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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45770066#45770066
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Community donations help 58 residents
Blue Santa parcels delivered Dec. 17
Estes Park Elementary School students and staff collected 1,500 donation items for the Police Auxiliary s Blue Santa program, benefitting local residents in need.
The Estes Park Police Department Auxiliary, employees and their families delivered Blue Santa donations to 58 elderly, disabled, or shut-in residents in Estes Park on Dec. 17."Thanks to the generosity of the community, Blue Santa was a great success again this year," said Police chief Wes Kufeld. "Many of the recipients look forward to this visit all year, and the entire community should be proud of this program."
Through Blue Santa, each individual received two boxes of food and hygiene products, along with gifts such as blankets and holiday decorations. More than $3,000 in cash donations from the community allowed recipients to receive a greeting card with postage stamps and a $35 gift card for Safeway. "Gift cards for groceries allow individuals to purchase items they cannot purchase with food stamps, such as pet food," Chief Kufeld commented.
Estes Park Elementary School students donated 1,500 items, with a Blue Santa campaign organized by staff members Britt Hakonson and Terry Johnson. The preschool/Kindergarten class donated the most items - 335 total. Students also decorated the Blue Santa donation boxes, with Gordon Angelo's second grade class winning a friendly competition for the best design.
In addition to town hall, many local organizations opened their doors to accept Blue Santa donations, making it convenient for people to make donations. These organizations were Animal Medical Center of Estes Park, B & B Food Market, Boulder Valley Credit Union, Country Market, Estes Park Elementary School, Estes Park Medical Center, Estes Valley Library, Estes Park Senior Center, Estes Park Visitor Center, First National Bank, MedX of Estes Park, Rocky Mountain Athletic Club, Rocky Mountain National Park, Elk Valley Auto Parts, Safeway, YMCA of the Rockies and the UPS Store.
For more information on Blue Santa, contact Amanda Nagl, community services manager at the Estes Park Police Department, at (970) 577-3822 or anagl@estes.org. To receive town news in your email inbox, please email townadmin@estes.org.
Source: http://www.eptrail.com/ci_19594172?source=rss_viewed
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
PFT: Pats gain in race to top in AFC
Getty ImagesSeven NFL teams have already clinched playoff berths, and four more teams can clinch this week.
The NFL has released the Week 16 playoff scenarios, which show that the Cowboys can clinch the NFC East and the Falcons and Lions can clinch the two NFC wild-card berths, while the Broncos can clinch the AFC West.
In the NFC, the Packers and 49ers have clinched their division while the Saints have clinched at least a wild card. The Panthers, Vikings, Rams, Buccaneers and Redskins are all mathematically eliminated. That?s what we know. What we don?t know is which of the other scenarios will play out.
The Packers will clinch home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs if the 49ers lose to the Seahawks on Saturday, or if the Packers beat the Bears on Sunday night. The 49ers clinch a first-round bye if they win and if the Saints lose to the Falcons on Monday night.
The Saints clinch the NFC South if they beat the Falcons. The Falcons clinch a wild card and remain alive in the NFC South if they beat the Saints. Even if they lose to the Saints, the Falcons can clinch a wild card if the Bears and Cardinals both lose, and either the Cowboys or the Giants lose.
The Lions can clinch a wild card if they beat the Chargers, and they can even clinch a wild card if they lose to the Chargers, although they?ll need a lot of help in the form of the Bears, Cardinals and Seahawks all losing, plus one of the Cowboys, Giants or Saints losing.
The Cowboys clinch the NFC East if they beat the Eagles and the Giants lose to the Jets.
In the AFC, the Texans and Patriots have clinched their divisions, while the Ravens and Steelers have clinched a trip to the playoffs. The Bills, Browns, Colts, Dolphins and Jaguars are mathematically eliminated.
New England can clinch a first-round bye with a win and a loss by the Texans, or a win and losses by both the Steelers and the Ravens. The Patriots clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs if they win and all three of those teams lose.
The Ravens clinch the AFC North if they beat the Browns and the Steelers lose at home to the Rams, and they clinch a first-round bye if that happens plus the Texans lose to the Colts on Thursday night.
The Broncos clinch the AFC West if they win and the Raiders lose, and they clinch a playoff berth if they win and the Jets, Bengals and Titans all lose.
If you?re a fan of one of the teams that can clinch, your rooting interests are clear. But if you?re just a fan of football, you?re probably rooting against all the teams that can clinch in Week 16 ? because the more playoff spots that are still in play after Week 16, the more fun Week 17 will be.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/20/it-was-a-nice-week-for-the-patriots/related/
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Monday, December 19, 2011
BP Reaches $250 Million Settlement with Cameron Over Gulf Oil Spill (ContributorNetwork)
According to the Associated Press, BP and Cameron International have made an agreement under a legal settlement in which $250 million will be paid to the oil giant. Cameron was the manufacturer of the blowout preventer that failed to stop BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.
BP has stated the agreement is not an admission of liability and both parties will still be involved in the federal trial coming this February. BP has already settled claims with three other companies and is continuing to pursue spill-related liability claims against Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Corp. Here are some facts about the other companies involved in the liability and settlements related to the oil spill:
Halliburton Corp.
Although it was BP's well, Halliburton had provided oil-services to the oil company, specifically cementing for Deepwater Horizon reported the Huffington Post. Cementing involves plugging holes in the pipeline seal by filling them with cement. According to Forbes, earlier this month, BP accused Halliburton of destroying evidence that showed the cement used was not stable enough to seal the well. Despite this claim and the Presidential committee's findings that conclude the cement played a role in the well blowout, Halliburton asserts that BP is merely trying to shift the blame away from its own mistakes.
Transocean Ltd.
Reuters reported that the oil rig was owned and operated by Transocean, the company that had leased to BP. But an initial report from the Coast Guard released in April showed serious lapses in safety, including poor maintenance of electrical equipment and a lack of training for emergencies, in the years leading up to the explosion and oil spill. BP filed a lawsuit against Transocean earlier this year, seeking at least $40 billion in damages, noted the Wall Street Journal. In response, Transocean filed a cross-claim against BP and several other parties involved.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
Anadarko had not been involved in the operation of the well, but due to owning a 25 percent stake, BP pursued a settlement against the company, according to the Telegraph. Anadarko initially refused to pay for the $42 billion in costs and filed a lawsuit claiming BP was responsible for the entire amount. In October, Anadarko, based in the U.S., dropped the claim and agreed to pay BP $4 billion.
Weatherford International
The Houston Chronicle noted that Weatherford, a manufacturer of oil field equipment, reached a $75 million settlement with the British oil giant. Weatherford had made the poorly-functioning float collar, a device meant to prevent a backup flow of cement, used in the final cementing of the well. Before reaching the settlement, the manufacturer filed its own lawsuits against BP, but dropped them after the $75 million agreement.
Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Pope heads into busy Christmas season tired, weak (AP)
VATICAN CITY ? Pope Benedict XVI seems worn out.
People who have spent time with him recently say they found him weaker than they'd ever seen him, seemingly too tired to engage with what they were saying. He no longer meets individually with visiting bishops. A few weeks ago he started using a moving platform to spare him the long walk down St. Peter's Basilica.
Benedict turns 85 in the new year, so a slowdown is only natural. Expected. And given his age and continued rigorous work schedule, it's remarkable he does as much as he does and is in such good health overall: Just this past week he confirmed he would travel to Mexico and Cuba next spring.
But a decline has been noted as Benedict prepares for next weekend's grueling Christmas celebrations, which kick off two weeks of intense public appearances. And that raises questions about the future of the papacy given that Benedict himself has said popes should resign if they can't do the job.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi has said no medical condition prompted the decision to use the moving platform in St. Peter's, and that it's merely designed to spare the pontiff the fatigue of the 100-meter (-yard) walk to and from the main altar.
And Benedict rallied during his three-day trip to Benin in west Africa last month, braving temperatures of 32 Celsius (90F) and high humidity to deliver a strong message about the future of the Catholic Church in Africa.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he kissed babies who were handed up to him, delivered a tough speech on the need for Africa's political leaders to clean up their act, and visited one of the continent's most important seminaries.
Back at home, however, it seems the daily grind of being pope ? the audiences with visiting heads of state, the weekly public catechism lessons, the sessions with visiting bishops ? has taken its toll. A spark is gone. He doesn't elaborate off-the-cuff much anymore, and some days he just seems wiped out.
Take for example his recent visit to Assisi, where he traveled by train with dozens of religious leaders from around the world for a daylong peace pilgrimage. For anyone participating it was a tough, long day; for the aging pope it was even more so.
"Indeed I was struck by what appeared to me as the decline in Benedict's strength and health over the last half year," said Rabbi David Rosen, who had a place of honor next to the pope at the Assisi event as head of interfaith relations at the American Jewish Committee.
"He looks thinner and weaker ... which made the effort he put into the Assisi shindig with the extraordinary degree of personal attention to the attendees (especially the next day in Rome) all the more remarkable," Rosen said in an email.
That Benedict is tired would be a perfectly normal diagnosis for an 84-year-old, even someone with no known health ailments and a still-agile mind. He has acknowledged having suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in 1991 that temporarily affected his vision. And his older brother, who has a pacemaker for an irregular heartbeat, has expressed concern about Benedict's own heart.
But Benedict is not a normal 84-year-old, both in what he is called to do and the implications if he were to stop.
Popes are allowed to resign; church law specifies only that the resignation be "freely made and properly manifested."
Only a handful have done so, however. The last one was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.
There's good reason why others haven't followed suit: Might the existence of two popes ? even when one has stepped down ? lead to divisions and instability in the church? Might a new resignation precedent lead to pressures on future popes to quit at the slightest hint of infirmity?
Yet Benedict himself raised the possibility of resigning if he were simply too old or sick to continue on, when he was interviewed for the book "Light of the World," which was released in November 2010.
"If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign," Benedict said.
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had an intimate view as Pope John Paul II, with whom he had worked closely for nearly a quarter-century, suffered through the debilitating end of his papacy. After John Paul's death at age 84, it was revealed that he had written a letter of resignation to be invoked if he became terminally ill or incapable of continuing on.
And it should be recalled that at the time Benedict was elected pope at age 78 ? already the oldest pope elected in nearly 300 years ? he had been planning to retire as the Vatican's chief orthodoxy watchdog to spend his final years writing in the "peace and quiet" of his native Bavaria.
It is there that his elder brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, still lives. Ratzinger, who turns 88 next month, is nearly blind. Benedict has said his brother has helped him accept old age with courage.
Benedict said in "Light of the World" that he knew his own strength was diminishing ? steps are difficult for him and his aides regularly hold his elbows as he climbs up or down. But at the same time Benedict insisted that he had no intention of resigning to avoid dealing with the problems of the church, such as the sex abuse scandal.
"One can resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply cannot go on. But one must not run away from danger and say that someone else should do it," he said.
As a result, a papal resignation anytime soon seems unlikely.
And Benedict is maintaining a hectic agenda. His planned trip to Cuba and Mexico next spring will fall shortly before he turns 85 on April 16. He has also said he'd like to make it to Rio de Janeiro in 2013 for the next World Youth Day.
Sometime in the New Year he will presumably preside over a new consistory to name the new cardinals who will elect his successor. And he has lots of unfinished business close to his heart: Bringing back breakaway traditionalists under Rome's wing, the fate of the sex abuse-scarred Irish church, tensions with China.
And he still cuts a robust figure in public given his age, walking briskly, speaking clearly and emphasizing key points. But his public engagements have been trimmed back; he had far fewer speeches in Benin than during his September visit to his native Germany or the United Kingdom last fall.
And behind closed doors, during audiences without the glare of TV cameras or throngs of the faithful encouraging him on, he has begun to show his age, acquaintances say.
The Rev. Joseph Fessio, Benedict's U.S. publisher and onetime student, sees the pope every so often, including during the summer when Benedict gathers his former theology students for an informal academic seminar at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.
Fessio recalled a day in the 2010 edition that remains with him: "In the Saturday morning session, the pope looked older and weaker than I had ever seen him before. In fact I remarked to someone that it's the first time I've seen him look like the old man that he is. He was speaking in softer tones than even his normally soft speaking voice. His head was bowed. He was pale. He just looked frail."
But then, after lunch and an apparent rest, Benedict returned for the afternoon session. "It was a complete transformation. He was lively, vigorous, attentive, and with his usual good humor," Fessio said.
Clearly, at his age Benedict has good days and bad, even good half-days and bad.
Yet he's never called in sick. In fact as pope, he has only had one significant known medical incident: He broke his right wrist when he tripped on the leg of his bed and fell while on vacation in the Alps in 2009.
Lombardi says the pope realizes the limitations of his strength, and that's why the recent trip to Benin was a one-stop-only affair.
"I think it's an example of the great willingness and wisdom of the Holy Father to continue doing these trips, even those that are difficult or far away," Lombardi said. He said the pope "measures well what his strengths are, and the possibility of doing the trips well."
"When I'm 84 I think I'll have been buried for many years," he added.
But he refused to give any kind of medical updates on the pope.
"I'm not a doctor. I don't give medical bulletins," Lombardi said. He paused, then added quietly: "In this phase. At this moment."
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Are Chevy Volt Fleet Sales Latest Evidence of GM Deception ...
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Email to friendSales for the Chevy Volt have been stagnant and it has become apparent that lack of supply is not the reason. GM CEO Dan Akerson is responsible for tying the success of GM into the success of the Volt by having made lofty claims that the vehicle was, in fact, the future of the company while investing a major portion of marketing dollars to help support the perception. Deception was evident as statements were made that the vehicle was "virtually" sold out and supply couldn't keep up with demand, while evidence surfaced that this was not the case. GM cancelled plans to run a second shift for the vehicle even as it continued the ruse and floated rumors that there were huge waiting lists of purchasers for the vehicle.
The latest nail in the coffin for the Volt is the discovery that the lithium-ion batteries that power the vehicles may be a safety risk as NHTSA vehicles spontaneously combusted into flames days or weeks after crash-tests. More disturbingly, NHTSA and GM did not immediately notify the public, instead waiting six months to reveal the problem. The delay is being investigated by congress and the NLPC has requested documentation from NHTSA under the Freedom of Information Act regarding communications between the agency and GM.
There are costly lessons to be learned from the Volt debacle. The first step is to accept the fact that, even though a small minority of Volt owners may be very happy with their vehicles, the car does not offer the value to appeal to the vast majority of car buyers. We then should question why so much taxpayer money has been spent to produce and promote the Volt. There is no need to condemn all EVs or hybrids for the sins of the Volt, but even the most ideologically green enthusiast should realize that studies should be done to evaluate the costs and benefits of any new technology before spending billions of taxpayer dollars to promote that technology.
More studies are needed on the environmental and safety issues with lithium-ion batteries, as well as the ability of our power grid to produce the additional electricity needed to power EVs. A debate is also needed as to what the costs and benefit to oil dependence are if EV goals are met. If we can reach an obtainable goal of having about six million EVs on US roads in 10 years, what are the actual benefits? Using projections that there will be close to 300 million total passenger vehicles on the road that will account for between 40% and 45% of total US oil consumption, the math would give us a reduction of oil usage of less than 1%. Assuming the tax subsidies currently offered on the EVs remain, we are talking about spending approximately $50 billion of taxpayer money over 10 years, with a portion of that having gone towards grants and charger subsidies, to achieve about a 1% reduction in oil usage. Is that a wise investment? And shouldn't we be pursuing alternatives, like natural gas vehicles, as a possible viable option?
The Volt fiasco has been supported by cronies in industry along with directives from the Obama Administration. General Electric still supports the vehicle and, according to a WSJ report, "...said it has no plans to change its commitment to purchase Volts for its fleet and fleet-services business. A year ago GE agreed to buy 12,000 Volts by 2015 as part of a larger commitment to electric vehicles. GE so far has purchased hundreds of the electric-gas vehicles and continues to receive more daily." GE stands to profit from selling charging stations for the vehicles and is probably the number one crony corporation to benefit from green initiatives.
When the Volt was rolled out over a year ago, a financial news network that was majority owned by GE acted as cheerleader for the Volt dedicating the better part of a day (and then some) hyping the vehicle. The network also suggested that all taxpayers be allowed to "benefit" by participating in the GM IPO and GM was portrayed as a company that would be "printing money." Neither the Volt nor GM shares have lived up to the hype. The network is now minority owned by GE, but GM stories are still handled with kid gloves by the commentators.
With powerful supporters like the Obama Administration and GE, how far will GM go to overcome the evidence that the Volt is not all it was cracked up to be? The level of deception to this point may indicate that further attempts to fudge demand will be made. I am already suspicious of GM's reporting of fleet sales for the Volt. All conversations I have had with people at Chevy dealerships indicate that individual demand for the Volt is very low. Meanwhile, I continue to read articles about how townships are purchasing Volts with federal grant money along with reports that GE continues to buy a good percentage of the Volts sold. It would not be hard for GM to fudge the numbers and claim that demand is coming from individual consumers, even as taxpayers and GE foot the bill.
When Volt sales occur, they are reported on the GM portal. If vehicles purchased by townships or GE are not entered as fleet sales, GM would be able to give the impression that sales are coming from individuals. This is not a far-fetched scenario, as Akerson and GM have not been all that honest up to this point.? Consider GE's statement that they have been buying hundreds of Volts and then add townships, utility companies and federal government purchases (not to mention dealer to dealer sales) and I would have to assume that actual total fleet sales are at least over a thousand and perhaps much more. Given the fact that only a few thousand Volts have been sold year to date, the fleet percentage is likely to be higher than reported by GM.
I will say this much, given the recent NHTSA safety investigation into the Volt and the feedback I am getting from dealerships, if December sales of the Volt exceed 1,000 it will not be because individual consumers are buying the vehicles in large numbers. Much of the sales will have come from crony GE and taxpayer-funded township purchases.?
Perhaps the technology for EVs can improve in the near future and it will be feasible for manufacturers to produce the vehicles without huge subsidies. The problems surfacing for the Volt, while bringing a realization that we should be skeptical of costly green initiatives rushed through by our government, should be viewed as a failure of Akerson led GM and the Obama Administration's energy policies and not of all EV technology. Akerson should be held accountable and it is time to replace the Obama appointed leadership at GM. Treasury should first get the taxpayers out of its stake in GM, and then the company should be run without government influence. And that means that the shareholders should decide who sits on the GM board and who serves as CEO of the company. The Chevy Volt debacle and the deceit that came with it are evidence that Akerson is not the guy for the job.??
Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.
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Olympus fixes crooked accounts; takeover talk (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp ironed out its crooked accounts on Wednesday, unwinding a 13-year fraud to reveal a $655 million dent in its balance sheet and igniting speculation it would need to merge or sell assets to repair its finances.
The maker of cameras and medical equipment filed five years' worth of corrected statements, plus its overdue first-half results, just hours before a deadline set by the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which would have delisted the firm if it had failed.
The most recent restatement, for end-March 2011, showed a 51 billion yen ($655 million) reduction in Olympus' net assets, and Olympus added that at of end-September, net assets stood at just 46 billion yen, down from a restated 225 billion in March 2007.
It also revealed a net loss of 32.33 billion yen for the six months ended September 30, further fuelling talk that the once-venerable firm would need to take quick steps to shore up its balance sheet or risk becoming prey to a takeover.
"Most probably Olympus has to increase capital. It's best for the company to merge with others rather than rebuild by itself," said Ryosuke Okazaki, chief investment officer at ITC Investment Partners.
Olympus has been dogged by rumors of bid interest from rivals, such as fellow endoscope makers Fujifilm and Hoya, or from private equity since it sacked its British chief executive and the scandal broke in October.
The stock, which has lost about half its value to about $4.7 billion since then, finished the day down 4 percent.
RELIEVED, BUT NOT OUT OF THE WOODS
Some investors were at least relieved on Wednesday that Olympus had met the deadline for fix its accounts, without having slid into technical insolvency at any stage. Olympus also assured investors that it was able to secure continued funding.
"This is extremely positive for Olympus as it can avoid getting delisted after meeting the deadline to submit its earnings," Okazaki said.
Other investors, though, remained wary, noting that the exchange could still delist Olympus if it deemed the past misrepresentations of its financial health were large enough.
"Although liabilities had not exceeded assets, it does not change the fact that they were window-dressing and since the amount involved is so big and the period of time this was going on was so long, it is difficult to say what the Tokyo Stock Exchange will do," said Fujio Ando, senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management.
"I would not say that fear of delisting has disappeared because they filed their revised earnings."
The Tokyo exchange said after the announcements that it was keeping Olympus in its watchlist for possible delisting.
Some of the restated accounts also came with qualified opinions from auditors, with KPMG AZSA LLC noting that it had been unable to confirm all the money flows involved in the fraud. "We were unable to get sufficient and appropriate proofs for auditing on specific assets and amounts," the auditor wrote.
BOARDROOM BATTLE LOOMS
Olympus triggered the crisis on October 14 when it sacked its British CEO, Michael Woodford, who immediately blew the whistle on the firm's accounting problems. Woodford is now waging a campaign to be reinstated, appealing to shareholders to support his comeback as part of a complete renewal of the board.
The board has committed to resigning over the scandal, but wants to choose its own successors before quitting, setting up the prospect of a proxy war between its own candidates and those being assembled by Woodford as part of his campaign.
"The shareholding balance is such that there is a realistic chance we could win a proxy fight," Woodford said. But he added that such a battle would cause a split between foreign and Japanese shareholders and that he hoped it could be avoided.
Some big foreign shareholders back Woodford's bid but Japanese institutional investors, although reticent, appear worried about whether he can win over the company's employees as well as his plans to turn around the once-proud firm.
"I think it would be harmful because it would show potentially Japan institutional investors are a club," Woodford said about a possible proxy battle.
He said he was willing to meet Olympus President Shuichi Takayama at any time but added incumbent directors were too discredited to be in a position to choose their successors.
Woodford, who was a rare foreign CEO in Japan, also sought to soothe concerns about his plans to restore trust in Olympus.
"I want no part in selling Olympus or breaking it up," he said, adding he would not close down the firm's struggling camera business.
"People say the 'gaijin' president would shut it," Woodford said, using the Japanese word for foreigner. "I wouldn't."
($1 = 77.8450 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Mari Saito, Chikafumi Hodo, Linda Sieg, Tim Kelly and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
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Friday, December 16, 2011
RI economic summit leaders selected by SBA (AP)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. ? The leaders of several panels that will drive the discussion and make recommendations at an annual economic summit in Rhode Island next month have been announced by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Among them are Grafton "Cap" Willey IV, who will chair the taxes and budget committee; Mark Deion, who will chair the economic development committee; and John Gregory, who will chair the workforce development and education committee. There are other panels on energy, health care and regulations.
The summit, in its sixth year, is sponsored by the Small Business Administration and the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center at Johnson & Wales University. It is taking place Jan. 27 at the university's Harborside campus.
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Cheap electronic skin edges us closer to cyberpunk future
Cheap electronic skin edges us closer to cyberpunk future originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Online uproar as India seeks social media screening (Reuters)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) ? India has urged social network companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google to remove offensive material, unleashing a storm of criticism from Internet users complaining of censorship in the world's largest democracy.
Telecoms and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal met executives from Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Monday to ask them to screen content, but no agreement with the companies was reached, he said.
Sibal denied he was promoting censorship but said some of the images and statements on social media risked fanning tensions in India, which has a long history of deadly religious violence. He said the firms had rebuffed earlier calls to take action.
Socially conservative India already censors some films and books considered obscene or likely to stoke religious conflict.
The country of 1.2 billion people created new rules earlier this year obliging Internet companies to remove a range of objectionable content when requested to do so, a move criticized at the time by rights groups and social media companies.
It was not clear if Sibal was proposing stiffer regulation, but Law Minister Salman Khurshid later said his colleague was calling for dialogue about offensive content, not censorship.
A New York Times report Monday that said Sibal called executives about six weeks ago and showed them a Facebook page that maligned ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi and told them it was "unacceptable."
The government is very sensitive to criticism of Gandhi, whose family has dominated Indian politics since before independence from the British and has lost two prominent figures to assassination.
Officials are often keen to be seen as protectors of the family. Last year there were moves to block the English translation of a Spanish novel about Sonia Gandhi's life.
"We have to take care of the sensibilities of our people, we have to protect their sensibilities. Our cultural ethos is very important to us," Sibal said Tuesday, after showing reporters some images he said were taken from the Internet and would likely offend religious communities.
Sibal said his ministry was working on guidelines for action against companies which did not respond to the government's requests, but did not specify what action could be taken.
"We'll certainly evolve guidelines to ensure that such blasphemous material is not part of content on any platform."
Despite the rules in place, India's Internet access is largely unrestricted, in contrast to tight controls in fellow Asian economic powerhouse China. But in line with many other governments around the world, India has become increasingly edgy about the power of social media.
India's bloggers and Twitter users scorned the minister's proposals, saying a prefiltering system would limit free expression and was impossible to implement. The phrase #IdiotKapilSibal was one of India's most tweeted Tuesday.
"The idea of prescreening is impossible. How will they do it?...There is no technology currently that determines whether content is 'defamatory' or 'offensive'," India-based cyber security expert Vijay Mukhi told Reuters.
TAKEN ABACK
The New York Times report, which Sibal did not confirm or deny, was the focus of much of the online anger directed at the minister Tuesday.
"I love Sonia Gandhi. She is awesome. She is God. And never wrong about anything, ever." (This msg is approved by Kapil Sibal's cyber cell)," posted twitter user Sorabh Pant.
Indian authorities were taken aback in the summer by an anti-corruption campaign that multiplied on Facebook and Twitter, drawing tens of thousands of people to street protests and forcing the government to agree to new anti-graft laws.
Last year, as part of a broader electronic security crackdown, Indian security agencies demanded access to communications sent through highly secure BlackBerry devices of Canadian smartphone maker Research In Motion.
RIM gave India access to its consumer services, including its Messenger services, but said it could not allow monitoring of its enterprise email.
Facebook said in a statement it recognized the government's wish to minimize the amount of offensive content on the web. The California-based company said it removes content that violates company rules on nudity and inciting violence and hatred.
Internet search giant Google, which owns social networking site Orkut and video-sharing site YouTube, also said it already removes content when it is illegal or against its own policy.
"But when content is legal and doesn't violate our policies, we won't remove it just because it's controversial, as we believe that people's differing views, so long as they're legal, should be respected and protected," the company said in a statement.
Yahoo India declined to comment, as did Microsoft's Indian public relations agency.
India now has 100 million Internet users, less than a tenth of the country's population of 1.2 billion. It is the third-largest user base behind China and the United States. It is seen swelling to 300 million users in the next three years.
During last year's clampdown, officials also said Google and Skype would be sent notices to set up local servers to allow full monitoring of email and messenger communications.
Britain also faced criticism last month for considering curbs on social media after recent riots even as Foreign Secretary William Hague castigated countries that block the Internet to stifle protests.
(Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar in MUMBAI and Annie Banerji in NEW DELHI; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Malini Menon and Nick Macfie)
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
"Laugh-In" actor Alan Sues dies at age 85 (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? "Laugh-In" actor Alan Sues, who was known for playing outlandish and effeminate characters on television, has died at age 85, a statement on his website said.
Sues died on Thursday night while watching television at his home in West Hollywood, just outside of Los Angeles, his longtime friend, Michael Gregg Michaud, said on the site.
He had recently been in poor health, according to Michaud.
From 1968 to 1972, Sues was a recurring cast member on the NBC show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" playing an eccentric children's host named Uncle Al the Kiddies' Pal and an effeminate sportscaster called Big Al.
The California native was also known for his role as a clumsy and outrageously flamboyant Peter Pan on peanut butter commercials during the same time he starred in "Laugh-In."
After "Laugh-In," Sues performed on Broadway in the 1970s, as Professor Moriarty in the play "Sherlock Holmes."
Sues is survived by two nieces and a nephew, according to his website.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Greg McCune)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111203/us_nm/us_obit_sues
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Gingrich meets with Trump, begins first ad in Iowa
Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump talk to media after a meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, right, waves after meeting with Donald Trump, and talking to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump shake hands after they met and spoke to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Surging in polls, Newt Gingrich declared confidently Monday that he plans to run a general election campaign in all 50 states should he win the Republican presidential nomination. But he also found himself defending comments he had made about poor children ? hinting at the potential troubles and new scrutiny he faces in the race.
"I do not suggest children until about 14 or 15 years of age do heavy, dangerous janitorial work," Gingrich told reporters, seeking to explain previous remarks that rivals have used to criticize him. "On the other hand, there are a number of things done to clean buildings that are not heavy or dangerous."
At issue is a remark Gingrich made last week in which he suggested that poor children as young as 9 should work at least part time cleaning their schools in order to learn about work.
The Republican said his original point had been "distorted" to make him look insensitive, and he twice tried to explain where he stood. The idea, Gingrich said, would be "to get them into the world of work, get them into the opportunity to earn money, to get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort is rewarded and America is all about the work ethic."
Trying to show sensitivity on the issue, Gingrich also said he had persuaded Donald Trump ? the real estate mogul with whom he met privately earlier in the day ? to mentor a group of children from New York City's poorest schools.
"I thought it was a great idea," said Trump, who hosts the reality show "Celebrity Apprentice." ''We're going to be picking 10 young wonderful children and make them 'apprenti.' We're going to have a little fun with it."
Gingrich spent the day in New York with a busy schedule of fundraisers and meetings as he looked to solidify his status at the head of the GOP pack alongside Mitt Romney in polls nationally and in Iowa, which holds the first presidential contest on Jan. 3.
The former Georgia lawmaker chose the heavily Democratic city to announce he planned to run in all 50 states ? not just traditionally Republican or swing states ? if he becomes the party nominee.
His campaign, meanwhile, debuted a new television ad in Iowa ? the first of his campaign.
"Some people say the America we know and love is a thing of the past. I don't believe that, because working together I know we can rebuild America," Gingrich says in the ad that's laden with Americana, down to the white picket fence, the Statue of Liberty and the American stars and stripes.
As the day began, Gingrich met privately with Trump, who flirted with a bid for the Republican nomination last spring.
But the candidate left without an endorsement. Trump said he would refrain from endorsing a candidate until after he hosts a televised debate in Iowa a week before that state's caucuses.
Even so, Gingrich praised Trump as a "true American icon." And Trump said he was impressed by the former House speaker's strong showing in the GOP presidential contest.
Gingrich said he would be pleased to participate in the Trump-hosted debate and dismissed criticism from rival Ron Paul that such a forum demeaned the presidency.
"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer to the presidency. This is a country that elected an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency," Gingrich said, referring to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. "Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman. I think one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs. We need to be open to new ways of doing things."
Trump has hinted he might run for president as an Independent if the Republicans nominate a candidate who can't beat President Barack Obama. Trump sidestepped questions about a potential run but said he believes Paul has "zero chance" of getting the nomination.
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Robert Taylor Ranch Back On The Market At $28 Million (PHOTOS)
Can you put a price on history? Apparently so, and a dropping one at that.
The legendary Robert Taylor Ranch -- one of Los Angeles' most exclusive and private compounds -- has come back on the market at $28 million. The historic home had at one point been listed for $65 million, and we all know how that turned out.
The 70-room estate with more than 20,000 square feet of living space is now owned by New Stream Capital, a financial services firm based in Connecticut. The property was transferred to the firm in 2010 as part of a debt settlement by its previous owner -- KROQ founder Ken Roberts, the man who brought modern rock to Los Angeles. Other former owners include the actor Robert Taylor, hence the name that's stuck. The ranch was built in 1956 for Waite Phillips and designed by architect Robert Byrd.
The Robert Taylor Ranch occupies 112 prime acres in Brentwood, making it the largest residential property in the city. Features include an 11,700-square-foot main house with 34 rooms, a 4,000-square-foot recreational complex and a 3,100-square-foot guest house. The estate includes a pool, tennis courts and horse stables.
Roberts had the property on and off the market at various prices including a low of $35 million and a high of $65 million.
Marcie Hartley and Aaron Kirman, both of Hilton & Hyland Real Estate in Beverly Hills, co-listed the property.
Photos by Jeff Ong, PostRain.
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Woman: Psychologist implanted horrific memories (AP)
ST. LOUIS ? The memories that came flooding back were so horrific that Lisa Nasseff says she tried to kill herself: She had been raped several times, had multiple personalities and took part in satanic rituals involving unthinkable acts. She says she only got better when she realized they weren't real.
Nasseff, 31, is suing a suburban St. Louis treatment center where she spent 15 months being treated for anorexia, claiming one of its psychologists implanted the false memories during hypnosis sessions in order to keep her there long-term and run up a bill that eventually reached $650,000. The claims seem unbelievable, but her lawyer, Kenneth Vuylsteke, says other patients have come forward to say they, too, were brainwashed and are considering suing.
"This is an incredible nightmare," Vuylsteke said.
Castlewood Treatment Center's director, Nancy Albus, and the psychologist, Mark Schwartz, deny the allegations. Albus pledged to vigorously fight the lawsuit, which was filed Nov. 21 in St. Louis County and seeks the repayment of medical expenses and punitive damages. As in repressed memory cases, which typically involve allegations of abuse that occurred during childhood, the outcome will likely hinge on the testimony of experts with starkly different views on how memory works.
Nasseff, who lives in St. Paul, Minn., stayed at Castlewood from July 2007 through March 2008 and returned for seven months in 2009. She was struggling with anorexia and as a resident of Minnesota, which requires insurers to cover long-term eating disorders, she could afford to stay at the center, which sits on a high bluff in the suburb of Ballwin overlooking a park and meandering river. Most states, including Missouri, don't require such coverage.
In her lawsuit, Nasseff claims Schwartz used hypnotic therapy on her while she was being treated with psychotropic drugs, and her lawyer says Schwartz gave her books about satanic worship to further reinforce the false memories. She says she was led to believe she was involved in a satanic cult whose rituals included eating babies, that she had been sexually abused and raped multiple times, and that she had exhibited 20 different personalities.
Vuylsteke said the trauma was too much to bear, and that Nasseff tried to get hold of drugs to kill herself during her stay.
"Can you imagine how you would feel if you thought you had participated in all these horrible things?" Vuylsteke asked.
Eventually, Nasseff learned from other women treated at Castlewood that they, too, had been convinced through therapy that they were involved in satanic cults, Vuylsteke said. And, he said, those women were also from Minnesota, allowing insurance to pay for their treatment.
"It seems like quite a coincidence that all of this cult activity was in Minnesota," he said.
Nasseff returned to Minnesota, where she works part-time in public relations and has her eating disorder in check, her lawyer said.
In her lawsuit, she claims Schwartz warned her in October 2010 to return to Missouri for additional treatment or she would die from her disorder. She says he left a phone message this October warning that if she sued, all of her memories of satanic rituals and abuse would be revealed.
Schwartz, reached by phone at the center, where he is its clinical co-director, denied any wrongdoing but declined to discuss the case further because he hadn't hired a lawyer yet. He previously told ABCNews.com that he never hypnotized Nasseff, that they had never discussed satanic cults and that she never told him she had committed criminal acts.
Albus didn't respond to requests for comment, but she told Courthouse News Service that Castlewood "strongly believes that all of these claims are without merit and we intend to defend these claims vigorously."
Some experts, including University of California, Irvine, professor Elizabeth Loftus, question the validity of repressed memory cases, which became more commonplace in the 1990s.
"Where is the proof you can be raped in satanic rituals and have absolutely no awareness of it, then reliably recover those memories later?" she asked.
However, neither Loftus nor Jim Hopper, a clinical instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, would speculate about whether Schwartz may have implanted false memories. Both agreed people can have memories of events that didn't really happen and that the power of suggestion can play a role in producing false memories.
Loftus cited several medical malpractice cases won over memories that proved to be false.
Hopper said he believes memory is complex.
"Something that happened years ago can be encoded in the brain in various ways, and various combinations of those memory representations may be retrieved, or not, in various ways, for various reasons, at any particular time," he said.
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
US official: Taiwan has role in international aid (AP)
TAIPEI, Taiwan ? The visiting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development says Taiwan has a role to play in helping Washington and other governments help disaster victims and the poor around the world.
USAID administrator Rajiv Shah met Friday with President Ma Ying-jeou. He also spoke with representatives from the foreign, health and defense ministries on finding ways to work together on issues including disaster response, health care, and global food security.
While the U.S. transferred recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, it maintains close ties with the democratic island and is its main source of foreign military assistance.
Shah is one of the most senior American officials to visit Taiwan in recent years.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Packing and patrolling, U.S. troops roll out of Iraq (Reuters)
CAMP ECHO, Iraq (Reuters) ? Camp Echo's dusty motorpools are empty, its private contract caterers have long gone home and murals depicting the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's twin towers have been painted over.
One of the last seven U.S. military bases in Iraq, Echo is in rapid handover to Iraqi hands as American soldiers there pack up and complete their final task - protecting the last few departing troops heading home south across the Kuwaiti border.
Nearly nine years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, the U.S. mission in Iraq is fast winding down with only 13,000 troops left in the country. Hundreds are departing each day until the end of 2011.
Hundreds of convoys of military vehicles and civilian trucks have gone south into Kuwait since President Barack Obama last month said troops would leave as scheduled, effectively ending the large-scale U.S. military presence on Iraqi soil.
"It's time. The president and everyone is saying it's time. We did as much as we can," U.S. Army Sergeant Fred Fox said at Echo in Diwaniya, 150 km (95 miles) south of Baghdad.
"It's time for us to go home and let them take care of their own," he said.
Soldiers left on Camp Echo, like other bases in Iraq, are still patrolling to protect themselves, the highway south and the base even as they pack up and hand over equipment from vehicles to air conditioners to the Iraqi armed forces.
On Echo, rows of white SUVs, construction vehicles and jeeps sit parked waiting for Iraqi officials to check U.S. inventories. U.S. troops are leaving behind anything not cost-effective to ship elsewhere, like concrete blast walls.
Nearby, sand-colored MRAP armored vehicles warm their engines before trundling out on patrol to secure Highway One.
Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the sectarian conflict in 2006-2007, when suicide bombers claimed hundreds of victims each day and inter-communal killing between Sunnis and Shi'ites ravaged Baghdad and other cities.
Attacks and bombings still happen almost daily. Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni Islamist insurgency and rival Shi'ite militias backed by Iran.
At the height of the war, Iraq had more than 100 attacks a day. Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops died in eight and a half years and at least 60,000 Iraqis were killed in the violence. In 2006 alone, 17,800 Iraqis were killed, government statistics say.
Attacks on U.S. forces are far less common now, though officials have warned insurgents may try to pick up their assaults in the last days of the American withdrawal.
U.S. forces at Camp Echo still face one or two attacks a week, usually roadside explosives. The base was last mortared a few months ago.
Patrols from Echo head out daily scouring highways or nearby fields for suspicious piles of trash, dead animals on roadsides - clearing anything that could be used to hide explosives targeting convoys.
"We know they can't destroy us, but they do want to try to show they are the ones who forced the Americans out," Captain Mark Barnes, an army intelligence officer.
"WAITING FOR THE WORD"
Before Obama's announcement, U.S. officials had held months of talks with Iraq's government over the possibility of keeping a small contingent of several thousand American troops in Iraq as trainers to help local armed forces.
But Iraq's multi-sectarian leadership lacked the political capital to push through any agreement that would have granted legal immunity to remaining U.S. troops, effectively blocking a new accord on troops staying for the moment.
Civilian trainers will remain in Iraq to help teach Iraqi forces how to use the new U.S.-made hardware they have purchased, from F-16 fighters to Abrams tanks. Around 200 U.S. military personnel will be attached to the U.S. embassy.
"This tour is all about bringing our soldiers home, getting them out of Iraq and turning over to Iraqi forces," said Sergeant Derrick Grabener. "We have to keep the mindset that we are still here until we cross over the border."
Camp Echo is down to the basics. Private mess hall caterers have been replaced by army cooks and soldiers now run their gym. Photographs of U.S. troops have been taken off the base's office walls.
A mural painted in honour of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which helped propel the United States into its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been painted over to stop images being defaced once the Americans leave.
"We are basically getting light on the ground. Every soldier is consolidating down to one duffle bag," Staff Sgt. William Cannon said. "We are pretty much ready to go when they give us the word."
(Editing by Andrew Roche)
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