TGIF April 30 2010

30 NZ April TONIGHT 2010

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Labour Party leader Phil Goff says there is “absolutely no truth”to claims within the Chinese community that a businessman involved in the controversial buy-up of NZ dairy farms donated nearly $100,000“in cash”to Labour with Goff’s knowledge.

The businessman is Jack Chen, an entrepreneur who’s lived in New Zealand since 2002 and who founded the Chinese Business Roundtable Council in New Zealand.

Chen, whose website listed the now arrested Yang “Bill”Liu as an advisor, until a TGIF investigation nearly two years ago revealed Liu was a criminal with strong ties to the Labour Party, is himself well-connected to Labour, National and even Act. Chen was prosecuted by Chinese authorities in 2004 and banned from running a company for three years for securities offences, but in that time since he’s been active in New Zealand.

Surprisingly, given that he doesn’t speak English according to his staff, Chen managed to convince then Trade Minister Phil Goff to become the official patron of his Chinese Business Roundtable, whose new premises Goff even officially launched 2008.

In a letter sent to TGIF Edition, a Chinese community member writes: “Shareholders and investors in Hong Kong are praying New Zealand government [will] not approve the purchase of the Crafar farms and other similar farms by NZ Natural Dairy or companies behind it.

“The company does not have money. It needs the media reports and the final [approval] to get more shares out and more $ coming in,” says the correspondent.

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www.tgifedition.com

ISSN 1172-4153 | Volume 3 | Issue 59 |

| 30 April 2010

Goff rejects $100K cash donation allegation

By Ian Wishart

Dunedin

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EDITION

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Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Ltd – a Cayman Islands tax haven registered company with its operational headquarters in Hong Kong, is the owner of a New Zealand based subsidiary NZ Natural Dairy Limited. Jack Chen is a director of the NZ subsidiary. He was, until the start of the year, also an executive director of the parent company back in Hong

on the

INSIDE

Kong. It’s that parent company that appears to be short of cash – it made a substantial loss last year.

So what’s the story behind the mysterious dairy farms buy up, the businessmen involved and their ties to high-flying politicians? To understand what happened, first you need a little background.

Continue reading

BENNETT ROPABLE

Solo mum admits lying Page 4

FULHAM FINAL Underdogs’ dream win Page 11

Massive spill could dwarf Exxon Valdez

By Kevin Spear The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, FLA. – If the blown-out well spewing oil in the Gulf of Mexico cannot be stopped until it’s plugged by a relief well, it could spread nearly twice as much crude as the Exxon Valdez, the infamous tanker that created an 11 million-gallon mess more than two decades ago.

The driller of the blowout, BP PLC which is an Obama administration ally on climate change, con-

firmed this afternoon that it is worried the spill rate will increase further from its latest estimate of 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day. The British oil company said it would start on Saturday drilling a relief well, which could take 90 days to complete and allow nearly 20 million gallons to escape.

The growing oil slick, already more than 160 kilometres long,was expected to hit part of the Mississippi River delta by early tomorrow morning.Spill-response crews are fighting it with floating booms, chemical dispersants, controlled burns and surface skimmers.

Florida authorities remained unsure of any risk to the state but were activating pre-drawn priority lists for the protection of bays, beaches, estuaries and oyster beds along the Panhandle coast.

“There’s oil moving in the Gulf of Mexico, and that’s enough for us to mobilize,”said David Palandro, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute scientist in St. Petersburg.

President Barack Obama ordered the heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior and Homeland Security departments to

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visit the disaster scene tomorrow, and said he had talked with the governors of the states that could be affected by the spill.

The catastrophe amounts to a forceful rebuke of the oil industry’s assertion that it could drill near Florida safely, a claim based in large part on the use of fail-safe valves on the seafloor that are supposed to close manually or automatically in emergencies.

For nearly nine days, a fleet of robotic submarines has worked to manually trigger the Deepwater Continue reading

NEW ZEALAND

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off BEAT 1 IN 5 AMERICANS DON’T SPEAK YANK WASHINGTON, APRIL 30 (UPI) – A U.S. Census Bureau report indicates 20 percent of residents 5 years and older speak a language other than English at home.

The report, which analyzes data collected between 1980 and 2007, found the number of residents speaking a language other than English at home more than doubled during the past three decades, the Chicago Tribune reported today.

The census said the number of Spanish speakers in the United States increased by 211 percent, or 23.4 million.

The report also said Chicago, once home to the largest population of foreign language speakers, has been overtaken in the category by New York and Los Angeles.

SWEDISH COUPLE CHARGED WITH BUS SEX STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, APRIL 30 (UPI) – An ageing Swedish couple were kicked off a bus and charged with sexual harassment for allegedly committing sex acts while aboard the vehicle.

Passengers on the bus traveling from Huskvarna to Ljungby in August 2009 said the couple, who boarded the vehicle in Stockholm, were engaging in sexual activities in full view of other people, The Local reported today.

The pair, a female musician and a male real estate agent, were kicked off the bus in Ljungby and arrested on sexual harassment charges.

The couple denied engaging in sexual acts while on the bus.

“I don’t understand anything. We did not have sex. She stroked me on my tummy just inside my shirt,” the man said in a statement to the court.

4.89-CARAT DIAMOND FOUND AT PARK MURFREESBORO, ARK., APRIL 30 (UPI) – A Missouri man said he discovered a 4.89-carat diamond at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Mack Evans, 67, of Diamond, Mo., said he discovered the jellybean-sized jewel, which officials said is the largest found at the park so far this year, during a recent visit to the state park, which is the world’s only diamond producing site open to the public, the Joplin Globe reported today.

Evans said most diamonds form a single crystal, but his find was an aggregate of multiple crystals.

“I almost threw it away,” Evans said. “I had seen a lot of diamonds. I have never seen anything like this.”

Visitors to the state park, near Murfreesboro, are allowed to dig all day and keep their findings for a $7 entrance fee.

“We have more than 40 other rocks and minerals that you can find,” park interpreter Waymon Cox said.

STOLEN BREASTS PROVOKE LAWSUIT NORRKOPING, SWEDEN, APRIL 30 (UPI) – A Swedish woman is facing forgery and fraud charges for borrowing $62,000 in her best friend’s name and using it to travel to Thailand for breast implants.

The indictment against the Norrkoping woman says she tricked her friend into revealing her bank information with a story claiming she needed to deposit money and hide it from enforcement agencies, Swedish news agency TT reported today.

However, the woman instead used the bank information to borrow $62,000 in her friend’s name and used the money for private debts, several trips to Thailand and breast augmentation surgery while in the country.

The woman also allegedly changed her friend’s address with her bank and defrauded her of another $10,000 by using the other woman’s credit cards.

The suspect told authorities she planned to pay the money back at some point in the future.

30 April 2010

Licenses revoked for unpaid tickets WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – Legislation has been introduced which will allow driver licences to be suspended when people haven’t made arrangements to pay overdue traffic fines.

It is a new penalty created in the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill, introduced yesterday, which Courts Minister Georgina te Heuheu says will strengthen enforcement measures generally.

One of its proposed amendments is to the Land Transport Act, allowing driver licence stop orders (DLSOs) to be issued against fine defaulters.

“Driver licence stop orders will be a new enforcement measure where a person fails to make payment arrangements for overdue traffic fines and reparation,”the bill says.

“Eligible people will be sent a letter warning them that if they do not resolve their overdue traffic penalties within 14 days, their driver licences will be suspended.”

The DLSOs will suspend all driver licences held by people in default,including limited licences,and will also prevent those people from obtaining a licence.

Licences will remain suspended until the overdue fines are resolved through payment or time-to-pay arrangements.

Vehicles will be impounded for 28 days if people • Allowing home detention or prison sentences to drive in breach of a DLSO. be substituted for unaffordable and unenforceable The Courts and Criminal Matters Bill strength- reparation orders. ens collection measures for all fines, reparation The Sentencing Act is being changed to improve payments and civil debt when people haven’t con- the operation of reparation and vehicle confiscation tinued to pay or haven’t made payment arrange- as penalty regimes. ments.

The District Courts Act amendments are to As well as amending the Land Transport Act, it improve the operation of the civil debt enforcechanges the Summary Proceedings Act, the Sen- ment process by streamlining the most commonly tencing Act and the Disused processes – Orders for trict Courts Act. Examination and AttachVEHICLES WILL BE The main amendments ment Orders.

IMPOUNDED FOR 28 to the Summary Proceed“This bill represents ings Act are: the most comprehensive DAYS IF PEOPLE DRIVE IN • Allowing the Ministry set of legislative measures of Justice to release over- BREACH OF A DLSO designed to strengthen the due penalty amounts to recovery of unpaid monies credit reporting agencies, and allowing those agen- in 12 years,”Mrs te Heuheu said. cies to give the ministry credit applicant informa“It is critical to the credibility of the justice tion, to assist with fines enforcement; system that monetary penalties are viewed as a • Giving courts priority over secured creditors for credible sanction.” seized property where the overdue penalties could She said it demonstrated the Government’s deterhave been discovered before finance was advanced mination to address the high level of unpaid fines, to purchase that property, and these penalties are and had taken more than two years to develop. still overdue; and – NZPA

NEW ZE

Poll finds public want US ships back WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – Over three-quarters of adult New Zealanders are supportive of visits here

by American warships that are not nuclear armed or powered, a poll shows.

The Research New Zealand poll follows comments this month by former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who said the ships should be allowed to return here as long as they did not breach New Zealand’s nuclear-free legislation.

Under that legislation, the prime minister has to approve that any visiting warship is not carrying

any nuclear explosive device, and is not nuclearpowered.

Prime Minister John Key, who met recently with United States Vice-President Joe Biden, said afterwards that Zealand and the United States were on strong terms and the warship issue was relatively minor. Such vessels were not likely to be visiting here any time soon anyway, he said.

The poll showed support for such visits was strongest among those 55 years and older (81 percent), while those aged 35 to 54 had similar views

with 80 percent in favour.

Sixty four percent of people under 35 years were in favour, but 9 percent of that group said they didn’t know.

Overall, 75 percent of the 510 people polled were in favour of warship visits and 20 percent opposed.

Maori and Pacific New Zealanders were less supportive with 64 percent in favour and 31 percent not in favour.

The poll had a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

– NZPA

Govt cull of civil service grows WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – The Government expects 470 public service positions will go by the end of next year, State Services Minister Tony Ryall’s office has confirmed.

The Labour Party blew the whistle on the cuts today, saying it had Cabinet papers which showed health, education and Inland Revenue would bear the brunt of what it called “indiscriminate cuts to public services”.

State services spokesman Grant Robertson said the papers were confusing and showed 460 positions would go by the end of this year.A spokesman for Mr Ryall told NZPA the correct figure was 470 at the end of 2011.

Mr Robertson said the cuts would lead to poorer services for the public.

“We already know the cuts in the health sector will mean doctors and nurses will spend less time with patients and more time filling in forms,”he said.

“Yet National seems determined to cut what they call backroom staff who actually make the system work.”

Mr Robertson said the cuts he had discovered through papers obtained under the Official Information Act were not the end of the story.

“Finance Minister Bill English has already signalled that $1.8 billion over four years will be cut in this year’s budget -- this will lead to the end of

more programmes and more job losses.”

Mr English said last week the $1.8 billion would be“redirected”from poor quality programmes and shifted to priority areas. He said at the time about 1500 public service jobs had been lost so far and he expected the process would continue.

Mr Robertson said National did not have a plan for developing“21st century”public services.

“Of course the public service needs to adapt and change, but this needs to be done by working with communities, businesses and public servants themselves rather than cutting services and staff,”he said.

– NZPA

EALAND

NEW ZEALAND

30 April 2010

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Govt moving on water meters WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – All significant water use will be metered as part of a programme to improve fresh water management, Environment Minister Nick Smith says.

“We can’t even begin to manage water properly in New Zealand when we have so little information on how much is extracted and when,”he said tonight.

“It is estimated that only 31 percent of water taken nationally is metered.”

Dr Smith said regulations would come into force on July 1 which would ensure 92 percent was metered by 2012, 96 percent by 2014 and 98 percent by 2016.

All water takes of more than 20 litres a second will be metered within two years, takes of more than 10 litres a second within four years and takes of more than five litres within six years.

The regulations don’t cover small takes for domestic use and Dr Smith said only about 250 households used water at five litres a second.

He said it was “quite reasonable” for the Government to require those who used water to pay for measuring and reporting how much they were taking.

Drug bust a ‘bomb’

WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – A drug bust in Central Otago today led to a bomb squad call-out after police uncovered explosives at an Alexandra property.

The discovery was made as police executed search warrants across Otago and Southland as part of a two-month investigation into a string of arsons, burglaries and firearms thefts by local drug dealers.

Seven people were arrested and will face more than 40 charges, including possession, selling, supplying and offering to supply class B and C controlled drugs, possession of drug instruments, arson, and unlawful possession of explosives.

Police executed 11 search warrants in Central

“Economic analysis shows that water use is worth more than $5 billion per year to the economy and only a small improvement in efficiency makes this investment in improved information well worthwhile,”he said.

“A national regulation is a far more efficient way of getting water measured rather than leaving the decision and timing to each individual regional council.”

He said the regulations were the result of thorough consultation with irrigators, indus-

try, councils, iwi and environmental organisations.

“There is strong support among sector organisations of the need for a national approach,”he said.

“The Government has included pragmatic exemptions to ensure the cost is only being incurred where there are real benefits.”

Wider water issues covering improved regulations on quality, better systems for water allocation and simpler processes for advancing sustainable storage schemes would be undertaken after the Land and Water Forum had reported to the Government in July.

– NZPA

Kiwi dollar ends near high

Otago, Cromwell and Invercargill as part of the swoop, code named Operation Walton.

A small amount of explosives was found an Alexandra property,prompting police to call in a defence force bomb disposal squad from Burnham military camp.

Police seized drug utensils, ammunition, firearms, explosives and class B and C controlled drugs, including methamphetamine and BZP. All 10 firearms reported stolen in the burglaries were recovered.

Those arrested in Central Otago will appear in the Alexandra District Court over the coming weeks on a variety of related charges.

Police were anticipating further arrests in Invercargill and Central Otago, Detective Senior Sergeant Colin Blackie of Otago CIB said.

“As a result of our own investigations and information we’ve gratefully received from the public, we have identified key people alleged to be involved in dishonesty offending, arsons and drug dealing within our community,”he said.

The seven arsons in recent months had concerned police,firefighters and the community,Mr Blackie said.

– NZPA

WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – The New Zealand dollar consolidated in a narrow range at higher levels in quiet trading today.

It fell on Thursday on disappointment that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand did not say more about when it will raise rates. The central bank kept the official cash rate unchanged and said it expected to remove policy stimulus in coming months.The debate continued today about what in coming months means.

On Thursday night, the NZ dollar came back in favour, and was seen as benefitting from ongoing eurozone turmoil.

By 5pm today it was US72.48c, having risen to US72.33c at 8am from US71.66c at 5pm yesterday.It spent most of today between US72.21c and US72.51c.

“It has been a very quiet day,”said Murray Hindley,ANZ chief foreign exchange dealer said.

“It closed toward the top end of the range, which bodes well for next week,”he said.

Investors are still watching to see if Greece takes austerity measures to open the way for financial aid.

Next week the focus will also be on the Reserve Bank of Australia with the market estimating a 60 percent chance of a rate rise in Australia on Tuesday.

The Henry tax review is also due out in Australia on Sunday.

The NZ dollar was 0.5470 euro at 5pm from 0.5421 at the same time yesterday.

It was at 68.14 yen from 67.27 yen yesterday and was at A77.91c from A77.48c.

The trade weighted index was 67.62 at 5pm from 66.99 yesterday.

– NZPA

Police accept Kahui criticism

WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 NZPA – Counties Manukau police district commander Superintendent Mike Bush says he accepts an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report critical of the way police handled some evidence in the Chris and Cru Kahui murder case.

The South Auckland twins died in Auckland’s Starship Hospital in June 2006 after being admitted with head injuries.

Their father, Chris Kahui, was acquitted of their murder in 2008.

His defence was that the twins’mother, Macsyna King, was the killer but she had never been charged.

Following the trial, lawyers for Mr Kahui complained to the IPCA regarding two pieces of evidence they said were not documented or disclosed properly.

A decision released by the IPCA yesterday cleared police of deliberately withholding or delaying the release of evidence.

However, the IPCA criticised the officers’ documentation and disclosure of evidence.

In regards to a complaint involving one witness, the IPCA said it accepted police were working under considerable pressure at the time, but that the evidence should have been disclosed in a timely way.

“The late disclosure put the defence under unreasonable pressure, and constituted an error of judgment on the part of the officers concerned,” the IPCA said.

Mr Bush today said he accepted the IPCA’s findings.

“The investigation was difficult and the approach adopted by police throughout the investigation was thorough and comprehensive.”

The investigation had been peer-reviewed throughout, he said.

“Full disclosure of all evidence was provided to the Crown and defence, but I do acknowledge there was a timing issue with one statement,”he said.

“I will look at the recommendations made by the IPCA and act appropriately upon them.”

Mr Bush said the IPCA noted that the disclosure issue did not ultimately prejudice the defence case.

Mr Kahui’s lawyer Lorraine Smith yesterday said she was pleased with the IPCA decision.

“We were concerned during the trial about a number of matters and we referred those to the Independent Police (Conduct) Authority and we’re pleased to see that our concerns were justified,”she said.

Ms Smith would not comment on whether she thought the police failures to disclose evidence properly were deliberate.

– NZPA

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NEW ZEALAND

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Up until May last year, the overseas company now known as Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Ltd was, in fact, a Chinese mining company known as China Jin Hui Mining Corporation Ltd. It changed its name and hired 41 year old Jack Chen of Auckland as its new“joint chairman, chief executive officer and executive director of the company with effect from 7 May 2009”.

An official notice from the company to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange says: “Mr Chen immigrated to New Zealand in 2002 and has been participating in community services in New Zealand since then. He later established the New Zealand Chinese Business Roundtable Council, which serves as a channel for the cooperation and communication between Chinese entrepreneurs,and the entrepreneurs and politicians in New Zealand.

“Mr Chen’s national and social contributions to New Zealand were recognized by the ruling party and Phil Goff, the current leader of the ruling party, was invited to be the patron of the council,”says the stock exchange advisory of May 9, 2009.

So far, so good. It is clear Chen has traded on his political clout, although the statement doesn’t elaborate on how “Chen’s national and social contributions to New Zealand were recognised by the ruling party”.

30 April 2010

According to the letter to TGIF, Chen’s bad reputation in China for the securities offences meant he needed the credibility of political connections in New Zealand if he was going to attract investment.

“The only reason people still believed him this time is NZ governing party Labour is fully behind them,” said our correspondent – arguably out of touch with the election result but perhaps not surprising given the May 2009 press release above still referred to“Phil Goff, the current leader of the ruling party”.

“Your trade minister Phillip Goff is the Patron of Mr Chen’s Business Roundtable. Mr Chen told many of our shareholders that he had the big brother backing up him.”

Another quaint turn of phrase,but you get the idea.

Indeed, Goff’s speech linked to earlier confirms he is definitely the Patron of the Chen entity, and there are a multitude of photos of Chen socialising with not only Goff but Labour’s wine and cheese inner circle, Helen Clark, Judith Tizard and Chris Carter.

Chen is an equal opportunities celebrity snapper, however, with the Roundtable’s website also featuring photos of Chen with John Key, and Act leader Rodney Hide.

However, it’s the next allegation in the letter that has Goff riled: “As a exchange, the Minister received a half mil-

lion dollar donation by the Roundtable through its secretary general Steven Ching.The money was paid in cash.When the money changed hands, Mr Ching arranged the Minister’s name delisted from the public record.To thank him, his partner was honoured.”

“There is absolutely no truth to this allegation,” Goff told TGIF today through his media minders, although he did admit to meeting Chen but chose not to answer any further questions from us.

Goff’s staff said they could not definitely say that money had not been given to the Labour Party – “which you’ll have to raise with the party”- but they could categorically state Goff had never received either a half million HK$ donation or its NZ equivalent of $100,000 in cash.

Certainly no such donation appears in Labour’s official returns, but as blogger Cameron Slater has claimed on his website, there are still allegations that Yang Liu donated as much as $500,000, undisclosed in official records, to Labour, and our earlier stories on Yang Liu referred to above suggest Labour may have had a laundering mechanism in place.

Naturally we asked Steven Ching if he could clarify the circumstances described in the allegation. Ching said he had never handed a donation to Goff on behalf of the Roundtable or Jack Chen.

Ching is, however, a former Labour Party list candidate who had to stand down in the 2005 campaign

when false allegations were publicised that he promised to get Labour MPs to nominate someone as a JP if he could borrow $50,000 from them.

The man allegedly being touched up for the loan soon issued a statement denying that the JP conversation and the loan request were linked, pointing out they happened many months apart.The Herald newspaper retracted its allegation, but the damage by then had been done – Ching was prevented from being elected to parliament.

Ching’s partner,Ailian Su, was also a Labour list candidate in that election but didn’t make the cut.

In 2007, however, Labour MP Ross Robertson did nominate Ailian Su as a Justice of the Peace.

Steven Ching is at pains to point out her nomination was on its merits, not the family’s political connections or in return for political donations.

He did however tell TGIF tonight that he raised “about $30,000 for Labour”at the 2005 election, and “around $10,000”for the 2008 election campaign.

So although members of the Chinese community are wrong in their claims that Labour leader Phil Goff was paid a cash donation of up to $100,000 on Jack Chen’s behalf, there’s certainly no doubt that Chen and the Chinese company trying to buy New Zealand dairy farms have used their political connections with Labour to boost their credibility Back to the front page with investors.

Solo mum admits lying about Bennett WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 NZPA – A beneficiary who laid a privacy complaint against Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has admitted she made up a story about being offered money to end the inquiry.

Natasha Fuller, a solo mother, was at the centre of a controversy last year after she talked about her inadequate study grant, then saw details of her benefits released by Ms Bennett.

Ms Bennett met her on Wednesday, and it is now known the minister was taking advice from the Privacy Commission.

TV3 News reported last night it had emails about the meeting and suggested a monetary settlement was discussed.

Ms Bennett strongly denied that, and issued another rejection today.

“These allegations are completely untrue,” she said.

“During this complaint process my actions have been entirely appropriate and in line with Privacy Commission advice.”

TV3 News reported tonight it had spoken to Ms Fuller, who had admitted she had been “lying and joking” when she sent emails to a friend in which she referred to money.

“Fuller has told 3 News Bennett apologised Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said today it for breaching her privacy last year and she also was not unusual for parties to a complaint to meet made the point she never asked for compensation,” face to face as part of an investigation. tonight’s report said.

“We have a strong focus on conciliation,”she said.

Ms Bennett said 3 News owed her an apology and “Past settlements have included an apology, an she was considering her legal options. assurance an action will not reoccur, modest com-

pensation or personal gestures, such as flowers or vouchers.”

Ms Shroff said the commission was required by statute to maintain confidentiality about individual complaints.

She asked the media to respect the privacy of Ms

Fuller and Ms Bennett “with regard to a process which is still continuing”.

The Labour Party says Ms Bennett shouldn’t be allowed to get away with resolving the issue behind the scenes and intends raising it in Parliament next week.

Horizon’s fail-safe valve, or“blowout preventer.”The massive and powerful piece of equipment should have been activated April 20, the day the rig caught fire.

“The report from the bridge was (that), before they (the crew) abandoned the vessel, they actually activated the blowout preventer,”BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, Doug Suttles, said Thursday.“We don’t know why it didn’t stop the flow.”

The U.S. Minerals Management Service said today that it would inspect all drilling rigs in deep water within seven days to confirm that their emergency valves are functioning – even though the cause of the Deepwater Horizon’s valve failure remains unknown.

“That will come out. I guarantee that will be the focus, or at least one of the focuses, of the accident investigation,”MMS Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Lars Herbst said earlier this week.

The Interior and Homeland Security departments

Meanwhile, an expected flurry of lawsuits began to materialize.

“I would expect, because of the number of people injured and the 11 that are still not found and presumed dead – coupled with the fact this probably is going to be a massive environmental disaster – this litigation is going to go on for many years,”said Dennis McElwee, whose Houston law firm represents a worker injured on the rig.

McElwee predicted that much of coming litigation would focus on the rig’s blowout preventer.

“Obviously what happened was the blowoutpreventer valve either wasn’t set or malfunctioned,” McElwee said.“That allowed the blowout to reach the rig floor.”

Per Holand, a Norwegian offshore-drilling-safety consultant who has studied the reliability of blowout preventers for the MMS, said the devices are “pretty reliable because they have a lot of redundancy.”

“They more or less have been used in the same way for the past 50 years. Of course, they are stronger (now), with improved locking mechanisms,” Holand said.

He noted that the U.S., unlike Norway and a few other countries, does not require the use of a backup, acoustically driven device that can activate a blowout preventer with sound waves if other methods fail or become unavailable.

“You can fire this acoustic system from a lifeboat,” Holand said.

An MMS spokesman in Washington said the agency decided not to make acoustic-signalling systems mandatory, in part because the seafloor valves have other backup systems.

In a letter to Obama today, Nelson called for the Interior Department’s inspector general to examine the MMS decision not to require acoustic-signaling systems.

have started an investigation that will employ subpoenas, public hearings and the calling of witnesses.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said that he planned to introduce legislation as soon as tomorrow to halt any oil exploration near Florida in the Gulf or Atlantic Ocean. Obama has proposed allowing exploration in both areas as part of a complex plan for addressing climate change.

The spill“puts into perspective the almost unimaginable risk we would have from drilling closer to Florida,”Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said in Washington.

The Exxon Valdez coated hundreds of miles of Alaska’s shoreline with oil after its hull ripped open on a reef.The accident cost the company billions of dollars in fines and cleanup work.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, one of several congressional panels considering investigations of the spill, announced it will convene a hearing next month.

Ms Bennett said 3 News owed her an apology and she was considering her legal options. /NZPA / Ross Setford

–NZPA

Back to the front page

EDITORIAL

30 April 2010

Family Matters

Guest Editorial

Old KGB under new name Sadly, but with little sign of disagreement from the Russian people, the Kremlin continues rebuilding a Soviet-style police state.

The latest encroachment on the dwindling number of civil liberties remaining is a government-backed bill restoring to the Federal Security Service (FSB) the power enjoyed by its predecessor agency,the KGB,to summon citizens under threat of arrest for warnings about“inadmissible”and“unacceptable”conduct.

The bill is being sold to the public as an antiextremist measure in a capital still traumatized by two suicide bombings in the Moscow subway last month that killed 40 people.

But the language of the measure is so broad that

5

critics said the FSB would use it to silence criticism of the Kremlin and intimidate people from participating in antigovernment protests, one of the few avenues of political expression left as the crackdown on the media continues.

While supposedly aimed at “extremists,”the bill could equally be aimed at political and religious groups and journalists.

An explanatory note accompanying the draft legislation complains that the Russian media“openly facilitate the formation of negative processes in the spiritual sphere, propagate the cult of individualism, violence and mistrust in the government’s ability to protect its citizens, in effect drawing youth to extremist acts.”

By Bob McCoskrie

-Concerns warranted

According to news accounts, the bill has not yet been scheduled for a vote and may yet be amended or even withdrawn.

But the measure fits a pattern under the leadership ofVladimir Putin,a former KGB colonel,of returning the secret service to its formerly all-powerful status under communism.Curiously,the only skeptics in the parliament are the now-out-of-power Communists, who say that at least in the old Soviet Union the KGB had to answer to the Communist Party.

Now, it seems, the FSB answers only to Putin insofar as it answers to anybody at all.

– Dale McFeatters SUBSCRIBE TO TGIF!

Obituary

The criticism of the Families Commission research by Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett is justified. Family First has released a list of research and the numbers of participants in the research done by the Families Commission over the past 12 months that they believe would be the subject of the Minister’s criticism.

They include: • Mar 09 – “Sent home: impact on the family of a child’s exclusion from school” 40 pages, 8 kids • Mar 09 – “SETTLING IN: parent-adolescent family dynamics in the acculturation process” 44 pages, 39 parents and children • May 09 – “Finding time: Parents’ long working hours and the impact on family life” 100 pages, 17 families (shown right) • June 09 – “Pathways through parental separation” 30 pages, 20 fathers in 2 focus group sessions • Aug 09 – “We’re a family: A study of how lesbians and gay men are creating and maintaining family in New Zealand” 50 pages, 19 families • Oct 09 – “Living with chronic illness” 28 pages, 24 families, 4 health workers • Nov 09 – “Heart and head: explanation of the meaning of fatherhood” 32 pages, 22 fathers by phone • Nov 09 – “Pacific families now and in the future” 46 pages, 20 young people and an extended family In fairness, there have been some excellent publications including “Supporting kiwi dads”, released in December 2009 based on quantitative research commissioned through a polling company.

However, the majority of research has fallen short of being thorough enough to truly represent the voice of families – a shortcoming even acknowledged in the research itself.

-Pre-teen violence rate disturbing

NZ WW2 hero dies at 88 WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – World War 2 RNZAF pilot Dave Moriarty, awarded the rare Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM) for an act of bravery over the Normandy battlefield in 1944, has died in Wanganui aged 88.

Moriarty was just one of four New Zealand aircrew, all in Bomber Command, who won the medal during the war, and the last survivor of the select group.

The others were Bruce Wallace, Invercargill (died 2001), Ted de Joux, Timaru (1983) and Bill White, Christchurch (1982).

The CGM, instituted in 1943 for airmen of noncommissioned rank for conspicuous gallantry in air operations against the enemy, was awarded to only 111 aircrew between then and the end of the war.

Moriarty, on the 11th operation of his tour, was the captain of a 75 (NZ) Squadron Lancaster dropping bombs on German positions near Caen, on July 18, 1944 during a daylight raid when he won the medal.

His aircraft was at 7500 feet when a German shell fired from the ground burst.

He recalled years later: “We’d just closed the bomb doors when a big puff of black smoke erupted in front of the cockpit, perhaps 100 yards away...it punched a hole about the size of a cabbage in the perspex cockpit hood.”

Moriarty never knew what smashed into his face – a piece of perspex or a shell sliver.

Whatever it was it drove through his left eye and exited behind his left ear. Blood poured down his uniform and when he put his hand across his uninjured eye he couldn’t see.

Fellow crew slapped on a field dressing but Moriarty wouldn’t have morphine – “I wanted my wits about me.”

Moriarty called for a course to his base rather than an emergency field because he was familiar

with his own airfield and the others aboard couldn’t fly the bomber.

The flight home was the worst 90 minutes of Moriarty’s life because of pain from the wound, nausea and the stream of cold air screaming in from the shattered windscreen.

The bomb aimer called off key instrument readings and the flight engineer worked the flaps.

“It wasn’t a great landing,”Moriarty remembered.

But the big aircraft got down safely and as it eased to a halt medics clambered aboard.

“They climbed in over the spar and lifted me out.

I didn’t smoke but I asked for a cigarette. I must have seen too many westerns.”

Moriarty was in hospital for three months as sur-

geons tried desperately and vainly to save his eye.

The New Zealander was commissioned after the raid and ended the war a Flying Officer.

Post-war Moriarty returned to the Wanganui company with which he worked before enlisting in February 1942, eventually becoming manager.

He worked until the early 1980s and for all those years suffered from his war wound – shocking headaches that laid him flat on his back.

His right eye gradually failed too and by 2000 he couldn’t read a newspaper.

Moriarty,born inWanganui on August 13 1921,died, fittingly,on Anzac Day.He is survived by his wife Delia, to whom he was married for 60 years,and a son,Brian.

– NZPA

The Ministry of Justice statistics for pre-teen violence released this week show a disturbing trend.

From 1998-2008, the number of police apprehensions for grievous/serious assaults by 10-13 year olds increased by more than 70%, and for minor assaults by more than 20%. For each of the most recent two years, there has been almost 1,000 apprehensions for 10-13 year olds for all violent offences, which include aggravated robbery, sexual violation, indecent assault, and serious assaults – an increase of a third since 1998.

Alarm bells should be ringing when there has been a 70% increase in the number of children committing a serious enough act of violence to warrant police involvement.

The numbers for young teens offer no comfort either. The number of serious assault apprehensions for young teens (14-16) has also increased by almost 70% and the overall numbers of violent offences has increased by 42%. There were even 60 apprehensions for violent offences by 9 year olds or younger in 2008.

There are many factors that may be contributing to these statistics including the levels of violence in the media and games, the undermining of parental and school authority and the ‘rights’ culture being fed to young people, family breakdown, underage drinking, drug use, and family breakdown and fatherlessness.

But firstly, we must be honest enough to admit that there is a disturbing trend which needs urgent action.

-Council needs to act on residential brothel The Waitakere City Council cannot hide behind the Prostitution Reform Act in an attempt to do nothing about a brothel opposite a school in Henderson.

Councils around the country, including Hamilton, Auckland, Manukau City, Christchurch, and Upper Hutt all have bylaws restricting the location of residential brothels including SOOB’s (single owner operated brothels) from residential areas and sensitive sites such as within 250m of schools and kindys.

When introducing the provisions to give control of the placement of brothels to local councils, the Minister of Justice, the Hon Phil Goff said: “.. Most of us would not want to see brothels established in residential areas or adjacent to preschools or schools. My amendment would allow the local territorial authorities, the councils, to prohibit the establishment of, or order the removal of, a brothel in an area where it would cause a nuisance or serious offence to ordinary members of the public.”

The Waitakere Council needs to introduce a strict bylaw controlling the location of brothels, and communicate to central government that their law is creating uncertainty for local councils and exposing them to potential litigation when simply reflecting the wishes of their local ratepayers.

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ANALYSIS

6

30 April 2010

Walker’s World

Beware the wolf in Clegg’s clothing

By Martin Walker

WASHINGTON – Britain’s general election has become one of those moments when life imitates art, or at least, when international politics follows a script from the movies.

Nick Clegg is the leader of Britain’s third party, the long-derided Liberal Democrats, who has electrified the election by leaping forward in the televised debates and opinion polls to be at level pegging with the Conservatives and pushing Labour into third place.

This isn’t only dramatic for the future of British politics but it could have a profound impact on international relations and United States foreign policy and U.S. relations with Europe as a whole.

Cut to the movie Love, Actually. It was released for Thanksgiving weekend in 2003 and it took in $80 million at the U.S. box office, double its production costs. It went on to make another $190 million worldwide, which means it was a considerable success.

It starred Hugh Grant in the role of a British prime minister, young and engaging and very like Tony Blair, except that he didn’t go along with the special relationship with the United States that had been the bedrock of British foreign policy since World War II. And Clegg, then an ambitious young member of Parliament, took thoughtful note of the way British cinema audiences, deeply restive at Britain’s role in U.S. President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, cheered at one prime ministerial speech with the fictional U.S. president in the room to hear this take on the special relationship.

“I love that word ‘relationship.’Covers all manner of sins, doesn’t it?” the speech begins.“I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the president taking exactly what he wants

and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to Britain.

“We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too.The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter, David Beckham’s right foot. David Beckham’s left foot, come to that.

“And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend.

And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger.And the president should be prepared for that.”

And now cut back to reality, to a speech that Clegg gave this month to the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in London.

“I think it’s sometimes rather embarrassing the way Conservative and Labor politicians talk in this kind of slavish way about the ‘special relationship,’ Clegg said.“If you speak to hard-nosed folk in Washington, they think it’s a good relationship but it’s not the ‘special relationship’.”

Cut to reality again, this time to a Clegg speech in March to Chatham House, the prestigious British foreign policy think tank (Disclosure: this columnist is on the review board of its quarterly journal).

“Let me be clear,”Clegg began.“I’m an Atlanticist much like everyone else. I spent a happy time working in the United States. I think it is vital to our interests that we maintain a positive, strong and even uniquely warm relationship with the United States. But it is not our only relationship and it mustn’t become a relationship that at every junction, every time a decision is made we have no choice but to follow the decisions made in the White House.And yet that seems to have been happening with greater velocity and frequency in recent years rather than less.”

Britain has for 70 years been the closest and most reliable and also most powerful ally of the United States. It had the largest contingents of non-U.S.

I THINK IT’S SOMETIMES RATHER EMBARRASSING THE WAY CONSERVATIVE AND LABOR POLITICIANS TALK IN THIS KIND OF SLAVISH WAY ABOUT THE ‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’ troops in both Iraq wars and in Afghanistan. It hosts U.S. military bases and is by far the largest foreign investor in the United States – there is more British investment in Texas alone than all Asian investment in the United States combined. The countries cooperate closely on almost all international and most financial issues.

The cooperation is uniquely strong between the intelligence services of the two countries and at the level of nuclear weapons, where the United States has provided the hardware of the Polaris and Trident submarine missile systems that have embodied Britain’s nuclear deterrent forces for nearly 50 years. And now a leading theme of Clegg’s policy is not to renew the Trident missile system and to replace it with some variant such as British-built cruise missiles launched from British submarines.

“I believe there is no case for the like for like replacement for that (Cold War Trident missile) system. And I believe one of the reasons there is a deafening silence on that issue is because that missile system is cemented by a sense of indebtedness to our American friends,” Clegg said in that Chatham House speech.“Our strategic interests will not be served unless we release ourselves from that spell of default Atlanticism which has prevailed so strongly since Suez.”

Scan his party’s election manifesto in vain for any mention of NATO. Instead, he is a passionate pro-European who wants Britain to join the euro currency. He is an equally passionate internationalist who believes in global government. Again from his Chatham House speech,“Globalization requires us to formulate a system of supranational governance capable of controlling forces which escape the limitations of the nation state.”

Clegg is most unlikely to become prime minister.

But he is almost certain to become the kingmaker of the next British government, with very great influence on its policy.The long-standing American assumption of automatic British support for its policies is now in question. Batman is losing Robin.

Don Quixote may look in vain for his trusty Sancho Panza. The Lone Ranger can no longer count on Tonto.

– UPI

Outside View

Financial reform

By Harlan Ullman

WASHINGTON, APRIL – Will Rogers famously quipped that every time the U.S. Congress wished to make a joke, it passed a law and every law it passed turned out to be a joke.

That sarcasm too often applies to broader government policy on too many issues.The major flaws and deficiencies rested in confusing symptoms with causes and allowing compromise to become dilution and distortion. Sadly, this history will affect the pending financial reform legislation.

Examples abound and apply equally to Republicans and Democrats: George W. Bush and Congress went into Iraq without comprehending that the peace would be far tougher than the very brief war.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program failed to protect taxpayers in getting money back from failing banks.

In the economic rescue package, Barack Obama and Congress failed to give unemployment high enough priority.

The healthcare bill, argued as critical to restoring the nation’s economy by cutting medical costs, failed to achieve that end.

Similar shortcomings and flaws will beset the financial reform and regulatory bill ricocheting around Congress.

The economic and financial implosions had many causes. But its fuses were put in place in the waning days of the Clinton administration and were lit eight years later.At the end of 1999 and championed by Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Dick Armey, R-Texas, Congress revoked the GlassSteagall Act of 1933 that permanently separated investment from commercial banking.

In the lame duck session, Congress passed the Commodity Future Modernization Act of 2000 on Dec. 15 without debate.That act will supersede and pre-empt the application of any state or local law that prohibits and regulates gaming or the operation of bucket shops.

Bucket shops, named for containers used to measure grain in England’s ancient mercantile exchanges, were indeed casinos that wagered on whether the price of stocks and other commodities rose or fell – the original Credit Default Swaps that played such an important role in the financial meltdown. Following the 1907 financial crisis, bucket shops and these CDSs were made illegal.

Interestingly, as Congress was reversing both of these critical laws, both Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan strongly and wrongly endorsed opening the derivatives markets with Summers further asserting that parties to these kinds of contracts are largely sophisticated financial institutions ... eminently capable of protecting themselves from fraud and counterparty insolvencies most of which are already subject to basic safety and soundness regulation.

Because of these changes in the law, several tectonic changes would shake the financial world.

The big banks moved quickly to merge investment and commercial banking meaning an explosion of assets that these banks could used for trades using both investor and bank proprietary money.

Second, investment banks that were once partnerships became public, offering shares on the major stock exchanges.This injected huge sums of capital. More importantly, with the end of partnerships, liabilities covered only the loss of stock value and not all losses a firm might suffer.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about financial reform at Cooper Union in New York on April 22, 2010.

UPI/Monika Graff

With the full legalization of CDSs, investment banks shifted their focus from traditional banking to trading.And because CDSs were often synthetic, that is bets on whether prices would rise or fall reminiscent of the old bucket shops,the size of this market would grow into the hundreds of trillions of dollars.

Worse, in the bailout these huge banks were granted access to Federal Reserve funds meaning taxpayer bailouts.

To be effective, financial reform must limit institutions from making huge amounts of money from these trades based on bets protected by limited liability. Restoring Glass-Steagall isn’t going to happen but restoring the risk of full liability can, as is the case at the insurance giant Lloyd’s of London where names, i.e. investors, are liable for all losses.

For firms that trade in these derivatives, separate entities should be created in which shareholders would become liable for all losses, in essence returning to quasi-partnerships. This, of course, would greatly diminish the derivatives market – a public

good as these instruments were designed to make money from money and not on increasing real value.

Second, boards of directors must be directed by law to oversee these trades as well.

Third, a systemic risk council as proposed is vital and must be explicitly charged with detecting potential financial and economic bubbles that could implode.

Finally, while greater transparency is mandatory, returns for hedge funds should be taxed as earned income and not as carried interest meaning at capital gains rates.This too will impose limits on hedge funds.

Predictably, the pending legislation will almost certainly not focus on the consequences of upending Glass-Steagall and legalizing all CDSs.The financial community will also find ways of working around the new rules and law. Restoring liability is perhaps the only way of preventing future financial shocks to the system.

– UPI

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WORLD

8

update

in 60 seconds

KIWI WHALING ACTIVIST DOBS IN BOSS TOKYO (DPA) – The Japanese Coast Guard has obtained an arrest warrant for a leader of an anti-whaling group for allegedly ordering his members to obstruct operations by Japan’s whaling fleet, Japanese media reported Friday.

The Coast Guard is seeking the arrest of Paul Watson, founder and president of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, on suspicion of assault and obstruction of business, the Kyodo News agency reported.

Japanese authorities are to put Watson on the international wanted list through Interpol, Kyodo reported, citing unnamed sources.

Watson, a Canadian, is suspected of ordering Peter Bethune, a New Zealand national, to throw a chemical onto a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic Sea in February and commit other acts of obstruction, Kyodo said.

Bethune was the skipper of the Sea Shepherd’s high-speed trimaran Ady Gil during the society’s annual mission to disrupt the whaling season. The trimaran sank in January after colliding with the Shonan Maru Number 2, the Japanese whaling fleet’s security ship.

The New Zealander then allegedly boarded the ship to make a citizen’s arrest of the Japanese skipper for the attempted murder of the Ady Gil’s crew members.

He was detained on board the Japanese vessel in mid-February and was handed over to the Japanese Coast Guard when the ship docked in Tokyo in March.

Bethune was the only one directly engaged in the acts but the Coast Guard decided to arrest Watson because Bethune had reportedly told investigators that he had acted on Watson’s orders, Kyodo reported.

FRANCE, CHINA MEND FENCES BEIJING (DPA) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao discussed global finance and climate change Friday as the two nations drew a line under a recent diplomatic spat.

Wen and Sarkozy exchanged views on the global economic recovery and climate change at the Zhongnanhai government compound in Beijing, state media said.

Sarkozy was quoted as saying China was an “important partner in strategic cooperation” and a “true friend” of France.

He reiterated France’s recognition of China’s right to sovereignty over Taiwan and Tibet, the official Xinhua news agency said.

State media called the visit a “positive signal” of improving relations between the two nations after a diplomatic spat following Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, in December 2008.

China regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist seeking Tibet’s independence, but the monk said he only wants greater autonomy for Tibet within China.

Sarkozy was on the third day of a state visit to China and was scheduled to travel to Shanghai with his wife, Carla Bruni, for the opening ceremony of the World Expo 2010 later Friday.

In talks with President Hu Jintao Wednesday, Sarkozy said France wanted to expand economic ties with China in nuclear power, aviation, environmental protection and other fields.

Wu Bangguo, ranked number two in China’s ruling Communist Party, told Sarkozy that Beijing wanted to “create a new model for cooperation” with France.

30 April 2010

Brown down, out for the count?

LONDON (DPA) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown has today failed to turn the tide of Britain’s election campaign in his favour in the last televised candidates’ debate before next week’s general election, instant opinion polls showed.

They rated David Cameron, the leader of the Conservatives, as the“clear winner”of the 90-minute live debate, followed by Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, leaving Brown in third place.

Analysts said Brown’s position had been made harder by an election gaffe Wednesday in which he called a potential Labour voter a“bigoted woman.”

The words directed at his aides were caught on a television microphone Brown clearly believed had been switched off.They have since grown into what has been dubbed the “Bigotgate”affair.

Opening the debate, Brown referred to the incident, when he said:“There is a lot to this job, and as you saw yesterday, I don’t get it right all of the time.”

But he insisted that he was the only leader who knew about the economy and could lead Britain out of the recession.“It is not my future, but it is your future which is on the ballot paper,”he said.

Both his rivals were a “risk”to the recovery at a time when “the economies of Europe are in peril,” said Brown.

The debate included heated exchanges over immigration, an issue sparked by Brown’s ill-fated encounter Wednesday with Gillian Duffy in Rochdale, northern Britain.

But two opinion polls showed that Brown, who was clearly badly shaken by the Duffy incident, had

Analysts said Brown’s position had been made harder by an election gaffe Wednesday in which he called a potential Labour voter a “bigoted woman.”/ KAY NIETFELD

not been able to recover, analysts said.

A YouGov poll gave Cameron’s performance an approval rating of 41 per cent, followed by 32 per cent for Clegg and 25 per cent for Brown.

A ComRes poll put Cameron at 35 per cent, Clegg at 33 per cent and Brown at 26 per cent.

The live TV debates, a novelty in Britain, have become the dominant feature of the campaign.

After the first two rounds, Clegg had emerged as the undisputed winner, leaving Cameron as runnerup and Brown in third place.

Opinion polls have predicted that neither of the two main parties – Labour and the Conservatives – will gain an overall majority in next Thursday’s elections, leaving the Liberal Democrats in the role of possible powerbrokers under Britain’s majority voting system.

World’s biggest airline merger Monday

By Julie Johnsson Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO – United and Continental Airlines are expected to announce Monday that they are combining operations to create the world’s largest airline, the culmination of more than a decade’s effort

by Chicago-based United to strike a megamerger that would transform the U.S. airline industry.

The transaction, which must still be approved by both airlines’ boards, would be structured as a merger of equals, with neither side paying a premium for the other’s stock, according to sources close to the talks.

The new airline, to be called United and based in Chicago, sources said, would bring together two carriers whose hubs and routes complement each other, giving management a shot at running a more profitable business in an industry plagued by overcapacity.

United’s board is expected to vote tomorrow on the deal, which was reached in a flurry of negotiations that lasted less than three weeks. Continental directors are meeting Friday to pore over the proposed transaction and are scheduled to vote Sunday. Representatives for Continental and United declined to comment on a possible merger.

The airlines stood in nearly the same position two

years ago, with an apparent deal in hand, sources said.

But in a vote that shocked United’s executives, Continental directors called off the merger on the eve of its announcement, deciding their carrier would fare better independently.They were spooked by operations problems at United, its labour discord and unexpected poor quarterly financial reports, sources told the Chicago Tribune.

Two years later, United has remade itself, earlier this week posting the best first-quarter results in a decade and besting its peers. And Continental has a new CEO, Jeff Smisek, 55, who decided his carrier couldn’t be left on the sidelines after news leaked earlier this month that United was deep into merger talks with US Airways.

The proposed merger is the first major strategic initiative undertaken by Smisek, who took over as chief executive of the Houston-based carrier at the start of the year and is well-regarded within airline circles. Combining Continental and United would create a global powerhouse, with a network reaching deep into Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

Continental entered talks with United on the condition that Smisek head the combined entity, sources said. United CEO Glenn Tilton, 62, has agreed to become nonexecutive chairman of the

new airline and to serve on its board through a twoyear transition period.The rest of the management team will be named later by Smisek.

Although United is far larger than Continental, Smisek and other Continental executives hope their carrier’s culture of fostering good relations with customers and employees will prevail, sources said.

That could prove a challenge, observers said.

United’s reputation was badly battered during its three-year bankruptcy last decade that also damaged the morale of employees, who took steep pay cuts and gave up pensions to ensure the carrier’s survival.

But over the past two years, United has placed greater emphasis on pleasing customers. Its planes are cleaner, many are outfitted with new interiors, and it routinely posts the best on-time performance among its network airline peers.

Continental sets the bar for service among large domestic carriers, receiving the highest marks from passengers in Zagat’s 2009 Airline Survey, by a wide margin.

The Continental and United brands will likely remain in the market until the carrier receives a single operating certificate from the FAA, a process that took the recently merged Delta and Northwest Airlines two years to accomplish. Over that time, Smisek and his team plan to work hard at making sure there is a uniform level of service at the new United, a source said.

But some are questioning why Smisek “wants the hassle.Why does he want to take the risk?”said aviation consultant Robert Mann.“The economic valuation of doing it must so greatly exceed the value of not doing it that even when you discount it for all the things that do go wrong, and may possibly go wrong, it still represents the best course of action.”

After years of heavy losses and relentless costcutting, airline executives are increasingly looking to industry consolidation as a way to further reduce expenses while eliminating some of the excess capacity that keeps pricing so low that most carriers struggle to break even, analysts said.

United and Continental could cut costs and boost revenues by between $1.8 billion and $2.2 billion by formally combining their networks and finances, estimated Vaughn Cordle, an airline analyst and retired United pilot.

WORLD

30 April 2010

9

Guantanamo suspect videoed making bombs Eight minutes of video of Canadian intelligence agents questioning a Canadian detainee, Omar Khadr, marked the first time the public has been able to witness the interrogation of a suspect at the camp. At the time the video was produced, February 2003, Khadr was 16 / RAPPORT

By Carol Rosenberg McClatchy Newspapers

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, CUBA – Alleged teen terrorist Omar Khadr appeared in a grainy video making bombs and reeled off a Who’s Who of the al-Qaida inner circle for interrogators soon after his capture in Afghanistan, an FBI agent testified in a dramatic day at the war court today.

Khadr, 23, sat through it all hunched over, at times sobbing and dabbing his eyes in what his attorney

described as eye pain from shrapnel still in his eyes from his 2002 capture. He had refused all morning to put on blinders for the 15-minute ride from his prison camp to the tribunal chamber.

But back in October 2002,“He said he was proud – and mentioned he was proud to be a soldier,”said FBI agent Robert Fuller, recalling an interrogation in which Khadr claimed that before his capture he had slept with an unloaded AK-47.

At issue this week is whether the Toronto-born teen voluntarily spoke to interrogators after his

capture. Tortured confessions plus those obtained through coercion, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment are forbidden under Barack Obama era reforms of military commissions.

Khadr, Guantanamo’s youngest and last Western prisoner, is slated for summertime trial for allegedly hurling a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces soldier during the firefight at a suspected al-Qaida compound near Khost,Afghanistan. Because he was captured at 15, prosecutors chose not to pursue a death penalty case.

The now burly bearded Khadr appeared sporadically in the 25-minute video found in the rubble of a bombed-out building where he was captured. He was smooth-cheeked then, with an adolescent’s wisp of a mustache and sideburns, at one point sitting cross-legged on a carpet strewn with bomb-making pieces.

An adult observes, “Allah willing we’ll get a good number of Americans.” Later he appears in a nighttime image, clutching what appears to be a detonator.

Military officials refused to release the images, saying it was still disputed trial evidence. Defense lawyers want it suppressed as the fruit of coercive interrogation.

But the FBI agent cast him as a cooperative captive. Fuller said he showed Facebook to Khadr at the Bagram interrogation center in Afghanistan, and the boy picked out training camp commanders plus since-killed or captured terror suspects –

Abu Zubayda, Saif al Adel,Ayman al Zawahari and Osama bin Laden.

Khadr claimed he had last seen the al-Qaida founder at a Ramadan celebration in 1998. He was 11.

But much of the day was devoted to the brouhaha over the blackout goggles made emblematic in early Guantanamo photos of prisoners kneeling inside a cage in orange jumpsuits, held in sensory deprivation conditions.

The showdown started at 5:15 a.m., according to a prison camps lawyer, Marine Cpt. Laura Bruzzese, when Khadr complained of pain in his shrapnelblinded eye. He was taken to the detention center hospital for a drop to ease it.

Soon after, guards took him to a windowless security van for the short trip to Camp Justice. But Khadr refused to don what troops call“his eyes and ears” – the black-out mask and sound-deafening earmuffs.

“You’re trying to humiliate me,”she quoted him as saying.

Lawyers said the young man was suffering conjunctivitis, and high blood pressure, which aggravated an already painful eye condition.

A prison camps spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Bradley Fagan, said Khadr has always been taken to court in those ski-mask-like blinders, which don’t touch his eyes.

He was slated to been seen by a military doctor as well as an optometrist later Thursday.

Prostate cancer vaccine approved in US

By Thomas H. Maugh II Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES – The Food and Drug Administration approved a new immune-boosting therapy for prostate cancer today, the first therapeutic vaccine for cancer ever approved by the agency. The approval opens the door to a whole new approach to cancer therapy, adding a unique weapon to the arsenal of oncologists.

The vaccine, Provenge, has been shown to extend survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer by four months, more than twice as long as chemotherapy, and to increase three-year survival by 38 percent.

“A lot of people have been working in labs, biotechs and pharma companies looking for a proof of principle” that immunotherapy works against cancer, said Dr. David I. Quinn, medical director of the USC Norris Cancer Hospital.“This is the proof of principle.”

Patient advocates who have been fighting for Provenge’s approval since the FDA initially rejected the drug in 2007 were overjoyed.

“I’m crying happy tears,”said Jan Manarite, who runs the Florida help line for the Prostate Cancer

Research Institute, an advocacy organization.

Manarite, who organized a march on Capitol Hill after the earlier FDA rejection and whose husband has been fighting prostate cancer for a decade, said cancer patients have been longing for access to an immunotherapy treatment.

“They want something that boosts the immune system and doesn’t have a lot of side effects,”she said.

About 192,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2009, making it the second most common type of cancer in men after lung cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.About 27,000 men died from it last year.

The therapy has been a long time coming.

It has been two decades since immunologist Edgar G. Engleman of the Stanford University School of Medicine first discovered a way to harness the body’s immune cells to fight prostate cancer.

Along the way, several other highly touted vaccines against melanoma and lung and prostate cancer, among others, appeared to offer great promise only to fall by the wayside when clinical trials did not support their initial successes.

Engleman’s aim was to ramp up the body’s immune system by exposing it to proteins the cancer cells made, priming the body to fight the cancer

more fiercely. First he collected specialized immune cells called dendritic cells from the patient’s blood.

Then he mixed them with proteins collected from the surface of prostate tumor cells and injected them back into the patient in three doses at twoweek intervals.

He eventually co-founded the Seattle company now known as Dendreon Corp. to bring the vaccine to market.

Its road has been rocky.

Provenge’s marketing appeared imminent in 2007 when an advisory panel for the FDA recommended its approval. But agency officials were concerned that, even though the vaccine extended lifespan in men with metastatic cancer who did not respond to hormone-deprivation therapy (the first-line treatment approach in prostate cancer), it did not slow tumor growth.

The agency also said too few men had been studied and asked Dendreon to perform a larger trial in more than 500 men. Results from that trial were presented this year at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO,

by Dr. Philip Kantoff of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Kantoff and co-workers found that, compared

with a placebo, Provenge extended the median survival of patients from 21.7 months to 25.8 months.

Though 4.1 months may not seem like much, the only approved chemotherapy for advanced prostate cancer – Taxotere, known generically as docetaxel – extends survival by a little more than two months.

Taxotere is also associated with powerful side effects, including bone and muscle pain, allergic reactions, decreases in white and red blood cell counts and nerve damage. The main side effects of Provenge include chills, fever, fatigue, joint ache and headache.

Backyard coyotes causing US problems

By Mark Johnson McClatchy Newspapers

RALEIGH, N.C. – The coyote, enduring symbol of the untamed West and scourge to ranchers and roadrunners alike, has crept on to the silhouetted landscape of urban North Carolina.

On to those dusty streets, heroes have stepped – hardened men, their coffee spoons jingling, aiming to teach these critters that there is law in these parts.

Yes, it’s a legislative study committee.

In recent months, coyotes have been harassing people in NewYork’s Central Park, and now they’ve been spotted trotting across the runway at RaleighDurham International Airport and in Durham backyards. But call county animal control or state wildlife officials, and the best they can usually do is provide the name and number of a trapper for hire.

So the N.C. House of Representatives, led by Speaker Joe Hackney, bespectacled Chapel Hill lawyer and Chatham County cattle farmer, has cowboyed up.

Hackney gathered a posse of a half-dozen House members to the Select Committee on Coyote Nuisance Removal.

They rustled up legislation this week that, even if it passes, won’t live up to the word“removal”in the committee’s name.

You see, there are 50,000 coyotes in North Carolina, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission.They’re in every county. State biologists put a GPS tracking collar on one in Tyrrell County, near

the coast, and it walked 220 miles in 30 days.

“It’s not a matter of just standing up and saying let’s get rid of ‘em,”said state Rep.Arthur Williams, who chaired the committee.“We’re going to have to live with ‘em.”

Coyotes are clever. Wily even. When they settle down near people, they get used to being around humans,said state biologist Jon Shaw,whose territory stretches from Moore County to Mecklenburg County.

The committee’s bill would let landowners who raise animals apply to the state for a permit to use a neck, or collar, snare. It’s a flexible cable with a loop and a locking device that tightens around the coyote as it passes through to reach the bait.

The contraption is a role reversal from a whole peck of cartoon devices used by, not on, a coyote.

Another device the committee heard about, deserving of having a large“ACME”logo, is the M-44 ejec-

tor.When the coyote bites the bait, the device fires sodium cyanide into the animal’s mouth. The varmint falls unconscious and dies within minutes.

What about shooting them?

“Yeah, you can shoot ‘em,”Williams said.“They’re not animals.They’re predators.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry this week recollected shooting a coyote with his laser-sighted .380-caliber pistol near his home in Austin a few weeks back.

“He became mulch,”Perry toldThe Associated Press.

For the firearms-averse, North Carolina state biologist Colleen Olfenbuttel told the committee that guard animals can scare off coyotes, but she mentioned more than guard dogs, according to the minutes of the meeting:“Llamas and donkeys have been effective.”

As in the days of swinging saloon doors, the orneriest will survive.

2

The WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS January 15, 2010 – February 15, 2010

BORN IN THE USA, DESTINED FOR ENGLAND BUT SECURED

BY NEW ZEALAND FOR THE EXCLUSIVE FEW.

EBBETT CADILLAC

204-208 Anglesea Street, Hamilton

SPORT

30 April 2010

11

Hurricanes seek revenge WELLINGTON, APRIL 30 – How things change in a year of Super 14 rugby. This time last year the Hurricanes and Chiefs were two of the form teams, rumbling towards the playoffs.

The Chiefs pipped the Hurricanes twice to ruin their season,16-8 to deny theWellington-based side a home semifinal, then 14-10 in the playoff in Hamilton en route to a heavy defeat to the Bulls in the Pretoria final.

Nearly 12 months on, the Chiefs arrive in Wellington for Saturday’s match injury-ravaged and languishing 10th after losses to the Bulls and Stormers then a 25-25 draw with the lowly Cheetahs, while the Hurricanes ended a five-match winless streak with victories over the Brumbies and Highlanders and remain mathematical semifinal chances.

And they haven’t forgotten the Chiefs’role in their demise last year.

“It’s still hurting and it’s been brought up,”coach Colin Cooper told reporters this week.

Cooper made all the right noises about the Chiefs being a threat, despite an injury list which includes All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu, fullback Mils Muliaina and first-choice pivots Stephen Donald

and Mike Delany which sees Callum Bruce don the unfamiliar No 10 jersey In another reflection of the teams’ contrasting fortunes, Cooper had the luxury of naming an unchanged starting 15 yesterday from their 33-31 win over the Highlanders.

Inexperienced halves duo Tyson Keats and Aaron Cruden remain, with the latter showing his class in several Hurricanes tries last weekend.

The only change to the 22 is on the bench, where five-eighth Willie Ripia comes in alongside Piri Weepu in place of winger David Smith to provide more inside back cover.

While it was mission accomplished in Dunedin, a win and a four-try bonus point, it was hardly an ideal defensive performance as the lowly southerners raced in five tries of their own as the visitors led 26-24 at halftime.

Cooper demanded more structure this week as his side chase another haul of maximum points to keep their late semifinal bid alive. Next up they face tough matches against the Reds at home then the Waratahs in Sydney, and need to win all of them as

they sit seventh, seven points behind the fourthplaced Reds heading into round 12 “Obviously you want a bonus point particularly where we are but you’ve got to win the game first,” Cooper said.

“If you start trying to score four tries from the start then you get unstructured and panicky and start throwing 50-50 passes. I want structure and I want composure and then set up for those tries.”

Soft turnovers last weekend nearly cost them victory and Cooper focused on transitional defence at training this week.

“We got caught and gave up easy tries,”he said.

While the Chiefs front with a makeshift backline and several no-names on the bench, their pack is largely intact and will need to be quelled by captain Andrew Hore’s Hurricanes eight before the fancy stuff can start.

“It’s going to be about who controls the set-piece and who can control their own ball because if you get a turnover on either side there are line-breakers who can make a big gain,”Cooper said.

– NZPA

Warriors seek redemption

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

AUCKLAND, APRIL 30 NZPA – The New Zealand Warriors will look to nip two potential trends in the bud when they host Canberra in Auckland tomorrow night in a National Rugby League (NRL) match between two battle-scarred sides.

Both teams are licking psychological wounds from last weekend, the Raiders after throwing away a 24-6 halftime lead at home to be run down by South Sydney 24-26.

In Melbourne, the Warriors were overrun by the Storm, who were fired-up in the wake of their salary cap scandal and the heavy punishments handed down.

The 6-40 scoreline marked the second time in a row that the Warriors’had leaked a flood of points, after a 12-40 defeat to the Penrith.

While they were plunged into a highly unusual situation against the Storm, given the lead-up to

that match, the same couldn’t be said of their loss to the Panthers, which was their second in succession at home, a statistic that runs counter to their desire to turn Mt Smart Stadium into a fortress.

“We want teams to find this a real challenging place to play at,”centre Jerome Ropati said.

“So far we haven’t made it that way.”

For Ropati, the match against the Raiders carries added significance because the Warriors will have their first bye next week.

The result will stay with the team for two weeks, and he doesn’t want it to be a loss.

The Warriors go in with a 3-4 win-loss record which has them 10th on the table, four places above Canberra, who have won two and lost five.

A key factor in the Warriors’ defeats to both the Storm and the Panthers was the amount of ball they coughed up, which made it only a matter of time before their defence was breached.

“Ball security,that was the main thing,”Ropati said.

“We gave over too much possession. In both cases we leaked 20-plus points in the first half and you just can’t be chasing that kind of score in the second half.

It takes too much out of you.”

Ropati will again combine with young winger Bill Tupou on one flank, with regular partner Manu Vatuvei still among a group of experienced Warriors out with injury.

The others sidelined include Steve Price, Brett Seymour and Simon Mannering, with Jacob Lillyman added to the list after suffering a foot injury against the Storm.

While coach Ivan Cleary was philosophical about the injury toll, he said it had definitely had an impact, especially against the Storm.

“You cannot dance around the situation that we do have a quite a few of our experienced players out,”he said.

“Looking back on Sunday night, it would have

been nice to have had a few more guys who had played in big matches. They’re not far away, and it doesn’t matter how young you are, everyone’s looking for a bit of redemption.”

Cleary has reshuffled his backline, with Lance Hohaia moving from five-eighth to fullback, where he performed well earlier in the season.

Joel Moon goes to five-eighth, allowing Brent Tate to revert to his favoured position of centre, while Patrick Ah Van comes on to the wing for his first NRL appearance of the year.

The Warriors do have history on their side because the Raiders haven’t won in Auckland since 2001.

Canberra coach David Furner has brought forwards David Shillington and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs into his starting 13 as he tries to reverse his club’s dismal away record, with just one win from their past 10 road trips.

– NZPA

Ugly ducklings set for final LONDON – Fulham came from behind today to beat Hamburg 2-1 and set up a Europa League final date with Atletico Madrid.

After a goalless draw in the first leg, Mladen Petric’s first-half free-kick seemed to have put Hamburg in control.

But Simon Davies levelled midway through the second half, before the Hungarian forward Zoltan Gera forced in the winner with quarter of an hour to go.

“It’s the most important goal I have ever scored so I’m very, very happy. It’s amazing,” Gera told ITV4.“We did so well, every single player.”

For a modest club on the Thames, reaching a first European final, a first final of any sort since 1975, represents an extraordinary achievement, and the six minutes between the goals was probably the greatest six minutes in their 131-year history.

Most of all, though, this was a triumph for Roy Hodgson,Fulham’s experienced and affable manager.

“This team has got an unbelievable amount of spirit and character to come back from a goal down,” said goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

“They really did rock us and it took us a while to get going again. “(Hodgson) has been fantastic since day one when I arrived at the club, and every player can vouch for that.”

Centre-forward Bobby Zamora, who had been a doubt with an Achilles injury, was fit enough to start and, although he seemed to be moving a little gingerly, he caused Hamburg problems from the off.

Two minutes in, he collected a pass from Gera, stepped inside a defender, and was denied only by

the outstretched left hand of Frank Rost.

Hamburg, though, were far from overawed, and welcomed back Petric after injury.

As in the first leg, their greatest threat came from the Burkina Faso winger Jonathan Pitroipa, whose pace troubled John Pantsil.

It was Petric, though, who opened the scoring in the 22nd minute.

Danny Murphy tripped Ze Roberto, and the Croatia international smashed a dipping, swerving free-kick into the top corner.

Schwarzer was perhaps a little slow to get across to it, perhaps deceived by the ferocity of the strike.

Fulham immediately began to dominate possession, but it was Pitroipa on the break, drilling a drive just wide from 20 metres, who had the next real chance.

Gradually, as Hamburg dropped deeper, Fulham began to take control.

Damien Duff flashed a shot across the face of goal, before the equalizer arrived with 21 minutes to go.

Murphy chipped a ball over the top for Davies, who controlled it with the back of his heel, turned back past Guy Demel,and prodded a finish past Rost.

Seven minutes later came the second. Davies won a corner on the right, and as Murphy’s delivery bobbled around the box, Gera turned smartly to slam in the winner.

“It just keeps getting better,”said captain Murphy.

“When we went a goal behind it would have been easy to think this was the end of the journey, but I thought the spirit we showed in the second half was tremendous.”

Fulham face Atletico Madrid in the final in Ham-

burg on May 12 after an extra-time strike from Diego Forlan helped the Spanish side progress on the away goals rule after the tie finished 2-1 on the night to Liverpool but 2-2 on aggregate.

– DPA

Hamburg’s Jonathan Pitroipa (L) and Fulham’s John Pantsil vie for the ball during the UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg match FC Fulham vs SV Hamburg at Craven Cottage stadium in London. / Fabian Bimmer /Newscom

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W W W. G U T H R I E S . C O . N Z

WEEKEND

30 April 2010

13

TV & Film

The Back-Up Plan

0Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin, Michaela Watkins, Eric Christian Olsen 0Director: Alan Poul 0Length: 104 minutes 0Rated: PG-13 (for sexual content, some crude material and language)

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There’s something about a haunting mystery being solved by a haunted mind that’s particularly seductive. That’s just one of the many pleasures of The Secret in Their Eyes, whose string of knots challenges and charms in a way that make its win of the foreign language Oscar this year perfectly understandable.

Argentinean writer-director Juan Jose Campanella has given audiences a beautifully calibrated movie in the most traditional sense of the word – the ideal marriage of topic,talent and tone.It’s anchored by the unsolved murder of a young wife that won’t let former criminal investigator Ben Esposito (Ricardo Darin) rest easy even after 25 years.

In addition to being one of Argentina’s bestknown filmmakers, Campanella has earned Emmys here, plus attention for directing episodes of House, Law & Order Special Victims Unit and 30 Rock. He brought all that case-solving and comedy experi-

ence to bear in adapting the Eduardo Sacheri novel, interweaving the parallel worlds of the personal and the professional as his central character comes to realize that there is much more in his life to resolve than this single case.

The story begins in Buenos Aires in the ‘70s with the brutal rape and murder of the 23-year-old wife of Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago), an ordinary young man with an extraordinary love for his wife and the life they were beginning to build.All these years later, Esposito sets about turning the case into a novel in an effort to answer all that remains unanswered.

As the puzzle of the past unfolds in flashbacks, the present reconnects him with his own lost love, Irene (Soledad Villamil), who was his young boss on the case and is now a respected judge with a family; he is just older and alone. But the spark remains and Campanella strings a tight-wire of crackling dialogue between them packed with all the tension and tease of a couple dancing around the edges of a relationship.

The filmmaker is careful not to overuse their substantial chemistry, sprinkling it through the film like a hot spice as Esposito tries to figure out what clues he overlooked years ago.Another key player in this well-cast ensemble is Esposito’s partner Sandoval, a sometimes brilliant investigator forever sidetracked

mi H

0Cast: Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino 0Director: Juan Jose Campanella 0Rated: R (for a rape scene, violent images, nudity and language) 0Length: 129 minutes

Mia

The Secret In Their Eyes

The Back-up Plan Date Night Death at a Funeral How to Train Your Dragon The Joneses Kick-Ass The Losers Oceans © 2010 MCT

CAMPANELLA HAS BEEN CLEVER IN USING THE BLUEPRINT OF A COLD-CASE PROCEDURAL TO EXPLORE A RANGE OF EMOTIONAL THEMES FROM LOVE AND OBSESSION TO JUSTICE AND RETRIBUTION, ALL CAST AGAINST A DARK TIME OF SECRET POLICE AND POLITICAL INTRIGUES IN HIS NATIVE LAND by his love of booze, played with an amusing blend of ironic pathos by famed Argentinean comic Guillermo Francella.

Campanella has been clever in using the blueprint of a cold-case procedural to explore a range of emotional themes from love and obsession to justice and retribution, all cast against a dark time of secret police and political intrigues in his native land.The action is moved along as much by patterns of human behavior as by events, and in doing so the filmmaker has given texture and depth to what could otherwise have become a more conventional thriller.

While Esposito sorts through his second thoughts and reconsiderations of decisions he and others made so long ago, director of photography Felix Monti and the production team work to both connect and separate the two eras by keeping much of the focus on the faces and, of course, the eyes.When the camera pulls back to let more in, tension usually comes with it, as when Esposito spots the husband in a train station and learns that he spends his days moving from one station to another, hoping to spot the killer who’s never been caught.

Darin is captivating as Esposito, and despite the years etched on the actor’s face, he still brings his scenes as a much younger Esposito to life. He is the spine of the film, and it is the strength of the connection he builds with each character in turn – the lost love, the drunken partner, the destroyed husband, the killer – that ultimately makes the film a timepiece of precision and artistry. Like the murder at the heart of this tale, Secret is bound to linger in the memory for years.

Jennifer Lopez probably doesn’t need a backup plan, what with the recording career, Marc Anthony, the cosmetics business and the clothing line. So there’s no real worry that the whole acting thing isn’t panning out, which her new romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan only reinforces.

Still, it’s a shame since Lopez has an appealing sweetness on screen that seems to have been helped by marriage and motherhood. But despite a lot of practice in films such as The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan, she still hasn’t figured out how to connect that sweetness to anyone around her, even when it’s the very hunky Alex O’Loughlin, who serves as boyfriend material here.

Pregnancy is going to be the big bump in the road of their relationship; we’ll get to the bumps in the film a bit later. Zoe (Lopez) has given up on finding “the one” to start a family with but not on having a baby, hence the backup plan. In a miracle of bad timing, just minutes after insemination, Zoe and a super hot single stranger grab the same cab at the same time. But where sparks should start flying along with their “who-got-there-first” argument, the taxi turns out to be just one of many no-smoking zones in this film.

No matter how many times director Alan Poul tries lighting the fire, nothing ignites. Though Back-Up is his feature film debut, Poul is far from a novice, with impressive writing and directing credits, mostly of the HBO persuasion with Six Feet Under the most significant. In other words, Poul should have been able to deliver this baby.

At least screenwriter Kate Angelo, out of the TV trenches of Will & Grace, has given the film a contemporary concept. With so many turkey baster babies these days, Back-Up asks how does a guy cope when he learns the girl he’s falling for has a bun or two in the oven?

If anything, the script works overtime to make sure the film feels modern. O’Loughlin’s Stan has turned the family farm organic and sells designer cheeses at a NYC farmer’s market. Meanwhile, Zoe has left the corporate fast track to take over the pet shop that sold her a puppy-mill pooch with problems. She’s made it politically correct and au courant, complete with The Dog Whisperer’s Cesar Millan book signings.

Whatever points there are to be earned for being contemporary and PC, some should be deducted for predictability. Just because Back-Up is about baby bumps, baby daddies, baby mamas and baby making in general doesn’t mean every pregnancy cliche in the book should be used.

O’Loughlin is yet another Aussie import to look good going shirtless, which the filmmakers have him do while riding a tractor and herding goats. This was his first leading film role, and one hopes he’ll get others since he plays almost as well with his shirt on.

The only real bright spot in the large supporting ensemble comes when Melissa McCarthy is on screen as the leader of a single-moms support group. For years she played the fabulously ditsy chef on “Gilmore Girls” and once again proves she’s never met a line she can’t make delectable. Unfortunately, not much else in the movie is.

Watch the trailer – By Betsy Sharkey

Watch the trailer

– By Betsy Sharkey

REVIEWS

14

30 April 2010

Music WENN.com

Guess who’s coming to Dinner?

Rufus Wainwright, for starters food and indie-pop darlings She & Him, singersongwriters Jakob Dylan and Bob Schneider, the hard-rocking Street Sweeper Social Club and, of NEW YORK – Rufus Wainwright is grating parsnips. course, Cusimano’s band,The Cringe.

Judging from the way he is making faces and the “Some people enjoy songwriting, and they’re way the elegant ring Elton John gave the singer- always writing down lyrics or new song ideas; I songwriter as a gift is clanging against the box enjoy writing recipes,” Ray explained recently to grater, it’s clear he doesn’t do this very often. an audience at her talk show.“This is what I do and “I start to black out when I’m in the kitchen,” how I do it.”

Wainwright jokes.“I get so scared.”

Mason says it’s the creative process that natuWainwright is trying to make New York sauer- rally brings chefs and musicians together. kraut, a delicacy created by chef Sam Mason to go “We both start with a final product in with rabbit schnitzel at last and Zebulon spaetzle our heads,”he says.“As it starts to develop, for the new IFC show“Dinner With the Band.” it starts to take on its own organic identity, For Wainwright, the appearance is part of the and it can end up being really different promotional tour for his new“All Days Are Nights: products. That goes for writing a song Songs for Lulu” (Decca) album, which arrived in or cooking a meal.You create this thing stores last week, and his new opera,“Prima Donna.” that can be very intimate, and people It’s also part of a relatively new connection between could laugh at you.You set yourself up musicians and chefs that IFC is tapping into with for criticism, and that brings a certain the series, but is starting to make its mark through- vulnerability.” out the culture.

After hearing about the last meal It goes beyond the longtime friendship of chef Wainwright made – a combination, Mario Batali and R.E.M.’s front man Michael Stipe inspired by feeling homesick, of sausages, couscous, or the way rockers The Bravery were recently judg- blue cheese and Brussels sprouts all mixed together ing food on“Top Chef Masters.”

– and a cooking segment on “The Martha Stewart Last month, the Feedback Festival, sponsored by Show”with his mother, Kate McGarrigle, and sister, Rachael Ray and her musician-husband, John Cusi- Martha Wainwright, that was so disastrous, Stewart mano, was one of the hottest parties at the South made him “abandon his station,” you would think

by Southwest Music Conference, featuring great Mason would take it easy on Wainwright.

By Glenn Gamboa Newsday

It turns out, though, that watching Wainwright look uncomfortable is part of the fun.

“I’m a pro ... musician,”Wainwright says playfully in the makeshift kitchen studio of a warehouse loft in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg.“I know how to mix ... an album.”

And Mason doesn’t give up, having Wainwright pound some rabbit cutlets.

“Now, you have to crack four eggs,”Mason says.

“Oh, god,”Wainwright replies.

After all, the Brooklyn-based Mason says “Dinner With the Band” – which will include everyone from Lightspeed Champion to Andrew W.K. in its 16-episode first season – works whether the guests have any cooking experience or not.

“It’s about the interaction,”Mason says.“I just want it to feel like we’re kinda hanging out. It makes for better TV. This isn’t a tutorial. We try to pass on information, but people aren’t sitting at home writing down this recipe.As long as whatever is happening behind that stove is making for good conversation, it works.”

And with Wainwright, there’s always good conversation.

Whether he was playfully flirting with Mason, dubbing him “a hot man with a hot pan”or joking how he never learned to cook because he was play-

ing piano while his mother and sisters were in the kitchen –“I would play and, depending on how good I was, I would get fed,”he says – Wainwright was as quick-witted as ever.

“There’s no off-switch on Rufus,”Mason says.

Wainwright is far more comfortable behind the piano, where he performed three songs for a small group of fans huddled around him. After he plays “Who AreYou, NewYork?”he lets out a sigh of relief.

“This is the first time I’m playing this for an audience,”Wainwright says, though clearly the recent death of his mother is also weighing on him.

The show’s director instructs the crowd to look happy for the cameras, adding,“Smiles translate to happiness.”

“But this is a very sad song,”Wainwright says, before launching into “Zebulon,” the story of the drowning death of a boy he had a childhood crush on, as well as one of his mother’s favorite songs from the new album.

Of course, Wainwright knows when to lighten the mood, offering some personal revelations (“I’m actually not a very good pianist, I’ve developed my own style out of laziness,”he says) and some jokes.

And then he brings it back to the food, wrapping up his musical set with a plea.

“Sam, I’m hungry,”he says.“I might die.”

Luckily, the rabbit schnitzel, spaetzle and those parsnips were there to save him.

Across The Universe

15

REVIEWS

30 April 2010

NEW CD RELEASES

Books

Rufus Wainwright

0All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu 0Decca After taking on the music of Judy Garland and composing his first opera (“Prima Donna”), Rufus Wainwright has chosen simplicity, it appears, for “All Days Are Nights.”This stark recording seems, to the casual listener, to comprise just a clever boy, a piano, songs about a city that never sleeps, and dainty adaptations of Shakespearean sonnets.

Soon, however, the listener discovers this is hardly a breezy enterprise. Wainwright’s theatrical pop and emotionally complex stories never have been without pain. But the anguish and melancholy in the melodies “Who Are You New York?” and “The Dream”are especially bracing. Rather than ruminate on romance, as he has before, with giddy sarcasm and a blase, bassoonlike croon, Wainwright sings“True Loves”with clipped tones and hardened sentiments. He saves the best and saddest for last in “Zebulon,”in which the hospital stay of his mother, folksinger Kate McGarrigle, furnishes uneasy family observations made lyrical in their recitation.

–A.D. Amorosi

Glee Cast

0Glee: The Music, the Power of Madonna 0Sony

Try to imagine New Historian navigates York without Brooklyn anarchy’s hot spots Lost States: True stories of The World That Never Was: A True Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other Story of Dreamers, Schemers, States That Never Made It Anarchists and Secret Agents 0Michael J. Trinklein 0Quirk Books (160 pages, $24.95)

0Alex Butterworth 0Pantheon (528 pages, $30)

hoped to use against authority, including bombs.

Such machinations kept the anarchist movement spinning its wheels for years, but, Butterworth notes, they also fanned the flames of future, more ominous threats.Among those who got a boost from Rachkovsky and his allies were Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who as Lenin led a small revolutionary faction that the Okhrana clandestinely propped up in a bid to split Russia’s left-wing movement.

– By Chris Foran

Summer is the time for family road trips to explore It sounds like a formula for dis- the U.S. and expose family to real American history appointment: Take TV’s “Glee” – along with sunburn, bug bites and blisters. club – whose records so far But what if there were more than 51 states to haven’t fared particularly well visit? Michael J.Trinklein has written stories about without the visual accompani- many“failed”or non-existent states, provided them ment – and have them cover the with histories, and served them up in a fascinating music of the quintessential video artist.That’s music book called Lost States – True stories of Texlahoma, twice denatured.

Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It. But“Power of Madonna”is a pleasant surprise – Restless Americans were never satisfied with at least initially.The first couple of tracks,“Express where they were. If they didn’t like their current Yourself” and a tandem “Borderline”/ “Open Your government, they might decide to create their own Heart,” have sonic punch and polish. Of course, it state. Long Island, I’m looking at you. doesn’t hurt that“Glee’s”Lea Michele has a far betLonger than Rhode Island, and home to Brookter voice than Lady Madonna herself. lyn, Queens and the rich enclave of the Hamptons, But things go downhill as soon as Jane Lynch Long Island, N.Y., discussed becoming a state in starts camping up the spoken portion of“Vogue.”By 1898. The New York Times interviewed the superthe time you get to “Like a Virgin”and “4 Minutes,” rich magnate Aldoph Mollenhauer, who wanted to the songs sound overproduced and melodramatic, leave, saying ‘”We’re tired of bosses and bossism.”’ more show tune than disco.

The idea went nowhere.A century later it returned – David Hiltbrand but never happened. Long Island, and its tax revenue, remain part of New York State.

Jesse Malin & The St. Marks Social One Congressional representative after World 0Love It to Life War II considered a proposal to bring Iceland in as 0Side One Dummy a state. It looked like a good place to have a military base to watch the Soviet Union.The proposal melted away and Iceland remains its own country, complete Jesse Malin, former front man with erupting volcanoes and clouds of ash. of the ‘90s glam-punk band D On the West Coast, just before World War II, a Generation, has never had a proposed new state of Jefferson would take part of problem finding the meeting northern California and lower Oregon.Why? Well, point of streetwise, revved- the locals felt neglected by their elected officials. up rock ‘n’ roll and a bruised, At least they wanted their rural roads paved. On romantic heart. But on “Love It to Life,” coming Dec 4, 1941, Jefferson declared independence and on the heels of a decent, diverting covers album, he elected a governor, though statehood would wait sounds looser and happier than ever: It’s the sound the decision of the U.S. Congress. On Dec. 7th, 1941, of rejuvenation.

Japan attacked Hawaii, and the idea of Jefferson Malin is backed by new bandmates, and he enlists faded away.

Ryan Adams, Mandy Moore, and Gaslight Anthem’s Trinklein doesn’t gloss over some of the darker Brian Fallon for cameos, but the centers of atten- aspects of the history. Some foreign candidates, the tion are always his ringing and buzzing electric Philippines and the Yucatan, wanted to join the guitar and reedy, rally-cry vocals. These songs are United States but racism apparently played a part rousing, inspiring paeans to New York City, street in their Congressional rejections. The Philippines life, dysfunctional love, and literature (“The Archer” now is its own country and the Yucatan is part of begins “Over the cuckoo’s nest, sometimes a great Mexico. notion,”conflating the titles of two Ken Kesey novComplete with maps,“Lost States”is an interestels). There’s nothing dramatically unusual about ing travel guide to the world of “what-if history.”It “Love It to Life,”but there needn’t be: It’s not easy might even keep the family intrigued on those long to rock out with such unfaltering verve. road trips around the 50 states.

– Steve Klinge

– By Tish Wells

Fighting an idea, as we’re learning, isn’t so easy.

Who’s in charge? How are the fighters connected?

How do you smoke out the bad guys without causing a fire in the process?

More than a century before the current war on terror, governments in Europe and the United States waged war against a loose, ever-changing network of terrorists, some of whom used guns, knives and even bombs in the name of the sacred cause of anarchy.

What that cause was, who led it and the consequences of the war against it are the focus of English historian Alex Butterworth’s painstakingly researched book, The World That Never Was. The subtitle “A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers,Anarchists and Secret Agents”doesn’t begin to round up the sprawling cast of characters therein.

From the rise and swift fall of the Paris Commune in 1870 to the tragedy of World War I, Butterworth’s tale crosses paths with most of the era’s most important figures, from monarchs to literary giants, while presenting some of the fascinating characters in the anarchist movement.

Many of the latter couldn’t have been dreamed up by the most inventive novelist (and they tried – writers as varied as Jules Verne and Joseph Conrad flitted on the fringes of the movement, and incorporated many of the personalities). There’s Peter Kropotkin, a former Russian prince who was a leading voice of peaceful anarchy for more than half a century. And Gabriel Jogand-Pages, a journalist-turned-forger who tricked French officials into sending a ship to fend off a squad of anarchisttrained sharks (no, really).

Despite the erratic and unstable nature of the anarchist movement, it managed to keep most of the Western world on edge for 40 years, and killed off a few world leaders – Russia’s Tsar Alexander II in 1881, French President Marie Francois Sadi Carnot in 1894, U.S. President William McKinley in 1901.

But as Butterworth points out again and again, for all the panic and clamor they created, the anarchists’ actions were more often than not thwarted by the efforts of undercover agents and secret police.

A central character in much of The World That Never Was is Peter Rachkovsky, who led the Okhrana, Russia’s secret police, from the 1880s into the 20th century. Rachkovsky’s agents wormed their way into nearly every anarchist cell in Europe, sometimes supplying them with the very weapons they

Police mystery transcends the routine The Burying Place

0Brian Freeman 0Minotaur (340 pages, $24.99) Although a police procedural powers the mystery facet of“The Burying Place,”buried emotions that put characters on the edge fuel the heart of Brian Freeman’s fifth novel about Minnesota police detective Jonathan Stride.

What could have been a routine procedural is elevated by Freeman’s thoughtful exploration of characters who may succumb to the trauma in their lives. By paralleling what seems like two divergent crimes, Freeman exposes flawed lives consumed by a variety of fears.

Recovering from a near-death experience, Jonathan has retreated to his cabin, taking time off work. Emotionally remote from his girlfriend, Serena Dial, also a cop, he can’t admit that panic attacks have nearly paralyzed him. Before he’s ready to return to work, he’s asked to investigate the kidnapping of an 11-month-old daughter of an arrogant Grand Rapids surgeon.The kidnapping seems to be an inside job, especially since the father seems oddly unconcerned about the child. The family’s secrets are about to become common knowledge.

As Jonathan and Serena search for the toddler,the hunt also is on for a serial killer who is attacking women living in remote farms. His latest target appears to be a young policewoman who saw him attack a victim.

The characters’fragile lives and walled-off emotions elevate “The Burying Place’s” plot, which moves to a surprising and logical twist. Each character must deal with his or her own“fault lines, little hairline cracks that seemed like nothing until the weight of pressure and time burst them open,” as well as the terror of their secrets becoming public.

Freeman’s dark vision has served him well in his award-winning series,which began with the enthralling “Immoral”in 2005. But there is a softer side to Freeman. Under the pseudonym of Ally O’Brien, Freeman and his London-based entertainment agent, Ali Gunn,wrote the chick-lit best-seller“The Agency.”

– By Oline H. Cogdill

HEALTH

16

30 April 2010

High chocolate consumption and depression

By Shari Roan Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES – One need only look at the recent introduction of chocolate Cheerios to fully grasp Americans’fondness for the pulp from cacao beans.

Savoring chocolate is normal.

But, researchers said Monday, over-indulging in it could be a marker for depression.

Researchers at UC San Diego and UC Davis examined chocolate consumption and other dietary intake patterns among 931 men and women who were not using antidepressants. The participants were also given a depression screening test. Those who screened positive for possible depression consumed an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate – defined as 1 ounce of chocolate candy – per month.

That compared with 5.4 servings per month among people who were not depressed.

Those who scored highest on the mood tests, indicating probably major depression, consumed an average of 11.8 servings per month. The findings were similar among women and men.

When the researchers controlled for other dietary factors that could be linked to mood – such as caffeine, fat and carbohydrate intake – they found only chocolate consumption correlated with mood symptoms.

It’s not clear how the two are linked, the authors wrote. It could be that depression stimulates chocolate cravings as a form of self-treatment. Chocolate prompts the release of certain chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine, that produce feelings of pleasure and reward.

There is no evidence, however, that chocolate

has a sustained benefit on improving mood. Like alcohol, chocolate may contribute a short-term boost in mood followed by a return to depression or a worsened mood. A study published in 2007 in the journal Appetite found that eating chocolate improved mood but only for about three minutes.

It’s also possible that depressed people seek chocolate to improve mood but that the trans fats in some chocolate counteract the impact of Omega-3 fatty acid production in the body, the authors stated in the paper. Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to improve mental health.

Another theory is that chocolate consumption contributes to depression or that some physiological mechanism, such as stress, drives both depression and chocolate craving “It’s unlikely that chocolate makes people depressed,”said Marcia Levin Pelchat, a psychologist who studies food cravings at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. She was not involved in the new study.“Most people believe the beneficial effects of chocolate are on mood and that they are learned.You eat chocolate, it makes you feel good; and sometime when you’re feeling badly it occurs to you,‘Gee, if I eat some chocolate I might feel better.’“ Chocolate is popular in North America and the United Kingdom, she said. But in other cultures, different foods are considered pleasure-inducing pick-me-ups.

“In the United States, people consider chocolate really tasty,”she said.“It has a high cultural value.

It’s an appropriate gift for Valentine’s Day. But in China, you might give stuffed snails to someone you really like.”

Is salt the secret ingredient in KFC’s original recipe?

By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times

You already worry about the calories in fast food (at least, you know you should). Now the good folks at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene are giving us something else to agonize over – the salt content of those calorie-laden fast-food meals.

The report couldn’t be more timely. Just last week, the Institute of Medicine released a report urging the Food and Drug Administration to set limits on the amount of sodium that’s acceptable in processed foods, and the

FDA pledged to put pressure on the food industry.

Sodium intake is important because too much salt can cause high blood pressure, an important risk factor for heart disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s current dietary guidelines suggest that Americans limit their salt intake to 2,300 milligrams per day – about the equivalent of one teaspoon. The American Heart Association says a better cap is 1,500 mg per day. At the moment, both recommendations are a fantasy – the average

American consumes 3,500 mg of sodium each day.

More than 75 percent of that salt comes from prepared foods, including restaurant offerings. So the health department sent interviewers out to 300 restaurants throughout New York City’s five boroughs and asked lunchtime patrons to show them their receipts.They got 6,580 receipts for meals that included at least one entree.

How salty were those meals? The average lunch contained 1,750 mg of sodium, and 20 percent topped the 2,300 mg the government recommends for an entire day, the researchers report in Tuesday’s edition of Archives of Internal Medicine.

The saltiest meals were purchased at Kentucky Fried Chicken and Popeye’s – 55 percent of chicken

chain lunches exceeded 2,300 mg of salt.The average chicken lunch had 66 more calories than the average burger-chain lunch (999 vs. 933) but contained 900 mg of additional salt, the researchers calculated.

Is it possible to eat at fast-food chains without going overboard on sodium? Apparently so. One in every 36 meals was limited to 600 mg of salt, an amount the FDA considers healthy. But the researchers didn’t say what was in those healthier meals.

In addition to KFC and Popeye’s, the researchers collected receipts from patrons of Burger King, McDonald’s,Wendy’s,Au Bon Pain, Subway, Domino’s, Papa John’s Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Healthy Living

Heart-healthy ingredient A new study suggests that men who add flaxseed to their diet may be able to combat high cholesterol without taking drugs.

About flaxseeds • Slightly larger than sesame seeds, flaxseeds have an earthy, nutty flavor; available as whole and ground seeds and as flaxseed oil

Grapes may protect your heart

By Michele Munz St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Grapes reduce risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in rats, according to a University of Michigan Health System study.The findings were presented Monday at the Experimental Biology convention in California.

Researchers took a group of rats prone to be overweight and fed them a typical high-fat American diet. Some rats were also fed a mixture of red, green

and black grapes in powdered form.

After three months, the rats receiving the grapeenriched diet had lower blood pressure, better heart function and reduced indicators of inflammation than the rats receiving no grape powder.The grapefed rats also had fewer symptoms of metabolic syndrome, a condition affecting about 50 million Americans and a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

University of Michigan plans to further its research this summer when it begins a clinical trial to test the impact of grape consumption on heart health.

• Lignans, plant chemical compounds known for their protective health effects, are found in flaxseeds and may help lower cholesterol • Other nutrients contained in the seeds include omega 3 fatty acids, manganese, dietary fiber, magnesium • The study included 90 men and postmenopausal women; more research is needed to find out why the flaxseeds had no effect on the women’s cholesterol

Flaxseeds can be added to baked goods, such as the bread shown here

© 2010 MCT Source: Medical News Today, World’s Healthiest Foods, MCT Photo Service Graphic: Pat Carr

SCIENCE/TECH 17

30 April 2010

Move aside, PCs, here come the tablets

By Troy Wolverton San Jose Mercury News

My mom is anything but a technophile.

Even though she and my dad have had a computer for more than 25 years, she’s still intimidated by them, worrying she might break or delete something by pushing the wrong button or clicking on the wrong place.

So I was surprised by how quickly she took to Apple’s new iPad.Although she hardly ever uses her laptop at home, she repeatedly played with the iPad while visiting me recently, using it to surf the Web and watch videos about baking no-knead bread. She said she liked that it was lightweight and easy to use.

That got me thinking again about the future of computing. I wrote recently that the PC era was coming to an end, that the venerable gadget was in the process of being replaced by a collection of devices, including smartphones, app-playing set-top boxes,TVs and a collection of networked appliances and electronic devices.

I thought before that tablets would simply be a part of that mix of gadgets. Now I’m convinced that they’re going to spearhead the revolution, that

in short order PCs will be displaced by tablets like the iPad. It’s not just because tablets are so much more “accessible,”as my mother puts it. It’s also because PCs are a headache to use and maintain, even for tech-savvy consumers.

My sister-in-law Anina, for example, is no stranger to technology. She has a Ph.D. in microbiology, is a patent agent and uses a laptop regularly in her work.

But recently she had a problem with her PC that prevented her from accessing a particular Web site.

She had no idea how to solve the problem and found it so frustrating that she considered buying a new computer.

The problem turned out to have a simple solution.

Her Web browsers were years old and in dire need of updates. Once I installed the latest versions, she was able to get into the site without a problem.

It was obvious to me that my sister-in-law’s browsers needed updating, but I cover this stuff for a living. There’s no reason Anina should have known that – it’s not like her computer was flashing a red light saying that her browsers were out of date.

I often encounter friends, readers and others who are frustrated and daunted by the task of using and

maintaining their PCs, including protecting them from ever-changing security threats.

Tablets like the iPad and the JooJoo, a browserbased tablet that also recently hit the market, have much more streamlined – and inherently secure – operating systems than PCs. On the iPad, for example, you generally can’t install a program unless it’s been approved by Apple, which, among other things, checks to make sure the program doesn’t contain viruses.

As recently as eight months ago, as rumors of the iPad started gaining steam, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want such a device. Even when Apple unveiled the new gadget in January – and after numerous other companies showed off prototypes of their upcoming tablets – I had a lot of reservations about their appeal.

Color me convinced.

That my mom – my mom! – was quick to adopt the iPad convinced me that devices that simplify the process of going online and doing common tasks will find an audience among people who have never embraced PCs.And my sister-in-law’s problems with her PC convinced me that tablets could also find a ready audience among many PC users.

But it’s not just my mom and my sister-in-law who helped me appreciate the potential of tablets.

I’ve been hearing about people as old as 90 adopting and loving iPads. My dad, who like me was initially doubtful he’d ever want or need a tablet, wanted to buy an iPad almost immediately after playing with my review unit for a few minutes.

That tablets will rapidly replace PCs seems obvious to me now.The history of electronics shows that when you take a complex product and make it less intimidating and easier to use, you open up the market for the technology.

AOL, which was far easier to use than previous online services, helped bring the masses online.

Microsoft’s Windows, which replaced the computer-derived command-line interface with a more user-friendly, graphically oriented one, broadened the market for PCs.And Nintendo’s Wii, which simplified the controls used to play video games, has been the standout winner in the latest generation of consoles, attracting to gaming people who hadn’t played in years, if ever.

Tablets have the potential to bring the same accessibility to contemporary computing. I say the sooner the better.

Science Matters Handheld device & internet 3-D illusion on a TV screen diagnose car troubles

By Craig Crossman McClatchy-Tribune News Service

This column is a timely one for me since I just had the “Check Engine” light appear on my car. A call to my local dealer told me that I should bring it in immediately as the vehicle might suffer damage if I waited too long. I heeded the warning by making a beeline to the mechanic.

When the technician returned my car, he said he had replaced the gas cap and that all should be well. The Check Engine light remained on but I was assured that it would reset after 24 hours and that all would be fine in the morning. It wasn’t.

It was the weekend and so the light remained on until Monday morning when I called in to report that the light was still glowing. Upon going back to the dealer, I was told that the pressure in the gas line was still not properly adjusted and an additional sensor had to be replaced.

When the car was returned to me the next day, the light was still on but I was once again assured that it would be out by the following morning. It wasn’t. The third time was the charm.An additional inspection revealed yet another faulty part that was replaced. The light was of course, still on when I left. But the following morning, it finally went out.

Now here’s a thought.What if I had some kind of handy-dandy device that I could have just plugged into my car to detect what the problem was before I went back to the dealer three times? Well now there is and it uses your computer and the Internet to make it all happen.

CarMD is a handheld tester that links to your car’s on-board computer. All cars made from 1996 on by law must have a computer data port that monitors your car’s emissions and other mechanical functions. Similar to the devices used by professional mechanics to diagnose vehicles, the CarMD device doesn’t require the training or knowledge of an automotive specialist to use it. There are three colored status lights on the CarMD. If the green one glows, then all is OK. If the yellow one glows, then

more than likely there’s something wrong and it should be checked out. If the red light is lit, then there’s something that requires immediate attention. It does have a digital display readout that displays more detailed error codes if you want to further analyze what is happening.

The CarMD connects to the standardized data port in the 1996 and newer vehicles. The included instructions show you the most likely locations where the port is located which is usually inside below the steering wheel.

You plug the CarMD in and wait for two beeps to know that it is properly connected and communicating with your car’s computer. When you hear four more beeps, the CarMD has finished and you may remove it to look at the status lights.

If you want a more detailed report, plug the CarMD’s USB connection into your computer. It will access the CarMD database.

From there it will transmit its data and you will receive back a screen that offers a detailed report as to what is most likely wrong with your car along with possible fixes and how much it will most likely cost for the repair. Nice.

In addition to using a CarMD on your own car, this could prove very handy when you walk onto a used car lot.After the sales pitch, just simply plug in the CarMD and get the real story before you make that important purchase. Another useful application is to plug in the CarMD before you take an extended road trip. It may be able to save you from finding yourself pulled over on the road waiting for a tow truck.

Granted the CarMD can’t save you from all automotive malfunctions. CarMD advises you to have regular car checkups, check your tire pressure and maintain a proper vehicle inspection schedule.

The CarMD works with both Windows and Macintosh computers and sells for $US98.99.A 22-inch extension cable for easier access to the data port is also available for $19.99.The price also includes lifetime vehicle coverage and software updates with no additional subscription fees.You can register up to three cars and six diagnostic reports per month.

Check out the CarMD website for more pricing details. www.carmd.com

Three-dimensional television is coming soon to the consumer market.

Here are two 3-D TV technologies.

Lenticular display signal creates image 1 TV on rear layer with millions

Dark: More distant

of color pixels

Light: Closer

Pixel layer Lens layer

pixel’s “grayscale” value 2 Each indicates its depth in scene

layer 3 Lens refracts light

at nine angles; viewers can watch from many angles and still see 3-D effect

Apparent 3-D image see 4 Eyes two different

images; brain perceives 3-D scene

Shutter glasses Television image

© 2010 MCT

displays alternating images for right and left 1 TV eyes 120 times a second sending wireless signal to electronic glasses

crystals in lenses switch 2 Liquid from opaque to transparent, in sync with TV image

Opaque lens Transparent lens

3 Brain receives different

views, creating 3-D illusion Source: How Stuff Works, Nvidia, thinkdigit.com, answers.yahoo.com, Philips 3-D Solutions

Graphic: Cindy Jones-Hulfachor, Sun Sentinel

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TECHNOLOGY 19

30 April 2010

The VoiceQuilt is an heirloom-quality keepsake box that looks like any other jewelry box — except this one holds up to 4 ½ hours of recorded personalized messages and music for mom. Family members recite favorite stories, tributes and greetings online and via a toll-free phone number; the recordings are edited and then the finished box is shipped to the unsuspecting mother. /MCT

Gadgets your mum might not even know she needs

By Buzz McClain McClatchy Newspapers

If you drive through the little town of Grafton, in north-central West Virginia, you’ll find the church where, for 20 years, Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis taught classes, fought for improved sanitation and worked to unite former adversaries in the Civil War before her death in 1905. Her daughter,Anna Marie Jarvis, commemorated her mother’s life two years later with a ceremony in the church that celebrated mothers everywhere.

The church is now the International Mother’s Day Shrine, and that ceremony on May 10, 1907, gave birth, so to speak, to the first“official”Mother’s Day, a commemoration that begat a national movement to recognize a day to honor mothers, living and dead, as a holiday. It took several more years, but in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson finally got tired of the nagging – just kidding, mothers don’t nag – and signed the resolution that was introduced by co-sponsor Sen. Morris Sheppard of Texas.

Nearly a century later, Mother’s Day has managed to keep its dignity as an occasion for gift giving thanks largely to our sentimental streak for Mom. Breakfast in bed, gooey poetic cards and handcrafted presents assure that mothers know that the day is theirs.

That said, the Modern Mom relies on technology to get her through the day, and to that end, we’ve come up with a few things she might not know she even wants. Such as: VoiceQuilt It’s one of those“why didn’t I think of that?”inven-

tions. The VoiceQuilt is an heirloom-quality keepsake box that looks like any other jewelry box – except this one holds up to 4 { hours of recorded personalized messages and music for mom. Family members recite favorite stories, tributes and greetings online and via a toll-free phone number; the recordings are edited and then the finished box is shipped to the unsuspecting mother who is about to cry a river listening to the voices. $US55 and up, with an option to have family members pay for their own contribution (brilliant!); see www.voicequilt.com.

CarMD Hard to believe,but there are some mothers who don’t like to open the hood of the car to see what’s wrong with the engine. For them, there is CarMD, another one of those forehead-slapping inventions that you should have thought of yourself.You plug in the handheld CarMD device into your 1996-and-up vehicle’s on-board diagnostic port (they even show you where your port is on your car); download the data, then upload it into your computer.The tester uses a database compiled from thousands of certified technicians to figure out why that “check engine”light came on, among other automotive ailments – and then tells you how bad it is and how much it should cost to fix. $US98.99; see www.carmd.com.

Samsung Netbook N150 When’s the last time someone saw your laptop and said, “Ooooh, pretty”? The 2.7 pound N150 is a stripped down computer that does the basics – Internet, e-mail, photos, music – but in fetching, vibrant colors including Bermuda blue, flamingo pink and Caribbean yellow. The 10.1-inch screen with built-

in webcam is accompanied by a battery than can last up to seven hours, a 3-in-1 memory card reader and three handy USB ports for adding peripherals as needed.$US359.99;see www.samsung.com and click on the netbook for a list of online retailers.

Tech4o Accelerator Sports Watch Modern Moms keep a pedometer on their hips to make sure they get in their daily minimum number of steps. But pedometers are rarely attractive, seeing as they hang on a belt and ruin whatever look Mom is going for. This watch has a step counter with a seven-day/10-week memory and a daily step counter schedule; it also has an alarm, dual time zones, a stopwatch and a countdown counter. But wait, that’s not all: It also measures speed, distance, calories burned and workout durations. And it keeps time. $US69.99; see www.tech4o.com and click on“performance products.”You can buy the watch online or get a list of area retailers.

XG Headphones No doubt about it, moms like their iPods. But they may not like their earbuds. For her, there’s Able Planet’s Plaid line of over-the-head foldable headphones, which offer a rich audio experience but, you know, in plaid. Do you need to know about the award-winning LINX Audio Technology, the noisecancelling component or the interchangeable ear cups for customized fit? No, all you need to know is they come in pink, red, white and green. $US99.99;.

Create camera by Jason Wu The 27-year old fashion designer to the stars (Michelle Obama, Drew Barrymore, Natalie Port-

man and others) has come up with a digital camera that brings elegance to a field that is either too cheap looking or too cumbersome. The General Imaging Create eliminates thumbing through menus thanks to one-touch operations and boasts 12 megapixels of resolution, a 3X Optical Zoom and a 2.7-inch LCD screen, plenty for making stellar photos of the family in portraits or at play. Best of all, it comes in 10 leather and metallic colors with a fabric wrist strap and microfiber camera pouch and a sleek camera body design; the deluxe model includes a creamy leather camera case in three colors; the deluxe-deluxe set has all that, plus eight gigs of internal memory and leather neck straps. $179.99 to $US229.99; available at www.generalimaging.com/store.

Kodak Pulse Digital Frame Does your mother really have time or perhaps the technological wherewithal to transfer her digital photos from the camera to that spiffy digital frame that plays the pics in a continuous slide show? Perhaps not. This touch-screen frame is different – it has its own e-mail address! You send your photos – yes, you, not your mom, she’s got enough to do – directly to the frame the way you would to a family member across the country.You can e-mail them from your phone as soon as you take the snap, you can link to Facebook and Internet gallery sites, or you can upload images from a memory card (or two, there are two slots) or a camera (the old-fashioned way, with a USB cable).And there’s no software to wrestle with. $US129.95; buy directly from www. kodak.com or see the frame there and then click to links to online retailers.

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