this morning. microsoft founder bill gates appears to be in the middle of an international faux pas. he greeted the leader of south korea with a hand shake leaving his other hand in his pocket which is a big cultural no-no. local media immediately labeled gates rude pointing out a two-handed handshake is the proper protocol. dartmouth college cancelled colleges and will hold a day of discussion and debate after a wide ranging student protest. students expressed anger over the school s response to instances of sexual assault, racism and homophobia. officials are warning the flying public that ground delays could become the norm around american airports because automatic budget cuts are forcing the furlough of 10% of air traffic controllers. ray lahood calls the sequester a dumb idea. it s a dumb idea. it s not a way that any person would do their own budget, it s a meat axe approach and should be changed.
gene, i m at least not going play the blame game here. i personally think the president any president yields compare influence and can shape events far more than anybody in congress. let s not play the blame game. let s look at both sides and say these guys haven t gotten together and talked in the new year. we re about to have spending cuts that will go after true productions, military, and a true meat axe approach and as steve rattner said in the last hour not touching entitlements and instead going after discretionary domestic spending. this is no way to run a railroad. no, it isn t. i always tell people, keep in mind, they all agreed to do this. they agreed on the sequester. it didn t happen by force or
case possible, and i think the mainstream media are helping them. jon: alan to hear the president tell it come friday planes will be falling out of the sky, children will be starving. i think in the long term it s going to be a problem. let s not forget that even if it began with jack hr-rb lew it was embraced by john boehner who did a powerpoint presentation to sell it to members of congress and now congress is on recess when they should be working to try to solve the problem. furthermore bob woodward in his own book is at odds with what he said in ace op ed piece. he said there were no cuts offered by the white house. in his book he said there was $600 billion in cuts. he s arguing with himself on that one. jon: boehner also said that congress passed a couple of plans to let the presidential low indicate spending not take the meat axe approach but take the same number of cuts and allocate them elsewhere. they rejected when the president came forth with $2.50 in spending cuts fore