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Stashed in a drawer in his Manhattan apartment between snapshots of family vacations, a photograph shows Richard Holbrooke on a personal visit to Afghanistan in 2006. He is mugging atop an abandoned Russian cistern, flashing a sardonic V-for-victory sign and his best Richard Nixon-style show the teeth. The pose is a little like Holbrooke himself: looming, theatrical, passionate, indignant.

Three years later, he has inherited responsibility according to the terrain he surveyed from that tank. As President Obama’s especial agent to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Holbrooke will help reformulate and impel out U.S. stratagem in what many call the most doubtful region on earth.

Between them, the two countries contain unstable governments; insurgencies; corruption and a narcotics trade; nuclear material; refugees; resentment of U.S. power; a resurgent Taliban; and in the shadows of the tribal region that joins the two countries, al-Qaida and presumably Osama bin Laden.

“You have a problem that is larger than life,” said Christopher Hill, a longtime colleague expected to have being named as the new legate to Iraq. “To deal by it you need someone who’s larger than lifetime.”

Few other diplomats be able to boast of the accomplishments of Holbrooke, 67, who negotiated the Dayton peace accords to end the war in Bosnia. But as he lands in Pakistan on Monday, back on what one ought to do after eight years of a Republican administration, he is an outsider in the Obama circumference, having only freshly developed a relationship with the new president.

His longtime foreign-policy catechumen, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has the secretary of case piece of work he has always wanted. And he has taken on a task so difficult that merely averting disaster may be the only triumph.

“We are still in the process of digging our course into the debris,” Holbrooke said in an conference. “We’ve inherited an extraordinarily dysfunctional situation in which the very objectives esteem to be reviewed.”

Obama and Clinton chose Holbrooke because of his ability to twist arms and clinch hands, work closely with the body of soldiers and improvise inventive solutions to what others write off as insoluble problems. No one knows how his frequently pyrotechnical phraseology

“Richard C. Holbrooke is the diplomatic equivalent of a hydrogen bomb,” said Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state and a dear companion.

Already, Holbrooke’s return to Washington has caused tremors. His thing arrived at the State Department rattled colleagues who remember him as someone who cultivates the powerful and tramples those with less to offer. Others worry about his assiduous wooing of the media. Judging from interviews with several officials, there seems to be confusion hither and thither whether the U.S. Embassies in Pakistan and Afghanistan will be controlled by Holbrooke or the regular State Department overseers.

Even friends acknowledged that Holbrooke is intently focused on his concede legend: Many people gain personal trainers; Holbrooke has a material archivist.

10-day tour of region

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008720270_holbrooke08.html?syndication=rss

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WASHINGTON

Congress is racing to without fault the legislation this week.

The price tag for the Senate plan is sole slightly more than the $819 billion measure adopted by the House. Both plans are intended to blunt the recession with a conspiracy of quick-acting tax cuts to help increase spending by consumers and businesses, and slower long-term management spending adhering public-works projects and other programs to create more than 3 million jobs.

But the competing bills ruminate substantially contrary approaches. The House puts greater force of utterance in continuance helping states and municipalities avoid wide-scale cuts in services and layoffs of public employees, while the Senate cut $40 billion of that type of relieve. from its bill.

The Senate plan, a tentative agreement reached late Friday betwixt Democrats and three moderate Republicans, focuses more heavily on tax cuts, provides far less charitable health-care subsidies for the unemployed and lowers a proposed increase in food stamps. To help lighten Republican concerns about cost, the Senate proposal also scales back President Obama’s signature middle-class tax cut.

At the same time, the Senate figure creates $30 billion in tax incentives to encourage Americans to buy homes and cars not above the next year.

Republican opponents continued to rail against the stimulus plan steady the Senate floor in a rare session Saturday, flat though it was unlikely they would have the votes to intercept it.

The negotiations in Congress will test whether Democrats, who think they won a mandate in November to attend their goals, are willing to give up some of their favored long-term policy initiatives to win over other Republican votes. It also faculty of volition example whether any but the chiefly moderate Republicans are willing to support the Obama administration.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was in Williamsburg, Va., without ceasing a retreat through her fellow House Democrats on Friday, called the emerging Senate cuts to the motive program “very damaging” and aforesaid she was “excessively plenteous opposed to them.” But after the Senate reached its apportion, Pelosi expressed separate to complete the legislation in the days ahead.

Strong support

Obama, who has made economic recovery the centerpiece of his agenda, is expected to take a stronger indicator in the negotiations and will embark on an aggressive public lobbying campaign. He will conduct a town-hall-style meeting in Indiana on Monday, followed by a formal White House advice conference Monday obscurity. He disposition pitch the plan again Tuesday in Florida and Wednesday in Virginia.

In his weekly radio and Internet imploration on Saturday, the president praised the Senate deal and urged quick passage of a final bill.

“The time for battle is now,” Obama said. “If we don’t move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could adorn a national catastrophe.”

Also Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to proclaim the broad outlines of a redeem plan for the financial industry. The conduct hopes the announcement will quiet some critics in Congress who say not enough is conscious done for the housing sector.

While Senate Democrats reached an agreement with moderate Republicans on Friday, more conservative Republicans refused to fast-track the legislative trial.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., insisted the deal required careful consultation and said he would spend the weekend reviewing it, on a level allowing it was clear he was unlikely to support the measure.

Fight over $40B

The majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, related decisive passage of the Senate bill was expected Tuesday, and congressional leaders would move quickly to get the bill into colloquy to reconcile the House and Senate versions, in hopes of sending the bill to the White House by the end of the week.

The House and Senate must vote again to approve the decisive legislation, leaving a chance for unexpected pitfalls.

The main fight is well-adapted to be over the Senate’s design to cut $40 billion from proposed aid to states. Such take turn with does not necessarily degree of elevation the economy, but it prevents states from carrying out cuts that could make the recession worse, and the standard of value can be deployed quickly, a challenge in any large stimulus effort.

The $40 billion was the single largest cut in a paring back of the Senate proposal that helped seal a deal between Democrats and moderate Republicans, thanks to the efforts of a bipartisan form into groups led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

Other trims the group settled in continuance were eliminating $19.5 billion in construction aid by reason of schools and colleges and slicing proposed new aid for the Head Start early-childhood program by $1 billion.

Will tax cuts survive?

In some cases, the cuts to the Senate bill brought it closer to the House design. For instance, the senators reduced financing to expand broadband data networks in rural and underserved areas to $7 billion from $9 billion. The House has proposed $6 billion.

Another big difference is the Senate’s inclusion of nearly $70 billion to protect thousands of middle-class Americans from paying the choice minimum tax in 2009, sparing them from a system originally intended to prevent the wealthy from claiming also many tax deductions.

Obama and his aides regard strongly resisted any change to his middle-class tax-cut proposal, human being of his main campaign promises. The plot includes a tax credit of up to $500 for individuals and up to $1,000 for couples, with the credit phasing out for individuals earning more than $75,000 a year and couples other thing than $150,000.

The Senate fondle would lower that income cap to $70,000 for individuals and $140,000 for couples, saving the government $2 billion but potentially reducing the effectiveness of a censure break that is intended to aid consumer spending and help jump-start the thrift.

It is unclear how the House will react to an $11 billion Senate tax break to encourage consumers to buy cars by allowing them to deduct any sales tax and one year of loan interest. And the hired apartment must reconcile competing homebuyer tax credits.

To stabilize real-estate prices, the House would bestow first-time homebuyers a tax credit of 10 percent of a home’sitting cost, up to $7,500, with revenue caps reducing the credit for individuals earning $75,000 and couples earning $150,000

The Senate plan includes a more generous credit of 10 percent, up to $15,000 that would exist available to all homebuyers, by no gains limits. That money due, proposed by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., would cost $18.5 billion.

A formal conference to resolve the differences between the two bills is expected to begin by the middle of the week.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008720010_stimclash08.html?syndication=rss

WASHINGTON Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was very near the top of President Barack Obama’session list of candidates to head the Health and Human Services Department, a senior administration official said Saturday.

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The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private superintendence deliberations, said not any decision was imminent and that other candidates remain in the blend. But the official added the preceding Kansas insurance commissioner was boil as Obama considers future candidates, in not at all microscopic part in succession the strength of her close relationship with the president.

The spring, speaking on the situation of anonymity to reason about private administration deliberations, said no decision was imminent. But the official added the anterior Kansas insurance commissioner was insurrection as Obama considers prospective candidates.

Sebelius would be Obama’session second choice for the slot. Former Sen. Tom Daschle had to withdraw his designation amid an admission he had not paid taxes on a car and driver because that leaving Congress as a Democratic leader.

White House spokesman Reid Cherlin on Saturday said no determination had been made.

Sebelius was an early Obama supporter, picking his presidential campaign over that of Hillary Rodham Clinton, since the secretary of state. Sebelius worked tirelessly for Obama’s command and was a top surrogate to women’s groups.

Advocacy groups in the same manner as the consumer watchdog role 60-year-old Sebelius played as insurance commissioner for eight years before she became governor.

Her call by name had been floated for several Cabinet posts, but she announced in early December that she had removed herself from consideration from a Cabinet job, citing Kansas’ budget problems that needed her attention.

The two-term manager remains popular in her civil community and comes from a strong political family. Her father, John Gilligan, was the governor of Ohio in the early 1970s. She also advised Obama’s campaign in continuance how to connect through women, especially after Republicans picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as their vice presidential nominee.

Sebelius was in town last week to give a mate of speeches, one on clean energy jobs and the other at the National Education Association. She also met at the Ritz Carlton hotel with Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Sebelius’ trip was planned in advance of Daschle bowed out as nominee for HHS secretary considered in the state of a result of fallout from with reference to $140,000 in back taxes and interest he paid last month.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen also was on Obama’s list to run the nation’s massive health programs. Already, nevertheless, some advocacy groups were lining up to oppose the Democratic executive.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008716277_aphhssebelius.html?syndication=rss

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VANCOUVER, B.C.

In the summer of 2003, a volunteer since Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympic bid stood nearly in tears describing how it felt to learn that the Olympic flame would be lit in British Columbia in February 2010.

“It was close, but we’ll take it,” the woman said of a 56-53 vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which chose Vancouver and Whistler. “We’re not giving it back!”

Six years later, with a global recession in full sway and Olympic construction and security costs mounting, a growing number of her fellow citizens might pass by a leap at that opportunity.

It’s too late to give the Olympics rear. With the one-year-out date looming Thursday, contracts are signed, guarantees be the subject of been made and the terraqueous globe’s most profitably bobsledders are before that time screaming down a course on Blackcomb Mountain at 90 mph. Vancouver’sitting Olympic impetus is literally set in concrete.

But it’s expensive mortar. The pride-filled celebration of five years ago seems a quaint, perhaps naive memory in a incorporated town now questioning the cost of welcoming the world to Canada’s hippest, most diverse city.

A group of bicycle messengers hanging out downtown, close to the official Games countdown clock, joked this week that one time it strikes nothing, the clock will start counting up

Not everyone in Vancouver shares the cynicism. Two-thirds of city residents voted thumbs-up on an Olympic plebiscite five years past. And abundant of that fan base remains rabid, as evidenced by historic necessitate concerning tickets and a vast surplus of Games volunteers.

A chance has gone right through Vancouver’s Olympic continued, more of it to every unprecedented degree: Vancouver is the first Olympic host to complete totally its competition venues two years before the Games. Each will have conducted an Olympic test event by spring.

Insiders, such as former Mayor Sam Sullivan, note that the Olympics already have changed Vancouver for the better.

“The city is hoppin’,” Sullivan says. “There are so many persons jobs created, and money coming in from all around the world. I can’t see by what mode that’session a negative thing.”

But critics say the Games they voted for are not the Games they’re getting. And events this winter sent a shudder from one side an Olympic support villanous that once seemed impenetrable.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2008720143_oly08.html?syndication=rss

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Q: My emboss tells me I need to improve my e-mail communication. I’ve been texting my friends since college and don’face to face understand how my e-mails could be improved. Do you be in possession of more guidelines on effective e-mailing?

A: Your letter positively nails a problem divers people are having in the workplace through e-mail communication. If you e-mail the mode of dealing you text, you’ll often be perceived as immature, lazy or unprofessional (not an image you want to promote).

E-mails are the new verbal expression. Thus when you write an e-mail you need to write as if you were typing and mailing a letter.

When we text, we often practice all lower capitals, or abbreviations, or slip on’t worry about spelling. Especially if you are hand every e-mail to anyone over 40, your e-mail will exist in want received if you use these shortcuts.

Here are general guidelines that will help your message be heard:

1. Write your e-mail exactly the way you would a note. Don’t application first names if not you know the somebody or wish reason to assume he or she will not be offended. If in doubt, start out with Mr., Ms. or Mrs.

2. Don’t write in all capitals, in the manner that it can appear to be an e-mail form of yelling.

3. Skip sarcasm or subtle jokes, after it is difficult to tell if you are kidding lacking seeing your body language and tenor of voice.

4. Close your e-mail with the signoff you use on letters.

5. Include your title following your name or your business Web site.

The most common mistake I examine race make with e-mail is to think they are the same at the same time that colloquy. Conversations come and have effect, but an e-mail can last forever. Before you punch that “send” button, ask yourself how happy you’d be to be in actual possession of your e-mail in your corporate newsletter?

I advise my clients to take the time to write any important e-mails in a word-processing program where they will not be tempted to hit the “send” button in a fit of emotion. If you have to cut and paste your cogitation into your e-mail, you’ll reread, late down, and chose language that will get results rather than reactions.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008719926_skube08.html?syndication=rss

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WASHINGTON — Americans are hunkering down and saving more. For a recession-battered economy, it couldn’t be happening at a worse time.

Economists call it the “paradox of thrift.” What’s good for individuals — spending less, saving more — is bad for the economy when everyone does it.

The government reports that Americans’ savings rate, as a percentage of after-tax incomes, rose to 2.9 percent in the last three months of 2008. That’s up sharply from 1.2 percent in the third quarter and less than 1 percent a year ago.

Like a teeter-totter, when the savings rate rises, spending falls. The latter accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. When consumers refuse to spend, companies cut back, layoffs rise, people pinch pennies even more and the recession deepens.

The downward spiral has hammered the retail and manufacturing industries. For years, stores enjoyed boom times as shoppers splurged on TVs, fancy kitchen decor and clothes. Suddenly, frugality is in style.

Grace Case, 38, of Syracuse, N.Y., is a self-described recovering creditaholic. For 13 years, she charged it all — cars, clothes, repairs, vacations. She’d make only the minimum card payments to sustain her buying spree for her and her family, which includes her husband and two children.

But after being laid off 2 ½ years ago from her job as an accountant, she landed another accounting job that cut her salary from $60,000 to $40,000. It was impossible to meet minimum payments on her card balances.

Now, the Cases are on a strict budget. They take “staycations” at home, grow their own vegetables, buy only used cars and prepaid cellphones. Case hasn’t used a credit card in two years. And she’s saving more.

“It’s really a liberating feeling,” she said. “If you want something, you have to have the money for it.”

Many economists think the savings rate will keep rising, perhaps as high as 6 percent or more.

So where’s the money going? To savings accounts? To debt reduction?

No one knows for sure. But Robert Frank, Cornell University economist, says it doesn’t much matter.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008719786_frugality08.html?syndication=rss