China's Wen: government debt risk "controllable" (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China's Premier Wen Jiabao said the nation's government debt is at an "overall safe and controllable" level, that funding for key projects would be ensured and that applying the brakes to the problem would be done in a way to avoid systemic risks.

Investors have been worried by the scale of the debts built up by China's local governments, which some fear could threaten the stability of the banking system.

Wen's comments, reported in the official People's Daily on Monday, were made in a speech dating back to early January at the government's flagship financial work conference.

Wen pledged to contain and defuse local government debt risks and avoid the spread of financial risks.

"Currently, our government debt is overall safe and controllable," he said.

"We are taking the issue of managing local government debt very seriously. Through clean-ups and regulation, the trend of expanding investment vehicles has been effectively contained."

China's state audit office said earlier this month it had uncovered 530 billion yuan ($84 billion) worth of irregularities involving local government debt.

But the figure is a fraction of the 2 trillion-3 trillion yuan of sour loans economists believe are buried in the 10.7 trillion yuan of debt local governments had at the end of 2010.

ACTIVELY, APPROPRIATELY EASE RISKS

Wen said China "must both actively and appropriately ease financial and fiscal risks, and also ensure the funding needs of key construction projects approved by the government."

But he warned against a simplistic approach to local government investment.

"We cannot simplistically hit the brakes and use a one-size-fits-all approach, and must avoid turning localized risks into comprehensive, systemic risks," he said.

Wen also urged greater attention and controls on systemically important financial institutions.

"We must study standards for determination and a framework for assessing our country's systemically important financial institutions, and we must adopt more stringent oversight standards towards these institutions, enhancing external constraints on them," he said.

Wen also vowed to "break monopolies" against private capital participation in the financial sector, promising broad reforms to ownership and capital structures in banking, equities, insurance and other financial institutions that would encourage more private capital to flow into the financial services sector.

"Improving financial services for small businesses requires the reform, innovation and regulated development of financial institutions that come in different types and different sizes," he said, making clear there was a role for private credit in the economy, providing it was properly regulated.

In addition, Wen made the case for more market-based reforms to interest rates and credit pricing to enhance their roles, along with exchange rates, as price levers.

Wen said China should "accelerate nurturing of a market system for benchmark interest rates, guide financial institutions towards enhancing their risk price-setting capacities, and steadily advance marketizing reform of interest rates."

And he repeated the long-standing commitment to "further improve the renminbi exchange rate formation mechanism, strengthen the flexibility of the renminbi exchange rate in both directions, maintaining a basically stable renminbi exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level."

China would push forward with yuan convertibility in an orderly manner and broaden the use of the currency in cross-boarder trade settlement, he added.

And Wen reiterated that the government would further diversify its huge $3.18 trillion foreign exchange reserves.

"We should explore a multi-layer investment channel for our foreign exchange reserves and further improve the skill of managing the reserve assets by steadily diversifying the investment to maintain safety, liquidity and preserve and increase its value," he said.

SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC INNOVATION

The Premier said China's financial institutions must step up support for key areas of economic structural adjustment, for projects aimed at saving energy and reducing pollution, and for indigenous innovation.

Beijing has unveiled a slew of tax breaks to help cash-strapped small firms cope with rising costs and has also allowed them to issue more bonds and tap other sources of financing to ease the funding squeeze.

China's big four state-backed lenders are criticized by small and medium-sized business owners for directing the bulk of their lending capacity to major state-owned enterprises.

Bank lending in China is essentially rationed by the government, which sets an annual lending target and decides how much credit can be created in the economy.

China has set a target of 8 trillion yuan ($1.27 trillion) in new local-currency bank loans and 14 percent growth in broad M2 money supply for 2012, three sources familiar with government plans told Reuters earlier this month.

That marks a rise from 7.47 trillion yuan in new bank loans and annual M2 growth of 13.6 percent achieved in 2011, implying a further loosening of policy by the People's Bank of China to support the economy as growth loses steam and inflation cools.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Nick Edwards; Editing by Ed Davies, Ken Wills and Alex Richardson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/bs_nm/us_china_finance

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Pythons apparently wiping out Everglades mammals

In this November 14, 2009 photo provided by the University of Florida, University of Florida researchers hold a 162-pound Burmese python captured in Everglades National Park, Fla. Therese Walters, left, Alex Wolf and Michael R. Rochford, right, are holding the 15-foot snake shortly after the python ate a six-foot American alligator. The National Academy of Science report released Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. (AP Photo/ University of Florida, Michael R. Rochford)

In this November 14, 2009 photo provided by the University of Florida, University of Florida researchers hold a 162-pound Burmese python captured in Everglades National Park, Fla. Therese Walters, left, Alex Wolf and Michael R. Rochford, right, are holding the 15-foot snake shortly after the python ate a six-foot American alligator. The National Academy of Science report released Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. (AP Photo/ University of Florida, Michael R. Rochford)

In this 2009 photo provided by the National Park Service, a Burmese python is wrapped around an American alligator in Everglades National Park, Fla. The National Academy of Science report released Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. (AP Photo/National Park Service, Lori Oberhofer)

In this Jan. 17, 2012 file photo, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, center, and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., left, look at at 13-foot python held by National Park Service Supervisor Ranger Al Mercado in the Everglades, Fla. The National Academy of Science report released Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)

In this 2009 photo provided by the University of Florida a researcher holds a Burmese python near her nest in Everglades National Park, Fla. The National Academy of Science report released Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park. (AP Photo/ University of Florida, Jemeema Carrigan)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? A burgeoning population of huge pythons ? many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big ? appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Everglades, a study says.

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically ? as much as 99 percent, in some cases ? in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to be lurking.

Scientists fear the pythons could disrupt the food chain and upset the Everglades' environmental balance in ways difficult to predict.

"The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the national park boundaries, are likely profound," said John Willson, a research scientist at Virginia Tech University and co-author of the study.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot one captured earlier this month.

For the study, researchers drove 39,000 miles along Everglades-area roads from 2003 through 2011, counting wildlife spotted along the way and comparing the results with surveys conducted on the same routes in 1996 and 1997.

The researchers found staggering declines in animal sightings: a drop of 99.3 percent among raccoons, 98.9 percent for opossums, 94.1 percent for white-tailed deer and 87.5 percent for bobcats. Along roads where python populations are believed to be smaller, declines were lower but still notable.

Rabbits and foxes, which were commonly spotted in 1996 and 1997, were not seen at all in the later counts. Researchers noted slight increases in coyotes, Florida panthers, rodents and other mammals, but discounted that finding because so few were spotted overall.

"The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park," said Michael Dorcas, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina and lead author of the study.

Although scientists cannot definitively say the pythons are killing off the mammals, the snakes are the prime suspect. The increase in pythons coincides with the mammals' decrease, and the decline appears to grow in magnitude with the size of the snakes' population in an area. A single disease appears unlikely to be the cause since several species were affected.

The report says the effect on the overall ecosystem is hard to predict. Declines among bobcats and foxes, which eat rabbits, could be linked to pythons' feasting on rabbits. On the flip side, declines among raccoons, which eat eggs, may help some turtles, crocodiles and birds.

Scientists point with concern to what happened in Guam, where the invasive brown tree snake has killed off birds, bats and lizards that pollinated trees and flowers and dispersed seeds. That has led to declines in native trees, fish-eating birds and certain plants.

In 2010, Florida banned private ownership of Burmese pythons. Earlier this month, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a federal ban on the import of Burmese pythons and three other snakes.

Salazar said Monday that the study shows why such restrictions were needed.

"This study paints a stark picture of the real damage that Burmese pythons are causing to native wildlife and the Florida economy," he said.

___

Follow Matt Sedensky at www.twitter.com/sedensky

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-30-US-SCI-Everglades-Pythons/id-de32cf2156d04dd7a11cae30f2238ab3

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Romney Making His Break (talking-points-memo)

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Karen Dalton-Beninato: Brad Pitt and the Business of Making it Right ...

"Blogger Karen Dalton-Beninato sent me this beautiful picture of the project Brad Pitt is working on..."

Five years ago, Arianna Huffington posted my husband's photo of pink tents in a planned green community in New Orleans. That was two years post Hurricane Katrina levee failures, and it often felt like New Orleans was stuck in neutral.

It was 2007 and the 9th Ward still looked like an overgrown prairie strewn with concrete slabs, all that was left of most houses near the Industrial Canal. Residents were coming back to FEMA trailers, if they could get one, and gutted out homes. In the years since then, Make It Right NOLA has assembled a living study in sustainable architecture for returning residents.

"After Hurricane Katrina, many people said the Lower 9th Ward could not be rebuilt, but the spirit of the Lower Ninth and its residents is vibrant and resilient," Brad Pitt recently said through his Foundation. "Today, the neighborhood is growing and alive with new homes, playgrounds, gardens and block parties. With the help of generous partners like Hyatt, Make It Right will fulfill our goal of building 150 sustainable homes for those in this community who lost everything in the storm." Pitt is hosting a March 10th MIR benefit at the newly reopened Hyatt Regency in New Orleans, and the Hyatt is underwriting the cost of the event so all proceeds go to rebuilding.

Why the focus on New Orleans, and Pitt and Jolie's move to the French Quarter? Robert Kinney described it as well as anyone in his 1941 guidebook, The Bachelor in New Orleans: "New Orleans is the lotus land, to which all travelers return - once visited, it haunts you, calling your blood always."

"I'm from New Orleans, I love New Orleans and I love that Make It Right continues to help the people there rebuild their beautiful city," event co-chair Ellen DeGeneres said of the project. "Brad Pitt is amazing - not only for what he started, but also because, who else can make a hard hat look like a jaunty fall fashion accessory?"

DeGeneres will be joining my friend Mac Rebennack a/k/a Dr. John, and other NOLA natives Wendell Pierce and Mayor Mitch Landrieu at the benefit. And they will be joined by Seal, Rihanna, Sheryl Crow, Randy Jackson, Josh Brolin, Chris Paul, Djimon Hounsou, Spike Lee, Blake Lively, Sean Penn, and Kevin Spacey, with dinner prepared by chefs John Besh, Giada DeLaurentiis and Emeril Lagasse. Aziz Ansari of Parks and Recreation is hosting the after-party. With all the celebrities expected, it would probably be shorter to list who's not coming.

The event will sprint the project to its final goal of 150 platinum LEED certified homes in its 16-block neighborhood, and eventually help Make it Right move into helping Pitt's home territory of Joplin, Missouri with what they've learned from rebuilding green in New Orleans.

Steve Ragan is MIR's Development Director, and he walked us through the neighborhood's homes. We started out at the one that was built to float, designed by Tom Mayne of Morphosis Architects. Modular construction was assembled at UCLA, shipped to New Orleans and reassembled as the first home in the United States permitted for a floating foundation. All the connections to utilities are flexible tubing and piping, and if the home did begin to float they would be safely cut leaving its two masts to support it, Ragan explained. "It's probably our most cutting edge design. If we opened our program up to young hipsters, it would have sold quickly." The home eventually sold to an older man who needed a smaller space than the multi-generational homes occupied by many of his neighborhood.

"The most important thing is the immediate good for people who live here," Ragan says. "Second most important is advancing construction of energy efficient homes. Third, if you can imagine, is having the final neighborhood of 150 homes designed by 21 of the greatest architects in the world. In 20 years the people who will be touring the homes hopefully won't be thinking of them as advanced technology any more, but because they're architecturally significant."

Landscaping is largely made up of indigenous plants that help soak up water. Make it Right has patented a permeable concrete with 100 percent drainage throughout the development, and Ragan pours his coffee onto the surface to show us how quickly it disappears. That drainage also helped along with gray water collected beneath the homes. One of MIR's contractor was at a funeral and thought of using concrete crypts under the residents' homes to collect gray water. It's the right size, half the cost of building a container and feels appropriate in a city where dancing at funerals is not out of the norm.

Homes are built at least 4 feet off the ground, but MIR encourages residents to go higher. Residents have skin in the game, typically paying $75,000 with the rest of the $150,000 subsidized with a forgivable mortgage. With solar panels, Energy Star appliances and every possible new green technology on hand, only two homes in the development regularly use more energy than they produce, and those are multi-generational.

"If we had not focused on one area, we would have been able to build faster but people would have been pioneers sitting on their own," Ragan said. He's seen the crawfish boils, family reunions and arrivals of other developers as the area came to life. The 9th Ward was at 80 percent home ownership before Katrina, families who had lived there before the Industrial Canal was built and passed their homes down through generations. Some former residents are now back home, with green rooftop decks offering a view across the river.

"Homeowners choose their home as long as it's something that through our assistance they can afford. They're treated with the same respect, able to make the same decisions about design as a private developer would," Ragan said. "You can see some differences between first of the homes and later. We've managed as we've gone along with every iteration of homes to increase energy efficiency and lower costs. It's great when you can get an academic architect to take pause and say, 'how did you do that?"

It's something to see, and the visitors are coming in ever-increasing numbers. "I counted tour buses one day, and we were at 48," Ragan said. That number will only grow, with the Hollywood of the South bringing even more tourists to New Orleans. The Pugh Scarpa home we walked through had far more natural light than you would expect from the exterior view. Window direction adds to passive heating and cooling technologies, much like early Creole homes in the French Quarter. In the morning, the home is flooded with light. But by afternoon, the side with fewer windows, all hurricane resistant, cools the home down. Wireless lighting systems save on wiring costs, and directed vents at the top of the wall where hot air rises help cool the house faster. The architects are clearly familiar with Louisiana summers. Floors are reclaimed pine, and all the paint in the home is VOC-free. "We haven't had hard data, but anecdotally children who suffer from asthma have fewer problems once they move in." Architects meet with stakeholders early on, and the project has focused on residents who had lived in the Lower 9th Ward. One of the main design alterations requested has been larger porch and terrace areas for neighborhood socializing.

"I just love to come out here on a Saturday," Ragan said. "You've got construction crews working, you've got homeowners socializing, this neighborhood has come back to life. Architects talk about how architecture engages people. Tourists come outside, and a homeowner will come out and start explaining the home to them. Then another will come out and say, let me tell you about mine."

Plantings and mulch are available to community members. And the Make it Right playground, made of recycled materials, has wi-fi installed so children can compete with children in a playground on the other side of the world with the same system installed. Bayou Bienvenue backs up to the development, but its original cypress trees were killed off years ago as canals brought saltwater intrusion from the Gulf to the city. An older man walks up and reminisces about the years when the bayou was fresh water and the cypress trees grew. He talks about trapping and walking through the bayou, pointing to the stumps that now exist.

We meet Robert Green, a Make it Right resident and its unofficial ambassador. "I've been fortunate enough to be here when most people come by," he said. Green asked for the Waiting for Godot sign from the 9th Ward production starring Pierce, so the front of his house greets visitors with words by Samuel Beckett. Green often takes people into his home to show them construction, which he's proud of. His was the second lot in the program, and he bought the adjacent lot through the city's Lot Next Door program. He's considered putting in a gazebo.

Green was sent back from the Superdome when they couldn't offer adequate help to his mother who had Parkinson's Disease. So the family returned home, and the next day the water started rising. Green saved two of his granddaughters, but he lost his mother and granddaughter in the floodwaters that came through the broken levee on August 29, 2005. A marker for each rests in front of his home, under his Waiting for Godot sign.

A country road. A tree. Evening.

Details on A Night to Make It Right are available at: nighttomakeitright.com

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Man arrested in slayings of SC officer, Ga. woman (AP)

AIKEN, S.C. ? A 26-year-old man was arrested Saturday after police say he killed his girlfriend in Georgia, and then fatally shot a South Carolina police officer responding to a report of suspicious activity, authorities said.

Police in South Carolina said Joshua Tremaine Jones faces charges of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the death of Aiken police Master Cpl. Sandra Rogers.

The South Carolina law Enforcement Division said officers were responding Saturday morning to a report of suspicious activity involving two cars, and that Rogers was shot after stopping one of the vehicles.

Jones was arrested hours later at a residence in Batesburg.

Saturday evening, a visibly moved Aiken Public Safety director Charles Barranco told reporters that Rogers had died at an area hospital. The Aiken native had spent a nearly 28-year career with the department; she was 49.

In neighboring Georgia, The Augusta Chronicle reported that Jones also faces murder charges in the death of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Cayce Vice. Police found her body in her apartment Saturday morning after she didn't show up for work at a Five Guys restaurant and coworkers became concerned; she had been shot in the head.

Richmond County sheriff's Capt. Scott Peebles told the newspaper ( http://bit.ly/yO5JS7) that the agency had obtained warrants for Jones for murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Peebles confirmed that Vice had sworn out a complaint against Jones for assault earlier this month.

A phone message left late Saturday for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was not immediately returned.

James Jones, the suspect's father, told reporters that his son had past run-ins with the law and "was going through some mental problems." Jones said his son had run away from home and moved in with Vice. He said his son is from North Augusta and briefly lived in Atlanta.

Jones said that when he returned from work Friday, his son had taken his blue BMW without permission and left. Jones said he and his other son drove around searching but couldn't locate him.

Jones said his heart goes out to the victim' families, and that he's devastated as a father.

"I just went straight to God and said, `I cannot believe this.' After all that I have taught him, I just never thought that my family would have to deal with something like this," Jones said.

The Aiken public safety department issued a statement Saturday evening praising Rogers as "an invaluable street cop who exemplified the model of a Public Safety Officer," according to WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C.

"Master Corporal Rogers was a highly skilled investigator and senior patrol officer on her shift," the statement said. "Please keep the Rogers family and Aiken Public Safety in your prayers as once again we deal with this tragic loss."

Last month, hundreds of people gathered to mourn another Aiken police officer killed in the line of duty. Officer Scotty Richardson, 33, died in the early hours of Dec. 21 after being shot in the head during a traffic stop at an apartment complex the night before. Aiken is a city of 30,000 that's located about 20 miles northwest of Augusta.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_us/us_multi_state_slayings

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At least 11 hurt in collapse at casino site

Al Behrman / AP

Workers and officials inspect the collapse at the Horseshoe Casino under construction on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Cincinnati. Authorities say at least 11 people have been taken to hospitals with minor injuries, non life-threatening.

By msnbc.com news services

A partial collapse at a casino construction site early Friday in Cincinnati has?left at least 11 people with minor injuries, according to news reports.

Ten of the wounded were taken to University Hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, a hospital spokeswoman told NBC News. Most of the victims, aged between 30 and 40, were expected to be discharged later Friday.

Authorities reported differing numbers of the wounded, with fire officials saying 13 had been hospitalized and police saying at least 11 were.

Workers were pouring concrete on the structure's second floor when a metal beam in the middle of the section fell, making the second floor buckle. No one was underneath the collapse, Fire Chief Dick Braun told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Firefighters had to craft a makeshift bridge to move the injured workers due to muddy conditions. The site was closed and workers sent home, said city spokeswoman Meg Olberding, the newspaper reported.

Rock Gaming is developing the casino in partnership with Caesar's Entertainment.

A partial collapse of a garage at another Ohio casino under construction -- and also being developed by the Rock Gaming-Caesar's partnership -- occurred last month. No one was injured in that incident, according to The Associated Press.

The Associated Press and NBC News services contributed to this report.

?

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Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10250410-at-least-11-hurt-in-collapse-at-casino-construction-site

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Flashpoint Demo Day a Glimpse of How Entrepreneurs' Dreams Come True (Mashable)

A gathering of entrepreneurs in the Bay Area on Thursday offered a window into how ambitious techies' visions become reality. It started with a presentation from a go-getter named Adam Ghetti. Dressed casually in a dark tee-shirt, Ghetti stepped to the front a conference room at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz on Thursday afternoon. He launched into an intense, rapid-fire pitch and test drive of his cloud security startup Social Fortress.

[More from Mashable: How One Entrepreneur Is Connecting Celebrities With Their Fans [VIDEO]]

After Ghetti finished, 14 more entrepreneurs repeated the process, describing the basics of their businesses. They hoped to spark interest -- and investment.

Ghetti and his cohorts are members of Flashpoint, a startup accelerator located at Georgia Tech university. The three-month program provides mentorship, advice and learning. Director Merrick Furst told Mashable the program functions "to address uncertainties and risks in the startup phase." Thursday was the group's chance to convince Silicon Valley venture capitalists of the value of their respective visions.

[More from Mashable: 10 Tips for Building a Strong Online Community Around Your Startup]

This is how it works in The Valley, in the country-club atmosphere of the austere office parks located on Sand Hill Road. Owners of nascent businesses sling a concept, sell an idea and present a business plan, usually touting massive potential and market opportunity.

If they're lucky -- or, more likely, smart and talented -- they get the funding to potentially push their idea over the edge and toward the mainstream.

And it's how the tech world operates now in enclaves outside of Silicon Valley too; the Flashpointers were on the third and final stop in a series of public demo days that took place earlier this month in Atlanta and New York City.

The presenters on Thursday ranged from a Georgia Tech undergrad who started his first company at 14, to hip young entrepreneurs, to serious middle-aged men in slacks and dark blazers. They bragged about who had already invested in their products, gaps in the market and how much teammates had sold previous companies for. They also told how much more money they needed. Most asked for between $500,000 and $1 million. Some companies had recently shifted focus and had been organized for just seven weeks. Others had already generated real revenues.

In addition to CollectorDash, which targets a multibillion market of collectors of trinkets such as action figures; Trimensional, which makes 3D scanning available to consumers via a smartphone app; and SportsCrunch, a social network for athletes to relive glory days and reconnect with former teammates.

But our opinions mattered little compared to those of the attending representatives of venture capital firms such as Split Rock Partners of Menlo Park. Split Rock's Leo de Luna was at the pitch session to begin scouting out early-stage businesses for potential future Series A investments by his firm.

"At this stage, where they're at in seed, it's about market potential because that's a good way to kind of filter things out," de Luna said in an interview following the presentations. "Then just to see the entrepreneurs themselves, see their maturity, their ability to communicate and sell the idea and maybe glean some things about how well they know their market and their product. The best ones were the ones that could show a live demo and could say, 'We've got a product, we've got customers.'"

For Adam Ghetti, the demonstration of Social Fortress apparently worked well. Between chatting and networking with investors and other attendees after the show, he was asked how he thought Thursday's event went.

"I left my Friday wide open," he told Mashable, "and it's now full. So I think today went great."

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120127/tc_mashable/flashpoint_demo_day_a_glimpse_of_how_entrepreneurs_dreams_come_true

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Is Oprah Really Blue Ivy's Godmother?

Some reports surfaced earlier this week that none other than Oprah is the godmother of Beyonce and Jay-Z's newborn baby girl, Blue Ivy Carter. But is it true?

It is not. Oprah is not the godmother.

She may be a fairy godmother in a non-official sense - she did send baby Blue an entire trunk full of books already - but she hasn't been given any title.

Winfrey's BFF Gayle King said: "Let me just say, if [this] is true, it is news to her. You know, she was heading to South Africa when the baby was born."

A separate source close to the power couple's camp also tells E! News that this is not true, and that Media Takeout was wrong (in a stunning revelation).

Again, no need to worry, though, as Oprah's close to Beyonce and Jay-Z, so Blue Ivy should still get first dibs on Winfrey's annual Favorite Things list.

YOU get a gold-plated stroller!!!

[Photos: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/is-oprah-really-blue-ivys-godmother/

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Video: Does the right-wing disrespect Obama?

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Heartburn Meds Won't Help, May Harm Kids With Asthma (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Children with asthma who don't have heartburn and other signs of gastroesophageal reflux don't get additional asthma control from acid-reducing medications, according to new research.

And, taking these medications when there are no digestive issues increases a child's risk of developing a respiratory infection, reports the study.

"There's a strong epidemiological link between acid reflux and asthma," explained study co-author Janet Holbrook, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. As a result, current asthma guidelines call for evaluating people with asthma for acid reflux, Holbrook said.

Because definitive tests for excess acid production can cause children discomfort, some doctors may choose to do a trial of acid-suppressing medications called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Some common brand names in this class of medication are Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium.

"Our findings suggest that physicians should not take kids with poorly controlled asthma and test whether PPIs will help," said Holbrook.

Results of the study are published in the Jan. 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and conducted by the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers.

Asthma and gastroesophageal reflux (GER or GERD) are common conditions in children. Youngsters with asthma often have symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux. In adults, PPIs seem to help people with asthma who also have symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux, but not those who don't have symptoms, such as frequent heartburn.

The current study included 306 children recruited from 19 centers across the United States between 2007 and 2010. The average age was 11 years. All had poor asthma control despite receiving treatment with inhaled corticosteroids.

The children were randomly assigned to receive either lansoprazole -- a PPI -- or a placebo daily for six months. The dose of lansoprazole was based on the child's weight.

Asthma improvement was assessed through a change in the Asthma Control Questionnaire, which has a scale of 0 to 6. A change of 0.5 is considered clinically significant. Lung function was also measured.

After six months, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups. The average change in the Asthma Control Questionnaire score was only 0.2, and there were no statistically significant changes in lung function, quality of life or rate of asthma flare-ups.

In addition, among 115 children who also had a 24-hour esophageal acid study, 43 percent were found to have elevated levels of acid production. Yet even in this group, treatment with lansoprazole didn't improve asthma symptoms over placebo.

Holbrook said although this study only looked at one PPI, she believes the results would hold true for other medications in this class of drugs.

Children taking lansoprazole had about a 30 percent higher risk of respiratory infections and sore throats in this study. PPIs were also associated with a difference in the risk of activity-related bone fractures, although the difference was not statistically significant, according to an accompanying editorial in the same issue of the journal.

"PPIs do not improve asthma in children who do not have symptoms of GER/GERD, and it is unlikely to be of great benefit even in children who do have such symptoms," said the editorial author, Dr. Fernando Martinez, director of the Arizona Respiratory Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

"The substantial increase in use of PPIs in children during the last decade is worrisome and unwarranted," he wrote.

Still, Martinez advised parents not to abruptly discontinue any medications. Parents "should consult their pediatricians, who can best evaluate the clinical situation for each child," he said.

Holbrook agreed and said if a child is on a PPI, it's reasonable for parents to ask why. She noted that these medications may come with an additional risk and cost, and they may not have any additional benefit.

"If your child is on a PPI for asthma, it's not an effective treatment. These medications are approved for the treatment of acid reflux," said Holbrook.

More information

Learn more about asthma treatment from the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120125/hl_hsn/heartburnmedswonthelpmayharmkidswithasthma

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Ohio Debates Unemployment Compensation Extension (ContributorNetwork)

The Ohio House of Representatives approved an unemployment extension bill by an 82-8 vote Tuesday, according to the Columbus Dispatch. House Bill 337 originally focused solely on commercial drivers' license laws but was amended to include unemployment compensation language by the Ohio Senate. If approved the bill would allow the state to enjoy a federal unemployment insurance aid formula generally considered more favorable than existing state law allows, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Unemployed workers in states with a 10 percent higher jobless rate than two years ago can qualify for up to 99 weeks of compensation, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Ohioans shared their thoughts on the bill via email, instant messaging and Twitter.

* "Passage of the bill might not matter since Ohio's unemployment rate keeps dropping. The governor's website says that more than 82,000 jobs were saved or created this year. We are starting to see an economic recovery here in Ohio because of the steps Kasich has taken to make us a business friendly state, attracting and keeping employers." -- Gil Reynolds, human resources manager, Dayton.

* "I hope the bill gets passed because there are so many families hurting here in Ohio. The government needs to do a better job of protecting the poor on both a state and national level. If President Obama is reelected we will continue to prosper and fund social services programs which are so overburdened right now." -- Rashawna Eastman, Ohio State University graduate student, Columbus.

* "I know that a lot of people are still out there looking for jobs and are struggling with bills, but how would we pay for the unemployment extension? I see a lot of job fairs publicized in the paper and help wanted ads online. There are jobs out there, maybe not as well paying in some cases, but there is work. We need to keep focused on the opportunities that natural gas will bring to further the economy in Ohio." -- Marcus Nelson, small business owner, Newark.

* "The bill needs to pass, people have a right to a home and food and a job. I hope that the greedy Republicans do not derail this reasonable bill. I can't believe that 8 people voted against it in the first place. What do they expect people to do when they can't find a job?" -- Nolan Ward, unemployed, Cleveland.

* "If unemployment benefits are extended, then there should also be increased responsibilities to receiving the money. Checking online for a job or even submitting applications at a job fair take very little effort. The people accepting taxpayer money should be mandated to enroll in a training class, be matched for an internship or do community service. Volunteering at a public agency or park would teach new jobs skills and repay the assistance received through the labors of others." -- Tom Roberts, retired military, Cincinnati.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120125/pl_ac/10883337_ohio_debates_unemployment_compensation_extension

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Gene therapy cures retinitis pigmentosa in dogs

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Members of a University of Pennsylvania research team have shown that they can prevent, or even reverse, a blinding retinal disease, X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa, or XLRP, in dogs.

The disease in humans and dogs is caused by defects in the RPGR gene and results in early, severe and progressive vision loss. It is one of the most common inherited forms of retinal degeneration in man.

"Every single abnormal feature that defines the disease in the dogs was corrected following treatment," said lead author William Beltran, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine.

"We were thrilled," said senior author Gustavo Aguirre, professor of medical genetics and ophthalmology at Penn Vet. "The treated cells were completely normal, and this effect resulted from introducing the normal version of the human gene into the diseased photoreceptor cells."

The similarities between humans and dogs, in terms of both eye anatomy, physiology, disease characteristics and positive response to this gene therapy, raise hope for a clear path to human therapies.

Beltran and Aguirre collaborated with Artur Cideciyan and Samuel Jacobson at the Scheie Eye Institute, part of the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. This achievement results from more than 10 years of close collaboration between the scientists at Penn's veterinary and medical Schools and the University of Florida.

In addition to others at Penn Vet, Scheie and Florida, researchers at the universities of Michigan and Massachusetts and the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health contributed to the research.

The study will be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The gene therapy approach used takes advantage of a viral vector -- a genetically modified virus that doesn't cause disease and is unable to divide -- to deliver the therapeutic RPGR gene specifically to diseased rods and cones. In the absence of treatment, these cells malfunction and progressively die.

The research team has previously successfully applied a similar approach to two other heritable vision disorders that occur in both humans and dogs: Leber congenital amaurosis and achromatopsia. The present study was more challenging, as it was necessary to target both main classes of photoreceptor cells.

While the exact disease mechanism of the RPGRform of XLRP is still unknown, the researchers were able to successfully treat dogs with two different RPGR mutations. The mutations disrupt photoreceptors in different ways, but both ultimately cause them to become useless for vision. While this form of blindness is rare in dogs, it is common in humans. Patients with XLRP usually begin to lose night vision as children and become almost totally blind by middle age.

This is the first proof that this condition is treatable in an animal model; a single subretinal injection administered to the diseased dogs led to functional and structural recovery. The dogs' recovery was assessed using a variety of methods that are used clinically in patients, such as electroretinography and optical coherence tomography.

The researchers feel the results are promising and relevant for translation to the clinic.

"We are intervening to treat both classes of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, and that has never been done before in a large animal model," Beltran said. "And not only can we prevent the disease onset but also restore the remaining photoreceptors cells to normal once the disease is ongoing."

While the ability to repair both rods and cones was itself a first, the research team went further, showing that its treatment also repaired the photoreceptor connections to other retinal neurons that eventually send visual signals to the brain, another first.

"This not only provides hope for reversing XLRP but potentially for any form of photoreceptor degeneration," Aguirre said. "Altered inner retinal wiring is a common feature for these diseases that has been considered irreversible.

"The study required a combination of genetic tools and surgical technique to make sure the therapy targeted only the diseased cells. The viral vector had to be injected in the sub-retinal space so as to be in close proximity to the photoreceptors. Likewise, you need to ultimately deliver the therapy to the right location of the retina," Aguirre said.

"In the human disease, careful characterization of the areas of the retina that need to be treated is going to be critical for therapy to succeed in the clinic," Cideciyan said.

The genetic aspect of the viral vector used in this study involved a double safeguard. The first safety feature was to use a viral vector that is known to predominantly target both rods and cones but not other cells. The second safeguard involved attaching the healthy RPGRgene to a "promoter," a piece of genetic code that would "switch on" the gene only if the virus penetrated the correct cell.

Selecting the right promoter was critical; the lead researchers at the University of Florida, William W. Hauswirth and Alfred S. Lewin, had to find one that that would be turned on exclusively in rods and cones. This way, even if the virus made its way to a non-photoreceptor cell, that cell would not start activating the RPGR gene.

That both the promoter and the RPGRgene it activates are taken from humans is a strong sign that the treatment may be translatable to patients.

"While there is still much work to do to assess long-term efficiency and safety with this approach, there is hope that this vector and knowledge could be used in a few years to treat the many patients losing vision from XLRP," Jacobson said.

In addition to Beltran, Aguirre, Cideciyan, Jacobson and Hauswirth, the research was conducted by Sem Genini and Simone Iwabe of Penn Vet; Alejandro J. Rom?n, Malgorzata Swider, Alexander Sumaroka and Tomas S. Alem?n of Scheie; Alfred S. Lewin, Diego S. Fajardo, Vince A. Chiodo, Wen-Tao Deng and Sanford L. Boye of Florida; Hemant Khanna of Michigan and Massachusetts; and Anand Swaroop of Michigan and the National Eye Institute.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a Fight for Sight Nowak family grant, the Midwest Eye Banks and Transplantation Center, the Macula Vision Research Foundation, the Van Sloun Fund for Canine Genetic Research, Hope for Vision, and Research to Prevent Blindness.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Pennsylvania.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. William A. Beltran, Artur V. Cideciyan, Alfred S. Lewin, Simone Iwabe, Hemant Khanna, Alexander Sumaroka, Vince A. Chiodo, Diego S. Fajardo, Alejandro J. Rom?n, Wen-Tao Deng, Malgorzata Swider, Tomas S. Alem?n, Sanford L. Boye, Sem Genini, Anand Swaroop, William W. Hauswirth, Samuel G. Jacobson, and Gustavo D. Aguirre. Gene therapy rescues photoreceptor blindness in dogs and paves the way for treating human X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. PNAS, January 23, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118847109

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123152508.htm

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La. seafood board may buy N.O. arena naming rights (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? The Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board says it may use some of the $30 million it received from BP PLC after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to buy naming rights for the New Orleans Arena, where the NBA's Hornets play.

Executive director Ewell Smith said Tuesday the promotional value would be part of a campaign to restore confidence in Gulf seafood. Many seafood grounds were closed during the spill.

Smith said the campaign could include setting up Louisiana seafood vendor booths at other NBA arenas around the country.

He said the board has spoken with the Hornets and is awaiting more information. The arena is state-owned. A deal, he said, could come within 90 days.

The naming rights proposal was first reported in The Courier of Houma.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/us_no_arena_naming_rights

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Report: Russia to deliver combat jets to Syria (AP)

MOSCOW ? Russia has signed a contract to sell combat jets to Syria, a newspaper reported Monday, in apparent support for President Bashar Assad and open defiance of international condemnation of his regime's bloody crackdown.

The respected business daily Kommersant, citing an unidentified source close to Russia's Rosoboronexport state arms trader, said the $550-million deal envisions the delivery of 36 Yak-130 aircraft. A spokesman for Rosoboronexport refused to comment on the report.

If confirmed, the deal would cement Russian opposition to international efforts to put pressure on Assad's regime over its attempts to snuff out the country's uprising. The U.N. says more than 5,400 people have died over 10 months. The report of the sale comes the same day that Human Rights Watch called Russia's backing of the Syrian regime "immoral."

The Yak-130 is a twin-engined combat trainer jet that can also be used to attack ground targets. The Russian air force has recently placed an order for 55 such jets.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Moscow doesn't consider it necessary to offer an explanation or excuses over suspicions that a Russian ship had delivered munitions to Syria despite an EU arms embargo.

Russia was acting in full respect of international law and wouldn't be guided by unilateral sanctions imposed by other nations, he said.

Lavrov also accused the West of turning a blind eye to attacks by opposition militants and supplies of weapons to the Syrian opposition from abroad and warned that Russia will block any attempt by the West to secure United Nations support for the use of force against Syria.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that if the report is accurate "it would be quite concerning" and would be raised by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, who is currently in Moscow.

"As we've been saying for months, you know, our firm belief is that any country that is still trading in weapons and armaments with Syria really needs to think twice because they are on the wrong side of history, and those weapons can be used against innocents and have been," Nuland said.

Russia has been a strong ally of Syria since Soviet times when the country was led by the president's father Hafez Assad. It has supplied Syria with aircraft, missiles, tanks and other modern weapons.

Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center of Analysis of the Global Arms trade, an independent think-tank, said the jet deal apparently reflected Moscow's belief that Assad would stay at the helm.

"With this contract, Russia is expressing confidence that President Assad would manage to retain control of the situation, because such deals aren't signed with a government whose hold on power raises doubts," Korotchenko was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying. "It's another gesture by Moscow underlining its confidence that Damascus will remain its strategic partner and ally in the Middle East."

Another Moscow-based military analyst, Ruslan Pukhov, said, however, that Russia might be too optimistic about Assad's prospects.

"This contract carries a very high degree of risk," Pukhov told Kommersant. "Assad's regime may fall and that would lead to financial losses for Russia and also hurt its image."

Human Rights Watch warned Russia that by supporting Assad it is repeating the mistakes of some Western governments during the Arab Spring, saying they were too slow to recognize the popular desire for democratic change in places like Egypt and Bahrain.

"Armed elements shooting at government soldiers is materially different from government representatives shooting deliberately at unarmend civilians," Carroll Bogert, the group's deputy executive director, said at a news conference in Moscow that followed the release of HRW's annual report.

She added that the overwhelming number of victims in Syria is on the side of the demonstrators.

"The continued support of this regime is immoral and not permissible," Bogert said. "The West has already made serious mistakes with the support of Arab regimes. Russia's repetition of those mistakes will lead to tragic consequences."

____

Sofia Javed in Moscow and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_syria

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Interview with Erica Lee (Offthekuff)

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Boehner: State of Union speech may be `pathetic' (AP)

WASHINGTON ? House Speaker John Boehner doesn't sound like he's going to have a fun time listening to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Obama is expected to outline an economic blueprint built around manufacturing, energy and education, and officials have said he'll propose fresh ideas to try to get the wealthy to pay more in taxes.

Boehner says it sounds to him like "the same old policies" of more spending, taxes and regulations that have hurt the economy.

The Ohio Republicans tells "Fox News Sunday" that if that's what Obama is going to talk about, then "I think it's pathetic."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_state_of_the_union_boehner

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Beijing Pollution Data: Authorities Release Detailed Information

BEIJING -- Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.

Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

___

Online:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/beijing-pollution-data-_n_1222550.html

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Kurt A. Gardinier: Is Newt Race-Baiting?

If asked, Newt Gingrich would obviously say no, in his arrogant, 'you're asking me a ridiculously stupid question' sort of way, but it sure sounds like he is lately. And if he is, he may be doing the "right" thing politically. At least for now as the next two primaries take place in the south (South Carolina and Florida).

Over the past few weeks Gingrich asserted that the poor children of the country need to learn how to work, and he has repeatedly called President Obama "the best food stamp president in American history," which inspired enthusiastic applause at Monday's Fox News GOP Debate, and a standing ovation shortly thereafter. During a campaign event in New Hampshire earlier this month, Gingrich told an audience, "If the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps." Is he suggesting that African-Americans choose not to work and are satisfied with not working and receiving food stamps? Seems like it. And it doesn't seem like he's even trying to be subtle about it.

The race-baiting strategy proved an effective one for another politician from the south. George Wallace. The four-time Alabama Governor who ran for president in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976 (three as a Democrat and one on the American Independent ticket). His most successful run was in '68 where he won five states (all southern), 46 electoral votes and 13.5% (nearly 10 million) of the popular vote (Wallace remains the last third party candidate to win any electoral votes). And he accomplished all that without ever really saying anything overtly racist, but he spoke in code, a code that was easily deciphered by the millions of white southern voters who supported him.

In the George Wallace show I produced for C-SPAN's "The Contenders" series in November, Wallace's daughter Peggy Wallace Kennedy said that her father "was not a racist. He was a politician." There is certainly a case to be made that he was not a racist, or at the very least that he wasn't always one. During the 1958 campaign for governor, Wallace said, "if I didn't have what it took to treat a man fair regardless of his color, then I don't have what it takes to be the governor of your great state." His tone on race drastically changed during his next run for governor four years later when he famously called for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever" during his inaugural address.

Whether or not Wallace was truly a racist or not, he effectively used racism (however subtle it may have been) as a prominent theme of his gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. Gingrich seems to be doing just that in his current campaign (nearly forty years since Wallace last ran for President), aiming to make radical, latently racist ideas seem somehow acceptable or mainstream by articulating them clearly, confidently and unapologetically.

In the 1995 book From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963-1994, author Dan T. Carter discusses the role of right-wing reaction to the civil rights movement in Republican politics beginning with George Wallace's entrance on to the national scene, arguing that conservatives still exploit racism for political gain. According to Carter, Gingrich was already in the Wallace/race-baiting category back in the early 1990s, so it doesn't surprise me that these race-baiting allegations are being thrown at him now. Carter writes of the strategy of using race to win elections: "The trick lay in sympathizing with and appealing to the fears of angry whites without appearing to become an extremist and driving away moderates-or, as Ehrlichman described the process, to present a position on crime, education, or public housing in such a way that a voter could 'avoid admitting to himself that he was attracted by a racist appeal.'" This tactic seems like a tough thing to pull off, but so far Gingrich seems to be doing it, and effectively, as he continues to rise in the South Carolina polls.

No one will ever truly know if Gingrich is a racist (or if Wallace truly was for that matter) or if he is consciously race-baiting for votes, but like Wallace, he does seem to be speaking in the same kind of code, which may unfortunately work, at least in the short-term (in the upcoming southern primaries). With Governor Rick Perry dropping out yesterday and endorsing Gingrich, who knows what will happen Saturday. It sure is likely that it'll be close, and as Gingrich continues to remind us, every candidate who has won the South Carolina primary has gone on to be the Republican nominee for president.

Kurt A. Gardinier is a freelance producer, editor and writer who has worked at CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN and various production companies.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kurt-a-gardinier/newt-gingrich-race-baiting_b_1220673.html

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A PolitiFact case study (Powerlineblog)

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Ethiopia suspends Bekele for missing camp

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Olympic distance-running great Kenenisa Bekele has been suspended by the Ethiopian federation for not reporting to training camp and in a move that could affect whether he competes at the London Games.

Bekele, winner of the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Beijing Olympics, was among 35 Ethiopian athletes who were suspended through the London Games.

Federation president Bisrat Gashawten Tirfe told The Associated Press the suspension will be lifted if they report for a future camp.

She says "they have to come to terms accordingly."

Bekele's agent, Jos Hermens, claims the federation is grandstanding after a bad showing at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, last August.

Hermens says: "of course, Kenenisa Bekele will be at the Olympics."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-20-ATH-Bekele-Suspended/id-d2f2f29a23bc46c8a9a9e3a434aea0c8

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Wikipedia dark, Google lobbies in protest of anti-piracy bill (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? The English page of Wikipedia, the world's free online encyclopedia, was dark on Wednesday except for a paragraph urging users to protest legislation designed to stop copyright piracy, but that Wikipedia says "could fatally damage the free and open Internet."

Google's home search page has the logo: "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!"

Smaller sites, such as Reddit.com and BoingBoing.net, were also dark, with BoingBoing noting that the proposed anti-piracy bills "would put us in legal jeopardy if we linked to a site anywhere online that had links to copyright infringement."

The companies oppose bills designed to curb access and payments to overseas websites that traffic in stolen content or counterfeit goods on the grounds that it could put them in legal peril.

The legislation has been a major priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and many industry groups. They maintain the proposed law is critical to curbing online piracy they say costs them billions of dollars annually.

Internet companies have furiously opposed the legislation and have stepped up lobbying efforts in recent months, arguing it would undermine innovation and free speech rights, compromise the functioning of the Internet, and would be ineffective in stopping piracy.

The bills were seemingly on the fast track for approval by Congress until the White House criticized aspects of it over the weekend.

Big tech names including Facebook and Twitter declined to participate despite their opposition to the House of Representatives' Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's PROTECT Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). The companies were not prepared to sacrifice a day's worth of revenue and risk the ire of users for a protest whose impact on lawmakers would be hard to gauge.

Google's solution allows the search engine giant to keep revenue attached to its searches, while still highlighting the issue.

"This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts," said Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a sponsor of SOPA. "Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy."

Former Senator Chris Dodd, who now chairs the Motion Picture Association of America, labeled the blackout a "gimmick" and called for its supporters to "stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy."

Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation, which aims to create a transparent government, said the in-your-face public lobbying effort was "very effective."

"It's a way of engaging the public in something that had been a very much behind closed doors kind of business as usual in Washington thing," he said. "Obviously lobbying and campaign contributions are important, but members of Congress still need to get 50 percent of the vote. If a significant portion of their constituents are affected by something ... and go to the other side, you can lose your seat. That's what makes this such an interesting confrontation right now."

(Reporting By Sarah McBride and Jasmin Melvin; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/wr_nm/us_internet_protest

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