Canon Color imageClass MF8080Cw

At first glance, the Canon Color imageClass MF8080Cw ($449 direct) seems a little large for a color laser multi-function printer (MFP) meant for light-duty printing in a micro, home, or small office or as personal printer in any size office. However, the size and weight would have been typical just a few years ago. More important, if you have room for it, the printer's capabilities?most notably its paper handling and print speed?are just right for the intended use. That makes it a reasonable choice, if not a perfect fit.

Very much in the MF8080Cw's favor is that it offers much the same capability as the Editors' Choice Dell 1355cnw Multifunction Color Printer ($419.99 direct, 4 stars) that I reviewed last year. It can print, scan, and fax, including over a network, work as a standalone copier and fax machine, and also scan to or print from a USB memory key. For scanning, its 50-page automatic document feeder (ADF) serves as a complement to the flatbed and lets it handle multipage documents as well as legal-size pages.

The key issue that limits the printer to light-duty use is its paper handling, with a 150-sheet input tray and no duplexer. If your print needs?including copying and printing incoming faxes?are more than about 30 pages per day, having to constantly add paper may turn into an annoying chore. However, 150 pages should be sufficient for the light-duty print needs in most small offices.

Setup and speed
The MF8080Cw is big and heavy by today's standards, at 16.9 by 17 by 19.2 inches (HWD) and a hefty 57.4 pounds. That's about 20 pounds more than the 1355cnw, and heavy enough so most people would consider moving it a two-person job. It's also big enough to be a potential issue in a small office where flat space can be at a premium. Once you find a spot for it, however, setup is standard fare.

The printer offers both WiFi and wired network support. For my tests, I set it up on a wired network and installed the driver on a Windows Vista system. On our business applications suite (timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software) it managed a lackadaisical 3.7 pages per minute (ppm).

That's an appropriate speed for the rating, at a relatively slow 12 ppm for monochrome and 8 ppm for color. It's also faster than some of the printer's competition, including, for example the similarly priced HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw color MFP ($449 direct, 4 stars) and the HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 ($399.99 direct, 3 stars) that I recently reviewed. However, it's slower than the Dell 1355cnw, at 4.5 ppm, and it's not fast enough for its speed to count as a strength.

Output Quality and Other Issues
The MF8080Cw's output quality is uneven, with better than par graphics for a color laser MFP, photos at the low end of par, and below par text. Fortunately, the bar for laser text quality is high enough that being a bit below par isn't much of an issue. Unless you have a highly unusual need for printing at small font size, you should find the text more than acceptable for any business need.

The graphics output in my tests was easily suitable for any business need as well, including output meant for potential customers who you need to impress with a sense of your professionalism. Most people would consider the graphics to be good enough for printing their own marketing materials like one page mailers or tri-fold brochures.

You may or may not consider the photo output to be high enough quality for the same sort of marketing materials or for, say, client newsletters. I saw some graininess and a slight color shift, which could be an issue for anything that needs to show well, like a landscape filled with colorful flowers.

I'd like the MF8080Cw more if it were smaller, faster, had a higher paper capacity, or some combination of these. Even as it stands, however, it's worth considering, with a more than acceptable balance of speed, output quality, and MFP features. Its size may make it a little hard to find room for if space is tight, and the 150-sheet capacity rules it out for offices with heavy duty print needs. But if you have room for it, and need light-duty printing only, it's a reasonable choice, if not a compelling one.

More Multi-function Printer Reviews:
??? Canon Color imageClass MF8080Cw
??? Brother MFC-J280w
??? Brother MFC-J625dw
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?

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Mitt Romney's easy path thus far in GOP race surprises experts and dismays Obama's allies

DES MOINES, Iowa - Regardless of whether Mitt Romney wins the Iowa Republican caucus Tuesday, he has enjoyed a remarkably easy presidential race so far.

When his rivals have stopped battering each other long enough to criticize him, they've often done so tentatively and ham-handedly. Romney's injury-free journey is all the more surprising because, despite some obvious campaign skills, he has well-known vulnerabilities ripe for attack.

The turn of events has astonished campaign pros in both parties, who expected Romney to be more bloodied. And it has dismayed President Barack Obama's allies, who assumed Republicans would at least soften up the man they viewed as the likeliest nominee from the start.

"By all rights, Romney should have spent the last six months with a target painted on his back," said Dan Schnur, a former GOP adviser who teaches politics at the University of Southern California. "But he has been able to keep his head low," Schnur said, while a series of rivals have taken turns quarreling, surging and falling.

New polls show Romney heading into Tuesday's caucus as the front-runner in a state that seems ill-suited to his background, and which snubbed him four years ago. The Iowa Republican caucus is usually dominated by evangelical voters, home-schoolers and other social conservatives. Yet his rivals have done little here to turn those dynamics against Romney, a Mormon who supported legalized abortion and mandatory health insurance as governor of liberal Massachusetts.

Romney began this year's campaign de-emphasizing Iowa. But his rivals' inability to produce a clear leader has opened a possible path for him to seize the prize.

A Romney win in Iowa, which is far from certain, would make him the clear favorite to win the nomination. Next up is the Jan. 10 primary in New Hampshire. Romney has a second home there, and the GOP voters' greater emphasis on financial matters is better suited to his politics.

Romney's luck stems largely from his opponents' early conclusion that he had enough money and experience to go deep into the nominating contest, and only one viable alternative could emerge. They've been competing for that spot, and attacking each other, ever since.

"If you have modest resources, you're going to spend your time differentiating yourself from the rest of the non-Romney crowd," said GOP lobbyist and strategist Mike McKenna.

Campaign attack ads in Iowa underscore the point. When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich surged in polls earlier this month, he was quickly pilloried by TV ads and mailings financed by groups associated with Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

In two weeks in Iowa, a PAC that supports Romney dumped $2.6 million into the effort, according to records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Having little money to respond, Gingrich has plummeted in the polls.

A far smaller sum was spent on anti-Romney ads, mostly by a pro-Obama group trying to fill the vacuum.

Campaign veterans say Perry had the best chance to establish himself early as the Romney alternative. That could have positioned him to hammer away at his Massachusetts rival. A proven fundraiser with 10 years as Texas governor, Perry rocketed to the top of GOP polls when he announced his candidacy in mid-August.

But he quickly fell after debate performances that typified the GOP field's inability, or unwillingness, to train sustained fire on Romney's obvious soft spots: his changed positions on abortion, gun control and gay rights, and his policy of requiring Massachusetts residents to buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

In a Sept. 22 debate in Florida, Perry started to describe Romney's various flip-flops. But he stammered and wandered so badly that it was nearly impossible to understand his point.

After that, the GOP field showed little interest in launching focused attacks on Romney's policy changes.

Romney was equally lucky in June. Then-candidate Tim Pawlenty had said in a TV interview that "Romneycare" was the inspiration for "Obamacare," the GOP term for the Democrats' 2010 health care overhaul. But in a televised debate that followed, Pawlenty refused to repeat the criticism. His reticence contributed to his fast decline, and gave Romney a big break.

Conservative columnist George Will said on ABC in September: "Tim Pawlenty got in trouble when he got a chance to attack Romney and didn't. Perry's in trouble because he attacked Romney and did it so incompetently."

Romney has enjoyed other breaks. James Pethokoukis of the conservative American Enterprise Institute noted that Romney recently stopped short of endorsing a value-added tax without ruling it out in all circumstances.

"Many conservatives/libertarians simply hate, hate, hate the idea of a VAT," Pethokoukis wrote. "I would be surprised if those quotes don't end up in a 30-second, anti-Romney ad in Iowa or New Hampshire."

So far, they haven't.

Democrats contrast Romney's easy ride with Obama's grueling Iowa campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, two well-financed politicians with sharp debating skills.

Rodell Mollineau heads American Bridge, a Democratic group that gathers information to use against Republicans in campaigns. This year's GOP candidates have tried to attack Romney at times, Mollineau said, "but they're just not very good at it."

"Perry has the money, but he can't get a sentence out," Mollineau said. Gingrich is articulate, he said, but hasn't raised enough money to wound Romney with broadcast ads.

Romney's luck continued Wednesday. Rep. Michele Bachmann criticized two rivals during her fast-moving bus tour of Iowa. She said Perry has spent "27 years as a political insider," and Paul would be "dangerous as president" because of his hands-off views on national security.

Romney largely escaped her ire.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/politics/136362713.html

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Toyota unveils new Aqua hybrid in Japan

ABR Staff Writer
Published 28 December 2011

Japanese automaker Toyota has unveiled its new gasoline-electric compact hybrid vehicle, Aqua in Japan as company looks to beat competition from pure electric vehicles.

The Aqua is the home version of Prius C in the US and powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine rated at 72 horsepower and an electric motor rated at 45 kW as well as fed by additional power from a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack.

The engine provides a combined output of 98 hp providing 0-60 acceleration in less than 10.7 seconds, the company claimed.

The vehicle will be equipped with Toyota Hybrid System II (THS II) with reduction gear, which offered fuel efficiency of 35.4 km/l in the JC08 test cycle and 40.0 km/l in the MLIT 10-15 test cycle.

Aqua comes with a cooled Exhaust-Gas Recirculation (EGR) system which improves efficiency in the high-expansion-ratio Atkinson cycle engine.

The hybrid transaxle, which includes the power control unit, the power-generation motor and drive motor, has also been designed to be small and light.

Toyota said that the vehicle will be available in Japan in three grades: L, S and G with hybrid vehicle costing about $21,7905.

Source: http://greenpowertrain.automotive-business-review.com/news/toyota-unveils-new-aqua-hybrid-in-japan-281211

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Video: Java Joe VP poll: Biden or Clinton?

Boot Hezbollah from Twitter or we sue, group says

An Israeli law center said Thursday it is threatening to sue Twitter unless the social network cuts off access to groups, including Hezbollah, that are considered terrorist organizations by the United States.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45819179#45819179

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Brother MFC-J625dw

The Brother MFC-J625dw ($130 street) has a good feature set for a low-priced multifunction printer (MFP). It?s geared primarily to business use but with some photo-centric features as well. It?s fast at business printing, with decent if unspectacular output quality. Though other alternatives, like the Brother MFC-J825dw ($150 street, 4 stars), offer additional features for slightly more money, the MFC-J625dw has a lot to offer a home office or micro office for its price.

The MFC-J625dw can print, copy, scan, and fax. It can fax either from a computer (PC Fax), or work as a standalone fax machine. It has media-card slots for SD and Memory Stick formats, and a port for a USB thumb drive or PictBridge-enabled camera. The 1.9-inch color touch screen with touch panel controls can be used for previewing photos as well as for navigating menus.

This MFP is compatible with the Brother iPrint&Scan app, which allows you to print or scan from an Apple, Android, or Windows 7 Phone mobile device on the same wireless network.

The MFC-J625dw, matte black with a glossy black, textured lid, is reasonably compact, measuring 7.1 by 15.9 by 14.9 inches (HWD) and weighing 19.8 pounds. Its 20-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) lets you copy, scan, or fax multi-page documents unattended. It has a 100-sheet paper tray, a little scanty for home-office use, but it combines it with a 20-sheet tray for holding 4-by-6 photo paper.

The MFC-J625dw connects to a PC via a USB cable, or to a network via WiFi (802.11b/g/n), though it lacks an Ethernet port. I tested it over a USB connection using a computer running Windows Vista.

Print Speed

The Brother MFC-J625dw printed out the latest version of our business applications suite (timed with QualityLogic?s hardware and software) at 4.3 effective pages per minute (ppm), edging the Brother MFC-J825dw, which averaged 4.0 ppm on the same tests. The Editors? Choice Epson Stylus NX625 ($149.99 direct, 4 stars) also printed out the suite at a 4-ppm clip.

The MFC-J625dw averaged 1:59 in printing 4-by-6 photos, tying the MFC-J825dw, while the NX625 averaged only 58 seconds per print.

Output Quality

The MFC-J625?s overall output quality was a touch below par compared with inkjet MFPs in its price range. Text quality was average, while graphics and photo quality were slightly sub-par. Text quality was fine for schoolwork or general business use, but not for documents with which you want to create a good impression, such as a resume, or if you have a need for very small fonts.

With graphics, the colors seemed undersaturated, giving the output a slightly pale or faded look. Other issues included dithering (solid areas appearing as fine dot patterns) and minor banding (a regular pattern of faint stripes).The output was suitable for schoolwork or general business use and even PowerPoint handouts, though I?d be hesitant to hand them to potential clients or others who I was trying to impress through their visual appearance.

Photo quality was a tad below par for an inkjet. For the most part, they weren?t quite up to what we?d expect from drugstore prints. Some colors seemed a bit off (for example, in a couple of illustrations flesh tones and other details showed too much red). Detail was generally good in darker areas, but in some cases there was substantial loss of detail in brighter areas.

Other Issues

Two nice touches are the 2-year warranty, and a relatively low claimed running, 3.8 cents per monochrome page and 10.7 cents per color page.

The Brother MFC-J625dw is a well-equipped home-office MFP available for a modest price; it also has some photo-centric features like the ability to print from memory cards and USB thumb drives. It?s fast, and has acceptable if not spectacular output. For $20 more, the Editors? Choice Brother MFC-J825dw offers similar speed and output quality, plus additional features like a larger (3-inch) LCD, Ethernet connectivity, and the ability to print on optical disks. If those aren?t important to you, the MFC-J625dw could well be your home-office MFP of choice.

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?? more

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Iowa ad war: late starting but nasty (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? At least $12.5 million and counting has blanketed the airwaves ahead of next Tuesday's Republican presidential caucuses, with hard-hitting commercials awash in ghoulish images and startling claims. Most are coming from a proliferation of new independent groups aligned with the candidates.

To hear the ads tell it, Newt Gingrich is a "serial hypocrite," Rick Perry "double dips" as governor and the "liberal Republican establishment" is plotting to anoint Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee. The attacks, the bulk of the commercials on the air, reflected the volatile state of the race five days before the first votes of the GOP presidential nominating contest.

After a slow start, the ads in Iowa are coming on fast and furious.

On Thursday alone, at least five new commercials were rolled out, including one by Perry castigating his rivals as Washington insiders and saying: "The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a congressman to fix Washington: bad idea." An outside group aligned with Romney, Restore Our Future, rolled out a new spot that criticizes Gingrich and asks: "Haven't we had enough mistakes?"

In the final days of the Iowa campaign, most of the ads are deeply negative, thanks in large part to the proliferation of outside groups, known as super PACs, that are doing the dirty work for candidates they support. Gingrich has been the biggest target, withering under attacks from Ron Paul and Rick Perry's campaign as well as from several outside groups like the one aligned with Romney. Polls show that Gingrich's standing in Iowa has slid accordingly.

"I call it ad wars whack-a-mole ? this endless attacking in all directions, trying to slam down anyone who is surging to the top," said David Perlmutter, a University of Iowa journalism professor who studies political communication. "This is the most negative I've ever seen it. The ads are so blatantly negative I would have told you 10 years ago this would never fly in Iowa."

It's a different landscape in the campaign advertising world than four years ago when Barack Obama won Iowa's Democratic caucuses and Mike Huckabee carried the Republican side. Social media has intensified the advertising binge, with many spots debuting on TV but also going viral across the web at almost no cost to the campaigns that sponsor them. Candidates are making heavy use of online advertising to target voters based on location and other demographic information.

Campaigns are also producing video specifically for the YouTube audience, like a new 90-second Romney video excerpting a speech Obama delivered in Iowa days before winning the Democratic caucuses in 2008.

"Well, Mr. President, you've had your moment ... this is our time," Romney says in the spot.

On Thursday, Jon Huntsman's campaign ? which can't afford to put commercials on TV and is competing only in New Hampshire ? hit at Paul in a new web video that highlights comments about race and gays in newsletters Paul used to put out. The ad asks: "Can New Hampshire voters really trust Ron Paul?'"

But nothing has altered the environment more than super PACs, which are facing their first test in a presidential campaign since a Supreme Court decision two years ago eased restrictions on campaign spending by corporations, unions and individuals.

Much of $12.5 million spent to date in Iowa, a figure confirmed by ad tracking firms, outside groups and the GOP campaigns, has been spent in just the past few weeks, much of it paying for negative ads.

The pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, has been by far the most influential in Iowa, helping to bolster the former Massachusetts governor's position in the state he lost in 2008, crippling that campaign.

The group formed by Romney allies has spent at least $2.7 million in the state. The vast majority has been used to trash Gingrich, the former House speaker whose sudden surge in the polls earlier this month has been summarily halted in recent days. In ad after ad, Romney's allies have berated Gingrich for ethical "baggage," accepting $1.6 million in consulting fees from federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac and pledging to tackle climate change in an ad with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Another new ad from the group goes after both Gingrich and Perry for being "liberal on immigration."

Perry, the Texas governor, has defended his state's policy of allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities, while Gingrich has spoken out against deporting those who have lived in the U.S. for many years without permission to be in the country.

The ad also chides Perry for taking advantage of a loophole in state law that allows him to supplement his governor's salary with his $90,000 annual pension, even as Perry has used his own ads to rail against congressional salaries.

Romney has stepped up his advertising presence in Iowa, driving a largely positive message while his allies have made it easy for him to avoid attacking his Republican rivals.

"In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense. And I intend to make it because I have lived it," Romney says in a new uplifting 60-second commercial he began airing Thursday.

Gingrich, for his part, has railed against the Romney allies' ad blitz but has refused to respond in kind. A pro-Gingrich super PAC has begun fighting back, running ads in Iowa claiming the Republican establishment is "attacking him with falsehoods."

The ad warns: "Don't let the liberal Republican establishment pick our candidate."

But the assist from the pro-Gingrich group Winning Our Future may be too little, too late. A new CNN-Time poll found Gingrich now in fourth place in Iowa, behind Romney, Paul and Rick Santorum.

Other Republican hopefuls have super PACs that support them, including Perry and Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator has run no ads of his own but has seen his position in Iowa strengthen in recent days in part by $327,000 in ad spending from a super PAC called the Red White and Blue Fund.

Our Destiny, a super PAC backing Huntsman, has run ads in New Hampshire for the former Utah governor. Huntsman is skipping the Iowa caucuses to focus on New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10.

Perry has run the most campaign ads in Iowa, spending at least $3.9 million so far. His ads have offered a smattering of sometimes conflicting messages ? promoting his conservative Christian faith in one to calling for a part-time Congress in another.

"I'm an outsider who will overhaul Washington," Perry says in his latest ad, while pledging anew to end "Obama's war on religion."

Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry super PAC, has also been on the air for weeks in Iowa.

The heavy spending hasn't seemed to help Perry much ? polls have consistently shown him trailing in the state, though he has gained some ground.

Paul has also been on the air for months and has not been shy about hitting his opponents. His latest ad, titled "Washington Machine," hits Gingrich as a "serial hypocrite" and Romney as a "flip flopper."

Cash strapped and struggling in polls, Michele Bachmann will run TV commercials a day before the caucuses. Her campaign has run radio ads and she's sought free media on a bus tour through Iowa's 99 counties.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in Iowa and Jack Gillum in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_iowa_ad_crush

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Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herring

ScienceDaily (Dec. 27, 2011) ? The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study by the University of California, Davis, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The study, to be published the week of Dec. 26 in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that even small oil spills can have a large impact on marine life, and that common chemical analyses of oil spills may be inadequate.

"Our research represents a change in the paradigm for oil spill research and detecting oil spill effects in an urbanized estuary," said Gary Cherr, director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and a study co-author.

On the foggy morning of Nov. 7, 2007, when the container ship collided with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, bunker oil contaminated spawning habitats for the largest U.S. coastal population of Pacific herring -- a month before spawning season.

The new study, which analyzed Pacific herring embryos following the spill, highlights the effects of bunker oil on fish embryos in shallow water, the potential significance of sunlight interacting with oil compounds, and the extreme vulnerability of fish in early life stages to spilled oil.

Specifically, the study found that components of Cosco Busan bunker oil accumulated in naturally spawned herring embryos, then interacted with sunlight during low tides to kill the embryos. Laboratory-fertilized eggs, caged in deeper waters, were protected from the lethal combination of sunlight and oil, but still showed less severe abnormalities associated with oil exposure.

Crude oil is naturally occurring, liquid petroleum. Bunker oil is a thick fuel oil distilled from crude oil and burned on ships to fuel their engines. It is contaminated with various, sometimes unknown, substances.

The study builds on research following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, which released up to 32 million gallons of crude oil into the comparatively pristine environment of Prince William Sound, Alaska. That research established a new paradigm for understanding the effects of oil toxicity on fish at early life stages.

The new study suggests that this old paradigm is inadequate to explain the dramatic, lethal effects of very low levels of oil on fish embryos, even in an urban estuary with preexisting background pollution.

"Based on our previous understanding of the effects of oil on embryonic fish, we didn't think there was enough oil from the Cosco Busan spill to cause this much damage," Cherr said. "And we didn't expect that the ultraviolet light would dramatically increase toxicity in the actual environment, as we might observe in controlled laboratory experiments."

Researchers began the new study in February 2008. They analyzed the levels of oil-based compounds in caged herring embryos at four oiled and two non-oiled subtidal sites, all of which were at least 1 meter below the water's surface. Naturally spawned embryos from shallower sites were also analyzed.

Three months after the spill, caged embryos at oiled sites showed nonlethal heart defects typical of oil exposure.

But embryos from the shallower, intertidal zone not only exhibited the nonlethal heart defects, they also showed surprisingly high rates of dead tissue and mortality unrelated to heart defects.

"These embryos were literally falling apart with high rates of mortality," said Cherr.

In 2008, almost no live larvae hatched from the natural spawn collected from oiled sites.

The high death rates did not seem to be caused by natural or manmade causes unrelated to the spill, the researchers report. No toxicity was observed in embryos from unoiled sites, even those near major highways.

Embryos sampled two years later from oiled sites showed modest heart defects but no increased death rates.

Pacific herring is a commercially and ecologically important species. The fish travel in large schools, typically from the San Francisco Bay north to the Bering Sea, and serve as a forage fish for humpback whales, other mammals, birds and salmon. After two years at sea, they spawn in shallow areas of bays and estuaries.

"In San Francisco, herring is one of the last urban fisheries, and herring is an indicator for the health of the Bay," said Cherr.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111227093057.htm

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Blatche needs just 1 game to create Wizards drama

Washington Wizards' Andray Blatche (7) and Chris Singleton, left, and New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries (43) reach for a rebound during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Washington. The Nets won 90-84. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Wizards' Andray Blatche (7) and Chris Singleton, left, and New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries (43) reach for a rebound during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Washington. The Nets won 90-84. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries (43) goes to the basket against Washington Wizards forward Rashard Lewis (9) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Washington. The Nets won 90-84. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries, left, tries to get past Washington Wizards center JaVale McGee, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? It took only one game for the new-look Washington Wizards to resemble their same old dysfunctional selves.

Andray Blatche took to Twitter on Tuesday to, in effect, criticize the way his criticisms were criticized following the Wizards' season-opening loss to the New Jersey Nets.

"Every body need to shut up I didn't call out my coach or team mates I said I had a bad game need it n the post instead of jump shots," Blatche tweeted.

Blatche wasn't happy after the 90-84 defeat in which the Wizards blew a 21-point lead, saying afterward he wasn't being used to the best of his abilities. He scored 11 points on 5-for-13 shooting and was called for a technical for exchanging words with Kris Humphries

"You can't keep having me pick-and-pop and shooting jump shots," he said in the locker room. "Give me the ball in the paint. That's where I'm most effective at. I've been saying that since training camp: I need the ball in the paint. I don't want to be the pick-and-pop guy that I used to be. It's not working for me."

Blatche has been known to be a bit of a wild card during his seven seasons in the Wizards locker room, but this outburst was exceptional because he had introduced himself as "your captain, Andray Blatche" to the crowd during a pregame speech ? and because the team is only one game into the season, playing under the theme "New Traditions." If this keeps up, the Wizards could somehow manage to make even a lockout-shortened season seem long.

"It's disappointing," coach Flip Saunders said Tuesday. "But, look, we were all disappointed."

Saunders met with Blatche before practice to sort things out.

"We talked about what he said about as far as wanting to be in the post," Saunders said. "And I told him, that's something to my ears. I love hearing that. ... But then he also has to understand that just because you get it at 17 feet, you don't have to shoot it either. I'm not twisting his arm to do that."

Saunders also clarified the captaincy situation. He said he plans to rotate captains for the time being because the team had such an abbreviated training camp. Blatche and John Wall served as captains for the first game.

"It was a situation last night, he's been here longer than anybody else," Saunders said. "And so we'll rotate as far as who it's going to be."

Before the lockout, Saunders gave Blatche a book titled "The 17 Essential Qualities Of A Team Player." Blatche has said he read about half of it. At media day following the lockout, owner Ted Leonsis said: "I talked to Andray, and he understands that the fan base, media are all looking to take cues on can his focus and dedication match his skills."

Blatche did not speak to reporters Tuesday, opting to exit the court through an alternate door after practice. The closest thing to a captain-like comment came from rookie Chris Singleton, who already doesn't care for the taste of NBA losing despite having experienced it only once.

"I don't want it to be a recurring thing," Singleton said. "I want to change this culture, and there's too much losing the last couple of years. Some people might just like that. I'm not used to it, and I'm not trying to get used to it."

___

Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-27-Wizards%20Fireworks/id-71d925834d3d4c1d8d1bdbe0a63b2cfc

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Team Canada Table Hockey scores on iOS

In partnership with Hockey Canada, Stinger Games today introduces Team Canada Table Hockey 1.0 to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch this Christmas. Challenge a friend to a game of table hockey over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in this face paced Red vs. White game. Showcasing realistic 3D physics using the Bullet Physics, with great graphics and challenging CPU opponents. Compete against other players worldwide to see who has the best skills using OpenFeint and Game Center Leaderboards and more.

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Source: http://www.appnewsbureau.com/1629/team-canada-table-hockey-scores-on-ios/

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Active iPen Stylus Is Like a Wacom Cintiq for iPads

There are roughly one gazillion iPad styluses out there and–despite their stylistic differences–they all work in the same way: by mimicking your meaty fingers. What they all lack, and what would make them a lot more accurate, is an on-screen indicator showing where your lines will be drawn.
IPen fixes this, taking a similar approach to [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/uqDQSLY3BR4/

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"Fast Five," "Hangover II" among most pirated in 2011 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? "Fast Five," "Hangover II" and "Thor" were among the most-pirated movies of 2011, according to a new list from the blog TorrentFreak. But some of the year's other biggest grossers at the global box office -- including the latest "Pirates" movie -- are notably absent from the top 10.

"Fast Five," which grossed $626.1 million worldwide, was downloaded nearly 9.3 million times on BitTorrent, according to TorrentFreak. That's a far cry from last year's chart-topper, "Avatar," which was downloaded more than 16 million times.

"The Hangover Part II," which had a worldwide gross of $581.5 million, was downloaded 8.8 million times. The third-most-pirated movie, "Thor" -- which grossed $448.5 million worldwide -- was downloaded 8.3 million times.

Next on the list are six films that were not among the year's top grossers. They include "Source Code" (7.9 million downloads); "I Am Number Four" (7.7 million); and "Sucker Punch" (7.2 million).

The No. 7 spot is even more surprising: It's occupied by "127 Hours," the James Franco thriller that only made $60.7 worldwide. The film was downloaded 6.9 million times.

"Rango," which grossed $245.2 worldwide, was downloaded 6.5 million times, earning it the No. 8 spot. "The King's Speech," which won the Oscar for Best Picture and grossed $414.2 million worldwide, was downloaded nearly 6.3 million times.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" -- the biggest movie of the year with a $1.33 billion worldwide gross -- capped off the list with just over 6 million downloads.

The total number of downloads among this year's top 10 was lower than in 2010, which could be attributed to more legal alternatives, and new piracy alternatives to BitTorrent, like Cyberlockers, according to TorrentFreak.

The number of active BitTorrent users, however, hasn't gone down.

In compiling the list of most-pirated movies in 2011, TorrentFreak used data from sources including thousands of BitTorrent trackers. All release formats, including camera-bootleg recordings, were counted.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/film_nm/us_mostpirated_movies

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Chicago vs Green Bay live online free streaming NFL 2011 HD TV Link on PC

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Nokia responds to questions over Symbian name swap

Nokia's seems to have finally realized that it can't just kill off a long-standing name like Symbian with a mere three-word mention (in parentheses) on its official blog. It's now posted up a marginally more detailed statement in response to "heaps of questions" from Nokia fans about the name change, and it reads as follows:

"We are still using Symbian Belle with some audiences like developers but now we also have the flexibility of using Nokia Belle when referring to our greatest and latest Symbian software update."

There, that should clear it up. Or maybe not. The idea of switching between different names for the same product might be considered bad branding, and the notion of developers being an "audience" is confusing too. But what more can you expect from a single sentence? In other news, the update also clarified that Nokia/Symbian Belle will be coming to the Nokia 500, along with the devices mentioned yesterday, and that it's delay until February 2012 was due to this being a "major software update" that will "make such a big difference in the user experience."

Nokia responds to questions over Symbian name swap originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Poll: President Obama leads all Republican candidates in Nevada

Poll: President Obama leads all Republican candidates in Nevada

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? President Barack Obama would once again win Nevada if the general election had been held this week, but Republican Mitt Romney has the best chance of making him a one-term president,

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Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20111222/NEWS19/111222033/1232

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ZazaFL: Arch Enemy & BDS F*CK the boycott & Amnesty Internationa will go with us to Tel Aviv http://t.co/xzYU1ctf #Israel #apartheid #Palestine #BDS

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Payroll tax cut OK'd by Congress, signed by Obama

WASHINGTON?? Shortly after Congress approved a two-month renewal of payroll tax cuts for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions, President Barack Obama on Friday signed a bill formalizing the extension and won a convincing victory for his jobs agenda.

1. Other political news of note

   1. Payroll tax cut OK'd by Congress, signed by Obama

      Shortly after Congress approved a two-month renewal of payroll tax cuts, President Obama signed a bill formalizing the extension and won a convincing victory for his jobs agenda.

   2. Updated 24 minutes ago 12/24/2011 4:49:19 AM +00:00 Obama starts delayed Hawaiian vacation
   3. NYT: Obama wins 'tactical victory' ? GOP strategist
   4. SC voter ID law blocked by Justice Department
   5. Boehner announces deal with Reid on end to payroll tax impasse

The voices of Americans "made a difference" in persuading Congress to act, Obama told reporters in brief remarks. "This is some good news just in the nick of time for the holidays."

Back-to-back voice vote approvals of the measure by the Senate and House capped a retreat by House Republicans who had insisted that a full-year bill was the only way to prevent an immediate tax increase on Jan. 1.

The measure passed despite lingering grumbling from Tea Party Republicans. It buys time for negotiations early next year on how to finance a year-long extension of the 2 percentage point Social Security payroll tax cut.

Story: GOP strategist: Obama wins 'nice tactical victory'

It will keep in place a salary boost of about $20 a week for an average worker making $50,000 a year and prevent almost 2 million unemployed people from losing jobless benefits averaging $300 a week.

The payroll tax rate will now be kept at 4.2 percent until the end of February. It had been slated to increase after December 31 to 6.2 percent.

Analysts had warned that failing to renew the tax cut could jeopardize the economic recovery, perhaps even risking another recession.

Passage in the House ? Friday's action on the measure took less than a minute ? capped a swift retreat by House Republicans. Their move to force a holiday season confrontation with Obama and Senate Democrats had threatened to hit 160 million workers with a tax increase on Jan. 1. But it backfired badly.

Just 24 hours earlier, House leaders had insisted the only way to prevent that tax hike and a phase-out of jobless benefits for people out of work for more than six months was to pass a full-year renewal.

Quarrel
Those goals had been embraced by virtually every lawmaker in the House and Senate but had been derailed in a quarrel over demands by House Republicans for immediate negotiations on a long-term extension bill. Senate leaders of both parties had tried to barter such an agreement among themselves a week ago but failed, instead agreeing upon a 60-day measure to buy time for talks next year.

Thursday's decision by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to cave in to the Senate came after days of criticism from Obama and Democrats. But perhaps more tellingly, GOP stalwarts including strategist Karl Rove and the Wall Street Journal editorial board warned that if the tax cuts were allowed to expire, Republicans would take a political beating that would harm efforts to unseat Obama next year.

House GOP arguments about the legislative process and what the "uncertainty" of a two-month extension would mean for businesses were unpersuasive, and Obama took the offensive.

Friday's House and Senate sessions were remarkable. Both chambers had essentially recessed for the holidays but leaders in both parties orchestrated passage of the short-term agreement under debate rules that would allow any individual member of Congress to derail the pact, at least for a time. None did.

The developments were a clear win for Obama. The payroll tax cut was the centerpiece of his three-month, campaign-style drive for jobs legislation that seems to have contributed to an uptick in his poll numbers ? and taken a toll on those of congressional Republicans.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45776434/ns/politics/

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Man Turns Himself In As Cancer Donation Jar Thief

A suburban Chicago man turned himself in Thursday after surveillance video showing him snatch a donation jar intended to benefit a local woman battling cancer went public.

Joseph Campione, 44, of Palos Heights, was charged with felony theft after surrendering himself at the Crestwood, Ill. police station, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Just before Dec. 5 on Dec. 5, Campione allegedly entered a Shop Mart convenience store at 13650 Cicero Ave. In the surveillance video released by police, the man can be seen making a purchase and, when the store clerk turns away from the counter, grabbing the donation jar and leaving the store immediately.

The jar contained money donated to help Kelly Stawicki, a 28-year-old Alsip, Ill. woman with stage 3 colon cancer, pay her medical bills. Stawicki is uninsured and has racked up tens of thousands of dollars worth of bills as she undergoes treatments.

CBS Chicago reports that an anonymous donor stepped forward when the story went public and donated $10,000 to Stawicki to help with her mounting medical expenses.

According to CBS, Campione has a criminal record dating back to 1993, including a retail theft conviction in 1994 and other charges of obstructing justice, deceptive practice and theft which were all ultimately dropped.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/22/joseph-campione-turns-him_n_1165849.html

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13 Days Out: Good Morning Iowa (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/177522307?client_source=feed&format=rss

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China says open to visit by new North Korean leader (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China said on Tuesday it was open to a visit by new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un following the death of his father Kim Jong-il, as President Hu Jintao visited the hermit state's embassy in Beijing to express his condolences.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, speaking at a daily news briefing, initially said he had "no information" about whether Jong-un would be welcome to visit China.

But later he clarified: "I want to add that China and North Korea have always kept up high-level visits, and we welcome the North Korean leader to visit at a convenient time to both sides." He did not elaborate.

The remarks follow a message from China's central leadership on Monday that gave Beijing's support for isolated North Korea and expressed confidence in Kim Jong-un -- Kim Jong-il's young and little-known successor.

Liu would not comment on Hu's visit to the North Korean embassy, a move that is another sign of Beijing's determination to protect its ties with Pyongyang as it enters an uncertain transition.

A brief Xinhua report did not say what Hu said during the visit. But his gesture -- unusual for China's highest ranked leader -- was enough to highlight Beijing's effort to shore up support for Pyongyang under the younger Kim.

Liu also said that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had spoken in the morning with his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-hwan and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

All three agreed it was important to maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Liu said of the calls.

"China is willing to continue striving with all sides for the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Liu said.

South Korea and the United States are "willing to maintain close coordination and communication with the Chinese side," he added.

Impoverished and squeezed by international sanctions for conducting a series of nuclear and missile tests since 2006, North Korea has increasingly turned to Beijing for help to fill the gap left by the drying up of economic assistance from South Korea and the United States.

In turn, China has made clear that it wants to shore up North Korea as a buffer protecting its regional influence from the United States and its allies.

Over the 18 months before his death, Kim visited China four times, although in the past he rarely travelled abroad.

During Kim's China visit in May, the two sides vowed that their alliance, "sealed in blood," would pass on to their successors.

(Writing by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111220/wl_nm/us_china_northkorea_hu

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Venezuela honors Simon Bolivar with new coffin (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez paid tribute to 19th century independence leader Simon Bolivar on Saturday by unveiling a new coffin containing Bolivar's remains and adorned with gold, pearls and diamonds.

Soldiers lifted a flag from the mahogany coffin during a ceremony marking the anniversary of Bolivar's death in 1830. Bolivar is both a national hero in Venezuela and the namesake of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution political movement.

"You live on in us," Chavez said in a speech, standing next to the coffin. "As the years pass, you will be more alive, father Bolivar."

Officials have said Chavez's government is spending 119 million bolivars ($27.7 million) to build a new mausoleum to house Bolivar's remains. The mausoleum is to have a soaring roof, and a metal framework has been partly erected behind the National Pantheon, where Bolivar's remains have long been entombed.

Chavez oversaw the exhumation of Bolivar's remains last year, seeking to confirm his idol's identity and investigate a theory that Bolivar could have been killed. Researchers confirmed Bolivar's identity through DNA tests but were unable to pin down the cause of his death.

The new coffin bears golden stars and the national seal, as well as Bolivar's initials and golden laurels. An announcer said the decorations on the coffin include diamonds and pearls from Venezuela.

Chavez has made Bolivar a central symbol throughout his nearly 13-year-old presidency. He often speaks below a portrait of Bolivar. In 1999, Chavez promoted the approval of a new constitution that changed the country's name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_chavez

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Gingrich says rivals' criticism taking a toll (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Newt Gingrich tried to quiet unrelenting campaign criticism that he acknowledged had taken a toll as Mitt Romney stepped up insider attacks Saturday in hopes of regaining front-runner status with the first presidential vote less than two weeks away.

Gingrich, the former House speaker enjoying a late surge in the polls, pledged to correct what he said were his rivals' inaccurate claims about him. Romney, the ex-Massachusetts governor looking for a rebound, portrayed Gingrich as a well-heeled lobbyist since his service in Congress and predicted that conservative voters will reject Gingrich as they learn more about his lengthy Washington record.

"I'm going to let the lawyers decide what is and what is not lobbying, but when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, typically it's a duck," Romney said.

With the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3 up for grabs, most candidates are redoubling their efforts heading into the holidays, when voters generally tune out the race.

Gingrich is their prime target. Last week alone, anti-Gingrich ads from a Romney ally outspent Gingrich by an 8-to-1 margin on television.

Gingrich cited "the extraordinary negativity of the campaign" during a call from Washington with Iowa supporters. He said he was inclined to hold teleconferences every few days so people can discuss ideas and his campaign can "encourage them to raise any of these things that you get in the mail that are junk and dishonest."

"I'll be glad to personally answer, so you're hearing it from my very own lips," he said in the forum. "We don't have our advertising versus their advertising, but you get to ask me directly."

Romney campaigned in early-voting South Carolina, where tea party activists have given Gingrich a strong lead in polls. Romney told reporters that many voters now are just beginning to pay attention to the race and will turn on Gingrich after they learn about his time in Washington and his role with mortgage company Freddie Mac, a quasi-government agency.

Gingrich's consulting firm collected $1.6 million from the company. Gingrich insists he did not lobby for them and only provided advice.

"I think as tea partyers concentrate on that, for instance, they'll say, `Wow, this really isn't the guy that would represent our views,'" Romney said after a town hall meeting with South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott. "Many tea party folks, I believe, are going to find me to be the ideal candidate."

Gingrich said the attacks on his record have been brutal, but he insisted they are exaggerated.

"I just want to set the record straight," Gingrich told his Iowa backers. "We were paid annually for six years, so the numbers you see are six years of work. Most of that money went to pay overhead ? for staff, for other things. It didn't go directly to me. It went to the company that provided consulting advice."

It's a distinction without a difference, his rivals have said. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann continued to criticize his tenure as a consultant and Texas Rep. Ron Paul continued an ad accusing him of "serial hypocrisy" for taking Freddie Mac's checks.

During a Friday appearance on Jay Leno's late-night television show, Paul also turned on Bachmann.

"She doesn't like Muslim. She hates them," said Paul, who routinely clashes with his rivals over foreign policy. "She wants to go get them."

Bachmann told reporters in Estherville that was not true.

"I don't hate Muslims. I love the American people," she said. "As president of the United States, my goal will be to keep America safe, free and sovereign."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry rumbled through rural Iowa on a bus tour. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum stuck to a plan that has won him the honor of spending the most time in the state, yet has not yet translated into support in polls.

Iowa's largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register, announced it would publish its presidential endorsement in Sunday editions. In 2008, the paper backed Sen. John McCain, the eventual GOP nominee who came up short in Iowa's caucuses.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who early on decided against competing in Iowa, was campaigning in New Hampshire. Huntsman, who also served as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China, has kept his focus on New Hampshire, where independent voters are the largest bloc and can vote in either party's primary.

As the Iowa vote neared, Gingrich's decision to take the weekend off from campaigning raised eyebrows given his rivals' busy schedules. Gingrich called the decision "pacing."

Gingrich has prided himself on a nontraditional campaign, but his advantages in the polls could shift if the only exposure to Gingrich comes through rivals' negative ads.

Gingrich's campaign manager noted the onslaught in a fundraising pitch to donors.

"With Newt's opponents spending $9 million on attack ads in Iowa, we need to quickly ramp up our messaging," Michael Krull said Saturday.

Anti-Romney ads, courtesy of Romney allies, dominate in Iowa. The Restore Our Future political action committee spent almost $790,000 on commercials against Romney last week alone. Gingrich, by comparison, spent roughly 100,000 on broadcast and cable ads.

That looked to continue into the final week before the Christmas holiday.

Romney, who has kept Iowa at arm's length after investing heavily here four years ago only to come up short. His advisers note they have kept in touch with supporters of his 2008 campaign that came in second place in Iowa.

___

Hunt reported from Charleston, S.C.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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The Iraq War and the Steep Price of American Bravado (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | President Obama marked the end of the war in Iraq on Wednesday, December 14, but his salute of returning troops was no declaration of victory. Obama's low-key wrap-up of the war contrasts starkly with President George W. Bush's infamous "mission accomplished" celebration. That celebration, which marked the end of major combat operations, was full of the self-assured bravado that led us into the Iraq War.

Where is that bravado now?

Now, a decade past the "shock and awe" bombardment meant to lead to the Iraqi forces' quick collapse, it's fair to ask whether America's achievements were worth their steep cost.

The Iraq War did produce some desired results. America might not have found the weapons of mass destruction it insisted justified invasion, but it did -- along with its allies -- depose a ruthless dictator whose unpredictability destabilized the Persian Gulf. Connections between Al-Qaeda and Iraq now appear to have been largely puffery, manufactured to justify military action to the ordinary Americans who bore the cost, both economic and human, of the war and occupation. But America made clear to the world the lengths to which it would go to protect its security interests.

But do those achievements justify the 4,500 lost and 32,000 wounded Americans? Perhaps. The better question might be, do they justify the loss of 100,000 Iraqi lives and the possibly irreparable damage to America's status as global beacon for freedom and justice?

I recall sharing dinner with a friend shortly after the war's start. "This war will be the first crack in America's foundation," my friend told me. "One day we'll look back and see [the Iraq War] as the beginning of America's end."

Those comments still strike me as overstatements. But it's true that, due in large part to the Iraq War, America's reality has shifted. We fought a war we couldn't really afford, for a people whose allegiances we misjudged, based on tragically mistaken justifications, with an ill-formed exit strategy. Our actions at Abu Ghraib revealed to the world that Americans, too, are capable of cruelty. The deaths of 100,000 Iraqis will stain our political relations in the Gulf for generations to come.

The chief consequence of the war for Americans is that we have been forced to confront the reality that America is fallible, our security depends on international cooperation, and until we tend to our own democracy's blemishes, we have no business defining democracy for others.

I can't imagine that the destruction of so many lives was unavoidable. But if these are the tough lessons we've learned, I'm glad such painful losses won us something.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111215/us_ac/10685165_the_iraq_war_and_the_steep_price_of_american_bravado

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Headaches May Plague Many With HIV/AIDS (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Headache affects 50 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States, and many of those headaches are severe, a new study says.

About 27.5 percent of the 200 HIV/AIDS patients in the study suffered "chronic migraine," a rare condition in which a person has migraine symptoms (with or without other headaches) for 15 or more days a month. This condition occurs in only 2 percent of the general population.

"This translates into a 13-fold increased risk of chronic migraine among patients with HIV disease," study author Todd Smitherman, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Mississippi, said in a university news release.

"The strongest predictor of headache was the severity of HIV disease, such that patients with more advanced disease had more frequent, more severe and more disabling migraines," he added.

For the study, the researchers interviewed Montgomery, Ala., clinic patients who have HIV or AIDs and reviewed their medical records to look for any other cause of headache.

The findings, recently published online in the journal Headache, could help lead to improved treatment and reduced medical costs for HIV patients who suffer headaches, the researchers said.

"This research is of interest to clinicians and physicians for several reasons," Smitherman said. "Recent research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that, despite the availability of medications that effectively slow disease progression, most Americans with HIV do not have the disease under control. Our study shows that patients with poorly controlled HIV/AIDS are most prone to suffer also from frequent, severe migraines at rates that far exceed those of the general population."

The authors said theirs is the first study since highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) became widely available to find that having HIV/AIDS is associated with a very high risk of headache, particularly migraines.

Doctors need to regularly monitor immune system functioning in HIV/AIDS patients and pay close attention to headache symptoms in those with more advanced disease, the researchers said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about headache.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111215/hl_hsn/headachesmayplaguemanywithhivaids

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Lawyer says Jackson doctor under tight security (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson is coping with tight security and isolation and remains optimistic that he will win an upcoming appeal, his civil attorney said Tuesday.

Charles Peckham said sheriff's deputies appear to be subjecting Conrad Murray to more security than other inmates at Men's Central Jail and that the physician was left heavily shackled during their jailhouse meeting.

"Treating him like Hannibal Lecter is offensive," Peckham said, referring to the fictional serial killer from popular books and films. A sheriff's officials defended the security measures, saying they were for Murray's safety.

The attorney had to obtain a court order Tuesday to meet with Murray to discuss strategy on a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jackson's father. Peckham said despite the judge's order, he was denied entry to the jail, but officials relented after speaking with the civil trial court handling the case.

He said their initial 30-minute meeting was cut short when the jail was placed in lockdown, but Peckham said the time was enough to upset him and see that Murray's fortunes had dramatically changed.

"This man who saved lives made a mistake, and they're going to him pay like a mass-murderer," Peckham said. The doctor spoke extensively to documentary filmmakers before his conviction, but few details of his life behind bars have been divulged.

Murray "is a real target because of his notoriety and because of the Michael Jackson connection," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. "We're just being extra cautious right now."

He said jail officials will evaluate how to handle Murray's incarceration, but that he may not serve his whole sentence in isolation from other inmates. He noted that without a recent change in state law, Murray would be serving his term in state prison, not a county lockup.

Peckham said Murray, who has been jailed since a jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter on Nov. 7, is optimistic that an appellate court will grant an appeal on the case.

Peckham's visit came hours after the physician, who was never paid the $150,000 a month he expected for serving as Jackson's personal physician, asked a court to provide a publicly funded attorney to handle his appeal because he is indigent.

J. Michael Flanagan, who was one of Murray's criminal defense lawyers, agreed with Peckham's description. He said that when he visited Murray recently, four deputies escorted the physician into the meeting room and shackled him to a table.

"He can't even scratch his nose," the attorney said. Flanagan said he saw another inmate who was charged with murder meet with his attorney without the same restrictive measures.

"This is because of his notoriety," Whitmore said. "It's not so much the crime itself."

Peckham said he didn't "think the sheriff's department is being anything but professional. I do however believe the amount of security for Dr. Murray is vastly out of proportion with the potential threat."

He said Murray told him he appreciates the support and prayers he's received from former patients and friends.

In the early days of his confinement, Murray was classified as suicidal in jail records, according to a probation report. Peckham said he saw no indications that the physician intended to take his own life and that he seemed to be in control of his mental health.

Murray indicated in a two-page court filing Tuesday that he would rely on a court-funded attorney to help craft his appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that felony convicts have a constitutional right to assistance of counsel.

Flanagan and Murray's other criminal attorneys had sought to present evidence to jurors about Jackson's finances, details of his deal for a series of comeback concerts, and information about other doctors treating the pop superstar. But the judge refused and ruled the trial would be about Murray's care of the singer.

The Houston-based doctor had been giving Jackson nightly doses of the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid. The drug is normally given in hospital settings with extensive monitoring equipment, but testimony showed Murray had only basic equipment and left Jackson's bedside on the morning of his death.

Pastor has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 23 to decide whether to order Murray to pay any restitution to Jackson's family or reimburse them for funeral expenses, which totaled more than $1.8 million.

Jackson's estate estimated the singer would have earned at least $100 million if he had performed his "This Is It" concerts planned for London's O2 arena.

Murray will lose his medical license as a result of the conviction is upheld.

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Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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