oscar red carpet daytona 500 start time ryan zimmerman oscars red carpet jennifer lopez wardrobe malfunction nfl combine hugo
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU BUY A HOME! - Zillow Real ...
Massachusetts is one of the most educated place in America. Those of you with children, when you relocate do your homework especially schools and it's curriculum. Check out this educational link and keep in mind these towns in MA: #3 Wellesley, #4 Brookline, #6 Needham (my office), #10 Newton
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2013/educated-places-america/#.UcwpL7BEEjo.facebook
Source: http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/DO-YOUR-HOMEWORK-BEFORE-YOU-BUY-A-HOME/499274/
north korea news giuliana and bill giuliana and bill bill rancic nflx giuliana rancic giuliana rancic
Dow back over 15,000 on upbeat data and Fed reassurance
stocks 
23 minutes ago
Stocks were sharply higher on Thursday, thanks to better-than-expected reports on unemployment, home sales and consumer spending, as well as reassuring comments from Federal Reserve policymakers, who said markets had overreacted to the Fed's recent policy statements.
(Read More: US Economy Could Grow 5% in Late 2014: Fund Manager)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 130 points higher in early afternoon trading, regaining its footing above the psychologically-significant 15,000-point level and looking to log its first three-day rally since late April. The blue-chip index has seen triple-digit moves in 15 of the 19 trading sessions in the month of June, the most in a month since October 2011.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also sharply higher. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, slid below 17.
All key S&P sectors were in positive territory, led by telecoms and financials.
Upbeat economic data from China also helped bolster sentiment. Industrial profits unexpectedly rose 15 percent in May year-on-year, defying expectations of a slowdown. Japan's Nikkei rallied nearly 3 percent, logging its biggest percentage gain in 13 sessions, while the Shanghai Composite Index finished flat.
"Any China data carries significant weight these days as investors are desperate for signs that the world's second biggest economy is still ticking along," wrote Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG.
On the economic front, weekly jobless claims fell 9,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 346,000, according to the Labor Department, largely in line with expectations. The four-week moving average for new claims fell 2,750 to 345,750. And consumer spending rebounded 0.3 percent in May, matching estimates, after a revised 0.3 percent decline in the prior month, according to the Commerce Department.
Treasury prices extended their gains as yields tumbled to session lows following the data.
(Read More: Why All the Bond Selling Hysteria May Be Overdone)
"I think it makes the Fed even more confident that they're doing the right thing," said Drew Matus, senior U.S. economist and managing director at UBS. "And if you look at these numbers, they suggest that the second quarter's going to be better than the first quarter."
Also, pending home sales for May soared 6 percent to hit a six-year high, according to the National Association of Realtors.
New York Fed president William Dudley said the central bank's asset purchases would be more aggressive than the timeline Chairman Ben Bernanke outlined last week if economic growth and the labor market turn out weaker than expected.
Dudley added that the recent market forecasts for an earlier rate gain are "quite out of sync" with the statements and expectations of the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee. Dudley is a voting member of the FOMC.
Fed Board Governor Jerome Powell agreed that markets over-reacted to the central bank's statements on tapering off its stimulus package.
"Market adjustments since May have been larger than would be justified by any reasonable reassessment of the path of policy," Powell said in a speech. "To the extent the market is pricing-in an increase in the federal funds rate in 2014, that implies a stronger economic performance than is forecast either by most FOMC participants or by private forecasters."
Markets have been fixated on Fed commentary this week, after Bernanke said last week that the central bank could begin to wind down its $85 billion monthly bond purchases before the end of the year. That sent already rising yields higher and sent stocks on a roller-coaster ride.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart was also expected to speak later on Thursday.
In addition, the Treasury will auction $29 billion in 7-year notes later. The auction follows a $35 billion 5-year auction Wednesday and a $35 billion 2-year auction Tuesday, both with anemic results.
"The results for the 2- and 5-year do not bode well for the 7-year tomorrow," said Ian Lyngen, senior Treasury strategist at CRT Capital, speaking on Wednesday. "There's limited risk appetite ahead of the end of the quarter."
? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved
iOS 6 Features iOS 6 bank of america Yunel Escobar Eye Black Cruel Summer Endeavor shaun white
Thursday, June 27, 2013
It's complicated: Lots to sort out on gay marriage
Renata Moreira, right, and partner Lori Bilella embrace at San Francisco's City Hall shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. The couple plans to marry. The justices issued two 5-4 rulings in their final session of the term. One decision wiped away part of a federal anti-gay marriage law that has kept legally married same-sex couples from receiving tax, health and pension benefits. The other was a technical legal ruling that said nothing at all about same-sex marriage, but left in place a trial court's declaration that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Renata Moreira, right, and partner Lori Bilella embrace at San Francisco's City Hall shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. The couple plans to marry. The justices issued two 5-4 rulings in their final session of the term. One decision wiped away part of a federal anti-gay marriage law that has kept legally married same-sex couples from receiving tax, health and pension benefits. The other was a technical legal ruling that said nothing at all about same-sex marriage, but left in place a trial court's declaration that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two landmark Supreme Court rulings that bolster gay marriage rights don't remove all barriers to same-sex unions by a long shot. Where gay couples live still will have a lot to do with how they're treated.
Some questions and answers about Wednesday's court rulings:
Q: Can you boil down these two big rulings ? 104 pages in all ? to the basics?
A: In one case, the court said legally married gay couples are entitled to the same federal benefits available to straight couples. In the other, it cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California, where voters banned them in 2008.
Q: What type of benefits are we talking about?
A: More than you'd expect. There are more than 1,000 federal laws in which marital status matters, covering everything from income and inheritance taxes to health benefits and pensions. In states where gay marriage is legal, same-sex couples may actually be looking forward to filing their income taxes next April ? married, filing jointly.
Q. Why does it matter where a gay couple lives?
A: Even with Wednesday's ruling, where legally married gay couples live still may affect the federal benefits they can obtain, at least for now. Social Security survivor benefits, for example, depend on where a couple is living when a spouse dies. If that happens in a state that bans or does not recognize the union, it's not for sure that the surviving spouse will be entitled to the payments. Immigration law, meanwhile, only looks at where people were married, not where they live. It's complicated.
Q: What does the U.S. marriage map look like right now?
A: It's a patchwork. Same-sex marriage is legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia ? representing 18 percent of the U.S. population. When gay marriage resumes in California, the figure will jump to 30 percent. Twenty-nine other states have constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage. Six states have laws that ban it. Two states neither allow gay marriage nor ban it.
Q: How many same-sex couples in the U.S. have been legally married?
A: The numbers are squishy. The Pew Research Center estimates there have been at least 71,000 legal marriages since 2004, when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize them, but says there are almost certainly more. The Williams Institute, a UCLA-based think tank, says approximately 114,000 couples are legally married and more than 108,000 are in civil unions or registered domestic partnerships. In California alone, 18,000 same-sex couples were married during the 142-day period when gay unions were legal there in 2008.
Q: What's all this talk about DOMA?
A: DOMA is the federal Defense of Marriage Act, enacted in 1996. The court on Wednesday struck down a section of that law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman for purposes of federal law. That's what had denied legally married gay couples access to a host of federal benefits and programs that are available to straight couples.
Q: Why all of the focus Wednesday on California?
A: The second case that the court addressed related to a 2008 state ballot proposition that added a ban on gay marriage to the California Constitution. The court didn't rule on the merits of that ballot proposal, but it left in place a trial court's declaration that the proposition is unconstitutional. That means same-sex weddings are likely to resume there in about a month.
Q: What more could the Supreme Court have done?
A: Tons. It could have given gay Americans the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals. Instead, it sidestepped the looming question of whether banning gay marriage is unconstitutional.
Q: What's President Barack Obama's take on all of this?
A: He welcomed the ruling striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and directed Attorney General Eric Holder to make sure federal laws are in sync with the ruling. (Obama, who endorsed gay marriage last year, broke with his Republican and Democratic predecessors and declined to defend the law in court.) Already, the Defense Department says it is beginning the process to extend health care, housing and other federal benefits to the same-sex spouses of members of the military.
Q: How does the public feel about gay marriage?
A: Public support has grown dramatically in the last few years, with a majority now favoring legal marriage for gay couples. There's even broader support for extending to gay couples the same legal rights and benefits that are available to married straight couples. An Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll last fall found 63 percent favored granting gay couples the same legal benefits straight couples had. And 53 percent favored legal recognition of same-sex marriages.
Q: What happens next?
A: Supporters of gay marriage will keep pressing to legalize same-sex unions in all 50 states. That means more battles in individual states, and more visits to the Supreme Court.
Associated Pressbrandon rios oklahoma news nascar news doppler radar colorado rockies moonshine news channel 4
Vatican no-show: Pope Francis skips gala concert, shocking cardinals
The day before the concert, Pope Francis said bishops should be 'close to the people' and not have 'the mentality of a prince.'?
Archbishop Rino Fisichella (r.) faces the empty papal throne as he reads a message from Pope Francis before a RAI National Symphony Orchestra concert, directed by conductor Juraj Valcuha of Slovakia, in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, on June 22, 2013.
Giampiero Sposito / Reuters
EnlargeA last-minute no-show by Pope Francis at a concert where he was to have been the guest of honor has sent another clear signal that he is going to do things his way and does not like the Vatican high life.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
The gala classical concert on Saturday was scheduled before his election in March. But the white papal armchair set up in the presumption that he would be there remained empty.
Minutes before the concert was due to start, an archbishop told the crowd of cardinals and Italian dignitaries that an "urgent commitment that cannot be postponed" would prevent Francis from attending.
The prelates, assured that health was not the reason for the no-show, looked disoriented, realizing that the message he wanted to send was that, with the Church in crisis, he - and perhaps they - had too much pastoral work to do to attend social events.
"It took us by surprise," said one Vatican source on Monday. "We are still in a period of growing pains. He is still learning how to be pope and we are still learning how he wants to do it."
"In Argentina, they probably knew not to arrange social events like concerts for him because he probably wouldn't go," said the source, who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to discuss the issue.
The picture of the empty chair was used in many Italian papers, with Monday's Corriere della Sera newspaper calling his decision "a show of force" to illustrate the simple style he wants Church officials to embrace.
Since his election on March 13, Francis, the former cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, has not spent a single night in the opulent and spacious papal apartments.
He has preferred to live in a small suite in a busy Vatican guest house, where he takes most meals in a communal dining room and says Mass every morning in the house chapel rather than the private papal chapel in the Apostolic Palace.
The day before the concert, Francis said bishops should be "close to the people" and not have "the mentality of a prince."
On Saturday, while the concert was in progress in an auditorium just meters (yards) away, Francis was believed to be working on new appointments for the Curia, the Vatican's troubled central administration.
The administration was held responsible for some of the mishaps and scandals that plagued the eight-year reign of Pope Benedict before he resigned in February.
Francis inherited a Church struggling to deal with priests' sexual abuse of children, the alleged corruption and infighting in the Curia, and conflict over the running of the Vatican's scandal-ridden bank.
Benedict left a secret report for Francis on the problems in the administration, which came to light when sensitive documents were stolen from the pope's desk and leaked by his butler in what became known as the "Vatileaks" scandal.
The Vatican source said he expected Francis to make major changes to Curia personnel by the end of the summer.
Anger at the mostly Italian prelates who run the Curia was one of the reasons why cardinals chose the first non-European pope for 1,300 years.
The key appointment will be the next secretary of state, sometimes referred to as the Vatican's prime minister, to succeed the Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has been widely blamed for the failings of the Curia.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Word Count: 573
Richard III Superbowl Commercials 2013 Grammy nominations 2013 Lynsi Torres Fall Out Boy Alabama hostage mta
DOMA ruling makes U.S. businesses more globally competitive ...
By Preston Cooper
For Americans and legal immigrants in traditional marriages, obtaining a green card for a foreign spouse is relatively easy.
Traditionally, American citizens have been able to sponsor their foreign-born spouses for residency visas, known as green cards. But under DOMA, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans did not have the same right. And as a result, U.S. businesses have watched as some of their most talented employees leave to live with their foreign-born partners abroad.
In March, 28 U.S. companies signed off on a letter urging Congress to recognizesame-sex unions for immigration purposes. Texas Instruments (TXN), US Airways (LCC), Marriott International (MAR) and others said making it possible for foreign-born spouses to live and work in the U.S. makes business sense. Companies go through the expense of relocating gay and lesbian employees, only to lose them because of their spouse's visa problems. "We cannot afford to lose our most precious resource: talent," the letter stated.
MORE:?Big Law has a shrinkage problem
The barriers have also hindered companies from taking on new workers. According to a recent survey by the American Council on International Personnel, an association of employers that advocates immigration reform, 42% of member organizations said they have missed out on hiring opportunities because U.S. immigration law precluded the prospective employee from bringing his or her same-sex partner into the country.
Many binational same-sex couples chose to live abroad rather than in America. Martha McDevitt-Pugh, for instance, spent many years working at Silicon Valley-based Informix Software, where she ran the database software firm's education and publications arm. Managing a department of eighty people, she was a key player in overseeing the company's reorganization ahead of its later split and acquisition by IBM. But when it was time to choose between her career and her same-sex partner, an Australian-born woman living in the Netherlands, she reluctantly decided to leave her job and take her talents overseas.
Some same-sex couples have found ways to live together in the United States. When former U.S. Representative Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) could not sponsor his Panamanian partner, Hector Alfonso, for an American visa, Alfonso successfully applied under the EB-5 investor visa program. This program grants visas to individuals who make a substantial capital investment (over $500,000) in America that creates or preserves at least ten jobs. Kolbe acknowledged in an interview that he and Alfonso had to dig into their retirement savings to pursue this option, and that it would not be economically feasible for most couples.
Before Wednesday's ruling, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont pushed an amendment to the immigration bill that would have removed such hurdles for binational same-sex couples seeking to live in America. The Leahy Amendment would have effectively recognized same-sex unions in the context of immigration law, but it faced massive bipartisan opposition, including some from Democrats who supported it in principle but feared that it would kill the immigration deal.
MORE:?Did Congress miss the moment on serious plans for U.S. workers?
Leahy had offered his amendment again. But with the court's decision, the issue is moot. The ruling will allow LGBT Americans to sponsor their legally married partners for visas under the expedited track federal immigration law provides for spouses of U.S. citizens.
Nonetheless, Corporate America's support of the principles of the Leahy Amendment highlights a massive shift in public opinion as more and more Americans support legal equality for gays and lesbians. "What's notable?is that global companies are leaders" on this issue, said Rachel Tiven, Executive Director of Immigration Equality, an LGBT rights advocacy group. "They are way out front in saying that what they care about is, are you good at your job?"
McDevitt-Pugh, at least, is eager to return to the United States. She misses the "entrepreneurial opportunities" available in America, she said in an email. "Opening up immigration to LGBT families [will] stop the brain drain of talented Americans."
Source: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/27/gay-marriage-immigration/
Julie Roberts roses april fools Good April Fools Jokes Dumpster Diaper the beach
Jay-Z's Samsung Deal Is 'Genius,' So Master P Wants Dibs On Verizon
P jokes about a hypothetical venture on 'RapFix Live,' but commends Hov on his business partnership.
By Nadeska Alexis, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709664/jay-z-master-p-magna-carta-holy-grail-samsung.jhtml
Bram Stoker books Paula Broadwell Photos Veterans Day 2012 Nate Silver Obama Acceptance Speech 2012 dow jones Selena Gomez
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Breastfeeding boosts ability to climb social ladder
June 25, 2013 ? Breastfeeding not only boosts children's chances of climbing the social ladder, but it also reduces the chances of downwards mobility, suggests a large study published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The findings are based on changes in the social class of two groups of individuals born in 1958 (17,419 people) and in 1970 (16,771 people).
The researchers asked each of the children's mums, when their child was five or seven years old, whether they had breastfed him/her.
They then compared people's social class as children -- based on the social class of their father when they were 10 or 11 -- with their social class as adults, measured when they were 33 or 34.
Social class was categorised on a four-point scale ranging from unskilled/semi-skilled manual to professional/managerial.
The research also took account of a wide range of other potentially influential factors, derived from regular follow-ups every few years. These included children's brain (cognitive) development and stress scores, which were assessed using validated tests at the ages of 10-11.
Significantly fewer children were breastfed in 1970 than in 1958. More than two-thirds (68%) of mothers breastfed their children in 1958, compared with just over one in three (36%) in 1970.
Social mobility also changed over time, with those born in 1970 more likely to be upwardly mobile, and less likely to be downwardly mobile, than those born in 1958.
None the less, when background factors were accounted for, children who had been breastfed were consistently more likely to have climbed the social ladder than those who had not been breastfed. This was true of those born in both 1958 and 1970.
What's more, the size of the "breastfeeding effect" was the same in both time periods. Breastfeeding increased the odds of upwards mobility by 24% and reduced the odds of downward mobility by around 20% for both groups.
Intellect and stress accounted for around a third (36%) of the total impact of breastfeeding: breastfeeding enhances brain development, which boosts intellect, which in turn increases upwards social mobility. Breastfed children also showed fewer signs of stress.
The evidence suggests that breastfeeding confers a range of long-term health, developmental, and behavioural advantages to children, which persist into adulthood, say the authors.
They note that it is difficult to pinpoint which affords the greatest benefit to the child -- the nutrients found in breast milk or the skin to skin contact and associated bonding during breastfeeding.
"Perhaps the combination of physical contact and the most appropriate nutrients required for growth and brain development is implicated in the better neurocognitive and adult outcomes of breastfed infants," they suggest.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/ipNwKfxDVmM/130625074203.htm
Ashley Morrison El Chapo Guzman Christmas Abbott clive davis nba trade thomas robinson nba trades
Can Paul Ryan sell immigration reform to conservatives?
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Ryan, the Republican congressman and former vice-presidential candidate best known for his war on spending, is emerging as his party's leading champion of immigration reform in the U.S. House of Representatives.
With Senate passage of a sweeping immigration bill imminent, Ryan has been meeting with House conservatives to persuade them that reform of the immigration system, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, is an economic necessity and critical to fixing the nation's fiscal problems.
Ryan, a potential 2016 presidential contender, sees himself as a "bridge builder" between immigration advocacy groups and reluctant Republicans, he said in an interview with Reuters.
He argues that the immigration system is broken and must be overhauled. "It doesn't work for national security. It doesn't work for economic security," Ryan said.
While bi-partisan support is propelling comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate, the Republican-controlled House will take a piecemeal approach, with passage of any "pathway to citizenship" a longshot, at best.
Supporters believe the 43-year-old lawmaker, who hails from a moderate district in southern Wisconsin, two hours north of Chicago, can make a difference because of his stature as a leading conservative voice and a possible White House candidate.
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said the sheer amount of time Ryan has spent talking with House Republicans about budget issues gives him the credibility to court them on immigration reform.
"I would bet you a nickel that he has had more face time with each member than anyone else in the caucus," said Norquist, an influential conservative who also believes immigration reform is vital to the economy.
Republican strategist Whit Ayres calls Ryan "one of the most effective messengers the Republican party has in the House," adding that "If Paul Ryan talks, the House Republicans will listen."
That assessment may be overly optimistic, considering the large number of House Republicans from conservative districts who see legalization of illegal immigrants and offering them a path to eventually become U.S. citizens as an "amnesty."
But Ryan said a Republican-backed amendment to the Senate bill to boost security on the U.S.-Mexico border improves the chances that the House and Senate could ultimately agree on a compromise version of the legislation.
The amendment "brings the Senate bill closer to the House's position and that gives me the belief that we have a better chance at getting this law fixed at the end," he said.
Unlike Republican Senator Marco Rubio, an architect of the Senate immigration bill and a potential rival for Ryan if both seek the presidency, Ryan is not writing legislation or participating in a congressional working group on the issue.
But both Ryan and Rubio face risks from the divisiveness of the immigration issue among Republicans.
Support for immigration reform could cost either man votes with conservatives who will nominate a 2016 Republican candidate. On the other hand, the influence of Hispanic-Americans in U.S. elections could make it harder for any candidate who opposes immigration reform to win the White House.
Mitt Romney, who chose Ryan as his running mate in 2012 to shore up his conservative credentials, won less than 30 percent of the Hispanic vote, prompting Republican leaders to re-think the party's traditional wariness of immigration reform.
Should Ryan run in 2016, his support for immigration reform will distance him from Romney's position during the campaign that illegal immigrants ought to "self-deport."
Pressure on Republicans from shifting demographics are evident in Ryan's own Wisconsin district, which has the second largest Latino population among the state's districts.
But Ryan is not a new convert to immigration reform and he says politics are not driving his embrace of it. His work on it goes back to his days as an aide to Jack Kemp, the late congressman who saw immigration as part of a free-trade agenda.
In April, Ryan teamed up with his friend, Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, who is a staunch supporter of immigration reform, to tout the issue at an event in Chicago. He has also co-sponsored immigration reform bills in the past.
Like Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, Ryan talks of the work ethic of immigrants and the high proportion who start businesses. He often tells of his Irish ancestors who fled the potato famine in the 1850s and started a family farm in Wisconsin.
In the interview, he cited future budget deficits as a reason for urgency on immigration reform. With 10,000 baby boomers retiring from the workforce each day, "our economy is going to need more labor in the future," he said.
Ryan said he believes the country needs a system "designed for the economy, to bring workers in to do jobs that people won't do or to bring their high-tech intellectual capital."
The fiscal argument helped fuel momentum for the Senate immigration bill when the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would reduce deficits by $197 billion over a decade because of additional workers paying income and payroll taxes.
If Ryan is worried about a conservative backlash on immigration, he is showing no signs of it.
He has offered to debate anyone who says an "earned" path to citizenship is the equivalent of amnesty.
And the man who has sparred for years with Democrats on budget issues believes he can play a role in getting the two parties to work together. "I think when you get Democrats to listen to Republicans and Republicans to listen to Democrats you can find the common ground," he said.
Alex Nowrasteh of the libertarian Cato Institute said Ryan could give other Republicans political cover to support immigration reform. "Nobody is going to question the conservative credentials of Paul Ryan," he said.
(Editing by Fred Barbash, Mary Milliken and Tim Dobbyn)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-sell-immigration-reform-conservatives-185750586.html
keith olbermann gsa andrew bynum the time machine michelin tires michelin tires rett syndrome
Snowden Is Both A Hero And A Traitor - Business Insider
Altered screenshot
Americans are split on whether the leaks of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents by ex-Booz Allen employee Edward Snowden is serving public interest or simply spilling U.S. secrets.
The answer is that there are strong arguments for both.
On the one hand, the 30-year-old NSA contractor exposed the first concrete evidence of the NSA's domestic surveillance apparatus when he gave Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald ?thousands? of documents, including a top secret court order compelling Verizon to give the NSA all of the call data in its systems.
The Verizon leak enabled the American Civil Liberties Union, a Verizon customer, to file a lawsuit charging that the NSA's mass collection of metadata violates Americans' constitutional rights of free speech, association, and privacy.
There is a precedent for that charge ? in July the court that oversees NSA spying ruled that the agency's domestic dragnet violated the Fourth Amendment's restriction against unreasonable searches and seizures "on at least one occasion."
The documents have also corroborated claims made by previous whistleblowers, and raise serious questions about the constitutionality of what appears to be a widespread warrantless surveillance with weak oversight.
"As a constitutional matter, the Supreme Court has long held that, where an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy, search and seizure may occur only once the government has obtained a warrant, supported by probable cause and issued by a judge," Georgetown law professor Laura K. Donohue wrote in the Washington Post. "Americans reasonably expect that their movements, communications and decisions will not be recorded and analyzed by the government" (emphasis added).
Therefore, given that a whistleblower is "a person who informs on someone engaged in an illicit activity," Snowden appears to fit that definition in the case of NSA domestic surveillance practices.
AP/Rick Bowmer
The NSA's new data center in Bluffdale, Utah
On the other hand, Snowden's?leaks of NSA cyber espionage targeting civilian targets in China don't expose illicit activity, and only serve to embarrass the U.S. government and its premier covert intelligence gathering organization.
Here's what Dr. Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg, an international expert on laws governing cyber conflicts and cyber warfare, told Business Insider:
"All of the targets [Snowden] was referring to [in reference to the NSA hacking China] either espionage or some other interference with the cyber infrastructure in another state. ... That doesn't mean everything was 'lawful,' but under international law there is no prohibition of espionage."
Dr. von Heinegg noted that if any of the NSA hacks on Chinese universities, hospitals, and private businesses caused damage in real life ? e.g. patients dying ? that would at least be a violation of the prohibition to inflict serious damage on another state (but short of an act of war).
Snowden's leaks to China, along with evidence of cyber espionage by China against the U.S., do reveal a vicious circle of cyber spying between the two countries ? but that's how espionage works.
Dr. von Heinegg explains why this leak by Snowden doesn't amount to whistleblowing:
"Let's be quite clear: Intruding into another state's systems in order to figure out what's in there ? that's simply espionage, everybody's doing it. ... The answer of international law [regarding espionage] is: 'Don't get caught while you're doing it on foreign territory.' That's all."
He added that spying is spying, whether it's a "diplomat" with wigs or rooms full of hackers, and that "only the means are different" from what occurred during the Cold War.
Consequently, Snowden's leaks to China suggest?"that his actions aren't motivated by loyalty to his country, but, instead, by a personal view of how the world should work," as Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget wrote recently.
In this way Snowden can be seen as vindictive, un-American, and downright na?ve.
So everybody is right.
Snowden is a whistleblowing hero for providing evidence?of?what is widely considered as an?unnecessary and?unconstitutional?mass surveillance of the American people.
He is also a "kid" (his lawyer's words) who betrayed his country by leaking classified but not necessarily unlawful NSA methods that?could be of great value to a foreign intelligence services who want to better understand the agency's spying capabilities.
Given the clear contradiction, championing one side or another reveals much more about the person making the judgment than it does about Edward Snowden.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/everybody-is-right-about-edward-snowden-2013-6
taylor swift and zac efron basketball wives manny ramirez easter 2012 jeremy lin espn sassafras mardi gras 2012
One in five students in Grades 7-12 say they have had a traumatic brain injury in their lifetime
June 25, 2013 ? One in five adolescents surveyed in Ontario said they have suffered a traumatic brain injury that left them unconscious for five minutes or required them to be hospitalized overnight, a statistic researchers in Toronto say is much higher than previously thought.
Sports such as ice hockey and soccer accounted for more than half the injuries, said Dr. Gabriela Ilie, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow at St. Michael's Hospital.
Traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions, were reported more often by males than females, by those with lower school grades and by those who used alcohol or cannabis in the previous 12 months, she said.
The study was to be published Wednesday (June 26) in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Ilie said this is one of the first studies of traumatic brain injury to focus only on adolescents and to include all of their self-reported TBIs. Most previous studies based their reporting only on hospital records. Concussion is the most common form of traumatic brain injury.
The data used in the study were from the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) developed by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The survey, one of the longest ongoing school surveys in the world, contains responses from almost 9,000 students from Grades 7-12 in publicly funded schools across Ontario. The OSDUHS began as a drug use survey, but is now a broader study of adolescent health and well-being. For the first time in 2011, questions about traumatic brain injury were added to the survey.
"The questions about TBI were added to the OSDUHS because there were no current data on prevalence in the adolescent population," said Dr. Robert Mann, a senior scientist at CAMH and director of the OSDUHS. "Early research has indicated that there may be links between TBIs and mental health and substance use during adolescence -- we plan to study this in the near future."
The survey found that 20 per cent of adolescents in Ontario said they had had a traumatic brain injury in their lifetime. It found that 5.6 per cent of them had had such an injury in the past 12 months.
Dr. Ilie said this suggests the prevalence of TBI among young people is much higher than previously known, because many head injuries remain uncounted when they are not being reported to parents, teachers, sports coaches or health care workers. In Canada, 50 per cent of all injuries that kill and disable youth involve a TBI.
This new research found that 46.9 per cent of the TBIs reported by adolescent females occurred during sports (e.g., hockey, skate boarding); the figure was 63.5 per cent for males.
Students who reported drinking alcohol occasionally/frequently and those who reported using cannabis 10 or more times over the past 12 months had more than five times and more than three the odds, respectively, of acquiring a traumatic brain injury in the past 12 months than students who reported abstinence. The survey also showed that students who reported overall poor grades at school (below 60 per cent) had almost four times the odds of a lifetime acquired brain injury than students who reported grades at or above 90 per cent.
"Traumatic brain injury is preventable," said Dr. Ilie. "If we know who is more vulnerable, when and how these injuries are occurring, we can talk to students, coaches, and parents about it. We can take preventive action and find viable solutions to reduce their occurrence and long-term effects."
Brain injuries among adolescents are particularly concerning because their brains are still developing. There is growing evidence that people who have had one or more concussions are at greater risk of future concussions, and evidence that multiple brain injuries can result in lasting cognitive impairment, substance use, mental health and physical health harms.
This study is part of a team project grant awarded to Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon and concussion researcher at St. Michael's, by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation. The work was also supported by grants to Dr. Mann from AUTO21.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/zD1TKCooUnc/130625172356.htm
stephen hawking marion barry virginia beach jet crash ridiculously photogenic guy amanda bynes dui ghost ship tiger woods masters
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Assistant Professor of Accounting - HigherEdJobs
The Kogod School of Business at American University invites applications and nominations for a tenure-track appointment in Accounting at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin in Fall 2014. Applicants should have a Ph.D. in Accounting or should anticipate completing the degree within a short period following initial employment. Candidates should be effective teachers and must be strongly committed to excellence in scholarly research.
We welcome applications from candidates engaged in high-quality scholarship in all areas of accounting using empirical (especially archival and experimental) research methods. Teaching specialization in financial accounting, auditing, fraud detection, or forensic accounting is preferred, though all areas will be considered. In addition to scholarship and teaching, responsibilities will include participation in department, school and university activities.
Salary and benefits are competitive. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled, subject to on-going budgetary approval. Applications are preferred in electronic format. Please address to kogodfacultyapps@american.edu and include ACCOUNTING TENURE-TRACK POSITION in the subject line of your email. Attach a letter of application, curriculum vita, three letters of recommendation, recent teaching evaluations (when possible), and copies of recent published papers or working papers. Non-electronic applications should be addressed to:
Professor Augustine Duru, Accounting Search Committee Chair
c/o Ms. Takei Roach, Kogod Academic Affairs Coordinator
Kogod School of
Business
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016-8044
Tel: (202) 885-1963
Email: kogodfacultyapps@american.edu
American University is a private institution within easy reach of the many centers of government, business, research, and the arts located within the nation's capital. For more information about American University, see http://www.american.edu/.
Established in 1955, the Kogod School of Business offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs and is one of the leading business schools in Washington, DC. Kogod encourages interdisciplinary study through collaboration with other academic programs within American University. Learn more about Kogod at http://www.kogod.american.edu/ and about our Accounting Department faculty at http://www.american.edu/kogod/research/accounting.cfm.
Source: http://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=175767166
etch a sketch romney sean payton saints bounty program toulouse france ny jets ny jets the situation
AP sources: Obama to limit carbon at power plants
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's national plan to combat climate change will include the first-ever regulations to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, as well as increased production of renewable energy on public lands and federally assisted housing, environmental groups briefed on the plan said Monday.
In a major speech Tuesday at Georgetown University, Obama will announce that he's directing his administration to allow enough renewables on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the capacity from solar, wind and geothermal projects on federal property. He'll also say the U.S. will significantly expand production of renewable energy on low-income housing sites, according to five individuals briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to discuss it publicly ahead of Obama's announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The far-reaching plan marks Obama's most prominent effort yet to deliver on a major priority he laid out in his first presidential campaign and recommitted to at the start of his second term: to fight climate change in the U.S. and abroad and prepare American communities for its effects. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama's high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.
In taking action on his own ? none of the steps Obama will announce Tuesday require congressional approval ? Obama is also signaling he will no longer wait for lawmakers to act on climate change, and instead will seek ways to work around them.
The lynchpin of Obama's plan, and the step activists say will have the most dramatic impact, involves limits on carbon emissions for new and existing power plants. The Obama administration has already proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed and not yet finalized. Tuesday's announcement will be the first public confirmation that Obama plans to extend those controls to coal-fired power plants that are currently pumping heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.
"This is the holy grail," said Melinda Pierce of Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group. "That is the single biggest step he can take to help tackle carbon pollution."
Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department's statistical agency.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sources-obama-limit-carbon-power-plants-235342639.html
derek fisher lyrid meteor shower hippocrates andrew breitbart penguins the band colton dixon
The Daily Roundup for 06.24.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Filed under: Misc
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/PqH4Ats0uM0/
hologram pulitzer prize winners nfl 2012 schedule gmail down tim lincecum ryan oneal file taxes online
Monday, June 24, 2013
Finding Murray's magic: Ability to manage goals makes an athlete successful
June 24, 2013 ? Research suggests that it is Andy Murray?s ability to manage his goals, as well as his skill, determination and motivation that makes him such a successful athlete. Murray dropped out of the French Open after a back injury this year, missing out on his goal of playing in four grand slam finals in a row. But this decision has allowed him to recuperate in time for Wimbledon this month. According to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), athletes who recognise early when a goal is unattainable and switch their focus to other objectives are the most successful at achieving their main career goals.
The researchers, from the universities of Birmingham and Southampton, found that the reasons why a person is motivated to achieve tough sporting goals influence how well that person does in pursuing these goals. A person who is motivated by the enjoyment or personal importance of a goal will strive harder and for longer and will be more successful in achieving an increasingly difficult goal, compared to someone motivated by external pressure or feelings of guilt.
But when the goal becomes so difficult that it is unattainable, people who are self-motivated find it harder to stop striving for their goal. This persistence can cause psychological distress. However the research identified that when athletes with high self-motivation recognised early when a goal was impossible they were able to quickly disengage from the goal and then re-engage with challenging, new targets that were also compatible with their overall objectives. This group of athletes made the most progress toward achieving their central goal.
?Our experiments showed the importance of a person realising early enough when it was better to continue striving for a goal or when it was best to let go and adopt another similar goal,? said Professor Nikos Ntoumanis, an exercise and sport psychologist from the University of Birmingham. ?Our research also showed that the reasons behind a sportsperson?s goal are important to know, not just the actual goal.?
This research goes a step further than the existing body of knowledge on the role of goal-setting in sport by examining the impact of different types of motivation in the face of tough goals. The researchers carried out two sophisticated experiments that asked over 180 athletes to complete a range of cycling tests. By ensuring some of the tests were unattainable, the psychologists were able to explore how the athletes coped with goal failure.
?We found autonomous motives such as enjoyment or personal importance were a double-edged sword,? explained Professor Sedikides, a social and personality psychologist from the University of Southampton. ?Athletes with autonomous motives put in more effort and persisted for longer which helped them reach higher levels of performance with increasingly difficult but attainable goals. Yet when the goal became unachievable, they had great difficulty realising this, which led to brooding over the failure as the athletes struggled to disengage from the goal.?
The research concludes that coaches and applied sport psychologists need to be aware of athletes? motives for their goals to help them be most effective, successful and adaptive in their goal striving. Future research aims to explore how to help sportspeople (and individuals with other goals, such as weight loss) realise early that some goals are unachievable and to have the flexibility to develop alternative goals that contribute to their long-term objectives.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/kBIEEJrvmx4/130624075854.htm
binder full of women Microsoft Surface Candy Crowley binders of women presidential debates Felix Baumgartner Little Nemo
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Best Care: Certified Home Health Aide Agency ... - Fitness center
Want the Best in home health care, Best Care is the best option for you. Best Care is a less expensive and more effective way to provide health services for those needing Certified Nursing Assistants For Veterans for assistance or supervision, yet not requiring hospitalization. Best Care aims to make it possible for people to remain at home rather than use residential, long-term, or institutional-based nursing care.
Best Care is Private Nursing and Certified Home Health Aide Agency that renders services in the client?s own home. Our services may include some combination of professional health care services and life assistance services. Caring for a loved one is a big physical and emotional drain for the family especially since they are not trained medically. The actions of taking care of the elderly come out of love, respect and concern, yet cannot match those of a professional Certified Nursing Assistants For Veterans in Florida. The nurses are trained to attend to every needs of the patient. A home care provider can ease this strain, take some of the burden off the shoulders of the family who often feel guilty themselves for not being able to do what they need to without feeling a little negative about it. Home care nursing will allow you to match the certain medical requirements. Home Health Care is a less expensive and more effective way to provide health services for those needing assistance or supervision, yet not requiring hospitalization. The Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, Home Health Aides and Companions contracted with Best Care?s clients strive to provide healing environments where patients and families learn to care for themselves.
The actions of taking care of the elderly come out of love, respect and concern, yet cannot match those of a professional and Certified Nursing Assistants For Veterans. The nurses are trained to attend to every needs of the patient. A home care provider can ease this strain, take some of the burden off the shoulders of the family who often feel guilty themselves for not being able to do what they need to without feeling a little negative about it. Our Caregiver services available at home, in hospital or nursing homes include Nurse?s Aide, Live-In Nurse?s Aides, Licensed Practical Nurses, Registered Nurses, Hospital/Home Care Coordinator, Nurses Case Managers, Critical Care Registered Nurses, Medical Social Workers, Baby Nurses and Specialty nursing for Oncology, Enterostomal Therapy. We operate 7 days a week, 24-hours a day.
One of the best qualities of being a Certified Home Health Aide Agency is that we have multi-lingual caregivers that speak many different languages. Certified Nursing Assistants For Veterans, Best Care developed a new and exciting program for qualified veterans and surviving spouses seeking financial assistance for home health care. Best Care?s registry introduces customers with a health care team with Certified Nursing Assistant Florida. All caregivers are carefully screened with drug, criminal and license background checks. Home nursing services are often requested by family or friends of a person who is finding it difficult to cope at home. Many elderly people find it difficult to identify when it is time to ask for a little extra help to assist them. Our registered nurses strive to provide healing environments where patients and families learn to care for themselves.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/best-care-certified-home-health-aide-agency-florida-6641962.html
About the Author
Home Health Care is a less expensive and more effective way to provide Certified Nursing Assistants for Veterans or for those needing assistance or supervision, yet not requiring hospitalization. Best Care is one of the largest family-owned Certified Home Health Aide Agency in South Florida.
Fear Airport Terminal easter bunny easter april fools pranks atlanta braves Happy Easter
Stock Markets News Headlines - Yahoo! News
Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/stocks
Google Ryder Cup Standings Dexter Season 7 Ryder Cup 2012 Johnny Lewis yom kippur yom kippur
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)