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Monday, October 31, 2011
Giveaway: A 4Moms Origami Stroller (an $850 Value!)
Enter for your chance to win a 4 Moms Origami stroller in our giveaway this week.
Dr. Conrad Murray Defense Witness Sort of Takes Back Key Theory
Anesthesiologist and Propofol expert Dr. Paul White, a witness called by Dr. Conrad Murray's defense team, isn't doing the defendant a lot of favors this week.
Having somewhat altered his original claim that Michael Jackson could have died from ingesting Propofol, he may have erased any lingering reasonable doubt.
White's initial theory was that swallowing Propofol could've been fatal for Michael Jackson, whose death Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter for.
Now, though, he's singing a different tune.
He claims he included that theory in a prior report for the defense attorneys, but that was just a plausible suggestion, not a foregone conclusion as to how MJ died.
Yes, he says it's still possible, but the backtracking can't help Murray ... especially after the beating he's taken by expert after expert called by the prosecution.
Also, during opening statements, the defense argued the The King of Pop may have killed himself by ingesting Propofol, but has since dropped that claim after a study revealed drinking the anesthetic would not be fatal.
White said he wouldn't expect Jackson to have died from the amount of Propofol Murray claims he gave the singer, but when asked if he could justify administering the drug and then leaving the room, he said, "absolutely not."
Bottom line: It's looking grim for the doc.
[Photo: Fame Pictures]
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Obama taking more steps on own to help businesses (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Pushing a campaign to act without Congress, President Barack Obama will announce on Friday two more executive actions on the economy, both of them small steps intended to give a boost to businesses.
The moves cap a week in which Obama has sought to employ the power of his office as he struggles to make headway on his jobs bill on Capitol Hill.
Obama is directing government agencies to shorten the time it takes for federal research to turn into commercial products in the marketplace. The goal is to help startup companies and small businesses create jobs and expand their operations more quickly.
On the other front, Obama is calling for creation of a centralized online site, to be known as BusinessUSA, for companies to easily find information on federal services. The site is to be up and running within 90 days and will be designed with input from U.S. businesses.
Obama is announcing both steps in presidential memos to be released Friday morning, according to administration officials.
On a larger scale, the president himself announced two other executive actions this week, one offering help for homeowners seeking to refinance at lower mortgage rates and the other allowing college students to simplify and lower their student loan payments. The White House also issued a challenge to community health centers in a bid to help get veterans jobs.
White House aides expect more such actions in coming days. Obama, up for re-election, is waging a public campaign to show voters he is acting on jobs more than Republicans are.
The Republicans who control the House counter that their economic bills have not been considered in the Senate. And they question Obama's latest tactic.
"This idea that you're just going to go around the Congress is just, it's almost laughable," House Speaker John Boehner told radio talk show host Laura Ingraham on Thursday.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Questions and answers about the European debt fix (AP)
NEW YORK ? After 14 summit meetings, stock market turmoil and even a fistfight between Italian lawmakers, European leaders have finally agreed on a rescue package that will stop the debt crisis there from dragging the world into recession.
That's the hope, at least.
A bailout fund for the continent will be beefed up, and banks will take a 50 percent loss on their holdings of Greek government bonds. The banks will also put more money aside to cushion the blow from future losses.
Investors are cheering. The Dow Jones industrial average surged almost 340 points Thursday, the euro rose, and even the stocks of battered European banks gained ground.
But dangers lurk. The bank losses and the new cushion might not prove enough. The plan could exact big pain in the short term, hobbling a weak European economy. The region could still fall into recession, and drag the U.S. economy down with it.
Here are some questions and answers about what happened and what it means.
___
Q: What was the original problem?
A: The Greek government spent too much, didn't collect enough in taxes and had to sell bonds to make up the difference. It ran up budget deficits well beyond limits set by the European Union, a group of 27 nations that allow goods and workers to cross their borders freely.
When Greece fell into recession two years ago, bondholders worried they wouldn't get their money back. To make sure they did, the EU started lending money to Greece, essentially allowing it to use new debt to pay off old debt.
Greece shares a currency, the euro, with 16 countries, so its problems are Italy's problems, and Spain's, and Germany's, too. And many other European countries have debt problems of their own.
The challenge was to figure out a way to fix the problem so Greece didn't have to come back for bailout after bailout.
___
Q: Is the risk from Europe gone?
A: No. Even if the rescue package keeps Greece and the European banks afloat, the crisis has already damaged the European economy. Some manufacturers have slashed production and hoarded cash. Banks are demanding higher rates for loans, if they're lending at all.
On Monday, an important economic indicator suggested business activity in the zone of nations that use the euro currency shrank in October for the first time in three years.
The European Union accounts for 20 percent of world's economic output. It is a big trading partner for many countries. A recession there could push other economies into recession.
___
Q: How vulnerable is the U.S.?
Some good news out Thursday suggests the U.S. is in better shape to weather any blow. The economy grew almost twice as fast over the summer as it did in the spring. But it's still dangerously weak.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress earlier this month that the economic recovery was "close to faltering." And the co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, a forecasting firm that predicted the last three downturns, said a recession was all but inevitable. Consumer confidence is the lowest in two and a half years.
"It almost looks like the world is worrying itself into another recession," Klaus Kleinfeld, the CEO of Alcoa, said Oct. 11.
One danger from Europe is that it could buy fewer U.S. goods. Europe buys 20 percent of U.S. exports.
___
Q: Will the bailout plan be enough to keep the debt crisis from spreading?
A: Maybe. There are a lot of unknowns.
Because the banks are accepting losses on Greek bonds, Greece won't owe as much as it did before. That helps. But it still has too much debt and needs its economy to grow if it hopes to pay it back.
The new plan sees Greek debt falling to 120 percent of the country's economic output by 2020 ? a level believed to be sufficient to ease investors' fears. Its debt had been expected to grow to 180 percent. But it's uncertain whether Greece can dig itself out of recession amid riots, strikes and despair.
Problems lurk at the European banks, too. The plan calls for banks to raise 106 billion euros, or about $150 billion, as a cushion against future losses. But that might not be enough to protect against losses on holdings of Greek, Italian and other countries' bonds. Before the summit meeting, the International Monetary Fund estimated banks needed 200 billion euros more to protect themselves.
What's more, even that lower cushion might do a lot of harm. It could force banks to cut back on lending even more, hurting companies and slowing economic growth.
___
Q: What about U.S. banks?
Unlike their European counterparts, U.S. banks do not hold a lot of European government bonds. But they may be exposed in other ways.
U.S. banks and other financial institutions have sold investors a type of insurance policy known as credit default swaps. They require the banks to pay billions of dollars if Greece and other indebted European countries default, or stop paying back their debt.
Even though Greece won't have to pay the face value on its bonds, European leaders structured the deal so that the banks wouldn't have to pay the credit default swaps. Because Greek bonds holders agreed to the plan, Greece isn't technically in default.
Good news, right? Sebastian Mallaby, a director at the Council on Foreign Relations, fears that some European banks taking losses on Greek bonds were also investors in credit default swaps ? meaning they lose both ways.
The upshot: In a complex and interconnected financial system, it's difficult to know whether savings for one financial institution will actually trigger deep losses elsewhere. That uncertainty tends to spread fear and freeze lending.
"The chances of contagion are not awful," Mallaby says. "It's the unknown dangers. And fear itself can spook markets."
___
Q: If there are so many questions, why did U.S. stocks jump?
Actually, they've been moving up for a while. Stocks have risen in five of the last six trading days through Thursday, and are up 14 percent this month.
Credit a bit of good timing. Anxiety over this latest summit was rising just as U.S. companies were reporting surprisingly good third quarter profits. They are expected to be up 14 percent for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500, the eighth quarter in a row of at least 10 percent gains. Record profits are expected for the full year.
Despite the rising prices, many financial analysts note that stocks have been trading as if Europe were about to explode or the U.S. about to slip into recession ? or both. On Thursday, stocks were trading at 12 times the annual per-share profits. They typically trade at 15, meaning prices should be higher.
___
Q: Will fear continue to recede from the stock market?
It depends partly on the U.S. economy. Many analysts and economists think the recovery will eventually pick up speed. But if Europe does push the U.S. into recession, you can forget about those impressive corporate profits, and surging stock prices.
Before the last recession, companies in the S&P 500 stock index were reporting record profits, too. Within a year, those profits turned into losses. Stocks eventually lost half their value.
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China defines terrorism to win global support (AP)
BEIJING ? China's legislature authorized new guidelines Saturday to define and combat terrorism, inching closer to international practices as the nation grapples with a sporadically violent rebellion in Central Asian border lands.
The resolution clearly sets China's legal definition of terrorism and the steps for formally declaring groups and individuals terrorists and for freezing their assets. The measure should help law enforcement prosecute terrorists differently from other criminals and to promote international cooperation on terrorism, said Li Shouwei, a criminal law expert for the legislature.
"Our country faces a real threat from terrorist activities, and the long-term, complex and sharp counterterrorism struggle is increasingly prominent," Li told reporters after the legislative session.
Separatist sentiment among Uighurs, a Turkic and traditionally Muslim ethnic group, in China's western Xinjiang region has occasionally erupted in riots, bombings and other acts of violence. Despite pouring in billions of dollars in investment and the migration of millions of Han Chinese into the largely poor, remote territory, China has been unable to squelch the violence. A raid on a police station and an arson-stabbing attack took place in July.
Many attacks seem unsophisticated and directed against symbols of Chinese government power, like court houses or troop barracks. The government and some security experts say that the violence is becoming more indiscriminate and is being carried out by militants trained and based across the border in Pakistan and with possible links to other radical Islamic groups.
"Increasingly the Chinese government has realized it must work with international partners to fight the existing terrorist threat to China," said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
While Beijing has sought for much of the past decade to link the situation in Xinjiang with the broader U.S.-led efforts to fight jihadist groups, Chinese methods have often undercut its quest for wider support. Instead of prosecuting Uighurs as terrorists, authorities have preferred to accuse them of "endangering national security," charges frequently used against political dissidents.
Beijing has also restricted the practice of Islam and bandied the terrorist label against the Dalai Lama and supporters of the Tibetan Buddhist leader who oppose Chinese rule.
In a measure of its uneasiness with Beijing, the U.S. government refused to turn over Uighurs captured in Afghanistan and interned at Guantanamo Bay, though it repatriated the captured nationals of many other countries.
Pakistan, which abuts Xinjiang and is a long-term ally of China, generally assists Beijing in trying to clamp down on militant Uighur separatists. But the most radical groups, the Turkistan Islamic Party and its East Turkistan Islamic Movement offshoot, operate in Pakistan's tribal areas where Islamabad is unable or unwilling to act.
Gunaratna, the terrorism expert, said Beijing realizes it needs intelligence from Gulf coast countries, Germany and others to better deal with the Uighur threat.
The terrorism resolution is intended to bridge gaps between China and other countries. It defines terrorism as an act whose "goal is to create terror in society, harm public security or threaten national institutions and international organizations and by using violence, sabotage, intimidation and other methods to cause or intend to cause human casualties, great loss to property, harm to public infrastructure, chaos to the social order and other severe social damage."
Li, the criminal law expert, said the definition roughly aligned with those of other countries. Agencies involved in counterterrorism will apply that definition to determine which groups or individuals should be placed on terrorist lists, and once listed the government will freeze their assets, according to the resolution.
More importantly, Li said, the resolution helps to make sure that terrorists are charged as such and not with other crimes ? an apparent reference to the prevailing practice of using state security charges instead of terrorism.
"By defining terrorist activities more clearly in regulations, it makes it easier to distinguish in practice terrorist crimes from other crimes," Li told reporters.
The measure itself is unlikely to end all differences. A host of government agencies, Communist Party bodies and the military are involved in counterterrorism and Xinjiang. Li suggested that differences among competing bodies meant that "the time is not mature for enacting a full counterterrorism law."
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Friday, October 28, 2011
Hannibal Lecter Cannibalizes His Way Into MTV's Killer Halloween
Lecter's gentlemanly quality and intellect make him stand out over other horror movie murderers.
By Kara Warner
Dr. Hannibal Lecter in "Silence Of The Lambs"
Photo: Orion Pictures Corporation
It's time for yet another in-depth profile in our creepy crypt of horror movie killers for MTV's Killer Halloween, a competition in which we ask you, the best and brightest fans, to vote for the best and scariest movie murderer ever.
We've already provided a handy guide to the gory details surrounding Freddy Krueger, Jason, Leatherface, Michael Myers, Chucky, Ghostface and Jigsaw. Now it's time to take a look at the man the American Film Institute named the number-one villain of the last 100 years.
Name: Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Occupation: Psychiatrist, cannibal, serial killer
Weapons: Teeth, intellect, items purchased from the Williams-Sonoma catalog
Archenemy: People who annoy him, the FBI, bad taste
Profile: Smart, serene and sinister, Hannibal Lecter is easily the most gentlemanly of the killers we've included in our survey. Created by author Thomas Harris in a series of horror novels first published in 1981, and later immortalized by Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning portrayal in "The Silence of the Lambs," Lecter has won millions of fans for his creep factor and cunning ways. Not to mention his way with words:
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." — Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs"
Horror movie expert Ryan Turek, Managing Editor of ShockTillYouDrop.com, told MTV News that Lecter's main appeal is his cool exterior.
"Hannibal is the gentleman's bogeyman. A class act in a pool of ragged, obvious-looking killers," Turek said. "He's unassuming in physicality but absolutely lethal. He'll outsmart you at every turn and serve you up for dinner. His terror factor lies in the fact that lurking behind his amiable face is something incredibly deranged. That pleasant British fellow? Oh, yeah, he wants to split your skull open and fry your brains on an open skillet."
Turek added that Lecter also has a certain finesse with regard to what types of individuals are to become his victims.
"Hannibal eats the jerks or those who at least catch on to who he is. I can't imagine him suppressing his cannibalistic side in a theater of people text-messaging during a movie."
Check out everything we've got on "The Silence of the Lambs."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673327/hannibal-lecter-killer-halloween.jhtml
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Fitmodo: Your Ass Does Look Fat in Those Jeans [Fitmodo]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-KhdeCsERd8/fitmodo-your-ass-does-look-fat-in-those-jeans
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Oakland police action unnerves some protesters (AP)
OAKLAND, Calif. ? The display of police force in Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta has unnerved some anti-Wall Street protesters. While demonstrators in other cities have built a working relationship with police and city leaders, they wondered on Wednesday how long the good spirit would last and whether they could be next.
Will they have to face riot gear-clad officers and tear gas that their counterparts in Oakland, Calif. faced on Tuesday? Or will they be handcuffed and hauled away in the middle of the night like protesters in Atlanta?
"Yes, we're afraid. Is this the night they're going to sneak in?" said activist William Buster of Occupy Wall Street, where the movement began last month to protest what they see as corporate greed.
"Is this the night they might use unreasonable force?" he asked.
An Iraq War veteran marching with demonstrators suffered a crack skull in the chaos between officers and protesters in Oakland further raising concern among some in the movement. Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Marine veteran, was in critical condition Wednesday after he had been struck, said a spokesman for Highland Hospital in Oakland.
It was not clear exactly what type of exact object hit the veteran or who might have thrown it, though Guy's group said it was lodged by officers. Police did not return calls for comment ahead of late afternoon news conference.
The message, meanwhile, from officials in cities where other encampments have sprung up was simple: We'll keep working with you. Just respect your neighbors and keep the camps clean and safe.
Business owners and residents have complained in recent weeks about assaults, drunken fights and sanitation problems. Officials are trying to balance their rights and uphold the law while honoring protesters' free speech rights.
"I understand the frustration the protesters feel ... about inequity in our country as well as Wall Street greed," Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. "I support their right to free speech but we also have rules and laws."
Some cities, such as Providence, R.I., are moving ahead with plans to evict activists. But from Tampa, Fla., to Boston, police and city leaders say they will continue to try to work with protesters to address problems in the camps.
In Oakland, officials initially supported the protests, with Mayor Jean Quan saying that sometimes "democracy is messy."
But tensions reached a boiling point after a sexual assault, a severe beating and a fire were reported and paramedics were denied access to the camp, according to city officials. They also cited concerns about rats, fire hazards and public urination.
Demonstrators disputed the city's claims, saying that volunteers collect garbage and recycling every six hours, that water is boiled before being used to wash dishes and that rats have long infested the park.
When riot gear-clad police moved in early Tuesday, they were pelted with rocks, bottles and utensils from people in the camp's kitchen area. They emptied the camp near city hall of people, and barricaded the plaza.
Protesters were taken away in plastic handcuffs, most of them arrested on suspicion of illegal lodging.
Demonstrators returned later in the day to march and retake the plaza. They were met by police officers in riot gear. Several small skirmishes broke out and officers cleared the area by firing tear gas.
The scene repeated itself several times just a few blocks away in front of the plaza.
Tensions would build as protesters edged ever closer to the police line and reach a breaking point with a demonstrator hurling a bottle or rock, prompting police to respond with another round of gas.
The chemical haze hung in the air for hours, new blasts clouding the air before the previous fog could dissipate.
The number of protesters diminished with each round of tear gas. Police estimated that there were roughly 1,000 demonstrators at the first clash following the march. About 100 were arrested.
Demonstrators planned to try again on Wednesday night to march, and could clash again with police.
In Atlanta, police in riot gear and SWAT teams arrested 53 people in Woodruff Park, many of whom had camped out there for weeks as part of a widespread movement that is protesting the wealth disparity between the rich and everyone else.
Mayor Kasim Reed had been supportive of the protests, twice issuing an executive order allowing them to remain.
Reed said on Wednesday that he had no choice to arrest them because he believed things were headed in a direction that was no longer peaceful. He cited a man seen walking the park with an AK-47 assault rifle.
"There were some who wanted to continue along the peaceful lines, and some who thought that their path should be more radical," Reed said. "As mayor, I couldn't wait for them to finish that debate."
Reed said authorities could not determine whether the rifle was loaded, and were unable to get additional information.
An Associated Press reporter talked to the man with the gun earlier Tuesday.
He wouldn't give his name ? identifying himself only as "Porch," an out-of-work accountant who doesn't agree with the protesters' views ? but said that he was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest.
People who were arrested trickled out of jail as a crowd of several dozen supporters chanted "freedom" as they left.
"I think Mayor Reed would do well to learn quickly that you cannot intimidate, you cannot threaten, you cannot jail something whose time has come," activist Derrick Boazman said. "The fact of the matter is this movement's time has come."
In Portland, Ore., the protest seems to be at a crossroads. Organizers have been dealing with public drunkenness, fighting and drug abuse for weeks, especially among the homeless who are also in the camp.
Some are floating the idea of relocating it, possibly indoors. Others see that as capitulation.
"I don't know if it would be a good idea. Part of the effectiveness of what's going on here is visibility," protester Justin Neff said. "Though I'd do it if there's a possibility that we'd get seen and noticed. I don't know how that would work indoors."
City officials haven't said what would cause them to forcibly evict the protesters. They said they evaluate the camp daily.
In Baltimore, protesters like Casey McKeel, a member of Occupy Baltimore's legal committee, said he wasn't sure aren't sure what to expect from city officials, noting that some cities have arrested protesters in recent weeks.
"Across the country we're seeing a wide range of reactions," he said. "For now we're hoping the city will work with us."
The mayor, Rawlings-Blake, said she is willing to work with them, but they should realize that they are camping out in a city park and that was not its intended use. She said their free-speech rights don't trump the public's right to enjoy the space.
"I have absolutely no interest in a violent exchange," she said. "We want to work with the protesters, but the point is to talk about inequity and talk about how we can work together to have a more just society or more equitable Baltimore.
"It's not about pitching a tent. It's about getting the work done," she said.
___
Associated Press writers Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore., Sarah Brumfield in Baltimore, Md., Verena Dobnik in New York, Harry R. Weber, Errin Haines and Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Erica Niedowski in Providence, R.I., Michael J. Crumb in Des Moines, Iowa., Ben Nuckols in Washington, Samantha Gross in New York and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Electron accelerator scientists report breakthroughs
ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2011) ? Cornell scientists have surpassed two major scientific milestones toward proving the technology of a novel, exceedingly powerful X-ray source.
For more than a decade, Cornell scientists have been conducting research and development for an Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) electron accelerator that would produce X-ray beams 1,000 times brighter than any in existence.
The university ultimately hopes to use ERL technology to upgrade the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), one of five U.S. national facilities for hard X-ray synchrotron radiation research.
The National Science Foundation provided $50 million for 2006-14 to build instrumentation for prototyping and testing ERL concepts proposed by the Cornell team of faculty, students and collaborators. Specifically, the program goals are to prove that electron beams of unmatched quality could be created and accelerated to continuously produce X-ray beams with the laserlike property of coherence. No such X-ray source presently exists.
Cornell's ERL team is now reporting that its prototype electron injector is producing beams with a so-called emittance of 0.8 micrometers -- the smallest ever recorded from an electron source of this type. The injector is the key component needed to make an ERL work by creating electron beams that are tightly packed and traveling at nearly the speed of light. The emittance is a measure of how tightly packed the electron beams are.
This small emittance, say the scientists, proves that the ERL could produce X-ray beams focused down to exceedingly small volumes, allowing investigation of materials with unprecedented precision and speed.
In another breakthrough for the ERL project, the scientists have built and tested a prototype seven-cell superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavity. SRF cavities are needed to accelerate the electrons from the injector to very high energies in order to produce the X-rays. The SRF cavities are operated at -456 F (-271 C), just 2 degrees above absolute zero temperature.
The Cornell researchers' SRF cavity has met the first performance specifications necessary to continuously power a high intensity ERL. It has been tested in a vertical cryostat at the required temperature and electric field gradients -- a significant milestone because it proves the cavities can perform at high power while within the scientific and cost parameters of the project.
The team must now demonstrate the efficacy of their cavities in horizontal tests, which will take place in 2012.
"These developments go a long way toward proving that an ERL X-ray source will work as predicted by simulations and theory," said Sol Gruner, director of CHESS.
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APNewsBreak: College athletes press NCAA reform (AP)
More than 300 major college football and men's basketball players are telling the NCAA and college presidents they want a cut of ever-increasing TV sports revenue to fatten scholarships and cover all the costs of getting a degree, with athletes picking up still more grant money when they graduate.
The players from Arizona, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Purdue and UCLA have signed a petition asking the NCAA to "realize its mission to educate and protect us with integrity." The National College Players Association, an athletes' advocacy group, provided The Associated Press with copies of the document for release Monday. Players started sending the petition to the NCAA last week.
The document urges the NCAA and college presidents to set aside an unspecified amount of money from what it estimates is $775 million in recently acquired TV revenues in an "educational lock box" for football and men's basketball players. Players could tap those funds to help cover educational costs if they exhaust their athletic eligibility before they graduate. And they could receive what's left of the money allocated to them with no strings attached upon graduating ? a step that would undoubtedly be seen by some as professionalizing college sports.
The issue of whether to pay college athletes has been getting increased attention at a time when athletic programs from Miami to Ohio State have endured a series of scandals involving impermissible benefits to players. At the same time, athletic conferences have made lucrative, new television deals.
The NCAA opposes paying athletes, but players whose talents enable colleges and coaches to reap millions have been largely silent in the debate until now.
"I really want to voice my opinions," said Georgia Tech defensive end Denzel McCoy, a redshirt freshman. "The things we go through, the hours we put in, what our bodies go through, we deserve some sort of (results). College football is a billion dollar industry."
McCoy was one of 55 Yellow Jackets who signed the NCPA petition for "education, integrity and basic protections." He had little difficulty convincing the other players to take a public stance.
"They signed it with ease," McCoy said.
At UCLA, Bruins kicker and NFL prospect Jeff Locke enlisted 70 football players and 17 men's basketball players ? the entire roster_ to sign the petition.
Locke, who like McCoy is a member of an NCPA council of active players that advises the group, emphasized that he does not see the locked box idea as paying players ? the money would only go to players after their collegiate athletic careers were over; there would be no salary. The players did not put a dollar figure on what they want for the locked-box grants.
The idea is opposed by NCAA President Mark Emmert and others who cite the amateurism ideal as the backbone of college sports. Locke, however, is adamant that players must also benefit from the skyrocketing profits schools now see from renegotiated television deals, noting the Pac-12's joint 12-year agreement with ESPN and Fox is worth $3 billion, the richest in college sports.
The petition drive comes as the NCAA Division I Board of Directors meets later this week in Indianapolis. Among the discussion topics is a proposal to allow conferences to increase the value of athletic scholarships, reducing the gap between those awards and the actual cost of going to school.
A 2010 study by Ithaca College researchers and the players' association found that the average Division I athlete on a "full scholarship" winds up having to pay $2,951 annually in school-related expenses not covered by grants-in-aid. The shortfall represents the difference between educational expenses such as tuition, student fees, room and board and other costs not covered by scholarships, from campus parking fees to calculators and computer disks required for classes.
On Monday, Emmert told the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics in Washington that he will recommend an increase of up to $2,000 to cover the scholarship shortfall. The NCPA petition urges a $3,200 increase and a mandatory effort, not optional as Emmert suggests.
In a written statement, NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said the NCAA "redirects nearly all of its revenue to support student-athletes."
"Of its approximately $775 million in annual revenues, the NCAA invests 96 percent, or 96 cents of every dollar, in student-athletes through direct distributions to individual campuses and conferences; the funding and administration of national championships; and other direct support, such as the Student Assistance and Academic Enhancement funds in Division I. "
Williams noted that the Division I Board of Directors will also consider whether to endorse a shift to multi-year scholarships for student-athletes, as opposed to the one-year renewable scholarships now in place.
That change is one of five sought in the athletes' petition. They also want to prevent permanently injured players from losing their scholarships while requiring schools to pay all the costs of athletes' sports-related medical expenses.
McCoy, who is sitting out this season with a severe knee injury, said the assurance of sports-related medical coverage is particularly important to him.
"Yeah, we're going to school for free, but when I'm 40 years old, I've got a good degree and everything, but if I can't walk up a flight of stairs, what did I get out of it besides a few bowl games, some rings, things like that?" he said.
Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA linebacker who founded the NCPA after his playing career ended more than a decade ago, said the decision to enlist current athletes to lobby for NCAA reform was intended to put pressure on schools that have resisted other efforts. Huma says the group has more than 14,000 members ? about half of whom are currently enrolled.
"The colleges haven't signaled any kind of investment in the issues we're talking about," he said "There's no reason to think that all of this money won't go to the same spots unless there is some intervention."
The current initiative was limited to a handful of schools with some of the most outspoken players in order to submit the petition before this week's NCAA meeting, Huma said. He expects many more players from other schools to join while also lobbying state and federal lawmakers.
"This is the beginning of this strategy, not the end," he said.
Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke, a member of the NCAA Division I Leadership Council, cautioned that economic realities could make it difficult for schools that don't profit from sports to come up with extra money for athletes, whether to cover scholarship shortfalls or the proposed lock-box fund. He noted that fewer than two dozen of the more than 300 Division I schools turned an annual profit, according to the most recent figures.
"Without identifying a funding mechanism, it is hard to see how many of these schools would be able to pay this added amount, which ? depending upon the number of student-athletes ? could approximate $1 million a year," Burke said.
Burke noted that athletes with limited family incomes are often eligible to receive need-based federal Pell Grants, while the NCAA also administers an emergency expense fund that athletes can apply for. Burke said he had not seen a copy of the petition.
Purdue quarterback Rob Henry, who persuaded more than 70 teammates to sign the petition, said that the assertion that college athletes should be grateful for receiving a mostly-free education is misplaced. He called the player demands a matter of simple fairness.
"Without the athletes, there are no Division I sports," he said. "There are no TV contracts, there are no coaches' contracts. Athletes should be the number one priority."
___
Alan Scher Zagier can be reached at http://twitter.com/azagier
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tunisia set to vote in first free elections
TUNIS, Tunisia?? Tunisians are set to vote in elections that are a culmination of a popular uprising that ended decades of authoritarian rule and set off similar rebellions across the Middle East.
Tunisians on Sunday will elect an assembly that will appoint a new government and then write the country's constitution to replace the 23-year presidency of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown by the month-long uprising on Jan. 14.
Tunisia's revolution set off a series of similar uprisings across the Middle East that are now being called the Arab Spring, and if Tunisia's elections produce an effective new government they will serve as an inspiration to pro-democracy advocates across the region.
The elections are also being closely watched because the front-runner, Ennahda, is a moderate Islamic party whose victory, especially in a comparatively secular society like Tunisia, could have wide implications for similar religious parties in the region.
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The campaign season has been marked by controversies over advertising, fears over society's religious polarization and concerns about voter apathy, but in the run up to the vote a mood of optimism and excitement in the capital was palpable.
There are 7.5 million potential voters, though only 4.4 million of them, or just under 60 percent, are actually registered. People can vote with their identity cards, but only at certain stations, which some fear may cause confusion during the polls.
Voters in each of the country's 33 districts ? six of which are abroad ? have a choice of between around 40 and 80 electoral lists, consisting of parties and independent candidates.
A proportional representation system will likely mean that no political party will dominate the assembly, which is expected to be divided roughly between the Ennahda party, centrist parties and leftist parties, requiring coalitions and compromises during the writing of the constitution.
In the 10 months since the uprising, Tunisia's economy, part of the reason for the revolution in the first place, has only become worse as tourists and foreign investors have stayed away.
Many have expressed indifference about the elections out of frustration that new jobs have yet to appear and life has not improved since the revolution.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44997173/ns/today-entertainment/
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Mariah Carey: I Only "Sometimes" Trust Nick Cannon (omg!)
Longtime CBS correspondent Robert Pierpoint dies ANDREW DALTON - Associated Press - AP - 12 hours ago
CBS News correspondent Robert C. Pierpoint ? who covered six presidents, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination and the Iranian hostage crisis in a career that spanned?? More??Longtime CBS correspondent Robert Pierpoint dies
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Jackson doctor's defense challenges key expert (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? The lead attorney for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death challenged a key prosecution expert Friday about his contention that the physician was responsible for the death of the singer.
Attorney Ed Chernoff cross-examined Dr. Steven Shafer, who previously testified that the only plausible explanation for the death was that Jackson had been hooked up to an IV drip of the anesthetic propofol then left alone by Dr. Conrad Murray.
"That's a bold claim, isn't it," Chernoff asked.
"It's an honest statement," Shafer replied.
Chernoff also questioned the Columbia University researcher and professor about his IV demonstration for jurors on Thursday.
The defense attorney suggested Shafer had drawn conclusions that weren't necessarily supported by the evidence. Chernoff said the type of IV line that Shafer used in the demonstration was never found at Jackson's house.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He could face up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if convicted.
Shafer was expected to be the last witness called by the prosecution. After Shafer's testimony ends, defense attorneys will begin presenting their case.
In a development outside the presence of jurors, Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor set a Nov. 16 hearing to determine whether he should find defense expert Dr. Paul White in contempt for talking to a reporter on Thursday in violation of a gag order.
E! Entertainment reported Thursday on its website that White called either Shafer or Deputy District Attorney David Walgren a "scumbag."
White said in court that he didn't recall making the statement.
He told Pastor that he had talked to Walgren after the prosecutor pulled a tab from the side of a bottle of propofol that was recovered at Jackson's mansion.
He said he told Walgren it was "inappropriate to tamper with evidence found at the scene."
White and Shafer have known each other for nearly 30 years.
In a closed chambers meeting before court started on Friday, Walgren asked that White be expelled from the courtroom for the remainder of Shafer's testimony.
The judge declined, and Chernoff said he was embarrassed by the incident and he would ensure it didn't happen again. He said White had been hurt by Shafer's criticism of him during testimony.
Pastor previously ordered Chernoff's partner, Matt Alford, to appear at a contempt hearing over comments made during a network TV interview.
___
AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.
___
McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
T.I.M. has a taste for passers-by, also fava beans and a nice chianti (video)
Continue reading T.I.M. has a taste for passers-by, also fava beans and a nice chianti (video)
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
Blocked Tear Ducts Linked to 'Lazy Eye' in Kids (HealthDay)
FRIDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Children younger than age 3 who have blocked tear ducts are at greater risk for amblyopia, or "lazy eye" -- a condition that could result in permanent vision loss if not treated early enough, researchers have found.
The authors of the new study pointed out that the findings support the need for early comprehensive eye examinations. The research was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the AAPOS, the official publication of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.
After examining 375 children with blocked tear ducts, the investigators found that 22 percent of them had risk factors for amblyopia -- eight times higher than the general population. Of these kids, 63 percent developed amblyopia and required treatment for the condition, which may include glasses and eye patching.
The researchers said that all the children who required patching had amblyopia in the eye with the blocked tear duct.
"This is strong evidence that the association of amblyopia and tear duct obstruction is more than coincidental," Dr. David G. Hunter, the journal's editor-in-chief and ophthalmologist-in-chief at Children's Hospital Boston, said in a journal news release.
The authors concluded that all children with blocked tear ducts should undergo comprehensive eye examinations and be closely monitored if they have risk factors for amblyopia.
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health provides more information on amblyopia.
U.S. to pull out of Iraq after nearly 9 years of war (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to pull all U.S. troops from Iraq this year, symbolically ending the war but dashing U.S. hopes of leaving a few thousand troops to buttress a still shaky Iraq and offset neighboring Iran's influence.
After months of negotiations with officials in Baghdad failed to reach an agreement to keep possibly thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq as trainers, Obama announced he would stick to plans to pull out the remaining force of 40,000 by year's end.
"After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," Obama told reporters.
The announcement was a milestone more than 8 1/2 years after the Bush administration led the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein based on warnings of weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist.
Obama made his announcement after a video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He said the two leaders agreed to stick to an earlier arrangement to pull the remaining U.S. troops by year's end.
The prospect of extending the troop presence was very sensitive for Iraq's fractured political elite.
Maliki, heading a tenuous coalition including politicians vehemently opposed to foreign troops, eventually advocated a training presence but rejected any legal immunity for U.S. soldiers. Those terms were deemed unacceptable in Washington.
Obama, eyeing a 2012 re-election campaign likely to be fought over his handling of the U.S. economy, is looking to wind down a decade of war in the Muslim world that did lasting damage to the U.S. image worldwide and stretched its military and budget to the brink.
In Iraq, where the U.S. force peaked at about 190,000 during the height of President George W. Bush's troop surge in 2007, almost 4,500 U.S. soldiers have died and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers over $700 billion in military spending alone.
Even as leaders of Iraq's fragile democracy seek to distance themselves from Washington, Iraq is only slowly getting to its feet after years of ferocious violence that shattered its society and killed tens of thousands of people.
While Washington has hailed Iraq's halting progress, especially as tumult has swept the Middle East, its political system remains gripped by perennial deadlock on issues dividing a religiously and ethnically fractured country.
Violence there is a far cry from the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07, but Iraq still suffers daily attacks from a stubborn insurgency allied with al Qaeda, and from Shi'ite militiamen.
SHARED VISION FOR IRAQ?
Obama's announcement in the White House briefing room was freighted with political overtones.
The president, who was an early opponent of the war and campaigned on a promise to end it, repeated his mantra that "the tide of war is receding."
But prominent Republicans criticized the president. Senator John McCain told Reuters the decision went against the advice of U.S. military commanders, could embolden Iran and likely would be met with alarm by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is already concerned about U.S. commitment to his country.
"In retrospect, I don't think the political side of the Obama administration ever had any serious intentions of keeping a residual force there because none of their actions were serious," said McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
About 160 U.S. soldiers will remain behind under State Department authority to train Iraqi forces along with a small contingent of soldiers guarding the U.S. Embassy. There will also likely be a U.S. special operations presence in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Friday the United States would start negotiating with Iraq about military training assistance after U.S. forces withdraw this year. Such an arrangement could potentially involve a troop presence in the country.
"Once we've completed the reduction of the combat presence, then I think we begin a process of negotiating with them in order to determine what will be the nature of that relationship," Panetta told reporters traveling with him to Indonesia.
He did not rule out having U.S. trainers rotate through Iraq, without being stationed there.
Obama's announcement underscored the gaps that remain between U.S. and Iraqi priorities and political realities.
"This has been inevitable," said David Mack, a former U.S. ambassador in the Middle East.
"National security strategists in both Washington and Baghdad made a strong case for keeping U.S. military forces beyond 2011, but the domestic politics in both countries were against it," he said.
U.S. MILITARY ROLE
The U.S. military role in Iraq has been mostly reduced to advising the security forces in a country whose military was rebuilt from scratch following the 2003 invasion.
Lingering weaknesses in Iraq's military capability would have been one reason to keep a larger U.S. troop presence.
Another was Iran. Chronically critical of Iran's nuclear program, Washington is especially sensitive to the prospect of an expansionist Iran, following its recent allegations about a foiled Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington.
"We remain very concerned that Iran is meddling, not just in the affairs of Iraq but of other countries in the region. And that's unacceptable," Pentagon spokesman George Little said this week when discussing a possible extended troop presence.
Brian Katulis, a security expert at the Center for American Progress in Washington, said the specter of Tehran dictating decisions to Baghdad was a red herring.
"Iranian influence is overstated," he said. "And it's not as if a few thousand U.S. troops was going to be a linchpin."
Even without soldiers, the U.S. presence will remain substantial. U.S. officials say the embassy in Baghdad, an imposing, fortified complex by the Tigris River in Baghdad's Green Zone, will be the largest in the world.
(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, Deborah Charles, Alister Bull and Warren Strobel in Washington, Patrick Markey in Baghdad, Phil Stewart aboard a U.S. military aircraft; Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Philip Barbara and Peter Cooney)
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Friday, October 21, 2011
Drake 'Happy' At Young Money, Despite Rumors
'I really don't want to go anywhere,' Drake tells MTV News of rumblings that he's ready to leave Lil Wayne's label.
By Rob Markman
Drake made quite a few headlines when he announced his upcoming Club Paradise Tour at the top of October, though it might not have been the press he was looking for.
When Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky, two non-Young Money artists, were revealed as the tour's other acts, rumors began to swirl that Drake is unhappy and wants to leave Lil Wayne's label.
"I never really know where those rumors stem from," Drake told MTV News. "I'm really happy at Young Money; I really don't want to go anywhere. Me and Wayne have a great relationship."
With the lesser-known Room for Improvement and Comeback Season mixtapes under his belt, Drake caught Weezy's attention through a mutual friend and was invited out on tour with the YM boss several months before releasing his breakout tape, So Far Gone. Under Wayne's tutelage, Drizzy Drake became a star, but as big as he's gotten, he still salutes the man who put him in prime position.
"At the end of the day, that's my boss. I'm his soldier. I'm cool with that. I'm good with that," he said. "That's the role I want to play. He put me here."
In a separate interview with MTV News, Wayne gave Drake his full support and offered Take Care a glowing endorsement. "I can tell you now, I don't know nothing else out there that can touch it, including my stuff. That kid is on another planet," he said of Drake's upcoming album.
The OVO general also pointed out the Young Money artists' ability to co-exist with one another, despite all the individual success, counting Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Tyga and the rest of the crew as friends. But Drake also has another group of friends, guys he grew up with in his native Toronto. When he drops Take Care on November 15, through his music, Drake will introduce you to his other crew.
"I spent a lot of time out there [in Toronto]; that's what this album is about. That's what I'm gonna showcase," Drake explained. "It's the same thing with the tour: I wanna bring Kendrick, I wanna bring A$AP. Those are guys that I love.
"It has nothing to do with people on my label," he continued. "Tyga's out, Nicki's working on an album, and everybody else is doing their thing on the road with Wayne or with Wayne in the studio, so I just sort of showcased the music that I happen to love right now, and those are the two guys that I'm bringing out."
Is Drake a Young Money lifer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672842/drake-young-money-lil-wayne.jhtml
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
Lohan in custody after judge finds probation issue (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Lindsay Lohan sported a new accessory Wednesday after a judge revoked her probation: Handcuffs. The actress was taken into custody and escorted from a hearing after Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner revoked her probation because she was ousted from a community service assignment at a women's shelter.
"There has been violation after violation," Sautner said.
Bail was set at $100,000, and Lohan's spokesman Steve Honig said it was immediately posted. It was unclear, however, if Lohan had been released.
"We're dealing with someone on probation," said Lohan's attorney, Shawn Holley. "Most people on probation don't always do things perfectly."
A city prosecutor recommended jail time, but Sautner set a Nov. 2 hearing to decide whether Lohan should serve another stint behind bars, where she has been sent four previous times only to be released early due to jail overcrowding.
"If jail meant something in the state of California now, maybe I'd put her in jail," Sautner said.
The development marked the latest legal problem for the 25-year-old Lohan, who was given probation for a 2007 drunken driving case and a misdemeanor theft case this year.
"Lindsay is hoping this matter will be resolved on Nov. 2 and the court will reinstate probation and allow her to continue fulfilling her community service," Honig said.
Lohan had been ordered in April to serve 360 hours at the Downtown Women's Center, an agency that helps homeless women. Nine of Lohan's appointments at the center were "just blown off" and she "showed up once and left after an hour," Sautner said.
Lohan has since started serving hours with the American Red Cross, but Sautner said that would not count because it was not part of her sentence.
During the tense proceedings, Sautner hammered Lohan for failing to show up for her four-hour appointments at the women's center and taking six months to complete a court-ordered Shoplifters Anonymous course. The judge also questioned how Lohan could have complied with her court-ordered weekly psychological counseling when she was traveling in Europe from Sept. 9 to Oct. 5.
"I don't know how she did that in person every week," said Sautner, who suggested Lohan complete a minimum of 16 hours of her community service at the county morgue before the Nov. 2 hearing, when Lohan's probation officer and other officials will testify about her efforts to complete her sentence.
Lohan, aside from a role in last year's film "Machete," has seen her acting career evaporate in recent years. She has been in perpetual trouble since May 2010.
Another judge determined she violated her probation in a 2007 drunken driving case and sentenced her to jail and rehab. She faltered after being released early from a rehab facility early and was sent to the Betty Ford Center, where she got in an altercation with a rehab worker who later sued.
Within weeks of her release from Betty Ford, Lohan was accused of taking a $2,500 necklace without permission from an upscale jewelry store near her home in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Sautner determined the January incident constituted a probation violation, and Lohan was ordered to undergo psychological counseling and perform 480 hours of community service, with 120 hours to be spent at the morgue.
Lohan later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in the theft case and served 35 days of a four-month sentenced on house arrest.
___
AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.
____
AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Report: US, Euro arms used against Arab protesters
NEW YORK (AP) ? The United States, Russia and many European countries that have supported the swell of protests across the Middle East and North Africa this year also supplied some of the weapons used against demonstrators, Amnesty International said in a new report Tuesday.
The report comes as the human rights group urges the U.S. Congress to block a $53 million proposed U.S. arms sale to Bahrain, where more than 30 people have been killed as the ruling Sunni Muslim monarchy has waged sweeping crackdowns against mostly Shiite Muslim protesters who have demanded greater rights.
The London-based group says its findings show the dangers involved in selling arms to repressive countries under a system that makes it difficult to tell who ends up with the weapons and how they are used.
"To the extent that arms transfers are knowingly engaged in and result in the perpetration of crimes against humanity, the transferring state also becomes responsible under international law," Sanjeev Bery, the group's Washington-based advocacy director for Middle East and North Africa, told The Associated Press.
Amnesty looked at arms transfers since 2005 to key countries rocked by protests this year: Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. It found that the main suppliers of arms since 2005 were the U.S., Britain, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
Amnesty said countries must tighten and increase transparency in arms export controls to avoid the risk that weapons will be used to violate human rights.
"It's precisely the wrong signal to send for the Obama administration to be on the verge of sending $53 million in weapons to a Bahrani king whose security forces have already been opening fire on peaceful protesters this year," Bery said.
In response, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday that several procedural steps still remained before the U.S. could deliver the weapons to Bahrain. He noted the sale pertained to equipment for Bahrain's "external defense purposes" but conceded that several members of Congress were expressing concerns about the deal.
"We're going to continue to look at all the elements on the ground, including the human rights situation," Toner told reporters.
Toner declined to say if the deal could be ended by the Bahraini government's failure to implement reforms. But he said the U.S. would study an independent Bahraini report on alleged human rights violations expected to be released soon.
Britain's government last week announced plans to change arms export rules to include a mechanism allowing the immediate suspension of licenses to countries experiencing a sharp deterioration in security or stability.
"The Government is determined to learn the wider lessons of events in the Middle East and North Africa," Foreign Secretary William Hague told lawmakers in a written statement. The U.K. has said it reviewed and revoked dozens of licenses approving weapons sales to Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia and Egypt following protests in those countries.
Officials also defended current practice. "We do not export equipment where there is a clear risk it could be used for internal repression," a spokesperson for Britain's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said on customary condition of anonymity.
The so-called Arab Spring protests across the region came largely as a surprise after, in many cases, decades of stagnant and repressive rule. After sometimes deadly crackdowns on protesters, some countries who have long supplied weapons suspended arms transfers to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and other states. The Amnesty report points out that the U.N. Security Council put an arms embargo on Libya and the European Union did the same against Syria.
Amnesty argues that the U.S. and others supplying weapons have long ignored the human rights violations under many of the regimes and shouldn't have sold them in the first place.
"The international community needs to know exactly what's being given to whom and exactly how it's being used," Bery said. "If not, the U.S. government should not be in the business of providing those specific weapons to begin with."
___
Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.
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400 at private Elizabeth Taylor memorial service (AP)
BURBANK, Calif. ? Colin Farrell, Michael Caine and Elton John joined family and friends of Elizabeth Taylor during a private memorial service for the Oscar-winning star.
Son Michael Wilding told the 400 people gathered Sunday in a theater at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank that it was especially meaningful to have so many friends on hand to celebrate his mother's spirit.
The Academy Award-winning star of "Butterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" was 79 when she died on March 23 of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles.
Spokeswoman Sally Morrison says Farrell hosted a service, which featured memories of the violet-eyed beauty.
"Virginia Woolf" director Mike Nichols put together a touching video message, grandson Rhys Tivey played "Amazing Grace" on the trumpet and John performed "Blue Eyes."
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Campaign China-bashing obscures real problems (AP)
WASHINGTON ? It's open season on China in the Republican race for the presidential nomination, and Mitt Romney is leading the charge. Newt Gingrich and some other candidates are on his heels, painting China as the bogeyman responsible for America's economic ills.
Former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is the lone holdout, warning against actions that might prompt a trade war.
In a race focused primarily on jobs, taxes and debt, China is emerging as an increasingly prominent foreign policy topic ? largely because it is by extension an issue of economics. The debate centers on legitimate gripes over the Asian power's currency value, huge U.S. debt holdings and pirating of American technology. But those issues are often being melded into an all-encompassing populist argument that China is stealing jobs from the United States.
"Day one, I will issue an executive order identifying China as a currency manipulator," Romney said during in last week's debate, outlining his presidential vision. "People who've looked at this in the past have been played like a fiddle by the Chinese. And the Chinese are smiling all the way to the bank, taking our currency and taking our jobs and taking a lot of our future. And I'm not willing to let that happen."
The economics aren't as simple as good and evil in a relationship between the world's largest exporter and importer who between them traded goods worth more than $450 billion last year. Yet the sharp tone has been an effective campaign tool with Americans increasingly perturbed by China's rapidly expanding manufacturing production and pursuit of the U.S. position as the world's biggest economy.
U.S.-China relations are imbalanced, even if exports in both directions are rising. The Asian power sells four times as many goods to the U.S. as the United States sends in return to China. But currency policy is only part of the explanation.
Chinese workers earn far less money than Americans, allowing local and American companies that moved manufacturing operations to the country to sell goods on the global market at lower prices. Chinese citizens are less likely to buy as many U.S.-made goods because on average they are far poorer than Americans.
Those nuances have at times been brushed aside, with talk on China focused more on finger-pointing than serious discussion over ending Washington's overreliance on Beijing for purchasing American debt or supplying the economy with cheap consumer goods.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, speaking to reporters in Beijing on Monday, said the two countries' trade and economic cooperation benefited both sides.
"The attitude of seeking scapegoats and putting the blame on other countries, to mislead the general public, is irresponsible," Liu said in a regular briefing when asked to comment on Romney's attacks on China's currency policies.
Some of the fear of China has spilled over into the question of military might. In an interview with Georgia's Marietta Daily Journal, Gingrich warned earlier this year that if China owns "trillions of dollars of our debt, and they have a superior manufacturing system and a superior military, then our range of independence will be within the framework the Chinese tolerate."
For now, U.S. military supremacy in the Pacific is unchallenged. While some lawmakers watched warily as China unveiled its first aircraft carrier in August, the U.S. has 11 such vessels in operation.
And the reality is that even as the value of the yuan against the dollar has irked Republican and Democratic lawmakers for the last decade, politicians have found it much easier to campaign on the issue than force the communist government to float its currency. President Barack Obama, like George W. Bush before him, has opted for negotiation with Beijing rather than conflict as the best way to gain concessions.
Romney's approach lumps together complaints about Chinese economic policy which aren't necessarily connected. He has said labeling China a currency manipulator would enable Washington to go after Beijing "in places where they're stealing our intellectual property," but it's unclear how currency and counterfeiting would be linked.
Overly aggressive tactics might be counterproductive for U.S. economic recovery.
"I don't subscribe to the Don Trump school or the Mitt Romney school of international trade," Huntsman, the Obama administration's former ambassador to China, said in Tuesday's GOP debate. "I don't want to find ourselves in a trade war. With respect to China, if you start slapping penalties on them ... you're going to get the same thing in return."
A tit-for-tat trade war would help no one. The United States accelerated the Great Depression in the 1930s by setting sharply higher tariffs on hundreds of foreign goods, sparking international retaliation and the devastation of international commerce. Economists fear a similar wave of protectionism today could plunge the world back into recession.
Coming at the problem from the same direction as Romney, the Senate this week passed a bill to impose higher taxes on imports on China if the government fails to allow the yuan to rise in value faster. The bill is unlikely to pass the House of Representatives, where Republican leaders oppose it.
And, as Huntsman noted, the Chinese could easily retaliate with penalties against American goods aided by the Federal Reserve's pumping of hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy.
The Obama and Bush administrations have approached China more carefully, targeting with higher import taxes those Chinese goods they felt were selling at artificially low prices while negotiating with Beijing for a fairer currency exchange rate. Despite limited success, they've avoided a blanket punishment of all Chinese goods and any breakdown in relations that would surely make it harder for American products to reach China's booming internal market.
"For the first and the second-largest economies in the world, we have no choice: We have to find common ground," Huntsman argued, in a rare voice of support from a GOP candidate for any current administration policy.
A trade war "disadvantages our small businesses," he said. "It disadvantages our exporters. It disadvantages our agricultural producers."
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