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Coach JewelryLast year Harold L. Ickes and Robert Houghwout Jackson handed U. S. Business the Administration's Christmas greetings in the form of a pair of diatribes about "economic oligarchy" and "the 60 families." Implication was that they would be followed by a similarly vehement message from the President to Congress, suggesting revision of U. S. anti-trust laws. Anxiously awaited by Business ever since, the business monopoly message from the nation's greatest governmental monopolist finally appeared last week. A detailed request for Congressional investigation of the whole subject of monopoly as a preliminary to future legislation to curtail it, it was chiefly noteworthy for a tone as mild as Messrs. Ickes & Jackson had been bitter. (See the legacy of F.D.R.) Simple Truths. Read to Congress the day after Governor La Follette's launching of a new party in Madison, Wis. (see p. 12), the President's message opened with some strikingly similar themes: "Unhappy events abroad have retaught us two simple truths about the liberty of a democratic people. replica coach handbagsThe first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any other controlling private power. "The second truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if its business system does not provide employment and produce and distribute goods in such a way as to sustain an acceptable standard of living. hermes birkin handbags Both lessons hit home. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing." (See the 10 elections that changed America.) Statistics. To prove his point that current concentration of economic power is unexampled, the President quoted familiar statistics from reports to the Bureau of Internal Revenue: 1) .1% of U. S. corporations own 52% of all corporate assets, get 50% of all corporate income, less than 5% of U. S. corporations own 87% of the assets and less than 4% of manufacturing corporations get 84% of their net profits; 2) even in 1929 .3% of the population got 78% of the dividends and 3) in 1936, 33% of all inheritances went to 4% of all heirs. Taking this as premise No. 1, the President proposed as premise No. 2 that the concentration was due to monopolistic trends in U. S. business. His conclusion was that "a thorough study of the concentration of economic power in American industry and the effect of that concentration upon the decline of competition" should be undertaken by the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice and Securities & Exchange Commission, for whom he recommended appropriating $500,000. cheap nike shoes store In addition, the President requested $200,000 more to enable the Department of Justice — whose Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold (The Folklore of Capitalism) was last week telling a New York audience about his plan to publicize antimonopoly prosecutions — to enforce existing anti-trust laws.

Coach BootsI mean this in the nicest way: when John first ran for Congress, I did not know what I was getting into. And that was probably a good thing. Remember, I had married a naval officer, and in my head I thought we were going to be in the Navy for married life. So this was a new adventure. But I had no clue what it entailed. Back then, the political spouse was just a supportive role. I was expected to go to dinners, barbecues, rodeos, picnics and not say too much. I certainly didn’t expect the amount of interest in our lives and the amount of interest people had in me. It started when I gave birth to Meghan in 1984. John was two weeks away from reelection at that time. People put billboards up that said, “It’s a Girl! Congratulations!” It was on the front page of the East Valley Tribune newspaper. replica coach outletIt was all very sweet. I think my role started to change when he entered the Senate race in 1986. I purposefully took a more active role, more so than just showing up (although showing up was important, because they wanted to see the spouse). I was afraid of flying, so without telling John, I took pilot lessons. I bought a small airplane, it was a Cessna 182. Then I told John what I had done. He was very excited about it, actually. I was his pilot for the first Senate race. We flew all over the state—to Flagstaff, Yuma, and Sedona. We went everywhere. The year 2000 was John’s first foray into the presidential race. I described it to somebody as like being catapulted off an aircraft carrier: they fling you off and they expect you to fly.cheap hermes birkin It was a huge awakening for me, in good ways and bad. The intensity of the media and the media’s ability (or inability, depending on how you look at it) to produce 24-hour news had changed everything. You would think there would be more understanding of the candidates and their spouses. What I found was that because it was such a fast pace, they understood me even less. I’ve seen things written about me that said “she’s cold,” or “she is a Stepford wife.” Really, I’m just very shy. No one bothered to ask that. I’m not sour-graping it here. I’m just trying to explain. I’ve talked to a bunch of the candidates’ wives and I’ve said to them: take time for yourself. You’re going to find times when you just need to pull off the trail, get home, recharge for a couple days. You’ll be a better person for it, and you’ll be a better help to your spouse. The intensity of living inside that bubble can be very daunting. Everything you do is scrutinized, which is a hard thing for me to swallow. And the difference between 2000 and 2008 was the level of scrutiny: blogging was not around in 2000. I did read some of it for a very brief period, and then I stopped. When I met Laura Bush after John got the nomination, her advice was don’t read your own stuff. nike dunk shoesI was surprised. I assumed she read everything. She said, “I never read any of it—it’s just too awful!” Sometimes the spouses get a bad rap, because we are the gatekeepers. I think we’re misunderstood by staff and others when we’re trying to be a good spouse. All I ever wanted was for John to be happy and healthy, which he was. I felt like it was my job to make sure he ate and got plenty of rest and the basic things. Nancy Reagan told me years ago, “Always remember you’re his eyes and ears. You have a very important voice in this, because you’re the one person he can trust.” That’s very true. When you are the closest person to him, you hear and see things. Telling him what you think becomes a very important role. John travels an awful lot now, which is fine because the kids are gone. Our life is a little different now. I come to Washington more, so we can see each other (and, of course, he comes home). Coach Luggage BagsI want him to be happy, so it takes some extra effort to make sure we’re together.

Coach SunglassesNew Orleans is having a bad case of nerves. The Mississippi River has flooded catastrophically upstream and its swelling waters are moving inexorably down toward the Big Easy — and its traumatic memories of recent disasters, Katrina and the Gulf oil spill. "We're in a weird situation," observes Linda Jackson, an activist in the Lower Ninth Ward. Her district is particularly anxious: the neighborhood has two functioning bridges from which people can see the swelling Mississippi. The river is already at the top of many levees. The murky, dark green river is unusually choppy, causing ferries to sometimes rock uneasily. Cruise ships appear taller among this city's bundle of downtown skyscrapers. The whole thing is drawing hordes of people to the levees, prompting the authorities to close some sections. In the Uptown area, overlooking the river, a part of the levee is a bit of dirt held together by wood — and the dirt is falling in some spots. "Anytime we see water," Mike Couste, an executive chef, said at the levee near the Audubon Zoo early Tuesday afternoon, "we get nervous." nike sb shoes Says Jackson, the neighborhood activist: "It's only a matter of time before we flood again." (See the top 10 historic U.S. floods.) However, the official line is "Don't worry."replica coach outlet Federal authorities predict the water will recede in the coming days, and the mayor, Mitch Landrieu, declared, "New Orleans is safe." Indeed, this city should be accustomed to the mighty Mississippi's annual rise, an event triggered by the melting of snow and ice in the river's northern stretches. This year, though, is different. By Tuesday, the river there had reached flood stage, despite moves by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages much of America's waterways, to open two channels and divert some of the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. It could take only a strong storm, or a hurricane — the season begins June 1 — to cause the water to surge. The river is like a sleeping giant you hope doesn't wake up — "a very treacherous thing," the mayor admits. The emerging question on talk radio: Should the Mississippi River at New Orleans close? Last weekend, a set of boats struck part of a bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital. cheap hermes birkinPart of the flooding in the Lower Ninth Ward in the days after Hurricane Katrina was attributed to a barge breaching the levee. Ominously, on Tuesday, the authorities closed the port of Natchez, Miss., about 180 miles (290 km) northwest. (See pictures of the overflowing banks of the Mississippi.) Closing river traffic at New Orleans might have a severe impact on the country's economy. Nearly a half-billion tons of industrial goods pass through the port there annually. It's estimated that some 380,000 jobs are connected, in some way, to the port. Experts believe the largely clay levees will remain in tact. Coach Madison Collections "This is a pretty big flood," says John Barry, author of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. "And yet, there have been no levee breaks."

Coach JewelryThe case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has shocked both sides of the Atlantic and much of the world. The official charges filed against him in a New York City court include: two counts of criminal sexual act in the first degree; one count of attempted rape; and one count each of sexual abuse in the first degree, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, sexual abuse in the third degree and forcible touching. In an interview with TIME's Ruth Davis Konigsberg, Linda Fairstein, the former chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit of the New York County District Attorney's Office (and author of Silent Mercy) explains what that all means and what's next for Strauss-Kahn, who has been denied bail and is now in jail on Rikers Island awaiting a grand-jury hearing. What's the difference between a criminal sexual act and sexual abuse? The two charges of criminal sexual act are what used to be called "sodomy" and refer to the oral sex [that Strauss-Kahn allegedly forced a hotel worker to perform on him at the Sofitel in midtown Manhattan]. cheap nike shoes store Sexual abuse in the third degree is a misdemeanor touching, it's a far less serious crime, it may have been the first time he grabbed her and touched her buttocks or breasts or some sexual part but without the force needed to drag her down the hall. (See how the DSK sex charges have thrown French politics into disarray.) So the two charges of "criminal sexual act" is attempted oral sex? No, it was completed oral sex. The only thing that was attempted was vaginal penetration, which is attempted rape. Did the New York district attorney's office do a good job with the charges? Yes, as I would have expected them to. The Manhattan special-victims squad was one of the first formed in the country (the first two formed in the country were in New York and L.A. in 1972). luxury coachThey're very experienced detectives. I led that unit for 26 of my 30 years [with the D.A.'s office], and the one unusual thing we pioneered was the technique of partnering very closely with the police department. We worked very hard to make sure that the legal pieces, which include crimes charged, be consistent and supported by the evidence. Does that mean they already have DNA evidence? No, all they need is the credible word of a witness. They don't need DNA to charge a crime. If they have it, it's a nice extra, so that's the work that gets done now to see if the DNA matches. DNA on bedsheets in his hotel room would not necessarily be incriminating. If the DNA, for example, is on her clothing, that's very incriminating, so the DNA testing will be done. birkin bagBut the DNA has been collected? Yes. The crime-scene unit was dispatched to the hotel room and would have processed everything in the room and presumably all of the clothing of the complaining witness. What else has happened to her? She witnessed a lineup on Sunday. She had to pick him out among six men, and she did that successfully. She was probably immediately interviewed by precinct police who would have responded first and then would have referred her to the special victims unit. What does she face next? She will be offered counseling if she wishes, and as evidence and facts are analyzed, she'll continue to be questioned, and then she'll have to testify before a grand jury, which will determine if there's going to be an indictment. Coach Leather CollectionsIf his lawyer doesn't get him out with a new bail application, then the grand-jury presentation will be this week.

Coach SunglassesIn the coming weeks, Ireland will host two of the world's most recognizable VIPs: Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama. And as the country gets ready, the taxi drivers of Dublin are seeing the careful — and sometimes inconvenient — preparations up close. "The police have been down every manhole in Dublin twice at this stage," says one, describing the increase in security that includes the inspection of the city's sewers for bombs. Ireland is taking no chances with its high-profile guests: reports say that around 10,000 police officers and military personnel will be deployed over the course of the two visits. But it is the Queen's arrival in Dublin on Tuesday that makes the Irish police force most nervous. Not everyone in Ireland is happy to see the Queen, whose four-day visit — the first ever by a British monarch to the Republic — has put into action the state's biggest-ever security operation. (See pictures of the world's most beautiful tiaras.) The reluctance of the Queen and her father King George VI before her to visit England's closest neighbor stems from centuries of British occupation of Ireland. nike dunk shoes While the Republic of Ireland fought its way to independence with the founding of the Free State in 1922 and establishment of the Republic in 1937, Northern Ireland stayed under British rule. Sectarian tensions between Catholic republicans and Protestant unionists in the region grew, until they erupted into three decades of violence, during which over 3,600 people were killed. The Troubles, as they are called, ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. But until recently, the historical unrest made a visit by the Queen to the Republic seem an impossibility. So the announcement last month of her visit was viewed by some as a sign of political maturity. But the symbolism of the visit has also stirred up deep resentment among some Irish. Coach Handbags On Easter Monday, a representative of the splinter sectarian group called the Real IRA appeared in a video statement wearing a balaclava and military clothing and referred to the visit as "the upcoming insult" and the government's invite as unrepresentative of the wishes of the Irish people. "The Queen of England is wanted for war crimes in Ireland and not wanted on Irish soil," he said. "We will do our best to ensure she and the gombeen [corrupt] class that act as her cheerleaders get that message." The statement also included a threat to kill more Northern Irish police officers just weeks after the murder of Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr in Omagh. (Read "Tragic but Not Troubled: The Murder of a Northern Irish Policeman.") Coach BackpacksMeanwhile, the republican group Eirigi (Rise Up) has placed a countdown timer on its website, calling for the Queen's visit to be met with "widespread opposition and protest." The group is asking those against the visit to occupy the Garden of Remembrance, a memorial park in Dublin dedicated to those who fought for Irish freedom, which is part of the Queen's official itinerary. She will also go to Croke Park Stadium, the headquarters of Ireland's two national sports, Gaelic football and hurling, and the site of one of the bloodiest days of the War of Independence, when 14 civilians were killed by British forces retaliating the killing of British undercover agents earlier in the day.

nike dunk shoesSouth Lebanon Sunday witnessed its deadliest day since the month-long Israel-Hizballah 2006 war when 10 Palestinian demonstrators were reported shot dead and another 112 wounded as Israeli troops opened fire on protests along the border fence. The casualties came as a massive crowd of Palestinians gathered at Maroun er Ras, a small hilltop village overlooking the border with Israel, to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba, or Catastrophe, when the state of Israel was established. By Sunday night, the militant Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizballah was on alert and United Nations peacekeepers, known as UNIFIL, and Lebanese troops were planning heightened security measures along the border to prevent the retaliatory firing of rockets into Israel and a continuing escalation of cross border violence. (See photos of today's violent intifadeh.) Coach SunglassesThe protests were not an isolated event. Other Nakba demonstrations were held in Jordan, Egypt and Syria, where up to four Palestinians were killed in a rare infiltration of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria. (Israel said that one infiltrator was killed.) Some organizers of the Nakba commemoration had hoped that it would herald the onset of a "third intifadeh" of peaceful mass protests to compel Israel to honor the rights of Palestinians living under occupation or whom were expelled from their homes during the first Arab- Israeli war in 1948. The biggest of the border protests by far was in Lebanon, where an estimated 50,000 Palestinians were bussed from refugee camps scattered around Lebanon to Maroun er Ras. Luxury Coach Outlet The huge turnout surprised even organizers. "I was expecting 21,000 at the most. We ran out of buses to carry everyone," said Mahmoud Zeidan, a protest organizer from the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. "Ain al Hilweh looks deserted. I haven't seen it so empty since the 1982 Israeli invasion when everyone evacuated," he said. (See photos of flaring tempers between Palestine and Israel on the Nakba.) With the narrow winding road leading to Maroun er Ras blocked by parked buses, entire families from toddlers to stooped and wrinkled old men began climbing the steep northern slopes of the hill to reach the village. Across the verdant flower-speckled hillside, thin rivers of humanity defied gravity to steadily flow uphill, red, green and black Palestinian flags fluttering in the balmy spring breeze. Stout grandmothers wearing thick cotton dresses and white headscarves panted and wheezed, red faced, as youngsters scrambled past them. birkin bagThe vast majority of those participating in the event were born after 1948 and have never seen their original homeland, let alone visited their ancestral homes in what is now Israel. On cresting the hill at Maroun er Ras, a vast expanse of western Galilee — forested hills and belts of apple orchards — could be seen stretching away to the south. "I am lost for words," said Tarek, the 28-year-old owner of a laundry business in Beirut.