| Say No To The Vocoder
No matter who becomes President, this election year is sure to bring change in Washington. Both parties are presenting candidates who want to learn from the mistakes of the Bush years and regain America's standing throughout the world. Today, the Hip-Hop community represents an ever expanding range of backgrounds, ethnicities and experiences, so we have a responsibility to combine our vast resources to correct what may be the biggest tragedy of the last several years: the resurgence of the Vocoder. To be fair, the worst offenders actually use variations on the device like the Sonovox and Autotuner, but all of them are children of this mighty beast. Once an innocent vocal effect to help sing a song of love between a boy and his computer, the Vocoder family has since become a studio trick to cover up the fact that many of today's Pop singers can't actually sing (like, at all).
Hedge fund pumps $2.8bn into ETrade
ONE of America's biggest hedge funds, Citadel, has agreed to pump $US2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) into the troubled online brokerage ETrade to help shore up its ailing balance sheet, the firms announced. The deal, if approved by regulators, will enable Chicago-based Citadel to amass a hefty 20 per cent shareholding in ETrade, which also markets banking services. The online broker's share price has plummeted in recent weeks as it has been forced to writedown the value of mortgage-backed securities it holds which have been hit by a lingering US housing slump and rising home foreclosures. ETrade's stock surged after the deal was announced, but closed down 8.7 per cent at $US4.82. "The cash infusion of $US2.5 billion as a result of the transaction does provide much-needed support to ETrade.
EUROPE: Kosovo Sends Out Ripples of Fear
Belgrade, which wants to at least formally retain Kosovo, will most likely temporarily recall its ambassadors from countries that recognise the region's sovereignty.
Serbia's northern neighbour Hungary says it wants a unified EU position on Kosovo, and has supported the UN Secretary-General's report on Kosovo recommending a settlement without delay, but it is also considering the importance of having a stable neighbour and economic partner which is home to 300,000 ethnic Hungarians.
Budapest is aware that it will be up to the great powers to decide Kosovo's future and that Hungary could gain Serbia's forgiveness by demanding extensive minority rights for the Serbians left in Kosovo and promoting the neighbour's accession to the EU.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have also made statements indicating they oppose linking Serbia's EU aspirations to anything concerning Kosovo.
Taxes, school vouchers and more township authority
When we first moved to Georgia we were surprised to learn that the state imposed a property tax, which had always been strictly a county function in our former state. Of course, Georgia seemed to tax all sorts of things that were not taxed in our former state, so we adjusted. I am delighted to see movement in eliminating the panoply of state thefts, even if they may be using the left hand eliminations to conceal the right hand impositions. And Jim is right, I cannot imagine any more reason to praise republican tax and spenders than democrat tax and spenders. Are there no true conservatives in the legislature? Its too bad the libertarians are so isolationist on defense issues; they could be my party of preference. Daffynition: statewide trauma network. A means to compel taxpayers to subsidize the inadequate incomes of medicrats.
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