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Lawmakers Stuck in Stopgap Mode While Budget Problems Fester Lawmakers entered what could well be a merry-go-round of negotiations over spending cuts Thursday, raising concerns that Washington is pushing off the big decisions with short-term agreements Coach Leather Hangbags while other problems fester. Ahead of a high-profit budget summit, the White House said Thursday afternoon that Democrats would be willing to put more cuts on the table -- another $6 billion, according to National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. One GOP aide estimated that put the Democrats' total offering at about $10 billion. "That's it?" the aide said. The initial joust signals that more short-term agreements will be needed before the two parties can come together on a spending package for the rest of the year. It only complicates a debate that gets more confusing and contentious by the day. Vice President Biden offered no clues as to what comes next, issuing an ultra-brief statement after the meeting saying: "We had a good meeting, and the conversation will continue." The goalposts in the budget debate keep moving. After Republicans swept into office on, among other things, a pledge to initially cut spending by $100 billion, GOP leaders proposed a plan for the rest of 2011 that fell far short of that. Then they offered a new plan to cut $61 billion from last year's levels, under pressure from Tea Party freshmen. But that bill, after passing the House, is stuck in the Senate and lawmakers are in the meantime negotiating short-term extensions -- adding layer upon layer to the budget debate, kind of like dreams within dreams in the hit movie "Inception." While they struggle to bust through those layers and deal with substantive discussions about spending, the nation's debt is creeping ever closer, once again, to its ceiling as other policy challenges cry out for congressional attention -- among them a crisis in Libya, unemployment and border security. President Obama signed a two-week spending bill cutting $4 billion Wednesday after it cleared Congress. But senior congressional aides on both sides of the aisle concede lawmakers will likely have to hammer out yet another stopgap extension while they figure out what to budget for the rest of 2011. House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said Thursday he'd be open to supporting more two-week budget bills, cutting $4 billion at a time. Then comes the much-bigger debate over the 2012 budget. Michael Franc, with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the government is only creating more uncertainty -- on top of uncertainty over the tax code, health regulations and other areas -- by budgeting two weeks at a time. "It's disruptive," he said, not just for the government agencies but the companies that contract with them. He warned that grant and contract funds could go into a holding pattern, and Coach Hobos Bags those applying for them might think twice. Sal Russo, chief strategist with the Tea Party Express, said his group is not exactly tickled by what they're seeing out of Washington. "We're not satisfied," he told FoxNews.com. "Their message from the last election, unequivocally, was government spending and debt has become excessive, unsustainable and it interferes with the ability of the economy to recover. ... So it's obvious (from) the fact the debate continues like this, there are a lot of people who haven't gotten the message." Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips also sounded off on his organization's website, saying House Speaker John Boehner looks "like a fool." Russo said more Republicans grasp the fiscal crisis than Democrats, but urged Republicans to more "aggressively" attack the problem. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are voicing frustration with their own difficulty in breaking new ground. Tempers are flaring even as they claim to be finding a modicum of common ground. Before the Senate passed the two-week extension, Boehner said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ""owes the American people an explanation" for not taking action on the original funding bill that passed the House and would cut $61 billion in federal spending. Reid's spokesman immediately fired back, saying: "That's tough talk from someone who is being bossed around by a bunch of (freshmen)." Thursday wasn't any better. With Republicans complaining that Democrats were not giving them anything to work with, the White House set up the meeting with Biden and bipartisan congressional leaders. Though Republicans accepted the invite, they kept expectations low and had nothing to say when it concluded. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, on the Senate floor, mocked the White House for responding to Wednesday's vote with a meeting. "Republicans are happy to go," he said. "But putting a meeting on the schedule doesn't change the fact that neither the White House nor a single Democrat in Congress has proposed a plan that would allow the government to remain open and that would respond to the voters by reining in spending. All we get is talk." Senate Democrats were planning to come with a proposal that includes more spending cuts. Though Republicans were dismissive, the White House estimated the total cuts offered amount to about $51 billion. But that includes $41 billion in savings when Coach Leather Hangbags compared against the president's 2011 budget proposal, which was never enacted. The other $10 billion came from the $4 billion in the latest stopgap bill as well as an additional $6 billion.

Analyst: iPad 2 Changes “Phenomenal” The changes Apple was able power balance wholesale to bring to its iPad line are “nothing short of phenomenal,” according to analyst Brian Marshall of Gleacher & Co. Mr. Marshall maintained his US$400 price target and “Buy” rating for Apple’s stock in place, and he didn’t change his iPad estimates for 2011, but he did say that he might change his mind on upgrading his own iPad. “Heading into the event,” he wrote in a research note to clients obtained by The Mac Observer, “we had no intention of upgrading our [1st generation] iPads, but after testing the new device, we may have changed our minds. The technological improvements the AAPL design team made to the iPad 2 in just approximately 12 months is nothing short of phenomenal, in our view (e.g., 33% thinner, 15% lighter, 9x faster graphics, smart cover capability, etc.).” He also noted that Apple Steve Jobs looked better than he did at his last appearance, and felt that Mr. Jobs’s appearance had one main purpose, and that was to tell the power balance yellow world that he wasn’t going anywhere just yet. Mr. Marshall wrote, “We believe his message was loud and clear: ‘This is my company and I am not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.’” Calling his own iPad estimates “conservative,” Mr. Marshall currently predicts that Apple will sell 5.3 million iPads during the March quarter (Apple’s 2nd fiscal quarter), and 30 million during calendar 2011. Shares in AAPL moved Coach Handbags higher Thursday, closing at $359.56, up $7.44 (+2.11%), with moderate volume of 17.8 million shares trading hands.

Clinton: Former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran may be held in Asia Washington (CNN) -- Evidence is balance bracelet growing that a retired FBI agent who disappeared in Iran four years ago is alive and being held in Asia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday. Robert Levinson disappeared during a business trip in March 2007. "We have received recent indications that Bob is being held somewhere in southwest Asia," Clinton said in a statement. "As the government of Iran has previously offered its assistance in this matter, we respectfully request the Iranian government to undertake humanitarian efforts to safely return and reunite Bob with his family." Levinson checked into a Kish Island hotel and attended meetings on March 8, 2007. He checked out the following day, but did not make a scheduled flight to Dubai. His wife, Christine Levinson, said her seven children, two grandchildren and she "await the day we will be reunited." "Our family is tremendously encouraged by the news Bob is alive but remains concerned for his safety and well being," she said in a statement Thursday. Robert Levinson suffers from diabetes and requires regular medication, she said. In recent months, the United States received "proof of life," according to a senior diplomatic official and a U.S. government official. Both requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation. The government official told CNN the evidence was received within the last six months and is "clear and convincing proof that Bob Levinson is alive." The government official would not elaborate on what the "convincing" evidence entailed. Its emergence has fueled a fresh round of "discussions" between the United States and Iran, according to the senior diplomatic official. The discussions, not equivalent to negotiations, were described as "working level," meaning it was not conducted by senior administration officials, the official said. The United States is awaiting action by Iran and is hopeful progress is being made, the official said. Levinson's family told CNN in 2010 he was working as a private investigator in Dubai and may have been looking into a cigarette smuggling case. Levinson family members have met with local Iranian officials and have traveled there to retrace his steps. Christine Levinson flew to the United Nations in 2008 to ask questions about her husband. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declined to meet her. The family has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to his safe return. The State Department and FBI have power balance wholesale consistently denied Levinson was working for the government and have demanded Iran free Levinson -- if it is holding him. Iran has insisted it does not know his whereabouts. The U.S. has lacked reliable information about whether Levinson was alive or dead. In the first few years after his disappearnace, Bush administration officials had said they suspect Iranian authorities seized Levinson and were holding him in a jail inside the country. But as the years since his appearance passed, many officials believed he might be dead. Levinson is a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs, Florida. After leaving the agency, his wife says, he worked as a security consultant specializing in cigarette smuggling. The State Department has repeatedly met with Levinson's family and have sent diplomatics note to Tehran through the Swiss government, who represents the U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of an American diplomatic presence in the country. CNN had reported that Levinson met with Dawud Salahuddin, an American fugitive who lives in Iran, shortly before his disappearance. Salahuddin -- known in Iran as Hassan Abdulrahman -- converted to Islam and was given refugee status in Iran after admitting in interviews to killing Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a former Iranian diplomat under the shah, in Maryland in 1980, he told CNN in a 2007 interview. Salahuddin was detained by Iranian officials in plain clothes and taken away from the room he shared with Levinson to be interrogated about his Iranian passport, he said in the interview. When he was freed the next day, he said, he was told by officials that Levinson had returned to Dubai. Senior administration officials have told CNN that they believe Salahuddin met with Levinson, but do not believe him to be a credible source of information on Levinson's whereabouts. In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally passed a note to Iranian officials at a U.N. conference on Afghanistan in the Hague asking them for help in finding Levinson. FBI spokeswoman Katherine Schweit said Thursday the agency could not comment further. "We are working very hard to bring Bob Levinson home safely," Schweit said. "His family misses him dearly and we remain concerned about his heath, given history of diabetes." Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida has sought information for the Levinson family for the past four years. "It's encouraging that we may have good news," Nelson said in a statement later Thursday. "I'm praying that he can be reunited with his family." "It's encouraging that we may have good power balance white news. I'm praying that he can be reunited with his family."

Police find ammunition outside Wisconsin Capitol as standoff continues (CNN) -- A third week of high-stakes power balance political drama unfolded in Wisconsin Thursday with an unexpected twist: 41 rounds of hollow-point rifle ammunition found outside the state Capitol. Police continued their search for more ammunition, and the person to which it belongs, amid a contentious budget showdown over a measure that would -- among other things -- curb the collective bargaining rights of most state workers. Weeks of demonstrations in protest of Gov. Scott Walker's proposal has drawn massive crowds to the state legislature since mid-February, contributing to $6.5 million in damages and other costs, state Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said during a hearing Thursday. The hearing examined the question of public access to the building. Meanwhile, the state Senate approved a resolution that would hold absentee Democratic lawmakers "in contempt of the Senate" should they not return to the Capitol by late afternoon. The missing lawmakers -- who left February 17 -- had still not returned by Thursday night. The contempt measure allows state law enforcement to detain and return the 14 Senate Democrats to Wisconsin, according to Senate Majority Leader spokesman Andrew Welhouse. The lawmakers fled to Illinois to prevent a quorum on the state's budget repair bill that would limit collective bargaining to wages and require public workers, with the exception of police and firefighters, to cover more of their retirement plans and health care premiums. But whether the contempt measure is constitutional remains unclear. The state Constitution prohibits the arrest of lawmakers while the legislature is in session, except for power balance bracelet "treason, felony and breach of the peace." Whether Wisconsin law enforcement would be permitted jurisdiction in Illinois to detain the missing Democrats is also unclear. The stalemate has proven increasingly contentious in recent days as Senate lawmakers adopted a resolution on Wednesday that would fine absentee lawmakers $100 every day they remain missing. A similar resolution passed a day later in Indiana where House Republicans imposed a $250-a-day fine against AWOL Democrats who -- like their Wisconsin counterparts -- fled to Illinois in protest of a labor bill. In Wisconsin, Republicans need a single Democrat to cross party lines and rejoin the 33-member legislature to meet the quorum of 20 lawmakers required in a vote on state fiscal matters. Only 17 lawmakers are required for most other issues. Union leaders have agreed to pay more for benefits, but view restricting bargaining rights as an assault on workers' rights. Gov. Walker took to the airwaves Wednesday in support of his belt-tightening measure. "Every day we fail to act on this just adds more and more to the cost," he told reporters, defending a move to curtail workers' power to negotiate as an integral part of fiscal reform. Wisconsin is confronted with a looming $137 million budget shortfall at the end of the fiscal year, June 30. The 2011 coach purses state faces a $3.6 billion budget gap by 2013.

John Galliano Exits the Way That He Entered IN the last two months, the editor of French Vogue has resigned; the president of Yves Saint Laurent said she power balance wholesale will leave her dream job to run the vanity label of Reed Krakoff, the Coach creative director, whose one dream is apparently to be successful. Gucci Group cut its chief executive loose. The first anniversary, on Feb. 11, of Alexander McQueen’s suicide brought up another loss, another memory. And on the nausea went until, implausibly, John Galliano self-destructed in a liquored-up “I love Hitler” rant — caught, as so many career-enders are these days, on video and circulated on the Web. Some felt the panic more than others and wondered if it was not time for them to get out, too. Some confronted it the only way the modern media world allows, by riding it out and planning to get to the Mugler show early on Wednesday night, because Lady Gaga was expected to model and there would be a scene. But in this context, the words “the show must go on,” hoisted like a dinky white flag, feel callow. One thing is for sure: Dior’s chief executive Sidney Toledano and his boss, the biggest pencil in the luxury-goods business, Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton, had to begin dismissal procedures against Mr. Galliano. They couldn’t tolerate the public hating by Mr. Galliano, however out of character his defenders said it was for him. In circumstances like these, a sensible millionaire designer would have jumped into his chauffeured car and gone to his boss and pleaded insanity, whereupon he would have been given an all-expense-paid trip to rehab. But that’s just it: Mr. Galliano is not a sensible man, any more than fashion chiefs are missionaries. Last Friday, when Dior suspended him, many fashion writers suspected that the company was seizing an opportunity to fire him after 15 years on the job. Though he could still dazzle with haute couture, like last summer’s flower-tinted collection, the real business is in accessories and ready-to-wear — and Mr. Galliano’s own eccentric turn-outs at the end of shows were often all editors talked about as they buzzed and buzzed about Phoebe Philo of Céline or someone equally relevant. “That’s the superficial fashion world talking,” a fashion executive said on Tuesday night. If Mr. Toledano had wanted an excuse to fire Mr. Galliano, he could scarcely have ordered up a worse public-relations nightmare, one that could still engulf Dior. As it is, Mr. Galliano did not contact Dior after the incident last Thursday, nor over the weekend, said a company executive who requested anonymity because of the unusual nature of the situation. “He was denying it,” the executive said. But the lack of communication between the house and its star designer at such a crucial moment points to deeper strains. (On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor announced that Mr. Galliano would stand trial for racial insults. Also on Wednesday, Mr. Galliano released his first statement. It said in part: “I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people’s understanding and compassion. To start this process I am seeking help and all I can hope for in time is to address the personal failure which led to these circumstances and try and earn people’s forgiveness.”) In a way, luxury groups like LVMH are reaping what they sowed in the mid-’90s, when they hired supremely talented designers like Mr. Galliano, Mr. McQueen and Marc Jacobs (for Louis Vuitton) to energize old labels. Not only was Mr. Galliano seriously gifted, with technical skills and a romantic sensibility that suited Dior’s femininity, he brought to Dior a spot-on sense of vision. And he had an outsize personality, a mixture of a fiery temperament and devil-may-care London, that people could relate to. In interviews, or during a preview of a collection at the Dior studio, Mr. Galliano always acted the charming host, with cigarettes in supply and people from the ateliers bringing down finished dresses. One night, quite late, I watched Mr. Galliano and his closest assistants — Bill Gaytten and the late Steven Robinson — do fittings for a collection inspired, improbably perhaps, by ancient Egyptian ladies and ’50s fashion goddesses. They worked in front of the studio’s mirrors, speaking quietly among themselves, while people from the house sat on some steps, at some distance. You sensed power balance wholesale the pressures on him. But he may have expressed his personality, and wicked humor, best on the catwalk. The only show I have ever stood to applaud was a Galliano show, six or seven years ago. He used a special casting of sideshow performers — twins, fat people, exceptionally tall people, freaks in most people’s eyes — and he closed the show with a supermodel dangling a puppet in his likeness. The manipulated designer. But who was pulling whose strings? On his return backstage from walking on the runway, he stopped in front of me and gave a little bow. He was delighted to have his work acknowledged, like all designers. MR. GALLIANO was a controversial choice for Dior when, in 1996, Mr. Arnault moved him from Givenchy. Even though Dior had become comically stiff and pretentious, the French took it seriously. Who was this English punk with braids? What did he know about couture? I remember going to the Dior ateliers, in 2000, and casually asking the woman who ran the drapery workrooms which of Dior’s designers she liked best: Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré or Mr. Galliano. She hesitated, then said: “Monsieur Galliano. He changed my eye.” Initially, Mr. Toledano was alarmed by some of Mr. Galliano’s ideas: the slashed and turned-upside-down garments that appeared in the Matrix collection, in 1999, at Versailles, and the controversial show inspired by Paris tramps. At the time, Dior was still pushing a bourgeois look in its Avenue Montaigne windows and advertisements (and in its Lady Di handbags), while Mr. Galliano was doing his best to destroy all that on the runway. I remember running into Mr. Toledano and Mr. Arnault at Dior one Saturday in 1999 or so, and telling them I didn’t understand what they were trying to do with the label’s style. “Just wait,” Mr. Arnault said, ever confident. “You’ll see. It will all come together.” And it did. In a matter of a year or so, beginning with the saddle bag, hip-hop logo denim, and new ads, created by Mr. Galliano with the photographer Nick Knight, Dior acquired a hot, coherent image. And Mr. Galliano produced some of his most exhilarating shows, like one in July 2003 based on ballet and another in January 2007, swirling with huge skirts and three-dimensional origami embroideries in the shape of birds. But increasingly one had the feeling that Mr. Galliano was indulged in ways that went beyond the normal — the driver, the bodyguard, the research trips, the vacations, the teams of assistants — and might have caused even the steadiest soul to lose touch with reality. Mr. Toledano is known to have repeatedly encouraged him to seek professional help for some issues (presumably, drinking), but Mr. Galliano’s replies were indirect. Or he said he would go to a spa. Certainly the demand on designers at big houses to produce multiple collections every year has taken both its creative and personal toll. “It’s not as if John didn’t have assistants doing the work, finding fabrics,” the Paris executive told me. “He just had to supply the vision.” But what was that vision in the last years? Dior wanted more commercial clothes. And isn’t there something horribly detrimental in separating a creative spirit from the actual mechanics of making clothes? It’s no wonder that young designers now question the model of big luxury houses and admire the slow-clothes method of Azzedine Ala?a, who still makes his patterns himself, or even Giorgio Armani, who works all the time. In one way or another, these whip-lashing events feel like a repudiation of certain beliefs. But the sadness and sense of waste is undeniable. Maybe one good thing that will come out of this is that Mr. Galliano will get some help. On Wednesday, there were news reports that he had left France and entered a rehab center, at balance bracelets the urging of colleagues and friends like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss.

Steve Jobs' surprise appearance a 'big deal' San Francisco (CNN) -- Six weeks after announcing an indefinite medical leave, Apple CEO Steve Jobs surprised a Cheap Coach Bags Store lot of people when he took the stage Wednesday to unveil his company's next-generation iPad. The audience at Apple's event gave him a standing ovation and tech bloggers immediately and breathlessly tweeted out the news. "That he came out on stage will go down in history as a big deal," said John Jackson, a CCS Insight analyst. "It's a significant gesture." Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. He had a liver transplant in 2009. On January 17, he took his second leave from the company in the past two years. Speculation about Jobs' health had increased in recent weeks, with tabloids weighing in with unsubstantiated reports. Some of those rumors were tempered when Jobs was photographed in February attending a private dinner with President Barack Obama and other Silicon Valley elite. Still, many observers had expected another Apple exec, possibly COO Tim Cook or marketing chief Phil Schiller, to fill in for him Wednesday. But there was Jobs, looking thin but happy and vigorous. Whatever health concerns prompted his most recent leave didn't seem to affect his flair as an Apple pitchman. "We've been working on this product for a long time, and I just didn't want to miss the day," Jobs said. He smiled often throughout his presentation, paced back and forth on stage and cracked jokes about the white iPhone that Apple has yet to sell. He also characteristically took jabs at competitors such as Google, saying Android tablets lack enough apps. RELATED TOPICS Steve Jobs Apple Inc. Apple iPad Afterward, Jobs didn't venture out to the demo room, where he sometimes greets reporters coach purses outlet and guests who are getting a first look at new products. Apple executives Schiller, Jony Ive and Scott Forstall were there instead. Several observers noted that Jobs added a black belt to his trademark black-mock turtleneck-and-jeans ensemble, which either makes him a ninja or a man wearing loose-fitting pants. The Apple co-founder's current leave has sparked concern among his cult-like followers and even spooked some investors. A proposal for Apple to outline a succession plan for its executives failed to pass at a shareholders' meeting at the company's Cupertino, California, headquarters last week. Jobs didn't attend. But the health of Apple's chief, who runs the most highly valued tech company in the world, is more important to shareholders than it is to most of its customers, said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester Research analyst focusing on personal computing. "I don't think the average person cares what's going on with Apple's leader," she said. Jobs' appearance threatened to overshadow the iPad 2 launch and may alleviate some criticisms that the tablet computer isn't a major upgrade over the original. He said the similar-looking iPad 2 has "an all-new design," among other improvements. All Things D's Kara Swisher broke the news late Tuesday that Jobs was considering an appearance at the event. "What would be a welcome change in the coverage of Jobs' personal struggles would be to show a level of respect to him by paying more attention to what bells and whistles the iPad 2 has rather than to how his jeans are fitting," she wrote. "That's the truly dramatic story to watch here, rather than needlessly rubbernecking about the struggles of one man -- albeit, a very significant man -- to regain his health." Jobs concluded Wednesday's presentation with a touch of sentimentality that also graced his January statement in announcing his medical leave. "As always, I'd also like to thank 2011 coach purses everyone's families because they support us and let us do what we love to do," he said.