Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4360-In-Texas,-Pig-Blood-Turns-Creek-Red.html
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Animals Get The Upper Paw, or Hoof, or Claw (preview)
Antigravity |
More Science
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Every so often a critter takes a shot at making headlines
?| January 29, 2012?|
In journalism, there?s what you call your dog-bites-man situation. Which is anything too common and expected to be a good story (unless the dog is one of those Resident Evil hellhounds, or the man is Cesar Millan). An example of a dog-bites-man science story is yet another confirmation of Einstein and relativity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Steve Mirsky has been writing the Anti Gravity column since atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were about 358 parts per million. He also hosts the Scientific American podcast Science Talk.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=06f4ff3e53d3b8a10e479108af970713
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Jury finds Afghan family guilty in honor killings
Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)
Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)
Mohammad Shafia, center, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)
Tooba Yahya is led away from the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, after being found guilty of first degree murder. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)
Mohammad Shafia, front,Tooba Yahya, center and Hamed Shafia arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder of Mohammad Shafia's three daughters and childless first wife. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)
Mohammad Shafia reacts as he his led away from the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, after being found guilty of first degree murder of his three daughters and childless first wife. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)
KINGSTON, Ontario (AP) ? A jury on Sunday found three members of an Afghan family guilty of killing three teenage sisters and another woman in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor," ending a case that shocked and riveted Canadians.
Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet.
The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.
Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said the evidence clearly supported the conviction.
"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honorless crime," Maranger said. "The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
In a statement following the verdict, Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson called honor killings a practice that is "barbaric and unacceptable in Canada."
Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father's first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn't call police from the scene.
After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."
His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."
Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."
Hamed's lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, but said his client will appeal and he believes the other two defendants will as well.
But prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis welcomed the verdict.
"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances," Laarhuis said outside court.
"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," he said to cheers of approval from onlookers.
The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.
Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.
The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.
The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.
The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.
Shafia's first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and "made life a torture," while his second wife called her a servant.
The prosecution presented wire taps and mobile phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing allegation. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.
"There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this," Shafia said on one recording. "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows ... nothing is more dear to me than my honor."
Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.
Shafia's lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on the wiretaps may have weighed more heavily on the jury's minds than the physical evidence in the case.
"He wasn't convicted for what he did," Kemp said. "He was convicted for what he said."
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
A's remain open to signing Ramirez
updated 5:09 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2012
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Athletics are open to signing slugger Manny Ramirez but the team is not actively pursuing the free agent.
That was the message Sunday from assistant general manager David Forst, who talked during A's Fanfest held at the Oakland Arena, next door to the Coliseum. A's owner Lew Wolff had suggested the move last week.
"We're open to it," Forst said. "We do have other things going on and we do expect other additions between now and opening day. We have never been in a situation where we had too many good players."
Ramirez applied for reinstatement to Major League Baseball last month. He was suspended for 100 games last year but the ban was trimmed to 50 because he sat out nearly all of last season. The suspension would start with the first game he is eligible to play after signing with a club.
"I think it would be fun," Wolff said. "This should be viewed on the basis of talent. Once he's served the penalty he should be free to do what he wants. I don't know what kind of shape he's in, though I hear he's in great shape."
Ramirez, who will be 40 on May 30, ranks 14th on the career list with 555 home runs. He was 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for Tampa Bay, which had signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.02 million. He retired from baseball rather than serve his longer suspension.
"I never actually met him," A's outfielder Josh Reddick said. "But to have a veteran hitter like Manny? That experience can only help us. We're a young team and I would look forward to a guy like that, a guy we can learn from."
Reddick was in the Red Sox organization when Ramirez was traded from Boston to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2008. He made his major league debut with the Red Sox exactly one year later.
Reddick said Ramirez left "an interesting" legacy behind.
NOTES: Wolff also expressed some impatience with Major League Baseball's study committee about the A's planned move to a new stadium site in San Jose. "We should be in it now instead of waiting for it," he said. "It's hard to be patient when it has hurt us everywhere. The only site available to us based on our analysis is the downtown site in San Jose." ... Wolff joked that his grandson no longer speaks to him because of the trade that sent Gio Gonzalez, his favorite player, to the Washington Nationals. ... Forst also denied reports that signing Jonny Gomes doomed OF prospects Michael Taylor and Chris Carter to the minors. "That is not true," he said. "There is a fifth outfield spot and the DH spot. They have an opportunity to be on the 25-man roster." ... A's manager Bob Melvin said he sees Gomes, Reddick, Seth Smith and Coco Crisp as part of a rotation for the outfield and included Collin Cowgill as a possible candidate for the fifth spot. ... The Fanfest drew over 7,000 people.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46182487/ns/sports-baseball/
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Meet 'Rosie' and 'Ken': 2 chimps, 100 experiments
By Lisa Myers and Diane Beasley
Rock Center
Rosie and Ken are 30-year-old chimpanzees who've never known a day of freedom. They were born in research labs and have spent almost their entire lives being experimented on by scientists in search of cures for human diseases.
These two chimpanzees have been infected with viruses, darted and sedated more than 100 times, and put through dozens of sometimes painful procedures. For years, Rosie repeatedly was given a drug that caused her seizures.
Today, these aging chimps are sitting in large enclosures called primadomes at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, available to be used for still more experiments. When Rosie and Ken and a dozen other chimps were shipped to the lab, in 2010, after a 10-year hiatus from invasive testing, it provoked a public outcry.
Chimpanzee 'Ken' in his enclosure.
We met Rosie and Ken not long ago, when,?after months of negotiation, Texas Biomed gave NBC News unprecedented access to the highly secretive world of primate research.
Dr. Robert Lanford, who has experimented on chimps for 27 years, said he wants the public to see what it's like at his research lab today. "The American people has had the wrong opinion that these animals are in little bitty cages in a dark room with no windows," he said. "I want them to see who we are and how we take care of the animals and why we're doing it."
Dr. John VandeBerg, director of the primate research center, says chimpanzees here are treated "with the utmost of reverence," and have a "high quality of life."
But that quality of life is a matter of intense debate and part of the emotional argument over whether experimenting on chimps is morally and scientifically justified to save human lives. Also at issue: When is enough enough? When do chimps who've given much in the name of science get to retire to the relative freedom of a sanctuary?
One reason chimpanzee research is so controversial? is that these amazing creatures share 98 percent?of our DNA and have many human traits, including emotions ranging from joy to sadness and fear.
"Remember we're talking about our closest living relatives with brains so sophisticated that they can do a lot of? problems on a computer with a touchpad, faster than secondary school students. That's how bright they are," said famed anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall in an interview with NBC News.?
Anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall.
Dr. Goodall has worked tirelessly for decades to improve the lives of lab chimps and to persuade scientists and the government that this research should be banned.
"All invasive research is torture," Goodall says. "And it's not just the procedures. It's the imprisonment. It's being kept in a small space with no choice. You just are there. You're powerless."
Over the four days our team spent at Texas Biomed, our cameras were required to shoot from a "safe zone," since many of the chimps, like Ken and Rosie, are infected with viruses such as Hepatitis C and HIV. So to get close-ups of the chimps, we built special equipment to attach small cameras to the cages. At first, the chimps tried to remove them?? and then, were fascinated by seeing their own reflections in the camera lens.
We saw three different types of housing where the chimps live, enrichment which involves activities to keep them engaged, and their interaction with behaviorists. We observed how the chimpanzees are trained to voluntarily present their own body parts to receive shots.? We also were allowed to watch one of Lanford's experiments in which a chimp who'd been infected with the Hepatitis C virus was sedated and then bled. Lanford has been working to find a vaccine for over a decade.
Testing on chimps has saved lives in the past: it helped produce the Hepatitis B vaccine which is now given to children at birth.
But scientists disagree about whether chimps are needed to find a cure for Hepatitis C. Lanford says testing on chimps will save human lives. Chimps are crucial, he says, because they're the only animals that can be infected with the virus. Unlike humans, they don't develop liver disease.
Scientists here also argue that they provide a quality of life for chimpanzees which is just as good as a sanctuary, and that instead of being retired, chimps like Rosie and Ken should live out their?days in the labs, in case they are needed for research in the future.
"I think of the chimpanzees in the same way that I think of a library. There are many books in the library that will never be used this year or next year," VandeBerg says. "Many of them might never be used again. But we don't know which ones will be needed tomorrow, next year or the year after."
Goodall says that's a terrible idea. "Most of them are just stockpiled. Most of them are not being used. They're just there in case maybe one day we might want to use them again," she said. "I definitely think at a certain point, they deserve to be freed from this kind of life of servitude."
Whether a chimp gets to retire is entirely up to the labs and the government. There is no ethical standard or uniform criteria.
According to Goodall, "the tragedy is that some of the chimps in the labs know nothing else. They have never tasted any kind of freedom in their lives. Freedom to choose, freedom to go where they want."
To see what life looks like for lab chimps lucky enough to be deemed no longer needed for research, we spent two days at the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Shreveport, Louisiana. It's aptly known as "Chimp Haven."
In the back woods of Louisiana, for the first time in most of their lives, the chimps can walk on grass, swing in the trees ... and forage in the forest.
Dr. Linda Brent founded Chimp Haven, after spending 16 years as a behaviorist at Texas Biomed. "Everything we do here, from the way the facility was built to the things we give to the chimpanzees and the way we manage the facility, every decision we make is for the welfare of the chimpanzees," she says.??
Editor's Note: Lisa Myers' full report airs Monday, Jan. 30 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.?
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Chicagoan's Valentine's Day gift guide (ContributorNetwork)
We survived Christmas, so now it's on to the next gift-giving holiday, Valentine's Day! With so little time in between holidays, it can be overwhelming to find gifts, cards, and chocolates. So, if you want to have the most romantic day without worrying whether he or she will love every moment, then use this guide and you'll be on your way to celebrating instead of resenting the day of love. Here you go, Chicagoans, the secret to the best Valentine's Day yet:
Unique local cards
Custom cards are possibly one of the sweetest gifts. The recipient can instantly see you put the time in to think about what it says and means and also how important he or she is to you. It makes your significant other feel special, and it also helps your local community and designers. Greer is a specialty paper shop that has a great collection of Valentine's cards. They are unique, funny, and romantically touching. Some of my favorites are by designers Dude & Chick and Ghost Academy. Check out their full selection here.
Location: 1657 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL
Specialty chocolates
Skip the cherry cordials at Jewel-Osco and Target and get some chocolates that say "I love you" with every bite. Your significant other will see your passion for him or her with chocolates from Belgium Chocolatier Piron. It is a mom and pop shop in Evanston that makes its chocolates from scratch. They are fabulous! Don't just take my word for it; go pick some up for your valentine! In case you get overwhelmed by the selection, my favorites are the Grand Marnier Butter Cream, Mokka Manon, Chipotle Chili Pepper, and the Fruit De Mer. For a detailed list of their scrumptious chocolates, check out their website.
Location: 509-A W. Main St., Evanston, IL
Romantic restaurant
Keep the love alive or spark one with the romantic Hot Chocolate. No, it's not a shop filled with mugs of hot chocolate, although they do serve many flavors, but rather a lovely restaurant with elegant dishes and plenty of dessert. Their dessert even comes with bacon fat baked into the pie crust. The best part about this Chicago gem is that Hot Chocolate supports local farms by using their products. So, not only are their products fresh, they also help our community thrive.
Location: 1747 N. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL
Best florist
Local florists give you the freshest bouquet of flowers, quality, and design. One of the best in Chicago is Flor del Monte. Their style is very clean, symmetrical, and bold. Their use of bright colors is beautiful, but even their arrangements with softer colors stand out in a crowd. You can view some of their creations on their Facebook page.
Location: 1900 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago, IL
Romance with Broadway in Chicago
Lucky for us Chicagoans, Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" is coming to the Cadillac Theatre beginning February 14 and running until February 26. It is a musical that will make you fall in love with your partner all over again. "South Pacific" will keep you both entertained with romance, drama, and action.
Location: 151 W. Randolph, Chicago, IL
Janoa Taylor is a freelance writer with a background in business and finance. She offers a unique local perspective gained from years as a Chicago resident.
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Struggling in US, F-35 fighter pushes sales abroad
FILE - In this July 14, 2011 file photo released by U.S. Air Force, a 33rd Fighter Wing aircraft maintainer moves by the Department of Defense's newest aircraft, the U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), before giving the pilot an order to taxi the aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Detractors say the F-35 stealth fighter, the costliest military plane ever, is destined to go down as one of the biggest follies in aviation history. But it may have found a savior: deep-pocketed U.S. allies hungry to add its super high-tech capabilities to their arsenal. The program marked a major success last month when Japan chose it as a replacement for 42 aircraft. It was the F-35's first victory in an open-bidding competition, though countries from Britain to Israel previously made commitments. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, Samuel King Jr., File)
FILE - In this July 14, 2011 file photo released by U.S. Air Force, a 33rd Fighter Wing aircraft maintainer moves by the Department of Defense's newest aircraft, the U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), before giving the pilot an order to taxi the aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Detractors say the F-35 stealth fighter, the costliest military plane ever, is destined to go down as one of the biggest follies in aviation history. But it may have found a savior: deep-pocketed U.S. allies hungry to add its super high-tech capabilities to their arsenal. The program marked a major success last month when Japan chose it as a replacement for 42 aircraft. It was the F-35's first victory in an open-bidding competition, though countries from Britain to Israel previously made commitments. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, Samuel King Jr., File)
TOKYO (AP) ? Detractors say the F-35 stealth fighter, the costliest military plane ever, is destined to go down as one of the biggest follies in aviation history. But it may have found a savior: deep-pocketed U.S. allies hungry to add its super high-tech capabilities to their arsenal.
The program marked a major success last month when Japan chose it over the Boeing F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon as a replacement for 42 aircraft in its aging air force. It was the F-35's first victory in an open-bidding competition, though countries from Britain to Israel previously made commitments and others are expected to follow.
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin also is looking to bring F-35s to South Korea in a deal that could be Seoul's biggest single defense outlay ever ? 60 top-of-the-line fighters worth more than $7 billion. A decision could come as soon as October.
In the U.S., however, the stealth jet has been called a boondoggle. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, has slammed the F-35 as a "scandal and a tragedy," a "train wreck" and "incredibly expensive."
With U.S. defense budget cuts looming and many critics of the program still unconvinced, foreign support is a make-or-break issue for the program, which has been described as too big to fail. It could become the cornerstone of global air strategy for the next few decades, or a trillion-dollar bust.
"The U.S. fighter jet industry has all of its eggs in this one basket," said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. So many countries have bought into the program, he said, there is now no realistic choice but to forge ahead with it.
"It would be almost impossible for the U.S. to cancel the F-35, since the repercussions would be global," he said.
The F-35 is the world's only "fifth generation" fighter jet, combining state-of-the art stealth technology with highly advanced avionics and maneuverability. The first F-35 flew in 2006, and 42 have been produced so far. China and Russia are working on rival ? and some experts say superior ? aircraft.
About 130,000 people in 47 states and Puerto Rico have jobs related to the project. The only states without F-35 work are Hawaii, North Dakota and Wyoming.
"Simply put, there is no alternative to the F-35 program. It must succeed," Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said in September.
The Pentagon envisions buying 2,443 F-35s for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, but some members of Congress and Department of Defense officials are balking at the price tag, which has jumped from $233 billion to $385 billion. Some estimates suggest it could top out at $1 trillion over 50 years, making it the most expensive program in military history.
In frustration over cost overruns, Congress added a requirement that Lockheed Martin cover extra costs on future F-35 purchases to the defense bill it passed last month.
"The delays and cost increases that F-35 has suffered have put it under substantial political pressure in Washington, so a win like the Japan program is a major boost," said James Hardy, Asia Pacific specialist with IHS Jane's in London.
Success rides heavily on foreign investment because the more F-35s are produced, the cheaper each jet is to build and maintain.
Lockheed Martin, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems, has been careful to bring in international partners. The fighter is being developed with support from Britain, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Canada.
Among the leading international partners, the U.K. is planning to buy 138 F-35s, Italy 131 and Canada 65. Australia has ordered 14 and has plans to buy as many as 100 for 16 billion Australian dollars ($17 billion).
The Israeli government selected the F-35A as its air force's next generation aircraft in 2010 ? making it the first country to receive the F-35 through the U.S. government's Foreign Military Sales process.
Singapore also has said it will buy F-35, although it hasn't set numbers yet, and there may be longer-term interest from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and India, said Hardy, of IHS Jane's.
The wide range of buyers is in contrast to Lockheed Martin's last stealth fighter, the now discontinued F-22 "Raptor." It was hailed as a wonder of technology but failed in large part because Congress deemed it too sensitive to sell even to Washington's closest allies.
Narushige Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies who has advised the Japanese government on defense issues, said he thinks the F-35 is Japan's best option.
"If this was about a Cold War-type competition, then the F-22 would have been better. But if this is a long-term peacetime competition, you need numbers and presence, and close coordination among allies," Michishita said.
But defense analyst Carlo Kopp of the private Air Power Australia think tank said he thinks it was a mistake for his country and others to buy in. He said the F-35 program should have been canceled years ago and that the policy of pushing forward with it at any cost only threatens to create a budgetary sinkhole that would weaken the defenses of the U.S. and its allies.
"It will never become a viable combat aircraft due to cumulative poor choices made early in the design, and later Band-Aid fixes," Kopp said.
Further cost increases could prompt foreign buyers to cut their orders, which would put even more pressure on Lockheed Martin. Other problems also continue to trouble its international partners:
? Concerns about whether Lockheed will be able to deliver on time prompted Australia to caution that it won't decide until later this year whether to buy any more than the 14 ordered so far.
? Structural glitches have emerged that compromise the F-35's ability to land on aircraft carriers. That's a big issue for Britain, where the plane is slated to replace its carrier-friendly Harrier jets by 2020. British media have also reported that the F-35 can't fire British air-to-air missiles.
? Canada and Norway may have difficulty operating the F-35 on icy runways. The plane's single-engine design ? unlike the twin-engine F-22 or F-15 ? could also be an issue. If the engine goes out, planes and pilots in the Arctic could be lost.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Nintendo chief promises to do Wii U launch right (AP)
TOKYO ? Nintendo's chief is determined to get right the launch of its next game machine, Wii U, set for this year's holiday shopping season, and acknowledged Friday some mistakes with selling its 3DS handheld.
But Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata warned earnings for the fiscal year set to begin April will be the toughest ever for the Japanese manufacturer behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games.
Iwata's remarks come a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss, much larger than the 20 billion yen ($260 million) loss projected earlier. It posted a 77.62 billion yen profit the previous fiscal year.
Iwata blamed the strong yen, which erases overseas earnings, as well as the arrival of smartphones and other devices that offer gaming.
The higher yen slashed nearly 54 billion yen ($701 million) from the company's operating profit for the April-December period.
"I can see how the red ink may be perceived as abnormal," Iwata told analysts and reporters at a Tokyo hotel. "The environment has changed."
The failure of the 3DS handheld, which offers three-dimensional imagery, to take off with enough momentum during the last quarter of 2011 was one of the main reasons for the dismal results, according to Iwata.
The 3DS has gradually started to sell better, but it took a price cut in August. It still lacks a strong lineup of attractive software games, a key factor for a machine to succeed in a big way.
Iwata vowed the company will be better prepared when it introduces the Wii U home console during the 2012 year-end shopping season for a strong comeback.
He declined to give details such as pricing or what the software games available at that time might be.
But he said the Wii U will come with a strong game lineup at the launch as well as secure and safe Internet services that will offer players individual accounts.
The Wii U will come with new ways of playing that will almost make the term "home console" obsolete, Iwata said. It will also offer mobile gaming. The machine has a touch-panel controller.
Nintendo has long competed against rival game makers, such as Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. These days, all face the threat from hit devices like the iPad and iPhone from Apple Inc. that also offer games.
Iwata's comments also showed Nintendo is growing less cautious about the Internet, which in the past it had brushed off as mainly for hard-core gamers.
Kyoto-based Nintendo has built its reputation on making games fun to play for casual and newcomer players.
"We are going to put to use our bitter experience with the 3DS," said Iwata.
___
Follow Yuri Kageyama at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Mitt Romney's Tax Returns, Like Those Of Biden, Bush, Etc., Offer Clues To Character
The tax returns of prominent officeholders are scrutinized not just for details about the individuals' financial lives, but for clues about their character. Mitt Romney's returns, released Tuesday after weeks of pressure from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, have been eyeballed more closely than an eighth-grade boy's first pornographic magazine. The returns reveal, as expected, an extremely wealthy individual who benefits enormously from the lower tax rate on investment income.
One can certainly draw conclusions about Romney's character from his statements about that tax rate, which indicate he thinks he is paying his fair share. But the returns also suggest piety: Romney and his wife, Ann, donated more than $4 million in 2010 and 2011 to the Mormon church -- a 10 percent tithe on their more than $40 million in adjusted gross income for those years.
A Huffington Post review of the past tax filings of presidents and vice presidents turned up other details that may help provide a better understanding of the people behind the numbers.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, have cleaned house, it seems. In their 2010 tax return, the Bidens say they donated $3,800 in "clothing and household goods" with a fair market value of $950 to a Goodwill site in Wilmington, Del.
Ted Sikorski, a Goodwill spokesman, said that Wilmington area stores receive 400,000 donations a year and that the organization doesn't keep track of who donates what, so there is no telling whether those donations included Jill Biden's vintage dresses or Joe Biden's old gym socks. But if you bought a pair of pants from a Delaware Goodwill store recently and found an Amtrak ticket stub in the pocket -- well, who knows.
That the Bidens bothered to claim such a small tax write-off says something about their finances. They reported adjusted gross income of $379,178 in 2010 -- a nice payday for most Americans, but considerably less than many members of Congress, and also less than Joe Biden's boss and his wife, who earned $1,728,096 in 2010. That was, in turn, considerably less than the $5.5 million that Barack and Michelle Obama reported in 2009, mostly from book sales.
In 1969, Richard Nixon claimed a $576,000 deduction for donating his own papers to the government -- a tax trick that likely wouldn't fly today, at least not politically. According to the inventory included with the return, those papers included "15,000 items from the visit to the United States of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev."
Other tidbits: In 1983, Ronald and Nancy Reagan reported $3,300 in rent collected from a radio station that operated on vacant land he owned near his beloved Santa Barbara, Calif., ranch. Bill and Hillary Clinton claimed a deduction on $38,683 in moving expenses in 1993, the year they moved from Arkansas to the White House. Barbara Bush earned a $1,000 "signer's fee" from Reader's Digest in 1990, according to the tax return jointly filed with George H.W. Bush.
The most revealing return, reflecting both a different age of presidential prerogative and still-current themes of a tax system that befuddles most filers, came from Franklin Roosevelt. In 1937, he reported $82,392 in net income, but couldn't figure out how much to pay. His solution: he sent a $15,000 check and a letter to the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
"I am wholly unable to figure out the amount of the tax for the following reasons," Roosevelt wrote before launching into an explanation of how tax rates had changed the prior year. "As this is a problem in higher mathematics, may I ask that the Bureau let me know the amount of the balance due?" he concluded.
Romney's 2010 tax return, longer than any past president's at 203 pages, shows he isn't willing to trust the government to tell him what he owes.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/mitt-romney-tax-returns-clues-character_n_1233772.html
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Obama declares 'we've come too far to turn back now'
NBC News
President Barack Obama speaks to members of Congress during the annual State of the Union address.
By Tom Curry, msnbc.com National Affairs Writer
Updated at?10:30 pm ET
With an unfinished legislative agenda from last year and with Election Day nine months from now, President Barack Obama went?before a joint session of Congress?Tuesday night to offer his proposals for economic growth and to draw sharp contrasts with his Republican foes.
He contended that, ?The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum.? But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. ?
?
But Obama also painted a dire scenario of a nation divided into a wealthy elite and a mass of struggling Americans on the verge of insolvency.
Recommended: Obama draws contrast to GOP on immigration
?We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by,? Obama said. ?Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."
The president calls opportunity for all the "defining issue of our time" in his State of the Union Address.
Obama pointed to some signs of economic revival: ?In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs.? Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.? American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.? Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion.? And we've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.??
Obama?was speaking against the backdrop of an improving economy which is slowly recovering from the recession of 2007-2009. Employment has shown signs of revival in recent months, with the jobless rate falling from 10 percent in October of 2009 to 8.5 percent last month.
But there were still almost one million fewer people employed last month than when Obama signed his $825 billion stimulus bill into law in February 2009.
Reviving a proposal that the Senate rejected in 2010, Obama made a vigorous pitch for changing the law to allow young illegal immigrants to become American citizens. "Hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country," he said, "were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation."?
Obama was also using his speech Tuesday night to expand on the ?fairness? theme he discussed in his Kansas speech last month.
?Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
He made the case for raising taxes on higher-income people such as legendary Omaha investor Warren Buffeett who have income from capital gains and dividends.
"Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes," the president delcared. "If you're earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn't get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn't go up."?
He added, "You can call this class warfare all you want.? But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes?? Most Americans would call that common sense."?
Obama advisor David Plouffe was asked on the Today show Tuesday about GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney?s 2010 tax return which showed him paying $3 million in income taxes on $21.6 million in income.
Plouffe said, ?It?s a good example ? ?of the tax reform we need. Warren Buffett said he should not be paying less taxes ? as a rate ? than his secretary.?
President Obama delivers his third State of the Union address, laying out his agenda for the coming year: building the economy, bringing manufacturing back, and increasing infrastructure projects. He describes an America "where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded."
Recommended: Read?text of Obama's State of the Union address
About 80 percent of Romney?s income came from dividends and capital gains which are taxed at 15 percent, instead of at the top rate for wage and salary income, 35 percent. With only a brief interval, capital gains have enjoyed preferential tax treatment since the 1920s.
Obama also proposed a series of new tax breaks to encourage American companies to manufacture goods in the United States and not in foreign countries. Obama proposal?s to revive American manufacturing comes after more than half a century in which manufacturing?s share of employment has been falling.
According to a Congressional Budget Office report, ?the rapid growth of productivity in manufacturing has accounted for a substantial fraction of the decline in manufacturing employment and hours.? The CBO said productivity in manufacturing? ? more output from fewer workers ? had risen by about one-third from 2000 to 2008.
Obama declared that, ?I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here.? We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That's long enough.?
He asked for new clean energy tax credits, but did not allude to the $535 million in taxpayer money that was lost in an Energy Department loan to Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt last September.
Addressing the need for skilled workers, Obama made a proposal that was?an echo of one?made by President Bill Clinton in his 1996 State of the Union speech, Obama said, ?I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people...have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help they need.? It's time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work."
In the Republican response to Obama, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who passed up a chance to run against Obama this year, said Obama "seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars."
He added, ?Those punished most by the wrong turns of the last three years are those unemployed or underemployed tonight, and those so discouraged that they have abandoned the search for work altogether.?
He said Republicans? ?first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life?s ladder. We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves.?
Daniles said,?"The only way out of the dead end of debt into which we have driven, is a private economy that begins to grow and create jobs, real jobs, at a much faster rate than today."
Daniels assailed Obama's decision to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast: "The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands? is a pro-poverty policy."
Gov. Mitch Daniels delivers the Republican response, saying that the loyal opposition puts "patriotism and national success ahead of party or ideology" and says the GOP "program of renewal" will rebuild the American dream.
Foreign policy played a relatively small role in Obama's speech.
Addressing the threat of Iran getting nuclear weapons, Obama said, ?A world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran's nuclear program now stands as one.? The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions?.?
He said, ?America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.? But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.?
Obama began his address by celebrating military successes: ?For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq.?For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country.? Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.?
On Wednesday morning Obama will leave Washington to take his State of the Union message to three 2012 battleground states: Iowa, Arizona and Nevada. He carried Iowa and Nevada in 2008.
Obama was speaking Tuesday night with his signature first-term achievement ? a historic overhaul of health insurance and an expansion of Medicaid ? under the shadow of a pending decision by the Supreme Court.
Oral arguments before the justices on the constitutionality of the health insurance overhaul will stretch over three days in late March. The high court is considering not only whether the requirement to buy insurance is constitutional, but whether the states can be forced to expand their Medicaid programs, as the law orders them to do.
Meanwhile, Obama?s ability to get Congress pay for any new proposal he might make is boxed in by controls on spending which he signed into law last year as part of an accord with Congress to raise the limit on federal borrowing.
Any new program would likely come in the category of discretionary outlays, the part of the budget that Congress controls through annual appropriation bills. Discretionary spending amounted to $1.35 trillion in 2011, 40 percent of total outlays, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But the Budget Control Act which Obama signed last summer imposes limits on discretionary spending. For 2012 and 2013, the caps would keep spending for items other than the Afghanistan war below the 2011 spending level and would limit the growth of those appropriations to about two percent a year from 2014 to 2021, according to the CBO.
Meanwhile entitlement spending ? the 40 percent of the budget that goes to Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for the poor, and Social Security for the disabled and retired ? continues to grow steadily, driven by an aging population.
Obama faces a House of Representatives with 242 Republicans ? the most that any Democratic president has had to face since Harry Truman in 1947.
As Truman did in the 1948 presidential campaign, Obama is sure to lambaste the Republican majority as an obstructionist, do-nothing Congress. Republicans are returning fire by saying the House has passed more than two dozen separate job creation bills and the Democratic-controlled Senate hasn?t acted on them.
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Brachytherapy reduced death rates in high-risk prostate cancer patients, study finds
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_spXZKmS1C6iE-fKiYznf23BDr8JLFxsbd1ry6zKZyLuCh8TJiVo_Xjv4XaME-n2GyVdk95uLqBm7MEhj3HfcR5YysTsBeT01XHv5hWVXM=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Steve Graff
stephen.graff@jefferson.edu
215-955-5291
Thomas Jefferson University
Suggests brachytherapy alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy could be an effective option for high-risk cancers, not just low-risk
PHILADELPHIA -- Brachytherapy for high-risk prostate cancers patients has historically been considered a less effective modality, but a new study from radiation oncologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggests otherwise. A population-based analysis looking at almost 13,000 cases revealed that men who received brachytherapy alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) had significantly reduced mortality rates.
Their findings are reported online January 23 in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology,Biology,Physics.
Brachytherapy involves the precise placement of radiation sources directly at the site of a tumor and is typically used to treat low and intermediate risk prostate cancers. However, brachytherapy treatment for high-risk patients is less common and controversial, given in part to early retrospective studies that found it to be associated with lower cure rates compared to EBRT.
Many experts believe that these early series were limited by poor brachytherapy technique, and that high-quality contemporary brachytherapy may be an effective tool against high-risk prostate cancer.
"The study contradicts traditional policies of using brachytherapy in just low and intermediate risk patients by suggesting there may instead be an improvement in prostate cancer survival for high-risk patients," said co-author Timothy Showalter, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and associate research member of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center. "Although studies like this cannot prove an advantage for brachytherapy, our report does suggest that brachytherapy is no less effective than EBRT and should be considered for some men with high-risk prostate cancer."
Researchers identified 12,745 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database patients diagnosed from 1988 to 2002 with high-grade prostate cancer of poorly differentiated grade and treated with brachytherapy (7.1 percent), EBRT alone (73.5 percent) or brachytherapy plus EBRT (19.1 percent). The team used multivariate models to examine patient and tumor characteristics associated with the likelihood of treatment with each radiation modality and the effect of radiation modality on prostate cancer-specific mortality.
Treatment with brachytherapy alone or brachytherapy in combination with EBRT, the researchers found, was associated with significant reduction in prostate cancer-specific mortality rates compared to EBRT alone.
Significant predictors of use of brachytherapy or brachytherapy plus EBRT were younger age, later year of diagnosis, urban residence and earlier T-stage.
According to the researchers, including lead author Xinglei Shen, M.D., a resident in Jefferson's Department of Radiation Oncology and a part-time master's degree student in the Jefferson School of Population Health, the study's findings provide ample evidence to further study brachytherapy as part of an effective treatment strategy for men with high-grade prostate cancer.
"Today, for the most part, brachytherapy is not being used for these high-risk patients or even recommended," Dr. Shen said. "But if you look at the biology and theory behind it, it makes sense: you can really give a lot more dose with brachytherapy than with EBRT alone to the prostate. And this presents an opportunity for high-risk patients."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 25-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Steve Graff
stephen.graff@jefferson.edu
215-955-5291
Thomas Jefferson University
Suggests brachytherapy alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy could be an effective option for high-risk cancers, not just low-risk
PHILADELPHIA -- Brachytherapy for high-risk prostate cancers patients has historically been considered a less effective modality, but a new study from radiation oncologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggests otherwise. A population-based analysis looking at almost 13,000 cases revealed that men who received brachytherapy alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) had significantly reduced mortality rates.
Their findings are reported online January 23 in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology,Biology,Physics.
Brachytherapy involves the precise placement of radiation sources directly at the site of a tumor and is typically used to treat low and intermediate risk prostate cancers. However, brachytherapy treatment for high-risk patients is less common and controversial, given in part to early retrospective studies that found it to be associated with lower cure rates compared to EBRT.
Many experts believe that these early series were limited by poor brachytherapy technique, and that high-quality contemporary brachytherapy may be an effective tool against high-risk prostate cancer.
"The study contradicts traditional policies of using brachytherapy in just low and intermediate risk patients by suggesting there may instead be an improvement in prostate cancer survival for high-risk patients," said co-author Timothy Showalter, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and associate research member of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center. "Although studies like this cannot prove an advantage for brachytherapy, our report does suggest that brachytherapy is no less effective than EBRT and should be considered for some men with high-risk prostate cancer."
Researchers identified 12,745 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database patients diagnosed from 1988 to 2002 with high-grade prostate cancer of poorly differentiated grade and treated with brachytherapy (7.1 percent), EBRT alone (73.5 percent) or brachytherapy plus EBRT (19.1 percent). The team used multivariate models to examine patient and tumor characteristics associated with the likelihood of treatment with each radiation modality and the effect of radiation modality on prostate cancer-specific mortality.
Treatment with brachytherapy alone or brachytherapy in combination with EBRT, the researchers found, was associated with significant reduction in prostate cancer-specific mortality rates compared to EBRT alone.
Significant predictors of use of brachytherapy or brachytherapy plus EBRT were younger age, later year of diagnosis, urban residence and earlier T-stage.
According to the researchers, including lead author Xinglei Shen, M.D., a resident in Jefferson's Department of Radiation Oncology and a part-time master's degree student in the Jefferson School of Population Health, the study's findings provide ample evidence to further study brachytherapy as part of an effective treatment strategy for men with high-grade prostate cancer.
"Today, for the most part, brachytherapy is not being used for these high-risk patients or even recommended," Dr. Shen said. "But if you look at the biology and theory behind it, it makes sense: you can really give a lot more dose with brachytherapy than with EBRT alone to the prostate. And this presents an opportunity for high-risk patients."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/tju-brd012512.php
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Apple Sells 37 Million iPhones, 15 Million iPads in Monster Moneybags Quarter [Apple]
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Inmates, guards clash in Sri Lanka prison, 28 hurt (AP)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka ? Inmates and guards clashed at a Sri Lankan prison Tuesday, injuring at least 28 people before soldiers restored control after five hours, officials said.
Reporters outside heard gunshots from within the compound in Colombo, and police fired tear gas before order was restored. Prisoners also set fire to the records room.
The inmates were protesting a move to curtail drug smuggling into the prison, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said. He said 24 prisoners and four guards were hurt.
Rohana did not describe the anti-drug measures, but a man who lives near the prison who gave only his first name, Kumara, said there had been disturbances for several days after authorities banned food brought by relatives for the inmates.
Some prisoners were seen on the roof shouting slogans and holding a banner demanding the removal of the prison chief. Some threw stones at vehicles on a nearby main road, forcing police to close the road.
Dr. Prasad Ariyawansa of Colombo National Hospital said most of the injured prisoners had gunshot wounds. Three officers were hit by stones and another had a broken leg, he said, adding that the injuries were not life threatening.
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Can Actors Be Sold On The VOD Business Model? Sundance ...
Get the latest Industry news sent straight to your Wall.
Source: http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/sundance-vod-video-on-demand/
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Administration nominees awaiting next move by GOP (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Senate Republicans are returning to Washington in an angry mood over President Barack Obama's appointments to two key agencies during a year-end break.
More than 70 nominees to judgeships and senior federal agency positions are awaiting the next move from Republicans, who can use Senate rules to block votes on some or all of Obama's picks.
While Republicans return Monday to discuss their next step, recess appointee Richard Cordray is running a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the National Labor Relations Board ? with three temporary members ? is now at full strength with a Democratic majority.
Obama left more than 70 other nominees in limbo, well aware that Republicans could use Senate rules to block them.
The White House justified the appointments on grounds that Republicans were holding up the nominations to paralyze the two agencies. The consumer protection agency was established under the 2010 Wall Street reform law, which requires the bureau to have a director in order to begin policing financial products such as mortgages, checking accounts, credit cards and payday loans.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the five-member NLRB must have a three-member quorum to issue regulations or decide major cases in union-employer disputes.
Several agencies contacted by The Associated Press, including banking regulators, said they were conducting their normal business despite vacancies at the top. In some cases, nominees are serving in acting capacities.
At full strength, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has five board members. The regulation of failed banks "is unaffected," said spokesman Andrew Gray. "The three-member board has been able to make decisions without a problem." Cordray's appointment gives it a fourth member.
The Comptroller of the Currency, run by an acting chief, has kept up its regular examinations of banks. The Federal Trade Commission, operating with four board members instead of five, has had no difficulties. "This agency is not a partisan combat agency," said spokesman Peter Kaplan. "Almost all the votes are unanimous and consensus-driven."
Republicans have pledged retaliation for Obama's recess appointments, but haven't indicated what it might be.
"The Senate will need to take action to check and balance President Obama's blatant attempt to circumvent the Senate and the Constitution, a claim of presidential power that the Bush administration refused to make," said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is his party's top member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Grassley wouldn't go further, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky hasn't tipped his hand after charging that Obama had "arrogantly circumvented the American people." Before the Senate left for its break in December, McConnell blocked Senate approval of more than 60 pending nominees because Obama wouldn't commit to making no recess appointments.
Republicans have to consider whether their actions, especially any decision to block all nominees, might play into Obama's hands.
Obama has adopted an election-year theme of "we can't wait" for Republicans to act on nominations and major proposals like his latest jobs plan. Republicans have to consider how their argument that the president is violating Constitutional checks and balances plays against Obama's stump speeches characterizing them as obstructionists.
Senate historian Donald Ritchie said the minority party has retaliated in the past for recess appointments by holding up specific nominees. "I'm not aware of any situations where no nominations were accepted," he said. The normal practice is for the two party leaders to negotiate which nominations get votes.
During the break, Republicans forced the Senate to convene for usually less than a minute once every few days to argue that there was no recess and that Obama therefore couldn't bypass the Senate's authority to confirm top officials. The administration said this was a sham, and has released a Justice Department opinion backing up the legality of the appointments.
Obama considers the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a signature achievement of his first term. Republicans have been vehemently opposed to the bureau's setup. They argued the agency needed a bipartisan board instead of a director and should have to justify its budget to Congress instead of drawing its funding from the independent Federal Reserve.
Cordray is expected to get several sharp questions from Republicans when he testifies Tuesday before a House Oversight and Government Reform panel.
The NLRB has been a target of Republicans and business groups. Last year, the agency accused Boeing of illegally retaliating against union workers who had struck its plants in Washington state by opening a new production line at its non-union plant in South Carolina. Boeing denied the charge and the case has since been settled, but Republican anger over it and a string of union-friendly decisions from the board last year hasn't abated.
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