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  VIDEO-Ham radio operators ready to tune in on 'doomsday' | FLORIDA TODAY | floridatoday.com
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  VIDEO-SAF's Alan Gottlieb Stands Up for Gun Ownership on Fox News O'Reilly Factor - YouTube
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    Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:39
  VIDEO-Sandy Hook Shooting Exposed As a Fruad - YouTube
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  VIDEO-BBC News - More gold and silver discovered in Staffordshire field
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  VIDEO-1989 Calif. school shooting led to assault weapons ban - CBS News
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:02
    (CBS News) LOS ANGELES - In the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, police collected more than 500 handguns as part of a holiday gun buyback.
    That's one approach meant to reduce gun violence in California. Another effort came in response to a 1989 school shooting.
    A still from archival footage of the Cleveland School massacre in Stockton, Calif., on January 17, 1989.
    /CBS NewsWhen it happened at Cleveland Elementary in Stockton, Calif., 23 years ago, many thought a school shooting couldn't get any worse.
    A troubled man with an assault rifle killed five students and wounded 29 others.
    While it sadly wasn't the last, or even worst school shooting in the country, it did lead to California's ban on assault weapons -- the first in the nation.
    It wasn't a perfect solution in the eyes of gun enthusiasts, but at least the ban was an effort to do something to stem the violence.
    In the wake of Connecticut's school shooting, many California leaders wonder where that resolve is today.
    "If not after this, then seriously then just shame on all of us, seriously, shame on the leadership of this country," said Gavin Newsom, California's lieutenant governor.
    GOP Rep.: More - not fewer - guns the answerObama repeats call for "meaningful action" on gunsWill Connecticut school shooting spur gun control action?Newsom's current anger stems from being a parent more than a politician.
    "This has to be the moment where you stop and you say enough is enough," Newsom said. "I don't want to read about these things anymore, the second, the biggest, the most, enough."
    Enough indeed -- but how to stop it.
    Critics say over the years, even California's assault weapons ban lost a lot of its teeth, and besides, there have been other school shootings with other kinds of guns.
    The most recent, just last April, was at a small Christian University in Oakland.
    In a state that once led the nation on gun control, residents are once again scratching their heads.
    "You can't just say you're going to ban guns because that genie's out of the bottle already," said Bruce Nye.
    "I wish I knew an answer, but I know that something has to change because this can't go on like this," said Bibi Koch.
    What is going on are the rituals of grief. Sadly those haven't changed much either.
  VIDEO-Shooter's mother struggled to raise son, relative says - CNN.com
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:23
    STORY HIGHLIGHTS
    Nancy Lanza kept cache of weapons in suburban homePeople who knew her said she was "responsible" with those weaponsHer son is believed to have shot to death her, adults and 20 childrenNewtown, Connecticut (CNN) -- Nancy Lanza was raising a quiet, socially awkward young man, the kind of teenager who, a former classmate recalled, would just go stand in the corner.
    Lanza herself seemed nothing like her boy. She was affable and outgoing, and easily made friends.
    Sure, she liked guns, say people who knew her. But she was responsible with them. She knew how to handle the weapons she collected.
    How Adam Lanza allegedly got hold of at least a few of them to commit a massacre in an elementary school is still unclear.
    Authorities believe he shot his mother as she slept in her bed. Then, authorities say, Adam Lanza went to Sandy Hook Elementary -- where he'd once attended -- and mowed down 20 children and six adults.
    Then, authorities say, he killed himself.
    On Monday, just a few days after that horror, a former classmate of Adam Lanza told CNN that he bumped into Nancy Lanza awhile ago.
    Alan Diaz, 20, asked her how her son was doing.
    To Diaz, it seemed that Adam Lanza seemed to disappear from high school after his sophomore year, but it turns out Lanza, then 16, was taking classes at Western Connecticut State University, a school spokesman said.
    It was hard to forget a kid like Adam Lanza.
    "I would call him a genius," Diaz said.
    Lanza got a 3.26 GPA at WCSU, including an A in a computer class, the school spokesman told CNN, but Lanza took his last class in 2009 and didn't come back.
    When Diaz and Lanza were classmates, Diaz went out of his way to include Adam Lanza when few others would, he said.
    It worked, for a little while.
    Lanza opened up, sometimes telling jokes to the other students. There he'd be, in the same plaid green button-up shirt and his khakis -- the weird kid, telling jokes.
    So those few years later, seeing Adam Lanza's mother, Diaz just had to ask. How are things going with Adam?
    "When I talked to Nancy that time, about how he was doing, she said he's been going to the (gun) range a lot recently," Diaz told CNN. "That he'd taken that up as a hobby."
    Guns and Gardening
    Nancy Lanza was a personable neighbor, acquaintances said. Sandy Hook is an affluent area about 60 miles from New York City.
    The homes are huge and so are the yards.
    It's the kind of neighborhood where Christmas cookies are exchanged and people get together at each others' houses.
    When Connecticut winters bring blankets of snow, the kids ride sleds on a big hill in the neighborhood.
    Nancy Lanza and her two boys -- Ryan and Adam -- and her husband, Peter, moved there around 1998.
    The couple divorced in 2009. Peter Lanza is listed on LinkedIn, as a tax director and vice president of taxes for GE Energy Financial Services in the New York City area. According to divorce documents, he agreed to pay his wife, on average, $250,000 a year in alimony. He also agreed to buy his son Adam a car, though his wife would have to pay for the vehicle's upkeep and insurance.
    Adam Lanza's primary residence was with his mother, the documents show. They lived in the Newtown home that Peter Lanza ceded to Nancy.
    The father was also responsible for paying for Adam's college, as well as for Ryan Lanza's schooling.
    Peter Lanza and his other son, Ryan, were both questioned after Friday's rampage.
    A 'normal' family and target shooting
    "It was just a nice, normal family," neighbor Rhonda Cullen said Saturday, recalling how she and other women on the street would often go to each others' houses to play cards.
    Nancy Lanza preferred to garden.
    "We used to joke with her that she'd do all this landscaping that no one could see because it all was in the back (of the house)," Cullen said.
    Nancy Lanza was also into collecting guns, say those who know her.
    Dan Holmes, who owns a local landscaping business, said she showed off a rifle she recently purchased.
    "She told me she'd go target shooting with her boys pretty often," Holmes said.
    Nancy Lanza kept a lot of weapons, from assault rifles to handguns, at her home.
    The weapons were for self-defense, said Marsha Lanza, Peter Lanza's sister.
    Yet, Marsha Lanza said her former sister-in-law "never felt threatened." If she did, Marsha Lanza said, Nancy would have spoken up about it.
    Nancy was self-reliant, a trait that she possibly picked up while growing up on a farm in New Hampshire, Marsha Lanza said.
    At some point, she worked in finance in Boston and Connecticut, a friend said.
    She was not a teacher, as some media had previously reported, the friend added.
    Despite whatever problems Nancy Lanza might have been facing behind closed doors, on the outside she kept a cheerful face. Several people who knew Nancy Lanza said she was incredibly social and warm.
    Several nights a week, she got take-out from My Place bar in Newtown.
    CNN sat down with owners Louise Tambascio, Mark Tambascio and John Tambascio.
    Louise recalled Nancy starting a conversation with her, and how they become fast friends.
    "She's funny. We took to her," said Mark Tambascio. "She did a lot in town and was always on the go."
    Louise Tambascio said Nancy Lanza worked in charities for people with AIDS, and said she was extremely generous.
    Louise saw Nancy Lanza take out her checkbook and write checks to anyone who told her they were going through a rough time and needed money.
    "She was very kind," Louise said.
    Lanza was generally in a good mood, several people said.
    "Every time I saw her she was so giddy and happy," said Amanda D'Ambrose, 23, Alan Diaz's sister.
    D'Ambrose also knew Adam, and knew that Nancy owned guns.
    "She was very responsible. She transported them safely. It wasn't something she boasted about," D'Ambrose told CNN.
    Yet when she heard the news that there had been a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, D'Ambrose started calling Nancy Lanza's cell phone.
    As the young woman recalls this terrible moment, she weeps. I was "hoping it wasn't true," she said.
    Guns of the mother
    The three weapons found at the scene of the shooting were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN.
    Statement from Adam Lanza's father
    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating the school shooting.
    CNN confirmed Monday afternoon with ATF that Adam Lanza and his mother frequented several gun ranges over the past several years. The agency will not identify which ranges.
    Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. said he, too, knew Nancy Lanza.
    "She was a great person who would do anything for you, a heart of gold," he told the Union Leader newspaper.
    "She was just a real, real nice, nice person."
    Alan Diaz keeps asking the same question everyone is. How could this person he knew, who seemed a little off, kill children?
    "You know," he began. "In the media the person who does (these) things is seen as just evil. But I've thought for a long time, What about the people who knew them? What about the friends?"
    He chews this over.
    "They knew them as a person. And now, being in that situation, it is very strange," Diaz said. "I knew this kid and there was no sign ever that he could hurt another person.
    So many people told Alan Diaz not to talk to reporters, but he just wants to talk. He wants information he might never get.
    "I want to know how this could happen. How ... a shy kid could do this."
    Complete coverage: Connecticut school shooting
    Ashley Fantz wrote this story with field reporting from CNN's Lisa Desjardins, Susan Candiotti and David Ariosto.
  Bob Schieffer: If Connecticut School Shooter 'Had An Arab Name People Would Be Going Nuts'
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:22
    MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them -- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
    MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
    Copyright (C) 2012, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
  Oregon Mall Shooting Stopped By Licensed Gun Carrier
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:20
    MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them -- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
    MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
    Copyright (C) 2012, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
  Attorney Government Seeks Death Penalty To Distract From It's Own Copability
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    Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:15
  Man Plotted Terrorist Attacks In New York City To Avenge Deaths In Afghanistan By US Drone Attacks
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    Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:55
  Time Magazine Names Obama Person Of The Year 2012
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    Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:54
  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: The Future Of The US Military
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    Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:20
  Obama "The Country Deserves Folks To Be Willing To Compromise On Behalf Of The Greater Good"
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    Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:19
  Mister Rogers "I Plead For Your Protection And Support Of Your Children"
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    Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:18
  Report On Benghazi Attack Blames State Department For Security Failure
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    Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:34
  NBC's Richard Engel Describes Being Held Hostage For Days By Militia Group In Syria
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    Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:34
  Bernie Sanders "People Making $15-16000 A Year Struggling To Survive Should Not Be Taking Cuts!
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    Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:52
  First Person Charged With Marijuana DUI Since Legalized
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    Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:49
  Queen Attends Downing Street Cabinet Meeting For The First Time In More Than A Century
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:15
  "This Can Be Done! I've Done It" Diane Feinstein On Her Assault Weapons Ban Plan
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:05
  NASA Crashes Two Moon Mapping Satellites
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:01
  Schools Across The US Practice "LOCKDOWN"
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:59
  "We Are Locked Into A Cultural Matrix That Produces Violence & We Are Shocked..." Dennis Kucinich
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:59
  "We In Congress Must Take Action To Keep Assault Weapons & High Capacity Clips Out Of The Hands...
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  Investigation Into Amy Winehouse's Death Is Reopened
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  "The Rights Of The Many To Remain Safe Are More Important Than Any Right YOU MAY THINK YOU HAVE!"
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    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:57
  BREAKING! Shooting At A Movie Theater In San Antonio Texas
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:59
  Teen Arrested For Facebook Threat To "Shoot Up Schools If Assault Weapons Laws Are Changed"
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:59
  Gun Shop Owner Says Highest Sales In 20 Years
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:59
  BREAKING! POLICE NEED YOUR HELP! TRUCK LOAD Of Nintendo Wiis STOLEN!
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:58
  "We Can't Tolerate This Anymore" President Obama At Sandy Hook Elementary School Memorial
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 04:48
  CNN: What Should America Do About Guns?
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  MSM Pushes Hard For Gun Control Following Sandy Hook Elementary School Memorial
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  Gun Sales Spike Through The Roof As US Lawmakers Begin To Push For Tougher Gun Control Laws
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    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 04:43
  GMA Fawns Over 'Most Traveled' Secretary Clinton; Once Again No Mention of Benghazi
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:37
    MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them -- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
    MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
    Copyright (C) 2012, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
  NBC Applauds 'Powerful Quote': 'Easier to Get Assault Rifle in U.S. Than Mental Health Care'
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:33
    During a segment on Monday's NBC Nightly News supposedly devoted to tackling the issue of mental health in the wake of the Newtown school shooting, NBC chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman instead used the opportunity to tout more anti-gun rhetoric: "One person who we spoke with....and I'm going to quote him, he says, 'It's easier to get an assault rifle today in the United States than it is to get adequate mental health care, and that's wrong.'"
  Joe Lieberman: If Obama Can Use Executive Order to 'Do Something' About Guns, 'God Bless Him'
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:52
    On CNN, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Friday's Connecticut shooting was a "tipping point" and favored keeping "military weapons off the commercial market."
    "If the President can do something now by executive order, God bless him. If Congress can get together soon and get something done, God bless Congress," he added about gun laws. Lieberman had already called for the assault weapons ban to be reinstated.
  Feinstein in 2009 on pushing assault weapons ban: 'I'll pick the time and the place, no question about that'
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:52
    In 2009, Sen. Dianne Feinstein appeared on 60 Minutes and agreed it wasn't the best time politically to once again push her assault weapons ban she championed in 1994- which expired in 2004- and she'd pick the time and place to do it.
    Now that tragedies have occurred, she's making the push.
    Via Reuters:
    Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the author of an assault-weapons ban that lapsed in 2004, said she would introduce new legislation this week. Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said lawmakers would hold hearings on gun control, and several others said they would devote new attention to the long-ignored issue.
    "I think we could be at a tipping point ... where we might get something done," Senator Charles Schumer, another top Senate Democrat, said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
    It should also be noted that the Columbine school shooting occurred in 1999 as the assault weapons ban was in place.
  Soledad O'Brien Bullies Pro-Gun Guest
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:52
    MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them -- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
    MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
    Copyright (C) 2012, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
  CNN's Lemon Goes on Anti-Gun Tirade, Calls for Assault Weapons Ban
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    Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
    Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:50
    MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them -- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
    MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
    Copyright (C) 2012, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
CDC: Number of new HIV infections stable
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  Source: ccampeador
  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:16
  Cathy Payne, USA TODAY6:47p.m. EST December 19, 2012
  The number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections across the country has remained stable, according to a new government analysis.
  There were 47,500 new infections in 2008 and 47,500 in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV Supplemental Surveillance Report. HIV can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
  The report also notes a decline in new infections among African-American women. The number dropped from 7,700 in 2008 to 6,100 in 2010.
  STORY:Road map for AIDS-free generation
  PHOTOS:Countries mark World AIDS Day
  ''We are moving in the right direction with the epidemic,'' says Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. ''We have accomplished a lot, but we have more to do.''
  Men who have sex with men continue to be the most affected. That group's new infections increased from 26,700 in 2008 to 29,800 in 2010. Those men make up about 4% of the U.S. population but accounted for 63% of all new infections.
  The data can be used to refine prevention efforts, such as community engagement and education as well coordination with other federal agencies, Fenton says. ''We will not end this epidemic until we effectively address the epidemic among young gay and bisexual men.''
  Link'...
  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/19/cdc-hiv-infections/1780317/
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Don't Blame Autism for Newtown - NYTimes.com
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  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:14
  LAST Wednesday night I listened to Andrew Solomon, the author of the extraordinary new book ''Far From the Tree,'' talk about the frequency of filicide in families affected by autism. Two days later, I watched the news media attempt to explain a matricide and a horrific mass murder in terms of the killer's supposed autism.
  It began as insinuation, but quickly flowered into outright declaration. Words used to describe the killer, Adam Lanza, began with ''odd,'' ''aloof'' and ''a loner,'' shaded into ''lacked empathy,'' and finally slipped into ''on the autism spectrum'' and suffering from ''a mental illness like Asperger's.'' By Sunday, it had snowballed into a veritable storm of accusation and stigmatization.
  Whether reporters were directly attributing Mr. Lanza's shooting rampage to his autism or merely shoddily lumping together very different conditions, the false and harmful messages were abundant.
  Let me clear up a few misconceptions. For one thing, Asperger's and autism are not forms of mental illness; they are neurodevelopmental disorders or disabilities. Autism is a lifelong condition that manifests before the age of 3; most mental illnesses do not appear until the teen or young adult years. Medications rarely work to curb the symptoms of autism, but they can be indispensable in treating mental illness like obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
  Underlying much of this misreporting is the pernicious and outdated stereotype that people with autism lack empathy. Children with autism may have trouble understanding the motivations and nonverbal cues of others, be socially na¯ve and have difficulty expressing their emotions in words, but they are typically more truthful and less manipulative than neurotypical children and are often people of great integrity. They can also have a strong desire to connect with others and they can be intensely empathetic '-- they just attempt those connections and express that empathy in unconventional ways. My child with autism, in fact, is the most empathetic and honorable of my three wonderful children.
  Additionally, a psychopathic, sociopathic or homicidal tendency must be separated out from both autism and from mental illness more generally. While autistic children can sometimes be aggressive, this is usually because of their frustration at being unable to express themselves verbally, or their extreme sensory sensitivities. Moreover, the form their aggression takes is typically harmful only to themselves. In the very rare cases where their aggression is externally directed, it does not take the form of systematic, meticulously planned, intentional acts of violence against a community.
  And if study after study has definitively established that a person with autism is no more likely to be violent or engage in criminal behavior than a neurotypical person, it is just as clear that autistic people are far more likely to be the victims of bullying and emotional and physical abuse by parents and caregivers than other children. So there is a sad irony in making autism the agent or the cause rather than regarding it as the target of violence.
  In the wake of coverage like this, I worry, in line with concerns raised by the author Susan Cain in her groundbreaking book on introverts, ''Quiet'': will shy, socially inhibited students be looked at with increasing suspicion as potentially dangerous? Will a quiet, reserved, thoughtful child be pegged as having antisocial personality disorder? Will children with autism or mental illness be shunned even more than they already are?
  This country needs to develop a better understanding of the complexities of various conditions and respect for the profound individuality of its children. We need to emphasize that being introverted doesn't mean one has a developmental disorder, that a developmental disorder is not the same thing as a mental illness, and that most mental illnesses do not increase a person's tendency toward outward-directed violence.
  We should encourage greater compassion for all parents facing an extreme challenge, whether they have children with autism or mental illness or have lost their children to acts of horrific violence (and that includes the parents of killers).
  Consider this, posted on Facebook yesterday by a friend of mine from high school who has an 8-year-old, nonverbal child with severe autism:
  ''Today Timmy was having a first class melt down in Barnes and Nobles and he rarely melts down like this. He was throwing his boots, rolling on the floor, screaming and sobbing. Everyone was staring as I tried to pick him up and [his brother Xander] scrambled to pick up his boots. I was worried people were looking at him and wondering if he would be a killer when he grows up because people on the news keep saying this Adam Lanza might have some spectrum diagnosis ... My son is the kindest soul you could ever meet. Yesterday, a stranger looked at Timmy and said he could see in my son's eyes and smile that he was a kind soul; I am thankful that he saw that.''
  Rather than averting his eyes or staring, this stranger took the time to look, to notice and to share his appreciation of a child's soul with his mother. The quality of that attention is what needs to be cultivated more generally in this country.
  It could take the form of our taking the time to look at, learn about and celebrate each of the tiny victims of this terrible shooting. It could manifest itself in attempts to dismantle harmful, obfuscating stereotypes or to clarify and hone our understanding of each distinct condition, while remembering that no category can ever explain an individual. Let's try to look in the eyes of every child we encounter, treat, teach or parent, whatever their diagnosis or label, and recognize each child's uniqueness, each child's inimitable soul.
  Priscilla Gilman is the author of ''The Anti-Romantic Child: A Memoir of Unexpected Joy.''
krizanovich.com
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  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:05
  Karen Krizanovich is a writer, radio and TV broadcaster, American voiceover artist and presenter based in the United Kingdom and the United States.
  Her written work has been published in The Times, Reader's Digest, The Sunday Times Style, Red, The Independent, The Telegraph, GQ, The Guardian Film Blog, Elle UK, T3, The Daily Mail on relationships and social mores, Entertainment Weekly and Cosmopolitan among many others. Recent radio and TV broadcasts include BBC1 Breakfast News, ITV's 'This Morning', BBC Radio 4'²s 'Woman's Hour', BBCR4'²s 'The Film Programme', LBC Radio, Monocle Radio and BBC2'²s 'The Review Show'. Karen has appeared on over 75 different TV shows, including CNN and Newsnight, with live outside broadcasts from the Cannes Film Festival; an incomplete list of her broadcast work is online at IMDb. Karen is the presenter/researcher for Whistledown Production/BBC Radio 4's groundbreaking 'Sylvia of Hollywood', an original radio documentary about Hollywood's forgotten yet greatest fitness/beauty expert. In December 2011, Karen also presented a look at the late Helen Gurley Brown's milestone book Sex & The Single Girl for BBC Radio 4 along with an accompanying article on the BBC News main website and an appearance on BBC Radio 4'²s Woman's Hour.
  With a BA in Philosophy of Mind and an MBA in Film Finance, Karen is a script editor, active in development and script reporting with an interest in film business and film news '' on the page, online and across all broadcast media. She reviews films for Radio Times, Virgin Media and The Arts Desk and on TV for BBC News Channel's 'Film 24'². (Her written reviews, including work for Empire, are aggregated at Rotten Tomatoes.)
  Karen is a member of the exclusive London Film Critics' Circle, Alliance of Women Film Journalists and is a jury associate for the international film critics' association FIPRESCI.
  A popular host for Q&A sessions and film-related talks, Karen appeared most recently for the London Screenwriters' Festival, the London Comedy Writers' Festival, the NFT/BFI, First Light's Fever Pitch/London Film Festival, the Barbican Cinema and for the Curzon Cinema.
  Making her mark in the 90s as Dear Karen, the sarcastic Agony Aunt of Sky Magazine's must-read comedic advice page, Dear Karen is back online and @Dear_Karen_ in all her glory. Meanwhile, Karen remains a relationship commentator for the media and author of the comedic life manual Bad Advice.
  A trained voice-over artist who specialises in chocolate voices, robot/Vulcan, American regional accents and anything throaty, her voice-reels can be heard here
  Karen is also an accredited personal trainer.
Biofuel credits behind mystery cross-border train shipments - Canada - CBC News
  Link to Article
  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:27
  The mystery of the trainload of biodiesel that crossed back and forth across the Sarnia-Port Huron border without ever unloading its cargo, as reported by CBC News, has been solved.
  CBC News received several tips after a recent story about a company shipping the same load of biodiesel back and forth by CN Rail at a cost of $2.6 million in the summer of 2010. It turns out the shipments were part of a deal by a Toronto-based company, which made several million dollars importing and exporting the fuel to exploit a loophole in a U.S. green energy program.
  The entire U.S. biodiesel market has been the centre of controversy and even legislative hearings this summer over problems with the regulatory program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The fallout and distrust of a market-based biodiesel credit system has had several repercussions for the industry, particularly for fledgling biodiesel companies trying to produce environmentally friendly fuel. The recent CBC reports on that train to nowhere have prompted an investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), as well as a further investigation by the EPA.
  The company that organized the train shipment was Bioversel Trading Inc. of Toronto. Its principal, Arie Mazur, gave CBC a detailed explanation this week explaining that the trip was all about RINs '-- renewable identification numbers '-- the credits set up by the EPA to promote and track production and importation of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
  The complicated deal unfolded in the final two weeks of June 2010.
  Train records used to generate millions in RIN creditsBioversel Trading hired CN Rail to import tanker loads of biodiesel to the U.S. to generate RINs, which are valuable in the U.S. because of a "greening" policy regulating the petroleum industry. The EPA's "Renewable Fuel Standard" mandate that oil companies bring a certain amount of renewable fuel to market, quotas they can achieve through blending biofuel with fossil fuel or by purchasing RINs as offsets.
  A CN freight train is shown leaving Sarnia for Port Huron in Michigan.(Dave Seglins/CBC)Because RINs can be generated through import, the 12 trainloads that crossed into Michigan would have contained enough biodiesel to create close to 12 million RINs. In the summer of 2010, biodiesel RINs were selling for 50 cents each, but the price soon fluctuated to more than $1 per credit.
  Once "imported" to a company capable of generating RINs, ownership of the biodiesel was transferred to Bioversel's American partner company, Verdeo, and then exported back to Canada. RINs must be "retired" once the fuel is exported from the U.S., but Bioversel says Verdeo retired ethanol RINs, worth pennies, instead of the more valuable biodiesel RINs. Bioversel claims this was all perfectly legal.
  However, one of the companies Bioversel approached to be the 'importer of record''--Northern Biodiesel Inc. of Ontario, N.Y. '-- discovered that the same fuel was going back and forth across the border and the same gallons were being used to repeatedly generate new RINs under their company's name. The company called the EPA and also sent a letter that would become an open letter to the biodiesel industry, accusing Bioversel of ''trying to perpetrate a fraud against NBI and the Renewable Fuel Standard program.''
  The EPA, which has a buyer beware policy for oil companies that buy RINs, did not act immediately, and the industry has been begging for it to play the role of sheriff on this case and others. The EPA won't comment on continuing investigations, but insiders said the case is still under investigation.
  Trust in US biodiesel credits shakenMany observers of the Bioversel deal of 2010 doubt the RINs repeatedly generated on the same gallons of fuel are legal.
  "If the facts in your story bear out, there needs to be some people go to prison," said Joe Jobe, CEO of the U.S. National Biodiesel Board. ''It's not a victimless crime. [RIN fraud] has impacted the livelihoods and jobs of absolutely everybody in this industry, and it has cost the folks in the petroleum industry who have to comply with this, millions and millions of dollars and it has put small- and medium-sized biodiesel producers completely out of business.
  "We've taken this very seriously. I testified before the House energy oversight committee this summer. Congress has been whopping mad about [RIN fraud] as well.''
  CBC has contacted the EPA repeatedly in recent days asking for an opinion on whether the Bioversel imports were legal. The agency has refused to comment.
  Northern Biodiesel owner Bob Bechtold says his company's role in the deal made it a victim. His firm agreed to act as importer to generate the RINs, but when the paperwork wasn't forthcoming from Bioversel, one of his employees called CN Rail to find out what was happening at the border.
  "All we got from [CN Rail] was that there was a curious thing happening, that there were a number of cars that just kept going back and forth across the Canadian border," he told CBC News. "When we started smelling something that was weird, we called the EPA, and notified them that this was happening, and then we called the company that we were doing this transaction with and said we're not doing any more business with you."
  Bechtold said Bioversel had a "fit."
  "First they threatened us that we were breaking the contract," he said. "One person came here and tried to insist that I would be in a lot of trouble because of breaking the contract, and I assured him that I thought he would be in a lot more trouble if this continued. Then they offered to buy our company, which we thought was pretty absurd, and I basically sent him on his way."
  In its letter to the EPA, Northern Biodiesel cautioned its RIN company codes had been compromised, alleging that Bioversel's partner company, Verdeo, took its numbers and made up new RINs "as if the biodiesel has been blended into the U.S. transportation fuel stream and separated from the renewable fuel. Then they were illegally sold by Verdeo to parties obligated to acquire RINs by the Renewable Fuel Standard."
  CBC News attempted to contact Verdeo, but was unable to get any comment from the company.
  "One person came here and tried to insist that I would be in a lot of trouble because of breaking the contract, and I assured him that I thought he would be in a lot more trouble if this continued."'--Bob Bechtold, Northern Biodiesel owner
  Northern Biodiesel insisted the RINs issued were not valid because it had never received any bills of lading or chemical analysis reports from Verdeo, and thus Northern Biodiesel never reported/certified them with the EPA. However, millions of these RINs were sold in its name.
  As a result, Northern Biodiesel RINs became tainted within the industry and Bechtold said that put him out of business.
  "That was about the dumbest thing we ever did," said Bechtold about the letter and coming forward to the EPA. "We thought we were saving the industry, doing good to protect the industry, but it ended up being the kiss of death for us, because we are no longer able to participate in the field."
  Beyond this case, the entire U.S. biodiesel RIN system has been plagued by problems, loopholes and even outright frauds. It has all undermined efforts to get U.S. industry to use more renewable fuels and has left big oil companies and other major fuel purchasers wary of smaller producers.
  Biodiesel plant set for Welland, Ont.Bioversel Trading told CBC News this week that everything it did was legal and insisted they never directly generated or sold RINS. The company also distanced itself from its partner Verdeo, even though one of Verdeo's former names was Bioversel Trading (US), and Arie Mazur of Bioversel Trading (Canada) was a former director and executive of the US company.
  Bioversel Trading of Toronto is at the centre of a probe by the European Union and the CBSA, which claims in search warrant documents (executed on their Toronto office last spring) that the firm is suspected of exporting American biodiesel to Romania and Italy while saying it was Canadian, to avoid huge duties. That would amount to violations of the Customs Act '' but have never been proven. Bioversel Trading flatly rejects the CBSA allegations.
  The Bioversel family of companies has changed its names in Canada and the U.S., and has also been embroiled in several lawsuits in the U.S. over its trading in biodiesel fuel.
  One of the companies that shares the same Toronto office space, once known as Bioversel Sarnia Inc., is now known as Great Lakes Biodiesel (GLB), which is planning to open a biodiesel plant in Welland, Ont. Mazur's lawyer said Mazur is no longer a director of Great Lakes but confirms Mazur is involved in Einer Canada, which is a shareholder of GLB.
  If it opens in early 2013 and meets its production targets, Great Lakes Biodiesel is eligible for $65 million in Canadian government subsidies over the next five years under the federal eco energy biofuels incentive program.
  Send tips to dave.seglins@cbc.caandjohn.nicol@cbc.ca
  With files from Brigitte Noel and Jeremy McDonald
U.S. Commentator Mike Harris: Israel Carried Out Newtown Massacre, Operates Death Squads in the U.S. - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:03
Hollywood Height Chart: The Actors You Didn't Know Were Shorties | NextMovie
  Link to Article
  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:31
  Tom Cruise is Not. That. Short.
  OK, so no one's saying that 5-foot-7 is tall or anything, but, for as long as we can remember '-- and especially now with "Jack Reacher" coming out on Friday, the main character of which is supposed to be a hulking 6-foot-5 '-- Cruise's height has been a hot topic of conversation. Which is particularly amusing because we don't recall anyone mentioning anything about Robert Downey Jr. or Javier Bardem's stature. Yet, they too stand 5-foot-7.
  You're floored? You had no idea? We know. So, because we could come up with plenty of A-list stars and action movie icons who stand exactly as tall as the Top Gun, a few small inches taller or, in some cases, slightly shorter, and because there's simply so much else to talk about when it comes to Tom Cruise, we've created a Hollywood Height Chart with the help of our pal Old Red Jalopy. It should lay this argument to rest so you can leave T.C. alone once and for all.
  Well, on this issue, at least.
  Click the image to enlarge.
ISRAEL did Sandy Hook, Newtown CT School Shooting Massacres says Michael Harris
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by ARSONomics
  Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:21
Sandy Hook School Shooting Robbie Parker Actor Exposed Smiling Laughing then Fake Crying - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:19
URGENT UPDATE on Connecticut Shooting Short Little Rebel
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:45
  Friends, there is a gift that God has given me: I can smell something fishy a mile away. Like Benghazi. Almost on day one, I told my husband: ''The facts don't make sense. Something is wrong here.'' Last night, after I saw a talking head interview (or, I should say, NOT interview) the father of the boy who saw his teacher get shot and ran for his life with a couple of friends, I told my husband, ''Something is not right here. She didn't ask a single relevant question. So far, this boy is the only eye-witness of the gunman coming forward. She didn't ask if the boy saw one or more shooters. She didn't ask any details of what the gunman did first, second, third. She didn't ask for a description of the gunman. These reporters are complete prostitutes. They could care less about the feelings of the people they interview. So why didn't she ask any of these questions?'' In fact, I could tell she was biting back questions. I looked at my husband and said, ''Cal, this thing is starting to stink. By now, there should be many eye-witness accounts of the actual gunman. There should be breathless survivors talking about how this guy walked by their room, etc. About how they narrowly escaped. But so far, it looks like every single eye-witness is dead. That is IMPOSSIBLE!''
  I watched the situation LIVE. There were original reports of a second man who was found in the woods that they had put in custody. This man was NEVER spoken of again. Why? The details of the shooting changed enormously from one minute to the next. Inside sources at the police departments were reporting one thing while the official accounts said completely different information. The news reports were full of such ambiguous NON statements that I was furiously looking throughout the internet to find solid evidence or eye-witness accounts to clarify. None was to be found. One example: They originally said that the shooter was buzzed in via the front office's new video security system. Then, the news report said, ''The shooter was NOT voluntarily buzzed into the school.'' What the heck does THAT mean? Does that mean he forced his way through the system? Does that mean they have video evidence of his face? Does that mean that there was someone on the inside putting a gun to someone's head to buzz the shooter in? Huh?
  Also, it seems highly unlikely, based on descriptions of Adam, that he could have purchased all that black ops gear! The guy is described as being so shy that he would hug the school walls when someone approached him! Also, first the news definitely says the mother was a teacher and the classroom of dead kids was her class. Then, reports are that she had nothing to do with the school. So, why the shooting there? Also, the number and kind of weapons used changed. Also, where they discovered the weapons. Sometimes they reported that all the weapons were in the school. Then they said the rifle was in the car. But they also said that the shooter used the rifle to kill every single person with multiple shots.
  No, something stinks here. The lack of eye witnesses of the shooter confirming the single shooter account is BLARINGLY absent. The reports of a second shooter in the woods has suddenly disappeared. The reporters are not grilling the one and only witness we know of- this little boy. Please don't say they suddenly have even a smidge of conscience. The original statements about the shooter being buzzed into the school have simply disappeared. I was ready to let this go and explain it away as simple confusion. I was maddened by the timing and circumstances of the tragedy as concerns the upcoming UN small arms treaty & gun control. It killed me that this wack-job used LEGALLY REGISTERED weapons to do his killing. There is NO OTHER CONCLUSION, if the story is accurate, than the fact that had Adam Lanza NOT had access to those legal guns, he could never have killed those kids. He was too mentally ill to have gotten those weapons himself. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and we now know that he had many, many interventions by school officials in the past. I felt that the killing of little children would be the strongest argument yet that we should clamp down on gun ownership. I just couldn't believe the TIMING and circumstances of this event- a GIFT to the Progressives to disarm us. Who can argue with this case? I was ready for the inevitable.
  But a friend sent me the following links which tell a different story. Having reported the event LIVE and experienced the changing information, I am not surprised. In fact, it makes sense now.
  Friends. I believe there is evidence of more than one shooter. I believe this was a PLANNED event- specifically to get the UN Small Arms Treaty signed. The father of the shooter is Peter Lanza, rumored to be scheduled to testify on the international LIBOR scandal. Guess who else is rumored to be scheduled to testify on the LIBOR scandal? Father of the BATMAN theater shooter. Amazing coincidence? We will see. The LIBOR scandal is a massive, worldwide network of banks, the Federal Reserve and highly position individuals such as Tim Geihtner and Ben Bernanke that are being accused of manipulating LIBOR rates to gain better market positions. Just some of the Banks involved are: the Canadian branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Bank, and Citibank, as well as ICAP (Intercapital), an interdealer broker.[37 It also mentions Bank of America & Barclays. It is ugly to its roots and VERY powerful people are involved.
  I believe our GOVERNMENT shot those kids and teachers and used Adam Lanza and his family to pull it off. They might have killed two birds with one stone. One: If these men are involved in the LIBOR scandal, they can manipulate their testimony. Two: they get gun control. How very, very clever and efficient of them, right? I hate to say it. I hate to put myself 'out there' with this because I KNOW how I will be attacked. But I don't do this for anyone's approval. I do it to help the American People. You look at these links and you decide.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uuhbCOqIaC4
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S59IXI9g6VE
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j_fI0hm1dqY
  http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/12/15/peter_lanza_reporter_tells_adam_lanza_father_of_connection_to_sandy_hook.html
  http://beforeitsnews.com/economics-and-politics/2012/12/2-mass-shootings-connected-to-libor-2447738.html
  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-15/ubs-libor-manipulation-accord-said-to-be-as-much-as-1-6-billion.html
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal
  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2012/jul/20/holmess-father-is-anti-fraud-scientist/
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2178852/James-Holmes-Did-Colorado-maniac-snap-failing-meet-expectations-academic-father.html
  http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/aurora-dark-knight-shooting-suspect-identified-james-holmes/story?id=16818889#.UAnPJDFU2NE
  http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/20/james-holmes-father-robert-holmes-colorodo-shooting/
  http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/07/james-holmes-appears-drugged-and-sleepy-in-court.html
  http://hereisthecity.com/2012/10/04/fox-business-networks-charlie-gasparino-reports-sen-grassley-and/
The Single Greatest Interview Question
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:37
  With one simple query, you can glean insight into a candidate's personality, values, tastes, background, decision making ability and much more. With one good question, you can strip away all the bull and get a good, solid look right into the person's soul.
  Are you ready for that question? Here it is: ''What is your favorite movie of all time?''
  I'm not being cheeky or suggesting you hire someone based on whether or not they like Dumb & Dumber. Let me explain'...People come into interviews ready to answer run of the mill interview questions. They've likely rehearsed their responses to all the standard scenarios or clich(C) questions, meaning you don't learn much more than the fact they're good at preparing for interviews.
  But toss in an oddball, and the applicant is forced to go off script and answer on the fly. The answer is almost inconsequential (although you could make a case for immediately disqualifying anyone that mentions Gigli). It's the person's reaction, thought process and level of comfort at dealing with the unexpected you should be studying.
  Unconventional is certainly one way you could describe my interview questions. It's what I strive for'--a balance between finding out what I need to know about the person and seeing how they react to unexpected situations.
  I will ask two or three 'traditional' questions about a person's job history. Then hit them with something way out of leftfield, like, ''Why have you always let people tell you what to do?''
  It's a great question in two ways. One, I really do want to know why this person has never sought a position of leadership before. And two, it's admittedly a little harsh and wholly unexpected, and the way the person answers will tell me so much. Do they get angry and defensive? Do they stay calm and explain the situation? Do they stammer and talk in circles? You want confident, level-headed employees that can capably deal with crisis and unanticipated situations. No better place to find them than in the interview room.
  So get them to tell you about the time they disagreed with a customer and how they handled it. Ask them to list their top three workplace accomplishments. They're great, tried and true interview questions. But don't forget to dig into your bag of tricks and keep them off balance. You'll be surprised how much you can learn.
  Besides, do you really want to hire someone who thinks Twilight is the best movie of all time?
All Tech Considered : NPR
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:19
  Andras Gyorfi's winning entry in The Seasteading Institute's 2009 design contest. The institute supports the idea of permanent, autonomous offshore communities, but it does not intend to construct its own seasteads.
  Courtesy of The Seasteading InstituteAndras Gyorfi's winning entry in The Seasteading Institute's 2009 design contest. The institute supports the idea of permanent, autonomous offshore communities, but it does not intend to construct its own seasteads.
  Courtesy of The Seasteading InstituteAlmost all of us have complaints about the government, which probably range from high taxes to too much bureaucracy. Periodically, we get to take our frustrations out at the voting booth. But no matter how unhappy you may be, you probably never thought, "I'm going get out of here and go start my own country."
  A group of rich techies in Northern California is planning on starting its own nation on artificial islands in the ocean. They call themselves "seasteaders" and are sort of a mix between geeks and hippies.
  The visionary behind the group is Patri Friedman. The former Google software engineer also happens to be the grandson of the Nobel Prize-winning economist and free marketeer Milton Friedman.
  It's his voice that opens a trailer for a documentary about the seasteaders. As his words float above visuals of rolling waves we hear what sounds like a vision of paradise at sea.
  Friedman imagines that on these islands there will be "a lot of tourism from the world. The most cutting-edge hospital facilities on the planet. Probably the largest fish farms in the world."
  A winning entry in the Seasteading Design Contest by Emerson Stepp.
  Courtesy of The Seasteading InstituteA winning entry in the Seasteading Design Contest by Emerson Stepp.
  Courtesy of The Seasteading InstituteAnd for foodies: "Best sushi you can imagine."
  For-Profit Communities
  The seasteaders have been meeting regularly at bars in Silicon Valley and San Francisco to discuss their plans for creating nations at sea.
  One meeting at a bar in Millbrae, Calif., drew a mix of people with long hair, beards and wizened faces; casually dressed engineer types; and a few suits. It was mostly guys.
  There was a lot of chatter about what's wrong with our country '-- everything from the school systems and the bickering in Washington to the rising price of health care and long lines at the department of motor vehicles.
  "They just want to avoid taxes so they can own what they make," says filmmaker Adam Jones, who became part of the group because he shares their frustration. "So they can truly be free and that's the nature of true liberty and that's what the founders wanted in America."
  There's revolution in the air here.
  Michael Keenan, the former president of The Seasteading Institute, opens the meeting. The institute is a nonprofit that helps get backing for groups that want to start island nations.
  Keenan leads the discussion, which is all about the practicalities of life at sea: everything from desalinating sea water, to using waves to create electricity, to figuring out how to build homes.
  But it certainly doesn't sound like the rough and tumble lives of the Back-to-the-Land Movement in the 1960s. Keenan says seasteaders will most likely begin life "with retrofitted cruise ships and barges" docked in international waters.
  Patri Friedman, head of The Seasteading Institute, says the beauty of his vision for seasteading is choice.
  Christopher Rasch/Courtesy of The Seasteading InstitutePatri Friedman, head of The Seasteading Institute, says the beauty of his vision for seasteading is choice.
  Christopher Rasch/Courtesy of The Seasteading InstituteHe says they are also working on ways to create artificial islands using technology from oil rigs.
  But if hippies in the 1960s were talking about communities built on love, this group is talking about communities built around profit.
  "That is the core of the future of seasteading: sustainable businesses," Keenan says. "And so our huge focus right now is on basically enabling more seasteading business."
  Vote With Your Boat
  The seasteaders do have some hefty backers. Among them is Peter Thiel, an early investor in Facebook and PayPal, and of course Patri Friedman.
  Like his grandfather, Friedman is a believer in free markets and would like to see a libertarian nation on the ocean. But the ocean is big, and Friedman sees room for plenty of different kinds of governments.
  "If we can figure out how to let people create startup countries, they might start different laws and institutions and constitutions," he says.
  Friedman says there can be competition between the nations over the best form of government the same way there is in business. People could pick their government the way they do computers and coffee.
  "What if I got the same type of service from my government that I do from Apple and Starbucks?" he says. "What an awesome world that would be!"
  But Friedman's comparison to businesses raises red flags for Holly Folk, an expert on alternative communities.
  "It's difficult for me to respond positively to a movement that says, 'OK, let's create a carve out for people who have the resources to in some ways game the global system,' " she says.
  Folk thinks if the seasteaders got in trouble on the high seas they'd probably need help from taxpayer-supported services like the Coast Guard.
  A professor at Western Washington University, Folk has studied a lot of alternative communities within the U.S. She says the ones with shared religious beliefs, like the Pilgrims, last the longest.
  Many alternative communities start out with lofty ideals, she says, but the challenges of sharing resources and living together are often greater than people imagine.
  Folk says the seasteaders might find it even more challenging because of their "individualist, libertarian flavor."
  "You're talking about a worldview that's going to be attractive to people who are in some ways probably not hard-wired to behave and take orders very well," she says.
  Folk says the history of the U.S. is littered with intentional communities that fell apart. Some run out of money and then bicker over who gets the last piece of bacon; others don't last because the second generation doesn't want to keep the community going.
  But, Friedman says, the beauty of his vision is choice. Just like you can pick what computer to buy, you can pick your government.
  "I won't go there if it looks like it's going to be Lord of the Flies," he says.
  Friedman says no one is being forced into this.
  "So people aren't going to go there unless it looks like it's safe," he says.
  The first community that calls itself a seastead doesn't really sound like a country or even a community. It wants to put a ship off the coast of San Francisco so that entrepreneurs who can't get a green card can start a business and still be close to Silicon Valley. The community expects to launch in 2014 '-- and expects to be profitable.
Concealed Carry Hero at Portland Mall
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:28
  The news is a funny thing sometimes. When something shocking comes out, everyone rushes to get more and more information as quickly as possible. When it comes to active shooter or active gunman situations, that rush for information often runs into the chaos of the situation. We saw that with the Newton, Connecticut shooting where media outlets worldwide put the picture and information of the wrong person up as the gunman only to have egg on their face later.In Portland, Oregon, that same rush for information had the mainstream media skip past the fact that a concealed carrier confronted an active shooter and caused him to abandon his plans, run for a service corridor and stairway and kill himself as these shooters typically do.
  We saw the story, it's lack of coverage, and knew it was news that needed to get out. Obviously important for concealed carriers / gun owners, we knew the story demonstrated how these situations can be stopped quickly by a determined, well-practiced concealed carrier.
  We spoke to Nick Meli, Casey, and Ashley late Sunday and got the full story direct from the people who were there... in that moment with the gunman still active and approaching. While plenty of people want to second guess, or make assumptions, we're here to bring the full story to light here and putting all facts on the table.
  On Tuesday evening Casey and Ashley went to the mall with Casey's close friend Nick and Ashley's 4-month-old son Noah. Ashley's boyfriend (who is also Casey's brother) works at the mall and the group was waiting for him to get out of a meeting. They had been in the mall for a short while and were heading to the food court to get a bite to eat. Just as the group passed the Macy's Home Store and came to Morgan Jewelers three gunshots rang out.
  What we now know was the beginning of gunman Jacob Tyler Roberts's shooting spree came as a complete shock to everyone. Nick, holding young Noah at the time, turned to Casey and said, "Are you serious?!?". Casey's simple answer? "Yes". As Ashley told us, Nick tossed Noah to her and drew his concealed carry weapon in a single motion.
  Not believing the shots to be real Ashley wondered if it was possible the mall was doing active shooter training, something her boyfriend said they had done in the evenings before. Then a long series of 10-15 gunshots rang out. "Once I saw Casey under the jewelry counter and heard the other shots, I knew it was real," Ashley told us.
  Holding young Noah, Ashley's first reaction was to turn her back to the gunfire and use her body to shield young Noah. Casey yelled at Ashley to get down so Ashley crawled under the jewelry counter, placing Noah between the two of them to keep him safe. As the girls took cover Nick, with his gun drawn, moved behind a pillar and looked towards the shots - and saw the gunmen moving towards them.
  While keeping eyes on the gunman, Nick told the girls to find better cover - the counter they were under was just glass held aloft by metal legs.
  Casey got to her feet and unlocked and opened the half door to get behind the store counter. She then told the others, "follow me". In the back area of the jewelry store the girls found a closet sized bathroom and Ashley, Noah, and Casey crammed in, along with four other people who had been trapped in the open. Once in the relative safety of the bathroom one of the women, a Morgan Jewelers employee, asked Casey why Nick had a gun. Casey's answer? "He works for a security company. He's one of the good guys".
  That's when the girls realized Nick had not gone to cover with them and was still faced with the gunman... and that Ashley's boyfriend was somewhere in the mall as well - in his meeting. All the while, young Noah is crying. Knowing the gunman was still outside and not wanting to be found, Ashley started feeding Noah to keep him calm and keep him from making any noise.
  Knowing the girls were more secure, Nick was now alone and the gunman was still approaching. Like most malls, Clackamas Town Center's second floor has walkways by the storefronts with an open middle area so that light gets through to the bottom floor. The gunman was across that opening from Nick and continued to approach. Nick noted that the gunman seemed unfamiliar with the rifle we now know was stolen. Instead of clearing a malfunction cleanly, the gunman was slapping the gun and pulling the charging handle with seemingly no plan in mind.
  As the gunman came closer, he turned to cross a walkway bridging the open space and connecting the two sides of the mall so he could continue his rampage inside the large Macy's Home Store on the other side - right where Nick was standing. Nick lined put his front sight on the man's head and put his finger on the trigger. Nick has extensive firearms experience with both rifles and handguns, at the range of approximately 15-20 yards, this was a shot he knew he could make, and then... movement from behind the shooter, inside of Charlotte Russe.
  As all firearms owners know, Colonel Jeff Coopers Rule #4 is to know your target and what is behind it. Now Nick knew for sure that, while he had a good target, what was behind it were innocent people who were terrified. He removed his finger from the trigger while keeping the gun on the gunman.
  Then a dangerous confrontation got worse. Nick heard the distinctive sound of a malfunction being cleared in the rifle and saw the gunman reach for another magazine. As the gunman was inserting the fresh magazine, Nick quickly backed into the Macy's Home Store and took cover while keeping his eyes on the gunman. Despite being outgunned, Nick stayed in cover but visible to the gunman.
  Knowing he had an armed person in the mall and that this was no longer his gun-free zone, the gunman avoided the Macy's Home Store and ended his rampage by fleeing to a service corridor and into the stairwell to the lower level. He then took his life, unbeknownst to everyone in the mall. "It seemed like forever but we actually heard the last shot the shooter put into himself," said Ashley. That single ominous shot after the deafening silence that covered the mall during the gunman's malfunction was replaced by Nick's familiar voice shouting, "It's me! It's me!" right before he opened the door.
  Nick said nothing of his encounter, he just said he did not know where the shooter was and that they should all remain quiet. An elderly woman in the bathroom asked where her purse was as she was not feeling well and wanted one of her blood pressure pills. Nick retrieved her medicine, told them all to remain quiet and went back in front of the store in case the gunman returned.
  Knowing nothing good would come from police seeing an armed man in the mall yet knowing he could not put his gun away without knowing the mall was secure, Nick did what every concealed carrier should know to do - he called the police. Nick told the 911 operator that he was in the Clackamas Town Center, that he was armed, and that he did not know where the gunman was at that time. Nick gave a description of himself to the police so they would know he was one of the good guys and would not engage on sight.
  As police arrived, Nick went back and told the girls police were on scene but to stay in place. Nick holstered his weapon and began speaking with investigators and covering everything that happened - having definitive answers to much of the chaos and conflicting report. No, there was only one shooter. No, he was not white, he was Hispanic (Nick noticed that from a small gap of neck that was uncovered between the shirt and mask).
  While it seemed like yet another eternity, police came and got the girls and led them out under an armed escort of seven officers. The police took them past the Macy's Home Store which was blocked off by officers and down a service corridor to the outside. Only later did Ashley and Casey realize they had walked past the staircase the gunman had retreated to before taking his own life.
  Friday night, before the story of Nick's action had made it anywhere, Nick, Casey, Ashley, and Noah attended the vigil for Steve Forsyth and Cindy Ann Yuille the two victims killed at the very outset of the gunman's attack. While hundreds of people gathered by candlelight and sang songs in remembrance, none outside of the small group realized that Nick had stopped the gunman and cut his rampage short - saving the people inside the mall and our nation a much greater tragedy.
  No recognition is exactly what Nick would like. He has eschewed interviews and plans to continue doing so simply because he did what he felt he had to. Nick doesn't feel he is a hero so Ashley gets the final word:
  "What Nick did and the actions he took saved lives. Whether he shot or not, he changed the situation and he is the reason nobody else was shot"
  For those out there that question Nick's actions - Nick wasn't reading words on a screen. He was faced with an active gunman who had already shot more than 20 rounds, two close friends with a small child to protect, shocked people in the mall, and it all happened in an instant. From the time the gunman entered the mall until the time he ended his life was almost 4 minutes. That's about half the time it took to read this article.
  For more stories of the everyday heroes among us, take a look at the November Defensive Gun Use Report
  and
Grapefruit and Drugs Often Don't Mix
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:19
  The patient didn't overdose on medication. She overdosed on grapefruit juice.
  The 42-year-old was barely responding when her husband brought her to the emergency room. Her heart rate was slowing, and her blood pressure was falling. Doctors had to insert a breathing tube, and then a pacemaker, to revive her.
  They were mystified: The patient's husband said she suffered from migraines and was taking a blood pressure drug called verapamil to help prevent the headaches. But blood tests showed she had an alarming amount of the drug in her system, five times the safe level.
  Did she overdose? Was she trying to commit suicide? It was only after she recovered that doctors were able to piece the story together.
  ''The culprit was grapefruit juice,'' said Dr. Unni Pillai, a nephrologist in St. Louis, Mo., who treated the woman several years ago and later published a case report. ''She loved grapefruit juice, and she had such a bad migraine, with nausea and vomiting, that she could not tolerate anything else.''
  The previous week, she had been subsisting mainly on grapefruit juice. Then she took verapamil, one of dozens of drugs whose potency is dramatically increased if taken with grapefruit. In her case, the interaction was life-threatening.
  Last month, Dr. David Bailey, a Canadian researcher who first described this interaction more than two decades ago, released an updated list of medications affected by grapefruit. There are now 85 such drugs on the market, he noted, including common cholesterol-lowering drugs, new anticancer agents, and some synthetic opiates and psychiatric drugs, as well as certain immunosuppressant medications taken by organ transplant patients, some AIDS medications, and some birth control pills and estrogen treatments. (The full list is online.)
  ''What drove us to write this paper was the number of new drugs that have come out in the last four years,'' said Dr. Bailey, a clinical pharmacologist at the Lawson Health Research Institute, who first discovered the interaction by accident in the 1990s.
  How often such reactions occur, however, and how often they are triggered in people consuming regular amounts of juice is debated by scientists. Dr. Bailey believes many cases are missed because doctors don't think to ask if patients are consuming grapefruit or grapefruit juice.
  Even if such incidents are rare, Dr. Bailey argued, they are predictable and entirely avoidable. Many hospitals no longer serve juice, and some prescriptions carry stickers warning patients to avoid grapefruit.
  ''The bottom line is that even if the frequency is low, the consequences can be dire,'' he said. ''Why do we have to have a body count before we make changes?''
  For 43 of the 85 drugs now on the list, consumption with grapefruit can be life-threatening, Dr. Bailey said. Many are linked to an increase in heart rhythm, known as torsade de pointes, that can lead to death. It can occur even without underlying heart disease and has been seen in patients taking certain anticancer agents, erythromycin and other anti-infective drugs, some cardiovascular drugs like quinidine, the antipsychotics lurasidone and ziprasidone, gastrointestinal agents cisapride and domperidone, and solifenacin, used to treat overactive bladders.
  Taken with grapefruit, other drugs like fentanyl, oxycodone and methadone can cause fatal respiratory depression. The interaction also can be caused by other citrus fruits, including Seville oranges, limes and pomelos; one published case report has suggested that pomegranate may increase the potency of certain drugs.
  Older people may be more vulnerable, because they are more likely to be both taking medications and drinking more grapefruit juice. The body's ability to cope with drugs also weakens with age, experts say.
  Under normal circumstances, the drugs are metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract, and relatively little is absorbed, because an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4 deactivates them. But grapefruit contains natural chemicals called furanocoumarins, that inhibit the enzyme, and without it the gut absorbs much more of a drug and blood levels rise dramatically.
  For example, someone taking simvastatin (brand name Zocor) who also drinks a small 200-milliliter, or 6.7 ounces, glass of grapefruit juice once a day for three days could see blood levels of the drug triple, increasing the risk for rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that can cause kidney damage.
  Estradiol and ethinyl estradiol, forms of estrogen used in oral contraceptives and hormone replacement, also interact with grapefruit juice. In one case in the journal Lancet, a 42-year-old woman taking the birth control pill Yaz developed a very serious clot that threatened her leg several days after she started eating just one grapefruit a day, said Dr. Lucinda Grande, a physician in Lacey, Wash., and an author of the case report.
  But Dr. Grande also noted that the patient had other risk factors and the circumstances were unusual. ''The reason we published it as a case report was because it was so uncommon,'' she said. ''We need to be careful not to exaggerate this.''
  Some drugs that have a narrow ''therapeutic range'' '-- where having a bit too much or too little can have serious consequences '-- require vigilance with regard to grapefruit, said Patrick McDonnell, clinical professor of pharmacy practice at Temple University. These include immunosuppressant agents like cyclosporine that are taken by transplant patients to prevent rejection of a donor organ, he said.
  Still, Dr. McDonnell added, most patients suffering adverse reactions are consuming large amounts of grapefruit. ''There's a difference between an occasional section of grapefruit and someone drinking 16 ounces of grapefruit juice a day,'' he said.
  And, he cautioned, ''Not all drugs in the same class respond the same way.'' While some statins are affected by grapefruit, for instance, others are not.
  Here is some advice from experts for grapefruit lovers:
  ¶ If you take oral medication of any kind, check the list to see if it interacts with grapefruit. Make sure you understand the potential side effects of an interaction; if they are life-threatening or could cause permanent injury, avoid grapefruit altogether. Some drugs, such as clopidogrel, may be less effective when taken with grapefruit.
  ¶ If you take one of the listed drugs a regular basis, keep in mind that you may want to avoid grapefruit, as well as pomelo, lime and marmalade. Be on the lookout for symptoms that could be side effects of the drug. If you are on statins, this could be unusual muscle soreness.
  ¶It is not enough to avoid taking your medicine at the same time as grapefruit. You must avoid consuming grapefruit the whole period that you are on the medication.
  ¶In general, it is a good idea to avoid sudden dramatic changes in diet and extreme diets that rely on a narrow group of foods. If you can't live without grapefruit, ask your doctor if there's an alternative drug for you.
  Readers may submit comments or questions for The Consumer by e-mail to consumer@nytimes.com.
News Headlines
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:07
  US News
  Berlusconi: Italy May Be Forced to Leave the Euro
  Reuters | December 19, 2012 | 01:20 AM EST
  Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday Italy would be forced to leave the euro zone unless the European Central Bank gets more powers to ensure lower borrowing costs.
  Berlusconi, who announced this month he will again lead his People of Freedom party (PDL) in a national election expected in February, said on a
  talk-show on state broadcaster RAI that the ECB should become a lender of last resort for the currency bloc.
  "If Germany doesn't accept that the ECB must be a real central bank, if interest rates don't come down, we will be forced to leave the euro and return to our own currency in order to be competitive," Berlusconi said in comments reported by Italian news agencies Ansa and Agi.
  The 76-year-old media tycoon has made similar remarks in the past about the possibility of Italy, or even Germany, leaving the euro, but has often at least partially rectified them later.
  Berlusconi is already campaigning hard for the election with a spate of television interviews in an attempt to close the wide gap with the centre-left Democratic Party which is polling at above 30 percent, some 14 points above the PDL.
  Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister in November last year as Italian bond yields surged at the height of the euro zone debt crisis.
Why the Internet is "Dangerous"
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:03
  Why the Internet is "Dangerous"
  Why the Internet is "Dangerous"The Internet is "dangerous" because it is a medium for the instantaneous and uncontrolled transmission of ideas.
  We think of free speech as being a given--almost an absolute--in the United States and much of the Western world. Though everyone knows that certain kinds of speech, such as pornography, are against the law, most of us don't think about the web of social, nongovernmental constraints on legal but disfavored speech.
  Unpopular ideas are marginalized in our society, restricted to the fringes of public discourse even without the need for any governmental action. Broadcast television and radio, cable, newsmagazines and book publishers all are--or are owned by--large conglomerates. Many rely on advertising, or own other businesses that do, or are simply owned or controlled by people whose personal involvement in the social web of contacts and constraints guarantees moderation in ideas. No idea sees the light of day until it has been turned over, examined from every angle, and pronounced fit for human consumption. Editors approve articles and books, and are managed by publishers who sometimes intervene in content. Committees decide what news stories to cover and which to ignore.
  Our courts have confirmed that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects many works we don't really want anyone to see. The Anarchists' Cookbook is an example. A morally repugnant compilation of bomb and murder recipes, it has been selling steadily for 25 years. You have probably never seen it in a bookstore or a library. The government cannot stop it from being distributed but, where the government leaves off, the web of social controls takes over. No mainstream publisher will publish it. No bookstore chain will carry it.
  Some ideas, like those embodied in the Anarchist's Cookbook, should be unpopular. Others shouldn't. Noam Chomsky, famous linguist and philosopher, is also a far left historian and critic of American social and foreign policy. He does not advocate murder or tell you how to commit it; he tells you about instances in which he believes the U.S. government has advocated and committed murder. Protected by the First Amendment? Yes. Unpalatable to many people? Yes. Very hard to find in most bookstores? Yes. The web of social control ensures that Chomsky, published by small, alternative presses, will be hard to find. You don't have to agree with Chomsky, but don't we all benefit if his ideas are more accessible, taking their rightful place in the public contest of ideas?
  Years ago, I met a British student, learning French in Paris, who remarked, "I know enough French to understand a politician on TV--but I don't know enough French to have an opinion." Ideas are the words of our cultural, ethical, political language. The fewer the ideas, the smaller the vocabulary. Don't you want to have a large vocabulary? Unfortunately, the social web works to keep it rather small.
  The antidote to the social web is the World Wide Web. There is a Chomsky home page, with megabytes of his essays available. There is pornography. There are bomb recipes. The Internet swarms with ideas of all types, popular, unpopular and illegal. Nothing can be found on the Internet that also cannot be found elsewhere; all of the ideas on the Internet can be judged legal or illegal according to standards that existed before the Internet was dreamed of. So why all the fuss--why are there people like Senator James Exon demanding new rules for the Net? Why do schemes to regulate the Internet include outlawing material that is acknowledged to be perfectly legal, and even protected by the First Amendment, off of the Net?
  The answer is that the Internet, as I stated above, is a medium for the instantaneous transmission of ideas free of the web of social controls. Ideas on television or radio, or in books and magazines, emanate from corporate offices. Ideas on the Net emanate from a million servers worldwide. Ideas do not get in or out of those corporate offices, let alone make it into the broadcast or the publication, without someone's strict review and approval. Ideas spread across the Internet like viruses through a crowded city.
  You don't need to find a publisher on the Internet; if you have a computer, you are a publisher. You don't need to find a distributor; again, you are one, and via such intermediaries as Usenet news groups and other people's links pages on the Web, you are likely to find scores, even thousands, of eager re-distributors of your ideas.
  The unspoken premise of laws such as the Communications Decency Act is that what we can tolerate if it is marginalized by social control, becomes unbearable when it becomes exempt from such control. The drama of government regulation, social control and the Internet is played out against a background of subject matter as diverse as pornography, cryptography, sadism, bomb recipes, religion and even business discourse.
  There is some illegal material on the Internet. There are ways of regulating this material according to standards consistent with those for offline material. The grave danger is that zealots will kill the Internet as a vital medium for ideas, choking ideas that deserve to be heard in order to stop the illegal ones.
  The freedom of the Internet from the web of social control is a good thing. We have to resist the forces--political, legal and in the business world--that are trying to make the Internet as easy to control as a television broadcast. There are people who would be perfectly happy if the material you see on the Net were also selected in a corporate office. The fragmentation of the Web into competing proprietary hypertext standards, the invasion of the content business by service providers, phone companies, and the mainstream information companies, are all steps in this direction.
  A note on memes
  The idea of the "meme", introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins almost twenty years ago, is very important to an understanding of the Internet and social control.
  Dawkins speculated in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, that ideas, singly and in related groups, behave much like genes, replicating themselves through the population and waging an evolutionary arms race against one another. He called such ideas and groupings "memes". While some regard the word as New Age babble for "idea", I do not, because of the added implications of grouping, replication and natural selection that are not native to the word "idea". Morality and a belief in God, for example, are two ideas that are distinguishable but frequently join to form one meme. Creationism is a meme that (most people would agree) has been losing the evolutionary battle to the meme of Darwinism. The Internet is a seething morass of good and bad memes, engaged in an evolutionary battle to propagate across as many servers (and brains) as possible. This is a good thing. The "idea mediators" in large corporate offices should not decide which ideas propagate any more than they should choose which people reproduce their genes in the next generation. Genes and memes both should involve individual choices.
  Loss of common sense
  Another theme is that revolutionary new technologies, and the rapid, immense social changes they cause, usually cause us to lose our common sense. Chaotic change causes people to jam the brakes on or go off half-cocked; many of the people calling for regulation of the Internet today are criticizing--even demonizing--the side effects of a technology they don't understand. (They are therefore quite similar to people who call for censorship of books they have not read and movies they have not seen--in fact, they are some of the same people.) Legislators, judges and social critics are all stumbling around in the dark where the Net is concerned. At the same moment, businessmen have rushed in, hoping to make millions with the new technology, and their behavior-- extravagant claims that can only lead to disappointment, pushing products out the door that are not even in alpha release yet--only confirms to the politicians, judges and critics that what we are dealing with here, this Internet thing, is essentially lawless. A return to common sense is vital. This can only happen when a few conditions are satisfied: there must be a bit of calm; better information about the Internet, its contents and customs, and the laws that pertain to it, must be available; and legislators especially must understand that they should regulate the Net with a forceps, not with a hammer. I hope that the smoke of confusion will clear before society has damaged or destroyed this new thing; I hope for the return of common sense.
  Let the good memes win.
  Why the Internet is "Dangerous"
  Why the Internet is "Dangerous"The Internet is "dangerous" because it is a medium for the instantaneous and uncontrolled transmission of ideas.
  We think of free speech as being a given--almost an absolute--in the United States and much of the Western world. Though everyone knows that certain kinds of speech, such as pornography, are against the law, most of us don't think about the web of social, nongovernmental constraints on legal but disfavored speech.
  Unpopular ideas are marginalized in our society, restricted to the fringes of public discourse even without the need for any governmental action. Broadcast television and radio, cable, newsmagazines and book publishers all are--or are owned by--large conglomerates. Many rely on advertising, or own other businesses that do, or are simply owned or controlled by people whose personal involvement in the social web of contacts and constraints guarantees moderation in ideas. No idea sees the light of day until it has been turned over, examined from every angle, and pronounced fit for human consumption. Editors approve articles and books, and are managed by publishers who sometimes intervene in content. Committees decide what news stories to cover and which to ignore.
  Our courts have confirmed that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects many works we don't really want anyone to see. The Anarchists' Cookbook is an example. A morally repugnant compilation of bomb and murder recipes, it has been selling steadily for 25 years. You have probably never seen it in a bookstore or a library. The government cannot stop it from being distributed but, where the government leaves off, the web of social controls takes over. No mainstream publisher will publish it. No bookstore chain will carry it.
  Some ideas, like those embodied in the Anarchist's Cookbook, should be unpopular. Others shouldn't. Noam Chomsky, famous linguist and philosopher, is also a far left historian and critic of American social and foreign policy. He does not advocate murder or tell you how to commit it; he tells you about instances in which he believes the U.S. government has advocated and committed murder. Protected by the First Amendment? Yes. Unpalatable to many people? Yes. Very hard to find in most bookstores? Yes. The web of social control ensures that Chomsky, published by small, alternative presses, will be hard to find. You don't have to agree with Chomsky, but don't we all benefit if his ideas are more accessible, taking their rightful place in the public contest of ideas?
  Years ago, I met a British student, learning French in Paris, who remarked, "I know enough French to understand a politician on TV--but I don't know enough French to have an opinion." Ideas are the words of our cultural, ethical, political language. The fewer the ideas, the smaller the vocabulary. Don't you want to have a large vocabulary? Unfortunately, the social web works to keep it rather small.
  The antidote to the social web is the World Wide Web. There is a Chomsky home page, with megabytes of his essays available. There is pornography. There are bomb recipes. The Internet swarms with ideas of all types, popular, unpopular and illegal. Nothing can be found on the Internet that also cannot be found elsewhere; all of the ideas on the Internet can be judged legal or illegal according to standards that existed before the Internet was dreamed of. So why all the fuss--why are there people like Senator James Exon demanding new rules for the Net? Why do schemes to regulate the Internet include outlawing material that is acknowledged to be perfectly legal, and even protected by the First Amendment, off of the Net?
  The answer is that the Internet, as I stated above, is a medium for the instantaneous transmission of ideas free of the web of social controls. Ideas on television or radio, or in books and magazines, emanate from corporate offices. Ideas on the Net emanate from a million servers worldwide. Ideas do not get in or out of those corporate offices, let alone make it into the broadcast or the publication, without someone's strict review and approval. Ideas spread across the Internet like viruses through a crowded city.
  You don't need to find a publisher on the Internet; if you have a computer, you are a publisher. You don't need to find a distributor; again, you are one, and via such intermediaries as Usenet news groups and other people's links pages on the Web, you are likely to find scores, even thousands, of eager re-distributors of your ideas.
  The unspoken premise of laws such as the Communications Decency Act is that what we can tolerate if it is marginalized by social control, becomes unbearable when it becomes exempt from such control. The drama of government regulation, social control and the Internet is played out against a background of subject matter as diverse as pornography, cryptography, sadism, bomb recipes, religion and even business discourse.
  There is some illegal material on the Internet. There are ways of regulating this material according to standards consistent with those for offline material. The grave danger is that zealots will kill the Internet as a vital medium for ideas, choking ideas that deserve to be heard in order to stop the illegal ones.
  The freedom of the Internet from the web of social control is a good thing. We have to resist the forces--political, legal and in the business world--that are trying to make the Internet as easy to control as a television broadcast. There are people who would be perfectly happy if the material you see on the Net were also selected in a corporate office. The fragmentation of the Web into competing proprietary hypertext standards, the invasion of the content business by service providers, phone companies, and the mainstream information companies, are all steps in this direction.
  A note on memes
  The idea of the "meme", introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins almost twenty years ago, is very important to an understanding of the Internet and social control.
  Dawkins speculated in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, that ideas, singly and in related groups, behave much like genes, replicating themselves through the population and waging an evolutionary arms race against one another. He called such ideas and groupings "memes". While some regard the word as New Age babble for "idea", I do not, because of the added implications of grouping, replication and natural selection that are not native to the word "idea". Morality and a belief in God, for example, are two ideas that are distinguishable but frequently join to form one meme. Creationism is a meme that (most people would agree) has been losing the evolutionary battle to the meme of Darwinism. The Internet is a seething morass of good and bad memes, engaged in an evolutionary battle to propagate across as many servers (and brains) as possible. This is a good thing. The "idea mediators" in large corporate offices should not decide which ideas propagate any more than they should choose which people reproduce their genes in the next generation. Genes and memes both should involve individual choices.
  Loss of common sense
  Another theme is that revolutionary new technologies, and the rapid, immense social changes they cause, usually cause us to lose our common sense. Chaotic change causes people to jam the brakes on or go off half-cocked; many of the people calling for regulation of the Internet today are criticizing--even demonizing--the side effects of a technology they don't understand. (They are therefore quite similar to people who call for censorship of books they have not read and movies they have not seen--in fact, they are some of the same people.) Legislators, judges and social critics are all stumbling around in the dark where the Net is concerned. At the same moment, businessmen have rushed in, hoping to make millions with the new technology, and their behavior-- extravagant claims that can only lead to disappointment, pushing products out the door that are not even in alpha release yet--only confirms to the politicians, judges and critics that what we are dealing with here, this Internet thing, is essentially lawless. A return to common sense is vital. This can only happen when a few conditions are satisfied: there must be a bit of calm; better information about the Internet, its contents and customs, and the laws that pertain to it, must be available; and legislators especially must understand that they should regulate the Net with a forceps, not with a hammer. I hope that the smoke of confusion will clear before society has damaged or destroyed this new thing; I hope for the return of common sense.
  Let the good memes win.
Gunman kills 20 kids, 6 adults at Connecticut elementary school - Los Angeles Times
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:07
  State police lead children from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,'... (Shannon Hicks, Newtown'...)
  NEWTOWN, Conn. '-- A gunman massacred 20 children and six adults at a suburban elementary school here Friday morning before killing himself in what appeared to be the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, authorities said.
  Sources said Adam Lanza, 20, earlier killed his mother at home and then drove her Honda to Sandy Hook Elementary School equipped with firearms that were registered to one or both of his divorced parents.
  Clad in military fatigues and carrying two semiautomatic pistols, he entered the school, argued with someone in the hallway and then opened fire on staff members and children around 9:30 a.m., a law enforcement source said. He focused his gunfire on two rooms. Children huddled in closets and corners as the carnage unfolded.
  Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said police searched "every nook and cranny" of the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade campus after receiving a 911 call. He said 18 children and seven adults were found dead at the school '-- including the shooter '-- and two other children died at the hospital. Victims' bodies remained inside the school into the evening as relatives were gathered at a nearby fire station.
  Vance did not officially identify the shooter or any of the dead. He said another adult had been killed elsewhere in Newtown, but he did not say whether it was Lanza's mother. Police are questioning Lanza's 24-year-old brother, Ryan, of Hoboken, N.J., the Associated Press reported.
  It was the deadliest school shooting since 32 were murdered in the 2007 Virginia Tech rampage.
  "Evil visited this community today," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Friday evening. "It's too early to speak of recovery."
  Chris Manfredonia, whose 6-year-old daughter attends the school, was heading there Friday morning to help make gingerbread houses with first-graders when he heard popping sounds and smelled sulfur.
  He ran around the school trying to reach his daughter and was briefly handcuffed by police. He later found his child, who had been locked in a small room with a teacher.
  "The whole reason we moved here a year ago is because when you drive down the subdivision, it's a happy place," said his wife, Georgeann Manfredonia. "There's a ton of children here and the families are very kind and supportive."
  Geneva Cunningham, 9, a fourth-grader, said she was in the library when the shooting erupted and she heard "a lot of screaming and yelling."
  She said the school loudspeaker came on, and through it came the sound of a scream and then "really deep breathing."
  A teacher ordered her and other students into a closet. "They told us it was a drill and that it was for our own safety," she said. "When it was happening there was a lot of glass shattering." At first, she said, some students thought an animal was loose. She said she heard about seven muted gunshots.
  A fourth-grade boy told CNN that he was in the gym when he heard pops and bangs.
  "We thought it was the custodian knocking stuff down," the boy said. "We heard screaming ... and then the police came in and said, 'Is he in here?'"
  When it was deemed safe, students were led out of the school. They were told to close their eyes. Some were taken to a nearby fire station. Some ran. Some walked single-file, hands on each other's shoulders.
  Parents rushed to collect their children. Others waited in anguish for news of their kids' fate. People trickled out of the school throughout the day.
  The school sits at the end of a two-lane road, lined with barns converted to houses, in an affluent town of about 28,000 people about 60 miles from New York City. The scene quickly bore the hallmarks of other mass casualties, with whirling news helicopters and masses of reporters, law enforcement and rescue personnel.
  The street leading to the school, cut off to most cars Friday, became a pathway for people running to the school to find out what happened to loved ones.
  Susan Birge, a mental health disaster counselor, spent Friday afternoon in the fire station down the road from the school, huddling with grieving families.
  "They are just devastated," she said. Families will not be able to see their loved ones at least until tomorrow because the crime scene is so extensive, she said. Birge said most of the families seemed to have children who were 5 or 6 years old.
  President Obama ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.
  "We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years, and each time I hear the news, I react not as a president but as everybody else would, as a parent," Obama said in an emotional televised address during which he dabbed his eyes. "And that is especially true today. I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do."
  Obama added, "The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own."
Iran: Newtown massacre was Israeli conspiracy - Israel News, Ynetnews
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:11
  Tehran news website quotes 'expert' alleging horrific Connecticut shooting that claimed lives of 20 children, six adults was Israeli scheme meant to exert revenge on US following 'humiliation at UN'Dudi Cohen
  "The Newtown massacre was the result of an Israeli conspiracy" an Iranian news website proclaimed Tuesday.
  The United States is still reeling from the murderous rampage that left 20 children and six adults dead in Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday. Tehran '' which on Sunday offered its condolences to the victims and their families '' is now promoting an alternative explanation to the horrific event.
  Related stories:
  Iran's Press TV website quoted Michael Harris, former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona and GOP campaign finance chairman, as saying that "An Israeli death squad was involved in the Sandy Hook shooting."
  According to the report, Harris called the Newtown tragedy a "terrorist attack," adding that it was "Israel's revenge" and that it was meant to "teach the US lesson," following the Palestinian's status upgrade in the UN.
  According to the report, the shooter, Adam Lazna, was meant to be the scapegoat.
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The website also dubbed him an "intelligence analyst," but the GOP member has no known ties to the intelligence community in the US.
  The report further quoted him as linking the Connecticut incident to Anders Behring Breivik's murderous spree in Norway, in 2011.
  "This is exactly what Israel did in Norway; the political party that voted for sanctions against Israel was retaliated against by a 'lone gunman' who killed 77 children.
  "This is what Israel always does, they go after the children'... The same thing happened at Sandy Hook. Nobody buys the lone gunman story anymore, not with the Gabby Giffords' shooting, not with the Aurora 'Batman' shooting, certainly not with Breveik, and certainly not in Connecticut," he said.
  Harris, reportedly citing the "numerous inconsistencies" in the shooting's "cover story," said that "This is another case where Israel has chosen violence and terrorism where their bullying in Washington has failed."
  The children killed in Newtown (Photo: Reuters)
  Press TV further quoted him as saying that "Israel believes the United States threw them under the bus" in the wake of the "humiliation suffered" during Operation Pillar of Defense and the Palestinians' success in the US.
  The Iranian news website said that the Republican official further called the shooting "a signature attack by Israel," saying it was "reminiscent of the attacks that killed so many children in Gaza."
  Press TV is considered a dubious source, at best, for both domestic and international affairs, as it is a known vehicle of the Iranian regime.
  The news website often targets Israel, taking every opportunity to try and drive a wedge between Jerusalem and the international community by using defense, security and intelligence "experts."
  Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop
Nancy Pelosi: Pant Suits In 2016'...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:09
  Who else are they going to run? '-- Joltin' Joe Biden?
  Via Politico:
  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she wants Hillary Clinton to make another bid for the White House in 2016.
  ''Wouldn't that be exciting? I hope she goes,'' Pelosi said on MSNBC's ''Andrea Mitchell Reports.'' ''Why wouldn't she? She would be president of the United States, and she would be great. And if she decided to run, and I think she would win, she would go into the White House as well prepared or better prepared than almost anybody who has served in that office in a very long time.''
  The first woman speaker of the House continued: ''I won't include Washington, Jefferson, Adams '-- but maybe.''
Do You Qualify as a Domestic Terrorist?
  Link to Article
  Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:33
  A few weeks ago Bernard von NotHaus, purveyor of the gold/silver backed ''Liberty Dollar'', was convicted on numerous charges including making, possessing, and selling his own coins, as well as conspiracy against the United States. Western District of North Carolina US attorney Anne Tompkins issued a Department of Justice press release that should raise blaring, high decibel sirens across the entire Union:
  Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,' U.S. Attorney Tompkins said in announcing the verdict. While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country,' she added. We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption, and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government.
  The definitions for what is or is not a ''terrorist'' are ambiguous as defined by the Patriot Act, and have been progressively, hastily and secretively expanded over the course of the last decade. A ''terrorist,'' it seems, is now anyone who actively engages in an activity '' whether it's violent, peaceful, public or private '' perceived to threaten the legitimacy and/or stability of our government.
  An eighteen year veteran of law enforcement recently published an article at James Rawles' Survival Blog detailing how perceptions in law enforcement are being molded to fit the new paradigm. The use of the term ''terrorist'' to describe a wide variety of crimes, and more alarmingly, the passive behaviors of those who intend to do no harm to the government or the public, is being injected into the broader consciousness and everyday semantics of the American people.
  During the past several years, I have witnessed a dramatic shift in the focus of law enforcement training. Law enforcement courses have moved away from a local community focus to a federally dominated model of complete social control. Most training I have attended over the past two years have been sponsored by Department of Homeland Security (DHS), namely the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
  No matter what topic the training session concerns, every DHS sponsored course I have attended over the past few years never fails to branch off into warnings about potential domestic terrorists in the community. While this may sound like a valid officer and community safety issue, you may be disturbed to learn how our Federal government describes a typical domestic terrorist.
  These federal trainers describe the dangers of extremists and militia groups roaming the community and hiding in plain sight, ready to attack. Officers are instructed how to recognize these domestic terrorists by their behavior, views and common characteristics. State data bases are kept to track suspected domestic terrorists and officers are instructed on reporting procedures to state and federal agencies. The state I work in, like many others, have what is known as a fusion center' that compiles a watch list of suspicious people.
  So how does a person qualify as a potential domestic terrorist? Based on the training I have attended, here are characteristics that qualify:
  Expressions of libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership, holding a CCW permit)Survivalist literature (fictional books such as ''Patriots'' and ''One Second After'' are mentioned by name)Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)Religious views concerning the book of Revelation (apocalypse, anti-Christ)Expressed fears of Big Brother or big governmentHomeschoolingDeclarations of Constitutional rights and civil libertiesBelief in a New World Order conspiracyReading this law enforcement officer's account may seem like conjecture, considering that we're supposed to be living in America, historically the last bastion of freedom in the world. But this isn't conjecture, nor are these the ravings of a disgruntled law enforcement officer.
  Take, for example, the now infamous MIAC Report, from the Missouri Information Analysis Center, which is responsible for collecting incident reports of suspicious activity and analyzing those incidents to build profiles of potential terrorists and terrorist activity:
  The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as militia' influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.'...
  Police are educated in the document that people are are anti-abortion, own gold, display an assortment of U.S. flags, or even those that talk about the film Zeitgeist, view the police as their enemy' and conflates them with domestic terrorists like Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph and other domestic militia groups who have been charged with plotting terrorist attacks.
  Across the entire United States, similar reports are being disseminated to law enforcement, and as incidents of ''domestic terrorism'' become more broadly prosecuted, reported, and the terminology is further entranced into the daily vocabulary, more people will find themselves the target of probes, investigations and on terrorist watch lists, no-fly lists, and no-work lists.
  In a previous report we facetiously opined and calculated that the terrorist watch list may exceed the US population by 2019. Perhaps we weren't so far off with our assessment.
  Given the direction things are going, and the sheer scope of the tentacles of the ever-growing police state, it's only a matter of time before everyone, regardless of lifestyle choice, preferred reading genre, political leaning, religious conviction, shopping behavior, hobbies and interests, will qualify as a 'domestic terrorist.'
  Be advised: You are now a ''person of interest.''
  References: Survival Blog, Daily Bail, Prison Planet, Intel Hub, Epoch Times,DOJ, Activist Post
  During the past several years, I have witnessed a dramatic shift in the focus of law enforcement training.‚ Law enforcement courses have moved away from a local community focus to a federally dominated model of complete social control.‚ Most training I have attended over the past two years have been sponsored by Department of Homeland Security (DHS), namely the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). No matter what topic the training session concerns, every DHS sponsored course I have attended over the past few years never fails to branch off into warnings about potential domestic terrorists in the community.‚ While this may sound like a valid officer and community safety issue, you may be disturbed to learn how our Federal government describes a typical domestic terrorist.
  These federal trainers describe the dangers of '‚¬Å'extremists'‚¬' and '‚¬Å'militia groups'‚¬' roaming the community and hiding in plain sight, ready to attack.‚ Officers are instructed how to recognize these domestic terrorists by their behavior, views and common characteristics.‚ State data bases are kept to track suspected domestic terrorists and officers are instructed on reporting procedures to state and federal agencies.‚ The state I work in, like many others, have what is known as a '‚¬Å'fusion center'‚¬' that compiles a watch list of suspicious people.
  So how does a person qualify as a potential domestic terrorist?‚ Based on the training I have attended, here are characteristics that qualify:
  Expressions of libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership, holding a CCW permit)Survivalist literature (fictional books such as ''Patriots'' and ''One Second After'' are mentioned by name)Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)Religious views concerning the book of Revelation (apocalypse, anti-Christ)Expressed fears of Big Brother or big governmentHomeschoolingDeclarations of Constitutional rights and civil libertiesBelief in a New World Order conspiracy
Thank you, and we're listening - Instagram Blog
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:55
  Yesterday we introduced a new version of our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service that will take effect in thirty days. These two documents help communicate as clearly as possible our relationship with the users of Instagram so you understand how your data will be used, and the rules that govern the thriving and active Instagram community. Since making these changes, we've heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about what the changes mean.
  I'm writing this today to let you know we're listening and to commit to you that we will be doing more to answer your questions, fix any mistakes, and eliminate the confusion. As we review your feedback and stories in the press, we're going to modify specific parts of the terms to make it more clear what will happen with your photos.
  Legal documents are easy to misinterpret. So I'd like to address specific concerns we've heard from everyone:
  Advertising on Instagram From the start, Instagram was created to become a business. Advertising is one of many ways that Instagram can become a self-sustaining business, but not the only one. Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.
  To provide context, we envision a future where both users and brands alike may promote their photos & accounts to increase engagement and to build a more meaningful following. Let's say a business wanted to promote their account to gain more followers and Instagram was able to feature them in some way. In order to help make a more relevant and useful promotion, it would be helpful to see which of the people you follow also follow this business. In this way, some of the data you produce '-- like the actions you take (eg, following the account) and your profile photo '-- might show up if you are following this business.
  The language we proposed also raised question about whether your photos can be part of an advertisement. We do not have plans for anything like this and because of that we're going to remove the language that raised the question. Our main goal is to avoid things likes advertising banners you see in other apps that would hurt the Instagram user experience. Instead, we want to create meaningful ways to help you discover new and interesting accounts and content while building a self-sustaining business at the same time.
  Ownership Rights Instagram users own their content and Instagram does not claim any ownership rights over your photos. Nothing about this has changed. We respect that there are creative artists and hobbyists alike that pour their heart into creating beautiful photos, and we respect that your photos are your photos. Period.
  I always want you to feel comfortable sharing your photos on Instagram and we will always work hard to foster and respect our community and go out of our way to support its rights.
  Privacy Settings Nothing has changed about the control you have over who can see your photos. If you set your photos to private, Instagram only shares your photos with the people you've approved to follow you. We hope that this simple control makes it easy for everyone to decide what level of privacy makes sense.
  I am grateful to everyone for their feedback and that we have a community that cares so much. We need to be clear about changes we make '-- this is our responsibility to you. One of the main reasons these documents don't take effect immediately, but instead 30 days from now, is that we wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to raise any concerns. You've done that and are doing that, and that will help us provide the clarity you deserve. Thank you for your help in making sure that Instagram continues to thrive and be a community that we're all proud of. Please stay tuned for updates coming soon.
  Sincerely,
  Kevin Systrom co-founder, Instagram
  andachan reblogged this from instagrammeneandoneuronas likes thismeneandoneuronas reblogged this from instagramShow more notesLoading...(C) 2012 Instagram, Inc.
Report: Mother Of Adam Lanza Was Planning To Commit Him, Might Have Set Him Off'... | Weasel Zippers
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:49
  But I thought it was because he played video games or something?
  NEWTOWN, Conn. '' The gunman who slaughtered 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school may have snapped because his mother was planning to commit him to a psychiatric facility, according to a lifelong resident of the area who was familiar with the killer's family and several of the victims' families.
  Adam Lanza, 20, targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown after killing his mother early Friday because he believed she loved the school ''more than she loved him,'' said Joshua Flashman, 25, who grew up not far from where the shooting took place. Flashman, a U.S. Marine, is the son of a pastor at an area church where many of the victims' families worship.
  ''From what I've been told, Adam was aware of her petitioning the court for conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed,'' Flashman told FoxNews.com. ''Adam was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry. I think this could have been it, what set him off.''
  A senior law enforcement official involved in the investigation confirmed that Lanza's anger at his mother over plans for ''his future mental health treatment'' is being looked at as a possible motive for the deadly shooting.
  Keep reading'...
Adam Lanza Taking Antipsychotics - Business Insider
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:41
  By now the whole country is fully embroiled in the Gun Control debate, spurred by the grisly murder of 27 people, mostly kids, at the Sandy Hook Elementary school last Friday.Guns might not be the only problem though.
  New York Magazine wrote a piece about shooter Adam Lanza's supposed "aspergers" syndrome as a "red herring" meant to distract from the real problem (guns, of course, the subject goes without mentioning).
  Inside the piece though they report Adam Lanza's uncle said the boy was prescribed Fanapt, a controversial anti-psychotic medicine.
  Fanapt was the subject of a Bloomberg report when it passed regulators, after previously getting the "nonapproval" stamp. Why wasn't it approved, you might ask?
  There are many reasons, some of which have to do with competing entities in a competitive market.
  The main cited reason for the rejection was that it caused severe heart problems in enough patients to cause a stir.
  Maybe more importantly, though, Fanapt is one of a many drugs the FDA pumped out with an ability to exact the opposite desired effect on people: that is, you know, inducing rather than inhibiting psychosis and aggressive behavior.
  In fact, Fanapt was dropped by its first producer, picked up by another, initially rejected by the FDA, then later picked up and mass produced. The adverse side-effect is said to be "infrequent," but still it exists, and can't be ignored.
  The reaction invoked by the drug in some people is reminiscent of the Jeffrey R. MacDonald case, where a Green Beret slaughtered his entire family and then fabricated a story about a marauding troop of "hopped up hippies".
  MacDonald though, had Eskatrol in his system, a weight-loss amphetamine that's since been banned in part for its side effects of psychotic behavior and aggression.
  These drugs are not the only ones that can cause the opposite of their desired effect. Several anti-depressant medications are also restricted to adults, for the depression they inspire in kids rather than eliminate.
  SEE ALSO: Details About Sandy Hook Shooting Suspect Adam Lanza
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Daily Press Briefing - December 18, 2012
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:30
  Country Profiles
  Subscribe to Updates
>> Facebook Suspends Account For Questioning Official Narrative on Shooting Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:24
  Despite the fact that the mainstream media got key facts wrong in early reporting
  Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comDecember 18, 2012
  Facebook is suspending user accounts that question the official narrative behind the Sandy Hook school massacre, following a warning by Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance that ''misinformation'' posted on social media sites could result in prosecution.
  An image posted in the aftermath of the shootings that questioned whether ''a clumsy 20-year-old autistic kid'' could have pulled off the murders of 26 people was deleted and the user's account hit with a three day suspension.
  ''I was informed the reason for this punishment was the result of a meme I had shared,'' writes the editor of SecretsOfTheFed.com. ''Facebook told me it '''...violates Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities''. I was further warned that ''If you continue to abuse Facebook's features, your account could be permanently disabled.''
  On Saturday, Connecticut state police warned that people posting ''misinformation'' on social media websites would be ''investigated and prosecuted.''
  However, this threat could apply to the vast majority of the mainstream media, who in their haste to get out ahead of the story reported numerous details that soon turned out to be completely incorrect.
  - It was initially reported that Adam Lanza's mother, the first victim of the rampage, was a teacher at the school, which was not true.
  - It was initially reported that Lanza had also killed his father, which was not true.
  - It was initially reported that the culprit behind the massacre was Ryan Lanza, Adam Lanza's brother, which was not true.
  - Initial reports that a ''second gunman'' arrested in the woods behind the school was involved in the massacre were later dropped without explanation.
  Given that most of the ''misinformation'' about the shooting came from corporate media sources, the fact that Facebook is punishing users for asking questions about the proper sequence of events '' essentially labeling such activity a thought crime '' is a worrying development.
  As we have previously highlighted, Facebook occasionally deletes images and posts that it claims violate ''Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities,'' yet constitute little more than political conjecture or a healthy skepticism of official narratives on current events.
  In September 2011, Infowars reporter Darrin McBreen was told by Facebook staff not to voice his political opinion on the social networking website.
  Responding to comments McBreen had made about off-grid preppers being treated as criminals, the ''Facebook Team'' wrote, ''Be careful making about making political statements on facebook,'' adding, ''Facebook is about building relationships not a platform for your political viewpoint. Don't antagonize your base. Be careful and congnizat (sic) of what you are preaching.''
  *********************
  Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.
  This article was posted: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 8:55 am
  Tags: internet
  Share this article:
Nielsen Agrees To Buy Arbitron - Deadline.com
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:05
  Arbitron shares are up 25% in pre-market trading after Nielsen Holdings said it would buy the rival ratings company best known for its measurement of radio audiences. Nielsen said it will pay $48 a share, a 26% premium over yesterday's closing price, for a total of $1.26B. ''Arbitron will help Nielsen better solve for unmeasured areas of media consumption, including streaming audio and out-of-home,'' Nielsen CEO David Calhoun says. ''The high level of engagement with radio and TV among rapidly growing multicultural audiences makes this central to Nielsen's priorities.'' His company also says it will expand Arbitron's ''Watch'' segment's audience measurement across screens and forms of listening. ''These integrated, innovative capabilities will enable broader measurement of consumer media behavior in more markets around the world,'' Nielsen President of Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions Steve Hasker says.
  The timing of the announcement is surprising: Last week Arbitron said that Sean Creamer would become CEO on January 1 when the current chief, William Kerr, retires. Arbitron shares have appreciated 7.4% over the last 12 months.
  Here's today's release:
  NEW YORK'' Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN), a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB), an international media and marketing research firm.
  Nielsen has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Arbitron for $48 per share in cash, representing a premium of approximately 26 percent to Arbitron's closing price on December 17, 2012. Nielsen has a financing commitment for the total transaction amount. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review.
  ''U.S. consumers spend almost 2 hours a day with radio. It is and will continue to be a vibrant and important advertising medium,'' said Nielsen Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun. ''Arbitron will help Nielsen better solve for unmeasured areas of media consumption, including streaming audio and out-of-home. The high level of engagement with radio and TV among rapidly growing multicultural audiences makes this central to Nielsen's priorities.''
  With Arbitron assets, Nielsen intends to further expand its ''Watch'' segment's audience measurement across screens and forms of listening. ''These integrated, innovative capabilities will enable broader measurement of consumer media behavior in more markets around the world,'' said Steve Hasker, Nielsen President of Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions. ''We will also bring local clients greater visibility to empower more precise advertising placement and campaign effectiveness.''
  ''Radio reaches more than 92 percent of all American teens and adults because they love to listen to music, talk, news and information while at home, at work and in their cars,'' said William T. Kerr, President and Chief Executive Officer of Arbitron. ''By combining Nielsen's global capabilities and scale with Arbitron's unique radio measurement and listening information, advertisers and media clients will have better insights into consumer behavior and the return on marketing investments.''
  Together, Nielsen and Arbitron generated total revenues of $6.0 billion and combined pro forma adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 billion based on the 12 months ended September 30, 2012. The combined assets will support Nielsen's strong cash flow characteristics and will enable continued investment in growth initiatives. Excluding estimated transaction costs and purchase accounting adjustments, the acquisition is expected to be approximately $0.13 accretive to adjusted EPS 12 months after the close and approximately $0.19 accretive to adjusted EPS 24 months after the close. Cost synergies associated with the acquisition are expected to be at least $20 million and will be largely driven by the integration of technology platforms and data acquisition efforts.
  Get Deadline news and alerts FREE to your inbox...
Cerberus Capital Management
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:02
  Cerberus's team of investment professionals has expertise across a broad range of disciplines '' distressed securities and assets, control and non-control private equity investing, commercial mid-market lending and real estate-related investments. The Firm's proprietary operations team, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLC, comprises seasoned former industry executives.
  Raymond H. WechslerSenior Advisor, Cerberus Operations & Advisory Company, LLCMr. Wechsler joined Cerberus in 2004 and serves as a Senior Advisor of COAC. He currently serves on the Board of certain Cerberus portfolio companies including Scottish Re, Kyo-ya Company, LLC, and NewPage. He has reorganized and restructured various Cerberus portfolio companies over the last eight years as business performance or conditions declined. He is also Chairman and CEO of American Equity Partners Inc., a holding company formed in 1992 to specifically focus on investments and restructuring of distressed and underperforming companies. Mr. Wechsler has over 25 years of senior leadership, management and restructuring experience and has managed the distressed portfolio or selected portfolio companies for private equity funds, including George Soros and Cerberus. He has successfully reorganized numerous companies in financial and operational difficulty and has held senior management positions including Chairman, CEO and President of more than 15 companies, including Mueller Industries, United Press International, Jos. A. Banks, Protect Services Industries, among many others. Mr. Wechsler has a BA from Queens College and an MBA from Columbia University. Mr. Wechsler is also a CPA in New York State.
  Jonathan SebiriManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Sebiri joined Cerberus in 2012. Prior to joining Cerberus he served as a managing director of Nomura Securities from 2009 until October 2012, where he specialized in the sourcing and distribution of distressed mortgage assets and organized a securitized mortgage distribution team. From 1989 to 2009, Mr. Sebiri served in various positions, most recently as a managing director, with Lehman Brothers and, after Barclays Capital acquired Lehman Brothers' investment banking and capital markets businesses in 2008, with Barclays Capital. During that period, Mr. Sebiri's primary areas of focus were fixed income Sales and Trading and Structured Product distribution, including MBS, RMBS, Whole Loans and Collateralized Loan Obligations. Mr. Sebiri is a graduate of Ithaca College.
  Roudi PezeshkianManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMs. Pezeshkian joined Cerberus in 2011. Prior to joining Cerberus, she was the First Vice President, Head of Human Resources at Ambac Assurance Corporation where she managed all activities related to employee relations, recruitment, benefits, compensation and payroll. From 2003 to 2009 she was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Bank of America providing HR generalist coverage to investment organization at Bank of America U.S. Trust Private Wealth Management. From 2000 to 2003, Ms. Pezeshkian was Director of Human Resources at Morgan Stanley with responsibilities for the global operations and budget for the global HR function. From 1992 to 2000 Ms. Pezeshkian held various HR positions at Dun & Bradstreet and A.C. Nielsen. Ms. Pezeshkian is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.
  Victor HongRisk and Liquidity Officer and Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Hong joined Cerberus in 2011. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hong was a Credit Risk Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2009 to 2011, where he was responsible for assessing securitized and structured-credit products across TALF, the Maiden Lane vehicles, Discount Window collateral and Bank Supervision projects. From 2006 to 2009, except for a short period in 2007 when he worked at RBS Greenwich, he was an Executive Director and then Managing Director-Principal at JP Morgan/Bear Stearns, where he was US Head of Market and Valuation Risk in the Securitized Product Group. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Hong worked as a Director in the Market Risk Department at West LB. From 1996 to 2004, he was a Global Head of Price Verification in the Fixed-Income Division at CSFB. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Hong worked as a fixed-income strategist at Bear Stearns. From 1991 to 1992, Mr. Hong was a salesperson at Kidder Peabody. From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Hong worked as a floor trader on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and from 1985 to 1988, he was a U.S. Treasury trader at Salomon Brothers. Mr. Hong is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received an MBA from the University of Chicago.
  Chris HebbleManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Hebble joined Cerberus in 2007. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hebble was a Principal at Caltius Mezzanine Partners from 2004 to 2007, where he was responsible for business origination and evaluation. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Hebble was a Vice President in the Corporate Finance Department of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, where he was involved in mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity placements and the structuring of leveraged buyouts and corporate recapitalizations. From 1992 to 2000, he was a civil and environmental engineer. Mr. Hebble is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.
  Risa DorskyDirector of Tax Analysis and Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMs. Dorsky joined Cerberus in 2012. Prior to joining Cerberus, Ms. Dorsky worked at Citigroup from 2000 to 2012 in a variety of roles ranging from corporate tax planning in their Corporate Tax Department to more recently structuring financing and tax-efficient transactions in Citi's Fixed Income and Prime Finance Divisions. Before her tenure at Citi, she was a tax associate at Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLP. Prior to joining Whitman, she was an Attorney Advisor to the Honorable David Laro, U.S. Tax Court. Ms. Dorsky is a graduate of Boston University and received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law.
  Andy KaslowChief Human Resource Officer, Cerberus Opertions and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Kaslow joined Cerberus in 2012 and is Chief Human Resource Officer of COAC. Prior to joining COAC, Mr. Kaslow was President and CEO of Quantum Leap Advisors, a Human Capital Management consulting firm providing consulting services to global companies, including HR strategy, leadership team effectiveness, and HR functional excellence. Prior to that, he was CHRO of AIG, Inc. where he led the HR function. Mr. Kaslow also served as Managing Partner to the Quanstar Group, LLC, working on all aspects of reverse mergers, roll-up strategies, IPO preparation and execution, and restructuring. Prior to that, he was CHRO of Vivendi Universal in Paris, where he worked through a liquidity crisis and major asset sale, and previously served as CHRO for Time Warner, and played a central role in the business combination with AOL. He also served as CHRO at Becton Dickinson and held senior HR positions at Pepsico and TRW. Mr. Kaslow holds a B.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
  Scott YedidManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Yedid joined Cerberus in 2008 as a portfolio manager in the residential mortgage group. He focuses on both agency and non-agency investments as well as related interest rate products. Mr. Yedid began trading residential mortgage-backed securities in 2005 at Bear, Stearns & Co. where he was in charge of Agency CMO fixed rate trading. As an Associate Director he actively traded and hedged an approximately three billion dollar position, made secondary markets, structured new issue securitizations, and traded relative value in mortgage pass-throughs and interest rate products. Mr. Yedid is a graduate of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  Matthew HansenPartner, Cerberus European Capital AdvisorsMr. Hansen joined Cerberus in 2002. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hansen worked at LBO firm Madison Dearborn Partners from 1999 to 2002, where he contributed to the sourcing, governance and exiting of several private equity transactions. Prior to joining Madison Dearborn, Mr. Hansen was an investment banker at Bear, Stearns & Co. Mr. Hansen graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Finance and received a joint-M.B.A. from Columbia University and London Business School.
  Ken KohrsManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Kohrs joined Cerberus in 2001. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Kohrs was an Assistant Vice President in the business credit division of Wells Fargo from 2000 to 2001, where he was responsible for managing an asset based loan portfolio of middle market retail, manufacturing and distribution companies. From 1997 to 2000, he was as an Assistant Vice President in the commercial funding division of Bank of America. Mr. Kohrs is a graduate of Syracuse University.
  Paul LusardiManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Lusardi joined Cerberus in 2000. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Lusardi was an Assistant Vice President at Bank of America Commercial Funding from 1998 to 2000, where he was responsible for managing an asset based loan portfolio of middle market retail, manufacturing and distribution companies. From 1997 to 1998, he was an Assistant Account Executive at The CIT Group. Mr. Lusardi is a graduate of Lehigh University.
  Robert L. NardelliSenior Advisor, Cerberus Capital Management and Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Nardelli is a Senior Advisor to the CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLC. He is also Founder of XLR-8 LLC, an investment and consulting company. Mr. Nardelli joined Cerberus in 2007. He served as the Chief Executive Officer at Cerberus Operating and Advisory Company, LLC from 2009 until March 2012 when he moved to his current role. Mr. Nardelli was formerly the Chief Executive Officer at Freedom Group, Inc. From 2007 to 2009, he served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Chrysler Motors LLC (formerly Daimler Chrysler Motors Company, LLC). From 2000 to 2007, Mr. Nardelli served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Home Depot, Inc. He was Chairman of The Home Depot, Inc. from January 2002 to January 2007, and was a Director of The Home Depot, Inc. from 2000 to 2007. From 1995 to December 2000, Mr. Nardelli served as President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Power Systems. He began his career at GE in 1971, advancing through a series of leadership positions in GE's Appliances, Lighting, and Transportation Systems business units. Mr. Nardelli joined Case Corporation in 1988 as its Senior Vice President and led the Worldwide Parts and Components group and also served as General Manager of Case Construction Equipment's global business. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CAMCO Inc. since 1992 and as President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Transportation Systems. Mr. Nardelli serves as a Director of National Italian American Foundation. He served as a Director of Coca-Cola Co. from 2002 to 2005 and also of Chrysler Motors LLC and Daimler AG. Mr. Nardelli served as the Chairman of NewPage Corporation. He served as a Director of Freedom Group until March 2012. Mr. Nardelli served on President Bush's Council on Service and Civic Participation and was a Member of the Board of Councilors of The Carter Center. Mr. Nardelli holds an M.B.A from the University of Louisville and a Bachelor's degree in Business from Western Illinois University.
  Michael HitzmannManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Hitzmann joined Cerberus in 2009. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hitzmann worked at Lehman Brothers from 1996 to 2008, where he managed the firm's mortgage finance group responsible for all securitization functions related to Agency, Non-Agency Principal Shelf, and Agented Client RMBS transactions. Upon the acquisition of Lehman Brothers by Barclays Capital, Mr. Hitzmann was appointed Director within Barclays focusing on securitization strategies for restructuring Alt-A MBS portfolios and investing in PL's and NPL's. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Hitzmann was an analyst for Prudential Securities before moving to Cantor Fitzgerald as an Institutional ABS bond broker. Mr. Hitzmann is a graduate of Boston University and received an MA in Economics from New York University.
  James CampbellSenior Operating Executive, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Campbell joined Cerberus in 2012 and is a senior operating executive at COAC. He currently serves as Lead Director of the Freedom Group. Mr. Campbell was previously with General Electric Company since 1981. For the past 10 years, he has been President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Appliances & Lighting, an $8 billion global business with 27,000 employees in more than 100 locations around the world. He also most recently served as a member of GE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt's Corporate Executive Council.
  Peter KirchofSenior Operating Executive, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Kirchof joined Cerberus as a COAC Senior Vice President in 2004. As the Practice Leader for Diligence, Transition, Integration and Divestments, Mr. Kirchof has successfully led project work and restructuring efforts throughout the Cerberus Portfolio. He serves on the Boards of Directors of CML and Panavision as well as the not-for-profit, A Better Chance of Wilton, CT. Prior to Cerberus, Mr. Kirchof led Commercial, Strategy, and Business Units at Nestle and Pepsi. He was Head of Retail Strategy and North American Sales for the Pepsi Bottling Group, a $10B beverage manufacturer and distribution company. The majority of his business experience was from PepsiCo in a variety of Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Operating roles including core leadership, price architecture and commercial go to market execution. At PepsiCo, Mr. Kirchof had responsibilities for both company-owned and franchised operations and managed the soft drink relationship with sister company, PepsiCo Restaurant Divisions, in the Southeast United States. He began his career as an officer at ABN/AMRO Capital Markets in Chicago. Mr. Kirchof holds an Accounting/Finance degree from Miami of Ohio.
  Tom ManningCEO Asia, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCTom Manning joined Cerberus in 2010 as CEO Asia, COAC. Mr. Manning is currently pursuing three goals in Asia on behalf of both COAC and Cerberus: (1) accelerate the development of sourcing and marketing relationships in China that create new value for portfolio companies, (2) expand China-related outbound investment opportunities in high-priority sectors such as auto, consumer, and financial services, where the firm can capitalize on its global COAC and Cerberus capabilities, and (3) cultivate institutional and sovereign wealth investors as LP candidates for future Cerberus funds. During the past 15 years, Mr. Manning served as CEO of Ernst & Young Consulting Asia and as CEO of Capgemini EY Asia, a tech services firm (following Capgemini's acquisition of EY). More recently, he was CEO of Indachin Limited, a strategy boutique, and also a senior partner with Bain & Company. Early in his career, Mr. Manning was with McKinsey & Co. and Buddy Systems, a venture he founded in telemedicine. A Chicago native, Mr. Manning has spoken and published widely on China, globalization, and strategy, speaks Mandarin, and serves on the boards of several Chinese companies.
  Jeffrey ScottManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Scott joined Cerberus in 2003. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Scott worked as an Associate at Antares Capital Corporation from 2000 to 2001, where he was responsible for underwriting cash flow senior loans and equity co-investments. From 1997 to 2000, he worked in commercial lending at American National Bank (now part of JPMorgan Chase), where he was responsible for originating and underwriting middle-market deals. Mr. Scott is a graduate of Wheaton College and received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
  Kevin McLeodManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. McLeod joined Cerberus in 2006. Prior to joining Cerberus , Mr. McLeod managed the leveraged finance origination and execution activities at CIBC World Markets from 1998 to 2006, where he originated, structured and executed transactions involving high-yield debt securities, leveraged loans, privately placed mezzanine securities and merchant banking investments. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. McLeod was a member of the Investment Banking division of PaineWebber Group Inc. From 1986 to 1994, he worked as a mechanical and aerospace engineer for various organizations including the Pratt & Whitney Division of United Technologies Corp. Mr. McLeod is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
  Peter EschmannManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Eschmann joined Cerberus in 2004. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Eschmann was a Vice President in the telecom, media, and technology corporate banking group at Deutsche Bank from 2001 to 2004, where he worked on bank financing transactions. From 1999 to 2001, he worked in the asset based lending group at Chase Manhattan Bank, where he was responsible for managing a portfolio of middle market companies. Mr. Eschmann is a graduate of Boston College and received an M.B.A. from Fordham Graduate School of Business.
  Thomas WiegandManaging Director of Cerberus Global Investments B.V.Mr. Wiegand joined Cerberus in 2005. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Wiegand worked in the institutional restructuring unit of Dresdner Bank from 2003 to 2005, where he was a Director responsible for the sale of non-performing loan portfolios to opportunity investors and the sale of non-core holdings of Dresdner Bank. From 2001 to 2003, he focused on restructuring investments in German small- to mid-sized telecommunication companies for Dresdner Kleinwort Capital, the private equity arm of Dresdner Bank group. From 2000 to 2001, he worked for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Frankfurt, leading cash flow-related financing projects in the telecom sector. Between 1999 and 2000, Mr. Wiegand was in the structured finance department of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Sydney, Australia. From 1997 to 1999, he worked in the Project Finance Department of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein with a focus on infrastructure finance. Mr. Wiegand is a graduate of the University of Muenster, Germany.
  John Van BeekManaging Director of Cerberus Global Investment Advisors, LLCMr. Van Beek joined Cerberus in 2000. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Van Beek worked at Wedge International Holdings B.V., a private investment and finance company that invests in industrial companies with high asset values, from 1978 to 2000, where he served as the Finance Director and Chief Operations Officer. From 1966 to 1978, he worked for Arthur Andersen & Co. at The Hague. Mr. Van Beek also served as a Director of Gateway International Ltd. and as Chairman of the Board of Rabobank Aalsmeer. Mr. Van Beek is a graduate of the Netherlands Registered Accountants Society.
  Allen UkritnukunHead of European Credit Opportunities Group and Managing Director of Cerberus UKMr. Ukritnukun joined Cerberus in 2011. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Ukritnukun was a London-based Managing Director at Goldman Sachs within Global Credit, responsible for European private distressed trading and investing.
  Geert SchipperManaging Director of Cerberus Global Investments B.V.Mr. Schipper joined Cerberus in 2004. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Schipper worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1992 to 2004, where he worked in public auditing, serving a wide range of international clients. Mr. Schipper is a graduate of Erasmus University and is a certified public accountant.
  David TeitelbaumHead of European Advisory Offices and Managing Director of Cerberus UKMr. Teitelbaum worked for Cerberus from 1997 to 2004 and rejoined Cerberus in 2005. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Teitelbaum worked in the investment banking department in the Los Angeles office of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Teitelbaum is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
  Ronald RawaldHead of European Real Estate and Managing Director of Cerberus UKMr. Rawald joined Cerberus in 2006. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Rawald was with Fortress Investment Group from 2004 to 2005, where he was based in Frankfurt, Germany and responsible for commercial property investments and special situations in Europe. From 2001 to 2004, he was a founding partner of Aetos Capital, a private equity real estate fund investing in Japanese assets. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Rawald developed Morgan Stanley's Special Situations Group, investing in distressed debt throughout Asia. During the period from 1991 to 1998, Mr. Rawald worked in New York at Merrill Lynch in distressed loan trading and in real estate portfolio management. Mr. Rawald was with TIAA/CREF from 1989 to 1991, and from 1986 to 1989 worked with Equitec Properties in Indianapolis. Mr. Rawald is a graduate of Indiana University and received an M.B.A. from the Fordham University Graduate School of Business.
  Cees MaasSenior Advisor of Cerberus Global Investments B.V.Mr. Maas joined Cerberus in 2008. Prior to joining Cerberus Mr. Maas was a Member of the Executive Board of ING Group NV, then CFO and Vice Chairman from 1992 to 2007. From 1976 to 1992, Mr. Maas worked as Treasurer General at the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands. Mr. Maas currently holds board positions in several companies, including Aozora Bank Ltd. and BAWAG P.S.K. Mr. Maas also holds several advisory and supervisory positions, including at the National Bank of Kuwait, Ernst & Young Netherlands and Erasmus Medical Centre, and previously at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines NV and the Monetary Committee of the European Union. Mr. Maas is a graduate of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
  Pieter KortewegVice Chairman of Cerberus Global Investment Advisors, LLCDr. Korteweg joined Cerberus in 2001. Prior to joining Cerberus, Dr. Korteweg was Chairman and CEO of Robeco Group from 1986 to 2001. From 1981 to 1986, he served as Treasurer General for the Dutch Treasury. From 1971 to 1981, Dr. Korteweg was Professor of Economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam during which time he was also Professor of Economics at Carnegie-Mellon University from 1973 to 1974. Dr. Korteweg currently advises or serves on a variety of corporate boards including Mercedes Benz Netherlands, AerCap Holdings, Bawag P.S.K. AG and Anthos Amsterdam. Dr. Korteweg is the former Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Central Bank, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Netherlands Pension and Insurance Authority, and Chairman of the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics. Dr. Korteweg also served as Member of the Board of Directors of SSA Global Technologies, Inc., non-executive Member of the Board of Aozora Bank Ltd., and Member of the Governing Board of SONA, the Development Fund of the Netherlands Antilles. Dr. Korteweg received a Ph.D. (cum laude) in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.
  David KnowerChief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Cerberus DeutschlandMr. Knower joined Cerberus in 2003. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Knower founded and worked at International Executive Search, an executive search firm, from 1997 to 2002. From 1986 to 1997, Mr. Knower worked in various finance and controlling positions for Procter & Gamble in Germany, Europe and Asia Pacific. Mr. Knower is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management.
  Marius JonkhartSenior Advisor, Cerberus Global Investments B.V.Dr. Jonkhart joined Cerberus in 2005. Prior to joining Cerberus, Dr. Jonkhart was a Director of the Domestic Monetary Affairs of the Netherlands Ministry of Finance, Professor of Finance at Erasmus University and CEO of De Nationale Investeringsbank N.V from 1976 to 1999. He was also Supervisory Director of De Nederlandsche Bank N.V. and the European Investment Bank, and Chairman of the Investment Committee of ABP pension fund. Dr. Jonkhart serves as a member of the supervisory boards of BAWAG P.S.K. AG, Connexxion Holding N.V., Corus Nederland N.V. and Staatsbosbeheer. He also serves as a non-executive Director of AerCap B.V. and as a Director of Aozora Bank Ltd. Dr. Jonkhart is a graduate of Erasmus University and received doctoral degrees from the Interfaculteit Bedrijfskunde in Delft and the Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Ph.D. from Erasmus University.
  Ben HummelManaging Director of Cerberus Global Investments B.V.Mr. Hummel joined Cerberus in 1999. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hummel worked for ABN AMRO Group from 1970 to 1999, where he was Chief Manager in their International Corporate Finance division. From 1996 until retirement in 1999, he supervised ABN AMRO Group's marketing efforts in the Asia/Pacific region. From 1993 to 1996, he focused on U.S.-based multi-nationals. In 1990, when ABN AMRO merged with Amro Bank, Mr. Hummel was appointed Senior Vice President of ABN AMRO Group's Global Clients Relationship Management division, which focused on serving ABN AMRO Group's large corporate clients in Europe. From 1970 to 1974, Mr. Hummel worked for Algemene Bank Nederland NV, where he started a cash management consultancy service for the bank's international clients. From 1958 to 1970, Mr. Hummel worked for Netherlands Bank of South Africa, where he held staff positions in several locations across South Africa. Mr. Hummel presently holds board positions in several listed companies, including Exel Plc, Standard Life Plc, Precia SA and Carlo Tassara SpA. Mr. Hummel is a graduate of Nijenrode University.
  Derk HoogenkampManaging Director of Cerberus Global Investments B.V.Mr. Hoogenkamp joined Cerberus in 1997. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hoogenkamp worked for ABN Bank N.V. (later ABN AMRO Bank N.V.) from 1974 to 1996, where he served as the Managing Director for its trust companies in Cura§ao, Netherlands Antilles and, thereafter, in the Netherlands, and as Managing Director of various holding/finance and royalty companies. From 1963 to 1969, Mr. Hoogenkamp was an Inspector of Taxes for the Dutch Government. From 1970 to 1974, he served as the Head of Tax Inspectorate in Paramaribo/Suriname, South America. Mr. Hoogenkamp completed his six-year training as a tax specialist in Rotterdam and is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam School of Law.
  Shin YoshikawaChief Financial Officer and Managing Director of Cerberus JapanMr. Yoshikawa joined Cerberus in 1998. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Yoshikawa worked at Nippon Light Metal Company from 1992 to 1998, where he was responsible for preparing the budgets and financial reports of the fabricated aluminum product division and for auditing its subsidiary companies. Mr. Yoshikawa is a graduate of California State University, Northridge.
  Brian SaundersChief Operating Officer and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus JapanMr. Saunders joined Cerberus in 2003. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Saunders worked in the investment banking division of Salomon Smith Barney (formerly Salomon Brothers Inc.) from 1995 to 2003, where he was involved in evaluating and executing mergers and acquisitions, public debt and equity offerings and leveraged finance transactions in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. Mr. Saunders is a graduate of Queen's University in Canada.
  Takeshi KatanoManaging Director of Cerberus JapanMr. Katano joined Cerberus in 2004. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Katano worked at The Nippon Credit Bank from 1988 to 2001, where his responsibilities ranged from corporate lending to strategic planning and negotiations with various regulatory bodies. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Katano joined the Industrial Bank of Japan, where he was in charge of non-performing loan transactions. Mr. Katano is a graduate of Doshisha University.
  Toshihiro HagiwaraManaging Director of Cerberus JapanMr. Hagiwara joined Cerberus in 2004. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Hagiwara worked with RECOF, an independent Tokyo-based M&A boutique firm, from 1996 to 2004, where he was responsible for M&A transactions, predominantly relating to financial institutions and retail companies. Mr. Hagiwara is a Certified Public Accountant in Japan. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo and he received an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.
  Xingbin ''Ben'' ZhangManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Zhang joined Cerberus in 2008. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Zhang was a Managing Director at Bear Stearns, from 2001 to 2008, where he worked as a senior CMO structurer and proprietary trader and was responsible for trading and managing risk in the following markets: IO/PO and other agency mortgage derivatives, agency passthroughs and CMOs, relative value rates, and subprime Non-Agency securities. From 1997 to 2001, he worked at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets as a quantitative analyst and a major contributor to the firm-wide valuation and risk models for all agency mortgage-backed securities. Mr. Zhang is a graduate of Purdue University and received an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  Ira WeismanManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Weisman joined Cerberus in 1999. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Weisman was Controller of Pocantico Associates, Inc., a privately held New York City-based real estate investment firm from 1992 to 1999. From 1986 to 1992, Mr. Weisman was associated with The Related Companies, where he was an Assistant Controller with responsibilities for the Development and Public Limited Partnership areas. Mr. Weisman is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant and is a graduate of Pace University.
  Thomas WagnerChief Operating Officer of Cerberus Real Estate Capital Management and Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Wagner joined Cerberus in 2006. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Wagner was a Managing Director at GE Real Estate from 1998 to 2006, where he most recently was responsible for direct equity investments and was previously responsible for business development in North America. From 1987 to 1990, Mr. Wagner worked at Chemical Bank in their real estate group. From 1990 to 1998, Mr. Wagner worked at Mitsubishi Bank in their real estate group. Mr. Wagner is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and received an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
  Lisa VioniManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMs. Vioni joined Cerberus in 2012. Prior to joining Cerberus, Ms. Vioni began her career in MBS sales in 1990 at Prudential Securities and later became Senior Vice President in MBS Institutional Sales at Lehman Brothers Securities where she covered money managers, banks and hedge funds. Ms. Vioni left the sell-side in 1998 to market hedge funds. She joined Singleterry & Company (S&C), a start-up MBS hedge fund and later joined Ellington Management Group (EMG), a billion plus MBS hedge fund as Director of Marketing. At S&C and EMG, Ms. Vioni oversaw all aspects of client relationships, including raising money, organizing small company conferences, developing marketing materials and client servicing. In June of 2003, Ms. Vioni launched Investment Management Resources (IMR), a company that hosts boutique conferences putting hedge funds and investors together in investor-intro events. In October 2004, the idea to create a web based hedge fund marketing platform was born. Ms. Vioni launched Hedge Connection in October 2005. Hedge Connection has been responsible for helping hundreds of hedge funds meet and build important relationships with allocators.
  Joseph SciaccaManaging Director and Associate General Counsel of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Sciacca joined Cerberus in 2006. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Sciacca was an Associate in Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP's Real Estate Department from 1996 to 2006, where he represented Cerberus Real Estate Capital Management, LLC (formerly known as Blackacre Institutional Capital Management, LLC) and other Cerberus affiliates. Mr. Sciacca is a graduate of Williams College and The New York Law School.
  Chris SchiermbockManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Schiermbock joined Cerberus in 2005. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Schiermbock was a Vice President at Apollo Real Estate Advisors from 2003 to 2005, where he was responsible for asset management, investor reporting, bank relations and risk management. From 1996 to 2003, Mr. Schiermbock was a Vice President of the Private Equity Real Estate Group at Citigroup Investments, where he was responsible for structuring and underwriting equity investment and capital raising. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. Schiermbock was employed in the Real Estate Principal Investment Area of Goldman, Sachs & Co. From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Schiermbock worked at KPMG, where he obtained his Certified Public Accountant license. Mr. Schiermbock is a graduate of Iona College and received an M.S. in Real Estate Investment and Development from New York University.
  Robert RichterManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Richter joined Cerberus in 2008. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Richter worked at Bear, Stearns & Co. from 1983 to 2008, where he held several senior positions including Senior Managing Director in the Fixed Income Group, where he specialized in the development and distribution of structured products secured by a variety of residential mortgages, including prime, alt-a and subprime. Mr. Richter previously traded and managed the sales force of the Commodity Arbitrage Group. Mr. Richter is a graduate of Fordham University and received a J.D. from Pace University.
  Timothy PriceManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Price joined Cerberus in 2002. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Price was a Managing Director of Communications Advisory Group, a media consulting firm from 1999 to 2002. From 1984 to 1999, Mr. Price held senior positions at MCI Communications including President and COO; President, Business Markets; and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, for MCI's Consumer Markets. As President of MCI Communications, Mr. Price was responsible for all of MCI's communications businesses, including its units serving residential and business customers, domestically and globally, as well as network operations and information systems. From 1977 to 1984, Mr. Price was Vice President, Marketing, Metro Markets, for Warner Amex Cable. Mr. Price is a graduate of Tufts University.
  Dev KapadiaManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Kapadia joined Cerberus in 2003. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Kapadia was a senior investment principal with The Carlyle Group and Carlyle Management Group from 1996 to 2003, where he focused on private equity and restructuring investments in the automotive, aerospace, defense and industrial sectors. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Kapadia worked for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette as an investment banker executing high-yield, M&A and corporate finance transactions. Mr. Kapadia was previously on the Board of Directors of Breed Technologies, Key Plastics and Kuhlman Electric Corporation. Mr. Kapadia is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
  Michael HislerSenior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Hisler joined Cerberus in 1993. Since 1999, he has served as the principal trader at Cerberus.
  Brenan HefnerManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Hefner joined Cerberus in 2009. Prior to joining Cerberus, he was the Head of Operations at Dune Capital Management, L.P., where he oversaw all operations and settlements as well as treasury and risk functions for the fund from its founding in 2004 to its peak as a $6 billion hedge fund. He was also responsible for valuations of the fund's portfolio of distressed corporate debt, private debt instruments and real estate loans and served on the firm's valuation committee. From 2001 to 2004, he was a Senior Operations Associate at GoldenTree Asset Management LP. Mr. Hefner is a graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma.
  Greg GordonManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Gordon joined Cerberus in 2000. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Gordon practiced corporate law as an attorney with two New York law firms from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Gordon is a graduate of Cornell University and the Boston University School of Law. He received an M.B.A. from Boston University.
  David GlennManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Glenn joined Cerberus in 2011. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Glenn worked at Lightyear Capital from 2001 to 2011, most recently as a partner and a member of the firm's investment committee, where he contributed to the sourcing, governance and exiting of several lead-managed private equity transactions in financial services. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Glenn was a vice president at Greenhill & Co., a merchant banking firm. From 1997 to 1999, he was an associate at Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. Mr. Glenn is a graduate of Brigham Young University and received an M.B.A. from New York University.
  Rickardo FrancisManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Francis joined Cerberus in 1999. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Francis worked on a variety of corporate finance transactions in the investment banking group of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1997 to 1999. Mr. Francis is a graduate of the University of Florida.
  Brendan GarveySenior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Garvey joined Cerberus in 2008. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Garvey worked as a head mortgage trader and manager at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. from 1997 to 2008, where he managed all risk and trading operations in the following products: Agency ARM, FHA/VA Reperforming Loans, Mortgage Servicing, Non-Agency Hybrid/Fixed/Neg-Am whole loans and securities, Non-Agency Subordinates and Non-Agency Residuals. From 1994 to 1997, he was a portfolio manager at Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, where he managed pension fund money benchmarked to the mortgage index by actively trading and hedging FN/FH/GN single-family MBS and associated mortgage derivatives. Mr. Garvey is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
  Catherine BrossardManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMs. Brossard joined Cerberus in 2010. Prior to joining Cerberus, Ms. Brossard worked in the Private Equity Group at Caisse de d(C)p´t et placement du Qu(C)bec from 2006 to 2010, where she managed fund investments in Europe and North America across a variety of sectors and strategies. From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Brossard worked in Europe in the commercial finances business of GE Capital Corporation, and from 1997 to 2003 in Canada in the corporate finance group. From 1989 to 1995, Ms. Brossard was an attorney in general litigation both in Canada and in England. Ms. Brossard is a graduate of Universit(C) de Montr(C)al Law School and received an M.B.A. from ‰cole des Hautes ‰tudes Commerciales.
  Paul FoxManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Fox joined Cerberus in 1997. Prior to joining Cerberus, he spent ten years at Jones Lang Wootton, a real estate investment and corporate services firm from 1987 to 1997, where he was a Senior Director responsible for the Corporate and Advisory Services division for North and South America. The division run by Mr. Fox advised major corporate and institutional clients on all aspects of their real estate holdings, including the use of real estate to enhance shareholder value, reduction of occupancy costs, disposition of assets and valuations. Mr. Fox is a graduate of the University of Texas.
  Kevin CrossManaging Director of Cerberus California, LLCMr. Cross joined Cerberus in 2004. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Cross was a Managing Director and member of the National Corporate Finance Committee at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin from 1995 to 2004, where he was responsible for managing advisory assignments for private debt and equity placements, mergers and acquisitions and distressed situations. From 1991 to 1995, he was an Assistant Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group of Sanwa Bank. Mr. Cross is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego.
  Richard AlexanderManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Alexander joined Cerberus in 2008 as a member of the Operations and Advisory Company, which focused on driving value across portfolio companies. In 2010, Mr. Alexander became Head of Technology, Facilities, and General Services for Cerberus Capital Management. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Alexander was a Chief Information Officer and Quality Leader within GE Commercial Finance from 1997 to 2008, where he became certified in Six Sigma and Operational Excellence. From 1991 to 1997, Mr. Alexander held various Information Technology and Operator roles within the U.S. State Department and UST, Inc. Mr. Alexander is a graduate of Loyola University Maryland.
  J. Richard BuddManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Budd joined Cerberus in 2007. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Budd was a founding member and a Principal of Marotta Gund Budd & Dzera, LLC, a turnaround management firm, where he specialized in domestic and international corporate turnarounds, business reorganizations and debt restructuring from 2001 to 2007. Mr. Budd has served as Director in numerous turnaround situations, including Euram Management, Inc., Allied Office Product Holdings, Inc., APW Ltd., Beaulieu Canada Company, Cape Success, Cityscape Corp and recently Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. Mr. Budd is a graduate of Rider University.
  Yoshiteru ''Terry'' SuzukiSenior Managing Director of Cerberus JapanMr. Suzuki joined Cerberus in 2002. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Suzuki was a Partner of the Advisory Service of KPMG LLP, Los Angeles office, from 1995 to 2002, where he provided various advisory services to institutions in the financial, real estate and construction industries, in both the U.S. and Japan. From 1985 to 1993, Mr. Suzuki worked at ORIX Corporation, where he was involved in real estate financing and restructuring projects, as well as real estate investments in the U.S., the U.K., Japan and Hong Kong. Mr. Suzuki is a graduate of Keio University and received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
  Lee MillsteinHead of European and Asian Distressed / Real Estate and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Millstein joined Cerberus in October 2007. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Millstein was the Head of Corporate and Investment Banking for Aozora Bank from 2004 to March 2007, where he was responsible for the bank's corporate lending, real estate, leveraged lending, structured credit and principal investing businesses. From 1994 to 2004, he was at Morgan Stanley serving in various positions, including Managing Director and head of high-yield and distressed principal investing in Japan and non-Japan Asia. Mr. Millstein is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
  Louis ForsterChairman of Cerberus Asia Pacific Advisors Limited and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Forster joined Cerberus in 1998. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Forster was a Managing Director and Partner at Angelo Gordon & Co. from 1995 to 1998, where he helped build the firm's real estate business and also worked on private equity transactions. From 1993 to 1995, he was a Vice President at the LeFrak Organization. From 1991 to 1993, he was a Vice President at Schroeder Wertheim & Co. From 1987 to 1991, he was an Associate at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Forster is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Law School and received a Master's Degree from The Johns Hopkins University.
  Frank BrunoPresident of Cerberus Global Investment Advisors, LLC and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Bruno joined Cerberus in 1998. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Bruno was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch from 1996 to 1998. From 1990 to 1994, he was a Vice President at Weber Management Consultants. In 1989, he was an Associate with Tiffany & Co. In 1988, he was an Assistant Foreign Exchange Trader at the Bank of Tokyo, Ltd. Mr. Bruno is a graduate of Cornell University and received an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
  Stephen A. FeinbergCo-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Feinberg founded Cerberus Capital Management in December 1992. He also founded or co-founded the other Cerberus affiliates and Cerberus Funds. Prior to founding Cerberus Capital Management and its affiliates, Mr. Feinberg managed separate pools of capital for Gruntal & Co. and certain other accounts from 1985 to 1992. Mr. Feinberg began his career at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he was actively involved in trading large pools of firm capital. Mr. Feinberg is a graduate of Princeton University.
  Gerald DanielloManaging Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Daniello joined Cerberus in 2003. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Daniello was a Managing Director at GE Capital from 1996 to 2003, where he was responsible for a $2 billion portfolio of equity, distressed debt and leveraged debt. From 1990 to 1996, he ran the New England Corporate Finance Group at Chase Manhattan Bank, where he was responsible for a multi-billion dollar portfolio of leveraged and non-leveraged cash flow and asset-based loans to middle market companies. Mr. Daniello is a graduate of Lafayette College and received an M.B.A. from Temple University.
  Joseph NaccaratoChief Credit Officer of Cerberus Business Finance and Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Naccarato joined Cerberus in 2000. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Naccarato was a Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Bank of America Commercial Funding from 1997 to 2000, where he was responsible for managing all aspects of credit relating to a loan portfolio consisting of middle market asset-backed credit facilities. From 1993 to 1997, he worked as an analyst, field examiner and assistant account executive at The CIT Group. Mr. Naccarato is a graduate of SUNY Oneonta.
  Eric MillerSenior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Miller joined Cerberus in 1998. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Miller worked as a Vice President in The CIT Group/Business Credit, Inc. from 1986 to 1998, where he was responsible for origination, structuring and underwriting middle market loans to distressed companies and companies undergoing restructuring and reorganization, and where he formerly served as the Marketing Manager of the credit finance division. Mr. Miller is a graduate of Syracuse University.
  Keith ReadSenior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Read joined Cerberus in 2006. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Read was a Managing Director at CIBC World Markets from 1995 to 2005, where he was responsible for the distribution of structured finance products, including CLOs and CBOs, mezzanine financings, leveraged finance and direct fund raising. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Read was an Executive Vice President at The Argosy Securities Group, a boutique high-yield advisory firm. From 1991 to 1993, he was a Managing Director at Barclays Bank. From 1989 to 1991, he served as a Vice President at Bankers Trust. Mr. Read is a graduate of the University of Utah and received a Master's Degree from the University of Utah.
  Scott StelzerHead of CMBS Securities and Trading and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Stelzer joined Cerberus in 2008. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Stelzer held several positions at Morgan Stanley from 1998 to 2007, including Managing Director in the Global Proprietary Credit Group. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing CMBS and all other commercial real estate security and loan trading activities. From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Stelzer was the Head of CMBS trading in the Securitized Products Group at Morgan Stanley, where he oversaw all proprietary and flow trading of cash and synthetic CMBS, real estate CDOs, Fannie Mae DUS and GNMA project loans. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Stelzer traded CMBS at Salomon Smith Barney and was an Acquisitions Associate at JMB Real Estate Investment Group. Mr. Stelzer is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
  Josh WeintraubHead of RMBS Securities and Trading and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Weintraub joined Cerberus in 2008. Prior to joining Cerberus, he spent eight years, from 2000 to 2008, at Bear, Stearns & Co. From 2000 to 2007, Mr. Weintraub headed the Agency CMO, Mortgage Derivative and Pass Through businesses, and, in 2008, he co-headed U.S. Residential Mortgage, ABS, and CDO trading. Prior to Bear Stearns, from 1999 to 2000, Mr. Weintraub managed Agency and Non-Agency CMO and derivative trading at Greenwich Capital. From 1993 to 1999, Mr. Weintraub traded whole loans and Agency and Non-Agency CMOs at Lehman Brothers. In 1993, Mr. Weintraub graduated from the Management Development Program for Operations and Systems at Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Weintraub is a graduate of Lehigh University, 1991.
  Robert DavenportHead of Corporate Distressed and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus California, LLCMr. Davenport joined Cerberus in 1996. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Davenport was a Principal at Vestar Capital Partners from 1990 to 1994, where he was responsible for identifying, analyzing and executing leveraged buyout opportunities. From 1988 to 1990, he worked in the mergers and acquisitions group at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mr. Davenport is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
  Lenard TesslerCo-Head of Global Private Equity and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Tessler joined Cerberus in 2001. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Tessler served as Managing Partner of TGV Partners from 1990 to 2001, a private equity firm that he founded. From 1987 to 1990, he was a founding partner of Levine, Tessler, Leichtman & Co. From 1982 to 1987, he was a founder, Director and Executive Vice President of Walker Energy Partners. Mr. Tessler is a graduate of the University of Miami and received an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
  Steven MayerCo-Head of Global Private Equity and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus California, LLCMr. Mayer joined Cerberus in 2002. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Mayer served as an Executive Managing Director of Gores Technology Group from 2001 to 2002. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Mayer served in a senior position at Libra Capital Partners, L.P., where he led investments in leveraged buy-outs, recapitalizations, distressed debt instruments, mezzanine capital and high-yield debt. From 1992 to 1995, he served in a senior position at Apollo Advisors, L.P. From 1984 to 1992, he was a lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Mr. Mayer is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
  W. Brett IngersollCo-Head of Global Private Equity and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Ingersoll joined Cerberus in 2003. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Ingersoll was a Partner at JPMorgan Partners (formerly Chase Capital Partners) from 1993 to 2002, where he focused primarily on private equity and restructuring situations in various industries including healthcare, branded food products and distribution, consumer products, specialty insurance and outsourced business services. Mr. Ingersoll is a graduate of Brigham Young University and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
  Daniel WolfPresident of U.S. Lending Business and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Wolf joined Cerberus in 1997. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Wolf was Senior Vice President for business development and a member of the credit committee at Congress Financial Corporation from 1990 to 1997, where he was active in loan origination. From 1986 to 1988, Mr. Wolf completed the executive training program and worked in the middle market lending group at Irving Trust Company. From 1985 to 1986, he was an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Mr. Wolf is a graduate of Drew University and received an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
  Kevin GendaChair of U.S. Lending Business and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Genda joined Cerberus in 1995. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Genda was Vice President for new business origination and evaluation at Foothill Capital Corporation from 1992 to 1995, where he was active in loan origination and distressed investing. From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Genda was a Vice President at Huntington Holdings. From 1988 to 1989, he was an analyst for new investments and credits in the business credit division of The CIT Group. Mr. Genda is a graduate of Yale University.
  Liam StrongChief Executive Officer Cerberus European Capital Advisors and Head of Cerberus Operations, EuropeMr. Strong joined Cerberus in 2002 and is a CEO of Cerberus European Capital Advisors running Operations for Cerberus in Europe. As CEO of the Teleglobe Group from 2003 to 2006, he was responsible for the acquisition, turnaround and expansion of the company, culminating in its sale to the Tata Group of India in 2006. From 1997 to 2001 Mr. Strong was CEO of MCI WorldCom International, building their international business in Europe and Asia. Prior to that, he was CEO of Sears plc from 1992 to 1997, during which he reorganized the large European retail conglomerate. In 1988 to 1991, he was COO of British Airways, where he re-launched the brand, re-engineered the cost base and managed the Gulf War impact. Mr. Strong was CEO of Reckitt Benckiser's US food business from 1986 to 1988, where he integrated a number of acquisitions. From 1971 to 1986 he held progressively more senior positions in Reckitt's Household, Toiletries and Pharmaceuticals units, internationally. He began his career in brand management with Procter & Gamble from 1967 to 1991.
  Mr. Strong has been a Board member of the Covia airline reservations system; Board member of Inchcape, the leading international auto distributor; Chairman of MCI's JV with Tractobel of Belgium; Chairman of the Industry Advisory Group to the UK Prime Minister; and Chairman of the UK Government's Advisory Board on Telecom Security. He is currently Chairman of Torex, Vice-Chairman of AerCap, a Governor of Ashridge Business school, a trustee of the UK Faculty of Public Health and Chairman of U.I.T.
  Ronald KravitHead of Real Estate Investing, Managing Member of Cerberus Real Estate Capital Management, LLC and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Kravit joined Cerberus in 1996. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Kravit was a Managing Director at Apollo Real Estate Advisors, L.P. from 1994 to 1996, where he was responsible for new business development, acquisitions and asset management. From 1993 to 1994, Mr. Kravit was a Managing Director at G. Soros Realty Advisors/Reichmann International, an affiliate of Soros Fund Management. From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Kravit was Vice President/Chief Financial Officer at the Maxxam Property Company in Houston. From 1984 to 1991, he was Vice President with Miller-Klutznick-Davis-Gray Co. in Los Angeles and Chicago. From 1979 through 1982, Mr. Kravit was an accountant. Mr. Kravit is a certified public accountant. Mr. Kravit is a graduate of Georgetown University and received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
  James T. LenehanSenior Advisor, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Lenehan is a Senior Operations advisor to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. Prior to Cerberus, he was Vice Chairman and President of Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Lenehan held various executive positions at Johnson & Johnson during his 28-year tenure, including President of McNeil Consumer Products Company and Worldwide Chairman, Consumer Pharmaceuticals & Professional Group. Mr. Lenehan served on the Foundation Board of Abington Hospital in Abington, Pennsylvania. He also was a member of the Quality and Safety Committee of the hospital from 2004 to 2008. Mr. Lenehan earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Akron and his M.B.A. from Northwestern University.
  Howard CohenSenior Advisor, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Cohen joined Cerberus in 2004 and serves as a senior advisor of COAC. He is currently Chairman of Hilco Receivables LLC and non-executive chairman of both Albertsons LLC and New Cub Foods East. Mr. Cohen is also on the Board of Directors of Vanguard (Alamo/National Car Rental) and has served on the boards of Velocita Wireless and SSA Global. He was previously the President and CEO of GTECH Corporation (NYSE), a $1.5 billion global information technology company with a market cap of over $3 billion. GTECH's 5,000 worldwide employees located in 44 countries provide software, data networks, equipment and professional services. Mr. Cohen possesses 33 years of leadership experience at the national and international levels. He has been the President and CEO of four publicly traded, technology-based companies: GTECH (NYSE), Bell Howell (NYSE), Sidus Systems (TSE) and Peak Technology (NASDAQ). He has also managed independent divisions of three Fortune 100 companies: Oc(C), Xerox and Sprint. Mr. Cohen has a BBA in Business Administration from Kent State University.
  Jonathan Bloomer[TITLE], Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCJonathan Bloomer joined Cerberus in 2005. He was previously Group Chief Executive of Prudential plc from March 200 until May 2005, and Group Finance Director from January 1995. Prior to this he was a senior partner in Arthur Andersen's financial markets division based in London and the managing partner of their European Insurance Practice. Mr. Bloomer is Chief Executive of Lucida, Chairman of Scottish Re, a Non-Executive Director of Hargreaves Lansdown plc and Chairman of the Advisory Panel of the Financial Institutions Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He was a member of the Financial Services Practitioner Panel of the Financial Services Authority from 2000 to 2006 (Chairman Nov 2003 '' Oct 2005). He was a Member of the Board of the Geneva Association from 2001 to 2005 and a member of the board of the Association of British Insurers from 2000 to 2005. He was also a member of the Urgent Issues Task Force of the Accounting Standards Board from 1995 to 1999. Mr. Bloomer studied physics at Imperial College, London before joining Arthur Andersen in 1974. He is a Trustee and Treasurer of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
  Lisa GrayGeneral Counsel, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMs. Gray joined Cerberus in 2004. An attorney with more than 23 years of experience, Ms. Gray is a member of Cerberus's Office of General Counsel and currently serves as the General Counsel of COAC, a position she has held since early 2005. In this capacity, Ms. Gray functions as the chief legal advisor to the COAC organization and also works closely with the firm's portfolio companies on a broad range of legal and business activities, including M&A transactions, public offerings, corporate governance, litigation, compliance, corporate communications, financings, human resources and other activities. She also works closely with the firm's Operational & Equity Investments group to structure and negotiate M&A transactions and debt restructurings. Ms. Gray recently played a lead role in the restructuring of more than $40 billion of portfolio company debt and the acquisitions of DynCorp International, Inc. and Steward Health Care System LLC. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLC., Steward Health Care System, TTL Equipment Management Holdings GP, Ltd, and DOA Properties IIIB, LLC.
  Prior to Cerberus, Ms. Gray was the Chief Operating Executive and General Counsel of WAM!NET Inc., a Cerberus portfolio company which was a leading global provider of shared services for content management, archiving and delivery, network design and management. During her tenure with the company, Ms. Gray played a key role in establishing and maintaining a significant contract under which the company performed as a Tier 1 contractor to EDS in the design and management of the Navy and Marine Corps private secure intranet. Before WAM!NET, Ms. Gray was a partner at the law firm of Larkin, Hoffman, Daly & Lindgren. She holds a B.A from Hamline University and a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law, where she received the Outstanding Student Award and is a Member of the Board of Trustees.
  Ron KolkaChief Financial Officer, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Kolka joined Cerberus in December 2009 as Chief Financial Officer of COAC. Prior to Cerberus, he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chrysler LLC in 2007. Mr. Kolka was responsible for all finance activities, including Controlling, Treasury, Tax, Audit, Global Volume Planning, International Activities (including Canada and Mexico) and Information Technology. He also served in the Office of the Chairman. Mr. Kolka joined Chrysler Corporation in 1986 in the Corporate Accounting area and held domestic and international positions of increasing responsibility. He received his MBA from Wayne State University and his BBA in Accounting from Michigan State University.
  John BozzellaSenior Operating Executive, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Bozzella joined Cerberus in 2009 as Senior Executive, Government Relations & External Affairs. He works closely with the portfolio companies in coordination with the Operations and Control Investment teams to drive value through government and policy initiatives. Prior to joining COAC, Mr. Bozzella worked for Chrysler Group LLC in the role of Senior Vice President of External Affairs and Public Policy. During the period of Cerberus's ownership of Chrysler, Mr. Bozzella was instrumental in the company's efforts to mobilize government support for the company's significant restructuring, including establishing a $25 billion advanced technology vehicle loan program and new fuel economy standards. Previous to Chrysler, Mr. Bozzella spent two years with DaimlerChrysler Corporation as Vice President of External Affairs and Public Policy (Americas). He began his automotive career with Ford Motor Company, where he served for more than 10 years in a variety of public policy and government and community relations positions. Previously, Mr. Bozzella served for four years as the chief legislative representative for the Mayor of Albany, NY and for six years as the Director of Legislative and Political Action for the United Federation of Teachers. He graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations.
  Keith TietjenChief Operating Officer, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Tietjen joined Cerberus in 2006 and is Chief Operating Officer of COAC. He currently serves as Chairman of TransCentra, Inc. and is on the Supervisory Board of BAWAG P.S.K., two Cerberus portfolio companies. Prior to joining COAC, Mr. Tietjen spent 11 years at General Electric in a variety of financial and operating roles. He started GE in the Financial Management Program at Power Systems. After graduating the FMP, Tietjen spent 6 years traveling internationally with GE's Corporate Audit Staff, progressing through Executive Audit Manager and Quality Leader. While on the Audit Staff, he led numerous financial, compliance and six sigma audits in a dozen GE businesses and 15 countries. After Audit Staff, he went to GE Consumer Finance as VP, Financial Planning & Analysis for the Americas. He then took the role as CFO for Consumer Finance's functional groups in the Americas. Mr. Tietjen graduated from Pennsylvania State University's Scholars Program with a B.S. in Mathematics.
  Dennis DonovanNon-Executive Vice Chairman, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Donovan joined Cerberus in 2007 and is Non-Executive Vice Chairman and a Senior Advisor at COAC. In this role, he works with various portfolio company Boards, CEO's and Executive Leadership Teams in planning and executing business turnarounds. Mr. Donovan previously served as Executive Vice President, Human Resources at The Home Depot. His responsibilities included human resource management as well as public relations, communications, and external affairs. Previously, Mr. Donovan was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Raytheon Company. He was also an officer of General Electric Company and served as Vice President, Human Resources for the Power Systems business. Mr. Donovan joined GE on the Corporate Human Resources Leadership Program.
  Mr. Donovan is a Managing Director and a member of the Compensation Committee of The Traxis Group, B.V. and Tower International, Inc. He has served on the Board of Directors and Compensation Committees of NABI-Optima Holdings, Inc., School Bus Holdings, Inc., and Traxis Financial Group, Inc. He served as an advisor to the Board of Directors and Compensation committees of FLP2 Limited; GMI Holding Corporation; the NewPage Corporation; and Freedom Group, Inc. He has served as a member of the Human Resources Executive Council of the National Retail Federation and the Industrial Relations Committee of the U.S. Council for International Business; the boards of advisors of the Employment Policy Foundation, the Human Resource Institute, the HR Policy Association, the National Employability Partnership and the Center for Advanced Human Resources Studies, where he chaired the International Committee. He was also a member of the Boards of Directors of the National Academy of Human Resources and Jobs for America's Graduates, Inc. (JAG). He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs to serve on the Advisory Committee on Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom for Veterans and Families. Mr. Donovan holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Relations and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts. He also earned a Juris Doctor degree from Western New England College School of Law.
  Chan GalbatoChief Executive Officer, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLCMr. Galbato joined Cerberus in 2009 and is Chief Executive Officer of COAC. He currently serves as Chairman of two Cerberus portfolio companies: Blue Bird Corporation and North American Bus Industries, Inc. (NABI). Mr. Galbato is also a member of the Board of Directors of Tower International, Inc. and serves as a Director and is Chairman of the Compensation Committee of the Brady Corporation, a public company. Prior to joining COAC, Mr. Galbato owned and managed CWG Hillside Investments LLC, a consulting business providing operational and strategic turnaround expertise to CEOs of portfolio-based companies. Previously, Mr. Galbato was President and CEO of the Controls Group of businesses for Invensys plc. Previous to that, Galbato was President of Services as well as President of the commercial distribution arm of companies for The Home Depot. He spent 14 years with General Electric Company, holding several leadership and Finance positions within their various industrial divisions (including Transportation Systems, Aircraft Engines, Medical Systems and Appliances), as well as holding the role of President and CEO, Coregis in GE Capital. Mr. Galbato also served previously as President and Chief Executive Officer of Armstrong Floor products and Chief Executive Officer of Choice Parts, a joint venture auto parts locator and catalog business. Before beginning his business career he played professional baseball with the Montreal Expos in their minor league system. Mr. Galbato holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the State University of New York.
  Andrew I. KandelChief Compliance Officer, Co-General Counsel and Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Kandel joined Cerberus in 2007. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Kandel was First Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Merrill Lynch from 1998 to 2007, where he was in charge of state regulation, legislation and government relations and also handled various SEC, NYSE, NASD and compliance-related matters. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Kandel was the Chief of the Investor Protection & Securities Bureau at the New York State Attorney General's Office, where he also served as Assistant Deputy Attorney General. From 1993 to 1995, he was Senior Special Counsel, then Trial Counsel, at the Enforcement Division of the New York Stock Exchange. From 1986 to 1993, he was an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. Mr. Kandel is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
  Jeffrey L. LomaskyChief Financial Officer and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Lomasky joined Cerberus in 1994. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Lomasky was the Chief Financial Officer of New Street Securities from 1992 to 1994. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Lomasky was the Controller of Drexel Burnham Lambert, and from 1989 to 1990 he was the Chief Financial Officer of European activities for Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mr. Lomasky is a graduate of Bernard Baruch College.
  Mark A. NeporentChief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Neporent joined Cerberus in 1998. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Neporent was an associate and a partner in the Business Reorganization and Finance Group at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, a New York City-based law firm, from 1986 to 1998, where he did extensive work on behalf of Cerberus. Mr. Neporent has over 28 years of experience in the high-yield finance, distressed securities and bankruptcy/reorganization business. Mr. Neporent is a graduate of Lehigh University and Syracuse University College of Law.
  Seth P. PlattusChief Administrative Officer, Co-General Counsel and Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Plattus joined Cerberus in 1994 as one of its first investment professionals. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Plattus was an investment banker for The Blackstone Group from 1990 to 1994, where he analyzed and negotiated principal investments and represented debtors and creditors committees in restructurings and reorganizations. From 1986 to 1990, he worked as an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and restructurings. Mr. Plattus is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
  J. Danforth QuayleChairman of Cerberus Global Investments, LLCVice President Quayle joined Cerberus in 1999. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States of America from 1988 through 1992. Vice President Quayle was elected to the U.S. Senate from the State of Indiana in 1980 and reelected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's Fourth Congressional District in 1976 and reelected to the House of Representatives in 1978. He has served on many boards of directors of both private and public entities. Mr. Quayle is a graduate of DePauw University and the Indiana University School of Law (Indianapolis).
  William L. RichterCo-Founder, Senior Managing Director of Cerberus Capital ManagementMr. Richter co-founded Cerberus Capital Management with Mr. Feinberg in 1992. Since 1982, he has been President of Richter Investment Corp., a merchant bank, which from 1989 to 1999 owned and operated an NASD broker-dealer. From 1970 to 1982, he was Chairman of Nexus Industries, Inc., a company traded on the American Stock Exchange. Mr. Richter is a graduate of Harvard College and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
  John W. SnowChairman of Cerberus Capital ManagementFormer United States Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow joined Cerberus in 2006. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Snow served as the 73rd Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America from 2003 to 2006. From 1994 through 1996, Mr. Snow served as Chairman of the Business Roundtable, comprised of 250 CEOs of the nation's largest companies. From 1977 through 2003, he served in multiple positions with Chessie Systems, Inc. (which later became CSX Corporation), including as President, CEO and Chairman. From 1976 to 1977, he was named Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. From 1975 to 1976, he served as the Deputy Undersecretary in the U.S. Department of Transportation. From 1974 to 1975, he served as the Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation. From 1973 to 1974, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Plans and International Affairs. From 1972 to 1973, he served as Assistant General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation. He has served on various corporate and non-profit boards, including Johnson & Johnson, USX, Verizon, the University of Virginia Darden School and The Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Snow is a graduate of the University of Toledo and the George Washington University Law School. Additionally, Mr. Snow holds a Master's Degree from The Johns Hopkins University, a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia, and numerous honorary degrees.
Cerberus Capital will sell stake in firearms maker
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:01
  This image shows a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle of the type used in the Connecticut shootings.(Photo: AFP)
  Story HighlightsCerberus Capital Management will sell its stake in firearms maker Freedom GroupBushmaster, maker of the rifle used in school shooting, is part of FreedomCerberus wants to avoid being drawn into a debate on gun controlReacting to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Wall Street private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management said Tuesday that it will sell its stake in firearms maker Freedom Group, which makes one of the guns used in Friday's mass shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 children.
  In a statement Tuesday morning, the investment firm expressed sadness for the horrific events, saying it was "deeply saddened" and that it could not "comprehend the losses suffered by the families and friends of those killed by the unthinkable crime committed."
  The decision to sell Freedom Group, in which Cerberus has had an investment in since 2006, was made to avoid being "drawn into the national debate" about gun control, the firm said. Freedom controls Bushmaster Firearms International, which makes the rifle used in the Newtown, Conn., shootings.
  On Monday, the California State Teachers Retirement System said it was reviewing its investment in Cerberus due to the tragedy in Newtown.
  Private equity firms typically buy companies, take them private, then improve their operations and profitability with the hope of reselling the company at a higher price.
  In its press release, Cerberus said, Freedom Group sells only to gun dealers and "We do not believe that Freedom Group or any single company or individual can prevent senseless violence or the illegal use or procurement of firearms and ammunition..... There are, however, actions that we as a firm can take."
  About the Author Adam ShellAdam Shell covers everything Wall Street, from the stock market's maddening mood swings to pundits' bull and bear rants. Despite writing about stocks for a living, he's never owned a single stock.
  Send Adam Shell a Message
  { "assetid": "1776997", "aws": "money/business", "aws_id": "money_business", "blogname": "", "contenttype": "story pages ", "seotitle": "Cerberus-freedom-group-bushmaster", "seotitletag": "Cerberus Capital will sell stake in firearms maker", "ssts": "money/business", "taxonomykeywords":"California", "templatename": "stories/default", "topic":"california", "videoincluded":"no", "basePageType":"story" }
The Science is IN: Colombians announce that man spreads HIV to 50 women
  Link to Article
  Source: Dr. Jones reports
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:57
  Police are stating Libardo Rojas Duenas may have knowingly infected more than 50 women, including a 16-year-old.Getty
  An HIV positive Colombian truck driver has allegedly raped and infected more than 50 women across the country.
  The Dailymail is reporting 57-year-old Libardo Rojas Duenas may have ignored state-issued medical advice after being diagnosed with the deadly virus on 2006. Police are stating Duenas raped a 16-year-old in the city of Cºcuta the following year and soon discovered she had contracted the sexually transmitted disease.
  The news site is also stating he used his job to travel throughout the country, avoiding being capture by police. This could have given him more opportunity to attack other victims. While Duenas had consensual sex with other women, he reportedly did not use protection, putting them at risk.
  Police are stating the trucker put more than 50 women at risk due to his ''uncontrollable rampage.'' Duenas is being charged with rape and ''knowingly contaminating another person with HIV.'' Purposely infecting other people could condemn him to prison for up to 12 years.
  According to Colombian statistics provided by UNAIDS, there were an estimated 160,000 people living with HIV in 2009 and 50,000 of them were women ages 15 and up. That same year, there were 14,000 deaths due to AIDS.
  AIDS.gov describes HIV as human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system, causing flu-like symptoms. HIV, they state, can hide for long periods of time in the body while attacking cells that fight infection. HIV can lead to AIDS, the final stage of the infection.
  Radio Santa Fe reported Duenas was detained in Gorgonzola, an area located in the Colombian capital of Bogota. An investigation is ongoing.
  Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatinoLike us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino
EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Who was Adam Lanza's Doctor?
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:52
  by Jon RappoportYou may as well say that, from this point on, the rest of the events in Newtown, Connecticut, will be brought to you by Merck, Glaxo, and Pfizer.
  Media outlets are already reporting that ''a raft of services'' will be available for the children of Sandy Hook Elementary school, and the Newtown community, where Adam Lanza killed 26 people yesterday.
  This is phase two. It always happens at these mass murder events. The grief counselors. The social service workers. The psychologists.
  They pour in. And they end up referring people to psychiatrists, who will in turn prescribe some of the very drugs that trigger murder and suicide.
  The drugs that cause people to kill.
  This is one way the psychiatric drug industry spreads its heinous influence.
  The sequence is always the same, because it's set up that way. After the mass murders and the shock and the horror, the grief industry arrives, and then come the referrals to psychiatric drug pushers, along with the memorials and the ''healing.''
  The entire mass-shooting aftermath is laid on as a cover, to deflect REAL investigation into what happened.
  So here is the first real question.
  WHO WAS ADAM LANZA'S DOCTOR?
  I kept asking this question about James Holmes, the accused Aurora theater shooter. Finally, it emerged that, indeed, he'd been seeing Lynne Fenton, a psychiatrist at the U of Colorado.
  Now, in Newtown, Connecticut, it's Adam Lanza, whom his brother describes as having had a personality disorder.
  If the school shooter was seeing a psychiatrist, we want to know who the doctor is, now. We want a list of all medications Lanza was taking, now.
  We know these drugs' effects. We know a number of psychiatric drugs cause brain storms that push people into committing suicide and homicide.
  Newtown is a small community. Somebody there can step up and say who the doctor is. Do it now. The police can't be depended on to do it. You people in Newtown want to save yourselves from another horror down the line, get the name of the doctor and make it public.
  Read the rest here.
Oppositie wil fysieke controle van Nederlandse goudvoorraad - Follow the Money
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:42
  CDA en SP zijn niet tevreden over de antwoorden van Dijsselbloem en willen een fysieke controle van de Nederlandse goudvoorraad.
  Op papier heeft De Nederlandse Bank 24 miljard euro aan goud. Daarvan is ongeveer 90% in het buitenland gestationeerd. Nog nooit heeft een Nederlandse vertegenwoordiger in het buitenland gecontroleerd of alles er nog wel ligt. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, minister van Financin, antwoordde vorige week dat hij een fysieke verificatie niet nodig vindt omdat het goud ligt bij centrale banken met een ''uitstekende staat van dienst.''
  Afgelopen maand stelden CDA-kamerlid Eddy van Hijum en SP-kamerlid Arnold Merkies schriftelijk vragen aan de regering over de goudvoorraad van De Nederlandse Bank. Dat was naar aanleiding van het bericht dat de Duitse Bundesbank 4 procent van zijn goud gaat terughalen om te checken of de staven puur zijn. En een fysieke controle is wat Van Hijum ook het liefst ziet gebeuren. ''Eigenlijk zou ik een verificatie om de zoveel tijd helemaal niet zo gek vinden.''
  De beleggingsportefeuille van DNB bestaat voor meer dan 40 procent uit het edelmetaal. ''Het is een vertrouwensbasis op de balans van DNB'', zegt Van Hijum. ''Maar dan moeten we dus wel zeker kunnen weten of het er ook daadwerkelijk ligt''. Ook SP-lid Merkies vraagt zich af of Nederland ''blind zou moeten varen'' op een accountantsverklaring en hij wil daarom dat Nederland het goud echt gaat checken bij de New York Fed, waar meer dan de helft van het goud ligt.
  Dijsselbloem wees er in zijn antwoord op dat DNB jaarlijks accountantsverklaringen ontvangt van de andere centrale banken over het staatsgoud, maar daar nemen CDA en SP geen genoegen mee. ''We blijven het in de gaten houden en komen hier zeker nog op terug'', laat Merkies weten. Van Hijum zegt: ''Het kost toch niet heel veel inspanning om te kijken of het er ligt? Er gaan van onze kant zeker vervolgvragen komen aan de regering.''
Why There's So Few Female Mass Murderers
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:18
  The emerging profile of Adam Lanza, the suspected shooter in the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., is depressingly familiar.He has been described as being socially awkward and a loner. He reportedly had Asperger's syndrome '-- a high-performing form of autism '-- and may have been afflicted by other psychiatric problems. And he was male. His sex almost goes without saying.
  According to Mother Jones, 62 mass shootings '-- defined as a single spree that killed at least four people '-- have been carried out in the U.S. since 1982. Only one was perpetrated by a female.
  In 2006, Jennifer San Marco fatally shot her former neighbor, then drove to work and killed six colleagues before turning her gun on herself. The rest of the massacres were carried out by males, 44 of whom were white.
  What is the connection between gender and outbreaks of massive violence? A helpful way to approach the question is to look at the three main categories of mass murderers. There are "family annihilators," who, as the name suggests, turn on their families.
  There are "set-and-run" or "hit-and-run" killers, who usually hide and try to avoid capture. Then there are "pseudocommandos," a category that would seem to include James Holmes, the suspected shooter in the July movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., and Seung-Hui Cho, who in 2007 killed 32 people during a rampage at Virginia Tech.
  The pseudocommando can be defined as followed, according to Joni E. Johnston at Psychology Today:
  The term "pseudocommando" was first used to describe the type of mass murderer who carefully and methodically plans his actions and who kills indiscriminately in public.
  This is not a person who "snaps"; he comes prepared with a powerful arsenal of weapons, typically has no escape planned, and is pursing a highly personal and well-thought-out agenda of "payback."
  According to research, these revenge mass murderers tend to have been bullied or socially excluded as children. As adults, they tend to be highly sensitive to any slight or rejection and to spend time dwelling on past humiliations.
  Given the right circumstances, these obsessive thoughts turn into violent revenge fantasies to protect a fragile '-- sometimes overly inflated '-- ego. In fact, it is when the perpetrator is feeling most powerless that he is likely to justify acting on his fantasies and begin the transition from obsessive thought to devastating action.
  The meticulous plans he make not only distract him from a reality that he finds increasingly intolerable, they give him a false sense of power and omnipotence.
  The tipping point for pseudocommandos is usually a major personal loss or rejection of some kind. Holmes, an excellent student growing up, saw his grades decline in a more competitive Ph.D. atmosphere. Cho was reportedly bullied and mocked, and saw himself as an avenger for the weak. We don't know what, if anything, set off Lanza, but we do know that his parents divorced in 2009 and that he was reportedly an outcast.
  How does the psychology of a pseudocommando relate to maleness? One theory is that the social construct of male identity '-- what it means to be a man '-- is more vulnerable to slights and challenges than the female's. Men are taught from a young age that successful males "exert social dominance, achieve a high social status, command respect, and demonstrate authority,"say Christopher A.D. Charles and Deniese Kennedy-Kollar at The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice.
  Men are also taught to value economic independence and sexual success. Holmes, Cho, and Lanza seem to have failed in some or all of these respects, possibly opening the door to injuries, perceived or real, that gnawed at their troubled minds.
  The male construct, known as hegemonic masculinity in gender studies, is mainly developed at school. (The school connection between Holmes, Cho, and Lanza is probably not coincidental.) However, hegemonic masculinity permeates all levels of society, and is a hallmark of street culture, another rich source of gun-related violence.
  It's practically in the air we breathe '-- a recent ad for the Bushmaster rifle reportedly used by Lanza reads, "Consider your man card reissued."
  Taking into account that most physical violence is male-driven, it's clear that "the transition from boy to man is a risky endeavor," says Erika Christakis at TIME, "and there can be a lot of collateral damage." So what's to be done? Charles and Kennedy-Kollar note that "the positive presence of a father in the life of a son constructing his hegemonic masculinity identity is a key means of preventing the emotional problems that trigger male violence."
  In addition, educators and officials probably need to view mass murders not as random events, but as stemming from a common cause. "Our refusal to talk about violence as a public-health problem with known (or knowable) risk factors keeps us from helping the young men who were at most risk," says Christakis, "and, of course, their potential victims."
  This story was originally published by The Week.
Obama Has Proposed A Tax Rate Threshold Of $400k
  Link to Article
  Source: Stuff Ain't Right » Uncategorized
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:15
  The Associated Press is reporting that President Barack Obama has made a new budget offer to House Speaker, including a significant shift from a previous sticking point in their negotiations to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.
  Obama's latest counteroffer raises the threshold for tax increases up to incomes above $400,000. That's an increase from previous demands dating all the way back to the presidential campaign, in which Obama had called for taxes on incomes above $250,000 to return to Clinton-era rates
  via Obama Has Proposed A Tax Rate Threshold Of $400k '' Business Insider.
  Like this:Be the first to like this.
BBC heterophobia
  Link to Article
  Source: the tap
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:11
  When the popular singer Charlotte Church discovered unexplained financial anomoliesshe sacked her manager Jonathan Shallit, who then spoke to his fellow homosexual jews at the BBCand with Rupert Murdoch and as a result dirt was dug up about her, with her freinds, family and boyfreinds phones tapped, malicious gossip apeared in the press as Charlotte was rubbished on TV and in the press in an effort to derail her career, and Shallit asked other agents not to give her work.For whatever reason the same thing is hapening with British actor Hugh Grant who is currently targetted by Rupert Murdoch, Grant having his mail opened and his phone tapped in an effort to rubbish him and end his career.The BBC felt that the smash Paul Daniels Magic show with his pretty wife Debbie as his assistant conjuror was "too heterosexual" so Daniels was sacked, later the homosexual Derren Brown took over the top "magic " spot with his mental trickery show, BBC staff say that some of these skits are sometimes filmed 100 times to get the right effects, but the crimes of the BBC do not end at just slander heterophobia and racism.A warped TV presenter called Timmy Mallet on childrens TV would be seen regularly hitting children on the head with a large hammer, what sort of example this was supposed to teach our children is beyond me, but this violence is only out done by the large number of murder programmes, one on each night on every channel, the murders are always women, homosexuals like men not women so many psychologsts are suggesting subliminial programming here which is pro-gay and anti women, the government and its mouthpiece the BBC has been busy promoting this, and similarly the BBC which since the late thirties was part of the wartime propaganda body agitating for war with Germany, still shows anti German hate films each afternon on TV, breaking its own anti-racism guidelines.We dont want the hate racism and heterophobia of the BC anymore and we should stop paying our TV license.
Richard Engel of NBC Is Released in Syria
  Link to Article
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:06
  Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, and three of his crew members were freed on Monday after five days in captivity in Syria, the news organization said Tuesday.
  The journalists were unharmed. The news organization released a short statement that said, "We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country."
  The identities of the kidnappers and their motives were unknown. But their kidnapping once again highlights the perils of reporting from Syria, which is said by the Committee to Protect Journalists to be "the world's most dangerous place for the press."
  NBC declined to specify the number of crew members that were with Mr. Engel but a person with specific knowledge of the situation said there were three. The person did not say whether Mr. Engel was traveling with security
  Mr. Engel covertly entered Syria several times this year to report on the insurgency that is fighting President Bashar al-Assad there. He was last seen on television last Thursday in a taped report from Aleppo, Syria's commercial capital, where he reported that "the Syrian regime appears to be cracking, but the rebels remain outgunned." He and his crew members had apparently moved to a safer location outside the country to transmit their report (two days earlier he had reported live on the "Today" show from Turkey, having just come back from Aleppo) because they were detained on Thursday when they were trying to move back into Syria.
  Mr. Engel and the crew members, whose names were not released by NBC, were blindfolded by the kidnappers and "tossed into the back of a truck," NBC's Web site said. From that point on, NBC had no contact with Mr. Engel or the crew. The network's Web sitesaid there was "no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no request for ransom during the time the crew was missing,"
  The site said the crew members were being moved to a new location on Monday night "when their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by members of the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, a Syrian rebel group. There was a confrontation and a firefight ensued. Two of the captors were killed, while an unknown number of others escaped." The rebels helped escort the crew to the Syrian border.
  NBC attempted to keep the crew's disappearance a secret for several days while it sought to ascertain their whereabouts. Its television competitors and many other major news organizations, including The New York Times, refrained from reporting on the situation, in part out of fears that any reporting could further endanger the crew. A similar arrangement, sometimes called a blackout, was reached after a reporter for The Times, David Rohde, was kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2008. Mr. Rohde and a local reporter escaped after seven months in captivity.
  In the case of Mr. Engel, some Web sites reported speculation about his disappearance on Monday. NBC declined to comment until the crew members were safely out of Syria on Tuesday.
  Mr. Engel is perhaps the best-known foreign-based correspondent on television in the United States. Hop-scotching from Iraq to Afghanistan to Egypt and other countries in recent years, he has had more airtime than any other such correspondent at NBC, ABC or CBS. Thus the news of his kidnapping and safe release is likely to generate widespread interest from viewers.
  Mr. Engel has worked for NBC since May of 2003, two months into the Iraq war. He was promoted to be chief foreign correspondent in 2008. At the time, the NBC News president Steve Capus said, "There aren't enough superlatives to describe the work that Richard has done in some of the most dangerous places on Earth for NBC News. His reporting, his expertise on the situation in the Middle East, his professionalism and his commitment to telling the story of what is happening there is unparalleled."
  The "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams has been among Mr. Engel's most ardent fans. Without alluding to his disappearance, Mr. Williams brought up Mr. Engel while being interviewed onstage at a charity fund-raiser in New Jersey on Sunday night. "What I know about Richard Engel is, he's fearless, but he's not crazy," Mr. Williams said. When Mr. Engel's name came up, there was spontaneous applause from the crowd.
Tapper: In 2009, Rahm Told Holder To 'STFU On Guns'
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:02
  Rahm Emanuel tweeted this yesterday. Compare with this 2009 quote from Jake Tapper:
  It turns out that Defense Secretary Robert Gates wasn't the only member of the Obama Cabinet with a STFU policy.
  Then White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had one too, on guns, according to Daniel Klaidman's Kill or Capture:
  ''Now Emanuel had his sights set on Holder. The attorney general had gotten off to a rocky start with the White House with his 'nation of cowards' speech. One week later, Holder stepped into it again. On February 25, (2009) Jim Messina, Emanuel's deputy, walked into his boss's office to inform him of Holder's latest 'gaffe.'
  At a press conference earlier that day, Holder had told reporters that the administration would push to reinstate the assault-weapons ban, which had expired in 2004. The comments roused the powerful gun lobby and its water carriers on Capitol Hill. 'Senators to Attorney General: Stay Away from Our Guns' read a press release issued by Senator Max Baucus of Montana-a Democrat, no less.
  ''Emanuel was furious. He slammed his desk and cursed the attorney general. Holder was only repeating a position Obama had expressed during the campaign, but that was before the White House needed the backing of pro-gun Democrats from red states for their domestic agenda. The chief of staff sent word to Justice that Holder needed to 'shut the f*ck up' on guns'...''
  The back story on this is important. Emanuel, as a congressman who chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (and as such helped recapture the House) came to understand that for many Democratic members of Congress is swing districts, supporting gun control was a liability. The ''majority makers,'' as then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to call them, were often from rural or blue collar districts where the NRA was active.
  Yes, Rahm was the guy who packed the Congress with so many Blue Dogs, he made sure we couldn't get any progressive policies passed. In fact, he went out of his way to sabotage any real Democrats who were running.
San Antonio: Man Attempts To Open Fire On Movie Theatre Crowd, Off-Duty Sheriff Carrying Her Firearm Stops Rampage With One Shot'...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:00
  Michael Bloomberg unavailable for comment.
  (WOAI) '-- Two people are hospitalized after a gunman chased terrified restaurant patrons into the lobby of the Santikos Mayan 14 movie theater during a showing of ''The Hobbit'' last night, 1200 WOAI news reprots.
  Police detectives and sheriff's investigators say the incident started in the China Garden Restaurant on Southwest Military Drive about 9 PM Sunday, when an employee of the restaurant walked in looking for a woman.
  When the woman, who officials say is also a restaurant employee, wasn't there, the man pulled a gun and attempted to open fire in the restaurant but his weapon jammed.
  ''It started at the restaurant and then went into the parking lot and then into the movie theater,'' Deputy Lou Antu told 1200 WOAI news.
  Investigators say some of the terrified restaurant patrons poured into the movie theater, and the gunman followed.
  He opened fire, shooting one man in the chest, before Antu says an off duty sheriff's deputy who was working security at the theater shot him once.
  ''The officer involved, she took the appropriate action to try to keep everyone safe in the movie theater,'' Antu said.
  The gunman and the patron are hospitalized.
  Antu says the gunman never made it into the theater itself, thanks largely to the heroic work of the off duty deputy.
  ''She did what she felt she had to do,'' Antu said. ''I feel that she saved a lot of lives by taking the action she had to take.''
  Keep reading'...
  HT: Yiddy
In Newtown, Conn., a Stiff Res
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:04
  Correction Appended
  People in the rural, hilly areas around Newtown, Conn., are used to gunfire. In one woodsy stretch, southeast of downtown, the Pequot Fish and Game Club and the Fairfield County Fish and Game Protective Association, where members can fish in ponds and hunt pheasant, lie within a mile of each other, and people who live nearby generally call them good neighbors.
  But in the last couple of years, residents began noticing loud, repeated gunfire, and even explosions, coming from new places. Near a trailer park. By a boat launch. Next to well-appointed houses. At 2:20 p.m. on one Wednesday last spring, multiple shots were reported in a wooded area on Cold Spring Road near South Main Street, right across the road from an elementary school.
  Yet recent efforts by the police chief and other town leaders to gain some control over the shooting and the weaponry turned into a tumultuous civic fight, with traditional hunters and discreet gun owners opposed by assault weapon enthusiasts, and a modest tolerance for bearing arms competing with the staunch views of a gun industry trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which has made Newtown its home.
  The place that witnessed one of the worst mass killings in United States history on Friday, leaving 20 schoolchildren and 8 adults dead, is a bucolic New England town comfortable with its firearms, and not an obvious arena for the nation's debate over gun control. But the legislative battle right here shows how even the slightest attempts to impose restrictions on guns can run into withering resistance, made all the more pointed by the escalation in firepower.
THE SANDY HOOK STRATEGY
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:59
  Sandy Hook.The shootings at Sandy Hook in Connecticut, Beslan in Russia, Mumbai in India, Utoeya in Norway, Xinjiang in China, Istanbul in Turkey, Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, Liege in Belgium and Toulouse in France, may all be linked.
  They may all be part of a US government 'Strategy of Tension' used to control people worldwide.
  (aangirfan: WHO ARE THE TERRORISTS?)
  Beslan in Russia. aangirfan: Beslan and the CIA
  On 16 December, in the Financial Times, Gordon Goldstein wrote:
  1. The internet "flourishes beyond the control of governments."
  2. The internet "has emerged as the most potent technology in history to foment political change and undermine .... regimes."
  The fight to keep a state-free internetThe Mumbai Attacks. aangirfan: CIA LIES SWALLOWED BY INDIAN MEDIA Please note the probable element of propaganda in the above Financial Times article.
  1. The US government does have a large degree of control over the internet.For example, the Daily Mail's website Mail Online, in December 2011, had 45 million unique visitors.
  The Daily Mail promotes the views of the US government on such matters as - there being only one shooter in Connecticut, and there being only one shooter in Utoeya.
  Norway - government drill just before the attack. Norwegian Police Confirm Drill Identical to Breivik's Attack.
  Most of the top websites, worldwide, appear to promote the views of the CIA and its friends.The mainstream media in India stuck with the US government view that David Headley did not plan the Mumbai shootings on behalf of the US government.
  Blogs offering an alternative view generally get very few visitors, compared to the likes of the New York Times.
  Fortunately, there are a few people, like Alex Jones, who get many millions of viewers per month, and who promote an alternative view.
  Xinjiang, China.
  2. It is the CIA which uses the internet to topple regimes which stand in the way of total US dominance.The internet was used by the CIA to help carry out its Arab Spring.
  The internet has failed to bring about effective political change in the USA.
  In other words, the CIA's Operation Mockingbird now affects the internet.
  In Turkey, Operation Cage reportedly included the idea of detonating explosives during school field trips to military museums. aangirfan: KILLING KIDS ON A FIELD TRIP; ERGENEKON AND 9 11
  On 13 December 2012, in the Financial Times, Philip Stephens gave us some clues as to what the CIA would like us to think about what may be going to happen in the world.State versus citizen in tomorrow's world
  The USA's National Intelligence Council has just published its latest report on what the world might look like in 20 years time.
  Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds
  School shooting in Mexico.
  According to the spooks:
  1. The US will still be the top nation in 2030.
  Or, at least, it will be First among equals.
  By 2030, the USA will face serious competition from Asia, especially from China, India, Indonesia and even Turkey and Iran.
  And the USA will face serious competition from countries such as Mexico.
  aangirfan: BALI BOMB - inside job....2. Both the internet and growing prosperity have brought more of the world's people into politics.
  For example, the middle class in China are now in a position to be more politically active.
  3. The US government, on its own, will struggle to deal with uncontrolled migration, economic offshoring, financial instability, climate change, unconventional weapons proliferation, cross-border crime and terrorism.
  Some kind of One World Government may be necessary, according to the elite?
  Hence the shootings.
  Operation Northwoods was a Pentagon plan to kill innocent civilians in acts of terror.aangirfan: Strategy of Tensionaangirfan.blogspot.com/2007/11/strategy-of-tension.html1 Nov 2007 '' There has been speculation that all the recent terror incidents in Britain are part of a 'strategy of tension' similar to that which brought terror to ...aangirfan: POLICE HELPED CARRY OUT NORWAY ATTACK?aangirfan.blogspot.com/.../police-helped-carry-out-norway-attack.ht...4 Oct 2012 '' aangirfan.blogspot.com/2011/07/norway-strategy-of-tension.html25 Jul 2011 '' Attending Bilderberg in 2011: H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of ...aangirfan: Strategy of Tension in Algeriaaangirfan.blogspot.com/2008/09/strategy-of-tension-in-algeria.html10 Sep 2008 '' There has been terrorism in Algeria for many decades. According to an article entitled The Arc of Crisis various Nazis and spooks have been ...aangirfan: TWO GUNMEN - DARK KNIGHT IN DENVER - GLADIOaangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/07/dark-knight-in-denver-gladio.html21 Jul 2012 '' aangirfan: TOULOUSE SHOOTINGS - GLADIO AND MOSSAD. TheStrategy of Tension - getting people scared and easy to control - organised ...aangirfan: THE CIA'S STRATEGY OF TENSION IN GREECEaangirfan.blogspot.com/2008/.../cias-strategy-of-tension-in-greece.ht...10 Dec 2008 '' The "strategy of tension", run by the CIA and NATO, was aimed at promoting fascism and involved the use agents provocateurs and acts of ...aangirfan: WHO ARE THE TERRORISTS?aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/09/who-are-terrorists.html26 Sep 2012 '' ... Peter Dale Scott, September 24, 2012, Systemic Destabilization as ''AStrategy of Tension'') ... (aangirfan: Michael Ledeen, Gladio and 9 11.).aangirfan: BEING FLEXIBLE; 9 11 AND OTHER BLACK SWANSaangirfan.blogspot.com/.../being-flexible-9-11-and-other-black.html26 Nov 2012 '' The attacks in Mumbai, in 2008, are part of a 'strategy of tension' being employed by the Anglo-American-Israeli Axis to ultimately divide and ...aangirfan: FALSE FLAG PSY OP - US AMBASSADOR ATTACKaangirfan.blogspot.com/.../clash-of-civilisations-us-ambassador.html13 Sep 2012 '' Neocon False Flag in North Africa '' Part of Election Strategy . .....created this ' Strategy of Tension' (Bush also employed a 'Strategy of Tension ...
Sugar stocks drop as UP raises sugarcane prices - Livemint
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:36
  Balrampur shed 9.5% on BSE on Monday. Dhampur Sugar Mills and Shree Renuka fell 6.5% and 2.5%, respectively. The benchmark Sensex was little changed at 19,409.69 points.
  The price of Rs2,920 per metric tonne landed cost for the current sugar season is much higher than expected, Morgan Stanley analyst Girish Achhipaliah said in a note.
  He added that the profitability of north Indian millers is likely to be dented as this would imply no profits for the sugar division at the operating level, with the additional interest burden to deal with.
More Guns, More Mass Shootings'--Coincidence? | Mother Jones
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 07:56
  Update, December 15:Click here for our latest coverage of the Newtown school massacre. This story has been updated to include data from that event.
  In the fierce debate that always follows the latest mass shooting, it's an argument you hear frequently from gun rights promoters: If only more people were armed, there would be a better chance of stopping these terrible events. This has plausibility problems'--what are the odds that, say, a moviegoer with a pack of Twizzlers in one pocket and a Glock in the other would be mentally prepared, properly positioned, and skilled enough to take out a body-armored assailant in a smoke- and panic-filled theater? But whether you believe that would happen is ultimately a matter of theory and speculation. Instead, let's look at some facts gathered in a two-month investigation by Mother Jones.
  In the wake of the slaughters this summer at a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, we set out to track mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years. We identified and analyzed 62 of them, and one striking pattern in the data is this: In not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. Moreover, we found that the rate of mass shootings has increased in recent years'--at a time when America has been flooded with millions of additional firearms and a barrage of new laws has made it easier than ever to carry them in public. And in recent rampages in which armed civilians attempted to intervene, they not only failed to stop the shooter but also were gravely wounded or killed.
  America has long been heavily armed relative to other societies, and our arsenal keeps growing. A precise count isn't possible because most guns in the United States aren't registered and the government has scant ability to track them, thanks to a legislative landscape shaped by powerful pro-gun groups such as the National Rifle Association. But through a combination of national surveys and manufacturing and sales data, we know that the increase in firearms has far outpaced population growth. In 1995 there were an estimated 200 million guns in private hands. Today, there are around 300 million'--about a 50 percent jump. The US population, now over 314 million, grew by about 20 percent in that period. At this rate, there will be a gun for every man, woman, and child before the decade ends.
  There is no evidence indicating that arming Americans further will help prevent mass shootings or reduce the carnage, says Dr. Stephen Hargarten, a leading expert on emergency medicine and gun violence at the Medical College of Wisconsin. To the contrary, there appears to be a relationship between the proliferation of firearms and a rise in mass shootings: By our count, there have been two per year on average since 1982. Yet 25 of the 62 cases we examined have occurred since 2006. This year alone there have already been seven mass shootings'--and a record number of casualties, with more than 140 people injured and killed.
  Armed civilians attempting to intervene are actually more likely to increase the bloodshed, says Hargarten, "given that civilian shooters are less likely to hit their targets than police in these circumstances." A chaotic scene in August at the Empire State Building put this starkly into perspective when New York City police officers confronting a gunman wounded nine innocent bystanders.
  Surveys suggest America's guns may be concentrated in fewer hands today: Approximately 40 percent of households had them in the past decade, versus about 50 percent in the 1980s. But far more relevant is a recent barrage of laws that have rolled back gun restrictions throughout the country. In the past four years, across 37 states, the NRA and its political allies have pushed through 99 laws making guns easier to own, easier to carry in public, and harder for the government to track.
  Among the more striking measures: Eight states now allow firearms in bars. Law-abiding Missourians can carry a gun while intoxicated and even fire it if "acting in self-defense." In Kansas, permit holders can carry concealed weapons inside K-12 schools, and Louisiana allows them in houses of worship. Virginia not only repealed a law requiring handgun vendors to submit sales records, but the state also ordered the destruction of all such previous records. More than two-thirds of these laws were passed by Republican-controlled statehouses, though often with bipartisan support.
  The laws have caused dramatic changes, including in the two states hit with the recent carnage. Colorado passed its concealed-carry measure in 2003, issuing 9,522 permits that year; by the end of last year the state had handed out a total of just under 120,000, according to data we obtained from the County Sheriffs of Colorado. In March of this year, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that concealed weapons are legal on the state's college campuses. (It is now the fifth state explicitly allowing them.) If former neuroscience student James Holmes were still attending the University of Colorado today, the movie theater killer'--who had no criminal history and obtained his weapons legally'--could've gotten a permit to tote his pair of .40 caliber Glocks straight into the student union. Wisconsin's concealed-carry law went into effect just nine months before the Sikh temple shooting in suburban Milwaukee this August. During that time, the state issued a whopping 122,506 permits, according to data from Wisconsin's Department of Justice. The new law authorizes guns on college campuses, as well as in bars, state parks, and some government buildings.
  And we're on our way to a situation where the most lax state permitting rules'--say, Virginia's, where an online course now qualifies for firearms safety training and has drawn a flood of out-of-state applicants'--are in effect national law. Eighty percent of states now recognize handgun permits from at least some other states. And gun rights activists are pushing hard for a federal reciprocity bill'--passed in the House late last year, with GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan among its most ardent supporters'--that would essentially make any state's permits valid nationwide.
  Indeed, the country's vast arsenal of handguns'--at least 118 million of them as of 2010'--is increasingly mobile, with 69 of the 99 new state laws making them easier to carry. A decade ago, seven states and the District of Columbia still prohibited concealed handguns; today, it's down to just Illinois and DC. (And Illinois recently passed an exception cracking the door open to carrying). In the 62 mass shootings we analyzed, 54 of the killers packed handguns'--including in all 15 of the mass shootings since the surge of pro-gun laws began in 2009.
  In a certain sense the law was on their side: nearly 80 percent of the killers in our investigation obtained their weapons legally.
  We used a conservative set of criteria to build a comprehensive rundown of high-profile attacks in public places'--at schools, workplaces, government buildings, shopping malls'--though they represent only a small fraction of the nation's overall gun violence. The FBI defines a mass murderer as someone who kills four or more people in a single incident, usually in one location. (As opposed to spree or serial killers, who strike multiple times.) We excluded cases involving armed robberies or gang violence; dropping the number of fatalities by just one, or including those motives, would add many, manymorecases. (More about our criteria here.)
  There was one case in our data set in which an armed civilian played a role. Back in 1982, a man opened fire at a welding shop in Miami, killing eight and wounding three others before fleeing on a bicycle. A civilian who worked nearby pursued the assailant in a car, shooting and killing him a few blocks away (in addition to ramming him with the car). Florida authorities, led by then-state attorney Janet Reno, concluded that the vigilante had used force justifiably, and speculated that he may have prevented additional killings. But even if we were to count that case as a successful armed intervention by a civilian, it would account for just 1.6 percent of the mass shootings in the last 30 years.
  More broadly, attempts by armed civilians to stop shooting rampages are rare'--and successful ones even rarer. There were two school shootings in the late 1990s, in Mississippi and Pennsylvania, in which bystanders with guns ultimately subdued the teen perpetrators, but in both cases it was after the shooting had subsided. Other cases led to tragic results. In 2005, as a rampage unfolded inside a shopping mall in Tacoma, Washington, a civilian named Brendan McKown confronted the assailant with a licensed handgun he was carrying. The assailant pumped several bullets into McKown and wounded six people before eventually surrendering to police after a hostage standoff. (A comatose McKown eventually recovered after weeks in the hospital.) In Tyler, Texas, that same year, a civilian named Mark Wilson fired his licensed handgun at a man on a rampage at the county courthouse. Wilson'--who was a firearms instructor'--was shot dead by the body-armored assailant, who wielded an AK-47. (None of these cases were included in our mass shootings data set because fewer than four victims died in each.)
  Appeals to heroism on this subject abound. So does misleading information. Gun rights die-hards frequentlycredit the end of a rampage in 2002 at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia to armed "students" who intervened'--while failing to disclose that those students were also current and former law enforcement officers, and that the killer, according to police investigators, was out of ammo by the time they got to him.
Arming People Doesn't Stop Mass Murders
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 07:56
  Mother Jones looks at 30 years of mass shootings and finds in not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun.
  ''Moreover, we found that the rate of mass shootings has increased in recent years'--at a time when America has been flooded with millions of additional firearms and a barrage of new laws has made it easier than ever to carry them in public. And in recent rampages in which armed civilians attempted to intervene, they not only failed to stop the shooter but also were gravely wounded or killed.''
  ''There is no evidence indicating that arming Americans further will help prevent mass shootings or reduce the carnage'... To the contrary, there appears to be a relationship between the proliferation of firearms and a rise in mass shootings: By our count, there have been two per year on average since 1982. Yet 25 of the 62 cases we examined have occurred since 2006. This year alone there have already been seven mass shootings'--and a record number of casualties, with more than 140 people injured and killed.''
Are We Living Inside a Computer Simulation?
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:17
  What's This?
  Ray Villard
  for Discovery News 2012-12-17 20:05:51 UTCThe popular film trilogy, The Matrix, presented a cyberuniverse where humans live in a simulated reality created by sentient machines.
  Now, a philosopher and team of physicists imagine that we might really be living inside a computer-generated universe that you could call The Lattice. What's more, we may be able to detect it.
  In 2003, British philosopher Nick Bostrom published a paper that proposed the universe we live in might in fact really be a numerical computer simulation. To give this a bizarre Twilight Zone twist, he suggested that our far-evolved distant descendants might construct such a program to simulate the past and recreate how their remote ancestors lived.
  He felt that such an experiment was inevitable for a supercivilization. If it didn't happen by now, then in meant that humanity never evolved that far and we're doomed to a short lifespan as a species, he argued.
  To extrapolate further, I'd suggest that artificial intelligent entities descended from us would be curious about looking back in time by simulating the universe of their biological ancestors.
  As off-the-wall as this sounds, a team of physicists at the University of Washington (UW) recently announced that there is a potential test to seen if we actually live in The Lattice. Ironically, it would be the first such observation for scientifically hypothesized evidence of intelligent design behind the cosmos.
  The UW team too propose that super-intelligent entities, bored with their current universe, do numerical simulations to explore all possibilities in the landscape of the underlying quantum vacuum (from which the big bang percolated) through universe simulations. "This is perhaps the most profound quest that can be undertaken by a sentient being," write the authors.
  Before you dismiss this idea as completely loony, the reality of such a Sim Universe might solve a lot of eerie mysteries about the cosmos. About two-dozen of the universe's fundamental constants happen to fall within the narrow range thought to be compatible with life. At first glance it seems as unlikely as balancing a pencil on its tip. Jiggle these parameters and life as we know it would have never appeared. Not even stars and galaxies. This is called the Anthropic principle.
  The discovery of dark energy over a decade ago further compounds the universe's strangeness. This sort of ''antigravity'' pushing space-time apart is the closest thing there is to nothing and still is something. This energy from the vacuum of space is 60 orders of magnitude weaker that what would be predicted by quantum physics.The eminent cosmologist Michael Turner ranks dark energy as "the most profound mystery in all of science."
  We are also living at a very special time in the universe's history where it switched gears from decelerating to accelerating under the push of dark energy. This begs the question "why me why now?" (A phrase popularly attributed to Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 when she was attacked and crippled by an opponent.)
  If dark energy were slightly stronger the universe would have blown apart before stars formed. Any weaker and the universe would have imploded long ago. Its incredibly anemic value has been seen as circumstantial evidence for parallel universes with their own flavor of dark energy that is typically destructive. It's as if our universe won the lottery and got all the physical parameters just right for us to exist.
  Finally, an artificial universe solves the Fermi Paradox (where are all the space aliens?) by implying that we truly are alone in the universe. It was custom made for us by our far-future progeny.
  Biblical creationists can no doubt embrace these seeming cosmic coincidences as unequivocal evidence for their "theory" of Intelligent Design (ID). But is our "God" really a computer programmer rather than a bearded old man living in the sky?
  Currently, supercomputers using a impressive-sounding technique called lattice quantum chromodynamics, and starting from the fundamental physical laws, can simulate only a very small portion of the universe. The scale is a little larger than the nucleus of an atom, according UW physicist Martin Savage. Mega-computers of the far future could greatly expand the size of the Sim Universe.
  If we are living in such a program, there could be telltale evidence for the underlying lattice used in modeling the space-time continuum, say the researchers. This signature could show up as a limitation in the energy of cosmic rays. They would travel diagonally across the model universe and not interact equally in all directions, as they otherwise would be expected to do according to present cosmology.
  If such results were measured, physicists would have to rule out any and all other natural explanations for the anomaly before flirting with the idea of intelligent design. (To avoid confusion with the purely faith-based creationist ID, this would not prove the existence of a biblical God, because you'd have to ask the question "why does God need a lattice?")
  If our universe is a simulation, then those entities controlling it could be running other simulations as well to create other universes parallel to our own. No doubt this would call for, ahem, massive parallel processing.
  If all of this isn't mind-blowing enough, Bostrom imagined "stacked" levels of reality, "we would have to suspect that the post-humans running our simulation are themselves simulated beings; and their creators, in turn, may also be simulated beings. Here may be room for a large number of levels of reality, and the number could be increasing over time."
  To compound this even further, Bostrom imagined a hierarchy of deities, "In some ways, the post-humans running a simulation are like gods. However, all the demigods except those at the fundamental level of reality are subject to sanctions by the more powerful gods living at lower levels."
  If the parallel universes are all running on the same computer platform could we communicate with them? If so, I hope the Matrix's manic Agent Smith doesn't materialize one day.
  To borrow from the title of Isaac Asimov's novel I Robot, the human condition might be described as I Subroutine.
  Image credits: Flickr, TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²"; J.F. Colonna; Boston University
  This article originally published at Discovery News here
  Topics: Apps and Software, Dev & Design, Matrix, simulation, TechDiscovery News is a Mashable Publishing Partner.
Newtown Conspiracy Hoax Spreads Fast Across Fringe
  Link to Article
  Source: TPM News
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:13
  Benjy Sarlin December 17, 2012, 3:33 PMLike many traumatic national events, the Newtown shooting has already spawned its share of wild conspiracy theories that draw in everything from British finance to the Hunger Games.
  A false rumor spreading rapidly on fringe sites like Infowars and assorted Ron Paul messageboards ties the school murders to an existing hoax surrounding the Aurora, Colo. movie theater shooting. After that attack, conspiracy theorists fixated on the accused shooter's father, Robert Holmes, pointing to media reports that he worked as an anti-fraud scientist for credit scoring company FICO.
  Somehow, a rumor surfaced online that Holmes was scheduled to testify before the Senate on the Libor banking scandal before the theater shooting. It wasn't true: no such hearing was ever scheduled to take place, nor is there even an obvious connection between FICO and the Libor scandal, which involved a number of high-profile banks misreporting interest rates on transactions. But imaginative commenters across dozens of sites exploited the phony connection anyway, concocting a theory in which the hearing was set to reveal a massive new fraud scheme before being deliberately derailed. Getting deeper into the weeds, some sites noted that The Dark Knight Rises '-- the movie playing during the Aurora shooting '-- featured a plot point revolving around financial fraud.
  In the case of Newtown, Peter Lanza, the alleged shooter's father, reportedly also worked in finance as vice president of taxes at GE Financial Services. Within hours, the same online forums were asserting as fact '-- again, 100 percent without evidence '-- that he too was supposed to testify before the Senate regarding Libor. Like FICO, GE has no obvious connection to the investigation, which has roped in various other financial institutions. And once again, there is no ''witness list'' that includes Lanza because there isn't even a hearing on the issue.
  ''This rumor is 100% false,'' a Senate Banking Committee aide, who asked not to be named, told TPM by email. ''The Senate Banking Committee does not have any LIBOR hearings currently scheduled, and has never considered either of these men as potential witnesses.''
  Nonetheless, this fiction is being used to fuel a range of conspiracies, many of which suggest the attacks were somehow coordinated by shadowy elites in government or business to hide financial wrongdoing or confiscate guns. And they're getting real traction from commenters at liberal, conservative, and fringe sites all over the Internet.
  A libertarian blogger, Fabian4Liberty, posted a video, which already has over 60,000 views, outlining the Libor claim and that quickly spread across social media. A post referencing the video on BeforeItsNews.com claims nearly 10,000 likes on Facebook and an Examiner post detailing the bogus connection has quickly garnered over 7,500 likes.
  ''The connections between the Aurora massacre, and the one that took place in Newtown on Friday, may have far more ramifications to the people involved in the Libor scandal than anyone could imagine,'' Kenneth Schortgen Jr. wrote on Examiner.com.
  Just as The Dark Knight Rises was roped into fantastic theories about the Aurora shooting, the conspiracy crowd has glommed onto another pop culture phenomenon in Newtown: The Hunger Games. A writer on the truther clearinghouse Prison Planet noted that Suzanne Collins, the author of the popular young adult novels set in a dystopian future in which violence among children is encouraged as sport, is from Newtown. Somehow, this means the whole thing was a setup: ''a 'coincidence' that will leave you thinking about a planned scenario at Newtown, just the kind of operation secret societies are reputedly famous for.''
  Image via Shutterstock / Sergey Peterman
  NewtownBenjy SarlinBenjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
Letter to Queen about paedophilia in Britain
  Link to Article
  Source: the tap
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:11
  Cutts401 sends --------- Original message --------Subject: AN APPEAL TO THE QUEEN - PAEDOPHILES IN POWERFrom: MICHAEL MURRIN <mandmconsultants@btinternet. com>To: newsdesklive@guardian.co.ukCC:
  EMBARGO 15.00 (GMT) MONDAY 17th DEC:''There also seems to have been significant subversion by MI5 of the role of the police as a law enforcement agency.''''Has there been an ongoing subversion of our democracy by rogue elements within the security service establishment? Whilst protecting us from our enemies beyond these shores is the security apparatus harbouring the enemy within? Is democracy being subverted with the intention that the people of this country be firmly tied to the yoke of totalitarianism?''''The response of the executive is a mix of denial, collusion and complicity.''LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTERCould it be that there is, in your own mind, one rule for Ivan and another for Tom, Dick and Harry? Do you consider the children of the ''plebs'' to be nothing more than the disposable playthings of the political and social elite? Is this why you are so dismissive of matters related to the allegations of child sexual abuse involving your political and social peers? Whatever the answers are to these questions your failure to properly respond to my correspondence displays, from my perspective, a callous indifference to the plight of the many victims of child sexual abuse.None of you can walk past this issue, turn a blind eye to it, and retain your claim to be a part of humanity. The fact that so many of you have done so, for so many decades, is a fact that should compel the most hardened cynics among you to hang their heads in shame.LETTER TO LORD JUSTICE MUMMERLet me take the gloss off that and spell out to you exactly what that means: You are complicit in the rape and buggery of infants, children and adolescents. If you have, or have had reason to suspect that such evil is/has been deliberately perpetrated and/or concealed by the security establishment which you oversee, and you have failed to act to prevent/investigate it, then your failure to act adds to the magnitude of your complicity.LETTER TO MR BERNARD HOGAN-HOWECOMMISSIONER '' METROPOLITAN POLICEI will also send through to Mr Spindler details of information I received during my investigation undertaken from 1982 '' 1992. Included are allegations of:1. Intervention by senior politicians in investigations involving political corruption. The investigations were closed down on the direct instructions of the politicians named. The investigations were by various government agencies, including the2. The corrupt receipt of political donations KNOWN by the recipients to have originated from the dealing of class A drugs.3. The payment of politicians for changes in existing government legislation.4. The corruption of ministerial office.5. A connection between Peter Righton and my own investigation during the 1980's, and a further connection with MI5.It is fashionable to consider the police force to be institutionally corrupt. I know from personal experience that this is NOT the case. I have advised, and will continue to advise, anyone who contacts me with information that they shouldTRUST THE POLICE and provide their co-operation at all times.21 GOODWOOD AVENUE. PRESTON. PR2 9TZSW1A 1AA. 15th December 2012.RE: SUSPECTED USE OF PAEDOPHILIA BY THE BRITISH SECURITY SERVICES TO BLACKMAIL AND CONTROL PUBLIC FIGURES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. It is after much thought and with considerable trepidation that I write this letter to you. I write now because I have exhausted every other avenue through which I can raise my concerns. Every approach I have made to the statutory authorities, and elected officials, has been met with stonewalling and a failure to properly respond to my correspondence. I have sought to secure a proper investigation by the statutory authorities of the matters I am raising. It is, in effect, being made clear to me that no such investigation will be allowed to proceed.During 1982 I established a Ratepayers Association in Preston. In my capacity as chairman of that association allegations of corruption within the council were brought to my attention. I did an analysis of the information I had received and concluded that behind the allegations there was serious criminal activity centred on the bribery of public officials and elected politicians, illegal sexual activity probably involving blackmail, and the trafficking of prohibited drugs. I initiated an investigation into the allegations being made and my analysis of the information proved to be totally correct. The investigation I ran started in Preston but spread to other regions and touched on national politics. The full extent of my investigations, and findings, has never been made public. As a result of the investigations centred on Preston there were three key prosecutions leading to convictions, they were:1. The conviction of a prominent local/national businessman for the rape of an underage girl. 2. The conviction of his business associate for the serial rape of children.3. The conviction of another of his business associates on nine charges of laundering money on behalf of a dealer in class A drugs.During the investigation (1984-85) I was offered a copy of the membership list of the Paedophile Information Exchange. The asking price was £10,000, a sum of money which was not available to me at the time. As a ''taster'' I was given two names of individuals who were alleged to be on that list. One was a senior Labour politician who is still alive but retired, the other was Jimmy Savile. On October 7th I wrote to Mr Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner '' Metropolitan Police. I have had cause to write to Mr Hogan-Howe since and on every occasion I have received a proper acknowledgement of the correspondence. I have also written to Lord Patten, he has failed to acknowledge my correspondence or address the serious matters they raise. I have contacted my MP, Ben Wallace, but he is not practically supportive. On October 21st I wrote to the Prime Minister, I have had a standard letter acknowledging receipt of my letter. On December 3rd I received an email from Marples Demster, Library and Arts Policy Officer, from the Ministerial Support Team. This was a one page letter which failed to address ANY of the points put to the Prime Minister. Copies of the correspondence are attached.Once the Savile revelations were in the public domain I started to analyse the information as I did in the early 1980's when I received the information which led to the convictions mentioned above. One point that concerned me was the alleged involvement of the security services in the use of paedophilia for the purposes of blackmail. There were very serious allegations which centred on the Knicora Boys school in Northern Ireland. Eventually, I formulated a working hypothesis in an effort to make some rational judgements as to the veracity of these reports. On October 12th I wrote to Mr Hogan-Howe explaining my initial suspicions based on the working hypothesis, a copy of that letter was sent to Lord Justice Mummery. I stated:''My analysis of the overall picture building up leads me to consider this WORKING HYPOTHESIS: Is it possible that elements within the security services found that the strategy they used at the Kincora Boys school was so successful in Northern Ireland that they decided to use it nationally? (CONTD)David Icke
Merkel tells Europe: work harder to stay rich - The Local
  Link to Article
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:04
  Europe will have to work "very hard" to maintain its generous welfare system and remain competitive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a newspaper interview on Monday.
  "If Europe today accounts for just over seven percent of the world's population, produces around 25 percent of global GDP (gross domestic product) and has to finance 50 percent of global social spending, then it's obvious that it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life," Merkel told the British Financial Times in an interview.
  Europe will have to spend more on research and education and overhaul its tax and labour markets to restore competitiveness, she said. "All of us have to stop spending more than we earn every year."
  The chancellor was unrepentant about implementing the policy of austerity measures in response to the euro debt crisis, and reiterated her determination to make contracts with EU partner countries to implement more structural reform.
  Merkel also used the interview to explain why policy building takes a little longer in Germany, and why she is often reluctant to commit to a course of action until a consensus has been formed.
  "Social cohesion is very important to people in Germany," she told the paper. "Our federal system means that in Germany competences are distributed between the federal level and the L¤nder [the 16 federal states].
  "Although that sometimes makes politics arduous, it's also one of our country's strengths, namely the ability to find good solutions to problems, and for Germany, across party lines."
  The Local/AFP/bk
It's OK to link climate denial to pedophilia, ABC tells ex-chairman Maurice Newman
  Link to Article
  Source: Stuff Ain't Right » Uncategorized
  Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:01
  A COMPLAINT by former ABC chairman Maurice Newman over a radio program that linked scepticism about human-induced climate change to advocacy of pedophilia has been dismissed by the national broadcaster.
  Mr Newman, who retired from the ABC's top job in March when his five-year term ended, said the broadcaster had been ''captured'' by a ''small but powerful'' group of people when it came to climate change groupthink '' a claim rebuffed by the broadcaster.
  via It's OK to link climate denial to pedophilia, ABC tells ex-chairman Maurice Newman | The Australian.
  Like this:Be the first to like this.
'Hollywood hacker' who targeted Scarlett Johansson given 10 years in jail
  Link to Article
  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:58
  Prosecutors said Chaney illegally accessed the email accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP
  A federal judge on Monday sentenced a man who hacked into the personal online accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis and other women to 10 years in prison.
  US district judge S James Otero sentenced Christopher Chaney in Los Angeles after hearing from a tearful Johansson in a videotaped statement.
  The biggest spectacle in the case was the revelation that nude photos taken by Johansson herself and meant for her then-husband Ryan Reynolds were placed on the internet.
  Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Florida, pleaded guilty to counts that included wiretapping and unauthorized access to a computer.
  Chaney also targeted two women he knew, sending nude pictures of one former co-worker to her father.
  The women, who both knew Chaney, said their lives have been irreparably damaged by his actions. One has anxiety and panic attacks; the other is depressed and paranoid. Both say Chaney was calculated, cruel and creepy.
  Their accounts as cybervictims serve as a cautionary tale for those, even major celebrities, who snap personal, and sometimes revealing photos.
  Christina Aguilera said in a statement issued days before the sentencing that although she knows that she's often in the limelight, Chaney took from her some of the private moments she shares with friends.
  "That feeling of security can never be given back and there is no compensation that can restore the feeling one has from such a large invasion of privacy," Aguilera said.
  Prosecutors said Chaney illegally accessed the email accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry between November 2010 and October 2011. Aguilera, Kunis and Johansson agreed to have their identities made public with the hopes that the exposure about the case would provide awareness about online intrusion.
  Some of Aguilera's photos appeared online after Chaney sent an email from the account of her stylist, Simone Harouche, to Aguilera asking the singer for scantily clad photographs, prosecutors said.
  Chaney was arrested in October 2011 as part of a yearlong investigation of celebrityhacking that authorities dubbed "Operation Hackerazzi." Chaney's computer hard drive contained numerous private celebrity photos and a document that compiled their extensive personal data, according to a search warrant.
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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 12/17/12
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:51
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  December 17, 2012
  James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
  1:17 P.M. EST
  MR. CARNEY: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for being here. I think as you know, the President and Speaker of the House had a meeting here at the White House a little earlier today. Conversations continue. I have no readout of that meeting to provide, though I'm sure you will ask for one. And with that, I will take your questions.
  Q Can we have a readout of the meeting? (Laughter.)
  Q I want to ask you about gun violence and then fiscal cliff. The President made an impassioned plea last night for the nation to do more to protect its children, and I want to try to get a little more specific about what he means. Can you tell us when he talks about using the power of his office whether that includes using the power of his office to push for tighter gun control?
  MR. CARNEY: I appreciate the question. The President spoke last night at the vigil in Newtown and he spoke about the fact that the families of Newtown are not alone. And he also spoke about the fact that the kind of violence that occurred in Newtown occurs too often in this country, although what we saw in Newtown was particularly horrific. He said that in the coming weeks he would use the power of his office to engage the American people and lawmakers, law enforcement, mental health experts, educators and others in an effort to try to prevent these kinds of terrible tragedies from happening in the future.
  It's a complex problem that will require a complex solution. No single piece of legislation, no single action will fully address the problem. So I don't have a specific agenda to announce to you today. I would simply point you to what the President said last night about moving forward in coming weeks and I would look for him to do that.
  Q In the comprehensive solution, do you think it's fair and accurate to say that addressing gun violence, gun control, would have to be part of it?
  MR. CARNEY: I think that it's part of it, but it is far from all of it. And as you know, the President has taken positions on common-sense measures that he believes should be taken to help address this problem, but he made clear that more needs to be done, that we as a nation have not done enough clearly to fulfill our number-one obligation, which is to protect our children.
  Q One more on this. As you know, we've seen these horrific moments come and go and the debate about gun safety, children's safety goes with it. Does the President think that he needs to capitalize on this, get this conversation going and see some action in the short term, or does he feel like he can get through fiscal cliff, immigration, and there's now a mind-set and a will to get this done months down the line?
  MR. CARNEY: I don't have a specific timeline for you for what the President will do moving forward. I would simply refer you to his remarks last night when he talked about the action he hoped to take to engage the American people in the coming weeks. I think that what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School has clearly shocked the entire nation and has laid bare the necessity of evaluating the various things that we can and must do as a nation to try to better protect our children.
  Q A couple quickly on fiscal cliff. The President said to the Business Roundtable recently that Republicans need to reach what you called a conceptual breakthrough on rates, tax rates going up, and then once that happens, a deal could come together pretty quickly. Does he feel he has that now that Speaker Boehner is talking about rates as part of the conversation?
  MR. CARNEY: I won't comment on specific reported proposals or counterproposals on internal conversations between the President and the Speaker, or the President's team and the Speaker's team, or with other members of leadership.
  The President's insistence that rates need to go up on the top 2 percent was based on an economic reality, which is that in order to achieve a broad deficit reduction package that puts our economy on a sustainable fiscal path in the future, a certain level of revenue gleaned from the wealthy has to be met. And the only way to do that was through, in part, rates rising. That remains his position.
  So we have seen since the election a change in tone and, in some cases, a change in position from different Republicans, including elected Republicans, on the issue of, first revenue, and then acknowledging that rates have to go up. But thus far, the President's proposal is the only proposal that we have seen that achieves the balance that's so necessary. And the balance is important because a plan that does not have it puts unduly the burden on senior citizens, or on middle-class Americans, or on parents with disabled children, and that is not acceptable.
  Balance is essential because in order to move forward in a way that protects the middle class, we need to have the package include the kind of revenue that the President has talked about.
  Q Last question. The President campaigned on taxes going up on households over $250,000. He was very clear and specific about that. When you were asked about that threshold over the summer, you said the President's position has been the same for a long, long time; it has not changed and it will not change. I know you don't want to talk about the Boehner proposal of a million, but I'm just asking about the President's stand. Is it still and will remain that $250,000 is the threshold?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, I will say what I've said many times from here in recent weeks and months, which is that the only plan that we've seen that achieves the size and the balance that's required for sustainable -- for long-term deficit reduction and putting our economy on a sustainable fiscal path is the President's. And an element -- an important element of that on the revenue side is allowing current law when it comes to the top 2 percent to remain in place, which would see rates on those wealthy Americans rise even as we extend, and in the President's mind, make permanent, tax cuts for the 98 percent of the American people -- for the other 98 percent of the American people. That's the President's position.
  And again, it's not -- as I've said repeatedly, his position is not based on the notion that these rates have to go up because that's good in and of itself. It's based on the necessity of having enough revenue as part of this balanced package, and revenue only coming from the wealthiest Americans, those who can afford it most, to ensure that we're not unduly putting the burden on the middle class or on seniors or families with children with disabilities. So that's the underlying premise that the President has always had, and it's been the foundation of the proposals he's put forward.
  I'm going to mix it up here, go in back. Yes, sir.
  Q Thank you, Jay. On Japan's incoming Prime Minister, instead of visiting China first, like his first term, he said he would like to visit the U.S. first, early next year. What's the President's expectation of his visit? And also he said he would like to stop the challenge from China over the disputed islands. Will the U.S. support that position?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, first of all, I'd like to say that we congratulate Liberal Democratic Party President Shinzo Abe on his election as Japan's next Prime Minister and on his party's success in the elections in Japan yesterday. The U.S.-Japan alliance serves as the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia Pacific, and we look forward to working closely with the new Japanese Prime Minister, cabinet, and the people of Japan on a range of important bilateral, regional and global issues.
  I'd also like to say that the President appreciates Prime Minister Noda's contribution -- contributions rather -- to U.S.-Japan relations on a range of global, regional and bilateral issues. And we would like to thank Prime Minister Noda for his service and wish him well in his future endeavors.
  As you know, of course, the new Prime Minister does not take office -- and I wouldn't want to get ahead of that before we start talking about potential meetings or policy discussions with him.
  Q So, Jay, you made the point last Friday that that was not the day to start to talk about policy as it relates to gun control. But we are looking for some more specifics, especially now that the President has said quite plainly that he's going to use all the powers of his office to engage Americans on the issue. Senator Lieberman has suggested a national commission on violence. Would the President be -- would he consider setting up a presidential task force on this?
  MR. CARNEY: What I think is important to note is what the President said about the actions he intends to take in coming weeks to engage the American people in efforts to try to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening again in the future, and to engage broadly -- that means lawmakers and law enforcement officials, and mental health professionals, and educators -- because this is a complex problem that requires many solutions, not just one. And I don't have a series of proposals to present to you. Again, the President spoke yesterday about moving forward in the coming weeks --
  Q Would he consider such a --
  MR. CARNEY: Again, I'm not going to rule in or rule out specific proposals. I think, broadly speaking, it's I think a reflection of the tragedy in Newtown and its horrific nature that both elected officials and others are thinking broadly about ways that we can move forward, and that's a good thing -- and being thoughtful in their approach, because it's just generally important as we move forward on this not to get into a situation where anybody retreats to the usual corner or starts issuing the usual talking points. I think it's important that we -- and the President does -- that we all recognize that we need to change a situation in this country that has led to too many senseless deaths of American children.
  Q And you said on Friday as well that the President remains committed to working to reinstate the ban on assault weapon sales. Senator Feinstein said over the weekend that she will come back from the holidays, next year, with a new Congress, and she will put forth such a proposal. Will the President and the White House support that effort and help push it?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, again, I'm not going to engage in specific point-by-point policy proposals or prescriptions. But the President, as you know, has long supported reinstating the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. And as the President has said, and I just said, this is a complex problem that requires complex and a variety of solutions. So I don't have a specific policy outline for you today from the President. And I think it's important to remember that this is about our gun laws and enforcing them, but it's also about a broader series of issues, including issues of mental health and education and the like.
  So the President's position on the assault weapons ban has not changed; he still supports its reenactment. But you'll hear from him I think, as he said last night, in the coming weeks to speak more specifically about what he thinks we can do moving forward.
  Q Okay. So last question on this -- even in the aftermath of this tragedy --
  MR. CARNEY: I want to give others a chance here.
  Q I'm sorry -- just what if any concern does the President have that his fellow Democrats, as well as some Republicans, will be hesitant to, in the face of opposition from the gun lobby, to move forward on -- that they'll feel intimidated, they won't move forward on actions to bring gun control into force?
  MR. CARNEY: Again, I think we all recognize that this is a complex problem and there are obstacles to taking action of a variety -- coming from a variety of places. And what the President hopes, as you heard him say last night, is that everyone steps back and looks at a situation that has to be addressed, and thinks broadly and thoughtfully about how we can move forward. And he certainly hopes that that will happen.
  Yes, Mike.
  Q Thank you, Jay. Getting back to the fiscal cliff, is there concern on the part of the White House, given the reaction that some conservative groups have already got to the latest proffer from the Speaker -- a very negative reaction from some quarters -- that you could get in a situation where if you push the Speaker too far, you get an agreement with him but it becomes moot because he can't marshal the votes to pass it in the House? How are you balancing that?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, John Boehner is the Speaker of the House, he is the leader of the House of Representatives, the leader of the House Republican conference, and I believe the third most powerful elected official in the land. So I won't tell him, and we won't tell him what his politics are or how he should work with his conference.
  But we are obviously engaged in conversations with the Speaker and his staff and other leadership members, and believe that we can -- that the parameters of an agreement have been and are clear. It requires balance, in our view. It requires a deal that does not unduly put the burden on seniors, or middle-class Americans, or families with children of disabilities, or kids trying to go to college. And on the issue of revenues, it is absolutely a fact that rates will go up on the top 2 percent.
  And again, I'm not addressing specific proposals and reactions to proposals, but it has always been the President's position that we need to extend tax cuts for 98 percent of the American people. That is a position that Republicans and Democrats alike support, and the President has been arguing for months now that the House ought to simply pass that Senate bill that gives the certainty that it would give to the middle class, that their taxes won't go up on January 1st, and then we can discuss the issue of tax rates for the remaining 2 percent -- the top 2 percent in the United States.
  The purpose, broadly, is for balance. And the President has always said that part of this is revenue and part of this is spending cuts. And he is willing to make tough choices on the issue of spending cuts, and that remains the case. So any potential agreement would not only have to align with the President's principles; it would require tough choices by both sides, including the President and including Republicans. And that's the only way it can come together.
  Q So just to clarify, is the goal here to get the best deal you can from the Speaker, or to get the best deal that you can get through the House?
  MR. CARNEY: It's the best deal that we can sign into law for the American people. And there are very clear principles that the President has laid out, and one is that we will not -- he will not sign into law an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the top 2 percent. He will not. He would veto any legislation that got to his desk that extended those tax cuts for the top 2 percent. Any deal that attempted to reduce our deficit broadly for the long term, a bigger deal that he has been seeking, has to be balanced. It has to have enough revenue from those who can afford it, and a mix of spending cuts that do not unduly put the burden on seniors or the middle class or students or families who have children with disabilities. I mean, these are the fundamental parameters that the President has brought with him in these conversations.
  He believes that a deal is possible. He believes that it would be a good thing for the economy if we were to get a deal that met those parameters and also allowed us to continue to invest in key areas of our economy, because the purpose here, by the way, on the first instance of avoiding the fiscal cliff is to avoid a situation where -- that would affect our potential to continue to grow and create jobs. And the second issue is engaging in longer-term deficit reduction in a way that allows the economy to grow faster and create jobs more quickly.
  So these are big goals, lofty goals, but they're important ones.
  Q Jay, unfortunately we've realized that there's sort of a pattern to the public engagement following these shootings. At first, there's a lot of shock and there's outrage, but then over time it sort of gives way to I guess people being -- people having less concern than they did. In light of that, isn't it more likely that people retreat to their corners, which you say you don't want to see, the farther out from this event?
  MR. CARNEY: The President mentioned yesterday that he would, in coming weeks, use the power of his office to try to engage the American people and lawmakers and law enforcement officials and mental health experts and others in an effort to try to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening again, and he will do that.
  On the first part of your question, I think that it's hard to imagine people in any near term somehow forgetting the rawness of what happened on Friday. It is hard to think about 20 six- and seven-year-olds and what happened to them on Friday and imagine that, in a few weeks or a few months, that pain would not still be incredibly intense and present. I think that's probably true for everyone in this room, and I suspect it's true for the vast majority of people in Washington and around the country. So what happened was both consistent, unfortunately, with a series of events that have been happening in the United States, but also exceptional in its horrendousness.
  Q So does he feel that engaging right now is counterproductive or inappropriate in light of the fact that obviously he feels that this is different, that somehow this pushes the shelf life of concern?
  MR. CARNEY: I think the President spoke about this from the heart with great passion and conviction just last night. So the idea that he's not engaging in this at present I think doesn't explain the speech that he gave last night. I just don't have a series of specific steps --
  Q I mean, what you said about how it's not the time to sort of push specific policy prescriptions. Is that because he thinks it's inappropriate?
  MR. CARNEY: But I said that on Friday, at a time, remember, when there were still bodies in the school. The President has spoken twice since then and you heard him speak about what he plans to do in the coming weeks just last night. So I will leave it to him to follow what he said he would do, and, again, that's coming weeks.
  Jon Christopher, then Peter.
  Q In the aftermath of what happened on Friday and the President's two speeches, does this issue of serious gun control legislation, is that still the third rail of politics for Democrats?
  MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to engage in political analysis. There have been challenges to moving forward on a variety of issues that relate to the problem of gun violence in America, and there's no question that the complexity of the problem and the complexity of the solutions will mean that there will be obstacles moving forward. But I'm not going to speculate about how that might play out in the future. Again, I don't have a specific set of proposals to discuss with you today, at least from the President's perspective.
  Peter.
  Q Jay, in the course of the last four years as President, he's been consoling communities now four times -- Aurora, Arizona, Fort Hood, and now in Connecticut. Given the fact that in 2008 he pledged, I think it was at the DNC that year, where he said specifically that he would keep AK-47s out of criminals' hands and had advocated among other things reinstating the assault weapons ban, what does the President say today to Americans in communities like the one he visited just yesterday why nothing more has happened yet?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, the President's support for reinstatement of the assault weapons ban has been the case ever since it expired, and was true -- has been true for the past several years. The fact is we have taken steps to improve background checks, which goes at the issue of preventing those who should not have guns from acquiring them. But as you heard the President say last night, we all need to do more. We must change. We must take more action and greater action to address this problem, because we have not adequately in his view taken care of our first priority, which in this case was protecting our children.
  So he's committed himself, as you heard him last night say, to using the power of his office to help bring about that change. And he will do that in a way that is inclusive because it requires more than a President; it requires more than gun laws and more than legislation. So he will engage in a process that encompasses a lot of different communities and potential actions.
  Q Is it then unfair for Americans to say that the President should have done more in the course of the last four years? They point today to facts like -- that he signed bills allowing guns in National Parks and on Amtrak, and say, why is this conversation starting only now? Should he have done more in the course of the last four years?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, I think you've heard over the course of his presidency the President speak about these tragedies and about taking common-sense measures to deal with gun violence, to prevent those who should not have weapons from acquiring them. And we have taken some actions, but there is no question, as the President said last night, that we need to change and we need to do more. And he's committed to doing that.
  George.
  Q If combating gun violence is moving up on the President's legislative agenda, how do you keep that from distracting from the focus on jobs, the economy, fiscal issues and the way that critics said health care did in the first term?
  MR. CARNEY: I think you're getting way ahead of yourself, George. I think that we have a lot of priorities as a nation, and this President will work on a series of issues that he considers priorities for the nation. And I think that we all as a country need to have the bandwidth to move forward on all of them. He certainly will do that.
  Q But, Jay, as legislative items go, is this now a priority?
  MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to rank priorities. This is clearly extremely important.
  Q But he did last night -- he said -- he made it sound like this was the most important thing on the nation's agenda.
  MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to rank priorities. We have to take -- the President just met with the Speaker of the House to continue discussions on the fiscal cliff and efforts to get our deficits under control. We have the priority of immigration reform. We have further steps we need to take to enhance economic growth and job creation. And we need to take meaningful action when it comes to the problem and scourge of gun violence in America. We need to do all of it. And this President is committed to just that.
  Ed.
  Q Jay, on another topic, Benghazi, the State Department today said that Secretary Clinton received the report from the Accountability Review Board and they've been waiting for that. Can you give us an idea of when the President -- when you expect the President may receive that, and what kind of action the White House may take to prevent another terror attack like that?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, I don't have a timetable for you in terms of that process, when that report moves from the State Department. The President has looked forward to the Review Board's work as he looks forward to the completion of the investigation by the FBI. So it's hard to say what action he will take since we haven't seen those reports.
  Q Quick follow-up then -- to cooperate with that investigation, the FBI is still investigating as well. Do you have any sense of when the last time the President got an update from the FBI on where their investigation on Benghazi stands? And also, Secretary Clinton has been ill, obviously, and nobody would expect her to testify right now. But is the administration committed to having her testify before she leaves office, basically?
  MR. CARNEY: I would ask the State Department about her schedule and her illness that she's dealing with. And I certainly haven't -- I'm not aware of any updates the President has gotten on an investigation.
  Jake.
  Q Jay, last night the President said in his speech, ''Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?'' When he referred to ''our freedom,'' was he referring to gun rights? Was he referring to the difficulty that some societies have, some communities have now when it comes to committing people against their will? What exactly did he mean by ''freedom''?
  MR. CARNEY: Well, I think that he meant, broadly, those and other issues -- that we obviously have a society that is one based on laws, but it is a free society that creates a balance between the laws that we must abide and the freedoms that we enjoy.
  Q So both?
  MR. CARNEY: I mean, again, I'm not going to get -- I think that both could be encompassed within the meaning of what he said and other issues of freedoms and responsibilities more broadly. So I don't think -- it wasn't a single specific meaning. I think it was broader than that.
  Q Okay. The President has been focused on the health care system in this country since he took office. Does he feel that the mental health care system in this country is adequate?
  MR. CARNEY: It's a very good question, and I would say that the Obama administration has taken action for the past four years to ensure that more Americans have access to mental health services, and we will continue to work with leaders across the country to help ensure people get the care and treatment they need. As you know the Affordable Care Act will ensure that 30 million more Americans have access to health care, including mental health services. And the law makes recommended health services available without a copay or deductible.
  One of the reasons why the President explicitly talked about engaging not just with lawmakers and law enforcement officials and educators but mental health experts is because that's clearly a factor that needs to be addressed in some of these cases of horrific violence. So what the Affordable Care Act has done, Obamacare, if you will, has ensured that mental health services are integral and part of the services that the 30 million people who will be -- additional Americans who will have health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act will receive, and in terms of the recommended services, receive them without a co-pay or deductible.
  So I think that reflects the administration's view on how important mental health services are. But when it comes to this broader -- or rather this more specific issue of mental health and the kind of violence that we saw in Newtown, I think that he believes it's important that experts in that field are part of this discussion.
  Q Okay. And lastly, Jay, after the Tucson shooting that left Congresswoman Gabby Giffords seriously wounded and six others dead, including a little girl, the President wrote an op-ed, this is in 2011, in the Arizona Star, and he talked about the gun restrictions he favored. He said that ''The laws on the books should be enforced more when it came to the background check. It relies on data supplied by states, but the data is often incomplete and inadequate. We must do better. Second, we should reward the states who provide the best data. And third, we should make the system faster and nimbler.''
  So that was about -- that was almost two years ago, so what's the progress on --
  MR. CARNEY: Well, the fact is -- I mean, I would refer you to the Justice Department for the specifics, but we have taken steps specifically on the issue of background checks to make the system more thorough and complete because this is a key component of an effort to enforce existing laws that when properly enforced do not allow weapons to fall into the hands of those who should not have them under existing law. So that's an important component. We have taken steps -- and I'm sure that will be part of the broader discussion moving forward, but it is an issue that we have taken steps on because the background check system, making it more complete and thorough, is an important component. Q And last, Jay, in the October presidential debate, the President said -- one of the debates: ''Weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets.'' Can you name one thing the President has done in the last four years to help remove weapons of war from our streets?
  MR. CARNEY: There's no question, Jake, that the scourge of gun violence is a problem that has not sufficiently been addressed, because, as we saw in Newtown, we continue to have horrific tragedies that result in innocent victims. The President supports the assault weapons ban and the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, but we have to --
  Q -- tell me about his thinking. I mean like has he taken one measure, one act -- one -- to remove the weapons of war that he talks about?
  MR. CARNEY: Again, he supports legislation that is designed to ban some weapons. But as you know, this is a complex issue and that requires complex solutions. And he looks forward to engaging the American people in an effort to do more. As he made clear last night, we need to change. We have not done enough -- we as a nation. And he will, in coming weeks, use the power of his office to try to help make that change.
  Q So that's a no?
  Q Jay?
  MR. CARNEY: Yes, Major.
  Q Speaking of the power of his office, the President, of course, sits atop agencies that have a tremendous amount of resources they can pull together for him at his direction options, new policies. Has he, since Friday, asked either HHS, the Justice Department, any one at the DPC to either form a task force or do anything to bring to him either new ideas, research, data, anything to address what you described as a complex problem that requires a complex solution?
  MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to get into internal policy deliberations.
  Q But that would be different. I'm not asking about deliberation. I'm just asking if he had asked for things to be brought to him to be assembled.
  MR. CARNEY: That would be an internal request or an internal policy deliberation as to make those kinds of requests or to compile those kinds of proposals. The President looks forward, as he said last night, to engaging with the American public in the coming weeks in an effort to try to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening in the future, and engage broadly -- not just with lawmakers, not just with legislation related to guns, but broadly -- on all of the issues that are in play here that affect this scourge of gun violence.
  Q Michael Bloomberg on Friday and then Joe Califano in the Post today said time is of the essence. Does the President disagree that there is a clamoring from some corners to move more rapidly on this one particular issue -- not the wide, complex range of issues, but on this issue, gun control, specifically -- does the President disagree with that assessment either as a matter of timing or politics or policy, and if so, why?
  MR. CARNEY: I think you heard the President say and use the phrase, ''in coming weeks.'' They didn't talk about months or years; he said coming weeks. But that is not specific to any one particular avenue of pursuit. Again, gun laws are a part of this, but they are not the only part of this, as anyone who is truly an expert on these issues will tell you.
  But he will -- and again, I'll just cite him again from last night -- he will engage in an effort in coming weeks to bring an array of people in the American public and move forward in this effort to try to prevent these tragedies from happening again. These are -- there is no single legislation, no single bill that's been written, that's been enacted and expired that alone solves this problem. And that's why you have to take a broader approach.
  Q Over the weekend, through conversations on the Hill and in this building, it has been suggested to many of us that some genuine progress has been achieved on the fiscal cliff, that things are not where they were a week ago, either atmospherically or in the exchange of the ideas, the productive nature of the exchanges of ideas. Broadly speaking, would you agree that this process is in a different place than it was a week ago, and that, not predicting anything in the future, that a sufficient number of issues have been at least dealt with and that you might be closer to a deal than we were, let's say, a week ago?
  MR. CARNEY: Without going into details of conversations, I think it's fair to say that we have continued to engage in communications with the Speaker's office and his staff and with the other leaders and their staff. And the President believes that the parameters of a potential agreement are clear. It is also the case that we have not seen a proposal, besides the President's, that achieves the balance that the President insists be part of a deal -- because we can't have a situation where deficit reduction is borne unduly or primarily by the middle class or by seniors, or by families with children who have disabilities or kids trying to go to school.
  So I'm not going to characterize discussions beyond that. They've been, as we've said in the past, frank and direct and deliberate. And I think we've used words like that, and that remains the case. But our goal here is to have an environment that maximizes that possibility of an agreement that works for the American people and that achieves the goals the President has laid out.
  Q Back in the summer of 2011, the President at least considered a different inflation measure -- the slowing of the rate of adjustments, the so-called chain CPI. But in the package September 19 that was submitted to the Hill on tax increases and cuts, that formula was not adopted. Can you tell us right today what is the President's thinking on a chain CPI?
  MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to get into specific policy proposals. The principles the President has brought forward in this process are clear. The spending cuts that he has put forward are clear and specific, as are the revenue ideas that he's put forward.
  As I've said in the past, he's prepared to make tough choices. He also understands that his bill will not, as written, likely be what the final compromise, if there is one, looks like. But he insists and will insist, before he signs anything, that there is the balance that he seeks, that is fair, and that seniors aren't bearing the burden so that the wealthy bear less-- those who can afford it most bear less; that the middle class isn't stuck holding the bag so that the wealthiest pay less. That's just not a balance the President thinks is fair to the American people, and it's not one that makes economic sense in the long term. Q Is it fair to conclude, then, that since they weren't included and he's not including them now, that he's not --
  MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to get into the specifics of the conversations or proposals that may or may not have been put forward as part of them. The principles that I've outlined are what is guiding the President now.
  Yes, Scott.
  Q Mike asked you about Speaker Boehner's ability to bring Republicans along on an idea. Can you talk about what outreach and hand-holding and temperature-taking the White House is doing with Democrats to make sure that they'll agree to the parameters of any -- on the spending side?
  MR. CARNEY: I think, as we've said all along, a compromise that meets the President's principles and the objectives of deficit reduction that is done in a way that protects the middle class and seniors, and asks the wealthiest to pay more, will require tough choices by all sides. It will not be a deal that any single person or either party is going to say reflects exactly what they wanted.
  The President speaks frequently with Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill and as well as Democratic lawmakers in general. And he believes that it's important to be guided by the principles that he's laid out and to seek and hopefully achieve a deal that is big enough to really make a dent in our deficits in a way that puts us on a fiscally sustainable path, because that is good for the economy and good for the middle class. And that deal just has to be structured in a way that's balanced, that doesn't protect the wealthiest by shifting burdens to seniors, for example, or students or the middle class.
  But he believes we can find a deal that should earn the support of Democrats and Republicans alike.
  MR. CARNEY: Andrei.
  Q Thank you. You talk about the complex solutions, but looking here as an outsider, as a very sympathetic outsider, I see that the United States is basically the only country in the world -- major, developed country -- that has these terrible, recurring attacks -- criminal attacks. We've lived through similar things in Russia, but those were terrorist attacks. The criminal attacks --
  MR. CARNEY: What's your question, Andrei?
  Q My question is: The solution is basically known, not even talking about the freedoms that Jake asked and I asked, that the President now asked. Without gun control -- okay, question -- (laughter) -- the question is, when you look at the solutions --
  MR. CARNEY: I thought you were going to ask me about permanent trade relations. (Laughter.)
  Q When you look at the solutions, will you consider the experience of the outside world, the experience of other countries that do prevent such things?
  MR. CARNEY: I think that the President is going to engage the American public and -- in trying to find a solution, or solutions, to the scourge of gun violence so that the kinds of things that happened -- or what happened in Newtown, Connecticut don't happen again in the future. I think that this is -- the comparative issue is not in the forefront here. The issue here is what steps can we take, working together, to try to address this problem.
  Q Has he heard from his colleagues around the world about this?
  MR. CARNEY: He had not on this issue that I'm aware of.
  Alexis.
  Q Following up on this, quick question. Brianna was talking about the potency of the moment. Is the President eager to talk about this in his inaugural address -- that kind of outline of where we can go forward --
  MR. CARNEY: I don't have any more details to give you about how or when the President will address this issue in coming weeks, except to cite what he said yesterday about doing so in coming weeks.
  Q And can I also ask, did the President talk to any other leaders on the Hill today?
  MR. CARNEY: I don't have any other conversations to read out to you today.
  Susan.
  Q So the timing of this horrific event and the nation mourning, and we have that sort of juxtaposed against this fiscal cliff deal -- does that put any more pressure on you -- sort of on Washington and the different players, the President and Speaker Boehner -- to sort of get their act together, get a deal together? Does it put more pressure on? Because the nation is watching what Washington is doing right now as the President is speaking about how important it is to do something to discourage the gun violence, to do away with the scourge of gun violence. But it's coming at the same time, so my question is, does it put more pressure to get a deal done?
  MR. CARNEY: I think that that is an interesting question. I would simply say that, echoing what the President said, that what happened in Connecticut reminds us truly of what matters most and what really matters in our lives, and it is also true that we have other challenges that have to be addressed. And I think one of the reasons why it would be such a good thing if an agreement could be reached on these fiscal and budget issues, is that it would send a signal that Washington can function and that compromise can happen.
  That was true -- that is true more narrowly if the House would simply pass tax cuts for the middle class that supposedly House Republicans want as much as the President and Democrats want. But it would also apply broadly to a bigger deficit reduction deal if one were achieved.
  I think that on that issue, on the issue of gun violence, and on issue after issue, most Americans out in the country do not look at this as which side is up and which party is winning, but is Washington functioning and is it working in a way that's good for the country and good for them.
  So I hope that whatever the issue is, that we can come together and respond to that call and that desire. I know that's how the President feels.
  Q Thank you, Jay.
  MR. CARNEY: Thanks very much, guys.
  END2:07 P.M. EST
Teacher Union Chief: Sandy Hook Shooting Proves Teachers Shouldn't Have Guns'...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:40
  Michael Bloomberg logic.
  (Washington Examiner) '-- Michigan state senators voted Thursday to allow citizens with concealed carry permits to carry their weapons on school property, but the American Federation of Teachers argues that the Friday shooting in Connecticut proves people shouldn't be armed at school.
  ''Firearms have absolutely no place in our schools'--the Dec. 14, 2012, tragic massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., is a chilling and heartbreaking reminder of this,''wrote Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, and AFT Michigan president David Hecker in a letter to Gov. Rick Snyder, R-Mich.
  ''Permitting firearms in schools'--visible or concealed'--enables a dangerous set of circumstances that can result in similar tragic outcomes,'' Weingarten and Hecker added in calling for Snyder to veto the legislation. ''We should be doing everything we can to reduce the possibility of any gunfire in schools, and concentrate on ways to keep all guns off school property and ensure the safety of children and school employees.''
  Keep reading'...
MEDIA BLACKOUT: Portland '' Clackamas mall shooter faced man with concealed weapon
  Link to Article
  Source: Stuff Ain't Right » Uncategorized
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:26
  PORTLAND '-- Nick Meli is emotionally drained. The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire.
  ''I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, 'are you serious?,''' he said.
  The friend and baby hit the floor. Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.
  ''He was working on his rifle,'' said Meli. ''He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side.''
  The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.
  ''As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them,'' he said.
  Meli took cover inside a nearby store. He never pulled the trigger. He stands by that decision.
  ''I'm not beating myself up cause I didn't shoot him,'' said Meli. ''I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself.''
  The gunman was dead, but not before taking two innocent lives with him and taking the innocence of everyone else.
  ''I don't ever want to see anyone that way ever,'' said Meli. ''It just bothers me.''
  via Clackamas mall shooter faced man with concealed weapon | kgw.com Portland.
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Joe Manchin and Joe Scarborough On Newtown Shooting - On Our New Friends Named Joe
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:21
  Tom Williams/Roll Call via Getty Images
  If Senator Joe Manchin wants to convince us this change of mind is anything but a tentative nod toward what he thinks might be a changing political reality regarding guns then there's much more he needs to do.
  Columbine wasn't enough. Virginia Tech wasn't enough. Aurora wasn't enough. Hell, Clackamas only was a little over a week ago, and it wasn't enough. Don't worry, though, America. Some people do have their limits. It seems that a horrific event in which a mentally unbalanced young man living in a house full of advanced personal weaponry decides to ventilate his mom, drive to a elementary school, shoot his way in, and turn a quiet suburban neighborhood into My Lai 4 represents to thought leaders like Joe Scarborough and Senator Joe Manchin all's they can stand and they can't stands no more!
  "Never before have we seen our babies slaughtered," the senator said. "Anybody that's a proud gun owner, anybody that's a proud member of the NRA, we're also proud parents. We're also proud grandparents."
  "Babies" are slaughtered every day in Chicago and New Orleans and the streets of Boston, because this country is awash in profitable firearms, but never mind. And how anyone can be a "proud member" of the NRA this morning is beyond my ken. But if Senator Joe wants to convince me this change of mind is anything but a tentative nod toward what he thinks might be a changing political reality regarding guns '-- and, to me, that's still really up in the air '-- then here's what he can do. He can call a press conference today and announce that he is resigning from the NRA unless and until Wayne LaPierre and the rest of the executive board is fired, and unless and until the organization ceases to create through its mailings and its rhetoric a universe of armed paranoia in the land, and unless and until the NRA stops aiding and abetting '-- and profiting from '-- the continued existence and propagation of that paranoia. Then I'll believe him. Oh, and if he publicly apologized for that idiotic commercial wherein he shot cap-and-trade legislation with his personal shootin' 'arn, that would be nice, too.
  As for Scarborough, well, it seems he's offering a little Beltway horse trading here. If you crack down on video games, I'll consider cracking down on guns. Nice to have you aboard, Joe. Now sit down. examine your conscience for past sins, and then shut up while the people who have been doing the real work on this issue for the 20 years in which you were carrying water for the gun industry go about their business again. Maybe you should talk to a doctor named Judy Palfrey in Boston, who has been fighting your former BFFs on this issue since 1991, when you were just preparing to come to Congress for the purpose of chasing Bill Clinton's penis all around the Beltway, because one of her patients, a 11-year old boy named Charles Copney was shot down in a crossfire between drug gangs that were very well-armed because this is America and FREEEEDOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!! (Palfrey was the subject of a column by the great Kevin Cullen in The Boston Globe on Sunday which is, alas, behind the paper's paywall. but from which most of the rest of this post is drawn.) Palfrey became president of the American Academy Of Pediatricians, in which capacity she led the organization to propose a law that would require pediatricians to ask their patients if there were guns in their homes. In your home state of Florida, Joe, the legislature passed a law that would have made it a crime for pediatricians to ask those very reasonable questions. (I think it might have been a decent question to ask, say, seven-year old Adam Lanza, to name one.) The pediatricians took the law to court. They finally won last year. Have Judy Palfrey on your show, Joe. Apologize to her and then shut up and listen, because it's not just the weapons, it's also the legal and cultural effort to render unacceptable any attempt to control or analyze the effect of having this many guns on the street. Pediatricians are not the shock troops of the New World Order.
  I am sorry to be cynical, but I decline to be otherwise for a while.
The Chilling Effect on Social Media (Connecticut State Police Edition)
  Link to Article
  Source: EconomicPolicyJournal.com
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:19
  To be noted, it appears that many of the tangential inaccuracies during the breaking hours of the Sandy Hill Elementary School tragedy came from MSM, the biggies. I found it odd that NBC, MSNBC and CNN were able to break details that local reporters, who were on the scene didn't seem to have.Then, while monitoring a local CT television station, one of the anchors cleared up my befuddlement. He said during a discussion that the majors were getting their info from long established connections within the FBI. Thus, the chain of events that likely led to mis-identifying Ryan Lanza as the killer, instead of his brother, Adam, probably went like this: FBI to MSM contact.
  I await to see if the CT state police go after the FBI or MSM for providing false information, with the same energy that they seem to be so eager to use against "social media."
  (ht Mike Lavazza and Bill Bergman)
Father Bush Outed As A Paedophile Yet Again - David Icke Website
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:16
  Monday, 17 December 2012 10:49
  Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to a serial paedeophile, child killer and Satanist.
  Obama said: 'His life is a testament that public service is a noble calling. We celebrate an extraordinary life of service and of sacrifice.'
  Sacrifice - oh definitely, but the rest? Absolute bollocks.
  Gordon Duff of Veterans Today is the latest to out Bush. He says: 'The great addiction in Washington is peddling children for sex'.
  Exactly, and the same in London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Rome, Canberra ... on and on and on.
  So David Icke was mad, right? No, just telling the truth all along.
  The whole interview is interesting, but the paedophiles in Washington are covered from around 1.22.10.
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The Freedom of an Armed Society - NYTimes.com
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:52
  The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.
  In the wake of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and the resulting renewed debate on gun control in the United States, The Stone will publish a series of essays this week that examine the ethical, social and humanitarian implications on the use, possession and regulation of weapons.
  ~~~
  The night of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., I was in the car with my wife and children, working out details for our eldest son's 12th birthday the following Sunday '-- convening a group of friends at a showing of the film ''The Hobbit.'' The memory of the Aurora movie theatre massacre was fresh in his mind, so he was concerned that it not be a late night showing. At that moment, like so many families, my wife and I were weighing whether to turn on the radio and expose our children to coverage of the school shootings in Connecticut. We did. The car was silent in the face of the flood of gory details. When the story was over, there was a long thoughtful pause in the back of the car. Then my eldest son asked if he could be homeschooled.
  An armed society is the opposite of a civil society.That incident brought home to me what I have always suspected, but found difficult to articulate: an armed society '-- especially as we prosecute it at the moment in this country '-- is the opposite of a civil society.
  The Newtown shootings occurred at a peculiar time in gun rights history in this nation. On one hand, since the mid 1970s, fewer households each year on average have had a gun. Gun control advocates should be cheered by that news, but it is eclipsed by a flurry of contrary developments. As has been well publicized, gun sales have steadily risen over the past few years, and spiked with each of Obama's election victories.
  Furthermore, of the weapons that proliferate amongst the armed public, an increasing number are high caliber weapons (the weapon of choice in the goriest shootings in recent years). Then there is the legal landscape, which looks bleak for the gun control crowd.
  Every state except for Illinois has a law allowing the carrying of concealed weapons '-- and just last week, a federal court struck down Illinois' ban. States are now lining up to allow guns on college campuses. In September, Colorado joined four other states in such a move, and statehouses across the country are preparing similar legislation. And of course, there was Oklahoma's ominous Open Carry Law approved by voters this election day '-- the fifteenth of its kind, in fact '-- which, as the name suggests, allows those with a special permit to carry weapons in the open, with a holster on their hip.
  Individual gun ownership '-- and gun violence '-- has long been a distinctive feature of American society, setting us apart from the other industrialized democracies of the world. Recent legislative developments, however, are progressively bringing guns out of the private domain, with the ultimate aim of enshrining them in public life. Indeed, the N.R.A. strives for a day when the open carry of powerful weapons might be normal, a fixture even, of any visit to the coffee shop or grocery store '-- or classroom.
  As N.R.A. president Wayne LaPierre expressed in a recent statement on the organization's Web site, more guns equal more safety, by their account. A favorite gun rights saying is ''an armed society is a polite society.'' If we allow ever more people to be armed, at any time, in any place, this will provide a powerful deterrent to potential criminals. Or if more citizens were armed '-- like principals and teachers in the classroom, for example '-- they could halt senseless shootings ahead of time, or at least early on, and save society a lot of heartache and bloodshed.
  As ever more people are armed in public, however '-- even brandishing weapons on the street '-- this is no longer recognizable as a civil society. Freedom is vanished at that point.
  And yet, gun rights advocates famously maintain that individual gun ownership, even of high caliber weapons, is the defining mark of our freedom as such, and the ultimate guarantee of our enduring liberty. Deeper reflection on their argument exposes basic fallacies.
  In her book ''The Human Condition,'' the philosopher Hannah Arendt states that ''violence is mute.'' According to Arendt, speech dominates and distinguishes the polis, the highest form of human association, which is devoted to the freedom and equality of its component members. Violence '-- and the threat of it '-- is a pre-political manner of communication and control, characteristic of undemocratic organizations and hierarchical relationships. For the ancient Athenians who practiced an incipient, albeit limited form of democracy (one that we surely aim to surpass), violence was characteristic of the master-slave relationship, not that of free citizens.
  Liberty entails precisely the freedom to offend. A gun in every pocket would stifle that.Arendt offers two points that are salient to our thinking about guns: for one, they insert a hierarchy of some kind, but fundamental nonetheless, and thereby undermine equality. But furthermore, guns pose a monumental challenge to freedom, and particular, the liberty that is the hallmark of any democracy worthy of the name '-- that is, freedom of speech. Guns do communicate, after all, but in a way that is contrary to free speech aspirations: for, guns chasten speech.
  This becomes clear if only you pry a little more deeply into the N.R.A.'s logic behind an armed society. An armed society is polite, by their thinking, precisely because guns would compel everyone to tamp down eccentric behavior, and refrain from actions that might seem threatening. The suggestion is that guns liberally interspersed throughout society would cause us all to walk gingerly '-- not make any sudden, unexpected moves '-- and watch what we say, how we act, whom we might offend.
  As our Constitution provides, however, liberty entails precisely the freedom to be reckless, within limits, also the freedom to insult and offend as the case may be. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld our right to experiment in offensive language and ideas, and in some cases, offensive action and speech. Such experimentation is inherent to our freedom as such. But guns by their nature do not mix with this experiment '-- they don't mix with taking offense. They are combustible ingredients in assembly and speech.
  I often think of the armed protestor who showed up to one of the famously raucous town hall hearings on Obamacare in the summer of 2009. The media was very worked up over this man, who bore a sign that invoked a famous quote of Thomas Jefferson, accusing the president of tyranny. But no one engaged him at the protest; no one dared approach him even, for discussion or debate '-- though this was a town hall meeting, intended for just such purposes. Such is the effect of guns on speech '-- and assembly. Like it or not, they transform the bearer, and end the conversation in some fundamental way. They announce that the conversation is not completely unbounded, unfettered and free; there is or can be a limit to negotiation and debate '-- definitively.
  The very power and possibility of free speech and assembly rests on their non-violence. The power of the Occupy Wall Street movement, as well as the Arab Spring protests, stemmed precisely from their non-violent nature. This power was made evident by the ferocity of government response to the Occupy movement. Occupy protestors across the country were increasingly confronted by police in military style garb and affect.
  Imagine what this would have looked like had the protestors been armed: in the face of the New York Police Department assault on Zuccotti Park, there might have been armed insurrection in the streets. The non-violent nature of protest in this country ensures that it can occur.
  Gun rights advocates also argue that guns provide the ultimate insurance of our freedom, in so far as they are the final deterrent against encroaching centralized government, and an executive branch run amok with power. Any suggestion of limiting guns rights is greeted by ominous warnings that this is a move of expansive, would-be despotic government. It has been the means by which gun rights advocates withstand even the most seemingly rational gun control measures. An assault weapons ban, smaller ammunition clips for guns, longer background checks on gun purchases '-- these are all measures centralized government wants, they claim, in order to exert control over us, and ultimately impose its arbitrary will. I have often suspected, however, that contrary to holding centralized authority in check, broad individual gun ownership gives the powers-that-be exactly what they want.
  After all, a population of privately armed citizens is one that is increasingly fragmented, and vulnerable as a result. Private gun ownership invites retreat into extreme individualism '-- I heard numerous calls for homeschooling in the wake of the Newtown shootings '-- and nourishes the illusion that I can be my own police, or military, as the case may be. The N.R.A. would have each of us steeled for impending government aggression, but it goes without saying that individually armed citizens are no match for government force. The N.R.A. argues against that interpretation of the Second Amendment that privileges armed militias over individuals, and yet it seems clear that armed militias, at least in theory, would provide a superior check on autocratic government.
  As Michel Foucault pointed out in his detailed study of the mechanisms of power, nothing suits power so well as extreme individualism. In fact, he explains, political and corporate interests aim at nothing less than ''individualization,'' since it is far easier to manipulate a collection of discrete and increasingly independent individuals than a community. Guns undermine just that '-- community. Their pervasive, open presence would sow apprehension, suspicion, mistrust and fear, all emotions that are corrosive of community and civic cooperation. To that extent, then, guns give license to autocratic government.
  Our gun culture promotes a fatal slide into extreme individualism. It fosters a society of atomistic individuals, isolated before power '-- and one another '-- and in the aftermath of shootings such as at Newtown, paralyzed with fear. That is not freedom, but quite its opposite. And as the Occupy movement makes clear, also the demonstrators that precipitated regime change in Egypt and Myanmar last year, assembled masses don't require guns to exercise and secure their freedom, and wield world-changing political force. Arendt and Foucault reveal that power does not lie in armed individuals, but in assembly '-- and everything conducive to that.
  Firmin DeBrabander is an associate professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore and the author of ''Spinoza and the Stoics.''
NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel Is Missing In Syria - Business Insider
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:37
  Turkish media is reporting that veteran journalist Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent and Middle East bureau chief, and his Turkish colleagueAziz AkyavaÅŸ are currently missing in Syria. Turkish newspaperHurriyetreports that Engel and AkyavaÅŸ haven't been in contact with NBC News since Thursday morning.
  John Cook of Gawker reports that NBC has been "asking every reporter who inquires about the report to participate in a news blackout," but the Turkish reports "have been referenced on Twitter by Slate's David Weigel, Michelle Malkin, former MSNBC anchor David Shuster, and hundreds of others."
  Prominent investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill argues that NBC's news blackout should be respected, although the news has been picked up by outlets includling The Daily Mail, The Houston Chronicle, The Atlantic Wire and a bunch of people on Twitter:
  Turkish news channel NTV notes that Turkish journalists who have been arrested and detained in Syria do not have any information about the journalists' whereabouts.
  [UPDATE 4:50 p.m.]John Cook at Gawker has published a response to readers wondering why Gawker decided to publish their post against NBC News' wishes:
  The rationale for the blackout was offered in off-the-record conversations, so I can't present their argument here. But I will say this: No one told me anything that indicated a specific, or even general, threat to Engel's safety. No one said, "If you report this, then we know, or suspect, that X, Y, or Z may happen." It was infinitely more vague and general than that.
  As I wrote in the post, when the New York Times maintained a blackout about David Rohde, the rationale was clear: I was directly told that the Times had reason to believe that the people who had Rohde would harm him if news got out. There was nothing approaching that level of specificity or argumentation here. I would not have written a post if someone had told me that there was a reasonable or even remote suspicion that anything specific would happen if I wrote the post.
  Also: There was in practice no blackout. Xinhua and Breitbart had published English language accounts. There were probably like 100 posts to Twitter per minute about him. This was a situation where the information was freely available on the internet, and in the region'--these are large Turkish outlets reporting this information. It was out.
  SEE ALSO: There Isn't A Ruler In The World Who Wants To Use Chemical Weapons
  Footage Of Police Arresting Second Man In Woods Right After The Sandy Hook Shooting
Libor scandal grows as the fathers of two mass murderers were to testify - National Finance Examiner | Examiner.com
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:22
  In the wake of the mass murders that took place in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, information on the shooter, and his family, is slowly being discovered by law enforcement other sources. One interesting connection to the tragedy that took place at the Sandy Hook school is that the father of Adam Lanza has a connection to the theater shootings that took place in Aurora earlier this year by James Holmes.
  Both fathers of the shooters were allegedly expected to testify in the Libor scandal that rocked the banking world in June.
  The father of Newtown Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza is Peter Lanza who is a VP and Tax Director at GE Financial. The father of Aurora Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes is Robert Holmes, the lead scientist for the credit score company FICO. Both men were to testify before the US Sentate in the ongoing LIBOR scandal. The London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor, is the average interest rate at which banks can borrow from each other. 16 international banks have been implicated in this ongoing scandal, accused of rigging contracts worth trillions of dollars. HSBC has already been fined $1.9 billion and three of their low level traders arrested.
  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a motive and a link. This coincidence is impossible to overlook. Two mass shootings connected to LIBOR. - Fabain4Liberty via Before it's News
  Libor is the internal banking interest rate that major financial institutions determine each day for lending purposes between each facility. This rate is then translated to the interest rates used for mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and nearly every interest bearing loan in the world. Manipulation of the Libor rate has resulted in hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars in fraudulent payments made by billions of customers throughout the financial world.
  For similar events on the magnitude of both Aurora and Newtown to hold a connection to one of the greatest financial scandals in the history of finance is astronomically slim in regards to coincidence. In fact, neither shooter had a history with firearm proficiency, and the outcome of each shooting showed an expertise many trained military personnel could not achieve. This leaves the question of where they got their training, or if there was another plot involved which allowed these young men to perform the actions they did with such precision.
  While the coming days will bring forth more pertinent information on the motives, access, and failures of both community and family to diagnose the events leading up to Adam Lanza's killing spree, one thing is becoming disturbingly clear. The connections between the Aurora massacre, and the one that took place in Newtown on Friday, may have far more ramifications to the people involved in the Libor scandal than anyone could imagine.
  For more on finance and economics, you can follow Ken Schortgen Jr on Twitter, and listen to the weekly economic roundup segment of the Angel Clark radio show from 6-7 p.m. EST on Friday evenings.
Galling: White House press secretary Jay Carney uses Newtown victims to push tax increases
  Link to Article
  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:12
  It ain't easy being Jay. Tasked with follow-up after President Obama's Newtown, Conn., school massacre speech (which he primarily wrote all by himself, the White House will have you know), the press secretary took hits from all sides for his press briefing today.
  Ouch:
  But the worst moment was when Carney exploited the Newtown school massacre to argue for Obama's tax increases. Yes, he did.
  The fish rots from the head down, of course:
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NASA will crash two probes into the moon at Mach 5 today
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:04
  Ebb and Flow, twin spacecraft in NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) program, are set to crash into the surface of the moon at nearly 4,000 miles per hour today at about 5:28PM EST. The probes have been orbiting the moon since the beginning of this year, creating a high-resolution gravity field map that will be used to help understand how Earth and other planets formed. Because Ebb and Flow are low on fuel and so close to the moon's surface '-- just 14 miles away '-- NASA will crash the probes near the Goldschmidt crater, thus avoiding important historical sites like the Apollo landing.
  Ebb is expected to hit the surface first at 5:28PM, and Flow will follow about 20 minutes later. "It is going to be difficult to say goodbye," said GRAIL principal investigator Maria Zuber, but the small probes are undergoing one last experiment before they run aground. On Friday, Ebb and Flow started to burn the remainder of their fuel to inform NASA exactly how much was left in their tanks. Using this information, the space agency hopes to improve fuel predictions for its future spacecraft.
America the Horror Show
  Link to Article
  Source: Clusterfuck Nation
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:53
  Finally the USA has an act that perfectly expresses its true spirit as the horror show nation among nations: the random mass slaughter of little children by a maniac. Is it not so that the failure to protect little children from harm is the most shameful weakness an adult human can present? Next, of course, comes the empty ritual of pretending that we must make sure something like this never happens again. How? By some forensic inquiry into the psychology of the shooter, Mr. Lanza... his comings, goings, email musings, Netflix rentals, chemical composition of his fingernail clippings? We flatter ourselves with the technocratic conceit that if we can measure something enough, we can control it. Ban assault weapons or tighten up the background checks? The horse is out of the barn on that one. There are enough weapons loose in the USA to conduct a full-scale Civil War right now. And probably enough ill feeling. Just pick the flavor of the conflict you want: ideological? Religious? Racial? Regional? For what it's worth, the Newtown Massacre to me is largely about the failure of men in America, and in particular the failure of men to raise up male children into men. The tragic monster that Mr. Lanza grow up into lived with Mom and ended up parking four bullets in her brain. Imagine the tensions in that monster. It's not an accident that the commercial fantasies represented in movies and television aimed at boys are populated by legions of super-heroes. This sort of grandiosity -- the wish to project supernatural powers -- is exactly what you get in boys who have not developed competence in any reality-based, meaningful realm of endeavor -- and I wouldn't necessarily include school, such as it is in our time, as a reality-based, meaningful realm of endeavor, since it is mostly a brutally boring accreditation process. Notice, Mr. Lanza's chief instrument of death was the "Bushmaster." His weapon made him a "master" of something, at least, even if it was just the systematic slaughter of six-year-old kids and the women in charge of them. History has its own arcs and particular moments in history have their own spirits of the time. This moment for us is the sum of the unintended consequences of countless bad choices we've made for many decades against the backdrop of enormous material riches. I've inveighed against these manifold fiascos enough for this audience. The net result is a nation that has turned men either into weaklings, fakes, or monsters. I think the greater tragedy is that we are past being able to teach ourselves how to act and now it is up to nature and history to provide the only kind of instruction we can understand. I used to crack a joke when showing a particular slide in my visiting college lectures that "we're a wicked people who deserve to be punished." It's not so funny anymore. Look around at the squalid mess that America has made of its own terrain: the endless wastelands of free parking and slumping strip malls, the wilderness of tract housing subdivisions, the cities left cored, rotting, and stinking in the fall drizzle, the countless redundant roadways -- and while you're at it, take a good hard look at the depressing and disgraceful industrial boxes that school is conducted in, these euphemistically-named "facilities." We live in physical surroundings that are the perfect growth medium for serial killers, mass murderers, psychopaths with no feeling, and sado-masochists preoccupied only with the ritual orchestration of their own shame and guilt in the service of inflicting pain. Let me remind you that there is a range of thought and feeling evinced in human culture that no longer exists in America. These things were called virtues. They are qualities in thought and action related to goodness and excellence, and they are in very short supply these days in the USA, though we are well-supplied with fakes and approximations of virtue -- such as the moments of sham heroism witnessed yesterday afternoon and evening by men watching televised football. What matters now is that an epochal undertow of events is dragging this enormous nation into an economic convulsion that will inevitably turn political. I don't think that our society can be redeemed in its current form. It has to pass through a tribulation that demands the reemergence of adult male humans who know how to be men in more than one dimension. And you who make it through to the other side will barely comprehend the monsters left behind, or how they made themselves that way.____________________________________
President Obama Promises to Launch Effort to Reduce Gun Violence at CT Memorial Service
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:52
  And I await the collective freakout by the right for the President finally daring to say that something needs to be done to try to reduce the amount of gun violence in the United States: At memorial, Obama pledges effort to reduce gun violence:
  PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is our first task, caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged.
  And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we're meeting our obligations?
  Can we honestly say that we're doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?
  Can we claim, as a nation, that we're all together there, letting them know they are loved and teaching them to love in return?
  Can we say that we're truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
  I've been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we're honest with ourselves, the answer's no. We're not doing enough. And we will have to change. Since I've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings, fourth time we've hugged survivors, the fourth time we've consoled the families of victims.
  And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and in big cities all across America, victims whose -- much of the time their only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
  We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.
  We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.
  If there's even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the grief that's visited Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek and Newtown and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that, then surely we have an obligation to try.
  In the coming weeks, I'll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement, to mental health professionals, to parents and educators, in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this, because what choice do we have? We can't accept events like this as routine.
  Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?
  Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?
  You know, all the world's religions, so many of them represented here today, start with a simple question.
  Why are we here? What gives our life meaning? What gives our acts purpose?
  We know our time on this Earth is fleeting. We know that we will each have our share of pleasure and pain, that even after we chase after some earthly goal, whether it's wealth or power or fame or just simple comfort, we will, in some fashion, fall short of what we had hoped. We know that, no matter how good our intentions, we'll all stumble sometimes in some way.
  We'll make mistakes, we'll experience hardships and even when we're trying to do the right thing, we know that much of our time will be spent groping through the darkness, so often unable to discern God's heavenly plans.
  There's only one thing we can be sure of, and that is the love that we have for our children, for our families, for each other. The warmth of a small child's embrace, that is true.
  The memories we have of them, the joy that they bring, the wonder we see through their eyes, that fierce and boundless love we feel for them, a love that takes us out of ourselves and binds us to something larger, we know that's what matters.
  We know we're always doing right when we're taking care of them, when we're teaching them well, when we're showing acts of kindness. We don't go wrong when we do that.
  That's what we can be sure of, and that's what you, the people of Newtown, have reminded us. That's how you've inspired us. You remind us what matters. And that's what should drive us forward in everything we do for as long as God sees fit to keep us on this Earth.
  ''Let the little children come to me,'' Jesus said, ''and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.''
  Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Madeline, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Benjamin, Avielle, Allison, God has called them all home.
  For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on and make our country worthy of their memory. May God bless and keep those we've lost in His heavenly place. May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort, and may He bless and watch over this community and the United States of America.
Presidential Proclamation -- Wright Brothers Day, 2012
  Link to Article
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:51
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  December 17, 2012
  WRIGHT BROTHERS DAY, 2012
  - - - - - - -
  BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  A PROCLAMATION
  After years of research and experimentation, 12 seconds of powered flight over the hills of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, vindicated the passion and resolve with which Wilbur and Orville Wright pursued their lifelong dream. Like so many Americans before and after them, these two men achieved the unthinkable, and their achievements changed our way of life. On Wright Brothers Day, we reflect on their astonishing feat and celebrate the ambition it still inspires more than a century later.
  Wilbur and Orville Wright were the kind of entrepreneurs Americans everywhere root for. Their inspiration sparked from their mother, Susan -- a gifted mathematician in her own right who challenged her children to think big and dream bold. The brothers overcame years of personal hardship to open their own bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, quickly improving on the designs of the bikes they sold and eventually expanding to manufacture their own models. As they mastered their craft, they turned their attention skyward. Similar stories of resilient, canny entrepreneurship have unfolded throughout our Nation's history -- from the founding of our airlines and auto industry to the growth of our research institutions and small businesses. While each journey has been unique, all have advanced that same brand of rugged determination to stay ahead of the curve and keep America moving forward.
  With their game-changing feat, the Wright brothers earned their place in history as innovators who helped trigger America's rise as an economic superpower, and whose example inspired the kind of businesses and industries that built and grew our middle class. As we mark Wright Brothers Day, let us carry their legacy forward by taking on new challenges with tenacity and meeting our hardships with courage, confident that our shared future is bright and our best days are still ahead.
  The Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 17, 1963, as amended (77 Stat. 402; 36 U.S.C. 143), has designated December 17 of each year as "Wright Brothers Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 17, 2012, as Wright Brothers Day.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
  BARACK OBAMA
Michael Moore Continues Epic Streak Of Douchebaggery: Accuses America Of ''Genocide'' And Being A Nation Of ''Killers'''...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:50
  But whatever you do, don't question this shitstain's patriotism.
  (CNSNews.com) '' Liberal activist-filmmaker Michael Moore says school shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. will continue '' because ''it's who we are'' as Americans.
  ''I hate to say it, but killing is our way. We began America w/ genocide, then built it w/ slaves. The shootings will continue- it's who we are,'' Mooretweeted on Sunday.
  Moore sent out several tweets regarding the school shooting between Friday and Sunday, at one point claiming the shooter ''seemed to single out women to kill.''
  ''As is often the case in these shootings, the gunman seemed to single out the women to kill (CNN: 18 of the dead are female; 8 males)'' Moore tweeted.
  Keep reading'...
AP Report: Mass Killings Are Not On The Rise, They're On The Decline'...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:49
  Still not going to stop the Democrats from trying to exploit the tragedy in Connecticut to further their agenda.
  Story highlights:
  ' While the perception in the wake of this year's mass shootings has been that such acts are on the rise, the Associated Press found that it's actually the exact opposite when you look at the data on a macro level.
  ' ''There is no pattern, there is no increase,'' says criminologist James Allen Fox of Boston's Northeastern University.
  ' He adds that the random mass shootings that get the most media attention are the rarest.
  ' While mass shootings rose between the 1960s and the 1990s, they actually dropped in the 2000s. And mass killings actually reached their peak in 1929, Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections who has written a history of mass murders in America, says.
  ' Chances of being killed in a mass shooting, he says, are probably no greater than being struck by lightning.
  Keep reading'...
NYC Mayor Bloomberg On Unarmed Sandy Hook Principal: ''I Don't Know What A Gun Would Have Done'''...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:42
  Wait, what? Let's explain the obvious to Captain Clueless, she was the first person to encounter the gunman, if she shot him then there wouldn't have been a massacre. Really, he couldn't figure that out on his own?
  Via Green Room:
  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who politicized the Sandy Hook tragedy within hours last Friday, just wrapped up a press conference announcing new plans to fight gun violence and to counter the National Rifle Association with his own Super PAC. Bloomberg was asked by a reporter to respond to Rep. Louie Gohmert's comments over the weekend that he wished the principal of the school, who died trying to take down shooter Adam Lanza, had a gun. Bloomberg responded by saying, ''There are dumb statements and then there are stupid statements'.....I don't know what the gun would have done.''
Hungary's Jews face down new extremism | Reuters
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:33
  A defaced photo of Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of Hungary's far-right political party Jobbik, is seen on a placard during a demonstration against Nazism in front of the Parliament building in Budapest December 2, 2012.
  Credit: Reuters/Bernadett Szabo
  By Marton Dunai
  BUDAPEST | Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:12pm EST
  BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A week after a leader of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party called for lists of prominent Jews to be drawn up to protect national security, Janos Fonagy stepped forward.
  "My mother and father were Jewish, and so am I, whether you like it or not," the state secretary of the Development Ministry told parliament, explaining he did not have dual citizenship with Israel and was not religious.
  "I cannot choose, I was born into this. But you can choose, and you have chosen this path," he said, addressing Jobbik deputies. "Bear history's judgement."
  It is only relatively recently that Hungary's Jews have celebrated their identity as openly as they did when Europe's largest synagogue was built in Budapest in the 1850s.
  Now they are determined not to allow a political climate in which they have to defend that identity or even suppress it.
  More than 500,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust after Hungary sided with the Nazis in World War Two and those left in Budapest were forced into two ghettos.
  When the Soviet Red Army moved in and liberated the ghettos in 1945 about 100,000 Jews remained, living reminders of a collaboration with fascism many Hungarians wanted to forget.
  "Even 15 years ago, using 'Jewish' as a brand required quite some bravery," said Vera Vadas, the director of the Jewish Summer Festival, launched in 1998. "Now the word just describes our culture and it draws artists and audiences alike."
  From an initial crowd of about 3,000, the number of visitors at the festival was around 120,000 this year, filling the cobblestone alleys and courtyards of the city wall to wall.
  The biggest of the two wartime ghettos is now a thriving Jewish quarter, a year-round highlight on Budapest's tourist map with the huge Dohany street synagogue -- the model for New York's Central Synagogue -- at its heart.
  Around it are more synagogues, museums, businesses, schools and restaurants, and sometimes a mix of those things, such as a Talmud class that is taught regularly at one of the famous Budapest "ruin pubs" - run-down buildings converted into bars.
  PROUD OF ROOTS
  Rabbi Zoltan Radnoti, the young leader of a small, modern synagogue in southwestern Budapest, said his generation was the first to be confident of its heritage after their traumatized grandparents taught their children to play it down.
  "My parents' generation, the one born immediately after the war, was protected so much they never got to experience their Jewishness," said Radnoti. "They assimilated almost completely."
  "Now, my children take their Jewishness naturally, they have no doubts about their roots. They are kids who live in Hungary, speak Hungarian and follow the Jewish faith. The vast majority of young Jewish parents can and do choose this tradition."
  Besides religious freedom, the end of Communism in 1989 also brought a freedom of speech and politics that quickly gave birth to openly anti-Semitic political forces.
  The Jobbik party, the third biggest in parliament, has used anti-semitic slurs to boost its standing before elections in 2014, drawing international scorn.
  The strongest yet greeted last month's call by Marton Gyongyosi, who runs Jobbik's foreign policy cabinet, for Jewish members of government and parliament to be listed in the wake of Israel's recent military campaign to stop rocket fire from Gaza.
  "I think such a conflict makes it timely to tally up people of Jewish ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government, who, indeed, pose a national security risk to Hungary," he told parliament.
  Hungary's centre-right government condemned the remarks, for which Gyongyosi later apologized, and the U.S. Embassy in Budapest called them "outrageous".
  Although anti-Semitism has not yet led to serious physical confrontations, hate crimes have included desecration of Jewish cemeteries and a verbal attack in Budapest on 90-year-old former Chief Rabbi Joseph Schweitzer.
  "I don't think all people who vote for Jobbik are anti-Semites," said Slomo Koves, the chief rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation.
  "But if Jobbik brings it into the public discourse, even people who were not anti-Semites before, they feel like it's a way to show your frustration... The problem is that this has an effect on the state of mind of all Hungarians."
  UNITY
  Andras Heisler, a leader of Mazsihisz, the Association of Jewish Communes in Hungary, said Jobbik was a danger to Hungary.
  "I think this is real racism and inciting hatred. A bad economic situation, recession, usually flames tempers and this is the case now as well."
  Laden with debt and hit hard by the wider debt crisis in Europe, the country is struggling to end recession and sort out its finances, and a series of austerity measures have increased tensions on the street.
  Anti-Semitism has made some Jews more determined to stand up for their heritage, said Zoltan Jakal, a 36-year-old financial analyst and part-time cantor.
  "I have several friends who have strengthened their Jewish identity because of a few incidents with anti-Semites," Jakal said. "When there's peace people tend to forget they are Jews. If nobody else reminds them of this, anti-Semites will."
  Hungary's political elite showed a rare gesture of unity at a big rally on December 2, where ruling and opposition party leaders expressed their disdain for Jobbik's politics.
  So far, polls suggest Jobbik has retained its voter base. Among young voters its support is nearly 20 percent, making it the strongest party in the age group below 30, according to a Republikon Institute poll earlier this year.
  But unlike its hugely successful anti-Roma rhetoric, anti-Semitism may end up working against Jobbik on the long run, Republikon Institute Director Csaba Toth told Reuters, because it will put off potential coalition partners.
  "Anti-Semitism gets far fewer votes," he said.
  (Additional reporting by Krisztina Than; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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Adam Lanza's father Peter 'struggling to make sense' of how shy 20-year-old turned into child killer | Mail Online
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:38
  By Meghan Keneally, Lydia Warren and Helen Pow
  PUBLISHED: 10:49 EST, 16 December 2012 | UPDATED: 04:44 EST, 17 December 2012
  Nobody has yet come forward to claim the bodies of Adam Lanza and his mother Nancy, who he shot dead before slaughtering 26 innocent children and teachers at Sandy Hook elementary on Friday.
  The news comes after the gunman's father, Peter Lanza, opened up about how he too is searching for answers to explain why his introverted 20-year-old committed such a senseless act of violence.
  According to a spokesman for the Connecticut chief medical examiner, the bodies of Lanza and his 52-year-old mother were still at the facility late on Saturday night. He would not comment on what would happen to them if they remained unclaimed.
  Unclaimed: Nobody has yet come forward to claim the bodies of Adam Lanza, pictured right, and his mother Nancy, pictured left, after Friday's senseless shooting
  'No one from any funeral home has come forward,' the spokesman told MailOnline. 'The bodies are still here.'
  In the wake of the devastation, Peter Lanza said on Saturday that he and his family are in disbelief at the atrocity his son committed at the Newtown elementary school.
  'We too are asking why,' he said in a statement.
  'Like so many of you, we are saddened, but struggling to make sense of what has transpired.
  Father: Peter, a wealthy executive for General Electric, who is believed to earn $1million a year, moved out of the family home in 2006
  'Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy.'
  He said that all living members of the Lanza family, including himself and Adam's older brother Ryan, have been fully cooperating with police and plan to help in any way that they can as the repercussions of the shooting are felt.
  'No words can truly express how heartbroken we are,' he said in the statement.
  Adam's first victim was his own mother, Nancy, whose dead body police eventually found at the Newtown home that she shared with Adam.
  It took several hours to confirm that she was the victim, however, since she had been shot in the face and was hard to identify.
  Peter Lanza had divorced Nancy in 2009 because of 'irreconcilable differences,' and now lives in Stamford, Connecticut with a new wife. A reporter for the Stamford Advocate broke the news to him that his son had allegedly shot and killed 26 people, including his ex-wife.
  Friends and neighbors said the divorce, as far as they knew, was amicable.
  Jim Leff, a musician who knew Nancy through a local bar and music spot that she frequented, called her a 'lovely person.'
  But he said he never became close friends with her because she was 'high-strung.'
  'What held me back was my impression that she was a little high-strung,' Leff wrote on his blog.
  'But now that I've been filled in by friends about how difficult her troubled son (the shooter) was making things for her, I understand that it wasn't that Nancy was overwrought about the trivialities of everyday life, but that she was handling a very difficult situation with uncommon grace.'
  Nancy Lanza's home in Newtown, Connecticut, where she was found shot dead from a gunshot wound to the face
  Mother: Fifty-two-year-old Nancy Lanza, pictured, was preparing for the collapse of the world economy by stockpiling food, water and guns in the large home she shared with her son
  Ryan, Adam's 24-year-old brother was immediately embroiled in the shooting as Adam reportedly had Ryan's ID on him when police found his body in the Sandy Hook elementary school.
  In fact, he was at work in the Manhattan office of Ernst & Young when television news reports started connecting his name to the shooting in Connecticut, and that was when he started to understand that his brother may have been involved.
  Lanza quickly told his boss: 'I need to go.' He then walked out of his Times Square office, according to a co-worker who spoke to MailOnline on condition of anonymity.
  Thirty minutes later, New York police officers stormed the office. Between leaving his place of work and being taken in for questioning, Lanza defended himself in a series of bizarre Facebook posts when he was mistakenly named as the killer after his ID was found at the scene.
  Questioning: Ryan Lanza is led away for questioning by police after his brother is named as the killer
  Lanza, 24, seemed unaware that his younger brother, Adam Lanza, had gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown before taking his own life.
  'Everyone shut the f*** up it wasn't me,' he insisted on his Facebook page on Friday. 'I'm on the bus home now it wasn't me. IT WASN'T ME I WAS AT WORK IT WASN'T ME.'
  Brett Wilshe, a friend of Ryan Lanza's, told the AP that he sent Ryan a Facebook message Friday asking what was going on and if he was alright.
  According to Wilshe, Lanza's reply was something along the lines of: 'It was my brother. I think my mother is dead. Oh my God.'
Remarks by the President at Sandy Hook Interfaith Prayer Vigil
  Link to Article
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 04:44
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  December 16, 2012
  Newtown High School
  Newtown, Connecticut
  8:37 P.M. EST
  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Governor. To all the families, first responders, to the community of Newtown, clergy, guests -- Scripture tells us: '''...do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away'...inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.''
  We gather here in memory of twenty beautiful children and six remarkable adults. They lost their lives in a school that could have been any school; in a quiet town full of good and decent people that could be any town in America.
  Here in Newtown, I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation. I am very mindful that mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts. I can only hope it helps for you to know that you're not alone in your grief; that our world too has been torn apart; that all across this land of ours, we have wept with you, we've pulled our children tight. And you must know that whatever measure of comfort we can provide, we will provide; whatever portion of sadness that we can share with you to ease this heavy load, we will gladly bear it. Newtown -- you are not alone.
  As these difficult days have unfolded, you've also inspired us with stories of strength and resolve and sacrifice. We know that when danger arrived in the halls of Sandy Hook Elementary, the school's staff did not flinch, they did not hesitate. Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, Vicki Soto, Lauren Rousseau, Rachel Davino and Anne Marie Murphy -- they responded as we all hope we might respond in such terrifying circumstances -- with courage and with love, giving their lives to protect the children in their care.
  We know that there were other teachers who barricaded themselves inside classrooms, and kept steady through it all, and reassured their students by saying ''wait for the good guys, they're coming''; ''show me your smile.''
  And we know that good guys came. The first responders who raced to the scene, helping to guide those in harm's way to safety, and comfort those in need, holding at bay their own shock and trauma because they had a job to do, and others needed them more.
  And then there were the scenes of the schoolchildren, helping one another, holding each other, dutifully following instructions in the way that young children sometimes do; one child even trying to encourage a grown-up by saying, ''I know karate. So it's okay. I'll lead the way out.'' (Laughter.)
  As a community, you've inspired us, Newtown. In the face of indescribable violence, in the face of unconscionable evil, you've looked out for each other, and you've cared for one another, and you've loved one another. This is how Newtown will be remembered. And with time, and God's grace, that love will see you through.
  But we, as a nation, we are left with some hard questions. Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around. With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves -- our child -- is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice. And every parent knows there is nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm. And yet, we also know that with that child's very first step, and each step after that, they are separating from us; that we won't -- that we can't always be there for them. They'll suffer sickness and setbacks and broken hearts and disappointments. And we learn that our most important job is to give them what they need to become self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear.
  And we know we can't do this by ourselves. It comes as a shock at a certain point where you realize, no matter how much you love these kids, you can't do it by yourself. That this job of keeping our children safe, and teaching them well, is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community, and the help of a nation. And in that way, we come to realize that we bear a responsibility for every child because we're counting on everybody else to help look after ours; that we're all parents; that they're all our children.
  This is our first task -- caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged.
  And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we're doing enough to keep our children -- all of them -- safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we're all together there, letting them know that they are loved, and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we're truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
  I've been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we're honest with ourselves, the answer is no. We're not doing enough. And we will have to change.
  Since I've been President, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting. The fourth time we've hugged survivors. The fourth time we've consoled the families of victims. And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and big cities all across America -- victims whose -- much of the time, their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law -- no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society.
  But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this. If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that -- then surely we have an obligation to try.
  In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens -- from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators -- in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have? We can't accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?
  All the world's religions -- so many of them represented here today -- start with a simple question: Why are we here? What gives our life meaning? What gives our acts purpose? We know our time on this Earth is fleeting. We know that we will each have our share of pleasure and pain; that even after we chase after some earthly goal, whether it's wealth or power or fame, or just simple comfort, we will, in some fashion, fall short of what we had hoped. We know that no matter how good our intentions, we will all stumble sometimes, in some way. We will make mistakes, we will experience hardships. And even when we're trying to do the right thing, we know that much of our time will be spent groping through the darkness, so often unable to discern God's heavenly plans.
  There's only one thing we can be sure of, and that is the love that we have -- for our children, for our families, for each other. The warmth of a small child's embrace -- that is true. The memories we have of them, the joy that they bring, the wonder we see through their eyes, that fierce and boundless love we feel for them, a love that takes us out of ourselves, and binds us to something larger -- we know that's what matters. We know we're always doing right when we're taking care of them, when we're teaching them well, when we're showing acts of kindness. We don't go wrong when we do that.
  That's what we can be sure of. And that's what you, the people of Newtown, have reminded us. That's how you've inspired us. You remind us what matters. And that's what should drive us forward in everything we do, for as long as God sees fit to keep us on this Earth.
  ''Let the little children come to me,'' Jesus said, ''and do not hinder them -- for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.''
  Charlotte. Daniel. Olivia. Josephine. Ana. Dylan. Madeleine. Catherine. Chase. Jesse. James. Grace. Emilie. Jack. Noah. Caroline. Jessica. Benjamin. Avielle. Allison.
  God has called them all home. For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on, and make our country worthy of their memory.
  May God bless and keep those we've lost in His heavenly place. May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort. And may He bless and watch over this community, and the United States of America. (Applause.)
  END 8:55 P.M. EST
[PHOTO] Newly Discovered Lizard Named After Obama!
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:44
  posted December 16, 2012/ OMG! Ghana Researchers have named a newly discovered, prehistoric lizard ''Obamadon gracilis'' in honor of the 44th president's toothy grin.
  The small, insect-eating lizard was first discovered in eastern Montana in 1974, but a recent re-examination showed the fossil had been wrongly classified as a Leptochamops denticulatus and was in fact a new species, researchers told Reuters on Tuesday. Obamadon gracilis was one of nine newly discovered species reported on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  In naming the new species, scientists from Yale and Harvard universities combined the Latin ''Obamadon'' for ''Obama's teeth'' and ''gracilis,'' which means slender.
  ''The lizard has these very tall, straight teeth and Obama has these tall, straight incisors and a great smile,'' said Nick Longrich, a paleontologist at the school in New Haven, Connecticut.
  It was believed to have lived during the Cretaceous period, which began 145.5 million years ago. Along with many dinosaurs from that era, the lizard died out about 65 million years ago when a giant asteroid struck earth, scientists say.
  Longrich said he waited until after the recent U.S. election to name the lizard.
  ''It would look like we were kicking him when he's down if he lost and we named this extinct lizard after him,'' he said in an interview.
  ''Romneydon'' was never under consideration and ''Clintondon'' didn't sound good, said Longrich, who supported Hillary Clinton's failed run against Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.
  Obama is not the first politician whose name has been used to help classify organisms. Megalonyxx jeffersonii, an extinct species of plant-eating ground sloth, was named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson, an amateur paleontologist who studied the mammal.
  Earlier this year, researchers announced they had named five newly identified species of freshwater perch after Obama, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter and Theodore Roosevelt.
  In 2005, entomologists named three species of North American slime-mold beetles Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi and Agathidium rumsfeldi in honor of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld '' the U.S. president, vice president and secretary of defense at the time.
  Other celebrity names also have been used to name new species. A small Caribbean crustacean has been named after reggae icon Bob Marley, an Australian horsefly has been named in honor of hip-hop star Beyonce, and an endangered species of marsh rabbit has been named after Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.
  Source : Reuters
Essentialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:42
  In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific entity (such as a group of people), there is a set of incidental attributes all of which are necessary to its identity and function.[1] According to essentialism, a member of a specific group may possess other characteristics that are neither needed to establish its membership nor preclude its membership, but that essences do not simply reflect ways of grouping objects; they also result in properties of the object, as the object can be subjugated to smaller contexts.[2] This view is contrasted with non-essentialism, which states that, for any given kind of entity, there are no specific traits which entities of that kind must possess.
  Anthropology professor Lawrence Hirschfeld gives an example of what constitutes the essence of a tiger, regardless of whether it is striped or albino, or has lost a leg. The essential properties of a tiger are those without which it is no longer a tiger. Other properties, such as stripes or number of legs, are considered inessential or 'accidental'. [3] Biologist Ernst Mayr epitomizes the effect of such an essentialist character of Platonic forms in biology: "Flesh-and-blood rabbits may vary, but their variations are always to be seen as flawed deviation from the ideal essence of rabbit". For Mayr, the healthful antithesis of essentialism in biology is "population thinking".[4]
  [edit]In philosophyAn essence characterizes a substance or a form, in the sense of the Forms or Ideas in Platonic idealism. It is permanent, unalterable, and eternal; and present in every possible world. Classical humanism has an essentialist conception of the human being, which means that it believes in an eternal and unchangeable human nature. The idea of an unchangeable human nature has been criticized by Kierkegaard, Marx, Heidegger, Sartre, and many other existential thinkers.
  In Plato's philosophy (in particular, the Timaeus and the Philebus), things were said to come into being in this world by the action of a demiurge who works to form chaos into ordered entities. From Aristotle onward the definition, in philosophical contexts, of the word "essence" is very close to the definition of form (Gr. morphe). Many definitions of essence hark back to the ancient Greek hylomorphic understanding of the formation of the things of this world. According to that account, the structure and real existence of any thing can be understood by analogy to an artifact produced by a craftsman. The craftsman requires hyle (timber or wood) and a model, plan or idea in his own mind according to which the wood is worked to give it the indicated contour or form (morphe). Aristotle was the first to use the terms hyle and morphe. According to his explanation, all entities have two aspects, "matter" and "form". It is the particular form imposed that gives some matter its identity, its quiddity or "whatness" (i.e., its "what it is").
  Plato was one of the first essentialists, believing in the concept of ideal forms, an abstract entity of which individual objects are mere facsimilies. To give an example; the ideal form of a circle is a perfect circle, something that is physically impossible to make manifest, yet the circles that we draw and observe clearly have some idea in common '-- this idea is the ideal form. Plato believed that these ideas are eternal and vastly superior to their manifestations in the world, and that we understand these manifestations in the material world by comparing and relating them to their respective ideal form. Plato's forms are regarded as patriarchs to essentialist dogma simply because they are a case of what is intrinsic and a-contextual of objects '-- the abstract properties that makes them what they are. For more on forms, read Plato's parable of the cave.
  Karl Popper splits the ambiguous term realism into essentialism and realism. He uses essentialism whenever he means the opposite of nominalism, and realism only as opposed to idealism. Popper himself is a realist as opposed to an idealist, but a methodological nominalist as opposed to an essentialist. For example, statements like "a puppy is a young dog" should be read from right to left, as an answer to "What shall we call a young dog"; never from left to right as an answer to "What is a puppy?"[5]
  [edit]Metaphysical essentialismEssentialism, in its broadest sense, is any philosophy that acknowledges the primacy of Essence. Unlike Existentialism, which posits "being" as the fundamental reality, the essentialist ontology must be approached from a metaphysical perspective. Empirical knowledge is developed from experience of a relational universe whose components and attributes are defined and measured in terms of intellectually constructed laws. Thus, for the scientist, reality is explored as an evolutionary system of diverse entities, the order of which is determined by the principle of causality. Because Essentialism is a conceptual worldview that is not dependent on objective facts and measurements, it is not limited to empirical understanding or the objective way of looking at things.
  Despite the metaphysical basis for the term, academics in science, aesthetics, heuristics, psychology, and gender-based sociological studies have advanced their causes under the banner of Essentialism. Possibly the clearest definition for this philosophy was offered by gay/lesbian rights advocate Diana Fuss, who wrote: "Essentialism is most commonly understood as a belief in the real, true essence of things, the invariable and fixed properties [of] which define the 'whatness' of a given entity".([6]) Metaphysical essentialism stands diametrically opposed to existential realism in that finite existence is only differentiated appearance, whereas "ultimate reality" is held to be absolute essence.
  Although the Greek philosophers believed that the true nature of the universe was perfect, they attributed the observed imperfections to man's limited perception. For Plato, this meant that there had to be two different realities: the "essential" and the "perceived". Plato's dialectical prot(C)g(C) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) applied the term "essence" to the one common characteristic that all things belonging to a particular category have in common and without which they could not be members of that category; hence, the idea of rationality as the essence of man. This notion carried over into all facets of reality, including species of living creatures. For contemporary essentialists, however, the characteristic that all existents have in common is the power to exist, and this potentiality defines the "uncreated" Essence.[citation needed]
  It was the Egyptian-born philosopher Plotinus [204''270 CE] who brought Greek Idealism to the Roman Empire as Neo-Platonism, and with it the concept that not only do all existents emanate from a "primary essence" but that the mind plays an active role in shaping or ordering the objects of perception, rather than passively receiving experiential data. But with the Empire's fall to the Goths in A.D. 476, Neo-Platonism gave way to the spread of Christianity in the Western world, leaving Aristotle's multiple "essences" unchallenged to dominate philosophical thought throughout the Middle Ages on into the era of modern science.[citation needed]
  [edit]In psychologyThere is a difference between metaphysical essentialism (see above) and psychological essentialism, the latter referring not to an actual claim about the world but a claim about a way of representing entities in cognitions ([8]Medin, 1989). Influential in this area is Susan Gelman, who has outlined many domains in which children and adults construe classes of entities, particularly biological entities, in essentialist terms'--i.e., as if they had unobservable underlying essences which can be used to predict unobservable surface characteristics ([9]Toosi & Ambady, 2011). This causal relationship is unidirectional; an observable feature of an entity does not define the underlying essence ([10]Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011) .
  [edit]In developmental psychologyEssentialism has emerged as an important concept in psychology, particularly developmental psychology. [11][12]Gelman and Kremer (1991) studied the extent to which children from 4''7 years old demonstrate essentialism . Children were able to identify the cause of behaviour in living and non-living objects. Children understood that underlying essences predicted observable behaviours . Participants could correctly describe living objects' behaviour as self-perpetuated and non-living objects as a result of an adult influencing the object's actions. This is a biological way of representing essential features in cognitions. Understanding the underlying causal mechanism for behaviour suggests essentialist thinking ([13]Rangel and Keller, 2011). Younger children were unable to identify causal mechanisms of behaviour whereas older children were able to . This suggests that essentialism is rooted in cognitive development . It can be argued that there is a shift in the way that children represent entities, from not understanding the causal mechanism of the underlying essence to showing sufficient understanding ([14]Demoulin, Leyens & Yzerbyt, 2006).
  There are four key criteria which constitute essentialist thinking . The first facet is the aforementioned individual causal mechanisms (del Rio & Strasser, 2011) . The second is innate potential; the assumption that an object will fulfil its predetermined course of development ([15]Kanovsky, 2007). According to this criterion, essences predict developments in entities that will occur throughout its lifespan. The third is immutability ([16]Holtz & Wagner, 2009). Despite altering the superficial appearance of an object it does not remove its essence. Observable changes in features of an entity are not salient enough to alter its essential characteristics. The fourth is inductive potential ([17]Birnbaum, Deeb, Segall, Ben-Aliyahu & Diesendruck, 2010). This suggests that entities may share common features but are essentially different. However similar two beings may be, their characteristics will be at most analogous, differing most importantly in essences.
  The implications of psychological essentialism are numerous . Prejudiced individuals have been found to endorse exceptionally essential ways of thinking, suggesting that essentialism may perpetuate exclusion among social groups ([18]Morton, Hornsey & Postmes, 2009). This may be due to an over-extension of an essential-biological mode of thinking stemming from cognitive development.[19]Paul Bloom of Yale University has stated that "one of the most exciting ideas in cognitive science is the theory that people have a default assumption that things, people and events have invisible essences that make them what they are. Experimental psychologists have argued that essentialism underlies our understanding of the physical and social worlds, and developmental and cross-cultural psychologists have proposed that it is instinctive and universal. We are natural-born essentialists."[20] It is suggested that the categorical nature of essentialist thinking predicts the use of stereotypes and can be targeted in the application of stereotype prevention [21](Bastian & Haslam, 2006).
  [edit]In ethicsClassical essentialism claims that some things are wrong in an absolute sense, for example murder breaks a universal, objective and natural moral law and not merely an adventitious, socially or ethically constructed one.
  Many modern essentialists claim that right and wrong are moral boundaries which are individually constructed. In other words, things that are ethically right or wrong are actions that the individual deems to be beneficial or harmful.
  [edit]In biologyIt is often held that before evolution was developed as a scientific theory, there existed an essentialist view of biology that posited all species to be unchanging throughout time. Some religious opponents of evolution continue to maintain this view of biology (see creation-evolution controversy).
  Recent work by historians of systematics has, however, cast doubt upon this view. Mary P. Winsor, Ron Amundson and Staffan M¼ller-Wille have each argued that in fact the usual suspects (such as Linnaeus and the Ideal Morphologists) were very far from being essentialists, and it appears that the so-called "essentialism story" (or "myth") in biology is a result of conflating the views expressed by philosophers from Aristotle onwards through to John Stuart Mill and William Whewell in the immediately pre-Darwinian period, using biological examples, with the use of terms in biology like species.[22][23][24]
  [edit]Essentialism and society and politicsThe essentialist view on gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or other group characteristics is that they are fixed traits, discounting variation among group members as secondary.
  Contemporary proponents of identity politics, including feminism, gay rights, and/or racial equality activists, generally take constructionist viewpoints,[citation needed]. For example, they agree with Simone de Beauvoir that "one is not born, but becomes a woman".[25] As 'essence' may imply permanence, some argue that essentialist thinking tends towards political conservatism and therefore opposes social change. Essentialist claims have provided useful rallying-points for radical politics, including feminist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial struggles. In a culture saturated with essentialist modes of thinking, an ironic or strategic essentialism can sometimes be politically expedient.[citation needed]
  In social thought, metaphysical essentialism is often conflated with biological reductionism. Most sociologists, for example, employ a distinction between biological sex and gender role. Similar distinctions across disciplines generally fall under the division of "nature versus nurture". However, this has been contested by Monique Wittig, who argued that even biological sex is not an essence, and that the body's physiology is "caught up" in processes of social construction.[26]
  [edit]In historyEssentialism is used by some historians in listing essential cultural characteristics of a particular nation or culture. A people can be understood in this way. In other cases, the essentialist method has been used by members, or admirers, of an historical community to establish a praiseworthy national identity.[27] Contrastingly, many historians reject essentialism as a form of determinism and prefer to contextualize cultural tropes within a broader lens of historical cause and effect.
  [edit]See also[edit]References^Cartwright, R. L. (1968). "Some remarks on essentialism.". The Journal of Philosophy65 (20): 615''626.^G¼nter Radden, H. Cuyckens (2003). Motivation in language: studies in honor of G¼nter Radden. John Benjamins. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-58811-426-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=qzhJ3KpLpQUC&pg=PA275&dq=essentialism+definition&cd=3#v=onepage&q=essentialism%20definition&f=false.^Lawrence A. Hirschfeld, "Natural Assumptions: Race, Essence, and Taxonomies of Human Kinds", Social Research 65 (Summer 1998). Infotrac (December 24, 2003).^Both Mayr quotes in Dawson 2009:24, 25.^The Open Society and its Enemies, passim.^Fuss, Diana. Essentially Speaking [1989] ISBN 978-0-415-90132-1^Paul Bloom, July 2011 Ted talk, "The Origins of Pleasure"^Medin, D. L. (1989). "Conceptes and conceptual structure". American Psychologist44: 1469''1481. doi:10.1016/0010=0285(88)90018-7.^Toosi, N. R.; Ambady, N. (2011). "Ratings of essentialism for eight religious identities.". International Journal for the Psychology of Religion21 (1): 17''29. doi:10.1080/10508619.2011.532441.^Dar-Nimrod, I.; Heine, S. J. (2011). "Gentic essentialism: On the deceptive deteriminism of DNA,". Psychological Bulletin137 (5): 800''818. doi:10.1037/a0021860.^Gelman, S. The essential child: Origins of essentialism in everyday thought. New York: Oxford University Press.^Gelman, S. A.; Kremer, K. E. (1991). "Understanding natural causes: Children's explanations of how objects and their properties originate.". Child Development62 (2): 396''414. doi:10.2307/1131012.^Rangel, U.; Keller, J. (2011). "Essentialism goes social: Belief in social determinism as a component of psychological essentialism.". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology100 (6): 1056''1078. doi:10.1037/a0022401.^Demoulin, S.; Leyens, J-P., Yzerbyt, V. (2006). "Lay theories of essentialism". Group Processes & Intergroup Relations9 (1): 25''42. doi:10.1177/1368430206059856.^Kanovsky, M. (2007). "Essentialism and folksociology: Ethnicity again.". Journal of Cognition and Culture7 (3''4): 241''281. doi:10.1163/156853707X208503.^Holtz, P.; Wagner, W. (2009). "Essentialism and attribution of monstrosity in racist discourse: Right-wing internet postings about africans and jews.". Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology19 (6): 411''425. doi:10.1002/casp.1005.^Birnbaum, D.; Deeb, I., Segall, G., Ben-Eliyahu, A., & Diesendruck, G. (2010). "The development of social essentialism: The case of Israeli children's inferences about Jews and Arabs.". Child Development81 (3): 757''777. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624-2010.01432.x.^Morton, T. A.; Hornsey, M. J., & Postmes, T. (2009). "Shifting ground: The variable use of essentialism in contexts of inclusion and exclusion.". British Journal of Social Psychology48 (1): 35''59. doi:10.1348/014466607X270287.^Medin, D.L. & Atran, S. "The native mind: biological categorization and reasoning in development and across cultures.", Psychological Review 111(4) (2004).^Bloom. P. (2010) Why we like what we like. Observer. 23 (8), 3 online link.^Bastian, B.; Haslam, N. (2006). "Psychological essentialism and stereotype endorsement". Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology42 (2): 228''235. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.03.003.^Amundson, R. (2005) The changing rule of the embryo in evolutionary biology: structure and synthesis, New York, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80699-2^M¼ller-Wille, Staffan. 2007. Collection and collation: theory and practice of Linnaean botany. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (3):541''562.^Winsor, M. P. (2003) Non-essentialist methods in pre-Darwinian taxonomy. Biology & Philosophy, 18, 387''400.^Beauvoir, Simone. 1974. Ch. XII: Childhood, The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Books^Wittig, Monique. 1992. ''The Category of Sex.'' Pp. 1''8 in The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Boston: Beacon Press^Touraj Atabaki, Beyond Essentialism: Who Writes Whose Past in the Middle East and Central Asia?, Inaugural Lecture as Extraordinary Professor of the Social History of the Middle East and Central Asia in the University of Amsterdam, 13 December 2002[edit]Further readingRunes, Dagobert D. (1972) Dictionary of Philosophy (Littlefield, Adams & Co.). See for instance the articles on "Essence", pg.97; "Quiddity", pg.262; "Form", pg.110; "Hylomorphism", pg.133; "Individuation", pg.145; and "Matter", pg.191.Barrett, H. C. (2001). On the functional origins of essentialism. Mind and Society, 3, Vol. 2, 1''30.Sayer, Andrew (August 1997) "Essentialism, Social Constructionism, and Beyond", Sociological Review 45 : 456.Oderberg, David S. (2007) Real Essentialism New York, Routledge.[edit]External links
Social Media Pranksters Will Be Prosecuted, Officials Warn In Newtown : The Two-Way : NPR
  Link to Article
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:29
  State Police officers pass a makeshift memorial as they respond to a threatening phone call that caused the evacuation of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown during Sunday services.
  Mario Tama/Getty ImagesState Police officers pass a makeshift memorial as they respond to a threatening phone call that caused the evacuation of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown during Sunday services.
  Mario Tama/Getty ImagesEven as authorities struggle to gather real clues in Friday's horrific attack, they're warning that those promoting misinformation about the case are subject to prosecution.
  "Misinformation is being posted on social media sites," Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said at a news conference Sunday. "These issues are crimes. They will be investigated, statewide and federally, and prosecution will take place when people perpetrating this information are identified."
  In some cases, Vance said, people are posing as the dead gunman, Adam Lanza. Some are assuming other identities associated with the shooting '-- and some of the information has been threatening.
  One such threat caused the evacuation of a church in Newtown during Sunday Mass. Archdiocese spokesman Brian Wallace says a threatening phone call caused officials to evacuate St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, where many residents have gathered to seek solace from the tragedy.
  The Newtown school shooting has been a story particularly vulnerable to false information, starting with the misidentification of the shooter by law enforcement and media on Friday. Since then, officials have been careful with the information they do release, warning that it may be weeks before many questions are answered.
  Meanwhile, Tom Carson, a spokesman for Connecticut U.S. Attorney David Fein, is underlining the penalty for harassment:
  "Anyone who harasses or threatens the victims, the victims' families or witnesses of these horrific crimes or who in any manner interferes with the ongoing state or federal investigations will be referred for state and or federal prosecution to the fullest extent permitted by law. Harassment not only includes in-person contact, but also contact via the internet, social media and telephone."
Social Media Pranksters Will Be Prosecuted, Officials Warn In Newtown
  Link to Article
  Source: BlackListedNews.com
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:27
  Even as authorities struggle to gather real clues in Friday's horrific attack, they're warning that those promoting misinformation about the case are subject to prosecution.
  "Misinformation is being posted on social media sites," Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said at a news conference Sunday. "These issues are crimes. They will be investigated, statewide and federally, and prosecution will take place when people perpetrating this information are identified."
  In some cases, Vance said, people are posing as the dead gunman, Adam Lanza. Some are assuming other identities associated with the shooting '-- and some of the information has been threatening.
  One such threat caused the evacuation of a church in Newtown during Sunday Mass. Archdiocese spokesman Brian Wallace says a threatening phone call caused officials to evacuate St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, where many residents have gathered to seek solace from the tragedy>>.Read More...
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Police: Arrests possible for spreading false info on Facebook after shootings '' DOES THIS INCLUDE THE MSM???
  Link to Article
  Source: Stuff Ain't Right » Uncategorized
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:24
  ~~So I assume ABCNNBCBS and FOX have warrants out for their arrests after telling everyone '' The shooters mother worked at the school as a kindergarten teacher, she was killed in the school but later it was reported that she was found in her home, that the Bushmaster rifle was found in the shooters car, then named it as the primary murder weapon, that he was recognized because his mother taught there so he was buzzed in, that a man in a black jacket and camo pants was apprehended as a possible shooter but never explained after that, that 3 other weapons were found, Henry repeating rifle, an Enfield rifle and a shotgun, but where they were found wasn't disclosed and where they went since then, that they apprehended the shooters 2 roommates but they are not suspects'...'...'.....I'm sure I've missed a few others. The MSM can tell whatever they want but don't YOU put something on the internet, YOU BETTER BE SURE IT'S TRUE OR YOU GO TO JAIL!!~~
  Authorities investigating the deadly US school shooting warned Sunday of misinformation circulating on social media about the massacre.
  Those spreading such fake details could be subject to arrest, Lieutenant Paul Vance of Connecticut State Police told reporters in the wake of Friday's attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 26 people '-- including 20 children between the ages of six and seven.
  via Police: Arrests possible for spreading false info on Facebook after shootings | The Raw Story.
  Like this:Be the first to like this.
Egyptians Vote To Approve Sharia-Based Constitution In First Round Of Voting'...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:23
  Egypt that much closer to be the next Sharia craphole.
  (Reuters) '' Egyptians voted narrowly in favor of a constitution shaped by Islamists but opposed by other groups who fear it will divide the Arab world's biggest nation, officials in rival camps said on Sunday after the first round of a two-stage referendum.
  Next week's second round is likely to give another ''yes'' vote as it includes districts seen as more sympathetic towards Islamists, analysts say, meaning the constitution would be approved.
  But a close win would give Islamist President Mohamed Mursi only limited cause for celebration by showing the wide rifts in a country where he needs to build consensus on tough economic reforms.
  The Muslim Brotherhood's party, which propelled Mursi to office in a June election, said 56.5 percent backed the text. Official results are not expected till after the next round.
  While an opposition official conceded the ''yes'' camp appeared to have won the first round, the opposition National Salvation Front said it did not acknowledge unofficial results.
Gohmert: 'I Wish to God' Connecticut Principal Had an M4 Assault Rifle
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:22
  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Sunday insisted that a tragic massacre at Sandy Forks Elementary School in Connecticut could have been prevented if Principal Dawn Hochsprung had been armed with an M4 carbine, an assault rifle designed by the U.S. military for urban warfare.
  During an interview on Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Gohmert if he still believed that the country would be safer if more people were armed as he had said after a mass shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colorado earlier this year.
  "Every mass killing of more than three people in recent history has been in a place where guns were prohibited -- except for one," the Texas Republican explained. "They choose this place, they know no one will be armed."
  Gohmert became emotional as he continued: "You know, having been and judge and having reviewed photographs of these horrific scenes and knowing that children have these defensive wounds -- gunshots through their arms and hands as they try to protect themselves -- and hearing the heroic stories the principal, lunging trying to protect -- Chris, I wish to God she had had an M4 in her office locked up. So, when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids."
  Wallace noted that when the Second Amendment was written, weapons like the AR-15 Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children last week -- which can shoot up to five rounds in a second -- did not exist.
  "These were created for law enforcement, these were created for the military," Wallace observed. "Why does the average person -- I can understand a hunting rifle, I can understand and handgun -- why do they need these weapons of mass destruction?"
  "Well, for the reason George Washington said: a free people should be an armed people," Gohmert replied. "It insures against the tyranny of the government if they know that the biggest army is the American people then you don't have the tyranny that came from King George."
  "Once you start drawing the line, when do you stop?" he wondered. "You use your head and you look at the facts."
MSNBC Works Race Card Into Newtown Shooting: If Shooter Wasn't White, Public Debate Would Be ''Much Uglier'''...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:21
  MSNBC continues to hit new lows on a daily basis.
  Via Mediaite:
  . . .''The issue with it will be, politically, I think; the profile is white men,'' Sirota said. ''That's a profile that's not, essentially, in America allowed to be profiled. That's the one profile in America that's not allowed to be profiled.''
  Sirota said that he thought that, if the shooter belonged to a different demographic, the debate about how to address this mass shooting would be ''much uglier.'' Hayes agreed.
Sen. Feinstein to Introduce Assault Weapons Ban on First Day of New Congress
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:18
  In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Newton, CT, Sen. Dianne Feinstein told Meet the Press host David Gregory that she plans to introduce a bill that would ban military style assault weapons on the first day of the new Congress.
  FEINSTEIN: I can tell you that he is going to have a bill to lead on, because of this first day bill I'm going to introduce in the Senate and the same bill will be introduced in the House '' a bill to ban assault weapons. It will ban the sale, transfer, the importation and the possession, not retroactively, but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than ten bullets. So there will be a bill. We've been working on it now for a year.
  We tried to take my bill from '94-2004 and perfect it. We believe we have. We exempt over 900 specific weapons that will not fall under the bill. But the purpose of this bill is to get just what Mayor Bloomberg said, weapons of war off the streets of our cities.
  Feinstein brushed off the notion that it would not be possible to get the legislation through the Congress, noting that it had been done before in the face of stiff opposition and that she expected President Obama lend his support to the bill.
  I guess time will tell. If having a member of Congress who is one of their own shot in the head wasn't enough to make the lot of them get over their fear of the NRA, I'm not sure if this shooting will finally be the straw that broke the camel's back or not. We're about to find out.