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THE HILL: Perry blasts Obama for not hosting parade for returning US troops. ?It really disturbs me that nearly after nine years of war in Iraq that this president wouldn?t welcome home our many heroes with a simple parade in their honor.?
Source: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/134328/
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See Inside
Changes in agriculture, policy and personal behaviors can reduce the energy a nation uses to feed itself and the greenhouse gases it emits
?| December 29, 2011?|
Image: Photograph by Dan Saelinger
For more than 50 years fossil fuels and fertilizers have been the key ingredients in much greater global food production and distribution. The food-energy relationship has been a good one, but it is now entering a new era. Food production is rising sharply, requiring more carbon-based fuels and nitrogen-based fertilizers, both of which exacerbate global warming, river and ocean pollution, and a host of other ills. At the same time, many nations are grappling with how to reduce energy demand, especially demand for fossil fuels.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=3b12bbe007f450a55c07e78e463feea3
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This March 2010 photo provided by Emory University shows Liz Milewicz, former project manager for African-Origins. Researchers using audio recordings of names found in Courts of Mixed Commission records for Havana, Cuba, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, to identify their likely ethno-linguistic origins, at Emory University in Atlanta. The recordings helped connect the sound of the name to its spelling, enabling a more accurate assessment of the name's possible ethnic origins. (AP Photo/Emory University, Bryan Meltz)
This March 2010 photo provided by Emory University shows Liz Milewicz, former project manager for African-Origins. Researchers using audio recordings of names found in Courts of Mixed Commission records for Havana, Cuba, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, to identify their likely ethno-linguistic origins, at Emory University in Atlanta. The recordings helped connect the sound of the name to its spelling, enabling a more accurate assessment of the name's possible ethnic origins. (AP Photo/Emory University, Bryan Meltz)
In this March 2010 photo, provided by Emory University, Nafees Khan, project manager for African-Origins, right, and Daniel B. Domingues da Silva, Central Africa consultant and Portuguese translator for the project, review the audio recordings of African names on the site at Emory University in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Emory University, Bryan Meltz)
In this March 2010 photo, provided by Emory University, Nafees Khan, project manager for African-Origins, listens to the audio recordings of names found in Courts of Mixed Commission records for Havana, Cuba, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, to identify their likely ethno-linguistic origins at Emory University in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Emory University, Bryan Meltz)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Almost two centuries before there was a man named Obama in the White House, there was a man named Obama shackled in the bowels of a slave ship. There is no proof that the unidentified Obama has ties to President Barack Obama. All they share is a name. But that is exactly the commonality that Emory University researchers hope to build upon as they delve into the origins of Africans who were taken up and sold.
They have built an online database around those names, and welcome input from people who may share a name that's in the database, or have such names as part of their family lore.
"The whole point of the project is to ask the African diaspora, people with any African background, to help us identify the names because the names are so ethno-linguistically specific, we can actually locate the region in Africa to which the individual belonged on the basis of the name," said David Eltis, an Emory University history professor who heads the database research team.
So far, two men named Obama sit among some 9,500 captured Africans whose names were written on line after line in the registries of obscure, 19th century slave trafficking courts. The courts processed the human chattel freed from ships that were intercepted and detoured to Havana, Cuba or Freetown, Sierra Leone. Most of the millions of Africans enslaved before 1807 were known only by numbers, said James Walvin, an expert on the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Once bought by slave owners, the Africans' names were lost. Africans captured by the Portuguese were baptized and given "Christian" names aboard the ships that were taking them into slavery.
But original African names ? surnames were uncommon for Africans in the 19th century ? are rich with information. Some reveal the day of the week an individual was born or whether that individual was the oldest, youngest or middle child or a twin. They can also reveal ethnic or linguistic groups.
The president's father was from Kenya, on the eastern coast of Africa, and Eltis said it was rare for captives to hail from areas far from the port where their ships set sail. The unidentified Obamas on the slave ships sailed from west Africa. Walvin, author of "The Zong," a book about the slave trade, said there were Africans who had been brought great distances before they were forced onto ships.
"Often their enslavement had begun much earlier, deep in the African interior, most of them captured through acts of violence, warfare or kidnap, or for criminal activity ..." Walvin said in his book, which chronicles the true story of a captain who ordered a third of the slaves aboard his ship thrown overboard due to a shortage of drinking water.
Obama's ancestors, a nomadic people known as the River Lake Nilotes, migrated from Bahr-el-Ghazal Province in Sudan toward Uganda and into Western Kenya, according to Sally Jacobs, author of "The Other Barack", a book about the president's father. They were part of several clans and subclans that eventually became the Luo people of Kenya, Jacobs writes.
The president's great-grandfather's name was Obama. Obama is derived from the word "bam", meaning crooked or indirect, she said in her book.
But it's also possible that Obama was a name used by other cultural groups in Africa and for whom the name had a different meaning.
The slaves found aboard intercepted ships provided their names, age and sometimes where they were from, through translators, to English and Spanish speaking court registrars who wrote their names as they sounded to them.
Body scars or identifying marks also were recorded. The details were logged in an attempt to prevent the Africans from being enslaved again, which didn't always work.
Emory's researchers are including audio clips of the names as they would likely be pronounced in Africa.
"These people enslaved were not just a nebulous group of people with no place and no name," said Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson, one of the researchers, who has found variations of his name, his brother's and his children's names in the database. He is originally from Ghana. "That's how lot of us view slavery. We don't have names faces to go with it ... It makes them that much more removed from us."
Eltis and his researchers acknowledge the database may not help African Americans with genealogical research because records on the Africans once they were freed from the ships are harder to find, if they exist at all.
However, the project provides another piece in a major jigsaw, and helps put together a bigger picture on slavery, Walvin said.
Before this project, Eltis and others assembled a database of 35,000 trans-Atlantic slave ship voyages responsible for the flow of more than 10 million Africans to the Americas.
Together, the two databases provide some details on the horrific voyages of the Africans, including the Obamas.
The Xerxes, which carried one of the unidentified Obamas, was a 138-foot schooner that began its voyage in Havana with a crew of 44. Five guns were mounted aboard when the ship left on a slave purchasing trip to Bonny on Feb. 10, 1828.
Sailing under the Spanish flag, the ship's captain Felipe Rebel purchased 429 slaves, nearly one third of them children, before setting out on a return trip to the Americas. But on June 26, 1828, the Xerxes was intercepted and forced to dock at an unknown Cuban port. By then, 26 slaves had died.
The other unidentified Obama, 6-foot-3-inches tall, was one of 562 Africans shackled in the belly of the Midas. The vessel was a Brig, a fast, maneuverable ship with two square-rigged masts. It was equipped with eight guns.
Midas' captain J. Martinez and a crew of 53 left Cuba on an unknown date. It left Bonny with 562 slaves but was intercepted. It docked in Cuba July 8, 1829 minus 162 slaves who had died during the voyage.
Some slaves freed from seized ships were returned to Africa, but not always to their original homelands. Some were sent to Liberia or were allowed to remain free in the cities where the courts were located. Some may have been re-enslaved and some died on ships that were returning them to Africa.
___
On the Net: African Origins: http://www.african-origins.org/
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Voyages: http://www.slavevoyages.org
___
Suzanne Gamboa can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa
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On December 27, 2007, a Russian military court in the North Caucasus region sentenced Russian Interior Force officers Yevgeny Khudyakov and Sergei Arakcheyev to 17 and 15 years in prison respectively for?killing three construction workers during a January 2003 operation in the war-torn region of?Chechnya. Investigators said the Khudyakov-Arakcheyev reconnaissance unit stopped a truck near the Chechen capital, then officers allegedly ordered men out of the truck and shot them, then set fire to the vehicle. Khudyakov and Arakcheyev were originally acquitted in 2004 for lack of evidence, but the Russian Supreme Court's Military Board set aside the verdict in order for the case to be heard by a military court. In October 2005, the men were?found not guilty by a Russian military court, but that decision was later annulled at the request of the Chechen government.
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Learn more about Chechnya, Russia, and the laws governing war crimes from the JURIST news archives.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) ? Republican candidate Michele Bachmann's Iowa campaign chairman resigned on Wednesday and endorsed rival Ron Paul, six days before Iowa voters begin the nomination process to select the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
Kent Sorenson, an Iowa state senator who had served as Bachmann's state campaign chairman for nearly a year, said he had decided to switch his support to Paul because the campaign had reached "a turning point."
"When the Republican establishment is going to be coming after Ron Paul, I thought it is my duty to come to his aid," Sorenson said, announcing his endorsement for the Texas congressman during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
Sorenson said in a statement that Paul was "easily the most conservative" member of the top tier in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in elections in November next year.
"The fact that he doesn't take this decision lightly tells a great deal about the senator and Ron Paul," said Jesse Benton, Paul's national campaign chair.
Paul has a strong organization in the early voting state and is one of the favorites to win the Iowa caucuses vote on January 3.
Sorenson's defection gave the Paul campaign some respite from questions about his links to newsletters two decades ago that carried his name and contained racist, anti-homosexual and anti-Israel rants.
Soon after Paul took the stage at the rally late Wednesday, he was interrupted by a few protesters from the "Occupy Des Moines" movement.
"Freedom of speech. Ain't it wonderful?," Paul said, "We're all upset and we want a change in Washington. As a matter of fact, that's what our purpose is."
The protesters were escorted out.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski, writing by JoAnne Allen)
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Closed-door discussions about city school district finances soon will become conversations with community members.
As Massillon City School District administrators continue to search for ways to cut millions of dollars in annual operational costs, they are leaving all their options open. They also are hoping to be transparent about what they feel the best options are.
?The sooner people know where we?re headed,? Superintendent Rik Goodright said, ?the better off we will be in the long run.?
The truth, Goodright said, is that there are no easy solutions to the financial concerns that plague the district.
?Initially,? Goodright said, ?it looked like we would have a $1.5 million deficit in (fiscal year 2013), but it looks like it will be more like $2 million.?
Balancing a budget with that kind of a compounding deficit is a lofty task.
?Two million is a lot,? Goodright said. ?When you deal with a budget around $40 million, $2 million is a lot.?
It also means the board has and will continue to look at every aspect of district operations as it looks to cut costs. Nothing is off limits.
?Everything that we do in the district is on the table,? Goodright said.
CUTTING STAFF
According to Goodright, addressing the immediate deficit concerns likely will involve reductions in force, though it?s unclear which positions or how many jobs would need to be cut.
During a January board of education meeting, Goodright expects to see the board pass a resolution that will allow the district to cut positions. It?s likely that announcements regarding specific personnel cuts will come in the spring, and those decisions will be carefully made.
?We have already talked with our four association leaders and informed them about the potential cut backs,? Goodright said. ?We won?t do 15 percent reductions across the board. We will look carefully and see which positions and things we could cut without impacting the education of kids.?
Goodright also noted that the number and types of positions cut will depend on the retirements the district sees this school year.
?In a perfect world, the plan would be to cut through attrition,? Goodright said. ?So far, (the district) has done a wonderful job not replacing as people retire. ? It?s ideal because nobody loses work.?
CLOSING BUILDINGS
Massillon community members are familiar with discussions about potentially closing buildings. Under the leadership of Superintendent Lisa Carmichael, the board examined the possibility of closing Emerson Elementary, and the district central office building which includes the district pool and houses Adult Basic and Literacy Education.
Similar discussions have continued behind closed doors though no specific buildings have been targeted for closure. To have a better understanding of which steps to take when it comes to facilities, Goodright said the community has to help shape a vision for the district.
?Facilities cost money,? Goodright said. ?The community will have to let us know if a high school, a middle school and six elementary schools are the way they want to go. We will have conversations with the community and see what they recommend back to us. ? It will be a community-and-board decision.?
Conversations involving the community will likely also include the possibility of building new schools or seeking additional operating revenue.
?The Massillon community has been very giving,? Goodright said. ?They have given money for a new high school, which was good. They passed a series of emergency levies and always came through when we needed to renew those levies to keep the district running.
?But we also know is that since 1999 our district has not received any new dollars. ? As prices go up and the cost of operation goes up it?s hard to keep up and continue with the same money.?
CREATIVE SAVING
Saving the bottom line and balancing the district budget likely will include cuts both big and small. Goodright acknowledged that Massillon City is looking for ways to cut costs simply and efficiently without impacting the quality of education or the district?s staff.
?We can do simple things,? Goodright said. ?We can turn off the lights and shut the doors and we have done those types of things.?
Goodright said the district also has looked at trimming facility operational costs by moving to four-day work weeks during the summer months.
The district also has looked at changing bus routes and building start times in an effort to cut thousands more dollars from annual operational costs.
?If we create a time schedule with earlier start times for the elementary and later start times for the high school,? Goodright said, ?we may be able to reduce the transportation budget by $15,000 or $20,000, so those things can really add up.?
Source: http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1980200787/Massillon-schools-seek-ways-to-cut-debt
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Despite wavering, A Love Song for India never disappoints
Writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala remains inimitable with her eye for the wicked, the odd and the entertaining
By Kala Krishnan Ramesh
The thing about Ruth Prawer Jhabvala?s writing has always been its bite: the sharp, though indulgent nip in her version of people and their motives?both professed and hidden. Since she never allowed herself to be completely at home anywhere, Jhabvala always got the observer?s advantage: her vision had the acuity of an outsider, with the privileges of an insider.
In Jhabvala?s newest book, A Love Song for India, the best stories have this feature?the writer invents her characters with typical wry, detached affection, and lets them inhabit the story, without asking for any concessions on their behalf. Characters in Innocence, Critic, Talent, A Love Song for India, School of Oriental Studies seem right where they are; their actions seem authentic to who they are and appropriate to the story?s demands. Like Diana in the title story, whose life as the wife of a civil servant in newly-independent India, her unease with Delhi, her feeling of being at home in the districts, her sensibility and her actions, all seem to be just the thing for that story, that plot.
In this collection?s better stories, though there are large time sweeps, there is also a lingering in moments and the reader?s attention span?taken into and out of intense episodes?can run parallel to the story?s physical length, since plot movement rises organically from the story?s semantic energies.
On the other hand, there are some stories, notably The Teacher and The New Messiah, which seem a little disoriented, as if their internal time was out of joint?making characters appear to speak, act and feel as if they?d just woken from a decades-long slumber and got into the wrong story. For instance, the appearance of computers, credit cards and the notion of a ?sex offence? in The Teacher are a little shocking because the story?s tone, right from the opening sentence?with its simple conception that middle-aged women can be ?girlish? because their temperament is girlish?makes you feel the story is set in an older time, a simpler time.
Then there?s Jhabvala?s rather Ayn Rand-ish endorsement of characters?it seems that Kris in The Messiah and the ?teacher? chacko, are a ?real? messiah and a ?real? teacher not only for the story?s other characters, but also for the writer, and when a writer believes the same things her characters do, it?s no longer a story! Perhaps this explains why some stories are predictable, and why Jhabvala allows some rather limp endings.
However, for the most part?bite intact (though softened by time?)?Jhabvala?s vision of the world remains keen, wicked, entertaining and makes these stories?oddly sectioned?in A Love Song for India, attractive.
letters@tehelka.com
Source: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws241211Review.asp
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BEIJING (Reuters) ? Japan and China agreed to start formal talks early next year on a free trade pact that would also include South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Sunday after talks that showed the deepening bonds between Asia's two biggest economies.
Japan also said it was looking to buy Chinese treasury debt, and the two governments agreed to enhance financial cooperation.
"On a free trade agreement among Japan, China and South Korea, we've made a substantial progress for an early start of negotiations," Noda told reporters after his meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao.
China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, said on its website (www.pbc.gov.cn) that the two leaders agreed to strengthen bilateral financial market cooperation and "encourage the use of the renminbi and Japanese yen in international trade transactions between the two countries."
The renminbi is another name for China's yuan currency.
The trade talks announcement builds on an agreement between the three countries last month also to seek a trilateral investment treaty and finish studies on the proposed free trade agreement by the end of December so that they could start formal negotiations on the trade pact.
"China is willing to closely coordinate with Japan to promote our two countries' monetary and financial development, and to accelerate progress of the China-Japan-Republic of Korea free-trade zone and East Asian financial cooperation," Wen told Noda at the meeting, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry's official website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
But the regional trade negotiations could also compete for attention with Washington's push for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), after Japan said last month it wants to join in the talks over the U.S. proposal.
CLOSER ECONOMIC TIES
Despite sometimes rancorous political ties between the two neighbors, Japan's economic fortunes are increasingly tied to China's economic growth and consumer demand.
China and Japan are also the world's first and second-biggest holders of foreign reserves. Wen told Noda that closer economic ties were in both countries' interests.
"The deep-seated consequences of the current international financial crisis continue to spread, and the complexity and severity of global and world developments have exceeded our expectations," Wen said.
"China and Japan both have the need and conditions to join hands more closely to respond to challenges and deepen mutually beneficial strategic relations."
China has been Japan's biggest trading partner since 2009.
In 2010, trade between the two nations grew by 22.3 percent compared to levels in 2009, reaching 26.5 trillion yen ($339.3 billion), according to the Japan External Trade Organization.
In a statement issued after the two leaders' meeting, the Japanese government said it would seek to buy Chinese government bonds -- a tentative step toward diversification of Tokyo's large foreign exchange reserves that are believed to be mostly held in dollars.
China central bank said the two governments agreed to support Japanese businesses issuing yuan bonds in Tokyo and other markets outside of China, and Japan Bank for International Cooperation would begin a pilot scheme for issuing yuan-denominated bonds in mainland China.
The People's Bank of China also said it will support Japan in using the yuan for direct investment in China.
But Japanese officials have stressed that Japan's trust in dollar assets remains unshaken, and the scale of the planned purchase of Chinese government bonds will be small.
Wen and Noda also agreed to set up a framework to discuss maritime issues after diplomatic ties deteriorated sharply last year following Japan's arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain near disputed isles in the East China Sea.
Bilateral meetings attended by vice ministers and senior officials from relevant ministries will be held periodically to exchange views, in an effort to prevent a similar row from happening.
"On maritime matters, we have successfully set up a channel to solve problems through multi-layered dialogue," Noda told reporters.
(Additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Writing by Chris Buckley; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)
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Continue reading CUPP's PunkThis graduates to tablets, earns a degree in security (hands-on video)
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Suzanne Sullivan holds a photo of her son Christopher Sullivan, an Army soldier, outside her home in San Bernardino, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Sullivan, who survived a suicide bombing last December while serving in Afghanistan, is now in critical condition after a gunman shot him during his homecoming home party Friday in San Bernardino. (AP Photo/The San Bernardino Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta)
Suzanne Sullivan holds a photo of her son Christopher Sullivan, an Army soldier, outside her home in San Bernardino, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Sullivan, who survived a suicide bombing last December while serving in Afghanistan, is now in critical condition after a gunman shot him during his homecoming home party Friday in San Bernardino. (AP Photo/The San Bernardino Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta)
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) ? An Army soldier recovering from injuries suffered in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan has been shot at his homecoming party, and family members say he's paralyzed and in critical condition.
Christopher Sullivan, 22, was shot late Friday while trying to break up a fight between his brother and another man at a San Bernardino, Calif., residence.
"My son didn't deserve this. He served his country," his mother, Suzanne Sullivan, told the San Bernardino Sun (http://bit.ly/sjycMA).
Suzanne Sullivan said her son suffered two gunshot wounds to his back, which shattered his spine. Family members told the newspaper that the shooting late Friday left Sullivan paralyzed and in critical condition.
Police said Sullivan's brother and a partygoer got into an argument. When Sullivan moved to intervene, the man pulled a gun and opened fire.
The gunman fled the scene before police arrived.
Sullivan was wounded in a suicide bombing attack last year in Kandahar while serving with the 101st Infantry Division.
He suffered a cracked collar bone and brain damage in the attack and has been recovering in Kentucky where he is stationed.
He was home on leave when the shooting occurred.
His enlistment would be complete in April, after which Sullivan had planned to come home to go to college.
Family members are calling on the shooter to surrender.
Police have not identified the suspect.
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The Gillmor Gang ? Mike Arrington, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor ? are recording live at 1pm PT.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7N4tcRng7B0/
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A young man named Michael Gilmore should be planning to celebrate the holidays with his family in Helena West Helena, AR this week. Instead, the 24 year old's image?will be a part of the 2012 Rose Parade's "Donate Life Float" as it rolls through Pasadena, CA on January 2, 2012.
The Mid-Southerner is one of 72 people whose portraits will be featured on the float, honoring those who donated vital organs, tissue or eyes so that countless others might have life.
The young man was full of promise, a 2004 honors graduate of West Helena High School where he had played football, ran track and participated in the JROTC. After high school, ?Michael enrolled at Phillips Community College where he earned his Associates Degree and began dreaming of a career.
A gifted athlete, Michael headed to Jonesboro to earn a degree in Physical Education at Arkansas State University. He juggled his studies, a part-time job at Wal-Mart and a regular referee gig for ASU's intramural sports. Life looked good for the fun loving college student who should have graduated from ASU in December 2010. ?But in a case that has baffled police, Michael was found dead of a gunshot wound in his Jonesboro apartment on April 17, 2010. The case remains unsolved. Police have no suspects.
Michael's body was airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis where the Gilmore family gathered and confirmed the shocking news. Michael Deon (Rudy) Gilmore was gone. But Michael's mother, Jerlene Gilmore, remembered her son applying for a drivers license and deliberately deciding to sign up for organ donation.
"Why shouldn't I?, I won't need them," Jerlene recalls her son saying. ?
Michael kept a journal which contained the following entry, "the meaning of my life is to help others. I don't have a doubt in my mind that I was put here to help people some way or some how." ?
Michael's journal entry became more prophetic than he could ever have realized. Two of the people who received Michael's vital organs united with his family at Phillips Community College this week to create Michael's "Floragraph," a portrait created with floral materials. Sammy Robinson received Michael's heart; Verna Harris of Memphis received one of Michal's kidneys. They helped decorate Michael's posterized photograph, a floral image that will be affixed to the Donate Life Float and appear before a television audience estimated at more than 47 million at the Rose Parade.
Jerlene Gilmore and Michael's brother Demarcus and sister Kaneisha will travel to Pasadena to witness the moment and honor their loved one's life. ?
In addition to the images, the Donate Life Float will feature 28 living riders, representing donors, transplant recipients and transplant candidates on the waiting list. ??
Randa Lipman, Community Outreach Manager of the Mid-South Transplant Foundation, Inc. has worked hard to tell Michael's story as a means of encouraging more people to sign up for organ donation.
Ms. Lipman said, ?"the main thing we need to do is tell people to register on the Organ and Tissue Donor Registry in their state. Your many viewers?in the Mid-South, can go to our website: www.midsouthtransplant.org and they?ll find links to the Registry?s in TN, AR & MS. People can register every time they get or renew their driver?s license, permit or state ID. They?ll also find the facts about donation as well as myths and misconceptions explained there so they can make an informed decision for themselves and then share that decision with their family."
The Donate Life Float will also carry thousands of roses with personal dedications of love and remembrance in a unique Dedication Garden supported by people around the world---even places far from the parade route like Helena West Helena, AR. ??
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A Catholic cardinal in Chicago on Wednesday compared the gay liberation movement to the Ku Klux Klan.
Appearing on Fox's Chicago station, Cardinal Francis George complained that this year's Gay Pride Parade route would mean that Our Lady of Mount Carmel might have to cancel Sunday mass for the first time in almost 100 years.
"You don't want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism," George said.
"That's a little strong analogy, Ku Klux Klan," Fox Chicago's Dane Placko noted.
"It is," George agreed. "But you take a look at the rhetoric -- the rhetoric of the Ku Klux Klan, the rhetoric of some of the gay liberation people. Who is the enemy? The Catholic Church."
Upon hearing the church's concerns, parade organizers agreed to move the event start time from 10 a.m. to noon.
The parade is normally held on the last Sunday in June. The route was changed to accommodate a large crowd after more than 800,000 people attended last year's event, causing crowd control and traffic problems. A 10 a.m. start time was suggested to reduce the amount of drinking.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D) on Wednesday called for George to apologize.
"The Cardinal's unfortunate choice of words in comparing the LGBT community to the Klu Klux Klan is offensive," she told ChicagoPride.com.
The Gay Liberation Network released a statement calling George a "mendacious" man for "trying to deflect criticism of church policies that promote discrimination."
"It is ironic that George chooses to mention the KKK, as they are but one of the most extreme examples of organizations which have used religion to shield themselves from criticism of their hateful policies," the statement said. "While an overwhelming majority of lay Catholics support equality for women and LGBTs, the Catholic leadership has a history and present practice of discrimination which they apparently will go to quite extreme lengths to defend."
Source: http://crooksandliars.com/david/catholic-cardinal-warns-gay-pride-parade-cou
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The National Cancer Act ? also known as the war on cancer ? celebrates its 40th anniversary today.
If you want to take a quick spin through the highlights of progress against the disease over those four decades, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has put together a timeline of major milestones, by decade and type of cancer. (For example, in 1998, the FDA approved Herceptin for women with advanced breast cancer whose disease overproduces a certain protein.)
For an overview of what?s been accomplished since 1971, and what remains to be done, we chatted with Michael Link, president of ASCO and a pediatric oncologist at Stanford University.
?The most important thing to point out is the return on investment in lab research,? he says, noting advances in understanding cancer at the molecular level. ?Cancers that look the same under the microscope are different,? he says, with different behaviors, prognoses and treatment options. ?If you understand what is making it tick, you can interfere with that machinery with a very specific drug,? he says. (He points to Novartis? Gleevec as a key example.)
Link also notes that cure rates for some cancers, such as pediatric cancers, testicular cancer and non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma, have improved. Death rates for all cancers have fallen by 22% for men and 14% for women over the past 40 years, he notes.
Finally, Link points to a greater understanding of the issues of survivorship, including an awareness that harsh treatments can have consequences for health, cognition, everyday function and quality of life years down the line. ?We want to cure the patient and leave him as unscathed as possible,? Link says. To that end, therapies have been modified to retain effectiveness without the lingering side effects ? such as an end to radiation therapy for some diseases in children.
Going forward, he says progress is needed on certain cancers that have proved tough to crack, including pancreatic and lung cancers, and metastatic colon, prostate and breast cancer. ?There?s a lot of work to be done,? Link says, noting that there is some progress on even those difficult diseases, such as new drugs for melanoma.
Early detection ? through better screening tests ? and prevention are other areas to focus on, he says. ?We know how to prevent some cancers and we have not done it,? Link says, noting that eliminating tobacco use would prevent 80% of lung cancers.
Here?s ASCO?s recently released research blueprint for accelerating progress against cancer.
Bonus: Reader Consult: Time to Retire the ?War on Cancer? Metaphor?
Image: iStockphoto
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/12/23/war-on-cancer-celebrates-40th-anniversary-whats-next/
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MOSCOW ? President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday responded to the wave of protests over fraud-tainted election, proposing a set of reforms to liberalize Russia's political system, but sternly warning that the government won't allow "provocateurs and extremists" to threaten stability.
Medvedev said in his state-of-the nation address that Russia "needs democracy, not chaos" and that the government would strongly resist foreign pressure.
The statement follows massive rallies against fraud in the Dec. 4 vote, in which the main Kremlin party, United Russia, lost a quarter of its seats. Opposition leaders and independent election monitors said United Russia only managed to retain its majority by fraud.
A rally in Moscow drew tens of thousands demanding a repeat vote and punishment for the officials involved in fraud, the largest show of discontent since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Another massive rally is set for this weekend.
The protests dented the power of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and signaled that his bid to reclaim the presidency in next March's election may not be as trouble-free as had been thought.
Both Putin and Medvedev, who has been his loyal placeholder, firmly rejected the calls for a rerun, saying the vote reflected the people's will. Putin has accused the United States of fomenting the protests in order to weaken Russia, and Medvedev has rejected U.S. criticism of the vote.
"We won't allow provocateurs and extremists to drag society into their adventures, and we won't allow any outside interference into our domestic affairs," Medvedev said Thursday.
While defending the vote results, Putin has suggested easing the tight controls on Russia's political life he introduced during his two presidential terms in 2000-2008.
He said last week he would support easing the draconian rules of registration for political parties and restoring the direct elections of governors he abolished years ago. Putin added, however, that the president would retain the power to approve gubernatorial candidates, a provision that would make the election token.
Medvedev repeated the pledge to return to direct elections of governors and spelled out Putin's promise to ease registration rules for political parties. He said that a group of 500 people representing more than half of Russia's provinces would be allowed to register a party ? a significant simplification of the current arcane procedure that requires a party to have at least 45,000 members and makes it easy for authorities to deny registration to opposition groups.
Medvedev also proposed reducing the number of signatures a candidate must collect to get on the presidential ballot from 2 million to 300,000.
The opposition, however, would only be able to take advantage of the new procedures in the next election cycle.
"Medvedev's address is like an injection in an artificial limb," tweeted Oleg Kashin, a columnist at the Kommersant daily.
Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader, said that Medvedev's proposals were welcome but insufficient, adding that Saturday's rally will continue to push for a repeat election.
"We wouldn't have heard any of these proposals if there hadn't been protests," Nemtsov said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
On the Internet, many argued for keeping pressure on the government to bring more democratic changes. Over 39,000 already have signed up on Facebook for Saturday's rally.
"Well, they threw some bones to us," Elena Panfilova, head of Transparency International in Russia, said on Twitter. "Now we can either try to build something good out of them or demand the rest of the skeleton."
____
Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed to this report.
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that hackers in China broke into computers at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, potentially accessing information about its operations and members. NPR's Tom Gjelten talks with Robert Siegel on what, if anything, the hackers could have accessed.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=144087074&ft=1&f=1004
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HANOVER, N.H. ? Mitt Romney began making his closing argument to voters in his adopted home state on Wednesday.
Though he has long been favored to win the Granite State, Romney met some wariness on the trail over his record and weathered critiques from fellow opponents hoping to loosen his grip on the state's voters.
Continue ReadingRomney, who has been working New Hampshire for nearly five years, kicked off a three-day bus tour here to make his final pitch ahead of the Jan. 10 primary. The bus tour marks the former Massachusetts governor?s longest recent trip to a state his campaign sees as a must-win on his path toward the Republican nomination.
Romney is casting himself as the only candidate with both public and private-sector experience who can go head to head with President Barack Obama and put the American economy back on track.
After touring Hypertherm, a local business in Hanover, Romney met with employees to stress his job-creating abilities, pledging to "get America working like this country is working."
Romney also talked about cutting programs he said the country could no longer afford. One potential target under the Romney administration was PBS.
?I?m not going to make Big Bird go away, but there?s going to be advertisements on PBS if I?m elected president,? he said.
Romney chatted with Hypertherm employee Robert ?Bubba? Von Baltzer, 57, who was seated front and center. Von Baltzer said he liked what Romney said on the stump, but wanted assurance he could trust him to keep his word.
?I?ve seen presidents come and go since Eisenhower? I guess I?m older than dirt ? but what I?m trying to say is, what can you say to me and to other voters that are sitting here, that the promises that you?re making, that you can walk the talk??
Romney answered that he could be trusted because of his motives for running.
?For me, this run for office is not about the next step in my political career. I don?t have a political career, a lifetime looking for office after office to try to move my way up.? he said. "This for me, this decision to run for office is trying to get America right so our kids and our grandkids can live in a land that?s free and prosperous.?
?The reason I?m in this race is I think I can help restore America?s greatness and so I?m going to do everything I can to do that,? he added.
Though Romney is touting his private-sector bona fides on the trail, he faced scrutiny on the bus tour over his time at the helm of Bain Capital.
At the Hypertherm town hall in Hanover, Doug Kern, 56, of Croydon, pressed Romney on his tenure there, citing the campaign?s focus on job creation, as well as Romney?s personal wealth.
Romney told Kern, and others gathered in the cafeteria that Bain had invested in more than 100 businesses and ?some of them didn?t work, some failed.?
?Those are the realities of what it?s like to be in a competitive, free-enterprise system. And there are some who would say that businesses should never go out of business, but they will,? he said.
Romney argued his experience at Bain would make him a more powerful negotiator on the world stage.
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Hulu is offering three months of its premium TV streaming service for free for three months. Previously, Hulu offered just two months or one month with Internet Explorer, but now you can try the service for longer, a $24 value.
One of the top ten online services Lifehacker readers said are worth paying for, Hulu Plus adds all current season episodes, HD streaming, more devices to watch from, and exclusive content.
To get your free trial, you just need to enter an email address. Note that former Hulu Plus subscribers (or trial users) can't use the same email address or credit card to redeem the offer. But if you really want those three months, you could always use a junk email address and a prepaid gift card (e.g., from Visa) to get in on the deal.
Don't forget to cancel before the three months are over if you don't want to continue the service, which is $7.99 a month.
Hulu Plus
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/TGsVGASAvoo/get-3-months-of-hulu-plus-for-free
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Michael J. Mooney ? GQ ? July 2011
On a high school hoops impostor:
?At Nimitz, Jerry never asked for a handout, which, of course, made people all the more willing to help. That summer, when school let out, some of the coaches recommended him for a job in the concession stand at the public pool. Melvon Anders supervised him. Jerry was popular with the teenage girls, a good employee?never late, never snapped at anyone, never had any money missing from his register. One dry-roasted day in August, someone asked him about his home, and Jerry pulled up Google maps on an iPhone. He showed a group, Anders included, a mountain in Haiti where he grew up. He said that most of his life was spent herding goats. They all listened dumbstruck. Goats? A hut on a mountainside? ?Who were we to question his story,? Anders says. ?He was the first Haitian most of us had ever met.?"
6. Dave Duerson's Secret life and Tragic End
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=0c167d5925c9c33581d4bc83d5e11c7b
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LOS ANGELES ? A draft report discloses conflicting accounts of why an air tanker was not summoned in the early hours of what turned out to be the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history, but the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press concludes it's not possible to know if different decisions would have extinguished the blaze.
The 2009 arson-caused Station Fire killed two firefighters, destroyed 89 homes and blackened 250 square miles on the edge of Los Angeles, and residents who were burned out have long complained the Forest Service allowed the flames to spread by failing to bring in enough firefighters and aircraft to do the job.
Government records released after the blaze opened questions about whether firefighting aircraft could have been ordered and deployed more quickly, including at night, and whether a tight federal budget drove firefighting decisions on the ground.
The 67-page draft U.S. Government Accountability Office report concludes the Forest Service needs to clear up foggy policies that could cause confusion when working with local firefighters, but it stops short of suggesting the Station Fire could have been stopped in its early hours.
"These decisions may be made with imperfect information and under severe time constraints, relying heavily on the professional judgment of those involved. It is not possible to know with certainty whether different decisions or actions would have resulted in a different outcome for the Station Fire," the agency concluded.
The report said the agency should "clarify ambiguous operational processes, and address broader issues regarding its use of assets to fight fires, thereby laying the groundwork for improvements to its management of future fires."
Early in the first evening of the fire, on Aug. 26, 2009, an air tanker was nearby that could have been diverted to the Station Fire, according to the document. But accounts of why that didn't happen differed.
Citing interviews, the report said the supervisor at the Station Fire did not summon the firefighting plane, in part because it was getting dark. But the pilot told investigators darkness was not an issue and "he believed there was ample time for the tanker to fly to the Station Fire, make its drop, and return to base before nightfall."
But the report also notes large air tankers, typically used to dump retardant or water along ridge lines, might have had problems in the steep canyons where the fire was burning. "The tankers would have had to fly high enough to be safe from the power lines and the drops from such heights would likely have been ineffective," the report states.
The Forest Service summoned several powerful firefighting airplanes in the early stages of the wildfire, then canceled and reordered them, causing a two-hour delay in their arrival on the second day of the fire, according to government records released after the blaze. Recordings of calls between fire managers and dispatchers released last year showed the difficulty of communication in the mountainous region, and the problem of deploying aircraft as multiple fires burned in the state.
But in part because of rest requirements for flight crews, "it appears unlikely that any federal air tankers could have arrived over the Station Fire sooner than they did," the report said.
A federal review in 2009 found the fire slipped out of control because it jumped into steep, inaccessible terrain, not because the Forest Service scaled back firefighters and aircraft attacking the flames.
"We are not constrained by cost. We want to get the fire out," Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management Director Tom Harbour said at a congressional hearing earlier this year, defending the agency's response in the early hours of the blaze.
Members of Congress asked the watchdog GAO to conduct a broad review of the fire in 2010.
Federal foresters have long discouraged night flying because of the risk of operating aircraft in darkness in rugged national forests, but the agency reached an agreement with local firefighters earlier this year that makes it easier to get water-dumping helicopters into the air at night over the fire-prone Angeles National Forest.
Critics have suggested that deploying waves of water-dropping helicopters could have slowed, or extinguished, the fire on its first night, before it raged out of control.
The agency has argued that there are scant cases where aircraft alone extinguish fires, since embers, brush and grasses on the forest floor can continue to burn even after a water or retardant drop.
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