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The History Blog >> Blog Archive >> Tesla Wardenclyffe laboratory bought for museum
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 22:16
  Last year's hugely successful Indiegogo campaign to raise $850,000 for the nonprofit Tesla Science Center to build a museum dedicated to the genius inventor Nikola Tesla at his Wardenclyffe laboratory in Shoreham, New York, has borne fruit. The 15.69-acre laboratory site and all its buildings are no longer the property of Belgian multinational Agfa. As of May 2nd, the last laboratory of Nikola Tesla still standing anywhere in the world officially belongs to the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe (TSCW). Agfa, who put the property up for sale for $1.6 million and was reportedly entertaining an offer from real estate developers to demolish the historic structures and build condos on the site, now says via its North American general counsel Christopher Santomassimo that it ''is proud to be associated, albeit in a small way, with this historic event.''
  It took two decades of unrelenting effort from the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe to pay Agfa off so this historic event could take place. New York State had offered matching funds to make the purchase, so the TSCW needed to come up with $850,000 to meet Agfa's asking price. When they found out that an interested developer was looming on the horizon last summer, they kicked off a public fundraising campaign. Matthew Inman of the massively popular website The Oatmeal, an avowed Tesla fan, got involved. He started an Indiegogo fundraiser entitled ''Operation Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum,'' offered extensive donation incentives and promoted the campaign heavily on his high-traffic site. Within a week, the campaign raised a million dollars. The final tally was $1,370,000.
  It's been almost nine months since then. Finally owning the property is a major milestone for the Tesla Science Center, but they don't have time to rest on their laurels because the buildings are dilapidated, the grounds a wilderness and it's going to take a great deal more money and time to convert this former Superfund hazardous waste site into a museum.
  The TSCW has ambitious plans. They want to take advantage of the complex to create a museum about Tesla and his work, a hands-on science learning center where workshops will be held for inventors, a replica of the 187-foot power tower which was destroyed by the government in 1917 and, perhaps the coolest idea of them all, a physics-themed playground. The estimated cost to make this vision a reality is $10,000,000. The extra $520,000 raised on Indiegogo on top of the $850,000 used for the purchase gives them a little breathing room to get cleanup started, but isn't even a dent on the total costs for the creation of the museum.
  They're not wasting any time doing what they can do, though. They's already begun to board up the buildings to keep destructive human and animal elements out. Next on the agenda is a thorough assessment of their condition. Not all buildings can be saved, which is fine because many of them were built after Tesla sold the lab in 1915. The ones that are structurally viable will be restored and integrated into the design of the museum. The rest will be demolished.
  Clean-up and construction will take an estimated five years. The TSCW plans to further fundraising to raise the $10 million. They expect corporate donors to provide the bulk of the amount, although considering that the Veronica Mars movie raised a record-breaking $5 million on Kickstarter, who knows what might be accomplished with crowdfunding these days?
  Here's video of the press conference announcing the purchase held at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, where Tesla spent the last ten years of his life in Suite 3327 feeding pigeons and meeting the occasional dignitary. He died there on January 7th, 1943.
  The video includes talks from the ''Angel Investors,'' three people who donated key large amounts that helped the campaign meet its goals. The first to speak around the 15 minute mark is Joe Sikorski, a filmmaker who shot a Tesla documentary Fragments from Olympus and is working on a second documentary called Tower to the People about the inventor's Wardenclyffe laboratory. The Sikorskis donated $33,000, all their seed money for the film, to the fundraising campaign. That was the donation that took them over the top to the $850,000 necessary to secure matching funds.
  Next around the 20 minute mark is a great talk from Greg and Meredith Tally of the Best Western Denver Southwest who are awesomely turning the hotel into a paleontologically correct dinosaur resort. Big fans of Tesla and science boosters in general, they donated $35,000 to the Indiegogo campaign, which earned them a custom comic by Matthew Inman dedicated to the greatness that is the Dino hotel. They have a great bit describing Tesla's laboratory in Colorado.
  The last Angel is venture capitalist Dusan Stojanovic who gives an animated, passionate speech at the 26 minute mark encouraging wealthy companies to ''put some cash into the future.'' He is actually distantly related to Tesla. He shows his family tree and the piles of Tesla cousins that include his little branch. He will plans to put that kickass family tree online as part of the museum project.
  He's not the only Tesla relative to speak at the press conference. William Turbo, Tesla's great grandnephew (his grandmother was Nikola Tesla's sister) who knew him personally speaks around the 44 minute mark. He's the Executive Secretary of the Tesla Memorial Society and notes there's been a marked spike in interest in the inventor who was famous until his death but then faded into relative obscurity.
  This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 at 1:18 PM and is filed under Modern(ish). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
IRS Will Arm Agents With 12-Gauge Shotguns - News - POLICE Magazine
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 22:07
  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will arm its agents with Remington 870 pump-action shotguns, according to a solicitation request by the agency.
  The federal tax collector posted an acquisition notice earlier this month on FedBizOpps.gov. The IRS will close its acquisition request on Wednesday.
  The IRS will purchase 60 Remington Model 870 Police, 12-gauge pump-action shotguns for its Criminal Investigation Division. The Remington parkerized shotguns will include a 14-inch barrel, modified choke, Wilson Combat ghost-ring rear sight and XS4 contour-bead front sight, Knoxx reduced-recoil adjustable stock, and Speedfeed ribbed black forend, according to the notice.
  The shotguns are designated as the only shotguns authorized for IRS duty, based on compatibility with existing IRS shotguns, certification by an armorer, combat training and protocol, maintenance and parts.
  Quotes are submitted including an 11 percent Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax (FAET) and shipping costs to D.C.
'Liberator' 3D-printed handgun fails after single shot in Finnish test | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 22:06
  Ajankohtainen kakkonen 15.5.2013 klo 16:57 | p¤ivitetty 15.5.2013 klo 18:34All the gun parts except part of the hammer were produced by a 3D printer. The material used was ABS plastic. It took a veteran gunsmith a little over an hour to assemble the 9mm gun.
  Once fired, the barrel of the gun split in half. The cartridge case cracked and the gun's frame fell apart.
  The gun was printed at Aalto University with a printer costing some 15,000 euros. The manager of the facility, Kivi Sotamaa, believes that printing high-quality plastic will become considerably cheaper within the next few years.
  This plastic gun broke after a single shot, but more durable 'instant' weapons could become available soon. The next big step for home 3D printing is the ability to print metal. Sotamaa believes that printing metal objects at home will become a reality within a few years.
  Police stunnedFinnish researcher and 3D-printing entrepreneur Jarkko Moilanen says there is no way to stop gun instructions from circulating on the internet.
  "You can't stop piracy, just slow it down," Moilanen says.
  Finnish police officials expressed shock at the results of the test.
  "Legislators should be concerned now," said Inspector Ossi Kujanp¤¤ of the Tampere Police. "Producing these should not be allowed under any circumstances."
  The gun test was performed in a controlled testing facility in Ikaalinen, near Tampere, for the Yle TV investigative programme Ajankohtainen kakkonen. Police were notified of the test in advance.
  Instructions for producing the 'Liberator' plastic handgun were removed from their original website two days after being released. By then, though the instructions had been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
  Defense Distributed, a Texas nonprofit that promotes the open-source development of firearms using 3D printers, withdrew the files needed to make the single-shot Liberator at the behest of the US State Department on May 9.
  L¤hteet:Yle, AFP25.4.3.12.201226.7.201107:21The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle successfully printed and fired a shot with the "Liberator", the first 3D-printed plastic handgun. 15.5.
  Unkarin oikeistopopulistinen hallitus ulottaa valtansa sek¤ mediaan ett¤ kulttuuriin. Kriitikoiden mielest¤ nyt halutaan muuttaa mieli¤: kansalaistensa ajattelua maasta, sen historiasta, sosialismin j¤lkeisest¤ ajasta ja ulkopuolella olevasta Euroopasta. 15.5.
  VideoAjankohtainen kakkonen tulosti 3D-printterill¤ aseen. Ase koottiin Ikaalisten asesepp¤koulussa ja vietiin testiradalle. Lopputulos selvi¤¤ videolla. 14.5.
  VideoAjankohtainen kakkonen tulosti 3D-printterill¤ aseen. Lis¤ksi ase koottiin ja testattiin. Tulos n¤ytet¤¤n tiistai-illan l¤hetyksess¤. 14.5.
  Lauantai-illaksi suunniteltu laskuvarjohypyn Suomenenn¤tysyritys jouduttiin perumaan kovien tuulenpuuskien vuoksi. Enn¤tyst¤ tavoitteleva ryhm¤ odotti sopivaa keli¤ koko lauantain Lahdessa Launeen perhepuistossa. 11.5.
  VideoPerussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja Timo Soini otti voimakkaasti kantaa hallituksen sote-uudistukseen, Euroopan liittovaltiokehitykseen ja Suomen liittoutumattomuuteen tiistain Ajankohtaisen kakkosessa. 8.5.
  VideoErja Lyytinen luonnehtii itse¤¤n "r¶nsyilev¤ksi, monipuoliseksi blues-pop -artistiksi". Kitaristi-laulaja sanoo, ett¤ blues on h¤nen musiikissaan se kaikkein olennaisin, mutta "kyll¤h¤n m¤ pusken niit¤ rajoja tosi vahvasti". Blues on kuitenkin Erjalle "tunnetila, ihan puhtaasti, v¤lill¤ voisi puhua jopa katharsiksesta". Katso Ajankohtaisen kakkosen l¤hikuva Erja Lyytisest¤. 8.5.
  VideoSosiaalisen median palvelut ovat monille kehitysvammaisille liian vaikeita. Suomessa kehitetty sivusto auttaa lukemisessa ja kirjoittamisessa, kertoo Ajankohtainen kakkonen. 7.5.
  Suomen olympiaurheilijat joutuvat jatkossa palautumaan suorituksistaan ilman s¤hk¶magneettiseen s¤teilyyn perustuvaa verisuoniterapiaa. Olympiakomitea on p¤¤tt¤nyt lopettaa yhteisty¶n terapialaitteita valmistavan Bemer-yhti¶n kanssa. Ajankohtaisen kakkosen haastattelemien tutkijoiden mukaan Bemer on uskomushoitoa. 7.5.
  Peruspalveluministeri Maria Guzenina-Richardson (sd.) vastustaa kovin sanoin hallituksen aikeita leikata S¤teilyturvakeskuksen tutkimusm¤¤r¤rahoja. 30.4.
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  Kotimaa 24.4.Tapan. Raiskaan. Hakkaan. H¤p¤isen sinut. Miksi anonyymist¤ vihasta on tullut arkip¤iv¤¤? Vihapuheen tarkoitus on h¤p¤ist¤ ja vaientaa. T¤h¤n asti sen sis¤ll¶st¤ on vaiettu, koska se on liian likaista.
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  Talous 23.4.Tiukan talouskurin puolesta puhuvat poliitikot ja talousasiantuntijat saivat nenilleen, kun yliopisto-opiskelija osoitti, ett¤ heid¤n taajaan siteeraamansa tutkimus oli t¤ynn¤ virheit¤.
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  Kotimaa 28.4.V¤h¤hiilihydraattinen ruokavalio eli karppaus villitsi suomalaiset pari vuotta sitten. Lihaa ja rasvaa saa sy¶d¤ oikein luvan kanssa - vai saako sittenk¤¤n? Asiantuntijan mukaan Suomessa ja Ruotsissa karppaus on ymm¤rretty osittain v¤¤rin.
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  Kotimaa 1.5.Kielto on voimassa siihen saakka kunnes asia on lopullisesti ratkaistu.
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  Internet 6.5.Hidastelevan laajakaistan syy voi piill¤ esimerkiksi langattomassa l¤hiverkossa tai liian pitk¤ss¤ kuparikaapelissa. Mobiilinetin nopeusongelmat ovat oma lukunsa.
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  Kotimaa 15.5.Punkkien aiheuttamat puutiaisaivotulehdukset ja borrelioosi ovat lis¤¤ntyneet voimakkaasti viime vuosina. Eniten vakavampia TBE-tartuntoja ilmeni viime vuonna Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiirin alueella. Asukaslukuun suhteutettuna tartuntoja oli eniten Ahvenanmaan j¤lkeen Kemin ja Simon alueilla.
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  Ulkomaat 6.4.Azzam on maailman suurin huvijahti. Paljon muuta siit¤ ei tiedet¤k¤¤n.
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  Kulttuuri 22.4.Yle on aloittanut ensimm¤isen¤ suomalaisena tv-yhti¶n¤ tv-kanaviensa suoran verkkojakelun. Kanavien suoraa tarjontaa voi katsella t¤st¤ p¤iv¤st¤ l¤htien tv:n lis¤ksi tableteilla, tietokoneilla ja ¤lypuhelimilla.
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  Liikenne 6.3.Turun Kaskenm¤ess¤ on yksi Suomen kummallisimmista liikennemerkeist¤. T¤t¤ mielt¤ ovat monet autoilijat. Keskell¤ tiet¤ m¶ll¶tt¤v¤st¤ liikenteenopastimesta monet autoilijat eiv¤t piittaakaan tuon taivaallista. Kaskenm¤ess¤ on ollut jatkuvia vaaratilanteita.
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  Viihde 5.5.Krista Siegfrids sanoo, ettei h¤nen Marry me -laulunsa kannanotto ole poliittinen, vaan vetoomus sen puolesta, ettei rakkaudelle pit¤isi asettaa sukupuolirajoja.
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  Tiede 13.4.Toistaiseksi tutkijat eiv¤t tied¤, mik¤ rakennelma on tai miksi se on tehty. Teoriat vaihtelevat muinaisesta kalojen kasvatuslaitoksesta aikansa mahtavimpaan kaupunkiin.
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  Ulkomaat 7.5.0:58Clevelandin asukkaat riemuitsevat kadonneiden tytt¶jen l¶ytymisest¤. Sieppaus kesti yli kymmenen vuotta. Vahvistamattomat tiedot kertovat sieppaajien talossa olleen my¶s nuoria lapsia.
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  Ulkomaat 12.5.01:00L¤ntiseen Manitobaan on julistettu paikallinen h¤t¤tila, kertoo yleisradioyhti¶ CBC.
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  Ulkomaat 10.4.Internetin suosituimmat pornosivustot altistavat k¤ytt¤j¤ns¤ yh¤ pahemmin haittaohjelmille. Alan asiantuntijan mukaan yli puolet tunnetun pornosivuston k¤vij¶ist¤ joutuu tekemisiin haittaohjelmien kanssa.
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  Kotimaa 3.5.Kerrostalon parvekkeelta kantautuva melu ja grillink¤ry poikivat valituksia herk¤sti kev¤isin. Auringonpalvontakin voi kismitt¤¤, kertoo lakiasiantuntija Marina Furuhjelm Is¤nn¶intiliitosta.
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  Kotimaa 25.4.My¶s eurooppalaisessa vertailussa Suomi on hintak¤rjess¤.
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  Kotimaa 27.4.Kauppojen kassoilta l¶ytyy jo laitteita, joilla voi tulevaisuudessa maksaa vain korttia vilauttamalla. L¤himaksamiseen sopivia maksukortteja saa my¶s jo pankeista.
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  Politiikka 29.4.Hallituksen kompurointi sote- ja kuntauudistuksessa ja kehysriihen p¤¤t¶sten korjailuissa n¤kyy puolueiden kannatusluvissa. Vuosia gallup-k¤rjess¤ ollut kokoomus on menett¤nyt ykk¶spaikkansa ja SDP:n suosion lasku jatkuu.
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  Kotimaa 1.5.0:59Zeppeliini tekee tutkimuslentoja Suomessa kes¤kuun puoleen v¤liin asti.
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  Tiede 18.4.Nasan mukaan tutkijat eiv¤t tied¤, voisiko l¶ydetyill¤ planeetoilla esiinty¤ el¤m¤¤, mutta niiden paljastuminen vie meid¤t askelen l¤hemm¤s Maan kaltaisen planeetan l¶ytymist¤.
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VIDEO-BBC News - Snow and flooding hit parts of England
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:58
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VIDEO-Police: Explosives Found in Palms Apartment | KTLA 5
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:50
  PALMS, Calif. (KTLA) '-- Police evacuated an area in Palms on Wednesday morning after finding multiple explosive devices inside an apartment.
  The LAPD bomb squad was at the scene in the 3800 block of Overland Avenue.
  It all began around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, when police pulled over a man for a routine traffic stop, according to the LAPD.
  Officers discovered narcotics and a handgun inside the car, police said.
  That prompted police to search the man's apartment.
  Authorities said he cooperated fully with the search.
  The apartment was ''cluttered'' and a least a dozen explosives were found inside, police said.
  They would not elaborate on the type of explosives, but residents said police told them they were pipe bombs.
  The man was identified by authorities as Robert Wilson.
  Investigators described him as a ''lone wolf'' who was intrigued by explosives, and said the incident did not appear to be terrorism-related.
  He was booked on suspicion of possessing an explosive device.
  Several apartment buildings in the area were evacuated, as well as local businesses.
  Overland Avenue was expected to be closed between Venice and Washington for much of the day as the investigation continued.
USA TODAY
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:42
  Karim Kadim, AP
  Mourners load the coffin of a man killed in a liquor store attack onto a vehicle in Baghdad on May 15, 2013.
  BAGHDAD (AP) '-- A car bomb exploded near a bus station in Baghdad's main Shiite district Wednesday, the deadliest in a series of explosions that killed at least 33 people nationwide, officials said.
  The bloodshed came amid growing tensions between the Shiite-led government and minority Sunnis following a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north. Violence has ebbed sharply in Iraq, but a spike in attacks has raised fears about a return of the sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.
  Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks. An increase attacks against Sunni mosques has fed concerns about a return to retaliatory warfare.
  The day began violently when an explosives-laden car parked in the center of the ethnically divided city of Kirkuk at around 3:00 p.m., killing three civilians and wounding eight. An hour later, another parked car bomb exploded in the same area, killing two children and their parents as they were traveling in a car nearby, the city's deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said.
  Civilians joined forces with rescuers and policemen in searching for survivors in a partially damaged house after the first explosion. A wailing man was repeatedly trying to make his way through to the house, but he was prevented by the crowds. After the second attack, firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze that engulfed the car with at least three charred bodies of a woman and two children visible.
  Kirkuk is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area. The Kurds want to incorporate it into their self-rule region in Iraq's north, but Arabs and Turkomen are opposed.
  Hours later, several bombs struck within a 90-minute time frame as Iraqis were heading home from work or doing errands in mainly Shiite areas of Baghdad.
  The deadliest was in the sprawling slum of Sadr City, an area that saw some of the fiercest fighting between Americans and Shiite militias during the peak of sectarian bloodshed. Police and hospital officials said a car bomb exploded near a crowded bus stop in the area, killing at least seven people and wounding 20. The blast also damaged several shops and cars in the area, which was sealed off by police.
  A car bomb also struck firefighters minutes after they arrived on the scene to extinguish a burning car in the mainly Shiite Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad, killing two and wounding nine others.
  Amajad Hussein owns a clothing store and witnessed the blast.
  "We ran from the place after the explosion, but we returned to see wounded firefighters on the ground and at least one fire engine in flames," he said. "Once again, the innocent people are paying the price for the security failures in this country."
  At least six other bombings occurred in rapid succession near other bus stops or outdoor markets across the Iraqi capital, killing 15 people and wounding nearly 50 people.
  In other violence, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a police patrol, killing two officers and wounding eight other people in the town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding eight other people, a police official said.
  Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for all the attacks. All of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.
  No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, but car and suicide bombings are a hallmark of al-Qaida's Iraq branch.
  Insurgents routinely target Iraqi police, government officials and civilians in an attempt to undermine Iraq's government or to exacerbate political tension.
  For the past five months, Sunnis have been protesting against what they claim is second-class treatment by the government and to demand an end to some laws they believe unfairly target them. Violence has flared on occasion between security forces and protesters.
  But the matter came to a head April 23 after government troops moved against a camp of Sunni demonstrators in the town of Hawija, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Baghdad. The clashes there sparked a wave of violence across Iraq that has killed more than 230 people, posing the most serious threat to Iraq's stability since the last American troops left in December 2011.
  Under Saddam, Iraq's Sunni minority held a privileged position, while the Shiites were largely oppressed. But since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam, those dynamics have been flipped, and a Shiite-led government now holds power in Baghdad.
  Authorities also raised the death toll from Tuesday's attack on a row of liquor stores in eastern Baghdad to 12 after one man died of his wounds in the hospital. Families gathered outside a Baghdad morgue to receive the bodies of their relatives. Several wooden caskets were loaded on vehicles as mourners chanted: "There is no God, but Allah."
  Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Report: Susan Rice's promotion to National Security Advisor 'definitely happening'
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  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:22
  Benghazigate might have derailed Ambassador Susan Rice's bid to be Secretary of State, but the ''extraordinary'' Rice might have a promotion in her future after all. Foreign Policy reports today that Rice ''has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon '-- a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state.'' Writer John Hudson quotes an unnamed source as saying ''it's definitely happening.''
Will Benghazi furor keep Susan Rice out of the White House? | The Cable
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:22
  Insiders with ties tothe Obama administration tell The Cablethat U.S. ambassador to the United Nations SusanRice has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon -- a post at the epicenterof foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretaryof state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severepolitical pressure.
  "It's definitelyhappening," a source who recently spoke with Rice told The Cable. "She is sure she iscoming and so too her husband and closest friends."
  "Susan is a verylikely candidate to replace him whenever he would choose to leave," agreed Dennis Ross, a former special assistantto President Obama and counselor at the Washington Institute. "She is close tothe president, has the credentials, and has a breadth of experience."
  Both sources said thetiming of succession was uncertain. "I don't believe Tom Donilon is about toleave but would be surprised if he were to remain for the whole second term," Rosssaid. "But in answer to your question, [Rice's appointment] is very logical."
  Rice's candidacy forsecretary of state imploded in November after she recited talking points aboutthe Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi on five Sunday talk shows that turned out to beerroneous.
  The question now iswhether Benghazi's return to the spotlight will affect her potentialappointment at a time when the White House is reeling from revelations about theIRS's scrutiny of conservative groups and the Justice Department's subpoena ofthe calling records of AP journalists.
  For now, prominentRepublicans don't seem inclined to make a fuss.
  In November, ArizonaSen. John McCain pledged to "do everything in my power to blockher from becoming secretary of state"; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Grahamsaid, "I don't think she deserves to bepromoted"; and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corkersaid she'd make a better DNC chair: "I think most of us want someone who is more independentminded."
  But now -- even asBenghazi fever reaches a crescendo following last week's dramatic"whistleblower" hearing and Wednesday's release of 100pages of Benghazi emails -- the GOP's desire to check her rise has seeminglyevaporated, and Republicans have few tools to prevent her appointment, whichwould not require Senate confirmation.
  When asked if he wasconcerned about a future National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Corker, the rankingmember of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Cable he was sitting this one out.
  "In the case ofnational security advisor," he said, "whomever serves in that position servesat the pleasure of the president. So it's totally his prerogative." When The Cable asked Graham and McCain thesame question, their spokesmen declined to comment.
  In some ways, thedeflated interest in Rice is only natural. Though the testimony of State Department witnesses lastweek served to highlight the inaccuracy of Rice's talk-show appearances, new details of the editing process of hertalking points show her nowhere near the drafting process -- just as theadministration has long maintained.
  Meanwhile, a more tantalizingGOP target has emerged in the form of HillaryClinton, the overwhelming favorite to assume the Democratic presidentialnomination in 2016. Democrats, Republicans and witnesses fixated on Clinton 32 times during discussionsin last week's hearing.
  Rice spokeswoman Erin Pelton declined to comment forthis article. White House National Security Council Spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, "We don't have anypersonnel announcements to make at this time, and Mr. Donilon has no plans todepart at this point." She added that Donilon is "fully engaged in managing ournational security agenda, from his recent trip to Moscow and major address onglobal energy, to planning for a trip to China in late May and more upcomingspeaking events."
  The administrationhasn't shied away from heaping praise on Rice. Last week, at a gala for theJoint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Vice President Joe Bidentold the audience that the U.N. ambassador has"the absolute, total, complete confidence of the president," and that when shespeaks on issues of foreign policy, nobody doubts she's speaking for Obama.
  Back in March, whencolleague Colum Lynch first reported whispers of Rice'scomeback, Ben Rhodes, deputynational security adviser for strategic communications, spoke glowingly ofRice's relationship with the president. "Susan always maintains close relationswith the president and his national security team, and that continues to be thecase," he said. "If anything, the way she handled the Benghazi situation -- andthen the withdrawal -- only enhanced her relations here, because she did sowith grace and good humor."
  The president himselfhas gone out of his way to wink at an expanded role for Rice within hisadministration. "I have every confidence that Susan has limitless capability toserve our country now and in the years to come, and know that I will continueto rely on her as an advisor and friend," Obama said in a December statement.
Obamas worth millions, not yet at point where they've made enough money
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  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:21
  Somewhere between scandals this week, the president found time to sign financial disclosure forms indicating that he and the first lady held assets totaling somewhere between $1.8 and $6.8 million last year. Five million dollars seems like a pretty big range to those of us in the oppressed 47 percent, but if you're one of the rich, what's a few million here or there? It's not like he's going to be #FlaggedForAudit.
  ABC News reports that President Obama collected between $250,000 and $2.1 million in book royalties. We're tempted to make a ''you didn't build write that'' joke, but we'll let it slide.
Executive Order -- 2013 Amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States
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  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Wed, 15 May 2013 21:05
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 15, 2013
  EXECUTIVE ORDER
  - - - - - - -
  2013 AMENDMENTS TO THE MANUAL FOR COURTS-MARTIAL, UNITED STATES
  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 801-946), and in order to prescribe amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, prescribed by Executive Order 12473, as amended, it is hereby ordered as follows:
  Section1. Parts III and IV of the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, are amended as described in the Annex attached and made a part of this order
  Sec. 2. These amendments shall take effect as of the date of this order, subject to the following:
  (a) Nothing in these amendments shall be construed to make punishable any act done or omitted prior to the effective date of this order that was not punishable when done or omitted.
  (b) Nothing in these amendments shall be construed to invalidate any nonjudicial punishment proceedings, restraint, investigation, referral of charges, trial in which arraignment occurred, or other action begun prior to the effective date of this order, and any such nonjudicial punishment, restraint, investigation, referral of charges, trial, or other action may proceed in the same manner and with the same effect as if these amendments had not been prescribed.
  THE WHITE HOUSE, May 15, 2013.
VIDEO-Interview With Cops That Had Shootout With Boston Bombing Suspects In Watertown - YouTube
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 16:35
Russia's CIA spy bust 'was linked to Boston Bombing': U.S diplomat was trying to recruit Dagestan expert who travelled to terrorists home town when he was arrested | Mail Online
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 16:30
  U.S. diplomat named as Ryan Christopher Fogle was arrested on MondayRussia claim he was attempting to recruit a Russian secret services officialLetter allegedly found on him offers agents $1million per year to defectU.S. ambassador summoned to Russian foreign ministry to explain todayBy Daily Mail Reporter
  PUBLISHED: 06:44 EST, 15 May 2013 | UPDATED: 07:20 EST, 15 May 2013
  The arrest of a US diplomat accused of being a CIA spy was linked to the Boston bombing, sources revealed today.
  Russian security officials reported on Tuesday that they had briefly detained Ryan Fogle in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer.
  Today sources revealed the man Mr Fogle was trying to 'recruit' was an FSB agent who specialised in Islamic extremism in Russia and may even have travelled to the region where the bombing suspects came from.
  Lure: Sources today said that Ryan Fogle, right, was seeking to lure into treachery an FSB agent who had knowledge of Russian intelligence operations on suspected Boston terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev, left
  It is thought that he was part of a team who went to Dagestan and provided intelligence to the United States about an extremist threat in 2011.
  Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy, who was carrying special technical equipment, disguises, written instructions and a large sum of money. Fogle was later handed over to U.S. Embassy officials.
  This morning the Russian foreign ministry today issued a formal protest to American ambassador Michael McFaul who was summoned to explain the alleged espionage mission of one of his diplomats.
  As he left after the brief session with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, the envoy waved to reporters but refused to comment.
  Relations: U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul walks outside as he leaves the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow. He was summoned to explain the alleged espionage mission of one of his diplomats
  The Ministry hit out at 'provocative acts in the spirit of the Cold War' and has ordered the expulsion of Fogle, arrested wearing a blond wig under his baseball cap.
  'This does not contribute to the further process of building mutual trust between Russia and the United States and bringing our relations to a qualitatively new level,' warned Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
  But it was becoming clearer today that the US was seeking to lure into treachery an FSB agent who had knowledge of Russian intelligence operations on suspected Boston terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who lived in America but had travelled to Dagastan where he was believed to have met Islamic extremists.
  Arrested: The US diplomat - suspected by the Russian of being a CIA agent - was named as Ryan Christopher Fogle. He was arrested last night in Moscow
  Claims: The FSB counter intelligence service said the envoy, a third secretary in the political section of the American embassy was caught red handed seeking to recruit a Russian intelligence officer
  Detained: The FSB said Fogle was in possession of two floppy wigs, three pairs of glasses, a map of Moscow and a folding knife when he was detained
  Seized: After his arrest, he was taken to the FSB headquarters at the Lubyanka, in Moscow, and later handed over to the US embassy in keeping with diplomatic protocols
  Just call me James... blond? Russian intelligence services parade the 'CIA spy', named as Ryan Christopher Fogle, for cameras on Monday
  The FSB had earlier warned the FBI about his potential extremist links.
  In material released by the FSB, it is clear the Americans had phone numbers for one or more Russian intelligence agents involved in anti-terrorism work in the Caucasus.
  They obtained these during trip involving FBI agents to Dagestan in search of intelligence on Tamerlan's trip.
  'After the first call he refused to meet, but this man called again and insisted on a meeting,' said a recording of a FSB officer addressing three US diplomats who came to collect the alleged CIA agent from FSB headquarters.
  'At first we did not believe it was happening, because recently the FSB has been actively helping to investigate the Boston blasts, and was also providing some other information about threats to US national security'.
  Today Kommersant newspaper said: 'It is likely that during the trip in April the US side obtained the phone numbers of Federal Security Service (FSB) agents.'
  'Clearly, they then decided to use it to have personal contacts with anti-terror agents, given that the exchange of information in the form of question and answers between special services is not always quick and smooth,' it said.
  Russia has not named the target of the US co-operation, and it is not known whether the agent has faced any problems or even arrest over the US interest in him.
  Fogle apparently hinted at an initial payment of $100,000 followed up a salary of up to $1 million a year plus bonuses if the Russian intelligence official handed over secrets to the CIA.
  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had opted not to bring up the case at talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday in Sweden.
  'I decided that talking about it would be superfluous, since it is already made public and everyone already understands everything,' he said.
  Statement: 'Recently, the US intelligence service has made repeated attempts to recruit the staff of Russian law enforcement agencies and special services,' according to the FSB
  Stash: He was detained with 'special technical devices, written instructions for the person he was recruiting, a lot of cash, and things to help change one's appearance,' according to the FSB
  Mission: The website of the American embassy in Russia informs that its Political Section is engaged in 'bringing to the attention of the Russian government the US position on the issues of foreign policy and security'
  Questions: A letter the agent carried suggested the US government was willing to pay up to $1 million a year plus bonuses to his unidentified potential Russian recruit, if the letter released by the FSB is genuine
  Release: Fogle was held overnight before being released to U.S. officials and expelled from Russia
  Fogle was the first American diplomat to be publicly accused of spying in Russia in about a decade.
  While relations between the two countries have been strained, officials in both Washington and Moscow sought to play down the incident.
  Fogle was caught in Vorontsovski Park, an area in south-east Moscow, the FSB said.
  A letter in Russian which Fogle carried suggests '' if genuine '' that the CIA hoped to reel in a big fish.
  Addressed 'Dear friend', it states: 'We are ready to offer you $100,000 [£65,000] and discuss your experience, expertise and co-operation, and the payment may go much higher if you are ready to answer certain questions.
  'For long-term co-operation we offer $1million [£650,000] per year.'
  The recruit is instructed to use an internet cafe to 'create a new Gmail mailbox which you will use only for staying in touch with us'.
  The incident is the biggest spy scandal since the arrest of glamorous agent Anna Chapman and nine other Russians in the US in 2010.
  The FSB stated: 'Recently, the US intelligence community has made repeated attempts to recruit employees of Russia's law-enforcement bodies and special agencies.'
  Many details remained shrouded in mystery last night. It is not known whether the target was part of the sting operation or if they have been arrested.
  Russia's haste to make the news public could mean either that the attempt was so audacious that it shocked leaders, or that hardliners have seized on it to stop a move towards detente with the US.
  Yesterday Patty Fogle, the diplomat's mother, refused to comment at her home in St Louis, Missouri.
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CNN's Malveaux: White House Has Lost Some 'Support' From Press Corps
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 16:02
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  On Wednesday's Around the World, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux admitted that the Obama administration has lost some media "support," noting "tension" between the White House and the press corps.
CBS's Rose Defends Obama from Rumsfeld Saying He's Only Taken Responsibility for Killing Osama
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  From the 15 May 2013 edition of CBS This Morning:
  CHARLIE ROSE: ...You've been in Washington many, many, many years. What does it feel like to you, because the President is getting a lot of criticism, which, sort of, debunks the notion, that somehow, the press doesn't criticize Democrats. But the atmosphere '' what does it feel?
  DONALD RUMSFELD, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: It '' they're in crisis mode. There's no question about that....The only thing the President has really taken responsibility for is SEAL Team Six killing Osama bin Laden-
  ROSE: Oh, that's not true-
  RUMSFELD: Oh, pretty close '' pretty close, Charlie.
Holder Says His Recusal From AP Spying Case Wasn't Done In Writing, We Have To Take His Word For It'...
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:57
  Call me crazy but I don't think Holder is being all that truthful.
  Via TPM:
  Attorney General Eric Holder testified Wednesday that his recusal from a criminal investigation into an administration leak of classified information last year was not done in writing.
  Asked by Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) whether he thought it might be appropriate to memorialize such an action as a matter of record, Holder said he agreed.
  ''I guess it might be helpful,'' he said.
VIDEO-Eric Holder Was Uncertain Who Authorized Subpoenas - YouTube
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:56
IRS Chief Steven Miller Blames Two ''Rogue'' Agents In Cincinnati Office For Going ''Off Reservation'' To Target Conservatives'...
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:56
  Nice try, but no. The Inspector General of the IRS found that 12 offices were involved, 10 of them in Washington.
  Via HuffPo:
  Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Steven Miller revealed Wednesday that officials had identified two ''rogue'' employees that were responsible for subjecting Tea Party groups to extra scrutiny in their requests for tax-exempt status, a congressional source told CNN.
  According to CNN, the IRS employees were based out of the agency's Cincinnati office and had been determined to have gone ''off reservation.''
  At his press briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary refused to answer questions about whether the president had confidence in Miller's leadership. He said that Obama would ''be discussing these issues with Treasury [Department] leaders later today.''
Donors pledge about $4.22 billion to aid Mali recovery
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  Source: Reuters: World News
  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:51
  A woman poses for a picture while cleaning the destroyed main market in Gao, March 2, 2013.
  Credit: Reuters/Joe Penney
  By Ethan Bilby and Adrian Croft
  BRUSSELS | Wed May 15, 2013 4:24pm EDT
  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - International donors pledged 3.25 billion euros ($4.22 billion) on Wednesday to help Mali recover from a conflict with al Qaeda-linked Islamists, exceeding the West African country's target.
  The development drive for Mali, one of the world's poorest countries, is aimed at halting a resurgence of the rebels driven out of major northern towns by a French-led offensive this year.
  "More than 3.25 billion euros have been mobilized at this conference," French President Francois Hollande told the meeting, organized jointly by France and the European Union.
  More than 100 delegations took part in the conference, including 10 presidents or prime ministers.
  The EU's executive Commission will allocate 524 million euros to Mali. Large pledges by France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Islamic Development Bank and others enabled the West African country to exceed its goal of raising two billion euros.
  It needs the money to fill a funding gap in a 4.34 billion euro plan to keep the peace and build infrastructure over this year and next.
  EU, French and Malian officials declared the conference a success. "It went beyond what we could have hoped for ... This conference marks a new chapter in the fight of civilization against terrorism," Malian President Dioncounda Traore told a news conference.
  French and EU officials said that releasing the bulk of the money was dependent on Mali fulfilling its commitment to holding presidential elections on July 28.
  "We cannot wait for the elections. One third of the EU commitment will be financed before, but two thirds depends on the elections," French Development Minister Pascal Canfin told Reuters.
  He also said Mali must push through reforms in justice, fighting corruption, public finances and decentralizing power.
  NO BLANK CHEQUE
  Mali's implementation of reforms will be strictly monitored by the donors.
  "Nothing is a blank check, everything is covered by this plan for 2013-2014 and the progress will be evaluated based on the objectives of this plan," Andris Piebalgs, the EU's development commissioner, told Reuters.
  Aid group Oxfam welcomed the pledges, but said they should be seen as "a down payment, not a one-off check".
  France launched a ground and air operation in its former colony in January to break the Islamist rebel hold on the northern two-thirds of the country, saying the militants posed a threat to the security of West Africa and Europe.
  The rapid offensive took back most of the territory seized by the militants but has failed to stop them from waging a guerrilla war.
  Hollande dismissed comparisons between Mali and Afghanistan.
  "In Mali, the terrorists have been beaten. I don't say there are none left, I don't say there is no risk, but there is no longer any fighting," he said.
  Mali continues to suffer a humanitarian crisis, with more than 174,000 refugees in neighboring countries and 300,000 internally displaced.
  Some 750,000 Malians need food assistance and 660,000 children face malnutrition, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the EU's humanitarian aid commissioner.
  "At the moment conditions are better in the camps than they are at home," Georgieva told Reuters.
  "This is why this focus on the early recovery of basic services is so crucial. As long as people live better in the camps than they live at home, they're not going to go back."
  (Additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by Mike Collett-White)
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IMF board OKs $1.3 billion loan for Cyprus
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  Source: Reuters: World News
  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:51
  TweetShare thisEmailPrintPeople wait for their turn to register for unemployment benefits at a local jobs centre in Nicosia April 23, 2013.
  Credit: Reuters/Andreas Manolis
  WASHINGTON | Wed May 15, 2013 2:50pm EDT
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The IMF's executive board approved a $1.3 billion, three-year loan to Cyprus on Wednesday, part of a larger international bailout to help the Mediterranean country avoid defaulting on its debt.
  Cyprus had to comply with certain conditions - including winding down its second-largest bank and imposing losses on large depositors - in order to receive the funds, which total 10 billion euros ($13 billion). The approval of the IMF's board means Cyprus immediately gets $110.7 million.
  The financing package "is intended to stabilize the country's financial system, achieve fiscal sustainability and support the recovery of economic activity to preserve the welfare of the population," the IMF said in a statement.
  ($1 = 0.7705 Euro)
  (Reporting by Anna Yukhananov, editing by G Crosse)
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  Add yours using the box above.
Pot, meet kettle: Holder blasts Rep. Darrell Issa as 'shameful,' calls conduct 'unacceptable'; Update: Video added
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  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:47
  What's got Eric Holder's panties in a bunch? It's Rep. Darrell Issa and his pursuit of the truth. During this afternoon's House Judiciary Committee hearing, the scandal-plagued AG lashed out at the House Oversight Committee chair:
  Let's go to the videotape (via The Washington Examiner):
  No kidding. And Holder's not doing himself or his boss any favors:
  No. No it isn't. Then again, this is the Obama administration we're talking about. Sound strategy is not their fort(C).
  Anyone have a mirror Holder can borrow?
  Unbelievable.
  Bonehead move, bro.
  In the battle of Holder vs. Issa, it's pretty clear how things are gonna end.
  Damn straight.
  ***
  Editor's note: This post has been updated with video of Holder's outburst.
3 miljard euro voor crisisland Mali - Buitenland - VK
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:45
  15/05/13, 21:29 '' bron: ANP
  (C) afp. Barroso en Hollande tijdens de conferentie over Mali, vandaag in Brussel
  Het West-Afrikaanse crisisland Mali kan rekenen op ruim 3 miljard euro steun van de internationale gemeenschap, 1 miljard meer dan verwacht en verlangd door de Malinese regering. Dat maakte Europees president Herman Van Rompuy woensdagmiddag bekend na afloop van een donorconferentie in Brussel.
  Van Rompuy waarschuwde de autoriteiten in Mali dat zij in ruil voor de financile steun wel de aangekondigde politieke en economische hervormingen moeten doorvoeren. Aan de conferentie voor de wederopbouw van het geteisterde land deden ruim 100 landen en instellingen mee. Volgens diplomaten behoorden de Europese Unie, de Verenigde Staten en Frankrijk tot de grootste geldschieters.
  Het geld moet bijdragen aan het herstel van Mali na een conflict met moslimextremisten in het land, aldus de Franse president Fran§ois Hollande. De Malinese regering had om bijna 2 miljard euro gevraagd voor dit en volgend jaar.
  Het instabiele en straatarme Sahelland van ruim 15 miljoen inwoners verviel begin vorig jaar vrijwel tot anarchie na een opstand van de nomadische Toearegs in het noorden, een staatsgreep in de hoofdstad Bamako en de snelle opkomst van islamisten in het door Toearegs net onafhankelijk verklaarde noordoosten. Frankrijk greep begin dit jaar militair in. Europa is erg bezorgd dat het land het domein wordt van moslimextremisten en drugssmokkelaars.
  Naar verluidt wordt ex-PvdA-minister Bert Koenders donderdag benoemd tot hoofd van de VN-missie in Mali. Hij gaat dan leiding geven aan de 12.600 man sterke VN-vredesmacht Minusma.
Donors offer Mali over '‚¬3 billion in aid - with strings attached | EurActiv
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:45
  Four months after an EU-backed French force halted an advance by militants in the country's north, the EU hosted the donor conference to help finance the Malian government's plan to improve health, education, the economy and food security.
  It also pledged to rebuild its impoverished northern region where skirmishes between foreign-backed government troops and militants continue.
  The European Commission and the 27 member states have pledged to provide '‚¬1.35 billion for Mali through 2014, one-third of the international commitment. The pledges included '‚¬50,000 from Greece and '‚¬18 million from Spain, two troubled eurozone countries that have themselves turned to Brussels for financial aid.
  European leaders made clear at the Brussels meeting that the aid comes as part of broader efforts to stabilise a West African region that has endured repeated food crises, political instability and armed conflicts.
  French President Fran§ois Hollande welcomed the financial commitments but said it was up to leaders in the former French colony to follow through with its commitments.
  "We need transparency and good governance," Hollande said at the end of the conference.
  Earlier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius emphasised the regional dimension of the conflict, saying that ''through Mali, it is the future of the subregion and beyond which is at play''. But he also warned that the aid provided by the international community comes with strings attached.
  Fabius said particular attention would be paid to the traceability of aid and the followup of projects, with conditions on disbursement of funds linked to transparency, governance, democracy and the fight against corruption.
  The war in Mali ''is being won,'' Fabius said but, ''now we must win the peace''.
  Aid in stages
  EU representatives repeatedly said aid must be tied to the Malian authorities' adherence to the political stabilisation roadmap they presented to donors, and free elections due in July. Dirk Niebel, the German development minister, said his country would provide at least '‚¬100 million in aid over the next two years. But it will be released in stages if Mali ''continues to implement its roadmap '... and if the transition process goes well," Niebel said.
  EU development aid Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the stabilisation roadmap for Mali was the cornerstone of the international community's commitment to the country and had to be followed resolutely.
  Piebalgs insisted that beyond Mali, ''the EU's commitment is regional'' and extends to the wider Sahel area. ''We are investing considerable means'', he said, referring to the European Commission's '‚¬520 million commitment. An extra '‚¬200 million is also available under the EU's strategy for the security and development of Sahel, the Commission said.
  Foreign aid was expected to lead to the creation of 20,000 local jobs in the next two years in areas like water, sanitation, justice and education, Piebalgs said.
  Big boost for poor nation
  The international aid pledged by 108 countries and international organisations is a major boost for Mali, coming a year after a brief military coup and flare-up of sectoral violence led the EU and other donors to freeze aid and ultimately back the French military operation.
  Mali's foreign minister, Tieman Hubert Coulibaly, promised ''effective management'' of the aid. ''We need money,'' he pleaded, adding: ''Money is the sinews of war.''
  He also said stabilising his own nation would help the region, referring to the Economic Community of West African States, which has pledged support for a forthcoming United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. "We believe that a stable Mali is a stable ECOWAS [and] a little more stable Sahel."
  But the nation of 16 million faces high hurdles, including continued fighting, pressure from Islamist groups and drug traders, and refugee and food crises.
  Mali must also tackle its reputation for corruption and mismanagement of aid. The Business Anti-Corruption portal, an EU-funded project, reports that bribery and graft are widespread. In 2010, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Truberculosis and Malaria halted funding to Mali amid allegations of fraud and mismanagement.
  The Global Fund has since resumed aid and in November announced '‚¬110 million in new funding.
  Human rights concerns
  Europe and its global partners were under pressure ahead of the conference to ensure that the Malian government address reports of extrajudicial executions, torture and reprisals carried out by government forces.
  Mali has been torn for decades by divisions between its northern Islamic and Arab communities and the African south. Attacks by northern insurgents, backed by regional Islamic groups, surged in early 2012, leading the military to temporarily seize control of the government.
  United Nations rights officials and advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have accused insurgents and Islamic militants of pillaging and rape, while government forces have been linked to reprisals and torture.
  Amnesty International has accused government forces in the north of carrying out executions and Islamic rebels of recruiting child soldiers.
Angelina Jolie's doctor blogs intimate details of the actor's treatment
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  Source: The Guardian World News
  Wed, 15 May 2013 15:43
  Angelina Jolie has earned praise from breast cancer experts for highlighting the heightened predisposition of some women to the disease. Photograph: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic.com
  Angelina Jolie was back at work preparing for her next film just four days after having a double mastectomy, her doctor has revealed in a detailed description of the actor's months of treatment.
  The Oscar-winner underwent her double mastectomy on 16 February at the Pink Lotus Breast Centre in Beverly Hills, California, as the second of three operations to reduce her risk of breast cancer from 87% to 5%.
  "On day four after her mastectomies I was pleased to find her not only in good spirits with bountiful energy, but with two walls in her house covered with freshly assembled storyboards for the next project she is directing.
  "All the while she spoke, six drains dangled from her chest, three on each side, fastened to an elastic belt around her waist," wrote Dr Kristi Funk in a lengthy and intimate blogpost on the centre's website that explained what Jolie underwent before, during and after her three surgeries.
  Despite her fame and constant trailing by the media, Jolie's medical treatment had remained a secret until Tuesday, when she wrote about her decision in an article in the New York Times.
  She earned praise from breast cancer experts for flagging up the heightened genetic predisposition to the disease run by women who have inherited a faulty version of either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene from one of their parents.
  Jolie approved Funk's account of her treatment to help women at high risk because of their family history of either breast or ovarian cancer to understand what is involved if they opt to undergo surgery rather than regular scans and preventive drugs as a way of managing their risk.
  Jolie's first operation, on 2 February, was a "nipple delay", a procedure to rule out the presence of cancerous cells in the milk ducts around the nipple in women who have decided to preserve their nipples while almost all their breast tissue is removed during the mastectomy.
  "Her partner [Brad Pitt] was on hand to greet her as soon as she came around from the anaesthetic, as he was during each of the operations," said Funk.
  Tests showed no sign of cancer.
  During the mastectomy a fortnight later, a plastic surgeon called Dr Jay Orringer also "performed the first stage breast reconstruction by placing tissue expanders with allograft", which Funk describes as "synthetic sheets of material, that create a more natural look" for women having their breasts rebuilt.
  Despite an extra operation being involved to fit the tissue expanders, Jolie chose to have them, because they help maximise blood flow to the breast skin and nipple, said Funk.
  Ten weeks later, on 27 April, Jolie received breast implants during her third and final surgery, the reconstruction, "which went extremely well, bringing an end to her surgical journey".
  Funk also detailed the myriad medications and supplements which Jolie took to help her wounds heal after each operation, reduce the risk of infection, lessen post-operative nausea, vomiting, swelling and bruising, get the anaesthetics out of her system, increase the amount of oxygen reaching her skin and minimise scarring.
VIDEO-Stop Spraying Us - San Francisco | California Bay Area Residents Against Chemtrails/Geoengineering
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 14:26
  Geoengineer Ken Calderia proposes spraying chemicals in our skies to ''blunt the worst effects of global warming.'' But when confronted (at 4:40) he was forced to admit there has been no global warming for at least 17 years (''it has leveled off'') and that when he worked at a nuclear weapons lab, he discussed poisoning the sky, ''putting pathogens in a cloud'' to ''rain down on your enemy and do chemical and germ warfare.'' But he assured us there was no reason for concern.
Justice Department Subpoena of AP Journalists Shows Need to Protect Calling Records | Electronic Frontier Foundation
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 14:09
  Today the Associated Press reported that the Department of Justice has collected the telephone calling records of many of its reporters and editors. By obtaining these records, the DOJ has struck a terrible blow against the freedom of the press and the ability of reporters to investigate and report the news. As James Madison understood, "a popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or tragedy, or perhaps both." AP had it right when it told Attorney General Holder that it was "a serious interference with AP's constitutional rights to gather and report the news."
  The DOJ's decision to dive deep into these call records also shows the growing need to update our privacy laws to eliminate the outmoded Third Party Doctrine and to recognize that datamining has now reached the point where it no longer makes sense to treat calling records and other metadata related to our communications as if they aren't fully protected by the Constitution.
  According to the AP, "the records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery." In all it included more than 20 telephone lines from April and May 2012.
  While the government has not confirmed, the subpoenas appear to stem from an investigation into a government leak of information to the AP. This is not a sufficient excuse. Imagine if "Deep Throat," the informant critical to Woodward and Bernstein's investigation of the 1972 Watergate burglary, knew that his identity could be obtained through legal process. His career, and perhaps his life, would have been in serious jeopardy, and a cautious individual would have kept silent.
  The widespread collection of information, as well as the apparent delay in notifying AP, both appear to be yet another violation the government's own regulations, 28 C.F.R. sec. 50.10. In 2010, the DOJ Inspector General reported on three other violation, involving the Washington Post and New York Times. The regulations require that, "wherever possible" subpoenas of records of the news media should be "directed at material information regarding a limited subject matter, should cover a reasonably limited period of time and should avoid requiring production of a large volume of unpublished material."
  None of those limits appear to have been observed here. It seems impossible to imagine how a subpoena for all the records of call to and from AP's main switchboard, for example, is as narrowly tailored as the law required. Importantly, the regulations anticipate negotiation with the news media prior to subpoena, which also didn't occur. And in any event the regulations require notification to the news media within 45 days of any receipt of any information, with another 45 days possible with additional authorization. Since the timeframe of the records is a year ago, it seems likely that the government did not abide by this regulation either. While the regulations do not allow a lawsuit, violations of them can be grounds for discipline for governmental officials.
  It is disturbing enough that the government appears to have violated its own regulations for subpoenas to the news media. However, this revelation also shows that we have a severe problem in protecting the privacy of our communications. It is critical to update our privacy laws and our understanding of the Constitution, and reflect the realities of what law enforcement can determine from our records and other metadata about our communications stored with our communications providers, be they phone companies, ISPs or social networks.
  First, the third party doctrine is wholely inadequate for protecting privacy in the modern era. Citing this doctrine, the government consistently argues that any information given to a third party'--like a phone company'--has no Constitutional protection. Here, it's clear that the government was able to get the calling record information, secretly and in large quantities, because it didn't have to go to AP to get it. Instead, it went to the phone companies, who have little incentive to stand up for their customers and who may not have even realized that the information pertained to news media and so was protected by an extra regulation.
  Justice Sotomayor recognized the growing problem with the third party doctrine in the recent U.S. v. Jones Supreme Court case, and signaled that it's the time that the Fourth Amendment caselaw be updated:
  People disclose the phone numbers that they dial or text to their cellular providers, the URLS that they visit and the e-mail addresses with which they correspond to their Internet service providers, and the books, groceries and medications they purchase to online retailers . . . I would not assume that all information voluntarily disclosed to some member of the public for a limited purpose is, for that reason alone, disentitled to Fourth Amendment protection.
  Second, this incident underscores that government access to records'--information about our communications and movements over time'--does impact our privacy. AP President Pruitt noted: "These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know." This sentiment was echoed by the Appellate Court in the Jones (then called U.S. v. Maynard) case in the context of GPS information: "A person who knows all of another travels can deduce whether he is a weekly church goer, a heavy drinker, a regular at the gym, an unfaithful husband, an outpatient receiving medical treatment, an associate of particular individuals or political groups and not just one such fact about a person, but all such facts."
  Overall, this revelation of government's secret access to huge amounts of calling records as part of its leak investigation should not be such a surprise. The DOJ has long maintained that no one has any privacy interests in their call data records and has also engaged in unprecedented and aggressive prosecutions around government leaks.
  But it should sound a wake-up call for the rest of us, including members of Congress and the courts. Government datamining of Americans' calling records and other metadata held by phone companies and ISPs should require more than a mere subpoena and should be protected by more than a hortatory regulation, whether the target is the news media or an ordinary citizen. Whether we get there by legislation or by updating our understanding of the Constitution to reflect the power of datamining to reveal the content of our "papers," we need to get there soon. Because it's clear that the DOJ remains firmly headed in the opposite direction.
Justice Department's AP Subpoena: Surgical Strike or Dragnet? - The Daily Beast
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 14:08
  In the war on terror, the Obama administration has eschewed putting military forces on the ground in favor of surgically precise drone strikes. The campaign is constitutionally dubious, although the program's backers say it is more humane, as it means the loss of fewer innocent lives, and more effective. That the drone program is waged mostly in the shadows, and thus keeps gruesome images off television screens, is considered by the administration to be a benefit as well.
  Eric Holder holds a news conference at which he tries to explain the probe of Associated Press journalists. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
  The drone program comes to mind as the Department of Justice fends off questions this week about its decision to subpoena two months of phone and email records from reporters and editors at the Associated Press. Typically, when federal agents want a reporter to disclose a source, the reporter is subpoenaed and forced to name names or face jail time. That happened to Judith Miller and, more recently, to Jeffrey Sterling.
  But like the drone strikes, Justice Department officials say the subpoena method is, in the end, more efficient and more humane. It keeps reporters loath to give up their sources out of jail, and it permits federal officials to track down leakers more quickly. And the surgical strike on newsroom records avoids months and months of high-profile court cases, with every news outlet in the country screaming about the First Amendment.
  ''From the department's perspective, this is a much less aggressive step than putting someone in front of a grand jury or putting them on trial,'' said Matthew Miller, a former spokesman for Attorney General Eric Holder. ''You're trying to balance reporters' needs and ability to do their job and the department's need to fully investigate a crime, and this step achieves that balance.''
  Miller noted that Justice officials wanted to avoid the subpoena. They interviewed 550 people in connection with the AP case, he said, but the May 2012 leak, which disclosed a CIA operation in Yemen that disrupted an al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airplane, was serious.
  ''I know Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo [the two AP reporters who wrote the original stories], and they would rather sit in jail [rather than reveal their sources], as would a lot of really good reporters,'' he said. ''Having reporters sit in jail is a problem with moving forward with this case.''
  But others disagree that the subpoena approach is preferred.
  Alberto Gonzales, a former attorney general for the Bush administration, said that while he did not know the particulars of the case, the decision was ''highly unusual.'' It is likely, he added, that someone was killed or some critical piece of intelligence compromised due to the leak.
  ''When I was the attorney general, the department, both before and after [my tenure], tried to be very respectful in dealing with the media, because we understood that the media has a special place in the society,'' he said. ''So we try to accommodate the competing interests of the media and the competing interests of the criminal-justice system.''
  Eric Holder said the reason behind the subpoena was a "very serious leak" that "put the American people at risk."
  In such situations, Gonzales, who as attorney general investigated The New York Times for publishing classified information about a domestic wiretapping program, said the government has to be careful that anger at leakers does not lead to irrational decision making.
  ''It is certainly one of the most intense intrusions by the government into a pressroom that I can remember,'' said Floyd Abrams.
  ''Obviously the government goes to great lengths to protect our intelligence, to protect sensitive law-enforcement information, and when it leaks, it is frustrating, there is no question about that,'' he said. ''And it puts the government in the very difficult position of trying to balance what we are going to do here. This is against the law, and we want to discourage lawbreaking, we want to prosecute lawbreakers, and we can't do that without this information. But we are also mindful of the fact that the media, quite candidly, generally writ large is going to be very unhappy by this kind of action, and they are going to be quite critical.''
  First Amendment advocates and attorneys are comparing the actions by the Department of Justice not to a drone strike but to a dragnet. If the department needed the information, they say, it should have gone through the embarrassment of hauling reporters and editors before judges and sending them off to jail if they failed to name their sources. Yes, it would have been embarrassing, but a free press requires it.
  ''It is certainly one of the most intense intrusions by the government into a pressroom that I can remember,'' said Floyd Abrams, the First Amendment lawyer who most famously represented The New York Times in the Pentagon papers case. He compared the Justice Department's action to the FBI storming the AP's newsroom and seizing telephone and computer records. Unless an agent is on the verge of being killed, he added, ''this is an egregious overreaction.''
  ''Why couldn't they put this issue before a judge? What they have done is foreclose any meaningful response by the AP. This isn't just seeking a record of one journalist for one day. This is breaking and entering into the heart of the journalistic process of the Associated Press.''
Angelina Jolie inspires women to maim themselves by celebrating medically perverted double mastectomies ~ RiseEarth
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 14:03
  Angelina Jolie announced yesterday that she had both of her breasts surgically removed even though she had no breast cancer. She carries the BRCA1 gene, and she has been tricked into believing that genetic code is some sort of absolute blueprint to disease expression -- which it most certainly is not. Countless millions of women carry the BRCA1 gene and never express breast cancer because they lead healthy, anti-cancer lifestyles based on smart nutrition, exercise, sensible sunlight exposure and avoidance of cancer-causing chemicals.Jolie, like many other women who have been deluded by cancer quackery, decided the best way to prevent the risk of breast cancer was not to lead a healthy, anti-cancer lifestyle, but rather to surgically remove her breasts in what she describes as "three months of medical procedures."
  ...just in case, you know. Because you can never be too careful these days, with the cancer industry scaring women half to death at every opportunity. "My breasts might murder me!" seems to be the slogan of many women these days, all of whom are victims of outrageous cancer industry propaganda and fear mongering.
  Let me set the record straight: Your breasts are not your enemy! The cancer industry is far more likely to kill you than your breasts. (But more on that later...)
  Women's liberation crusade: Off with your breasts!
  Worse than merely maiming herself in an act of outright medical quackery, Angelina Jolie has positioned her decision as some sort of women's liberation crusade, acting and talking as if her "choice" to remove her breasts somehow blazes a new path of female power for all women. (How sick is this, really?)Oh, what a mess Jolie has made of herself. She has maimed her own body with no medical justification whatsoever, then celebrated this horrible disfiguration through some sort of twisted perception of what womanhood really is. Being an empowered woman doesn't mean cutting off your breasts and aborting live babies -- even though both of these things are often celebrated by delusional women's groups. Being an empowered woman means protecting your health, your body and your womanhood by honoring and respecting your body, not maiming it.
  A vivacious, confident, healthy woman who protects her fertility and nourishes her unborn child is far more heroic and empowering than someone who maims her own body as some sort of sick sacrifice to the cancer industry. Angelina Jolie, as much as she is often viewed as a symbol of female power, seems to have completely lost touch with the core truths of honoring the "temple" of your own female body.
  Cancer is never limited to just the breast
  Cancer, by the way, is a systemic problem when it emerges, not a local problem limited to just the breasts or other organs. It may be diagnosed in breast tissues, but that's not the only place it's growing. The idea that someone can prevent cancer by just removing their breasts is absurd. If the conditions of cancer are present in the body -- due to nutritional deficiencies, exposure to chemicals, radiation, etc. -- cancer will develop in many different places, not just breast tissues. Removing an organ that might possibly someday be one of the many locations in which cancer is diagnosed is completely irrational and medically abhorrent. Logically, it's a lot like arguing that you can avoid flat tires on your car by removing all the tires!
  If you really want to learn the truth about cancer -- and SAVE your breasts! -- get our "New Cancer Solutions" CD set. The third CD is absolutely amazing, offering astounding information that can literally help save your life. You can also hear the entire collection for free during our New Cancer Solutions Healing Summit launching next Monday, May 20th.
  If Angelina Jolie had heard the information on these CDs, she would have said, "NO!" to the cancer fear mongers and learned that there are far more effective and empowering ways to protect yourself from cancer. Women everywhere need to hear truly empowering, honoring, holistic information about cancer and stop listening to the insanity of the cancer industry and its delusional, victimized spokespeople like Angelina Jolie.
  Celebrating the medical abuse of women
  The mainstream media is heralding Jolie's decision to cut off both her perfectly healthy breasts, announcing Jolie is "admired for bravery." In a NYT op-ed, Jolie wrote, "I hope that other women can benefit from my experience." (No, I'm not making this up. She literally wants other healthy women to cut off their breasts, too...)
  The medical industry, never known to back down from an opportunity to physically abuse women for profit, is jumping on the double mastectomy bandwagon. In a Businessweek article, a genetic counselor named Rebecca Nagy declares, "Having this conversation empowers us all. It's wonderful what she's done."
  Wonderful? To cut off parts of your body that have NO disease? With this logic, abortions are cancer prevention, too, because those babies might one day grow up and develop tumors. Better to kill them early and "prevent cancer," right?
  The irrationality of Jolie's decision is truly sickening. Even worse is that idea that she may inspire other women to have their healthy bodies maimed, too. If Jolie cut off both legs and called it a "choice" to prevent leg cancer, I have little doubt many women would follow her lead and cut off their legs, too. Jolie herself says she may have her ovaries cut out in the future because they, too, might someday get cancer.
  You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see where this medical insanity ultimately leads. Got a risk of kidney cancer? Remove your kidneys. Risk of colon cancer? Take out your colon. Lung cancer, perhaps? Remove your lungs, just in case! That's the logic of Angelina Jolie who has been completely deceived by the cancer industry into maiming her own body based on nothing for medical fear mongering and cancer quackery.
  Never doubt the fact that fear can be an effective marketing tool when it comes to breast cancer, by the way. The cancer industry rakes in billions of dollars a year based on irrational fears spread by misinformed women.
  Medical maiming going viral across the population of sheeple
  There's nothing quite as exciting and heroic as having your body parts chopped off by surgeons and then declaring yourself to be a "pre-vivor" of cancer. Yep, that's the new term. You're not really a "survivor" of cancer, since you never had it. You're a "pre-vivor" because you preempted the cancer.
  Or, just as likely, you got suckered into the most delusional decision of your life and had a bunch of quacks slice off pieces of your body that were perfectly healthy to begin with. This is medical insanity at its worst... especially given that a woman's risk of breast cancer can be reduced by 78% using nothing but vitamin D. Yeah, take some vitamin D and keep your breasts! What a deal, eh?
  Why aren't male cancer doctors cutting off their own testicles?
  You'll note, by the way, that men never have their testicles removed to lower the risk of testicular cancer. Not even the male cancer doctors, oncologists and surgeons who are slicing off women's breasts all day long. Sure, they think cutting off breasts is a great idea, but ask one of them to part with their own testicles to "prevent" cancer, and they'll look at you like you've gone, well, nuts.
  Because cutting off your testicles to prevent testicular cancer that you don't even have would be stupid, of course. Pure quackery. Suggest it to a man you know and you'll either be laughed at or punched in the mouth. No ethical doctor would ever remove a perfectly healthy set of testicles from a man who has no symptoms of testicular cancer. The very idea is absurd and possibly even risking a medical malpractice lawsuit.
  So why is it somehow acceptable to cut off the breasts of "empowered women" who think they are making some sort of social statement by maiming their own perfectly healthy bodies?
  (SNIP story here if you are publishing this on another site. You do not need to include the cancer CD mentioned below...)
  Get answers for cancer... and save your breasts!
  Inform yourself and you can protect your body from the insane, knife-wielding cancer surgeons. Get the New Cancer Solutions CD set and empower yourself with real answers rather than cancer industry disinformation and deadly propaganda.
  The CD includes the following discussions:
  The Consciousness of Cancer - The Health Ranger, Mike AdamsMike Adams, the founder and editor of NaturalNews.com presents, "The Consciousness of Cancer" -- a new way of looking at cancer.
  The Compassionate Oncologist - James Forsythe, M.D., H.M.DJames W. Forsythe, M.D., H.M.D., has long been considered one of the most respected physicians in the United States. Dr. Forsythe graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and earned his medical degree at UCSF. This presentation reveals a NEW way of caring for cancer patients with an amazing success rate. You'll learn about the most important cancer test available today; Dr. Forsythe's 3-week cancer treatment program plus much more!
  Stop Making Cancer - Thomas Lodi, M.D.Thomas Lodi, M.D. completed his medical degree in 1985 from the University of Hawaii. This program will help you understand cancer - like you've never heard before. Discover the best ways to stop making cancer; eliminate cancer cells without harming the body and effectively strengthen the immune system - our ultimate defense against cancer. As Dr. Lodi says, the "bioterrain is everything". This show will teach you how to prevent disease from the inside out.
  Life Over Cancer - Keith I. Block, M.D.Keith Block, M.D. is an internationally recognized expert in integrative oncology. Referred to by many as the "father of integrative oncology", Dr. Block has published more than 75 scientific papers and his model of individualized integrative oncology continues to set the standard for the practice of comprehensive cancer care in the United States. This presentation goes way beyond "early detection" and teaches you about the best diet, supplement and exercise routines to promote optimal health.
  Six Pillars of Health - Richard Linchitz, M.D.Dr. Richard Linchitz graduated with honors from Cornell University Medical College, and completed his residency at the famed University of California, San Francisco, Moffit Hospital. In 1998, after being diagnosed with lung cancer, Dr. Linchitz changed everything about his life, career and overall perspective about medicine. Killing cancer cells is not enough - learn about detoxification, stress reduction techniques, hormone balancing plus much more! Dr. Linchitz believes his 6-step program is the best way to stay healthy - always!
  The Regeneration Effect - John Apsley, MD(E), ND, DCDr. John Apsley is a physician and researcher who for the past 30 years has specialized in the rehabilitation and reversal of chronic degenerative illnesses through accelerated tissue repair and cellular regeneration. Dr. Apsley teaches cancer patients about "The Regeneration Effect - Curing versus Controlling Advanced Cancer". There's a NEW chemistry of cancer remedies - find out about the latest advances in cancer testing; non-toxic cancer treatments plus scientifically proven ways to prevent cancer. The power is in your hands to get healthy today.
  Get the full CD set by clicking here.
  Or listen to the entire seminar for free on May 20th, as we launch our New Cancer Solutions Healing Summit.
  Source:NaturalNews.com
  Subscribe Our NewsletterJoin over 3,000 people who get free and fresh content delivered automatically each time we publish.
  Respected Readers:To help us go ahead with the same spirit, a small contribution from your side will highly be appreciated.
Henk: 'Anouk wint Songfestival'
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  Archived Version
  Source: Telegraaf.nl - prive
  Wed, 15 May 2013 12:34
  Henk Schiffmacher: 'Anouk wint Songfestival' - Priv(C) | Het laatste Priv(C) nieuws leest u op Prive.nl van De Telegraaf [prive]Uw browser ondersteunt geen javascript of javascript staat uitgeschakeld. Hierdoor kunnen er cookies geplaatst worden waar u geen toestemming voor heeft gegeven.
Osaka Mayor: 'Wild Marines' Should Use Prostitutes | Military.com
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 12:05
  YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- U.S. servicemembers should consider soliciting prostitutes to control their ''sexual energies,'' the mayor of Osaka said Monday. It was a suggestion that apparently didn't get very far with a Marine commander in Okinawa.
  Toru Hashimoto, who also co-leads the Japan Restoration Party in the Japanese national parliament, told reporters Monday that he visited with Marine Corps Air Station Futenma's commander last month and told him that servicemembers should make more use of Japan's legalized sex industry.
  ''There are places where people can legally release their sexual energy in Japan,'' Hashimoto said during a video press conference Monday in Osaka. ''Unless they make use of these facilities, it will be difficult to control the sexual energies of the wild Marines.''
  Hashimoto said that the commander responded with a bitter smile and told him that brothels are off-limits to U.S. servicemembers.
  Hashimoto, who has a reputation in Japan for controversial statements, added that servicemembers have abundant energy because their missions put them in life-threatening situations.
  ''They need to think about a way to release that energy,'' he said.
  Marine Corps officials in Okinawa were not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
  Hashimoto made the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks while discussing Japan's use of ''comfort women'' during World War II. The Japanese military's use of its own women for sex, along with Koreans, Chinese and others, continues to stymie international relations between Japan and much of Asia to this day.
  Discussions within the current right-wing leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on whether to amend a 20-year-old government apology led to protests in South Korea and China earlier this year.
  Hashimoto said Monday that the comfort women system was necessary at the time in order to maintain discipline in the Japanese military, regardless of whether the women were forced to submit. Hashimoto noted that soon after World War II ended, Japan created the Recreation and Amusement Association for U.S. troops to engage in prostitution. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who administered Japan during the post-war occupation, ended the association after four months in 1946.
  Patronizing a prostitute is now subject to court-martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
  While paying for sexual intercourse is technically illegal in Japan, most other sexual services remain legal. They are bought and sold at massage parlors, hostess bars or within the ''Soapland'' system '-- a post-war concept that endured within the law by bathing its customers.
  There are multiple massage parlors '' off-limits to servicemembers -- that offer considerably more than a shoulder rub, located in the Honcho neighborhood across the street from Yokosuka Naval Base, about 40 miles south of Tokyo.
  There are also brothels hidden within the neighborhood that are sometimes raided by police, though they pop up in new locations afterward.
  Military customers at the massage parlors may become crime victims themselves, though they have little official recourse afterward. In recent years, two sailors told Stars and Stripes that they had money stolen from their debit cards while using massage parlors near Yokosuka Naval Base.
  One sailor, who asked for anonymity but presented his military ID card to confirm his identity, said he had $6,000 -- everything in his bank account after returning from a months-long ship deployment '-- stolen from his debit card after one of the women removed his pants, along with his wallet.
  ''I'm close to retirement, so this is something I have to work out on my own,'' the sailor said at the time.
  U.S. servicemembers in Japan are notified at orientation briefings when they arrive in Japan that massage parlors and similar businesses are off-limits. Military officials reiterated that message following a Stars and Stripes query.
  ''The Navy does not condone patronizing prostitutes, massage parlors, Soaplands and any other manner of establishment that offers sexual services, as this is entirely against our core values of respect for persons, moral integrity and human dignity,'' Jon Nylander, Commander Naval Forces Japan spokesman, said Tuesday.
  Many women working at these businesses are victims of human trafficking, said Shihoko Fujiwara, director of Polaris Project Japan, a Tokyo-based group that works with victims and runs a hotline for those seeking help.
  However, there is a popular perception of prostitution as a victimless crime, where all of the women involved choose to sell their bodies.
  ''We see changes, but I know what Hashimoto is saying is also the general public's idea of [prostitution],'' Fujiwara said.
  Human sex traffickers are clever at adapting to attempts to thwart their business, Fujiwara said. When trafficking women from Southeast Asia, they used to rely on visas meant for entertainers. Now, they often use student and spousal visas.
  Some victims that Polaris has worked with say they may be treated relatively well at first, and even told they can look for legitimate jobs. After about three months, they are beaten and forced into sexual servitude, Fujiwara said.
  ''For the customer of sex, the victim might be smiling at you and act like they are voluntarily providing the sex service,'' Fujiwara said. ''But women have to bring in the money, otherwise they're going to be homeless.''
  -- Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.
  (C) Copyright 2013 Stars and Stripes. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Myriad Genetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 11:22
  Myriad Genetics, Inc. is a molecular diagnostic company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic basis of human disease and the role that genes play in the onset, progression and treatment of disease. This information is used to guide the development of new molecular diagnostic products that assess an individual's risk for developing disease later in life (predictive medicine), identify a patient's likelihood of responding to a particular drug therapy and tailor a patient's drug dose to ensure optimal treatment (personalized medicine), and assess a patient's risk of disease progression and disease recurrence (personalized medicine). Myriad was the subject of scrutiny after it became involved in a lengthy lawsuit over its controversial patenting practices.[1][2][3]
  History[edit]The global search for a genetic basis for breast and ovarian cancer began in earnest in 1988. In 1990, at an American Society of Human Genetics Meeting, a team of scientists led by Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., from University of California at Berkeley announced the localization through linkage analysis of a gene associated with increased risk for breast cancer (BRCA1) to the long arm of chromosome 17.[4] In August 1994, Mark Skolnick and researchers at Myriad, along with colleagues at the University of Utah, the U.S National Institutes of Health (NIH), and McGill University sequenced BRCA1.[5]
  Founders[edit]The founders of Myriad are Mark Skolnick (Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medical Informatics at the University of Utah), Walter Gilbert (1980 Nobel Laureate in chemistry and Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University) and Peter Meldrum (past President and CEO of Agridyne and current CEO and President of Myriad Genetics, Inc) and Kevin Kimberlin of Spencer Trask & Company[6]
  Subsidiary[edit]Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, Inc., has launched eight commercial molecular diagnostic products, including four predictive medicine, three personalized medicine products and one prognostic medicine product.
  Myriad currently offers the following predictive medicine products based on DNA testing from blood: BRACAnalysis (assesses risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer), COLARIS (assesses risk for hereditary colorectal and uterine cancer), COLARIS AP (assesses risk for hereditary familial adenomatous polyposis colon cancer syndromes) and MELARIS (assesses risk for hereditary melanoma) and PANEXIA (assess risk for hereditary pancreatic cancer).
  Myriad currently offers the following personalized medicine tests based on the investigation of blood or tissues: TheraGuide (predicts toxicity to Fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy), OnDose (measures a patient's exposure to 5-FU chemotherapy), PREZEON (assesses the status of the PTEN gene) and a prognostic medicine product: PROLARIS (assesses the aggressiveness of prostate cancer).
  Timeline[edit]1991 - BRCA1 was linked to chromosome 17 by UC Berkeley scientists1991 - Myriad Genetics was founded by Dr. Walter Gilbert, Mark Skolnick, Kevin Kimberlin and Peter Meldrum1994 - BRCA1 was cloned at the University of Utah in Mark Skolnick's lab and published by 40 collaborators1994 - First BRCA1 U.S. patent was filed by the University of Utah, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Myriad Genetics1994/1995 - Development of process and laboratory to perform high throughput sequencing by Myriad1995 - BRCA2 was resequenced based on unpublished information at the Myriad facility and the University of Utah by Mark Skolnick and collaborators1995 - First BRCA2 patent filed in the U.S. by the University of Utah and other institutions1996 - Myriad launched BRACAnalysis, a predictive medicine product for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer1997 - First BRCA1 patent was granted in the U.S. to the University of Utah, NIEHS and Myriad Genetics1998 - First BRCA2 patent was granted in the U.S. to the University of Utah, NIEHS and Myriad Genetics2000 - Myriad launched COLARIS, a predictive medicine product for hereditary colorectal and uterine cancer2002 - Myriad launched COLARIS AP, a predictive medicine product for adenomatous polyposis colon cancer syndromes2002 - Myriad launched MELARIS, a predictive medicine product for hereditary melanoma2007 - Myriad launched TheraGuide 5-FU, a personalized medicine product to predict toxicity to 5-FU-based chemotherapy2008 - Myriad launched PREZEON, a personalized medicine product to assess the status of the PTEN gene2009 - Myriad launched OnDose, a personalized medicine product to measure a patient's exposure to 5-FU chemotherapy2010 - Myriad launched PANEXIA, a predictive medicine product for hereditary pancreatic and related cancersIn July, 2009, the spin off, Myriad Pharmaceuticals, was completed. Myriad Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic products.[7]
  BRCA1 Co-discoverers[edit]National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)University of Utah Research FoundationUniversity of Laval/Endo Research '' QuebecHospital for Sick Children '' University of TorontoUniversity of TokyoMyriad Genetics, Inc.BRCA2 Co-discoverers[edit]University of Utah Research FoundationHospital for Sick Children '' University of TorontoUniversity of PennsylvaniaMyriad Genetics, Inc.Legislation and Litigation[edit]Myriad Genetics is a defendant in the case Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (formerly Association For Molecular Pathology et al. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office[8]). Lawyers at the ACLU serve as counsel for the plaintiffs. In the suit, medical associations, doctors, and patients sued Myriad Genetics to challenge seven United Statespatents on genes related to breast cancer and ovarian cancer.[9]
  Two of the company's patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes were ruled invalid on March 29, 2010 by Judge Robert W. Sweet in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.[1][2][3] This was the first time a U.S. court had declared a gene patent invalid.[1] On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the trial court in an opinion dated July 29, 2011 and held that the genes were eligible for patents.[10]
  On December 7, 2011, the ACLU filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court.[11] On March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court vacated the Federal Circuit's judgment and remanded the case for further consideration in light of Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., in which the Supreme Court had ruled, just six days earlier, that more restrictive rules were required to patent observations about natural phenomena.[12]
  On August 16, 2012, the Federal Circuit reaffirmed Myriad's right to patent the genes although they denied rights to patent comparisons of DNA sequences.[13] On November 30, 2012, The Supreme Court agreed to hear a second challenge to the two gene patents held by Myriad.[14] Oral argument is scheduled for April 15, 2013, with a decision expected by the end of the Supreme Court's term in June.
  See also[edit]References[edit]^ abcBegley, Sharon (March 29, 2010). "In Surprise Ruling, Court Declares Two Gene Patents Invalid". Newsweek. Retrieved March 29, 2010. ^ abSchwartz, John and Pollack, Andrew (March 29, 2010). "Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2010. ^ ab"ACLU v. Myriad Genetics opinion". 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2010-03-30. ^Hall, J.; Lee, M.; Newman, B.; Morrow, J.; Anderson, L.; Huey, B.; King, M. (1990). "Linkage of early-onset familial breast cancer to chromosome 17q21". Science250 (4988): 1684''1689. doi:10.1126/science.2270482. PMID 2270482. edit^Miki, Y.; Swensen, J.; Shattuck-Eidens, D.; Futreal, P. A.; Harshman, K.; Tavtigian, S.; Liu, Q.; Cochran, C. et al. (1994). "A strong candidate for the breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1". Science266 (5182): 66''71. doi:10.1126/science.7545954. PMID 7545954. edit^"Breakthrough: The Race to Find the Breast Cancer Gene," page 199, by Kevin Davies and Michael White John Wiley & Sons.^Staff (2 July 2009) Myriad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Established As An Independent Pharmaceutical Development Company Pharmaceutical Online, Retrieved 21 January 2013^"Association For Molecular Pathology et al v. United States Patent and Trademark Office et al". Justia.com. May 12, 2009. ^"ACLU Challenges Patents on Breast Cancer Genes". American Civil Liberties Union. June 6, 2008. ^"Myriad Applauds the Court of Appeals' Decision to Uphold Gene Patenting". Myriad Genetics. 2011-07-29. Retrieved 2011-11-20. ^http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/12/aclu-ask-supreme-court-to-rule-on-gene-patent-case.php^Pollack, Andrew (March 26, 2012). "Supreme Court Orders New Look at Gene Patents". The New York Times. ^"Court Reaffirms Right of Myriad Genetics to Patent Genes". New York Times. August 16, 2012. ^"Myriad Genetics slips on Supreme Court review". Bloomberg Business Week. December 3, 2012. External links[edit]
BRCA1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Breast cancer 1, early onsetPDB rendering based on 1jm7.Available structuresPDBOrtholog search: PDBe, RCSBList of PDB id codes1JM7, 1JNX, 1N5O, 1OQA, 1T15, 1T29, 1T2U, 1T2V, 1Y98, 2ING, 3COJ, 3K0H, 3K0K, 3K15, 3K16, 3PXA, 3PXB, 3PXC, 3PXD, 3PXE
  IdentifiersSymbolsBRCA1; BRCAI; BRCC1; BROVCA1; IRIS; PNCA4; PPP1R53; PSCP; RNF53External IDsOMIM: 113705MGI: 104537HomoloGene: 5276ChEMBL: 5990GeneCards: BRCA1 GeneRNA expression patternMore reference expression dataOrthologsSpeciesHumanMouseEntrez67212189EnsemblENSG00000012048ENSMUSG00000017146UniProtP38398P48754RefSeq (mRNA)NM_007294NM_009764RefSeq (protein)NP_009225NP_033894Location (UCSC)Chr 17:41.2 '' 41.32 MbChr 11:101.49 '' 101.55 MbPubMed search[1][2]BRCA1 (pron.:/Ëbr...kÉ/;[1]breast cancer 1, early onset) is a human caretaker gene that produces a protein called breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein, responsible for repairing DNA.[2] The first evidence for the existence of the gene was provided by the King laboratory at UC Berkeley in 1990.[3] Four years later, after an international race to find it,[4] the gene was cloned in 1994 by scientists at University of Utah, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Myriad Genetics.[5][6]
  BRCA1 is expressed in the cells of breast and other tissue, where it helps repair damaged DNA, or destroy cells if DNA cannot be repaired. If BRCA1 itself is damaged, damaged DNA is not repaired properly and this increases risks for cancers (see BRCA mutation).[7][8]
  The protein encoded by the BRCA1 gene combines with other tumor suppressors, DNA damage sensors, and signal transducers to form a large multi-subunit protein complex known as the BRCA1-associated genome surveillance complex (BASC).[9] The BRCA1 protein associates with RNA polymerase II, and through the C-terminal domain, also interacts with histone deacetylase complexes. Thus, this protein plays a role in transcription, DNA repair of double-stranded breaks[8]ubiquitination, transcriptional regulation as well as other functions.[10]
  Methods to diagnose the likelihood of a patient with mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 getting cancer were covered by patents owned or controlled by Myriad Genetics.[5][11] Myriad's business model of exclusively offering the diagnostic test led from Myriad being a startup in 1994 to being a publicly traded company with 1200 employees and about $500M in annual revenue in 2012;[12] it also led to controversy over high prices and the inability to get second opinions from other diagnostic labs, which in turn led to the landmark Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics lawsuit.[13]
  Gene location[edit]The human BRCA1 gene is located on the long (q) arm of chromosome 17 at region 2 band 1, from base pair 41,196,312 to base pair 41,277,500 (Build GRCh37/hg19) (map).[14]BRCA1orthologs[15] have been identified in most mammals for which complete genome data are available.
  Protein structure[edit]The BRCA1 protein contains the following domains:[16]
  This protein also contains nuclear localization signal and nuclear export signal motifs.[17]
  The human BRCA1 protein consists of four major protein domains; the Znf C3HC4- RING domain, the BRCA1 serine domain and two BRCT domains. These domains encode approximately 27% of BRCA1 protein. There are six known isoforms of P38398 BRCA1, with isoforms 1 and 2 comprising 1863 amino acids each.
  Zinc ring finger domain[edit]The RING motif, a Zn finger found in eukaryotic peptides, is 40-60 amino acids long and consists of eight conserved metal-binding residues, two quartets of cysteine or histidine residues that coordinate two zinc atoms.[19] This motif contains a short anti-parallel beta-sheet, two zinc binding loops and a central alpha helix in a small domain. This RING domain interacts with associated proteins including BARD1, which also contains a RING motif, to form a heterodimer. The BRCA1 RING motif is flanked by alpha helices formed by residues 8-22 and 81-96 of the BRCA1 protein. It interacts with a homologous region in BARD1 also consisting of a RING finger flanked by two alpha-helices formed from residues 36-48 and 101-116. These four helices combine to form a heterodimerization interface and stabilise the BRCA1-BARD1 heterodimer complex. Additional stabilisation is achieved by interactions between adjacent residues in the flanking region and hydrophobic interactions. The BARD1/BRCA1 interaction is disrupted by tumorigenic amino acid substitutions in BRCA1, implying that the formation of a stable complex between these proteins may be an essential aspect of BRCA1 tumor suppression.[19]
  The ring domain is an important element of ubiquitin E3 ligases which catalyse protein ubiquitination2. Ubiquitin is a small regulatory protein found in all tissues which directs proteins to compartments within the cell. BRCA1 polypeptides, in particular Lys-48-linked polyubiquitin chains, are dispersed throughout within the resting cell nucleus but when DNA replication begins they gather in restrained groups that also contain BRCA2 and BARD1. BARD1 is thought to be involved in the recognition and binding of protein targets for ubiquitination.[20] It attaches to proteins and labels them for destruction. Ubiquitination occurs via the BRCA1 fusion protein and is abolished by zinc chelation.[19] The enzyme activity of the fusion protein is dependent on the proper folding of the ring domain.
  Serine cluster domain[edit]The BRCA1 serine cluster domain (SCD) spans amino acids 1280-1524. A portion of the domain is located in exons 11-13. High rates of mutation occur in exons 11-13. Reported phosphorylation sites of BRCA1 are concentrated in the SCD where they are phosphorylated by ATM/ATR kinases both in vitro and in vivo. ATM/ATR are kinases activated by DNA damage. Mutation of serine residues may affect localization of BRCA1 to sites of DNA damage and DNA damage response function.[18]
  BRCT domains[edit]The dual repeat BRCT domain of the BRCA1 protein is an elongated structure approximately 70 … long and 30-35 … wide.[21] The 85-95 amino acid domains in BRCT can be found as single modules or as multiple tandem repeats containing two domains.[22] Both of these possibilities can occur in a single protein in a variety of different conformations.[21] The C-terminal BRCT region of the BRCA1 protein is essential for repair of DNA, transcription regulation and tumor suppressor function.[23] In BRCA1 the dual tandem repeatBRCT domains are arranged in a head-to-tail-fashion in the three-dimensional structure, burying 1600… of hydrophobic, solvent accessible surface area in the interface. These all contribute to the tightly packed knob-in-hole structure that comprises the interface. These homologous domains interact to control cellular responses to DNA damage. It is therefore no surprise, that a missense mutation at the interface of these two proteins can have devastating consequences on the cell cycle, resulting in protein dysfunction and a greater risk of developing cancer. The linker that joins these two homologs also needs to be considered, since its poorly defined electron density alludes to a possible complex function; the ability to flex.[21]
  Function and mechanism[edit]BRCA1 repairs double-strand breaks in DNA. The strands of the DNA double helix are continuously breaking from damage. Sometimes one strand is broken, and sometimes both strands are broken simultaneously. DNA cross linking agents are an important source of chromosome/DNA damage. Double strand breaks occur as intermediates after the cross links are removed. BRCA1 is part of a protein complex that repairs DNA when both strands are broken. When both strands are broken, it is difficult for the repair mechanism to "know" how to replace the correct DNA sequence, and there are multiple ways to attempt the repair. The double-stranded repair mechanism that BRCA1 participates in is homologous recombination, in which the repair proteins utilize homologous intact sequence from a sister chromatid, from a homologous chromosome, or from the same chromosome (depending on cell cycle phase) as a template.[24] This DNA repair takes place with the DNA in the cell nucleus, wrapped around the histone. Several proteins, including BRCA1, arrive at the histone-DNA complex for this repair. Regulatory aspect to BRCA1 nuclear '� non-nuclear distribution was first shown by Dr Rao laboratory in 1997[25]
  In the nucleus of many types of normal cells, the BRCA1 protein interacts with RAD51 during repair of DNA double-strand breaks.[26] These breaks can be caused by natural radiation or other exposures, but also occur when chromosomes exchange genetic material (homologous recombination, e.g., "crossing over" during meiosis). The BRCA2 protein, which has a function similar to that of BRCA1, also interacts with the RAD51 protein. By influencing DNA damage repair, these three proteins play a role in maintaining the stability of the human genome.
  BRCA1 directly binds to DNA, with higher affinity for branched DNA structures. This ability to bind to DNA contributes to its ability to inhibit the nuclease activity of the MRN complex as well as the nuclease activity of Mre11 alone.[27] This may explain a role for BRCA1 to promote lower fidelity DNA repair by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ).[28] BRCA1 also colocalizes with Î"-H2AX (histone H2AX phosphorylated on serine-139) in DNA double-strand break repair foci, indicating it may play a role in recruiting repair factors.[10][29]
  Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are common environmental sources of DNA cross links that often require repairs mediated by BRCA1 containing pathways.[30][31]
  Transcription[edit]BRCA1 was shown to co-purify with the human RNA Polymerase II holoenzyme in HeLa extracts, implying it is a component of the holoenzyme.[32] Later research, however, contradicted this assumption, instead showing that the predominant complex including BRCA1 in HeLa cells is a 2 megadalton complex containing SWI/SNF.[33] SWI/SNF is a chromatin remodeling complex. Artificial tethering of BRCA1 to chromatin was shown to decondense heterochromatin, though the SWI/SNF interacting domain was not necessary for this role.[29] BRCA1 interacts with the NELF-B (COBRA1) subunit of the NELF complex.[29]
  Other roles[edit]Research suggests that both the BRCA1 and BRCA2 proteins regulate the activity of other genes and play a critical role in embryo development. The BRCA1 protein probably interacts with many other proteins, including tumor suppressors and regulators of the cell division cycle.
  Mutations and cancer risk[edit]Certain variations of the BRCA1 gene lead to an increased risk for breast cancer as part of a hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome. Researchers have identified hundreds of mutations in the BRCA1 gene, many of which are associated with an increased risk of cancer. Women with an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have up to a 80% risk of developing breast cancer by age 90; increased risk of developing ovarian cancer is about 55% for women with BRCA1 mutations and about 25% for women with BRCA2 mutations.[34]
  These mutations can be changes in one or a small number of DNA base pairs (the building-blocks of DNA). Those mutations can be identified with PCR and DNA sequencing.
  In some cases, large segments of DNA are rearranged. Those large segments, also called large rearrangements, can be a deletion or a duplication of one or several exons in the gene. Classical methods for mutations detection (sequencing) are unable to reveal those mutations.[35] Other methods are proposed: Q-PCR,[36]Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA),[37] and Quantitative Multiplex PCR of Shorts Fluorescents Fragments (QMPSF).[38] New methods have been recently proposed: heteroduplex analysis (HDA) by multi-capillary electrophoresis or also dedicated oligonucleotides array based on comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH).[39]
  Some results suggest that hypermethylation of the BRCA1 promoter, which has been reported in some cancers, could be considered as an inactivating mechanism for BRCA1 expression.[40]
  A mutated BRCA1 gene usually makes a protein that does not function properly because it is abnormally short. Researchers believe that the defective BRCA1 protein is unable to help fix mutations that occur in other genes. These defects accumulate and may allow cells to grow and divide uncontrollably to form a tumor.
  BRCA1 mRNA 3' UTR can be bound by an miRNA, Mir-17 microRNA. It has been suggested that variations in this miRNA along with Mir-30 microRNA could confer susceptibility to breast cancer.[41]
  In addition to breast cancer, mutations in the BRCA1 gene also increase the risk of ovarian, fallopian tube, and prostate cancers. Moreover, precancerous lesions (dysplasia) within the Fallopian tube have been linked to BRCA1 gene mutations. Pathogenic mutations anywhere in a model pathway containing BRCA1 and BRCA2 greatly increase risks for a subset of leukemias and lymphomas.[8]
  Women having inherited a defective BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have risks for breast and ovarian cancer that are so high and seem so selective that many mutation carriers choose to have prophylactic surgery. There has been much conjecture to explain such apparently striking tissue specificity. Major determinants of where BRCA1/2 hereditary cancers occur are related to tissue specificity of the cancer pathogen, the agent that causes chronic inflammation or the carcinogen. The target tissue may have receptors for the pathogen, become selectively exposed to an inflammatory process or to a carcinogen. An innate genomic deficit in a tumor suppressor gene impairs normal responses and exacerbates the susceptibility to disease in organ targets. This theory also fits data for several tumor suppressors beyond BRCA1 or BRCA2. A major advantage of this model is that it suggests there may be some options in addition to prophylactic surgery.[citation needed]
  Germ line mutations and founder effect[edit]All germ-line BRCA1 mutations identified to date have been inherited, suggesting the possibility of a large ''founder'' effect in which a certain mutation is common to a well-defined population group and can, in theory, be traced back to a common ancestor. Given the complexity of mutation screening for BRCA1, these common mutations may simplify the methods required for mutation screening in certain populations. Analysis of mutations that occur with high frequency also permits the study of their clinical expression.[42] Examples of manifestations of a founder effect are seen among Ashkenazi Jews. Three mutations in BRCA1 have been reported to account for the majority of Ashkenazi Jewish patients with inherited BRCA1-related breast and/or ovarian cancer: 185delAG, 188del11 and 5382insC in the BRCA1 gene.[43][44] In fact, it has been shown that if a Jewish woman does not carry a BRCA1 185delAG, BRCA1 5382insC founder mutation, it is highly unlikely that a different BRCA1 mutation will be found.[45] Additional examples of founder mutations in BRCA1 are given in Table 1 (mainly derived from [42]).
  Population or subgroupBRCA1 mutation(s)[46]Reference(s)African-Americans943ins10, M1775R[47]AfrikanersE881X[48]Ashkenazi Jewish185delAG, 188del11, 5382insC[43][44]Austrians2795delA, C61G, 5382insC, Q1806stop[49]Belgians2804delAA, IVS5+3A>G[50][51]DutchExon 2 deletion, exon 13 deletion, 2804delAA[50][52][53]Finns3745delT, IVS11-2A>G[54][55]French3600del11, G1710X[56]French CanadiansC4446T[57]Germans5382insC, 4184del4[58][59]Greeks5382insC[60]Hungarians300T>G, 5382insC, 185delAG[61]Italians5083del19[62]JapaneseL63X, Q934X[63]Native North Americans1510insG, 1506A>G[64]Northern Irish2800delAA[65]Norwegians816delGT, 1135insA, 1675delA, 3347delAG[66][67]Pakistanis2080insA, 3889delAG, 4184del4, 4284delAG, IVS14-1A>G[68]Polish300T>G, 5382insC, C61G, 4153delA[69][70]Russians5382insC, 4153delA[71]Scottish2800delAA[65][72]SpanishR71G[73][74]SwedishQ563X, 3171ins5, 1201del11, 2594delC[47][75]Patents, enforcement, litigation, and controversy[edit]A patent application for the isolated BRCA1 gene and cancer-cancer promoting mutations discussed above, as well as methods to diagnose the likelihood of getting breast cancer, was filed by the University of Utah, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Myriad Genetics in 1994;[5] over the next year, Myriad, in collaboration with investigators at Endo Recherche, Inc., HSC Research & Development Limited Partnership, and University of Pennsylvania, isolated and sequenced the BRCA2 gene and identified key mutations, and the first BRCA2 patent was filed in the U.S. by Myriad and other institutions in 1995.[11] Myriad is the exclusive licensee of these patents and has enforced them in the US against clinical diagnostic labs.[13] This business model led from Myriad being a startup in 1994 to being a publicly traded company with 1200 employees and about $500M in annual revenue in 2012;[12] it also led to controversy over high prices and the inability to get second opinions from other diagnostic labs, which in turn led to the landmark Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics lawsuit.[13][76] The patents begin to expire in 2014.
  According to an article published in the journal, Genetic Medicine, in 2010, "The patent story outside the United States is more complicated.... For example, patents have been obtained but the patents are being ignored by provincial health systems in Canada. In Australia and the UK, Myriad's licensee permitted use by health systems, but announced a change of plans in August 2008. ... Only a single mutation has been patented in Myriad's lone European-wide patent, although some patents remain under review of an opposition proceeding. In effect, the United States is the only jurisdiction where Myriad's strong patent position has conferred sole-provide status."[77][78] Peter Meldrum, CEO of Myriad Genetics, has acknowledged that Myriad has "other competitive advantages that may make such [patent] enforcement unnecessary" in Europe.[79]
  Legal decisions surrounding the BRCA1 and BRCA2 patents will affect the field of genetic testing in general.[80]
  Interactions[edit]BRCA1 has been shown to interact with
  ABL1,[81]AKT1,[82][83]AR,[84]ATR,[85][86][87][88]ATM,[9][85][86][87][88][89][90]ATF1,[91]AURKA,[92]BACH1,[93]BARD1,[19][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123]BRCA2,[99][124][125][126]BRCC3,[99]BRE,[99]BRIP1,[23][127][128][129][130][131]C-jun,[132]CHEK2,[133][134]CLSPN,[135]COBRA1,[136]CREBBP,[120][137][138][139][140]CSNK2B,[141]CSTF2,[104][105]CDK2,[25][142][143]DHX9,[144][145]ELK4,[146]EP300,[137][139]ESR1,[139][147][148][149]FANCA,[150]FANCD2,[101][125]FHL2,[151][152]H2AFX,[94][98][153]JUNB,[132]JunD,[132]LMO4,[154][155]MAP3K3,[156]MED1,[128]MED17,[110][128][157]MED21,[158]MED24,[128]MRE11A,[9][110][159][160]MSH2,[9][106]MSH3,[106][127]MSH6,[9][106]Myc,[121][161][162][163]NBN,[9][110][159]NMI,[161]NPM1,[100]NCOA2,[127][164]NUFIP1,[165]P53,[99][138][166][167][168]PALB2,[169]POLR2A,[110][158][170][171]PPP1CA,[172]Rad50,[9][110][159]RAD51,[99][106][124][173]RBBP4,[174]RBBP7,[174][175][176]RBBP8,[116][127][177][178][179][180][181]RELA,[120]RB1,[174][182][183]RBL1,[182]RBL2,[182]RPL31,[176]SMARCA4[184][185]SMARCB1,[184]STAT1,[186]UBE2D1,[94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103]USF2,[187]VCP,[188]XIST,[189][190]ZNF350,[191]Browser view[edit]View a graphical representation of all GenBank isoforms at the UCSC Genome Browser
  UCSC Gene details page
  See also[edit]References[edit]^Hamel PJ (2007-05-29). "BRCA1 and BRCA2: No Longer the Only Troublesome Genes Out There". HealthCentral. Retrieved 2010-07-02. ^Check W (2006-09-01). "BRCA: What we know now". College of American Pathologists. Retrieved 2010-08-23. ^Hall JM, Lee MK, Newman B, Morrow JE, Anderson LA, Huey B, King MC (December 1990). "Linkage of early-onset familial breast cancer to chromosome 17q21". Science250 (4988): 1684''9. doi:10.1126/science.2270482. PMID 2270482. ^High-Impact Science: Tracking down the BRCA genes (Part 1) - Cancer Research UK science blog, 2012^ abcUS patent 5747282, Skolnick HS, Goldgar DE, Miki Y, Swenson J, Kamb A, Harshman KD, Shattuck-Eidens DM, Tavtigian SV, Wiseman RW, Futreal PA, "7Q-linked breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene", issued 1998-05-05, assigned to Myraid Genetics, Inc., The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and University of Utah Research Foundation ^Miki Y, Swensen J, Shattuck-Eidens D, Futreal PA, Harshman K, Tavtigian S, Liu Q, Cochran C, Bennett LM, Ding W, et al. (October 1994). "A strong candidate for the breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1". Science266 (5182): 66''71. doi:10.1126/science.7545954. PMID 7545954. ^"Breast and Ovarian Cancer Genetic Screening". Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-11. ^ abcFriedenson B (2007). "The BRCA1/2 pathway prevents hematologic cancers in addition to breast and ovarian cancers". BMC Cancer7: 152. doi:10.1186/1471-2407-7-152. PMC 1959234. PMID 17683622. ^ abcdefgWang Y, Cortez D, Yazdi P, Neff N, Elledge SJ, Qin J (April 2000). "BASC, a super complex of BRCA1-associated proteins involved in the recognition and repair of aberrant DNA structures". Genes Dev.14 (8): 927''39. PMC 316544. PMID 10783165. ^ abStarita LM, Parvin JD (2003). "The multiple nuclear functions of BRCA1: transcription, ubiquitination and DNA repair". Current Opinion in Cell Biology15 (3): 345''350. doi:10.1016/S0955-0674(03)00042-5. PMID 12787778. ^ abUS patent 5837492, Tavtigian SV, Kamb A, Simard J, Couch F, Rommens JM, Weber BL, "Chromosome 13-linked breast cancer susceptibility gene", issued 1998-11-17, assigned to Myriad Genetics, Inc., Endo Recherche, Inc., HSC Research & Development Limited Partnership, Trustees of the University of Pennsylvaina ^ abMyriad Investor Page'--see "Myriad at a glance" accessed October 2012^ abcSchwartz J (2009-05-12). "Cancer Patients Challenge the Patenting of a Gene". Health. New York Times. ^National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine EntrezGene reference information for BRCA1 breast cancer 1, early onset (Homo sapiens)^"OrthoMaM phylogenetic marker: BRCA1 coding sequence". ^Paterson JW (February 1998). "BRCA1: a review of structure and putative functions". Dis. Markers13 (4): 261''74. PMID 9553742. ^Henderson BR (September 2005). "Regulation of BRCA1, BRCA2 and BARD1 intracellular trafficking". BioEssays27 (9): 884''93. doi:10.1002/bies.20277. PMID 16108063. ^ abClark SL, Rodriguez AM, Snyder RR, Hankins GD, Boehning D (April 2012). "Structure-Function Of The Tumor Suppressor BRCA1". Comput Struct Biotechnol J1 (1). doi:10.5936/csbj.201204005. PMC 3380633. PMID 22737296. ^ abcdBrzovic PS, Rajagopal P, Hoyt DW, King MC, Klevit RE (October 2001). "Structure of a BRCA1-BARD1 heterodimeric RING-RING complex". Nat. Struct. Biol.8 (10): 833''7. doi:10.1038/nsb1001-833. PMID 11573085. ^Baer R (October 2001). "With the ends in sight: images from the BRCA1 tumor suppressor". Nat. Struct. Biol.8 (10): 822''4. doi:10.1038/nsb1001-822. PMID 11573079. ^ abcWilliams RS, Green R, Glover JN (October 2001). "Crystal structure of the BRCT repeat region from the breast cancer-associated protein BRCA1". Nat. Struct. Biol.8 (10): 838''42. doi:10.1038/nsb1001-838. PMID 11573086. ^Huyton T, Bates PA, Zhang X, Sternberg MJ, Freemont PS (August 2000). "The BRCA1 C-terminal domain: structure and function". Mutat. Res.460 (3-4): 319''32. PMID 10946236. ^ abJoo WS, Jeffrey PD, Cantor SB, Finnin MS, Livingston DM, Pavletich NP (March 2002). "Structure of the 53BP1 BRCT region bound to p53 and its comparison to the Brca1 BRCT structure". Genes Dev.16 (5): 583''93. doi:10.1101/gad.959202. PMC 155350. PMID 11877378. ^Kimball's Biologh Pages^ abWang H, Shao N, Ding QM, Cui J, Reddy ES, Rao VN (Jul 1997). "BRCA1 proteins are transported to the nucleus in the absence of serum and splice variants BRCA1a, BRCA1b are tyrosine phosphoproteins that associate with E2F, cyclins and cyclin dependent kinases". Oncogene15 (2): 143''57. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1201252. PMID 9244350. ^Boulton SJ (November 2006). "Cellular functions of the BRCA tumour-suppressor proteins". Biochem. Soc. Trans.34 (Pt 5): 633''45. doi:10.1042/BST0340633. PMID 17052168. ^Paull TT, Cortez D, Bowers B, Elledge SJ, Gellert M (2001). "Direct DNA binding by Brca1". 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  1jm7: Solution structure of the BRCA1/BARD1 RING-domain heterodimer
  1jnx: Crystal structure of the BRCT repeat region from the breast cancer associated protein, BRCA1
  1n5o: Structural consequences of a cancer-causing BRCA1-BRCT missense mutation
  1oqa: Solution structure of the BRCT-c domain from human BRCA1
  1t15: Crystal Structure of the Brca1 BRCT Domains in Complex with the Phosphorylated Interacting Region from Bach1 Helicase
  1t29: Crystal structure of the BRCA1 BRCT repeats bound to a phosphorylated BACH1 peptide
  1t2u: Structural basis of phosphopeptide recognition by the BRCT domain of BRCA1: structure of BRCA1 missense variant V1809F
  1t2v: Structural basis of phospho-peptide recognition by the BRCT domain of BRCA1, structure with phosphopeptide
  1y98: Structure of the BRCT repeats of BRCA1 bound to a CtIP phosphopeptide.
BRCA2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  BRCA2 (breast cancer type 2 susceptibility protein) is a protein found inside cells. In humans it is encoded by the geneBRCA2.[1]BRCA2 belongs to the tumor suppressor gene family,[2][3] and orthologs have been identified in most mammals for which complete genome data are available.[4] The protein encoded by this gene is involved in the repair of chromosomal damage with an important role in the error-free repair of DNA double strand breaks.[5]
  The BRCA2 gene is located on the long (q) arm of chromosome 13 at position 12.3 (13q12.3).[1] The human reference BRCA 2 gene contains 27 exons, and the cDNA has 10,254 base pairs[6] coding for a protein of 3418 amino acids.[7][8]
  The gene was first cloned by scientists at Myriad Genetics, Endo Recherche, Inc., HSC Research & Development Limited Partnership, and University of Pennsylvania.[9]
  Methods to diagnose the likelihood of a patient with these mutations getting cancer were covered by patents owned or controlled by Myriad Genetics.[9][10] Myriad's business model of exclusively offering the diagnostic test led from Myriad being a startup in 1994 to being a publicly traded company with 1200 employees and about $500M in annual revenue in 2012;[11] it also led to controversy over high prices and the inability to get second opinions from other diagnostic labs, which in turn led to the landmark Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics lawsuit.[12]
  Function[edit]Although the structures of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are very different, at least some functions are interrelated. The proteins made by both genes are essential for repairing damaged DNA. BRCA2 binds the single strand DNA and directly interacts with the recombinase RAD51 to stimulate strand invasion a vital step of homologous recombination. The localization of RAD51 to the DNA double-strand break requires the formation of BRCA1-PALB2-BRCA2 complex. PALB2 (Partner and localizer of BRCA2)[13] can function synergistically with a BRCA2 chimera (termed piccolo, or piBRCA2) to further promote strand invasion.[14] These breaks can be caused by natural and medical radiation or other environmental exposures, but also occur when chromosomes exchange genetic material during a special type of cell division that creates sperm and eggs (meiosis). Double strand breaks are also generated during repair of DNA cross links. By repairing DNA, these proteins play a role in maintaining the stability of the human genome and prevent dangerous gene rearrangements that can lead to hematologic and other cancers.
  Like BRCA1, BRCA2 probably regulates the activity of other genes and plays a critical role in embryo development.
  Clinical significance[edit]Certain variations of the BRCA2 gene increase risks for breast cancer as part of a hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome. Researchers have identified hundreds of mutations in the BRCA2 gene, many of which cause an increased risk of cancer. BRCA2 mutations are usually insertions or deletions of a small number of DNA base pairs in the gene. As a result of these mutations, the protein product of the BRCA2 gene is abnormal and does not function properly. Researchers believe that the defective BRCA2 protein is unable to help fix mutations that occur in other genes. As a result, mutations build up and can cause cells to divide in an uncontrolled way and form a tumor.
  People who have two mutated copies of the BRCA2 gene have one type of Fanconi anemia. This condition is caused by extremely reduced levels of the BRCA2 protein in cells, which allows the accumulation of damaged DNA. Patients with Fanconi anemia are prone to several types of leukemia (a type of blood cell cancer); solid tumors, particularly of the head, neck, skin, and reproductive organs; and bone marrow suppression (reduced blood cell production that leads to anemia). A pathogenic mutation almost anywhere in a model pathway for DNA double strand break repair containing BRCA1 and BRCA2 greatly increases the risks for a subgroup of lymphomas and leukemia.[5]
  In addition to breast cancer in men and women, mutations in BRCA2 also lead to an increased risk of ovarian, Fallopian tube, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, as well as malignant melanoma. In some studies, mutations in the central part of the gene have been associated with a higher risk of ovarian cancer and a lower risk of prostate cancer than mutations in other parts of the gene. Several other types of cancer have also been seen in certain families with BRCA2 mutations.
  In general, strongly inherited gene mutations (including mutations in BRCA2) account for only 5-10% of breast cancer cases; the specific risk of getting breast or other cancer for anyone carrying a BRCA2 mutation depends on many factors.[15]
  History[edit]Germ line BRCA2 mutations and founder effect[edit]All germ line BRCA2 mutations identified to date have been inherited, suggesting the possibility of a large ''founder'' effect in which a certain mutation is common to a well-defined population group and can theoretically be traced back to a common ancestor. Given the complexity of mutation screening for BRCA2, these common mutations may simplify the methods required for mutation screening in certain populations. Analysis of mutations that occur with high frequency also permits the study of their clinical expression.[18] A striking example of a founder mutation is found in Iceland, where a single BRCA2 (999del5) mutation accounts for virtually all breast/ovarian cancer families.[19][20] This frame-shift mutation leads to a highly truncated protein product. In a large study examining hundreds of cancer and control individuals, this 999del5 mutation was found in 0.6% of the general population. Of note, while 72% of patients who were found to be carriers had a moderate or strong family history of breast cancer, 28% had little or no family history of the disease. This strongly suggests the presence of modifying genes that affect the phenotypic expression of this mutation, or possibly the interaction of the BRCA2 mutation with environmental factors. Additional examples of founder mutations in BRCA2 are given in the table below.
  Population or subgroupBRCA2 mutation(s)[18][21]Reference(s)Ashkenazi Jewish6174delT[22]Dutch5579insA[23]Finns8555T>G, 999del5, IVS23-2A>G[24][25]French Canadians8765delAG[26]GermansC61G[27]Hungarians9326insA[28]Icelandics999del5[19][20]Italians8765delAG[29]Northern Irish6503delTT[30]Pakistanis3337C>T[31]Scottish6503delTT[30]SloveniansIVS16-2A>G[32]Spanish3034delAAAC(codon936), 9254del5[33]Swedish4486delG[34]Interactions[edit]BRCA2 has been shown to interact with
  BRE,[35]BARD1,[35][36]BCCIP,[37]BRCA1,[35][38][39][40]BRCC3,[35]BUB1B,[41]CREB-binding protein,[42]C11orf30,[43]FANCD2,[44][45][46]FANCG,[47]FLNA,[48]HMG20B,[49][50]P53,[35][51]PALB2,[13][52]PCAF,[53][54]PLK1,[53][55]RAD51,[35][38][53][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][37][39][51]RPA1,[63]SHFM1[64][65] andSMAD3.[66]Domain architecture[edit]BRCA2 contains a number of 39 amino acidrepeats that are critical for binding to RAD51 (a key protein in DNA recombinational repair) and resistance to methyl methanesulphonate treatment.[51][58][59][67]
  The BRCA2 helical domain adopts a helical structure, consisting of a four-helix cluster core (alpha 1, alpha 8, alpha 9, alpha 10) and two successive beta-hairpins (beta 1 to beta 4). An approximately 50-amino acid segment that contains four short helices (alpha 2 to alpha 4), meanders around the surface of the core structure. In BRCA2, the alpha 9 and alpha 10 helices pack with the BRCA2 OB1 domain through van der Waals contacts involving hydrophobic and aromatic residues, and also through side-chain and backbone hydrogen bonds. This domain binds the 70-amino acid DSS1 (deleted in split-hand/split foot syndrome) protein, which was originally identified as one of three genes that map to a 1.5-Mb locusdeleted in an inherited developmental malformation syndrome.[65]
  The BRCA OB1 domain assumes an OB fold, which consists of a highly curved five-stranded beta-sheet that closes on itself to form a beta-barrel. OB1 has a shallow groove formed by one face of the curved sheet and is demarcated by two loops, one between beta 1 and beta 2 and another between beta 4 and beta 5, which allows for weak single strand DNA binding. The domain also binds the 70-amino acid DSS1 (deleted in split-hand/split foot syndrome) protein.[65]
  The BRCA OB3 domain assumes an OB fold, which consists of a highly curved five-stranded beta-sheet that closes on itself to form a beta-barrel. OB3 has a pronounced groove formed by one face of the curved sheet and is demarcated by two loops, one between beta 1 and beta 2 and another between beta 4 and beta 5, which allows for strong ssDNAbinding.[65]
  The Tower domain adopts a secondary structure consisting of a pair of long, antiparallelalpha-helices (the stem) that support a three-helix bundle (3HB) at their end. The 3HB contains a helix-turn-helix motif and is similar to the DNA bindingdomains of the bacterial site-specific recombinases, and of eukaryoticMyb and homeodomaintranscription factors. The Tower domain has an important role in the tumour suppressor function of BRCA2, and is essential for appropriate binding of BRCA2 to DNA.[65]
  Patents, enforcement, litigation, and controversy[edit]A patent application for the isolated BRCA1 gene and cancer-cancer promoting mutations, as well as methods to diagnose the likelihood of getting breast cancer, was filed by the University of Utah, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Myriad Genetics in 1994;[10] over the next year, Myriad, in collaboration with other investigators, isolated and sequenced the BRCA2 gene and identified relevant mutations, and the first BRCA2 patent was filed in the U.S. by Myriad and the other institutions in 1995.[9] Myriad is the exclusive licensee of these patents and has enforced them in the US against clinical diagnostic labs.[12] This business model led from Myriad being a startup in 1994 to being a publicly traded company with 1200 employees and about $500M in annual revenue in 2012;[11] it also led to controversy over high prices and the inability to get second opinions from other diagnostic labs, which in turn led to the landmark Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics lawsuit.[12][68] The patents begin to expire in 2014.
  According to an article published in the journal, Genetic Medicine, in 2010, "The patent story outside the United States is more complicated.... For example, patents have been obtained but the patents are being ignored by provincial health systems in Canada. In Australia and the UK, Myriad's licensee permitted use by health systems, but announced a change of plans in August 2008. ... Only a single mutation has been patented in Myriad's lone European-wide patent, although some patents remain under review of an opposition proceeding. In effect, the United States is the only jurisdiction where Myriad's strong patent position has conferred sole-provide status."[69][70] Peter Meldrum, CEO of Myriad Genetics, has acknowledged that Myriad has "other competitive advantages that may make such [patent] enforcement unnecessary" in Europe.[71]
  Legal decisions surrounding the BRCA1 and BRCA2 patents will affect the field of genetic testing in general.[72]
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National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. ^"Breast cancer type 2 susceptibility protein - Homo sapiens (Human)". P51587. UniProt. ^Williams-Jones B (2002). Genetic testing for sale: Implications of commercial brca testing in Canada (Ph.D.). The University of British Columbia.^ abcUS patent 5837492, Tavtigian SV, Kamb A, Simard J, Couch F, Rommens JM, Weber BL, "Chromosome 13-linked breast cancer susceptibility gene", issued 1998-11-17, assigned to Myriad Genetics, Inc., Endo Recherche, Inc., HSC Research & Development Limited Partnership, Trustees of the University of Pennsylvaina ^ abUS patent 5747282, Skolnick HS, Goldgar DE, Miki Y, Swenson J, Kamb A, Harshman KD, Shattuck-Eidens DM, Tavtigian SV, Wiseman RW, Futreal PA, "7Q-linked breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene", issued 1998-05-05, assigned to Myraid Genetics, Inc., The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and University of Utah Research Foundation ^ abMyriad Investor Page'--see "Myriad at a glance" accessed October 2012^ abcSchwartz J (2009-05-12). "Cancer Patients Challenge the Patenting of a Gene". Health. 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"RAD51 localization and activation following DNA damage". Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci.359 (1441): 87''93. doi:10.1098/rstb.2003.1368. PMC 1693300. PMID 15065660. ^Wong JMS, Ionescu Daniela, Ingles C James (January 2003). "Interaction between BRCA2 and replication protein A is compromised by a cancer-predisposing mutation in BRCA2". Oncogene22 (1): 28''33. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1206071. PMID 12527904. ^Marston NJ, Richards W J, Hughes D, Bertwistle D, Marshall C J, Ashworth A (July 1999). "Interaction between the product of the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2 and DSS1, a protein functionally conserved from yeast to mammals". Mol. Cell. Biol.19 (7): 4633''42. PMC 84261. PMID 10373512. ^ abcdeYang H, Jeffrey Philip D, Miller Julie, Kinnucan Elspeth, Sun Yutong, Thoma Nicolas H, Zheng Ning, Chen Phang-Lang, Lee Wen-Hwa, Pavletich Nikola P (September 2002). "BRCA2 function in DNA binding and recombination from a BRCA2-DSS1-ssDNA structure". Science297 (5588): 1837''48. doi:10.1126/science.297.5588.1837. PMID 12228710. ^Preobrazhenska O, Yakymovych Mariya, Kanamoto Takashi, Yakymovych Ihor, Stoika Rostyslav, Heldin Carl-Henrik, Souchelnytskyi Serhiy (August 2002). "BRCA2 and Smad3 synergize in regulation of gene transcription". Oncogene21 (36): 5660''4. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1205732. PMID 12165866. ^Bork P, Blomberg N, Nilges M (May 1996). "Internal repeats in the BRCA2 protein sequence". Nat. Genet.13 (1): 22'‚¬''3. doi:10.1038/ng0596-22. PMID 8673099. ^"ACLU sues over patents on breast cancer genes". CNN. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-14. ^Robert Cook-Deegan, MD et al (2010) Impact of Gene Patents and Licensing Practices on Access to Genetic Testing for Inherited Susceptibility to Cancer: Comparing Breast and Ovarian Cancers to Colon Cancers: Patents and Licensing for Breast, Ovarian and Colon Cancer Testing Genet Med.12(4 Suppl): S15''S38.^Benowitz S (January 2003). "European groups oppose Myriad's latest patent on BRCA1". J. Natl. Cancer Inst.95 (1): 8''9. doi:10.1093/jnci/95.1.8. PMID 12509391. ^Conley J, Vorhous D, Cook-Deegan J (2011-03-01). "How Will Myriad Respond to the Next Generation of BRCA Testing?". Robinson, Bradshaw, and Hinson. Retrieved 2012-12-09. ^"Genetics and Patenting". Human Genome Project Information. U.S. Department of Energy Genome Programs. 2010-07-07. Further reading[edit]Zou JP, Hirose Y, Siddique H, Rao VN, Reddy ES (1999). "Structure and expression of variant BRCA2a lacking the transactivation domain". Oncology reports6 (2): 437''40. PMID 10023017. Venkitaraman AR (2001). "Chromosome stability, DNA recombination and the BRCA2 tumour suppressor". Curr. Opin. Cell Biol.13 (3): 338''43. doi:10.1016/S0955-0674(00)00217-9. PMID 11343905. Orelli BJ, Bishop DK (2001). "BRCA2 and homologous recombination". Breast Cancer Res.3 (5): 294''8. doi:10.1186/bcr310. PMC 138691. PMID 11597317. Daniel DC (2002). "Highlight: BRCA1 and BRCA2 proteins in breast cancer". Microsc. Res. Tech.59 (1): 68''83. doi:10.1002/jemt.10178. PMID 12242698. Tutt A, Ashworth A (2003). "The relationship between the roles of BRCA genes in DNA repair and cancer predisposition". Trends in molecular medicine8 (12): 571''6. doi:10.1016/S1471-4914(02)02434-6. PMID 12470990. Gon§alves A, Viens P, Sobol H, et al. (2005). "[Molecular alterations in breast cancer: clinical implications and new analytical tools]". La Revue de m(C)decine interne / fond(C)e ... Par la Soci(C)t(C) nationale francaise de m(C)decine interne26 (6): 470''8. doi:10.1016/j.revmed.2004.11.012. PMID 15936476. Hay T, Clarke AR (2005). "DNA damage hypersensitivity in cells lacking BRCA2: a review of in vitro and in vivo data". Biochem. Soc. Trans.33 (Pt 4): 715''7. doi:10.1042/BST0330715. PMID 16042582. Domchek SM, Weber BL (2006). "Clinical management of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers". Oncogene25 (43): 5825''31. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1209881. PMID 16998496. Honrado E, Osorio A, Palacios J, Benitez J (2006). "Pathology and gene expression of hereditary breast tumors associated with BRCA1, BRCA2 and CHEK2 gene mutations". Oncogene25 (43): 5837''45. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1209875. PMID 16998498. External links[edit]PDB gallery
  1n0w: Crystal structure of a RAD51-BRCA2 BRC repeat complex
  This article incorporates text from the public domainPfam and InterProIPR002093
  This article incorporates text from the public domainPfam and InterProIPR015252
  This article incorporates text from the public domainPfam and InterProIPR015187
  This article incorporates text from the public domainPfam and InterProIPR015205
A Patient's Journey: Angelina Jolie
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  In an article in the New York Times today, My Medical Choice, Angelina Jolie promised to share some background about her medical treatment with women seeking more information about BRCA gene mutations and what it might mean for them.
  This blog describes the main stages of her treatment. It is important to emphasize that each woman's case is different. Surgery will not necessarily be the right choice for everyone, and there are alternatives available. As Angelina says in her article, the important thing is to be aware of your options.
  STAGE 1. Gathering Data and Information
  BRCA stands for BReast CAncer. BRCA genes help you fight cancer when it happens in your body. But some families carry mutated or broken BRCA genes that can be passed down from one generation to the next. Approximately 5-10% of all breast cancers and 14% of ovarian cancers occur from a BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutation that is inherited from either parent.Women carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations have up to an 87% lifetime chance of breast cancer and 54% chance of ovarian cancer vs. a general population risk of 12% for breast cancer and less than 1% for ovarian cancer. Prevention does not yet exist. More details about the risks of breast and ovarian cancer, including how risk changes with each decade of life, can be found in our BRCA Gene Mutations blog post.Given the high likelihood of getting breast or ovarian cancer with BRCA mutations, family history usually triggers testing for the gene. Angelina's mother had breast cancer, and sadly passed away from ovarian cancer. Her maternal grandmother was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This family history would certainly meet any insurance carrier's criteria to cover genetic testing. To find out if there is enough risk for you to consider a BRCA mutation genetic test, we encourage you to take our Genetics Quiz that reviews a variety of information, including your family history.STAGE 2. After diagnosis: Traveling the Road of Surveillance
  We follow a standard surveillance plan at our center for BRCA mutation carriers, which I used for Angelina:
  Beginning at age 18, or 10 years younger than the youngest relative with breast cancer, every 3 months, you have breast imaging or an exam. An example plan follows:
  Month 10:Clinical breast exam with a breast specialistEvery month:Self breast exams (cycle days 7-10). If you don't know how to do a self breast exam, please watch our how-to video.For those who prefer twice-a-year surveillance, we combine the imaging with clinical breast exams, and meet every 6 months.
  Ovarian surveillance begins at age 35, or 10 years prior to youngest relative with ovarian cancer, and includes the following:
  Transvaginal Pelvic ultrasound every 6 months (cycle days 1-10)CA-125 blood marker testing every 6 months (after cycle day 5)Pelvic exam by gynecologist every 6 monthsFor additional screening details, including risk reduction strategies and holistic and integrative medicine, see our blog on BRCA Gene Mutations.
  STAGE 3.Committing to an operation
  When first meeting a woman newly diagnosed with a BRCA mutation, my immediate goal is to learn about her, including her family situation, whether she is in a stable relationship, and whether she is planning to have children. In the course of these discussions, it becomes clear whether the patient will proceed to a mastectomy.
  STAGE 4.Preparing for the operations
  The questions any patient needs to address at this stage include: (1) whether or not to preserve the nipples, (2) if so, whether or not to perform a ''nipple delay'' procedure, (3) where to place the incision, (4) whether or not to test sentinel nodes, (5) what kind of reconstruction will be done, (6) what supplements might enhance healing and recovery, and finally (7) where should we operate.
  NIPPLE: Women undergoing preventive mastectomies can always consider keeping their nipples. While no one can guarantee that the nipples will survive an operation, much can be done to ensure the greatest chance of success.
  NIPPLE DELAY: The delay, performed 1-2 weeks prior to the actual mastectomies, uses the planned mastectomy incision and lifts half of the skin off of the breast surface. A small disc of the tissue directly behind the nipple and areola is also removed and analyzed by a pathologist. This is done to rule out the presence of any disease directly behind the nipples, which would make preserving them a dangerous proposition. Additionally, it recruits extra blood flow to the area, lessening the chances of nipple and skin loss due to insufficient blood supply after the mastectomy. Since starting this technique in 2008, my loss of skin and nipple after mastectomy has decreased to less than 2%. In Angelina's case, she judged it worth taking this extra step of caution.
  INCISION: Incision locations must take into consideration a cancer location (if cancer is present), any prior incisions, breast size reduction (if desired), and the technical skill of the surgeon (smaller incisions make for a harder and longer operation). For Angelina, her optimal incision choices were around the areola, or underneath the breast in the inframammary fold '' the latter was chosen.
  SENTINEL NODE BIOPSY/PBDI: Whenever a breast contains cancer and the armpit lymph nodes cannot be felt on exam, we routinely perform a sentinel node biopsy, which is the removal of the first nodes that receive breast lymphatic drainage. By injecting blue dye into the breast, which then travels to the lymph node(s), we find out if cancer spread beyond the breast. Until now, the trend has been not to perform sentinel node biopsies in conjunction with prophylactic (preventive) mastectomies since the discovery of cancer in breasts removed prophylactically only ranges from 2-8%. Therefore, most women do not want to take the additional risks associated with a sentinel node biopsy, especially since they can have complications, such as pain, numbness, arm swelling (lymphedema), fluid buildup (seroma), limited arm movement, and infection. This dilemma has been resolved with a new technique that was pioneered at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, called Prophylactic Breast Dye Injection, or PBDI. PBDI allows the sentinel node to be identified, but not surgically removed, giving more control and peace of mind to women. I developed this technique while treating Angelina, and I hope other women will now benefit from it. It was at her friendly insistence that I wrote the rationale for it in our blog post, Prophylactic Breast Dye Injection.
  RECONSTRUCTION: Reconstruction options vary depending on a number of factors. The two broad categories of reconstruction include implants and flaps. Implants are the most common reconstruction, often requiring two stages, whereby a tissue expander is placed prior to the final implant. A tissue expander is a deflated implant that goes behind the pectoral muscles and gets slowly inflated with saline over a period of 2-3 months, until the chosen volume is reached. A second operation is performed to swap the expander for the final implant (usually silicone). A different implant option can be a ''one-step'' operation, where the final implant is placed at the time of mastectomy, skipping the expander phase.
  Two improvements which I believe can enhance the final outcome for those patients choosing implants include: (1) the newly FDA-approved anatomic implants, which are teardrop shaped, and (2) allograft, or synthetic sheets of material, that create a more natural look.
  Autologous flaps use your own skin, fat and sometimes muscle from the abdomen, back (latissimus), thigh (gracilis), or buttock to create a potentially more natural breast reconstruction than implants can achieve. Flaps, however, create scars at the donor site, potential weakness in the donor area, and involve a longer operation than implants, with longer recovery periods and associated hospital stays.
  Angelina's body type was best suited to an implant reconstruction with allograft. Although tissue expanders required an additional operation, she preferred to use them. Expanders maximize blood flow to the breast skin and nipple (because they are not fully expanded right after placement, they do not compress the tiny blood vessels in the skin), and they allow us to optimize the final implant size, location and appearance.
  SUPPLEMENTS AND PREP: To prepare for and to recover from operations, patients can use a variety of supplements. Angelina followed the regimen below, written onto a calendar:
  To enhance wound healing (for each operation):
  A) Vitamin C: 1000mg tablets; one tablet once daily for one week before and one week after surgery.
  B) Multi-Vitamin: one tablet once daily for one week before and one week after surgery.
  C) Zinc: 50 mg; one tablet once daily for one week before and one week after surgery.
  To reduce the risk of infection (operations 2 and 3):
  D) Bactroban ointment: Applied twice a day beginning 3 days prior to surgery x 7 days.
  E) Hibiclens shower: Hibiclens soap applied to upper torso and abdomen '' left on for 5 minutes, then rinsed. Applied once a day for 3 days prior to surgery.
  F) Keflex: 250mg (antibiotic); one tablet 4x a day for 7 days, beginning with 2 doses the day of the operation.
  To reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting (for each operation):
  G) Emend: 40mg; one tablet by mouth the night before surgery
  To reduce postoperative swelling and bruising (for each operation):
  H) Arnica Forte (Arnica and Bromelain): two capsules daily x 7 days, beginning one day prior to surgery.
  To help eliminate anesthesia from the system (for each operation):
  I) Exchem: 10 drops in water or directly in the mouth twice daily, beginning the day before surgery and continuing for one week after surgery.
  J) Lymphomyosat: 10 drops in water or directly in the mouth twice daily, beginning the day before surgery and continuing for one week after surgery.
  To increase oxygen to the skin (operations 1 and 2):
  K) Cutagenix: Applied to breast every 6 hours x 3 days. Skin care specialists use this topical cream after laser resurfacing to increase oxygen flow to the outer layers of skin. We decided in Angelina's case to apply it to the mastectomy skin to give it an oxygen boost and to help ensure adequate blood flow to her skin postoperatively.
  To minimize scarring(after operation 3):
  L) BioCorneum: Rubbed into scars twice a day for 12 weeks '' begin after the third operation once steri strips are removed.
  Medications ''as needed'' for comfort:
  Percocet: 1-2 tablets every 4-6 hours as needed for pain
  Colace: 250mg twice a day
  MiraLax: One tablespoon diluted in 8oz water once a day
  Ativan: 1mg every 8 hours as needed for muscle spasm
  Zofran: 8mg oral dissolving tablet placed on tongue every 6 hours as needed for nausea
  LOCATION: Angelina chose to have her care, including her three operations, performed at the Pink Lotus Breast Center. Some people might think that a hospital is the only place to have a mastectomy. However, outpatient surgery centers provide an attractive, peaceful alternative when coupled with attentive nursing care at recovery facilities. You can learn more about our comprehensive and integrative breast center by exploring this website.
  STAGE 5. Recovering from the operations
  On February 2, 2013, Angelina was in the operating room for the first operation, the nipple delay. Her partner was on hand to greet her as soon as she came around from the anesthetic, as he was during each of the operations.
  After the operation, her skin was slightly bruised but soon returned to normal. Two days after her procedure, great news arrived: the tissue behind both nipples came back completely normal.
  On February 16 she had the main surgery, which can last up to eight hours. The mastectomies went smoothly, with sentinel nodes identified but not removed. After the mastectomies, I assisted plastic surgeon, Dr. Jay Orringer, as we performed the first stage breast reconstruction by placing tissue expanders with allograft.
  To a large extent, I believe recovery reflects expectation. Angelina expected to feel well, to be active. On Monday, the pathology returned and I called Angelina to confirm our biggest hope: all of the breast tissue was benign. On day four after her mastectomies, I was pleased to find her not only in good spirits with bountiful energy, but with two walls in her house covered with freshly assembled storyboards for the next project she is directing. All the while she spoke, six drains dangled from her chest, three on each side, fastened to an elastic belt around her waist.
  The next day she had her first injection of saline into the expanders, thus beginning the process that would gradually prepare the tissues for the final stage of her operations, reconstruction. Four of the six drains were removed. Four days after that, on postoperative day nine, the last two drains were removed. A second saline fill occurred on March 4. Over the next four weeks she was hard at work.
  The final operation occurred on April 27, 2013, ten weeks after the mastectomies: reconstruction of the breasts with implant, which went extremely well, bringing an end to her surgical journey.
  CONCLUSION
  Many women unfortunately do not know that BRCA gene mutations exist and could affect them. Breast and ovarian cancers take lives every day '' knowledge and action can help prevent the premature loss of those who love us, and whom we deeply love in return.
  Like Angelina, I urge women who feel they might have reason to be at risk for a BRCA gene mutation '' perhaps because of a strong family history of cancer '' to seek medical advice and to take control of their futures.
My Medical Choice by Angelina Jolie - NYTimes.com
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  MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.
  We often speak of ''Mommy's mommy,'' and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a ''faulty'' gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
  My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.
  Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.
  Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.
  On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.
  But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people's hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.
  My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a ''nipple delay,'' which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.
  Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life.
  Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful.
  I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.
  It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that's it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.
  I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.
  For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.
  I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women.
  Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live. The cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women.
  I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.
  Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.
  Angelina Jolie is an actress and director.
39th G8 summit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 11:02
  The 39th G8 summit will be held on 17''18 June 2013 at the Lough Erne Resort, a five-star hotel and golf resort on the shore of Lough Erne (Irish: Loch ‰irne) in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.[1] It will be the sixth G8 summit to be held in the United Kingdom. The earlier G8 summits hosted by the United Kingdom were held at London (1977, 1984, 1991), Birmingham (1998) and Gleneagles (2005).
  The decision to hold the summit in Northern Ireland has been criticized. This is mainly due to the threat from Irish republican 'dissident' groups, such as the Real IRA, who are waging a low-level paramilitary campaign in Northern Ireland. The summit also coincides with a protest campaign by loyalists and with the Protestant loyalist "marching season".
  Location and preparation[edit]The date and location of the summit was announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron in November 2012.[1] According to Mark Simpson, the BBC's Ireland Correspondent, the British Government chose Fermanagh for two main reasons: history and geography.[1] Since the formation of Northern Ireland in 1921, there has been tension and violence between its two main communities. The unionist/loyalist community (who are mostly Protestant) generally want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, while the Irish nationalist/republican community (who are mostly Catholic) generally want it to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland. From the late 1960s until the late 1990s, these two communities and the British State were involved an ethno-nationalist conflict known as The Troubles, in which over 3,500 people were killed. A peace process led to the Belfast Agreement and ceasefires by the British State,and the paramilitary groups involved (such as the republican Provisional IRA, the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force). The Conservative Party government of David Cameron is a unionist one. By holding it in Northern Ireland, Cameron "will hope it sends the message to the rest of the world that the peace process has worked and normality has returned".[1] The second reason is geography. G8 summits have always drawn large demonstrations, but Fermanagh's geography will make it hard for protesters. Much of the Lough Erne Resort is surrounded by water and almost all of the roads within 30 miles are single carriageway.[1]
  However, some have criticized the decision to hold the summit in Northern Ireland, due to ongoing protests and small-scale violence by both republicans and loyalists.[2] Since the Provisional IRA called a ceasefire at the end of The Troubles, dissident republican splinter groups have continued its paramilitary campaign. The main groups involved in this low-intensity campaign are the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and 'glaigh na h‰ireann. Security sources expect that these groups will try to launch an attack during the summit, which "would hijack global headlines".[3]
  There is also the likelihood of disruption and violence involving loyalists. The summit will take place during the "marching season", when Protestant and loyalist groups (such as the Orange Order) hold many parades throughout Northern Ireland and Protestant loyalist areas are bedecked with Union Jacks and bunting.[4] This is a tense time in Northern Ireland and it often results in clashes between the two main communities. Furthermore, since December 2012, loyalists have been holding daily street protests. They have been protesting against the decision to lessen the number of days the Union Jack flies from Belfast City Hall. Some of these protests have sparked rioting. Protesters have discussed holding a Union Jack protest at the G8 summit.[5]
  On 23 March 2013, a car bomb was defused 16 miles (26 km) from the Lough Erne Resort. Republican group 'glaigh na h‰ireann said it had planned to detonate it at the hotel but had to abort the attack.[6]
  External links[edit]http://www.swp.ie/content/g8-gang-coming-fermanagh
  References[edit]Coordinates: 54°23'²52'"N7°41'²36'"W>> / >>54.3978°N 7.6933°W>> / 54.3978; -7.6933
Barack Obama to visit Belfast while in Northern Ireland for G8 summit | UK news | guardian.co.uk
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  Barack Obama is welcomed to his ancestral home, Moneygall, during his trip to the Irish Republic in 2011. Photograph: Getty Images
  The White House has confirmed that Barack Obama is to visit Belfast as well as the G8 summit taking place in the border county of Fermanagh next month.
  During the US president's first trip to the city he is expected to express support for the peace process and the power-sharing political settlement at Stormont.
  In a statement from Washington on Friday, a spokesman said: "The president's trip will begin in Belfast, where he will engage with the people of Northern Ireland and highlight the hard work, dialogue, and institutional development they have undertaken together."
  Obama's press secretary said the summit would provide world leaders with an opportunity to "address pressing economic, political, and security challenges around the globe and to promote the advancement of trade and greater transparency among G8 members and the developing world".
  The trip will be Obama's first to Northern Ireland. Two years ago, he went to the Republic and visited Dublin and his ancestral home of Moneygall in County Offaly. During his main address outside Dublin's Trinity College he was mobbed by thousands of well wishers.
  The visit will also be the first by a US president since George Bush went to Belfast in 2008. Bill and Hillary Clinton were frequent visitors to Northern Ireland, making three visits in the 1990s to show their support for the peace process.
  On Friday Eamon McCann, one of the civil rights movement's leading figures in Northern Ireland, denounced plans to open up an entire prison block and former army base to detain anti-G8 demonstrators next month.
  The veteran Derry socialist campaigner and writer said Northern Ireland was going back in time to a repressive law and order situation such as existed in the days of one-party unionist rule.
  McCann was responding to reports that a wing of the top-security Maghagerry jail outside Belfast had been opened to cope with any mass arrests when the G8 meeting begins on 17 June in Fermanagh.
  Northern Ireland's justice minister David Ford also announced on Friday that a former British Army barracks in Omagh, known as Lisanelly, would be used as a temporary holding centre for any arrested demonstrators.
  Ford, leader of the liberal Alliance Party, said the Lisanelly barracks could hold up to 300 people. It is understood the block at Maghaberry prison, County Antrim, has 108 cells and could accommodate up to 200 prisoners.
  Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, David Cameron and the other world leaders, are to hold their two-day global summit at the Lough Erne hotel resort close to Enniskillen.
  The Police Service of Northern Ireland announced this month that a four-mile stretch of road from the Fermanagh town to the hotel on Lough Erne would be closed for almost a month as part of a security operation to protect the world's eight most powerful politicians.
  An extra 3,600 police officers are to be drafted into the lakeland region for the duration of the summit. There will also by a no-fly and no-sailing regime imposed on the area during that period.
  McCann, who was active in Derry during the Battle of the Bogside between civil rights supporters and the unionist-dominated police force in 1969 at the advent of the Troubles, called the security operation a remarkable turn of events.
  He said: "We are headed for as repressive a law-and-order situation as there was in the days of one-party unionist rule and the old unreformed RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary]. PSNI chiefs speak on the media full of confidence that their plans to stamp on civil liberties won't draw any condemnation from the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition.
  "Three hundred new places in prisons, the women's prison and in youth detention centres are being readied for an influx of protesters. The cops [are] equipped with drones, with no opposition from the policing board, which includes representative of all the main parties.
  "Thousands of British police are being shipped in. The British army is on stand-by. Military helicopters will be flitting above Fermanagh ferrying the leaders and their entourages. MI5 is all over the plans.
  "One of the reasons all this has gone virtually unchallenged is that support for the police is seen as crucial to the survival of the Belfast agreement. It's almost seen blasphemy. Criticise the justice establishment or the police and you can easily be denounced as an enemy of peace. It's mad."
  Thousands of people are expected to go to Enniskillen during the gathering of the governmental heads to highlight issues such as world poverty, the arms trade and the war in Afghanistan.
  Some charities have expressed concern about getting access to Enniskillen to highlight their causes.
The White House's New Game: The Benghazi Emails Were Doctored or Something
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 11:00
  by Ace Of Spades14 May 2013Share This:
  Want to know the real story?I warned people off this spin today, reminding them of the fact that investigators were not permitted to make copies of the emails. They were only permitted to view them.
  So of course there are going to be differences -- the White House is refusing to allow people to have the actual verbatim copies! All of these quotes come from a limited reading period and note-taking.
  White House conclusion? They're doctoring emails!
  Note the game they're playing -- they release one email, refusing to release the rest, just to quibble over phrasing in a quote of the email. And yet they themselves have it within their power to guarantee accurate quotes, by simply releasing the emails publicly. But they refuse to, citing, I imagine, "national security."
  Which suddenly isn't such a very big concern when they have the opportunity to make a "doctored email" claim.
  But don't listen to me. Listen to ABCNews reporter Jonathan Karl, who reported on the quotes from these emails:
  The source was not permitted to make copies of the original e-mails. The White House has refused multiple requests - from journalists, including myself, and from Republican leaders in Congress - to release the full e-mail exchanges.
  The differences in the two versions are being taken by some as evidence that my source sought to intentionally mislead about the extent of State Department involvement in changing the talking points. The version I obtained makes specific reference to the State Department, while the version reported by CNN references only "all of the relevant equities" and does not single out State.
  That last part is in reference to the supposedly huge "doctoring" in the emails, about whether State was explicitly mentioned or not.
  Incidentally, the White House didn't even release the full email exchange. Why not? Well, I think because part of it would be rather embarrassing for them:
  The official who provided this e-mail to CNN removed the other e-mail exchanges from other principals. That includes anything written by Nuland, who - as I reported - objected to a paragraph in the draft talking points that referenced prior threats against US and other foreign interests in Libya.
  In that e-mail, according to source, Nuland wrote that such information "could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either? Concerned '..."
  The paragraph Nuland was "concerned" about was removed in its entirety. That e-mail has not been disputed by the administration.
  So this is the childish game we're going to be playing.Is the media going to continue joining the White House in this game?
  How about the White House just releases the emails, as it apparently doesn't mind leaking them when it can score political spin points off them?
  Correction: I thought I had it confirmed that note-taking was forbidden during the viewing, and that all notes about the emails must then come afterwards, after leaving the viewing room. I thought Karl's "were not allowed to make copies of the emails" meant that no contemporaneous note-taking was permitted, as a transcript of an email, made with a pen, is a "copy" of it. But now I'm not sure he meant that.
  Either way, the process guarantees that quotes will not be accurate; that's the point of it. The way to make sure quotes are accurate is to simply release the emails-- a step the White House refuses, except when it can make hay on a point.
Feds seize money from Dwolla account belonging to top Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox | Ars Technica
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 10:27
  The Department of Homeland Security has apparently shut down a key mobile payments account associated with Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange.
  Chris Coyne, the co-founder of online dating service OKCupid, tweeted out an e-mail he received from Dwolla this afternoon. The e-mail states that neither Coyne, nor presumably any other Dwolla user, will be able to transfer funds to Mt. Gox.
  Dwolla confirmed the change to the New York Observer, which first reported the story. Dwolla received a seizure warrant from a federal court.
  "The Department of Homeland Security and US District Court for the District of Maryland issued a 'Seizure Warrant' for the funds associated with Mutum Sigillum's Dwolla account (a.k.a. Mt. Gox)," a Dwolla spokesperson told NYO's BetaBeat. "Dwolla has ceased all account activities... for Mutum Sigillum while Dwolla's holding partner transferred Mutum Sigillum's balance, per the warrant."
  It isn't yet clear why this seizure happened, and Dwolla isn't saying anything beyond confirming the court order. Mt. Gox didn't immediately responded to an inquiry from Ars about the seizure. A user on Bitcoin StackExchange published this short reply received from an inquiry to Mt. Gox about the shut-down: "Thank you for the e-mail. We can see that the Dwolla transactions are not getting processed right now. We will contact Dwolla and post an announcement regarding this. Your patience is appreciated till then."
  A DHS spokeswoman declined to comment on the case, "in order not to compromise this ongoing investigation being conducted by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore."
  Using a payment service like Dwolla is one of the easiest ways for US residents to buy Bitcoins. More popular payments services can't be used to buy on the Mt. Gox exchange'--PayPal, for instance, can't be used to perform currency exchanges. Mt. Gox is the largest Bitcoin exchange, handling about 63 percent of all Bitcoin purchases.
Robbers target Justin Bieber's South Africa concert, steal $330,000 | Music | Entertainment | Toronto Sun
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 10:24
  Justin Bieber. (REUTERS/Jumana El Heloueh) Report an error
  JOHANNESBURG - Robbers equipped with ropes, hammers and chisels broke into a strong-room at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium after a Justin Bieber concert and made off with 3 million rand $330,000 in cash, local media and police said on Monday.
  An officer from the nearby Booysens police station in the sprawling Soweto township said officials at the stadium, which hosted the final of the 2010 soccer World Cup, only realized the cash was missing on Monday morning.
  The haul included takings from Sunday night's concert by 19-year-old Canadian pop sensation Bieber and a gig the previous evening by U.S. rockers Bon Jovi.
  ''The money was taken from the building and they only realized today,'' the police officer, who declined to be named, told Reuters. ''We don't know how many people were involved as we are still gathering evidence.'' ($1 = 9.1121 South African rand)
  Are people being too hard on Justin Bieber?
Is The South African Mint Short Of Gold? | Zero Hedge
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 10:24
  Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
  In what may be the strangest story I have seen in a while related to the gold market, it appears $982 million worth of gold has left JFK international airport in New York to some undisclosed location in South Africa. While it remains unclear what purpose this gold serves, it seems the most likely explanation is to fulfill demand for Krugerrands (South Africa's popular gold bullion coin) to meet elevated demand in the face of constricted mine production. This story is timely coming on the heels of the article I posted yesterday about how Dubai's gold demand is running at 10x normal levels. This is a bizarre story, so if anyone has further color I'd love to hear it.
  From Quartz:
  Examining US trade data, we were surprised to see that South Africa's $402 million trade surplus with the United States in January had turned into a $689 million deficit by March.
  Why?
  It turns out the $1.1 billion swing is entirely due to unusual shipments of gold from the US to South Africa in February and March. So far this year, 20,013 kg of unwrought gold, worth $982 million, has left John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), in New York, for somewhere in South Africa, according to the US Census Bureau's foreign trade division. (Unwrought gold includes bars created from scrap as well as cast bars, but not bullion, jewelry, powder, or currency.)
  The shipments from JFK were the only unwrought gold to leave the US for South Africa in 2013; another large shipment occurred in September 2012.
  However, the strikes that rocked South Africa's mining industry last year briefly caused gold output to fall sharply, around the same time as last autumn's big gold shipment from JFK. Overall 2012 production declined by a relatively modest 6% (pdf) over the year before, according to a preliminary figure from the US Geological Survey; but those first estimates have sometimes proven wide of the mark. (In 2009 the USGS estimated South Africa's 2008 production to be 250 tons; it subsequently revised the figure to 213 tons.) So it could be that the strikes dealt a more severe blow to the country's gold industry than the data show.
  Still, even if gold output did fall precipitously, it's not clear why South Africa would need to start importing it. One possible destination for the gold is the South African Mint, which produces legal-to-own gold coins called Krugerrands; the gold used in them is first refined by the Rand refinery. Calls to the South African embassy in Washington, DC were not returned.
  Meanwhile how about this chart, courtesy of the Quartz article.
  Full article here.
  Average:Your rating: NoneAverage: 4.8(6 votes)
Chemtrails - Look UP, Get the APP, Save the WORLD
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 10:21
  You seem to be using an older version of Internet Explorer. This site requires Internet Explorer 8 or higher. Update your browser here today to fully enjoy all the marvels of this site.This POWERFUL NEW Documentary explores GeoEngineering, SRM, Solar radiation Management, Weather Modification and "chemtrails" and introduces to the public to new way to protest and petition this dangerous initiative by using the all new mobile app SkyderALERT. Put an end to this potentially catastrophic program.
  Look UP. Get the APP. Save the World.
  This film is a new level of documentary film making NEVER DONE BEFORE. By using the patented mobile app people will have the ability to capture visual evidence of this potentially catastrophic activity petition against it, and send it directly to the appropriate government officials-- all in 1 click, with no need to know who those officials are, or even where you are. -- its automatically geo-located- AND will even let you call the congressmen, senators or Governor directly'... all by just using the app.
  Mobile app releases for USA usage will be available for iOS and Android early May 2013, the Global versions will become available shortly thereafter.
  This is the single largest environmental hazard imaginable- HELP PUT AN END TO IT.
  Please support our cause.
  LOOK UP
  GET THE APP
  SAVE THE WORLD
Revealed: Military emails show that NO U.S. sailors witnessed Osama bin Laden's secret burial at sea | Mail Online
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 10:14
  Emails describe how Osama bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet and slid into the sea after religious remarks in ArabicDefense Department says it cannot find any images or videos of bin Laden's aboard USS Carl Vinson Pentagon failed to produce autopsy report, death certificate or results of DNA testsMilitary officials referred to bin Laden's body as 'package' in coded missives Release of emails mark first public disclosure of information about bin Laden's May 1, 2011 deathBy Daily Mail Reporter
  PUBLISHED: 19:17 EST, 21 November 2012 | UPDATED: 19:17 EST, 21 November 2012
  Enemy No 1: Internal emails released by the Defense Department show that no U.S. sailors witnessed Osama bin Laden's burial at sea aboard USS Carl Vinson
  Internal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no American sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson, and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the secret ceremony.
  The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public disclosure of government information about the al-Qaida leader's death. The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department.
  Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team that assaulted his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
  One email stamped secret and sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag.
  According to another message from the Vinson's public affairs officer, only a small group of the ship's leadership was informed of the burial.
  'Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed,' the May 2 email from Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette reads. 'The deceased's body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag.
  'A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body slid into the sea.'
  Final destination: Bin Laden's body was taken to an unknown location aboard USS Carl Vinson and dropped into the sea, but the Defense Department says that it cannot find any images showing the terrorist mastermind's remains on the ship
  Fallen mastermind: In this undated file image from video seized from bin Laden's walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the al Qaeda leader watches TV
  Stronghold: Members of the anti-terrorism squad are seen surrounding the compound where bin Laden was killed by Navy SEAL Team 6 in Abbottabad May 4, 2011
  The email also included a cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the mission.
  'The paucity of documentary evidence in our possession is a reflection of the emphasis placed on operational security during the execution of this phase of the operation,' Gaouette's message reads.
  Long-awaited news: U.S. President Barack Obama is pictured after announcing live on television the death of Osama bin Laden from the East Room of the White House in Washington May 1, 2011
  Recipients of the email included Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. James Mattis, the top officer at U.S. Central Command. Mullen retired from the military in September 2011.
  Earlier, Gaouette, then the deputy commander of the Navy's Fifth Fleet, and another officer used code words to discuss whether the helicopters carrying the SEALs and bin Laden's body had arrived on the Vinson.
  'Any news on the package for us?' he asked Rear Adm. Samuel Perez, commander of the carrier strike group that included the Vinson.
  'FEDEX delivered the package,' Perez responded. 'Both trucks are safely enroute home base.'
  Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the bin Laden raid.
  In a response to separate requests from the AP for information about the mission, the Defense Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden's body on the Vinson.
  The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed.
  Historic moment: In this May 1, 2011, image, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden receive an update on the bin Laden mission in the Situation Room
  The Defense Department also refused to confirm or deny the existence of helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of military gear used in the raid.
  One of the stealth helicopters that carried the SEALs to Abbottabad crashed during the mission and its wreckage was left behind. People who lived near bin Laden's compound took photos of the disabled chopper.
  The CIA, which ran the bin Laden raid and has special legal authority to keep information from ever being made public, has not responded to AP's request for records about the mission.
Amateur Radio Station WB8NUT - Home
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 08:53
  I was first licensed in late 1972 as WN8NUT (Novice Class). At that time, the Novice Class license expired after two years. Not wanting to lose my ham radio license, but also not very proficient in CW, I decided to upgrade to Technician. I upgraded to Technician in 1974, and my call was changed to WB8NUT.At that time Technicians did not have any HF privileges, so all my time was spent on 6 and 2 meters. I really fell in love with 6 meters, operating principally on 50.4 using AM.
  The family moved to St. Louis in 1986 after McDonnell Douglas (now known as Boeing) transferred me there. Around that same time Technicians were given access to the 10 meter voice band. Sun spots were hopping at that time and I was getting my first taste of real DX. I had to increase my CW speed so I could pass the 13 wpm test and upgrade to General. On a business trip to Houston, I picked up some CW tapes at a downtown ham store, studied very hard and passed the 13 wpm CW test in June of 1987 at the Egyptian Hamfest in Illinois.
  While in St. Louis, I almost Worked All States. Actually got up to 46 states. But we moved back to Cincinnati in 1990 and that pretty much started the process all over again. In February 2002, I finally achieved WAS. I was able to get my WAC certificate while I lived in St. Louis. I recently reached 103 confirmed countries and submitted the QSL cards to the ARRL for DXCC. On September 26, 2003, I was awarded DXCC certificate #39,162. I am currently working on WAS RTTY endorsement and WAS Digital endorsement and only a few states yet to achieve those endorsements. In late 2011 I received a second all-mode WAS award just using the ARRL LOTW system. In 2012 I received another award for WAS using Digital only. In early 2013, I received a fourth award for WAS using only the JT-65 digital mode. So now I have one WAS award achieved using traditional paper QSL cards, and three WAS awards that used all digital QSL cards!
  I am active on HF on all bands except 160. Rigs are a Kenwood TS-590S, Flexradio 1500 SDR Radio with THP Amplifier, Yaesu FT-817 (QRP), Ten-Tec Argonaut V (QRP), MFJ 9420 (QRP), various FM VHF and UHF transceivers and handhelds for 2 meters, 220 and 440; Icom V82, ID-31 and IC-92AD handhelds for D-Star plus an ID-880H for D-Star from the shack. I also use an Alinco DR-235 for FM on 220Mhz. HF antenna is a Butternut vertical (ground mounted).
  Many years ago I jumped aboard the digital bandwagon and operate on the more popular digital modes like PSK31, MFSK, and Hellschreiber. FeldHell (a Hellschreiber mode) is my favorite mode on HF with most of my activity on 80 and 20 meters. I primarily now use Ham Radio Deluxe/DM-780, but will occasionally use the MixW and MultiPSK software for all the new soundcard digital modes including SSTV. You can find me on 14.070 (PSK31), 14.076 (JT-65) 14.063 (Hellschreiber), 14.080 (MFSK) and 14.230 (SSTV). I also use JT-65HF for low power digital contacts using the JT-65 mode. In fact, as of February 2013, I achieved WAS using just JT-65 and all contacts confirmed on LoTW.
  All of my software for digital modes runs on a Hewlett-Packard computer system with a quad-core Intel processor and 6GBs of memory and Windows 7. I needed a beefy computer since I run so many amateur related software applications at the same time. For example, on most days I have the AGWPE Pro application for connecting to several TNCs at the same time, APRSIS32 for APRS tracking, DVAR Hotspot for the D-Star hotspot, D-RATS or D-Chat for D-Star texting, and using the digital programs of DM-780 (Ham Radio Deluxe), MultiPSK and MixW, I still have processing power to spare.
  Below are some sample SSTV pictures that I received using the JVCOMM32 program.
  (these samples are 25% of the actual size)
  As previously noted I am active on APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System). My home APRS packet station is on continuously on 144.39 Mhz and serves as a fill-in digipeater for the Eastern Cincinnati and an IGate (Internet Gateway) for the entire Greater Cincinnati area. My APRS digi station consist of a Kantronics KPC3+ TNC connected to Kenwood D710 for digipeating through the International Space Station (ISS) and the built-in TNC running in APRS mode for the local APRS network. Software controlling the APRS station is APRSIS32 as it is the only APRS program that can interface to the Kenwood D710's internal TNC when in APRS mode. An APRS mobile station is now installed in my Saturn Aura using either an ID-31 with built-in GPS receiver using D-PRS (gated to the APRS network) or a Kenwood TH-D72 with a built-in TNC and GPS receiver. Anytime you want to see where I might be, just go to http://aprs.fi/wb8nut-14 or http://aprs.fi/wb8nut-7 (mobile APRS station may be off the air at times).
  Field Day 1998 from the backyardWhen the weather is nice, I love operating outside on the back patio. In 1998 I participated in Field Day using QRP and battery power on the patio. If you are interested in seeing pictures of my Field Day '98 (QRP of course!) operation (I can't believe it was that long ago since the last time I operated Field Day from the house). Here is a picture the XYL took of my patio Field Day Operation.
  Memberships:GQRP Club - 8452American Radio Relay League (of course)Fists - 9920Flying Pigs QRP - 464OMISS - 4383SMIRK - 5279TAPR - 8639Ten-Ten - 45041PODXS 070 Club - 172
  Current Operating Awards:WAC - Isn't this everyone's first award?WAS - Using 100% paper QSL cardsWAS - Using 100% LoTW Electronic QSLsWAS - All DigitalWAS - All JT65WAS - All RTTYDXCC - MixedDXCC - PhoneWPX - MixedWPX - DigitalWPX - Mixed North AmericaWPX - Digital North AmericaI QSL 100% using standard postcard QSLs or via LOTW.
  Please feel free to use the Contact Page to send me a note
Jon Stewart Destroys Obama Over the IRS Scandal
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  Archived Version
  Source: Conscious Life News
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:16
  Posted by clnews_Featured_, Government, Politics, VideosTuesday, May 14th, 2013Jon Stewart blasted President Barack Obama and his administration over the IRS' admitted targeting of different conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
  ''You've managed to show that when the government wants to do good things, your managerial competence falls somewhere between David Brent and a cat chasing a laser pointer,'' Stewart said. ''But when government wants to flex its more malevolent muscles, you're f'--ing Iron Man.''
  Stewart also tore into the IRS for trying to issue only a simple apology after their disclosure. Stewart harped on an IRS spokesperson's aside on a conference call with reporters that she was not very good at math.
  JonStewartblasted President Barack Obama and his administration over the IRS' admitted targeting of different conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
  ''You've managed to show that when the government wants to do good things, your managerial competence falls somewhere between David Brent and a cat chasing a laser pointer,'' Stewart said. ''But when government wants to flex its more malevolent muscles, you're f'--ing Iron Man.''
  Stewart also tore into the IRS for trying to issue only a simple apology after their disclosure. Stewart harped on an IRS spokesperson's aside on a conference call with reporters that she was not very good at math.
Jonathan Alter Freaks Out: Obama Being Harmed By Staffers With 'Unhealthy Love'
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:15
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  Former Newsweek journalist Jonathan Alter offered an unintentionally funny moment when he told Chris "thrill up my leg" Matthews that some of Obama's staffers have an "unhealthy love" for the President.
  Video cross-posted at NewsBusters.
NBC's Lauer Asks Rumsfeld if Benghazi Scandal is Just GOP Trying to 'Discredit' Hillary
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:14
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  In an interview with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer tried to dismiss the growing Benghazi scandal: "Do you think that the administration has answered enough questions on it? Do you think it's possible that some Republicans are trying to use this to discredit Hillary Clinton in case she decides to run for president in 2016?"
  Rumsfeld replied: "No. I think that's a side '' that's the sideshow, is the Hillary Clinton piece of it. No, the first problem was if you're going to put people at risk, you have to try to protect them....And the Americans were left in and they weren't provided the kind of security that they needed, obviously, because they're dead."
  More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.
ABC's Trey Hardin Drops a BOMB on The Doug McIntyre Show (790 KABC) about the IRS Scandal
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  Archived Version
  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:09
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
TSA Travel Tips Tuesday - Travel Tips for Campers and Fishers
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  Archived Version
  Source: The TSA Blog
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:07
  We are well into the Spring travel period where avid campers are dusting off their gear. You either like to rough it like Bear Grylls, or you go to your local sporting goods store and max out your plastic on all the latest camping gear. Either way, if you're flying commercial to your camping destination, this post is for you!Here's a list of common camping and fishing related items that you can and can't bring on a plane:Insect Repellents '' They are permitted in your carry-on bags and checked baggage. The liquid limits apply when carrying these in your carry-on bags.Animal Repellants - You can bring chemical repellants in your checked luggage if the volume is less than four ounces and less than 2% active ingredient of either CS or CN. Most bear repellants exceed these limitations. We suggest that you buy these items once you arrive at your destination and leave them behind when your trip is over.Insecticides '' Ant killers, cockroach killers, spider killers, etc., are prohibited from both carry-on and checked baggage.Camp Stoves '' These can go in either your carry-on or checked bag. If you have a liquid-fuel stove, be sure to empty the fuel. There can also be no fumes emitting from the stove. The same goes with propane stoves. Propane tanks are prohibited from both checked and carry-on bags. Empty propane or gas cylinders are allowed in checked or carry-on bags as long as our officers can see inside.Flare Guns '' These are allowed in your checked baggage, but they have to be stored and declared just like a firearm. The flares are a no go. Fishing Rods/Poles/Tackle - TSA allows fishing poles, but if you're taking them as a carry-on, you might want to give your airline a call and see if the pole exceeds their carry-on limits. Tackle is OK as a carry-on, but be sure that you don't have any knives or large deep sea fishing hooks. Also, tools can't be larger than seven inches.Spear Guns - These can't go in the cabin, but you can check them in the belly of the plane.Bows and Arrows - These items should be packed in checked luggage. Any sharp objects packed in checked luggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and security screeners.Safety Matches - Permitted in your carry-on luggage one pack per passenger per FAA safety regulations. Strike anywhere matches are not ever permitted.Lighters are permitted in your carry-on. Torch lighters are still prohibited.Hatchets & Knives - These are permitted in your checked baggage, but not in your carry-on.If you're planning on participating and camping out at a renaissance festival this summer, we ask that you kindly not carry your crossbow, battle hammer, or mace through the checkpoint. Believe it or not, we have intercepted items similar to these and many other unusual items. See you next Tuesday with more travel tips! If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us byclicking here.
Statement by the President
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  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:05
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 14, 2013
  I have now had the opportunity to review the Treasury Department watchdog's report on its investigation of IRS personnel who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. And the report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable. The federal government must conduct itself in a way that's worthy of the public's trust, and that's especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test.
  I've directed Secretary Lew to hold those responsible for these failures accountable, and to make sure that each of the Inspector General's recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such conduct never happens again. But regardless of how this conduct was allowed to take place, the bottom line is, it was wrong. Public service is a solemn privilege. I expect everyone who serves in the federal government to hold themselves to the highest ethical and moral standards. So do the American people. And as President, I intend to make sure our public servants live up to those standards every day.
Angry Al Sharpton: I'M The IRS Victim, Not Conservatives!
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Wed, 15 May 2013 01:04
  If the player does not load, please check that you are running the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
  REV AL SHARPTON (14 May 2013):The Benghazi case I've expressed I think is a whole lot about nothing and I don't see any there there. If the whistleblower statement in my opinion is that they were changing and editing the statement but basically were not changing facts then I don't understand how if the State Department and intelligence was just going over what their message was going to be which any government or independent of government people would do at the press, we do it at National Action Network.
  They do it in any civil rights group any church group any public group all the time. How does that amount to there was a cover-up by the White House White House. There was no evidence that the White House was involved had knowledge and there was no evidence that the State Department people that they're talking about did it out of any political motivation or any other reason other than clarify their message. And this whole thing about the Internal Revenue and the Tea Party like I said on my TV show last night, if they were targeted its wrong. But is seems strange when you had groups targeted like mine like the NAACP, 2004 month before the election they went after the NAACP.
  They went after National Action Network saying we had employees that didn't exist and shakedowns, none of that after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend yourself, none of that an they come back oh well you owe back taxes which we knew before you went into all of that. Nobody go through criminal investigation to find out about taxes. But the right wing never saw that. Now, of course they're trying to blame all of this on the President.
Federal agency says lowering legal limit could cut DUI deaths - baltimoresun.com
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  Wed, 15 May 2013 00:13
  Even moderate drinking before driving could become illegal if a federal safety panel's recommendation Tuesday is enacted eventually by the states.
  The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that states cut their thresholds for drunken driving by more than a third '-- from a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent to .05 percent '-- to reduce highway fatalities. A 180-pound man would reach 0.05 BAC by consuming three beers in one hour, according to a Wisconsin Department of Transportation online calculator.
  The proposal, among others by the board, faces a long road before, if ever, becoming the law of the land. It took more than 20 years for all the states to act after the NTSB recommended reducing the drunk driving threshold in 1982.
  Lowering the blood-alcohol benchmark could reduce the annual drunken-driving death toll of nearly 10,000 lives by as much as 10 percent, the board said.
  The NTSB's recommendation even drew lukewarm support from the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who said the effort would take too long and undercut more effective programs.
  MADD President Jan Withers, an Upper Marlboro resident, said her organization's three-pronged campaign could save many more lives. The plan is built around high-visibility law enforcement, ignition locks to prevent convicted drunken drivers from getting on the road and passive technology that measures the blood alcohol content of motorists.
  "We want to save as many lives as possible as soon as possible," Withers said. "We respect the NTSB and its research, but it will take 15 to 20 years to change the laws in each state. We're already moving forward on our campaign, and it will happen sooner than what the NTSB can accomplish."
  In 2011, the most recent year of federal statistics, 33 percent of Maryland's 485 traffic fatalities involved alcohol, an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous year.
  The NTSB also called for higher penalties for first and repeat offenders and arming police officers with technology such as "sniffing flashlights" to detect alcohol. The agency does not have the authority to impose its recommendations on states, but its opinion carries weight with policymakers.
  "Most Americans think that we've solved the problem of impaired driving, but in fact, it's still a national epidemic," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman in a statement. "On average, every hour one person is killed and 20 more are injured."
  NTSB studies indicate that at 0.05, depth perception and other visual skills begin deteriorating in some drivers and the risk of having an accident jumps by 39 percent. At 0.08 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by more than 100 percent.
  Most European and South American countries have set BAC levels at 0.05 for drunken-driving charges.
  Withers cautioned that the same forces behind the prolonged fight against lowering the BAC from 0.10 to 0.08 are sure to oppose any further changes. Already, the American Beverage Institute, a restaurant trade association, blasted the recommendation as "ludicrous." The Governors Highway Safety Association said it would review the recommendations, but supports the 0.08 level.
  In 1982, the NTSB recommended that states reduce the drunken-driving limit from 0.10 BAC. Utah became the first state to lower its limit the following year, but Maryland didn't take the step until 2001, just three years before 0.08 became enacted by every state.
  The General Assembly has shown a deep reluctance to pass new laws cracking down on drunken driving. Each year, many bills on alcohol and driving are proposed, but few succeed.
  Annapolis lobbyist Bruce Bereano, who has represented alcohol distributors, said a decrease to 0.05 would be "like going back to the Prohibition era."
  "Nobody wants drunken-driving accidents," Bereano said. "But 0.08 has worked very well. I assume it will be brought up next session, in an election-year session. It would take hard, reliable data to convince [lawmakers] that the current laws and enforcement are not adequate."
  Historically, the highest hurdle for such bills has been the House Judiciary Committee.
  Del. Kathleen Dumais, vice chairman of the committee, said that the legislature acted in 2001 only under the threat of the loss of federal highway funds.
  Dumais, a Montgomery County Democrat who was not a legislator at the time, said lawmakers will have to examine how the 0.05 standard would be implemented and what the implications would be.
  "I do see some opposition." she said.
  In the past, proposals to lower the blood-alcohol level have been fought especially hard by restaurant and tavern owners.
  Dumais, who served on a 2007-2008 task force on Maryland drunken-driving laws, said she's willing to take a look at the proposal but is not convinced that a 0.05 standard would be a "panacea." She said lawmakers might want to consider other remedies such as stricter ignition interlock laws, tougher penalties and stepped-up enforcement of current laws.
  Gov. Martin O'Malley's office referred a question about the proposal to the sate Department of Transportation. Department spokeswoman Erin Henson said the governor's highway safety representative, Motor Vehicle Administration chief John Kuo, is evaluating the recommendation.
  "We are focused on making sure that our roads are as safe as possible for Maryland families," Henson said.
  Lon Anderson, the chief lobbyist for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said that while there has been a "sea change in how we view drunken driving, moving the needle again on blood-alcohol content will be a major struggle."
  "It's the beginning of a national discussion that will include the need to educate the American people, who will have to be convinced this is a beneficial thing" Anderson said. "It's not something that's going to happen today or tomorrow."
  Sun reporter Michael Dresser contributed to this article.
  candy.thomson@baltsun.com
N.T.S.B. Endorses Lower Legal Alcohol Limit for Drivers - NYTimes.com
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 00:13
  Ramin Rahimian for The New York Times
  A police officer in San Jose, Calif., administering a breathalyzer test in 2010. The current standard of 0.08 percent blood-alcohol concentration was established a decade ago at the instigation of Congress.
  WASHINGTON '-- Thousands of people are killed or injured every year by drivers who have not reached the legal standard for being drunk but who have a reduced ability to see, make decisions or operate a vehicle, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday, and it recommended that the states reduce the allowable blood-alcohol concentration by more than a third, to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent.
  The current standard was established a decade ago at the instigation of Congress, and progress has stalled, the board said, with about 10,000 fatalities a year.
  ''There are at least 10,000 reasons to tackle this issue,'' said Deborah A. P. Hersman, the chairwoman of the board. Foreign countries with stricter standards have had substantially more success, according to the board.
  The board voted for a variety of recommendations. Some, like requiring that everyone convicted of drunken driving be required to install a Breathalyzer interlock in their car, which would prevent the vehicle from starting without an alcohol test, were focused on heavy drinkers and repeat offenders.
  Officials said they hoped that a stricter standard would reduce drinking and driving both among social drinkers and among heavy drinkers.
  Blood-alcohol concentration varies by body weight, gender, stomach contents and other factors, but generally speaking, a 180-pound man could consume four beers or glasses of wine in 90 minutes without reaching the current limit. At a limit of 0.05 percent, he could legally consume only three. A 130-pound woman could probably consume three drinks in 90 minutes and be legal under the existing standard; if the limit were lowered, she could consume only two.
  The blood-alcohol recommendation faces opposition. Sarah Longwell, the managing director at the American Beverage Institute, a restaurant trade association, called the idea ''ludicrous.''
  ''Moving from 0.08 to 0.05 would criminalize perfectly responsible behavior,'' she said. And ''further restriction of moderate consumption of alcohol by responsible adults prior to driving does nothing to stop hard-core drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel.''
  The board is already on record favoring research on built-in alcohol detectors, which could measure blood-alcohol content through a driver's palms on the steering wheel or some other unobtrusive way. Those could be available as an option on new cars or could be universally required. Either would affect drinkers who have never been caught driving, who make up more than 90 percent of those involved in fatal alcohol-related crashes.
  People with a blood-alcohol level of 0.05 percent are 38 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than those who have not been drinking, according to government statistics. People with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent are 169 percent more likely.
  The standard in most of the industrialized world is 0.05 percent. All 50 states and the District of Columbia switched to 0.08 percent after President Bill Clinton signed a law in 2000 that withheld highway construction money from states that did not agree to that standard.
  ''These tragedies affect both sides,'' said Robert J. Sumwalt, one of the board members. He said his wife's first cousin was killed by a drunken driver who was traveling down a highway in the wrong direction. And his own cousin, he said, goes on Sundays to visit her 21-year-old daughter who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drunken driving.
  Progress is mostly a matter of political will, board members said.
  About 30 percent of all vehicle fatalities are tied to drunken driving, down from 50 percent when President Ronald Reagan raised the issue 30 years ago. The number of deaths is down to about 10,000 a year from about 21,000 over the same period. Highway deaths are decreasing over all because of better-designed cars, seat belt use and better highways.
  The board has the support of other safety advocates, but not Mothers Against Drunk Driving. That group said it favored many parts of the board's agenda, including the mandatory installation of the Breathalyzer interlock for anyone convicted of driving drunk, research on the passive alcohol sensors and ''administrative license revocation,'' which gives police officers on the highway the authority to seize a driver's license at the time of an arrest. Those show strong potential for reducing the death toll, said J. T. Griffin, a Washington representative of the group.
  The discussion of changing the definition of drunk, Mr. Griffin said, was the safety board's ''trying to focus on a group of people who are more social drinkers, who haven't been targeted in a while.'' MADD would not oppose the change, he said, but would pursue other remedies.
AFP: Police say no sign of struggle at US scientist's apartment
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 15 May 2013 00:12
  Police say no sign of struggle at US scientist's apartment
  By Annabelle Liang (AFP) '' 12 hours ago
  SINGAPORE '-- Singapore police officers who inspected the apartment where a US high-tech researcher was found hanged last year told an inquiry on Tuesday that they saw no signs of a struggle.
  The bedroom where police found the body of Shane Todd -- whose parents believe he was murdered -- was neater than the rest of the apartment, Sergeant Rajina Sharma Rajandran said on the second day of a coroner's inquest.
  "It appeared that there were no signs that indicated that a struggle had taken place," the investigator said. "There were no trails of blood found on the floor of the apartment. The furniture in the bedroom was in place."
  Todd's parents reject Singapore autopsy findings that he committed suicide. They believe he was killed because of his work for a Singapore research institute with alleged links to a Chinese telecom giant suspected of espionage.
  The inquiry also heard evidence from an FBI report indicating Singapore police did not miss crucial evidence in the case from an external hard drive found in Todd's apartment, as claimed by Todd's parents.
  The parents have said files from the drive show he may have been killed because of his work.
  But the Federal Bureau of Investigation report said the device, which they later handed to the parents, was "identical" to one that had already been examined by the city state's police.
  The couple, Rick and Mary Todd, declined to comment when asked about the FBI report.
  "We just appreciate the process. We thought it went well," Rick Todd told reporters.
  Singapore's state-linked Institute of Microelectronics and China's Huawei Technologies have both denied working together on a project involving Todd on a semiconductor with potential military applications.
  The family has not blamed anyone in particular for Todd's death. But it maintains that the 31-year-old could not have killed himself and was looking forward to returning home before his body was found on June 24, 2012.
  A lawyer for the family questioned police Tuesday about the way Todd's body was handled after being found suspended from an improvised noose from the top of a locked toilet door.
  The body had been brought down to the bedroom floor by other police officers before the investigators arrived.
  Senior Investigation Officer Rayme Darman Koh said discoloration on the lower forearms and legs indicated Todd had been hanging for "around six hours on the door".
  Amarjit Singh, part of a team of Singapore lawyers assisting the Todds, said: "More than six hours, no pulse, would it be better to leave him there to preserve the primary evidence than to bring the body down in an attempt to save his life?"
  Koh maintained that it was standard procedure to bring the body down.
  Todd was part of a team working on gallium nitride, a tough semiconductor material that can be used in radar and satellite communications.
  A US congressional committee last year labelled Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom firm, as potential security threats that should be excluded from US government contracts and barred from acquiring US firms.
  The coroner's inquest will only determine the cause of Todd's death. A verdict is expected by late June after hearings end on May 28.
  Todd's parents, who are expected to testify, have obtained an opinion from a US medical examiner who concluded that Todd was first killed by garrotting before being hanged to conceal the crime.
  But two other US medical examiners described as independent experts have affirmed the Singapore autopsy report, according to a summary of evidence to be presented at the inquest.
  Copyright (C) 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More >>
Icom at Dayton Hamvention 2013
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 23:53
  NOTICE:Saturday events (May 18th) will be captured live via webcam during show hours and will include shots of attendees in the Icom booth. By entering these premises you authorize Icom America Inc. to record and/or distribute recordings including your name, voice, or image for future use via any medium.THANK YOU
Russia Busts CIA 'Spy' and His Gmail | Danger Room | Wired.com
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:43
  Ryan Christopher Fogle, an alleged U.S. intelligence agent, in custody Tuesday. The faces of the men around him have been digitally blurred. Photo: Federal Security Service
  Update: 3:14 p.m. EST
  Officially, Ryan Christopher Fogle worked as a junior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. According to Moscow, he's a spy working for the CIA. If so, he screwed up in the worst possible way.
  Fogle was detained overnight by Russia's Federal Security Service (or FSB), the present-day successor to the KGB, and is accused of attempting to recruit a Russian agent to spy for Washington. Photographs quickly circulated of Fogle in custody, along with a disguise and gear '-- including two wigs, sunglasses, a knife and cell phone, a map of Moscow, a microphone, and an aluminum RFID shield. He was also apparently carrying stacks of '‚¬500 bank notes.
  He also allegedly had a letter, in Russian (but translated in full here), purportedly offering an initial payment of $100,000 and a yearly salary of $1 million to a Russian agent for ''long-term cooperation, with extra bonuses if we receive some helpful information.'' It was simply addressed to a ''friend.'' The letter closed: ''Thank you for reading this. We look forward to working with you in the nearest future. Your friends.''
  The letter also gave out what's purportedly one of the CIA's e-mail addresses: unbacggdA@gmail.com. (Most likely no longer in service. But feel free to e-mail.) ''Your security means a lot to us,'' it read. ''This is why we chose this way of contacting you. We will continue to make sure our correspondence remains safe and secret.''
  Other instructions were to e-mail the address with a new Gmail account '-- opened in a public place like a coffee shop '-- while not including any identifiable personal information. The letter also advised the recipient to buy a new mobile device or computer for opening the account. ''We will reimburse you for this purchase,'' the letter read. Within a week, the would-be recruit would hear back.
  Some of Fogle's purported gear. Subtle? Take a look at the aluminum RFID blocker. Photo: Federal Security Service
  Several photographs released by the FSB show Fogle being taken into custody while wearing a wig by strong-armed men with faces digitally blurred. Other images show him in custody without a wig and gear sprawled out on a table. His cover identity was apparently working as a Third Secretary at the embassy, according to the FSB '-- one of the lower-ranking embassy jobs.
  ''Recently American intelligence has made multiple attempts to recruit employees of Russian law enforcement organs and special agencies, which have been detected and monitored by Russian FSB counterintelligence,'' the agency told reporters in a statement. Fogle has been reportedly returned to the U.S. Embassy, and he hasn't been charged with any crimes. The U.S. Embassy isn't saying anything in response. The Russian Foreign Ministry reportedly summoned the U.S. Ambassador, Michael McFaul, and demanded Fogle's ''immediate departure,'' reported the Wall Street Journal. On Tuesday, Fogle was expelled.
  News of Fogle's arrest was also breaking as McFaul was doing a live question-and-answer session over Twitter. When asked for comment, McFaul tweeted ''No.''
  Though it's important to keep in mind that U.S. and Russian spy games are not unusual, an arrest of this sort is highly out of the ordinary, especially with so many incredulous details. But even the David Petraeus, the former CIA chief, got caught with his pants down because of Gmail. And when there's an arrest or spy busted from either side, it's invariably written in the press as a throwback to the Cold War. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that ''such provocative actions in the spirit of the 'Cold War' in no way help to strengthen mutual trust.'' Though espionage between Washington and Moscow never stopped. Take a look at Anna Chapman and the Russian sleeper spies, for that matter.
  But not even the Russian sleeper spies were caught cash-in-hand.
Time's Rana Foroohar Laughably Claims Obama White House Largely Scandal Free
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:19
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
George Stephanopoulos Channels Hillary: 'What Difference Will' It Make Who Ordered Faulty Benghazi Memo?
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:19
  If the player does not load, please check that you are running the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
  While sparring with Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday, George Stephanopoulos channeled his inner Hillary Clinton on the issue of the terrorist attack in Benghazi. On the subject of who, specifically, told United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to use faulty talking points, the Good Morning America co-anchor asserted, "Well, what difference will that make if the White House has already put out the talking points and said that they were written by the CIA with the input of other agencies?" In comparison, on January 23, 2013, while testifying in front of Congress about Libya, Hillary Clinton said of the details of the attack: "Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference '' at this point, what difference does it make?"
  Video cross-posted at NewsBusters.
NAACP's Julian Bond Calls Tea Party 'American Taliban', MSNBC's Roberts Barely Challenges
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:16
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
What is behind the real IRS Scandal
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  Source: Lame Cherry
  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:14
  As the continued exclusives of the Lame Cherry in matter anti matter.......
  When Congresswoman Michele Bachmann revealed that Birther Obama released the IRS scandal as it had been on the burner for a long time, she has been ignorant of a reality which only this blog has covered in the methodical protocols unleashed in this jihad attack by the Obama regime, and now it is about to get a entire new twist on this in reality hitting the fan.
  Obama is crook. Saying that for the three thousandths time solves nothing in IRS scandals or ANALGATE. It is WHY OBAMA CHOSE THE IRS SCANDAL WHICH THIS BLOG in matter and anti matter is about to blow the lid off things with.
  I will utilize examples in this of real Congressional staff and Congressmen to explain exactly why Obama chose the IRS scandal. The reason Obama chose the IRS scandal is simple.....it was to blackmail the Republicans into silence over Benghazi, by silencing them with the IRS scandal.
  Why is that?
  It is because of some proof Mark Levin blurted out on his radio program on May 13th, in which he stated in his IRS investigations, that IT WAS CONGRESS previously who was sending the IRS to terrorize Americans who were "bothersome" to the members.
  Has it been any secret that John Boehner or Eric Cantor have not only detested the Tea Party, but were in open war against it with Karl Rove and Dick Army trying to engineer an overthrow of it?
  You have no idea what it is like on Capitol Hill when the idea of REAL AMERICANS come up, unless you listen to the gay staff which operates behind the scenes, hired by all of the top GOP.
  For a reference point, let us revisit that pervert Anthony Wiener of Kansas, the one and only former democrat, turned GOP, Kevin Yoder of Kansas City, who you will recall stripped off his clothes to be naked for a midnight dip on an Israeli junket with, the wife and daughter of other Congressional officials in the midst, skinny dipping in the waters Christianity called Holy.
  Yes that Kevin Yoder who votes for all things socialism, and has a staff overflowing with members as all of these GOP leadership have in Ethan "Egan" for his name like Kevin James character mocked as Eggnog, in Hitch as Eurotrash, as that is what all these GOP are in faux Frogs., a nob hill money aristocrat who spews more hatred for the Tea Party than Nancy Pelosi ever has in pubic....yeah I mean in the closet pubic Karl Rove, so you finger it out.
  These GOP leaders hate the Conservatives with a passion. This leadership has been catching holy hell from the Tea Party non stop, and they roll their eyes, smear, degrade and spit on every one of these Conservatives, as this group is nothing but social democrats.
  The reason Kevin Yoder is on line to take Bob Dole's seat in Kansas is because this House member is a tool of the Rovians who have done everything they could do, to destroy the Tea Party.
  Ask yourself, do you think that it is only the Obama regime who was looking up names of Tea Party members, or do members of Congress have "that list" of constituents who are calling them and writing them, who they will never respond to, but that "list" is always there and some of those lists end up in FBI files, some in state watch files and some in IRS files, where people who buck the system too much, suddenly like Michele Bachmann get audited 4 times in one year.
  I will state this again, do you really think that only Obama targets people on the right........ah how about Larry Craig, George Allen, Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell etc......those people were not smeared by Birther Obama, but that came right out of the GOP.
  Why do you think John Boehner refuses to appoint any investigators into this IRS jihad on Americans? It is the reality that Boehner has been supplying names to the police state on Tea Party people.
  Re visit what Mark Levin revealed and had no idea he was revealing it. He stated that in Ohio a gentleman contacted his office. This Ohioan was terrified in he was not Tea Party, but just had attended a training seminar and suddenly the IRS was all hell bent on going after him.The source for his name, either came from a federal police mole sent in by Obama, or it came from a GOP operative sent in to spy on the Tea Party and provide names to decapitate it from the top by IRS intimidation.
  Or perhaps as Obama knew, it was the GOP leadership providing Obama's IRS with this information knowing Obama was keen on the destruction of the Tea Party for his 2012 election theft after the thumping they got in 2010.
  That is the story in this that the GOP leadership, House and Senate hate the Tea Party. John Thune of South Dakota is praised as a Conservative, but what the hell has he ever done for the Right?Remember his Toomey bill before the gun grabbers were stopped in the Senate? Yes Thune was engineering a "compromise" of lesser extent than Toomey that was going to be shoved down the right's throats as a "victory", when all it was was more erosion of your rights.
  Top IRS official: 'Mistakes were made'...
  Knew of tea party targeting for year, didn't reveal...
  REUTERS: KNEW IN 2011...
  DC headquarters targeted conservatives...
  55 questions sent to Tea Party group; Demand donor lists, volunteers' names...
  REPORT: IRS EMPLOYEES DONATED TWICE AS MUCH TO OBAMA IN 2012...
  McConnell: 'Just The Beginning'...
  Pelosi: 'Opportunity' To Scrutinize 501(c)(4)s, 'Overturn Citizens United'...
  IRS chief to be given 'President's Medallion'...
  So do not be suckered by this my children as the evidence is in. Obama is not going to release a new scandal just to take away from Benghazi as Jarrett, Axelrod and Ploufffe are too bright for that one dimensional scheme.No this was Obama releasing a scandal WHICH Obama has designed to blow up on the GOP for 2014.
  What do you think will happen to the GOP when the reality sinks in to the base, that they have all been targeted by the Rovians for political destruction in using the state police apparatus to shut them up? Looks pretty good for the democrats who allow Obama to take the heat, as he is not going anywhere, and allow Boehner to stall the investigation, all so it erupts in pointing the finger to who was involved in this too, to the entire GOP leadership which hates the Tea Party.
  Yoder and his aids are the rule in the GOP, and they are promoted by Boehner and Cantor who hate the Tea Party, and they only hire those people who hate the Tea Party and think Obama is someone they can all get along with.
  Sure Boehner is doing a dither vote on 'repealing Obamacare', but that will not pass the Senate and Obama will never sign it, so it is more Ball Baby Boehner smoke and mirrors behind the dusky green door.
  That is the story in this, Obama set a backfire and the GOP leadership is caught in it, because they have been employing the same jihad against the right as Obama has against the right and the left.
  Obama and Boehner, with their consorts have been taking out all the competition in Americans. You contact any of your "representatives" and you get the "concern" and you get put onto lists.......lists of donors, lists of cranks, lists to be passed on.The GOP has been working in consort with the Obama regime. That is what this scandal is all about, and why Obama did what he did. This is crafted to deflect from ANALGATE and by 2014 to become an inferno against the GOP so the democrats take control of Congress.
  What do you think will happen when this breaks as a story that the GOP was using the police state to target the Tea Party for destruction?
  Want the reality in Thune might not take it up the ass or negotiate on his knees but Boehner and Cantor lead a pack of pervophiles. That is what your tax money is funding in these salaries, a damn lynching of Americans and at night boys bending at the waste.
  Yeah, I know.......we'll get back to you on that.........
  agtG 238
Revealed: The 55 questions the IRS asked one tea party group after more than two years of waiting - including demands for names of all its donors and volunteers | Mail Online
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:13
  Lengthy questionnaire arrived more than two years after the Richmond Tea Party applied for tax-exempt statusIRS demanded 'names of the donors, contributors, and grantors' and insisted: 'Please identify your volunteers'Tax collectors began in 2012 to scrutinize conservative nonprofits more closely than othersDocuments show senior IRS officials in Washington knew of the practice as early as August 2011, but the White House says it learned last monthBy David Martosko In Washington
  PUBLISHED: 16:18 EST, 13 May 2013 | UPDATED: 14:59 EST, 14 May 2013
  The Internal Revenue Service wrote to the Richmond Tea Party last year demanding to know the names of all its financial donors and volunteers, as part of a 55-question inquisition into its application for tax-exempt status, MailOnline has learned.
  The agency wanted to know 'the names of the donors, contributors, and grantors' for every year 'from inception to the present.'
  It also demanded 'the amounts of each of the donations, contributions, and grants and the dates you received them.'
  'How did you use these donations, contributions, and grants?' the IRS asked. 'Provide the details.'
  Scroll down for video
  The Richmond Tea Party received a lengthy list of questions from the IRS, including demands for lists of its donors and volunteers
  And in addition to the names of board members, officers and employees, the nation's taxing authorities insisted on knowing the names of everyone who helped the Richmond Tea Party without compensation.
  'Please identify your volunteers,' the January 9, 2012 letter from the IRS read.
  The agency also required the Virginia conservative group to provide copies of sections of its website that only its members can access.
  The IRS came under fire on Friday when its Office of Inspector General released a draft of an investigative timeline showing that the agency had played political favorites with nonprofit groups seeking tax-exempt status.
  In 2010, according to that investigation, the Cincinnati-based IRS office responsible for vetting tax-exempt applications began targeting groups with 'Tea Party or similar' words in their names '' including words like 'patriots' and '9/12' '' for tighter scrutiny.
  The Richmond Tea Party received this demand along with dozens of others from the IRS, asking for a list of its donors and the amounts they had contributed. The group refused, citing their donors' right to privacy
  The IRS ultimately identified approximately 300 such organizations, many of which were independently organized in 2009 and 2010 under the larger 'tea party' banner. Those groups had a decisive impact in the 2010 midterm congressional elections, and became a thorn in the side of the Democratic party, costing it race after race, especially in the House of Representatives, which shifted to Republican control.
  In the nearly three years since the IRS began looking more closely at conservative nonprofit groups than others, 125 of the 300 target organizations have been approved for tax-exempt status. Another 25 withdrew their applications. The remainder are still waiting.
  The Office of Inspector General's timeline shows that in Washington, senior officials with the IRS were made aware of the practice by at least August 4, 2011. On that date, the chief counsel of the IRS met with the agency's Rulings and Agreements unit 'so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue.'
  But during a press gaggle about Air Force One on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney insisted the White House was unaware of the investigation or its political implications until last month.
  Obama faced questions about the performance of his administration's IRS on Monday. The White House has said it learned of the IRS IG's report on Friday, when a copy of an investigative timeline was leaked to reporters
  The Richmond Tea Party has organized conservatives in Virginia's capital region for more than three years, but refused to share its donor and volunteer lists with the IRS as a condition of winning tax-exempt status
  White House: IRS will be held responsible
  'My understanding,' Carney told reporters while en route to New York City for the president's appearance at political fundraising events, 'is that the White House Counsel's Office was alerted in the week of April 22nd of this year, only about the fact that the IG was finishing a review about matters involving the office in Cincinnati. But that's all they were informed as a normal sort of heads-up.'
  'And we have never '' we don't have access to, nor should we, the IG's report or any draft versions of it.'
  Asked whether heads would roll at the IRS if the IG's report concludes that there was substantial wrongdoing, Carney was cautious.
  'I think you're getting ahead of it,' he told a reporter, according to a transcript released by the White House. 'I think you heard from the President on this today and how he feels about it. But the "if" is very important, so we're not going to start predicting outcomes if we don't know what the conclusions of the IG report are.'
  The Washington Post reported on Friday that the IRS has apologized for its practices, which sought to scrutinize conservative nonprofit groups 'that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution.'
  In early 2012 a group of tea party organizations refused the IRS's requests for what they considered overreaching information about their operations, instead asking the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee to investigate.
  That committee wrote in June 2012 to the IRS inspector general, asking for 'periodic updates' on its investigation.
  Sen. Marco Rubio demanded the firing of the acting IRS commissioner on Monday in response to findings of the IRS's Office of Inspector General
  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa has vowed that the IRS controversy won't go away without a complete investigation
  California Republican Rep. Darrel Issa, who chairs the committee, has promised it will 'aggressively follow up' on the IG's findings. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said in a statement Friday that the IRS 'cannot target or intimidate any individual or organization based on their political beliefs.'
  'The House will investigate this matter,' Cantor promised.
  Add appearing on the Fox News Channel on Sunday, Michigan Republican Rep. Mike Rogers said the IRS had 'agents who were engaged in intimidation of political groups.'
  'I don't care if you're a conservative, a liberal, a Democrat or a Republican,' he said. 'This should send a chill up your spine. It needs to have a full investigation.'
  President Obama echoed that sentiment during a press conference on Monday, sayign any IRS personnel who played political favorites 'have to be held fully accountable. ... And you should feel that way regardless of party. I don't care whether you're a Democrat, independent or a Republican.'
  'At some point, there are going to be Republican administrations. At some point, there are going to be Democratic ones. Either way,' the president said, 'you don't want the IRS ever being perceived to be biased and anything less than neutral in terms of how they operate.'
  Tea party favorite Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook that the 'IRS revelation is another step in the unraveling of the Obama administration's self-proclaimed hope and change."'
  Tea party groups were instrumental in the tide-turning elections of 2010, when their fervor swept new conservatives to governors' mansions, statehouses and Congress
  Richmond Tea Party Executive Director Larry Nordvig did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in 2012 his organization lashed out at the IRS for making 'unreasonable documentation requests.'
  'This illustrates everything the American people find unacceptable from their government,' the group said in a press release. 'A simple request for tax-exempt status should not take years to complete, involve hundreds of pages of documentation, require hundreds of volunteer hours, and request private information we should never have to disclose.'
  'This grants the Federal Government the dangerous power to selectively stymie those voices with which they disagree, bogging them down in endless paperwork and compliance costs so that they are unable to spend time serving the principles they founded their organization to advance.'
  The Virginia organization said it applied for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status on December 28, 2009 and waited nearly 10 months for a response, which consisted of 17 questions and a two-week deadline. That demand was made on the opening day of the Virginia Tea Party Convention, which the Richmond Tea Party organized in large part.
  'We fully complied,' the group wrote, 'providing over 500 pages of documentation. We received no response for over a year. Eventually the IRS sent a letter dated January 9, 2012, thanking us for our "complete and thorough responses" from the first request,' but then asking 55 more questions in 12 parts '' 'including the totally inappropriate request for a full list of our donors and volunteers. We were given the same two-week timeframe for completion.'
  IRS official Lois Lerner (L) leads the team tasked with evaluating tax-exempt organizations. She has not responded to requests for comment. Nonprofit attorney Alan Dye (R) said his tea party clients are 'pissed off'
  Alan P. Dye, a nonprofit attorney with the Washington, D.C. firm of Webster, Chamberlain & Bean, told MailOnline that he represents six tea party groups that have been waiting for periods of up to 30 months for the IRS to issue rulings.
  'They're very pissed off,' he said, 'and they have every right to be pissed off.'
  He advises his clients to refuse to answer invasive questions about their donors and volunteers, he said, since information they provide would be made available to the public.
  'Everything these groups tell the IRS is open to public inspection once their exempt status is granted,' Dye explained.
  Florida Sen. Marco Rubio demanded the ouster of acting IRS commissioner Steven T. Miller on Monday. President Obama called the IRS's alleged conduct 'outrageous,' and said the bureaucrats responsible would be 'held accountable.'
Top IRS official didn't reveal tea party targeting - Yahoo! News
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:04
  WASHINGTON (AP) '-- The IRS acting chief acknowledged Tuesday that the agency demonstrated "a lack of sensitivity" in its screenings of political groups seeking tax-exempt status, but he said those mistakes won't be repeated.
  In his first public comment on the case, Steven Miller said there was "a shortcut taken in our processes" for determining which groups needed special screening.
  Miller has emerged as a key figure in the controversy over the IRS' singling out of conservative groups for extra scrutiny. President Barack Obama said Monday that if the agency intentionally targeted such groups, "that's outrageous and there's no place for it."
  In an opinion piece in Tuesday's editions of USA Today, Miller said conceded that the agency demonstrated "a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made." He said screening of advocacy groups is "factually complex, and it's challenging to separate out political issues from those involving education or social welfare."
  "The mistakes we made were due to the absence of a sufficient process for working the increase in cases and a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made," Miller wrote.
  Miller said the agency has implemented new procedures that will "ensure the mistakes won't be repeated."
  On Monday, the IRS said Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny. Congress, though, was not told tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted, even after Miller had been briefed on the matter.
  At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny '-- despite being asked about it.
  Miller's op-ed, however, did not address why he did not inform Congress after he was briefed.
  At the congressional hearing, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, told Miller that some politically active tax-exempt groups in his district had complained about being harassed. Marchant did not explicitly ask if tea party groups were being targeted. But he did ask how applications were handled.
  Miller responded, "We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality. We continue to work those cases," according to a transcript on the committee's website.
  Earlier, Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., had raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed. Boustany specifically mentioned tea party groups in his inquiry.
  But in a June 15, 2012, letter to Boustany, Miller said that when the IRS saw an increase in applications from groups that were involved in political activity, the agency "took steps to coordinate the handling of the case to ensure consistency."
  He added that agents worked with tax law experts "to develop approaches and materials that could be helpful to the agents working the cases."
  Miller did not mention that in 2011, those materials included a list of words to watch for, such as "tea party" and "patriot." He also didn't disclose that in January 2012, the criteria for additional screening was updated to include references to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
  The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by GOP Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, is holding a hearing on the issue Friday and Miller is scheduled to testify.
  The Senate Finance Committee announced Monday that it will join a growing list of congressional committees investigating the matter.
  The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors.
  The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware.
  When members of Congress repeatedly raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed last year, a deputy IRS commissioner took the lead in assuring lawmakers that the additional scrutiny was a legitimate part of the screening process.
  That deputy commissioner was Miller, who is now the acting head of the agency.
  Camp and other members of the Ways and Means Committee sent at least four inquiries to the IRS, starting in June 2011. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent three inquiries. And Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House oversight committee, sent at least one.
  "This was a targeting of the president's political enemies, effectively, and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn't discovered until afterwards," Issa said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." The fact is this is the kind of investigation that has to be open and transparent to the American people."
  None of the agency's responses to Congress acknowledged that conservative groups had ever been targeted, including a response to Hatch dated Sept. 11, 2012 '-- four months after Miller had been briefed.
  In several letters to members of Congress, Miller went into painstaking detail about how applications for tax-exempt status were screened. But he never mentioned that conservative groups were being targeted, even though people working under him knew as early as June 2011 that tea party groups were being targeted, according to an upcoming report by the agency's inspector general.
  The IRS issued a statement Monday saying that Miller had been briefed on May 3, 2012 "that some specific applications were improperly identified by name and sent to the (exempt organizations) centralized processing unit for further review." That was the unit in Cincinnati that handled the tea party applications.
  Miller became acting commissioner in November, after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.
  On June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to a draft of the report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
  At the meeting, Lerner was told that groups with "Tea Party," ''Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups "immediately."
  However, when Lerner responded to inquiries from the House oversight committee, she didn't mention the fact that tea party groups had ever been targeted. Her responses included 45-page letters in May 2012 to Issa and to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs a subcommittee.
  Lerner also met twice with staff from the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee to discuss the issue, in March and in May 2012, according to a timeline constructed by committee staff. She didn't mention at either meeting that conservative groups had been targeted, according to the timeline.
  On Monday, President Barack Obama said he first learned about the issue from news reports on Friday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the White House counsel's office was alerted the week of April 22 that the inspector general was finishing a report concerning the IRS office in Cincinnati. But, he said, the counsel's office did not get the report and the president did not learn the focus until Friday.
  "If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it," Obama said Monday at a press conference.
  __
  Associated Press writers Jim Abrams and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.
  ___
  Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap
VIDEO-IRS head Steven Miller: 'Mistakes were made' - Lauren French - POLITICO.com
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 15:03
  The IRS says Miller learned of the targeting program in May 2012. | John Shinkle/POLITICO
  CloseSteven Miller is breaking his silence about the scandal that's engulfing the Internal Revenue Service.
  Miller, the acting IRS commissioner, is quickly emerging as the focus of fury in Washington after an agency official acknowledged last week that conservative groups seeking nonprofit status were targeted for extra screening if their applications included words such as ''tea party'' or ''patriot.''
  Continue ReadingObama: 'Concerned' over 'outrageous' IRS news
  In an op-ed published Tuesday in USA Today, he said the agency was simply trying to manage the explosive growth in applications for 501(c)(4) status that started pouring in to the IRS in 2010.
  "The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that we should have done a better job of handling the influx of applications by advocacy groups," Miller wrote.
  He denied that politics played a role in the targeting practice.
  ''Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation,'' he wrote. ''We are '-- and will continue to be '-- dedicated to reviewing all applications for tax-exempt status in an impartial manner.''
  (PHOTOS: 10 slams on the IRS)
  Miller blamed the mistakes on a "shortcut" the agency used to centralize the thousands of applications for tax-exempt status the agency received in the run-up to the 2012 election.
  "There was a shortcut taken in our processes to determine which groups needed additional review,'' he wrote. ''The mistakes we made were due to the absence of a sufficient process for working the increase in cases and a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made.''
  He added that the system was fixed last year.
  "These are factually complex and sensitive cases, and it's challenging to separate out political issues from those involving education or social welfare,'' he wrote. ''It's not always a clear area, and there are no bright-line tests for what constitutes political intervention. Yet, the IRS is tasked with monitoring and enforcing this difficult area.''
  (Also on POLITICO: IRS: White House stuck on response)
  The comments aren't likely to blunt the flood of criticism that's being directed at the IRS and Miller himself.
  The IRS told POLITICO yesterday that Miller, then a deputy commissioner, learned of the targeting program in May 2012. He failed to mention it to lawmakers in at least two instances when directly asked about the agency's oversight of 501(c)(4) groups.
  ''It is almost inconceivable to imagine that top officials at the IRS knew conservative groups were being targeted but chose to willfully mislead the committee's investigation into this practice,'' House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said Monday. ''The blatant disregard for which the agency has treated Congress and the American taxpayer raises serious concerns about leadership at the IRS.''
  (Also on POLITICO: IRS adds to campaign finance free-for-all)
  Miller will appear before Camp's panel on Friday.
  Already Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have called on Miller to resign. Senior congressional aides told POLITICO more calls could be on their way.
  This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 9:12 a.m. on May 14, 2013.
1 in 12 Canadian adults in hospital have MRSA or another superbug, study finds
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 14:38
  TORONTO - On any given day, about one in 12 adults in hospitals across Canada are either colonized or infected with a superbug, the first national survey to determine the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms has found.
  The survey of 176 acute-care hospitals looked at rates of infection or colonization in patients from three bacterial microbes that have become immune to the killing effects of most or all antibiotics '-- MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococci) and Clostridium difficile.
  "And that by itself is a substantial burden of disease," said principal researcher Dr. Andrew Simor, head of infectious diseases at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
  "About one in 12 adults ... are going to have one of these three antibiotic-resistant organisms, and clearly the rate would be even higher if you started to add on other resistant organisms that we were not able to measure," Simor added.
  Patients can carry, or be colonized by, a microbe like MRSA, but have no signs of active disease, while those who are infected are sick and have symptoms. (All patients with C. diff in the study were infected and had diarrhea and other symptoms.)
  However, those who carry a bug can go on to become infected. For example, from one-quarter to one-third of patients colonized with MRSA become infected with the superbug, which can attack the skin and soft tissue, cause a form of pneumonia or invade the bloodstream. About 30 to 60 per cent of MRSA pneumonia patients and 20 to 40 per cent of those with MRSA bloodstream infections die.
  Carriers can also spread a superbug to other patients, especially the elderly and those with weakened immune systems due to other illnesses and whose hospital beds are in close proximity.
  In Canada, most patients with VRE are colonized rather than infected, said Simor, noting that isn't the case in the United States, where the pathogen causes a "huge burden of disease."
  Findings from the November 2010 survey, published Monday in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, provide a snapshot of superbug prevalence in Canada, but also suggest which measures seem to help reduce their spread.
  "Number 1, there's no doubt that antibiotic use drives the development of antibiotic resistance," said Simor, explaining that overuse of antibiotics can wipe out susceptible bacterial strains, allowing resistant strains to proliferate.
  "So one factor is how antibiotics are used, both in the community and in hospital settings, and also in the agricultural and veterinary sections as well. So it's the cumulative antibiotic utilization that is still at substantially high levels that drives resistance."
  In hospitals, the internal mechanisms that make superbugs drug-resistant can be transmitted between different bacteria as well as from patient to patient, he said.
  There are two main strategies to prevent people getting infected or colonized with microbes like MRSA: eliminating inappropriate use of antibiotics '-- which kill bacteria but have no effect on viruses such as those that cause colds '-- and ensuring high standards of infection control in hospitals.
  Those measures include keeping patients found to be carrying or infected with a superbug in a private room along with strict enforcement of environmental cleaning policies, both of which are designed to prevent the diseases spreading to other patients and hospital staff.
  Researchers found lower prevalence rates of superbug infection and colonization in hospitals where potentially infectious patients were cared for in isolation and where there were strong policies for cleaning and disinfecting the hospital environment.
  Higher rates were found in health-care institutions that did not routinely isolate infectious patients or had less stringent cleaning policies.
  However, Simor stressed that the study showed only an "association" between the existence of those policies and lower superbug rates '-- and doesn't prove cause and effect.
  "I can't say that those hospitals have lower rates because of these policies," he said. "But it is clear that the association exists and it deserves further study to confirm whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship.
  "In the meantime, it certainly provides additional evidence that these are appropriate infection control policies for hospitals to be following."
  The study also looked at regional variations across country '-- hospitals in all 10 provinces and the Northwest Territories took part '-- and found one notable difference: VRE rates were significantly lower in Eastern Canada than elsewhere in the country.
  The prevalence of MRSA and C. diff cases did not vary much by province or region, although C. difficile rates were lowest in Eastern hospitals.
  "We have to determine what can we learn from that because I don't have an answer right now as to why there is that difference," Simor said of the VRE rates in particular. "But the difference exists and it's real."
  Compared with other countries, Canada has a lower prevalence of cases than the U.S., but the rates exceed those in such countries as Sweden and Denmark.
  "I think that suggests that we have a certain measure of success because we're not as bad off as the United States, for example, but that there's still an opportunity for us to do an even better job, and we still have a way to go," he said.
  The study involved only acute-care hospitals with at least 50 beds and did not include pediatric, psychiatric or long-term care facilities.
  Simor said the survey provides a baseline of prevalence rates that will allow researchers to monitor both national and regional trends in subsequent studies and help tease out which infection control measures are having the most impact.
VIDEO-BBC News - Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy
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A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to raise awareness of, and to educate breast cancer patients anticipating surgery, especially patients who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups, regarding the availability and coverage of breast re
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 12:17
  GovTrack's Bill SummaryWe don't have a summary available yet.
  Library of Congress SummaryThe summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
  No summary available.
  House Republican Conference SummaryThe summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
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  House Democratic Caucus SummaryThe House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
  So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference's summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That's because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
  We'll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
New Yorkers Don't Know Much, But They Hate Fox News
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Tue, 14 May 2013 12:12
  Townhall's Alicia Powe went out to the streets of liberal New York City to find out how politically engaged the average New Yorker is. It appears that those who lazily equate MSNBC and Fox News probably don't watch either network.
  (h/t Townhall.com)
VIDEO-Model plane raises security concerns at plant | WTNH.com Connecticut
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 12:04
  Updated: Monday, 13 May 2013, 12:25 PM EDTPublished : Monday, 13 May 2013, 11:41 AM EDT
  BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) -- The FBI responded to Bridgeport Sunday after a remote-controlled airplane crashed near a Bridgeport power plant.
  Police said the crash of the hobbyist's plane initially raised security concerns.
  However, police said the man's account checked out and he was released with a warning not to fly any model aircraft near the power plant in the future.
  According to police, security concerns were raised Sunday when the man, a University of Bridgeport alumnus and city resident, approached the main security gate at the PSEG plant and said that he had been flying his remote-controlled plane, equipped with a camera, and lost control of it near the plant.
  The man said he thought it might have crashed on PSEG property and asked if he could look for it. Police said the man went on to state that he had been filming his flight all over Seaside Park and even some footage of the plant. The security guard then contacted police over security concerns of filming the plant.
  The man was interviewed by police and FBI, and allowed officers to review the video footage, which showed approximately 10 minutes of Aeriel views of Seaside Park and two minutes of footage of the plant and the surrounding area.
  The man was released with a stern warning not to fly model planes near the power plant again.
  The airplane was not recovered.
Russia says CIA agent caught trying to recruit spy | Reuters
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 14 May 2013 11:49
  A woman walks on a street, as the headquarters (L) of the Federal Security Service is seen in the background, in central Moscow, May 14, 2013.
  Credit: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
  By Steve Gutterman
  MOSCOW | Tue May 14, 2013 3:46pm BST
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it had caught an American red-handed as he tried to recruit a Russian intelligence officer to work for the CIA, a throwback to the Cold War era that risks upsetting efforts to improve relations.
  The announcement came at an awkward time, just days after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during which Washington and Moscow agreed to try to bring the warring sides in Syria together for an international peace conference.
  The Federal Security Service said Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, had been detained overnight carrying "special technical equipment", a disguise, a large sum of money and instructions for recruiting his target.
  The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul over the case and a Russian television station published photographs which it said showed Fogle being detained, apparently wearing a blond wig.
  A successor of the Soviet-era KGB, the FSB said Fogle worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and that he had been handed over to embassy officials at some point after his detention.
  Diplomats accused of espionage are usually expelled or withdrawn.
  "On the night of May 13-14, a staff employee of the CIA, Ryan Christopher Fogle ... was detained by counter-espionage organs of the Russian FSB while attempting to recruit an employee of one of the Russian special services," the FSB said.
  "Recently American intelligence has made multiple attempts to recruit employees of Russian law enforcement organs and special agencies, which have been detected and monitored by Russian FSB counterintelligence," it said in a statement.
  The embassy declined comment. McFaul, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, was holding a live question-and-answer session on Twitter as news of the detention was announced, but refused to take questions on the matter.
  Russia Today television published photographs on its website which it said showed Fogle being detained. In one photograph, a man lies face-down on the ground with his arms held behind his back by another man, and apparently wearing a blond wig.
  Another image showed two wigs, apparently found on him, as well as three pairs of glasses, a torch, a mobile phone and a compass. Aldo displayed was a wad of 500-euro (425.36 pounds) notes and an envelope addressed to a "dear friend".
  The United States and Russia are still involved in espionage, more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and the FSB said such incidents were not unusual.
  The last major espionage scandal occurred in 2010, when 10 Russian agents including Anna Chapman were arrested in the United States and later deported in exchange for four Russians imprisoned on charges of spying for the West.
  U.S.-Russian relations turned colder after former KGB spy Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency a year ago.
  The United States and Russia are also trying to improve counterterrorism cooperation following the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15. FBI chief Robert Mueller visited Moscow for talks last week.
  (Writing by Steve Gutterman and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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VIDEO-gordon-brown-save-the-world.flv - YouTube
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 11:45
Russia Captures CIA Agent Plotting To Kill Obama
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  RussiaCaptures CIA Agent Plotting To Kill Obama
  By:Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers
  The Federal Security Service (FSB) is reporting today it has captured and arrested an as yet unidentified agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [photos 1-4 left] (since identified as Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow) for his clandestine efforts to secure Russian intelligence assets in a plot that could very well be a plan to assassinate President Barack Obama.
  Though not confirmed in this report, the Jerusalem Post News Service is reporting that this CIA agent was, also, an employee at the US Embassy in Moscow, which, however, the Americans refused to either confirm or deny.
  According to this FSB report, Russian counter intelligence agents began tracking this CIA agent when he first appeared in Moscow in mid April 2011, and even more extensively after he traveled to Benghazi Libya the day following the 11 September 2012 attack on the American consulate which killed the American Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and 3 members of his security detail.
  From Libya, this report continues, this CIA agent next appeared in Jordon in late September, 2012, where he was a part of the American intelligence team tasked with supplying Syrian rebels with weapons under a ''Secret Order'' signed by Obama earlier in the year.
  FSB intelligence analysts contributing to this report state that this CIA agents ''mission,'' both in Libya and Jordon, was to ''find and utilize'' various arms depots to be used by the al-Qaeda rebel factions seeking to overthrow the Syrian government.
  In early January, 2013, this report says, this CIA agent traveled from Jordon to Kazakhstan where he met with two Ukrainian arms dealers, both of whom were subsequently detained by Russian foreign military intelligence main directorate (GRU) assets and ''questioned extensively.''
  From the information gained by the GRU from these Ukrainian arms dealers, this report continues, ''grave concerns'' were noted about this CIA agents true motivations as he was seeking to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological offensive weapons manufactured by the former Soviet Union.
  As these ''grave concerns'' mounted over what exactly this CIA agent was doing, this FSB report says, a counterintelligence operation involving both the FSB and GRU was undertaken in both the Middle East and Russia.
  Posing as members of the Bratva (brotherhood) faction of the Russian mafia, this FSB report says, GRU counterintelligence agents first contacted this CIA agent in Jordan during the latter part of April, 2013, whereupon he was lured back to Moscow with the ''promise'' that the weapons he sought could be obtained.
  Over the past fortnight, this report says, both FSB and GRU counterintelligence agents acquired a substantial amount of information as to what the true goal of this CIA agents mission actually was, and which, the FSB says, was a claim by this CIA agent that part of the weapons being sought were meant to ''neutralize Obama.''
  As to exactly what this CIA agent meant by ''neutralizing'' Obama, this report says, could very well mean a false-flag type attack by Syrian rebels using Soviet nuclear, chemical and/or biological weapons to be blamed on the Assad regime forcing Obama to use American forces in this civil war, or, could also mean a plot is in place to assassinate the American President.
  Not knowing what the true intentions of this CIA agent were, or those backing him, this FSB report says, a meeting between him and the GRU counterintelligence agents posing as Bratva members was arranged to take place in Moscow's Izmailovsky Park last evening where an ''exchange'' of a ''bio-warfare agent'' for about $1 million US Dollars had been arranged.
  Upon the CIA agent exchanging the $1 million in cash (carried in a green military-type knapsack) for the alleged bio-warfare agent, this report concludes, he was ''swiftly apprehended'' by FSB and GRU agents [photo top left] and then brought before a Constitutional Court in Moscow where charges of espionage were read against him [photo bottom left] with further charges to be added at a latter date.
  Though not mentioned in this report, it is important to note that past captures of US spies for committing crimes in Russia are nearly always handled by the Foreign Ministry which seeks to exchange top level CIA agents for Russian ones currently in American custody. [Subsequent reports state that this CIA agent has been returned to American custody.]
  May 15, 2012 (C) EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.
  [Ed. Note: Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagrees with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their 'agents' against us has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit and which is addressed in the report ''Who Is Sorcha Faal?''.]
  Apocalypse Slams Into America, Few Notice
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'Russia detains US embassy worker for spy recruitment' | JPost | Israel News
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 11:39
  MOSCOW - Russia has detained an American citizen accused of trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer to work for the CIA, Russia's RIA news agency said on Tuesday.It said the man was an employee at the US embassy in Moscow but also worked for the United States Central Intelligence Agency. The embassy declined immediate comment.
VIDEO-Burn your Simpsons stuff, the profits are used to takeover and destroy the US - YouTube
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 11:38
How the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year was faked with Photoshop | ExtremeTech
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 14 May 2013 11:27
  It turns out that the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year '-- the largest and most prestigious press photography award '-- was, in actual fact, a fake. The World Press Photo association hasn't yet stripped the photographer, Paul Hansen, of the title, but presumably it's just a matter of time. Rather than discussing the politics of photo manipulation, though '-- is it faked, or is it merely enhanced? '-- we're going to look at how Hansen managed to trick a panel of experienced judges with his shooping skillz, and how a seasoned computer scientist spotted the fraudulent forgery from a mile off.
  The photo, dubbed Gaza Burial, was purportedly captured on November 20, 2012 by Paul Hansen. Hansen was in Gaza City when Israeli forces retaliated in response to Palestinian rocket fire. The photo shows two of the casualties of the Israeli attack, carried to their funeral by their uncles. Now, the event itself isn't a fake '-- there are lots of other photos online that show the children being carried through the streets of Gaza '-- but the photo itself is almost certainly a composite of three different photos, with various regions spliced together from each of the images, and then further manipulation to illuminate the mourners' faces.
  This revelation comes from Neal Krawetz, a forensic image analyst. There were two main stages to the analysis: First an interrogation of the JPEG's XMP block, which details the file's Photoshop save history, and then pixel-level error level analysis (ELA). To begin with, the XMP data shows that the original, base image was converted from Raw format and opened in Photoshop on November 20, 2012 (the same date that it was taken). Then, on January 4, 2013, the XMP block shows that a second Raw image was opened and added to the original. An hour later, a third image was spliced in. Finally, 30 minutes later the photo chimera was actually saved to disk. The January 4 date is interesting because it shows that the final photo was only edited a couple of weeks before the January 17 submission deadline, not soon after original photo was taken in Gaza '-- in other words, it was edited specifically for the contest.
  2013 World Press Photo of the Year: Gaza Burial, by Paul Hansen, subjected to ELA analysis by Neal Krawetz
  The next step is error level analysis. ELA basically compares the error level of pixels that have been modified by the JPEG compression algorithm (low amounts of change), and pixels that have been modified with photo manipulation (higher change). In the image above, which has been subjected to ELA, we see clear markers that are consistent with the photo's spliced-and-manipulated history. Regions that have only been subjected to normal JPEG compression should have faint red/blue patches, while white patches show areas that have been subject to other forces. The bright white edges are caused by Photoshop's sharpening algorithm '-- but the other bright white regions are likely due to extensive manipulation. Take a look at the man on the far left, carrying the child's feet '-- his magically, digitally illuminated face is clearly shown on the ELA map. In fact, almost every face in the picture has been brightened, as have the children's shrouds.
  The final nail in the coffin is good ol' shadow analysis. At the time the photo was taken '-- 10:40am, in the winter '-- the sun should be fairly low in the sky. The shadows on the left wall are consistent with a sun location (shown below) that should cast deep, dark shadows on the mourners' right sides '-- but, as you can see, those magical light rays seem to be at work again.
  Basically, Hansen took a series of photos '-- and then later, realizing that his most dramatically situated photo was too dark and shadowy, decided to splice a bunch of images together and apply a liberal amount of dodging (brightening) to the shadowy regions. For what it's worth, Hansen claims that the light in the alley was natural '-- and to be fair, sometimes magical lighting does occur. I think most of you will agree, though, that the photo simply feels fake '-- there's just something about the lighting that sets off a warning alarm in your brain. As for why World Press Photo didn't forensically analyze the photo using freely available, advanced, accurate analysis tools such as FourMatch or FotoForensics'... who knows.
  Oh, I forgot to mention the best bit: Hansen was meant to provide the Raw file for his winning photo, as proof that he didn't significantly modify the final image '-- but so far, he hasn't.
  When is an image fake, and when is it merely enhanced?The bigger discussion, of course, is whether Gaza Burial is actually fake '-- or just enhanced to bring out important details. This is a question that has plagued photography since its inception. Should a photo, especially a press photo, be purely objective? Most people think the answer is an obvious ''yes,'' but it's not quite that simple. What if a photo is perfect, except that it's taken at an odd angle '-- can you digitally rotate it? What about cropping? What if there's dust on the lens/sensor/film '-- can you digitally remove it?
  Perhaps most importantly, though, cameras simply don't capture the same gamut of color or dynamic range as human eyes '-- a photo never looks the same as the original image perceived by your brain. Is it okay for a photographer to modify a picture so that it looks exactly how he remembers the scene?
  Now read: The eyes have it: Seeing ultraviolet, exploring color
  Updated @ 7:09am 5/14: The language about the final image being a composite of three separate images has been softened slightly.
  Update @ 9:50am 5/14: The Huffington Post has learned that Paul Hansen is working with the WPP and independent imaging experts to determine the photograph's level of manipulation. Hansen has said a single file was used, though it was ''developed over itself.'' It's being determined whether or not what he did was in violation of the WPP's rules.
Some of the Juiciest Bits of 'Rodham,' The Hillary Clinton Movie Biopic: Sex, Scandal, More - The Daily Beast
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 11:25
  The most powerful woman in the world is about to get the Hollywood treatment.
  Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator, and secretary of state'--who is maybe running for president in 2016'--is the subject of a new feature film about her youth. Rodham focuses on 1974, when the 26-year-old was a determined'--and relatively humorless'--lawyer working as a member of the House impeachment inquiry staff in Washington, D.C. When she wasn't helping impeach Nixon, Rodham was struggling to maintain a long-distance relationship with a suave Arkansas law professor by the name of Bill Clinton, who was himself busy running for the House of Representatives in his home state.
  Illustration by The Daily Beast
  Rodham was written by Young Il Kim, a relatively unknown South Korean. Though casting and filming haven't begun, the movie is set to be produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill Entertainment (The Twilight Saga) and directed by James Ponsoldt, whose coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now was a standout at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The screenplay for Rodham was a hot commodity in Hollywood, earning a place on the 2012 Black List'--an annual compendium of the best unproduced screenplays floating around Tinseltown. And according to The Wrap, ''industry executives who have read the script claim it offers a potentially award-worthy role for one lucky ingenue.'' Kim, meanwhile, has received the Sundance Institute's Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant to develop his next project'--an original, untitled script based on the life of Stephen Hawking.
  The Daily Beast has obtained a copy of what may or may not be the final screenplay to Rodham. Here are the juiciest bits, from a steamy love scene between Hillary and Bill to her presidential aspirations.
  The screenplay's opening description of Yale law student Hillary Rodham is less than flattering, to say the least. Early in the script, she's seen tutoring Robert Reich at the Yale Law School library while Joe Lieberman campaigns for his run for the Connecticut state Senate. She is described as a blonde with an ''awful haircut'' whose face is obscured by a ''hideous pair of Coke-bottle glasses'' and who is, in totality, ''the valedictorian of the 'look-like-shit school of feminism.''' Bill Clinton, meanwhile, is described as a ''Viking'' with a ''full mane'' and ''six-inch beard.''
  Hillary is now a 26-year-old, elegantly dressed woman working for the Children's Defense Fund, while Bill is an assistant professor of law at the University of Arkansas. While flirting with a giggling waitress, Bill mentions how the watermelons of Hope, Arkansas, are the ''firmest, juiciest melons'' he's ever seen (a friend of Bill's, Terry Kirkpatrick, later tells Hillary that this is his go-to pickup line). Bill casually proposes to Hillary as the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew plays in the background. Hillary questions why a woman'--in this case, Pat Nixon'--can't be president. This is the first of many references by various characters to Hillary's dream of being president.
  Hillary and Bill go back to her apartment and ''devour each other,'' as Bill presses Hillary against the wall, tears off her blouse, and ''buries his head into her cleavage.'' Their tryst, however, is broken up several times by messages playing from the answering machine and never comes to fruition. Later on, Hillary complains about her sex life with Bill to two friends, claiming Bill is just using her for her D.C. apartment. When asked if the two have sex, she replies, ''It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'sex' means.''
  The majority of the screenplay is dedicated to Hillary's time as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington advising the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal. In 1974 Hillary was one of 43 lawyers on the staff, and she flirts with another member, Republican William Weld, who she thinks resembles Ryan O'Neal in Love Story. Her friends think Weld is a much better fit for her than Bill Clinton is. Reporter Bob Woodward, meanwhile, refers to Hillary as ''the Jill Wine Volner of the impeachment inquiry committee,'' much to her chagrin. Because of this comment, John Doar, who heads the committee, suggests that Hillary ditch her skirts for pants. ''From this day forward, she will always wear pantsuits,'' says the script.
  Hillary is on a hotel rooftop having a drink with William Weld, who has just surprised her on her birthday with a vinyl record of the greatest hits from the Watergate tapes. They're listening to the tapes on the rooftop of the Congressional Hotel and ''draw closer for that inevitable kiss'' when the moment is broken up by Terry Kirkpatrick, who tells Hillary she has a call from Bill Clinton'--whom she hasn't been close to in quite some time'--wishing her happy birthday. The flirtation with Weld is seemingly over, and Bill plays Hillary both ''Happy Birthday'' and ''Hail to the Chief'' on the saxophone. This, combined with help advising her on the impeachment-committee work, apparently wins her back.
  Hillary and the impeachment-inquiry staff don't have enough evidence to impeach Nixon, but Bill gives Hillary some advice, telling her to subpoena the recordings from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Hillary is so elated, she tells Bill, ''I fuckin' love you. I mean that. I love you, and I want to fuck you.'' (In the script, Hillary often says ''motherfuckin','' much to Bill's delight.)
  Bill Clinton's mother, Virginia, disapproves of Hillary. She believes a woman needs to know her way around the kitchen, but Hillary, according to Bill, doesn't know how to cook. Later she says that Hillary is ''just a phase'' for Bill, before pressing her to wear something prettier for her boy. Hillary ultimately is pressured into changing into a tight-fitting blue prom dress. Later, Bill Clinton's half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., 18, asks a group of people, ''Who do you think fucked more women? Bill or Hillary?'' to laughs from a crowd of Bill's friends. Roger is depicted as a stoner who smokes marijuana out of a bong.
  It's still 1974, and Hillary is down in Arkansas helping Bill on campaign running for the House of Representatives against Republican incumbent John Paul Hammerschmidt. Bill's campaign staffers, including campaign head Paul Fray, openly mock Hillary and are tired of her presence, which they feel is patronizing to them, since she's not only from D.C., but also provided a heavy edit to one of Bill's campaign speeches that irked staffers. Hillary bursts into Bill's office to complain of her treatment just as a 20-year-old giggling coed comes out. Bill explains that she's a former student of his and the president of the Arkansas College Democrats. It's one of many references to Bill's popularity with the ladies. Hillary eventually leaves Bill, and Arkansas, out of frustration to return to Washington.
  After Nixon is impeached and Hillary's work with the impeachment-inquiry staff is over, she decides to head to Arkansas to be with Bill. It's still 1974. Her friend Betsey Wright objects, saying, ''You can't both be president!'' But Hillary doesn't care, and she's off to see Bill. Betsey decides to accompany her. It's later revealed before the credits that President Bill Clinton was impeached ''using the procedure developed by Hillary Rodham in 1974.''
  Watch Hillary's career highlights in two minutes.
The Das DereLicht QRP transmitter''A bright idea
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  Tue, 14 May 2013 00:25
  Make Magazine's blog recently featured the Das DereLicht''a QRP transmitter made almost entirely from the electronic components found in within a CFL Bulb. The transmitter, was designed by Michael J. Rainey (AA1TJ) who was inspired while changing a defective CFL bulb in his kitchen.
  For some reason, I began to wonder if it would be possible to build a QRP CW transmitter using the electronic components salvaged from this derelict lamp.
  Indeed, I'm pleased to report that a perfectly serviceable transmitter may be constructed! The only additional components required were the quartz crystal, and four of the five components needed for the output lowpass filter. The resulting transmitter produces up to 1.5 watts on 80m.
  Michael, thanks for creating such a cool, simple, little QRP project. I'm ready to (carefully) tear into an old CFL bulb and give it a try!
  Useful links:
It gets worse: IRS leaked conservative groups' confidential documents to ProPublica
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  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 23:02
  The latest IRS scandal is getting worse '-- and the official watchdog's report hasn't even been released yet. Today we learned that the same IRS office that admitted to targeting Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny also released confidential documents from several conservative groups to ''independent'' (that is, liberal) news organization ProPublica.
  Confidential information from groups like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS made it into the hands of ProPublica late last year, and now ProPublica reports that the IRS' Cincinnati office was the source of the documents. ''No unapproved applications from liberal groups were sent to ProPublica,'' the site reports, while data from nine conservative groups was leaked. The independent investigative journalists at ProPublica went ahead and reported on Crossroads' confidential application, somehow forgetting to investigate just how they came by confidential documents in the first place '-- until now.
Statement by the President on Elections in Pakistan
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  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:59
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 12, 2013
  I congratulate the people of Pakistan on the successful completion of yesterday's parliamentary elections. The United States stands with all Pakistanis in welcoming this historic peaceful and transparent transfer of civilian power, which is a significant milestone in Pakistan's democratic progress. By conducting competitive campaigns, freely exercising your democratic rights, and persevering despite intimidation by violent extremists, you have affirmed a commitment to democratic rule that will be critical to achieving peace and prosperity for all Pakistanis for years to come.
  The United States and Pakistan have a long history of working together on mutual interests, and my Administration looks forward to continuing our cooperation with the Pakistani government that emerges from this election as equal partners in supporting a more stable, secure, and prosperous future for the people of Pakistan.
Chris Matthews Frets: IRS Scandal Will Rile Conservatives Worried About Being Taken to 'Concentration Camps'
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:57
  If the player does not load, please check that you are running the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
  Liberal MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Monday expressed "outrage" over the growing IRS scandal involving targeted audits of conservative groups. At the same time, he fretted that such a controversy would strengthen unhinged conservatives who believe the federal government will soon take them to "concentration camps." Worrying about the President's political future, Matthews lectured Obama: "Find a way to get rid of whoever did this, or your enemies will ride this baby right through 2014." The Hardball anchor sneered that the "right-wing people" "love this story" and "expect the worst. He continued, "They get up in the morning figuring, well, they're about to be picked up by the FEMA workers and taken to concentration camps or the black helicopters of new world order, they're coming to take their guns."
  Video cross-posted at NewsBusters.
Soylent Green! Its People!
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  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:57
  Dr. Mark Post of the University of Maastricht has carefully cultivated the most expensive burger you will probably never eat. Using stem cells and the science of tissue engineering, Post and his team have developed a method for creating an edible product called in-Vitro meat, which they hope to present in burger form at a special event in London next month. Despite the burger's artificial origins, Post claims it "tastes reasonably good."
  The in-Vitro burger was designed as a proof-of-concept to address the problem of a growing global population with a rapidly dwindling food supply. Even so, it's unlikely that lab-grown meat will be as widely available as White Castle anytime soon since creating it is an expensive, time-consuming process -- a single burger costs about $325,000 to produce. Each pricey patty begins its life as cells sourced from the necks of slaughterhouse cows, which are then developed in a growth serum comprised of fetal calf stem cells. After three weeks, those cells divide into a strip of meat, about half an inch long. Combine about 20,000 of those tissue strips and you've got yourself a burger. If that doesn't get your taste buds tingling, we don't know what will.
US government 'seized AP phone records' - Americas
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  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:49
  The US government reportedly secretly seized telephone records of reporters and offices belonging to Associated Press news agency for a two-month period last year, the agency has said.
  The Associated Press on Monday described the action, which targeted its correspondents, as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into news-gathering operations.
  AP Chief Executive Gary Pruitt, in a letter posted on the agency's website, said the AP was informed last Friday that the Justice Department gathered records for more than 20 phone lines assigned to the agency and its reporters.
  "There can be no possible justification for such an over-broad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters," Pruitt said in the letter, which was addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder.
  An AP story on the records seizure said the government would not say why it sought the records.
  But it noted that US officials have previously said the US Attorney's Office was conducting a criminal investigation into information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaeda plot to detonate a bomb on a plane bound for the US.
  In testimony made in February, CIA Director John Brennan noted that the FBI had questioned him about whether he was AP's source, which he denied.
  He called the release of the information to the media about the terror plot an "unauthorised and dangerous disclosure of classified information".
  Freedom of the press
  Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure of records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP switchboards numbers and an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual.
  Five reporters and an editor involved in that story were among those whose phone numbers were obtained by the government, the news agency said.
  The US Attorney's Office, which notified the AP of the seizure, issued a statement on Monday saying it was "careful and deliberative" when dealing with issues around freedom of the press.
  "We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organisations," the office said.
  The seized phone records were for April and May of 2012 and AP bureaus in New York, Hartford and Washington were among those affected, as well as an AP phone at the US House of Representatives press gallery, the AP said.
  The records seized included general AP switchboard numbers and an office shared fax line, according to the AP story on the probe.
  417
A Couple Of Flashbacks To Bill Clinton's Audits | Sweetness & Light
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:42
  First from the archives of the New York Times:
  White House Denies Seeking I.R.S. Audit of Clinton AccuserBy JOHN M. BRODER | September 16, 1997
  The White House denied today that it had any knowledge of an Internal Revenue Service audit of Paula Corbin Jones, who has accused President Clinton of making an improper sexual advance in a Little Rock hotel room six years ago.
  Michael D. McCurry, the President's press secretary, was asked today whether the White House had ordered or approved the audit of Ms. Jones, now a Southern California homemaker. ''None whatsoever,'' he responded sharply.
  ''We may do some dumb things from time to time but we are not certifiably insane,'' Mr. McCurry said. ''The I.R.S. and the I.R.S. solely is the one that makes decisions about the enforcement of tax laws.''
  Susan Carpenter McMillan, Ms. Jones's spokeswoman and adviser, said this weekend that Ms. Jones and her husband, Stephen, were told of the audit by the I.R.S. late last week.
  She said the I.R.S. notice informed the Joneses that their 1995 returns were being audited and demanded detailed data on income and taxes for the years 1994 and 1996 as well.
  And from the archives NewsMax:
  IRS Official Admits Clinton Enemies Were AuditedBy Carl Limbacher | April 23, 2002
  An official with the Internal Revenue Service has admitted that legal opponents of former President Bill Clinton were singled out for tax audits, according to court documents made public this week.
  "What do you expect when you sue the president?" senior IRS official Paul Breslan told Judicial Watch, the Washington-based legal watchdog group that had filed 50-plus legal actions against the Clinton administration and subsequently found itself in the IRS's cross hairs'...
  "There were literally six witnesses in the room when Breslan told us we should have expected an audit," Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman revealed to NewsMax.com. "Four of them were lawyers."
  The legal group became the target of an IRS audit in 1998, just four days after it filed an independent impeachment report against Clinton, based on years of investigation into everything from Chinagate to the Paula Jones case.
  But Judicial Watch wasn't alone. Witnesses bearing damaging testimony against the president were a favorite target of the Clinton IRS. Those singled out for audits include:
  Clinton paramours Gennifer Flowers and Liz Ward Gracen, sexual assault accusers Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick, and fired White House Travel Office Director Billy Dale.
  The Jones case, which would eventually lead to Clinton's impeachment, was of particular interest to the IRS, which apparently leaked her confidential tax returns to the late New York Daily News reporter Lars Erik Nelson.
  In a September 1997 column Nelson revealed details from Jones' filing to bolster claims that she was profiting from her sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton.
  In a subsequent interview with NewsMax.com's Carl Limbacher (then with the Washington Weekly), Nelson insisted somewhat implausibly that a "friend" of Jones had come across her tax return during a visit to her home and decided to go public with the secrets'...
  As the Judicial Watch complaint notes, the Clinton IRS also went after organizations and even media companies it perceived as politically hostile, including:
  The National Rifle Association, The Heritage Foundation, The National Review, The American Spectator, Freedom Alliance, National Center for Public Policy Research, American Policy Center, American Cause, Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizens for Honest Government, Progress and Freedom Foundation, Concerned Women for America and the San Diego Chapter of Christian Coalition'...
  We are already sick and tired of Obama's current IRS scandal being compared to Richard Nixon. Practically every Democrat President since FDR has sought to use the IRS against their enemies. But somehow only Nixon ever gets mentioned. And the only real evidence against Nixon came from the 1972 White House tape, where, in a fit of pique, Nixon railed against audits '-- after just having been told his campaign was being audited.
  Nixon angrily said he wanted the McGovern campaign and its donors audited, too. But they never were. In fact, the head of the IRS at the time, David Alexander, was made a hero because he didn't audit anyone at Nixon's request. Though, again, it's not clear that he was ever asked to.
  In any case, it's clear Nixon never succeeded in using the IRS against his enemies. But FDR did succeed. And so did Bill Clinton. And so, it would seem, did Barack Obama.
  This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Monday, May 13th, 2013. You can leave a response.
Letters: Horse meat burgers are scary but not as much as CO2 emissions | From the Guardian | The Guardian
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:39
  Carbon dioxide at its highest level for 3m years and Damian Carrington's story merits only page five in the Guardian (Report, 11 May); it doesn't even get a mention on the front cover. As a 15-year-old I am confused as to why this is considered less important than the horse meat scandal or the Co-op bank's difficulties or, on the second page, talk of another coalition. I realise that these things are important, but I think that the survival of the human race is just a little more important than parliament, which, with the current rates of CO2 emissions, will most likely be flooded by about 2200.Geoffrey LiddellClatford, Hampshire
  ''Damian Carrington tells us: "The world's governments have agreed to keep the rise in global average temperature ... to 2C". This is precisely what has not happened. More than 20 years of climate change negotiations have failed to yield any agreement whatsoever to limit global emissions to any specific target.David CampbellProfessor of international business law, University of Leeds
  ''It is not only environmental campaigners who oppose European investments in coal power (Report, 13 May). It is also mainstream scientists, concerned citizens and the people that Christian Aid works with across the developing world, who are already feeling the impacts of a changing climate on their lives.
  Investing now in unabated coal technologies in EU and EU accession countries will make it impossible for Europe to achieve the ambitious carbon cuts needed to lead global action against climate change.Dr Alison DoigSenior adviser on climate change, Christian Aid
  ''The letter writers against Oxford's partnership with Shell (Letters, 9 May) forget that our understanding of climate change is underpinned by geological knowledge obtained in a relatively underfunded academic field, coupled with a neglected British Geological Survey.
  As James Lovelock has demonstrated, once triggered, global heating will be irreversible on a human time scale, and so aiming to keep global temperatures within 2C is a meaningless target. It would be madness to turn our backs on investing in carbon capture and storage on a massive scale, even if this is a spinoff of the wicked hydrocarbon industry. This could eventually reduce atmospheric levels if it were treated with the same urgency as the second world war Manhattan project by governments who appear interested only in keeping enough of the people happy at any one time. Companies like Shell can only be expected to clear up our waste gases if they are given clear political leadership, not warm words.David NowellNew Barnet, Hertfordshire
  ''Roger Scruton (Comment, 11 May) criticises the government for not agreeing with conservative voters who believe the "climate change" agenda has been foisted on us by an unaccountable lobby of politicised intellectuals. Does he think manmade emissions of greenhouse gases should be reduced by other means, or does he consider the IPCC's assessment of the science and its consequences is completely wrong? Stewart ReddawayBaldock, Hertfordshire
VIDEO-Gun Control, Violence & Shooting Deaths in A Free World, 2nd Amendment Facts | Mackenzie Psychetruth - YouTube
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:32
VIDEO-Gun Control & Mental Health, Violence, Crime, Gun Laws, Psychiatry, Psychology | Dr. Colin Ross, MD - YouTube
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FP-45 Liberator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 22:03
  The FP-45 Liberator was a pistol manufactured by the United States military during World War II for use by resistance forces in occupied territories. The Liberator was never issued to American or Allied troops and there is no documented instance of the weapon being used for their intended purpose. Many FP-45 pistols were never distributed and were destroyed by Allied forces after the war; and most of those distributed were lost or disposed of without any combat use.[1]
  Project History[edit]The concept was suggested by a Polish military attache in March 1942. The project was assigned to the US Army Joint Psychological Warfare Committee and was designed for the United States Army two months later by the Inland Manufacturing Division of the General Motors Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. Production was undertaken by General Motors Guide Lamp Division to avoid conflicting priorities with Inland Division production of the M1 carbine.[1] The army designated the weapon the Flare Projector Caliber .45 hence the designation FP-45. This was done to disguise the fact that a pistol was being mass produced. The proposed intent was to drop these weapons at concentration camps where internees would pick up these weapons, overcome Nazi Guards, and hopefully liberate the camp.[citation needed] The original engineering drawings label the barrel as "tube", the trigger as "yoke", the firing pin as "control rod", and the trigger guard as "spanner". The Guide Lamp Division plant in Anderson, Indiana assembled a million[2] of these weapons. The Liberator project took about 6 months from conception to end of production with about 11 weeks of actual manufacturing time, done by 300 workers.
  Design[edit]The FP-45 was a crude, single-shot pistol designed to be cheaply and quickly mass produced. The Liberator had just 23 largely stamped and turned steel parts that were cheap and easy to manufacture. It fired a .45 caliber pistol cartridge from an unrifled barrel. Due to the unrifled barrel, it was intended for very close ambush, 1''4 yd (0.91''3.7 m). Its maximum effective range was only about 25 ft (7.6 m). At longer range, the bullet would begin to tumble and stray off course. Because of the low quality, it was nicknamed the "Woolworth gun."
  Wartime use[edit]The Liberator was shipped in a cardboard box with 10 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition, a wooden dowel to remove the empty cartridge case, and an instruction sheet in comic strip form[3] showing how to load and fire the weapon. Extra rounds of ammunition could be stored in the pistol grip. The Liberator was a crude and clumsy weapon, never intended for front line service. It was originally intended as an insurgency weapon to be mass dropped behind enemy lines to resistance fighters in occupied territory. A resistance fighter was to recover the weapon, sneak up on an Axis occupier, kill or incapacitate him, and retrieve his weapons.
  The weapon was valued as much for its psychological warfare effect as its actual field performance. It was believed that if vast quantities of these weapons could be delivered into Axis-occupied territory, it would have a devastating effect on the morale of occupying troops. The plan was to drop the weapon in such great quantities that occupying forces could never capture or recover all the weapons. It was hoped that the thought of thousands of these unrecovered weapons potentially in the hands of the citizens of occupied countries would have a deleterious effect on enemy morale.[4]
  General Eisenhower's staff never saw the practicality in mass dropping the Liberator over occupied Europe, and authorized distribution of fewer than 25,000 of the half million FP-45 pistols shipped to Great Britain for the French resistance. Generals Joseph Stillwell and Douglas MacArthur were similarly unenthusiastic about the other half of the pistols scheduled for shipment to the Pacific. The Army then turned 450,000 Liberators over to the OSS. Resistance fighters in both theatres were supplied with more effective weapons whenever possible, and French use of the FP-45 remains undocumented; although OSS distributed a few to Greek resistance forces in 1944. 100,000 FP-45 pistols were shipped to China in 1943, but the number actually distributed remains unknown. A few were distributed to Philippine troops under the Commonwealth Army and Constabulary and resistance fighters.[1]
  Firearms collectors[edit]The original delivered cost for the FP-45 was $2.40/unit[3] ($32 in 2010). A Liberator in good condition today can fetch approximately $1200, with the original box bringing an additional $500, with an original extremely rare paper instruction sheet the value could exceed $2000 to a collector of rare World War II militaria. Fakes of these sheets exist, but authentic copies have a watermark that can be seen clearly, which is difficult to duplicate.
  The Concept Revived[edit]The Liberator was replaced with the Deer gun in 1964 when a modernized equivalent was designed for possible use in Vietnam.[3] This was because the CIA needed a weapon of this type, and most Liberators were scrapped after World War II. The Deer Gun was chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum and was loaded by unscrewing the barrel and inserting a round to fire.
  References[edit]External links[edit]
VIDEO-Syrian rebel 'cuts out soldier's heart and EATS it' in horrific propaganda video | Mail Online
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  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 20:42
  Rebel is believed to be Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq BrigadeSakkar rants: 'I swear we'll eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs'He then raises one of the organs to his mouth and takes a biteCameron warns he may send troops as evidence of chemical weapons growsBy Matt Blake
  PUBLISHED: 10:17 EST, 13 May 2013 | UPDATED: 12:44 EST, 13 May 2013
  A video that appears to show a Syrian rebel cutting out and eating the heart of a dead government soldier has been posted online in a horrific new propaganda stunt.
  The unverified clip, posted by a pro-government campaign group, claims to show a man - believed to be Abu Sakkar, the well-known founder of Homs' Farouq Brigade - standing over the uniformed corpse in a ditch while ranting against President Bashar al Assad.
  Using a knife, the man hacks open the torso and removes two organs before holding them up to the camera and declaring: 'I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog.' He then raises one to his mouth and takes a bite.
  It comes as David Cameron warned today he may still sanction military intervention in the war-torn nation amid growing evidence that Assad is using chemical weapons against his own people.
  GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING:Scroll down for video.
  Horrific: The amateur video posted on the Internet on Sunday shows Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq Brigade who is well known to journalists as an insurgent from Homs, cutting into the torso of a dead soldier
  Remorseless: After removing what appears to be the dead man's heart, Sakkar then reaches into the chest cavity and draws a lung into view
  The video, posted on YouTube by and billed as proof of a war crime, is the latest installment of a propaganda war that is growing fast behind the scenes of this bloody conflict.
  Last month, a photograph was released by a pro-Assad group based in Lebanon that appeared to show a young rebel fighter barbecuing the severed head of a government soldier.
  Experts say such images demonstrate that the battlefield has spread from rubble-strewn streets and war-churned fields to the internet as both sides vie to control their public image and discredit that of their opposition.
  Meanwhile, human rights groups say it is emblematic of a civil war that has rapidly descended into sectarian hatred and revenge killings.
  In the most recent video, Sakkar tells the camera: 'I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,'
  His rant is greeted by offscreen cheers of his comrades shouting 'Allahu akbar (God is great)'.
  Gory: Brandishing the organs for the camera to see, Sakkar continues his rant against Assad's government
  'Soldier's heart cut out and eaten' in horrific propaganda video
  Controversial: The video has caused outrage among both supporters of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition figures
  PR war: The video, posted on YouTube by and billed as proof of a war crime, is the latest installment of a propaganda war that is growing fast behind the scenes of this bloody conflict
  Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said that he had seen an original, unedited copy of the video and that Abu Sakkar's identity had been confirmed by rebel sources in Homs and by images of him in other videos wearing the same black jacket as in the latest clip and with the same rings on his fingers.
  'The mutilation of the bodies of enemies is a war crime. But the even more serious issue is the very rapid descent into sectarian rhetoric and violence,' said Bouckaert.
  He said that in the unedited version of the film, Abu Sakkar instructs his men to 'slaughter the Alawites and take their hearts out to eat them', before biting into the heart.
  Abu Sakkar has been seen in previous videos firing rockets at Lebanese Shi'ite villages on the border and posing with the body of a soldier purportedly from the Lebanese Shi'ite militant Hezbollah group, which is helping Assad's forces.
  Big talks: Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he wasn't ruling out taking tougher action against Syria over growing evidence it was using chemical weapons, saying he planned to raise the matter with Barack Obama as he met the US president today
  MailOnline cannot independently verify videos from Syria, where access is restricted by the government and security constraints.
  Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he wasn't ruling out taking tougher action against Syria over growing evidence it was using chemical weapons, saying he planned to raise the matter with U.S. President Barack Obama.
  'Certainly we haven't ruled out stepping up action in response to what seems to be happening on the ground,' Cameron told NPR radio. 'The evidence is growing; the lack of room for doubt is shrinking, and I think this is extremely serious.'
  Cameron's comments came two days after he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to do more to stop the bloodshed in Syria, after failing to make any major progress towards ending the two-year conflict.
  Speaking at a press conference in Sochi, the Prime Minister said: 'The history of Syria is being written in the blood of her people.
  But Mr Cameron's visit to the Russian president's summer residence in the Black Sea resort ended with an admission that they still have 'differing views' about how to deal with the situation.
  Shaky start: David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged pleasantries before a press conference today but failed to make real progress on resolving the Syrian conflict
  Mr Cameron said Britain and Russia have 'differing views' on how to resolve the conflict
  The UK is leading the argument to amend or lift restrictions to allow weapons to be passed to forces opposed to Bashar Assad's regime.
  But Russia has remained supportive of the Syrian government, with Mr Putin determined to defend the country's 'sovereignty'.
  The visit came as details emerged of Britain's arguments in favour of lifting the arms embargo.
  Ahead of his visit Mr Cameron said the atrocities in Syria 'continue to mount' and growing evidence that the Asad regime has used chemical weapons.
  He told MPs: 'There is a growing body of limited but persuasive information showing that the regime has used, and continues to use, chemical weapons including sarin. The room for doubt about that continues to diminish.'
  The Syrian conflict started with peaceful protests in March 2011, but when these were suppressed it gradually turned into an increasingly sectarian civil war which, according to one opposition monitoring group, has cost more than 80,000 lives.
  Majority Sunni Muslims lead the revolt, while Assad - whose family have ruled for over four decades - gets his core support from his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
USA TODAY
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 12 May 2013 19:52
  by William M. Welch, USA TODAY
  Updated: 05/12/2013 08:32pm
  Shots fired during an informal Mother's Day afternoon parade in New Orleans injured 19 people, two of them children, police said Sunday.
  The wounded included 10 men and seven women as well as a boy and a girl, both 10.
  Remi Braden, director of public affairs for the New Orleans Police Department, said there were no fatalities and "most of the wounds are not life-threatening.''
  The shots were fired at 1:47 p.m. in the area of North Villere and Frenchmen streets during what is locally referred to as "a second-line parade,'' Braden said.
  Both children were reported in good condition with graze wounds to the body, police said, and two of the adults were in surgery. Police said many of the victims suffered graze wounds, in some cases by ricocheted bullets.
  "At this point, there are no fatalities, and most of the wounds are not life threatening,'' police spokesman Garry Flot said.
  The Times-Picayune newspaper said there were about 200 people at the event when gunfire erupted.
  Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be impromptu or planned and are sometimes described as moving block parties.
  The parade included police officers and was about two blocks long, police said.
  "When the end of the parade reached North Villere and Frenchmen ... shots were fired from different guns,'' Flot said in a statement. "Immediately after the shooting our officers saw three suspects running from the scene.''
  Shermaine Tyler, 32, who lives nearby, told The Times-Picayune that a man collapsed onto her after being shot.
  "Me and mom were going to the second line. I told her I didn't want to go because there are always shots at a second line," Tyler said. "And the second I heard shots, I heard shots fired, we ran outside and one man fell in my lap who had been shot."
  Braden said detectives were interviewing witnesses and seeking surveillance video in the area.
  "This is an extremely unusual occurrence, and we're confident that we will make swift arrests,'' Braden said.
  Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said police saw three suspects running from the scene.
  A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday's event. The group was founded in 1996 at a housing project, according to its MySpace page.
  The neighborhood where the shooting happened was a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the neighborhood's population was about 60% of its level before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
  "We'll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood," Serpas said.
  Contributing: The Associated Press
  Copyright 2013
MOTHER'S DAY SHOOTING - STRATEGY OF TENSION
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: aangirfan
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:32
  The Mother's Day shooting in New Orleans, 12 May 2013, looks like it was done by the US government."Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans injuring 19, police have said.
  "The wounded included a boy and a girl, both 10 years old."
  The CIA's 'Strategy of Tension' has always involved killing innocent people, in order to get the public to turn to the military for protection.Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas told CNN affiliate WVUE that it appears "two or three people just, for a reason unknown to us, started shooting at, towards, or in the crowd."The FBI said that the shooting appeared to be "street violence"CIA terrorism in Turkey was called Ergenekon.In New Orleans, on Mother's Day:Francis Cohen (centre)Francis Joseph "Frank" Collin (born Francis Joseph Cohen, November 3, 1944) was the leader of the NAZI Party of America.
  The Nazis are secretly Zionists, and the Zionists are secretly Nazis.The US government, whether Democrat or Republican, is Nazi and Zionist.They use terror to keep themselves in power.Liege shootings - "From the same crowd that produced the Brabant Supermarket massacre and the Marc Dutroux scandal"In Belgium, in 1984 a bizarre operation occurred around Vielsalm in the Ardennes region.A squad of US Marines were parachuted into Belgium, and met by a member of the Belgian military intelligence.
  They hid for a fortnight before attacking the police station of Vielsalm, in a so-called Oesling exercise, killing a Belgian officer. One marine was injured during the operation, losing an eye.
  Initially the attack was passed off as terrorism, but was later proven to be the work of the American and Belgian military - as confirmed by the Senate investigations of 1991.
  Other attacks occured.OnNovember 9th 1985 on a busy Saturday, three armed hooded men entered a supermarket and started shooting.
  Eight people were killed, some while trying to escape.An official report published on the Brabant Massacres in 1990, before the discovery of the secret army network, had concluded that the killers had official links:
  "According to the report, the killers were members or former members of the security forces '' extreme right-wingers who enjoyed high-level protection..."
  [NATO's Secret Armies, pg 145]Bombs in Turkey, May 2013.Various court trials in Turkey have revealed that it was the Turkish military, working for the CIA, which carried out all the past acts of terrorism in Turkey.aangirfan: KILLING KIDS ON A FIELD TRIP; ERGENEKON AND 9 11
  aangirfan: THE CIA's 'GLADIO B'
  aangirfan: TERRORISM 1910 - 2010
  aangirfan: Jewish control of Turkey?
  aangirfan: CIA CONTROL VIA FETHULLAH?
  aangirfan: CIA AND MOSSAD TERRORISTS IN TURKEY?
Dennis Kucinich on the IRS scandal
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:27
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
Suspect in New Orleans shooting caught on security cam
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  Archived Version
  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:26
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
Obama: Talking Points With Benghazi a 'Sideshow'
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  Archived Version
  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:26
  During a press conference today, President Obama said the talking points dealing with the aftermath of the Benghazi attack is a "sideshow."
  "The whole issue of "talking points", frankly, throughout this process has been a sideshow," Obama said. "What we have been very clear throughout was immediately after this event happened, we were not clear who exactly carried it out, how it had occurred, what the motivations were. It happened at the same time as we had seen attacks on U.S. embassies in Cairo as a consequence of this film."
Jon Karl Exposes: IRS Targeting of Conservatives Began in 2010; Not Skeptical on White House Involvement
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:26
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  Good Morning America's Jon Karl on Monday exposed new details about the growing scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives. The correspondent revealed, "I've obtained a soon-to-be released investigative report that shows the IRS started targeting Tea Party groups more than three years ago." He added that this was "despite [the IRS] publicly claiming otherwise." However, Karl steered clear of culpability when it came to the Obama administration. He explained, "The White House said it had no idea that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups."
  Video cross-posted at NewsBusters.
MSNBC's Hayes Gloats Over Kidnapping and Murder Stories Preempting Benghazi Media Coverage
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:23
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  Gloating how a tabloid trial eclipsed an Obama scandal, MSNBC host Chris Hayes on All In on Wednesday night, May 8, snickered about how the Cleveland kidnappings and the announcement of a verdict in the Jodi Arias murder trial overshadowed the Benghazi hearings:
  ''Today was set up to be a big day, a very big day for Roger Ailes, the Fox Network, Drudge Report readers, the denizens of Michelle Malkin's Web site Twitchy, Sean Hannity's radio audience and Congressman Darrell Issa. Why? Because today was 'Benghazi day.'...Fox was all teed up, promos had been made, hosts were properly outraged, the coverage plan was in motion '-- and then the cable news apocalypse happened.''
Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom in Joint Press Conference
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  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:23
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 13, 2013
  East Room
  11:41 A.M. EDT
  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning, everybody. Please have a seat. And to all our moms out there, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.
  It's always a great pleasure to welcome my friend and partner, Prime Minister David Cameron. Michelle and I have wonderful memories from when David and Samantha visited us last year. There was a lot of attention about how I took David to March Madness -- we went to Ohio. And a year later, we have to confess that David still does not understand basketball -- I still do not understand cricket.
  As we've said before, the great alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom is rooted in shared interests and shared values, and it's indispensable to global security and prosperity. But as we've seen again recently, it's also a partnership of the heart. Here in the United States, we joined our British friends in mourning the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, a great champion of freedom and liberty and of the alliance that we carry on today. And after the bombings in Boston, we Americans were grateful for the support of friends from around the world, particularly those across the Atlantic. At the London Marathon, runners paused in a moment of silence and dedicated their race to Boston. And David will be visiting Boston to pay tribute to the victims and first responders.
  So, David, I want to thank you and the British people for reminding us that in good times and in bad, our two peoples stand as one.
  David is here, first and foremost, as he prepares to host the G8 next month. I appreciate him updating me on the agenda as it takes shape, and we discussed how the summit will be another opportunity to sustain the global economic recovery with a focus on growth and creating jobs for our people. Michelle and I are looking forward to visiting Northern Ireland, and I know that the summit is going to be a great success under David's fine leadership.
  We discussed the importance of moving ahead with the EU towards negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Our extensive trade with the U.K. is central to our broader transatlantic economic relationship, which supports more than 13 million jobs. And I want to thank David for his strong support for building on those ties, and I look forward to launching negotiations with the EU in the coming months. I believe we've got a real opportunity to cut tariffs, open markets, create jobs, and make all of our economies even more competitive.With regard to global security, we reviewed progress in Afghanistan, where our troops continue to serve with extraordinary courage alongside each other. And I want to commend David for his efforts to encourage greater dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is critical to regional security.
  As planned, Afghan forces will take the lead for security across the country soon -- this spring. U.S., British and coalition forces will move into a support role. Our troops will continue to come home, and the war will end by the end of next year, even as we work with our Afghan partners to make sure that Afghanistan is never again a haven for terrorists who would attack our nations.
  Given our shared commitment to Middle East peace, I updated David on Secretary Kerry's efforts with Israelis and Palestinians and the importance of moving towards negotiations. And we reaffirmed our support for democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa, including the economic reforms that have to go along with political reforms.
  Of course, we discussed Syria and the appalling violence being inflicted on the Syrian people. Together, we're going to continue our efforts to increase pressure on the Assad regime, to provide humanitarian aid to the long-suffering Syrian people, to strengthen the moderate opposition, and to prepare for a democratic Syria without Bashar Assad.
  And that includes bringing together representatives of the regime and the opposition in Geneva in the coming weeks to agree on a transitional body which would allow a transfer of power from Assad to this governing body. Meanwhile, we'll continue to work to establish the facts around the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and those facts will help guide our next steps.
  We discussed Iran, where we agreed to keep up the pressure on Tehran for its continued failure to abide by its nuclear obligations. The burden is on Iran to engage constructively with us and our P5-plus-1 partners in order to resolve the world's concerns about its nuclear program.
  And, finally, today we're reaffirming our commitment to global development. Specifically, we're encouraged by the ambitious reforms underway at the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, where both of our nations are stepping up our efforts. And David has made it clear that the G8 Summit will be another opportunity to make progress on nutrition and food security.
  So, David, thank you very much, as always, for your leadership and your partnership. As we prepare for our work in Northern Ireland, as we consider the challenges we face around the world, it's clear we face a demanding agenda. But if the history of our people show anything, it is that we persevere. As one of those London runners said at the marathon -- we're going to keep running, and we're going to keep on doing this. And that's the spirit of confidence and resolve that we will continue to draw upon as we work together to meet these challenges.
  So, David, thank you very much. And welcome.
  PRIME MINISTER CAMERON: Thank you very much, Barack. And thank you for the warm welcome. It's great to be back here with you in the White House. Thank you for what you said about Margaret Thatcher. It was a pleasure to welcome so many Americans to her remarkable funeral in the U.K.
  I absolutely echo what you said about the appalling outrage in Boston. I look forward to going there to pay my tribute to the people of that remarkable city and their courage, and we will always stand with you in the fight against terrorism.
  Thank you for the remarks about the cricket and the basketball. I haven't made much progress -- I made a bit of progress on baseball; I actually read a book about it this year, so maybe next time we'll get to work on that one.
  It's good to be back for the first time since the American people returned you to office. And as you said, the relationship between Britain and the United States is a partnership without parallel. Day in, day out across the world, our diplomats and intelligence agencies work together, our soldiers serve together, and our businesses trade with each other.
  In Afghanistan, our armed forces are together defending the stability that will make us all safer. And in the global economic race, our businesses are doing more than $17 billion of trade across the Atlantic every month of every year. And in a changing world, our nations share a resolve to stand up for democracy, for enterprise and for freedom.
  We've discussed many issues today, as the President has said. Let me highlight three: the economy, the G8, and Syria.
  Our greatest challenge is to secure a sustainable economic recovery. Each of us has to find the right solutions at home. For all of us, it means dealing with debt, it means restoring stability, getting our economy growing, and together seizing new opportunities to grow our economies.
  President Obama and I have both championed a free trade deal between the European Union and the United States. And there is a real chance now to get the process launched in time for the G8. So the next five weeks are crucial. To realize the huge benefits this deal could bring will take ambition and political will -- that means everything on the table, even the difficult issues, and no exceptions. It's worth the effort. For Britain alone, an ambitious deal could be worth up to 10 billion pounds a year, boosting industries from car manufacturing to financial services. We discussed the G8 Summit in some detail. When we meet on the shores of Loch Erne in Northern Ireland five weeks from today, I want us to agree ambitious action for economic growth. Open trade is at the heart of this, but we have a broader agenda, too -- to make sure everyone shares in the benefits of this greater openness, not just in our advanced economies but in the developing world, too. I'm an unashamedly pro-business politician, but as we open up our economies to get business growing, we need to make sure that all companies pay their taxes properly and enable citizens to hold their governments and businesses to account.
  Today we've agreed to tackle the scourge of tax evasion. We need to know who really owns a company, who profits from it, whether taxes are paid. And we need a new mechanism to track where multinationals make their money and where they pay their taxes so we can stop those that are manipulating the system unfairly.
  Finally, we discussed the brutal conflict in Syria -- 80,000 dead; 5 million people forced from their homes. Syria's history is being written in the blood of her people, and it is happening on our watch. The world urgently needs to come together to bring the killing to an end. None of us have any interest in seeing more lives lost, in seeing chemical weapons used, or extremist violence spreading even further.
  So we welcome President Putin's agreement to join an effort to achieve a political solution. The challenges remain formidable, but we have an urgent window of opportunity before the worst fears are realized. There is no more urgent international task than this. We need to get Syrians to the table to agree a transitional government that can win the consent of all of the Syrian people. But there will be no political progress unless the opposition is able to withstand the onslaught, and put pressure on Assad so he knows there is no military victory. So we will also increase our efforts to support and to shape the moderate opposition.
  Britain is pushing for more flexibility in the EU arms embargo and we will double nonlethal support to the Syrian opposition in the coming year. Armored vehicles, body armor, and power generators are route to be shipped. We're helping local councils govern the areas that they liberate, and we're supporting Lebanon and Jordan to deal with the influx of refugees. We'll also do more for those in desperate humanitarian need -- care for trauma injuries; helping torture victims to recover; getting Syrian families drinking clean water; having access to food, to shelter.
  There is now, I believe, common ground between the U.S., U.K., Russia, and many others that whatever our differences, we have the same aim -- a stable, inclusive, and peaceful Syria, free from the scourge of extremism. There is real political will behind this. We now need to get on and do everything we can to make it happen.
  Barack, thank you once again for your warm welcome and for our talks today.
  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. All right, we've got time for a couple of questions. We're going to start with Julie Pace.
  Q Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to ask about the IRS and Benghazi. When did you first learn that the IRS was targeting conservative political groups? Do you feel that the IRS has betrayed the public's trust? And what do you think the repercussions for these actions should be? And on Benghazi, newly public emails show that the White House and the State Department appear to have been more closely involved with the crafting of the talking points on the attack than first acknowledged. Do you think the White House misled the public about its role in shaping the talking points? And do you stand by your administration's assertions that the talking points were not purposely changed to downplay the prospects of terrorism? And, Prime Minister Cameron, on Syria, if the EU arms embargo that you mentioned is amended or lapses, is it your intention to send the Syrian opposition forces weapons? And are you encouraging President Obama to take the same step? Thank you.
  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, let me take the IRS situation first. I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday. And this is pretty straightforward.
  If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it. And they have to be held fully accountable, because the IRS as an independent agency requires absolute integrity, and people have to have confidence that they're applying it in a non-partisan way -- applying the laws in a non-partisan way.
  And you should feel that way regardless of party. I don't care whether you're a Democrat, independent or a Republican. At some point, there are going to be Republican administrations. At some point, there are going to be Democratic ones. Either way, you don't want the IRS ever being perceived to be biased and anything less than neutral in terms of how they operate. So this is something that I think people are properly concerned about.
  The IG is conducting its investigation. And I am not going to comment on their specific findings prematurely, but I can tell you that if you've got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and non-partisan way, then that is outrageous, it is contrary to our traditions. And people have to be held accountable, and it's got to be fixed. So we'll wait and see what exactly all the details and the facts are. But I've got no patience with it. I will not tolerate it. And we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this.
  With respect to Benghazi, we've now seen this argument that's been made by some folks primarily up on Capitol Hill for months now. And I've just got to say -- here's what we know. Americans died in Benghazi. What we also know is clearly they were not in a position where they were adequately protected. The day after it happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism. And what I pledged to the American people was that we would find out what happened, we would make sure that it did not happen again, and we would make sure that we held accountable those who had perpetrated this terrible crime.
  And that's exactly what we've been trying to do. And over the last several months, there was a review board headed by two distinguished Americans -- Mike Mullen and Tom Pickering -- who investigated every element of this. And what they discovered was some pretty harsh judgments in terms of how we had worked to protect consulates and embassies around the world. They gave us a whole series of recommendations. Those recommendations are being implemented as we speak.
  The whole issue of talking points, frankly, throughout this process has been a sideshow. What we have been very clear about throughout was that immediately after this event happened we were not clear who exactly had carried it out, how it had occurred, what the motivations were. It happened at the same time as we had seen attacks on U.S. embassies in Cairo as a consequence of this film. And nobody understood exactly what was taking place during the course of those first few days.
  And the emails that you allude to were provided by us to congressional committees. They reviewed them several months ago, concluded that, in fact, there was nothing afoul in terms of the process that we had used. And suddenly, three days ago, this gets spun up as if there's something new to the story. There's no ''there'' there.
  Keep in mind, by the way, these so-called talking points that were prepared for Susan Rice five, six days after the event occurred pretty much matched the assessments that I was receiving at that time in my presidential daily briefing. And keep in mind that two to three days after Susan Rice appeared on the Sunday shows, using these talking points, which have been the source of all this controversy, I sent up the head of our National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, up to Capitol Hill and specifically said it was an act of terrorism and that extremist elements inside of Libya had been involved in it.
  So if this was some effort on our part to try to downplay what had happened or tamp it down, that would be a pretty odd thing that three days later we end up putting out all the information that, in fact, has now served as the basis for everybody recognizing that this was a terrorist attack and that it may have included elements that were planned by extremists inside of Libya.
  Who executes some sort of cover-up or effort to tamp things down for three days? So the whole thing defies logic. And the fact that this keeps on getting churned out, frankly, has a lot to do with political motivations. We've had folks who have challenged Hillary Clinton's integrity, Susan Rice's integrity, Mike Mullen and Tom Pickering's integrity. It's a given that mine gets challenged by these same folks. They've used it for fundraising.
  And frankly, if anybody out there wants to actually focus on how we make sure something like this does not happen again, I am happy to get their advice and information and counsel. But the fact of the matter is these four Americans, as I said right when it happened, were people I sent into the field, and I've been very clear about taking responsibility for the fact that we were not able to prevent their deaths. And we are doing everything we can to make sure we prevent it, in part because there are still diplomats around the world who are in very dangerous, difficult situations. And we don't have time to be playing these kinds of political games here in Washington. We should be focused on what are we doing to protect them.
  And that's not easy, by the way. And it's going to require resources and tough judgments and tough calls. And there are a whole bunch of diplomats out there who know that they're in harm's way. And there are threat streams that come through every so often, with respect to our embassies and our consulates -- and that's not just us, by the way; the British have to deal with the same thing.
  And we've got a whole bunch of people in the State Department who consistently say, you know what, I'm willing to step up, I'm willing to put myself in harm's way because I think that this mission is important in terms of serving the United States and advancing our interests around the globe.
  And so we dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus. What happened was tragic. It was carried out by extremists inside of Libya. We are out there trying to hunt down the folks who carried this out, and we are trying to make sure that we fix the system so that it doesn't happen again.
  PRIME MINISTER CAMERON: Thank you. On the issue of the opposition in Syria, we have not made the decision to arm opposition groups in Syria. What we've done is we have amended the EU arms embargo in order that we can give technical assistance and technical advice. And as I said in my statement, that's exactly what we're doing.
  We're continuing to examine and look at the EU arms embargo and see whether we need to make further changes to it in order to facilitate our work with the opposition. I do believe that there's more we can do, alongside technical advice, assistance, help, in order to shape them, in order to work with them. And to those who doubt that approach, I would just argue that, look, if we don't help the Syrian opposition -- who we do recognize as being legitimate, who have signed up to a statement about a future for Syria that is democratic, that respects the rights of minorities -- if we don't work with that part of the opposition, then we shouldn't be surprised if the extremist elements grow.
  So I think being engaged with the Syrian opposition is the right approach, and that is an approach I know I share with the President and with other colleagues in the European Union.
  James Landale from the BBC.
  Q James Landale, BBC. Prime Minister, you're talking here today about a new EU-U.S. trade deal, and yet members of your party are now talking about leaving the European Union. What is your message to them and to those pushing for an early referendum? And if there were a referendum tomorrow, how would you vote?
  And, Mr. President, earlier this year you told David Cameron that you wanted a strong U.K. in a strong EU. How concerned are you that members of David Cameron's Cabinet are now openly contemplating withdrawal?
  And on Syria, if I may, a question to both of you: What gives you any confidence that the Russians are going to help you on this?
  PRIME MINISTER CAMERON: Well, first of all, on the issue of a referendum, look, there's not going to be a referendum tomorrow. And there's a very good reason why there's not going to be a referendum tomorrow -- is because it would give the British public I think an entirely false choice between the status quo -- which I don't think is acceptable. I want to see the European Union change. I want to see Britain's relationship with the European [Union] change and improve. So it would be a false choice between the status quo and leaving. And I don't think that is the choice the British public want or the British public deserve.
  Everything I do in this area is guided by a very simple principle, which is what is in the national interest of Britain. Is it in the national interest of Britain to have a transatlantic trade deal that will make our countries more prosperous; that will get people to work; that will help our businesses? Yes, it is. And so we will push for this transatlantic trade deal.
  Is it in our interests to reform the European Union to make it more open, more competitive, more flexible, and to improve Britain's place within the European Union? Yes, it is in our national interest. And it's not only in our national interest, it is achievable, because Europe has to change because the single currency is driving change for that part of the European Union that is in the single currency. And just as they want changes, so I believe Britain is quite entitled to ask for and to get changes in response.
  And then finally, is it in Britain's national interest, once we have achieved those changes but before the end of 2017, to consult the British public in a proper, full-on, in/out referendum? Yes, I believe it is. So that's the approach that we take -- everything driven by what is in the British national interest.
  That is what I'm going to deliver. It's absolutely right for our country. It has very strong support throughout the country and in the Conservative Party, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.
  On the Syrian issue, you asked the question -- what are the signs of Russian engagement. Well, I had very good talks with President Putin in Sochi on Friday. And, look, we had a very frank conversation in that we have approached this -- and in some extent, still do approach this -- in a different way. I have been very vocal in supporting the Syrian opposition and saying that Assad has to go, that he is not legitimate, and I continue to say that. And President Putin has taken a different point of view.
  But where there is a common interest is that it is in both our interests that at the end of this there is a stable, democratic Syria, that there is a stable neighborhood, and that we don't encourage the growth of violent extremism. And I think both the Russian President, the American President, and myself -- I think we can all see that the current trajectory of how things are going is not actually in anybody's interest and so it is worth this major diplomatic effort, which we are all together leading this major diplomatic effort to bring the parties to the table to achieve a transition at the top in Syria so that we can make the change that country needs.
  PRESIDENT OBAMA: With respect to the relationship between the U.K. and the EU, we have a special relationship with the United Kingdom. And we believe that our capacity to partner with a United Kingdom that is active, robust, outward-looking and engaged with the world is hugely important to our own interests as well as the world. And I think the U.K.'s participation in the EU is an expression of its influence and its role in the world, as well as obviously a very important economic partnership.
  Now, ultimately, the people of the U.K. have to make decisions for themselves. I will say this -- that David's basic point that you probably want to see if you can fix what's broken in a very important relationship before you break it off makes some sense to me. And I know that David has been very active in seeking some reforms internal to the EU. Those are tough negotiations. You've got a lot of countries involved, I recognize that. But so long as we haven't yet evaluated how successful those reforms will be, I at least would be interested in seeing whether or not those are successful before rendering a final judgment. Again, I want to emphasize these are issues for the people of the United Kingdom to make a decision about, not ours.
  With respect to Syria, I think David said it very well. If you look objectively, the entire world community has an interest in seeing a Syria that is not engaged in sectarian war, in which the Syrian people are not being slaughtered, that is an island of peace as opposed to potentially an outpost for extremists. That's not just true for the United States. That's not just true for Great Britain. That's not just true for countries like Jordan and Turkey that border Syria, but that's also true for Russia.
  And I'm pleased to hear that David had a very constructive conversation with President Putin shortly after the conversation that had taken place between John Kerry and President Putin. I've spoken to President Putin several times on this topic. And our basic argument is that as a leader on the world stage, Russia has an interest, as well as an obligation, to try to resolve this issue in a way that can lead to the kind of outcome that we'd all like to see over the long term.
  And, look, I don't think it's any secret that there remains lingering suspicions between Russia and other members of the G8 or the West. It's been several decades now since Russia transformed itself and the Eastern Bloc transformed itself. But some of those suspicions still exist.
  And part of what my goal has been, John Kerry's goal has been -- and I know that David's goal has been -- to try to break down some of those suspicions and look objectively at the situation.
  If, in fact, we can broker a peaceful political transition that leads to Assad's departure but a state in Syria that is still intact; that accommodates the interests of all the ethnic groups, all the religious groups inside of Syria; and that ends the bloodshed, stabilizes the situation -- that's not just going to be good for us; that will be good for everybody. And we're going to be very persistent in trying to make that happen.
  I'm not promising that it's going to be successful. Frankly, sometimes once sort of the Furies have been unleashed in a situation like we're seeing in Syria, it's very hard to put things back together. And there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going even if Russia is involved, because we still have other countries like Iran and we have non-state actors like Hezbollah that have been actively involved. And frankly, on the other side we've got organizations like al Nusra that are essentially affiliated to al Qaeda that have another agenda beyond just getting rid of Assad.
  So all that makes a combustible mix and it's going to be challenging, but it's worth the effort. And what we can tell you is that we're always more successful in any global effort when we've got a strong friend and partner like Great Britain by our side and strong leadership by Prime Minister David Cameron.
  Thank you very much, everybody.
  END12:11 P.M. EDT
Letter -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Yemen
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  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:20
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 13, 2013
  Dear Mr. Speaker: (Mr. President:)
  Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13611 of May 16, 2012, with respect to Yemen is to continue in effect beyond May 16, 2013.
  The actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Yemen and others continue to threaten Yemen's peace, security, and stability, including by obstructing the implementation of the agreement of November 23, 2011, between the Government of Yemen and those in opposition to it, which provided for a peaceful transition of power that meets the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Yemeni people for change, and by obstructing the political process in Yemen. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13611 with respect to Yemen.
  Sincerely,
  BARACK OBAMA
Unmanned plane takes maiden flight over UK skies '-- RT News
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  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:20
  Large civilian planes remotely operated by a controller on the ground could become a reality within just a few years, after British aerospace giant BAE conducted a successful overland UK flight of an unmanned prototype for the first time.
  ''I believe we are writing a new chapter in aviation history,'' said Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, director of the £62 million government-backed ASTRAEA (Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment) program, which is developing the sophisticated sensors that allow the plane to respond to outside conditions without the help of human eyes on-board.
  The Jetstream 31 '' an expensive experimental project known as 'The Flying Testbed' that looks much like an ordinary 16-seater training plane '' took off from Lancashire in northern England, and landed safely 500 miles away in Inverness in Scotland.
  As a precaution, two pilots sat in the cockpit, while the entire flight was conducted by an operator back at base.
  "The pilots were sitting there having a coffee. They did not have to do anything," said a BAE spokesman.
  Flying a plane from the ground takes more than just building a remote control.
  Using an automated visual detection system, the plane automatically steers away from dangerous weather formations as it sees them, while its antennae pick up signals from nearby aircraft to avoid them. The Jetstream 31 also scans the ground for potential safe landing zones in case of emergencies. In the past, the lack of ''sense and avoid'' technologies and other features that would ensure that drones do not cause danger to manned planes were seen as the key stumbling block for letting them into civilian skies.
  Dopping-Hepenstal admitted that it was ''early days'', but said these on-board innovations ''will likely impact all of us in the next five, ten, 20 years as unmanned aircraft and associated technology develop and become a part of everyday life.''
  UK's air regulators have already given out permits for several hundred light drones to share airspace with manned planes. But in the future larger craft using the technologies piloted by ASTRAEA could be used for extended rescue, patrol or pursuit missions, where time would be lost by having to return to base to refuel and change pilots. Whether eventually passenger planes also become remotely operated, will depend on more than just engineering capability, but social attitudes.
  "It's not just the technology, we're trying to think about the social impact of this and the ethical and legal things associated with it," said Dopping-Hepenstal.
  ''These latest trials help prove the technology we need to routinely operate unmanned aircraft in our airspace and also help the regulators develop the framework in which the aircraft can operate."
  US air regulator FAA has insisted that drones be integrated into the civilian airspace by 2015, and the UK plans to do so by the end of the decade.
Eat your bugs, slaves!
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  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:20
  A new United Nations report say the health benefits of consuming nutritious insects could help fight obesity and world hunger.
  More than 1,900 species of insects are eaten around the world, mainly in Africa and Asia, but people in the West generally turn their noses up at the likes of grasshoppers, termites and other crunchy fare.
  The authors of the study, which was published on Monday, by the Forestry Department, part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said many insects contained the same amount of protein and minerals as meat and more healthy fats doctors recommend in balanced diets.
  Al Jazeera's Jessica Baldwin, reporting from London, said that there is no shortage in supply as there are 1,900 edible insect species on the planet, 40 tonnes of insects to every human.
  "But it's not for everyone. Getting over people's squeamishness the UN admits will be a big challenge," she said.
  Eva Muller of the FAO said restaurants in Europe were starting to offer insect-based dishes, presenting them to diners as exotic delicacies.
  As well as helping in the costly battle against obesity, which the World Health Organisation estimates has nearly doubled since 1980 and affects around 500 million people, the report said insect farming was likely to be less lan -dependent than traditional livestock and produce fewer greenhouse gases.
  It would also provide business and export opportunities for poor people in developing countries, especially women, who are often responsible for collecting insects in rural communities.
  248
Jeffrey Kluger's Global Warming Scare: Manhattan Residents Could Soon Be 'Swimming'
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:19
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
VIDEO-TIME's Kluger's Warns Manhattan Residents Could Soon Be 'Swimming' Due to Global Warming | MRCTV
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:18
  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) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
'Bassar Ashad'? Really, President Obama?
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  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Mon, 13 May 2013 17:17
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  In a clip aired on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," President Obama is seen pronouncing the name of Syrian dictator Bashir Assad as "Bassar Ashad."
This could really mess with the CIA's operating budget.
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  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Mon, 13 May 2013 16:49
  Cocaine addicts may soon have a 'cure' for their unhealthy dependence: researchers have successfully created a vaccine that prevents cocaine particles from reaching the brain and inducing feelings of euphoria, thereby helping users break their addiction.
  ''The vaccine eats up the cocaine in the blood like a little Pac-Man before it can reach the brain,'' Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, the lead investigator of the Weill Cornell Medical College study said in a press release.
  ''We believe this strategy is a win-win for those individuals, among the estimated 1.4 million cocaine users in the United States, who are committed to breaking their addiction to the drug,'' he added. ''Even if a person who receives the anti-cocaine falls off the wagon, cocaine will have no effect.''
  Cornell researchers have successfully administered the vaccine to non-human primates and are now much closer to launching human clinical trials. Human testing is expected to begin within a year, Dr. Crystal believes.
  Cocaine blocks the recycling of dopamine '' a neurotransmitter that is responsible for feelings of pleasure. The drug prevents the reuptake of dopamine by the neuron that releases it, causing higher concentrations of dopamine to remain in the synapse and create a 'high'.
  ''You get this massive flooding of dopamine and that is the feel good part of the cocaine high,'' Dr. Crystal said.
  The new vaccine prevents dopamine accumulation at the brain's nerve endings. The vaccine consists of particles of the common cold virus and particles that mimic the structure of cocaine. Once the body receives an injection, it recognizes the cold virus and creates an immune response against both the common cold and the cocaine 'impersonator'.
  ''The immune system learns to see cocaine as an intruder,'' Dr. Crystals said.
  In order to feel the drug high that cocaine users seek to achieve, at least 47 percent of the dopamine transporter needs to be occupied by cocaine. The Cornell researchers found that in vaccinated primates, cocaine occupied less than 20 percent of dopamine receptors '' making it impossible for the animals to be affected by the drug.
  Researchers expect that the vaccine will work in humans, but do not know how often it needs to be administered to maintain its effect. The vaccine continued to work effectively for 13 weeks in mice and seven weeks in primates.
  ''An anti-cocaine vaccination will require booster shots in humans, but we don't know yet how often these booster shots will be needed,'' Dr. Crystal said. ''I believe that for those people who desperately want to break their addiction, a series of vaccinations will help.''
  There are about 1.9 million current and past-month cocaine users in the US, 1.4 million of which are considered addicts or abusers, according to the latest data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. About one in five people who use cocaine will become addicted. There are about 2 million visits to US emergency departments for drug abuse each year, 480,000 of which come are a result of cocaine use.
  A vaccine preventing cocaine-induced feelings of euphoria would help drug users break free from their addiction, thereby drastically reducing emergency room visits and health problems in the US.
  ''Cocaine addiction is a major social problem. It causes changes to behavior, it's expensive and it's illegal,'' Dr. Crystal told LiveScience in 2012. ''It's very difficult to stop. If we could successfully develop a cocaine vaccine it would really be a very positive social advance.''
Gitmo revises force-feeding techniques (PHOTOS) '-- RT USA
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  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 15:48
  Hunger strikers being force-fed at Guantanamo Bay must wear masks over their mouths while being shackled to a restraint chair for up to two hours. Authorities have revised the way they feed the strikers, comparing their techniques to battlefield tactics.
  Nasal tubes are jammed up the prisoners' noses until a liquid supplement reaches their stomachs. The tubes, which are 61cm in length or even longer, stay in the prisoners' nostrils until a chest X-ray or a test dose of water show that the nutritional supplement has reached the prisoner's stomach.
  The shocking procedure doesn't stop there. Detainees are then sent to a ''dry cell'' with no running water while they undergo supervision to make sure they don't vomit. If they regurgitate their supplement, they're sent right back to the restraint chair.
  Details of the "chair restraint system clinical protocol" were published in a newly revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Guantanamo hunger strikers. The document was obtained by Al Jazeera, from the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which has oversight over the joint task force that operates the highly controversial prison.
  The new policy went into effect March 5, just one month after Guantanamo detainees launched the hunger strike in response to alleged mistreatment and mishandling of their Korans.
  "Just as battlefield tactics must change throughout the course of a conflict, the medical responses to GTMO detainees who hunger strike has evolved with time," the revised SOP says. Two weeks ago, 40 more nurses were sent to Guantanamo Bay to assist with force-feedings.
  Force-feeding is an extremely invasive and highly controversial practice which many human rights activists - and the UN - say is torturous. But what's perhaps even more shocking than the procedure itself is that the final decision regarding who will be force-fed is left up to Guantanamo Commander John Smith - not physicians.
  ''In the event a detainee refrains from eating or drinking to the point where it is determined by the medical assessment that continued fasting will result in a threat to life or seriously jeopardize health, and involuntary feeding is required, no direct action will be taken without the knowledge and written approval of Commander [Navy Rear Adm. John Smith, Jr.],'' the document says.
  While doctors are, in fact, present at the site, they exist solely to carry out the military's commands.
  According to Leonard Rubenstein, a lawyer at the Center of Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University and the Berman Institute of Bioethics, the document is alarming because it makes clear that doctors and nurses are simply ''adjuncts of the security apparatus.''
  "The clinical judgment of a doctor or a nurse is basically trumped by this policy and protocol. Doctors are not acting with the kind of professional medical independence,'' he said.
  Giving Cmdr. Smith such extreme power to decide who gets force-fed ''violates core ethical values of the medical profession,'' American Medical Association president Dr. Jeremy Lazarus wrote in a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel last month.
  ''Every competent patient has the right to refuse medical intervention, including life-sustaining interventions,'' he wrote. ''The AMA has long endorsed the World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo, which is unequivocal on the point: 'Where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the physician as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially.'''
  But authorities seem to place less value on the rules and ethics of the World Medical Association Declaration than Lazarus does. According to the SOP, medical professionals will make ''reasonable efforts'' to gain consent from prisoners, but will perform the procedure without being granted such permission.
  According to one detainee, Kuwaiti-born Fayiz al-Kandari, the nasal tubes used in the procedure are large, painful and come with hazardous side effects.
  "It takes several attempts to get the tube into the right place,'' his lawyer, Carlos Warner, said. ''Once it goes down his throat he has a difficult time breathing. There's a gag reflex.''
  But the SOP says otherwise, claiming that the force-feeding can "be completed comfortably over 20 to 30 minutes."
  Guantanamo spokesman Lt. Col. Samuel House said that medical professionals who conduct the force feedings ''carefully evaluate each patient to determine the appropriate size of tube to use.'' He added that the sizes of the tubes used ''should not be a big problem in an adult.''
  Those on the receiving end of the force-feeding disagree. However, they have no option but to sit shackled to the restraint chair and let the procedure take place against their will - because the anti-spitting and biting masks are in place to prevent them from interrupting the process.
  If the inmates do succeed in biting the feeding tubes, they face even more force and discomfort.
  ''If the detainee is able to get the [enteral feeding] tube between his teeth, the RN [registered nurse] shall'...direct the guard staff to stabilize the detainee's head in the midline position'...hold traction on the tube for as long as necessary for the detainee to relax his jaw; then continue safe removal of the tube. This may take considerable time,'' the document says.
  While the detainees show no signs of ending their hunger strike, US authorities at the prison remain determined to follow the practices outlined in the SOP - despite any criticism from human rights activists or the UN.
  And it seems US President Barack Obama doesn't have a problem with the force-feeding techniques.
  Less than two weeks ago, the President said he believes the ''Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can,'' adding that he doesn't want ''these individuals to die.''
  Obama vowed to close down Guantanamo at the beginning of his first term in office in 2009. However, he was blocked from fulfilling that promise by legislation passed by the US Congress.
  Less than two weeks ago, Obama vowed to ''re-engage with Congress to try to make the case [Guantanamo] is not something that's in the best interests of the American people.''
  There are currently 100 inmates participating in the hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, 29 of whom are receiving enteral feeds. Five of those prisoners are being observed in the detainee hospital, Lt. Col. Samuel House said in a Monday statement. The official numbers differ from those of human rights activists, who have put the number of strikers up to 130.
Gadsden flag, called Tea Party symbol, removed from New York military armory | Fox News
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  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 16:39
  Official U.S. Navy file photo shows Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) raising the First Navy Jack.
  A group of New York veterans is preparing to march into court after a town ordered the Gadsden flag removed from a military armory.
  The city of New Rochelle, N.Y., has removed the Gadsden ''Don't Tread on Me'' flag from the New Rochelle Armory after the city council refused to let a veterans organization display the flag, World Net Daily reported.
  The United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Association of New Rochelle is fighting the decision, ordered by City Manager Chuck Strome after complaints that the flag is a symbol of the Tea Party movement, according to World Net Daily.
  ''Many Americans fought and died for our independence under that flag. . ."
  - Richard Thompson, of the Thomas More Law Center
  But Strome did an about-face after Peter Parente, president of United Veterans Memorial, sent Strome the history of the Gadsden flag, which is flown beneath the U.S. flag on many military sites, according to World Net Daily.
  Then the New Rochelle City Council overruled Strome, voting 5-2 to have the flag removed.
  According to the Washington Examiner, the council objected to the flag because they said Parente is a member of the Tea Party and wants to display the flag to push a political agenda.
  Parente said no one in the veterans group is a Tea Party member. ''I'm a proud Republican,'' he told the council, according to the Examiner.
  Now, the veterans have found an ally in the Thomas More Law Center and are ready to go to court.
  ''Their outrageous decision to confiscate a cherished symbol of our War for Independence smacks of pure partisan politics,'' Richard Thompson, chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, told World Net Daily.
  ''Many Americans fought and died for our independence under that flag, and the law center will take available means to return the Gadsden flag back on the veterans' flag pole. As one Revolutionary War hero said, we 'have just begun to fight,''' he added.
  According to the U.S. Navy website, beginning Sept. 11, 2002, all U.S. Navy ships have flown the First Navy Jack flag. The flag, first used by the Continental Navy in 1775, consists of a rattlesnake superimposed across 13 alternating red and white stripes with the motto, ''Don't Tread On Me.''
  According to the site, Commodore Esek Hopkins used the First Navy Jack as a signal to engage the British in the American Revolution. The Jack in today's fleet represents a historic reminder of the nation's origin.
  Click for more from World Net Daily.
VIDEO-Alternative medicine for relieving long-term symptoms | kvue.com Austin
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  Mon, 13 May 2013 16:31
  Some patients swear by alternative medicine to cure symptoms such as migraines.
  Ken Moench with Therapy Central joins us to talk more about this.
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Web searches for symptoms of HIV, MRSA and flu strains will be monitored to spot outbreaks of infections - Science - News - The Independent
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  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 16:30
  British scientists plan to harness the power of the internet to catch outbreaks of killer infections before they spread.
  The researchers will use online surveillance to monitor millions of web searches where people have looked up symptoms related to conditions such as HIV, MRSA or dangerous strains of flu.
  They say this will help them to locate in ''real time'' exactly where the next epidemic is emerging. It is hoped that this will ''revolutionise'' Britain's ability to respond to deadly infections and prevent millions of deaths.
  The £17million government-funded Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) centre, where the technologies will be advanced, is expected to be operational by October.
  The Health Protection Agency currently relies on medical testing which can take up to two weeks to determine where an outbreak is happening.
  Dr Rachel McKendry, from UCL, said online tracking of infectious diseases could identify epidemics before patients even visit a doctor.
  She said it is ''crucial'' the online surveillance be linked to the mobile testing being developed at the IRC to be used in GP surgeries and even care homes.
  ''In a single visit someone can be diagnosed, get the result and get treatment,'' said Dr McKendry.
Exploring Ubuntu Touch, the other Linux OS for your phone | Ars Technica
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  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 16:30
  The chances are good that if you're buying a smartphone or tablet in 2013, you're buying something with iOS or Android on it. The two operating systems loom so large over their competitors that even the entrenched, deep-pocketed Microsoft has had trouble making headway into this market with its Windows Phone, Windows 8, and Windows RT systems.
  Google and Apple's combined dominance hasn't stopped others from trying, though. New mobile operating systems have been springing up like weeds in the last six months. RIM (now BlackBerry) finally launched the long-awaited BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Z10 in an attempt to overhaul its image. Mozilla is making Firefox OS in an effort to tackle developing markets and prove that a browser is all you really need. And Canonical wants to take Ubuntu beyond the desktop with Ubuntu Touch.
  We got a not-quite-hands-on test drive of a 12.10-based version of Ubuntu's mobile operating system back at CES, but the OS images were recently updated to Ubuntu 13.04 when Raring Ringtail was introduced at the end of last month. Though Ubuntu Touch won't be available at retail before the end of this year at the earliest, we figured now is an opportune time to check in and see how things are going.
  It can't be stressed enough that even in this updated form, Ubuntu Touch is nowhere near usable as a mainstream mobile operating system. Canonical makes no claim that it is. For now, the software is about half development environment and half proof-of-concept tech demo. As such, we aren't going to be evaluating Ubuntu Touch using quite the same criteria we'd use for a shipping product'--we're going to be focusing more on how the OS looks and works and less on how it performs. As we get closer to Ubuntu 14.04 and presumably Ubuntu Touch's retail availability, we'll certainly be revisiting it with a more critical eye.
  Enlarge/ After many frustrating hours, I realized that this wasn't the right way to install Ubuntu to the Galaxy Nexus.Andrew Cunningham
  Dedicated Ubuntu Touch hardware isn't here yet. If you want to run the operating system, you need an Android device with an unlocked bootloader. We ran through the complete installation instructions several times on our devices, and we'll present a condensed version here for your convenience.
  Today there are four devices onto which you can easily load Ubuntu Touch: the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus 4, the Nexus 7, and the Nexus 10. As Android reference devices, these phones and tablets are all pretty easy to unlock and manipulate, and their software and drivers are all readily available from Google and the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Because Ubuntu Touch relies on a few low-level parts of Android to work'--the Linux kernel, graphics and audio drivers, and software for using the phone's cellular radio'--porting the OS to any other device requires that software to be available.
  A considerable amount of work has been done to port Ubuntu Touch to a smattering of other phones and tablets, the full list of which can be found on this Devices page. Images for these devices aren't hosted by Canonical, but the flashing instructions and status pages are all linked there. At the time of writing, the instructions that we cover here won't apply to any non-Nexus devices.
  You only need a few things to get started: a working Ubuntu computer (or Ubuntu VM with USB passthrough support), a micro-USB cable to connect to your phone or tablet, and a Nexus phone or tablet that you don't have any important data on. This particular flashing process is potentially destructive. Canonical warns that you can "potentially brick your device," so it would be best not to install the software on hardware that you rely on from day-to-day.
  First, you'll need to grab the appropriate Android development tools for your Ubuntu computer, which can be executed through a couple of simple terminal commands. Start by adding the Ubuntu Touch PPA to your list of repositories:
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools
  Then you'll actually download the tools from that repository:
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot
  This will add both the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) that you'll need to communicate with the device and the phablet-flash tool used to flash it.
  Next, you'll need to unlock the bootloader on your phone or tablet and enable USB debugging. The standard warnings about unlocking your bootloader apply here: a device with an unlocked bootloader can be made to run malicious code at boot, and unlocking your bootloader also makes it easier for anyone with physical access to your phone to bypass any PIN or password you may have set.
  Unlocking the developer-centric Nexus devices is pretty simple. First, power the device off, then power it on while holding down the power, volume down, and volume up buttons. Once you see the bootloader screen, plug the phone or tablet into your Ubuntu PC, open up a terminal window, and type sudo fastboot oem unlock. Accept the terms of service, and then unplug the device from the Ubuntu PC and reboot.
  When the device reboots, tap through the first-time setup stuff until you're on the Android home screen. Go into the Settings app, scroll all the way to the bottom, tap "About [device]," and then tap repeatedly on the build number until the device informs you that you're now a developer. Tap the back button, tap the now-visible "Developer Options" menu, and check the "USB debugging" box.
  Almost done! Next, go back to your Ubuntu PC, and in your terminal window type adb kill-server followed by adb start-server to make sure the ADB service is running properly. Plug your Android device back in via USB and tap OK when asked to allow USB debugging. Finally, type phablet-flash -b to deploy the appropriate Ubuntu Touch image to your Nexus device; this will take some time, but when it reboots your phone or tablet should be thoroughly Ubuntu-fied.
  The installation wiki page has a few extra instructions that could be helpful if you encounter problems (like if your device can't make it past the boot screen after unlocking, which happened to our Nexus 10), but these steps should make your Nexus devices into Ubuntu devices without too much trouble. That wiki page will also come in handy if you'd like to get Android back on your devices when you're finished playing with Ubuntu. For the more adventurous, it's also possible to have both Ubuntu and Android installed on your device at once, but that's more than we'll get into here.
  Listing image by Andrew Cunningham
Reserchers Create "Hate Map" of the U.S. With Twitter Data | MIT Technology Review
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 16:17
  The same researchers previously mapped racist Tweets about President Obama. In both cases there's reason to be a little skeptical.
  Candian researchers have created a ''hate map'' that splashes a U.S. map with color-coding showing the proportion of all Tweets that contain common hateful words about race, sexual orientation, or disabilities.
  The group responsible, based at California's Humboldt State University, previously faced some criticism for their methodology in mapping racist Tweets concerning President Obama; in that project the researchers identified racist terms algorithmically, meaning the context might sometimes be misconstrued. They say they answered past criticism in part by analyzing tweets by hand to make sure certain words were really used in a derogatory way. In the new study, human readers reviewed 150,000 Tweets in the study sample to confirm the context was derogatory. The results arehere.
  While the new effort may accurately find hate in Tweets, there are reasons to doubt that the results accurately map hate in the United States. For starters, the concentration of Twitter users is not even across the country, and not all Tweets are geotagged (they only looked at the geotagged ones). Moreover, a lot of Twitter accounts are marketing-based and wouldn't contain hate words, so those would drown out the signal. Some Twitter accounts are phony. Perhaps most of all, the number of times an individual person Tweets can vary greatly. One guy spewing 1,000 hateful Tweets will make his county look pretty bad.
  Overall, the map puts the midwest and southeast in a generally harsh light. By contrast, it says there seems to be very little hate in California, Colorado or Alabama '-- but lots of it in angry red splashes such as one between Davenport and Iowa City, Iowa. My skepticism is tempered by the unbroken corridor in light blue (denoting ''some hate'') generally along the New Jersey Turnpike. When I'm stuck there I don't like my fellow man either.
  To make up your own mind, read more about the methodology here.
VIDEO- GESTAPO-What should we expect in the next few months in terms of SEO for Google? - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 15:15
Sandy Hook Shooter Adam Lanza Had No Drugs, Alcohol In System - Courant.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 14:49
  Toxicology tests show that Adam Lanza had no alcohol or drugs in his system when he shot and killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14.
  The tests were conducted as part of the autopsy by state Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver II. Sources said his final report has been turned over to state prosecutors and investigators.
  Law enforcement sources familiar with the tests results said that Lanza, 20, had no traces of alcohol or any illegal drugs such as cocaine or marijuana in his system. The sources also said that there is no trace of antidepressants or anti-psychotic medications.
  A toxicology exam searches for trace amount of hundreds of drugs - from aspirin to antidepressants. Sources said testing for marijuana is a specific, separate test which Carver ordered in this case.
  It is unclear whether Lanza took medication or used illegal drugs or alcohol. Search warrant records released by state police do not indicate whether drugs or alcohol were found when investigators searched the Newtown home Lanza shared with his mother. Lanza shot and killed Nancy Lanza in the home before he went to the school.
  The warrants do indicate that unspecified medical records were found. Law enforcement sources have said that Lanza received some psychiatric care at an unspecified point and that state police obtained those records early in the investigation.
  Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole said she wasn't surprised to learn that Lanza had a clean toxicology test, noting that shooters in other recent mass killings also tested clean. Virginia Tech gunman Sueng Hui Cho, for instance, had been prescribed Prozac but had no traces of the drug in his system after the attack, she said.
  O'Toole said that other mass shooters have had histories of antidepressant use but acknowledged going off their medications because they "wanted to have a clear head" during their attacks.
  O'Toole said Lanza's test results support the theory that Lanza's attack was focused and well planned.
  "His thinking was not blurred or flawed in anyway,'' O'Toole said.
  O'Toole said the absence of anything in his system is consistent with someone thinking strategically that "I want to kill as many people as I can."
  State police are leading the investigation into the massacre. Danbury State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky has said he expects a final report to be released by the end of June.
  Adam Lanza shot his mother four times in the head with a .22 rifle. Her body was found in her bed. He then drove her Honda Civic to the Sandy Hook school, put in ear plugs, loaded hundreds of rounds of ammunition into his military vest and shot his way through the glass windows at the front entrance.
  In all he fired 154 shots as he move through the school, all but one from a Bushmaster AR15 that belonged to his mother.
  Lanza first killed Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach in the hallway before entering the classroom of substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau and killing her, a teacher's aide and 15 students. One girl survived by playing dead.
  He then backtracked into the classroom of Victoria Soto and killed her, a teacher's aide and five students. Six others students escaped her classroom when Lanza's gun either jammed or he had difficulty reloading it, dropping live bullets on the floor. Five students survived after Soto hid them in a closet.
  Lanza shot and killed himself with a handgun as police were entering the building.
Traveler from Saudi Arabia arrested at Detroit Metro with pressure cooker | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 13:26
  Detroit '-- Federal agents arrested a Saudi Arabian traveler who arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with a pressure cooker, a key component used in the Boston Marathon bombings last month.
  Hussain Al Kwawahir will be arraigned at 1 p.m. in federal court for allegedly using an altered passport and lying to a Customs and Border Protection Agent about the pressure cooker.
  Al Kwawahir arrived at the airport Saturday from Saudi Arabia, via Amsterdam, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in federal court.
  He told agents he was visiting his nephew, who attends the University of Toledo.
  During baggage inspection, officers noticed a page missing from his passport.
  Al Kwawahir told officers he did not know how the page was removed from the passport.
  During the baggage exam, officers found a pressure cooker.
  Al Kwawahir said he brought the pressure cooker for his nephew because the devices are not sold in the United States, according to the complaint.
  Later, he changed his story and admitted that his nephew had purchased a pressure cooker in the U.S. but it was cheap and broken.
  Come back to www.detroitnews.com for more on this developing story.
  rsnell@detnews.com
  (313) 222-2028
Sealed with a diss? WH Twitter page features 'fallen eagle' in presidential seal | Twitchy
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 13 May 2013 12:40
  Keen eyes like those at My Pet Jawa have noticed this ''fallen eagle'' being displayed on the official White House Twitter page:
  The photo featured on the page appears to be of the Oval Office ceiling:
  But would it have been so difficult for the White House tweeters to flip the seal right-side-up?
  Who thought an upside-down eagle was a good idea?
  (Hat tip: Chrissy Mullender)