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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Rose Parade floats get finishing touches
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Man Dies of Bird Flu in China
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Friday, December 30, 2011
impactnews: Community Renaissance Market to close at year's end: Community Renaissance Market, an incubator for ... http://t.co/mdQm7etI #impactnews
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
etribune: (Biz) #Bosnia offers help in energy, defence http://t.co/PTpgY8XG #Pakistan #energyimport
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AP sources: US to sell F-15s to Saudi Arabia (AP)
WASHINGTON ? U.S. officials say the Obama administration is poised to announce the sale of nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
Officials say the deal will send 84 new fighter jets and upgrades for 70 more, for a total of $29.4 billion.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the sale has not been made public.
About a year ago, the administration got the go-ahead from Congress for a 10-year, $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia that included F-15s, helicopters and a broad array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as radar warning systems and night-vision goggles.
The plan raised concerns particularly from pro-Israeli lawmakers, but U.S. officials reassured Congress that Israel's military edge would not be undercut by the sale.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Jameela Barnette Dead: Woman Who Allegedly Sent Pig's Foot To Peter King Killed By Police
An Atlanta woman who allegedly mailed threats to lawmakers was shot and killed by police during an altercation on Christmas Day.
Jameela Barnette, 53, was indicted earlier this year for her supposed involvement in the sending of malicious packages to two New York lawmakers.
Barnette was accused of mailing a pig's foot to the office of Rep. Peter King (R) in April. A note included in the package read "Kiss my black Muslim ass," and referred to King as a "Jew," even though he is Catholic. The incident came in the wake of King's hearings on Muslim "radicalization."
Barnette was also indicted for allegedly sending a fake weapon of mass destruction to the office of New York State Sen. Greg Ball in the form of a bottled liquid labeled "Zyklon B." The substance was eventually identified as perfume oil. The package also included a screed against Jews and Christians and a stuffed toy monkey with Stars of David fastened to it.
Barnette pleaded not guilty to both charges in November in a U.S. District Court in Atlanta, and was later released on $20,000 bond on the condition that she send no more threatening messages and undergo a psychiatric evaluation, Georgia's WSBTV reports. According to CNN, a woman claiming to be Barnette had earlier told New York's WXXA that "she was a grandmother and a Muslim upset with Ball for holding hearings earlier this year on New York City's vulnerability to terrorism."
On Sunday, Cobb County police responded to multiple panic alarms activated at Barnette's residence.
A statement from the Cobb County police claimed that an aggressive Barnette met the responding officer.
"Moments after knocking on the door, a female (who was armed with a knife and handgun) opened it and began assaulting the officer with the weapons," the statement read. "Despite receiving injuries to his arm, the officer was able to use his service weapon to stop the assault."
Barnette died at the scene, while the injured officer was treated on site and released. He has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the incident.
Also on HuffPost:
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Twin probes to circle moon to study gravity field (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? The moon has come a long way since Galileo first peered at it through a telescope. Unmanned probes have circled around it and landed on its surface. Twelve American astronauts have walked on it. And lunar rocks and soil have been hauled back from it.
Despite being well studied, Earth's closest neighbor remains an enigma.
Over the New Year's weekend, a pair of spacecraft the size of washing machines are set to enter orbit around it in the latest lunar mission. Their job is to measure the uneven gravity field and determine what lies beneath ? straight down to the core.
Since rocketing from the Florida coast in September, the near-identical Grail spacecraft have been independently traveling to their destination and will arrive 24 hours apart. Their paths are right on target that engineers recently decided not to tweak their positions.
"Both spacecraft have performed essentially flawlessly since launch, but one can never take anything for granted in this business," said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The nail-biting part is yet to come. On New Year's Eve, one of the Grail probes ? short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory ? will fire its engine to slow down so that it could be captured into orbit. This move will be repeated by the other the following day.
Engineers said the chances of the probes overshooting are slim since their trajectories have been precise. Getting struck by a cosmic ray may prevent the completion of the engine burn and they won't get boosted into the right orbit.
"I know I'm going to be nervous. I'm definitely a worrywart," said project manager David Lehman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $496 million, three-month mission.
Once in orbit, the spacecraft will spend the next two months flying in formation and chasing one another around the moon until they are about 35 miles above the surface with an average separation of 124 miles. Data collection won't begin until March.
Previous missions have attempted to measure lunar gravity with mixed success. Grail is the first mission dedicated to this goal.
As the probes circle the moon, regional changes in the lunar gravity field will cause them to speed up or slow down. This in turn will change the distance between them. Radio signals transmitted by the spacecraft will measure the slight distance gaps, allowing researchers to map the underlying gravity field.
Using the gravity information, scientists can deduce what's below or at the lunar surface such as mountains and craters and may help explain why the far side of the moon is more rugged than the side that faces Earth.
The probes are officially known as Grail-A and Grail-B. Several months ago, NASA hosted a contest inviting schools and students to submit new names. The probes will be christened with the winning names after the second orbit insertion, Zuber said.
Besides the one instrument on board, each spacecraft also carries a camera for educational purposes. Run by a company founded by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, middle school students from participating schools can choose their own lunar targets to image during the mission.
A trip to the moon is typically relatively quick. It took Apollo astronauts three days to get there. Since Grail was launched from a relatively small rocket to save on costs, the journey took 3 1/2 months.
Scientists expect the mission to yield a bounty of new information about the moon, but don't count on the U.S. sending astronauts back anytime soon. The Constellation program was canceled last year by President Barack Obama, who favors landing on an asteroid as a stepping stone to Mars.
___
Online:
Mission details: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/grail/news/index.html
___
Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
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decent sports bra?
Hi ladies,
I did a search because I'm sure that this question must have been asked previously, but I didn't come up with results. So, here I am.
I've always just bought sports bras from Kohls or Target. They always squish me and when I see myself in the mirror, they make my chests look like some artificial hump in the middle of the front of me that's about to erupt all alien like.
Anyway. Are there are sports bras that are made to support, and lift and separate.. if you know what I mean?
I wear a pretty "normal" size, I think... 38-40 C, sometimes a D. I just don't want to be smooshed and squished so abnormally.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Source: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/exercise/249133-decent-sports-bra.html
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Big 12 a football power, everywhere but bowls
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ?
Of the factors that shape football conferences reputation - NFL draft selections, individual awards and success in nonconference games and bowls - the Big 12 excels, right up until that last one.Its teams collectively own a losing record in bowls in the Big 12's 15-year history, and the league is 2-5 in games that decided the national championship in the BCS era.
Bowl games are fickle things. Some teams are motivated by the opportunity, others not so much. With little on the line in these glorified exhibitions, some look ahead to next season with playing decisions.
Teams have been known to empty the playbook, take risks that wouldn't happen during the regular season.
Players get healthy. Teams lose their coach and staff, which can inspire or deflate. Some teams practice in warmth, others with snow pushed aside or in a bubble. The zebras have been imported from neutral conferences and haven't seen the teams play.
Betting-line upsets have defined the handful of games played so far, and underdog uprisings are not unusual. Give a team a month to hear how it's not supposed to win a game and that's a powerful force.
These circumstances have worked against the Big 12, which begins its bowl schedule today with Missouri's Independence Bowl meeting with North Carolina.
Some theories for the mediocrity seem plausible. The Big 12 is a pass-first conference, and the month or so layoff disrupts passing-game rhythm and timing. Makes sense.
Also, a week often isn't enough for opponents' scout teams to simulate Big 12 offenses. But give a defensive coordinator a month or more to prepare and the most complicated offenses can be solved. The best example was Oklahoma after the 2008 season. The Sooners scored at least 60 on their final five regular-season opponents. Against Florida in the BCS title game, Oklahoma mustered two touchdowns.
Still, the top scoring and yard producing teams in the Big 12 typically win in the postseason. Since 2000, the team that that led the conference in scoring is 8-3 in bowl games. The total yards leader is 9-2 and even the passing leader is 7-4. Oklahoma State leads this league in scoring and passing, Baylor in total offense.
With Big 12 teams favored in six of eight games, starting with the Tigers today, the prospect for a leaguewide letdown again exists. The league has gone into the postseason with this kind of expectation before and has posted a winning record in bowl games six times.
Let's not overthink this. Yes, bowl games are different, and Big 12 is offensive-minded. But the record is poor primarily for three reasons.
One, Texas A&M has been a horrible bowl team. In its final football game as a Big 12 member, the Aggies will try to break a five-game losing bowl losing streak, and the setup couldn't be more ideal. A&M is playing in nearby Houston, against a Northwestern team with an even longer bowl drought. The Wildcats have lost eight straight, losing them all since winning in its first bowl appearance in 1948.
A&M is a 10-point favorite in its last game before heading to the Southeastern Conference.
And that's the Big 12's second postseason problem: the SEC.
The Big 12 owns a winning or break-even record against the four other BCS automatic qualifier conferences. Against the SEC, it's 9-19.
This year, the only meeting between the conferences comes in the Cotton Bowl, where Kansas State takes on Arkansas, and the Wildcats could have their hands full with a Razorbacks team that lost only to the teams, LSU and Alabama, playing for the national championship.
Finally, that 2-5 record in national championship games is a killer. But the way the SEC gobbles up titles, there's little left for anybody else. The Big 12 is the only other conference with multiple national championships in the BCS era, but the five losses lead the pack.
Financially, the record doesn't matter. Conferences are contracted with bowls, and the payout is the same, win or lose.
And in the Big 12's revolving door of membership - four out, two in after this year and stay tuned - what is conference pride, anyway?
So perhaps that will be the league's final irony. In a year when it lost two more members and was on the brink of extinction for a second time in two years, the Big 12 will become a postseason power, for the first time.
Source: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/12/25/1907294/big-12-a-football-power-everywhere.html
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
thurrott: @Trivie831 I wonder what the split of educational institutions is between Google and Microsoft? It makes sense that this school would pick G
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UNICEF calls for global action to help malnourished children in Africa?s Sahel
By BNO News
NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday urged for global action to prevent the severe malnourishment of as many as one million children in West and Central Africa's Sahel region.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said "the challenge is great and the window is closing," noting the vast size of the region. "To prevent a wide-scale emergency in the Sahel, UNICEF and our partners in this effort must begin at once to fill the pipeline with life-sustaining supplies to the region before it is too late," Lake stated.
A significant number of children are already suffering from malnutrition in the Sahel, making them extremely vulnerable and susceptible to any reduction in the quantity and nutritional quality of the food they consume.
Lake also underlined the urgency to act before the 'lean season' when food runs out due to inadequate rain or poor harvests, which can start as early as March in some of the countries across the Sahelian belt.
The UNICEF chief pointed out that the best way to treat severe acute malnutrition among children under five is to distribute specially developed ready-to-use therapeutic foods. These foods provide the best chance of survival and recovery for young children.
The biggest challenge, however, is getting sufficient amounts of these critical foods to children as the need is expected to increase further in the coming months. "The children at risk today in the Sahel are not mere statistics by which we may measure the magnitude of a potential humanitarian disaster. They are individual girls and boys, and each has the right to survive, to thrive and to contribute to their societies. We must not fail them," Lake said.
Earlier this month, UNICEF appealed for $65.7 million to respond to the crisis. It is currently distributing emergency stocks in affected countries such as Niger, where an estimated 33,600 children under the age of five are at risk.
(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tax cut lives on: Congress gives its approval
Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, center, is surrounded by reporters after exiting a House vote on the payroll tax cut in Washington, on Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, center, is surrounded by reporters after exiting a House vote on the payroll tax cut in Washington, on Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin, D-Mich., left, House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speak to the media about the payroll tax cut at the Capitol in Washington, on Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, in Washington. The president was flanked at the White House by several people who commented on Twitter about how they would be impacted if the tax cuts were not extended. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, left, enters a news conference at the Capitol about the payroll tax cut extension and other measures in Washington, on Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada speaks to the media at the Capitol about the payroll tax cut extension and other measures in Washington, on Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? After weeks of bickering and doubt, Congress delivered a last-minute holiday tax cut extension to 160 million workers Friday along with further unemployment benefits for millions laid off in the nation's fierce recession and weak economic recovery. It was a convincing victory for President Barack Obama, a humbling retreat for House Republicans.
Back-to-back voice vote approvals of the two-month special measure by the Senate and House came in mere seconds with no debate, just days after House Republican leaders had insisted that full-blown negotiations on a full-year bill were the only way to prevent an immediate tax increase on Jan. 1.
Most members of Congress were already gone for the holidays, leaving behind just a few legislators to take formal action. Obama was leaving in the afternoon for a delayed vacation in Hawaii.
The measure passed despite lingering grumbling from tea party Republicans. It buys time for talks early next year on how to finance the year-long extensions.
It will keep in place a 2 percentage point cut in the payroll tax ? a salary boost of about $20 a week for an average worker making $50,000 a year ? and prevent almost 2 million unemployed people from losing jobless benefits averaging $300 a week.
Senate and House Republican leaders did gain a major win last week, winning a provision that would require Obama to make a swift decision on whether to approve construction of the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline. To stop construction, Obama, who had wanted to put the decision off until after the 2012 election, would have to declare that it was not in the nation's interest.
Passage of the tax bill in the House ended a holiday season Republican confrontation with Obama and Senate Democrats that had threatened to hit 160 million workers with a tax increase on Jan. 1. But it backfired badly. Even Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the Wall Street Journal editorial board urged Speaker John Boehner and other House Republicans to act quickly and keep the tax cut in effect.
On Friday, an expressionless Boehner read from a piece of paper before him, gaveled the House's last session of the year closed and stepped off the podium on the Democratic side. He hugged the dean of the House, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.
"I wished him a Merry Christmas," Dingell said afterward. "I think he's somewhat at ease to have this mess of his back."
A full-year extension of the tax cut had been embraced by virtually every lawmaker in both the House and Senate but had been derailed in a quarrel over demands by House Republicans. Senate leaders of both parties had tried to barter such an agreement among themselves a week ago but failed, instead agreeing upon a 60-day measure to buy time for talks next year.
Thursday's decision by Boehner, R-Ohio, to cave in to the Senate came after days of criticism from Obama and Democrats. But perhaps more tellingly, GOP stalwarts including Republican senators and outside strategists warned that if the tax cuts were allowed to expire, Republicans would take a political beating that would harm efforts to unseat Obama next year.
House GOP arguments about the legislative process and what the "uncertainty" of a two-month extension would mean for businesses were unpersuasive, and Obama took the offensive.
Friday's House and Senate sessions were remarkable. Both chambers had essentially recessed for the holidays but leaders in both parties orchestrated passage of the short-term agreement under debate rules that would allow any individual member of Congress to derail the pact, at least for a time. None did.
The developments were a clear win for Obama. The payroll tax cut was the centerpiece of his three-month, campaign-style drive for jobs legislation that seems to have contributed to an uptick in his poll numbers ? and taken a toll on those of congressional Republicans.
Obama, Republicans and congressional Democrats all said they preferred a one-year extension but the politics of achieving the goal, particularly the spending cuts and new fees required to pay for it, eluded them. All pledged to start working on that in January.
"There remain important differences between the parties on how to implement these policies, and it is critical that we protect middle-class families from a tax increase while we work them out," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.
House GOP arguments about the legislative process and what the "uncertainty" of a two-month extension would mean for businesses were unpersuasive. The two-month version's $33 billion cost will be covered by a .1 percentage point increase on guarantee fees on new home loans backed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae ? at a likely cost of about $17 a month for a person with a $200,000 mortgage.
"Has this place become so dysfunctional that even when we agree to things, we can't do it?" Obama said on Thursday. "Enough is enough."
The top Senate Republican, McConnell of Kentucky, was a driving force behind the final agreement, imploring Boehner to accept the deal that McConnell and Reid had struck last week and passed with overwhelming support in both parties.
Meanwhile, tea party-backed House Republicans began to abandon their leadership.
"I don't think that my constituents should have a tax increase because of Washington's dysfunction," freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., said.
If the cuts had expired as scheduled, 160 million workers would have seen tax increases and up to 2 million people without jobs for six months would start losing unemployment benefits averaging $300 a week. Doctors would have seen a 27 percent cut in their Medicare payments, the product of a 1997 cut that Congress has been unable to fix.
Even though GOP leaders like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., promised that the two sides could quickly iron out their differences, the truth is that it'll take intense talks to figure out both the spending cuts and fee increases required to finance the measure.
Just hours before he announced the breakthrough, Boehner had made the case for a yearlong extension. But on a brief late afternoon conference call, he informed his colleagues it was time to yield.
"He said that as your leader, you've in effect asked me to make decisions easy and difficult, and I'm making my decision right now," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., paraphrasing Boehner's comments.
Kingston said the conference call lasted just minutes and Boehner did not give anyone time to respond.
There was still carping among tea party freshmen upset that GOP leaders had yielded.
"Even though there is plenty of evidence this is a bad deal for America ... the House has caved yet again to the president and Senate Democrats," Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said. "We were sent here with a clear set of instructions from the American people to put an end to business as usual in Washington, yet here we are being asked to sign off on yet another gimmick."
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Friday, December 23, 2011
NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank found consortium to support global NFC standards in Japan
[Tokyo photo via Shutterstock]
NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank found consortium to support global NFC standards in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Kindle Fire update, live today, should improve performance
The Kindle Fire update should 'enhance fluidity and performance,' Amazon reps announced.?
Back in November, Amazon released the Kindle Fire. Critics were mostly impressed. Sales went through the roof. And soon thereafter, the inevitable problems emerged: There were complaints browsing speed, about the placement of the "off" switch, and the?Fat Finger Fire Dilemma. In response, Amazon reps announced they would release a new software update, intended to "improve performance" on the Fire.?
Skip to next paragraphToday, that update ? version?6.2.1 ? is available for free download. According to Amazon,?the new software, which should automatically be delivered to Kindle Fire devices, "enhances fluidity and performance, improves touch navigation responsiveness, gives you the option to choose which items display on the carousel, and adds the ability to add a password lock on Wi-Fi access."?
(If you're having trouble accessing the update, you can navigate to this?landing page, and click the blue link under the image of the Fire.)
So does the update actually answer user complaints? Well, yes, mostly. "The updated device did immediately and noticeably respond better to the touch, with few of the lags that had bothered buyers in previous versions of the software," notes Hayley?Tsukayama of the Washington Post. And over at Mashable,?Lance Ulanoff says version 6.2.1 improves problems with the carousel ? the digital display case containing Amazon content.?
"Immediately, I could see and feel the difference," Ulanoff writes. "Most screen interactions were smoother and, finally, the carousel was in my control. I had no trouble finding and selecting whatever I wanted ? no more icons racing by before I could select them. The update also gave me the ability to remove items from the carousel ? which I began doing immediately."
Downloaded the new Kindle Fire update? Drop us a line. ?
For more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut. And don?t forget to sign up for the weekly?BizTech newsletter.
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Russia's Medvedev tries to appease protesters (Reuters)
MOSCOW (Reuters) ? President Dmitry Medvedev called on Thursday for comprehensive reform of Russia's political system to try to appease protesters staging the biggest demonstrations since Vladimir Putin rose to power 12 years ago.
In his last state of the nation address to parliament as president, Medvedev outlined plans that would ease the Kremlin's tight grip on power, including restoring the election of regional governors and allowing half the seats in the State Duma lower house of parliament to be directly elected in the regions.
His opponents, preparing for new protests across Russia on Saturday, dismissed his offer as the empty promises of a lame-duck president who is stepping aside for Putin to return to the main seat of power next year after four years as premier.
"Today, at a new stage in the development of our state, supporting the initiative proposed by our prime minister, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, I propose a comprehensive reform of our political system," Medvedev told rows of deputies in an hour-long speech which was greeted by occasional applause.
"I want to say that I hear those who talk about the need for change, and understand them. We need to give all active citizens the legal chance to participate in political life."
The moves were intended to address calls for change by tens of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets since a December 4 election which they say was rigged, but Medvedev and Putin have ignored their main demand - to rerun the poll.
An aide said the proposals would be sent to parliament in the next few days.
But the opposition dismissed them as more empty words by a man who had failed to carry out his promises since he was ushered into the presidency by Putin in 2008 because the constitution barred his mentor from a third successive term.
"It's an answer to the protests, but it's not enough. It's half-hearted," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, who took part in a big protest on December 10 at Moscow's Bolotnaya Square and is helping plan another rally on Saturday at the capital's Sakharov Avenue.
"The main demand at Bolotnaya was to scrap the election results and call for new elections to be conducted according to new rules. Instead, he is trying to preserve the illegitimate Duma. This will not be accepted by society and will not be accepted by those on Sakharov Avenue."
NO WAY TO GET TOOTHPASTE BACK IN THE TUBE
Medvedev, 46, had already called for an overhaul of the political system at a meeting with his United Russia party on Saturday but provided few details of his plans.
Putin said last week that he was ready to consider allowing the election of regional governors, provided their candidacy was approved by the Kremlin. The former KGB spy had abolished the direct election of regional governors in 2004 to tighten his control of Russia's often independent-minded regions.
In his speech in a gilded Kremlin hall to members of the Duma and the Federation Council upper chamber, Medvedev said there should be a simpler process for registering parties - allowing more parties to take part.
He also proposed scrapping the requirement to gather signatures to participate in elections to the Duma and regional legislative organs, and suggested reducing the number of signatures required to run for president.
Medvedev called for the creation of an independent "public" television channel. Putin has closely controlled state television and Russian media have been criticized for all but ignoring the mass protests against his rule.
The protesters, many of them young professionals who have answered calls to protests on social network sites, say Medvedev and Putin, 59, are out of touch and cannot get away with just tinkering with a political system the prime minister dominates.
"All this was necessary to legitimize the results of the December 4 election and the coming presidential election ... It is an intentional lie and it is misguiding," said independent political analyst Sergei Belkovsky.
Comparing the proposals to the "perestroika" reforms that failed to save the Soviet Union, he said "you cannot get toothpaste back in the tube ... The system is decomposing. They are frantically trying to find ways to preserve it, but these chaotic measures just bring it closer to the end."
(Reporting By Timothy Heritage; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Last troops exit Iraq in subdued end to 9-year war (AP)
AT THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER ? Outside it was pitch dark. The six American soldiers couldn't see much of the desert landscape streaming by outside the small windows of their armored vehicle. They were hushed and exhausted from an all-night drive ? part of the last convoy of U.S. troops to leave Iraq during the final moment of a nearly nine-year war.
As dawn broke Sunday, a small cluster of Iraqi soldiers along the highway waved goodbye to the departing American troops.
"My heart goes out to the Iraqis," said Warrant Officer John Jewell. "The innocent always pay the bill."
When they finally crossed the sand berm that separates Iraq from Kuwait, illuminated by floodlights and crisscrossed with barbed wire, the mood inside Jewell's vehicle was subdued. No cheers. No hugs. Mostly just relief.
His comrade, Sgt. Ashley Vorhees, mustered a bit more excitement.
"I'm out of Iraq," she said. "It's all smooth sailing from here."
The final withdrawal was the starkest of contrasts to the start of the war, which began before dawn on March 20, 2003. That morning, an airstrike in southern Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein was believed to be hiding, marked the opening shot of the famed "shock and awe" bombardment. U.S. and allied ground forces then stormed from Kuwait toward the capital, hurtling north across southern Iraq's featureless deserts.
The last convoy of heavily armored personnel carriers, known as MRAPS, left the staging base at Camp Adder in southern Iraq in Sunday's early hours. They slipped out under cover of darkness and strict secrecy to prevent any final attacks. The 500 soldiers didn't even tell their Iraqi comrades on the base they were leaving.
The attack never materialized. The fear, though, spoke volumes about the country they left behind ? shattered, still dangerous and containing a good number of people who still see Americans not as the ally who helped them end Saddam's dictatorship, but as an enemy.
About 110 vehicles made the last trip from Camp Adder to the "berm" in Kuwait, the long mound of earth over which tens of thousands of American troops charged into Iraq at the start of the war.
The roughly five-hour drive was uneventful, with the exception of a few vehicle malfunctions.
Once they crossed into Kuwait, there was time for a brief celebrations as the soldiers piled out of the cramped and formidable-looking MRAPs. A bear hug, some whooping, fist bumps and fist pumps.
The war that began eight years and nine months earlier cost nearly 4,500 American and well more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The bitterly divisive conflict left Iraq shattered and struggling to recover. For the United States, two central questions remain unanswered: whether it was all worth it, and whether the new government the Americans leave behind will remain a steadfast U.S. ally or drift into Iran's orbit.
But the last soldiers out were looking ahead, mostly, and not back. They spoke eagerly of awaiting family reunions ? some of them in time for Christmas ? and longing for Western "civilization" and especially the meals that await them back home.
The 29-year-old Vorhees was planning a Mexican dinner out at Rosa's in Killeen, Texas. Her favorite is crispy chicken tacos. Another joy of home, she said: You don't have to bring your weapon when you go to the bathroom.
Spc. Jesse Jones was getting ready to make the 2 1/2 hour drive from Ft. Hood, Texas, where the brigade is based, to Dallas. His quarry: an In & Out Burger.
"It's just an honor to be able to serve your country and say that you helped close out the war in Iraq," said Jones, 23, who volunteered to be in the last convoy. "Not a lot of people can say that they did huge things like that that will probably be in the history books."
In the last days at Camp Adder, the remaining few hundred troops tied up all the loose ends of a war, or at least those that could be tied up.
The soldiers at the base spoke often of the "lasts" ? the last guard duty, the last meal in Iraq, the last patrol briefing. Even the last Friday was special until it was eclipsed by the last Saturday.
Spc. Brittany Hampton laid claim to one of the most memorable "lasts." She rode the last vehicle of the last convoy of American troops leaving Iraq.
Hampton was thinking of her dad, also a soldier who has served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I can't wait to ... call my dad and tell him about this," she said. "He's not going to believe it. He's going to be so proud of me."
She joked that no one was going to believe her back home when she told them she was in the very last vehicle to leave.
"But we really, truly were the last soldiers in Iraq. So it's pretty awesome," she said.
In the final days, U.S. officials acknowledged the cost in blood and treasure was high, but tried to paint it as a victory ? for both the troops and the Iraqi people now freed of a dictator and on a path to democracy. But gnawing questions remain: Will Iraqis be able to forge their new government amid the still stubborn sectarian clashes? And will Iraq be able to defend itself and remain independent in a region fraught with turmoil and still steeped in insurgent threats?
President Barack Obama stopped short of calling the U.S. effort in Iraq a victory.
"I would describe our troops as having succeeded in the mission of giving to the Iraqis their country in a way that gives them a chance for a successful future," Obama said in an interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters, recorded Thursday.
Saddam and his regime fell within weeks of the invasion, and the dictator was captured by the end of the year ? to be executed by Iraq's new Shiite rulers at the end of 2006. But Saddam's end only opened the door to years more of conflict as Iraq was plunged into a vicious sectarian war between its Shiite and Sunni communities. The near civil war devastated the country, and its legacy includes thousands of widows and orphans, a people deeply divided along sectarian lines and infrastructure that remains largely in ruins.
In the past two years, violence has dropped dramatically, and Iraqi security forces that U.S. troops struggled for years to train have improved. But the sectarian wounds remain unhealed. Even as U.S. troops were leaving, the main Sunni-backed political bloc announced Sunday it was suspending its participation in parliament to protest the monopoly on government posts by Shiite allies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"We are glad to see the last U.S. soldier leaving the country today," said 25-year-old Iraqi Said Hassan, the owner of money exchange shop in Baghdad. "It is an important day in Iraq's history, but the most important thing now is the future of Iraq," he added.
"The Americans have left behind them a country that is falling apart and an Iraqi army and security forces that have a long way ahead to be able to defend the nation and the people."
The convoys that left Sunday were the last of a massive operation pulling out American forces that has lasted for months to meet the end-of-the-year deadline agreed with the Iraqis during the administration of President George W. Bush.
On Saturday evening at Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah and about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, the vehicles lined up in an open field to prepare, and soldiers went through last-minute equipment checks to make sure radios, weapons and other gear were working.
Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commanding general for Iraq, walked through the rows of vehicles, talking to soldiers over the low hum of the engines. He thanked them for their service.
"I wanted to remind them that we have an important mission left in the country of Iraq. We want to stay focused and we want to make sure that we're doing the right things to protect ourselves," Austin said.
Early Saturday morning, the brigade's remaining interpreters made their routine calls to the local tribal sheiks and government leaders that the troops deal with, so that they would assume that it was just a normal day.
"The Iraqis are going to wake up in the morning and nobody will be there," said Spc. Joseph, an Iraqi American who emigrated from Iraq in 2009 and enlisted. He asked that his full name be withheld to protect his family.
Camp Adder is now an Iraqi air force base, although they don't have any planes yet. Many of the Americans spent their last day sweeping out the trailers that housed thousands of troops and contractors while Iraqi officers came by to inspect their future domain.
Little by little, the U.S. military gave up pieces of Camp Adder. Soldiers closed down guard towers, turned over checkpoints leading into the base and left hundreds of vehicles, oil tankers and trucks in vast lots with the keys on the dashboard.
The volleyball and basketball courts stood empty. And no one worked out at the gym called "House of Pain."
The roughly 13-square-mile base had at one time been a major way station where troops and supplies often stopped on their way south or north.
But by the time the Americans pulled out for good, their numbers had dwindled so low that the wild dogs that used to be too afraid to come near the living quarters now wandered freely through the rows of trailers and concrete blast walls.
Sgt. First Class Hilda McNamee was the truck commander in the last MRAP to drive out of Iraq. The 34-year-old said when she gets back to Texas, she plans to take her son to the International House of Pancakes.
For her the significance of the last convoy driving out was immediately apparent.
"It means I won't open a newspaper and find out that one of my friends passed away," said McNamee.
She welled up but didn't want to go any deeper. Some memories will always be too fresh.
Going home will also bring new dangers for the troops.
Col. Douglas Crissman, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, said one of his biggest concerns now was making sure that all his soldiers who survived this deployment also survive their re-entry into what is supposed to be a safer world.
"Quite frankly, we lost more soldiers in peacetime in the nine or ten months before this brigade deployed due to accidents and risky behavior ... than we lost here in combat," he said.
His brigade, which controlled the four provinces in southern Iraq, lost three soldiers during this tour. Two were killed by roadside bombs and one was killed by a rocket, likely as he was trying to get to a bunker.
But in the roughly 10 months leading up to their deployment, they lost 13 people. At least one was a confirmed suicide.
The U.S. plans to keep a robust diplomatic presence in Iraq, hoping to foster a lasting relationship with the nation and maintain a strong military force in the region. Obama met in Washington with Prime Minister al-Maliki last week, vowing to remain committed to Iraq as the two countries struggle to define their new relationship.
U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on legal issues and troop immunity that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain. U.S. defense officials said they expect there will be no movement on that issue until sometime next year.
In the end, many of the departing troops wrestled with a singular question: Was it worth it?
Capt. Mark Askew, a 28-year-old from Tampa, Florida, said the answer will depend on what type of country Iraq turns into years from now ? whether it is democratic and respects human rights.
"People are asking themselves: `Was this worth it?'" he said, speaking to his troops before they set off to Kuwait. "I can't answer that question right now."
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Social Media, Liability and Insurance ? INFOdocket
Social Media, Liability and Insurance
Hundreds of millions of people interact on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and LinkedIn every day. Like any other new technology, social media brings enormous opportunities and benefits. The ability to communicate and interact instantaneously on a global scale 24/7 enables businesses to reach their customers directly and individuals to voice opinions on any topic they see fit.
Yet as the opportunity to tweet, message, share and ?like? grows, so do the risks. As businesses and individuals navigate this shifting online risk landscape, they face a range of evolving social media related liabilities including privacy, security, intellectual property and employment practices liability.
Meanwhile, amid a rising number of high profile data breaches, government is stepping up its scrutiny of cyber security. This is leading to increased calls for legislation and regulation, placing the burden on companies to demonstrate that the information provided by customers and clients is properly safeguarded online.
Despite the fact that cyber risks and cyber security are widely acknowledged to be a serious threat, a majority of companies today still do not purchase cyber liability insurance. However, research indicates that this is changing. Insurance has a key role to play as companies and individuals look to better manage and reduce their potential financial losses from social media and cyber risks in future.
+ Full Document (PDF)
Source: Insurance Information Institute
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Source: http://infodocket.com/2011/12/16/social-media-liability-and-insurance/
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A Fond Farewell to Gizmodo Gallery: Virtual Tours, Pancake Records, and More [Video]
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Senate OKs $1T budget bill, payroll tax cut (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The Senate has passed a $1 trillion-plus year-end budget bill for President Barack Obama's signature as part of a congressional endgame also featuring action on a two-month extension of a cut in the Social Security payroll tax and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.
The bipartisan measure passed 67-32, wrapping together the day-to-day budgets for 10 Cabinet departments and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed the bill Friday.
It provides details to a budget pact reached last summer, holding the Pentagon to the smallest increase in recent memory while imposing modest cuts on most domestic agencies.
The measure also drops many conservative policy "riders" designed to thwart the administration's environmental regulations and other initiatives ranging from rules allowing U.S. family visits to Cuba to abstinence-only sex education.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Senators racing for the exits after a year of bitter battles passed legislation Saturday that would extend a Social Security payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months, setting the stage for the next fight until February.
While a partial victory for President Barack Obama's year-end jobs agenda, the measure awaiting House approval next week contains a provision demanded by Republicans to pressure the White House into approving construction of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that promises thousands of jobs.
Democratic and GOP leaders option for the short-term extension after failing to agree on big enough spending cuts to pay for a full-year renewal of the payroll tax cut. The 2 percentage point tax cut affects 160 million taxpayers. The weekly jobless payments average about $300 for millions of people who have been out of work for six months or more.
The measure was approved by an 89-10 vote during a Saturday session.
Votes were scheduled later Saturday on a $1 trillion-plus catchall spending measure setting the day-to-day budgets of 10 Cabinet agencies. The House cleared the spending bill Friday.
In a statement, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer indicated Obama would sign the two-month extension measure, saying it had met his test of "preventing a tax increase on 160 million hardworking Americans" and avoiding damage to the economy recovery.
The statement made no mention of the pipeline.
The legislation, would require the president to grant a permit, but allows Obama to opt not to do so if he determines that the pipeline is "not in the national interest." One senior administration official said the president would almost certainly refuse to grant a permit. The official was not authorized to speak publicly.
The developments came a few hours after the White House publicly backed away from Obama's threat to veto any bill that linked the payroll tax cut extension with a Republican demand for a speedy decision on the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline proposed from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.
Obama said on Dec. 7 that "any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut I will reject. So everybody should be on notice."
Obama recently announced he was postponing a decision until after the 2012 elections on the much-studied proposal. Environmentalists oppose the project, but several unions support it, and the legislation puts the president in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between customary political allies.
Republican senators put the price of the two-month package at between $30 billion and $40 billion said the cost would be covered by raising fees on new mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The fees, drawn from a Treasury Department housing finance market reform plan, would add several thousand dollars to the 30-year cost of home loans guaranteed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae Freddie and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.
A worker making a $100,000 salary would reap a tax cut of about $330 through the short-term payroll tax extension.
A version of the fee that circulated overnight would effectively raise the interest rate on a mortgage by one-tenth of one percentage point, but the still-undetermined final version ? awaiting analysis from the Congressional Budget Office ? was expected to be lower.
The measure also provides a 60-day reprieve from a scheduled 27 percent cut in the fees paid to doctors who treat Medicare patients.
Officials said that in private talks, the two sides had hoped to reach agreement on the full one-year extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits that Obama had made the centerpiece of the jobs program he submitted to Congress last fall.
Those efforts failed when the two sides could not agree on enough offsetting cuts to blunt the measure's impact on the debt.
The failure tees up the issue again for early next year, but it won't get any easier to agree on spending cuts. The
"We'll be back discussing the same issues in a couple of months, but from our point of view, we think the keystone pipeline is a very important job-creating measure in the private sector that doesn't cost the government a penny," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.
Neither House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, nor his aides participated in the negotiations, although McConnell said he was optimistic about the measure's chances for final approval. The payroll tax cut is unpopular in GOP ranks and another vote in two month could present a headache for GOP leaders.
The State Department, in an analysis released this summer, said the pipeline project would create up to 6,000 jobs during construction, while developer TransCanada put the total at 20,000 in direct employment.
The 1,700-mile pipeline would carry oil from western Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The spending bill would lock in cuts that conservative Republicans won from the White House and Democrats earlier in the year.
Republicans also won their fight to block new federal regulations for light bulb energy efficiency, coal dust in mines and clean water permits for construction of timber roads.
The White House turned back GOP attempts to block limits on greenhouse gases, mountaintop removal mining and hazardous emissions from utility plants, industrial boilers and cement kilns.
___
Associated Press writers David Espo, Alan Fram, Donna Cassata and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
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China require microblogs to get users' real names (AP)
BEIJING ? Beijing authorities on Friday ordered Internet microblogs to require users to register with their real names, a tightening of rules aimed at controlling China's rapidly growing social networks.
An announcement posted online said all microblog companies registered in the capital had to enforce real name registration within three months.
The rules, jointly issued by the Beijing government, police and Internet management office, apparently apply to all 250 million users of the hugely popular Twitter-like service Weibo.com, regardless of location, because its operator, Chinese Web portal Sina Corp., is headquartered in Beijing.
Sina rival Tencent Holdings is based in the southern city of Shenzhen. It wasn't immediately clear whether the company's microblog service would have to comply with the same rules.
China had more than 485 million Internet users as of the end of June, the most of any country in the world.
Government officials warned in October that tighter new guidelines for social media sites were coming. Officials said then they were concerned about people using the Internet to spread lies and rumors. But the government is also clearly worried about the use of Weibo and other sites to mobilize potentially destabilizing protest movements.
The new rules explicitly forbid use of microblogging to "incite illegal assembly." Public protests are illegal in China and are a concern for the Communist leadership.
Microblogs helped mobilize 12,000 people in the northeastern city of Dalian to successfully demand the relocation of a petrochemical factory and served as an outlet for public anger after a crash on the showcase high-speed rail system in which at least 40 people died. They also have given a national platform to a handful of independent candidates who have run this year for local legislative councils.
Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, which is based in Beijing and specializes in China's telecommunications and IT sectors, said announcing the rules in Beijing first could be a way of testing their impact in a limited area before expanding them to cover the rest of the country.
He said the system would inevitably rein in China's microblogs. "Having a real name system will make people much more cautious about what they post," he said.
China blocked Twitter and Facebook after they were instrumental in anti-government protests in Iran two years ago, and instead encouraged homegrown alternatives in the apparent belief that domestic companies would be more responsive to government demands.
It remains to be seen whether China's new rules could drive some people away from domestic services. Tech-savvy Chinese are still able to access Twitter and Facebook by using special software that circumvents the government's firewall.
"Real name registration is sadly predictable, but very hard to implement, or if implemented is futile anyway as users will just shift to other platforms," said Duncan Clark, managing director of BDA China Ltd., a Beijing research firm.
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