Guilherme Paixao USA Edition

The truth about the World Cup and the Olympic Games in Rio (VIDEO)

2012-10-09T12:11:00.000-03:00

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Consumer Reports: iPhone 5 Gets Thumbs-Up From Group That Blasted iPhone 4

2012-10-07T14:08:00.001-03:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Consumer Reports, the influential reviewers' group that blasted the iPhone 4 for a faulty antenna, on Friday gave Apple Inc's latest smartphone a thumbs-up despite echoing widespread complaints about its patchy mapping service.

The organization, which in 2010 withheld its recommendation for the iPhone because of spotty reception when the gadget was held in a certain way, said laboratory tests confirmed that the new iPhone 5 ranked among the best smartphones but its mapping function clearly fell short.

Apple's latest iPhone, sporting a larger 4-inch screen and 4G capability, drew scathing reviews for glaring errors in a new, self-designed mapping service. Chief Executive Tim Cook apologized last week and directed users to rival services run by Google Inc and others.

"Despite the widespread criticism it has received, Apple's new Maps app... is competent enough, even if it falls short of what's available for free on many other phones," reviewer Mike Gikas wrote on the group's website on Friday.

"As Apple has recently apologized and promised to fix these and other map glitches, we expect the Map app to improve in time," he wrote.

Apple's shares were down 1.3 percent at $658.43 in early afternoon trade on Nasdaq.

The consumer electronics juggernaut began selling its latest smartphone last month. Sales of over 5 million in its first three days in stores fell short of outsized expectations as it struggled with supply constraints.

Its homegrown Maps -- stitched together by acquiring companies and employing data from a range of providers including TomTom NV and Waze -- was introduced with much fanfare in June by software chief Scott Forstall. It was billed as a highlight of the updated iOS 6 software.

Errors and omissions quickly emerged after the software was rolled out. They ranged from misplaced buildings and mislabeled cities to duplicate geographical features. Users also complained that the service lacked features that made Google Maps so popular, such as public transit directions and street-view pictures.

The last time Apple faced such widespread criticism -- including from Consumer Reports -- was during 2010's "Antennagate" furor, when users complained of signal reception issues on the then-new iPhone 4. This year the consumer group, which reviews everything from cars to kitchen appliances, also warned initially that Apple's new iPad threw off too much heat.

A defiant Steve Jobs at the time rejected any suggestion the iPhone 4's design was flawed, but offered consumers free phone cases at a rare, 90-minute press conference called to address those complaints.

"Now that our auto experts have completed their tests, including some carried out some days after the launch, they describe the app as relatively streamlined, and concluded that it generally provides clear guidance, including voice and on-screen directions," Gikas wrote.

"However, they did find that it lacks the details, traffic data, and customization options offered by the free Google navigation app found on Android phones."

(Reporting By Edwin Chan; editing by Andrew Hay)

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Venezuela Presidential Election A Critical Test For Divided Nation

2012-10-07T13:40:00.000-03:00

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez's crusade to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, which has bitterly divided the nation, was put to the stiffest electoral test of his nearly 14 years in power on Sunday in a closely fought presidential election.

Reveille blared from sound trucks around the capital to awaken voters and the bugle call was later replaced by folk music mixed with a recording of Chavez's voice saying "those who love the homeland come with me." At many polling places, voters started lining up hours before polls opened at dawn.

Chavez's challenger, Henrique Capriles, has united the opposition in a contest between two camps that distrust each other so deeply there are concerns whether a close election result will be respected.

The stakes couldn't be higher.

If Chavez wins a new six-year term, he gets a free hand to push for an even bigger state role in the economy, further limit dissent and continue to befriend rivals of the United States.

If Capriles wins, a radical foreign policy shift can be expected along with a loosening of state economic controls and an increase in private investment. A tense transition would likely follow until the January inauguration because Chavez's political machine thoroughly controls the wheels of government.

Many Venezuelans were nervous about what might happen if the disputes erupt over the election's announced outcome.

David Hernandez, a Chavez supporter, agreed the mood was tense but he blamed the opposition.

"Chavez is going to win and Capriles will have to accept his defeat," Hernandez said, standing next to his parked motorcycle on a downtown street. "If Capriles doesn't accept his defeat, there could be problems."

Chavez's critics say the president has inflamed divisions by labeling his opponents "fascists," "Yankees" and "neo-Nazis," while Chavez backers allege Capriles would halt generous government programs that assist the poor.

During Chavez's final rally Thursday in Caracas, he shouted to the crowd: "We're going to give the bourgeoisie a beating!"

In various parts of the city, long lines of hundreds of voters snaked along sidewalks and around blocks.

"I'm really tired of all this polarization," said Lissette Garcia, a 39-year-old clothes seller and Capriles supporter who voted Sunday in the affluent Caracas district of Las Mercedes. "I want to reconnect with all my friends who are `Chavistas.'"

Violence flared sporadically during the campaign, including shootings and rock-throwing during rallies and political caravans. Two Capriles supporters were shot to death in the western state of Barinas last weekend.

Troops were dispatched across Venezuela to guard thousands of voting centers Sunday.

Defense Minister Henry Rangel Silva said as he voted that all had been calm in the morning and he hoped that would continue. He said if any groups try to "disturb order, they should know there is an armed force prepared and equipped and trained... to put down any attempt at disturbances."

He didn't identify the groups to which he was referring.

Chavez held an impromptu news conference Saturday night, and when asked about the possibility of disputes over the vote, he said he expected both sides to accept the result. He says he has successfully emerged from about a year of cancer treatment.

"It's a mature, democratic country where the institutions work, where we have one of the best electoral systems in the world," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace.

But he also said he hoped no one would try to use the vote to play a "destabilizing game." If they do, he said, "we'll be alert to neutralize them."

His opponents mounted a noisy protest in Caracas and other major cities on Saturday night, beating pots and pans from the windows of their homes to show displeasure with Chavez – and also their hopes for change. Drivers on downtown streets honked horns, joining the din.

The 40-year-old Capriles, a wiry former governor affectionately called "Skinny" by supporters, has infused the opposition with new optimism, and opinion polls pointed to him giving Chavez his closest election.

Some recent polls showed Chavez with a lead of about 10 percentage points, while others put the two candidates roughly even.

"Chavez is going to fight until his last breath. He doesn't know how to do anything else," said Antonio Padron, a bank employee backing the president.

Padron expressed optimism that the 58-year-old Chavez would win, noting the leader has survived a fight with cancer that has included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

But Padron predicted a close finish: "It's a tough fight. The opposition has never been this strong."

Chavez won the last presidential vote in 2006 with 63 percent of the vote.

A former army paratroop commander first elected in 1999, Chavez has presided over an oil boom and has spent billions of dollars on government social programs ranging from cash benefits for single mothers to free education.

But he has suffered declining support due to one of the world's highest murder rates, 18 percent inflation, a deteriorating electrical grid and a bloated government accused of endemic corruption and mismanagement.

While his support has slipped at home, Chavez has also seen his international influence ebb since he emerged in the mid-2000s as leader of a like-minded club of newly elected Latin American leftist presidents.

"I want to tell President Chavez, I want to tell him his cycle is over," Capriles said at his final campaign rally Thursday.

Capriles says Chavez has stirred up hatred, hobbled the economy by expropriating private businesses and squandered oil wealth. He criticized Chavez's preferential deals supplying oil to allies, including one that lets Cuba pay with the services of Cuban doctors.

"We aren't going to finance the political model that exists in Cuba," Capriles said in a TV interview last week. "But we aren't going to break off relations with Cuba."

Chavez accumulated near-absolute power over the past decade thanks to his control of the National Assembly, pliant institutions such as the Central Bank and friendly judges.

Gino Caso, an auto mechanic, said he would vote for Capriles because he thought Chavez was power-hungry and out of touch with problems such as crime. He said his son had been robbed, as had neighboring shops.

"I don't know what planet he lives on," Caso said, gesturing with hands blackened with grease. "He wants to be like Fidel Castro – end up with everything, take control of the country."

Political analyst Ricardo Sucre said he expected the election to show "two halves, more or less even." Regardless of the result, he said, Venezuelans are likely to remain deeply divided by politics for years to come.

___

Associated Press writers Christopher Toothaker, Jorge Rueda and Vivian Sequera contributed to this report.

___

Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap

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Study reveals ancient greenhouse gas emissions

2012-10-04T20:41:00.000-03:00

An analysis of Greenland ice core samples indicates significant global methane emissions per capita during the Roman Empire and China's Han Dynasty — much greater than had been known.

Centuries before the Industrial Revolution or the recognition of global warming, the ancient Roman and Chinese empires were already producing powerful greenhouse gases through their daily toil, according to a new study.

The burning of plant matter to cook food, clear cropland and process metals released millions of tons of methane gas into the atmosphere each year during several periods of pre-industrial history, according to the study, published Thursday in the journal Nature.

Although the quantity of methane produced back then pales in comparison with the emissions released today — the total amount is roughly 70 times greater now — the findings suggest that man's footprint on the climate is larger than previously realized. Until now, it was assumed by scientists that human activity began increasing greenhouse gas levels only after the year 1750.

"The quantities are much smaller, because there were fewer people on Earth," said study leader Celia Sapart, an atmospheric chemist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. "But the amount of methane emitted per person was significant."

Sapart's conclusions were based on an analysis of ice core samples from Greenland. The layered ice columns, which date back 2,000 years, contain tiny air bubbles from different periods of history, and provide scientists with a view into the atmosphere's changing chemistry.

The first period of methane production captured in the ice cores — roughly from the years AD 1 to 300 — encompassed the tail ends of the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty, when charcoal was the preferred form of fuel. The second period of elevated methane emissions occurred during what's known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly, from roughly 800 to 1200, and a third was found during the Little Ice Age between 1300 and 1600.

Methane is one of a few gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. It forms naturally when plant and animal matter decomposes in airless environments, and it's also released when vegetation burns. However, when methane is produced by burning, it contains heavier carbon isotopes than methane generated through decomposition.

By using a mass spectrometer to study the air trapped in the ice cores, Sapart and her colleagues were able to determine the ratio of methane produced by burning and by decomposition. The study notes that not all cases of burned vegetation were the result of human activity; forest fires, particularly in times of drought, would also contribute to so-called pyrogenic methane production. The research team used mathematical models to account for this naturally burning vegetation and other fluctuations in atmospheric methane content.

"The results show that between 100 BC and AD 1600, human activity may have been responsible for roughly 20-30% of the total pyrogenic methane emissions," the authors wrote.

The research appeared to be the result of very careful and very difficult examination of carbon isotopes and could impact global warming estimates for the pre-industrial period, according to Ed Dlugokencky, a methane expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

"The study gives further evidence for a contribution to the global methane burden from anthropogenic sources," said Dlugokencky, who was not involved in the study.

Sapart said that though the study helped answer questions about the past, there were still plenty that remained about the future. Of particular concern is the melting of permafrost in the Arctic regions, where methane trapped in the frozen earth and ice is allowed to escape into the atmosphere.

"To date, we do not know how natural methane sources will evolve together with human-induced climate change, but it is likely those natural sources will increase," she said.

LOSANGELESTIMES

In Presidential Debate, A Missed Opportunity For Romney To Press Obama On Foreclosure Policy

2012-10-04T20:28:00.001-03:00

He name-checked Big Bird, but didn't once mention foreclosures.

In an hour-and-a-half debate on an economy still shell-shocked by the housing crisis, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's sole critique of President Barack Obama's policy was that regulators are taking too long to write new mortgage guidelines, and that this is holding back a full recovery of the market.

"It's been two years," Romney said. "We don't know what a qualified mortgage is yet. So banks are reluctant to make loans, mortgages. Try and get a mortgage these days. It's hurt the housing market."

Obama, who decided to adopt his tedious law professor persona during the firstpresidential debate of the 2012 election, held Wednesday night in Denver, has taken the most flak from pundits for failing to press the attack against his rival. But Romney's choice to focus on the speed at which regulators are writing new rules instead of hammering Obama for his disappointing foreclosure prevention programs also seems to be a missed opportunity.

The president's signature housing rescue plan, the Home Affordable Modification Program, has helped just over 1 million borrowers lower their payments, not the 3 to 4 million that the president and his Treasury Department predicted. The program has also been dogged by complaints that the mortgage companies essentially left to run it have botched the job, making life miserable for millions of borrowers and pushing many into wrongful foreclosure.

Had Obama's housing plan helped as many people as he said it would when it was first rolled out in 2009, the foreclosure crisis "would be history," said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics. The housing recovery that began earlier this year would have begun in earnest in early 2011, and by now default rates would be back to historical norms, he said.

Though housing prices have begun to recover, more than 1.5 million homes remain in some stage of default or foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac.

But Romney did not talk about any of that. Instead, in an exchange about the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, the former Massachusetts governor said that lenders face “big penalties” if they make an unqualified mortgage, and that this is holding back the housing market.

The qualified mortgage rule Romney was referencing, as proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would set new standards for how a mortgage company determines a borrower’s ability to repay.

One of the big debates about the new standards, and part of the reason why it is taking so long to implement them, is disagreement about what kind of legal protection mortgage companies would get for agreeing to not offer the harmful products, such as the no-documentation “liar’s loans" that led to the housing crash.

Companies that violate these rules will face penalties, but there is an important caveat: since the rules haven’t been written, no penalties are yet in place. It's not completely clear from the context of the speech, but Romney appeared to suggest he thinks mortgage companies might be facing these penalties right now.

In an interview with HuffPost Wednesday night, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who co-authored the reform bill, rebutted that assertion. He said the policy as of now “has no effect.”

Romney was correct when he said that taking out a home mortgage is difficult, though it is unclear whether the lack of certainty about this rule has much to do with it. Most housing experts have said other factors are to blame.

For starters, banks have been reluctant to hire new staff to handle the wave of applicants for mortgages. And while interest rates are very low, banks haven’t reduced them in lockstep with how much they are paying to borrow the money to lend – a discrepancy that is good for their bottom line but is making loans a bit more costly than they would be otherwise.

As HuffPost previously reported, the biggest roadblock is likely the bailed-out mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which now bundle up most new home loans made in the U.S for sale on the secondary market.

Under the control of their regulator-conservator the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the companies have set strict rules about what kinds of mortgages they will purchase, and have forced banks to buy back billions of dollars of defaulted loans. There are signs that the agency may relax these rules, but this fear has held back lending.

“No one wants to be the next Countrywide,” said Larry Sweeney, a mortgage broker in St. Petersburg, Fla., referring to the mortgage giant that collapsed under the weight of bad loans (and was bought by Bank of America).

A loosening of Fannie and Freddie guidelines would “slingshot” sales ahead by 20 to 25 percent, Sweeney predicted.

Neither candidate has shown much interest in talking about foreclosures or housing policy during the campaign. Obama has likely kept quiet on the issue because his policies haven't done what he said they would do, and Romney perhaps won't speak up because he doesn't have any better ideas. A housing recovery plan the Romney campaign recently released on its website includes no details. "The right choice is to let the markets work," Romney said at a debate last year in Las Vegas.

Fannie and Freddie still owe taxpayers about $140 billion and pretty much prop up the entire U.S. housing market. But they are stuck in legal and political limbo. What happens to them next will set the course for the state of home ownership for the next 30 years.

So what did Romney and Obama say they would do about the companies during their debate?

It didn't come up.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

Obama Blasts Mitt Romney's Debate Claims: 'You Owe The American People The Truth'

2012-10-04T20:11:00.005-03:00

DENVER -- Looking for a quick recovery from a disappointing debate, President Barack Obama questioned the identity of the "real" Mitt Romney on Thursday, suggesting his Republican rival had not been candid about his policy positions while on stage.

"Gov. Romney may dance around his positions but if you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth," Obama said at a post-debate rally.

Romney's campaign dismissed the criticism as "damage control."

Obama's aggressive stand came as his campaign conceded he will have to adjust his debate style. Wednesday's night event was widely viewed as a win for Romney and a lost opportunity for Obama to connect with the American people as national polls had showed him with a slight advantage heading into their first debate.

Obama said that when he reached the debate stage "I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney. But it couldn't have been Mitt Romney," Obama said, adding that the "real Mitt Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. The fellow on stage last night said he didn't know anything about that."

The president also accused Romney of misrepresenting past statements on education and outsourcing. In tough comments, the president said Romney "does not want to be held accountable ... because he knows full well that we don't want what he's selling."

Obama panned Romney's suggestion during the debate that one way to pare back federal spending is to cut the subsidy for PBS, which airs "Sesame Street." Romney said he likes PBS and "I love Big Bird," but said the country couldn't afford to keep borrowing money from China to pay for things like that.

"When he was asked what he'd actually do to cut the deficit and reduce spending, he said he'd eliminate funding for public television. That was his answer. I mean thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird. It's about time," Obama joked. "We didn't know that Big Bird was driving the federal deficit. But that's what we heard last night. How about that? Elmo, too?"

Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams responded to the accusations of dishonesty by saying Romney demonstrated in the debate why he should be president.

"In full damage-control mode, President Obama today offered no defense of his record and no vision for the future," Williams said. "Rather than a plan to fix our economy, President Obama simply offered more false attacks and renewed his call for job-killing tax hikes."

In a conference call with reporters, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said the president would make "adjustments" and would need to determine by the next presidential debate on Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y., how best to counter what the campaign considers Romney's evasions on a series of issues.

Comparing it to a playoff game in sports, Axelrod said: "You evaluate after every contest and you make adjustments and I'm sure that we will make adjustments. I don't see us adding huge amounts of additional prep times. There are some strategic judgments that have to be made and we'll make them."

Axelrod sought to turn the questions about the debate into a matter of character, repeatedly accusing Romney of "hiding the truth and the facts" from the American people.

"It was a very vigorous performance, but one that was devoid of honesty," Axelrod said of Romney. He said the Republican presidential nominee offered well-delivered but "fraudulent" lines that will be hard to hold up over the remainder of the campaign.

Building on that narrative, Obama's campaign quickly released an ad questioning Romney's truthfulness, arguing that he didn't level with middle-class families on how his tax plan would affect them. "If we can't trust him here, how could we ever trust him here?" the ad says. It was airing in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

Is Mars rover using Internet 182 million miles from Earth?

2012-10-04T20:03:00.000-03:00

If you think your list of Foursquare check-ins at hot restaurants and bars makes you cool, guess again. The Mars rover Curiosity beat you by a mile (or 182 million miles, the current distance between the Earth and Mars): It checked in on Mars on October 3.

At approximately 2 p.m. (East Coast Earth time), the car-sized rover -- sent to the red planet to study its climate and geology and look for signs of past life -- posted the following update on the location-based social network:

The question we have: How does someone (or in this case, something) check in at a location 182 million miles from Earth? The answer, disappointingly, is it can't -- not really.

"The rover isn't capable of sending [a Foursquare update]," explained Veronica McGregor of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We had to help it out."

What NASA's Earth-bound social media team did was take the true latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of the rover in the red planet's Gale Crater and send them to Foursquare. So the check-in is real, location information and all; but we can no longer justifiably imagine Curiosity mechanical arms desperately struggling with an iPhone keyboard's autocorrect.

While the rover's not connected to the Internet, it communicates with engineers using NASA's powerful Deep Space Network. Signals are sent by radio waves via orbiters circling Mars or, if need be, directly to Earth without a satellite's help. Currently, it takes about 16 minutes for a radio message sent by Curiosity to reach Earth. That's how the rover's been sending back all those amazing photos from the surface of Mars.

Nevertheless, Curiosity's presence on social media is very cool. "We'll continue to update as the rover roves," McGregor said, adding that they'll sprinkle in some of the science the rover is doing along the way. Of course, the team's also tweeting for Curiosity too.

The Martian checkin is only the latest status update from space: NASA's Douglas Wheelock checked into the International Space Station in 2010and astronauts have been tweeting since 2009.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

New 2012 Polls Show Little Change In State Of Race

2012-10-01T13:23:00.000-03:00

WASHINGTON -- With attention turning to the first of three upcoming national debates, new polls show President Barack Obama continuing to hold a narrow lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney, both nationwide and in the key battleground states that are likely to decide the election.

Two new national surveys released on Monday morning both show a slightly closer race than most other recent polls, although those new results are consistent with previous surveys from the same organizations, indicating that Obama's September lead is holding.

The new Washington Post/ABC News survey finds Obama leading by just 2 percentage points nationwide (49 percent to 47 percent) among the voters deemed most likely to vote. But that result was no different than their previous survey, taken just after the Democratic convention three weeks ago, which showed Obama with a 1-point edge (49 percent to 48 percent).

However, among all registered voters nationwide, the new Post/ABC poll shows Obama leading by 5 percentage points (49 percent to 44 percent), again the same margin as their survey found three weeks ago. The Post also reports that Obama's lead over Romney is larger (52 percent to 41 percent) among a subset of likely voters in swing states.

Similarly, a new Politico/George Washington University Battleground poll also finds Obama leading by 2 percentage points among likely voters (49 percent to 47 percent), a finding essentially unchanged from the 3-point Obama margin (50 percent to 47 percent) found in their previous survey.

The four results have been collectively more favorable to Romney than those produced by other recent national polls, and more importantly, they have shown no statistically meaningful trend in September. The HuffPost Pollster tracking model, which draws on all national and state-level polling and corrects for consistent "house effect" differences among pollsters, continues to give Obama a slightly larger, 4 percentage point lead over Romney.

Similarly, a handful of new statewide surveys released over the weekend shows results consistent with a 3- to 4-point Obama lead nationwide.

In Iowa, a new Des Moines RegisterIowa poll found Obama leading by 4 percentage points (49 percent to 45 percent), exactly the same margin as the Pollster tracking model.

In Ohio, an automated recorded-voice survey by the Democratic-affiliated firm Public Policy Pollinggives Obama a 4 percentage point advantage, while a new Columbus Dispatch mail-in survey gives Obama a 9-point lead. Not surprisingly, Obama's lead on the Pollster tracking model falls somewhere in between.

Finally, another new PPP poll from North Carolina shows a dead-even race, with each candidate at 48 percent -- again, consistent with a similarly close margin on HuffPost's tracking model. North Carolina has been the closest of the 50 states over the last three weeks.

Thus, the combination of national and statewide polling continues to show Obama leading Romney by statistically meaningful margins in all of the battleground states except North Carolina. Were he to carry all of the states where he is currently leading, Obama would win 332 electoral votes -- far more than the 270 needed to win. Romney currently leads in states accounting for 191 electoral votes.

Can Wednesday night's nationally televised debates between Obama and Romney, the first of three to be held between now and late October, be a "game changer" for Romney? Not likely, according to George Washington University political scientist John Sides.

"When it comes to shifting enough votes to decide the outcome of the election," Sides writes in the Washington Monthly, "presidential debates have rarely, if ever, mattered."

Sides cites research by political scientists Robert Erikson and Christopher Wlezien, who studied polling from every election from 1952 to 2008 and found that while debates sometimes nudge results, they rarely produce substantial changes in voter preferences. Erikson and Wlezien found that since 1960, the leader in the polling before the debates remained the leader after the debates.

The most significant before-and-after debate shift was toward Gerald Ford in his 1976 race against Jimmy Carter. However, as Erikson and Wlezien note, "Carter's support was in steady decline" during the final month of the race.

It is worth remembering that while Obama enjoys a statistically meaningful lead in national polling, his margin remains relatively modest compared to past elections. So while a "nudge" toward Romney on the order of what debates produced in1980, 2000 or 2004 might not be enough to move Romney ahead, it could make for a much closer race.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

Einstein's Brain On An iPad? Surprisingly, There's Now An App For That

2012-09-25T10:27:00.000-03:00

CHICAGO (AP) — While Albert Einstein's genius isn't included, an exclusive iPad application launched Tuesday promises to make detailed images of his brain more accessible to scientists than ever before.

The application will allow researchers and novices to peer into the eccentric Nobel winner's brain as if they were looking through a microscope. A medical museum under development in Chicago obtained funding to scan and digitize nearly 350 fragile and priceless slides made from slices of Einstein's brain after his death in 1955.

"I can't wait to find out what they'll discover," said Steve Landers, a consultant for the National Museum of Health and Medicine Chicago who designed the app. "I'd like to think Einstein would have been excited."

After Einstein died, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey performed an autopsy, removing his brain in hopes that future researchers could discover the secrets behind his genius.

Harvey gave samples to researchers and collaborated on a 1999 study published in the Lancet. That study showed a region of Einstein's brain — the parietal lobe — was 15 percent wider than normal. The parietal lobe is important to the understanding of math, language and spatial relationships.

The new iPad app may allow researchers to dig even deeper by looking for brain regions where the neurons are more densely connected than normal, said Dr. Phillip Epstein, a Chicago-area neuroscientist and consultant for the museum.

But because the tissue was preserved before modern imaging technology, it may be difficult for scientists to figure out exactly where in Einstein's brain each slide originated. Although the new app organizes the slides into general brain regions, it doesn't map them with precision to an anatomical model.

"They didn't have MRI. We don't have a three-dimensional model of the brain of Einstein, so we don't know where the samples were taken from," said researcher Jacopo Annese of the Brain Observatory at the University of California, San Diego. What's more, the slides on the app represent only a fraction of the entire brain, Annese said.

Annese has preserved and digitized another famous brain, that of Henry Molaison, who died in 2008 after living for decades with profound amnesia. Known as "H.M." in scientific studies, Molaison participated during his life in research that revealed new insights on learning and memory.

A searchable website with images of more than 2,400 slides of Molaison's entire brain will be available to the public in December, Annese said.

"There will be another Einstein and we'll do it like H.M.," Annese predicted. For now, he said, it's exciting that the Einstein brain tissue has been preserved digitally before the slides deteriorate or become damaged.

Some may question whether Einstein would have wanted images of his remains sold to non-scientists for $9.99.

"There's been a lot of debate over what Einstein's intentions were," museum board member Jim Paglia said. "We know he didn't want a circus made of his remains. But he understood the value to research and science to study his brain, and we think we've addressed that in a respectful manner."

Paglia said the app could "inspire a whole new generation of neuroscientists."

Proceeds from sales will go to the U.S. Department of Defense's National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland, and to the Chicago satellite museum, which is set to open in 2015 with interactive exhibits and the museum's digital collections.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

FBI Investigates Shooting Of Double-Amputee Brian Claunch By Houston Police Officer Matthew Marin

2012-09-25T10:18:00.000-03:00

John Garcia stands in front of his home Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, in Houston, where police say an officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair inside the group home.

HOUSTON — A caretaker at a group home for the mentally ill called police in the middle of the night because a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair was angry and wouldn't calm down.

What happened next is the subject of an investigation that now involves the FBI. One of the two Houston police officers who entered the home fatally shot the double-amputee in the head, saying he was cornered by the wheelchair and thought his partner was being threatened by what turned out to be a ballpoint pen.

Houston's police chief responded Monday to escalating criticism about the weekend shooting by cautioning against a rush to judgment. Community and civil rights groups say the incident is another example of problems that the Houston Police Department has with using excessive force.

"It is my desire to have everyone reserve judgment until all the facts and evidence in this investigation have been gathered," Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said.

Officer Matthew Marin shot 45-year-old Brian Claunch early Saturday after responding to a call that the man, who reportedly lost two limbs in a train accident, was causing a disturbance. Police say Claunch cornered and threatened to kill Marin, who reportedly told investigators he didn't know the object in Claunch's hand was a pen.

John Garcia, who owns the group home, told reporters over the weekend that Claunch liked to draw.

McClelland said Monday he would enlist the FBI's help in the investigation and reassured the public his officers are trained to deal with people with mental problems.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said she didn't know if the department requesting FBI assistance in officer-involved shootings was rare but said "it's the step we're taking at this point."

But the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice, a group that includes 16 local and national civil rights organizations, suggested Claunch's death was part of a bigger problem at the Houston Police Department.

"The deeper problem is a failure to discipline for excessive force, especially in the area of shootings," said Randall Kallinen, a member of the group and a local civil rights attorney. "They are concerned only about liability."

Kallinen said he would like the shooting to spark a change in the department regarding discipline and training of officers.

Marin, a five-year veteran of the department, has been placed on three-day administrative leave. That is standard department procedure for all officer-involved shootings, and Silva said no unusual measures were being taken that would prevent Marin from returning to duty this week.

It's the second time Marin has killed a suspect while on duty. In 2009, investigators said Marin came upon a man stabbing his neighbor to death at an apartment complex and fired when the suspect refused to drop the knife, according to the Houston Chronicle.

In 2008, Marin was one of three Houston police officers who were accused of assaulting the father of Green Bay Packers player Donald Driver. They were later cleared and filed a defamation lawsuit that was later dropped.

The Healing Hands group facility, located in a somewhat rundown brick home, was quiet Monday.

Garcia could not be found at the facility on Monday and a woman at a separate address under his name said he was not there and asked a reporter to leave the property.

Estella Olguin, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Guardianship Program, said Claunch had been a ward of the county since 2003 and had lived at the home since March.

Garcia said Claunch had lost his right leg to just above the knee and his entire right arm when he was hit by a train, according to the Houston Chronicle. He said Claunch was schizophrenic.

Marin and a partner arrived at the Healing Hands around 2:30 a.m. responding to a disturbance call made a caretaker at the home. Police have not elaborated on the nature of the disturbance and authorities Monday had not yet made the 911 call public.

Once inside the home, according to a department statement Monday, the two policemen found Claunch agitated and threatening to kill the officers and other residents. While yelling at the officers, Claunch "waved a shiny object in his hand in their direction," according to the statement.

Police say Claunch refused an officer's direction to drop what turned out to be a ballpoint pen.

"As the suspect backed one of the officers into a corner, he attempted to stab the officer with the object," the statement said. "Officer Marin, fearing for his partner's life, and his own safety, discharged his duty weapon one time, striking the suspect."

Relatives of Claunch could not be found Monday. Public records show Claunch had brushes with the law multiple times over the last 20 years, including a 2006 arrest for trespassing at a shelter. His record also includes drug convictions.

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Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren Debate: Candidates Clash In First Massachusetts Senate Debate

2012-09-20T22:16:00.000-03:00

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren at Thursday's debate.

The matchup between Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren has been discussed for more than a year, and the first exchange in their debate Thursday focused on the issue of Warren's claimed Native American heritage.

"Professor Warren claimed that she's a Native American and a person of color, and she's not," Brown said. "But the fact is she checked a box."

Warren responded, "I think that Senator Brown is a nice guy, and this race is about the issues." She defended her decision to check a box on employment applications at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania as coming from knowledge from her Oklahoman family. She added that those who hired her said she never gained a benefit from it. "I never asked anyone about any documentation," she said.

"You're an excellent woman too," Brown responded, then implored her to "release the personnel records."

"This is about family. I can't -- and won't -- change who I am," shot back Warren.

The sharp exchange, minor in comparison to the economic crisis and ongoing war in Afghanistan, set the tone for the debate, with both candidates disagreeing substantively over the issues in a state where the political debate runs from left to slightly right-of-center. Jon Keller, a longtime local political commentator, moderated the debate in a Boston television studio with aplomb, and generally stayed out and let the candidates spar.

The next fight came over tax cuts, and the difference was clear. Brown painted Warren as a tax-and-spend liberal, while Warren cited Brown's votes against Democratic jobs bills in the Senate.

"When I talk about how people who are really struggling, I don't know how Senator Brown can vote against them. but Senator Brown is lining up with the Republicans to vote no," said Warren.

"The criticism you're hearing is that I don't want to raise taxes -- guilty as charged," Brown said. "I don't want to raise taxes." He then said, "The only person who's hurting the middle class and raising taxes is you!"

Warren said that Brown would hold "98 percent of families hostage" if the Senate did not vote to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all earners. "We can't do that to hard-working, middle-class families," she said.

Brown's famous truck made an appearance in a clash over oil subsidies. "I'm no friend of big oil, I'm a friend of the motorist," Brown said. "It cost about 70 dollars to fill up the truck the other day." He charged that Warren was "obsessed" with raising taxes.

"I'm concerned with how the senator has voted," Warren said. "He's voted to allow billions of your tax dollars to go to the oil industry. This is a real difference between the senator and me. This is about whose side you are on."

The two candidates, who describe themselves "pro-choice" like most Massachusetts voters, also sparred over women's rights. Warren cited Brown's votes against an equal pay for equal work bill and his vote for the Blunt Amendment, which would have allowed employers to make a moral or religious exemption over insurance coverage for contraception.

"You should stop scaring women, Professor," Brown retorted. "I've been fighting for women since I've been 6 years old," shot back Brown. "I want people to have contraceptive care." He then said he had "the same position" as the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose seat he succeeded, in supporting a conscience exemption in health care. (Kennedy's son, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I., called Brown'sciting of Kennedy "misleading" and told him to stop doing it.)

"I don't think that's what Senator Kennedy fought for and i think it's inappropriate to characterize Senator Kennedy in that way," Warren said.

In a debate over foreign policy, both candidates praised President Barack Obama, and Warren made the distinction that she supports his re-election while Brown does not.

"Obama's drawing a harder line and that's a good thing," said Brown on Iran.

Warren agreed. "I think with Iran, it's very clear, we cannot have a nuclear Iran," she said. "President Obama's done a really great job." She pivoted, "I'm still working to have President Obama be the commander in chief, not Mitt Romney."

Brown quietly support's Romney, who is unpopular in Massachusetts after his one-term governorship and will likely lose his state by double digits. He did not mention him in the debate.

"I agree with you again, I think Secretary Clinton's doing a great job," said Brown, before adding a slight criticism of Obama to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Toward the end of the one-hour debate, Warren tied another Republican senator to Brown, saying that Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who denies global warming, could be the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee if Brown's victory leads Republicans to win control of the Senate.

"You're not running against Jim Inhofe, You're running against me," shot back Brown, who touts his independence from national Republicans.

Warren stayed with the attack. "This really may be the race for control of the United States Senate, not just about Senator Brown's vote -- it's about all the Republicans."

Brown cast himself as "the second-most bipartisan senator" and called Warren the "founder of the radical Occupy protest movement." "Can you imagine 100 Professor Warrens down there placing blame and raising taxes?" he asked.

She responded, "I think it's clear, this race is about who's side you stand on."

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Gay Marriage Likely To Go Before Supreme Court Within The Next Year

2012-09-19T23:12:00.000-03:00

BOULDER, Colo. -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Wednesday that she believes the Defense of Marriage Act will likely go to the U.S. Supreme Court within the next year.

Ginsburg spoke at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She was asked a student-submitted question about the equal-protection clause and whether the nation's high court would consider it applying to sexual orientation.

Ginsburg said with a smile that she couldn't answer the question. She said she could not talk about matters that would come to the court, and that the Defense of Marriage Act would probably be up soon.

"I think it's most likely that we will have that issue before the court toward the end of the current term," she said.

The 1996 law has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in New York and is awaiting arguments before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Those oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 27.

The law was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton after the Hawaii Supreme Court issued a ruling in 1993 making it appear Hawaii might legalize gay marriage.

Since then, many states have banned gay marriage, while eight states have approved it, led by Massachusetts in 2004 and continuing with Connecticut, New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland and Washington state. Maryland and Washington's laws aren't yet in effect and might be subject to referendums.

In February 2011, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder instructed the Department of Justice to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

Ginsburg's remarks came at a conference sponsored by the University of Colorado law school. Ginsburg talked mostly about entering the legal profession when there were few female lawyers and even fewer judges.

The students roared with laughter when Ginsburg told of scrambling even to find a women's restroom in law school at Columbia University in the 1950s.

"We never complained, that's just the way it was," she said to laughter from the students.

___

Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

Mitt Romney: 'My Campaign Is About The 100 Percent'

2012-09-19T22:50:00.002-03:00

Mitt Romney said at a Univision forum in Miami that his campaign is about 100 percent of America.

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday attempted to explain his controversial "47 percent" comments, saying he may campaign toward specific groups, but would focus as president on the entire nation.

"My campaign is about the 100 percent of America, and I'm concerned about them," he told Univision anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas at Univision's "Meet the Candidate" forum, co-hosted by Facebook at the University of Miami.

"I know I'm not going to get 100 percent of the vote, and my campaign will focus on those people we can think we can bring in to support me," he continued. "But this is a campaign about helping people that need help."

Romney has been fighting since Monday to tamp down outrage over his secretly videotaped remarks at a private fundraiser on the 47 percent of Americans whom he claimed will vote for President Barack Obama because they feel they are "entitled to health care, to food, to housing."

The forum was a consolation after the Spanish-language network lost its fight to host a presidential debate. It was also Romney's second speech this week directed at Latinos, a group he hopes to win over, so far with little progress.

Although not a debate, the Univision candidate forums set up Romney for a comparison with President Barack Obama, who will speak to Univision on Thursday in a similar format. The two will have different audiences, however, because both campaigns pushed to stack their crowds with supporters. The audience Wednesday cheered and clapped at Romney's applause lines.

Still, he faced tough interviewers in Ramos and Salinas, both of whom were especially persistent in questioning Romney on his immigration policies.

The crowd booed when Ramos asked Romney about his comments on self-deportation. "I have some friends, apparently," Romney joked. (Watch the video below.)

Romney tried to paint a rosy picture of his plan for immigration, which he has previously said includes vetoing the proposed Dream Act -- popular among Latino voters -- and solving the problem of undocumented immigrants by encouraging them to "self-deport." That approach, often called "attrition through enforcement," would essentially make life so difficult that they would choose to leave.

Romney's view has been criticized as both inhumane and unrealistic, given the huge number of undocumented immigrants -- who he called illegal immigrants -- and the strong ties many have here.

During Wednesday's forum, he backed away from the self-deportation strategy as an immigration solution.

"I'm not in favor of a mass-deportation effort, rounding up 12 million people and taking them out of the country," he said. "I believe people make their own choices as to whether they want to go home and that's what I mean by 'self-deportation.'"

Romney has been evasive on how he would deal with undocumented immigrants currently living in the country. Obama has said he would support giving some immigrants legal status if they meet certain requirements, including paying a fine. Romney has refused to say whether he would end Obama's new deferred action policy that removes the deportation risk faced by some undocumented young people who would be helped by the Dream Act.

Romney was repeatedly pressed to say whether he would end the policy, but only said he doesn't need to answer because he would fix the issue through legislation. That was no comfort to many immigration advocates, who know the difficulties of passing immigration legislation in Congress.

"Are you going to deport them or not? Yes or no?" Salinas asked Romney, as translated to English by Univision.

"We're not going to round up people around the country and deport them, that's not -- I said during my primary campaign, time and again, we're not going to round up 12 million people ... and have them deported. Our system isn't to deport people."

Salinas pressed on. "That's your answer, that you're going to allow them to stay?" she asked.

"I'm not going to be rounding people up and deporting them out of the country, we're going to put in place a permanent solution," Romney replied.

Romney addressed the economy and education, laying out what amounted to a stump speech on both issues and their importance to Latinos. He also handled the topic of health care smoothly. He laughed off controversy over his Massachusetts health care law's similarity to Obamacare.

Ramos later asked Romney to think personally about his views on same-sex marriage and how he would respond if his child or grandchild wanted to enter a same-sex marriage. Romney joked that he would be surprised if one of his sons did -- they're all married already -- but that he would "of course want them to be happy" if a grandchild came out as gay. Nevertheless, he said he still opposes marriage between two men or two women.

Romney's joking comment on the secret videotape that he'd win the president easier if he were Latino was unchallenged at the forum. He made a similar quip to Ramos during an interview in January, noting his father was born in Mexico. The line was met with laughs then, but has been attacked this week as offensive.

Not so much back at Univision. "Are you sure you're not a Hispanic?" Ramos said, as translated by Univision.

"I think for political purposes that might have helped me," Romney said, laughing.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

HMV responds to Chris Brown controversy: "Someone went into one of our stores and put the stickers on"

2012-09-16T15:42:00.000-03:00

Chris Brown came under fire this week for a new neck tattoo that appears to show the battered face of a woman. Brown and his tattoo artist insist that the tat is a depiction of a Mexican sugar skull.

In at least one HMV store in London,Chris Brown's latest album comes with a special advisory warning.

But unlike the usual cautionary labels that come with albums that have explicit themes or language, this warning underscores the singer's violent past.

"WARNING: Do not buy this album! This man beats women," the stickers read.

On Thursday, Twitter user@piercepenniless posted a photograph of Brown's album "Fortune" adorned with the domestic violence warning stickers:

(Credit: Twitpic/@piercepenniless)

The photo was reportedly snapped in an HMV store in London.

According to Gigwise, the labels are believed to be "the work of anti-domestic violence campaigners."

According to Gennaro Castaldo, the head of press & PR for HMV, the labels were quickly removed from the merchandise.

"Someone went into one of our stores and put the stickers on," Castaldo told The Huffington Post in a statement. "We spotted and removed them quickly but before we could do so the person circulated a photo to media."

This is not the first time that Brown (and his new album) has come under fire.

In July, music critics lambasted Brown for his history of violence after "Fortune"'s release, with music journalist Chloe Papas calling it a "repugnant record that we can only hope will be [the singer's] last."

In her review, dubbed by some as "best album review you will ever read," Papas argued that it would be categorically unreasonable for someone to buy Brown's album:

Regardless of whether Chris Brown has any musical talent (he doesn't) or whether this album is any good (it isn't), the man recently brutally assaulted a woman, and is still regularly invited back to award shows and worshipped by 'Breezy' fans worldwide. Which is, frankly, disgusting. And for those of you out there saying you need to separate the music and the man: screw you, don't encourage his actions. Final words: don't buy this album.

The 23-year-old R&B singer infamously assaulted ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. He has also more recently made headlines for his involvement in other violent incidents.

Brown found himself embroiled in another controversy this week when he revealed a new tattoo on his neck that appears to show a woman's beaten, bruised face. Both Brown and his tattoo artist have insisted, however, that the new ink isnot a depiction of Rihanna's battered face, as some have said, but rather a that of aMexican sugar skull.

With all this negative backlash in the air, Brown is reportedly attempting to clean up his image. According to MTV, the singer visited domestic abuse victims at a charity festival in Los Angeles this week.

"It's in my heart to show my fans, my friends and family and the families at Jenesse [a domestic violence intervention program in L.A.] who stood by me they were right to give me another chance. I'm working hard to make them proud," he said.

According to the Washington Post, Brown's "Fortune" "debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 135,000 first week sales." However, as of Thursday, the newspaper reported that the album "has only sold 284,000 copies" since it was released in July.

h/t: Gawker

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Private Student Loan Report Amended, Majority Of Students Didn't Exhaust Federal Aid: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

2012-09-13T19:37:00.000-03:00

In this Jan. 4, 2012 photo, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is photographed by the media in Cleveland. Cordray is the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Cordrays combative tumble onto the national stage as President Barack Obamas new consumer watchdog has been anything but typical for the studious, mild-mannered public servant who has occasionally been spotted padding around his office in sock feet. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

A majority of college students who took out private loans to attend school didn't use the low-cost federal aid options that were available to them.

That's according to the amendments issued in August by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to its July report on private student loans, which was conducted along with the U.S. Department of Education. The Bureau initially noted 40 percent of people who took out private student loans also used federal Stafford loans but not at levels that would exhaust their borrowing potential. Now, the agencies amends that number to 54.5 percent while noting many eligible students didn't take out any Stafford loans at all before signing for a private loan.

Private student loans represent $150 billion of the student loan market or about one-eighth of overall student debt. Federal student aid options often have dramatically lower interest rates with more flexible repayment options.

The July report noted similarities between the growth of private student loans and the subprime housing market bubble which helped lead to the Great Recession.

"As the industry rapidly grew, the quality of the loans declined," Richard P. Hackett, an assistant director at the CFPB, said at the time. "[There are] big parallels to the housing market."

The CFPB and Ed Dept. added in a summary about their new amendments:

The Report found that the mean borrower would have paid a lower interest rate on a Federal Stafford Loan than a private student loan throughout the period of study, and that Federal Student Loans offer substantially more repayment and modification options than PSLs. Thus, the issue of whether borrowers pursue their Federal options is critical in understanding the overall student loan market. Further analysis might provide more insight on the underlying drivers for not applying for or not exhausting Federal Stafford Loan eligibility. Private student loan borrowers who took out $0 in Stafford Loans were a substantial portion of those who did not exhaust their eligibility. The updates reflect this segment of the borrower population.

According to the July report, students at for-profit colleges were four times more likely to take out private loans than students at traditional public and non-profit private colleges and universities. The Education Department found students at for-profit colleges are more than twice as likely to default on their loans when compared to peers at public and private nonprofit colleges.

Graduates are increasingly defaulting on their student loans, as the New York Times noted this week:

Last year, a study by the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that for every borrower who defaulted, at least two more borrowers were delinquent in their payments. And in March, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, using a survey of credit reports, concluded that more than one in four borrowers of student loans, both federal and private loans, were behind on their payments.

The Times also sourced a recent survey of education officials which found the total amount of defaulted loans, $76 billion, is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities.

The report suggested Congress revisit a 2005 law which makes it practically impossible to discharge private student loans in bankruptcy.

HUFFPOST:

Mitt Romney Intelligence Briefings: Candidate To Get Info From Obama Administration After Clearance

2012-09-13T19:15:00.002-03:00

BOSTON — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is expected to begin receiving regular intelligence briefings from the Obama administration in the coming days.

Senior aides report that the Romney campaign is nearing the conclusion of a required security clearance process. The former Massachusetts governor did not have to request the briefings. They are customary for major-party candidates after their nominating conventions.

With limited intelligence information, Romney struggled this week to respond in real time to a violent clash in Libya that left four Americans dead, including an ambassador. Before the deaths were confirmed, Romney mischaracterized the incident in his initial statement and accused President Barack Obama of a "disgraceful" handling of violence.

Romney has been relying on his foreign policy advisers and published news reports to inform his positions on world affairs.

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Zadroga Act Opponents, Including Paul Ryan, Observe September 11 Anniversary

2012-09-11T21:20:00.000-03:00

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), center, joined by House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, right, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON -- The nation's leading Republicans marked the 11th anniversary of 9/11 with the words "never forget" on their lips -- most of those using the occasion to promote legislation -- but nearly all of them opposed the bill passed two years ago to help the first responders who suffered health problems in the wake of the attacks.

Prominent among them was vice presidential nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who voted twice against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, and opposed the final passage of the bill.

"Eleven years ago today, from Capitol Hill, I could see the smoke rising from the fires burning in the Pentagon. Like all Americans, I will never forget the moment that our homeland came under attack," Ryan said in a statement. "For me, this is a day to remember those who perished on that day of terror, including the first responders."

A spokesman for Ryan, Brendan Buck, insisted that Ryan supports 9/11 responders and pointed to the congressman's votes soon after the attacks in favor of aid for those suffering. He explained Ryan's Dec. 2010 comments on the House floor in opposition to the Zadroga bill by noting that Ryan said he didn't like the bill because he thought it was flawed, was "rushed" onto the floor by Democrats, and created a new mandatory spending program.

Ryan also voted against previous versions of the measure, in September and June of 2010, and the version that ultimately passed the House did so without Ryan's vote. It passed the Senate unanimously after Republicans there extracted numerous concessions, including cutting the fund from $7.4 billion to $4.3 billion and making that money available for only six years.

Buck declined to say whether Ryan would support extending further aid to first responders with cancer and failing lungs when the money runs out in 2016, the last year of a potential Romney-Ryan administration.

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, provided no specifics on what measures a President Romney would back, but suggested he would stand by responders and that he endorsed more aid from Washington.

"Gov. Romney supports government assistance to the victims of terrorism," Saul said.

In observing Tuesday's anniversary, Ryan joined numerous other colleagues who joined him in opposing the Zadroga Act. Many House Republicans mourned for the victims of 9/11 even as they linked the day to efforts to pass new legislation.

"We honor those who fell 11 years ago today. We honor those who fought to try to save some of those who died," Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Tuesday at the Republicans' weekly press conference. "The best thing that we can do as a people to honor those individuals is to make sure that it never happens again, and we have looming massive defense cuts that this House has acted to substitute."

Cantor was echoed by House Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who suggested that Americans come together in the spirit of 9/11 to head off the looming defense cuts that will take effect due to the sequestration agreement Congress passed last year.

Cantor, McCarthy and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who also spoke, all voted against the 9/11 bill or skipped final passage.

HUFFPOST

Scott Van Duzer, Obama Hugger And Pizza Business Owner, On Media Whirlwind Tour

2012-09-11T21:01:00.000-03:00

Just a few days ago, Big Apple Pizza owner Scott Van Duzer was known around Fort Pierce, Fla., mostly for his pizza and his work raising awareness for blood donations. But since bear-hugging President Obama on Sunday, Van Duzer has become a national lightning rod for small business politics, the object of a Yelp tug-of-war ... and a sudden media darling.

On Monday, Van Duzer appeared on "The Situation Room," explaining to Wolf Blitzer the hug was spontaneous, not staged, as some have alleged. "I guess I got caught up in the moment," Van Duzer said. "I had a brief moment when I knew he was coming. He opened up the door and he was like, 'Where's Scott at?' ... I was just so excited, I just gave him a big hug and picked him up. It was crazy."

Though Van Duzer was taking a chance that Secret Service agents would rush to pry the president from his impressive arms, the entrepreneur made it clear to Blitzer that he did not consider security a deterrent to hugging. "We didn't plan it, we didn't have no communication with the Secret Service about it or anything like that. It was just a genuine moment ... it was an incredible experience."

Van Duzer indicated that his ebullience was not an action, but a reaction, saying Obama's "enthusiasm was contagious."

The video of the hug has since become contagious, sparking bipartisan debates over the Republican business owner's literal and figurative embracing of Obama. AYelp frenzy ensued, in which many objected with one star reviews of Van Duzer's politics before positive reviewers pushed his rating back up to five stars. His response to the feud: "Whether you're Republican or Democrat, he's our president. It was just a tremendous honor. It's really bizarre -- we were watching the convention last week and now here he is."

Also on Monday, Van Duzer was flown to New York City for a scheduled Tuesday appearance on Anderson Cooper's new daytime talk show "Anderson Live."

Van Duzer said that "Inside Edition" and "Good Morning America" reached out to him as well. And though he acknowledged to The Palm Beach Post that his 15 minutes of fame may soon be up, Van Duzer may be able to sneak in one more noteworthy hug before the attention subsides. When he meets Cooper, his reported favorite, the inevitable will likely occur.

"He's threatening to give me a bear hug," Cooper said Monday on "Anderson 360."

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

South Africa Mine Shooting Mourned By Relatives

2012-08-26T12:50:00.002-03:00

Mine workers attend a memorial service at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. Police shot and killed 34 striking miners and wounded 78 others last week. Demands for higher wages spread to at least two other mines, raising fears of further protests at more South African mines that provide most of the world's platinum. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

MARIKANA, South Africa — A fiery politician cast out of the ruling party Thursday hijacked the main memorial service for 34 striking miners killed by police, to accuse President Jacob Zuma's government of complicity in the shootings. Angry government ministers walked out.

Zuma did not attend any of the services. He called a news conference to announce a retired supreme court judge will head a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate "the facts and circumstances which gave rise to the use of force and whether this was reasonable and justifiable in the particular circumstances."

He announced a wide range of issues for the commission to investigate, including the role of London-registered Lonmin PLC, which owns the platinum mine where the violence was sparked by union rivalry.

The commission would look at Lonmin's conduct and report "whether the company, by act or omission, created an environment which was conducive to the creation of tension, labour unrest, disunity among its employees or other harmful conduct," Zuma said.

The somber and grieving tone of the memorial service at the mine was shattered by Julius Malema, who was expelled in April for sowing disunity in the African National Congress. Malema was applauded when he said the government has not intervened in the mines "because our leaders are involved in these mines." He said that President Zuma's foundation and other ANC leaders have shares in the mines.

"Our government has become a pig that is eating its children," charged Malema.

Malema's outburst came after church leaders had urged people not to use the memorial service to score political points.

About a dozen Cabinet ministers left before they could address the crowd of more than 1,000 at the mine at Marikana, 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.

Last week's shootings were the worst display of state violence since apartheid ended in 1994 and have thrown the spotlight on growing anger at South Africa's massive inequality, poverty and unemployment.

The violence unfolded as some 3,000 rock drill operators demanded a minimum wage of 12,500 rand ($1,560). The poorest 10 percent of the population shares 1.1 billion rand ($137.5 million) while the country's richest 10 percent has 381 billion (nearly $48 billion), the Congress of South African Trade Unions noted Thursday.

In a statement it claimed Lonmin's financial officer is paid 152 times as much as a rock drill operator at the mine. It claimed the operators earn only 5,600 rand ($700) though researchers who work with miners say they make at least 10,000 rand ($1,250).

The relative of a miner killed in last week's shootings said he wants to see some arrests.

"If it were me I'd want everyone who was involved in this incident including the mine managers to be arrested, the whole lot of them, because a person's life is not worth money," Ubuntu Akumelisine told the AP.

Mungiswa Mphumza, the sister of a dead miner from Eastern Cape, said she was at peace.

"We have accepted everything that has happened and we ask that the dead rest in peace, there is nothing that we can do at the moment, what has happened has happened. God takes what he likes," Mphumza said.

Roger Phillimore, chairman of Lonmin PLC mine company, also offered condolences to the the mourners.

"It is with huge sadness that I join with you to mourn the loss of so many of our colleagues. It is unquestionably the saddest loss in the history of this company," Philimore said.

This was the first time since the shooting that a high-ranking Lonmin official addressed the miners and their community.

Zuma had decreed a week of national mourning to honor all victims of violence in South Africa, which has which has one of the world's highest murder and rape rates.

In the past week, three orphan children were stoned to death, with a 12-year-old girl among them raped, and a pastor is on trial for allegedly raping and molesting nine children in his wife's nursery school.

At the mine, strikers who captured two police officers hacked them to death with machetes. Strikers also set ablaze a car carrying two mine security guards, burning them alive.

Another six people died in the week before police fired volleys of gunfire at a group of charging miners, killing 34 and wounding 78.

"This ongoing violence is a part of our national and collective shame and we should take this time to seriously reflect on the state of our society," Prof. Yunus Ballim of Witwatersrand University said before students and lecturers marched in memory of victims of violence.

On Wednesday, Zuma demanded that mine companies provide decent homes and sanitation for miners. He singled out one mining house where 666 workers share four toilets and four showers, according to the Star newspaper. He did not name the company.

Zuma warned that those who do not comply with the Mining Charter requiring adequate housing risk losing their licenses.

Lonmin, the mine where the violence happened, remained shut down to honor the day of mourning.

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Badruddin Haqqani Dead: Haqqani Network Commander Killed, Afghan Intelligence Agency Says

2012-08-26T12:42:00.003-03:00

In this Sunday Aug. 5, 2012, file photo, a Pakistani Taliban militant holds a rocket-propelled grenade at the Taliban stronghold of Shawal, in Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, Pakistan. (AP Photo/ Ishtiaq Mahsud, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Sunday its operatives have confirmed that the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network was killed in an airstrike in Pakistan, even as the Taliban vowed that he was alive and well.

Shafiquallh Tahriri, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, said Badruddin Haqqani was killed last week. He did not provide any further details, and would not say what information the agency's operatives were basing their conclusion on.

Tahiri's account is similar to one provided Saturday by a senior Taliban leader who said Haqqani was killed in a drone strike. It also hews closely to a version provided by Pakistani officials who said they were 90 percent sure the militant commander was killed Tuesday in a missile attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.

Haqqani's death would mark a major blow to the organization founded by his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, which is viewed by the U.S. as a powerful enemy in Afghanistan. The son is considered the network's day-to-day operations commander. The Haqqani network has been blamed for a series of high-profile attacks and kidnappings in Afghanistan, and the U.S. considers it one of the most powerful militant groups operating in the country.

The Taliban, who are closely allied with the Haqqani network, have rejected all reports of Haqqani's death.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said Haqqani is alive and in good health in Afghanistan.

"A number of media have reported that Badruddin Haqqani has been killed. We would like to inform all media that this rumor is not correct," Mujahid said in the email to reporters late Saturday.

"Badruddin Haqqani is in the country and is occupied with his operational responsibilities. He is alive and healthy. The rumor about him being killed is more propaganda of the enemy," he said.

In a telephone call with The Associated Press on Sunday Mujahid continued to maintain that Haqqani was alive.

The U.S. does not comment publicly on its drone program, which is widely reviled by the Pakistani public and has been a source of tension with Islamabad.

The areas where the American drone strikes generally occur are extremely remote and dangerous, making it difficult for reporters or others to verify a particular person's death.

Badruddin is considered a vital part of the Haqqani structure and is believed to have played an active role in kidnappings, extortion and high-profile operations in Afghanistan. Tahiri said that Haqqani's responsibilities included arranging foreign suicide bombings, maintaining relations with other insurgent groups, recruiting Pakistani Taliban fighters to the Haqqani group and overseeing operations in southeastern Afghanistan and in Kabul.

"He was the mastermind of the organized suicide attacks in Kabul," Tahiri said, referring to a number of high-profile strikes in the Afghan capital targeting everything from hotels to Western embassies.

"He was the mastermind of the organized suicide attacks in Kabul," Tahiri said.

Still, there are likely people waiting in the wings to replace Badruddin, said former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, now an opposition leader.

"They are going to find another person to replace him. What I know is that his elder brother, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is playing a larger role in the the Haqqani network," Saleh said in an interview on Afghanistan's Tolo television. He said until the group's ability to operate across Afghanistan and Pakistan is limited, "killing their commanders or leaders will have its effect, but not that large of an effect."

The U.S. State Department has designated Badruddin, along with his father and brothers – Nasiruddin and Sirajuddin – as terrorists. The State Department said in May 2011 that Badruddin sits on the Miram Shah Shura, a group that controls all Haqqani network activities and coordinates attacks in southeastern Afghanistan.

Badruddin is also believed to have been responsible for the 2008 kidnapping of New York Times reporter, David Rohde, the department said.

After their father effectively retired in 2005, Badruddin and his brother Sirajuddin expanded the network into kidnapping and extortion, both highly profitable for the organization, according to a recent report by the West Point, N.Y.-based Combating Terrorism Center. Afghan intelligence authorities have released intercepts of Badruddin orchestrating an attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in 2011, the CTC said.

The U.S. has long viewed the Haqqani network as one of the biggest threats to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as the country's long term stability. The group has shown little interest in negotiating with the Washington, and has pulled off some of the highest-profile and most complex attacks in Afghanistan, although not necessarily the most deadly.

___

Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Islamabad and Anwarullah Khan in Khar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

EARLIER ON HUFFPOST:

Romney Adopts Harder Message for Last Stretch

2012-08-26T12:25:00.000-03:00

TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney is heading into his nominating convention with his advisers convinced he needs a more combative footing against President Obama in order to appeal to white, working-class voters and to persuade them that he is the best answer to their economic frustrations.
Having survived a summer of attacks but still trailing the president narrowly in most national polls, Mr. Romney’s campaign remains focused intently on the economy as the issue that can defeat Mr. Obama. But in a marked change, Mr. Romney has added a harder edge to a message that for most of this year was focused on his business and job-creation credentials, injecting volatile cultural themes into the race.

Some elements of that revised strategy will be evident at the Republican convention, which was set to open here on Monday but will be delayed until Tuesday because of safety concerns from Tropical Storm Isaac. The Romney campaign was hastily rearranging the schedule, but officials said the convention would still amplify the conservative arguments against the president with speakers like Gov. Nikki R. Haley of South Carolina and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

“We will absolutely be able to get our message out,” said Russ Schriefer, a senior campaign adviser. “We still have an opportunity to tell the story of the last four years of how President Obama has failed the country.”

The strategic shift in the campaign message that has been unfolding in recent weeks reflects a conclusion among Mr. Romney’s advisers that disappointment with Mr. Obama’s economic stewardship is not sufficient to propel Mr. Romney to victory on its own.

Republican strategists said that many middle-class voters had proved reluctant to give up entirely on Mr. Obama, and that they still needed to be convinced that Mr. Romney would look out for their interests.

Steven J. Law, the president of the conservative group American Crossroads, said some swing voters in focus groups had helped explain why support for Mr. Obama had not collapsed despite his poor marks on the economy.

“They’re somewhat seduced by the thought, ‘If the guy had more time, maybe he’d be able to turn it around,’ ” said Mr. Law, whose group is spending tens of millions of dollars to change that.

Republicans are nervously monitoring the pivotal battleground of Ohio, where Mr. Romney has had trouble making headway against Mr. Obama. Mr. Romney visited the state on Saturday and previewed the themes of his convention by offering faint praise of his rival, saying: “He says marvelous things. He just hasn’t done them.”

Mr. Obama, unwilling to cede the stage fully to his opponents this week, leveled a counterattack in an interview released Saturday by The Associated Press, painting Mr. Romney as beholden to “extreme” House Republican policies harmful to the middle class.

“He has signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are very consistent with positions that a number of House Republicans have taken,” Mr. Obama said. “Governor Romney’s policies would make things worse for middle-class families and offer no prospect for long-term opportunity for those striving to get into the middle class.”

The battleground map has remained remarkably stable in recent months, which leaves Mr. Obama with more paths to winning 270 electoral votes and places a burden on Mr. Romney to break through in states where he so far has not. But Republicans suddenly see encouraging signs in Wisconsin after the selection of Representative Paul D. Ryan as his running mate. Mr. Romney’s chances hinge to a large degree on running up his advantage among white voters in swing states who show deep strains of opposition to Mr. Obama but do not yet trust Mr. Romney to look out for their interests, Republican strategists say.

Many of those voters are economically disaffected, and the Romney campaign has been trying to reach them with appeals built around an assertion that Mr. Obama is making it easier for welfare recipients to avoid work. The Romney campaign is airing an advertisement falsely charging that Mr. Obama has “quietly announced” plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries, a message Mr. Romney’s aides said resonates with working-class voters who see government as doing nothing for them.

The moves reflect a campaign infused with a sharper edge and overtones of class and race. On Friday, Mr. Romney said at a rally that no one had ever had to ask him about his birth certificate, and Mr. Ryan invoked his Catholicism and love of hunting. Democrats angrily said Mr. Romney’s remark associated him with the fringe “birther” camp seeking falsely to portray Mr. Obama as not American.

The convention will focus on a dual fire-Obama-hire-Romney message that will be presented in an abbreviated fashion from Tuesday through Thursday. Party leaders said Saturday evening that the themes of the convention would be preserved, despite the disruption from Tropical Storm Isaac. Through videos, speeches and carefully staged programming, the convention will amplify what will constantly be described as Mr. Obama’s failures, with a focus on accusations that he has undercut middle-class workers and small-business owners.
But with Ann Romney, Mr. Romney’s wife, taking the stage on Tuesday night, the Republican gathering will be as much about presenting Mr. Romney as a warm-blooded family man who understands the tribulations of everyday people. The campaign, after spending months arguing that the family’s Mormon faith was off limits, invited speakers from Mr. Romney’s church to testify how he had helped them when they were in need.

Those concurrent themes reflect a realization by strategists inside the Romney campaign and its allies at outside groups in recent weeks: Republicans need to do more than critique Mr. Obama’s economic record for Mr. Romney to win. With the race entering its final, decisive phase, strategists on both sides agree that Mr. Obama maintains a razor-thin edge.

That, several Republican officials said in interviews, is the result of a stubborn affinity for Mr. Obama among key swing voters who otherwise say they are disappointed in his job performance — a dynamic the Romney campaign and its allies are seeking to change.

Mr. Law said his group, Crossroads, had reserved roughly $35 million in advertising for the rest of the campaign and planned to spend more on efforts speaking to their other perception, that Mr. Obama had not been able to deliver.

“These folks know they are not happy with what Obama has done, but they are struggling between, ‘I voted for him, I liked him, but he’s not getting the job done,’ ” said Carl Forti, political director for American Crossroads. “That’s where Mitt needs to take advantage.”

But, strategists acknowledge, Mr. Romney still has work to do before those critical swing voters will view him as that alternative, particularly with polls showing that voters see him as less attuned to their needs and values than Mr. Obama is. While he hopes to improve his standing among women, strategists say Mr. Romney’s chances hinge to a large degree on running up his edge among white voters who do not yet trust Mr. Romney.

“Right now the perceptions of him are allowing Barack Obama to stay in this race and keep a slight lead in spite of all the environmental factors that lead you to think he should be gone,” said Matthew Dowd, a pollster for George W. Bush’s campaigns. “If he can change perceptions about himself, then the environment takes hold, and if the environment takes hold, they win.”

Mr. Romney’s team is hoping to change perceptions starting with the Republican convention and, more important, with full access to the $186 million he and the Republican National Committee have on hand and can use as soon as Mr. Romney accepts the party’s nomination. It will give him his first real financial advantage over Mr. Obama this year.

Here and in Boston, Mr. Romney’s team is poised to sift through post-convention polling before pressing its new advantage with final advertising bets in key states.

“For undecided voters, Obama’s job performance weighs more heavily than Mitt’s current image,” said Neil Newhouse, the pollster for Mr. Romney. “They can measure what Obama has done, and his job performance numbers among those voters are extraordinarily weak.”

Central to the weeks ahead, strategists from both parties said, will be the perceptions of voters in battleground states like Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Both sides agree that Mr. Romney’s choice of Mr. Ryan has given Mr. Romney a new opportunity in Wisconsin. But, even Republicans say, the bigger electoral prize of Ohio, as of now seems to be tilting in Mr. Obama’s direction.

With Crossroads and like-minded groups providing critical backup, Mr. Romney’s campaign is freer to concentrate on building its candidate up and trying to repair the damage done to his image over the summer.

TheNewYorkTimes

Texas Prisoners Fed Pet Food, After Horrible Labeling Gaffe

2012-08-21T17:57:00.001-03:00

Pet food found its way onto the plates of prisoners in an East Texas jail after John Soules Food Inc. mislabeled its fajita meat.

You can skip today’s "Scared Straight" episode, kids. This prison horror story should suffice.

Pet food found its way onto the plates of prisoners in an East Texas jail after a food company that distributed products to the prison mislabeled its fajita meat, according to federal court documents.

John Soules Food Inc. allegedly screwed up the labels, resulting in prisoners eating thousands of pounds of “meat trimmings” intended for animals. The company has agreed to pay $392,000 to settle the dispute.

Under the settlement, John Soules will change its food safety procedures, but the company did not admit any wrongdoing. “There is no evidence that anyone who consumed any of the ‘beef trimmings’ product suffered any ill effects,” the U.S. Attorney said in a news release.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons bought the meat and served it to inmates in 2006 and 2007, according to the feds, who announced the settlement last week. The settlement funds will go to reimbursing the government for the cost of its three-year investigation, officials said in the release.

“Food security and safety are stressed in all aspects of operations,” and “[facility design] allows for complete separation between raw and ready to products,” according to John Soules’ website, which also says it is a leading provider of meat products for food service distributors, chain restaurants and supermarkets.

Earlier this month, a batch of bad chicken salad caused over 300 inmates in Arkansas to contract food poisoning.

THEHUFFINGTONPOST

Head of diplomatic mission to the European Union approved

2012-08-14T20:08:00.002-03:00

The Senate’s Plenary approved on Wednesday (8) the nomination of Vera Lúcia Barrouin Crivano Machado as head of the Brazilian diplomatic mission to the European Union. The nomination of Lígia Maria Scherer as ambassador of Brazil to the Republic of Mozambique, to Kingdom of Swaziland and to Republic of Madagascar was also approved. Both nominations were approved in July at the Committee on External Relations and National Defense.

Vera Lúcia Machado was born in Rio de Janeiro and, since 1988, she is first class minister in the diplomatic career of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2001, she joined the special framework of the career. In the last years, she was, among other offices, ambassador to Nepal, to Falkland Islands, to Sri Lanka, and to Vatican. Nowadays she is subsecretary-General of Politics I of the ministry.

Born in Curitiba, Lígia Maria Scherer is also first class minister in the diplomatic career of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and she worked as first secretary and councilor in many embassies such as Tokyo, Washington, Tel Aviv, Dili and in the mission with the European Economic Community.

The nominations for ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions are an exclusive competence of the Brazilian Federal Senate, according to the Brazilian Federal Constitution. The propositions must be analyzed and voted by the Committee on External Relation and by the Plenary, in secret voting.

Senado

Gays Giveth and Gays Taketh Away: An Open Letter to Bailey Hanks

2012-08-13T19:12:00.001-03:00

Dearest Bailey Hanks,

Like you, I am a Broadway performer. I am also gay. While I very much support your right to free speech and free association, I would like to hold you accountable for your stance on the whole fried chicken thing. On Aug. 1, when you went to "feast" at Chick-fil-A, you did not merely sit quietly and enjoy your fried chicken sandwich; you decided to make it a political statement:

So here I am, as well, exercising my rights -- that is, until your deliciously bigoted poultry company pours more money into taking them away.

Truth be told, even though we are in the same field, I had never heard of you until I readJamie McGonnigal's revealing article here on HuffPost. Coincidentally, that same night, I had dinner with a very close friend of mine who was on the creative teams of both the Broadway show of Legally Blonde and the reality show in which you appeared. I also received messages from friends of mine, cast members of yours who shared the stage with you eight times a week, people who thought you were their friend.

Just a reminder: You were plucked out of obscurity by a team of gay men, gay men who not only believed in you and gave you the chance of a lifetime but treated you with loving kindness and respect -- the same gay men you discriminated against by publicly supporting Chick-fil-A. You were chosen to star in the show Legally Blonde specifically by the director/choreographer, who is a gay man. The associate choreographer and vocal coach who helped you win the reality show you were on are two gay men. A few of the Broadway show's producers (the ones who paid you) are gay. Your costume designer is a gay man, as is the designer of the wigs and makeup you wore. You were taught the choreography and put into the Broadway show by a gay man, and you were supported and made to feel safe and part of the Broadway community by the many gay people in your cast. These people are not only my coworkers, Bailey, but, more importantly, they are my friends. After your time on Broadway (surrounded by gay people), you did not run screaming home, where the hills have eyes. You stayed here, in Sodom and Gomorrah. You auditioned and continued to make friends and work with -- guess what -- more gay people. We invited you into our homes and offered you a place at our table. You stayed for dinner, ate all the food, even stuck around for dessert, and now vomited it all up in our faces. Your website describes you as "sweet, kind, caring"; perhaps you should add "unless you're gay."

You say you are a "proud Christian." Bailey, I, too, am a proud Christian. Many LGBT people I know are people of faith. So what's your point? Is your point to hide your ignorance and bigotry behind Christ? That's not very "Christ-like." And while we are on that topic, let's not pick and choose what passages from the Bible we want to believe in because they suit our social and political gain. If we are going to hold on to Leviticus 18-20, then let us also hold on, with a white-knuckle grip, to Leviticus 15:19-30, which states that if a woman is on her period, she has to get out of the house for seven days, and if anyone -- God forbid (literally) -- touches her, that person is "unclean." Bailey, I know we are not close, but I venture to guess that you menstruate. I therefore assume that when your Aunt Flo comes to visit, you are living outside for those seven days. I also assume that when you are riding the "crimson canoe," you call out sick from your show, because, according to the Bible, all those fellow actors who might come into contact with you would be unclean and would have to bathe with water and wash their clothes (oh, how the wardrobe department would hate you!). Also, let's really try to do our best and pay special attention to 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. Bailey, are you listening? It states here that women should be silent in church. Sorry, that means no talking and absolutely no singing (bummer, because I know how you love to sing!). Biblically speaking, because you are a woman (and I don't want you to feel the wrath of God), I should pray that you don't open your mouth. You might just shove your foot in it, the same way you did when you were stuffing it with a "#1 w/ a large sweet tea and a fudge brownie." Hating on gays while eating a "fudge brownie." Is that some sort of perverted sexual insult, Bailey? Well, I never!

Bailey, you used gay people for your personal gain to make your dreams come true and then sold them down the river with your message condoning a company that is publicly known to donate money to anti-gay groups. With your actions, you agreed to treat gay people like second-class citizens and, in doing so, disrespected my friends, my family, my marriage, and me -- all this in an Instagram photo of your hate-filled waffle fries. Stop hiding bigotry and hatred behind religion; let's call it exactly what it is. If we are going to live by any biblical rule, let it be the golden one.

John Carroll

Follow John Carroll on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MrJohnCarroll

North Korea-China Trade: Jang Song-Thaek, North Korea Leader's Uncle, In China To Talk Busines

2012-08-13T11:34:00.001-03:00

In this March 28, 2006 file photo, Jang Song Thaek, late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law and first vice director of the Workers' Party of Korea, leaves Beijing international airport for home. (AP photo/Kyodo News, File)

By Jack Kim

SEOUL, Aug 13 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle and the man seen as the power behind the young and untested dictator went to Beijing on Monday in the latest signal that the reclusive state is looking seriously at ways to revive its broken economy.

The official KCNA news agency said Jang Song-thaek was visiting China, the North's only major ally, to discuss setting up joint commercial projects and comes after leader Kim recently told Beijing that his priority is to develop his impoverished country's decaying economy.

"A delegation of the DPRK-China Joint Guidance Committee Monday left here for Beijing, China to take part in the third meeting of the committee," KCNA said.

DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"It was headed by its DPRK side Chairman Jang Song Thaek who is a department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea."

KCNA said the meeting is to discuss the joint economic projects in Rason on the North's east coast, and in Hwanggumphyong, an area on the border between the two countries that is yet to be developed.

The dispatch gave no details about the projects or who else was in the delegation.

The visit by Jang, who has long advocated economic reforms in one of Asia's poorest states, follows growing speculation that Pyongyang and its new leaders want bring changes to the way the economy is managed.

The two countries have planned to develop a new industrial district on the Yalu River that runs along their border, but the construction of a new bridge that will be part of the project has been suspended because of disagreements on how to proceed.

China is believed to be wary of pursuing a major new commercial venture with North Korea at a time of its own leadership transition and as Pyongyang continues to defy calls to divert scarce resources away from arms development programme.

South Korea is the only other partner in commercial development in the North, with an industrial park just north of their heavily fortified border the site of factories where about 120 South Korean firms use cheap local labour to make goods.

But South Korea's Hyundai conglomerate has learned a harsh lesson of the risk of doing business with the North when it had its assets it built in the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast frozen after the shooting death of a visitor in 2008 that led to the suspension of the tours there.

North Korea already relies heavily on China to support its crumbling economy but its leadership has in the past proven deeply suspicious of any changes, seeing them as a threat to its control over the country.

But Kim Jong-un, who took over the state's family dictatorship when his father died in December, has presented a sharply contrasting image to his father and is believed to be planning to carry out economic and agricultural reform.

"There is an element of explaining to China the reforms and opening that Kim Jong-un has been planning, and of seeking support by China, which will be crucial" said Yang Moo-jin of University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

The destitute, centrally-planned North Korean economy has been on the decline for years and is unable even in years of good harvests to feed its 24 million people.

The problems have been compounded by United Nations sanctions imposed after Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests in defiance of international warnings including disapproval by its ally China.

In another sign that Kim may be looking to end international isolation, he has sent the country's nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam this month to Vietnam and Laos, where he was reported to have discussed economic development.