Someone please be kind to our troops you have no idea what they're going through no matter your political affiliation. The troopsDESERVE your contribution. They give you the right to protest their funerals (disgusting). Movies, shows whatever. Ill make sure they get it through my command
Source: http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/showthread.php?t=218977&goto=newpost
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Source: www.artdaily.org --- Friday, December 30, 2011
CULVER CITY, CA.- in-D media announces the release of Frank Lloyd Wright - Fallingwater, an exciting new IPad app. This app features an interactive virtual tour that gives users an immersive experience of Fallingwater, via a rich multi-media format. Users are able to enjoy an extensive collection of photographs, 360 degree virtual reality panoramas, and archival drawings of Fallingwater. There is also 25 minutes of highlights from the documentary film, ?Frank Lloyd Wright?s Fallingwater.? This IPad app represents the most comprehensive look at Fallingwater ever produced. In-D media, LLC is proud to announce the launch of their latest IPad app for architects, students, enthusiasts and those merely curious about architecture. The app showcases Fallingwater, the critically acclaimed house perched over a waterfall. The house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the most famous architect the world has ever known. After a user has enjoyed full use of this unique iPa ...
Source: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=52713
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Top 10 Church-State and Religious Liberty Developments For 2011: pewsitter.com/page_1.html#nw? #FB 
Pewsitter James Todd
Source: http://twitter.com/Pewsitter/statuses/151892108842778626
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published about 3 hours ago
The order came after the utility requested 689.4 billion yen, or $8.8 billion, in government aid to help pay for its response to the nuclear accident at its Fukushima site.
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Memos ( http://www.apimac.com/iphone/memos/ ) transports you into a world where ideas take shape and follow the touch of your fingers to organize themselves just as you imagine them in your mind.
The app incorporates professional photography and graphics to create a gallery of images so that users can easily express a range of ideas. Another cool option allows you to change the wallpapers of the iPhone with a shake, which will really amaze your friends. All the main features of the app does not require any Internet connection. Dropbox import/export and Backup requires an internet connection and a Dropbox account.
"It was a pleasure to work with the team that developed this application. It was exiting to see some great ideas grow and become reality. I'm happy that users can touch my picture when they work with the program and organize their ideas." (Martin Muntenbruch, Photographer)
What's New In Version 3.0
- Completely rewritten app.
- All new design.
- Backup and Restore via Dropbox.
- Exporting notes in text, CSV and proprietary formats via Dropbox.
- Importing notes in proprietary format via Dropbox.
- Assign a color to each note.
- Send notes via text messages.
- Tweet notes with iOS 5 or later.
- Print notes with iOS 4.2 or later.
- New wallpapers.
- Full compatibility to Retina Display.
- Performance and reliability improvements.
- Addressed all know bugs.
Feature Highlights :
- Organize your ideas by moving and regrouping your notes visually
- Write a note and then easily send it via email or text message
- Choose your favorite default font and size
- Assign a color to each note
- Backup and Restore via Dropbox
- Exporting notes in text, CSV and proprietary formats via Dropbox
- Archive notes that you want to keep
- Shake your iPhone to change wallpaper
- Tweet notes with iOS 5 or later
- Print notes with iOS 4.2 or later
For more visit Apimac
Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5665979702
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Authorities say a 5.6 magnitude earthquake has hit central Oklahoma, but they had no immediate reports of any injuries or major damages.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported from Golden, Colorado, on its website that it detected a 5.6 magnitude quake at 10:53 p.m. local time Saturday (0353 GMT Sunday), centered about 44 miles (71 kilometers) east-northeast of Oklahoma City. It had initially reported the temblor as a 5.2 magnitude quake.
Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, also confirmed a quake on the scale of 5 was recorded.
It came on a day a series of quakes rattled the state, including a 4.7 magnitude quake early Saturday.
Ooten said no injuries were reported to emergency management officials and she had no reports of major damage.
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Kombucha has grown in popularity over the past few years around the same time as kefir and probiotically-augmented yogurts. Like yogurt, kefir, and sourdough bread it requires a starter culture which is added to black or green sweetened tea. The result is a tart, fizzy drink (0.5% ABV) that tastes a little like apple cider and is touted by many for health benefits.
Even if other health claims of kombucha seem a bit far fetched, few can deny that it helps maintain beneficial bacteria in your gut. If you stay away from dairy products it may be worth investigating. Homesteading weblog One Green Tomato offers a complete guide to brewing kombucha, which includes brewing a gallon of black or green tea, adding a cup of sugar, and once the tea has cooled to room temperature add the starter culture; you can get a starter by purchasing commercial kombucha at a retailer such as Whole Foods or online for a few bucks. Know that the starter culture is often called the mother, mushroom, or SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast).
Kombucha has also gained popularity in maker circles recently as editor of MAKE and Boing Boing Mark Frauenfelder wrote a chapter about it in his recent DIY manifesto Made By Hand: Search for Meaning in a Throwaway World. While the drink can offer benefits, there are also concerns?apparently there have been a few cases of it being harmful. Frauenfelder's post on kombucha at BoingBoing details the pros and cons quite well.
Kombucha | One Green Tomato
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? U.S. hiring slowed in October but the unemployment rate hit a six-month low and job gains in the prior two months were stronger than previously thought, pointing to some improvement in the still-weak labor market.
The employment report on Friday was the latest data to suggest the economy was gathering a bit of momentum and a further indication recession risks were fading.
Nonfarm payrolls rose a tepid 80,000 last month, the Labor Department data showed, below economists' expectations for a gain of 95,000 and a slowdown from September.
But employers added 102,000 more jobs than previously estimated in August and September, and the jobless rate edged down to 9 percent from 9.1 percent, taking the sting out of the report.
"Hiring is not booming, but I don't think there is any sign of recession. The risk of the economy falling into a second recession over the next six to 12 months has been reduced, but we still have a very long way to go," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester Pennsylvania.
The household survey, from which the unemployment rate is derived, showed strong job gains for a third straight month, more than offsetting an increase in labor force as more Americans resumed the hunt for work.
For financial markets, the report was overshadowed by developments in Europe where rich nations appeared to back away from a plan to broaden a euro zone bailout fund. Stocks on Wall Street were down more than 1 percent in morning trade.
Prices for U.S. Treasury debt rose and the dollar firmed across the board, tapping flight to quality bids.
SLOW PROGRESS
The labor market remains the Achilles heel of the U.S. recovery, and progress putting the 13.9 million unemployed Americans back to work remains painfully slow.
The slight improvements in the labor market hinted at by Friday's report will likely do little to take the pressure off President Barack Obama, who faces a tough fight for re-election next year.
However, they may be enough to keep the Federal Reserve on the sidelines as it considers whether the economy could benefit from a further quantitative easing of monetary policy.
"The labor market data suggest that growth may be strengthening even as Europe may be slipping into recession," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York. "As impatient as the Fed may be, it will be difficult to round up a consensus for QE3 as long as the employment data are pointing to an improving economy."
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday lowered its growth forecasts, raised projections for unemployment, and said it was considering additional mortgage debt purchases. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said officials were eyeing Europe warily.
LACKLUSTER JOB GROWTH
Even though the economy is in its second year of recovery, only about a quarter of the more than 8 million jobs lost during the recession have been recovered.
The economy needs to expand at an annual rate of at least 2.5 percent over a sustained period and consistently add roughly 125,000 jobs a month to keep up with new people entering the workforce.
The Obama administration has struggled to come up with policies to generate sufficient employment amid stiff opposition from Republicans over more spending.
Bernanke took lawmakers to task on Wednesday. "It would be helpful if we could get assistance from some other parts of the government to work with us to help create more jobs," he said after a two-day Fed meeting.
There are signs of progress. A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have given up looking for jobs and those working only part time for economic reasons, fell last month after scaling a nine-month high in September.
The average duration of unemployment retreated from a record high of 40.5 weeks hit in September.
Last month, private employers added 104,000 workers, more than offsetting a drop in government payrolls of 24,000. Public employment has fallen nearly every month this year as state and local governments grapple with budget constraints.
In the private sector, job gains last month were almost across the board, though construction fell 10,000 after a surprise addition of 29,000 jobs in September.
Manufacturing payrolls rose 5,000 after a slight decline in September. In the service sector, retail employment added to the prior month's gains.
There were also gains in professional and business services, and temporary employment, which rose 15,000. Economists often look to temporary hiring as a harbinger of increased permanent employment.
Hiring in the healthcare and social assistance sector, which has been boosted by the swelling ranks of retirees, rose 16,300. However, the gain was less than the prior months.
The average workweek was steady at 34.3 hours and hourly earnings rose 5 cents.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)
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CONCORD, N.H. ? New Hampshire on Wednesday scheduled its first-in-the-nation presidential primary for Jan. 10, finally giving candidates a concrete calendar after months of uncertainty.
The date announced by Secretary of State Bill Gardner Wednesday had been widely expected since Nevada Republicans voted last month to shift their presidential caucuses to early February, ending what had become a bitter standoff among rival states. Gardner had warned that Nevada's initial decision to hold its contest in mid-January could force New Hampshire to vote in early December.
"I was sort of on the edge of a cliff," Gardner said. "I was hoping if I had to move, there would be a puddle of water to jump into if necessary."
It's a position Gardner knows well, though he said this year's wrangling over the date wasn't the worst he's faced by a longshot ? that distinction goes to 1984, when he faced intense pressure from the Democratic National Committee to change the date.
New Hampshire state law requires the primary to be held at least seven days ahead of any other similar contest and gives Gardner exclusive power to set the date. That has made him the target of criticism from other states hoping to grab some of the spotlight.
Critics also argue that New Hampshire is too small and too white to play such a major role in picking presidents, but Gardner and other defenders of New Hampshire say the country ? and the candidates ? are well-served because the primary requires close contact with voters, not just name-recognition or advertising cash. In fact, thanks to a random drawing, the first candidate listed on Republican ballot will be Joe Story of Jacksonville, Fl., whose website is theaveragejoeforpresident.com. Candidates will be listed alphabetically after him, putting front-runner Mitt Romney nearly at the bottom.
"Really, the election for the candidates begins today," said state Rep. Jim Splaine, who authored the state law that puts New Hampshire first.
New Hampshire's decision brings welcome clarity to the path for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. New Hampshire will vote a week after the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, with South Carolina's primary on Jan. 21, Florida's on Jan. 31 and the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 4.
Some feared that jockeying states might cram more contests into January, creating an informal national primary that would deprive second-tier candidates of opportunities to regroup and raise money as they raced from state to state. With the calendar set, campaigns can now launch strategies that had been held hostage to an uncertain calendar.
Already, there are signs they are ramping up. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for example, begins airing his first television advertisements in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Though Wednesday's announcement comes just 10 weeks before primary day, Gardner has cut it closer before. During the last presidential campaign, he waited until Nov. 21 to set the Jan. 8 date, the earliest date yet.
"I thought after last cycle we would not face this again, and I'm hopeful in next cycle we won't face it again," Gardner said Wednesday. "But there is no simple answer."
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ROCKVILLE, Md. ? A woman who killed her co-worker in an upscale suburban Washington yoga clothing shop was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday and faces the chance of life in prison.
The Montgomery County jury deliberated about an hour before returning the verdict against Brittany Norwood.
Norwood killed Jayna Murray inside the Lululemon Athletica shop in Bethesda on the night of March 11. Prosecutors said Norwood used at least a half-dozen weapons inside the store to kill Murray, then lied and told police that they had been attacked by masked men.
Norwood's lawyer conceded that Norwood killed Murray. But he said it happened during a fight and wasn't premeditated. The argument was aimed at sparing Norwood a first-degree murder conviction, which can carry a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Murray's family choked back tears as the verdict was read and a "yes" sounded from their side of the courtroom. Norwood and her family sat impassively and declined to comment afterward.
Norwood's attorney Doug Wood said she was disappointed at the speed of the verdict.
"I think that we were surprised that this happened so quick. I thought we had established a pretty good case for second-degree murder."
State's Attorney John McCarthy told jurors during closing arguments that there was abundant evidence of premeditation. He said Norwood lured Murray back to the store after closing by saying she had forgotten her wallet and needed to get back inside.
A medical examiner, Mary Ripple, testified that she found at least 331 wounds on Murray's body and that the woman was alive during the duration of the attack.
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FILE - In this May 23, 2011 file photo, Yoko Ono attends a dinner hosted by The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1 and Volkswagen in New York. John Lennon's iconic song ?Imagine? is one that Yoko Ono says wasn't initially embraced. Rolling Stone magazine ranked ?Imagine? No. 3 on its list of ?The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.? (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)
FILE - In this May 23, 2011 file photo, Yoko Ono attends a dinner hosted by The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1 and Volkswagen in New York. John Lennon's iconic song ?Imagine? is one that Yoko Ono says wasn't initially embraced. Rolling Stone magazine ranked ?Imagine? No. 3 on its list of ?The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.? (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Yoko Ono says John Lennon's iconic "Imagine" wasn't initially embraced by the public.
She says the song, released in 1971, "was not really accepted ... it wasn't 'Wow!'"
Ono, who is listed as a co-producer on the track, says she remembers when Lennon created it, calling that time "really beautiful."
Lennon's 78-year-old widow made the comments at the launch of Hard Rock and WhyHunger's "Imagine There's No Hunger" campaign in New York City's Times Square on Tuesday. The global campaign aims to raise money and awareness for childhood hunger and poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Imagine" at No. 3 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
___
Online:
http://www.hardrock.com
http://www.whyhunger.org
Associated Presssherri shepherd sherri shepherd sean avery east river east river harry shum jr workaholics
A posthumous album from Amy Winehouse will soon be released.
Island Records' Lioness: Hidden Treasures, featuring 12 tracks of previously unreleased and rare recordings from the late chanteuse, is coming December 5.
At an emotional family gathering last week, the singer's dad, Mitch Winehouse, wept as he listened to the music, some of which he had never heard before.
"It wasn't until I sat down with the rest of the family and listened to this album that I fully appreciated the breadth of Amy's talent," says Mitch Winehouse.
"From jazz standards to hip-hop songs, it really took my breath away," her grieving dad said in a statement. "I never realized what a true genius she was."
Coming from her biggest fan, that's saying something.
Winehouse never released another album after her 2006 smash Back to Black, but recorded plenty of unreleased material from which her label might choose.
The new album apparently includes one track written while she was on drugs, according to the Sun, as well as a song about a cheating Blake Fielder-Civil.
Also mmong the offerings on the album: a brand new song, "Between the Cheats," a slower tempo version of her hit "Valerie" and "A Song For You."
The latter is a cover of the Leon Russell song also performed by Winehouse's musical idol, Donny Hathaway, so you know that's going to be good.
Produced by friends Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi over the last few weeks, the album will be Winehouse's third in all. She died this July at age 27.
A donation from the sale of each album will also go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, established after her death to help those battling addiction.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/10/new-amy-winehouse-album-to-be-released/
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LONDON (Reuters) ? Britain and the United States strongly rejected calls from China and Russia for greater Internet controls on Tuesday at a major conference on the future of cyberspace, although Western states too faced accusations of double standards.
While Western states worry about intellectual property theft and hacking, authoritarian governments are alarmed at the role the Internet and social media played in the protests that swept the Arab world this year.
In September, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan proposed to the United Nations a global code of conduct including the principle that "policy authority for Internet-related public issues is the sovereign right of states."
Cyber security experts say western Nations hoped to fend off those calls for a "cyber treaty" and to prompt China, Russia and others to rein in hackers. Speaking by video link after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pulled out of the two-day London meeting for family reasons, Vice President Joe Biden was particularly direct.
"What citizens do online should not, as some have suggested, be decreed solely by groups of governments making decisions for them somewhere on high," he said. "No citizen of any country should be subject to a repressive global code when they send an email or post a comment to a news article. They should not be prevented from sharing their innovations with global consumers simply because they live across a national frontier. That is not how the internet should ever work in our view."
To impose such controls on the Internet, Biden said, would stifle innovation. If countries wanted the economic benefits of connectivity, he they needed openness.
Britain faced some criticism at the conference following Prime Minister David Cameron's suggestion this August after England's riots that government might impose controls on some social media platforms. But Foreign Secretary William Hague struck a similar tone to Biden.
"Too many states around the world are seeking to go beyond legitimate interference or disagree with us about what constitutes 'legitimate' behavior," Hague told the meeting of ministers, tech executives and Internet activists.
"The idea of freedom cannot be contained behind bars, no matter how strong the lock."
On Wednesday, delegates will continue to discuss potential international co-operation to tackle online crime, child pornography and other threats -- seen by many as the most likely area on which some agreement might be reached.
At a press conference organized by his delegation, Russian official Igor Shchegolev denied the "code of conduct" was part of a plan to censor the Internet, saying it was simply about refreshing now outdated telecommunications treaties.
"We in Russia are convinced that it is impossible to block or censor the Internet," he said. "Some countries in Europe declare that some social disturbance takes place they will close access to Twitter and Facebook. Russia doesn't even consider this possibility."
WESTERN STATES CRITICISED
Some other speakers at the conference said Cameron's suggested block of at least some social media platforms had put the West in an awkward position.
"It's very easy to defend this case of black and white human rights against dictatorships around the world, but as soon as our own Western-style stability of the state is called into question then freedom of expression is expendable. There should be one rule for all, including Western governments," said John Kampfner, chief executive of Index on Censorship.
Around 60 countries, including China, Russia and India, were represented at the conference as well as tech industry figures such as Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and senior executives from Facebook and Google.
Wales told the conference he believed many attempts to regulate the flow of information -- such as British court "superinjunctions" which celebrities have used to block discussion of embarrassing stories -- were "bad law."
"We see all the time these kinds of laws," he said. "Maybe there are better ways than to rely on government control."
In a closed session, government and business officials discussed cybersecurity, with a mounting number of cyber attacks and hacking attempts seen high on the agenda.
On the eve of the conference, the head of Britain's communications spy agency said UK government and industry computer systems faced a "disturbing" number of cyber attacks, including a serious assault on the Foreign Office's network.
In his speech to the conference, Prime Minister Cameron described such attacks as "unacceptable." Whilst he did not refer directly to his riots comments, he said future prosperity and peace depended on managing cyberspace properly.
"Governments must not use cyber security as an excuse for censorship, or to deny people the opportunities that the internet represents," Cameron said. "The balance we've got to strike is between freedom and a free-for-all."
(Additional reporting by Peter Apps, Michael Holden; writing by Peter Apps)
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When China launches its Shenzhou 8 spacecraft on an unmanned docking test flight today, a German-Chinese science payload will be along for the ride, marking the first time China has ever collaborated with another country on one of its Shenzhou missions.
China's?Shenzhou 8 spacecraft is due to launch atop a Chinese Long March 2F rocket Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. EDT (6 a.m. local time on Nov. 1) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia.
Two days after the liftoff, Shenzhou 8 will dock with China's Tiangong 1 spacecraft, which was launched in September. It will be the nation's first in-space docking.
Packed aboard Shenzhou 8 is a unit called SIMBOX (Science in Microgravity Box), a joint Chinese-German research unit that weighs 55 pounds (25 kilograms). The box contains 40 experimental units, each about the size of a cell phone, designed to test the effects of microgravity on various specimens.
Plants, nematodes, bacteria and human cancer cells are just some of the samples that will be exposed to zero gravity and space radiation for nearly three weeks. The research will investigate fundamental biological and medical questions, including how gravity intervenes in biological processes, and how the immune system can be strengthened.
The German portion of the project is managed by the German Aerospace Center (Germany's space agency), while the China Manned Space Engineering Office has coordinated the Chinese contribution to SIMBOX.
The docking maneuver between Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 is seen as a significant step for China's space program, which aims to eventually build its own manned space station in orbit. Autonomous docking is a necessary skill to achieve that that goal.
China is only the third country, after Russia and the United States, to develop spacecraft capable of flying humans to and from space. The country's first?human spaceflight launched a single astronaut in 2003, with two-man and three-man spaceflights following in 2005 and 2008.
If the Shenzhou 8 docking is a success, it will be followed by another robotic rendezvous with Shenzhou 9, to launch next year, and then a crewed docking with Shenzhou 10, Chinese space officials have said.
Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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(Reuters) Lockdowns were lifted on Monday at three New Mexico schools that had restricted student movements earlier in the day "due to a SWAT situation in the area," the Albuquerque Public Schools website said.
A man in the area barricaded himself inside his Albuquerque home and claimed he had a hostage, Sergeant Trish Hoffman of the Albuquerque Police Department told Reuters.
"There's no evidence of that," Hoffman said. "We're trying to negotiate with him."
Police had been looking for a stolen vehicle earlier in the day. They spotted a vehicle at the man's home, but he told police from inside the house to back off or someone would get hurt, Hoffman said. She said police were seeking a warrant that would allow them to enter the home.
Garfield Middle School had been on lockdown and Valley High School and Griegos Elementary School were under "shelter-in-place," which is similar to a lockdown except students can move around inside their classrooms and take supervised restroom breaks, the website said.
(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan in Austin, Texas; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Jerry Norton)
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While Samsung's somewhat disputed earnings report has left it on top for the third quarter this year, HTC has also announced record numbers in its Q3 earnings report.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/FmlT6WDpTWc/
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WASHINGTON ? Looking for a big-name speaker?
Now may be the time to send President Barack Obama an invitation, especially if your group represents a key political constituency.
Obama has been making the rounds of Washington's awards dinners and black-tie galas this fall, donning a tuxedo or dark suit and heading to ballrooms across the nation's capital to speak to organizations representing blacks, Hispanics, Jews, women and gays. This weekend, he adds Italian- Americans to that list.
With the 2012 campaign picking up steam and Obama struggling to recapture the enthusiasm of 2008, the president's role as headline speaker has plenty of political undertones. He needs the well-connected, politically active leaders of these groups to help him motivate their members, raise money for his re-election and get people to show up to vote in next year's election.
And the president's remarks give him a chance to address specific criticism from some supporters, and tout lesser-known administration actions that target their needs.
Since September, Obama has been the featured speaker at dinners for the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a forum on American Latino Heritage, and the annual gala for the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group. The president will speak Saturday at a black-tie dinner for the National Italian American Foundation, and in early November, at an awards dinner for the National Women's Law Center. The Union for Reform Judaism also says Obama will speak at its December conference.
Obama is following the path of many of his predecessors, who have also tried to curry favor with influential Washington-based organizations, particularly those with similar political leanings.
The president has also sent out his own invitations, bringing influential constituencies to the White House for Tribal Nations conferences, for Passover Seders, for Iftars.
With a presidential election just about a year away, the outreach to key voting blocs is more critical than ever. The president's approval ratings have dipped into the mid to low forties amid persistently high unemployment. And with sagging enthusiasm among some core supporters, Obama's campaign could face challenges in getting the first-time voters who helped him win the White House, particularly blacks, Hispanics and young people, back to the polls next November.
White House officials won't say exactly how aides decide which events the president attends. But it's little surprise that Obama rarely finds himself in front of anything less than a supportive audience.
The president often shows up just before he's scheduled to speak, and rarely stays for dinner. His speeches, sometimes delivered before a crowd of thousands, pull from his day-to-day messages on the economy and jobs, but are typically tailored to his audience.
During a fiery speech earlier this month at the annual gala for the Human Rights Campaign, Obama heralded his role in ending the military's ban on openly gay service members and his administration's decision to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. He also used the opportunity to jab Republican presidential candidates for failing to stand up for a gay service member who was booed by an audience at a GOP debate.
"You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient," Obama said.
Rich Galen, a Republican strategist, said Obama would be better served spending more time working with Congress to bring down the nation's 9.1 percent unemployment rate than in trying to boost his political base.
"Doing all of these things is doing nothing to foster any meaningful legislation," he said.
White House officials insist the economy, not politics is the president's primary focus. Trying to show action on the economy in any way possible, they've launched a new campaign dubbed "We Can't Wait" to highlight action the president is taking without waiting for Congress.
The White House announced two minor actions Friday, with Obama directing government agencies to shorten the time it takes for federal research to turn into commercial products in the marketplace, and calling for creation of a centralized online site for companies to easily find information on federal services
At a Congressional Hispanic Caucus dinner in September, the president touted the impact the jobs bill he had recently proposed would have for Hispanic workers. But he also took on criticism of his administration's lack of progress on immigration, saying it couldn't all fall on his shoulders.
"We live in a democracy, and at the end of the day, I can't do this all by myself under our democratic system," he said.
The president took a similar approach later that month at the Congressional Black Caucus. Aware of rumblings from some members of the group that he hadn't done enough to address unemployment among African-Americans, Obama told blacks to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.
The president's comments left some at the event a bit unsettled, including Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who said she found the president's language "a bit curious."
Democratic strategist Karen Finney said it's just as important for Obama to trumpet his accomplishments when he meets with supporters as it is to acknowledge the areas where there is frustration.
"I think it takes a certain amount of courage to do that," she said. "He gets a lot of respect for showing up."
.
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The St. Louis Cardinals won a remarkable World Series they weren't even supposed to reach, beating the Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7 on Friday night with another key hit by hometown star David Freese and six gutty innings from Chris Carpenter.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45068534#45068534
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An undated photo released by Henry Fricke shows a sampling of dinosaur teeth from the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. Scientists analyzing 32 teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs found that they migrated from the lowlands to highlands in search of food and water during the late Jurassic period. A new study suggests long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs migrated hundreds of miles to find enough food for their gargantuan appetites. (AP Photo/ Henry Fricke,/Colorado College)
An undated photo released by Henry Fricke shows a sampling of dinosaur teeth from the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. Scientists analyzing 32 teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs found that they migrated from the lowlands to highlands in search of food and water during the late Jurassic period. A new study suggests long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs migrated hundreds of miles to find enough food for their gargantuan appetites. (AP Photo/ Henry Fricke,/Colorado College)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? What did giant plant-munching dinosaurs do when they couldn't find enough to eat in the parched American West? They hit the road. An analysis of fossilized teeth adds further evidence that the long-necked dinosaurs called sauropods ? the largest land creatures ? went on road trips to fill their gargantuan appetites.
Scientists have long theorized that sauropods foraged for precious resources during droughts because of their preserved tracks and long limbs that were "ideal moving machines" and allowed them to cover long distances, said paleobiologist Matthew Bonnan of Western Illinois University.
The latest study is the best evidence yet that at least one kind of sauropod "took to the hills in search of food when times got tough in the lowlands," said paleontologist Kristi Curry Rogers at Macalester College in Minnesota.
The new work, published online Wednesday by the journal Nature, was led by geologist Henry Fricke of Colorado College.
The researchers analyzed 32 sauropod teeth collected in Wyoming and Utah. The teeth came from massive plant-eaters that roamed a semi-arid basin in the American West during the late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago.
The largest sauropods weighed 100 tons and were 120 feet long. The type in the study was smaller ? about 60 feet in length and weighing 25 tons.
Scientists can get a glimpse into the source of the dinosaurs' drinking water by comparing the oxygen preserved in the tooth enamel to that found in ancient sediment.
A chemical analysis showed differences in the teeth and the basin where the dinosaurs were buried, meaning they must have wandered hundreds of miles from the flood plains to the highlands for food and water.
Fricke said the movement appeared to be tied to changing seasons. Sauropods left the basin in the summer for higher elevations ? a trek that took about five months ? and returned in the winter.
In lush times, sauropods would have feasted on a diversity of plants including ferns, horsetails, conifers and moss, said John Foster, a curator at the Museum of Western Colorado, who had no part in the research.
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Online:
Journal: http://www.nature.com/nature
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Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
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ERCIS, Turkey?? Rain and snow on Thursday compounded difficulties for thousands rendered homeless in the powerful earthquake that hit eastern Turkey, and the government said the death toll has gone up to 523.
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The prime minister's center for crisis and emergency management said 1,650 people were injured and 185 were rescued from the rubble.
Meanwhile, a moderate earthquake, measuring 5.4 according to Turkey's Kandilli seismology center, hit the neighboring province of Hakkari, sending people rushing out of buildings in fear and panic. No injuries were immediately reported in that temblor, which was centered some 90 miles south of the epicenter of Sunday's devastating quake.
Story: Teachers, teen pulled from Turkey quake rubbleTurkish authorities delivered more tents after acknowledging initial problems in the distribution of aid for survivors of the 7.2-magnitude quake that shattered at least 2,200 buildings on Sunday.
Survivors pleaded for more tents on Thursday, fearing death from cold in the wake of the tremor.
Some blamed the ruling AK party for a slow response and accused officials of handing aid to supporters, after standing in long lines only to be told there were no tents left. Others said profiteers were hoarding tents and reselling them.
"Everyone is getting sick and wet. We have been waiting in line for four days like this and still nothing. It gets to our turn and they say they have run out," said Fetih Zengin, 38, a real estate agent whose house was badly damaged in Ercis, a town of 100,000 that was hardest hit by Sunday's quake.
"We slept under a piece of plastic erected on some wood boards we found. We have 10 children in our family, they are getting sick. Everyone needs a tent, snow is coming. It's a disaster."
Slideshow: Powerful earthquake strikes Turkey (on this page)Ergun Ozmen, 37, was carrying loaves of bread after queuing for food. "People are taking 10 tents and selling them. It's a disgrace. I slept in the municipal park all night in the rain. My shoes are filled with water. I only registered to get a tent this morning as I have been busy burying the dead," he said.
Foreign assistance began arriving after Turkey said it would accept help to house survivors through the winter. Israel, which has a troubled political relationship with Turkey, sent emergency housing units, blankets and clothing. Germany also dispatched supplies, including tent heating units. Russia and Ukraine also contributed.
Some media reports had said rescuers pulled out a 19-year-old alive from the rubble on Thursday, but Mustafa Ozden, the head of the team that brought out the young man, told The Associated Press that he was rescued on Tuesday, not Thursday.
Rain gave way to intermittent snow, deepening the hardship of thousands of people either rendered homeless in the powerful earthquake or too afraid to return indoors amid aftershocks that continued to rattle the area.
In Ercis, families who managed to obtain tents shared them with others.
Some people spent a fourth night outdoors huddled under blankets in front of campfires. Snow fell overnight in the mountains and many said they feared the onslaught of winter. Occasional scuffles broke out.
Exhausted relatives clung to the hope that loved ones would be found, keeping vigil at the site of their destroyed homes as searches went on for any sign of life.
Overnight, groups of shell-shocked people roamed aimlessly, with no home to go to, huddling around fires as temperatures dropped to freezing. Others congregated in relief camps.
"After 15 days, half of the people here will die, freeze to death," said Orhan Ogunc, a 37-year-old man in Guvencli, a village of some 200 homes deep in the hills between Ercis and the city of Van. His family had a Red Crescent tent, but were sharing it with five other families.
Many mud-brick villages have been devastated, but few are ready to leave their land.
"They say we will get prefabricated houses in one-and-a-half months," said Zeki Yatkin, 46, who lost his father in the quake. "We can't tolerate the cold, but what else can we do?"
Sermin Yildirim, who was eight months pregnant, was with her twins and husband. They shared a tent with a family of four who were distant relatives. Her apartment in a three-story building was not damaged but the family was reluctant to return.
"It's getting colder, my kids are coughing. I don't know how long we will have to stay here," Yildirim said. "We were not able to get a tent. We are waiting to get our own."
Turkey's weather agency predicted intermittent snowfall for the next three days.
More than a dozen television stations organized a joint aid telethon, amassing just under 62 million Turkish Lira ($37 million) in aid for the region.
Searchers sifting through piles of debris recovered more bodies. They included two dead teenage sisters and their parents who were holding hands, and a mother clutching her baby boy, according to media reports.
Two teachers and a university student were rescued from ruined buildings on Wednesday, but there were no signs of survivors elsewhere and excavators were clearing debris from some collapsed buildings.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45057254/ns/world_news-europe/
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Rodgers' recently published memoir, 'Le Freak,' talks about his musical achievements, but it only tells a part of his life story. Like his biological father, Rodgers success as a producer was accompanied by a serious drug addiction. When it got out of control in the early '90s, Rodgers went into rehab and has since become clean and sober for almost 20 years. But then, in October 2010, he revealed he was battling another obstacle: An "aggressive" form of prostate cancer.
In this interview with Spinner, Rodgers talks about the origins of Chic. working with Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran, the cocaine-fueled moment that turned him around and his cancer treatment.
How are you feeling since your cancer surgery?
It's up and down, in and out. It's really weird for me. There's no straight line to recovery and healing. Especially for the first five years, it's sort of an up and down rollercoaster. Right now, you caught me in the middle of a cycle where I had a test a week or a two ago and I haven't gotten the results yet. It's a weird period.
Was the book already in the works when the cancer happened?
You won't believe this. I handed in the book -- it was done. Two days later I get a phone call from my doctor -- I'm on my way to Rome to do a concert. And he tells me to sit down. I said, "I can't sit down I'm late." "You got to sit down because you have very aggressive cancer and we need to discuss your options." It freaked me out but I caught the plane, went to Rome, played a great show and came home and said, "Now what were you saying, doc?"
I'm pretty optimistic. You just don't feel great, especially when you're waiting for test results. Not knowing in a way, that sort of it stinks, but it's easier not knowing because you can project anything you want. And typically I project something really great.
Spiegel & Grau
They absolutely influenced the way that I live my life. The good part of it was that my parents were very open-minded [and] super intellectual. They could see any subject from any point of view, so we can talk, talk, talk. So it was a great environment, but in another ways it was also sad because I was a loner. I was rarely around other kids. So I gravitated towards adults and adult-types of teachings and adult types of entertainment. I loved being into Nina Simone, Clifford Brown, Max Roach and bebop. I liked the fact that we had this sort of hip house.
Your biological father had a profound influence on you, and the parts in the book that mention him are pretty heartbreaking to read.
My biological father was amazing. But he was really strung out on heroin and he was really strung out on love with my mother. My mother just didn't love him. She really liked him a lot because he was a really nice guy and he was generous as he could possibly be with me and everybody else.
Flash forward to when you were in your teens and met Bernard Edwards before Chic happened. What were your early impressions of him?
We met on the telephone [and] we didn't get along at all. In fact he told me to lose his number and to never call him again. And then we met accidentally on a pickup gig, not realizing that we were the same people who had spoken months earlier. When we met at the pickup gig, it was musical love at first sight because he and I were two totally different types of people. I was a complete hippie, skintight jeans with the embroidery and big platform shoes; Bernard was a total R&B guy, dressed very conservatively.
Bernard was a genius. He had this musicality that was just infused in his bone and his whole persona, his whole being. He was able to sort of reel me in and say, "Hey man, with your knowledge, you could be one of the most commercial guys in the world, because not many people know what you know. Now let's put that into practice in a way that the masses can consume it." That's what made our partnership so unique, was because like with any artists, the genius is never in the writing, it's always in the rewriting. So I would give him so much stuff that he'd always say to me me, "Man you got 10 records in here."
I go see Roxy Music and coincidentally they were playing at a place called the Roxy in London. It was the most sophisticated, slick, atmospheric, textural rock 'n' roll that I had ever seen. I remember saying it to Bernard that I had seen a completely immersive artistic experience. I'm like, "Roxy Music, they got this thing, they have chicks on the cover and they're dressed up in high fashion outfits and costumes and it was all hip." I flew home a few days later and we started to put together this concept. We didn't' know what it was going to be, but we needed a starting point. So we started with Roxy Music.
When we hired our keyboard player Rob Sabino, he was good friends with Ace Frehley from Kiss, and this was before Kiss blew up. We would go to these different nightclubs around New York in the early punk scene. We'd see different bands and the one band that was more outstanding than any of the other bands were Kiss. We just thought it was so amazing that they were so anonymous off stage, and on stage they were so recognizable and identifiable. We thought, "Let's mix that with Roxy Music and do it as a black band." We started to dump it out on the table and it looked like this thing called Chic and we just started to cast it.
You later produced David Bowie's 1983 album 'Let's Dance.' It was a partnership that was mutually beneficial: It gave him hit singles and you recovered from a string of less-successful Chic albums.
After 'Good Times,' Chic never had another hit. Even though Atlantic let us finish all the albums on our contract -- that means we did four more albums -- all were flops. Then I meet David Bowie at an after-hours club and we talk and just hit it off. We convinced each other that we were supposed to be working together. He came to my apartment and listened to my solo record, which was a total flop, but he thought it was amazing. And like they say, the rest is history. We worked hard on 'Let's Dance' before we recorded a record. We didn't even write music, we just talked concept. David is a great conceptual guy. And being around him was like being around my parents. They can talk in these abstract terms and you know exactly what they were talking about.
Before you later worked with Madonna on the 'Like a Virgin' album, you first saw her perform as the opening act for Jenny Burton at the Roxy in New York in 1983. As you write in the book, at the time you were intrigued about Madonna but didn't know what to make of her. What turned you around?
Madonna herself. I have never met anyone in my lif -- and this is an absolute statement, so it's almost science -- that was more certain that they were gonna make it and spend more energy devoted to making it than Madonna ever in my life. And I've been around superstars. Nobody under the sun was like Madonna. She was positive and clear and wholly dedicated to achieving everything that she's achieved. And I thought I was positive, I thought that I knew what I wanted to do.
I love Duran Duran. I think that we were the right paring -- it was the right thing at the right time. I don't like to overly take credit for anything, but since they said it first ... When we did 'Notorious' [and] when the two other Taylors [Roger and Andy] left, that's a heavy blow to a band at the top of their career. I think I was the glue that held that together. I used to say to the guys, "People don't realize how great you are because you're still like this boy band and the girls are still talking about your looks, and the music becomes sort of an added bonus. Now it's time to go in the direction where you can become more like a U2 that's really classic and solid artistically. You got to build that foundation and let's take the fans along with us." And that's what the 'Notorious' album was supposed to do.
You had serious drug addiction throughout the years. At one time in Miami, around Madonna' 36th birthday party, you went through a cocaine psychosis because there was a contract out on your life. You write in the book that you armed yourself with a samurai sword and a .45 automatic for protection.
I was on a three-day bender. I hadn't slept at all. By the time I got to Madonna's [party] the next night, I was completely out of control. I was absolutely the last person to leave Madonna's house. [My friends] were carrying me to the Marlin Hotel on South Beach and I slept for about an hour or so. When I woke up, I had my first and only bout of cocaine psychosis. I called my home in New York and heard my answering machine tell me clearly that there was a contract out on my life. Then I went into in this crazy downward spiral for the next two to three hours. I really don't know how long it was, but it felt like an eternity. I was actually hearing voices that were whispering in my ear and they were clear as a bell.
That incident and finding out about Keith Richards' decision to get help for his substance abuse problem convinced you to get treatment.
I was so afraid, I didn't know what to do. I was calling people to come down and rescue me -- a bunch of private detectives I knew who were ex-homicide cops. While I was waiting, I read an article in some magazine where Keith Richards was talking about how he was going to give up drugs because music was more important to him than drugs. I went into rehab and I gave it up. That was more than 17 years ago and I never had another drink or drug since.
Along with the book, are you working on any other projects?
My life is as artistically exciting as it's ever been. You know how when you're writing you get in a zone? I've been in a zone for quite a while now. I've been working on a Broadway show for about the last five years. And notice I call it a Broadway show, even though it's not on Broadway, just because I focus on the end game. We're in the process of being picked up -- we haven't signed the contract yet, so I don't want to make something go wrong. [The] Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where we put up the work in a sort of workshop/reading form this past summer, we got a 20-minute standing ovation. So they're in the process of picking up our option and becoming our partners in this Broadway musical that I have composed called 'Double Time.' It's about a guy named Leonard Harper, who was the first and only African American to bring the Harlem Renaissance revue to Broadway in 1929.
Chic have been nominated several times to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but have yet to be inducted. What are your thoughts on that and do you think you'll get in?
Of course. In my opinion, when we were coming up, it was all rock 'n' roll. In other words, rock 'n' roll was the classification of all of this kind of contemporary pop music and you just figure out what type of rock 'n' roll it was. We weren't doing show music, we weren't doing classical music. We weren't even doing jazz. We were doing this pop thing that was under this broad banner of rock 'n' roll.
We're a funk/R&B band, we're a groove band that other people happened to like and gravitate towards. We were being very opportunistic because we saw that in the discos, they would play music by jazz musicians -- all you had to do was have a great groove. These guys figured out how to get in and so that's what we were. We were these jazz fusion instrumentalists who learned how to write songs.
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Source: http://www.spinner.com/2011/10/25/nile-rodgers-cancer-book/
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