Iraqi killing cases at a glance (AP)

A look at the resolution of charges filed against Marines after the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, in Haditha in 2005, and in other cases in Hamdania and Fallujah.

Haditha:

_Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn. Squad leader, Pleaded guilty Monday to dereliction of duty in a deal that will mean a maximum of three months confinement. Initially charged with unpremeditated murder and other offenses.

_Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz of Chicago. Rifleman. Charge of unpremeditated murder was dismissed after he was given immunity to testify.

_Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt of Canonsburg, Pa. Rifleman. Charge of unpremeditated murder was dismissed.

_Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum of Edmond, Okla. Rifleman. Charges including unpremeditated murder were dropped.

_Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani of Rangely, Colo. Battalion commander. Charges of failing to obey regulations, encompassing counts of failing to report and investigate alleged war crimes, were dismissed after a judge found unlawful command influence occurred while a general was considering a court-martial.

_1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson of Springboro, Ohio. Intelligence officer. Acquitted of making false official statements, trying to fraudulently separate from service and attempt to deceive by making false statements.

_Capt. Randy W. Stone of Dunkirk, Md. Military attorney. Charges of failure to obey orders or regulations, encompassing counts of failing to ensure that a thorough investigation was conducted and reported to headquarters, were dismissed.

_Capt. Lucas M. McConnell of Napa, Calif. Company commander. Charges of failure to obey orders, encompassing two counts of failing to ensure that alleged violations of laws of war were investigated, were dropped.

___

Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman from the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were accused of kidnapping and murdering a man in Hamdania, Iraq, in April 2006.

_Sgt. Lawrence G Hutchins III of Plymouth, Mass., convicted of murder and other offenses, sentenced to 11 years in prison.

_Navy corpsman Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos of Franklin, Wis., pleaded guilty to kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap and making false official statements.

_Marine Lance Cpl. John J. Jodka III of Encinitas, Calif., pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

_Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson of Tracy, Calif., pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

_Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. of Matlock, Wash., pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

_Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington of Mukilteo, Wash., pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy.

_Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda of Manteca, Calif., convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, larceny and housebreaking.

_Cpl. Trent D. Thomas of Madison, Ill., convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder.

___

Three Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division were charged in connection with killing an unarmed Iraqi detainee in November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq.

_Sgt. Ryan Weemer of Hindsboro, Ill., was acquitted of murder and dereliction of duty.

_Sgt. Jermaine Nelson of New York, pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty after the government dropped a murder charge.

_Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario was acquitted in federal court in Riverside, Calif., on counts that included voluntary manslaughter. The squad leader was beyond the reach of a court-martial because he had completed his military obligations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_us/us_marines_haditha_glance

project runway winner hunter s thompson hunter s thompson berkman berkman new beavis and butthead game 7

10 disaster survival tips for pets - Holy Kaw!

After Hurricane Katrina, more than 250,000 pets, including cats, dogs and fish, were left stranded by this storm and the subsequent flooding by owners who thought they would have returned in a few days but were unable to do so.

It's a staggering number, and one that should motivate pet parents to think ahead. Let's look at some of the precautions that can be taken in advance, as well as what to do when time is truly nonexistent and spur-of-the-moment decisions must be made, including:

• Identity Prep: Tags are a great place to start. Also consider implanting a microchip, one of the most reliable methods for recovering a lost or stray pet.
• Home Bunker: Don't wait until the tornado drops down in your backyard; heed the advice of FEMA and bring pets inside as soon as any watches or warnings hit the airwaves.
• S-O-S: Most emergency and rescue organizations strongly urge against ever leaving pets behind during a disaster.

Full list at HowStuffWorks.com.

Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com.

Photo credit: Fotolia

Source: http://holykaw.alltop.com/10-disaster-survival-tips-for-pets

cliff harris josh turner bishop eddie long barnaby barnaby giuliana rancic giuliana rancic

iPhone 4, iPad 2 jailbreak by the numbers

The iPhone Dev Team has shared some numbers on the Absinthe jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad. These are the downloads over the last 3 days.

491,325 new iPhone

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/JMbP7vI0Ytc/story01.htm

lady gaga marry the night video lady gaga marry the night video pac 12 championship game pac 12 championship game bobby valentine bobby valentine al franken

The Nightly Turbo: Tony G Wins Business Award, Zynga Eyes Real ...

January 20 2012, Brett Collson

The race for a real-money online gaming space in the U.S. heated up Friday as Zynga stated it is talking with potential partners about a future venture into Internet gambling. Why the sudden flip-flop, you ask? We'll bring you that story and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

How was the high-stakes action at the PokerStars tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week's biggest winners and losers.

Sen. Harry Reid has been one of the leaders tied to the push for federal online poker in the U.S. But where has he been lately? Matthew Kredell takes a look.

British poker pro Tom Middleton captured a title at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship on Friday. For all the details from Day 9, check out our daily recap from Melbourne.

The weekend is almost here and that means football. Check out our picks for the NFL's Championship Weekend in the latest Pigskin Diaries.

Miss anything this week? We've got you covered. Nicki Pickering and Lynn Gilmartin get you caught up on the latest news, views and gossip in the PokerNews Weekly.

Tony G: International Man of Business

Our very own Tony G crushed the competition this month by winning the Lithuanian Business Lighthouse Award, presented by ekonomika.lt. Tony was one of 44 successful entrepreneurs and businessmen from Lithuania qualified for the award, which was voted on by 8,442 readers.

"I have been involved in a lot of different projects in Lithuania to help create jobs, including TonyResort.lt and TonyBet.com," Tony told PokerNews. "I am humbled and honored to have won the Lithuanian Business Lighthouse Award and I am hoping to be even more involved in my home country in the coming years."

He earned 24 percent of the vote; his closest competitor, Kaunas University of Technology Gymnasium Director Bronislava Burg, received 19 percent of the vote.

Read the full story at ekonomika.lt.

Zynga's Flip-Flop

Is Zynga reversing its position on real-money online gambling? Yes, one company spokesperson told All Things D on Friday.

It appears Zynga has a sudden interest in the real-money space and is speaking with several potential partners about a shift into the market if legislation is passed in the U.S.

?We build games and experiences that our players want and love. Zynga Poker is the world?s largest online poker game with more than 7 million people playing every day and over 30 million each month," the spokesperson said.

"We know from listening to our players that there?s an interest in the real money gambling market. We?re in active conversations with potential partners to better understand and explore this new opportunity.?

Read more at PokerNews.com.

PartyGaming Named in MegaUpload Indictment

The fight to protect intellectual property continued Thursday when online file-sharing site MegaUpload.com and sister site MegaVideo.com were shut down by federal authorities.

The federal indictment showed that the site's owner, Kim Dotcom (yes, that's his name), made $42 million last year by hosting illegal copies of popular films and television shows. The indictment also shows that some of that money came from PartyGaming, the parent company of online poker site PartyPoker.

Financial Times reports that PartyGaming was a major advertiser for the site, paying more than $3 million for online ads which users had to view before watching a video. MegaUpload also had ad contracts with companies such as Google AdSense and adBrite.

The indictment can be found at sribd.com.

PokerStars TCOOP Under Way

The inaugural PokerStars Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) kicked off Thursday with four events on Day 1. The site shattered each of its guarantees, handing out more than $2 million across the four fast-paced tournaments. Here's a quick look at the results:

Event #1: No Limit Hold'em Six-Max ($200K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$20+2	44,787	$895,740

The first event on the schedule attracted an astounding 44,787 players, generating a prize pool of nearly $900,000. Brandon "oncommand" Meyers headlined the final table, but the poker pro fell short of the title in fifth place. The remaining four players agreed on a deal, and Canada's "88Xin88" went on to become the first champion in TCOOP history, collecting $67,903.

Event #2: No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo ($50K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$30+3	4,337	$130,110

The first non-hold'em event on the slate drew 4,337 players, more than doubling the guaranteed prize pool. Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp made a deep run, finishing in seventh, and Russia's "gazon7" claimed the title for $15,618 after a three-way chop.

Event #3: No Limit Hold'em Knockout ($250K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$100+25+9	5,561	$556,100+$139,025

Uraguay's Fabrizio "SixthSense19" Gonzalez claimed victory in the richest tournament of Day 1. The $134 knockout event attracted a field of 5,561 players, creating a prize pool of $556,100 and a bounty pool of $139,025. Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger was ousted from the final table in ninth place, and Gonzalez went on to win the tournament for $86,994.

Event #4: No Limit Hold'em ($100K Guaranteed)

Buy-in	Entrants	Prize Pool
$30+3	9,877	$ $296,310

The last tourney on Thursday was the $33 no-limit hold'em freezeout. It took only five hours to crown the U.K.'s "Mongy" as the champion. He collected $23,134 after a six-way deal at the final table.

For more details on each event, check out the PokerStars Blog.

The SportMoose Round-up

On Thursday, the sports world was sad to learn that action sports star Sarah Burke passed away from injuries incurred during a skiing accident on Jan. 10, 2012. Burke was a pioneer in the sport and won gold medals at the Winter X-Games in four of the past five years.

SportMoose.com reports that Burke, 29, crashed during a training run in Park City, Utah. Tests revealed she suffered ?irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest.?

For more on Burke and other big news stories in the sports world, check out SportMoose.com. The site also has the latest odds on up to 20 sports and reviews for a number of online sports books.

Randy Couture's Charity Poker Tournament

Mixed martial arts legend Randy Couture hosted the fourth annual Operation All In charity poker tournament last Saturday. The event drew several of the top MMA fighters in the world and raised money for the Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation for injured troops.

MMA30 was at the Golden Nugget to speak with Couture and others in attendance:

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

Follow Brett Collson on

Comments

Source: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2012/01/nightly-turbo-tony-g-wins-business-award-zynga-real-money-11853.htm

amy schumer ascii art ascii art andrew mason once in a blue moon gwar guitarist gwar guitarist

Official: At least 143 killed in Nigeria attacks (AP)

KANO, Nigeria ? Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 143 people in north Nigeria's largest city, a hospital official said Saturday, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city.

Soldiers and police officers swarmed over streets Saturday in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious hub in Nigeria's Muslim north. But their effectiveness remains in question, as the uniformed bodies of many of their colleagues lay in the overflowing mortuary of Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano's largest hospital.

A hospital official there said at least 143 people died in the attacks Friday. The count included some bodies already claimed by families for immediate burial per Islamic law, the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to disclose the figure to journalists.

Other bodies could be lying at other clinics and hospitals in the city.

In a statement issued late Friday, federal police spokesman Olusola Amore said attackers targeted five police buildings, two immigration offices and the local headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria's secret police.

Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said volunteers offered first aid to the wounded, and evacuated those seriously injured to local hospitals. He said officials continued to collect corpses scattered around sites of the attacks. A survey of two hospitals by the Red Cross showed at least 50 people were injured in Friday's attack, he said.

State authorities declared a 24-hour curfew late Friday as residents hid inside their homes amid the fighting.

A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists. He said the attack came as the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 219 killings, according to an AP count.

The sect's targets have included both Muslims and Christians. However, the group has begun specifically targeting Christians after promising it will kill any Christians living in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north. That has further inflamed religious and ethnic tensions in Nigeria, which has seen ethnic violence kill thousands in recent years along the divide between the north and the largely Christian south.

Friday's attacks also could cause more unrest, as violence in Kano has set off attacks throughout the north in the past, including postelection violence in April that saw 800 people killed. Kano, an ancient city, remains important in the history of Islam in Nigeria and has important religious figures there today.

Amid the recent unrest and attacks, at least two journalists have been killed in Nigeria. Journalist Enenche Akogwu, who worked as a correspondent in Kano for private news station Channels Television, was shot and killed Friday while reporting on the attacks, colleagues said. In central Nigeria's city of Jos, Nansok Sallah, a news editor for a government-owned radio station called Highland FM, was found dead in a shallow stream Thursday, the victim of an apparent murder, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

___

Associated Press writer Salisu Rabiu in Kano, Nigeria contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

j. cole joe namath austin weather lisa vanderpump pef pef the perfect storm

Study: Algebra iPad app garners higher math scores over traditional textbooks (Digital Trends)

Technology and mobile computing, while not necessarily a panacea, may be a valuable asset to the future of education. At least, that seems to be the conclusion of a yearlong Algebra pilot program conducted by educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in partnership with California?s Riverside, San Francisco, Long Beach, and Fresno Unified School Districts

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt?s new app, Holt McDougal Algebra 1, is the focus of the study which is designed to track how well the app users do when compared to students using the traditional Holt McDougal Algebra 1 textbook. The study involves 1,000 students: 400 receiving instruction using iPads, and 600 sticking with traditional textbooks. Third-party research firm Empirical Education was put in charge of evaluating the results of the pilot program, and will be delivering the complete data by the summer.

The data so far seems promising for the Algebra 1 iPad app, when looking at the students at the Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside, California. Two teachers from the school, Jackie Davis and Dan Sbur, randomly had one of their Algebra sections selected to study with the app, while the other classes used the textbook. During the second trimester of the 2010-2011 school year, the app-wielding students typically scored 10 points higher than their peers. Results then jumped once the California Standards Test came around in spring 2011. More than 78 percent of those using the Algebra 1 app scored Proficient or Advanced on the test, while the traditional textbook users at the school scored 59 percent.

Those chosen for the program were allowed to take the tablets home with them, and personalize the apps with their own music and apps; they were even allowed to use the WiFi during and after school for personal as well as educational use. Dan Sbur, one of the two math teachers chosen, said, ???The app was great! Students were motived and more in charge of their own learning.??

The study?s announcement comes at the heels of Apple?s iBooks 2 announcement this week in New York, with most books priced at $15 or less. HMH says they currently make apps exclusively for the iPad, but would of course need to rethink that plan if school districts decided to adopt Android-powered tablets.

Via KQED

?

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

Apple boldly reinvents the school textbook with iBooks 2 and iTunes U, but will educators bite?

No, Apple is not trying to ?destroy? the textbook industry ? it?s trying to sell more iPads

Apple releases 2012 ?responsibility report,? includes full list of suppliers for first time

iPad 3 production already underway: March launch likely

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120120/tc_digitaltrends/studyalgebraipadappgarnershighermathscoresovertraditionaltextbooks

apple news apple iphone apple iphone chris christie cnet tampa bay rays netanyahu

ScienceOnline2012 Art Show!

By Glendon Mellow?| January 20, 2012 |??

Share ?Email

---

This show couldn?t have come about without the hard work of Karyn Traphagen and the support of Rob R Dunn?s Your Wild Life Lab and all the amazing submissions we received.

More about the show and #scio12 in coming days! ?Keep watching Glendon?s Twitter feed and the Symbiartic Twitter feed.

About the Author: Glendon Mellow is a fine artist and illustrator inspired by evolutionary biology working in oil and digital media. You can see his portfolio at glendonmellow.com and at The Flying Trilobite blog. Follow him solo at @flyingtrilobite and with co-blogger Kalliopi Monoyios at @symbiartic. Follow on Twitter @symbiartic.

More??

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

---

---

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=84ce612149951af4fddb21e6e540d077

olin kreutz au pair au pair trinidad trinidad jeff bezos slither

Sony to move lithium battery assembly abroad: report (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's Sony Corp will transfer domestic construction of lithium ion batteries used in products like mobile phones and electric cars overseas by March 2014, as it works to overcome the strong yen, the Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday.

The consumer electronics giant will move the assembling of the batteries to factories in China and Singapore, but continue producing the parts needed for production in Japan, the national daily said, without citing sources.

As part of the move, Sony plans to convert its Tochigi Prefecture lithium ion battery factory into a research facility and is considering asking about 500 workers to apply for job reshuffling or voluntary retirement, the paper added.

Sony also has two lithium ion battery factories in Fukushima Prefecture, located in Eastern Japan.

The move comes as rival consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp is working to lift its production of lithium ion batteries in China as it cuts back on domestic production.

Japanese firms were long the dominant producers of lithium ion batteries, but have lost the lead to South Korean makers such as Samsung SDI Co.

The historically strong yen, which makes goods from Japanese exporters' more expensive overseas, has also pressured firms to shift manufacturing capacity abroad.

Sony, which saw its debt ratings downgraded by Moody's on Friday, is expected to post on February 2 a fall in earnings for the October-December quarter, due to the strong yen, weak consumer sentiment in Europe and the effects on their operations of flooding in Thailand.

(Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Alison Birrane)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/tc_nm/us_sony_lithium

fleet week scarecrow festival scarecrow festival oklahoma state football oklahoma state football case mccoy case mccoy

Video: GOP race starts to fall apart

NYT: New autism definition may exclude many

Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and may make it harder for many to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46063004#46063004

seattle times seattle times colbert super pac colbert super pac censor pipa and sopa walker recall

WithDrake: Reuters social media editor and all around good guy @antderosa doing some navel @ Stanford University Bookstore http://t.co/PjOKnxAq

• Passer la navigation
• Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
• Passer cette ?tape
• Connexion

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

Reuters social media editor and all around good guy @antderosa doing some navel @ Stanford University Bookstore instagr.am/p/iNsD_/ Il y a environ 3 heures via Instagram from Stanford, CA??

WithDrake

Drake Martinet

Pied de page

• ? 2012 Twitter
• ? propos de nous
• Contact
• Blog
• Statut
• Ressources
• API
• Entreprises
• Aide
• Offres d'emploi
• Conditions
• Confidentialit?

Source: http://twitter.com/WithDrake/statuses/159509413265281024

eat to live ron paul money bomb ron paul money bomb bon vivant zynga ipo zynga ipo joe arpaio

Toddler's cuss word on 'Modern Family' draws ire (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? An anti-profanity crusader has asked the ABC television network to pull this week's "Modern Family" episode in which a toddler appears to use a bleeped curse word.

"Our main goal is to stop this from happening," McKay Hatch, an 18-year-old college student who founded the No Cussing Club in 2007, said Tuesday. "If we don't, at least ABC knows that people all over the world don't want to have a 2-year-old saying the 'F-bomb' on TV."

"We hope they know better," said Hatch. He's asking his club's members, whom he said number 35,000 in the United States and about three-dozen other countries, to complain to ABC.

ABC has yet to respond, he said Tuesday. The network had no comment, a spokeswoman said.

In the episode titled "Little Bo Bleep" airing on Wednesday night, 2-year-old Lily shocks parents Mitchell and Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet) with her first expletive.

The dads, who are preparing Lily to serve as flower girl in a wedding, now have an added parenting challenge.

The tot is played by Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who says the word "fudge" during taping. It will be bleeped on the air and her mouth will be obscured by pixilation, and viewers will get the impression that her character used the actual F-word.

Steven Levitan, creator and executive producer of the TV comedy with Christopher Lloyd, told the Television Critics Association last week that he's "proud and excited" about the obscenity plotline that ABC was persuaded to allow.

"We thought it was a very natural story since, as parents, we've all been through this," Levitan said to EW.com. "We are not a sexually charged show. It has a very warm tone so people accept it more. I'm sure we'll have some detractors."

The program, which won the Emmy Award for best comedy last fall, was named best musical or comedy series at Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony.

Hatch, who is from South Pasadena, California, and attends Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho, said he began his anti-profanity club in 2007 when he noticed how rampant cursing was at his school and how it was linked to bullying.

"If kids are accountable for their choices, then adults should be as well," and that includes media, he said.

TV profanity was an issue before the U.S. Supreme Court last week, which heard arguments about whether regulating curse words and nudity on broadcast stations is sensible when cable and satellite services offer channels with few restrictions. A decision is expected by late June.

___

Online:

http://www.abc.go.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_toddlers_cuss_word_modern_family_draws_ire024407751/44212423/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/toddlers-cuss-word-modern-family-draws-ire-024407751.html

gloria cain gloria cain kandi burruss occupy portland occupy portland the hunger games neil degrasse tyson

House passes symbolic measure against debt hike (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The GOP-controlled House on Wednesday kicked off another session with a protest vote against raising the government's borrowing cap by $1.2 trillion, but the maneuver amounted to political theater under a process stacked on purpose in President Barack Obama's favor.

The nearly party-line 239-176 vote puts the House on record against Obama's use of unprecedented authority ? awarded to him through a mechanism devised by the Senate's top Republican ? to unilaterally raise the so-called debt limit unless Congress can muster the votes to block him.

The Senate is sure to kill the measure next week, and Obama's veto power serves as a final guarantee that the increase will go through as intended and that the nation won't face another debt crisis like last summer.

The political dance choreographed under last summer's Budget Control Act was designed to permit lawmakers, mostly Republicans, to vote against debt increases but not actually block them ? and provoke a first-ever, market-rattling default on U.S. government obligations.

The debate offered tea party-backed GOP freshmen an almost three-hour opportunity before C-Span cameras to cast blame on the White House and Democratically controlled Senate for the nation's fiscal ills. The national debt has skyrocketed during Obama's first term ? from $10.6 trillion on Inauguration Day to $15.2 trillion today. Much of the blame lies with the deep recession Obama inherited, which made revenues plummet, but almost $1 trillion of the increase can be attributed to Obama's 2009 deficit-financed economic stimulus bill.

"Instead of giving the President more power to spend money we do not have, Congress should work together to find ways to cut spending and put America back on a path to fiscal responsibility," said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.

"Today's vote will clearly show the American people who in this chamber want to further grow the size of government, let it intrude further into the private sector, and give more power Washington bureaucrats to meddle in the everyday lives of American citizens," said Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill. "And in contrast, it will show those of us who believe that a smaller government increases our constituents' liberty."

Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado said that under last year's nonbinding House GOP budget plan, the national debt would have risen by more than $5 trillion over the coming decade anyway. And he pointed out that the new borrowing authority is needed to pay for a $1 trillion-plus omnibus spending bill that many Republicans supported just last month.

"We're here playing a counter-productive and absurd game," Polis said.

"Let's be honest with the American people," said Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. "We've all incurred a debt. We all spent the money. We drove on the roads. We were defended abroad. We invested in health care research. We all incurred these debts."

Even one GOP veteran said Wednesday's debate was a futile exercise, given how the August debt pact intentionally stacked the cards in Obama's favor.

"We have, in effect, given the president of the United States the ability to raise the debt ceiling without us ... having any control whatsoever," said veteran Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "We gave the president carte blanche and it's dead wrong."

Conservative groups weren't joining in the GOP pep rally. The Club for Growth, which raises campaign cash for free-market conservative candidates, issued a half-dozen "Debt Hypocrisy Alerts" blasting lawmakers like Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, Tom Rooney, R-Fla., and Tom Reed, R-N.Y., for touting their support for Wednesday's measure after voting to increase the debt limit last summer.

Democrats went through the motions as well, arguing against a measure that they know isn't going anywhere.

"They're playing with fire and that's reckless. They know that others will put out the fire. And we'll vote, many of us, to do that today, and if we don't succeed, the Senate will do so," said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich. "This, I think, is worse than a charade because it really assumes that the agenda of this congress should essentially be a kind of a plaything."

The House passed a similar resolution in September after Obama used his authority to raise the debt cap by $500 billion.

Last year's debt agreement permits a total debt limit increase of $2.1 trillion in exchange for an equivalent amount in spending cuts, which would be spread out over the coming decade. The first $900 billion comes from caps on the day-to-day operations of federal agencies.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_debt

saturday night live aortic aneurysm syracuse basketball minnesota timberwolves jr martinez melasma jimmy rollins

Money man in U.S. online poker case admits fraud (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? A man accused of processing payments to help online poker websites avoid U.S. gambling laws pleaded guilty on Tuesday to fraud charges.

Ira Rubin, 53, had been charged by federal prosecutors in April as part of a broad crackdown on Internet gambling in the United States, where it has been illegal since 2006.

The owners of the largest online poker companies operating in the United States were also charged as part of the probe, and the domain names Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were seized.

Rubin pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court to one count of breaking U.S. laws against Internet gambling and one count each of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and to participating in a money laundering conspiracy.

He admitted to being a so-called payment processor for the poker operators, who set up fake companies to deceive U.S. banks into transferring gambling proceeds.

"So, the money came from unlawful Internet gambling," asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein.

"Yes, your honor," said Rubin, who was dressed in beige prison garb.

U.S. prosecutors recommended an 18-to-24-month prison term, much less than the 30-year maximum sentence one of the charges carries. Rubin is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees the overall case, on May 17.

Absolute Poker co-owner Brent Beckley also pleaded guilty last month to similar charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown told the judge on Tuesday that Rubin had helped transfer tens of millions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds to accounts belonging to the three poker companies.

The government said Rubin lived in Costa Rica for years to avoid a telemarketing fraud charge.

Lawmakers have tried in the past to pass legislation legalizing Internet gambling, which could generate billions of dollars in annual tax revenue.

The case is USA v Tzvetkoff et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 10-00336.

(Reporting Basil Katz; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/wr_nm/us_poker_fraud

terry jones andy reid elf on the shelf elf on the shelf barney frank barney frank 2012 grammy nominations

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman Will Endorse Romney (ContributorNetwork)

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he plans to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the near future, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Although Portman insists he is not interested in garnering the vice presidential nod, he was on the shortlist for the second spot on the ticket four years ago, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Ohioans shared their thoughts about Romney, the primary process and Portman's possible vice presidential nomination via email, instant messaging and Twitter.

* "I don't understand why newspapers and news shows get so excited about endorsements. I really don't think they have any impact on how people vote at all. Portman has done a good job representing Ohio, but I really don't care which candidate he is voting for in the race. Romney is barely a conservative, our choices are very poor this year, a time when we need a strong leader more than ever." -- Don Withers, architect, Cincinnati.

* "The primary system is antiquated and flawed. Every American does not get the same chance to pick the nominee. The way it is set up now, people in Iowa and (New Hampshire) have a far stronger influence on the process than folks in other states. There was a time when months between votes were necessary for candidates to travel the country and share their views with voters. That time has long since passed. A single day to vote on the first round of candidates and then a run-off race six months later is a far better idea. Or at least separate the country into geographic quarters and just hold four votes during the same month." -- Marla Peters, fashion designer, Canton.

* "The Republicans do not like Romney but are willing to support him as a supposed centrist candidate to run against our president. They will have a hard time convincing liberals that Romney can do a better job than President Obama. Our president inherited a horrible economy and has begun to turn it around, ended two wars and killed our worst enemy." -- Matt Wayne, Ohio University student, Athens.

* "I don't think that Portman will be on the Republican ticket as the potential vice president. It would be smart to include someone from Ohio, but the nominee will most likely choose one of the other candidates who polled well during the primary. I sure wish that Chris Christie has chosen to run or that Rick Perry had not stumbled so often during the debates. That way we could have a real conservative choice in the race. Ron Paul is correct on a lot of issues, but is so very out-there on others that he does not have a real chance." -- Jim Brendon, small business owner, Dayton.

* "The most important thing about the 2012 election is sending Obama packing. Romney is not my first or even second choice. Every quality Republican elected official can offer him endorsements, but that will not make his candidacy any easier to swallow. Rick Perry was the shining star of the group, until he flubbed the debates. By the time it gets to our time to vote, there probably won't be but two candidates even left on the ballot, just like last time." -- Stacy Brown, physician assistant, Lancaster.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politicsopinion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120116/cm_ac/10841449_ohio_sen_rob_portman_will_endorse_romney

denver nuggets chris hansen ehlers danlos syndrome band of brothers the closer michael turner split pea soup

Source: Rihanna Totally Wants Chris Brown Back!

Rihanna and ex-boyfriend Chris Brown have not only let bygones be bygones, she is actively looking to win him back! According to a tabloid source, anyway.

Publicly, they are expected to come face to face at the Grammys on February 12, but sources say that the former couple is already spending time together!

"Not only has she initiated a Twitter conversation with Chris for all to see, but she has gone to see him," an insider close to Chris dishes to Life & Style.

Of Rihanna, the source adds: "She stopped by Chris' studio to see him recently - twice. She's also calling and texting him a lot. She won't let go."

Rihanna, 23, ended their relationship in early 2009 for obvious reasons after Chris Brown, 22, was charged with assaulting her after a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Time has healed those wounds - physical and otherwise - however. This latest report is the latest of several suggesting Rihanna and Chris may get back together.

"She's trying to break up Chris and his girlfriend, [Karrueche Tran]," says the source. "Chris is happy, but Rihanna keeps playing her games to make trouble."

"It's really become an issue lately."

Chris and Karrueche Tran have reportedly been dating since 2010. Rih dated Matt Kemp for a year and has been linked to a host of others, but not seriously.

What do you think: Should Rihanna and Chris get back together?

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/source-rihanna-totally-wants-chris-brown-back/

gwar san diego weather tropic thunder justin bieber baby justin bieber baby credit unions tower heist reviews

This 7-Inch Asus Tablet Has Tegra 3 Power for Nearly Kindle Fire Prices [Nvidia]

There aren't a lot of secrets left about Nvidia's Tegra 3 quad-core mobile guts; after all, it's already been on shelves in the Transformer Prime for weeks. In fact, the only question left has been what other devices we'll see it in. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Upoe7zA5IqI/this-7+inch-asus-tablet-has-tegra-3-power-and-a-250-price-tag

wayne gretzky occupy los angeles occupy los angeles comedian patrice o neal occupy philadelphia occupy philadelphia conrad murray

TODAY marks 60th with anchor homecoming

By Steve Veres, Editor for TODAY.com

With a ceremony fitting a diamond anniversary, TODAY toasted six decades on the air with an anchor homecoming that brought current and former hosts together.

After 60 years, at least two things haven't changed at TODAY: We're still live from Rockefeller Center and aiming to uphold the vision of our first anchor Dave Garroway, who wanted to "put you more closely in touch with the world we live in."

Charles Sykes/NBC

Check out how America salutes their favorite morning news program

"Essentially, the program has remained the same. And that is you get up to find out if the world is still there. Is everything OK?" Barbara Walters said. "We're the people you trust."

TODAY nodded to our history by staging a scene straight out of 1952 on New York City's 49th street. The screen went black and white as a stand-in Dave Garroway broadcast from the "Window of the World." Staffers dressed in period costume looked on, and from the crowd came Matt Lauer to introduce the big reunion.

The Look:?Rainbow bright: Ann wears a TODAY anniversary dress

Hugh Downs, Barbara Walters, Jim Hartz, Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel, Willard Scott, Deborah Norville, Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, all gathered in Studio 1A to share their stories.

Several former TODAY Girls also joined the broadcast, including Florence Henderson, Estelle Parsons, Lee Meriwether, Robbin Bain Gaudieri and Beryl Pfizer. And in another memorable moment, the TODAY news readers reunited at the news desk.?

"We have more anchors than the Sixth Fleet!" Ann Curry joked. "Boy, after the week we've had celebrating, I feel like 60," said 54-year-old Matt Lauer.?

Matt, Ann and the whole crew also wished other living co-anchors Gene Shalit and?Joe Garagiola well, saying they were both?sorely missed at the festivities.?

During an interview with all of the past anchors, they recalled witnessing more than half a century's most important and influential news events.?

Katie remembered her reports from the Columbine shooting, while Meredith talked about covering the attack at Virginia Tech.

allDAY:?6 iconic TODAY moments for our 60th anniversary

"We had been to a candle-light vigil during the evening, and one of the students came up to me and he said to me, 'Can I just get a hug?'" Meredith said. "This show was sort of a surrogate mom to him. We were his family."

The moment turned more reflective as the past anchors recounted their time on the broadcast.

"The genius of Pat Weaver when he first started this is still true today," Brokaw said. "It is the electronic breakfast table. It is the great national morning newspaper."

Matt asked each to name the broadcast icon they watched before joining the show. And several named Garroway as their?inspiration.

allDAY: 60th anniversary draws Linny, some special fans to plaza

"I admired that his approach was so easy going and so ad-libbed, literally. It was so new then," Hugh Downs said. "Garroway was a model."

Watch the full?round table in video below:

Tom Hanks, who has been a guest on the show 22 times, wheeled out a giant cake for the champagne toast.?

"The only reason I pushed out the cake was that the trainer didn't have enough time with J. Fred Muggs," Tom joked about our former chimpanzee anchor.?

The first family, national landmarks and celebrities also toasted the show's celebration.

---

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama saluted the broadcast in a special message.

"Over decades and across generations, the TODAY show has become a part of American culture," said the president. "We know you'll have many more years of success," Michelle added.?

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed January 13 "TODAY Show Day." "This show I think sets the standards for a lot of other television," he said. "And you should be very proud and all of the people that have worked here over the years."?

Anthony Quintano / NBC News

The Empire State Building lights up in TODAY colors.

National landmarks across the U.S. marked the occasion Thursday night and Friday morning. The Empire State Building lit up in red, yellow and orange ? the first time it has ever been illuminated for a television show ??while Niagara Falls glowed with TODAY hues.

A New York Fire Department fireboat spouted orange-colored water in front of the Statue of Liberty, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the Cira Centre in Philadelphia saluted TODAY, and the Goodyear Blimp congratulated the show with a special message while flying over the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles.

allDAY: Behind-the-scenes images from TODAY's anchor photo booth

Throughout the week, celebrities including Justin Timberlake, Bill Cosby and Justin Bieber have been wishing TODAY well.?

TODAY.com also revealed your favorite moment on the show from the past 60 years: Matt's first Where in the World reveal from Egypt.?

Wish the broadcast a happy anniversary in the comments, and tell us your favorite moment from the eventful day!

More TODAY at 60 content:
TODAY at 60 quiz: Test your knowledge of our broadcast
Watch archival video at our TODAY at 60 online experience
Find all of the TODAY at 60 content on the allDAY blog?
Landmarks salute TODAY's 60th anniversary after dark
Don't miss a moment: How, when and where you watch TODAY

Steve Veres is an editor for TODAY.com. He wishes he looks as good as TODAY does for his 60th anniversary!?

Source: http://allday.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10147682-today-marks-60th-with-an-anchor-homecoming

ali fedotowsky ali fedotowsky krill oil krill oil black friday 2011 rhodium uppity

Les Miles Named Coach Of The Year

NEW ORLEANS -- Les Miles came out a winner even before LSU faced Alabama in Monday night's BCS title game.

Miles won the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award for the Football Bowl Subdivision after he led the top-ranked Tigers to a perfect regular-season record and an SEC championship.

Miles was busy preparing his team for the No. 2 Crimson Tide, but said in a video recorded Sunday that he was honored to receive the award, which is given to the coach who is voted the best example of sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence on and off the field.

Montana State's Rob Ash was honored in the Football Championship Subdivision, Pittsburg State's Tim Beck in Division II and St. Thomas' Glenn Caruso in Division III.

"It's a tremendous award and could not have been achieved in any way without the efforts of many others," Miles said. "My football team works hard on the field and in the classroom, my coaching staff puts in long hours, and I represent a great institution at LSU."

Winners were chosen through a combination of fan voting and ballots cast by members of the College Football Hall of Fame, coaches and the media. Each coach received a $50,000 charitable donation from Liberty Mutual and a $20,000 scholarship award to their school's alumni association.

Auburn's Gene Chizik won the award last year shortly before his team won the national title.

"A long time ago when I played, we didn't get out in the community enough," said Archie Manning, who presented the awards as chairman of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. "Now there's these organized events where football players and teams get out in the community and get involved, and it's really special."

Ash led Montana State to a 10-3 record and its second straight playoff berth this season, along with supporting Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the United Way and other nonprofit organizations.

Beck helped Pittsburg State to a 13-1 record and its first national championship in 20 years in just his second season as head coach. The longtime assistant is also involved in fundraising efforts for aplastic anemia and a local program called "Angels Among Us."

Caruso became the first two-time winner of the award after taking St. Thomas to the Division III semifinals. He's also the founder of "Bucky's Pride," which supports families of children fighting cancer and blood diseases, and a program to raise funds for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

"As I get older, I realize the community and environment that one lives in has such a huge effect on how one does his job, and I'm certainly no exception to that," he said. "It's always been about the kids, and the opportunity to add value to their lives in some shape or form."

'; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/lsu-vs-alabama-les-miles-coach-of-year-college-liberty_n_1195168.html

colton harris moore hurd hurd christopher hitchens ron paul 2012 zynga stock zynga stock

Shebas07: RT @jeve30: luis miguel llanos, quien mato a dos delincuentes, fue detenido por la policia por noacudir a las citaciones por una denunc ...

luis miguel llanos, quien mato a dos delincuentes, fue detenido por la policia por noacudir a las citaciones por una denuncia de agresion.. Il y a environ 17 heures via TweetDeck

Source: http://twitter.com/Shebas07/statuses/156549472866938880

time magazine person of the year 2011 good morning america new orleans jazz fest new orleans jazz fest dwight howard louis ck michelle duggar

7 burned fishermen to be flown from Antarctica (AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ? Rescue officials say a U.S. Air Force plane will airlift seven crewmen who received burns in a raging fire on their South Korean fishing vessel near Antarctica. Three other crewmen died in the blaze.

They say the plane will leave New Zealand on Thursday and fly to Antarctica to pick up the four Vietnamese and three Indonesian crew.

The fire began in the living quarters of the Jung Woo 2 on Wednesday and quickly spread. Thirty-seven crew members were rescued, including the seven who were injured. Two were severely burned and were initially unconscious.

The injured crewmen are currently aboard an Antarctic-bound U.S. research vessel. The fishing boat, which is still burning, is to be towed away from Antarctica to minimize the impact on the environment.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oceania/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120112/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_fishing_fire

kobe bryant wife bonjovi dead amber portwood sam shepard sam shepard san francisco 49ers san francisco 49ers

Bumpy earnings season ahead for banks (AP)

NEW YORK ? You can usually tell a lot about the health of the U.S. economy by looking at the financial results of banks. They're the people who finance new factories, plant expansions and fatter payrolls.

But don't count on that over the next two weeks, when banks report their results from the last three months of the year.

Americans ran up credit card balances, businesses borrowed more, and historically low mortgage rates encouraged people to refinance mortgages. All good for the economy, and for banks, too.

But the banks took a hit because the European debt crisis made stock and bond markets jumpy.

A rule restricting debit card fees that took effect Oct. 1 will take another bite out of revenue, as will an obscure accounting rule that requires banks to take a loss when the value of their debt rises.

JPMorgan Chase will be the first major bank to report results Friday, followed by Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley next week.

Wells Fargo, the only major commercial bank without a large investment banking division, is expected to come out ahead of its peers Citi and JPMorgan. Traditional investment banks Goldman and Morgan probably found it hard to escape a hit to the bottom line because of market volatility.

Big banks are under pressure from international regulators to hold on to more cash and reduce riskier lending so they can weather sharp economic downturns or a financial crisis.

On Monday, the 19 largest U.S. banks submitted to their annual stress test, with results due in March. The Federal Reserve will determine whether they have enough cash and cash-like securities on their balance sheets to offset potential losses from risky loans. The Fed can order unhealthy banks to raise more cash or preserve some by not paying dividends.

Moshe Orenbuch, a bank analyst for Credit Suisse, says American banks have become resilient and expects all the banks to pass their stress tests this year. Orenbuch expects both JPMorgan and Citi to increase their dividends later this year.

Banks brought in $13.9 billion in investment banking revenue, down 37 percent from the year before and the lowest since the first quarter of 2009, the depths of the financial crisis, according to Dealogic, a provider of financial data.

Weaker investment banking results should also mean smaller bonuses for Wall Street bankers, something investors ? not to mention Occupy protesters and political scientists ? will watch closely.

Also hurting the banks' bottom line, a law championed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., caps the amount banks can charge stores for debit card transactions at 24 cents. Before the law, the average debit card transaction netted the bank 44 cents.

Major banks also had planned to impose debit card fees ? as much as $5 per month from Bank of America. They backpedaled after a public backlash, but it will hurt quarterly earnings. Bank of America expects $475 million in lost revenue, JPMorgan $300 million and Wells Fargo $250 million.

Banks will also take a loss from an accounting rule that applies to the value of their own corporate debt. If the value of debt they have issued rises, it would cost the banks more to buy back that debt in theory. Corporate debt prices bounced back late last year after falling in the summer, when one agency stripped the United States of its top-notch credit rating.

Here's what to expect as the major banks report. Expectations are compiled from analysts surveyed by FactSet, another data provider.

JPMORGAN CHASE

Reports: Friday.

Forecast: Profit of 93 cents per share on revenue of $23 billion.

What to watch for: JPMorgan is considered the strongest and most stable of the major banks. But JPMorgan and other banks are being forced to repurchase soured loans that government agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought from them during the real estate boom. David Konrad, analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, expects the bank to get hit by higher costs from the buybacks.

CITIGROUP

Reports: Tuesday.

Forecast: Profit of 62 cents per share on revenue of $18.6 billion.

What to watch for: Mike Mayo, a bank analyst at the brokerage CLSA and author of the book "Exile on Wall Street," says Citi's results will be hurt by a $400 million charge related to 4,500 job cuts and a $300 million tax-related charge in Japan.

WELLS FARGO

Reports: Tuesday.

Forecast: Profit of 72 cents per share on revenue of $20 billion.

What to watch for: Wells is one of the largest issuers of home mortgages in the country, and will probably benefit from lower mortgage rates.

GOLDMAN SACHS

Reports: Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Forecast: Profit of $1.45 per share on revenue of $6.8 billion.

What to watch for: Goldman lost money from July through September, only its second quarterly loss since going public in 1999. Investors worry that Goldman's heyday, when it made big gains on bold trades, is over. Howard Chen, an analyst with Credit Suisse, says the investment bank's trading results will suffer because it has less of an appetite for risk these days.

BANK OF AMERICA

Reports: Thursday, Jan. 19.

Forecast: Profit of 22 cents per share on revenue of $23.8 billion.

What to watch for: Investors expect the results to show a bank under duress. It's fighting lawsuits from investors for poorly written mortgages. The bank closed down a division that financed mortgage loans from small lenders such as credit unions, meaning reduced quarterly revenue. But the bank should make money overall because of a $1.8 billion gain from selling its stake in a Chinese bank. CEO Brian Moynihan has been shedding assets and businesses that aren't essential to Bank of America.

MORGAN STANLEY

Reports: Thursday, Jan. 19.

Forecast: Loss of 40 cents per share on revenue of $6 billion.

What to watch for: Weaker sales and trading will hurt earnings at the investment bank, says Credit Suisse's Chen. Morgan Stanley's earnings will also take a $1.2 billion hit after it agreed to write off a portfolio of soured mortgage investments after a settlement with insurer MBIA Inc.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120111/ap_on_bi_ge/us_banks_bumpy_quarter

macaroni and cheese festivus festivus zeno melanie amaro new air jordans the patriot

Much Ado about Methane

Editors note: This is a condensed version of a post that originally appeared on? RealClimate.org

It?s the unknown that grabs attention.

We don?t know the total amount of methane frozen deep beneath the ocean, but we suspect it could rival the rest of fossil fuels combined. And we don?t know how much is frozen in the Arctic?s thawing permafrost and lake sediments.

We do know those methane deposits are seeping into the atmosphere, however. And the possibility of a catastrophic release is of, course, what gives methane its power over the imagination. Journalists in particular seem susceptible to doomsday predictions from such a scenario.

We have seen methane bubbling from the sea floor in the Arctic. Lakes provide an escape path for the methane by creating ?thaw bulbs? in the underlying soil, and lakes are everywhere appearing and disappearing in the Arctic as the permafrost melts.

Yet so far we haven?t seen ironclad evidence of greater methane releases due to anthropogenic warming, though such an event is certainly believable for the coming century. This brings us to the key question: What effect would a methane release have on climate?

The impact depends on whether methane is released all at once or in an ongoing, sustained manner.

Let?s pick the most likely scenario: A slow ongoing release.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, trapping 72 times the amount of heat per molecule in the short term compared to carbon dioxide but ?burning? to CO2 in the atmosphere in about a decade. We suspect large stores of methane, known as methane hydrates, lie frozen at the bottom of ever-warming oceans, particularly in the Arctic. On land, decomposing organic matter in thawing permafrost is another potential methane source.

I?ve modeled what happens if that methane is released continually for several decades: The atmospheric impact from methane itself only persists for about a decade beyond the methane release, whereas the extra CO2 in the atmosphere persists throughout the simulation of 100,000 years.

The possibility of a catastrophic release is more remote, but it?s a subject that, as journalists say, has legs. A submarine landslide might release a gigaton of carbon as methane, but the effect of that would be small, about equal in magnitude to ? but opposite in effect of ? a volcanic eruption. Detectable, perhaps, but not the end of humankind as a species.

So what could happen to methane in the Arctic?

The methane bubbles coming from the Siberian shelf are part of a system that takes centuries to respond to changes in temperature. The methane from the Arctic lakes is also potentially part of a new, enhanced, chronic methane release to the atmosphere. Neither of them could release a catastrophic amount of methane ? hundreds of gigatons ? within a short time-frame of a few years or less. There isn?t some huge bubble of methane waiting to erupt as soon as its roof melts.

And so far, the sources of methane from high latitudes are small, relative to the big players: wetlands in warmer climes and human emissions. It is very difficult to know whether the bubbles are a brand-new methane source caused by global warming, or a response to warming that has happened over the past 100 years, or whether plumes like this happen all the time. In any event, it doesn?t matter very much unless they get 10 or 100 times larger, because high-latitude sources are small compared to the tropics.

So maybe by century?s end, perhaps 2,000 gigatons of carbon could be released into the atmosphere by humans burning fossil fuels and other activities under some sort of business-as-usual scenario. And we might see another 1,000 gigatons of carbon from soil and methane hydrate release, as a worst case.

Can we get some sort of a doomsday, runaway greenhouse effect scenario from that?

I tweaked my models to try. If the methane hydrates released too much carbon, say two carbons from hydrates for every one carbon from fossil fuels, on a time scale that was too fast ? say 1,000 years instead of 10,000 years ? the system could run away.? But the fact that ice core and sediment records do not seem full of methane spikes makes it seem like the real world is not as sensitive as we were able to set the model up to be.

On the other hand, the deep ocean could ultimately ? after a thousand years or so ? warm up by several degrees in the business-as-usual scenario, making it warmer than it has been in millions of years. It takes millions of years to grow the hydrates; they have had time to grow in response to Earth?s relative cold of the past 10 million years or so. Also, the climate is very sensitive to changes in CO2 when its concentration is low, as it is today relative to what it was 50 million of years ago.

In short, if there was ever a good time to provoke a hydrate meltdown it would be now. But ?now? is in a geological sense, thousands of years into the future, not really ?now? in a human sense. Thawing methane hydrates in the ocean and permafrost peats could be a significant multiplier of the long tail of the carbon dioxide, but it will probably not be a huge player in climate change in the coming century.

The real point of no return in this adventure is our ongoing release of carbon dioxide.

The only way back to a natural climate in anything like our lifetimes would be to physically extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide that has been absorbed into the oceans would degas back to the atmosphere to some extent, so we?d have to clean that up too.

And if methane hydrates or permafrost peats contributed some extra carbon into the mix, that would also have to be part of the bargain, like paying interest on a loan.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5a1085bc0937aa70b9406d279b75fd38

pie crust recipe heritage foundation dancing with the stars results 2011 ali fedotowsky ali fedotowsky krill oil krill oil

GOP leader of N.J. Assembly dies

Matt Rainey/Star Ledger

Alex DeCroce's death shocked lawmakers and legislative staff who had been working with him all evening.

Veteran New Jersey legislator Alex DeCroce, minority leader of the state assembly and a mentor to Gov. Chris Christie, collapsed and died after a late-night Statehouse session.

The 75-year-old Republican was discovered inside a first-floor bathroom at the Trenton building around 11:30 p.m., just minutes after the 214th Legislature wrapped up its final votes.

Fellow Assemblyman Herb Conaway, a doctor, came to DeCroce?s aid but couldn?t revive the veteran legislator.

?This is an enormous loss for our state and for me personally,? said a statement from Christie, who postponed his Tuesday state of the state address.

An emotional Christie arrived at the Statehouse around midnight, where he broke down while hugging other legislative leaders.

?Tonight I lost a dear friend, colleague and mentor," Christie said. "He helped to give me my start in elective politics in Morris County in 1993. He was one of the most kind, considerate and trustworthy people I have ever had the pleasure to know.?

The tragedy also led the state Assembly and Senate to scale back their plans for Tuesday?s scheduled swearing in of new members.

DeCroce ? the longest-serving member of the state Assembly ? was expected to attend both Christie?s annual address and the swearing-in.

The stunning death of the Parsippany, N.J., Republican came after a daylong session where the Legislature voted on a series of last-minute bills.

DeCroce, a graduate of Seton Hall University, was appointed to fill an Assembly vacancy in 1989, and was elected to the post in November of the same year.

He became the Assembly minority leader in 2003, and served on the Bipartisan Leadership Committee and the Legislative Services Commission.

He was also president of a Parsippany-Troy Hills real estate business.

DeCroce was survived by his wife, Betty Lou; their three adult children; and two grandchildren. Betty Lou DeCroce is a deputy commissioner in the state Department of Community Affairs.

Colleagues were quick to praise DeCroce for his years of hard work and service.

?He was always ready with a handshake and a laugh, no matter the circumstances, and his devotion to the people of New Jersey was unwavering,? said a joint statement from Assembly speaker Sheila Oliver and Assemblyman Louis Greenwald.

DeCroce's body was covered, placed on a stretcher and brought out of the Statehouse about 12:40 a.m. His district included parts of Morris and Passaic counties.

lmcshane@nydailynews.com

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/sports/basketball/nets/~3/9emJPFfboWQ/alex-decroce-gop-leader-jersey-assembly-collapses-dies-statehouse-article-1.1003725

stanley tucci x factor voting “do a barrel roll” oakland texas judge texas judge tom brokaw