WASHINGTON – The U.S. has transferred a dozen Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region as the Obama administration continues to move captives out of the Cuban facility in preparation for its closure.
The Justice Department said Sunday that a government task force had reviewed each case. Officials considered the potential threat and the government's likelihood of success in court challenges to the detentions.
Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to regional authorities in Somaliland. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.
The Justice Department said that since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed the military prison in Cuba and 198 remain.
The Justice Department identified those sent home as:
_Afghans Abdul Hafiz, Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim and Mohammed Hashim.
_Somali detainees Mohammed Soliman Barre and Ismael Arale.
Yemenis Jamal Muhammad Alawi Mari, Farouq Ali Ahmed, Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, Fayad Yahya Ahmed al Rami and Riyad Atiq Ali Abdu al Haf.
The administration has announced that five detainees will be tried in a New York federal court and more are likely to be tried in this country.
Up to 100 detainees will be sent to a nearly empty prison in Thomson, Ill.
In Rome, state-run and private television stations said a third Tunisian detainee from Guantanamo Bay is being moved to Italy to face international terrorism charges for having allegedly recruited fighters for Afghanistan.
Private TG5 identified the man as 40-year-old Moez Ben Abdelkader Fezzani, also known as Abou Nassim, and said he was expected to land Sunday night at Milan's Malpensa airport. A prosecutor confirmed Fezzani's name on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
President Barack Obama says he won't set a new deadline for closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison, but does expect the facility to shut down sometime next year.
The administration has abandoned the January 2010 deadline Obama set for closure soon after taking office. Obama has said he realized that things move more slowly in Washington than he expected.
Creators Syndicate –
It's not exactly surprising to read major news organizations confirming that Elin Nordegren, the No. 1 search name on Google of late, is planning to divorce Tiger Woods. Based on what we know (And who knows what we don't know?), any sane person would have to conclude that marriage to this guy is going to bring you a lifetime of heartache, no matter how many houses and trophies surround that heartache.
Elin is young, stunningly beautiful and from a prominent family in Sweden. Why would she want to be married to a guy who can't keep his hands off waitresses, hookers, self-styled "party girls" and who knows who else?
As for Tiger, well, he'll be just fine. Once he's single again, he can do anything he wants. Elin disappears; Tiger reemerges. Thank God Oprah is still on. And Barbara. It will all work out. Maybe he'll start dating movie stars instead of sneaking around with waitresses. By next year, he could be on everybody's list of the most eligible bachelors in the world.
Dandy.
It's the kids I can't help but think about. A 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old boy, who probably won't remember any of this, which means they won't remember living with their dad.
No one ever said divorce is good for kids. I know, it's better than a bad marriage, better than one parent getting sick, mentally or physically, and better than being abused, mentally or physically. It's better to live in a peaceful one-parent home than in a dangerous two-parent home. I know all that stuff. Besides, dads like Tiger are on the road all the time anyway, traveling much of the year, and even if the kids would go with him sometimes, once they start school, that ends.
But it's still different. We all know that, all of us who are children of divorce, all of us who are divorced parents. The kids lose something. I did. My children did. You try to minimize it, make up for it. You do what you can.
That is Tiger's next challenge.
I can probably count on one hand — certainly two would be plenty — the number of times I saw my father in the five years between my parents' divorce and his death. It wasn't that he lived far away. He just never called, never said let's have lunch. I don't think I ever had dinner just with him. He was busy, working, a new wife, new kids, all that. Divorce doesn't have to cost kids their father, but very, very often, it does.
The moving vans have already pulled up in front of Tiger's house. It has been reported for weeks that Elin bought a remote farmhouse in Sweden. This is not likely to be one of those cases where the parents live walking-distance apart and the kids go back and forth on their own as they get older.
Tiger will come back as a golfer. I have no doubt of that. He has shown, over and over, the talent and determination and pure genius. But will he come back as a father? Will he do what it takes to build a relationship with children who may live far, far away, who will not even remember waking in the night and having both their parents there to comfort them? Will he make as much effort to be a father as he has to be a golfer? Or will he be like one of those guys you see on Christmas Eve in the only drugstore that's open buying the last bedraggled toy for a child he barely knows?
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM
WASHINGTON – A Senate compromise toughening abortion restrictions drew criticism from activists on both sides of the issue Saturday, prolonging rather than settling the controversy as Democrats try and complete work on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Critics included Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, who said the compromise is "light years removed" from the restrictions in the House bill and creates a series of new problems. Johnson warned that the new Senate language would not pass in the House, where anti-abortion Democrats control a crucial bloc of votes.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also said the plan was unacceptable, adding in a statement the bill "should be opposed" unless there are changes. "It does not seem to allow purchasers who exercise freedom of choice or of conscience to 'opt out' of abortion coverage in federally subsidized health plans that include such coverage," it said.
On the other side of the divide, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called the deal "unacceptable" and said it was "outrageous" that senators would accept it. It would create too many hurdles for women seeking coverage of a legal medical procedure, she complained.
The compromise tries to maintain a strict separation between taxpayer funds and private premiums that would pay for abortion coverage. It would also allow states to restrict coverage for abortion in new insurance marketplaces.
The Senate language reignited the debate in the House.
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., an abortion rights leader, said she was "disappointed that women's access to full reproductive health care is again paying the price," but called the Senate's approach an improvement over the action in the House.
The author of the House-passed abortion limitations, Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, said the Senate abortion language is "not acceptable." It amounts to "a dramatic shift in federal policy that would allow the federal government to subsidize insurance policies with abortion coverage," he said. But Stupak added that he would keep working to find a solution that allows him to ultimately vote for the health care bill.
Federal law currently bars the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
The Senate compromise was reached after hours of intense negotiation between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and key senators on both sides of the issue. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who opposes abortion, had threatened to withhold a critical 60th vote for the bill unless restrictions on abortion funding were tightened. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., represented supporters of abortion rights, who wanted to preserve coverage already available.
Nelson said Saturday that the Senate bill essentially uses different means to achieve the same goals as the House bill, which included tight limits on abortion funding praised by U.S. Catholic bishops.
The health care bill would create a new stream of government subsidies to help people buy health insurance, largely through private plans. The subsidies would be available to those buying coverage through a new insurance supermarket called an exchange. Since abortion is a legal medical procedure now covered by many insurers, activists on both sides mobilized to try to shape the legislation.
The House bill includes Stupak's amendment, which bars plans operating in the exchange from paying for most abortions. The only exceptions would be those currently allowed by federal law. Women wanting coverage for abortion would have to purchase a separate policy.
Reid's bill sets up a mechanism to segregate funds used to pay for abortions from federal subsidy dollars.
No health plan would be required to offer coverage for the procedure. In plans that do cover abortion, beneficiaries would have to pay for it separately, and those funds would have to be kept in a separate account from taxpayer money.
Moreover, individual states would be able to prohibit abortion coverage in plans offered through the exchange, after but passing specific legislation to that effect. The only exceptions would be those allowed under current federal law.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who has been waging an all-out battle to derail the Democratic bill, said Reid's language "throws the unborn under the bus."
Keenan, the abortion rights advocate, said requiring women to pay separately for abortion coverage would create a new barrier. "It is inexplicable that a bill seeking to expand health coverage for Americans would impose such great administrative burdens on women who purchase abortion coverage and plans that offer it," she said.
FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A rabies-based vaccine
protects monkeys against SIV, the simian equivalent of HIV, a finding that
may help in efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine, say U.S. researchers.
The team from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia used highly
attenuated rabies virus vaccine vectors to protect monkeys against a type
of SIV virus that causes a disease similar to AIDS in humans. Two vaccine
strategies were used: a recombinant rabies virus expressing
SIVmac239GagPol or a combination of that and a rabies virus expressing
SIVmac238ENV.
Both strategies triggered production of neutralizing antibodies, CD8+
T-cell responses, and increased protection.
The researchers said they were surprised rabies-based vaccinations
produced such strong anti-SIV responses in the monkeys.
"Although we can't yet block the infection, we showed that we can
protect against disease. We also saw significant antibody activity against
the virus, which is promising. In addition, this is a very simple approach
that only took two immunizations," study leader Matthias J. Schnell,
director of the Jefferson Vaccine Center, said in a news release.
The study is published in the current issue of the journal
Vaccine.
More information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more about AIDS vaccines.
SEOUL (Reuters) –
South Korea's pin-up pool player Cha Yu-ram has insisted she has no plans to switch to a career in modelling despite publishing a book of racy photos this year.
The cue-wielding beauty has won international titles this year, proving there is substance behind the style, and has vowed to deliver at next year's Asian Games in Guangzhou.
"I had a photo shoot for a sexy photo album this summer but promise my fans I won't go into the entertainment business," Cha told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo.
"I want to be recognised for my pool skills, not for my looks. I think my (time) is about to begin. Look out for me (in Guangzhou)."
Cha shot to fame by winning a major women's nine-ball competition in South Korea in 2003, although she suffered a loss of form at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
While references to former Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova -- who brought glamour to her sport but failed to win a singles title -- are unwelcome, Cha's early years were spent whacking balls over a net on her father's orders.
"I ended up quitting tennis after three years," said Cha, whose tennis 'career' ended when she was 11. "When I really got into (pool) I was playing it 10 hours a day minimum."
(Reporting by Alastair Himmer in Tokyo. Editing by Peter Rutherford)
Common media and technology families include CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc. Standalone, non-computer, optical storage devices also exist, for example popular CD players, DVD players, and some DVD recorders, but those are not covered in this article.
Double layer (DL) media have two independent data layers separated by a semi-reflective layer. Both layers are accessible from the same side, but require the optics to change the laser's focus. Traditional single layer (SL) writable media are produced with a spiral groove molded in the protective polycarbonate layer (not in the data recording layer), to lead and synchronize the speed of recording head.
BOSTON (Reuters) –
Celgene Corp said on Friday that initial results from a clinical trial showed multiple myeloma patients who took its drug Revlimid following a stem cell transplant had a 58 percent reduction in risk of their disease progressing.
The company's shares rose nearly 10 percent to $55.60 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq.
"We anticipated Revlimid would likely be effective in this setting, but these results come sooner than expected and indicate robust Revlimid benefits," said Brian Abrahams, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. "We believe this news provides important momentum for Celgene entering 2010."
Revlimid is already approved in combination with dexamethasone to treat patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior treatment.
The latest study was led by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). The group's independent data and safety monitoring board reported the trial had met its main goal of showing a statistically significant improvement in time to disease progression.
As a result, the trial was stopped early.
The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health under a clinical trials agreement with Celgene.
The data are important because they add weight to the theory that giving patients Revlimid as a maintenance therapy, either after first receiving other drugs or after receiving a stem cell transplant, could improve outcomes.
Earlier this month, Celgene reported data that showed patients who took Revlimid plus the standard drugs melphalan and prednisone, and followed by Revlimid alone, did better in delaying disease progression than those who took melphalan and prednisone alone.
"This is now a second piece of powerful evidence that Revlimid confers substantial benefit when used as maintenance therapy in multiple myeloma patients," said Geoffrey Porges, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein."
If Revlimid can be shown to add benefit as a maintenance therapy and is approved as a first line treatment, it could increase sales from an expected $1.7 billion this year to $3.6 billion by 2013, according to the consensus forecast from Thomson Pharma.
Autologous blood stem cell transplantation is a procedure in which a patient's own blood stem cells are removed, the patient is then treated with high doses of chemotherapy or radiation or both to kill the cancer and then the blood stem cells are put back into the patient.
A total of 568 patients with multiple myeloma who had received no more than 12 months of prior therapy and no prior transplant were enrolled in the trial. The patients all received a transplant followed by melphalan. After the transplant, patients took either Revlimid or a placebo until their disease progressed.
Among those who received the placebo, half saw their cancer worsen within 778 days, or 25.9 months. By comparison, the median time to progression in the Revlimid group could not be defined because fewer than half the patients had a worsening of their disease at that time.
This represents a 58 percent reduction in the risk of disease progression in the Revlimid group.
Revlimid is a derivative of thalidomide, sold by Celgene as Thalomid.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke; editing by Dave Zimmerman and Andre Grenon)
NEW YORK – The e-book reading device is the gadget gift of the season. Both Sony and Barnes & Noble have sold out of their new models, and new buyers will have to wait until January for delivery. So why are e-book readers still such clumsy, annoying devices?
I've been trying Barnes & Noble Inc.'s $259 Nook for a few days, and I'm not eager to prolong the acquaintance. Some of its problems are specific to the Nook, but most of them have to do with the screen technology the industry has settled on.
It's known as electronic ink, and it looks more like a printed page than any other technology. It also doesn't consume a lot of power. But the disadvantages make these screens seem out of place today. They don't show color. They have no backlight. Most importantly, they're very slow to change from image to image. A regular LCD monitor updates its screen 60 times per second, while a fast e-ink screen might do so once per second.
That means e-ink screens are very cumbersome to navigate. If you have a list of 10 books in your library, and your selection is marked by a highlight, it takes a second for that highlight to travel to a new selection. To users accustomed to the instant responses of computers and phones, this is what hell feels like.
The Nook tries to get around the slowness of e-ink by including a small, fast, touch-sensitive color screen below the main, 6-inch e-ink screen. While the main screen shows the text of a book, the small screen offers navigation options such as switching to another book.
This would have been a good idea if all the navigation took place on the color screen, but it doesn't. That screen is too small, so the Nook uses the e-ink screen to display lists of books, clickable links and so forth. Not only does your eye constantly have to travel between the screens to figure out your options, you also have to wait for the e-ink to update. The setup effectively shackles the color screen to the millstone of e-ink, and our voices rise from the depths of gadget hell.
As if this wasn't enough, everyone I showed the Nook to tried to touch the e-ink screen. It's the natural thing to try because the color screen is touch sensitive, but it's a waste of time. Making the e-ink screen touch-sensitive as well would degrade its precious readability, apparently.
There are numerous other problems with the interface, but Barnes & Noble says it's fixing a lot of them with a software update next week, so I won't dwell on the subject.
Like Amazon.com Inc.'s groundbreaking Kindle, the Nook connects to a wireless data network, in this case AT&T Inc.'s. It backs that up with the ability to connect to Wi-Fi hot spots, something the Kindle doesn't do.
The wireless connection lets users buy books directly on the Nook and read them right away. You can also subscribe to newspapers and have them show up every day, except that navigating a newspaper on the Nook will have you longing for a real paper.
Barnes & Noble says the Nook's battery will last for eight to 10 days of regular reading. I had to recharge mine after four days, but that might have been because I used the color screen and the wireless connection quite a bit.
Barnes & Noble claims to have 1 million publications in its library, and I didn't have any real problems finding reading materials at prices similar to Amazon's. Out of 32 fiction and nonfiction best sellers in The New York Times Book Review, Amazon has all but three, Barnes & Noble all but five. Most cost $9.99.
As a book distribution system, Barnes & Noble has some things going for it. For instance, about half of its e-books can be "lent" to other people. That means e-books can now emulate the social exchange of printed books, while avoiding the big pitfall of book-lending: the risk that you won't get your book back. After two weeks, the book disappears from your friend's library and reappears in yours.
Your friend doesn't need a Nook to read a book you're lending, because Barnes & Noble provides reader software for a variety of devices: BlackBerry phones, iPhones, iPod Touches and Windows and Mac PCs. Support for more smart phones is coming soon. Amazon has lagged in supporting other devices for its Kindle books, clearly preferring that people buy its $259 reader, though it has recently released PC and iPhone/iPod Touch software.
The Barnes & Noble application for the iPhone is excellent, and I far prefer it to the Nook. It's free, too. A lot of people say they don't like reading books on an LCD screen, but many of them might change their minds if they turned down the brightness of the backlight.
There are also "tablet" style computers and media players with screens larger than the iPhone. So far, none of them have been great e-book reading devices, but I think we'll see some next year. They might be more expensive than the current crop of e-book readers, but they also will be far more capable and user-friendly. In any case, the e-ink madness needs to stop.
___
On the Net:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook
___
Need help with a technology question? Ask us at gadgetgurus(at)ap.org.
A maidservant or in current usage maid is a female employed in domestic service. Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today the maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford. In the Western world, comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, usually compromising on periodic cleaners. In less developed nations, very large differences in the income of urban and rural households and between different socio-economic classes, fewer educated women and limited opportunities for working women ensures a labour source for domestic work.
Maids perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, walking the family dog, and taking care of children. In many places in some poor countries, maids often take on the role of a nurse in taking care of the elderly and people with disabilities. Many maids are required by their employers to wear a uniform.
CHICAGO – On a blustery fall afternoon, Andy St. Clair slips into an empty club, with rows of tables, wooden chairs and a bare stage awaiting its next bit of comedy magic.
It doesn't look like much, but the stage is something of a shrine.
This is The Second City, the place where legions of comics — among them Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, John Belushi, Bill Murray and John Candy — sometimes killed, sometimes flopped, but always tried to make 'em laugh.
This weekend, the theater marks its 50th anniversary, a milestone that's even more impressive in the ephemeral world of show business. Second City has survived and thrived for a half-century with the same formula: small, youngish casts; parody, satire and improvisation; and hip, irreverent, topical, often political humor.
Decades ago, it was Alan Arkin in a rain hat and slicker phoning God — "That's N-O-A-H," he tells the divine — and auditioning ark candidates. Thirty years later, it was Carell (Arkin's cast mate in "Little Miss Sunshine") as a job applicant ordered to disguise his voice so a blindfolded personnel manager can guard against biases.
Now it's Andy St. Clair's turn. He's at the Wells Street theater this day for rehearsals for the 97th main stage show, "The Taming of the Flu."
From one generation to the next, Second City has cranked out talent with clockwork regularity. "It's a comedy factory," says Harold Ramis, a former cast member turned director-writer-actor-producer.
The origins of Second City read almost like a TV pilot: A group of intellectuals, mostly from the University of Chicago, forms a comedy theater in a run-down former Chinese laundry at the end of the buttoned-down 1950s.
And then ...
Cue the laughter, right? In this case, yes, this was the start of a 50-year-plus run for a troupe that took its name from a snobby reference to Chicago in an A.J. Liebling piece in the New Yorker.
So what's the key to longevity for a theater that has mushroomed into a $30 million-a-year business with two locations (Chicago and Toronto), four touring companies, three training centers and alumni that have made a splash on "Saturday Night Live," "The Office," "30 Rock," movies and more — in front of and behind the cameras?
The explanation sounds deceptively simple.
"The reason it's successful is because we stay relevant," says Andrew Alexander, co-chairman and chief executive officer since 1985.
The revue titles bear that out. Among some recent ones: "Between Barack and a Hard Place" (the president and first lady both saw the show) and "No Country for Old White Men."
The Second City stage is a taboo-free zone, mining humor from Guantanamo and torture, 9/11 and terrorism, and less timely but equally grim subjects such as assassination and death.
Can a plot to bump off then-candidate Barack Obama be funny?
Yes, if it features a character called Sillary Tinton trying to hire an assassin. He declines, confessing he's smitten by Obama, who has a voice that "sounds like sandpaper covered in maple syrup and topped with chocolate chips."
And death? That's worth a laugh, too.
Consider a classic skit, "Funeral," written in the 1960s and still performed on tour. Mourners at a funeral slowly learn how the deceased met his untimely death: His head got stuck in a gallon can of beans.
"The best comedy touches something that's timeless and universal in people," Ramis says.
Pushing the envelope is part of Second City tradition. Just ask Sheldon Patinkin, who has been with the show all 50 years and is now artistic consultant.
He remembers one skit where robbery victims are waiting for Superman and when he arrives, he's in a wheelchair — shades of Christopher Reeve. "There was shocked silence, then enormous laughter," Patinkin says.
Second City humor isn't designed to shock, just to be funny. Skits deal with the fodder of everyday life — marriage, money troubles, neighbors.
"It's a direct reflection of the audience, commenting on the things that worry them, that concern them and finding some humor in them," says Bonnie Hunt, a former cast member turned talk show host, actress and director.
Hunt worked at Second City at night. During the day, she was a cancer nurse. She managed to blend both.
"I thought of Second City as just the greatest therapeutic job anybody could ever dream of having," says Hunt, who'd bring cast members and videos of shows to her patients.
In its earlier days, the troupe's University of Chicago roots meant a certain amount of intellectual humor — a mention, perhaps, of the philosopher Kierkegaard, along with jokes about football.
These days there are more sports and pop culture references, though there still is a heavy emphasis on Chicago, whether it's the hapless Cubs or the city's checkered reputation for politics.
One recent special show centered on former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, facing federal racketeering charges.
Second City exploded on the national scene in the 1970s with the popularity of "Saturday Night Live." The troupe's Chicago and Toronto casts became a comedy college for future SNL casts.
Early on, it was Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray. Then Mary Gross, Tim Kazurinsky, Jim Belushi, Mike Myers, Chris Farley and Tim Meadows. Then Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey, among others.
As SNL was getting off the ground, another show, SCTV in Canada, was introducing comic talents such as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty and John Candy — all of whom were on Second City's Toronto stage.
One part of the show is improvisation, with topics suggested by audience members. They can be tough critics.
"I was booed off the stage — that was not fun," says George Wendt ("Cheers"), a cast member in the '70s, recalling a "poor taste" improvisation about nuns, priests and sex.
Wendt says improvisation didn't come easily. "I would find myself staring at suggestions and being a complete dullard," he says. He was demoted to the touring company, he says, by co-founder Bernie Sahlins. "He thought I was playing it too safe," Wendt says.
Wendt eventually returned to the main stage. "I finally gained some resolve from my first bit of adversity," he says. "It was helpful. I recommend getting fired."
Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") remembers when she bombed.
After a skit, the lights went off, cast members retreated backstage momentarily and "it was like the worst feeling I ever had in my life. A minute later, I had to go back out there. It made you tough."
She got her Second City gig in an unusual way. She was working in the Toronto box office — she had auditioned three times — and when her duties were over, she'd watch the show. One day, she says, a cast member became ill, she got an on-the-spot audition of a skit, then amazingly went on. She was hired for another Canadian cast and later moved to the Chicago troupe.
Most cast members, though, come up through the training centers and a much smaller conservatory, then audition (sometimes several times). They usually start with a touring company or the smaller Chicago stage.
A rare exception was John Belushi, who zoomed straight to the main stage.
"He was just wonderful from the beginning," Patinkin says.
Not every Second City performer ends up in show business. Many have become homemakers, doctors, lawyers, even cops.
But there's always that ripple of expectation. Andy St. Clair knows it.
"Sometimes I'll sign a Playbill," he says, "and someone will say, 'I'm going to keep this signature. I look forward to seeing you on SNL (Saturday Night Live) next year.'"
So what's the future for Second City?
"I don't see any reason why it shouldn't go on," Patinkin says. "Satire is always relevant."
So mark 2059 on the calendar.
Maybe someone will be on the Wells Street stage, joking about a guy who died when his head got stuck in a can of beans.
Live food is living food for carnivorous or omnivorous animals kept in captivity; in other words, small animals such as insects or mice fed to larger carnivorous or omnivorous species kept in either in a zoo or as pet.
Creatures that are the most common choices for live foods, ranging from feeder mice to crickets and mealworms, generally are bred and raised in captivity themselves, and can often be found both through local pet stores and from wholesalers or "farms" that breed them specifically for live food sales.
The winter storm over the Central and Eastern U.S. was expected to amplify on Wednesday.
As the system pushed eastward into the Mississippi River Valley, it was forecast to scoop up a minor trough lingering over the Gulf states and strengthen as it obtained additional moisture. The system was expected to create a double frontal boundary, with one strong cold front followed closely by a second, that could sweep from the Central Plains, over the Mississippi Valley and approach the East Coast.
The system was expected to extend well northward into the Great Lakes, where it could continue bringing periods of heavy snowfall. Winter weather and blizzard advisories were to remain in effect over the Midwest as snowfall were expected to vary between 1 and 2 inches per hour. Wind gusts of up to 29 mph were expected over the Upper and Mid-Mississippi Valley.
The Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region could see up to 3 inches of new snow, while New England and the Northeast were expected to see increasing snowfall with totals less than a half of an inch.
To the South, above-freezing temperatures could allow for periods of heavy rain associated with late season thunderstorm development. A messy combination of sleet and frozen rain was expected between the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. Dangerous roadways were expected.
Behind the storm system, cold air was forecast to continue pouring in from Canada. It could allow for extremely cold temperatures over the Northern and Central Plains with wind chills that allow for below-zero temperatures.
Breezy conditions were anticipated over most of the Rockies and Central U.S. Further West, a trough of low pressure off the West Cost was expected to push moisture over California and allow for another rainy and cool day. Highs were expected to remain in the 40s and 50s across the West Coast.
On Tuesday, temperatures in the Lower 48 states ranged from a low of -34 degrees at Havre, Mont. to a high of 89 degrees at Punta Gorda, Fla.
COPENHAGEN – A leaked Danish document at the U.N. climate conference provoked angry criticism Tuesday from developing countries and activists who feared it would shift more of the burden to curb greenhouse gases on poorer countries.
Negotiators, meanwhile, displayed charts of data that said the current decade is on track to be the hottest on record for planet Earth.
At the heart of Tuesday's clash — stemming from draft texts attributed to Denmark and China — is the determination by the more impoverished states to bear a lesser burden than wealthy, more industrialized countries in the effort to slow global warming.
Diplomats from developing countries and climate activists also complained the Danish hosts had pre-empted the negotiations with their draft proposal, prepared before the two-week conference began.
"The behind-the-scenes negotiation tactics under the Danish presidency have been focusing on pleasing the rich and powerful countries rather than serving the majority of states who are demanding a fair and ambitious solution," said Kim Carstensen, head of the climate initiative for the environmental group WWF.
The Danish draft proposal circulating at the 192-nation conference chips away at the wall between what developed and developing nations can be expected to do to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The Danish proposal would allow rich countries to cut fewer emissions while poorer nations would face tougher limits on greenhouse gases and more conditions on money available to adapt.
A sketchy counterproposal attributed to China would extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 industrial nations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming by an average 5 percent by 2012, compared with 1990 levels.
The Chinese text would incorporate specific new, deeper targets for the industrialized world for a further five to eight years. Developing countries, on the other hand, including China, would be covered by a separate agreement that envisions their taking actions to control emissions, but not in the same legally binding way. No targets would be specified for them.
Poorer nations believe the two-track approach would best preserve the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" recognized by the Kyoto Protocol.
Such draft ideas are usual grist early in such long, difficult international talks. These two proposals were not yet even recorded as official conference documents.
"It has no validity," key European Union negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said, speaking specifically of the Danish proposal. "It's only a piece of paper. The only texts that have validity here are those which people negotiated."
Earlier Tuesday, the U.N.'s weather agency boosted the sense of urgency surrounding the conference with data showing this decade is on track to be the hottest since records began in 1850, with 2009 the fifth-warmest year ever. The second warmest decade was the 1990s.
Only the United States and Canada experienced cooler conditions than average, the World Meteorological Organization said, though Alaska had the second-warmest July on record. In central Africa and southern Asia, this will probably be the warmest year, but overall, 2009 will "be about the fifth-warmest year on record," said Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the Swiss-based agency.
The last few decades are the warmest period in at least 400 years and probably 1,000 years, based on evidence from tree rings, retreating glaciers and other scientific methods to track climate before record-keeping, according to a 2006 report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Although temperatures have fluctuated, the causes were natural. The difference now is that they are being driven up by human activity, that modern civilization has many more coastal cities and needs to feed far more people, and that scientists believe humans can head off such dangerous warming.
Without a global deal stopping climate change, the planet's average temperatures will rise by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) "well before the end of the century," Jarraud said.
"What we want is to provide the best possible data for negotiators," said Jarraud, who called the WMO data evidence "this is indeed globally the warmest period for more than 2,000 years."
The current decade has been marked by dramatic effects of warming.
In 2007-2009, the summer melt reduced the Arctic Ocean ice cap to its smallest extent ever recorded. In the 2007-2009 International Polar Year, researchers found that Antarctica is warming more than previously believed. Almost all glaciers worldwide are retreating.
Destructive species such as jellyfish and bark-eating beetles are moving northward out of normal ranges, and seas expanding from warmth and glacier melt are encroaching on low-lying island states.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and his colleagues defended climate research amid an uproar over a cache of e-mails stolen from a British university that global warming skeptics say show scientists conspired to hide evidence that doesn't fit their theories.
Panel members noted Tuesday that their authoritative reports, representing the work of some 2,500 international climate experts, included specific papers referenced in the e-mails, such as research into tree rings in Siberia that were discussed at length and had accompanying figures.
"Our processes are so robust, and the manner in which we function is so inclusive, that there is absolutely no question" about the integrity of research, Pachauri said. "They were clearly private communications. And if they express a level of passion all of us are guilty of at times, I think we should leave it well enough alone."
He said the IPCC has begun looking into the matter, but stopped short of launching a full investigation. "From what we've done so far, on a preliminary basis, we are completely satisfied that the IPCC procedures have not in any way excluded any material that's been peer-reviewed."
Carbon dioxide concentrations are expected to peak next year at a record high above 390 parts per million, up from 315 ppm when the first such measurements were taken a half-century ago.
"We are really on the higher end, at the pessimistic part of these ranges," Jarraud said. "So if nothing is done, we are going for much more than 2 degrees."
Swiss climatologist Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern noted that carbon dioxide levels are "higher than ever in the last 800,000 years," based on comparisons with ancient pockets of carbon dioxide trapped in polar ice core samples.
He said the C02 atmospheric concentrations have risen at a rate at least 10 times faster than ever before seen in paleoclimatic history.
The WMO also noted an extreme heat wave in India in May and a heat wave in northern China in June. It said parts of China experienced their warmest year on record, and that Australia so far has had its third-warmest year. Extremely warm weather was also more frequent and intense in southern South America.
According to the U.S. space agency NASA, the other warmest years since 1850 have been 2005, 1998, 2007 and 2006. NASA says the differences in readings among these years are so small as to be statistically insignificant.
The U.N. agency reported that the global combined sea surface and land surface temperature for the January-October 2009 period is estimated at 0.44 degrees C (0.79 degrees F) above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14.00 degrees C (57.2 degrees F), with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.11 degrees C. Final data will be released early in 2010.
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Find behind-the-scenes information, blog posts and discussion about the Copenhagen climate conference at http://www.facebook.com/theclimatepool, a Facebook page run by AP and an array of international news agencies. Follow coverage and blogging of the event on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/AP_ClimatePool.
Although cholesterol is essential for life, high levels in circulation are associated with atherosclerosis. Cholesterol can be ingested in the diet, recycled within the body through reabsorption of bile in the digestive tract, and produced de novo. For a person of about 150 pounds (68 kg), typical total body cholesterol content is about 35 g, typical daily dietary intake is 200â300 mg in the United States and societies with similar dietary patterns and 1 g per day is synthesized de novo.
The name cholesterol originates from the Greek chole- (bile) and stereos (solid), and the chemical suffix -ol for an alcohol, as François Poulletier de la Salle first identified cholesterol in solid form in gallstones, in 1769. However, it was only in 1815 that chemist Eugène Chevreul named the compound "cholesterine".
During the 18th century, men's wigs became smaller and more formal with several professions adopting them as part of their official costumes. This tradition survives in a few legal systems. They are routinely worn in various countries of the Commonwealth. Until 1823, bishops of the Church of England and Church of Ireland wore ceremonial wigs. The wigs worn by barristers are in the style favoured in the late eighteenth century. Judges' wigs are, in everyday use as court dress, short like barristers' wigs (although in a slightly different style) but for ceremonial occasions judges and also senior barristers (QCs) wear full-bottomed wigs.
Orthodox Jewish religious law (Halakha) requires married women to cover her hair for reasons of modesty. Some women wear wigs, known as a sheitel, for this purpose.
CARACAS (Reuters) –
Battling with one of the world's highest murder rates, Venezuela on Wednesday crushed more than 30,000 guns seized from the streets during police raids this year.
Policemen used blow-torches to chop up some of shotguns and pistols. They compacted weapons including home-made pistols into a 5 ton block, said Interior Minister Tarek Al Aisammi.
"Here we have weapons captured in operations during 2009," he said on state television. "This act forms part of the disarmament policies that we have been promoting."
With 13,000 murders in 2007, the last time figures were published, violent crime consistently registers as Venezuelans' main concern in opinion polls.
Gun laws are lax in the South American oil exporter. The government estimates there are 6 million firearms circulating among the population of about 28 million. Venezuela's murder rate is about 8 times that of the United States.
Crime has risen under President Hugo Chavez, who has focused on poverty reduction to tackle violence in poor city neighborhoods.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel)
Tuesday's special election in Northern California has been more of a whisper compared with the tornado that has encompassed the House race in upstate New York's 23rd District.
But Republican David Harmer is seeking to pull off an upset in the 10th District that -- if successful -- could trump even the drama that has unfolded in the New York race.
Harmer's supporters are touting [@url@a SurveyUSA poll@http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollPrint.aspx?g=d0a09738-d7a8-4f8f-9ed9-a5275c7eab96&d=0 released last week that showed Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi the heavy favorite to succeed former Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, ahead of Harmer 50 percent to 40 percent. And in a statement over the weekend, the campaign said it is "waging a widespread and comprehensive get-out-the-vote effort among http://www.harmerforcongress.com/about.htm our Republican base" and is "poised for an historic upset that will rock Washington, D.C., to its very core."
The reality, however, is that Harmer would have to overcome major institutional disadvantages to come from behind to defeat Garamendi, a well-known entity in California politics.
Democrats have a voter registration edge of 47 percent to 28 percent in the district along the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Almost as significantly, Harmer hasn't had the funds to run much of an air war: He just went up with his first TV ad this past weekend, days before the election. Harmer's fundraising report through Oct. 14 indicated he had receipts that were competitive with Garamendi. He raised a total of $498,000 compared with Garamendi's $942,000. But nearly half of what Harmer spent in that period went to mail services, with nothing for advertisements.
Garamendi is expected to ride his strong name recognition and the Democrats' registration advantage to a comfortable victory. But the campaign is not taking the race for granted, recognizing low turnout from Democrats could make the race closer than expected.
The Garamendi campaign launched a phone banking operation Oct. 30 and engaged in other weekend volunteer canvassing in the lead-up to today's election. And he has enlisted big-name Democrats such as former President Bill Clinton and, more recently, former Vice President Al Gore, to rally the party faithful.
CQ Politics rates California's 10th District race as Safe Democratic.
To see how all the 2010 House races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics election map
MARRAKECH, Morocco – Trying to mute Arab criticism that the Obama administration had retreated from its tough stance on Israeli settlements, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday softened her praise for Israel's offer to restrain new housing in Palestinian areas.
While Israel was moving in the right direction in its offer to restrict but not stop the settlements, Clinton said, its offer "falls far short" of U.S. expectations.
Clinton said her earlier praise of Israel's offer, during a stop in Jerusalem, had been intended as "positive reinforcement." But her comment drew widespread criticism from Persian Gulf ministers who interpreted it as a U.S drawback on settlements, which have been the main obstacle to a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
In a sign of U.S. eagerness to calm Arab concerns, Clinton is extending her trip by one day to fly to Cairo to meet with President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, her staff announced. She had been scheduled to return to Washington on Tuesday.
Clinton's comments in Jerusalem on Saturday appeared to reflect a realization within the Obama administration that Netanyahu's government will not accept a full-on settlement freeze and that a partial halt may be the best lesser option. Her appeal on Saturday seemed designed to make the Israeli position more palatable to the Palestinians and Arab states.
Clinton had traveled to the region only reluctantly, concerned her visit might be seen as a failure, according to several U.S. officials. She agreed to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders after pressure from the White House, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration thinking.
During a photo-taking session Monday with her Moroccan counterpart, Clinton was asked by a reporter about the Arab reaction, and she responded by reading from a written statement that appeared designed to counter the skepticism about the Obama administration's views on settlements.
"Successive American administrations of both parties have opposed Israel's settlement policy," she said. "That is absolutely a fact, and the Obama administration's position on settlements is clear, unequivocal and it has not changed. As the president has said on many occasions, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
Clinton's tweaking of her earlier remarks appeared to satisfy at least some of the Morocco meeting attendees. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Monday that "we have heard her say something completely different from that statement in line with previous statements, so we are happy that such a position was highlighted and brought back to the right line and right now we will see how things will go."
Malki added that "we completely appreciate the sincere efforts made by President Barack Obama and his team to take this issue as a top priority and to try to deal with it from day one."
In her recalibrated comments Monday, Clinton also called on the Israelis to do more to improve "movement and access" for Palestinians and on Israeli security arrangements.
She added, however, that Israel deserved praise for moving in the right direction.
"This offer falls far short of what we would characterize as our position or what our preference would be," she added. "But if it is acted upon, it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth."
In her statement to reporters, Clinton also stressed that the Palestinian authorities deserved credit for what she called "unprecedented" steps to improve security in the West Bank and praised the Palestinians for progress in training their security forces.
On Monday evening, Clinton met with representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council, plus officials from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco. Clinton also flew Monday to the south-central city of Ouarzazate for an audience with King Mohammed VI, then returned to Marrakech for talks with foreign ministers of several Persian Gulf nations.
Clinton was expected to meet separately with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who has rejected U.S. appeals for improved Arab relations with Israel as a way to help restart Middle East peace talks.
After taking office in January, Obama buoyed Palestinian hopes for progress toward establishing a Palestinian state with his outreach to the Muslim world and an initially tough stance urging a full freeze to all settlement construction.
But after making little headway with the Israelis in recent months, Clinton urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a face-to-face meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to renew talks, which broke down late last year, without conditions. Abbas said no, insisting that Israel first halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — lands the Palestinians claim for a future state.
Then, at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Saturday in Jerusalem, Clinton praised Netanyahu's offer to curb some settlement construction, saying it was an unprecedented gesture.
That statement provoked a chiding by Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib. Jordan and Egypt also issued statements Sunday critical of the latest U.S. approach.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON -- Consumer advocates cheered and the financial sector jeered Thursday as a controversial plan to create a federal agency to regulate mortgages, credit cards and other forms of consumer credit cleared a key House of Representatives committee on its way to an uncertain future.
The House Financial Services Committee , on a 39-29 mostly party-line vote, passed legislation to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency , a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's broader proposal to revamp financial regulation in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
"This step sends an important signal to the American people that we will not stand by and allow big financial firms and their lobbyists to mobilize against change," Obama said in a statement after the committee vote.
"They are doing what they always do: descending on Congress , using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers, despite the fact that recently those same American consumers bailed them out as a consequence of the bad decisions that they made."
The fact that a breakdown in U.S. mortgage-lending standards and widespread predatory lending triggered the financial crisis is driving the push for the legislation. As the recession deepened, banks pulled back credit and raised credit card fees, amplifying a deep contraction in credit to consumers, who drive about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
These factors -- along with acknowledgment from bank regulators and the Federal Reserve that they'd dropped the ball on consumer protection -- convinced the administration that a new approach and a separate federal entity are necessary.
Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Warren long advocated for such an agency, and after the House panel's vote she said it was a day she thought would never come.
"When I first came to Washington with the idea of this agency, everyone told me the banks always win -- quit now because the banks always win," she said. "They didn't win today."
Warren now heads a special congressional panel that's overseeing how bank bailout money is being spent.
Committee Chairman Barney Frank , D- Mass. , said he expected the measure to pass the full House by Thanksgiving . In a news conference, he reminded that his legislation isn't just about reining in abuses in mortgage lending or crippling credit card fees, but also forms of lending such as payday loans, check cashing operations and remittance services that have little or no government oversight.
"The sad fact is, the lower your income is in America, the more you are paying for financial transactions," Frank said.
Democratic Reps. Walt Minnick of Idaho and Travis Childers of Mississippi voted against the bill. Republican Michael Castle of Delaware voted for it. Castle is running for the Senate against Vice President Joe Biden's son Beau.
Although Frank's measure is expected to pass the full House easily, he hopes to amend his own legislation because a bipartisan amendment that passed his committee would exempt auto dealers from oversight by the panel. Many auto dealers make more money from car loans than they do from car sales.
"They've allowed auto dealers to sell a variety of different loans. In theory, an auto dealer can sell a payday loan and not be covered by this agency," Travis Plunkett , the director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Consumer Federation of America , said in an interview. "If we've learned anything from this (financial) crisis, it's that you have to regulate according to what happens, not what you call yourself."
The consumer panel faces an uphill climb in the Senate , as banks and credit card companies are trying to convince senators that the power to regulate consumer credit products should remain with bank regulators.
"The battle now shifts to the Senate ," said Scott Talbott , the senior vice president for government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, the lobby for big financial institutions. "It is a huge expansion of government power, and the cost of the agency -- as well as the negative effects on the credit markets -- probably outweighs the perceived benefits."
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WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming.
Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change.
In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.
The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.
The poll was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report Thursday found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic's thermostat.
Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll.
"The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things," suggested Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. "When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave."
Andrew Weaver, a professor of climate analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said politics could be drowning out scientific awareness.
"It's a combination of poor communication by scientists, a lousy summer in the Eastern United States, people mixing up weather and climate and a full-court press by public relations firms and lobby groups trying to instill a sense of uncertainty and confusion in the public," he said.
Political breakdowns in the survey underscore how tough it could be to enact a law limiting pollution emissions blamed for warming. While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from 31 percent in early 2007.
Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is occurring and that the primary cause is a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal.
Jane Lubchenco, head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a business group meeting at the White House Thursday: "The science is pretty clear that the climate challenge before us is very real. We're already seeing impacts of climate change in our own backyards."
Despite misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices. And a majority — 56 percent — feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.
But many of the supporters of reducing pollution have heard little to nothing about cap-and-trade, the main mechanism for reducing greenhouse gases favored by the White House and central to legislation passed by the House and a bill the Senate will take up next week.
Under cap-and-trade, a price is put on each ton of pollution, and businesses can buy and sell permits to meet emissions limits.
"Perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll ... is that the more Americans learn about cap-and-trade, the more they oppose cap-and-trade," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who opposes the Senate bill and has questioned global warming science.
Regional as well as political differences were detected in the polling.
People living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West are far less likely to view global warming as a serious problem and to support limits on greenhouse gases than those in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Both the House and Senate bills have been drafted by Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and California.
One of those lawmakers, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, told reporters Thursday that she was happy with the results, given the interests and industry groups fighting the bill.
"Today, to get 57 percent saying that the climate is warming is good, because today everybody is grumpy about everything," Boxer said. "Science will win the day in America. Science always wins the day."
Earlier polls, from different organizations, have not detected a growing skepticism about the science behind global warming.
Since 1997, the percentage of Americans that believe the Earth is heating up has remained constant — at around 80 percent — in polling done by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University. Krosnick, who has been conducting surveys on attitudes about global warming since 1993, was surprised by the Pew results.
He described the decline in the Pew results as "implausible," saying there is nothing that could have caused it.
The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
___
Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: http://www.people-press.org
(This version adds corrected graphic.)
Provo, Utah –
It is tradition for pundits to produce a report card on a new president's first 100 days.
Only a few weeks into his presidency, President Obama attended one of those Washington dinners where the president is expected to make amusing, ideally self-deprecatory, remarks.
He is very good at this, and brought the house down when he said he would spend his second 100 days setting up a foundation to celebrate the achievements of his first 100 days.
Well, not withstanding the controversial Nobel Prize award, perhaps the president should wait for his second year in office to start tallying up the achievements of his first year.
He promised change if he were to become president, but few could have imagined the breathless pace he would set, starting with his first-day promise to close the Guantánamo Bay prison by year's end.
Unfortunately the president has discovered that bringing change to the ship of state is as cumbersome and slow as turning a giant ocean liner or oil tanker around.
Thus, although he seems to be everywhere, popping up daily on television – on five different networks in separate interviews in one day recently – his elegant phraseology and soaring words of hope leave behind a formidable list of problems to be solved.
At home, the economy is showing signs of upturn, but the jobless rate still teeters around 10 percent when the White House predicted it would flatten out at 7 percent. The housing market is awaiting a jump-start.
The president will probably get some health reform legislation passed this year, but without major features he had wanted, and with little Republican support to fulfill his promise of a bipartisan honeymoon.
Meanwhile we have not heard a whisper about the looming crisis with Social Security, or made much of a dent in global warming or progress on energy conservation.
When the president was tweeted in the presidential election campaign about his ability to simultaneously handle complex domestic and foreign affairs, he assured his critics of his multitasking prowess.
Guantánamo is unlikely to be shed of its prisoners by year's end and there is a long list of unfinished business on the foreign-affairs front.
On the war in Afghanistan, which he has declared to be one of "necessity," he faces an unenviable choice.
He can honor the plea for more troops from the new commander he has installed to win the war and who says that without the troops the war will be lost. That would infuriate the left wing of the Democratic Party and unnerve Americans uneasy about a prolonged war.
Or he can turn down Gen. Stanley McCrystal and run the risk of being the president who "lost Afghanistan" and possibly Pakistan.
On the most critical problem in the Middle East – securing a permanent peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians – there is no progress to report between an obdurate prime minister in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and a factionalized Palestinian populace.
On Iran, it is not clear whether talks just begun with its interlocutors are a forerunner to a change of heart in Tehran – which many suspect is unlikely – or merely postponement of a showdown while Iran speeds its clandestine development of nuclear weaponry.
Mr. Obama has warned against any Iranian foot-dragging. But punitive measures are few: tougher economic sanctions, maybe with Russian support, but probably not from China, and certainly not before the end of the year.
On North Korea, the regime of Kim Jong Il has successfully developed nuclear weapons and tested its rocketry without being given pause by major power warnings or blandishments.
North Korea may be ready once again to talk but, as with Iran, it has routinely lied while simultaneously developing nuclear weapons capability and engaging in protracted discussions.
It's enough to make the president of Brazil ponder whether he can count on a US presidential visit to Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, writes a biweekly column for the Monitor weekly print edition.
NEW YORK – The TLC network says it's suing Jon Gosselin (GAHS'-lihn) for breaching his contract as star of the reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8."
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Maryland, alleges that Gosselin hasn't met the obligations of his contract as an exclusive employee, has appeared on other programs for pay and made unauthorized disclosures about the show.
Gosselin has starred for two years in "Jon & Kate Plus 8," which has been consumed in recent months by marital turmoil as Gosselin and his wife, Kate, feuded, then filed for divorce. The couple are the parents of young twins and sextuplets.
Recently, TLC announced the show would be renamed "Kate Plus Eight," with a reduced presence by Jon Gosselin. A TLC spokeswoman, Laurie Goldberg, has said the show's longtime future remains in question.
___
TLC is owned by Discovery Communications, LLC.
MANCHESTER (AFP) –
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes insists Robinho still has a future at Eastlands despite the Brazil forward's reported admission that he would love to join Barcelona.
Robinho is currently sidelined with an ankle injury but he fuelled speculation of a January move to the Nou Camp when he was quoted this week saying that it would be a dream to play for Barca.
It is not the first time Robinho has been linked with a move since joining City from Real Madrid in 2008.
But Hughes said on Friday: "There is always speculation and noise surrounding Robinho. That has been the case since he came to the club.
"He is a great guy. We are not in the process of taking outstanding players out of the team.
"We want to complement the outstanding players at the club. We are looking to build, not dismantle."
Hughes also revealed Robinho could make his comeback in the League Cup match against Scunthorpe in two weeks.
"The only frustration he has at the moment is that he is not fit and well," Hughes said.
"I hope that will be resolved in the next week to 10 days, and he will be back on the pitch."
Most promotional items are relatively small and inexpensive, but can range to higher-end items; for example celebrities at film festivals and award shows are often given expensive promotional items such as expensive perfumes, leather goods, and electronics items.
At one time, the use of promotional products was limited to random give-aways and not as a part of an integrated marketing effort. Today, many more promotional products are distributed by businesses and organizations, sometimes with the assistance of a promotional consultant, to specific target markets to generate specific and measurable results.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) –
The health hazards associated with chronic periodontitis (gum disease) extend way beyond the mouth. For years people have been warned that persistent periodontitis can cause heart disease. Now a new study suggests that gum disease may also be a risk factor for cancers of the head and neck.
As reported in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, the study included 266 patients with cancers of the head or neck treated between 1999 and 2005, and 207 control subjects.
Periodontitis was determined by alveolar bone loss seen on x-rays, Dr. Mine Tezal, from The State University of New York, Buffalo, and colleagues note. Alveolar bone is the ridge of bone that surrounds the roots of the teeth, holding them in place. Loss of this bone is typically seen with severe periodontal disease.
With each millimeter of alveolar bone loss, the risk of head and neck cancer increased more than 4-fold, the report indicates. (One millimeter is about the size of the head of a pin.) The link was seen even in subjects who had never used tobacco and alcohol.
"Confirmatory studies ... are needed," Dr. Tezal said in a statement.
SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, September 2009.
NEW YORK – Gwen Stefani is rocking the '80s well into 2010, presenting a LAMB collection on Thursday that included off-the-shoulder "Flashdance" tops and acid-wash jeans.
There was a punk vibe to some of the spring season outfits, including studded suspenders attached to the skinniest of skinny black jeans and racy lace tights worn only with a body suit.
However, an animal-print T-shirt dress and a plaid blanket top would be wearable for far more shoppers.
With her street cred as a bona fide rock star and a solid reputation in the fashion world, Stefani can pull off balloon shorts and a one-shoulder T-shirt in a way that many other designers can't. She also could probably wear the white, cowl neck jumpsuit with harem pants that was shown at the downtown MAC and Milk venue, but that outfit would land most people on a fashion "don't" list.
To take her bow, Stefani wore black cargo pants and an asymmetrical jacket. Her hair matched the models with a pouf right at the front.
Most countries in the world have sales taxes or value-added taxes at all or several of the national, state, county or city government levels. Countries in western Europe, especially in Scandinavia have some of the world's highest valued-added taxes. Norway, Denmark and Sweden have the highest VATs at 25%, although reduced rates are used in some cases, as for groceries and newspaper.
Periodic review of procedures relating to Sales & Use Tax data gathering and retention so that proper supporting documentation, including exemption and resale certificates, are available in the event of a State audit.
ATLANTA--A poll says that 67 percent of Americans don't understand Obama's healthcare plan. I'm one of them.
It's not because I don't pay attention. I'm a news junkie. Could it be that I'm an idiot? If my insurer offered psychiatric coverage I could afford to find out.
I'm pretty sure, though, that my friends are smart. I asked my publisher, who runs the oldest publisher of graphic novels in the U.S., whether he understood what Obama's "public option" was. He didn't. I asked a teacher, who earned a masters from an Ivy League school. She didn't either. I asked a bunch of political cartoonists. Neither did they.
Obama's attempt to reform healthcare is all but dead; his polls are dropping. How did Obama turn lemonade into battery acid? Obama PR flack David Alexrod tries to explain that "to make choices is to make some unhappy." GOP strategist Charles Black counters that the president's popularity and "good will" doesn't equate to support for "liberal policies."
I think they're both wrong. The collapse of ObamaCare is rooted in the problem described by the cognitive linguist George Lakoff: liberals do a crappy job of communicating to the public.
Speaking of which: what is/was this mysterious "public option"?
On the left, The Nation magazine says it's "designed around not making people change their healthcare if they like what they have." OK, so that's what it's not. What is it? "Instead, there will be rules that insurance companies have to follow to provide better care, and a health insurance exchange, including a public option, for people who don't have employer-provided care."
A public option is a public option is a public option. How helpful.
I rely on words to make a living. I've published 14 books. Some have even sold well. "Health insurance exchange"? WTF?
You know what I think? I think this is like that fairy tale about the emperor's new clothes. I think The Nation doesn't know what the "public option" is any more than the rest of us. They're just afraid to admit it.
On the right, The National Review says it's "a government-run insurance plan that will compete with private insurers." Compete how?
For a guy reputed to have a way with words, Obama isn't adding any clarity.
Huh?
Dems say the "trigger" isn't a death panel. Instead, private insurance companies would have to make their services cheaper within a certain number of years (say, five). If costs stayed high, the U.S. government would then create a...public option. (Unless Congress, feeding at the trough of insurance company lobbyist money, was persuaded to amend the law between now and then.)
"This is the best shot we've got for getting a public option," a House Democratic adviser told UPI. "It's better than nothing."
Actually, it's exactly the same as nothing. Except that nothing sounds better.
I understand "nothing."
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Avast! Disney says a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" film is on yonder horizon.
Johnny Depp sailed onstage Friday on a pirate ship at the Anaheim Convention Center to help announce the forthcoming installment of Disney's blockbuster film franchise. He was welcomed with a rousing standing ovation.
Depp will reprise his role as Capt. Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," slated for summer of 2011. It's the fourth in a series.
Dressed as Sparrow, Depp staggered around the stage and embraced Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, who announced the news to about 5,000 fans on hand for the D23 Expo, Disney's answer to Comic-Con.
"Has anyone else witnessed a talking frog?" Depp's Sparrow asked the crowd, who had been treated to a performance by the Muppets moments earlier. "Where has the frog gone?"
Cook noted that it was likely time for some rum.
"Sounds good!" Sparrow predictably replied.
In his presentation of upcoming Disney films, Cook also announced that Depp would play Tonto in an upcoming big-screen adaptation of "The Lone Ranger."
The first all-things-Disney convention runs through Sunday.
___
On the Net:
http://d23.disney.go.com/
Read Christine Pelosi's other articles on HuffingtonPost.com
Eight years on, the horrific attacks of 9/11 are affecting the American psyche in ways we have yet to fully appreciate.
Americans have struggled with crafting a new relationship with ourselves and others and drafting a new balance of liberty and security.
Eight years ago this morning, I was sitting in my boss Congressman John Tierney's office when our scheduler came in and told us a plane had hit the World Trade Center. As we turned on the TV and speculated as to whether it was an accident, we saw the second plane tilt to the side and crash into the second tower. With the tilt of that plane our world went off-kilter, and we have been trying to right ourselves ever since.
The indelible images of the next few hours - firefighters and other first responders racing into the towers, smoke rising from the Pentagon, tanks materializing on the Capitol grounds, a plane brought down in Pennsylvania, hushed briefings at Capitol police headquarters, Congressional staff streaming through new security checkpoints to the Capitol steps where our bipartisan leaders sang God Bless America, vigils for the dead and missing, people lining up to give blood to survivors too few to need their donations, grainy video of the attackers showing the new face of terror, and thousands of stories telling the shared horror on an endless cable loop.
On 9/11/01, as Americans mourned loved ones and feared future attacks, nearly all resolved not to let the terrorists change our way of life. Resolve was our common purpose.
Over the years, the politics of the wars, the PATRIOT Act, the 9/11 Commission, torture, taunts of "9/10" and related swiftboating, and calls for impeachment all eroded that unity.
It was inevitable that our philosophical differences would yield different approaches to interpersonal relationships and national security policy, but it was not and is not inevitable that we demonize each other when, quite frankly - we are not the problem - the terrorists are. Fear and loathing of "the other" manifest in this week's anti-immigrant rant at the President must be tamed. There are plenty of fights we can have without the ad hominem attacks which don't bring us any closer to balancing liberty and security for the common good.
Read More:
9/11, 9/11 Attacks, 9/11 Commission, First Responders, Impeachment, Liberty, President, Security, Swiftboating, Torture, War
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