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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
States unlikely to heed NTSB call for cell ban (AP)
ST. LOUIS ? Lawmakers in Missouri had the chance, after two buses packed with high school band members slammed into a freeway wreck caused by a teenager who was sending a flurry of text messages, to impose tougher limits on driver cellphone use. It got filibustered.
Federal transportation officials are citing that accident in pushing for states to enact an all-out ban on cellphone use by drivers, restricting the use even of hands-free devices. But spurring lawmakers to take up the cause may be difficult. Skeptical lawmakers give the proposal little chance at succeeding in state capitols around the country, and many aren't planning on introducing ban bills.
The reason? While acknowledging growing safety concerns, lawmakers are wary of inconveniencing commuters and say a complete ban would be one of the deepest government intrusions yet into the daily lives of motorists who have woven their phones tightly into their daily routines. Others are worried a ban would be unenforceable. And the cellphone legislation in most states already took years to get approved.
"It's a popular thing to pass another law," said Bill Stouffer, a Missouri Republican and chairman of the state's Senate Transportation Committee. "But anything that takes your eyes off the road is just as deadly as texting or talking on the cellphone. Where does it end? Why not ban map reading or eating while driving?"
The centerpiece of the NTSB's proposal was an August 2010 wreck southwest of St. Louis in which a pickup truck slammed into the back of a semi cab that had slowed for road construction, and the buses then crashed into the wreckage. The pickup driver, Daniel Schatz, 19, and a bus passenger, Jessica Brinker, 15, died. Thirty-eight people, mostly students, were hurt.
Investigators said Schatz had sent and received 11 texts in 11 minutes just before the accident.
The NTSB's recommendation far exceeds the patchwork, and largely unenforced, prohibitions many states now have. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving, while nine states and Washington, D.C., bar handheld cellphone use. Thirty states ban all cellphone use for beginning drivers. No state bans the use of hands-free devices for all drivers.
In Idaho ? which has historically resisted federal mandates and is one of seven states without any sort of regulation on the use of cellphones by drivers ? proposed bans have been rejected the last two legislative sessions after lawmakers questioned their enforceability and the need for new government dictates. South Dakota has a broader law discouraging "distracted driving" but lawmakers have steadily opposed specific bans on electronic devices.
"I was listening to all this heart-wrenching testimony against texting behind the wheel, and I got to thinking about all the calls I'd gone off to where someone was hurt in a car accident," said South Dakota Republican Rep. Betty Olson, an emergency medical technician from Prairie City. "In just about all of them, they were distracted, so what they were doing was already against the law," Olson said. "They wouldn't be paying any more attention to a law banning texting."
Driver inconvenience is also among the factors state lawmakers cite in their opposition. Others note that cellphones have benefits. In some parts of rural South Dakota, Olson said, a driver's cellphone can be "a life saver."
With enforcement of cellphone and texting laws already difficult, Stouffer said police will have an even harder time if hands-free devices are banned.
"How's an officer going to know if I'm singing my favorite song with the radio or talking on the phone?" he asked.
Even in Missouri, where the bus crash occurred, the lawmaker who tried to broaden the texting ban afterward believes a full-blown cellphone prohibition goes too far.
The state has barred drivers 21 and younger from texting while driving since 2009. Several lawmakers proposed legislation the next year to extend that to all drivers but failed, partly because of concerns over whether it could be enforced. After the bus accident, a similar attempt to broaden the ban was defeated by a filibuster. Democratic Sen. Ryan McKenna said he'll likely try again for the texting ban, but not for the overall ban.
In California, which bars drivers from talking on handheld phones but permits hands-free devices, state Sen. Joe Simitian doubts states would oblige the NTSB with an absolute ban.
"I think the NTSB recommendations are dramatic and I think they are helpful in highlighting the risks associated with distracted driving," Simitian said. "As a practical matter, an outright ban is a nonstarter" he said, noting it took five years to pass the state's existing law, and citing expected opposition to an all-out prohibition.
In recent years, phone features have multiplied and so have the distractions. For commuters, texts, pop-song ringtones, emails and even video calls are but a few of the potential distractions competing for their attention behind the wheel.
As phone features multiply, so have accidents blamed on texting and wireless calling. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said there were 3,092 fatalities blamed on distracted driving last year, 408 of which involved cellphone use. It was the first year the administration broke out cellphones as a separate cause of distraction.
The wireless industry initially fought state legislation against cellphone use while driving, but has in recent years mainly emphasized personal responsibility and driver education over legislation. After the NTSB's recommendation Tuesday, industry trade group CITA-The Wireless Association repeated its support for bans on texting while driving but added that larger prohibitions should be left to the states.
Even lawmakers who are willing to push for a complete ban concede that passage won't come easy.
Alaska is considering such a move, said Anne Teigen, senior policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures. That ban has supporters among some police agencies. In Minnesota, which passed a texting ban three years ago, Democratic state Rep. Frank Hornstein said that based on the NTSB recommendation, he will introduce legislation aimed at banning cellphone use by drivers.
Hornstein and Alaska state Rep. Max Gruenberg, a Democrat from Anchorage, noted that battles over road safety laws ? such as tougher seat belt requirements or lower blood-alcohol content limits in drunk driving cases ? often take years to pass. Hornstein also acknowledged that some residents would oppose a cellphone ban, believing they can police themselves.
"A lot of people will say, `I can do this fine, I'm a good driver. It's other people,'" Hornstein said.
___
Associated Press writers Chris Blank in Jefferson City, Mo.; Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo.; Peter Svensson in New York; Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Doug Glass in Minneapolis; Judy Lin in Sacramento, Calif.; Todd Dvorak in Boise, Idaho; and Amber Hunt in Sioux Falls, S.D., contributed to this report.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Judge orders trial for 2 Penn St. officials
Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, right, arrives at Dauphin County Court surrounded by heavy security Friday, Dec 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. McQueary declined to speak to reporters Friday as he entered the courthouse in Harrisburg for the hearing for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, who are set to appear for a preliminary hearing related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, right, arrives at Dauphin County Court surrounded by heavy security Friday, Dec 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. McQueary declined to speak to reporters Friday as he entered the courthouse in Harrisburg for the hearing for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, who are set to appear for a preliminary hearing related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
Former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz, right, arrives for a preliminary hearing at Dauphin County Court, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. A judge is to determine after the hearing if there's enough evidence to send Schultz and former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley to trial on charges of failure to report abuse to authorities and lying to a grand jury related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
Former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, right, arrives for a hearing at Dauphin County Court, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. A judge is to determine after the hearing if there's enough evidence to send Curley and former university Vice President Gary Schultz to trial on charges of failure to report abuse to authorities and lying to a grand jury related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
FILE -- In a Nov. 7, 2011 file photo former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, left, and former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz, right, enter a district judge's office for an arraignment in Harrisburg, Pa. Curley and Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report under Pennsylvania?s child protective services law in connection with the investigation into allegations involving former football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the state attorney general?s office. (AP Photo/Bradley C. Bower/file)
Penn State Assistant Football Coach Mike McQueary, left, departs the Dauphin County Court Friday, Dec 16, 2011 in Harrisburg, PA. McQueary, speaking for the first time in public about the 2002 encounter in a Penn State locker room, said he believes that Jerry Sandusky was attacking a child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? A Penn State assistant football coach testified Friday that he believes he saw former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky molesting a boy on campus and that he fully conveyed what he had seen to two Penn State administrators.
Mike McQueary, speaking for the first time in public about the 2002 encounter in a Penn State locker room, said he believes that Sandusky was attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse.
McQueary took the stand Friday morning in a Pennsylvania courtroom during a preliminary hearing for university officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, who are accused of lying to a grand jury about what McQueary told them.
At the conclusion of the hearing, District Judge William C. Wenner ruled that prosecutors have enough evidence to send their cases to trial.
McQueary's story is central to the case against Curley and Schultz. They testified to the grand jury that McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw. The officials, and Penn State coach Joe Paterno, have been criticized for never telling police about the 2002 allegation. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years.
The lawyers for Curley and Schultz say the men are innocent and that uncorroborated testimony from McQueary is not enough on which to hang the case. Curley and Schultz told the grand jury that they remembered McQueary reporting only something inappropriate, like wrestling, but nothing as serious as rape.
McQueary, who was on the stand for about two hours Friday, said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers in the spring of 2002 when he heard slapping sounds in a shower and happened upon Sandusky and the boy.
He said Sandusky was behind the boy he estimated to be 10 or 12 years old, with his hands wrapped around the boy's waist. He said the boy was facing a wall, with his hands on it.
McQueary, 37, said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that "it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on."
In its report last month, the grand jury summarized McQueary's testimony as saying he "saw a naked boy ... with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky."
Under cross examination by an attorney for Curley, McQueary reiterated that he had not seen Sandusky penetrating or fondling the boy but was nearly certain they were having intercourse because the two were standing so close and Sandusky's arms were wrapped around the youth.
He said he peeked into the shower three times ? the first via a mirror, the other two times directly. The last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated, he said. He said he didn't say anything, but "I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them."
McQueary said the entire encounter ? from when he first entered the locker room to when he retreated to his office ? lasted about 45 seconds.
McQueary said he reported what he saw to Paterno but never went to police.
He said he did not give Paterno explicit details of what he believed he'd seen, saying he wouldn't have used terms like sodomy or anal intercourse out of respect for the longtime coach.
Paterno told the grand jury that McQueary reported seeing Sandusky doing something of a "sexual nature" with the youngster but that he didn't press for details.
"I didn't push Mike ... because he was very upset," Paterno said. "I knew Mike was upset, and I knew some kind of inappropriate action was being taken by Jerry Sandusky with a youngster."
McQueary said Paterno told him he'd "done the right thing" by reporting the encounter. The head coach appeared shocked and saddened and slumped back in his chair, McQueary said.
Paterno told McQueary he would talk to others about what he'd reported.
Nine or 10 days later, McQueary said he met with Curley and Schultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.
"I told them that I saw Jerry in the showers with a young boy and that what I had seen was extremely sexual and over the lines and it was wrong," McQueary said. "I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on."
McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Schultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police
"I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you," he said. "In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it."
Curley told the grand jury that he couldn't recall his specific conversation with McQueary, but that McQueary never reported seeing anal intercourse or other sexual conduct. He said he recalled McQueary reporting wrestling or "horsing around."
Schultz said he remembered McQueary and Paterno describing what the younger coach saw only in a very general way.
"I had the impression it was inappropriate," Schultz told the grand jury. "I had the feeling it was some king of wrestling activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed a young boys genitals."
Under cross-examination, McQueary said he considered what he saw a crime but didn't call police because "it was delicate in nature."
"I tried to use my best judgment," he said. "I was sure the act was over." He said he never tried to find the boy.
Paterno, Schultz and Curley didn't testify, but Judge Wenner read their grand jury testimony from January in weighing the case.
Sandusky says he is innocent of more than 50 charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere. The scandal has provoked strong criticism that Penn State officials didn't do enough to stop Sandusky, and prompted the departures of Paterno and the school's longtime president, Graham Spanier.
Curley, 57, Penn State's athletic director, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.
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A little Strikeforce video to get you excited for Saturday?s fights
It's been months since Strikeforce's last main card event, but they are coming back with a doozy. Take a minute to watch this video and be reminded of how fun their cards can be.
Gilbert Melendez is on a five-fight win streak, and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos is returning to the cage for the first time since June of 2010. Will they retain their belts, or lose them to Jorge Masvidal and Hiroko Yamanaka? Give us your predictions in the comments or on Facebook.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Facebook, Greenpeace in truce over data centers (AP)
NEW YORK ? Facebook and Greenpeace have called a truce over a clean energy feud that had the environmental group using the social network's own platform to campaign against it.
Greenpeace and Facebook said Thursday that they will work together to encourage the use of renewable energy instead of coal. Last year, Facebook opened a data center in Prineville, Ore., using the area's cool nights and dry air to save energy while keeping its systems from overheating. It also received generous tax breaks for adding jobs to the economically struggling region.
But Greenpeace wasn't happy that Facebook picked site for its data center that's served by a power company that generates most of its electricity from coal. It started a campaign to get the social network operator to use renewable energy. It attracted some 700,000 supporters on Facebook. Greenpeace said it was ending the campaign and declared victory on its "Unfriend Coal" Facebook page, which was still up Thursday morning.
The page has more than 180,000 followers.
Facebook says it will work with the group to promote clean, renewable energy and encourage other technology companies to do the same. The company said it will now state a "preference for access to clean and renewable energy" when choosing where to build its data centers. But it stopped short of saying it will only build on such sites.
Clean energy has also been big issue for Facebook's Silicon Valley Google Inc. The online search leader has been trying to prove that its business model is environmentally friendly and recently revealed exactly how much electricity it uses (2.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity last year, about the same as what 207,000 U.S. homes would use in a year). It has also invested nearly $1 billion in renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar projects.
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Eagerly awaited The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Film Premieres in London Using a Sony Digital Cinema 4K Digital Projection System
At yesterday?s world premiere of Sony Pictures? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, guests took pleasure in watching the highly anticipated film using a state-of-the-art Sony Digital Cinema 4K projection system. ?Displaying an image at more than four times the resolution of traditional 2K digital cinema projection systems, the 4K system had been installed at the famous Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square.
The film will be globally distributed as a 4K digital production which means that all cinemas which have a digital projector installed will be able to screen the film in its full 4K capacity, the way it was shown at the London premiere.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is David Fincher?s gripping adaptation of the first installment in Stieg Larsson?s successful series of thrillers. A discredited journalist and a mysterious computer hacker discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets while working to solve the mystery of a 40-year-old murder. The film gets under way as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are briefed in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, whose uncle suspects she may have been killed by a member of their own family. The deeper Mikael and Lisbeth dig for the truth, however, the greater the risk of being buried alive by members of the family who will go to great lengths to keep their secrets tightly sealed.
As the world?s leading manufacturer of 4K resolution digital cinema projectors, Sony Digital Cinema was selected by the studio to supply a solution capable of providing viewers with a superior visual experience. The Sony Digital Cinema 4K projection system used for the screening comprised of Sony Professional?s SRX-R320.
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Oliver Pasch, Head of Digital Cinema Europe at Sony Professional says, ?The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?is the latest title which reinforces Sony?s position as being at the forefront of innovative cinematic experiences. It?s been a great honour to support this premiere screening at such a famous cinema in the heart of London with our 4K projection equipment, delivering the movie to the audience as it was meant to be seen.?
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Rory Bruer, President of Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, added, ?The story of?The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo?is a hugely popular and eagerly anticipated film release and one which we wanted to showcase by using the best projection technology available. Sony?s fantastic?projection system means viewers get incredible detail and clarity, something which is absolutely essential for this action packed thriller.?
Source: http://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/PR.aspx?newsID=2629
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Friday, December 16, 2011
No epis?dio mais recente dos Simpsons, exibido na noite de domingo nos Estados U...
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/revistainfo/posts/335152366510768
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AAU to hold news conference on abuse allegations
Memphis police Col. Mike Ryall, left, Memphis police deputy chief Dave Martello, center, and Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich discuss an investigation of sexual molestation claims against former Amateur Athletic Union President Robert "Bobby" Dodd on Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Memphis police Col. Mike Ryall, left, Memphis police deputy chief Dave Martello, center, and Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich discuss an investigation of sexual molestation claims against former Amateur Athletic Union President Robert "Bobby" Dodd on Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? The Amateur Athletic Union was set to announce changes Wednesday to its child safety policies after its former president became the target of a child molestation investigation.
The AAU has called a news conference at its suburban Orlando, Fla., headquarters where it was expected to announce the establishment of two tasks forces that will look at the organization's internal protocols and policies for athlete safety.
Memphis, Tenn., police said Monday that investigators are trying to follow up allegations that ex-AAU president Robert "Bobby" Dodd molested children 30 years ago, but they have not received a formal victim complaint.
Investigators have received information from the AAU about accusations, but are not disclosing whether they are investigating one or several.
This came after ESPN reported Friday that two former basketball players have accused Dodd of molesting them as children.
The AAU oversees about 30 sports programs for all ages nationwide, including major sports like football, basketball and baseball to bocce ball, baton twirling and competitive jump rope. It says 500,000 athletes and 50,000 volunteers participate in its programs.
The AAU has confirmed it is investigating the molestation claims, which date to the 1980s. One of the players, 43-year-old Ralph West, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" he was assaulted in Memphis in 1984.
AAU Acting President Louis Stout has said the 63-year-old Dodd has colon cancer and will not return to his positions as president and executive director.
The Associated Press left a message Tuesday at a phone number listed at a Florida address for Dodd. It remains unclear whether Dodd has consulted an attorney. Dodd did not respond to ESPN's requests for comment for the original story.
Both accusers said they never went to police and only recently told their families.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Video: Sparring speakers!
Think you're too old to travel? Think again
Some companies are beginning to offer travel companion services for seniors, modeled after programs airlines currently have in place for unaccompanied minors, to help grandma or grandpa safely get where they are going and back home again.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45574247#45574247
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PROMISES, PROMISES: Securing US border impossible (AP)
AUSTIN, Texas ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have promised to complete a nearly 1,950-mile fence. Michele Bachmann wants a double fence. Ron Paul pledges to secure the nation's southern border by any means necessary, and Rick Perry says he can secure it without a fence ? and do so within a year of taking office as president.
But a border that is sealed off to all illegal immigrants and drugs flowing north is a promise none of them could keep.
"Securing the border is a wonderful slogan, but that's pretty much all it is," said Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. "Even to come close would require measures that would make legal commerce with Mexico impossible. That's an enormous price for what would still be a very leaky system."
Perry, the longest-serving governor of a state that makes up roughly 65 percent of America's border with Mexico, already knows that. What he's actually pledging, clarifies spokeswoman Catherine Frazier, is achieving "operational control" of the border ? defined by the U.S. Border Patrol as areas where it can detect, respond to and interdict illegal activity either at the border or after entry into the U.S.
The U.S. Border Patrol says 873 miles of the border, about 44 percent, have been brought under operational control. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that "the border is better now than it ever has been."
Still, that means full control isn't even half met. And even getting this far required bolstering the ranks of the Border Patrol to the highest levels ever, from about 9,500 along the border in 2004 to 18,152 today. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has a record number of agents on the border, and five Predator drones now patrol strategic parts of it, with a sixth coming by the end of the year. About 650 miles of fencing has been constructed, and 1,200 National Guard soldiers dispatched last year to Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico have had their deployment extended through the end of the year.
Campaigning in Iowa last week, Gingrich signed a pledge to build a fence stretching the length of the border by the end of 2013. That may help him recover from a recent statement that illegal immigrants who have been established in the U.S. for many years should be allowed to remain in the country ? a position his opponents have likened to amnesty.
Perry has steadfastly opposed the fence, saying it would take 10 to 15 years to build, cost $30 billion and wouldn't work anyway. Instead, he wants to flood the border with more National Guard troops until the number of Border Patrol agents necessary to really secure the area are trained and deployed. He also wants to build strategic fencing in high-traffic areas and make better use of airborne surveillance. Perry claims that would mean full operational control by January 2014.
Romney, meanwhile, has publicly agreed with Perry that tackling larger immigration policy reform is impossible without first securing the border.
By some measures, U.S. authorities already have made strides toward that goal. The Pew Hispanic Center says the number of illegal immigrants in the United States peaked at 12 million in 2007, but then dropped by almost 1 million through 2009, and has largely held steady since then at about 11.1 million.
Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants have also fallen sharply. In fiscal year 2011, which ended Sept. 30, the Border Patrol captured 327,577 illegal immigrants on the southwestern border ? the lowest total in four decades.
The poor U.S. economy makes would-be illegal immigrants less likely to come, and those who do must contend with Mexico's drug war, which has seen cartel gunmen slaughter people heading north and dump their bodies in mass graves. Jeff Passel, the Pew Center's senior demographer, said the trip is now so risky that the number of illegal immigrants using pricey people smugglers has spiked.
"It's hard to separate the effect of the economy and increased enforcement," Passel said. "It's a lot harder physically to get across the border, but it's also more expensive and more dangerous, and you're faced with the prospect of having no job when you get here."
Spillover into the U.S. of Mexican drug violence is also difficult to measure. In terms of violent crime, El Paso, Texas, ranks among the safest cities in the U.S. ? even though it's across from violence-torn Ciudad Juarez. Drug crime aside, Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who heads a Homeland Security subcommittee, said he's worried about cartels teaming with international terrorists.
"It's not secure," McCaul said of the border, "and anybody that lives down there, I think, will tell you that." U.S. intelligence officials counter that they know of no case in which a terrorist has sneaked across the border to plot actively against the U.S.
Carpenter, who has written extensively on the increasing brutality of Mexican drug cartels, called the presidential candidates' pledges to secure the border "mainly defensive."
"If you don't take a strong position on border security, you leave yourself open to allegations that you're soft on immigration or drugs," he said.
Michael Lytle, a former consultant on border security and counterterrorism, said it's hard to even conceptualize a fully secure border since the Arizona desert presents different challenges than the millions of commercial trucks rumbling north into Laredo, Texas, or than pedestrians streaming from Tijuana to San Diego. Tracking would-be terrorists also has little to do with stopping migrant workers sneaking into the U.S., or coping with well-armed drug smugglers.
"You can't look at it as `the whole border,'" he said.
Lytle, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville, said a deployment of 15,000 National Guard troops could make an impact ? but it would be a hard sell for a Defense Department facing budget cuts.
"A troop surge there, would that seal the border? Probably not," Lytle said. "And even if it did, how long could you sustain that?"
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Pastor to toss out vote on interracial couples
By The Associated Press
?The pastor at a Kentucky church says he will nullify a vote taken by members of his congregation that bans interracial couples.
Stacy Stepp, who is pastor of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, told the Lexington Herald-Leader on Saturday that he plans to declare the vote approving the policy null and void.
The move comes after Stepp, who says he opposed the policy, asked for advice from the Sandy Valley Conference of Free Will Baptists.
The conference met Saturday and issued a statement saying it had determined there weren't enough members voting in favor of the proposal, which would require a change in church bylaws. The vote last week at the church, which has about 40 people who attend, was 9-6.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald: e-Patient Dave: How an Empowered Patient Recovered From Stage IV Cancer and Found a Higher Calling
Dave deBronkart, "e-Patient Dave," was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer in 2007. The median survival time for his condition was 24 weeks. Thanks to the help of an online network for patients with his disease, he quickly learned about treatment options and found support for his recovery. The treatment was successful, and now e-Patient Dave is cancer-free and has found a higher calling: empowering patients to have access to the best health care possible -- by connecting with resources online. I was inspired by e-Patient Dave's amazing TEDx video and was fortunate to meet up with him at the recent TEDMED conference.
PF: e-Patient Dave, the story of how you healed from cancer is so inspiring. How did you get started in your Internet search for a cure?
ePD: Funny, I didn't really think of it as the Internet; I was just using everything within reach. Books, phones, family, email, Web pages, everything. They're all just pipelines to information and connecting with people. I've been online since 1989; I was sysop on several CompuServe forums. Mainly I did desktop publishing, and at one point I ran the ADD Forum, where families solved problems when schools and jobs didn't help.
It rocked: peer-to-peer problem solving. And back then, I wasn't even dying. So when I was in big trouble, the most natural thing was to supplement what my doctors were doing by going online.
PF: What did your doctor think about your proactive approach?
ePD: Think about it? Heck, he referred me to a patient community. His name is Dr. Danny Sands, a real pioneer, famous in some circles for co-authoring the first published guides on doctor-patient email, and that was in 1998! That's one of the reasons we hit it off well: We're both early adopters of things that become widespread later. So get used to it -- we is the future.
It's not just Dr. Sands, by the way. My oncologist, Dr. David McDermott, is one of the tops in the world for my disease, so if anyone had a right to be snooty it would be him, but when I apologized after one question I emailed him, he responded, "I am happy to field your questions." My orthopedist, Dr. Megan Anderson, gladly accepted a digital photo my wife took of an infection on the incision, saving us a trip to the hospital. They're modern.
PF: What impact did the online patient community have on your success in healing from cancer?
ePD: I want to be clear, not all patient communities are great, any more than online communities of any sort. But when a good one gets going, boy is it sweet.
My kidney cancer group, on acor.org, told me there's no sure cure, but there's one thing that sometimes works: high dosage interleukin-2. The side effects can be awful, even fatal, so you need to find a specialist hospital that does a lot of cases. They gave me the names and numbers of four docs in my area. How cool is that?
One of them was McDermott; I was already at his hospital. But I've since learned that three out of four patients never even hear about the drug, because their hospital doesn't offer it, and medical databases are out of date. If that isn't tangible value from going online, I don't know what is.
But that wasn't the end of it. They helped me sort out this horrid experience, the facts, my feelings, my options, and they did it from my perspective.
And finally, when treatment time came, I asked them what those side effects were really like, and they gave me 17 first-hand stories. So when the problems hit, I knew what to expect.
Did it matter? Recently Dr. McDermott told me, "There's no doubt the interleukin killed your tumors. But I don't know if you could have tolerated enough to do the job, if you hadn't been so prepared."
PF: You call yourself e-patient Dave. What is an e-Patient?
ePD: Empowered, engaged, equipped, enabled. It's a term used by "Doc Tom" Ferguson, a post-Woodstock power-to-the-people guy, editor of Medical Self-Care magazine and the book of the same name. When the Internet was opened up, he saw that the power of the ordinary citizen to be active in health care was radically altered -- because we could newly connect with information and with each other.
A lot of people think the "e" is about being online. Not so much. When he first noticed e-patients, online patients were indeed empowered, almost by definition. But today almost everyone is online.
PF: Why do you think the interest in "the empowered patient" is increasing?
ePD: Most of us know health care needs all the help it can get. The cost spiral is way out of whack with the value experienced by the consumer -- the patient. And Dr. Warner Slack has been saying since the '70s that patients are the most underused resource in health care.
For another, there's a massive initiative now, arising from the federal stimulus bill of 2009 and the health reform bill, to finally get the medical industry to start using computers and force them to share information. To get the incentive funding (and avoid penalties), they have to start doing "patient and family engagement," i.e., let us see our records. (At last!)
PF: Often when a patient receives a diagnosis of a serious illness, the response is one of fear. How does a patient move from a place of fear and uncertainly to a place of empowerment? Isn't it difficult to get involved in your own care when you don't feel well?
ePD: Well, I'm here to tell you, an empowered patient can absolutely be scared shitless -- the two aren't exclusive. And sure, it can be hard to get involved when you don't feel well. That's part of why we often see "e-patient by proxy" -- a parent, spouse, friend researching on behalf of another.
But if you hang out on a listserv like my KIDNEY-ONC kidney cancer community on acor.org, you'll be surprised how motivated someone can get to hunt for useful information when they're dying.
PF: What is the response of doctors and health care professionals to the increase of patient participation and empowerment?
ePD: An increasing number are waking up, but this is a big change. I liken it to a new dance, where one party always used to lead and the other was supposed to follow: we need new dancing lessons. How should a patient send signals in this new culture? How can the clinician respond, coaching and developing the patient's skills?
PF: You get invited to speak at a lot of high-profile conferences such as TEDx, and now I understand you have been invited to speak at South by Southwest. It is so unique to invite a patient to speak at these conferences. Do you think this reflects the medical community's realization that patients need to be more involved in improving health care?
ePD: We're starting to see the democratization of health care, and that's as it should be.
Watch e-Patient Dave's empowering, engaging, and entertaining (he even does a little rapping!) TEDx talk (standing ovation included) video here:
"e-Patient Dave" deBronkart is now an international keynote speaker and health policy advisor. He serves as a Chair of the Society for Participatory Medicine and is on the Advisory Board of the Mayo Clinic for Social Media. Visit his blog at ePatientDave.com and look for his upcoming articles on patient empowerment here at HuffPost Healthy Living.
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Follow Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drpatriciafitz
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-patricia-fitzgerald/e-patient-dave_b_1124865.html
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Google brings free voice calls to Hangouts, really wants you to hang out
Google's Hangout feature has just become a little more Hangout-y, now that the folks in Mountain View have integrated free voice calls within Google+. Available to users within the US and Canada, this new "extra" feature allows social networkers to place calls directly from a Hangout, allowing the recipient to remotely join in on the conversation at hand. To set it up, all you have to do is start a Hangout, hit the "Invite" button, and dial up your friend's number. Users can also use the feature to place individual calls without setting up a Google Voice account, though they'll need one if they wanna talk to someone overseas.
Google brings free voice calls to Hangouts, really wants you to hang out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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2.6 million Afghans at risk of hunger from drought (AP)
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan ? Zara, an Afghan mother of seven, doesn't know what to tell her children when they ask about dinner.
"I simply tell them that we must wait until their father gets home to see if he's going to bring anything," she said, speaking from under a dusty blue burqa covering her from head to toe.
Zara, who uses just one name, is one of an estimated 2.6 million Afghans facing food shortages after one of the worst droughts to strike northern Afghanistan in a decade, according to Afghan officials and aid agencies. Already living in poverty in a country at war, many have been left destitute by the drought, which has affected 14 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces ? all in the north.
Wells have dried up. Hundreds of children have been treated for malnutrition. Families are selling their animals at below-market prices. People are moving to cities to try to find food, water, work and, in some cases, a refuge from the fighting.
The Afghan government and aid agencies are racing to help them before snow blocks access to remote areas.
Rahmatullah Zahid, disaster coordinator in Balkh province, which has been hard-hit by the drought, said he is not worried yet about people starving to death, but he wonders how people will survive the winter, especially in remote areas.
"If the weather gets very, very cold in the remote areas and if the aid doesn't come, those families will be in danger of starvation," he said.
Beyond the relief effort, aid officials are trying to figure out how to end a vicious cycle of drought, drought relief and drought again in an area of the country that has suffered water and food shortages in eight of the past 11 years. Instead of trying to cultivate chronically dry land, perhaps farmers could grow almonds or grapes, which require less water than wheat, or industry could be lured to the area to extract its prevalent gas and oil.
Zara and her family moved to Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, so her husband, whose crops dried up, might find work as a day laborer.
She and hundreds of others who fled the rugged Alburz Mountains in the province gathered last week in a dirt lot in Mazar-e-Sharif to receive large canvas bags of kitchen supplies, blankets, lamps and other items, including a phone card. The aid was distributed by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
"We have very little food," Zara said, squatting next to her aid bag. "If my husband finds work, he can buy some breads and vegetables on his way home, but otherwise there is nothing."
As she spoke, a light mist began to fall. The rain came too late. The crops were ruined months ago.
"There was no rain so everything was burned up," said Mir Ahmad, a 58-year-old wheat farmer who also moved to Mazar-e-Sharif from the mountains.
"There is not much work here in the city right now," he said, fingering a strand of yellow prayer beads as the large blue bags were unloaded from a truck. "Some days there is nothing and I have to borrow food or money to feed my family."
The U.N. issued an appeal for $142 million on Oct. 1 to help those hit by the drought in 14 northern provinces, where up to 80 percent of non-irrigated fields yielded little to no crops. So far, about $49 million has been pledged by aid groups, the U.S. and European nations.
The Afghan government also is distributing about 40,000 tons of wheat, 5,000 tons of rice, 10,000 tons of wheat seed and 20,000 tons of animal feed.
Sayed Anwar Rahmati, the governor of neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, said more aid is needed.
"Every day people are coming and complaining," he said. "The crops were lost and the cattle were seriously affected."
Zainab Noori, a member of the local council in nearby Bamiyan province, said people in six districts were waiting for aid.
"If the aid is not delivered in the next month, the road will be blocked by snow," she said. "At least 50 families have left already to go to Kabul and Iran to find work."
Aidan O'Leary, head of the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said repeated droughts in northern Afghanistan suggest that economic development is needed in addition to drought relief.
"What you're dealing with here is basically trying to maintain a rural, agrarian lifestyle in a climate that might not be conducive," O'Leary said. "What's the solution? Are you looking at better seeds? ... Are you looking at alternative crops? Are you looking at alternative livelihoods?"
With the international focus on pulling troops from Afghanistan, it's difficult to get nations sending development aid to discuss long-term solutions that would end the need for drought relief in the north every couple of years, he said. Compounding the problem is that while international aid has been flowing into Afghanistan for years, only a fraction has been targeted to reducing poverty, he said.
O'Leary noted a World Bank report this month that said the expected decline in international aid will have only a modest impact on the poor. The report said the majority of aid was spent to improve security and governance mostly in more urban areas where there is less poverty.
Ironically, it rained both days last week that O'Leary traveled to the north to check on drought aid with Michael Keating, deputy special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Afghanistan with responsibility for relief, recovery and reconstruction. The first day it sprinkled. The second day it poured. Muddy water filled deep ruts in unpaved roads in Dawlat Abad district.
Keating and O'Leary tried to visit a nearby village, but one of the heavily armored U.N. vehicles in their convoy got stuck. They left the vehicle, turned around and drove on better roads to their next stop: a medical center where children are being treated for acute malnutrition.
The number of cases of malnutrition treated at the clinic increased threefold after the drought, said Dr. Said Mahmood Shah, nutrition coordinator for Save the Children. In the summer months, up to 90 malnourished children showed up at the center where a tiny office was crowded with cardboard boxes of eeZee Paste Nut, a peanut butter-like food with high energy, proteins and nutrients.
Now, rain, snow and poor roads have prevented some children from getting help, Shah said. "There are lots of cases, but they can't get here," he said.
The last stop was a meeting with villagers, including women who had received seeds and tools as part of a backyard garden project run by ActionAid, a British aid group.
One of the women, Jan Bibi, said that because of the drought, she and 10 other members of her family eat only once a day. Bibi, who is in her 70s with no land or home of her own, said she had not eaten meat for six to eight weeks.
"We are sticking to one meal a day," Bibi said, holding up a forefinger. "This year, it's really, really bad."
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Now In 70 U.S. & Canadian Markets, Dealfind Goes Mobile
Toronto-based deal provider Dealfind, which recently became one of the first half-dozen or so partners to be featured within Google Offers, is now available as its own standalone mobile application. The new app works on both iPhone and Android, allowing deal hunters to locate, purchase and store offers on their mobile phone.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/O5eSBkuv7GI/
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
20 Percent of Wireless 911 Calls Come From Your Ass [Factoid]
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Clinton, Suu Kyi promote closer US-Burma ties (AP)
YANGON, Myanmar ? In a striking display of solidarity and sisterhood between two of the world's most recognizable women, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi vowed on Friday to work together to promote democratic reforms in Suu Kyi's long-isolated and authoritarian homeland.
Wrapping up a historic three-day visit to Myanmar, the first by a secretary of state to the Southeast Asian nation in more than 50 years, Clinton and Suu Kyi held hands on the porch of the lakeside home where the Nobel peace laureate spent much of the past two decades under house arrest. Clinton thanked her for her "steadfast and very clear leadership."
Suu Kyi has welcomed Clinton's visit and tentatively embraced reforms enacted by Myanmar's new civilian government. She thanked the secretary and U.S. President Barack Obama for their "careful and calibrated" engagement that has seen the United States take some modest steps to improve ties.
"If we move forward together I am confident there will be no turning back on the road to democracy," Suu Kyi said, referring to her opposition National League for Democracy party, the government, the United States and other countries, including Myanmar's giant neighbor China. "We are not on that road yet, but we hope to get there as soon as possible with the help and understanding of our friends."
"We are happy with the way in which the United States is engaging with us," she added. "It is through engagement that we hope to promote the process of democratization. Because of this engagement, I think our way ahead will be clearer and we will be able to trust that the process of democratization will go forward."
As she did in the capital of Naypyidaw on Thursday, Clinton said more significant incentives will be offered, but only if the government releases all political prisoners, ends brutal campaigns against ethnic minorities, respects the rule of law and improves human rights conditions.
"We are prepared to go further if reforms maintain momentum," Clinton said. "But history teaches us to be cautious. We know that there have been serious setbacks and grave disappointments over the past decades."
Clinton's meetings with Suu Kyi were the highlight of the U.S. secretary of state's visit to the long-isolated country also known as Burma and forcefully underscored a U.S. challenge to Myanmar's leaders.
In addition to the modest incentives Clinton announced Thursday for the government, she said Friday that the U.S. would spend about $1.2 million for preliminary projects aimed at helping the people of Myanmar. The money will go to microcredit and health care initiatives and assistance to land-mine victims, particularly in rural areas.
Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990 elections that were ignored by the then-military junta but now plans to run in upcoming parliamentary elections, endorsed that approach and called for the immediate release of all political prisoners and cease-fires to end the ethnic conflicts..
Suu Kyi, a heroine for pro-democracy advocates around the world, said Clinton's visit represented "a historical moment for both our countries."
With U.S. assistance and pressure on the government, which is still backed by the military, she said she believed change was on the horizon for Myanmar.
The meeting was the second in as many days for the pair who bonded deeply at a three-hour, one-on-one dinner in Yangon on Thursday, according to U.S. officials. One senior official said the dinner marked the beginning of what appeared to be a "very warm friendship" between the former first lady, New York senator and presidential hopeful and Suu Kyi, who plans to re-enter the political arena in upcoming parliamentary elections.
"We have been inspired by her fearlessness in the face of intimidation and her serenity through decades of isolation, but most of all through her devotion to her country and to the freedom and dignity of her fellow citizens," Clinton told reporters after the meeting Suu Kyi.
Clinton said the two had discussed the "ups and downs and slings and arrows of political participation" at dinner and that Suu Kyi would be an "excellent member" of Myanmar's parliament but declined to discuss any electoral advice she may have given here.
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Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win in Yangon contributed to this report.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Australian court clears sale of Samsung Galaxy tab
FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, people walk by a Samsung store in Sydney. Samsung Electronics Co. is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court on Wednesday, Nov. 30, overturned a ruling that favored Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, people walk by a Samsung store in Sydney. Samsung Electronics Co. is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court on Wednesday, Nov. 30, overturned a ruling that favored Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
SYDNEY (AP) ? Samsung Electronics Co. is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court on Wednesday overturned a ruling that sided with Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone.
The Federal Court's decision is a victory for Samsung in its bitter, international patent war with Apple Inc., and might be just in time for the Suwon, South Korea-based company to capitalize on the Christmas shopping season in Australia.
The ruling Wednesday said evidence fails to show that the Galaxy tablet infringes Apple's touch screen patent and that Apple Inc. would be unlikely to win if the case went to a trial. It blasted the earlier decision in Apple's favor as "clearly wrong."
In October, Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett granted Apple's request for a temporary injunction against sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, preventing Samsung from selling the device in the country in its current form.
Samsung quickly appealed that decision, and on Wednesday, the court agreed to lift the injunction and allow Galaxy sales to go ahead.
Still, Samsung will have to wait a few more days before it can begin selling the Galaxy, after Apple indicated it would appeal to the nation's High Court. Federal Court Justice Lindsay Foster agreed to keep the injunction in place until Friday while that issue is pending.
The battle began in April, when Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung in the United States, alleging the product design, user interface and packaging of Samsung's Galaxy devices "slavishly copy" the iPhone and iPad. Samsung responded by filing its own lawsuits that accused Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology.
The fight has spread to 10 countries, with courts in several nations ? including Germany and the Netherlands ? ruling in favor of Apple. It has highlighted the perception that Samsung ? the global No. 1 in TVs and No. 2 in smartphones by sales ? is more of an imitator of clever technologies than an innovator in its own right. Apple, by contrast, is generally viewed by consumers as highly original and inventive.
In her October ruling, Justice Bennett said she was siding with Apple in part because she felt the company had a sufficient likelihood of winning at trial against Samsung.
But on Wednesday, a full bench of the Federal Court argued that Bennett did not include in her written decision any assessment of the strengths of Apple's case, as she was required to do before granting the injunction.
"In our view, her decision was clearly wrong and should be set aside," the panel wrote.
The justices also said they believed Apple was unlikely to succeed at trial, writing that current evidence fails to show that selling the Galaxy in Australia infringes on Apple's touch screen patent.
In a statement, Samsung said it was pleased with the court's decision and said it would soon announce when the Galaxy would be available in Australia.
"We believe the ruling clearly affirms that Apple's legal claims lack merit," the company said.
Apple representatives did not immediate respond to requests for comment.
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