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LONDON: Britain must stick to its austerity drive and avoid tax cuts while it tries to wipe out a record deficit, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said on Saturday, as a senior member of his party accused him of lacking a “coherent and credible” long-term growth plan.
Speaking before his center-right party meets for its annual conference, Osborne said abandoning its public cuts and tax rises would lead to an immediate rise in interest rates that would be “disastrous” for the British economy.
A run of bleak UK economic data, the euro zone debt crisis and worries about the global outlook have stoked fears that Britain could tip back into recession.
The economy has barely grown since September, raising pressure on the Conservative-led coalition to soften its deficit-reduction strategy and do more to stimulate growth.
Osborne said the world’s economic state was “at least as serious” as during the 2008 financial crisis and Britain had to keep cutting its deficit.
“A country with an almost double-digit deficit cannot add to its deficit in the middle of a sovereign debt storm to cut tax, presumably on a temporary basis, because you would have to then put it back up again to deal with the deficit,” he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
“I don’t think Britain has the fiscal luxury to do that sort of thing.”
The coalition has repeatedly warned that failing to cut a record peacetime budget deficit that peaked at around 11 percent of gross domestic product could lead to a Greek-style debt crisis.
However, some center-right Conservatives fear the austerity plan will alienate voters already struggling with rising unemployment, low wage growth and inflation running at 4.5 percent, more than double the 2 percent target. The left-wing opposition Labour Party says the plan is choking growth.
Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative chairman of parliament’s influential Treasury committee, said Britain’s long-term growth strategy was “inconsistent, even incoherent” in places.
Serena Williams says her emotions got the best of her when she berated the chair umpire during her loss to Samantha Stosur in the U.S. Open final.
“My emotions did get the best of me this past weekend when I disagreed with the umpire,” Williams tweeted today. “It has been a long road to get back to the US Open this year, and I am thankful to have had such a great two weeks in New York.”
Williams’ tweet came two days after she was cited for a code violation and fined $2,000 for verbally abusing chair umpire Eva Asderaki.
Facing a break point while serving in the first game of the second set Sunday night, Williams hit a forehand that she celebrated with a yell of “Come on!”
Asderaki applied the hindrance rule, noting the scream came while Stosur reached out and got a racket on the ball. Asderaki awarded the point to Stosur.
And Serena went off.
She hurled a series of insults directed at the official, reminiscent of her tirade on the same court when she berated and brandished her racket at a line judge who called a foot fault in the 2009 semifinal against Kim Clijsters.
A sampling of what Williams said, prompting Asderaki to call the code violation:
• “You’re out of control.”
• “You’re a hater, and you’re just unattractive inside.”
• “Really, don’t even look at me.”
The United States Tennis Association said Grand Slam committee director Bill Babcock conducted his own review of the incident and determined “Williams’ conduct, while verbally abusive, does not rise to the level of a major offense under the Grand Slam Code of Conduct.”
Stosur stunned Williams 6-2, 6-3 Sunday, winning her first Grand Slam title. She became the first Australian woman to win a major championship since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980.
Kobe Bryant has been trying to keep a low profile during the off season and the NBA lockout, but his sloppy cheating keeps getting in the way.Bryant is currently being sued by an Ohio prostitute. She claims that she has been seeing him for years, and he promised to buy her a ring. Where is Bryant’s wife Vanessa you may ask? Why she’s playing the role of the quiet wife who will do anything for the right amount of diamonds and money.
Here are some things you are not supposed to love. Practice loving them:
Sex
Money
Yourself
Power
Glory
Fame
Success
Winning
The Adulation of Others
Being Better
Having More
Knowing How
Knowing Why
Knowing God
“THE THINGS YOU WANT MOST”
Yet I tell you this: love, love, love the things you desire – for your love of them draws them to you.
These things are the stuff of life. When you love them, you love life! When you declare that you desire them, you announce that you choose all the good that life has to offer!
So choose sex – all the sex you can get! And choose power – all the power you can muster! And choose fame – all the fame you can attain! And choose success – all the success you can achieve! And choose winning – all the winning you can experience!
Yet do not choose sex instead of love, but as a celebration of it. And do not choose power over, but power with. And do not choose fame as end in itself, but as a means to a larger end. And do not choose success as the expense of others, but as a tool with which to assist others. And do not choose winning at any cost, but winning that costs others nothing, and even brings them gain as well.
Go ahead and choose the adulation of others – but see all others as being upon which you can shower adulation, and do it!
Go ahead and choose being better – but not better than others; rather, better than you were before..
Go ahead and choose having more, but only so that you have more to give.
And yes, choose “knowing how” and “knowing why” – so that you can share all knowledge with others.
And by all means choose to KNOW GOD, in fact, CHOOSE THIS FIRST, and all else will follow.
All of your life you have been taught that it is better to give than to receive. Yet you cannot give what you do not have.
Beware! Your smartphone is not always your friend. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal’s headline so aptly puts it, “Your apps are watching you.”
An investigation by the Journal surveyed 101 popular smartphone apps for iPhone and Android models and found that 56 of them secretly transmitted the phone’s Unique Device Identifier (UDID) to other companies.
Forty-seven also gave away the phone’s location. And five transmitted age, gender, and other personal details to outside tracking companies. One of the most popular offenders was the Pandora app, which sent age, gender, location, and phone identifiers to various online advertisers through iPhone and Android phones.
“The great thing about mobile is you can’t clear a UDID like you can a cookie,” said one Internet ad network employee. “That’s how we track everything.”
Then a woman said, speak to us of joy and
sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the
selfsame well from which your laughter rises
was oftimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,
the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup
that holds your wine the very cup that was
burned in the potters oven? And is not the lute
that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was
hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart
and you shall find it is only that which has given
you sorrow that is giving you joy.
And when you are sorrowful look again in your
heart, and you shall see that in truth you are
weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,”
and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone
with you at your board, remember that the other
is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between
your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are
empty are you at a standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh
his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or
your sorrow rise or fall…………..
Strength and Courage
It takes strength to be certain.
It takes courage to have doubts.
It takes strength to fit in.
It takes courage to stand out.
It takes strength to share a friend’s pain.
It takes courage to feel your own pain.
It takes strength to hide your own pain.
It takes courage to show it and deal with it.
It takes strength to stand guard.
It takes courage to let down your guard.
It takes strength to conquer.
It takes courage to surrender.
It takes strength to endure abuses.
It takes courage to stop them.
It takes strength to stand alone.
It takes courage to lean on a friend.
It takes strength to love.
It takes courage to be loved.
It takes strength to survive.
It takes courage to live.
May you find strength and courage
In everything you do
And may your life be filled with
Friendship and Love!
Get ready for a remake of Sparkle. The 1976 hit movie with Irene Cara, Lonette McKee and Philip Michael Thomas is being remade. The new version will star season six American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks. She will play the title role made famous by Irene Cara. Whitney Houston will play her mother. Mike Epps will play the bad guy the role of “Satin,” who beat “Sister” and got her hooked on drugs. This will be Whitney Houston’s first movie role since the Preacher’s Wife in 1996.
Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson recently celebrated her 30th birthday.She’s featured in the Best Dressed issue of People magazine.
Why did Rapper/Actor T.I. end up back in jail? T.I. was released from jail a month early. He had served 11 months behind bars on a parole violation. He was let out early for good behavior. When he left the Arkansas facility, it was amid a lot of fanfare…. as in a fancy tour bus equipped with cameras. He is doing a reality show for VH1 and producers were on hand for his release. Well prison officials had a fit despite the fact that the guards were taking pictures with T.I. in front of the bus. T.I. was out of jail for one day when he was sent back to serve out another 30 days. Officials claim he was supposed to leave in a van with his wife and manager not a fancy tour bus equipped with cameras. T.I. is expected to be out by the end of the month. I’m sure all the details will be in his new book and VH1 reality show.
Did Tea Party favorite and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have some “cooked rice” in her past? In a new tell all book by Joe McGinnis, The Rogue: Searching For The Real Sarah Palin, the author talks about Palin and drug use, extramarital affairs, and a college one night stand with NBA Superstar Glen Rice. The explosive book comes out September 20th.
Tyler Perry has been named Forbes magazine’s highest paid male entertainer.Perry, who just turned 42, has made over $500 million with his Madea franchise alone.
What’s going on with Singer Lionel Richie? Richie has delayed work on his latest music project and he had to cancel some concerts.
Producer/Composer Nile Rodgers of Chic fame is writing a book. The book, Le Freak, is coming out next year. It will detail his music career and his battle with cancer. Rodgers has worked with Diana Ross, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Madonna and Sister Sledge.
Actress Meagan Goode is shooting shown reports that she is joining the VH1 show Single Ladies. Goode says she wants to concentrate on movies.
The dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is taking place on October 16th.
It’s going to be a boy for Fantasia. The former American Idol winner is on bed rest and
It was a good weekend for Comedian Kevin Hart. His movie documentary, Laugh At My Pain, took in over $2 million at the box office. The movie cost $750,000 to make.
Can you get married and pay just $199? Yes, if you are Comedian and Actor Eddie Griffin. He got married last week, and that is how much he paid when he married longtime girlfriend Nia Rivers.
Is there a shakeup in the future for ABC’s Good Morning America? George Stephanopoulos may be out and Sports Anchor Josh Elliott may be his replacement. Elliott used to work at ESPN, ABC’s sister cable network. Stephanopoulos has been cited for being too short against the other hosts of the show Robin Roberts and Laura Spencer. I think his problem is he seems uninterested in the lighter segments. He may return to his old position on the show This Week also on ABC.