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Curated News Edition

- 16/08/12

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2 Louisiana sheriff deputies die in 'ambush' responding to earlier shooting - Fox News
Fox News (Top Stories Google News)

Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 28. The Times-Picayune reported that the injured officers are Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:41:21 AM Michael Scott Boyington, 33, and Jason Triche, 30. Aug. 16: St. John the Baptist The first shooting occurred Parish Sheriff deputies examine a around 5:30 a.m. in a parking lot car with bullet holes at a crime used by workers in an area of scene where two sheriffs were m a n u f a c t u r i n g p l a n t s a n d killed and two wounded in an refineries along the Mississippi early morning shootout in St. John River. the Baptist Parish. New Orleans Local News, Sources tell FOX 8 the shooting Weather, Sports, Investigations happened in a parking lot of a Louisiana authorities say the two shuttle service that takes workers sheriff's deputies were killed in an to a nearby refinery. FOX 8 "ambush" after they responded to reports of a traffic officer being Next Slide Previous Slide shot multiple times early Two sheriff's deputies in Thursday morning near an Louisiana have been shot to death isolated parking lot for a Valero and two others injured after an refinery. early-morning shootout in St. Residents at the Riverview trailer John the Baptist Parish, west of park notified police about a New Orleans. speeding car, which matched the A u t h o r i t i e s i d e n t i f i e d t h e description of the car used in the deceased officers as Brandon earlier shooting, Michael Kerry [unable to retrieve full-text content] [unable to retrieve full-text content]

Tregre, the St. John the Baptist sheriff, said. The two officers were interviewing an individual underneath some blankets. During the interview, another person exited the trailer with an assault weapon and "ambushed" them, Tregre said. Louisiana State Police have taken over the investigation. The investigation is considered hot and ongoing. There are five people in custody, authorities said. Two of them were hurt in the shooting and are hospitalized. It was unclear how officers managed to take the suspect with the assault weapon into custody. Authorities do not believe there are any additional suspects. "Air support and local law enforcement combined with us," Trooper Evan Hallel, told FOX-8. "We got feet on the ground and [unable to retrieve full-text content]

people in the woods. We're trying to gather all the information that we could at this time." Two officers in the earlier shooting suffered gunshot wounds and are hospitalized. One is currently undergoing surgery. The Times-Picayune reported that deputies were outside the emergency room at River Parishes Hospital, which is holding Officer Jason Triche. He reportedly suffered multiple injuries to his kidney, spleen and bladder. The superintendent for St. John the Baptist Parish was told not to open a nearby school, but authorities say there is no public threat. Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and the Associated Press contributed to this report Click for more from Fox8Live.com Click for more from NOLA.com Print [unable to retrieve full-text content]

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Ecuador grants asylum to Assange, angering Britain


(Reuters: Top News)

"Ecuador has decided to grant political asylum to Julian Assange following the request sent to the By Alessandra Prentice and President," Patino told a news Eduardo Garcia conference in Quito. LONDON/QUITO| Thu Aug 16, Patino said Assange's extradition 2012 11:02am EDT to a third country without proper (Reuters) - Ecuador has granted guarantees was probable, and that political asylum to WikiLeaks' legal evidence showed he would founder Julian Assange, Foreign not get a fair trial if eventually Minister Ricardo Patino said on transferred to the United States. Thursday, a day after the British "This is a sovereign decision government threatened to storm protected by international law. It the Ecuadorean embassy in makes no sense to surmise that London to arrest the former t h i s i m p l i e s a b r e a k i n g o f hacker. relations (with Britain)," Patino Britain has said it is determined added. to extradite him to Sweden, where Assange has been holed up inside he is accused of rape and sexual Ecuador's embassy in central assault, but Assange fears he will London for eight weeks since he ultimately be sent to the United lost a legal battle to avoid States which is furious that his extradition to Sweden. WikiLeaks website has leaked Even after Thursday's decision hundreds of thousands of secret his fate is still far from clear: U.S. diplomatic and military Britain has promised to extradite cables. him and the removal of the Ecuador's decision is likely to Ecuadorean embassy's diplomatic deepen a political dispute over status would expose him to Assange's extradition with Britain, immediate arrest by the British which said it was "disappointed" authorities. with the ruling, and sets the stage "We are disappointed," a Foreign for possible further confrontation Office spokesman said. between the two countries. "Under UK law, with Mr Assange Patino said Ecuador feared for having exhausted all options of the safety of the Australian, who appeal, the British authorities are had lodged an asylum request under a binding obligation to with President Rafael Correa, a extradite him to Sweden. We shall self-declared enemy of "corrupt" carry out that obligation." media and U.S. "imperialism". EMBASSY STRESS?
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:43:18 AM

Outside the Ecuadorean embassy near London's famed Harrods department store, supporters relayed the announcement about his asylum request over a loudspeaker to cheers and clapping from protesters who had gathered outside the building. Supporters shouted: "The people united will never be defeated!", waving Ecuadorian flags and holding posters showing Assange's head, reading "no extradition". A Reuters reporter saw at least three protesters being dragged away by police before the decision was announced after tussles with police. It was unclear how long Assange could stay in the small embassy housed on the ground floor of an apartment block - which is under 24-hour surveillance by British police. After the announcement, the BBC reported that Assange had thanked the staff in the London embassy for their support and had said to them: "things will get more stressful now". Britain has said it could use a little-known piece of legislation from 1987, introduced in the wake of the shooting of a British police officer outside the Libyan embassy in London, to strip Ecuador's embassy of its diplomatic status.

The Ecuadorean government has bristled at the warning: its foreign minister said Britain was threatening Ecuador with a "hostile and intolerable act", comparing the action to Iran's storming of Britain's Tehran embassy 2011. "I've lived, worked and travelled in places with proper dictatorships and nowhere have I seen violations of the Vienna convention to this extent," said Farhan Rasheed, 42, a historian wearing an "I love Occupy" badge, outside the embassy. "Here we have a government which claims to be a government of law and justice, stretching and possibly about to break a serious binding international agreement." Britain's threat to withdraw diplomatic status from the Ecuadorean embassy also drew criticism from one of its own former diplomats who said it could lead to similar moves against British embassies. "I think the Foreign Office have slightly overreached themselves here," Britain's former ambassador to Moscow, Tony Brenton, told the BBC. "If we live in a world where governments can arbitrarily revoke immunity and go into embassies then the life of our diplomats and their ability to conduct normal business in places

like Moscow where I was and North Korea becomes close to impossible." SEX CRIME? Assange, whom Sweden wants to question over accusations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers in August 2010, says he fears Sweden could send him on to the United States. His supporters have said U.S. authorities want to punish him for publishing diplomatic cables which laid bare Washington's power-brokering across the globe. "The reaction he has is that he wants to underline that this (asylum) is a measure that is aimed at the U.S. and not against Sweden," said Per E Samuelsson, one of the lawyers representing Assange who talked to Assange after the decision. "He has sought political asylum in order to eliminate the risk that he will spend the rest of his life in prison in the United States," Samuelsson said. Ecuador said it had tried to get assurances from Britain and Sweden that Assange could not be extradited to a third country but that no assurance was given. Under European law, neither Britain nor Sweden could extradite anyone to a country ECUADOR page 11

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Ecuador grants asylum to Assange, angering Britain - Reuters


(Top Stories - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:05:33 AM

"Ecuador has decided to grant political asylum to Julian Assange following the request sent to the By Alessandra Prentice and President," Patino told a news Eduardo Garcia conference in Quito. LONDON/QUITO| Thu Aug 16, Patino said Assange's extradition 2012 11:47am EDT to a third country without proper (Reuters) - Ecuador has granted guarantees was probable, and that political asylum to WikiLeaks' legal evidence showed he would founder Julian Assange, Foreign not get a fair trial if eventually Minister Ricardo Patino said on transferred to the United States. Thursday, a day after the British "This is a sovereign decision government threatened to storm protected by international law. It the Ecuadorean embassy in makes no sense to surmise that London to arrest the former t h i s i m p l i e s a b r e a k i n g o f hacker. relations (with Britain)," Patino Britain has said it is determined added. to extradite him to Sweden, where Assange has been holed up inside he is accused of rape and sexual Ecuador's embassy in central assault, but Assange fears he will London for eight weeks since he ultimately be sent to the United lost a legal battle to avoid States which is furious that his extradition to Sweden. WikiLeaks website has leaked Even after Thursday's decision hundreds of thousands of secret his fate is still far from clear: U.S. diplomatic and military Britain has promised to extradite cables. him and the removal of the Ecuador's decision is likely to Ecuadorean embassy's diplomatic deepen a political dispute over status would expose him to Assange's extradition with Britain, immediate arrest by the British which said it was "disappointed" authorities. with the ruling, and sets the stage "We are disappointed," a Foreign for possible further confrontation Office spokesman said. between the two countries. "Under UK law, with Mr Assange Patino said Ecuador feared for having exhausted all options of the safety of the Australian, who appeal, the British authorities are had lodged an asylum request under a binding obligation to with President Rafael Correa, a extradite him to Sweden. We shall self-declared enemy of "corrupt" carry out that obligation." media and U.S. "imperialism". EMBASSY STRESS?

Outside the Ecuadorean embassy near London's famed Harrods department store, supporters relayed the announcement about his asylum request over a loudspeaker to cheers and clapping from protesters who had gathered outside the building. Supporters shouted: "The people united will never be defeated!", waving Ecuadorian flags and holding posters showing Assange's head, reading "no extradition". A Reuters reporter saw at least three protesters being dragged away by police before the decision was announced after tussles with police. It was unclear how long Assange could stay in the small embassy housed on the ground floor of an apartment block - which is under 24-hour surveillance by British police. After the announcement, the BBC reported that Assange had thanked the staff in the London embassy for their support and had said to them: "things will get more stressful now". Britain has said it could use a little-known piece of legislation from 1987, introduced in the wake of the shooting of a British police officer outside the Libyan embassy in London, to strip Ecuador's embassy of its diplomatic status.

The Ecuadorean government has bristled at the warning: its foreign minister said Britain was threatening Ecuador with a "hostile and intolerable act", comparing the action to Iran's storming of Britain's Tehran embassy 2011. "I've lived, worked and travelled in places with proper dictatorships and nowhere have I seen violations of the Vienna convention to this extent," said Farhan Rasheed, 42, a historian wearing an "I love Occupy" badge, outside the embassy. "Here we have a government which claims to be a government of law and justice, stretching and possibly about to break a serious binding international agreement." Britain's threat to withdraw diplomatic status from the Ecuadorean embassy also drew criticism from one of its own former diplomats who said it could lead to similar moves against British embassies. "I think the Foreign Office have slightly overreached themselves here," Britain's former ambassador to Moscow, Tony Brenton, told the BBC. "If we live in a world where governments can arbitrarily revoke immunity and go into embassies then the life of our diplomats and their ability to conduct normal business in places

like Moscow where I was and North Korea becomes close to impossible." SEX CRIME? Assange, whom Sweden wants to question over accusations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers in August 2010, says he fears Sweden could send him on to the United States. His supporters have said U.S. authorities want to punish him for publishing diplomatic cables which laid bare Washington's power-brokering across the globe. "The reaction he has is that he wants to underline that this (asylum) is a measure that is aimed at the U.S. and not against Sweden," said Per E Samuelsson, one of the lawyers representing Assange who talked to Assange after the decision. "He has sought political asylum in order to eliminate the risk that he will spend the rest of his life in prison in the United States," Samuelsson said. Ecuador said it had tried to get assurances from Britain and Sweden that Assange could not be extradited to a third country but that no assurance was given. Under European law, neither Britain nor Sweden could extradite anyone to a country ECUADOR page 11

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Obama backs Biden on put yall back in chains comment


John Hayward ( Todays Top News)

defenders now routinely assert that hes incapable of speaking plain English without a squad of Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:01:33 AM interpreters to diagram his One day after Obamas deputy sentences and tell us all what he campaign manager, Stephanie really means. Cutter, insisted the President In an interview with People probably agrees with Joe Bidens magazine (you didnt think sentiments and has no problem Obama was going to expose with Biden using a clumsy himself to real reporters, did impersonation of black dialect to you?) the President claimed Biden warn a largely black audience in was merely using a metaphor to Virginia that Republicans want to explain that consumers would be put yall back in chains, Obama worse off if Republicans manage himself obviously sensing the to repeal financial legislation, rising political temperature such as the Dodd-Frank laws. In around Bidens offensive remarks no sense was he trying to connote popped up to apply a different something other than that. He spin. described attention paid to the Actually, its an old spin, actual words coming out of Joe e m p l o y e d w i t h i n c r e a s i n g Bidens mouth as a distraction. frequency by Obama: he claimed For the benefit of anyone tempted weve all focused too much on to fall for this absurd spin, heres Bidens plain words, and the clear video Joe Biden delivering that implications of his delivery, put yall back in chains remark. instead of opening our minds to Note the use of the words yall the wonderful hidden context and back. underlying the remark. Its Keep in mind that during the hilarious to listen to Obama same speech, Biden forgot what pretend that a person of Bidens state he was in, exhorting the limited mental capacity is some v o t e r s o f V i r g i n i a t o h e l p kind of subtle genius, who the rest Democrats win North Carolina. o f u s l a c k t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l The next day, in another speech in refinement to understand. Its Virginia, he forgot what century also odd to hear Obama use this he was in, exclaiming Folks, defense for himself, as he does wheres it written we cannot lead quite often these days. Hes the world in the Twentieth supposedly one of the greatest Century in making automobiles? orators who ever lived, but his But when he puts on a minstrel

act and drawls about the desire of his opponents to bring back slavery, hes employing a delicate metaphor about banks, which Barack Obama apparently believes had the power to force their customers to do business with them, prior to Dodd-Frank. Among those who insist upon holding Joe Biden accountable for what he says is former Democrat congressman Artur Davis of Alabama, who has declared himself disillusioned with Obama and the Democrat Party, and will now speak at the Republican convention in 2012. This is all the more remarkable because Davis was the man who officially seconded Obamas nomination for president at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. If the guy who seconded McCains nomination in 2008 was now stumping for Obama, hed be the most famous man in America. Hed have to attend media interviews wearing a plastic sheet, like a front-row audience member at a Gallagher comedy performance, to keep the reporters drool off his suit. But Davis doesnt appear to have any illusions about the media treatment he can expect after turning to the Republican Party, and hes not accepting any illusions about Joe Biden, either. He described Bidens remarks as

a divisive tactic thats insulting to African Americans and the American people in general. I know what Joe Biden was doing yesterday and every black person in that room knew who the yall was, knew what the chains were about, knew what the metaphor was, Davis said during a CNN interview. It was wrong, and the president ought to be embarrassed by it, and the president ought to say it was wrong. Well, okay, it looks like Artur Davis retains at least one illusion that Barack Obama has a sense of shame. Obama will be speaking out against Bidens racebaiting right about the same time he denounces his Super PAC for smearing Mitt Romney as a murderer. His deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, is a documented liar on that earlier affair, but she was telling the truth when she said Obama has no problem with whatever divisive garbage must be shoveled out to secure his re-election. In Philadelphia, a new group called Republicans of Color stepped up to respond to Bidens ugly racialist tactics. The groups chairman, Lew Harris Jr., said he wanted Biden to know we will not be restrained by your weak attempt to prevent us as a people to step out of the hollow stance of

a single party here in Philadelphia particularly. We are upgrading our level of political intelligence to no longer follow a one-party platform, but rather to inform both political parties, as Americans should do. As he said this, he ceremonially broke paper chains representing slavery, liberal policies dating back to the civil rights era, and Joe Bidens rhetoric, respectively. It was the way he said it he said it in a Southern drawl because he was in Virginia, and he referenced it as you all. And in the black community thats something that we identify with, added Eric Quick, communications director for Republicans of Color. The whole thing with slavery and the chains, thats inappropriate. Its certainly true that chains are used as a political metaphor with some frequency. Another member of Republicans of Color, retired Army sergeant and political candidate Robert Allen Mansfield, did precisely that (albeit specifically in response to Biden) when he asked, How about, Mr. Vice President, that we unchain businesses with onerous regulations? How about unchaining us, Mr. Vice President, by restoring the $715 OBAMA page 11

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Special Operations group to Obama: Someone else made that bin Laden kill happen
John Hayward ( Todays Top News)

accompanying the video. Countless leaks, interviews and decisions by the Obama Submitted at 8/16/2012 6:51:28 AM Administration and other The Special Operations OPSEC g o v e r n m e n t o f f i c i a l s h a v e Education Fund is a group of undermined the success of our former Special Forces and I n t e l l i g e n c e a n d S p e c i a l intelligence operators, including Operations forces and put future Navy SEALs, which has come missions and personnel at risk. together to speak out against the However sincere OPSECs politicization of sensitive military declaration of non-partisan intent operations. While the group might be, they are inevitably states it is non-partisan, it is going to inflict significant strongly critical of the current political damage on an incumbent Administration, particularly in President who is running for retwo areas: President Obamas use election, and considers War on of the Osama bin Laden takedown Terror actions like the bin Laden for political purposes, and the kill to be a powerful asset on the dangerous national security leaks campaign trail. Every media that have been occurring recently. report on the Dishonorable It is widely believed these leaks Disclosures video has been sure originated somewhere in the to include a reference to the Swift White House, for the purpose of Boat Veterans for Truth, a group polishing President Obamas of Vietnam veterans who spoke national security credentials up against 2004 Democratic before the election. presidential candidate John OPSEC introduced itself with a Kerrys claims of heroic military h a r d - h i t t i n g v i d e o c a l l e d service. Democrats love to Dishonorable Disclosures: portray the Swift Boat group as Intelligence and Special s o m e h o w d i s h o n e s t o r Operations forces are furious and discredited, even though no one frustrated at how President ever discredited what they were Obama and those in positions of saying. Democrats just chant the authority have exploited their word like a magic spell in media service for political advantage, interviews. reads a statement from OPSEC Obama campaign spokesman Ben

LaBolt gave the media its marching orders by making the Swift Boat comparison explicit: The Republicans are resorting to Swift Boat tactics because when it comes to foreign policy and national security, Mitt Romney has offered nothing but reckless rhetoric. His two major foreign policy speeches never even mentioned Al Qaeda once, and he hasnt outlined a plan for Americas relations with a single region of the world. To date, no one has alleged any sort of connection between Mitt Romney and OPSEC. Its the Obama campaign that is suspected of illegally colluding with the Super PAC that ran the disgusting Mitt Romney killed my wife ad, and has been repeatedly caught lying about its knowledge of the individual featured in that advertisement. Listening to LaBolt might almost make you forget that the Obama campaign team produced a football-spiking campaign ad, on the anniversary of the bin Laden raid, that strongly insinuated Mitt Romney wouldnt have the guts to greenlight such a mission. The New York Times displayed considerable skepticism towards OPSECs claims of non-partisan

intent, making a point of noting that some of its leaders have been involved in Republican campaigns and Tea Party groups. This turns out to mean that one member of the group was a spokesman for the Tea Party Express and several Republican campaigns, while another ran as a Republican candidate for Congress two years ago. The group also sublets office space from a Republican consulting firm, one of whose partners says he is personally acquainted with some OPSEC members. Its really shocking to learn that a lot of military vets have conservative political inclinations, and that people who would organize a political action group might have some prior experience with political activism. The Times also makes some amusingly weak efforts to shield Obama from OPSECs criticism, including the implication that OPSEC is unfairly omitting Obamas occasional words of congratulation for the military commanders and special operators who actually conducted the bin Laden raid as if that somehow neutralizes the basic charge that hes been offensively employing the raid as a political tool, and

endangering Navy SEALs by pushing information about SEAL Team Six into the media. Nowhere in their video does OPSEC accuse Obama of claiming he parachuted into Pakistan and personally iced Osama bin Laden. Also, the Times attempts to deflect OPSECs charges about national security leaks by noting that the Administration has also overseen an unprecedented number of prosecutions for press disclosures, and in June, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. directed two United States attorneys to investigate leaks discussed in the OPSEC video. Its cute when lefty media outlets pretend Eric Holder can be trusted to run an investigation that could destroy Barack Obama. And boasting of the Administrations unprecedented number of prosecutions for press disclosures is a non-sequitur when discussing specific accusations about White House staff releasing national security information to the media. It remains to be seen how effective OPSEC will be, since a great deal of the electorate is SPECIAL page 11

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Data points to lackluster economic growth


(Reuters: Top News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:52:06 AM

Job seekers apply for the 300 available positions at a new Target retail store in San Francisco, California August 9, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith By Jason Lange WASHINGTON| Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:52am EDT (Reuters) - Manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region shrank in August for the fourth straight month, a worrisome sign for the economic recovery although the pace of contraction eased. Other data on Thursday showed a downward trend in the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits. Groundbreaking on new U.S. homes inched down in July while new building permits rose sharply. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index was at minus 7.1 in August, a smaller contraction than registered in July. Economists were expecting a reading of minus 5. Taken together, the data reinforced the view that economic growth might pick up in the second half of the year but would

still be lackluster. After a disappointing start to the year, the data reinforces the argument that more stimulus from the Federal Reserve could be on the way, although perhaps not as soon as next month. "For the Fed the issue was whether the economy was sliding toward the abyss and it doesn't seem to be. But it's certainly not improving," said Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics in New York. In the Philadelphia Fed report, any reading below zero indicates contraction in the region's manufacturing. The survey covers factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. It is one of the first monthly indicators of the health of U.S. manufacturing leading up to a national report by the Institute for Supply Management, which also showed the sector shrank in June and July. Separately, the Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000. That was in line with economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll. Claims data, which swung wildly in July due to shifts in seasonal

auto plant shutdowns, are now giving a clearer picture of modest improvement in the labor market. "Overall, they (the data) are consistent with our outlook that growth will be a little bit better in the U.S. but not as upbeat as some people think," said Brian Kim, a currency strategist at RBS Securities in Stamford, Connecticut. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, dropped 5,500 to 363,750. That was the lowest since March - and the second lowest since April 2008. U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased 163,000 in July after three months of gains below 100,000, although the unemployment rate ticked higher to 8.3 percent. The pickup in hiring last month, along with gains in retail sales and manufacturing output, has dampened expectations the Fed could announce at its next meeting a plan to stimulate the economy with a third round of bond purchases. Officials at the Fed next review policy on September 12-13. U.S. stocks opened higher but gave up gains following the data from the Philadelphia Fed. The U.S. economy still faces a

number of threats, including the looming possibility the government will raise taxes and cut spending next year. That is already hurting business sentiment. Europe's festering debt crisis also menaces and is weighing on the global economy. China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday the outlook for its exports has darkened. Wal-Mart Stores Inc forecast full -year earnings that could fall short of Wall Street expectations as growth in international markets slows, even as its U.S. discount stores saw improved sales in a tepid U.S. economy. HOUSING STARTS STUTTER In another somewhat downbeat sign, the Commerce Department said housing starts dropped 1.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 746,000 units. The reading was below the median forecast in a Reuters poll of a 757,000-unit rate. The government also revised lower its estimates for starts in recent months. But economists said the readings, which are prone to significant revisions, still pointed to healing in the housing market.

"This is nothing but normal statistical noise," said Stephen Stanley, an economist at Pierpont Securities in Stamford, Connecticut. The U.S. housing market, which fell into a deep rut six years ago, has been a relative bright spot in the economy this year. Home prices have shown signs of stabilizing and many economists think housing construction will give a small boost to the economy this year. There were also some positive signals in Thursday's report. New permits for building homes rose 6.8 percent in July to a 812,000 unit pace, the highest rate since August 2008. But outside of housing, the broader economy has looked wobbly this year, which could hold back gains in home building. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Neil Stempleman) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Militants attack major Pakistan air base; nine killed


(Reuters: Top News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 4:40:21 AM

By Qasim Nauman KAMRA, Pakistan| Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:40am EDT (Reuters) - Islamist militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons fought their way into one of Pakistan's largest air bases on Thursday, the air force said, in a brazen challenge to the nucleararmed country's powerful military. The attack was repelled and only one aircraft was damaged, said an air force spokesman, adding that the Minhas air base at Kamra, in central Punjab province, did not house nuclear weapons. "No air base is a nuclear air base in Pakistan," he said. The gunbattle raged for hours, and eight militants and one soldier were killed, the spokesman said. Commandos were called in to reinforce and police armored personnel carriers could be seen heading into the base. Pakistan's Taliban movement, which is close to al Qaeda and seen as the biggest security threat to the South Asian nation, claimed responsibility for the assault.

"We are proud of this operation. Our leadership had decided to attack Kamra base a long time ago," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location. The militants moved through a nearby village under cover of darkness and climbed a nine foot (2.7 meter) wall strung with barbed wire to break into the base, the air force spokesman said. Some were wearing military uniforms. The assault cast doubts over official assertions that military operations had severely weakened militants waging a violent campaign to topple the U.S.backed government and impose strict Islamic rule. Security forces opened fire when militants strapped with suicide bombing vests approached aircraft hangars, prompting other militants to fire rocket-propelled grenades from outside the base's walls, said the air force spokesman. Base commander Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, who led the operation against the attackers, was shot in the shoulder, but is in stable condition, said spokesman

Captain Tariq Mahmood. Search operations for any other militants who may have been hiding in the complex after the attack had ended, he said. About an hour later, a series of small explosions could be heard as homemade bombs planted on the base by the militants were detonated by the military. Minhas, 75 km (45 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is adjacent to the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, a major air force research and development centre. Pakistan manufactures JF-17 fighter planes, jointly developed with China, at the site. Suicide bombers launched attacks near the base and the aeronautical complex in 2007 and 2009, but news reports said defenses were not breached. HOLY MONTH It was not immediately clear how the attackers managed to enter the sprawling base this time. Although the attack took place at about 2 a.m. (2100 GMT Wednesday), it is likely many of the soldiers on the base were awake for prayers or breakfast during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Faheemullah Khan, a civilian who lives near the base, said he was at a mosque praying when he heard gunfire and explosions which he thought were military exercises. "Then we came to a restaurant, which is next to the main entrance to the base, and heard a louder explosion," he said. "We saw six police vans rush in, and realized something was wrong." Several squadrons of fighters and surveillance planes are believed to be based at Minhas. "One body of a suicide bomber strapped with explosives has been found close to the impact area," said an air force statement. Pakistan's Taliban has staged a number of high-profile attacks over the past few years, including one on army headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009. Last year, six Taliban gunmen attacked a naval base in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden. At least 10 military personnel were killed and 20 wounded in the 16hour assault. Those attacks, and the latest one, are embarrassing for Pakistan's military, which has ruled the

country for more than half of its 65-year history and is seen as the most efficient state institution. The Taliban is blamed for many of the suicide bombings across Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally. Pakistan's military, one of the biggest in the world, has staged several offensives against Taliban strongholds in the unruly tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan. But the operations have failed to break the back of the Taliban. Major suicide bombings have eased considerably over the past year but that could be due to a tactical shift and not pressure from the military. (Additional reporting by Sheree Sardar in ISLAMABAD and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Obamas signature achievement could be heading for bankruptcy again


John Hayward ( Todays Top News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:17:57 AM

President Obama loves to tout the General Motors bailout as the signature achievement of his presidency, even though current taxpayer losses on the deal are estimated at over $25 billion. The exact degree to which the rest of us got soaked so Obama could give GM to his union allies changes constantly as the value of the stock held by We the People fluctuates. You dont remember being asked if you would like to become a GM stockholder and willingly accept massive losses to protect highly compensated union jobs, do you? Well, thats the great thing about command economics. It relieves the ruling class of the tedious chores private -sector entrepreneurs face when attracting voluntary investment. Not only does Obama portray the GM bailout as a great success, he has actually said, in public, that he wants a lot more successes just like it. I said I believe in American workers, I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has

come roaring back, he told an audience in Colorado last week. Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry. (Emphasis mine.) That really should have been accompanied by some ominous thunderclaps, or perhaps the Friday the 13 th musical cue that plays when Jason Voorhees is stalking a victim. Even if you can swallow the idea that the GM bailout was a success, there is literally not enough money in the world for a $25 billion bailout of every industry. The point of the 2012 presidential campaign is getting delusional liberals to understand that our beyond-bankrupt government doesnt have enough money to take over any more industries, and had no business taking over industries to begin with. Unfortunately for Obama, its increasingly difficult to pretend the GM bailout was a success for anyone but the United Auto Workers. Earlier this week, Investors Business Daily described the loss taxpayers took for President Obamas inaugural

adventure in crony socialism as staggering, a judgment not improved by the recall of 38,000 Chevy Impalas, which are widely used as police cars. In fact, the only reason GM can post decent sales figures is that government agencies buy a lot of fleet vehicles from them. Taxpayers were compelled to rescue the company from bankruptcy, then they were compelled to buy its products, and Obama tells them its all a smashing success that should be duplicated throughout the private sector. Taken literally, as the President prefers his words not to be taken, this would mean the end of the private sector. A normal bankruptcy procedure would have spared the taxpayers from this raid on the public treasury, and as IBD notes, it didnt even save jobs in the long run. Bankruptcy would not have erased GM facilities, or Detroit. It would have allowed GM to correct the ridiculously expensive labor contracts that caused it to go belly-up in the first place. Instead, we got large-scale closures of small businesses selling GM cars a process the TARP Inspector General

officially condemned as politicized, with some dealerships retained because they were recently appointed, were key wholesale parts dealers, or were minority- or woman-owned dealerships. And lets not get started on the ill -fated, heavily subsidized Chevy Volt, which is basically Solyndra on wheels. Now Forbes tells us GM is probably heading for bankruptcy again. Its stock price would have to more than double, to $53.00 per share, for taxpayers to recover their investment. Instead, stock values have declined by 39 percent in absolute terms, and 49 percent relative to the Dow average, since GM went public in 2010. Louis Woodhill of Forbes thinks political considerations would prompt Obama to ride the stock down to zero instead of cashing out at a massive loss to the public. GMs market share is also falling, as competitors beat its pants off in key vehicle classes. Disappointing new models will likely yield excess inventory that must be sold off at a loss in years to come. GM CEO Dan Akerson,

who has mused on the record that it would be awfully nice if Obama made gas more expensive with higher taxes so GMs electric cars would sell better, is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic in Woodhills view, while more innovative and knowledgeable managers at competing companies run rings around him. Not only does the government lack the money to nationalize all industries, as in Obamas fever dreams, but it doesnt have the resources to bail GM out again. Theres no money for more Solyndras, either. The absurd fiction of command economics, government-created jobs, and ideologically-driven investment must be put to rest, along with Barack Obamas career, if the American economy is to have a prayer of recovery. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Indians see red over $82 mln Mars mission


RT (News RSS : Today)

and collect important scientific information," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his Planet Mars (image: NASA) annual Independence Day India plans to launch a research address, proclaiming the project satellite to Mars next year at an as"a huge step for us in the area of estimated cost of $82 million, science and technology. New money which critics say would be D e l h i s a m b i t i o u s s p a c e better spent on battling poverty in programme succeeded in placing a country where people lack a probe on the moon three years electricity and clean drinking ago. water. The countrys space program is -The Indian Space Research considered a source of a national Organisation (ISRO) anticipates pride, yet the countrys new launching the Mars research cosmic ambitions have attracted a mission in 2013 using the Polar lot of criticism of how this money Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket. ought to be spent. The scientist hope the satellite "More attention needs to be paid would orbit less than 100 km to the poor on issues such as above Mars and take pictures of h e a l t h , d r i n k i n g w a t e r a n d the red planet that would be literacy," Bindeshwar Pathak, analyzed back on earth. India's most noted welfare In order to insure success, the activists, told AFP."Going to current head of Indias space space might have some scientific agency, K. Radhakrishnan says benefits but it alone will not help the Mars mission must take place the condition of India's poor." when the planet is closest to Around a third of the total Indian Earth, which happens every 26 p o p u l a t i o n l i v e s b e l o w t h e months, the next one in 2013. i n t e r n a t i o n a l p o v e r t y l i n e , While Indias 2013 mission will according to the World Bank. be unmanned, the country's space Furthermore the latest UN data program is seeking budgetary s h o w s t h a t a t h i r d o f approval for sending astronauts to malnourished children worldwide Mars, tech site Mashable reported. are found In India. "Our spaceship will go near Mars The country also fails to provide
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:49:01 AM

basic infrastructure. In late July, India faced the largest series of blackouts in a decade as the three electricity grids that serve more than 600 million Indians collapsed. But despite all the trouble, the Indian space explorers say that technology used in the space program has resulted in economic spinoffs in other areas of the country. "It is certainly not a question of misplaced priorities," former ISRO chief U.R. Rao told The Asian Age newspaper. If next years attempt is successful, India will become an important member of the Mars exploration club following the footsteps of programs from Russia, United States, Europe, with Japan and China also joining the race. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Facebook shares slump 5% after 'lock up' ends


RT (News RSS : Today)

holdings has been cut in half, are you going to sit around and risk Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:43:27 AM the rest of that?" Facebook shares sank over 5% on Analysts now wonder what Thursday after investors were moves the shareholders like allowed to sell 271 million 'locked Goldman Sachs and Microsoft up' stock for the first time since will take in testing their long-term the company's IPO in May. investment commitments to the -Shares of the world's No.1 social networking site. Billionaire Internet social network fell after George Soros has also recently the end of the so called lock-up acquired a stake in Facebook. period that forced pre-float Later in the year, more shares investors to keep hold of shares could hit the market, with 243 after the companys initial public million available from October offering (IPO). and a further 1.2 billion in When Facebook went public November. three months ago, 421 million Facebook's chief executive Mark shares were issued at $38 each, Zuckerberg is obliged to keep rising as high as $45 after trading hold of his stock until November began. 14. On Thursday around 64 million This entry passed through the shares were trading at around $20 Full-Text RSS service if this is per share after the markets your content and you're reading it opened. on someone else's site, please read "Pressure will be back on the the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentshares now that liquidity is back only/faq.php#publishers. Five in the marke t," Frank Davis, Filters recommends: Incinerating director of sales and trading at Assange - The Liberal Media Go LEK Securities in New York told To Work. Reuters"If (the value of) your

10

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Paul McCartney tells Russian Russian punk band to weightlifting not "stay strong" - CBS News on dope
(Top Stories - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:04:15 AM

Paul McCartney performs at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in London on June 4, 2012.(Credit: Getty)(CBS/AP) Paul McCartney is the latest star to throw his support behind a Russian punk band whose members face prison for a stunt against President Vladimir Putin. Pictures: Paul McCartney In a letter released Thursday, the former Beatle urged three members of all-female band to "stay strong" and called on authorities to allow them freedom of speech. McCartney noted that "I and many others like me who believe

in free speech will do everything in our power to support you and the idea of artistic freedom." He added, "Many people in the civilixed world are allowed to voice their opinions and as long as they do not hurt anyone in doing so. I believe this is the best way forward for all societies." The band members have been in jail for more than five months

because of an anti-Putin prank in Moscow's main cathedral, and face a maximum seven years in jail. They were arrested on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. Celebrities including Madonna, Bjork and Peaches have called for them to be freed. A judge is due to rule on the band's case Friday. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

RT (News RSS : Today)

Thread: NYT joins Tabbed River 2.0.


(Dave Winer)

I love me some rivers! And here's a new one..

Syrtsov says all the athletes are regularly and thoroughly Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:45:38 AM tested.We cant have any Oxana Slivenko (AFP Photo/ problems with doping because the Bertrand Guay) controls are very serious, he said. T h e H e a d o f t h e R u s s i a n Russias only doping case at the Weightlifting Federation has Olympics was track cyclist scuttled rumors the countrys Victoria Baranova, who confessed Olympians have been using dope. to taking synthetic testosterone. T h e R u s s i a n O l y m p i c Meanwhile, there has already weightlifting squad suffered three been an athlete stripped of their late injury withdrawals world medal due to doping in London. champions Oksana Slivenko, Belarus shot putter Nadezhda K h a d z h i m u r a t A k k a e v a n d Ostapchuk was forced to hand her Dmitry Klokov. All of them could gold medal to Valerie Adams of have won a medal in London and New Zealand. their untimely injuries triggered This entry passed through the the rumors of doping. Full-Text RSS service if this is However, federation president your content and you're reading it Sergey Syrtsov says Russias on someone else's site, please read squad was totally clean. the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentWeve had no problem with only/faq.php#publishers. Five doping, the RIA news agency Filters recommends: Incinerating quotes him as saying.I hope we Assange - The Liberal Media Go wont have one either. Its rumors, To Work. and more rumors.

Playing with portion size


(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:45:00 AM

I love eating good restaurant food. Being on the wrong side of 40, I now pay close attention to

what I eat. When I moved to the U.S. about 14 years ago, I marveled at the large portions that most restaurants in the U.S. served. Even more astonishing to me was that most people seemed

to eat all of it and have clean plates at the end of the meal. I also loved the doggie bag culture of asking for any leftover food to be packed to take home. Full story at SmartBrief Social

Media. More SmartBrief stories. Permalink| Leave a comment

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ECUADOR
continued from page 3

ECUADOR
continued from page 2

where they might face the death penalty. Swedish prosecutors have not yet charged Assange, but they believe they have a case to take to trial and the lawyer for the two Swedish women who made the allegations against Assange said his clients deserved justice. "It's an abuse of the asylum instrument, the purpose of which is to protect people from persecution and torture if sent back to one's country of origin," Claes Borgstrom, the lawyer representing the two Swedish women, told Reuters. "It's not about that here. He doesn't risk being handed over to the United States for torture or the death penalty. He should be

brought to justice in Sweden. This is completely absurd." (Additional reporting by London, Quito and Stockholm bureaux; Writing by Maria Golovnina and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

where they might face the death penalty. Swedish prosecutors have not yet charged Assange, but they believe they have a case to take to trial and the lawyer for the two Swedish women who made the allegations against Assange said his clients deserved justice. "It's an abuse of the asylum instrument, the purpose of which is to protect people from persecution and torture if sent back to one's country of origin," Claes Borgstrom, the lawyer representing the two Swedish women, told Reuters. "It's not about that here. He doesn't risk being handed over to the United States for torture or the death penalty. He should be

OBAMA
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SPECIAL
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billion in cuts from Medicare to pay for the Affordable Care Act? But its simply absurd, and an insult to the intelligence of American voters of every racial background, to pretend Joe Bidens purpose on that stage in Virginia wasnt entirely clear. Its the same insult to our intelligence Obama and his defenders render by claiming we didnt understand what he meant by you didnt build that or the private sector is doing fine. It transcends political spin, and enters the realm of hypnosis. It might have worked back when three biased networks provided all of our news, and people werent a few mouse clicks away from audio and video records of disastrous

political speeches. Not only will American voters stubbornly insist on remembering the past three years of Obamas dismal record, theyll refuse to forget what he and his Vice President said last month, last week, or yesterday. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

already pretty well set in its opinion of Obamas military actions, including hard-Left antiwar types who would be screaming in blood-curdling horror if a Republican president bragged about his kill list of drone-strike targets. At the present time, it appears voters are heavily focused upon domestic economic issues, and theres a general sense of neutral to positive content with Obamas terror-fighting record. On the other hand, many of the people who will view Dishonorable Disclosures already agree with the case it makes. But we still have a long way to go before the

brought to justice in Sweden. This is completely absurd." (Additional reporting by London, Quito and Stockholm bureaux; Writing by Maria Golovnina and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn) This entry passed through the (china - Google News) Full-Text RSS service if this is Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:33:37 AM your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read Business Insider the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- China in Talks to Buy Barrick's only/faq.php#publishers. Five Stake in Tanzania Miner Filters recommends: Incinerating Businessweek Assange - The Liberal Media Go China, with $3.2 trillion of To Work. foreign-exchange reserves, has urged its companies to buy assets overseas, securing energy and commodity resources to feed industries from power generation to construction. Zijin Mining Group Co., its biggest gold miner by... Barrick Gold in African unit talks election, and national security with China Reuters developments or maybe even China Is Looking Into Taking t h a t J u s t i c e D e p a r t m e n t Over One Of Africa's Biggest investigation of security leaks Gold Miners Business Insider could change the equation. Barrick in talks with China firm This entry passed through the over African assets CBC.ca Full-Text RSS service if this is Financial Times your content and you're reading it all 163 news articles on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

China in Talks to Buy Barrick's Stake in Tanzania Miner Businessweek

12

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Curated News Edition

China's Homegrown Smartphone Firm, Xiaomi, Takes on Market With Low-price ... - PCWorld
(china - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:35:23 AM

Newsday China's Homegrown Smartphone Firm, Xiaomi, Takes on Market With Low-price... PCWorld In a time when China's smartphone market is already filled with competitors, Xiaomi has stood out by building handsets

with high-end specs for low prices. The strategy has not only worked, but helped garner the company a special level of popularity... In China, cheap and cheerful phones outsmart Apple Reuters Apple's iPhone usurped by Xiaomi's MiOne in China sales Newsday all 67 news articles

Conte: 'There Is Rampant Use Of Synthetic Testosterone In Major League Baseball'


Cork Gaines (Business Insider)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:02:01 AM

Tibetan monk dies in China after fire protest New York Daily News
(china - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:03:20 AM

Zee News Tibetan monk dies in China after fire protest New York Daily News China has accused the Dalai Lama -- who fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and is vilified as a "separatist" by Communist

authorities -- of encouraging the protests. The Dalai Lama has himself condemned selfimmolations... 2 Tibetans Die in SelfImmolation Protest in China's Sichuan Voice of America Tibetans Clash with Police in West China; 1 Dead TIME all 678 news articles

Victor Conte, whose BALCO company was at the heart of Major League Baseball's steroids scandal, told Bob Nightengale of USA Today, that performance enhancing drugs are still being used by as many as half of all baseball players. "I would say, maybe as much as half of baseball...I'm not going to name names, but I've talked to a lot of top players in Major League Baseball, and they tell me this is what they're doing. There is rampant use of synthetic testosterone in Major League Baseball." This comes after Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants was suspended 50 games by Major League baseball for testing

positive for the use of testosterone. Conte went on to say that the only players that get caught are "the dumb, and the dumber." Conte has been known to say things that many feel are exaggerated at best. But even if Conte's assertions are a blown out of proportion, it still suggests that

Cabrera rogue cheater, and that baseball, a sport with over 800 players, still has a big problem. Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story

Helium shortage takes the gas out of Nebraska football tradition


(Sports News Headlines Yahoo! News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:54:45 AM

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) -

They haven't taken the air out of the University of NebraskaLincoln's football, but they are taking the helium out of the touchdown balloons, a tradition

that dates to the 1940s. The Memorial Stadium tradition of Huskers' fans releasing thousands of red helium-filled balloons after the first touchdown will end at

least temporarily after the first home game this year because of a global helium shortage. The lighter-than-air gas is in short supply and hospital and industrial

construction uses have floated to the top of national distribution lists. ...

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13

Romney Was So Proud Of His Universal Healthcare Law He Included It In His Official Portrait
Nicholas Carlson (Business Insider)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:00:20 AM

One of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign promises is that he will do everything he can to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare." But Romney hasn't always been so opposed to the ideas behind "Obamacare," such as the act's

requirement that all individuals buy health insurance. While he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney's own signature legislation was a healthcare reform act built around the idea of an individual mandate. In 2005, Romney even called "the ultimate conservative idea." In materials from his 2008 campaign for President, Romney cited In fact, Romney was so proud of reports that the bill had "newly this legislation that he insisted his insured" some 300,000 people.

official governor's portrait include a copy of the bill. We learned all this reading The Real Romney, a deeply reported and informative book by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. You should read if want to know about the guy whom half the country wants to be our next president. Pre-order the up-coming, updated, paperback version here. Or buy the Kindle edition. Here's the portrait. You can see

the bill on Romney's desk, next to a picture of his beloved wife. It has that snake-and-wings medical symbol called a caduceus embossed on its cover: Here's a detail: Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story

Attention Business Owners: Please Take Our Short Survey


Business Insider (Business Insider)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:00:00 AM

Experts: Ex-PSU president could still face charges


(Sports News Headlines Yahoo! News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:19:19 AM

Do you own your own business? Are you an entrepreneur running a startup? If so, we'd like to hear about your biggest challenges. Do you spend a lot of time thinking

about how to market your business? What do you like best about your company? Business Insider would like to hear about what keeps you up at night, whether it be time spent on IT, payroll, administration, HR, thoughts in this brief survey. sales, expansion or some other Thanks in advance for your challenge. Please share your

attention and honest answers! Click here to take the survey > Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story

'Screwed Generation' Turns to Paul Ryan?


Daniel Halper (The Weekly Standard)

More than a month after an explosive investigative report accused Penn State's ousted president of burying child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky, Graham Spanier has so far avoided criminal charges unlike two of his former subordinates.

Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin Kirsten Powers, writing for the

Daily Beast:

14

Business/ World News/

Curated News Edition

Bay Area Housing Prices at Four-Year High - LoanSafe


(housing - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:53:15 AM

Oil Reaches $95 a Barrel on Housing Permits, Middle East Tension - Businessweek
(housing - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:28:48 AM

San Francisco Chronicle Bay Area Housing Prices at FourYear High LoanSafe (Source: Pete CareySan Jose Mercury News (MCT) The Bay Area's housing recovery showed increasing signs of strength in July, as eager buyers

Behind the Numbers: Housing Starts Ease Wall Street Journal (blog)
(housing - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:11:22 AM

Behind the Numbers: Housing Starts Ease Wall Street Journal (blog) Construction of new homes slowed slightly in July, while

out and is on the way up, said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic (World Politics Review: Articles) Oil Reaches $95 a Barrel on R e s e a r c h i n W i n c h e s t e r , pushed prices to four-year highs. Submitted at 8/16/2012 4:57:00 AM The region logged its 13th Housing Permits, Middle East Massachusetts. That would be such a huge gain for the U.S. South America's history consecutive month of yearly sales Tension Businessweek economy and it's... throughout the 1980s and 1990s is increases... littered with the names of nowCalifornia housing market posts Evidence is accumulating that and more defunct currencies, such as the gains in July Los Angeles Times the housing market has bottomed Argentine austral and the Bay Area housing prices hit fourBrazilian cruzeiro. Now, an old year high Bizjournals.com vulnerability is re-emerging as an Housing Market Bounce Back economic and political Achilles KMJ Now heel for several South American all 145 news articles governments: exchange rates. Some are clamping down on citizens' purchases of U.S. dollars, in attempts to prop up local money and stem capital flight. (World Politics Review: Articles) nonreaction, really -- from the Others are promoting central bank military suggests the soft coup did dollar purchases and sales, or Submitted at 8/16/2012 3:02:00 AM not happen in a vacuum: Morsi deploying derivatives contracts, to In the space of a few short days, probably laid the groundwork manage volatile exchange rates. ... Egyptian President Mohamed within some sectors of the armed This entry passed through the builders ramped up construction Morsi has pulled off a lightning- forces. ... o n m u l t i f a m i l y a p a r t m e n t s , swift realignment of the country's This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is according to numbers released political map. On Aug. 12, Morsi Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it Thursday by the Commerce assumed powers as vast as those your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read Department, an indication that the of his predecessor, the deposed on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentrental housing market remains dictator Hosni Mubarak. And, the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating stronger than... incredibly, he did it without only/faq.php#publishers. Five Assange - The Liberal Media Go and more immediately triggering either Filters recommends: Incinerating To Work. street protests or a countermove Assange - The Liberal Media Go by Egypts erstwhile all-powerful To Work. military. The curiously quiet reaction -- a

Pay Now or Suffer Later: South America's Currency Dilemma

World Citizen: Egypt Ponders Meaning of Morsi's Soft Coup

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15

Barak: We must make Iran Bangalore leaders assure North Eastern community decision now - Ynetnews it's safe, welcome - NDTV
(Iran - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 7:40:30 AM

Defense minister asserts that decision on military strike against Islamic Republic must be made now; says 'In all of Israel's history there is no issue that has been dealt with as deeply as the issue of Iran' Moran Azulay Defense Minister Ehud Barak continued to address speculation of a possible military attack against Iran on Thursday during the Knesset plenum, and explained why a decision on Iran must be made now. Barak said that dealing with a nuclear Iran would be incomparably more dangerous and more expensive. Related stories: "Dealing with Iran is not risk-free but in fact there are outcomes that we can't predict." However, Barak asserted that the government would be able to make the decision on the matter. "Any decision made, will be decided

upon by the government and not civilian groups or editorials," he said. Speaking at the swearing in of Avi Dichter as Israel's new Home Front Defense Minister, Barak said that "In all the wars and peacemaking (efforts) in Israel's history, there is no issue that has been dealt with as deeply as the issue of Iran has." Barak further said that "there are differences of opinion, but the subject of Iran is being dealt with. Neither the First Lebanon War, nor the Second Lebanon War or even the Oslo Accords were dealt with in this manner." Regarding the possible strike against Iran, Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz further said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is blatantly interfering in the US election and is "risking our children's lives" for the sake of political survival. Mofaz further criticized Netanyahu, claiming that the Israeli government headed by the PM has not invested enough in protecting the home front. "The

new home front defense minister might have a fancy title but he has no true authority or the means to deal with such threats," he said. "You can cast the legal responsibility on Dichter but the moral responsibility is still on you," Mofaz added with regards to Netanyahu. "Netanyahu is trying to create a panic and scare us, and the truth is that we are scared scared of his lack of judgment, scared that he is being led and not leading, but most of all, we're scared that he is executing a policy that is both dangerous and irresponsible," Mofaz said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

(Nation - Google News)

like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune are on guard... PM appeals for peace, slams BBC News spread of 'northeast rumours' Bangalore leaders assure North Hindustan Times Eastern community it's safe, Centre asks Karnataka, Maha, AP welcome to reach out to NE people Zee NDTV News Bangalore/New Delhi: The Rumours fuel panic, 11000 from C e n t r e a n d t h e K a r n a t a k a NE flee Bangalore IBNLive.com government have reiterated that Deccan Herald- Times of Indiathere is no threat to people from Wall Street Journal (India) (blog) t h e N o r t h - E a s t l i v i n g i n all 631 news articles Bangalore, and there is no need for them to return home. Cities
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:54:16 AM

Carole Waugh death: Murder accused pair remanded - BBC News


(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:33:22 AM

Rasmussen Polls Wisconsin: Romney-Ryan Leads Obama-Biden 48% to 47%


John McCormack (The Weekly Standard)

Rasmussen reports that Mitt Romney has gone from a 3-point deficit to a 1-point lead in

Wisconsin:

BBC News Carole Waugh death: Murder accused pair remanded BBC News The 50-year-old's body was found in a lock-up garage in New Malden, south-west London, on 2 August, months after she was reported missing. Post-mortem tests found she died from a single

stab wound. Rakesh Bhayani, 40, and Nicholas Kutner, 47,... Two remanded on Carole Waugh murder charge The Independent Two men in court charged with Carole Waugh murder ITV News Rakesh Bhayani, 40, and Nicholas Kutner, 47, appear in Croydon court accused... The Guardian Daily Mail- Telegraph.co.uk all 546 news articles

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Standard Chartered Bank Sued By Boris ponders Lebanon Bombing's Victims' cycle lane in the Families Over ... - Huffington Post
(Iran - Google News)

York branch to two years of monitoring. Standard Chartered Bank said in NEW YORK -- Families of a statement Monday that it victims of a deadly 1983 bombing "strongly rejects" and "contests" of U.S. Marines in Lebanon filed the New York regulators' a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking portrayal of its transactions with to hold Standard Chartered Bank Iranian banks. It said "well over and its New York branch 99.9 percent" of the questioned accountable. of concerted efforts to evade U.S. transactions with Iran complied They claim in the lawsuit in U.S. sanctions against Iran." It said the with all regulations and the few District Court in Manhattan that bank's executives "continued year transactions that didn't amounted the bank conspired with Iran and -after-year to process the illicit to $14 million. It said none of its its agents to hide Iran's assets Iranian transactions in order to Iranian payments was on behalf of from them. They're seeking to pad" the bank's profits. any designated terrorist group. trace assets as they try to enforce S t a n d a r d C h a r t e r e d Contribute to this Story: a $2.6 billion judgment against spokeswoman Julie Gibson said Send us a tip the Islamic Republic of Iran. the bank does not comment on Send us a photo or video A federal court in Washington, pending litigation. Suggest a correction D.C., issued the award in 2007 The lawsuit came a day after after Iran failed to contest claims New York's financial regulator This entry passed through the it was involved in the bombing, said he'd reached a $340 million Full-Text RSS service if this is which killed 241 servicemen at a settlement with the British bank to your content and you're reading it Marines facility in Beirut. resolve an investigation into on someone else's site, please read The lawsuit said the bank's whether it schemed with the the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content"success in building a massive Iranian government to launder only/faq.php#publishers. Five business clearing U.S. dollar money. The deal announced Filters recommends: Incinerating transactions on behalf of Iranian Tuesday subjects the bank's New Assange - The Liberal Media Go financial institutions was a result To Work.
Submitted at 8/16/2012 7:15:20 AM

sky - Times Online


(Nation - Google News)

tracks,... Time to scrap the Mayor of London? The Guardian Telegraph.co.uk Boris Johnson uses Olympic Boris ponders cycle lane in the bounce to taunt government sky Reuters UK Times Online Stop 'pussyfooting' and build Boris Johnson is considering London a new airport, Boris proposals for a raised cycle J o h n s o n t e l l s D a v i d . . . T h e network between mainline Independent stations in London. The Mayor Daily Mail- Evening Standardsaid: There is a proposal, which Telegraph.co.uk is very interesting, to hook up all 182 news articles mainline stations in London along the side of the raised railway
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:53:48 AM

Prince Philip responding well to treatment, says Palace - BBC News


(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:57:55 AM

Could this Be The Worst Recovery Summer Yet?


Geoffrey Norman (The Weekly Standard)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:36:00 AM

The people who didn't build their

BBC News Prince Philip responding well to treatment, says Palace BBC News Prince Philip has responded well to treatment for a recurring small businesses seem to think so. bladder infection, Buckingham The Wall Street Journal reports: Palace has said. However, it is likely that the 91-year-old Duke

of Edinburgh will remain in hospital for a few more days. He was taken as a "precautionary... Duke 'responding well to treatment' The Press Association Duke of Edinburgh 'responding well to treatment' Telegraph.co.uk Prince Philip 'responding well to treatment' AFP Evening Standard- Metro all 1,388 news articles

Curated News Edition

World News/ Finance/

17

Residents evacuate after MMS on Assam violence is doctored: explosive chemical spill Pune police - Firstpost - ABC Online
(Nation - Google News) (Nation - Google News)

Premature deaths linked to drugs in nursing homes ABC Online


(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:31:27 AM

incident had taken place in the city after attacks on students Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:44:20 AM from... Firstpost MMS on Assam violence is MMS on Assam violence is doctored, say Pune Police The doctored: Pune police Asian Age Firstpost How can a cook or Northeastern Pune: The MMS depicting student in Pune be culpable for purported footage of violence in Bodo violence... Tehelka Assam, which was in circulation Pune: 13 arrested for attack on in the city for the last few days, Northeast students IBNLive.com was bogus, police said today. all 6 news articles Police also said no untoward

Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:30:32 AM

Sky News Australia Residents evacuate after explosive chemical spill ABC Online About 100 residents were evacuated from their homes as authorities cleaned up a toxic spill at an industrial site north of Newcastle. A large plastic tank

came off its stand at Tomago, spilling up to 1000 litres of the toxic and highly explosive... NSW toxic chemical spill cleared Perth Now Toxic chemical spill at Tomago contained Newcastle Herald HAZMAT spill - Tomago NSW Police Online (press release) all 17 news articles

Offshore asylum laws through Parliament Adelaide Now


(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:24:46 AM

One more arrested for Mumbai's Azad Maidan violence - Newstrack India
(Nation - Google News)

ABC Online Premature deaths linked to drugs in nursing homes ABC Online By Margot O'Neill Up to 6000 elderly people could be dying prematurely each year because of widespread over-prescription of powerful drugs to dementia patients in nursing homes. Experts say anti-psychotic drugs can leave patients immobilised and unable... Minister alarmed by dementia treatment The Australian all 7 news articles

NEWS.com.au Offshore asylum laws through Parliament Adelaide Now Asylum-seekers rescued by the MV Parsifal are dropped off at Christmas Island. Source: The Australian ASYLUM seekers

arriving by boat will again be locked up in detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, after deadlockbreaking... Asylum bill passes parliament The Daily Telegraph Senate passes offshore processing bill ABC Online all 93 news articles

another 100 injured, was arrested Thursday after identification on the basis of CCTV footage,... One more arrested for Mumbai's Azad Maidan riots: Man held Azad Maidan violence after video shows him firing SLR Newstrack India Business Standard Mumbai, Aug 16 (IANS) A man Women cops were stabbed and who snatched and fired a police molested by mob: cops Hindustan gun during the violence at Times Mumbai's Azad Maidan Saturday, all 19 news articles which left two people dead and
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:36:51 AM

Debt crisis: live


Rachel Cooper (Finance News Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:36:15 AM

Spain may ask European authorities to use leftover funds from its 100bn bank bail-out to buy sovereign debt, according to

reports.

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Curated News Edition

Apple's toughest nut yet: Cable operators


Victor Agreda, Jr. (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:45:00 AM

This may be Apple's trickiest move in its history. We've all been wondering for a while whether Apple really is working on a next-gen Apple TV that adds "television" (cable, really) to the box. In Walter Issacson's biography of Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder suggested that the company had"finally cracked" the code of finding what you want to watch -- a clear call out to the horrible interfaces seen on 99% of all DVR's on the planet. But according to the WSJ (article behind paywall), Apple's talks with cable operators haven't yielded any deals yet. I am not very optimistic. As the story goes, Apple was able to launch the iTunes Store with a vast array of music in part because, at the time, the company was still struggling for relevance and market share. The iMac was cute, but the iPod was expensive. iTunes selling songs seemed like a safe bet for the music labels. As Apple's market in the portable music player space grew, however, the percent cut of music sales dug deeper and deeper. Rival music players from titans like Microsoft rose and fell, as did rival online stores. The labels wound up selling a lot of tunes, and giving Apple extraordinary leverage in the distribution biz. Fast forward to today and look at

the online video space. If Netflix, HBO and Hulu have shown us anything, it's that the mavens of video learned a lesson from the music labels. Content companies don't just want to spew out content like Big Brother and True Blood, they want to distribute and monetize it every step of the way, all by themselves. Of course, the cable industry is still the predominant distributor of many shows-- and don't think for a second that any cable exec is willing to give up the control they now enjoy to Apple. Not now, possibly not ever. Sure, Apple probably has a DVR or tuner with an interface that

makes it 80% easier to find those reruns of Mama's Family. Guess what: Your cable company doesn't care about how easy your life can be. In fact, I'm starting to think they want your DVR to suck. I happen to think cable companies enjoy the terrible experience we all suffer through on their set-top boxes. I have AT&T's U-Verse service. The settop box I have has been rebooted more times than I remember, and I've had it less than a year. How many times have you rebooted your iPod to get it to work in the last year? Your Mac? How about the Apple TV (not counting updates)? That's what I thought.

In terms of interface/design, Apple's strongest suit perhaps, do they really have any competition? I can't imagine Scientific Atlanta being thrilled with all this news. My AT&T box is made by Cisco, and has about the best interface of any cable box I've used in the past 20 years. Guess what? It still sucks. Competing technologies with better solutions have failed in the past. An example: If I'm watching an on-demand version of a show and it ends, instead of dropping me back into the list of shows (say, American Dad), it dumps me right back to the first on-demand screen. So to go back to the list of

American Dad episodes I have to navigate by network or by show, using disparate alphabetical lists, drilling down past pages of listings to the actual list. Something like Main Screen > By Network > (2nd page) Fox HD > American Dad. This is the 21st century, right? For a moment I thought moisture farmers had purchased AT&T and Cisco, sorry. Like I said, anyone who has used a cable box ever who has the common sense to know that an object 6 inches from your hand is more convenient than one 6 feet away. So why in the world would they want to change? It's pretty obvious cable companies and content creators are more concerned with making sure you can't take your content with you on your iPad(just imagine if a Time Warner Cable customer saw content downloaded from a Comcast subscriber -- the gall!). All of this is to say Apple really does have a massive wall to climb. The content companies are bad enough, eager to fragment online distribution so they can own the metrics, the views, the audience, etc. Hulu is a great example here, as it has actively sought to block any alternative means of viewing the content it distributes (remember its constant dances with Boxee?). Worse, the cable companies don't want to be pushed back into yet APPLE'S page 23

Curated News Edition

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19

How a Bogus Apple Rumor Hoodwinked Online News Outlets


John Paul Titlow (ReadWriteWeb)

was, of course, that it was completely false. So how did I and several other reporters - get Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:30:00 AM duped so easily? Why the Story Well, the experiment worked. A Caught On Swedish design firm called Day4 The idea that Apple would start set out to demonstrate how easily using a special, asymmetrical false information could turn into screw to hold its products together news online, and boy was it is not altogether unbelievable. It s u c c e s s f u l . T h e c o m p a n y fits into a larger, historically produced a mock-up image of a accurate narrative that goes back screw with an asymmetrical head, to the days of the first Macintosh ostensibly designed by Apple to desktop computer. That machine, prevent users from tinkering with like later devices, was deliberately their devices. After posting it to designed to discourage hobbyists Reddit, all they had to do was sit eager to tear it open and start back and wait for tech reporters to tinkering. take the bait. In fact, this narrative was still The image, which Day4 posted to alive and kicking last week, when Reddit anonymously a weeka ago, iFixIt called the brand-new Retina was enough to get the story MacBook Pro "the least repairable picked up by Cult of Mac 12 laptop" it had seen. Hence my hours later and then by Apple- impulse to grab a link to the watching blogs and news sites phony report. across the Web. The bogus story was also wellFull disclosure: I was covering a timed, coming just as leaked - real, I swear - study showing details are piling up ahead of next that the new MacBook Pro is month's iPhone launch. Apple difficult to repair when I saw this watchers are on the lookout for headline come across my RSS leaks and rumors year-round, but reader and decided to include it at in the days leading up to a major the bottom of my story (which has product launch, the alleged details since been updated). From my grow more numerous and the vantage point, it looked like any coverage more feverish. other news story that bubbles up All of which begs the question: on Twitter, Google Reader or Didn't anyone attempt to verify Flipboard. The crucial difference the story by calling Apple, Day4,

unprecedented speed - is also, as we've seen again and again, one of its biggest pitfalls. A more dramatic example unfolded a year ago when a prankster published a realisticlooking "study" purporting to show that Internet Explorer users were less intelligent than those who used other Web browsers. That story made it much further than the phone Apple screw report, probably because its and/or an independent hardware perpetrator put much more effort analyst? Of course not. We're into it. Tarandeep Singh, a t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e I n t e r n e t . Canadian developer for whom IE Implications for Online News "was being a pain in the ass," Many of us who work in online went as far as to buy a domain m e d i a p r o u d l y e x t o l l t h e name for a fake company, scrape advantages of our craft and the content from another business' innovative platforms that deliver website and then send out a press our output to readers. And - let's r e l e a s e l i n k i n g b a c k t o a be honest - sometimes we do so legitimate-looking PDF of the while turning our noses up at phony study. those who came before us in print The media ate it up. Mashable and other legacy media. But and Business Insider were among there's something to be said for the first to report it, and it the legions of copyeditors and fact exploded from there, despite checkers getting laid off from language in the fake report that your local newsroom. should have raised serious doubts Publishing online is cheaper, about its authenticity. That is, if m o r e e f f i c i e n t a n d m o r e anybody had taken the time to participatory. Many would argue read it carefully. that, as a result, it's more That's one of the major democratic and open than the challenges in the emerging online media it has supplanted. Yet one news ecosystem. In the scramble o f i t s p r i m e b e n e f i t s - to publish first or rack up page

views, things like this to slip through the cracks. The frantic rush to publish isn't unique to the Web. That much was verified in June when both CNN and Fox News incorrectly reported that the Supreme Court had overturned President Obama's health care law. Cable news didn't need Twitter or Wordpress to make that gaffe, but the Web's ever more rapid news cycle may have helped build the editorial culture that let it happen. To its credit, the media didn't allow the Apple screw story to get as far as it could have, and many reports emphasized that it was only a rumor. Perhaps it was because Day4 wasn't as thorough as Singh was with his fictional IE study. The Swedish outfit posted a fake image anonymously to Reddit, which reporters knew to take with a grain of salt. Still, the fake rumor spread further than something that is patently false should have. And it gave us just the latest reminder that as we journalists march forward into the globally networked future, we ought to do so with humility and caution.

20

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Curated News Edition

Big Fish Raises The Stakes With RealMoney Gambling On The iPhone With Big Fish Casino
Ingrid Lunden (TechCrunch)

company that has secured an undisclosed amount of funding Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:08:24 AM from a select group of investors Would you like to bet on what including Greylock, CrunchFund, may be the next big thing in Y u r i M i l n e r s S t a r t F u n d , games? Place a wager on real- Founders Fund, True Ventures, money gambling, and you could Path co-founder Dave Morin, be in for some good returns. former Wikia CEO Gil Penchina, Today, when games developer D e l i c i o u s J o s h S c h a c h t e r , Big Fish launched a new iPhone StockTwits Howard Lindzon and app called Big Fish Casino, it LOLApps former CEO Arjun announced it would raise the Sethi. Up to now, Betable has stakes in the UK by introducing been operating in private alpha, real-money gambling into it and this appears to be the first ( c o u r t e s y o f w e l l - b a c k e d public application of its betting gambling platform Betable) engine in a public service. making this the first time that a Big Fish Casino is the relaunch real-money game will be available of Card Ace: Casino, an app made in the App Store. by Self Aware Studios, which was This may be a first for the App bought recently by Big Fish. Card Store, but its part of a growing Ace already had one million interest in real-money gambling. active players, all of whom will The news comes just one week transition to the newly-rebranded after the introduction of the first edition of the game. While realreal-money gambling app on money gambling is only getting Facebook (also in the UK) and at turned on in the UK, users in the same time that a report has other markets like the U.S. will be emerged of Zynga lobbying hard still be able to share chips across to get in-game gambling cleared different games, chat wth other in the U.S., too. players, give virtual gifts. The non The gambling back end for Big -gambling version of Casino will Fish Casino will come from be available on Google Play, B e t a b l e , t h e s o c i a l b e t t i n g Amazons Appstore, the App

Store and Facebook. But the really hot action is happening over on the other side of the pond, and only on iOS. The UK version of the iPhone app, which Big Fish says will be coming online within the next few weeks, will see users able to put hard currency down on blackjack, roulette and video poker games, with the rollout happening in the coming months. Other games in the casino include Texas Hold Em and slots. TechCrunch understands that the app is still getting approved by Apple at the moment, and Big Fish has not announced whether it plans to extend the real-money gambling to other platforms, or other markets outside of the UK. The move to offer real-money gambling in games comes as developers and the platforms that host them look for more ways to keep users engaged, and in the case of developers spending more money. We have a strong conviction that mobile apps that combine social and real-money gambling are a powerful way to engage more users and increase

overall monetization, said Paul Thelen, Founder and CEO of Big Fish, in a statement. Facebook has also started to allow real-money gambling into its walled garden as well. Last week, Gamesys launched Bingo & Slots Friendzy as a new Facebook app, also the first time that real-money gambling had appeared on the social network. Facebook is a place that allows people to connect and share, a spokesperson told TechCrunch at the time. Real money gaming is a popular and well-regulated activity in the UK and we are allowing a partner to offer their games to adult users on the Facebook platform in a safe and controlled manner. Indeed, it looks like for now, with U.S. lawmakers yet to approve real-money gambling on social and mobile games, developers are looking to test the waters in the UK, which has more liberal rules and serves as a good gateway not just to looking at usage patterns in Europe, but also in an English speaking country with demographics similar to those in the U.S.

As for the U.S., Zynga which has also said that it would like to introduce gambling into its games appears to be working hard to get legislators to change their mind on their policy. The WSJ reports that the company is investing in lobbying both at the state and federal level to improve the image of gambling services. In California, it focused its efforts around the Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2012, which the WSJ notes would give gambling companies licenses worth $30 million, and the ability to partner with companies like Zynga to offer online gambling services. That bill is still in play. In the meantime, the opportunity outside of the U.S. is huge. Betables chief executive, Chris Griffin, told TechCrunch earlier this year internationally, online gambling is currently a $32 billion market, compared to $3 billion for social gaming, which works out to $300 spent in online gambling for every $1 on social gaming.

Curated News Edition

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21

Samsung's Galaxy-Sized Mistake


Dan Rowinski (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:03:16 AM

Showyous New iPad App Is Like A Remote Control For Your Apple TV
Ryan Lawler (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:00:56 AM

released since mid-2011 gained the stylus) into 30-second TV critical market share unless it commercials while implying that significantly undercut the iPad. Samsung just made a mistake. The two primary examples are the iPad is boring and inferior. The companys new Galaxy Note But Samsung cannot win at that Amazons Kindle Fire and the 10.1 tablet has everything. Front game. new ASUS-made Nexus 7 from and back cameras, a removable O f c o u r s e , A p p l e h a s i t s Google. memory slot and even a digital boilerplate features like Notes, The wi-fi-only 16GB Galaxy stylus. The tablet is supposed to Calendar, FaceTime, iMessage Note 10.1, will sell for $499. With go head to head with Apples iPad and iCloud, and it is anyone's 32GB of memory, the price will over the holiday season. But it guess whose are best. It is the b e $ 5 4 9 . T h e s e p r i c e s a r e will not win. third-party application ecosystem comparable to similar iPad There is only one way to battle of iOS, with Apples marketing models. Apple in tablets and Samsung has support behind it, that negates If Samsung really wants to stick completely missed the mark. it Apple, slashing prices is the anything Samsung can offer When I reviewed Samsungs the Samsung cannot compare a way to go. Galaxy S III smartphone, I took Galaxy Note 10.1 (or, really, any Comparing the Note 10.1 and the the company to task for the other Galaxy tablet) to an iPad, iPad, consumers would likely lean plethora of S apps that it stuffed feature for feature, and convince toward the Galaxy device if it cost into the device. Sadly, these S people that it has the superior $100 to $150. Samsung might apps, Samsung's versions of product. lose money on each sale but common functions, are clogging T h e G a l a x y N o t e 1 0 . 1 i s taking market share from Apple up the Galaxy Note 10.1, too. important to Samsungs strategy would likely be worth it to S Memo, MediaHub, S Calendar. for the rest of the year. It will S a m s u n g , w h o s e l o n g - t e r m Samsung probably thinks it is push on back-to-school shopping strategy includes harming the iPad doing consumers a favor by crowds, and, of course it will maker any way possible. creating all of these apps. But it is hawk it relentlessly for the How do you compete with an just bloatware. Google built holidays. If Samsung hopes to adversary that is willing to take a almost all of the same apps into take a bite out of Apples tablet loss just to hurt you? Android -- the tablet's operating revenue, the Note 10.1 is its best As it stands now, the Galaxy system -- and virtually all are bet. Note 10.1 is a bloated, features i m p l e r a n d s u p e r i o r t o So, does Samsung have a play packed device with a nifty stylus, Samsung's. destined to be an also-ran. Apple here? Yes. The marketing for the Galaxy As we have seen over the last will take one look at the Note 10.1 Note 10.1 will be predictable. year, Apple tablets can be beaten and laugh all the way to the Samsung will put what it thinks on price. No Android tablet bank. are super cool features (especially

around for awhile in iOS5, but few app makers have actually implemented it to date. Which is a A few weeks ago, I took a look at shame, because its pretty cool. the new Showyou iPhone app, You can load a video from The which founder Mark Hall at that Daily Show or Funny Or Die or time said was quickly becoming any of Showyous other partners the teams favorite version of its and there are a bunch and social discovery engine. Well, go about your business, tweeting Showyou just released a new and not really paying attention to version of its iPad app to do that the TV. (Its just like if you were one better. Not only does the new watching regular TV!) Anyway, iPad app add a lot of the same Brightcove recently highlighted social features that make the d u a l - s c r e e n n a v i g a t i o n a n d iPhone version so great, but it also control as part of the latest update adds retina display support and to its App Cloud offering, so dual-screen mutlitasking. maybe others will soon catch on Whats that last part mean in and start using the capability in English? Basically that if you their own apps. have an Apple TV, you can now Anyway, thats the coolest new use Showyou as your remote feature, but its not the only one. control for a wide range of online After rebuilding its back end to video. support its updated iPhone app, Showyou uses Apples AirPlay to Showyou is now circling back and allow you to send videos from the adding many of its new features iPad to the Apple TV, which is back into the iPad app. For nothing new that features instance, its Send to Friend and been part of the app since day Thanks social features. Its also o n e . B u t S h o w y o u h a s adding Retina Display support for incorporated some pretty cool all you fancy third-gen iPad magic that will allow users to owners out there. queue up videos to be watched on Showyous in the middle of a big, the Apple TV, and watch them crowded space full of apps even if you leave the app to check seeking to help you discover cool your email or browse the web. videos on your iPad. But with Thats right the videos will dual-screen multitasking support keep playing. thing, this update can really help So this feature has actually been set it apart from the rest.

22

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Curated News Edition

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 gets split-screen multitasking hands-on


Chris Burns (SlashGear)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:57:24 AM

This week we got the opportunity to take a peek at the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and its several multitasking abilities, including the brand new Multiscreen function revealed on this device specifically. This tablet takes on not only multitasking on a new level, but Samsungs own S-Pen functionality and a lovely setup for taking notes and making illustrations as well. Have a hands -on peek with us at several functions of this tablet in one hands-on video from our Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 full review, up now as well! Samsung has been busy innovating on the tablet front as well as on the smartphone front with their newest set of devices. If you have a peek at our original Samsung Galaxy S III review, youll see how you can play a video above the rest of the work youre doing to the side. With the Galaxy Note, youre able to do this same thing, but youre able to do it to the side as well

Multiscreen allows you to watch a video while you chat, for example. Multiscreen allows several applications to work side-by-side. These applications are limited to your Gallery, Internet (built-in internet for now, only), Polaris Office, S Note, Video Player, and Email (just Email, not Gmail). In the future we expect more applications to work with

Samsung to make this dual-screen functionality a reality for their apps as well heres hoping Samsung continues to include this ability in future devices as well so it can catch on. Youve also got a dock full of Mini Apps made by Samsung specifically for their Galaxy Tab and Note lineup as well. Here youll be able to tap in the center of your dock to bring these apps

up, each of them able to open on their own as a window above the screen youre currently working on. You can write a note with S Note from whatever application youre in, control your music with a mini controller, see your calendar, and more. Finally theres the Recent Apps button that many Android devices now have. Samsung has modified this ability slightly in that youll

be viewing the apps a bit more their style, but its basically the same as with any other Ice Cream Sandwich and later build of Android. Have a peek at the hands -on video above and check out our timeline on this device below to keep up with all the hands-on action you can handle! NOTE: this device is now out on the market check out ourunveiled for USA post for more details! Story Timeline Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 USA Review Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet unveiled for USA Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs iPad 3rd Gen Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 USA price and accessories revealed Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 AllShare hands-on vs GSIII Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 gets split-screen multitasking hands-on is written by Chris Burns& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Rate swap scandal: Richard Desmond sues Credit Suisse


Harry Wilson (Finance News Business news from the UK and world)

Richard Desmond is suing Credit Suisse claiming the bank mis-sold him a complex derivative, saying the 50m product was

"incomprehensible" and left him with an "inappropriately large exposure".

Curated News Edition

Technology/

23

Lenovo plans to beat Surface with superior hardware


Ben Kersey (SlashGear)

hardware in the world. Lenovo can. Still, Lenovo didnt totally call Acer hasnt exactly been coy out Microsoft, saying that the when it comes its opinion on company still had a strong Microsofts Surface tablet, but relationship due to the Windows Lenovo believes that it can beat partnership: To be frank, were the tablet with some good old not that worried about [Surface]. fashioned competition. CEO of Microsoft is still our strategy Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, voiced partner. We are very optimistic on his opinions on the companys the Windows 8 launch so we will latest earnings calls, saying, fully leverage that to launch our A l t h o u g h w e d o n t l i k e new products. The company Microsoft providing hardware, for recently launched its ThinkPad us, it just adds one more Tablet 2, designed to run competitor, when asked about Windows 8 on an Intel Atom Surface. processor, with HSPA+ and LTE Lenovo certainly seems confident c o n n e c t i v i t y o p t i o n s , of its abilities, going on to say that plus security and fingerprint it would beat out Surface in support. hardware: [They're] just one of Meanwhile, the company is our many competitors. We are reportedly planning on releasing s t i l l c o n f i d e n t t h a t w e a r e an ARM-based convertible tablet providing much better hardware later in the year when Windows 8 than our competitors including officially launches. The idea was Microsoft. They are strong in first shown off with the IdeaPad software, but [we] dont believe Yoga, a convertible ultrabook that t h e y c a n p r o v i d e t h e b e s t allowed the screen to fold back on
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:15:16 AM

Lenovo: Tablets will save Windows 8 but ultrabooks still need work Acer CEO slaps Surface: "Think twice" Microsoft warns Wang Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 gets serious with Windows 8 Lenovo reportedly readying convertible Windows RT tablet Acer: Please Microsoft, just don't make Surface too cheap Lenovo's Windows RT tablet will be ARM-based IdeaPad Yoga Lenovo hits Windows 8 with IdeaPad Yoga Microsoft Surface reportedly aiming for $199 itself so that it could be used like a tablet. The ultrabook is running one of Intels ULV Core processors as well as Windows 8 Pro. The ARM version, however, is reportedly running one of NVIDIAs Tegra 3 processors on Windows RT. [ via CNET] Story Timeline Lenovo meeting Microsoft over custom Windows Phone plans say sources Microsoft admits that Surface may hurt partner relations Microsoft Surface to land October 26 alongside Windows 8 Lenovo plans to beat Surface with superior hardware is written by Ben Kersey& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

APPLE'S
continued from page 18

another "dumb pipe" corner, having seen how faster speeds means people will use more bandwidth, sometimes to route around their own dumb, archaic restrictions. Sporting event blackouts, anyone? Apple has a business case to make to the distributors and

creators to prove an Apple TV set top box will make them money, not just Apple. If Apple continues to demand something on the order of a 30% cut, that may never happen. In that case, I would love for Apple to show us all what could have been... and see if the companies who said 'no' respond.

For a little more color on this game, check out this warning to media executives from Peter Csathy. Apple's toughest nut yet: Cable operators originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 10:45:00 EST. Please see our

terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments

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ReadWriteWeb Recommends: The Best Free Service For Scheduling Tweets


Dave Copeland (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:54:00 AM

Have you outgrown the blindly tweeting phase of social media? You need to get a Twitter schedule app that times your tweets for when your followers are around to hear from and react to you.

How does the best free scheduler compare to the best paid service? Here's the answer. The best social-media scheduling service is SocialFlow, which we reviewed in February. The service not only uses analytics to send tweets when most of your followers are online, it also can send when your followers are discussing the subject of your

tweet. SocialFlows service is effective, with some people reporting as much as a 60% increase in engagement, but it's also costly: $99 a month. We wanted something more affordable, and were willing to sacrifice some of the spot-on engagement for a free, easy service. HootSuite recently launched an auto-schedule

feature, but in our tests, it doesnt effectively time tweets to when most of your followers are online (were also not thrilled with the analytics, which HootSuite sends weekly as an email). We used to love the free offering at 14Blocks, which gave us the two top times to tweet each day which we could combine with the tweet scheduling of HootSuite or

TweetDeck, but 14Blocks is now a paid service. Our Recommendation: Buffer Buffer let us connect one Facebook page, one Twitter account and one LinkedIn account for free, and we can schedule posts from whatever page were on with a Chrome or Firefox READWRITEWEB page 26

Curated News Edition

Technology/

25

Lenovo makes $141 million as its PCs close in on HP


Don Reisinger (CNET News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:01:36 AM

helping it to hit a record 15.4 percent market share in that market. On the desktop front, Lenovo is making a name for Lenovo saw shipments jump 21 itself in tablets, too.(Credit: Scott percent year over year. Stein/CNET) Lenovo claims to own 15 percent Lenovo is on fire. of the worldwide PC market, The PC maker today reported putting it just behind its chief sales of $8 billion during its fiscal rival, Hewlett-Packard, at 15.7 quarter that ended June 30, up 35 percent share. Late last month, percent from the $5.9 billion it research firm Canalys pegged generated during the same period Lenovo's second-quarter market last year. Lenovo's profit hit $141 share at 12.1 percent in the million, up from the $108 million worldwide PC market -- and HP's it posted in the fiscal first quarter at 12.5 percent. However, Canalys of 2011. includes tablets in its tally. Lenovo's strong performance Over the last several quarters, comes on the back of its soaring Lenovo's confidence in its PC PC shipments. The company's strategy has increased as it notebook shipments rose 27 continues to deliver what it percent in the fiscal first quarter, believes, are superior hardware

products to customers. Just yesterday, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanquing said that his company is "still confident that we are providing much better hardware than our competitors, including

Microsoft," in reference to the software giant's upcoming Surface tablet. The true secret to Lenovo's success, however, might be international markets. The

company saw its shipments jump 9.2 percent in China over the last year and a whopping 59.2 percent in the Asia-Pacific/Latin America region. Shipments across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa rose 62.3 percent over the previous year. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Dunkin Donuts launches mobile pay app


Kelly Hodgkins (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)

add money to the virtual card using a credit card, debit card or Paypal. When they are ready to Submitted at 8/16/2012 12:00:00 PM pay for their items, customers Coffee drinkers who prefer only have to tap the card inside Dunkin Donuts to Starbucks will the app and show the bar code to be happy to know that DD now the cashier. has its own mobile app. The app Besides a mobile payment option, lets customers pay for food, the Dunkin Donuts app lets family via a text message, email drinks and other merchandise customers send virtual gift cards or Facebook. If you're not using their iPhone. Customers can called mGifts to friends and

comfortable using the app to pay for goods, you can always use it to find your local Dunkin Donuts shop. You can also view the nutrition information for various donuts and muffins the donut shop sells. Customers can download the Dunkin Donuts app for free from the iOS App Store. Dunkin Donuts launches mobile

pay app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments

26

Technology/

Curated News Edition

Internet Darling The Oatmeal Regulators OK Verizon's $3.9B bid Wants To Build A Tesla Museum And You Can Help to buy cable spectrum
Marguerite Reardon (CNET he needs to help $850,000 in 45 guarantee that its a historic site. News) days and hes just hit $350,000 so It opens up years and years of Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:43:22 AM Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:02:20 AM I doubt hell fail. time to figure out how to build a Verizon Wireless and a Matthew Inman of The The museum will celebrate proper Nikola Tesla museum. Oatmeal(who could, arguably, Teslas life and times. You can However, I would love to have consortium of cable operators, make more comics instead of read more about the effort here some kind of Nikola Tesla festival which includes Comcast, Time b e i n g t h e I n t e r n e t s S a r a h but the gist is that the land is on the property on July 10th of Warner Cable, and Bright House McLachlan for geek causes) has about to be turned into a mall or 2013 (Nikola Tesla Day), and Communications, today won taken up the ultimate in geek some kind of retail establishment. have some kind of zany Tesla-coil approval from U.S. regulators to go through with their $3.9 billion causes: rebuilding Nikola Teslas New York State will pay half of -BBQ-cookout. lab in Shoreham, New York. The the cost of the museum land but Hes asking major sponsors like d e a l t o e x c h a n g e w i r e l e s s l a b o r i g i n a l l y h e l d T e s l a s picking up the old lab and the GE, Google, and Tesla to pony up s p e c t r u m . workshop and a giant freaking acreage is only the first step. some cash, as well, to support a But the agencies have put minor tower that we was about to send The plans, currently, are pretty museum dedicated to the work of conditions on the sale. The crazy electricity all over the free-flowing: The property the o n e o f t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t F e d e r a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n s world, powering the universe laboratory is on is a bit of mess. It technologists of the past century. Commission is requiring Verizon from a single location in upstate needs to be cleaned up, restored, Lets all chip in and maybe they to divest some of its wireless New York. Then they they tore it and theres a ton of work to be can rebuild that big tower thing spectrum. And the Department of down. done to actually turn this into and we can all get free electricity Justice negotiated a deal in which the cable companies and Verizon After his successful campaign to something worthy of Teslas all day long. agreed to limit the scope of their shame FunnyJunk and their legacy. The money were raising co-marketing and resale terrible lawyer, Inman seems to be is simply to secure the property so agreements. on a social funding tear. This time no one can ever mess with it and "By limiting the scope and READWRITEWEB duration of the commercial continued from page 24 agreements among Verizon and extension. Were not content with To Tweet report, we can set We were able to quickly find the the cable companies while at the mobile Buffer, as you have to Buffer to tweet at peak times with b a s i c d a t a f o r e a c h t w e e t , same time allowing Verizon and copy links and open the Buffer a s i n g l e c l i c k . ( B u f f e r including clicks, retweets and T-Mobile to proceed with their app to schedule your post, but the recommends running the report reach. Analytics are arranged desktop version works perfectly. weekly and updating your Buffer chronologically, making it easy to What really set Buffer apart, schedule after getting the results.) see how a given tweet performed. however, was its integration with HootSuite also allows schedule SocialBro, a free service for syncing with SocialBro, but managing and analyzing Twitter Buffer stood out on another front: followers and traffic. After It offered the best analytics of the running SocialBros Best Times three services we looked at. John Biggs (TechCrunch)

spectrum acquisitions, the department has provided the right remedy for competition and consumers," Joseph Wayland, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ's Antitrust Division, said in a statement. "The Antitrust Division's enforcement action ensures that robust competition between Verizon and the cable companies continues now and in the future as technological change alters the telecommunications landscape." More to come. See also: The coming wireless spectrum apocalypse and how it hits you Wireless spectrum: What it is, and why you should care This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Curated News Edition

Technology/

27

FCC and DoJ approve Verizons cable spectrum deal


Ben Kersey (SlashGear)

The Chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, detailed how Verizons acquisition of the Last December, Verizon struck a wireless spectrum wouldnt be d e a l w i t h s e v e r a l c a b l e anti-competitive as a result. He companies, including Comcast went on to say, Approval of the and Time Warner, to be able to substantially modified transaction leverage their AWS spectrum for will promote the public interest wireless services. The deal has and benefit consumers in several been pending approval from the w a y s . B y a d v a n c i n g U . S . FCC and DoJ, and today the l e a d e r s h i p i n 4 G L T E regulatory bodies gave the gohead deployment, the transaction marks on the sale. The move is deemed another step in our effort to to be pro consumer due to promote the U.S. innovation Verizons spectrum swap deal economy and make state-of-thewith T-Mobile in addition to art broadband available to more making plans to allow other people in more places. carriers to roam on its network. Verizon paid a total of $3.9
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:40:26 AM

billion for the spectrum access, with $2.3 billion going to Comcast, $1.1 billion to Time Warner, and $189 million to Bright House Networks. All the

companies involved have agreed to license spectrum to each other as part of the sale, and the cable companies will also gain the right to resell some of Verizons

wireless services in the future. There is a catch, however: all four companies have agreed to restrict cross-marketing agreements until December 2016. That gives the FCC some peace of mind, and means that all four will still compete against each other in the meantime. Verizon still needs to divvy up some of its own spectrum as part of the agreement. [ via The Next Web] FCC and DoJ approve Verizons cable spectrum deal is written by Ben Kersey& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple calls Dept. of Justice settlement proposal unlawful


Kelly Hodgkins (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:30:00 AM

Apple is making it known that it will not accept the ebook settlement terms proposed by the Department of Justice, says a report in Paid Content. Under the DOJ's proposal, Apple would have to sever its current contracts and renegotiate new ones with three book publishers -

HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster. Apple says that this outcome is "fundamentally unfair, unlawful, and unprecedented" and denies the company its right to a fair trial. This settlement is the result of an investigation into Apple's agency model pricing agreement with book publishers. In this model, and cannot sell the electronic publishers are allowed to set books at a lower price through ebook prices in the iBookstore a n o t h e r r e t a i l e r . T h i s h u r t

Amazon, which was paying publishers the wholesale cost, but selling the books to customers at extremely low prices, often at a loss. Rather than accept the settlement, Apple asked the court to defer judgement on the settlement until the case made its way through the court. The trial is expected to begin in June 2013. [Via Apple Insider] Apple calls Dept. of Justice

settlement proposal unlawful originally appeared on TUAW The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments

28

Technology/

Curated News Edition

Record-breaking galaxy cluster churns out 740 stars a year


Liat Clark
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:17:00 AM

Low Latency No. 33: Real life, in HD


Blake Stevenson (CNET News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:00:00 AM

with the novelty of those two letters. Just do us a favor. The next time you're out to eat and the I f w e n e v e r s e e a n o t h e r waiter asks how you'd like your advertisement for HD sunglasses, steak cooked, reply "I'd like it in it'll be too soon. What is it about HD, please." "HD" that makes us flip out? This is real.(Credit: pinkish.ro) HDTVs have been around for Low Latency is a weekly comic years, yet we're still enamored on CNET's Crave blog written by

CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Thursday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is

your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Astronomers have identified a record-breaking galaxy cluster that churns out stars from its centre faster than any cluster ever spotted. The Phoenix cluster, which was first sighted by the South Pole Telescope in 2010, appears to be generating around 740 new stars a year from its central galaxy -- an astonishing feat when you consider our humble Milky Way produces only one or two in the same period. "This extreme rate of star formation was really unexpected," said Michael McDonald, a Hubble Fellow at MIT and the lead author of a paperdetailing the discovery. "It's nearly five times higher than the next most star-forming central -cluster galaxy, in Abell 1835. So it's really crushing the record." By: Liat Clark, Edited by: Olivia Solon Continue reading...

Curated News Edition

Technology/ Culture/

29

Christian World Adoption


noreply@blogger.com (Ad ServeRSS) (AdServRSS Feed)

In focus: Police grimace as 'Anonymous' activist supports Assange

Christian World Adoption is one of the largest international adoption agencies in the United States. Since 1991, Christian World Adoption has placed thousands of children from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. These children now enjoy the love and security of

a forever family. Christian World Adoption currently offers adoption programs in Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine. Explore our website Mark Brown to learn more about international Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:56:56 AM adoption. Then, when youre ready, call our friendly adoption Nasa has picked a Coloradoc o u n s e l o r , t o l l f r e e , a t based company to find and demonstrate an environmentally 1.888.97ADOPT. friendly rocket fuel, as an alternative to the highly toxic hydrazine. Hydrazine is an efficient

Nasa picks Ball Aerospace to find and fly eco-friendly rocket fuel

Nate Lanxon
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:25:25 AM

Today's photography from the Wired Aperture -- beautiful daily images of the Wired world around us, curated every day by Wired.co.uk. Subscribe to the propellant that can be stored for Wired Aperture RSS feed or long periods of time, and is used follow the @WiredAperture in many rockets, satellites and Twitter account to make sure you spacecraft. It's also highly never miss a picture. corrosive and toxic, and can be View at high-resolution and fulle x t r e m e l y h a r m f u l t o t h e screen in our gallery. environment. By: Nate Lanxon, Continue By: Mark Brown, Edited by: reading... Duncan Geere Continue reading...

The city of staples


(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:23:00 AM

Office boredom has reached new heights with this ingenious staple sculpture by British artist Peter Root.

It took approximately 100,000 staples to form Ephemicropolis, which makes you wonder whos staring dumbfounded at the supply closet wondering where explaining the creation of this that last order went. All kidding aside, heres a video gleaming miniature city.

Full story at Peter Root via Neatorama. Staples of art. Permalink| Leave a comment

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Technology/ Economy/ Sports/

Curated News Edition

Meditative Desert Photoshoots - The Akomplice Summer 2012 Lookbook is Nomadic and Stunning (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 6:55:02 AM

Using Informed Trends - Jono Bacon Looks to the Future in this Community Management Keynote (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 6:35:03 AM

20 Artistic Matchbook Masterpieces From Uplifting Affirmation Art to Mountainous Dollhouses (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 6:45:04 AM

NFL sues dozens of insurers over player injury claims


(Sports News Headlines Yahoo! News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:20:54 AM

( TrendHunter.com) The Akomplice Summer 2012 lookbook showcases the style and vision behind the duo of this eccentric clothing retailer. Photographed in the picturesque deserts of Florianopolis, Brazil, the series...

( TrendHunter.com) Believing that those who predict the future are always wrong, community manager and author Jono Bacon demonstrates how to use informed trends to make the best decisions in this community management...

( TrendHunter.com) These artistic matchbook masterpieces demonstrate the creative potential these pint-sized canvases have to offer. Everything from business cards to miniature dioramas have been created using this...

(Reuters) - The National Football League has filed a lawsuit against nearly three dozen insurance companies, seeking to force them to defend the league against mounting brain injury claims by former players and their families.

The suit, filed late Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, names virtually every major insurer in the country, led by the Allianz-owned Fireman's Fund. All the firms were involved in coverage for the league or its affiliates at some point between the late 1960s and today. ...

Europe's Energy Costs See Biggest Two Month Jump Ever


Tyler Durden

Crude in Euros is very close to record highs, above 2008 highs and most worryingly, has seen the Between a weaker EUR and biggest rise on record in the last Middle-East tensions, Europe two months. For those wondering faces a very significant (and real) what the trade-off is to Mario d r a g o n i t s e c o n o m i c Monti's pointless blustering and performance. Forget the 'grow our scorched-earth hostage tactics at way out of it' or 'believe-me' the June 29 Summit, just look at memes, the crude reality (that we the 'Total' line item, the next time warned about last week) is that you gas up. the cost of buying spot Brent Spot Brent crude priced in Euros
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:30:29 AM

your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work. - record two-month rise (lower pane) and very near-record high overall... Charts: Bloomberg Average: Your rating: None Average: 5( 1 vote) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is

Curated News Edition

Policy/

31

The Pivot to Africa - By Rosa Brooks


ROSA BROOKS (Foreign Policy)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:21:02 AM

Circumcision, mosquito killing, and other strange doings of Africom. BY ROSA BROOKS| AUGUST 16, 2012 "A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is said to have remarked. For most Americans occupying the nownow-now world of Facebook, this probably feels apt. And until just over a decade ago, Zuckerberg's statement might equally have applied to Pentagon strategists. A 1995 strategy document from the Defense Department was hardly less blunt: "[U]ltimately we see very little traditional strategic interest in Africa." That began to change in 1998, when U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by al Qaeda, and the 9/11 attacks accelerated the change. If terrorism thrives in failed states and ungoverned spaces, it was time to rethink the U.S. approach to Africa, which boasts more than its fair share of basket-case states. By 2006, Africa had been bumped up to "high priority" in the U.S. National Security Strategy: "our security depends upon partnering with Africans to strengthen fragile and failing states and bring ungoverned areas under control."

As the Pentagon struggles to adapt to a world in which security threats come from increasingly diffuse sources -- and the role of the military is consequently less and less clear-cut -- Africa has become a key laboratory for experimentation and change. In 2007, the United States created

a new geographic combatant command to cover Africa. Africa Command, or Africom, was in part an effort to rationalize a previously incoherent administrative division of labor, in which responsibility for Africa had been divided among three other commands. But it was also a

bold experiment: a new kind of command, designed to reflect the Pentagon's emerging understanding of the more complex security environment. In 2005, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had signed Directive 3000.05, which declared that "stability operations" would

be a core military mission with "priority comparable to combat operations." From its inception, Africom was structured with stability operations, including conflict prevention, in mind. Unlike other combatant PIVOT page 32

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commands, Africom was expressly designed to take a "whole-of-government" approach, with senior civilian officials from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other agencies fully integrated into the command's decision-making structure. This would, in theory, enable conflict prevention in Africa to be addressed holistically, rather than through a traditionally narrow military lens. With its integration of civilian and military power, Africom would not draw sharp or arbitrary distinctions between defense, development, and diplomacy; all three would go hand in hand. And this, President George W. Bush declared, would help "bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy, and economic growth." The resulting range of Africom's activities might cause heartburn for those committed to viewing U.S. military power strictly through a war-fighting lens. Consider this snapshot of recent activities undertaken by or with the assistance of Africom: Construction of school classrooms in Chad Research on the " Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights Violations With Physical and Mental Health in Territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo" Cattle vaccination in Uganda,

designed to provide healthy cattle to internally displaced civilians returning to their homes Activities to combat drug trafficking through the West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative Construction of closed wells with solar-powered pumps in Senegal Establishment of an East African Malaria Task Force to combat "one of the biggest killers on the continent: the mosquito" Development of a news and information website aimed at local audiences in the Maghreb region, featuring"analysis, interviews and commentary by paid Magharebia correspondents" Construction of a maternal- and pediatric-care ward at a Ugandan hospital Collaboration with Botswana's military to "promote Botswana's national program of education, HIV screening and male circumcision surgeries" Cooperation with the Sierra Leone Maritime Wing and Fisheries Ministry that "result[ed] in the apprehension of an illegally operating fishing vessel"

range of efforts to help capture Lords Resistance Army leaders in Central and East Africa. In 2011, Africom coordinated its first large-scale military operation when President Obama approved Operation Odyssey Dawn, which aimed to enforce the UNsanctioned no-fly zone in Libya and eliminate the Libyan governments ability to threaten civilians. Whether Africom represents a viable new model for the future of the U.S. military naturally depends on your point of view. To some, the Africom approach is downright dangerous. Military traditionalists are apt to view it with suspicion -- as a dangerous slide away from the military's core competencies and the very apotheosis of "mission creep." Many civilian observers are equally skeptical, viewing Africom as further evidence of the militarization of U.S. foreign policy -- and of the devaluing and evisceration of civilian capacity. "The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere," complained former State Department official Thomas Schweich in a Washington Post op-ed: "[W]hy exactly do we need Most of these activities sound a military command [in Africa] laudable. Few would strike the running civilian reconstruction, if average American as "military" in not to usurp the efforts led by well nature. -respected U.S. embassies and aid Of course, Africom also conducts officials?" or facilitates a wide range of more Such views are understandable traditional military activities, but shortsighted. The Pentagon is including v a r i o u s right to see poverty, counterterrorism programs run u n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t , d i s e a s e , through Operation Enduring repression, human rights abuses, Freedom- -Trans Sahara and a and conflict as likely drivers of

future security threats to the United States. And if the Defense Department's job is to protect the United States, that mission must surely include preventing threats. In some imaginary utopia, the military might work hand in hand with capable, well-resourced civilian agencies, neatly dividing up roles and leaving the "civilian" tasks to the civilians. But that's not the world we live in. Yes, the civilian sector has been eviscerated by two decades of underresourcing and has consequently struggled to attract and retain personnel with key skills. But given today's political climate, this situation is unlikely to change -- at least not in the foreseeable future. Congress shows zero interest in substantially boosting the foreign affairs budget. That's a crying shame, but it is what it is. Inevitably, this means that the Defense Department will have to step into the breach. How could it responsibly refrain? As a State Department inspector general's report commented in 2009, Africom's role was "resented and challenged" by the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, but the military was essentially "stepping into a void created by a lack of resources for traditional development" and other "civilian" tasks. More importantly, the lines between "civilian" and "military" tasks have never been as clear as we like to pretend, and today they're blurrier than ever. Instead of wasting time in a fruitless

effort to draw imaginary lines between civilian and military roles, the United States should focus instead on doing what needs to be done -- and doing it responsibly, transparently, and well. That's where the country has been falling badly short. Africom has been justly criticized for failing to live up to its lofty goals. A clumsy early rollout also left Africom struggling to allay African suspicions that the United States intended to "recolonize" Africa, and for a variety of reasons (shortage of qualified and interested personnel, inadequate career incentives, a slow-moving personnel system), many civilian slots within Africom were never filled. Those that were filled weren't always put to good use, and Africom continues to struggle to coordinate its efforts with civilian agencies. The Defense Department is a relative amateur when it comes to development and related activities, and often it shows. Lack of cultural awareness has plagued programming: The distribution of used clothes in Djibouti during Ramadan offended Muslim sensibilities, for instance, and Africom has also been criticized for failing to take local clan relationships into account when distributing assistance. Poor management is also a serious problem. Africom's first commander, General William PIVOT page 33

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Economy/ Finance/

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PIVOT
continued from page 32

Kip Ward, is currently under investigation for alleged misuse of funds. A 2011 Government Accountability Office report on DOD humanitarian activities found systemic management and accountability problems across the Defense Department, concluding grimly that, while there have been some improvements over the years, "DOD does not have complete information on the full range of humanitarian assistance projects it conducts. DOD does not know when a project is going to be implemented, when it is in progress, or when and if it has been completed. DOD does not know how much it has spent. DOD is not consistently evaluating its projects, and therefore it cannot determine whether its humanitarian assistance efforts are meeting their intended goals, having positive effects, or represent an efficient use of resources."

These problems are not unique to Africom. As other combatant commands have similarly expanded their activities into traditionally civilian domains, they have struggled with similar problems and criticism. In a sense, we currently inhabit the worst of all possible worlds: The military is increasingly taking on traditionally civilian jobs but doing them clumsily and often halfheartedly, without investing fully in developing the skills necessary for success. Meanwhile, civilian agencies mostly just grumble from the sidelines, waiting for that happy day when Congress gets serious about rebuilding civilian capacity. (I think Samuel Beckett wrote a play about that.) And few people, inside or outside the Pentagon, are taking seriously the need to think in new ways about what "wholeof-government" or a holistic approach to security might truly mean.

The blurring of civilian and military roles is inevitable, but the failure to grapple effectively with this blurring of roles is not. To address threats (and seize opportunities) in this globalized, blurry, chaotic world, we will need to develop new competencies, flexible new structures, and creative new accountability mechanisms. Most critically, we'll need to let go of our comfortable old assumptions about roles and missions. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Spain Had A Gigantic Day


Joe Weisenthal (Money Game)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:38:00 AM

Martin Weale: UK economy mired in stagnation rather than recession


Telegraph Staff (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:59:56 AM

"double-dip recession," according to a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

Spain will ask for aid and things will move forward. There are also some comments We flagged the Spanish rally from Merkel (she's back) about early on, but it really went into how Germany and the ECB are on overdrive in the final hour or so of the same page (via Bloomberg). If the day. Germany isn't going to be a total The benchmark IBEX 35 index thorn in the side of the ECB, that's gained about 3.7%. helpful. Europe's vacation seems to be Please follow Money Game on coming to an end a little bit, as a Twitter and Facebook. round of "shuttle diplomacy" Join the conversation about this between leaders is set to begin. story And there's a sense of hope that

Britain is in a "sustained period of stagnation" rather than a

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Curated News Edition

Guest Post: What To Do When Every Market Is Manipulated


Tyler Durden

they happen to be. The purpose of this report is not to stir up resentment or anger -- although Submitted by Chris Martenson of those are perfectly valid responses Peak Prosperity to the abuses we are forced to live What to Do When Every Market with -- but to simply acknowledge Is Manipulated the landscape as it is so that we Hint: cut the strings can make informed decisions. If you don't know who the sucker In this report I connect the dots at the card table is, it's you. on the fraud, noting both what we ~ old gambler's saying already know about and what What do the following have in we'd better prudently suspect is common? happening (but not yet revealed). LIBOR, Bernie Madoff, MF In Part II, we talk about ways to Global, Peregrine Financial, zero- operate, make decisions, and percent interest rates, the Social control risk given the sorry state Security and Medicare entitlement of affairs in our financial markets. funds, many state and municipal Swimming Naked pension funds, mark-to-model As Warren Buffet said,"Its only asset values, quote stuffing and when the tide goes out that you high frequency trading (HFT), learn whos been swimming and debt-based money? naked." The answer is that every single What he meant was that poorlything in that list is an example of run companies can appear healthy market rigging, fraud, or both. during boom times but are later How are we supposed to make exposed as hollow shells when the decisions in todays rigged and economic tide retreats. Naturally o f t e n f r a u d u l e n t m a r k e t it's a lot easier to make money environment? Where should you when times are booming, but put your money if you dont know much more difficult when the where the risks lie? How does one economic pie is stagnant or control risk when control fraud s h r i n k i n g . T h e d o t - c o m runs rampant? companies of the late 1990s are Unfortunately, there are no the poster children for this p e r f e c t a n s w e r s t o t h e s e phenomenon. questions. Instead, the task is to My corollary to Buffets naked recognize what sort of world we swimming quote is this: Its only happen to live in today and adjust when the pie stops expanding that ones actions to the realities as you find out whos been running a
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:42:15 AM

Ponzi scheme. The global pie is no longer expanding, and the relentless parade of disquieting economic and financial news can be laid right upon that fact. Sure, there are the prosecutable examples, such as Bernie Madoff, but state and municipal pensions and the Social Security entitlement program also fit the definition. So does the practice of expanding public debt at a faster pace than GDP, which many nations, provinces, and states have done for many years running. These are all Ponzi schemes in the sense that they require constant growth to remain 'healthy' (or hidden, more accurately) and are therefore mathematically certain to fail. Now that the economic pie is no longer growing like it used to and most likely will not for decades to come (if ever), all of these schemes are rapidly falling apart. The insolvency of Greece, which is now in a full-bore depression, is simply a reflection of a multi-year Ponzi scheme that has now run its course and fallen apart. It is simply not possible to borrow forever at a faster rate than your income growth, and Greece is now a harbinger of things to come for every country in a similar position. That includes all of the PIIGS, Japan, and the US.

Now that the pie has stopped expanding, all of the countries that have been swimming naked are exposed. Timing will vary, as in this metaphor some were in shallower water (Greece) than others (the US), but timing aside, there really isn't much of a difference between any of them. Illegal and Condoned Fraud Where does one even begin with a discussion of all of the rampant fraud that has been revealed of late? Should we suspect that there is suddenly a lot more fraud in the system? Or is the lack of growth simply revealing the extent to which fraud and Ponzi schemes are a significant feature of our political-financial-regulatorybanking landscape? I lean towards the latter view. I suppose we need to begin this discussion with the fact that any exponential, debt-based monetary system is, at its very core, a Ponzi scheme. It simply has to keep expanding so that theres enough money and credit manufactured today to meet yesterday's principal and interest loads. Without endless growth, sooner or later the debt pile collapses, and truly extraordinary losses are taken by somebody. If our entire money system is itself a Ponzi scheme, then it follows that much of what will be based on that monetary

superstructure will, almost by definition, share that characteristic. The garden-variety illegal schemes, such as those run by Bernie Madoff and Peregrine Financial, are easier to cover up and keep running when money and credit are readily available and expanding rapidly. Their early demise just means that they were in the weakest positions and therefore unable to survive the first rounds of crediting/money stagnation. Next in line is the practice of borrowing at a faster rate than economic growth. That process is already well underway for Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal -- but just barely. An enormous gap exists between any practical level of funding and the desired levels of spending, and closing that gap will be a long and painful process. Following this will be the statesponsored schemes. Woefully underfunded pensions and entitlement programs will take longer to unravel, but it will happen too in one form or another, most likely by cutting benefits. The simple truth is that when credit and money expansion stops, all of the various schemes that GUEST page 35

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relied upon the illusion of growth supplied by that dynamic are exposed as unworkable propositions. One summary of the current crisis is this: Credit growth stalled and there simply wasn't enough 'juice' left in the system to cover the various 'legal' and illegal Ponzi schemes. Socially speaking, as long as the pie is expanding, there is virtually zero public or political support to call out the schemes for what they are. If anything, the opposite is true. It is only once some limit to growth is reached -- the most recent case being the bursting of a multi-decade credit bubble in 2008 -- that the party ends, heads groggily lift, and the painful lack of standards and critical thinking are finally revealed. The fraud has always been there, often in plain sight, but very few really cared as long as the status quo was being maintained. Obviously and mathematically unworkable municipal and state pension plans are a prime example of this dynamic. For as long as the fiction could be maintained, very few challenged the system, even though they were quite obviously going to be an eventual fiduciary train wreck. The recent spate of municipal bankruptcies indicates that the eventual train wreck has begun and the first few cars of a very long train are off the rails. Officially Supported Fraud As bad as the private frauds are, and as corrosive as they are to public trust, they pale in comparison to those perpetuated

at the very highest levels. The fact that some frauds are supported and encouraged by the regulatory bodies and official institutions should render them no less palatable to the rational mind. In fact, the opposite should be true. Recently it has become clear that various regulatory bodies can be counted on to look the other way when certain frauds are aligned with the aims and goals of the state while punishing other frauds selectively and grudgingly. There are many recent examples to support this view. The LIBOR scandal is a perfect example of regulators looking the other way when it suits us. Because a LIBOR rate that was manipulated to inappropriately low levels created the appearance of robust bank health, the Fed and other central banks and regulatory authorities were more than happy to look the other way. Not just briefly, but over many years. That the manipulation of LIBOR also happened to pad the profits of big, well-connected banks (another prime goal of the central authorities) was just one more reason to tacitly support the manipulation. Its important to note that LIBOR was and is the main determinant for the rate of interest paid on tens of trillions of loans and hundreds of trillions in derivatives. If the central authorities are willing to overlook fraud on that scale, how far are they willing to go in other areas? Asked another way, just how serious is the predicament we face, and what

are we not being told? The painfully clear message from all of this is that lying, cheating, and stealing are all just fine, as long as they support the main policy aims of the times (and perhaps a few current or prospective colleagues). That is a main lesson of LIBOR-gate, and it is ugly. Which Brings Us to Gold One of the prime reasons that I support the notion that the price of gold is neither free nor fair is that I think there is an incentive for the US and UK central banks (and the others, too) to have no serious questions raised about fiat money. Gold is the only monetary barometer that exists outside of the world of fiat money. If the Fed was willing to look the other way while banks colluded to keep LIBOR artificially low because that sent the 'right' signal about bank health and boosted profits, do you really think they would not also look the other way if banks could make money by manipulating the gold market into a more stable or even lower price band than it otherwise might occupy? To me, it is a given that the Fed, et al., would condone literally any and all activities that would boost the apparent health of major banks (their prime clients) and the apparent health of fiat money (their only product). Said more directly, it is unthinkable that they do not have gold squarely in their sights on a daily basis. The second point I want to make about gold is that with every revelation of fraud and/or price

manipulation, I grow more convinced that gold should play an increasing role as an anchor to your portfolio. The lessons of LIBOR-gate suggest a haphazard approach to enforcing the rules and reinforce the idea that perhaps things are a bit worse off under the surface than weve been told. Beyond the regulatory and process lapses (like the oil trading story below) that contribute to both illegal and sanctioned fraud, the most grotesque mispricing of everything begins with the mispricing of money itself. Thanks to three years of money priced at zero percent, the entire system is riddled with distorted prices, especially the price for risk. For example, virtually every pension fund is now essentially forced to lend money to the US government for ten years at 1.5% interest, a ridiculous rate given the risks of inflation and even default that a free market would price very differently. A final thought here is that we simply cannot trust the prices we see around us as much as we used to. I know that one of the central axioms of traders and reasonable people everywhere is that the market is always right. If the price of gasoline is $3.50/gallon or the price of gold is $1,550/ounce, then those are the correct and right prices. However, it now seems likely that most of the prices we see are simply reflections of something at once more mundane and sinister: central planning. First they are distorted by the pernicious effects

of mispriced money, and second by selective lack of enforcement. An Unfortunate Lack of Accountability The many years that Bernie Madoff was able to continue his fraud despite ample and clear proof supplied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), coupled with the complete lack of consequences for the named regulators known to have actively ignored the evidence, tell us simply that above certain levels, accountability has all but disappeared. Can anyone provide a compelling reason why Jon Corzine is not behind bars or charged with somethinganything? Most recently, the SEC declined to press charges against Goldman Sachs for their role in misleading clients about the riskiness of the toxic mortgage products they manufactured and sold. Goldman dodges SEC bullet over bum mortgage deal Aug 9, 2012 (MoneyWatch) The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended an investigation into whether Goldman Sachs misled investors in a $1.3 billion sale of residential mortgage-backed securities arranged by the investment bank in 2006, shortly before the housing crash. The agency notified Goldman in February that it was looking into whether the company misrepresented the riskiness of a GUEST page 39

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Pettis on Debt, Currency Wars, Commodity Prices and Capital Flight; China FDI Contracts 8.7% YoY, 8th Drop in 9 Months
noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)

through-June, the biggest quarterly shortfall in data going back to 1998. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), the Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:01:00 AM The much-denied hard landing in w o r l d s l a r g e s t m a k e r o f China is now underway with c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d m i n i n g weakening data everywhere one m a c h i n e r y , s h u t i t s m a i n looks. Today there is More Bad excavator factory in China for News For China as FDI Falls. much of July and had employees Foreign direct investment in on shortened work weeks, Mike China fell to the lowest level in DeWalt, director of investor two years in July, fueling concern relations at the Peoria, Illinois, that waning confidence in the company, said in an Aug. 8 nations growth prospects may c o n f e r e n c e p r e s e n t a t i o n , restrain any economic rebound. a c c o r d i n g t o a t r a n s c r i p t . Investment declined 8.7 percent The current sales level in China from a year earlier to $7.58 is quite depressed, DeWalt said. billion, the eighth drop in nine Weve cut production there. months and the smallest inflow Pettis on Debt, Currency Wars, since July 2010. The Ministry of Commodity Prices and Capital Commerce released the data at a Flight in China briefing in Beijing today. Via email, Michael Pettis at Chinese financial institutions sold China Financial Markets has a a net 3.8 billion yuan ($600 f e w c o m m e n t s o n d e b t , million) of foreign currency last commodity prices, and capital month, indicating capital is flight in China. flowing out as property curbs and Any sustained increase in the weakness in exports slow growth g r o w t h r a t e o f C h i n e s e and the yuan weakens. consumption if indeed this Chinas slowdown may extend occurs, which in my opinion is into a seventh quarter after export very doubtful will not only have growth collapsed in July and to compensate for a reduction in industrial production and lending the growth rate of Chinese missed economists forecasts. The investment, but might also have to nation reported a $71.4 billion compensate for a reduction in capital account deficit in April- Chinas current account surplus.

What is more, the crisis in Europe will only make the global trade environment tenser and nastier. Notice already what is happening in commodity-exporting countries like Indonesia. According to an article in Thursdays Wall Street Journal: Indonesia's Trade Gap Signals Tougher Times Indonesias trade deficit hit an all -time high in June as exports from Southeast Asias largest economy fell sharply, a sign that weaker demand from China and the West is affecting some of the few countries still growing at a considerable clip. A third straight month of trade deficits in one of the worlds biggest commodity producers bodes ill for Indonesia, which had become a darling of foreign investors looking for fresh opportunities, but has struggled to contain the damage from a sharp fall in its currency in recent months that has rattled investors. Countries whose growth depends either on growth in Chinese investment or growth in European demand are going to see significant deterioration in their trade accounts. This will almost certainly lead to even more trade intervention, currency wars, and all the other beggar-thy-neighbor

polices typical of a global demand contraction. I think we should expect to see a lot more articles like this. In addition China itself is seeing noticeable capital outflows as business owners and other wealthy people begin disinvesting and withdrawing deposits. Capital flight from China began surging in early 2010, and it seems to be getting worse, with some monthly withdrawal estimates as high as $40-50 billion, and this cant help but put increasing pressure on Chinas ability to finance the infrastructure, manufacturing and real estate bubbles that have driven the economy. Over the long term, and in the name of rebalancing, this is probably a good thing for China. The sooner liquidity-driven overinvestment stops, the less debt will pile up and the less painful the deleveraging process will be. But in the short term it will aggravate the slowing down of the economy. Rebalancing Effect on Commodities If we assume that China will have no problem sailing through its economic rebalancing, the European crisis, and everything else, then clearly we dont need to

worry about anything. But if Chinas rebalancing is accompanied by a sharp slowdown in economic growth, or if it occurs during a worsening of the European crisis both very likely scenarios then we need to think about what the debt burden will be under those conditions. So, for example, will commodity prices drop? I think they will, perhaps by as much as 50% over the next three years, and to the extent that there is still a lot of outstanding debt in China collateralized by copper and other metals (and there is), our debt count should include estimates for uncollateralized debt in the event of a sharp fall in metal prices . Will slower growth increase bankruptcies, or put further pressure on the loan guarantee companies? They almost certainly will, so we will need again to increase our estimates for nonperforming loans. Liquidity Pressures Will capital outflows increase if growth slows sharply? Probably, and of course this puts additional pressure on liquidity and the banking system, and with refinancing becoming harder, PETTIS page 40

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16 Aug 2012 Moments in Love " (The Art of Noise, 1984)


AVFMS
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:49:53 AM

16 Aug 2012 Moments in Love " (The Art of Noise, 1984) http://youtu.be/A7k4dHhwwX4 An (empty) day can make a difference Bunds sold off rather aggressively yesterday (+10, about 100 tick in futures, alongside USTs), as equities kept hovering near their highs, while Spain gained further (-10). No European data and half of Europe on leave anyway. US figures mixed, but mixed in a sense that, uh, if theres organic growth, there wont be free money from the FED? Thats not good. Organic growth is slow and painful (Boo!), central bank money fast, cheap and with few strings attached (Yes!)And anyway, QE and other supports have already been priced in Cant change the programme. Early start mixed, as Asia was (partly) roaring ahead, as Chinas Wen pointing to headwinds and falling inflation was interpreted differently here and there: Japan and Australia roaring ahead; SE Asia and China unchanged at best, if not negative. After a pre-open uptick, the US having furthermore closed symbolically up yet a further tick on the S&P, European Risk traded slightly lower starting into the day.

Still damaged from Wednesdays sell-off Bunds opened around 1.56% (having failed to breach 1.60% in early morning Asian equity euphoria) and Spain bouncing off yesterdays 6.60%. Periphery curves still flattening, albeit because of long end strength. Equities about 0.25% lower, having broadly closed unchanged yesterday. Credit 2 ticks wider. EUR being the weakest link here at 1.226. Brent still galloping ahead on ME tensions and now past the 116mark (and a further menace to growth at EUR 94.8 per barrel). As a reminder, peak oil in Summer 2008, had propelled Brent to $144 (then EUR 91.30) and past $ 123 in March this year (then EUR 94.20). So in EUR terms, were trading out new highs here. Real lofty And a serious possible break on consumption and production. Add soft commodities surging and a EUR under pressure and shopping for essentials will trigger long faces, once people will be back from summer holiday. No major data outside EZ CPI, as expected unchanged at 2.4%. Dutch unemployment picking up to 6.5% (from 6.3%). Not a number that would impress the South, but coming from a 5% intermediate low in Summer 2011 and the highest of the last 5 years.

That is ahead of Septembers elections (and despite the Netherlands Q2/GDP surprisingly turning positive). No government supply for the rest of the week. Midday levels show Hard Core EGBs out by 6-8 from Tuesday evening (a tick or two better than yesterday) and Bunds 1.54%, Soft Core and Agencies out 3 -5bp. Italy unchanged at 5.83%. Spain doing just great at 6.55%, down 16 from Tuesday, of which a good 10 yesterday and an additional 5 this morning. Squeezed into the void. Italian 2s a tick firmer, but Spanish 10s are trading on their own with 2s stuck above 4% at 4.10% since early this week and hence the curve flattening further. Credit out a tick from Tuesday. Equities a tick lower. EUR stuck below 1.23. Brent over 116. Mixed US data with slightly higher than foreseen claims at 366k and prior revision (fcst 365k after 361k revised 364k), continuous claims at 3305k (fcst 330k after 3332k revised up to 3336k), lower Housing Starts of 746k (fcst 756k after 760k revised lower to 754k), but with Building Permits at 812k (fcst 769k after 755k revised higher to 760k). Data managed to prop up the EUR back over the 23 handle, lifting equities by a tick or 2 alongside, moving from slightly

negative to ever so slightly positive. Yawn Had Philly Fed, reminiscent of yesterdays Empire figures, print a lower than expected -7.1 (fcst -5 after -12.9). QE, after all? Pushed EUR further up. Organic growth??? Who needs that? Not much outside that Feels a little like the above mentioned song. Check out the video with the turtle dragging itself along Feels like a lot of market playersClassic track, in the meantime! Soothing for FB owners... And the hypnotic beat equally unnerving for EUR equities and Spanish BONOs shorts (Spread to Germany down 50bp since last Friday). Like, nothing happens, and theres a daily grind up here. Moments of Love for Rajoy. Do nothing and be rewarded. ROn! Bunds at 1.53% (+6 from Tuesday). BKO at -0.036% (+0.3). OBLs at 0.46% (+4). Spain firmed up to hit round 6.500% (down 21 from Tuesday, half of this today), symbolically back through 500 to Bunds. Eventually dragging Italy tighter, down to 5.78%. Strong afternoon catch-up in Italian and Spanish short-end bonds, erasing earlier weakness and flattening, to end steeper by 17 for Italy and 4 for Spain (2

YRS BONO 3.88% at close, from 4.10% late morning). Credit treading water and leaving equities on their own. EStoxx at the highest since early April, up 20% from early June and about 13% since end of July. New Issues summer break seemingly starting to end with 2 senior financial deals printed for BNPP EUR 1bn 7 YRS MS +108 and Svenska Handelsbanken EUR 1bn 10 YRS at MS +80. Serious basis for BNPP. Lack of supply. Closing levels: 10 YRS Yields: Germany 1,53% (+6); Luxembourg 1,74% (+5); Finland 1,77% (+4); Netherlands 1,84% (+7); Swaps 1,90% (+3); EU 1,98% (+3), Austria 2,09% (+4); France 2,14% (+4); EIB 2,19% (+3); EFSF 2,27% (+4); Belgium 2,59% (+2); Italy 5,78% (-5); Spain 6,50% (-21). 10 YRS Spreads: Luxembourg 21bp (-1); Finland 24bp (-2); Netherlands 31bp (+1); Swaps 37bp (-3); EU 45bp (-3); Austria 56bp (-2); France 61bp (-2); EIB 66bp (-3); EFSF 74bp (-2); Belgium 106bp (-4); Italy 425bp ( -11); Spain 497bp (-27). EUR swap curve 2-5 YRS 52bp (+4,0); 5-10 YRS 80bp (+1,0) 1030 YRS 46bp (+0,0). 2 YRS German BKOs closed 0,036% (+0,3) and 5 YRS OBLs AUG page 43

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Face-to-Face Showdown With Merkel; Wicked Irony of Greece Bankruptcy


noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 12:24:00 AM

Greece is bankrupt. It cannot pay the bills. A Spending Moratorium proves just that. Greece will only pay salaries and pensions. If the state owes anyone else money, they can forget about it unless the Troika sends more money. If that causes more corporate and personal bankruptcies (and it will), then tough luck. Even Der Spiegel admits the obvious: Only Bankruptcy Can Help Now. Officially, at least, everything is going according to plan. In September, officials with the troika -- made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- are planning to travel to Athens to check on the progress that Greece has made with its cost -cutting program. Then, according to the plan, they could disburse billions more in aid out of the second bailout package for Greece, which the euro-zone countries and the IMF agreed on in February. But, in reality, it is rather

unlikely that all of the 130 billion ($160 billion) in the bailout package will ever be paid out. And what is even more unlikely is that the money would keep Greece from going bankrupt. The assumptions on which the current program was based in February are no longer valid. At that time, it was thought that the Greek economy would only contract by 4.5 percent this year, but now it appears that this figure will be closer to 7 percent. This would mean even fewer tax receipts and even more social expenditures. What's more, given these circumstances, it's almost irrelevant that the Greek government is expected to ask for a two-year extension, to 2016, of the agreed austerity plan. One thing is clear: In addition to more time, Greece also needs more money. And those who have been financing it thus far -primarily the major euro-zone countries and the IMF -- are either unwilling or unable to give the country any more. Face-to-Face Showdown With Merkel The Telegraph reports Greece's Samaras to face show-down with Angela Merkel in Berlin Antonis Samaras will travel to Berlin next Friday to ask for extra time - at least two more years - to

meet the austerity targets set in its second 130bn (102bn) bail-out. Amid continued protests and a grim rise in suicides in Greece, the German Chancellor has agreed to listen to Mr Samaras request to slow down the austerity drive. Greece's economy is already in free-fall and economists have argued the terms of the bail-out programme - which include another 11.5bn of cuts in 2013 and 2014 - are making things worse. However Ms Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seifert warned: The German position, which is a European position, is based on the memorandum of understanding, which is the foundation. The Chancellor is struggling to contain increasing domestic impatience with the debt crisis which is thought to have cost German savers 163bn or 3,125 each, according to Die Welt.Guido Westerwelle, Germanys foreign minister, said that while the impact of the delayed elections had to be considered, there could be no substantial changes to Greeces austerity programme. Wicked Irony Antonis Samaras wants two more years and more money to meet budget goals. This puts Merkel in

a damned if she does, damned if she doesn't predicament of her own making. Recall that Greece technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was handpicked by the Troika to replace George Papandreou simply because the latter proposed a voter referendum on the Greek bailouts. Also recall that when the government of Papademos failed, it took two elections to come up with a successor. And in each of those elections German leaders, as well as clowns from Brussels, openly campaigned for Samaras, even though he pledged to do exactly what he is doing: asking for more time and more money. Sheeseh. Notice the massive irony of it all. Germany does not want to give Greece more money or more time, nor does Germany want the blame for forcing Greece out of the eurozone. However, Germany, theEU, and the ECB openly backed a person guaranteed to put Germany and the EU in such a no -win position. Had the radical left won the Greek election, Germany and the EU could easily have walked away because Alexis Tsipras, SYRIZA's radical left leader promised a bailout rejection,

which would have meant a eurozone exit. Now Germany is in the ludicrous position of having to make a decision that will either give Greece more money or force them out of the eurozone. Germany does not want to pony up more money, nor does it want to be accused of forcing Greece out of the eurozone, yet those are the only choices. OK chancellor, pick your poison. Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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mortgage deal dubbed "Fremont Home Loan Trust 2006-E." Goldman disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday that the SEC does not intend to recommend any enforcement action against the company over the deal. If ever there were a more open and shut case, I would be hard pressed to imagine what it might be. The rules over financial disclosure are quite clear, and everything I understand about Goldman's actions in selling these securities crossed that line. Recall that in some cases Goldman was packaging these things specifically so that one client (John Paulson) could short them, while selling the other side of the deal to someone else, while failing to disclose that these particular items had been designed to fail. Further, in 2010 Goldman paid a $550 million fine to settle federal charges that it misled investors and that a Congressional panel had concluded that Goldman had deceived investors. Yet despite all that, the SEC just can't figure out how to find that any laws have been broken by Goldman here. Similarly: Standard Chartered to pay $340 million to settle with N.Y. over Iran charges Aug 14, 2012 London-based Standard Chartered Bankagreed to pay $340million to settle New York state charges that it illegally funneled hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran, even as other probes by federal regulators are

continuing. New Yorks Department of Financial Services surprised fellow regulators last week when it unveiled a blistering report accusing Standard Chartered of conspiring with Iran to launder $250billion from 2001 to 2007 to bypass U.S. economic sanctions. Note that no criminal charges apply here, just a fine of $340 million (with an m) to settle up on a conspiracy where over $250 billion (with a b) was involved. Even the idea of punitive seems to be beyond the grasp of current regulators and enforcers. Crime does pay and is virtually risk-free from a criminal perspective, but it has to be really big crime and it has to involve a bank. Meanwhile, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reportedly set to drop a four-year investigation (mainly held in private meetings) into silver manipulation, concluding -surprise!-- that no such manipulation exists. Heading up the panel is ... wait for it ... wait for it ... Gary Gensler, a former Goldman executive. Here we might not be overly impressed with the CFTC for having already missed both the MF Global and Peregrine Financial debacles that happened right under their ineffective regulatory noses, but the real damage is the constant erosion of faith in their obviously broken and sometimes crooked model that selectively enforces rules depending on whether or not the

alleged miscreant is a very large institution. Listen, it is really simple and has always been true: If someone can scam a market and make money, they will. Here's another potential example: Was the petrol price rigged too? Jul 15, 2012 Motorists may have been paying too much for their petrol because banks and other traders are likely to have tried to manipulate oil prices in the same way they rigged interest rates, an official report has warned. Concerns are growing about the reliability of oil prices, after a report for the G20 found the market is wide open to manipulation or distortion. Traders from banks, oil companies or hedge funds have an incentive to distort the market and are likely to try to report false prices, it said. Petrol retailers use oil price benchmarks to decide how much to pay for future supplies. The rate is calculated by data companies based on submissions from firms which trade oil on a daily basis such as banks, hedge funds and energy companies. However, like Libor the interest rate measure that Barclays was earlier this month found to have rigged the market is unregulated and relies on the honesty of the firms to submit accurate data about all their trades. I have no idea if or to what extent the oil markets have been manipulated, but given the fact

that the system apparently relies to some degree on the honesty of the firms to submit accurate data, I will have to reiterate that anything that can be rigged for profit will be rigged for profit. While we might gnash our teeth, or become enraged or depressed at this state of affairs and lack of accountability, I think its just as healthy to observe that it is what it is and plan accordingly. In Part II: Protecting Your Wealth, we focus on the strategies and steps we as individuals can take to decrease our vulnerability to the dysfunction, manipulation, and sleight of hand discussed above. The positive reality here is that there are alternatives to playing the game in the casino by the casino's rules. Click here to access Part II of this report(free executive summary; paid enrollment required for full access). Average: Your rating: None Average: 5( 3 votes) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Big momma python breaks state records


(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:47:00 AM

Scientists have found a recordbreaking 87 eggs in a 17-foot-17inch Burmese pythonthe largest snake ever discovered in Florida. A 17.5-foot snake could eat anything it wants, says Kenneth Krysko, herpetology collection manager at the Florida Museum at the University of Florida. By learning what this animal has been eating and its reproductive status, it will hopefully give us insight into how to potentially manage other wild Burmese pythons in the future. It also highlights the actual problem, which is invasive species. Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Photo credit: Kristen Grace/U. Florida Permalink| Leave a comment

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continued from page 36

otherwise-solvent borrowers will become insolvent. Will rebalancing require higher real interest rates, a currency revaluation, or higher wages? Since rebalancing cannot occur without an increase in the household income share of GDP, and since these are the biggest implicit taxes on household income, there must be a net increase in the combination of these three variables, in which case the impact on net indebtedness can be quite significant depending on which of these variables move most. Since I think rising real interest rates are a key component of rebalancing, clearly I would want to estimate the debt impact of a rise in real rates. Just remember the finger wagging and the self-satisfied lectures on banking and debt given by senior Spanish government officials and bankers to US and European bankers as late as 2009. No one thought

Spain had a problem until debt suddenly emerged from every nook and cranny as a response to the adverse shock Spain was undergoing. Some analysts will complain that it is very difficult to figure out all the contingencies in any country, so acknowledging the possibility adds nothing to the quality of our analysis. But they are dead wrong. An experienced balance sheet analysts can easily tell when overall a countrys balance sheet is more inverted or less inverted, and in the former case he must always assume that the potential for a debt crisis is much greater than the raw debt numbers suggest. When the cost of capital is artificially repressed, economic entities tend to overuse capital as an input. Perhaps that has not happened in China in the past decade, but if it hasnt, China would represent a truly unique case in history. Recognition of Losses We need to be worried about

debt, in Europe and the US of course, but we need also to be worried about debt in China. The deleveraging process in any country always results in much slower growth than during the period in which debt was rising quickly, and what matters is overall deleveraging, not just government debt. At some point we will see deleveraging in China, and this must affect growth. Misallocated investment funded by debt means that losses have occurred and one way or another they will eventually be recognized. The recognition of the losses can be postponed for a time, by the simple expedient of not recognizing non-performing loans, but at some point, and usually at the worst possible time, they will be recognized. What to Expect in Deflation Pettis did not use the word " deflation' in his email, but deleveraging, rebalancing, trade intervention, currency wars, falling commodity prices, and

beggar-thy-neighbor polices "typical of a global demand contraction" are certainly synonymous with the word. Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News


(Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News)

Militarys Hypersonic Test Fails The test of the U.S. Air Forces hypersonic aircraft, which was aiming to shoot across the sky at speeds faster than 3,600 miles per hour, ended in failure, military [...] This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

I Hate Grocery Shopping; This Is How I Fixed It [Shopping]


Thorin Klosowski (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:00:00 AM

I despise grocery shopping, but

as it happens, biology requires streamlined method I can muster. that I eat. Over the years, this Here's how I fixed the pain-in-thegrocery-related vitriol has ass that is shopping for sharpened my grocery shopping process into the most efficient, s u s t e n a n c e . M o r e

Curated News Edition

Economy/ Culture/

41

Why LinkedIn Is The Internet Stock Wall Street Loves (LNKD, FB, GRPN, ZNGA)
Owen Thomas (Money Game)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:08:58 AM

It's another morning where Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga are getting slammed. LinkedIn, alone among the social -media newcomers, is up! Why is that? Well, volume in Facebook shares has doubled as its post-IPO lockups have started to expire. Groupon and Zynga have their own problems. You could also point to LinkedIn's track record of steady growth. While its growth rate is decelerating as the law of big numbers kicks in, it's still really high, especially compared to Facebook. But we think there's an explanation that's less driven by numbers and more by psychology. LinkedIn has several streams of revenue: subscriptions, job listings, and advertising. Dig deeper and you see that all of those revenue streams have their own nuances. For example, LinkedIn gets subscription revenues both from big companies and from individual professionals, and its growing its brand-

advertising business that's targeted at the site's attractive demographics so it's less dependent on employment-related ads. In short, even if you're bearish on one part of LinkedIn's business, odds are you'll find something else you like. Contrast that to Facebook, which still hasn't gotten its advertising story quite right and whose payments business is viewed as

troublingly dependent on social games makers like Zynga. Zynga is in the middle of a big turnaround as the excitement in gaming shifts to mobile. We think that there's actually potential both in Zynga's multiplatform, Weband-mobile strategy and the notion of renting out its infrastructure to other socialgames makers. But Zynga just hasn't told that story to investors in a convincing way.

Oh, Groupon. We just don't know where to start. Again, it could really make something of Groupon Goods and its nascent push into small-business point-ofsale systems and payments. But it is far, far from having anything persuasive there. Right now, Wall Street thinks of it as a daily-deals site, not the small-business operating system provider it wants to become. Finally, there's the CEO factor. It matters a lot for investors' perceptions of companies. LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner is loved and respected inside and outside the company. We've asked around the Valley and we just haven't run into anyone who dislikes Jeff. There's a reason: He's supersmart, like Mark Pincus, Mark Zuckerberg, and Andrew Mason. But he doesn't have the rough edges they all share. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story

Khan Academy Computer Science Teaches You to Code Through Exploration [Video]
Melanie Pinola (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:30:00 AM

Free tutorials website Khan Academy has launched new computer science tutorials designed to teach anyone programming. The Khan Academy Computer Science site throws you right into the code behind a range of projects, so you can learn by experimenting with the JavaScript code. More

42

Economy/ Gaming/

Curated News Edition

Bond Expert Explains Why The NY Fed's Report On Muni Bond Defaults Is Way Off
Max Nisen (Money Game)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:42:53 AM

A new post at the New York Fed's Liberty Street Economics blog presents some statistics on municipal bond defaults that suggest their true default rate is higher than ratings agencies report. The commonly cited rate of municipal default comes from the rated universe, and consists only of those bonds tracked and rated by the major agencies. Jason Appleson, Eric Parsons, and Andrew Haughwout put together a broader database that combines the three rating agencies default listings with unrated listings. In Moody's universe, there were 71 defaults from 1970 to 2011. The new broader database had 2,521 defaults over the same period. It's a massive disparity: The easy way to interpret this is that the municipal bond market is more risky than it appears. However, an excellent blog post

from bond blogger Bond Girl explains that that interpretation is way off base. First, the Fed is not citing any sort of new information in their post. Default statistics for unrated bonds are commonly available and frequently cited. Secondly, the Fed does not provide any information on the relative size of these defaults. From her blog

post: As I mentioned at the end of my post on California bankruptcies (quoting JP Morgan research), there have been 47 first-time monetary defaults totaling $889 million YTD (with Stockton expected to default on $230 million of debt next month), of which 58% is unrated. If you exclude insured bonds, the total

amount is $725 million across 42 issuers. If you exclude a handful of cases where debt service payments were late due to administrative errors and oversights, the total is $549 million across 33 issuers. This is for a $3.7 trillion market. The bonds the Federal Reserve refers to are unrated for a reason. The ones that default the most are

actually issued by states on behalf of private enterprises, like hospitals and colleges. As@munilass puts it, " Literally the only thing these bonds have in common with government debt is their tax status, and yet they are lumped in with municipal bonds for statistical purposes." This is not to say that the writers of the Liberty Street post intended it to be misleading, but the presentation lends itself to a broad interpretation about municipal bond markets that is not correct. Read the full post at Liberty Street Economics, and the response here Don't miss: CHARTS: China Is Replacing Its Workforce With Robots Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story

Diving into Deadpool at Gamescom


Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:20:00 AM

I can't speak with great authority on the character of Deadpool, but I've played more than my share of

third-person action games, and High Moon Studios' interpretation of the ludicrous anti-hero is shaping up to be an over-the-top experience. Gallery: Deadpool (Gamescom

2012) Continue reading Diving into

Deadpool at Gamescom Diving into Deadpool at Gamescom originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink| Email this| Comments

Curated News Edition

Culture/ Talk/

43

AUG
continued from page 37

0,46% (+4). Main at 146 from 145 (0,7%); Financials at 242 after 241 (0,4%). SovX at 240 from 242. Cross at 585 from 574. Stoxx Futures at 2454 / +0,9% (from 2431) with S&P minis at 1408 (+0,3% from 1404, at European close). VIX index at 14,9 after 14,3 yesterday same time. Oil 95,0/116,1 (WTI/Brent) from 93,4/113,5 (+1,8%/+2,3%). Gold at 1616 after 1601 (+0,9%). Copper at 336 from 336 (+0,0%). CRB at EU COB 302,0 from 300,0 (+0,7%). Baltic Dry down a further 1.1% to 720, having lost nearly 3% yesterday to 728 from 750. Multiyear low at 647 (an inversion of todays numbers) just 10.1% away. Next weeks business,

probably. The BDI does remain a very basic coalmine canaryand obviously there arent that many goods and ore to ship these days. EUR 1,236 from 1,232 ECB deposits at EUR 351bn after EUR 329bn. Greek bonds guesstimates: still static at 2023s at 24.25% and 2042s at 20.00% All levels COB 17:30 CET Friday: Germany: Fri PPI fcst +1.1% YoY after +1.6% US: Michigan Conf fcst unch 72.3 & Leading Indicators fcst +0.2% after -0.3%, both late European afternoon. Click link on title or below for todays musical support: Too trippy! http://youtu.be/A7k4dHhwwX4

And video clip http://youtu.be/RIcmIhOesaI Full version http://youtu.be/bnSPrPpvA4k And even slower version http://youtu.be/9WWy1Ea3qkE h t t p : / / www.aviewfrommyscreens.com/ Average: Your rating: None This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

TED: Timothy Prestero: Design for people, not awards - Timothy Prestero (2012)
TEDTalks (TEDTalks (video))
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:00:41 AM

Timothy Prestero thought he'd designed the perfect incubator for newborns in the developing world -- but his team learned a hard lesson when it failed to go into production. A manifesto on the importance of designing for realworld use, rather than accolades. Kim Zetter (Wired Top Stories) (Filmed at TEDxBoston.) Submitted at 8/16/2012 7:48:00 AM

Ecuador Grants Assange's Request for Asylum, Defying UK Threats


Police patrol outside the ECUADOR page 44

The Rewards of Patience


(The Christian Post)

Today let's look at Israel's most memorable monarch. David was the chosen heir to Israel's throne, August 16, 2012| 8:53 am but he spent years dodging King The Scriptures contain many Saul's wrathful pursuit. Despite stories of people who waited having two different opportunities years or even decades before the for vengeance, David resisted the Lord's promises came to pass. temptation and spared Saul's life. What modern believers can learn He chose to adhere to God's from the patience of biblical timetable for his coronation saints like Abraham, Joseph, instead of dishonoring the Lord David, and Paul is that waiting by killing the divinely anointed u p o n t h e L o r d h a s e t e r n a l king. David's psalms reveal his rewards. intimate awareness of Yahweh's
Submitted at 8/16/2012 7:53:51 AM

work in his life. The shepherd king not only achieved his objective through patience; he also observed that God's way was always best. David left behind an incredible testimony of God's faithfulness for each of us to read and meditate upon. He was committed to waiting upon the Lord, and as a result, he had the Father's approval and blessing. We cannot underestimate the reward of living in divine favor. That isn't a special

state reserved for "giants of the faith" like David. All who obediently endure until the Lord acts on their behalf abide in His favor. David didn't receive his blessings because he was special; he was honored among men because he honored the Lord above all. And since he trusted in God's faithfulness, he endured hardship with patience. We, too, can expect to be blessed when we wait upon the Lord.

Follow us Used with permission from In Touch Ministries, Inc. 2012 All Rights Reserved. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

44

Curated News Edition

ECUADOR
continued from page 43

Ecuadorian Embassy, London, Wednesday June 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Tim Hales) The Ecuadorean government announced Thursday that it will grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asylum, defying threats from the UK government that authorities would forcibly seize Assange from the embassy if Ecuador granted Assanges request. We have decided to grant asylum to Julian Assange, announced Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino at a press conference in Quito, to the sound of cheers from spectators. The UK government should respect the decision of the Ecuadorian government, he said according to a live translation of his Spanish words, and offer the necessary warranties so that both governments can act adequately and properly representing the international rights and the right of asylum. We also trust that the excellent relations that we have between the two countries will continue to be so and will remain intact, based on the principles and values that we have shared about democracy, peace, and life-quality that are only possible if you respect the fundamental rights of everyone. Patino said that Ecuador had considered Assanges claims that if extradited to Sweden to face an investigation for sex-crimes he would be further extradited to the

U.S. where he would face political persecution and a military court trial for publishing documents that have angered the U.S. government. He said that Ecuador had come to its decision after failing to obtain assurances from Sweden that it would not extradite Assange to the U.S. Ecuador requested some guarantees from Sweden that he wouldnt be extradited to the U.S., and they rejected any commitment in this sense, Patino said. The decision from Ecuador comes a day after officials claimed that UK authorities threatened to raid the Ecuadorean embassy to nab the WikiLeaks leader if the country didnt hand over the fugitive. Today weve received a threat by the United Kingdom, a clear and written threat that they could storm our embassy in London if Ecuador refuses to hand in Julian Assange, Patino told reporters on Wednesday. On Thursday, Patino expressed outrage over the unprecedented threat and said that the UK had no right to interfere in the right of an individual to request asylum and the right of Ecuador as a sovereign nation to grant that asylum. No country, he said, had the right to blackmail or threaten in any way the sovereignty of any other country. The UK Foreign Office issued a statement on Wednesday saying that it had a legal obligation to

extradite Mr Assange to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of sexual offences and we are remain determined to fulfil this obligation. We have an obligation to extradite Mr Assange and it is only right that we give Ecuador the full picture. The office added that it is still committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution. Assange has a warrant out for his arrest for breach of bail if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy so passage for him out of England, under diplomatic cover, can only occur if U.K. authorities agree to let him go. Assange appeared in person at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on June 19 seeking asylum and has been holed up there ever since. Assange asserted that Australia, his native country, had no plans to protect him, which put him in a state of helplessness, according to a statement from Ecuadors foreign ministry at the time. For this reason, he sought Ecuadors protection through political asylum. U.K. authorities issued the warrant for his arrest after he requested asylum, saying he had breached his bail conditions by staying overnight at the Ecuadorian embassy. Even with his asylum granted now, UK police can stop the vehicle or helicopter he would be travelling in to get him out of the

country. Assange requested diplomatic protection and political asylum under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Under Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. However, the second clause of the article states that the right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Assange is not, in fact, accused of political crimes. He is being sought for questioning in Sweden on rape and coercion allegations stemming from separate sexual relations he had with two women in that country in August 2010. One woman told police that Assange pinned her down to have sex with her and that she suspected he intentionally tore a condom he wore. The second woman reported that he had sex with her while she was initially asleep, failing to wear a condom despite repeated requests for him to do so. Assange has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the sex in both cases was consensual. His attorneys have been fighting extradition to Sweden because they say the investigation is a ruse to make it easier for the United States to further extradite him to the U.S. to face criminal charges

over the publication of millions of U.S. classified diplomatic cables. But UK prosecutor Clare Montgomery, who was in an early court proceeding representing Swedish authorities, said that even if the U.S. requested extradition of Assange from Sweden, no such extradition could take place without consent from U.K. authorities. Swedish authorities have said Assange would be imprisoned as soon as he arrived in that country and would have a court hearing four days after extradition from the UK to determine if he would have to remain in custody. Assange was ordered to return to Sweden in June to face the allegations after the UK Supreme Court rejected a bid to re-open his appeal case there. The judges gave him a two-week reprieve before extradition proceedings would begin, saving him from being immediately ejected from the country. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Curated News Edition

Culture/

45

New Zealand Judge Orders U.S. to Disclose Megaupload Evidence


Juha Saarinen (Wired Top Stories)

hundreds of millions of dollars, promoting piracy. The FBI seized the companys domain names, Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:32:00 AM bank accounts and servers in Though the U.S.s copyright case January, just hours before New against Megaupload appears to be Zealand police raided his home in in trouble, in in Hong Kong, a p a r a m i l i t a r y d a w n r a i d , consulate official Matt Matthews c o m p l e t e w i t h h e l i c o p t e r s . (left) presented a letter from FBI D o t c o m c o u n t e r s t h a t Director Robert Mueller to Hong Megaupload was a legitimate fileK o n g C u s t o m s a n d E x c i s e sharing service that obeyed U.S. D e p a r t m e n t C o m m i s s i o n e r copyright takedown laws, despite Clement Cheung thanking him for not being a U.S. company. HKCEDs cooperation. The court ruled that Dotcom Kim Dotcom has scored another needs to see the evidence against legal victory after a New Zealand him, otherwise his position in the High Court judge upheld a ruling extradition hearing would be that the United States must show s i g n i f i c a n t l y c o n s t r a i n e d the evidence it has against Kim whereas the U.S. in turn would Dotcom and his Megaupload co- have a significant advantage, accused, prior to their extradition according to Winkelmann. hearing in March. Dotcom has already had the In dismissing the U.S. appeal of a original search warrant declared lower court ruling, Justice Helen invalid, and both U.S. and New Winkelmann found that the Zealand authorities were criticized country seeking an extradition by the court for their roles in must have an obligation of sending copies of Dotcoms candor. seized hard drives to the U.S. via This requires the country in FedEx, without permission from question to disclose to the court the court. any evidence gathered that could Ira Rothken, Megauploads lead affect the decision on whether the lawyer, applauded the latest win. threshold for extradition has been Justice Winkelmann ruled that met. the Bill of Rights not only Kim Dotcom, the outsized and protects Kim Dotcoms rights, but outspoken founder of the file also those of all New Zealand sharing service Megaupload, is residents facing foreign legal accused by the U.S. of running a action, Rothken said. criminal racket that pulled in The court victory doesnt mean

Megauploads fight to see the evidence is over however. Our expectation is that that the United States through the Crown lawyers [representing them in New Zealand] will appeal the judgment and further delay the extradition hearing, Rothken says. Rothken contends the U.S. will continue to stall the case through

United States to pay legal fees for his defense. None of Dotcoms legal team has been paid since he was arrested for alleged copyright infringement. Having racked up bills of $2 million, Dotcoms lawyers are asking for that amount to be released with a further $2 million cover future legal fees. The filesharing tycoon is asking the court to release an $8 million government bond so that he can borrow against it, and also for permission to sell his luxury cars. However, Dotcoms New Zealand defense lawyer Willie Akel would not agree to a suggested sale price of $1.05 million for fifteen cars, saying thats a total fire sale no-one in their right mind would agree to that. The Justice Department did not immediately reply to questions sent by e-mail. However, the FBI already applauded Hong Kong Customs appeals and aim to win on process officials over the Megaupload raid as it has a weak case. Asked how in that territory, with pictures of long the case can be delayed, the ceremony posted on the Rothken says an appeals would go consulates Facebook page. to the New Zealand Supreme Kim Dotcom disclosure ruling Court and we fully expect them This entry passed through the to do so". Full-Text RSS service if this is Dotcom is also seeking in a your content and you're reading it separate hearing to unfreeze assets seized by police around the world, NEW page 46 including New Zealand and the

46

Culture/ News Photos

Curated News Edition

What Paul Ryan Really Believes About Ayn Rand


(The Christian Post)

NEW
continued from page 45

Ryan noted that Rand, who was born in Russia in 1905, had been exposed to communism. He found her novels "very compelling" in ( P h o t o : R E U T E R S / A a r o n the message that "freedom, free Bernstein) Republican vice enterprise, liberty, is so much p r e s i d e n t i a l c a n d i d a t e better than totalitarianism, than Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) socialism." (C) speaks during a campaign There are other parts of Rand's rally at Miami University in philosophy, though, that Ryan Oxford, Ohio August 15, 2012. said he rejects. Seen behind Ryan are Professor Follow us Rich Hart (L), Ohio Governor "I later in life learned about what John Kasich and Senator Rob her philosophy was," Ryan said, P o r t m a n ( R - O H ) ( p a r t i a l l y "It's called objectivism. It's hidden, R). something I completely disagree with. It's an atheistic philosophy." August 16, 2012| 11:19 am Much of the lore within the "What is your view of Ayn Rand? l i b e r a l p r e s s o v e r R y a n ' s Are you really an Ayn Rand appreciation of Rand derives from disciple?" Hume asked. a 2005 speech he gave to The Ryan answered that he "enjoyed Atlas Society, a group devoted to r e a d i n g h e r n o v e l s , A t l a s promoting the philosophy of Ayn Shrugged in particular," and it Rand. In that speech, Ryan, as one was those novels that triggered his might expect, spoke about the interest in economics. parts of Rand's philosophy that he Ryan has bachelor's degrees in liked. He also said that Atlas economics and political science. Shrugged, along with the works of His desire to study economics Ludwig Von Mises and Freidrich came after reading Rand's novels, Hayek, was "required reading" for Ryan explained, because, "she his staff and interns. showed how the pitfalls of Part one of Atlas Shrugged was socialism can hurt the economy." made into a film in 2011. Part two
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:19:27 AM

will be released on Oct. 12, 2012. In an October 2011, interview with The Christian Post, Harmon Kaslow, the producer of the films, spoke about Rand's atheism and the renewed popularity of her books within the tea party movement. "We believe that people of faith will find that the film, like the story, emphasizes cardinal virtues, such as self-reliance, integrity, honesty, strength of character, liberty, and justice. ... I think there's no reason to explore her personal position regarding religion. The story speaks for itself and has all those cardinal virtues that people of faith will embrace and have embraced," Kaslow said. Contact: napp.nazworth@christianpost.co m,@NappNazworth(Twitter) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

The Android 4.0 Cheat Sheet Shows The Tasks You Can Do in Ice Cream Sandwich [Android]
Melanie Pinola (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:00:00 AM

on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" has been finding its way onto more phones, bringing with it several new features. If you'd like to learn more about what you can do in ICS, this cheat sheet outlines an array of tasks or functions in ICS. More

Authorities release photos of tattoos on chunks of human flesh found in ... Washington Post
(news photos - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:47:20 AM

Authorities release photos of tattoos on chunks of human flesh found in... Washington Post Authorities investigating the discovery of more than a dozen chunks of human flesh and body parts in a suburban Detroit sewer have released photos of tattoos featured on some of them. Sterling Heights police Lt. Luke Riley says the Macomb County... and more

Curated News Edition

Culture/ Products/

47

PayPal Founder Backs Synthetic Meat Printing Company


Wired UK (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:30:00 AM

By Duncan Geere, Wired UK The Thiel Foundation has made a six-figure grant to a series of biotechnology startups, including a company that wants to 3-D-print meat. Modern Meadow is a Missouri-based startup that believes 3-D printing could help to take some of the environmental cost out of producing a hamburger. He said: If you look at the resource intensity of everything that goes into a hamburger, it is an environmental train wreck. The company claims that by carefully layering mixtures of cells of different types in a specific structure, in-vitro meat

production becomes feasible. Its set a short-term goal of printing a sliver of meat around two centimeters by one centimeter, and less than half a millimeter thick, which is edible. The company explains in a submission to the United States Department of Agriculture: The technology has several advantages in comparison to earlier attempts to engineer meat in vitro. The bioink particles can be reproducibly prepared with mixtures of cells of different type. Printing ensures consistent shape, while postprinting structure formation and maturation in the bioreactor facilitates conditioning. However, it admits that the road ahead is strewn with difficulties. The consumer acceptance of

such products may not be without challenges. We expect it will first appeal to culinary early-adopter consumers and the segment of the vegetarian community that rejects meat for ethical reasons. With

reduction in price, it can reach the masses with religious restrictions on meat consumption (people restricted to Hindu, Kosher, Halal diets) and finally populations with limited access to safe meat

production. To help the company achieve this aim, Billionaire Peter Thiel has given it a grant of between 160,000 and 220,000, through the Thiel Foundations Breakout Labs. Other recipients of grants include Bell Biosystems and Entopsis, both medical startups. Source: Wired.co.uk Image: tarale/Flickr This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Snapware Glasslock Oven Safe 18pc Set


(Woot)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 12:00:17 AM

Lay Away You gotta lock down your future. Charles, I have something to talk to you about. You see, your mom was bringing your laundry up to your room the other day, she dropped a sock on the ground near your bed, and well, we found your

stash. Why do you look so nervous, Charles? I'm just talking about your stash of college viewbooks. Now, me and your mom want you to go to college, we really do. But as you know, neither of us pull in much money, so we couldn't set up a traditional college fund for you. But we did You see, when you were born, manage to put something away. we signed up for The Snapware

Glasslock Plan. Under that, a miniscule amount of money was taken out each of my paychecks to be put, each year, towards one piece of a set of clear, stainproof glass containers. When you turned one, we put away one of the lids; the next year: a container, and so on. Well, now that you're 18, you've got the full set. That's 3 round containers,

4 rectangle containers, 3 square containers, and 9 matching lids to provide airtight and leakproof storage! So, Charles, while you will most definitely going into insurmountable debt, at least you'll be able to keep your food fresh, right? Those are tears of joy, I assume.

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Curated News Edition

NY Voters Poll: Let Chick Sony hangs on in ebooks with the new -fil-A Do Business
(The Christian Post)

several mayors and other elected officials that they don't want Chick-fil-A in their cities. August 16, 2012| 9:49 am Boston Mayor Thomas M. Amid debate over Chick-fil-A Menino told the Boston Herald President Dan Cathy's statement that "you can't have a business in last month against same-sex t h e c i t y o f B o s t o n t h a t marriage, 82 percent said there d i s c r i m i n a t e s a g a i n s t t h e should be no impact on the fast- population." He also vowed to food chain's ability to get permits, block the company from opening a Quinnipiac University poll a restaurant in his city though he revealed Wednesday. later acknowledged that he can't Also, 83 percent said elected keep Chick-fil-A from opening a o f f i c i a l s s h o u l d n o t t r y t o branch. discourage people from eating at Follow us Chick-fil-A. Similar comments were made by "New Yorkers may disagree with the Chicago and Washington, what you say, but they defend D.C., mayors. your right to sell chicken," said They were speaking in protest of Maurice Carroll, director of the Cathy's statements last month that Quinnipiac University Polling he believes in the biblical family Institute, in a statement. unit and that same-sex marriage The survey was conducted was bringing God's judgment on among 1,298 New York City the nation. voters. It follows comments by Chick-fil-A released a statement
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:49:28 AM

later, saying its culture and tradition is to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender." The company is now facing hurdles on college campuses as some consider banning the famous chicken sandwiches. Davidson College in North Carolina temporarily suspended Chick-fil-A from campus events. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Reader PRS-T2
Consumer Reports News (Consumer Reports)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 6:59:59 AM

Sony hangs on in e-books with the new Reader PRS-T2 The company that pioneered ebook readers, only to see its devices eclipsed by generally superior models from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, today launched the new Sony Reader PRS-T2. This new Sony e-book reader closely resembles the current model from Sony, the Reader PRS -T1, with a 6-inch e-ink screen and availability in multiple colors (white, red, and matte black). It also costs the same, $130which is now quite pricey compared with the $80-to-$100 price tags for some Amazon Kindles and B&N Nooks. Sony claims it has upgraded this Reader's e-ink screen to enhance touch and to provide more "paperlike page turns, improved continuous page turns," and smoother zooming in and out. The company says it's easier to organize and find books, too, and has upped battery life to "up to two months"though we don't put much importance on battery life for e-ink devices, since all offer more-than-ample run times.

The new Reader's weight and dimensions are unchanged from its predecessor (6 7/8 x 4 3/8 x 3/8 inches (H/W/D), meaning that like the older one, the PRS-T2 will be one of the lighter and thinner e-book readers on the market. Other enhancements include the ability to post passages of books directly to Facebook (which is new to Sony but is a feature on some other brands) and the ability to save Web content for later reading to the online app Evernote. We expect to receive and test the Sony PRS-T2 any day now, and we'll add it to our e-book reader Ratings soon. Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Curated News Edition

Politics

49

Obama's Shared Prosperity: A Euphemism Wrapped in a Lie


(American Thinker)

American would approve of reconfiguring America in accordance with such a principle? (See also: " From the Giving Four years on, Team Obama has Pledge to Totalitarianism") refined the message considerably, Those who believed, in 2008, that or at least kept the spokesman on Obama's off-the-cuff "spread the script. First of all, the impersonal wealth around" line was indicative external force implied by the of his real, socialistic intentions, word "spread" has been replaced rather than simply a poor word w i t h t h e m o d e r n m o r a l choice, can now relax. The euphemism "sharing." Obama president has finally clarified puts it this way: things, this time with the benefit The question in this election is, of a script, so at last we can "Which way do we go?" Do we understand his true plans. go forward towards a new vision As it turns out, his remark to Joe of an America in which prosperity the Plumber was merely a gaffe is shared, or do we go backward after all. For we now know that to the same policies that got us when he said "spread the wealth," into this mess in the first place? I what he really meant was "share believe we have to go forward. t h e p r o s p e r i t y . " S e e t h e So the stakes are clearly set out: difference? No? Then allow me Obama intends to complete his to unpack it for you. fundamental transformation -"Spread the wealth around" here dubbed a "new vision" -- of sounded like the casual remark of America, turning a nation that, at a t o n e - d e a f a u t h o r i t a r i a n , least in theory, defends the right someone used to speaking to to private property, into one in rooms full of like-minded leftists. which private property is phased The problem lay chiefly in the out. But don't worry -- none of word "spread": so impersonal, it this will be done in a way that gives the impression that someone ought to offend anyone. For this - - O b a m a o b v i o u s l y m e a n t isn't a matter of forcing you to government-- should just forcibly give up your property. This is disperse the successful citizen's about "sharing." In other words, property to others, willy-nilly. your sacrifice of natural rights is Government will spread your no longer represented as a wealth around. Aside from compulsion from without. It is completely addle-minded, now a moral imperative: entitlement-besotted slugs, what successful Americans ought to be
Submitted at 8/16/2012 1:04:40 AM

willing to "share." That is to say, if you do not accept this "new vision," you are morally culpable. Better yet, notice how the new, improved version of the Obama manifesto has set its sights higher than his earlier, crassly expressed concern for mere "wealth." This time, they are coming for your "prosperity." (That the word "property" is neatly hidden within "prosperity" is just one of progressivism's cute little inside jokes -- like this year's emphasis on the word "forward," which the brains of this outfit know all too well has a long communist pedigree.) Wealth is merely your goods, your stuff. That may have been enough to satisfy the gluttony of your garden-variety Democrat of yesteryear, but today's hardcore neo-Marxists need more. They are not primarily interested in buying votes by playing on people's stupid sentimentality. They want America's soul. Prosperity is akin to happiness, and it runs deeper than mere wealth. It encompasses your general well-being, your satisfaction with life, your feeling that your endeavors are, or have been, worthwhile and successful. In short, to prosper may include the gaining of wealth, but it suggests a much broader form of success: an overcoming of the

natural obstacles, trials, and hardships that life places before us all. Such an overcoming is necessarily always partial, just as it is sometimes, sadly, fleeting. As humans are mortal, flawed, and fragile beings, prosperity cannot be guaranteed, and it cannot be permanent. Prosperity, to the extent that is within our control, is largely a matter of personal responsibility. If it comes, it comes primarily as the product of individual will and effort. In no meaningful sense can it be handed to us. It is pursued, as the American founders understood and emphasized. A rights-based society of free individuals is the most humane and dignified society, because it is the society that most respects the risks and difficulties inherent in the pursuit of prosperity, and seeks to protect all men against coercive violations of that pursuit -- i.e., to give every individual a fighting chance at the goal we all strive towards. Obama's call for "shared prosperity" must be parsed in light of these considerations. And since he and his speechwriters have apparently decided that the 2012 election can be won by clarifying and reinforcing the very message that almost lost it for them four years ago -- which

reveals to what extent the left is playing for all the marbles this time -- perhaps we should grant their strategic premise, and help them along, by fleshing out the meaning of their "new vision" even further. "Sharing" your prosperity includes, of course, "sharing" your wealth. It also entails "sharing" all the years that you spent working towards whatever wealth you have achieved, so that others can work less. Furthermore, it means "sharing" all the stressful nights and nervous days you spent trying to learn the skills that helped you to prosper, so that others won't have to put themselves through the same rigors. It means "sharing" the new home you worked to earn for your family, so that others can have a home without working so hard for it. It means "sharing" the nest egg you sacrificed to accumulate for your children, so that less responsible parents may continue to be irresponsible. It means "sharing" the retirement you were planning, so that those who choose not to do work they deem unworthy of their talents may have the benefit of a few more years of your income to support their sloth. It means "sharing" a OBAMA'S page 52

50

Politics

Curated News Edition

The GOP Now Owns the Medicare Issue


(American Thinker)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 1:04:14 AM

A number of prominent exJournolist members and reliably left-leaning media lackeys are working overtime, repeating one line over and over to aid the Obama campaign. Namely, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan allegedly are going to end Medicare and leave seniors without coverage. The exact opposite is true, as I'll demonstrate, but even more important is how this is going to turn over on the Obama campaign. It's a hanging curve ball just waiting to be hit out of the park. First of all, let's start with a simple truth. Medicare is going broke, and if nothing is done, the program will be bankrupt in around a decade. The Obama administration has accelerated this process by stealing around $716 billion from the program in order to fund a new entitlement, ObamaCare. And contrary to what they're telling you, these are not "administrative costs," but actual reductions in service. ObamaCare is set to destroy Medicare Advantage, a program 12 million seniors use. It is already causing the rationing of cancer drugs and a de facto rationing of care that is going to get a lot worse as the Independent Payment Advisory Boards (IPABs), fifteen unelected government officials, exercise the death panel-style function they

were designed for in ObamaCare and cut the payments to doctors and hospitals to the bone so that fewer and fewer of them can afford to accept Medicare patients. It is major rationing for seniors and ultimately the death of a thousand cuts for Medicare as a whole. It is ObamaCare that was specifically designed to destroy Medicare, and to herd seniors into a one-size-fits-all plan where care to them can be rationed with impunity. And even Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama's personal choice to run Medicare and Medicaid, admitted that this rationing is one of ObamaCare's ultimate aims, as did Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the president's chief health care advisers. And unlike the final Medicare reform plan submitted by Paul Ryan, and the one outlined by Mitt Romney, these cuts directly affect current retirees. Now you know who really wants to push Grandma over the cliff. By contrast, the plans advocated by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan save Medicare. No one over 55 is affected, and people younger than 55 have the option of traditional 1965-style Medicare if they want it...or premium support from government to pay for competing private insurance plans. If you choose, you can swap today's "defined benefit" Medicare system, where the government decides on the price

it'll pay for medical services, for a "defined contribution" system, where the government decides on an amount of money -- "premium support" -- to provide to individual consumers and then lets them choose from an approved set of competing private insurance plans. And there's an open enrollment period each year, allowing people to change their minds if they feel like it. Not only that, but with this kind of system, there will almost certainly be supplemental plans marketed to those seniors who wish to purchase them along with traditional Medicare. Now, there's a concept -- giving people the right to choose among insurers seeking Medicare customers for the services seniors feel are most appropriate for their needs, and allowing the competition of the private sector to increase efficiency and drive down costs. Ah, but what happens if the "premium support" provided to seniors to buy coverage isn't enough, or if the amount's annual growth doesn't keep up with the growth of health care costs? Wait, it gets better. Walk with me a moment. First of all, seniors could always choose to opt for the traditional 1965-style Medicare, since the government would still contain a package of required benefits that would constitute comprehensive insurance coverage, just as Medicare does today.

But each year, the plan calls for private insurers as well as Medicare to submit competitive bids to the government to provide coverage at the lowest cost they can sustain profitably. The government would then provide seniors in each region of the country with a "premium support" equal to the second-lowest bid in that region, or one equal to the bid of the federal fee-for-service Medicare program -- whichever is lower. That way, seniors would be guaranteed to have a choice -there's that word again -- of at least one comprehensive coverage option that equals the premium support payment offered and that would involve the same level of out-of-pocket costs Medicare does today. Of course, none of this touches on the huge savings in health care costs that need to be addressed on Medicare fraud (a $8- to $9billion "industry") or tort reform. We'll call that dessert, to be enjoyed later. Even nicer is the corner the Democrats have painted themselves into politically. Ever since 1965, the Democrats have been able to use the Medicare hammer to bash Republicans, using the same old "throwing Granny off the cliff" argument. Certainly it's been used in every campaign since Carter versus Reagan. Even intelligent leftists still don't realize what ObamaCare has done

to them. They might realize that ObamaCare cost them the 2010 midterms and that the hugely unpopular legislation is a rallying cry in this one. But they don't seem to realize yet that Medicare isn't their issue any longer. The Democrats can lie, dissemble, and rant, but they can't change a basic truth. They can either defend ObamaCare, which was designed to destroy Medicare, or they can disavow ObamaCare. They can't do both. It's President Obama who has put Democrats in the position of being the party that is cutting current seniors' benefits, rationing care (thanks to the IPABs), and letting the program collapse as it becomes unsustainable. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have positioned the GOP to be the party that wants to protect seniors' benefits and make them available for future generations. If you're a senior, the Democrats are offering you nothing except a grim, mean, rationed future when it comes to medical care. It's the Republicans who are offering a much better deal, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this being hammered over and over. Like I said, it's a hanging curve ball just begging to be hit out of the park. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it GOP page 52

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Politics

51

Obama 'Intellectually Exhausted, Out of Ideas, and Out of Energy'


(American Thinker)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 1:04:58 AM

Mitt Romney finally caught up with the rest of us via a fiery speech in Ohio on Tuesday where he proclaimed three simple truths that frame Barack Obama:"Intellectually exhausted, out of ideas, and out of energy." Those lines are still too charitable; Obama has been intellectually barren from the beginning. Yet it is irrefutable -to steal an apt word from Paul Ryan describing Obama's raiding Medicare to finance ObamaCare - that Obama's idea inventory consists of the expired datestamped perishables of the collectivist state -- tax, confiscate, redistribute, and impoverish. "Out of energy" indeed will be our deficit of destiny if Obama's agenda persists to underwrite wind, solar, and ethanol while blocking coal, oil, and gas. Yet Obama has no shortage of personal energy to govern and campaign on a platform of "division ... diversion ... anger ... hate ... defaming ... and demagoguery." The MSM liberal apologists were quick to label Romney's pick of Paul Ryan as VP an "act of

desperation." Such an attributed motivation is an unintended moment of truth. Yes, we are desperate. Desperate to rescue a nation quickly devolving into an ungovernable economic catastrophe. Desperate to repudiate a culture of institutionalized dependency, where class envy substitutes for sweat equity. Desperate to reclaim a society where individual achievement and initiative are admired, not punished. Desperate to restore common decency in political discourse, where ideas triumph over ad hominems. Desperate to avoid the "Road to Serfdom," a looming certainty if Obama's legacy prevails. Finding one's voice can arrive in a variety of modes, sometimes unexpectedly. Mitt Romney found his voice in Paul Ryan. This is not to diminish Mitt Romney for discovering his timbre too late or "outsourcing courage," but rather to credit him with wisdom in aligning his own ambition with clarity on how to get there. Paul Ryan represents everything that Obama and the Democrats will never be: intellectually fertile, economically and historically

literate, unimpeachably rigorous and honest. And these are only Paul Ryan's character virtues. His ideas and convictions are even better. And he's the most likeable politician in town. Clarity is a rarely used tonic. The word itself has yet to be overexposed and deliberately obfuscated, unlike the word transparent. Of course, the phrase "let me be perfectly clear" is usually a prelude to anything but - it was first attributed to Richard Nixon, then expropriated by Bill Clinton, and now it is a common preamble to Barack Obama's frequent deceptions. Yet clarity is a refreshingly bracing noun in an age where deliberate distortions, bald-faced lies, shameless plagiarism, and muddled thinking have become the new normal. Mitt Romney's clarity, revealing his identity as a leader, was the act of choosing Paul Ryan. The Paul Ryan choice was liberating. This is uncharted territory for Romney, whose reputation as a cautious, circumspect, and conventional politician should have foreclosed such a move. The stakes are arguably just as vital, though very different on an immediate human scale, as when General Eisenhower launched D-

Day on June 5, 1944. Ike had two dominant traits: a knack for choosing very capable lieutenants and another for undertaking only those battles small enough to win but big enough to matter. Until D-Day, when opportunity and necessity appeared in a fleetingly narrow window, Ike took them both to destiny with three simple words: " OK, let's go!" Did Romney need Ike's meteorologist to tell him when the weather would be ripe to launch his own reckoning with history, and when such a moment would pass? No, a weather report would be superfluous. Just stick your head out the door and smell the ozone. Twenty-three million unemployed (and counting), trillions in deficits, economic stagnation, regulatory calcification, despair and defeat in the air, daily doses of bitter plumes from a president who disparages America's greatness and sees its culture only through a filter of race and class resentment. Meanwhile, every day presents another Obama profile in economic illiteracy. His latest absurdity is advocating higher supports for falling cattle and pork prices as animals are being

slaughtered early to avoid paying for corn-based feedstock, the price of which has skyrocketed due to the drought -- a catastrophe exacerbated by 40% of the corn crop being diverted to ethanol for fuel. Romney's moment for clarity couldn't arrive soon enough. Romney's version of "OK, let's go!" with Paul Ryan has unveiled a newfound clarity, giving voters their own renewed voice of optimism, opportunity, and uplift. Liberated from identity politics and collectivist propaganda, voters can now boldly reject reelecting an imposter who is"Intellectually Bereft, IdeaBound by Collectivist Deprivation, and Whose Energy is Devoted to Dividing, Diminishing, and Disparaging." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

52

Curated News Edition

OBAMA'S
continued from page 49

GOP
continued from page 50

portion of the wedding you were saving up to provide for your daughter, so that wayward young men may continue to impregnate random drug-addicted mothers without fear that their sundry offspring will ever require their support. It means "sharing" the home addition you wanted to build to accommodate your elderly parents, so that others may remain guiltlessly derelict in their duty to theirs. To summarize, "sharing" your prosperity means "sharing" your life, your work, your mind, your goals, your aspirations, the pain you endured in overcoming your false steps and agonizing failures, and, of course, your practical success, with anyone and everyone the government deems worthy of a pound of your flesh. You may have noticed by now that throughout this article I have always enclosed the word "share" and its derivatives within quotation marks. The reason, of course, is that in the phrase "shared prosperity," as Obama is using it, there is, in truth, no sharing involved. Sharing is an action one undertakes intentionally. "I'll share my candy with you." "Let's share the driving." Forced

"sharing" isn't sharing at all, because it lacks the moral element of choice. It also lacks the rational element of discretion, which is necessary in the case of genuine sharing in order to decide with whom one wishes to share, and why. Forced "sharing" is coercion plain and simple. Governmentenforced "sharing" is coercion at the point of a gun: "your prosperity or your life." Go back over the list of implications of "shared prosperity" that I offered a few paragraphs back. This time, each time you see the word "sharing," try substituting "relinquishing at the point of a gun." Now you can see exactly what Obama's "new vision" for America really means. It means that you will no longer own yourself. You will no longer have first claim -- or any meaningful claim, for that matter - on your goods, your time, the product of your sweat and thought, or the future you planned for yourself and your nearest and dearest. And rather than thinking what an outrage this entails against you and your natural rights, turn the focus around for a moment. Could you demand that this be

done to others, so that you could benefit from their coerced "sharing"? If not, then ask yourself why not. And then ask yourself what kind of people the left is hoping to appeal to, not only during this year's election in America, but always, everywhere. This is the question any stillhuman supporter of a leftist party needs to have clarified for him. He must be compelled to see in a clear light just what he is supporting, and to ask himself whether, seen in this light, it is supportable. Leftism is not, and never has been, about "sharing," or "compassion," or any of the other moral euphemisms progressives use to hoodwink the intellectually and morally lazy. It is, and always has been, about that gun pointed at the prosperous -and, ultimately, at everyone, since in the end, unfettered leftism eliminates prosperity pretty quickly, leaving only the extremely unprosperous to fend for themselves. This is the great lie of "shared prosperity." While "share" means coercion, "prosperity" means misery. Prosperity, like its parent concept, happiness, must be pursued. To pursue something requires a sense of rational

predictability, of control over the future, of ownership over the continuum of time and effort that is required to achieve anything. But this is what governmentenforced "sharing" -- the rejection of private property -- undercuts. Thus, it undercuts the prosperity it needs to support its own authority with the "entitled" beneficiaries. This is how leftist authoritarianism implodes. Let's hope the world is spared the terrifying prospect of watching the most prosperous nation on Earth learn this lesson the hard way. That would be a very hard way, indeed, and digging civilization out of the rubble would take generations. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Curated News Edition

Products/ Politics-Right/

53

Game Fight!: Mario vs. Sonic. Let's Settle This.


(Woot)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:00:00 AM

No Criminal Charges Likely for Corzine


(The Feed)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:58:20 AM

Is there any rivalry in video games more legendary than the Nintendo/Sega schism of the '90s? That's not a rhetorical question: I'm at a loss to think of any others, so if you have any ideas, post them to the comments. Since the Nintendo/Sega rivalry is the biggest that comes immediately to mind, I've decided to focus on the two games that defined an era, those games being Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World, both available right now on Wii's Virtual Console for less than ten bucks.If someone had told a kid in the early '90s that there'd be a day when you could play a Sonic game on a Nintendo console, they probably would have been like "Chyeah, right!" before they rollerbladed off to a rave. The rivalry between the two companies was heated. Sega, riding high on the blastprocessing-fueled wave known as the Genesis, was talking as much smack as they possibly could about Nintendo. Hence, the "Genesis does what Nintendon't" campaign.

Nintendo, generally viewed as the kid-friendly company who made zillions selling the original NES to every man, woman, and child in America, decided to jump on the '90s bandwagon and tubularify their image. They countered Sega's in-your-face, Poochy-style ad campaign with a campaign that was even more outrageous and full of 'tude. It's embarrassing to watch now, but it was kind of embarrassing to watch even then. Sort of like seeing your dad try to rap along with an Ice Cube song. This commercial from the "Play it Loud!" campaign is exactly what future history professors will show their classes when they reach the chapter on the 1990s. It's the nineties distilled into 58 seconds. I mean, that's the Butthole Surfers! Mascots were a very important part of video game companies in the '90s, and Sega and Nintendo had Sonic and Mario, respectively. Mario had been around for years by that point, and was a loveable scamp who jumped on top of things to kill them and occasionally dabbled in fur-play with things like the

Tanooki Suit. Sonic was the new kid on the block, a blaze-blue Hedgehog who ran at extraordinary speeds and represented a maturing of video game mascotskind of. I mean, the maturing was from "pretween" to "tween," but that marketing demographic label didn't exist back then. But which is the better game? To answer that, I've written a compare-and-contrast essay as done in the voice of a seventhgrade Sonic fan: Is Mario Better than Sonic? a compare and contrast essay Sega Genesis is the first 16 bit system that was released in the world, much before Nintendo decided to copy them with the Super NES. The Super NES comes with a game called Super Mario World, which is a sequel to some old games called Super Mario Bros. They are not very good compared to Sonic which has more speed than the Super NES and also the sound is better. The Genesis makes Sonic run fast because it comes with blast processing which is a way to make graphics very fast. The Super NES does not have this and

also it has Mode 7 which is just making the screen spin. Because of this the Super NES is slower. The main differences between Mario and Sonic is that Sonic collects rings instead of coins and also Sonic is a better game. Sonic has to rescue animals and also there is a comic book for Sonic. In conclusion, Sonic the Hedgehog is better than Super Mario World because it is faster and the game is better overall. FINAL VERDICT: It's impossible to decide. And why should we decide? Both games are great and are still a ton of fun. However, in the overarching storyline of video game quality, Mario games have maintained and often exceeded their previous levels of quality while Sonic has... well, Sonic's had a bit of a tough time of it. Now that you vehemently disagree with whatever Seth's just written, be sure to check him out on Gizmonic Institutes Radio this week, where he talks about Mystery Science Theater 3000!

Via New York Times: A criminal investigation into the collapse of the brokerage firm MF Global and the disappearance of about $1 billion in customer money is now heading into its final stage without charges expected against any top executives. After 10 months of stitching together evidence on the firms demise, criminal investigators are concluding that chaos and porous risk controls at the firm, rather than fraud, allowed the money to disappear, according to people involved in the case. . . It pays to have friends in high places I guess. . . Greg Pollowitz This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Products/

Curated News Edition

Have We Reached A Saturation Point On Drive-Thrus?


Chris Morran (The Consumerist)

someone in front of you has an issue with their order. Drive-thrus are efficient at ordering, taking Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:15:56 AM payment and handing out food Depending on where you live, until someone complains about a you can get anything from food to missing hash brown or not getting cash to drugs (prescription) to correct change. This causes the liquor and porn via a drive-thru conveyor belt to stack up and can window. But is it possible that we result in angry customers -- some may be experiencing diminishing of whom will then go inside and returns on these supposedly start an actual fight. convenient services? But inside most businesses with One town in New Jersey is drive-thru lanes, there are at least reportedly considering a ban on two lines open to serve customers. any new drive-thru businesses, So when there is a problem with saying they have become a traffic an order, it shouldn't back things nuisance -- and they may be on to up for everyone else. to something. This also leads to a bigger After all, is the drive-thru any question of disconnecting the faster than going in to the store? c u s t o m e r f r o m t h e r e t a i l That likely depends on the type of employee. When you step up to a business and the time of day counter inside of a business, you you're drive-thru-ing. can usually see why you might In our experience, going to the not be getting immediate service. drive-thru at a fast food joint It might not be a good reason, but during morning or evening drive this bit of knowledge is still better time can be a significantly longer than sitting at a drive-thru speaker wait than simply running in and wondering if anyone knows you're going to the counter. alive. This is especially true when And sometimes that lack of face-

to-face interaction can free up the inner A-hole inside either the customer and/or the worker, freeing each to perhaps not be as polite as they would be if they were looking the other in the eye. Beyond all of this, drive-thrus can take up a significant chunk of real estate that might be better occupied by expanding the building, or parking spots, or even just some pretty shrubs. Of course, for parents with young children, all of these points might mean absolutely nothing. Drive-thrus allow parents to avoid the repeated buckling/ unbuckling process for each child. It also means they don't have to worry about kids acting up or getting distracted while trying to deposit a check or pick up dad's prescription refill. And you never have to worry about feeling like you're doing a bad thing by leaving your older child in the car while you run in to grab some milk. And, going back to the Fotomat era, a handful of businesses have

done very well by becoming drive -thru only (or at least primarily drive-thru), as it allows them to keep overhead costs down and minimize staffing needs. Thus, a ban on new drive-thrus could inhibit innovation or drive some businesses to other towns. Like many of the issues we cover, this one has no cut-and-dry answer, but it's definitely something we think is worth having a public discussion about. And so we open the floor up to you, the readers of Consumerist, to drive up to the comments window and drop off your thoughts. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Products/

55

Progressive Provides More Details On Controversial Lawsuit

Would You Agree To Put Your Phone Away At A Restaurant For A Discount?
Mary Beth Quirk (The Consumerist)

people disrupting other guests. Eva is home, and we want to create that environment of home, Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:00:58 AM and we want people to connect Chris Morran (The this case, "there were credible lawyer] conferred with the Yes, yes, we know: You just again," he said. "It's about two Consumerist) conflicting eyewitness accounts as defendant," wrote the brother in need to check the score of the people sitting together and just to who was at fault." an earlier statement. "He gave an game really quickly or maybe c o n n e c t i n g , w i t h o u t t h e Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:51:20 AM Continues the statement: opening statement to the jury, in your sister-in-law finally put up distraction of a phone, and we're Earlier this week, the brother of a "A trial was necessary so that a which he proposed the idea that some new pictures of the baby. trying to create an ambiance woman killed in a car crash made jury could review all of the the defendant should not be found And oh, let's just take a second to where you come in and really headlines around the world by evidence and come to a decision. negligent in the case. He cross- Instagram this artfully designed enjoy the experience and the food claiming that his sister's insurance In those circumstances, under examined all of the plaintiffs plate! But come on, do you really and the company." c o m p a n y , P r o g r e s s i v e , h a d Maryland law, the insurance witnesses. On direct examination, need to have your phone out at the Fancy that, actually interacting in actually come to the legal defense c o m p a n y p r o v i d i n g t h e he questioned all of the defenses restaurant? Perhaps a little person with your company and of the driver accused of causing Underinsured Motorist coverage witnesses. He made objections on incentive would convince you to the surroundings! And hey, you the fatal accident. Since then, the is considered a defendant. As a behalf of the defendant, and he put it away, like the 5% discount can always tweet about the insurance company has stated that defendant in this case, Progressive was a party to the argument of all an L.A. eatery is offering to diners amazing salad later. That news it was not defending the other participated in the trial procedures of the objections heard in the for not using digital devices at the will hold. driver, but only defending itself in o n o u r o w n b e h a l f w h i l e case. After all of the witnesses table. LA restaurant offers discount for the lawsuit-- a distinction the Nationwide represented the other had been called, he stood before KPCC radio in L.A. says the d i n i n g w i t h o u t y o u r brother found wanting. Today, the driver. the jury and gave a closing o w n e r a n d c h e f o f t h e p h o n e [ K P C C ] insurer says it has reached a On Thursday, August 9, a jury argument, in which he argued that establishment is just trying to get This entry passed through the settlement with the family and is determined that the other driver my sister was responsible for the people to stop being so distracted, Full-Text RSS service if this is attempting to clarify matters was at fault in the accident accident that killed her, and that by way of ditching their phones your content and you're reading it further by explaining why its i n v o l v i n g M s . F i s h e r . I n the jury should not decide that the before they're even seated. For on someone else's site, please read lawyers ended up on the other accordance with that decision, defendant was negligent... I am those patrons who want the deal, the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentside of courtroom. Progressive worked with the comfortable characterizing this as they simply check their phones at only/faq.php#publishers. Five the door. In a statement posted on its Fisher family and their legal a legal defense." Filters recommends: Incinerating A p p a r e n t l y h a l f o f t h e Assange - The Liberal Media Go website, Progressive confirms representative to resolve the Thanks to David for the tip! what our insurance expert told claim." This entry passed through the restaurant's diners have taken the To Work. Consumerist earlier this week, We have reached out to the Full-Text RSS service if this is plunge so far. that in order to receive the payout brother to see if he has any further your content and you're reading it "For us, it's really not about of an underinsured driver claim in comment on this story. He had on someone else's site, please read Maryland, the other driver must taken issue with Progressive's the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentbe deemed to be completely at initial statement that it was only only/faq.php#publishers. Five fault. acting as a co-defendant in the Filters recommends: Incinerating "Sometimes this can be proven case. Assange - The Liberal Media Go without the need for a trial," "During the trial, both in and out To Work. writes the insured, adding that in of the courtroom, [the Progressive

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Products/

Curated News Edition

Sean University: Drop Out The Right Way!


(Woot)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:00:00 AM

Its back-to-school week here at Woot, and since The Sean Adams University of Business Management Development Leadership is the only school actually run from WITHIN the site, I figured I should put something together for it. Unfortunately, though, when they told me it was back-to-school week, what I heard was its back -out-of-school week. Thats why Ive put together this, a comprehensive guide to dropping out of college THE RIGHT WAY! If you leave in the middle of a semester, youll probably get the grade of incomplete in all of your classes. This can look bad to have on your record, so when you get your transcripts, just take a pen and write control of his life and so doesnt need any more school after each one. Dont be scared. Sure, millions of people have dropped out of

college and accomplished little in life, but one or two have gone on to be wildly successful. And you yourself are just one guy, not a million guys, so youre more likely to do well! Leaving on a motorcycle is ideal. If you dont have a motorcycle, just say youre leaving on a motorcycle. And if someones like, I didnt know you had a motorcycle, tell him, Yeah, well, I actually park it in a garage thats far away to save money. That way, you appear both badass and practical. Follow-up to the motorcycle tip: if you want to ride off into the sunset, be sure to time it right. Because packing all your books into a box during the sunset is way less romantic-sounding. If youve got nothing lined up, be

sure to live in the same town as your former college. That way you can hang out with all of your old friends and brag about how much freedom you have. Its the only time youll ever get to make people jealous for failing to complete something that they had the wherewithal to see through to the end! Be careful! There are countless schemes set-up to trick recent college dropouts. For example, some schools will offer classes on how to adjust to a more unstructured lifestyle. Sounds helpful, right? But heres the thing: you take that class, and you are technically no longer a college dropout. Sneaky, huh? Remember, if you reconsider, nothings stopping you from going back to college. In fact, if

you leave Sean University and later decide to re-enroll, all you need to do is pay your reenrollment fee, your knowledge recovery fee, your classroom retraining fee, your intellectual reflex test fee, your monetary display of commitment to education fee, your acknowledgement that you should have never left fee, your mobile Class-on-the-Go reinstallation fee, your postponed enlightenment fee, and a minor fee-processing service fee! Thats what we got here. What about you? Are you a dropout? Have any tips for people considering making the leap to less learning?

Curated News Edition

Gaming/ Social Media/

57

Vergil's leading role in DmC: Devil May Cry


Jessica Conditt (Joystiq)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:40:00 AM

Vergil, Dante's enigmatic twin brother, is back in DmC: Devil May Cry for a whole new era of demonic sibling rivalry. In the modern setting of Limbo City, Vergil is the boss of The Order, an organization tasked with battling the demons in control, and he recruits Dante to fight with him. This marks a new role for Vergil, tempered by familiar features. "We tried to retain certain motifs that were essential to the character," Capcom producer Motohide Eshiro told Joystiq at Gamescom. "So he retains the silver hair, he retains the blue coloration of his outfit and the refinement of the character. Storyline-wise, as to how he may or may not interact directly with Dante and certain effects on gameplay, this is something we'll talk about at a later date. The biggest change, the visual, the way he interacts with the storyline, is quite different than what we've seen before. There's more to come; watch this space." When we asked directly if Vergil would be a playable character in

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Trailer, Pics Hits the Web


Samantha Murphy (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:42:45 AM

The official trailer for World of Warcraft's latest installment -Mists of Pandaria-- has hit the web, generating buzz ahead of its September launch. The video for the online roleDmC, Eshiro laughed and said, longstanding tension between him Eshiro said, "There are plenty of playing game was introduced on motioning to the PR rep in the and Dante will play a part in characters we haven't yet touched Thursday during the gamescom room, "No comment there, or else DmC's story as well. on. We're not ready to talk about 2012 conference in Cologne, he'll have to murder us, I think." Dante's other, smaller companion what other characters are in the Germany. The game's debut, The emphasis on Vergil's classic in DmC, a psychic named Kat, game just yet, but rest assured which is fourth in the series, is set f e a t u r e s w a s i n n o w a y a has more to offer than advice on there will be some forthcoming for Sept. 25. "You've ended Deathwing's reactionary measure to fan navigating Limbo City's demonic news." backlash when Dante's new look and earth-bound worlds, Eshiro Vergil's leading role in DmC: destructive rampage and saved the w a s r e v e a l e d , E s h i r o s a i d . said. She's not necessarily a love D e v i l M a y C r y o r i g i n a l l y dragonflights from extinction," it Capcom and Ninja Theory had interest, but she does help Dante appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 teases on Blizzard Entertainment's Vergil planned before the public connect with deeper emotions Aug 2012 11:40:00 EST. Please website. "Now you must unlock the mysteries of the lost continent saw Dante, and both teams knew than his initial rush of vengeance see our terms for use of feeds. exactly what they wanted then. and anger. Permalink| Email this| Comments and discover the dark secrets of Pandaria's past. Explore ancient Along with the traditional aspects As for any other cameos from kingdoms hidden since before the of Vergil's appearance, the classic Devil May Cry names, Sundering, plunder vast treasures from the dep Continue reading... More About: Gaming, YouTube, world of warcraft

58

Gaming/ Featured/ News Photos

Curated News Edition

Help the movement


people I want to be thinking about the rivers they might produce for their readers. So we can cover all I've always been shy to call what kinds of communties and topics. I work on a movement, but others By reading the news through the are doing it, so maybe it's time to tabbed-river interface you'll be ask people to make a small helping the bootstrap of a new contribution. way to flow news, without going I don't want money, not yet. I through a central node like want something more valuable. Twitter or Facebook. You'll be Attention. helping to bring back the "open" Here's what you can do. to the way we use the web. 1. Bookmark the Tabbed Rivers If it works, that will get us more page. Which ever panel most users, and more feedback and bug appeals to you. reports, and that's how the 2. When you want news, go software gets: 1. Richer. 2. Easier. there. Scroll. Skim. 3. More debugged. Right now it's 3. Click on links. a shortage of users that's keeping 4. The authors of the articles, if this stuff from taking off. And Richard Mitchell (Joystiq) Allowing players that much they have good stats software, there's a lot more behind this f r e e d o m - t h e f r e e d o m t o will see the river in their referrer waiting to come out and upgrade Submitted at 8/16/2012 12:00:00 PM potentially break the game - must log. Over time, if you can develop the way writing is produced and There are a lot of choices be a nightmare for quality this as part of your news habit, read on the web. a v a i l a b l e t o p l a y e r s i n assurance, I tell Arkane Studios' they'll get curious. These are the BTW: Today I added another tab Dishonored. At every player's co-creative director Harvey disposal is an impressive array of Smith. "It's not just a nightmare weapons, gadgets and abilities, for QA," he says, "it's a nightmare each offering a different way to for us as well." tackle a given situation. Take the Gallery: Dishonored (QuakeCon simple assassination mission I 2012) played at Gamescom, which just Continue reading Dishonored's so happened to be the same Harvey Smith on the risk of mission we detailed earlier this letting players break your game month at QuakeCon. Tasked with Dishonored's Harvey Smith on (news photos - Google News) officials seems to have been infiltrating a posh party at a lavish the risk of letting players break Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:12:36 AM started by a Weibo user known mansion, freelancer Britton Peele your game originally appeared on only as Anhui1234567q, who said chose to walk right through the Joystiq on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 New York Daily News he saw the photos on another front door. Me, I possessed a fish, 12:00:00 EST. Please see our Racy online photos of Chinese website and thought the man swam into the sewers and worked terms for use of feeds. sex party go viral over speculation pictured was Wang Minsheing, my way into the mansion via the Permalink| Email this| Comments that... head of the... cellar. That's only two of many New York Daily News Chinese politicians in orgy possible choices. The rumor that the photos scandal Herald Sun f e a t u r e d C o m m u n i s t P a r t y China Wife-Swapping Photos
Submitted at 8/16/2012 7:33:12 AM

(Dave Winer)

Dishonored's Harvey Smith on the risk of letting players break your game

to Tabbed River 2.0, the NY Times. The idea hit me yesterday at lunch with Jeremy Zilar, a friend who works at the Times. I was listening to him talk about what he's working on, which is fascinating, and it hit me that there should be a tab for the Times in the rivers. Even though the Times feed is in my personal river, it's mixed with a lot of other feeds, so it flows more quickly and you could miss a bunch of Times editorial content. With its own tab, you get approximately 12 hours of Times stories, a halfday of news, all accessible through a scrollbar. In summary -- the way you can help -- the most important thing you can do -- is to use the stuff. Right now that means reading the rivers and clicking the links.

Racy online photos of Chinese sex party go viral over speculation that ... - New York Daily News
Spark Public Outrage Huffington Post Over 100 Photos Go Viral Online of A Sex Orgy Allegedly Featuring High... International Business Times FRANCE 24 all 26 news articles

Curated News Edition

Featured/ Social Media/

59

The web is socialist, but it's not a family


(Dave Winer)

there I was holding the bag, and when the flow hit my server it crashed. Every time I tried to A few weeks ago I openly asked bring it back up, it crashed again. Fred Wilson a serious question Having been responsible for that's been on my mind ever since managing this site a year before, I started writing on the net and when the stress was one of the encouraging others to. factors that put me on the What happens to all this stuff operating table, I understood what when the servers disappear? I was looking at. I could buy more It's a really fair question to ask servers, and you know what -- the anyone involved in techonology site would still crash. So I put up for two reasons: a static page that said I was going 1. They might know the answer. to do the best to get people their 2. If they're aware of the problem data, but that the server was gone. we all might find an answer The shitstorm that came from that working together. was epic. I don't think that's too But if we never talk about it, one strong a term. I think I understood day I fear we'll wake up to find what it looked like from their it's all gone. And we never do talk point of view. One day they go to about it. Yet someday it will be look at their blog and it's gone. the big topic. I'm sure of it, The server doesn't respond. because I've lived it. Connection refused. They come In 2003, after having heart back an hour later and all they see surgery and leaving UserLand to is a message saying they might try to rescue what was left of my get their data at some point. life, I was caught in a tough spot, What! Rage. having to host a big dynamic blog People feel very personal about hosting website on one of my this stuff. One person wrote that I servers. This was a "gift" from the had murdered their blogs. This people who were running the idea caught on. Now I was a company. I don't know what led murderer. It was just me. Not a them to do this at the time, but company. They either didn't know
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:41:06 AM

or forgot what I had gone through. I didn't forget. You can't forget something like that. But it didn't happen to them, so it didn't happen. I don't think there's any moral conclusion to this, other than there are a lot of points of view of an event like this. From my own view, I knew that only a handful of the sites had been updated in the last year. So I believed that a lot of the rage was fake. We had also made their sites available for download almost from the start, and told the users about it, repeatedly -- but almost no one took advantage of it. So the people who were enraged were at least partly responsible for the problem. Also, as an engineer I never promise certainty. I know about Murphy's Law. So when I said we might be able to get them backup copies of their sites, I felt certain that I could get most of them, if not all. But the one person whose site could not be restored would want to hold me to the promise, so I hedged it. In the end everyone got their sites, if I remember correctly. Back then all this was much

smaller. There were far fewer bloggers. Maybe thousands. Today there are millions. None of them are thinking about what happens when Tumblr or Blogger or WordPress or Facebook disappear. But come on -- we almost know for certain that one of them will. Given enough time they will all disappear. Doesn't it make sense to think, in advance about what will happen then? Technically there are good practices that exist right now, that could ameliorate the problems. Don't we have a responsibility to implement them? Which gets me to the beginning. Yesterday I wrote a piece where I said that the web is socialist. I strongly believe if you try to turn a community of bloggers into a property, someday you'll wake up to the realization that you bought a bag of air. There's nothing inside the walls that's worth anything, from a dollar standpoint. What happens then dear blogger? Do you think anyone is going to subsidize the hosting? You will be on your own that day. And you very likely won't have any recourse, any

more than my users had in 2003. I promise you I was wellintentioned, but that didn't save the sites. Good intentions are no answer. Saying they're not your users won't help either. In 2003 they weren't mine because I was no longer employed by the company. No salary. No upside. Nothing. I quit for a very good reason. So why me? It was basically an accident that the hits were coming to my server. That didn't matter to the users. Were they right? Hard to say. But it didn't matter. In a way I'm writing this to encourage everyone who's profiting from this stuff now to set aside some of the money to help the users in what is sure to come. But also to the users to wise up and also to stop being such children. If you feel there's value in your writing, then treat it like it has value. If you depend on strangers to pay your rent, you have to know that isn't going to work, long-term.

Superheroes That Know How You Felt


Annie Colbert (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:38:41 AM

but artist Jacopo Rosati uses the fuzzy textile to create clever works of art. Felt might seem like a fabric Rosati's Felt Collage series reserved for grade school craft i n c l u d e s b a t h i n g b e a u t i e s , awesomely, superheroes. It's a projects and Muppet construction, medieval skylines and, most bird...It's a plane...It's art gone

crafty! Watercooler, art See all the snipping and clipping that goes into Rosati's pieces in the time-lapse video below. [Via illustrationmundo] More About: Superheroes,

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Science/ Daily World/

Curated News Edition

New Room-Temperature Masing Method Could Make Masers More Common than Lasers
Rebecca Boyle (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:00:00 AM

A new maser that can work at room temperature and without any powerful magnets could usher in a new age of masing instead of lasing. It may be good timing, as the next generation of lasers could be the most powerful lasers to ever lase. Now this new device could be the simplest maser to ever mase. Masers are like lasers except they amplify microwave energy instead of light beams -- MASER is an acronym like laser, and it stands for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Scientists developed the first ones more than 50 years ago, before they ever developed lasers. Related Articles Coming Generation of Lasers May Be the Most Powerful Lasers That Will Ever Lase Microwave Sensors Auto-Detect Bikes At

Intersections, To Trigger Traffic Signals and Protect Cyclists NIST Scientists Use Microwaves to Quantum-Entangle Two Ions for the First Time Tags Technology, Rebecca Boyle, laser beam, lasers, magnetic fields, maser, microwave energy, microwaves The problem has been that masers require extreme conditions in order to work. Most of them amplify microwaves by using hard crystals, often rubies. The devices also need powerful magnetic fields as well as ultralow pressures, which requires vacuum chambers and pumps, or super-cold temperatures, aided by special refrigerants that can approach absolute zero. This new maser, designed at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK and Imperial College London, doesn't need those extreme conditions. Instead of a ruby, which only works at extremely cold temperatures, this one uses something called p-terphenyl, which needs to be doped with pentacene. It can complete the

same masing-amplification process as a ruby. The pentacene also happens to turn the colorless crystal a brilliant pink color, which the NPL news release could not help but point out. Because then it looks like a ruby! The pentacene-containing pterphenyl maser could make it much cheaper and more efficient to mase, which means masers could become a lot more common. They might be useful for medical scanning devices, chemical sensors, radio telescopes or read-out mechanisms for quantum computers, the NPL scientists say. "For half a century, the maser has been the forgotten, inconvenient cousin of the laser," said Mark Oxborrow, co-author of the study and a scientist at NPL. "Our design breakthrough will enable masers to be used by industry and consumers." The study appears today in Nature.

Verse of the Day - Matthew 8:1617


(Verse of the Day)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 12:00:00 AM

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases." Matthew 8:16-17 Thoughts on Today's Verse... How does Jesus feel about us when we feel tormented by evil and unfairness? Does he really long to touch our broken bodies when we are sick? Look two places and you will know the answer. First, look at him in the dusk of early evening touching the untouchable and you'll know. Second, look to the cross and see him in anguish so we can be confident that he knows and cares. But, there is a third place to look. Look to the future when we will see him, and every tear will be dried from our eyes and we will share in his glory. Here we trust in his grace and know it only in parts

and pieces, but The Day will come when we will know fully the words of Matthew 8:16-17 in our own immortal bodies (1 Cor. 13:9-12; 1 Cor. 15:35-58). My Prayer... Holy and Righteous Father, until The Day of ultimate grace is fully realized, I trust your love and mercy will sustain me through the servant grace of my Savior and your Son. In his name, Jesus of Nazareth and of heaven, I pray. Amen. The Thoughts and Prayer on Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or c o m m e n t s t o phil@verseoftheday.com. 1998-2012, Heartlight, Inc. Verseoftheday.com is part of the Heartlight Network. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Curated News Edition

Science/

61

A Mechanical Road Crew for Filling Potholes Quickly and Cheaply


Katharine Gammon (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:15:00 AM

Street Saver The Python 5000 can do the work of a three-person road crew in less than a minute. Python Manufacturing Inc. A quarter of America's major metropolitan roads have stretches in substandard condition, and drivers pay the consequencespotholes alone cost car owners an average of $335 a year in tires, repair and maintenance. The standard method for fixing potholes is to send three workers and a hotbed truck to toss in an asphalt mix and give it a few thumps with a shovel or boot. The process can take as little as two

minutes, but the fix is only temporary. One study found that about half of repaired potholes had returned four years later. The new Python 5000 potholefilling machine, from Python Manufacturing, mends holes in

with tack oil, which helps the finished patch stick to the surrounding road. Finally, the operator uses the truck's tool arm to fill the hole with an asphalt mix, rake it, and pack it down with a roller. The roller applies the same amount of force as a standard road-paving machine, so the patches the Python makes often last until it's time to repave the entire road. The company estimates that over five years, owners of the $290,000 Python just 30 to 60 seconds. A single could save $125.61 per ton of operator drives the machine to the pothole repair-or about 40 percent repair site, parks, and then uses a over the standard method. So far, joystick to deploy the machine's r o a d c r e w s i n C a l i f o r n i a , four-foot tool-equipped arm. First, Colorado and Virginia are using an air jet blasts debris and water the machines. out of the hole. Next, it's sprayed

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Health/

Curated News Edition

Grappling With The Uncertainty Of Alzheimer's Testing


Michelle Andrews (Shots Health Blog)

series of studies has found that people manage just fine when told their results, thank you very Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:52:00 AM much, even if the results indicate Andrei T c h e r n o v / that their risk of developing iStockphoto.com Alzheimer's is higher than When does it make sense to test a a v e r a g e . person for the risk of an incurable Many factors likely influence the illness? development of Alzheimer's Counselors have long cautioned disease, including genes, lifestyle about the downsides of genetic and the environment. To date, one testing for Alzheimer's disease. gene in particular has been For one thing, the current genetic identified as providing a strong tests for late-onset Alzheimer's indication of risk for the disease: the type that develops after age 60 the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene and is responsible for more than on the 19th chromosome. There 90 percent of cases only a r e t h r e e v e r s i o n s o f t h e indicate a probability of getting genedubbed E2, E3 or E4-and the disease. It's not definitive. everyone inherits one version, or And consumers' ability to buy life allele, from each parent. People insurance or long-term care with one or two E4 alleles have an coverage could be jeopardized by up to 15 times greater risk of the results. developing late-onset Alzheimer's But there's another reason some disease. doctors and counselors have The studies, called Risk discouraged testing: Concern that Evaluation and Education for if people learned that they were at Alzheimer's Disease (REVEAL), higher risk for developing a got started in 2000 to test how serious, incurable neurological asymptomatic people reacted to disease, it might prove profoundly learning their genetic risk, based distressing. on the APOE gene. The first study Those worries have proved examined 162 adult children of unfounded so far. An ongoing p e o p l e w i t h A l z h e i m e r ' s .

Subsequent studies tested other variables, adding more AfricanAmericans to the subject pool, for example, or disclosing the results by phone instead of in person. Genetic Test Reveals Unexpected Data Feb. 24, 2012 Shots - Health Blog Scientists See Progress In Alzheimer's Despite Growing List of Drug Failures Attacking Alzheimer's With Antibodies, Hormones Aug. 10, 2012 At the time of the original study,

"there was a resounding consensus that no way should you be sharing APOE information with people," says Dr. Robert Green, a lecturer in genetics at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and co-author of papers about the work. But the study, which followed people for a year after they learned their results, found that people who knew their APOE genetic status were no more

anxious or depressed about their chances of developing Alzheimer's than those who didn't. This was true even for subjects who had the E4 genetic variant that conferred the highest risk. Despite limitations of the test, people in the study said there were many reasons they wanted to be tested, including arranging their personal affairs, making decisions about long-term care insurance and preparing their family for the possibility that they might become sick. Interest in this type of testing is only going to continue to grow, says Green. "Whether we recommend tests or not, the world is changing and people are starting to want to know about their own DNA," he says. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Curated News Edition

Health/ Politics/

63

Should Lack Of Exercise Be Considered A Medical Condition?


Eliza Barclay (Shots - Health Blog)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:01:00 AM

iStockphoto.com Doctors need to prescribe exercise to patients who don't get enough exercise, a Mayo Clinic expert says. "You've got a bad case of deconditioning," the doctor says. Actually, it would be the rare doctor who would say that to anyone. And though it might sound like something to do with hair, in fact, deconditioning is a familiar and more profound problem: the decidedly unnatural state of being physically inactive. At some point in the last few decades, the human race went from being a species that is active most of the time to one that is increasingly sedentary. The Lancet recently called it an "inactivity pandemic," responsible for 1 in 10 deaths worldwide. That's a major shift, and a major public health problem, many researchers have pointed out. Inactivity is linked to heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer. Now Michael Joyner, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic, argues in a commentary out this month in the Journal of Physiology that one way to deal with the problem is to make

physical inactivity a mainstream medical diagnosis. It's one of the most common preventable causes of illness and death, and Joynes writes, there is "one universally effective treatment for it exercise training." Shots called up Joyner to get him to elaborate a little more on just why doctors need to get more involved with this problem. "The entire medical research industrial complex is oriented towards inactivity," he tells us. Insurance companies will reimburse patients for pills for diseases related to inactivity, but rarely for gym memberships. "Physicians really need to start

defining the physically active state as normal," he says. Joyner says that he thinks about 30 percent of the responsibility to fight inactivity should fall on the medical community. "Physicians need to interact with patients about being active, and they need to write prescriptions for exercise," he says. He points to two of the greatest public health triumphs of the 20th century improvements in traffic safety and the decline in smoking rates as models for how we should tackle the inactivity epidemic. About onethird of the behavior change came from individuals who started

using seat belts and car seats, and those who quit smoking, and doctors directly influenced that, he says. The rest was up to the public health community to enact indoor smoking bans and harsh drunken driving laws that helped support the right behavior. For inactivity, doctors can push patients to get exercise, and cities and towns can make it easier for them to do it, he says, with more bike lanes and parks that can be an alternative to the gym. Joynes says he increasingly sees two types of patients in his clinic: the ones who follow health guidelines and keep active; and those whose don't and see no connection between their behavior and their health outcomes. "We have to be more innovative and creative to figure out how to help the people who aren't empowered to exercise for their health," he says. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Video: CNN takes almost 3 hours to report Family Research Council shooting
Mary Katharine Ham (Hot Air Top Picks)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:01:46 AM

posted at 10:01 am on August 16, 2012 by Mary Katharine Ham Compressed for your viewing ease, two hours and 45 minutes of news on CNN without a mention of a shooting at the advocacy groups office 1.1 miles from the CNN D.C. bureau. This is the West Coast feed, so thats why the clock in the corner flashes both Eastern and Pacific times. Thanks to Greg Hengler at Townhall. Both MSNBC and Fox were quicker and more aggressive with their coverage, putting it on TV and on their home pages within the time it took CNN to tweet the story as breaking news at 2:11 p.m.(The @CNNbrk feed is on PST, hence the 11:11 a.m. time stamp.) MSNBCs Chris Matthews, however, completely ignored the story during his show. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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David Frum
(David Frum)

Andrew Sullivan complained yesterday that I had engaged in a McCarthyite attack on Ron Paul by writing the following: A politician isnt answerable for the antics of every one of his supporters. But theres surely a reason, isnt there, that racists, anti-Semites, 9/11 Truthers, and Holocaust deniers are so strongly attracted to the Paul campaign. They hear something. They continue to hear it too, no matter how firmly Ron Pauls more mainstream supporters clamp their hands over their own ears. Andrews riposte: Notice how pure the smear is, enabled and not diminished by the first sentence. Notice the key concept of Beltway ideological policemen: there is a mainstream and a non-mainstream. Dabble with the latter at your peril. Since David has perished by the cult of the mainstream, its odd he should deploy it against others. But to throw in Holocaust denial and 9/11 Truthers for good measure! Really. And notice how particularly cheap and easy it is to use such tactics against a libertarian. The traditional left is often based on collective associations, building a movement out of oppressed groups and their grievances, whether it be class or race or even

sexual orientation. Libertarianism is the opposite. Its about dis associating. When you listen to Paul saying he will not turn anyone away from supporting his platform regardless of their motives or beliefs, you are hearing a reflection of his libertarianism, not his bigotry. He will accept support from any quarter and compared with the corporate money flowing into the other candidates coffers, he is about as independent as a presidential candidate can be. Because he is a radical individualist, he doesnt even understand why he should somehow explain the belief of others, or justify their support. You should ask them, not him. This kind of gotcha-association game is particularly easy because libertarians favor liberty above all, and that will necessarily mean liberty for bigots as well as others. A principled belief in states rights will doubtless lead to more racist and homophobic policies in many states but also, of course, more enlightened and successful inclusive states like Oregon or New York or Massachusetts or California. A rejection of statism might lead to more discrimination in the private sector. But it doesnt mandate it. And it need not encourage it. A noninterventionist foreign policy will allow evil to triumph elsewhere in

the world, because it believes its none of our business or too riddled with unintended consequences to try extirpating. That may be right or wrong, but it is not an approval of the evil of Assad or Ahmedinejad or the North Korean junta. And again, it is actually much deeper an American tradition than permanent warfare. But if you can trot out David Duke or Ayatollah Khamenei as potential Paul supporters, you have a very easy, cheap and essentially McCarthyite target. It saddens me that this kind of tactic works. I still believe that the newsletters, because they were in Pauls name, require a clearer explanation from Paul than the muddled ones he has given. He should not be left off the hook. And his proposals deserve a thorough vetting and discussion. But there is something awry when a candidate is assessed not on his arguments and proposals but on the shadiness and ugliness of some of his fringe supporters. Ron Pauls supporters ask that their candidate not be judged by his associates. Or by the people he chose to employ. Or by the newsletters he published. Or by the book he wrote. Or by the way he earned the largest part of his living when out of office in the 1990s. Or by his purchase of the mailing list of the Holocaust-

denying Liberty Lobby. Or by the radio shows he chooses to appear on. Or by his strategic decision to reach out to racist voters. Or by the conspiracy theories to which he lends credence, from government creation of AIDS to Israeli culpability for the 1993 bombing to a putative 9/11 coverup. And here I thought that libertarianism was a doctrine of personal responsibility? May Ron Paul at least be judged by the words he has spoken with his own mouth within the current campaign? The supporters say no again. When Ron Paul tells an interviewer that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made race relations worse, were not supposed to consider what he might mean by better. When Ron Paul warns that a border fence would be used to prevent fleeing American citizens from exiting the country, were not supposed to conclude that hes a paranoid crank. Andrew deploys what might be called the ontological defense of Ron Paul, as follows: 1) Ron Paul is a libertarian. 2) Libertarians espouse individualism. 3) Racism is a form of antiindividualism. 4) Therefore Ron Paul cannot be a racist. That is a demonstration of what

might be called the deductive method of reasoning. But theres another way to study reality: induction. Like this: 1) Ron Paul has again and again exploited bigotry, paranoia, and hate as fundraising devices. 2) Ron Paul is a libertarian. 3) So yes, I guess it is possible for a libertarian to do that. Heres my question for Ron Paul supporters: why the denial of the undeniable? Perhaps you like Pauls message of legalized marijuana? Why not just say so? You dont think its important to stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons? Argue it forthrightly. If you regard Social Security and Medicare as literally the moral equivalents of slavery, go ahead, make your case. But all this excuse-making, special pleading and jiggering of the rules of evidence so as to exculpate Ron Paul from the record of his whole political life? For what? This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Heritage Intern Award Winners: Quoting We the People on Obamacare


Matthew Lauer (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:00:44 AM

Each semester, we bring together more than 60 young leaders from across the country to participate in our internship program in D.C. They are given the opportunity of practical experience working on policy research, marketing, and business, and training in communication skills like blogging and public speaking. They learn about Americas founding principles while visiting important sites including the Pentagon, National Archives, and Mount Vernon. Combining an engaging curriculum with each interns individual talents and passion, the Young Leaders Program prepares students for success. This summer, we challenged the interns to use their creativity to bring conservative principles to life. Heritage President Ed Feulner selected the winning projects. Matt Lauer, Kate Adams, Kaylyn Krzemien, and Tray Smith are the second place winners. Stay tuned for the first place winner tomorrow. The Foundry featured a great deal of commentary before and after the Supreme Courts historic decision on Obamacare. However, each post by a Heritage expert

on the decision and the health care law. The picture below illustrates the public response by highlighting the individual words that appeared most frequently in response to the Foundry Obamacare posts. The size of each word directly correlates to the number of times the word was mentioned in the public comments. The largest words span the width of the bell. The words people, law, health, care, state, and government are among the largest represented and are the most frequently mentioned in the comments. The popularity of those words is unsurprising, considering the issue at hand was a government law that will affect peoples health care. To effectively gauge public sentiment, it is important to look at examples of the context in which the words were used. People was the most prominent word, written 138 times in a total of 594 comments. Here are some examples dealing with the way people will respond to the ruling and be taxed under it: American people know this year will be a turning point in American history. We have a big decision between constitutional, limited government on the one was followed by several comments from Foundry readers, who offered their own thoughts HERITAGE page 67

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Obamas One-Man Empire


Daniel Greenfield (FrontPage Magazine FrontPage)

hit 2.66 trillion, and last year they approached 4 trillion dollars. All that money and power is Submitted at 8/15/2012 11:50:37 PM going into an empire of czars and If you ever played computer c o m m i s s a r s . W h i l e c a b i n e t solitaire at work, failed to put up a members have to be approved by wheelchair accessible ramp or the Senate, czars do not. Obama snipped the tag off a mattress, has 38 czars, compared to 8 for then you may already be on the Bill Clinton, that cover everything wrong side of the law. There are from Asian carp (yes theres an thousands of Federal criminal Asian carp czar) to the automobile s t a t u t e s a n d h u n d r e d s o f industry to online security to thousands of regulations that carry ethics. Bypassing the cabinet also criminal penalties; so many that allows Obama to bypass the most people violate one or more t r a d i t i o n a l l i m i t a t i o n s o n of them every year without even e x e c u t i v e p o w e r . knowing it. Under Obama, the From massive bills to n u m b e r o f v i o l a t i o n s h a s unregulated czars, the dominant increased dramatically with theme of this administration is omnibus 2,000- and 3,000-page paranoid secrecy. The expansion bills, whose full contents no one of government that we know knows, rushed into law, making about is a fraction of the true every American into a potential expansion occurring below the criminal. radar, packed away in a In just the first two years, the subparagraph on the 1209 th page Obama Administration imposed of a 3000-page bill and in the 40 billion dollars worth of new functions of the bureaucracies that regulations. Obama added over they create and the czars who 100,000 federal employees, an oversee their empires. increase of 6 percent, to pad out As part of the 2011 budget deal a the byzantine bureaucracy of his number of the more egregious regulatory empire. Under his 2012 c z a r s w e r e s u p p o s e d t o b e budget the size of government eliminated, but Obama broke the will have doubled from when he budget deal and inserted a signing took office to 2021. In 2001, statement that claimed the deal federal outlays were below 2 violated the separation of powers trillion. In 2006, when the b e t w e e n t h e b r a n c h e s o f Democrats took Congress, they government. The appeal to the

separation of powers was stunningly hypocritical as the entire purpose of his empire of czars was bypassing Senate confirmation. Obamas separation from the separation of powers only increased this month as he signed into law the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011 which widens the scope of the imperial presidency. Rosa Gumataotao Rios, Obamas nominee for Treasurer of the United States, had to be confirmed by the United States Senate. Rosa however will be the last Treasurer to require Senate confirmation now that the Act has become law.

Among the other key positions that can now be filled without Senate approval is that of Chief Scientist of NOAA, a hub of Global Warming activism. The Obama Administration had been unable to get its pick for Chief Scientist through the Senate legally. That will no longer be an obstacle. Also exempted from Senate confirmation are the directors of the Office for Domestic Preparedness, the United States Mint, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice. The Council of Economic Advisers will also no longer require Senate confirmation. Most cabinet positions will still

require confirmation, but many assistant secretary positions will not, which will make it possible for Obama to move more radical appointees into higher positions within the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, the Treasury Department and the Justice Department. Additionally the leadership of the Commodity Credit Corporation, which has a great deal of influence on the life of the American farmer, will no longer require Senate confirmation. But Obama has become expert at making unilateral appointments even without the benefit of the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011. When Obama couldnt get the appointments he wanted, he bypassed the Senate by making recess appointments even when the Senate was not in recess. And the purpose of all those appointments and czars was to build an infrastructure that would allow him to maintain complete control of the United States of America without the need for legislative action and even in defiance of legislative and judicial action.

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hand and Leviathan on the other. The excuse to write law from the bench is worrisome enough, as Justice Kennedy wrote in his dissent, but the precedent it sets to tax people unless they act upon a mandate will chase us for the rest of our lives. If Obamacare is considered good enough for all the American people, why arent our senators and congressmen under the same Obamacare medical plan? Words like tax, Obamacare, need, and cost appeared somewhat less frequently in the comments, but are still displayed in relatively large letters in the picture above. However, examining the way the public used these words offers perhaps even better insight into public sentiment toward the ruling. For example, the word tax appeared numerous times, thanks in large part to the majority opinion handed down by Chief Justice John Roberts. As expected, the tax idea was not very popular:

We need to use this decision that Obamacare is a tax to our advantage. There are videos galore showing President Obama saying it was not a tax. Use them. Why wouldnt an employer pay a tax of $2000 per employee or several thousand per employee for a qualified plan? No brainer. Still think you can keep your doctor or your health plan? Finally, there are many tiny words that were mentioned only a handful of times. These are perhaps the most revealing because they are often specific to a person or sentiment. Heritage, Roberts, constitutional, and responsibility are good examples of how people felt before and after the Supreme Court decision. Constitutional understandably came up multiple times in the comments. One good example: I am not a constitutional scholar but this can only be construed as the death knell for liberty. Even if Obamacare is repealed, the federal

government now has the power of taxation to enforce its will on all the citizens. While many argue that Chief Justice Roberts was attempting to maintain the Courts integrity in his ruling upholding Obamacare, the public comments reveal that many citizens are less favorable toward the Court as a result of the landmark decision. The idea that the government cannot require Americans to buy health insurance but can tax them for not doing so has left many readers skeptical about the Courts ability to police government overreach. Many others are even more determined to get the law repealed, as the public comments show. The illustration above reveals that the debate over Obamacare and the Supreme Court decision upholding it has expanded far beyond basic health care policy to include the integrity of the judicial system, the extent of the governments taxing power, and the very definition of American

self- governance. Matt Lauer is a political science and finance major at Washington University in St. Louis. Kate Adams is a rising junior in business marketing, mass communications advertising and public relations at Oklahoma City University. Kaylyn Krzemien is a senior in political science and journalism at Creighton University. Tray Smith is a senior at the University of Alabama in political science and economics. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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Medicare May Be Obamas Waterloo


Matthew Vadum (FrontPage Magazine FrontPage)
Submitted at 8/15/2012 11:47:00 PM

In the Battle of Waterloo a resolute leader defeated a dangerous, imperious tyrant. The metaphor lives on today in American politics. During congressional hostilities over Obamacare Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) famously urged Republicans to push hard to stop President Obamas signature legislation because killing the bill would break him. It would be Obamas Waterloo. It would show that we can, along with the American people, begin to push those freedom solutions that work in every area of our society. After Democrats used gangster tactics that made defeat impossible, former Bush speech writer David Frum scoldedconservatives and Republicans. He blamed [c]onservative talkers on Fox and talk radio [who] had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to

abject and irreversible defeat, he wrote. The process ended in Waterloo all right: ours. It now appears both DeMint and Frum were wrong. Obamacare, it turns out, is not Obamas Waterloo but Medicare just might be. Through a preternatural confluence of events Republican Mitt Romney could evict the Saul Alinsky radical in the White House by running a successful campaign on reining in the obscenely expensive Medicare program and introducing market reforms. Yes, you read that right. Moreover, Romney may be able

And hes locked into the ultratoxic Medicare cuts. In late 2009 Obama gave an authoritative yes as an answer when Jake Tapper of ABC News asked if he would veto any bill that tries to restore funding you took from Medicare? The election is now less than three months away. Obama is committed. In 2008 candidate Obama went on record against a similarly sized Medicare cut. How would your golden years turn out under John McCain? His health care plan would cut Medicare by $800 billion that not only to touch this supposed m e a n s a 2 2 p e r c e n t c u t i n third rail of American politics benefits. Higher premiums and co and survive but to ride the -pays after a lifetime of work, lightning all the way into the seniors health care shouldnt be a history books. gamble. John McCains plan, its This is because the coolest, not the change we need. smartest president ever is hellbent All of this is a political godsend. on extracting$716 billion from the Republicans get a once-in-apopular health care entitlement for lifetime opportunity to play Santa senior citizens. The effect on Claus while normally spendthrift M e d i c a r e p a t i e n t s w i l l b e Democrats become Christmasdevastating but Obama doesnt stealing grinches. Paradoxically, care. Hes got to have the money GOPers also get to position in order to pay for Obamacare, an themselves as compassionate unproven, unpopular, and largely defenders of Medicare while unknowable program that makes acting like fiscally responsible patients and businesses justifiably grownups saving America from nervous and alienates seniors, a the monster of Obamacare. hugely important voting bloc.

Three years later, deleting your photos on Facebook now actually works Ars Technica
(news photos - Google News)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:07:38 AM

Ars Technica Three years later, deleting your photos on Facebook now actually works Ars Technica It has been more than three years since Ars first started covering Facebook's inability to remove "deleted" photos from its servers, but this particular saga appears to be coming to an end. The company told Ars that its new photo storage systems are in... Facebook Is Finally Deleting Your Photos When You Want Them To Gizmodo Instagram updates app to focus on consumption. A business model emerges? GigaOM Facebook Finally, Really Deletes Your Deleted Photos The Atlantic Wire all 4 news articles

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Sequestration Hits Close to Home: Defense Support to Civil Authorities in Danger


Noelle Doundoulakis (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:30:54 AM

The Heritage Foundation hosted its Homeland Security 2012 Conference on Wednesday. Several distinguished speakers warned that defense disaster response support to civil authorities is threatened by sequestration. The conference contributors included the Honorable Paul N. Stockton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs; Vice Admiral Harvey E. Johnson, USCG (Ret.), and Heritages James Carafano, Ph.D. The importance of the Department of Defense (DOD) in disaster response was a recurring theme in their remarks. This led to an important point of agreement: The looming defense sequestration undoubtedly puts effective disaster response at risk. Stockton stated that the DOD is working to be better positioned to support civil authorities and strengthen preparedness. He emphasized building resilience in order to be prepared for a critical infrastructure such as an

electromagnetic pulse attack or cyber occurrence. It is absolutely imperative, he said, that the DOD have the ability to exercise core missions in any and all situations. Building on these points, Vice Admiral Johnson spoke about domestic disasters that have occurred in the past years and how the Coast Guard, National Guard, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been essential in both rescue and recovery. He also expressed concern about what kind of effect sequestration may have on the modernization of the Coast Guard and other branches of the military and the militarys ability to sustain critical operations. With an already under-resourced military, defense cuts will undeniably hamper the collaboration between the DOD and DHS and curtail these organizations capacity to protect Americas interests. Carafano echoed these observations and stressed the strain that sequestration would cause homeland security and military readiness. The National Guard and Coast Guard have been critical during national disasters, but sequestration will largely hollow out these components of

the nations security. There is no doubt that the DOD is essential to the nations homeland security and will continue to be a crucial part of disaster response. However, depending on how sequestration plays out, the U.S. may lose this vital branch of homeland security. America should ensure that it can respond to a crisis at home before victory can be claimed abroad. Drastic cuts to defense will unquestionably harm the efforts of civil authorities during a crisis and will cause irreparable damage to the strength of this country. Noelle Doundoulakis is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit http://www.heritage.org/ about/departments/ylp.cfm. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Arduino-based SocialChatter reads your Twitter feeds so you don't have to (video)
Jamie Rigg (Engadget)

skills and kit to make it happen, head over to the source link for a how-to guide. Don't fill the If you prefer reading your RSS requirements? Then jump past the feeds without the backlight, break to hear SocialChatter's there's hardware for that, and if soothing voice without all the you'd prefer not reading your effort. Twitter feeds at all, there's now Continue reading Arduino-based hardware for that as well. Mix an SocialChatter reads your Twitter Arduino Ethernet board, an Emic feeds so you don't have to (video) 2 Text-To-Speech Module and the Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, knowhow to put them together, Internet and you've got SocialChatter -- a Arduino-based SocialChatter neat little build that'll read your reads your Twitter feeds so you feeds aloud. The coding's already don't have to (video) originally been done for you, and it's based appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 on Adafruit's own Internet of Aug 2012 11:58:00 EDT. Please Things printer sketch with a little see our terms for use of feeds. bit of tinkering so nothing's lost in Permalink| Adafruit| Email this| translation. If your eyes need a Comments Twitter break and you've got the
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:58:00 AM

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Britain Is Right: No Asylum for Assange


Ray Walser (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)

DOJ, FCC clear Verizon buyout of cable companies' spectrum, require giving up some airwaves
Jon Fingas (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:15:00 AM

fugitive with an outstanding extradition request properly issued by Sweden. Yet the British have not wavered in their Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:41:16 AM Early on August 16, Ecuadors intentions to carry out their legal foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, o b l i g a t i o n t o e x t r a d i t e M r announced that his country is Assange to Sweden to face granting WikiLeaks founder questioning over allegations of J u l i a n A s s a n g e p o l i t i c a l sexual offences. asylumthat is, if he can get Recently, the British government there. informed Ecuador that it will Since the end of the London consider applying national law Olympics, Patino and his boss, the Diplomatic and Consular leftist President Rafael Correa, Premise Act of 1987, which was have been in a panic, warning that designed to protect the British their embassy in London is under public from flagrant abuses of imminent threat of attack by the diplomatic immunity. Under the British government for sheltering act, if diplomatic premises are Assange since June 19, when misused, their diplomatic or Assange ducked into the embassy consular status may be lost, and requested asylum. together with all concomitant Patino launched a fresh campaign rights (including inviolability). to whip up nationalistic sentiment This is a step above breaking and foreign support by claiming diplomatic relations, which is also that Britain is acting like a an option. bullying, colonial power in It is indeed ironic, although little flagrant violation of international n o t e d i n t h e p r e s s , t h a t law. The hysterical Patino says Ecuadorwith its ever-increasing that Ecuador will carry its case to t i e s t o ( a n d p o t e n t i a l U . N . the U.N. Security Council. As sanctions-busting deal and money threats to world peace go, this laundering with) Iranwould must be one of the smallest. even dare protest orderly In the eyes of British justice enforcement of national law. Did (where, unlike Ecuador, there is Ecuador lodge a protest when its genuine rule of law), Assange is a f r i e n d s i n T e h r a n , i n t o t a l

disregard of all diplomatic conventions, allowed a mob to overrun and loot the British embassy in November 2011? The Assange asylum case constitutes just a small piece of the anti-Western, pro-Iran strategy propagated by Correa, Venezuelas Hugo Chavez, Raul Castro, and others. It is both selective and hypocritical. It aims to show the West in an unfavorable light while ignoring the gaping illegalities of friends. The retrieval of Assange to face justice either by enforcement of the 1987 act or by the breaking of diplomatic relations will once more demonstrate British determination and prevalence of the rule of law. Such an action merits the full support of the U.S. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Verizon has been fighting hard to get its acquisition of cable companies' wireless frequencies past legal hurdles, and it just surged over the most important of the bunch: both the Department of Justice and the FCC have signed off on the agreement. To get the $3.9 billion deal through the door, Big Red will have to offload some of its spectrum to other companies. The DOJ, meanwhile, is more concerned that Verizon is getting a little too cozy with Bright House, Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable in terms of marketing and reselling bundles that include cellular and cable access. Closing the deal also requires setting up a new joint venture in technology research. We're still working to learn the full details of the deal, but the

spectrum handover will likely give a swift kick to Verizon's 4G capacity -- and anger a few rivals who wouldn't have wanted any handover to go through. Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless DOJ, FCC clear Verizon buyout of cable companies' spectrum, require giving up some airwaves originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink CNET| DOJ| Email this| Comments

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A Shooting and Media Silence


Ben Shapiro (FrontPage Magazine FrontPage)
Submitted at 8/15/2012 11:55:00 PM

Yesterday, a gunman opened fire at the conservative 501(c)3 Family Research Council, an organization dedicated to standing up for traditional values, particularly with regard to marriage. The gunman was posing as an intern; only an alert security guard stopped the suspect from committing mass homicide, in all likelihood. The suspect was reportedly carrying a Chick-fil-A bag; Chick -fil-A is, of course, the restaurant chain most prominently linked with the traditional marriage cause, and an organization that has come under assault from the organized left, including Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel and Mayor of Boston Thomas Menino. He began shouting about the politics of FRC, then began shooting. The security guard on duty asked the man whom he was visiting; the man opened fire, wounding the guard in the arm. The security guard disarmed him; the man then said, Dont shoot me, it was not about you, it was what this place stands for. Who was the suspect? According to new reports, his name was

Floyd Lee Corkins II, and he was a volunteer at a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender center. It took the media hours to report on the shooting. As of this writing, some hours later, it is not on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. It isnt on the front page of the New York Times. Its nowhere to be found. Now, imagine that an enraged Christian man had entered the headquarters of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation wielding a backpack full of ammunition. Imagine he began shouting about the sin of same-sex marriage. Imagine hed shot a guard. Is there any doubt it would have

made the front page of every newspaper in the country? Is there any doubt at all that Democrats would immediately have accused Republicans for inciting this man, blamed churches for indoctrinating him, and called for regulation of offensive hate speech? Most of all, wouldnt the White House immediately call for an exponential increase in the amount of funding for their antibullying program, headed up by Dan Savage, and focusing in large measure on preventing bullying of gay kids? But when a gay activist shoots up a traditional values center, nobody has anything to say.

Still at War: 7 Americans Dead in Helicopter Crash


(The Feed)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 8:02:11 AM

Via CBS News: NATO says 11 people, including seven American troops, have been killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan. The other casualties, according to a statement from the international

military coalition, were three members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan civilian interpreter. It was not immediately clear what caused the helicopter to crash. ISAF said an investigation was underway. The Taliban issued a statement STILL page 72

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claiming that militants had shot the aircraft down, but the group often issues claims which later turn out to be false or exaggerated. . . Were in the middle of a war and a presidential campaign, and were reading articles about how Paul Ryans suit fits and crazyJoe-Biden playing racial politics. You think that somebody would ask either of the two candidates about the war. . . Greg Pollowitz

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Instagram 3.0 Launches With New Profiles, Photo Maps and More
Lauren Indvik (Mashable!)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:59:08 AM

Instagram is going live with version 3.0 of its iPhone and Android apps Thursday. If version 2.0 was about new tools to develop photos -- Instagram

introduced a slew of new and faster filters, as well as tilt-shift -version 3.0 is about new ways to consume them. The centerpiece of the update is a feature called Photo Maps which, if enabled, will organize your m a p w i l l b e d i s p l a y e d geotagged photos on a map. Your prominently on your profile (see

above), and you'll be able to Continue reading... explore the Photo Maps of other More About: Android App, users, as well. instagram, iphone app, It's fun to see your photos pinned p h o t o g r a p h y to various parts of the globe, but what's key, says Kevin Systrom, co-founder and CEO of Instagram, is that you can now

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Gaffe-tastic week for Biden fuels speculation of Hillary swap


Ed Morrissey (Hot Air Top Picks)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 9:41:28 AM

posted at 10:41 am on August 16, 2012 by Ed Morrissey Hes in North Carolina when hes in Virginia. He thinks Paul Ryan is governor of one of the states numbered 51 through 57. Hes not even clear in which century hes living. Hes Joe Biden, and hes one heartbeat away from the Presidency. Or will he be for long? The weeks misadventures for Sheriff Joe have some wondering whether hes medically qualified for the job, and speculation rising anew that the possessor of that hygienic heartbeat may want to find someone else to square off against Paul Ryan in the October debates. Before we get to that speculation, heres a measure of just how bad the problem has become. Jonathan Martin reports from the road that Joe Bidens staff has begun imploring the pool reporters to edit Bidens remarks: His staffs response is effectively to try to save Biden from himself. During the Virginia trip reporters were hustled out of retail campaign stops in diners and other intimate settings, aides tried to edit media pool reports for any potential landmines that could be seized on by Republicans and

even hovered at close range to eavesdrop on journalists conversations with attendees at Biden rallies. Whats perhaps most striking about the Biden staffs attempts at press management is its effort to influence what goes in the pool reports from his off-schedule stops. Because the entire press corps cannot easily jam in, say, a diner or private home, it is standard practice to have a single designated reporter take notes and share the material with colleagues from other news organizations. These reports are designed entirely for the media, but are distributed by White House staffers. In the case of Obama, as with his predecessors, the reports are simply forwarded without comment by email to a news media distribution list. But on two occasions during Bidens Virginia trip, his staff sought to have certain elements in the reports highlighted while reporters drafted them and discussed the contents with the reporters after the summaries had been sent but before they had before sent to the broader media. Staffers spinning reporters to frame events the best they can is, of course, commonplace in politics. But attempting to intervene in the drafting of accounts that reporters share with

one another is all but unheard of and reflects the deep concern Bidens team has about offering any fodder to the opposition. Jim Geraghty muses skeptically on the possibility of a Hillary-forBiden change: Of course, a sudden Biden departure wont happen and cant happen, for a couple of reasons. First, it would require President Obama to admit a mistake. Secondly, it would de facto concede that the critics who deride Biden as an ill-informed, tactless, often obnoxious, loudmouthed, bloviating rhetorical time-bomb have been right all along. Thirdly, no one would believe the sudden health crisis or other story put forth to explain the switch. Fourth, theres no automatic slam-dunk replacement. Think Hillary Clinton wants to jump in two months before Election Day to help save Obama from his own bad decisions? She might if she were asked, and it might be exactly what Obama needs. Hillary would connect with the exact voter demographic that has abandoned Obama working-class white voters, as well as shore up his standing among women. Of course, Biden is supposed to connect with working-class white voters too, but his racial dog-whistle in

Danville has probably scotched that connection for good. And that one was no gaffe. Count John Fund among the skeptics: The White House has to worry that for the next 82 days Joe Biden will be under tremendous scrutiny especially given the fact that Paul Ryan has become such a media-attention magnet. Everyone is anticipating the October 11 debate between Biden and Ryan. Bidens penchant for off-the-cuff remarks doesnt inspire confidence that he wont unintentionally blurt something out when facing Ryan. For example, he embarrassed the Obama administration recently by prematurely revealing he was comfortable with gay marriage forcing his boss to suddenly endorse gay marriage on a timetable not of his choosing. Bidens erratic statements certainly should make Team Obama nervous. Ive no doubt that some Democratic strategists would love for Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to swap jobs and bolster the Democratic ticket with a little Clinton magic. But theres no evidence that Hillary would take that deal. If she wants to run, she is already the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic nomination and would gain no advantage by being

yoked to Obama, her old adversary, for the next three months if they lost or the next four years if they won. The Weekly Standard says that if it happens, today might be the day. The presidential schedule has a propitious convergence: 10:15AM THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT receive the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press 10:45AM THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT meet with Secretary of State Clinton Oval Office Closed Press 12:30PM THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT meet for lunch Private Dining Room Closed Press I dont think a switch is in the offing, because I think that Sarah Palin all but poisoned the option this week: Sarah Palin said Tuesday that Vice President Joe Bidens remark that Republicans are going to put yall back in chains was disgusting and added that it should make the Obama campaign seriously consider kicking him off the Democratic ticket. The former GOP vice GAFFE-TASTIC page 75

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Great news: Prominent Dem and Obama bundler probably wont be prosecuted for $1B+ disappearance of customer funds
Ed Morrissey (Hot Air Top Picks)

After 10 months of stitching together evidence on the firms demise, criminal investigators are Submitted at 8/16/2012 10:21:01 AM concluding that chaos and porous posted at 11:21 am on August 16, risk controls at the firm, rather 2012 by Ed Morrissey than fraud, allowed the money to One of the relatively few disappear, according to people c r i t i c i s m s o f t h e O b a m a involved in the case. administration from the Left has Ahem. What kind of porous risk b e e n t h e c u r i o u s l a c k o f controls allowed MF Global to prosecutions over the 2008 bet money that wasnt theirs on financial collapse on Wall Street. Euro-zone debt? That seems to If, as Barack Obama maintains, have faded from view as the issue the collapse came from the greed at MF Global. Its one thing for and unrestrained abuse of the JP Morgan to bet the $6 billion s y s t e m ( r a t h e r t h a n t h e farm on risky investments, but government intervention in the when a firm raids its customer lending markets that created a accounts in an attempt to cover its h o u s i n g b u b b l e a n d t h e own bad bets, thats supposed to government-endorsed mortgage- be a felony. backed securities that poisoned Heres an even better look into the financial sector), why has the the direction of investigators in Department of Justice failed to the Obama-run Department of hold anyone accountable? The Justice. Are they trying to get to New York Times has a pretty the top? No, theyre trying to get good answer today, but probably former Democratic governor and not the one the Left wanted to Senator not to mention bighear: time Barack Obama bundler A criminal investigation into the J o n C o r z i n e t o r a t o u t h i s collapse of the brokerage firm MF u n d e r l i n g s : Global and the disappearance of In the most telling indication yet about $1 billion in customer that the MF Global investigation money is now heading into its i s w i n d i n g d o w n , f e d e r a l final stage without charges a u t h o r i t i e s a r e s e e k i n g t o e x p e c t e d a g a i n s t a n y t o p interview the former chief of the executives. firm, Jon S. Corzine, next month,

according to the people involved in the case. Authorities hope that Mr. Corzine, who is expected to accept the invitation, will shed light on the actions of other employees at MF Global. Those developments indicate that federal prosecutors do not expect to file criminal charges against the former New Jersey governor. Mr. Corzine has not yet received assurances that he is free from scrutiny, but two rounds of interviews with former employees and a review of thousands of documents have left prosecutors without a case against him, say the people involved in the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Its possible that Corzine had no idea that his own firm had started raiding customer accounts to cover Corzines own bad bets on EU debt but it stretches the imagination to believe it. And if that is the case, then why would prosecutor think that he could provide any good evidence of wrongdoing among his staff? If he knew about it, hes at least complicit, no? Jeff Carter at Points and Figures smells a rat: After speaking with CCC lawyer James Koutoulas, and other pro

traders I have no doubt that money was stolen from customer segregated funds. There is just too much smoking gun evidence. Anyone with experience in the industry would be able to sift through the legal machinations and malarky to understand the deception involved. If this were adjudicated in an Arbitration or Probable Cause Committee at an exchange, I am relatively confident that Corzine would be found guilty based on the circumstantial facts that I know. Jeff notes a passage in the Times article that paints Corzine as an obsessive trader who frequently inhabited a desk on the trading floor. Jeff calls that a tell in that a man that connected to the market would know what losses were piling up and how much of the firms money would be available to back his play. The notion that an obsessive trader like Corzine, who micromanaged the firms trading on that level, was unaware of the origin of the money that did get used to attempt to recoup the losses is, well, very difficult to believe. So who will take the fall? Carter bets that it will be MF Treasurer Edith OBrien, who might have had an interesting tale to tell had

prosecutors offered her immunity. Instead, the NYT suspects that federal prosecutors will end up cutting a deal with Corzine that allows him to shift the guilt to his staff. All of which is, Im sure, an amazing coincidence. And ZeroHedge notices the best news of all from the Times article: Mr. Corzine, in a bid to rebuild his image and engage his passion for trading, is weighing whether to start a hedge fund, according to people with knowledge of his plans. He is currently trading with his familys wealth. If he is successful as a hedge fund manager, it would be the latest career comeback for a man who was ousted from both the top seat at Goldman Sachs and the New Jersey governors mansion. Who wants to put their money into Corzines hands again? Anyone? Anyone? This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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GAFFE-TASTIC
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presidential candidate told Fox Newss Greta Van Susteren that Bidens comment at a Tuesday rally in Danville, Va., should mark the nail in the coffin for the vice president. There werent enough groans and boos when he said such a disgusting comment, really, especially to a demographic there that includes 48 percent of the community being black Americans, Palin said Tuesday night. Greta, if thats not the nail of the coffin. Really the strategists there in the Obama campaign have got to look at a diplomatic way of replacing Joe Biden on the ticket with Hillary. And I dont want to throw out that suggestion and have them actually accept the suggestion because then an Obama/Clinton

ticket would have a darn good chance of winning. But really Joe Biden really drags down that ticket, Palin added. After that well-publicized challenge, Obama wouldnt dare take her advice and dump Biden from the ticket. Even a medical reason would look like a panicked, defensive move at this point, especially after this weeks nonstop series of VP bungling on the campaign trail. Were more likely to see a Biden apology than a withdrawal, and I dont think thats likely at all. The last convention purge of an incumbent VP from a ticket came in 1944, and only because Henry Wallace had become an open admirer of Joseph Stalin and thankfully, we ended up with a President Truman rather than a President

Wallace. Obamas stuck with Biden. Thats actually bad news for everyone, but fortunately American voters can keep Biden from being one heartbeat away from the presidency in November. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

Brewer Blocks Benefits for Undocumented Immigrants


(FOXNews.com)

BREWER page 75

Google Play gift cards show up for real, come in $10 and $25 flavors
James Trew (Engadget)
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:32:00 AM

BREWER
continued from page 75

Remember that Google Play gift card support we told you about just this morning? Well now things got real. Literally. The pic above shows one of the shrinkwrapped critters in a $25 denomination. Android Central

claims they were sent a few different pictures, showing $10 varieties also -- and as we can see from the box -- they're good for music, movies, books, apps and (mysteriously) "more." So if you're after that hot new game, now's about the time to start Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, dropping hints to your nearest and Tablet PCs dearest.

Google Play gift cards show up for real, come in $10 and $25 flavors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Android Central| Email this| Comments

Aug. 15, 2012: Student protestors walk towards the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix after Gov. Jan Brewer issued an executive order. AP Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday ordered state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration policy. In an executive order, Brewer said she was reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law denying BREWER page 76

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2 Deputies Shot to Death In 'Ambush,' 2 Wounded


(FOXNews.com)

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continued from page 75

manufacturing plants and refineries along the Mississippi River. New Orleans Local News, Aug. 16: St. John the Baptist Weather, Sports, Investigations Parish Sheriff deputies examine a Louisiana authorities say the two car with bullet holes at a crime sheriff deputies were killed in an scene where two sheriffs were "ambush" after they responded to killed and two wounded in an reports of a traffic officer being early morning shootout in St. John s h o t m u l t i p l e t i m e s e a r l y the Baptist Parish. Thursday morning near an Sources tell FOX 8 the shooting isolated parking lot for a Valero happened in a parking lot of a refinery. shuttle service that takes workers Residents at the Riverview trailer to a nearby refinery. FOX 8 park notified police about a speeding car, which matched the Next Slide Previous Slide description of the car used in the T w o s h e r i f f ' s d e p u t i e s i n earlier shooting, Michael Kerry Louisiana have been shot to death Tregre, the St. John the Baptist and two others injured after an sheriff, said. early-morning shootout in St. The two officers were John the Baptist Parish, west of i n t e r v i e w i n g a n i n d i v i d u a l New Orleans. underneath some blankets. During A u t h o r i t i e s i d e n t i f i e d t h e the interview, another person deceased officers as Brandon exited the trailer with an assault Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, weapon and "ambushed" them, 28. The Times-Picayune reported Tregre said. that the injured officers are Louisiana State Police have taken Michael Scott Boyington, 33, and over the investigation. The Jason Triche, 30. investigation is considered hot The first shooting occurred and ongoing. around 5:30 a.m. in a parking lot There are five people in custody, used by workers in an area of authorities said. Two of them
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:05:30 AM

were hurt in the shooting and are hospitalized. It was unclear how officers managed to take the suspect with the assault weapon into custody. Authorities do not believe there are any additional suspects. "Air support and local law enforcement combined with us," Trooper Evan Hallel, told FOX-8. "We got feet on the ground and people in the woods. We're trying to gather all the information that we could at this time." Two officers in the earlier shooting suffered gunshot wounds and are hospitalized. One is currently undergoing surgery. The Times-Picayune reported that deputies were outside the emergency room at River Parishes Hospital, which is holding Officer Jason Triche. He reportedly suffered multiple injuries to his kidney, spleen and bladder. The superintendent for St. John the Baptist Parish was told not to open a nearby school, but authorities say there is no public threat. Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Click for more from Fox8Live.com Click for more from NOLA.com Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet Related Stories Man accidentally shoots self in Nevada movie theater Hero guard shot thwarting attack at Family Research Council HQ Share This Article Newsletter Signup Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com. Newsletter Signup This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification to illegal immigrants. Young illegal immigrants around the nation on Wednesday began the process of applying for federal work permits under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The federal policy defers deportations for that group if they meet certain criteria, including arrival in the United States before they turned 16 and no convictions for certain crimes. After President Barack Obama announced the policy change in June, Brewer labeled it "backdoor amnesty" and political pandering by the Democratic president. Arizona has been in the vanguard of states enacting laws against illegal immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned parts of the Arizona enforcement law known as SB1070 but ruled that a key provision on requiring police to ask people about their immigration status under certain circumstances can be implemented. The Obama administration challenged that law in 2010 after Brewer signed it into law. In the past decade, Arizona voters twice approved laws denying publicly funded services, such as in-state resident university tuition rates, to illegal immigrants unless mandated by the federal government. Brewer's order said the policy's BREWER page 77

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Did Being a Republican Cost 'Boss' an Emmy?


(FOXNews.com)

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continued from page 76

there and go, Yeah, thats a great performance, but oooooh, I just hate everything he stands for? Grammer asked hypothetically, NBC before answering with sarcasm: I dont believe thats possible. Did the Emmys snub Kelsey Leno pointed out Grammer was G r a m m e r b e c a u s e h e s a no stranger to winning Emmys, Republican? having won for his work on Thats what the actor told Jay Cheers and Frasier. Leno on the Tonight Show on Grammer explained that it was Wednesday night. only after his last win did it After asking him questions about become known he was a member an early stand-up routine and his of the GOP. first tattoo, Leno brought up the Just after that last [Emmy win], I Emmys, which air in September. became (a Republican), he said. Now explain something to me, Leno offered another you get a Golden Globe for explanation, saying that while Boss, but you dont even get an The Boss is great, it was on a Emmy nomination, Leno asked. network, Starz, that not a lot of Yeah, its hard to figure, people, including Emmy voters, Grammer said. It may have to do watch. with several things, honestly, but I Well thats not good is it, think its possible, I mean, I am a, Grammer laughed. Im a declared out of the closet Earlier this year, right after he Republican in Hollywood. picked up his Golden Globe, Light applause rippled through Grammer told FoxNews.com at a the audience and Leno emitted a post-show party that "being a comic gasp. Republican in Hollywood is easy Do I believe its possible that for a guy like me because I was some young person, young voting such a revolutionary." actor, or even older voting Following his Emmy snub, it member for the Emmys, would sit sounds like Grammer has changed
Submitted at 8/16/2012 11:05:30 AM

his tune. Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet Related Slideshow Star Politics: Who leans left, and who leans right Related Stories Mayim Bialik almost loses left thumb in serious car accident Source: Ahead of wedding, Jen Aniston feeding false information to friends to pinpoint leaks in her inner circle Share This Article Newsletter Signup Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com. Newsletter Signup This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

federal paperwork doesn't confer lawful status on illegal immigrants and won't entitle them to Arizona public benefits. However, it said the policy change "could result in some unlawfully present aliens inappropriately gaining access to public benefits contrary to the intent of Arizona voters and lawmakers who enacted laws expressly restricting access to taxpayer funded benefits and state identification." Brewer directed state agencies to start any necessary emergency rulemaking processes to implement her order. State Rep. Catherine Miranda, who supports the federal program, called Brewer's action meanspirited. "She just continues to put obstacles in front of young people in Arizona," the Phoenix Democrat said. Rep. Martin Quezada, DPhoenix, said he questioned whether the order would have much practical effect under Arizona's current laws. But he said it served to demonize good kids who should be allowed to get state-issued identification and enter the workforce. Print

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Related Stories US Adds Blimps to Patrol Border Illegal immigrants line up at consulates across country for 'DREAM'-er applications Bloomberg seeks to ignite election debate on immigration, says newcomers to US key to economy Related Opinion Amnesty for illegal aliens begins today and Congress couldnt care less Share This Article Newsletter Signup Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com. Newsletter Signup This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work.

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