with such success--only scaled to such a degree that it has created an army of more than a million donors and raisers. The Clinton campaign belatedly sought to mimic Obama's Internet success, and has raised what in any other context would be considered significant money online--but nothing like Obama's totals, in dollars or donors. John McCain's online fund-raising has been abysmal.
I remember being at an Obama event in Iowa, and the row of volunteers at each door was four people deep. You weren't getting in there without giving some bit of personal contact information. Got a cell phone? Scott Goodstein ran their text messaging campaign. Enter your zip code and you'll be activated when volunteers are needed in a particular state. The way the campaign worked volunteers into a system orchestrated by professional organizers was staggering both in its scope and its efficiency. They built an email list that is estimated to be somewhere between 4 and 8 million, some say as high as 10. Then they worked it. And worked it. Every email solicitation is now a fundraising motherlode.
Clinton, by comparison, ran Al Gore's 2000 campaign. She may have raised more money than any other Democratic presidential candidate who came before, she may have had a formidable machine, but she was blown away by an organization that executed a nearly flawless mastery of new social networking technology. State after state, her team thought she didn't need to compete. Under an old model, maybe not. But Obama's organization brought manpower and resources to every state that the Clinton team just did not see coming.
The effect this has all had on modern politics has yet to be measured. But think about it: in February, the month that Obama raised $55 million, he did not host one single fundraiser. Clinton, on the other hand, was tied to a system where her time was spent courting big-dollar donors. Which has the effect (potentially) of freeing a candidate from saying one thing to the public, with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to the folks writing the checks. Now the public are the folks writing the checks.
I was on Bloggingheads today with Matt Yglesias, who noted that this may be responsible for some of the messianic messaging of the Obama campaign. When he speaks to his supporters, he's actually speaking to his funders, trying to get them invested and enrolled in the network of his campaign. It can all sound a bit cult-like to those outside of it, but it's an integral part of the way his organization is set up to run.
Micah Sifrey writes today about what this all means for the future of politics. If Obama carries this sort of organizational ability and infrastructure into the Oval Office, what kind of transformative effect will it have on the way he governs?
He links to Dave Winer, who notes:
The Internet destabilizes every hierarchy it contacts. It erases every barrier to entry.
The Clinton campaign might very well have worked in 2000. But in 2008, it was Tower Records. Obama was Napster. Meanwhile, they're rubbing sticks together at the McCain campaign:
John McCain stumping and raising cash today in Richmond joked about his method for vetting prospective veep candidates. Per pool press ...
"We're going through a process where you get a whole bunch of names, and ya ... Well, basically, it's a Google," McCain said. "You just, you know, what you can find out now on the Internet. It's remarkable, you know."
Sounds like Grandpa can't program a VCR. The upcoming contest, waged from opposite sides of the technological divide, will be interesting to say the least.
Jane Hamsher blogs at firedoglake.com
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
BREAKING NEWS!! BREAKING NEWS!!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
HISTORIC
OBAMA IS DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE... READ VICTORY SPEECH
WATCH: "America, This Is Our Moment. This Is Our Time"
Reactions: "Yes We Did" ... "A Fulfillment Of King's Dream" ... "Heartening About This Country's Capacity For Progress"... Obama Wins Montana... Clinton Wins South Dakota... Read HuffPost's Liveblog...
And the Winner Is...
DETROIT!
An Amazing day for an Amazing Race.
Chambliss Wins 3rd Stop of Red Bull Air Race
American Kirby Chambliss Crowned Fastest Race Pilot in Border Battle Red Bull Air Race World Series StunsCrowds Simultaneously in USA & Canada
Detroit Results
Kirby Chambliss (USA) beat Paul Bonhomme (GBR) in a spectacular Red Bull Air Race World Series battle in Detroit on Sunday in front of a crowd of 750,000 U.S. and Canadian spectators lined up along the banks of the Detroit River. Chambliss was clocked in a winning time of 1:12.08, just 0.15 seconds faster than Bonhomme (1:12.23) in the third race of the 10-stop 2008 World Series. The Brit still leads the championship. But Chambliss has proved he can be beaten.
“It worked out fairly well,” said Chambliss “I went crazy and went out as fast as I could fly. I know Paul’s going to put down a fast time. He’s got a fast airplane. I don’t know whether he went just a little bit conservative or something. But I’ll take the win.”
Hannes Arch of Austria took third with a clean run and a time of 1:12.73 beating Mike Mangold (1:15.44) in the 3rd Place Fly-Off. Arch, who joined the World Series just last season, is clearly no rookie now having come second in the first race in Abu Dhabi, fourth in San Diego and now has another podium position in Detroit.
Racing in Detroit was hampered by heavy winds that forced the cancellation of the Qualifying sessions on Saturday. But the 12 pilots more than made up for that with one of the most breathtaking and exciting races seen to date, with pilots bettering the previous time in almost every run.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
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June 16, 2008 10:32 PM EST |
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