Trent and Nicole are still in the pub, where Nicole wants to know why Trent’s trying to keep Melanie and Max apart.

Caroline approaches Chelsea and asks how her beautiful granddaughter is. She says she’s okay and thought she’d come in before heading off to work. Caroline relays how Bo says the children at the hospital love her. A modest Chelsea believes her dad tends to exaggerate a little bit. Caroline smiles how Chelsea’s found her calling at becoming a licensed therapist. Victor and Henderson then arrive at the pub. Victor greets his granddaughter and Chelsea remarks how nice it is to see Henderson. Caroline brings Chelsea’s iced coffee over to her, then heads over to Victor’s table and tells him to leave. Henderson proceeds to wait in the car. Caroline berates him for putting their son at a terrible risk. She recalls how the reporter accused Bo of tampering with evidence and thinks Victor knows why. He reveals that the evidence has to do with Philip, and Bo handed the evidence over to Victor. She questions what he did with it. “It’s been destroyed,” confesses Victor. Caroline is angry that Bo could lose everything because of Victor. She chews Victor out for manipulating Bo and forcing him to do something which goes against everything he stands for. “I could never forgive you for this,” she affirms.

Trent is later on the phone, telling his recipient that he’ll be there as soon as he can. Nicole wants answers from Trent, but he tells her that it’s none of her business. She proceeds to head out, but he grabs her and orders her to sit down. He threatens to go over and introduce himself to Victor if she tries to leave before he’s finished with her. He taunts Nicole about telling Victor how she defrauded him out of a huge divorce settlement.

Victor expresses to Caroline how terrible he feels about the situation. He insists that he never would’ve involved Bo if he hadn’t come to him regarding Philip in the first place. Caroline states that Bo came to him because he was doing his job, which Victor prevented him from doing. She berates Victor for guilting Bo into a predicament, reminding Victor how Bo saw him lying weak in a hospital bed unable to speak. “I was protecting Philip,” insists Victor. “At Bo’s expense!” exclaims Caroline. “I wish that Bo had never found out that you were his father,” spits Caroline. Victor looks as though he’s been stabbed in the heart.

Nicole implores Trent to go ahead and talk to Victor if he wants to, since he won’t have anything over her anymore. Trent answers his phone and is annoyed to hear that Melanie has maxed out her credit card. He tells his recipient to pay off the card and cancel it. Nicole jeers how Melanie could put dear old daddy in the poorhouse if she keeps it up.

Victor states to Caroline how important having Bo as his son has been. A teary-eyed Caroline scolds Victor for forcing Bo’s hand to do his dirty work. She refuses to let Victor drag her son down. Pete interrupts and tells Caroline that she has a phone call from Max.

Bo and Hope anxiously await for Roman outside the pub. Hope asks Bo if he’s sure he wants to go through with this. Bo reminds her that he’s the one who tampered with the evidence in the Hollingsworth case and won’t let the cops implicate her. Roman arrives and questions what’s the potential disaster. Bo brings up the Hollingsworth case. Roman reminds him that he can’t discuss it, since Bo’s under an internal investigation. Bo asks Roman to talk to him as his brother, not as a cop. Roman says he can’t do that. Bo insists that what he did was for family, and implores Roman to get off his moral high horse and listen to what he has to say. Roman agrees to listen as his brother. Bo tells him about the tape, in which Philip threatened to kill Paul. He hands Roman an envelope containing the original tape, revealing that the copy which was destroyed was a duplicate. Roman asks why he didn’t turn the copy over to the Salem P.D. “Because without tangible evidence we’ve got nothing in this case,” replies Bo. Hope insists that someone set Philip up. Bo suspects that John Black is behind it. Roman states that they withheld evidence, and all the good intentions in the world won’t change the fact that they broke the law. Bo implores him to give them more time and they’ll give him what he wants. After some bickering about bending and breaking the rules, Roman reluctantly agrees to give Bo 48 hours to crack the case. Bo thanks him and hugs Hope. Victor then comes outside and asks to speak to Bo alone. Hope gives him the cold shoulder and walks off.

Nick and Melanie have just arrived at the jail in Marseille, France, where Mel asks Nick why he didn’t mention that he knew Max and Stephanie. “Would you have come with me if I had?” asks Nick. “No,” admits Melanie. Max caustically asks his sis why she came. Melanie claims she figured they would’ve been out by now. Steph berates Melanie for not trying to help them, stating she’d still be in jail if it weren’t for them. Melanie confirms that her friend George bailed her out, and she can’t help them out. Steph tells Nick about the stolen bracelet fiasco, which landed them in jail. Melanie states that she didn’t ask for any of this, reminding Max that he’s the one who came looking for her. “Yeah, and what a huge mistake that was!” scowls Steph. Melanie tells Steph that there’s no need to get nasty. Max asserts that Steph has every right to be angry with her, but the fighting and arguing isn’t getting them anywhere. Steph suggests she call her friend George, but Melanie reveals that George is on his way to boarding school in London. She can’t help them, but thinks that Nick can come up with something.

Nick breaks the news that he’s a professor without much money. Melanie remarks that she’s a student with a million loans to pay off. He requests to speak to her alone. Steph tells Max that she can’t stand his sister, but Max doesn’t care to discuss it anymore. She tries to call her parents again, but gets voicemail and begins to worry if something happened to Joe. Max suggests calling his mom to see if everything’s alright.

From: daysofourlives.about.com

Hurricane Gustav, now a dangerous Category 4 storm, roared toward western Cuba on Saturday with 125 mph (205 kph) winds on its way to the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico after a deadly pass through the Caribbean.

Forecasters predicted Gustav would cross the Gulf of Mexico and hit central Louisiana on Tuesday with the same force that Hurricane Katrina delivered three years ago.

At least five refineries, with combined capacity of 1.12 million barrels per day (bpd) had reduced production in Louisiana and Texas while oil companies were shutting down offshore platforms and flying crews out of harm's way as Hurricane Gustav churned toward the Louisiana coast.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port — the only U.S. deepwater port capable of offloading giant oil tankers, ceased operations on Saturday, a spokeswoman said.

Energy interests say Gustav could be a reprise of 2005's devastating hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which shut a quarter of U.S. oil and fuel production and sent prices to record levels.

"Plain and simple, Gustav is forecast to be a large and powerful hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, headed toward the northern Gulf coast," said Richard Knabb, a senior hurricane specialist a the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The Gulf provides a quarter of U.S. oil output and 15 percent of natural gas production.

As of Friday, 6.62 percent of oil and 1.84 percent of natural gas production was shut due to Gustav, according the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which regulates offshore production. The MMS will update shut production numbers on at 2 p.m. EST.

The nation's leading refiner, Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N), said it had reduced production at its St. Charles, La., refinery, west of New Orleans. Valero also cut production at its Port Arthur, Houston and Texas City, Texas, refineries.

ConocoPhillips (COP.N) said production at its 247,000 barrel per day (bpd) Alliance refinery near New Orleans was cut back and some workers told to stay home.

Motiva Enterprises - a joint venture between Shell Oil (RDSa.L) and Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), cut staff at its 236,000 bpd refinery in Norco, Louisiana.

Shell, the region's largest producer at 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, also said it was on its way to shutting all offshore oil and natural gas production by Saturday afternoon.

In addition, BP (BP.L) said all Gulf production would be shut by midday Saturday.

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) said 5,000 barrels of oil output and 50 million cubic feet per day in natural gas production was shut by Saturday morning.

Enbridge (ENB.N) declared force majeure and told natural gas producers to stop sending to its pipeline system, which carries 6.72 billion cubic feet per day.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba, Bruce Nichols and Robert Campbell)

From: us.rd.yahoo.com

About 7,000 Machinists marched in solidarity at Boeing’s wide-body jet plant in Everett on Friday morning, a large banner, hanging from a balcony, emblazoned with just one word: “Strike!”

Workers at the rally declared their rejection of the company’s Thursday contract offer with chants of “Paint the Lines,” a reference to the green perimeter lines that Boeing security traditionally has painted on sidewalks around the plants to mark where strike pickets cannot cross.

Within an hour of the rally’s end, the leadership of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) had heard enough from the rank-and-file to make a decision.

“It’s official,” Mark Blondin, IAM national aerospace coordinator, said in a phone interview. “We are recommending to reject the contract and to vote to strike.”

Union members will vote on the contract offer Wednesday. If two-thirds of voters heed Blondin’s recommendation, a strike will begin at midnight.

Some 26,000 of the affected workers are in the Puget Sound region, with an additional 1,500 in Portland and about 800 at the defense-aircraft modification plant in Wichita, Kan.

If the IAM strikes, Boeing engineers and other non-Machinists would continue to work. But all production would shut down at the jet-assembly plants in Everett and Renton and at the parts plants in Auburn and Frederickson. Most fabrication and production work at the military-aircraft and technology-research centers in Seattle also would cease.

Assembly work on the already much-delayed 787 Dreamliner program would be suspended for as long as a strike lasts. The first Dreamliner presently is due to fly in November.

At a news conference at the SeaTac Doubletree Hotel, the venue for the intensive talks of the past week, IAM District President Tom Wroblewski said he remains ready to talk right up to the contract deadline Wednesday. He said he’d welcome the help of the federal mediator.

“We stand ready to meet at any time,” Wroblewski said.

But Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said the offer put to the union Thursday is final. Boeing is willing to clarify and explain its terms, but won’t improve them before the strike vote.

Healy said the company still hopes for a positive vote after union members study the contract carefully and use a benefits calculator on the company’s Web site to work out the precise financial impact on each individual’s family circumstances.

“We think they will see the value,” Healy said.

Under the current contract, Machinists earn an average base pay of $54,000 a year. With overtime, the average is $65,000.

At the end of the three-year contract, the average base pay would increase to $65,000, and with overtime the figure would be $77,000, according to Boeing.

Over the three years, Boeing estimates that an average Machinist would receive $34,000 more in total pay, compared with the current contract.

Wroblewski cited a long list of reasons for rejecting the offer, including the lack of job-security commitments, increases in medical-plan costs, and pay and pension increases that didn’t meet union members’ expectations.

Union officials had gone over the contract offer with a fine-tooth comb. A document on the medical-plan deficiencies listed details such as no increase in coverage for prescription lenses, and a reduction in dental coverage from three annual cleanings to two.

Machinists particularly upset with the contract offer included relatively new hires, who are low on the company wage ladder. The proposed contract would give them smaller percentage increases than more senior workers.

Scott Shampine, an electrician on the 737 line in Renton hired 18 months ago, said he has gross pay with overtime of about $36,000.

The compensation calculator on the Boeing Web site shows Shampine’s gross pay with overtime and bonuses going up to $42,000 the first year and to $47,000 at the end of the final year.

But Shampine found the details confusing. He said he believes the offer gives him a raise of just 6 cents an hour in the initial months. He said he doesn’t trust the company calculator’s result.

Boeing spokesman Healy said Shampine has misinterpreted details of the compensation offer. He said Shampine would receive a $1.14 raise immediately.

Shampine said he plans to reject the contract and vote to strike Wednesday.

Separately, the IAM filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Boeing of violating labor law during negotiations by “going around the union and trying to bargain directly with our members,” Blondin said.

The union alleges Boeing violated the federal requirement for employers to bargain exclusively with designated union representatives. It cited as evidence an e-mail from a Boeing communications person obtained by the union that outlined company efforts to ask individual employees their views on specific contract proposals.

Healy said the e-mail merely referred to a legitimate company effort to get employee feedback.

From: seattletimes.nwsource.com

And, despite the fact that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been selected by presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain as his running-mate, the Obama campaign plans to keep running hard in the state — just as it is in McCain's home-state of Arizona.

That's a reflection both of Obama's proven appeal in Alaska and of deep concerns about the wisdom of putting a controversial and inexperienced governor one heartbeat away from the presidency.

Let's begin with the comparison of how Obama and McCain did in their respective caucus contests earlier this year.

On the Democratic side, Obama secured 74 percent of the vote to just 25 percent for Hillary Clinton.

On the Republican side, John McCain ran fourth in the Republican caucuses the same day. Mitt Romney took first place with 44 percent, Mike Huckabee was in second with 22 percent and Ron Paul took third with 17 percent. McCain barely secured the 15 percent support needed to accumulate delegates.

Since February, Obama activists have been on the ground in the state — organizing hard and talking up the prospect that Alaska could back Democrat for president for the first time in decades.

It is certainly reasonable to imagine that McCain has improved his prospects by naming the personally-popular Palin as his running mate.

But the Obama camp is not giving up on Alaska. And rightly so. Though the state has just three electoral votes, there are great symbolic and practical arguments for continuing to campaign there.

Obama backers were busy registering young voters in communities across the state this weekend, as part of a national drive.

Obama's campaign has, by every evidence, been working the state harder than the McCain's camp for months. With offices open or set to open in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and other communities, the campaign has had 40 paid staffer in the state this summer.

The Democrat's supporters recently launched an "Alaska Bush Field campaign for Obama" — which aims to run up the candidate's votes in remote villages accessible only by air or watercraft.

The August 21 launch took place in Barrow, the northernmost community in the United States and dozens of people showed up for the event at a local roller rink.

Campaign staffers are flying into the state's most remote communities with materials specially produced for the Democrat, including "Alaska Native Peoples for Obama" posters that are being displayed in communities that have rarely if ever been visited by a presidential campaign before.

Against a Republican ticket that includes a popular governor of a state that has a lot of pride on the line, it will be tough for Obama to become the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Alaska since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

But the Obama campaign says it will keep campaigning in Alaska.

That may turn out to be a wise decision, as Alaskans seem to be dubious about whether their governor is ready to be vice president — let alone president.

The Republican president of the Alaska State Senate, Lyda Green said of Palin: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?"

Green, who represents Palin's hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, worried aloud about Palin's fiscal irresponsibility, saying: "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

One of the state's largest newspapers, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, editorialized that:

Sen. John McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate was a stunning decision that should make Alaskans proud, even while we wonder about the actual merits of the choice….

Alaskans and Americans must ask, though, whether she should become vice president and, more importantly, be placed first in line to become president.

In fact, as the governor herself acknowledged in her acceptance speech, she never set out to be involved in public affairs. She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land. Republicans rightfully have criticized the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, for his lack of experience, but Palin is a neophyte in comparison; how will Republicans reconcile the criticism of Obama with the obligatory cheering for Palin?

Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation's when he created the possibility that she might fill it.

Even conservative Alaskans like talk-radio host Rick Rydell suggested that McCain's choice must have involved "questionable vetting" of the controversial and inexperienced governor.

"It seems almost like a Hail Mary pass at the end of a football game," Rydell said of McCain's pick.

But State Representative Mike Doogan, an Anchorage Democrat, put it best when he wrote:

Sure, I suppose that many Alaskans are feeling a surge of pride that someone from our state has gotten a spot on the big stage. And most Alaskans like Palin. I know I do.

But let's be honest here. Her resume is as thin as the meat in a vending machine sandwich. I'm thinking being mayor of Wasilla doesn't qualify her. And she's less than two years into her first term as governor. Except for her high-profile gas pipeline legislation — which I like a lot — she doesn't have much to show. Oil taxes? Most of that work was done by the legislature. Ethics? Ditto. And her role in killing the much-touted Bridge to Nowhere? Talk about coming in after the battle is over and bayoneting the wounded.

And there's a growing sense that the government isn't running all that well, that all that's keeping the wheels from coming off is that 25,000 state employees show up for work every day.

The long and short of it is this: We're not sure she's a competent governor of Alaska. And yet McCain, who is no spring chicken, has decided she's the best choice to replace him as president if he should win and then fall afoul of the Grim Reaper.

The Obama campaign is going to keep fighting for Alaska because Obama and his aides believe something that McCain and his aides do not: That Alaskans have enough self-respect, not to mention patriotism, to recognize that political candidates and parties ought not play games with the vice presidency and presidency — and, by extension, with the fate of the republic.

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Olmert, who denies any wrongdoing, has pledged to step down once his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in a September 17 contest in which the leading contenders are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Micky Rosenberg, a spokesman for national police, said "the prime minister will be questioned for a seventh time" in a session that would last about two and a half hours.

Amir Dan, a spokesman for Olmert, said police were questioning him at his official residence in Jerusalem.

Israeli media said police would ask Olmert about suspicions he received a discount to buy an apartment in exchange for favors, and named cronies to a state business authority when he served as trade minister.

Olmert has also been accused of accepting cash envelopes from a U.S. Jewish fundraiser and submitting duplicate travel expense claims while serving in a previous government role.

If Olmert resigns, he would stay on as caretaker prime minister for the weeks it could take his successor to form a new government, which would likely further delay already halting U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations.

On a visit this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she continued to aim for a peace accord before President George W. Bush leaves office in January, though many analysts are sceptical she can achieve a breakthrough.

(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Mary Gabriel)

From: us.rd.yahoo.com

From: poetry.about.com

PrevNextGallery IndexImage 11 of 22Photo by Stephen Morton/Getty ImagesWatching flood waters rise in her neighborhood from Tropical Storm Fay, a woman calls a friend August 22, 2008 in Jacksonville, Florida. PrevNext

From: weather.about.com

The iPhone and App Store are the starter kit for executives to learn how to thrive in this new market of user-created, market-sorted, ubiquitous content

by John Sviokla

Posted on The Near Futurist: August 25, 2008 1:58 PM

John Hagel pointed out in a recent post, when designing for the future, we should not assume that the internet will be on our desks—but integrated to our daily lives, fluid, mobile, and social. Apple’s iPhone and App Store are the starter kit for executives to learn how to thrive in this new market of content which is user-created, market-sorted, and available everywhere (see Umair Haque’s recent post).

So the question is: Can you use this new, portable, low-cost, user-friendly

platform to sell more and serve customers better?

The Apple iPhone is the first portable, networked media platform that enables almost any person, company, or government to create new applications. Apple’s App Store is selling over a million dollars a day in new software. Big software companies like Salesforce.com already have interfaces to the iPhone, but the field is wide open for traditional companies to get their brand into this environment.

The first step would be to sponsor some of the innovations that are emerging naturally. For example, a car company could sponsor the software that turns your iPhone into a flashing emergency light to put in the back of your stalled vehicle at night. There’s also a pedometer app that uses the on-board accelerometer to measure how much you have walked or run—Nike could count how much you Just Did It. There is even a glucose counter, which I’m sure will soon have a Bluetooth-enabled glucose tester, which will enable you to prick your finger and automatically update your record and your doctor—which should be of interest to Bayer Diabetes Care, to name just one.

Companies should be encouraging end-user iPhone innovations consistent with their brands—and let the App market sort which ones are useful. Because the medium is so new, the costs are very low.

More broadly, media is an integral part of all products and services. For example, many consumers love  barbecue. Tech savvy cooks could design a barbecue widget for the iPhone that displays YouTube instructional videos and has markets voting in real time for the best recipes with their phones. Kraft could sponsor it. W.W. Grainger, the $6.8 billion dollar industrial distributor, has a catalog that has 80,000 items in it and is inches thick—which only represents a fraction of their 250,000 SKUs. There should be an iPhone version of that catalogue to serve up the firm’s full inventory in real time—with “how to” videos created by enthusiasts drawn from the millions of people who use their products. And any company with a sales force could use iPhones to show prospective buyers up-to-the-minute customer testimonials—in the middle of the sales process.

Build the content, serve it up through iTunes—and let the market decide what it wants. Many sophisticated phones can communicate content, but Apple has the best market for ideas. Now it is cheap and easy to learn and differentiate.  Over time, there will be devices like the iPhone in every pocket, in every car, and even in airplanes. You should be ready.

BOZEMAN, Mont. —

Hazel Warp, who was Vivien Leigh’s stunt double in “Gone With the Wind,” has died. She was 93.

A spokeswoman at Evergreen Healthcare in Livingston confirmed Friday that Warp died Tuesday at Livingston Memorial Hospital. A cause of death wasn’t released.

Warp, who rode and trained horses, was a stand-in for Leigh in all the horseback-riding scenes in the 1939 movie. She also took a fall for Leigh, tumbling down the stairs of Tara in the famous scene near the end of the film when Scarlett O’Hara reaches out to slap Rhett Butler, loses her balance and falls.

“I never will forget it,” Warp said of her Hollywood work in a 2005 interview with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. “I liked it, everything about it. I just liked my work.”

Warp also appeared in “Wuthering Heights,” “Ben-Hur” and “National Velvet,” among other films.

—

Information from: Bozeman Daily Chronicle, http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com

State and local public employees, including teachers, have no legally protected right to strike.

Teachers in the Bellevue School District know this. Nonetheless, they plan to launch a strike on Tuesday. Their union is emboldened by a creative, incorrect interpretation of state law.

Attorney General Rob McKenna has been clear on the illegality of strikes by public employees. Teachers argue that since the law doesn’t explicitly name teachers, that profession is excluded from the ban. That’s silly. Taxpayers pay teacher salaries. They are public employees.

Perhaps it is time to fill in a missing part in the law: penalties. A gutsy state Legislature should include fines or some other enforcement mechanism in the law.

Strike threats are educational blackmail Bellevue families do not deserve. This is not the way to repay a long record of voter-approved levies and a parent volunteer corps other districts envy.

Teachers in this district are among the highest paid in the state. The new contract offer includes a 5.1 percent increase for the coming year. The average teacher’s salary in Bellevue rose 14.5 percent between 2004-05 and 2007-08. Pay starts at $39,800 for a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree and up to $76,500 for a teacher with a doctorate and 15 years experience.

Bellevue teachers are threatening to strike just as the district is cutting $4.8 million from its budget. Moreover, the wrong government entity is being threatened. The state sets teacher salaries; local districts kick in extra for things such as planning time and extra duties.

Bellevue’s use of Curriculum Web, which is a common curriculum, is another issue angering teachers. Teachers believe the curriculum is a challenge to their autonomy in the classroom. It is not. Districts have a responsibility to set curriculum and instruction. Parents deserve assurance that academic quality moves seamlessly from classroom to classroom.

This is not an issue to strike over. Bellevue is one of the top-performing districts in the state. This stature comes because of its fine teachers. It was wholly appropriate, then, that the district gave teachers a memorandum of understanding earlier this week agreeing to rely on teachers professional judgment to use the curriculum, modify it or substitute it.

Union leaders say the flexibility comes with a requirement that teachers submit alternative plans in advance for approval. Good. Educational standards are useless if they can be ignored without explanation or proof of an acceptable substitute.

This is a vulnerable time for Bellevue. Longtime superintendent Mike Riley left the district last year; an interim superintendent holds down the fort.

Negotiations continue throughout the holiday weekend. Teachers should be prepared Tuesday to concentrate on three R’s: returning ready and refreshed.

From: seattletimes.nwsource.com