Liberty Newspost Aug-02-2011

Curated News Edition
- 02/08/11
http://www.LibertyNewspost.com
Senate Passes Debt Ceiling Bill 74-26

(Christianpost.com > Politics)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 1:51:21 PM
legally allowed to borrow in two phases. It also creates a special 12 member joint House-Senate (Photo: Reuters / Joshua congressional committee, or Roberts) Clouds pass over Capitol super committee, that is tasked Hill in Washington August 1, with coming up with $1.2 to $1.5 2011. trillion in cuts by Thanksgiving (Photo: Reuters / Jason Reed) before authority to add another U.S. President Barack Obama $500 billion in debt is granted. speaks to the media in the Rose The second debt increase is Garden of the White House in expected to take the nation past Washington August 2, 2011 the 2012 elections before it will following the congressional vote need to be raised again. on a deficit-cutting package. It may have been messy. It might have appeared to some like their Of the 26 no votes, 19 came government wasnt working, said from Senate Republicans who Senate Minority Leader Mitch wanted more spending cuts and a McConnell shortly before the vote balanced budget commitment. was taken. But, the fact, the The measure gives the U.S. opposite was true. The push and Treasury immediate authority to p u l l A m e r i c a n s s a w i n add an additional $400 billion to Washington these past few weeks the national debt. The plan will was not gridlock It was the cut just under $1 trillion in will of the people working itself government spending over the out in a political process that was next 10 years while raising the never meant to be pretty It was amount of money the U.S. is a debate that Washington needed
to have. Speaker John Boehner in a June interview on Fox News said, There are no votes in the Congress to raise taxes on anyone, so tax increases are off the table. Boehners prediction was accurate but he had to contend with a rambunctious and conservative Republican caucus who demanded deeper cuts than were included in the final version. Like us on Facebook President Obama addressed the nation from the White House Rose Garden soon after the vote and again made tax breaks for millionaires, corporate jet owners and oil and gas companies his subject matter in an attempt to deflect liberal objections that the deal contained no new revenues from tax hikes. Though Obamas position to include tax hikes in the deal was soundly defeated in Congress, he nonetheless asserted in a signing statement: And since you cant close the
deficit with just spending cuts, well need a balanced approach where everything is on the table. Yes, that means making some adjustments to protect health care programs like Medicare so theyre there for future generations. It also means reforming out tax code so that the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations pay their fair share. And it means getting rid of taxpayer subsidies to oil and gas companies, and tax loopholes that help billionaires pay a lower tax rate than teachers and nurses. Republicans, especially Tea Party members, also lamented what they didnt get, which was more spending cuts. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the third ranking Republican in the Senate, addressed the mood of the country with a reference to traveling from one city to another. This problem wasnt created overnight, and it wont be solved overnight, Alexander said from the floor. But if I was sitting at
Union Station trying to catch a train to New York City and someone offered me a ticket to Baltimore or Philadelphia, Id take it, and then find a way to get to New York from there. Congress now heads home for the August recess and will undoubtedly be making the rounds at civic club luncheons and county fairs defending their vote and explaining to voters how events will play out in 2012. Be the first of thousands of iPosters by sharing your news, views, and analysis. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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Political strategy in the Budget Control Act era

Keith Hennessey (Front Row Washington)
it publicly over the next 18 months and began doing so last night. At a minimum, the Submitted at 8/2/2011 4:39:53 PM President will benefit politically By Keith Hennessey with deficit hawk centrists, both The opinions expressed are his for the policy result and the own. achievement of a bipartisan I cover three topics in this post: agreement. Prepare to watch the what important players won in President seize political credit for this deal, the core concepts and spending cuts he fought. tradeoffs within the deal, and The President also has an what the different strategies might opportunity to push for tax be this Fall under this bill when it increases as part of the Joint becomes law. The Presidents Committee deficit reduction priorities process this fall. You will hear the The President knows he will get corporate jets & Big Oil riffs ad debt limit increases through early n a u s e a m . R e p u b l i c a n / 2013 no matter what House conservative / Tea Party priorities conservatives/Tea Party members The Speaker set a goal for House do. Those Members can no longer Republicans of at least a dollar of hold a debt limit increase spending cuts for each dollar of hostage before the 2012 election. debt limit increase. This law We could also describe this as guarantees at least a dollar of eliminating liquidity risk through deficit reduction for each dollar of 2012. debt limit increase. Thus this law Assuming someone doesnt find guarantees at least $2.1 T in a way out of the enforcement deficit reduction over the next 10 mechanisms in the bill (1 in 3 years. Thats not $4 T but its not chance), there will be at least $2.1 bad in a balanced Washington. T in deficit reduction over the Of that deficit reduction, at least next 10 years as a result. While I $917 B of it is from spending cuts think thats a big policy benefit, and discretionary spending caps, Im not sure how important that is and House Republicans can substantively to the President. (Is guarantee that it all comes from he for stimulus? Austerity? Who spending cuts and caps if they are knows at this point.) willing to threaten to cut defense a But given his recent public lot (which is different than conversion to deficit hawk, the actually cutting defense a lot). President will undoubtedly stress Through this law Republicans
have the opportunity to lock in at least $2.1 T in spending cuts over the next 10 years. The spending caps will be in law and enforced with a sequester, meaning they are not gimmicks. Yes, a future Congress can change the law and undo those caps, but the same is true for any policy change. While the Joint Committee process does not preclude tax increases cuts, it is tilted pretty heavily against them and toward spending cuts. That is huge. The tax rate and cap gains & dividends fights probably shift to outside this Joint Committee process. I expect a recurrence of the 2010 fight in 2012, this time with the President threatening a veto. The use of a current law baseline for revenues in this fight is a rhetorical but not a procedural concession. My money remains on another extension of current rates and no tax rate increases in 2013. The underlying political pressures are unchanged. The Balanced Budget Act will get a vote this fall in the Senate, and there is a modest financial incentive (a higher debt limit increase) for the Senate to pass it. I still think its unlikely this will be sent to the States, but this is a process improvement relative to where they are now on a BBA. Congressional Democrats
priorities In addition to the goals listed above for the President, Senate Democrats get to punt this year and next on passing a budget resolution and making any politically difficult choices in the open. This is for me the only unequivocally bad part of this bill. It is process abuse, in which Senate Democrats are avoiding taking responsibility for proposing solutions to Americas biggest economic policy problems. Core concepts & tradeoffs The President avoids another debt limit battle before his election. (Hey, he framed it this way.) Republicans get >$2T of deficit reduction and the ability to block tax increases and force spending cuts. This fall Democrats will face a hard choice: cut the big entitlements or cut domestic discretionary spending even further? This fall Republicans will face a hard decision: are you willing to taking the chance that defense discretionary will be cut even more deeply to avoid tax increases? The new trigger mechanism is the key to this new deal and the fall battle. The trigger makes tax
increases quite difficult (should make Rs happy), provides no benefit to raising tax rates (Rs even happier) but doesnt rule out targeted tax increases (should minimally satisfy Ds). The trigger cuts defense spending more deeply than nondefense spending, in theory creating greater pressure on Republicans than on Democrats to want the Joint Committee process to succeed. I think Team Obama thinks, because a failed Joint Committee would cause the trigger to cut defense spending an additional 10% and nondefense discretionary spending only an additional 8%, that Republicans will pay anything to get a new law, including agreeing to tax increases. I think Congressional Republicans think this judgment is wrong, and this difference of opinion allows both sides to agree to this trigger and this new law. The Presidents strategy for the fall Joint Committee battle The President is telegraphing his strategy. He will threaten to oppose (veto?) any product of the Joint Committee that does not raise taxes on his favorite targets (balance). In doing so, he will be threatening something valuable to most Republicans: defense POLITICAL page 3
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POLITICAL
continued from page 2
spending. While last spring Tea Party conservatives took a debt limit increase hostage to force Democrats to cut spending, this fall the President will take national security spending hostage to (try to) force Republicans to raise taxes on politically unpopular constituencies. A Republican counter-strategy There is a simple Republican counter strategy available: Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell appoint to the Joint Committee six Members who will not raise taxes. These six Republicans call the Presidents bluff, and tell their Democratic counterparts they are willing to reject a deal that includes tax increases, even if that deal means the trigger will cut defense deeply. They deny the six Democratic Members of the Committee negotiating leverage from the difference between a triggered 10% cut in defense and an 8% cut in nondefense discretionary spending. This is going to hurt you almost as much as its going to hurt me, so Im not giving you anything to avoid it. These six Republicans encourage everyone to cooperate to get most (all?) of the $1.5 T in deficit reduction from the Big 3 entitlement programs: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They are the cause of our longterm fiscal problems and they are so big and growing so rapidly that you can save lots by changing
them.
Republicans will intensely want to avoid it. At the same time, an I am reminded of the familiar additional 8% cut in nondefense scene in an action movie. The bad discretionary will freak out many guy holds a hostage and a hand Congressional Democrats and the grenade while our hero, five feet White House, and they will away, points a gun at the bad guy. intensely want to avoid it. I think The bad guy threatens to pull the the depth of both cuts are so deep, grenade pin and kill himself, the and the difference between -10% hostage, and our hero. He points and -8% is small enough, that it out that the hero may not care confers no relative advantage in about himself, but surely he the Joint Committee. Democratic doesnt want to risk the life of this n e g o t i a t o r s w i l l b e j u s t a s innocent young girl. desperate to avoid 8% domestic The hero, who we know is a kind discretionary cuts as Republicans and compassionate man, looks the will be to avoid 10% defense cuts. bad guy straight in the eye and This means that all Republicans says, Go ahead. Blow us all up. I need to do is call the Presidents/ dont care about her, and I dont Democrats bluff on tax increases, care about myself, as long as threaten to allow the pain of the youre killed in the process as trigger hit both sides, offer $1.5 T well. We both know you wont of entitlement spending cuts, and pull that pin because you wont wait. kill yourself. So let her go and $2 trillion of spending cuts is big lets end this peacefully. The bad for Congress but small relative to guy backs down because the hero our underlying fiscal problems. If has demonstrated the threat this bill becomes law and if the provides no relative advantage. fall Joint Committee process is As long as the exploding grenade s u c c e s s f u l , t h e r e m a i n i n g would do sufficient damage to the spending problem will be more bad guy (death), it doesnt matter than an order of magnitude larger that the hero suffers a greater loss than this accomplishment. If you (death X 2). The bad guy doesnt think this summer has been want to carry through with his painful or dread the battle of this threat any more than the hero fall, you aint seen nothin yet. does. Wait until Congress wrestles with (I am not suggesting the President the big stuff. is a bad guy with a grenade. It is Three times in the past year just a metaphor to illustrate a Congressional Republicans have negotiating concept.) played brinksmanship with the The same is true here. An President and come out ahead: additional 10% cut to defense the December 2010 tax rate fight, discretionary is deep, and many the Spring 2011 CR fight, and [unable to retrieve full-text content]
now the Summer 2011 debt limit fight. They have a game plan that has delivered multiple incremental wins so far, and a playing field that favors them for the Fall 2011 Joint Committee fight. In a balanced Washington they have successfully leveraged a debt limit increase to cut spending and not raise taxes. For these reasons I am fairly optimistic this bill provides an opportunity for another incremental win this fall. If Im right, it also establishes a pattern for when the debt limit expires in 2013. This post republished from KeithHennessey.com with permission. This was the last of three Budget Control Act posts by Hennessey on his website: Quick summary of the Budget Control Act and Understanding the Budget Control Act were the others. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
China's Reporters Push the Boundaries Wall Street Journal

(china - Google News)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 10:57:35 PM
CTV.ca China's Reporters Push the Boundaries Wall Street Journal In my view, the level of reporting and criticism seen in China's newspapers on July 29 was on a par with what we saw in Hong Kong that day. The mainland media even surpassed Hong Kong's in terms of depth of reporting. For instance, Shanghai and... After China train crash, it's not just rail safety that worries Chinese Christian Science Monitor Wreck of high-speed train in China raises safety questions Kansas City Star China train crash prompts anger at reckless growth The Associated Press Business Standard- BloombergChina Daily all 675 news articles [unable to retrieve full-text content] [unable to retrieve full-text content]
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The Day of the Hobbits

(The Front Page)
beneficiaries. What did liberals get? Nothing. What did Obama get? Mocked by The Wall Street He demanded a "clean" debtJournal and Sen. John McCain as ceiling hike. When the GOP said the little people of the Lord of the no, he demanded a "balanced Rings books, the Tea Party a p p r o a c h " - - t a x h i k e s "Hobbits" are indeed returning to commensurate with spending cuts. Middle Earth -- to nail the Again, the GOP said no. Again, coonskin to the wall. he capitulated. As even the Journal concedes, the Obama was tossed one crumb in final deal to raise the debt ceiling, his appeal that he not be forced to w o r k e d o u t b y S e n . M i t c h fight the Tea Party again in his reMcConnell and Barack Obama, e l e c t i o n y e a r . D e m o c r a t s backed by Speaker John Boehner, surrendered on substance and is "The Triumph of the Tea yielded on policy for "peace in Party." our time." The Hobbits demanded that the Ronald Reagan demanded 18 GOP do battle over the debt increases in the debt ceiling in ceiling, that it not raise the ceiling eight years, one every six months. without equal spending cuts, that He got them all. Obama asked for the party accept no taxes. a two-year truce and, in return, They got it all. The deal cuts accepted what the head of the spending by $900 billion and Black Caucus calls a "Satan raises the debt ceiling an equal sandwich." amount. It mandates further cuts The mainstream media claim that of $1.5 trillion, to be agreed on by Tea Party intransigence lost the Thanksgiving by a congressional GOP the propaganda war. But if commission of 12, and for those the left believes that, why would cuts to be voted up or down. they be afraid of a re-enactment of If the commission fails to agree -- their victory in 2012? seven votes are needed -- cuts of Some in the Tea Party were $1.2 trillion must be made, half willing to go over the cliff and from defense. Any Medicare cuts take the federal government with are restricted to providers, not them. But liberals have lost the
Submitted at 8/2/2011 2:01:00 AM
stomach for such a fight. Listening to the cable blow-byblow, have you noticed? There are no liberals anymore. They have changed their name. They are all "progressives" now. When the right was in ill repute in post-Goldwater days, never did it abandon its birth name, "conservatives." Yet, in celebrating, Republicans and the Tea Party true believers need to know: This country is not out of the woods. Far from it. Standard & Poor's has looked at the deal, less than $3 trillion in cuts over 10 years of budgets already bumping up against $4 trillion a year, and concluded: The U.S. government has failed. An S&P downgrade of our tripleA bond rating may be at hand. And last week came news that, instead of the anticipated 1.8 percent growth in the second quarter of 2011, growth came in at 1.4 percent. More shocking, the first quarter's 1.9 percent growth was revised downward to 0.4 percent. Thus, in the first half of 2011, America grew at an annual rate of less than 1 percent -- not enough to create the jobs needed for those entering the workforce, let alone
for the 16 percent of workers now unemployed or underemployed. This anemic January-to-July figure means that growth in fiscal year 2012, which begins in October, will be lower than projected, as will the tax revenues flowing into the Treasury. Bottom line: Despite the debtceiling battle that convulsed this city, the final deal will achieve neither the deficit nor debt reduction we thought. Notwithstanding the Tea Party victory, we continue drifting toward the falls. And as that happy warrior of the political battlefield, Ron Paul, reminds us, we are inevitably going over -- into default. Only that default will not take the dramatic form of a U.S. refusal to redeem T-bills or halt interest payments on Treasury bonds. We Americans are not going the Argentine route. Rather, we will, as we are doing today, slowly destroy the value of our dollar as an international medium of exchange. Unlike Greece, which cannot print euros to pay debts, we can print dollars to service ours. Beijing will made to accept dollars of a purchasing power far [unable to retrieve full-text content]
less than that of the dollars they lent to us. We are going to cheat them. Already this year, the dollar has lost 30 percent of its value against the Swiss franc and plunged against the yen and Canadian dollar. And in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard economist Martin Feldstein celebrates the news that the dollar is slowly dying, for it means that U.S. exports are that much cheaper for foreigners to buy. One wonders what men like Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower would think of a 21st century America whose elites rejoice in the news that the U.S. dollar is less valued and less respected in the world than in the America they fought to defend. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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'Moderate' Muslim Plots Jihad Mass Murder at Fort Hood

(The Front Page)
Islamic law, although obviously that is a law often honored in the breach. Abdo was stationed at Yet another jihad mass murder at Fort Campbell in Kentucky at that Fort Hood in Texas was narrowly time, and his superiors denied his a v e r t e d l a s t w e e k , a n d i t s application for objector status, but perpetrator, a Muslim soldier in i n a d e c i s i o n f r a u g h t w i t h the U.S. Army named Naser unexamined implications for Abdo, was defiant. Accused of Muslims in the U.S. military, the plotting to construct bombs and assistant deputy secretary of the detonate them in a crowded Armys review board quickly restaurant full of soldiers from overturned that ruling. Fort Hood, Abdo admitted his The implications of the granting guilt in court last Friday and cried of conscientious objector status to out Iraq 2006 and Nidal Hasan Abdo were enormous. Was the F o r t H o o d 2 0 0 9 n a m e - Army saying that a Muslim dropping the Islamic jihadist who soldier could not be understood as murdered 13 Americans at Fort owing his primary allegiance to Hood in November of that year. the United States, and would be The most significant aspect of expected to side with Americas A b d o s a t t e m p t t o e m u l a t e enemies if those enemies were Hasans jihad murders was the Muslim? Such questions were one (not surprisingly) most left unexplored of course, and overlooked by the mainstream during the controversy, Abdo media: Abdo was a well-known sounded all the right moderate self-described moderate Muslim. Muslim notes, saying: Only Abdo, a Private First Class, shot when the military and America to fame in June 2010 when he can disassociate Muslims from applied for conscientious objector terror can we move onto a status, saying that as a Muslim he brighter future of religious could not fight against other collaboration and dialogue that Muslims in Afghanistan. And defines America and makes me indeed, that is forbidden in proud to be an American.
Once he gained his conscientious objector status, Abdo vowed to dedicate his time to furthering the cause of Islamic moderation and to fighting that omnipresent phantom bogey, Islamophobia. He declared: I want to use my experience to show Muslims how we can lead our lives, and to try and put a good positive spin out there that Islam is a good, peaceful religion. Were not all terrorists, you know? Indeed not, but Abdo was. The contrast between his words in 2010 and his deeds in 2011 couldnt be starker, and it raises legitimate questions about the intentions of self-proclaimed moderate Muslims in the U.S. Obviously not all of them are secret jihadist sympathizers and would-be terrorists like Abdo, but what are law enforcement and government authorities to think when a leading putatively moderate group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), publicizes a poster exhorting Muslims not to talk to the FBI? With his soothing words about promoting Islam as a peaceful
religion, Abdo was clearly following his prophet Muhammads dictum, War is deceit. But all too often, U.S. officials dont need anyone to deceive them, as they do such a fine job of it all by themselves. Usually any Muslim who condemns an undefined terrorism and declares himself to be moderate is assumed at the highest levels of government to accept principles that are denied by Islamic law, such as the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people before the law. This is dangerously nave, as a Muslim could still be committed to the goal of advancing acceptance of Islamic law in the West without resorting to terrorist means to do so, or even supporting those who do resort to such means. The Muslim Brotherhood, after all, is dedicated in America, in its own words, to eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house. The deceptive Pfc. Abdo has one way of achieving this goal. The many
Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the United States, which include most mainstream Muslim organizations, have another. Both hope to assert and ultimately to establish the principle that Americans must always change their laws, customs and practices in order to accommodate Islamic law, and that Muslims by right should enjoy privileges and rights that non-Muslims do not enjoy. That was the goal of Osama bin Laden and Naser Abdo. It is the goal also of numerous Muslims who would never commit a terrorist act. U.S. officials ignore or deny that fact at their own risk, and ours. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Video: Schiano speaks at Big East media day - Collegebaseball.rivals.com

(- Bing News)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:48:26 AM
[unable to retrieve full-text content] NEWPORT, R.I. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano
made a stop at Big East Media Day on Tuesday and talked a bit about the 2011 version of the
Scarlet Knights. Check out the latest happenings surrounding Rutgers Football ...
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Debt debate over for now, Congress girds for battle on tax hikes MiamiHerald.com
(Top Stories - Google News)
China's Knockoffs: Nearly Identical to Real Store Wall Street Journal

for the American people with this joint committee is to have equal Submitted at 8/2/2011 6:27:21 PM sharing." WASHINGTON -- Congress and Republicans signaled that they President Barack Obama beat the have a different view, and it deadline for raising the nation's doesn't include higher taxes. debt ceiling by just a few hours "The answer to this is not giving Tuesday, but they hardly ended the government more money to the clash over the size and reach spend," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of o f g o v e r n m e n t . T h e n e x t Utah, the top Republican on the confrontation promises to be at Senate Finance Committee. least as contentious as the one The Senate ended the latest phase they just finished. of the budget battle Tuesday by Congressional leaders have two voting 74-26 to increase the $14.3 weeks to name members of a trillion debt limit - failing to do so special 12-member legislative c o u l d h a v e t r i g g e r e d a panel that's assigned under the government default - and to cut debt-limit law Obama signed federal spending by trillions. The Tuesday to find ways to cut the first reductions are aimed at government's budget deficit by as reducing federal deficits by $917 much as $1.5 trillion by Nov. 23. billion over the next decade. The That number can be reached by b i l l , w h i c h t h e H o u s e o f reductions in spending and Representatives had approved increases in revenues, and the Monday, was sent immediately to brawl over how to do that already Obama, who signed it. has begun. The president called the weeks"We've had too much talk (from) long standoff over raising the debt Republican leaders in the Senate ceiling "a manufactured crisis" saying there will be no revenue. that didn't help a faltering That's not going to happen," said economy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Democrats are furious that tax Reid, D-Nev. "The only way we revenues weren't part of the can arrive at a fair arrangement package, and the president
pledged to continue to press for tax increases to help balance the budget. "Everyone is going to have to chip in. It's only fair," Obama said in a Rose Garden address, singling out subsidies to oil and gas companies and tax loopholes. "That's the principle I'll be fighting for during the next phase of this process." How the 12-member panel will decide to trim the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years is anybody's guess. Without an agreement, which Congress then must approve without any amendments by Dec. 23, the debt-ceiling law would impose cuts automatically on so-called discretionary spending programs, including the defense budget. Indeed, it's still unknown even how most of the members of the panel will be selected. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell plans to interview applicants, but the other legislative leaders - Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., haven't described their selection plans.
Each will name three members to the panel. Obama doesn't have a say in the committee's makeup, but White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president would "make his opinion known" that the committee needed to consider tax revenue as well as spending cuts and changes to entitlement programs such as Medicare. "To stack the membership with folks who don't want to get anything done you might think is a fine political tactic if there was no consequence to that, but there is," Carney said, noting that without an agreement that can clear Congress, the committee risks setting off the "very onerous actions" of the trigger. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
China Daily China's Knockoffs: Nearly Identical to Real Store Wall Street Journal BEIJINGIn China's"fake world," consumers can shop for furniture at an imitation IKEA store, eat a six-inch sandwich at an outlet strikingly similar to Subway, and then grab dessert at "Dairy Fairy" where they might... China now has fake Ikea store: when will we all stop copying? Washington Post (blog) First there was fake Apple stores in China now fake Ikea shop found in Kunming Daily Mail LookalIKEA: 'Fake' Furniture Store In China Sky News USA Today- Montreal GazetteReuters Canada all 125 news articles
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Biden: GOP Has Gun to Their Heads

Vice President Joe Biden triggered an outcry Monday when he agreed with House Democrats as they described Tea Party Republicans as terrorists. Biden first denied he used the term, but his office later conceded that he and others used it in a closed door meeting with House Democrats. After POLITICO reported that Biden said the Tea Party have acted liked terrorists, the GOP cried foul and in the ensuing controversy Bidens spokesperson, Kendra Barkoff, finally issued a statement clarifying the issue. The word [terrorist] was used by several members of Congress. The vice president does not believe its an appropriate term in political discourse. During the closed door meeting, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) also verbally attacked the Tea Party movement and Republicans who support the groups platform in his comments. We have negotiated with terrorists, a frustrated Doyle said,
according to sources that were in the room at the time the statement was made. Like us on Facebook Biden, long known for off-thetongue remarks, told Senate Democrats earlier the same day that Republican leaders have guns to their heads when referring to the negotiations over the budget deal. In an interview with CBS later Monday, Biden denied using the terrorism phrase. I did not use the terrorism word, Biden told CBS News anchor Scott Pelley. The Democratic sniping produced strong GOP reactions. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), recently elected and a staunch supporter of Tea Party principles and the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), was insulted by Doyle and Bidens reported remarks. With the president holding the American economy hostage, I would prefer to think of myself as a Freedom Fighter, Paul said in a written statement. Rep. Michele Bachmann (RMinn.), a declared presidential candidate and chairman of the House Tea Party caucus, was also
critical of the negative comments made about Tea Party supporters. "Only in a bizarro world of Washington is fiscal responsibility sometimes defined as terrorism," wrote Bachmann, according to The Hill. The vice presidents comments were not the only ones that Republicans viewed as inappropriate in legislative discourse. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, also made controversial comments after details of the deal were announced. On Monday, Cleaver posted a message on Twitter saying, This deal is a sugarcoated Satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see. Cleaver said the bill was not a true compromise given that Democrats did not realize any new revenue or tax increases in the final version of the bill. If I were a Republican I would be dancing in the streets, Cleaver said in his remarks. I dont have any idea what the Republicans wanted that they didnt get.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) asserted the deal is a surrender to Republican extortion, in The Washington Post. The budget deal to raise the nations debt ceiling passed the House of Representatives on Monday night by a vote of 269161. Republicans and Democrats both supported the deal, however 66 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted against the final version. The Senate passed the measure 74-26 early Tuesday afternoon. President Obama signed the deal hours before default deadline. Be the first of thousands of iPosters by sharing your news, views, and analysis. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Security heavy in west China city hit by attacks msnbc.com (blog)

Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:49:55 PM
Telegraph.co.uk Security heavy in west China city hit by attacks msnbc.com (blog) David Wivell / AP Members of Uyghur ethnic minority shop near the Erduoqiao neighborhood in Urumqi in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. China on Monday blamed Muslim extremists trained in Pakistan for... Analysis: Pakistan relying too much on China against U.S. Reuters China boosts security in Xinjiang after attacks Reuters India Cracks on the wall Hindustan Times The Express Tribune- Voice of America all 1,361 news articles
On being a parasite
(Scripting News)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 12:35:27 PM
Putin said yesterday that the United States is a parasite on the global economy.
Let me translate that for you. Putin: The oligarchs who tell me what to say told me to say that the
oligarchs who tell Obama what to say are parasites on the global economy.
You may now return to watching CNN.
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Stocks fall again on economic worries - Boston Globe

percent in June, the first decline in nearly two years. And that followed a weak manufacturing By Todd Wallack, Globe Staff report on Monday and a dour The stock market plummeted study on Friday that showed the again yesterday on growing economy has been growing even worries about about the ailing US more slowly than previously economy, despite the fact that thought. P r e s i d e n t O b a m a s i g n e d In addition, some investors are legislation to raise the debt ceiling now beginning to fret that the debt and avert a potentially disastrous ceiling deal could actually further default on the countrys debt. weaken the economy by cutting The Dow Jones industrial government spending before the average dropped 266 points, or economy has fully recovered from more than 2 percent yesterday, the the recession. As part of the deal, eighth straight day the stock Congress and the White House market has slumped and the agreed to cut spending more than longest losing streak since the $2 trillion over the next decade. financial crisis in October 2008. The austerity measures are Overall, the Dow has dropped 6.7 n e c e s s a r y t o i m p r o v e o u r percent in the past eight days and longterm fiscal health, but in the is at lowest point since March 18, near term these measures will act though the market still remains up as a headwind against growth, slightly for the year. said Paul R. Touchstone, senior Analysts said the market has investment strategist for Stone & beaten down by a wave of bad Youngberg LLC, a financial economic news in the past week, services firm in San Francisco. in addition to anxiety about a Touchstone said his firm was potential default. The Commerce previously optimistic that the Department said yesterday that economy would improve in the consumer spending dropped 0.2 second half of the year, but plans
to revisit that prediction in light of the latest numbers. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices fell by even wider margins yesterday. The S&P 500 slipped 2.75 percent, while Nasdaq dropped 2.56 percent. And the stock market could be shaken again in coming days if new jobs data comes in weaker than expected. The Department of Labor is slated to issue its monthly unemployment report on Friday, while ADP, a major payroll company, unveils its own estimates for private sector job growth today. Economists expect the government to report that the country created 85,000 new jobs in July, according to a Reuters poll. Jobs will certainly drive the tone of the market for the remainder for the week and will probably overshadow any strong earnings for corporations, Touchstone said. Beverly investment adviser Gale L. Smith said she thinks the market has also been driven down in part because people were
pocketing some of their profits after the market soared earlier in this year. Smith said she doubted the market would fall much more since the debt deal erased a major threat hanging over the market. In fact, she believes the market will likely rally in early September as companies report strong earnings and because there has been such a steep selloff in recent days. Theres a lot of relief that the August 2 deadline has been removed, said Smith, president of Gale L. Smith & Co., a portfolio management firm. Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Uncommon Knowledge Interview with Ajami and Hill (Part Two)

(The Front Page)
[W]hen you politicize religion it becomes a double-edged sword anyway because the believing President (for example someone like Anwar Sadat called himself the Believing President), he gets the believing assassin. And then a fight for religion breaks out. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
In-wheel motors show impressive efficiency gains

Submitted at 8/2/2011 12:00:00 PM
Early tests suggest that motors mounted within the wheels of hybrid cars could lead to dramatic
efficiency gains, yielding an impressive increase in fuel economy. Each wheel gets a separate motor, complete with built-in
inverter, control electronics and
software. They can be fitted to the need for a heavy gearbox, existing cars, allowing them to be d i f f e r e n t i a l o r d r i v e s h a f t . used to make current petrol- C o n t i n u e r e a d i n g . . . powered cars into hybrid vehicles, or power an electric car without
Top News/ World News/
Debt Bill Passes Senate 74-26; How Lawmakers Voted

Kevin Rudd's phone wiped by wife - Sydney Morning Herald

(Nation - Google News)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:37:37 PM
(Image from video) The U.S. Senate passed the debit ceiling bill with a 74-26 vote Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011, after weeks of wrangling between lawmakers and President Barack Obama. (Photo: Reuters / Jonathan Ernst) U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (R) is photographed as he talks to reporters about the senate's vote on debt ceiling legislation at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, August 2, 2011. Congress buried the specter of a debt default by finally passing a deficit-cutting package on Tuesday, but the shadow lingered of a possible painful downgrade of the topnotch American credit rating. Of the 74 lawmakers who voted in support of the bill in U.S. Senate, 28 of them are Republicans, 45 are Democrats
and one Independent was included in the list: Akaka (D-HI), Alexander (RTN), Barrasso (R-WY), Baucus (D-MT), Begich (D-AK), Bennet (D-CO), Bingaman (D-NM), Blumenthal (D-CT), Blunt (RMO), Boozman (R-AR), Boxer (D -CA), Brown (D-OH), Brown (RMA) Burr (R-NC), Cantwell (DWA), Cardin (D-MD), Carper (DDE), Casey (D-PA), Cochran (RMS), Collins (R-ME), Conrad (DND), Coons (D-DE), Corker (RTN), Cornyn (R-TX), Crapo (RID), Durbin (D-IL), Enzi (R-WY), Feinstein (D-CA), Franken (DMN), Hagan (D-NC), Hoeven (RND), Hutchison (R-TX), Inouye (D-HI), Isakson (R-GA), Johanns (R-NE, Johnson (D-SD), Kerry (D -MA), Kirk (R-IL), Klobuchar (DMN), Kohl (D-WI), Kyl (R-AZ), Landrieu (D-LA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Lieberman (IDCT), Lugar (R-IN), Manchin (DWV), McCain (R-AZ), McCaskill (D-MO), McConnell (R-KY), Mikulski (D-MD), Murkowski (R
-AK), Murray (D-WA), Nelson (D-FL), Portman (R-OH), Pryor (D-AR), Reed (D-RI), Reid (DNV), Risch (R-ID), Roberts (RKS), Rockefeller (D-WV), Schumer (D-NY), Shaheen (DNH), Snowe (R-ME), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT), Thune (R -SD), Udall (D-CO), Udall (DNM), Warner (D-VA), Webb (DVA), Whitehouse (D-RI), Wicker (R-MS), Wyden (D-OR). Among the senators who voted against the debt ceiling bill, 19 are Republicans, six are Democrats, and one is an Independent: Ayotte (R-NH), Chambliss (RGA), Coats (R-IN), Coburn (ROK), DeMint (R-SC), Gillibrand (D-NY), Graham (R-SC), Grassley (R-IA), Harkin (D-IA), Hatch (R-UT), Heller (R-NV), Inhofe (R-OK), Johnson (R-WI), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lee (R-UT), Menendez (D-NJ), Merkley (DOR), Moran (R-KS), Nelson (DNE), Paul (R-KY), Rubio (R-FL), Sanders (I-VT), Sessions (R-AL), Shelby (R-AL), Toomey (R-PA),
Vitter (R-LA). President Obama, who had until midnight to sign the debt ceiling bill, put his signature to the legislation within two hours of its passage. Like us on Facebook Now, Congress has two weeks to choose members of the special joint committee tasked with suggesting how $1.2 trillion can be trimmed from the nation's budget in the next 10 years. Those suggestions will also be up for a future vote in the House and Senate. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
NEWS.com.au Kevin Rudd's phone wiped by wife Sydney Morning Herald While Kevin Rudd is recovering from heart surgery his wife is madly trying to resuscitate his Blackberry mobile phone. Therese Rein accidentally wiped all the data from the phone after several unsuccessful attempts to put in his password.... Therese Rein wipes phone data as husband Kevin Rudd recovers from heart surgery The Australian Therese Rein wipes Kevin Rudd's BlackBerry while he has heart surgery NEWS.com.au Rudd heart surgery 'a success' ABC Online Herald Sun- The Age- The Daily Telegraph all 329 news articles
Finish off Rann, say SA Libs - Ninemsn

Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:45:31 PM
The Hindu Finish off Rann, say SA Libs Ninemsn
South Australia's Liberals are urging the state's premier-inwaiting Jay Weatherill to "finish off" Labor's politically wounded leader, Mike Rann. The education minister has been chosen by
Labor powerbrokers to succeed the premier but he has ruled out... Factional coup may prove problematic for SA's new premier Sydney Morning Herald Rann knifed as US teeters on the
brink The Australian Labor powerbrokers give Rann December 6 deadline to leave office NEWS.com.au Adelaide Now- ABC OnlineHerald Sun
all 388 news articles
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Top News/
The Traffic Problems That Will Disappear When Vehicles Can Talk To Each Other
Ariel Schwartz (Fast Company)
Dangerous roads, rubbernecking at accidents, even running out of juice in your EV: All can be solved by the winners of the Department of Transportation's Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge, which found new ways for cars to talk to each other. Traffic is generally accepted as a necessity of modern life, but it doesn't have to be. We don't have traffic because there are too many cars, we have traffic because people are bad drivers and don't have enough information to make smart decisions. If even just a fraction of vehicles could communicate and override poor driving decisions, we could virtually eliminate traffic. So regardless of whether you believe that autonomous vehicles and road trains are in our future, cars that talk to each other are coming sooner than you think--and they might just get rid of some of the most pesky (and dangerous) traffic-related problems. The DOT recently announced the six winners in its Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge, which asked entrants to come up with ways that Dedicated Short
Range Communications (DSRC) technology--a secure, Wi-Fi-like open source communications platform that allows cars to communicate even while driving at high speeds--could be used to "develop new applications, devices, products, services and business solutions." Here is some of what we might look forward to in our connected vehicle future, courtesy of the competition winners.
[youtube KybY4qnJP4A] Clemson's Integrated Intelligent Transportation Platform proposes using DSRC to create a "true connected vehicle ecosystem" that leverages the technology to do everything from reporting vehicle crashes on the road ahead to notifying EV drivers that they're about to enter a traffic jam, and their charge won't last through it unless they turn off certain systems in the car--for example,
the onboard TV in the backseat. The Connected Vehicle Proactive Driving entry, submitted by Sakura Associates, aims to use DSRC to make the roads safer for drivers--and in turn, reduce the amount of traffic jams caused by accidents. The system would gather information on the type and location of accidents in different areas to give drivers guidance based on a so-called Accident Probability Index, which
could advise drivers to avoid (or take extra care on) routes with high accident rates, "dangerous road geometry," and adverse weather conditions. The Emergency Response Application of DSRC Technology submission, entered by Matthew Henchey and Tejswaroop Geetla of the University of Buffalo, anticipates using short range technology to upgrade emergency responses in the event of an accident. One example: Vehicles involved in a major crash could automatically notify traffic management controllers and emergency responders, minimizing the amount of time that rubberneckers have to gawk (and that other drivers have to sit in traffic). Truly driverless technologies are still a long way from being implemented, and before they can hit the road, drivers will have to get over the psychological barrier of sitting in vehicles that drive themselves. In the meantime, cars that communicate with each other can alleviate some of the frustrations of waiting in traffic. [Images: Top: Flickr user MSVG; Bottom: DOT] Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or email.
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11
Moody's confirms US's AAA rating - GlobalPost

adopted in 2013; (3) the economic outlook deteriorates significantly; or (4) there is an appreciable rise In the wake of the debt-ceiling in the US government's funding deal signed into law by President costs over and above what is Obama on Tuesday, the credit currently expected." rating agency Moody's has Moody's statement also said it confirmed the nation's AAA credit "expects to see a stabilization of rating, and said that the deal the federal government's debt-to"virtually eliminated" the risk of a GDP ratio not too far above its default. But the agency also projected 2012 level of 73% by lowered its rating outlook to t h e m i d d l e o f t h e d e c a d e , "negative," and said that a f o l l o w e d b y a d e c l i n e . " downgrade could still be on the All three major rating agencies horizon. had warned of a downgrade "In confirming the Aaa rating, before the debt-ceiling deal. Moodys also recognized that Moody's is the first to come out todays agreement is a first step and preserve the country's AAA toward achieving the long-term status. MSNBC reports that Fitch fiscal consolidation needed to plans to complete its review of the maintain the US government debt rating by the end of August, and metrics within Aaa parameters has not ruled out a downgrade. over the long run," Moody's said "While the agreement is clearly a in a statement. "In assigning a step in the right direction, the negative outlook to the rating, United States, as in much of Moody's indicated, however, that Europe, must also confront tough t h e r e w o u l d b e a r i s k o f choices on tax and spending downgrade if (1) there is a against a weak economic back weakening in fiscal discipline in drop if the budget deficit and the coming year; (2) further fiscal government debt is to be cut to consolidation measures are not safer levels over the medium
term," Fitch said in a statement obtained by MSNBC. Standard & Poor's, the third major agency, has not yet commented. According to MSNBC, the agency "has warned that the nation's credit rating would be subject to a downgrade without a credible deficitreduction package worth $4 trillion over 10 years. The package agreed to by congressional negotiators falls well short of that mark." CNN reports that Moody's first assigned the U.S. a AAA rating in 1917. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Amazingly, Some In The UK Envy The US Debt Ceiling Crisis

Adam Taylor (Business Insider)
Austerity can rescue Greece, says OECD

(Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)
Greece is on track to overcome its economic crisis - but only if it continues to implement a series of unpopular reforms and austerity
measures, the OECD has warned.
up with the figure of 40%. Javid used to work as an international bond trader and Anyone who has sat through claims his experience led him to hours of the arduous US debt understand the problem countries ceiling deliberations would face. Unfortunately, many don't probably wonder who on Earth see the Javid's plan quite the same would ever willingly submit their way. Just last month Vince Cable, country to such an experience. business secretary in the British Surely, even from afar the coalition government, criticized experience was painful. the very Tea Partier's Javid Yet in the UK, the Telegraph has praised. managed to find someone to say The irony of the situation at the the unthinkable. moment is that the biggest That man is Sajid Javid, the UK threat to the world financial Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, system comes from a few rightwho recently put forward a bill wing nutters in the American that calls for a UK debt ceiling. C o n g r e s s r a t h e r t h a n t h e Javid writes: eurozone. I believe it is time for Britain to A debt ceiling in the Europe follow [America] which is why might be unusual but it wouldn't I have put forward the National be unprecedented, both Denmark Debt Cap Bill, which has its and Poland have their own second reading in January. systems. [...] Please follow Europe on Twitter A debt cap, which would restrict and Facebook. borrowing to a given percentage Join the conversation about this of GDP, would be no guarantee story against such fiscal irresponsibility See Also: but it would make it harder for UK Watchdog Bans Airbrushed politicians to rely on their Cosmetics Advertisements favourite ploy of buy now, pay Even Europe Is Sick Of The later. Debt Ceiling Mess There are some important PHOTOS: With Just One Year differences however. For one, the To Go, A Tour Of The UK's debt would be set at a percentage Olympic Venues of GDP, for which Javid comes
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Top News/ Technology/
Kinect Hacked For 3-D Scanning Of Archaeology Site

Kit Eaton (Fast Company)
University of California, San Diego students will be going to Jordan soon to take part in an archaeological dig that's decidely futuristic: As they uncover artifacts and structures in the soil, they'll be using high-quality 3-D scanning to record accurate positional details--rich data that could be incredibly useful in the future. Instead of using expensive and complex imaging systems like LIDAR, however, the team will use a hacked Microsoft Kinect to do the job for them. It's actually using a system developed by the California Institute for Telecommunications and IT (Calit2), which taps directly into Kinect's streaming data feed that's a blend of 3-D positional data (achieved by projecting bright, invisible spots of infrared light onto objects and then observing them with an IR camera) and color video images.
The Calit2 team has perfected this system so it's useful for making fast and accurate 3-D scans of objects that can then be inserted into a virtual world like Second Life--the trick is to correctly register all the images recorded of the object so they match up next to each other properly as you wave the Kinect around. Thus far the Calit Kinect hack uses an
overhead video tracking device to do this, which limits it for indoor use--a tweak is already planned to let it work in an outdoors settings, however, and its inventor thinks it could even be used to scan whole buildings (at which point Google, with its penchant for doing this inaccurately for its Street View system, may get interested). At the Jordanian site, the idea is
to use the hacked Kinect to quickly record any found artifacts almost as soon as they emerge from the turf. These 3-D images allow for much more detailed analysis after the fact, without needing to disturb the physical artifacts, and could even enable more insight into the mind of the person who created them long ago. Calit2 has a solution perfect
for this too: StarCAVE, which is an immersive 3-D virtual reality system. A 3-D model of the dig site as it progresses also allows for faster and more accurate tracking of where physical structures and artifacts were located. The Kinect system, as well as being cheaper and simpler than a LIDAR installation, is in some sense better suited for the dig environment: It's much less expensive, so accidental damage won't be such a pain, and its handheld nature means it's easier to use when stumbling around among soil and rocks. In short, this may be the most cultural use of Microsoft's unexpectedly- hackable game machine yet. [Image: Flickr user europedistrict] Chat about this news with Kit Eaton on Twitter and Fast Company too.
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13
The Robotic Nurse That Can Pick You Up

Ariel Schwartz (Fast Company)
Lifting a person is a lot of work. But not if you're a friendly Japanese robot designed to help care for the elderly. What could go wrong? Japan's population is quickly aging--by 2015, the country will have 5.69 million people in need of nursing care. There are only so many times that a person can lift patients from a futon to a wheelchair. Currently, caretakers working in nursing facilities perform this act an average of 40 times a day. And so in true Japanese style, a group of researchers have manufactured a robot to help out. The RIBA II (Robot for
Interactive Body Assistance) is the second iteration of RIBA, a bot developed by the RIKEN research institute that can lift patients out of their wheelchairs, onto a bed, and back again. Unlike the original robot, RIBA II has joints in its base and lower
back that allow it to crouch and scoop up a patient lying on a floor -level Japanese futon (this is a common sleeping style in the country). Check out a video of RIBA in action here. Lest you be concerned that RIBA may crush one of its charges, the
latest version of the bot features rubber tactile sensors that can sense a person's weight purely from touch. Still, we imagine the day will come when RIBA breaks down while cradling a patient-without a real, live caregiver in site.
RIBA isn't the first elder-care robot to come out of Japan. In the past few years, we've seen a Hybrid Assisted Limb that can boost the wearer's strength by a factor of 10, a robotic bed that turns into a wheelchair on command, and a seal-like robot that is supposed to be a pet replacement for elderly people who can no longer care for real animals. In the U.S., the PR2 bot is being primed to help the elderly perform daily tasks. Such advanced technology doesn't come cheap. When it goes on sale in 2015, RIBA II will cost approximately $78,000. [Image: RIKEN] Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or email.
The Unbelievable Animal Hand Paintings Of Guido Daniele

Julie Zeveloff (Business Insider)
Ashley is brave to fling mud from his particular spot on the sidelines
Guido Daniele is an Italian artist whose preferred canvas is human skin. He started working with bodily canvases over two decades ago and eventually started focusing on hands. His series of "Handimals"
features gorgeous tromp l'oeil images of wild creatures etched onto bent fingers and palms. It was featured in a highly praised AT&T campaign in 2008. Each hand painting takes between two and 10 hours to produce, according to a 2008 article in The Daily Mail. Daniele has been kind enough to share some of his "Handimals"
with us, his complete portfolio of hand and body art are worth checking out on his website. See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook. See Also: Naomi Campbell And Her Russian Billionaire Boyfriend Have Been Cruising Turkey In A
Yacht That Costs $300,000 A Week PHOTOS: Tour The Stunning Missoni Hotel That Just Opened In Kuwait Secrets To Getting Onto The World's Most Exclusive Golf Courses
You would have thought Mike Ashley would have better things to do with his time.
14
Business/
Kapitall Strategies: Buying Into Today's Big Winners (10 Days Trade Exit)
Kapitall (Business Insider)
starting point for your own analysis. For each stock listed, we'll also ( L i s t c o m p i l e d b y E b e n include the annual performance. Esterhuizen, CFA) Analyze These Ideas (Tools Will Strategy: If a stock gains more Open In A New Window) than 3% since yesterday's close, 1. Access a thorough description buy it, and sell it on the close 10 of all companies mentioned trading sessions later. 2. Compare analyst ratings for all But which of today's big winners stocks mentioned below might be good candidates for this 3. Visualize annual returns for all strategy? stocks mentioned To help you get ideas, we started 1. Universal American Corp ( with a universe of about 150 U A M ) : H e a l t h C a r e P l a n s stocks that have gained by more Industry. At time of writing than 3% since yesterday's close (2:30pm ET), the stock is up (i.e. strategy candidates). 8.64% since yesterday's close. We went back in time, and Over the last quarter, there have evaluated how many times these been 3 days when the stock stocks have rallied like this over gained more than 3% in a session. the last quarter. Trading the above mentioned F o r e a c h b a c k t e s t e d r a l l y strategy on those days would have strategy, we'll also report the returned an average of 9.26% over average return made on the the next 10 trading days. The investment (ignoring transaction stock has returned -46.12% over costs). the last year. Recent history suggests that these 2. AMERIGROUP Corporation ( stocks are exhibiting upward A G P ) : H e a l t h C a r e P l a n s momentum, and may add to Industry. At time of writing today's gains. That said, it's (2:30pm ET), the stock is up important to point out that past 4.08% since yesterday's close. performance is no guarantee of Over the last quarter, there have future results. been 3 days when the stock In other words, just because these gained more than 3% in a session. stocks gained from similar rallies Trading the above mentioned over the last quarter, there is no strategy on those days would have guarantee that they will do so returned an average of 9.2% over again today. the next 10 trading days. The As always, use this list only as a stock has returned 30.1% over the
last year. 3. Silver Wheaton Corp. ( SLW): Silver Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 3.75% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 7 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 5.19% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 90.53% over the last year. 4. Aurizon Mines Ltd. ( AZK): Gold Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 3.17% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 6 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 5% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 23.97% over the last year. 5. Eldorado Gold Corp. ( EGO): Gold Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 5.05% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 8 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 4.92% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 9.29% over the
last year. 6. Sohu.com Inc. ( SOHU): Internet Information Providers Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 3.92% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 8 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 4.61% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 65.67% over the last year. 7. Yamana Gold, Inc. ( AUY): Gold Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 3.28% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 5 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 4.57% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 41.06% over the last year. 8. AuRico Gold Inc. Ordinary Share( AUQ): Gold Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 3.26% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 10 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 4.27% over the next
10 trading days. The stock has returned 110.69% over the last year. 9. Minefinders Corp. Ltd. ( MFN): Industrial Metals & Minerals Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 4.02% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 5 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 4.16% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 72.07% over the last year. 10. Liquidity Services, Inc. ( LQDT): Internet Software & Services Industry. At time of writing (2:30pm ET), the stock is up 14.61% since yesterday's close. Over the last quarter, there have been 8 days when the stock gained more than 3% in a session. Trading the above mentioned strategy on those days would have returned an average of 3.8% over the next 10 trading days. The stock has returned 81.98% over the last year. Interactive Chart: Press Play to see how analyst ratings have changed for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research. Your browser does not support KAPITALL page 15
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Fitch keeps U.S. AAA rating, review ongoing

(Reuters: Top News)
Norris admits 'human error' as he exits presidential race Irish Times

Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:12:13 PM
The Guardian Norris admits 'human error' as he exits presidential race Irish Times SENATOR DAVID Norris yesterday withdrew his candidacy from the presidential election in the autumn, admitting he made a human error in trying to help a person I loved dearly. In a brief but dramatic address on the steps of his home on North Great... David Norris campaign was a political phenomenon The Guardian Norris: I was motivated by love Belfast Telegraph Favourite for Irish presidency David Norris's ex partner raped Palestinian boy, 15 Daily Mail Irish Independent- RTE.ieInsideireland.ie all 342 news articles
on Tuesday and prospects for the U.S. economy, which have disappointed Fitch. The Fitch Ratings building is "The downward revisions of the seen in New York May 7, 2010. G D P w e r e b i g g e r t h a n w e Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi expected and a source of By Daniel Bases and Walter concern," Riley said. "There could Brandimarte be a rating action which could NEW YORK| Tue Aug 2, 2011 include a revision of the outlook. I 4:47pm EDT certainly couldn't rule that out." (Reuters) - Fitch upheld its AAA Fitch considered the debt rating on the United States on agreement a "step in the right T u e s d a y a f t e r l a w m a k e r s direction" that shows Washington approved spending cuts to avoid a has "the political will and capacity U.S. default, but it warned the to ultimately do the right thing." world's largest economy must cut But such a vote of confidence its debt burden to avoid a future from Fitch did not dispel fears downgrade. ratings agency Standard & Poor's The credit rating firm said that will cut the nation's top-notch while the agreement means rating. default risk is extremely low, the Although the bill removes the United States "must also confront threat of imminent default by tough choices on tax and spending raising the national debt limit a g a i n s t a w e a k e c o n o m i c enough to last until 2013, its cuts backdrop if the budget deficit and are only about half the $4 trillion government debt is to be cut to in savings that ratings agencies safer levels over the medium Standard & Poor's and Moody's term." have said would be enough to David Riley, Fitch Rating's confirm the country's triple-A primary analyst for the United rating with a stable outlook. States, told Reuters the firm Even after a bruising battle in would not rule out slapping a Congress to complete a $2.1 negative outlook on the rating trillion deficit reduction deal, when it concludes its review later Fitch said the AAA status remains this month. strong. Riley said the ongoing review Despite the Fitch statement, w i l l t a k e i n t o a c c o u n t t h e investors continued to move to "positive" outcome of a debt safer assets. U.S. Treasuries agreement achieved by lawmakers added to gains and Wall Street
stocks and the dollar were stuck in negative territory. The dollar, already falling against the Swiss franc after weak economic data, fell to an all-time low in the wake of Fitch's statement. However, the greenback held steady against the euro, which is struggling with a sovereign debt crisis of its own. Other ratings agencies have warned of a potential downgrade of U.S. credit depending on the scope and size of the deficit cutting agreement. "The more important question here is whether the bill will be enough to appease S&P, which wanted $4 trillion in cuts, with many in the market believing that there is a realistic chance of a downgrade from S&P," said Gennadiy Goldberg, fixed income analyst at 4Cast Ltd. in New York. Fitch noted that without significant changes in fiscal policy, The U.S. federal, state, and local debt as a percentage of gross domestic product "will reach 100 percent by the end of 2012, and will continue to rise over the medium term -- a profile that is not consistent with the United States retaining its AAA sovereign rating." The firm expects U.S. federal debt-to-GDP levels alone to reach 70 percent by the end of this year,
and increase over the next 15-20 years into the mid-80 percent range. In comparison, Fitch says debt-to -GDP levels are at 191.8 percent in Japan, 148 percent in Greece, 88 percent in Portugal, 73 percent in France, 50.9 percent in Spain, and 44.1 percent in Germany. "The agreement is an important first step but not the end of the process toward putting in place a credible plan to reduce the budget deficit to a level that would secure the United States' AAA status over the medium-term," Fitch said. The firm said it expects to conclude its scheduled review of the U.S. sovereign rating by the end of August. (Reporting by Daniel Bases, Walter Brandimarte, Pam Niimi, Chris Sanders and Richard Leong; Editing by Andrew Hay) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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News Wire/
Wall Street on Debt Deal: So What?

(FOXNews.com)
companies may choose to downgrade America's coveted 'AAA' credit rating, which could FOX Business: The Power to strongly impact world credit Prosper markets, analysts say. Traders shrugged off a lastFitch said Tuesday the minute deal to avert an compromise-deal is in line with unprecedented default on the 'AAA' credit rating, and American debt after heightened represents a step in the right economic tension ignited an direction. However, the ratings intense round of selling that sent company noted the country will the Dow plummeting for the have to confront difficult choices eighth-straight day. to balance tax and spending while Today's Markets dealing with a weak economic The Dow Jones Industrial backdrop. Average plummeted 266 points, The debt deal "does not put the or 2.2%, to 11,867, the S&P 500 U.S. on a sustainable fiscal path," slid 32.9 points, or 2.6%, to 1,254 economists at Barclays Capital and the Nasdaq Composite wrote in a note to clients, adding tumbled 75.4 points, or 2.8%, to "weakness in U.S. growth has the 2,669. The FOX 50 dipped 21 potential to offset most of the points to 897. savings claimed by the debt In a sign of the breadth of the reduction package." selloff on Wall Street, 90% of the Every major sector fell sharply volume on the New York Stock on the day, leaving few shelters in Exchange was in declining stocks. the equities markets. Adding to the negative sentiment, head of fixed income at asset- of 0.2%. On the whole, the report extremely slow to come back Conglomerates like General the blue chips have ended in the management giant BlackRock. points to weakening consumption, during the economic recovery. E l e c t r i c ( G E ) a n d U n i t e d red for the past eight sessions -- "With the weakness of the U.S. which directly factors into broader Debt Woes in Focus Technologies( UTX) struggled the President Obama signed a bill to most on the day. shedding 858 points -- the longest economy becoming increasingly economic growth measures. losing streak since the financial a p p a r e n t , c o n s u m p t i o n a n d "The dismal employment market raise the debt ceiling after the bill Volume on the New York Stock investment decisions are rising to and increasing prices are pushing sailed through the Senate earlier Exchange was the highest in more crisis three years ago. Americans to save more and on Tuesday. The measure was the than four months, which market A b o u t o f d i s a p p o i n t i n g the forefront." Data released Tuesday showed s p e n d l e s s , " w r o t e C h r i s subject of heated debate on participants see as a sign of economic data, including a steep downward revision to first-quarter personal spending fell for the first Christopher, senior principal Capitol Hill and in the halls of the conviction in the selloff. economic expansion and an time in nearly two years in June. economist at IHS Global Insight. White House for months and In a continued flight to safe unexpectedly sharp decline in The gauge of consumption The closely-watched monthly voting came hours before the assets, gold soared to yet another U.S. manufacturing, has led dipped 0.2% , according to the employment report for July is on deadline set by the Treasury n o m i n a l r e c o r d h i g h . T h e market participants to doubt the Commerce Department, shy of the tap for Friday, and is expected to Department. precious metal settled higher by robustness of the economic 0 . 2 % i n c r e a s e e c o n o m i s t s show the economy added 57,000 While the passage of the bill will $22.80, or 1.4%, to $1,645 a troy recovery in recent sessions. expected. Meanwhile, personal jobs, which would keep the h e l p t h e c o u n t r y a v o i d a ounce. "The U.S. economy is very close income grew at a pace of 0.1% for unemployment rate steady at catastrophic default, the chance WALL page 23 to stall speed," wrote Peter Fisher, the month, slower than forecasts 9.2%. The labor market has been r e m a i n s t h a t c r e d i t r a t i n g s
News Wire/
17
Lawmakers Signal DealTo End FAA Shutdown

(FOXNews.com)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled Tuesday that a deal is near to end the stalemate over funding the Federal Aviation Administration, which partially shut down last month, leaving thousands of civilian employees and construction workers on furlough. Reid indicated that the end of the impasse could come with his accepting a funding bill from the Republican-controlled House that includes a provision eliminating millions in subsidies for rural airline services -- a provision that Senate Democrats had opposed. "Sometimes you have to be reasonable, as we learned with this big deal we've just done," said Reid, D-Nev. "Sometimes you just have to step back and do what's best for the country and not be bound by your personal issues, and I'm willing to give that up, and I hope the other side will do the same." With everybody's energy devoted over the last couple weeks to solving the debt-ceiling crisis, little progress has been made toward resolving the FAA dispute. And there was concern earlier that an agreement wouldn't be possible until Labor Day since lawmakers were expected to be
out of Washington for the rest of the month "Our position is the Senate has had our bill for weeks and they need to pass it," a senior House GOP source told Fox News. "There is no chance we'd take something different up in pro forma, we've told the Senate that." An estimated 4,000 FAA workers have been furloughed, tens of thousands of airport construction workers are in limbo and at least $30 million a day in airline taxes are not being collected because of Republican objections to provisions that they called wasteful and a Democratic reachout to union supporters. In a notice posted on the FAA employee website and obtained by Fox News Radio, Air Traffic Organization Chief Operating Officer David Grizzle raises safety concerns as the furlough drags on. But an FAA official told Fox New Radio that the note references construction sites ATC facilities that were left in a haphazard state due to the abrupt nature of the shutdown. The official maintained there is no safety issue with the traveling public. In a Rose Garden speech delivered after the Senate sent him legislation to extend the nation's borrowing limit, President Obama urged Congress to end the
FAA's woes if they object to the "clean" short-term bill meant to last through the end of September. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., accused Republicans of taking a "my way or the runway" approach, claiming they were scoring "political points for Tea Party extremists" at the expense of U.S. jobs and lost taxpayer revenue. But Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, accused the Senate of choosing standoff . funding bill making it more "political pork over American "It's another Washington-inflicted difficult for airline workers to workers." wound on America and Congress unionize. That bill then stalled, He said the change to the soneeds to break that impasse now," and lawmakers turned to a short- called Essential Air Service would Obama said. term extension -- the kind of bill merely cut funding, some of But members of Congress the FAA has been operating under w h i c h h e d e s c r i b e d a s continued to blame each other for since 2007. "exorbitant," for airports within the impasse. But that effort stalled when 90 miles of larger airports. House Minority Whip Steny Republicans added a separate " A p p a r e n t l y , p r o t e c t i n g Hoyer blasted Republicans for provision stripping $16.5 million outrageous airline ticket subsidies leaving town without resolving in subsidies for rural airline is more important than putting the FAA dispute, calling it "the service. 4,000 furloughed FAA employees politics of confrontation." The Senate had been working on a n d t h o u s a n d s o f a i r p o r t On Monday, Transportation a separate proposal. Aides to Sen. construction workers across the Secretary Ray LaHood said, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in country back to work," he said. "Congress should not leave on its a memo that they're looking to The controversial labor provision summer vacation until they finish bring a "clean" short-term funding holding up the long-term bill an FAA bill that sends back to bill to the floor Tuesday, urging would overturn a decision by the their desks and their offices 4,000 the House to support it. Claiming N a t i o n a l M e d i a t i o n B o a r d FAA employees and sends back Democrats have since called for allowing airline and railroad t o t h e w o r k p l a c e 7 0 , 0 0 0 FAA funding cuts beyond what employees to form a union by construction workers," Republicans proposed in a long- s i m p l e - m a j o r i t y v o t e . The areas of disagreement center term package, the memo said on a House Republican provision R e p u b l i c a n s w o u l d b e LAWMAKERS page 19 added to a long-term FAA "completely to blame" for the
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News Wire/
Judge Lets Ex-Rep Sue Over Campaign Attacks

(FOXNews.com)
from multiple groups in the heat of a campaign and, from time to time, lose because of that AP criticism. Even the American Shown here is ex-Rep. Steve Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Driehaus as he walks to a booth to filed a brief on a related, but vote in Covedale, Ohio, on Nov. separate, case last fall arguing that 2 , 2 0 1 0 . D r i e h a u s l o s t t h e "the people have an absolute right election. to criticize their public officials." In a case that could test the Emily Buchanan, director of the bounds of free speech, a former Susan B. Anthony List, said the Democratic congressman has case could have a chilling effect been allowed to proceed with his on speech. lawsuit against a prominent pro- "The claim of defamation is l i f e g r o u p t h a t h e c l a i m s outrageous. Driehaus is a public contributed to his election defeat official, and we should be able to by spreading falsehoods about his c r i t i c i z e h i m , " s h e t o l d record on abortion issues. FoxNews.com. "And all of this A federal judge in Ohio ruled debate should be taking place in Monday that former Rep. Steve the public square. A court or a Driehaus' defamation suit against judge should not be determining" the Susan B. Anthony List can go a dispute over abortion policy. f o r w a r d . T h e f o r m e r O h i o However, the ex-congressman congressman claims the group claims he's going after the pro-life "disseminated lies" about him, group because, according to him, effectively costing him his job -- they crossed the line and lied. as well as inflicting "reputational" "The First Amendment is not and and "economic" harm. never has been an invitation to The complaint stems from concoct falsehoods aimed at statements and advertisements d e p r i v i n g a p e r s o n o f h i s claiming Driehaus, who considers livelihood," his original complaint himself a pro-life lawmaker, said. v o t e d f o r t a x p a y e r - f u n d e d His attorney, Paul De Marco, told abortion when he backed the FoxNews.com that liars can't federal health care overhaul. " h i d e b e h i n d t h e F i r s t But the case raises apparent free- A m e n d m e n t . " speech concerns, considering While libel and defamation law politicians frequently endure protects most speech when it fierce and sustained criticism comes to public officials, it does
not necessarily protect false speech. As a former public official, Driehaus would likely be required to meet rigorous tests showing the group made false statements and was reckless in doing so. His lawyer said he's prepared to meet those tests. "I don't know what other public officials decide to put up with, but Steve Driehaus decided he wasn't going to put up with lies that went to the heart of his core beliefs and damaged his reputation," De Marco said. The congressman's original complaint cited statements dating back to August about his record on abortion. Among them was a set of billboards the Susan B. Anthony List planned to put up in October claiming he voted for "taxpayer-funded abortion." At the time, Driehaus filed a
complaint with the state election board over the billboards, which did not go up, claiming they broke a state law prohibiting false statements. That battle dragged on until, after the election, Driehaus dropped the complaint and instead filed the defamation suit. The Susan B. Anthony List argues that its statements were true and, besides, qualified as "protected opinion." Whether the health care law at any point provided for taxpayerfunded abortion is indeed a matter of fierce debate. Driehaus cited the fact that the law and a related executive order stated that taxpayer funding could not go to abortion coverage. The law also requires policy holders under subsidized plans who seek abortion coverage to pay for that coverage themselves. But the Susan B. Anthony List
pointed in part to a government study last year that found the health care law did not explicitly prohibit high-risk insurance pools from covering abortions with federal money. The high-risk pools are meant to help those denied coverage until the broader provisions of the law go into effect in 2014. Though the Obama administration and state governments deny it, some groups have claimed abortion could be covered through those pools. In his latest ruling, Judge Timothy Black wrote that the excongressman has so far been able to "produce significant evidence" that the Susan B. Anthony List's statements are false. The judge, who also struck down a challenge to Ohio's false statement law, rejected the Susan B. Anthony List's claims about its abortion statements. Black wrote in his opinion that voting for a bill that might have a loophole allowing for abortion coverage "is entirely different from providing for 'taxpayer funded abortion,'" as the Susan B. Anthony List claimed of Driehaus' voting record. "The express language of the (health care law) does not provide for taxpayer funded abortion," he wrote. "That is a fact, and it is JUDGE page 20
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Moody's confirms U.S. rating at Aaa, outlook negative

(Reuters: Top News)
LAWMAKERS
A view of Capitol Hill in Washington August 1, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts By Walter Brandimarte and Daniel Bases NEW YORK| Tue Aug 2, 2011 7:16pm EDT (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday confirmed its Aaa rating of the United States, citing the decision to raise the debt limit, but assigned a negative outlook that could pressure lawmakers to cut the U.S. deficit. Moody's decision came a few hours after rival Fitch Ratings upheld its AAA rating of the United States. Fitch also warned the world's largest economy must cut its debt burden to avoid a future downgrade. Standard & Poor's, which many predict will cut its rating, has yet to give its opinion of the deficit reduction and debt ceiling deal hammered out in Washington and signed into law on Tuesday. S&P, like Moody's prior to Tuesday's decision, also had the rating on review for a possible downgrade. Moody's negative outlook means a downgrade is still possible in the next 12 to 18 months. The budget deal allows the U.S.
Treasury to keep servicing U.S. debt obligations, pay soldiers and make social security payments. "Today's agreement is a first step toward achieving the long-term fiscal consolidation needed to maintain the US government debt metrics within Aaa parameters over the long run," Moody's said in a statement. With the debt ceiling issue solved, the agency is now focusing on the long-term challenges to U.S. public finances, burdened by a deficit that has reached about 9 percent of the country's economy -- close to the highest since World War II. The Senate approved the $2.1 trillion deficit-reduction plan in a 74 to 26 vote. It passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Monday, warding off the specter of a catastrophic U.S. debt default. The bill lifts the debt ceiling enough to last beyond the November 2012 elections, calls for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years and creates a bipartisan joint House and Senate committee to recommend a deficit -reduction package by late November. It does not include any tax increases. Moody's said that while the combination of the congressional committee process and automatic
Republicans, who have long been concerned about union intimidation in these votes, want to keep the former rule treating a non-vote as a "no" vote. In the meantime, an inter-agency triggers provides a mechanism to forecast to show 85,000 new jobs memo put out Monday by the induce fiscal discipline, this were created in July, up slightly FAA office of the Chief Counsel framework is untested. from the prior month with the and obtained by Fox News Radio "They are simply saying they are unemployment rate holding suggests the agency was preparing waiting to see what develops with steady at a hefty 9.2 percent. for the long haul. The memo t h e n e w d e f i c i t b u d g e t "As the U.S. economy slows advises FAA employees on such commission. It is certainly down, the deficit reduction is not matters as applying for reasonable given the U.S.'s fiscal a real deficit reduction, because unemployment compensation and position. Now that we are past the GDP ends up being lower so the rules on moonlighting. deficit issue, the fiscal issues over debt reduction ends up being Fox News' Molly Henneberg and the long run will be the story," smaller," said Aroop Chatterjee, Fox Radio's Mike Majchrowtiz John Silvia, chief economist at currency strategist at Barclays contributed to this report. W e l l s F a r g o S e c u r i t i e s i n Capital in New York. Transportation Secretary Ray C h a r l o t t e , N o r t h C a r o l i n a . "That is an additional factor on LaHood, left, talks to FAA U.S. markets were closed by the the minds of markets when they Administrator Randy Babbitt time Moody's issued its decision. are looking at this, in terms of the during a news conference to The dollar, already falling against debt deal, is what is done in discuss the interruption of FAA the Swiss franc after weak Congress really meaningful in funding in New York Aug. 1. economic data, fell to an all-time keeping the probability of a This entry passed through the low in the wake of Fitch's downgrade low? And in our view, Full-Text RSS service if this is s t a t e m e n t . H o w e v e r , t h e the probability of a downgrade your content and you're reading it greenback held steady against the continues to be pretty high," he on someone else's site, please read euro, which is struggling with a said. the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentsovereign debt crisis of its own. (Reporting by Walter Brandimarte only/faq.php#publishers. Five "Because it had been discussed as and Daniel Bases) Filters featured article: A 'Malign a possibility, I think the market This entry passed through the Intellectual Subculture' - George was ready for this (Moody's). The Full-Text RSS service if this is Monbiot Smears Chomsky, market is now much more focused your content and you're reading it Herman, Peterson, Pilger And on the employment number on on someone else's site, please read Media Lens. Friday morning and economic the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentfundamentals and how deep is this only/faq.php#publishers. Five soft patch. The U.S. market is Filters featured article: A 'Malign focused on Europe, the weakness Intellectual Subculture' - George in Europe and on Friday's Monbiot Smears Chomsky, number," said Quincy Krosby, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And market strategist at Prudential Media Lens. Financial in Newark, New Jersey. On Friday the U.S. jobs report is
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News Wire/ Technology/
U.S. avoids default but fails to dispel economy fears
JUDGE
clear on its face." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content(Reuters: Top News) borrowing costs and further hurt deficit-reduction plan, already ahead over spending cuts and tax only/faq.php#publishers. Five the struggling U.S. economy. p a s s e d o n M o n d a y b y t h e reform as the deficit-cutting plan Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:31:02 PM Filters featured article: A 'Malign Moody's, affirming the AAA Republican-controlled House of is implemented, both Obama and By Andy Sullivan and Jeff rating, said the deal signed by Representatives, warded off the Democratic and Republican Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Mason Obama was a first step toward i m m e d i a t e s p e c t e r o f a leaders said their agreement, WASHINGTON| Tue Aug 2, fixing the budget problems but catastrophic U.S. debt default. while a welcome first step, was Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens. 2011 6:31pm EDT that the United States was at risk Obama immediately signed the not enough alone. (Reuters) - The United States of a downgrade if there was a b i l l i n t o l a w , l i f t i n g t h e Wall Street stocks fell broadly by stepped back from the brink of weakening of fiscal discipline in government's $14.3 trillion debt more than 2 percent, ending down d e f a u l t o n T u e s d a y b u t the coming year, if no further ceiling hours before a Tuesday for a seventh consecutive session congressional approval of a last- measures were taken in 2013 or if midnight deadline. But the as the wrangling over the U.S. gasp deficit-cutting plan failed to the economy deteriorated. rancorous debt and deficit battle debt ceiling faded and investors dispel fears of a credit downgrade Another agency, Fitch Ratings, between his Democrats and their turned their attention to the and future tax and spending feuds. did not rule out slapping a Republican rivals left Obama stalling economy. President Barack Obama and negative outlook on the U.S. politically bruised as he heads (Additional reporting by Jeff lawmakers from across the AAA rating when it concludes a into a campaign for a second term Mason, Thomas Ferraro, Donna political divide expressed relief review of the country later this in 2012. Smith, Richard Cowan, Lesley over the hard-won compromise to month, the agency's top analyst The agreement drew a line -- for Wroughton, Laura MacInnis, raise U.S. borrowing authority. for the United States told Reuters the moment -- under months of Alister Bull and Steve Holland in Nevertheless, U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday. bitter partisan squabbling over Washington and Chris Sanders in sharply as investors fretted over Ratings agency Standard and debt and deficit strategy that had New York; Writing by Stuart persistent economic and political Poor's said in mid-July there was t h r e a t e n e d c h a o s i n g l o b a l Grudgings and Pascal Fletcher; uncertainties dogging the world's a 50-50 chance it would cut the financial markets and dented Editing by Jackie Frank) largest economy. U.S. rating in the next three America's stature as the world's This entry passed through the The possibility of an eventual months if lawmakers failed to economic superpower. Full-Text RSS service if this is (TREND HUNTER - The Latest downgrade of the top-notch craft a meaningful deficit-cutting The bill lifts the debt ceiling your content and you're reading it Trends) American credit rating grew when plan. e n o u g h t o l a s t b e y o n d t h e on someone else's site, please read Submitted at 8/2/2011 1:11:05 PM Moody's Investors Service, one of The $2.1 trillion deficit-reduction November 2012 elections, calls the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe three major ratings agencies, plan approved by Congress falls for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts only/faq.php#publishers. Five ( TrendHunter.com) A new said it was slapping a negative short of S&P's previous assertion spread over 10 years and creates a Filters featured article: A 'Malign Smurfs movie recently hit the outlook on America's AAA-rated that $4 trillion in deficit-reduction bipartisan joint House and Senate Intellectual Subculture' - George theaters and now the blue critter sovereign debt. measures would be needed to committee to recommend a deficit M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , that's been a part of many people's The move, announced after U.S. show that Washington was putting - r e d u c t i o n p a c k a g e b y l a t e Herman, Peterson, Pilger And childhood takes the form of the Smurfs USB Flash Drive. The markets closed, could lead to a the country's finances in order. November. It does not include any Media Lens. Smurfs USB Flash Drive features downgrade within 12 to 18 The Senate's approval through a tax increases. the... months that would probably raise 74 to 26 vote of the $2.1 trillion Signaling tough political battles
Cartoon Critter Memory Sticks The Smurfs USB Flash Drive Travels from the Big Screen to Computers (TrendHunter.com)
News Wire/ World News/
21
GAO Audit Finds Fed Loaned Trillions Secretly to Banks

(Epoch Times | All headlines)
Shoesmith could get 1m compensation The Independent

Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:01:18 PM
"No one who works for a firm receiving direct financial The headquarters of JP Morgan assistance from the Fed should be Chase in New York. An audit on allowed to sit on the Fed's board the Federal Reserve conducted by of directors or be employed by the the Government Accountability Fed," said Sanders regarding the Office (GAO) found $16 trillion issue. The GAO recommends that of secret loans made to JP Morgan the institution should strengthen Chase, Wells Fargo, and General policies for managing Electric during the financial crisis. noncompetitive vendor selections, (Michael Kappeler/Getty Images ) conflicts of interest, risks related An audit on the Federal Reserve to emergency lending, and conducted by the Government documentation of emergency Accountability Office (GAO) program decisions. found secret loans made to large Scott Alvarez, general counsel of banks and companies around the the New York Fed, responded in a world and conflicts of interest letter to GAO saying that the Fed within the central banking system. GAO report. A significant example of conflict will give each recommendation The GAO report says the Federal T h e F e d m a d e i t s 2 0 0 8 of interest applied to the current serious attention and that he Reserve issued $16 trillion worth emergency loan decisions without head of the Federal Reserve. The believes the process will further o f l o a n s t o l a r g e p r i v a t e input from Congress and citizens. GAO found that William Dudley enhance the Federal Reserves institutions such as JP Morgan "This is a clear case of socialism was issued a waiver in 2008 to capability to respond effectively Chase, Wells Fargo, and General for the rich and rugged, you're-on- keep his shares in companies in future crises. Electric during the financial crisis. your-own individualism for including those that received The GAO will conduct another The mandatory evaluation was everyone else, said Sanders in f e d e r a l a s s i s t a n c e , s u c h a s i n v e s t i g a t i o n c e n t e r i n g o n part of the Dodd-Frank Wall h i s s t a t e m e n t . T h e s e n a t o r American International Group conflicts of interest in the Fed on Street Reform and Consumer proposed an amendment to the Inc. (AIG), while he was still the Oct 18. Protection Act, which was passed Dodd-Frank Act that required an executive vice president of the This entry passed through the one year ago. The report said that audit of the Federal Reserve. New York Fed Markets Group. Full-Text RSS service if this is all federal emergency bailout Sanders, who is an Independent A l t h o u g h N e w Y o r k F e d your content and you're reading it money went to large banks and and strong critic of policies spokesman Jack Gutt said Dudley on someone else's site, please read companies around the world favoring corporations at the gave up his AIG shares shortly the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentinstead of to smaller local banks expense of ordinary citizens, said a f t e r s u c c e e d i n g T i m o t h y only/faq.php#publishers. Five and businesses. Notably, it loaned "the Federal Reserve must be Geithner as president of the New Filters featured article: A 'Malign tax dollars to foreign banks and to reformed to serve the needs of York Fed, the Fed has not made Intellectual Subculture' - George large companies outside the working families, not just CEOs rules to eliminate potential M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , United States "from South Korea on Wall Street." Herman, Peterson, Pilger And conflicts of interest. to Scotland, "according to the Media Lens.
The Guardian Shoesmith could get 1m compensation The Independent The former child protection boss Sharon Shoesmith is in line for compensation estimated at up to 1m after judges rejected applications to challenge a ruling that she was unfairly sacked following the Baby P tragedy.... Baby P killer is free on Friday The Sun Baby P boss Sharon Shoesmith set for 1million compensation payout Daily Mail BABY P CARE BOSS SHARON SHOESMITH SET TO CLAIM 1M PAYOUT Express.co.uk Sky News- Evening StandardDaily Star all 215 news articles
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News Wire/ Policy/
Compassionate Tang Founded the Shang Dynasty

Shang Tang prayed for rain with a pure heart and compassion. (Catherine Chang/The Epoch Times ) Chinas first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty, ruled for about four hundred years, until 1675 BC. The Shang became Chinas second dynasty (1675BC 1035BC). Xia Jie, the last emperor of the Xia dynasty, was a well-known tyrant. He and his nobles brutally oppressed people, built many palaces, and enjoyed a very dissolute and luxurious life. At that time, the Shang kingdom developed very quickly because of the practice of animal husbandry. Tang (also known as Shang Tang) was the king of the Shang kingdom. One day Tang went out to hunt and saw a place overwhelmed by four nets cast by a man who prayed, I wish that all animals from heaven and earth could come into my trap. Hearing this, Tang said to the
man, "Look, according to your wish you would kill all animals!" He removed three nets and asked the man to change his prayer to: "Animals, if you want to go left or right, then just run. Those who are destined to be trapped by me came into my trap." This story soon quickly spread all over and everyone praised Tang for his high standard of virtue. They said, Even animals are
benefited by him. He is such a graceful, compassionate, and great sage. Tang obeys Gods will and has the support of the people. Many kingdoms yielded obedience to Tang who ascended the throne and established the Shang dynasty in 1675 BC. In the first five years of Tangs reign, there were several droughts and all the rivers dried up. Tang
caused people to suffer? Is bribery rife? Are villains gaining privileges by speaking ill? Is the palace too luxurious? Why is the drought so bad? I am willing to do whatever it takes to stop the drought." A heavy rain started before his prayer was finished. People believed Tangs pure heart and compassion for the people moved heaven and that his sincere spirit of sacrifice for people touched God. The Shang dynasty established by Tang lasted for over six hundred years and had twentynine generations in total. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is ordered golden coins to be made your content and you're reading it and distributed to poor families on someone else's site, please read who had been forced to sell their the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentchildren. He intended for them to only/faq.php#publishers. Five use this money to buy their Filters featured article: A 'Malign children back. The droughts Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, nonetheless continued. Tang was very confused and sad. Herman, Peterson, Pilger And One day, he piously prayed and Media Lens. asked for Gods direction: "Is all this because I have issued an inappropriate decree? Have I
The Holy Month Begins - An FP Slide Show

(Foreign Policy)
Muslims around the world
prepare for a month of fasting, This entry passed through the feasting, and praying as they Full-Text RSS service if this is c e l e b r a t e t h e b e g i n n i n g o f your content and you're reading it Ramadan. AUGUST 2, 2011 on someone else's site, please read
the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George
Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
World News/ Technology/
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WALL
The euro zone debt crisis also worried traders on Tuesday after BNP Paribas, Europe's biggest lender by assets, took a roughly $757 billion writedown on its Greek sovereign debt. Greece, which has an enormous public debt burden, is in need of a rescue package from euro zone authorities and has seen its credit rating being sliced into junk territory and just slightly above default. There were also concerns that the sovereign debt crisis would spillover into larger, more prominent economies, like Spain and Italy, according to Peter Boockvar, managing director at Miller Tabak + Co. Energy markets were in the red. The euro fell 0.48% against the U.S. dollar, while the greenback rose 0.16% against a basket of world currencies. Light, sweet crude fell $1.10, or 1.2%, to $93.79 a barrel. Wholesale RBOB gasoline
dipped 2 cents, or 0.55%, to $3.04 a gallon. Prices at the pump were once again stable overnight, but remain highly-elevated as compared to last year. A gallon of regular costs $3.70 on average nationwide, up from $3.57 last month, and the $2.74 drivers paid last year, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge report. Corporate News Pfizer( PFE) revealed secondquarter earnings, excluding onetime costs, of 60 cents a share, topping estimates by a penny. The pharmaceutical giant posted revenue of $17 billion, just slightly higher than analysts forecast. Sirius XM Radio( SIRI) raised its full-year new subscriber outlook to 1.6 million, from a previous forecast of 1.4 million, sending shares jumping. Barclays( BCS) unveiled a 38% drop in quarterly profits, prompting a fresh round of
layoffs. Foreign Markets The English FTSE 100 fell 0.7% to 5,733, the French CAC 40 dipped 1.5% to 3,533 and the German DAX plunged 2.2% to 6,801. In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.2% to 9,845 and the Chinese Hang Seng dropped 1.1% to 22,422. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
U.S. Embassy Bombing a Plausible Escalation for Russia in Georgia

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in Washington strongly denounced the charges, calling them "absolutely false and A l l e g a t i o n s o f R u s s i a n baseless." ... Subscribers receive: i n v o l v e m e n t i n a b o m b i n g Access to in-depth feature targeting the U.S. embassy articles compound in Tbilisi, Georgia, Regular Strategic Posture have sent diplomatic shockwaves Reviews through international policy Regular WPR Special Reports circles and threaten the Obama Access to our Document Center a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ' s c a r e f u l l y Access to WPRs entire calibrated "reset" program with archives Moscow. While the details of the Enhanced search across the incident underscore the Caucasus' entire site still-smoldering volatility, they Participation in our discussion are consistent with Russia's section longtime activities in the region. The reactions were quick and Click here to subscribe vigorous following Eli Lake's July Click here to take a free trial 22 report in the Washington Already a subscriber? Login here. Times, in which official Georgian This entry passed through the sources accused Russian agents of Full-Text RSS service if this is complicity in a September 2010 your content and you're reading it explosion near the American on someone else's site, please read Embassy in Tbilisi. According to the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe Georgian Interior Ministry, an only/faq.php#publishers. Five A b k h a z i a - b a s e d R u s s i a n Filters featured article: A 'Malign intelligence agent, Yevgeny Intellectual Subculture' - George Borisov, recruited for and Monbiot Smears Chomsky, m a s t e r m i n d e d t h e e m b a s s y Herman, Peterson, Pilger And bombing as well as a series of Media Lens. other terrorist acts in the country. In response, the Russian Embassy
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News Wire/ World News/ Finance/
Hiker Killed on Yosemite's Half Dome

Global Insights: China's Carrier Wait Will End Soon

The landmark rock formation Half Dome is visible in background at Yosemite Valley on the road to Glacier Point, high above the valley in Yosemite National Park, California in this file photo. (David McNew/ Newsmakers) A California woman died after falling off Yosemites iconic rock formation, Half Dome, park officials said on Monday, August 1. Hayley LaFlamme, 26, of San Ramon fell 600 feet on Sunday while she was hiking with friends. National Park rangers pronounced LaFlamme dead when they arrived on scene. She apparently climbed the back of the granite crest around noon and on the way down the cable ladder, she slipped. The cause of the fall is under investigation but it was likely she slipped on the rock due to slick conditions after a rainstorm, said park officials. Earlier on Sunday, a severe lightning, thunder, and
rainstorm was present in the area for several hours near Half Dome. The parks website instructs potential visitors not to climb near the cables area when the rock is wet. Last month, three people were killed in Yosemite when they entered the Merced River near the 300-foot-tall Vernal Fall. The last death of a person hiking on Half Dome was in 2009. This entry passed through the
Although China did not launch its first aircraft carrier in time for yesterday's People's Liberation Army Day, expectations are that a Chinese flat-top will soon appear on the high seas. Chinese media have been hinting for years that the PLA Navy would not go forever without such an important naval asset, and the past few days have seen extensive coverage of the Varyag, which when it is launched will be the country's first Full-Text RSS service if this is carrier ship. your content and you're reading it In 1998, the People's Republic of on someone else's site, please read China (PRC) purchased the the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- Varyag, an uncompleted Sovietonly/faq.php#publishers. Five era sloped-deck carrier, for $20 Filters featured article: A 'Malign million. The Chinese buyer Intellectual Subculture' - George claimed it would be used as a M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , floating casino, and Ukraine Herman, Peterson, Pilger And removed the vessel's engines and Media Lens. armaments before delivering the ship in 2002. After a few years, it became evident that the Chinese were refitting the Varyag into a warship, providing the ship with new boilers, electronic systems,
radar and engines as well as refurbishing its hull and deck. ... Subscribers receive: Access to in-depth feature articles Regular Strategic Posture Reviews Regular WPR Special Reports Access to our Document Center Access to WPRs entire archives Enhanced search across the entire site Participation in our discussion section Click here to subscribe Click here to take a free trial Already a subscriber? Login here. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Extreme Couponing: Tips you can actually use to save big

nospam@example.com (RachaelRaymag.com) (Financiallyfit on Shine)
The deal-obsessed stars of TLCs Extreme Couponing take extraordinary money-saving
measures. Our experts translated their techniques for the average shopper.
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Special Report: Global Insider, Collected Interviews

Missing CWG bid papers deepen OC mystery Times of India

Submitted at 8/2/2011 10:49:17 PM
Saudi Arabia's Nuclear Energy Plans Submitted at 8/2/2011 8:30:00 AM By Giacomo Luciani Global Insider is an ongoing Myanmar's Energy and Trade World Politics Review interview Relations series that examines developing By Matthew Smith trends in geopolitics. From energy Russia-India Energy Ties issues and policy close-ups to By Jrg Himmelreich bilateral and regional relations, Russia-Japan Energy Global Insider explores the C o o p e r a t i o n foundations and implications of By Michael Bradshaw new developments in international U.S.-Russia 123 Agreement affairs through the voices of pre- By Richard Weitz eminent experts hailing from U.S.-South Korea Nuclear g o v e r n m e n t , a c a d e m i a a n d Agreement research institutions. Global By Mark Hibbs Insider is published 3-5 times per Argentina's Nuclear Program week on the Trend Lines page. By W. Alejandro Sanchez Below are links to each article in The Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline t h i s s p e c i a l r e p o r t , w h i c h By Harsh V. Pant subscribers can read in full. Policy Close-Ups Subscribers can also download a Rebel Disarmament .pdf version of this report from By Robert Muggah our document center. Not a Proliferation Security Initiative subscriber? Subscribe now, or try By Mark J. Valencia our subscription service for free. Africa's Telecom Infrastructure Energy Issues By Patricia K. McCormick Qatar's Natural Gas Industry EAC Monetary Union By Giacomo Luciani By Steven Buigut
The Pacific Agreement By Augusto Varas China's Currency Swaps By Daniel McDowell Nile Basin Water Rights By Aaron Wolf Eurasian Rail Network By Taleh Ziyadov and Regine Spector Diplomatic Immunity By Linda Frey and Marsha Frey East African Community Infrastructure By Andrew Roberts Bilateral Ties China-Sri Lanka Relations By Swaran Singh India-Myanmar Relations By K. Yhome Egypt-Saudi Arabia Relations By Michael Wahid Hanna U.S.-Turkmenistan Relations By Luca Anceschi India-Pakistan Trade Relations By Mohsin S. Khan Egypt-Palestine Relations By David Schenker Brazil-India Relations By Oliver Stuenkel
Russia-Turkey Relations By Jenia Ustinova Regional Relations Iraq-GCC Relations By Sean Foley Asia-EU Relations By Jonas Parello-Plesner Turkey-Latin America Relations By Gareth Jenkins Turkey-Africa Relations By Thomas Wheeler India-Latin America Relations By Mauricio Mesquita Moreira India-Central Asia Relations By Emilian Kavalski India-Africa Relations By Elizabeth Sidiropoulos This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
NDTV.com Missing CWG bid papers deepen OC mystery Times of India NEW DELHI: The mystery whether the bid document for Delhi's Commonwealth Games was altered to erase the clause stipulating appointment of a "government nominee" to head the organizing committee (OC) is not likely to be resolved as the relevant record... Kalmadi ball: PM to ex-PM court Calcutta Telegraph NDA appointed Kalmadi as OC chief: Maken Chandigarh Tribune NDA picked Suresh Kalmadi, we did not: Ajay Maken Hindustan Times Economic Times- IBNLive.comDaily Pioneer all 188 news articles
Londons bus network to benefit from Wi-Fi and open data

Director of Environment and Digital London. Londoners will soon have access The move would be part of the to Wi-Fi via the bus network, Mayor Boris Johnson's drive to according to Kulveer Ranger, improve connectivity in the
Submitted at 8/2/2011 12:08:00 PM
capital. In May 2010 he made the
remarkable pledge to the Google Zeitgeist audience that "every lamp post and every bus stop will one day very soon, and before the 2012 Olympics, be Wi-Fi
enabled." Continue reading...
26
PDP MLAs face Sopore locals' wrath - Times of India

Armed forces will be unable to cope after budget cuts, say MPs - The Independent
Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:34:21 PM
youth allegedly killed in police custody two days earlier.... Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:21:50 PM Protesters in Sopore town pelted The Hindu stones at PDP leaders Economic PDP MLAs face Sopore locals' Times wrath Sopore mob takes it out on PDP Times of India leaders The Hindu SRINAGAR: Angry protesters 'Custodial' death: mob attacks c h a s e d a w a y a g r o u p o f PDP convoy Hindustan Times opposition People's Democratic Daily News & AnalysisParty legislators as they arrived in IBNLive.com- Indian Express North Kashmir's Sopore town to all 178 news articles meet the family of a 28-year-old
The Guardian Armed forces will be unable to cope after budget cuts, say MPs The Independent The armed forces are in crisis and Britain's security could be put at risk because the Government's spending squeeze has left them struggling to cope with the demands upon them, David
Cameron is being warned... Cross-party committee attacks defence cuts The Guardian Cuts 'may leave UK unable to defend its interests after 2015' Scotsman MPs lash out at 'rushed' defence shake-up Financial Times AFP- Mirror.co.ukTelegraph.co.uk all 16 news articles
British Library App brings 45,000 books to the iPad

Submitted at 8/2/2011 10:44:00 AM
Didi's man ousted from Thugs corner victim, cabin, Pranab salvages situation - Times of India rob him in his
driveway - WA today
Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:40:34 PM
Thugs corner victim, rob him in his driveway WA today A man who was cornered and threatened with a knife by two thugs in his driveway has managed to escape uninjured in a random robbery overnight. Senior Constable Naomi Smith said the
24-year-old victim had pulled into the driveway of his Hertha Road home... Police investigate a series of crimes ABC Online Knifeman robs victim in Innaloo driveway Perth Now Innaloo man robbed at knifepoint in driveway The West Australian all 4 news articles
and its biggest ally Trinamool Congress. This comes at a time Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:16:20 PM when relations between the two Calcutta Telegraph UPA allies are uneasy over... Didi's man ousted from cabin, Railway room joust Calcutta Pranab salvages situation Telegraph Times of India Ministers tussle for office space NEW DELHI: It may look like a Hindustan Times simple spat over a room, but the all 3 news articles matter has all ingredients to fuel a full-scale war between Congress
The British Library has made 45,000 of its titles available on for iPad owners from today. Along side today's offerings, the 19th Century Historical Collection App will bring a total of 60,000 titles to the British public by the end of the year for 1.99 a month. Available via the Apple App Store, the App allows users to "flip through" 19th Century tomes including a contemporary account of the exhumation of Napoleon's body, the memoir of a battlefield nurse during the American Civil War and an ethnographic study from 1884 of the gypsies of the Scottish Borders. Continue reading...
Technology/
27
Amazon's Growing Appstore Problem: Android Developer Relations

Dan Rowinski (ReadWriteWeb)
When the Amazon Appstore was announced, there was great hope for the new platform. But application developers are growing unhappy with the ecommerce king. The promise was to bring eyeballs and dollars to apps. For some, only half of that has proven to be true and the gripes are starting to mount. The Android Market was and continues to be a work in progress (with more malware infiltrating it every day): difficult to search and with no application filtering process, a la Apple. Amazon was supposed to be the cure for what ails the Android Market and untrustworthy, third-party application stores in general. It was supposed to be a regulated marketplace from a trusted source in the tech community. According to two Android developers, Shifty Jelly and Bithack, the Amazon Appstore experience has been anything but rewarding. Sponsor Shifty Jelly & The Case Of The Missing Revenue Shifty Jelly is an Australian app maker and has produced of the " Pocket" line of apps, mostly for iOS: Pocket Weather, Pocket Casts, Pocket Weather World and Weather Watch. The company's
contention with the Amazon Appstore concerns the feature that makes Amazon stand a head above the rest of the Android ecosystem - the free app of the day. Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies and other large titles have had turns as the free app. Amazon claimed when the Appstore came out that it would pay developers 20% of the app's list price for every unit sold during free day promotions. So, if an app cost a dollar, the developer would still make $0.20 during free day promotions. That is not the experience Shifty Jelly had. In a blog post earlier today, the company said that Amazon had sent them an email asking them to participate in the free app program, yet, at the bottom of the email, promising no revenue share for the company. Here is the excerpt from the email: As you may already know, the Free App of the Day offer placement is one of the most visible and valuable spaces on the Amazon Appstore. We would like to include your app "[name removed]" in our Free App of the Day calendar. We have seen tremendous results from this promotion spot and believe it will bring you a great deal of positive reviews and traffic. It is an opportunity to build your brand especially in association with a
brand like Amazon's. The current price of this placement is at 0% rev share for that one day you are placed. Note: bolding emphasis added by Amazon, according to Shifty. Treating Developers Like Unpaid Interns Amazon is essentially asking Shifty Jelly to place its app in the free day promotion for the exposure. This is a common practice in the media industry, asking a writer to write free or cheap for the exposure or for the "clip." See: Huffington Post. Yet, in the realm of public perception, Amazon looks like the good guys for helping developers out. "What makes us mad though is the public perception that Amazon pays developers to be featured," Shifty wrote in its blog. "Every single person we asked on Twitter or via email thought they were helping developers out, and getting a free application.
Amazon does nothing to dispel these rumours, in fact they put really restrictive clauses at the bottom of their emails, saying that no one is even allowed to discuss these back door deals they are doing." Shifty says that it "sold" nearly 100,000 apps during its free day on the Amazon Appstore that would have translated to near $54,000. Yet, it did not make a cent and actually has to pay to acquire and maintain more servers to handle the traffic. It has since pulled its app for the Amazon Appstore and will not provide any updates (though it still provides functionality) to those who acquired it through Amazon. In and of itself, Shifty's experience is unfortunate. Yet, the company did know what it was getting into when it signed up for the promotion (the blog post says that it is part of the company's experiment into Android apps as a mostly iOS developer). Growing Developer Problems Outside of the free day mishap, developers have had other problems with the Amazon Appstore. Shifty notes that Amazon has lengthy review times before posting an app to the store, sets the price of the app without input from the developers, rewrites the app description, does not provide error reports and pays
later than Google. These complaints are similar to what Bithack experienced and why it pulled its game, Apparatus, from Amazon in early July. Bithack cites the failure of Amazon to filter devices that apps are optimized for (for instance, games designed to work on large screens and robust processors or certain builds of Android). Bithack also complained that Amazon makes it difficult for customers to contact the developers (which is very easy in the Android Market) or respond to comment reviews if the developer is outside of the United States. The International Game Developers Association warned developers against the Amazon Appstore in April. The organization cited concerns over distribution terms, pricing policies and discounting practices in Amazon's policies. In a ReadWriteMobile poll in July, 38% of developers said they would not recommend the Amazon Appstore against 18% who said that they would. The rest (out of 99 votes) said maybe (16%) or they do not know because they have not tried it (27%). Only Apple is Apple Amazon is a company that does a lot of things right. Its e-commerce AMAZON'S page 37
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Technology/
Researchers warn of SCADA equipment discoverable via Google

(CNET News.com)
Public Google search results showing SCADA systems and passwords.(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET) LAS VEGAS--Not only are SCADA systems used to run power plants and other critical infrastructure lacking many security precautions to keep hackers out, operators sometimes practically advertise their wares on Google search, according to a demo today during a Black Hat conference workshop. Acknowledging that he wouldn't click on any link results to avoid breaking the law by accessing a network without authorization, researcher Tom Parker typed in some search terms associated with a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), an embedded computer used for automating functions of electromechanical processes. Among the results was one referencing a "RTU pump status" for a Remote Terminal Unit, like those used in water treatment plants and pipelines, that appeared to be connected to the Internet. The result also included a password--"1234." That's like putting up a billboard saying SCADA (Supervisory here are the keys to the front door. Control and Data Acquisition) "You can do a Google search with system here and, oh by the way, your Web browser and start
operating [circuit] breakers, consultancy FusionX, told CNET p o t e n t i a l l y , " P a r k e r , c h i e f in a break during the workshop on technology officer at security " B u i l d i n g , A t t a c k i n g A n d
Defending SCADA Systems in RESEARCHERS page 31
Technology/
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MacTech Conference 2011 lists speakers

Victor Agreda, Jr. (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
MacTech Conference 2011 has announced its list of speakers, and it's a great list. We already knew Guy Kawasaki would be giving the keynote, but add to that more focused talks by Daniel Jalkut, Aaron Hillegass, Andy Ihnatko, Justin McWilliams, TUAW alum Justin Esgar. Many more will be there imparting their wisdom in an extensive lineup of sessions. This year's MacTech Conference begins November 2 in Los Angeles, and we'll be there on the ground to give you daily coverage, plus interviews and app demos after the event. MacTech Conference last year was quite impressive, and each year there are two tracks: one for IT and one for developers. The list for this year looks great for both tracks. Check out the full press release below. Oh, and early bird pricing ends August 8, so if you're thinking about attending you may want to register soon. Show full PR text MacTech Conference 2011: Sessions, Speakers and Details - Early bird registration ends August 8th, 2011 July 29, 2011 -- Westlake Village, CA -- MacTech
Conference for Apple Developers and IT Pros, November 2-4, 2011 in Los Angeles, has released its speaker and session list, as well as many details of the conference. Keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki will open MacTech Conference 2011: a three-day, informationpacked event that will have sessions and activities throughout the day and evening. This immersion conference is hotelbased, giving attendees the opportunity to not only learn from the best, but get to meet new people and spend time with their peers. Information about the conference is at http:// www.mactech.com/conference "Our speaker page contains a list of some of the amazing people that will present and be in attendance at MacTech Conference 2011 (but expect a surprise guest or two). Some of the incredible topics that will be covered are now listed at http:// www.mactech.com/conference/ sessions ," said Ed Marczak, Sessions Chair and Executive Editor, MacTech Magazine. MacTech Conference has two separate tracks: one focused on programming/development, and one focused on IT/Enterprise. Sessions will focus on both desktop and mobile with appropriate levels of attention paid to the Mac, iPhone, iPad and
iPod. Check out the speaker and topic list (http:// www.mactech.com/conference/ sessions) for specific sessions and speaker list. The conference will kick off with a keynote by Guy Kawasaki at 10am on Wednesday, Nov. 2. "We're thrilled to have Guy as our keynote speaker. Time and again, his books are not only insightful, but his exploration of concepts makes it easy for anyone to apply them to what they do. Guy's latest book, Enchantment, not only meets but exceeds that level," said Neil Ticktin, Editor-in-Chief/ Publisher, MacTech Magazine. Wednesday through Friday, November 2-4, are packed with sessions using MacTech's well established running order format. The evenings are filled with special activities and events designed specifically to give attendees an opportunity to form bonds with their peers and meet new people. "At the last MacTech Conference, 100% of attendees said that they would recommend the conference. We've been working hard to live up to the expectations for 2011: from our acquisition of NSConference US to awesome content and great activities.
Edward R. Marczak (Conference Sessions Chair and IT Track Sessions Chair), and Steve 'Scotty' Scott (Developer Track Sessions Chair) have created a world-class line up of world-class talent," Ticktin continued. MacTech Conference is priced economically at $999 including all meals, a MacTech Magazine subscription, a schedule packed full of sessions, exclusive entertainment, and more. Registration is far ahead of last year. Early bird registration ends on August 8th, and attendees can save $200 off the pre-registration price and $500 off the on-site registration price. Register at http: //www.mactech.com/conference/ registration A limited number of partial and full student scholarships are available. See http:// www.mactech.com/conference/ student for more information. The Sheraton is a quality venue with rooms that typically run $229.00 or more per night, plus tax, and with Internet access available for an additional fee. Available on a first-come, firstserved basis, MacTech Conference attendees get a special rate. Available on a first-come, first-served basis, MacTech Conference attendees get a special rate of just $179 per night, which includes Internet access.
Those interested in one of the many sponsorship offerings, see the details at http:// www.mactech.com/conference/ sponsorship About MacTech Magazine Established in 1984, MacTech Magazine is the only monthly magazine focused on Apple at the technical level. Each month, MacTech and MacTech.com is read by 150,000 technical Macintosh users in over 175 countries ... from network administrators to programmers, from solution providers to Enterprise, and in general anyone that's interested in the Macintosh beyond the user level. If you're interested in getting under the hood of your Mac, if you want to know how to make things happen inside the box, you should be reading MacTech Magazine. Contact the magazine. Toll free: 877-MACTECH, International: 805-494-9797, custservice@mactech.com, http:// www.mactech.com MacTech Conference 2011 lists speakers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments
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Technology/
FCC Measures Actual Internet Speeds in USA

Chris Burns (SlashGear)
For the first time in the history of the internet, the FCC has collected a mass of data showing realworld speeds at which USA internet connections are working. If we can trust anyone to give us, the public, unbiased plain-number results, its the FCC, right? Georgia Tech professor Nick Feamster, working with the FCC on proper metrics for the test, noted that they found that the performance of US ISPs more consistently matches their advertised promises than the ISPs in other countriesthey do a pretty good job. Of course, with numbers like what were seeing here and claims made by carriers around the US over the past few years, not everyone agrees. One of the most interesting quotes on the subject comes from the FCC itself in the report, they noting the following: actual download speeds are substantially closer to advertised speeds than was found in data from early 2009. How does this mean for you? Nothing much if you just consider the fact that on the whole, no internet carrier in the United States consistently has the internet speeds they advertise. Research director S Derek Turner of Free Press had the following to
say about the report: No matter how industry tries to put a positive spin on these results, the report shows conclusively that many Americans are simply not getting what they pay for. This study indicates Comcast, Cox, and
Verizon FiOS largely perform well, but other companies like Cablevision, AT&T, MediaCom, and Frontier all fail to deliver their customers the quality of service promised. In every other industry, giving your customers less than what they paid for is a
very serious offense. ISPs should be held to the same standard, no matter how much they try to spin their way out of it. Turner The report itself shows all major ISPs running at around 80 to 90 percent of their regular advertised speeds, with cable and especially
fiber services offering higher-than -advertised speeds for a large portion of the average day. One of these carriers, as is made plain by the graphic above, never hits its advertised speeds, remaining well belo 80% for most of the day, hitting less than 55% near the end of the day. And where do these tests come from, you might ask? A company called SamKnows, whom the FCC has contracted to work on this project. The way SamKnows worked on this project is by working with 78,000 internet users from around the United States, selecting 9000 of them to receive a router configured in a specific way so as to ensure accurate results. The router takes (or took, rather,) measurements during the month of March, 2011, and tested the users broadband speed from the users home to a remote server. Results were then cross-checked with ISP-installed reference points to again ensure accuracy in the results. Youll find Verizons FiOS to be the most excellent, without compare amongst competitors when it comes to internet speed difference as it never changes, at all, ever. On the other hand when you consider Cablevision again, youve got to take into account FCC page 37
Technology/ Finance/ Obituaries
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RESEARCHERS
the Age of Stuxnet." Tom Parker, chief technology officer at FusionX, explaining in detail how SCADA systems are controlled.(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET) Most SCADA protocols do not use encryption or authentication, and they don't have access control built into them or the device itself, said Jonathan Pollet, fellow presenter and founder of Red Tiger Security. This means that when a PLC has a Web server and is connected to the Internet, anyone who can discover the Internet Protocol address can send commands to the device and the commands will be performed, he said. "You can make it do anything you want it to do," Pollet said. "If that RTU or PLC has large motors connected to it, pumping out water or chemicals, the equipment could be turned off. If it was a substation and the power recloser switches were closed, we could break it open and create an (electricity) outage for an entire area or city...The bottom line is you could cause physical damage to whatever is connected to that PLC." To know exactly what to search for on the Internet, the researchers bought a PLC with an embedded Web server that had an identifying string of characters
associated with the hardware and then typed that information into Google, according to Pollet. Pollet discovered on the Internet an ABB Transformer running an electricity substation in the United Kingdom earlier this year with no password required and notified the utility company. "You could see [circuit] breaker statuses, see the last time it was worked on, the status of the transformer," he said, doing a quick Google search for the device. "It's still on the Internet but now they prompt for a password," he said, finding the link. "This shouldn't even be on the Internet. It's an active substation," he said. "This equipment should not be on the Internet." While SCADA security has been an issue for decades, as legacy systems have been connected to the Internet and remote technologies have emerged, Pollet and Parker agreed that interest has peaked since last year with the emergence of Stuxnet, a worm that spreads via holes in Windows but specifically targets Siemens SCADA systems and uses other sophisticated methods. Experts theorize that Stuxnet was designed to sabotage Iran's nuclear development program. It's likely that a nation-state was behind the development of Stuxnet, and that it took several
years to develop and a full-time team of operators to develop and control, according to Parker. Despite the fears sparked by Stuxnet--the first malware known to target SCADA systems--it could have done a lot more damage if it were executed better, he said. "There was a lot in the press about the sky is falling," he said. "The idea of this [workshop discussion] was to demonstrate the amount of effort that would have to go into that operation. There are so many moving parts...discrete separate systems [and other elements] to that type of attack, that it would be extremely challenging to pull off." Jonathan Pollet, founder and principal consultant at Red Tiger Security, and Daniel MichaudSoucy, Red Tiger Security systems engineer.(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET) But Stuxnet has raised awareness in the general public and within companies running critical infrastructure systems and scared some of them enough to beef up their security. "Stuxnet created an interest in the community to learn more about vulnerabilities and SCADA systems," said Pollet. "We' ve seen direct impact in our customers being able to get funding to secure their SCADA systems."
While Stuxnet appears to have run its course and had minimal impact, SCADA systems are at risk from vulnerabilities and exploits in general, the U.S. ICSCERT (Industrial Control System Computer Emergency Response Team) has warned. Black Hat sessions begin tomorrow and run through Thursday. The event is followed by DefCon, which runs Friday through the weekend. Related links DefCon Kids joins adult hacker conferences Automated stock trading poses fraud risk, researcher says Expert hacks car system, says problems reach to SCADA systems This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Disciplinarian Prep Shoots Photographer Steven Klein Showcases Lara Stone's Dominance (TrendHunter.com)
(TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends)
( TrendHunter.com) Fashion photographer Steven Klein teams up with model Lara Stone and stylist Camilla Nickerson to create this racy photo shoot. Lara Stone is the focus of the fashion spread and she represents a strong...
Gospel singer Delois Barrett Campbell dies at 85 (AP)

(Yahoo! News: Obituaries)
AP - When she sang "Fly Away," Delois Barrett Campbell's voice soared to the church rafters and her joy raised the roof.
The White House, Goldman Sachs and a very unusual Key Man Event
So Goldman Sachs's alumni really does rule the world. Or at
least Washington.
32
Technology/
Panopto Multimedia Management and Capture Tools Get HD, Social, and Remixing Features
Joe Brockmeier (ReadWriteWeb)
lectures, presentations, and so on and save them for later. There's no shortage of tools to Submitted at 8/2/2011 7:21:45 PM capture presentations or Panopto announced updates screencasts, but Panopto takes it today to Panopto Focus and to another level entirely. Panopto Panopto Unison tools used by F o c u s h a n d l e s c a p t u r i n g educational institutions and presentations from one or many enterprise customers for video and computers. Whether you want to m u l t i m e d i a c a p t u r e a n d sit at a desk and narrate a management. The latest updates screencast, or have a multiinclude full HD recording and computer setup for capturing a archiving, remixing and editing video and a presenter's desktop, content, search improvements, it's easy to manage and can and integration with Twitter and d e l i v e r a r e c o r d i n g a l m o s t Facebook. immediately after it's deliver. Sponsor Panopto Unison provides a One of the biggest problem in browser-based interface for any organization is knowledge editing video, creating "Pancasts" transfer. Subject matter experts o u t o f o l d a u d i o , v i d e o , are in short supply and their time presentations, and so forth an is valuable. Presentations and organization already has. Finally, lectures are great for those who the Panopto Platform hosts can make it to see them in real resources and handles capturing time, but fall down hard when it video, editing, remixing, and comes to the next group of sharing content. employees walking in the door or On the user side, Panopto works those who couldn't attend in with Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, person. Panopto is trying to solve Android, and a number of other this with presentation capture and devices. Users can not only view management tools that businesses resources, but search through a (and educators) can use to record table of contents and even a
done by a single user with a webcam. Eric Burns, Panopto's co -founder and CTO walked me through a demo today of capturing and editing a video produced in real-time while we were talking. The video was online almost immediately, and the interface for capturing video and melding it with a presentation look simple enough even for executives to use. The remixing features that closed caption track if the Panopto announced today are organization decides to pony up pretty vital prior releases only for transcription services on top of allowed removing sections of a Panopto's costs. The service is recording, but now it's possible to available as a private cloud that do full-on editing to provide a starts around $50,000 and can go polished finished product. The up to $300,000 for extremely HD support is a nice to have for large customers (think "a certain folks who have to watch a lot of software company in Redmond, video via Panopto. The company Washington") that want to keep also says it has improved search, their presentations behind the a n d n o w h a s " D V R - l i k e " corporate firewall. The SaaS functionality so users can pause a version of Panopto starts at about live broadcast even if they have to $16,000 as a baseline, with duck out mid-way for a quick individual recorder fees and phone call. Panopto is also on the Unison licensing on top of that. social train with this release, Having watched a demo of the adding Facebook and Twitter technology, I have to say it's integration. This is a bit less relatively impressive what can be exciting, since it's not that hard to
share publicly available Web resources, but might be important to some organizations. The user interface and search tools look incredibly powerful for educational institutions and businesses alike. If the video is transcribed, users can search for keywords and jump immediately to the portion of a video that matches the keywords. Want to know what the CEO said about the company's goals at the last allhands? A quick search would turn it up in no time. You get the idea Panopto looks like a very effective tool for recording and disseminating information to employees or students. Though not cheap, the costs of knowledge transfer are extremely high in any organization. In large companies, the value of capturing presentations and making them available as easily as searching for your favorite video on YouTube is hard to overstate. Discuss
Technology/ Culture/
33
Poptuit Looks To Reinvent The Android Dialer By Making It Sleeker And Smarter
Jason Kincaid (TechCrunch)
Klondike Solitaire Gold

(HowStuffWorks Daily Feed)
Its a cliche by now, but theres no question that the launch of the iPhone in 2007 changed the future of mobile devices forever. Even the actual phone portion of the device saw huge improvements: visual voicemail, relatively easy contact management, and quick access to your recent calls. And, err, the dialer has looked just about the same ever since. As has Androids dialer, which is basically identical to the iPhones. Theyre drab, they dont do a good job consolidating different channels of communication, and they arent nearly as smart as they could be. Enter Poptuit, a new startup thats looking to reinvent your smartphones dialer by turning it into a central hub for all of your social content and its much nicer looking to boot. At this point the Android-only application is in private beta, but the first 100 readers to go here and enter the code Crunch will get access. In a word, Poptuit looks slick. The dialer has gotten a nice facelift, and, more important, its actually smarter than the one
youre used to. As you call your friends, coworkers, and family, Poptuit will intelligently display their faces in a grid, so your mostcalled contacts are easily accessible. And, in a smart twist, Poptuit includes a separate grid for the businesses you call often, even when they arent stored in your contacts. CEO Henry M. Vogel explains that many users wind up looking up the same restaurants and services repeatedly using Yelp or Google, but that they dont save them because they dont want to clutter their contacts. Poptuit fixes this by remembering them automatically without actually adding them to your address book. In addition to serving as a dynamic dialer that learns from your habits, Poptuit is also looking to become a communication platform. Each one of your contacts gets their own automatically generated profile page within the Poptuit app, which will look up their Facebook profile photo and will also display any recent messages youve had with them over SMS (Android allows apps to access the SMS database with permission).
And, if youd like to save on those SMS costs, you can encourage your friends to join Poptuit themselves if both parties are using the service, they can send free messages though Poptuits network free of charge, in much the same way theyd send it through IM. Im not convinced people really want another way to send their messages, but the app plays just fine with SMS so you dont need to use it if you dont want to. I asked Poptuit about data security, which they say theyre taking very seriously after all, the app is tapping into your SMS and contact databases. The company says that the only content it stores on its servers are the free messages sent between Poptuit users (and not SMS). The service also uploads names and phone numbers from your address book, which it says are secured using asymmetric encryption (I dont love their setup because while the names you upload are encrypted, the phone numbers arent, but most people probably wont care). At this point the companys monetization plans are a bit vague, but they see plenty of opportunities. In particular, they
think that the list of frequently called businesses could be powerful the app could potentially place offers from the businesses you like, or from their competitors, and its also looking at letting merchants claim their own Poptuit pages. At this point though, the app is ad-free. Poptuit was developed by Apptera, a company thats been around for a decade helping large companies manage their phone systems (for example, when you call a call center, their technology can pull up your records and present it on the screen of the customer service representative). The company is also responsible for many of the mobile ads youll find on free mobile phone services like Moviephone and AT&T Directory assistance. One thing to note: at this point the app doesnt support Google Voice (so it cant important those texts), but the company says it plans to add this in a future release. CrunchBase Information Apptera Information provided by CrunchBase
You see it everywhere on coworker's monitors, on people's phones in the subway, or even being played on a giant HDTV. Thats because Klondike Solitaire is one of the most popular games in the world. Now, with this brand new rendition of the classic game, you can experience Klondike Solitaire like never before! With enhanced gameplay and great new graphics and sound, this is the ultimate game for Solitaire lovers and its free! Does it get any better than that? We tend to think not. Play Klondike Solitaire today and see what youre missing! This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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Technology/
Newt Gingrich accused of Twitter follower fraud

(CNET News.com)
Gawker is going gaga over Gingrich's alleged Twitter follower count.(Credit: Newt Gingrich) Husband, father, grandfather, citizen, small businessman, author, former Speaker, candidate for president, and Twitter fraud? Newt Gingrich is being accused of having more than a million fictitious followers on Twitter. Do you believe he really has that many followers?(Credit: Screenshot by Christopher MacManus/CNET) The provocative blog Gawker has been on an absolute tear over the last few days, accusing Gingrich of using campaign money to hire spam agencies designed to boost Twitter follower counts. The accusations supposedly originate from an anonymous former campaign staffer. Things got even spicier today, when Gawker cited a new report by New York-based search company PeekYou, which claims to have analyzed every Gingrich follower and to come up with an alarming conclusion: The Consumer Ratio measures the percentage of a Twitter audience that is identified as a "consumer" or "voter" in Newt's
case, vs business, private/ anonymous and spam accounts. The average range sits anywhere between 30-60% human depending on this type of account. Newt's was 8% -- the lowest the team had ever seen by 5%. PeekYou claims to use a specialized algorithm that examines a variety of details about each Twitter account, including name, location, social graph, social memberships, social network, social activity, and
produced public content. The research company believes that Gingrich's real follower count is closer to 106,055, based on its findings, meaning that potentially 1.2 million of his followers are fake. A graph representing Newt Gingrich's Twitter follower count since the beginning of this year.(Credit: Twitter Counter) Slate took defended Gingrich today, citing a Politico article that raises a very supportive
basketball, saying current Speaker of the House John Boehner and media "maverick" Sarah Palin are on the same list, but even their Twitter follower counts combined are still below Gingrich's. It is indeed a little difficult to believe that those two don't have more followers, given their consistent presence on the political landscape. After taking a look at the list of Gingrich's followers, one can quite easily find some suspicious accounts following the presidential candidate. There are countless followers with no tweets, no followers, and so on. While many people may never be followed or may never tweet, it doesn't look good for Gingrich. What do you think? Representatives of Gingrich did circumstance of his innocence: not immediately respond to Gingrich had more than a million CNET's request for comment. followers before his campaign This entry passed through the even started (based on figures Full-Text RSS service if this is f r o m t r a c k i n g s i t e T w i t t e r your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read Counter). The Politico report suggests that the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe reason Gingrich has so many only/faq.php#publishers. Five followers in the first place Filters featured article: A 'Malign (besides his lengthy political Intellectual Subculture' - George career) is due to his being a M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , "Suggested User" on Twitter since Herman, Peterson, Pilger And late 2009. Gawker's response Media Lens. dunks that theory like a
Technology/
35
Apple Posts iWork Web Developer Job Opening in Prep for iOS 4 and iCloud
BONUS: a developer 1.5 version of iWork apps has been revealed in the soon to be released iOS 5 It seems that the launch of iOS 5 updates galore! and iCloud is soon approaching [ via Apple Insider] indeed as Apple has posted a job Relevant Entries on listing looking for a new engineer SlashGear.com in the area of iWork specifically. iWork 08 The software This person would build the updates just keep coming front and/or back end of scalable iWork may become a Web web applications,noting that this Application at Macworld? will more than likely be an iCloud Frustrations Start expansion to Apples already Already With Multiple Apple IDs existing iWorl.com as well as Issue future iCloud business iWork for iPhone tipped in new expansions, all this as the leak on Apple site applications continue to be iCloud Time Capsule personal improved for the native Mac OS cloud reveal at WWDC 2011 X Lion as well as mobile today? versions. iCloud Can Be Accessed From This job posting furthermore asks The Web, Confirmed By Apple for someone who has strong Apple iCloud May Serve More programming skills as well as Than Music software similar to Google Docs this way and because of this, to others without restricting ones commitment to delivering [a] Apple buys iCloud domain or the lovely Microsoft Office iWorks Pages, Numbers, and w o r k t o g i g a n t i c e m a i l great user experience. This according to a rumor 365. Keynote have been inside the top attachments all of this done in candidate, says the Apple job At the moment, iWork.com has 10 grossing apps in the market similar web sharing ways to the posting, will be part of the core Apple Posts iWork Web been restricted to making Pages, since their inception. already active iWork.com. engineering team responsible for Developer Job Opening in Prep Keynote, and Numbers created Furthermore, iCloud seems to The site iWork.com has not had a the design and development of the for iOS 4 and iCloud is written by documents available for alternate continue to be the center of new version since the launch of software system. While existing Chris Burns& originally posted on user viewing and collaborative attention here, providing iWork the apps in iWork 2009 save for a MobileMe apps translate desktop SlashGear. comment. What Apple appears to apps on the Mac, iPad, and iPhone minor update recently to add apps into web-based equivalents 2005 - 2011, SlashGear. All be doing here is keeping apps on with the ability to save to the support for full-screen, Versions, at the moment, these being right reserved. the desktop and in the mobile cloud and open in other locations auto save, and Resume as present anything from Mail to Address world (on the iPhone, iPod touch, in the future. The abilities of in Mac OS X Lion. The job listing Book, this does not necessarily and iPad,) rather than bringing iCloud dont stop there, allowing here points toward a rather lovely mean there will be web-based them entirely up to the web. In also large documents to be shared iCloud future for the apps. versions of document editing
36
Technology/
MotoActive Tipped as Athletic Oriented Android Watch for Motorola

Motorola has has one other Android-based device in its potential ranks before, that being the seemingly very similar Tracy XL, this name being in place because it was to be aimed at the lovers of said last name of the original wristwatch-clad Dick Tracy, investigator deluxe. Now were seeing several watches of a slightly similar build come through back in December of 2010 we saw the Sony Ericsson LiveView, just this June the first we got to see a glimpse of the Tracy XL in part of its lovely glory, then even so recent as this morning were privy to some hands-on feels for the WIMM Wearable Platform, again running Android. What this MotoActive has to
offer is a tiny display (likely around 1-inch), touch screen, several physical input buttons around the edge, a single Android back button, and a cool red and black wristwatch band with which youll be sporting the new device in public. This device clearly has exercise in mind, a running made, some recent, running, and cycling options, and some specs on running sitting in the first row of previews. Of course theres always room for music, Rihanna with her bright red hair in back of a play, fast forward and fast back buttons in the watch-based image. All of this is of course based on the idea that this leak is of a real device, these images clearly being mock-ups and renders of a product that may not be complete as of yet. Why on earth theres a need to bring the time of day back to ones wrist is another question
tipped incoming Honeycomb Motorola Android tablet previewed by Andy Rubin Motorola tablet tipped for Verizon FiOS TV support Android 3.0 MOTOPAD is Motorola & Googles Honeycomb opener? Motorola to feature Android on upcoming handsets Motorola open to Windows Phone 7 and MOTOBLUR on other devices Motorola DROID 2 caught in wild [Video] MotoActive Tipped as Athletic Oriented Android Watch for Motorola is written by Chris Burns& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2011, SlashGear. All right reserved.
your humble narrator would ask, when its perfectly simple to take the smartphone out of your pocket and tap once. What do you think, time to get funky with some wristbased Androids? [ via Android Community]
Relevant Entries on SlashGear.com Motorola Preparing An iPod Nano, Nike+ Hybrid Sports Watch? Verizon Palm Pre Plus, Motorola Devour and LG VS750
Video App Demo: Checkin+

Victor Agreda, Jr. (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
If you're looking for an app to combine checkins for Foursquare and Facebook Places try Checkin+ from the makers of
IM+, a multi-protocol IM tool. Checkin+ will do just that, and adds the ability to see locations in a 2D map or 3D augmented reality view. Checkin+ will also allow you to see friends nearby, which is fun meet somewhere, but you can't for when you were supposed to
quite remember where. While I'd like to see a few more services supported (like Gowalla, especially), Checkin+ looks like a simple app that does something rather well. Check it out in action below. Video App Demo: Checkin+
originally appeared on TUAW The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments
37
Personal Audio's second suit against Apple denied

(CNET News.com)
AMAZON'S
Personal Audio, the company that was awarded $8 million in damages from Apple in patent infringement ruling last month, has had its attempt at additional damages denied by a U.S. District judge. In a judgment filed over the weekend, and picked up by the Courthouse News Service today, U.S. District Judge Ron Clark said there will not be a second trial to cover patent infringement issues with the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad since the previous case judgment covered both past and future use of Personal Audio's technology. "In light of the history of this case, the court finds no unfairness in entering judgment on the jury's verdict, which represents a lump sum award giving Apple a fully
paid up license to the patents-insuit, covering all past and future use of the patented technology in Apple products," Clark wrote in the filing ( PDF). In its suit filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Personal Audio alleged that Apple's sixthgeneration iPod Nano, fourthgeneration iPod Shuffle, fourthgeneration iPod Touch, iPhone 4, and iPad 2 all infringe on the company's patented audio technology. Personal Audio sought additional damages for this group of products, which were not included in its first lawsuit. "Personal Audio could, and should, have raised this issue at the time the decision to bifurcate was made, or at the very least offered evidence on the iOS products prior to closing," Clark said. Personal Audio is a nonpracticing
entity--meaning it licenses patents but doesn't actually have any other business. The group filed its first case back in 2009 seeking $84 million in damages, alleging that Apple was violating two of its patents: US patent No. 6,199,076, "Audio program player including a dynamic program selection controller" and No. 7,509,178, "Audio program distribution and playback system." Last month's follow-up suit targeted Apple for infringing on just the '076 patent. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
platform is unparalleled in the industry and Amazon Web Services will perhaps soon be a billion dollar vertical. It has successfully made the jump into devices with the Kindle and will probably be moderately successful with Android tablets and smartphones when they are released (in theory) later this quarter. Despite all the good things, it appears that Amazon has a developer problem more or less because it is trying to act like Apple. Yet, there is a big difference between Apple's Appstore and Amazon's. Apple controls iOS, has sold nearly 200 million devices and has near 400 million apps within the platform. Developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple's wishes and whims because not doing so essentially cuts them out of a huge portion of a profitable market. Apple has also had its fair share of developer mishaps. Amazon does not have that same luxury
because, at this point, they are essentially a niche store that offers quality applications. Yet, instead of bending over backwards for developers to attract them away from the Android Market (or iOS), it appears that the company is making life difficult. This may change over time. Amazon is actively hiring Android developers and team leaders for its mobile initiatives that should cut down on review time and maybe institute some new best practices. Yet, as Shifty and Bithack attest, the Amazon Appstore is currently a nightmare for developers. We contacted Amazon for response to Shifty and Bithack but have not heard back from the company as of 6:00 p.m. EST on Aug. 2. We will update the story if Amazon does get back to us. Discuss
FCC
The Ultimate Water Filter Quiz

environmentally friendly option for obtaining clean water than bottled water. Take this quiz to A water filter is a life saver when learn more about water filters. safe drinking water is unavailable. Earn a point for every right The health consequences of answer! Save your score at the drinking untreated water can be end of the quiz. severe. Water filters are also a This entry passed through the cheaper and m o r e Full-Text RSS service if this is
your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read
the response to numbers sent in to Ars Technica, updated here as well: Cablevision delivers some of the the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- fastest Internet connections in the only/faq.php#publishers. Five country, on our basic tier, two Filters featured article: A 'Malign higher levels of service, and our Intellectual Subculture' - George WiFi network, and this report M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , simply does not reflect the Herman, Peterson, Pilger And experience of our nearly 3 million broadband customers, said a Media Lens. FCC page 38
38
Apple's complaint over Samsung Galaxy Tab earns ITC review

Chris Rawson (TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Apple's "look and feel" patent infringement suit against Samsung has gained the attention of the International Trade Commission(ITC), which has the power to block imports of products if it determines they infringe on patents. According to Bloomberg, the ITC usually takes 15 to 18 months to complete reviews and decide whether or not to block imports. Although the ITC has the power to block imports of products if it determines they violate patents, things rarely reach that point. Instead, the threat of an outright importation embargo usually
forces companies to the negotiating table, where millions of dollars in patent licensing fees subsequently change hands. Notably, Samsung is not launching the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, though
according to AllThingsD the company claims it has nothing to do with Apple issuing a complaint with the Federal Court in that country. Apple has accused Samsung of willfully copying both the iPhone
and the iPad in the hardware design of the Galaxy line, and a casual glance at the products does indeed show many design similarities. On closer inspection the differences between the companies' products become much clearer, however, so it may take the courts a long time to determine whether Samsung's products violate Apple's patents or not. Apple's complaint over Samsung Galaxy Tab earns ITC review originally appeared on TUAW The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Source| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Gameboy dress: Wanna play Tetris?

(Holy Kaw!)
FCC
spokesperson. Our high-speed Internet product leads the nation in consumer adoption and has consistently won top ratings in much broader and more extensive consumer surveys conducted by J.D. Power & Associates, PC Magazine and others. Cablevision On the other hand, the study they refer to shows items like overall satisfaction, billion, and customer
service, without showing numbers for speed. You can download the entire FCC PDF here for your own perusal or further publishing for the greater good of internet speeds. Relevant Entries on SlashGear.com How Fast Can Your Internet Go? Scientists break Internet speed record
Channel Bonding Cable Modem to provide speeds up to 144Mbps Next-gen iPhone to get Internet speed boost Nokia USB HSPA modem coming early 2009 Can your router do this? Intel announces 45nm CE4100 SoC for Internet TV Metamaterial-slowed light could speed up internet, claim scientists
FCC Measures Actual Internet Speeds in USA is written by Chris Burns& originally posted on SlashGear. 2005 - 2011, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If you would like to add a splash of late-80s flare to your wardrobe, but havent found the correct size shoulder pads, consider going in a different direction with the Gameboy Tube Dress. Etsy shop Here and There Vintage offers the glamorously geeky look for $65, which is 15 bucks cheaper than the original GameBoy in 1989. Via LikeCool. Purchase on Etsy. Look fashionable. Permalink| Leave a comment
39
Japanese Caretaker Foursquare Revamps Brand Pages: Now Do-It- Robot To Assist In Lifting The Elderly Yourself
Devin Coldewey (TechCrunch)
Jon Mitchell (ReadWriteWeb)
succeed, Foursquare will rely on its social network to create and Submitted at 8/2/2011 7:30:00 PM share its content. Today, Foursquare launched a Yelp location pages are rich in new version of Pages. The update information, and reviews and allows anyone to sign up for a quick tips from members help brand page that can push tips and keep them up to date and relevant. check-ins to followers on This makes Yelp a valuable, Foursquare, as well as to searchable tool for discovering Facebook and Twitter. Foursquare new places and keeping up with lets users add new locations to the the ones you like. Foursquare's service, but, until today, there was new feature will attack this by no good way for most places to allowing any brand to crank out a actively reach out to users, unless a u t h e n t i c a t i o n . I n e f f e c t , steady stream of content, which their owners waded through a Foursquare is introducing one- followers can also share, making daunting application process for a way following as an alternative to places on Foursquare a bit two-way friend requests for stickier, since they can publish brand page. i n d i v i d u a l a c c o u n t s . B y more reminders. Sponsor Until now, Foursquare brand simplifying the process for Check out Foursquare's new Page pages have been subject to posting and following content Gallery for examples. Discuss manual approval by a large team. about a place, Foursquare has a Now, all a brand page needs is a better chance of competing with T w i t t e r a c c o u n t f o r richer content sites like Yelp. To
in its arms that work on the capacitive principle, but are made entirely from rubber (except for There is much anxiety in Japan the conductive part, of course), related to accommodating their which allow it to determine a aging population. Their elderly patients weight and the correct and infirm number in the millions force to impart in order to lift, and that figure is growing out of roll, and so on. proportion to the rest of the Its not autonomous, as you can country. Caring for them is see from the video, which is naturally on everyones minds probably a good thing considering including those of roboticists. that rogue lovebot from a while A n d r e s e a r c h o r g a n i z a t i o n back. RIKEN is updating its medical Id expect to see a lot more of assistance bot in order to help these being developed over the caretakers with the task of lifting next few years the US has its a p e r s o n f r o m a b e d t o a share of research going on as wheelchair and back. well, and work with computer The new version of RIBA(Robot vision and superior biomimetic for Interactive Body Assistance) systems could produce robocan actually crouch down and nurses that take a lot of grunt pick up a patient off the floor, a work off of human hands. strenuous action that caretakers [via Fast Company] must do frequently. It has sensors
The wining and dinning life cycle [infographic]

(Holy Kaw!)
Lavishing your clients and customers with gifts and attention
can often becom a 24-hour job. With that in mind, its best to be aware of how customers will respond to your generosity. Lets lifecycle to see how some of these take a look at the wining & dining
scenarios play out. (Click on the infographic below to learn more.) Via Column Five for Flowtown Like infographics? So do we.
Permalink| Leave a comment
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Technology/ Economy/ Culture/
ValueClick Buys Personalized Display Ad Technology Company Dotomi For $295 Million
Leena Rao (TechCrunch)
into targeting display ads. Dotomi attaches geographic and demographic data to those users, Online advertising company and the company tracks which ads ValueClick is on a bit of an each test user sees and whether a acquisition spree. After acquiring sale ultimately results. mobile ad network Greystripe Dotomi manages everything from earlier this year, the company is brand strategy and creative b u y i n g p e r s o n a l i z e d a d development to message delivery technology company Dotomi. The and decisioning. The company, deal is valued at $295 million, which has worked with over 100 consisting of approximately 55 retail brands, is based in Chicago percent in cash and 45 percent in and has 160 employees. In 2011, V a l u e C l i c k c o m m o n s t o c k . ValueClick expects for Dotomi to Dotomi will become a subsidiary bring in $80 million in revenue. of publicly traded ValueClick. ValueClick also bought Dotomi provides, data-driven, Investopedia from Forbes last personalized display media for year for $42 million. CrunchBase m a j o r r e t a i l e r s a n d t r a v e l Information Dotomi Information aggregators. The company works provided by CrunchBase with clients to integrate anonymous data from web visitors
Fitch Says Debt Deal Alone Won't Sustain AAA Rating; Tale of Two Headlines
noreply@blogger.com (Michael Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)
Agenda Calendar Is a Minimal Calendar App for iPhone that Simplifies Navigating Through Your Schedule [Downloads]
Adam Dachis (Lifehacker)
iPhone: There's nothing wrong with the built-in calendar app on your iPhone, but it can be somewhat limiting in the amount you're looking for a breeze. More of data it lets you see and navigation isn't always perfect. Agenda Calendar cleans up the interface and makes finding what
approved spending cuts that will help avoid a U.S. default, but warned that the world's largest economy must reduce its debt Submitted at 8/2/2011 1:29:00 PM Fitch will conclude its US debt burden or face a downgrade. review by the end August and the Although the bill removes the Associated Press has this headline threat of imminent default by on the story: US Debt deal alone raising the national debt limit won't sustain AAA rating On enough to last until 2013, its cuts Tuesday, Fitch said the agreement are only about half the $4 trillion was an important first step but in savings that ratings agencies "not the end of the process." The Standard & Poor's and Moody's rating agency wants to see a have said would be enough to credible plan to reduce the budget confirm the country's triple-A deficit. rating with a stable outlook. David Riley, managing director Other ratings agencies have also at Fitch, told The Associated warned of a potential downgrade Press: "There's more to be done in of U.S. credit depending on the order to keep the rating in the scope and size of the deficit medium-term." cutting agreement. Fitch expects to conclude its "The more important question review of the U.S. sovereign here is whether the bill will be rating by the end of August. As enough to appease S&P, which the debt deal currently stands, it is wanted $4 trillion in cuts, with possible the U.S. debt rating could many in the market believing that be downgraded at that time, Fitch there is a realistic chance of a said. It is interesting to see how downgrade from S&P," said news agencies parse such reports. Gennadiy Goldberg, fixed income Reuters reports the same story analyst at 4Cast Ltd. in New York headline as follows: Fitch keeps Fitch noted that without US AAA rating, review ongoing significant changes in fiscal Fitch Ratings upheld its AAA policy, debt as a percentage of rating on the United States on gross domestic product "will T u e s d a y a f t e r l a w m a k e r s reach 100 percent by the end of
2012, and will continue to rise over the medium term - a profile that is not consistent with the United States retaining its AAA sovereign rating." While both headlines are true, the first more accurately conveys the mood of the moment. By the way, although a debt downgrade is well deserved, I doubt it will matter much. Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
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Brothers' Keepers - By Molly Worthen

MOLLY WORTHEN (Foreign Policy)
American evangelicals were always big believers in democracy -- until it reached the Arab world. BY MOLLY WORTHEN| AUGUST 2, 2011 Most American evangelicals view democracy much like Yankees fans view their beloved Bronx Bombers: as a human institution that has its flaws, but one that God clearly prefers to the alternatives and has destined for world domination. No less an authority than Billy Graham called free elections a " blessing from God." Yet the Arab Spring has caught them up short. The editors at the evangelical magazine Christianity Today are biting their nails over what will happen if the Syrians topple Assad; to the Baptist Press News, things don't look so rosy in newly liberated Egypt. In World, a Christian magazine, Editor in Chief Marvin Olasky warned that the region may be headed not for a new era of freedom, but smack into " a different tyranny." Given many evangelicals' commitment to baptizing the Founding Fathers and praising the cross as a " statue of liberty," it may seem strange that they have greeted the pro-democracy movements agitating the Middle East and North Africa with distinct ambivalence. But if it's surprising, that's only because so
many observers of American politics are out of touch with the evangelical worldview, particularly evangelicals' understanding of themselves as embattled outsiders who have much to lose when democracy doesn't go their way.
Whenever evangelicals show heightened interest in the Middle East, pundits tend to suspect two motives: evangelicals' supposedly blind loyalty to Israel, and their view of the region's population as pawns in God's great apocalyptic endgame. But grasping for
reasons that free elections might delay Armageddon brings us no closer to understanding evangelicals' true concerns. Their uncertainty over whose side to take in the Arab Spring has little to do with whether Hosni Mubarak should count as one of
the heads of the scarlet beast in the Book of Revelation, and a lot to do with the hardships facing their fellow Christians -- as well as that malleable ideal and political tool, religious freedom. BROTHERS' page 42
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Evangelicals spend far more time worrying over the persecution of Christians here and now than they do parsing the Bible's predictions about the end of the world. And it's no secret that the Arab Spring revolutions have not done any favors for the roughly 25 million embattled Christians in the region (a precise head count is hard to come by). In the wake of Mubarak's fall, hard-line Islamists in Egypt rioted against Christians and vandalized churches. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad has hardly been a poster child for religious freedom, but approximately 2.3 million Christians there view him as a protector whose wobbling regime is the only thing standing between them and hordes of Salafists who aren't so interested in keeping up the appearance of a modern, secular state. And a half-million of those Christians are Iraqi refugees who fled the bloody fight between contending Muslim factions in their homeland and have no desire to relive that experience. "Pray for the believers in Syria ...[who] are there trying to bring Jesus into this very dangerous and chaotic place," one missionary told Mission Network News, an interdenominational foundation devoted to aiding persecuted Christians around the world. Evangelicals are hardly the only ones worried about the fate of religious freedom -- or freedom in general, for that matter -- in the Middle East and North Africa. But they devote a remarkable amount of energy to aiding the
region's Christians, giving funds, supplies, and Bibles through a web of organizations like Christian Freedom International, the Voice of the Martyrs, Persecuted Christians Care Fund, and others (though the Catholics do give them a run for their money.) The diffuse nature of evangelical charitable giving makes fundraising figures elusive, but anyone who spends a little time reading, talking, or worshipping with evangelicals can't miss the fact that they have a zeal for honoring martyrs and connecting with persecuted Christians abroad. They love a good sermon on the afflictions of the righteous. Their churches sponsor persecuted congregations abroad and screen movies with titles like Tortured for Christ. To give the youngsters a more vivid taste of virtual martyrdom, one organization offers an activity kit called "Locked Up," "a 12-hour simulation of a prison-like setting" to challenge youth groups "to live their role in God's great story of the Church around the world." Although homegrown martyrs are scant these days, American evangelicals never stop feting the few they have: One of the most famous evangelical women of the 20th century is ex-missionary Elisabeth Elliot, whose 1957 account of her husband's martyrdom at the hands of a hostile Ecuadorean tribe is still selling briskly a half-century later. And evangelicals have lobbied
hard in Washington on behalf of oppressed Christians, playing an important role in the 1998 passage of the International Religious Freedom Act. All this is to say that when American evangelicals think of the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world, it's a good bet that for many, the plight of persecuted Christians is the first thing that comes to mind. Secular commentators, however, tend to focus on the alleged influence of apocalyptic belief on evangelicals' views and votes. Yes, theories of the end times do have some bearing on evangelicals' reactions to world affairs. But brooding over the end of the world is hardly unorthodox or unusual in the history of the faith: Christianity was born in a frothy mix of Greek philosophy and Jewish apocalypticism. Endtimes mania reached a modern apogee after an Anglo-Irish evangelist named John Nelson Darby toured the United States in the mid-19th century, preaching an intricate doomsday theory called dispensational premillennialism. Darby and his followers approached the Bible like a code book that, once properly understood, would allow even the untutored layman to decipher newspaper headlines for signs of the Antichrist and the mark of the beast. Darby's theory also found room for an old idea: a special role for the Jews, who had to reclaim their biblical patrimony and have one more chance to embrace the true God before Jesus himself would descend to lead the
saints in battle with the Antichrist. Dispensationalism became wildly popular in the early 20th century, but in recent decades its hold on evangelical culture has waned. Evangelicals still take the Second Coming of Christ seriously, but have become increasingly preoccupied with the Bible's earthly themes, such as social justice and the burden of Christian "dominion" over the natural world and in human society. Meticulous forecasting of the end of days is out of style (Hal Lindsey's prognosticating book, The Late Great Planet Earth, was a bestselling sensation in 1970, but mainstream evangelicals considered Harold Camping's more recent efforts an embarrassment). The massive popularity of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins's Left Behind series, which follows the basic schema of Darby's theology to chronicle the travails of protagonists who are stuck on Earth after the Rapture and must battle the Antichrist (who happens to be the secretary-general of the United Nations), might suggest that the series's 65 million readers are all counting down the days until Armageddon. At least one survey, however, found that half of Left Behind readers aren't even evangelical Christians. Most of them probably want a thrilling read more than a Bible lesson. The Holy Land's bustling Christian tourism industry confirms evangelicals' fascination with the Middle East. But most of the evangelicals who spend their
summer vacations on a "Footsteps of Our Lord Tour" or the "Lands of the Bible Cruise" are far more interested in walking where Jesus walked than in visiting the future site of the Antichrist's assembled armies in the Valley of Megiddo. Then what about Christian Zionism, evangelicals' infamous zeal for the ingathering of the Jews? It's true that evangelicals tend to be friends of Israel and believe that God has a special relationship with the Jews. But polls show that a plurality of evangelical leaders worldwide sympathizes equally with both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. And much of American evangelical support for Israel derives from nonsupernatural sources shared by many Americans: friendship for and strategic dependence on what was once (and may yet remain) the only democratic country in the Middle East, seasoned with a dash of well-deserved, post-Holocaust guilt. Prophecy talk has been conspicuously absent from mainstream evangelical coverage of the Arab Spring. In its place we read scores of interviews with terrified Copts, Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants on the streets of Cairo and Damascus. Those heart-rending photos and news reports have played an enormous role in shaping evangelical opinions of Islam and U.S. foreign policy. Evangelicals' fixation on the mistreatment of BROTHERS' page 45
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The Sweet Smell of Schadenfreude - By Joshua E. Keating

JOSHUA E. KEATING (Foreign Policy)
The world is crowing over America's near-economic meltdown. BY JOSHUA E. KEATING| AUGUST 2, 2011 Neither the left nor the right is particularly happy about the deal that was passed this week to avert a U.S. default -- memorably described by one congressman as a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich." Overseas, the reactions to Washington's dysfunction have ranged from confusion, to concern, to barely contained gloating. CHINA As the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, China's interest in the debt ceiling debate was hardly academic. State wire service Xinhua expressed its dismay at the potential of a default in the run-up to the final debt decisions, calling the political brinkmanship in Washington "dangerously irresponsible" in an editorial last week and noting that the "ugliest part of the saga is that the wellbeing of many other countries is also in the impact zone when the donkey and the elephant fight." But now that Democrats and Republicans have come to an agreement, Xinhua hardly seems satisfied with the conclusion,
enlisting American economist Dan Steinbock who writes, "Despite all the hype and drama," the deal is "unlikely to avert the downgrading of US credit rating."
The state-sponsored paper Global Times takes a bigger picture view, editorializing on how the -debate has already negatively affected U.S. standing in the world. "The
US is well-known for promoting rules and regulations to other countries, but now countries are increasingly realizing Washington can stamp all over its own rules
and regulations," the editors write. The piece goes on to speculate that U.S. instability could lead the SWEET page 44
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country to lash out militarily at its rivals. "When the country prospers, it will use more civilized methods to secure its national priorities, but when it faces a crisis, it will use all methods to defend itself." And as a final turn of the screw, the United States is made to look like an unruly, wayward child -the editors lament that "the US debt China holds is too small to have any major leverage" and suggest that China needs "more patience and wisdom to acquire the capability to deal with the US." SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images THE "PIGS" You know you're in trouble when even the losers start picking on you. Piling on, the debt-ridden economies of Europe -- the socalled "PIGS" -- have responded to the United States' near failure to get its fiscal house in order. The Greek broadsheet Ekathimerini writes that the United States today "displays all the signs of decadence that condemned all previous superpowers: Stability and prosperity allowed small groups to gather disproportionate power, and they then forced the state to serve their interests at the expense of those of society as a whole." Much like Greece, the editors write, the United States is now "paying the price of complacency." The Irish may still love Barack Obama but Lara Marlowe, Washington correspondent for the Irish Times, writes that despite the
deal, "the damage to Obama's reputation and to faith in the ability of the US to lead a global economic recovery may be irreparable". Bemoaning the U.S. president's failure to stand-up to the Tea Party, Marlowe writes that "as the country surveyed the smouldering detritus of the debt crisis yesterday, the Tea Party stood triumphant in the ashes." In Spain, where recent street protests over high unemployment recently brought the government to a standstill, El Pas argues that, "The United States is now in the same basic trap as the Old Continent," forced to enact harsh austerity measures in order to reduce the deficit, but hampering economic growth in the process. The deal "transmits the message that the policies proposed by the radical core of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, will be an obstacle for crisis management in Washington," the editors conclude. Alkis Konstantinidis/AFP/Getty Images RUSSIA Most world leaders have been fairly tight-lipped about the deal, given that their economies are so dependent on the U.S. market. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for instance, would only say that the German government was "satisfied that there has been an agreement in this difficult question in the United States." But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has generally done things his own way:
"[The United States] lives beyond its means, taxing the global economy with its problems and living like a parasite off the global economy and the monopoly of the dollar," Putin told a meeting of the nationalist youth group Nashi this week, echoing the sort of language once used to describe capitalists in Soviet-era propaganda. This came after remarks last month in which Putin branded the U.S. government "hooligans" for printing money. All the same, after getting his licks in the prime minister welcomed the final agreement, saying that a U.S. default would have been "no good at all" for the world economy. The newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta believed that the U.S. crisis helped put Russia's dire economic problems in perspective, writing, "[There is] one unfortunate thing that Russia does not need to fear: at least, it will not face a default in the next few days." Cold comfort indeed. ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images INDIA Perhaps it's not surprising, what with near double-digit GDP growth in India, that American decline is on the minds of the country's commentators today. The Hindustan Times editorializes that "If routine has become Armageddon, the US cannot be counted on when the tough decisions are being made." That may have security implications, in addition to economic ones. While the current round of budget cuts
may be severe, the editors worry more about what will happen to the U.S. defense infrastructure if Republicans and Democrats cannot agree to a second round of cuts, which would trigger $1.2 trillion worth of security cuts: "[S]uch cuts would eviscerate US defence capability. The US would be a greatly reduced superpower, one with little leeway if bits of the world go rancid or sour. Among other things, it would mean a China with more space to expand its military influence than it probably has capacity to fill. It will also mean large chunks of ocean and remoter bits of the world, presently policed or at least contained by the U.S., would be allowed to run wild." Sounds like a call to India's politicians for a ramp-up in defense preparations. And apparently the world's largest democracy has some lessons for Congress. Columnist Mihir Sharma in an Indian Express op-ed takes aim at the most august of American institutions: "The United States is the home of what Americans like to say is the world's greatest constitution, but is in fact the world's most outdated." Sharma argues that a document "written for an age before railroads, let alone before cable news" has led to the current crisis. Tricorner-hat -wearing Tea Partiers would probably disagree. PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images BRITAIN The British press has been characteristically brutal in its
assessment of both Republicans' intransigence and Obama's failure to stand up to their demands. The Independent writes in its lead editorial that while "Armageddon has been averted as long as a generation of Republican politicians feel entitled to hold a gun to the head of the credit of America to secure their political ends -- disaster will never be far away." Guardian economic editor Larry Elliott compares the United States to a "tinpot Latin American dictatorship circa 1980" and calls it a "country where a plutocracy is firmly in control," suggesting that "If the U.S. were any other country it would be seeking help from the International Monetary Fund." In the same paper, writer and activist George Monbiot writes that the Tea Party "consists of people who have been harmed by tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the poor" amd who have been misled by corporate owned media. But Monbiot also senses another evil lurking: The current state of affairs in Congress is "a kind of political coup," he writes. "A handful of billionaires have shoved a spanner into the legislative process." In the Telegraph, Toby Young notes the irony that the Democratic U.S. president now appears to be leaning to the right of the British Conservatives: "A year ago, American conservatives were showering David Cameron SWEET page 45
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their co-believers has a history as old as the Christian religion itself: Christianity began as the faith of a persecuted minority, of martyrs shredded by lions in the Colosseum. But if these stories have a place in every Christian's heritage, American evangelicals have taken spiritual and ideological empathy with the persecuted to new heights. Despite centuries in the American mainstream -- and the fact that there are about 100 million of them today -- many conservative evangelicals in the United States think of themselves as a persecuted minority. They are the few faithful who refuse to bow down before Obamicus Maximus (or Sultan Barack the Magnificent, as a disturbing number of crazies believe). The war on Christmas is old news; now half of Americans also believe that Christians are " being persecuted" at the hands of advocates of same-sex marriage. It's little wonder they are reaching out to Christians thousands of miles away (the ones who are actually being tortured-- in places where torture means more than
being forced to watch a gay pride parade). This is not to say that American evangelicals publicize the persecution of Christians abroad and work to advance their rights only to bolster their own selfimage. Evangelical concern for persecution overseas is completely genuine -- though too often lumped together with more dubious causes. "Religious freedom" has become a kind of shorthand in American political rhetoric, useful for prescribing some domestic policies ( prayer meetings in public schools, intelligent design in the curriculum), decrying others ( same-sex marriage, the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"), and contributing to an ambivalent view of democracy -- whether in the United States, or in the Muslim world -- if the principle of "one voice, one vote" happens to threaten evangelical priorities. Every time evangelicals indulge in hysterics about the persecution of American evangelicals and " how liberals are waging war against Christians," they weaken their own case against the tyranny
of the majority in the Middle East and insult those congregations huddling behind drawn curtains in Egypt and Libya. But then, scholars of evangelicalism have long observed that cultivating a persecution complex -- even one that is mostly a self-perpetuating fiction -- is not a bad way to maintain authority and stoke followers' sense of divine purpose. The trouble is that this mindset may make evangelicals look less like their oppressed brethren and more like the very despots they hate. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
with praise for adopting such a radical approach to reducing Britain's deficit and contrasting him unfavourably with their own spendthrift President. Now, our Prime Minister looks like a weakkneed liberal in contrast to the hard-headed Obama." Young believes that on both sides of the pond, a "sea change has taken place" and that "Socialist welfare programmes have become politically toxic." Last year, it was the normally free-market United States that was taken aback by the harshness of British and European budget cuts. Things appear to have returned to
normal. Scott Barbour/Getty Images This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
"What Would You Attempt to Do If You Knew You Could Not Fail?" [Quotables]
Melanie Pinola (Lifehacker)
This simple question posed by American pastor Robert Schuller may help inspire us to try to accomplish our goals. Taking fear
out of the equation, what are your biggest dreams? More
The language of Christianity [video]

(Holy Kaw!)
Kirby Ferguson explores the
continually evolving language of Christianity in a fascinating video essay for CNN. Christianity is like a language
with different dialects, and over
time some terminology may lose its essential meaning. Via CNN. All the top religion news.
Permalink| Leave a comment
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Economy/
Debt Deal Done: So What Does It Mean?

Daniel Gross (Money Game)
At long last, a deal on raising the debt ceiling and cutting spending has been reached. The agreement, which the White House dubbed "a Win for the Economy and Budget Discipline," includes: A $2.1 trillion increase in the debt ceiling and 10-year discretionary spending caps generating nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction (balanced between defense and non-defense spending) over ten years. What's more, a super Congressional committee will come up with a package of $1.5 trillion more in cuts and/or revenue enhancements that's guaranteed an up-or-down vote by December. And if Congress can't agree to a package, automatic cuts will commence in 2013, split 50/50 between domestic and defense spending (exempting entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare). The deal will have far-reaching consequences. The conventional wisdom on the politics of the deal have already hardened: good for the GOP and especially its Tea Party base; bad for President Obama, who gave in to repeated threats; bad for Congressional Democrats, who were marginalized; a slight gain for the U.S., which finally affirmed it would live up to its financial obligations.
Much of this conventional wisdom is likely to prove wrong in time. And the impact is likely to be larger in the coming months on the markets, the economy, consumers and taxpayers than on politics. Is this deal good for investors? It sure seems to be a plus for global stock markets, as Asian stock markets and U.S. stock futures rose after the deal was announced. It's difficult to see why, though. The U.S. stock market isn't a barometer on the U.S. economy any more. The typical member of the S&P 500 already gets about half of its revenues (and almost all its growth) from overseas. It's a truism that equity markets hate uncertainty. And the quick positive reaction is the latest example of the risk-on/risk-off trade. When bad things happen, or when investors think bad things are going to happen, they sell stocks. When anxiety fades, they buy stocks. That's what is happening now. But when there are crises over government debt, doesn't the real action take place in the bond markets? Yes, it does. And the action in the U.S. bond markets has been odd in recent weeks. As the U.S. careened toward a debt crisis, people and institutions around the world continued to buy U.S. government bonds, pushing interest rates down further. In fact, last Friday, the 10-year bond closed at 2.8 percent.
Investors never really believed that the U.S. would not pay its debt. They did believe, correctly, that large budget cuts would slow growth in an economy whose rate of growth is already slowing. And that tends to push interest rates down. So bonds may fall as investors embrace risk again. But over the long term, this deal in and of itself, is likely to act as downward pressure on rates. Isn't slower growth a potential negative factor for stocks? Exactly. While the deal takes uncertainty over debt payments off the table, it does contribute to other types of uncertainty for stocks in general, and for certain classes of stocks. For example, the deal calls for real cuts in defense spending (with the prospect of much more), which would be negative for the large defense contracting/ aerospace complex. And as a general rule, actions that reduce domestic demand (as across the board budget cuts would) are a negative for companies that derive a disproportionate share of their revenues from the U.S. So can we get back to worrying about the ongoing crisis in Europe? Yes. As the U.S. flailed toward an agreement, Europe has continued to grappleor fail to grapplewith its own sovereign debt crisis. Spain is paying high interest rates to borrow. There's no path toward a resolution of Greece's severe fiscal problems. And don't look
now, but Cyprus, the island nation whose banks are heavily exposed to Greece and that just suffered a huge power plant explosion, could be the next problem spot. How will this deal affect growth? Poorly. Government spending is demand. If you don't believe it, try asking Wal-Mart or any food retailer what would happen to sales if food stamp payments were to be disrupted. As we've noted many times, government, at all levels, has already been throttling back employment for many months. The private sector is driving growth and will increasingly have to do so on its own. Cuts in discretionary spending, even if they are backloaded and spread over ten years, will mean less money for scholarships, for education, for health care, transportation and infrastructureall vital parts of the economy. How will this affect consumers? There was great concern that a debt crisis would cause interest rates to spike and ignite inflation. That prospect now seems unlikely. In fact, interest rates remain extraordinarily low. On net, for those with jobs and decent credit scores who want to borrow, the deal is likely to be a plus. And America's long-suffering taxpayers, who pay the salaries of the politicians who brought us to the brink of default? How do they come out? That remains to be seen. The big
concern among many was that this crisis would result in significant tax increases. All the big discussionsthe SimpsonBowles Commission, the Gang of Six in the Senate, the potential Grand Bargain between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehnerincluded revenue enhancements, the elimination of loopholes, the termination of tax credits. In other words, tax increases on some people. And at time when income tax rates and overall tax receipts as a percentage of GDP are as low as they've been in recent history, the prospect of making a huge dent in the deficit through spending cuts alone seemed politically unviable. And yet, thanks to a combination of Republican intransigence, moderate wishy-washiness, and Democratic lameness, the deal included no revenue enhancements. People worried about higher taxes have dodged a bullet, for now. So taxes will never go up? Remember, I just said "for now." As always, the devil is in the details. As the White House noted in its fact sheet, tax cuts are always just over the horizon. President Obama couldn't get Republican agreement to raise taxes on the wealthy, but he may not have to. Current law calls for the Bush-era tax cuts on income and investments to expire at the end of 2012. DEBT page 49
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Italy Calls "Financial Stability Meeting"; Spain PM Delays Vacation to "Closely Watch Economic Indicators"; EU says "No Rescue Plans for Italy, Spain"
and the implications for the banks and the economy," the source told AFP. The meeting will take place at Submitted at 8/2/2011 2:36:00 PM Earlier today, in Spain, Italy, 1430 GMT at the finance ministry Belgium Bond Spreads Hit Euro in Rome. Record; Italy 10-Year Bond Yield Italy's Financial Stability H i g h e s t S i n c e 1 9 9 7 ; S e l f - Safeguard Committee, as it is Fulfilling Crisis I was wondering formally known, was set up in how long it would take for 2008 as the global economic crisis emergency meetings. Any bets on f i r s t h i t a n d i n c l u d e s w h e n t h e E U h a s a n o t h e r representatives from stock market emergency meeting? I suspect two and insurance regulators. more days of this action might do Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi it. Now answer this: what can is set to address parliament on the they do that makes any sense? financial crisis on Wednesday and Depending on your definition of meet trade union leaders on "emergency meeting" the correct T h u r s d a y . Z a p a t e r o D e l a y s answer may have been less than a Vacation to "Closely Watch day. Economic Indicators" Italy to Hold Financial Stability The Walll Street Journal reports Meeting Spain PM Delays Vacation To Please consider Italy to hold Deal With Economic Woes financial stability meeting. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti Rodriguez Zapatero Tuesday will hold a meeting of Italy's postponed a scheduled vacation financial stability committee on and Finance Minister Elena Tuesday, i n c l u d i n g Salgado was talking to several of representatives from the central her European counterparts as b a n k a n d b o u r s e r e g u l a t o r borrowing costs for Spain and Consob, a source said. Italy hit new euro-era highs. The committee will discuss "the Zapatero cancelled his vacation sovereign debt market situation in order "to more closely follow"
the country's "economic indicators," according to a statement from his office. A spokesman added that Zapatero was in close contact with Salgado, while the finance minister has been talking with her Italian, French and German counterparts. The new spike in borrowing costs comes two days ahead of a Spanish bond auction Thursday, where the treasury plans to sell between EUR2.5 billion and EUR3.5 billion of three- and fouryear bonds. It also heightens concerns about the abilities of Italy and Spain, the euro zone's third- and fourthlargest economies, respectively, to finance themselves. In a recent research note, analysts at Deutsche Bank said Greece, Ireland and Portugal started to get frozen out of financial markets when their 10-year bond yields reached levels of between 6% and 7%. Those three countries were then forced to seek bailouts from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. For Spain, the heightened market tensions come at an awkward
time, politically, as the country gears up for an early general election on Nov. 20. Lacking a parliamentary majority and his popularity undermined by the economic crisis, Zapatero announced Friday that he was calling elections ahead of the end of his four-year term in March. Does canceling a vacation to hold discussions with counterparts in Italy, France, and Germany constitute an "emergency meeting"? I think so, even if it is an informal one. EU Claims "No Rescue Plans for Italy, Spain" While pondering the definition of "emergency meeting", please consider EU not considering rescue plans for Italy, Spain. The European Union has no plans to provide rescue loans to Italy and Spain, despite the rising borrowing costs facing these countries, a European Commission spokeswoman said Tuesday. We are absolutely confident that the Spanish authorities will take all steps which are necessary, Hughes said. The question of a rescue plan is not on the table.
The situation is very similar for Italy, she added. Mish Translation of EU Statements "We are scared completely s***less by these events. If we were not scared s***less, there would be no need to comment at all. Finally, if yields head North for another day we will call an emergency meeting to discuss rescue plans for Italy and Spain." Mike "Mish" Shedlock h t t p : / / globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http:// www.sitkapacific.com/ account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
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Economy/
Fitch Says Debt Deal Alone Amazingly, Some In The Won't Sustain AAA Rating; The UK EnvyCrisisUS Debt Ceiling Tale of Two Headlines
Adam Taylor (Money Game)
Tuesday after lawmakers approved spending cuts that will help avoid a U.S. default, but warned that the world's largest Submitted at 8/2/2011 1:46:00 PM Fitch will conclude its US debt economy must reduce its debt review by the end August and the burden or face a downgrade. Associated Press has this headline Although the bill removes the on the story: US Debt deal alone threat of imminent default by won't sustain AAA rating On raising the national debt limit Tuesday, Fitch said the agreement enough to last until 2013, its cuts was an important first step but are only about half the $4 trillion "not the end of the process." The in savings that ratings agencies rating agency wants to see a Standard & Poor's and Moody's credible plan to reduce the budget have said would be enough to deficit. confirm the country's triple-A David Riley, managing director rating with a stable outlook. at Fitch, told The Associated Other ratings agencies have also Press: "There's more to be done in warned of a potential downgrade order to keep the rating in the of U.S. credit depending on the medium-term." scope and size of the deficit Fitch expects to conclude its cutting agreement. review of the U.S. sovereign "The more important question rating by the end of August. As here is whether the bill will be the debt deal currently stands, it is enough to appease S&P, which possible the U.S. debt rating could wanted $4 trillion in cuts, with be downgraded at that time, Fitch many in the market believing that said. It is interesting to see how there is a realistic chance of a news agencies parse such reports. downgrade from S&P," said Reuters reports the same story Gennadiy Goldberg, fixed income headline as follows: Fitch keeps analyst at 4Cast Ltd. in New York US AAA rating, review ongoing Fitch noted that without Fitch Ratings upheld its AAA significant changes in fiscal rating on the United States on policy, debt as a percentage of
up with the figure of 40%. Javid used to work as an gross domestic product "will international bond trader and reach 100 percent by the end of Anyone who has sat through claims his experience led him to 2012, and will continue to rise hours of the arduous US debt understand the problem countries over the medium term - a profile ceiling deliberations would face. Unfortunately, many don't that is not consistent with the probably wonder who on Earth see the Javid's plan quite the same United States retaining its AAA would ever willingly submit their way. Just last month Vince Cable, sovereign rating." While both country to such an experience. business secretary in the British headlines are true, the first more Surely, even from afar the coalition government, criticized accurately conveys the mood of experience was painful. the very Tea Partier's Javid the moment. Yet in the UK, the Telegraph has praised. Mike "Mish" Shedlock managed to find someone to say The irony of the situation at the h t t p : / / the unthinkable. moment is that the biggest globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. That man is Sajid Javid, the UK threat to the world financial com Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, system comes from a few rightClick Here To Scroll Thru My who recently put forward a bill wing nutters in the American Recent Post List Mike that calls for a UK debt ceiling. C o n g r e s s r a t h e r t h a n t h e "Mish" Shedlock is a registered Javid writes: eurozone. investment advisor representative I believe it is time for Britain to A debt ceiling in the Europe f o r S i t k a P a c i f i c C a p i t a l follow [America] which is why might be unusual but it wouldn't Management. Sitka Pacific is an I have put forward the National be unprecedented, both Denmark asset management firm whose Debt Cap Bill, which has its and Poland have their own goal is strong performance and second reading in January. systems. low volatility, regardless of [...] Please follow Europe on Twitter market direction. Visit http:// A debt cap, which would restrict and Facebook. w w w . s i t k a p a c i f i c . c o m / borrowing to a given percentage Join the conversation about this account_management.html to of GDP, would be no guarantee story l e a r n m o r e a b o u t w e a l t h against such fiscal irresponsibility See Also: m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p i t a l but it would make it harder for UK Watchdog Bans Airbrushed preservation strategies of Sitka politicians to rely on their Cosmetics Advertisements Pacific. favourite ploy of buy now, pay Even Europe Is Sick Of The later. Debt Ceiling Mess There are some important PHOTOS: With Just One Year differences however. For one, the To Go, A Tour Of The UK's debt would be set at a percentage Olympic Venues of GDP, for which Javid comes
Economy/ Culture/
49
Senate Democrats Unveil Balanced Budget Amendment

Zeke Miller (Money Game)
DEBT
workable balanced budget amendment, Udall told The Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:04:28 PM Washington Post. The debt limit bill signed by The measure is an alternative to President Barack Obama today t h e o n e b e i n g p u s h e d b y requires a vote on a balanced conservative Sen. Mike Lee (Rbudget amendment to to the UT) and other GOP lawmakers, Constitution in both chambers of which would cap all federal Congress by year's end. spending to 18 percent of GDP. It Moderate Sen. Mark Udall (D- w o u l d p r o v i d e m o d e r a t e CO) is introducing a measure Democrats facing reelection which would exempt Social battles the ability to vote for a less Security from the amendment, e x t r e m e b a l a n c e d b u d g e t and prohibit tax breaks on those amendment, saving them from a earning over $250,000 a year politically compromising vote. unless the budget is already Neither measure is expected to balanced. become law with two-thirds What Im proposing is the most majorities in both houses required responsible, thoughtful, and to send the amendment to the
states, of which three-fourths must vote to ratify. Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this story See Also: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEBT DEAL: It's Pretty Much Meaningless Debt Deal Reached, But Path Through Congress Not Guaranteed "Historic, Bipartisan Compromise" Reached To Raise Debt Ceiling
All that has to happen for taxes to rise is for President Obama and Congress *not* to agree on how and whether to extend them. And as this whole artificial crisis has shown, Washington as it is currently configured has a great capacity for not agreeing. This post originally appeared at Yahoo!Finance. Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook. Join the conversation about this
story See Also: Asia's BRICs Hit A Wall THE DEBT DEAL: Crisis Over, But More Pain To Come The Debt Deal Is A Blank Check
Leonardo and Blake Take Their Romance Onto the Streets For a Bike Ride
Allie Merriam (PopSugar)
It was a day date for Leonardo DiCaprio and his girlfriend, Blake Lively, as they went for a bike ride in NYC in Saturday. The
couple were joined on their outing by Leo's frequent cycling companion Lukas Haas. Blake, Leo, and Lukas were kitted out to ride in style - each was on an electric, Swiss-made Stromer that accompanied Blake east to the retails for around $2,850! Leo
Big Apple, where production is under way on the upcoming season of Gossip Girl. They were last together out in LA so she could focus on her current bigscreen project, Oliver Stone's Savages. He's able to travel with
Blake during a break in his own shooting schedule. Soon, though, Leo will be back to work shooting The Great Gatsby. View Slideshow
50
Culture/
Power Up: Photon 4G Lives Up to Its Name

Mike Isaac (Wired Top Stories)
A photon moves at the speed of light, shines brightly and has a resting mass of zero. That said, its a damn good name for Motorolas latest Android phone. The Photon brings 4G speeds and dual-core processing power to Sprint customers for the first time. An all-around powerhouse Android phone, the Photon is a good fit for the data-hungry and app-enthusiastic among us. Its the latest in a trend of increasingly powerful handsets debuting this year. All of the major U.S. networks AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile are pouring money into expanding their high-speed networks, while hardware manufacturers keep pace by introducing more and more 4G-capable phones. To boot, each newly released highend device comes with increasingly powerful processors for speedy app navigation. Chips like Nvidias Tegra 2 are practically de rigueur for Android phones this year. The Photon is no exception to the rule. Using the Wi-Max-ready radio, I averaged download speeds of up to 13 Mbps on Sprints network during the testing period in the Bay Area. Page-load times were cut into fractions of what weve seen on rival networks like T-Mobile or AT&T. The last phone weve tested that was this speedy was
HTCs Thunderbolt, which runs on on Verizons 4G LTE network. With its 4.3-inch screen and considerably large physical dimensions (2.63 by 4.99 by .48 inches, plus some funky angled corners), youd expect the Photon to possess some degree of heft. And yet, it doesnt. At a mere 5.57 ounces, the Photons weight
is in accordance with its namesake. The chassis is made almost entirely of lightweight plastic, the biggest piece of exterior metal being the kickstand. While its nice not to lug a brick in my pants pockets, the phone seems almost too light for its chunky shape. Still, its no eyesore.
The Photon has powerful insides to match. Like the Motorola Atrix that debuted earlier this year, its sporting Nvidias 1GHz Tegra 2 dual-core processor. And like the Atrix, the Photon is zippy. Backed by a gig of RAM, applications launched swiftly, and I zoomed in and out of menu screens with relative ease.
There is, of course, the power issue. Alternating between casual and heavy use which included making phone calls, watching YouTube videos and listening to streaming music on Spotify, all with the 4G antenna switched on I clocked around seven hours POWER page 52
Culture/
51
Hands-On With Skype's Phone App for iPad

Christina Bonnington (Wired Top Stories)
side of the office, not someone across the pond. Instant-messaging conversations Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:09:00 PM take up the full screen, unless Skype for iPad officially youre video chatting at the same launched today after briefly time. In that case, you can tap to appearing in the App Store last open up a small popover of your night. conversation in the corner. After giving the world a a brief Since I only played with the app tease Monday night, Skype for for about half an hour, I did not iPad is now (finally) live. get a good sense of how much the The tablet version of Skypes app app drains your iPads battery in is crisp and seemingly bug-free on the long term, but after making a the iPad 2s 1024-by-768-pixel few 2-to-5 minute Skype-todisplay. Youve got all the Skype voice and video calls and features of the iPhone app instant messaging, the damage voice and video calling over 3G was only a 1 or 2 percent battery or Wi-Fi (using the front- or rearlevel drop. facing camera), the ability to The entire app experience is make calls to landlines or receive polished and smooth, exactly calls using your Online Number, what youd hope to expect with and instant messaging but its Skype on the iPad. now optimized for the iPad. Skype for iPad is compatible with The Skype for iPhone app has iOS 4.0 or above. It is free and supported 3G and video calling many grid of their profile photos, having trouble connecting to either my own or the contact I available for download in Apples for a while now. Previously, iPad kind of like a yearbook page (but Verizons 3G network. I am not was chatting with, was automatic App Store. 2 owners could use the Skype more sad looking, if most of your sure if this was due to general and smooth. The full width or full This entry passed through the iPhone app on their tablet, albeit contacts dont have profile poor reception here in the Wired s i z e v i d e o o f y o u r c o n t a c t Full-Text RSS service if this is in pixel-doubled mode. Skype photos, like mine). Clicking on a offices, or if Skype has some sort onscreen is a bit stretched out and your content and you're reading it prematurely launched its iPad- contacts image pulls up a of threshold reception level that pixelated in my opinion, on someone else's site, please read optimized product late yesterday popover that gives you button must be maintained in order to slightly worse quality than over the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentevening and quickly removed it options for video chatting, making deliver calls across a 3G network. FaceTime, but only just. only/faq.php#publishers. Five from the App Store, but now its a call, instant messaging, or You can make video calls in Voice chatting (again, over Wi-Fi Filters featured article: A 'Malign available for good. sending them an SMS message, portrait or landscape orientation, only) was crystal clear, seemingly Intellectual Subculture' - George When you open up the app, it a l o n g w i t h t h e i r p r o f i l e and depending on the orientation better quality than when I last M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , initially launches with its familiar i n f o r m a t i o n . of your and your callers devices, used the desktop version to make Herman, Peterson, Pilger And robins egg blue log-in screen and Unfortunately, I was only able to the onscreen layout varies to take a Skype call a week or two ago. Media Lens. then takes you to its main make voice and video chats with advantage of that. The transition But then again, my contact in this interface. Your contacts are the app using Wi-Fi; the app was when switching orientations, for case was a co-worker on the other displayed as a four by however-
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Culture/ TV/
POWER
of battery life before the phone went dead. If youre out and about with little time to charge and lots of calls to make, thats an abysmal window of time. Remember to tuck that power cord in your back pocket. Motorolas recent smartphones came with a custom Android skin grafted onto the desktop dubbed Motoblur which tried to make the main menu screens more social. Many users (myself included) have complained that Motoblur felt too chunky and awkward to navigate, almost an unnecessary layer slapped onto the operating system. Luckily, the Photon comes with a stripped down version of Motoblur. It feels less invasive than before. Its not ideal like, say, a stock version of Android would be but its better than what it once was. Of course, the phone also works well as a phone. Call quality over a week of testing in the Bay Area was exceptional, with nary a
dropped call occurring. And its a viable option for the jet-setting type; the Photon comes equipped with a GSM antenna, letting you make calls on networks outside of the U.S. In all, the phones few shortcomings are eclipsed by its processing brawn and fleetness of foot. After a weeks worth of use, Im positively charged. WIRED Brawny phone on a fast network is great for data-gobbling apps. Ships with latest version of Android (Gingerbread 2.3.4). Kickstand for movies and physical shutter button for 8megapixel camera are nice touches. Fast, fast, fast. TIRED Sucks battery like a Hoover. Annoying UI is annoying. Optional $100 Webtop dock (shown in the photo at top) is a waste of your hard-earned cash. Photo by Jim Merithew/Wired See Also: Motorolas Android Tablet Sales Fizzle Out The Year in Android Phones
So Far Double Feature: Motorolas Phone-Laptop Combo Is a Mixed Bag Motorola Plans More HackerFriendly Phones Motorolas Latest Phone Comes as No Friend to Hackers Netflix App Released for Android Phones, Sorta New Android Phone Works Even After Bathing in Your Sweat
Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor Flaunt Hot Beach and Bikini Bodies in Hawaii For Her 40th!
Molly Goodson (PopSugar)
Ben Stiller was looking great shirtless alongside his bikini-clad wife, Christine Taylor, and their family in Hawaii yesterday. Ben tried his hand at surfing and stand -up paddle-boarding while Christine worked on her tan in the This entry passed through the sun. The 45-year-old actor Full-Text RSS service if this is brought his kids and closest your content and you're reading it friends to the island to celebrate on someone else's site, please read Christine's 40th birthday, which the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- was on Saturday. Last night, it only/faq.php#publishers. Five was party time when guest of Filters featured article: A 'Malign honor Christine was the center of Intellectual Subculture' - George attention at a luau. Jennifer M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , Aniston and Justin Theroux held Herman, Peterson, Pilger And hands and matched in summery Media Lens. white for the bash after touching down in Hawaii on Sunday. Justin's own 40th is coming right up on Aug. 10, so perhaps the duo
will make it an extended tropical vacation. Ben certainly went all out for Christine's big milestone and we also got a glimpse at his next professional project. The newly released Tower Heist trailer shows Ben teaming up with Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, and Eddie Murphy in an actioncomedy robbery movie. View Slideshow
See Josh Duhamel's Return to 'All My Children' (VIDEO)

Chris Harnick (AOL TV)
Duhmael is just one of the many stars heading back to Pine Valley Submitted at 8/2/2011 1:30:00 PM to pay respects to their former Filed under: TV Previews, TV ABC soap home. News Josh Duhamel is back 'All My Children' leaves ABC on on'All My Children,' this Thurs., Fri., Sept. 23. It will continue on a Aug. 4 and we're pretty excited. new, unnamed online network at
an unspecified later date. Contract
negotiations may delay 'AMC's' move online until 2012. Duhamel's character, Leo du Pres, was last seen trying to save Rebecca Budig's character, Greenlee, during a waterfall accident.
In the clip below, it looks like Leo has seen better days, but when he sets his sights on Greenlee, well, see for yourself. Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments
Culture/ Featured/
53
Remains of the Day: Calling from Gmail Available in 38 Languages With Lowered Rates to 150 Destinations [Video]
Nina Scaletti (Lifehacker)
Kate Middleton and Prince William Match Their Sweaters and Collars For a Hand-in-Hand Walk
Allie Merriam (PopSugar)
points from a year ago. [TechCrunch] Submitted at 8/2/2011 4:00:00 PM T-Mobile To Make Carrier Make calls from Gmail with Billing An Option For Online lowered rates to 150 destinations Purchases: Targeting digital all over the world, Apple slips in content like games, social tech support satisfaction, and IE networking credits and music, this users found to have lower IQs supports 6 video streams for a new option would allow T-Mobile than other browser users. total resolution of 1920 x 960px. customers to charge their online Calling from Gmail now in 38 [GigaOM] purchases directly to their languages, with lower rates to How Facial Recognition m o n t h l y c e l l p h o n e b i l l . over 150 destinations: Gmail Technology Can Be Used To Get [ T e c h C r u n c h ] callers can buy calling credit in Your Social Security Number: By Nissan Leaf's New Vehicle euros, US dollars, Canadian mining Facebook information, Charger Lets Your Car Power dollars, or British pounds. Over Carnegie Mellon University Your House: Just unveiled in 150 countries have lowered professor Alessandro Acquisti Japan, the Leaf's battery can store calling rates too, a list of which finds that facial recognition power to power a house during can be found here. [The Official software can be used to determine peak energy hours. [inhabitat] Gmail Blog] an individual's SSN. [Forbes] iPad 2 Finally Ships Within 24 Seagate GoFlex Satellite Wi-Fi Internet Explorer users have Hours For Online Orders In US Hard Drive Gets Android App: lower IQ says study: According to And Canada: Apple online stores Previously only available for the IQ tests, IE users averaged an IQ list 24-hour shipping for the iPad iPhone, the Android app access of 80, well below Chrome, 2 in US and Canada, after a files off the hard drives within Firefox, and Safari users (100) months-long bottle neck of WiFi range without using a and even further below Camino several days to a week for cellular network or internet and Opera users (120). [BBC] shipping. [SlashGear] connection. [SlashGear] Apple's Tech Support Is Not As GoToMeeting gets high- Good As It Used To Be, Study More definition video conferencing: Claims: Though Apple still leads The new feature built right into Dell and HP in customer service, the latest version of GoToMeeting its satisfaction score is down 15
Prince William and his wife, Catherine, went for a hand-inhand walk around Holyrood Park yesterday morning in Edinburgh. They stuck around the queen's official Scottish residence for a few days after attending Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall's wedding reception there on Saturday night. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were decked out in similar outfits for the stroll, both in purple cableknit sweaters with their collars peeking out. We even had a rare glimpse at the prince in his glasses! Kate and William were soon headed back to their home in
Wales. Kate was seen later in the afternoon out at her local Tesco, taking care of the grocery run while Prince William prepped for a return to work with the Royal Air Force. View Slideshow
What it should say on my headstone

(Scripting News)
I seem to be writing my epitaph today.
Hope this isn't foreboding something bad. I used to say (and still do) that the headstone on my grave should say "He's not diggin anymore."
That was kind of a joke, as all In that case, please use the good headstone lines should be. c l o s i n g s c e n e f r o m D r But then I thought, maybe when S t r a n g e l o v e . my time is up, they'll have It's optimistic! multimedia headstones!
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Culture/ TV/ Food/
10 Notorious Motorcycle Gangs

John Corbett Returns to 'Parenthood,' 'Alphas' Books Major Nerd Bait & More Casting News
Jean Bentley (AOL TV)
Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) got their start in the 1940s and '50s as spinoffs of more mainstream motorcycle clubs. After World War II, motorcycling began to spread in popularity as a hobby. Veterans settling into lives in the suburbs working average jobs wanted to get a taste of the more adrenalinecharged life they'd lived overseas. Riding along the country's highways with friends -- partying and often drinking -- was a perfect way to do that [source: Dulaney]. The outlaw groups began to develop after a 1947 bike rally in Hollister, Calif., that erupted into a riot. According to reports, drunken bikers rode through town (even in and out of buildings and restaurants) causing trouble and destroying property [source: Thompson]. Journalists and
historians have since claimed that Hollister was not the all-out chaos portrayed in the media. Still, during a widespread public outcry over Hollister, and the danger of motorcycle clubs, the American Motorcycle Association released a statement aimed at calming the public. Ninety-nine percent of motorcycle clubs were lawabiding, fun-loving citizens, the AMA said. It was the other 1 percent that caused all the trouble and got all the attention [source: Serwer]. Over the years, as certain clubs began to drift toward illegal activity, they claimed the moniker "1 percenter" as a badge of honor. Even today, most of these "outlaw motorcycle gangs" maintain that they aren't criminal organizations. For example, famous Hells Angels founder "Sonny" Barger claims that while some Angels may deal drugs or commit acts of violence, the organization itself
doesn't endorse those activities [source: Serwer]. Still, law enforcement agencies from the U.S. and Canada to even Australia and Europe see the OMGs as a serious threat. The FBI considers the gangs organized crime syndicates whose drug dealing and turf wars put rival gangs and the public in danger. Read on to find out which motorcycle gangs are among the most dangerous and notorious. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Filed under: Reality-Free, TV News John Corbett is reprising his role as Lauren Graham's ex on 'Parenthood' this season. The former 'Sex and the City' stud will drop into town for several episodes as Seth, the alcoholic father of Sarah's of Graham's character. "Just when everything seems to be going well between Sarah and Mark [Jason Ritter], Seth shows up and he's kind of in a darker place than he's been," creator Jason Katims told TVLine. "And so you see Sarah really having to struggle with wanting to help him and be there for him, but also at the same time [be fully present] in this relationship with Mark that's really good and healthy." Also going on in the Braverman
world: Brittany Belt will play Haddie's BFF who disapproves of her relationship with Alex, TVLine reports. In other TV casting news ... Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments
Dad's Greek Salad

(Simply Recipes)
originally posted in 2005. So pretty, isn't it? And perfect for the Submitted at 8/1/2011 8:16:40 PM hot weather. ~Elise I'm on vacation this week, so am This Greek salad is a favorite of pulling forward a few recipes my father's to make during the from the archives that we've summer. We usually have plenty recently updated. This gorgeous of tomatoes and cucumbers Greek salad is one of them, growing in the garden, and all you
cheese, a few herbs, and some olive oil and vinegar and you have beautiful, cooling, fresh, Greek salad. Continue reading "Dad's Greek Salad" have to do is toss in some red onions, olives, bell pepper, feta
Culture/ TV/
55
Boeing Flies Giant '747' Pattern Across United States

Jason Paur (Wired Top Stories)
Its nice to see flight test engineers having some fun once in a while. The Boeing 747-8 is making its longest flight to date as part of its extended operations testing. The airplane left Paine Field north of Seattle early this morning and isnt expected back until near midnight. The airplane will follow a flight path over the United States that
resembles the number 747. The flight, more than 9,300 miles long, involves a very long list of waypoints and reporting points to complete the skywriting. According to Jon Ostrower over at Flightblogger, the flight path is the maximum endurance flight for the 747-8 program. As of 2:05 p.m. PDT, the 747-8 was flying 477 knots at 38,000 squiggly. But were not going to feet over eastern New Mexico. criticize the penmanship involved Other than a small diversion over in writing with a jumbo jet. central Nevada, the handwriting The 747-8 is the newest version is pretty good, though a little
of Boeings iconic jumbo jet and features new wings, engines and a host of other improvements to increase efficiency. The first 747-
8 is expected to be delivered to Cargolux later this year. Image: Flightaware.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Report: Two and a Half Men to Kill Charlie Sheen's Character

Kate Stanhope (TVGuide.com: Breaking News)
ex-girlfriends in attendance at the service. After his death, Charlie's Malibu digs will be put on the Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:11:00 PM market, and interested buyers Charlie Sheen coming to see the house will Slamming the door on any include celebrities, stars from possible return from Charlie creator Chuck Lorre's other Sheen, the ninth season premiere sitcoms ( The Big Bang Theory of Two and a Half Men will and Mike & Molly), and new feature the funeral of Sheen's on- series star Ashton Kutcher. screen persona, Charlie Harper, Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer Deadline reports. strip down for Two and a Half The episode, which will tape in Men poster front of a live studio audience on The report of Sheen's on-screen Friday, will show all of Charlie's d e a t h f o l l o w s m o n t h s o f
speculation about just how the fired star would be written out of the show, and how Kutcher would
be written in. Sheen was fired in March by production studio Warner Bros. TV after months of growing tension between Sheen and Lorre. Kutcher was brought on board the hit show in May. Comedy Central to roast Charlie Sheen on same night as Two and a Half Men premiere The ninth season of Two and a Half Men premieres on Monday, Sept. 19 at 9/8c on CBS. What do you think of Two and a Half Men's reported plan for the future?
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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TV/ Finance/
VIDEO: The Bachelorette's Ashley and J.P. Share a Moment From the Proposal Viewers Didn't See
Robyn Ross (TVGuide.com: Breaking News)
The Good Wife Season 3 Promo Is Such a Tease

Hanh Nguyen (TVGuide.com: Breaking News)
Ashley Hebert and J.P. It may have looked like a perfect proposal on the finale of The Bachelorette, but the newly engaged couple admits that there's a moment viewers didn't see. "I went through this whole long speech and I thought it went really well and when it was her turn to speak ... I don't know what came out [of her mouth]. It made no sense," J.P. tells TVGuide.com. "It was really adorable." Ashley adds, "I'll be sure nobody ever sees that!" Bachelorette's Chris Harrison on Ashley's choice: It was J.P. all along Although Ashley and J.P. have kept their relationship a secret since they finished filming, they spent many weekends together in solitary confinement learning each other's quirks. "I now know she's completely ADD ... it's hard to keep up with,
The Good Wife If you think you've seen The Good Wife, think again. When the critically acclaimed show returns this fall, Alicia ( Julianna Margulies) may not be quite that "good" any more. The promo declares, "Don't let the name fool you" and features Margulies in a black negligee looking rather ... relaxed. We can't but it's what I love about her," J.P. Full-Text RSS service if this is wait to see the new Alicia. says. "Her little idiosyncrasies are your content and you're reading it Check the rest of today's news what make her special." on someone else's site, please read The Good Wife premieres on S e e p h o t o s f r o m T h e the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- Sunday, Sept. 25 at 9/8c on CBS. Bachelorette only/faq.php#publishers. Five This entry passed through the In the interviews below, Ashley Filters featured article: A 'Malign Full-Text RSS service if this is and J.P. share what makes them a Intellectual Subculture' - George your content and you're reading it solid couple and what they can't M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , on someone else's site, please read wait to do now that they're out in Herman, Peterson, Pilger And the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe open. Plus: Ashley explains Media Lens. her obsession with butt-grabbing. This entry passed through the
only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
The Pros and Cons of Online-Only Banks

nospam@example.com (Good Housekeeping) (Financiallyfit on Shine)
Recently, several people I know
made the switch from traditional brick-and-mortar banks to internet -only banks. Because online banks lack many (or any) physical branches, they have little
interest rates and charge fewer fees. I do much of my banking on the web already, overhead and can offer better
TV/ Products/
57
Best Buy Sends Us Wrong Stove, Actually Does Something About It

Chris Morran (The Consumerist)
The vast Consumerist archives are not lacking for tales of customers left holding the short end of the stick following a Best Buy purchase. And for a while it looked like Jon and his wife would be adding their names to the roster of fist-shaking Best Buy customers. But, as occasionally happens in this wacky world, this couple came up a winner when they spun the customer service Nick Zaino (AOL TV) California's Salmon Creek Beach wheel of fortune. Recently, Jon's in-laws did in 2005, recreating an attack on Submitted at 8/2/2011 1:15:00 PM surfer Megan Halavais. Halavais something nice and bought a new Filed under: TV Replay Here's a had been surfing when a Great Whirlpool stove at Best Buy for comforting discovery that might White attacked, dragging her him and his wife. The appliance help you get through Shark Week: under by the leash on her surf arrived on time and the installers sharks may not enjoy the taste of board. She was bitten on the leg, did their job without wreaking people. According to'Rogue but both she and shark experts havoc on the walls and floors. S h a r k s ' ( T u e s d a y , 9 P M o n found the nature of wound We'll let Jon tell the rest: Discovery), even on the rare puzzling. "My scars are so clean, However, after they left, we occasion that sharks bite humans, it's literally like it bit me and then began looking through the owner's in most cases, they don't make a lifted its teeth back out so gently." manual. Mysteriously, some of meal of it. Permalink| Email this| Linking the stove's features that we were The report examined a series of Blogs| Comments expecting to see, were shark attacks on Northern suspiciously missing. Further inspection revealed that even though it looked a lot like the
Good News! Sharks May Not Like the Taste of Humans (VIDEO)
stove we ordered, it wasn't the correct model. A call to Best Buy's customer service department revealed that Best Buy was actually out of stock of the particular one we ordered. So, rather than call us and explain, or at the very least confirm inventory levels at the time of the sale, they ordered and delivered the next model down. Oh! And while they were at it, they were still going to charge my in-laws for the better model's price. You know, because Best Buy has a reputation to uphold, and all... Luckily, when we called, we managed to get a customer service rep who seemed to genuinely want to help us. Best Buy was still out of stock of the stove we were supposed to get. So he ordered us the next model UP, making sure to discount the price back to what was originally paid. He put it on a rush order, to ensure that we would get it quickly, and on top of all of that, since we obviously didn't have a backup range, he encouraged us to use the incorrect one, until the new one arrived. It did arrive
quickly, was installed nicely, and we rejoiced happily. I will admit, because of all of the Best Buy horror stories I read on Consumerist, I really try to limit my purchases at Best Buy. However, in this instance, Best Buy actually helped us. They resolved the issue, went above what was expected, and left us feeling like Best Buy actually wanted to keep a customer. Well, an appliance customer, anyway... Thanks Jon! We do love to hear about above-and-beyond customer service, especially if it's because the company royally screwed up in the first place. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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Products/
A Perfectly Rational Call to Make Steller's Jays Extinct

(Woot! - One Day, One Deal)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 12:00:00 PM
We spend a lot of time, effort, and money every year trying to protect various species from extinction. Most times, I totally get it: we sprayed DDT all over and it was screwing with California Condors, so we had to step in and protect them. Other times, I kind of wonder what the point is: if pandas don't want to have sex, isn't that natural selection pretty much taking its course? Every once in awhile, though, I come down on the complete opposite side of the equation: actively campaigning for the systematic murder of an entire animal species. And the Steller's Jay is on my hit list... Just look at the cocky bastard. When I first moved to the Northwest I couldn't help but notice the Steller's Jay (or the Long-crested Jay, Pine Jay, or Mountain Jay. But NOT a "Stellar Jay"). Blue Jays aren't particularly common back home, so I had only seen them a few times but I always thought they were really pretty, if not aggressive and mean. And now my new home was crawling with these gray and blue birds bouncing around the trees with their hilarious spiked haircuts. They're certainly more
were you sleeping? Sorry, I was too busy being a jerk to notice." Think I'm just some curmudgeon ranting about birds on the internet? I'm not the only one who hates Steller's Jays. Other birds hate them even more, since they're known to mimic hawk calls to scare other birds off their feeding grounds: So why the hell are we tolerating it? We have the power to irrevocably alter nature, right? I say let's put it to use and kill off Cyanocitta stelleri. I know what you're thinking, "How could you endorse the extinction of a species of bird?" Fine, let's look at the ecological impact: what do Steller's Jays eat? Pretty much everything. Nuts, bugs, fruit, seeds, eggs, they don't care. You know what other animals eat that stuff? ALL OF THEM. There are pleasant to look at then the bizarre never heard it, and it's obviously a buildings in Seattle seem to have plenty of critters that would crow mafia that dominates pretty l i e t o t r y a n d b o o s t t h e i r air conditioning, I like it cool happily slide into whatever food much all of Western Washington. reputation. No, the jays in my when I'm sleeping, and I hate the chain the jays vacate. Crisis Then the sun rose. neighborhood prefer that raspy, feeling of still air. So in order to averted. See, the Steller's Jay isn't really croaking shriek. All of them - and fall asleep comfortably, every Sometimes historical moments what you'd call a "songbird," but if I had to guess based on the morning I have the tradeoff of begin with a single man's action. it sure seems to think it is. They cacophony, I'd say there are awaking to incessant shrieking, This time I'm willing to be that seem to love greeting the sun roughly six million - begin naively hoping that this will be man, as long as "action" can be every morning with their raucous squawking at each other the the one day in the history of i n t e r p r e t e d t o i n c l u d e calls, celebrating another beautiful moment a sliver of light hits their Steller's Jays that they don't carry " c o m p l a i n i n g . " day to be alive. Except they sound beady little eyes, which in the on like that for an hour, then Flickr photos Steller's Jay by like this: long days of Seattle summer cursing the universe and getting Linda Tanner and img_3329 by Disregard that bit about their means as early as 5:30 am. up to shut the window before Florin Chelaru used under a "second most common call." I've I sleep with my window open. No trying to fall back asleep."Oh, Creative Commons License.
Products/
59
Detroit Bureau Uses Money 9 Not So Cheerful Stats About The State Meant To Feed Poor To Of Unemployment Buy $314 Trash Cans
Ben Popken (The Consumerist)
specifically supposed to cover the salaries and administrative costs of hiring employees for food and Three stainless-steel trash cans clothing banks, reports the Detroit with motion-activated sensor lids: Free Press. What makes the $314.93 each. A 500-lb capacity misappropriation all the more ottoman for the cafeteria: $469. enraging to the citizens of Detroit Mahogany-finished conference is that this same Human Services room table: $3,000. The line items Department, saying they were sound extravagant enough on their short on funds, didn't open a highown. When you learn that they demand warming center for were to makeover a Detroit city homeless people until late this office that handles the federal winter. Employees were amazed money for feeding and clothing to see the new furniture arrive, the poor, and the credenzas and considering their wages had been sofas and such came out of that cut 10% last year. money, it's time to get livid. The Free Press story kicked off The Detroit Free Press blew the an FBI investigation and resulted lid off this misspending and waste in the Director of the office and after it used a Freedom of several other employees being Information Act request to get a suspended. The Mayor's office, copy of the receipt for the pricey the police, and the city's auditor office furniture that was delivered general are wrapping up their to Detroit's Human Services investigations of the office Department. You can look at the following the report. The Mayor entire receipt here(PDF). said the results would probably The $210,000 used to buy the end up with most, if not all, of the office furniture came directly a suspended employees getting $1.2 million grant that was fired.
"Mayor Bing has made it clear that city government must work for residents," mayoral spokesman Dan Lijana told the Detroit Free Press. "He has zero tolerance for the reality or appearance of misuse or mismanagement of funds." High-end items for Detroit office bought with money for poor people[Detroit Free Press] Money to help poor people buys furniture for Detroit department[Detroit Free Press] Bing fires 3 managers over misspending of $210K in federal funds for the poor[Detroit Free Press] This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Chris Morran (The Consumerist)
Just in case you were feeling hopeful about our nation's recovering workforce, those Pulitzer-winning buzzkills at ProPublica had to go and compile a whole host of facts and figures that could turn your upside-down frown back into a regular frown. Among some of the numbers ProPublica lists: Total jobs lost since January 2008: 8.7 million Total jobs recovered since January 2008: 1.8 million Jobs the U.S. needs to create to 5 percent unemployment rate: 6.8 million, as of January 2011 Years it will take to get back to an unemployment rate of 5 percent: four years if we're adding jobs at 350,000 per month; 11 years if we're adding jobs at the 2005 rate of 210,000 per month Unemployed workers per job
opening: 4.98 Pace at which jobs were added throughout the late 1990s: 350,00 per month; Jobs that were added in June: 18,000 The last time the labor force participation rate was lower than it is now: 1984 Number of long-term unemployed people in June 2011: 6.3 million, or 44.4 percent of the unemployed Recession technically ended: over two years ago, in June 2009 Check out the entire uplifting list over at ProPublica.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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Products/
FCC report: Home broadband services delivering promised speeds

Consumer Reports News (Consumer Reports)
Delta, US Airways to refund passengers for fare increases during no-tax period
Consumer Reports News (Consumer Reports)
FCC report: Home broadband services delivering promised speeds Is your home broadband speed as fast as your provider promises? The FCC released a report today(PDF) with the results of a study it conducted to determine whether ISPs are actually delivering their advertised speeds to home consumers. The conclusion? Most consumers are receiving close to the broadband speeds they're promised from their home internet provider. For most major broadband providers, says the FCC, actual speeds are generally within 80 to 90 percent of their advertised speeds. Further, the study found that even during peak usage periodsweeknights, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pmmost major providers deliver speeds that are 80 percent of advertised speeds or better. To test the broadband speeds, the FCC used an all-volunteer panel of home testers who were able to
our survey respondents with broadband speed among providers. The highest level of satisfaction, beyond some smaller cable companies, was with fiber services from phone companies such as Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse. Parul Desai, policy counsel for measure their own connection Consumers Union (the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports), speeds. The study's results show a had this to say about the FCC's m a r k e d i m p r o v e m e n t o v e r study: Todays report suggests broadband performance in 2009 that in some cases consumers may for both the U.S and the U.K. be getting the advertised speed (tested by the same service the they paid for. Thats goodbut FCC used in this study), when this is just a first step. ISPs need actual speeds were closer to 50 to provide this information to percent of advertised speeds. The consumers in a way that we can study also concluded that all of all understand. And the FCC t h e m e a s u r e d b r o a d b a n d needs to help ensure that happens. technologies, including DSL, We urge the FCC to do a similar cable, and fiber-to-the-home, are study on wireless broadband capable of delivering good results service. Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o to home users, depending on their ConsumerReports.org for expert needs. In Consumer Reports Internet Ratings, buying advice and service provider satisfaction r e l i a b i l i t y o n h u n d r e d s o f survey, which was included in our products. Update your feed May 2011 issue (available to preferences subscribers), we found a wide range of satisfaction levels among
Delta, US Airways to refund passengers for fare increases during no-tax period Delta and US Airways announced that they will refund customers the money they collected by not lowering fares during a recent (and continuing) tax-free period. The government's ability to collect taxes on airline tickets expired amid the budgetary impasse. Instead of reducing fares to reflect that change, many airlines kept prices at levels they would have been if taxes were still included in the cost of a ticket. The Federal Aviation Administration can't collect these taxes until its budget is reinstated. Last week, the IRS said airlines could offer refunds to customers for the fees charged during the
FAA shutdown. PREVIOUSLY: No airline ticket taxesbut fares don't drop Airlines pocket difference on taxfree ticket sales, Senators call foul US Airways joins Delta in refunding ticket taxes paid before FAA shutdown[Washington Post via The Consumerist] Subscribe now! S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
Products/ Sports/ Talk/
61
James Cameron Goes Deep

Along with several other millionaires and billionaires, director James Cameron is building a tiny, ridiculously expensive submarine(or submersible) to explore an area of perpetual darkness in the western Pacific known as the "Challenger Deep." He claims that this is just a fun adventure and has nothing to do with any sort of blockbuster-in -the-making. But through sources I can't reveal, I actually got ahold of his to-do list for the journey, and I'm not so sure I believe him. Take a look and decide for yourself: Build submersible with very limited oxygen supply (dramatic exit?) Hold meeting where I am told submersible is not ready due to unexpected issues Stubbornly yell, "To hell with your issues!"
TED: Harald Haas: Wireless data from every light bulb - Harald Haas (2011)
(TEDTalks (video))
What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas
Posted on: August 2, 2011 12:47 pm Posted by Bryan Fischer Call it Newton's law of recruiting: for every decommit, an equal commit will take its place. At least this was the case at Break into lab in middle of Auburn over the past two days. night On Monday, the Tigers saw Board submersible and prepare Prichard (Ala.) defensive tackle for descent (against orders = Darius Philon decommit from the ominous music!) school and re-open his Go into Challenger Deep and recruitment. On Tuesday, Auburn find never-before-discovered replaced the rather large hole left species of sea creature by him in the current recruiting Sea creatures should probably class with Atmore (Ala.) look like people, just enough so defensive tackle Tyler Nero. it's not so weird when I fall in Ive been weighing my options love with one (forehead for a good while and kind of I prostheses: too Trek?) boiled it down over the last week Girl sea creatures should and I feel like Auburn is the place probably have breasts or breastto me, Nero told like appendages, so it's not so AuburnUndercover.com. Im weird when I get busy with one Photo by Flickr user shansby. going off my gut feeling, my Girl sea creature that I get busy Used under a Creative Commons heart, my morals." License. The 6-foot-2, 285-pound Nero held offers from other SEC schools such as Florida and Arkansas but just felt like the Plains were where he felt most comfortable going to college for demonstrates, for the first time, a cellular tower -- and do it in a way four years. device that could do exactly that. that's more efficient, secure and I feel at home when I go to By flickering the light from a widespread. single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a
with with: trapped in loveless marriage? Arranged to be married to jerk sea creature? Expert martial artist jerk sea creature? (underwater fighting = automatic slow motion!!!) Defeat sea creature husband/ fianc in grimly ironic manner (avalanche? oxygen tank? stuffing gills with fistfuls of soil? gun?) Ending option 1: Grow gills and stay forever in land untouched by humanity (Thing to consider: guy with gills already done in Waterworld. Forever a step behind you, Costner!!!) Ending option 2: Dont grow gills, remember oxygen thing with submersible, say good-bye to sexy sea creature of my dreams, and try to make it back to the surface Die? (Depends on whether sad ending seems right or not - feel it out when time comes)
Auburn replaces one DT with another in Tyler Nero - CBS Sports

(- Bing News)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:48:26 AM
Auburn, he said. Its like one big family there. The coaching staff, the players and just the way they run things -- I like the way its done." Nero is the second defensive lineman to commit to the Tigers in the past week, joining end Gimel President. He is the 13th overall in the class of 2012 for the program and racked up 73 tackles and seven sacks last season as a junior. A few of Nero's highlights are below: This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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Products/ Gaming/
Overcoming our hardwired drive to eat (and eat and eat)

rss@consumerreports.org (Consumer Reports)
foods. Make a shopping list or use online grocers. Submitted at 8/2/2011 4:29:59 PM Practice stress-management Overcoming our hardwired drive techniques, since stress promotes to eat (and eat and eat) overeating. Most people know that they Avoid restaurants, particularly should eat less and make smarter buffets, which challenge food choices. But translating that inhibitory control. into action is hardand a study to suppress the urge to eat high- Our own survey of people whod out this week in the Journal of the calorie foods. They also tend to successfully lost weight found American Dietetic Association value immediate rewards over t h a t one of those says that has less to do with a lack long-term benefits. Translated to strategiesavoiding restaurants o f w i l l p o w e r t h a n c e r t a i n food choices, that means the and eating at homewas among powerful biological imperatives. immediate reward of eating the top tricks dieters used to S u c h n e u r o b e h a v i o r a l overshadows the more delayed maintain their lower weight. processes, the researchers say, benefits of weight loss. Source help explain why even motivated To combat those tendencies, the Time to Abandon the Notion of and informed obese people often authors say people often need to Personal Choice in Dietary fail to maintain weight loss take a conscious approach to Counseling for Obesity? Journal through dietary changes. In n a v i g a t i n g t h e i r f o o d o f t h e A m e r i c a n D i e t e t i c particular, the authors say that environment. For example, they Association Subscribe now! obese people tend to have a should: S u b s c r i b e t o h e i g h t e n e d s e n s e o f f o o d Remove high-fat foods from ConsumerReports.org for expert reward, or pleasure from eating their homes and workplaces. Ratings, buying advice and tasty (and often sweet or fatty) Thats easier than trying to just r e l i a b i l i t y o n h u n d r e d s o f foods, and a decreased sense of suppress the craving for high-fat products. Update your feed inhibitory control, or the ability preferences
Gameloft sales up 15% in first half of 2011

Alexander Sliwinski (Joystiq)
Gameloft's first-half sales on smartphones and tablets grew 55 percent year-over-year and Gameloft is benefiting greatly represented 30 percent of sales; it from the age of mobile gaming, plans to launch approximately 20 with sales up significantly in the games for smartphones and tablets first half of 2011. The company's in the second half of the fiscal controversial working conditions year. Gosh, we really need to and ethically flexible game c r a c k t h e w h i p a t J o y s t i q d e v e l o p m e n t a p p e a r t o b e Publishing(R) China[TM] and get producing results, with sales up t h a t A n g r y C o c k e r S p a n i e l 15 percent to 76.8 million catapult game out the door. ($108.8M). Gameloft sales up 15% in first The publisher cited sales in half of 2011 originally appeared emerging countries and the on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 "massive success" of games on 19:40:00 EST. Please see our smartphones and tablets around terms for use of feeds. the world for its prosperity. Permalink| Email this| Comments
Products/ Gaming/
63
Happy Wi-Fi Day with Mr. Whiskey

La la la, writin' copy, la la la, writin' up some stuff, la la... Whoa! Hello there, Mr. Whiskey! And a happy, um, Wi-Fi Day to you, too, I guess. Wait, is that even a real thing? I've never heard of... Oh, I get it! It's because it's 8.02.11 and IEEE 802.11 is a set of standards of implementing wireless local area network computer communication ( according to Wikipedia). Very clever, Mr. Whiskey, but I'm afraid it's much too early in the day to celebrate anything with you, especially a holiday even Reddit seems to be fighting about. Besides, you know what my therapist said about substituting real friends with ones I've made up from my hidden office liquor cabinet.
Aw, I'm just joking, buddy! WiFi Day is the perfect excuse to hang out with the only real friend I have in the whole world! Now then, since this is the very first Wi -Fi Day and probably the last until
2111, how should we celebrate? What an excellent idea! Haikus will be the perfect way to ring in such a glorious nerd-created thing! Let's see... our shackles broken / wires will reign no longer / freedom in the air are you connected? / I can't find a good signal / stupid coffeehouse downloading so slow / speed throttling is murder / a cherry tree dies a, b, g, and n / the protocols of love / a paper crane is born it was Wi-Fi Day / we drank until it was gone / how very splendid So how are HIC how are HIC What are YOU gonna do for Why -Fry HIC Fry-Guy HIC today, huh? HUH? YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME AND MR. WHISKEY? YOU'RE JUST LIKE MY DAD!
Rise of Nightmares' bloody new screens and tiny pre-order bonus

JC Fletcher (Joystiq)
normally proportioned person got bitten by a zombie! You'll also get extra themes, gamer pics, and There's not a single image in this other digital freebies. new set of screenshots from Rise Gallery: Rise of Nightmares (8/2/ of Nightmares that doesn't include 11) visible human (or "human") Gallery: Rise of Nightmares (preblood, in rivulets, smears, stains, order bonus) puddles, or kind of a cloud. Rise of Nightmares' bloody new There's even what we would screens and tiny pre-order bonus consider a gush. At least you'll originally appeared on Joystiq on know what you're getting into. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:40:00 EST. The gallery also has the first, non Please see our terms for use of -bloody images of one of the feeds. GameStop-exclusive pre-order Permalink| Email this| Comments bonuses: a mini zombie pet for your Avatar. That poor tiny,
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Sports/ Gaming/ News Photos
Haynesworth happy in New England - YAHOO!

(- Bing News)
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. ( A P ) A l b e r t Haynesworth(notes) would have been happy just to get away from Washington. Leaving the Redskins for a Super Bowl contender has him downright thrilled. Its a great chance to be on a great team, Haynesworth said. Its a chance to restore my name or whatever you want to say. Its a great chance to get back on the field and play football. Haynesworth spoke to a throng of reporters crowded around him on the practice field Tuesday, his first public comments since the Patriots picked up the sometimestroubled defensive tackle in a trade with the Redskins last week. Disgruntled in Washington, Haynesworth seemed delighted to be in New England and said he hopes to keep his history of troubles on and off the field from resurfacing with his new team. The Patriots have turned around
discipline cases before and were willing to take on the risks for the gargantuan tackle they hope to be wreaking havoc on quarterbacks other than their own. Forget about that stuff. Its all in the past, Haynesworth said. Its all about now rewriting my name as Albert Haynesworth the Patriot. Haynesworth clashed hard last season with Washington coach Mike Shanahan. His new boss in New England is Bill Belichick, who is hardly the warm and fuzzy type. But both player and coach said their initial meeting went well and they feel Haynesworth is a good fit with the Patriots. Albert has worked hard. I think that its coming, Belichick said Tuesday. Weve got a long way to go, so just take it day-by-day, but I think hes doing fine. Haynesworth practiced with the Patriots for the first time on Sunday. The team had Monday off, but Haynesworth and his new teammates were back on the practice field Tuesday.
Haynesworth had a tumultuous season in Washington last year, starting with a prolonged delay at the beginning of training camp when he needed 10 days to pass his conditioning test. He also feuded with coach Mike Shanahan throughout the season and has had a number of legal troubles. But he can still dominate at defensive tackle and the Patriots have welcomed him to training camp, although quarterback Tom Brady(notes) wanted to set a few things straight early. I said Hey Tom, whats up? And he was like, Hey, youre not going to be hitting me anymore, Haynesworth said. Haynesworth had a number of similar quips during the interview Tuesday, showing his sense of humor and just how happy he is to join the Patriots. Belichick declined to get into specifics on Haynesworths history, which included a suspension for stomping on an opponents face while a member of the Tennessee Titans in 2006. Not speaking on any particular
player, but as Ive said many times, anytime you bring a person into the organization, you have to feel comfortable doing that and that encompasses a lot of different things, Belichick said. In the end, you go through the process, you get any information that you can acquire through whatever those sources are. And you evaluate the player, evaluate your team, evaluate the situation, and if you decide to bring that player onto your team, then you do that with the expectations that it will work out. And if you dont, then you dont and hes not on your team. Its not one thing, its a process. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Bloodrayne: Betrayal dev diary talks up fresh Rayne

Richard Mitchell (Joystiq)
Bloodrayne: Betrayal really surprised us at E3 this year. We were taken by the game's combodriven antics and Rayne's redesigned, nearly modest appearance. This diary details the redesign process, explaining developer Wayforward's goals for Rayne on her new adventure. Bloodrayne: Betrayal dev diary talks up fresh Rayne originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments
My 'WMB' Cover Shoot Photos! - Celebuzz

(news photos - Google News)
Submitted at 8/2/2011 11:22:44 PM
E! Online
My 'WMB' Cover Shoot Photos! Celebuzz The magazine comes out Thursday and is the world's first 3
-D magazine so you need 3-D glasses to see the photos! How cool is that!? These are the 2D versions of the Issue 1 cover
shoot!! Nick Saglimbeni came up with the idea and we had the most... Kim Kardashian 3D Photos to be
Used as First 3-D Magazine Cover Girl! Wizbang Pop! all 41 news articles
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Rapid react: Miller spikes Raiders, chooses Hawks

Brad Evans (Y! Sports Blogs Yahoo! Sports)
Outside Arizona and Philadelphia, no team has lassoed more top-flight free agent talent than Seattle. After enticing Tarvaris Jackson and Sidney Rice away from Minnesota, Pete Carroll and company poured salt into the wound of one of their staunchest former rivals, the Oakland Raiders. Tight end Zach Miller, the subject of a bidding war between the two franchises, spurned his 2010 employer, o pting on a multi-year deal with the suddenly loaded 'Hawks. Presumably, the painful move added another liver spot to Al Davis' ancient face. To the casual fan, Miller is one of the business's best kept secrets. The most consistent aerial threat on largely mediocre Raider teams, he's hauled in an average of 61 receptions for 756 yards per year over the past three seasons. More importantly, the durable target has missed just two games since 2009, quite the achievement for a position typically battered by injury. Though his fantasy output hasn't exactly pumped the juices, in the right situation, he could emerge a reliable TE1. His mammoth size, smooth routerunning ability and terrific hands
are strong attributes. Seattle could be one such destination. Yes, the Tarvarisaurus is an insatiable beast who would find it difficult to thread a football through a tire given 50 attempts, but the viable weapons GM John Schneider has gifted him increases his chances to achieve success. Just look at their heights: Miller - 6-foot-5, Rice - 6-foot-4, Mike Williams- 6-foot-5. If Jackson can't hit a tree from 10yards out in this forest, he's
completely hopeless. Still, because of his ability to scramble and the 'Hawks' improved offensive line, he could emerge a useful QB2 in deeper formats, especially against the NFC West's host of soft secondaries. In games with at least 17 attempts, he's averaged a respectable 16.2 points per week or roughly what Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez tallied per game a season ago. Don't laugh, but Jackson is sleeper material, albeit Grand Canyon-deep
leagues. Historically, Jackson has only occasionally favored his tight end. In seven starts with the Vikings, he lined Visanthe Shiancoe up in the crosshairs a mere 3.8 times per game. Last year in Oaktown, Miller nearly doubled that number, generating 6.3 targets per game. Still, in an offense predicated on exploiting the middle of the field, Miller will carve out a substantial role. Yes, Rice, Williams and Marshawn Lynch will command
looks, but if Jackson can find his TE with regularity and actually deliver fairly crisp passes, another borderline top-10 campaign in range of 60 receptions, 700 yards and 4-7 touchdowns is possible for No. 80. Drafted on average around pick No. 104 (TE9) in early mocks, Miller probably won't undergo a major ADP spike. For all intents and purposes, this was a lateral value move. Keep in mind, John Carlson, who was thrown to just 58 times over 15 games last year (3.9/gm), is still lingering. But after the position's big boys are off the board, he is the next best option. Your turn gamers. What are your thoughts on Miller in Seattle? Is he a trustworthy starter in 12-team leagues? What about Jackson? Is designating him a "sleeper" more or less delusional than Mike Martz's claim that Roy Williams is "elite?" Discuss below. Bring the noise on Twitter. Follow Brad@YahooNoise. And harass him in person, along with esteemed Yahoo! colleagues Brandon Funston and Andy Behrens, throughout August in a city near you. Visit FantasyFootballSymposium.com for more info. -Image courtesy of US Presswire RAPID page 66
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Sports/ Travel/
Presenting the Yahoo! Sports World Golf Rankings, Week 10

Shane Bacon (Y! Sports Blogs - Yahoo! Sports)
RAPID
It's time for our own golf ranking system for the top players on the planet. Why? That's easy. The one used now isn't good enough. For one thing, it evaluates golfers over a two-year period. Two years! A lot can happen in two years. (Ask Tiger Woods.) For another, the current system gives too much credit to players who prevail against less competitive fields halfway across the globe. Therefore, every week between May 31 and September 27, two days after The Tour Championship, Yahoo! Sports votes), Last week: 1 will unveil the new rankings of 2. Rory McIlroy(13 first-place players Nos. 1 to 10, using lists votes), Last week: 2 submitted by many of the game's 3. Lee Westwood(1 first-place most knowledgeable observers. votes), Last week: 3 We will use a simple statistical 4. Steve Stricker, Last week: 4 formula for the lists we receive 5. Martin Kaymer, Last week: 6 the top player getting 10 points, 6. Phil Mickelson, Last week: 5 the second, nine points, and so 7. Charl Schwartzel, Last week: 7 forth. We will then add up all the 8. Dustin Johnson, Last week: 8 points to produce our list of the 9. Nick Watney, Last week: NR top 10. 10. Jason Day, Last week: 10 1. Luke Donald(16 first-place
Channel contributor Bill Fields, Golf World David Graham, two-time major champion Melanie Hauser, contributor, PGATOUR.com Ryan Herrington, Golf World John Huggan, Golf Digest Sal Johnson, GolfObserver.com Rees Jones, golf course architect Peter Kessler, Making the Turn radio talk-show host Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle Mark Lamport-Stokes, Reuters David MacKintosh, Buenos Aires Herald Andrew Magee, PGA Tour veteran Scott Michaux, Augusta Voters Chronicle Michael Arkush, Yahoo! Sports Jerry Pate, former U.S. Open Shane Bacon, Yahoo! Sports winner Al Barkow, golf historian, Geoff Russell, Golf World editor journalist Stina Sternberg, Golf Digest Jay Busbee, Yahoo! Sports John Strege, Golf Digest Jay Coffin, Golfchannel.com Jerry Tarde, Golf Digest editor Tom Cunneff, Links magazine Kris Tschetter, LPGA Tour Martin Davis, Editor, American veteran, author Golfer Jonathan Wall, Yahoo! Sports Steve Elling, CBSSports.com John Feinstein, Golf World/Golf Sam Weinman, Golf Digest.com
Tambo del Inka Resort and Spa, Peru

(CONCIERGE.COM: LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES)
This 2011 Gold List treasure beautifully fits the topography of the Sacred Valley: Accommodations face either the Urubamba River or the Chicn glacier for stunning views. Spend the day on the Quinoa Trail, kayaking and biking through quinoa-intensive landscapes, concluding with a quinoa facial back at the spa. And if you think you've had enough pampering at the hotel's two-pool, 12-treatmentroom sybaritic centerpiece, there's a railway station right on the property for easy day trips to Machu Picchu.
Sports/ Science/
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Days of NBA Lives: Wherein Spencer Hawes doesnt appreciate job-creators

Eric Freeman (Y! Sports Blogs - Yahoo! Sports)
Sonny Weems: Riding thru Buffalo and my boy asked do the Yankees and Mets play here!!! Submitted at 8/2/2011 3:20:44 PM Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!#canttak At this point, seemingly half the ehoodn*****nowhere NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild Julius Hodge:#random Voshaun w o r l d o f t r a i n i n g u p d a t e s , Leonard told me my rookie year questions as to which movies they he couldn't party w/ guys who should go see, and explanations of didn't drink or smoke. I said "I their Call of Duty prowess. Every dont like alcoholics anyway!" so often, though, you also get a ...#random I saw w/ my two eyepicture into the more interesting balls Tim Thomas straightup punk aspects of NBA life. This feature K-Mart in weight room! That's is your window into that world. whn I came up w/ the term
"selective gangsta" smh Shelden Williams: I was headed to drop lailaa off at school & as soon as I get there she drops a
bomb!! Got my whole car smelling awful as I head to workouts! Evan Turner: My agent just
offered to cook me eggs and then he has no clue how to turn on the stove or what pan to use lol smh#men Spencer Hawes: 23 million a year for stern huh. Weird no rumblings about a pay cut for the commish while he asks every single player to do so. You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @ freemaneric.
Saudis Set to Build Kingdom Tower, Soon to be The World's Tallest Building
Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Arabian Peninsula. The Saudis have inked a deal between the Kingdom's holdings company and a certain Bin Laden Group to Submitted at 8/2/2011 4:24:41 PM Kingdom Tower Adrian Smith & build the world's tallest building, Gordon Gill Architecture an elegant yet extreme tower that Saudi Arabia knows how to keep will rise 3,281 feet above the up with the Joneses. The Burj streets of Jeddah. Khalifa in Dubai has officially Click to launch the photo gallery been the world's tallest building For reference, the Burj peaks at since its opening early last year, just above 2,700 feet. The tallest but by 2016-ish Saudi Arabia tower in the U.S., the Willis h a l f a s t a l l a s t h e S a u d i s ' plans to let the UAE know exactly Tower in Chicago (formerly the appropriately-named Kingdom who the big brother is on the Sears Tower), will be less than
Tower. Designed by Chicagobased Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (Smith also designed the Burj), its three-petal shape is inspired by that of local desert flora, a visual metaphor for growth in the desert. That's romantic and all, but we're far more blown away by the jawdropping 5.38 million square feet of interior space and the main draw: an observation deck on the 157th floor. Total cost: $1.23 billion. Just another drop in the
bucket for the oil-rich Saudi government/family, which will plunge a total of $20 billion into the development in Jeddah where the Kingdom Tower will take center stage. With new contracts come new images; click through above to see what the Burj-beating Kingdom Tower will look like. [ WSJ, Fast Co. Design]
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Featured/ Politics-Right/ News Photos
Who I am
(Scripting News)
independent by keeping your needs modest. I've learned that traveling light is more pleasant People introduce me as the than putting down deep roots. I "inventor" of RSS, but that's not like to move around. correct. The software I've created: I am a software developer. Many outliners, a scripting environment, y e a r s a g o I r e a l i z e d t h a t content management systems, computers are primarily useful as blogging tools, RSS aggregators, communication tools. That's what podcasting. Those are the major I've devoted my career to. Making a r e a s . I ' d s a y m y w o r k i n great communication tools with blogging, RSS and podcasting computers. was seminal -- in that it created So that meant I worked on a lot more than products, it created of things, including RSS. human activities. I'm better at that But I don't only develop the than I am at making products that software, I bring it to people. To everyone uses. Probably because I me software is a performing art. don't patent, and I'm very open It's not like a painting that sits on about my development process. the wall, it's more like a building, I also just make tools for myself. or a train station. If you're really I'm a web writer, so I have great good at software, you end up web writing tools. I love to read making a train station that a lot of news, so I have the best news people use. That's what success reading software. I not only write means to me. It's never been about and do an occasional podcast, but making more money, although I have a dream of organizing huge I've made enough money to be structures of human-created and independent. But when I was a curated information. That's my grad student I had that kind of current project, which I call the m o n e y t o o . Y o u c a n b e World Outline.
Submitted at 8/2/2011 12:46:03 PM
I didn't invent RSS. I don't believe in invention. But I did work hard, and smart and had great timing, and made the right connections to be the person who brought RSS into existence as a human activity. And for that, I'm extremely proud. I think of myself as a media hacker. I guess if you only have five words for a bio, "guy who gave us RSS" is okay. I think blogging was bigger, and RSS is part of blogging. I really did start blogging, from a software standpoint, and that's not chopped liver. (Although most of the people who write about this stuff aren't software developers, so they seem to take it for granted it was always there. It wasn't, it was a synthesis and required belief. Most people thought content management had to be hard. I absolutely did not think it had to be any harder than word processing. But people thought that was weird.) BTW, the President is wrong
about patents. They don't help inventors. PS: XML-RPC seems to be largely forgotten, but I think it's very cool, and when I build internal systems I always use it because it's deeply integrated in my programming environment. They really are remote procedure calls, no serializing or deserializing. That's all automatic. Even so it's my #2 site, after Scripting News. A bunch of other people still use it, obviously. The vision was to use the net as a web of applications. That of course has happened. PPS: Favorite movies (off the top of my head, in no special order): Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, The Departed, The Godfather, Chinatown, Casablanca, Beetlejuice, The Matrix, Dr Strangelove. PPPS: I also ride a bike, almost every day. Like today! Map. 1 hour 7 minutes. 11.62 miles.
Leslie Mann on Ryan Reynolds: He is a Great Kisser! (PHOTOS) Celebuzz

Submitted at 8/2/2011 10:53:26 PM
Yul Chvez
(The Feed)
Via The Wall Street Journal: CARACAS Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez spoke Monday, appearing for the first time with his hair shaved off, as he undergoes a second round of
chemotherapy. This is my new look, Mr. Chvez said in broken English during a televised appearance from the Miraflores presidential palace. The cancer-stricken leader last week joked that he would soon resemble famed Hollywood actor
Yul Brynner, calling himself Yul Chvez. When I laugh, you laugh. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! Brian Bolduc This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read
the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
USA Today Leslie Mann on Ryan Reynolds: He is a Great Kisser! ( PHOTOS) Celebuzz As if being People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive wasn't enough, there's even more evidence that Ryan Reynolds is near perfection. He has good looks, a wonderful personality, and now you can add great kisser to the list! I got to kiss the sexiest man... Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock Attend 'Change-Up' Premiere [ PHOTOS] International Business Times Sandra Bullock joins Ryan Reynolds on 'The Change-Up' Red carpet ( Photos) Examiner.com Sandra Bullock reunites with Ryan Reynolds at 'The ChangeUp' premiere - Photos OnTheRedCarpet.com American Superstar MagazineSAFM (blog)- Socialite Life all 252 news articles
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You Built What?! A Homemade Scanning Electron Microscope

Gregory Mone (Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
Cool Customer To keep the microscope's vacuum pump from overheating, Krasnow used an air conditioner from a liquid-nitrogen generator he had built previously Cody Pickens The hardest DIY project ever Ben Krasnow has built his share of odd contraptions, including a liquid nitrogen generator made from an air conditioner, and the "thirst extinguisher," a commercial-grade fire extinguisher that cools, carbonates, and dispenses his homemade beer. Now, for no other reason than wanting a real challenge, the 28-year-old engineer picked the toughest DIY project he could imagine: a homemade scanning electron microscope, or SEM. "I wanted to see if it was possible," he says. Scientific labs will pay upward of $250,000 for a high-end SEM, and as far as Krasnow could find, no individual had ever built one, so he had to improvise. He first spent a few weeks teaching himself the complex physics behind the instrument. Next he trolled eBay for cheap components, sorted through his home shop for power sources that
might work, and then built what he couldn't find. A typical SEM fires a thin stream of electrons at a sample, monitors the electrons kicked up by the impact, and translates the resulting signals into a picture. Krasnow made his electron gun out of a thin tungsten wire. He heats up the wire by applying a voltage, which releases clouds of electrons. The freed electrons speed through a thin copper pipe
toward the sample. In his initial tests, Krasnow had trouble aiming the electron beam onto the sample. Eventually he took a refrigerator magnet and moved it around the outside of the glass vacuum chamber that surrounds the microscope to adjust the beam's position. When he got the beam focused in the right place, he taped the magnet in place. The microscope now delivers
about 50x magnification, a far cry from commercial SEMs' 1,000x or more, but microscope experts say that doesn't lessen the accomplishment. Chemist Robert Wolkow of the University of Alberta calls it "a wonderful achievement." And William Beaty, a research engineer and hobbyist who had also hoped to build the first DIY SEM, puts it more simply: "D'oh!" How It Works
Time: 100 hours Cost: $1,500 Display The SEM gets its name because the electron beam scans the surface of the sample; the resulting image is basically a video of a still subject. To create that video, Krasnow bought an old oscilloscope. As the beam moves across the surface, the clouds of electrons emitted from the sample change, and the oscilloscope transforms this physical data into a video image. The catch with the oscilloscope is that Krasnow scans the image in 1/15 of a second to get a picture, and quicker scans result in lowerresolution images. He plans to digitize the system and replace the oscilloscope with a computer, which should allow him to scan slowly and increase the microscope's magnification. Vacuum Cooling To maintain the microscope's thin beam of electrons, Krasnow had to eliminate any interference, so he housed the entire device in a large glass bell jar he had lying around. He used two separate pumps to create a vacuum inside the jar. One of the two has a tendency to overheat, so an aquarium pump sends engine coolant past the overheating pump, drawing out the heat, and YOU page 70
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Science/ News Photos Health/
Nissan Rolls Out a System that Lets Your Electric Car Serve as a Four Loko, 11 Backup Battery for Your House Young People
Clay Dillow (Popular Science New Technology, Science News, The Future Now)
The Nissan Leaf Zero emission vehicle. Backup power storage. Tom Raftery via Wikimedia The Nissan Leaf can run 70-plus miles on a single charge. Now, it can also power a family home for two days if it needs to. The "Leaf to Home" project Nissan is rolling out in Japan allows the electricity stored in the Leaf's lithium-ion battery to be fed back into a home, running major appliances for up to two days. The "Leaf to Home" system simply allows for a quick charging port to be mounted on
the home's electricity distribution panel to receive energy from the car. Those 24 kilowatt hours stored in a fully energized Leaf can run the average Japanese household for two days, even when the refrigerator, climate
control, and other large appliances are running at the same time. Given that Japanese communities are still dealing with the effects of the disastrous March earthquake and associated tsunami, its not hard to imagine how households
might need a source of backup power, or how valuable that backup power might be during a bad situation. Some areas in Japan were left without electricity for days and days in the aftermath--a problem "Leaf to Home" could remedy, at least for a time. Not to mention, in addition to serving as a backup power source the system allows the car to store up power during off-peak electricity generation hours and feed it back into the house during periods of high demand. [ AFP]
And A Busy Emergency Room

(NPR Blogs: Shots - Health Blog)
YOU
cycles the fluid through a repurposed window-unit air conditioner, where it is cooled down before repeating the trip. Retro Style The oscilloscope and two of the power supplies look as if they could have been salvaged from a 1960s space mission. Krasnow liked the aesthetic, so he enclosed the power supplies in a similarcolored rack, arranged the other components above them, bought
blank gray faceplates, drilled the necessary holes, and mounted chrome toggle switches, red indicator lights, knobs and gauges that matched the style.
BUSTED: Wildlife Officials Catch Poachers On Facebook - AllFacebook

Submitted at 8/2/2011 10:34:58 PM
BUSTED: Wildlife Officials Catch Poachers On Facebook AllFacebook From underage drinking to pornography and every crime in
between, some criminals recklessly share their exploit with Facebook friends, mistakenly thinking law enforcement won't find the photos, videos status updates that end up becoming evidence.... and more
Joe Raedle/ Getty Images Cans of fruit-flavored Four Loko in the liquor department of a convenience store in Miami in 2010. Here at Shots, we've been watching the uproar over the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko ever since college kids last year reportedly started ending up in hospitals after drinking too much of the stuff. We weren't the only ones. A team of emergency room docs in New York provides some more data on how the faddish beverage led to some pretty messed up kids. Their findings were just published online today by the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The report describes 11 cases of young people who wound up at Bellevue Hospital Center during a four-month period in 2010 after FOUR page 71
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FOUR
drinking Four Loko. The median age of these kids was 16.4 years, and nearly all of them were under 21. New York University pediatrician Deborah Levine, the study's lead author, says that once the marketing campaign for the fruit-flavored canned drink got rolling in 2010, she and her colleagues began to see young people in the ER in a highly intoxicated state. "Several of these cases stood out: one kid was found on the subway tracks, another was unconscious at school," Levine tells Shots. "These were exceptions to the typical Friday night teenage intoxication. These were more extreme and hazardous circumstances." The original Four Loko contained 12 percent alcohol (malt liquor) and 156 milligrams of caffeine. That's the equivalent of about four beers and two Red Bulls. It was cheap, too. One can costs less than $4 at most bodegas in New York, according to the study authors. Back in November, Phusion Projects, maker of Four Loko, said it would eliminate caffeine,
guarana and taurine from the formula. It was an apparent preemptive strike as the Food and Drug Administration prepared to take regulatory action against makers of drinks that blend booze and stimulants. But even if the reformulated Four Loko isn't as potent as it once was, the study authors believe that its marketing has had a lasting effect. The drink helped popularize the idea of combining caffeine and alcohol, which has since taken off, especially among teenagers and college students. Other products that combine alcohol and caffeine remain on the market, the doctors said. It seems it's hard to go light with the combo, which is increasingly associated with injuries and ER visits. As Shots has reported, cognitive psychologists have found that tipplers of caffeine-laden energy drinks mixed with alcohol may have a tougher time knowing when to stop than those who imbibe booze alone. Kelly Cleary, another doctor at Bellevue Hospital Center and Levine's co-author, says that the "wide-awake drunk" effect of
combining caffeine and alcohol is especially problematic for teens who are novice drinkers. "It's possible that these kids we saw drank much more than they would have if it wasn't caffeinated," Cleary says. We also wondered how these minors were getting their hands on the drink. Cleary and Levine say Four Loko's bright colors and design make it look a lot like nonalcoholic energy drinks and ice teas. "The person behind the register might not be familiar with the ingredients and think it's just an energy drink," says Levine. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Reset! Putin Calls the U.S. a Parasite on the World Economy

(The Feed)
what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls. US Via Reuters: President Barack Obama earlier L A K E S E L I G E R , R u s s i a announced a last-ditch deal to cut ( R e u t e r s ) R u s s i a n P r i m e about $2.4 trillion from the U.S. Minister Vladimir Putin accused deficit over a decade, avoid a the United States Monday of crushing debt default and stave living beyond its means like a off the risk that the nations AAA parasite on the global economy c r e d i t r a t i n g w o u l d b e and said dollar dominance was a d o w n g r a d e d . . . threat to the financial markets. Fantastic. Greg Pollowitz They are living beyond their This entry passed through the means and shifting a part of the Full-Text RSS service if this is weight of their problems to the your content and you're reading it world economy, Putin told the on someone else's site, please read pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentwhile touring its lakeside summer only/faq.php#publishers. Five camp some five hours drive north Filters featured article: A 'Malign of Moscow. They are living like Intellectual Subculture' - George parasites off the global economy M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , and their monopoly of the dollar, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Putin said at the open-air meeting Media Lens. with admiring young Russians in
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Health/
Even A Little Exercise Can Help Your Heart

Submitted at 8/2/2011 12:36:00 PM
iStockphoto.com Even 15 minutes off the couch would help. We all know that exercise is good for us, but sometimes it can seem too hard to even detach from the couch. Plus, let's be honest, having the federal government tell us it's a terrific idea to get 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic
activity a week doesn't really help our motivation much. Sorry. Now, though, there's a new analysis that suggests getting benefits from exercise doesn't have to be quite that demanding. Even wee snippets of activity reduce the dangers of heart disease, a distillation of the published evidence finds. A while back, Jacob Sattelmair was working on a doctorate in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health when he realized that there wasn't a review
spelling out just how much physical activity is needed to lower the risk of heart attacks and stroke. The studies tended to look at the intensity of effort, not amount. So he and his colleagues combed 3,194 papers, and came up with nine that addressed the "how much?" question. They crunched the numbers in those studies to figure out what works. Yes, more exercise is better. People who put in 300 minutes a week of moderate activity, twice
the recommended federal guideline, had a 20 percent lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease. Still, the people who exercised 150 minutes a week did pretty well, too, lowering their death risk by 14 percent. And what about the people who exercise half as much as that? Also a 14 percent lower risk of heart disease. That's the equivalent of burning 257 calories a week, or one hour of walking. The study was just published in the journal Circulation.
"The biggest bang for the buck occurs at the lower end of the spectrum," Sattelmair tells Shots. Indeed, most of the studies showed a big drop in risk with the first few hundred calories burned, with the rate of risk reduction slowing for hard-core workout fiends. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends walking 15 minutes a day, but any moderate activity counts, EVEN page 73
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FDA: Wake Up, People, Those Lazy Brownies Are Unsafe

herbalcity.com/lazycakes Lazy Cakes, now sold as Lazy Larry, contain melatonin. The Food and Drug Administration says that ingredient, which helps regulate sleep, is not an approved additive for food. The Food and Drug Administration has given the maker of Lazy Larry relaxation brownies a wake-up call. The Associated Press reported the agency has warned HBB LLC, the Memphis-based company that sells the brownies, that the melatonin in them has not been deemed a safe food additive. And the FDA says it can seize the brownies, which it considers adulterated, if HBB keeps making and selling them. Melatonin, which is sold widely in tablets as a dietary supplement, is a naturally occurring hormone that plays a role in sleep regulation. Supplements, such as
melatonin, are lightly regulated by the agency, and their makers' claims aren't generally subject to FDA's prior approval unless they contain a brand-new ingredient. Manufacturers of supplements are responsible for assuring their safety. At the moment, the Lazy Larry website's most prominent caution to consumers is a tongue-in-cheek
marketing message positioned next to a boldly labeled "Buy Now" button: Warning: this product may cause extreme relaxation and excessive use of the word "dude." Until last month, the brownies were sold as "Lazy Cakes," but the name was changed to appease critics and establish the product as a supplement rather than a food.
A company spokeswoman told the AP that HBB execs are still reviewing the letter with lawyers and aren't commenting on the FDA's warning. In March, Anna Rouse Dulaney, a toxicologist with the Carolinas Poison Center, told Julie Rose from NPR member station WFAE that "eating the whole brownie would be about twice the recommended dose" of melatonin. In large quantities, Dulaney said, melatonin can cause the central nervous system to slow down and lead to labored breathing. More commonly, people just get really sleepy and maybe nauseated. But the FDA's warning letter, This entry passed through the which you can read here, shows Full-Text RSS service if this is the agency isn't buying the name your content and you're reading it change. Among other things, Lazy on someone else's site, please read Larry is "marketed alongside the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentsnack foods" and the company's only/faq.php#publishers. Five website even says it contains "the Filters featured article: A 'Malign same ingredients your mother Intellectual Subculture' - George uses to make brownies," which M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , the FDA notes are "a conventional Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens. food."
EVEN
including gardening, biking, or playing with kids. "For someone doing nothing, telling them they have to do a lot is overwhelming," Sattelmair says. Don't be discouraged. "Just walking 15 minutes a day; you're
going to get health benefits from that," he says. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-
only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
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Politics-Right/
Libya: The Chaos Grows

Stephen Brown (FrontPage Magazine FrontPage)
Submitted at 8/1/2011 11:14:19 PM
Rather than an expected quick campaign, Libya is turning into a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nightmare. The NATO-backed rebels are still far from deposing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi despite the backing of NATO airpower and weapons deliveries from France and Qatar. And with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starting August 1 and sandstorms expected in September that would hinder air strikes, the goal of a Gaddafi-free Libya in the near future appear even dimmer. But it is the unexplained killing of rebel military commander General Abdel Fattah Younes and two aides last Thursday that has rocked the Western military alliance and made victory recede even further from sight. Yunes mysterious death has now led to rebel groups fighting each other last weekend rather than Gaddafis forces, increasing NATOs frustration with its allies. All those groups will disappear, and they will become one unit, said a senior rebel commander, indicating all the loose militia groups formed at the start of the conflict last February will now be forced to become part of a regular army structure. None of the commanders can disagree. Anybody who does will be crushed.
Younes was the first high Gaddafi government official to defect to the rebel cause last February. Prior to his defection, Younes had been number two in the Libyan power establishment. A close associate of Gaddafi for almost forty years, he was serving as his former boss interior minister when he became one of the earliest and most important government figures to desert. Gaddafi had sent Younes to Benghazi last February to deal with the uprising. But rather than carry out a counter-revolutionary purge with the military unit he had brought with him that would have seen many people killed and the city probably severely damaged, Younes decided to join the rebel cause. For their part, the rebels overlooked the fact Younes had served Gaddafi loyally for decades. The rebels closed both eyes, hoping other high-ranking Gaddafi people would follow the prominent deserter, stated one German publication. Named commander-inchief of the rebel armed forces, Younes appeared to serve the cause loyally. He was reported to have brought order to the rebels c h a o t i c m i l i t a r y leadership. Abdul Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), the rebel provisional government, said: Without him, our victories would not have been possible. But last week Younes was
power struggle with Khalifa Haftar, a Libyan general who had been living in exile in the United States the past ten years. When he returned to Libya, it was announced last March Khalifa was now the commander of the rebel forces, but he was eventually regulated to the position of commander of ground forces. But the more likely explanation for his death is that Younes was the victim of personal vengeance. As interior minister, he would have overseen the imprisonment, torture and murder of many Libyans. It was reported a guard in his security detail was one of summoned back from the front to April, one of Gaddafis daughters the assassins from the rebel Benghazi, the rebel capital, to indicated Younes was still loyal to militia group February 17 Martyrs appear before a tribunal of four her father, even though Gaddafi Brigade, whose members were judges for questioning. The rebel had puta large price on his head. among the first to take up arms military commander wasreleased the interview may well have against Gaddafi. In their ranks are on his own recognizance, but been an attempt to discredit him also Islamists, some of whom was killed in front of his house inside the rebel camp, but it is were probably imprisoned in along with two aides three hours important to note that fleeting Gaddafis dungeons. One of the later. Two rebel fighters have loyalties are a characteristic of the arrested rebel fighters is described been arrested. Libyan conflict, wrote one as longbearded and from the There is much speculation as to observer. Numerous government coastal city of Darnah, a hotbed of why Younes was targeted for soldiers have defected, including Islamist sentiment. assassination. The government senior officials; the government Younes death could not have favours the theory that Gaddafis claims that many rebels have come at a worse time for NATO. The humanitarian organization thugs were responsible. Another defected back. rumour for his killing is that he Defections are not uncommon in Human Rights Watch has accused was still in touch with Gaddafi a civil war. Sensing a weakening the rebels of crimes in the cities and thus committing treason, in the rebel position, Younes and villages of Western Libya which was the reason for his secret return to the governments they have raided or recaptured recall. The failure of the rebels fold is a possibility, especially if from Gaddafis forces. Their recent offensive at Brega and the G a d d a f i w a s h o l d i n g a n y human rights violations have fatalities they suffered are members of his family hostage. caused a loss in international attributed to his treasonous Another rumour concerning his LIBYA: page 77 activities. In an interview last assassination had Younes in a
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The Last Debt Ceiling Hurdle

Arnold Ahlert (FrontPage Magazine FrontPage)
Submitted at 8/1/2011 11:23:59 PM
The House vote on raising the debt ceiling was far less dramatic than advertised, save for the return of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who cast a yes vote. The package sailed through by a 269161 margin. Ninety-five Democrats joined 174 Republicans in favor of the plan, while 66 Republicans joined 95 Democrats in voting no. Were coming up to a deadline we all must recognize: default, said Representative Paul Ryan(R-WI). Both parties got us in this mess; both parties are going to have to work together to get us out. Yet even before the debt ceiling deal was finalized, there was more than enough rancor to go around. Far-left New York Times columnist Paul Krugman concluded that extortion works and that the terms of the agreement amount to an abject surrender on the part of the president. Tea Party founder Mark Meckler was equally upset.None of the budget plans proposed have real cuts in themonly promises to cut, he said. The reality isthese promises are actually a lie. The Daily Beasts Peter Beinart claims the Tea Party is now running Washington, even as Tea Partyfavored presidential candidate Michele Bachmann believes the deal is like saying we embrace
Greece. Apparently the current definition of compromise in Washington, D.C. is something that makes both sides miserable and childish. Yet Democrats seemed to grab the edge when it came to histrionics. Vice President Joe Biden accused Tea Party Republicans of having acted like terrorists during the negotiations. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) echoed that sentiment. This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money, he told colleagues at a closeddoor Democratic Caucus meeting. What makes Democrats so unhappy? Certainly the devil is in the details, but the bigger picture is that the national conversation has been altered. And while it is convenient to blame Tea Partiers for that change, there is a level of denial on the part of Democrats that borders on breathtaking. A lot of Americans, far from blaming the Tea Party for the debt ceiling deal, are giving them credit for it. Perhaps Mr. Biden and his fellow Democrats would like to pretend that the only election which occurred in the last three years was the one in 2008, but that is simply not the case. Millions of Americans appalled by the reckless spending of an Obama administration and a Democratically-controlled Congress sent Tea Party candidates to Washington in 2010 precisely to put a stop to such fiscal recklessness.
Congress tasked with finding an additional$1.5 trillion in deficit reductions by Thanksgiving. How they go about making those cuts remains subject to intense speculation. House Speaker John Boehner claims the deal is all spending cuts, even as the White House issued a statement Sunday night saying the committee must also consider revenue-raising tax reform that asks for the most fortunate Americans to sacrifice. At issue is whether or not the Bush tax cuts will be allowed to expire in 2013. If they are, $3.5 trillion in revenue will accrue over ten years absent any action How reckless? The current deal about default and full faith and by the committee. allows for a $2.4 trillion hike in credit of the United States is being Meanwhile, the three main the debt ceiling. That is the largest carelessly thrown around to ram ratings agencies reminded the hike in the history of the nation through a bigger budget than ever, nation that even the most stringent and it follows the second largest, in spite of stagnant revenues. results coming from the a $1.9 trillion increase passed by Those revenues currently stand at committees deliberations may Congress and signed by President $2.2 trillion dollars, which Paul not be enough. Moodys Investors Obama on Feb. 12, 2010. Thus, notes was the entire federal Services stated the country would despite all the venom directed at budget only seven years ago. If probably retain its AAA credit the Tea Party for forcing the we simply returned to that years rating for now, but that the issue, Americas addiction to spending levels, which would outlook for the future was deficit spending is in dire need of hardly be austere, we would have negative. Fitch Ratings said its fixing. a balanced budget right now, he AAA rating depended on debt Will it be fixed? Rep. Ron Paul wrote. If we held the line on reaching a more sustainable explains the illusory nature of spending, and the economy level, while Standard & Poors government cuts. They are actually did grow as estimated, reiterated its contention that $4 a k i n t o a f a m i l y s a v i n g the budget would balance on its trillion must be cut from future $100,000 in expenses by deciding own by 2015 with no cuts budget deficits, or Americas not to buy a Lamborghini, and whatsoever. rating will probably be lowered to instead getting a fully loaded Question: is Ron Paul a AA. Guy LeBas, chief fixed Mercedes, when really their t e r r o r i s t ? income strategist at Janney budget dictates that they need to As part of this deal, such Montgomery Scott, explained s t i c k w i t h t h e i r p e r f e c t l y questions, more or less, will be why. The details [of the deal] serviceable Honda, he writes. He left to a committee comprised then gets to sobering reality. The o f s i x R e p u b l i c a n s a n d s i x LAST page 78 truth is that frightening rhetoric Democrats, from each chamber of
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Obama Confirms Iran, Al-Qaeda Secret Deal

Ryan Mauro (FrontPage Magazine FrontPage)
negotiated the release of AlQaeda members from Iranian prisons. Submitted at 8/1/2011 11:23:37 PM Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was L a s t w e e k , t h e O b a m a personally chosen by Osama Bin administration exposed a secret L a d e n t o b e A l - Q a e d a s deal between Iran and Al-Qaeda, representative to Iran, and he debunking the myth that radical manages the receiving of the Shiites and Sunnis would never personnel and money in Pakistan. cooperate. The disclosure adds Rahman is said by some to be Alnew urgency to the threat posed Qaedas operations chief, and he by a nuclear Iran, as the regime is now known to have worked m a k e s c o m m o n c a u s e w i t h with Bin Laden on planning an Americas worst enemies to wage attack on the U.S. on the tenth proxy warfare. anniversary of 9/11. This makes By exposing Irans secret deal Rahmans relationship with Iran with al-Qaeda, allowing it to even more dangerous. funnel funds and operatives Sanctions were also placed on through its territory, we are Umid Muhammadi, who has illuminating yet another aspect of planned bombings on behalf of Al Irans unmatched support for -Qaeda in Iraq and has also terrorism, said the Treasury handled Al-Qaedas negotiations Departments undersecretary for with Iran over prisoner releases. t e r r o r i s m a n d f i n a n c i a l The other three operatives intelligence, David S. Cohen. sanctioned by the Treasury T h e T r e a s u r y D e p a r t m e n t Department handle the Gulf end blacklisted six members of Al- of the pipeline. Salim Hasan Qaeda working with Iran. A Khalifa Rashid al-Kuwari has Syrian named Ezedin Abdel Aziz been imprisoned in Qatar for his Khalil, also known as Yasin al- involvement with Al-Qaeda. He Sura, has overseen the Gulf-Iran- works with Abdallah Ghanim Pakistan pipeline since 2005. The Mafuz Muslim al-Khawar. The finances are raised and transferred sixth operative, Ali Hasan Ali althrough the informal hawala Ajmi, is based in Kuwait and networks, especially in Kuwait delivers support for Al-Qaeda in and Qatar. Operatives that travel Iraq and the Taliban, in addition t h r o u g h I r a n m u s t m a k e a to the Pakistan-based Al-Qaeda. payment of $10,000 upon arrival The Treasury Department has in Pakistan. Khalil has also sanctioned Al-Qaeda members in
facilitated dialogue to try to bring together Sunni and Shiite extremists. Iran began training AlQaeda members in bomb-making, and later in intelligence and security. The commission said that there are signs that AlQaeda was involved in the Iranian -sponsored bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996. Iran and Hezbollah gave Al -Qaeda an education in terrorism, including truck bombings, that was then used to carry out the 1998 embassy bombings. Al-Qaedas attack on the USS Cole motivated Iran to develop Iran before. In January 2009, four regime and the Taliban. In 2002, deeper ties with Al-Qaeda, but members of Al-Qaedas Shura he became the liaison between the Bin Laden kept a distance out of a Council in Iran were sanctioned, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and fear that it would jeopardize Saudi i n c l u d i n g S a a d B i n L a d e n , a s e n i o r A l - Q a e d a l e a d e r , support. The 9/11 Commission O s a m a s e l d e s t s o n . H e i s probably Saif al-Adel. He also found that 8 to 10 of the hijackers believed to have since been killed negotiated a deal with Iran for the traveled through Iran between in a drone strike in Pakistan after families of some Al-Qaeda October 2000 and February 2001. he left his Iranian safe haven. One members to live in Iran. Up to 40 There are strong indications that of those sanctioned negotiated members of the Bin Laden family their travel was coordinated with s a f e h a r b o r f o r A l - Q a e d a h a v e b e e n h o u s e d i n I r a n , Hezbollah. Now, a lawsuit has members in Iran, including protected by the Revolutionary been filed that accuses Iran and Ayman al-Zawahiris family. Guards. There is evidence that H e z b o l l a h o f h a v i n g Another one oversaw an Al- Osama Bin Laden may have even responsibility for the attacks, Qaeda network in Zahedan and visited Iran after the invasion of using information from the 9/11 planned attacks on Israel. Afghanistan. Commission report and defector Mustafa Hamid was accused of The 9/11 Commission found that testimony. Unsurprisingly, Iran negotiating a deal (perhaps the Irans ties to Al-Qaeda go all the claims it is an enemy of Alsame one recently disclosed) for way back to the early 1990s in Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission Al-Qaeda members to go to Sudan. Cooperation began in late concluded in Chapter 7 that, Afghanistan through Iran. In late 1991 or 1992 after Sheikh Hasan After 9/11, Iran and Hezbollah 2001, he moved to Tehran, and a l - T u r a b i , t h e M u s l i m OBAMA page 78 acted as a liaison between the Brotherhood leader in Sudan,
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support. US Senator John McCain demanded in a letter sent to the rebel government two days ago that it investigate and stop these abuses or risk losing American backing. Embarrassingly, the United States and other Western governments had recently recognised the NTC as Libyas government. The Western European countries involved in the Libya operation are also becoming weary of the length and cost of the war. Europe is facing its own financial crisis with Greece, which makes it more difficult to justify the continued expense of the Libyan conflict, especially since it appears the side the Europeans are supporting is just as brutal in violating human rights as Gaddafi. And the fact a rebel faction may just have murdered its own commander-inchief discredits the rebel cause even further. But with Younes death and the subsequent inter-rebel fighting, NATOs greatest fear now is that the rebel cause will disintegrate into tribal fighting. Arab countries have been called tribes with flags,
and Libya seems to bear this out. The war in Libya is first and foremost a tribal fight. Younes, for example, belonged to the Obeidi tribe, the largest in the rebel stronghold of Eastern Libya. After his assassination, fighters from his tribe went to the hotel where a press conference concerning his murder was being held and shot out the windows to show their anger. Wisely, the rebel ruling council appointed another member of the Obeidi tribe as his replacement. So even if the rebels do manage to depose Gaddafi, the war may not be at an end. As when the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989, Gaddafis defeat may just represent the first stage of a multiphase war, in which the tribes will fight over the spoils, like control of the oil or Western aid money, and the Islamists in their ranks will battle to establish an Islamic state. The lack of discipline in the rebel forces that the Younes killing revealed indicates this is more than a distinct possibility. Such a development would represent a disaster for NATOs
war aims. While NATO states it got involved in the Libyan conflict to protect Libyan civilians, this excuse now appears highly unlikely. The most likely reason for NATOs involvement is that countries like France and Great Britain wanted to secure the Libyan oil deposits they feared Gaddafi was going to turn over to China and India. The desire to secure and protect Libyas oil infrastructure even saw NATO allow an International Criminal Court fugitive, Omar alBashir, the president of Sudan, to send troops into southern Libya to provide security for an oilproducing area against Gaddafis forces. Allowing Bashir, who is wanted for committing genocide in Darfur and South Sudan and is currently preparing to exterminate the Nuba in central Sudan, into Libya hardly corresponds to NATOs stated desire to protect civilians. But the lack of stability under a tribally-fractious, rebel-ruled Libya may never allow these NATO countries to develop the all-important oil deposits, similar
to the way the violence in Afghanistan is holding that countrys development back. And a failure to depose Gaddafi would also have a similar, constant, destabilising effect. As long as he and his thugs are armed and free, the Libyan people would always be in danger, and civil war would eventually be resumed, even if Libya was to be partitioned. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson called the developing Vietnam War just the biggest damn mess I ever saw. By refusing to commit ground troops early in the uprising to depose Gaddafi and attempting instead to wage war through the United Nations, NATO has probably also created the biggest damn mess it will ever see. But in the long run, it is the Libyan people who will have to pay for this inexcusable short-sightedness.
Congress Should Not Waste Money on Test Ban Treaty

Michaela Bendikova (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs recently adopted a budget blueprint that provides a $30 million voluntary contribution to the Vienna-based Prep aratory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Organization. At a time of fiscal constraint, this expenditure is unnecessary. There are better ways for the United States to spend these resources, such as modernization of its obsolete nuclear weapons complex. In 1999, the Senate refused to give its advice and consent to the CTBT; that would still be a bad CONGRESS page 79
Psalm 68:9 (08-02-11)

(Verse of the Day)
You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. Psalm 68:9(NIV) Thoughts on Today's Verse... Dryness, whether
spiritual or physical, is sapping to the spirit and wilting to all living things. Let's join our hearts together today, tens of thousands strong, praying that God will do two things: (1) that he bring rain and refreshment on those lands that are parched and where times
are hard; and (2) that he will refresh all of his servants who are discouraged and close to giving up in their difficulties, challenges, temptations, discouragements, and failures. Let's pray for today to be a day of refreshment and the beginning of revival in our world
and among God's people! My Prayer... Lord God Almighty, the one able to do more than all we ask or imagine, today, we join our voices and our hearts in asking you for refreshment for every land and every heart parched and wilted. Send your rains on the
drought laden parts of our world. And dear Father, please bring revival throughout our world in our churches and the hearts of those who serve you. We ask this together in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King. Amen.
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dont look as pretty as the headlines, he said. LeBas also noted that the agencies will be less than thrilled with the idea that most of the spending cuts wont kick in until 2013. Yet some analysts see a silver lining in a lowered credit rating, noting that the higher interest rates resulting from a downgrade to AA would make it more difficult to borrow money. Perhaps it would, at least for consumers. But it might also make interest payments on existing debt far more onerous. As for the economy itself, yesterdays news was hardly comforting. U.S. manufacturers had their weakest growth in two years, and MSNBC contended that we are already entering a double dip recession. One suspects millions of Americans dont believe we ever recovered enough to make the distinction. Either way, good news, like jobs, is in short supply. The Senate is expected to vote on the plan at noon today. While it is expected to pass, a certain level of bitterness exists in that congressional chamber as well. I
cannot in good conscience support this deal. Simply stated, it locks us into more debt, bigger government and most devastating of all, a weakened defense infrastructure at a time when we face growing threats, said Lindsey Graham (R-SC). South Carolinas other senator was equally upset. Im not going to tell Americans that were doing everything when were not, said Republican Jim DeMint. Were planning on adding another $10 trillion in debt. Certainly for politicians (especially those seeking reelection), to say they are unhappy with a deal that didnt completely accrue to their sides interests, provides far better cover than saying they had to concede on one point or another. Yet aside from the obvious political ambition that always necessitates framing any compromise in terms of winners and losers, there is a far bigger problem brewing in Washington, D.C. There are always underlying ideological limitations from which every compromise proceeds, but in the hyperpartisanship that currently
dominates the nations capital, those limitations are becoming more and more constricting. Such constriction leads to frustration, frustration to invective. On a day where that invective reached fever pitch, it was a pleasure to see Gabrielle Giffords in the House. One would like to think her appearance might give pause to both Joe Biden and Mike Doyle. Perhaps they might even take her statement that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics to heart. There is a monumental amount of work to do to get this country back on track, and there will be many moments of ideological passion along the way. But passion neednt be accompanied by puerility. Democrats and Republicans dont have to get along. But they can behave like grownups. That alone would be a relief to millions of Americans.
wished to conceal any past evidence of cooperation with Sunni terrorists associated with al Qaeda. The Obama administration confirms that Iran still supported Al-Qaeda after 9/11 and still does today. General David Petraeus also says that Irans support is important for Al-Qaedas global operations. The country is used as a key facilitation hub, where facilitators connect Al-Qaedas senior leadership to regional affiliates, he told Congress in March 2010. Ayman al-Zawahiris taking over of Al-Qaeda means that the partnership with Iran is likely to become closer than it was with Bin Laden at the helm. It has been reported that Ayman al-Zawahiri has a relationship with Irans Defense Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, that stretches back a decade. Former CIA case officer and terrorism expert with the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Reuel Marc Gerecht, says Zawahiri was Irans favorite Sunni jihadist poster boy, an honored guest in Iran in the 1980s. If Al-Qaeda again gains a global strike capacity, it will most likely be because of the aid that Ali Khamenei, Irans supreme leader, and his Revolutionary Guards have given it. If Iran is willing to embrace AlQaeda before it gets a nuclear bomb, then it is frightening to think what the regime will do once it has the protection of a nuclear deterrent. Al-Qaeda is in a wounded state, making Irans support critical to its operations. If the U.S. wants to defeat AlQaeda, then it must also confront the Iranian regime.
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idea today. Current members of the Senate should recognize and honor the Senates previous action. In fact, problems with the treaty have grown worse over time. Here are a few issues with the treaty: Indefinite testing ban. The U.S. will eventually have to test its nuclear weapons to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of its arsenal. Yet the CTBT bans all tests for an indefinite period of timethat is, if you subscribe to the U.S. definition of what constitutes a nuclear weapons test, which leads to the second flaw of the treaty.
conducted its last nuclear weapons test in 1993, North Korea, India, and Pakistan have conducted their own nuclear tests. Double standard for the U.S. In addition, Iran is now closer to While it is U.S. policy not to developing a nuclear weapons develop new nuclear weapons or capability than ever before. There give its current ones new missions is no demonstrated link between or capabilities, the Russian c o u n t r i e s p u r s u i n g n u c l e a r Federation is on the brink of weapons programs and U.S. launching the largest nuclear nuclear weapons testing. The U.S. buildup since the end of the Cold should spend its resources wisely W a r . T h i s i s p a r t i c u l a r l y rather than support a multilateral significant in light of the recent agency that promotes goals ratification of the New Strategic contrary to U.S. national security. A r m s R e d u c t i o n s T r e a t y This entry passed through the (START) with Moscow. As it Full-Text RSS service if this is turns out, the treaty requires your content and you're reading it unilateral reductionson the side on someone else's site, please read of the U.S. During the ratification the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content Vague wording. It does not debate, Obama Administration only/faq.php#publishers. Five define the term nuclear weapons officials argued that New START Filters featured article: A 'Malign test. As the Commission on the w a s a m u s t b e c a u s e i t Intellectual Subculture' - George Strategic Posture of the U.S. demonstrated U.S. leadership in M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , Brad Molen (Engadget) concludes in its final report, both nuclear disarmamentand that Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Submitted at 8/2/2011 7:17:00 PM China and Russia are likely other countries (and Russia in Media Lens. conducting low-yield nuclear particular) would follow suit with Can't wait to get those mitts on a weapons tests and do not adhere nuclear weapons reductions. Droid Bionic, but still wondering to the same standards as the U.S. what lies beneath? Seems as It would be virtually impossible to The argument about moral though the Motorola mobile of charge them with a material leadership is likely to be repeated mystery can't hold its secrets breach of the treaty; however, with the CTBT. Yet if history is forever, since the specs of the such tests can still lead to the a n y g u i d e : S i n c e t h e U . S . Bionic are now up for perusal on Motorola's developer site. Here's the skinny: it's got a TI OMAP 4430 1GHz dual-core CPU bundled with 1GB RAM (twice the amount in the Droid 3), a 4.3inch qHD display with 960 x 540 resolution, HDMI 1.4, 8 megapixel rear camera accompanied by a VGA frontfacing shooter and 1080p HD video capture, webtop
development of new nuclear weapons capabilities.
Motorola Droid Bionic specs revealed: TI OMAP 4430 dualcore CPU, Android 2.3.4 on board
capabilities, and the obvious LTE radio. Unfortunately, the specs confirm the Bionic's lack of GSM / EDGE -- essentially turning it into a fancy PMP when traveling abroad -- and doesn't bother mentioning battery size (or life, for that matter), the most confounding question still lingering aside from the release date. C'mon, Motorola, can we at least get a hint? Motorola Droid Bionic specs revealed: TI OMAP 4430 dualcore CPU, Android 2.3.4 on board originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Droid-Life| Motodev| Email this| Comments
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Alan Gross: American Citizen, Cuban Prisoner

Olivia Snow (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Today, Internet restrictions in Cuba are so tight that Cubans cannot access the Internet from their own homes, and walking Submitted at 8/2/2011 4:30:52 PM A man with big ideas. Thats into an Internet caf requires A l a n G r o s s , a 6 2 - y e a r - o l d stealth. Once on the Internet, the Maryland resident who had the worldwide Web is censored by best of intentions when he the Cuban governmentblocking brought communication devices things as simple as Facebook, to the small Jewish community in Twitter, and blogs. The Castro Cuba. But those good intentions regime continues to claim that went horribly wrong when he was providing Internet to Cuban detained and placed in Villa citizens is a violation of its Marista, the Cuban state prison, in governments sovereignty, only 2009. confirming claims of the Cuban When Gross, a subcontractor for governments oppression. the U.S. Agency for International But the days of silence in Cuba Development (USAID), went to may be numbered. While the Cuba as a tourist, he had no idea government attempts to squelch that it would end in a 15-year the voice of its people through prison sentence. Two years later, Internet restrictions and limits on he remains in prison, and his freedom of speech, the people are lawyers say theyre running out of beginning to protest. Shouts of judicial appeals. Down with Fidel! and Down Grosss crime is nothing more w i t h R a u l ! c a n b e h e a r d than the purveying of Internet- throughout the streets, causing the activating devices to a community Cuban government to panic and of fewer than 1,500 people. To the the Cuban people to continue Cuban government, this is an act expressing opposition. o f s u b v e r s i o n i n t e n d e d t o Gross sad situation demonstrates undermine the Castro regimes a n A m e r i c a n p r o b l e m : t h e stranglehold on the Cuban people. embarrassment of the Obama
Administrations eagerness to make promises of anew beginning in U.S.Cuban relations. Failure to drop charges and free Gross will further emphasize that U.S. relations with Cuba are on tenuous ground. The Cuban governments rigid and unjust treatment of Gross reflects a spirit of hostility toward the U.S. that should trouble even the most liberal of Americans. Olivia Snow is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/ about/departments/ylp.cfm This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Zediva's DVD rental service ordered to close shop, Hollywood pops celebratory bubbly
Joseph Volpe (Engadget)
without the normal licensing restrictions required by the industry and despite its claims of Zediva's loophole-exploiting imminent ruination, will have to DVD rental service has just been close shop. For its part, the unique dealt a lethal blow by Judge John startup has vowed to appeal the F. Walter. The recent court- ruling, but if that doesn't work, at ordered preliminary injunction least its creators can watch No effectively halts the company's Strings Attached ad nauseum. ability to rent its library to users Zediva's DVD rental service a c r o s s t h e i n t e r n e t ' s g r e a t ordered to close shop, Hollywood s t r e a m i n g d i v i d e . C i t i n g pops celebratory bubbly originally irreparable damages to both the appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 nascent video on demand market Aug 2011 19:41:00 EDT. Please and Hollywood's bottom line, the see our terms for use of feeds. federal judge found Zediva's Permalink Ars Technica| Warner business in violation of studios' Bros. Entertainment Inc., et al. -ve x c l u s i v e r i g h t t o p u b l i c WTV Systems, Inc.| Email this| performance of copyrighted Comments works. The bizarro Netflix alternative had been operating
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5 Transparency Ideas for the New Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction

Rob Bluey (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation)
Official meetings and hearings should be webcast online. Recommendations should be posted for 72 hours before a final Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:52:38 PM Upon taking control of the U.S. committee vote. House in January, Republicans Committee members should implemented sweeping reforms to disclose meetings with lobbyists. make the Peoples House more Committee members should transparent and accessible. Now post campaign contributions theyll have a chance to bolster online. their good-government credentials Committee members and with the newly created Joint staffers should be post financial Select Committee on Deficit disclosures online. Reduction. Twelve lawmakers from the Lawmakers are already House and Senate will serve on responding with legislation. Sen. the joint committee, according to David Vitter (R-LA) introduced language in the Budget Control the Super Committee Sunshine A c t . I t s g o a l i s t o m a k e Act shortly after President Obama recommendations to reduce the signed the Budget Control Act deficit by $1.5 trillion. this afternoon. Vitters proposal The Sunlight Foundation, an would require members of the organization that advocates for n e w c o m m i t t e e t o d i s c l o s e greater government openness and campaign donations of more than t r a n s p a r e n c y , e a r l i e r t o d a y $1,000 while they serve on the o u t l i n e d f i v e t r a n s p a r e n c y panel. priorities for House and Senate Given the important work this leaders to consider as they committee will be doing over the organize the new committee: next four months, its just plain
good government for the public to know what special interests are trying to influence the committee, said Vitter, who opposed the Budget Control Act. Vitters bill would apply the Federal Elections Committees disclosure requirements to the committee. For instance, political candidates and their leadership PACs must publicly disclose donations every 48 hours during the 12 days before a primary and 12 days before a general election. Those same rules would apply to members of Congress serving on the committee. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George (The Feed) M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:19:42 AM Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Via WABA: Media Lens. . . .Ready to get energized and excited about World Breastfeeding Week? WABA has collaborated with the talented Ksatriya and Samwise Music to produce an amazing track for a global breastfeeding flashmob! Dance steps coming soon, but
Help Celebrate Breasteeding Week with a Global Flashmob

heres the full mp3 and lyrics available for download. Feel free to choreograph your own steps! Stand Up Everybody!. . . Let me go out on a limb here and predict the flashmob wont happen. Greg Pollowitz This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it HELP page 82
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your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Pulse Hits 5 Million Users, Scores Syndication Deal With ESPN

Jennifer Van Grove (Mashable!)
FASCINATING
by all means, share any cellular trivia youve picked up. 1. The First Commercial Mobile Phone The world's first mobile phone call was made in 1973 by Motorola employee Martin Cooper from the streets of New York City. He called his biggest rival. "I was calling Joel Engel who was my antagonist, my counterpart at AT&T, which at the time was the biggest company in the world. We were a little company in Chicago. They considered us to be a flea on an elephant," Cooper told BBC. "I said 'Joel, this is Marty. I'm calling you from a cellphone, a real, handheld, portable cellphone.' There was a silence at the other end. I suspect he was grinding his teeth." The phone he called on was a prototype Motorola DynaTAC which, a decade later, was to become the world's first FASCINATING page 83
Pulse, a news reader application for iOS and Android, has signed a partnership with ESPN to bring the sports entertainment brands content to Pulses mobile applications. Pulse has now been installed more than 5 million times by mobile users across all supported platforms, the startup also tells Mashable. Pulse is an instant-on experience without requiring registration, says co-founder Akshay Kothari. 5 million users have opened the app and started using it. ESPN, for the first time ever (according to Pulse), will be syndicating its content to mobile by way of Pulses apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Coverage pushed to Pulse will include ESPN Headlines, MLB, NFL, NBA, WNBA and NCAA football and basketball news and analysis. Pulse says its taking the partnership as an opportunity to rework its Pulse Sports category. The new Pulse Sports is broken down by sport, enabling you to customize your experience by
10 Fascinating Facts About Mobile Phones

Amy-Mae Elliott (Mashable!)
season or by your favorite sport, Cristina Cordova, a member of Pulses business development team, writes in a blog post on the news. The addition of ESPN comes less than two weeks after Pulse inked partnerships with The Atlantic and The National Journal to beef up featured content in its news, politics, business and culture verticals. Pulses new partnerships and growing user base suggest that the startup is standing strong against competitor Flipboard, an iPadonly social news reading application. Flipboard, a media
darling, reported 2.5 million users in June and has recently begun displaying ads in its application. More About: ESPN, news readers, pulse, social news, startup For more Startups coverage: Follow Mashable Startups on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Startups channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Chances are you dont leave home without your mobile phone, but how much do you actually know about our portable telephonic devices and their fascinating history? Do you know who Martin Cooper is? How about a textonym? What are one-quarter of U.S. mobile phone towers disguised as? Who devised the 160-character text message limit? SEE ALSO: 10 Fascinating Facts About Phone Numbers Take a look through our gallery of fun mobile phone-related facts and let us know in the comments which ones are new to you. And FASCINATING page 82
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commercially available mobile handset. It got the FCC's thumbs up in 1983 and launched in 1984 at a cost of $3,995 -- which is about $9,000 today, accounting for inflation. As a symbol for '80s yuppie tech, the DynaTAC appeared in Gordon Gekko's hands in Wall Street, and later, Patrick Bateman used one in American Psycho. It was also known as the "Zack Morris phone" because the Saved by the Bell character often used a similar model in the series. The first mobile phone call in the UK took place in 1985. Comedian and one-half of Morecambe and Wise, Ernie Wise, called from London to Vodafone's Newbury, Berkshire offices, then located over a curry house. 2. The First Smartphone The world's first smartphone debuted in 1993 at Florida's Wireless World Conference. Launched by BellSouth Cellular and "weighing in at a little more than a pound," it was a phonecome-PDA with an early LCD touchscreen display. The press release from the launch describes the new handset: "Designed by IBM, Simon looks and acts like a cellular phone but offers much more than voice communications. In fact, users can employ Simon as a wireless machine, a pager, an electronic mail device, a calendar, an appointment schedular, an address book, a calculator and a pen-based sketchpad -- all at the suggested retail price of $899." With only 2,000 Simons made,
the handset is now a collector's item. The Microsoft-backed Bill Buxton Collection of retro tech boasts a Simon, and you can find out more about the pioneering device on the website. 3. The 160-Character Text Message Limit There are various theories about who invented the text message. Short, text-based messaging was developed in a range of telecommunications systems toward the end of the 20th century, but the man credited with creating the SMS -- the mobile phone's short message service -- is German Friedhelm Hillebrand. Working for the GSM group, Hillebrand came up with the concept of a 128-byte text message to be sent via the existing mobile phone network. The message's shortness was an obvious parameter due to the size limit, but the exact 160-character limitation was a curious creation of Hillebrand's. The story goes that in 1985 Hillebrand experimented with making notes on his typewriter to come up with the ideal message length. "Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters," the L.A. Times reports. He ultimately deemed the 160character limit as "perfectly sufficient," and with two more "convincing arguments" (postcards and Telex transmissions often had fewer
than 150 characters), the GSM group created the standard in 1986. Afterwards, all mobile phone carriers and mobile phones were ordered to support it. Nowadays you can send messages longer than 160 characters, but Hillebrand's legacy lives on via Twitter. The microblogging service's 140-character limit was determined by text messaging -- 140 characters for the tweet and 20 for the Twitter username. Image courtesy of kamshots 4. The Pocket Dialing Problem Chances are you've received a "phantom" call on your mobile phone, especially if your name begins with an "A." "Pocket (or 'butt') dialing," when a jostled phone calls a number from someone's pocket or bag, is one of the minor annoyances of mobile life. For the emergency services though, it's a more serious problem. In the early 2000s the National Emergency Number Association revealed that "phantom wireless calls" made up about 70% of 911 calls in some U.S. areas. In the UK the figure reached as many as 11,000 calls per day. So why is a pocket dial so likely to reach 911 or 999? Although a phone's keypad may have been "locked," these numbers will still dial in case of a real emergency. In fact, many older American mobiles auto-dialled 911 when a caller pressed and held number nine, or two numbers at once. Phone designers and
manufacturers have now disabled such options, but pocket dialing still happens. Last year two men were overheard during a car burglary after one of their phones called 911. In May of this year a drug dealer was arrested after he pocket-dialed the police during a deal. And a Maine man with an arrest warrant was "triangulated" and caught when he repeatedly called the police from his pocket. Image courtesy of Laram777 5. The World's Most Expensive Mobile Phone British jeweler Stuart Hughes lays claim to creating the world's most expensive mobile phone. The iPhone 4 "Diamond Rose" edition boasts a price tag of 5 million, which currently translates to $8,184,968.42. For that astonishing sum, the purchaser gets 500 individual flawless diamonds totaling over 100 carats, a rose gold Apple logo with 53 diamonds, and a single cut 7.4-carat pink diamond on the home button. Hughes has also bundled in an 8 carat single cut flawless diamond which can replace the pink one, just in case you needed a sweetener to seal the deal. 6. Fake Plastic Trees With nearly two-million mobile phone towers and antennas in the U.S., you'd expect to see one on every street corner. The fact is, they are very often disguised. In urban areas, clever engineers have developed ways to install the equipment into signs, clock faces, drainpipes, telephone poles, church and catherdral roofs and
even weather vanes. One of the most noted ways of "disguising" a mobile phone tower, however, is in plastic trees. The website Fraud Frond"pays homage to the fake trees that disguise our cell phone towers." There's even a " fake plastic trees" Flickr group. The photographer Robert Voit recently held an entire exhibition dedicated to photos of the phenomenon. "Many people don't know about these things," says the Fraud Frond site. "They're hidden pretty well. But if you look for 'em, they're easy to spot." Image courtesy of Allan Ferguson 7. Telephonophobia, Nomophobia, Frigensophobia & Ringxiety Our relationship with our mobile phones hasn't always been an easy one. Aside from the etiquette issues a portable phone involves, some sources suggest our mental health has suffered too. With varying degrees of plausibility, experts have identified telephonophobia, nomophobia, frigensophobia and ringxiety (or fauxcellarm) as conditions that can affect the mobile phone generation. Telephonobia is the fear of making or recieving phone calls. Nomophobia(no-mobile-phone phobia) is the fear of being out of contact either by your phone being lost, out of juice or out of signal range. "Ringxiety" or "fauxcellarm" is FASCINATING page 84
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described as a "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" when you hear (or feel) your mobile ringing when it's not. Frigensophobia is the fear that using your mobile is damaging your brain. Image courtesy of Olle Svensson 8. The Invention of Voicemail In 1986 Scott Jones, a 26-yearold research scientist at MIT, invented the modern cellular voicemail system over a pizza. Although the American mobile phone carriers had regulationbased legal issues to surmount before they could offer voicemail to the masses, Jones' startup Boston Technology won bids to create the voicemail systems for the mobile industry's big names. While we now take voicemail for granted (and may even get fed up with it), in the late '80s it was an exciting prospect. Here's an excerpt from an article of the time that explains the concept: "Company executive Gray, for instance, may need to convey a
question to Smith, who is out of town, before the board meeting the next morning. Gray leaves a memo on Smith's 'voice mailbox.' Smith calls in later that afternoon and realizes he cannot answer Gray's question, so he appends a personal note to Gray's memo and redirects it to company counsel Brown's mailbox. Brown returns from his luncheon appointment, receives the message, and gets to work. By 10 p.m. he comes up with a solution, leaves his response in Gray's voice mailbox, and goes home. The following morning, Gray dials his office number and listens to Brown's message. No time or energy has been wasted." Image courtesy of FaceMePLS 9. Textonyms We're all aware of text speak, but are you familiar with textonyms? You've no doubt been affected by them at some point in your mobile life. Born from mobile phone predictive text systems, a textonym is a word that that is
typed using the same order of keys on a numeric keypad as another word. A classic example is "home," which can also appear as "good" or "gone," as they're all created by typing "4663." An increase in QWERTY keyboards and more "intelligent" software means that textonym faux pas are now being replaced by auto-correct faux pas, but not before textonyms made the crossover from mobile to real life. "Book" entered the vocab of hip, lazy teens as a new word for "cool" because it was the default when typing "2665." Image courtesy of Ken Banks 10. The Best-Selling Mobile Phone If hype was everything, you might assume the Apple iPhone was the best-selling handset to date. With the recent news that 100 million iPhones have been sold, Apple has certainly made the top five, but it's far behind the bestseller. The world's most popular phone
is the Nokia 1100, a basic GSM candybar launched in 2003. Over 250 million 1100s have been sold. Nokia's 3210 and 3310 also made the top five, while the last slot belongs to the iconic Motorola RAZR. The 1100 made headlines in 2009 when German models were said to be changing hands for as much as $32,000, after reports indicated the handset could "intercept" info from other phones. This was eventually revealed to be a hoax. Image courtesy of Phil Campbell More About: cell phones, cellphones, facts, List, Lists, mobile phones, phones For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
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Skype for iPad Delivers on Video Calling Dreams [HANDS-ON]

Christina Warren (Mashable!)
Skype released its official iPad app earlier this week, offering iPad and iPad 2 users a way to chat by text, voice or video with their Skype pals. We took some time to test the app on our iPad 2 earlier today and found the app lives up to most
of its promises, offering a robust experience. Using the app, iPad users can connect with their Skype contacts and use the iPad as a bonafide telephone. We were able to make calls to outside numbers, video chat with desktop users and video chat with Skype for iPhone users. The interface is more similar to Skype for Mac, rather than Skype
for iPhone. Surprisingly, the design that looks clumsy and overlarge on the desktop makes sense on the iPad. The ability to chat via text while doing video chat is a great and much needed feature. Houston, We Need Bandwidth Our only criticism of the app is that to work well, it needs a strong data connection. Skype might say
that video chat works over 3G and if you are using a particularly strong network, that might be true. Still, in our tests (using our admittedly terrible office Wi-Fi), there was a significant lag in video signal unless the connection was strong. This delay, which could be as much as five seconds, would make Skype virtually unusable. In
other words, dont try video chat unless you have lots of bandwidth. As for video quality we were impressed. The video signal coming from the iPad 2s frontfacing camera looked great on a desktop or iPhone screen and video from other users looked SKYPE page 86
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good provided we had a strong connection on the iPad screen. Voice calls over Wi-Fi sounded fine to us, though were not sure its any better than what you might get on a 2G cell phone. You can also make calls with Skypeenabled TV and Blu-ray players. All in all, were impressed by what Skype has put together. The app isnt perfect a way to share files like a photo or text document would be a great addition. Making a Call Your icon and your caller's icon appear on the screen. Text Chat In portrait mode, you can see the icons of your recent and online contacts. Text Chat In landscape mode, contact
names are also visible. Account Info Account info is visible at any time by tapping your user icon. Video Chat Video chat in portrait. Video Chat Video chat in landscape. Video Chat Video chat in landscape. Text Chat View Contact Home Screen The home screen shows your contacts listed in a grid. Home Screen with Account Info Skype Request You can send Skype requests in the app. Add a Contact You can add a contact by tapping the "+" button and searching by name or Skype name.
Skype Calling The landscape view of dialing a number on Skype. Skype Calling The portrait view of dialing a number on Skype. More About: ipad apps, Skype, Skype ipad, voip For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Why Obama Is So Bad at

reality of that model is terrible for WHY page 87 liberals
Atlantic) Krystal Ball (Politics : The tackle The president's promise to Submitted at 8/2/2011 3:43:56 PM our problems together as one nation drew many to him, but the
FCC hails spectrum alliances with Canada and Mexico, seeks to reduce border conflicts
Zachary Lutz (Engadget)
It's not every day that the FCC enters into new multinational agreements, so you'll have to forgive us for getting excited over the latest communique between Chairman Julius Genachowski and his counterparts in Canada and Mexico. After much negotiation, the regulatory heads have created a framework to resolve frequency conflicts along our nations' borders. While the
deal with Mexico only applies to the 700MHz spectrum, the agreement with Canada also covers the 800MHz range. By reducing interference and maximizing spectrum allocation, Genachowski believes "these arrangements will unleash investment and benefit consumers near the borders by enabling the rollout of 4G wireless broadband service and advanced systems for critical public safety and emergency response communications." Once the
and Mexico, seeks to reduce border conflicts FCC hails spectrum alliances with Canada and Mexico, seeks to reduce border conflicts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink All Things D| FCC (PDF)| Email this| Comments policies become official mandates, license holders must coordinate and implement techniques to mitigate signal interference or face some nasty regulatory intervention. If you're a sucker for policy, just leap the break for the full press release. Continue reading FCC hails spectrum alliances with Canada
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As the dust settles on the debtceiling fiasco, liberals are left scratching their heads and wondering what the heck happened. Public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of a balanced approach to deficit reduction and 67 percent of Americans believe we should be focusing on the economy rather than the deficit. With public opinion in our favor and a few fail -safe constitutional options in our back pocket, how did this showdown end in complete and utter surrender? As it turns out, the reason liberals got a bad deal here is the same reason we got a bad deal on extending the Bush Tax Cuts, and in the budget showdown, and even when it came to health-care reform. Despite overwhelming and irrefutable evidence to the contrary, President Obama continues to believe that he can negotiate with Republicans. In the health-care debate, the president tried to get Republicans on board by offering a conservative proposal based on Heritage Foundation recommendations and Republican Mitt Romney's health-care overhaul. Rather than being impressed by his reasonable and centrists approach, Republicans instead portrayed the public option as an evil communist plot, screamed about death panels, and outrageously sought to portray the plan as an attack on Medicare. Even though Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress and had a filibuster
proof majority in the Senate, GOP demagoguery proved effective enough that in the end a watereddown health-care bill barely made it over the finish line. And it continues to be under threat of repeal. When it came time to deal with the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts, President Obama again immediately abandoned the liberal -- and his own original -position of allowing all of the Bush Tax Cuts to expire and started negotiating from the centrist position of allowing only the Bush Tax Cuts over $250,000 to expire. By holding hostage the extension of unemployment benefits, Republicans quickly got their way in the tax talks. Not only were all of the Bush Tax Cuts extended, the wealthy were given a substantial estate tax break as well. As Paul Krugman pointed out at the time, Obama indicated that he did not include a debt-ceiling increase as part of the deal because he takes "John Boehner at his word -- that nobody, Democrat or Republican, is willing to see the full faith and credit of the United States government collapse, that that would not be a good thing to happen." Well, we know now how that played out. The next hostage situation arrived when it was time to pass a budget or face a government shutdown. The impasse was broken when the president agreed to what he called "the biggest annual spending cut in history."
At $38.5 billion, it was actually a larger cut than Republicans had originally asked for, leading comedian Bill Maher to joke, "You can always tell when Obama's negotiations with the Republicans are winding down, because he's missing his watch and his lunch money." That brings us to the current debt -ceiling hostage situation in which Republicans, led by tea party extremists, decided to threaten not only a government shutdown but total economic shutdown. Dj vu all over again: First the president offered a plan that included $4 trillion in deficit reduction, with cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security all on the table in exchange for a few hundred billion in revenue from closing corporate tax loopholes. This initial proposal was far to the right of what his own Bipartisan Fiscal Commission proposed. When this "grand bargain" was shot down and the president ruled out using the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to unilaterally increase the debt ceiling, there was nothing to do but surrender. And what of the final deal? The president remarked that he would "continue to make a detailed case to these lawmakers about why I believe a balanced approach is necessary to finish the job." He can make that case all he wants but it's not going to make a difference. Public opinion is already overwhelmingly in favor of a balanced approach. And public opinion does not matter when dealing with Republicans so
long as they are not open to negotiating. Six months from now we will still have an extreme Republican caucus driven by bomb-throwing tea partiers. We will still have Grover Norquist and his anti-tax zealotry. We will still have the Club for Growth and other rightwing and tea party groups demanding that Republicans maintain complete ideological purity or face a primary challenge. You can probably make a pretty good guess as to what the outcome of Round Two of the debt ceiling fight will be just by finding out what the Republicans want and then tacking to the right by about 10 or 20 percent. While we lament the undermining of the progressive agenda and ask ourselves if things would really be much different had we elected John McCain, it's worth examining whether President Obama's worldview is actually illustrative of a fundamental difference between the liberal and conservative worldview. At their core, liberals assume that humans are fundamentally good and decent. This means that we believe that people are trying the best they can to make it and only ask for help when they really need it. It also means that we tend to assume our counterparts on the other side of the aisle are fundamentally decent and committed to doing what's in the country's best interest. Conversely, conservatives assume that humans are fundamentally lazy and prone to
immorality. In this view, the entitlement system coddles and rewards laziness. This cynicism spills over into their view of government and government "bureaucrats." It also spills over into their political tactics. While President Obama assumes that at their core the Republican leadership team is just trying to do what's best for America, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner assume that the president is cynically trying to secure his own reelection, power, and legacy. The truth is, that while the president's idealism has made him a very poor negotiator, it is what attracted me and I suspect many others to him in the first place. His lack of cynicism and belief that we could tackle our problems together as one nation was unique, beautiful and stunning in our modern political system. I still find it an appealing vision, so as the dust settles on another terrible deal -- with the prospect of more terrible deals in the future -- I find myself both intensely disappointed by the president and intensely proud of his continuing idealism. That leaves me unsure whether or not I hope that the president has learned his lesson. But it doesn't matter: I feel pretty confident that it's a lesson he is unable or unwilling to learn, anyway. Image credit: Pete Souza/The White House This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ WHY page 91
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Millennial Independents to Washington: You do not reflect our interests

Tina Korbe (Hot Air Top Picks)
headed in the right direction. Millennials were also highly disappointed with Washingtons Submitted at 8/2/2011 6:10:18 PM handling of the debt ceiling crisis. Young voters who self-identify An informal Facebook poll on as independents draw a tight G e n e r a t i o n O p p o r t u n i t y s connection between Washingtons Facebook page, Being American, economic policies and the lack of showed that, as of today, 60 jobs they have experienced percent of 6,255 respondents firsthand. Among independent opposed raising the debt ceiling at voters aged 18 to 29, 55 percent all and the poll question agree that if taxes on business provided options to raise the debt profits were reduced, companies ceiling with spending cuts, with would be more likely to hire. t a x i n c r e a s e s a n d w i t h a Thats according to a poll recently c o m b i n a t i o n . commissioned by Generation I think millennials have the clear Opportunity, a nonprofit, non- and demonstrated ability to make partisan organization that seeks to connections between what is e n g a g e y o u n g a d u l t s i n a going on in their own life and discussion about the immediate what the federal government is a n d l o n g - t e r m e c o n o m i c doing, not only in terms of what it challenges that face the nation. does for their ability to find a job, An even larger majority of but also what it does for the millennial independents (59 country on a world stage, said percent) recognize that the Paul Conway, president of e c o n o m y g r o w s b e s t w h e n Generation Opportunity and individuals are allowed to create former chief of staff for the U.S. businesses without government Department of Labor under interference. Given the high Secretary Elaine Chao. For d e g r e e o f g o v e r n m e n t leaders in both parties, its a very i n t e r f e r e n c e t h a t h a s clear signal that your action or characterized this administration inaction is being watched by the (the stimulus, bailouts, the health people who elected you and the care law, etc.), its no wonder, p e o p l e w h o h o l d y o u then, that 59 percent of millennial a c c o u n t a b l e . independents believe the United So, what will millennial States is pretty seriously on the discontent mean for the 2012 wrong track, while only 22 elections? Past polling data shows percent say the United States is some of the college-aged crowd
wont be quite as keen to vote for President Barack Obama a second time around. The numbers from Generation Opportunity dont speak to that but they do reveal that millennial voters will think critically before they cast their votes. Sixty percent indicated that in 2012 a candidates position on issues and a record in office will be most important when casting their vote, while just 4 percent indicated a candidates charisma and likeability is most important. Perhaps even more importantly, 60 percent agree that young voters in 2012 will learn more about the policy positions of the presidential candidates than they did in 2008. In 2008, President Barack Obama made history by meeting young voters where they were online. As Conway explains it, reaching out to youth voters was nothing new presidents from Bill Clinton to Ronald Reagan to JFK to FDR all made youth outreach a hallmark of their campaigns but the way in which Obama connected with millennials was innovative. But the way his campaign highly targeted millennials in 2008 might actually backfire in 2012, as youth voters might have begun to feel like they were used for their votes and not their input. If you go out as a political
campaign and you actively seek to engage a demographic and you do that through technology and messaging and, then, when you go from being a candidate to actually governing, if that constituency that you talked to does not believe theyre still being heard, youll create dissonance in that target audience, Conway said. And this time around, Obama wont be the only active political force to target young voters online. Generation Opportunity operates on a strategy that combines advanced social media tactics with proven field tactics to reach Americans 18 to 29. Its first major project, the Being American Facebook page that featured the poll about the debt ceiling, already sees a lot of activity, as voters in my age bracket respond to questions, share links and sound off about their lives and the issues that most concern them. In fact, the site has already amassed a fan base of more than 860,000 and has drawn more than half a million likes and comments in the first bit of its existence. But unlike a political candidate, Generation Opportunity doesnt seek anything in return from youth voters other than that they think through issues themselves. What were doing is taking the
mirror and putting it in front of them, asking them what they think and enabling them to draw their own conclusions over time, Conway said. Conway said its a hopeful thing for our country that millennial voters will make up 38 percent of the electorate by 2020 because theyve already proved themselves adept at consuming information and drawing thoughtful conclusions. I think Conway is right. As a millennial myself, I find the work of Generation Opportunity extremely hopeful. As Ive written before, I tend to think the pragmatic, independent bent of millennials is a placeholder. Millennials might not be willing to commit to a stated ideology at this point, but theyre perfectly willing to commit to policy proposals when theyre convinced of their effectiveness. What Generation Opportunity is proving is that, as millennials receive information, they come to logical conclusions that will likely eventually coalesce into a coherent worldview. Whether that worldview is more conservative or more liberal will depend on how well each side articulates underlying principles. This entry passed through the MILLENNIAL page 91
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5 Ways the Debt Crisis Changed Washington

Major Garrett (Politics : The Atlantic)
The stalemate is over, but the partisan stalemate over spending and borrowing has irrevocably shifted things in D.C. Here's how. The debt crisis left in its circuslike wake five permanent truths. MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama Signs Debt Deal Pictures: Giffords Returns to Congress Breaking Down the Debt-Deal Savings 1. A new precedent. Debt-ceiling increases are now tied to deficit reduction. With President Obama's signature, every future president until America's debt monster is tamed must come to Congress on bended knee and plead for the privilege of avoiding default. What had been an unhappy obligation of governance is now a lever to impose either spending cuts or tax increases in the pursuit of deficit reduction. A senior House Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee did not dispute this point. "We are bearing the burden of having to pass our own president's legislation." One side note: This episode also proves that the 14th Amendment's linkage to debt discussions is dead. Numerous
House Democrats said off the floor on Monday that if there was ever a time to invoke the amendment and raise the debt ceiling, it was now. "I still hold out hope," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas). "It's very important." Lee conceded, though, that her hopes are probably dashed and the issue is settled. 2. Bipartisan entitlement protection lives on. For all the GOP fervor to rein in government
spending, the agreement defers all decisions about entitlement spending to a so-called super committee with an internal architecture almost built for stalemate. If that happens, Republicans who now crow about changing the way Washington works will see the knife of acrossthe-board spending cuts exempt Social Security, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, veterans benefits, food stamps,
and other antipoverty entitlements. Yes, the automatic cuts can hit Medicare, but it won't touch beneficiaries. The costcutting can only reduce payments to providers--a scheme that Congress has tried over and over only to be undone by successful lobbying from doctors and hospitals. This means that the deal repeats a futile process that Congress has tried and abandoned before--achieving deficit
reduction on the backs of wellconnected and influential doctors and hospitals. 3. Congress's back-loading of spending cuts lives on. A Democratic president and a tea party-inspired Republican Party will mutually agree to cut domestic discretionary spending (defined by budget authority) by $10 billion compared with 2011 WAYS page 92
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Debt Deal: Did the Public Get What It Wanted?

Chris Good (Politics : The Atlantic)
The debt stalemate is finally over, but what does the public think of how leaders in Washington resolved it? A look at recent polls. The deal is done. Washington's latest stalemate ended on Tuesday as President Obama signed a bill to raise the national debt limit and avoid default. Obama, Republicans, and Democrats finally agreed on: to raise the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion, enough to last through 2012 and past the next election. The agreed to cut spending by about $1 trillion immediately, then create a special "super committee" that must propose a $1.5 trillion in deficit-reduction measures, to be submitted to Congress by Nov. 23. Barring agreement on that plan, $1.2 trillion in spending cuts will automatically occur, half from domestic programs and half from defense spending. See more details of the deal here. So, what does the public think of all this? No one will be completely happy, but polls show that Washington met the public's goals about halfway. Spending Cuts, but No New Taxes. The new deal will cut
nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, with the possibility of more cuts if Congress takes up the recommendations of the special committee created under this deal, but taxes won't be raised unless the special committee recommends and Congress approves a plan to raise them in December. In polls, respondents have consistently shown a desire for both spending cuts and tax increases:
56 percent wanted a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, while 19 percent wanted only cuts and 12 percent wanted only tax increases, according to a July 25 Reuters/ Ipsos poll 60 percent wanted a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, 19 percent wanted only cuts, and eight percent
w a n t e d o n l y t a x i n c r e a s e s , deal specifically bars cuts to these according to a July 20-24 Pew areas, both now and in any Research Center poll proposal the new special committee delivers to Congress in November. The public did not 64 percent wanted both tax want to see these programs cut: increases and spending cuts, while 84 percent opposed cutting 34 percent wanted only cuts, Social Security, and 77 percent according to a July 18-20 CNN opposed cutting Medicaid in order poll to reduce the deficit, according to the July 18-20 CNN poll No Cuts to Social Security, DEBT page 93 Medicaid, Veterans' Benefits The
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Romneys new top legal advisor: Robert Bork?
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politics/archive/2011/08/whyobama-is-so-bad-at-negotiations/ 242973/ This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it Allahpundit (Hot Air Top with another harsh technique. and eight percent (8%) are else needs to be in the recipe on someone else's site, please read Picks) Im already looking forward to undecided. once he gets in, and Bachmanns the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe first Obama/Romney debate, The race is a virtual tie, however, bound to start attacking more Submitted at 8/2/2011 5:32:45 PM only/faq.php#publishers. Five where The One will scold Mitt for if its a two-way race. In a once shes done concentrating on Not exactly but close enough. using lawyers who have contempt showdown between just Romney Ames. What happens to Mitts Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Second look at Romney? for due process before trumpeting and Bachmann, 44% of primary numbers then? Three: Given the Mitt Romney is mining the his own shoot-on-sight drone voters support Romney, while make-up of the rest of the field, M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , George W. Bush White House for policy. As for Mitt, consider this 4 2 % f a v o r B a c h m a n n . T h e which way are those undecided Herman, Peterson, Pilger And l e g a l t a l e n t t o a d v i s e h i s part of his current stealth strategy, remaining 14% either like another and other candidate voters Media Lens. p r e s i d e n t i a l c a m p a i g n in which he spends most of his candidate or are undecided. likely to break if forced to choose including a key person behind the time fundraising and rolling out Pit Romney against Perry alone, between Romney and a tea controversial Justice Department o c c a s i o n a l b i g - n a m e and the former Massachusetts partier? True, youve got some memos authorizing waterboarding endorsements in lieu of stumping governor earns 43% while the Pawlenty fans mixed in there, but and other enhanced interrogation for media attention. Supposedly Texas governor gets 39%. Nine youve also got many more Palin MILLENNIAL techniques. thats going to change soon, but percent (9%) prefer another and Cain and Paul fans. Whos a continued from page 88 On Tuesday, Romney released a its working, sort of, so far: candidate, while another nine more natural fit for them, Perry/ Full-Text RSS service if this is list of the 63 lawyers on his Rasmussens latest still has him in percent (9%) are undecided. Bachmann or the architect of the your content and you're reading it Justice Advisory Committee, front among likely voters with 22 He does better against both Perry i n d i v i d u a l m a n d a t e i n on someone else's site, please read designed to advise his presidential p e r c e n t t o P e r r y s 1 8 a n d and Bachmann in a two-way race M a s s a c h u s e t t s ? the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentcampaign on legal policy and in Bachmanns 17. What would than Id expect given that theyre E x i t q u e s t i o n : H o w c o m e only/faq.php#publishers. Five some cases provide legal counsel. happen in a three-way race both tea-party favorites and Romney took a beating for Filters featured article: A 'Malign Its most famous name: former between them? Romney wins that combine for 61 percent in the waffling on the debt negotiations Intellectual Subculture' - George Ronald Reagan Supreme Court too or does he? t h r e e - w a y m a t c h - u p . T h r e e but not Perry? Monbiot Smears Chomsky, nominee Robert Bork, whose In a three-way race between problems, though. One: Romneys This entry passed through the Herman, Peterson, Pilger And nomination was voted down by R o m n e y , M i n n e s o t a better known than both of them Full-Text RSS service if this is Media Lens. the Senate C o n g r e s s w o m a n M i c h e l e thanks to his 08 run and the your content and you're reading it Prime among [the others] is Bachmann and Texas Governor months of buzz hes gotten this on someone else's site, please read Steven Bradbury, one of 13 Rick Perry, Romney earns 34% of y e a r f o r b e i n g t h e d e f a u l t the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentprominent lawyers singled out the vote, according to a new frontrunner. That has to be only/faq.php#publishers. Five o n t h e l i s t b y R o m n e y s Rasmussen Reports national boosting his numbers a little. Filters featured article: A 'Malign campaign. Bradbury led the telephone survey of Likely Two: No ones hit him yet. Plenty Intellectual Subculture' - George Justice Departments Office of Republican Primary Voters. of primary voters who dont M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , Legal Counsel from 2005 to 2009 Bachmann picks up 27% support, follow politics day to day are still Herman, Peterson, Pilger And and signed three 2005 memos while Perry, the only one who has b l i s s f u l l y u n a w a r e o f Media Lens. reassuring the CIA and the DOJ yet to formally declare hes a RomneyCare. Perrys already that techniques like waterboarding candidate, gets 26%. Five percent promising that There will be were legal even when combined (5%) like some other candidate, plenty of vinegar and whatever
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budget totals. That's out of projected domestic discretionary Karl (Hot Air Top Picks) If it makes progressives feel any their agenda plainly. The problem for progressives is spending of just more than $2 better, Drum is only half-right. The problem for progressives is t h a t t h e d e b t c e i l i n g d e a l trillion for fiscal 2012 and 2013. Submitted at 8/2/2011 4:57:00 PM Reagan and other Republicans the end of the Cold War and the occasioning all of this extremist The big cuts are all deferred to What causes the Democrats and have been unable to get global financial panic of 2008. r h e t o r i c f r o m t h e l e f t w i l l another Congress and a reelected the establishment media to meaningful spending cuts or The public has seen the slow p r o b a b l y n o t h e a d o f f a Obama, or to a new Republican hysterically accuse Republicans entitlement reform because public demise of totalitarian socialism downgrade of the nations credit. president. But the trajectories for of being terrorists? opinion did not support them. and is now watching the slow A downgrade will be yet another defense and all other fundamental Perhaps it is the crisis in There are a zillion polls showing demise of democratic Euro- step on the path to hitting the one actions of day-to-day government confidence we see from people that Democrats and Republicans socialism. Seeing Margaret true debt ceiling. There is likely --although weakened by the lack like Kevin Drum: alike only support cuts to space T h a t c h e r s c o m m e n t a b o u t no amount of messaging of inflation adjustments--will be Public opinion is everything. exploration and foreign aid. Those running out of other peoples however euphemized that will tilted downward only slightly. Ronald Reagan was successful who routinely rely on MediScare money playing out in the daily convince the public to remake our Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) is one of because public opinion supported in their campaigns should not news leads public opinon to country in the mode of the failing the freshmen who came to him: he wanted to cut taxes and need a reminder of this. conclude that entitlements need economies of Europe. And every Washington to shake things up, raise defense spending and so did The problem for progressives is fundamental changes. The public day carries us closer to the point and he sees the spending cuts, big chunks of the public. He was not that they failed to persuade the may not actually want to effect where the opinion of the public lower by $24 billion than the leading in a direction that they public to support big government; those changes; it will be as hard to matters less than the opinion of House GOP budget, as defensible already wanted to go. it is that they failed to persuade wean the public off debt as it is to our creditors. and even laudable. "The process is *** the public to pay for it. The pundit wean any individual debt addict. This post was promoted from slow," he said. "I see that now. It This is why I blame the broad class (James Fallows, Andrew But enough of the public is GreenRoom to HotAir.com. takes time. I mean, my wife wants l i b e r a l c o m m u n i t y f o r o u r Sullivan, Ezra Klein, etc.) can starting to recognize that past To see the comments on the me to lose 50 pounds, but I can't failures, not just President Obama. pass around their seemingly progressive over-promising is original post, look here. do it by this weekend." House My biggest beef with Obama is endless supply of graphs that all enough of a problem without This entry passed through the Appropriations Chairman Hal the same one I had three years budget discussions should start signing onto another round of Full-Text RSS service if this is Rogers (R-Ky.) said the cutting ago, namely that hes never really with among themselves, but they over-promising. This is why the your content and you're reading it will stick. If not, Congress could even tried to move public opinion have yet to figure out how to sell public could not be convinced on someone else's site, please read see a budget clash and a shutdown in a specifically progressive the public dramatically higher ObamaCare had merit; they the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content- showdown at the end of the fiscal direction. But that hardly even taxes, low economic growth, in (correctly) did not believe it only/faq.php#publishers. Five year on September 30. The backmatters unless all the rest of us r e t u r n f o r s t i l l - u n b a l a n c e d would reduce the deficit. The Filters featured article: A 'Malign loading of cuts goes a long way have laid the groundwork. And budgets. Instead, they employ a public did not need to study the Intellectual Subculture' - George toward avoiding such a mess. w e h a v e n t . W o n k s , h a c k s , seemingly endless supply of CBOs alternative fiscal scenario M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , When it comes to spending, the activists, all of us. We just havent e u p h e m i s m s b a l a n c e d to figure this out; they could look Herman, Peterson, Pilger And back-loader is still the machine of persuaded the public to support approach, spending in the tax at the history of Democrats and Media Lens. choice in Congress. our vision of government. code, etc., to avoid speaking entitlements. 4. Speaker John Boehner wobbled but didn't fall. And he won't. Internally, the House GOP's sense is that the leadership pulled together and that Majority Leader Eric Cantor's movements out of the talks and against tax increases didn't undermine WAYS page 93
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who represented their views to 45 percent favored raising the compromise, even if it meant 3 9 p e r c e n t w e r e m o r e ceiling only if it involved a plan accepting a plan they disagreed concerned by Medicare/Social to reduce the debt, 36 percent with, while 27 percent preferred Security cuts, 19 percent were opposed raising the debt ceiling those leaders to hold out for a mroe concerned about too much regardless, and 17 percent favored basic plan they agreed with, even spending, 17 percent were more raising the debt ceiling regardless, if it meant passing the Treasury's concerned about higher taxes, and according to the July 18-20 CNN default deadline, according to the 17 percent were more concerned poll. The same poll found 66 July 15-17 USA Today/Gallup about debt default, according to a percent in favor of raising the debt poll July 21-24 National Journal poll ceiling while cutting between $2 conducted by Princeton and $4 trillion in spending Image credit: Larry Downing/ Reuters Possible Medicare Cuts The new This article available online at: special committee will be able to 55 percent said they were more http://www.theatlantic.com/ cut some money from Medicare, concerned that the government politics/archive/2011/08/debt-deal just as it will be able to propose would raise the debt ceiling - d i d - t h e - p u b l i c - g e t - w h a t - i t tax increases. Polling have shown without plans for major spending w a n t e d / 2 4 2 9 0 9 / little desire to cut money from the cuts, while 35 percent said they This entry passed through the program for the purpose of deficit were more concerned that the Full-Text RSS service if this is reduction: government would not raise the your content and you're reading it 87 percent opposed cutting debt ceiling and an economic on someone else's site, please read Medicare to reduce the deficit in crisis would result, according to a the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentthe July 18-20 CNN poll July 15-17 USA Today/Gallup only/faq.php#publishers. Five poll Filters featured article: A 'Malign The Debt Ceiling Is Raised The Intellectual Subculture' - George public has offered some mixed Compromise Reached It's clear M o n b i o t S m e a r s C h o m s k y , messages on whether or not to that no one is completely happy Herman, Peterson, Pilger And raise the statutory debt limit at all: with the debt-ceiling deal, but at Media Lens. 49 percent said we should not least sides agreed on something. raise the debt ceiling, while 46 D e s p i t e m y r i a d i n d i v i d u a l percent said we should, according preferences, this is what the to a July 15-17 CBS poll public seems to have wanted: 66 percent preferred the leaders
Boehner nearly as much as first thought. In the clutch, Boehner and Cantor marched side-by-side and delivered a final product--and they didn't ask for permission to pass it. On Sunday, Boehner scheduled his conference call to brief members for the same time that Obama was announcing the deal to the nation. The message: The deal is done. I'm not seeking your reaction as much as laying out the contents. 5. The first quarter of 2013 will be a doozy. Here's what is in store: Another debt-ceiling request will be due. Spending cuts under either the special committee's direction or acrossthe-board sequestration will begin to bite in big numbers at the Defense, Homeland Security and State departments, as well as in all discretionary government services. The budget deal calls for $917 billion in these cuts, but only a small fraction (see backloading section above) will occur in the first two years. The country will begin to feel the consequences of pushing the rest of the cuts through eight remaining budget years of the deficit-reduction deal. Also, if the super committee imposes new
taxes, they will probably take effect in this time frame. Even if the committee doesn't impose tax increases, all the Bush tax cuts are due to expire on January 1, 2013-forcing intervention to protect some or all of them. "It's going to be one festive first quarter of 2013," Rep. Robert Andrews (DN.J.) said. Festive is one word. It might not be the one economists will use. Image credit: Jason Reed/Reuters This article available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2011/08/5-waysthe-debt-crisis-changedwashington/242978/ This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/contentonly/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A 'Malign Intellectual Subculture' - George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.

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