Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287522386?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Rebecca Hall Talks Violent Marriage To Benedict Cumberbatch In HBO's 'Parade's End'
Don't let the title fool you — the parade is just beginning for "Parade's End." Tonight (February 26) at 9 p.m. ET, HBO airs the first two installments of "Parade's End," director Susanna White and writer Tom Stoppard's five-part miniseries based on author Ford Madox Ford's novel series set in Europe during the threat of [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/26/rebecca-hall-benedict-cumberbatch-parades-end-hbo/
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Progress at Iran nuke talks?
ALMATY (Reuters) - Major powers offered Iran limited sanctions relief in return for a halt to the most controversial part of its atomic work during the first day of nuclear talks on Tuesday, and Iran promised to respond with a proposal on the same scale.
The talks in Kazakhstan were the first in eight months between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany - the "P5+1" - on a decade-old dispute that threatens to trigger another war in the Middle East.
Iran has used the time since the last meeting in June to further expand activity that the West suspects is aimed at enabling it to build a nuclear bomb, something that Israel has suggested it will prevent by force if diplomacy fails.
The two-day negotiations in the city of Almaty follow inconclusive meetings last year in Istanbul, Baghdad and Moscow.
Western diplomats described the first day of talks as "useful" but said Iranian negotiators did not immediately respond to the P5+1's demand that Tehran closes its underground nuclear facility Fordow, at the center of their concerns.
"Hopefully the Iranians will be able to reflect overnight and will come back and view our proposal positively," said a spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who oversees Iranian diplomacy for the six powers.
With the Islamic Republic's political elite preoccupied with worsening infighting before a presidential election in June, few believe the meeting will yield a quick breakthrough.
"It is clear that nobody expects to come from Almaty with a fully done deal," the EU spokesman, Michael Mann, said before the meeting started.
OFFER PRESENTED
A U.S. official said that the offer - an updated version of one rejected by Tehran last year - would take into account its recent nuclear advances, but also take "some steps in the sanctions arena".
For years, the powers had attempted a mix of economic pressure and diplomacy to persuade Iran to scale back its atomic work, but Tehran has insisted that sanctions are lifted before it complies with any demands.
In Almaty, a source close to the Iranian negotiators told reporters: "Depending on what proposal we receive from the other side we will present our own proposal of the same weight. The continuation of talks depends on how this exchange of proposals goes forward".
At best, diplomats and analysts say, Iran will take the joint offer from the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and China seriously and agree to hold further talks soon on practical steps to ease the tension. Initial meetings could involve only technical experts, who cannot strike deals.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Berlin that he hoped Iran "will make its choice to move down the path of a diplomatic solution".
But Iran, whose chief negotiator Saeed Jalili is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is a veteran of Iran's 1980s war against Iraq and the Western powers that backed it, has shown no sign of willingness to scale back its nuclear work.
It says it has a sovereign right to carry out nuclear enrichment for peaceful energy purposes, and in particular refuses to close the underground Fordow enrichment plant, a condition the powers have set for any sanctions relief.
FASTER ENRICHMENT
A U.N. nuclear watchdog report last week said Iran was for the first time installing advanced centrifuges that would allow it to significantly speed up its enrichment of uranium, which can have both civilian and military purposes.
Accelerating Western sanctions on Iran over the last 14 months are hurting Iran's economy and slashing oil revenue. Its currency has more than halved in value, which in turn has pushed up inflation.
The central bank governor was quoted on Monday as saying Iran's inflation was likely to top 30 percent in coming weeks as the sanctions contribute to shortages and stockpiling. [ID:nL6N0BP51A] Iranians say inflation is already much higher than that official figure.
But analysts say the sanctions are not close to having the crippling effect envisaged by Washington and - so far at least - they have not prompted a change in Iran's nuclear course.
Western officials said the powers' offer would include an easing of restrictions on trade in gold and other precious metals if Tehran closes Fordow.
The facility is used for enriching uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, a short technical step from weapons grade.
Western officials acknowledge an easing of U.S. and EU sanctions on trade in gold represents a relatively modest step. But the metal could be used as part of barter transactions that might allow Iran to circumvent financial sanctions.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman last week dismissed the reported incentive as insufficient and a senior Iranian lawmaker has ruled out closing Fordow, close to the holy city of Qom.
(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Almaty, Zahra Hosseinian in Zurich, Arshad Mohammed and Stephen Brown in Berlin; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/powers-offer-iran-sanctions-relief-nuclear-talks-055616179.html
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Little telescope to hunt big game: hard-to-see near-Earth asteroids
Canada's NEOSSat space telescope was launched Monday atop an Indian rocket. It will monitor two groups of asteroids whose proximity to the sun makes them hard to see from Earth.
In this frame grab made from dashboard camera video shows the Chelyabinsk asteroid on Feb. 15, about 930 miles east of Moscow. Efforts to discover near-Earth asteroids received a potential boost Monday with the launch of Canada's NEOSSat space telescope.
AP Video/AP
EnlargeEfforts to discover near-Earth asteroids ? including those that are potentially hazardous ? received a potential boost Monday with the launch of the Canadian Space Agency's Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat).
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Housed in a spacecraft the size of a large suitcase, the space telescope physically is a munchkin among behemoths. Its light-gathering mirror is only about 6 inches across.
But from its orbit nearly 500 miles above Earth, NEOSSat will be able to view faint near-Earth asteroids in a region of space that is tough for terrestrial telescopes to tackle.
The $25 million NEOSSat mission is one of seven satellites the Indian Space Agency lofted Monday aboard a single rocket launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, some 50 miles north of Chennal, on India's east coast.
Ground stations have made contact with NEOSSat, "and the basics are green," says Alan Hildebrand, a researcher at the University of Calgary in Alberta and the project's lead scientist.
To date, astronomers say they have discovered between 90 and 95 percent of the approximately 1,000 near-Earth asteroids estimated to be larger than half a mile across.
In 2005, Congress instructed NASA to hunt for smaller asteroids ? setting a goal of finding 90 percent of near-Earth asteroids 500 feet wide and larger by 2020.
But as the Chelyabinsk asteroid demonstrated on Feb. 15, objects far smaller can inflict damage. At about 55 feet across, and with a mass estimated at 10,000 tons, the asteroid exploded high over the Ural mountains. The shock waves damaged an estimated 4,300 buildings and injured nearly 1,500 people.
With tens of millions of objects this size orbiting the sun, the recurrence rate for collisions with a Chelyabinsk-like object averages once every 100 years, according to Paul Chodas, with NASA's Near-Earth Objects Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
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Protest votes add to uncertainty in close Italy election
ROME (Reuters) - Polls in Italy opened for the second day of voting on Monday in one of the most closely watched and unpredictable elections in years, with a surge in protest votes fuelling fears of an unclear outcome that could hamper economic reform.
A bitter campaign, fought largely over economic issues, has been closely watched by financial markets, still wary after the debt crisis that took the whole euro zone close to disaster and brought technocrat prime minister Mario Monti to office in 2011.
For the euro zone, the stakes are high. Italy is the third largest economy in the 17-member bloc and the prospect of political stalemate could reawaken the threat of dangerous market instability.
Opinion polls give the centre-left coalition led by the veteran former Industry Minister Pier Luigi Bersani a narrow lead but the race has been thrown open by the prospect of a huge protest vote against austerity policies imposed by Monti and rage at a wave of corporate and political scandals.
Voting ends at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Monday, with the first exit polls due shortly afterwards. Projections based on the vote count will be issued through the afternoon and the final result should be known late on Monday or early Tuesday.
The result is likely to be the most fragmented in decades, with the old left-right division disrupted up by the rise of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo and the decision of outgoing prime minister Mario Monti to run at the head of a centrist bloc.
Grillo has electrified the race with a furious campaign against corruption and privilege in the elite.
"It will be a vote of protest, maybe of revolt," said a front page editorial in Corriere della Sera, Italy's largest newspaper, on Monday.
After the first day of voting on Sunday about 54 percent of voters had cast their ballots, a sharp fall on the level of 62.5 percent seen at the same stage in the last election in 2008.
Bad weather hampered the turnout in Italy's first post-war election to be held in winter.
Luigi Bartoletti, a 57-year-old salesman from Rome said he had voted for the 5-Star movement.
"But unfortunately I don't believe there will be a stable government," he said. "The hope is that by voting for these people, even if they're inexperienced, there may be at least some checks on the management of public affairs."
The 5-Star Movement, heavily backed by a frustrated younger generation increasingly shut out of full-time jobs, has polled strongly and some believe it could challenge former premier Silvio Berlusconi's PDL party as Italy's second largest political force.
"Come on, it isn't over yet," was Monday's front page headline in Il Giornale daily, owned by Berlusconi's brother, a call to arms to voters not to give up.
The 76 year-old Berlusconi has campaigned fiercely at the head of a centre-right coalition, pledging sweeping tax cuts and echoing Grillo's attacks on Monti, Germany and the euro in a media blitz that has halved the lead of the centre-left since the start of the year.
Support for Monti's centrist coalition meanwhile has faded and he appears set to trail well behind the main parties.
SENATE RACE
Whatever government emerges will inherit an economy that has been largely stagnant for much of the past two decades and problems ranging from record youth unemployment to a dysfunctional justice system and a bloated public sector.
At the same time, the credibility of the political system has been hit by corruption scandals and criminal investigations affecting state-controlled defense group Finmeccanica and Italy's third-largest bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
Despite the opinion polls suggesting the centre-left is leading, it is far from clear that Bersani will be able to control both houses of parliament and form a stable government capable of lasting a full five-year term.
Italy's electoral laws guarantee a strong majority in the lower house to the party or coalition that wins the biggest share of the overall national vote.
However the Senate, elected on a region-by-region basis, is more complicated and the result could turn on a handful of regions where results are too close to call, including Lombardy in the rich industrial north and the southern island of Sicily.
Many politicians and analysts believe Bersani and Monti will end up in an alliance after the vote, despite a number of spiky exchanges during the campaign and Monti's insistence that he will not join forces with Bersani's leftist allies.
For his part, Bersani, who has pledged to maintain the broad reform course set by Monti while doing more to help growth, says he would seek support from other parties and would be ready to offer the former European Commissioner a job in his government.
But there is no guarantee that it would be possible to form a stable alliance that would also include far-left partners or trade unions that have fiercely opposed key reforms by the Monti government including attempts to ease hiring and firing rules.
After repeated rounds of tax hikes and spending cuts, sliding wages and declining standards of living, Italians are increasingly weary of the austerity medicine prescribed by Monti to prevent Italy's huge public debt from sliding out of control.
(Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei and Gavin Jones; Editing by Stephen Powell and Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/protest-votes-add-uncertainty-close-italy-election-070325879.html
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OPTiM outs wireless smartphone-to-smartphone screen sharing and remote control app for Android
One of the more notable features of BlackBerry 10 is built-in screensharing, but here in Barcelona at MWC 2013, OPTiM has just one-upped Waterloo with a new app for Android. It not only lets users share screens, but it also allows them to remotely control devices over WiFi. Called Optia for Android, it works with handsets running Android 2.3 and up, and has a built-in chat function for facilitating communication while screensharing. Naturally, the app's a boon to IT pros who manage devices from afar, but it should also prove useful for helping you teach mom and dad how to use the fancy new smartphones you got them for Christmas. The app's currently free from Google Play, though only for a limited time. Head on past the break for a video of Optia in action, and you can grab the app at the source link below.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Google Play Store
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/optim-android-smartphone-to-smartphone-screen-sharing-app/
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Understanding What Vehicle Leasing Suggests ? Hellofor facebook ...
As an alternative of being the finest way to get a new car or truck, Shopper Studies and Wise Dollars magazines each say that leasing is the worst way to obtain a new motor vehicle. You make month-to-month payments to use another person else's house, and at the stop of the lease you have to give the vehicle back. Most lease agreements have a buy option written into them that lets you to purchase the motor vehicle right after the conclusion of the lease, but this settlement is not a lot greater than a "lease to very own" plan. If you determine not to buy your auto, you nevertheless require a replacement car. Without a trade-in car, you will have to pay the total value of yet another automobile, or enter into a new lease.
The A4 may well not be the sportiest automobile in its class, but it is excellent to drive. Effectively well balanced dealing with, tons of grip and solid engines truly do make it gratifying.
The long term plan is to proceed to provide incentives to firms to decide on Environmentally friendly Cars' which are kinder to the atmosphere - the decrease the CO2 emissions, the superior.
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Make steps to increase your credit standing and develop a background of on time standard payments. Shift your concentrate to paying your loans and/or credit score playing cards on time and hold records of your fantastic faith payment historical past. We want to construct a case for your currently being a great threat for a car lease that you will then return to the supplier with. In addition your credit score will little by little boost. Talk frankly with the website agent, discover out what the minimum amount score is necessary to lease a auto with bad credit history.
Prior to you could decide on the appropriate car or truck finance product you initial have to opt for whether or not you want to lease or obtain the vehicle employing automobile finance. Leasing is now more and more typical in Australia these days. In the earlier, it has by no means been a popular selection. Leasing a vehicle by utilizing a automobile finance demands you to pay out through your initial time to make use of the car or truck. It can be both you find yet another lease or surrender the auto as before long as the lease term by now ends. Generally, on the other hand, you have the alternative of finding the vehicle - for which you could use auto finance.
If you are leasing a new auto, you are not heading to really individual it. You will simply be leasing the vehicle. It is virtually like leasing it, on the other hand, it is yours to drive until eventually the lease is above. This is not often the best selection for absolutely everyone and it will count on what selections you like the most. It is your dollars and you will will need to figure out what you want to have the most. You should however, make absolutely sure that you are obtaining all the details that you require ahead of you choose on it.
Getting an utilize for a financial loan on the web is incredibly basic as you just have to keep track of down some of the major on the web lending web sites or loan companies. When you are decided, you basically have to fill in the online financial loan application forms that are there on these internet web sites. Fill in the on the internet application for loan with private and professional specifics so that the loan provider is aware about your present profits position and other essential details. As there is considerably less paperwork and no tough formalities, the entire process is really rapid and efficient. Also, there is less pressure and legwork involved when you implement for a mortgage on the net.
Source: http://www.hellofour.com/blog/42620/understanding-what-vehicle-leasing-suggests/
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General mechanism that accelerates tumor development discovered
Feb. 24, 2013 ? Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell division and growth. In order to identify new therapeutic targets through which to tackle the disease, scientists seek to clarify the mechanisms that control the expression of genes that favor the development of tumors, in processes such as uncontrolled cell division. Nature has just published a paper by the lab headed by Ra?l M?ndez, ICREA professor at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The study describes a mechanism controlled by the CPEB1 protein that affects more than 200 genes related to cell proliferation and tumor progression. The mechanism, which was discovered using Hodgkin lymphoma cells, has been proposed as a general regulatory system that enhances the spread of cancer.
The researchers describe that CPEB1 shortens a highly specific region of RNAs (RNAs are the molecules that carry gene information for protein synthesis). This region holds most of the signals that determine whether an RNA molecule is made into a protein or not. "CPEB1 "takes off the brakes" for hundreds of RNAs that stimulate cell desdifferentiation and proliferation, allowing them to be made into proteins; however, in addition to removing the brakes in the nucleus, this protein accompanies RNA to the cytoplasm, where it speeds up the production of these proteins," explains the senior author of the paper Ra?l M?ndez, head of the "Translational control of cell cycle and differentiation" group at IRB Barcelona.
Ra?l M?ndez is an expert on the CPBE protein family, a type of RNA-binding protein that has a positive and crucial role in early embryo development. "CPEB proteins are necessary during development and also during tissue regeneration via stem cells in adults, but if the programme governed by CPEBs is continually switched on, cells divide when they are not supposed to and form a tumor," explains M?ndez. The CPEB family comprises four proteins, which compensate each other's normal function but which have specific activities in diseased states. "This finding is positive from a therapeutic viewpoint because it means that if you remove CPEB1 from healthy cells, its function can be taken over by any other CPEB protein. In contrast, in tumors only CPEB1 has the capacity to shorten these regions, thus affecting only tumor cells," states Italian researcher Felice Alessio Bava, first author of the paper, and post-doctoral fellow with M?ndez's group who, this year, has obtained his doctorate degree through the "la Caixa" International Fellowship Programme. This study provides further evidence of the potential of CPEB proteins as therapeutic targets. In 2011, in a study published in Nature Medicine, M?ndez identified that CPEB4 "switches on" hundreds of genes linked to tumor growth. This new study explains that the overexpression of CPEB4 in tumors is because CPEB1 has also "released its brakes." "The fact that these proteins control each other is also advantageous from a therapeutic point of view," asserts M?ndez, "because partial inhibition, by a drug, would be amplified, thus allowing tumor cell reprogramming. The amplification should make it easier to find a viable compound."
The lab has developed a system to screen therapeutic molecules for a drug that can inhibit the action of CPEB in tumors while having few secondary effects on healthy cells. "There is no drug currently available that influences the regulation of gene expression at this level. Our findings open up a pioneering therapeutic window. We are optimistic about the potential of CPEB proteins as targets," says M?ndez.
The action of CPEB proteins should be considered in the design of other therapeutic strategies
The study published in Nature includes a meticulous genomic analysis of RNA molecules that are processed in different ways depending on whether CPBE1 is present. The study provides a list of between 200 and 300 of such genes, that is to say, those that would have the region holding regulatory signals removed. This is precisely the region where microRNAs -- small molecules regulating the translation of this RNA to protein -- bind. "Many antitumor therapies attempt to interfere with microRNA binding, but we have now revealed that CPEB proteins remove these regions beforehand. The pharmaceutical companies that are developing such compounds will be able to predict whether their targets are suitable approaches or not," explains the scientist.
The study has involved the collaboration of the group led by Juan Valc?rcel at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), an expert in RNA nuclear processing, and that of Roderic Guig?, an expert in biostatistics and also at CRG. This study received funding from the Consolider RNAreg consortium of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competition and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Felice-Alessio Bava, Carolina Eliscovich, Pedro G. Ferreira, Belen Mi?ana, Claudia Ben-Dov, Roderic Guig?, Juan Valc?rcel, Ra?l M?ndez. CPEB1 coordinates alternative 3?-UTR formation with translational regulation. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature11901
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/6AD_azErazs/130224142827.htm
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Jackson Jr.'s district has history of corruption
FILE - in this Feb. 20, 2013 file photo, former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr leaves federal court in Washington after he entered a guilty plea to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. Residents in Illinois' 2nd District are preparing to vote in a special primary Feb. 26 to replace Jackson in the Chicago area district that has seen three congressmen leave office in an ethical cloud. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - in this Feb. 20, 2013 file photo, former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr leaves federal court in Washington after he entered a guilty plea to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. Residents in Illinois' 2nd District are preparing to vote in a special primary Feb. 26 to replace Jackson in the Chicago area district that has seen three congressmen leave office in an ethical cloud. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 28, 2012 file photo, former Congressman Mel Reynolds announces that he's joining the increasingly crowded field running for the 2nd District seat vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr. Residents in Illinois 2nd District are preparing to vote in a special primary Feb. 26 to replace Jackson in the Chicago area district that has seen three congressmen leave office in an ethical cloud. Reynolds was one of those three congressmen. He is a Harvard-educated Rhodes Scholar who won office in 1992 and later convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2013 file photo, former Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly, accepts the endorsement at a Chicago news conference from left to right, Gail Mahome, Dr. Willie Wilson and Dr. John Gray, members of the International Ministers & Community Alliance, in her bid to replace former U.S. Jesse Jackson Jr., in Illinois' 2nd District. Residents in the 2nd District are preparing to vote in a special primary Feb. 26 to replace Jackson in the Chicago area district that has seen three congressmen leave office in an ethical cloud. Jackson entered a guilty plea in Washington, Feb. 20 to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He resigned from Congress in November 2012. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
In this Feb. 7, 2013 photo, U.S. Congressional hopeful Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale speaks at a news conference in Chicago where Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, left, endorsed him in his bid replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in Illinois' 2nd District. Residents in the 2nd District are preparing to vote in a special primary Feb. 26 to replace Jackson in the Chicago area district that has seen three congressmen leave office in an ethical cloud. Jackson entered a guilty plea in Washington, Feb. 20 to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He resigned in November 2012. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
CHICAGO (AP) ? They elected a Harvard-educated Rhodes Scholar and ended up with a congressman who was convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker. They voted for the son of a famous civil rights leader and got someone who illegally spent campaign funds on everything from furniture to Bruce Lee memorabilia.
Call it Chicago corruption at its worst or simply uncanny coincidence, but residents of Illinois' 2nd Congressional District haven't been represented in Congress in more than three decades by someone who didn't end up in serious ethical or legal trouble. That hangs over them as they go to the polls Tuesday for a special primary to begin picking a replacement for disgraced former U.S. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr.
It began with Gus Savage, who took office in 1981 and was defeated a decade later after allegations of sexual misconduct with a Peace Corps worker while on a congressional visit abroad. Then there was Mel Reynolds, who won office in 1992 and was convicted of fraud and having sex with a minor. This past week, after 17 years in office, Jackson pleaded guilty to spending $750,000 in campaign money on personal expenses.
"They all drank from the same cup," said Charles Hill, an unemployed father of five. The Chicago resident once supported Jackson, but the legal drama has left him so drained he's not even paying attention to the batch of nearly 20 candidates vying for the spot. "It's a sad commentary."
Even by Illinois' corruption standards ? where four of the last seven governors were sent to jail ? troubles in the district are astonishing. The attempts to explain it ? among voters, experts and the most recent candidates vying for the seat ? range from a culture of corruption to pure coincidence.
Corruption in Chicago politics dates back to at least 1869, when city commissioners were snagged in a scheme over City Hall paint contracts. More than 1,000 Illinois public officials, most in the Chicago area, have been convicted of corruption since the 1970s, according to Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor. In a study, he ranked Chicago as the No. 1 in corruption among U.S. metropolitan areas.
Jackson's grip on the 2nd District seat ? winning each election since 1995 in a landslide ? created conditions ripe for wrongdoing, Simpson said. Even so, he's slightly baffled by why more problems seem to exist in this district than in others with similar demographics and longtime congressmen.
"Unfortunately, the 2nd Congressional District seems to be an epicenter for these mistakes by public officials," he said.
The district includes part of Chicago's South Side, south suburbs and some rural areas.
Talk of ethics has been a secondary issue among the candidates after jobs and guns, as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's political action committee has poured money into ads criticizing candidates it deems too weak on gun control. The candidates include 14 Democrats and four Republicans. The district is largely Democratic, and the winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary is widely expected to sail through the April 9 election.
The only hint of an ethics scandal has involved former state Rep. Robin Kelly, a front-runner who's been attacked by other candidates over accusations that she misrepresented hours she worked as a top aide to former Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in 2010. The Chicago Tribune obtained a report by the chief investigator in the treasurer's office through an open records request. No action was taken against Kelly because she had already left state government.
Kelly has denied wrongdoing and dismissed the allegations as "political silly season."
As for the region's troubles with ethics?
"I think it's coincidental," she said. "I don't think the district has any whammy over it."
Those who agree with her include Reynolds, who's running for the seat again. He says the corruption issue has been blown out of proportion, and his campaign signs read, "REDEMPTION."
"An aberration is what happened in my life," he said. "It was not a determination of my character."
That hasn't kept the issue from the headlines, especially with Jackson's legal proceedings playing out in federal court. Jackson and his wife, former Alderman Sandi Jackson, both pleaded guilty Wednesday in the scheme.
Another candidate, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, has emphasized the issue, saying it's a time for a clean slate. She unsuccessfully challenged Jackson in last year's primary, even as he was plagued by questions over ties to imprisoned ex.-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and reports of an extramarital affair. Blagojevich was convicted on corruption charges that included trying to sell President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.
"People want to close this door to unethical behavior," she said. "We've had enough. This district has been plagued for far too long."
The third front-runner, Anthony Beale, a Chicago alderman whose ward overlaps with the district, said the fact that neither Reynolds nor Jackson held public office before Congress was likely a factor in their ethical problems.
"They were not homegrown to know what the district needs," Beale said.
Savage was defeated by Reynolds after the House Ethics Committee determined he made improper sexual advances to a female volunteer. Then Reynolds was convicted in the sex case and sent to prison. Later, while still behind bars, he was convicted of federal wire and bank fraud charges. President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence in 2001.
The district's history has fueled cynicism among some voters.
Grocery store worker Pnakara Nealy, 32, of Calumet Park, supported Jackson in the past, but now she's disillusioned with politics.
"He's not the only one doing it," she said of Jackson. "He just got caught."
___
Sophia Tareen can be reached at http://twitter.com/sophiatareen
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Terry Branstad: Too Soon To Say Whether Marco Rubio's Immigration Plan Will Fly In Iowa
WASHINGTON -- Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) was noncomittal on Saturday when asked if Hawkeye State conservatives will warm to Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) immigration plan.
"Well I don't know that they know enough about it yet," Branstad said in an interview with The Huffington Post.
When pressed on whether Rubio's plan might fall flat in the state that plays such a crucial role in the Republican primary nominating process, Branstad hesitated.
"Well, I don't know," he said.
"Iowans are open to legal immigration," he said. "What they have a problem with is people that illegally come here. But I think that they're willing to try to find some way to resolve this issue."
Branstad praised Rubio and said Iowa Republicans "look at him as a problem solver and they look at him as a guy that's a great example of living the American dream." Rubio's name was the first one out of Branstad's mouth when HuffPost asked him who is in the top tier of the GOP's 2016 presidential prospects.
But the governor's cautious answer on immigration indicates that the state where Mitt Romney was forced to run hard to the right on the issue in 2012, damaging his already tenuous standing with Hispanic voters, may still hold some pitfalls for Republicans.
Rubio has made immigration reform his number one priority, and has gone out of his way to court conservatives, trying to prevent a rebellion. But voices on the right that opposed reform in 2007 are beginning to become more assertive now, after the initial rollout of the plan a little under a month ago.
Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, an ardent opponent of Rubio's plan, implied that Rubio was being duplicitous this past week in an appearance on the Mark Levin show, a popular conservative talk radio program.
"I thought Rubio said secure the border before anything else happens, and you're saying do what?" Levin said to Krikorian.
"No that's not, that's never been what he's said. I think that's what he's wanted people to understand, but he's never -- he's not lied about this, it's just that he's encouraged people to understand things their way," Krikorian said.
The success or failure of Rubio's quest to get a reform deal passed could go a long way in defining him in the minds of conservatives everywhere. And in Iowa, which goes first in the presidential nominating process, the GOP base is particularly conservative, and has been strongly opposed to illegal immigration.
The Iowa state GOP, meanwhile, has been taken over by activists loyal to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), which was the reason that Paul ended up with more delegates from Iowa after the state convention than he actually won in the statewide popular vote during the caucuses.
Branstad, who is 66 and serving his fifth term as Iowa governor (the first four were from 1983 to 1999) promised, without getting into specifics, that he planned to take back control of the party.
"You wait and see what happens in 2014," he said. "I'm just telling you we're gonna, we got the governorship and the Senate race and ... we're going to revitalize this party, we're going to bring in new people, and you're going to see something like -- we're going to organize like never before."
"Remember, I've been through 12 contested elections and I've never lost," he said. "And I look at each of these as a challenge, but as an opportunity. And I think 2014 is shaping up as a great opportunity for us to really revitalize our party, to bring a whole lot of new people in. I can't tell you the details of the strategy, but I feel really good about it."
Also on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/terry-branstad-immigration-marco-rubio_n_2750704.html
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White House orders wider access to research
FNAL
The White House directive seeks to make federally funded research easier to get to.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
Responding to calls for more open access to publicly supported research, the White House has directed a wide range of federal agencies to come up with plans to make the studies they fund freely available within 12 months of publication.
In a memo issued Friday, White House science adviser John Holdren also called on agencies to develop better digital systems for managing research data. The memo comes in response to a "We the People" online petition that was created last May and has since garnered more than 65,000 signatures.
The debate over access to federally funded studies has been simmering for years. Some in the scientific community have argued that such studies should be made freely and publicly available immediately because taxpayers have footed the bill for the research. Others have voiced concern that a government requirement to distribute the studies at no cost would deal a blow to the scientific publishing industry.
"We wanted to strike?the balance between the extraordinary public benefit of increasing public access to the results of federally-funded scientific research and the need to ensure that the valuable contributions that the scientific publishing industry provides are not lost," Holdren wrote in his response to the online petition. "This policy reflects that balance, and it also provides the flexibility to make changes in the future based on experience and evidence."
Policy changes required
The 12-month deadline for open access applies only to agencies that spend more than $100 million a year on research and development. The National Institutes of Health have already been following that policy, but now other agencies such as the Defense Department, the Energy Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Science Foundation will as well. Exemptions to the policy may be made for national security or legal reasons.
"Full public access will require changes in policies, procedures and practices from the many stakeholders who participate in NSF's broad research portfolio spanning all scientific and engineering disciplines," NSF Director Subra Suresh said in a statement. "We stand with our federal science colleagues, as well as our non-governmental partners, to collaborate in accomplishing this transition on behalf of science and our nation's future."
A bill currently under consideration in Congress ??known as the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act, or FASTR?? would set a six-month time limit for providing free online public access to published research. However, the prospects for passage of that bill are uncertain. The Public Library of Science, a non-profit organization that has pioneered the open-access concept with such journals as PLOS ONE, hailed Friday's White House directive but said "we now need to take the next step and make open access the law of the land, not just the preference of the president."
One of PLOS' founders, biologist Michael Eisen of the University of California at Berkeley, delivered a sharper response in a Twitter comment: "That anyone is celebrating 12-month embargoes with no reuse rights to publicly funded research just shows how much further there is to go." He called the White House directive a "massive sellout of public interest to publishers."
The publishers of some of the best-known scientific publications, such as Science and Nature, make most of their money from institutions and individuals who purchase access to the published articles, one way or another. Open-access journals, in contrast, may?charge researchers a fee to publish their studies, and then make the studies freely available online. Alternatively, they may receive subsidies from institutions, or take contributions, or earn revenue from advertising and premium products.
The case of Aaron Swartz
The open-access debate figured in the controversial case of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, who faced federal felony charges for surreptitiously downloading more than 4 million academic papers from a controlled-access database at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011 with the intent of making them freely available. If Swartz went to trial and was convicted, he could have been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison and fined as much as $1 million. But Swartz never went to trial. He committed suicide last month at the age of 26.
Swartz's death touched off a series of protests, as well as calls to reform the law under which Swartz was prosecuted. A piece of proposed legislation known as "Aaron's Law" seeks to decriminalize the kinds of terms-of-service violations that Swartz was alleged to have committed. ?At a memorial for Swartz held this month in Washington, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he backed legislative reforms and declared that access to information is a "human right."
More about scientific publishing:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Will the 1966 Pontiac GTO Save the Postal Service?
? 2013 U.S. Postal Service
On the fence about the United States Postal Service's new line of muscle car stamps? Well, hopefully The King can convince you. This weekend, ahead of the Daytona 500, Richard Petty, his son Kyle, and Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe will dedicate a run of limited-edition stamps featuring iconic muscle cars of the 1960s and '70s.
The honoree list is a who's who's of classic American muscle: '69 Dodge Charger Daytona, '66 Pontiac GTO, '70 Chevelle SS, '70 Hemi Cuda, and the '67 Shelby GT-500. The work of California-based artist Tom Fritz features each car either from the side, laying down some rubber, or both (except for the GT-500, which looks curiously composed).
If you haven't already ordered these Richard Petty-endorsed, muscle car-emblazoned stamps after reading those first two paragraphs, then consider this: Since these are "Forever" stamps, they will be good for mailing a first-class letter until the end of time. Or, at least, until some nonsense legislation finally dooms the USPS.
Either way, there's no better gateway drug to philately than a howling V-8.
? 2013 U.S. Postal Service
? 2013 U.S. Postal Service
? 2013 U.S. Postal Service
? 2013 U.S. Postal Service
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Israel closely watching what weapons are being sent to anti-Assad rebels
JERUSALEM ? Israel is closely monitoring the kinds of weapons that are being sent to Syrian rebel groups, and it has consulted with U.S. officials about which weapons they consider too sophisticated to be passed to the groups that are battling to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to Israeli officials with knowledge of the situation.
?Israel isn?t going to interfere and stop weapons shipments to the rebels at this point, but it wants to make sure it knows what they have,? said an Israeli military official who agreed to discuss the matter with McClatchy Newspapers only on the condition of anonymity because he wasn?t authorized to discuss it publicly.
Another military official who also asked not to be identified, for the same reason, acknowledged that Israel is concerned that the pressure to assist the rebels will result in weapons going to al-Qaida-linked militants that have proved to be the anti-Assad forces? best fighters.
?On the one hand, there is a great deal of pressure on the Western world to bolster arms to moderate, what we call friendly, rebel groups so that they are on a level playing field with the groups that might be getting support from Islamist movements,? this official told McClatchy. ?On the other hand, once you send a weapon somewhere, you can?t control where it goes. The fear is that the same gun used to shoot a Syrian soldier will one day be used to shoot an Israeli soldier.?
It has long been known that Israel was monitoring the Assad regime?s internal movements of chemical and other sophisticated weapons out of concern that they might fall into the hands of al-Qaida-linked rebels such as the Nusra Front or be passed to avowed enemies such as Lebanon?s Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to Syria to fight on Assad?s behalf. On Jan. 30, Israeli destroyed a convoy in Syria that sources said Israel feared was carrying anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah.
Until now, however, Israeli officials have been silent on their concerns about what weapons other nations might pass to the rebels. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stressed that Israel won?t allow advanced weapons systems to move from Syria to militant groups in Lebanon, has stopped short of commenting on the flow of weapons into Syria.
The White House raised the possibility that weapons passed to the rebels might pose a threat to Israel two weeks ago in comments explaining why President Barack Obama had vetoed a plan, put forward sometime last year, to send military equipment to the rebels. The plan had the backing of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-CIA director David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Panetta told a Senate committee Feb. 7.
Asked why the president had rejected a plan that his war Cabinet backed, White House spokesman Jay Carney offered the threat to Israel as one of the reasons.
?We don?t want any weapons to fall into the wrong hands and potentially further endanger the Syrian people, our ally Israel or the United States,? Carney said. He later repeated the comment about danger to Israel, reinforcing that the concern had played a role in Obama?s decision.
Israel has been largely silent on its concerns about developments in Syria, and the second military officer said that was unlikely to change, especially about its concerns that weapons shipments to the rebels might be turned on Israel one day. He said officials worried that any public expression of concern would upset Israel?s efforts to improve relations with Turkey, one of the most vocal supporters of the anti-Assad forces. Many weapons shipments bound for the rebels are thought to cross into Syria from Turkey. Saudi Arabia and Qatar reportedly are the primary financiers of those shipments.
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)
Israelis are divided about whether a rebel victory would be a good thing. On one hand, many hope that a new Syrian leadership would seek peace with Israel. On the other, many others fear that a rebel-imposed government made up of Islamist fundamentalists would be far more hostile to Israeli interests than the Assad regime is. Still others fear that Syria might fracture into fiefdoms of rival groups and become a haven for anti-Israel terrorists.
Netanyahu already has ordered work sped up on a high-tech fence that would run the length of Israel?s border with Syria. His aides have said he doesn?t want to take the chance that the border would remain vulnerable to attacks.
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)
Israeli ambivalence toward events in Syria was on display earlier this week with the announcement that officials were weighing whether to open a field hospital on the country?s northern border that would treat wounded rebels. The announcement came after seven wounded Syrian rebels were hospitalized in northern Israel after they approached Israeli soldiers in the no-man?s land between the countries.
Doctors in Israel?s Ziv Hospital said six of the men had light to moderate gunshot wounds and that one was in critical condition, with heavy wounds to his torso. The decision to treat the men in Israel was made by the Israeli military, which increasingly witnesses the fighting between pro- and anti-Assad forces.
?We can see it from here and we can hear it from several miles away,? said an Israeli intelligence officer who is based along Israel?s border with Syria. ?Sometimes the fighting is literally within eyesight, and we can see the rebels take up positions in the no-man?s land between our border and Syria.?
The nearness of the fighting makes remaining aloof increasingly difficult, the intelligence officer said. He spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he wasn?t authorized to talk to reporters.
?It is a very delicate balance between providing maybe gentle assistance such as medical aid and being seen as a party that is interfering. Israel can?t, by any means, be seen to have a favorite in the events unfolding in Syria,? the officer said. ?The only role Israel can have is of maintaining its red lines and being sure those aren?t crossed.?
???
?2013 McClatchy Washington Bureau
Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Source: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2013/feb/22/israel-closely-watching-what-weapons-are-being/
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Friday, February 22, 2013
LG flaunts Panorama VR feature on Optimus G Pro (video)
Since creating regular panorama shots is so last year, LG's come up with a new option for its Optimus G Pro. We first heard about Panorama VR camera app during the launch of the 5.5-inch handset, and now the Korean company's just outed a YouTube video showing how it works. It looks very similar, but not identical to Google's latest Photo Sphere update, letting you pan in different directions while photos of the scene are captured and stitched automatically. The software compiles it into a large panorama file that lets you pan and zoom into the scene, exactly like the recent Android 4.2 option. We've reached out to LG to see if there's any relation between the two apps, but more choice is always better anyway, no? Check the video after the break to see it in action.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, LG
Source: LG (YouTube)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/DNcBaSsSFBg/
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Snapchat for Android adds video
Feb 22 (Reuters) - Like a sporting Cinderella, Sauber Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg has been given the shoe that fits. Whether his season turns out to be a fairytale with a happy ending remains to be seen but the tall German was content on Friday to have swept away at least one of his problems. Hulkenberg, who has moved to the Swiss team from Force India, had trouble getting comfortable in his new cockpit at the first pre-season test in Jerez this month with talk of it being too tight for him. "The media has blown up all these stories. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snapchat-android-adds-video-001548772.html
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Start-up Pinterest wins new funding, $2.5 billion valuation
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online scrapbook Pinterest has raised a new $200 million round of funding that gives it a valuation of $2.5 billion, the company said on Wednesday.
Pinterest, which allows users to create online bulletin boards based on various themes such as travel, decorating, or sports, said in a statement it would use the new capital to build new features, beef up its infrastructure, and make "strategic acquisitions of both talent and technology."
Long-short hedge fund Valiant led the investment round, joined by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital. Valiant has invested in several consumer-Internet companies in the past, including search engines Google and Baidu.
News of the funding round was first reported by AllThingsD.
Pinterest is part of a group of start-ups that offer twists on Internet networking among various groups. They typically have little discernable profit or revenue, but have landed some outsized investments from venture capitalists.
The group includes private social-network Path, which raised $30 million at a valuation of $250 million last year; question-and-answer site Quora, which raised $50 million at a $400 million valuation last year; and microblogging service Twitter, which raised $400 million in new funding and another $400 million to buy out existing investors at an $8 billion valuation in 2011.
Since Facebook Inc's May initial public offering, which saw the stock fall far below its offer price before rebounding in recent months, many investors have cooled on consumer-focused Internet companies.
But Pinterest's rapid growth since its 2010 launch may make it an exception. It now has 48.7 million users globally, according to consultancy comScore.
The company last raised money in May 2012 at a $1.5 billion valuation in a round led by Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten Inc.
(Reporting by Sarah McBride; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/start-pinterest-wins-funding-2-5-billion-valuation-011213390--sector.html
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First Student Canada: School Bus Drivers Needed - Calgary
School Bus Drivers Needed
FREE TRAINING FOR NOW AND FOR SEPTEMBER
Professional experience is not necessarily required as we are most interested in hiring dependable, caring people, who like dealing with the public and helping children, who are truly committed to SAFETY and who understand the importance of following the rules. Most openings are for full size school buses, but some locations also have smaller school buses & vans. Some also have openings for wheel-chair school purposes vehicles and wheel-chair/smaller vehicle opportunities. Vehicles are all automatic. (While many locations have immediate openings during the school year, some may have a waiting list for openings.)
FIRST STUDENT CANADA is now providing free, friendly training for steady part time school bus drivers (and in some cases, back-up and or spare drivers). It's not too difficult, and it's not too easy, but we do a lot to make it as friendly and easy as possible for you.
Hours of Work:
- Approximately 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday (September to June) on school days only (exact times vary depending on school times and individual routes).
- In most cases there is potential for optional/additional kindergarten or "noon" routes and/or field & charter trips during the school year and the summer. Our school bus drivers are not required to work on weekends, evenings or school holidays. While additional work may be available, it is not mandatory.
Duties:
- Safely drive students to and from school, following a prescribed route, on a daily basis during the school year.
- Perform daily vehicle circle check safety inspections, documenting & reporting according to company, school & government regulations.
- Comply with all company & government regulations, laws & policies.
- Communicate clearly and interact with parents, school employees, passengers, co-workers & the general public in a courteous, professional manner as required.
Qualifications:
- Must meet the minimum age requirements to hold a school bus driver's licence in your province (and company standard minimum 21 years of age).
- Professional experience may be helpful but is not required, as completely free, friendly, professional training is provided.
- Must be willing & able to successfully complete our training program.
- Must have at least three years of driving experience, with at least one of those years in North America.
- Must hold a valid (non-probationary) driver's licence for the province you are applying in.
- Must enjoy driving and working with children.
- Must possess a very good driving record.
- Must communicate clearly in English or French (depending on area and school district requirements).
- Must undergo & pass Ministry prescribed Medical examination.
- Must undergo drug testing, criminal record search, vulnerable sector clearance and other background checks with satisfactory results.
- No criminal record for which a pardon has not been granted.
- Experience working with children & the public is helpful.
- Must be safety-minded, courteous, and able to demonstrate an appreciation for the importance of customer service.
- If you enjoy driving & working with children, this could be the perfect, secure, part time job for you. This is a chance to make a difference in a child's life, and maybe your own as well.
Rate of Pay:
Varies by location, length of route & vehicle type, but is usually favourable when compared to other part time pay rates.
In some locations (if not prohibited by school district regulations) you may be allowed to bring your pre-schooler with you on the route. (Ask about child ride-along details.)
First Student Canada is an equal opportunity employer.
Source: http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/job/4151291/school-bus-drivers-needed-calgary/?TrackID=53
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
White House declines GOP demand on Hagel
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The White House Thursday rejected a demand by 15 U.S. senators to withdraw the nomination former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.
Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, and 14 other Republican senators said in an open letter to President Barack Obama it would be "unprecedented for a secretary of defense to take office without the broad base of bipartisan support and confidence needed to serve effectively in this critical position."
Congressional Democrats and the White House accused the senators who signed the letter of harming national security while playing politics with the nomination, The Hill reported.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama will "absolutely not" withdraw Hagel's nomination, ridiculing Republicans who made an issue of Hagel's purported relationship to Friends of Hamas.
Conservative media and some members of Congress who have suggested Hagel is not sufficiently supportive of Israel have demanded he turn over records of speaking fees he may have received from organizations considered hostile to Israel. A New York reporter says conservatives' suspicion that Hagel took money from Friends of Hamas grew out of "an obvious joke" -- and that there is no such organization.
"Any suggestion [that the White House would withdraw the nomination] might have been found in the minutes of the meetings of the Friends of Hamas," Carney told White House reporters Thursday.
One of the letter's signers -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma -- wrote to Senate colleagues Thursday urging them to vote against ending Senate debate on the nominations, The Hill reported.
Several top Senate conservatives -- including John McCain of Arizona, Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns of Nebraska -- have said they will vote to end debate, effectively voting in favor of the nomination. They were joined Thursday by Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.
Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/6305911
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Guest Post: Visualizing Bob Farrell's 10 Investing Rules | Zero Hedge
Via Lance Roberts of Street Talk Live blog,
As the markets once again approach historic highs - the overly exuberant tone, extreme complacency and weakness in the economic data, bring to mind Bob Farrell's 10 investment rules.? These rules should be a staple for any long term successful investor.? These rules are often quoted yet rarely heeded - just as they are now.? Bob Farrell is a Wall Street veteran with over 50 years of experience in crafting his investing rules.? Farrell obtained his masters degree from Columbia Business School and started as a technical analyst at Merrill Lynch in 1957. Even though Farrell studied fundamental analysis under Gramm and Dodd, he turned to technical analysis after realizing there was more to stock prices than balance sheets and income statements. Farrell became a pioneer in sentiment studies and market psychology. His 10 rules on investing stem from personal experience with dull markets, bull markets, bear markets, crashes and bubbles. In short, Farrell has seen it all and lived to tell about it.
The 10 Rules Of Investing
1. Markets tend to return to the mean (average price) over time.
Like a rubber band that has been stretched too far ? it must be relaxed in order to be stretched again. This is exactly the same for stock prices which are anchored to their moving averages.? Trends that get overextended in one direction, or another, always return to their long-term average. Even during a strong uptrend or strong downtrend, prices often move back (revert) to a long-term moving average. The chart below shows the S&P 500 with a 52-week simple moving average.
The bottom chart shows the percentage deviation of the current price of the market from the 52-week moving average.? During bullish trending markets there are regular reversions to the mean which create buying opportunities.? However, what is often not stated is that in order to take advantage of such buying opportunities profits should have been taken out of portfolios as deviations from the mean reached historical extremes.? Conversely, in bearish trending markets, such reversions from extreme deviations should be used to sell stocks, raise cash and reduce portfolio risk rather than "panic sell" at market bottoms.
The dashed RED lines denote when the markets changed trends from positive to negative. This is the very essence of portfolio "risk" management.
2. Excesses in one direction will lead to an opposite excess in the other direction.
Markets that overshoot on the upside will also overshoot on the downside, kind of like a pendulum. The further it swings to one side, the further it rebounds to the other side. This is the extension of Rule #1 as it applies to longer term market cycles (cyclical markets).?
While the chart above showed prices behave on a short term basis - on a longer term basis markets also respond to Newton's 3rd law of motion:? "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."?? The first chart shows that cyclical markets reach extremes when more than 3-standard deviations above the 50-week moving average.? For the first time since the lows of the market in 2009 this has now occurred.? Notice that these excesses ARE NEVER worked off by just going sideways.
The second chart shows the price reversions of the S&P 500 on a long term basis and adjusted for inflation. Notice that when prices have historically reached extremes ? the reversion in price is just as extreme. It is clear that the current reversion in the stock market is still underway from the 2000 peak.
3. There are no new eras ? excesses are never permanent.
There will always be some "new thing" that elicits speculative interest.? These "new things" throughout history, like the "Siren's Song," has led many investor to their demise. In fact, over the last 500 years we have seen speculative bubbles involving everything from Tulip Bulbs to Railways, Real Estate to Technology, Emerging Markets (5 times) to Automobiles and Commodities.?? It is always starts the same and ends with the utterings of "This time it is different"??
[The chart below is from my March 2008 seminar discussing that the next recessionary bear market was about to occur.]
As legendary investor Jesse Livermore once stated:?
"A lesson I learned early is that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can't be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again."
4. Exponential rapidly rising or falling markets usually go further than you think, but they do not correct by going sideways
The reality is that excesses, such as we are seeing in the market now, can indeed go much further than logic would dictate. However, these excesses, as stated above, are never worked off simply by trading sideways. Corrections are always just as brutal as the advances were exhilarating. As the chart below shows when the markets broke out of their directional trends ? the corrections came soon thereafter.
5. The public buys the most at the top and the least at the bottom.
The average individual investor is most bullish at market tops and most bearish at market bottoms.? This is due to investor's emotional biases of "greed" when markets are rising and "fear" when markets are falling.? Logic would dictate that the best time to invest is after a massive selloff - unfortunately this is exactly the opposite of what investors do.
The chart below shows the flow of money into equity based mutual funds.
6. Fear and greed are stronger than long-term resolve.
As stated in Rule $5 it is emotions that cloud your decisions and affect your long-term plan.
"Gains make us exuberant; they enhance well-being and promote optimism," says Santa Clara University finance professor Meir Statman.? His studies of investor behavior show that "Losses bring sadness, disgust, fear, regret. Fear increases the sense of risk and some react by shunning stocks."
The composite index of bullish sentiment (an average of AAII and Investor's Intelligence surveys) shows that "greed" is beginning to reach levels where markets have generally reached intermediate term peaks.?
In the words of Warren Buffett:?
"Buy when people are fearful and sell when they are greedy."
Currently, those "people" are getting extremely greedy.
7. Markets are strongest when they are broad and weakest when they narrow to a handful of blue-chip names.
Breadth is important. A rally on narrow breadth indicates limited participation and the chances of failure are above average. The market cannot continue to rally with just a few large-caps (generals) leading the way. Small and mid-caps (troops) must also be on board to give the rally credibility. A rally that "lifts all boats" indicates far-reaching strength and increases the chances of further gains.?
The chart above shows the ARMS Index which is a volume-based indicator that determines market strength and breadth by analyzing the relationship between advancing and declining issues and their respective volume.? It is normally used as a short term trading measure of market strength.? However, for longer term periods the chart shows a weekly index smoothed with a 34-week average.? Spikes in the index has generally coincided with near-term market peaks.
8. Bear markets have three stages ? sharp down, reflexive rebound and a drawn-out fundamental downtrend
Bear markets often start with a sharp and swift decline. After this decline, there is an oversold bounce that retraces a portion of that decline. The longer term decline then continues, at a slower and more grinding pace, as the fundamentals deteriorate. Dow Theory suggests that bear markets consists of three down legs with reflexive rebounds in between.
The chart above shows the stages of the last two primary cyclical bear markets.? There were plenty of opportunities to sell into counter-trend rallies during the decline and reduce risk exposure.???
9. When all the experts and forecasts agree ? something else is going to happen.
This rule fits within Bob Farrell's contrarian nature.? As Sam Stovall, the investment strategist for Standard & Poor's once stated:
"If everybody's optimistic, who is left to buy? If everybody's pessimistic, who's left to sell?"
The point here is that as a contrarian investor, and along with several of the points already made within Farrell's rule set, excesses are built by everyone being on the same side of the trade.? Ultimately, when the shift in sentiment occurs ? the reversion is exacerbated by the stampede going in the opposite direction
Being a contrarian can be quite difficult at times as bullishness abounds.? However, it is also the secret to limiting losses and achieving long term investment success. As Howard Marks once stated:
"Resisting ? and thereby achieving success as a contrarian ? isn't easy. Things combine to make it difficult; including natural herd tendencies and the pain imposed by being out of step, since momentum invariably makes pro-cyclical actions look correct for a while. (That's why it's essential to remember that "being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.")
Given the uncertain nature of the future, and thus the difficulty of being confident your position is the right one ? especially as price moves against you ? it's challenging to be a lonely contrarian."
10. Bull markets are more fun than bear markets
As stated above in Rule #5 ? investors are primarily driven by emotions. As the overall markets rise ? up to 90% of any individual stock?s price movement is dictated by the overall direction of the market hence the saying ?a rising tide lifts all boats.?
Psychologically, as the markets rise, investors begin to believe that they are ?smart? because their portfolio is going up. In reality, it is primarily more a function of ?luck? rather than ?intelligence? that is driving their portfolio.
Investors behave much the same way as individuals who addicted to gambling. When they are winning they believe that their success is based on their skill. However, when they began to lose, they keep gambling thinking the next ?hand? will be the one that gets them back on track.? Eventually - they leave the table broke.
It is true that bull markets are more fun than bear markets. Bull markets elicit euphoria and feelings of psychological superiority. Bear markets bring fear, panic and depression.
What is interesting is that no matter how many times we continually repeat these ?cycles? ? as emotional human beings we always ?hope? that somehow this ?time will be different.? Unfortunately, it never is and this time won?t be either. The only questions are: when will the next bear market begin and will you be prepared for it?
Conclusions
Like all rules on Wall Street, Bob Farrell's rules are not meant has hard and fast rules. There are always exceptions to every rule and while history never repeats exactly it does often "rhyme" very closely.
Nevertheless, these rules will benefit investors by helping them to look beyond the emotions and the headlines.? Being aware of sentiment can prevent selling near the bottom and buying near the top, which often goes against our instincts.
Regardless of how many times I discuss these issues, quote successful investors, or warn of the dangers ? the response from both individuals and investment professionals is always the same.
??I am a long term, fundamental value, investor.? So these rules don?t really apply to me.?
No you?re not. Yes, they do.
Individuals are long term investors only as long as the markets are rising.? Despite endless warnings, repeated suggestions and outright recommendations - getting investors to sell, take profits and manage your portfolio risks is nearly a lost cause as long as the markets are rising.? Unfortunately, by the time the fear, desperation or panic stages are reached it is far too late to act and I will only be able to say that I warned you.
(16 votes)
Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-20/guest-post-visualizing-vince-farrells-10-investing-rules
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