Liberty Newspost March-26-2012

Curated News Edition
- 27/03/12
http://www.LibertyNewspost.com
Turkey will do everything possible for Annans Syrian mission to fail

RT (News RSS : Today)
conduct inclusive political talks. Camille Otrakji, an editor for the Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:40:00 PM Syria Comment online magazine, Syrian soldiers, who have believes it is difficult to foresee defected to join the Free Syrian the outcome of Annans mission. Army, hold up their rifles as they There are too many players to secure a street in Saqba, in predict, he told RT I dont Damascus suburbs. (Reuters / think there is any plan that can Ahmed Jadallah)(38.5Mb) embed meet the needs of all the people. It video can meet the needs of the people UN envoy Kofi Annan is now on in the center of the political his way to Beijing with Russias spectrum. support for his six-point peace Otrakji believes those on the plan for Syria. But online editor extremes, on the one hand those Camille Otrakji says the plan i n f a v o r o f m a k i n g A s s a d faces major hurdles both within president for life, and on the other Syria and outside of it. those in favor of putting him on -During his three-day visit to trial, would not be satisfied with Moscow, Annan discussed his the plan. plan with President Dmitry However, most of the Syrian Medvedev and Russias foreign people have demands that are m i n i s t e r , S e r g e y L a v r o v . easier to accommodate, he said Medvedev and Lavrov backed Otrakji pointed out that the Annans roadmap for peace, o p p o s i t i o n w a s e x t r e m e l y which calls on both sides to f r a c t u r e d . announce a ceasefire and to They vary from the Communists [unable to retrieve full-text content] [unable to retrieve full-text content]
to the Islamists and everything in between, he said Most of the opposition leaders are still afraid to sign onto this plan because theyre afraid they will lose the respect of what they call the street, which is the extremists in the opposition. But they would have to be a bit more courageous a show up for the dialog process. Otrakji recalled that there was already a precedent for this roadmap. We have the Arab Leagues initiative, he said. And the Syrian government surprised the Arab League by being very accommodating and motivated to help the plan work. It was a failure because Qatar and Saudi Arabia did not want to continue because they expected the Syrian government to fail to respect it. He also said the report issued by the Arab League also failed Qatars and Saudi Arabias [unable to retrieve full-text content]
expectations as it mostly blamed the opposition for initiating the violence in Homs. Otrakji also noted that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may try to derail Annans mission. I think the real troublemaker is going to be Prime Minister Erdogan, he said He already attacked Kofi Annan because he did not consult everyone before he proceeded with his plan. He expressed his view that Erdogan had his own plan and that Annans success would mean that the Turkish leader would have no role to play in the conflict. " Im afraid he will do all he can to make it fail through his proxies in Syria, which is mainly the Muslim Brotherhood, Otrakji stated. Daoud Khairallah, professor of international law at Georgetown
University, noted that Kofi Annans plan was within the framework of international law. As a general principle of international law, intervention in other countries affairs is not allowed and this is well stated in article two of the United Nations charter, he told RT Mr Kofi Annan is in the right position. He said the only time the UN Security Council could call for intervention is if there was a threat to international peace and security, not because of internal turmoil. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Headline/
Titanic's memory still casts a spell

(USATODAY.com Feed)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:17:17 PM
out an SOS. They can learn how many tons of coal Titanic consumed a day (600), how many PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. The dogs were onboard (10) and how most lavish monument to the sea's many survived (three two most famous disaster is a $30 Pomeranians and a Pekingese). million roadside attraction in the Titanic Museum Attraction's foothills of the Great Smokies, popularity testifies to the depth 1,000 feet above sea level and as and breadth of our fascination far from the sea as RMS Titanic with the ship. It also shows how, was from land when it sank 100 on the first major anniversary years ago. since the last survivor's death Titanic Museum Attraction The and since 9/11 the disaster's Titanic Museum Attraction in meaning is changing. Pigeon Forge, Tenn., features a By Steven Bridges for USA half-scale replica of the liner's TODAY bow section and hundreds of Tour guide Lauren Trask invites artifacts. visitors up the Grand Staircase at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Titanic Museum Attraction Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The replica The Titanic Museum Attraction staircase cost more than $1 in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., features a million. half-scale replica of the liner's The great ship sank 100 years bow section and hundreds of ago April 15, after hitting an artifacts. iceberg in the North Atlantic on The Titanic Museum Attraction, i t s m a i d e n v o y a g e f r o m next to the Hatfield & McCoy Southampton, England, to New Dinner Show, is a half-scale Y o r k . O f m o r e t h a n 2 , 2 0 0 replica of the ocean liner's front passengers and crew the exact half. It rises 100 feet above the number, like much about Titanic, road, crunched against a fake is still in dispute only 712 (or iceberg, with spray rising from its 713) survived, largely for lack of bow as it "steams" in the direction lifeboats. of Knoxville. On its centennial, the saga will be Inside are Madeleine Astor's life retold again, in a 3-D release of vest, valued at $1.3 million; a the 1997 blockbuster movie; a third-class menu (supper: gruel/ miniseries on ABC written by cabin biscuits/cheese), assessed at Julian Fellowes, creator of $ 1 8 9 , 0 0 0 ; a n d o n e o f t h e Downton Abbey; and National proverbial deck chairs, worth Geographic Channel programs $400,000. featuring Robert Ballard, the Visitors can take the ship's wheel, m a r i n e g e o g r a p h e r w h o touch a man-made iceberg and tap discovered the wreck in 1985, and
wedding ring of Isador Straus, founder of Macy's, whose wife, Ida, turned down a spot in a lifeboat to stay, and die, with her husband. There's a baton that belonged to bandleader Wallace Hartley, whose musicians played as the ship sank. The exhibits stress the classic elements that have allowed Titanic director James Cameron. There will be dozens of new Titanic's legend to trump those of books as well as memorial bigger ships and disasters: services, themed dinners, re- Reputation. Titanic was the enactments and exhibits. There world's largest ocean liner the will be observances in Belfast, most luxurious, famous and Northern Ireland, where Titanic expensive and widely believed was built; in Southampton, where to be, if never advertised as, it began the voyage; in Halifax, unsinkable. Which is why the Canada, where 150 victims are sea's oldest story ship sinks buried; and in New York, the port seemed sensational. Passengers. The names of some Titanic never reached. And at the spot where Titanic who died are still familiar: John went down, 350 miles southeast J a c o b A s t o r , B e n j a m i n of Newfoundland, millions of rose G u g g e n h e i m , W a s h i n g t o n petals will be scattered on the Roebling II. Passengers included silent-film star Dorothy Gibson; water. The Titanic Museum Attraction Archibald Butt, the president's top here, which opened in 2010, is a military adviser; and Margaret larger version of one in another "Molly" Brown, wife of a mining tourism hub: Branson, Mo. Both millionaire and henceforth known are creations of John Joslyn, who as "unsinkable." also was behind the live 1986 TV Class. Astor, one of the nation's show The Mystery of Al Capone's richest men, was in the same boat Vaults and 1987's Return to the as immigrants who had never had Titanic LIVE. That show, indoor plumbing. Yet 53% of first hosted by Telly Savalas, was a n d s e c o n d c l a s s s u r v i v e d , about Joslyn's expedition to compared with 22% of third class (or steerage). Titanic. The museum illustrates why the Heroes and villains. Those who Titanic saga has endured and how went down with the ship included its captain, architect and chief it's changing. Many little stories make up a o f f i c e r s ; i t s m u s i c i a n s ; i t s great one. There's the gold engineers, who kept the lights on
until the end. Then there was J. Bruce Ismay, head of White Star Line. He was responsible for Titanic having so few lifeboats, yet he escaped in one. Hubris. In an age of technological advances, Titanic represented humankind's inability to control technology and its overconfidence in, and overreliance on, machines. People have seen parallels ever since. Drama. The ship took more than 2 hours to sink, allowing individual stories to play out in a confined, defined setting. But the Titanic Museum Attraction does more than tell the story. On one level, it addresses the human loss and suffering. Coowner Mary Kellogg-Joslyn says that on April 15, while others celebrate Titanic, "we'll pay tribute to the victims" at a ceremony with spiritual music and the lighting of an eternal flame. On another level, however, the attraction invites visitors to participate, and revel, in a catastrophe where 1,500 people drowned or were crushed or frozen to death. Visitors, called "passengers," are handed a "boarding pass" bearing the name and brief biography of a Titanic passenger or crewmember. They learn whether they "survive" only at the end of the tour, when they enter a darkened Memorial Room with the names of those TITANIC'S page 3
TITANIC'S
continued from page 2
aboard Titanic on the wall. En route, death and disaster are played for a mixture of laughs, sobs and thrills, like a haunted hayride on Halloween. On the bridge, visitors who take the wheel and invariably fail to miss the iceberg are jocularly admonished by a guide dressed as a ship's officer for not turning fast enough. They shrug and smile. If it seems like a game, it is. In another gallery, children (and some adults) try to steer away from the iceberg on a video screen. The record so far: 34,000 hits, 1,700 misses. Mike Davis, a visitor from Mansfield, Ga., was unconcerned that his 1912 counterpart did not survive: "You don't want it to be so dismal that you can't enjoy yourself. This place doesn't leave you down in the dumps." A fascination renewed At 100, Titanic is close enough to seem real and sufficiently remote to be entertaining. For four decades after the sinking, interest in the story faded. One reason could be that there were too many relatives and survivors for whom the memory was too painful. About two dozen survivors were still alive on the 75th anniversary. But the last, Millvina Dean, died in 2009 at 97. Lillian Asplund, the last who had any memory of the night, died in 2006 at 99. To visit the Titanic Museum Attraction now is to see how any trauma, eventually, becomes just a
story. In this, Titanic is in a very different place from a disaster to which it has often been compared, and that has only recently begun its own slow journey into history. Melancholy reminders Among the least prophetic of the countless words about Titanic were uttered aboard Life Boat 13 around 2:20 a.m., as the liner sank beneath the Atlantic. "That's the last of her," a survivor said. But Titanic never disappeared from the world's imagination, not even during a disaster that echoed and eclipsed it. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Titanic's famous credo was in the thoughts of at least one occupant of the south tower of the World Trade Center. A witness later interviewed by USA TODAY said a man told two women who were pushing ahead to get on elevators, "This isn't the Titanic, ladies. It's not women and children first." There were other connections. Some fleeing the Trade Center went east down cobblestoned Jane Street, passing the dilapidated Riverview Hotel, where Titanic survivors were housed after they arrived in New York. Many of the 9/11 refugees wound up at the South Street Seaport, where a small lighthouse, covered with a film of gray ash, stood witness to the catastrophe. This was the Titanic Memorial, built largely through the efforts of Molly Brown. "The world has a
short memory for the things which thrill and shock it most deeply, and it is well for us to stop and stand and look," a minister said at the dedication in 1913. To remember Titanic, he said, was "to refresh our soul in the presence and inspiration of heroism." In the days after the attacks, there were other reminders of 1912. New Yorkers gazed at signs with the names of the missing, just as they had stood outside White Star Line offices to check the passenger list. Pier 54 on Manhattan's West Side, where the liner Carpathia docked with Titanic's survivors, became the site of the Family Assistance Center, where relatives went to obtain death certificates for missing loved ones. Will Titanic's 100th anniversary affect our understanding of 9/11, or vice versa? The meaning of Titanic's story always has depended on the time when it was told, says Steven Biel, author of Down With the Old Canoe, a cultural history of Titanic. At the time, the sinking was widely said to have shown the heroism and chivalry of men in first class, who put women and children first and kept third-class men from storming onto the lifeboats. It also seemed to set back the cause of women's rights because of their preferential treatment. Walter Lord's 1955 book A Night
to Remember appeared at the height of the Cold War, a month after the Soviet Union tested a 1.6 -megaton hydrogen bomb. To Lord, Titanic's sinking marked the end of a time of confidence and certainty, and the beginning of an era of anxiety and doubt. In the 1980s, Ballard's discovery of the wreck 2 miles down on the ocean floor seemed a quintessentially Reagan-era triumph over supposed limits. Ballard was hailed as an explorer of a new frontier to replace the Old West. A decade later, James Cameron's movie featured a populist love story with a self-realizing feminist heroine, Rose. The villains were mostly in first class, especially Rose's diabolical fianc. In 2001, the 9/11 attacks struck many of Titanic's deepest themes: the shock of the unthinkable, heroism amid disaster, technology run amok. Each was a hybrid. Titanic was an accident invited by human malfeasance (steaming too fast in an ice field without enough lifeboats). Sept. 11 was an attack exacerbated by the unanticipated even Osama bin Laden didn't expect the twin towers to collapse. In each case, a supposedly indestructible man-made structure failed an unexpected test; people of many nations and all classes died together; many of their remains were never identified or reclaimed; the exact death toll was long in dispute; and each event
was the subject of protracted official investigations and informal controversies. Both disasters seemed to mark the sudden end of something a sense of complacency, confidence, innocence, invulnerability. The tragedies of 1912 and 2001 "touch people in the same way," Kellogg-Joslyn says. "They both woke people up to what was going on," adds Edward Kamuda, president of the Titanic Historical Society. The centennial raises the question of whether Titanic's meaning will be changed by 9/11, or something else. Figuratively, at any rate, Titanic remains afloat. "Some people say that with the 100th anniversary, the ship is now going to fade away," says Charles Haas, president of the Titanic International Society. "I disagree. Titanic's stories are timeless. It's not going anywhere." 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Headline/
Supreme Court dives into health care debate

(USATODAY.com Feed)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:35:45 PM
force people to buy health insurance - that has made the health care challenge one of the By Brad Heath and Richard most-watched high court cases in Wolf, USA TODAY a generation. Instead, the justices Updated focused on a little-known tax law WASHINGTON - The Supreme and pointedly questioned whether Court opened three days of it would bar challenges such as historic oral arguments on the fate this one, or whether the health of President Obama's health care law's penalty for not buying law by skeptically questioning insurance should be considered a whether an 1867 law should bar tax at all. them from even considering Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that whether the government can she counted at least four cases in require Americans to purchase which the high court had allowed health insurance. challenges to go forward in spite By Mark Wilson, Getty Images of the law. Chief Justice John Supporters of President Obama's Roberts asked whether finding health care overhaul law march that they couldn't hear the health outside the Supreme Court in care challenge would require Washington on Monday. overturning at least one of those older cases. And Justice Stephen By Mark Wilson, Getty Images Breyer said that, while he agreed Supporters of President Obama's that the 1867 law might bar courts health care overhaul law march from hearing tax challenges in outside the Supreme Court in advance, he wasn't persuaded that Washington on Monday. the penalty for not buying At the beginning of those insurance constitutes a tax. Audio: arguments Monday morning, Day 1 of health care arguments justices on the court's liberal and Justice Anthony Kennedy - often conservative wings seemed t h e c o u r t ' s s w i n g v o t e doubtful that the law, known as questioned why Congress would the Anti-Injunction Act, would have used the language it did in serve as a roadblock to deciding the Anti-Injunction Act if it meant the constitutionality of one of the to strip courts of jurisdiction. And Obama administration's signature Justice Antonin Scalia said that accomplishments. That law the justices are barred from generally requires people to pay a hearing a suit only when Congress tax before they challenge it in clearly wanted that effect. "I find court. it hard to think that this is clear, The arguments had little to do whatever else it is," he told with the core constitutional Washington attorney Robert question - whether Congress can Long.
that previous cases under the Anti -Injunction Act had generally involved things that were either called taxes by lawmakers, or that clearly functioned as taxes. The health care law, Breyer said, "doesn't use the word 'tax' once." "They called it a penalty and not a tax for a reason," Breyer later N e i t h e r t h e O b a m a added, referring to Congress' administration nor the private intent to avoid the Anti-Injunction parties challenging the 2010 Act. health law has asked the court to Long replied that the penalties for find that the tax law blocks them not buying insurance are assessed from hearing the case. Instead, the by the IRS, and that they change court appointed Long to make that based on a person's income - all argument in a 90-minute hearing features of taxes. The justices seemed inclined, Monday. however, to consider that the Anti Long told the justices that the Anti-Injunction Act "imposes a -Injunction Act might indeed be pay first, litigate later" rule that "jurisdictional," as the Obama applies to "essentially every administration contends. Deciding penalty" in the federal tax code. otherwise could open the doors to He said the penalty for failing to other lawsuits in which taxes are buy insurance functions as a tax, challenged even before they are and that the Anti-Injunction Act paid. Even if it's jurisdictional, leaves federal courts without however, the justices appeared to jurisdiction to hear challenges to a tax before someone pays it. Were agree with arguments by Solicitor the justices to agree, courts would General Donald Verrilli that for be unable to hear challenges to the purposes of the Anti-Injunction law until 2015, which is the Act, the penalty is not a tax. That soonest anyone would be forced prompted a challenge from Justice to pay. More coverage of historic Samuel Alito, who quipped that the government would argue on case But the justices seemed skeptical Tuesday that the penalty is, indeed, a tax and therefore within of that argument. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the powers of Congress to enact. that "this is not a revenue-raising Paul Clement, a former U.S. m e a s u r e , b e c a u s e i f i t i s solicitor general representing the successful, no one will pay the 26 states challenging the 2010 penalty." That suggests it's not a law, has said the Anti-Injunction tax, she told Long. Breyer said Act should be set aside because
the main challenge focuses on the mandate to get insurance, not the penalty paid by those who don't. Most people, he has said, would make the rational choice to buy insurance, rather than pay for nothing. The oral arguments will continue with 4 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the AntiInjunction Act could render the whole thing moot. Only one lower court, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., has ruled that the Anti-Injunction Act bars challenges to the health law. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is SUPREME page 6
Headline/
Pope voices feelings for Cubans, including prisoners

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Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:37:28 PM
regime and the lack of democratic freedoms. "The pope will only make things By Girish Gupta, Special for better here. He'll bring peace, not USA TODAY war," said Jorge Martnez, a street Updated cleaner working in central SANTIAGO, Cuba Pope H a v a n a . " T h e g o v e r n m e n t Benedict XVI expressed support maintains everything. We're going for the "just aspirations and in the right direction. We're very legitimate desires" of all Cubans, good." including prisoners, shortly after The interview with Martinez was h i s a r r i v a l M o n d a y t o t h i s interrupted by Cuban police communist-run island. wanting to know what questions By Ramon Espinosa, AP Pope were being asked. An officer who B e n e d i c t X V I s p e a k s w i t h refused to give his name said, children as Cuban President Raul "Cuba doesn't need any change. Castro, right, looks on during the We don't need any other system." pope's visit to Cuba on Monday. In Mexico, crowds waving flags and Vatican-yellow balloons By Ramon Espinosa, AP cheered Benedict at the airport, Pope Benedict XVI speaks with and mariachi bands played as he children as Cuban President Raul left. Castro, right, looks on during the "My brief but intense visit to pope's visit to Cuba on Monday. Mexico is now coming to an end. Benedict, having spent three days Yet this is not the end of my in Mexico, was to celebrate Mass affection and my closeness to a before thousands of Cubans in a country so very dear to me," he country where Fidel Castro first said. proclaimed the triumph of his Benedict urged Mexicans to draw revolution in 1959, which resulted on the Roman Catholic faith for in a dictatorship that has lasted 53 strength against drug violence, years. poverty and other ills. He Benedict said he carries the celebrated Sunday Mass before sufferings and joys of Cubans in 350,000 hushed worshipers. his heart and mentioned inmates Members of the crowd said they among others. Cubans have been were gratified by Benedict's jailed for criticizing the Castro recognition of their country's
small wooden statue revered by Cubans, whether Catholic or not. The pope was to hold an outdoor Mass in the evening in Santiago's main plaza before heading to Havana, where he is to talk with Cuban President Ral Castro and perhaps his brother Fidel. Fidel Castro expelled priests and closed religious schools after his problems and said they felt reinvigorated in what they takeover. The government described as a daily struggle removed references to atheism in against criminality, corruption and the constitution in the 1990s, and economic hardship. "We pray for a 1998 visit by Pope John Paul II him to help us, that there be no eased relations between Cuba and more violence in the country," the church. Even so, the church said Lorena Diaz, 50, who owns a has nearly no access to state-run jeans factory in Len. "We pray radio or TV, is not allowed to open schools and has been barred that he gives us peace." The pope delivered the message from building churches. against the backdrop of the Christ The church has been a critic of the King monument, an important the regime's repression. Cardinal symbol of Mexican Christianity. Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of T h e s t a t u e r e c a l l s a 1 9 2 0 s Havana, has negotiated with Ral Catholic uprising against anti- Castro for the release of political clerical laws that forbade public prisoners, and church magazines worship services such as the one have published articles about the need for change. Benedict celebrated. "I hope that people take his On his flight to Mexico, Benedict message of working for the good said that in Cuba, it is "evident of all and this violence ends," that Marxist ideology as it was said Miguel ngel Rodrguez, a conceived no longer responds to reality." He urged Cubans to "find waiter. The city of Santiago is Cuba's new models, with patience and in second-largest and home to the a constructive way." Virgin of Charity of Cobre, a Some Cubans weren't impressed by Benedict's visit. "It's not
important at all. The pope doesn't represent anyone," Manuel Detra, 30, said as he sat on a step on a narrow street in Havana, cleaning a set of fan blades. Contributing: The Associated Press; David Agren in Le oacute/ >n, Mexico For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Caught on mic: Obama begs Medvedev for space

E-Cat: a breve le certificazioni - greenMe.it

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Submitted at 3/26/2012 9:51:18 AM
GreenStyle E-Cat: a breve le certificazioni greenMe.it E-Cat. La fusione fredda di Andrea Rossi potrebbe disporre presto delle autorizzazioni di sicurezza per i dispositivi. Ad annunciarlo stato lo stesso Rossi che ha spiegato di essere gi piuttosto avanti nelle procedure di rilascio. E-Cat domestico: al via le certificazioni di sicurezza GreenStyle all 2 news articles
its intended purpose is strictly for defense against countries such as Iran. U.S. President Barack Obama (L) As RT reported earlier this s h a k e s h a n d s w i t h R u s s i a n month, American authorities President Dmitry Medvedev in a could soon be involving Russia on bilateral meeting before attending their classified data regarding the t h e 2 0 1 2 N u c l e a r S e c u r i t y missile defense system in Europe. Summit in Seoul March 26, 2012. The motion to recruit the former (Reuters / Larry Downing) Cold War rival is part of an On Monday while President ongoing effort to re-tune the ties Obama was taking part in a global between the US and Russia. nuclear security summit in South I understand. I will transmit this Korea, he was caught on tape i n f o r m a t i o n t o V l a d i m i r , asking for Russian President Medvedev responded,referring to Dmitri Medvedev for space. the soon to be Russian President This is my last election. After Vladimir Putin. m y e l e c t i o n I h a v e m o r e The two which were unaware that flexibility, Obama implored. their actions were being recorded Obama assured the departing s e e m e d t o h a v e a g e n u i n e Russian President he will have the understanding of the situation flexibility required to deal with while in the South Korean capital missile defense issues after the of Seoul. The two superpowers 2012 presidential election. havent exactly seen eye to eye In the past Russia has strongly w h e n i t c o m e s t o h o w t o opposed the fortification being implement their respective antibuilt in Europe to intercept missile programs. ballistic missiles.Its leadership Moscow has expressed it would fears the US will use the system like to work in collaboration with against Russia, but the US insists Washington to unite the antiSubmitted at 3/26/2012 3:47:00 PM
missile defense systems to create one global program, but the US has insisted the best way to go about it would be separately. The intended private conversation between the two leaders initially caught the White House off guard. Obamas request to the current Russian president later sparked the White House to release a statement. I think as you saw from their remarks, there was a very positive tone, said the National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes wrote. " Since 2012 is an election year in both countries, with an election and leadership transition in Russia and an election in the United States, it is clearly not a year in which we are going to achieve a breakthrough," Rhodes added. According to the press releaseand President Medvedev, The New START Treaty has been a key factor in the most productive three years in US-Russia relations.
Although disagreements have arisen in the past, Rhodes said the future for the two countries to collaborate on the project is plausible. We should continue to be working on this issue at the technical level; that there are steps that can be taken on both sides to gain better understanding of the US and Russian, he added. President Obama and President Medvedev agreed that it was best to instruct our technical experts to do the work of better understanding our respective positions, providing space for continued discussions on missile defense cooperation going forward," he 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
In focus: Scaling the Bakrie Tower with suction pads

Nate Lanxon
Submitted at 3/26/2012 10:02:12 AM
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Top News/
Report: Zimmerman told police teen punched him before fatal shooting - CNN
(Top Stories - Google News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:25:25 PM
Hundreds of people gather at a park in Sanford, Florida, for a town hall meeting on the shooting of an unarmed youth. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: A witness says Zimmerman was straddling Trayvon Martin, not helping him NEW: Rallies are held from coast-to-coast in support of Martin's family and cause Zimmerman told police Trayvon Martin hit him before the shooting, a report says "Right now, we have too many unanswered questions," the attorney general says Sanford, Florida (CNN)-- The core of Trayvon Martin's story has been told again and again in recent days -- about how the 17year-old went out to a Sanford, Florida, convenience store, only to be killed on his way back to his father's fiance's home. Yet one month later, questions persist as to exactly how and why that happened. The man who admitted shooting the teen has not been charged in connection to the case, much to the dismay of Martin's parents and thousands of strangers nationwide who've rallied behind them. On Monday, the story continued
to gain both complexity, and clarity, thanks to details of the account that Martin's shooter gave to police after the shooting. George Zimmerman's description is outlined in an Orlando Sentinel article that cited "authorities" as the source of its information. The Sanford Police Department
subsequently released a statement that, while condemning what it called"unauthorized leaks," confirmed the newspaper account "is consistent with the information provided to the State Attorney's office by the police department." Events held around country in response to case
Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, told police he was on his way to the grocery store when he saw Martin, a black male, walking through his gated community, according to the Sentinel report. "Something's wrong with him," he told a 911 dispatcher, according to
the contents of a call released last week. "Yep. He's coming to check me out. He's got something in his hands." The teen started to run, Zimmerman said. When he said he was following the boy, the REPORT: page 8
REPORT:
dispatcher told him, "We don't need you to do that." Shortly afterward, neighbors began calling 911 to report an apparent altercation, then a gunshot. The Orlando Sentinel report fills in some blanks, purportedly from Zimmerman's perspective, of what transpired in the meantime. Zimmerman, according to the Sentinel report, later told police that he lost sight of Martin and was returning to his SUV when the teen approached him. The two exchanged words, according to Zimmerman, who said Martin then punched him in the nose. On the ground, Zimmerman said he was repeatedly punched and had his head slammed into the sidewalk, according to the Sentinel report. He began yelling, he told police. Previously released tapes of 911 calls included neighbors saying they had heard hearing screams -though it wasn't clear whether they came from Zimmerman or Martin. Mary Cutcher told CNN on Monday that she and Selma Mora Lamilla were in a kitchen nearby when they "heard a whining, someone in distress, and then the gunshot." They ran outside and, "within seconds," were about 10 feet away from Martin's body, Lamilla said. "(Zimmerman) was standing over the body, basically straddling the body with his hand on Trayvon's back," said Cutcher, adding that they called three times to him before he finally asked them to
call police. "It didn't seem to me that he was trying to help him in any way." And Martin's girlfriend was on the phone with him the entire time, according to a lawyer for the shooting victim's family. Benjamin Crump said last week that the girl "completely blows Zimmerman's absurd self-defense claim out of the water." What is evident is that, minutes after that Zimmerman's first 911 call, police arrived at the scene. They found Martin "laying face down in the grass," according to a police report. A short time later, Martin was pronounced dead. As to Zimmerman, "his back appeared to be wet and was covered in grass (and he) was also bleeding, from the nose and back of his head," according to the same report. Zimmerman was questioned, but has not been charged in the case. This fact has triggered widespread uproar, with nearly three-fourths of Americans -including 67 percent of whites and 86 percent of non-whites -believing he should be arrested, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Monday. Majority in poll call for shooter's arrest Those attitudes were on display in more than dozen cities Monday. Many demonstrators wore hooded sweatshirts and carried Skittles candy -- just like Martin had, on the night he was killed -- from Atlanta to San
Francisco in many communities, big and small, in between to show support for the victim's family and denounce racism, profiling and laws that permit use of force in self-defense. In the central Florida city of Sanford, a regularly scheduled city commission meeting turned into a forum focused on the Martin case. Near its start, Rev. Al Sharpton presented a petition that he said had been signed by 2 million people calling for Zimmerman's arrest. He was one of several speakers who called for answers and accountability for police officers who they felt bungled the case by not testing Zimmerman for alcohol and drug levels and not doing a background check on him -- even though they did both for the victim. "The Sanford police department needs to be held accountable," said an emotional Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father. Martin's family and supporters have said that they believe race played a role in the shooting. Zimmerman is a white Hispanic. His family says he has been mistakenly portrayed as racist. On Monday, Martin's supporters continued to insist that Zimmerman should be held responsible for Martin's death -saying the teen would be alive today if Zimmerman had simply followed the 911 dispatcher's instructions, to stay away. "We're dealing with a selfappointed watchdog who disobeyed the dispatcher's
instructions that he agreed to," said Sharpton, during a press conference earlier Monday with Martin's parents in Sanford. "All else is irrelevant." That includes, he added, reports that first surfaced Monday in media accounts and later confirmed by a family spokesman that Martin had been suspended after a search of his book bag turned up an empty plastic bag with marijuana residue. Martin, who lived in Miami, was visiting Sanford after receiving a 10-day suspension from school, according to a family spokesman. An empty plastic bag found in his book bag had marijuana residue, spokesman Ryan Julison confirmed. "The only comment that I have right now is that they've killed my son and now they're trying to kill his reputation," Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said at a news conference. Crump, the family attorney, said authorities were trying to "demonize" the teen. "Whatever Trayvon Martin was suspended for had absolutely no bearing on what happened on the night of February 26," he said. Both of Trayvon's parents will be in Washington on Tuesday, attending a House Judiciary Committee meeting with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, according to a news release from the congresswoman's office. A special prosecutor is investigating the case. A grand jury scheduled to begin deliberations on April 10, but it is
uncertain if the group will ever work on the case. The prosecutor, Angela Corey, said Monday on HLN that she has never used a grand jury to decide on charges in a justifiable homicide case. "We do a thorough investigation. We make that decision ourselves," she said. The two prosecutors assigned on the case worked through the weekend and will do their best to provide answers quickly, Corey said. They have not yet interviewed Zimmerman, nor does her office know where he is, she said. An attorney for the Martin family said Monday that any jury that sees the evidence in the case -much of which she said was collected by investigators working on the Martin family's behalf -w o u l d c o n v i c t Zimmerman."Clearly, the investigation in this case was either bungled, or ignored completely," Natalie Jackson said of the initial police inquiry. Sanford authorities say they could not arrest Zimmerman under Florida's "stand your ground" law, which allows people to use deadly force to defend themselves anywhere they feel a reasonable fear of death or serious injury. The evidence police had at the time didn't allow for an arrest, police have said. In addition to the investigation led by Corey, the state's governor has formed a task force to review the state's "stand your ground" REPORT: page 12
Top News/
Support in US for Afghan War Drops Sharply, Poll Finds - New York Times
ELISABETH BUMILLER and ALLISON KOPICKI (Top Stories - Google News)
Washington Post/ABC News poll, 60 percent of respondents said the war in Afghanistan had not been worth the fighting, while 57 Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:45:00 PM WASHINGTON After a percent in a Pew Research Center series of violent episodes and poll said that the United States setbacks, support for the war in should bring home American Afghanistan has dropped sharply troops as soon as possible. In a among both Republicans and Gallup/USA Today poll, 50 Democrats, according to the latest percent of respondents said the New York Times/CBS News poll. United States should speed up the The survey found that more than withdrawal from Afghanistan. two-thirds of those polled 69 Negative impressions of the war percent thought that the United have grown among Republicans States should not be at war in as well as Democrats, according Afghanistan. Just four months to the Times/CBS News poll. a g o , 5 3 p e r c e n t s a i d t h a t Among Republicans, 60 percent Americans should no longer be said the war was going somewhat fighting in the conflict, more than or very badly, compared with 40 a decade old. percent in November. Among The increased disillusionment Democrats, 68 percent said the was even more pronounced when war was going somewhat or very respondents were asked their badly, compared with 38 percent impressions of how the war was in November. But the poll found going. The poll found that 68 that Republicans were more likely percent thought the fighting was to want to stay in Afghanistan for going somewhat badly or very as long as it would take to badly, compared with 42 percent stabilize the situation: 3 in 10 said who had those impressions in the United States should stay, November. compared with 2 in 10 The latest poll was conducted by i n d e p e n d e n t s a n d 1 i n 1 0 telephone from March 21 to 25 D e m o c r a t s . with 986 adults nationwide. It has Republicans themselves are a margin of sampling error of plus divided, however, over when to or minus three percentage points. leave, with a plurality, 40 percent, The Times/CBS News poll was saying the United States should consistent with other surveys this withdraw earlier than the end of month that showed a drop in 2014, when under an agreement s u p p o r t f o r t h e w a r . I n a with the Afghan government all
American troops are to be out of the country. The poll comes as the White House is weighing options for speeding up troop withdrawals and in the wake of bad news from the battlefield, including accusations that a United States Army staff sergeant killed 17 Afghan civilians and violence set off by the burning last month of Korans by American troops. The poll also follows a number of high-profile killings of American troops by their Afghan partners a trend that the top American commander in Afghanistan suggested on Monday was likely to continue. It is a characteristic of this kind of warfare, Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference. He said that in a counterinsurgency conflict like the one in Afghanistan, where American forces are fighting insurgents while training Afghan security forces, the enemys going to do all that they can to disrupt both the counterinsurgency operation, but also disrupt the integrity of the indigenous forces. American commanders say that the Taliban have in some cases infiltrated Afghan security forces to attack Americans, but that most cases are a result of personal disputes
between Afghans and their American trainers. In follow-up interviews, a number of poll respondents said they were weary after more than a decade of war in Afghanistan, and impatient with the slow progress of Afghan security forces. I think we should speed up when were bringing our troops home, said Melisa Clemmons, 52, a Republican and a coordinator for a wireless carrier system from Summerville, S.C. If weve been there as many years as weve been there, whats another two years going to get us? she asked, adding, These Afghanistan people are turning around and shooting our people. Why is it taking this long for the Afghan troops to be policing themselves? Paul Fisher, 53, a Republican from Grapevine, Tex., who works in the pharmaceutical business, said the United States should no longer be involved in the war, although he opposed setting a specific timetable. After a while enough is enough, and we need to get out and move on and let Afghanistan stand on its own merits, he said. Peter Feaver of Duke University, who has long studied public opinion about war and worked in the administration of President George W. Bush, said that in his view there would be more support
for the war if President Obama talked more about it. He has not expended much political capital in defense of his policy, Mr. Feaver said. He doesnt talk about winning in 2014; he talks about leaving in 2014. In a sense that protects him from an attack from the left, but I would think it has the pernicious effect of softening political support for the existing policy. The drop in support for the war among Republican poll respondents mirrors reassessments of the war among the partys presidential candidates, traditionally more hawkish than Democrats. Newt Gingrich declared this month that it was time to leave Afghanistan, while Rick Santorum said that one option would be to withdraw even earlier than the Obama administrations timeline. Mitt Romney has been more equivocal, although he said last summer that it was time for us to bring our troops home as soon as we possibly can, as soon as our generals think its O.K. Michael E. OHanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution who is close to American commanders in Afghanistan, said that the opinion polls reflected a lack of awareness of the current SUPPORT page 12
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Top News/
Justices Hear Argument That Health Case Is Premature - New York Times
ADAM LIPTAK (Top Stories Google News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:28:47 PM
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday appeared ready to clear away the last remaining obstacle to a historic ruling on President Obamas health care overhaul. People lined up at sunrise for tickets to Monday's Supreme Court hearing on President Obama's health care law. Interactive Feature Document Graphic At the opening of three days of arguments, the justices questions suggested that they were receptive to a point on which both supporters and opponents of the law agree: that the court should decide the case now rather than waiting until the laws penalties for not having health insurance become due. On Tuesday, the court will turn to the central question in the case, the constitutionality of the laws requirement that most Americans obtain insurance or pay a penalty. The courtroom on Monday was packed to capacity, including with some members of the public who had waited in line since Friday, and the justices seemed energized, talking over each other more than usual. Outside, demonstrators came
with signs, while Rick Santorum, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, made an appearance in front of the courthouse to highlight his opposition to the law Mr. Obamas signature legislative accomplishment and to note that another Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, had signed a state law with similar features when he was the governor of Massachusetts. The argument on Monday was a sort of appetizer to Tuesdays main course, a 90-minute debate over whether the court has the authority to hear the case yet, given an 1867 law, the AntiInjunction Act, that says taxpayers may not challenge taxes until they become due. The first penalties for violating the health care laws individual mandate to obtain health insurance do not take effect until 2014, and they must be paid on federal tax returns in April 2015. This case presents issues of great moment, said Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., and the Anti-Injunction Act does not bar the courts consideration of those issues. The justices appeared to agree, and they seemed ready to proceed to the main question. A decision on the constitutionality of the health care law is thus likely by
quick and clear decision from the courts. The challengers to the law have always said the law poses no obstacle to immediate review. In asking the Supreme Court to hear the case last year, the administration suggested that the June, as the presidential campaign justices appoint an outside lawyer to argue that the law bars the enters its final stages. It remains possible, though, that challenges. The justices asked the Anti-Injunction Act will play Robert A. Long, a Washington a role in the case, if at least some lawyer in private practice, to do of the justices are dissatisfied with so, and he went first on Monday. the available options during their I would not argue that this statute deliberations and are looking for a is a perfect model of clarity, Mr. Long said. But he said law was way to avoid a decision. The Anti-Injunction Act says that jurisdictional, meaning it no suit for the purpose of forbids courts from hearing suits restraining the assessment or even if, as here, neither side collection of any tax shall be objected. maintained in any court by any Mr. Long was followed by Mr. person. In other words, people Verrilli, the solicitor general, who object to taxes must pay first a r g u i n g f o r t h e O b a m a administration, and Gregory G. and litigate later. That is so, said Justice Stephen Katsas, who represents the private G. Breyer, because taxes are, for parties challenging the law. better or worse, the lifes blood of Mr. Verrilli, whose style of argument is sober and deliberate, government. The United States Court of will return on Tuesday, arguing Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in a g a i n s t t w o m o r e c o l o r f u l Richmond, Va., ruled last year l a w y e r s : P a u l D . C l e m e n t , that the 1867 law left courts for r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e 2 6 s t a t e s now powerless to decide the challenging the law, and Michael health care laws constitutionality. A. Carvin, representing the The Obama administration had private challengers. pressed this argument in trial Mr. Verrilli walked a fine line on courts but abandoned it on appeal, Monday. He told the court that the choosing instead to try to get a administration wanted a prompt
ruling on the health care law and that the 1867 law should not stand in the way. At the same time, he asked the justices not to damage the federal governments ability to rely on the 1867 law in other cases. There were other complications. Mr. Verrillis argument that the penalty is not a tax for purposes of the 1867 law was in potential tension with one he will make on Tuesday, that the mandate was authorized not only by Congresss power under the commerce clause but also by its power to levy taxes. Today you are arguing that the penalty is not a tax, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said. Tomorrow you are going to be back, and you will be arguing that the penalty is a tax. Mr. Verrilli said the name Congress gave to the payment required for violating the mandate in the health care law calling it a penalty, not a tax mattered for purposes of the 1867 law but was irrelevant in connection with the constitutional taxing power. The challengers to the law, represented by Mr. Katsas, agreed with Mr. Verrilli that the court might decide the case on the merits now. Mr. Katsas said the penalty for failing to obtain JUSTICES page 12
Top News/ Technology/ Sports/
11
The New Black Panthers hunt for Trayvon Martin's killer

Black Panther Party. Zimmerman, who is currently in hiding due to the recent events G e o r g e Z i m m e r m a n , t h e where he gunned down the 17neighborhood watch volunteer year-old Martin, has the black who sparked a national uproar by political organization vowing to shooting an unarmed teenager to bringhimto justice. death, is pictured in this Orange Its time for us as black men to County, Florida, Sheriff's Office take justice in our own hands, booking photograph taken on July said Muhammad just outside the 2005. Zimmerman has wept with neighborhood where Martin was remorse over the killing and now gunned down. fears for his own life, a friend of On Sunday a group of around ten the gunman and a legal adviser m e m b e r s c h a n t e d s l o g a n said on March 25, 2012. (Reuters demanding justice for the cold / Orange County Sheriff's Office / blooded murder. Handout) You kill mine god-damn it I got A new development in the to kill yours said Muhammad. Trayvon Martin case could cause The black political organization further pandemonium. This after has begun posting flyers calling The New Black Panther Party for for Zimmermans capture dead Self-Defense is calling for a or alive and is offering a reward militia of 5,000 black volunteers of $10,000 to the person who t o h e l p c a p t u r e T r a y v o n s captures him. murderer, George Zimmerman. The group, which has had a George Zimmerman was not a strong presence in Sanford, p o l i c e o f f i c e r h e w a s a Florida where Martin was gunned community volunteer, said down, has been at the forefront of Mikhail Muhammad, Southern the hunt to find Martins killer. Regional Director of the New The party not only blames
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:23:14 PM
Zimmerman for the black teens death, but is also attributing the responsibility to Sanford Police and Prosecutor Angela Corey. Corey known as a hard-nosed state attorney was selected as the special prosecutor for the case that has gained global attention. Corey carries with her a controversial record for trying more adolescents in adult court than her predecessors in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties. Shes a liar and a murderer right along with the rest of them. We arent pleased with Angela Corys appointment, Muhammadtold Fox News. Many believe that the partys action could create a dangerous atmosphere in Florida and local law enforcement feels could be make things worse in Sanford. " If the government won't do the job, we'll do it," Muhammad concluded. Not everyone in the black community is aligned with the action of The New Black Panthers and many critics believe there is a
better way to go about getting retribution for Martins death. " I think disciplined, persistent, non-violent action works," Jesse Jackson told reporters. Pastor Moses Brown of Tampa acknowledges Zimmermans actions werent just but he believes in a message of justice, not hate. Sanford city officials have also voiced out against the panthers actions and released a statement condemning the groups demand and are pleading with the citizens to leave the arrests to them. According to an Orlando Sentinel report, " the city is requesting calm heads, and no vigilante justice." 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Berkshire's NetJets Forms China Venture on Luxury Demand Bloomberg

(china - Google News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:33:04 PM
Aviation International News Berkshire's NetJets Forms China Venture on Luxury Demand Bloomberg NetJets Inc., the business-jet operator owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will form a venture in China as rising wealth and trade spurs demand for luxury flights. The China operations will be partowned by investors including Hony... NetJets Forms China Venture on Luxury Demand BusinessWeek Berkshire's NetJets Names Partners in China Joint Venture Wall Street Journal Business notes | Buffett's NetJets establishes base in China Kansas City Star MarketWatch (press release)CanadianBusiness.com all 34 news articles
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Kickoff rule reduced concussions

(Sports News Headlines Yahoo! News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:33:41 PM
Moving kickoffs up 5 yards last season did exactly what the NFL sought, reducing concussions.
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REPORT:
SUPPORT
law. The Justice Department is also investigating. Did you attend a rally for Trayvon Martin? Share your images Sanford's city manager, Norton Bonaparte, also has said he is seeking an outside review of the police department's handling of the case. The neighborhood where Zimmerman was volunteering in the neighborhood watch program could also face a lawsuit, the National Association of Black Journalists said, citing Martin family attorney Daryl Parks. Parks spoke to the group's board of directors over the weekend. There is evidence that the Twin Lakes homeowners' association told residents who saw suspicious activity to call Zimmerman if they could not contact the police, according to the association's
statement. Meanwhile, a handful of members from the New Black Panther Party have offered a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman's "capture." The group is distinct from the better-known Black Panther Party and is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a "virulently racist and anti-Semitic organization." The Rev. Jesse Jackson cautioned people not to try to capture Zimmerman, saying it would not only put them at risk of being arrested, but also because it would a distraction. "The focus must be on Zimmerman himself and what he did," Jackson said. Joe Oliver, a friend of Zimmerman's told CNN on Monday that Zimmerman is in hiding and all his family members are worried for their safety.
Even with the shooter's account clear, authorities still are working to piece together the details from February 26. "Right now, we have too many unanswered questions," Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday. CNN's Kim Segal, Greg Morrison, John Couwels and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
policy, which calls for slowly turning over portions of the country to Afghan security forces, like the southern provinces, where American troops have tamped down the violence. I honestly believe if more people understood that there is a strategy and intended sequence of events with an end in sight, they would be tolerant, Mr. OHanlon said. The overall image of this war is of U.S. troops mired in quicksand and getting blown up and arbitrarily waiting until 2014 to come home. Of course youd be against it. Among poll respondents, 44 percent said that the United States should withdraw sooner than 2014, while 33 percent said the administration should stick to the current timetable, 17 percent said the United States should stay as
long as it would take to stabilize the current situation and 3 percent said the United States should withdraw now. Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Washington, and Allison Kopicki from New York. Marjorie Connelly and Marina Stefan contributed reporting from New York. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
JUSTICES
insurance was not the sort of tax the 1867 law concerned. Mr. Katsas also said that the challenge was in any event to the mandate, which applies to virtually every American, rather than to the penalty, which applies to a smaller group. Among people subject to the mandate but not the penalty, according to the challengers, are some poor people, members of some Indian tribes and those uninsured during gaps in coverage. The purpose of this lawsuit is to challenge a federal requirement to
buy health insurance, Mr. Katsas said. That requirement itself is not a tax. And for that reason alone, we think the AntiInjunction Act doesnt apply. In a brief, the states challenging the health care law pressed a further argument. They say that the 1867 law does not apply to them, because states do not pay taxes, even if it applies to the private challengers. At the conclusion of Mondays argument, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. thanked Mr. Long for his assistance to the court and added, superfluously, that we
will continue argument in this case tomorrow. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Australian Mortgage Arrears Rise Unexpectedly as Housing Stalls - Bloomberg

(housing - Google News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:21:06 PM
Sydney Morning Herald Australian Mortgage Arrears Rise Unexpectedly as Housing Stalls Bloomberg Australian home loan delinquencies rose unexpectedly as a stalling housing market kept a lid on financing options for
homeowners, Fitch Ratings said. Mortgage payments overdue by more than 30 days rose to 1.57 percent of the value of loans in the three... Mortgage strain on the rise, ratings agency finds Sydney Morning Herald all 56 news articles
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13
UK asks China to China Minsheng Bank investigate death in to Raise $1.4 Billion in ousted Bo's city - Reuters Share Sale - Bloomberg
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:56:06 PM
Alabama extends Saban's deal, boosts pay

Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:04:50 PM
Wall Street Journal UK asks China to investigate death in ousted Bo's city Reuters By Tim Castle and Chris Buckley | LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) Britain has asked China to investigate the death of a British man in the southwest Chinese city of Chongqing formerly run by Bo Xilai, the leadership contender
whose abrupt ousting shook the... Mystery Deepens Over Brit in China Wall Street Journal Britain asks China to investigate businessman's death Los Angeles Times 'Red' TV programming axed as China's leaders struggle over future of the country Fox News Financial Times- San Francisco Chronicle- Christian Science Monitor all 288 news articles
bank is offering 1.65... China Life Q4 profit slumps 82 Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:12:09 PM percent on lower returns Reuters Wall Street Journal Minsheng Bank to Raise $1.4B in China Minsheng Bank to Raise HK Share Sale BusinessWeek $1.4 Billion in Share Sale (blog) Bloomberg Forex Flows Dictate China's China Minsheng Banking Corp. Policy Outlook Wall Street (1988), the nation's first non-state Journal lender, plans to raise about Forbes- Fox BusinessHK$11.2 billion ($1.4 billion) in a W a s h i n g t o n P o s t Hong Kong share sale to shore up all 107 news articles capital amid tightened rules for risk buffers. The Beijing-based
Alabama coach Nick Saban said he received overtures for other jobs after claiming the second national title in three years. Instead of bolting, he has received a raise and contract extension worth $5.62 million a year that he said represents his intention to finish his career in Tuscaloosa.
Professional Networks Built On Facebook Are Growing Like Crazy

Boonsri Dickinson (Business Insider)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:13:00 PM
Professional networks built on Facebook are picking up major traction, according to Appdata. The space is hot, which is why dozens of venture capitalists are looking at companies like Identified and Branchout. In the last month, Identified has more than doubled its monthly
active users. It now has 2.5 million monthly average users, which is up from 1 million in February. Branchout, which is another professional network built on Facebook's platform, has 10.9 million active monthly users, which is double what it was a 150 million members around the month ago. While growing fast, neither world. network is close to challenging Here are the growth charts: LinkedIn, which has more than Please follow SAI on Twitter and
Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also:
Sean Parker's Video Chat Startup Airtime Already Has 2,000 Users These 20-Something Founders Helped Lil Wayne Get 36 Million Facebook Fans This 19-Year-Old Thinks He's Building A Billion-Dollar Company -- And He Wants To Share His Story With You
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Mongolian Companies Go Big With Initial Forays Into The Global Debt Market
Guy Norton (Business Insider)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:18:00 PM
attracted over $4.5bn worth of orders from over 330 accounts. Some 56% of the bonds were sold Given Mongolia had the world's in the US, with 22% each in Asia fastest growing economy in 2011, and Europe. Fund managers it was only going to be a matter of b o u g h t 7 5 % o f t h e b o n d s , time before the country sought to commercial banks 11%, and leverage its position as the latest insurance companies, private global financial hotspot in order banks and types of accounts came to raise funds on the international in for 14% of the deal. Thanks to bond markets and underpin its go- the size of the issue, it will be to investment status. included in all the major emerging And that was just what has market bond indices, which happened in recent days as both require that transactions need to Mongolian Mining Corporation be for a minimum amount of (MMC) and the Development $500m to qualify for inclusion. Bank of Mongolia (DBM) tapped According to Moody's Investor fixed-income investors with Services, which assigned a 'B1' benchmark-sized issues. Thanks rating to the bonds, MMC is well to the buzz around the Central placed to benefit from the strong Asian state, both issuers were outlook for Mongolian coal easily able to hit their desired exports. The company currently bond size targets and also price operates two mines in the Gobi the bonds at cheaper levels than Desert in Mongolia and it exports initially hoped for. its entire production to industrial On March 23, MMC became the end-users in China. first Mongolian corporate to The proceeds will be used to fund access the international bond M M C ' s i n f r a s t r u c t u r e markets with a benchmark-sized improvement and development $600m, five-year issue that's p l a n s , i n c l u d i n g i t s U k h a a callable after three years. Bank Of Khudag-Gashuun Sukhait (UHGAmerica Merrill Lynch, ING and GS) railway project, as well as for JP Morgan were book-runners in working capital and other general the deal, which featured an corporate purposes, including 8.875% coupon, at the tight end of e x p l o r a t i o n c o s t s a n d d e b t the pre-launch marketing range of refinancing. Given its ambitious 8.875-9.00% and well inside the expansion plans MMC is initial price talk of a 9.50% yield. planning capital expenditure In total, the landmark offering spending of $940m in 2012-13
efforts to drive forward its industrial and social infrastructure development, which is forecast to cost at least $25bn in the current decade. This will involve the construction of at least 100,000 affordable apartments plus the building of new rail, road and energy projects. As such, DBM was an appropriate choice of issuer to make the first major splashdown in the international bond arena. Previously the only offshore debt issuance from the country had come from the country's third largest commercial lender, Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia, which had launched two small issues in recent years. and outstanding debt of $425m, Mongolian economy, which grew According to Dosbergen Musaev, M M C h a s b e e n a n a c t i v e by 17.3% in real terms in 2011. chief economist at investment fundraiser of late, recently raising That rampant growth was fueled bank Eurasia Capital: "The sheer a $300m syndicated loan via by its position of a prime supplier size of infrastructure funding Standard Bank to help refinance of basic commodities to China, needs in Mongolia means that the maturing debt. Sovereign issues which enabled it to attract a Development Bank of Mongolia The euphoric reception of record $3.8bn in foreign direct will need to tap international debt MMC's pioneering corporate issue investment (FDI) in 2011. Last markets in the near future again mirrored the frenzied buying that year, the country's exports and become a frequent issuer." surrounded the $580m, 5.75%, reached an record high of $4.8bn Eurasia Capital believes that March 2017 bond issued by the up some 64% on the previous DBM will likely issue Development Bank of Mongolia year thanks largely to the fact it transactions in Chinese yuan, on March 14, which effectively became the largest supplier of Japanese yen and Singapore r e p r e s e n t e d t h e f i r s t e v e r coking coal to China, now the dollars on the horizon in the next sovereign bond from Mongolia. second largest global economy. couple of years. S t a t e - g u a r a n t e e d D B M , DBM was marketed as a key Meanwhile, Eurasia Capital e s t a b l i s h e d i n 2 0 1 0 , i s a player in Mongolia's emergence expects that the success of DBM's g o v e r n m e n t - c o n t r o l l e d from economic zero to hero, with development bank that sees itself the policy institution viewed as a MONGOLIAN page 15 a s a p o s t e r c h i l d f o r t h e prime driver in the country's
Business/
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Rick Santorum Would Consider Being The Running Mate Of The 'Worst Republican In The Country'
Brett LoGiurato (Business Insider)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:07:55 PM
MONGOLIAN
Remember that time like, oh, 24 hours ago when Rick Santorum said that Mitt Romney was the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama? Well, in case that does happen, Santorum wouldn't mind being the worst Republican's running mate. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Monday, Santorum said he would of course consider being the vice presidential nominee on the Republican ticket this fall if the eventual nominee Romney asked him. I mean, look. I would do in this race as I always say, this is the most important race in our countrys history, Santorum told CBNs chief political correspondent David Brody. Im going to do everything I can. Im doing everything I can. Im out there. In the last 10 months, Ive had five days off. Two for Thanksgiving, and three for Christmas. Theoretically, Santorum would present both strong pros and cons
for Romney as a potential running mate. On one hand, he is the candidate that the Republican Partys ultra-conservative base has rallied around while shunning Romney. On the other, Santorum would figure to be an extremely divisive running mate in a general election with his outspoken positions on topics like abortion, contraception and gay marriage. Santorum could also give Romney a push in a swing state Pennsylvania, which is
Santorums home state. Then again, he lost his re-election bid as a Senator there in 2006 by a giant margin. This all comes, of course, a day after Santorum said Romney was ill-suited to match up against Obama in a general election this fall. Then, he lashed out at a New York Times reporter who later asked Santorum for clarification on the "worst Republican in the country" comment. There is precedent for this. After a heated, drawn-out 1980
sovereign issue, which was 10times oversubscribed with total orders of over $6bn, will encourage a raft of bank, corporate and municipal issuers to follow its lead and tap the international bond market, thus cementing Mongolia's emergence from obscure bit player in the c a m p a i g n t h a t d r a w s s o m e frontier markets sphere to an parallels to today, Ronald Reagan increasingly mainstream actor in dubbed George H.W. Bush as his emerging market terms. Musaev running mate. This balanced out a a l s o b e l i e v e s t h a t f o r e i g n ticket with the conservative investors are also likely to look Reagan and more moderate Bush. more favorably on local bond And, hey, worst Republican in issues in Mongolia now that there the country is todays voodoo is offshore benchmark issuance "We expect to see a positive economics. Santorum suggested that he spillover effect on domestic bond would do whatever is necessary market." This post originally appeared at to help our country. I dont want to be the guy who Business New Europe. has to sit with my granddaughter, Please follow Money Game on 20 years form now, and tell Twitter and Facebook. stories about an America where Join the conversation about this people once were free, Santorum story said Monday. I dont want to See Also: Decoding The Biggest Myth have that conversation. Please follow Politics on Twitter About Government Borrowing Investors Need To Wake Up To and Facebook. Join the conversation about this The Near-Record-Wide Equity Risk Premium story Here Are 3 Countries Where See Also: FINALLY: 40 Percent Of Youll Want To Have Exposure Republicans Actually Like One Candidate Rick Santorum Unleashed: All His Angriest Campaign Confrontations RON PAUL ON OBAMACARE: "I Suspect They're Going To Rule It Constitutional"
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Business/ News Wire/ World News/ Sports/
Developer blames banks Housing market for housing market recovery hits pothole slump - Herald Sun in February - Reuters
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:24:00 PM
BCS: 'Host of intricate details' being discussed

Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:46:06 PM
The West Australian Developer blames banks for housing market slump Herald Sun New housing estates developer Stockland today said because higher interest rates had slowed down new home and land sales, it now expected to see its earnings for the financial year fall by 3.5 per cent. It is estimated that the
earnings per share slide... Australia's Stockland Cuts Guidance As Housing Slows Fox Business Housing affordability worsening: Stockland Sydney Morning Herald Stockland blames banks' rate rises for housing slump The Australian NASDAQ all 56 news articles

Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:07:42 PM
Financial Post Housing market recovery hits pothole in February Reuters By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON (Reuters) Contracts to purchase previously owned US homes unexpectedly fell in February, suggesting a loss
of momentum in the housing market after recent signs of improvement. The National Association of Realtors said... Wobbly Housing Recovery Stirs Economic Uncertainties NASDAQ US housing market recovery hits pothole in February Business Recorder (blog) all 117 news articles
BCS leaders finally are starting to get into some specifics in their discussions about possible maybe even likely changes in college football's postseason and how to determine a champion.
Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News

(Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News)
Odisha: condition of abducted MLA remains unclear - IBNLive.com

(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:26:11 PM
of highest echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, here we list the key moments so far. In the latest bout of oddness to Top Stories come over the Chinese Internets Jiang Zemin, the former leader of notoriously strict censorship, the Chinese Communist Party, is searches for terms related to live currently in a vegetative state, organ harvesting have recently relying on medical devices and been unblocked. infusions to keep him alive, Amid news of Zhou Yongkang according to an [...] being under house arrest, what are As events swiftly unfold in the the implications of these scenes of power struggle among members him undertaking political duties?
This week the Supreme Court finally hears oral arguments on President Barack Obamas health care reform legislation. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
IBNLive.com Odisha: condition of abducted MLA remains unclear IBNLive.com New Delhi: The condition of the abducted BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka remains unclear as the state government says talks with Maoists for his release are yet to begin. Hikaka was abducted by Naxals on Friday night in Koraput
district. Koraput SP confirmed that... MLA's abduction shows Maoist desperation. Orissa must sustain operations and... Indian Express Chhattisgarh legislators advised to stay vigilant while on tour Times of India Odisha: Talks resume, Maoists reiterate demands Zee News The Hindu- Hindustan TimesEconomic Times all 1,093 news articles
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Supreme court unlikely to delay healthcare ruling

(Reuters: Top News)
the tax law barred the challenges until the penalty was paid. The justices then appointed an outside By Joan Biskupic and James private lawyer to argue that Vicini position. WASHINGTON| Mon Mar 26, The nine justices, five appointed 2012 6:17pm EDT by Republican presidents and four (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on by Democratic presidents, plan to Monday appeared prepared to hear up to six hours of arguments decide the fate of President o v e r t h r e e d a y s . T h e y a r e B a r a c k O b a m a ' s s w e e p i n g expected to rule on the case by healthcare law soon, rather than late June. delaying for years a ruling on the The law was passed by Congress mandate that Americans buy when both the Senate and House insurance or pay a penalty. o f R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s w e r e In the first of three days of controlled by Obama's fellow historic arguments, the justices D e m o c r a t s . T h e c o u r t ' s voiced doubt that a U.S. tax law consideration of the fate of the requiring that people pay first and law presents high stakes for litigate later should postpone a Obama as he campaigns for reruling on the legal challenge to election on November 6. the president's signature domestic U.S. conservatives revile the law, legislative achievement. denouncing it as unwarranted At the core of the healthcare law, government intrusion into the signed by Obama in 2010, is a lives of Americans, and the requirement that people obtain Republican candidates battling to health insurance by 2014 or pay a become their party's nominee to penalty. The question on Monday challenge Obama have promised was whether people can challenge to try to repeal it. this so-called individual mandate In Monday's arguments lasting 89 before paying the penalty and minutes, justices across the seeking a refund. ideological spectrum asked The Obama administration and skeptical questions about whether the challengers - including 26 of the penalty was indeed a tax. If the 50 states - agreed that the case not deemed a tax, then the justices should be decided now. One of can move forward to decide the the four U.S. appeals courts that merits of whether the law is ruled on the law prior to the case constitutional. going to the high court held that "Here, they did not use that word
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:17:17 PM
tax," liberal Justice Stephen Breyer said, referring both to lawmakers who crafted the legislation in Congress and to their intent. Another liberal Democratic appointee to the high court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also expressed skepticism. "This is not a revenue-raising measure because, if it's successful, nobody will pay the penalty and there will be no revenue to raise." Conservative Antonin Scalia was also among those justices who suggested by his questions that allowing the case to go forward would not broadly undercut federal tax policy. 'NO PARADE OF HORRIBLES' "There will be no parade of horribles," Scalia said, noting that lower court judges would be able to determine when to make exceptions to the usual rules governing general tax penalties and law. Chief Justice John Roberts, the leader of the conservative majority, observed that the court's past cases cut in both directions and that it was unclear that the case could not go forward. The law, intended to transform healthcare for millions of people in the United States, has generated fierce political debate. Republican opponents of the law say it will financially burden states,
businesses and individuals. The law has been viewed as the crowning achievement of Obama's domestic legislative agenda, but challengers say Congress exceeded its constitutional power to regulate commerce with the individual mandate. They argue that government should not force people to pay for a product they have opted against. Critics said it could lead to a wide array of other requirements such as eating broccoli, joining gyms, or buying American-made cars. The Obama administration counters that virtually every person will need medical care and that those who shun insurance put a disproportionate burden on the system. It defended the law as a response to a national healthcare crisis. Underscoring how the issue has divided Americans, hundreds of supporters and opponents marched outside the white-marble Supreme Court building across from the U.S. Capitol. People lined up 72 hours in advance to try to get one of the few seats open to the public. Supporters chanted "We love Obamacare," embracing a term opponents have used to deride the law. One protester against the law, Sally Oljar of Seattle, said: "The day hasn't come when the
government can force me to buy a damn thing." The courtroom, which holds about 400 people, was packed with lawmakers from across the street in Congress, prominent attorneys, top Obama administration officials and those who paid others or waited themselves over the weekend to get a seat in the public gallery. Among the officials watching in the courtroom were two of Obama's Cabinet members Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who is charged with implementing much of the law, and Attorney General Eric Holder, the head of the Justice Department which has been defending the law in court. Also present in the courtroom were Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, an outspoken critic of the law, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has led the challenge to the law by the states. Outside, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum called a news conference to promise that if elected, he would get Congress to pass a law eliminating Obama's healthcare overhaul. Obama is seeking re-election on November 6. In the United States, annual SUPREME page 23
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News Wire/
Pope says Church needs more freedom to help Cuba change

(Reuters: Top News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:42:53 PM
By Simon Gardner and Philip Pullella SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba| Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:42pm EDT (Reuters) - Pope Benedict arrived in Cuba on Monday and told the government it had nothing to fear from the Catholic Church, asking for more freedoms to help the communist country in times of change. Just three days after saying that communism no longer works in Cuba, the pope took a softer stance as he landed in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba for a three-day trip aimed at boosting the Church's role on the island. The 84-year-old German pope delivered a carefully worded, nuanced and balanced arrival address after he was greeted warmly by President Raul Castro, dressed in a dark suit, accompanied by a full Honor Guard and artillery gun salute. He was less direct in his criticism of Cuba's one-party political system than he had been when speaking to reporters on Friday, although he did offer some thinly veiled phrases addressing Cuba's human rights record. "I carry in my heart the just aspirations and legitimate desires of all Cubans, wherever they may
be," he said, including the "sufferings" of prisoners and their families, a reference likely to be well received by political dissidents on the island as well as Cuban American exiles in the United States. Visiting 14 years after Pope John Paul II's landmark trip to Cuba, Benedict called that trip, which was a highlight of improved Church-state relations after decades of hostility that followed the 1959 revolution, "a gentle breath of fresh air". But he said that while great strides had been made in improving relations with the Church, "many areas remain in which greater progress can and ought to be made, especially as regards the indispensable public contribution that religion is called to make in the life of society". Benedict, who visited Mexico over the weekend, is trying to cement the Church's recent gains in Cuba and offer more help in assuring that whatever transition comes is buffered by its social programs, such as care centers for the elderly and limited afterschool and adult education programs. Raul Castro, younger brother of Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel, delivered a firm political lecture about the injustices of the United States' hostility toward Cuba,
including the economic embargo, and the island's "tenacious resistance" to preserve its independence and "follow its own path." Castro, who was raised as a Catholic, grasped both hands of the pope and briefly bowed before him as Benedict stepped onto the airport tarmac. When the wind blew the pontiff's white vestments around his head, the Cuban leader gently put them back across his shoulders. The president later was in the front row as Benedict celebrated an open-air Mass for tens of thousands of people in Santiago's Revolution Square. Raul Castro has used the Church as an interlocutor on issues such as political prisoners and dissidents, while moving forward with reforms to Cuba's struggling Soviet-style economy. They include slashing a million government jobs and freeing up some sectors to small-scale private enterprise. It has supported Castro's reforms and urged him to move farther and faster in modernizing Cuba, both economically and politically. SALVO Benedict fired an unexpected salvo on Friday when he told reporters on his plane that communism in Cuba had failed and a new economic model was
needed, adding that the Church was willing to offer its help "to avoid traumas." The Cuban government offered a diplomatic response to the Pope's criticism, saying that Cuba would "listen with all respect" to the Pope and welcomed "the exchange of ideas." In what appeared to be an effort to balance his remarks, Benedict made an apparent dig at capitalist greed on Monday, blaming the global economic crisis on "the ambition and selfishness of certain powers which take little account of the true good of individuals and families." Cuba is going through a key moment in its history, Benedict said, hinting that with the advancing age of the Castro brothers the island was "already looking to the future." Echoing the words of Pope John Paul who in 1998 urged Cuba to "open itself up to the world," and "the world to open itself up to Cuba," Benedict also recognized that Cuba was making an effort to "renew and broaden its horizons." Church officials say Benedict's schedule has not allowed for meetings with dissidents, who say Castro's government flouts human rights and suppresses their voices. The dissident movement Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White, a group of Catholic women that
campaigns for the release of political prisoners, said it had been told by Cuban authorities to keep clear of the pope's Mass in Santiago. "They are going to present the pope with a facade, not with the true Cuba," said Ana Celia Rodriguez, a 42-year-old mother of three who is planning to try to attend anyway. "I really don't expect much change from the pope's visit. He'll see a Cuba that doesn't exist. My message for the pope is that he ought to see how things really are." More than 70 members of the Ladies in White were detained briefly last week, fueling concerns that the government, which views opponents as mercenaries of the United States, might clamp down to prevent public demonstrations during the pope's stay. While many Cubans complain about the socialist economy's failings, not everyone agrees with the Pope's bleak assessment of Cuban communism. "We're so happy the Pope is coming, it makes us feel as though the world is noticing us," said Alejandro Linares, a 23-yearold university student from the eastern province of Guantanamo, a small image of revolutionary POPE page 21
News Wire/
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Justices Eager to GetTo Heart of ObamaCare

(FOXNews.com)
assigned to Washington, D.C., lawyer Robert Long to defend Monday. It is premised on the One thing was clear out of the belief that the 1867 law known as Supreme Court's opening session the Anti-Injunction Act forbids Monday on the federal health care lawsuits against federal tax overhaul -- the justices are eager policies until after someone has to issue a ruling, and unlikely to actually paid the tax. punt. But from the outset of Monday's The anticipation over how the arguments it was clear the justices court might rule on the merits of weren't too sympathetic to that the law will have to wait another view because of the language day, as the justices revealed very Congress eventually used in little about their views during crafting the law. The Affordable opening arguments. What came Care Act says the cost for not out of the day's 90-minute session complying with the requirement -- the first of three days covering to obtain health insurance is a four unique challenges -- is that penalty -- not a tax. the justices are poised to decide "Congress has nowhere used the this year on the constitutional word 'tax,'" Justice Stephen validity of the controversial law. Breyer said to Long. "What it says The justices were presented with is penalty." a challenge Monday that, if Breyer was hardly the only upheld, could push the case off justice to suggest the designated until early 2015. The issue before penalty isn't a tax. the judges was whether an "This is not a revenue-raising obscure 1867 tax law prohibits m e a s u r e , b e c a u s e , i f i t ' s lawsuits, like the ones challenging successful, they won't -- nobody the health care law, from going will pay the penalty and there will forward. be no revenue to raise," Justice The justices signaled that the Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. technicality would probably not Justice Elena Kagan also noted to hold up the case, or prevent the Long that there are other parts of justices from issuing a ruling on the law where the provisions of whether the law's controversial t h e A I A a r e s p e c i f i c a l l y i n d i v i d u a l m a n d a t e i s addressed. "It does not say that constitutional. The argument over here. Wouldn't that suggest that that volatile issue is scheduled for Congress meant for a different Tuesday. result to obtain?" she said. T h e i d e a t h a t l a w s u i t s None of the justices seemed to challenging the law could be think the AIA bar should be blocked was held by several lower applied, perhaps leading to a federal court judges and was unanimous opinion on this issue.
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:31:56 PM
thanked the justice for calling the error to his attention. Click here for full coverage of the ObamaCare hearings. Related Video Supreme Court set to hear health care arguments What to expect on day one of hearings Related Stories First round of Supreme Court health care hearings not about health care Health care law brawl arrives at Supreme Court steps Santorum uses ObamaCare court hearings to hammer Romney Americans Get There was also much discussion are going to be back and you will a Peek into Constitutional Chasm; over a very technical question on be arguing that the penalty is a S a n t o r u m : S t i l l F e r o c i o u s the appropriate jurisdiction of tax. Has the Court ever held that FoxBusiness: What to Expect as handling these types of tax something that is a tax for Health Care Heads to the High challenges. The justices seemed a purposes of the taxing power Court FoxBusiness: HHS Strong bit more divided on this matter, under the Constitution is not a tax Arms Insurers in Nine States but their resolution of this part of under the Anti-Injunction Act? " Related Video the case shouldn't impact their Alito's question suggests that he Stakes for Obama in health care ability to get to the heart of the will further challenge Verrilli on law case health care cases. Tuesday. What's riding on Supreme Court P e r h a p s t h e m o s t t e l l i n g The tax-versus-penalty issue has decision? Related Video exchange of the day came when been debated and discussed since Website takes bets on Supreme Solicitor General Don Verrilli the ACA passed two years ago. Court's 'Obamacare' ruling presented the government's case. Even Verrilli himself got tripped Place your bets on fate of health He argued that the specific up in using the nomenclature. In care reform language Congress used -- penalty an exchange with Kagan, Verrilli This entry passed through the rather than tax -- prevents an AIA said a person who fails to get Full-Text RSS service if this is inquiry. But Justice Samuel Alito insurance and pays the fine your content and you're reading it asked how that position can also wouldn't have to admit to a on someone else's site, please read square with the government's violation of federal law. Kagan the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentview that when determining pressed, him asking why that was only/faq.php#publishers. Five whether the ACA is legal under the case. Twice, he made mention Filters recommends: Donate to the Constitution's taxing authority, of someone paying a tax. Breyer Wikileaks. the exact words Congress used are jumped in to ask, "Why do you less significant. keep saying tax?" "General Verrilli, today you are Stepping over the laughter in the arguing that the penalty is not a courtroom, Verrilli clarified tax," Alito asked. "Tomorrow you himself to say "tax penalty" and
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News Wire/
France's Strauss-Kahn under investigation in pimping case

(Reuters: Top News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:45:02 PM
By Pascal Rossignol LILLE, France| Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:45pm EDT (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was placed under formal investigation on Monday by authorities looking into a suspected prostitution ring in the French city of Lille, his lawyer said, following a day of questioning by judges in a closed courtroom. The investigation on suspicion of complicity in a pimping operation is the latest judicial headache for the Socialist ex-finance minister. The move could lead to a trial but it falls short of charging him. Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was a strong contender to be France's next president until he was hit with sex-assault charges, nowdismissed, in New York last May, was allowed to leave the court after being questioned by three judges in the case. The Lille prosecutor's office said in a statement he was required to post 100,000 euros ($133,300) in bail. He is forbidden to contact witnesses, the press, and others involved in the prostitution case, it said.
Outside the courthouse, StraussKahn's lawyer, Richard Malka, said his client was innocent. "He states with the strongest firmness to be guilty of none of these acts and in particular to not have had the least awareness that certain women he met could have been prostitutes," Malka told the press. "Having relations with an escort does not constitute a crime and is a matter of private behavior, perfectly legal among adults," he added. The Lille case centers on allegations that a prostitution ring organized by Strauss-Kahn's business associates supplied clients at the city's Carlton Hotel. Already in the case, eight people, including two Lille businessmen and a police commissioner, have been arrested, and construction firm Eiffage fired an executive suspected of using company funds to hire sex workers. Judges had the option of putting him under investigation for having potentially benefited from misappropriated company funds if he knowingly attended prostitute sessions paid for by his executive friends using expense accounts. Instead, the investigation will focus on the pandering angle, and
whether Strauss-Kahn was aware that the women at the parties were prostitutes supplied by pimps. In itself, using prostitutes is not illegal in France. The highly-anticipated hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was moved up by two days for unknown reasons. Under French law, "juges d'instruction," which are a cross between investigating prosecutors and criminal magistrates, notify the accused they are under investigation and can hold the person if they believe it warranted. It is they who later decide whether to send the case to court. Strauss-Kahn - who is now jobless and lives a life behind closed doors in Paris - previously has denied the allegations, arguing he was unaware women he met at parties organized by business associates in Lille, Paris and Washington were prostitutes. Strauss-Kahn went from being a highly respected politician to being hounded in the world's media after a New York hotel maid accused him of trying to rape her. The charges were dropped after prosecutors decided the maid's testimony was unreliable.
But Strauss-Kahn, later was hit with a separate sexual assault accusation in France and on Wednesday his lawyers will be in a Bronx courtroom fighting a civil lawsuit brought against him by the hotel maid. PROTESTS UNDERMINE COMEBACK Strauss-Kahn has been seeking to restore his reputation as a top global economist by speaking at conferences, but cancelled an appearance at an event in Brussels on Tuesday following protests from European members of parliament (MEPs). He was due to speak at a debate of young MEPs alongside JeanClaude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, and former European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet. The plan upset female MEPs, prompting European Parliament President Martin Schulz to pressure organizers to drop him. French MEP Sandrine Belier said that given the circumstances it would have been "uncomfortable" to have Strauss-Kahn appear. Earlier in March he had to be bundled into the back of a police car after addressing an event at Britain's Cambridge University to
escape a protest by women's' rights activists. In February, Strauss-Kahn was held in custody in Lille for two days for initial questioning in the case. Another of his attorneys, Henri Leclerci, told French radio in December it was not always easy to spot prostitutes when they are undressed. On Wednesday, lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and the hotel maid accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, will wrangle over whether his former IMF position grants him diplomatic immunity from the civil suit. Neither Strauss-Kahn nor Diallo are due to appear in court. ($1 = 0.7504 euros) (Additional reporting by Gerard Bon and Robin Emmott in Brussels; Writing by Alexandria Sage and Catherine Bremer; Editing by Maria Golovnina) 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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21
Obama: 'After My ElectionI'll Have More Flexibility'

(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:31:56 PM
POPE
March 26, 2012: President Obama chats with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a bilateral meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea. President Obama assured Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Monday that he'd have "more flexibility" after the November election, during a conversation that appeared to focus on the touchy issue of missile defense. Obama, during a sit-down with Medvedev in Seoul, urged Moscow to give him "space" until after November. The conversation was relayed by a TV pool producer who listened to the recording from a Russian journalist. "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility," Obama told Medvedev. Obama appeared to be asking Medvedev to relay this point to Vladimir Putin, who recently won election to return to the Russian presidency. "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense ... this can be solved but it's important for him to give me space," Obama
said. Medvedev told the president he understood the "message about space. Space for you ..." After Obama noted he'd have more flexibility in the future, Medvedev told him: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir." After the conversation was widely reported, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the comments were "alarming and troubling." U.S.-backed plans for a missile defense shield in Europe have been a sensitive subject in Russia, and one that Putin exploited during his presidential campaign. The White House, though, downplayed the conversation
between Obama and Medvedev. Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said the U.S. is "committed" to implementing the missile defense system, "which we've repeatedly said is not aimed at Russia." "However, given the longstanding difference between the U.S. and Russia on this issue, it will take time and technical work before we can try to reach an agreement," he said in a statement. "Since 2012 is an election year in both countries, with an election and leadership transition in Russia and an election in the United States, it is clearly not a year in which we are going to achieve a
icon Ernesto 'Che' Guevara dangling around his neck. "We want him to see our Cuba. We want him to see that we live pretty well here and that we want to be socialist, not capitalist." breakthrough. Therefore, Earlier on Monday, two airplanes President Obama and President arrived in Santiago from Miami Medvedev agreed that it was best carrying 310 mostly Cuban to instruct our technical experts to American faithful on a special do the work of better Church-organized package to understanding our respective attend the papal Masses. The positions, providing space for Miami pilgrims brought a continued discussions on missile message of reconciliation, said the defense cooperation going Archbishop of Miami, Thomas forward." Related Stories Obama Wenski. "It's important that we implores North Korea to 'pursue overcome the resentments and peace,' urges against nuclear hatred of the past," he said. weapons for Iran Top donors to (Additional reporting by Jeff Obama super PAC among White Franks and Nelson Acosta; House guests Meeting between Editing by David Adams and Obama and Chinese president Kieran Murray) focuses on North Korea Related This entry passed through the Video Full-Text RSS service if this is Should the U.S. increase missle your content and you're reading it defense? on someone else's site, please read Rebecca Heinrichs talks about the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe U.S. 'Star Wars' protective only/faq.php#publishers. Five shield Related Video Filters recommends: Donate to Obama issues warning to North Wikileaks. Korea President says new provocations will lead to further isolation 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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News Wire/ World News/
In Oil Crunch, to Drill or Not to Drill?

(FOXNews.com)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:31:56 PM
All over the world, more people are buying cars and using gas as growth in the global economy increases the demand for fuel. Likewise, oil supplies are projected to get tighter and tighter. " China was at 5 million barrels a day in 2005. Today, they are at 10 (million). By 2015, they are going to be at 15-million-barrels-a-day demand," said John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil and founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy. "That's 10 million new barrels over 10 years. India is going from 4 to 7 (million) in the next three to four years." President Obama recognizes the coming explosion in demand. "China and India, they're growing. China added 10 million cars in 2010 -- 10 million cars just in this one country," Obama said last week. "And they're just going to keep on going, which means they're going to use more and more oil." The president, however, argues
that more drilling is not the way to protect the U.S. Instead, he wants to wean the U.S. off oil by turning to alternatives, such as electric cars. "If we want to stabilize energy prices for the long term and the medium term, if we want America to grow, we're going to have look past what we've been doing and put ourselves on the path to a real, sustainable energy future," he
said. The problem is, most analysts say, the transition to alternatives takes far longer than more drilling would. "And we have a capital stock of hundreds of million of vehicles," Guy Caruso of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said. "So these types of transformations take decades and maybe even 50 to 60 years."
years for a permit to turn into a producing well, that means less oil coming off federal lands in the years to come, even as global demand is rising. Advocates of more domestic drilling say we know a crunch is coming, so we should be drilling more now -- otherwise, the result could be ugly. "The reality of the situation, with respect to global supply is that Americans can find themselves in gasoline lines, with gas rationing by 2015 or 2016 by us not producing more of our own oil," Hofmeister said. Even with alternatives, the Energy Department predicts that in 2035 we'll still be relying on oil Though the president talks about f o r 8 3 p e r c e n t o f o u r drilling, official government t r a n s p o r t a t i o n n e e d s . figures show he is issuing far This entry passed through the fewer permits on federal land than Full-Text RSS service if this is his predecessor. your content and you're reading it At the end of the Bush years, on someone else's site, please read 6,000 to 7,000 permits a year the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentwere issued, but under Obama the only/faq.php#publishers. Five n u m b e r s h a v e d r o p p e d Filters recommends: Donate to significantly to a range of 4,000 to Wikileaks. almost 4,500 a year. Since it can take seven to 10
Terror laws axe puts Brits at risk - The Sun

Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:53:43 PM
The Sun Terror laws axe puts Brits at risk The Sun
By GRAEME WILSON, Deputy Political Editor NATIONAL security HAS been put at risk by the Coalition's decision to axe control orders, the official terrorism watchdog warned
yesterday. In a devastating report, Warning over new terror controls David Anderson insisted the The Press Association tough... New terror laws could be less Control order replacement could effective, warns watchdog BBC strengthen terror resolve, warns News watchdog Telegraph.co.uk The Guardian- Spectator.co.uk-
Evening Standard all 112 news articles
World News/ Technology/
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SUPREME
healthcare spending totals $2.6 trillion, about 18 percent of the annual gross domestic product, or $8,402 for every man, woman and child. In the markets, the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index of health insurers was up 2.6 percent in mid-day trading, outperforming a roughly 1 percent rise for the broader market. Shares of large insurers, such as UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint, were up more than 2 percent, while shares of hospital chains HCA Holdings and Community Health Systems also rose more than 2 percent. MOMENTOUS SESSIONS The arguments recalled past momentous sessions, such as the 2000 presidential election dispute between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore and the 1974 Watergate tapes case that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. The tone of the session was
serious as lawyers and justices invoked heavy phrases about jurisdiction and statutory construction. One moment of levity arose when attorney Robert Long noted the healthcare law, which runs to 2,700 pages, was not "a perfect model of clarity," drawing laughter in the courtroom. Long, appointed by the justices to argue that the case should be delayed, said that federal law "imposes a pay first, litigate later rule that is central to federal tax assessment and collection." Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the administration's top courtroom lawyer, urged the justices to decide the merits of the dispute. "This case presents issues of great moment," he said. Representing the challengers, lawyer Gregory Katsas, argued the case can be decided. "The purpose of this lawsuit is to challenge a federal requirement to buy health insurance. That
requirement itself is not a tax." Eight of the nine justices took part in the vigorous questioning. Only Justice Clarence Thomas, who has not asked a question from the bench for more than six years, said nothing. On its website the Supreme Court posted the audio of the oral argument as well as a transcript, here (Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, Ian Simpson and Lily Kuo in Washington and Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Howard Goller and Will Dunham) 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Nuclear Security Summit's Ad Hoc Process No Longer Enough on Nuclear Terrorism

(World Politics Review: Articles)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 9:53:00 AM
Serious threats require serious action, and there is broad nonpartisan agreement that nuclear terrorism remains one of the most daunting threats of the 21st century. That is why national leaders from more than 50 countries will meet this week in Seoul, Korea, at the second Nuclear Security Summit to address nuclear terrorism. The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington helped catalyze new commitments by states to secure loose nuclear materials, and today more than 80 percent of these commitments have been accomplished. But these measures only go so far, because there is no globally agreed-upon standard for securing nuclear material, leaving us reliant on a patchwork of voluntary steps, bilateral agreements and unfunded mandates. The past year delivered two reminders of the threat posed by
unsecured nuclear material: one from Moldova and one from Japan. In Moldova, police broke up a nuclear smuggling ring that was looking to sell highly enriched uranium, which in sufficient quantities can be fashioned into an improvised nuclear device. It is believed that at least one member of the group remains at large and in possession of weapons-usable material. This incident is hardly unique. There have been 18 confirmed thefts or loss of weapons-usable nuclear material worldwide, and in many of these cases, no one knew the material was missing until it turned up in a police sting -leaving us to wonder what else might be out there. ... 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Christian World Adoption

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
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24
World News/ Finance/
The New Rules: In Tough Girls' schools pressured Times, America's 'Dirty to expel Jenny Craig Harry' Streak Re-Emerges Adelaide Now
(World Politics Review: Articles)
MPs told to check William Hill to find out if euro will collapse
Louise Armitstead (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 2:05:22 PM
heartbeat. You just never know. If that sounds like the Submitted at 3/26/2012 9:51:00 AM resurrection of the Dirty Harry President Barack Obama has mindset, it has a lot to do with our presented himself as the ender of still-tough economic times. As a wars. Moreover, where the nation and society, we have a long preceding administration went and persistent history of adopting heavy with its military power, the a decidedly illiberal attitude when Obama administration goes income growth lags. Jostled by laparoscopically light. And as if to hard times, we feel little remorse culminate a quarter-century trend about dispatching those who of U.S. military interventions that transgress, trespass, threaten or have all somehow devolved into terrorize us. ... manhunts of some sort, America This entry passed through the now simply skips the intervention Full-Text RSS service if this is and gets straight to hunting down your content and you're reading it and killing bad guys. We stand on someone else's site, please read our ground, as it were, on a global the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentscale. Give us the wrong gesture, only/faq.php#publishers. Five l o o k , a t t i t u d e o r p e r c e i v e d Filters recommends: Donate to intention, and wham! One of ours Wikileaks. might kill one of yours -- in a
guru to speak at its conference. Weight loss boss to talk to girls' school leaders; Baillieu The Age Government to dump... ABC Girls' schools pressured to expel Online (blog) Jenny Craig Anger over Jenny Craig CEO Adelaide Now girls' schools talk Business Jenny Craig managing director Spectator Amy Smith at her office in St Petition against Jenny Craig Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. Sydney Morning Herald Picture: Aaron Francis A GROUP The Age that represents girls' schools all 24 news articles across Australia is under pressure today after inviting a weight loss
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:24:26 PM
A collapse of the euro would be a "disaster" for the UK, the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) told MPs - but for the probability of it actually happening the politicians were better off checking with William Hill.
Chandigarh court to decide on Rajoana's execution - IBNLive.com

Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:20:50 PM
Boris pledges to get rid of Tube drivers - CITY A.M.

Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:20:51 PM
Telegraph.co.uk Boris pledges to get rid of Tube drivers CITY A.M. BORIS Johnson has announced an all-out push towards
automation of the Tube network, pledging that he will never again buy a Tube train that requires a driver. It is time for London to learn from other metro networks and get the benefits of automatic... Mayor under fire for 'lack of transparency' over charity gifts Evening Standard
Boris Johnson targets transport unions The Guardian Be polite and stand up for your elders or lose free travel, London Mayor Boris... Daily Mail BBC News- Telegraph.co.ukThe Independent all 31 news articles
IBNLive.com Chandigarh court to decide on Rajoana's execution IBNLive.com New Delhi: A trial court in Chandigarh is expected to decide on the execution of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh's coassassin on Tuesday. Balwant Singh Rajoana is scheduled to be
hanged on March 31. Several Sikh groups including the ruling... for the good of Punjab, we seek pardon for Balwant: Beant's daughter Indian Express Beant killer won't hang, says Badal Times of India Jail officer returns warrant to court Chandigarh Newsline The Hindu- Hindustan TimesChandigarh Tribune all 379 news articles
World News/ Technology/
25
Parrikar makes fuel 'Blunders' Spark Student Visa Shake- cheaper, booze costlier Up Calls - Sky News - Deccan Herald
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:27:30 PM
Sky News 'Blunders' Spark Student Visa Shake-Up Calls Sky News More blunders by the under-fire UK Border Agency allowed up to 50000 bogus students to enter Britain illegally, a damning report has revealed. Flaws in the student visa system were exploited by
migrants coming to the UK for work, according to the... Up to 50000 migrants 'exploited student visa flaw to work in UK' BBC News MPs call for student visas action The Press Association Students visas abused as 50000 enter UK for employment not studies The Guardian Daily Mail- Financial Times all 179 news articles
budget presentation since his victory three weeks ago,... Goa budget reduces VAT on IBNLive.com petrol Times of India Parrikar makes fuel cheaper, Goa Budget: R 1000 for booze costlier housewives, petrol cheaper by R Deccan Herald 11 Daily Bhaskar As a measure of his appreciation Goa budget levies fee on iron ore for the kind mandate the people lying on forest land IBNLive.com of Goa gave the BJP Chief Daily Pioneer- The Hindu- Zee Minister Manohar Parrikar has cut News fuel prices by Rs 11 a litre by all 60 news articles abolishing VAT. In his first
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:16:49 PM
The Cloud offering free WiFi at 56 London Overground stations

Katie Scott
Submitted at 3/26/2012 11:55:00 AM
Blueprint for future needs to address loneliness, says report - The Age
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:25:18 PM
The Age Blueprint for future needs to address loneliness, says report The Age Checkmates ''You have to be active and keep moving,'' says Ivan Vugrinec, 69, who attends Hyde Park's giant chessboard every day. Photo: Ben Rushton THE design of our future cities
must change to combat the scourge of loneliness, an independent... Australian cities becoming lonelier, more isolating NEWS.com.au Sad and lonely in modern Melbourne Herald Sun Loneliness on the rise as our cities atomise The Conversation all 101 news articles
Govt keeps forestry report under wraps - ABC Local

Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:26:13 PM
Govt keeps forestry report under wraps ABC Local By State Political Reporter Zoe Edwards Professor Jonathan West
was appointed by the State and Federal Governments to head a comprehensive independent review to guide the forest peace deal. But the long-awaited release of the 2000-page report last... and more
Travellers passing through any one of 56 of London's Overground stations will be able to get an hour of Wi-Fi access free. A deal has been signed by London Overground Rail Operations Limited and BSkyBowned venture, The Cloud, to provide 60 minutes of free internet access to registered passengers; and will be available at a range of stations across the capital by the end of the year. By: Katie Scott, Edited by: Nate Lanxon Continue reading...
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26
Technology/
Analyst Rob Enderles HP Apple CEO article deconstructed

Chris Burns (SlashGear)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:55:55 PM
While its not our job to fight stupid on the internet, in this case, SlashGear felt the need to step in. Rob Enderle is presently a columnist for TechNewsWorld and owns Enderle Group, a tech consultancy for personal gadgets and trends. This week he wrote an article entitled Meg Whitman vs. Tim Cook by the Numbers which well be dissecting here piece by piece. Rob Enderles article decidedly touts the good deeds of HPs relatively new CEO Meg Whitman while criticizing the CEO doings of the also relatively new to the post Tim Cook of Apple. What follows is a set of fact-checks as well as common sense-checks on the article as it appears today on 3/26/2012 4PM CST. The article in question can be found at the following address: http://www.technewsworld.com/ edpick/74694.html Enderle has a history of predicting that Apple will do badly and that Apples competitors are doing extremely well in contrast. In the case were looking at today, its important to note that, as MacDailyNews notes, Robs Enderle Group mentions the following: There may also be organizations
where we have a personal, vested interest. These relationships will be disclosed directly in any written or verbal communications where the relationship becomes material. For example, if an employee sits on the board of an organization that is being discussed or written about, it will be disclosed. Enderle Group This rule is not followed for the TechNewsWorld article as at this time it does not have any note about Ron Enderles current position with HP as Advisory Council. This is a clear conflict of interests for readers who are unaware of Enderles position
with HP as he writes as a 3rd party spectator. The CEO article were speaking about in this post begins with: While Apple is outperforming HP, Whitman is clearly a bigger asset to HP than Cook is to Apple. She is clearly improving the mess she started with, while Cook appears to still be doing the job he did at Apple while Jobs was alive and leaving Jobs unique duties unstaffed. Momentum will only carry Apple so far. If people dont get a premium experience, the lines to buy their products will get ever shorter. Meg Whitman was named CEO
and President of HP in late September, 2011 after the August drop of webOS hardware, 20% share slide, anddysfunctional mess during the hire of CEO Apotheker. Since then HP has pushed their Printers into PCs, former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein was let go, and profit has fallen 44% in their first fiscal quarter (reported this February) year-over -year. Mac shipments meanwhile rose 20.7% year-over-year in the 4th quarter of 2011 while HPs share in the same market fell 26.1% year-over-year. Cook presided over the iPhone 4S launch which
sold out stock in one day, including 1 million pre-orders, and helped set sales records for carriers such as AT&T in Q4. The 3rd generation 2012 iPad was also launched under Tim Cook, this device also setting activation records and destroying previous records with 3 million units sold over its first weekend of sales. Last week was an interesting week. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced what appears to be a penis iron in the new iPad, and folks are burning through their monthly 4G data plans in a few ANALYST page 27
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hours. Tims having his first Antennagate moment, and Steve Jobs he isnt. The iPad 3rd Gen has been shown to be extremely similar to comparable tablets in heat tests and 4G LTE data limits are exactly the same as they were before the new iPad was released. On the other hand, Meg Whitman announced her first major restructuring since taking over HP (NYSE: HPQ), and on paper it not only looks impressive, but also is reminiscent of what Carly Fiorina attempted to do in a lot of ways. Fiorina was considered a strong visionary she just wasnt good with people and couldnt execute. Whitman appears to have Fiorinas vision and can execute, which bodes well for HP. The major restructuring referred to must be the merging of HPs Printer and PC groups, the PC group also known as PSG Personal Systems Group, the printer division also known as IPG Imaging and Printing Group. As Rue Liu notes, The products between the two groups also correlate and are sold to the same consumers and businesses, which makes more sense in selling them together. Carly Fiorina was CEO of HP from mid-1999 until early2005, the stock price on 12/31/ 1998 for HP(according to HP) was $26.66 with a volume of 3,859,833 units and split adjustment factor of 2.5628:1, while the stock price (again according to HP) on 12/31/04 was $20.97 with a volume of
5,418,300 and split adjustment factor of 1:1. Fiorina oversaw the merger of HP with their then-rival Compaq. Ironically, the stock market continues to reward Apple and punish HP, which suggests the market remains consistently out of step with reality. Ill talk go deeper into that and close with my product of the week: another book on Apple by Carmine Gallo. The Apple Experience reveals the secrets of building insanely great customer loyalty. You might want to read this book fast. The way Cook is going, that fierce loyalty could soon become history. HPs current stock (March 26, 2012) sits at $23.89 with a volume of 23,852,849 while Apple (same date) sits at $606.98 with a volume of 21,261,536. Both CEOs are new to their roles, and their companies are in vastly different places. Steve Jobs left Apple at the top of its game but also pretty solidly connected to Steve, who played three critical roles in the company. He balanced the different interests (engineering, design, finance); he was the super user who assured no product went out that wasnt acceptable to customers; and he was the primary pitch man. Meg Whitman stepped into an HP mess as Mark Hurd had so aggressively cut the company there was little more than a shell left in some places. In addition, there was an internal top executive (Todd Bradley) who was actively and publicly
lobbying for her job, and Leo Apotheker, the interim CEO, had just completed making several catastrophic mistakes, killing off (granted, he may have been set up) the US$1.2 billion Palm acquisition and possibly overpaying massively for several additional acquisitions. See above links re: HP switch to Whitman and Palm dealings. While Cook should have been able to hit the ground running, his position at Apple was to do the things Steve didnt want to do and to never be a threat to Steve, which means he likely is everything Steve isnt yet he is trying to fit into a spot custom designed for Steve. Talk about your round peg in a square hole. Whitman jumped into a train wreck in progress and immediately had to move to triage in order to stabilize the patient. This isnt to say both roles arent difficult. Tim may have been set up to fail even though the company was operating at a very high level of competence, while Whitman had to figure out who to trust and where the bodies were buried before she could even move. Cook had been CEO of Apple several times while Steve Jobs took leaves of absence in 2004, 2009, and early 2011. See our post Apple is Safe with Tim Cook to see the full line of Tim Cooks accolades and how he was called custom fit for the CEO position years before Steve Jobs considered moving out of that same role. Also see Tim Cooks
response to a very similar line of questioning back in February of this year. So what we saw last week from Whitman was by the numbers. Like Carly, she has consolidated HPs voice under people she can trust so she can craft a consistent impression of the company. This takes most marketing and communications responsibilities to the corporate level and should result in a vastly more consistent public image for the company. Now those two units are merged under Bradleys leadership. This new organization will be far easier to spin out, should Whitman need to eliminate all of these problems in one pass. And the complexity of the new entity should keep Bradley out of her hair for the foreseeable future, regardless. Elegantly played. Again note that Rob Enderle is currently a member of HPs Advisory Council. Cook has been increasingly compared to Jobs and found wanting. His last two product launches werent very exciting, and the new iPad appears to have serious problems. People have been writing to tell me they are returning theirs. The iPad 3rd Gen is the quickest selling iPad thus far with 3 million units sold in its first weekend (see link above), while the iPhone 4S sold over 4 million in its first three days, this number more than any other phone in history and more than twice as much as the iPhone 4 sold in its first three days.
The problems range from poor WiFi reception and WAN data plans that run through their monthly allocation in hours, to the very high temperature that the iPad operates at, which Consumer Reports says could cause burns if held for a long period like, say, if a child were playing games. Lets just say when I get an ad about a product that will make me longer and harder Im not expecting to get an iron, yet this Apple appears to be designed to take the creases out of my private part. In short, for a device that typically is held for hours to consume online content, it sucks at being wireless and it could burn you if used that way. Apples initial, and poorly thought through, response was it is within spec, which means that all of these problems were designed into the iPad. Maybe they are features intended to make us use the device less and get a life, but I doubt that was the intent. The Consumer Reports study noted here did not say that the iPad could cause burns. Consumer Reports stated instead that During our tests, I held the new iPad in my hands. When it was at its hottest, it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period. But back to Steve Jobs three critical roles. One was as a proxy for the consumer, and this new iPad is heavier and has critical ANALYST page 30
28
Technology/
Startups at SXSW: Lots of buzz, little substance

Blake Robinson (CNET News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:11:23 PM
SXSW 2012 For all the hype that Highlight received during SXSW Interactive, the app pretty much went silent when it came to the music part of the conference. Awareness of Highlight among techies was high, but it just never made it to the outside world. I'd like to say that this is surprising, but really, it's not. Buzz apps seldom achieve osmosis between the tech world and the real world. Those that do sometimes find fame and fortune, but the majority just swirl around the industry vacuum before pivoting into oblivion. It's a problem. One of the most basic tenets of starting a business is to identify a problem and then attempt to solve it. Nevertheless, developers are continuously answering questions asked by none. This might be a product of the hack, hack, hack mentality that pervades the tech industry. It might stem from a genuine desire to innovate. Whatever the case, it's not producing viable businesses. Assume for an instant that Highlight does take off. How would you monetize that business? What sort of transaction between client and app would
yield legitimate profits? If you Sure, it's helpful as an effect of c a n a n s w e r t h a t q u e s t i o n , marketing. Even if you get people Highlight would probably love to talking, it doesn't mean they'll hear from you. keep talking. How many of you
are still using Hashable? SXSW is a diametric event. Two types of people occupy the same space for a very short and frenetic
span of time. Taken by itself, SXSW Interactive is not STARTUPS page 30
Technology/
29
Whats The Best iPad Streaming Music App? MOGs New iPad App vs Rdio vs Spotify
Josh Constine (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:47:35 PM
Dont stop the music. It seems obvious, but MOG is the first of the big on-demand music streaming services to get this right on a tablet. Today MOG officially releases its iPad app, and it includes MOG Radio which when enabled will continue to play songs after your currently queued tracks finish. No more hours of accidental silence. Its also retinaready to crisply display artwork, bios, editors picks, and reviews. Compared to Rdios iPad app and Spotify for iPhone(no iPad app available), MOG has the best experience for simply playing music, it streams in higher fidelity on wi-fi, and provides the most accurate recommendations. Heres a full breakdown of how the three compare on music playback, discovery, price, and sound quality. MOG was hoping to do a big launch today but Apple pushed its new iPad app live Saturday night. Its release and the booming early sales of the New iPad should wake up Spotify and other music companies to the fact that its
crucial to offer apps for Apples tablet. Beyond portability, they make a great dedicated music playing second screen for use beside a laptop. So if youve got an iPad, which on-demand music streaming app and service should you choose? MOG is my pick. Heres why: Music Playback The biggest advantage of tablet streaming apps over their smartphone sisters is the space to to always show both play controls and whats youre currently hearing. MOG nails music playback on iPad. A persistent play bar up top can always be expanded to show album art nearfullscreen (4/5s), bigger than Rdio(3/5s). MOG CEO David Hyman tells me With the new Retina resolution, you feel like youre holding the album in your hand. The play bar also hosts the MOG Radio button. Instead of going quiet when your current selection ends, if enabled MOG Radio automatically starts playing an infinite loop of songs related to what you were listening to. A slider lets you select to hear more by the exact artist you were
hearing or give MOG the freedom to play similar artists too. That means you can cue up a single song, and then let MOG Radio take over, similar to a certain music genome project youve probably heard of. Hyman tells me The goal was to build a Pandora-style radio experience where you dont have to use thumbs up and down, we just automatically improve over time by tracking your plays and skips. MOG Radio alone will make me choose it over Rdio whose Play Station doesnt kick in automatically and merely shuffles your current selection, or Spotify which only offers standard loop and shuffle. Discovery This has traditionally been Rdios domain but MOG has done a good job of usurping the throne. Both offer pages of new releases and charts, and Rdios feel a little cleaner to browse. MOGs also includes editors picks, though, to clue you into cool stuff that might not be popular or brand new. Rdio shines with its Heavy Rotation page, which offers quick access to what you, friends, and the whole user base are playing most. I often get addicted to songs
and not having to search for them each time I return is very helpful. MOGs recommendations trump Rdios, though. Rdio only uses your play history, so when I listened to a throwback Blink 182 album first all my recommendations were of emo rock I hardly listen to anymore. MOG pre-populates its algorithm with your Facebook Likes, and then improves it with your listening habits which makes its recommendations much more accurate for new users. When you find someone good on MOG, not only can you add it to your queue like on Rdio, you can choose to play it next, at the end of your queue, or ditch your queue and play it now. Spotify only lets you add songs to playlists, which both its competitors do too. Pricing, Offline Play, and Sound Quality In what I wouldnt be surprised to learn is price fixing, MOG, Spotify, and Rdio all charge $9.99 per month for unlimited ad-free mobile listening. Rdio scores points by letting you use your free minutes on mobile, while the others make you to pay to even
try their mobile apps. All three companies let you beam music to your home stereo over Airplay, and sync / download music to your device for offline playlists. Spotify only lets you download playlists, Rdio does that plus albums, while MOG lets you sync playlists, albums, and songs. In both streaming and downloading, MOG offers the highest bitrate if enabled: MOG: High quality is 320kbps available on wi-fi, low quality is 64kbps for 4G and 3G Spotify: High quality is 160 kbps, low quality is 96kbps Rdio: High quality is 256kbps available on wi-fi, according to an Rdio employee in its Help Center, as technically the company does not disclose exact streaming rates So with the best music playback, strong discovery, and the highest streaming rates for wi-fi, my testing shows MOG now has the top on-demand music streaming iPad app. Youll have to pay, and its competitors may offer higher fidelity if youre without wi-fi, but MOGs the best choice for most people. Now, go rock out.
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STARTUPS
ANALYST
representative of the general consuming population. Taken as a whole, SXSW -- with movies and film -- is an ideal test bed. Robert Scoble is a good dude and a great proponent of technologies, but there's very little parity between him and the sort of consumer that will comprise the base of a successful tech business. It's a dilemma, and it got me thinking: At that instant, amidst the craziness that is SXSW, what technology at my disposal had the best odds of jelling into a long term successful business? And more importantly, why? The winner would have to go beyond buzz -- it'd have to solve a pervasive problem. SXSW has a reputation for being a giant party. That's not far from the truth. In the end though, SXSW is still a conference and its main reason for existence is networking. In an average year, I collect thousands of business cards. Literally. I'd estimate that 25 percent of those cards come from SXSW. I take them with the best intentions: Collect cards, digitize, followup. Unfortunately, the realistic trajectory is closer to: Collect cards, lose cards, run into the person months later and awkwardly explain why I didn't follow up. This isn't an effective system; it never has been. Shoeboxed and CloudContacts are great at
processing cards, but they're ultimately digitalization services. CardMunch was a revelation when it was released, but like the other two, it doesn't eliminate business cards, it just makes them a bit easier to manage. Thank you, Tout, you were helpful ToutApp for iOS Dealing with all of that paper is difficult. It's a problem that has needed to be resolved for some time and Tout has a solution. It launched last year out of 500 Startups, a Mountain View based accelerator run by super angel Dave McClure(who will be talking startups at next week's CNET Community Series). At its core, Tout is an email template platform. It's not just an app; it's a paid service with a mobile app. ToutApp for iOS works in conjunction with the Tout service, allowing you to quickly access your templates and fire off emails to people you meet while mobile. It improves the entire way people exchange contact. I didn't use a single business card throughout 10 days at SXSW, and I didn't need to. There's an email waiting in my new contact's inbox and that person's email was logged on my end. It starts a conversation from the moment contact is established. My SXSW template had a vcard
attached and looked like this: Hi {{first_name}}, Great meeting you at SXSW 2012. Below is my contact information and attached is my vcard. Let's stay in touch and please let me know if there's anything that I can do for you. Best, Blake -- Blake Robinson G+: http:// blakepl.us Tweet: http:// www.twitter.com/blake Work: http://linkedin.com/in/ blakerobinson Email: emailblaker@gmail.com It dynamically inserts names, so that "first name" variable is personalized for each dispatch. It worked well. The number of individuals with whom I've followed up in the week after SXSW is substantially higher than in years past. And I met more people this year than ever before. Each email is also embedded with a tracking pixel that indicates each time it's opened. If you notice a new contact has opened your email several times, you have a good indicator to follow up. That's a keen piece of business intelligence that didn't before exist. There's also a Tout Chrome extension, that enables you to access your templates or to "Tout" any email with tracking elements. Tout templates with analytics. What's more, Tout was just as useful when the interactive crowd
rolled out and the music crowd rolled in. It's not necessary for everyone to have ToutApp installed for it to be useful. It simply innovates on top of email, a service used by virtually everyone. The startup isn't attempting to construct a new network, it's set up shop inside a long established infrastructure. Tout isn't attempting to construct a new network, it's set up shop inside a long established infrastructure. It's a working strategy. The startup has a user based of about 25,000 users, that's populated mainly by small to medium sized businesses. This why I believe it has a solid shot at being a long term successful business. It's also why it won the SXSW startup battle for me. Now I just need to convince them to make an Android app so I can stop carrying around this iPhone. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
issues for users (connectivity and heat), which suggests someone didnt fulfill Jobs qualityassurance role. Apple can certainly ride this out, but it does showcase that this one aspect of Jobs execution remains missing. We already know Cook cant present like Steve Jobs, and it is as yet unclear whether the proper balance is being maintained between design, engineering and finance. With this device alone, you could argue it is not a good balance, based on these problems (best to wait for the newer iPad). The 2012 iPad is on track to sell 12 million units by the end of March with no lack in supply in sight. The remainder of Enderles article includes notes on how because Apple is currently the most successful tech company in the world, most of its roads lead down and that given HPs position, most roads lead up. Let us know what you think. Analyst Rob Enderles HP Apple CEO article deconstructed is written by Chris Burns& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Technology/ Featured/
31
How To Jailbreak According To chpwn

Jon Mitchell (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:28:00 PM
When you jailbreak an iOS device for the first time, you have a lot to learn. That's just the first of many ways jailbreaking is unlike the out-of-the-box Apple experience. To get a better sense of the purpose and potential of jailbreaking, I talked to one of the best. chpwn is the creator of jailbrea.kr, a single destination to keep you posted on the latest jailbreaks for all devices and OS versions. He's also created a host of apps and services that really make the most of the freedom afforded by jailbreaking. He doesn't just break the conventions of iOS for the sheer joy of it; he understands what the system needs but doesn't have. Sponsor ReadWriteWeb: Why jailbreak? What does an iOS user gain by jailbreaking? chpwn: Jailbreaking is about getting around the restrictions that Apple puts in place, so you might think that jailbreaking is mostly about getting the kind of apps that Apple doesn't allow.
But jailbreaking is really about a lot more than that. Most of what's available in Cydia (the jailbreak "equivalent" to Apple's App Store) are extensions, tweaks, or modifications to what's built in to the iPhone or the iPad. If you've ever used Firefox's extension system, that's the about the closest equivalent to what's available in Cydia. Some tweaks improve something that's already there: my Infinifolders let you add more icons to folders than Apple's standard 12-icon limit. Others make it easier to use:@phoenixdev's Music Controls Pro adds gestures and other controls to dozens of music apps. Some of the most cool are the extensions that provide completely new features: I personally like Ryan Petrich's DisplayRecorder, which allows you to record and share videos of whatever is running on your screen. None of these are traditional "applications," like what's in the App Store, though. Many don't even have icons on your home screen. They just hook into various parts of the OS, and
off Wi-Fi and other connections right from Notification Center. Theming, too, is popular. Cydia has tens of thousands of themes available, which can make iOS look like anything from Windows 7 to a movie poster - or just improve or customize the existing look. Customization, in general, is one of the big themes of jailbreaking. Most iPhones look identical, so lots of people want to be able to make theirs stand out. modify what's needed to add the RWW: What are some of the feature. most interesting modifications D o n ' t m i s s t o m o r r o w ' s you've made or come across? installment of Jon's adventures in chpwn: One of the most visually jailbreaking, in which he reports impressive tweaks I've seen is back from his own month-long Barrel, by Aaron Ash. It takes experiment. RWW: What are your home screen icons, and then some typical use cases for which adds 3D transitions as you swipe your average user would benefit from page to page. They might from jailbreaking? turn like on a cube, or spin like a chpwn: A lot of people jailbreak wheel, but then smoothly end up for very simple reasons. Before it back where they started. It's hard was added in iOS 4, just the to describe; you have to see it in ability to add a wallpaper to your person for the real effect. home screen was often what led Another one of my favorites is many people to jailbreaking. Conrad Kramer's Graviboard, Nowadays, one of the most which adds gravity to your icons. popular reasons is to add quick Rather than just a boring grid, you settings and toggles for commonly can pick up your icons and throw used functions: the extension them around your home screen, SBSettings lets you turn on and bouncing with simulated physics
and gravity in whatever direction you turn your device. It's a lot of fun, and definitely a cool way to show off jailbreaking. On the more practical side, Jay Freeman (@saurik, the creator of Cydia) makes Cyntact, which just adds pictures next to each of your contacts names, throughout your phone. It seems simple, but it helps a lot in practice to quickly find the right contact. The popular time-based screen-dimming tool f.lux is also in Cydia, and helps quite a bit with reading at night. None of these even conceptually make sense in the App Store. They modify the entire phone, not just a self-contained icon. So it's definitely interesting to see how iOS might be improved if it was open to more outside modification. T O MO R R O W on ReadWriteWeb: Jon reports back from his own month-long adventure in iOS jailbreaking. Disclosure: Grant "chpwn" Paul is related to ReadWriteWeb Channels Editor Fred Paul. Discuss
Obamacare on Trial: Day One

Adam J. White (The Weekly Standard)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:20:00 PM
The solicitor general had an interesting morning. He argued
before the Supreme Court's nine justices that Obamacare's individual mandate isn't a "tax"even though he'll argue tomorrow that the mandate is a "tax." And then the government's
top litigator invoked the possibility of incompetent
government litigators as a reason to reject an argument raised by the plaintiffs Welcome to the Supreme Court's review of Obamacare. One day down, two more to go.
32
Dell Launches v2 of IdeaStorm

David Strom (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:03:08 PM
original site was built on top of Salesforce.com's Ideas platform and went through a complete It is hard to believe that Dell's makeover. Plus, the old site had IdeaStorm site is five years old. ( gotten a bit big and convoluted It's Feb 2007 launch was covered and had lost a bit of its way, by us here.) But harder still to partly a victim of its own success. realize was that until last week, "We had a backlog of ideas the venerated ideation site was building up and didn't know what getting a bit long in the tooth, to do with them," he told me. even though it has had close to Ideas were getting lost in the 500 different ideas implemented pipeline and Dell wanted to by Dell on various projects and rework things and improve the products. Some of the ideas level of innovation. Dell and resulted in Dell's first backlit S a l e s f o r c e c o l l a b o r a t e d o n keyboard, wider sales for Dells in bringing a new version of Ideas to electronics stores, rack-mounted the marketplace. Dell is the first blade workstations, and and for c u s t o m e r o f t h e n e w a n d Dell to offer Linux pre-installed. i m p r o v e d p l a t f o r m . This last item has been partially So last week saw v2 of implemented. IdeaStorm. There is a new UI, Last week Dell did a complete much cleaner and meaner. You makeover of the site, adding can find and submit ideas more features, reworking the UI, and in easily. You can quickly track general sprucing up the place. We down a potential duplicate idea, spoke with Bill Johnston, Dell's s o y o u d o n ' t r e s u b m i t o n e Director of Global Online unintentionally. Communities, to see what is new Old ideas that don't get any and what were some of the traction are archived to keep the lessons learned. boards clean and focused. "We Sponsor learned that ideas don't happen in Johnston is an old social media a vacuum, and there aren't just hand who comes from Autodesk single points of inspiration but we and cNet and knows how to build n e e d t o h a v e a c u l t u r e o f communities. He told me that the i n n o v a t i o n t h a t e n c o u r a g e s
their own dog food, they have a forum where readers can post their comments about the new design, where we took the below screenshot: "Listening to our customers is a lot like dial tone, it is just part of the corporate communications fabric," he said. But the new design isn't static, and Dell has several other plans to enhance things in the works. For example, good ideas that they iterations and mashups of ideas," can't act upon are presented to the he said. Let's say I post an idea to community as a sort of "creative a particular forum, but then commons" approach, whereby someone comes along and posts a anyone can license and use them comment that extends my idea or and act upon. They are also takes it to a new direction. I looking to place ideas in progress would like to incorporate that as reposts to other Dell Web comment into my original idea to properties to engage the separate make it more potent. That is what communities that may not even be can now happen with the new site. a part of IdeaStorm, to reach the Finally, Dell has appointed 16 right people and interact with "idea partners" who are Dell them. employees responsible for IdeaStorm was one of the m a n a g i n g , t r a c k i n g , a n d touchstones of the enterprise implementing specific categories social media age, and we're glad of ideas that match their own to see Dell giving it a makeover corporate divisions. The notion is and planning for its future. to move these ideas into the right Discuss stakeholders as soon as possible, and not have ideas get lost in the sauce. And you can see that they eat
10,000 climate models predict significant global temperature rise

Duncan Geere
Submitted at 3/26/2012 11:40:00 AM
A distributed computing project to model the earth's atmosphere has ended, yielding a prediction that the temperature of the atmosphere will rise between 1.4C and 3C by 2050. The study included an individual climate simulation (supplied by the UK Met Office) run on almost 10,000 home computers, under the auspices of the BBC's Climate Change Experiment at climateprediction.net. By: Duncan Geere, Edited by: Nate Lanxon Continue reading...
New Line Acquiring Screen Rights for Andy Ferguson's 'Crazy U'
Daniel Halper (The Weekly Standard)
Deadline.com reports that screen rights for WEEKLY STANDARD senior editor Andy
Ferguson's Crazy U: One Dads Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College are being acquired
by New Line Cinema.
33
Take My Facebook Password? Over My Dead Body

Fredric Paul (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 10:00:35 PM
Not to beat a dead horse, but there are a lot of people out there who are very, very upset at the idea of sharing their social media logins with employers or potential employers. I'm not talking about the ACLU, and a couple of senators asking the Justice Department to look into the matter. I'm talking about real people worried about being asked to give up their personal information and privacy. The only way you're going to get their Facebook password is to pry it from their cold, dead hands. At least that's the impression I got from the 24 comments on my earlier post ( When Your Boss DOES Have the Right to Your Facebook Password) as well as dozens more culled from lively discussions on a number of LinkedIn groups. Sponsor Admittedly, the comments on LInked in groups like SMB IT Connection and Publishing and Editing Professionals are most likely coming from a self-selected
group of Web leaders and technology and content professionals. That's who reads ReadWriteWeb, and that's also who belongs to the LinkedIn groups where I posted my original story. I don't disagree, but it's ironic that the most sophisticated techies, the ones most involved in pursuing their business and personal lives online, are the most adamant that the two never, ever get mixed. Comments range from "NO!!!" to "only when they give me theirs." Others wonder where the privacy invasion will stop: at personal email accounts, rifling though your snail mail, PIN numbers, house keys, phone records and so on. Many folks worry that giving employers access to your social media accounts also exposes your friends. A common compromise was to let employers "friend" you for access to your accounts, while others simply refuse to use Facebook in the first place. On the other hand, these folks know that employers of writers, marketers and other "influencers" increasingly make hiring
evolve. That's why the Internet is having this moment of angst. Finally, there's another element to consider. From a security perspective, it's a bad idea to share your password with anyone. For any reason. Even if the person you share with is legitimate, once the password is out, you can never put it back in the bottle or know exactly who else will get access. And as Mike Loukides notes on decisions based on the power of O ' R e i l l y R a d a r , p h i s h i n g the applicant's social media t e c h n i q u e s a r e a l l a b o u t networks, and services like Klout convincing people to give up their exist to help them measure that. passwords. And from the And that's the real issue here. For e m p l o y e r ' s p e r s p e c t i v e , i f a variety of reasons, increasing someone gives you a password, it numbers of people mix their has to raise the question of who personal and business identities e l s e a r e t h e y g i v i n g t h e i r online. Compartmentalizing your passwords to? Can you really trust life is getting more difficult all the that person to maintain your time. And in that environment, company's security protocols? employers asking for social media Turnabout is fair play, of course. passwords is only one of many Do you really want to work for a u n f o r e s e e n c o n s e q u e n c e s . company that would ask for your Companies, individuals and passwords? government agencies are still Discuss trying to figure out where the lines should be drawn -- even as the social networks and how people use them continue to
Comfortably Quirky Catwalks The Shiroma Fall 2012 Collection Features Relaxed Silhouettes (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:53:02 PM
( TrendHunter.com) The Shiroma Fall 2012 ready-to-wear collection features carefree and comfortable wardrobe select. Fusing aesthetics with function, this versatile and wearable womenswear line shines a spotlight on...
Happy Hour Links

Daniel Halper (The Weekly Standard)
Bret Stephens: "Peter Beinarts False Prophecy: The Crisis of Zionism, his book arguing that the
American Jews, is sloppy with facts and emotionally contrived." Israeli occupation alienates young
34
Technology/
Boeing's new business jet is fit for a king

Daniel Terdiman (CNET News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:22:19 PM
The new Boeing Business Jet features multiple HD screens and very comfortable couches. If you find yourself in the market for a new super luxurious private jet, Boeing has got you covered. The aviation giant unveiled its latest Boeing Business Jet today, a modified 737-700 capable of carrying 19 passengers up to 6,444 miles at 609 miles per hour. Boeing's uber-luxurious new business jet (photos) 1-2 of 7 Scroll Left Scroll Right But beyond its technical specifications, what really makes the plane fit for a king is its luxurious appointments. Starting with its stateroom featuring a king
-size bed and private bathroom and shower, the plane also has a guest stateroom with divans that convert into beds for eight passengers. Related stories Boeing's uber-luxurious new business jet (photos) Boeing's Phantom Eye goes for a low ride Buying a 747 or 787 Dreamliner? You'll get it here
Secret VIP gets first Boeing 747 -8 Intercontinental Boeing's Dreamliner struggles despite tech superiority In addition, the plane has been outfitted with Honeywell's Ovation Select digital system, a technology suite that is designed to let passengers forget they're away from their offices. "Ovation
Select offers the latest technological advancements to deliver seamless and easy connectivity -- whether passengers are connected via their BlackBerry, using their laptops or iPads or conducting a video conference call," Boeing said in a release about the new plane. "The modular, lightweight and flexible cabin management system
provides component command and control, high-quality, crystalclear surround sound audio and vivid full high-definition (1080p) video, which is stunning to watch on the 42-inch and 46-inch high definition monitors found in this BBJ." As well, the new plane has a galley with a center island, and typical kitchen appliances including a standard oven, a microwave, a fridge, trash compactor, and wine cooler. Plus an espresso maker. Although Boeing didn't say how much the new plane cost, it did say that the specially outfitted 737 -700 was sold to a private American businessman. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Japanese robot pet powered by iPhone

Mike Schramm (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:15:00 PM
Robotic pets are kind of kid stuff here in the US, but they're a big deal over in Japan, and here's one that takes advantage of the iPhone's popularity. The Smartpet
is a robotic dog that "borrows" the iPhone as head unit. The body is mechanical, of course, but the head uses the iPhone's touchscreen (and even the camera) to control the dog's movement. Not only does the touchscreen show over 100 different facial
animations for the virtual pet, but
apparently the included app will also learn to recognize your face and voice, and will recognize gesture movements through the iPhone's camera. There's no word on availability for North America yet, and this one may not make it over here at all. It will be available on April 24
in Japan, for around $80. Japanese robot pet powered by iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Technology/ Finance/
35
Daily iPhone App: Battleloot Adventure tweaks turn-based RPG combat

Mike Schramm (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:30:00 PM
11 Perfect Pumpkin Pie Innovations - From Delicate Hybrid Desserts to Sweet Swirled Scones (TrendHunter.com)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:13:06 PM
When I first heard about Battleloot Adventure, it was being compared to the great Battleheart game on iOS. That's a fair comparison given the way the game looks, but I think I have a much better one: old-school Final Fantasy, with a focus on combat. As you might have expected, Battleloot Adventure pares down the old turn-based RPG genre to its core -- there's not a lot of story here, and your adventurers just sort of stumble across each other within the first few missions, as you're taught the mechanics of fighting with a party. But once everything has filled out, Battleloot Adventure does well using the iPhone and iPad's touchscreen to bring the old Final Fantasy-style combat system to life. You have four party members, and each one is assigned a color, each of which is strong or weak against certain enemy colors. You can simply attack with one group member per round, or you can expend energy by pulling in other members in the same around. And there are also special attacks that each character
( TrendHunter.com) It's a real shame that pumpkin pie is only around in the autumn, and particularly around Thanksgiving, but these pumpkin pie innovations might just get you inspired (and hungry) enough to run...
can use (that will go off automatically). Just like in Battleheart, the game takes place across a series of combat challenges, and it's your goal to beat the bad guys, earning XP and loot. The biggest drawback here is that because the combat system takes center stage, it's also very complicated. This wouldn't be an issue if the UI was a little clearer, but unfortunately, it's not -sometimes it's very hard to determine exactly what color an enemy actually is, or why a
certain character just sits there breathing annoyingly loudly rather than fighting when you tap on them. All the game does in the way of explanation is in the tutorial, so if you don't pay attention and learn strategy fast, the game's depth won't really make itself apparent. That's too bad, however, because there is a really fun and interesting combat system here. If you can work past the game's sometimes unworkable UI, you'll find a lot of fun. Battleloot Adventure is available now, for
99 cents on either the iPhone or the iPad HD version (they are not Universal). Daily iPhone App: Battleloot Adventure tweaks turn-based RPG combat originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Is your local Game store closing?

Telegraph Staff (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:10:18 PM
Administrators at Game Group will close almost half the UK's 609 stores, leaving 2,104 people without jobs, in the biggest collapse since Woolworths in 2008. Here is the list of Game and Gamestation stores that will shut.
36
Technology/ Culture/
Flutter: The YC Startup That Wants To Put The Worlds Webcams To Good Use
A Peek Inside Dropboxs Company-Wide Hack Week At Its Big New SF Offices
Eric Eldon (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:53:35 PM
Jeopardy and such) are captured in detail by Eric Chang in the classy video above. From the outside, Dropbox looks Most of it is focused on the Colleen Taylor (TechCrunch) a v a i l a b l e , a n d t h e 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 the market today. But we really occupied with launches these efforts of two engineers who work gestures the app logged from only use them for two purposes: Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:45:08 PM days. It came out with a big o n a H a r r y P o t t e r - i n s p i r e d those users. In the near-term, Shooting photos or videos, or Say youre sitting at your laptop, Flutter expects to expand its video-chatting with others. The r e d e s i g n t h i s m o n t h , t h e n Marauders Map of the new l i s t e n i n g t o m u s i c w h i l e functionality to control other guys at Flutter envision a future followed up quickly with a new office, using Wifi signals to figure responding to emails, writing media apps such as Pandora and where we use gestures along with way to share files with Facebook out the locations of people and code, or reading blogs. Then your YouTube, as well as to other our voices to tell our machines friends. But the company is busy their laptops. Its a clever way to phone rings, and the typical operating systems and devices what to do, rather than pressing with a lot of internal growth, too. show new employees around It recently moved into big new and the video is the first look the scramble ensues: You minimize beyond the Mac. buttons or clicking a mouse. Its your browser, maximize your But the really interesting thing is all about interacting with our offices down the street from us in world is getting at the new music app, and search frantically the companys long-term vision, devices in a more natural, human the tech-heavy SOMA district of location. for the pause button or volume which goes well beyond the way. As an expert in computer San Francisco, and has been busy But youll also see some of the control all, hopefully, before ability to start and stop a Rihanna vision, Dalal especially is well- hiring elite engineers (or buying other hacks show up. There was a them, like it did with the recent password strength meter that you miss the call. Sound familiar? song with a wave of your hand. positioned to lead this push. acquisition of Cove). warns users about tricks that Thats a problem that Flutter, a Ultimately, Flutter co-founders For now, though, Flutter is It also has the added challenge of might leave them hacked, a tool startup in Y Combinators latest N a v n e e t D a l a l a n d M e h u l keeping it simple, trying to make batch of companies, has solved. Nariyawala tell me, Flutter wants the best tool for easily controlling bonding the team together in the that warns developers where bugs Flutter is an app for Mac that lets to power the eyes of our devices t h e m u s i c p l a y i n g o n y o u r middle of the action, trying to are likely to show up as theyre you control the play function on in the same way that Siri computer. Maintaining a narrow maintain its startup culture. So it writing code and funner ones Spotify or iTunes by simply functions as the iPhones ears. focus is smart for a tiny six- took the idea of a hackathon l i k e a c a r t o o n m u r a l o f waving at your computer. You Its a big ambition, but it makes a person startup thats just starting usually a 24-hour event where employees, and a rap song. can watch it in action in the video lot of sense. Webcam hardware out. But its the long-term developers compete to build small The music, by the way, is We embedded above. That in itself is has become so inexpensive potential of the technology and projects and turned it into a Will Learn by Beat Culture, pretty nifty as evidenced by the about 50 cents a pop one is the team that really makes Flutter full week in early March. The Adrift (Shigetos Adrift A exhausting contest and associated Dream Remix) by Tycho. 11,000 people who downloaded included in practically any new one to watch. recreational activities (Dropbox Flutter in the first 11 days it was laptop, tablet or phone that enters
Video: Justin Bieber Raps, Talks Hunger Games, and Goes "Mature" With Selena
Karli Bulnes (PopSugar)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:01:32 PM
Justin Bieber stopped by Ryan
Seacrest's radio show this morning to celebrate the release of his new single, "Boyfriend." The pop star opened up about the
song's meaning, plus he shared his
thoughts on The Hunger Games Rush. and his and Selena Gomez's venture into more mature work. Hear it all in today's PopSugar
Technology/
37
Sony Chromebook coming sometime soon?

Christopher MacManus (CNET News)
A section of the user manual for this laptop describes how to use Chrome OS. (Click to enlarge.) Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:47:46 PM A year later, new FCC An image unearthed from the documents for the Sony VCC111 FCC Web site reveals Sony's laptop contain an assortment of Chromebook. photos, showing the device from A recently declassified document multiple angles. You may notice on the FCC Web site reveals the lack of a Windows button on Sony's first Chromebook. the keyboard. T h e l e g e n d o f t h e S o n y CNET also showed the images to Chromebook stretches back to a trusted source familiar with the March of 2011, when Sony matter, who confirmed the slim, Insider first leaked news of its ultraportable Sony laptop uses existence with specifications. The Google's Chrome OS. The final rumored features included a nail in the rumor coffin lies in the 1.2GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 (T25) actual user manual for the Sony d u a l - c o r e A R M C o r t e x A 9 laptop, which clearly discusses p r o c e s s o r ; a n 1 1 . 6 - i n c h how to turn on and operate (1,366x768) LCD; 1GB of DDR2 Chrome OS. RAM; 16GB of flash storage; Furthermore, many of the eight-hour battery life; and more. specifications in the documents
and white color options. Multi-angle perspective of Sony's minimalist Chromebook. (Click to enlarge.) There's no word yet regarding the price (or release date) of the Sony Chromebook, but alternatives by other companies range from $299 to $419. With the flurry of tablet, ultrabook, and supersized phone releases, do you think the Chromebook still make sense? (Via Laptop Review) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is line up with those earlier rumors, show several ports, such as a SD your content and you're reading it and now we learn a little more. card reader, HDMI port, two USB on someone else's site, please read Wireless test pages in the FCC 2.0 ports, and inputs for a the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentconfirm 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3G headphone and microphone. We only/faq.php#publishers. Five r a d i o , a n d B l u e t o o t h even spotted a separate color, Filters recommends: Donate to implementation. The pictures meaning Sony may offer black Wikileaks.
Fandango says Hunger Games set records

Mark Raby (SlashGear)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:42:58 PM
The Hunger Games is beaming with pride after it set multiple records in its first few days in theaters. Among the most impressive was that, raking in $155 million, it had the highest opening weekend at the box office for a non-sequel. It performed at levels usually reserved for established movie franchises like Harry Potter or Star Wars. In
addition, Fandango is saying that its ticket purchasing platform was more popular than ever. The online ticket site boasted in a press release that out of all domestic ticket sales over the weekend, 22% of them were purchased on Fandango. Thats an incredibly impressive number, and is the highest percent for any opening weekend. The previous with 19% of all ticket sales. record holder was Harry Potter In addition, in line with the and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, continuously growing trend of for which Fandango was credited mobile payments, last Friday set a
record for the most tickets sold on a mobile platform through Fandango in a single day. The entire opening weekend also set a
mobile ticketing record. Fandangos record- breaking percentage of the films opening weekend is a testament to the growing popularity of online and mobile ticketing as the way to go to the movies, Fandango said in a statement. Fandango says Hunger Games set records is written by Mark Raby& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
38
Technology/ Finance/
Microsofts Xbox Live will add Comcast and HBO Go tomorrow

Mark Raby (SlashGear)
acknowledgment that the traditional pay TV model is dead. Consumers dont have only one Attention, Xbox 360 owners source of entertainment on their youll be prompted to download flat-screen anymore. Comcast will an Xbox Live update tomorrow. join Verizon as a cable operator And if your home cable provider that allows existing subscribers to is Comcast, and/or you happen to watch on-demand content without be a fan of the many original needing to hit the input button shows on HBO, itll be an update after playing a round of Mass worth downloading. Both content Effect 3. The Comcast-Microsoft providing companies will be partnership was announced as part adding their stamp to the growing of the expansion of Xbox Live catalog of Xbox Live streaming video content, but it was never video content when the new announced when the service firmware update is rolled out. would go live. For Comcast, it represents an The same is true for HBO Go.
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:28:24 PM
The on-demand streaming app was rumored to launch on April 1, in time for the premiere of HBOs Game of Thrones. However, it makes more sense to launch the
service a few days in advance, so as to fix any issues that might arise. In addition to on-demand cable services and HBO Go, the Xbox 360 also lets users stream
videos through Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube, and Vevo, among others. It is becoming less and less of a game console and more of a total living room immersion device. [ via GigaOM] Microsofts Xbox Live will add Comcast and HBO Go tomorrow is written by Mark Raby& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Britain Parliament considering iPads for all members

Mel Martin (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:00:00 PM
That glow you see coming from the House of Commons in London may be the glow of new iPads. The BBC reports that a Commons Administration Committee has recommended a rollout of iPads and other tablet computers to save the British taxpayer money.
At present, every member of Parliament gets three desktop computers and two laptops for office use, so as you can imagine, things get expensive quickly. But with iPads for everyone, the committee says it'll be easier to get work done and to save paper. Some Members of Parliament participated in a trial use of tablets, and the results were positive. Several different brands of tablets were used by 16
Members of Parliament and it was noted that the iPad was "ahead of the field in terms of functionality." Parliament rules were changed
last year to allow MPs to use iPads or BlackBerrys in the Commons chamber. Britain Parliament considering iPads for all members originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Cash for access: business has influence within Government but sadly not enough
Damian Reece (Finance News Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 2:29:25 PM
Be warned. Business can be very effective at lobbying Government ministers, getting policy written, or re-written, to its advantage and profiting from the results.
Technology/ Economy/ Policy/
39
Whimsical Sculptural Chronographs The Fable Mantle Clock is Inspired by Vintage Objects (TrendHunter.com)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:03:11 PM
Sarko Spam, Muslim by Appearance, and Self-Destruction

testosteronepit
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:10:07 PM
( TrendHunter.com) The Fable mantle clock is a stunning interpretation of traditional timetellers. Beautifully sculptural, it looks more like a whimsical ornament or jewelry stand than a clock. Taking the form of a...
Is This Thing On? - By Uri Friedman

URI FRIEDMAN (Foreign Policy)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:59:50 PM
THIS page 40
[unable to retrieve full-text content] W o l f R i c h t e r www.testosteronepit.com President Nicolas Sarkozy, practically written-off in the French presidential election, is grasping at straws, and in the process, during an interview on France Info, he created an official classification of people in France, and maybe even in the whole entire world: Muslim by appearance. He was responding to rightwing Marine Le Pen. Shed called Mohamed Merahthe mass murderer that has shaken up France"the tip of the iceberg" in her anti-immigration rant. He tried to debunk her and sound reasonable, which shouldnt have been too hard. "To say immigration equals Mohamed Merah, who was born in France, doesnt make sense, he said. And the idea that Merah embodied Frances integration problem was absurd. It would have been a perfect stopping point. Next topic. But no! Looking for words while his right hand was flying about, he noted with razor-sharp perception that two of the three paratroopers Merah had assassinated were "Muslim, at any
rate by appearance." There it was, on video, to forever float around the internet. The uproar was immediate: one of the two Muslims by appearance was ... a practicing Catholic (a Kabyle from Algeria). All this after hed proclaimed that the tragedy in Toulouse shouldn't be made part of the campaign. When Marine le Pen and Franois Hollande made it part of the campaign, he issued two press releases criticizing them. Then, inevitably, he did the same thing, but not during on TV or before a gaggle of reporters, but in the privacy of the Elyse, in front of his computer, presumably: email spam. And not just to anyone, but to French expats living overseas. Creepy perhaps but legal. The email even points out the applicable law. French citizens living overseas are encouraged to register with a consulate in their country of residence, and the consulates make these electronic lists available to candidates. Apparently, it doesnt happen often. But Sarkozy is grasping at straws. The email titled, "France is a great democracy that will never give in to any threat," was addressed to "My Dear Friends" ( screen shot) and bizarrely assumed that the French overseas didnt have access to news,
internet, or TV and needed to be updated. The week we just lived through was particularly difficult, it began. An assassin wanted, according to his own words, 'put France on its knees' by killing three children, four soldiers, and a teacher." It recounted the awesome things Sarkozy and his people did in response. "My dear friends, we only have one month left, he begged at the end. "Help me build a strong France to make our ideas, values, and ideals triumph. I need you." Signed, "With all my friendship." Very promising, this proximity of M. le President to his expatsparticularly after he scared the bejesus out of them two weeks ago with his threat to hound them with a special expat tax. Maybe Sarkozy was hoping that, having no access to the internet or French news, his Dear Friends wouldnt yet know about his special tax for them. Grasping at straws. But he had to do something. High fuel prices have become a drag, too. For that tenacious debacle that just keeps getting worse, read.... The $10-Per-Gallon Gas Has Arrived, In Paris. And unemployment is pounding him. So he took it upon himself to announce the latest figures Monday morningwell before
the official announcement in the afternoonso that he could spin them before anyone else knew what the dark details were. And spin he did. It was the tenth month in a row of growing unemployment, and at 2.87 million people, the highest since October 1999. Unemployment and underemployment combined jumped to 4.28 million, the highest level ever. "An improvement of the situation with a tendentiously lower rise of the numbers of unemployed," the spinmeister said inexplicably. And without breaking a sweat, he added that this "is a sign of an appreciable economic upturn." But the economy is expected to be flat in the first quarter. Job offers sagged 9.5% from a year ago. And the auto industry, a big employer in France, is in deep trouble. And not just in France. T h e R wordrestructuringunpalatable and almost illegal as it is in Europe, is being bandied about, this time by Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. For how his dire warning and cry for help would pound Europe, where nothing has been fixed yet, read.... Fiasco in the Auto Industry.
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The 8 worst "hot mic" blunders of all time. BY URI FRIEDMAN| MARCH 27, 2012 The microphone has long been both a politician's best friend and worst enemy. In 1948, for example, Thomas E. Dewey got himself into trouble when the train he was traveling on lurched backward toward a crowd of supporters in Illinois, just as the Republican presidential candidate was preparing to speak into a microphone. "That's the first lunatic I've had for an engineer," Dewey huffed. "He probably should be shot at sunrise." Never one to miss an opportunity, Democratic incumbent Harry Truman praised the "all Democratic" train crew, while the "lunatic" engineer himself declared, "I think as much of Dewey as I did before, and that's not very much." You'd think we would have learned a thing or two in the six decades since, but apparently not. President Barack Obama has been stung by the open mic on three separate occasions. And on Monday, it happened again. Microphones caught Obama telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after a meeting in Seoul that he would have more "flexibility" to deal with issues such as missile defense after the U.S. presidential election. Here's a transcript and video of the exchange, per ABC News: Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him to give me
space. Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you... Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility. Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir. video platform video management video solutions video player The conversation has sparked an outcry among conservatives. Mitt Romney's campaign pounced, tweeting, "@BarackObama: I'll have more flexibility to _______ after the election. #ObamaFlexibility," prompting followers to fill in the blank to suggest everything from " impose peace plan" on Israel to " act more European." The Republican National Committee has already come out with an ad asking, "What else is on Obama's after the election that he isn't telling you?" Here's a tip: if you have to ask "Is this thing on?" better to be silent than sorry. Here's a look at the worst tempests in teacup roiled by the open mic. And if you think Obama put his foot in his mouth, just wait until you hear Putin's rape joke or recall what Reagan's slip of the tongue almost caused. Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images BARACK OBAMA/NICOLAS SARKOZY ON BENJAMIN NETANYAHU During a G-20 summit in Cannes, France, in November 2011, journalists who tuned into a translation before they were
instructed to do so overheard French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "liar" who he couldn't "bear" while discussing France's vote in favor of the Palestinian bid for UNESCO membership with Obama. "You're fed up, but I have to deal with him every day," the U.S. president reportedly responded. The comments caused a stir in the United States (thenRepublican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann urged Obama to apologize to Netanyahu) and in France (Sarkozy met with leaders of the French Jewish community to explain his comments), but they also generated a great deal of debate in Israel. "I was embarrassed to read what Sarkozy thinks about our prime minister, and I was even more embarrassed to hear that the U.S. President agrees with him," Labor Party legislator Daniel Ben-Simon told the Jerusalem Post."If [Netanyahu] lies so easily to important officials, just imagine how much he lies to us." On the other end of the spectrum, Danny Danon, a lawmaker who belongs to Netanyahu's Likud Party, declared that "Obama's true face was revealed, as were his cold and disrespectful policies towards Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu." The Israeli press was equally divided. Over the course of several days, op-ed headlines included, " Don't Trust the French," " Don't Trust Barack
Obama," " Obama, Talk Is Cheap," " Our Friend in Paris," " Why Should Anyone Believe Netanyahu?" and " Netanyahu Is Less of a Liar Than Past Israeli PMs." In March, Netanyahu"had" to cancel a visit to Paris but did meet with Obama at the White House. This time, Obama spoke of"friendship" and "unbreakable" bonds -- at least when the microphones were on. DSK/AFP/Getty Images BARACK OBAMA ON QATAR During a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago in April 2011, Obama, not realizing that CBS News's Mark Knoller was still recording his remarks after a question-andanswer session with reporters, informed donors that Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa alThani,"is a big booster, big promoter of democracy all throughout the Middle East. Reform, reform, reform -- you're seeing it on Al Jazeera." But, he added off the cuff, the emir "himself is not reforming significantly. There's no big move towards democracy in Qatar." What made the comments particularly embarrassing is that, earlier in the day, Obama had met with Thani in Washington and praised Qatar's leadership in Libya and "when it comes to democracy in the Middle East" (the emir, in turn, promised to send Obama tickets to the 2022 World Cup, which his country is hosting). The Qatari daily The Peninsula quickly issued a pointed rebuttal:
We strongly believe that change and democracy should come from within and should never be imported or we will have what happened in Iraq. Maybe in Qatar, our pace is slow but we have no doubt we are in the right direction. We are sure that we will achieve all that we have set for in our Vision 2030, likely eight years ahead when you come for World Cup 2022. We believe Qatar is on the learning curve and we are making progress in practicing democracy -- from media to public debate and education.... Mr. President, we have often written about U.S. foreign policy having double standards and being unmindful of the process of the change in Middle East. We do not want U.S. to export democracy to us because we don't want to repeat the Iraq experience. But be assured, we can build our own process. Gary Fabiano-Pool/Getty Images VLADIMIR PUTIN ON MOSHE KATSAV At the end of an October 2006 press conference between Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Moscow, a reporter caught the Russian president cracking a joke about rape charges against his Israeli counterpart Moshe Katsav (the Israeli president was later found guilty). "What a mighty man he turns out to be!" Putin reportedly quipped, in comments that were initially captured by a THIS page 43
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Eating Cinnabon in Damascus

KATIE PAUL (Foreign Policy)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:19:11 PM
Why are foreign brands like KFC, the Four Seasons, and Cinnabon still trying to make a buck in Syria? BY KATIE PAUL| MARCH 26, 2012 BEIRUT When it opened its doors in December 2005, the towering Four Seasons Hotel complex instantly became the most recognizable landmark in Damascus, the centerpiece of President Bashar al-Assad's program for a new Syria. "It is to be a calling card, announcing to the world that Syria is open for business, for tourism and for people with lots of money looking for someplace to spend it," the New York Times described it then. It's almost hard to remember now -- one year into an uprising that has killed at least 9,000 people and sent another 40,000 fleeing to neighboring countries -that just a few years ago many in the international community saw Syria as a country on the mend, a formerly repressive regime that had decided to liberalize. As the country began a slow opening to global markets, dozens of foreign chains set up shop in Syria. Costa Coffee opened up in Damascus Boulevard, the outdoor mall adjacent to the Four Seasons, and launched seven other locations throughout the country. From fried chicken to French cuffs, other brands followed -- KFC in 2006, Mango in 2006, and Zara in
2011 -- all trying to capitalize on Syria's established middle class. Now, as then, the Four Seasons embodies the state of Assad's nation, but not quite in the way he'd planned. At the beginning of the month, the Rotana Cafe, a hookah and latt joint owned by
Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, closed its doors until further notice, citing poor business and security concerns. Costa Coffee remains open, but of the eight cafes it once had country-wide, the one in Damascus Boulevard is the only one left standing, said a
spokesman for the company. Still, the manager of Damascus Boulevard, Mohamed al-Awa, said in a phone interview that business is "normal" and everything in Damascus is "good." But from the looks of it, nothing
is normal in Syria these days. While the spiraling violence has largely left Damascus untouched, except for scattered bomb attacks and occasional fighting throughout the city, the country's EATING page 42
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economy is in shambles, with a tightening noose of sanctions and closed borders putting the brakes on international trade. While foreign hotels, food, and clothing in Syria are not the target of sanctions, they are finding it increasingly difficult to do business in a country so isolated from the rest of the world. The hotel itself is a ghost town. "Let's put it this way, the Four Seasons was very excited about the mission of Kofi Annan-- not because they were hopeful he'd come away with a solution to the crisis, but because they were finally getting some business. And they knew he'd be back," said one prominent businessman, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. The hotel's Damascusbased spokeswoman disputed the characterization, saying they were still making summer plans and hosting visiting delegations, journalists, conferences, board meetings, and weddings, but admitted that business is "as you would assume" and occupancy is "lower than it should be." Amid an uprising and government crackdown, central Damascus has largely been able to exist in a bubble of privilege. But after a year of crisis, it too is finally feeling the pinch. Last year was unsurprisingly a bad one for business in Syria, with the International Monetary Fund predicting a 2 percent contraction, but the past two months have been the worst by far since the start of the revolution. With insurance rates soaring,
logistics risky, and the plummeting Syrian pound making import purchases increasingly expensive, the cost of doing business in Syria has skyrocketed. As business owners raise prices to compensate, middle-class customers with shrinking purchasing power are increasingly staying away, even from previously insulated retail spots like the Cham City Center, a mall that brought in foreign brands like Cinnabon and United Colors of Benetton when it opened in 2007. "It was very puzzling to me, but until the last week of December, Cham City Center mall was packed whenever I went, even during the middle of the week," said one foreign banker based in Damascus until last month, when his bank closed up its Syria office. The strain has not gone without notice in the Assad regime's propaganda department, which has tried to convince consumers they can do just fine without the rest of the world. All over downtown Damascus, added the banker, billboards are preaching self-sustainability as part of a governmental public awareness campaign to put a euphemistic spin on things: "Let us wear what we weave," the billboards tell Damascenes. "Let us drink what we squeeze." "Let us eat what we grow." Today, the regime seems to have gone back in time: One of the first steps of liberalization in 2005 was the lifting an import ban on garments, ushering in the country's first retail stores in
downtown Damascus and the swanky satellite suburb of Yaafour. Real estate developers, mostly joint ventures between Syrian and Gulf businessmen, brought in sparkling glass malls -the Town Center in 2004, Cham City Center and Damascus Boulevard in 2007, and Damasquino in 2008 -- filled with foreign retailers ... and the occasional knock-off foreign retailers. (In response to a question about the GAP store in the Town Center mall, a GAP spokeswoman said "Any Gapbranded products sold in Syria are unauthorized counterfeit or grey market goods, distributed through illegal channels.") And just last March, days into the start of the uprising, Spanish clothing retailer Zara splurged on a flashy new three-story showroom in the middle of downtown Damascus -its first foray into Syria. That optimism is a far cry from the mood today. Car dealerships still display shiny new Toyotas and Volkswagens, but the cars are now collecting dust on the lots, says Jihad Yazigi, the Damascusbased editor of economic monitor The Syria Report. "Countless shops are closing every day in Damascus and other cities because people have simply decided to put their money into savings," says Yazigi. "I can't see how they can last much longer. Closures are accelerating and traders are just clearing out their stocks now." The United Colors of Benetton, the Italian clothing retailer known
for their controversial ad campaigns including one featuring feuding world leaders kissing, had been planning to open 25 new stores in the coming five years, in addition to the 12 already up and running in Damascus and four other Syrian cities. Until last year, when they started importing goods from Italy, they were one of the few foreign brands to have worked around the previous Syrian government ban on garment imports by having products manufactured inside the country, creating a distinctly Syrian aesthetic (heavy on the studs and sparkles). But business has gone south. One member of the Syriabased management team, who asked not to be identified, said they closed the Homs store in January and knocked down expectations from the 25 new stores to just two or three new locations in calmer cities like Tartous and Aleppo. They also raised prices by 50 percent to adjust for the 60 percent increase in the cost of the dollar. It may be a necessity doing business in this climate, but it's not bringing in shoppers. "With prices of basic necessities like food and drink so expensive, who is going to spend their money on clothes? I don't know why we're bothering. I'm working here, and even I wouldn't buy any of it," one Damascus resident told me, recounting a conversation he had with a clothes salesperson recently. Food appears to be doing slightly
better than fashion, though it's still under strain. A local Cinnabon employee said business was slow during the week, but enough on the weekends to keep the store afloat. Although "the situation is very bad, thank God we survived" so far, said the employee, who asked for anonymity. One resident of Damascus said he spotted only one other family in the food court that hosts Cinnabon when he went with his girlfriend in mid-March. Meanwhile, Costa has been putting into storage the equipment and furniture for its seven shuttered shops, hoping for a brighter day, according to a franchise manager. He added that KFC, which the franchise runs as well, closed two locations in Aleppo and two in Damascus, after members of its management staff came under a hail of bullets while driving on the country's main north-south highway past Homs last April. Employees from both brands have been re-assigned to office work or to one of the safer KFCs in Damascus. One KFC remains in Aleppo, since, unlike Costa's coffee, chicken can be sourced locally, thus avoiding the now-treacherous highway route. All Syrian businesses are being forced to scrimp, save, or close up shop, not just those with foreign goods. Though the government has not provided any economic indicators for months, some estimate that after years of 5 percent yearly growth, gross EATING page 46
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microphone. "He raped 10 women -- I would never have expected this from him. He surprised us all -- we all envy him!" Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov later admitted that Putin made the wisecrack but argued that it "in no way means that President Putin welcomes rape." For good measure, he added that "Russian is a very complicated language, sometimes it is very sensitive from the point of view of phrasing" (Putin, for his part, claimed that journalists probably "heard something and began to have ideas"). The Russian daily Kommersant may have summed up the controversy best. "This was one of those moments when you just can't believe your ears," the paper marveled. Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images GEORGE W. BUSH ON HEZBOLLAH In July 2006, during a G-8 lunch in Russia, a live microphone caught President Bush venting to British Prime Minister Tony Blair about the United Nations' stance on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over," Bush noted in reference to Syria's alleged support for the Islamic militant group (about 1 minute into the clip). Bush didn't think much of the incident ("he rolled his eyes and laughed" after seeing the transcript, White House Press
Secretary Tony Snow told reporters), but the famously plainspoken president did catch some flak in the press. Tony Blair faced withering criticism as well. Here's how Ireland's Sunday Tribune described the exchange, referencing Bush's apparent greeting of "Yo, Blair!" ( some reports translated this line as "Yeah Blair"). "Yo Blair," the leader of the Free World greeted his gofer. He proceeded to slap down the prime minister's efforts to intervene in the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. Tony sidled away, tail between his legs, his subservience captured for posterity on Bush's microphone. During a visit to parliament a couple days after the summit, Blair was reportedly heckled with cries of "yo!" from opposition lawmakers. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images JACQUES CHIRAC ON BRITISH FOOD This doesn't technically qualify as a hot mic gaffe, but it's too good to exclude. In July 2005, French journalists overheard French President Jacques Chirac making fun of British food with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin. "The only thing [the British] have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow" disease, Chirac reportedly joked. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that. After Finland, it's the country with the worst food." The Brits, needless to say, weren't happy. Under the pun-
riddled headline, " Chirac's reheated food jokes bring Blair to the boil," the Guardian quoted British chefs saying "a man full of bile is not fit to pronounce on food" and "I'd serve him langoustines followed by good Aberdeen Angus beef and then give him a heart attack with some sticky toffee pudding." But when London was selected over Paris as the host city for the 2012 Olympics days later, it was the United Kingdom's turn to gloat. As an op-ed in the Sunday Mercury put it: If Jacques Chirac had not stuck his size nines in it before the vote by having a pop at Britain and their less-than-appetizing cuisine, then maybe Paris would have won. In the end, it was London's hunger to get the Games, rather than Paris's apparent selfconfidence that they would win, that triumphed. Jacques Demarthon/AFP/Getty Images JEAN CHRETIAN ON U.S. POLITICIANS While waiting for President Bill Clinton to arrive at a NATO meeting in Madrid, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrtien (pictured above, third from right) issued a scathing critique of the United States picked up by a television network's audio system. "In your country, in my country, all the politicians would be in prison because [the Americans] sell their votes," he told the prime ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg, in reference to the
U.S. political system. He bragged about Canada standing up to the United States and even joked about starting the meeting without Clinton. Clinton later shrugged off the remarks (calling Chrtien a "great leader" and "superior human being" and vowing to "get even" on the golf course), but the prime minister's comments proved more divisive in Canada. "Mr. Chretien has managed to insult the American political process, the president, the Congress, state and municipal leaders, and the U.S. public service," Preston Manning, the leader of Canada's opposition at the time, declared. But an editorial in Canada's Globe and Mail was more glowing: For years, our diplomats in Washington have had to focus on Congress. Whether the issue was acid rain, softwood lumber, a global ban on landmines or a treaty on chemical warfare, Canada has often had to put its case not just to the president, but to Congress, as well as interest groups, who wield enormous power in the system. Thus, when Mr. Chrtien laments the inability of Mr. Clinton to get his way on NATO or Haiti, he shows a critical understanding that a Canadian prime minister must have of the reality of Washington. Mr. Chrtien should speak from the heart more often. Candor becomes him. Luke Frazza/AFP/Getty Images JOHN MAJOR ON HIS CABINET MEMBERS
In July 1993, British Prime Minister John Major let frustration over his difficulty in securing approval of the European Community's Maastricht Treaty spill over during an off-the-record chat with a television reporter, not realizing that he was still being taped. Most famously, Major called three of his Euroskeptic ministers "bastards" for opposing European integration. (The prime minister never identified the Cabinet members by name, though that didn't stop the British press from speculating about their identities.) The gaffe only further aggravated the divisions within Major's Conservative Party over the treaty and continued to resonate in the British political arena for quite some time. In 2004, the Independent reported that several Tory lawmakers who had by then embraced the term "bastards" reunited to raise "their glasses to Mr. Major's fit of pique." Johnny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images RONALD REAGAN ON RUSSIA In August 1984, President Ronald Reagan made the mother of all microphone blunders. "My fellow Americans," he joked during a sound check for a radio address. "I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." (The radio address was actually about a much more mundane subject: religious groups meeting in public THIS page 46
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A Better Bank - By Charles Kenny

CHARLES KENNY (Foreign Policy)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 11:31:39 AM
Why President Obama's curious nomination for the new chief of the World Bank could turn out to be a smart pick -- and an interesting indication of how aid lending is changing for good. BY CHARLES KENNY| MARCH 26, 2012 Barack Obama's administration announced Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College, as its nominee for the next president of the World Bank on Friday, March 23. With that nomination, the White House has stuck to the archaic principle that the leadership of the World Bank should be reserved for a U.S. citizen -- Kim was born in South Korea, but he has been in the United States since he was five. On the plus side, however, the White House's selection suggests an interest in moving the World Bank further toward a new operating model, something that is sorely needed in a rapidly changing world. If common sense prevailed, Kim's nomination would be judged equally against the candidate nominated by Nigeria and South Africa -- the corruption -fighting, fuel-subsidy-slashing Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Beyond her experience in government, she previously held a No. 2 role at the World Bank as managing director,
and before that, as a teenager during Nigeria's civil war, she carried her sister on her back for 6 miles to get her lifesaving treatment against malaria. But thanks to the traditional carve-up that gives the International Monetary Fund's leadership to Europe and the World Bank's to
the United States (recently cemented by the appointment of Christine Lagarde as managing director of the IMF), Kim is almost certain to get the job in the end. Still, Friday's announcement did at least ( mostly) turn around a conventional wisdom in the
United States that the White House was completely bungling the nomination process, stuck between candidates who didn't want the job and candidates likely to stir up controversy. Immediate plaudits were forthcoming even from a competitor for the post -Jeffrey Sachs.
Perhaps most interesting is what the pick suggests about changing Washington perceptions regarding what the World Bank is actually for these days. Look at the list of former World Bank presidents: a couple of politicians, a CEO BETTER page 45
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turned defense secretary, and the rest bankers. That reflects the traditional role of the World Bank -- borrowing money on international markets to finance investment projects. Kim, by contrast, is a medical doctor and holds a Ph.D. in anthropology. With Paul Farmer, he founded Partners in Health-- an NGO committed to grassroots health care and the force behind advances in treating drug-resistant tuberculosis. Before running Dartmouth, he was director of the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization. Doubtless Kim has walked down Wall Street, but he has never had a corner office in one of the buildings there. Instead, he has spent his life thinking about global challenges like AIDS and innovative responses like new TB treatment regimes. Given the changing nature of the world's development challenges, the White House is right that understanding innovation and issues like global disease is of far more use to a World Bank president than an intimate knowledge of the Eurobond market. It used to be that the primary role for development organizations was seen as providing hard currency (dollars, pounds, euros)
to support country investment programs central to economic growth. That's the model that World Bank assistance is based on, but beyond being distinctly out of favor with economists, it's a model that's growing irrelevant to an increasing number of the world's developing countries. Consider this: The average aidrecipient country gets donor funding worth less than 1 percent of its income. Additionally, data from the World Development Indicators for 2008 suggest that only 31 percent of total aid flows went to countries where aid accounted for a third or more of investment (excluding Afghanistan, this number drops to 23 percent). This suggests that for most recipient countries, as well as most aid flows, aid accounts for a very small proportion of investment. In part that's because of the phenomenal economic performance of the developing world over the past decade. As a result, there are a declining number of low-income countries where aid is still a significant source of financing. The number of countries where average incomes are below $1,005 per person per year dropped from 63 to 35 over the last 10 years. For those 35 low-income countries that remain, it is
important to note that aid is still a major source of finance -accounting for an average of about 10 percent of gross national income. And countries just above the low-income cutoff, where the average income per person is still below $3 a day -- about onequarter of the poverty line in the United States -- are still very poor. So there is still a considerable general financing role for the World Bank to play, particularly through the International Development Association, the arm of the World Bank that gives very low-income loans to poorer countries. But most of the developing world has different needs from those of that dwindling number of very poor countries. For the majority of recipients, the traditional model of development assistance and World Bank support makes increasingly little sense. Instead, what the World Bank can still offer to countries with international reserves that dwarf any potential lending flows is ideas -- new approaches to old problems and leverage to address global challenges like disease and climate change. The institution's leadership has long recognized the need for a shift toward new approaches. James Wolfensohn called for the
World Bank to evolve into a " knowledge bank" a decade and a half ago. While progress has been halting, the Bank does have increasingly interesting things to say about what works in development, for example, thanks to a stronger focus on evaluating projects and initiatives. When it comes to cross-border challenges such as climate change, the World Bank Group as a whole financed over$3.5 billion in low-carbon energy projects in the 2010 fiscal year. At the nexus of innovation and support for global sustainability, the World Bank developed a prototype global fund designed to trade credits to emit carbon. It followed the model set in the United States where power plants trade permits that give the right to emit a certain quantity of sulfur dioxide -though admittedly the experiment has stalled thanks to the failure of global climate talks. Jim Yong Kim may not be the best nominee. There are questions about his experience outside the health sector. He co-authored a book that slams World Bank lending and reform programs as responsible for worsening health in developing countries. (That might lead to a few awkward moments when he meets staff at the institution.) There are
concerns over the outcomes of some initiatives he championed at the World Health Organization. Finally, there is the righteous fury over a process skewed so completely toward the consideration of nationality over qualifications. Nonetheless, Friday's nomination could still be a hopeful sign. It would be great news if the White House's choice of candidate signals that the World Bank Group will move further in the direction of innovating, discovering, and cataloging what works in development, as well as protecting the global commons from the climate to cod stocks -alongside its more traditional role in financing investment in the world's poorest countries. All that, and Kim can sort of dance too. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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domestic product may have shrunk by up to 15 percent over the past year -- a downturn that affects all types of businesses, most severely, of course, in restive areas like Homs. The closure that probably had the biggest impact on the population was the recent announcement by major foreign airliners like Air France that they were stopping flights to Syria, a move that has increased the sense of isolation, says Yazigi of The Syria Report. And with the 12-hour power cuts and fuel shortages now common in Damascus, even for the welloff, the idea of hopping a flight to Paris seems like a world away. Despite it all, the Syrian government, true to its message of self-reliance, is trying to forge its own way ahead. In a decree enacted on February 12, the government raised customs tariffs by 40 to 80 percent on consumer goods, finally reversing its decade -long policy of trade liberalization in a bid to bolster local industry. On March 19, the Ministry of Tourism selected a local company, Elissar Investments, for the development of a 4-star hotel
in central Damascus, one of the only real estate projects to have been signed in the last year. Accor Hotels, a French hospitality group, said publicly in January that it still planned to open three hotels with Syrian partners by 2015, including Cham Holding, which is under sanctions from both the United States and the European Union for its connections to top regime officials. However, a spokesperson from the company's headquarters in France saidthat now those projects were on hold, too. "The Syrian companies are staying open," says the Benetton manager, "They have to have hope, you know. But a lot of the foreign companies are leaving. It depends how much they can hold the losses." Amid all the economic gloom and doom, there may be at least one growth industry. A traveler who visited Damascus in midMarch said she saw a number of new bars opening in the old city, particularly around the Christian quarter that once served as the heart of Damascus tourism and
nightlife. "Some said it was because people were still spending on drink," she recounted. "Others said it was because security officials had become lax about enforcing liquor licenses, so it seemed like an easy thing to do." "I know one guy who wasn't getting any customers in his old city hotel, so he converted a corner into a little bar to try to make ends meet," she said. And business has picked up. Not that the swamp water-colored, stateowned Syrian brew is helping any. But behind the bar, there's American whiskey and Lebanese wine and beer. At least something is still being imported. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
high schools.) Reagan aides and reporters may have laughed at Reagan's playful banter, but America's Cold War enemy was not amused. As Politico notes, the Soviet military briefly went on high alert when the audio leaked, U.S. officials had to assure the Kremlin that Reagan's remark had been in jest, and Reagan's poll numbers against Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale temporarily slipped. A few days after the incident, the Associated Press reported that a Soviet commentator named Genrik Borovik had appeared on television to criticize Reagan and his "maniacal idea" of destroying the Soviet Union. "People say a man's level of humor corresponds with the level of his thinking," she
observed. "If this is so, then isn't this too base for the president of a great country?" As we've learned in the decades since Reagan's scandalous sound check, even presidents of great countries sometimes forget to turn off the microphone. AFP/Getty Images 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Remains of the Day: The Summer of Windows 8? [For What It's Worth]
Dusty Wright (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:00:00 PM
Windows 8 RC may release this Summer, Japan orders Google to put an end to its Autocomplete
update includes a few interesting features. More search feature, and AVG's latest
Economy/
47
Bernanke Puzzled Over Jobs, Cites Okun's Law; Six Things Bernanke is Clueless About
noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
the end of 2009 has been due to a significant decline in layoffs but only a moderate improvement in hiring. To achieve a more rapid Submitted at 3/26/2012 12:06:00 PM B e r n a n k e ' s b l i n d f a i t h i n recovery in the job market, hiring empirical formulas over common rates will need to return to more sense is again in play with his normal levels. s p e e c h t o d a y o n R e c e n t The Change in Unemployment Developments in the Labor a n d E c o n o m i c G r o w t h : A Market. Puzzle? In any given month, a large What will lead to more hiring number of workers are being a n d , c o n s e q u e n t l y , f u r t h e r hired or are leaving their current declines in unemployment? The jobs, illustrating the dynamism of short answer is more-rapid the U.S. labor market. For economic growth. Indeed, the example, between 2001 and 2007, improvement in the labor market private employers hired nearly 5 over the past year--especially the million people, on average, each decline in the unemployment ratemonth. Total separations, on -has been faster than might have average, were only slightly been expected, given that the smaller. Taking the difference economy during that time appears b e t w e e n g r o s s h i r e s a n d to have grown at a relatively separations, the net monthly modest pace. About 50 years ago, change in payrolls during this the economist and presidential period was, on average, less than adviser Arthur Okun identified a 100,000 jobs per month--a small rule of thumb that has come to be figure compared to the gross known as Okun's law. That rule flows. of thumb describes the observed The recent history of these flows relationship between changes in suggests that further improvement the unemployment rate and the in the labor market will likely growth rate of real gross domestic need to come from a shift to a product (GDP). Okun noted that, more robust pace of hiring. As because of ongoing increases in figure 7 shows, the declines in the size of the labor force and in aggregate payrolls during the the level of productivity, real recession stemmed from both a GDP growth close to the rate of reduction in hiring and a large growth of its potential is normally increase in layoffs. In contrast, r e q u i r e d j u s t t o h o l d t h e the increase in employment since unemployment rate steady. To
reduce the unemployment rate, therefore, the economy must grow at a pace above its potential. More specifically, according to currently accepted versions of Okun's law, to achieve a 1 percentage point decline in the unemployment rate in the course of a year, real GDP must grow approximately 2 percentage points faster than the rate of growth of potential GDP over that period. So, for illustration, if the potential rate of GDP growth is 2 percent, Okun's law says that GDP must grow at about a 4 percent rate for one year to achieve a 1 percentage point reduction in the rate of unemployment. In light of this historical regularity, the combination of relatively modest GDP growth with the more substantial
... cyclical rather than structural factors are likely the primary source of its substantial increase [in long-term unemployment] during the recession. If this assessment is correct, then accommodative policies to support the economic recovery will help address this problem as well. We must watch long-term unemployment especially carefully, however. Even if the primary cause of high long-term unemployment is insufficient aggregate demand, if progress in reducing unemployment is too improvement in the labor market slow, the long-term unemployed over the past year is something of will see their skills and labor force a puzzle. Resolving this puzzle attachment atrophy further, could give us important insight possibly converting a cyclical into how the economy is likely to problem into a structural one. evolve. Okun's Law is Useless If this hypothesis is wrong and There is no puzzle. Rather, structural factors are in fact Bernanke fails to see the obvious. explaining much of the increase in long-term unemployment, then Demographics are vastly the scope for countercyclical different today in the face of policies to address this problem boomer retirements than they will be more limited. Even if that were 50 years ago. proves to be the case, however, This a not typical cyclical we should not conclude that recession. Instead, it's a consumer nothing can be done. If structural deleveraging and balance sheet factors are the predominant recession. explanation for the increase in long-term unemployment, it will Instead of relying on charts, become even more important to Okun's Law and the Beveridge take the steps needed to ensure Curve, how about a little common that workers are able to obtain the sense? Bernanke concluded with ... BERNANKE page 50
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Economy/
Bernanke rolls the dice on what seems to be a bad bet

RobertBrusca
There is a chart I would like to insert here but cannot. You can f i n d i t a In Ben Bernankes speech to the r o b e r t b r u s c a . b l o g s p o t . c o m National Association of Business Most of the excess in the Economists, he argues that the unemployment rate in this cycle main reason for unemployment comes from the category notbeing stubbornly high was not a temporary layoffs. This category structural reason but a cyclical contributed 3.9% points to the reason. Thus he has made the call overall rate and is higher than the for economic policies to spur highest previous cycle at this demand as a solution. stage (2.7 pct points) and higher So far markets seem to like it. than the average for this category I find myself on the opposite side by 1.4 pct points. The rate for new of this argument. entrants is above average too; the The table below looks at the five two together add 1.8pct points to categories of unemployment by the overall rate of unemployment reason. These data reveal the in the cycle. Without these two percentage point contribution to c a t e g o r i e s i n e x c e s s t h e the overall rate of unemployment unemployment rate could now be from each type of unemployment. around 6.3%. The table clearly shows that by The category job losers is split reason, or at least by most into two parts. Typically it reasons, unemployment is very dominates the unemployment close to or below the averages for picture. The category temporary each component for recoveries job losers refers to those former lasting 32 months since 1970. The workers on temporary furlough BIG exception is not-temporary during the recession. They may be layoffs where 3.9 pct points of the unemployed for the moment but overall rate is created. Compared are waiting to be called back to to 2.5 pct points of contribution work. In contrast not-temporary on average this is where the main job losers are those who lose jobs problem resides. And there is a but are not waiting to be called slight contribution from the back. Either they were fired or category, labor market re-entrants, their firms went out of business or which at 2.2pct points in this the plant they worked for was cycle compares to an average of closed, etc.. This category is the 1.8 pct points. There is a small one most likely to be affected in relative elevation here. job changes of a structural nature.
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:03:00 PM
Not surprisingly for temporary job losers unemployment tends to fall rather quickly in a recovery; it tends to be only 65% of its end recession level 32 months later (our current data are for the 32nd month of the expansion). While unemployment among nottemporary job losers tends to be a lot stickier; it averages 92% of its end recession level 32 months later. Not-temp jobs losses when they loom large as a share of unemployment (as they do now) should tend to make the duration of unemployment longer. And that is just what we are seeing. I think Bernanke is barking up the wrong tree. The duration of unemployment is not a problem it is a symptom. It is symptom of large not-temporary job losses and that is a symptom of structural change. One thing to remember is that this is a statistic for people who are STILL unemployed. The duration data possibly are made SMALLER by potential workers getting discouraged and dropping out of the labor force. Discouraged drop outs tend to have been unemployed for a whileAnd if this happens and after dropping out they come back in, when the job market improves they will appear as unemployed- thats right- re-entrants. What we find in cycle is that the
drop in temp job losers is almost exactly what is normal; levels are 65% of their recession end level. Of the two problem categories, the drop in not-temp job losers is larger than average as it is 78% of its end-recession level compared to an average of 91%. Reentrants, the other category that is relatively high in this cycle, are 101% of their end recession level and that is lower than the 104% that is normal at this time in an expansion. It turns out that reentrants are contributing more to the rate of unemployment despite a slightly better-thannormal drop off because at the recession end the unemployment rate of re-entrants was relatively high. On balance the strongest evidence we have is that the real unemployment problem stems from the classification unemployed for not-temporary reasons. This bulge explains the slow drop in the overall rate and the extended period of unemployment. It suggests more directly than Mr Bernankes indirect evidence that the real unemployment problem is from permanently closed businesses causing permanent job loss, the kind that is hard to make up by just driving demand harder. In other words our unemployment problems look to be more
structural than cyclical. Now To defend Bernanke, he does not want to tighten policy right away. He believes he has learned a lesson from the Great Depression. And having that knowledge he must express the unemployment problem as malleable for he will lose the option to use discretion if he does not. If he endorsed the argument that the unemployment rate elevation is structural he could not easily call for the Fed to run a continuing easy policy. But if this is the reason for his policy choice then he is aware that with this choice comes a greater danger of inflation. (I have no proof that Bernanke has chosen to say unemployment is more cyclical than structural because he needs to say that that to run the policy he wants to run. If he did such a thing this it would be doing things backwards, in some sense; picking the policy then choosing the rationalization). Still if Bernanke is doing this he knows there is a risk. And I dont think he would let inflation run out of control. As a policymaker he is in a tough spot. The Fed is under more political pressure than ever before. He does not want the Fed to lead rates higher so he will lag and let the market make the BERNANKE page 52
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Mongolian Companies Go Big With Initial Forays Into The Global Debt Market
Guy Norton (Money Game)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:18:00 PM
attracted over $4.5bn worth of orders from over 330 accounts. Some 56% of the bonds were sold Given Mongolia had the world's in the US, with 22% each in Asia fastest growing economy in 2011, and Europe. Fund managers it was only going to be a matter of b o u g h t 7 5 % o f t h e b o n d s , time before the country sought to commercial banks 11%, and leverage its position as the latest insurance companies, private global financial hotspot in order banks and types of accounts came to raise funds on the international in for 14% of the deal. Thanks to bond markets and underpin its go- the size of the issue, it will be to investment status. included in all the major emerging And that was just what has market bond indices, which happened in recent days as both require that transactions need to Mongolian Mining Corporation be for a minimum amount of (MMC) and the Development $500m to qualify for inclusion. Bank of Mongolia (DBM) tapped According to Moody's Investor fixed-income investors with Services, which assigned a 'B1' benchmark-sized issues. Thanks rating to the bonds, MMC is well to the buzz around the Central placed to benefit from the strong Asian state, both issuers were outlook for Mongolian coal easily able to hit their desired exports. The company currently bond size targets and also price operates two mines in the Gobi the bonds at cheaper levels than Desert in Mongolia and it exports initially hoped for. its entire production to industrial On March 23, MMC became the end-users in China. first Mongolian corporate to The proceeds will be used to fund access the international bond M M C ' s i n f r a s t r u c t u r e markets with a benchmark-sized improvement and development $600m, five-year issue that's p l a n s , i n c l u d i n g i t s U k h a a callable after three years. Bank Of Khudag-Gashuun Sukhait (UHGAmerica Merrill Lynch, ING and GS) railway project, as well as for JP Morgan were book-runners in working capital and other general the deal, which featured an corporate purposes, including 8.875% coupon, at the tight end of e x p l o r a t i o n c o s t s a n d d e b t the pre-launch marketing range of refinancing. Given its ambitious 8.875-9.00% and well inside the expansion plans MMC is initial price talk of a 9.50% yield. planning capital expenditure In total, the landmark offering spending of $940m in 2012-13
efforts to drive forward its industrial and social infrastructure development, which is forecast to cost at least $25bn in the current decade. This will involve the construction of at least 100,000 affordable apartments plus the building of new rail, road and energy projects. As such, DBM was an appropriate choice of issuer to make the first major splashdown in the international bond arena. Previously the only offshore debt issuance from the country had come from the country's third largest commercial lender, Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia, which had launched two small issues in recent years. and outstanding debt of $425m, Mongolian economy, which grew According to Dosbergen Musaev, M M C h a s b e e n a n a c t i v e by 17.3% in real terms in 2011. chief economist at investment fundraiser of late, recently raising That rampant growth was fueled bank Eurasia Capital: "The sheer a $300m syndicated loan via by its position of a prime supplier size of infrastructure funding Standard Bank to help refinance of basic commodities to China, needs in Mongolia means that the maturing debt. Sovereign issues which enabled it to attract a Development Bank of Mongolia The euphoric reception of record $3.8bn in foreign direct will need to tap international debt MMC's pioneering corporate issue investment (FDI) in 2011. Last markets in the near future again mirrored the frenzied buying that year, the country's exports and become a frequent issuer." surrounded the $580m, 5.75%, reached an record high of $4.8bn Eurasia Capital believes that March 2017 bond issued by the up some 64% on the previous DBM will likely issue Development Bank of Mongolia year thanks largely to the fact it transactions in Chinese yuan, on March 14, which effectively became the largest supplier of Japanese yen and Singapore r e p r e s e n t e d t h e f i r s t e v e r coking coal to China, now the dollars on the horizon in the next sovereign bond from Mongolia. second largest global economy. couple of years. S t a t e - g u a r a n t e e d D B M , DBM was marketed as a key Meanwhile, Eurasia Capital e s t a b l i s h e d i n 2 0 1 0 , i s a player in Mongolia's emergence expects that the success of DBM's g o v e r n m e n t - c o n t r o l l e d from economic zero to hero, with development bank that sees itself the policy institution viewed as a MONGOLIAN page 50 a s a p o s t e r c h i l d f o r t h e prime driver in the country's
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BERNANKE
MONGOLIAN
skills needed to meet the demands of our rapidly changing economy. Cyclical or Structural Problem? Bernanke thinks the problem is cyclical. Moreover, his structural thesis involves training. Good grief. He is clueless on both counts. Instead of his cyclical theory, I propose Fundamental and Mathematical Case for Structurally High Unemployment for a Decade; Shrinking Job Opportunities and the Jobs Gap; The Real Employment Situation. The problem is debt and deleveraging, not retaining. Bernanke wants consumers to spend more. However, boomers are up to their eyeballs in debt, facing retirement with insufficient income, and a need to downsize lifestyles. These are not the typical cyclical forces, this is a massive demographic shift. Factor in global wage arbitrage and student debt, and the problems are massive. Middle-Aged Borrowers Pile on Student Debt Speaking of student debt, Bernanke also missed the fact that Middle-Aged Borrowers piled on student debt hoping to get a better job. Such debt has a negative payback. For a discussion, please see Consumer Credit "Demolishes Expectations" Really? No Not Really! The "Non-Bounce" in Non-Revolving Credit People going back to school and staying in school longer explains a significant part of the decline in
the participation rate. Disability Fraud Looking for another reason for an artificially low unemployment rate? Consider disability fraud, people claiming disabilities they do not have such as mental illness. Prior to the great recession 33% of applicants claimed mental illness. The number is 43% now. There was fraud before, of course. There is even more fraud now. Please see Disability Fraud Holds Down Unemployment Rate; Jobless Disability Claims Hit Record $200B in January for further discussion. Is Bernanke Angry With Bond Market? MarketWatch proclaims Bernanke getting angry at the bond market There are lots of ways to interpret the Federal Reserves continual talking down of the U.S. economy, but the comments from Ben Bernanke on Monday have a clear target: the bond market. Ben has commanded: Thou shalt take risk. He also has commanded from Mount Jackson Hole, and other venues: Bond rates shall stay low. But Wall Street traders were starting to disobey. The yield on the 10-year note 10_YEAR +1.70% has been heading the other way. UBS economists have declared the three-decade long bull rally in government bonds is set to end. Bernanke is fearful that an
increase in yields will kill off the recent gains seen in the U.S. economy. Thats why the Fed has started quarterly press conferences and revealing the interest rate forecasts of Federal Open Market Committee members all to keep a better grip on interest rates. But that grip is loosening, and probably not helped by the hawks on the Fed who have been on the warpath saying the central bank really isnt committed to low rates, after all. Just an hour before Bernanke spoke, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser was in Paris, warning an audience of a central bank without boundaries. Bernanke is willing to tolerate the likes of Plosser and Dallas Fed Chief Richard Fisher in the name of academic diversity so long as no one actually believes them. But confronted with evidence the hawks are making inroads, Bernanke went to Arlington, Va. to say whos boss. The U.S. economy needs low interest rates and the Feds bond purchases, Bernanke said Is Bernanke commanding the bond market or is Bernanke simply clueless? Six Things Bernanke is Clueless About Bernanke somehow missed the fact that demographics are vastly different today than they were 50 years ago. Bernanke somehow missed the fact this a not typical cyclical recession. Instead, it's a consumer deleveraging and balance sheet
recession. Bernanke missed student debt problems Bernanke missed structural problems of debt deflation Bernanke missed disability fraud explanation of falling participation rate Bernanke missed middle-age reschooling reason for falling participation rate
sovereign issue, which was 10times oversubscribed with total orders of over $6bn, will encourage a raft of bank, corporate and municipal issuers to follow its lead and tap the international bond market, thus cementing Mongolia's emergence from obscure bit player in the frontier markets sphere to an increasingly mainstream actor in emerging market terms. Musaev Through it all, Bernanke wonders a l s o b e l i e v e s t h a t f o r e i g n why Okun's Law does not appear investors are also likely to look to work. Is that clueless or what? more favorably on local bond Mike "Mish" Shedlock issues in Mongolia now that there h t t p : / / is offshore benchmark issuance globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. "We expect to see a positive com spillover effect on domestic bond Click Here To Scroll Thru My market." Recent Post List Mike This post originally appeared at "Mish" Shedlock is a registered Business New Europe. investment advisor representative Please follow Money Game on f o r S i t k a P a c i f i c C a p i t a l Twitter and Facebook. Management. Sitka Pacific is an Join the conversation about this asset management firm whose story goal is strong performance and See Also: low volatility, regardless of Decoding The Biggest Myth market direction. Visit http:// About Government Borrowing w w w . s i t k a p a c i f i c . c o m / Investors Need To Wake Up To account_management.html to The Near-Record-Wide Equity l e a r n m o r e a b o u t w e a l t h Risk Premium m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p i t a l Here Are 3 Countries Where preservation strategies of Sitka Youll Want To Have Exposure Pacific.
Economy/
51
Illusion of Cheap Money; Major Promises in Europe But No Real Reform; Does the Bond Market Have it Wrong? 30 years of Japanisation?
noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:29:00 PM
Four Years Of Japanese Central Planning Failure Charted

Tyler Durden
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:26:12 PM
Major Promises But No Reform Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank in Denmark discusses the illusion of cheap money, bond market yields, and the lack of European reform in his latest email. In Spain, things are going from bad to worse. Last weekend's local election in Andalucia, where Spains centre right Peoples Party failed to secure an outright majority, left Prime Minister Rajoy without a mandate to carry on with tough austerity. It was a bad start to week where we on Thursday will see a major general strike aimed at Yes, you guessed it: Austerity measures. Spain 10-Year Bonds and 5-Year CDS Illusion of Cheap Money The European story remains one of major promises and no actual reforms. A low interest rate and an extreme sense of security created by the illusion of easy money and low interest rates won't last forever. As I wrote in Interest rates: the market has it all wrong, we could
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Earlier today we presented an extended case by Caixin's Andy Xie, who is now confident that a massive 40% devaluation of the Yen is imminent and inevitable (with dire consequences for regional trading partners), as the be on route to an exit strategy h t t p : / / opportunity cost, now that the from central banks which at a bare globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. Japanese economy is no longer minimum will be a goodbye to com competitive in the New Normal unconventional measures and if Click Here To Scroll Thru My world (read trade surplus) of so, the low in interest rate cycle is Recent Post List Mike delaying what every other central in place. "Mish" Shedlock is a registered banks has been doing so well (just 30 years of Japanisation? investment advisor representative observe the nominal surge in risk The only way central banks can f o r S i t k a P a c i f i c C a p i t a l assets at 8 am this morning when c r e a t e a p r o p e r e x i t f r o m Management. Sitka Pacific is an Bernanke made it clear more real unconventional is to hand over the asset management firm whose dilution is coming, as predicted t o r c h t o r e f o r m s f r o m goal is strong performance and here just yesterday), is the 3 governments and politicians. low volatility, regardless of decade long overdue pop in the Unlikely, yes, needed? market direction. Visit http:// JGB bond market. Yet as Xie Absolutely, otherwise we are w w w . s i t k a p a c i f i c . c o m / notes, either of these two bubbles d o o m e d t o 3 0 y e a r s o f account_management.html to popping - the JPY or the JGB - is Japanisation. I concur with the l e a r n m o r e a b o u t w e a l t h fraught with danger as both will above analysis. What cannot last m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p i t a l confirm that three decades of forever by definition won't. That preservation strategies of Sitka central planning have failed. What includes a market whose only Pacific. is worse, Japan would then focus at the moment is on the become a case study for failed "illusion of cheap money". Mike "Mish" Shedlock
central planning (yes, redundant), everywhere, but nowhere more than in the US. Which in turn, would not be a surprise to most, or at least to those who don't chase dead end momentum trends and heatmapped assets in simplistic hopes of finding a greater fool 1 millisecond into the future. It also would not be a surprise to anyone who sees the following chart from John Lohman which shows the gradual failure of central planning since the second global depression started in 2007 (and offset to date by $7 trillion in central bank private-to-public risk offset), during which time the BOJ has been forced to load up its balance sheet with substantially more assets than its GDP has grown by. Alas, this trend will accelerate which is why with time the exponential chart of central bank balance sheet expansion will only get more "exponential" until it finally pops, bringing with it an end to the truly last bubble. We can only hope we are somewhere far away when that happens.
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Economy/ Culture/
PAUL MCCULLEY: We Need To Rethink The Doctrine Of Central Bank Independence Because The World Has Changed
Sam Ro (Money Game)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:07:00 PM
BERNANKE
The idea of central bank independence is one of the most sacred principles in all of finance. However, Paul McCulley thinks it's time to break this rule. McCulley, a fellow at the Global Interdependence Center and form senior partner at PIMCO, presented his argument today at the Banque de France in a paper titled Does Central Bank Independence Frustrate the Optimal Fiscal-Monetary Policy Mix in a Liquidity Trap?. "We need to actually rethink the mix between monetary and fiscal policy," McCulley told Bloomberg's Mike McKee. "The doctrine of central bank independence, which is truly a religious matter, doesn't hold at all times." Prior to the financial crisis, central banks had the capacity to fine tune the economy every six weeks or so by adjusting interest rates, said McCulley. Central bank independence works "as long as the private sector is elastic to changes in short-term interest rates." Lately, however, the private sector hasn't been as responsive to
judgment on the economy. He will err on the other side, by keeping policy as easy as he can for as long as he can, hoping that the unemployment problem really is more cyclical than structural. In the end he will not let inflation go too far before he switches to fight it. Although Not-Temporary unemployment is slower to fall in a recovery than temporary unemployment, the drop in the not -temp level of unemployment is the second fastest (in percentage terms) among the last six economic recoveries. So it is
proving to be somewhat malleable, so far. Average: Your rating: None Average: 5( 2 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
monetary policy. "A liquidity trap is when the private sector doesn't want credit at any price. And the evidence of that is we've taken the price to zero and we still have a massive amount of debt problems in the household sector. So once you've reached the liquidity trap, the world changes." There are certain circumstance where you should have more cooperation between fiscal and monetary authorities. Now is one of those times, argues McCulley. Here's McCulley's interview with
Bloomberg's Mike Mckee: Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: Platts Blog BLASTS The AP For Suggesting More Drilling Doesn't Lead To Lower Gas Prices Guess What? Analysts Are Delusionally Bullish Again... Check Out The Positively Absurd Assumption That Bullish Analysts Are Making...
Captivating animation of Earths ocean currents [video]

(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:52:00 PM
Your vision of endless vistas of calm blue oceans will forever be changed thanks to this mesmerizing video by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, which illustrates the planets currents. Full story at YouTube via Seeing something like this makes Geekologie. it all the more impressive that the A new view of Earth. great explorers of old ever Permalink| Leave a comment managed to find land again.
Economy/ Culture/
53
Another Big Inflation Conspiracy Theory Just Got Debunked

Joe Weisenthal (Money Game)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:52:00 PM
Back last February, ZeroHedge and others posted this chart, comparing the CPI with the MIT Billion Prices Project. The MIT Billion Prices Project is an online price tracking index designed to offer an unbiased, real -time inflation gauge. Anyway, the red line was zooming higher, while the blue line was tame, causing some to believe that the CPI was understating inflation. Then in April, MIT halted its project, and naturally ZeroHedge and others thought it was a conspiracy to shield Americans from the TRUTH about inflation. Well, the project actually came back, and now it's a joint project with State Street.
So what's going on with it? Mark Perry has the goods: It's been diving, and the dive has even outpaced the CPI. Perry writes: the current annualized inflation rate of about 2.2% through early March is the lowest rate in at least
So this is bad news in the sense that it's a sign of disinflation. But if you thought there was some MIT BPP conspiracy theory or that this index was proof of an overstated CPI, you can kiss that idea goodbye. Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: The Rising Cost Of Drinking, Smoking, Dying And Preparing Your Tax Return RON PAUL BELIEVES IN AN two years. That's almost a full INFLATION CONSPIRACY percent below the 3% annual rate THEORY: And Here's Why It's of inflation from the CPI (NSA), Totally Wrong providing support to the notion What Stagflation Really Looks that the BLS measure of Like consumer prices overstates inflation by a full percentage point.
7-Zip Icons, Long Conversations, and Anti-Root Android Apps [From The Tips Box]
Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:00:00 PM
Readers offer their best tips for fixing 7-Zips ugly interface, getting out of conversations with long-winded people, and tricking certain Android apps into thinking you aren't rooted. More
Quiz: Are you a true nerd?

John Kelly (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)
You already know the downsides of a long trip by car: traffic, road construction and boring hours with nothing but the highway to look at. Any device that can make the journey easier, safer and more entertaining for you and your passengers is going to be well
worth the cost. There are many gadgets available today that can help make the journey more pleasant -- even fun. The key thing to remember is that a road trip doesn't mean going without. Whether it's phone service, your favorite television programs, games, or the full range of information and entertainment available over the Internet, you
can have it at all your fingertips while you travel. Travel gadgets are aimed at making your time on the road easier and more enjoyable, so it's not unusual for people to become completely attached to them. Take global positioning systems. A novelty not too long ago, GPS is now something many drivers can't live without. The latest GPS
devices not only give you driving directions, they guide you into the proper lane at intersections and offer updates on weather and traffic. Many new cars come with GPS built in. These 10 cool gadgets may soon make it onto your must-have list for future highway excursions. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
54
Culture/
Atheists Rally for Reason; Urged to Mock the Religious

(Christianpost.com > Most Popular)
(Photo: The Christian Post) Nontheists hold a sign while attending the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (Photo: The Christian Post) Thousands of nontheists attend the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (Photo: The Christian Post) A Christian debates with atheists at the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (Photo: The Christian Post) Atheists celebrate at the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (Photo: The Christian Post) Thousands of nontheists attend the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday, March 24, 2012. March 24, 2012| 9:43 pm "They said it wasn't going to be anti-God but all the signs are. So it doesn't fit because they're really not rallying for reason. They just say they are," said Tom Gilson, a writer and missions strategist. Richard Dawkins, author of the best-selling The God Delusion,
was the most anticipated and well -known speaker at the rally. In his brief address, Dawkins encouraged fellow atheists to ridicule those who claim to be religious. Exemplifying how he would approach religious persons, Dawkins said, "Do you really believe, for example if they're Catholic, that when a priest blesses a wafer, it turns into the body of Christ?" "Mock them, ridicule them in public," he urged. "Don't fall for the convention that we're all too polite to talk about religion." Like us on Facebook Gilson, who blogs at thinkingchristian.net, believes the rally was inappropriately titled. Participants were rallying not for reason, he argued, but against religion and for secularism and the separation of church and state. He also argued that atheists "have no business claiming the brand of reason" because "they don't reason very well." "For them (atheists), reason means 'don't believe anything that doesn't have empirical evidence.' But reason also means being able to start with a premise or some evidence, move through a line of
thinking and arrive at a conclusion without stumbling upon fallacies that lead you to a wrong conclusion. "Over and over ... again, you'll find fallacies in their thinking." "Why are they calling themselves the reasonable one? It's that they have their own definition of reason and it's not a good enough one," he added. The Christian blogger believes atheists can "get away" with saying "it's unreasonable to be a Christian" because of how Christianity is portrayed in the media. "I don't think the message of Jesus Christ in its truth, in its sensibility is getting into the media very effectively. I think that the vast majority of Christianity in the media is distorted." Gilson was among a group of Christians who were passing out free bottled water and summarized versions of True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenge of Atheism. He wasn't there to protest or counter-demonstrate, he emphasized. Rather, he wanted to offer a humble and non-disruptive response to the rally and engage with anyone who wanted to
converse. Separate from Gilson, several other Christians were present at the rally and took a different approach from the "True Reason" team who were advised to walk away from any heated conversations. Around half a dozen people identifying as Christians held large signs telling people to trust in Jesus and actively debated with atheists individually. Meanwhile, a few members from the notorious Westboro Baptist Church reportedly showed up to protest but were run off by a large group of rally participants, according to one observer. Philip Ness-Thomas, one of the Christians holding a large Jesus sign, acknowledged that Westboro is not part of real Christendom. "They forgot the love, the mercy, and hope," he said of the Topeka, Kansas, church. Nate Phelps, the estranged son of Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps, recounted his conversion to atheism at the rally. "When I left that place (Westboro Church) on the night of my 18th birthday, I left with a mind trained to judge and hate. I left with a certainty that I had displeased
God and would be punished for it," Phelps recalled. Though he tried returning to religion and sought the God of the evangelical Christians, he still had doubts. He fully embraced atheism when the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred. "All around us today is the evidence that we're not alone in our convictions, that the supernatural need not be invoked for humans to have morality and purpose," he said. Dawkins believes they are reaching a "tipping point" when closeted atheists will all "come out." "There are too many people in this country who have been cowed into fear of coming out as atheists or secularists or agnostics," he noted. "We are far more numerous than anybody realizes." 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Culture/
55
Atheist Activist With Failing Vision Gets Help From Christians

(Christianpost.com > Most Popular)
Christians we've ever met in our lives." Jessica Crye, a Christian woman from Athens, Texas, read Greene's (Photo: Patrick Greene) Patrick interview and decided she wanted Greene and his cat, Big Boy, pose to help the man who tried to have for the camera. Greene is an her county's nativity scene atheist activist who had to back removed from county property. off of his threat to sue Henderson She called her pastor, Erick County, Texas over a nativity Graham of Sand Springs Baptist scene a few months ago after he Church in Athens, and asked if he rapidly began losing his sight. thought they could do something for Greene, and without hesitation March 23, 2012| 4:45 pm he said yes. Greene was interviewed by The "It was one of those things where Malakoff News in late February, I didn't have to think about it. I when he revealed that he believed didn't have to pray about it. Jesus he had a detached retina which already commanded us to do it, would eventually cause him to go and so I just did it," Graham told blind in the near future. Greene, CP. who worked as a self-employed Graham later added, "It goes taxi cab driver before his vision back to what Jesus is saying in the began to fade, had no health Sermon on the Mount. If you do insurance and no money to get good to those who do good to surgery, so he simply accepted you, what more is that than the that he would go blind. rest of the world? But when the "No Christian has ever acted this world sees that a Christian will do way in the entire time we've been good to those who do evil toward m a r r i e d , " G r e e n e t o l d T h e them, it's a much greater witness." Christian Post on Friday, referring Like us on Facebook to the donations from believers. Greene says he was against the " T h e s e a r e t h e f i r s t a c t u a l idea of accepting funds for the
expensive surgery, which he says may or may not have allowed him to keep his vision. It would have cost $20,000 for the surgery, and that amount would increase if there were any complications. He had been told by one of his taxi passengers, an "eye doctor" who was in town for a conference, that his retina could re-detach even after the surgery, so he decided not to spend the money on surgery at all. But after giving up his job, he realized he had very little income and needed help. He accepted the financial offerings from Graham and says he is now using the money to cover basic costs of living. So far he has been able to buy groceries (including cat food), pay the rent and he even has enough money from donations to cover what he owes in taxes this year. According to Graham, donations are still coming in on a daily basis, which has so far amount to about $1,300. Greene also took the advice of an acquaintance in Austin who works with the American Atheists organization
and set up an account at GoFundMe.com, a fundraising website where both Christians and atheists alike have donated to Greene's cause to make his major life transition a little easier. Greene says he has been officially diagnosed with cataracts, but believes he also has a detached retina and glaucoma. He diagnosed himself, he says, with the help of the Internet and of the doctors and blind people who would enter his taxi. "Going blind is not dying," Greene told his wife, who was upset after she had heard the news. He has been practicing feeling his way around with his wife's cane so he can get used to it before he completely loses his sight. After receiving the generous offer from Graham and Crye, Greene says he did some research on Athens and says he would like to move there. He and his wife have found an apartment they hope to eventually move into, which is more affordable than their current one in San Antonio and is within walking distance of
a WalMart store. "They were so nice that I went to the website for Athens just to see what that city looked like, because all I had ever seen on YouTube is the nativity scene and the courthouse area," said Greene. While his vision may be fading away, Greene says his view of at least some Christians has changed for the better. "We don't expect this kind of treatment from most Christians because most Christians don't act this way," said Greene. "But because of the fact that Jesus said 'Love your neighbor as yourself'...these people are acting like real Christians. Both my wife and I love them for that, because they're actually putting their actions where their beliefs are." 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
56
Culture/
FTC Tells Net: Agree to Stop Invading Privacy (Or We'll Say 'Stop' Again)
Ryan Singel (Wired Top Stories)
requirement to publish a privacy policy). Thats how the FTC imposed 20-year privacy audits on Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:13:00 PM both Facebook and Google The FTC building. Photo: Carol using their own privacy policies M. Highsmith/Wikimedia against them. The FTC put the online W i t h t h i s R e p o r t , t h e advertising and user tracking Commission calls on companies industry on notice Monday that to act now to implement best its time to clean up its act and practices to protect consumers start treating users data with private information. These best r e s p e c t , l a y i n g o u t b r o a d practices include making privacy guidelines for companies to t h e d e f a u l t s e t t i n g f o r follow. But the agency stopped commercial data practices and short of calling for federal giving consumers greater control r e g u l a t i o n o f o n l i n e d a t a over the collection and use of collectors, amid protests from their personal data through online companies that regulation simplified choices and increased would kill a vibrant industry. transparency, the FTC said, The report adds more weight to adding that doing so should the Commerce Departments own increase users trust in services recent report and the White and increase business for all. Houses call for an online bill of While theres no stick involved rights. The FTCs report(.pdf) yet for online companies, the outlines broad principles that the r e p o r t d i d c a l l f o r f e d e r a l FTC wants browser makers, ISPs, legislation that would force online ad companies, search t r a n s p a r e n c y o n g i a n t d a t a engines and social networks as c o l l e c t i o n c o m p a n i e s l i k e well as offline data collecting Choicepoint and Lexis Nexis. entities to pledge to obey. Few Americans know about those Companies that do pledge to companies databases but they are obey the code, but then fail to u s e d b y l a w e n f o r c e m e n t , uphold them, could then be employers and landlords. The investigated by the FTC for FTC is asking Congress to make it unfair business practices, much easier for Americans to view and a s t h e F T C h a s f i n e d a n d correct their data, as legislation penalized companies for violating requires with credit bureaus. their own privacy policies (even The FTC report emphasizes what t h o u g h t h e r e s n o n a t i o n a l it calls privacy by design,
surrounding Do Not Track, there has been little self-regulation of the data broker industry. For example, the FTCs recent survey of mobile apps marketed to children revealed that many of these apps fail to provide any disclosure about the extent to which they collect and share consumers personal data. Similarly, efforts to establish selfregulatory rules concerning consumer privacy have fallen short. These examples illustrate that even in some well-established markets, basic privacy concepts like transparency about the nature of companies data practices and meaningful consumer control are absent. This absence erodes alluding to the idea that privacy c u r r e n t l o c a t i o n w o u l d b e consumer trust. and data security should be built encouraged to delete that data As if to give the rules some more i n t o a n y s e r v i c e , n o t a n much faster. weight, the FTC does say that it is afterthought. The four principles Instead of prescriptions, the FTC joining the White House and called for in the report are data wants a set of self-regulatory Commerce departments call for a security, reasonable collection groups to build on these principles baseline consumer privacy law limits, sound retention practices, and issue best practices for though its not clear whether and data accuracy. While the various industries, and then have theres any real political will to do report is new, the principles are individual companies agree to so, since setting privacy rules in based on 40 year princples known abide by such rules. writing is hard. as Fair Information Practices. Thats despite the reports own Just ask the FTC. The FTC did not, however, lay admission that this model, which Photo: Alan Cleaver/Flickr down any hard or fast rules. For has been tried by the FTC since This entry passed through the instance, data rentention periods 2000 in regards to online privacy, Full-Text RSS service if this is are left to companies to decide has been a failure. your content and you're reading it so that a mortgage broker can Commission agrees that, to date, on someone else's site, please read keep payment history information self-regulation has not gone far for the life of a mortgage, whereas enough. In most areas, with the FTC page 60 a mobile app that collects a users notable exception of efforts
Culture/
57
Top 9 'American Idol' Colton Dixon Keeps God Talk Alive; Says 'God, Use Me' on Live TV
10 Gadgets for Your Next Road Trip

Ed Grabianowski (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)
Most of us know what key things we should put on our rsums -(Christianpost.com > Most Dixon he would buy his version witness and his unfaltering moving into a Beverly Hills recent jobs, important awards, Popular) of Joel's song as well. relationship with God. mansion, which according to academic degrees related to the Like us on Facebook H e r e c e n t l y u p d a t e d o n Seacrest only had room for nine job, and of course a clear and easy March 23, 2012| 9:19 am Known to be a devout Christian Facebook, "I am no different than contestants, one of which was not During Wednesday night's as well as a passionate and you. we were all created by God E r i k a V a n P e l t w h o w a s way for your potential employer performance show, the 20-year- dedicated singer, Dixon recently to be his messengers. let's spread e l i m i n a t e d o n T h u r s d a y . to contact you. But how much do you know about the things you old native from Tennessee told made headlines after news broke his love to the nations!" Fans have responded in outrage should never put on a rsum? host Ryan Seacrest, "I've been out that the show's producers Madalyn Keane responded, not only because the judges did praying before this whole thing wanted him to tone down his faith " A m e n ! ! Y o u a r e s u c h a n not use their wild card to save her Are there rsum items so heinous they might disqualify you from because tonight was a big moment tweets. amazing man of God!! There is a but also because Pelt was selected even being considered for the job? for me." "When we first started the Twitter reason why God put you on to go home over fellow contestant You might not be aware that Just after he sang Billy Joel's and Facebook stuff, they said American Idol!" HeeJun Han, whom many say rsum styles have changed quite "Piano Man," which many were beware of political and religious "Don't let them put your faith l a c k t h e t a l e n t , a n d t h e calling the best of the night, tweets," he previously told down," Betty Cook also said. s e r i o u s n e s s , t o p r o c e e d . a bit in recent years. Things that were de rigueur on rsums 10 Dixon was seen taking a moment TODAY.com. "Just because it can "Stand up for your beliefs." Han, a "Korean jokester," years ago are pass today. Read of silence. turn off voters or whatever. But Kim Payne added, "I commend recently tweeted after his "fun" When Seacrest asked what he you know, being a Christian is you for taking a stand for God. Do rendition of "My Life:" "I had so this list of 10 rsum killers to was thinking, he replied, "I was who I am. It is a part of me NOT let ANYONE ever persuade much fun how about you guys? if find out why that objective you just collecting myself and saying musically. It is what I want to do you to deny your faith. You've got you did then I am happy thank spent an hour writing is a waste of space, why a potential employer God use me I want Him to shine after the show go into Christian my vote...always." you guys All for God All by might throw your rsum straight through first and foremost." music." Still regularly tweeting about God." into the garbage if you mention Dixon advanced to the Top 9 on Though he understood that his how God is good, Dixon is SEE VIDEO OF COLTON Thursday night for his beautiful talk of God and faith could have a expected to be a top contender for DIXON PERFORMING PIANO your religion, and why references have no place on a modern rendition of Billy Joel's first major negative effect on his contending, this season's "American Idol" MAN hit song, which Steven Tyler he firmly asserted that he would along with Jessica Sanchez who This entry passed through the rsum. Let's start with our first c a l l e d " s t u n n i n g " a n d not hide who he was just for some sang "Everyone Has A Dream" on Full-Text RSS service if this is no-no: a picture is not worth a thousand words. "outrageous." Jennifer Lopez also votes. Wednesday. your content and you're reading it said that his rendition gave her "I am not going to hide it, and I With a large fan base, thousands on someone else's site, please read This entry passed through the "goosies from head to toe." Randy am not going to stray away from are rooting for the devout singer, the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- Full-Text RSS service if this is Jackson commented, "It was a it just because I am on a TV who has been dubbed the "Tim only/faq.php#publishers. Five your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read sensitive, touching, moving show." Tebow of American Idol," to take Filters recommends: Donate to the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentperformance." Hundreds of fans commented on the crown this year. Wikileaks. only/faq.php#publishers. Five P. Diddy, a guest mentor for the h i s T w i t t e r a n d F a c e b o o k The Top 9 will perform again Filters recommends: Donate to remaining Top 10 singers, told thereafter, praising him for his next week and will also be Wikileaks.
58
Culture/
Game On: Sony Links PS3 Photo Suite to the Cloud

Mike Barton (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:38:00 PM
Galaxy Quest: See what Unearthly Dangers and Challenges Await You
(HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)
Sonys upcoming PlayMemories Studio software for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) multimedia console will likely be welcomed by users, but the companys PlayMemories Online cloud service is the big game for Cloudliners to watch. See, Apples OS X Lion and Microsofts Windows 8 will have the cloud baked in, and Samsung and other consumer electronics makers are said to be running with the cloud. Now its game on as Sony steps up with a cloud play the could, for PS3 users, take on
iCloud, as the Blu-ray playing game console already has a good seat in folks living rooms. Microsofts popular Xbox console allows users to save games in the cloud, but its not as multimedia savvy as the PS3. With 5GB of storage, PlayMemories Online will have store a few images and videos uploaded by PC or phone and then in addition to being able to edit on the PS3, they can be viewed via the cloud from phones, tablets, as well on Sony digital photo frames and the companys PlayStation Vita portable gaming device. See more about Sonys PlayMemories Online, which will
be available in the next few months: Have your say: Is it about time the cloud brought some new life to the PS3? Any chance Sony can take on Apples iCloud, or at least the new Apple TV, with this (arguably the PS3 is way better value than an Apple TV with gaming, key streaming services and now this)? 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Take the king's challenge in Royal Envoy, and think your way to triumph in this whimsical resource management experience. The isles of Islandshire have been ravaged by a storm, with most of the rainy season still to come. The residents are in need of new homes and the king has sent you, along with Cedric the royal architect, to handle the job. Hurry to the islands and help the king's loyal subjects! Build and upgrade sturdy homes for them. Hire help, restart factories, clear roads and get the markets trading again. There are 60 fun and challenging levels including entertaining side quests featuring pirates, treasure
and hot-air balloons. Remember, you are the town planner and it's all in your hands. Critics say Royal Envoy is "very well designed and developed, with many elements that make it stand out" and "will guarantee hours of fun". Find out when you play Royal Envoy free with the demo version or download the full version today! 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Jennifer Lawrence Takes Her Box Office Hit to Madrid

Lauren Turner (PopSugar)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:33:00 PM
where she signed autographs and posed in her striped dress and Brian Atwood booties. The Jennifer Lawrence traveled to movie, which won't be released Spain to continue press for The until April 20 in Spain, had a huge Hunger Games today. She stepped weekend in the US, making $155 out at a fan event in Madrid, million and breaking midnight
opening records. Jennifer and her costars Liam Hemsworth and Josh
Hutcherson have been working picking up snacks at Whole hard to promote the film all Foods. View Slideshow month, with stops in Berlin, Paris, London, and NYC following the world premiere in LA. Jennifer did have a break this weekend though, and she was spotted
Culture/
59
Will Apple Tap Facebook for iCloud Data Center or 'Think Different'?
Mike Barton (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:28:00 PM
Apple Computer's 1997 "Think different" campaign. Image courtesy of Apple. Apple is actively advertising for help with the design and construction of its next generation data centers, as it begins work on a new computing facility in Prineville, Oregon and expands its iCloud data center in Maiden, North Carolina, reports Wired Enterprises Caleb Garling. As Apples new products and services expand and grow, so too does the need for more servers and server space to house them, Data Centers, reads a new Apple
job listing. The listing provides a small window onto Apples plans for data center expansion. The company is typically tight-lipped about most of its operation, and this is certainly true of the data
irony is that Apple may be interested in using the designs for Facebooks Prineville data center, which the social networking giants has open-sourced to the rest of the world, Garling writes. Weigh in: Will Apple tap Facebooks data center design, or do you think Apple will Think Different even when an open sourced option will fit the bill? This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it center plans. Most of the big on someone else's site, please read name web companies are similar the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contenttight-lipped though Facebook only/faq.php#publishers. Five has gone against the grain, Filters recommends: Donate to actively sharing not only its Wikileaks. practices but its actually designs with the rest of the world. The
Rechner Is a Gesture-Based Calculator for iOS, Claims to Be 200% More Efficient than the Default [Video]
Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:30:00 PM
Rechner cuts time out of your addition and subtraction by using swipe gestures to make calculations, rather than on screen buttons. More
Dressing up the formal dinner like never before

(Holy Kaw!)
a starched collar and tie, such as these settings designed by Melbourne-based art director Forget what Mom told you about Sonia Rentsch. setting the table for a formal meal; With Scott Newett taking the dinner aint fancy until it includes photographs, Dinner Etiquette is a
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:44:00 PM
series that simulates the guests at
an upscale dining event using the settings themselves. If that isnt class, we dont know what is. Full story at Sonia Rentsch via My Modern Met.
The art of fine dining. Permalink| Leave a comment
60
Culture/ Food/
10 things you're wearing that could hurt you

(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:58:00 PM
George Clooney and Bikini -Clad Stacy Keibler Sip Beers Beachside in Cabo
Lauren Turner (PopSugar)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:02:00 PM
You might think your two-yearold makeup and skin-tight jeans arent hurting your body, but the truth is that those seemingly safe pants and makeup are a lot more dangerous than you would have guessed. See three of those scary things youre wearing that could harm you below: Skinny Jeans - Skinny jeans might be the everyday pant for most women, but wearing tootight pants every day might lead to meralgia parenthetic (MP), a form of itchy, burning, tingling nerve damage on the pelvis and upper thigh. Cheap Jewelry - Theres a reason all that fantastic costume jewelry from your favorite highstreet shops is so cheap. According to The Ecology Center, more than half of the jewelry found at stores like Claires,
Forever21, Hot Topic, and WalMart contained high levels of hazardous chemicals over the limit of whats safe, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Expired Beauty Products - All beauty products use some type of preservative, be it natural or chemical, to keep the ingredients fresh and free of bacteria.
George Clooney and Stacy Keibler got away to Mexico with a few pals last week. They were spotted hanging out by a bar and snapping pictures of their friend's baby. Stacy wore a bikini during their sunny afternoon, which also included a golf cart ride. When Stacy wasn't soaking up the sun, she apparently took advantage of the vacation to read The Hunger Games, tweeting, "Just read The Hunger Games in 2 days. Problem is, those preservatives O b s e s s e d . " will expire, meaning that your George looked happy to enjoy the face cream could be swimming downtime after a particularly busy with germs, post-expiration date. few weeks. He kicked off March with his sixth visit to Sudan and More on all ten at Refinery 29. South Sudan, and upon his return, More life tips. went to Washington to discuss the Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment
region's problems. He testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also attended a protest outside of the Sudanese embassy. George was arrested during the demonstration but was released from jail shortly after. View Slideshow
FTC
the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Cooking with Asparagus

(Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 9:48:05 AM
During the spring when vibrant produce abounds, you will scarcely find a more handsome veggie to adorn your menu. The beauty in these elegant spears lies
in their versatility. Whether blanched, sauted, or wrapped in salty prosciutto, you'll love the way we're serving them up. We'll start with Grilled Asparagus with Caper Vinaigrette. Briny capers are a lovely addition to Dijon
vinaigretteespecially when drizzled on grilled asparagus. View Recipe: Grilled Asparagus with Caper Vinaigrette Next Garlicky Asparagus 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Politics-Left/
61
Annan 'studying' Syria response to peace plan

(AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE))
Submitted at 3/26/2012 2:32:08 PM
Residents say the Al Khalidiya neighbourhoods of Homs has been subjected to indiscriminate shelling [YouTube] Turkey and Norway have closed their embassies in Syria, further isolating President Bashar alAssad's government as special envoy Kofi Annan study's its response to his peace plan. Assad's forces continued to bombard the battered city of Homs for the seventh consecutive day on Monday, witnesses said. The shelling was concentrated on the Khalidiya neighbourhood. Video showed towering flames and thick black smoke billowing from at least two locations in the country's third largest city, which has become the epicentre for the year-long revolt. Residents accused the army of indiscriminate shelling. "Every day the shelling goes on. The regime is wiping out the city," said Waleed Faris, an activist who lives in Homs. Sixteen people died in clashes around the country, the Britishbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, eight of them in Homs. Two of the dead were children, the group said. No timeline Syria has formally responded to a
peace plan put forward by UNArab League envoy Kofi Annan, his office said on Monday, but gave no details about the message.
"Mr Annan is studying it and will respond very shortly," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement from Geneva.
"The devil has been in the details "The issue is that the government of how to implement a ceasefire," does not want to lay down its Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey ANNAN page 63 reported from New York City.
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Politics-Left/
US seeks China help on N Korea rocket launch

Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:22:25 PM
off a planned rocket launch and return to disarmament talks. "I think, co-operation and coBarack Obama, the US president ordination between the United and Chinese President Hu Jintao States and China is very important are holding talks expected to not only to the interest of our two focus on US frustrations with countries but to the interest of the China's slow progress in pushing world," he added. North Korea to comply with North Korea announced earlier international obligations. this month that it would send a In brief remarks ahead of the satellite into space aboard a longbilateral meeting on the sidelines range rocket. of the Nuclear Security Summit in Pyongyang has said the launch is the South Korean capital Seoul on p a r t o f i t s p e a c e f u l s p a c e Monday, Obama said he was programme and says a new looking forward to a frank and southern flight path is meant to constructive meeting. avoid other countries; previous "Obviously of great importance to rockets have been fired over us, and I hope to you as well, is Japan. the situation in North Korea, and Obama has urged North Korean the situation in Iran," Obama said. leaders to abandon their rocket "We both had an interest in plan or risk jeopardising their making sure that international country's future and thwarting a n o r m s s u r r o u n d i n g n o n - recent US pledge of food aid in proliferation and preventing return for nuclear and missile test destabilising nuclear weapons is m o r a t o r i a , c o n s i d e r e d a very important." breakthrough after years of While the official agenda of the deadlock. summit is to strengthen measures The Seoul Nuclear Security to track the movement of nuclear Summit, attended by nearly 60 materials worldwide, much of the world leaders, will start with a dialogue is expected to focus on working dinner on Monday night efforts to get North Korea to back and continues until Tuesday.
'Nuclear terrorism' Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said: "This was a speech by President Obama to unify the big themes of his visit; he used the speech to help achieve his dream of a nuclear free world." Earlier in the summit, Obama said that he was pushing for "a world without nuclear weapons" and was committed to deterring nuclear proliferation, while on a visit to Seoul for the two-day 53nation nuclear summit. Obama held out the prospect of new reductions in the US arsenal as he sought to rally world leaders for additional concrete steps against the threat of nuclear terrorism. "We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need," Obama told students at South Korea's Hankuk University a few hours before a global nuclear security summit opened in Seoul. Obama told students that he was confident the United States and Russia could jointly reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons, building on the successful
extension of arms control agreements known as START. The White House said nuclear weapons reduction continued to be a priority in US relations with Russia, and that Obama would raise it with president-elect Vladimir Putin when they meet in May. But the US president sent an early message along when he told Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have more flexibility after the November presidential election to deal with the contentious issue of missile defense, a candid assessment of political reality that was picked up by a microphone without either leader apparently knowing. "This is my last election," said Obama. "After my election, I have more flexibility.'' Medvedev replied that he's pass the information along to Putin. Tehran warning But Obama seemed anxious to deal with Iran on a more immediate timeline. "There is time to solve this diplomatically. It is always my preference to solve these issues
diplomatically," he said. "Iran's leaders must understand that there is no escaping the choice before it. Iran must act with the seriousness and sense of urgency that this moment demands," Obama said. "Iran must meet its obligations." Iran insists there is no military element to its programme, but Western powers fear it is constructing nuclear weapons. Neither Iran nor North Korea is participating in the summit. The summit agenda is to be expanded to include a wide variety of radiological materials which terrorists could use to make a dirty bomb, one that spreads radiological contamination rather than initiating a nuclear explosion. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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ANNAN
weapons, it says it is protecting itself from an armed insurrection, [and] they're going to want some sort of guarantee that the opposition is going to lay down its arms as well." Annan, who presented Damascus with his peace proposals earlier this month, said on Monday the crisis could not carry on forever, but added that he had not set any deadline for a resolution of the conflict. "It is not practical to put forth timetables and timelines when you haven't got agreement from the parties," Annan told journalists in Moscow, where he met on Sunday with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president. "This cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely and, as I have told the parties on the ground, they cannot resist the transformational winds that are blowing," he added before flying off for top level meetings in China on Tuesday. Russia and China have blocked UN Security Council resolutions that would have supported plans to move Assad out of power, but they have aligned themselves with Annan's effort. 'Terrorist' claims Following the example of many Arab and Western states, Turkey said it had suspended all activities at its embassy as the security situation worsened. Norway also announced it was
closing its embassy. Once a close ally of Assad, Turkey has denounced his efforts to crush the rebellion and has thrown its weight behind his opponents, announcing on Sunday that it would work with Washington to provide "nonlethal" aid to the Syrian opposition. Syria says it is battling foreignbacked terrorist groups and the official news agency Sana reported on Monday that troops had foiled an attempt by a group of armed infiltrators trying to enter across the Turkish border near the village of Darkoush. It said an unknown number were killed and injured. Activists said two Algerian men with British nationality came under fire in the area; one was killed and another injured. There were conflicting reports on whether they were journalists or if they had joined the rebel fighters. In Harasta, a town near the capital Damascus, rebels attacked a military bus and killed three soldiers, activists said, citing its network of activists inside Syria. Heavy clashes in the province of Hama also continued, activists said. They uploaded footage of grey smoke billowing out of an old castle amid the crackling sound of gunfire in the town of Qalaat al-Madyaq, believed to be in rebel hands.
Sana news agency said soldiers had killed "six of the most dangerous wanted terrorists" in a raid in the southern province of Deraa. They also thwarted a bid to blow up the al-Najih Bridge on the Damascus-Deraa highway, it said. Security appears to be fraying in many parts of Syria despite repeated army offensives to regain rebellious territory. Activists said the government was struggling to hold such areas for long, with rebels swiftly reemerging, as they have in Homs. Travel restrictions In a sign of growing anxiety about the security situation, the Syrian authorities have banned men of military age from leaving the country, Lebanese officials said on Monday. The restrictions, issued on Saturday, require men between the age of 18 and 42 to get permission from military recruitment and immigration departments before travelling, the sources said, adding that border traffic at the main crossing between Beirut and Damascus had fallen by 60 per cent since the regulation. The move may impact the flow of thousands of Syrian workers who go to Lebanon for agricultural and construction projects, a major source of income in rural areas already hit by
economic hardship as unrest grows. The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have died in the revolt and there is little prospect of a quick resolution. Annan's six-point peace proposal calls for a ceasefire, political dialogue between the government and opposition, and full humanitarian access for aid agencies. Both Russia and China have previously vetoed UN Security Council resolutions highly critical of Damascus, drawing accusations from critics in the West that they were giving Assad a licence to kill. However, Moscow and Beijing have given full public backing to Annan's mission and the veteran diplomat is seeking assurances from both capitals that they will bring pressure to bear on Assad to comply with his demands. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
SPOILER ALERT: New 'Good Wife' Photos!

Chris Harnick (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:55:06 PM
Fans of " The Good Wife," you've been warned: There are spoilers ahead. In the next new episode of "The Good Wife," titled "No Ordinary Lie," (Sun., April 15, 9 p.m. ET on CBS), Alicia and Jackie will go toe-to-toe. You may remember Alicia's quest to buy her old home was thwarted when Jackie made the purchase instead. The most recent episode, "Blue Ribbon Panel," ended with Alicia confronting Jackie, asking for some face time. "No Ordinary Lie," which features appearances from Parker Posey and Matthew Perry, will also include a "Good Wife" gamechanger: Peter's announcing his run for governor. Will Alicia stick around and play the doting wife? Here's how CBS describes the episode:"No Ordinary Lie" -- As Alicia counsels a client whether to accept a strict plea deal, she's distracted by Peter's newest political rival, whose actions force her back into the public spotlight. Check out the preview photos below!
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Sudan armies clash in border region

Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:21:28 PM
strategy to deal with the southern government," Rabie Abdul Atti, an advisor to Sudan's minister of Clashes have broken out between information, told Al Jazeera. the armed forces of Sudan and The fighting has forced President South Sudan in several disputed Omar Hassan al-Bashir to suspend border regions, both sides said. plans to visit South Sudan on South Sudan's army, the SPLA, April 3, Sudan's state radio said the Sudanese air force had reported. attacked the disputed areas of Jau In a brief text message, the and Pan Akuach. broadcaster said the suspension The SPLA had also repelled an came after an attack on the oilattack by Sudanese forces in the producing area of Heglig, parts of area of Teshwin inside South which are claimed by both Sudan Sudan, SPLA spokesperson Philip and South Sudan. Arguer said on Monday. Bashir had been due to hold talks Sudan's army spokesperson with his southern counterpart Sawarmi Khalid Saad confirmed Salva Kiir during his visit to the the fighting in the border area of southern capital Juba to resolve Sudan's South Kordofan state and tensions that have surged since the southern Unity state, without South Sudan seceded from Sudan giving the exact locations. He did last year. not say who had started the UN concern fighting. UN leader Ban Ki-moon "I think due to this attack, the has called for an end to the border government now is changing its clashes.
"The secretary general is deeply concerned about the military clashes in the border region and calls on the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to fully respect and implement the agreements they have already reached on security, border monitoring and Abyei," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky. The two Sudans fought a twodecade civil war up to 2005 in which two million people died. Since their separation the two sides have been in dispute over oil reserves, their frontier and the disputed territory of Abyei. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Wendy Williams Speaks Out About Trayvon Martin Tragedy

Alex Moaba (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:55:37 PM
The tragic death of 17-year-old Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has sparked waves of public outrage and re-opened the longdormant discourse about race in America. On Monday, talk show host Wendy Williams spoke about her family's experience as African -Americans, and described the stress and worry that she said black men live with every day. "I'm sure we're not the only black family that extra took time to talk to our son about being racially profiled," Williams said. "For me, as a black woman, I worry about my black father, my brother-inlaw, my nephew who leaves for college in the fall, my husband, who I don't sleep until I hear the garage door go up and go down." Williams told a story about dropping her 11-year-old son, who was wearing a hoodie, off at
a party, and making a point to go inside to introduce herself to the parents "just so they would understand ... there's always some sort of underlying thought when you're raising a black son." The talk show host took a serious turn when explaining that the experience of being a black man in America is one that comes with constant anxiety, even for the women who are close to them. "Even when justice is served, we as black people, for our boys and our fathers and our uncles, this is a day-to-day worry and occurrence, whether they graduated from Harvard or are digging ditches or anything in between," Williams said. "It's just a thing of being a black male in America." TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.
Asparagus Salad with Shrimp

(Simply Recipes)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 2:09:59 PM
Even though the weather has been rather dreary and cold the last week or so, spring is officially
here, which means it's time for asparagus. This is a quick and easy salad, made with fresh asparagus spears that have been blanched for a few minutes, thinly sliced on the diagonal, and tossed
parsley, lemon juice dressing. So good! Continue reading "Asparagus Salad with Shrimp" with shrimp in an olive oil, garlic,
TV/
65
Garrett Greer: What Could Be Coming To ABC This Fall

Garrett Greer (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
year, having the only two new broadcast dramas that could be considered success stories -- " Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:28:18 PM Revenge" and " Once Upon A Every year, the five major Time." Based on the scripts that broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, they picked up to pilot, it seems The CW, FOX and NBC) order they want more of what's already pilots to be considered for the fall working. season. A pilot, as you may know, Three of their projects hew very is the first episode of a TV series close to the ensemble soapiness of and the final step in a long "Revenge": "Americana," about a development process from idea to New York fashion dynasty (a screen. secret illegitimate daughter! From the 87 drama and comedy attempted murder! bitchy expilots ordered this year, a new m i s t r e s s e s ! ) ; " N a s h v i l l e , " crop of television shows will be basically "Country Strong: The selected -- and I read the scripts Series," except this time the for each and every one of them. ingnue is the one coming Over the course of this week, I'll unglued (a scheming up-andwalk you through the network's comer! a fading star! daddy pilot slates, offer a bit of analysis issues!); and " Scruples," another on their present schedules and fashion-based soap, set in '70s provide you with a rundown of Beverly Hills and centered around the drama contenders. (Plus, a what was to become the famed little bit of info about the Rodeo Drive (underage models! comedies, too.) Of course, not all celebrity journalism! secret of these shows will find their way gays!). Of these, "Scruples" has to your TV set -- in fact, most of the most compelling plot and, them you may never hear of despite it's period trappings, feels again. the freshest -- but given ABC's [NOTE: The versions of the disappointing experience with " scripts that I am commenting on Pan-Am," it still feels like a were not necessarily final drafts gamble. and therefore could have changed This may explain why another in both content or title between attempt set in less-than-modern m y h a v i n g r e a d t h e m a n d times seems to be cobbled production -- though, drastic together from other successful changes are unlikely.] projects. " Gilded Lilys," ABC did fairly well this past produced by " Grey's Anatomy"
creator Shonda Rhimes, focuses on a grand hotel in the late 1800s, and appears to have lifted elements directly from a certain popular British soap: a prickly matriarch, a ladies' maid BFF, a gotta-find-a-husband plot line, and even a hotel guest turning up dead. "Lilys" draws not only on " Downton Abbey," but also "Titanic" (a third of the pilot takes place on a steamship bound for New York): The main character's chief love interest is a "lower class" "adventurous romantic" who rides steerage. Derivative, yes, but provided ABC has learned from other networks' similar attempts -- such as last fall's "Mad Men"-aping " The Playboy Club" -- it could prove to be a success. Perhaps the most obvious move to capitalize on past success comes in the form of " Devious Maids," from king of "Adjective Plural-Noun" television Marc Cherry. Very similar to the his last series with ABC, "Devious Maids" asks "what if the 'Desperate Housewives' were richer and had hired help?" It's a modern twist on an upstairs/ downstairs story, but the "big mystery" element -- a murder -feels tacked-on, and Cherry's track record in that department isn't very good. Then there's " 666 Park Ave,"
based on the book series of the same name. This marks Alloy Entertainment's first project on broadcast television outside of The CW, for whom they produce " The Secret Circle," " The Vampire Diaries" and " Gossip Girl." The otherworldly soap centers on a young couple who become the managers for an apartment building in New York that just might be owned by Satan. It's compelling enough, but ABC's previous forays into the supernatural (" The Gates," a forgettable summer series, and, more recently, " The Rive r") haven't had much in the way of staying power. On the fantasy front, ABC picked up two projects that would pair very well with "Once Upon A Time." The first is a " Beauty & The Beast" adaptation(one of two this development cycle, the other being at The CW), which is a twist on the original fairy tale with a dash of " Game Of Thrones." The script is strong, but the key will be making this fantasy world (which relies heavily on otherworldly creatures, beast included) feel realistic on a non-premium-cable budget. The other project, "Gotham," doesn't rely as heavily on special effects, which could give it a slight edge on Beauty if it comes down to one over the other. It's a combo of
"Once Upon A Time" and NBC's " Grimm," wherein an NYPD detective discovers that what makes New York City feel like a "magical" place is -- quite literally -- magic, and that it's up to her to keep it safe. ABC's slate tends to typically skew towards soaps or family programming; but this year, it looks as though they want to expand into the kind of show that might be at home on a more action-oriented network like Fox. Up first is " Zero Hour," a fictionalized biblical-end times thriller on the same wavelength as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Indiana Jones" -- no joke: the bad guys are Nazis. It's not particularly substantive, but it could turn out to be a fun, "National Treasure"-esque adventure romp. In a similar vein, but neither as effective or as fun, is Roland Emmerich's "Antichrist." I'm sad to say, given how mindlessly enjoyable his movies can be (like "Independence Day," "2012"), this turned out to be a pseudoreligious mess. The log line bills it as an apocalyptic political thriller, but the few political elements are completely overshadowed by murky mythology and out-of-left-field GARRETT page 66
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plot points. (A chauffeur who also moonlights as a leather 'n whips go-go dancer? I mean...) At the other end of the spectrum is"Last Resort," by Shawn Ryan("The Shield"). It's a tense action-adventure that involves a renegade nuclear sub, a possible American coup, and violent mobsters on an island in the South Pacific. It's a page turner absolutely fraught with tension and certain elements remind me of what I loved about the early seasons of "24."If ABC is looking to pull in more of a male demographic, this one is sure to do it. As for comedy, ABC is again playing to its strengths by picking up 13 scripts that are, at their cores, family-centric -- whether they're about the workplace, a group of friends, or an actual family. As a matter of pure coincidence, the best of the crop were all purchased with their lead actresses attached: " American Judy," about a new stepmother (Judy Greer) who has to put up with a withholding mother-in-law, the town sheriff -- who happens to be her husband's hot ex-wife -and step kids she's trying too hard to connect with;"Malibu Country," about the wife (Reba McEntire) of a country superstar who discovers her husband has cheated on her and moves her kids
and mother from Nashville to Malibu, where she tries to get her life (and her own music career) back on track;"The Family Trap," about a young woman (Mandy Moore) who moves, along with her husband, closer to her insane family; and"The Smart One,: about an overachieving, type-A woman (Portia De Rossi) who winds up working for her less impressive, but more popular sister. Looking at the state of ABC's present schedule, the network could pick up two to five hours of new programming, depending on how many current shows don't come back next year. Right now, things aren't looking good for "The River" or " Body of Proof." Plus, " Desperate Housewives" and " Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" have already been served their pink slips, and things are too early to tell for " GCB" or " Missing." Even the fantastic, but low-rated " Cougar Town" could wind up getting the axe in favor of another project that looks like it could bring in a larger audience. Unfortunately, sometimes a better script can be passed over in favor of another that seems like it might have broader appeal -- TV is a business and as much as we'd love to put or keep certain projects on the air, there is a bottom line to consider. That said,
a good script does not always guarantee a good pilot; plenty can change in the translation from page to screen. At the same time, it's also possible for a mediocre script to be elevated by a great director or a fantastic cast (as I expect "Gilded Lilys" will be). Taking all variables into account, below are my predictions for ABC's fall schedule, 2012. SURE THINGS
Happy Endings." MAYBES
"Zero Hour" -- If the network's appetite for action isn't fully satisfied by "Last Resort," I can see this being a fun addition to the lineup. "Devious Maids" -- If ABC is still high on Cherry, this could very well wind up on television ... not to mention that having a "Last Resort" -- handily ABC's diverse cast certainly helps its JC Fletcher (Joystiq) strongest script, with a stellar cast chances. Submitted at 3/26/2012 9:00:00 PM and director attached, it has "Beauty & The Beast" -- but everything going for it. only if the fantasy elements are on Sony has added a game to its "Gilded Lilys" -- not the best, -point. Spring Fever promotion-- while but ABC likes to be in the Shonda the promotion is happening. business and the cast (Blythe In the last decade, ABC has been Wheels of Destruction now forms Danner, Matt Lauria, Matt Long, the home of family comedies, the deadly caboose for the deal, and John Barrowman, to name a light procedurals and ensemble arriving on April 3. As part of the few) will likely go a long way soaps. These series candidates -- deal, PS Plus members will get $2 towards selling the material. The the most of any network -- off the $9.99 price for the PS3 car only complication here could be continue to build upon that brand, combat game. the expense associated with while expanding into a potential Continue reading Wheels of producing this kind of period new wheelhouse of fantasy-tinged Destruction joins PS3 Spring piece. programming and the realm of Fever on April 3 "Malibu Country" -- light, fun action/adventure. If things go Wheels of Destruction joins PS3 and with a recognizable star, according to plan, next season Spring Fever on April 3 originally Malibu's multi-camera format and could be very good for ABC. appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 red state sensibility would pair Coming up tomorrow: A look at Mar 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please w e l l w i t h t h e l i k e l y - t o - b e - C B S - - h o m e o f t h e l a w see our terms for use of feeds. renewed " Last Man Standing." e n f o r c e m e n t p r o c e d u r a l . Permalink| Email this| Comments "The Family Trap" -- this wacky family (which includes Stockard Channing, Kurt Fuller, and Erinn Hayes) would be right at home with both " Modern Family" and "
Wheels of Destruction joins PS3 Spring Fever on April 3
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Canon PowerShot G1X review: Oversized point-and-shoot or half-baked SLR-like?

Consumer Reports News (Consumer Reports)
shot in JPEG mode, which is what most consumers use. When we changed the settings and shot Submitted at 3/26/2012 1:59:59 PM RAW images, which give you Canon PowerShot G1X review: more flexibility when using image Oversized point-and-shoot or half -editing software but require more -baked SLR-like? memory, the G1X captures much Canon surprised many at the cleaner and less noisy images than Consumer Electronics Show this the G12. past January by introducing the 14 Here's what I found: - m e g a p i x e l P o w e r S h o t Image quality in low light. When G1X($800): This camera has a shooting photos in most welllarge sensor, similar to what you'd lighted situations, I didn't see find in an SLR, but you can't much difference between the G1X change the lens; instead the G1X and G12. In very low light, has a fixed 4x optical zoom lens. though, which is where I thought Does this hybrid offer the worst of the G1X would excel, I also didn't both worlds: an oversize point- find much difference between and-shoot that can't accept shots taken with each camera. The interchangeable lenses? G1X has a top sensitivity of ISO A f t e r a l l , n e a r l y e v e r y 12,800, which is much higher manufacturer, including Nikon than the G12, which stops at ISO with the Nikon One, now makes 3,200. SLR-like, or mirrorless, cameras Although both cameras picked up with large sensors that do accept more details than most basic interchangeable lensesthe one- models would, the photos from two combo that greatly increases each had a similar, somewhat image quality. mottled, spotty look, which you'd To get a feel for how well this find with many high-ISO shots. new G-series camera performed, I Our tests do show that at ISO used Canon's previous, slightly 3,200, the G1X has less noise and smaller G-series model, the thus cleaner images than the G12 PowerShot G12($400) alongside a has at ISO 3,200. So if you plan to press sample of the G1X for a shoot JPEGs with the G1X, your couple of weeks. The G12 is also photos may be only incrementally an advanced point-and-shoot but better than those you'd capture has a smaller sensor than the with most other, less expensive G1X. advanced point-and-shoots, which My results and our lab tests were have smaller sensors.
Controls and versatility. Like most advanced cameras, the G1X has a plethora of physical buttons, switches and controls, which mimic much of what's found on the G12. For advanced users, these controls are great and keep you from needing to drill down into the camera's menus to adjust settings. And unlike most basic cameras, the G1X has an optical viewfinder and a large, swiveling LCD, which can be essential when shooting in bright light. As you can see from my illustration, when you're shooting on a sunny day, you can either use the optical viewfinder or angle the display to avoid the sun's glare. Left: In this position, the camera's display reflects the sun, and the subject is obscured. Right: To avoid glare, you can swing the display out from the camera body and more clearly view your subject. If you're shooting indoors or in low-light settings, the G1X has lots of versatile controls and features for flash and high dynamic-range (HDR)
photography. As with most advanced cameras, you can adjust the exposure compensation (-3 to +3), and the flash compensation (2 to +2), which reduces or increases the strobe's illumination. And the camera has a hot shoe, which lets you attach an external strobe for maximum flash versatility. The Canon PowerShot G1X's flash compensation lets you increase or decrease the strength of the strobe's illumination. In the left photo, the flash compensation is set at +2. In the right, it is set at -2. For times when you have a challenging lighting situation and don't want to use a flash, the HDR mode fires off three different exposures in quick succession: an underexposed, an overexposed, and a normal shot. The camera then composites them together and attempts to keep details in both shadow and highlight areas. I found the mode worked only for non-moving subjects and when I used a tripod or had the camera on a flat surface. The photos below reveal what happens when you don't use a tripod or when your subject moves using HDR mode. Although the HDR mode does a good job at capturing indoor and outdoor details in shadow and highlight areas, you need to keep your camera steady and your
subjects still. Otherwise, the camera can't effectively merge the three shots together, as you can see in this shot. Video, filters, and other features. You can shoot high-quality 1080p video in Full HD with stereo sound. Like most advanced cameras, the G1X has a handy dedicated video button, and you can zoom while capturing video. One interesting video mode is called Movie Digest: It automatically records a video clip (up to about 4 seconds) every time you fire a snapshot. So, the camera not only captures a day's worth of still photos but also automatically compiles video clips into one long video. Like many advanced cameras, the G1X includes a number of incamera filters, including miniature, vivid, and monochrome, which can affect colors, sharpness, and other settings. The camera has other practical features, too: An electronic level that appears on the display can help you compose landscapes by keeping the horizon line level. Bottom line. I have a few gripes about this model. For starters, I think it's too pricey and a bit too big. Canon should have also overhauled the design both inside CANON page 68
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P&G Apologizes, Has An Actual Reason For Old Spice Deodorant Shrinkage
Mary Beth Quirk (The Consumerist)
more wonderful Old Spice products, and I saw some cool new packaging. After arriving Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:00:00 PM home, my excitement turned to Consumerist reader Jordan dismay when I realized that your recently copied us on an email he "New Look" had actually reduced wrote to Procter & Gamble, the contents of the deodorant by shaming them for performing the .25 oz, yet the price had remained grocery shrink ray on his favorite the same. Old Spice deodorant. But before He forwarded the reply he we could even post his tale of received from P&G, and says he's outrage, he received a reasonable happy they responded so fast and explanation and an apology from clued him in on why the product P&G. Imagine that! got smaller but the price stayed Jordan originally relayed his constant pricing is at the mercy story of product shrinking, writing of the retailer, so now he blames to the makers of Old Spice about Target. finding out his favorite brand had While we understand your been redesigned to have less disappointment, I'd like to explain deodorant, but for the same price why the change was made to our as before: Red Zone and Fresh Collection We've had a long history p a c k a g i n g . T o a d d r e s s together, and I've loved every m a n u f a c t u r i n g e f f i c i e n c i e s minute of it.So you can imagine between our Anti-Perspirant and my excitement when I went to my Deodorants line, we made the local grocery outlet to purchase decision to use some packaging
customers and from a pricing standpoint, although the pricing decisions are the sole discretion of the retailer, we have seen that retailers have adjusted the price of the products. It seems that the price remained constant at your retailer. In addition to the explanation, P&G offered Jordan some coupons for their products as part of their apology, and have in turn, kept a loyal customer. See how that works, everyone else? Reasonable policies + efficient customer service = loyalty. Take notes. This entry passed through the efficiencies for the products. category) for both products Full-Text RSS service if this is W h e n c o m p l e t e , o u r A n t i - because our stick would make the your content and you're reading it Perspirant stick is much shorter package look as if it was half full. on someone else's site, please read than our deodorant stick. We We decided to move to a smaller the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentdecided against keeping the same f o r m f o r e a c h p r o d u c t t o only/faq.php#publishers. Five package (which is common m a x i m i z e e f f i c i e n c y . W e Filters recommends: Donate to among other products in the reviewed this change with our top Wikileaks.
CANON
and out: The G1X feels like it's just a bigger version of the G12. I also think Canon should have redesigned the menus, which seem disorganized. For example, in many modes the G1X includes a few shooting options, such as single or burst mode; but the Scene mode, Canon includes another, faster burst mode. And since the G1X is not an
interchangeable-lens camera, Canon should have included a longer zoom, a wider zoom, or both: The G1X has just a 4x optical zoom and a 28mm wideangle lens. (Other advanced models go to 24mm, which is really wide.) On the plus side, this camera can handle almost any lighting situation. And it gives you lots of
options to vary your shots. Those who won't ever care about having an interchangeable lens might consider this model. But for the same price or even less, you could get an SLR-like model that gives you a large sensor and the ability to change out the lens. 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
Products/ Talk/
69
Fisker To Replace Karma With gas grills, Battery That Quit During the beefiest aren't Consumer Reports Testing always the best
Mary Beth Quirk (The Consumerist)
their vehicle through its paces on the test track when it sputtered out after 180 miles. They usually buy Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:00:00 PM and test around 80 cars a year, and Consumer Reports couldn't even this was the first time they had a get their $108,000 Fisker Karma car that was undriveable without test car through its first round of having completed even the most tests before its battery went kaput. preliminary tests. And now, Fisker says they'll be It looks like our experience was replacing said defective parts in no fluke. Fisker is including this the luxury electronic vehicles. replacement as part of an Fisker Automotive says they'll " e n h a n c e d c u s t o m e r c a r e " provide free replacements of the program that also extends the main high-voltage electric-drive w a r r a n t y f o r 2 0 1 2 N o r t h battery on all 2012 Karmas. Its American cars from 50 months/ battery supplier, A123 Systems, 50,000 miles to 60 months/60,000 discovered a manufacturing defect miles. The package involves "a in some battery cells that could complete battery replacement at result in " b a t t e r y no cost for all affected 2012 MY underperformance and decreased Fisker Karma owners." durability." In its press release, Fisker also Just two weeks ago, our wise said that a "next-generation" elder siblings at Consumer software upgrade will be released Reports had barely begun putting in the next few days.
After the dealer installed a new battery, Consumer Reports' Karma has been running and charging fine, but since it's a defect that has been identified in the battery, a replacement should guarantee they can test the car to its fullest ability. Fisker to replace Karma's drive batteries[Consumer Reports] Avoid getting ripped of on your next new or used car purchase with the Consumer Reports Bottom Line Price. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.

Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:29:59 PM
TED: Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy - Donald Sadoway (2012)
TEDTalks (TEDTalks (video))
Submitted at 3/26/2012 10:19:45 AM
What's the key to using alternative energy, like solar and wind? Storage -- so we can have
power on tap even when the sun's not out and the wind's not blowing. In this accessible, inspiring talk, Donald Sadoway takes to the blackboard to show us the future of large-scale batteries
that store renewable energy. As he says: "We need to think about the problem differently. We need to think big. We need to think cheap."
With gas grills, the beefiest aren't always the best Faster preheating, easier cleanup, and the ease of year-round grilling help explain why gas grills continue to outsell charcoal models. And our latest gas grill tests found that you'll see more mid-priced gas grills loaded with premium features such as side and searing burners, interior lights and thick stainless grates. But there may be tradeoffs--a smaller cooking area, more painted metal, less stainless steel, and lower grades of stainless. In our tests higher grades, such as 304 and other 300-series stainless, were less prone to rust and better able to fight corrosion than the less expensive 400 series. That's just one more example where a higher number is not better. Another is Btu. The British thermal units/hour tell you how much gas a grill can burn and the heat it could generate, but lots of Btu doesn't guarantee better searing or quicker preheaing. In fact, the grills with the most Btu do not top our Ratings.
And consider this: Regardless of how big a grill is--several we tested are about six feet long--you want a grill with a cooking surface that fits enough food for the number of people usually gathered around the table. Typically the larger the grill, the larger the cooking surface but there are exceptions. Our Ratings categorize grills based on our measurements of the main cooking area. We've noted the cooking area and the exterior dimensions of each grill to help you decide what works for your family and your space. 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
70
Products/ News Photos
Miller Ditches "Man Up," Resurrects "Miller Time"

Chris Morran (The Consumerist)
whole, inexplicable vortex bottle thing. "Miller Lite really is about real Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:45:00 PM beer and real friends, and we After what seemed like an believe that Miller Time captures endless stretch of "man up" ads that whole idea of real friends featuring guys behaving in ways coming together over real beer," a that only guys in bad beer MillerCoors Exec said about why commercials behave, Miller Lite it's changing course with its ads. is hoping it can recapture some of The Miller Time slogan was its previous glory by resurrecting originally used for Miller High ye olde "It's Miller Time" slogan. Life ads in the '70s and '80s, often Though Miller Lite is still the alongside the "If you've got the fourth most popular beer in the time, we've got the beer" jingle. c o u n t r y , i t s n u m b e r s h a v e It was then brought back for a dropped off in the last year, in five year run between 1997 and spite of the Worst Ad In America- 2002, this time to advertise Miller nominated"man up" spots and that Lite.
We would like to believe that this is just more proof that there will finally be a third Ghostbusters movie, allowing Bill Murray to say his famous line one more time: Another Round for Miller Time[CNBC] From ConsumerReports.org: 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
'The Avengers' Photo: What is Thor Thinking? - Huffington Post (blog)

(news photos - Google News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:28:05 PM
superhero... New Avengers Photos Go Behind the Scenes With Whedon and IFC (blog) Cast Comic Book Resources 'The Avengers' Photo: What is New The Avengers photos and Thor Thinking? featurette assemble for hungry Huffington Post (blog) fans IFC (blog) Today, on Yahoo!, an assortment New 'The Avengers' photos and of behind the scene photos were update Scarlett Johansson hacker released from a movie that you've Examiner.com probably heard of called The TheImproper.com- Hollywood Avengers. It's always, well, Reporter- Superherohype.com bizarre to see a man wearing a all 122 news articles superhero costume standing next to a man not wearing a
Average gas prices--March 26, 2012

above the price this time last year. Diesel fuel is about $.22 above this time last year. Premium fuel Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:14:59 PM is $4.17, up about five cents from Average gas prices--March 26, last week. National regular 2012 gasoline prices Price Change from Gas prices are up in most areas last week Regular gasoline/ around the country compared to gallon$3.92.05 Diesel fuel/ the week before. However, this is gallon$4.15.01 Regional regular the first time in two months that g a s o l i n e p r i c e s E a s t an area has seen a decrease. The C o a s t $ 3 . 8 7 . 0 6 N e w national gasoline average is $.32 E n g l a n d $ 3 . 8 6 . 0 3 C e n t r a l
Atlantic$3.88.05Lower A t l a n t i c $ 3 . 8 6 . 0 7 Midwest$3.90.06 Gulf Coast$3.76.06 Rocky
Mountain$3.69.06 West Coast$4.24 0California$4.36.02 Source: Energy Information Administration, 3/26/12. Figures rounded to the nearest cent. See our guide to fuel economy for advice on saving gasoline, including reports on how to get the best gas mileage and where to find the cheapest gas. Learn about future technologies in our in our guide to alternative fuels.
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
Sports/
71
Rematch redux: Kansas-Ohio State and Kentucky-Louisville try it again, with more feeling - Minneapolis Star Tribune
(- Bing News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 2:52:39 PM
Two games. Two rematches. One Final Four repeat is between Kentucky and Louisville, teams that know each other all too well. The other has Kansas facing Ohio State, teams that had more or less been strangers until this season. Earlier in the season, Kentucky beat Louisville 69-62, handing a loss to Rick Pitino, the coach who once led the Wildcats, but left for the NBA, only to return down the road to lead their in-state rivals. Kansas defeated Ohio State 78-67 in a game the Buckeyes played without their star, forward Jared Sullinger. The stakes are higher this time. The winners of Saturday's semifinals will play for the national title next Monday. "You know if you get this far you're going to play a great team, no matter what," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "And you know what? They're going to get to play a great team, too. It should be pretty fun." Absent from this year's final hoops weekend, taking place at the Superdome in New Orleans, are the longshots and little guys
who have made March Madness so special over the years. Although there are no Butlers, VCUs or George Masons, there are plenty of good stories to tell. That list starts with Pitino vs. his old school. It was Pitino who restored Kentucky to its former greatness when he arrived there in 1989 and the Wildcat program was coming off the sting of NCAA violations. Pitino took the program to three Final Fours and won one championship, but left in 1997 to take a second shot at the NBA, where he had previously coached the New York Knicks. He fared far worse in four seasons with the Boston Celtics, and when the call back to the college game came, it was from Louisville, located only 70 miles up the road from Lexington and very much in the crosshairs of Kentucky fans. It has been 11 years since his dramatic return, and most of the shock has worn off from what was once deemed an unforgivable betrayal. But there's nothing like a Final Four meeting to stir up some old memories. "It is in our state. They're a great program. We're in two different
leagues," Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the Wildcats beat Baylor 82-70 in the South Regional to advance to the Final Four for the second straight year. "The city of Louisville drives our state. The University of Louisville drives that city. So it's a very important thing for our state, and it's important that that school does well." Maybe just not Saturday. The teams play every season, and most recently, they were ranked Nos. 3 and 4 in The Associated Press poll when they met on New Year's Eve. Kentucky won by seven. Now, it's top-seeded Kentucky against Louisville, a No. 4 and the worst-seeded team in the Final Four. "We think they're excellent. We think they're great. I coached there. It's great. Great tradition," Pitino said Saturday, after Louisville rallied for a 72-68 win over Florida that put the Cardinals in the Final Four for the second time since the coach arrived. "But we want to be Louisville. We have a different mission. They have a different mission. But we both want to get to a Final Four and win a championship." In the other semifinal, Sullinger
got what he wanted when he decided to return to Ohio State for his sophomore year a trip to the Final Four. The Buckeyes are early 2.5-point picks over Kansas in the matchup of No. 2 seeds. They finished in a three-way tie for first in the Big Ten, widely viewed as the toughest conference in basketball this year, but settled for a No. 2 seed in the NCAAs after losing the conference tournament final to Michigan State. It wasn't the first or last time critics underestimated Thad Matta's team this season. "People were asking, are we mentally tough enough, are we physically tough enough, can we do this, can we do that?" Sullinger said. "I relayed those questions back to the team. We did some soul searching, and now we've taken this to a whole other level." Sullinger scored 19 points Saturday in Ohio State's 77-70 win over Syracuse to make the Final Four. Tyshawn Taylor scored 22 points Sunday in an 80-67 win over North Carolina to lock in the matchup against the Buckeyes. The Jayhawks reached the Final Four for the first time since 2008, when they won it all after rallying
from nine points late in the title game to beat Memphis (and Calipari, before he moved to Kentucky) in overtime. Taylor finished with 13 assists in the Dec. 10 game against Ohio State despite playing with an ailing knee. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, had to do without Sullinger. Playing their first road game of the season, they lost by 11 to drop to 8-1. Seems like quite a long time ago. "We caught a break the first time when Jared didn't play, and we were kind of finding ourselves," Self said. "We knew they were a team that could make a run and win a national championship. They have so many pieces that are so good. It starts with Jared." 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
72
Sports/ News Photos
Sean Foley Could Reap Large PGA TOUR Rewards After Tiger Woods Win at Bay Hill: Fans Take - YAHOO!
(- Bing News)
newest addition to Team Tiger. The reality of the situation is that Tiger's swing was unsatisfactory By Michael C. Jones, Yahoo! for a number of reasons. His old Contributor Network swing put a tremendous amount The cameras at Bay Hill on of stress on his left knee. You Sunday, March 25, 2012, were not know the knee - it's the one that on golf guru Sean Foley, but if he's had four surgeries (that we they were, viewers would have know of) on and caused the likely seen a smile bigger than majority of his injury-related time that of his top student, Tiger away from the sport. Woods, who just happened to win After parting ways with Hank the event. Haney and attempting to coach That's because Foley, much like himself, he struggled mightily and Woods, had to feel like the reached a new low in his career monkey was finally off his back an 18-over par finish at the 2010 with an official PGA TOUR win WGC Bridgestone Invitational. At by his most famous client. The that point, he knew he needed instructor, whose most notable help and would choose Foley as students include Sean O'Hair, his go-to guy. Justin Rose, and Hunter Mahan in The dynamic between player and addition to Woods, has come coach fits nicely. Foley, known under close scrutiny ever since he for his analytical and systematic began the relationship with the approach to the swing has been a former world no. 1 in August good fit for Woods, who is an 2010. analyst himself. Foley is the Whether it was talk that Tiger's youngest coach Woods has had in swing was fine the way it was or his professional career (Foley is that Foley's ideas of how the golf just a year older than Woods), so s w i n g w o r k e d w e r e t o o it stands to reason that they relate unconventional, critics pulled no well on a personal level as well. punches when it came to the None of this is to suggest that
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:01:30 PM
Woods needed to fix anything during dominant years with Butch Harmon - particularly in the record-setting year 2000. Later, with Hank Haney, he would win six more majors. After his game and life literally came crashing down in November 2009, his game would never be the same. In stepped Foley with a new approach. He worked on a swing motion that made Tiger more efficient, accurate off the tee, and lessened the incredible pressure on his left side. Tiger's lower body is now much less active on the downswing, which is a move that could lengthen his career from a health standpoint. Critics were quick to point out the struggles Woods faced since returning, but Sunday's win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational is sweet justice for the pair. It is worth noting that Foley's other PGA TOUR clients are thriving as well. Both Rose and Mahan have won on TOUR this year. Factor in Tiger's win, and 2012 is shaping up to be the year of Sean Foley. Next up is The 2012 Masters
where total vindication for Foley could be complete. Woods' game is right where it needs to be in order to win at Augusta National, and now it seems that it is a matter of when, not if, Foley and Woods will have silenced all doubts about the work they've done by winning a major. April 5, 2012, day one of The Masters, can't come fast enough. Michael C. Jones is a Yahoo! Featured Contributor in Sports and PGA Professional, covering the PGA TOUR Follow Michael on Twitter:@MikeJonesTweets Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Drowning in Email, Photos, Files? Hoarding Goes Digital Wall Street Journal
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:24:11 PM
Wall Street Journal Drowning in Email, Photos, Files? Hoarding Goes Digital Wall Street Journal By MELINDA BECK He estimates he has 24000 MP3 files, 4000 digital books, 2000 CDs, 3000 family photos saved on DVDs and at least 1300 saved emails, including some from 20 years ago. "They're great memory aids," says the 42-year-old inventory manager at...
Sports/ Gaming/
73
Sanchez says he doesnt think job is threatened by Jets acquiring Tebow - Washington Post
Associated Press (- Bing News)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:22:59 PM
Were adding another player and were not replacing anybody, Sanchez said during a conference call from California. I mean, hes here to help us and Im confident in my abilities. I know the team feels the same way about me. They have belief in me. ... Im not worried about losing my spot. Sanchez didnt watch Tebows big intro to the Big Apple. Instead, he said, he was working out and throwing. I heard he did a pretty good job, Sanchez said. How did he do? Well, Tebow handled himself with the poise and confidence of a guy familiar with the spotlight. The Jets have repeatedly said Sanchez is the No. 1 quarterback, while Tebow will serve as the backup and see plenty of playing time in various roles. Sanchez, who recently signed a three-year contract extension, doesnt think it will be a distraction to have the popular quarterback on the team. He also brushed off the speculation that fans could call for Tebow as soon as he struggles. That stuff happens whether
youre Tim Tebow or not, Sanchez said. They call for the backup any time youre not playing to your potential, so thats just part of the job if youre not playing well. After leading the Jets to consecutive AFC title games his first two seasons, Sanchez didnt progress as much as many expected in 2011 and finished with as many touchdown passes as turnovers: 26. His leadership skills and confidence were called into question by teammates quoted anonymously in newspaper reports. New York flirted with the idea of going after Peyton Manning until it was clear there wasnt mutual interest. Manning landed in Denver, and the Broncos traded Tebow to the Jets. It was a move the front office didnt run by Sanchez the face of the franchise. You know, I find its difficult enough to play quarterback in the league, he said. Thats out of my wheelhouse. Sanchez hosted Tebow on his recruiting trip to Southern California a few years ago, and theyve been friends since. He
thinks that, plus the fact Tebow will be able to add a new wrinkle to our offense, makes the move a plus for us. Tebow is expected to run the Jets wildcat offense, as well as serve in other roles. Sanchez isnt high on the wildcat because it means hes usually off the field when its run, but he insists hes OK with whatever the team wants. Thats just how Im programmed and any quarterback is programmed like that, Sanchez said. The way I feel about the wildcat really is secondary. Our team goal is whats the most important, and thats winning. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Behind the scenes of Quantic Dream's 'Kara' tech demo

Mike Schramm (Joystiq)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 9:30:00 PM
Have you thought about just how Quantic Dream pulled off that "Kara" tech demo on the PS3? If your answer, like ours, was that they actually built a female android and taught it how to speak all those languages and sing, then you're wrong. They didn't do that at all. Female androids don't exist in real life. Sigh. No, instead they hired an actress named Valorie Curry(actually three different women -- Curry for acting, one for the German and French, and another to sing) to come in and do motion capture for the part, and refined and developed her performance over a series of about eight months
before finally capturing it for the tech demo. You can see the whole process in the video above, and watch the original tech demo below. Yeah, we guess it's cool and all that they put so much care and work into such a quality video -- but not as cool as a real female android. Sigh again. Continue reading Behind the scenes of Quantic Dream's 'Kara' tech demo Behind the scenes of Quantic Dream's 'Kara' tech demo originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
74
Gaming/ Politics/
Doctor: Cheney doing remarkably well, amazingly well after heart transplant
Allahpundit (Hot Air Top Picks)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:02:07 PM
Remedy hiring for nextgen project

Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:30:00 PM
for world-class talent to work on an unannounced project targeted at future generation consoles." Remember back in October when The fact that the notice was it was rumored that Alan Wake 2 posted on the Alan Wake site was in production for the next could be a hint as to what the next Xbox? While we still can't project will be, though it's confirm Alan Wake 2, we now important to note that the site also know that Remedy is indeed hosts forums for Remedy's other hiring for the next generation of games, including American consoles. The developer has Nightmare, Death Rally and the posted the hiring notice in the first two Max Payne games. Still, Alan Wake community site, Remedy has made it quite clear stating that Remedy is "looking that there will be more Alan
Wake, so a next gen entry to the series is definitely a possibility. Speaking of Alan Wake, you know Joystiq has exclusive, never -before-seen episodes of Night Springs, right? Remedy hiring for next-gen project originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
posted at 9:02 pm on March 26, 2012 by Allahpundit A terrific little scoop by ABC. Apparently, hes already out of bed and able to sit in a chair. Amazing. He got the call that a donor heart would soon be available just after midnight on Saturday morning. By 5 p.m. that afternoon, the procedure was done. The surgery went flawlessly, Dr. Reiner told ABC News. It exceeded expectations. The organ has functioned terrifically. There can still be challenges, but so far, so good, Dr. Reiner said. So far so very good. If recovery continues without significant setback, Dr. Reiner says Cheneys prognosis is excellent and that he could live many, many years with his new heart. If you ask is it reasonable for a patient, like this patient, to consider 10 years, yes, I think thats reasonable, Dr. Reiner said. And good quality life. He made it explicitly clear to his doctors that he wanted no preferential treatment on the waiting list. (According to them,
thats impossible anyway.) Read this piece too noting that its relatively rare but not unheard of anymore for patients of Cheneys age (71) to receive transplants, although there are still some hospitals that wont do them for people over 65. No ones quite sure why he waited more than a year and a half for the transplant, but it may have to do with his health having improved over time thanks to his heart mate device to the point where the surgery became viable for him whereas it hadnt been before. In fact, according to one doctor interviewed by ABC, its precisely because hes had so many heart surgeries that his recovery from this one could be relatively easy. I dont quite grasp the science of that as he gets older and endures more surgical trauma, youd think hed be progressively weakened but its good news, needless to say. Here he is last year talking about his heart mate. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Featured/ Politics/
75
Grouping and alignment and the web

(Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog)
a really good system there would be no rules. A group would be a first class object. Anything you Submitted at 3/26/2012 11:58:23 AM can do with a non-compound I finally understand CSS, I think. object could be done with a The "I think" part is due to the group. feeling that "this can't be all there Alignment is what happens when is." They must have finished this you take two or more objects and thing and I'm just not getting it. say I want them to arrange them By now my "I think" voice is in a certain way. Usually by an quiet. I wish it were louder. edge. So you say, align these Because I wish there was more. objects so the tops are the same. Fact is, we know how to do this Or the left edges. You can align better, at least two generations objects so they are centered better. relative to each other, or centered That's what this post is about. only in one dimension, vertical or The first major improvement to horizontal. The centering is CSS would be: grouping and especially nice for presentations, alignment. when objects contain bits of text If you use Draw programs, you and don't know in advance how know what this is. Grouping is long their are. what happens when you take two That's the first level of or more objects and form a new i m p r o v e m e n t . object which includes of all of The second level is something them. Then you can repeat the that, as far as I know, has never process, creating groups of groups been done in a commercial Draw and groups of groups of groups. program -- make the relationships CSS has something like grouping persistent. So I could say "align -- divs. But there are some weird the tops of these objects" but rules about what you can and can't make that a rule. And maintain it do with them. That's the thing. In so that it's always true. So if one
of the objects moves, if they were top-aligned, their tops would remain aligned. These days this is what's called "responsive design" although it's a real huge honkin mess. The idea behind rules-based grouping and alignment is that it's easy and the computer does all the heavy lifting. The thing is -- I've used such a program. We came up with the need for this at Living Videotext when we were working on presentation programs in the era of MORE and PowerPoint (the former was my product). After we left the company, my brother Peter worked on the side, in his spare time, on a recalculating graphics app he called PowWow. I often think how much better all this would be if I could just use PowWow. Oh well. Maybe someone will resurrect this idea. I would of course happily work with them. That's why I'm putting the idea out there.
Romney hits Obama: Russia is our number one geopolitical foe

the public sees it as a fading power whose primacy of place in U.S. threat assessments was lost Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:27:14 PM after the Cold War. Seems odd for posted at 9:27 pm on March 26, the presumptive GOP nominee to 2012 by Allahpundit suddenly name them public An odd line in the course of an enemy number one. otherwise solid attack on Obamas Doesnt much matter, as the point dumbhot mic comment this here is to attack Obama, not morning. As youll see, he has Russia, and Romney does a good something specific in mind with job of it. Cant wait for that first the term foe and its not Romney/Putin summit, though. equivalent to threat, but I think Oh well: At least our number one most people who see the geopolitical foe wont be soundbite version of this clip will surprised when European missile understand it that way and come defense is suddenly back in away puzzled. If you gut-check vogue. Americans on what our biggest This entry passed through the foreign-policy problem is, the Full-Text RSS service if this is answers youre most likely to get, your content and you're reading it Ill bet, are Iran, Pakistan/Al on someone else's site, please read Qaeda, and China. Russia is, as the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentR o m n e y s a y s , f r e q u e n t l y a only/faq.php#publishers. Five stumbling block to Americas Filters recommends: Donate to agenda abroad look no further Wikileaks. than Syria but I think most of
76
Science/
"Jarno Smeets" and the Physics of True Human Flight

Adam Weiner (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
popular explanation of Bernoulli's equation applied to air flow over a curved wing, or an application of Newton's Third Law between the Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:31:14 PM Jarno Smeets: Not a Bird Jarno oncoming air and the wing, both Smeets Resident physics dude principles are involved and Adam Weiner shows us what it relevant in a complete explanation would really take to lift a human of the lift force. body off the ground, bird-style In order for a bird to generate lift, The notion of a person flying like it has to propel itself forward a bird has universal and enduring through the air such that air flows appeal, so it's not surprising that over its wings. Even though a bird the "Human Bird Wings" video flaps its wings rather than holding from "Jarno Smeets" went viral them still, as with an airplane, the within a few days. However, now majority of a bird's lift is created that it has been revealed to be an by the forward gliding motion of elaborate hoax, eight months in its wings, not by the flap-flap the making, and now that our motion of pushing downwards. dreams have been thusly dashed, The faster the forward motion of let's examine a scientific red flag the bird, the greater the lift. in the video, one that when One way to estimate the lift force pursued bursts the entire on a wing surface is with the data, and then applying some following equation: fantastical premise: the problem In simulating bird flight we can Mathematically: identify four relevant forces F net= lift - weight = ma basic principles of physics and L = C A v 2 of speed. Watch the video: He aerodynamics, we can see that it Where L is the lift force, and is really isn't moving very fast when acting on the system: The force of lift > weight g r a v i t y a c t i n g d o w n w a r d This means that in the case of a just isn't possible. he lifts up off the ground, so it the density of the fluid (air, in this doesn't look quite right. Let's (weight), which is counteracted bird with a weight of 1 Newton To show this, let's take a look at case), C is the lift coefficient at a by an upward lift force, an air (.225 pounds) it must be able to how birds (and airplanes for that given angle of attack which is analyze that. When it comes down to it, the drag force which inhibits forward generate at least that much matter) create lift. Basically, when usually measured experimentally, a wing moves through a fluid, the A is the surface area of the wing, deal is this: What we see in the motion, and a forward thrust (or upward lift force. propulsion) force. In the case of a man weighing shape and angle of attack of the and v is the velocity of the wing video must obey fundamental laws of physics to be possible. Let's focus on the concept of lift. 800 Newtons who is attached to wing work together to create a relative to the oncoming air. A n d k n o w l e d g e o f t h o s e This leads us to the crucial point: another (estimated) 300 Newtons pressure difference between the Let's apply this equation to our fundamental laws will allow us to In order to accelerate upward, worth of equipment, we would top and bottom of the wing, human bird wings and see what debunk the whole shebang. In according to Newton's Second need at least 1100 Newtons of lift. resulting in an upward lift force. we get. We'll make the following assessing an attempt to simulate Law, the lift force must exceed The question: Is this feasible (The angle of attack is the angle estimates. Based on a still photo the flight of a bird, it's obviously the weight force. (Once in flight based on what we see in the of the wing relative to the of the wings I estimated their oncoming airflow.) While the logical to apply the physics of in order to maintain altitude the video? lift force must be equal to the The answer: no. details are much more "JARNO page 78 flying birds to our analysis. weight force.) Using the action in the video as complicated than the usual
Science/ News Photos
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New Plastic Bleeds Red When Scratched, Then Heals Itself Like Skin
Rebecca Boyle (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:30:06 PM
PHOTOS: Outside the court's health care debate - The Associated Press
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:52:00 PM
Broken Plastic Joybot Self-healing materials will eventually fix anything from cell phone screens to car fenders, enabling surfaces to heal on their own in the presence of different types of light. But none of the earlier prototypes we've seen work quite like this new plastic: It bleeds red at the site of injury. Then it heals itself, inspired by the properties of tree trunks and human skin. Marek W. Urban from the University of Southern Mississippi presented a paper on his new co-polymer at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in San Diego Monday. When it scratches or tears, a red splotch forms around the "wound," marking the site. Development of self-healing substances is one of the biggest
current research areas in materials science, and we've seen a variety of approaches in these pages. Some would seed plastic or metal materials with capsules that break open when damage occurs, while others would stimulate plastics to re-grow chemical bonds using heat or light. This one works in a variety of situations - in the
presence of sunlight, visible light from a light bulb, in pH changes or in different temperatures. Urban's plastic is made from water-based copolymers, which are more environmentally friendly than other polymers. They contain a type of molecular link that serves as a bridge in the polymer chain. When the plastic is
scratched, cut or cracked, these bridges break. Urban's breakthrough was to design bridges that produce a visible color change - in this case, a red blotch. The copolymer would work as a thin coating on top of other layers of plastic or other material, he said. Unlike other self-healing materials, this plastic's healing process can work over and over, he added. It could serve a variety of purposes, from things like nail polish to self-healing car fenders to airplanes. It would improve safety by drawing attention to a structural defect, and it could repair minor defects in the presence of intense light. "Where degradation occurs or [there is] mechanical damage, the color would start to change," Urban said. The Defense Department funded part of his work.
The Associated Press PHOTOS: Outside the court's health care debate The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) The voices inside the Supreme Court building were not nearly as loud or as colorful as those along the sidewalks facing its heavy bronze doors. And how could they be? The court chamber is a model of order and decorum. and more
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Taiwanese Students Use Personal Seismic Sensors to Monitor Earthquakes
"JARNO
surface area to be 7 square meters. Air density at sea level is approximately 1.25 kg/m 3. We can look up studies of bird flight and find that maximum lift coefficients for birds tend to be in the range of 0.8 to 1.2. We'll be generous and give the wings a lift coefficient of 1.2. Finally we have the crucial effect of velocity on Rebecca Boyle (Popular generating lift. On the human bird Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future wings website the fictional Jarno Now) Smeets claims to have flown about 100 meters. I timed the Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:01:14 PM video clip and trying to account Japanese Earthquake Aftermath for cuts etc. estimate a travel time An aerial view of Japanese of 25 seconds which corresponds personnel and disaster relief crews to a speed of searching Sukuiso, Japan for V = d/t = 100 m/25 s = 4 m/s victims of the 9.0-magnitude Plugging all of this into the above earthquake and subsequent equation results in a lift force of tsunami. U.S. Navy/Mass (drum roll, please): Communication Specialist 3rd L = 84 N, or a whopping 19 Class Dylan McCord pounds. Until buildings can be cloaked Eep. from earthquakes or built to Just for fun, let's reverse the levitate above them, seismic calculation and find out how fast sensors will help warn people of he would have to be moving to impending temblors - but seismologists always need more combine science education with system. If you live in California seismologists can analyze it. The generate 1100 N of lift. Solving data. Rather than expanding crucial data collection, helping or a swath of Missouri, Arkansas students were taught how to use for v we get: earthquake tracking through students understand earthquakes and Tennessee near the New BOINC and how to install the V = 14.5 m/s or 32 miles per hour expensive sensors, a new project and their impacts. The first Madrid fault, you can go here to sensors at home as well as use Now it must be noted that CGI in Taiwan aims to crowdsource network was installed in a girls' learn how you can connect your t h e m a t s c h o o l , r e p o r t s artist Floris Kaayk (aka Jarno I n t e r n a t i o n a l S c i e n c e G r i d . Smeets) went to a lot of time and quake data through Internet-savvy high school in northeastern computer to it for free. Taiwan. This new Taiwanese version aims The goal is to create a model effort to pull this off. In addition high school science students. I t ' s m o d e l e d a f t e r a U . S . to augment the country's 200 real- curriculum that other Pacific Rim to the weekly blog posts in which Pocket-sized MEMS sensors are distributed computing network time seismic sensors, which are countries, especially developing he "documented" the development being mounted to the floors of classrooms and students' homes, c a l l e d t h e Q u a k e - C a t c h e r expensive and difficult to deploy. countries, can easily use. It is of his "human bird wings" over a where they connect to an open- Network, created by Stanford Like the Quake-Catcher Network, expanding to the Philippines next period of several months, Kaayk goes to some lengths to show how source citizen science platform so University and University of this system uses BOINC, an open- year. his pretend mechanical wings scientists can analyze the Earth's California-Riverside, that links source software kit, to transmit computers to a motion-sensing the recorded data to servers where mimic the wing motion of birds. rumblings. The project aims to He implicitly acknowledges the "JARNO page 79
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obvious fact that human arm muscles are highly insufficient for the task and intrigues us with his astonishing control system, which purportedly remotely syncs his arm motion to the motion of a motor using a Wii controller. Finally, although there are some aspects of the video production which are suspicious (as pointed out by some entertainment media experts), he's a pretty good actor and looks and acts genuinely exhilarated after his "flight." While our intuition may not
always be correct, as it was in this case, when confronted with the increasing proliferation of cleverly edited videos like this one and using some basic physics to pursue the clues, we can go a long way towards determining the ever more relevant question: Is it real or is it a fake?
U.S. President Willing to Give in to Russias Missile Defense Demands

Michaela Bendikova (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
These comments should come as no surprise. The Administration made clear that it is willing to sacrifice U.S. missile defense when it conceded to Russian Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:45:36 PM The United States does not need demands to limit U.S. missile to protect itself from a threat of defenses in the New Strategic ballistic missiles. At least that is Arms Reduction Treaty (New what President Obama suggests in START) that entered into force in his recent exchange with Dmitry February 2011. A group of Medvedev, president of the Senators led by Jon Kyl (RAZ), Russian Federation, during the however, objected to limitations 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in set forth by the treaty. These Seoul. On all these issues, but Senators argued that Moscow will particularly missile defense, this use this language to limit the U.S. can be solved but its important missile defense program. Their for him [incoming president fears materialized as Russia Vladimir Putin] to give me repeatedly threatened nuclear space, stated President Obama. deployments close to NATO This is my last election. After allies borders. Moscow also m y e l e c t i o n I h a v e m o r e threatened to withdraw from New f l e x i b i l i t y , h e c o n t i n u e d . START if the United States does
not cooperate with Russia on missile defense. Russias definition of missile defense cooperation is problematic to say the least. Regardless of the level of knowledge Russia has of the U.S. missile defense programa result of hours of unilateral U.S. briefingsMoscow insists on having veto power over Washingtons decision to shoot down a missile on its way toward its victims. On other occasions, Russia demanded binding limitations on speed or geographical coverage of U.S. interceptors. Due to the pressure of concerned Senators, the President certified that it is the policy of the United States to continue development
and deployment of United States missile defense systems to defend against missile threats from nations such as North Korea and Iran, including qualitative and quantitative improvements to such systems in New STARTs resolution of ratification. It appears the President is ready to walk away from his own commitment. After all, it would not be the first time that he failed to honor his promises made pursuant to New START ratification. He already failed to provide funding for U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure, deemed essential at the time of ratification. If left unchecked, the Administrations policies will lead to Americas becoming increasingly vulnerable. This is
the wrong posture for the United States. North Korea is preparing to launch its long-range missile, and ballistic missile proliferation is growing worse. Heritage research shows that a protect and defend strategywhich would combine offensive, defensive, conventional, and nuclear weaponsis the best response for this uncertain environment. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Reading Between The Lines Of Monday's Supreme Court Arguments

Liz Halloran (Shots - Health Blog)
arguments over the constitutionality of the insurance requirement embedded in Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:28:00 PM President Obama's landmark John Rose/ NPR health care law with a simple Demonstrators in support of question and an obscure 1867 law. President Obama's health care The question: Does the court overhaul march outside the U.S. even have the right to hear the Supreme Court on Monday. health care challenge, given that The U.S. Supreme Court on the Anti-Injunction Act prevents Monday opened three days of oral federal courts from taking cases
where taxpayers are trying to prevent the government from "assessing or collecting" taxes? Listen Live At 8 p.m. Monday: The Supreme Court has wrapped the first day of oral arguments on the fate of the health care law. Tune in tonight for news and analysis from NPR's Nina Totenberg, Julie Rovner, Ari Shapiro and more.
The argument against the court's role in the case hinges on justices buying the theory that penalties assessed under the law on those who fail to obtain health insurance by 2014 are tantamount to taxes. Unfortunately for Washington lawyer Robert Long, who was making the argument, they appeared not to be buying it. At
all. A sample, from Justice Stephen Breyer: "Congress has nowhere used the word 'tax.' What it says is 'penalty.' Moreover, this is not in the Internal Revenue Code but for purposes of collection." The penalty, Breyer added, is "not attached to a tax. It is READING page 81
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attached to a health care requirement." That it's being "collected in the same manner as a tax," he said, "doesn't automatically make it a tax." After 90 minutes of rapid-fire questions from eight of the nine high court justices (Justice Clarence Thomas remained characteristically silent), the court appeared ready to assert its authority to hear the case. And eager to move on to Tuesday's main event: arguments over the centerpiece of the case, the constitutionality of the 2010 law's mandate that Americans obtain health insurance or face a penalty. But even though Monday's arguments were at times dominated by in-the-weeds references to tax codes, the morning event provided moments of illumination and humor, as well as fodder for how the justices view their role in the case and how lawyers for both sides will be packaging their arguments in coming days. Here are four exchanges from Monday's arguments that provide a look into the court and, perhaps, the minds of this week's main players. Hints At The Arguments To Come On Wednesday, the justices will hear arguments in challenges to the health care law's expansion of Americans enrolled in the federal Medicaid program. The 26 Republican governors and attorneys general who have led the appeal of the law were
represented Monday by attorney Gregory Katsas. In an exchange with Justice Elena Kagan, he attempted to make the states' "pocketbook" case. Katsas:[The states] are injured by the mandate because the mandate forces 6 million new people onto their Medicaid rolls. But they are not directly subject to the mandate, nor could they violate the mandate and incur a penalty. Kagan: Could I just understand, Mr. Katsas, when the states say that they are injured, are they talking about the people who are eligible now who are not enrolled? Or are they also talking about people who will become newly eligible? Katsas: It's people who will enroll, people who wouldn't have enrolled had they been given a voluntary choice. Kagan: But who are eligible now. Katsas: That's the largest category. I think there could be future eligibles who would enroll because they are subject to a legal obligation but wouldn't have enrolled if given a voluntary choice. ... This particular class is the one that gives rise to, simply in Florida alone, a pocketbook injury on the order of $500 to $600 million per year. Kagan: But that does seem odd, to suggest that the state is being injured because people who could show up tomorrow with or without this law will will show up in greater numbers. I mean, presumably the state wants to cover people whom it has
declared eligible for this benefit. Cutting To The Chase U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who is defending the law before the court, argued in favor of the high court's hearing the case. The administration is looking for a decision on the highly politicized law by the end of the court's spring term in June. During an exchange with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg over the court's jurisdiction in the matter, Verrilli exhibited a let's-get-onwith-it posture that prompted a wry question from Justice Anthony Kennedy. (The "statute" is the health care law.) Ginsburg: So ... if we agree with you about the correct interpretation of the statute, we need not decide the jurisdiction. Verrilli: There would be no reason to decide the jurisdictional issue. Kennedy: Don't you want to know the answer? (Laughter.) Verrilli: Justice Kennedy, I think we all want to know the answer to a lot of things in this case. But but I do I do think that the prudent course here is to construe the statute in the manner that we read it. If It's Collected Like A Tax, Is It A Tax? Attorney Long, who was asked by the court to defend a lower court ruling that the Supreme Court had no standing to hear the health care case, was peppered with skeptical questions. Here's an exchange with Ginsburg:
Ginsburg: And this is not a revenue-raising measure, because, if it's successful, they won't nobody will pay the penalty and there will be no revenue to raise. Long:... This one certainly raises is expected to raise very substantial amounts of revenues, at least $4 billion a year ... But the justices noted a difference between tax revenue needed for the operation of government and revenue collected in penalties for failure to comply with a health care mandate or other regulations. Breyer referred to a copyright decision used to defend a beforeimplementation challenge to the health care penalty mentioned by Katsas. Breyer: Registration for the copyright register is not the life's blood of anything. Copyright law exists regardless. So the reasoning isn't there. Can Penalty Be Separated From Mandate? Katsas argued yes. Chief Justice John Roberts did not agree, asserting that "the whole point" of the health care challenge "is to prevent the collection of penalties." Here's their exchange: Roberts: The idea that the mandate is something separate from whether you want to call it a penalty or tax just doesn't seem to make much sense. Katsas: It's entirely separate, and let me explain to you why. Roberts: It's a command. A mandate is a command. If there is
nothing behind the command. It's sort of well what happens if you don't file the mandate? And the answer is nothing. It seems very artificial to separate the punishment from the crime. Katsas: I'm not sure the answer is nothing, but even assuming it were nothing, it seems to me there is a difference between what the law requires and what enforcement consequences happen to you. This statute was very deliberately written to separate mandate from penalty in several different ways. Roberts: Why would you have a requirement that is completely toothless? You know, buy insurance or else. Or else what? Or else nothing. Listen Live At 8 p.m. Monday: The Supreme Court has wrapped the first day of oral arguments on the fate of the health care law. Tune in tonight for news and analysis from NPR's Nina Totenberg, Julie Rovner, Ari Shapiro and more. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Weight-Loss Surgery May Help Treat, Even Reverse, Diabetes

(Shots - Health Blog)
nearly normal. She is pictured here in June 2010. Surgical procedures that are [4 min 23 sec] Download Thomas commonly used to help obese Cain/ AP people lose weight can also Cristina Iaboni, a diabetic, dramatically improve even underwent gastric bypass surgery reverse diabetes, according to at New York-Presbyterian/Weill two studies released Monday. Cornell in the fall of 2009 as part Tim Ferree of Macedonia, Ohio, of a study. After losing 50 struggled with his weight for pounds, her blood sugar was years. He knew his out-of-control
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:25:00 PM
blood sugar would eventually cause serious problems. "You're looking at losing your vision, losing your feet, having problems with your kidneys, going blind you know, heart disease, strokes," Ferree said. So when Ferree heard about an operation that might help with his weight and his diabetes, he volunteered to get it.
"With a brand new baby in the house, that's really what prompted me to take a very aggressive course towards treating the diabetes," he said. Surgeons have been operating on obese people for years, making their stomachs smaller and rearranging their digestive systems. Doctors realized that patients who got the operations
also often had their diabetes get much better. Sometimes it even went away completely. But they didn't have good research that proved surgery was really effective. "What's been lacking is a head-tohead comparison of surgery versus some of the newer antiWEIGHT-LOSS page 83
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diabetic drugs," said Philip R. Schauer of the Cleveland Clinic, who led one of the studies. The second was conducted in Rome and led by Francesco Rubino of Weill Medical College of Cornell University. The results showed that patients who got the operations were much more likely to have their blood sugar go down. Many were able to stop taking any diabetes drugs altogether. "Just the fact we were able to see this many people achieve normal blood sugar without medications is somewhat astonishing. In a sense, we're reversing the disease," Schauer. After the surgery, patients would sometimes get better within hours or days. And when that happens it's clear there's something more going on than just the effects of getting thinner. One theory is that re-arranging the digestive system affects important hormones. "There appears to be an increased production of special hormones from the intestinal tract and these hormones are known to directly stimulate the pancreas to make
more insulin," Schauer said. This research raises an important question: Should diabetics start getting this operation more often? Paul Zimmet of the International Diabetes Federation, who coauthored an editorial accompanying the studies, thinks they should. "Diabetes coupled with obesity is probably the largest epidemic in human history. At the moment, bariatric surgery is seen as a last resort. And it should be offered earlier in management," Zimmet said in a telephone interview. But others aren't so sure. The new studies followed only about 200 patients. And while the operations appear to be pretty safe, there can be complications. And the complications can be serious. "I think we need longer-term follow-up than what was done in these studies to make sure you're not trading one problem for another," said Vivian Fonseca of the American Diabetes Association. For his part, Ferree is thankful. He's 60 pounds lighter. He's off all his drugs not only for his
diabetes, but also for blood pressure and cholesterol. "I'm not staring down the barrel of being diabetic. I'm not looking at a future of potentially having to give myself several insulin shots every day," Ferree said. "I'm not potentially looking at, you know, losing a foot or losing my eyesight or having a stroke. That's a great relief for anyone." Researchers are now testing whether the surgery works on diabetics who aren't even obese people with BMIs as low as 26. And doctors and patients are waiting to see if insurance companies will pay for the operations just to treat diabetes. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
They Might Be Giants fans celebrate 'Apollo 18' anniversary with geekiest tribute imaginable
Brian Heater (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 8:12:00 PM
We love us some They Might Be Giants, and not just because the two Johns took the time to sit down with us for an episode of The Engadget Show last year. Of course, we're not the only ones out there with a strong appreciation for the fiercely original New York duo. When you've got a fanbase as geeky and devoted as TMBG's, you're bound to get some strange and wonderful tributes out of the deal. Take "Apollo 18+20: The IF Tribute Album," a collection of 38
interactive fiction games created to pay homage to the 20th anniversary of one of the group's most beloved albums. Ever wondered how "I Palindrome I" would play out, were it a textbased computer game, instead of a rock song? Manonam, click the source link to find out. They Might Be Giants fans celebrate 'Apollo 18' anniversary with geekiest tribute imaginable originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| People's Republic of Interactive Fiction| Email this| Comments
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Cat And Dog Take Supreme Court Arguments In Stride

(Shots - Health Blog)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 2:57:00 PM
Jessica Marcy/ Kaiser Health News Yes, that's really a cat on a leash in the crowd outside the Supreme Court Monday. No circus would be complete without a few animals. So wouldn't you know the big
crowd outside the U.S. Supreme Court today included a cat on a leash and an adorable chihuahua mix with health insurance. Kaiser Health News' Jessica Marcy snapped the shot of the cat, stretched out on the steps leading to the courthouse, as she was rushing to cover the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
He swung by to say that he, rather than Mitt Romney, is the right guy to do away with the administration's overhaul law. Marcy told me she didn't have time to get the name of the cat or its owner. But Neda Semnani, who writes the Heard on the Hill column for Roll Call, told me the cat is 13 years old and named "Pud," short
for pudding. She says cat and owner regularly walk around Washington when the weather is nice. "It was an unpolitical move," she says of their stroll today. She'll have more about them in Tuesday's paper. And then there's Ellie, a miniature dachshund and chihuahua mix. She came with Katherine Prather, a first year
medical student at Georgetown University. "I brought her because she has health insurance, and she thinks everyone should have health insurance," said Prather, of Kansas City, Mo. Pets aren't covered by the health overhaul. But maybe they should CAT page 85
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be. The cost of health insurance for pets has surged, averaging $650 a year according to a recent report. Jessica Marcy/ Kaiser Health News Katherine Prather, a first year medical student at Georgetown University, and her dog, Ellie, showed their support for the health care overhaul law at rally outside the Supreme Court Monday. For more picture of the scene outside the court, see Marcy's
gallery at Kaiser Health News. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Bully Movie to Be Released Without Rating Following Online Petition

Zoe Fox (Mashable!)
rating initially meant the film would find difficulty being screened in U.S. high schools or Bully, a new documentary middle schools. p r e m i e r i n g F r i d a y , w i l l b e Teenagers dont want to go to the released with no rating, following movies with their parents, Butler a failed effort to have the MPAA told Mashable during the New rating changed from R to PG-13. York City leg of her trip around The movies rating attracted t h e c o u n t r y p r o m o t i n g h e r national attention, thanks to a p e t i t i o n . Change.org petition started by 17- Butler was a bullying victim in year-old Katy Butler. The petition her Michigan middle school, MPAA: Dont let the bullies where her classmates jammed her win! Give Bully a PG-13 instead hand in a locker because she was of an R rating! has almost a lesbian. Butler says that while achieved its goal of gaining half a h e r p a r e n t s k n e w s h e w a s million signatures. unhappy, they had absolutely no According to the L.A. Times, idea how her middle school peers The Weinstein Company made were treating her. the decision to ensure teens under During her month-long trip 17 would not be restricted from around the country to promote her seeing the film. The initial R Change.org petition, Butler hand
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:11:09 PM
delivered more than 200,000 signatures to the MPAA, demanding they change the rating. The films no rating status will prevent it from being screened in certain theaters, which is a risk The Weinstein Co. decided to take. Still, screenings of the film are already planned for AMC Lincoln Square in New York City, and ArcLight Hollywood and AMC Century City in Los Angeles. The Weinstein Company, the
studio distributing Bully, started its own campaign to get the MPAA to change the R rating against the film in February. The film board in Canada issued the film a PG rating. Lee Hirsch, the films director, stood by his decision to include curse words in the film, which caused its R rating. The small amount of language in the film thats responsible for the R rating is there because its real. Its what the children who are victims of bullying face on most days, Hirsch said in a statement. All of our supporters see that, and were grateful for the support weve received across the board. I know the kids will come, so its up to the theaters to let them in. Do you think The Weinstein
Company made the right decision? Sound off in the comments. Image of Katy Butler courtesy of Change.org More About: bully, change.org, movie ratings, mpaa, online activism, the weinstein For more Entertainment coverage: Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Entertainment channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
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Stanislaw Shushkevich: Medal for a Hero

Anton Altman (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:30:38 PM
On March 26, Stanislaw Shushkevich, the former president of Belarus, made a difficult trip to the U.S. in order to speak about the difficult human rights situation in his country. His itinerary included a presentation at The Heritage Foundations Pennsylvania Avenue office. Lee Edwards, Heritage Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought and chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, awarded Shushkevich the prestigious TrumanReagan Medal of Freedom. Shushkevich is a scientist with a Ph.D. in Physics. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was the first head of state and chairman of the Belarus Supreme Soviet from 1991 to 1994. In December 1991, he signed the historic Belovezha Accords with the leaders of Russia and UkraineBoris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk, respectivelywhich officially dissolved the Soviet Union and replaced it with the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1994, communist deputies of the Belarus Supreme Soviet forced him out of office following a vote of no confidence due to spurious corruption allegations by Alexander Lukashenko, the
current president of Belarus. He has since tirelessly campaigned for democratic reforms as head of the Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly party. After a warm introduction by Heritage Senior Research Fellow Ariel Cohen, Shushkevich spoke passionately about the sorry state of his country. He remarked that in Belarus the constitution is ignored, while the legislature and the judiciary hold no power. It is a phone call autocracy where authority rests in solely the hands of Lukashenko.
Belarusian authorities even denied the former head of state freedom of travel without warning on this trip to the U.S. in direct violation of Article 30 of the Belarusian constitution, and he had to travel through Lithuania to reach the U.S. In Shushkevichs opinion, the biggest problem is that large parts of the Belarusian and Russian populations support the autocracies of Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin. This is because they are denied a free flow of information and are unable to
understand their predicaments. The goal of these regimes is to create a people that believe they need the overwhelmingly strong government to provide for their needs. He described Belarus as a miniature Soviet Union, the major difference being that the Belarusian government doesnt even pander to the love of the people. Belarus is the last dictatorship in Europe, and it survives on Russias geopolitical whim. Shushkevich described
Moscowsand particularly Putinsplan for a Eurasian Union as the rebuilding of an empire: back to the USSR. The Kremlin is bent on regional domination, and sustaining the Lukashenko regime is in Russias interest. The Obama Administration has chosen the reset policy for its relationship with Moscow. Reset is a substitute word for appeasement, and Putins return to the Russian presidency will STANISLAW page 87
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Federal Flight Deck Officer Program: A Critical Safety Net for Aviation Security
David Inserra (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
STANISLAW
The FFDO program is made up of highly trained pilots who volunteer to spend thousands of dollars of their own money to stay Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:00:45 PM The Federal Flight Deck Officer certified in the use of firearms on (FFDO) program, for less than planes because they want to step $15 a flight, certifies firearmsup to fill a gap they see in our trained volunteer pilots as a last aviation security. These are quiet line of defense against would-be professionals who want to keep hijackers and terrorists. On March themselves, their passengers, and 23, Heritages James Carafano those on the ground safe. As hosted an event with a panel of Carafano put it, If we cant do pilots and Representative Chip something like this in our own Cravaack (RMN) to discuss this defense, then Im not sure what important program. we can do. Because the simple Unfortunately, the Department of fact is when youre at 10,000 feet Homeland Security does not think and youre all alone in the that the FFDO program is so cockpit, See something, say important. It is slashing the Carafano wisely noted, We as a f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t w a s something just doesnt cut it. programs budget in half, likely nation, the people that live here, overwhelmed, it was individuals, This entry passed through the setting it up for complete deletion have a part to play in protecting l o c a l b u s i n e s s e s , a n d n o n - Full-Text RSS service if this is in the near future. The slashing of ourselves. And its finding that governmental organizations that your content and you're reading it t h i s p r o g r a m i s p a r t o f a b a l a n c e t h a t a d v a n c e s o u r filled the gap. This does not mean on someone else's site, please read d i s t u r b i n g t r e n d i n o u r freedoms, preserves how we keep there is no use for the federal the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentg o v e r n m e n t t o c e n t r a l i z e our economy free and open, and government in disaster relief or only/faq.php#publishers. Five homeland security efforts while allows for the common defense homeland security; rather, it Filters recommends: Donate to minimizing cost-effective security thats important. indicates that such efforts are Wikileaks. efforts by local government and In America, we have a strong strongest when the government individuals, such as the FFDO tradition of stepping up when takes advantage of individuals and p r o g r a m , o t h e r n o n - f e d e r a l o t h e r s a r e i n n e e d . I n t h e other organizations that are aviation security efforts, and aftermath of Katrina, when the willing to help. border security programs.
make it difficult for the Administration to even pretend that it is dealing with a regime that would return its goodwill. In a June 2011 Issue Brief on the Obama reset policy, Cohen wrote, In order to reaffirm Americas interests, when dealing with Russia, the U.S. should concentrate on the values of freedom and justice. The Administration needs to stop its policy of pleasing Moscow and instead add pressure on Russia to start a reset of its own policies that currently disregard human rights, democracy, and good governance. In his concluding remarks, Shushkevich thanked The Heritage Foundation for noticing our existence beyond the Iron Curtain. 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
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Social Media/
Ark Beats Facebook, Google at People Search

Sarah Kessler (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:58:03 PM
Lets say youre a young woman who has just moved to New York City from Nepal. You want to find a friend nearby who speaks your language, so you visit Google Search and type Women in New York City who speak Nepali. Google returns an academic paper that highlights demographics and challenges, a flyer for a fundraiser and a profile of a tenth grader. She doesnt know the name of her future friends, Ark cofounder Patrick Riley says about this frustrating search scenario. Thats how search engines have failed us for too long People dont necessarily know the name of what theyre looking for. They just know these qualities of people. Ark reconstructs search to make it effective for finding people. Instead of searching for a key term, users can filter through qualities such as gender, employers, current city, hometown, relationship status, college and interests. The startup indexes publicly available information from social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Chinabased Renren and European social
network VK to deliver results. Although users can privately save the profiles Ark returns as results to their accounts, they must contact the people they find through the search engine using other channels. Its trying to be a search engine, not a social network. Riley says one of its most frequent beta users is indeed a young woman who moved from Nepal to New York City. She can search for people from her hometown that now live nearby
currently, theres no way to do that through Google. Ark also enables queries within your existing social media connections under a separate tab (you can find, for instance, friends who have birthdays next month). By searching both within and outside of your pre-existing social graph, one search engine will locate friends who live in the city youre visiting, old classmates you arent necessarily connected to on social media, people who work for the company youre
hiring at or that girl you met at a party last night. Facebook once had a similar function for discovering people within your school with specific qualities, but it was long ago removed. Ark picks up where the worlds biggest social network left off and adds public social data from across the Internet in the process. Its one of the only products outside of dating sites that leverages social data to make connections without confining
users to their online social graphs. Were so into our social graph, Riley says, This need for randomness, this need for meeting new people has to go through something like GrubWithUs [our question was] can we actually reconnect parts of society outside of the social graph? Eventually, Arks founders both former graduate students who studied search at UC Berkeley hope to offer a premium feature that gives users the option to show up toward the top of certain search queries. Riley describes the vision as Google AdWords for people, a metaphor that underscores how specific Ark searches can be. People want to power-search for people, he says. People are ready for that. Are you? Let us know in the comments. More About: Ark, Facebook, people search For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Social Media/
89
Facebook App Lets You Add Enemies Online

Sam Laird (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 6:41:18 PM
Forget friending. A new Facebook app allows users of the social network to identify and share people, places and things as enemies for all to see. The app, called EnemyGraph, lets you list anything with a Facebook presence ranging from friends, to foods, to products, movies or books as an enemy. Since the app launched March 15, its seemed to appeal especially to users with a liberal bent. Some of its most-selected nemeses so far include Rick Santorum, Westboro Baptist Church and Fox News. The app was developed by a professor and two students at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dean Terry, who directs the schools emerging media program, helped conceptualize the project, while graduate student
Bradley Griffith and undergraduate Harrison Massey built the app. Griffith said EnemyGraph has so far accumulated some 400 users. But more importantly, its creators say, press coverage has helped meet the teams goal of sparking a larger conversation about the nature of social media and
Facebook in particular. One thing that has always struck me is the enforced niceness culture, Terry told Mashable. We wanted to give people a chance to express dissonance as well. Were using the word enemy about as accurately as Facebook uses the word friend. But the app has utility beyond
simply sparking a philosophical debate, Terry adds. Researchers and marketers have long gathered information on social media users based on what they support, but at the expense of possibly overlooking another valuable data source. You can actually learn a lot about people by what theyre
upset about and what they dont like, Terry says. And the second thing is that if you and I both dont like something, that actually creates a social bond that hasnt been explored in social media at all, except with Kony and some big examples like that. Terry and Griffith teamed up last year to create Undetweetable, a service allowing Twitter users deleted tweets to be uncovered posthumously. That project gained some attention as well but Twitter quickly forced it to shut down. Terry wouldnt be surprised if EnemyGraph meets a similar fate from Facebook. My guess is it goes against their social philosophy and purpose, he says. It is a critique of their social philosophy for sure. Do you like the EnemyGraph idea? Let us know in the comments. More About: Facebook, trending
90
Politics/
Inside Rick Santorum's Alternate Reality

Molly Ball (Politics : The Atlantic)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 3:13:00 PM
Everyone is telling the Republican presidential candidate the contest is over and he can't win it. But he's not going anywhere anytime soon. Reuters There was a time when Rick Santorum and his team were resigned to losing the Republican presidential primary. Surveying the harsh realities of the landscape the campaign faced, the candidate and his staff began to discuss what the most dignified and artful way to exit the race would be. It was time, they figured, to accept that they'd done their best and fallen short. "As late as December, we were already talking about 'Oh well, we did our best, maybe we can try again in four or eight years,'" a Santorum campaign insider told me. "And then the Iowa surge hit." Three months and 11 wins later, as Santorum continues to prosecute a race he has almost certainly lost, such talk is banished within his tight-knit circle. The mood, according to multiple sources inside the campaign and close to Santorum, is one of defiant optimism. Ever since Iowa, after all, they've basically been playing with house money. In fact, the Santorum campaign seems these days to inhabit an alternate reality -- one
with its own logic, its own perspective and even its own mathematical rules. The pressure on Santorum has become intense. National Republican Party leaders and heavyweight Mitt Romney supporters have been calling nonstop, "encouraging him to be the better guy and they'll help him do whatever he wants to do," the insider said. But Santorum, who's made a career of bucking the GOP establishment, is unbowed. Instead, his campaign is working to shore up and inventory its stock of delegates, reaching out to
unbound delegates and superdelegates, trying to get them to go public to bolster the impression that Santorum isn't the only one who believes there's still hope. "The bottom line is, this guy's a fighter," the insider said. "From Day One people have been telling him, 'Get out, get out.' But you're less inclined to believe the national media writing you off" when you've heard it so many times before. To be sure, tempers are getting a bit frayed as the campaign's version of reality bumps up
against that of the wider world. Nowhere was that more evident than in Santorum's clash on Sunday with the mild-mannered New York Times scribe Jeff Zeleny, who had asked him to clarify his latest scorching attack on Romney. Leaning across the barrier that separated them, shaking his head and pointing, Santorum radiated a palpable fury. "Stop lying," he said. "Quit distorting my words. ... C'mon, man, what are you doing?" Rather than move on, Santorum kept coming back at Zeleny, who stoically chewed gum as restive
members of the crowd rumbled their disapproval. The reporter in this interaction seemed a stand-in for the gelling media consensus that it's over for Santorum, a consensus he sees as a fabrication of the Romney campaign and angrily refuses to allow inside his increasingly bunkered worldview. But Santorum isn't really angry at the media -- he's angry at the facts. And the facts are stubborn. By one calculation, Santorum would need to win three-quarters of the INSIDE page 92
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91
Santorum at the Supreme Court: The Election Meets the Health-Care Fight
David A. Graham (Politics : The Atlantic)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 5:03:09 PM
On the steps of the nation's highest court, he argued the Affordable Care Act was central to the election. Surprisingly, his rivals are doing the same. Reuters As the Supreme Court heard its first oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act Monday, the atmosphere outside on the sidewalk was, if not quite circuslike, unpredictable and freewheeling. On a sunny but windy day, scores of activists on either side of the debate over President Obama's health-care overhaul chanted and waved flags and signs. A squadron of Republican state attorney generals discussed the finer points of Supreme Court case law, serving up a mind-numbing alphabet soup of AIA and ACA (that's the AntiInjunction Act of 1867 and Affordable Care Act, for those following along at home) to reporters, passersby, and anyone else willing to listen. A few feet away, a man blew noisily away on a shofar. Earlier, there was a brass band. The odd scene mirrored the national political debate over health-care reform, which has been similarly noisy and
unpredictable. By all rights, it ought to be something the major candidates want to sweep under the rug: For President Obama, it's an unpopular albatross of a policy, with a sizable plurality of Americans disapproving of the law in a CBS/ New York Times poll released Monday. For Mitt Romney, it's not much of an asset either, since -- as Democrats rarely miss an opportunity to point out -- he passed a similar law in Massachusetts. And yet
with the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on the law's constitutionality this week, Obama and his Republican rivals alike are pushing Obamacare back into the national spotlight. "There's some great stuff in this law. The problem is no matter how good it is, or what you're trying to accomplish, you have to be in the Constitution." The politics of the issue are a bit easier for Rick Santorum, who has made the existence of
"Romneycare" central to the case for his nomination over GOP presidential primary front-runner Romney. And so it wasn't a total surprise to see the former Pennsylvania senator put in a brief appearance on the Supreme Court steps just after noon on Monday, where he quickly was surrounded by a crush of reporters but also was frequently drowned out by chants and counterchants. Backers of the law insisted, "The ACA is here to stay!" Opponents
responding with "Rick! Rick! Rick!" and "Repeal the bill!" (Say it with a southern drawl and it almost rhymes.) During his brief remarks, Santorum spent less time sermonizing on the evils of the law itself and more on how only he, and not Romney, can fight against it in a general election. "There's one candidate who's uniquely disqualified to make the case," Santorum said. [Romney's] SANTORUM page 93
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INSIDE
delegates at stake in the rest of the primaries to close the gap. On Meet the Press on Sunday, former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour said, "Unless Romney steps on a land mine, he looks like he's be the nominee." It's as if Santorum heard that statement and said, "See, I told you there's a chance!" Santorum and his team wouldn't be so angry if they didn't think there was still a real possibility they could prevail. By contrast, look at Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, who seem to be enjoying playing out the string with no sense of urgency about the losses they're piling up. "I'm cheerful about going forward," Gingrich said on Friday -speaking like a man who'd come thoroughly to terms with being out of contention. Santorum, on the other hand, is genuinely frustrated that his sense of possibility is not more widely shared. "We're not out there making wild claims. We're not saying we're [ahead] right now," Santorum strategist Hogan Gidley told me. "We're saying this can be done. There's still a lot to play out here, a lot of votes to be given. It's going to take winning some states and getting some delegates. ... We've got a path. Romney says nobody else can get to 1,144 [delegates], but neither can he." "Romney says nobody else can get to 1,144 delegates, but neither can he." Santorum is still winning states, after all -- on Saturday, he beat
Romney in Louisiana by a nearly two-to-one margin, 49 percent to 27 percent. He still draws sizable crowds to his campaign appearances -- hundreds of supporters who still believe, who tell him his voice is needed, who implore him not to give up. And he is still the target of a vigorous negative campaign from Romney and his allies. "If this were inevitable, what would Mitt Romney be doing buying millions of dollars in ads in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin?" Gidley said. "If this is over, what's he doing?" Chip Saltsman, who managed Mike Huckabee's 2008 campaign and is close to many in Santorum's orbit, said Santorum's team is not laboring under any illusions. "They know how hard this is. They get it," he said. "Are they staying in it for the right reasons, giving Republican primary voters a choice? I think they are." In 2008, Saltsman recalled, Huckabee stayed in the race long after the race had been unofficially called by the establishment and chattering classes. "We didn't appreciate people trying to get us out of the race, and I'm not going to be critical of another campaign for doing exactly what we did," Saltsman told me. "They feel like the nomination's up for grabs and they're competing for every delegate." Nonetheless, Saltsman admitted he doesn't share the view that the nomination is still within
Santorum's reach, and he fretted about the nasty tone of Santorum's rhetoric against Romney. "As long as Senator Santorum is out there competing based on ideas and truly thinks he's got a shot at this thing, it's fine," he said. "As long as it doesn't become a mudfest, trying to tear other people down. You've got one chance to get out of a race gracefully." Despite the recent win, Santorum faces daunting odds, to say the least. His victory in Louisiana netted him just five more delegates than Romney. The next round of primaries comes on April 3; Romney is the early favorite in Wisconsin and Maryland, and Santorum failed to make the ballot in Washington, D.C. On April 24, Pennsylvania and four Northeastern states vote in what's likely to be viewed as Santorum's last stand. But those close to him say Santorum is driven by a motivation deeper than delegate math -- a mindset, indeed, that finds talk of delegate math offensive compared to the larger stakes. "There is a formal [campaign] operation that involves things like ballot access and delegate counts, but really it's Rick's sense of mission that is propelling the campaign," said Jeff Coleman, a Republican strategist and former state legislator in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who began his career as an intern in Santorum's congressional office in 1994 and remains a friend of the former
senator. "You see the level of emotional connection he is making with these crowds," Coleman added. When Santorum spoke the night of the Illinois primary, for example, it was to a crowd so overflowing in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that he had to give the speech twice so those outside the ballroom could hear it too. "They weren't regular elephantbrooch, country-club Republicans," Coleman said. "They were people who heard about it on the radio and came straight from work." Those expecting Santorum to listen to reason and fall in line don't understand who, and what, they are dealing with. From his very first run for Congress, members of his own party have been telling Santorum to wait his turn and run for lower office instead. "There was always a sense of who was Rick, what right did he have," Coleman said. "People think this is a new brashness or audacity. But there's never been a set of Republican rules that applied to Rick." It's precisely that authenticity, that instinctual, gut-driven quality, that draws people to Santorum, Coleman noted. "People say he needs to be more cautious, more reserved, more researched. But that would have produced another Tim Pawlenty candidacy." Many of Santorum's fiercest loyalists are grass-roots conservatives who feel they've been continually sold out by a
party establishment that doesn't respect them. By continuing to beat up on Santorum, Coleman argued, it's Romney, not Santorum, who is damaging Republican unity and the party's prospects for victory in November. Those around Santorum say he is not oblivious to the way things look for him. "He is continually evaluating and reevaluating. As long as the door is cracked and he sees the path, he'll be very aggressive about pursuing that path," Coleman said. But as for making a calculated decision to quit the race, his friend doesn't see it happening anytime soon. "I think," Coleman said, "he makes that decision when somebody else accepts the nomination from the podium." This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2012/03/insiderick-santorums-alternate-reality/ 255057/ 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Politics/
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SANTORUM
not here, he's not making the argument. He just says, 'I'll repeal Obamacare,' and in the same breath he defends Obamacare at the state level. It won't wash in the general election." But while Romney and Obama may not have been present, they've both moved to make Obamacare a central issue in the last few days. On Friday, the Obama reelection team marked the law's second anniversary with a new push to reclaim the name "Obamacare" -- originally intended as a pejorative-- and turn the word into something positive. Top campaign advisers even emphasized the point on the Sunday shows. Though the sudden embrace generated lots of buzz, it's worth noting that The Road We've Traveled, the 17minute Davis Guggenheim docuadvertisement released two weeks ago also celebrated "the Affordable Care Act" -- though not "Obamacare" -- as one of the president's major achievements. While the law's consistently bad polling shows Chicago still has a lot of work to do, the campaign hopes to awaken enthusiasm for it among in the Democratic base, for whom universal health care was a longstanding goal. It's a fine
needle to thread. Romney, too, is refusing to roll over on the issue, despite Santorum's dire warnings. On Friday, he delivered a major speech on health reform in Louisiana. "Everyone can agree that health care is broken," he said. "So the last thing we should do is allow Obamacare to freeze the current system in place. Instead, we need to encourage innovation at every level." His proposals were mostly recycled, if popular in the GOP: block grants to states for Medicaid, capping medical malpractice claims, and allowing the sale of health insurance across state lines. But neither Romney nor Santorum has offered many specifics on how they'd fix the problems the ACA was intended to fix, should it be repealed, including the ballooning costs of health care in the country, and the tens of millions of Americans without insurance. While Santorum and crowds of Tea Party supporters with "Don't Tread on Me" flags bashed the law's mandate, others on both sides of the Supreme Court lawsuit had some common ground. Dr. Manisha Sharma, sporting a white coat, stethoscope,
and pager, was demonstrating with a group called Doctors for America. The Bronx family physician spoke about patients of hers -- Medicare recipients and poor families -- who were already being helped by provisions of the law. Not far away, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff -- one of the Republican attorneys general who brought the suit against the ACA -- spoke favorably about some of the same reforms, especially requiring coverage for preexisting conditions and efforts to control the cost of Medicare. "There's some great stuff in this law," he said. "The problem is no matter how good it is, or what you're trying to accomplish, you have to be in the Constitution." On Monday, the justices listened to an argument that under the aforementioned AIA, the plaintiffs don't have standing to sue ( you can listen here), but both sides came out expecting the Court to reject that tack. And if the justices rule to uphold the ACA, the favored but by no means certain outcome, the broad agreement on right and left that the health system is badly flawed and unsustainable means the issue will remain important throughout the general election.
But what if the justices defy conventional wisdom and strike down the law? There's been plenty of discussion of whether that would help Democrats more, by rousing their base to anger while placating the Republicans, or be a boon to Republicans, by validating their attacks on the president and robbing him of what his campaign sees as both a crowning achievement and an election asset. It's all just speculation, though. The aftermath of such a decision would surely be as unpredictable as the lead-up has been. This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2012/03/santorum -at-the-supreme-court-the-election -meets-the-health-care-fight/ 255049/ 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: Donate to Wikileaks.
Santorum Won't Rule Out a Vice Presidential Run With Romney

Alexandra Jaffe (Politics : The Atlantic)
Submitted at 3/26/2012 4:23:16 PM
The former senator's admission may just be wishful thinking, since Romney has already thrown cold water on the idea. Reuters Rick Santorum said on Monday that if things don't work out with his presidential bid, he is not ruling out a contingency plan: Join a Mitt Romney-led ticket. Speaking on CBN's The Brody File on Monday, Santorum told host David Brody that he wouldn't foreclose a vice presidential run if asked to be Romney's running mate. "Of course," he said when asked whether he'd run for vice president if Romney asked him, adding, "This is the most important race in our country's history. I'm going to do everything I can." MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL Who Asked What in Supreme Court Hearings on Health SANTORUM page 94
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Video: Are you ready for Vice President Rick Santorum?

SANTORUM
weeks hammering the message that Romneys waaaay too much like Barack Obama where it Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:27:32 PM counts, and (c) is guaranteed to posted at 8:27 pm on March 26, get the campaign sidetracked on 2012 by Allahpundit values issues while Romney Fun, fun, fun via David Brody, desperately tries to stay on his not because this is remotely likely economic narrative. The only to happen how would RS scenario I can think of is if explain away calling Romney the Santorum holds Romney to a worst Republican in America to plurality of delegates by the time run against Obama on health the primaries end such that the care? but because Santorum only way he can reach a majority knows it isnt and knows the is if he gives Santorum whatever answer he has to give regardless. he wants. But dont forget, in the His weariness at this endless end Romney will pad his total c a m p a i g n - t r a i l n o n s e n s e i s with lots of superdelegates, plenty palpable. Im trying to imagine of Ron Paul delegates when their a n y c i r c u m s t a n c e i n w h i c h deal is eventually made, and some Romney passes on Rubio and Gingrich delegates who peel off at Paul Ryan and Christie and Jindal the end of the first convention and Daniels and Bob McDonnell b a l l o t . T h a t i s t o s a y , f o r and Susana Martinez and Nikki Santorum to elbow his way onto Haley to choose a guy who (a) the ticket, hed have to hold lost his swing-state Senate seat by Romney to a relatively small nearly 20 points, (b) has spent plurality of delegates, not a near-
Despite previously exchanging barbs, however, Santorum insisted on The Brody File that his quibbles with Romney aren't personal. Santorum professes to like Roomney so much, in fact, But Santorum's admission may that he's willing to save him a seat simply be wishful thinking. in the White House -- just not in Earlier this month, when asked on the Oval Office. majority. And since Romney Fox Business if he would choose "I think he will make a great seems to be building momentum a more conservative candidate as contribution to this country," now just as the winner-take-all his running mate, Romney said: Santorum said. "I hope it's at states start voting, that seems "That would preclude, of course, s o m e c a p a c i t y w i t h i n m y Rick Santorum." administration in the future." unlikely. Pennsylvania votes on April 24. In a separate appearance on This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ Santorum will probably hold on, Monday on Fox News, Newt Gingrich brushed aside a question politics/archive/2012/03/santorum but a huge money advantage plus some heavily populated urban about whether he would serve as a -wont-rule-out-a-vice-presidential areas plus an increasing sense of Romney running mate. "I cannot -run-with-romney/255064/ inevitability equals a potential imagine him offering," Gingrich This entry passed through the Romney upset. If he beats Team said, adding: "We have a lot of Full-Text RSS service if this is Sweater Vest on its home turf, I b r i g h t p e o p l e o u t t h e r e a s your content and you're reading it assume the campaign ends that p o t e n t i a l v i c e - p r e s i d e n t on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentnight. Exit question: If Romney/ c a n d i d a t e s . " Santorum doesnt do it for you, Santorum routinely attacks only/faq.php#publishers. Five how about Romney/Gingrich? Romney's conservativism and on Filters recommends: Donate to This entry passed through the Sunday he described Romney as Wikileaks. Full-Text RSS service if this is "the worst Republican in the your content and you're reading it country to put up against Barack on someone else's site, please read Obama." He later contended that the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- he meant only Romney's health only/faq.php#publishers. Five care record as governor of Filters recommends: Donate to Massachusetts. Wikileaks.
Reform? Chris Matthews Gives Obama the Mad Men Treatment Romney, Gingrich Blast Obama for Missile Defense Comments
Technology/
95
Slick Google Voice integration may not be Sprint exclusive for long
Terrence O'Brien (Engadget)
Samsung does some awesome face projection to push Galaxy Y Duos (video)
Brian Heater (Engadget)
one of the other major national providers here in the US is on the Submitted at 3/26/2012 7:17:00 PM short list of potential corporate Despite it's rocky start, we polygamist partners. If we're wouldn't blame you for being a lucky, getting your Verizon phone little jealous of Sprint's tight to play nice with Google Voice's integration with Google Voice. voicemail inbox will soon be a lot Well, the relationship between the simpler. Or, at least it'll be easier two might not be exclusive for to send those stubborn exes much longer. Vincent Paquet, straight to voicemail. Product Manager for Google Slick Google Voice integration Voice, told CNET in an interview may not be Sprint exclusive for that the web giant is actively long originally appeared on talking to other carriers about Engadget on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 forming a similar bond. Paquet 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our d i d n ' t n a m e a n y n a m e s terms for use of feeds. Permalink| unfortunately, but we're hoping CNET| Email this| Comments
mapping we've seen applied to the sides of buildings. The result is a little strange, a bit spooky and So, imagine that you're Samsung, generally awesome, even if your and you're looking to promote Portuguese is a bit rusty. Check your double-SIMed Galaxy Y out the video after the break. Duos smartphone. How to go Continue reading Samsung does about it? How about performing a some awesome face projection to cool light show on some dude's push Galaxy Y Duos (video) face? That's the approach of this Samsung does some awesome spot brought to you by the face projection to push Galaxy Y Portugal wing of the hardware Duos (video) originally appeared maker. The model in question on Engadget on Mon, 26 Mar reportedly had to sit still for "up 2012 21:17:00 EDT. Please see to" three hours straight as his face our terms for use of feeds. and upper body were used as a Permalink| | Email this| canvas for the same sort of video Comments
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Supreme court unlikely to delay healthcare ruling

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Pope says Church needs more freedom to help Cuba change

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France's Strauss-Kahn under investigation in pimping case

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Obama: 'After My ElectionI'll Have More Flexibility'

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In Oil Crunch, to Drill or Not to Drill?

Terror laws axe puts Brits at risk - The Sun

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Nuclear Security Summit's Ad Hoc Process No Longer Enough on Nuclear Terrorism

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