Liberty Newspost Feb-08-2012

Curated News Edition
- 08/02/12
http://www.LibertyNewspost.com
Poll: Obama now edges Romney in Virginia

(USATODAY.com Feed)
Virginians said he did not deserve a second term. Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:39:00 AM In the head-to-head matchup with President Obama has inched Romney, Obama has made gains ahead of Republican presidential with women and independents in contender Mitt Romney in the Virginia, while falling slightly battleground state of Virginia, further behind with men. according to a new Quinnipiac Independent likely voters now University poll. favor the president 45%-41%, Obama edges Romney for the compared with a 41%-41% split first time in this election cycle in December. Women now back 47%-43%, according to the poll Santorum 49%41% and Rep. him 52%-40%, compared with conducted Feb. 1-6. 43%-45% in December. Romney Ron Paul 47%40%. "The Obama bump could be Obama won the GOP-leaning has opened a 47%-43% lead driven by the perception that the Virginia in 2008. It was the first among men. He edged Obama economy is improving," says time that the state had gone to a 43%-42% in December polling. Peter Brown, assistant director of Democratic presidential candidate This entry passed through the the Quinnipiac University Polling since Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Full-Text RSS service if this is Institute. "And, the nasty GOP Goldwater in 1964. your content and you're reading it primary fight is not helping The president is still upside-down on someone else's site, please read Romney, exposing swing voters on his job approval rating 46%- the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentto lots of negative attacks on him 49% and only 46% of voters say only/faq.php#publishers. Five from within his own party." he deserves a second term. Still, Filters recommends: Donate to Obama also beats out former it's a considerable improvement Wikileaks. House speaker Newt Gingrich from December, when 53% of 51%37%, former senator Rick [unable to retrieve full-text content] [unable to retrieve full-text content]
Exile prime minister decries Chinese rule in Tibet - Boston.com

(china - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:42:24 AM
Boston.com Exile prime minister decries Chinese rule in Tibet Boston.com Tibetan exiles shout slogans as they attempt to break a police barricade near the Chinese Embassy at a protest against the Chinese government, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. China on Tuesday vowed to
crack down on unrest in Tibetan areas... China vows to continue crackdown on Tibetan unrest msnbc.com (blog) Tibetan sets himself on fire in China protest - rights group Reuters India China hit by more Tibetan protests NEWS.com.au Zee News- IBNLive.com all 193 news articles
Insect-Inspired Illuminators - The Grasshopper Beam Light Adds Flair to Any Space (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:43:02 AM
( TrendHunter.com) The Grasshopper Beam found its inspiration from a grasshopper,
since they can stick to surfaces in a vertical position as well as horizontally. The light will illuminate every room and add an extra bit...
Headline/
Murdoch's company settles phone hacking lawsuits

(USATODAY.com Feed)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:08:52 AM
compensation program overseen by a respected former judge and paying out hundreds of thousands L O N D O N ( A P ) R u p e r t of pounds (dollars) in out-of-court Murdoch's News International has settlements. succeeded in settling nearly all the But News International lawyer cases in the first wave of phone Michael Silverleaf said that hacking lawsuits brought against Church's suit is "one of the more his British newspaper company, complicated cases, and one where lawyers said Wednesday. the claimants have taken a By Matt Sayles, AP Last particularly polarized view." summer it was revealed that It may also be one of the more journalists at Rupert Murdoch's embarrassing cases for Murdoch's News of the World hacked into media empire. Church was only a the phones of celebrities, t e e n w h e n s h e c a m e t o politicians, sports figures and prominence in the press and the even crime victims. angel-voiced singer has already testified to a litany of media By Matt Sayles, AP abuse. Last summer it was revealed that The former child singing journalists at Rupert Murdoch's sensation has told Britain's media News of the World hacked into ethics inquiry that she and her the phones of celebrities, f a m i l y h a d c o m e u n d e r politicians, sports figures and u n b e a r a b l e m e d i a s c r u t i n y . even crime victims. Pretrial arguments between her But a potentially damaging claim lawyer, David Sherborne, and lodged by British singer Charlotte Silverleaf focused on the toll that Church is still headed to trial, and journalists' pursuit took on her a second wave of lawsuits as mental health and her family's many as 56 in all is still business. l o o m i n g , t h e l a w y e r s t o l d Earlier, lawyers gave notice that London's High Court. nine more phone hacking lawsuits News International, a division of against News International had News Corp., has tried hard to been settled, including cases keep phone hacking cases from brought by comedian Steve going to trial, launching its own Coogan, former soccer star Paul
schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose phone was broken into by the paper soon after her disappearance in 2002. Heather Mills, former wife of musician Paul McCartney, is expected to testify before the media ethics commission Thursday. G a s c o i g n e a n d m a v e r i c k Former soccer star Gascoigne lawmaker George Galloway. r e c e i v e d 6 8 , 0 0 0 p o u n d s Some of the lawsuits had multiple ($108,000), while Simon Hughes, deputy leader of Britain's Liberal claimants. "This has never been about Democrat party, received 45,000 money," said Coogan, who pounds ($71,500). He said in a received a settlement of 40,000 statement that everyone who pounds ($63,500). "Like other allowed a large company to people who have sued, I was behave illegally must be brought determined to do my part to show to account. the depths to which the press can Lawmaker Galloway, known in s i n k i n p u r s u i t o f p r i v a t e the U.S. for his uncompromising opposition to the Iraq war, information." The scandal over phone hacking received 25,000 pounds ($39,700) at the News of the World tabloid and an admission from Silverleaf boiled over after it emerged last that his company had intercepted summer that journalists at the five of Galloway's voicemails paper had routinely hacked into around the time of the 2003 t h e p h o n e s o f c e l e b r i t i e s , invasion. politicians, sports figures and Sally King, a friend of former British Home Secretary David even crime victims. The now-defunct tabloid has Blunkett, received 60,000 pounds already settled with several ($95,300), while her husband, prominent figures, including Andrew, received 50,000 pounds actress Sienna Miller and the ( $ 7 9 , 4 0 0 ) . S i l v e r l e a f family of murdered British acknowledged that a News of the World journalist followed the pair
to the U.S. where they'd tried to find refuge from the press intrusion. Her father and brother also received substantial damages, as did former Labour Party spin doctor Alastair Campbell and a series of other claimants, including investigative journalist Dennis Rice and Sheila Henry, whose son, Christian Small, died in the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks on London's transport system. Sports agent Sky Andrew received 75,000 pounds. After each settlement, Silverleaf said that News International had accepted responsibility and regretted the damage it had caused. His company also agreed to pay the claimants' legal fees. 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.
Headline/ Technology/
Mo. teen gets life with possible parole in killing

(USATODAY.com Feed)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:51:24 AM
small rural town west of Jefferson City. The judge also ordered the teen JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) to serve a consecutive 30-year A central Missouri teenager who term in the armed criminal action confessed to strangling, cutting charge. and stabbing a 9-year-old girl Bustamante was 15 years old because she wanted to know how when she confessed to strangling it felt to kill someone was Elizabeth, repeatedly stabbing her sentenced Wednesday to life in in the chest and slicing the girl's prison with the possibility of throat. She led police to the parole. shallow grave where she had By Kelley McCall, AP Alyssa concealed Elizabeth's body under Bustamante, who admitted to a blanket of leaves in the woods stabbing, strangling and slitting behind their neighborhood. the throat of a young neighbor With her hands shackled to her girl, wrote in her journal on the waist and her feet shackled night of the killing that it was an together, Bustamante rose and " a h m a z i n g " a n d " p r e t t y faced Elizabeth's mother and enjoyable" experience. siblings before she was sentenced Wednesday. By Kelley McCall, AP "I know words," she said, pausing Alyssa Bustamante, who to take a deep breath and admitted to stabbing, strangling struggling to compose herself, and slitting the throat of a young "can never be enough and they neighbor girl, wrote in her journal can never adequately describe on the night of the killing that it how horribly I feel for all of this." was an "ahmazing" and "pretty She added: "If I could give my enjoyable" experience. life to get her back I would. I'm Alyssa Bustamante, 18, pleaded sorry." guilty in January to second-degree Elizabeth's mother, Patty Preiss, murder and armed criminal action w h o o n t h e f i r s t d a y o f in the October 2009 slaying of Bustamante's sentencing hearing Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins, a called her "an evil monster" and
declared that she "hated her" sat silently, staring forward during Bustamante's apology. The Olten family declined to comment to reporters, as did Bustamante's family. Bustamante had been charged with first-degree murder and by pleading guilty to the lesser charges she avoided a trial and the possibility of spending her life in an adult prison with no chance of release. The teenager's defense attorneys had argued for a sentence less than life in prison, saying Bustamante's use of the antidepressant Prozac had made her more prone to violence. They said she had suffered from depression for years and once attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers. But prosecutors sought a longer
sentence. They noted that Bustamante had dug two graves several days in advance, and that on the evening of the killing had sent her younger sister to lure Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified that the teenager told him "she wanted to know what it felt like" to kill someone. Prosecutors also cited journal entries in which Bustamante described the exhilaration of killing Elizabeth. "I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they're dead," Bustamante wrote in her diary, which was read in court by a handwriting expert. "I don't know how to feel atm. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the 'ohmygawd I can't do this' feeling, it's pretty enjoyable. I'm kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church nowlol." Bustamante then headed off to a youth dance at her church while a massive search began for the missing girl. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. 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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Gay Marriage Ruling a Memo to Justice Kennedy: Noah Feldman - Bloomberg

(Top Stories - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:50:00 AM
About Noah Feldman Noah Feldman is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard and the author of five books, most recently "Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDRs Great Supreme Court Justices." More about Noah Feldman Photographer: Rick Friedman/ Bloomberg Whats in a name? In 2008, supporters of a state ballot measure convinced a majority of California voters that there was a meaningful difference between extending full domestic partnership rights to gay couples and calling their relationships marriage. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agrees -- sort of. On Tuesday it held that the measure, Proposition 8, violated the U.S. Constitution not because there is a right to gay marriage, but because it took away the equal right to the institution of marriage that gay Californians briefly held under state law before Proposition 8 was passed. The upshot is that while gayrights advocates should rightly be happy with the decision, it isnt the major legal breakthrough that some hoped it would be. The
Supreme Court could uphold the circuit judges position without making same- sex marriage legal across the U.S. The California issue is rooted in language. Before and after Proposition 8, gay couples in California had the same rights as heterosexual couples when it came to adoption, benefits, hospital access and all other legal aspects of marriage. Yet opponents and proponents alike are convinced that the word marriage means everything. Religious Traditionalism Those who reject gay marriage while (at least in principle) accepting practical equality for gay couples have found themselves in a bind when trying to explain their position in court. For most, the basis for this stance surely lies in religious traditionalism. Mores have changed, and discrimination against gay people is no longer socially acceptable in many circles. But marriage is so bound up in religious tradition that a radical change, like the possibility of same-sex unions, challenges peoples settled expectations and their ideals of what marriage is supposed to be. The establishments of most conservative religious denominations and the bulk of followers -- from Catholics to
Baptists to Orthodox Jews to Mormons to Muslims -- are the stalwarts in opposing gay marriage. In these traditions, change comes incrementally and over generations. Almost 500 years after the Reformation, Catholicism still rejects divorce. Orthodox Judaism is not going to endorse marriages between Jews and non- Jews, no matter what more-liberal Jewish denominations might do. Yet such religious traditionalism has proven difficult to translate into a legally cognizable argument. Because of the separation of church and state, Proposition 8s proponents couldnt simply tell the truth: That they oppose gay marriage because it is against their faith and their customs. They did claim in court that their religious liberty was affected, but this argument is a sure loser, since they may continue to determine their own marriage rules. The states adoption of gay marriage will have no more coercive effect than the states recognition of divorce does on the Catholic church. There is a certain paradox here. The state recognizes marriages performed by priests, rabbis and imams -- a privilege that itself deviates from strict separation between religion and government. This makes civil, state-sanctioned
marriage seem religious, which is exactly why religious traditionalists are threatened by the idea of state marriage extending to gay people. Imagine that the state didnt use the word marriage to describe any relationship, but only recognized civil union for all couples, gay or straight. In this parallel universe, there would be no discrimination. And presumably, neither religious traditionalists nor gay-rights advocates would have reason to complain. But that imaginary world isnt ours. Once the state calls something marriage, supporters of gay equality have every reason to insist that this honorable word must extend to everyone equally. Activist Judge The Ninth Circuit found this argument to be powerful. In a typically tongue-in-cheek passage of his decision, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who proudly wears the mantle of the most activist liberal judge on the federal bench, quoted Groucho Marx: Marriage is a wonderful institution ... but who wants to live in an institution? Reinhardt explained that such jokes wouldnt be funny if the word marriage were replaced with an alternative phrase. How To Register a Domestic Partnership With a Millionaire, he added, wouldnt make much of a movie title.
From the argument that the word marriage confers a sense of dignity and belonging, Reinhardt could have gone on to find a basic constitutional right to marriage equality. But here the 80-year-old Reinhardt, who has a long history of having decisions reversed by the Supreme Court, decided to get crafty. Instead of asserting a general right to gay marriage, he restricted his holding to the strange situation that obtained in California, where the state Supreme Court had declared a right to gay marriage before Proposition 8 reversed it. For 143 days, gay couples in California could marry. Reinhardt made that interregnum the key to his decision. Proposition 8, he said, had no other purpose but to take away the equality fleetingly enjoyed by gay Californians. The only point of the law was to make the equal unequal. That brought the case into a parallel with Romer v. Evans, the 1996 case in which the Supreme Court invented modern gay rights. In the Romer case, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that a Colorado constitutional amendment that prohibited treating gays as a protected class was itself an irrational form GAY page 13
Top News/
Inside Homs: 'We are seriously dying here. It is really war' - The Guardian
Luke Harding, Mona Mahmood and Matthew Weaver (Top Stories Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:57:00 AM
A house damaged by the Syrian government forces bombardment in the Bab al-Amr neighborhood in Homs. Photograph: Local Coordination Committees In Syria /AP Residents in Homs said on Wednesday that the noose was tightening around their besieged city, with the Syrian army carrying out a ferocious bombardment against the helpless civilians trapped inside. At least 27 people were killed on Wednesday, with around 200 injured, 50 of them seriously, activists said, in a day of unrelenting artillery attacks. Activists said the victims included a four-year-old girl, Salam alA'raa, shot in the head, in the opposition-controlled suburb of Bab al-Amr. "We are seriously dying here. It is really war," Waleed Farah told the Guardian, speaking via satellite phone. He said: "It isn't war between two armies. It's between the army and civilians. You hear the rockets and explosions. You feel you are at the front. The situation for civilians is pitiful." Waleed said the situation had worsened over the past 24 hours,
five days after the Syrian army began shelling rebel-held areas of Homs late last week. He said that as well as a massive bombardment, government troops had now sealed off the neighbourhood of al-Khaldiyeh a crucial supply-point for bringing food and medicine into Bab alAmr. He said government snipers had shot dead four men who tried to drive a van into Bab al-Amr. They had been attempting to deliver bread. "The sniper situation has gone mad. They [government
wake of diplomatic failure, and Russia and China's veto of a UN resolution to end the bloodshed in the country, Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, has decided to launch a conclusive military offensive against the rebels. . Activists in the former opposition stronghold of Zabadani, 20 miles north-west of Damascus, described how hundreds of tanks were pounding the town. The opposition Free Syrian Army effectively took control of Zabadani last month. Now, the Syrian army was on the brink of taking it back. "There are about 300 tanks besieging the city from four positions. I saw so many tanks I couldn't count them," activist Fares Mohamad told the Guardian, using the town's only functioning phone. He said the soldiers] know that all the rubble of their houses. tanks had been firing shells since s u p p l i e s c o m e f r o m a l - The Guardian has been unable to Saturday with 18 people killed Khaldiyeh." independently verify accounts so far, and 300 with light injuries. It was now impossible to from residents or casualty figures. More than 40 houses have been evacuate the wounded and the Raji said he and other activists demolished, he said. dead from Bab al-Amr, he said, had filmed government armoured He added: "We have set up a with volunteers who had gone personnel carriers entering Al- field hospital in the basement of a over there trapped. Insha'iat, an outlying part of Bab house. But we don't have any Another activist, Raji, speaking al-Amr, close to a mosque. "We medical equipment. There are also from a basement inside Bab al- took pictures and then we had to many people who have gone Amr, said Syrian forces were now run away. We were scared for our missing." Fares said that more using different, heavier artillery lives," he said, adding: "The tanks than 1,200 families had fled to rounds with devastating effect. have started to move inside our Bloudan, to the east of Zabadani, In addition to the 27 people killed neighbourhood." on Wednesday, he said "many Elsewhere in Syria there appears INSIDE page 13 people" were lying dead under the to be growing evidence that in the
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New Details On Redbox-Verizon Streaming Service, Netflix Competitor

Austin Carr (Fast Company)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:33:39 AM
Yesterday Coinstar, the parent company of Redbox, the 35,400kiosk-strong movie-rental service, announced a joint venture with Verizon to provide a subscriptionbased streaming video service, thus positioning the companies in direct competition with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Coinstar also announced that it would acquire NCR's entertainment business, which includes its former rival Blockbuster Express, adding more than 9,000 kiosks to Redbox's roster around the country. Now new details about the combined companies' plans have emerged. First, it's clear the companies are adamant about bringing a combined physical and digital offering to market, rather than streaming-only or DVD-only plans like Netflix. "To have a partner that sees our vision, and thinks, yes, you could do something streamingonly, but we'll be so much more successful to consumers if we have both together--that was really what Verizon's take was," says Scott Di Valerio, CFO of Coinstar and interim president of Redbox. "Streaming is great--it's really exciting," Di Valerio told us yesterday, "[but] we think there is a bright future in physical."
Still, specifics surrounding what Redbox's future might look like are sparse--company executives remained especially vague during yesterday's earnings call for competitive reasons, they said. And other than a brand-new w e b s i t e c a l l e d RedboxVerizonProject.com, which teases that "something fun is coming," few details have been
released about Redbox's upcoming subscription service with Verizon, slated to be unveiled in the second half of 2012. Asked whether the subscription service, then, would include DVDs-by-kiosk or possibly DVDs-by-mail, Di Valerio says the company does "not have a vision of doing a by-mail service.
Think about a subscription where you have 'Nights at the Kiosk' for new release content, and then be able to have your streaming--more of your library content." Meanwhile Redbox SVP of finance, Galen Smith, indicated that kiosks will definitely be a part of the subscription, though it's not yet clear whether this will be an unlimited offering. "The
core will involve both things, because Verizon could do streaming today on their own-they don't need physical," he says. "But they see our unique set of assets and the physical discs that consumers want. So I think it's safe to assume that the core product will include both." NEW page 11
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After 3-state sweep, Santorum ready for Romney - USA TODAY

(Top Stories - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:29:46 AM
Fresh from his three-state sweep, a confident Rick Santorum said he is prepared for an onslaught from Mitt Romney as he tries to make his case that he's the best conservative to take on President Obama. By Whitney Curtis, Getty Images Rick Santorum addresses supporters Tuesday night in St. Charles, Mo. By Whitney Curtis, Getty Images Rick Santorum addresses supporters Tuesday night in St. Charles, Mo. Santorum, speaking to CNN Wednesday morning, derided Romney for trying to portray himself as a Washington outsider and for repeatedly talking about his credentials as a former CEO. The former Pennsylvania senator stressed that Romney's stands on health care, "cap and trade" legislation and government bailouts are the wrong positions for a GOP nominee. "Mr. Private Sector was Mr. Big Government when he was out there running for the private sector," Santorum told CNN. In a separate interview with CNN, Romney adviser Stuart Stevens said Romney's campaign will be tougher in making
contrasts with Santorum. The goal will be to paint Santorum, a former two-term senator, as a Washington insider. "I think we'll see differences in approach that will be explored. Rick Santorum tonight was fairly aggressive in his contrasts, and I think we'll see differences," Stevens told CNN on Tuesday night. "Look, I just don't think it's a time when people are looking to Washington to solve problems with Washington." Although he lost his 2006 reelection bid to the Senate by 18 percentage points, Santorum stressed on Wednesday that he hasn't changed his positions since that race. He made an unveiled dig at Romney, who has been criticized for flip flopping on issues. "I stand by the fact that I wasn't a well-oiled weather vane out there looking for where the American public is going. I stood by principle and I'll do that as president," Santorum said. Asked whether he is concerned about Romney's fundraising advantage, Santorum said he wasn't worried about money. He estimates he raised about $250,000 Tuesday night as he was winning the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and the nonbinding Missouri primary. "We feel like going forward we're
alternative to Barack Obama." In Denver, after the earlier races were called, Romney told a more subdued group of supporters that it had been "a good night for Rick Santorum." Colorado's returns were being reported more slowly than in Minnesota and Missouri. The results didn't affect the math of the delegate count no going to have the money we need to make the case we want to delegates were bound by the vote but it did alter the momentum make," he said. Romney, who says he's on a clear of the race. p a t h t o t h e R e p u b l i c a n For Romney, the setbacks were presidential nomination, hit a likely to raise questions about his speed bump Tuesday night as claim of inevitability he had Santorum won an upset victory in targeted only Obama on the stump the Colorado caucuses after Tuesday, as though the GOP s c o r i n g e a s y w i n s i n t h e nomination already was his Minnesota caucuses and the non- and carried a particular sting in Minnesota, a state he decisively binding Missouri primary. "Tonight was a victory for the won four years ago. voices of our party, conservatives Gingrich made no mention of the and Tea Party people," Santorum results on Wednesday during his told a cheering rally in St. only scheduled public appearance Charles, Mo., before the final for the next two days. He told results in Colorado were known. workers at a metal manufacturing He called President Obama an plant in Cleveland that he can lead elitist "who thinks he's smarter the nation to an era of prosperity than you" and Romney a flawed and security. standard-bearer who would be The former House speaker did unable to draw sharp contrasts not directly mention Romney or Santorum in his unusually short with him in the fall. "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't 12-minute remarks. He made only stand here today to be the a passing reference to Obama. conservative alternative to Mitt Gingrich restated his goal of Romney," Santorum declared. "I giving workers the option of stand here to be the conservative having private Social Security savings accounts.
On Tuesday night Gingrich told CNN "I think the big story coming out tonight is going to be it's very hard for the elite media to portray Romney as the inevitable nominee. After tonight, you'll see this is a wide-open race." Even before the returns came in, Romney's campaign had sent out a pre-emptive "reality check," downplaying the importance of the contests and touting Romney's organizational and financial edge in the primaries and caucuses that follow. " John McCain lost 19 states in 2008, and we expect our opponents to notch a few wins too," the memo by Romney political director Rich Beeson read. "But unlike the other candidates, our campaign has the resources and organization to keep winning over the long run." In Missouri, Santorum defeated Romney by 2-1. In Minnesota, Santorum also held a double-digit lead. Paul was second, Romney third. In Colorado, Romney ended the night in second, followed by Gingrich in third. 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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3 Ways To Deal With A No-Win Situation

Mark McNeilly (Fast Company)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:12:54 AM
If you're a Star Trek aficionado, then not only have you heard of the " Kobayashi Maru Scenario" but you can recount it easily to others. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, the Kobayashi Maru Scenario is a no-win situation cadets encounter at the series' Starfleet Academy. In it, the cadet is in command of the Federation ship, responsible for rescuing another Federation vessel (the Kobayshi Maru) from attacking Klingon Warbirds. If the cadet chooses not to save the ship in distress, it will be destroyed with all hands. However, if he goes to the ship's aid, he will precipitate an all-out war with the Klingons. Furthermore, if the cadet attempts the rescue mission, he not only finds himself being unsuccessful in saving the Kobayashi Maru but he and his crew end up dying in the attempt. The goal of the simulation is to test the cadet's character and presence in the face of an impossible situation and certain death. However, one cadet, James Tiberius Kirk (the central character of the Star Trek series) refused to accept the no-win situation and reprogrammed it so that he could defeat the Klingon Warbirds.While few of us live lives as exciting or dangerous as that of Captain Kirk, in our business and personal lives we all
face no-win situations. These could include bosses who are impossible to work for, companies that are in a hopeless downward spiral, or jobs that are a terrible fit. The question that confronts us then becomes, "what course to take?"There are three broad options: Retreat, wait, or advance. Retreat Many of us in the business world, trained as we are to always be driving hard, are reluctant to withdraw from a fight. However, as wise general Sun Tzu once said, "Therefore, the art
of employing troops is that when the enemy occupies high ground, do not confront him; with his back resting on hills, do not oppose him." I was in a job once in which my boss and I didn't see eye-toeye. The situation got increasingly negative and it became clear that it would not improve. And since I could read an org chart, I knew if there would be a winner, it wouldn't be me. So I chose to "retreat" by moving to a different position with a better management team, one that could see and use
the value of my skills as well as being on the same page as me in terms of work style and beliefs. To successfully retreat, one must accept that some situations are irredeemable and it's a better use of your time and energy to move on to bigger and better things. Wait Another option, again difficult for those of us who are used to always working hard to make progress, is to wait for conditions to change for the better. Take the situation above; another option I could have opted
for was to wait and see if the boss would move on to other things. It can also work in other situations, such as a business experiencing tough times, by waiting to see if things turn around. This can often be a viable approach, but one must be careful. By not taking a active approach (retreat or advance), you are at the mercy of events. You must perform due diligence to test the chances of things working out for the better. WAYS page 9
Top News/
Former Obama Official Dumbfounded by Contraception Mandate

(Christianpost.com > Politics)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:57:10 AM
WAYS
continued from page 8
(Photo: Reuters/Larry Downing) U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands after speaking about the economy at Fire Station Number Five in Arlington, Virginia, February 3, 2012. February 8, 2012| 11:57 am The contraception mandate is "inconsistent with who Barack Obama is, at least as I see him," Ambassador Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University School of Law, said in a Tuesday interview with The Christian Post. "I've always admired him for his desire to find common ground among people and his desire to not divide people in any way that can be avoided." Kmiec, a Catholic, was a Republican and had worked in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, but he supported Obama in 2008. He wrote an editorial about a month before that election arguing that a Catholic can, in good conscience,
vote for Obama, because, Obama is a "bridge builder" and someone who seeks to lessen political division in the nation. "This isn't the person I campaigned for in 2008," Kmiec said. "This isn't the person who talked to the Sojourners conference in 2006 and explained that it was wrong for the Democrats in the past to treat the evangelicals as a bloc, thinking in only one direction, and it was similarly wrong for the evangelicals to write off the Democrats and see that they have an appreciation for faith." Kmiec believes that he, and others who supported Obama in 2008 under the impression that he would uphold religious conscience protections, have "a certain level of credibility" with Obama, because "he knows we have his best interest at heart." "We've supported him in the past, sometimes at great cost to ourselves in terms of our friendships and people not fully understanding why we would do so," he stated. Like us on Facebook The contraception mandate is
part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Obama administration reaffirmed the mandate last month, outraging faith-based nonprofits despite the additional year they were given to comply with it. The mandate has an exemption for religious groups, but the exemption is so narrow that most religious institutions would not qualify. Adding such a narrow exemption is a "double insult," in Kmiec's view. "This notion that you have to demonstrate that you are primarily only serving those of your own religion, that you're hiring primarily those of your own religion and that you've got an entity that is inculcating your religious beliefs, that, really is almost a second offense to put out an exemption of that nature because it cuts against so much of the Gospel message of being there for the stranger, being there for anyone who comes to your door." Kmiec was appointed by Obama as ambassador to Malta in 2009 and was tasked with a project on interfaith diplomacy. He resigned from that position in April of last
It's also critical that you have a backup plan in case your delaying strategy fails. Attempt to Advance If, like Captain Kirk, you refuse to accept losing a no-win situation, you can put it all on the line to try and achieve victory. But, by definition, a no-win situation will take a tremendous amount of year after he felt that the State b l o o d , s w e a t , a n d t e a r s t o Department was attempting to conquer. You really need to think silence his faith-based writings through, even if you do win, will it be worth the cost? And don't and speeches. Kmiec finds parallels between his forget, there's a high probability resignation and the contraception you may lose, which could be devastating. Although Kirk was mandate. "There is a failing that I am able to reprogram the Kobayahsi troubled by in terms of the Maru scenario so he would win, administration. The president can as a result he was put on academic give very strong and positive suspension and forced to face a direction and, somehow, there is a trial for his actions. It was only by failure in transmission in the chance that he saved his career; carrying out of the idea. ... It was his trial was put off by an attack a d i s a p p o i n t m e n t t h a t t h e on a Federation planet, which president didn't actively supervise started a war in which Kirk what his subordinates were doing redeemed himself. Fortune may in the State Department, which not favor you so well. So these are your options. was a different direction. That Consider the odds, time, effort was the frustration." C o n t a c t : and potential payoff, then choose napp.nazworth@christianpost.co what you think will work best for you. By doing so intelligently, the m This entry passed through the better are the chances are you will Full-Text RSS service if this is "live long and prosper." your content and you're reading it For more leadership coverage, on someone else's site, please read f o l l o w u s o n T w i t t e r a n d the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- L i n k e d I n . only/faq.php#publishers. Five [ I m a g e : F l i c k r u s e r J a m e s Filters recommends: Donate to V a u g h n ] Wikileaks.
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Top News/ Technology/
Did Komen Really Reinstate Planned Parenthood Grants?

Submitted at 2/8/2012 7:59:39 AM
February 8, 2012| 8:59 am The statement released last week assured readers, "We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants." However, Komen Board Member John Raffaelli later told Washington Post Columnist Greg Sargent the Komen foundation still plans to base future grant decisions on organizations' ability to provide mammograms. The 19 Planned Parenthood clinics that received the Komen grants provided women with breast health education, screenings and referrals for gynecologists. The clinics do not, however, offer mammograms. "It would be highly unfair to ask us to commit to any organization that doesn't go through a grant process that shows that the money we raise is used to carry out our mission," Raffaelli told the Post. "We're a humanitarian
organization. We have a mission. Tell me you can help carry out our mission and we will sit down at the table." Pro-life activist Jill Stanek acknowledged the statement may in fact give Susan G. Komen leeway to reject Planned Parenthood's future grant proposals. Yet only the future will tell whether the cancer foundation will choose to exercise that power, she wrote on her pro-life blog. Like us on Facebook "It may be a year before we find out," she speculated. That is when Stanek believes Komen will re-evaluate applications, issue new grants and reissue old ones. In the meantime, she advised prolife supporters, "We do not yet know whether Komen actually did or didn't capitulate to Planned Parenthood, pro-lifers should again withhold donations." Brian Harris, director of Tennessee Right to Life, told The Christian Post that Komen should expect a profound pro-life backlash due to their reversal.
Last Tuesday, the foundation announced it would sever ties with the abortion provider because it was currently under congressional investigation and did not provide mammograms. The decision created tension among those who believed the move was political. Three days later, Komen apologized for the political appearance of their policy change and promised to allow the abortion provider to apply for future grants. It amended grant criteria to disqualify groups that are under investigations that are "criminal and conclusive in nature." Harris denounced the latest change, saying, "Millions of prolife Americans who have momentum now will know to avoid any involvement with Komen until they become consistently committed to protecting all human life." Pro-life leaders have also renewed calls for the Susan G. Komen foundation to break ties with the infamous abortion provider. Dr. Thom Rainer, president of
LifeWay Christian Resources, announced, "I renew my strong encouragement of Komen's leadership to end that relationship permanently, and restate LifeWay's commitment to not be involved, even indirectly, with Planned Parenthood." LifeWay pulled pink Bibles meant to benefit Susan G. Komen last year after learning of the foundation's grants to the abortion provider. Harris said the cancer foundation would have been better off "pick[ing] a side and stick[ing] with it" rather than ultimately alienating supporters on both sides of the issue. In the last year, Susan G. Komen gave $680,000 in grant money to Planned Parenthood clinics. 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.
Harper in China: Harper gets red carpet treatment in Beijing, touts trade advances Toronto Star
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:12:56 AM
CBC.ca Harper in China: Harper gets red carpet treatment in Beijing, touts trade advances Toronto Star Tonda MacCharles Ottawa bureau BEIJINGAt the landmark Temple of Heaven where China's emperors once offered sacrifices for a good harvest, Prime Minister Stephen Harper paused to watch a game of Chinese chess, but made no moves. In China, Canada's Harper Seeks Trade Ties Wall Street Journal Canada inks China trade deals, hails investor pact Reuters Canada- China deals: one big one and a 'blizzard' CBC.ca Boston.com- BusinessWeek all 1,129 news articles
Donate to World Vision

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11
NEW
"Consumers made it clear that they like both the physical disc as well as the digital," Paul Davis, CEO of Coinstar, tells Fast Company. "Given the fact that we have approximately 30 million consumers, and that we are [located] where people go every day--gas stations, convenient stores, supermarkets, drug stores-the instant access to our discs is a real compelling benefit, versus Netflix, where you put what you want in the movie queue, and then you have to wait a few days and hope it comes. We remove that mystery. We really allow consumers to get what they want on new releases, and then for those who want older movies--a more catalog offering--they can get that as well through what we'll be offering as a part of the joint venture." And what about video games? "We haven't talked about specific products," Di Valerio says, "but the way I would say it is that rental nights or 'Nights at the Kiosk' will be a kind of center
point. And what do we have in our kiosks? Standard [DVDs], Blu -ray, and video games." In terms of cost, consumers should anticipate competitive pricing with what's already been brought to market. The company stressed "affordability" throughout its announcement, follow-up conference call, and subsequent earnings call. "That's what our customers expect from us, though we haven't announced any of the pricing of the products yet," Gary Cohen, SVO of marketing and experience, tells Fast Company. During the announcement and conference call, both Verizon and Redbox also stressed that their description would be limited to "subscription services and more." But when asked what the companies meant by "services" plural, Smith says he "wouldn't read into that." "I would think about it as a subscription service that combines physical and digital," he says. Asked whether the subscription
will be under the Redbox or Verizon brand, it seems there will be a new brand created under the joint venture, la NetflixQwiskter (although definitely not Qwikster). "I don't think it'll necessarily be a Redbox or Verizon brand but one that the [joint venture] brings out," Di Valerio says. Lastly, in terms of content, executives have said that a wide array of titles will be available through the subscription. The company is not against competing for exclusive content deals with competitors such as HBO and Netflix, though the company declined to say whether there would be a focus on TV shows or movies. The companies plan to feature new releases in the kiosk outlets, it seems, while leaving longer-tail content for online streaming--but don't let them hear you call it "long-tail" content. "When we say long tail, we mean that it's just not a new release," Di Valerio says. "We think about new releases in our kiosks as
opposed to more library content [online]. We don't want to get too deep into the business models now, but I think we look at it a little differently in places where we can go with it as opposed to where Netflix might [go with it]. So I wouldn't say we're looking to do stuff that's five years old whereas Netflix is looking to do all new stuff." And original content? "It's a little too early--we're not talking specifically about what the product is," Smith says. "But we can say is that it will be very compelling and competitive to other offerings." Very compelling indeed. Related story: Netflix's Head Of Content Sarandos Queues Up An Original Programming Strategy [Image: Flickr user english invader]
Affirmed Housing Group Breaks Ground on Phase II of Monte Vista Apartments MarketWatch (press release)
(housing - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:02:16 AM
Affirmed Housing Group Breaks Ground on Phase II of Monte Vista Apartments MarketWatch (press release) 8, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- On Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:00 am, Affirmed Housing Group will host a groundbreaking ceremony for phase II of Monte Vista Apartments. The ceremony will be held at 41411 Juniper St., Murrieta, CA 92562 (parking... and more
Chinese artist's 'ugly' doll photos metaphor for Chinese people's anguish ... - Washington Post
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:05:35 PM
Chinese artist's 'ugly' doll photos
metaphor for Chinese people's anguish... Washington Post NEW YORK Liu Xia is a
forbidden artist whose work is censored in her native China. The photographer, who is under house arrest, uses life-like dolls as
metaphors for the pain and suffering of the Chinese people. Liu knows what it is to work in an...
and more
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Top News/ Technology/ Business/
Santorum's Big Tuesday: Wins Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota

(Photo: REUTERS/Sarah Conard) U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, flanked by his daughter Elizabeth (L), speaks to supporters at his primary night rally at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, Missouri, February 7, 2012. February 8, 2012| 9:34 am Santorum, who had lost momentum after his early success in the Iowa caucuses sought to send a message to voters looking for a real conservative. "Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota," Santorum said at a victory rally in St. Charles, Mo., Tuesday. "I don't stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack
Obama." Santorum's wins are "very big," said the University of Virginia Public Policy Institute's Larry Sabato on Fox News Tuesday morning. "This sends a clear message to Romney that many in the party are still not excited about his campaign." Polls leading up to the contests had Santorum leading in Minnesota and Missouri, but Colorado was an unexpected surprise since Romney was expected to win there. The latest PPD poll had Romney leading 37 to 27 percent just days before the state's caucus. Santorum ended up with a four point victory, coming in with 40 percent to Romney's 35 percent with all of the boxes in. But Missouri was Santorum's biggest win of the night where he defeated Romney by a commanding margin with 55 percent of the vote, compared to Romney with 25 percent and Texas Congressman Ron Paul with 12 percent. The Gingrich
campaign made a decision not to compete in the Show-Me state since delegates will not be assigned there until mid-March. Like us on Facebook Romney, who carried Minnesota's caucuses in 2008 and has the endorsement of former governor and GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, came in a disappointing third, with 17 percent of the vote. Santorum led with about 45 percent and Paul with 27 percent. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was fourth with 11 percent. Vote totals were still being tabulated at the time of publication. In spite of his big wins, strategists agree that Santorum needs to take advantage of his new momentum if he is going to overtake Romney in the delegate count. "He needs to capitalize on [his victories] from a fundraising perspective and I anticipate that he will do that," GOP strategist Nick Ryan, who raises money for
Santorum's PAC, told Politico. "And they need to be methodical and disciplined about how they play. I'd be very, very careful about Michigan and Arizona(the next two primaries) because they are just cash-suckers." The only downside to Santorum's big victories is that he took home no delegates for his efforts. Each state will award delegates, but Colorado and Minnesota were non -binding contests and Missouri had no delegates at stake. This means that Santorum and Romney will still be wooing delegates before they officially commit to a candidate. The next contest is the Maine caucus on Saturday. 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.
California Housing Market Braces for Facebook Millionaires New York Times
New York Times California Housing Market Braces for Facebook Millionaires New York Times Even after some of the air went out of the housing bubble in the Bay Area in recent years, prices in the most desirable parts of San Francisco and Silicon Valley stayed buoyant enough to remain out of reach for most people. A report on 2011 housing... and more
Nokia Lumia 710 review

Dave Oliver
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:53:00 AM
The second of Nokia's Windows Phone-powered Lumia handsets is now with us, offering a mid-range
alternative to the high-end Lumia 800. It's still Windows Phone 7.5, still a quality handset, but with a reduced spec. Design and features Available in a range of colours, the changeable back cover is
made of tactile rubberised plastic and the front is almost entirely covered by a sheet of strong, scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass. The 3.7-inch capacitive touch screen beneath it is beautifully
sensitive and looks terrific too, with a nicely sharp 800x480-pixel resolution. By: Dave Oliver, Edited by: Nate Lanxon Continue reading...
Culture/
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INSIDE
GAY
adding that the encircled town had no gas or fuel or communications. The regime's tactics had been entirely cynical, he said, with the mountain town's fire station and hospital among the first targets, so there was nowhere to treat the injured. Troops then began shelling residential districts. "The Free Syrian Army are in Zabadani but they can't stop the shelling. If you have mortars coming from tanks, what can you do?" he asked. Syrian security forces also pounded residential neighbourhoods in the northern province of Idlib, the southern region of Daraa, and the Damascus suburb of Douma, activists said. In Homs, Syria's state-run television channel claimed that gunmen had fired mortar rounds at the town's oil refinery and into Homs' Baath university now used by Damascus as military camp, according to activists. They said the Syrian army were attacking opposition enclaves from three fixed positions: the university, and the army and air force academies. Lightly armed free Syrian Army troops were
unable to fight back against an invisible adversary several kilometres away, they added. "When they [the army] come inside the city we will fight to our last breath," Raji said. The medical situation inside Homs was desperate with no proper facilities, and the wounded treated in improvised field hospitals. In a gruesome video posted on Wednesday, one doctor from Bad al-Amr, Muhammad Al -Muhammad, said shooting had been going on since 5am. More than 200 rockets had fallen within three hours, he said. Muhammad showed off several victims who, he said, had been shot in the head. "We can't do anything for them. We are treating them in homes," he explained. In a desperate appeal, he said: "I call upon Erdogan in Turkey. I call upon Emir Hamad of Qatar. I call upon King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. I call upon all the Muslims of the world to put pressure on Bashar, the monster." The prospects for the civilians stuck in Homs appear bleak. Raji said there was now no way in or out of the town, with residents sheltering in the ground floor or
basements of houses. "I myself am trying to get my family out, especially my sisters. But the problem is that no-one can get out," he said. Raji said that he and others had given up on the idea that the international community was coming to the rescue. But he said there was perplexity that the world was taking its cue from Russia and China who, he said, have effectively sided with the Syrian president. "We don't believe that Russia and China are more powerful than the whole world. And we don't understand why the world can't open a humanitarian corridor to help us." 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.
What Hardware Upgrade Will Best Speed Up My PC (If I Can Only Afford One)? [Ask Lifehacker]
Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:00:00 AM
Dear Lifehacker, More
of discrimination. In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia memorably disparaged Kennedy as mistaking a culture war for a fit of spite. By treating Proposition 8 as Romer redux, Reinhardt was sending a direct message to Justice Kennedy, his former colleague on the Ninth Circuit. He was telling the justice that if the Supreme Court decides to review the new decision, Kennedy would have to uphold it -- since it went no further than Kennedy had gone before. That would allow Kennedy, if he wished, to avoid declaring a general right to gay marriage in an election year. Cautious Justices This was also a message for gaymarriage advocates: By asserting that the case could be decided on narrow grounds, Reinhardt was actively making it harder for the more progressive justices on the Supreme Court to use this case to find a right to gay marriage. If the most liberal judge in the system declined the opportunity to take the issue all the way, why should the considerably more cautious justices go there? The Supreme Court might not take the case at all. The state of California declined to defend Proposition 8, leaving the task to the measures political proponents, who may lack the constitutional standing to appear in court on its behalf. But in an election year, anything is possible. It only takes four yes votes for a case to be heard, and the four conservatives -Scalia, Samuel Alito, John
Roberts and Clarence Thomas-might want to force the issue on Kennedy, daring him to complete his journey from Ronald Reagan appointee to civil- rights hero. A decision favoring gay marriage, even restricted to California, might help get out the conservative vote in November. The Mormon church helped finance Proposition 8 in the hopes of making common cause with other values conservatives. And right now, anything that would help Mitt Romney may be starting to look good. ( Noah Feldman, a law professor at Harvard University and the author of Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDRs Great Supreme Court Justices, is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer of this article: Noah Feldman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at noah_feldman@harvard.edu. To contact the editor responsible for this article: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. 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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Top News/ Culture/
Redbox To Acquire NCR's Blockbuster Express For $100 Million, Boast "More Locations Than McDonald's And Starbucks Combined"
Austin Carr (Fast Company)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:33:19 AM
Coinstar, the company behind DVD-kiosk service Redbox, today announced it had would acquire NCR's entertainment business for as much as $100 million. NCR, once the central rival to Redbox through its Blockbuster Express brand, operates thousands of kiosks which will now come under Redbox and Coinstar's control. The announcement comes on the heels of another company announcement earlier today that Redbox would be partnering with Verizon for a subscription-based streaming competitor to Netflix. Now, with NCR's entertainment business under its belt and a digital service in the works, Redbox is in a strong position to shake up the entertainment and retail industries, especially with its 35,400 point-of-sale kiosks
already dotting the landscape. And as if today's announcements weren't enough, Coinstar also reported that its quarterly profit had doubled today, jumping to $31.5 million. The twofold announcement today indicates Redbox and Coinstar are far from leaving the kiosk business. Though many
interpreted its announced partnership with Verizon as an indication of the company's digital future, the acquisition indicates that Redbox has doubled down on its efforts and fortified its position in the kiosk business. "While some may have thought that physical was done, we think there is a bright future in physical,"
really exciting--but we're also looking at how we innovate in this automated retail space." When asked what those innovations might look like, Di Valerio declined to go into much detail, indicating that he believes Redbox brand has a larger reach in entertainment among consumers. "We have more locations than McDonald's and Starbucks combined," says Gary Cohen, SVP of marketing and customer experience at Redbox. "We have this big customer base; we have Scott Di Valerio, CFO of Coinstar this direct connection with the and interim president of Redbox, customers; we have physical tells Fast Company. "We don't points of presence; we are in the think physical is going away for places that America shops." three, four, five, seven, 10 years. "You put all that together, and Physical is going to be around for there's a lot of ways you can quite some time, and we believe vector off," Cohen adds, with a w e c a n l e v e r a g e t h a t knowing smile. [Image: Flickr user Jeremy Kunz] marketplace." He adds, "Streaming is great--it's
Valentine's Day cards for geeks

(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:00 AM
Tell that special geeky someone
in your life that you'll never their heart with a delightfully nerdy Valentine's Day card. Full collection at Mashable.
Permalink| Leave a comment Be my valentine.
Top News/ Business/ Sports/
15
Sue Myrick 15th House Republican member to retire

(The Front Page)
In what seems to be a weekly pattern, North Carolinas Sue Myrick became the 15th Republican U.S. Representative to announce retirement in 2012. The decision of Myricka former Charlotte mayor who first came to Congress in the Gingrich Class of 1994was somewhat of a surprise, in that she represents a district that has been in Republican hands without interruption since 1952 and continued re-election for her, as one local wag put it, was the nearest thing to eternal life on earth. But at age 70, Myrick had clearly had enough. Coming days before the commencement of the filing deadline (Feb. 13 until the end of the month), her exit sets the stage
for the Republican considered her heir apparent: Mecklenberg County Sheriff Jim Pendergrass. Although he has primarily dealt with issues of law enforcement issues, Pendergrass is considered cut from the same cloth as Myrick (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 94 percent) and is likely to have the outgoing lawmakers endorsement. Because of the strong Republican history of the Charlotte-based 9th District, it would seem nearly out of the question that Pendergrass would face some form of competition in the May primary. There are quite a few Republican office-holders in the district, among them State House Speaker Tom Tillis and Majority Whip Ruth Samuelson. But given that Mecklenberg is the largest county in the district and Penderegrass is likely to have Myricks blessing,
the country sheriff has a strong hand up in the nomination race. Another factor that may have led to Myricks exodus is that the next generation of her family is ready to enter the political arena. Dan Forest, her son (from a previous marriage), is the frontrunning candidate for nomination as lieutenant governor. Since Forest is a strong conservative, one could say with a straight face: like mother, like son. John Gizzi is Political Editor of HUMAN EVENTS. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
Here Are The 9 Most Ridiculous Pairings From This Weekend's Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Tony Manfred (Business Insider)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:12:00 PM
Calhoun to miss UConn's next game

(Sports News Headlines Yahoo! News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:35:11 AM
Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun will miss Saturday's game against No. 2 Syracuse while on an indefinite medical
leave of absence because of spinal stenosis, a painful condition in his lower back.
The Super Bowl is over, which means its time for another Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The tournament features celebrities paired with pros, and a lot of made-for-TV silliness goes on. We picked out our 9 favorite odd couples from Round 1, featuring Kenny G, Michael Bolton, and Hootie from Hootie And The Blowfish. 9. Ricky Barnes and Bill Belichick 8. D.A. Points and Bill Murray
7. John Mallinger and Huey Lewis See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook. See Also: This Incredible List Of Golf Rules From WWII England Tells You What To Do If You Get Attacked By Nazis While Playing These Are The Two Most Disliked Athletes In America ROBERT REICH: Obama Has Handed The Election Over To The Super Rich
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Business/ Sports/
We've Solved Part Of The Baffling Puzzle Behind New 'Spider-Man' Campaign
Kirsten Acuna (Business Insider)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:10:31 PM
Outcry over NYC HIV/AIDS housing help policy - Corning Leader

On Monday night, Sony released a second trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man. While everyone else began picking apart the commercial a few fans and Collider spotted a gem tucked away inside it. The words "Mark of the SpiderMan," embedded in the trailer's text, lead to the film's first viral website. The site contains what look like six static video feeds situated above the new spidey logo. Confused? You're not the only one. Clicking over the site is pointless. The videos don't play anything, nor does any sound stream. No one has seemed to figure out anything about the campaign yet. However, while digging around, here's what I uncovered.
It appears each of the six videos are some sort of "noise" captures that will be revealed. You can save all of the embedded videos on the site. Dragging them to your desktop as I did saves each clip as a .gif with the title "Newest Noise." From there, you can open up each individual
clip with a video player and pause the .gif frame by frame. We haven't found anything hidden in them, but the titles of the .gifs may offer a clue at the next stage of Sony's viral campaign. Maybe Andrew Garfield's younger Spider-Man sets up live
feeds across the city for his crimefighting vendetta or maybe this has to do with lab work by Spidey's nemesis, Dr. Connors. Regardless of what people may think of the reboot, it's certainly a clever way to get people interested in the film. Check out the site and see if you can make anything of it. Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: 'The Amazing Spider-Man' Trailer Slings Onto Screens Roseanne Barr Is 'Nuts' For Running For PresidentHere's Today's Buzz 'American Idol' May Have A S e c r e t R a t i n g s WeaponPresident Obama
Outcry over NYC HIV/AIDS housing help policy Corning Leader By Anonymous AP People sickened with HIV or AIDS and seeking help from New York City to pay their rent could become ineligible for housing assistance if they refuse to go into substance abuse treatment. The unusual policy twist has angered advocates... and more
Dems recruiting former Giant Carson for House bid

House Democrats are envisioning another Giants victory not by
the professional football team, but by Hall of Fame linebacker Harry
Carson in a congressional run.
Business/ News Wire/ Sports/
17
Here Are The Real Names Mountain Lion Of Some Of The World's Snatches Boy During Family Outing Most Famous Celebrities
(FOXNews.com) Evann Gastaldo (Business Insider)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:07:00 PM Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:24:51 AM
It's no secret that sometimes celebrities' names are just too perfect to be the ones they were born with. The Huffington Post rounds up the real names of 44 stars, including: Meg Ryan: Margaret Hyra Pat Benatar: Patricia Mae Andrzejewski Chevy Chase: Cornelius Crane Chase Portia De Rossi: Amanda Lee Rogers Dakota Fanning: Hannah Fanning Steven Tyler: Steven Victor Tallarico Alicia Keys: Alicia Augello Cook Spike Lee: Shelton Jackson Lee Joan Rivers: Joan Alexandra Molinsky Tina Turner: Anna Mae Bullock Demi Moore: Demetria Gene Guynes Helen Mirren: Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov Bruce Willis: Walter Willis Ben Kingsley: Krishna Pandit Bhanji
Click for the complete list, which includes an Oscar-winning actor born with the unfortunate moniker "Maurice Joseph Micklewhite." This post originally appeared at Newser. More from Newser Scientists Spot Trouble With Online Dating Terminated CEO Waives $100M Payout Rush Limbaugh: Eastwood 'Got Scammed' on Ad Catholics Back Obama's Birth Control Mandate: Poll America's Latest Fast-Food
Indulgence: Bacon Shake Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: Daniel Radcliffe Says He Was Pretty Drunk During Lots Of 'Harry Potter' Scenes ROBERT REICH: Obama Has Handed The Election Over To The Super Rich DOUG KASS: SELL EVERYTHING! EVEN ROUBINI IS BULLISH!
Rivers Hobbs with his father, Jason Hobbs, who stabbed the mountain lion with a pocketknife, causing it to flee. A 6-year-old Texas boy is recovering after being attacked by a mountain lion while walking with his family at Big Bend National Park. Rivers Hobbs was attacked late Sunday by the animal as his family returned to their room from the park's main lodge, MyFoxAustin.com reports. It sneaked up on me, Hobbs told the station. The boy's father, Jason Hobbs, pounced on the mountain lion as it clamped onto Rivers' face. Hobbs ultimately stabbed the animal in the chest with a pocketknife, causing it to flee. "The cat was clamped onto his face, I reached down and got my
pocket knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point, Jason Hobbs told the station. The boy's wounds on the right side of his face took 17 stitches to close. The family is expected to return to their Leander, Texas, home late Wednesday. Once there, Hobbs will have to go though a series of rabies shots, the station reports. Click here for more on this report from MyFoxAustin.com. Related Video Lion mauls 6-year-old boy in Texas Child attacked in Big Bend National Park 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.
Spanish federation to sue French TV for Nadal skit

Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:08:13 PM
said it plans to sue a French TV channel for using its logo in a video that poked fun at Rafael Nadal.
The Spanish tennis federation
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Signs build that Iran sanctions disrupt food imports

(Reuters: Top News)
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the latest leader of a EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and major Asian oil importing country other foreign media are subject to to visit the Middle East seeking Iranian restrictions on their ability alternative sources of oil as to film or take pictures in Tehran. sanctions make it more difficult to C r e d i t : R e u t e r s / M o r t e z a import from Iran. Nikoubazl Traders in Asia told Reuters on By Niluksi Koswanage and Tuesday that Malaysian exporters Parisa Hafezi of palm oil - the source of half of KUALA LUMPUR/TEHRAN| Iran's consumption of a food Wed Feb 8, 2012 10:06am EST staple used to make margarine ( R e u t e r s ) - M o r e e v i d e n c e and confectionary - had halted emerged on Tuesday of the sales to Iran because they could crippling impact of new sanctions not get paid. on Iran, with international traders That followed news on Monday saying Tehran is having trouble t h a t I r a n h a d d e f a u l t e d o n buying rice, cooking oil and other payments for rice from top staples to feed its 74 million supplier India, and news last week people weeks before an election. that Ukrainian shipments of maize New U.S. financial sanctions had been cut nearly in half. imposed since the beginning of Rice is one of the main staples of this year to punish Tehran over its the Iranian diet. With the rial nuclear program are playing currency plummeting, prices have havoc with Iran's ability to buy more than doubled to $5 a kilo at imports and receive payment for bazaars in Iran from about $2 last its oil exports, commodities year. traders said. Maize is used primarily as animal Iran denies that sanctions are feed, and the cost of meat has causing serious harm to its almost tripled to about $30 a kilo, e c o n o m y , b u t R e u t e r s beyond the budget of many investigations in recent days with middle class Iranian families. commodities traders around the The measures have had a globe show serious disruptions to dramatic impact on daily life in its imports. That is having a real the country ahead of a March 2 impact on the streets of Iran, parliamentary election that will pit where prices for basic foodstuffs supporters of hardline President are soaring. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against
opponents seen as even more conservative. Reformists are barely represented in the election, which is being seen as a referendum on Ahmadinejad's economic policies that have seen subsidies for basic goods cut and replaced with direct payments to families. Next month's election will be Iran's first since a presidential vote in 2009, when a disputed victory for Ahmadinejad triggered eight months of violent protests. The authorities put that revolt down by force, but since then the Arab Spring has shown the vulnerability of governments in the region to popular anger fuelled by economic hardship. Traders in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur said palm oil shipments to Iran had largely been halted since late last year, after U.S. and European sanctions made it difficult for buyers to obtain letters of credit and make payments via middlemen in the United Arab Emirates. "They keep asking in the spirit of Muslim brotherhood. The last I heard was an enquiry for 5,000 tonnes for February or March delivery, but no one wants to take that risk now," said one trader in Kuala Lumpur, speaking on condition of anonymity while discussing commercial contracts. A margarine factory owner in
Iran, who asked not to be identified, said there was a shortage in supply of the oils needed to make margarine that could halt production soon. "The way things are going, I predict that over next three to four months our edible oil will run out because of sanctions. It is no longer being imported and Iran itself cannot produce that much." A Tehran market wholesaler said: "There is a big shortage of margarine in the market, due to drop in imports. What is being sold now is our previous stockpiles." A default by Iranian buyers on purchases of 200,000 tonnes of Indian rice is potentially more crippling. The average Iranian eats 40 kilos of rice a year, 45 percent of which is imported, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. India is the main supplier. The president of the All India Rice Exporters' Association said it was advising exporters to stop selling rice to Iran with the customary 90 days credit for payment. "As part of our efforts to minimize losses, we are asking our colleagues to avoid sending rice on credit," Vijay Setia said. Exporters have also had difficulty in Pakistan, another of Iran's major sources of rice.
Javed Agha, head of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan said: "We use lines of credit opened through agents in Dubai, but that too has become difficult because of sanctions and the resulting currency fluctuations." Iranian buyers normally pay for Indian rice through middlemen in the UAE, but falls in Iran's rial means buyers have trouble covering the cost in hard currency. HAMMER BLOW While it is too early to talk of hunger from the rising prices of food in Iran, international organizations are keeping an eye out for a sign of hardship. Gaelle Stevenier, spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Programme, said the agency was "monitoring" the situation but had no further comment. The ultimate hammer blow to Iran's economy could come in the next few months if it becomes unable to sell the 2.6 million barrels of oil a day that it is accustomed to exporting, or is forced to offer such steep discounts that its revenue shrivels. While Iran has a more diverse economy than other big oil exporters in the Gulf, energy exports are still its main source of earnings to buy food and other SIGNS page 22
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Frustration mounts as Greeks seek elusive bailout deal

(Reuters: Top News)
a crunch meeting on Tuesday was postponed because of missing paperwork, according to one party Anti-austerity protesters carry a official, delaying discussion of a police shield during scuffles in deal which will further inflame an front of the parliament in Athens angry Greek electorate. February 7, 2012. All three parties - conservative Credit: Reuters/Yannis Behrakis New Democracy, the PASOK By Renee Maltezou and Lefteris socialists and far-right LAOS Papadimas finally received the 15-page ATHENS| Wed Feb 8, 2012 document on Wednesday morning 12:29pm EST laying out the principles of the (Reuters) - Greek party leaders bailout and its conditions, a party finally gathered on Wednesday to official told Reuters. agree a reform deal in return for a There were seen arriving at the new EU/IMF rescue to avoid a prime minister's office at around chaotic default, after repeated 1500 GMT. delays which have prompted Attached to the document are a warnings that the euro can live further 30 or so pages laying out without Athens. how the program, which is likely With the future of Greece and the to force a big cut in many Greeks' wider euro zone at stake, Prime l i v i n g s t a n d a r d s , w i l l b e Minister Lucas Papademos' i m p l e m e n t e d . efforts to get the three parties in The draft of the bailout includes his government to accept the plans to cut the minimum wage by tough reforms demanded by the a b o u t 2 0 - 2 2 p e r c e n t , a European Union and International government official said. It also Monetary Fund seem to have been gives political leaders the option thwarted by arguments over little of cutting pensions over 1,200 more than procedural matters. euros by up to 20 percent or One deadline after another has cutting supplementary pensions passed without the leaders making by 15 percent on average or a up their minds on terms for the combination of cuts in both main new 130 billion euro ($172 and supplementary pensions, the billion) rescue which Athens must official said. receive to avoid going bankrupt DELAY AND MORE DELAY next month when big debt After officials spoke repayments are due. optimistically that the three What was supposed to have been leaders - New Democracy's
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:29:40 AM
Antonis Samaras, PASOK's George Papandreou and LAOS leader George Karatzaferis would meet just after noon on Wednesday, the meeting was delayed again. Earlier, an official said Karatzaferis wanted all documentation translated from English - the language of negotiation with the international lenders - into Greek before he would look at them. The far-right leader then threatened to abandon the meeting because he had not received the Greek version of the document, though he has backed down from similar threats in the past. Another party demanded several hours to study the draft before discussions could begin, an official at the party said, requesting anonymity. One Greek news website wrote an open letter to Papademos on Wednesday demanding that he "end this water torture." "Greeks cannot any longer stand this torment of constant insecurity that is destroying the country and hurting our national dignity," it said. "The prime minister must end this endless bargaining that demeans the country and its citizens." Facing elections possibly as early as April, coalition leaders have shown little sense of urgency,
seemingly deaf to demands from euro zone leaders to make up their minds fast. An opinion poll on Wednesday showed that PASOK, which ruled Greece until Papandreou's government collapsed last November, has most to fear from elections. The monthly survey by Public Issue for Kathimerini newspaper showed support for PASOK had collapsed to eight percent from the nearly 44 percent it commanded when it returned to power in 2009. Karatzaferis defended the delays. "We can't say a plain yes or no unless we have assurances from the relevant state authorities that these actions are constitutional and will lead the country out of the crisis." "There is time. When it comes to the future of the country, we will find the time," he told reporters late on Tuesday. Such attitudes have raised frustration levels in Greece and abroad close to breaking point. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government funds much of Greece's bailouts, expressed bewilderment on Monday at what the delays could achieve. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the euro zone could live without Athens if it did not keep its side of the bargain.
That drew a robust response from Deputy Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis who told parliament that the EU treaty has no clause to force any country out of the euro. "There is no legal ground to throw into question a country's sovereign rights," he said. "A country that does not protect its social fabric has no future." Some exasperated Greeks believe that their leaders are drawing out the talks to create the impression that they are driving a hard bargain to soften the deal's terms. The reality is that the "troika" of the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF holds most of the cards. While the leaders can seek less harsh cuts in some areas, overall targets have to be achieved and savings must be made elsewhere. BOND EXCHANGE Greek media reported various elements of the deal were now in place, including a bond swap deal with private creditors to ease Greece's debt burden by reducing the value of government bonds held by banks and insurers. The new bonds would have an average interest rate of around 3.5 percent, said state NET TV. But one person familiar with matter said that no deal had been nailed down. "Everyone knows FRUSTRATION page 24
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Santorum claims momentum with wins in three states

(Reuters: Top News)
also became the first state where Romney did not end up in first or second place. Rick Santorum prepares to The startling results raised fresh autograph a campaign sign for a doubts about whether Romney, a supporter at his primary night wealthy former private equity rally at the St. Charles Convention e x e c u t i v e a n d f o r m e r Center in St. Charles, Missouri, Massachusetts governor, can February 7, 2012. extend his support from the party Credit: Reuters/Sarah Conard establishment to win over a broad By Steve Holland swath of Republican voters. DENVER| Wed Feb 8, 2012 Santorum has now finished first 11:54am EST in four of the first eight primaries ( R e u t e r s ) - R e p u b l i c a n and caucuses, after his narrow presidential contender Rick victory over Romney in Iowa's Santorum claimed a surge of caucuses on January 3. momentum and fundraising on The former senator said his Wednesday, a day after his campaign was already bringing in shocking sweep of nominating more donations, an important contests in Colorado, Minnesota consideration for a candidate who and Missouri that dealt a blow to trails far behind Romney in the front-runner Mitt Romney. fund-raising race. Even though Romney holds "We're doing very, very well strong advantages in financing raising money. I think last night and organization, his campaign we raised a quarter of a million will have to refocus to fight the dollars online," Santorum said. challenge from Santorum, a Backed by a wealthy "Super former U.S. senator from PAC" that pays for attack Pennsylvania known for his a d v e r t i s i n g a g a i n s t r i v a l s , socially conservative views. Romney won three of the first five "We definitely are the campaign state-by-state contests to pick the w i t h t h e m o m e n t u m , t h e Republican nominee to oppose enthusiasm on the ground," Democratic President Barack Santorum said on CNN. Obama in the November 6 For Romney, Tuesday's results e l e c t i o n . included losses in two states - As he has before, Romney had Colorado and Minnesota - that he seemed on track to win the won in his unsuccessful 2008 nomination after big wins in presidential campaign. Minnesota Nevada and Florida last week. He
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:54:45 AM
had been expected to win easily in Colorado and did little campaigning in Minnesota and Missouri. In Minnesota's caucuses, Santorum won with 45 percent of the vote. But the state became the first this year in which Romney did not finish first or second. Congressman Ron Paul was in second place with 27 percent and Romney was third at 17 percent. Santorum trounced Romney by 30 percentage points in Missouri, 55 percent to 25 percent. That vote was a non-binding primary, but has symbolic value as a measure of support in a big Midwestern state. The race was closer in Colorado where Santorum won by 5 percentage points over Romney, 40 percent to 35 percent. "This was a good night for Rick Santorum. I want to congratulate Senator Santorum and wish him the very best. We'll keep on campaigning down the road, but I expect to become our nominee with your help," Romney told supporters in Denver. Romney, co-founder of the private equity firm Bain Capital, has made his business experience the centerpiece of his presidential campaign and presented himself as the candidate best equipped to right a still-struggling economy. "Team Romney might need to
tweak its strategy. So far they've been successful in going negative on their opponents and touting his business experience," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said. "But obviously Republican primary voters are hungry for something more. A lot of folks see him as a single-issue candidate right now." SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES Santorum is a devout Roman Catholic known for religious conservative views such as strong opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage. He had been battling Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to become the conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney. Gingrich, the front-runner as recently as January 21, when he won the South Carolina primary, is struggling. He was not on the ballot in Missouri and was crushed in the other two states. Santorum's rise showed the strength of the socially conservative wing of the Republican party, where many voters are wary of Romney because of his past moderate views on social issues, such as his support for abortion rights while running for office in Massachusetts, a predominantly Democratic state. The issue came to the fore on
Tuesday when a U.S. appeals court ruled that California's ban on gay marriage violated the U.S. Constitution. "We need someone who's got a strong record to go up against President Obama on the biggest big government issues of the day," Santorum said on MSNBC on Wednesday. Some Christian conservatives are also wary of Romney because of his Mormon religion. Santorum has rebuilt a political career left in tatters in 2006 when voters in Pennsylvania threw him out of the Senate by an 18percentage point margin. The Missouri primary is considered a "beauty contest" because the candidates do not win delegates who will take part in the August convention where the Republican presidential nominee will officially be chosen. Missouri Republicans will select convention delegates in caucuses on March 17. The next major Republican nominating contests are the Arizona and Michigan primaries on February 28, while Maine wraps up its caucuses this Saturday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday had Romney ahead in the race nationally with 29 percent, and SANTORUM page 22
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21
Open GOP Race Again 'Alive and Well'

(FOXNews.com)
was belatedly declared the winner. Santorum said at his victory rally The Republican presidential in Missouri that the night's results contest is a two-man race no showed conservatism is "alive and more. well." Santorum used the victories Rick Santorum proved that the t o b u i l d h i s c a s e t h a t t h e 2012 primary election still has a Republicans need a nominee who few surprises left, after he went can demonstrate "sharp contrasts" three for three in Tuesdays w i t h P r e s i d e n t O b a m a - contests and once again shook up something he claims the other the GOP nomination battle. candidates cannot do. Santorum, in perhaps the biggest Santorum went after Romney, upset of the night, was declared accusing him of holding the the winner of the Colorado "same positions" as the president c a u c u s e s - - a c o n t e s t M i t t on several issues, but largely Romney had been leading in glossed over the other GOP recent polls and won in the 2008 candidates in his remarks. race. The former Pennsylvania Romney is still ahead in the senator also won the Minnesota delegate count, despite Santorum's caucuses and the non-binding b i g n i g h t . B u t S a n t o r u m ' s Missouri GOP primary. victories disrupt the narrative that The candidates head next into the GOP presidential contest had Maine, and later in the month to b e c o m e a t w o - p e r s o n r a c e A r i z o n a a n d M i c h i g a n . between Gingrich and Romney. Santorums performance stokes With all precincts reporting in questions about Romneys appeal Colorado, Santorum led with 40 in some corners of the Republican percent of the vote. Romney was Party but also puts the pressure on in second with 35 percent, Newt Gingrich as he challenges followed by Gingrich and Paul. Santorums claim to be the With 95 percent of precincts conservative alternative to reporting in Minnesota, Santorum Romney. led with 45 percent. Ron Paul was Santorum, though, said Tuesday pulling in second with 27 percent, night in Missouri that he wasnt f o l l o w e d b y R o m n e y a n d looking to be the alternative to G i n g r i c h . Romney. A total of 70 delegates are up for " I s t a n d h e r e t o b e t h e grabs in those two states Tuesday, conservative alternative to Barack though the caucuses are just the Obama, Santorum said. start of a lengthy delegateThe three-for-three finish marked allocating process. the best night of Santorum's In Missouri, the primary is campaign since Iowa, in which he effectively a statewide straw poll,
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:24:51 AM
won one, in South Carolina. Romney entered Tuesday's competition with a healthy lead in the delegate count -- at 101 delegates. Gingrich trailed with 32 delegates, following by Santorum with 17 and Paul with nine. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination. Though Missouri's primary Tuesday was largely symbolic, the contest was still expected to cost state taxpayers about $6 million. Related Video as it sets the stage for the delegate had a "good night." He went on to Ron Paul: 'We did very well -awarding caucuses a month from d e f i n e h i m s e l f a s t h e o n l y tonight' now. Still, more than 240,000 candidate, though, who has never GOP presidential candidate people voted in the contest, and been "compromised" by the thanks supporters in Minnesota Santorum cruised to a crushing culture of Washington. And he Related Video v i c t o r y . W i t h a l l p r e c i n c t s said he still expects to be the Romney: GOP will stand united reporting, Santorum had 55 nominee. after primaries percent of the vote. Romney had "This is a time for real change in GOP presidential candidate 25 percent, followed by Paul with Washington -- fundamental, bold, rallies supporters in Denver 12 percent. Gingrich was not on dramatic change," Romney said. Related Stories Santorum jumps the ballot in that contest. At his post-election rally in into second place in delegate race Turnout in the caucus states was Minnesota, Paul touted his second Employees at agency that created smaller. About 66,000 showed up -place finish in the state while Chrysler Super Bowl spot backed in Colorado; turnout in Minnesota predicting his campaign will do Obama, though White House appeared slightly lower. well in the delegate battle -- denies role in ad G i n g r i c h , t h o u g h , h a r d l y despite the fact Paul has not yet This entry passed through the competed in any of the three won a primary contest. Full-Text RSS service if this is states Tuesday, instead focusing Tuesday's contests were the first your content and you're reading it his attention on other contests of the season in which multiple on someone else's site, please read down the primary calendar. He states were holding contests on the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentcampaigned Tuesday in Ohio, o n e d a y . U p n e x t , M a i n e only/faq.php#publishers. Five which holds its election on March concludes its caucuses this Filters recommends: Donate to 6, " Super Tuesday," as the other Saturday, and primaries will be Wikileaks. candidates made last-minute held in Michigan and Arizona a p p e a l s i n C o l o r a d o a n d later in the month. Minnesota. Romney so far has won three Romney acknowledged at his contests, in New Hampshire, rally in Colorado that Santorum Florida and Nevada. Gingrich has
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necessities. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia long a regional rival of Iran - has promised to make up for lost supply for countries that stop buying Iranian crude. South Korea's Lee became on Tuesday the latest Asian leader to visit Saudi Arabia in search of additional oil supplies to replace possible cuts of oil from Iran. The leaders of Japan and China visited in recent weeks. "I believe Saudi can play a major role in stabilizing the global economy," Lee said in a speech. Korea bought 87 percent of its oil from the Middle East last year, including 9 percent from Iran. Where Iran is still able to sell oil, it has difficulty getting paid, or exchanging payment from the buyer's domestic currency into dollars so that it can use the money for international trade. South Korea owes Iran's central bank some $5 billion for crude oil imports, but the money is trapped in the Korean banking system because of U.S. sanctions. The European Union, which bought about a fifth of Iran's oil exports last year, has announced a total embargo which will take force over the next six months. China, which also bought about a fifth of Iran's oil last year, is demanding steep discounts to
keep doing business with Tehran, and has cut its imports by more than half over the first three months of this year while pressing Iran to cut its price. A senior executive of a U.S. oil company said Saudi exports have risen by 200,000 barrels a day, mostly to Asia, making up for most of the decline in China's imports of Iranian oil. China has also been increasing its purchases from Russia and West Africa, oil traders say. Energy is not the only Iranian export that has been hurt. Traders said that China is likely to cut its purchases of Iranian iron ore as well, worth $2 billion a year. "There is a huge risk ahead, and many haven't realized it yet," said a senior executive at a Shanghaibased trading firm that has a longterm partnership with an Iranian ore supplier. "It is easy for the United States to freeze our business, forcing large Chinese Iran ore traders, which have large trading volumes with Iran, to be more cautious when making bookings. It's not worth taking the risk." A Chinese iron ore buyer based in eastern China's Shandong province said some of his Iranian suppliers had rushed shipments, a sign that they too were worried about potential payment
problems. Shipments booked in February had arrived early, and he expected imports to decline by March. The new U.S. sanctions, which come into effect gradually by June, would make it impossible for countries to use the international financial system to pay for Iranian oil. Washington has said it will provide waivers to countries to prevent chaos on oil markets, but wants them to demonstrate that they are cutting imports in order to receive the permits. The sanctions have been imposed to halt Iran's nuclear program, which the West believes is being used to develop a nuclear bomb. Iran's leadership says the nuclear program is peaceful, and it is willing to endure sanctions to maintain it as a national right. Last month, Iran took the important step of beginning production of highly enriched uranium at a new facility hidden deep under a mountain, where it would be difficult for U.S. or Israeli warplanes to destroy it. Talks between Iran and the West over the nuclear program broke down a year ago. Iran has repeatedly said it wants to restart the talks, but has refused Western demands to make clear first that its uranium enrichment would be
up for negotiation. As the sanctions have tightened, Iranian officials have made repeated threats of military strikes against Mid-East shipping and the United States, which protects the Mid-East oil trade with a giant flotilla based in the Gulf. In the latest threat, the Iranian ambassador to Russia said Tehran was prepared to attack U.S. interests "anywhere in the world" if Washington launches a strike on Iran. (Additional reporting by Ruby Lian in Shanghai, David Stanway and Judy Hua in Beijing, Cho Mee-young in Seoul, Marwa Rashad in Riyadh, Ratanajyoti Dutta and Mayank Bhardwaj in New Delhi, Qasim Nauman in Islamabad, Alex Lawler in London and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Writing by Peter Graff; editing by Janet McBride) 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.
Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News

(Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News)
American Le Mans Series Winter Test Starts with the Small and the Quick SEBRING, Fla. The American Le Mans Series Winter Test at Sebring International raceway started off Monday, Feb. 6, with the small but quick IMSA Prototypes Lites. Next on the menu were GT3 Porsches, followed by USF 2000 single seaters. The [...] 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
showed Santorum's support has gained by 5 percentage points in the last month, to 18 percent. (Additional reporting by John
Whitesides, Bill Trott, Susan Heavey and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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
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News Wire/ Featured/ World News/
23
$300G Union Boss onPoor: 'Life Not Always Fair'

(FOXNews.com)
to make the point that providing vouchers to a select few students is not the way to address the Shown here is New Jersey challenges faced by urban school Education Association Director districts," the statement said. Vincent Giordano. Giordano went on to say that the A New Jersey teachers union union's "record of support for chief whose salary tops $300,000 urban education and is under fire for saying in a recent disadvantaged children is interview that "life's not always unimpeachable." fair" while arguing against He said the union does oppose vouchers to send poor students to vouchers, but only because "they private schools. will take resources from New Jersey Education disadvantaged public schools and Association Executive Director only exacerbate the challenges Vincent Giordano made the closely and more harmoniously,'" compensation and other benefits f a c e d b y s t u d e n t s i n t h o s e are counted. comment on the local "New Giordano said. communities." Jersey Capitol Report" program When told some families cannot NJEA spokesman Steve Baker, Giordano said the NJEA supports over the weekend. During the afford to finance the shift to though, said those reports are not better funding for urban schools. interview, he was challenged by p r i v a t e s c h o o l w i t h o u t accurate. He said the director's This entry passed through the the host on why low-income government help, Giordano said: salary is "in the three-hundred Full-Text RSS service if this is families should not have the same "Well, you know, life's not always thousands, and the low three- your content and you're reading it hundred thousands." options as other families when fair and I'm sorry about that." on someone else's site, please read The interview clip swiftly spread The NJEA has since put out a the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contenttheir child is in a failing school. "Those parents should have on the web, along with reminders lengthy statement clarifying the only/faq.php#publishers. Five director's remarks. exactly the same options and they about Giordano's healthy salary. Filters recommends: Donate to The Newark Star-Ledger reported " W h i l e M r . G i o r d a n o Wikileaks. do. We don't say that you can't take your kid out of the public in 2010 that his salary was nearly acknowledges that his choice of school. We would argue not and $422,000, and total compensation w o r d s m a y b e o p e n t o we would say 'let's work more roughly $550,000 when deferred misinterpretation, his intent was
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:24:51 AM
More than 200 held as Met Police crack down on gangs BBC News
(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:11:26 PM
BBC News More than 200 held as Met Police crack down on gangs BBC News More than 200 people have been arrested during raids across London by the Metropolitan Police's new dedicated unit tackling gang crime. The Trident Gang Crime Command, which consists of about 1000 officers, will monitor gang activity and work with... Dozens of raids across London as police swoop on gang crime Metro Met police task force declares war on London gang crime Cyprus Mail Anti-gangs strategy risks becoming attack on young people, adviser warns The Guardian The Independent- North London Today- Daily Mail all 437 news articles
Can Iran Be Contained?

Benjamin Weinthal (The Weekly Standard)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:16:00 AM
Berlin The
Munich
Security
Conference, a whos who of global security officials and diplomats, has long been a platform to promote bizarre d i a l o g u e s w i t h t h e I r a n i a n different. Its current head, former regimeand this year was no
German ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger, seemed eager to capitulate to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
24
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FRUSTRATION
where we (creditors) stand. There's a lot of clarity on the terms and conditions but the Greeks still have to provide more feedback," said the source, noting that little had changed since reports that the creditors would take a 70 percent loss on their holdings. One newspaper also reported that the European Central Bank, which has large holdings of Greek bonds but has refused to take part in the swap, had agreed to sell its holdings at their purchase price to a euro zone bailout fund, the EFSF. However, one EU official in Brussels said it was highly
unlikely the ECB would agree to anything without first seeing that the final elements of the Greek deal were in place. Financial markets continued to position for a deal being done eventually. Prices of German government bonds, which investors buy at times of uncertainty for their perceived safety, fell on Wednesday. The euro also hit a new two-month high versus the dollar. Euro zone officials say the full package must be agreed with Greece and approved by the euro zone, European Central Bank and IMF before February 15. (Additional reporting by Ingrid
Melander and Harry Papachristou in Athens, Steve Slater in London, John O'Donnell in Brussels; Writing by David Stamp and Deepa Babington; editing by Elizabeth Piper/Mike Peacock) 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.
How Steve Jobs Can Help You Win Wheel Of Fortune

Cracked.com (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:14:53 PM
Stadard of BMC school has gone down: Congress IBNLive.com

Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:06:29 PM
Over the Horizon: The A-10 Battle and Military Turf Wars
(World Politics Review: Articles)
The four-decade-and-counting saga of the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft continued last week, when the U.S. Air Force announced that it would cut five A-10 squadrons as part of its effort to reduce costs. The 246 remaining A-10s will, according to the Air Force, continue to perform the close air support (CAS) mission until they are eventually replaced by the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Defense
wonks met the announcement with a storm of criticism, but little real surprise. The long-running fight over the A-10 represents not so much a disagreement over technology, but rather a bureaucratically driven dispute over the nature of warfare. The Air Force originally developed the A-10 as a preemptive strike against the Armys planned Cheyenne attack helicopter. The Air Force worried that the Armys use of advanced attack helicopters for CAS would simultaneously deprive the Air
India Today Stadard of BMC school has gone down: Congress IBNLive.com PTI | 11:02 PM,Feb 08,2012 Mumbai, Feb 8 (PTI) Alleging that the dropout rate among the girls has increased in the schools run by Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai Congress vice-president Rajiv Chavan today said the standard of these schools... Bal Thackeray will be inconsequential after the BMC poll results, says... India Today Bal Thackeray won't mater now: Chavan MSN India Congress vows to unseat SenaForce of a mission and lend the the end of the Cold War and BJP, make Mumbai 'livable' Army a hand in Congressional finally in the early part of last Hindustan Times procurement wars. Insisting that it d e c a d e . A r m y i n f l u e n c e , Times of India- Daily News & could do CAS better than the Congressional pressure and Analysis- Mid-Day Army, the USAF sponsored popular enthusiasm for the all 9 news articles development of the A-10, a plane Warthog repeatedly saved the capable of close anti-armor attack. fleet. ... Once the Cheyenne program was This entry passed through the c a n c e l l e d i n d e v e l o p m e n t , Full-Text RSS service if this is however, the Air Force did little your content and you're reading it to hide its lack of enthusiasm for on someone else's site, please read t h e A - 1 0 a n d a l l t h a t i t the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentrepresented. It attempted on only/faq.php#publishers. Five numerous occasions to strangle Filters recommends: Donate to t h e A - 1 0 , f i r s t d u r i n g t h e Wikileaks. procurement process, then after Most "Wheel Of Fortune" contestants who get the first spin waste it by actually picking letters on the board. However, the best way to win may be to follow the model of Steve Jobs and let someone else do the hard work.
World News/ Featured/
25
Should China Abandon its NonInterference Policy?

(World Politics Review: Articles)
Last-ditch fight to save Lansley's health reforms - The Independent

Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:42:01 AM
Search for husband of dead Greta woman Newcastle Herald

Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:12:52 AM
BEIJING -- China's longstanding policy of noninterference in the sovereign affairs of other nations is a cornerstone of its Peaceful Rise foreign policy doctrine. But as recent events have brought sharply into focus, the current approach fails to protect Chinas expanding overseas interests and has caused a trust deficit with regard to Chinas intentions at an intergovernmental level. This raises the question of how long the non-interference policy can be sustained, and whether Chinese interests would be better served by abandoning it for a less rigid position. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which have guided Chinese foreign policy since
1954, consist of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. They were reaffirmed by the current administration in 2004 as part of the Peaceful Rise doctrine in order to dampen inevitable security concerns arising from China's huge gains in comprehensive national strength since 1979. ... 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 Guardian Last-ditch fight to save Lansley's health reforms The Independent How much would you reduce the price of your house by to achieve a sale? Our Online House Hunter look... Another day, another report concluding that integration is what will save a health and social care... I stupidly
thought we were getting somewhere... Sketch: Will the Health Bill save Ed Miliband? Telegraph.co.uk Lords embarrass Cameron again after voting against NHS reform bill Daily Mail David Cameron clashes over NHS reforms with Ed Miliband video The Guardian BBC News- Morning Star Online - Channel 4 News all 950 news articles
I'm not a wowser, Newman tells Christians - Brisbane Times

Rasmussen: Voters Oppose Obamacare's Contraception Mandate 50% to 39%

John McCormack (The Weekly Standard)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:55:00 AM
Liberal National Party would curtail nightclub trading... Anna Bligh does backflip on payBrisbane Times per-view politics with party I'm not a wowser, Newman tells fundraiser Courier Mail Christians LNP leader pitches for Christian Brisbane Times vote Sydney Morning Herald Campbell Newman has flagged ALP has 'issues' attracting weekly zero tolerance police candidates, Anna Bligh says c r a c k d o w n s o n a n t i - s o c i a l NEWS.com.au b e h a v i o u r i n e n t e r t a i n m e n t Ninemsn- ABC Online p r e c i n c t s . P h o t o : S c i b i d o o all 54 news articles Campbell Newman has poured cold water on suggestions the
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:02:29 AM
Sydney Morning Herald Search for husband of dead Greta woman Newcastle Herald A MAJOR search is under way for the husband of a Hunter woman found strangled in the back shed of her grandmother's house as investigators reveal they have no ''formal'' suspects in the murder. Darren Fishburn, 42, has not been seen since the body of... Police search for husband of dead Greta woman The Maitland Mercury Police in hunt for missing husband Darren Fishburn The Daily Telegraph Husband wanted over wife's shed death Herald Sun NEWS.com.au- Sydney Morning Herald- Perth Now all 190 news articles
Rasmussen reports:
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World News/ Technology/
Village boycotts poll 'Big Man' will not face criminal proceedings for no bridge over after train incident - stv.tv river - IBNLive.com Christian
(Nation - Google News) (Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:05:34 PM
Moneycontrol.com Village boycotts poll for no bridge over river IBNLive.com PTI | 11:02 PM,Feb 08,2012 New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) The entire village of Kathua along the river Rapti in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district today boycotted the assembly poll
protesting the authorities failure to provide a bridge for them over the river. UP clocks record 62% polling in Phase -I Business Standard Rain and cold fail to keep Uttar Pradesh voters away Tehelka UP polls: First phase of polling ends; 62% turnout recorded NDTV Economic Times- The Hindu all 231 news articles
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:13:28 AM
stv.tv 'Big Man' will not face criminal proceedings after train incident stv.tv Sam Main, who was thrown off the Edinburgh to Perth train last year, will also not face criminal proceedings in relation to it. A train passenger dubbed the "Big Man" after removing an alleged
fair dodger will not face criminal proceedings. No charges over train 'Big Man' video Herald Scotland No prosecution for train vigilante Big Man Deadline News 'Big man' video: No charges over passenger thrown off train BBC News Arbroath Herald noreply@blogger.com (Ad all 32 news articles ServeRSS) (AdServRSS Feed)
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'Medicine' kills 30 in Odisha Hindustan Times

Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:17:36 PM
Defence apologises to whistleblowers Adelaide Now

SamayLive 'Medicine' kills 30 in Odisha Hindustan Times At least 30 people died and 40 were taken ill after allegedly consuming cough-and-cold medicinal formulations and tincture as substitute for liquor on Monday in some villages in
Cuttack. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday ordered a judicial inquiry... Odisha hooch toll mounts to 29, probe ordered India Today Hooch horror hits families hard Times of India Hooch kills 29 in Odisha, 10 held NDTV IBNLive.com- All India Radio all 60 news articles
BigPond News Defence apologises to whistleblowers Adelaide Now Defence Minister Stephen Smith said Defence secretary Duncan Lewis had written apology letters to the three. / AAP Source: AAP DEFENCE has formally
apologised to three whistleblowers who revealed how incorrect and even fabricated data was regularly... We have accepted all recommendations: Smith ABC Online wrong data 'due to vetting failures' The Australian all 20 news articles
Technology/
27
Pivot Smart: Social News Network XYDO Goes Pure B2B With New Content Marketing Platform
Rip Empson (TechCrunch)
news streams through a consumer -facing web platform. It quickly Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:37 AM followed that up with XYDO In case you havent noticed, the Brief, which capitalized on this Internet has become a content fire renaissance of email newsletters hose. Theres a lot of junk by delivering the same news it floating around out there (my curated based on users social posts not included, of course), interactions, networks, and foot and, as a result, a spate of digital prints on its web platform via readers and aggregators have your inbox. popped up to offer our blood-shot XYDO co-founder Cameron e y e s i m p r o v e d f i l t e r i n g Brain, who, besides having a great mechanisms that channel the last name and holding three noise into signal. Some of them patents for his innovations in the even get snatched up by Twitter, a delivery and display of video on la Summify. mobile devices, told us that One of these startups, the XYDO Brief was launched as a Summify competitor and Utah- kind of side project after all, based XYDO, launched in May of curated email newsletters were l a s t y e a r , f o l l o w e d s h o r t l y nothing new. But, to the teams thereafter by closing a $1.25 surprise, XYDO Brief quickly m i l l i o n r o u n d o f s e r i e s A became the most popular aspect financing from EPIC Ventures of the service, with a bunch of and a host of angels. But, in case tech industry honchos signing on. youre unfamiliar, XYDOs value (TCs Erick Schonfeld is a proposition has essentially been subscriber.) that it creates a social news In addition, XYDOs curated platform that combines the best content sources found a foothold parts of Digg and, say, Hacker among businesses looking to offer News, on the back of technology relevant, popular content to that combs a swath of content to s u p p l e m e n t t h e i r e x i s t i n g serve you with relevant, curated marketing services. As has always news from trustworthy sources. been true, content is king, but Initially, XYDO (pronounced zy many businesses, blogs really -doo) focused on offering its any service with a web presence socially curated, personalized struggle to create engaging
content, generate and convert leads, and establish themselves as viable (or at least interesting) content producers. Due to flagging interest in its web platform, XYDO is officially announcing today that its pivoting to a business-to-business (B2B) approach. For those familiar, you may have noticed that the startups homepage looks a bit different today. Thats because the team is doing away with its existing social news platform (though it will continue to offer XYDO Brief to the public), and is instead taking a semi-PaaS approach, launching an email marketing solution for businesses. The company has already signed on a roster of companies, including the Utah Jazz, Lendio.com, Interbank, and BYU Athletics to name a few. Most of them are Utah-based, as the cofounders are of the mindset that, if you cant get adoption in your own backyard, then you might as well call it quits. To that end, XYDO sent over 12 million of its curated emails on behalf of its customers. Again, most businesses have a story to tell, and a brand to hawk along with that story, but many
find more than a little difficulty in sharing that message in a way that is authentic, relevant, and drives engagement. Typically, when businesses look to bolster their content production, they employ bloggers, try their hand at blogging themselves, or hire a team of awkward interns to produce that content. Businesses have also been saturated with the you have to get social, or perish message, and try to create content for social networks to boot, but that usually just means they manually copyand-paste their stories into social feeds. Some even outsource content production to foreign lands, paying a sweat shop of quasi-bloggers $10K a pop to create content for their Facebook brand pages. All in all, its an expensive, time-consuming, and messy process. Thus, XYDO has developed a white-label email solution that goes out to sources like Reddit or Drudge Report, finds the hottest, freshest content (piping hot), and includes it businesses Twitter streams, on their sites, etc. Thats really XYDOs secret sauce: Its not just about finding content thats relevant to the business and their audience, but within those
topics, locating a small subset of content thats accelerating on the Web just starting to become popular. Using the same tech behind XYDO Brief, which analyzes up to 300K articles per day, and then matches it against some three million influential, social media taste-makers, keeping score of whats being shared, accelerating the velocity metric associated with that content. You want 10 articles on startups or banks and loans? XYDO wants to give you stories on those topics that are just starting to take off, in near-realtime. Not unlike a Hootsuite for email, XYDOs platform offers the ability to produce these weekly curated content reports, personalizing content feeds by category, schedule email newsletters, and so on. The new XYDO will do all the curation for businesses, and let them control it from a single dashboard. The startup is also offering retargeting services via Google in addition to their own analytics, which analyze and present data (on a per subscriber basis), like what links subscribers are PIVOT page 32
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Technology/
Q&A: Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley on What He's Learning From Twitter and What's Next
Dan Frommer (ReadWriteWeb)
at the company's brand new, roomy headquarters in New York Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:00 AM City, for an idea of what's next. Foursquare, about to celebrate its Here's a lightly edited transcript third birthday, is big but not huge. of our chat. It has signed up 15 million users, Sponsor hired over 100 employees and ReadWriteWeb: Where is now boasts several million check- F o u r s q u a r e r i g h t n o w ? ins per day. That is impressive Dennis Crowley: I think we're work for three years, but it must starting to get to the point where keep growing. people are starting to see where To do so, Foursquare co-founder the product is going and where the and CEO Dennis Crowley says vision is going. The most exciting the company is in the process of stuff for me to watch is all these redesigning its mobile app for a people who have been Foursquare broader audience, disassembling it users for a year or so, writing their and trying to put its features back own blog posts and tweeting their together in a way that's more own stuff about "oh, now I get it." useful and interesting. It has also After we launched Explore on the launched new features on its Web Web, they're like, "This isn't about site, such as the neat and powerful points and badges anymore. This "Explore" tool, which can help is about using the data that you find cool places to visit in Foursquare's getting from checkyour neighborhood or in an ins in order to do all this entirely new city. interesting stuff about surfacing As Twitter realized a few years things that are nearby, things that ago, Crowley says Foursquare is I might like, places I should go, seeing a big chunk of its growth experiences that I should have." from people who want to use parts That's been our goal all along. of Foursquare, but not necessarily One of the big tasks that we have broadcast to the world. That this year is getting people to think means building a service that's of the product more as something useful to more casual users, and that's all about discovery and n o t j u s t e a r l y F o u r s q u a r e introducing them to new places, diehards. and making their experience in I recently sat down with Crowley n e w c i t i e s a n d u n f a m i l i a r
neighborhoods easier for them. As opposed to just checking in to unlock points and badges. I think we're still stuck with a little bit of that stereotype, and this year's about us getting out of that. Foursquare's new Webbased"Explore" feature. How do you get past that stereotype and grow? The challenge isn't really that dissimilar than some of the growing pains and hazing that Twitter went through. For a long time, Twitter was "oh, it's just people tweeting what they had for lunch, or that they're going to the movies." That wasn't interesting for a lot of people. Then they hit a moment that was a little bit of critical mass and a little bit of clarity, where people started using it to break news and
share headlines and spread information. And that's when it started clicking for a lot of people. For me, I was always interested in it, but when the plane landed in the Hudson and that's how you were learning stuff faster than CNN was breaking it, or when Michael Jackson died, those were the big moments that I think solidified Twitter's importance for a lot of people. For us, we're starting to get to that point where people see that we're more than just a standard check-in app. You can go into Foursquare any time of the day and it will recommend interesting things that are nearby. So it's not analogous - it's not exactly the same as the Twitter experience. But we have that problem of perception that we're still working to overcome. I look at what those guys went through, and if you just keep pushing at the vision long enough, it will eventually turn itself around or make itself clear to people. That's why, looking at those blog posts, it's really rewarding for me, because I can see that the change is already happening already. What will you change? There's still a lot of work that
needs to be done in the app. We're in the process of going through a redesign in the app, in a sense. We're basically taking all the stuff we built over the last two years or so, disassembling it... You put all the pieces on the table, and figure out, "Okay, what is the best way to put these pieces back together so that it tells the story of Foursquare in the way that we want it to be told?" And I think if we can do that properly, then that's our ticket to really being able to effectively communicate how powerful the data is and how powerful a lot of the tools are. A peek at Foursquare's brandnew, sunny headquarters in New York What about making money? Will we start to see more advertisingbased content in streams? It's a project for the near term. That's a lot of what the Amex stuff is.(Foursquare has a broad partnership with American Express.) It's experimenting with merchants to figure out a way that we can put products that are monetizable into the Foursquare product, in a way that you don't look at it and say, "I can't believe Foursquare put advertising in the Q&A: page 33
Technology/
29
Web Pros: Candidates Are Running NeckAnd-Neck In Mediocre Web Design

Dave Copeland (ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:30:00 AM
Politics is partisan and objective, but Web design is often much more subjective: you know good Web design when you see it. Unless, of course, you're a presidential candidate and his campaign staff. We asked expert Web designers to evaluate the major presidential candidates' campaign Web sites. The candidates got okay, but not great, marks. And in a year when social media and mobile technology could play a role in the election, okay may not be good enough. Sponsor "All candidates are using opensource software, tracking you via GoogleAnalytics and all of them are very patriotic looking," said Chad Udell, managing director for Float MobileLearning. "A few have modern tricks here and there, but most are a little bit behind the times in one way or another." What follows is a look at how each candidate's Web site did on overall site design, content and presentation, and mobile functionality. Overall Site Quality Barack Obama The incumbent's site uses some modern Web design technology, including HTML5, proper CDN
asset storage, microformats and semantically named elements. The site is "very well put together" with "lots of newfangled tricks like Modernizer and Jquery," according Udell. "Obama's polished, mobile friendly site is no surprise," Udell said. "He's had the longest to prepare. He also was a big proponent of opensource software inhis last campaign." Mitt Romney Romney's site is heavy on video content and makes links to social media engagement prominent. The site uses some antiquated techniques to track location, but overall it works well. "Romney's social media badging is pervasive and obvious. No mistaking it for anything else here," Udell said. It would be nice to see the share icons use a light window rather than a full browser redirect, but it's acceptable and easy enough to use." Newt Gingrich The former House Speaker's site doesn't use HTML5 and has fewer calls to action and chances for visitors to share social content as Romeny's site. Gingrich, like every other GOP candidate, has a site that is not optimized for mobile. The site is accessible on a smartphone, but requires lots of scrolling and zooming to navigate.
While Udell said the lack of social media icons made it cleaner than some of the other sites, overall the site's "aesthetic is the least contemporary." Rick Santorum Tuesday's big caucus winner uses generic Facebook and Twitter widgets on his site, which draw away from a visually welldesigned site. The site has an "interesting, mature color theme. It's red, white and bue, but very deep and not typical," Udell said. But the pros stop there. In addition to not having a site enhanced for mobile viewers, Santorum uses some rather primitive Web design techniques. "Using tables for layouts?" Udell said. "Really? It's 2012!" Ron Paul Paul is the only candidate to not use Drupal, instead opting for WordPress in his site design. And unlike the other candidates, Paul's site is text heavy, opting to stay on message with lots of text as opposed to video and photo content. Content and Presentation
Barack Obama: Obama's campaign staff makes use of a lot of inforgraphics to make key policy arguments - a wise move, according to Nathan Hunt, founder of Dressler, a digital strategy and design firm in New York City. The site "also uses infographiclike design to maintain a consistent design theme throughout," Hunt said. "This is the design equivalent of being disciplined and staying 'onmessage'." Mitt Romney: Hunt gives points to Romney's design team for having a clear sense of how to effectively use the Web. Romeny is photogenic, and the site puts that quality to good use. Hunt was most impressed with the "Caucus For Mitt Tool" which gives supporters specific and immediate directions on how they can help the candidate. Newt Gingrich: The content presentation is confusing. The type is too big (perhaps it was chosen with elderly visitors in mind, Hunt said), and a righthand navigation bar draws the eye away from the content. "Rather than establish a clear hierarchy of communication, this site attempts to yell everything at once," Hunt said. Rick Santorum: Hunt's analysis of the site was pointed.
"This looks like something that someone's nephew designed," he said. "In truth, it is probably a template website that someone downloaded and adapted for the campaign." Ron Paul: Paul's site has lots of text, but it also could have used a good editor and a style guide. All CAPS and italics are used with no rhyme or reason, and there are awkward combinations of serif and sans serif fonts. "A lot of decisions seem to have been made just to 'look cool'," Hunt said. "While it does look cool, digital is about functionality, not just appearance." Mobile Barack Obama: The President's Web designers did a good job of making a site that works well on iPhones, but Aaron Maxwell, founder of Mobile Web Up, found some errors when he tried to access the site on Blackberry Torch, Android and Windows Phone 7. "The Obama designers chose to use a responsive web design to create a single set of pages adaptable to different screen widths," Maxwell said. "It looks like they focused on really polishing the mobile view for iOS, but allowederrors to slip in on other mobile platforms." Mitt Romney: The former WEB page 30
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Technology/ Food/
Rambus, Nvidia Wisely Put Patent Dispute Behind Them
WEB
Massachusetts governor is the only Republican candidate who has a Web site optimized for viewing on mobile devices. But Maxwell found problems similar to those he found when viewing Scott M. Fulton, III the timing with which resources competition for Qualcomm's Romney's site outside of iOS. (ReadWriteWeb) interconnect with one another in a Snapdragon S4 platform this year Like Obama's site, Romney's had system, in order to integrate those are perceived to come from two Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:00:00 PM certificate errors when viewed in resources into a single chip. The sources: Intel, whose Atom Blackberry Torch and was When a corporation stakes its m o s t i m p o r t a n t h a r d w a r e Z2460 processor ( PDF available unviewable in Windows Phone 7. reputation on the competitive milestone over the last 20 years here) is actually an SoC that "This is a flaw in their device value of its patent portfolio, it remains single-chip integration of incorporates its patented Graphics detection - though a minor one, can't afford to watch that portfolio multiple components. It has made Media Accelerator and Image given how small WP7's market go down in flames. Although the most mobile technology possible, Signal Processor; and Apple, share is at the moment," Maxwell novelty of most any patented and the way this integration whose process for integrating said. technological concept perhaps happens has itself been the subject components into its A4 and A5 Gingrich, Santorum and Paul do warrants some re-examination, of patents, including those SoC units - used in iPhones and not have sites optimized for three patents assigned to memory assigned to Rambus. iPads - has already come under maker Rambus were recently But what had been considered, at modem, microprocessor, GPS, f i r e f r o m o n e - t i m e I n t e l viewing on mobile devices. invalidated by the U.S. Patent and the time of its arrival on the scene, graphics and multimedia solutions competitor Via Technologies - Discuss Trademark Office, in a dispute an unquestionable innovation is, into a highly integrated 'system-on which some would say has with graphics device maker in the light of re-examination, -a-chip' product is unparalleled... nothing left to lose. Nvidia over whether the act of becoming perceived as just an N e a r l y t w o d e c a d e s a f t e r All these companies depend on rendering functionality on a single obvious improvement. Federal introducing the concept of mobile investment; and investors depend chip is a novel idea or just an Circuit and Supreme Court data, feature phones utilizing upon the competitive value of obvious improvement. decisions have raised the bar for Q u a l c o m m ' s p a t e n t e d t h e i r h o l d i n g s ' r e s p e c t i v e This morning, both companies "innovation," redefining it to not technologies are making mobile portfolios to establish the value of announced they've settled all necessarily apply to whomever is Internet browsing possible for their investments. Should the disputes over the remaining, still- the first to do something that all l a r g e n u m b e r s o f p e o p l e novelty of the SoC approach valid Rambus patents, with its competitors are trying to do. w o r l d w i d e . " continue to be proven negligible Nvidia being granted a five-year One of the most valuable patent The implication here is that under re-examination, investors license to the formerly disputed portfolios related to systems-on-a- Q u a l c o m m h a s p e r f e c t e d a could pull out, stock values could (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks) technology. But this Nvidia win chip (SoC) belongs to Qualcomm. method to integrate multiple decline, and actual innovations - Submitted at 2/8/2012 3:00:00 AM will have implications throughout In a brochure last November components into something as such as the production of new the industry, as the competitive explaining its business model to small as a feature phone - a smartphones that customers [unable to retrieve full-text value of nearly all technologies prospective investors, Qualcomm method whose perfection is itself would happily stand in line to content] This lightened Italian integrated into a single circuit, touted its value proposition with protected by patent. Qualcomm's purchase - could be delayed. c l a s s i c f e a t u r e s a s l o w l y may have just decreased. these words: "Building on its S n a p d r a g o n S o C p l a t f o r m Discuss simmered meat sauce that is rich, Sponsor success in advanced modems, provides the foundation for many hearty, and delicious. The Nvidia argument that Qualcomm has become a leader in Android smartphones, especially inevitably won the day pertained microprocessor technology, and from HTC. The two biggest sources of to the obviousness of changing its ability to bring together
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Technology/
31
Thiel, Zuck, Conway To Select $100K TechFellow Awards Winners

Josh Constine (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:25:58 AM
The TechFellow Awards is the Oscars of high-tech entrepreneurship. As selection committee member Sean Parker puts it Were shining a spotlight on individuals who are on the cusp of bringing us something revolutionary. On February 22nd at the SFMOMA, 20 innovators will be presented with $100,000 grants to invest in startups of their choice. Nominations are open through February 17th at the TechFellows website. Today, the TechFellow Awards announced that Emmy-winning nerd hero Jim Parsons, star of hit tv show The Bing Bang Theory, will host the awards ceremony. Marissa Mayer, Dave McClure, and Terry Semel will also join the all-star selection committee, which includes Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Ron Conway. The TechFellow Awards are presented by Founders Fund, TechCrunch, and New Enterprise
Associates (NEA) to honor visionary technology leaders with the opportunity to support the next generation of innovators. 5 winners will be selected in each category Engineering Leadership, Product Design and Marketing, General Management, and Disruptive Innovation. Along with the $100,000 grant, the winners will join an elite technology community think tank of past winners including Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter; Maria Thomas, former CEO of Etsy, Adam DAngelo, cofounder of Quora and former CTO of Facebook, and Paul Graham, co-founder and Partner at Y Combinator. Theyll attend quarterly dinners, livestream events, and Q&A sessions where theyll receive expertise and insight to help them shape the future through investment and their own projects. Visit the TechFellows website now to nominate who you think are the most disruptive figures in tech, and check back on February 22nd for live coverage and interviews from the awards
ceremony. Heres the full list of selection committee members for this years awards: Marc Andreessen (Co-Founder, Andreeseen Horowitz, Netscape) Michael Arrington (Founder, TechCrunch) John Battelle (Founder/ Chairman/CEO, Federated Media) Ron Conway (Managing Partner, SV Angel) Chris DeWolfe (Co-Founder, Myspace) Esther Dyson (Chairman, EDventure) Caterina Fake (Co-Founder, Flickr, Hunch) Shawn Fanning (Founder, Napster, SNOCAP, Rupture, Airtime) Reid Hoffman (Co-Founder, LinkedIn) Joi Ito (Director, MIT Media Lab; Chairman of the board, Creative Commons) Max Levchin (Founder/CEO, Slide; Co-Founder, PayPal) Marisa Mayer (VP Location & Local Services, Google) Dave McClure (Founder, 500 Startups & Partner, Founders Fund)
John McKinley (Founder/CEO, OurParents) Jonathan Miller (CEO Digital Media, News Corp) Tim OReilly (Founder, OReilly Media) Sean Parker (Co-Founder, Napster, Plaxo, Causes, Airtime; Founding President, Facebook; Managing Partner, Founders Fund) Geoff Ralston (Former Chief Product Officer, Yahoo!; Former CEO, Lala) Terry Semel (Chairman/CEO, Windsor Media; Former Chairman/CEO, Yahoo!) Danny Sullivan (Founder, Search Engine Land) Peter Thiel (Managing Partner, Founders Fund; Chairman & CoFounder, Palantir Technologies; Former Chairman, CEO and CoFounder, PayPal) Jeff Weiner (CEO, LinkedIn) Michael Yanover (Business Development, Creative Artists Agency) Mark Zuckerberg (Founder/ CEO, Facebook)
Seatwave launches ticketing APIs, partners with The Echo Nest

Olivia Solon
Ticket marketplace Seatwave has launched two APIs that allow developers to incorporate event discovery and ticket purchasing into their apps. Seatwave has also integrated its APIs into music intelligence provider The Echo Nest's Rosetta Stone platform. The discovery API allows for users to navigate the Seatwave catalogue, showcasing events and tickets for artists, sports, festivals and theatre shows. Through an affiliate relationship with Seatwave, these developers will receive 35 percent of net revenue from sales through their apps. By: Olivia Solon, Edited by: Nate Lanxon Continue reading...
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Technology/ Featured/
Best 2D-only televisions
PIVOT
clicking, how theyre sharing and interacting with the content, etc. Ty Pendlebury (CNET News) The LG 47LV5500 is a decent The goal is, simply put, to try and performer at its price level and l i m i t t h e a m o u n t o f s p a m Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:43:22 AM features a great Smart TV b u s i n e s s e s s e n d t o t h e i r Despite the industry's best efforts, package, but in this case the 3D customers, while giving them 3D in the home has brought about LW5600 model may be worth share-able content and the tools to little more than a yawn and a shift paying extra for. Read the full measure its share-ability. in the seats for most of the buying review. Another result of the startups public. Sony Bravia KDL-40BX420(40- pivot? Its becoming a paid The problem is very simply this: inch) service, with pricing being there's no content. TV If you don't expect the world dependent on the size of a 70LE732U(70-inch) manufacturers will quickly tell For people craving a colossal flat from the entry-level Sony KDL- companys subscriber list. On the you it doesn't matter, that's what -screen TV who don't want a BX420 LCD, its picture quality bottom end, the co-founder says, 2D-to-3D conversion is for, but plasma or a projector, the 70-inch may be a pleasant surprise. Read businesses would pay about $250 when major studios can screw up a month, while larger list Sharp LC-70LE73U series LED- the full review. a major conversion job on a based LCD offers very good Looking for specs and more customers can pay up to $1K. ( movie like "Alice in picture quality, especially in information? Compare these TVs More on pricing here.) Wonderland", what chance does bright rooms. Read the full head-to-head. Click through to the While some XYDO fans wont your TV have? reviews for additional screen b e t h r i l l e d w i t h l o s i n g i t s review. Most TVs come with 3D these sizes. consumer-facing social news Samsung LND550 series days, and the ones without tend to O n l y T V s w e ' v e a c t u a l l y platform, the truth is, many The Samsung LND550's mix of be on the cheaper side. If you're features, style and picture quality reviewed made the list, but if you entrepreneurs and startups are one of the people who would stands tall among the tough entry- have an alternate to suggest, leave catching on to the value of rather not pay for 3D, then while creating B2B services. Its level LCD TV crowd. Read the a comment. the pickings may be slim, they are This entry passed through the difficult to resist the urge to build full review. significant. Sony Bravia KDL-46EX523(46- Full-Text RSS service if this is for the consumer web, what with We've chosen from the best "nonyour content and you're reading it the funding available, and the inch) 3D" TVs of the last twelve The Sony EX523 series produces on someone else's site, please read hopes of millions of users, but the months, and present them below. a solid though workmanlike the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- B 2 B a n d B 2 B 2 C s p a c e s , As bare-bones TVs you may miss picture at a price that competes only/faq.php#publishers. Five generally have lower barriers for out on some advanced Smart TV well against similarly featured Filters recommends: Donate to entry, and business models are features, but this is something that more defined. LED TVs. Read the full review. Wikileaks. a$50 Roku box could help fix. As I wrote here, there are lots of LG 47LV5500(64-inch) Sharp Aquos Quattron LCB2B companies out there that dont have millions of users and may not be sexy at first glance, but they have solid, sustainable
customer bases, and enough revenue to continue building. XYDO is hoping that by taking a B2B approach, it can ride the growing wave of content marketing and businesses demand for smart solutions to the marketing and content engagement issues to glory. The XYDO co-founder said that email is just the beginning, next theyll look to implement additional publishing tools, further extend functionality in social media, likely in the form of designing tools to help businesses automate content publishing in their Facebook feeds, etc. I think its a smart move. XYDO wasnt seeing the kind of user adoption they wanted from their web platform, so theyve pivoted to focus on bringing their email service to businesses. Theyre currently in the process of inking deals with companies that have 3 million+ sized subscriber lists, and with that, they are able to gain a ready-made audience. No more having to fight tooth and nail for one subscriber. For more, check out the startup at home here. What do you think, readers? A smart pivot?
Was Yesterday Super Tuesday?

William Kristol (The Weekly Standard)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:08:00 AM
Was yesterday Super Tuesday? Only three states had contests, and one was a beauty primary commanding no delegates. On the
other hand, it was the first day in
which there were races in more than one state, more delegates were selected yesterday than on any day of the primary season so
far, and about 365,000 votes were cast.
Technology/ Finance/
33
Google Updates Chrome Browser, Now Offers Faster Browsing, Improved Security
Q&A:
stream." You say, "this is great, there's a $10 discount here." Since 2009, we've been pushing different ways to get merchants involved in the conversation with users. If users are looking for places to go, put merchants in there to help entice them. We did Sarah Perez (TechCrunch) loading up behind the scenes. known good files and publishers. it initially with mayor specials, Mainstream end users wont know If the file isnt found there, we're starting to do it now with Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:06:19 PM the difference, however, and will Chrome then checks with Google the Amex stuff, and we'll be Following yesterdays release of just think their browser seems for additional information, like continuing to push that. the new mobile version of the faster today. whether the site is known to host Our belief has always been, in Chrome browser, Google is today The other major update involves h i g h n u m b e r s o f m a l i c i o u s order to connect people to places, launching an improved version of improvements to Chromes Safe downloads, for example. It also and places to people, there's a way its desktop counterpart. The Browsing technology. Previously, uses machine learning analysis to to insert a dialogue with a updated release of Chrome ( C h r o m e w a s f o c u s e d o n c l a s s i f y t h e d o w n l o a d s i n merchant that in a way doesn't Stable version) brings several protecting you from visiting question, allowing the browser to feel like advertising, because the features beta users have had since malicious websites, but with the ID files even after theyve been users are getting some tangible January, most notably omnibox new verssion, it also now scans re-packed in attempts to fool benefit out of it. It can be just special treatment, like you get to pre-rendering and increased the files you download for anti-virus programs. security protections. malware. In particular, its on the A number of other security issues cut the line. It could be that you The omnibox, Googles name for lookout for executables like a n d b u g s h a v e a l s o b e e n save a couple bucks. It could be the all-in-one search/address bar .exe or .msi files which many addressed in the new release, and that when you bring your friends, in Chrome, will now not only malicious sites push out to these have been detailed further you get something special. There's autocomplete URLs of sites victims, often pretending that on the Google Chrome Releases a whole wide variety of it. It's just rewarding the user for things that youre likely to visit, it will also theyre offering free anti-virus blog. work in the background to pre- software. Although not out today, Google they'd be doing anyway with render the page in question. Then, If you try to download a file promises its browser-based Foursquare. when you hit Enter, the site will containing malware using the operating system Chrome OS will This is a bit out-there, but Netflix appear much quicker even updated version of Chrome, it will soon see improvements too, has built up a huge advantage for instantly in some cases. In real now warn you that the file appears including a new image editor that its streaming movie service by world terms, this is the kind of to be malicious and you should will allow photo viewing, editing trick that makes it seem like discard it. To determine the a n d s o c i a l s h a r i n g a n d a n Chrome has been sped up, when legitimacy of the file involved, improved Verizon 3G activation really, its just that sites are Chrome checks a whitelist of portal.
getting it installed everywhere, from new TVs to videogame systems. Can you use that concept for Foursquare, in a car perhaps? Yeah, why not? I think anywhere where you see maps. Any map should have Foursquare dots on them. The dots could be representative of a number of things. It could be where your friends are right now. Or once you put your car in park, these are the five things you should be doing in this neighborhood. And you could see a world where it's like, here's five things that I'm looking at, and I instantly send them to my phone, and then as I'm walking around, Radar( a serendipity-manufacturing Foursquare feature) buzzes me to let me know about them. When you think of all the other places that you'd probably encounter maps, being able to put Foursquare dots on them is a really interesting thing for us. Discuss
Debt crisis and Greek debt talks: live

(Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:16:42 AM
Daily Mail owner's shares fall after advertising decline

Katherine Rushton (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:28 AM
Rating agency S&P warns that a potential haircut of 70pc for those holding Greek debt will not be "particularly significant" to the
Government, and that the ECB may also need to take a loss.
Trust (DMGT) fell 3.9pc to 444.3p after the decline in its advertising revenues accelerated.
Shares in Daily Mail & General
34
Technology/ Finance/
Ethical iPhone 5 petitions to be delivered to Apple stores

Josh Lowensohn (CNET News)
do is demand it, and it'll happen." Both petitions are being delivered Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:37:15 AM to stores tomorrow, with the one Apple supply workers assembling to Apple's recently-opened Grand MacBook Pro displays in Central terminal store happening Shanghai. at 10 a.m. Eastern. The group said The two online petitions asking its including "large iPhone Apple to improve conditions in iPhones in Chinese factories," has posters" and printed handouts to overseas manufacturing plants received more than 194,000 coincide with its delivery. ahead of the next iPhone have This is the latest group to take to signatures. amassed more than 250,000 Apple's retail stores when Both petitions were published signatures, its creators said today. late last month, following a pair attempting to make a point about In a statement announcing the of investigative stories published the company's business behaviors. tally, watchdog group SumOfUs by The New York Times that Last June a group called US said that it plans to hand deliver lambasted Apple for poor worker Uncut targeted Apple's retail its own petition, along with one labor and safety issues in its stores, protesting the company's from Change.org, to a number of supplier facilities, as well as using support of the Win America Apple's retail stores around the cut-throat business practices that Campaign, a lobbying group it world. That includes New York, prohibited those manufacturers claimed was working to get Apple Washington D.C., New York, San from making improvements. The and other businesses a $4 billion Francisco, London, Sydney, and one from SumOfUs asked Apple tax cut. Bangalore. to "overhaul the way its suppliers This entry passed through the The petition from SumOfUs treat their workers," ahead of the Full-Text RSS service if this is garnered 55,000 signatures, with release of its next smartphone, your content and you're reading it 20,000 of those who signed telling which is expected later this year. on someone else's site, please read the group that they were iPhone "Can Apple do this? Absolutely," the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentusers, with another 35,000 saying the SumOfUs petition reads. only/faq.php#publishers. Five they purchase products from "According to an anonymous Filters recommends: Donate to Apple. A separate survey posted Apple executive quoted in The Wikileaks. to Change.org, which asks Apple New York Times, all Apple has to to "protect workings making
Apple to stream live Paul McCartney Concert to iTunes, Apple TV

Kelly Hodgkins (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Apple TV as a target device for this stream. It's nice to see Apple finally using the media device to Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:00:00 PM deliver exclusive, live show. Let's Good news for Beatles and music hope this is not a one-time thing fans. Later this week, Apple is and Apple continues to bring new hosting a free live stream of a content to its self-proclaimed P a u l M c C a r t n e y c o n c e r t . hobby. McCartney will be performing [Via MacRumors] from Capitol Studios in an event Apple to stream live Paul that celebrates the release of McCartney Concert to iTunes, McCartney's latest album, Kisses Apple TV originally appeared on on the Bottom. You'll need to fire TUAW - The Unofficial Apple up iTunes or your Apple TV on Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. 12:00:00 EST. Please see our PST, if you want to catch the terms for use of feeds. concert while it happens. Source| Permalink| Email this| The concert is exciting, but the Comments bigger news is the inclusion of the
Bank of England poised to restart QE stimulus

Angela Monaghan (Finance News - Business news from the
Rate setters expected to unveil a further 50bn of QE and hold
rates.
Technology/ Culture/
35
Hacksugar: Live AirPlay mirroring to Mac

Erica Sadun (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
All you need is a Mac and an iOS unit. Will Apple approve this app? Submitted at 2/8/2012 1:00:00 PM Possibly not. iOS developer David Stanfill of Is audio transmitted as well as Napkin Studio has been looking video like on Apple TV? Yes, but for a better way to demo his apps you don't hear it yet. David writes, during online meetings, as well as "Audio is transmitted using the to record live videos as the apps regular Airtunes protocol. I'm run. Well versed in video community in particular. If that actually listening for it, but I'm compression, protocols, and so turns out to be a no-go, he'll be not doing anything with the forth, Stanfill decided to roll his looking at distributing it outside FairPlay negotiation or stream own mirroring client for the Mac. processing on that end because I the Mac App Store. It wasn't an easy journey. He had If you're interested in following didn't want to mess with the PTS/ to put in a huge effort getting the the development of this app, keep DTS (presentation time/decoding technology working, to build his watching the Napkin Studio time) synchronization with the first mirroring prototype. website, or drop him a note at his video." I got a chance to play with this Hacksugar: Live AirPlay email. prototype, and the video that mirroring to Mac originally FAQs: follows demonstrates it in action. What platforms are supported in a p p e a r e d o n T U A W - T h e It's still early days but the the prototype? iPhone 4S and iPad Unofficial Apple Weblog on mirroring quality is phenomenal. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST. at the current time. So what goes next? How far away is this app from Please see our terms for use of Stanfill has to try to convince public release? That's up to Apple. feeds. Apple to approve his app based on Do you have to jailbreak your Source| Permalink| Email this| its value to the iOS community in device to use this utility? Nope. Comments general and the developer
Skyrim gets posh mudcrabs and Portal cameo with mod creation kit
Mark Brown
appear in Valve's Steam workshop: a central repository Submitted at 2/8/2012 8:47:54 AM for community-made content Bethesda has finally given fans where fans can submit, find, rate, a c c e s s t o t h e l o n g - a w a i t e d and download mods for Steam Creation Kit for the PC version of games. It joins Valve's own Team The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Fortress 2. This lets players craft their own By: Mark Brown, Edited by: mods and tools for the game, and Duncan Geere Continue reading... then share them online. It's also the second game to
Earth-friendly Lego alternative

(Holy Kaw!)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:15:00 AM
If you feel the judgmental eyes of Mother Earth stare pointedly at you every time you tidy up the
kids pile of not-so-eco-friendly plastic toys, then relieve a bit of that greeny guilt with Earth Blocks. Modeled after the popular (but not so earth-friendly) LEGOs, the muted-colored bricks
are made from natural materials
like cedar bark scraps and coffee beans that are blended with a minimal amount of polypropylene to help the blocks keep their shape. Via Gizmodo.
Go green. Permalink| Leave a comment
36
Technology/ Food/
Are you ready for a car that teleports?

Liane Yvkoff (CNET News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:49:46 AM
motor that gives the vehicle a zero to 60 mph acceleration of 2.1 seconds. It can reach its top speed The Mithos Electromagnetic of 250 mph in 12 seconds. Vehicle concept. The body is coated in crash What kind of car would you r e s i s t a n t b o d y p a n e l s t h a t design if you didn't have to pay remember their shape and are attention to cost, practicality, or programmed to reform to their even the laws of physics? original cast in the event of a To visualize the potential of crash. Not that a crash should f u t u r i s t i c t e c h n o l o g i e s , happen, because it will be Portuguese industrial designer traveling on electromagnetic Tiago Miguel Inacio penned a roadways and will be able to halo vehicle for the 22nd century- avoid other vehicles that come -the Mithos Electromagnetic within its magnetic field. Vehicle concept. And if the electromagnetic I n s p i r e d b y T i m B u r t o n ' s highway is a little backed up, the Batmobile, the Mithos is equipped vehicle can always telport to its with a 1.5 megawatt electric destination. How, you ask? Its
molecural teleport processor provides the Mithos' molecular coodinates and dynamic properties to a standard q-teleport transmitter/receiver station. How else would you get to the
Hamptons on a Friday afternoon? Clearly this is just a concept that has no hopes of getting picked up by a manufacturer for production. But it's not entirely a pipe dream, either. Last week Stanford
university researchers introduced wireless charging technology that could be the foundation of an electromagnetic highway. In the mean time, it could also inspire the next Batman film. Source: Digitaltrends.com 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.
Calligraphic Asian Artistry Jungshan Paints Provacative Images with Stylishly Smeared Ink (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:14:02 PM
Personified Planetary Drawings Andrew Mark Hunter Depicts Celestial Bodies as Beautiful Women (TrendHunter.com)
the anime series Sailor Moon. With beautiful women representing Mars, Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Earth's Moon, Hunter has essentially...
( TrendHunter.com) These ink paintings by Taiwanese artist Jungshan are evocative of the
beautiful calligraphy you'd find in (TREND HUNTER - The Latest predominantly Asian locales. Trends) Jungshan harnesses Chinese ink Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:53:04 AM as her main medium, but rather ( TrendHunter.com) The concept than... of these Andrew Mark Hunter illustrations is highly evocative of
25 Chicken Dinners
(Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete
y o u r c o m m e n t . I f y o u s e e Your Comment* 500 characters inappropriate language, e-mail us. remaining An asterisk* indicates a required This entry passed through the field. Full-Text RSS service if this is Your Name 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.
37
Kia Trackster concept ditches dreary for MINI Cooper rival

Chris Davies (SlashGear)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:17:55 AM
than the regular Soul, and puts its power down through a shortthrow six-speed manual Kia knows it has a lot to do to t r a n s m i s s i o n t o H R E - K 1 shed its sensible image and monoblock billet performance convince would-be buyers its wheels clad in 245/40-19-inch sexy, inspiring and aspirational, front and 285/35-19-inch rear and the Kia Trackster concept is Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 highthe first step down that road. p e r f o r m a n c e t i r e s . 1 4 - i n c h Revealed at the Chicago Auto Brembo vented and cross-drilled Show today, the Optima Limited disc brakes with by six-piston T r a c k s t e r c h a n n e l s K i a s calipers in front, and 13.6-inch potential design direction for the discs with four-piston calipers next-gen Soul, with immense at the rear make sure you can LED driving lights and a 250 stop, too. horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged The idea was to make the four-cylinder engine. Trackster tough looking, like a Thats 66-percent more powerful bulldog chief designer Tom
Kearns says, throwing flared wheel arches, a huge grille, lots of lights and splashes of orange paint at the concept. The Soul normally has rear doors, but theyve been
entertainment and HVAC. Rather than rear seats, Kia has used the space for an equipment tray and spare-tire well, somewhere to keep your racing kit and emergency supplies. Unfortunately Kia has no plans to produce a commercial version of the Trackster concept, though were keeping our fingers crossed that the next-gen Soul will borrow more than a few details. Kia Trackster concept ditches ditched in favor of longer front dreary for MINI Cooper rival is doors that open to reveal suede- w r i t t e n b y C h r i s D a v i e s & covered racing seats and a leather- originally posted on SlashGear. w r a p p e d d a s h . A s i z a b l e 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All touchscreen handles navigation, right reserved.
Video: Darpa's AlphaDog Wanders The Wilderness

Katie Drummond (Wired Top Stories)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:00 AM
The last time we saw AlphaDog, Darpas newest four-legged robot, the big lug was flailing around in the lab. Now, however, AlphaDogs been let off his leash. In the video above, released this week by Darpa and Boston Dynamics, the company behind the bot, AlphaDog can be seen
undergoing its first-ever outdoor assessment. The robot, designed to be an upgrade of Boston Dynamics BigDog, can haul hundreds of pounds of gear and rove for miles including over rugged terrain before tiring out. Plus, AlphaDog is designed to be stealthier (well, as stealthy as an enormous, headless robotic mule can be) than its predecessor, and even stand up after taking a spill
on uneven terrain. AlphaDogs wilderness workout was meant to test many of those impressive features: The bot proved capable of lugging 400 pounds of gear, logging 20 miles without refueling, and successfully using sensors to follow a human leaders direction. But Darpas also after some even freakier capabilities, according to the agencys write-up of the tests. They want to embue AlphaDog
with hearing technology, so that squad members can speak commandssuch as stop, sit, or come here. Of course, AlphaDogs primary use will be lugging gear, so that soldiers dont have to. But hey, combat can be lonely. Thats why Darpa also hopes the bot will interact with [soldiers] in a natural way, similar to the way a trained animal and its handler interact.
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.
38
SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up: February 8, 2012

Chris Burns (SlashGear)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:02:37 PM
Incase youve been living under a rock, theres one whole heck of a lot of press flying around surrounding hackers and their devlish ways, most recently this group from over the sea cutting down Symantec with leaks of their old, old codes. Next theres some big time cameras coming out this spring, here with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 a bit of retro on the outside and power on the inside. For the mobile world, get ready for the Nokia customization party to commence as they ax thousands of jobs and rely entirely on Windows Phone for power. The folks at LG will be releasing the oddly shaped LG Optimus Vu soon, it having a 4 x 3 ratio to
appear very similar to a cracker. Motorola has dropped two monsters upon us, one of them the Motorola MOTOLUXE for the mid range and the other the fourth in a generation. Thats right, its the DROID 4 from Motorola complete with a side-lit keyboard
to keep you QWERTY fans happy all night long! Meanwhile Samsung will have no presence at MWC 2012 as they play the lowkey card. All Android devices of the future will be working with Google Chrome if they wish, but none
will have Flash integrated as per the plan. Theres one gigantic mother of the lens out there this morning for your camera fans once more, the Sony SAL500F40G 500mm superzoom from the streets of heaven, sent down to bring you so close to the action that youll think youre inside your subject. Another device looking to get you in close with the action is Logitechs Touch Mouse M600 and the HP TouchPad finally has some Android code from the manufacturers to make all you hackers happy. SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up: February 8, 2012 is written by Chris Burns& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
What to Buy at Costco Versus Your Grocery Store [Saving Money]

Melanie Pinola (Lifehacker)
Buying in bulk at Costco can save your family lots of moneydepending on what you buy. To find out exactly which items are the best deals at the wholesale club, personal finance blog Squawkfox did a shopping experiment comparing unit prices on fresh, frozen, and packaged goods between a local grocery and Costco. More
As gas booms, calls for hydrofracking rules

(Holy Kaw!)
according to Stanford University geophysicist Mark Zoback. Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:53:00 AM Zoback is part of the Secretary of Disclosing chemicals used on Energy Advisory Board Shale Gas federal land is only one step Production Committee, which toward ensuring the safety of recommends that data on a wellhydraulic fracturing, the booming by-well basis be posted on technology that offers economic publicly available, searchable and environmental benefits, websites.
The problem is that the president
only has jurisdiction over federal lands, while states regulate development on private land, where most of the shale formations are found, Zoback says. The so-called Halliburton exclusion passed by Congress says gas companies dont have to
disclose the chemicals in fracturing fluids. That was a real mistake because it makes the public needlessly paranoid. Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Photo credit: Mark Zoback Permalink| Leave a comment
39
Lauren Conrad Returns to LA in Time For Valentine's Day

Lauren Turner (PopSugar)
Daily Mac App: PopClip brings iOS-style copy and paste to your Mac
Kelly Hodgkins (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:00 AM
PopClip is a lightweight Mac utility that improves your ability to work with text. It sits in the menu bar and gives you an iOSstyle popup that lets you cut, copy and paste text. You can also search for the selected text, open text links, correct spelling, and more. It's a real time saver once you get accustomed to using it. That's the problem, though. The biggest drawback to PopClip is not the app, but the user's muscle memory. It was so hard to stop myself from using keystrokes to copy and paste text that I would forget to use PopClip. I saw the PopClip commands, but before I
Lauren Conrad had a Starbucks in hand as she landed at LAX last night. She returned home after taking off on a trip last week. The getaway coincided with Lauren's 26th birthday, which we celebrated with a look at LC's cutest Twitter pictures. It's usually a busy time of year for the reality star turned designer since NY Fashion Week kicks off tomorrow, but she won't be showing her Paper Crown line on could click them, my hand had to create a link, but that's the runway like she did last year. already selected command-C. It inconvenient, too. In the end, I Instead, she's gearing up for took some time, but once I made just learned to ignore PopClip Valentine's Day and shared a fun DIY gift to give that would be that adjustment from keystrokes when I didn't need it. to PopClip, I loved having a Once I adapted to using PopClip, perfect to give to a girlfriend on variety of text shortcuts at my I discovered that I genuinely like finger tips. One other mild using it. It saves me time and a n n o y a n c e i s t h a t P o p C l i p brings a bit of iOS to my desktop. sometimes gets in the way when I PopClip is available from the Mac select text that I'm not going to App Store for US$4.99. copy. This happened frequently Daily Mac App: PopClip brings when I was writing and selected a iOS-style copy and paste to your piece of text that needed a link. Mac originally appeared on Melanie Pinola (Lifehacker) PopClip would show up and ask TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Submitted at 2/8/2012 9:30:00 AM me if I wanted to cut, copy or Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 p a s t e . T o m i n i m i z e t h i s 11:00:00 EST. Please see our Do your loved ones a favor and organize these important interference, PopClip has an terms for use of feeds. excluded Apps list, but I do most Source| Permalink| Email this| documents so in case something happens to you they can easily of work in a web browser and I'm Comments make financial decisions and act not going to exclude Google on your behalf. The Wall Street Chrome. I can also quickly toggle PopClip on and off when I want
her website. LC may not be currently attached, but she's been seen out with multiple male friends recently including the good-looking guy she dined out with in LA last month. View Slideshow
Gather These Twenty-Five Documents You Need Before You Die [Life Planning]
Journal explains which policies and documents to make accessible. More
40
Technology/ Culture/ Talk/
Skyrim Portal crossover brings robots to the realm

Chris Burns (SlashGear)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:43:51 AM
Just this past week the folks at Bethesda released a Skyrim Creation Kit, one made to make developing strange modifications for the game as easy as pie. This week the team at Valve made full use of the kit to bring everyones favorite Portal character to the medieval world of Skyrim a robot, of course. This Space Core modification for Skyrim lands a lovely little personality core in your world and has you able to pick him up and kick him around
like a football if you like. Have a peek at the preview for this modification in the video below. Its not that this modification will bring you any sort of awesome futuristic abilities, but you will have a friendly little orb to help you fill the long walks across the plains. This Fall of the Space Core, Volume 1 modification will be just the first of many mods from the Valve crew as the 1 bit suggests. Can you imagine Skyrim full of Portal guns the madness of dragons flying through the ground and out of the
wall is too much to handle! Head down to the Steam Workshop and check out the creation and get yourself in on the project. You simply MUST help
out to bring this sort of crossover action to the game and future games if you ever want to see the ultimate battle to rule them all: dragons verses Batman in Skyrim.
Of course theres a need for such a thing, what do you think this gaming universe is all about? Theres also one whole heck of a lot more mods out there already check them all out! [ via Steam Workshop] Skyrim Portal crossover brings robots to the realm is written by Chris Burns& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Chelsea Handler on Reese Witherspoon's Dirty Jokes and Her Seriously Unsexy Sex Scene
Lindsay Miller (PopSugar)
TED: Sheikha Al Mayassa: Globalizing the local, localizing the global - Sheikha Al Mayassa (2010)
TEDTalks (TEDTalks (video))
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:28:15 AM
Chelsea Handler may be worlds away from the married, slightly bored mom she plays in This Means War, but there's plenty about the part that her fans will recognize. A prime example? A decidedly unsexy sex scene Chelsea improvised that involves Cheetos, as well as a straight-
talking banter with Reese's character she says is cribbed from their real-life friendship. We
chatted with Chelsea at a recent press day for the film to talk about her circle of famous female friends, including Reese and Jennifer Aniston, her workaholic tendencies, and why she likes being interviewed even more than interviewing. Check out our interview and see This Means War in theaters on Valentine's Day.
Sheikha Al Mayassa, a patron of artists, storytellers and filmmakers in Qatar, talks about how art and culture create a country's identity
-- and allow every country to share its unique identity with the wider world. As she says: "We don't want to be all the same, but we do want to understand each other."
Economy/
41
6 TOP ECONOMISTS ANSWER: Is China Heading Toward A Hard Landing?

Mamta Badkar (Money Game)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:37:00 AM
China's economy grew 8.9% last quarter, the slowest pace in 2.5 years. And worries of a Chinese hard landing, defined as a sharp and sudden deceleration in growth, gained momentum last year. However, China has been proactive in its efforts to prevent a hard landing. It has fine-tuned its policies to curb inflation, boost domestic consumption, and prevent a housing bubble. The Chinese government intervened heavily from 1989 1991 to cool its economy, causing real GDP growth to plunge to 4.1 percent in 1989, from 11.3 percent the previous year. It stepped in again in 1993. And some argue that this time around it's no different, and the the government knows exactly what it is doing. As the European sovereign debt crisis continues and the global economy struggles to regain steam, all eyes are on Asia's engine of growth. So, we asked six top China analysts whether they saw a hard or soft landing scenario and what we should keep an eye on. Ting Lu, China economist, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch A soft-landing in 2012, but with
strong headwinds We believe that the Chinese economy will have a soft-landing of growth in 2012, but with strong headwinds. We expect 8.6 percent GDP growth in 2012. There are two key elements to our view. First, we do see both external and internal risks to our growth forecasts. The biggest risk to our soft-landing call is a much worse eurozone sovereign debt crisis, while the second biggest risk is the falling property investment under the severe property tightening measures. Second, we believe the Chinese economy has a relatively healthy balance sheet and the government is flexible to adjust policy when it is necessary to deliver stable growth (moderate decline is allowed). Wei Yao, China economist, Societe Generale A bumpy landing with a certain amount of pain "We think China will experience a bumpy landing, different from either soft or hard landing. Beijing can prevent a hard landing, given its control over the economy and its fiscal capacity. However, the economic imbalance after years of lop-sided, investment-driven growth are too great to be resolved without pain, and the fragile global recovery adds further to the difficulties. While
external volatility and domestic social tensions call for faster reforms, various vested interests within the political structure could slow the pace of necessary reforms. Correction of existing asset bubbles, as well as the lack of pre-emptive and concerted reform planning, will make the process of landing very bumpy. Another way to understand our bumpy landing view is that there is a certain amount of pain that has to be endured during its rebalancing towards a consumption-driven economy. Although the central government cannot make the pain go away, it is still able to spread the impact over several years, instead of
having all existing investment bubbles blowing up in six to twelve months. In 2012, the housing market will be the first bubble to burst, while Beijing uses its power to sustain growth in other areas; and in 2013 and beyond, the government is likely to turn its attention to provide sustainable solutions to local government leverage and excess infrastructure investment. At the same time, private consumption will outperform, supported by rebalancing reforms and demographic trend, but will not be enough to make up the loss in growth resulted from correction of investments. Given all the challenges at hand,
we expect the Chinese economy to show below-potential growth and undergo recurring periods of great uncertainty in the next few years as economic rebalancing gradually takes place. A bumpy landing will also mean more volatility for the financial market. Alastair Newton, Senior political analyst, Nomura A one in three chance of a hard landing One in three probability of a hard landing starting between now and the end of 2014 (where a hard landing is defined as four consecutive quarters of growth of five percent pa or below); Risk of such skewed to the latter part of that period. Between now and mid-2013 Chinas leaders will be firmly focused on ensuring a smooth economic trajectory around the political inflexion point of the handover of power to the fifth generation leadership; They have plenty of fire power to ensure that that is so, even taking into account the possibility of a fairly sharp exogenous shock although, clearly, a major exogenous shock (eg break-up of the eurozone, a military strike on TOP page 47
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Economy/
Treasury Market About Face - Just a Blip or Sign of Things To Come?

ilene
of the reality versus the Federal Government's "spin." Spin, by the way, is what the Courtesy of Lee Adler of the media pundits like to call it, but Wall Street Examiner let's be real. "Spin," when applied I n m y l a s t e m a i l t o y o u I to government pronouncements, is mentioned that the bulge in just a euphemism for wishful withholding tax collections which thinking and outright lying, in may have been a tipoff to the other words, propaganda. better than expected payrolls data, Over the past 3 weeks, total had subsided. I took another look Treasury issuance was actually at the data today, and there's been $37 billion below the TBAC no rebound since I posted that forecast, thanks to the windfall report. withholding taxes that came along On top of that, yesterday the b e t w e e n t h e l a s t w e e k i n Treasury announced that today's 4 December through the latter part week bill auction would total $37 of January. It's a very rare event billion, which was not only the indeed when the government first time in 7 weeks that it was actually does better than expected. more than $30 billion, it was a It's usually a result of some kind billion more than the new TBAC of ham handed manipulation. The (Treasury Borrowing Advisory fact that this week the 4 week bill Committee) estimated for this size jumped by $7 billion and was quarter, on which the ink is barely more than the TBAC estimate is dry. clear evidence that the benefits of The TBAC is a body comprised the tax windfall, whatever its of a handful of the biggest of the cause, have ended. In the end, the Fed's Primary Dealers, which is government's borrowing this week officially tasked with estimating will be $4 billion more than the t h e T r e a s u r y ' s q u a r t e r l y TBAC estimate, with a billion borrowing needs and forecasting a above forecast tacked on to each w e e k l y a u c t i o n s c h e d u l e , of the 4 bill auctions this week including types of securities and from the 4 week bill up to the 52 amounts expected for each. The week bill. TBAC issues a report every 3 Now we can get back to the months which I scrutinize closely normal state in recent years where and use as a benchmark for t h e g o v e r n m e n t h a s b e e n evaluating how things are borrowing more than was unfolding week to week in terms expected every week, due to
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:09:30 PM
overly optimistic economic assumptions used by the government and the TBAC in making their forecasts. I wrote about this in last Thursday's Wall Street Examiner Professional Edition Treasury update for subscribers. The summary excerpt below is from last week's first part of a two part series each week in which I examine the major forces impacting overall market liquidity as they affect both stocks and bonds. The Treasury market panic continued this week, with yields heading for new lows, thanks partly to a return of central banks to the table at a modest level, but mostly due to a ratcheting up of public buying. Bond fund inflows hit a record last week. It's sheer panic. Bedlam. . The panic atmosphere has been helped along by reduced supply. Once last Tuesday's big settlement (but less than originally forecast) was out of the way, the market just idled as the paper was digested. Supply settling next week will be extremely low, in fact, there should be a minor paydown. Then the mid month settlement will be well below the norm for note and bond settlements. Considering that the Fed usually settles a big wad of its
forward MBS purchases at mid month, the skids will be greased and supply will be reduced. There will be more than enough cash to go around. . That will be a recipe for more buying of those "fortress balance sheet equities" (cough, cough), so the slow motion meltup will be spurred on, probably for most of February. But something went wrong this week with that big surge of withholding tax collections we have been witnessing with awe. It disappeared. In fact, the year to year comparisons went negative again last week. The mystery money is gone, for now at least. . The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, as is its wont, looked at the strong economic numbers of the past month or so and extrapolated them indefinitely into the future, forecasting big reductions in Treasury supply going forward. They even went so far as to suggest the Treasury allow negative interest rates on the bill auctions. Let the dealers and the big banks (of whom the TBAC guys are the kingpins) pay a kind of tax to the government for holding their money and keeping it "safe." I mean, these clowns are the biggest buyers of this paper.
It's as if they want to kick themselves, or each other, in the ass. Of course, it will be grandma and grandpa saver who are hurt the most. But they don't count. . Plus, the Gummit and TBAC guys are apparently so confident that rates will stay down for the long run, they're talking about doing floating rate notes. They're now looking at a better than best case scenario. I suspect that things won't play out quite that way, especially if this sudden collapse in withholding taxes persists. Another week of disappearing taxes, and I'd take it seriously. So we'll watch out for that. . Remember, these are the same financial rocket scientist geniuses who built the credit bubble and collapsed the financial system. Since they paid no penalty for that, they will do it again, probably soon, is my guess. The only issue is timing. . While we're waiting for the verdict on that though, there's enough momentum in the trends now at work to keep the bulls in clover for a few more weeks. The forces that had spurred last week's Treasury rally receded this week, with not only an increase in TREASURY page 48
Economy/
43
Spotlight China: Electricity Consumption Drops Sharply; Central Bank Vows Housing Support; Oil Imports From Iran Fall Again; Asia Real-Estate Bull Turns Bearish
noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
things that make you go hmm... China Pressures Iran On Oil Prices China has stepped up the pressure Submitted at 2/8/2012 2:54:00 AM Inquiring minds are tired of the on Iran in the face of Europe's oil spotlight on Greece (believe me I embargo. Business World reports a m a s s i c k a s a n y o n e o f China's Oil Imports From Iran Groundhog Day). Reduced Again Given the world will not end China will reduce its crude oil when Greece defaults, whether in imports from Iran for a third March of this year or next, let's month, sources said today, as the turn our attention to a country far two remain divided over payment more significant. and price terms, although they Chinese Electricity Consumption plan to meet again for talks as Fell Massively In January early as this week. Business Insider reports Chinese China is the top buyer of Iranian Electricity Consumption Fell oil and also the fastest expanding Massively In January, And The major oil importer, putting it in a Chinese New Year Doesn't strong position to negotiate for Explain It better terms after it more than Ultra-brief note here from halved imports for both January Nomura's Zhiwei Zhang : and February. According to the China Securities The reductions for March-loading J o u r n a l , C h i n a ' s e l e c t r i c i t y supplies will be largely the same, consumption in January fell by if not deeper, than the previous 7.5%. We estimate this may be two months, industry officials the first decline since 2002 with direct knowledge of the (excluding the financial crisis supply situation told Reuters. period in 2008-09), indicating China, which buys around 20 industrial production may have percent of Iran's total crude slowed sharply in January. exports, cut its January and They don't have any more February purchases by about answers here at the moment, 285,000 bpd, just over one half of except they say that if you're the total average daily amount it thinking it has something to do imported in 2011. China Central with the New Year, then you are Bank Vows Housing Support incorrect. In a sure sign that property prices For now it's just one of those in China are crashing faster than
the Chinese government wants, China Central Bank Vows Housing Support Chinas central bank pledged support for first-home buyers as a crackdown on real-estate speculation threatens to trigger a property slump in the worlds second- biggest economy. Officials will increase support for construction of affordable housing and ensure that loan demand from first-home families is met, the Peoples Bank of China said on its website yesterday evening. Policy makers aim to limit public discontent by making housing more affordable, with Vice Premier Li Keqiang, a possible contender to be the next premier, describing the distribution of lowcost homes as a key test of government credibility. At the same time, the ruling Communist Party aims to avoid the economic hard landing that Fitch Ratings said yesterday is a key global risk. The government doesnt want to see home transactions slide too fast -- that may hurt economic growth, said Lu Ting, a Hong Kong-based economist at Bank of America Corp. Too Late to Prevent a Hard Landing Given the massive size of China's property bubble, it's far too late to prevent a crash landing. The only way to prevent crashes is to not
let bubbles get so big in the first place. Asia Real-Estate Bull Turns Bearish MarketWatch reports Asia RealEstate Bull Turns Bearish Asias gradually cooling property markets arent the great buys they once were, according to one expert in the region, who says better bargains can be found in the depressed markets in the West. Tim Murphy, the Hong Kongbased chief executive officer of property advisory group IP Global, says hes telling his clients to look more towards New York and San Francisco for deals, although London also ranks well in terms of rental yield in some projects. Back home in Asia, the only market he likes is Malaysia, where average prices in its big cities are about one-tenth of those in Hong Kong, while its commodity-backed economy should outperform its exportdependent regional rivals. Whats changed? Murphy says the ongoing debate in Asia during the current soft patch is being driven by inflation concerns that were absent during previous periods of economic weakness. Specifically, he sees a role reversal from the regional crisis that unfolded in 1997, as fresh
barriers to foreign investment and speculative activity are now enacted across many parts of Asia, while hard-hit cities in the West are offering tax breaks and other concessions as incentives to invest. Today, governments around the region, and particularly in China, are wary that too much liquidity could stoke a U.S.-style housing bubble and inflict long-term damage upon the economy, he said. Singapore and Hong Kong are two of the freest economies in the world, yet you pay more in stamp duties [real-estate transaction taxes] now than you would in London, because they are very worried about the markets continuing to overheat, Murphy said. Infomercial for PropertyAdvisory Firm IP Global As much as I agree with the headline message, I have to comment the same message could have and should have been said years ago. Given the illiquid nature of real estate, one cannot sell on a dime when the market turns. " We see whats happening as a great chance for Asians to buy overseas at the moment, Murphy said, adding that in December he SPOTLIGHT page 47
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Economy/
Bernanke Finally Says Something That Seems to Make Sense "8.3% Unemployment Understates Labor Weakness"; Critique of Bernanke's 2014 Pledge; Perfectly Useless Projections
noreply@blogger.com (Mike Mish Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:19:00 PM
I nearly always disagree with Bernanke on monetary and fiscal policy. Specifically, the Fed ought not have a monetary policy for the simple reason the Fed should not exist. Indeed, the Bernanke Fed and the Greenspan Fed have both proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they do not know what they are doing, where the economy is headed, or anything else of relevance in setting monetary policy. However, on rare occasions, Bernanke can say a few snippets that seem to make complete sense. For example, Bernanke Says 8.3% Unemployment Understates Labor Weakness. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the 8.3 percent rate of unemployment in January understates weakness in the U.S. labor market. It is very important to look not just at the unemployment rate, which reflects only people who are actively seeking work, Bernanke said today in response to questions at a hearing before the Senate Budget Committee in Washington. There are also a lot of people who are either out of the labor force because they dont think they can find work or in
part- time jobs. The jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 8.3 percent in January, a government report showed on Feb. 3. Bernankes remarks indicate that his view that the labor market is a long way from returning to normal hasnt changed since he used the same phrase when he testified to the House Budget Committee on Feb. 2. The 8.3 percent no doubt understates the weakness of the labor market in some broad sense, Bernanke said today, while noting that some job indicators are improving. Bernanke said the Feds forecast suggests the economy will grow fast enough to absorb new entrants into the workforce while not making sharp improvements on the unemployment rate. Fed officials last month estimated that the worlds largest economy will grow 2.2 percent to 2.7 percent this year, according to the central tendency estimate, while the unemployment rate will average 8.2 percent to 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter. Disagreements Already I agree with most of the above analysis, but the more Bernanke or the Fed talks, the quicker a disagreement is bound to arise. The problem above is the Fed's growth projection. The Fed could
be right, I just highly doubt it. Let's put it this way, Bernanke has been seriously wrong so many times on economic projections that perhaps by accident he finally gets one correct. "8.3% Unemployment Understates Labor Weakness" However, some things are so obvious even Bernanke seems to understand. His labor weakness statement is one of them. I said similar things on Monday, with far more details and reasons, in Fewer Nonfarm Employees Now Than December 2000; Unemployment Rate: Some Things Still Don't Add Up; Obamanomics? Please click on link for a series of charts showing just how weak the recovery has been and just how understated the unemployment rate is. Critique of Bernanke's Pledge to Hold Rates to Zero Through 2014 The strange thing here is that although Bernanke seems to understand the likeliness of further economic weakness, most analysts and writers are tooting the horns of an economic recovery, while chastising Bernanke for promising to hold rates low until 2014, as if the decline in unemployment rate is meaningful. I disagree with the Fed's rate decision for a different
fundamental reason: a bunch of academics chasing their tails cannot effectively set interest rates (only the market can). That simple fact has been proven is spades. Analysis of Bernanke's "Labor Weakness" Statements Unfortunately, Bernanke's statements offer surprising little economic insight. For example, please consider the Fed's estimate that the " unemployment rate will average 8.2 percent to 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter". Perfectly Useless Projection Let's assume Bernanke is correct. Is that a meaningful projection? The short answer is the projection, even if totally accurate, is perfectly useless. Let's analyze "why? in light of Bernanke's estimate that it takes 125,000 jobs a month to keep up with demographics (birthrate plus immigration). Three Cases In Which Unemployment Rate Stays Flat Is the Fed projecting 125,000 per month in line with expected demographics? Is the Fed expecting 200,000 jobs a month with a rising participation rate that holds the unemployment rate steady? Is the Fed expecting 50,000 jobs a month with a rising falling
participation rate that holds the unemployment rate steady? It would be more useful (assuming there is any use to Bernanke's statements which is certainly debatable) to know just what he is thinking because those three scenarios are vastly different in terms of economic significance, even though they all project the same 8.2 percent to 8.5 percent unemployment rate prediction. In other words, the Fed's projection, even if accurate, is totally useless, not that anyone should be paying any attention to what he says in the first place. Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
Economy/
45
10 Countries That Rule The World Of Wind Energy

24/7 Wall St. (Money Game)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:04:14 AM
largest GDP, increased its wind capacity by 29%. Almost all the countries on this This post originally appeared at list are developing new renewal 24/7 Wall St. energy sources because their oil The biggest producers of wind consumption far outpaces their oil power are racing to add capacity production. All of the countries, to meet growing energy demands. except for Canada, consume more Last year alone, the worlds wind oil than they produce. India energy capacity increased by consumes more than four times 17.3%. But the growth is largely more oil than it produces. The the result of a small number of U.S. uses about two and a half countries, which are the worlds times as much as it produces. largest energy consumers and are 24/7 Wall St. used data from the desperate for alternatives. 24/7 Global Wind Energy Council Wall St. reviewed the Global report to compile a list of the Wind Energy Councils 2011 countries that produce the most report to identify the 10 countries wind energy. We listed each that produce the most wind countrys share of global wind energy in the world. Click Here power production in 2011, its total To See The Ten Countries That capacity measured in megawatts Rule The Worlds Wind Energy > (MW), as well as the increase in The countries that produce the capacity last year. We relied on most wind energy are seeking BPs Statistical Review of World energy independence. They Energy for each countrys oil use comprise some of the worlds and production. For certain largest economies. Nine out of the c o u n t r i e s , t h i s d a t a w a s 10 are among the 12 countries unavailable when production was with the largest GDP. While they below a 0.1% share of the worlds are not all growing at the same total. We also included GDP data rate Spains GDP has from the World Bank. 10. decreased since 2009 all of P o r t u g a l them are looking for new energy solutions to feed their economic Share of global wind power growth. In 2011, Canada, the production: 1.7% country with the 10th largest Increase in wind power (2011)/ GDP, increased its total wind total: 377 MW/4,083 MW power capacity by 24%. China, Oil production: N/A the country with the second Oil consumption: 0.3 million
growing source of energy. According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association, the countrys vast landscape, its three windy coastlines, and its plains and mountains, all contribute to its potential as a major wind energy producer and user. The country is already taking steps to develop this sector. In 2011, the country built 1,267 MW of new wind energy installations in the form of wind towers or wind turbines, effectively quadrupling Canadas capacity. In 2010, only 690 MW installations were built. 8. United Kingdom Share of global wind power production: 2.7% Increase in wind power (2011)/ total: 1,293 MW/6,540 MW Oil production: 1.3 million barrels/day (1.6%) Oil consumption: 1.6 million barrels daily (1.8%) GDP growth 2010: 1.4% The United Kingdom recently reached a record 6 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy, according to trade association RenewableUK. This is enough to power more than 3.3 million households. Another 19.5 GW are currently planned, and by 2020 over 30 GW are expected to be COUNTRIES page 48
barrels daily (0.3%) GDP growth 2010: 1.4% Portugal has dramatically increased its reliance on clean energy over the past few years. In 2005, 17% of the countrys electricity was derived from renewable sources. By 2010, this amount increased to nearly 45%. The country produces less than 0.1% of the worlds oil and only consumes 0.3% of it. The New York Times reports that wind power, along with hydropower, is now Portugals main energy focus. One downside, however, is that the Portuguese pay about twice as much as Americans do for electricity. And these prices
have risen 15% in the past five years, due in part to the high cost of the countrys renewable energy program. 9. Canada Share of global wind power production: 2.2% Increase in wind power (2011)/ total:1,267 MW/5,265 MW Oil production: 3.3 million barrels/day (4.2%) Oil consumption: 2.3 million barrels daily (2.5%) GDP growth 2010: 3.2% Canada is the worlds sixthlargest producer of oil and the 10th-largest consumer of oil. However, wind power is a
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Economy/
New York Fed Is Back To Transacting Opaquely, Sells AIG Holdings To Goldman
Tyler Durden
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:05:11 PM
The last time the Fed tried to dump Maiden Lane 2 assets via a public auction in a BWIC manner, it nearly crashed the credit market. This time, the FRBNY, headed by one ex-Goldman Sachs alum Bill Dudley, has decided to go back to its shady, opaque ways, and transact in private, with no clear indication of the actual bidding process or transaction terms, and sell $6.2 billion in Maiden Lane 2 "assets" to, wait for it, Goldman Sachs, the same firm that would benefit in the first place if AIG's assets imploded (remember all those CDS it held on AIG which supposedly prevented it from losing money if AIG went bankrupt?). One wonders: does Goldman have a put option on the ML2 portfolio if the market experiences a sudden and totally impossible downtick some day? But all is well - we have assurance from the Fed that the sale happened in a " competitive process." Luckily, that takes care of any appearance of impropriety.
From the NY Fed: New York Fed Sells $6.2 Billion in Face Amount of Maiden Lane II LLC Assets The Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("New York Fed") today announced that it has sold assets with a current face value of $6.2 billion from its Maiden Lane II LLC ("ML II") portfolio through a competitive process to Goldman Sachs & Co. Proceeds from this sale and the January 19, 2012 transaction, will enable the repayment of the entire remaining outstanding balance of the senior loan from the New York Fed to ML II on the next payment date in early March. The original amount of the senior loan was $19.5 billion. The transaction was prompted by an unsolicited offer from Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC to BlackRock Solutions, the investment manager for ML II, to buy ML II assets. Consistent with its March 2011 announcement regarding the disposition procedures for ML II, which allowed for these types of reverse inquiries, the New York Fed directed BlackRock Solutions to
conduct a sale via a competitive process. The five broker-dealers included in the competitive process were Barclays Capital Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, and RBS Securities Inc. The broker-dealers were selected based on the strength of each of their recently submitted reverse inquiries for large parcels of the portfolio. The New York Fed decided to move forward with the transaction only after determining that the winning bid represented good value for the public. Net proceeds from the sale will be reported as part of the portfolios normal reporting schedule on April 16, 2012. William C. Dudley, President of the New York Fed, said, "I am pleased with the continued interest in these assets and am especially gratified that the New York Fed's loan to ML II will be repaid as a result of the sale announced today." As stated previously, the New York Fed, through BlackRock Solutions, will dispose of the
remaining securities in the ML II portfolio individually and in segments over time as market conditions warrant through a competitive sales process, while taking appropriate care to avoid market disruption. There will be no fixed timeframe for the sales; at each stage, the Federal Reserve will only transact if the best available bid represents good value for the public. Following repayment of the New York Feds senior loan, additional proceeds will be allocated as per the ML II agreement. Proceeds from additional asset sales that are allocated to the New York Fed will be included in the Federal Reserves remittances of income to the U.S. Treasury. The New York Fed publishes on its website a list of all the securities in the ML II portfolio. In order to allow the public to track progress on asset dispositions, the New York Fed provides monthly updates on portfolio holdings and a list of the securities sold within the prior month. In addition, it provides quarterly updates on total proceeds from sales, including a
breakdown by counterparty. The New York Fed will also provide further details regarding all ML II transactions, including an account showing the acquirer and the price paid for each individual security three months after the last asset is sold, ensuring timely accountability without jeopardizing the ability to generate maximum sale proceeds for the public. For more information, including the most recent holdings report as of December 31, 2011, visit Maiden Lane II LLC. Contact: Andrea Priest (212) 720-6139 (646) 720-6139 Andrea.priest@ny.frb.org Average: Your rating: None Average: 5( 1 vote) 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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TOP
SPOTLIGHT
Iran and consequent sustained oil price spike) could make keeping the economy on an even keel very difficult to impossible;
is an ever-present risk A hard landing remains an everpresent risk for Chinas economy but our base case remains an orderly deceleration in growth. The main near term risk for Beyond mid-2013 Chinas China is the property market. leaders will need to address Anecdotes abound of falling significant structural and systemic prices in the primary market and challenges which will not be f a l l i n g t r a n s a c t i o n s i n t h e straightforward. However, since secondary one. In our view, this is 1 9 9 2 ( i e D e n g X i a o p i n g s wholly expected: the government nanxun) they have shown an is still clearly willing to bear the impressive ability to steer the consequences of tight restrictions economy through very choppy and a slowdown in the market to waters. deflate the housing bubble. Beijing has plenty of options if it Andrew Colquhoun, Head of decided to offset a housing bust. Asia-Pacific Sovereigns, Fitch Its fiscal position is strong. Along Ratings with reversing the property China has the policy flexibility to market restrictions, it has the engineer a soft landing capacity to offset any fiscal Fitch expects China's economy to problems arising from local grow 8.2 percent in 2012, with governments. Banks would almost downside risk from the eurozone certainly need to be bailed out, and from the unwinding of but the government has had prior China's own property boom. experience. Chinese wages are China has policy flexibility to lower than Japan's in the early respond to shocks. But the real 1990s, and there is a structural question is whether China's trend of higher inflation, which e c o n o m y c a n m a n a g e t h e gives monetary policy greater transition to a more sustainable room to move and reduces the risk consumption-led growth model in of a liquidity trap. the longer term. Qu Hongbin, Economist, HSBC Alaistair Chan, Economist, Beijing has the fiscal flexibility Moody's Analytics to engineer a soft landing A soft landing, but a hard landing With inflation quickly shifting to
disinflation, growth stability tops the policy agenda with calls for more aggressive easing measures. Inflation, as measured by CPI and PPI, has fallen rapidly in recent months. But growth is also decelerating and the latest leading indicators point to a further slowdown in 2012. The European debt crisis and falling property prices will only add to downside pressure on growth. This means Beijing has to respond decisively to stabilize growth and the job market. We expect the central bank will pursue across-the- board easing. As with the policy tightening cycle, we expect quantitative tools to be used Second, we expect fiscal policy to be as, if not more, important than monetary policy. Total fiscal revenue surged nearly 27 % y-o-y in the first 11 months of 2011 and the central governments net cash position has topped around RMB4trn (nearly 9% of GDP). This puts Beijing in a strong fiscal position to cushion a slowdown in growth. Watch for tax cuts for small and medium-sized enterprises (equivalent of around 1% of GDP), additional spending on public housing and ongoing infrastructure projects, and more subsidies for poor rural
households. We also expect the municipal bond trial to be rolled out nationally next year. Combined with the transfer of more funds from the central government, this should help finance public housing and mitigate the liquidity risk of local government debt. These measures, plus continued investment in existing infrastructure projects, should keep GDP growth above 8% in the coming years, although the crisis in Europe will probably slow export growth. Don't Miss: Emerging Markets This Is What Will Happen In 2012 > Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: Asian Stocks Are Mixed As Greek Debt Talks Continue CHART OF THE DAY: Hedge Fund Managers Should Be Thrilled To Death Over This CITI Expects These Companies To Report An Earnings Surprise In Coming Weeks
opened an office in Shanghai to tap the growing interest among Chinas newly wealthy for overseas homes. Given the entire two-page article was about Murphy and his firm, I have to ask "Was that an news story by MarketWatch or an infomercial for Tim Murphy?" Regardless, anyone who bought in China in the last couple years and has not sold yet is now likely trapped. Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
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Economy/
S&P Threatens US With Another Downgrade In As Little As 6 Months
TREASURY
supply due to weaker than expected government revenues, but evidence in this week's auctions so far that investor demand, which had been running red hot, may be waning. The indirect bid, which is a measure of that demand both from investors and foreign central banks, has Tyler Durden tomorrow, let alone in the I dont think anything is going to been down at each of this week's "medium-term" courtesy of the happen between now and the 5 auctions so far. Three of the Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:44:29 AM most deadlocked political system election in November, Chambers data series that we will want to look at closely this week are the Will A be the new AA+? ever. As for "credible" - forget it. said. Perhaps, if the S&P follows And as was shown, if the first US S&P said in August that political Fed's weekly update on foreign through with its latest threat. downgrade from August 5, 2011 brinkmanship over increasing the central bank buying, the data from Bloomberg reports that, "the U.S., broke the US stock market, we governments debt ceiling year the ICI on bond fund inflows, and lacking a plan to contain $1 can't wait to find out how the showed the U.S. is becoming t h e F e d ' s w e e k l y d a t a o n trillion deficits, faces the prospect Citadel-controlled, FRBNY- less stable, less effective and less commercial bank buying of of another rating cut in six to 24 blessed stock market will deal predictable as the Treasury Treasuries and Agencies. Those months depending on the outcome with this particular event. In other almost reached its borrowing limit have all been positive in recent of November elections, according news, we are still waiting to hear before the government reached a weeks. Any sign that any of them are on the wane could be the to John Chambers of Standard & from Moody's on both the US and compromise. Poors. America has had an AA+ France. The political brinkmanship canary in the coal mine for a turn rating with a negative outlook More from Bloomberg: hasnt gone away, Chambers not only in the Treasury market, since Aug. 5 when the New York- That is going to have to say said today. That simply doesnt but also the stock market. based unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. something about entitlements, and h a p p e n i n o t h e r A A A I'll post a complete update on these items, the tax collection stripped the nation of its AAA that is probably going to have to e c o n o m i e s . ranking for the first time, citing say something about revenues. Well as long as it happens in data, technical chart updates of the governments failure to agree Bond investors ignored the AA+ economies as is well. the Treasury market and the US on a path to reduce deficits. The downgrade, driving Treasury Average: COUNTRIES U.S. has a one-in-three chance of yields to the lowest levels in Your rating: None Average: 5( 3 continued from page 45 another downgrade, Chamber said history, amid concern the U.S. votes) installed, the group reports. UK today during an S&P sponsored economy was stalling and as This entry passed through the Prime Minister David Cameron Webcast. What the U.S. needs is Europes debt crisis intensified. Full-Text RSS service if this is has recently pledged his support not so much a short-term fiscal Treasuries have returned 3.9 your content and you're reading it for wind power, writing in a tightening, but it has to have a percent since the rating cut and on someone else's site, please read statement, I see offshore wind as credible medium-term fiscal gained 9.8 percent last year, the the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contenta significant energy and industrial plan, said Chambers, managing debts best performance since only/faq.php#publishers. Five opportunity for the UK, and one director of sovereign ratings." Too 2008, according to Bank of Filters recommends: Donate to that I am determined to seize. bad the US doesn't even have a America Merrill Lynch index Wikileaks. See the rest of the story at fiscal plan what it will do data. Business Insider Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. See Also:
dollar, and a complete review of the Fed's balance sheet in the Professional Edition on Thursday evening and Saturday. Stay up to date with the machinations of the Fed, Treasury, Primary Dealers and foreign central banks in the US market, in the Fed Report in the Professional Edition, Money Liquidity, and Real Estate Package. Try it risk free for 30 days. Get the research and analysis you need to understand these critical forces. Click this link to try WSEs Professional Edition risk free for 30 days! Average: Your rating: None This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
America's Shrinking Corporate Giants If The Worst Case Scenario For The US Is Japan, Then Everything Will Be Fine Fun With Economic Confidence, State By State Edition
Economy/ Culture/
49
Here's The REAL Reason So Many Old Men Freak Out About Inflation
Joe Weisenthal (Money Game)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:18:00 AM
Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, that the Feds approach to its dual objectives is Binyamin Appelbaum at The fully balanced and symmetrical." New York Times reports on a As you can see, Bernanke was depressing exchange between being deferential to the Senators, some Senators and Ben Bernanke but really, this whole line of from a recent hearing (via Ryan questioning is ridiculous. Avent). As Ryan Avent notes, Senate Republicans on Tuesday, unemployment is massive by like their colleagues in the House h i s t o r i c a l s t a n d a r d s , w h i l e last week, expressed concern that inflation is running below trend, the Fed effectively was declaring so we would seriously hope that that it would prioritize job growth Bernanke's focus would be on over inflation. solving the former. Right now Is the Fed sending a signal that inflation should be secondary, keeping inflation in check is a obviously. secondary priority to achieving So why do so many people flip full employment? asked Senator out about inflation? Charles Grassley, Republican of Well it's not because inflation is Iowa. high. Again, here's the chart I want to disabuse any notion showing that under Bernanke's that there is a priority for tenure, inflation has run below the maximum employment, Mr. trend of the last few decades. Bernanke responded. The real reason is that worrying I n s t e a d , h e t o l d a n o t h e r about inflation makes people like questioner, Senator Patrick Chuck Grassley feel young again.
Grassley is 75 years old. The last time inflation was a real problem in the late '70s/early '80s, Grassley was in his early-to-mid 40s, a point in his life when he presumably had a lot more testosterone production, and was in much better shape.
BTW: This doesn't just go for Grassley; there's a huge crop of supply-siders who came of age under Reagan, who still go on TV all the time whining about inflation, all of whom were at their career/virility peaks during the Reagan/inflation years.
So for them, worrying about inflation is like buying a Lamborghini or marrying a young wife. It makes them feel good and young again. The impulse is understandable. It's just scary that it influences policy. Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: Philly Fed's Plosser Sees 8% Unemployment By The End Of The Year Bernanke Testifies, 'We're Obviously Not Satisfied With Where We Are' In The Economy Bill Gross Blasts Ultra-Low Rates, And Says The Fed Is Taking Us On The Course Of Japan
Naomi and Liev Focus on Fitness Together

Allie Merriam (PopSugar)
Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber didn't let rain get in the way of their workout yesterday. The couple went for a jog in Sydney
and kept on going despite the downpour. Naomi and Liev took their sons, Sasha and Samuel, Down Under for a family vacation with their Watts relatives. The family touched down about two fun beach days and a celebration weeks ago and have since fit in in honor of Australia Day. The
getaway has also included some work for Naomi. She and costar Robin Wright started filming The Grandmothers Monday at Seal Rocks, four hours north of Sydney. The movie is under the direction of Anne Fontaine, who
was behind 2009's Coco Before Chanel. View Slideshow
50
Culture/
Why Americans Reject Gay Marriage Patent Troll Claims Ownership of Interactive Web ? And Might Win
(Christianpost.com > Most Popular) Joe MullinThe Christian Post) A (Photo: (Wired Top Stories) protester at the 'Let AM Submitted at 2/8/2012 8:50:00the People Vote' rally in Manhattan on July The mother up a sign to protest 24, 2011 holds of all patent troll trials York's gay marriage law. New unfolds in Texas where Google, Amazon and Adobe the Thousands participated in are f i g h t i n g rallya which ccalledi n g multi-city a p t e n t l a i m on ownership over to put the gay state lawmakers online video, image rotation and search automarriage issue before voters complete. We explain and start a through a statewide referendum. series. The city 6, 2012| Texas is February of Tyler,12:34 pm better knownJersey, Washington and New as the nations rose capital than as a hotspot of the Maryland legislators are pushing technology industry. Its legalize through bills that would a quiet, c o n s e r v a marriage.y New Jersey same-sex t i v e c i t o f a b o u t 100,000, full of wide streets and Gov. Chris Christie has called for big trucks. a referendum and said he would This same-sex marriage bill the veto a week, though, Tyler is if it site of a remarkable Senate over passes through the battle and the history of the World Wide Assembly. Weba trial that couldto pass the Washington is poised affect its future of e-commerce. bill, federal same-sex marriage The while courthouse Democratic is packed Maryland's downtown governor to working with Republican is the brim with dozens of lawyers, representing support for lawmakers to garner the worlds biggest internet companies, gay marriage. i n c l u d i n g Y a h o o ,inAall athree, m zon Pro-family groups G o o g l e a n d Y o u T u b e . for a states have supported calls A succession of pioneers of to referendum and have vowedthe early Webincluding the Webs force them. f Gaye rightsmgroups ninr s - L e e ath r Ti B e r e Maine himselfhave flown in from announced they had enough around the to force a referendum. signatures world to denounce two software patents they believe North Carolina and Minnesota threaten the future of Web voters meanwhile will be asked to innovation. East Texas has transformed itself into something of a haven for patent suits over the past several years, but by any standard, the trial now underway is an extraordinary circus of dark- ultimately settled rather than re-
decide whether their state's constitution should be amended to define marriage as union between one man and one woman. Legislators who support samesex marriage bills in these states say lawmakers need to decide on such controversial issues otherwise change will never happen. The civil rights movement, many gay rights supporters say, would not have been as effective if lawmakers weren't willing to change existing discriminatory laws and measures were left to the voting public. Like us on Facebook Indeed, referendums that have sought to define marriage as one man and one woman have been approved by voters 31 out of 31 times. However, gay rights supporters point to recent polls that show the gap is closing across the country between those who believe samesex couples should marry and those who oppose it. A May 2011 Gallup poll found 53 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage "should be recognized by the law as valid." A Pew Research poll conducted simultaneously found 45 percent of Americans are in favor of letting "gays and lesbians marry legally," while 46 are opposed. But such numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, say same-sex marriage opponents.
Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine (CCL), says voters are more likely to vote against same-sex marriage when given the privacy of a voting booth as opposed to a public polling area. "I think what happens, and I know this sounds clich, the most important poll is the vote and this has occurred 31 times across the country and all 31 times, people across the U.S. believe in natural marriage," Conley told The Christian Post. "I think a lot of times, when [pollsters] go up and talk to them or come to their house and ask if they believe in equality, they may be more intimidated than when they get behind the curtain of a voting booth." Len Deo, president of the profamily New Jersey Family Policy Council, said a recent Quinnipiac University poll that found a majority of New Jersey residents in favor of a same-sex marriage bill was misleading because of the terminology the poll employed. "What [voters] said is they supported marriage equality, the question that they didn't ask the people is 'did you know same-sex marriage gets all the rights and benefits of [traditional] marriage?' " Deo told CP. "I think the potential is there for marriage to be protected in our state."
Deo said he would support a referendum provided the wording was objective. Gov. Christie, however, told a town hall meeting last week "The polls that I've seen show that if this [New Jersey's same-sex marriage bill] goes to the ballot, I lose." Critics claim Christie is once again deflected the hotly contested issue because he does not want to have to veto a divisive bill as he gains a greater national profile. "If a majority of people want it, prove it," Christie said. "Let them vote on it. They'll get in the privacy of the voting booth and make their choice." The National Organization for Marriage, meanwhile, has pledged to collect enough signatures in any state whose legislature votes in favor of a same-sex marriage bill. The group also vowed to fund the campaigns of challengers to Republican Senators in Washington who voted in favor of same-sex marriage. By appealing to certain communities particularly Christian communities N.O.M. and other pro-family groups will try to force the issue onto the ballot and, equally important, get similar-minded residents into the voting booth. In order to do so, N.O.M. has spent millions on ad campaigns, canvassing efforts and lobbying in
contentious states, including over $2 million in Maine to fight a similar effort only two years ago. This year, Maine gay rights groups are working from the outside in, as a coalition for samesex marriage announced last month that it had enough signatures to get gay marriage onto the ballot. However the measure gets to ballot is ostensibly inconsequential. No same-sex marriage referendum has ever passed, while many referendums defining marriage as one man and one woman have passed. And measures to repeal same-sex marriage bills and additions to civil union benefits, such as California's Proposition 8 and a 2009 Maine bill (among others) have been successful. Gay rights groups say they believe polls suggest it's only a matter of time before voters approve of same-sex marriage bills. Opponents aren't quite convinced. Only time will tell. 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.
important invention. Mike
moved its headquartersjust two
UC could reap many millions
Culture/ Gaming/
51
Joel Osteen Addresses Accusations of Teaching 'Watered-Down Christianity'

(Christianpost.com > Most Popular)
and I don't say that disrespectfully, but they've been shown a God that you can't measure up to," the Texas pastor ( P h o t o : R E U T E R S / K e v i n told the crowd, according to the Lamarque) Joel Osteen, best- Hawaii News Now. selling author and pastor of "And so, my goal is to make God Lakewood Church in Texas, and good and let them know, hey, I his wife Victoria are seen in this tell them all the time, God's file photo, April 6, 2010. smiling down on you right now. You're his child. He's got a great February 6, 2012| 4:43 pm plan for your life. You can The Texas megachurch pastor overcome mistakes, and to me, had been spotted earlier in the that draws people TO God," he week at the Pacific state wearing continued, adding as the crowd only his swim trunks, a hat and cheered: "You are victors, not sunglasses, gathering a lot of victims!" media attention for his in-shape Like us on Facebook physique. An image of Osteen's Osteen also addressed some of abs was released by TMZ.com his statements that homosexuality that made headlines and put the is a sin and accusations that his spotlight on the 48-year-old sermons only focus on receiving pastor's advocacy for healthy prosperity from God which living and dieting. some critics interpret to mean At the Night of Hope event, money. The Lakewood Church however, Osteen talked on some pastor, and bestselling author, has serious issues in his first ever b e e n i d e n t i f i e d a s o n e o f sermon at the Blaisdell Arena in America's wealthiest pastors. Honolulu. "I don't go up there and talk about SEE VIDEO OF JOEL OSTEEN money. I talk about: God wants SPEAKING A B O U T you to be blessed and have good CHRISTLESS CHRISTIANITY relationships and be healthy. And "I think, for years, people have I think the opposite is: some been pushed down by religion, people want you to, think that
you're supposed to be poor and broke and suffer to show that you're a Christian, and that's just not the way I read the Scripture. I think that God wants us to excel and be the best at what we can do and have happy families. You know, prosperity, to me, is more than money. It's health and good relationships peace of mind," Osteen explained. According to Hawaii News Now, he explained that he does not go out of his way to preach that homosexuality is a sin, and said that he would never judge anyone. Regarding accusations that he preaches a "watered-down" version of Christianity that does not adequately cover the "fire-and -brimstone" rhetoric that other preachers sometimes focus on, the pastor explained: "Our message is God is good. He's on your side and he wants you to live a blessed life. Part of message too is that even if you've made mistakes you can get to where God wants you to be." "I think i do talk about the negative things and adversities but the Bible says it's the goodness of God that leads people to repent. I believe there's enough pushing
people down. I like telling people you may have made mistakes, but God can forgive you," said Osteen. The pastor's visit to Hawaii has been generating a lot of buzz in the state. KITV.com reported that hundreds came out to meet him at a book signing at Kahala Mall last week. "Unbelievable. It means so much to me. He touched my heart," said Betty Anzalone on meeting Osteen. "I'm so excited he just shook my hand. He's so loving and kind and I feel it generate out of him," added Barbara Schade. The " Night of Hope" event tours various cities around the U.S., and is scheduled to go on for several more months. The event tour is led by Osteen and his wife, Victoria Osteen, who joins him on stage for many of his sermons. 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.
First-party Vita games now available at GameStop

JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:00:00 PM
Not only can you download Vita games early, you can buy boxed copies of first-party titles early as well. GameStop currently has copies of Little Deviants, Uncharted, Hot Shots, Wipeout 2048, and ModNation Racers in stock online right now. They ship within 24 hours, the site notes, or you can use the site to check for stock at your local store. The Vita hardware will officially be available February 15 in the First Edition bundle, but it's possible you already have a Japanese unit, in which case you should be able to play these cartridges. First-party Vita games now available at GameStop originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
52
Culture/ Food/
Eddie Long Apologizes to Jews for Being Crowned 'King'

(Christianpost.com > Most Popular)
Long wrote to Nigut Saturday. "Furthermore, I sincerely denounce any action that depicts me as a King, for I am merely just (Photo: New Birth Missionary a servant of the Lord." Long said Baptist Church via YouTube) R a b b i M e s s e r h a d " g o o d Bishop Eddie Long is seen intentions" but acknowledged that "crowned" as "King" during a the ceremony "caused harm to the televised service at New Birth Jewish community, for which I M i s s i o n a r y B a p t i s t C h u r c h am deeply sorry." involving Rabbi Ralph Messer on It was a "very heartfelt, sincere, Jan. 29, 2012. humble apology," CNN quoted Nigut as saying. "I was very February 6, 2012| 8:08 am gratified by Bishop Long Bill Nigut from the Jewish Anti- apparently recognizing what our Defamation League said he concern was," he said, adding that believed Long had sincerely the "fake ritual" was truly apologized for the Jan. 29 offensive. c e r e m o n y a t N e w B i r t h A video of the ceremony, posted Missionary Baptist Church in on YouTube, showed the rabbi Atlanta, Ga., in which the senior shouting, "He is a king. God has pastor was wrapped in a sacred blessed him. He's a humble man, Torah scroll and his chair was but in him is kingship, royalty." lifted up by four men as Rabbi M e s s e r , w h o s a i d h e w a s Ralph Messer from Colorado performing the act on behalf of declared him a "king." Jewish people and "the land of WATCH VIDEO OF EDDIE Israel," also claimed that the L O N G B E I N G C R O W N E D Torah was a 312-year-old scroll KING HERE belonging to the Auschwitz "The ceremony was not my concentration camp during World suggestion, nor was it my intent, War II. to participate in any ritual that is Like us on Facebook offensive in any manner to the Nigut said the ceremony was a Jewish community, or any group," "real wake-up call" that many do
not understand Jewish liturgies and practices. "Guys like Messer are troubling to us because they appropriate real ritual or, in this case, make one up," he said, according to The Atlanta JournalConstitution. The news portal also quoted Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, associate professor of Biblical studies at Interdenominational Theological Center, as saying that the ceremony was "something I've never seen or read within the Judeo-Christian tradition." During the ceremony, Messer alluded to controversies surrounding Long. "God wants to get your focus crisis produces opportunity You have to go through a descent before an ascent." In September 2010, four young men filed separate lawsuits against Long over allegations of sexual misconduct. The four, former members of the LongFellows Youth Academy, a group of teenage boys selected by Eddie Long for mentoring, charged that they were coerced into sexual acts in exchange for cash, cars, lodging and lavish trips.
The case was dismissed last May after both sides announced that a settlement had been reached out of court. A fifth young man, who was not a member of Long's church, also sued Long for similar allegations and also reportedly received settlement money. Long made headlines again when his wife Vanessa filed for divorce in December. But just hours later the same day, she issued a statement saying that "upon prayerful reflection" she had reconsidered filing for divorce and had withdrawn the petition. Long took a brief leave of absence that month to focus on his family. Long's megachurch claims to have 25,000 members. His Emmy -Award-winning broadcast, "Taking Authority," which airs on the Trinity Broadcast Network, reaches 172 countries and more than 270 million people. 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.
Online Features January/February 2012

(Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)
Meet our Superfast Fan of the Month Meet our Superfast Fan of the Month winners and take the challenge: Prepare any Superfast dish and share how your family l i k e d it, what tweaks you made, your quick tips, and pictures of the finished dish. 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.
Culture/ TV/
53
Tiny Tarsiers Talk in High-Pitched Code

Wired UK (Wired Top Stories)
ultrasound, somewhere between 22 and 23 kHz. A handful of mammals can make sounds in this By Mark Brown, Wired UK range some whales, domestic The Philippine tarsier is a tiny cats and a few species of bats primate with a seriously high but few can match the Philippine voice. The saucer-eyed mammal tarsier. can let out (and listen to) squeaks When issuing warnings or and squeals at such a high ferreting out crickets for a frequency that it effectively gives nighttime snack, the nocturnal t h e m a m m a l a p r i v a t e faunivores (thats a mix of communication channel. A team carnivore and insectivore) can of researchers, led by Marissa vocalize in a range around 70 Ramsier of Humboldt State kHz, and pick up frequencies University in California, found above 90 kHz. that the tiny tarsier can hear and Such values are among the emit sounds in the ultrasound highest recorded for any terrestrial range thats above 20 kHz. mammal, the researchers note in Most humans cant hear in that their paper, which was published range, and a dog whistle is in Biology Letters. p i t c h e d t o b e j u s t i n s i d e To get this reading, they captured
six of the docile creatures and placed them inside custom-built sound chambers to test their sensitivity to high-pitched sounds. Then, they recorded another 35 specimens in the wild to measure
the frequency of the tarsiers chatter. In the paper, the researchers explain that, ultrasonic alarm calls can be advantageous to both the signaller and receiver as they
are potentially difficult for predators to detect and localise. Being able to hear in high ranges might let them eavesdrop on noises made by moths, crickets and birds. Image: Roberto Verzo/Flickr Source: Wired.co.uk 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.
FIRST LOOK: Miranda Lambert On 'SVU'

The Huffington Post (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
and Harry Connick Jr., who continues his four-episode stint as Olivia Benson's (Mariska Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:43:15 PM Hargitay) new love interest. " Law and Order: SVU" has never In the episode, airing Wed., Feb. shied away from guest stars, but 8 at 10 p.m. EST on NBC, this week's all-new episode, Lambert plays Lacey Ford, an "Father's Shadow," is chock-full aspiring actress who falls under of famous faces: country superstar the spell of a hotshot movie Miranda Lambert, "Shameless" producer (McKean), who uses his teen actor Cameron Monaghan, casting couch for more than just veteran actor Michael McKean rehearsing lines.
A woman who auditioned for his reality show is found drugged in Central Park -- and there's evidence of sexual assault. It doesn't take long for Detective Benson to crack the case, and crack down on the perp. But once the case is resolved, no one is prepared when a family member of the accused, played by Monaghan, decides to seek justice by breaking the law himself. And
it's Olivia who gets caught in the crossfire. Unfortunately, for fans of Olivia's budding romance with handsome ADA David (Connick Jr.), don't expect too much canoodling in this episode (though an emotionally unstable teen kidnaps Olivia and David does worry about her). Olivia and David may be taking things slowly, but at least they'll
"always have Paris." "Law and Order: SVU" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on NBC. Take a look at some exclusive photos -- featuring Lambert, Monaghan, McKean and Connick Jr. -- from the episode below.
54
Politics-Left/
'Besieged' Homs endures tank assault

(AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE))
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:47:34 AM
away. UN rights chief's plea As the shelling of Homs The Syrian military is reportedly continued for the fifth straight moving deeper into residential day, Navi Pillay, the UN rights areas in the city of Homs, a day chief, issued an appeal for urgent a f t e r t h e R u s s i a n f o r e i g n international action to protect minister said President Bashar al- civilians. Assad was "fully committed" to "I am appalled by the Syrian ending the bloodshed. government's wilful assault on Activists said the army was firing Homs, and its use of artillery and rockets and mortar rounds to other heavy weaponry in what subdue opposition districts on appear to be indiscriminate Wednesday, as tanks entered the attacks on civilian areas in the I n s h a a t n e i g h b o u r h o o d a n d city," a statement from the Office m o v e d c l o s e r t o B a b A m r . of the UN High Commissioner for An activist in Bab Amr told Al Human Rights said. Jazeera that the neighbourhood "The failure of the Security had been under fire for several C o u n c i l t o a g r e e o n f i r m days. collective action appears to have The army is "shelling us, using fuelled the Syrian government's rockets, using mortars, using readiness to massacre its own Russian tanks", he said. "Tanks people in an effort to crush are trying to break into the dissent." neighbourhood of Bab Amr." The Syrian Revolution General Activist Hadi al-Abdallah said Commission, a coalition of 40 that at least 43 people were killed Syrian opposition groups, said on overnight in the central city, and Wednesday that 2,814 people had other activists reported even been killed in Homs since the higher death tolls. beginning of the uprising. Some areas are completely Mohammad Hassan, another [besieged]. There is no internet, a c t i v i s t in Homs, no landlines or mobile lines," Al- said bombardment had intensified Abdallah said. in the early morning of He said there had been no Wednesday, targeting Bab Amr, r e t a l i a t i o n b y t h e a r m e d al-Bayada, Khalidiyeh and Wadi o p p o s i t i o n b e c a u s e t h e al-Arab, all which have revolted government forces were shelling against Assad. from positions several kilometres "Mortar and rocket fire has
arms supplier with longstanding political ties to Syria, and a naval facility on its coast - vetoed a UN Security Council on Syria along with China last week. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, was due to discuss the situation in Syria in a phone call with Dmitry Medvedev, the subsided, but heavy machineguns Both sides blamed Russian president, later on and anti-aircraft guns are still L a v r o v b l a m e d b o t h t h e Wednesday, according to Ahmet strong," he said. "Tanks are in D a m a s c u s l e a d e r s h i p a n d Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign main thoroughfares in the city and opposition forces for instigating minister. appear poised to push deep into the violence that activists say has Walid al-Bunni, a senior member residential areas." killed more than 7,000 people of the opposition Syrian National State media reported that "armed since March. Council, said Lavrov had brought terrorist groups" had attacked He said that "on both sides there no new initiative and that "sopolice roadblocks in Homs and are people that aim at an armed called reforms" promised by fired mortar bombs at the city, confrontation, not a dialogue". Assad were not enough. with three falling on the Homs oil Assad had told Lavrov that Syria "The crimes that have been refinery. was determined to hold a national committed have left no room for "Armed terrorist groups shelled dialogue with the opposition and Bashar al-Assad to remain ruler of the refinery in Homs, setting two independent figures, saying his Syria," he told the Reuters news fuel depots on fire," Syrian government was "ready to co- agency. television said. operate with any effort that boosts In the latest diplomatic The opposing claims came as stability in Syria", according to developments, Gulf Arab states S e r g e i L a v r o v , t h e R u s s i a n the official SANA news agency. j o i n e d t h e U S a n d s e v e r a l foreign minister, returned to Lavrov said Assad had European countries in Moscow after holding talks with "delegated the responsibility of withdrawing their ambassadors Assad in Damascus a day earlier. holding such a dialogue to Vice- from Damascus on Tuesday. Lavrov said Syrians themselves President [Farouk] al-Sharaa". This entry passed through the should decide the fate of their Repeated efforts by the Arab Full-Text RSS service if this is leader. League and Russia to broker talks your content and you're reading it " A n y o u t c o m e o f n a t i o n a l have been rejected by the Syrian on someone else's site, please read dialogue should become the result opposition, which refuses any the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentof agreement between the Syrians negotiations while the crackdown only/faq.php#publishers. Five t h e m s e l v e s a n d s h o u l d b e continues. Filters recommends: Donate to acceptable to all the Syrians," he Russia - which government Wikileaks. said in Moscow. wields unique leverage as a major
Politics-Left/
55
Thousands of Maldivians condemn 'coup'

Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:18:24 AM
In an interview to Al Jazeera's Chao at his family home earlier on Wednesday, Nasheed said he Thousands of supporters of was compelled to resign to Mohamed Nasheed, who says he prevent bloodshed. was forced to resign as the "This is definitely a coup," he president of Maldives, have taken s a i d . " B y a n y d e f i n i t i o n to the streets to protest over what anywhere, this was a coup. This they are calling a coup. was a bloodless coup because I A l J a z e e r a ' s S t e v e C h a o , did not take part in it. I did not reporting from the capital island want to defend [my position]; that of Male on Wednesday, said up to is why there was no blood. 3,000 people took part in the 'Threatening me' protests in support of Nasheed Asked why he had resigned, and calling for his return to Nasheed said: "Because I didn't power. want them to go shooting our He said police fired tear gas and people. They were threatening me clashed with protesters as they and they were threatening the attempted to push the crowds people. I didnt want that. backwards. In the hours following But Nasheed said he believed he the protests, there were reports of still had the backing of the people N a s h e e d b e i n g m a n h a n d l e d and hinted he would seek office in by security forces. new elections, currently scheduled Nasheed was only "lightly" for next year. i n j u r e d , a c c o r d i n g t o h i s "We are certain that the people of s u p p o r t e r s , o u r this country are with us," he said. correspondent reported via Mohamed Nasheed speaks Twitter. exclusively to Al Jazeera Nasheed, the Indian Ocean island Nasheed's home was being nation's first democratically g u a r d e d b y s o l d i e r s o n elected leader, stepped down on Wednesday, although Mohamed Tuesday in the wake of a police W a h e e d , t h e f o r m e r v i c e mutiny and clashes on the streets president sworn in as Nasheed's after weeks of anti-government successor, said that was for his protests. family's protection.
Waheed also said he had revoked a travel ban preventing Nasheed and other officials from leaving the country. Members of Nasheed's Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) have already denounced Tuesday's events, with a former presidential aide, speaking anonymously, telling Al Jazeera that he has been "profoundly shocked" by what he has witnessed. "You call it what you want," he said. "But when someone metaphorically and physically puts a gun at your head and tells you to resign, that's a coup in my mind." For his part, Nasheed's former foreign minister said Islamists were behind the takeover in the mostly Sunni Muslim nation of 330,000 people. "I was with the president throughout and I knew what was going on on Tuesday. It was nothing but a coup by Islamists," Naseem told AFP news agency. Incumbent's denial Waheed, who denied allegations that he was involved in a plot to remove Nasheed from office, called on Wednesday for the creation of a cabinet of national
unity, which aides said would include members of the MDP. "Together, I am confident, we'll be able to build a stable and democratic country," he said. Waheed said his government intended to respect the rule of law. Nasheed replaced Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the Maldives' leader for 30 years, in elections in 2008 and quickly gained international prominence as his country's first democratically elected leader and a campaigner for action against climate change. C r i s i s b e g a n with Nasheed's order for a judge's arrest But Gayoom and his supporters remained influential figures in Maldivian affairs, and Nasheed ran into protests after he ordered the arrest of a senior judge whom he accused of being in the pocket of Gayoom. Opposition parties accused Nasheed of trampling over the constitution, and the demonstrations were swelled by religious conservatives critical of his government. Describing Tuesday's events that culminated in Nasheed's resignation, one of his aides said a
group of up to 500 protesters, including several hundred police officers first gathered outside his office at 7am local time. There was then a "full-scale battle" between police and soldiers, the aide said. "About an hour or two later we heard that members of the military had started to defect towards the protesters," he said. At 11:45am, several military vehicles arrived at Nasheed's office, the aide said. "There were about 60 to 70 soldiers, some with guns and some without, surrounding him. He had a brief meeting with his aides and then went into a press conference at which he announced his resignation. "Then the military escorted him immediately to his residence and placed him under military custody." 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
Politics-Left/ Daily World/
Deadly car blast in Somali capital

Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:10:55 PM
A suicide car bomber in Somalia has killed at least 10 and left dozens more injured in the capital. Wednesday's blast took place near a hotel in Mogadishu where local politicians are staying police said. "So far we have carried nine dead civilians and 34 others injured. Up to now we have not seen casualties of anylegislators. The death toll may rise," police officer Hassan Ali told the Reuters news agency. Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, speaking from neighbouring Nairobi said the death toll is currently at a figure between 10 and 20. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Ali said the attacker rammed his vehicle into a cafe by the Hotel Muna, previously stormed by al-Shabab fighters in August 2010. That attack killed more than 30 people. Police and the spokesman for African Union troops in the Horn
of Africa nation, said initial reports showed the attacker first opened fire on people sitting near the hotel before detonating the automobile. While al-Shabaab pulled its forces out of the capital last year, they launch frequent attacks against the Western-backed government with suicide bombers, roadside bombs and grenades.
Our correspondent said the attacks come at a time when the Somali capital "is trying to rebuild itself after the al-Shabab withdrawal...but the attack shows al-Shabab is able to get into the city and carry out attacks of this kind." The attack comes two weeks ahead of a one-day conference in London to tackle the instability in Somalia and piracy off its shores.
Kenya Also on Wednesday, Kenyan defence forces are saying that they have killed 13 al-Shabab fighters in southern Somalia. In the latest battle between Kenyan forces and al-Shabab fighters, since Kenya first sent troops into its neighbour to the north in October, Kenya says they killed a dozen al-Shabab members. Among those dead in the city that Kenya describes as the command centre for al-Shabab forces, is a top commander that they say cannot be named. In November Ethiopia, sent their troops into central Somalia. Wednesnday also marked the day This entry passed through the the European Union's new special Full-Text RSS service if this is envoy to the Horn of Africa your content and you're reading it visited Mogadishu. on someone else's site, please read B r i t i s h F o r e i g n S e c r e t a r y the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentWilliam Hague also visited only/faq.php#publishers. Five M o g a d i s h u l a s t w e e k a n d Filters recommends: Donate to a p p o i n t e d a n e w S o m a l i a Wikileaks. ambassador, but said Britain would not open an embassy in Mogadishu without a security improvement.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (02-08-12)

(Verse of the Day)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no
one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9(NIV) Thoughts on Today's Verse... As a child, I loved to receive gifts. In such a simple time of life, a gift meant I was loved. I didn't worry about the significance or hidden
message in a gift. I wasn't concerned about the "strings attached" to the gift. It was just a gift -- a free expression of love I didn't deserve, given to me by someone who truly cared for me. Isn't it great to get to be God's
child and receive his gift and know we can receive it as a child?! My Prayer... Thank you, generous Father, for the gift of grace, the gift of faith, the gift of salvation, and most of all, the gift of Jesus. I know I can never repay
these gifts, but I look forward to saying "Thank you!" through my lifestyle now and I look forward to continuing to say "Thank you!" through all eternity. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
TV/ News Photos
57
Nathan Manske: WATCH: Laverne Cox Talks Growing Up Transgender

Nathan Manske (TV on HuffingtonPost.com)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:00:00 PM
Facebook launches widescreen photo viewer similar to Google+ Digitaltrends.com

(news photos - Google News)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:01:46 PM
I'm From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3) non-profit forum for true lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer stories. Earlier this year, founder and Executive Director Nathan Manske and two companions successfully completed a fourmonth, 50-state Story Tour collecting LGBTQ stories from towns and cities across the country. They're pulling some of the most relevant, important and sometimes just enjoyable stories from their archives and sharing them with HuffPost Gay Voices. Laverne Cox is from Mobile, Ala. Until recently she carried a tremendous amount of shame about the bullying and hardships that she faced growing up as a young transgender woman: Whenever something would happen and my mother would find out, she would yell at me and say, "Well, why didn't you fight back? Why aren't you fighting back?" She would also say, "What are
you doing to make them treat you like this?" So I felt like it was my fault. Laverne told me one of the main stories of bullying in her childhood, one example of the fear and humiliation that she constantly faced. This story involves the steps she and her twin brother had to take to avoid excessive abuse: We would take the bus to school every day. The kids couldn't beat us up on the bus, because the bus driver was watching in the rearview mirror. But we knew that as soon as we got off the bus, we had to take off running or we'd get beaten up. For years I joked that I was a very fast runner as a child, and it was sort of my way of deflecting how painful it was to feel like I was always in danger. Up until she was 8 years old, people kept telling Laverne that she was a boy. However, she was convinced that she was a girl. Her therapist told her mother, which led to more yelling and transphobic words:"Boys are this way, and girls are this way!" And it was just this big thing. I
internalized a lot of shame about the way I was thinking about myself, and about who I was. One of Laverne's coping mechanisms, as a child, was to dance. She loved to dance at any given opportunity: I begged, from 5 years old to 8 years old to be in dance classes. My mom finally found a program for me. I believe that that saved my life. Laverne did try to commit suicide, unsuccessfully, when she was 11 years old: I didn't have school -- my mom's a teacher -education and reading, and if I didn't have something that I loved, that I was good at, I don't think I would have survived. Laverne did not feel safe at all as a child and has even had moments like that as an adult: The difference with me, as an adult, is I have support now. I have people in my life who support and validate me as who I am. As a kid, when kids were saying all these awful things about me, I thought that that was the truth of who I was. She often finds herself wishing that she could go back in time and
console her past self, to reassure her that she has people around her who love and support her, that what these people were saying about her was not who she was. This past Christmas, Laverne and her mother were having a conversation. They hadn't talked about the bullying, but her mother was very aware of all of the bullying stories in the media. The topic came up, and out of nowhere, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. I'm sorry that I didn't know how to deal with it." She had her way, and she thought that was the way, and it didn't work. She loves me, you know, she supports me, and she's proud of me... At this point within her storytelling, Laverne couldn't help but get choked up: That was all I really wanted, as a kid, was to have my mom be proud of me. And she is. That's kind of amazing. WATCH: Submit your own story at ImFromDriftwood.com.
Digitaltrends.com Facebook launches widescreen photo viewer similar to Google+ Digitaltrends.com Likely developed as a companion to the widescreen photos displayed on Facebook Timeline, Zuckerberg and company are bringing a fresh look to Facebook photos with a new overlay design. Rolling out gradually to Facebook users, the social network is... Facebook Pushing Out New Photo Viewer PC Magazine Facebook has started to roll out Google Plus styled photo viewer Hindustan Times Has Facebook copied Google+ with new photo viewer? Shiny Shiny AllFacebook all 16 news articles
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Products/
I just bought an indemnity plan because Im about to lose COBRA. Is that OK?
rss@consumerreports.org (Consumer Reports)
2012 Chicago Auto Show: GMC debuts updated 2013 Acadia crossover
Consumer Reports News (Consumer Reports)
Washington, D.C., office, has been researching the question ofconsumer insurance literacy Submitted at 2/8/2012 8:25:37 AM and has found that the vast I just bought an indemnity plan majority of us are at about a because Im about to lose kindergarten level. COBRA. Is that OK? When faced with choosing health Q. I just went on disability and insurance, she said, people close am receiving COBRA through my their eyes and guess, They turn to former employer. But Im about insurance company. UnitedHealth people they hope know more than to move from Hawaii to Florida Group, the parent company of t h e y d o , l i k e a b r o k e r , o r and will lose my COBRA. The UnitedHealthcare, the nations neighbor, or their mother. They only option I found is a United l a r g e s t c o m m e r c i a l h e a l t h dont understand how insurance Health Group indemnity plan for insurance company, had nothing works. The underlying product is just under $500 a month. It covers to do with his plan. (The name on complex. Tools to convey the 50 percent to 70 percent of office his card was the similar-sounding information arent very good. And and hospital visits, plus cash, USHealth Group.) Furthermore, they dread the exercise. including Rx, dental, and vision. it didnt cover 50 percent to 70 If you are buying health What should I do? percent of the things he thought it insurance on your own, check out A. This question arrived while I did. Instead, it was a fixed-benefit our tips on how to buy insurance was researching and writing our indemnity plan that would have safely and how to recognize a n e w r e p o r t o n j u n k h e a l t h b a n k r u p t e d h i m i f h e e v e r junk plan. insurance. It was fairly bristling experienced an expensive illness As for Ted Tenenbaum, it turned with the red flags that I was or injury. out that he could keep his good discovering in my reporting, so I Tenenbaum went astray the way COBRA plan when he moved replied right away. It turns out many consumers do: by typing after all. And it was cheaper than that the man who wrote it, Ted affordable health care into a the indemnity plan. Tenenbaum, was just about to buy search engine, filling out a form Got a question for me? Ask it one of the very plans we warn that promised an instant quote, here. Subscribe now! against. He agreed to share the and being inundated with sales S u b s c r i b e t o details of his story in the article. calls that left him thoroughly ConsumerReports.org for expert To spare you the suspense, Ill confused and misled. Ratings, buying advice and tell you that pretty much In that, he has plenty of reliability on hundreds of everything he believed about his company. Lynn Quincy, a health products. Update your feed situation turned out to be wrong, c a r e p o l i c y a n a l y s t i n o u r preferences including the name of the
2012 Chicago Auto Show: GMC debuts updated 2013 Acadia crossover This morning at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show, General Motors unveiled an updated GMC Acadia for 2013. The freshened full-sized crossover will get revised styling and some additional features, though it otherwise remains a carry-over model. Perhaps the most notable improvement to the Acadia is the addition of a center front air bag that deploys from the inside edge of the drivers seat to protect front occupants from so-called far-side impacts, those on the side of the car away from where theyre sitting. The more upright front end gets new LED running lamps, in conjunction with either halogen or Xenon HID headlamps, LED tail lights, and a wrap-around rear window. GM says the new Acadia will get updated soft-touch interior materials and French stitching on the upholstery.
Were encouraged to hear that the transmission will be upgraded for better shift response and improved driveability, one of our major gripes we had with the old Acadia siblings. Beyond that, and the styling, GMC isnt messing with its successful formula. The Acadia still comes with seven- or eight-passenger seating, and the uplevel Denali model will continue. Expect the new Acadia to go on sale in the fall, along with updated versions of its siblings, the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse. 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/
59
They Call Him "Dark Farmer" And He's Very Symbolic: Woot Weads The Wire
(Woot! - One Day, One Deal)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:00:00 AM
How To Deal With Awkward Situations Involving Money And People

Phil Villarreal (The Consumerist)
Every week in this space, well take a look at the news and offer our own incisive blend of commentary, analysis, and poop jokes. The news you need, from a voice you can trust, in the 90 seconds you have to spare: thats Woot Weads the Wire. WELLINGTON ( REUTERS) A New Zealand court refused an appeal by the founder of online file-sharing site Megaupload.com to be freed on bail, Friday, agreeing with prosecutors there was a risk he would attempt to flee before an extradition hearing. The court says the popular site's founder will have to wait until February 22nd for his hearing, unless he purchases a subscription plan, at which point his trial will start immediately and he'll have access to multiple concurrent hearings for up to one year!
LOS ANGELES ( UPI) -- DC Entertainment plans to publish seven prequels to the 1986 graphic novel "Watchmen" by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, The Hollywood Reporter said. The new comics will cover such favorites as Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, The Comedian, the guy who unloaded the pirate comics from the truck, and the previously unseen farmer who harvested the sugar cane which would later be turned into the famous prewrapped cubes that Rorschach ate. INDIANAPOLIS ( UPI) -Creationism could be taught alongside the theory of evolution in Indiana schools under a bill passed by the state Senate. Under the new law, students who fail standardized tests may find themselves held back and condemned to Hell for eternity. SAN FRANCISCO ( REUTERS)
- Facebook unveiled plans for the biggest ever Internet IPO that could raise as much as $10 billion, but made it clear CEO Mark Zuckerberg will exercise almost complete control over the company, leaving investors with little say. But Zuckerberg is alleged to be making a few concessions, such as allowing all investors their choice between a special Fishville aquarium plant or a bonus triple letter score in Words With Friends. FLORENCE, Italy ( REUTERS) - An Italian court ruled Tuesday that Francesco Schettino, the captain of the cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the island of Giglio, killing at least 17 people, must remain under house arrest. Also he must have supervision when playing with toys in the bath.
server to give each member of your party a separate check before you order. If the restaurant has a Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:15:00 AM policy against such a service, you Problems encountered when and your companions can make splitting checks can sometimes an agreement beforehand that split friendships. When money you'll split the check equally gets in the way of relationships, before you order. things get uncomfortable quickly. Click on the source link to see the But you can make things easier post's suggestions for turning for yourself and others by sticking down a loan request from a loved to generally recognized rules of one and refusing to contribute to a financial etiquette. group gift for someone you don't Kiplinger identifies potentially like. off-putting financial conundrums 4 Money-Etiquette Questions and suggests ways to defuse them. Answered[Kiplinger](Thanks, If a coworker asks you to donate Tara!) to a charity you're not interested This entry passed through the in, your best bet is to politely Full-Text RSS service if this is decline rather than delay your your content and you're reading it response. If the coworker has on someone else's site, please read donated to a cause of yours in the the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentpast, you may want to return the only/faq.php#publishers. Five favor as a form of repayment. Filters recommends: Donate to The post also recommends Wikileaks. dealing with the check-splitting problem in advance by asking the
60
Products/
Claiming Adverse Possession Is Not Going To Get You A Mansion For Pennies
Chris Morran (The Consumerist)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:30:00 AM
Pet Owners May Be In Denial But Study Says Rover Isn't Big-Boned, He's Fat
Mary Beth Quirk (The Consumerist)
(CBS Denver) Many of you are already aware of the Texas man who bragged he had taken possession of an abandoned $300,000 home for $16, only to be given the boot by Bank of America. This man is part of a growing trend of people across the country trying to use "adverse possession" laws to scoop up homes left vacant. Many states have such laws on the books that allow for people to take possession of an abandoned property by living there openly for a prescribed, often extensive, period of time, all while continuing to pay property taxes, maintaining the property and possibly making improvements. While it all sounds like a nice way to score a house without having to pay a mortgage, the requirements for claiming adverse possession vary from state to state and often require those who have taken over the property to reside there openly for many years. For example, here in Pennsylvania it would take 21 years for an occupier of a vacant
home to claim ownership. In California, it can be as little as five years if the person occupying the property continues to pay all the property taxes. However, most states also allot several years for the actual owner's of the property to evict you and assert their possession of the home. So you may be able to crash in an empty house for the weeks, months or even years it can take for a bank to prove it owns the property, but the odds of you being able to eventually claim that property as yours are not in your favor. Denver's CBS 4 has found at least a dozen people in the area who are trying to move into
empty homes and claim adverse possession. However, banks and authorities are not having it, and one man was arrested yesterday for moving his family into a $1 million home that was actually set to be sold at auction. Here's a quick way to look up the adverse possession requirements in your state. 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.
dog owners and 15% of cat owners are in denial and see their pet's weight as normal when it's Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:00:00 PM actually obese. It's time to stop burying your Processed treats from the store head in the litter box, pet owners are a big culprit, and vets advise Fluffy isn't pleasantly plump giving single-ingredient rewards and Fido isn't just lovably pudgy. for good behavior or fresh America's pets, like its people, are vegetables. Because everyone struggling with rising rates of knows cats love lettuce! obesity, say veterinarians, tipping Time to get Mr. Snugglesworth the scales into chubbytown at a and Champ on that workout plan hefty percentage. with you, perhaps. Local CBS 3 in Philadelphia says Study: Pet Obesity On The Rise, the fifth annual study by the O w n e r s I n D e n i a l [ C B S 3 Association for Pet Obesity found P h i l a d e l p h i a ] that 53% of adult dogs and 55% This entry passed through the of cats are either overweight or Full-Text RSS service if this is obese. That's a total of about 88.4 your content and you're reading it million pets across the nation, on someone else's site, please read chowing down on kibble and the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentgorging on Tuna Delite. only/faq.php#publishers. Five A big problem is that pet owners Filters recommends: Donate to see obesity as normal, what vets Wikileaks. call "fat pet gap." Around 22% of
Products/ Gaming/ News Photos
61
Builders' Show: A custom shower at off-the-shelf prices

Consumer Reports News (Consumer Reports)
Chinese artist's 'ugly' doll photos metaphor for Chinese people's anguish ... Washington Post
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:05:35 PM
Builders' Show: A custom shower at off-the-shelf prices Upgrade your shower from ordinary to extraordinary. Thats the promise of the new HydroRail shower column launched at the International Builders Show by Kohler. It combines a rainhead showerhead with a handheld shower. HydroRail uses existing plumbing, so Kohler claims it can be installed by a do-it-yourselfer for less than $400. The column design also lets you reposition your showerheads, either higher or lower, to accommodate taller or shorter users. The handheld shower can even be positioned below head height, so you can shower without wetting your hair. Like other handheld showers on columns, it also improves usability for people with limited mobility.
Sold at stores nationwide, HydroRail is available in polished chrome or brushed nickel, and comes in a variety of rainhead showerhead sizes and shapes and several handheld shower options. Costs range from $380 to $560 depending on the finish and showerhead you choose. Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman 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
PSN releases: Simpsons, Jak, Gotham City Impostors

Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 1:00:00 PM
include a full game download of Catherine and some new DLC for Uncharted 3, Final Fantasy XIII-2 There's a lot happening on PSN and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom this week. For starters, HD 3. Oh, there's also quite a bit of remasters of the first three games DLC for UFC Undisputed 3, just in the Jak and Daxter series are in case you'd like to load up on now available at $15 each, or you that before the game actually can grab the whole collection for comes out next week. Check out $40. The Simpsons Arcade Game PlayStation Blog for the full PSN also makes its long-awaited debut. update. It's currently free for PlayStation PSN releases: Simpsons, Jak, Plus subscribers and $10 for Gotham City Impostors originally everyone else. Gotham City appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Impostors also makes its debut, Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please including both a free demo and see our terms for use of feeds. the full version for $15. Permalink| Email this| Comments Other noteworthy additions
Washington Examiner Chinese artist's 'ugly' doll photos metaphor for Chinese people's anguish... Washington Post The 25 photos were spirited out of China just before Liu was placed under house arrest at the end of 2010 after her husband was awarded the Nobel prize. When Sorman last saw Liu in September 2010, she gave her consent to have the pictures shown in... Censored Chinese artist's photos coming to NYC Wall Street Journal all 58 news articles
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Sports/
Why Peyton Manning to Washington Could Work: A Fans Perspective - YAHOO!

(- Bing News)
By John Atchison, Yahoo! Contributor Network Peyton Manning is obviously going to be the biggest story of this NFL offseason. The latest reports have him preparing to play in the 2012 season, with medical clearance from two doctors. So let us go on the premise that he will return in 2012. Many people see it as a forgone conclusion that Manning will have no interest in coming to the Washington Redskins to play. Let me say that I do not think their reasoning is all that sound. Before I start, I acknowledge that Peyton well may not sign here. In fact, the Washington Redskins might not want to sign him. There are plenty of factors that will determine his next football home. Fans should not discount the fact that this could be an ideal spot. AdChoices Let us address some of the reasons why experts say he will not come here. The Redskins do not have a decent enough offensive line to protect Manning. Check out the Indianapolis Colts line the past few years. It was Jeff Saturday and a number of no name guys. Folks, the secret to Manning is his quick release and knowing where to go with the
ball. He does not sit back in the pocket for seven seconds. Check out the end of the season for the Skins. Their patchwork line did a terrific job of opening holes for the running backs and giving Rex Grossman reasonable protection. Peyton can work with them. Roy Helu and Evan Royster turned in numerous 100-yard games down the stretch, so he would have a running game. The next thing I am sure to hear is that the Redskins have no receivers for targets. First off, Indianapolis was not exactly the greatest collection of receivers in history. Reggie Wayne has lost a step, and Dallas Clark has been out most of the last two years. The Redskins already have in place Fred Davis and Chris Cooley, who are comparable to Clark. Santana Moss is just as capable as Pierre Garcon. What people are missing is that the Redskins will be almost $40 million under the cap. If fans do not believe they will target Dwayne Bowe, Marques Colston, or Vincent Jackson this offseason, you are kidding yourself. If they do get Manning, one could also see a Justin Blackmon with that number six pick. Suddenly the receivers are not that significant a weakness. Trent Williams to the right side. Maybe they do not go Blackmon, Now Peyton would have bookend but draft a left tackle and move young tackles to protect him. There will also be a guard coming
in free agency. The once unsteady line is not looking so miserable after that. Ah, the next group will present the "Manning wants to win now" argument. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl, while taking the NFC East with a 9-7 record. How many divisions are that wide open? Teams like the N.Y. Jets and Miami Dolphins need 12 wins to take their division. The Skins might have won this division with Manning under center. That is not a guarantee, but it was a possibility. Washington has a strong defense; so, with a little luck, the team could see their win total go up by at least four games next season. Do other teams present a better chance to win for Manning? I am not so sure I buy that argument. Names mentioned as prime Manning landing spots are Miami, Arizona, and the New York Jets. Of those names, only the Jets present a better defense than the Redskins. The Jets sport Rex Ryan as its head coach and I cannot see Manning wanting to be part of that. The other thing to consider is does Peyton want to compete in the same market as his brother, Eli Manning? NFL types see Manning going to Miami because they have better weapons and he has a home there. Is Reggie Bush a better weapon?
The guy has had numerous injuries and has had a ho-hum career so far in the NFL. Brandon Marshall is great, but he is temperamental and prone to disappearing at times. Arizona would give him Larry Fitzgerald to throw to, but they have nothing defensively to speak of. Beanie Wells also has injuries issues for the Cardinals. The same types of things can be said about Seattle. The point is that every team interested has some warts. What the Redskins have that not many other teams do is a lot of cap space to put tools around Manning. Many of the other contenders will be getting up against it after inking the superstar. In the end, Peyton could wind up anywhere by the start of the season. He could even retire if he so desires. All I am saying is people have to look at this with eyes wide open. Dan Snyder can be a persuasive guy and has deep pockets. His team is just as close to contending as Miami, Seattle, or Arizona. If he becomes a free agent, everyone will have a shot to sign him. I personally like the Skins' chances, if the team determines he is their fix for the near future. John Atchison was rumored to WHY page 63
Gaming/ News Photos
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WHY
have emerged at birth with a Redskins jersey on. Born and bred in Virginia, he is a diehard Redskin fan and will always have a fond spot in his heart for the phrase 70 Chip! Follow him on Twitter@John_Atchison Source: washingtonpost.com/ blogs/football-insider 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.
Nintendo's new spokesman is cute, famous, a dog

Jessica Conditt (Joystiq)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:30:00 PM
Nintendo's newest spokesman may not be as funny as Sony's Kevin Butler, but darn it if he isn't more adorable. Nintendo has hired Uggie, the Jack Russell pictured above, to promote Nintendogs + Cats for 3DS. The
gig should be simple after Uggie's previous role in The Artist, 2011's silent, black-and-white film from Michel Hazanavicius. Nintendo may not know what it's getting into with this dog. The kind of personality it takes to star in a silent period piece about tap and Uggie and his owner, Omar dancing won't be the easiest to Von Muller, will probably require work with on a managerial level,
trailers stuffed with Milkbones and bitches. Probably. Nintendo's new spokesman is cute, famous, a dog originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
Update, new photos: Teens killed in crash touched lives - Appleton Post Crescent
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:55:46 AM
Update, new photos: Teens killed
in crash touched lives Appleton Post Crescent Her favorite magazines, her Bible, the 500 photos taken of her
throughout her short life. This is Bonnie Berg. The loss of the where we come to mourn. We Campbellsport High School junior come up here and we sit and we and... grieve, said Katie's mother, and more
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Science/
Gray Matter: Recasting The Highly Hazardous Toys of the Past

Theodore Gray (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
decorated their armies with a variety of paints, most of which were lead-based. Safety standards, thankfully, have progressed significantly since Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:42:55 AM Tin Soldier Lab Making tin then. At today's standard, 100 soldiers from molten lead alloy parts per million or less, just one was a popular activity among of those old soldiers contains children as recently as the 1960s. enough lead to render several These soldiers were made from million toys unfit for sale in the lead-free plumbing solder. Mike U.S. Although such safety Walker Gives new meaning to the requirements have no doubt term "getting the lead out" helped reduce the number of Among the most strictly enforced leadpoisoning cases, they may not consumer-protection laws are be stringent enough. Unlike with those banning lead in toys. Lead most toxic substances, there is no is an insidious poison: It's slowlimit below which lead is known acting and results not in to be harmless. As more evidence immediately noticeable effects of lead's deleterious effects on the like rashes but in behavioral brain accumulates, it would not be misnomer, though. The soldiers hardness. problems and a slightly lowered were not made primarily of tin but Children didn't just play with surprising to see the 100-ppm IQ. Even a very small amount of of a lead-tin alloy containing 60 to these little chunks of neurotoxin; standard lowered further. If you it is harmful. Yet a few decades 75 percent lead, with the rest they often cast them in their own really want to play with tin ago, a lot of the most popular being mostly tin and antimony. kitchens, using kits that came with soldiers safely, you'll have to find playthings were made from solid Sometimes they were cast from a melting pot, a ladle, some sticks some vintage silicone rubber lead, including tin soldiers. "hard lead," a group of alloys of lead alloy and a selection of molds and cast them from leadConsidering all the lead toys typically found in bullets, which soldier molds. After casting, kids free plumbing solder, as I did. produced in those days, tin contain nearly 95 percent lead filed them smooth (spreading lead soldiers sound pretty benign. with just a bit of antimony for dust all around). Then they "Tin" is a something of a
Science/
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Using Heat to Record Information Could Improve Data Storage Speed a Hundred-Fold
Dan Nosowitz (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:30:10 AM
Heat-Based Magnetic Switching The laser pulse temporarily aligns the two ferrimagnetic materials (the red and blue in this image) while powered on, and then the materials revert once it's off. Richard Evans, University of York An international team of researchers claims to have figured out a way to use ultrafast bursts of heat, rather than the typical magnetic field, to record a bit of information on a hard drive--a development they say could vastly increase the efficiency and speed of hard drives. They say it could record multiple terabytes per
second, hundreds of times faster than current methods. Typical magnetic recording technology for hard drives uses an external magnetic field to invert the poles of a magnet. The speed of the recording depends on the strength of the magnetic field. But
the physicists, led by a team at the University of York, says they have figured out a way to use heat rather than a magnetic field to cause the same effect. The heat in question is a simple ultrafast heat pulse, beamed with a laser. At only 60 femtoseconds,
it's exceedingly brief, but manages to provoke a ferromagnetic state in certain materials. It's very interesting on a theoretical level; this is a change in how we thought data storage worked in pretty basic ways. But given the growing prominence of solid-state storage--which is not magnetic, and can theoretically perform these operations far faster than a magnetic hard drive--we're not sure this is really going to catch on. Still, interesting stuff. The article appears in the journal Nature Communications.
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Science/ Technology/ Health/
Pretty Space Pics: The Carina Nebula 'Dramatically' Captured in Infrared

Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:35:00 AM
The Carina Nebula, Captured by the Very Large Telescope ESO/T. Preibisch Today in Pretty Space Pics: The Carina Nebula, detailed as never before in the infrared spectrum. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) snapped the above image from its perch at Paranal in Chile, revealing features of Carina's space-scape that are hidden in the visible spectrum (compare with a submillimeter pic here; the difference is quite noticeable).
Even the ESO's press machine is impressed with this one, calling it "one of the most dramatic images ever created by the VLT." Located in the constellation of the same name (Carina, that is), the nebula is roughly 7,500 light
years away, making it both quite distant and at the same time one of the closest star nurseries to Earth that produces very massive stars. These stars are some of the heaviest on record and some of the brightest in our sky. And they
make for a dazzling display in the infrared, where so many more stars are visible. But what's most interesting is what you can't see, even in the infrared. Infrared light is great for seeing through the cosmic matter that obscures our visible spectrum views of many of the galaxy's features, but even the VLT can't see through the really dense pockets of gas and dust. That's what those small blobs of dark material are--and that's where new stars are forming. [ ESO]
Teen Pregnancies Hit New Low, But Disparities Remain

(Shots - Health Blog)
iStockphoto.com The rate of pregnancy among teens has dropped. Teen pregnancies are at their lowest rate in nearly 40 years, according to the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on sexual and reproductive health. The report shows that about 7 percent of U.S. teen girls between TEEN page 67
Could LG's Fantasy be an outright Miracle?

Zachary Lutz (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 1:09:00 PM
If you ask us, miracles are pretty hard to come by, and it would take a great amount of gusto for a smartphone manufacturer to bestow such a weighty name upon a rather middling handset. The crew at Pocketnow claim that's exactly what LG's done with its
latest Windows Phone, however, which was previously known as the Fantasy. That's right, folks, you're looking at a purported Miracle -- weren't you expecting more? The phone is said to contain a 1GHz (naturally singlecore) Snapdragon SoC, a 4-inch NOVA display (that we can safely primary cam that shoots video at assume to be WVGA), 8GB of 720p, along with a run-of-the-mill storage and a five megapixel
VGA front-facer. As connectivity goes, we're told to expect a 14.4Mbps HSPA radio and 2.4GHz / 5GHz WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and -- get this -- NFC. Whether this Miracle comes to fruition is anybody's guess; perhaps it was just a Fantasy all along. [Thanks, Mark] Could LG's Fantasy be an
outright Miracle? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Pocketnow| Email this| Comments
Daily World/
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TEEN
the ages of 15 to 19 were pregnant in 2008 a decline from the high of more than 11 percent in 1990. Abortions among teen girls fell from a peak of more than 4 percent in 1988 to about 1.8 percent in 2008, the latest year for which data are available. While overall rates have dropped, there is still a major gap separating white, Hispanic and black teenagers. Non-Hispanic white teen pregnancy rates fell by 50 percent from their peak; Hispanic teen pregnancy rates, 37 percent; black teen pregnancy rates, 48 percent. Yet, according to the report, "the abortion rate among black teenagers was four times the rate for non-Hispanic whites, while the rate among Hispanic teenagers was twice the rate for nonHispanic white teenagers." "The disparity has pretty much been unchanged," said Kathryn Kost, a Guttmacher researcher and co-author of the report. "If you think of these rates as lines on a graph, they are all going down, but the distance between them is pretty much unchanged." The report does not distinguish between married and unmarried teens.
Kost said the increase in contraceptive marketing has helped to reduce pregnancies, but Heather Boonstra, a senior public policy associate at Guttmacher said the cost of contraceptives continues to be a factor. Boonstra said increasing the age limit for dependent health care coverage to 26 will increase access to birth control for many teens. "There's plenty of evidence that shows that if you take away cost in the equation,there is going to be better contraceptive use, fewer unintended pregnancies, fewer abortions, better birth outcomes," she said. "The health care reform law was not designed with teens in mind, but ... the more parents that are insured, the more teens or their dependents are insured, so certainly that will help." Bill Albert, the chief program officer of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said the decreased rates are a sign of progress, but more remains to be done. He noted that 3 in 10 girls are pregnant by age 20. "In a way the message is let's celebrate today, and then get back to work this afternoon," Albert said. "I think this underscores the
need to continue to invest as the current administration has in proven efforts to prevent teen pregnancy." Update 11:45 a.m.: A commenter was curious about the apparent discrepancy between Guttmacher's total percentage of pregnant teens 7 percent and Bill Albert's statement that 3 in 10 girls are pregnant by the time they are 20. So we asked Albert, who explained that the figure he gave is cumulative, accounting for the overall odds of a teen getting pregnant by 20. The Guttmacher figure of 7 percent comes from 2008 data. Albert also referred us to a National Campaign fact sheet explaining the math. 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.
Qatada: Minister to visit Jordan

(Evening Standard - News)
European Court of Human Rights that he could not be sent back to Jordan without assurances that he 8 Feb 2012 would not be tried with evidence A Home Office minister is to fly obtained under torture. to Jordan to try to gain assurances Officials said Mr Brokenshire that would enable radical cleric would now be seeking those Abu Qatada to stand trial in the assurances from the Jordanians to country. enable the deportation to go Downing Street officials said ahead. James Brokenshire would be Mr Cameron said the current travelling to the Middle East state situation in the wake of the next week. Prime Minister David E u r o p e a n c o u r t r u l i n g w a s Cameron is also due to speak to " c o m p l e t e l y u n a c c e p t a b l e " . King Abdullah of Jordan about "It is not acceptable that you end the case by telephone. up with a situation where you Mr Cameron told MPs at Prime have someone in your country Minister's Questions: "We are that threatens to do you harm, that doing everything we can to get you cannot try, you cannot detain this man out of the country. The and you cannot deport," he said. absolutely key thing to do is an " T h e G o v e r n m e n t w i l l d o agreement with Jordan about the everything it can working with way that he will be treated. our Jordanian friends and allies to "This guy should have been m a k e s u r e t h a t h e c a n b e deported years ago. Nevertheless, d e p o r t e d . " if we can get that agreement with This entry passed through the Jordan, he can be on his way." Full-Text RSS service if this is An immigration judge ruled your content and you're reading it earlier this week that Qatada - on someone else's site, please read once described as "Osama bin the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentL a d e n ' s r i g h t - h a n d m a n i n only/faq.php#publishers. Five Europe" - should be released on Filters recommends: Donate to bail after more than six years in Wikileaks. custody fighting deportation. It followed a ruling by the
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Politics-Right/
Guest Blog: The Danger of A Nation of Dependents

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:10:36 AM
As someone who grew up in inner-city Atlanta, I understand there are times when people need whatever help they can find. The social safety netin conjunction with generosity from
neighborhood groups, churches, charities, and private companiescan help lift Americans out of poverty and toward the path of self-reliance and individual prosperity. However, that net should never turn into a hammockand that is what this President and his policies are allowing. What we see today with our vast
social safety net is a growing and frightening dependency on the federal government, which is increasingly replacing our important local and private charitable efforts. The Heritage Foundations newly released 2012 Index of Dependency on Government show some stark details about a nation of reliance and how its devastating our
nations fiscal future. This annual study by The Heritage Foundation analyzes federal assistance programs for everything from housing, health care, and food stamps to college tuition and retirement assistance. And there are some alarming numbers indeed. An estimated one in five Americans now receives aid from
the federal government. That translates into more than 67.3 million Americans who rely on federal dollars for their way of life. Additionally, the amount the average American receives in federal benefits jumped to $32,748 in 2011; this surpassed GUEST page 71
Politics-Right/
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Washington Post Terrorism Poll Misses Point

James Carafano (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:32:59 AM
A new Washington PostABC News poll finds that the sharpest edges of President Obamas counterterrorism policy, including the use of drone aircraft to kill suspected terrorists abroad and keeping open the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have broad public support, including from the left wing of the Democratic Party. These findings come as no surprise. For well over a year now, there have been disturbing signs that the Administrations counterterrorism seemed more structured to win popular support for his reelection bid than it did with defeating transnational terrorist groups aimed at attacking the United States. While the Presidents policies might be intended to give a boost to his campaign for a second term, they are bound to make us less safe. What has kept America safe over the last decade are the policies put in to place before the President came into office. Progress against al-Qaedas attempts to attack the U.S. was the result of
taking the offensive in the war on terrorism, a Heritage analysis of the Presidents counterterrorism plans concluded. The successes that President Obama has trumpeted resulted from a decade of effort to disrupt terrorist sanctuaries, attrit the cadre of terrorist leaders, preempt planning and operations, disaggregate networks, thwart terrorist travel and communications, and disrupt fundraising and recruiting. On the other hand, what the President has proposed over the last year will no doubt put the nation more at risk. For example, the Administration has also created opportunities for al-Qaeda to physically re-establish itself in the AfghanistanPakistan theater. The premature drawdown in Afghanistan will allow the Taliban to re-establish space for al -Qaeda to rebuild its sanctuaries in the country. Perhaps even more important, the Administrations policies ignore what al-Qaeda has been doing on a global scale. Describing alQaeda simply as a terrorist group does not explain why the organization trained thousands of mujahidin during the 1990s and spread them throughout the
Finally, the Presidents strategy pays insufficient attention to statesponsored terrorism, which will increasingly be a major force to be reckoned with. Iran is one of the most prominent and aggressive state sponsors of terrorism, and its protgsboth Hamas and Hezbollahrepresent potentially grave threats. In addition, transnational criminal cartels in Mexico are increasingly taking on the character of terrorist networks. What this poll really reflects is that Americans are pleased that at least 44 Islamist plots aimed at the U.S. since 9/11 have been Muslim world, why al-Qaeda has leaders of terrorist groups, thwarted. What the poll does not worked since then to co-opt or attrition is counterproductive get too is why we have been gain control of jihadist insurgent when combating an insurgency. successful and how Obamas groups around the globe, and what The prospect of body counts as policies could well see this string al-Qaeda is doing in Pakistan, the proper metric for measuring come to a tragic end. Yemen, Somalia, the Sahel, and success should give Americans This entry passed through the dozens of other places around the pause about the strategy pursued Full-Text RSS service if this is world. by the Administration. your content and you're reading it U.S. focus on its own safety has, Additionally, without persistent on someone else's site, please read in fact, led the U.S. to ignore a presence and engagement of the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentvery real problemthat al-Qaeda threatened governments and only/faq.php#publishers. Five is not merely concerned with civilian populations, the U.S. will Filters recommends: Donate to attacking the homeland but has a lack the real-time actionable Wikileaks. global insurgency intent on taking i n t e l l i g e n c e n e c e s s a r y f o r over areas of the world. While effective targeting of terrorists covert strikes can be a successful and the successful suppression of tactic for hunting down the insurgencies.
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Politics-Right/
Justice Ginsburg: I Would Not Look to the U.S. Constitution

Mike Kelsey (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Africa or perhaps the European Convention on Human Rights. All these are much more recent than the U.S. Constitution. Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:00:43 PM Conservatives are often ridiculed Ginsburgs comments echo those for criticizing activist judges who b y W a s h i n g t o n U n i v e r s i t y fail to respect the Constitution. p r o f e s s o r D a v i d L a w , w h o W e a r e t o l d t h a t i t i s n o t published a study with Mila conservative originalists (labeled V e r s t e e g o n t h e U . S . ignorant and extremist) but rather Constitutions declining influence enlightened liberal judgeswith worldwide. In an interview, Law their nuanced understanding of u n f a v o r a b l y c o m p a r e d t h e constitutional penumbraswho C o n s t i t u t i o n t o W i n d o w s truly respect the spirit of the 3.1outdated and unattractive in Constitution. a world of sleek and sexy modern Conservatives, however, have constitutions. Such obsession with good reason to be skeptical of the the age of the Constitution is both l e f t s r e s p e c t f o r t h e absurd and irrelevant. Constitution. Just last week, for For one, the Constitution is still example, Supreme Court Justice among the shortest and most Ruth Bader Ginsburg told an elegantly written constitutions in Egyptian TV station that she the world. By contrast, South would not recommend the U.S. Africas constitution is well over Constitution as model for Egypts 100 pages long, filled with tables, new government. schedules, and such stirring The problem, you see, is that the passages as detailed provisions for U.S. Constitution is a rather old a F i n a n c i a l a n d F i s c a l constitution. Ginsburg suggested C o m m i s s i o n : A . N a t i o n a l that Egyptians should look instead l e g i s l a t i o n r e f e r r e d t o i n to the Constitution of South subsection (1) must provide for
the participation of a. the Premiers in the compilation of a list envisaged in subsection (1) (b); and b. organized local government in the compilation of a list envisaged in subsection (1) (c). And you thought the U.S. Constitution was hard to read. Equally ridiculous is the claim that the Constitution is too antiquated to apply to the modern world. The principles of the Constitution, although first articulated centuries ago, are not tied to the material conditions of a bygone age. They rest on that most solid and enduring of all foundations: human nature. The Constitution itself contains no policy prescriptions. Rather, it is a short, elegantly written document that create a framework for a free people to confront the political questions of their times. Of course, the real reason progressives swoon over South Africas constitution is that it goes far beyond merely establishing a framework for government and guarantees progressive
policiesfor example, by requiring legislation that prevents pollution and ecological degradation. In other words, the lefts real discontent with the U.S. Constitution is that it does not require Americans to adopt a progressive government and expansive welfare state that provides for every right social scientists can justify. Americans should be very wary of those who would seek to upend the Constitution from the firm grounding in human nature that has allowed it to endure for more than two centuries and would transform it into an instrument devoted to policies of passing whimsy. 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.
Technology/
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GUEST
the average working Americans disposable personal income of $32,446. At the same time, the federal taxpayer base continues to shrink, with nearly half of the U.S. population not paying any federal income taxes.
march toward government involvement in all parts of life, the trend in the number of Americans dependent on Washington seems to have only one direction: up. But I have hope. The essence of the American spirit does not want to be obliged to government for Is this a vision of President our daily routine. Americans want Obamas doctrine of fairness and to fight for their independence e c o n o m i c e q u a l i t y ? O u r and be successful providers for democratic government is at risk themselves and their families. when there are more Americans We in Congress need to do our who are wedded to the federal part to aid the struggle for more g o v e r n m e n t e i t h e r b y personal responsibility. We need s u b s i s t e n c e o r e m p l o y m e n t to reduce government spending checkthan federal taxpayers to levels so we are taking less from pay for the rampant spending. Americas producers of economic What do you think will happen growth. We need to take a long, when producers realize they are hard look at these assistance working for the entitlement class programs, eliminating duplicative or the state, instead of their own efforts and directing aid first to families and the American dream? the neediest of our population. Eventually, they will stop We also have to embolden producing. As Margaret Thatcher charities, local groups, and private said, the government will run out -sector initiatives to empower of other peoples money. individuals through programs that I fear the future does not hold require more skin in the game. much hope for reversing this F a r t o o o f t e n , t h e s e g o o d t r e n d . W i t h t h e i m p e n d i n g Samaritans are pushed aside by retirement of 77 million baby government zeal to provide boomers and the continued liberal inferior and bureaucratized
services. And finally, we need to reform entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security so that they are viable for future generations without bankrupting our country. Your independence is a precious gift, protected by the Constitution and enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Fight for it. I know I will. U.S. Representative Allen West (R FL) represents Floridas 22nd District in Congress. The views expressed by guest bloggers on the Foundry do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heritage Foundation. 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/content- Daniel Cooper (Engadget) only/faq.php#publishers. Five Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:45:00 PM Filters recommends: Donate to Wander into Nokia's corporate Wikileaks. HQ and, if Victor Saejis is to believed, you'll be hard pressed to find any manilla folder bearing the legend "Plan B." The handset maker's European Manager told Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri that the company has no contingency plan in the event that Windows Phone loses out to Android and iOS saying that "Plan B is that Plan A is to succeed." It's a pretty unequivocal statement that Espoo's betting the farm on consumers embracing
Nokia: 'We don't have a Plan B'

Microsoft's OS. Commenting on the company's recent troubles and winding down of Symbian and demise of MeeGo, he said "it's like starting all over again. But we must succeed in the U.S. if we are to succeed in the world" -- pretty honest, if a little disappointing to anyone who hoped there was an Android-powered white N9 lying in a Finnish skunkworks. Nokia: 'We don't have a Plan B' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Slashgear| DI.se (Translated)| Email this| Comments
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Daily World/ Politics/
Redknapp cleared of dodging tax

(Evening Standard - News)
snake eating its own tail. Others choose a party or clique, survey the most effective new weaponry Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:37:19 AM 8 Feb 2012 on the other side, and copy the Harry Redknapp has welcomed See web-only content: form of the thing that they regard the final whistle on his bung slur http://www.theatlantic.com/ as most malign. "nightmare" after his acquittal on politics/archive/2012/02/the-worst Take The Washington Free tax fraud charges cleared the way -mission-statement-in-the-history- Beacon. for him to land football's top job. of-dc-journalism/252744/ The new D.C.-based Web Bookmakers slashed odds on In national politics, imitation is p u b l i c a t i o n w a s s t a r t e d b y Redknapp becoming the next less often a form of flattery than conservatives who regard the England manager as he walked an admission of hypocrisy: "What Center for American Progress as free from court with a five-year I maligned when done by my so beastly that they liken the police inquiry in tatters. opponents is so effective I'll now progressive non-profit to a vicious The Tottenham Hotspur boss said do it myself." In this way, folks wolf. Their plan? Clone it! I am the case should never have outraged by media bias celebrated not imputing motives that aren't reached trial after jurors accepted the Fox News Channel; partisans there. Says Matthew Continetti, his angry denials of tax dodging who saw the distortions of The Washington Free Beacon's on 189,000 in a Monaco lobbying launched the K Street talented Editor-in-Chief, in an account. project; bitter critics of right-wing inaugural essay titled Combat His acquittal alongside cotalk radio started Air America; Journalism: defendant Milan Mandaric marks conservatives who mocked the Republicans were routinely a disastrous end for an 8 million celebrity of Barack Obama outspent, divided, and distracted investigation which failed to yield c h e e r e d S a r a h P a l i n ; a n d by the messes they had made for a single conviction. progressives who called Dick themselves. They lacked, too, the Mandaric and former Portsmouth Cheney a fascist for his national means by which the progressives WORST security policies continued to had so effectively identified, continued from page 72 embrace Obama even after he f r o z e n , p e r s o n a l i z e d , a n d E s t a b l i s h m e n t ' s g r e a t e s t and David Koch, the Chamber of the critique would jump to liberal transgressed against civil liberties polarized their targets: the wolf achievement was in serving as the Commerce, Fox News Channel, radio and MSNBC and Comedy in some of the exact same ways. pack. Tony Blair, in a 2007 wolf pack's sleigh driver. The left- M i c h e l e B a c h m a n n , R i c k Central's news parody shows. Seeing this inversion of Gandhi's speech, described the press as a wing groups, in concert with the Santorum, or Mitt Romney, the Before long, the mainstream maxim, this being the change one "feral beast" that tore "people and Democratic Party, would select technique was the same. The left media would be reporting the doesn't want to see in the world, reputations to bits." But the feral t h e R e p u b l i c a n p o l i t i c i a n s , blogosphere would manufacture a misinformation as news that was s h o c k s s o m e p e o p l e i n t o beast is not a solitary creature. institutions, and media figures on smear or distortion or line of fit to print. By the time the wolf disaffection: they find it glaringly Hunting in a pack, he surrounds which the beast would feed. attack. Larger blogs and liberal pack reached that point in their obvious that picking a side and his targets and devours them in Whether the victim was George news sites like Huffington Post or meal, the prey had little hope of participating in a never-ending swarms. The Counter-CounterBush, Joseph Lieberman, Sarah Talking Points Memo would pick ideological arms race makes about WORST page 73 WORST page 72 Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Charles it up and publicize it. From there as much sense as a cantankerous
FC chief executive Peter Storrie were also cleared of 600,000 tax dodge charges at a previous trial, it can now be reported. Outside London's Southwark Crown Court, a tired-looking Redknapp, flanked by son Jamie, said: "It really has been a nightmare, I've got to be honest. It's been five years and this is a case that should never have come to court because it's unbelievable really. "It was horrendous, you know, but it was a unanimous decision. The jury were absolutely unanimous that there was no case to answer." Redknapp is now 10/11 with one betting firm to take over from Fabio Capello, who was in crisis talks with the Football Association in a bid to iron out a row over the decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy. He nodded to the jury before hugging Mandaric as the jury
found them not guilty on on all counts. Mandaric told reporters: "I've got to go somewhere to try to pinch myself and wake me up from that horrible dream that I had in the past." Redknapp was at times moved to the verge of tears in court as the Crown alleged he told a pack of lies to get off the hook. But jurors accepted Redknapp and Mandaric's evidence that the Monaco account in the name of Redknapp's dog, Rosie, was nothing to do with footballing matters at Portsmouth. 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 Worst Mission Statement in the History of D.C. Journalism

Conor Friedersdorf (Politics : The Atlantic)
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WORST
survival. Sounds vicious and unethical, doesn't it? Yet here is what Continetti told Politico about the new publication he's running: "Our models are the Center for American Progress/ Think Progress, TPM, and Huffington Post politics. These outlets have been at the cutting edge of ideological journalism for years, and it is time for the right to emulate their success." This is what D.C. does to some people. Among conservatives, it isn't even noteworthy that the editor-in -chief of a new publication is openly modeling his enterprise on a sort of journalism he regards as corrosive and dishonorable when others do it. Neither Jennifer Rubin nor John Podhoretz thought to mention it in their write-ups. Nor is anyone remarking upon the irony of the publication's name. It is inspired by a Ronald Reagan speech: "How stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home." Reagan's words were hardly a call to build a publication devoted to turnabout as fair play, though if The Washington Free Beacon
functions as one, drawing likeminded people as if by a magnet, it has chosen a perfect location: the publication is headquartered at 1600 K Street. There is a part of me that hopes this new publication will transcend its flawed, soulless mission and do good work -- that Continetti realizes he's too talented to write hyperbolic apologias for pols like Sarah Palin; that Sonny Bunch, a staffer, lives up to the integrity I've seen in his past work; that the whole editorial staff (I know nothing of the rest of them) takes its cues from the best rather than the worst progressive and mainstream journalism have to offer, trying to cover politics with integrity rather than mirroring every pathology they perceive to be aimed against their allies. I've very much wanted that sort of outfit to thrive on the right for going on 5 years now. But I'm not sure any amount of talent or integrity can triumph over a vision as flawed as the one Continetti has laid out -- and mimicking outlets he regards as vicious wolves is just the biggest of its problems. In America there are so many conservatives doing first rate journalism. Upstarts would do well to emulate the best of what is published in City Journal, The Claremont Review of Books, The American Conservative, National Review, or National Affairs; or to take as their models Andrew Ferguson or Ross Douthat or George Will or Peter Robinson or Matt Labash or Heather Mac
Donald (or even the best stuff Continetti has published) or any number of others. But Continetti invokes different trailblazers when he describes the journalistic subculture he seeks to join: Andrew Breitbart pioneered the new approach. His websites were dedicated, impassioned, and broke news. Glenn Beck exposed White House czar Van Jones's radical, 9/ 11-Truth past. Guerilla journalist James O'Keefe performed sting operations that led to ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and NPR having very bad days. Tucker Carlson's website, The Daily Caller, published excerpts from the Journolist, which showed liberal writers coordinating their party line. Breitbart, Beck, O'Keefe: all three are firmly in the " be the change you don't want to see in the world" tradition. Breitbart, whose biggest pet peeve is when dubious charges of racism are cynically used as a cudgel, is best known for publishing a misleadingly edited video of Shirley Sherrod in order to persuade people that the NAACP is racist. Beck, lauded above for exposing another man's conspiracy mongering, did more than anyone else in America during his tenure at Fox News to spread dubious, conspiratorial nonsense. O'Keefe, who reacts with righteous indignation anytime he thinks he's caught a professional journalist behaving dishonorably, has released misleadingly edited videos; and
he once tried to lure a female reporter aboard a boat in hopes that he could cruelly seduce her as a joke while secretly recording it. I mean, really. Here is one of the guys Continetti is praising: See web-only content: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2012/02/the-worst -mission-statement-in-the-historyof-dc-journalism/252744/ Whatever you think of The Daily Caller, Tucker Carlson's Web site, it shouldn't be lumped in with that trio. Its story about Journolist, the liberals-only email listserv, does have one thing in common with every Breitbart scoop, the Van Jones story, and the James O'Keefe sting: each was seen by hard core conservatives as a game -changing triumph, when actually they changed little of consequence. The ostensible goal of conservatism is shrinking government, ensuring public policy is consistent with the Constitution, and upholding the values of civilization. Why get so excited at forcing a re-branding at ACORN or a management change at NPR? Later on in his manifesto, after going on about the poor performance of the mainstream media, Continetti writes: What would happen, though, if a website covered the left in the same way that the left covers the right? What picture of the world would one have in mind if the morning paper read like the New York Times--but with the subjects of the stories and the assumptions built into the text changed to
reflect a conservative, not liberal, worldview? What would happen if the media wolf pack suddenly had to worry about an aerial hunting operation? You are about to find out. Once again, he is aspiring to mimic a product he regards as unfair and lacking in quality, but never mind that -- I quoted the above passage so I could point out that we are not, in fact, going to find out what the world would be like if a right-leaning publication covered the world like The New York Times. There isn't going to be any left-leaning equivalent of William Safire or David Brooks or Ross Douthat publishing opinion pieces at The Washington Free Beacon. There won't be an independent public editor who'll take the staff to task when they've behaved badly. Deliberately neutral language won't be adopted when matters of ideological dispute are characterized. Continetti is smart enough to understand that it makes no sense to say that you're modeling yourself on TPM and the Huffington Post... and that you're going to show the world what things would be like if the right were running The New York Times. Near the end of Continetti's piece, there is one sentence that grabbed me. "Our talented staff will add to the chorus of enterprising conservative reporters, publishing original stories, seeking out scoops, and WORST page 77
74
Politics/
Buffett Rule fails the tax reform test

Jazz Shaw (Hot Air Top Picks)
of realistic, promising tax reform? Her conclusion not so much. The law, based on the proposed Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:45:33 AM rule being introduced into both posted at 12:45 pm on February houses of Congress, provides the 8, 2012 by Jazz Shaw president with yet another reason I really enjoyed reading a new to blast Republicans for their take on an old subject this week at mule-headed attitude towards The Fiscal Times. Liz Peek takes taxes. Best of all, it focuses Mr. a look at a subject which is Obamas campaign; its a remedy quickly leaving the realm of for the resentful. policy discussion and becoming a Beyond those virtues, the Buffett full blown campaign theme on Rule is an empty shell. We need Team Obama. Were speaking, of serious and fair-minded reform of course, about the now famous o u r t a x c o d e , n o t a n o t h e r Buffett Rule which the President gimmicky fix. We need to analyze is touting at each and every whether the deductions and campaign stop he makes. It plays loopholes that cost Uncle Sam w e l l , p a r t i c u l a r l y i f h i s nearly a trillion dollars per year in assumption that Mitt Romney will lost revenues are appropriate and still be the nominee is correct. effective, whether the goals of After all, Mitts a very wealthy prior generations are still relevant guy and we now know that he and yes- whether our system is payed a less than 15% tax rate. fair. There is a reason why rich That should be enough to tick off people sometimes end up with the plebes, or so the thinking goes lower tax rates. It is not because inside the war rooms at the DNC. the tax code is regressive; on the But Peek looks over the theory contrary, the top one percent of behind the rhetoric and asks the filers pays nearly 40 percent of question which the GOP nominee the total will have to answer on the The goal of encouraging campaign trail. Does the Buffett entrepreneurs and risk-takers Rule actually make sense in terms through favorable taxation was
adopted in 1921; the rules have changed from time to time, but the philosophy has been nearly a constant. The question today should not be: has this approach favored the wealthy? This is a given. Instead, we should ask: has the policy worked? If not, is this Buffett Rule the best way to fix what is broken? I think Peek really nails it in the final quoted paragraph. There is no sense in trying to dance around on the head of a pin during the debates and pretend that the existing tax code doesnt offer an opportunity for the wealthy and successful to keep more of their money than they would if they had to pay 39% on every dime they took in. Thats a given. The first question to tackle is, are we as a national economy getting the best bang for our buck out of that investment in the form of reduced direct revenues to the federal coffers. Second and this may be the part which never receives any real attention does this even qualify as tax reform which, like the weather, everyone talks about but nothing is ever done? She point
out that rather than simplifying and broadening the tax code, which plenty of people on both sides of the aisle seem to agree is a good idea, the Buffett Rule adds on yet another layer of complications, exceptions and clauses which those with skillful tax accountants will find a way around in short order anyway. This is not intended as a discussion of the best solution on taxes, and I know many of you still favor completely different approaches. (e.g. flat tax, fair tax, consumption tax) But given the difficulty in trying to completely replace the code with something new, we may have to settle for fixing what we have at least for now. And the conclusions Peek draws should be part of that conversation. 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.
Super. Bradley Manning for the (wait for it) Nobel Peace Prize
Jazz Shaw (Hot Air Top Picks)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:10:37 AM
posted at 12:10 pm on February 8, 2012 by Jazz Shaw Some stories are simply too good to pass up, and this has to be one of them. Weve had more than a few discussions of the seemingly out of touch people who decide on the nominations for certain Nobel Prize nominations and awards. (I say some because there are a few of the science and engineering related ones which still go to worthy candidates at times and help fund research.) But the Nobel Peace Prize has really gotten something of a rotting fish reputation over the last decade or two. And if one activist in Iceland has anything to say about it, that wont be changing any time soon. On Saturday, Icelandic member of parliament Birgitta Jnsdttir posted a nomination letter on her blog on behalf of the threemember parliamentary group The Movement, proposing suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning as a candidate for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Nobel Peace Prize nominations can be submitted by any member of a national assembly, among others. SUPER. page 78
Politics/
75
Why Politicians Keep Calling Your Home Phone

Conor Friedersdorf (Politics : The Atlantic)
The chairman of the RNC acknowledges that voters are annoyed by recorded calls urging them out to the polls, but he insists they work anyway. The phone rings. You answer. But instead of a person on the other end, it's a recording. The voice is familiar, but it isn't a family member or a friend. It's a politician. He or she wants you to vote. "People are getting recorded phone calls all over the country," Hugh Hewitt remarked recently on his talk-radio show, prompted by emails from listeners complaining about the practice. As it happened, he was interviewing Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. "What's your view," Hewitt asked, "of the utility of recorded phone calls when they come in waves?" You're not going to like the answer. "You know, it's surprising. What studies show is that when you get six calls, the seventh call, you're more likely to vote... people just want to drive right off the highway when they hear that," he
said. "The reality is that recorded messages from the right people really help drive out the vote." There's just one thing that's even more effective. "I and others at the RNC, we think that volunteer calls are the way to go. And that's why I emphasize so much our voiceover-Internet program," he said. "We have a phone-from-home program that we've developed here where any person, no matter where you are. You could be in Alaska. And if you want to call into Missouri or Pennsylvania for
the presidential election, we can hook you up with a phone-fromhome program on the Internet where you have the phone numbers, you have the voters, and you can call. Okay, this is Hugh Hewitt, and we're going to give him a call, and we're going to find out whether he voted, and who he voted for, or what he needs to vote, or whether he turned in his absentee ballot. I think volunteer calls are the way to go." He suggested the script might go like this: I'm Phil Johnson, and I'm calling
as a volunteer from the local GOP here, and I'm just really working hard for candidate X. I just really hope you consider him, and help us get our country back on track. So there you go. If you're a registered Republican with a land line who lives in a swing state, expect a call like that -- or perhaps 6 or 7 calls like that -before year's end. And if you're frustrated by it, marvel at the fact that out there in America the average recipient of such a call is more likely to do what the person on the other end urges, so long as
they're polite about saying it. Image credit: Reuters This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2012/02/whypoliticians-keep-calling-yourhome-phone/252748/ 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.
76
Politics/
Birth Control and the 'Obama Independents'

Ta-Nehisi Coates (Politics : The Atlantic)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 10:50:00 AM
Sarah Kliff parses the numbers on birth control, insurance, religion and the illusive independents: And a lot of this likely isn't about Catholic voters at all. Rather, it may well be about the demographics that are most supportive of this particular health reform provision: young voters and women. In the PRRI poll, both groups register support above 60 percent for the provision. Those two demographics are important here for a key reason: they were crucial to Obama's victory in 2008. Third Way crunched the numbers earlier this month and found that the "Obama Independents" -- the swing group that proved crucial to his 2008 victory -- are, as Ryan Lizza put it, "disproportionately young, female and secular..." These voters have tended to be difficult for abortion rights
supporters to engage on reproductive health issues like abortion. Research from NARAL Pro-Choice America, which I wrote about last weekend, found a significant "intensity gap" there, with abortion rights supporters much less likely to see it as a crucial voting issue than their anti -abortion counterparts. But when the conversation moves away from abortion to
contraceptives - as it has this week - the intensity gap flips: A much larger segment of voters are willing to penalize a legislator who votes to defund family planning. That became apparent in polling that Democratic firm Lake Research Partners did earlier this year, which found that 40 percent of voters would be less likely to support a member of Congress who votes to defund
family-planning programs. Just 22 percent would be more likely to support such a lawmaker. Two things: 1.) I think it really helps to separate Obama independents-disproportionately "young, female and secular"--from the broad nebulous "Independent voters" that we are all so fond of invoking. Everyone claims to appealing to "independents." I
think that has more to do with connotations and branding (independent="thinks for self") than the actual make-up of a candidates support. 2.) The difference numbers for Catholics and White evangelicals are really interesting. It's almost as if the issue for Republicans, isn't so much a hard pitch to Catholics, as it is a hard pitch to white Evangelicals, with the hope of clipping off some conservative Catholics along the way. This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2012/02/birthcontrol-and-the-obamaindependents/252774/ 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/
77
The Ed Morrissey Show: Live from Townhall offices!

Ed Morrissey (Hot Air Top Picks)
WORST
Marizelas family, and also try to reach anyone in the area who knows where Marizela might be Submitted at 2/8/2012 11:58:23 AM and ask them to contact the posted at 12:58 pm on February police. 8, 2012 by Ed Morrissey The search has its own website Today, the Ed Morrissey Show now, Find Marizela, for the latest starts at the special time of 2 pm in the efforts to bring Marizela ET and will come to you live home. There is also a fund for the from Townhalls headquarters in family to keep the search efforts Washington DC! Guy Benson going. Be sure to check there and will join us, and perhaps either at Michelles site for further Katie Pavlich or one of the other developments, and keep the Townhall writers as we preview family in your prayers. CPAC and discuss last nights Americas Most Wanted is now sweep by Rick Santorum. on the case, too. The Ed Morrissey Show and its Michelle has an update on the dynamic chatroom can be seen on case: the permanent TEMS page be The circumstances of our sure to join us, and dont forget to dilemma remain the same. While keep up with the debate on my the case remains open, the Seattle Facebook page, too! police are for all practical Marizela Perez has been missing purposes treating it as a closed in the Seattle area for almost a and shut case. They will not share year now. Marizelas case has a the information they obtained connection here at Hot Air, as she from the limited Google subpoena i s t h e c o u s i n o f t h e B o s s which our family pushed for in Emeritus, Michelle Malkin. the first place. If we had access to Michelle is trying to spread the that information, we could word through Facebook and continue the search for Marizela Q13Fox/KCPQ in Seattle. We on our own that the SPD has want to encourage prayers for neither the time, resources, or
focusing on the myriad connections between money and power in the progressive movement and Obama's Washington," he writes. That isn't an awful vision for a publication. If Obama is re-elected and the publication hews to that vision, forgetting everything else Continetti has written, it'll be inclination to pursue. We have not heard back from useful for four years. Honest partisan watchdogs have their Google. As weve noted since the day of place. The only trouble will come her disappearance, she was taking when a Republican is next anti-depressants at the time of her elected, for The Washington disappearance. The daunting Beacon has set itself up as an possibility that she took her life, enterprise more interested in and the signs that cannot be getting to the left than getting at ignored, still weighs heavily on the truth. our minds as do all the other There were a lot of outfits like frightening possibilities as her that when George W. Bush took c a s e r e m a i n s u n s o l v e d a n d office. Boy were they determined. unresolved. Ive urged you before Their mission was to keep to support volunteer groups that attacking the left and defending provide hope and solace for those the right no matter what, and they in need. To honor Marizela, I ask did it -- boy, did they do it -- even again that you do so if you are as the Republican Party ballooned the federal budget deficit, able. Thank you for all your continued expanded entitlements, spied illegally on Americans, thoughts and prayers. mismanaged two wars, created a Keep the prayers coming. This entry passed through the new cabinet level agency, and so Full-Text RSS service if this is discredited conservatism in the your content and you're reading it minds of voters that they elected on someone else's site, please read B a r a c k O b a m a ( w h o h a s the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- proceeded to violate civil liberties only/faq.php#publishers. Five and wage illegal wars as CAP Filters recommends: Donate to looks on). Maybe what Washington, D.C., Wikileaks. needs isn't a new publication that targets the left, so much as one
that targets bad policy, people abusing power, dubious ideas and nefarious behavior generally. Why can't money be raised to fund that sort of enterprise when The Washington Free Beacon's parent non-profit is reportedly being bankrolled to the tune of seven figures? Of course, if there's no ideological bogeyman, I guess then there'd be no convenient enemy at hand, no consistent other to blame for everything, no opportunity to tell yourself that you're doing "combat journalism," absurdly running an old AP photo of actual combat troops at the top of your piece, as if your "taking the fight to the left" resembles in any way the fights that they were waging. Worst. Mission statement. Ever. This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2012/02/the-worst -mission-statement-in-the-historyof-dc-journalism/252744/ 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.
78
Technology/
SUPER.
The Icelandic parliamentarian has been a vocal supporter of WikiLeaks since it leaked the Collateral Murder video of a 2007 Baghdad strike by U.S. forces that killed at least a dozen unarmed civilians, including two Reuters reporters, which is widely believed to have been acquired and sent to WikiLeaks by Manning himself We have the great honor of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and imperialism by the United States government in international dealings. These revelations have fueled democratic uprising around
the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia. According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on our foreign policies, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq. The entire idea of Birgitta Jnsdttir nominating Manning would be chock full of irony on its own merit, but when we take into account the specific reasons she gives for his meritorious nature, it simply becomes laughout-loud funny. Lets stop and consider this for a moment. She is asking the organization to award the prize to Manning based on the fact that he exposed not only war crimes taking place in Iraq, but on his heroic suffering as he remains incarcerated for well
over a year by the U.S. government without a trial. She goes on to describe his treatment as having been, criticized as torturous. Well.. that just sounds awful. I wonder who is responsible for that horrible treatment? Oh wait isnt it your 2009 winner of the same prize? Honestly, lady do you even read the things you write before you publish them? 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.
BAIDU-POWERED
Baidu-powered Dell Streak Pro D43 gets hands-on treatment

Mat Smith (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/8/2012 12:22:00 PM
of feeds. Permalink| Engadget Chinese (translated)| Email this| Comments
Dell's dual-cored Streak Pro D43 has arrived in the hands of our colleagues over at Engadget Chinese. In a detailed tour of the first Baidu Yi smartphone, they've unearthed a built-in battery and perused the Super AMOLED Plus qHD display, tempered with Gorilla Glass. The casing is little thick (10.3mm) but by no means a deal-breaker, with a rubberized texture apparently helping to protect the phone if you're a little rough and ready with your
devices. The Baidu platform is another Chinese interpretation of Google's feature-set, so you get the likes of email, maps, cloud services and voice input search -in Mandarin, naturally. If you're intrigued by that Baidu base, scope out the full hands-on (and video walkthrough) over on our Sino sister site. Baidu-powered Dell Streak Pro D43 gets hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use BAIDU-POWERED page 78

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