BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama gave his sternest warning yet about the need to contain rising U.S. deficits, saying on Wednesday that if government debt were to pile up too much, it could lead to a double-dip recession.

Microsoft will have to stop selling the Chinese versions of its Windows 98, 2000, 2003 and Windows XP, according to the court. It is unclear when the ruling will take effect or how many copies are affected.

Microsoft said it will appeal the ruling.

“Microsoft respects intellectual property rights. We use third party IPs only when we have a legitimate right to do so,” the firm said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold rose to record highs above $1,150 an ounce on Wednesday as the dollar index languished, boosting interest in the metal as an alternative asset, after largely benign U.S. inflation data.

NBC’s Matt Lauer, on Tuesday’s Today show, actually asked Lou Dobbs, formerly of CNN, if he and the network parted ways because he was “too conservative” and if CNN was okay with Dobbs’ push for immigration reform when he was attacking George W. Bush but wasn’t happy when Dobbs started slamming the Obama administration on the issue, as he queried the former CNN host, “You got much less kickback from CNN than when you started to speak out about the policies of Barack Obama. So, was this an issue that CNN wants to appear neutral but maintain a more liberal stance?”

Polling data released last week by Gallup show a startling shift in public opinion: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are actually convincing the country to rethink their attitudes and move toward the right and away from government solutions in health care (the same seems to be happening on spending, taxes, and how to create jobs, but that will be a future newsletter).

Gallup’s annual poll on health issues (taken every November) shows public opinion shifting against the values of the Left and in favor of the personal responsibility, limited government model which has defined America for 240 years (since the founding decade of the 1770s).

Gallup reports a stunning shift of 22% of all Americans who have moved from believing government is responsible for health care to believing health care is a personal responsibility.

One Out of Every Four Americans Have Changed Their Minds on Health Care

That means nearly one out of every four Americans have changed their minds on a fundamental question of who is responsible for health care. This is one of the largest shifts of its kind in such a short period in modern history.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Ombudsman rebuked European Union regulators on Wednesday for procedural errors in their antitrust probe of Intel but the censure will not affect a 1.06 billion euro ($1.58 billion) fine against the U.S. chipmaker.

Only four days after airing faked photographs purporting to be of Sarah Palin wearing a bikini and holding a gun, MSNBC hosts on Tuesday decided they were qualified to fact check the ex-governor of Alaska. Contessa Brewer chided Palin’s new memoir: “But can this book really be classified as fact, fiction or a little of both? Okay, so here is a bit of fact-checking.”

Nov. 18, 2009
Contact: Jeff Severin, Center for Sustainability, (785) 864-5804

KU faculty, staff, students honored for promoting sustainable practices

More Information

• Center for Sustainability

LAWRENCE - The Center for Sustainability at the University of Kansas recently presented its annual Sustainability Leadership Awards, recognizing faculty, staff and students for outstanding leadership and creativity in addressing environmental, economic and social responsibility concerns on and off campus.

Awards in five categories honored individuals and campus projects. Read the rest of this entry »

Nov. 18, 2009
Contact: Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853

KU film professor’s ‘The Only Good Indian’ wins three awards at festival

More Information

• Department of Film and Media Studies

LAWRENCE - A film by a University of Kansas faculty member won three top awards at the 34th annual American Indian Film Festival held Nov. 14 in San Francisco.

Kevin Willmott, KU associate professor of film and media studies, won best director for his latest film, “The Only Good Indian.” The film also received awards recognizing the performances of Wes Studi, best actor, and Winter Fox Frank, best supporting actor.

The awards were presented at the American Indian Motion Picture Awards Show, the concluding event for the nine-day festival presented by the American Indian Film Institute. The American Indian Motion Picture Awards Show recognizes excellence in American Indian cinematic achievement.

Willmott’s film was among more than 80 new feature films, public service films, music videos and documentaries from American Indian and Canadian First Nation communities premiered at the festival.

Based on a script written by KU alumnus Thomas L. Carmody, “The Only Good Indian” was inspired by the early history of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence. Haskell originated in 1884 as a federal industrial training school for children from American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. It was one of many government schools dedicated to eradicating Native American cultures.

Set in the early 1900s, the film follows a Kickapoo child forcibly taken from his family and placed in a government boarding school. As a teen, the captive youth escapes to try to return to his home, only to be tracked by a bounty hunter. Both the hunted teen and his bounty hunter, who is Cherokee, are pursued by an Indian fighter sheriff.

Although Willmott recruited a few Hollywood actors - including Studi, a Cherokee originally from Oklahoma, who played the bounty hunter - most of the cast and crew are from KU, Haskell and the Kickapoo Indian Reservation near Horton. The best supporting actor, Frank, is a student at Dartmouth College whose mother attended Haskell. Others in the cast and crew were recruited from across the state where scenes were filmed, including Cottonwood Falls, Easton, Larned, Topeka and Wichita.

-30-

Responsible state governments need to help their employees understand that, just as “a rising tide lifts all boats,” a sinking ship sucks everyone down. And since out-of-work private sector workers can no longer afford to employ public sector drones, the only just and equitable solution is for government to reduce the public sector payroll by precisely the amount the private sector is being culled.

In short, with unemployment now at 10.2% in the private sector, the public sector should be reduced by precisely the same figure. Then, Steny, Nancy, and their fellow wastrels can forget about bailing out the bankrupt states and apply the money towards balancing the budget of the bankrupt federal government.

All are welcome to attend Pachyderm club meetings. The program costs $10, which includes a delicious buffet lunch including salad, soup, two main dishes, and ice tea and coffee. The meeting starts at noon, although it’s recommended to arrive ten minutes early to get your lunch before the program starts.

In a previous Security Levity post, I was asked a question that often comes up. A commenter wondered how is it that spammers can send spam from “my” email address? And is that something we should be worried about?

Our anonymous friend asks:

This is probably a neophyte question, but I have always wondered how spammers send spam to my address, using my address as well. I suppose it’s not that hard considering I can send myself a message at anytime, but I’m curious as to how the spammers do this.

This is absolutely a frequently-asked question, and not at all “greenhorn” (thanks to my handy thesaurus for that one). To answer it requires an understanding of SMTP — the standard used for sending email between servers — which stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

Microsoft has good reason to be pleased with recent figures that show Bing has a nearly 10% share of the search market, nearly 31% higher than a year previous. But it still lags far behind Google, which has 65.4% of the market. If the goal is to catch Google, it will never happen.

Invitations have gone out.  Google is going to share information on their upcoming Chrome Operating system on Thursday morning at Googleplex HQ in Mountain View, California.  They’ll be giving a complete overview of the OS as well as technical background and some demos.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s VP of Product Management and Matthew Papakipos, Google Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS will be speaking at the event. And there will be a Q&A session afterwards.

Word came out a few days ago that either part of the ChromeOS were going to be released this week or full early versions of the OS were going to be revealed.

In New London, Connecticut, developers wanted to build a new business complex on land owned by a number of homeowners, including Suzette Kelo. She didn’t want to sell, and the case eventually wound its way to the United States Supreme Court. In the decision, the court ruled in favor of the ability of cities to use eminent domain to take property from one party and give to another private party for economic development.

Locally, at least one Wichita bureaucrat was relieved. According to Wichita Eagle reporting:

City economic development director Allen Bell lauded the Supreme Court decision.

“I’m relieved to know that we’ll continue to have an important tool for implementing economic development and urban redevelopment projects here in Wichita,” Bell said. “But this is a tool we do not use lightly. The city of Wichita has never sought to use eminent domain except in very rare cases when there is no alternative to keep a project alive and further the overall needs of the city.”

So what has happened in New London? Nothing

Follow the links below to view the November 19 Agendas:

Melissa McChesney

Deputy Clerk

Certified SIRE Administrator

Board of County Commissioners

111 S. Cherry Street, Suite 3300

Olathe, Kansas 66061

(913) 715-0425

(913) 715-0440

http://bocc.jocogov.org

http://clerk.jocogov.org

Across the state, Marco is earning rave reviews for his positive, upbeat and compelling vision of mainstream conservatism.  Yesterday’s stop in Stuart was no different.

As Marco discussed issues as wide-ranging as criminal trials for terrorists, immigration and the future of the GOP, this is a sample of the buzz he continues to generate: Read the rest of this entry »

The Kindle is the iPod of text books. It’s a bit bigger in size - not by much - and stores a catalog of your favorite books. At the click of a button, you can download any one of these in just 60 seconds.
However, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just seven percent (7%) of American adults say they have used a Kindle or similar electronic book reader. Eighty-seven percent (87%) have not.

Republican candidates maintain a six-point advantage over Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 38% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.
Support for each party rose one point from last week. Republicans have held the lead for over four months now.
Voters not affiliated with either party continue to heavily favor Republicans, 41% to 24%.

Fifty percent (50%) of Americans say interest rates on their credit cards have been raised in the past six months, as Congress seeks to limit the ability of banks to raise those rates.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 31% say the interest rates have not been raised on any of their credit cards in that period. Nineteen percent (19%) aren’t sure.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of adults say an increase in the interest rate on a credit card makes them less likely to use that card. Twenty-five percent (25%) disagree and say they are not less likely to use a credit card after the interest rate has been raised.

MANHATTAN — The annual Family Holiday Workshop at Kansas State University’s Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art will be 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, at the museum.

The workshop is sponsored by the Student Friends of the Beach Museum. Children will be able to create and decorate Christmas cards, ornaments, gingerbread figures or anything else they come up with. Read the rest of this entry »

MANHATTAN — More than 5,380 Kansas State University students have been awarded academic scholarships for the 2009-2010 school year. In all, K-State students have received nearly $15 million in scholarships.

Most of the scholarships are made possible through donations and gifts to the Kansas State University Foundation.

Information on K-State student financial assistance is available at http://www.k-state.edu/sfa

K-State students receiving scholarships totaling more than $1,000 are listed on our Web site http://www.k-state.edu/media. Click on “Lists” in the box on the right side of the page.

MANHATTAN — A paper by Ryan Bergstrom, a doctoral student in geography at Kansas State University, is the first-place winner in the student paper competition at the 32nd Applied Geography Conference, Oct. 28-31, in Baton Rouge, La. Read the rest of this entry »

MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University debate team is currently ranked ninth nationally based on a poll of debate coaches from across the country.

The team has competed in eight tournaments so far this semester with multiple top-10 finishes and high rankings of student pairings in many of them. Read the rest of this entry »

MANHATTAN — Sampling as many as nine gelato flavors a day while in Florence, Italy, was all in a day’s work for a Kansas State University graduate student, whose master’s thesis project may flavor the types of ice cream and other foods produced in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »