The late-night war among Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and David Letterman is an Oedipal conflict: pretender, contender, and defender. But none has the elusive quality that made Johnny Carson king.

More on Conan O'Brien

In these days of increasing disposable commodities, few people would bother with the effort of trying to repair a broken item, or perhaps not even imagine it to be possible. Most consumers are habituated to trash the old, and buy a new one without thinking twice.

One group of individuals is setting out to GristTV heads to Brooklyn where they visit the Fixers' Collective.

More on Green Living

Republican U.S. Senate front-runner Marco Rubio brags on his Web site that he didn't officially request budget pork in his last four years as a leader in the Florida House.

But during Rubio's eight years in office -- including the final two when he was House speaker -- he unofficially helped push loads of hometown spending: $250 million, according to a Times/Herald analysis of little-known budget documents.

More on GOP

ABC News reports that in an interview with Charlie Rose to be broadcast Wednesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls ex-New York Congressman Eric Massa "a very sick person."

Massa announced his resignation from his House seat last week amid allegations that he sexually harassed male staffers.

"This is a very sick person," Pelosi told Rose, according to ABC. "He has been diagnosed with cancer. Perhaps his judgment is impaired because of the ethical issues that have arisen, and he is no longer in the Congress."

More from ABC's Teddy Davis.

More on Nancy Pelosi

As part his week-long look at health care (and the Republican's fear that Dems are ramming the bill down their throat), last night Stephen Colbert broke down the word "reconciliation," mocking the media's adoption of "nuclear option" to replace it.

Colbert acknowledged that this is not the first time Republicans have twisted words around to follow their agenda, citing classics like "death panel" and "no." And like all the others, "nuclear option" is no less extreme.

To make his point, Colbert noted that any word could be twisted around to have a negative connotation, and conservatives may need to make the health care bill sound even more evil to sway the American people. "Doctors" could be called "rubber gloved ass-probers" who "keep you from going to heaven."


WATCH:

More on Stephen Colbert

ALBANY, N.Y. (Associated Press) -- Closed-door budget talks at the Capitol on Tuesday included discussion of a spending cap, more borrowing and proposed creation of an independent control board that could give one official broad power to balance the budget.

Paterson said the "control board" proposed by Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch would be an independent panel that would decide whether a budget deal struck by the Legislature and governor is balanced under uniform accounting rules. If not, the governor -- or potentially another official such as the comptroller -- would gain extraordinary powers to make final spending cuts and other decisions.

Paterson said the idea, even if accepted, wouldn't likely be used this budget session.

But he said it could be critical in ending Albany's notorious overspending. He said recent spending has risen 8 percent annually while revenues increased just 3 percent a year, placing New Yorkers among the highest taxed Americans.

"I think what we are moving toward in this state is a shift in which there will be a final decider," Paterson said. "I think this whole idea that you can govern by committee is just not working where fiscal management is concerned."

"It's an interesting concept that's worthy of consideration," said Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. "He's worked hard to come up with a plan that works."

Paterson also is pushing for a spending cap that had previously been rejected by the Legislature. The closed-door talks also include proposals for borrowing.

"Our problem is spending," Paterson said Tuesday. He noted the deficit is more than $9 billion in the budget due April 1. "Borrowing is what got everyone into trouble; ... no one is opposed to borrowing until the day of reckoning comes and the day of reckoning has come to New York."

The borrowing proposal comes as state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli proposes similar long-term reforms to Albany's long-criticized budget process. He said Albany should simply start matching spending with revenues.

"Now we have spending commitments we can't meet and a funding stream that is weaker and more unpredictable than it's been," DiNapoli said Tuesday in an interview. He said the Legislature and governor should no longer continue a practice of making record increases in spending, such as school aid, that can no longer be sustained by revenues.

"We have to approach this as a restructured economy," DiNapoli said.

Senate Conference Leader John Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, said he is hesitant to borrow more. He said Paterson met with the Democratic majority Tuesday night and that the conference is considering Ravitch's multiyear fiscal plan that would include borrowing.

"Everything is on the table," Sampson said.

The statements sought to show the governor and legislative leaders engaged in budget negotiations despite scandals that threaten Paterson's job. The scandals already have forced three staffers to resign.

Paterson is being investigated by the attorney general for his role in contact with a woman who had accused one of his top aides of domestic violence. The woman later dropped the charge. Paterson also is accused of violating a state gift ban in obtaining free World Series tickets, then lying about it.

Paterson said Tuesday that legislative leaders are dealing with him on the budget and cooperating, despite the scandals.

In the current $130 billion budget, just under $6 billion is spent on debt payments, with far more kept "off the books" that was borrowed by public authorities that run transportation services, utilities and other services.

AP Writer Valerie Bauman contributed to this report from Albany.

Mark Suster just keeps putting out great stuff on his blog. Last night he posted about the tricky issue of transitioning from one job to another. Mark writes the post from the perspective of the entrepreneur/executive hiring someone who is currently working for another company. I love this part:

I operate on the principal that you’re most vulnerable in any deal immediately after you’ve won.  I believe the same is true in recruiting.  So your goal is to get the employee working in your company as quickly as possible and with the least amount of collateral damage.

That is exactly the right tack to be taking if you are the person on the hiring end of the situation. I highly recommend reading Mark's post because he provides some great advice to the hiring company.

Read the rest of this story »

See Also:

• What It's Like Being A VC
• 'Firing Is Too Merciful', And Other Leadership Lessons From James Cameron
• 10 Creative Recruiting Strategies To Hire Great People

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is making his closing arguments for a health care overhaul, pushing a new anti-fraud plan as he cranks up the pressure on skittish Democratic lawmakers to act fast.

Obama is to speak Wednesday at St. Charles High School, his second health care address in three days. His speech comes as congressional Democrats stand on the brink of delivering the president a dramatic success with passage of his sweeping overhaul legislation – or a colossal failure if they can't get it done.

Business groups that oppose the legislation are also stepping it up, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announcing a coordinated campaign to spend as much as $10 million on ads, starting Wednesday, saying, "Stop this health care bill we can't afford."

Leaders in the House and Senate are waiting for a final cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office in the next day or so that will allow them to start counting votes – and twisting arms – in earnest. In the House, in particular, getting the needed majority will be touch and go.

The two-step approach now being pursued calls for the House to approve a Senate-passed bill from last year, despite House Democrats' opposition to several of its provisions. Both chambers then would follow by approving a companion measure to make changes in that first bill.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said he expects the House to act by March 18, the day Obama leaves for an overseas trip. That timetable would be tough to meet, and congressional leaders told White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that they don't need deadlines handed down from the White House, according to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee.

"He was certainly informed that we don't feel that we want any deadline assigned to us," Waxman said.

Republicans are playing on House Democrats' suspicions of their Senate colleagues, arguing that Senate Democrats may not hold up their end of the bargain and the votes will be damaging politically for Democrats in November.

"They will be voting, when they pass the Senate bill, to endorse the Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the Gator-aid, the closed-door deal," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, citing controversial elements of the Senate bill.

An Associated Press-GfK Poll released Tuesday found a widespread hunger for improvements to the health care system, but also found that Americans don't like the way the debate is playing out in Washington.

About four in five Americans say it's important that any health care plan have support from both parties. And more than three in five say the president and congressional Democrats should keep trying to cut a deal with Republicans rather than pass a bill with no GOP support.

Leaders of both parties in Congress say that's not how it's going to work out. After a year of off-and-on negotiations, Republicans adamantly oppose Obama's plans. The White House and Democratic leaders say it's now-or-never for a health care overhaul, which would cover an additional 30 million Americans, require almost everyone to buy health insurance and impose new restrictions on insurance companies.

The president is applying pressure from the outside. In a speech Monday in Pennsylvania, he railed against insurance companies. The message for his Wednesday afternoon speech is aimed directly at the political middle. The plan he's touting would bring in high-tech bounty hunters to help root out health care fraud, a populist idea with bipartisan backing.

Waste and fraud are pervasive problems for Medicare and Medicaid, the giant government health insurance programs for seniors and low-income people. Improper payments totaled an estimated $54 billion in 2009. They range from simple errors such as duplicate billing to elaborate schemes operated by fraudsters peddling everything from wheelchairs to hospice care.

The bounty hunters in this case would be private auditors armed with sophisticated computer programs to scan Medicare and Medicaid billing data for patterns of bogus claims. The auditors would get to keep part of any funds they recover. The White House said a Medicare pilot program recouped $900 million for taxpayers from 2005-08.

A presidential memorandum Obama will sign Wednesday directs Cabinet secretaries and agency heads to intensify their use of private auditors under current legal authority.

The White House estimates that expanded use of private audits throughout the government could recoup at least $2 billion for taxpayers over three years.

___

Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Charles Babington and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

More on Kathleen Sebelius

GEORGETOWN, Colo. — A Colorado man who says marijuana is a sacrament in his religion has been convicted of misdemeanor drug charges.

A Clear Creek County judge found Trevor Douglas of Avon guilty Tuesday of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving an unregistered vehicle.

Douglas says he will appeal. He says he's standing up for his First Amendment right to religious freedom.

He argued he shouldn't be convicted on drug charges because marijuana serves the same role in his religion as communion wine in Christianity. He's a member of the Hilo, Hawaii-based THC Ministry.

The judge said Douglas' beliefs don't rise to the level of a religion.

Douglas was ordered to pay $450 in fines and costs and serve 15 hours of community service.

More on Religion

Much to the dismay of progressives everywhere, Rush Limbaugh is denying that he will move to Costa Rica if Congress passes health care reform. Speaking on his radio show, the conservative host clarified his earlier statement by saying that he will just travel to Costa Rica to receive private medical treatment if reform is passed, not move there permanently:

I've had all kinds of reporters: "Are you serious? Do you really mean this?" So I've had to patiently explain today to people who do not bother to stay informed on this stuff what the genesis and the primary context of my comment was. I said, "Look, there are insurance companies who don't want to be put out of business." We've talked to them on the program. I've talked to them privately. They are establishing health care clinics with quality doctors in places like Costa Rica. They're going to continue to sell policies to people who have the ability to fly down there and get treatment. If I have to get thrown into this massive government health care insurance business and end up going to the driver's license office every day when I need to go to the doctor, yeah, I'll go to Costa Rica for treatment, not move there.

Limbaugh boasted that his controversial remarks have led New Zealand to lament that he chose Costa Rica over that country:

People in New Zealand are sending me e-mails: "How come you're not coming here? You've been telling everybody you're moving to New Zealand and now you're saying you're going to Costa Rica." [...] Now, New Zealand is reading about this and they're all bent out of shape that I'm somehow not coming there, all because of the stupid media. More on Health Care

New eye-tracking studies reveal people are ignoring the Twitter search results being funneled into Google, the Guardian reports. Users eyes glance all over the page before landing on the streaming Twitter results.

So what's this mean?

• Maybe nothing. It's just an eye-tracking study. We're sure Google has its own metrics to test success.
• This could be a design flaw on Google's part that needs to be worked out.
• But, if this study indicates something greater -- like people aren't trusting Twitter search results -- it could throw a big wrench in Twitter's business plan, which is to copy Google's model with search ads.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Twitter Ad Platform Launching At SXSW Next Month
• Twitter's Secret Ad Revenue Plan Revealed: Copy Google
• Twitter And The Real-Time Web Are Ambushing Google

Brands are engaging in the conversations that are taking place on social media sites now more than ever. But in order to tap into the social conversations that are taking place on the web, brands and agencies need to have a powerful tool to track, measure and engage sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others. One of the leaders in the social media tracking space, Radian6, is launching a new Engagement Console to streamline this process.

A desktop client built on Adobe AIR, the engagement console lets your both track and engage in the conversation taking place on blogs, videos, forums, boards, Twitter, Flickr, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, Facebook fan pages, public discussion groups, and mainstream news sites. The site also allows for assigning of tasks from within the platform, enabling users to access workflow from within the client.

You can customize a tracking grid of social media sites by breaking out your conversation into stacks by broad or specific topics, tagged customer lists, or even user assignment. Stacks can also be separated out by media type.

Th workflow feature allows you to tag, assign, and route posts to team members, and track the status of the assignments. Any conversations a user engages in, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook or with a co-worker, will be recorded for both the user and the administrator. And of course, the console allows you to Tweet, reply, retweet, and send direct messages, shuffle through user profiles, and follow new contacts right from the platform. Similar to many of the consumer focused social media clients out there, Radian6 allows for unlimited accounts and includes a URL shortener.

With respect to Facebook, the client allows users to respond to status updates, wall posts, comments, and “likes”. Users can also view news feeds for Facebook friends, and see new photos or videos that have been uploaded from within the console. The dashboard also provides analytics from within the console, such as post volume, and engagement stats.

Radian6 has had considerable success in terms of serving big-name clients. The company is currently helping over 10,000 brands track social media sites, including Comcast, MTV, Dell, UPS, GE and Microsoft. And this engagement console has all the bells and whistles to make any brand marketer content. The console, we are told, will be in private beta until April. That being said, there are plenty of other offerings for companies and agencies to track social media and this is a competitive space. Radian6 faces competition from a number of startups including Scout Labs, Visible Measures, Viralheat, HootSuite and PeopleBrowsr.

CrunchBase InformationRadian6Information provided by CrunchBase

"Are you gay?"

Larry King went there Tuesday night with Eric Massa, who is resigning from Congress amid allegations that he groped male staffers.

"Here's that answer: I'm not gonna answer that," Massa said. "In year 2010, why don't you ask my wife? Ask my friends. Ask the 10,000 sailors that I served with in the navy."

Massa said that King's question was "insulting."

"I didn't mean it to insult you," he responded.

"Not me," Massa said. "It insults every gay American because it classifies people. Why would anyone even ask that question?"

"Because you said you groped someone, who was a male!" King said.

WATCH:

More from King's interview with Massa:

NEW YORK — JetBlue and Delta want temporary exemptions from a new government rule that will limit the time passengers can be held on the tarmac. They say delays caused by the closure of the main runway at New York's JFK airport could cost them millions in fines.

The Department of Transportation's new rule, which goes into effect April 29, orders airlines to let passengers off planes delayed for three hours or face hefty fines. In December there were 22 flights nationwide that were delayed for more than three hours from gate to departure. The new DOT rule could slap an airline with a fine of $27,500 per passenger for that kind of delay. For an average Boeing 737 with a full load of passengers, the fine could be around $3.5 million.

JetBlue and Delta are the biggest operators at JFK, an airport that was among the worst in the nation for delays last year. The JFK runway closed March 1. That is already causing delays and they could get worse.

May is the first full month the new DOT rule will be in effect. It also is the start of the peak travel season. The airlines have already cut their schedules by about 10 percent to help ease delays until the runway reopens in July. About one-third of JFK's traffic and half of its departures are now diverted to three smaller runways.

"Although JetBlue has already taken several steps to minimize the impact of this closure on its JFK operations, this exemption is necessary to ensure that JetBlue is not penalized if JFK becomes gridlocked at peak operating times," the airline said in its request to DOT.

The Federal Aviation Administration expects delays at JFK will average about 50 minutes during peak times and 29 minutes at other times during the four-month shutdown. That is about the same as delays on busy summer days.

The airlines aren't just worried about New York delays. Airport construction and other disruptions at a major airport often have a ripple effect on many flights because pilots, flight attendants and airplanes that are needed elsewhere during the day are held up.

"One late flight may delay three additional flights if the resources connect differently, and two or more late flights may delay several more flights," JetBlue said.

Major cities that are most effected by delays at JFK are Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orlando, Florida.

One-third of the nation's air traffic goes in, out, or over New York airspace every day – accounting for three-quarters of all chronic airline delays, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

More on Airlines

Nomar Garciaparra is retiring, according to a tweet from ESPN's Gordon Edes. The retirement announcement is currently scheduled for 10:30 AM ET. Developing...

More on MLB

(AP) RAMALLAH, West Bank - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has told the Palestinians that they deserve a "viable" independent state with contiguous territory.

Biden's comments on Wednesday appeared aimed at reassuring the Palestinians of U.S. support a day after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem. The Israeli move has overshadowed Biden's visit, which is meant to promote U.S.-led peace negotiations that are set to begin in the coming weeks.

At a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Biden reiterated his condemnation of Israel's plan and urged both sides to refrain from actions that could "inflame" tensions.

More on Joe Biden

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED -- Or at least the House-Senate conference on financial reform may be, according to POLITICO's Victoria McGrane, who spoke with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.): "Republicans who moaned about President Barack Obama's broken C-SPAN promises on health care negotiations, beware: Barney Frank plans to demand an old-school conference on financial reform.

More on Financial Crisis

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Israel apologized Wednesday for disrupting the visit of Vice President Joe Biden with its announcement of 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem, but made clear it had no intention of reversing the order that has cast a shadow over the latest U.S. push for Mideast peace.

As Biden held talks with top Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office announced the new construction on lands Palestinians claim for a future state, said the problem was about timing, not substance.

"We had no intention, no desire, to offend or taunt an important man like the vice president during his visit," Yishai told Israel Radio. "I am very sorry for the embarrassment. We need to remember that approvals are done according to law even if the timing was wrong. ... Next time we need to take timing into account."

Biden's talks with the Palestinians on Wednesday were aimed in part to ease their doubts about the latest U.S. peace efforts. Israel's planned construction in east Jerusalem was an embarrassing setback for Biden after a day of warm meetings with senior Israeli officials -- and drew an unusually harsh condemnation from the vice president.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the Israeli announcement was "damaging" and posed a "great challenge" to restarting peace talks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the new construction would be the main item on the Abbas-Biden agenda.

"I think the Israeli government is making it almost impossible for us, the Americans and the international community, to take a one centimeter step in the direction of reviving the peace process," Erekat said.

Palestinian security forces lined the streets of Ramallah as Biden's convoy of black SUVs made its way from Fayyad's office to Abbas' headquarters, a 10-minute drive. Riot policemen, with their backs to the road, faced small groups of Palestinians watching from side roads and shops.

In an apparent snub Tuesday night, Biden pointedly arrived 90 minutes late to his scheduled dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and he sharply rebuked the Israeli step -- which came just after the Palestinians agreed to a new round of indirect peace talks under U.S. mediation after a 14-month lapse.

"The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now," Biden said.

"We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them," he added, warning that "unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations."

Fayyad said the Palestinians appreciated "the strong statement of condemnation" by the U.S. administration.

Israel's opposition Kadima party said it is planning a no-confidence vote in the prime minister in parliament for "destroying" the Biden visit.

The new construction plan also drew a sharp rebuke from Egypt, Israel's closest ally in the Arab world, and from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"This is absurd. It is disdainful of the Arab and the Palestinian positions and the American mediation," said Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Israeli media lambasted the move, calling it an embarrassment.

"A slap heard round the world," read the headline of a front-page commentary in Israel's Haaretz daily.

Israel's refusal to halt building on war-won land has infuriated the Palestinians and undermined their faith in the U.S. as an effective mediator.

President Barack Obama initially called for a complete settlement freeze, but did not take Israel to task when it only agreed to a 10-month moratorium on housing starts in the West Bank. Netanyahu refuses to stop building in east Jerusalem, saying he will never partition the city.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, as their future capital.

Earlier this week, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to indirect negotiations with Israel, with U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell to shuttle between Abbas and Netanyahu in coming months.

Abbas has said he won't resume direct negotiations without a settlement freeze, leaving the U.S. no choice but to arrange the indirect talks in hopes of ending the impasse.

Growing settlements take up more and more of the land the Palestinians want for their state and make partition increasingly difficult. Today, nearly 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and 180,000 in east Jerusalem.

The ongoing construction is also eroding domestic support for Abbas and his policy of trying to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood with Israel.

Many Palestinians are critical of U.S.-led peace efforts, saying two decades of on-and-off negotiations have deepened Israeli control over the lands they want for their state, instead of bringing them closer to independence.

The latest Israeli building plan is undermining Abbas, said Erekat. "It's a really disastrous situation. I hope that this will be an eye-opener for all in the international community."

At Tuesday's dinner, Netanyahu told Biden he was caught off guard by the ministry's announcement, a senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the dinner was closed.

While Netanyahu considers east Jerusalem to be part of Israel, he acknowledged the timing of the announcement was poor and said he had no intention of sabotaging Biden's visit. He stressed that there are no plans to begin construction anytime soon.

More on Joe Biden

From Media Memo: Beset by phishing attacks and other scammy behavior, Twitter is taking a step I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else before: The social messaging service says it may change the text of its users’ messages in order to protect them.

Specifically, Twitter is going to rename links that users send to one another via direct messages, which allows the company to track them and shut them down if they turn out to be malicious. You’ll be able to identify the renamed links, because they’ll be shortened using a “twt.tl” prefix.

Continue reading at Media Memo »

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Twitter Embraces Tweeting; You Now "Tweet," You Don't "Update"
• Twitter Startups HootSuite, 140 Proof, Admit Screw-Up, Plan To Fix Spammy Ads
• Twitter's Secret Ad Revenue Plan Revealed: Copy Google

Panasonic has added two new Micro Four Thirds cameras to its line-up, including a model with a touch-screen and one that is the smallest interchangeable lens camera with a viewfinder.