Liberty Newspost Feb-18-2011

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- 18/02/11

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Boehner gets a taste of Republican budget-cutting zeal in Congress Thomas Ferraro (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 2/17/2011 4:09:29 PM

House Speaker John Boehner got hit by the deep budget-slashing he advocates as the top Republican in Congress.

Many of Boehner’s fellow House Republicans, including a number of those backed by the antiestablishment Tea Party, voted on Wednesday to end a weapons project backed by Boehner in his home state of Ohio.

Boehner, who promised to bring wide-open debate to the House when he was elected its speaker last month, tried to brush off the setback.

“I am committed to the House working it’s will, and it did yesterday,” Boehner told his weekly news conference on Thursday.

“This is not about me. This is not

about my district,” he said.

“This ought to be about the U.S. House speaking on the behalf of all Americans, both Democrats and Republicans,” he added.

The House voted to defund the weapons project as part of its bid to cut at least $61 billion from U.S. spending this fiscal year and trim the growing federal debt — creating what they say will be a healthier and more job-friendly environment.

On a vote of 233-198, the House agreed to deny $450 million for the continued development of an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Republicans were almost split on the project, which is opposed by the Pentagon and the White House. Democrats voted nearly 2to-1 to kill it.

Loss of the project would cost jobs in Ohio, at least in the short term, something that Boehner has

said will be part of the price of shrinking the government and the U.S. debt.

Earlier this week, Boehner drew fire in taking a hard line on prospects of federal workforce losses stemming from Republican

job, whether they are a federal employee or not.

“But come on. We are broke.

We’ve got to make tough decisions.

“The American people sent their representatives here to Washington to make tough decisions on their behalf. We know that we can’t continue to borrow 40 cents for every dollar the federal government spends.”

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jay LaPrete (Boehner in Ohio last month) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it cuts. “ S o b e i t , ” B o e h n e r s a i d , on someone else's site, please read prompting complaints he was our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php callous.

Asked about the comments on Five Filters featured article: Thursday, Boehner said: “Listen, I Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In don’t want anyone to lose their The Crosshairs.

Wis. police hunt Dem. leader, protests continue (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Popular) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:49:01 AM

AP - The Wisconsin State Patrol was dispatched Friday to find a Democratic state senator who fled

the Capitol to delay the near- bargaining rights for public certain passage of a bill to end a workers, a measure that's attracted h a l f - c e n t u r y o f c o l l e c t i v e thousands of protesters for four

days.

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Washington Extra – Royal news Tabassum Zakaria (Front Row Washington)

China’s next leader from an unpublished WikiLeaks batch of diplomatic cables.

Submitted at 2/17/2011 5:57:25 PM Here are our top stories from Calling Bahrain.

Washington today…

As is increasingly the case, the Cables show U.S. sizing up United States is finding that China’s next leader talking pro-democracy is one What does the United States thing. Dealing with the aftermath make of Xi Jinping, the man of uprisings another. widely expected to take over from U.S. officials have been on the Hu Jintao late next year and lead t e l e p h o n e w i t h o f f i c i a l s i n China for the next five or 10 Bahrain urging restraint after years? An unpublished WikiLeaks police attacked anti-government batch of U.S. diplomatic cables protesters. portrays the 57-year-old Xi as The tiny Gulf kingdom that is untainted by corruption — he is home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth referred to as “Mr. Clean” — and Fleet becomes another U.S. ally in disdainful of China’s nouveau the Middle East seeing unrest riche and consumer culture. He is with protesters wanting their also depicted as an elitist who leaders gone. believes that the offspring of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Maoist revolutionaries are the telephoned Bahrain’s Foreign rightful rulers of China.

Minister Sheikh Khaled bin For more of this special report by Ahmed al-Khalifa. Defense Paul Eckert, read here.

Secretary Robert Gates spoke by U.S. concern grows over Bahrain, telephone with Crown Prince a key Gulf ally Sheikh Salman bin Hamad alThe United States urged Khalifa.

Bahrain’s government to show Other royal news. President restraint amid deepening concern Barack Obama and first lady over unrest in the country, home Michelle Obama are going to visit to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and the Queen of England in May. a strategic ally on oil supply lines (They are not going to THE f r o m t h e G u l f . A s a n t i WEDDING which is in April, government protests rock the they weren’t invited – gasp!) Middle East, the White House, Remember all the commotion Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about Obama giving the British and the Pentagon all urged monarch an iPod during his visit Bahrain’s leaders to pull back to Buckingham Palace in 2009? a f t e r p o l i c e a t t a c k e d Wondering whether it will be an d e m o n s t r a t o r s i n t h e G u l f iPad this time. kingdom’s worst violence in Be sure to read Paul Eckert’s d e c a d e s . C l i n t o n s a i d s h e special report on the U.S. view of expressed her “deep concern” in a

telephone call with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and emphasized that violence should not occur on Friday, when many in Bahrain may attend funerals of

Deepwater Horizon rig that could have prevented the missteps that led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but they were not consulted, the White House oil spill commission said. In an expanded report on the causes of the drilling disaster, the commission released new details about the events that preceded the BP accident. The commission’s investigators said workers failed to ask a knowledgeable company engineer who was visiting the rig about unexpected results from a critical negative pressure test on the rig.

For more of this story by Ayesha Rascoe, read here.

Geithner warns of market risk on debt limit fight A delay in raising the $14.3 trillion statutory debt limit could make markets price in risks of a default and undermine economic recovery, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. Congress has routinely raised the limit, but Republicans have threatened not to unless Democrats agree to cut spending. “We cannot afford to let the markets lose any confidence that ultimately the Congress will act well in advance of any time that we’re going to hit the limit, because that would be catastrophic, and cause grave damage to the expansion those killed or prayer services. underway,” Geithner said.

For more of this story by Andrew For more of this story by David Quinn and Phil Stewart, read here. Lawder, read here.

BP workers could have prevented Taxing offshore profit up for rig accident-report WASHINGTON page 3 BP had workers on the doomed

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debate-US aide The debate over overhauling the corporate tax system will have to include whether to cut taxes on profits earned abroad, a Treasury Department official said. Michael Mundaca, assistant secretary for tax policy and a White House point man on revamping the corporate tax code, also said that corporate tax reform could be done before individual tax reform.

His comments are friendly to corporate America, which contends that it has been hobbled internationally by being saddled with the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world.

For more of this story by Kim Dixon, read here.

Dodd-Frank tensions headline U.S. Senate hearing Republicans escalated their push to delay and defund the DoddFrank Wall Street reforms as top regulators warned the Senate Banking Committee of a staff and funding crunch. The chiefs of major agencies that are writing hundreds of rules told the panel that they need more money to carry out the law. For investors and Wall Street, the Senate hearing represented another act in a long-running drama that analysts expect will lead to few, if any, changes in the Dodd-Frank reforms due to political gridlock.

For more of this story by Sarah N. Lynch and Christopher Doering, read here.

Bank regulators see flaws in debit fee crackdown Banking regulators acknowledged flaws in plans to

cut debit card processing fees, adding to pressure on the Federal Reserve to modify how it implements part of the DoddFrank financial law. Sheila Bair, chairman of the FDIC, cited the likelihood that lower debit transaction fees would force smaller banks to make up for lost revenue with higher account fees for customers. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, also testifying to the Senate Banking Committee, said the exemption for small banks in Dodd-Frank might not be effective.

For more of this story by Dave Clarke and Maria Aspan, read here.

Consumer prices show inflation turning up U.S. core consumer prices rose at the quickest pace in 15 months in January, suggesting a long period of slowing inflation had run its course. Economists largely agreed inflation had bottomed but they said the turnaround in prices was unlikely to be so swift as to trouble policymakers at the Federal Reserve, who are still pumping money into the economy.

For more of this story by Lucia Mutikani, read here.

House to vote on debt idea, healthcare funding Conservative Republicans are pushing a congressional amendment to give the Treasury Department the ability to avoid a debt default if U.S. borrowing authority runs out, highlighting possible dire consequences of political gridlock over

government spending. The plan by first-term Republican Representative David Schweikert would require Treasury to keep making debt payments if Congress fails in the coming months to raise the limit of the amount the United States can borrow.

For more of this story, read here.

US asks: How big an Afghan army can we afford?

President Obama’s government is unsure whether the U.S. can afford a further buildup of Afghan security forces, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. Speaking before a Senate committee, Gates pointed to the $12.8 billion called for in Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget to pay for training of Afghan security forces and said “you cannot do that indefinitely.”

“The issue is under discussion in no small part because of the question of sustainability. How big an army can we afford?”

Gates asked.

For more of this story by Phil Stewart and Susan Cornwell, read here.

Chances of closing Guantanamo jail very low -Gates Defense Secretary Robert Gates said prospects for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp were “very, very low” given broad opposition in Congress.

President Obama has so far not been able to meet his promise to close Guantanamo, but the White House said this week he remained committed to doing so. The facility has drawn international condemnation for the treatment of

detainees.

For more of this story, read here.

Apple’s Jobs to attend Obama meeting Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who is on medical leave from the company, will attend a meeting in California with President Obama, a source familiar with the meeting said.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will also attend the meeting. Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, stepped away from Apple on medical leave last month. It was the third time in seven years that Jobs has taken leave for healthrelated reasons.

For more of this story by Patricia Zengerle and Gabriel Madway,read here.

What we are blogging…

Who to blame for a U.S. government shutdown?

Never mind that it hasn’t happened yet. Lawmakers want to make sure everyone knows who is responsible if it does. If Congress deadlocks over spending for the rest of this fiscal year and forces a shutdown of government services when the money runs out on March 4, who will be to blame?

Democrats and Republicans may not agree on much, but they do agree on one thing – if the government shuts down it will be the other party’s fault.

For Donna Smith’s full post, click here.

From elsewhere…

U.S. China envoy to decide on White House run soon

Jon Huntsman, the departing ambassador to China, will likely decide on a possible bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination “in the next couple of weeks,” his brother, head of chemicals maker Huntsman Corp, said. Huntsman, a popular former governor of Utah, told President Obama last month that he would resign from his ambassadorship in April. Speculation has swirled that he would run for president.

“He’ll be announcing that soon, one way or the other, I hope in the next couple of weeks,” Peter Huntsman said.

For more of this story, read here.

U.S. city to get RoboCop statue with fan funding From sci-fi cult film, to Twitter phenomenon to Detroit landmarkin-the-making. Plans for a statue honoring RoboCop, the half-man, half-machine crime fighter of the 1987 movie, are moving ahead after a group of artists and entrepreneurs in Detroit, Michigan raised more than $50,000 via Facebook and an online fund-raising site.

For more of this story, read here.

For more stories from our Washington correspondents visit www.reuters.com and stay informed.

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed (A Bahraini woman holds a picture of Prime Minister at pro-government rally in Riffa; Cranes move at the Bahrain Pearl Roundabout to clear the tents set up by protesters in Manama) WASHINGTON page 4

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Who to blame for a U.S. government shutdown?

Donna Smith (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 2/17/2011 2:15:26 PM

Feb 17, 2011 15:15 EST Never mind that it hasn’t happened yet. Lawmakers want to make sure everyone knows who is responsible if it does.

If the U.S. Congress deadlocks over spending for the rest of this fiscal year and forces a shutdown of government services when the money runs out on March 4, who will be to blame?

Democrats and Republicans may not agree on much, but they do agree on one thing – if the government shuts down it will be the other party’s fault.

The two sides have been going back and forth on the possibility of a government shut down for weeks. House Speaker John Boehner opened up a fresh round of the blame game on Thursday.

“We have some Democrats here on Capitol Hill threatening to shut down the government rather than to cut spending and to follow the will of the American people,”

Boehner said at a news conference.

The government has been running on a series of short-term “continuing resolutions” that keep spending mostly at last year’s levels and Boehner said he would not agree to another short-term spending plan without spending cuts.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry

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“If Senator Reid is unwilling to listen to the American people and cut spending in a temporary (continuing resolution), he will be responsible for the government shut-down he and Senator (Charles) Schumer are rooting for,” Steel said.

It’s never too early on Capitol Hill to start pointing fingers.

Photo credits: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (House Speaker John Boehner speaks to the Conservative Political Action Conference) REUTERS/Jim Young (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator charles Schumer) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is R e i d q u i c k l y r e s p o n d e d t o your content and you're reading it Boehner’s comments and put the on someone else's site, please read ball back in the Republican court. our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ “I am disappointed that Speaker content-only/faq.php Boehner doesn’t believe he has Five Filters featured article: the votes to avoid a government Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In shutdown, unless his members get The Crosshairs. their way on all of their demands,” Reid said.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel returned the volley.

Republicans challenging unions in state capitols (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Popular) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:01:59 AM

AP - Republicans who swept into power in state capitols this year with promises to cut spending and bolster the business climate now

are beginning to usher in a new era of labor relations that could result in the largest reduction of power in decades for public employee unions.

Wis. police hunt Dem. leader, protests continue (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:49:01 AM

AP - The Wisconsin State Patrol was dispatched Friday to find a Democratic state senator who fled the Capitol to delay the nearcertain passage of a bill to end a half-century of collective bargaining rights for public workers, a measure that's attracted thousands of protesters for four days.

Bahrain security forces fire tear gas on protest (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Popular) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:43:44 AM

AP - Soldiers fired tear gas and shot heavy weapons into the air as thousands of protest marchers defied a government ban Friday and streamed toward the landmark square that had been the symbolic center of the uprising against the Gulf nation's leaders.

The Best Fast Food Breakfasts (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Make healthy choices on-the-go with these better fast food options.

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Middle East protests: live - Telegraph.co.uk (Top Stories - Google News) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:37:12 AM

Latest 16.34 The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has condemned the response of security forces against protestors in the Middle East and North Africa as "illegal and excessively heavy-handed".

The nature and scope of the human rights violations taking place in several countries in the region in response to those who are largely demonstrating peacefully for their fundamental human rights and freedoms, is alarming 16.27 Nic Robertson from CNN tweets: several blocks now separate police from group of about a hundred protesters.. uneasy calm prevails.

A victim of the violence in Bahrain 16.19 Witnesses on the ground tweet that tanks are firing directly on civilians: They use direct shots to people by tank and holykabters. We need urgent and immediate international interference by UN force now 16.17 A witness in Manama speaks to al-Jazeera about today's crack down: "[There were] only bullets. They didn't give us any [indication] so that we could just run away from them. They just started shooting us. Now there are more than 20 injured in the hospital. One guy, he has already passed away

because he got shot in his head.

And there are more than three injured. They will pass away in a few hours because... they have got shot... near their chest or near their heart."

16.10 Hospital sources in Aden have reported two further deaths as a result of the Yemen protests.

16.07 Elsewhere, protests continue across the Arab world.

Islamists tried to set light to a street of brothels in Tunis but were dispersed by police using helicopters.

15.58 Al-Jazeera recently reported during a live broadcast that a Telegraph reporter may have been wounded during the violence in Bahrain. We are pleased to confirm this was incorrect and Adrian Blomfield is

unhurt.

15.50 There are still no confirmed reports of any dead from the shootings in Bahrain, but emergency sources have reported up to four deaths while a number of reports claim there are several people in a critical condition with gunshot wounds to the head.

15.48 Evan Hill, Al Jazeera English producer, tweets:

Contrast between Egypt, where people have revolted against govt, and Bahrain and Libya, where those govts still assert power violently.

15.46 Banker Redha Haji tweets from Bahrain: Hard to hold back tears. This is not real. Not happening. We hear MIDDLE page 6

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things like this happen in other places not our home #bahrain #lulu 15.42 Al Jazeera is reporting that ambulances are unable to reach the wounded at the scene of the shooting in Manama, Bahrain. A number of victims is badly in need of treatment but the chaos is preventing medics from reaching them, the station reports.

15.41 Bahrain's crown prince has promised dialogue once a state of calm returns, the AFP reports.

15.34 Adrian Blomfield summarises the events of the past hour in Manama: Security forces have won the day, the protesters, who were entirely peaceful, at least those I saw, have been utterly routed and bloodied.

This was a third violent response from the regime. Will it cow the protesters into submission or enrage them further?

15.33 Al-Jazeera reports a "massive number of casualties" from the bloody exchange in Bahrain, many of them with gunshots to the head.

15.29 A clarification on my 15.13 entry (now edited) - AP reported five people had died in yesterday's violence in Bahrain. The latest report from Nic Robertson indicates the death toll from today's clashes could be as high as four.

15.22 Nic Robertson of CNN tweets: #Bahrain: ambulance driver tells us 4 dead in latest clashes near Pearl Roundabout 15.19 Moving briefly to Yemen, Reuters's latest report says the

explosion earlier killed one person and wounded 28. More updates as and when they reach me.

15.13 Hospital officials in Manama have told the AP there are at least 20 people injured, some seriously.

15.07 Here's the latest from Adrian Blomfield on the ground in Manama: Headlong panic amid repeated bursts but I think this is tear gas and stun grenades. Hundreds fleeing now. Very strong tear gas, Israeli stregth. Army fanning out now.

And he's just sent another update: They are certainly firing from high rise buildings but though there have been helicopters I saw nothing shot. Police now on streets not army - I couldn't see them becuse of the tear gas.

15.06 At the hospital in Bahrain, Nick Kristof tweets: Patients pouring into ER, along w tear gas . Chaos. Tr gas grenades thudding in bckground 15.02 Al-Jazeera reports that the continuing live gunfire is coming from the army rather than the police. There are no reported deaths but the hospital is "overwhelmed" with wounded protesters, the vast majority of whom have head wounds, a source says.

In another worrying development, some of the gunfire has come not from the ground but from a helicopter overhead, the news channel reports.

14.59 Several reports on Twitter are suggesting machine gun fire has been heard at the Pearl

roundabout - it is not clear whether this was fired into the air or not.

14.53 Police in Manama have set up strongholds in buildings and are shooting at protesters outside amid widespread panic, Adrian Blomfield reports: Security forces seem to have taken up position in buildings and are firing out. Sound and injuries to one man I have seen consistent with live fire.

An ambulance worker tells The Telegraph he has seen 15 to 20 wounded, including one shot in the head.

14.48 More updates from Bahrain, where Associated Press writer Hadeel Al-Shalchi tweets: Protesters were carrying flowers saying they wanted to deliver it to police. Were shot instead. Blood on street now #bahrain 14.42 In Bahrain the situation is now critical as shots continue to ring out. Adrian Blomfield writes: " Please help us, they are killing us", screams a young woman near Pearl. Shots don't seem to have beaten back the protesters though, even though a number of people have been wounded.

More shooting. "I can't believe our own army are killing us", screams one man as people duck for cover.

Nick Kristof of the New York Times has also tweeted a worrying update from the clashes at Salmaniyah hospital: Police attacking protesters here at hospital in #Bahrain. Tear gas inside. Panic.

14.36 Back in Libya, it appears

the three deaths (see 14.28) have resulted from a separate jailbreak attempt to the one earlier in Benghazi.

The AFP reports security forces killed three convicts as they tried to escape from El-Jedaida prison near the capital Tripoli.

14.33 Breaking news of gunfire in Manama, Bahrain, from Adrian Blomfield: Shooting coming from Pearl roundabout. Not intensive but ambulances rushing towards scene 14.28 Three people have died in an attempted jailbreak in Libya, according to the AFP. Earlier it was reported that several prisoners had escaped from from Al-Kuifiya prison in Benghazi, 1,000km east of Tripoli, after a mutiny. It is not yet clear whether the reported deaths resulted from the same incident.

14.27 The grenade responsible for two deaths in Yemen earlier today was thrown by someone in a speeding car that carried government registration plates, the AFP reports.

A local official said the two people in the "government car" have been identified, but would not give details of their political affiliation.

14.23 Adrian Blomfield has filed a report from Bahrain where protesters have reached the Salmaniyah hospital: Thousands of anti regime protesters have converged on Manama's Salmaniya hospital chanting slogans calling for the overthrow of the Prime Minister.

Speakers are telling them that the Government prohibited ambulances from rescuing the injured for several hours at the height of the violence. Pearl roundabout itself is ringed by troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

14.21 Germany's president, Christian Wilff, has cancelled a trip to Bahrain later this month after the government's aggressive response to protests in the country, The Guardian reports.

His spokesman Olaf Glaeseker said the president was insistant that "freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Bahrain must be fully guaranteed."

14.19 Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Associated Press Middle East Correspondent, tweets: Thousands marching towards the Salmaniyah hospital in #Bahrain 14.16 Egyptian demonstrators may be celebrating today but the country's manufacturers have cut output and flights have been cancelled in a sign of the effect the continued strikes and protests are having on the country.

The Egyptian central bank has extended its shutdown while factories have closed amid fears strikes will spread.

The military-backed government has slashed its forecast for economic growth and the army urged Egyptians on Monday not to strike, appealing to their sense of national duty.

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East Correspondent in Bahrain: Earlier today thousands attended the funerals of two of the dead in the poor Shia village of Sitra. The body of one of the dead, Ali Ahmed al-Moumen, was covered in lacerations to arms, legs and torso.

People at the funeral vowed that they would continue peaceful protests despite the violence.

13.56 It's very hard to stack up what is happening in Libya due to the unreliability of official and unofficial reports, but exile groups who earlier claimed to have taken control of the eastern city of al Bayda now say government militias are fighting back.

The government forces have swelled and are attacking to retake the city, but the people are fighting back with whatever weapons they can find, the Swissbased Libyan Human Rights Solidarity group told Reuters in Geneva.

13.53 The picture in Yemen is changing by the minute due to the sheer volume of reports of clashes in several cities. Here's the latest summary from the Associated Press: Anti-government demonstrators clashed with supporters of Yemen's longtime ruler and riot police, who fired tear gas and shots in the air to disperse the crowd on what organizers called a "Friday of Rage" across the country.

In the city of Taiz, what appeared to be a hand grenade was thrown at a group of protesters, seriously

wounding at least eight people in the blast and stampede that followed, witnesses said.[Other reports indicate two have died see 13.50] Riots also flared overnight in the southern port of Aden with police shooting to death one demonstrator after cars and a local government building were set ablaze, officials said.

It was the eighth straight day of protests in Yemen inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia 13.50 Reports on the grenade attack in Yemen are becoming more and more severe. The death toll has risen to two, according to a medic who spoke to the AFP. 13.45 Adrian Blomfield, the Telegraph's Middle East Correspondent, reports from Bahrain: Things may be quieter in Bahrain today, but the anger of the protesters has only grown after the deaths of three of their number at Manama's Pearl Roundabout.

Opposition leaders I have spoken to say that the army's decision to open fire on unarmed people as they slept constitutes a crime against humanity and they hope to take the matter to the International Criminal Court.

13.41 The situation in Bahrain and Libya is so worrying that France has suspended exports of security equipment to the countries.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "Authorisations for the export of security equipment bound for Bahrain and Libya were

suspended yesterday...[French authorities] expect the authorities in Bahrain to translate the promises they have made into action."

13.39 Elsewhere in Cairo, several hundred protesters have been holding a "sorry, president" rally for the ousted Hosni Mubarak.

They chanted: "The people want to honour the president" and "Mubarak, we love you. We will never forget you," just a few kilometers from Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands celebrated his departure.

13.36 While tragedy unfolds in Yemen, the mood in Cairo is altogether different. Here's the scene in Tahrir Square: 13.34 The chaos in Yemen is evidenced by the conflicting reports coming out of the country.

On Twitter Jalal Aljazeeri, a blogger, writes: 8 dead. 400 injured. 70 missing. I think I've seen the devil 13.31 Heavy clashes in Aden in southern Yemen have seen three anti-government protesters killed in gunfire, Al Jazeera reports, with witnesses reporting that police were firing shots in the air.

13.25...and now Reuters is reporting that one person was killed by the grenade (see 12.14), according to witness reports.

13.23 A further update on the hand grenade attack in Yementhe AFP and Al-Jazeera report that as many as 25 people may have been injured in the incident in Taez earlier, a day after three people were killed in the southern city of Aden.

13.22 Meanwhile Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who was one of the most prominent voices in Egypt's uprising, has reportedly been banned from taking the stage in Tahrir Square by security guards.

The AFP reported that Ghonim tried to take the stage, but was held back by men who appeared to be guarding the influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

13.20 The chaos in Tripoli continues as a local newspaper editor tells Agence France Presse that several prisoners have escaped from Al-Kuifiya prison in Benghazi, 1,000km east of Tripoli, after a mutiny.

Ramadan Briki, the chief editor of Quryna, said the escapees set fire to the local prosecutor's office, a bank and a police station.

13.07 This is the man at the centre of the dispute in Bahrain: pro-government protesters pray behind a picture of the King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa during Friday prayers 12.59 People across the Middle East are recording their thoughts on Twitter as change sweeps across the region. Here's a small selection: angryarabiya: migran workers of Bahrain , this gov is the reason we and u are oppressed. Dont join the pro-gov rally no matter how much they pay u plz. salehnass:(in Bahrain) there is some good in all of this, even if we don't see it yet. Maybe in a few yrs. mahagaber: The spirit in #tahrir is undescribable!! Elation and

celebration! Chants of freedom & pride! Hold your head up high you're Egyptian! #jan25 12.56 Reuters has a fuller account of that earlier attack in Yemen in which eight people were injured. A car reportedly drove up to anti-government protesters before a passenger threw a grenade from the window.

A witness said: The car got close to the square and someone threw a bomb that exploded in the middle of the protesters, it was terrifying Several Ambulances were scrambled to Hurriya square, where the attack happened as 10,000 protesters called for an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three decade rule.

12.51 Back to Libya, and antigovernment protesters claim to have taken control of the city of al Bayda, in the east of the country, after being joined by local police.

These reports have not been independently verified.

Giumma el-Omami of the Libyan Human Rights Solidarity group told Reuters: "Al Bayda is in the hands of the people...The city is out of the control of the (Muammar) Gaddafi regime."

12.46 Now violence has erupted in Jordan, where eight people were injured in clashes between pro- and anti- government protesters at a demonstration calling for more freedoms and lower food prices.

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establishment demonstrators calling for reduced powers for the king and the chance to elect cabinet members were trailed by about 200 government supporters chanting: "Our blood and souls, we sacrifice for you Abu Hussein" in honour of King Abdullah II. Tareq Kmeil, a student at the protest, told the Associated Press: "They beat us with batons, pipes and hurled rocks at us. We tried to defend ourself, to beat them back.

"Police didn't do anything to protect us. Police forces just stood on the side watching us getting beaten."

12.39 Medical sources in Libya's second city, Benghazi, have told the Agence France Presse agency that fourteen people died in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters on Thursday.

A further 16 were killed in AlBaida, according to Human RIghts Watch.

12.36 CNN's International Correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom tweets from Sana'a where violence appears to be escalating: Saw approx 100 progovt gang members chase antigovt protesters n Sana'a-many gang members threw rocks, some wielded daggers #yemen 12.33 Blogger Saad Abedine tweets an astonishing aerial photograph of Cairo's Tahrir Square, where the crowds show no sign of dispersing.

Cairo celebrating. There w the Friday of rage, departure, challenge n 2day, the Friday of

Victory. http://yfrog.com/h4q47tfj 12.29 Emile Hokayem, Mideast analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, tweets from Bahrain that clashes have taken place near the hospital in Manama: Went to Karzakan. Quiet after this morning funeral. Now back to Manama. Hear some clashes by salmaniyah hospital 12.14 Things are taking a turn for the worse in Yemen, where crowds of rival demonstrators have gathered in three cities including the capital, Sana'a.

Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in Hurriya (Freedom) Square in Taiz, a city 120 miles south of Sana'a, many chanting "Down with the dictator, down with oppression".

Eight people have been injured in the city after a hand grenade was thrown at anti-government protesters, according to Reuters.

12.07 Supporters of the government in Iran have called for the execution of opposition leaders at Friday prayers in Tehran after last week's demonstrations.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the hardline cleric, said the opposition leaders have lost their reputation among people and are practically "dead and executed," and worshippers chanted for their actual executions, the Associated Press reported.

12.05 Meanwhile commentators in the American media have called for the US government to put more pressure on Bahrain to push through political reform.

America's Fifth Fleet, which guards oil shipping lanes in the Gulf, is based in the Bahrain leading to concerns in the US about the ongoing unrest.

The New York Times editorial described the King of Bahrain as "the latest autocrat to choose brutality, rather than reform, to try to silence his people's demands for a more just government."

The Washington Post wrote: "The brutality is unlikely to restore stability to the Persian Gulf nation, even in the short term - and it poses a direct threat to vital interests of the United States.

"Not only is the crackdown likely to weaken rather than strengthen an allied government, but the United States cannot afford to side with a regime that violently represses the surging Arab demand for greater political freedom."

12.01 Here's a fuller version of that ominous statement from Libya's Revolutionary Committees: The response of the people and the Revolutionary Forces to any adventure by these small groups will be sharp and violent.

The power of the people, the Jamahiriya (government by the masses), the Revolution and the leader are all red lines, and anyone who tries to cross or approach them will be committing suicide and playing with fire.

11.58 In Libya state television has been broadcasting footage of Col Gaddafi been cheered by crowds at a raly in Tripoli on Friday morning, the BBC reports.

Banners carry the slogans "Gaddafi, father of the people" and "the crowd supports the revolution and its leader".

11.53 Abdulla Almannai, a Bahrain-based journalist, tweets: Demonstrators hve a table w/ what they claim r sound gren &rubber bullets used on hospital grounds http://yfrog.com/ h0bu1kbj 11.49 Martin Chulov, Iraq correspondent for The Guardian, tweets from Bahrain: At pro-govt rally in Manama. (I thought the army had banned public gatherings) lots of flags, pics of leaders. Thousands of tooting cars.

11.40 The situation in Libya could be turning worse. Libya's Revolutionary Committees, a pillar of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime has warned of a "swift and violent" response to "adventurers" demonstrating against the establishment.

Protesters against the government have taken control of several cities in the east of the country but at a cost of several lives, opposition groups claim.

A video on YouTube shows protesters in Tubruq tearing down a monument representing Gaddafi's green book, a summary of his politics.

The independent Quryna newspaper has also published pictures that it claims show protesters with gunshot wounds being carried to hospital in a trolley. These are reportedly from yesterday, when the newspaper says seven people were killed and

many more wounded during protests in Benghazi. (Click the British flag in the top right hand corner of the website for a translation).

11.29 In Libya the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, has denied the group was given a formal request to reschedule a summit planned for Iraq in March, after claims from Libya that the event would be postponed due to the unrest in the region.

The meeting on March 29 is seen as crucial for the reintegration of Iraq into the Arab world.

Libya's official news agency Jana reported that there had been a decision to postpone the summit because of "the circumstances in the Arab region".

Asked if it had been delayed, Moussa told Reuters: "I haven't received any formal request."

11.25 Some more quotes from Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef elQaradawi speaking earlier in Tahrir Square: The illegitimate can never defeat the truth.

I congratulate the youth. They knew that the revolution will win in the end.

The revolution is not over, until we have a new Egypt.

He also called for a new government and the release of all political prisoners.

11.22 Back to Cairo and an activist in Tahrir Square has posted a series of photographs showing the huge numbers praying in Tahrir Square: MIDDLE page 9

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Endless sea of people praying #tahrir http://yfrog.com/gy6e2sj 11.19 In Yemen the preacher at a university mosque where protesters were gathered spoke out against the torture and beating of protesters, claiming: "we have been living for 30 years without purpose or hope".

The crowds then marched towards the presidential palace chanting anti-government slogans, despite attempts by riot police to stop them, the Associated Press reports.

11.09 In Tahrir Square alQaradawi, the Sunni cleric who led prayers, led "absent funeral" prayers in honour of "all victims slain under Mubarak's 30 year rule", according to Al-Jazeera.

A few years ago he was refused a visa to Britain with the foreign office claiming "The UK will not tolerate the presence of those who seek to justify any act of terrorist violence."

11.05 Meanwhile I'm getting more pictures from Bahrain and the funeral of Mahmoud Maki Abu Taki, 22, who died during clashes between Bahraini antigovernment protesters and riot police.

11.04 Al Jazeera reports that Tahrir Square is "more packed than it has ever been" in the past 18 days as prayers draw to a close. The crowds spill out well into each of the side streets.

11.01 Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist, reports that protesters in Bahrain are planning a "huge march" in the coming days to regain control of

the Pearl Roundabout in Manama: Opposition leaders in #Bahrain tell me they are planning a huge march in next few days to retake Pearl Roundabout.

That could lead to a major, violent confrontation. And opposition says the march could be as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned.

10.57 Bahrain's national television station is broadcasting footge of a pro-government rally winding through the streets, but CNN's Nic Robertson reports that the funeral procession for those killed on Thursday is still on the march as well: #Bahrain: funeral procession still threading thru streets, for well over an hour, two miles walk so far, nearing graveyard now #Bahrain: funeral, everyone crying at graveyard, at least 1000 here, possibly 2000, singing farewell 10.53 Sheikh Yousef alQaradawi, an influential Sunni cleric, has led prayers in Cairo's Tahrir Square to loud cheers from crowds. His sermon was expected to focus on telling the faithful about the importance of their role in building a free and democratic society, Reuters reports.

10.48 The Telegraph's video team can bring you footage from Bahrain and Libya: Bahrain mourners denounce country's rulers Demonstrators burn bins in Tripoli 10.44 An update from Libya, where Reuters reports soldiers have been deployed on the streets

of Benghazi after the deaths of up to 24 protesters overnight.

Leader Muammar Gaddafi - who designated yesterday a day of protest - reportedly made a brief appearance at Green Square in the centre of Tripoli earlier, but did not speak.

10.42 A Bahraini Shiite man mourns over the body of a relative, who was killed the day before during violent police raid on anti-regime protesters.

10.39 A video uploaded to YouTube and broadcast on AlJazeera earlier appears to show a protester being shot in Libya.

Please note this clip contains graphic and potentially distressing images.

10.34 Breaking news from Yemen, where Al-Jazeera reports pro- and anti-government protesters have clashed in Sana'a.

An ominous development after calls for a "Friday of rage" in Yemen from people writing on social networking sites.

Earlier today there were reports that a third demonstrator was killed after crowds set fire to the municipal building in the southern city of Aden.

10.32...and Sally Sami, a human rights campaigner in Cairo, tweets: "the muslim brotherhood is dominating the #tahrir sq. I am one of extremely few unveiled women" 10.29 That image below (10.22) may not be a universal picture in Cairo, judging by Egyptian blogger Mahmoud Salem's latest tweet:

"I managed to pss through army barricades without getting ided or searched. Hmmm" 10.27 Friday prayers have begun in Cairo, where tens of thousands have poured into Tahrir Square.

10.25 More details are coming in on those potentially inflammatory comments earlier by Sheikh Issa Qassem in Bahrain. The influential cleric - who rarely intervenes into day-to-day politic - told his audience they "should not be silent and should be in the streets", according to a Shi'ite MP. 10.22 Women in Cairo pass through a security checkpoint trying to reach Tahrir Square for prayer 10.18 CNN's Nic Robertson tweets from the funeral in Bahrain: "placard on car carrying coffin: Ecclestone are souls of our sons the price for you(r) formula 1 does this increase your profits ?"

10.02 Staying with Bahrain, the country's top Shi'ite cleric has described the police attack which killed five protesters as a "massacre" and claimed the government has shut the door to dialogue.

His comments came at a mosque in a Shi'ite village in the north west of the country after thousands gathered for prayers.

09.58 William Hague earlier distanced Britain from the situation in Bahrain, telling the Today programme there was no evidence the country was using British-made products to crack down on protesters: We have no evidence that they

have been used...I'm not relaxed about it - we have very strict export licensing criteria in this country.

We do not sell material to other countries that are likely to used for internal repression or to fuel regional or international conflicts.

09.53 In Britain, the chairman of a parliamentary group has described Bahrain as a "maturing democracy" where the king has "total commitment to reform."

Conor Burns, chairman of the allparty group for the kingdom of Bahrain, said: This is not the 'ripple' or 'domino effect' seeking democracy following on from events in Egypt and Tunisia...Bahrain is a maturing democracy.

There is no doubt about his majesty's total commitment to reform, religious tolerance, openness and transparency.

09.45 Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times tweets: " If #Bahrain King Hamad took the money he spends on PR firms hassling me and spent it on his people, he might be more popular."

09.33 Demonstrations are also taking place in Iraq, where 1,000 protesters have blocked a bridge in Basra. This week at least five people have died in violent clashes in the country.

09.27 The situation in Cairo is calmer, where the throngs have gathered with smiles on their faces to celebrate the departure of Hosni Mubarak last week. A MIDDLE page 14

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Wis. union bill nears one vote, but not in Senate - msnbc.com (Top Stories - Google News)

threatened to lay off up to 6,000 state workers if the measure does not pass. Estimated savings$30 MADISON, Wis. — Republicans million by July 1 and $300 were hoping Friday that state million over the next two years to troopers would be able to send a address a $3.6 billion budget message to Democrats boycotting s h o r t f a l l . B a c k g r o u n d T h e a vote on a bill that would end a proposal marks a dramatic shift h a l f - c e n t u r y o f c o l l e c t i v e for Wisconsin, which in 1959 was bargaining rights for most public the first to pass a comprehensive workers in this state. collective bargaining law for State Senate Majority Leader public employees and was the Scott Fitzgerald said he asked birthplace of the national union Gov. Scott Walker to send two representing all non-federal public state troopers to the home of Mark employees. When voters last year Miller, the top state Senate e l e c t e d G o v . W a l k e r , a n Democrat. He said he believes the outspoken conservative, along troopers were en route. with GOP majorities in both • What's at stake in Wisconsin legislative chambers, it set the What bill would do 1) Eliminate stage for a dramatic reversal of collective bargaining rights for the state's labor history. National most public workers. So while significance New Republican unions still could represent those governors and legislatures in other workers, they would not be able states have proposed cutting back to seek pay increases above those on public employee costs to pegged to the Consumer Price reduce budget shortfalls, but Index unless approved by a public Wisconsin's move appears to be referendum. 2) Unions also could the earliest and most extensive. not force employees to pay dues Source: Associated Press and and would have to hold annual Reuters votes to stay organized. 3) Local police, firefighters and state The Wisconsin Constitution troopers would retain their prohibits police from arresting collective bargaining rights. 4) legislators while they're in Public workers would have to pay session. Fitzgerald said he just half the costs of their pensions wants to send a message to Miller and at least 12.6 percent of their — if he's even home — that he h e a l t h c a r e c o v e r a g e . T h a t must bring his caucus back to represents an average of 8 percent Madison. increase in state employees' share With Democrats saying they of pension and health care costs. won't return before Saturday, it In exchange, public employees was unclear when the Senate were promised no furloughs or would be able to begin debating layoffs. Gov. Scott Walker has the measure meant to ease a Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:40:01 AM

projected state budget deficit.

Democrats who disappeared Thursday at first kept their whereabouts secret, then started to emerge to give interviews and fan the protests.

While the Senate was paralyzed, the Assembly met on Friday.

Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, RHoricon, said he hoped the Assembly would vote on the bill later in the day.

But Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca shouted from the floor after his microphone was shut off that Democrats plan to fight to the "bitter end" to stop the bill.

Opponents of the bill packed the Assembly gallery as Democratic lawmakers introduced protesters from their districts and thanked them for their efforts. The crowd applauded and waved their hands silently.

Several hundred protesters were in the building early in the morning, with the ranks expected to swell as the day progressed.

Many of them spent the night in the Capitol and another large rally was planned around noon.

As many as 25,000 students, teachers and prison guards have turned out at the Capitol this week to protest, standing shoulder-toshoulder in the building's hallways, sitting cross-legged across the floor and making it difficult to move from room to room. Some have brought along sleeping bags and stayed through the night. Union organizers expected yet more to gather

Friday.

Neil Graupner, a 19-year-old technical college student from Madison, said he was planning to stay until the matter is settled.

"The fact that the Democrats have walked out, it shows they're listening to us," he said late Thursday as he prepared to spend the night at the Capitol.

• • Wis. union bill nears one vote, but not in Senate Updated 7 minutes ago 2/18/2011 4:38:29 PM +00:00 Wisconsin Republicans hope that state troopers will send a message to Democrats boycotting a vote on a bill to end the collective bargaining rights for most public workers in this state. Full story • Updated 20 minutes ago 2/18/ 2011 4:25:42 PM +00:00 Judge in Loughner case to mull release of records • Few states follow mental health gun law • NYC stabbing suspect due in Brooklyn court • Drugs vanish from government forensic lab

the protests by calling in sick, forcing school districts — including the state's largest, Milwaukee Public Schools — to cancel classes.

The Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel reported that organized labor was planning a national campaign to support the local activists.

National AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka was expected to join a rally outside the Capitol at noon.

One sign taped to a statue outside the Capitol compared the governor to former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who stepped down last week after weeks of mass protests against his three-decade rule. The sign read, "Impeach Scott Mubarak!"

Despite the groundswell of support, it seems Democrats are merely delaying the inevitable — Republicans say they have the votes to pass the bill — yet the protesters are undeterred.

"I always expect the worst, but at the least I figure this would lead to such larger strikes that it would be a bad move for Republicans and Scott Walker," Graupner said.

In an interview with Milwaukee The protesters chants of "Kill the t e l e v i s i o n s t a t i o n W T M J , Bill!" and "Recall Walker Now!" P r e s i d e n t B a r a c k O b a m a could be heard throughout the day compared Walker's bill to "an and long past dark. They beat on assault on unions." drums and carry signs deriding Senate Republicans planned to Republican Gov. Scott Walker try for a vote again Friday. With and his plan to end collective 19 seats, they hold a majority in bargaining for state, county and the 33-member chamber, but they local workers, except for police, are one vote short of the number firefighters and the state patrol.

WIS. page 15 Hundreds of teachers have joined

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DEMOCRATS: EMBOLDENING AMERICA'S ENEMIES AND TERRIFYING HER ALLIES SINCE 1976 (Ann Coulter) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

developing them.

By my calculations, that means as of March 2008, Israel would The Middle East is on fire again, have been gone and Saddam and crazy Muslims with funny would have been in total control names aren't helping things -- of the Middle East.

Mahmoud, ElBaradei, al-Banna, Thanks, liberals!

Barack ...

But they were shocked by The major new development is Mubarak. Liberals angrily cited that NOW liberals want to get rid the high unemployment rate in of a dictator in the Middle East! Egypt as a proof that Mubarak Where were they when we were was a beast who must step down. taking out the guy with the rape Did they, by any chance, see the rooms?

January employment numbers for Remember? The one who had the United States? The only gassed his own people, invaded employment sectors showing any his neighbors and was desperately g r o w t h a t a l l a r e m e d i c a l s e e k i n g w e a p o n s o f m a s s marijuana cashiers, Hollywood d e s t r u c t i o n ? T h e g u y w h o sober-living coaches and "Spideremerged from a spider hole M a n : T u r n O f f t h e D a r k " looking like Charlie Sheen after a understudies filling in for maimed three-day bender? cast members.

Liberals couldn't have been less Are we one jobs report away interested in removing Saddam from liberals rioting in the street?

Hussein and building a democracy Mubarak supported U.S. policy, in Iraq. So it's really adorable used his military to fight Muslim seeing them get all choked up extremists and recognized Israel's about democracy now. Say, as right to exist. Or as the left calls long as liberals are all gung-ho it, three strikes and you're out. about getting rid of out-of-touch, Obama was so rough on the overbearing dictators, how about Egyptian leader, the Saudis we start with Janet Napolitano? reportedly had to ask him not to Why did they want to keep humiliate Mubarak. (You know, Saddam Hussein in power again? like Chinese President Hu did to Yes, that's right -- because he Obama.) In fact, Mubarak may be didn't have stockpiles of weapons the only despot Obama didn't bow of mass destruction. Their big to. argument was that Saddam was You'd think Mubarak and Obama five long years away from would be natural allies. Mubarak Submitted at 2/17/2011 5:00:00 PM

lives in Egypt; Obama created a pyramid scheme known as ObamaCare. To win Obama's support, maybe Mubarak should have dropped the whole "president" thing and called himself "czar." Obama seems to like czars.

Or he should have announced that Egypt was going to blow $500 billion on a high-speed bullet train nobody wanted.

You know another country where Obama wasn't interested in democracy? (I mean, besides the U.S. when it comes to health care reform?) That's right -- Iran.

Iran is ideal for democracy: It has a young, highly educated, proWestern population, and happens to be led by a messianic, Holocaust-denying lunatic.

Liberals say: Why upset that apple cart? Much better to support tumult and riots against our allies than our sworn enemies.

When peaceful Iranian students were protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's stolen election in 2009, we didn't hear a peep out of Obama. The students had good reason to believe the election had been rigged. In some proAhmadinejad districts, turnout was more than 100 percent.

Wait, no, I'm sorry -- that was Al Franken's election to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota. But there was also plenty of vote-stealing in

Ahmadinejad's election.

When it came to Iran, however, the flame of democracy didn't burn so brightly in liberal hearts.

Even when the Iranian protester, Neda, was shot dead while standing peacefully on a street in Tehran, Obama responded by ... going out for an ice cream cone.

But a mob of Egyptians start decapitating mummies, and Obama was on the horn telling Mubarak he had to leave. Obama didn't acknowledge Neda's existence, but the moment Egyptians started rioting, Obama said, "We hear your voices."

He can hear their voices? He couldn't hear the voices of the tea partiers, and they were protesting on the streets of Washington, D.C. But as long as Obama can hear the voices of protesters in Cairo, why doesn't he ask them what they think about ObamaCare?

Maybe the Egyptians can change his mind.

The fact that liberals support democracy in Egypt, but not in Iraq or Iran, can mean only one thing: Democracy in Egypt will be bad for the United States and its allies. (As long as we're on the subject, liberals also opposed democracy in Russia, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and all the Soviet satellite states, China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, Grenada,

Nicaragua and Minnesota.)

Democrats are all for meddling in other countries -- but only provided a change of regime will harm U.S. national security interests.

Time and again, Democrats' fecklessness has emboldened America's enemies and terrified its allies, which I believe was the actual slogan of the State Department under Jimmy Carter: "Emboldening America's enemies, and terrifying her allies, since 1976."

For 50 years, Democrats have harbored traitors, lost wars, lost continents to communism, hobnobbed with the nation's enemies, attacked America's allies, and counseled retreat and surrender. Or as they call it, "foreign policy."

As Joe McCarthy once said, if liberals were merely stupid, the laws of probability would dictate that at least some of their decisions would serve America's interests.

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Kinison friend says comic fathered child (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

accident in California in 1992, La Bove is hoping that the release of child support obligations will LOS ANGELES – A longtime allow him to drive himself to gigs friend of Sam Kinison said from now on.

T h u r s d a y t h a t h e r e c e n t l y Success is not guaranteed, said obtained DNA testing that shows Michael McCormick, executive the late comedian fathered a director of the American Coalition daughter with his ex-wife and that for Fathers & Children, which is he hopes the revelation will free aiding La Bove in his case. The him from years of unpaid child 52-year-old comic will have to support penalties. show that he was coerced into Comic Carl La Bove filed a signing the 1998 agreement. petition Thursday to try to In his court filings, he claims he invalidate a nearly 13-year-old was not fully informed of his agreement requiring him to make r i g h t s b e f o r e s i g n i n g t h e payments for the girl, who is now agreement. In an interview, he 21 years old. As of 2009, La Bove said that his divorce from his exowed nearly $188,000 in back wife took six years and that his child support, according to a attorney never suggested he statement filed with his petition. challenge the paternity of the The debt has left La Bove child, even though his then-wife without a driver's license, a had told him that Kinison was the passport and shoddy credit, he girl's dad. said.

Kinison's brother, Bill, took a But he said any animosity he felt D N A t e s t t h a t s h o w e d t h e toward Kinison for sleeping with likelihood that his famous brother his now ex-wife during Kinison's was the young woman's father. He hard-charging heyday in the late said Thursday evening that while 1980s is gone. he had never met her, there were "I learned to forgive him for his indications that the brash comic actions," La Bove said outside a was her father. d o w n t o w n L o s A n g e l e s "She looks like she'd be Sam's courthouse Thursday. daughter," Bill Kinison said.

A comedian who opened for He noted that his brother and La Kinison for years and was with Bove both had lifestyles akin to him when he died in a car rock stars during his lifetime.

Submitted at 2/17/2011 10:09:43 PM

"Sam and Carl lived a lifestyle that was pretty promiscuous," Bill Kinison said.

He also acknowledged large hurdles that La Bove will face in trying to get his name cleared, although he said he understood why he was doing it.

"I'd want to get that off me too," he said.

McCormick said La Bove's fight should be aided by a 2004 California appellate court ruling that states the government should correct mistakes in child support actions and "minimize the harm and correct any injustice to that person."

Despite all that, La Bove's prospects for success are unclear, McCormick said. "He's really in legal limbo."

A hearing on La Bove's petition is scheduled for March 29.

La Bove said he has a good relationship with the young woman who is likely Kinison's daughter. He said it wasn't until she showed up at one of his performances three years ago that he had an opportunity to try to set the record straight on who her father was.

"She wants me to have my life back," La Bove said. "She is my best friend's daughter."

DNA testing submitted to the

court Thursday shows La Bove has a zero percent probability of being her father. Additional tests done using samples from Kinison's two brothers, one of whom is now dead, show a 99.8 percent chance that she is related to them.

La Bove said he hopes that the woman, who declined comment Thursday, will one day be able to benefit from the late comic's estate. It is controlled by Bill Kinison, who La Bove accused Thursday of forging estate planning documents and providing him with an attorney who coerced him into signing a 1998 agreement requiring him to make child support payments.

"His attorney had an interest in not representing him zealously," McCormick said.

Bill Kinison denied La Bove's accusations. "There's no validity to that," he said.

"Why would I get him an attorney period, if I was going to keep anything hidden?" he said, also asking why he would take a DNA test years later.

La Bove said DNA testing was never considered during his divorce, even though for years he said he had been told that Kinison was the girl's father, not him.

The revelation, along with the

Regulators probe Apple subscription plan: source (Reuters) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:16:47 AM

Reuters - Regulators have begun an inquiry into Apple Inc's plans to take a cut of the revenue

generated by the sale of online subscriptions through its App Store, according to a person

familiar with the plans.

loss of Kinison, sent La Bove spiraling for several years, he said. He attempted suicide, and he drank heavily.

"Alcohol was the only way to get through my shows," he said.

Bill Kinison said La Bove refused DNA testing at the time and other measures recommended by the attorney.

He also said his late brother died a million dollars in debt and the estate makes only modest earnings now. "We barely keep it solvent," Bill Kinison said. He said a biopic on Sam Kinison has been contemplated for more than a decade, but he doesn't know if it will ever be made.

The paternity testing and the prospect of having the child support debts erased have given La Bove hope that he'll be healed completely.

"The stage is the only place I have my freedoms," he said.

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Security Forces in Bahrain Fire on Mourners and Journalists New York Times (Top Stories - Google News) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:12:13 AM

Hassan Ammar/Associated Press Protesters fled during an assault

by Bahrain security forces in Manama on Friday. More Photos » MANAMA, Bahrain — Government forces opened fire on hundreds of mourners marching toward Pearl Square Friday, sending people running away in panic amid the boom of concussion grenades. But even as the people fled, at least one helicopter sprayed fire on them and a witness reported seeing mourners crumpling to the ground.

It was not immediately clear what type of ammunition the forces were firing, but some witnesses reported live fire from automatic weapons and the crowd was screaming “live fire, live fire.” At a nearby hospital, witnesses reported seeing people with very serious injuries and gaping wounds, at least some of them caused by rubber bullets that appeared to have been fired at close range.

Even as ambulances rushed to rescue people, forces fired on medics loading the wounded into their vehicles.

A Western official said at least one person had died in the mayhem surrounding the square, and reports said at least 50 were

wounded. The official quoted a witness as saying that the shooters were from the military, not the police, indicating a hardening of the government’s stance against those trying to stage a popular revolt.

The mourners who were trying to march on symbolic Pearl Square were mostly young men who had been part of a funeral procession for a protester killed in an earlier

crackdown by police.

Minutes after the first shots were fired, forces in a helicopter that had been shooting at the crowds, opened fire at a Western reporter and videographer who were filming a sequence on the latest violence.

At least seven people had died in clampdowns before Friday’s violence.

The chaos has left the Obama

administration in the uncomfortable position of dealing with a strategic Arab ally locked in a showdown with its people.

The protests in Bahrain started Monday, inspired by the overthrow of autocratic governments in Egypt and Tunisia. The Bahraini government initially cracked down hard, then backed off after at least two deaths and complaints from the

United States. But since Thursday morning, security forces have shown little patience with the protesters, first firing on demonstrators sleeping in Pearl Square early Thursday morning, killing at least five, and then shooting today at those who gathered to mark an earlier death.

The violence appeared to be SECURITY page 20

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military band is playing patriotic music to cheers from the crowd.

09.24 In Iran, worshippers and regime-backers have gathered for Friday prayers where they demanded the execution of opposition leaders who officials claim are leading a rebellion against the Islamic establishment.

Crowds chanted:"Death to Mousavi! Death to Karroubi!

Mousavi, Karroubi should be hanged!"

09.20 Fears of chaos in Libya may be eased by reports that the centre of Benghazi, the country's second city. Ramadan Baraki, editor of the independent Libyan newspaper Quryna, tells the BBC: "I was just in the centre of Benghazi. It is very quiet right now. There is only a small group of about 100 protesters in front of the court building right now. They have just arrived. There are a lot of security personnel on the streets."

09.18 Jonathan Rugman, Channel 4's foreign affairs correspondent, tweets: 'Father of Bahraini shot dead yesterday: "King Hamad has broken his contract with the people and must leave. We need your help, America."'

09.10 In Egypt crowds are once again gathering in the central Tahrir Square, where sources on Twitter report a group of men are planting orange trees.

"A group of men are planting Orange trees in the middle of #Tahrir." - Sharif Kouddous, journalist for Democracy Now! 09.05 The Telegraph's Con Coughlin explains why Middle Eastern leaders are so keen to halt the protests while the west seeks to fan the flames.

08:35 In Egypt, a nationwide "Victory March" is expected, which is intended to be both a memorial to the 365 people who died in Cairo and a reminder to the military of the power of the people. It will be interesting to see how the authorities react.

08:02 The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix could be cancelled if the political unrest does not ease soon, Bernie Ecclestone, the head of the sport, has said. It is due to be the first of the new season on March 11. Bahrain has been a venue for F1 for six years and the sport has done much to raise the profile of the tiny nation.

We'll make a decision by Tuesday or Wednesday. If things stay as they are today, the answer

Islamists attack Tunis red light district: police (AFP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:47:55 AM

AFP - Islamists tried Friday to set light to a street of brothels in

is no."

Bernie Ecclestone, F1 chief 07:50 There are still contrasting reports of the number of dead in the Bahrain protests of Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Al Jazeera and Reuters, for example, are saying four, while other agencies, including Agence France Presse, are saying three. Last night, Channel 4 News reported five.

07:41 The thorny question facing Western politicians remains, as commentators have noted, whether it is better to have stability in the region or democracy. In Egypt, there are still questions over whether the success of the "freedom revolution" could lead to the Muslim Brotherhood strengthening anti-Western stances in the government. While in Bahrain, there are concerns that such liberal moves could end up with stronger Iranian influence among the rulers.

07:30 The BBC has just reported that, in Libya, security forces fired on protesters in Benghazi last night and doctors counted 10 bodies. Further reports suggest 24 dead nationwide.

07:26- The Guardian has reported

that British crowd control weapons were used in the Bahrain crackdown, including tear gas and stun grenades.

07:23- In Bahrain, funerals are underway for the dead of yesterday's protests. There is currently no sign of the security forces in the immediate area, according to local reports. Fingers crossed they don't make themselves known - I'm not sure it would go down well.

07:16- Good morning. We're going to be using this space to keep abreast of developments in the Middle East as they happen today. If you didn't see our collation from yesterday, you can view it here. Previously • Bahrain protests: live • Egypt protests: live This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Bones suggest ancient Britons used skulls as cups Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:51:00 AM

Bones found in Gough's Cave in Somerset suggest ice age Britons used human skulls as drinking cups, bowls and containers.

The three skulls belong to two adults and one child, and have been carbon-dated to around 14,700 years ago. This means they come from the Cro-Magnon people, who were very early homo sapiens that roamed about ancient Europe.

These people, who are thought to have been very similar in appearance to modern humans, were sophisticated huntergatherers, known to make tools and create cave art. But despite burying the dead with complex rituals and graves, they apparently had no qualms about sipping a brew from a recently deceased pal's braincase. Continue reading...

GPS for kids who play hooky

Tunis but were dispersed by police and the military using (CNET News.com) helicopters, a police official said.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:19:40 AM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve

full-text content] President Obama names Intel's Paul Otellini to his Council on Jobs, Motorola moves up the launch for its Atrix

4G smartphone, and a pilot program will see if GPS can keep students in school.

Business/ Technology/

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15

WIS. continued from page 10

necessary to conduct business.

The GOP needs at least one Democrat to be present before any voting can take place. The measure needs 17 votes to pass.

Speaking on CBS' "The Early Show" on Friday morning, Walker urged the Democrats to return to Madison and face the vote.

"The state senators who are hiding out down in Illinois should show up for work, have their say, have their vote, add their amendments, but in the end, we've got a $3.6 billion budget deficit we've got to balance."

The Assembly also planned to be in session Friday and could take up the bill first if the Senate remains in limbo.

Senate rules and the state constitution say absent members can be compelled to appear, but it does not say how.

"We left the state so we were out of the reach of the Wisconsin state patrol, which has the authority to round us up and bring us back to the legislature," state Sen. Mark Miller told ABC's "Good Morning America" from an undisclosed

location Friday.

Sen. Tim Cullen said he and other Democrats planned to stage their boycott until Saturday to give the public more time to speak out against the bill.

"The plan is to try and slow this down because it's an extreme piece of legislation that's tearing this state apart," said Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who was with Democratic senators in northern Illinois on Thursday before they dispersed.

Walker, who took office last month, called the boycott a "stunt." He vowed not to concede.

"It's more about theatrics than anything else," Walker said.

Some Democrats elsewhere applauded the developments as a long-awaited sign that their party was fighting back against the Republican wave created by November's midterm election.

"I am glad to see some Democrats, for a change, with a backbone. I'm really proud to hear that they did that," said Democratic state Sen. Judy Eason -McIntyre of Oklahoma, another state where Republicans won the

governorship in November and also control both legislative chambers.

First Thoughts: Upside down in Wisconsin Story: Stimulus turns two: What's changed?

Thursday's events were reminiscent of a 2003 dispute in Texas, where Democrats twice fled the state to prevent adoption of a redistricting bill designed to give Republicans more seats in Congress. The bill passed a few months later.

The proposal marks a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, which passed a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959 and was the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees.

In addition to eliminating collective-bargaining rights, the legislation also would make public workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care coverage — increases Walker calls "modest" compared with those in the private sector.

Republican leaders said they

expected Wisconsin residents would be pleased with the savings the bill would achieve — $30 million by July 1 and $300 million over the next two years to address a $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

With 19 seats, Republicans hold a majority in the 33-member Senate, but they are one vote short of the number necessary to conduct business. So the GOP needs at least one Democrat to be present before any voting can take place. Once the measure is brought to the floor, it needs 17 votes to pass.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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'Horsey' makes your bicycle look like a horse Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:02:00 AM

A Korean designer named Eungi Kim has put together a frame for bicycles that lets you pretend that you're an equestrian. In Kim's own words: "'horsey' is an attachable bicycle ornament/ accessory which makes one's bicycle look horsey!"

It's one of the shortlisted design entries for Designboom's Seoul Cycle Design Competition 2010, which was organised in collaboration with the Seoul Design Foundation. Continue reading...

JPMorgan: Upside and Downside Scenarios Trefis (BloggingStocks)

commercial banking, asset management, investment banking, consumer lending and credit Filed under: JPMorgan Chase cards. Its main competitors (JPM) include Bank of America ( BAC), JPMorgan ( JPM) is one the Wells Fargo ( WFC), Goldman largest and most diversified bank Sachs ( GS), Deutsche Bank ( in the U.S., and offers services DB) and Morgan Stanley ( MS). decline in provisions for credit s u c h a s r e t a i l b a n k i n g , JPMorgan has benefited from a losses that raised operating Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:30:00 AM

margins for its retail banking business. However, a weak economic recovery has resulted in a decline in average interest earning deposits and presents a potential concern for the multinational bank.

Continue reading JPMorgan: Upside and Downside Scenarios

JPMorgan: Upside and Downside Scenarios originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TV reporter speaks about speech problem at Grammys (AP) (Yahoo! News: Most Viewed)

blurry. I knew something wasn't right, but I just thought I was tired. So when I opened my LOS ANGELES – A TV reporter mouth, I thought, 'This is more who lapsed into gibberish during than just being tired. Something is a live shot outside the Grammys terribly wrong.' I wanted to say, said she was terrified when it 'Lady Antebellum swept the happened and knew something Grammys.' And I could think of was wrong as soon as she opened the words, but I could not get her mouth. them coming out properly."

KCBS-TV reporter Serene Branson, who was diagnosed Branson's incoherence Sunday with migraine aura, said watching fueled Internet speculation that herself in the clip is "troubling." she suffered an on-air stroke. But Kerry Maller, a KCBS producer, doctors at the University of told "The Early Show," "You California, Los Angeles, where could see in the tape she's trying she went to get a brain scan and to talk." blood work done, ruled it out. Maller, who was on-location with Doctors said she suffered a type the veteran reporter, said, "After of migraine that can mimic the live shot, she dropped the symptoms of a stroke. microphone and got very Branson told CBS' "The Early w o b b l y . " Show" in an interview Friday that The station quickly cut away and she was terrified, scared and B r a n s o n w a s s w a r m e d b y confused, and didn't know what photographers and her field was going on. producer. She was examined by "I knew something wasn't right as paramedics and recovered at soon as I opened my mouth," she home. said. "I hadn't been feeling well a Branson recalled, "They sat me little bit before the live shot. I had down immediately. I dropped the a headache, my vision was very microphone. Right after that, my Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:35:12 AM

cheek went numb, my hand went numb, my right hand went numb and I started to cry. I was scared. I didn't know what had gone on and I was embarrassed and fearful.

"I was scared, nervous, confused, exhausted, and in an evening dress in the back of an ambulance."

She returned to the KCBS-TV newsroom on Thursday.

Most people with migraines don't have any warning. But about 20 to 30 percent experience sensations before or during a migraine attack.

"A migraine is not just a headache. It's a complicated brain event," said UCLA neurologist Dr. Andrew Charles, who examined Branson.

The most common sensations include seeing flashes of light or zigzag patterns. In Branson's case, she felt numbness on the right side of her face that affected her speech, Charles said.

"She was actually having the headache while she was having these other symptoms," he said.

Branson told doctors she has had

migraines since a child but never suffered an episode like this before, Charles said.

Branson, a Los Angeles native and two-time Emmy nominee, worked at the CBS affiliate in Sacramento before joining KCBS. Prior to that, she was a reporter and anchor at TV stations in Palm Springs and Santa Barbara.

A telephone message left with KCBS was not immediately returned Thursday. ___ CBS is a division of CBS Corp. ___ Online: http://bit.ly/Smya This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

The Samwer Brothers Make A Killing After Selling Facebook Stake From 2008

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adoption. Then, when you’re ready, call our friendly adoption counselor, toll free, at 1.888.97ADOPT.

Mike Butcher (TechCrunch) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:46:26 AM

The three Samwer brothers behind the highly successful European Founders Fund in Germany have sold their shares in Facebook, according to a report in the German press.

Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer (who also own the German language Deutsche Startups tech news site) sold their shares because “we are at the early stages” and their requirement for capital for their existing investments has “roughly tripled”, according to Oliver Samwer.

There appear to be no figures for how much their stake was worth but we can confidently say they have made their money back.

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Christian World Adoption is one of the largest international adoption agencies in the United

States. Since 1991, Christian World Adoption has placed thousands of children from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. These children now enjoy the love and security of

a forever family. Christian World

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17

Egypt's New Military Rulers Launch Official Facebook Page, Attract 75,000 Fans in 24 Hours Neal Ungerleider (Fast Company)

the Egyptian military's role in safeguarding reform.

The most recent post on the Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:27:41 AM Facebook page received 4,500 The Higher Council of the comments within 24 hours. User Egyptian Armed Forces have set comments show a wide range of up an Arabic-language Facebook responses that seem to indicate page and it's already a big hit. the uncertainty felt in postThe new military rulers of Egypt revolution Egypt: Bassem Gamil: have just launched an official us all proud and honored and Facebook page. As of Friday cherished and love for this great morning United States time, the army protector of the revolution, page, titled (Supreme Council and protection of the shield and of the Armed Forces), already had the guarantor of the corruption more than 75,000 followers on trial, whatever its location and Facebook. state-building at the hands of the The Egyptian junta's Facebook honorable page has extremely high traffic, Wafa Ahmed: God save our w h i c h i s u n u s u a l f o r heroes of the Egyptian forces governmental Facebook pages- Almshalp world champions and —a symbol of just how highly Charfaih O God, the greatest social networking sites are valued forces in God, I love you and all by the young Egyptians who the Egyptians forced Hosni Mubarak out of Mohammed Abdallah Elwazeer: power. want a national project The Egyptian Armed Forces' Ahmed Nabil Elahmady: Peace Facebook wall consists of two to all of you ....Long live our posts, both photos of Arabic- beloved Egypt We must all language communiques affirming resume and resume work from t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f # j a n 2 5 now Disengagement should all sit movement protesters and stating -ins in all sectors and institutions

of the state in order to preserve our economy In order to achieve this must be a decision for each point of a deterrent and will adhere to stop working and it is...

User comments on the Facebook page are, of course, written primarily in Arabic.

According to Egyptian Field

Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who has emerged as the junta's most visible public face, the page was established in order to facilitate “fruitful cooperation in the coming period with the honourable sons of Egypt who would lead to stability and security.”

Human rights activists note that the Egyptian military is still committing physical and sexual abuse on prisoners and detainees in custody. Egyptian activist groups still believe dozens of January 25 protesters, mostly belonging to Islamist groups, are currently in custody.

The decision to launch the new Facebook page came on the heels of a viral internet video campaign to revive Egyptian tourism.

For Internet observers in the West, the most important takeaway is the fact that the Egyptian military turned to Facebook for dissemination of propaganda rather than the larger web. In fact, the official Egyptian Armed Forces webpage seems stuck in the late 1990s. For the Egyptian junta, the future is clear: If you want to reach the masses, you stick with Facebook.

For more stories like this, follow@fastcompany on Twitter.

Email Neal Ungerleider, the author of this article, here.

British Sea Power plans Kinect-augmented webcast Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:12:00 AM

Post-punk naturalists British Sea Power will be commandeering the Roundhouse in London at the

end of the month to record a webcast enhanced by augmented reality, provided by a hacked Kinect sensor.

It's part of a series of online

broadcasts -- the Roundhouse

BlackBox series. There won't be an audience at the Roundhouse for the show -- instead, you'll need to watch it online through MySpace. It'll all be edited,

recorded and broadcast live, and an archived version will be available to stream following the show. Continue reading...

18

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Newstablet Edition

Social Network Tackable Turns Rubberneckers Into Mini Media Moguls Gregory Ferenstein (Fast Company)

monetization out later. When asked if they could take a cut of a freelance assignments, Luke Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:00:01 AM adamently opposed any freelance Tackable is creating a locationpayment system. The company based social network that allows believes that paid freelancing anyone to create reporting destroy users' innate enjoyment of assignments and search for hyperreporting. Economic local news. psychologists describe this effect In the near future, the power to as“crowding out,” when the have an army of iReporters like introduction of money CNN or TMZ will be open to inadvertenly eclipses local newspapers, nonprofits, contributions that previously political organizations, and even needed no incentive. Second, corporations. Silicon Valley Luke believes that an incentive startup, Tackable, allows any system will inevitably be gamed organization to post hyper-local with bogus submissions. “Every news assignments, which users single platform is hackable. If can then search, by location, as there is some kind of money to be eyewitness reports roll in. made, someone will find a way to Though still in beta, Tackable hack it.” Tackable would sooner imagines a social network where in China,” says Luke, “you pull interested in crowdsourcing their nation-wide efforts to not be distracted by a system they users can follow a tailored set of the map over to Beijing and in, 15 eyewitness accounts of the Gulf- millions of politics junkies cannot control. unfolding events in a Facebook- /20 seconds, what you’re seeing is spill aftermath. Media attention throughout the country.

Tackable is currently seeking like newsfeed. Co-founder, Luke photos taken from the streets of waned soon after the oil leak was There’s even future plans for use m o r e p a r t n e r s h i p s a n d h a s c a p e d . Y e t , a d e v a s t a t e d by brands. One could imagine ambitious plans for the future of Stangel, tells Fast Company that Beijing.” c o m m u n i t y r e m a i n s , a s d o Bieber fanatics tracking their idol news. Certainly, with the industry location “is the most logical way [youtube SJK3706_Tsc] to organize live information.” The Harvard University’s Nieman thousands of frustrated citizens along his movie premier schedule, in a state of flux, anything is current options, hoping that an Journalism Labs did a thorough who would eagerly share their or Red Hot Chili Pepper fans possible. existing media outlet is covering review of the iphone app earlier (fascinating) stories. Additionally, v i e w i n g t h e b a n d ’ s c r a z y Follow Greg Ferenstein on an event or trying to comb this week. So, Tackable shared political organizations, such as backstage antics as they tour. Twitter or email him. through raw social network data s o m e o f t h e m o r e e x c i t i n g Obama’s Organizing for America, How will Tackable make money? oneself, are still imperfect. possibilities with Fast Company. will “absolutely” be able to Like many intrepid entrepreneurs, Instead, “if there’s an earthquake For instance, Greenpeace is exploit Tackable to broadcast Luke imagines they will figure

Donate to World Vision noreply@blogger.com (Ad ServeRSS) (AdServRSS Feed)

Your gift to provide seeds, tools, and training will be multiplied 4

times by grant funds, and can mean the difference between life and death for hungry children.

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19

Telekinesis 2.0 David Zax (Fast Company) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:58:34 AM

A team of researchers in Switzerland brings braincomputer interfaces to the next level--by making them less exhausting. And a team in Germany makes them scarier--by showing that you can even use them to drive a car.

Telekinesis is tough work. Braincomputer interfaces are increasingly becoming a reality, enabling neuro-prosthetics, brainpowered wheelchairs, and even thought-controlled pinball machines. The problem, though, is that using brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can require an exhausting level of concentration, and are rarely able to be effectively used for more than an hour (which is okay for the pinball dilettante, but hardly so

for the quadriplegic).

Now a research team at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland is working to solve this problem, by engineering BCIs that allow users to rest their brains--and even to multitask.

Typically, even simply telling a brain-powered wheelchair to "keep going straight" requires intense focus. But the Lausanne researchers, headed up by Jose del R. Millan (whom we've written about here before), have figured out ways to ease the user's cognitive burden. They've developed a statistical analysis program that helps the BCI read the subject's mental intention.

When the subject really wants to deliver a command, the computer detects that. When the subject actually wants to be thinking about something else, the

computer detects that too. The group demonstrated this approach recently in Washington, DC, showing how users could read aloud while delivering commands to the BCI. In a video explaining the recent advances, Millan says: "The next

step in improving mental control over long periods time is to integrate information about the cognitive state of the subject." [youtube The_oE_Ztm8] He has his work cut out for him, apparently, because it's not just wheelchairs and tiny robots that

we'll be controlling with our minds in the future. We also learn today that computer scientists in Germany have made it possible to drive a car with your thoughts. "In our test runs, a driver equipped with EEG sensors was able to control the car with no problem-there was only a slight delay between the envisaged commands and the response of the car," said Raúl Rojas, of the AutoNOMOS project at Freie Universität Berlin. A video, below, helpfully cautions that you should "never try this at home." [youtube iDV_62QoHjY] Follow Fast Company on Twitter.

[Photos: EFPL]

Whatever Happened To Deflation?

Dean Baker (Business Insider)

inflation hawks would consider acceptable.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:46:32 AM Still, it is worth noting that the The Bureau of Labor Statistics possibility of deflation seems to reported that consumer prices rose have disappeared from the scene.

0.4 percent in January. On closer Since this possibility featured inspection this should not be any prominently in many discussions big deal. Core inflation rose by of the economy in the period just 0.2 percent in the month. The i m m e d i a t e l y f o l l o w i n g t h e main driver of the higher inflation financial crisis, it probably would was a big jump in energy prices. be worth some brief mention of its However even with this jump the passing. overall CPI is only up by 1.6 The issue of deflation has percent over the last year, a level consistently been misrepresented that all but the most loony in economic reporting. The

economy is suffering from a lower than desired inflation rate, which limits the effectiveness of monetary policy. Given the severity of the downturn we would like a large negative real interest rate (e.g -0.6 percent) .

However, nominal interest rates cannot go below zero.

This means that the real interest rate can't fall below the negative of the inflation rate (e.g, with a zero nominal interest rate, the real interest rate would be -1.0 percent with a 1.0 percent inflation rate

and -2.0 percent with a 2.0 percent inflation rate). If the inflation rate falls below zero (i.e. we get deflation), this problem gets worse, but the drop in the inflation rate from 0.5 percent to 0.5 percent is no worse than the drop from 1.5 percent to 0.5 percent.

It was also predictable that there would not be persistent deflation in the United States. Wages are sticky downward, which made it unlikely that core prices would actually start falling. Also, the

current rise in commodity prices was to be expected as the dollar would drift lower as a result of the U.S. trade deficit and also demand in China and other fast growing developing countries created scarcity for many products.

Anyhow, given how fears of deflation had once featured so prominently in discussions of economic policy it is worth some noting of their passing.

Join the conversation about this story Âť

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SECURITY continued from page 13

transforming the demands of the protesters who early on were calling for a switch from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one. On Thursday, the opposition withdrew from the Parliament and demanded that the government step down. And on Friday, the mourners were chanting slogans like “death to Khalifa,” referring to King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.

The protests here, while trying to mimic those in Egypt and Tunisia, add a dangerous new element: religious division. The king and the ruling elite of Bahrain are Sunni, while the majority of the population are Shiites, who have been leading the demonstrations and demanding not only more freedom but equality.

The king is distrustful enough of his Shiite subjects that many of his soldiers and police are foreigners hired by the government.

On Friday, in the village of Sitra, south of Manama, a crowd of thousands accompanied the coffins of Ali Mansour Ahmed Khudair, 53, and Mahmoud Makki Abutaki, 22, both killed by shotgun fire on Thursday.

The coffins were carried on the roofs of two cars as a man with a loudspeaker led the crowd in its chants from the bed of a pickup truck, alternating between calls to the faithful — “There is no God but God” — with political messages such as “We need constitutional reform for freedom.”

In the sun-scorched, sandy cemetery with its crumbling white headstones, the bodies were laid to rest on their sides so that they faced the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. “Have you seen what they have done to us,” said Aayat Mandeel, 29, a computer technician. “Killing people for what? To keep their

positions?”

After the burials, the crowds moved off to a major mosque for noon prayers on the Muslim holy day, an occasion that has provided a focus for protests elsewhere in the region. But it was not clear whether religious leaders would urge them to continue their demonstrations.

Nadim Audi contributed reporting from Manama, Robert F. Worth from Washington, and Alan Cowell from Paris.

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Analyst Calls: BRCD, CREE, DUK, HRL, MOLX, RTN, SPWRA, VCLK, WTW ...

Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)

from sell at Duncan-Williams.

• Alnylam ( ALNY) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

Filed under: Analyst Reports, • Weight Watchers ( WTW) to A n a l y s t U p g r a d e s a n d equal weight from underweight at Downgrades, Analyst Initiations Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Upgrades • Raytheon ( RTN) and Toreador • Air Products ( APD) to buy Resources ( TRGL) to outperform from hold at Deutsche Bank. from sector perform at RBC • Zimmer ( ZMH) to outperform Capital. from neutral at RW Baird.

• SunPower ( SPWRA) to buy Continue reading Analyst Calls: from hold at Jefferies.

BRCD, CREE, DUK, HRL, • Brocade ( BRCD) to buy from MOLX, RTN, SPWRA, VCLK, h o l d a t W u n d e r l i c h a n d a t WTW ...

ThinkEquity.

Analyst Calls: BRCD, CREE, • Duke Energy ( DUK) to neutral D U K , H R L , M O L X , R T N , from underperform at BofA/ S P W R A , V C L K , W T W . . .

Merrill. originally appeared on • NewStar Financial ( NEWS) to BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Feb outperform from market perform 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see at Keefe Bruyette. our terms for use of feeds.

• Hormel Foods ( HRL) to hold Permalink| Email this| Comments from sell at Soleil.

• Inspire Pharma ( ISPH) to hold Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:00:00 AM

Cotton Closes Above $2 per Pound as Market Remains in Chaos Connie Madon (BloggingStocks)

on the ICE exchange closed at $2.1102 per pound, up the 7 cent daily limit, the Financial Times Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:30:00 AM reported. The market opened limit Filed under: Major Movement, up at $2.1102. That means that I n d u s t r y , M a r k e t M a t t e r s , you cannot buy cotton even if you C o m m o d i t i e s , A g r i c u l t u r e wanted to. The market is frozen.

The cotton market is in a state of Commodities are much different chaos. On Friday, March cotton from stocks. Commodities are a

zero sum game. Contracts usually last for three months. At the end

of the three months, the longs take delivery from the shorts who deliver their cotton, and zero contracts are left.

Continue reading Cotton Closes Above $2 per Pound as Market Remains in Chaos Cotton Closes Above $2 per Pound as Market Remains in

Chaos originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CFTC – SEC Joint Commission Report Part Deux Joe Saluzzi & Sal Arnuk (Business Insider)

imposed by high levels of order cancellations, including perhaps requiring a uniform fee across all Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:43:21 AM Exchange markets that is assessed Summary of the Joint CFTC/ based on the average of order SEC Recommendations cancellations to actual R e g a r d i n g R e g u l a t o r y transactions effected by a market Response to the Market Events of participant.

May 6th, 2010 This is a win that they are The report is out. Click here to recommending ANY type of read the 14 page report. The Joint cancellation fee. However we CFTC/SEC committee makes 14 note that when you read the recommendations which they wording carefully, it will not be a intend to focus on to ensure the recommendation for a fee on all integrity of our connected market cancellations; rather it will be a place. We would like to highlight recommendation for a fee on the 3 recommendations that we cancellations that exceed a firms think are “news” today, and that “normal pattern”. Lots of wiggle we have particularly expressed room here folks. concern about over recent years: 11. The Committee recommends Recommendations 10, 11, and 12, that the SEC conduct further which deal with order cancellation analysis regarding the impact of a fees, internalization, and trade-at b r o k e r - d e a l e r m a i n t a i n i n g rules. privileged execution access as a Missing in the report, however, is r e s u l t o f i n t e r n a l i z i n g i t s any discussion of proprietary customer’s orders or through e x c h a n g e d a t a f e e d s , t h e preferencing arrangements. The proliferation of exchanges, or S E C ’ s r e v i e w s h o u l d , a t a minimum order life. Also, this minimum, consider whether to (i) report is a stark contrast to the adopt its rule proposal requiring September 30th report, which that internalized or preferenced focused more extensively on an orders only be executed at a price algorithm trading eMini futures materially superior ( e.g., 50 mils from a large money manager. The for most securities) to the quoted HFT community, at that time, best bid or offer, and/or (ii) focused on that aspect of the r e q u i r e f i r m s i n t e r n a l i z i n g report extensively. This report is customer order flow or executing an improvement, as it does begin preferenced order flow to be t o e x a m i n e s t r u c t u r a l subject to market maker inefficiencies and risks in our obligations that requires them to current market structure. execute some material portion of 10. The Committee recommends their order flow during volatile that the SEC and CFTC explore market periods. ways to fairly allocate the costs A related concern has to do with

the effects.

WOW. Look into obligations for internalizers too? While we don’t hold particularly valuable any of these affirmative obligation rules, it is nice to see that they are acknowledging how damaging the internalizer model has been.

They also feel at a minimum that internalizers should price improve by 50 mils. This is an accommodation for crossing pools that tend to trade larger blocks, and when they trade sub-penny, they trade in the middle of the spreads (half a penny). THIS IS HUGE. 12. The Committee recommends that the SEC study the costs and benefits of alternative routing requirements. In particular, we recommend that the SEC consider adopting a “trade at” routing regime. The Committee further recommends analysis of the current “top of book” protection protocol and the costs and benefits of its replacement with greater protection to limit orders placed off the current quote or increased disclosure of relative liquidity in each book.

They want to look into protecting Depth Of Book! This is big also.

Their other points, which were widely expected, follow: 1. The Committee concurs with the steps the SEC (working with the Exchanges and FINRA) has taken to a. Create single stock pauses/ circuit breakers for the Russell 1000 stocks and actively traded ETFs1

b. Enact rules that provide greater certainty as to which trades will be broken when there are multi stock aberrant price movements, and c. Implement minimum quoting requirements by primary and supplemental market makers that effectively eliminate the ability of market makers to employ “stub quotes” 2. The Committee recommends that the Commissions require that the pause rules of the Exchanges and FINRA be expanded to cover all but the most inactively traded listed equity securities, ETFs, and options and single stock futures on those securities.

3. The Committee recommends that the SEC work with the Exchanges and FINRA to implement a “limit up/limit down” process to supplement the existing Pause rules and that the Commissions clarify whether securities options exchanges and single stock futures exchanges should continue to trade during any equity limit up/down periods.

4. The Committee recommends that the CFTC and the relevant derivative exchanges evaluate whether a second tier of pre-trade risk safeguards with longer timeframes should be instituted when the “five second limit” does not attract contra-side liquidity.

5. The Committee recommends that The Commissions evaluate the present system-wide circuit breakers and consider: i. reducing, at least, the initial trading halt to a period of time as

short as ten minutes ii. allowing the halt to be triggered as late as 3:30 pm and iii. using the S&P 500 Index as the triggering mechanism.

This makes immense sense. IT is not a Dow world, after all, and more importantly it is easier to coordinate the many S&P 500 related instruments.

6. The Committee supports the SEC’s “naked access” rulemaking and urges the SEC to work closely with FINRA and other Exchanges with examination responsibilities to develop effective testing of sponsoring broker-dealer risk management controls and supervisory procedures.

7. The Committee recommends that the CFTC use its rulemaking authority to impose strict supervisory requirements on DCMs or FCMs that employ or sponsor firms implementing algorithmic order routing strategies and that the CFTC and the SEC carefully review the benefits and costs of directly restricting “disruptive trading activities “with respect to extremely large orders or strategies.

Algo providers may have an obligation to develop procedures, and have responsibility for, the actions of their clients, and how those clients interact with the algo technology.

8. The Committee recommends that the SEC evaluate the potential benefits which might be CFTC page 22

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Wall Street Man: I Put Some BS About Yoga On My Resume And I Got A Job In Private Equity Katya Wachtel (Business Insider)

decided to include that he was an advanced yoga-doer on his resume when he was trying to find Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:44:00 AM a job. Apparently it always got a Apparently everything about positive response. business is getting healthier.

From the NYP, Remember how the new 3 “I put advanced yoga practitioner martini-lunch is the power- . . . just some bulls - - t at the breakfast? bottom of the resume. All these Well bonding with your own boss guys were like, ‘Oh, I do yoga, now has a healthy twist too. come here, let me show you my According to the New York Post, yoga mat in the office,’" he said. more corporate youngsters are “I think it automatically marks using yoga to climb the corporate you as slightly alternative, ladder. creative and modern...”

According to the NYP, Now he practices yoga with his Corporate consultant Amy Hedin boss on the Upper East side each has noticed that more of her week. clients are using yoga to boost We're not sure if yoga could ever their careers, partly because replace the sport of choice for they’ve realized that connecting financial high-fliers: a game of over cocktails and beer can do golf. more harm than good.

Especially because the beauty of And there's a Wall Streeter that golf is that it's a talking sport; can testify to this. His name is Jay there's plenty of time en route to Solomon. the next hole, or the next green -Soloman, who's in private equity, in fact, any time other than when

you're actually taking a swing -for business chat.

But yoga is less time consuming and a lot more convenient.

However, it's also introspective and often quiet (apart from the instructor and lots of loud breathing). In fact, if you began

private golf club three times a week with his work peers, get really hammered, have four or five martinis. Now he’s going home or going to work out.”

“An executive might use golf as an icebreaker with a potential or existing client... but yoga makes more sense for an executive seeking to take a pre-existing relationship to the next level,” explains Hedin.

Of course not all Wall Street chieftans will have converted to yoga yet. If you're trying to get a job with Dan Loeb for example, definitely put "avid surfer" on your CV. Steve Cohen? Yep, he's a golf man ( although he won't say voicing your opinions on shorting no to a tennis star).

A p p l e m i d - c l a s s , y o u ' d b e Don't miss if each bank were a silenced, if not removed. sports team... > But apparently for some it's a Join the conversation about this great way to earn brownie points. story » Here's one example of a convert: “I have one client in particular who said he would go to this one

How do they deal with a quote that can be cancelled before you hit it? Will firms like Getco have a huge advantage since their technology is the fastest (and their colo the best)?

13. The Committee recommends that the Commissions consider reporting requirements for measures of liquidity and market imbalance for large market

venues.

Join the conversation about this 14. The Committee recommends story » that the SEC proceed with a sense of urgency, and a focus on meaningful cost/benefit analysis, to implement a consolidated audit trail for the US equity markets and that the CFTC similarly enhance its existing data collection regarding orders and executions.

CFTC continued from page 21

gained by changes in maker/taker pricing practices, including building in incentives for the Exchanges to provide for “peak load” pricing models.

Extra Rebates! Extra Fees! They will explore “what if” rebates were greater during times of stress, and “what if” it were more expensive to hit bids.

9. The Committee recommends

that the SEC evaluate whether incentives or regulations can be developed to encourage persons who engage in market making strategies to regularly provide buy and sell quotations that are “reasonably related to the market.”

Will any mandated obligation outweight potential huge losses?

Reasonably related to the market?

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23

URGENT: Wisconsin GOP Asks Gov To Use Police to Summon Top Dem (FOXNews.com)

unions by pressing the cost-saving legislation.

"I think we're focused on The top Republican in the balancing our budget. It would be Wisconsin state Senate has asked wise for the president and others Gov. Scott Walker to send state in Washington to focus on troopers after Democratic leader balancing their budget, which Mark Miller as Democrats boycott they're a long ways from doing," a vote on a bill that would end Walker told Fox News. collective bargaining rights for In a White House interview with unionized public employees.

WTMJ-TV on Wednesday, Senate Democrats have been Obama joined the raging budget missing from the Capitol for a day battle in Wisconsin, taking big and a half. Senate Majority labor's side.

Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he "Some of what I've heard coming has asked Gov. Scott Walker to out of Wisconsin, where you're send two state troopers to Miller's just making it harder for public home in Monona. He says he employees to collectively bargain believes the troopers are en route. generally seems like more of an The Wisconsin Constitution assault on unions," Obama said. prohibits police from arresting "And I think it's very important legislators while they're in for us to understand that public session. Fitzgerald says he just employees, they're our neighbors, wants to send a message to Miller they're our friends."

-- if he's even home -- that he "I think everybody's got to make must bring his caucus back to some adjustments, but I think it's Madison. also important to recognize that The Wisconsin State Assembly, public employees make enormous meanwhile, was poised to vote contributions to our states and our Friday morning on the bill that citizens," he continued. would force public workers to pay But Walker said the demands on half the costs of their pensions public employees are "modest" and at least 12.6 percent of their compared with those in the h e a l t h c a r e c o v e r a g e . I t ' s private sector, and are meant to projected to save the state $300 prevent a shutdown, which could million over the next two years. result in 6,000 state workers not Walker, trying to close a $3.6 getting paid. billion budget gap, fired back on "We're at a point of crisis," the Friday at President Obama, who governor said, adding that he accused the Republican governor would call out the National Guard of unleashing "an assault" on if needed to keep state operations, Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:29:53 AM

including prisons, running.

Republicans who swept into power in state capitols this year with promises to cut spending and bolster the business climate now are beginning to usher in a new era of labor relations that could result in the largest reduction of power in decades for public employee unions.

But as massive public protests and legislative boycotts in Wisconsin this week have shown, the Republican charge can be fraught with risk and unpredictable turns as politicians try to transform campaign ideas into action.

The question GOP governors and lawmakers are now facing is exactly how far they can go without encountering a backlash.

Do they merely extract more money from school teachers, prison guards and office workers to help ease their states' budget problems? Or do they go at the very core of union power by abolishing the workers' right to bargain collectively? Do they try to impose changes by steamrolling the opposition, or by coming to the bargaining table?

"The consequences will be rolling forth for many, many years," said James Gregory, director of Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington. "The battle lines have been drawn and will be replicated around the country. This is going to be very

tough for unions and public sector employees."

In Wisconsin, new Gov. Walker is going for it all -- the elimination of collective bargaining rights for public employees plus sharp increases in their health care and pension payments. His plan advanced quickly to the Republican-led Senate, despite several days of protests that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to the Capitol. Then Senate Democrats suddenly fled the state Thursday, bringing the legislative process to a halt.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Walker said he's willing to talk to the senators who want to force Walker and GOP lawmakers to negotiate revisions to the bill.

"I'm going to tell them they get paid to come to work, and they should be coming to work," he told reporters.

Walker went "On The Record" with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Thursday night and reiterated his appeal for the senators to return to Wisconsin.

"Democracy doesn’t come by hiding out in another state," he said. "I made a personal appeal for all the senators to come back."

In a statement he released earlier, Walker, said the actions of the lawmakers were "disrespectful to the hundreds of thousands of public employees who showed up

to work today and the millions of taxpayers they represent."

The confrontation comes as organized labor is reeling from a steady loss of members in the private sector. The public sector, with about 7.6 million members, now account for the majority of workers on union rolls, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among union leaders, a sense of crisis is growing. Labor is preparing to spend at least $30 million to fight anti-union legislation in dozens of states, according to internal budget numbers reviewed by The Associated Press. They're lobbying local officials, organizing public rallies, working phone banks and buying television and newspaper ads in a desperate attempt to swing public opinion.

"Plans are being put into place to silence workers, lower their wages, cut their benefits and increase the likelihood that they will suffer injuries and fatalities at work," said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "It is happening at a breakneck pace and too little attention is being paid."

Labor plans to spend large amounts of money on battles in URGENT: page 25

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Bahraini Troops Reportedly Open Fire on Protesters (FOXNews.com)

military forces in key areas and checkpoints on main roadways.

"The regime has broken MANAMA, Bahrain – Bahraini something inside of me ... All of troops fired into crowds of anti- these people gathered today have government protesters in the had something broken in them," c a p i t a l o f M a n a m a F r i d a y , said Ahmed Makki Abu Taki, reportedly killing at least four w h o s e 2 7 - y e a r - o l d b r o t h e r people at Pearl Square.

Mahmoud was killed in the preAt least 20 people were wounded dawn sweep through the protest in the shooting. camp in Manama's Pearl Square.

This latest violence comes as "We used to demand for the prime thousands of funeral mourners minister to step down, but now c a l l e d f o r t h e d o w n f a l l o f our demand is for the ruling Bahrain's ruling monarchy as family to get out." burials began Friday after a Outside a village mosque, several deadly assault on pro-reform thousands mourners gathered to protesters that has brought army bury three men killed in the tanks into the streets of the most crackdown. The first body, strategic Western ally in the Gulf. covered in black velvet, was The cries against Bahrain's king passed hand to hand toward a and his inner circle reflect an grave as it was being dug. escalation of the demands from a Amid the Shiite funeral rites, political uprising that began by many chanted for the removal of only asking for a weakening of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa the Sunni monarchy's hold on top and the entire Sunni dynasty that government posts and addressing has ruled for more than two discrimination by the Shiite centuries in Bahrain, the first majority in the tiny island nation. nation in the Gulf to feel the The mood, however, appears to pressure for changes sweeping the have turned toward defiance of Arab world. the entire ruling system after the There were no security forces brutal attack Thursday on a near the mosque on the island of protest encampment in Bahrain's Sitra, where three of those killed capital Manama, which left at had lived. least five dead, more than 230 The White House has expressed injured and put the nation under "strong displeasure" about the emergency-style footing with rising tensions in Bahrain, which Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:29:53 AM

is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet and the centerpiece of the Pentagon's efforts to confront growing Iranian military ambitions in the region.

The capital and other areas remained under the close watch of the military and police — which includes various nationalities from around the region under a policy by Bahrain's ruling system to give citizenship and jobs to other Sunnis to try to offset the Shiites, who account for about 70 percent of the population.

Soldiers guarded the capital's main areas and placed roadblocks and barbs wire around Pearl Square and other potential gathering sites. Work crews were busy trying to cover up the protest graffiti.

On Thursday, Bahrain's leaders banned public gatherings in an attempt to keep the protest movement from re-igniting. But the underlying tensions in Bahrain run even deeper than the rebellions for democracy that began two months ago in Tunisia and later swept away Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and is challenging old-guard regimes in Libya and Yemen.

In the government's first public comment on the crackdown, Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa said Thursday it was

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necessary because the demonstrators were "polarizing the country" and pushing it to the "brink of the sectarian abyss."

Speaking to reporters after an emergency meeting with his Gulf counterparts in Manama to discuss the unrest, he called the violence "regrettable," said the deaths would be investigated and added that authorities chose to clear the square by force at 3 a.m.

— when the fewest number of people would be in the square — "to minimize any possibility of casualties."

Many of the protesters were sleeping and said they received little warning of the assault. More than 230 people were injured, some seriously.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington must expand efforts for political and economic reforms in places such as Bahrain. "There is an urgency to this," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Elsewhere, the European Union and Human Rights Watch urged Bahraini authorities to order security forces to stop attacks on peaceful protesters.

The protesters had called for the monarchy to give up its control over top government posts and all critical decisions and address deep grievances by Shiites, who claim

they face systematic discrimination and poverty and are effectively blocked from key roles in public service and the military.

Shiites have clashed with police before in protests over their complaints. But the growing numbers of Sunnis joining the latest protests have come as a surprise to authorities, said Simon Henderson, a Gulf specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"The Sunnis seem to increasingly dislike what is a very paternalistic government," he said, adding that the crackdown was "symptomatic" of Gulf nations' response to crises. "As far as the Gulf rulers are concerned, there's only one proper way with this and that is: be tough and be tough early."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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URGENT:

Bahraini troops open fire at protesters (Reuters: Top News)

with crowds demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:41:34 AM year rule.

A protester runs for shelter after And in Libya, soldiers were Bahraini security forces opened deployed in the streets of the fire at protesters marching country's second city Benghazi towards the Pearl Square in a f t e r t h o u s a n d s o f p e o p l e capital Manama February 18, demonstrated overnight over the 2011. killing of what U.S.-based Human C r e d i t : R e u t e r s / H a m a d I Rights Watch said were at least 24 Mohammed protesters on Wednesday and B y C y n t h i a J o h n s t o n a n d Thursday.

Frederik Richter The unrest in the region -MANAMA| Fri Feb 18, 2011 particularly worries about its 11:34am EST possible impact on oil giant Saudi MANAMA(Reuters) - Bahraini Arabia -- helped push Brent crude troops shot at demonstrators on prices to a 28-month high of $104 Friday and wounded many, a a barrel on Thursday. former Shi'ite lawmaker said, as It was a factor in gold prices government crackdowns on extending early gains to five-week protests in the Middle East and highs. By Friday afternoon, Brent North Africa turned increasingly was just over $102 a barrel. violent.

In Bahrain, Jalal Firooz, of the While millions of Egyptians Wefaq bloc that resigned from celebrated their ouster of Hosni parliament on Thursday, said Mubarak after 30 years, protesters demonstrators, marking the death elsewhere, inspired by their of a protester killed earlier this s u c c e s s , w e r e e n g a g e d i n week, had made for Pearl Square, struggles against their own where army troops opened fire. authoritarian rulers.

"There are many casualties, some In Bahrain, troops shot at are critical," he said. Police had protesters near Pearl Square on no immediate comment.

Friday and wounded many, a Thousands of Bahraini Shi'ites former Shi'ite lawmaker said, a turned out on Friday to bury those day after police forcibly cleared a killed in Pearl Square. protest camp from the traffic Bahrain's most revered Shi'ite circle in Manama, killing 4 people cleric, Sheikh Issa Qassem, and wounding more than 230. described the police attack as a At least two people were killed in " m a s s a c r e " a n d s a i d t h e Yemen when security forces and government had shut the door to pro-government loyalists clashed dialogue, but stopped short of

calling openly for street protests.

The violence was the worst in the Saudi-allied Gulf island kingdom in decades and a sign of the nervousness of the Sunni royal family, long aware of simmering discontent among the majority Shi'ites.

Thousands gathered at a mosque in the village of Sitra, south of Manama, for Friday prayers and the funerals of three of those killed. "The people want the fall of the regime," they cried.

"Justice, freedom and constitutional monarchy."

In a loyalist demonstration in Manama, hundreds of progovernment supporters, waving flags and pictures of the king, streamed through the streets, local TV footage showed.

The army in Bahrain, a country of 1.3 million people of whom 600,000 are native Bahrainis, had issued a warning to people to stay away from the center of the capital.

• Share this • Link this • Digg this • Email • Reprints alreaud wrote: What you’all over there in the Middle East need in these feudal monarchies is a modern day version of the Magna Carta… fwupow wrote: Are you sure about the

25

continued from page 23

“buckshot”? I think you meant “birdshot” which is used for killing birds with a shotgun and generally not lethal to a human from a distance. JohnTheApostle wrote: Has anyone contemplated the real issue behind Bahrain’s supposed peace protests!

Hello?

Royal family (Suni) population majority (Shia) Iran majority (Shia) Anyone get my drift?

If and when the Shia’s get control of Bahrain you can be sure in kissing the American 5th Fleet’s Naval Base situated there goodbye!

This in turn will leave Saudi Arabia ( the world’s biggest oil export nation) vunrenable!

Kinda’ has Ahmadinejad’s sent all over it, don’t you think?

We need to wake up to the real world around us people!

If and when Iran takes control of middle eastern oil exports, the west is doomed!

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Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Unions see their goal as not just playing defense -- as opponents chip away at bargaining rights -- but going on offense to try to educate the public about the role of unions.

But last fall's midterm elections, which brought the defeat of many union-supported candidates and victories by pro-business Republican adversaries, show the difficulty the unions face in a climate shaped by the sour economy. In many states, Republican governors have blamed unions in part for the state budget crisis by negotiating flush benefit packages for public workers that have forced states to slash aid to schools, social services and important services.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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China rejects key G20 imbalance indicators (Reuters: Top News)

financial crises and economic shocks, they need to set up a certain amount of reserves," he French police patrol outside said.

F r a n c e ' s F i n a n c e M i n i s t r y The hardline Chinese stance buildings on the eve of the start of highlighted splits over how to the G20 Finance Ministers and define economic imbalances and Central Bank Governors' Meeting prescribe action to avoid future at the Bercy complex in Paris f i n a n c i a l c r i s e s , a l t h o u g h February 17, 2011. negotiators said several Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau compromise proposals were under

By Toni Vorobyova and Gernot discussions.

Heller Japanese Finance Minister P A R I S | F r i F e b 1 8 , 2 0 1 1 Yoshihiko Noda said he was not 10:44am EST sure there would be any PARIS(Reuters) - China rejected agreement this weekend on a set plans to use real exchange rates of indicators, as G20 president and currency reserves to measures France had hoped. global economic imbalances, "It is uncertain whether the casting doubt on the ability of countries will agree on all Group of 20 major economic indicators, but I think agreement powers to reach agreement at a on some is possible," Noda told meeting on Friday. reporters. "From working group Speaking shortly before the start discussions, I get the impression of the two-day meeting of finance countries are now split in half ministers and central bankers, about their opinions."

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Differences over the causes of Xuren also said the G20 should and ways to cure global economic use trade figures rather than imbalances were also on display current account balances to assess at a public debate among the economic distortions. world's top central bankers on "We think it is not appropriate to Friday. use real effective exchange rates Bank of England Governor and reserves," Xie said at a Mervyn King, reflecting the view meeting with Russian, Brazilian of many Western policymakers, and Indian counterparts, who s a i d t h e w o r l d r i s k e d collectively make up the BRIC protectionism or another financial g r o u p o f m a j o r e m e r g i n g crisis if policymakers failed to economies. reduce currency distortions and "Emerging markets, to deal with other imbalances.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:44:49 AM

Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Beijing would decide the pace of the appreciation of the yuan on its own and would not be swayed by pressure from other countries.

Simply adjusting exchange rates would not influence Asians' savings behavior, he said.

"A reform of the international monetary system is in order so as to prevent the over-concentration of foreign assets in one particular currency," he said in a reference to the dollar, urging greater use of IMF Special Drawing Rights instead.

TWO-STEP Germany, the world's number two exporter after China, said it had no problem with including a balance of payments indicator as part of a set of five measurements.

Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen said a "vast majority" of G20 countries wanted a deal all five indicators.

One European source said a possible compromise could involve listing the other indicators -- exchange rates, currency reserves, public debt and deficits, and private savings -- while making clear the prime focus would be on current accounts.

Another option mooted by deputy finance ministers would be to give China an opt-out from the balance of payments criterion, allowing it to use its trade balance instead,

two sources involved in the negotiations said.

• Share this • Link this • Digg this • Email • Reprints AAAAANDRE wrote: “Loose monetary policy in the developed world is pushing capital into emerging economies” So basically, they are just sucking us dry!? Pete_Murphy wrote: Germany and China, nations more heavily dependent than nearly any other on maintaining big trade surpluses to gainfully employ their bloated labor forces, are resisting the rebalancing.

What a surprise.

The U.S. doesn’t need the G20 to rebalance the economy. All it needs is to bid farewell to the World Trade Organization and return to the sensible application of tariffs to assure a balance of trade.

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Families budget to be £2,500 worse off this year (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)

Half of the 3,000 Britons surveyed think they will have at

least £25 a week less to spend this year and may be £50 a week

worse off.

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27

Bernanke: Don't blame easy money for capital swings (Reuters: Top News)

the Group of 20 leading economies.

However, he said that although Chairman of the Federal Reserve policy-makers in the emerging Ben Bernanke talks to Senators at markets clearly face challenges, the Senate Banking Committee on such concerns should be weighed Capitol Hill in Washington against stronger emerging market February 17, 2011. growth and steps emerging Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing economies themselves can take.

By Rie Ishiguro and Gui Qing Central bankers and finance Koh ministers of economies that make PARIS| Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:52am up 85 percent of the world's EST economy are trying to smooth PARIS(Reuters) - U.S. Federal i m b a l a n c e s o f t r a d e a n d Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke investment to ensure steadier defended easy money policies in economic growth and prevent advanced economies against the shocks like the recent crisis. charge they are overheating The United States is under fire emerging markets, saying factors not only for ultra accommodative such as exchange rate rigidity are monetary policy, but for a gaping also to blame. budget deficit that raises concern Speaking ahead of an economic that if left unchecked, it could summit in Paris that will include some day lead to default. m a n y c r i t i c s o f t h e F e d ' s Bernanke's own unorthodox $600 aggressive bond buying program, billion bond buying initiative Bernanke acknowledged that launched in November has stirred s t r o n g c a p i t a l f l o w s f r o m harsh criticism from countries advanced economies to emerging around the world, and he has used markets may be having negative international venues to defend it spillover effects. before.

"Capital flows are once again U.S. quantitative easing measures posing some notable challenges have been attacked for driving for international macroeconomic down the value of the dollar, and financial stability," he said in h u r t i n g e m e r g i n g e c o n o m y remarks prepared for delivery to a e x p o r t s a n d i n f l a t i n g a s s e t Banque de France event in Paris bubbles, and the Fed chairman before meetings of the finance can expect to hear about it from ministers and central bankers of his counterparts at the summit.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:52:23 AM

Bernanke did not mention inflation concerns directly except to say that strong demand in emerging markets is contributing to global commodity price increases, something which affects the most advanced economies as well.

Gradually smoothing global imbalances of trade and investment is a top priority for G20 officials. Officials have set themselves the goal of drawing up a list of indicators to measure imbalances, with the aim of making growth more stable and

HDTV Pictures (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed) Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:00:56 AM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] HDTVs are one of the more popular electronics

item on the market. Do you know what is available?

less prone to cycles of boom and bust.

In comments similar to ones he has made in the past, the Fed chairman said faster growth in emerging markets is one factor driving strong capital flows into those economies. Furthermore, emerging market policy-makers have tools at their disposal -including exchange rate adjustment and monetary policy -to prevent overheating, he said.

"Countries with excessive and unsustainable trade surpluses will need to allow their exchange rates

to better reflect market fundamentals and increase their efforts to substitute domestic demand for exports," he said.

The argument that greater currency flexibility is necessary to right imbalances is a recurring theme for U.S. officials who have persistently sought to pressure China to allow its yuan currency to float more freely against the dollar.

U.S. officials say that by keeping the yuan weak, the Chinese government is supporting an export-led economy that leads to its large trade surplus with the United States.

Washington wants to keep the spotlight on the yuan at the G20.

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News Wire/ Technology/ Finance/ Culture/

Newstablet Edition

Dog Owners Barking Mad Over Insurance Mandate (FOXNews.com)

another way to get at it," said Rob Sexton, vice president of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance. The group, Dog owners in Texas are hot which works with sporting dogs, under the collar over a proposal calls the bill "unnecessary and that would require them to buy unreasonable" and has asked $100,000 insurance for their Texas sportsmen to actively pooches. oppose it.

And they've vowed not to roll McClendon says she's just trying over and play dead for what to take a bite out of a loophole. t h e y ' r e c a l l i n g y e t a n o t h e r "Existing Texas law allows a dog example of needless nanny-state 'one bite' without making the legislation. owner responsible. However, it is House Bill 998, introduced by clearly not working to resolve state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, problems with dog bites," she told D-Texas, would require owners of FoxNews.com. "According to unleashed, un-neutered male dogs county animal-control personnel, over 20 pounds to carry a liability over 400 dog bites occur in San insurance policy of at least Antonio each month." $100,000. Violations would be McClendon said one of the classified as a misdemeanor, and victims was a member of her punishable by a fine up to $500. d i s t r i c t w h o w a s s e r i o u s l y McClendon said large, un- attacked by a dog whose owner neutered dogs present the highest was not willing to help pay for the risk for property damage and resulting medical bills. injuries to others, and that owners "Situations like this would be should be held more responsible remedied under this bill, as for their dogs' behavior. insurance would help cover But getting HB 998 passed -- the medical expenses incurred as a bill is currently under review by result of a dog attack," she said. committee -- will be no walk in McClendon added that a revision the park. of the bill is being drafted to "There is a movement inside the a p p l y t h e l a w o n l y w i t h i n animal rights lobby to try to force incorporated municipal areas; it mandatory spay and neuter laws would also exclude dog owners in across the states, and this is just hunting and sporting activities in Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:29:53 AM

less-populated areas.

Trial Attorney Herb Subin said he thinks the proposal is a great idea.

"It's the same as driving a car," Subin told FoxNews.com. "If you want to have the chance to have a dog that could cause an injury to someone else then the government has a very strong interest to make sure their citizens have the ability to be compensated."

But pet expert and author Wendy Diamond said the same argument can be made for children.

"There are more bullies at school playgrounds than dog fights in dog parks," Diamond insisted.

"The government is overreaching with the proposed bill ... when they demand liability insurance on children then this will be fair."

The Heartland Institute's Charlie Vidal added that if McClendon is trying to reduce dog attacks, she's barking up the wrong tree.

"While Jones McClendon wants to protect people from large dogs, her proposal would do just the opposite. Dog owners, knowing that they are insured against any wrongdoing their dog does, will take less care to ensure that Rex is a good boy," Vidal wrote on the institute's blog.

Fox News Legal Analyst Lis

Wiehl said dog owners need not worry, and predicted a dog insurance law wouldn't survive a court challenge.

"The whole issue of mandating insurance is being dealt with right now in federal courts with healthcare, and the latest decision says that it's not constitutional to mandate health insurance. So how could you mandate insurance for your dog?" she told FoxNews.com.

Wiehl said the law already holds dog owners responsible for any damage done by their dogs. And victims of dog attacks that haven't been properly compensated can always sue.

"Most homeowner's insurance policies already cover dogs," she added. "The whole thing is ridiculous."

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G20 Paris: Bernanke defends easy money policy and calls for currency reform (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world)

US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended his country's easy money policy

ahead of the G20 leaders meeting in Paris, and joined Bank of England Governor Mervyn King

in calling for currency reform.

Breathtaking Beige Fashions - The Zang Toi AW11 Collection Turns Drab to Fab (GALLERY) (TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:38:02 AM

( TrendHunter.com) The Zang Toi AW11 collection has done a brilliant job of reinvigorating the warm beige color appearance.

The fashion house's runway show proved to impress the masses, and it's no wonder with all of the...

Rachel Bilson Spends a Day in LA With Hayden Christensen Allie Merriam (PopSugar) Submitted at 2/18/2011 7:53:32 AM

Rachel Bilson went back to her LA home yesterday after a meeting, and Hayden Christensen was seen heading into her house shortly after. The couple, who got engaged in 2009 but announced a split in August, apparently starting dating again late last year.

They'll be together to celebrate Hayden's big 30th birthday on April 12th, as he joins the ranks of the many stars marking the milestone this year. Rachel will have Hayden's support as she returns to TV in a Josh Schwartz project called Hart of Dixie, and continues to promote her new Edie Rose line of home goods.

View Slideshow ›

News Wire/ Culture/ Finance/

Newstablet Edition

Antioxidants Boost Male Fertility (Epoch Times | All headlines)

words, antioxidant takers were about four times as likely to impregnate their partners

By Dr. John Briffa Created: Feb compared to those taking 18, 2011 Last Updated: Feb 18, placebo.)

2011 None of the studies reported BLUEBERRIES: This fruit is a evidence of harmful effects of the good source of antioxidants. antioxidant therapy.

(Photos.com) Infertility is not an Meta-analyses of this nature are insignificant problem, and spermnever perfect, especially when related issues play a part in about amassing studies of quite different half of all cases. Low levels of methodologies (for example, sperm, malformed sperm, and different treatments in different sperm that are not mobile enough combinations). However, this all can contribute to subfertility in review does at least strongly men. suggest that antioxidant treatment One factor that is thought to lead has significant potential to to sperm issues is oxidative these studies varied a lot. In some, associated with a 485 percent e n h a n c e m a l e f e r t i l i t y a n d stress—damage caused by entities a single agent was used. In others, increased incidence of live birth. improve the success rates of known as free radicals, which are agents were combined together. (In other words, antioxidant takers assisted-reproduction techniques natural by-products of many The agents themselves varied were about five times as likely to such as IVF. processes in the body, including considerably and included zinc, have a live birth compared to Dr. John Briffa is a Londonmetabolism. based physician and author with vitamin E, vitamin C, L-carnitine, those taking placebo.)

Free radicals can be quenched by and selenium. All couples in these Admittedly, this finding was an interest in nutrition and natural substances called antioxidants studies were undergoing assisted based on only 20 live births, m e d i c i n e . H i s w e b s i t e i s (including many nutrients). This r e p r o d u c t i v e t e c h n o l o g i e s (small numbers), which make the D r B r i f f a . c o m has led some researchers to assess ( A R T s ) , s u c h a s i n - v i t r o findings less robust than if we This entry passed through the t h e e f f e c t o f a n t i o x i d a n t fertilization (IVF) and intrauterine were looking at significantly Full-Text RSS service — if this is treatments on fertility in men. insemination (IUI). your content and you're reading it bigger numbers. “ A n t i o x i d a n t s f o r M a l e Amassing all the studies together, Rate of pregnancy was also on someone else's site, please read Subfertility” was published in the t h e C o c h r a n e r e s e a r c h e r s assessed, and this time the our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ Cochrane Database of Systematic attempted to assess if antioxidant n u m b e r s w e r e l a r g e r ( 9 6 content-only/faq.php Reviews 2011, Issue 1. This therapy appeared to have any pregnancies in total, from 15 trials Five Filters featured article: article was a review of 34 studies benefits on fertility outcomes. and a total of 964 couples). Here, Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In t h a t r e p o r t e d t h e u s e o f They found that compared with rates of pregnancy were found to The Crosshairs. antioxidants in treating male p l a c e b o , t r e a t m e n t w i t h be 418 percent higher in those infertility. antioxidant supplementation was taking antioxidants. (In other The antioxidant agents in each of Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:34:18 AM

'Most green funds hold oil companies' (Finance News - Business news from the UK and world) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:08:08 AM

For the majority of funds in the UK we do not see much difference in stock selection, or performance, between UK

'ethically screened' funds and conventional funds

29

Top 10 Alternative Housing Ideas (HowStuffWorks Daily Feed) Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:00:56 AM

As housing prices rise and people become more concerned about their environmental footprints, green construction has been gaining popularity. Green construction can include mainstream features, like a green roof, or more unique material, such as wood pallets. In general, though, what makes a building eco-friendly are the materials that go into the structure and the attention paid to energy usage in its design.

Green builders use recycled or low-impact components to create energy-efficient homes, and you can construct green homes in any number of ways, using materials like reclaimed shipping containers or even clay and straw. In this article, we'll look at some unique, eco-friendly alternative housing ideas.

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The Practical Entrepreneur: Real Estate Investments (Part 2) (Epoch Times | All headlines)

That is entirely up to you. Keep in mind that price isn't everything.

Often it is the peripheral list that IDEAL SPACE: The interior of will make or break a deal. an apartment at AQUA Luxury There may be a disagreement Oceanfront Condominiums is about an option clause; say you seen during a party presented by want to lease for three years and Hamptons Magazine at AQUA you want an option to renew for a Luxury Oceanfront further five years at the same rent.

Condominiums July 2009 in Long You may ask for the right to Beach, New York. Once you have sublet the premises, or you may found the (almost) ideal space, the stick in the right of first refusal on time has come to negotiate. (Rob the property should the owner Loud/Getty Images for Niche decide to sell.

Media) Manny Drukier has been in You have been searching for, and business from manufacturing to found the (almost) ideal space. publishing, retail to real estate, The time has come to negotiate. order to get the place in shape. run the risk of being asked to and stocks to stockpots for the Allow me to say at the outset that Ask that the owner contribute vacate on six months notice. past 60 years. He is the author of the perfect space with a 100 toward the cost of improvements. However, do not dismiss out of two books and resides in Toronto, percent perfect lease does not It all depends on if you are hand a lease that contains a Canada. exist. You will compromise on negotiating in a rising market or demolition clause, make inquiries This entry passed through the some matters and the landlord in a recession. into the probability of it taking Full-Text RSS service — if this is will give in on others. If you are One clause that may pop up in a place in the near future. The your content and you're reading it dealing through a real estate lease is a demolition clause. If demolition may be far off. on someone else's site, please read broker, they will prepare the offer you are offered a location in a If you are unfamiliar with leases, our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ to lease. The offer will be based high traffic area at a reasonable before signing you will want to content-only/faq.php on what the lessor has listed as rate, it may be because of the give it to a lawyer to look over. Five Filters featured article: their asking price. You are free to demolition clause. If you intend to However, a lawyer cannot help Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In make whatever changes you wish, i n v e s t a l o t o f m o n e y i n you decide if the premises are The Crosshairs. that is offer a lower price, or renovations you do not want to right for you at the price asked. demand a period of free rent in Submitted at 2/18/2011 7:36:13 AM

Natalie Portman Sticks Close to Home in the Run-Up to the Oscars Allie Merriam (PopSugar) Submitted at 2/18/2011 7:44:02 AM

Natalie Portman threw on her jacket for a walk in NYC yesterday. She was out enjoying some warmth in the city, which was a great change from the frigid weather she's endured all Winter.

Natalie's fiancé Benjamin Millepied is often by her side for her strolls, but this time she went out solo. She and Benjamin are apparently expecting a son, and Natalie has been staying in the Big Apple to prep for their special delivery. She skipped out on last Sunday's BAFTAs in London, where her Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky picked up her best actress statue. She will, though, head West in time for the Oscars, and all eyes will certainly be on the star and the dress she chooses for Hollywood's biggest night. View Slideshow ›

Little Black Box Powers Your Mobile Devices with AA Batteries [Stuff We Like] Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:00:00 AM

We've shown you how to make your own battery-powered USB charger, but if you aren't up to the

task, the Little Black Box will

charge and power all your USB space. More » devices with a few AA batteries, and without taking up much

News Wire/ Technology/

Newstablet Edition

Chinese Lantern Festival (Epoch Times | All headlines) Submitted at 2/18/2011 6:45:44 AM

Lantern Festival 2011 in Taiwan.

(Courtesy of Miaoli Government) Lantern Festival 2011 in Taiwan.

(Courtesy of Miaoli Government) One of lantern trucks 2011 in Taiwan. (Courtesy of Miaoli Government) According to the Chinese tradition, the celebration of Chinese New Year will continue until the Lantern Festival, which is on 15th day of the first lunar month. It is usually another high point of the celebration. Lantern Festival is also called Yuanxiao Festival. It is on February 18th this year.

History of the Lantern Festival There are many legends about the origin of the festival.

One story was from time of Qinshihuang (259-210 BC), the first emperor to unite the country.

It was believed the God of Heaven was born on the fifteenth day of the first month. Since the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world and decided when to inflict drought, storms, famine or pestilence upon human beings, the emperor would pray specially to the God of Heaven for favourable weather and good health on that day.

Another popular story tells the Emperor Mingdi (57-75 BC) of the East Han Dynasty who sent a scholar to India for Buddhist scriptures. After journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures

Comcast launching 24hour 3D channel Sunday (CNET News.com) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:31:50 AM

on the fifteenth day of the first month. The Emperor was so pleased that he ordered people to display lighted lanterns on that night since it was said that the power of Buddha could dispel darkness.

Since then, all subsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The lantern displays would last for 3 days in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and 5 days in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). It then became an important festival that could be celebrated together by people from all social classes. Many colourful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns.

Today, the displaying of lanterns is still a big event on the fifteenth

31

Comcast is ushering in the launch of a 24-hour 3D channel by enlisting the help of Kings of Leon and the National Hockey League.

The cable provider said yesterday that starting at 3 p.m. PT on Sunday, its new Xfinity 3D channel will begin broadcasting.

The channel will start with an airing of the 2011 Tim Hortons day of the first lunar month NHL Heritage Classic, pitting the throughout China. It is the first Montreal Canadiens against the night of the year for people to see Calgary Flames outdoors at a full moon. At this time, many McMahon Stadium in Calgary. colorful lanterns will be hung out After the game is over, Comcast for people to appreciate. People plans to broadcast a Kings of enjoy the brightly lit night. It is Leon concert from Hamburg, q u i t e a n i m p r e s s i v e s i g h t ! Germany.

Families will get all their families From there, the channel will united in the joyful atmosphere broadcast 3D programming 24 hours a day. Comcast said that it and eat Yuanxiao. plans to show content ranging Story about Yuanxiao This entry passed through the f r o m " h a u n t e d c a s t l e s " t o Full-Text RSS service — if this is documentaries on "the depths of your content and you're reading it the ocean." on someone else's site, please read So far, few consumers in the U.S. our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ are able to capitalize on Comcast's new channel. According to a content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Futuresource Consulting survey Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In released in November, just 4 million 3DTVs were likely sold The Crosshairs. around the world in 2010.

However, Futuresource expects

that figure to jump to 8 million this year, with 5 million of those units sold to customers in the U.S. The research firm indicated that so far, "year-one adoption of 3DTV is running at a far quicker rate in most territories than it did for high-definition."

Although few people have 3D sets, Comcast said it has seen an uptick in viewers watching 3D content. The company reported yesterday that it has served over 1 million 3D video-on-demand streams.

But trouble remains in the 3D market.

A Deloitte study released in September found that 83 percent of consumers do not believe 3D is enough to make them want to buy a new television. Worst of all for vendors and 3D providers like Comcast, 31 percent of respondents said 3D does nothing to "enhance their entertainment experience."

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World News/

Newstablet Edition

The Realist Prism: Middle East Democracies Can Be U.S. Friends (World Politics Review: Articles)

by events in Asia over the past 30 years. As a series of proAmerican East Asian states As waves of unrest continue to democratized, the pro-democracy roil the Middle East, there is a activists who came to power -great deal of uncertainty as to who in some cases had been jailed what the future might bring. Will by their authoritarian predecessors a successor to former President -- maintained ties with the U.S., a Hosni Mubarak in Egypt maintain pattern most noticeable in Korea the peace treaty with Israel, and Taiwan. This is because while cooperate in isolating Hamas in g o v e r n m e n t s c h a n g e d , the Gaza strip and maintain the fundamental interests did not. intelligence relationship with the South Korean democrats may United States? And should a h a v e r e t a i n e d l i n g e r i n g revolutionary regime overthrow resentments against Washington the Khalifas in Bahrain, will it for doing too little on their behalf reject the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet during the period of dictatorship from the island?

- but facing a hostile North Korea, Most prognostications on the and with the country's economic region's future assume that prosperity linked to its good revolutions that depose status quo relations with the United States, g o v e r n m e n t s a u t o m a t i c a l l y they were not going to burn reverse the policies of their bridges with Washington out of p r e d e c e s s o r s . O n e o f t h e spite. criticisms being directed at the Applying that to Egypt, the O b a m a a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , f o r question is whether there are instance, is that the continued overriding Egyptian interests that embrace of Mubarak right up to would cause a future government his resignation has made it more to continue the policies of Hosni difficult for any subsequent Mubarak. The picture is mixed. In democratically elected Egyptian terms of retaining the formal government to work closely with peace treaty with Israel, Dov the United States, especially if its Zakheim bluntly concludes, "The leaders were imprisoned or Egyptian military knows that it otherwise oppressed by the ancien dare not break with the United regime.

States; it has 1.3 billion (foreign But the assertion that U.S. aid) reasons for not doing so. In support for undemocratic regimes particular, it knows that rupturing e n s u r e s t h a t d e m o c r a t i c the 1979 peace treaty with Israel successors will be enemies of the will mean the end of American U.S. has been called into question economic assistance." Neither Submitted at 2/18/2011 1:11:00 AM

Saudi Arabia nor China would be able to fill that gap at this time.

James Carville's dictum, "It's the economy, stupid," rings true even more in 2011 Egypt than in 1992 America. The next Egyptian government must cut down on waste and find ways to stimulate job creation. Jeopardizing the golden lifeline to Washington will not be in its interests.

So the Camp David accords should remain intact. But there are no guarantees that a post-Mubarak government would do much more than honor the letter of the pact. A new Egyptian government might follow the Pakistani model of accommodating Washington: fulfilling certain requests, offering only grudging cooperation in other areas and in some cases working actively against American interests. This is in part because, like in Pakistan, U.S. policies do not have sufficient "buy-in" on the part of the Egyptian population. Most Egyptians probably acknowledge the necessity of not denouncing the peace treaty with Israel, but won't see much reason to actively support Israeli and U.S. security interests either.

It is striking the extent to which Egypt remains unintegrated with Israel. Yes, there is a treaty, and there are government-togovernment contacts. But the trilateral U.S.-Egypt-Israel relationship has engendered no

strong lobby with deep roots either in Egypt's business community or among ordinary Egyptians. Economic ties could provide some ballast in the relationship, but are limited.

Egypt exports some $300 million in natural gas to Israel, meeting 40 percent of Israel's needs -- but making up the bulk of Egyptian exports to Israel and more than half of the roughly $500 million in bilateral trade conducted in 2010. Growing Israeli demand and Egypt's need for revenue could lock this relationship in place, especially if Israel renegotiated the price higher and imported greater volumes. On the other hand, rising regional demand for energy could give Egypt, in a few years, other export alternatives.

The "Qualified Investment Zone" program, under which Egyptian manufacturers can export dutyfree goods to the U.S. that use Israeli components, is a good scheme for trying to create greater linkages between the two countries' business communities.

But QIZ factories -- primarily in the textile industry -- only employ a fraction of Egypt's labor force, and Israel itself tends to focus on directly exporting manufactured goods to the advanced global economies, rather than producing components and raw materials.

To give an idea of how little business these two neighbors do,

even under conditions of "peace," Egypt is Israel's 38th-largest export market, well behind even more distant Latin American and Asian countries. Indeed, Israel exported more to Jordan, a country with only a fraction of Egypt's population. Ruth Linde, a former adviser to Israeli President Shimon Peres, concluded, "The key to normal relations is economic and financial ties. If there are only two [key business relationships], it is easier for Egypt to annul them. If there is a critical mass, it is less easy to let go."

So while there is no incentive to restart hostilities, neither is the Egyptian business community going to lobby for retaining close political and security ties with Israel -- and, by extension, with the United States.

Over in Bahrain, the fall of the monarchy might threaten the U.S. military presence, but the Kyrgyz precedent shows that governments can rise and fall without impacting the operations of a key American military facility -- so long as the new government sees an interest in continuing the relationship. When the governments of former Presidents Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev were both overthrown by popular uprisings, observers in Washington criticized the Bush REALIST page 34

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33

Somali Piracy Offers Opportunity for Korean Détente (World Politics Review: Articles)

may have also helped improve the South Korean navy's credibility, with the Asia Times suggesting It was recently reported that that the bold operation would, at Somali pirates have been holding l e a s t t e m p o r a r i l y , " s i l e n c e the crew of the North Korean domestic criticisms" of naval c a r g o s h i p C h i l s a n b o n g competence.

Cheonnyeonho since it was North Korea has had nine of its captured last March. Ten months vessels captured since 2006, and on, the ship remains detained, paid $3.5 million to free the North with hefty ransom demands likely Korean-crewed MV Theresa VIII still outstanding. With no records last year. With last week's interfor the vessel found at maritime Korean military talks ending in insurance tracker Seasearcher, the debacle, Pyongyang could now be possibility that its crew may now considering its own brazen rescue b e f a c i n g a b a n d o n m e n t i s mission, for similar reasons. Such becoming ever more likely. an operation could conceivably However, given South Korea's kill two birds with one stone. A dramatic rescue of one of its own high-profile and successful vessels captured by pirates in operation would send a chilling J a n u a r y , t h e c a s e o f t h e message to Seoul -- without the Chilsanbong now offers the risk accompanying a direct Koreas an opportunity for military p r o v o c a t i o n - - w h i l e a l s o cooperation at a time of increasing North Korea's increasing tension. bargaining power in future Thanks to close-range combat military talks. However, this skills accrued from decades of outcome remains highly unlikely, training to fight North Korean as Pyongyang knows. ships, South Korea's raid in According to Joseph Bermudez, January was a major success, an expert on the North Korean resulting in the death or capture of military, with the exception of 13 Somali pirates and the rescue some submarines, the North of all 21 hostages. In a further Korean navy has never operated show of firm-handedness, South outside regional waters. "The Korea quickly flew the captured DPRK has employed merchant pirates to Seoul to face trial. The vessels since the 1960s to carry well-publicized rescue mission weapons, advisers and Special may have been an intentional Operation Forces personnel attempt by South Korea to restore throughout the world," Bermudez naval deterrence over North noted. "They could certainly Korea following the sinking of the attempt to do so in this case.

Cheonan and the shelling of However, they completely lack Yeonpyeong Island by North t h e i n t e l l i g e n c e - c o l l e c t i o n Korean artillery. Domestically, it capabilities to plan such a Submitted at 2/18/2011 1:19:00 AM

mission."

He added that the Proliferation Security Initiative, under which Western ships can interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal cargo, has put limits on North Korea's willingness and ability to move soldiers and weapons. "North Korea would likely also weigh the risks of failure to be very high when compared with the recent Republic of Korea (ROK) effort," he concluded. "Public failure and humiliation, in comparison with the ROK, is not something that they want -- especially at the present."

With the prospect of a unilateral North Korean rescue mission well off the radar, Pyongyang and Seoul, if serious about improving relations, should now view the plight of the Chilsanbong Cheonnyeonho as an opportunity for naval cooperation. Indeed, intelligence permitting, an interKorean rescue mission could both serve to reduce naval tensions while increasing Korean deterrence vis-à-vis other wouldbe pirates in the region. It would also help out what now looks like an otherwise forgotten crew.

While a radical approach, it would not be the first time South Korea has helped its neighbor to the north: The same destroyer that dramatically rescued the ROK vessel in January also chased Somali pirates away from a North Korean cargo ship near Yemen in May 2009. That time, a North Korean crew member on the

cargo ship thanked the South Korean navy for its protection by radio. While that particular move did little to reduce inter-Korean tensions -- North Korea tested its second nuclear device that month -- Pyongyang has shown statelevel gratitude to the U.S. in similar circumstances.

In late 2007, a U.S. naval vessel cruised to the support of a North Korean cargo ship, the Dai Hong Da, after it repulsed a boarding attempt by Somali pirates. On that occasion, U.S. sailors were invited on board the North Korean ship to provide medical assistance to wounded crewmen, with one report even suggesting some of the seriously injured were airlifted by the U.S Navy to nearby Yemen. This remarkable cooperation did not go unnoticed in Pyongyang. In a rare occurrence, North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, released a statement saying, "We feel grateful to the United States for its assistance given to our crewmen. This case serves as a symbol of the DPRK-U.S. cooperation in the struggle against terrorism."

With the crew of the Chilsanbong Cheonnyeonho still awaiting rescue after 10 months of captivity, and evidence suggesting funds to pay a ransom may be hard to dig up in Pyongyang right now, cooperation with Seoul may be the only way North Korea can hope to recover the vessel and its crew. South Korea has shown remarkable skill in recovering its

own sailors and could offer real assistance to the North, all against a common enemy. Even if a joint rescue attempt is out of the question for now, inter-Korean discussion and collaboration on the issue could help reduce tensions where they currently run at their highest -- between the two countries' navies.

When the next round of interKorean military talks takes place, it would be prudent for both South Korean and North Korean commanders to choose a common issue upon which to build trust.

Piracy in the Gulf of Aden is a problem that plagues both nations, making it an ideal starting point for inter-Korean détente.

Tad Farrell is director of NK News, a North Korea news and information resource for professionals, academics and students. He holds a master's degree in nonproliferation and international security from Kings College London. He is using a pseudonym due to restrictive press freedoms in North Korea, where he sometimes travels.

Andrew Pascoe is an Australian freelance journalist who covers business and politics. He has been published widely in Australia and for such global publications as Agence France-Presse, China Dialogue and Paydirt. He is a staff journalist at NK News.

Photo: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and naval vessels from the Republic SOMALI page 34

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REALIST

SOMALI

continued from page 32

and Obama administrations for hitching the future of the Manas airbase, vital to U.S. military operations in Central and South Asia, to the unreliable wagons of dictatorial regimes. The new Kyrgyz governments initially threatened to close the Manas facility in retribution, but the importance of the U.S. presence combined with the revenue banked from American rental payments and the subsidiary spillover effects from operations at Manas proved to be too important. Each time, careful renegotiation of the base's lease provisions and adjustments of the contracts for base services -- to change from companies tied to the old regime to those favored by the new -- led Bishkek to renew the American lease to the base.

So the real consideration in examining the situation in Bahrain is whether the presence of the U.S. military has brought concrete, tangible benefits to

continued from page 33

ordinary Bahrainis, particularly the members of the Shiite community.

My colleague at the Naval War College, John Schindler, argues that "several decades of U.S. policies towards the Middle East are unraveling in real time, before our eyes." Events certainly are demonstrating that Washington's ability to shape governments to our liking is limited. The old pattern was to find a leader who was amenable to the U.S. agenda and then to coax or bribe him to commit to it. In the new Middle East, the task will be much harder because it will require building a community of interests, so that populations are vested as shareholders in U.S. policies.

Egypt and Bahrain may be the first test cases as to whether this can be done.

Nikolas K. Gvosdev is the former editor of the National Interest, and a frequent foreign policy commentator in both the print and

broadcast media. He is currently on the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect those of the Navy or the U.S. government. His weekly WPR column, The Realist Prism, appears every Friday.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates escorts Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheik Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the commander-inchief of the defense forces of Bahrain, into the Pentagon, May 2010 (Defense Department photo

by R. D. Ward).

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

of Korea stream in formation in the Pacific Ocean, March 2009 (U.S. Navy photo by Spc. 3rd class Josue L. Escobosa).

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read

Rent Splitting Calculator Helps You Split Rent Fairly Between Roommates [Rent] Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/18/2011 7:30:00 AM

If you move into a house or apartment with multiple people, it can be difficult to split up rent—especially if everyone's tool will help you divvy the rooms have different shapes, burden with no fuss. More » sizes, and anoyances. This little

LIFE's photographic history of computing Kelly Guimont (TUAW)

free iPad app.

LIFE puts together galleries from Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:00:00 AM time to time around various LIFE Magazine was a great themes, and one that might be magazine in its day. Since ceasing relevant to your interests is A monthly publication in 2000 and Brief History Of Computing. c l o s i n g a s a n e w s p a p e r Starting with the abacus and supplement in 2007, the brand working through history to get to Highlights include a couple of itself appears on the occasional current events (I won't give away Steves, a guidance computer from "special issue" and has continued the ending!), it's an interesting the Apollo space program and the showcasing images on its website. look at how technology has first iPod. You can also browse the LIFE evolved on the computing front Which image is your favorite? archives through the lovely and over the last 5,000 years.

P.S. Our own Mike Rose was a

our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

staffer at the monthly LIFE from 1996 to 2000.

LIFE's photographic history of computing originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Monroe, former 'Meet the Press' host, dies (AP) (Yahoo! News: Obituaries) Submitted at 2/17/2011 2:40:54 PM

AP - Bill Monroe, who hosted the long-running Washington political television show "Meet the Press" for nearly a decade, died Thursday at a Washington-area nursing home.

Technology/

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Android Gingerbread & Honeycomb China Telecom close to Will Combine to Form Ice Cream inking deal with Apple for the CDMA iPhone 4 Sarah Perez (ReadWriteWeb)

"Chrome OS is unrelated to mobile phones. Chrome OS is for netbooks and PCs." However, At this week's Mobile World said Schmidt, "over time, we're Congress in Barcelona, Google's working on merging them." former CEO, now Executive Whether or not Google will Chairman, Eric Schmidt delivered actually be able to accomplish a keynote address where he such a feat is unknown, but it's revealed the future of the Android interesting to hear that its vision is mobile operating system. to have just one operating system Currently, there are two distinct for all devices - desktops, versions of Android: Android 2.3, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, TVs, code-named "Gingerbread" for mobile phones and more. Details smartphones and a newer, tablet- Android, but also Chrome OS, on Ice Cream optimized version of Android 3.0 Google's browser-based desktop In the nearer future, what can we called "Honeycomb." Schmidt OS. expect from the combined says that the two separate versions "I apologize for the confusion," versions of Gingerbread and will be merged in the next release said Schmidt in response to the Honeycomb? According to an question. He blamed the speed of interview between PhoneScoop of Android. innovation at Google for the and Google Android Engineering Sponsor causing the situation - different Director Dave Burke, Ice Cream Android Confusion The next version of Android is teams were working on the will bring Honeycomb's "Action expected to be called "Ice Cream" d i f f e r e n t v e r s i o n s o f t h e s e Bar" to Gingerbread. This is the or perhaps "Ice Cream Sandwich," operating systems at the same bar that brings the contextual, app but Schmidt did not confirm the time. Chrome OS Will Also -specific buttons to the top of the naming. All he said was that the M e r g e w i t h A n d r o i d , S a y s screen. follow-up release will start with S c h m i d t Burke also said that an "I" and will be named after a After responding that the two Honeycomb's "System Bar" (the concurrent versions of Android bar at the bottom) may not come dessert.

This information came up during would be merged in the next to phones, but would remain a the Q&A session at the end of his release, Schmidt also offhandedly tablet-only feature. The hologramk e y n o t e a s S c h m i d t t o o k mentioned that Chrome OS would esque visual styling found in questions from the audience. In e v e n t u a l l y b e m e r g e d w i t h Honeycomb will arrive in Ice this case, the audience member A n d r o i d , t o o .

Cream, though, as will had asked for clarity on the many In explaining the differences Honeycomb's multi-tasking app different variations of Google's between Android and Chrome switcher functionality. Discuss operating systems - not just OS, Schmidt put it simply: Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:11:26 AM

Kelly Hodgkins (TUAW) Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:00:00 AM

In a research note, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White suggest China Telecom is close to completing a deal with Apple to carry the CDMA iPhone 4. White cites a report on Chinese website NetEase that claims one branch of the wireless operator is already accepting pre-orders for the CDMA iPhone 4. He also refers to a microblog post, reportedly from a China Telecom employee, proclaiming that the first CDMA iPhone call has been placed on its network.

"It is unclear how pre-orders are available before an official announcement has been made by the two companies," White writes, "however, the key takeaway is that the relationship between Apple and China Telecom is clearly moving in the right direction, and we believe that a deal will eventually be announced this year."

A deal with China Telecom would help Apple break further into China's telecom market, the largest in the world with over 842

million total wireless subscribers.

Currently, China Unicom is the sole carrier of the iPhone 4 in China and is the #2 carrier in the Asian country with 167 million wireless subscribers. China Telecom comes in third place with 90 million subscribers, which according to White, accounts for almost 58 percent of the world's estimated 550 million CDMA customers. The remaining carrier, government-controlled China Mobile, has a whopping 584 million subscribers and is rumored to be negotiating with Apple to develop an iPhone compatible with the carrier's future TD-LTE network.

China Telecom close to inking deal with Apple for the CDMA iPhone 4 originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama dines with Jobs, Zuckerberg, other tech honchos (CNET News.com) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:19:36 AM

President Obama talks jobs and the economy with some of the nation's top tech leaders.(Credit: The White House) In a dinner meeting last night, the president and 12 of the country's leading technology executives discussed such hot-button issues as jobs, education, and how to get the U.S. economy back on track.

Joining the meeting with Obama were CEOs including notably Apple's Steve Jobs, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Google' Eric Schmidt, Yahoo's Carol Bartz, Cisco Systems' John Chambers, Twitter's Dick Costolo, and NetFlix's Reed Hastings.

Other participants were wellknown venture capitalist John Doerr, Stanford University president John Hennessy, former Genentech CEO Art Levinson, and Steve Westly, founder of the Westly Group.

President Obama chats with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.(Credit: The White

House) Hosted in their Woodside, Calif., home by Doerr and his wife Ann, the dinner was private and not open to the press, but the White House has released some details of the conversation.

Focusing on the administration's objectives, the president discussed his ideas for investing in research and development, creating more incentives for companies to

expand and hire workers, and the goal of doubling U.S. exports over the next five years as one way to support jobs.

The topic of education was also high on the list as the group chatted about the need for new investments in schools. With an emphasis on tech, the president and his dinner companions discussed ways to encourage people to study and pursue careers

entrepreneurship, increase U.S. exports, and get people back to work, according to the White House. Obama also expressed interest in ongoing discussions with the group as a way of sharing new ideas to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

The president continues his focus on technology today as he takes a tour an Intel plant in Oregon and meets with CEO Paul Otellini to discuss the company's efforts to invest in STEM to create more high-tech jobs. Obama also plans to appoint Otellini to a panel of experts set up to offer the administration advice on creating jobs. i n s c i e n c e , t e c h n o l o g y , This entry passed through the engineering, and math, also Full-Text RSS service — if this is known as STEM. Obama also your content and you're reading it t a l k e d u p h i s n e w S t a r t u p on someone else's site, please read America initiative, designed to our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ b u i l d p a r t n e r s h i p s b e t w e e n content-only/faq.php universities and the private sector Five Filters featured article: to help kick start new businesses. Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The meeting was part of an The Crosshairs. ongoing series of conversations with the business sector on how to strengthen the economy, support

LG Optimus 3D gets hefty price ahead of April release Chris Davies (SlashGear) Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:39:22 AM

LG’s Optimus 3D was always going to fall on the expensive side, with its dual 5-megapixel camera array and glasses-free 3D screen, but we’re still a little surprised by retailer Expansys‘

pre-order price. According to the listing, the Optimus 3D will be £514.99 ($835) when it arrives on April 25.

That’s the SIM-free and carrierunlocked price, naturally, so if you head down to your carrier of choice they’ll probably be heavily subsidizing it in return for a two-

year agreement. Still, from our

hands-on with the Optimus 3D at MWC 2011 earlier this week, we’re not sure the 3D functionality is quite worth the expense. [ via Android Community] Relevant Entries on SlashGear • Release date set for Optimus Maximus

• LG Optimus 2X pre-orders taken for Feb 21 release • Optimus 103 to cost $1,200 – geeks squeal WTF?!

• Optimus Upravlator finally breaks cover – Updated!

• Optimus Minimus swaps OLED for glue-based custom keyboard

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37

Facebook Shares Are Worth Almost Three Times More Than Tweets For E-Commerce Leena Rao (TechCrunch)

was able to directly attribute sales to the original action and took the total revenue attributed to each White label daily deals platform action and divided it by the total and TC Disrupt finalist ChompOn n u m b e r o f s h a r e s / T w e e t s . is releasing some interesting data ChompOn is working with 50 today comparing the value of partners including Blackbook shares, Tweets, likes and follows Magazine, JDeal and the wine in the context of e-commerce. v e r t i c a l o f f l a s h s a l e s s i t e Using data from the sites that it B e y o n d t h e r a c k , t o p o w e r powers daily deals for, ChompOn Groupon-like crowdsourced examined the conversion rate and coupons a c t i o n f o r d e a l s s h a r e d o n By comparison, ChompOn says Facebook and Twitter. the value of a Facebook like is $8 According to the startup, the and the value of a Twitter Follow value of a Facebook share is $14 is $2. For likes and follows, and the value of a Tweet is $5. ChompOn estimated attribution For shares and tweets, ChompOn by looking at traffic references Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:50:40 AM

and subtracting out purchases made through shares/Tweets as well as purchases made through direct traffic. Of course this data is a bit tenuous and anecdotal.

And it’s important to note that this analysis does not capture the long -term value of customers over time.

We’ve seen other data that shows

the higher value of a Facebook share over a Tweet. Eventbrite recently reported that a share with Facebook friends results in $2.52 worth of ticket sales whereas a Twitter share is only worth $0.43.

As we wrote back then, Facebook and email most closely match your real friends. In the context of events, this produces better conversions. But it’s interesting to see that in terms of commerce, Facebook again provides a higher value than Twitter in terms of conversions. CrunchBase Information ChompOn Information provided by CrunchBase

Data Nerds Will Nerd Out Over What Postrank's Doing With Data Now Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

company is tracking social media engagement with all kinds of things.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:43:56 AM Yesterday Postrank announced Social media analytics company the expansion of its browser plugPostrank has found two new ways in to include Google search to make use of the massive pile of results, so that select Google d a t a i t c o l l e c t s e a c h d a y results will now be appended with c o n c e r n i n g s o c i a l m e d i a data about their social media engagement with web content. engagement. (See screenshot Postrank scores pieces of content b e l o w . ) T o d a y , P o s t r a n k by the number of comments they l a u n c h e d a n e w d a t a b l o g : receive, the number of times they tracking variable social media a r e s h a r e d o n T w i t t e r , engagement between players in bookmarked on Delicious, linked various industries, like auto to by blogs and much more. The manufacturers or newspaper

websites. This is super smart and should be a great read.

Sponsor We use Postrank every day here at ReadWriteWeb for basic news research, but we also use it at special times to rank engagement for ourselves across news and opinion sites covering particular topics. See, for example, our use of Postrank to track the top geolocation blogs.

For Postrank to start its own blog highlighting content engagement trends across industries, funneling We're Kicking Our readers into more in-depth reports w h i c h f u n n e l t h e m f u r t h e r Shoes Off in This t o w a r d s b e c o m i n g p a y i n g Week's Open Thread customers, is very smart. It [Open Thread] should be fun for us as readers, Adam Pash (Lifehacker) too.

Stories told based on analysis of Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:30:00 AM interlinking URLs produced by You've been working your social media: I think there's a keyboard fingers to the bone this future in that. week. Take a little time to Discuss yourself in this week's open thread. More »

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Apple's revenue tops mobile market, inPulse Smart Watch but share sinking finally shipping Chris Ward (TUAW)

Apple's revenue increased a mere 131.9% over that of 2009 -- the Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:30:00 AM Google Android market is the There are those who will consider record holder, rising a whopping it bad news for Apple that their 861.5% from $11 million to $102 share of the total smartphone App million -- but that represents an Store market shrank by over 10% increase of more than a billion last year -- but there probably dollars in revenue for Apple won't be many sleepless nights in ($769 million to $1,782 million) Cupertino at the news, since in one year.

Apple's App Store still sells over The trend will likely continue in 8 2 % o f a l l a p p s u s e d o n future years, with Apple's revenue smartphones. increasing while its market share Although Apple's massive decreases, simply because there US$1.782 billion app revenue w i l l b e m o r e a n d m o r e (that's right, $1,782,000,000) competition in a marketplace they includes apps sold to both iPhone basically invented. The combining and iPad owners, it dwarfs by of the Nokia Ovi Store and the more than 10 times nearest rival W i n d o w s 7 m a r k e t p l a c e i s Blackberry's $165 million take for scheduled for this year and next 2 0 1 0 . I n p e r c e n t a g e t e r m s , and will offer keen competition

for RIM's Blackberry and Google's Android stores.

But Apple will be happy that they still earned around five times more than Blackberry, Nokia and Android put together -- and that's just from apps. Don't forget that Apple also manufactured and sold all the devices running those apps in the first place.

[Via Engadget] Apple's revenue tops mobile market, but share sinking originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chris Davies (SlashGear)

-inch 96 x 128 resolution color OLED display, Bluetooth 2.1, vibration motor, 52MHz ARM7 It’s taken inPulse a little longer CPU and 32KB of storage for than expected, but the company’s apps. The 150 mAh battery is Bluetooth watch for remotely good for up to four days use, and c o n t r o l l i n g a B l a c k B e r r y recharges by microUSB. s m a r t p h o n e i s n o w f i n a l l y [ via BerryReview] shipping. Priced from $149.99, Relevant Entries on SlashGear the watch has now opened up its • InPulse BlackBerry Bluetooth horizons to other platforms, too, watch gets pictured; shipping including certain Android phones imminently and jailbroken iPhones.

• Allerta inPulse BlackBerry Functionality ranges from Watch Shows Up Again previewing incoming messages, • inPulse smartwatch one step email and caller ID, to remotely closer to release c o n t r o l l i n g i T u n e s a n d • inPulse BlackBerry Bluetooth PowerPoint presentations and watch up for preorder; won’t ship even monitoring server ping until Feb 2010 times. inPulse also offers a free • inPulse BlackBerry Bluetooth SDK for Windows, OS X and smartwatch breaks cover Linux, so that owners can write their own code.

As for the hardware, there’s a 1.3 Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:52:48 AM

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Lance Armstrong: Cycling legend (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:08:00 AM

Obama Meets With the Real Leaders of the World (Photos) Marshall Kirkpatrick (ReadWriteWeb)

Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, Yahoo and other leading tech companies (but no Microsoft, Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:43:54 AM ouch) to discuss global media What does the President of the disruption, OTA installs for the United States say to the unelected Bohemian Grove iPad app and the leader of a teaming populace fast risk of inflation in Farmville. a p p r o a c h i n g t h e e q u i v a l e n t Who knows what they talked population, but half his age? about? Until someone spills the Thanks for following me on beans on Quora, all we can do is Facebook? Watch out for Zynga, s p e c u l a t e . H o p e f u l l y t h e I don't trust them? Barack Obama discussion leaned forward into the met yesterday with CEOs from future and hit on some substantive

topics for the future of humanity.

Seriously, the future of being human on this planet is likely to be built using Google data crunching tools, to spread through Facebook and Twitter and to be interfaced with through iPhones, iPads and cheaper devices that follow their lead. This kind of meeting ought to happen more often. The other picture from the White House Flickr account is posted below.

Sponsor Cheers! May your wealth and power beyond wealth and power bring you enough beneficence and good will to outweigh the myopic insanity of your positions and the speed and scope of the changes you're standing at the front of.

Now please someone bring us a killer Facebook app for the iPad! P h o t o s b y photographer@petesouza. Discuss

Seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong formally announced his retirement from cycling on Wednesday. The 39year-old athlete from Texas had initially retired from cycling in 2005, but returned in 2009 to finish third in the Tour his first year back. This time, Armstrong says his retirement is final. • "Today, I am announcing my retirement from professional cycling in order to devote myself full-time to my family, to the fight against cancer and to leading the foundation I established before I won my first Tour de France," he said in a statement.

Take a look back at the storied career of this seven-time Tour de France winner.

Full story at Discovery News.

More news from Discovery Communications.

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Sony Ericsson’s 4G Android tablet prototype spotted Chris Davies (SlashGear) Submitted at 2/18/2011 7:59:20 AM

We were only just talking about Sony Ericsson’s Android tablet plans, and now shots of what could be the company’s 4G prototype have emerged from deep in the TDIA MWC 2011 booth. NieuweMobiel spotted the slate – branded with the TD-LTE 4G used by China Mobile, the carrier which Sony Ericsson has already said it is working with – complete with a front-facing 3.0megapixel webcam and what’s estimated to be a 6 to 7-inch touchscreen.

Full specifications are unknown,

but TDIA did confirm that the slate runs – or will run; it’s not clear if it’s a functional unit or not, and was shown turned off – an unspecified version of Android. TD-LTE is also being

trialled in Germany, so this might not be solely a device for the Chinese market.

In fact, the Sony Ericsson slate may not be released at all; it could well only be a test device. That’s

probably not a bad thing, given the bulky casing and the fact it apparently has a resistive touchscreen.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear • Sony Ericsson Vivaz 2 (aka Hallon) gets pre-announce preview • Xperia X8 Android 2.1 update rolling out now • ICD Ultra Android tablet gets fondled • Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X8 ships, Android 1.6 proudly on board • Tiny Sony Ericsson XPERIA leaks with 1GHz processor punch

Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:59:29 AM

The White House has just posted several photos from President Obama’s dinner with a number of Silicon Valley’s technology CEOs and leaders yesterday evening. As you can see from the photos, the star studded invitee list included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, Cisco’s CEO John Chambers, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Netflix CEO Reed

Hastings, Genentech Chairman Art Levinson; Google CEO Eric Schmidt; former state controller and venture capitalist Steve Westly Doerr, and Stanford University President John

Hennessy. The event was held at Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr’s home.

The “cheers” photo above is a little cheesy, but as you can see, both Steve Jobs and Mark

(HowStuffWorks Daily Feed) Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:00:56 AM

We've all had those days when we feel like a cube monkey and think, "there must be a better way to make money!" Well, there might be a hobby that not only makes you money, but makes you more money than your current job. Test your knowledge and see Zuckerberg got the prime seats at what hobbies might pay your bills the table, both seated next to in our quiz.

President Obama. And the candid Earn a point for every right of picture of the President answer! Save your score at the engaged in conversation with end of the quiz.

Zuckerberg is also a priceless This entry passed through the shot. It’s interesting that the Full-Text RSS service — if this is White House chose to release that your content and you're reading it particular photo to the public. on someone else's site, please read Any guesses as to what Obama, our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ Zuck, Bartz, Jobs and the rest are content-only/faq.php toasting to?

Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

What Are President Obama, Zuck, Jobs And Other Silicon Valley Tech Stars Toasting To? Leena Rao (TechCrunch)

Job vs. Hobby: How much can you make?

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Newstablet Edition

41

Honor, the Mideast Rebels--and Us (AEI.Org: Articles) Submitted at 2/17/2011 5:00:00 PM

Finally, the national conversation about democracy is relatively mature and serious. Save for some TV news anchors, just about everyone seems to understand that democracy is tricky.

That skepticism was hard earned.

The last decade provided painful lessons for everyone, on both sides of the ideological aisle.

Liberals, who were once naively optimistic about democracy promotion, turned dour when President George W. Bush became naively optimistic about it. Then supporters of Bush's freedom agenda learned a tough lesson from, among other things, the disastrous but democratic elections that put a terrorist junta in charge of Gaza.

Hence the irony of so many small -d democrats' quietly celebrating the fact that Egypt is living under undemocratic martial law, rather than democratic Islamic law as interpreted by a Muslim Brotherhood caliphate.

This new consensus -- that democracy is about more than lever pulling on Election Day -- is progress.

Democracy is essential to a liberal order, but it's less important than the rule of law, honest courts, individual rights (including property rights) and the institutions -- legal and cultural -that nurture them.

Modernity brings prosperity,

which fuels an insatiable appetite for respect, and that demand for respect is what topples tyrannies.

Bush famously proclaimed that the desire for freedom burns in every human heart. I'm sympathetic to such notions and the statecraft that drives such pronouncements. But what drives the urge for liberty?

The notion that we all crave personal liberty is a fairly new one. Most calls for freedom over the centuries have been in the context of national, not personal, liberation. The 20th century began with an atrocious war allegedly fought over something called "self -determination," but the "self" in question wasn't the id, ego or super ego but referred to the captive nations of Europe.

Freedom fighters have generally battled for the collective right to fly a national flag, not the individual right to burn one.

The great change, as Francis Fukuyama wrote in his book "The End of History and the Last Man," has been the evolution of individual self-determination.

Fukuyama borrows a term, "thumos," from the ancient Greeks to explain the transformation. Thumos, or "spiritedness," encompasses the instinct for justice, respect, integrity.

"People evaluate and assign worth to themselves in the first instance and feel indignation on their own behalf," he writes. "But they are also capable of assigning worth to

other people, and feeling anger on behalf of others."

Indignation, the driving passion of all revolutions, shares a root with dignity, a person's (and a people's) sense of self-worth. A major cause of Mideast political stagnation, for instance, has been that Arab and Muslim dictators have linked their people's selfrespect with the Palestinians' plight.

More positively, in our country, the civil-rights movement and the women's movement were, at their core, what Harvard philosopher Harvey Mansfield has called "honor-seeking movements."

To understand continuity between the old conception of liberty and the modern one, you need to understand that freedom in the West mostly means "free to be me." Freedom in much of the rest of the world remains "free to be us."

The genius of liberal democracy is that it allows both conceptions to flourish simultaneously, often in healthy tension. Far from perfect, liberal democracy offers the most people the most respect possible.

The tumult throughout the Mideast is a generational conflagration between different conceptions of thumos -- old and modern, Muslim and nationalist, collective and individual. In the long run, I'm not too worried about liberal democracy's prospects in the Middle East.

Modernity brings prosperity,

which fuels an insatiable appetite for respect, and that demand for respect is what topples tyrannies.

I'm more concerned about what's happening here. Thumos is evolving in Western democracies, which is not the same thing as saying it's improving.

Our fiscal woes, not to mention the riot of dysfunction that often goes by the name political correctness and the thu mos on the cheap that we call the self-esteem industry, are in no small part attributable to the perversion of our sense of self-worth. For millions of Americans, it seems that respect must be paid in the form of cash tribute. How else to explain the sanctity of our aptly named "entitlement" system?

Great civilizations die when the people believe their personal dignity demands more than the society can possibly provide.

Sadly, that conversation has barely begun.

Jonah Goldberg is a visiting scholar at AEI. Photo Credit: Flickr user logan.brown/Creative Commons This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Reporter Serene Branson Suffered 'Migraine Aura,' Not a Stroke Chris Harnick (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/18/2011 4:45:00 AM

Filed under: TV News Serene Branson, the CBS reporter who flubbed her lines on Grammy night, did not suffer a stroke but rather a migraine aura.

Doctors had previously diagnosed Branson with a complex migraine, but according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Branson suffered a migraine aura. Symptoms for a migraine aura include visual, language and sensory problems.

Branson said she suffered from blurred vision and numbness and tingling in her face and hands, two key symptoms of migraine aura according to Dr. Andrew Charles, director of UCLA's headache research and treatment program.

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42

Policy/ Culture/ Products/

Newstablet Edition

Dupes of False Innovation (AEI.Org: Articles) Submitted at 2/17/2011 5:00:00 PM

Is there real innovation in banking and finance, or just endless, cyclical repetition of credit enthusiasms and mistakes?

James Grant, an acerbic chronicler of the foibles of financial markets, argues that, though science and engineering are progressive, finance is cyclical. Writing in the 1990s about the 1980s, he observed: "In technology, therefore, banking has almost never looked back. On the other hand, this progress has paid scant dividends in judgment.

Surrounded by computer terminals, bankers in the 1980s committed some of the greatest howlers in American financial history."

And how about the bankers of the 21st century? Surrounded by vastly more computer power, supplied with reams of data and informed by Nobel Prize-winning financial theories, they made even more egregious mistakes. They created, as we all know so well, an amazing bubble, an international panic and a

massively costly bust.

A while ago, the Financial Times had a contest to come up with the best word for the opposite of a "bubble." My entry was a "shrivel"-which did not win. The winning entry was a "bunge."

This was drawn from "bungee cord," the idea being that you experience a terrifying free fall but do in the end reach bottom and bounce back. Financial innovation has a lot in common with this pattern.

In every boom, we hear about "creative" new financial products.

For example, the Clinton administration's homeownership strategy in the 1990s called for "creative mortgages." An extreme example of this sort of "creativity" was the "option ARM" mortgage, on which you did not even pay all the interest due, thus, in effect, borrowing more every month-and this additional borrowing was booked as income by the lender!

Such products are not real innovations. They are merely new names for diminishing credit standards, running up leverage and increasing risk.

In the same fashion, "CDOs-

squared" and "SIVs" were merely new names for lending long and borrowing short, as the "GSE" charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were for running at extreme leverage. All these ways of increasing old risks by new names bring the same inevitable, sad end. They are all illusory as innovations.

I propose to distinguish between illusory and real financial innovations. Real innovations turn ideas into institutions that endure.

Real innovations occur much less frequent than cyclical illusory innovations, of course, because it is hard to do something truly new.

Nonetheless, they do happen.

Here are some real innovations from fairly recent financial experience: interest rate swaps.

TIPS (these inflation-indexed Treasury securities make it harder for the government to cheat savers through inflation, a worthy achievement), senior-subordinated securitizations, money market mutual funds, automated teller machines, general-purpose charge and debit cards and the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.

From further back in financial

history, we have: mutual funds, deposit insurance, futures exchanges, stock exchanges and central banks.

True innovations shape and constrain but cannot prevent the next new ideas, and so on forever.

The combination of true and illusory innovations ensures that financial markets are always in transition.

The constant challenge to bankers and all financial actors is to try to separate real innovations, which will last and be productive, from the illusory ones, which will tempt them once again to overexpand credit, triggering a credit collapse. Alex J. Pollock is a resident fellow at AEI. Photo Credit:Flickr user/amy/ Creative Commons This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Questions of Health - from Consumer Reports Press Room (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/17/2011 9:00:59 PM

Questions of Health - from Consumer Reports This month, Consumer Reports' medical experts answer reader questions about nasal sprays diminishing one's sense of smell, and the healthfullness of colored rice.

Questions of Health - CR Podcast Subscribe now!

S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Like us, early humans ran the gamut (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:01:00 AM

Although they did not act “modern,” new evidence suggests humans living in East Africa 200,000 years ago were as complex in their behavior as

humans living today.

John Shea, an anthropologist at Stony Brook University, asserts that some of the behaviors associated with modern humans—specifically our capacity for wide behavioral variability—did occur among

early humans.

“Comparing the behavior of our most ancient ancestors to Upper Paleolithic Europeans holistically and ranking them in terms of their ‘behavioral modernity’ is a waste of time,” argues Shea. “There are no such things as modern humans, just Homo sapiens populations

with the capacity for a wide range of behavioral variability.

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

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Policy/ Economy/ Food/

Newstablet Edition

43

"The Quran Is Our Law; Jihad Is Our Whatever Happened To Way" Deflation?

(AEI.Org: Articles)

Egypt in 1928 by Hassan alBanna; its history of terrorism; its Submitted at 2/17/2011 5:00:00 PM violent offshoots such as al For a sense of the kind of Egypt Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamait the Muslim Brotherhood wants, Islamiya, Islamic Jihad, Hamas start with its motto. and others across the Muslim 'Allah is our objective; the world. Readers may also recall the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is brutal crackdowns on the Brothers our law; Jihad is our way; dying by autocratic regimes in the in the way of Allah is our highest Middle East--particularly in Egypt hope." So goes the motto of the under Nasser and in Syria during Muslim Brotherhood. the Hama massacre of 1982.

What's extraordinary about this As a result of these crackdowns, maxim is the succinct way that it t h e B r o t h e r h o o d r e n o u n c e d captures the political dimension of violence in the 1970s (after Islam. Even more extraordinary is Nasser's regime executed the the capacity of these five pillars of Islamist philosopher Sayyid Qutb faith to attract true believers. But in 1966) and started a gradual the most remarkable thing of all is p r o c e s s t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n the way the Brotherhood's motto c o n v e n t i o n a l p o l i t i c s . T h i s seduces Western liberals. renunciation--and the Readers of this paper are familiar Brotherhood's involvement in the with the genesis of the Muslim Egyptian uprising, neither violent Brotherhood: its establishment in nor dominant--has prompted some

commentators to encourage the American government to engage with the Brothers as legitimate partners in Middle Eastern affairs.

This article is available in full by subscription to the Wall Street Journal. The full text will be posted to AEI.org on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a resident scholar at AEI. Photo Credit: Flickr user Messay Shoakena/Creative Commons This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Dean Baker (Money Game) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:46:32 AM

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in January. On closer inspection this should not be any big deal. Core inflation rose by just 0.2 percent in the month. The main driver of the higher inflation was a big jump in energy prices.

However even with this jump the overall CPI is only up by 1.6 percent over the last year, a level that all but the most loony inflation hawks would consider acceptable.

Still, it is worth noting that the possibility of deflation seems to have disappeared from the scene.

Since this possibility featured prominently in many discussions of the economy in the period immediately following the financial crisis, it probably would be worth some brief mention of its passing.

The issue of deflation has (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks) savor to foods while adding zero Brown Rice consistently been misrepresented calories and zero saturated fat.

This entry passed through the We've identified 20 ingredients With this list of gold-standard Full-Text RSS service — if this is in economic reporting. The that get our creative juices quick-cooking ingredients in your content and you're reading it economy is suffering from a f l o w i n g , f r o m f r e s h , hand, we also provide 20 easy on someone else's site, please read lower than desired inflation rate, superconvenient products like recipes perfect for busy nights. our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ which limits the effectiveness of monetary policy. Given the bagged baby spinach, to go-to We hope these inspire you to content-only/faq.php pantry standards like organic stock your own pantry and Five Filters featured article: severity of the downturn we canned black beans, to high-flavor experiment further. Fast, fresh, Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In would like a large negative real interest rate (e.g -0.6 percent) . spice-rack heroes like smoked and healthy can be something The Crosshairs. paprika, which gives a bacon-y else, too—fun. Next Boil-in-Bag

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However, nominal interest rates cannot go below zero.

This means that the real interest rate can't fall below the negative of the inflation rate (e.g, with a zero nominal interest rate, the real interest rate would be -1.0 percent with a 1.0 percent inflation rate and -2.0 percent with a 2.0 percent inflation rate). If the inflation rate falls below zero (i.e. we get deflation), this problem gets worse, but the drop in the inflation rate from 0.5 percent to 0.5 percent is no worse than the drop from 1.5 percent to 0.5 percent.

It was also predictable that there would not be persistent deflation in the United States. Wages are sticky downward, which made it unlikely that core prices would actually start falling. Also, the current rise in commodity prices was to be expected as the dollar would drift lower as a result of the U.S. trade deficit and also demand in China and other fast growing developing countries created scarcity for many products.

Anyhow, given how fears of deflation had once featured so prominently in discussions of economic policy it is worth some noting of their passing.

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Economy/

Newstablet Edition

Is Shale Oil The Answer To Peak Oil? Gail E. Tverberg (Money Game) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:21:00 AM

Readers have been asking questions about a couple of shale oil articles recently. One is an AP article called New drilling method opens vast oil fields in US. A similar article is a CNBC article titled Massive New US Oil Supply – ‘Peak Oil’ Fears Overblown? Both of these articles talk about the extraction of shale oil in the Bakken and other locations, using horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing.

According to the AP article: Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California.

By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day — more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.

This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.

There are several questions that might be asked: 1. Is this really a new drilling technique?

2. How likely is the 2 million barrels a day of new production, and the 20% increase in US production, by 2015?

3. Can this additional oil supply

really reduce the US’s imports by over half?

4. How much of a difference will this oil make to “peak oil”?

Let’s take the questions in order.

1. Is this really a new drilling technique?

No., this is not really a new drilling technique. According to Wikipedia, hydraulic fracturing was first used in the United States for stimulating oil and gas wells in 1947. It was first used commercially in 1949.

Directional drilling, including horizontal drilling is almost as old, but it was not widely used until downhill motors and semicontinuous surveying became possible. The techniques have

gradually been refined, as oil and gas companies have used them more and supporting technologies have been better developed.

A major reason we are using these techniques is because much of the easy-to-extract oil has already been extracted. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are more expensive, but can be used to get out oil that would be inaccessible otherwise. The hope is that oil prices will be high enough to make these techniques profitable.

2. How likely is the 2 million barrels a day of new production, and the 20% increase in US production, by 2015?

That is a good question. There is

certainly a lot of drilling for oil being done now. According to Baker Hughes, 805 rigs are now involved in oil drilling. This is above the oil rig high point in 1987. (Natural gas rig counts are down recently, so much of this rig count increase seems to represent a re-purposing of rigs.)

Active rigs in North Dakota have also increased greatly. (These rigs are include both oil and natural gas, but with the Bakken and Eagle Ford plays in North Dakota, it seems as though most would be oil rigs.)

There are several reasons why the hoped for increase might not be realized, however. These include: Inadequate infrastructure. One

question is whether inadequate infrastructure will prove to be a roadblock to meeting ambitious production goals in five to 10 years. The AP article quoted above mentions that currently oil is being transported to market by rail and truck, and drilling companies have erected camps for workers. If infrastructure problems are already being reached, before the ramp-up really takes place, a person wonders how much of an obstacle these considerations will be in the future.

Inadequate price. What tends to happen when there isn’t adequate transportation for the oil is the selling price of the oil tends to be depressed, relative to other types.

As of February 8, the spot price for Brent was $99.25; the spot price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was $85.85, and the spot price for North Dakota Sweet was $65.61. The target discount rate relative to WTI is quoted as being 10% (because it is a light oil), but the actual price seems to be much lower.

It is easy for operators to assume that the price differential will get better, and also that the prices of other types of oil will continue to rise. But all of these things are by no means certain. High oil prices tend to send the economy into recession, so world prices may not rise as much as hoped–they may oscillate instead, rising, then SHALE page 45

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putting the economy into recession and falling again. Also the differential of North Dakota types of crude to Brent may stay low for an extended period, if infrastructure issues cannot be worked out.

Optimism before drilling. There are many unknowns before drilling including how quickly oil production from individual wells will decline, how long wells will prove to be economic, what proportion of wells will have high production, and the level of oil and gas prices in the future. It is natural for those who are trying to get others to invest in these ventures to base their assumptions on an optimistic view of the future. If experience with shale gas in Texas is any clue, once realities start setting in, the level of drilling may decline, and overall production, after an initial run-up, may decline. If this happens, it will be very difficult to meet the ambitious goals presented.

Large amount of increase required. If we look at a graph of countrywide US oil production, it has been decreasing prior to an uptick in 2009 and 2010. Bakken oil production (in ND +MT) is shown near the bottom of Figure 4. It appears as a thin blue line that was a bit thicker back in the late 1980s, became thinner for many years, and now is a bit thicker (reaching an average of about 370,000 barrels a day in 2010). Getting that line, or that line plus some other areas that are only starting up, to increase by

2 million barrels a day, to 2,370,000 per day by 2015, would be a tall order.

Likely other declines at same time. US crude oil production has been headed downward for a long time–actually since 1970, not just since 1985 shown on the graph Figure 4. If overall production is to be increases by 2 million barrels a day by 2015, it will be necessary to overcome these declines, as well as add 2 million barrels a day of new production.

What happens is that each year, more and more oil fields and oil wells within oil fields become non -economic. These are closed.

Also, what is extracted is an oilwater mix, and the proportion of oil tends to fall over time. This means that if a given volume of oil-water mix is processed from a well, each year the well will yield less oil and more water.

There has been discussion of raising taxes on oil companies.

Raising taxes on oil companies tends to raise the number of wells that are non-economic.

According to Figure 5, about 85% of US wells are now producing less than 15 barrels a day, and about 15% of wells are moderate rate wells, producing 15 to 1,600 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Only a small percentage are high rate wells. If tax rates increase, some of them will be closed. New wells will also become less economic, and some wells will not be drilled that would otherwise be drilled.

So a person would expect an increase in taxes on oil companies

to result in a step down in existing production. Many of the oil companies affected will be small–their only business may be a few wells producing less than 15 barrels a day. The amount of oil produced by so-called stripper wells is about 900,000 barrels a day.

Another area where there is risk of decline is Alaska. The TransAlaska Pipeline System is suffering from issues related to low flow and corrosion. Major upgrades to the system may be needed, including heating the line, to keep it operational. At some point, the amount of “fixes” to the Alaska pipeline will exceed the value to be gained from shipping the oil, and the whole system may need to be closed because of low flow. The current flow through the pipeline is 640,000 barrels a day.

3. Can this additional oil supply really reduce the US’s imports by over half, in ten years?

US oil consumption reached its maximum level in 2005. Figure 5 shows a breakdown into its major components.

The crude layer in blue is the same countrywide crude oil production as shown in Figure 4.

The purple layer on the top is imports (minus exports), so net imports, based on EIA data. The layer I have called miscellaneous is everything else that goes into what is reported as “liquids.”

Recently, the miscellaneous category has been about one-half natural gas liquids, one-quarter ethanol, and one-quarter “refinery

gain”–that is the expansion that occurs when the US refines crude oil. The “miscellaneous” items are products that provide less energy per barrel than oil. Many people believe that these additional items have been included in “liquids” figures to make US oil production look like it is performing better than it really is.

Natural gas liquids. I am suspicious that quite a bit of the 2 million barrels a day of additional production by 2015 that is being forecast is not really oil. Instead, I expect it will be natural gas liquids. This currently represents about half of the “miscellaneous” layer in Figure 6. Natural gas liquids (NGLs) include propane, butane, and other gasses. It may very well that much of the recent increase in “oil” drilling rigs is, in fact, primarily for NGLs, since there has been a great deal of recent interest in liquids-rich gasses. In fact, some articles talk about the possibility of falling prices for NGLs, because of a possible supply-demand imbalance, if production of these ramps up.

An increase in NGLs would be of lesser benefit than oil, because it is not directly substitutable for oil, and is a cheaper product.

Initially, it would mostly make home heating for those using propane cheaper, but then tend to drive NGL developers out of the market. Unless NGLs can cheaply be converted to higher priced oil products (and refinery capacity can be added quickly to

accomplish this), it would seem like a drop in prices would quickly put an end to the NGL ramp-up.

Imports. Figure 7 shows a graph of US net imports–that is the top layer on Figure 6–by themselves.

(On all of these graphs, the data for 2010 is through November, but I have estimated December, to give an approximate 2010 value.)

It seems to me that oil imports really depend on what the US can afford for imports–how high the price is, how much oil for export is on the world market (which helps determine the price), and whether the US is in recession because of high oil prices. Oil imports were increasing up until 2005; now they are decreasing.

This decrease in oil imports reflects the fact that oil in the world export market peaked in 2005, as much as anything else.

High oil prices (and layoffs indirectly related to high oil prices) have made it difficult for people to afford goods and services that require oil in their production (vacation trips, new homes, new cars, many other types of goods). As a result, US demand for oil products has dropped to the point where our imports have dropped each year since 2005.

In my view, if additional US oil is produced, it actually helps increase US demand for oil products–in fact for all products.

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this puts more money into the economy. It also helps keep world oil prices from escalating as fast as they would otherwise. The net effect is that I would expect higher US oil production to increase US imports (or maybe, keep imports from falling as fast), because they will help keep the US out of recession. I am sure some will disagree with me on this, however.

US oil imports have declined about 25% in the five years since 2005. In the next ten years, I would expect oil imports to continue to decline, regardless of what we do, because the amount of oil on the world market will continue to drop, and oil importers will tend more and more to be in recession. It is not clear how much US oil imports will drop, but a 50% drop in the next 10 years would not seem all that unlikely, regardless of what we what we produce, because of oil exporting countries will tend to consume more, and more countries will shift from being exporters to importers. We are currently importing 9.4 million barrels a day, so a reduction by half by 2020 would be a reduction of 4.7 million barrels a day.

Responding to the initial assertion that the oil ramp-up will permit a reduction by half of oil imports by 2020. If somehow over the next ten years, we could really produce 4.7 million barrels of oil to offset the decline in oil imports that we will likely be losing because of declines in the world

export market, that would be wonderful. But at most, what it looks like the author of the AP article is looking for is a mixture of NGLs and crude oil that might ramp up to 2 million barrels a day by 2015, and 4.7 million barrels a day by 2020, in addition to compensating for whatever other declines we might be encountering.

If the mixture is heavily NGLs, it seems as though refineries will need to be reconfigured to adjust the NGLs to permit reformation into longer-length chains, to make the NGLs truly substitutable for oil. I do not know how feasible such a step would be, or what the “energy cost” would be.

It would really be the net oil addition, after the conversion process, that would be of interest.

4. How much of a difference will this oil make to “peak oil”?

It seems to me that whatever additional oil and NGLs are produced will have a much bigger impact on the US economy than it will have on “peak oil.”

Adding more energy, if it can be done at a price that is affordable, will be help keep the US out of recession, and thus keep employment up and demand for energy products up.

We have known for a long time that a huge amount of oil is available, in forms that are increasingly difficult to extract.

The question, in my view, is how much of this huge amount of oil is economic to extract. This is closely related to Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI). At

some point, oil becomes too expensive to extract; it just puts the economy into recession, or worse. A schematic diagram of what happens is shown in Figure 8: We have known about the Bakken oil shale and the many other shales that have NGLs for a long time. There are also many other types of oil that we know about (such as ultra-deepwater, polar, oil-shale) that are quite expensive to extract, both in terms of price in dollars and in terms of resources required. The resources required are not just the direct resources of drilling–they also include pipelines that might not be used for very many years, and even local refineries, which again might not be used for many years, and training for workers. With respect to NGLs, if they are to be used as “regular” oil, they will need unification, perhaps with catalytic reforming, if they are to be used as longer-chain hydrocarbons, which are the higher-priced, more desirable, product. The big question is whether these processes can be made to be economic. If we ever get to the point where more energy is consumed in these processes than we get out at the end, the processes are clearly losers.

To me, each decision to drill a new well, or to start a new field, or even to continue pumping from an existing well, is based on the economics of the day. Some fields or potential wells or new wells drop below the “Non-

economic” line on Figure 8, as tax rates rise. Others rise about the non-economic line, as technology improves. But by and large, the vast majority of oil resources that we know about will forever lie below the non-economic line. The assumption that oil prices will rise high enough to allow us to extract all of these oil sources is based on an incomplete understanding of the situation. At some point, the costs (and energy demands) of extraction and processing just become too high, relative to the benefits. Demand can never rise high enough to produce the high prices required for extraction. Ultimately, production will fall, not from a lack of resources, but from inadequate demand for highpriced oil from low quality resources.

The manner in which Figure 8 fits in with Hubbert’s Curve is not directly obvious. Most “liquid” oil will tend to be in the upper “economic” triangle. Most “solid” forms of oil will tend to be in the bottom portion of the triangle.

(Hubbert’s Curve is usually applied only to the liquid portion of oil resources.)

But within this general breakdown, the edges will be determined by economics–does it make financial sense to use a particular tertiary recovery method on a particular liquid-oil field? Is it economic to extract something that is not quite liquid oil (like NGLs) and transform it to something that might operate vehicles?

One thing that is definitely different about Figure 8, compared to Hubbert’s Curve, is a different implication regarding how much is left, when the noneconomic line is reached.

Hubbert’s Curve discussion talks about half of the oil being gone, when decline starts. There is no such implication with Figure 8.

Operators will continue to extract oil that can be extracted at low price (high EROI), even as more and more new types of extraction fall below the non-economic line.

But it seems quite likely that much less than half of the lowpriced (high EROEI) oil will be left, when we start running into difficulties with new oil types falling below the non-economic line.

To me, the big question is whether Bakken oil shale, other oil shales, and all of the additional NGLs can really be made economic. If they can, and the amount of oil extracted raised to the hoped-for 2+ million barrels a day by 2015 and 4.7+ million barrels a day by 2020, the new oil sources may help to keep recession away for a while longer.

But if not, we are likely nearing the point where limited oil supply will push us more and more into recession. I am doubtful that the new oil shale sources can ramp up as quickly as hoped, but there is at least some glimmer of hope that these fuels will help keep the day of reckoning away a bit longer.

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Gallup Survey Pegs Mid-February U.S. Unemployment at 10%; Analysis of the Jobs and Unemployment Situation noreply@blogger.com (Michael Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis)

-February Underemployment, in which Gallup combines part-time workers wanting full-time work Submitted at 2/17/2011 11:34:00 AM Gallup says the unemployment with the U.S. unemployment rate, rate is 10.0%. However, that is a surged in mid-February to 19.6% "without seasonal adjustment". -- mostly as a result of the sharp On the same basis, the BLS has increase in those working part the January unemployment rate at time but wanting full-time work.

9.8%.

Underemployment now stands at The "official" unemployment rate basically the same place as it did a from the BLS is 9.0%, seasonally year ago (19.8%). adjusted.

The Jobs Situation Now Versus a Please consider Gallup Finds Year Ago U.S. Unemployment Up to 10.0% The unemployment rate in midin Mid-February February is 0.8 percentage points Unemployment, as measured by lower than it was at this time a G a l l u p w i t h o u t s e a s o n a l year ago, compared with a 1.1adjustment, hit 10.0% in mid- point improvement at the end of February -- up from 9.8% at the January. This suggests that jobs end of January. are less available now than they Numbers reflect rolling averages were in January. for the 30-day periods ending on More troubling, however, is the the 15th and last day of each surge in underemployment. On month from January 2010 through this broader basis, current job February 15, 2011. conditions are barely improved The percentage of part-time from what they were at this time workers who want full-time work last year. Essentially, what has worsened considerably in mid- happened over the past year is February, increasing to 9.6% of that some people who were the workforce from 9.1% in unemployed got part-time jobs but January. are still looking for full-time Part Time Workers Wanting Full work. This is not much to show Time Jobs for a year in which many macroUnderemployment Surges in Mid economic indicators showed

Moreover, were it not for millions dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be 11%.

Here is one final thought. How much taxpayer money is wasted by thousands of BLS workers putting out constantly-revised results when we can easily get results of high quality from the other places for far cheaper? improvement. .8% drop year over-year in Mike "Mish" Shedlock This is likely why Gallup's self- unemployment and a rise of .6% h t t p : / / reported spending remains stuck in part-time workers wanting a globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. i n " n e w n o r m a l " e v e n a s full-time job. com consumer optimism continues to Gallup notes the year-over-year Click Here To Scroll Thru My hit new highs. Jobs remain the trend in unemployment is rising. Recent Post List Mike key to getting the U.S. economy This should not be surprising. "Mish" Shedlock is a registered m o v i n g , a n d m i d - F e b r u a r y Many retail companies did not let investment advisor representative underemployment results suggest go workers in January that they f o r S i t k a P a c i f i c C a p i t a l little or no progress is being hired for the Christmas season. Management. Sitka Pacific is an made in that regard. Analysis of It was on that basis I suggested asset management firm whose the Jobs Situation last November and December we goal is strong performance and The best comparison of statistics could see a couple of "hot low volatility, regardless of i s n o n - s e a s o n a l l y - a d j u s t e d months" at the beginning of the market direction. Visit http:// numbers to the same month a year year. We did not see it in jobs, but w w w . s i t k a p a c i f i c . c o m / ago. I added blue circles on the it sure showed up in the large account_management.html to charts to show. drop last month in the BLS l e a r n m o r e a b o u t w e a l t h While the BLS and Gallup both s e a s o n a l l y - a d j u s t e d m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p i t a l have non-adjusted unemployment u n e m p l o y m e n t r a t e . preservation strategies of Sitka rate dropping nearly a percent Now, unless corporations are Pacific. from a year ago, the Gallup about to go on a hiring spree, (and results suggest that much of that I doubt they are), I would expect drop is from part-time hiring. To unemployment rate to at least tick be more precise Gallup shows a up to the 9.5-9.6% area again.

If We Lose Bahrain Nichole Hungerford (FrontPage Magazine Âť FrontPage)

Obscure to most Americans, but vitally important to the American military, the tiny island nation of

Middle Eastern country Bahrain has become the latest

48

Economy/

Japan's Social Security Panel Wants to Double Sales Taxes; Tax Cut Independents Win Local Elections in Landslide; Japan's Debt Trap Has No Escape

Newstablet Edition

SHALE continued from page 46

Gail Tverberg is a writer and speaker about energy issues. She is especially known for her work with financial issues associated with peak oil. Prior to getting involved with energy issues, Ms. noreply@blogger.com (Michael Raising the sales tax may have two major parties and revived Mike "In Tokyo" notes Japan Tverberg worked as an actuarial Shedlock) (Mish's Global political consequences. Kan’s public doubt about the nascent Wasted$78 Billion on Global consultant. This work involved Economic Trend Analysis) Democratic Party of Japan lost two-party system.

Warming Research in six years. performing insurance-related elections for the Upper House of 'It is the beginning of the collapse Given a 200% Debt-to-GDP analyses and forecasts. Her Submitted at 2/18/2011 3:15:00 AM After decades of foolishly parliament in July after he floated of the two-party system,' Minoru ratio, the world's worst aging p e r s o n a l blog is fighting deflation, Japan is broke. the idea of raising the levy. When Morita, a veteran political analyst, demographics, and with Social ourfiniteworld.com. She is also an Social Security now consumes a the tax was last raised in 1997, the said.

Security consuming 53% of editor of The Oil Drum. whopping 53% of government economy went into recession.

The independents, Hideaki government spending, Japan is in This post originally appeared on spending and that number will More than 60 percent of voters Omura, and the Nagoya Mayor a debt trap with no possible Oilprice.com. rise. b e l i e v e r a i s i n g t h e t a x i s T a k a s h i K a w a m u r a , w h o escape.

Join the conversation about this A government panel now says necessary while 35 percent campaigned for tax cuts, defeated Japan's debt crisis is rapidly story » Doubling of Sales Tax Needed to disagree, according to a Yomiuri candidates endorsed by the big coming to a head, and few are See Also: Shore Up Finances. newspaper survey published Jan. parties in the Aichi gubernatorial even watching.

• The Military Is Preparing For Japan needs to more than double 16. The paper polled 1,069 people election and the mayoral race.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock Peak Oil, And Civilian its 5 percent consumption tax to on Jan. 14-15 and didn’t provide a For the DPJ, a first indication of h t t p : / / Authorities Are Not s h o r e u p t h e g o v e r n m e n t ’ s margin of error. 60% Favor Tax t h i n g s t o c o m e w e r e t h e globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. [ P R E S E N T A T I O N ] finances given soaring debt and Hike?

November municipal polls in com • Former BP Exec: Here's Why welfare costs, a member of Prime I was startled to see 60% in favor Matsudo, a Tokyo suburb. Of the Click Here To Scroll Thru My P e a k Oil Is Real Minister Naoto Kan’s tax and of a tax hike. However, my friend 11 candidates the party fielded, Recent Post List Mike [ P R E S E N T A T I O N ] social security panel said.

Mike "In Tokyo" Rogers explains: only two won.

"Mish" Shedlock is a registered • It Will Take 131 Years To “I don’t think an increase to 10 " What a load of rubbish. I'm sure Another crushing defeat seems investment advisor representative Replace Oil, And We've Only Got percent is enough,” former that survey was taken somewhere almost inevitable in upcoming f o r S i t k a P a c i f i c C a p i t a l 10 Financial Services Minister near Kokaigijicho. That's where nationwide local elections in Management. Sitka Pacific is an Hakuo Yanagisawa said yesterday all the government offices all are. April. asset management firm whose in an interview at his office in There's no regular working or In the latest Kyodo News agency goal is strong performance and Tokyo. “Our discussions must be retired Japanese person in their opinion survey, 19.9 per cent of low volatility, regardless of based on new realities right mind who agrees with a those polled supported Kan's market direction. Visit http:// Concern over Japan’s rising debt, sales tax hike." cabinet, down 12.3 points from w w w . s i t k a p a c i f i c . c o m / the largest in the developed world, Sales Tax Cut Proponents Win mid-January, and 63.4 per cent account_management.html to prompted Standard & Poor’s to Landslide Victories disapproved of the cabinet, up 9.5 l e a r n m o r e a b o u t w e a l t h cut the country’s credit rating last Those seeking evidence that points. Japan's Debt Trap Has No m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p i t a l week. Social security costs in Mike "In Tokyo" has it correct Escape preservation strategies of Sitka Japan, the world’s most rapidly need only read Japan's two-party As in the US, voters in Japan are Pacific. aging society, have risen more system is collapsing Tokyo - fed up with taxes. However, than 60 percent since 2000 and L a n d s l i d e v i c t o r i e s f o r Japanese revenues are not only will account for 53 percent of independent candidates in local running dry, but in reverse. government spending in the fiscal elections in central Japan earlier Proving that government year beginning in April. this month shocked the nation's stupidity has no upper bounds,

Economy/ Culture/ Food/

Newstablet Edition

49

CREDIT SUISSE: Even Long-Term Bulls Should Start Consolidating Soon Cullen Roche (Money Game) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:38:40 AM

Although they’re still very bullish about 2011 (S&P year-end target of 1,450) Credit Suisse says the near-term could prove challenging. They are not calling for a large correction, but expect the market to digest some of the recent gains. They are reducing their overweight equity position.

The four reasons they are calling for consolidation: • Euphoria – close to but not quite there yet • The Fed changing the language in the statement

• Disappointment on an expanded EFSF or ESM • Raising rates/ tightening liquidity too much in Europe • Another rise in food prices forcing more tightening in emerging markets

Preparing double or even triple recipes and freezing portions for later means you don't have to cook every night to have a delicious and nutritious meal on the table. And some food is better suited to freezing and reheating

• Oil and food inflation falls away • Core Europe delivers fully the Grand Plan • Overheating concerns in China dissipate, as food inflation falls

• Spare capacity in OPEC being much lower than estimated • A continued asset allocation Ultimately, however, they remain shift into equities very bullish about the macro picture. They see 5 potential Join the conversation about this catalysts that will help drive the story » market towards their 1,450 target: • Ongoing recovery and

Hipster strip club coming to NYC (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:28:00 AM

Stripping gets ironic with a newly revamped club coming to New York. The former meatprocessing facility on Clarkson Street between West and t h a n o t h e r s . F o r e x a m p l e , This entry passed through the Washington will feature adult casseroles, soups, chilis, and meat Full-Text RSS service — if this is entertainment of the hipster loaf all stand up to the freezer your content and you're reading it variety. well and most cooked dishes will on someone else's site, please read Owners Matt Kliegman and keep for two to three months in our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ C a r l o s Q u i r a r t e i n s i s t t h e the freezer. Here, find our picks content-only/faq.php entertainment line-up, including for the best freezer-friendly Five Filters featured article: topless go-go dancers, doesn’t recipes. Next Pork and Herbed Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In necessarily make the club a White Beans The Crosshairs. typical strip joint. “We’re not strip -joint owners. We’re not strip-

17 Best Freezable Recipes (Cooking Light: Editor's Picks)

rebalancing of global growth

joint guys,” Quirarte told New York Magazine’ s Alice Gregory.

Gregory astutely noted that Quirarte made the statement while standing “mere feet from a polished pole.”

Let’s play “Give that strip joint a name!” Suggestions: “Ironic Nipple Tassles,” “I Stripped Before Stripping was Cool,” or “Tube Socks and Granny Panties.”

Full story at NY Mag. All the top news out of New York.

Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink| Leave a comment »

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Economy/ Culture/ Finance/

Newstablet Edition

European Sovereign Debt Crisis in Rachel Weisz Reunites Pictures; Nothing Solved Yet, Credit With Her Ex as Daniel Stress Close to All Time Highs Craig Jets to LA noreply@blogger.com (Michael Shedlock) (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis) Submitted at 2/17/2011 2:28:00 PM

The ECB and EU want everyone to believe there will not be haircuts on sovereign government debt. The market refuses to believe that and so do I. If there was no risk of default, then government bond yields would all be the same. Instead, please follow this progression of current yields on 10-year government debt. click on any chart to see a sharper image Germany 3.237% France 3.615% Belgium 4.23% Italy 4.731% Spain 5.455% Portugal 7.41% Ireland 9.148% Greece 11.859% In spite of all the yapping by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet and others, the European sovereign debt crisis remains near its most stressed levels, and the

Allie Merriam (PopSugar) Submitted at 2/18/2011 8:22:40 AM

Rachel Weisz took a walk in NYC with her ex-fiancé, Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, yesterday in NYC. The former couple have put on a united front since splitting last year, staying close for the sake of their son Henry. She stayed behind in the Big Apple as her current flame, Daniel Craig, jetted across the country and landed in LA. Rachel and Daniel were apparently side by side to show some love on Valentine's Day by dancing and above set of charts proves it. low volatility, regardless of kissing the night away at The Mike "Mish" Shedlock market direction. Visit http:// Box. It was their latest holiday h t t p : / / w w w . s i t k a p a c i f i c . c o m / together, after being snapped in globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. account_management.html to England around Christmas. Both com l e a r n m o r e a b o u t w e a l t h Daniel and Rachel, who star in the Click Here To Scroll Thru My m a n a g e m e n t a n d c a p i t a l Recent Post List Mike preservation strategies of Sitka "Mish" Shedlock is a registered Pacific. investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and

Economics: the key to happy couples' division of labor nospam@example.com (Dory Devlin, Shine staff) (Financiallyfit on Shine) Submitted at 2/17/2011 4:02:55 PM

Housework—who does what, source of many a recurring when, and how often—is the marital complaint. Splitting

chores 50/50 often seems like the answer, but couples who do often…

upcoming drama Dream House, will be busy in the coming months with their careers. Daniel will be back on set shooting the next James Bond, and there are rumors Rachel may even join the production as his on-screen enemy. View Slideshow ›

Culture/

Newstablet Edition

51

Helpful Mutations Didn't Sweep Through Early Humans Tina Hesman Saey (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:30:00 AM

Humans probably didn’t get swept up in evolution.

Scientists have favored a model of evolution in which beneficial gene mutations quickly and dramatically sweep through a population due to the evolutionary advantages they confer. Such mutations would become nearly universal in a population. But this selective sweep model may not be accurate for humans, a new study indicates. Human evolution likely followed a more subtle and complicated path, say population geneticists Molly Przeworski of the University of Chicago and Guy Sella of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and colleagues.

Computational analysis of 179 genomes belonging to people from Europe, Asia and Africa reveal that selective sweeps have been rare in human evolution, the researchers report in the Feb. 18 Science.

“I’m convinced,” says Andrew Clark, a population geneticist at Cornell University. Clark was among the first to find evidence that selective sweeps can shape evolution. The idea of a favored gene sweeping in to save the evolutionary day is so attractive that other forms of natural selection have been largely ignored, he says. The new study could change that. “I think this will be taken to heart and people will take a step back and start

asking what other signatures of selection may be present.”

In the study, the researchers based their analysis on the idea that when a gene containing a beneficial mutation becomes more common over successive generations it drags along big swaths of neighboring DNA. A sweep would happen so quickly that individual changes in the nearby DNA wouldn’t have time to accumulate, so everyone in a population would end up with essentially the same genetic signature in the DNA regions

surrounding the beneficial mutation.

The researchers searched for such troughs of genetic diversity around genes carrying mutations that would change an amino acid building block in the protein built from the gene — a sign of functional importance. The team reasoned that if the genetic changes were really beneficial, they ought to have deeper troughs than mutations that don’t alter amino acids.

“But in fact, we found very little difference,” says Sella. That could

indicate that “very few of these mutations came into the population in the mode of a selective sweep.” The researchers didn’t find evidence of selective sweeps in regions of the genome that change how genes are turned on and off either.

It may have been difficult for selective sweeps to take hold in humans because of demographics, Clark says. People are scattered throughout the globe, so a beneficial mutation would have a long way to spread. Such a mutation would have to have

dramatic effects on evolutionary fitness to go global.

Good evidence does exist for some mutations that did undergo selective sweeps in humans, such as those for skin pigmentation, hair and teeth morphology and the genetic change that allows adults in some populations to digest the milk sugar lactose. But those examples are the exception rather than the rule in human evolution.

“We have beautiful examples of selective sweeps. But there are not HELPFUL page 53

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Culture/ TV/

Newstablet Edition

Go Inside the $56 Billion 'Black' Budget Adam Rawnsley (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:00:00 AM

The Pentagon dropped its $533 billion budget this week. Some line items get a thorough public debate — like stealth jet engines and soldier health care. Others have opaque names like “RETRACT MAPLE,” and are totally hush-hush. Welcome to the Defense Department’s classified, or black, budget. It appears to be about $56 billion, the same as last year, less some inflation.

This may only be the tip of an iceberg of secret funds (more about that in a sec). But we’d like your assistance in mapping out that icy tip. So, with help from the Center for New American Security’s Travis Sharp, we’ve put together this spreadsheet. Feel free to add, subtract and edit it — kind of like a classified cash Wiki.

Finding the Pentagon’s secret money in the budget involves a bit of document diving and some back-of-the-envelope calculations.

A number of programs labeled “classified” are tucked away into the operations and maintenance,

procurement and research development, testing and evaluation budgets. Find each budget’s classified total (about $19 billion each for operations and procurement and $18 billion in research), add them together and you’ve got a ballpark black budget.

It’s in research and development budget where you can find the bureaucratic poetry of black project code names at its most

obscure. The services slap together the most random of nouns to make their code names.

The Army’s fond of prefixing its black projects with “TRACTOR” (“TRACTOR JUTE,” “TRACTOR EGGS,” etc) and the Navy has a slight tendency for animal imagery with “COBRA JUDY” and “Pilot Fish.”

But don’t think that this is necessarily all of the Pentagon’s secret cash.

The pencil pushers in Arlington play all kinds of tricks with the line items to keep outsiders from guessing where, exactly, the black budget actually gets spent. Some of the National Intelligence Program, a component of the country’s intelligence budget, gets hidden away inside the Pentagon’s ledger. For years, the Department stashed a chunk of the CIA’s cash and its share of funds for the secret satellite-

makers at the National Reconnaissance Office in the blandly-named “Selected Activities in Other Procurement, Air Force” funding line. The NIP budget request was officially disclosed for the first time this year, and so you’re likely looking at some of its$55 billion in these line items.

With that kind of book-keeping, it’s worth wondering if all of the Defense Department’s secret cash is stashed in the places we’re looking for it. As transparency guru Steven Aftergood tells Danger Room,”It’s designed to be obscure.”

Photo: Flickr/ DOD See Also: This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Kiefer Sutherland Eyes Return to TV Drama With 'Touch' Catherine Lawson (TV Squad)

star Kiefer Sutherland is thinking about heading back to TV drama.

According to deadline.com he's Filed under: Reality-Free, TV in talks to take the lead role in News In news that could spell 'Touch,' the new drama pilot from doom for the much-rumored '24' 'Heroes' creator, Tim Kring, and Kring's first new on-spec script movie, it's been announced that 20th Century Fox TV. It marks since 'Heroes' was canceled back Submitted at 2/18/2011 2:35:00 AM

in May 2010.

Permalink| Email this| Linking In true Kring fashion, 'Touch' Blogs| Comments will contain otherworldly elements. It is reportedly centered on a father who "discovers that his autistic, mute son can predict events before they happen."

Culture/ Daily Word/

Newstablet Edition

53

Three Years Later, GM Answers Sync's Call Chuck Squatriglia (Wired Top Stories)

market for in-car connectivity has grown. Ford has consistently updated and expanded Sync, Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:00:00 AM forcing Toyota, Hyundai and Three years after Ford made itself others to play catch up. the leader in vehicle connectivity GM boss Dan Ackerson, who has with Sync, General Motors has a background in communications, answered the call with MyLink. has made improving vehicle The system builds upon GM’s electronic systems a priority. excellent if limited OnStar to MyLink follows GM’s unveiling provide text messaging, e-mail of a gadget that makes OnStar and traffic advisories in addition available to the 20 most popular to online services like Pandora vehicles, including the Toyota and Stitcher. Like Sync, the Camry and Honda Accord.

G e n e r a l ’ s s y s t e m l i n k s t h e MyLink will be offered on the d r i v e r ’ s c e l l p h o n e t o t h e Chevrolet Volt(of course) and v e h i c l e ’ s v o i c e - r e c o g n i t i o n Equinox models later this year software, audio system and navi and expand to other models in for fully integrated infotainment. 2012. No word yet whether it will General Motors pioneered in-car be standard equipment or an telematics when it unveiled added-cost option.

OnStar in 1996, but it has lost For all of its success, Sync has ground to Ford’s Sync as the not been infallible. Consumer

knobs consumers are used to.

MyFord Touch, on the other hand, places all of the controls on the screen. GM also claims its voice recognition software is superior to Ford’s.

Photo: Emile Wamsteker / Chevrolet. Micky Bly, executive director of GM global vehicle engineering, unveils MyLink in New York.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ Reports called the latest iteration, LaHood. content-only/faq.php MyFord Touch, “ a complicated Still, General Motors doesn’t Five Filters featured article: distraction when driving.” The think MyLink will be distracting. Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In safety of such systems has The system uses a seven-inch The Crosshairs. become a hot-button issue, one LCD screen that GM claims is getting a lot of attention from easier to navigate than Sync’s Transportation Secretary Ray screen, and it retains the control

HELPFUL

Psalm 107:1 (02-18-11)

continued from page 51

many of them, and our results suggest [there are] not many more to come,” Przeworski says. “Our results do not suggest that adaptation was rare. Many protein changes in humans may well have been adaptive. What our results indicate is that the dominant mode of adaptation was not the classic sweep,” she says.

“In looking for the genetic mechanisms of adaptation in the human lineage we’ll have to turn

to more elaborate models,” Przeworski says.

Selective sweeps may have been more important in the evolution of some other species, though. Sella and colleagues recently reported evidence that selective sweeps happen often in some fruit flies.

Image: DNA profile of a human.

(Flickr/ micahb37) See Also: This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is

your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

(Verse of the Day)

loving and his love will not wear out, grow old, fade away, or need repair. My Prayer... Thank you, El Give thanks to the LORD, for he Shaddai, the great Almighty. You is good; his love endures forever. have given me your grace, you — Psalm 107:1(NIV) Thoughts have showered me with your on Today's Verse... What do we blessings, and you have promised have that won't wear out, break, that your love for me will live die, go out of style, or need beyond the shadows of my few repair? We can rejoice and give days on earth. Thank you for thanks, because our life and our forever. In the name of Jesus my future are tied to the Eternal Lord. Amen.

Father, the creator of the heavens Note: El Shaddai means "God and maker of our world. Not only A l m i g h t y " o r " G o d o f t h e is God good, he is good to us. But M o u n t a i n s . " more than just being good, he is Submitted at 2/18/2011 2:00:00 AM

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Politics-Left/

Newstablet Edition

Soldiers fire on protesters in Bahrain Paul Owen, Mark Tran, Owen Bowcott, Adam Gabbatt (The Guardian World News) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:43:57 AM

• Bahrain: 20 injured as shots fired at protesters • Egypt: protesters return to Tahrir Square • Libya: reports claim up to 50 killed • Yemen: crowds demonstrating in Sana'a and Taiz • Protesting in Middle East? Send us a voice recording • Read a summary of events so far 4.44pm - Egypt Egypt has approved the passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez canal, Reuters is reporting.

It was reported earlier today that Egypt was considering Iran's request to allow the warships through – believed to be the first time the country has made such a request since 1979. Reuters reported that Israel's foreign minister has described the move as "provocative".

"Egypt has agreed to the passage of two Iranian ships through the Suez Canal," a security source said.

State TV and the official news agency subsequently reported the news, without citing sources. An army source earlier said the Defence Ministry was considering a request by the Iranians to allow the naval ships to cross the strategic waterway.

4.38pm - Bahrain: In this video from earlier today in Bahrain gunfire can be heard as three men who have apparently been shot

are carried away. __ 4.32pm - Bahrain: Martin Chulov is tweeting from Salmaniya hospital in Manama. A man admitted with gunshot wounds has just died, Martin says.

•@martinchulov Just seen one man in hosp hit with live round in the head. In terrible shape. Not expected to live.

•@martinchulov Man shot in the head just died.

4.24pm - Bahrain: Lots of tweets flying around about medical treatment being denied in Manama. Reports unconfirmed as yet. @BahrainRights doctors from Salmanya hsptl just confirmed to AlJazeera the army are not allowing ambulances to enter the area to save the injured #bahrain 4.14pm – Egypt: The Google executive who was arrested for his role in the Egyptian uprising was barred from speaking on stage in Tahrir Square today, AFP is reporting.

The news agency says Wael Ghonim, who played a key role in using the internet to spark the uprising against Hosni Mubarak, was prevented from accessing the stage by men who "appeared to be guarding" Yusuf al-Qaradawi – the influential Muslim Brotherhood figure.

"Ghonim, who was angered by the episode, then left the square with his face hidden by an Egyptian flag," AFP reported.

4.02pm – Libya: Pro-democracy activists from cities where

protesters have already taken control are reported to be converging on Benghazi to confront the regime. Much of the violence is being blamed on "mercenaries" brought in from neighbouring Chad. Eastern Libya has traditionally been less loyal to the Gaddafi government.

ShababLibya tweets: More reports now coming from Derna: people headed to Benghazi with weapons from Police to fight Mercenaries, its all out war #Libya #Feb17 4.01pm: Mark Tran has been speaking to Martin Chulov in Manama. He says: The worst fears have played out to some extent. A small group of villagers marched to Pearl Square ... They were beaten back. There were a large numbers of shots fired. Most of them were warning shots fired in the air ... We're told it was only 100 or so villagers walking on the area; that was perceived as being something far more significant by the security forces, who had laid siege to that part of town, which is in central Manama. We understand that the shots were fired in the air, but we also believe that a couple of people have been injured ... They absolutely will not tolerate any dissent and nor will they tolerate demonstrators returning to Pearl Square ... It appears that [now] they [the security forces] have retreated back to their positions. _ The audio quality is not great; apologies.

3.51pm – Bahrain: According to Reuters, Lebanon's Hezbollah-run al-Manar television quoted a doctor at Salmaniya hospital in Manama as saying 25 wounded had been admitted, two of them with serious wounds. Witnesses said about 20 police cars had driven toward Pearl roundabout and shooting was still going on.

3.48pm – Libya: Opposition groups claim the first signs of revolt are beginning to spread to the capital, Tripoli. Earlier reports suggested that security police had surrounded the mosques to make sure protesters did not begin congregating. libyanfsl tweets: Imams in the mosques of Tripoli refuse to read the sermons given to them by regime #Feb17 #Libya 3.47pm – Bahrain: According to my colleague Martin Chulov in Bahrain, the latest outbreak of violence occurred when a few hundred people marched to Pearl roundabout, prompting the security forces to fire shots into the air. But a number of people were injured and have been taken to hospital; the hospital was at one point surrounded by riot police, sparking a moment of panic.

3.45pm – Bahrain: Al-Jazeera is reporting the shootings in Manama were carried out by the army rather than the police.

3.40pm – Bahrain: Nick Kristof of the New York Times has been tweeting furiously about the outbreak of violence in Manama.

Man in blood drenched shirt just walked in. Drs outraged, helping

me get stories and video. #Bahrain Worst injuries from those at Deh marching toward Pearl. Many head wounds. Unsure if live fire or rubber bullets.

ABt 20 patients so far, 1 nr death.

Ambulances say many many more casualties but they are denied access.

3.30pm – Bahrain: My colleague Laura Oliver was just listening to a Dr Ghassan from Salmaniya hospital in Manama speaking on al-Jazeera. He sounded very distressed, and said: The hospital is full of casualties.

All the medical staff are running off their feet. It's hard to accommodate all these casualties; we are full. It's unbelievable scenes, it's indescribable.

When asked how many had died or were injured he said it was uncountable and confirmed that protesters had been hit by tear gas and bullets: It's very difficult to count the number of casualties ... They were thrown on the road; there are tens if not hundreds of people still on the road. The ambulances can't access them ... These people are innocent; they don't hold machine guns, they don't hold swords, they are innocent protesters.

People coming to the hospital told him that the majority of the shots were to the head "in order to kill – patients with brains shattered, their skulls are full of bullets. This is indescribable. This SOLDIERS page 55

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SOLDIERS continued from page 54

country is a peaceful country," he said, before describing the situation as like a war zone.

3.23pm – Bahrain: Reuters has now filed on the shootings near Pearl roundabout in Manama.

Bahraini troops shot at protesters near Pearl roundabout today and wounded several, a former Shia MP said, a day after police forcibly cleared a protest camp from the traffic circle in Manama.

Jalal Firooz, of the Wifaq bloc that resigned from parliament on Thursday, said demonstrators had been elsewhere in the city, marking the death of a protester killed earlier this week when riot police had fired tear gas at them.

The demonstrators then made for Pearl roundabout, where army troops who took it over after the police raid on Thursday, opened fire, he said. Police had no immediate comment.

3.13pm – Bahrain: The Associated Press's Hadeel alShalchi has filed her first report on the shootings at Pearl roundabout. She says at least 20 people were injured, some seriously: Soldiers fired tear gas and shot heavy weapons into the air Friday as thousands of protest marchers defied a government ban and streamed toward the landmark square that has been the symbolic centre of the uprising against the Gulf nation's leaders.

Hospital officials said at least 20 people were injured, some seriously. Ambulance sirens were heard throughout central Manama a day after riot police swept

through the protest encampment in Pearl roundabout, killing at least five people and injuring more than 230.

An Associated Press cameraman saw army units shooting antiaircraft weapons above the protesters in apparent warning shots and attempting to drive them back from security cordons about 200 yards (200m) from the square.

The clash came just hours after funeral mourners and worshippers at Friday prayers called for the toppling of the western-allied monarchy in the tiny island nation, which is home to the US navy's fifth fleet.

The cries against King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his inner circle at a main Shia mosque and at burials for those killed in Thursday's crushing attack reflect an important escalation of the political uprising, which began with calls to weaken the Sunni monarchy's power and address claims of discrimination against the Shia majority in the tiny island nation.

The mood, however, appears to have turned toward defiance of the entire ruling system after the brutal crackdown on a protest encampment in Bahrain's capital, Manama, which led the government to put the nation under emergency-style footing with military forces in key areas and checkpoints on main roads.

"The regime has broken something inside of me ... All of these people gathered today have had something broken in them,"

said Ahmed Makki Abu Taki at the funeral for his 23-year-old brother, Mahmoud, who was killed in the pre-dawn sweep through the protest camp in Manama's Pearl roundabout. "We used to demand for the prime minister to step down, but now our demand is for the ruling family to get out."

3.08pm – Senegal: Associated Press reports a man setting himself on fire in front of the presidential palace in Senegal on Friday, the latest self-immolation on the African continent.

Tunisia's mutiny that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was touched off by a struggling 26-year-old university graduate who lit himself on fire after police confiscated his fruit and vegetable cart in December. Other selfimmolations then quickly spread elsewhere in northern Africa and the Middle East.

3.05pm – Bahrain: Protesters are calling for the minister of health to resign. There were rumours he had done so yesterday.

3.02pm – Bahrain: Al-Jazeera is reporting a number of patients with head wounds coming in to a Bahraini hospital.

2.59pm – Bahrain: In the comments SandyBh has heard from a protester outside Salmaniya hospital in Mananma.

Just talked to somebody who's in Salmaniya hospital protests.

Reports of new wounded coming to the hospital. Daih protests, reportedly intending to head for Lulu roundabout, might have been attacked.

Live ammunition shot - ppl in salmaniya are pleading... international community silent Person from Salmaniya hospital: ambulances are withheld, not allowed to carry wounded from daih protest 2.56pm – Bahrain: Reuters is corroborating what Hadeel AlShalchi has been saying about gunfire near Pearl roundabout ( see 2.48pm) .

Shots were heard on Friday in the area of Pearl Square, a day after Bahraini police forcibly cleared a protest encampment from the traffic circle in Manama, witnesses said. The circumstances of the shooting after nightfall were not clear and there was no immediate word on any casualties.

2.54pm – Bahrain: The Associated Press has more on the violent turn of events in Bahrain: Security forces have fired tear gas on thousands of protest marchers in Bahrain's capital after angry calls to topple the gulf nation's monarchy. Some demonstrators are moving in the direction of Pearl Square today, a day after riot police swept into the area to destroy an Egypt-style protest encampment. At least five people were killed in that attack.

Witnesses say they saw some casualties in the clashes today.

2.50pm – Bahrain: Bernie Ecclestone is taking flak on social networking websites for comments the Formula One chief has made in a BBC interview about whether the Bahrain Grand Prix should be postponed.

We scheduled [the 1985 Belgian Grand Prix] later. We may be able to do the same with this one. I hope we don't have to do anything, I hope things will just carry on as normal. Obviously some people were killed, nobody's happy with that, I'm quite sure.

Let's hope that this all blows away. In these parts there's always been skirmishes. Perhaps it's a bit more than that.

2.48pm – Bahrain: Some disturbing tweets from Associated Press's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Manama, suggesting things have turned very violent there.

Gunshots fired into #bahrain protesters, injured have fallen as they try to enter pearl square Army firing live ammo from antiaircraft guns from APC's at protesters #bahrain Protesters were carrying flowers saying they wanted to deliver it to police. Were shot instead. Blood on street now #bahrain 2.42pm – Libya: Benghazi, Libya's second city, appears to be the scene of a trial of strength between protesters and Gaddafi loyalists. Lawyers and other prodemocracy supporters have rallied outside the main courthouse. One of the president's sons, Saddi, is said to be trapped in the city.

EnoughGaddafi tweets: Saadi Gaddafi reported to be hiding in Birka military barracks in #Benghazi, protesters headed towards barracks #feb17 #Libya 2.37pm – Bahrain: Associated Press and AFP are both reporting SOLDIERS page 56

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that security forces have fired tear gas at protest marches in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

2.35pm – Bahrain: In the comments, SandyBh provides some updates from Bahrain: Another protest is right now being held outside the Salmaniya hospital by the doctors, expressing shock and demanding answers for attack on both protesters and medics and answers why doctors and ambulances were prevented from reaching wounded ...

Just got an SMS, commemorators in Daih might be heading to Pearl Roundabout later on.

SandyBh is also suggesting that the pro-king/pro-government protests involve a lot of foreigners /non-Bahrainis.

2.25pm – Bahrain: In the comments, SandyBh gives some details of what the protesters in Sitra are up to: The last I talked to somebody who was in the morning funeral procession in Sitra (attended by 20,000-30,000), he told me that people are heading for the village Daih to attend the last day of funeral processions for the first martyr, Ali Moshami'i, who was murdered last Monday. (Note: funeral processions usually take three days in Bahrain.) Dunno where they will go from there!

2.17pm - Bahrain: President Christian Wulff of Germany has cancelled a trip to Bahrain later this month in response to the government's heavy-handed treatment of demonstrators. Olaf Glaeseker, a presidential

spokesman, said Wulff insisted that "freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Bahrain must be fully guaranteed." Wulff's trip to Bahrain was part of a tour to the region taking in Kuwait and Qatar.

1.49pm – Bahrain: Mark Tran has just been on the phone to Martin Chulov who's in Manama.

Martin says the organisers of the protests have taken a tactical decision not to head to Pearl roundabout, scene of violent clashes in the early hours of Thursday morning, for what would been a showdown with the security forces. He adds, however, that there is talk of a protest at the roundabout tomorrow.

"There was no showdown today but there will be one as both sides have painted themselves into a corner," says Martin.

1.37pm - Algeria: A weekend of rallies and gatherings calling for democracy is planned in the oilrich Magreb state, the Guardian's Anglelique Chrisafis writes, despite protest remaining banned in Algiers.

An umbrella group of civil society groups, some independent trade unionists and small political parties have organised fresh demonstrations to end the authoritarian rule of the president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and the military generals.

In a statement, the group's committee said: "Despite the warlike offensive in place in and around the capital, thousands of citizens broke through the wall of fear."

Demonstrators said people now felt less scared of taking to the streets. The protest organisers said the government's offer to lift the state of emergency was a red herring as it could simply be replaced by an even more repressive anti-terrorist law.

Last weekend 30,000 police saturated the capital to prevent 2,000 people demonstrating. Riot police blocked off roads, harassed, beat and arrested hundreds of people who had gathered.

Read Angelique's full dispatch from Algeria here.

1.29pm - Yemen: One person was killed when a hand grenade was thrown at anti-government protesters in Taiz earlier, Reuters is reporting.

Eight people were initially reported to have been wounded in the attack, which came when a car drove up to protesters and a passenger threw a grenade out of the window.

1.18pm – Egypt: Jack Shenker writes from Cairo's Tahrir Square: The million-strong crowd in central Cairo is still swelling as Hamza Namira – a musician famous for his political lyrics – kicks off a concert in one corner of the square. The atmosphere remains festive, with much humour on show. One young man is holding aloft a placard reading: "We thought Mubarak was going to hell - turns out it was only Sharm El Sheikh," while another is brandishing a big hidden camera alongside a banner that reads: "Only joking Hosni:

You've been framed."

Nearby a group of people have put a neat but gruesome twist on one of the most popular chants of the anti-government uprising: "Ahum ahum ahum, Al Masryeen ahum." It means: "Here, here, here, the people of Egypt are here," but now they've swapped "the Egyptians" for "Habib Al Adly" – Egypt's hated former interior minister who was arrested earlier today – and are pointing down to a dead sheep in the road.

Also on display are a number of flags expressing solidarity with other anti-government uprisings erupting across the Middle East – one piece of fabric managed to cleverly combine the national colours of about six different neighbouring countries. Gamal Fahmi, a satirical writer for the popular independent daily newspaper Al Dostour, told me: "What happened in Egypt is echoing across the Arab world. I am absolutely certain more of the old regimes will fall."

1.16pm – Libya: Here's a sequence of images showing protesters in Tubruq, Libya, destroying a monument to Muammar Gaddafi's "green book" of political philosophy ( see 11.21am). _ 1.15pm: A useful Yemen Twitter list.

1.13pm – Egypt: Nancy Messieh, who wrote the poem mentioned at 10.58am, has been in touch to explain why she wrote it and what she thinks the future holds for her country:

I wanted to write the poem because I wanted to honour what happened in Tahrir, and throughout the country. I wanted to make a contribution, and that was the best way I knew how.

And most importantly I don't want people to forget about what we went through to get to where we are today.

There's still so much work to be done in Egypt, so much change that is waiting to happen, but I refuse to be anything but optimistic and am grateful that I get to be a part of it. It's hard to say what the immediate future holds, there are so many different elements at play in the arena now and very little time to prepare for free and fair elections. I think that is where have to all put our focus and energy – in ensuring that we have a constitution that honours the January 25 demands and the chance, for the first time ever, to elect our president.

1.13pm – Egypt: Gallery of Egyptian demonstrations today.

1.12pm – Libya: Amateur video footage of Libyan protests.

1.11pm – Morocco: Giles Tremlett on Sunday's planned protests in Morocco.

1.07pm – Egypt: Earlier we heard that the number of pro-Mubarak protesters was around 200, but ianinegypt, an independent filmmaker based in the country, reckons there were significantly more than that at the protests across the river from Tahrir Square.

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The number of pro-Mubarak protesters throughout the day, coming and going, were probably around 2 thousand. #jan25 #egypt 1.06pm – Iraq: A protest against treatment of protesters in the Middle East is under way in London for the second day in a row, with 25 people entering the offices of the Kurdistan Regional Government on Edgware Road, this morning to protest against deaths in northern Iraq yesterday Iraq.

"We shouted at them [staff in the office]: you no longer represent the Kurdistan people. You should no longer stay in the office," Dashty Jamal, general secretary of the International Federation of Iraqi refugees, told the Guardian.

Jamal said since being ejected by police he and fellow protesters have remained outside the KRG offices demonstrating. A larger protest at the same location has been called for 3pm today, he said, with "over 100" expected to attend. The protesters will demonstrate outside the office from 9am until 6pm every day up to and including Monday.

Two people were killed in Kurdistan and 40 wounded after police shot at a crowd of people demonstrating against corruption and high unemployment.

Yesterday hundreds of pro- and anti-Gaddafi protesters clashed outside the Libyan embassy in London.

12.52pm: Here is a summary of events so far: • Bahrain: After the funerals of protesters killed in recent

violence, demonstrators were expected to head back to Manama's Pearl roundabout. Tens of thousands turned out for the funeral of Mahmood abu Taki ( see 10.30am). The protesters' demands seem to be getting more radical, with calls for the monarchy to be removed ( see 11.33am).

• Egypt: An estimated 1 million people have gathered in Tahrir Square in an event celebrating the fall of Hosni Mubarak and putting pressure on the army to include demonstrators in the country's transition to democracy ( see 12.21pm). Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a controversial cleric, gave a strikingly non-sectarian speech.

• Libya: Reports claim up to 50 people have been killed in antigovernment protests in the east of the country – but it is very hard to verify information from Libya.

Reports claim al-Bayda has been taken over by anti-government protesters. But there was little sign of anti-Gaddafi feeling in Tripoli, where the Libyan leader paraded among crowds of supporters ( see 12.17pm).

• Yemen: Crowds are demonstrating against Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, in the capital, Sana'a, and elsewhere.

The biggest demonstration – tens of thousands of people – was in Taiz, where reports said eight people had been wounded by a hand grenade ( see 12.12pm).

• Jordan: Eight people have been injured in Amman in clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators ( see 12.28pm).

• Iran: There were calls for the execution of opposition leaders ( see 12.03pm).

12.28pm – Jordan: Eight people have been injured in Amman, Jordan, in clashes between proand anti-government demonstrators, in the seventh Friday in a row of unrest there.

About 2,000 people protested, according to the Associated Press, with students from the growing Jaayin – or I'm Coming – movement chanting: "We want constitutional reforms; we want a complete change to policies."

12.24pm – Libya: Reuters is corroborating our report that alBayda has been taken over by protesters: Anti-government protesters have seized control of the eastern Libyan city of al-Bayda after they were joined by some local police, two separate Libyan exile groups said on Friday.

"Al-Bayda is in the hands of the people," Giumma el-Omami of the Libyan Human Rights Solidarity group told Reuters.

"The city is out of the control of the [Muammar] Gaddafi regime," said Fathi al-Warfali of the Libyan Committee for Truth and Justice.

The reports, which the two groups said were based on their own telephone contacts with the city of some 250,000 people, could not be independently verified.

12.21pm – Egypt: Jack Shenker is in a "baking hot" Tahrir Square in Cairo for today's "day of victory" demonstration. He says

some estimates place the crowd there at over 1 million people, and says it is certainly just as packed as it was during the 18 days of protests that preceded Hosni Mubarak's exit.

Jack listened to the speech made

by Yusuf al-Qaradawi– seen as a father figure of the Muslim Brotherhood – and says it was well received: He was making particularly nonsectarian points. He went out of his way to praise the role Coptic Christians played in Tahrir, the way in which Christians and Muslims prayed together and protected each other. As a man who is not particularly known for his non-sectarian views, that was very welcome.

Jack said he interviewed a Coptic Christian protester after the speech who said he had been "reassured" by the speech and was not worried about the prospect of an Islamist-dominated Egyptian parliament in the future as he felt sure there would be no oppression of the Christian minority. _ 12.20pm – Yemen: A bit more from Yemen from Reuters: Crowds of rival demonstrators thronged the Yemeni capital and two other cities on Friday in a show of strength between President Ali Abdullah Saleh's supporters and those demanding an end to his 32 years in power.

In the biggest display of antigovernment feeling, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Hurriya (Freedom) Square in Taiz, about 200km (120 miles)

south of the capital Sana'a, witnesses said.

"Down with the dictator, down with oppression," chanted the demonstrators, who have camped out for days in imitation of Egyptian demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

At least 10,000 Saleh loyalists also took to the streets of the busy commercial city.

12.17pm – Libya: Reuters sends some interesting reports from Libya. Their reporter is based in Tripoli rather than Benghazi, where much of the unrest has taken place.

Libya watchers say an Egyptstyle uprising is unlikely because the government can use oil cash to smooth over social problems and Gaddafi is widely respected, though support for him is weaker in the Cyrenaica region around Benghazi.

"For sure there is no national uprising," said Noman Benotman, a former opposition Libyan Islamist who is based in Britain but is currently in Tripoli.

"I don't think Libya is comparable to Egypt or Tunisia. Gaddafi would fight to the very last moment," he said by telephone from the Libyan capital.

Tight controls on media and communications in Libya made it difficult to assess the extent of the violence. But on Friday unverified reports on social network sites said up to 50 people had died.

There was no official comment on the violence.

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Gaddafi's opponents say they want political freedoms, respect for human rights and an end to corruption. Gaddafi says Libyans enjoy true democracy.

State television showed several hundred pro-government supporters holding a rally in Tripoli's Green Square before dawn. As Gaddafi arrived, he stood up through the sunroof of his limousine and waved to the crowd.

12.14pm – Egypt: Reuters has interviewed demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Mohamed el-Said, 28, from Port Said, said: This is a serious message to the military. After today, it will be more than obvious to them that if they don't protect the revolution and respond to the people's demands, the next time people go down to Tahrir won't be to celebrate victory, but they will bring their blankets with them like before.

12.12pm – Yemen: More from Yemen. Eight anti-government protesters in Taiz were wounded today when an assailant threw a hand grenade at them, opposition sources and witnesses said, according to Reuters. Several ambulances rushed to the city's Hurriya Square where protesters have camped out for days.

12.10pm – Yemen: Tom Finn, the Guardian's man in Yemen, is at the university in Sana'a, the capital, where protests against the president have been staged for the last eight days. Tom says while the protests are continuing, a group of around 400-500

supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh, armed with sticks and rocks, have gathered and are sporadically driving away the anti-Saleh demonstrators.

There is a clear difference in age between the two sides, in a country where half the population is under 15, Tom reports: When you see the two sides standing off against each other, the age gap is very much apparent; the anti-Saleh protesters generally are much younger, lots of them speak English, whereas the pro-Saleh supporters are much more middle-aged, traditionally dressed guys. _ 12.03pm – Iran: Thousands of government supporters called for the execution of opposition leaders at Friday prayers in Tehran this morning, the Associated Press reports.

Hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said during the Friday prayers that the opposition leaders have lost their reputation among people and are practically "dead and executed," while worshippers chanted for their actual executions.

Janati proposed more restrictions on Mir Hossein Mousavi on Mahdi Karroubi, opposition leaders who are under house arrest, but still managed to organise the largest opposition protest in more than a year on Monday.

"Their communications with people should completely cut.

They should not be able to receive and send message. Their phone

lines and internet should be cut.

They should be prisoners in their home," he said.

11.44am – Egypt: The Guardian's video desk have sent this clip of Egyptians gathering in Tahrir Square this morning. _ 11.37am – Bahrain: Here's a gallery of pictures of the Bahraini funeral protesters.

11.33am – Bahrain: From Bahrain, the Associated Press reports on the changing nature of the protests, with anger now directed at the monarchy itself.

Here's an extract: Amid the Shia funeral rites, many chanted for the removal of king and the entire Sunni dynasty that has ruled for more than two centuries in Bahrain, the first nation in the Gulf to feel the pressure for changes sweeping the Arab world.

"The government has shaken something inside us all and we have lost all trust in it," Mohamed Ali, 40, a civil servant, said as he choked back tears. "Our demands were peaceful and simple at first.

We wanted the prime minister to step down. Now the demands are harsher and have reached the pinnacle of the pyramid. We want the whole government to fall."

In another funeral in the Shia village of Karzkan, opposition leaders urged protesters to keep up their fight but not to seek revenge.

"We know they have weapons and they are trying to drag us into violence," said Sheik Ali Salman, the leader of the largest Shia

party, al-Wifaq, whose 18 MPs have resigned in protest from the 40-seat parliament to deepen the political crisis.

11.33am – Yemen: The Associated Press is reporting tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrating across the country today in the eighth day of protests there. There were riots over night, with protesters in Aden setting fire to a local government building and a demonstrator shot dead by police, according to local officials. The protesters are calling for Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, to step down after 32 years as president. On social media sites demonstrators are calling for a "Friday of rage" today.

In Sana'a, the capital, the preacher at the university mosque where many protesters had gathered spoke out against torture and beatings of demonstrators and said "we have been living for 30 years without purpose or hope".

The crowds then marched towards the presidential palace chanting anti-government slogans, despite attempts by riot police to stop them. There were also demonstrations elsewhere in the city by the president's supporters.

In the past few days the two groups have clashed.

Saleh's promises not to run for reelection in 2013 or to set up his son as his heir have failed to quiet the anti-government storm sweeping Yemen and other nations in the region.

The Yemeni president is an important US ally in fighting al-

Qaida. The terror group's Yemenbased offshoot has been linked to attacks beyond Yemen's borders, including the failed attempt in December 2009 to blow up a Detroit-bound aeroplane.

11.26am – Egypt: Associated Press is reporting "tens of thousands of flag-waving Egyptians" in Tahrir Square for "the Friday of victory and continuation". The news agency quotes Sheik Youssef elQaradawi as saying: "The revolution is not over, until we have a new Egypt." AP gives this report of what's happening in the square: People flooded the square ahead of prayers, even though a main access road was blocked by an army jeep and a barricade, and those entering on foot had to present identification to soldiers.

The atmosphere was festive, as organizers hoped it would be, maintaining the upbeat spirit of the earlier protests. A militarystyle brass band marched through the crowd, while a few vendors sold vuvuzelas, the buzzing horns that became the soundtrack to the World Cup in South Africa last summer.

"We came here because we are excited about Egypt and the revolution," said 48-year-old Ashraf Abdel-Azim, who made his way to the square with his wife, Nadwa, and their 9-year-old son, Ahmed. "We want freedom and change, so we are happy to see it coming."

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His wife had prepared a handwritten cardboard sign. "The people want to cleanse the country of corruption," it read.

The three young children of Nizar Mohammad and his wife, Rasha, were caught up in the patriotic fervour of the moment with Egypt's red, white and black flag painted on their faces. They carried small flags, too.

"We want our kids to see where all of this happened," Rasha Mohammad said.

Despite Friday's festivities, the situation in Egypt remains unsettled amid labor unrest and worries the military council running the country won't implement promised reforms.

Wael Hassan, a 32-year-old dentist who participated in the Cairo protests and witnessed major clashes on 28 January, went to Tahrir Square on Friday and captured the anxiety many Egyptians have about the future.

"For me, it's not a celebration. It's a message to the army and the government that we're still here and we will still protest, that we won't stop until we see a civilian government, not a government appointed by Mubarak himself," he said, a reference to the former president's confidants in the transition government.

11.21am – Libya: Al-Jazeera's live blog features video footage on YouTube showing protesters in the city of Tubruq tearing down a "green book" monument on Thursday. The green book was written by Muammar Gaddafi, outlining his political philosophy.

11.16am – Egypt: Gsquare86 has posted this image of people praying in Tahrir Square to Twitter, saying simply: "Speechless." Prayers have just finished.

11.11am – Libya: The local privately-owned Quryna newspaper in Benghazi has published pictures of what it says are demonstrators with gunshot wounds being carried by a trolley into the local hospital. You can translate the website using a button at the top right. The translation produced this report: Cyrene [the newspaper] has learned from an official security source that seven victims died and a number were wounded after being shot during protests in the city of Benghazi on Thursday evening.

The source said security forces used live bullets to discourage demonstrators after protests marked by violence and brutality.

The source said police stations and the headquarters of the city's administrative authority had been burned. A number of cars including seven police cars - were also set alight.

On Thursday, protesters burned a police station in Ras Obeida and the headquarters of the local revolutionary committee. Tyres were also set alight in a number of places, on the most violent day since protests began on Tuesday.

Demonstrators spread out in a number of districts of Benghazi.

They were demonstrations in Geleanp, and Ras Obeida, and in the administrative area. Mr Abdul

Jalily, 20, said gunfire was heard for the first time in those areas.

Witnesses said that security forces broke up a protest held in Gamal Abdel Nasser Street in central Benghazi a few hours ago, deploying tear gas canisters and firing live bullets into the air for the first time since the protests began.

Cyrene was unable to establish the number of critically injured among the wounded.

11.05am – Libya: Anti-Gaddafi demonstrators have taken over several cities in eastern Libya but have suffered scores of deaths, according to exiled opposition groups in London.

Government troops have withdrawn from al-Bayda, the scene of earlier confrontations, and protesters have blocked the runway to prevent military reinforcements arriving, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya maintains.

Mohamad Ali Abdalla, the deputy director of the NFSL, said: I was told that there were 13 deaths in the city of al-Bayda alone last night and six more in Benghazi.

In al-Bayda, the city has been taken over and protesters are dismantling the runway to stop any military planes landing.

In total, there have been 30 deaths in Benghazi since demonstrations began on January 15th. Some of those who died were injured citizens who had been taken to al-Jala hospital in Benghazi.

Members of the revolutionary

committee were shooting the injured who were brought in. I was told this by a nurse in al-Jala Hospital.

The government's revolutionary committee headquarters have been captured in other places, the FNSL claimed. In Ajdabiya, in north-eastern Libya, demonstrations were in charge of the city.

There have been few demonstrations further west nearer to the capital, Tripoli. In the western mountains, nearer to Tunisia, protesters have also been out on the streets.

Several opposition sites have reported that Gaddafi's regime has been relying on French-speaking soldiers, or "mercenaries" drawn from neighbouring Chad to crack down on the demonstrations ( see 9.16am).

11.03am – Bahrain: leildehat tweets on a pro-government rally in Bahrain: pro gov rally next to al fateh mosque is being protected by security forces. couldn't get more inhumane than this... #bahrain 11.01am: My colleague Jack Shenker in Cairo tells me this is the T-shirt all the Tunisian hipsters are wearing right now: As Jack says: "So much for Arab solidarity."

10.58am – Egypt: This poem, For Tahrir, For Egypt by Nancy Messieh, has been doing the rounds on Twitter. Here's an extract: The world watched as we were called traitors

and on television screens in homes, doors locked refusing to let in the truth, men spit scorn into cameras and women screamed into their phones eyes and hearts full of rage unable to understand that Tahrir was theirs, for them, while government eyes showed only what they wanted us to see the sun setting over the Nile 10.52am – Egypt: ianinegypt tweets: "This is the most packed I've seen Tahrir. There could be a million people today."

Sandmonkey, the blogger who rose to prominence through his reporting of the anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt – and was arrested during the demonstrations– is in Tahrir Square tweeting away: At a cafe right next to tahrir.

People looking for places to pray coz of how crowded it is.

10.51am – Bahrain: One our commenters, ccopenhaver, who was living in Bahrain until recently and is in regular contact with friends there, states the case for the monarchy.

There is also a significant rally to support King Hamad in Bahrain at Al Fateh mosque in Juffair today after Jummah prayers. Why are we not hearing anything about this? Much of the country, although renouncing the use of violence by security forces, support the king and are against SOLDIERS page 60

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the protests, where is the coverage of both sides? We are only getting news of the protesters, especially

by Mr Nicholas Kristof, who is tweeting ignorant comments about the king's spending and popularity. What many people may not know is that the king is able to provide every Bahraini citizen with free healthcare, education, etc without ever asking for a cent in taxes. "Poverty" in Bahrain is not even close to comparable to what we see in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, etc.

10.46am: My colleagues on the Guardian's video desk have put up this clip of the protesting Bahraini mourners. _ 10.43am – Libya: Libya's state news agency says Muammar Gaddafi has toured the capital, Tripoli, trying to rally loyalists amid widening anti-government protests, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The state news agency Jana says that Gaddafi's convoy toured Tripoli late Thursday to rally support. A pro-Gaddafi online paper says a son of Gaddafi has visited security forces in eastern region where many of the protests took place to offer financial help.

10.37am – Egypt: Yusuf alQaradawi, a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure, is giving a sermon at Friday prayers in Tahrir Square. Shadihamid, who is tweeting snippets of al-Qaradawi's sermon, reports that there is "definitely a more religious crowd here". shadihamid points out:

A million people praying behind a leading Islamist cleric in tahrir sq... That'll be sure to get Americans nervous #jan25 Al-Qaradawi was refused a visa to enter the UK three years ago, the Foreign Office saying the UK "will not tolerate the presence of those who seek to justify any acts of terrorist violence or express views that could foster intercommunity violence".

Reports say al-Qaradawi has told the square that "Egypt taught the world about revolutions", which is perhaps a little discourteous to Tunisia.

Der Spiegel has a good background piece on al-Qaradawi and his role within the Muslim Brotherhood.

10.35am – Bahrain: Al-Jazeera has a powerful report from a hospital in Bahrain where people voice incredulity and anger at the response of the security forces to their protests.(Warning: there is disturbing footage.)

10.30am – Bahrain: In the comments, goonerinoman, who sent some very interesting firstperson reports from Bahrain yesterday, has this from the funeral of Mahmood abu Taki.

Just got back from Sitra for the funeral of Mahmood abu Taki.

Very sad scenes. I would not like to estimate the numbers but maybe 20,000. A huge raft of emotions from sadness and grieving to retribution and hatred.

Lots of uses of the word martyr over the mosque tannoy. After the funeral it looked like they were preparing to protest. A hardcore

of around 5,000 waited whilst others went their separate ways. _ 10.28am – Bahrain and Yemen: The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York says the authorities in Bahrain and Yemen have escalated their physical attacks on the press in order to censor coverage of spreading antigovernment protests.

In Bahrain, ABC reporter Miguel Marquez was beaten early Thursday while covering a violent attempt by authorities to clear Lulu Square (Pearl Square) in Manama by what he described as "a gang of thugs". Marquez can be heard shouting "journalist" while being attacked in an audio recording posted on the network's website. His camera was confiscated. Several journalists also reported today that Bahraini authorities are barring journalists from entering the country.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof tweeted: "Bahrain barring journalists from entry at airport. King Hamad doesn't want witnesses to his brutality." Roy Gutman, a foreign desk editor for McClatchy Newspapers, told CPJ that McClatchy reporter Nancy Youssef was denied entry to the country. In Yemen, photographers and camera operators were targeted today by pro-government supporters at anti-government protests. At least four photojournalists were attacked, beaten, and had their cameras confiscated.

10.25am: More links from

commenters and those on Twitter: • A report from today of a protester killed in Yemen.

Protesters in Yemen's southern port city of Aden have set fire to the municipal building and a third demonstrator was killed, witnesses said, as protests stretched into an eighth day.

Hundreds of protesters also demonstrated in the country's second largest city, Taiz, demanding the removal of the president, a key US ally in battling al Qaida.

• A video of a shooting in Libya, purportedly from yesterday (via ZahratTrabli).(Warning: video is graphic and disturbing.)

10.24am – Yemen: Al-Jazeera is reporting clashes between proand anti-government demonstrators in Sana'a. There have been calls on social networking sites for a "Friday of rage" in the country.

10.22am: Reuters is reporting that Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, said the group had not received any formal request to reschedule an Arab summit planned for Iraq in March, after Libya said it would be postponed due regional circumstances.

Asked if it had been delayed, Moussa told Reuters: "I haven't received any formal request," adding that the meeting planned for 29 March was still proceeding as scheduled.

10.16am – Bahrain: With the US navy's fifth fleet headquartered in Bahrain, there is much at stake for the Obama administration. The US secretary of state, Hillary

Clinton, yesterday telephoned her Bahraini counterpart to express her "deep concern" after riot police stormed a protest camp.

Here's what the White House spokesman said yesterday: We believe that people have universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly. So we continue to urge the government of Bahrain to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests.

The government of Bahrain has the responsibility to maintain peace and security for its citizens and to hold accountable those who utilise excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators.

10.13am – Egypt: Al-Jazeera English is showing a huge crowd gathered in Tahrir Square – the numbers look similar to those we saw last Friday, when Mubarak finally made his exit. People are waving banners and chanting, and Al-Jazeera reports that the army has been handing out celebratory flags to protesters.

Gsquare86, a blogger who attended many of the protests which finally ousted Mubarak, is back in the square to celebrate the day of vVictory and tweeting energetically: It is so awesome to reunite with my new friends from Tahrir, we spent 18 days that changed our lives together, and now reunited :) There are reports that there are now 200 pro-Mubarak protesters gathered in Mohandiseen in Cairo – but their demonstration is also peaceful. Elsewhere there are also SOLDIERS page 61

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thousands of people celebrating on the streets in Alexandria.

10.02am: Useful links from commenter orlandobeetle: • Map of pro-democracy protests in Libya(via Twitter user arasmus).

• Videos reportedly of unrest in Tunisia yesterday.

9.59am: We are looking for your first-person accounts of protests where you are.

Now you can record your own Audioboo voice recording and send it straight to us.

Click here to record an Audioboo.

Log in using your Audioboo or Twitter account.

If you don't have one, log in using these details: Username: GuardianMEaudio Password: GuardianMEaudio Then click "start recording/ upload file".

Once you have recorded your file, we will listen to it and post the most interesting ones on this blog.

9.49am – Iraq: Reuters is reporting that Iraqi politicians are making attempts to head off the kind of popular uprising seen elsewhere in the Middle East.

They are buying sugar, diverting money from fighter jets to food, giving free power, and cutting their own pay. Reuters reports: Iraqis have long protested against poor government services. But demonstrations against food, power and water shortages have mounted in recent weeks and some protesters are now voicing direct anger at prime minister

Nouri al-Maliki's new government.

Gala Riani, a Middle East analyst with IHS Global Insight, said: Certainly from the steps they [politicians] are taking it would seem that they are nervous. Iraq has experienced relatively big protests in the past related to the poor state of public services without taking such a big move as increasing electricity subsidies.

Wayne White of the Middle East Institute said: Maliki's almost panicked response to this new unrest demonstrates the extent to which he feels insecure: a man who is well aware that he obtained his second term as prime minister primarily through guile, stubbornness, and help from Tehran.

But Ranj Alaadin of the Next Century Foundation pointed out some key differences between Iraq and Tunisia or Egypt: The Tunisian/Egyptian uprisings revolved around a desire for regime change and free and fair elections. Iraq has a democratically elected coalition government that's representative of the Iraqi society, as opposed to having one ruling individual or family and ruling elite. It is very difficult to coordinate and execute an uprising against a government that is so diverse and heterogeneous.

9.36am – Bahrain: An earlier peevish tweet from the New York Times's Nick Kristof: If #Bahrain King Hamad took the money he spends on PR firms

hassling me and spent it on his people, he might be more popular.

9.33am – Egypt: Thousands have gathered in Tahrir Square. CNN reports"waving flags and beating drums" as they celebrate on today's "day of victory".

There is a counter pro-Mubarak rally, Sherine Tadros, al-Jazeera English's correspondent, tweets.

There are around 100 proMubarak supporters gathered, Tadros reports, carrying banners reading: "Forgive us, father, for the actions of our brothers."

Tadros says most of the crowd in Tahrir Square for the day of victory celebrations "don't really know why they [the pro-Mubarak brigade] are here".

9.30am – Bahrain: Reuters has a report from the funeral procession with good detail. Here's an extract: Inside a mosque, men washed the body of 22-year-old student Mahmoud Abu Taki, whose shoulder was peppered with buckshot. "He told me before he went there: 'Don't worry, father, I want freedom,'" said his father, Mekki Abu Taki, 53.

"This is a failed government," said Abu Taki, a real estate company manager. "Of course the protests will continue. The government here is like people of the jungle."

The bodies of his son and of Ali Mansour Khudeir, 58, were then draped in red and white Bahraini flags and placed on top of two vehicles which drove slowly through the streets.

"Trial, trial for the criminal gang,"

the crowd shouted. "Justice, freedom and constitutional monarchy." A brief attempt to start a chant of "Death to alKhalifa" fizzled.

There was no visible police presence in Sitra, although a helicopter circled overhead.

9.27am – Libya: Muammar Gaddafi's family appears to be taking a prominent role in suppressing the revolt. The news agency Reuters has been told that Saadi, a son of the president, is heading to the eastern city of Benghazi, the flashpoint in the latest round of demonstrations ( see 8.39am). Reuters reported: The resident also said Saadi Gaddafi, a businessman son of the Libyan leader, had been on local radio and said he was coming to Benghazi to take over as mayor of the city and protect the people there. Funerals of those killed were expected in Benghazi and Al Bayda on Friday, and could act as a catalyst for further protests.

9.21am – Bahrain: Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times tweets from Bahrain: Vast throngs here at Darraz mosque in #Bahrain. Crowd chants "Death to al-Khalifa." No police in sight.

Calling for the death of royal figures seems a significant escalation. The king of Bahrain is Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa and the prime minister of 40 years is Shaikh Khalfa bin Salman Al Khalifa, a member of the royal family; four-fifths of the 25-man cabinet are also members of the family.

9.16am – Libya: There are repeated claims that Muammar Gaddafi's regime is relying on "mercenaries" from central African states, such as Chad, as shock troops to break up demonstrations. The latest casualty figure, according to Human Rights Watch, places the number of dead at 24.

LibyanThinker: Mercenaries operating in #Libya have been confirmed to be #French speaking Africans from CHAD. #feb17 #Tripoli #Benghazi fustat: At least 24 people killed by sec forces - Libya: Security Forces Fire on 'Day of Anger' Demonstrations (HRW) http:// bit.ly/f340xD #Feb17 9.11am – Bahrain: Mark Tran has been talking to Martin Chulov, who has been attending a funeral rally in a suburb of Bahrain. He says tens of thousands of people have been peacefully attending the event, but there could a showdown later on when the mourners march to Pearl roundabout.

This is where there protesters were attacked by security forces on Wednesday night, leading to several fatalities. Martin says the demands of the demonstrators have escalated significantly and are now targeting the monarchy itself. However, Martin says there has no evidence whatsoever of any anti-American sentiment.

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American navy's fifth fleet.

There's been a large funeral procession through a suburb of Sitra, which swelled to around 30,000 as people moved through the streets. They were carrying the body of one of the people killed in a pre-dawn raid on the tent city yesterday. The rally has now arrived at a cemetery for burial.

People are standing around; it's been very peaceful so far. They plan to regroup and march on Pearl roundabout ... If that happens then we are setting the scene for a showdown the security forces. _ 8.54am – Egypt: There is a sense of deja vu watching al-Jazeera this morning as Egyptians gather once again in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The key question is how the army will react to today's protests – and whether they mark the moment when the goals of the demonstrators and those of the army begin to part company.

This morning the Muslim Brotherhood, the formerly banned Islamist group, urged Egyptians to protect the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak from those who wanted to "kidnap it and its accomplishments".

Mohamed Badie, the leader of the group, which this week said it would form a political party, sought to reassure Egyptians about his organisation's influence.

He said the Brotherhood would not seek the presidency or a parliamentary majority in free and fair elections promised by the military council ruling the country. "[The Brotherhood] has no appetite for the presidency, or a majority or temporal positions," he said.

8.39am: Good morning.

Governments around the Middle East are bracing themselves for protests and violence today as the unrest in the region continues to spread. Bahrain In Bahrain this morning many thousands of mourners called for the downfall of the monarchy as they began burying the dead after an assault on protesters at Manama's Pearl roundabout on Wednesday night which left five dead. Today's calls for the king to go were seen as an escalation of demonstrators' demands; the uprising began with calls for a weakening of the Sunni monarchy's hold on top government posts and measures to address discrimination against the Shia majority. Two funerals have taken place, with one more to go this morning – after which protesters plan to march to Pearl roundabout, something that may cause a confrontation with police and security forces. Libya In Libya, soldiers were deployed on to the streets of Benghazi, after

thousands took to the streets overnight to protest about security forces killing an estimated 24 demonstrators. The city was quiet this morning, but a witness reported shooting last night and the BBC said 10 people had been killed. Funerals are expected today that could act as a catalyst for further protests. Progovernment supporters were also out on the streets this morning.

Crucially, there was little sign of anti-government protest in Tripoli, the capital. Ian Black has more on yesterday's protests here.

Egypt Thousands of Egyptians gathered for prayers this morning and a planned victory march through Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of the protests that led to the fall of the president, Hosni Mubarak, a week ago today. The demonstrations will also act as a warning to the army – which took power after Mubarak stepped down – that protesters want to take a more active role in the country's transition to democracy.

Yemen New protests are also expected today in Sana'a, Yemen's capital.

Yesterday saw a sixth day of clashes between pro-democracy protesters and government loyalists in the country.

Demonstrators want to get rid of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years but is

seen by Washington as an ally in its fight against al Qaeda militants based in Yemen. Iraq About 1,000 protesters in Basra, the southern Iraqi city, are demonstrating to demand better services from the government, jobs and improved pensions. They warned that today's protest would be peaceful, but others in the future might not be. At least five people have been killed at protests throughout the country this week.

Our correspondents throughout the region and Middle East experts and reporters in London will be keeping you updated throughout the day.

• Arab and Middle East protests • Middle East • Egypt • Bahrain • Yemen • Libya • Iraq • Algeria Paul Owen Mark Tran Owen Bowcott Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Pineapple Glazed Ham Balls (Simply Recipes) Submitted at 2/17/2011 4:38:46 PM

Where to begin with these? Hank and I got an inkling to do a more "retro" recipe, and somehow we ended up with ham balls.

Pineapple glazed ham balls. Let's just say the jokes were flying today, Hank being the boy's boy that he is and never ceasing to look for opportunities to make me blush. What are ham balls?

Meatballs, made with ham, ground pork, and in our version, bacon. Slathered with a sweet and sour glaze of pineapple juice, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, and vinegar. (We were thinking about calling them "Hawaiian meatballs", because they're sort of like a meatball version of that classic Hawaiian pizza with pineapple and ham. But what if people in Hawaii don't make meatballs like this? So, back to where we started.)

Continue reading "Pineapple Glazed Ham Balls" »

Politics-Left/ Travel/ Finance/

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Court blocks prisoners' vote claim Robert Booth (The Guardian World News)

Cameron has said the idea of allowing convicts to vote makes him "physically ill" and last week Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:14:17 AM MPs voted overwhelmingly to Almost 600 prisoners denied keep the ban and urged the right to vote in 2010 general g o v e r n m e n t t o d e f y a n election have launched legal o u t s t a n d i n g r u l i n g t o g i v e action prisoners the vote, made in 2005 An attempt by hundreds of by the European court of human prisoners to win compensation rights in Strasbourg. after being barred from voting in The government has previously last year's general election has said it has no choice in the long been thrown out by the high court. run but to allow all except the Mr Justice Langstaff said on most serious offenders to vote or Friday there were "no reasonable face sanctions from the Council of grounds in domestic law" for the Europe and claims worth tens of claims for damages, led by Paul millions of pounds.

Hydes who was convicted in July Jason Coppel, acting for the 2009 of burglary, robbery and Ministry of Justice, said the cases firearms offences for which he should be struck out as they were was serving life with a minimum "misconceived and bound to fail". term before parole of four years He said any remedy must be and 265 days. sought at the Strasbourg court.

Claims have been launched in Convicted prisoners are excluded county courts nationwide by 585 from voting in the UK by the serving prisoners, with another Representation of the People Act 1,000 potential cases in the 1983, which has been held as pipeline, Langstaff heard in incompatible with article one of London before handing down his the European convention. ruling against the prisoners.

Giving his ruling, Langstaff said: The decision is a boost to the "The case was heard a day before government and MPs who oppose parliament debated whether it a change in the law. David should introduce legislation to

amend the 1983 act. Though the subject matter of each is the same – the enfranchisement of prisoners – the role of the courts and of the legislature are distinct ...

"This judgment is to the effect that, applying those laws, including the Human Rights Act 1998, a prisoner will not succeed before a court in England and Wales in any claim for damages or a declaration based on his disenfranchisement while serving his sentence."

The judge said the fact that the 1983 act was incompatible with a prisoner's rights under the European convention arose because of the blanket nature of the ban, as previous cases made clear. Those cases expressly recognised that a state had a wide margin of appreciation in deciding the category of case or prisoner for whom a restriction on the right to vote would not be a disproportionate interference with his rights generally.

He said it was not obvious if Paul Hydes, the lead claimant, would be in a category that would be enfranchised "however the margin of appreciation be exercised in

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honouring the government's international obligations".

"It cannot therefore be said that if the incompatibility were removed he would then have the vote," said the judge. "All would depend on how, legitimately, parliament chose to legislate. He might well remain outside the scope of the franchise."

He concluded: "I hold that there are no reasonable grounds in domestic law for bringing a claim for damages or a declaration for being disenfranchised whilst a prisoner.

"Statute precludes it. Case law is against it. European authority is against the payment of compensatory damages in respect of it. A claim for a declaration is not hopeless, but difficult."

• UK criminal justice • Prisons and probation • European court of human rights • Electoral reform Robert Booth guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Are Young Adults Being Set on the Road to Financial Failure? nospam@example.com (Quizzle.com) (Financiallyfit on Shine) Submitted at 2/17/2011 7:04:25 PM

A lot of young adults are already heading down the road to financial hardship. Many will have problems with credit due to

Diplomat intervenes in Assange case Esther Addley (The Guardian World News) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:54:36 AM

Australian ambassador to Sweden seeks assurances that WikiLeaks founder will be treated fairly The Australian ambassador to Sweden has written to the country's justice minister seeking assurances that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, would be treated justly under Swedish and international law, should he be DIPLOMAT page 64

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extradited there.

Assange, an Australian citizen, is currently fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden over allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual molestation made by two women in August last year, which he denies. He will learn within days whether his attempt to resist the European arrest warrant has been successful.

His letter to Sweden's minister for justice, Beatrice Ask, ambassador Paul Stephens writes, is to convey the Australian government's "expectation that, should Mr Assange be brought into Swedish jurisdiction, his case would proceed in accordance with due process and the provisions prescribed under Swedish law, as well as applicable European and international laws, including relevant human rights norms".

He does not state what reasons, if any, Australia might have for seeking such assurances.

Assange's lawyers argue that the conduct of the Swedish prosecutor has been "illegal and/or corrupt"

in confirming his identity to the press against Swedish custom for accused sex offenders, and issuing a warrant without charge. The Swedish custom of hearing evidence in sex abuse cases in private is, they say, "a flagrant denial of justice".

They also argue that extraditing the Australian to Sweden would be a breach of his human rights, suggesting this would make more likely his onward extradition to the US, where a number of politicians have called for his imprisonment, or worse, over WikiLeaks' publication of leaked US embassy cables. Such a move would carry a "real risk" of Assange being confined in Guantánamo Bay or facing the death penalty, according to a skeleton argument released last month by his legal team.

Assange will learn his fate on Thursday, when chief magistrate Howard Riddle will deliver his judgment on the extradition warrant. The magistrate has already spoken of the strong

likelihood of an appeal from one side or the other, whatever his judgment.

Earlier this month Assange, who is currently on bail in the UK, appealed to the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, to "bring me home". "There have been outrageous and illegal calls to have me and my staff killed, clear cases of incitement to violence," he said in a video message to supporters in Melbourne. "Yet the Australian government has condoned this behaviour by its diplomatic silence."

The Swedish justice ministry declined to comment on the Australian ambassador's letter, saying only that the judiciary is independent and the established norm is that ministers never comment on ongoing court cases.

Speaking to the Guardian earlier this month, Ask said there had been no political influence on any of the decisions taken by Swedish prosecutors in the Assange case.

"Meeting the law, each one of us is worth as much as one another.

That's the whole principle of justice, that the law works in the same way whoever breaks it."

The government had had no discussions with the US regarding Assange's case, she said, but she did not believe that the conduct of WikiLeaks in leaking the cables Exclusive: Online Soap had been contrary to Swedish law.

"People can have opinions about The Bay Looking For a what is in the information, but TV Home Swedish regulations on freedom of speech and press are very Michael Logan (TVGuide.com: liberal … the publisher is not Breaking News) liable."

Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:17:00 AM • WikiLeaks The Bay • Julian Assange He saved the Daytime Emmys • Australia when no one at ABC, CBS or • Sweden NBC wanted to produce them anymore. Now Jim Romanovich, Esther Addley guardian.co.uk© Guardian News o f A s s o c i a t e d T e l e v i s i o n & Media Limited 2011 | Use of International, plans to work his this content is subject to our magic on the hot internet sudser Terms & Conditions| More Feeds The Bay. Romanovich tells TV Guide Magazine that ATI has acquired the soap star-studded series — created by Gregori J. EXCLUSIVE: page 65

Meet the Press Host Bill Monroe Dies at 90 Joyce Eng (TVGuide.com: Breaking News) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:05:00 AM

Bill Monroe Bill Monroe, a former Meet the Press host, has died. He was 90.

Monroe died Thursday at a Washington-area nursing home following complications from hypertension, according to The

Hollywood Reporter.

A New Orleans native and Tulane University graduate, Monroe served in the Air Force during World War II before beginning his television journalism career at his hometown NBC affiliate, WDSU. See other celebrities we've lost Washington, where he became this year In 1961, Monroe moved to NBC's bureau chief. He worked

on the Today show, winning a Peabody Award in 1972, and served as one of four regular weekly panelists on Meet the Press. He succeeded Lawrence Spivak as Meet the Press host in 1975, becoming the show's fourth moderator. He left the post in 1984.

Monroe, whose wife died in 2008, is survived by four

daughters and five grandchildren.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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EXCLUSIVE: continued from page 64

Martin — with plans to sell it as a half-hour cable or syndicated program to air in 2012.

"Even though more and more people are gravitating to the web, TV is still the place to reach the widest audience," says Romanovich. "This is a little risky but I'm a huge fan of The Bay and have great respect for Gregori and his cast and crew. They've poured their hearts and souls into this project and I want to help grow them an audience."

The Bay hit the web last September to terrific reviews and features a staggering array of current and former suds faves, including Mary Beth Evans, Charles Shaughnessy, Martha Madison and Matthew Ashford( Days of Our Lives), Lane Davies and Nicolas Coster( Santa Barbara), Real Andrews and Lilly Melgar ( General Hospital), Marie Wilson( As the World Turns), Jade Harlow (Passions) and

Tristan Rogers( The Young and the Restless).

Martin will re-edit the Bay webisodes (each running seven to eight minutes) into a package of 13 half-hour shows. "We'd like to get it on a cable station such as WGN or TV Guide Network or Hallmark — that's the audience for this," says Romanovich. "At the very least, we feel confident we can get it on key independent stations around the country, such as KTLA in Los Angeles, as well as affiliates in smaller markets.

There are also great possibilities overseas."

Romanovich is equally hopeful ATI will helm the Daytime Emmys for a third year in a row.

NATAS recently announced that the 2011 awards will be presented June 19 in Las Vegas, yet failed to mention any TV deal. Will CBS agree to air the show as it did last year?

"It looks good," Romanovich

says. "CBS was very pleased with the look of last year's show as well as the ratings, but there are still details to be ironed out for it to work for all of us. It's a very difficult and expensive show to do, and we certainly don't want to do less than we did last year. If anything, we want to do more!"

Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Craig Ferguson on Stand-Up, Theme Shows and Sitting Out the Late-Night Wars Joel Keller (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/18/2011 5:30:00 AM

Filed under: Reality-Free, Features, Celebrity Interviews Craig Ferguson has said it before, and he's sticking with his story: He is definitely not interested in starting or participating in another Late Night War. "In order for there to be a war there would have to be something here that I was desirous of capturing. And there isn't," he told me yesterday.

On'The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson' every weeknight, he gets to dance to a modified 'Doctor Who' theme, banter with a robotic sidekick and pull out naughty puppets whenever he

wants. And his improvisational monologue and casual, off-thecuff interview style has drawn raves. Of all the late-night hosts, Ferguson seems to be the most comfortable in his own hosting skin.

Calling in to promote his new stand-up special,'Craig Ferguson: Does This Need to Be Said?', which premieres on the EPIX network Saturday at 8PM ET, we talked about the way he writes stand-up, his love of dancing to Britney Spears, and how he really sees himself. But first, there was a need to congratulate him on a big event in his life.

Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| Comments

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TV/ Products/

Meet the Cast of Disney’s High School Musical Spin-Off Madison High

Newstablet Edition

Daily electronics deals Paul Eng (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/18/2011 5:53:26 AM

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Console + Kinect bundle + $25 Amazon Credit $299.99, free ship Neither Consumer Reports nor The Consumerist receive anything in exchange for featuring these deals; the posts are intended to be purely informational. These deals are often fleeting, with prices changing or products becoming unavailable as the day progresses.

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VuPoint 4x6 Digital Photo Scanner (Woot! - One Day, One Deal) Submitted at 2/18/2011 12:00:15 AM

Hey Ryan! I fixed your scanner!

What your memories needed was some judgment!

“What…what are you talking about? What did you do to my VuPoint 4x6 Digital Photo Scanner?”

I improved it!

“No, you couldn’t have. See, I bought it because it already had everything I wanted. It let me scan and organize photos and receipts and stuff. It has autofeed AND auto-crop. It even has Optical Character Recognition to convert text into an editable format. I can use SD and SDHC memory cards on it. It’s fine. It didn’t need improving. What did you do?”

Well I’ve been formulating some basic AI constructs for awhile now, and I added one to your scanner. So now it not only does all that scanny stuff, but it rates all your scanned photos!

“That’s not a feature of my scanner. That’s not a feature anyone would ever want. Why would I want my photos rated by a machine? Rated for what?”

Coolness! You might start updating some of these to Facebook or something. You want to put your best digital foot

forward, y’know. Try it out!

Here, send this one through.

“This is my baby picture. I wouldn’t add this to Facebook. I just want a digital copy in case this photo gets damaged later.”

Just try it!

Fine. bzzzt I don’t think it’s“Just wait.”

RESULTS COMPLETE: PHOTO IS SUPER LAME. NO ONE LIKES UGLY BABIES. “See how awesome that is?!”

Ugly baby?

Warranty: 90 Day VuPoint Condition: New Features: • Scan and organize your photos, business cards, receipts, postcards and more for your personal use • Allows you to easily scan color and black and white images up to 4x6 inches and .5mm max thickness to a JPEG file • This scanner features an autofeed mechanism with an auto crop feature so you can keep your scanning going without interruptions • Optical Character Recognition / OCR software allows you to easily convert your text to an editable format – OCR software is compatible with Windows 2000 SP4, XP, and Vista, but it is not Mac compatible

• This scanner supports SD and SDHC memory cards up to 32GB (sold separately) • Scan images with resolutions up to 300 dpi • Enjoy a steady work flow – this scanner works at approximately 5 seconds per image • This scanner can handle card stock up to about 0.5mm thick • When you connect the VuPoint Digital Print Scanner into your PC, it shows up on your menu as a mass storage device, same as a digital camera – no additional software is required to start scanning

• Power Source: AC Supply • Image Sensor: CIS • Media Size: A6- 4” x 6” • Format: JPEG • Color Depth: 48-bit • Media Type: Photo – Plain Paper • Optical Resolution: 1800 dpi • Scan Color: Color • Scan Speed: approx 5 seconds • Hardware Resolution: 1800 x 1200 dpi • Memory Cards Supported:- SD, SDHC and MMC- MS, MS Pro/ Pro Duo/ MS Duo, RS-MMC, xD, Mini/Micro SD (adapter required, not included)

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Truck tire testing update: Judging a comfortable riding tire Consumer Reports Shopping Blog (Consumer Reports) Submitted at 2/18/2011 7:35:54 AM

Truck tire testing update: Judging a comfortable riding tire The truck tires we're currently testing are designed for light-duty pickups and SUVs, and they include 12 winter, 13 all-terrain and 23 all-season models. After the snow finally stopped falling, we were able to go to our next p h a s e i n t h e program—subjectively assessing the ride comfort, noise, and Additional Photos: Minimum System Requirements: general steering feel for these • Power Button, Status/Card • Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7; tires. The ride course, done on our 4.5-mile circuit at our proving Indicator and Guide Lever Mac OS 10.5 or higher ground, has an assortment of • Orientation Mark and Feeding smooth and rough road courses, Slot In the box: • Power Port, Mini-USB Port, • VuPoint PS-CA6-VP-BXW 4x6 including asphalt and concrete surfaces, with speeds typical of Output Paper Slot and Memory Digital Photo Scanner city and secondary streets, as well Card Slot • USB Cable as highway driving. (See our tire • Package Contents • Power Adapter buying advice and ratings.)

• Packaging • Sensor Cleaning Swab We're using a 2010 Chevrolet • Anti-curl Sheath Tahoe as our test vehicle with two Technical Specifications: • Calibration Card • USB: Yes • Business Card Organizer evaluators swapping driving chores. During this phase, neither • Product Type: Sheetfed Scanner Software CD driver knows what tires are on the • Platform Support: PC • User Manual truck, and the results are • Weight (Approximate): 8 oz averaged. And even though our • Dimensions: 1.80” H x 6.10” W Discuss this product drivers have calibrated butts, x 1.50” D Price: $19.99 I want one! based on many years of • Input Voltage: 110 V AC- 220 professional test experience, on V AC rare cases when we get contradicting ratings. If so, we retest.

We're often asked what we're TRUCK page 69

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Toy Fair 2011: Day Three: The Very Best Of: Part Two (Woot! - One Day, One Deal)

guys wanted to see a Thundercat, you'd just watch the show online!

I personally like finding brand We're down to the wire on our new things to enjoy, and I hope Toy Fair 2011 coverage. Scott's you do too, so that we can both be wrapping up his final Best-Invery happy with Puppet Heap.

Show picks. What gems could he Much like the beloved Muppets of possibly have saved for last? old, the Puppet Heap characters Best Thing You Didn't Need But all have their own lives and Now Do stories and short video segments, The Flickering Fireplace and boy, does their world look combines the power of a fantastic. The butcher is pretty nightlight with the joy of a circuit much a sausage, his shop is a can board, creating a classy desk toy of ham, his daughter has a doll that won't make you look like a that looks just like she does, and manchild. Yes, yes, we can all "Old Scratch" lives in a potlove our Glow-In-The-Dark bellied stove with a steamy kettle Batman Heads in private, but on top. sometimes one just has to pretend Puppet Heap's world seems most to be a grown-up. like some old classic movie come More after the jump! to life, but if I had to pigeon-hole Best Self-Actualized Appendage it, I'd say "Tim Burton meets Mr. The Hand Runner from Fantasma Rogers' Land of Make Believe" Toys is a remote control‌ well, I would be an acceptable don't have to explain this. All you simplification. I absolutely loved need to know is that this Thing visiting the booth and watching can stick to walls and ceilings as the films and hopefully we'll be it zips around looking for the access to the CEO of terror. blueprints and turn them into real, Sure, I make fun of stuff for a scoring an interview with the pirate that got away. Anybody can Best Excuse honest-to-goodness models. Turn living, but deep down, I'm a total designers sometime soon. Without get a remote control car or Hog Wild knows that a rubber them the right way, maybe you'll sucker for heartwarming family a doubt, my favorite part of Toy helicopter! band shooter is going to get find a secret map of the Vatican! moments. So I really liked finding Fair 2011.

Best Bedtime Buddy And so, slightly before the maximum use in the home or Most Delicious Santa Clues. This box of holiday Too many people try to fight off weekend, we bid a warm goodbye school. But how does one justify There's no point to stocking up cheer contains everything you the ghosts and Draculas with t o o u r T oyFair 2011 blog sneaking it past security? Well, by on gold if you never get to need to add to the Christmas night lights and lullabies. Sure, coverage.

Be sure to check out the adding a pen and a quick-release unwrap it. With your very own Morning excitement. And there's you can catch more flies with special video recap on Monday's keychain, this weapon of mass c h o c o l a t e c o i n p r e s s f r o m no harm in a little stage dressing. honey and all that, but everybody podcast, and if you think Scott annoyance suddenly becomes an Diamant Toys anybody can turn C'mon, you think the real Santa knows: when you've got a missed something great, let us instrument of learning. Highly the included bag of chocolate into would ever leave his glasses problem with the staff, you ask know in the comments below! accurate, long-distance learning. foil wrapped candy. The method behind? for the boss! So Squishables beats He's only half-dead so we could Best Design seems as safe as an E-Z Bake Best In Show the scary things at their own game Even though their site isn't Oven, and as long as you don't try Yeah, well, maybe the rest of the make him run a few laps or with this cuddly plush Cthulhu. operational yet, Crown Prince to corner the market, it's SEC press just went to talk about the whatever.

Help your child fhtagn peacefully International's upcoming line of proof.

Thundercats and hit the bar, but I TOY page 69 through the night by giving them DaVinci toys take his basic Most Class don't see the point in that. If you Submitted at 2/17/2011 1:00:00 PM

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looking for on these drives. Here are the main subjective factors we consider: On-center steering feel is a handling characteristic and is included the overall handling rating with avoidance maneuver and cornering grip. We look at how well the tire communicates with the road. For example, a good tire will have steering that feels natural. We answer these questions: Does the car turn when the wheel is turned? Does the car turn at the same rate of steering input? Do constant steering inputs need to be made to keep the car in the lane? Over the years, we've found that a good tire is easy to drive. In contrast, not-so-good tires have a dead zone and may require early steering or excessive input to make a turn. The worse tires give a feel like towing a trailer with the car swaying as you turn right to left.

Ride comfort is rated in two parts: isolation to road roughness and reaction to impacts, such as potholes. We also look at how composed the car is over uneven surfaces. In short, a good tire will have a ride with slow, controlled motions, and it will absorb minor road imperfections and damp out large bumps. On the other hand,

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poor riding tires are jittery over rough roads, tend to crash into bumps, and cause excessively side -to-side motions.

Noise is a characteristic that many consumers complain about, and, from our experience, is related to the tire and tread pattern, car, road coarseness, and tire condition (based on tire care).

We assess loudness but also observe the pitch of the noise at various speeds and road textures.

A quiet tire goes unnoticed or is at least overshadowed by the vehicle's engine and wind noise.

Noisy tires can make driving a chore with grating whine at speed and a loud hum when slowing down or speeding up.

We saw it all in this group of tires. Overall, though, we're happy to see comfortable and quiet tires, as well as those with good steering precision, in each of the categories: all season, all terrain, and winter. Performance levels in the all-season group were fairly tight, with most providing a comfortable and quiet ride and many had good, direct steering feel. All-terrain and winter tire performace is bit more diverse, no doubt compromised by their aggressive tread designed for offroad and winter grip. Most offered

a good ride, but some were exceptionally noisy and offered mediocre steering feel.

We'll see how some of these trade-offs turn out in our expansive all-weather testing and share our findings as testing continues.

— Gene Petersen Related: Truck tire testing update: No winter blues in CT Winter tires: Comparing stopping distances in snow Next Steps • Tire Buying Advice: • Types of Tires| • Tire Features| • Tire Brands All Tire Ratings Subscribers can view and compare all Tire Ratings. Recommended Tires Look at the ones that we chose as the best of the best. Subscribe now!

S u b s c r i b e t o ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

NFL, Union Agree to Federal Mediation in Labor Dispute Dan Graziano (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/17/2011 2:26:00 PM

Filed under: NFL Labor Negotiations Well, the NFL and the NFL Players' Association have finally managed to agree on something in their ongoing labor dispute. They've agreed to let the federal government into the discussions.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced Thursday that the two sides in the NFL's collective bargaining negotiations have agreed to submit to federal mediation under the purview of FMCS Director George H. Cohen beginning Friday in Washington, D.C. This doesn't mean the dispute is any closer to being settled, but it does mean the sides are talking again in the hopes of getting a new CBA deal done before the current one expires March 3.

"I have had separate, informal discussions with the key representatives of the National Football League and the Players

Association," Cohen said in a statement released by the agency.

"At the invitation of the FMCS, and with the agreement of both parties, the ongoing negotiations will now be conducted under my auspices in Washington, D.C., commencing Friday, February 18.

Due the to extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS's long-standing practice, the Agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of these negotiations until further notice."

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Toy Fair 2011: Day Three: The Very Best Of: Part One (Woot! - One Day, One Deal) Submitted at 2/17/2011 11:00:00 AM

Well, we made it. You've lived vicariously through us, and we've felt important through you. Like a mosquito and a bare forearm, we joined together to become something more than we were before. And now we're leaving and you've got malaria. But at least you'll know what we consider to be the very best of Toy Fair 2011.

After the jump, Scott makes his first picks. Join him, won't you?

Best Toy House With segments that can work alone or be stacked (as per the first photo up at the top there) Tree Blocks offers your toys a sweet base of operations. Put this thing with some Flash Gordon figures and you've got yourself an adventure!

Best Portable Foliage My Pet Plant from Fascinations arrives as soil, sapling and bulletshaped case. Put them all together, add a little water and time, and you've got a living thing for a necklace. If you're too successful, you can even repot it when it gets big and start all over from scratch.

Best Business Card Holder This honor goes to Taiwanese puzzle maker Lonpos for their

easy-to-read card dispenser. No more awkward moments for exhausted buyers as they scramble to remember who's who! Now just grab and glance and seal the deal politely. It's good design, and I gotta say, the puzzles were also well made.

Best Give-Away Tie In Lots of booths had free candy, but only the Monkeying Around booth kept things topical.

Monkeying Around's offering was

the largely forgotten art of dot-todot books, so that jar of candy Dots fit in very nicely. Also, their dot-to-dot books range from the simple to the complex, so they're good for any age of line lover.

Best Way To Label Your Work Mug Jumpin Banana's Toxic set looks dangerous, but that green stuff is actually safely between layers of plastic. When chilled, the scary nuclear bits help keep your drink

at the right temperature, and it looks pretty cool besides. Who doesn't want to do a Gamma shot?

Best Passengers Hape impresses me every year with something wonderfully crafted, and this year is no exception. This wooden rocket has plenty of astronaut room, a hand-cranked elevator, some space debris for surface mining fun, plus a robot and an alien.

Why can't the real space program still be this cool?

Best Light Show Laser Pegs is sort of a cross between Tinkertoys and Lite Brite. Each piece is a colorful light (and some even flash) that connects to another colorful light.

Long pegs, round pegs, big circles, u-shaped joints, they all interlock and fit on the base, which can run on plug or batteries. What you end up with is some future-city that can be the world's coolest nightlite.

Michelangelo's David is great and all, but did anyone ever see it glow?

ToyFair 2011 is almost complete… but not just yet! So keep an eye out for the second half of our Best Of awards later today. We gotta build suspense.

NFL, NFLPA agree to mediation for labor dispute ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:39:25 AM

Updated: February 18, 2011, 10:39 AM ET NEW YORK -- Two weeks from the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the NFL and its players' union agreed Thursday to mediation in their labor dispute.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an independent U.S. government agency, will oversee negotiations in Washington beginning Friday.

"Any time that both sides of negotiations can get together, whether through conventional means of bargaining or mediation, to come to an agreement that can benefit all parties, it is a good thing," NFLPA president Kevin Mawae told The Associated Press in an e-mail. Future Of The League In a guest column, NFL rep Greg Aiello outlines the league's problems with the CBA and ways to fix the system as the game moves forward. Story With the CBA expiring on March 3, NFLPA executive George Atallah breaks down how the players and the union view the crucial talks. Story • Sando: 10 things to know • NFL Labor: Topics page Friday will be the first of seven NFL, page 72

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New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks set to meet Carmelo Anthony of Denver Nuggets this weekend, report says Marc Stein and Chris Broussard (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:05:56 AM

Updated: February 18, 2011, 11:05 AM ET By Marc Stein and Chris Broussard ESPN.com New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, through his spokeswoman, has publicly restated last month's proclamation that his team is done chasing a trade for Carmelo Anthony.

"Mikhail has not changed his mind," Ellen Pinchuk told The Associated Press in an e-mail Thursday.

But sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that the Denver Nuggets-- after widespread reports on Wednesday said the Nets have indeed rejoined the New York Knicks in trying to trade for Anthony -- are operating under the assumption that Prokhorov and Anthony will finally meet face-to-face at AllStar Weekend in Los Angeles.

The Nuggets would encourage that meeting, sources said, because trading with New Jersey has always appealed more to the Nuggets than dealing with the Knicks, since Denver is known to covet Nets rookie Derrick Favors more than any other player who's been made available to them in a saga that dates to mid-September.

Sources say the Nuggets, furthermore, remain well aware

that New Jersey will not consent to an Anthony trade, no matter what is agreed upon between the teams, unless Anthony agrees to sign a three-year, $65 million contract extension with the Nets as part of the swap.

The New York Daily News reported on Friday that the Knicks also are scheduled to meet with Anthony this weekend in Los Angeles. The Daily News said the meetings will be similar to the ones Creative Artists Agency, which represents Anthony and LeBron James, set up for James last summer in Cleveland.

Before Prokhorov so forcefully announced on Jan. 19 that he was pulling the Nets out of the Anthony chase, New Jersey was pressing hard to secure a face-toface meeting with the All-Star forward so the Russian billionaire and Nets minority owner Jay-Z could directly sell Anthony on the team's future in Brooklyn and address Anthony's presumed reluctance to sign the extension in hopes of getting him to change that stance.

Sources told ESPN.com on Thursday night that Prokhorov, despite Pinchuk's statement, has been negotiating directly with Nuggets ownership this week while awaiting confirmation of a meeting where the Nets might finally be able to lobby Anthony to abandon his longstanding determination to be a Knick.

The trading deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. Yahoo! Sports reported Thursday night that the Nets, in the latest iteration of the trade, are prepared to send Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, Ben Uzoh and four firstround picks along with Favors to Denver for Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Melvin Ely and Renaldo Balkman. Photos: Carmelo Anthony's career Stay in Denver? Go to N.Y. or L.A.? As MeloDrama plays out, enjoy photos of a star's career: Carmelo Anthony But sources told ESPN.com that not all of those picks would wind up in Denver's hands. At least one of the first-rounders is earmarked to be packaged with Murphy to a third team -- either in this trade or in a separate deal -- because the Nuggets have maintained for months that they're unwilling to absorb Murphy's $12 million expiring contract for luxury-tax reasons. The Nets and Nuggets have engaged numerous teams over the course of the season -including Minnesota, Cleveland and Detroit -- in an attempt to find a landing spot, other than Denver, for Murphy.

It remains to be seen how the Knicks will respond to the latest apparent threat from their neighbors in New Jersey. The Nets possess assets that have kept them in the hunt for Anthony

despite the fact that it's an open secret around the league that Madison Square Garden is Anthony's preferred destination.

The Knicks have been reluctant for months to part with promising youngsters such as Danilo Gallinari and rookie swingman Landry Fields, believing that gutting their roster to get Anthony makes little long-term sense. Yet one source close to the situation echoed the rising belief that Walsh might have no choice if Knicks owner James Dolan, as many observers anticipate, takes a Melo-at-all-costs stance as many observers anticipate.

"Don't forget Donnie is still trying to get a contract extension," said the source, suggesting that finding a way to acquire Anthony now, whatever the Knicks give up, might be the clincher for Walsh to get his own extension.

Yet it's believed that Anthony once and for all can squash New Jersey's interest if he tells Prokhorov himself that he doesn't want to sign the extension with the Nets. Prokhorov longs to have a full-fledged star in place before the franchise's planned move to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season, but New Jersey can't give up assets such as Favors and multiple draft picks without knowing it has Anthony locked up for the long term. Nets blog Looking for more information on the Nets? ESPNNewYork.com

has you covered. Blog Sources said that New York and New Jersey, entering All-Star Weekend, were the only two teams seriously engaged with the Nuggets in Anthony talks.

One source said that the Dallas Mavericks-- long considered right there with Houston at the top of the list of teams willing to gamble on trading for Anthony without his signature on a contract extension -- have been sufficiently convinced that Anthony remains determined to ultimately be a Knick. The source said that the Mavs have thus decided that there's no way they could include prized young guard Roddy Beaubois in a trade with Denver because keeping Anthony beyond this season will be so difficult.

The Nets have remained quietly confident all season, despite the collapse of multiteam near-deals for Anthony in September (involving Charlotte and Utah) and January (Detroit), that Anthony eventually would agree to extend with them after meeting with Prokhorov and Jay-Z. The Nets also have to sell Anthony on their plans going forward, particularly how they plan to add a top-flight teammate such as Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Dwight Howard.

ESPN.com reported Wednesday that Anthony, meanwhile, has NEW page 73

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straight scheduled days of negotiations between the league and the players' union.

Meanwhile, the union is seeking to make public details from negotiations between the NFL and television networks that resulted in a deal that pays the owners $4 billion, regardless of whether games are played in 2011, the St. Paul Pioneer Press has reported.

A federal judge in Minneapolis will hear arguments Thursday morning on a union appeal over a ruling that allows the league to retain the rights fees, according to the newspaper.

Attorneys for the NFLPA also have asked Judge David S. Doty to unseal 34 pages of case documents beforehand.

Arbitrator Stephen Burbank rejected a union complaint last month that alleged the NFL structured the contracts so it would be guaranteed money even if there were a lockout in 2011 -while not maximizing revenue from other seasons, when the league would have to share that income with players.

The union said that violated a 17year-old agreement between the sides that stipulates the league must make good-faith efforts to maximize revenue for players.

The NFL and NFLPA agreed to meet twice a week two weeks ago, yet have met only once since.

"Personally, I would be surprised if they met more than two or three days in a row," one source familiar with the talks told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

FMCS director George H. Cohen

can make suggestions and recommendations, but he has no authority to impose settlements.

Coming to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement still will be up to the two parties.

"Our agency director will be working with the parties to assist them in reaching a voluntary, mutually acceptable agreement," FMCS public affairs director John Arnold said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

After holding separate discussions with representatives from the league and the union, Cohen said both sides accepted an invitation from his agency to get involved in the stalled negotiations.

"Due to the extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS's long-standing practice, the agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of those negotiations until further notice," Cohen said.

The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players expires at 11:59 p.m.

ET March 3. Last week, talks broke down, leading to the cancellation of one planned session.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the AP in an e-mail: "We are now in mediation."

The league also switched an owners meeting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on March 3, to Chantilly, Va., March 2-3.

In a statement, NFLPA

spokesman George Atallah said: "The NFLPA has always focused on a fair collective bargaining agreement through negotiations.

We hope that this renewed effort, through mediation, will help the players and owners reach a successful deal."

Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, an executive board member of the NFLPA, told ESPN's "NFL Live" on Thursday that he was "excited" about the prospect of entering mediation.

"It can do nothing but help," Saturday said.

The biggest issue separating the owners and players is how to divide about $9 billion in annual revenues. Under the old deal, the owners receive $1 billion off the top, and they want to increase that to $2 billion before players get their share.

Among the other significant points in negotiations: the owners' push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; a rookie wage scale; and benefits for retired players.

The NFL and union went more than two months without holding any formal bargaining sessions, until a meeting Feb. 5, the day before the Super Bowl.

The NFL filed an unfair labor practice charge against its players' union with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday.

The league's filing said the union "consistently has failed to confer in good faith" during negotiations for a new contract and the union's "conduct amounts to surface

bargaining and an anticipatory refusal to bargain."

Aiello told the AP the mediation would not have an effect on the NLRB complaint.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay recalled the last CBA negotiations in 2006, which resulted in a deal that the owners opted out of in 2008.

"Since the last time, things have broken off and guys have gone their separate ways," Irsay said Thursday. "I remember that happened the last time and [thencommissioner] Paul Tagliabue ended up texting [union chief] Gene Upshaw and said, 'Why don't we get back together.' So you never know when something positive can happen and something good can get done.

"I don't have a strong anticipation something will get done before [March 3], but I think it's possible."

Player sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that last week's talks ended after owners walked away from the negotiating table when the NFLPA proposed to take an average of 50 percent of all revenue generated by the league.

However, other sources familiar with the talks told Mortensen and Schefter that the negotiations broke off when the union characterized its documents as an "illustration" that NFL officials believed represented a proposal for revenue sharing between owners and players.

The FMCS website says it "provides free mediation services

in contract negotiation disputes between employers and their unionized employees. All the parties have to do is make a request."

Cohen, who said in a statement that the negotiations will be conducted "under my auspices," is no stranger to sports mediation.

He was involved in Major League Soccer's talks with its players' union and a work stoppage was avoided last year.

Cohen also has worked with the players' associations for Major League Baseball and the NBA, and was an adviser to the NHL players' union before joining the FMCS. The FMCS also became involved in negotiations during the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and a 2005 dispute between the U.S. Soccer Federation and its players.

"Our ultimate goal is a new CBA," Atallah wrote Thursday on his Twitter feed. "I will not discuss any details about the next set of negotiations. We are observing a strict media blackout."

Some players, however, were commenting moments after the announcement.

"NFL and NFLPA agreeing to meet with a federal mediator is a real positive step," Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie said on his Twitter account. "Let's see if he can get them to make actual progress."

Added player agent Drew Rosenhaus: "Exciting news to see NFL, page 73

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grown frustrated with New York's inability to complete the trade and corresponding reports that New York is hesitant to surrender Gallinari and/or Fields for him.

Knicks Blog Looking for more information on y o u r K n i c k s ?

ESPNNewYork.com has you covered. Blog Representatives at CAA pushed for the meeting between Anthony and Dolan, sources said. They also said Anthony wants to know how badly the Knicks want him, as well as what the franchise's plan to build around him will be going forward, such as whether it will have the money to add a Chris Paul or Deron Williams in the summer of 2012. ESPN.com reported earlier that Anthony has been frustrated because it appears that the Knicks have taken his desire to play for them for granted.

Sources close to Anthony have long maintained that the 26-yearold wants so badly to wind up in New York that he'd be willing to opt out of the final year of his current contract and become a free agent this summer, even if that meant potentially losing millions of dollars under the terms of the next collective bargaining agreement. But Anthony's willingness to leave significant money on the table has seemed to wane as the Thursday trade deadline draws nearer.

ESPN.com also reported Wednesday that Denver likes Wilson Chandler, Gallinari, Fields and Timofey Mozgov and wants two, if not three, of those players as well as Knicks point guard Raymond Felton in exchange for Billups. There also have been numerous reports that such a deal would also include a first-round pick from Minnesota going to

Denver -- with the Wolves acquiring Anthony Randolph from the Knicks -- but New York is clearly reluctant to part with so much of Amare Stoudemire's supporting cast.

Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. Chris Broussard is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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the NFLPA & the Owners talking again through the mediation process -- a productive step in the right direction!"

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Boy Who Refused to Wrestle Girl Might End Up Wrestling History Instead David Steele (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:37:00 AM

BOY page 74

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Miss USA Signs on for WWE Tough Enough Brian Fritz (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:08:00 AM

Filed under: Pro Wrestling It was just last May when Rima Fakih used her looks and personality to become Miss USA. Now, she's hoping to show off her tough side in the wrestling ring.

That's because Fakih will be one of the participants in the upcoming season of WWE" Tough Enough" where she will compete against a group of people with the winner becoming a WWE Superstar or Diva.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to battle for a title in an entirely different competition," said Fakih in a press release.

"Miss USA is an incredible honor that's provided invaluable experience which will undoubtedly help me as I push my performance and athletic skills to the limit. I look forward to learning if I have the mettle to make it in WWE." "Tough Enough" will premiere on Monday, April 4th on the USA Network.

Obviously, it's a no-brainer for the WWE since she will get some mainstream coverage at least for the first few weeks of the show.

And if she won it would quite the story everywhere to see Miss USA exchanging headlocks and clotheslines rather than appearing at various car shows and parades waving to people with a big grin

on her face.

She has been a wrestling fan for her entire life. In fact, she appeared on WWE " Raw" last November where she crowned Sheamus as the latest King of the Ring.

Her looks and notoriety got her on the show but it will be interesting to see if she likes taking bodyslams and dealing with the bumps and bruises of wrestling.

Brian Fritz| Twitter:@BrianFritz| E-mail: btrfritz@gmail.com Brian Fritz has covered wrestling for FanHouse since Jan. 2010.

Reporting live from events including WrestleMania, he provides year-round coverage.

Previously, he covered wrestling and mixed martial arts for The Orlando Sentinel.

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BOY continued from page 73

The whole country now knows who Joel Northrup is, which is what can happen when someone is cast as either a hard-headed, backward-thinking coward or a courageous hero of his religious faith.

As a 10th-grader, yet.

So, you sure hope that his father, Jamie, gave his son sound advice that truly is going to benefit him not just now, but for the rest of his life. Because it's Joel Northrup -a sophomore competitor in the Iowa state high school wrestling tournament who defaulted his match this week rather than wrestle against a girl -- who will have to live with it.

And he's the one who will have to

hope he landed on the right side of history.

Plenty before him, in similar circumstances and much older, more experienced and mature, made their choices with the same absolute certainty and clarity, and were applauded for their insistence on standing by their beliefs. And, as enough time passed, they ended up looking like fools, stubbornly and selfishly holding onto an idea whose time had already passed, or was in desperate need of passing.

Dixie Walker and many of his Brooklyn Dodgers teammates are no longer around, but young Joel might want to read up on them.

Walker, in particular, was just as

certain, back in 1947, that it was in his best interest, holding to his longstanding beliefs and vital to his business and personal life in his home state of Alabama, to not have a Negro as a teammate. It would ruin him, he was certain.

His customers would desert him, his friends and associates would shun him, and he had a right to make a post-baseball living and make his home where he felt most comfortable and welcome.

"You're right! You're entitled to that!'' his supporters cried.

The Walking Dead episodic game will be 'multiexpected Q4 2011 Spring training 2011: Detroit Tigers' platform,' Christopher Grant (Joystiq) multi-platform, multi-title"

Miguel Cabrera's DUI arrest won't be distraction, Jim Leyland says Associated Press (ESPN.com)

will have no effect on the team's ability to contend in the American League Central.

Updated: February 18, 2011, There has been no sign of 11:31 AM ET Cabrera around the team's spring LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Detroit training complex.

Tigers are back on the field, one Pitchers and catchers have been day after the team was stunned by working out this week, but the full the news of slugger Miguel team doesn't take the field until Cabrera's arrest on suspicion of Saturday. drunken driving.

Tigers general manager Dave Manager Jim Leyland says Dombrowski said Thursday he emphatically Friday that Cabrera's wasn't sure when Cabrera would troubles won't be a distraction and report to camp, and there was no Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:31:00 AM

partnership; and Telltale is aiming for a Q4 2011 release, so you As rumored, and confirmed should be seeing something this yesterday, Telltale Games is year. As for what platforms a d a p t i n g R o b e r t K i r k m a n ' s they're targeting, IGN reports that update from the team Friday zompocaplytic comic series - and the agreement covers "PC, Mac, now AMC television series - The consoles, handhelds, mobile and morning.

C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 1 b y T h e Walking Dead into an episodic social gaming media." So pretty video game series. That's a lot of much everything.

Associated Press The Walking Dead episodic This entry passed through the series.

Full-Text RSS service — if this is The first details are trickling out game will be 'multi-platform,' your content and you're reading it of last night's Telltale event in San expected Q4 2011 originally on someone else's site, please read Francisco, and here's what we appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ know about TWD so far: It's Feb 2011 11:45:00 EST. Please "definitely episodic," Kirkman see our terms for use of feeds. content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: says; it will be a "multi-year, Permalink| Email this| Comments Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:45:00 AM

Gaming/

Newstablet Edition

inFamous 2 saves the day on June 7, Hero Edition confirmed Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:28:00 AM

The identity of the gaming industry's first big 2011 summer blockbuster has been revealed: Sony Computer Entertainment and Sucker Punch Productions have announced that the followup to 2009's ionically-charged sandbox title, inFamous, will hit U.S. store shelves on June 7. The publisher also confirmed that the inFamous 2 Hero Edition is a real thing you'll be able to buy for $99.99, which nets you the game, an 8.5-inch statue of Cole, a replica messenger bag, a minicomic, the game's soundtrack and a bevy of vouchers for downloadable content.

If you want to snag said content without springing for the deluxe edition, it's been broken down piecemeal as pre-order bonuses from various retailers:

• Shoppers at Best Buy can grab a character skin modeled after inFamous' antagonist, Kessler.

• Pre-orders at GameStop net you the telekinetic "Lightning Hook" power.

• Walmart is offering preorderers the radical-sounding "Electrocution Grenade" ability.

Personally, we think it's totally • Folks who reserve the game on awesome that they chose to Amazon will get the 24K Gold release the game on the first day version of Cole's "Amp" weapon.

of E3, ensuring that we'll have to go the better part of a week after its release without playing it. We hope you guys don't mind showing a little solidarity by holding off your enjoyment until we get back. (Or, at the very least, just don't Tweet about it. Please?)

Check out all the pre-order bonuses and pack shots you can handle in the gallery below!

Gallery: inFamous 2 - Bonuses and Box Art

Continue reading inFamous 2 saves the day on June 7, Hero Edition confirmed inFamous 2 saves the day on June 7, Hero Edition confirmed originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Al Cardenas, New CPAC Head, Impresses Matt Lewis (Politics Daily)

" three-legged stool" of the conservative coalition (encompassing social Columnist When it was c o n s e r v a t i v e s , f i s c a l announced that former Florida conservatives, and national Republican Party Chairman Al security conservatives).

C a r d e n a s w o u l d h e a d t h e The controversy threatened to American Conservative Union -- mar the annual event, with the the group which organizes the rhetoric becoming heated at times.

Conservative Political Action But Cardenas' style and eloquence Conference (CPAC) -- I was may help change that. He was skeptical. recently on C-SPAN ( around the After all, Cardenas is a lobbyist eight-minute mark) discussing the who endorsed Charlie Crist over GOProud controversy.

Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate in Here's what he had to say: Florida. And he was elected to We're going to make sure that head a conservative organization? organizations that adhere to our But just as Speaker John Boehner beliefs get invited. So that has, thus far, exceeded my includes GOProud or anybody expectations, Cardenas has, thus else, so we're going to go through JC Fletcher (Joystiq) something that you'd notice even far, also impressed me with his a vetting process to see what they stand for. if you weren't coming off of calm leadership style.

Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:55:00 AM As you may know, CPAC has If you are a group, this has got Dragon Quest IX, and something Dragon Quest VI: Realms of that is only exacerbated for those been plagued recently by a nothing to do with orientation -- if c o n t r o v e r s y s u r r o u n d i n g you're a group of straight couples Revelation should not have been who are. released after Dragon Quest IX. Gallery: Dragon Quest VI (2/17) GOProud -- a gay conservative that advocate for gay marriage, While it's somewhat unfair to Continue reading Dragon Quest organization whose high-profile then that's not within the scope of compare the two just because the VI: Realms of Revelation review: involvement with CPAC led some what we believe that the three legs prominent socially conservative of the stool of the movement are.

DS releases came out within a Slime and Punishment year of one another, the proximity Dragon Quest VI: Realms of groups to boycott the conference So it's got nothing to do with the orientation. It has got to do with o f t h e s u b t l y m o d e r n i z e d , Revelation review: Slime and this year.

The controversy essentially pitted the principles that you advocate. streamlined Dragon Quest IX Punishment originally appeared those who believe CPAC should There are of gays in America that makes it impossible not to notice on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 just how much a product of its 10:55:00 EST. Please see our provide a "big tent" versus those don't advocate the gays-in-thewho value the preservation of the military issue or gay marriage, time Dragon Quest VI is. terms for use of feeds.

It's not a bad game, but it's Permalink| Email this| Comments certainly not a friendly game -Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:35:00 AM

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation review: Slime and Punishment

and so they'll fit within the tent of what we stand for. . . . So we'll do our best to be inclusive while at the same time adhering to the principles that Ronald Reagan dreamed about and we've been following. Leadership matters, and since being elected to head the ACU just over a week ago, Cardenas has proven a calming force.

What is more, he has eloquently presented a nuanced argument for why CPAC should remain open to anyone who wants to attend -while simultaneously remaining true to conservative policy positions.

In short, Cardenas is saying: We don't care who you are; we care what you believe in.

Maybe, just maybe, this issue will finally be resolved by the time CPAC rolls around next year.

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77

Rep. Michele Bachmann, Stay Out of My Bra Sarah Wildman (Politics Daily) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:36:00 AM

Dear Representative Bachmann: I am part of the "nanny state."

You don't know me. Nor, as far as I know, do you know any of the women I see each week at my daughter's preschool: moms of toddlers and infants, many of whom have had the good fortune of knowing their mothers' milk.

Though, I'm sure, plenty of your constituents are me.

I understand you, too, breast-fed.

Mazel tov. I'm so glad it worked for you, for your children, for your family.

But I can't help but wonder -after you falsely claimed the government of buying breast pumps for everyone, and decried the new IRS tax deduction for pumps and other nursing supplies -- what you remember of that time. ("I've given birth to five babies and I breast-fed every single one," you told Laura Ingraham on her radio show. "To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump . . . that's the new definition of a nanny state.") When you were breast-feeding, did you ever have to leave your baby? I mean, not leave but, you know, go outside.

Alone. You know what I mean.

During those heady early months, when you sometimes feel like a full-on cow, when the feedings come fast and thick, and you are

constantly pressing on your breasts to see which one seems fuller. The months when the feedings are hot 'n' heavy.

Did you, as I did, stick with obsessive fealty to the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to serve those five children nothing but breast milk for the first six months of life?

Actually, it's not important what you did. Keep it at home.

But you and I know that the one saving grace of sanity for so many women, the one thing that allows them to get back to work, to support their families, but also to (dios mio!) step outside alone once in awhile -- to get back to the gym, to have a beer with a friend -- is a breast pump.

Could it be that allowing flex spending accounts and tax deductions to ease the burden of those pricey Medela pumps (alongside, it must be emphasized, flex spending that can be spent on Lasik eye surgery, voluntary sterilizations, and orthodontics, and a flashy pair of new prescription sunglasses, among many, many other things) allows a woman to meet the nutritional, preventative health needs of her newborn as well as her own needs?

A breast pump means not only that a woman can work. It means a woman can determine when and how she feeds her child. It

provides freedom with a bit less guilt. It gives control. It allows her to continuously stay with her decision to breast-feed even if she can't do every single feeding. (It's not fun. It's so much nicer to snuggle up with baby, every time, but that's just not always practical.)

Did you then stick with the regime, even after your child first tasted gummy baby cereal, progressed through sweet potatoes and onto yogurt? Did you keep on keeping on, until a year or beyond?

Actually, I don't care if you did.

But I did. And a lot of mothers I know did, are doing, will do, have done.

It's tiresome to reiterate all the health benefits of breast-feeding, but here they are: It gives antibodies. It prevents asthma, allergies, appears to reduce the

potential for obesity. It might even make a child smarter. If a pump allows a woman enough freedom to consider breastfeeding past her paltry maternity leave, how is that not a public health imperative?

Granted, kids in America who are born into homes with water that is clean and futures that are bright often start out with enough advantages that the differences aren't that big between babes who are formula-fed and those who take only the breast. No one need force herself to be chained, nipple to mouth, for 12 months or 24 months, or even just six months if it will cause her undue stress, if her milk doesn't come in, if her body and soul and mind aren't into it.

And for those children who are not born into privilege in this country (and there are far too

many), perhaps the chance at a few months on the breast will give those kids a boost they sorely need. Maybe those immunities will keep those kids in school a few extra days, instead of out sick.

Usually the phrase "breastfeeding controversy" swirls around the rights of mothers to feed their children in public, safe from harassment, not from whether the bit of extra cash they can save by using pre-tax dollars to purchase their pumps contribute to "nanny states" or force anyone into joining La Leche League.

But I suspect you know that.

So please, Rep. Bachmann, stay out of my bra. And I promise not to chortle if you deduct the cost of all five of your children's glasses, braces (and even the gasoline you bought to take them to and from appointments). Because all of that you have not questioned.

All the best, Sarah This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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'Gang of Six' in Senate Working Behind Scenes on Debt Reduction Plan Tom Diemer (Politics Daily) Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:30:00 AM

Correspondent While a highdecibel debate on immediate spending cuts rages in the House, a small group of senators that some call the "Gang of Six" is working quietly on a serious longrange plan to reduce the nation's trillion-dollar-plus budget deficits.

Taking a cue from the Obama administration deficit-reduction commission, the bipartisan outline calls for higher taxes and acrossthe-board limits on spending, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Although the plan is still in the works, it could surface as early as next month. Four of the senators were members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which in its report called for difficult steps that would trim deficits by some $4 trillion over a decade.

The recommendations last December sought a higher retirement age for Social Security, more needs-tests for Medicare benefits, cuts in defense spending and scaling back cherished tax

breaks, such as the home mortgage deduction.

The "gang" includes four commission members who supported that report: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); Kent Conrad (DN.D.); Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). Sens.

Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Saxbe Chambliss (R-Ga.) are also part of the private discussions. And they have clout: Durbin, as majority whip, ranks second in the Senate Democratic hierarchy. Conrad is chairman of the Budget Committee.

Using the commission report as a guide, the senators plan to eventually introduce a bill that would direct congressional committees -- the workhorses on Capitol Hill -- to begin implementing some of the recommendations as they craft and reauthorize legislation, the Washington Post said. With a 2013 deadline in mind, the tentative plan would target cuts in discretionary spending, overhaul the tax code and reform Social Security, Medicare and other entitlements.

"Everything has to be on the table," Coburn said in a Post oped piece. "There can be no sacred cows and pet priorities. Most of all, the American people have to know that we are willing to sacrifice our political careers in order to do the best thing for the country. We have to resist the tendency to play 'gotcha' politics and, for once, unite behind the theme, and reality, that our survival depends on the decisions we must make." Filed Under: Senate, House, Democrats, Republicans, Budget, Taxes, Social Security, Obama Administration, Congress, Deficit, Jobs, Medicare, Economy This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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79

Wisconsin's Walker to Obama: Butt Boehner: Walker Out of State Business ‘Daring to Speak Truth’ (Newsmax - Inside Cover)

long ways from doing.”

The White House political Submitted at 2/18/2011 5:52:34 AM operation, Organizing for Friday, 18 Feb 2011 11:52 AM America, got involved in the

By Jim Meyers Wisconsin dispute on Monday.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has And the president's political fired back at President Barack machine worked closely with state Obama for meddling in his state and national union officials to get government’s ongoing battle with thousands of protesters to gather public sector unions. in Madison, the state capital, on On Thursday, Obama accused Thursday, The Washington Post Republican Walker of unleashing reported. an "assault" on unions in pushing But Walker insisted: “We’re not emergency legislation that would going to be intimidated by people nullify collective-bargaining c o m i n g i n f r o m o u t s i d e o f agreements affecting most public Wisconsin trying to tell us what employees. On Friday morning, we need to do to balance our Walker told Fox News: “I think budget. we’re focusing on balancing our “The bottom line is, we got budget. It would be wise for the elected to do a job.” p r e s i d e n t a n d o t h e r s i n Under the plan proposed by Washington to focus on balancing Walker, who took office six their budget, which they are a weeks ago, most public workers

— excluding police, firefighters and state troopers — would have to pay half of their pension costs and at least 12 percent of their healthcare costs. They would lose bargaining rights for anything other than pay.

Walker maintains that the measure would save $300 million over the next two years to help close a $3.6 billion budget gap. © Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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(Newsmax - Inside Cover) Submitted at 2/18/2011 4:54:56 AM

Friday, 18 Feb 2011 10:54 AM

By Dan Weil House Speaker John Boehner firmly backs Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker in his effort to reform public workers’ collective bargaining rights, The Hill reports. Walker is pushing for increased contributions by state workers to benefits and pension plans and limits to collective bargaining rights for some.

“Republicans in Congress — and reform-minded GOP governors like Scott Walker, Ohio’s John Kasich and New Jersey’s Chris Christie — are daring to speak the truth about the dire fiscal challenges Americans face at all levels of government, and daring to commit themselves to solutions that will liberate our economy and help put our citizens on a path to prosperity," Boehner said in a statement.

"I’m disappointed that instead of providing similar leadership from

the White House, the president has chosen to attack leaders such as Gov. Walker, who are listening to the people and confronting problems that have been neglected for years at the expense of jobs and economic growth." © Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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Newstablet Edition

Walker to Obama: Stay Union Fascism on Full Display Out of State Business Rich Trzupek (FrontPage Magazine » FrontPage)

(Newsmax - Inside Cover)

Submitted at 2/17/2011 10:45:26 PM

The hypocrisy of the American left is on full display in the heart Friday, 18 Feb 2011 11:04 AM of America, as the teachers’ union

By Dan Weil in Wisconsin continues to show President Barack Obama is how it will use any tactic, no intervening in Wisconsin’s policy matter how reprehensible, to try debate, and the state’s GOP Gov. and get its way. Threats, Scott Walker isn’t happy about it, intimidation, violent imagery and Politico reports. Obama is taking inflammatory rhetoric – all of the the side of state employees, as sorts of tactics that the left and the their budget, which they are a Walker seeks to take away some mainstream media routinely long ways from doing.” of their collective bargaining accuse conservatives of using – rights in an effort to balance the Obama has deployed his political are on full display in Madison. operation to support the public budget.

But, rather than condemning such Instead of intruding on a state’s employees. behavior, left wing champions rights as it seeks to correct its © Newsmax. All rights reserved. from Barack Obama to Michael fiscal imbalance, Obama would This entry passed through the Moore are falling over themselves do well to address the federal Full-Text RSS service — if this is to show solidarity with the g o v e r n m e n t ’ s o w n d e f i c i t , your content and you're reading it teachers’ union. projected at $1.65 trillion for this on someone else's site, please read Protesters carried signs likening year, Walker says. “I think we’re our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ Wisconsin governor Scott Walker focused on balancing our budget,” content-only/faq.php to Adolf Hitler and Hosni he said on Fox News Friday Five Filters featured article: Mubarak. One protester carried a morning. “It would be wise for Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In placard that posed the question the president and others in The Crosshairs. “why do Republicans hate Washington to focus on balancing people?” while others likened Walker’s budget cutting efforts to rape. He was called a dictator by some and an image of the governor was overlaid with crosshairs by at least one protestor. A rent-a-mob marched on the governor’s home. None of this behavior seems to bother leaders on the left, no more than the same kind of extremist rhetoric and actions concerned them when the left directed it towards George W. Bush for the Submitted at 2/18/2011 5:04:34 AM

better part of eight years.

Wisconsin state senator Randy Hopper, a Republican, told National Review that he and his colleagues have been receiving threats of a physically violent nature, and that law enforcement has stepped in to protect the homes and businesses of Republican legislators in the Dairy State. And how does the President of the United States react to all this? Barack Obama, after all, called for more civil and respectful political debate in America just a few short weeks ago. Here’s what the President had to say in an interview with Milwaukee’s WTMJ: “Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally seems like more of an assault on unions. I think it’s very important for us to understand that public employees, they’re our

neighbors, they’re our friends.”

Leftist hero Michael Moore was less circumspect, tweeting: “Madison is the new Cairo!

Wisconsin teachers, nurses, firefighters — shut the state down! All of working America is with u!” Like the Madison teachers who are effectively engaged in an illegal strike, Obama, Moore and all of the rest of the left don’t understand what’s happening in Wisconsin any better than they grasp what previously happened in New Jersey. It’s not about education, it’s not about collective bargaining and it’s not about freedom and democracy. It’s about the future of America, it’s about unsustainable debt and it’s about making sure that our children have the same kind of opportunities that we were blessed with.

Politics-Right/

Newstablet Edition

81

‘A Great and Mighty President’ Robert VerBruggen

historian Ron Chernow, who recently published a one-volume biography of the first president.

P atrick Henry opposed the “One can make the argument that Constitution as vehemently as he the office was forged for George opposed tyranny. Indeed, at the W a s h i n g t o n . ” A t t h e Virginia ratifying convention in Constitutional Convention in June 1788, he argued they were 1787, most delegates assumed he the same thing. “Besides the would be the first executive, and expenses of maintaining the they outlined the president’s Senate and other house in as much responsibilities in the Constitution splendor as they please,” he with him in mind -- that is to say, railed, “there is to be a great and rather vaguely. Unlike the lengthy mighty president, with very Article I, which enumerates the extensive powers -- the powers of legislature’s tasks, Article II is a king.” short and vague.

Three months before, Alexander “That was extremely important,” Hamilton, writing as “Publius” in Chernow adds, “because we had t h e N e w Y o r k P a c k e t , h a d just fought a war against the abuse d e f e n d e d t h e p r o p o s e d of executive power. Washington’s presidency. “The executive presence at the Constitutional authority, with few exceptions, is Convention and this assumption t o b e v e s t e d i n a s i n g l e emboldened the delegates to magistrate,” he wrote. “If, in this create a very powerful office, one particular, there be a resemblance s o p o w e r f u l t h a t T h o m a s to the king of Great Britain, there Jefferson and others were alarmed is not less a resemblance to the by its scope.”

Grand Seignior, to the khan of Washington wielded that power Tartary, to the Man of the Seven effectively: creating a national Mountains, or to the governor of bank, negotiating an unpopular New York.” treaty with Great Britain, and #ad#Both men were right. The e x t i n g u i s h i n g t h e W h i s k y president assumed very extensive R e b e l l i o n i n w e s t e r n powers. But even with them, no P e n n s y l v a n i a . B u t h e a l s o occupant of the office has yet answered a fundamental question resembled a king -- at least not -- one whose answer we take for considerably. For this good granted today: How is a president fortune, we owe a large debt to supposed to act? “Washington the men who have held the office. decides that, basically, the No man had a greater influence president won’t stop by your on the presidency than its original house for dinner,” Chernow quips. occupant. “The office of the “The office would have a certain presidency was not only forged by d i g n i t y a n d d e t a c h m e n t . ” G e o r g e W a s h i n g t o n , ” s a y s Americans still afford their Submitted at 2/18/2011 2:00:40 PM

presidents that dignity. Notice last year’s kerfuffle over comedian Jon Stewart’s calling President Obama “dude.”

Nonetheless, Washington also established an egalitarian tradition: the presidential inauguration. “There’s no requirement in the Constitution,” Chernow notes, “only that he take the oath of office. Washington decides he’s going to take the oath in the open air before the multitude. He decides to make an inaugural address. He decides that inaugural address should be broadly thematic. He took the oath of office with his hand the on Bible. Basically, we still hew closely to the pattern of that day.”

An open-air celebration was not a foregone conclusion. The Senate, for instance, did not open its doors to the public until 1794.

Thomas Jefferson, however, gave the office much more of a populist flavor, says historian Gordon Wood. “He saw himself as speaking for the people; I don’t think Washington saw it that way at all,” Wood observes. Unlike Washington, who held weekly levees reminiscent of those held

by European courts, “Jefferson really threw all that out and opened himself to the people” -sometimes answering the White House’s door in his slippers. #page#It was Jefferson’s example that Abraham Lincoln most admired. “All honor to Jefferson,” the 16th president once wrote. Of course, Lincoln enhanced the presidency’s power immensely.

He declared martial law and suspended habeas corpus -- which was unconstitutional -- to win the Civil War. Lincoln’s greatest contribution, however, was his intellectual effort on behalf of the Union, Wood contends. “The question of the Civil War is not why the South seceded,” he argues. “The question is why the North cared.

Lincoln voiced that care: If we fail, then self-government fails.

By the middle of the 19th century, there were no republics left in the world, so he was voicing the ideal that came out of Jefferson.” #ad#By saving the American experiment, Lincoln allowed a future president, Theodore Roosevelt, to turn an agrarian republic into a world power.

“Roosevelt made the presidency into the office of an international statesman,” says historian Edmund Morris, who recently released the final installment of his three-volume biography of the 26th president.

Roosevelt succeeded in this effort largely because of his cosmopolitan personality. He had four grand tours of Europe before serving as president, spoke German and French fluently, and boasted an enormous range of international acquaintances. “The climax of his presidency was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906, which he got for mediating the end of the Russo–Japanese war,” Morris notes. “To date, he’s the only president who’s ever been asked

to mediate a foreign war.”

After World War II, the American people’s confidence in the presidency declined. After the disastrous presidencies of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter, the people perceived the presidency as weak.

That perception changed, however, after Ronald Reagan took the oath of office.

“The most obvious and dramatic effect of his inauguration was the restoration overnight -- it really was overnight -- of American self -confidence and patriotism,” Morris argues. “It’s one thing he and TR had in common: It was a personal dignity and they embodied the national dignity as well as its force.”

The other quality Morris emphasizes is Reagan’s courage.

“Before him, every president seemed to be scared of the Soviet Union -- terrified of it,” he says.

“Reagan seemed to instinctively understand that it was a ramshackle system, a house of cards that just had to be tipped over and then it would crumble.”

Reagan was the last president who strengthened the office, Morris says: “Clinton was much more accommodating with Congress and the latest Bush was much more controversial. But Reagan somehow managed to hold it all together.”

Our government is not a one-man show -- nor should it be. But unlike a congressman or a senator, GREAT page 83

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Unequal Protection You Can Believe In Robert VerBruggen Submitted at 2/21/2011 3:00:36 AM

T wenty-eight of these United States -- encompassing 164 million people, 53 percent of America’s population, and 285 Electoral College votes-- are suing the federal government to stop Obamacare. This litigation challenges the constitutionality of Obamacare’s mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to decide, once and for all, whether the Constitution’s Commerce Clause empowers Congress to force Americans to conduct commerce.

Shattering the Obamacare Death Star, however, may require slamming it from multiple directions. Hence, an additional legal strategy should address this law’s apparent violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause -- which explicitly applies to the states, but which the Supreme Court has more or less hitched onto the federal government as well. #ad#Obamacare is not being enforced equally at all. As of February 9, the Obama

administration had granted 915 waivers, mainly to influential organizations, major companies, and pro-Democratic labor unions.

Those less lucky or less well connected have a different option: Obey Obamacare.

According to the Health and Human Services Department, these waiver recipients claim that complying with new “annual dollar-limit requirements” would cost their group health plans “either a large increase in premiums or a significant decrease in access to coverage.”

But unlike the objective income brackets that trigger diverse tax rates, “large” and “significant” are subjective criteria. This gives HHS bureaucrats ample opportunity to treat the insured unequally.

Major waiver recipients and their enrollees include the Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund (20,500), Service Employees International Union Local 25 (31,000), Darden Restaurants (34,000), Aetna (209,423), CIGNA (265,000), and the United Federation of Teachers (351,000).

Union members represent 43.1 percent of the 2,443,047 enrollees

included in these waivers.

“Obamacare was sold as all benefit -- no downside,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.) said Wednesday at a waiver-focused House oversight hearing. And now, “2.5 million people literally need to be protected from the devastating effects of Obamacare.”

“The selective dispensations to Obamacare’s mandates that Obama so far has given to various special interests -- especially his union friends -- fly in the face of the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause,” says Roger Pilon, the libertarian Cato Institute’s vice president for legal affairs. “But they’re just the other side of the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ the ‘Louisiana Purchase,’ and other last-minute shenanigans that Obama and congressional Democrats employed to get this travesty passed in the first place.”

“The very interests who supported this law and helped ram it through Congress are now applying for waivers,” Betsy McCaughey, president of Defend Your H e a l t h c a r e ( defendyourhealthcare.us), told the

Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on February 12. “If government has the power to grant waivers, it has the power to deny them and destroy any business. Americans never should have to slink and slither to the White House for exemptions, like supplicants.”

McCaughey will ask President Obama to give waivers to everyone who requests them via her website. #page#While Democrats hail this new law as the greatest medical innovation since the tongue depressor, these 915 waivers may be the most compelling argument against Obamacare yet. After Democrats ignored the screams of the populace and jammed this catastrophe down our throats, they argued that Americans soon would love this gargantuan law.

“It’s very obvious that people have a lack of understanding of our health-care-reform bill,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said last August.

“The more people learn about this bill, the more they like it.” #ad#Democrats have it backward.

With Obamacare, familiarity breeds contempt. Nearly one year

after its enactment, 57 percent of Americans want Obamacare repealed, while only 38 percent oppose repeal, according to a February 12–13 Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely voters. (Margin of error: +/– 3 percent.)

Meanwhile, rather than clamor to accelerate Obamacare, unions, corporations, and other prominent players secure the priceless waivers that are their passport out of this mess. Instead of cheerful passengers aboard a luxury liner, those who know Obamacare best resemble terrified Vietnamese huddled atop the U.S. Embassy, praying for seats aboard the last chopper out of Saigon, just steps ahead of the marauding Viet Cong.

--- New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University.

Politics-Right/

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Ronald Reagan and the African American Michael Potemra Submitted at 2/21/2011 3:00:02 AM

R onald Reagan, who narrowly lost the Republican party’s presidential nomination in 1976, realized that his party needed to broaden its base into a durable coalition that would help its members win and maintain office at the local, state, and national levels. Speaking before a gathering of conservatives in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 1977, just five days before Jimmy Carter took the oath of office, Reagan emphasized this point, stating: The New Republican party I envision is still going to be the party of Lincoln and that means we are going to have to come to grips with what I consider to be a major failing of the party: its failure to attract the majority of black voters.

It’s time black America and the New Republican party move toward each other and create a situation in which no black vote can be taken for granted.

Throughout the late 1970s, Reagan continued to exhort fellow Republicans to face this problem, and he worked to win the black vote after he won his party’s presidential nomination in 1980.

Speaking at the Urban League convention in New York on Aug. 5, 1980, he proclaimed, “I am committed to the protection and enforcement of the civil rights of black Americans. This commitment is interwoven into every phase of the programs I will propose.” #ad#Two days earlier, Reagan had given a speech at the Neshoba County Fair in the town of Philadelphia, Miss., where civilrights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner had been murdered in 1964. His statement that “I believe in states’ rights” concerned Rev. Andrew Young, who said, “Code words like ‘states’ rights’ and symbolic places like Philadelphia, Miss., leave me cold.” Young asked, “Is Reagan saying that he intends to do everything he can to turn the clock back to the Mississippi justice of 1964?”

For decades, Reagan had discussed the tenets he considered to be fundamental to the constitutional functioning of the United States. Instead of using code words in his speeches, Reagan expressed his deeply held principles in straightforward language.

Did these words hurt him as he

was attempting to extend his reach? Not with the majority of voters.

On Election Day 1980, Reagan outperformed Carter among most categories of U.S. citizens, winning 51 percent of the popular vote to Carter’s 41 percent. In 1976, Jewish voters had supported Carter two-to-one; in 1980, only 45 percent of them backed Carter, with 39 percent voting for Reagan. Carter’s support from Protestants diminished from 46 percent in 1976 to 39 percent in 1980; 54 percent of Protestants voted for Reagan. In 1976, 57 percent of Catholics voted for Carter, but in 1980, Carter’s portion of the Catholic vote was 46 percent while Reagan’s was 47 percent.

In the 1980 race, Reagan was backed by 26 percent of Democrats, 55 percent of independents, and 86 percent of Republicans, and he was popular with many other categories of voters -- except for nonwhites, who remained loyal to the incumbent. In 1976, 85 percent of nonwhites voted for Carter; in 1980, he won 86 percent of the nonwhite vote. In 1980, Reagan received 10 percent of the nonwhite vote while John Anderson, the third-party

candidate, won 2 percent.

No Republican president or presidential candidate has successfully ascertained an effective way to extend the party’s reach to black voters.

Discussing principles such as the rights of states outside of a larger political context has the sound of code language and does not broaden one’s base. Reagan understood that fact and his fall 1980 campaign focused sharply on the economy and defense.

Though it was too late to sway the black vote, Reagan was building upon his vision of a Republican party organized around conservative principles as a means of broadening the tent. It was a vision he talked about frequently as he assumed leadership of his party and the conservative movement in the late 1970s.

Reagan established the rhetorical base for a broader tent. It is time for the party to realize his vision.

--- Kiron K. Skinner is the coauthor of Reagan, in His Own Hand and other books. She is on the advisory board of the George W. Bush Oral History Project, teaches international relations at Carnegie Mellon University, and is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.

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who must represent his district or state, the president must represent the entire nation. He must look out for the whole. For that reason, we put so much emphasis on choosing our presidents correctly -- and on celebrating those who served us well.

It was the second president, John Adams, who blessed the White House by praying, “May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.” Our best presidents understood that good, wise leaders in despotic governments were unexpected boons -- and in free governments, absolute necessities.

--- Brian Bolduc is a William F. Buckley fellow at the National Review Institute.

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Cutting Spending Means More, Not Fewer Jobs J.D. Foster, Ph.D. (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

government. If this were true, then we would be doomed.

Fortunately, it’s not true. It’s not even wrong as a matter of Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:30:27 AM Posted February 18th, 2011 at exaggeration. Cutting spending 11:30am in Ongoing Priorities now is probably the most pro-jobs Print This Post policy Congress can enact The debate in the House of quickly, especially given the Representatives over spending budget deficits we now face. cuts has left many observers The issue is ultimately utterly unraveled. Exhibit A: the straightforward: The President President’s veto threat. and his allies suggest that one can The core of the threat is that if he stimulate the economy through is presented a bill that cuts increased deficit spending. The spending in ways or amounts he notion is to increase total demand doesn’t like “ while continuing to b y i n c r e a s i n g g o v e r n m e n t burden future generations with demand. If this worked, then the debt, the President will veto the fiscal surge of the past two years bill.” On this basis, apparently the should have been sufficient to put President would veto his own the economy into overdrive. It budget proposal. According to the didn’t.

President, his budget is full of As the Administration has painful spending cuts and heavily repeatedly tried, one can misuse burdens future generations with sophisticated economic models to rapidly mounting debt. demonstrate that increased deficit The President’s outside chorus spending stimulated the economy. has come equally unhinged. Take, This folly is reminiscent of the for example, the claim by the joke about the economist stuck on Economic Policy Institute that a deserted isle with nothing but cutting $100 billion from the canned food to eat and no can President’s budget request for opener. When asked how he f i s c a l y e a r 2 0 1 1 , a s t h e survived, he replied, “I assumed a Republicans originally pledged, can opener.” These models would destroy 994,000 jobs. If assume that deficit spending is this were true, then we would stimulative, so, of course, that’s truly be as addicted economically what they show. I may assume I to a rapidly growing budget as can outrun Olympic sprinter President Obama’s recent budget Usain Bolt. But my assumption suggests. If this were true, we doesn’t put me on the victory could never slow the growth in stand complete with flag and

inconvenient truth that deficits have to be financed by borrowing, and by government borrowing more there is less saving left in the economy for the private sector. So government spending goes up, private spending goes down, and total demand is shifted but not increased.

What the economy needs now is relief from Washington’s predations and relief from Washington-created uncertainties, foremost of which derives from the record budget deficits national anthem.

Curiously, if the Administration e x p e c t e d u n d e r P r e s i d e n t really believed its own theory that O b a m a ’ s p o l i c i e s . C u t t i n g the spending stimulus boosted the spending and thereby restoring economy, then the President’s our nation’s fiscal house provides own budget would put him in a credit markets some assurance state of raw panic. According to that the United States government his figures, the deficit declines as intends to change course before a share of our economy from a crashing headlong into financial record 10.9 percent in 2011 to 4.6 reality, and it provides taxpayers percent in 2013. By their theory, some assurance that they won’t be this represents a power blast of asked to pay for Washington’s fiscal restraint portending almost excesses. sure recession. Either they do not This entry passed through the believe the deficit forecast they Full-Text RSS service — if this is released February 14, or they do your content and you're reading it not believe in demand-side on someone else's site, please read stimulus. They can’t have it both our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php ways.

As I testified before a House of Five Filters featured article: R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s O v e r s i g h t Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In Subcommittee earlier this week, The Crosshairs. demand-side stimulus has failed, as it always does, because the theory conveniently excludes the

Islam’s “Uncovered -Meat” Excuse for Sexual Assault Nonie Darwish (FrontPage Magazine » FrontPage) Submitted at 2/17/2011 10:43:10 PM

The news that 60 Minutes journalist Lara Logan had been brutally sexually assaulted and beaten in Egypt among chants of “Jew” really hit home. As a teenager and young woman in Egypt, I remember having to endure the humiliation of being pinched and groped in crowded buses and streets of Cairo.

Onlookers are usually indifferent, some even laugh, leaving women in Muslim society even more ashamed of their bodies. Women who do not wear Islamic clothes, such as Christians and foreigners, are even more vulnerable. In Cairo, hearing a passing car yelling the “f” word or “whore” to a woman and then speeding up in the busy traffic is not uncommon.

In times of uprisings and ISLAM’S page 85

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The Dirty Little Secret About DeFunding Obamacare Ernest Istook (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

conservative groups in the Conservative Action Project have unitedly stated that the next-best Submitted at 2/18/2011 9:30:24 AM strategy is defunding. As their Posted February 18th, 2011 at report states,“The safest route for 10:30am in Health Care Print This legislatively combating Post Obamacare is to defund it. Now Several members of Congress, that the statute has been declared like Rep. Denny Rehberg (R, MT) unconstitutional, Congress should and Rep. Cathy McMorris use the power of the purse to deny Rodgers (R.-Wash.) are offering funding for the individual amendments that would prevent mandate, employer mandates, and any new spending from being writing the 100s of regulations used to implement Obamacare. need to impose Obamacare. Such Good for them. Those are legislation will not in any way important additions to the big jeopardize the ongoing litigation spending bill pending in efforts.”

Congress.

It’s good that a federal judge has But here’s the dirty little secret: declared Obamacare Much of Obamacare is being of the health care legislation, unconstitutional, but the White implemented with money that was rather than included in a separate House insists it’s going forward already appropriated last year. appropriations bill as is the anyway. It’s good that the House T h e s e b i l l i o n s a r e a l r e a d y normal practice. may cut off any new money to available for bureaucrats to put The details are in a Congressional implement Obamacare. But Research Service report issued unless Congress deals with the pot Obamacare into force.

Denying additional funding for last October, “ Appropriations and of money already provided, we Obamacare does not de-fund the Fund Transfers in the Patient won’t meet the goal of defunding huge amounts it already is using Protection and Affordable Care Obamacare. for implementation. That requires Act (PPACA).” CRS devotes This entry passed through the seven pages to describing the Full-Text RSS service — if this is additional action.

Even though the last Congress b i l l i o n s o f d o l l a r s a l r e a d y your content and you're reading it failed to pass other appropriations appropriated and which the on someone else's site, please read bills (creating the need for the Obama Administration even now our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ c u r r e n t l y - p e n d i n g s p e n d i n g is spending to promote that law. content-only/faq.php measure), that former Congress Conservatives agree with the Five Filters featured article: DID provide billions to get American people that Obamacare Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In Obamacare launched. The money should be repealed. Short of The Crosshairs. was directly appropriated as part outright repeal, leaders from 32

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revolutions, it is not uncommon for the mob mentality to take over, resulting in assaults and even killing of journalists. But what happened to journalists in Egypt, including Logan, was an outrageous violation of police duty; instead of helping the foreign victims, the police added to the abuse by hours of unnecessary and abusive interrogation of the victims themselves.

Egypt and many Muslim countries have a terrible record of sexual harassment. According to a survey conducted in 2008 by an Egyptian Women’s rights group, 83% of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed. The numbers for foreign women is a staggering 98%. Most of the men in the survey admitted they have harassed women and most of them blamed it on women for dressing provocatively. What is worse is that the majority of women in the survey believe that women who dress immodestly deserve the harassment.

Muslim culture has succeeded in turning women against each other and away from defending their human rights and dignity. The system rewards women who turn on other women who do not follow Sharia. A Muslim woman is given her much-craved respect

only when she reports and condemns immodest women, turns against her sisters and agrees with a misogynist culture that blames the female victims and not the predators.

It was also reported that crowds yelled “Jew” at Logan. That does not surprise me, since a call that someone is a Jew has a meaning in Muslim countries. It means they are fair game for assault or worse; it means they are subhuman and deserve whatever happens to them. Muslim scriptures are full of commandments to kill Jews wherever they are and according to Islamic law, female captives in battle are automatically divorced from their husbands and can be sexually enslaved by their captors.

Mohammed himself, who is viewed as the ideal example for men, in all his battles against nonMuslims allowed sexual enslavement of women captives.

Such Islamic history lessons send the wrong message to Muslim men and influence how they view and relate to women and take away any feeling of guilt or shame.

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Protestors in Libya Demand Change Worldwide weekend of sports Morgan Roach (The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.)

Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:00:03 AM

Posted February 18th, 2011 at 11:00am in American Leadership Print This Post The pro-democracy demonstrations that continue to rattle the Arab world have landed in Libya.

In a country where government dissent is dealt with by an iron fist, anti-government activists are demanding change. Since seizing power in 1969, President Muammar Qadhafi is one of the most unpopular and authoritarian tyrants in the Middle East. After holding on to power through repeated coup attempts, Qadhafi has repressed Libya’s secular opposition and crushed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

While Tunisia and Egypt experienced rising food prices and a decline in living conditions, thereby contributing to public outrage, Libya’s oil wealth has cushioned its people against such effects. However, corruption and waste are rampant, and these problems—combined with severe limitations on civil liberties—are contributing factors in recent demonstrations.

On Wednesday, the regime quickly attempted to disperse activists. Reports of snipers firing

Mariko Fritz-Krockow (The Scribd Blog) Submitted at 2/18/2011 12:00:26 AM

February 18, 2011 This weekend will be a big sporting weekend all around the world. In the US, eyes will be on the racetrack as rally cars feel the need for speed at the Daytona 500. Much of the rest of the world’s eyes with be on the pitch, watching their countries batting it out in the Cricket World Cup. Tomorrow, #2 ranked India will face #8 ranked host country upon crowds as well as numerous States has emphasized that Bangladesh in the opening match a r r e s t s a n d b e a t i n g s h a v e countries experiencing public of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. surfaced. Despite this, protestors unrest should “take specific The following day New Zealand continued their demonstrations a c t i o n s t h a t a d d r e s s t h e will face Kenya and Sri Lanka through today. But, according to aspirations and the needs and will go up against Canada. one Libyan official“there’s hopes of their people. … Libya Defending champion, England, nothing serious here. … These are would certainly be in that same will play the Netherlands on just young people fighting each category.” After 40 years of Tuesday. The rules of Cricket are other.” Clearly, the regime has not authoritarian rule, it’s time for extensive and so it’s ok if you noticed the effects of “young Libya to take much-needed steps need to brush up on them. Go people” instituting change across toward democracy. ahead and check out some Cricket the Middle East.

This entry passed through the facts or information on batting.

As seen by recent events across Full-Text RSS service — if this is It’s all in our ICC Cricket World the region, the more oppressive your content and you're reading it Cup, 2011 collection. After all, governments attempt to suppress on someone else's site, please read it’s good to stay on top of the o p p o s i t i o n m o v e m e n t s , t h e our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ second most played sport in the stronger that opposition becomes. content-only/faq.php world!

Qadhafi is the longest ruling Five Filters featured article: Unlike most other former British dictator in the Arab world, and Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In colonies, the eyes of the US won’t it’s time for a change. The United The Crosshairs.

be on Cricket. Rather, they will be on a different kind of round sporting field. Drivers like Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton will duel it out while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will try to come from behind in “The Great American Race”, the Daytona 500, this Sunday! Our Daytona 500 collection has your trip to the racetrack covered with the 2011 Insiders Guide and the seating chart. And if you don’t know what those cars are doing, going around and around, check out “ NASCAR for Dummies”!

No matter where in the world you are this weekend, there will be a sporting event for you!

Mariko Fritz-Krockow, Community and Content Manager Currently reading “ Cricket Facts” Entry filed under: Announcements. Tags: .

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/ content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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How Social Media Helped Toy Story 3 Win at the Box Office Christina Warren (Mashable!)

and Pixar made it clear that individuals in their twenties would be a big target for Toy The Behind the Social Media Story 3. The TV and print Campaign Series is supported by campaigns for the film largely Oneupweb, an award-winning targeted families and younger agency specializing in search children. In an interesting move, marketing, social media and however, Disney ran a parallel design for mid-to-enterprise level campaign targeting twentybrands. Download Oneupweb’s s o m e t h i n g s v i a F a c e b o o k , free whitepaper, “The Bloody Y o u T u b e a n d m o v i e b l o g s .

Truth about Social Media.”

In March of 2010, Disney and Toy Story 3 was one of the P i x a r a n n o u n c e d s p e c i a l biggest films of 2010. As Pixar’s cliffhanger screenings of Toy 11th full-length film, the third and Story 3 at college campuses final chapter in the world of Buzz around the country.

Lightyear and Woody hit theaters Using Facebook, students with a in June 2010. valid college ID could sign up for Months before that, Disney and special screenings of the film.

Pixar embarked in a wide-scale These screenings were 65 minutes marketing blitz that covered in length and designed to whet television, print and social media. viewers appetites for the final Using Facebook and YouTube to release in June 2010. help promote the film, the studio Targeting college students and raised awareness and successfully doing special campus screenings targeted demographics that don’t was the first sign that Disney was traditionally flock to Disney serious about targeting socially animated feature films. savvy audiences.

In the following, we take a closer Pixar and Disney also targeted look at the Toy Story 3 social older Generation X viewers with media campaign. The Campaign its “Groovin’ with Ken” character For Toy Story 3, Disney and profile. The clip, which is very Pixar heavily marketed the film Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous across different demographics. in its approach, introduces Pixar films are unique in that they audiences to the character Ken. typically appeal to broader Voiced by Michael Keaton, Ken audiences and skew older than is one of the funniest characters in other animated films. Thanks to the film. films like The Incredibles, WALL Here’s the YouTube clip: -E and Up, it’s not uncommon to Going Viral see more adults than children In April 2010, Disney and Pixar p a c k e d i n t o t h e a t e r s w h e n raised the ante for social media watching a Pixar movie. campaigns everywhere with the From the very beginning, Disney release of the Lots-o’Huggin’ Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:04:45 AM

Bear“vintage” YouTube commercials. Purportedly from the 1980s, these ads oozed nostalgia. From the lighting to the clothing, the ads could easily be mistaken for something from 1983. To add to the effect, the clips were given a “bad tracking” VHS effect.

Directed by Chris Cantwell, the two ads were shot in highdefinition. The Toy Story 3 Bluray edition features a 90-second “making-of” clip showing the ads both untreated and then treated for YouTube.

The details in post-production — as well as the decision to release the clips on YouTube — made the Lotso spots a viral sensation.

To date, the main Lotso clip has been viewed more than 1 million times on YouTube — and we imagine that number can be multiplied several times to counter the variants and copies floating around the web.

These ads, which were released

the animation of a Latin dance number.

This aspect of the campaign felt the most false to us. As funny as Spanish Buzz is in Toy Story 3, the tie-in with Dancing with the Stars just feels awkward. The fact that the appearance received little coverage even across movie and Disney-focused blogs indicates that perhaps this wasn’t the strongest part of the campaign.

The Results Toy Story 3 was a huge hit with critics, and with fans. The film has gone on to gross over$1 in late April 2010, immediately billion dollars worldwide, making opened up a wave of press and it the most successful animated blog coverage that extended far film of all time. beyond the typical movie news Even before the film’s release, it cycle. The ads worked because it seemed inevitable that Toy Story gave viewers a look into the the 3 would be nominated — if not alternate reality of an animated win — the Academy Award for film — while also acting as a Best Animated Feature. For genuinely cool Internet video. Disney, however, that’s not Moreover, the ads managed to enough. In November, Walt p r o m o t e t h e f i l m w i t h o u t Disney Studios Chairman Rich promoting it. The advertisements Ross launched a tongue-in-cheek were for a new character in the Oscar campaign for the biggest Toy Story universe. This award in Hollywood: Best character is integral to the film, P i c t u r e . however his role in the story is Speaking with Pete Hammond at not revealed from the faux ads. Deadline, Ross said: The faux ads were successful “With this movie we wanted to enough that Disney released an come up with a campaign that actual collector’s edition Lotso kept our aspirations clear but at toy in the fall of 2010. Targeting the same time used a tongue-incheek approach. It’s all to Adults A marketing tie-in between Toy recognize the quandary which is Story 3 and Dancing with the that no animated picture had won Stars aired in May 2010. Airing Best Picture, so we used only Best on the Disney-owned ABC, a Picture images to reflect that. I special segment showcased how HOW page 88 Dancing with the Stars influenced

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feel very confident we have a movie everybody loves, and I want to make sure with our support and our campaign that people don’t feel the consolation prize is the appropriate prize for a movie like Toy Story 3. I think people will look at the ads and feel it’s very Pixar and very Disney. At the same time it’s very clear. Toy Story 3 is a Best Picture. Vote for it. Please.”

The campaign continued to run through January, and Disney has compiled a gallery of the campaign posters. This Oscar campaign is really a cut above.

When Oscar nominations were announced last month, Toy Story 3 received five nods — including Best Picture, Best Animated Feature and Best Adapted Screenplay. Toy Story 3‘s chances at taking home Best Picture are a long shot, though — it’s only the third animated film in history to secure a Best Picture

nomination.

In the end, the campaigns for the film before, during and after its release have solidified Toy Story 3‘s role in history, both as a film and as a case study for effective uses of social media and viral marketing. Series Supported by Oneupweb The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb’s free whitepaper, “The Bloody Truth about Social Media” to learn how to cut through the clutter and be sure to catch up with them on Facebook and Twitter.

More Business Resources from Mashable: - HOW TO: Create a World-Class Online Community for Your Business

- How Social Data & Mobile Tech Can Improve the Retail Experience - 5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns - Top 9 Job Sites to Bookmark for Your Career Search - Twitter for Brands: 6 Winning Strategies to Learn From More About: Behind the Social Media Campaign Series, Film, MARKETING, movie marketing, Movies, toy story 3 For more Business & Marketing coverage: • Follow Mashable Business & Marketing on Twitter • Become a Fan on Facebook • Subscribe to the Business & Marketing channel • Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

NoteSlate teased with new product shots, moves one step away from vaporware status Richard Lai (Engadget) Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:16:00 AM

Look, you can't say no to a $99 electronic ink drawing tablet, but to believe that that his here NoteSlate has any chance of retailing at that price you'd also need the naiveté of a child who accepts free candies from strangers. While we remain skeptical, said tablet's website has just been updated with a new stash of product shots and an indepth walkthrough, which are kinda convincing if you ignore the price tag. The mono-color models

are here to stay as well, though we should point out that there's a $30 alternative, already available, from Improv Electronics for those who need nothing more than just doodling. Otherwise, keep an eye out for the NoteSlate come June.

[Thanks, Eddie] Filed under: Tablet PCs NoteSlate teased with new product shots, moves one step away from vaporware status originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| NoteSlate| Email this| Comments

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89

Internet Restricted in Bahrain as Protests Escalate Sarah Kessler (Mashable!)

Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:19:08 AM

As protests continue in Bahrain, data suggests that access to many websites has been restricted there.

Arbor Networks, a security research company that tracks Internet traffic, told The New York Times on Friday that traffic into and out of Bahrain has dropped between 10% and 20% below expected levels. Traffic normally only drops that low during natural disasters or global sporting events.

The graph below shows Bahrain’s Internet traffic levels this week compared to average traffic levels during the previous three weeks. The traffic this week has been significantly lower than usual. Arbor Networks told The Times that it couldn’t absolutely rule out technical difficulties as a cause for the drop, though the most likely cause was blocked websites.

A Harvard University website that crowdsources reports of inaccessible webpages shows that many sites, including bahrainonline.org and bahrainrights.org, have been reported to be inaccessible. But almost all of the reports were

made before the protests in Bahrain started.

Last month, Egypt blocked websites like Twitter and Facebook in response to unrest before blocking the Internet altogether(See that graph here).

The success that Egyptian protesters had in ousting former president Hosni Mubarak despite these drastic digital measures is often cited as enhancing the confidence of protesters in Bahrain, Algeria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

While data suggests that Bahrain is restricting the Internet in response to unrest in the same way Egypt did, Arbor Network’s

Internet traffic data shows nothing out of the ordinary in Algeria’s Internet traffic (at least between February 10 and 13).

More About: algeria, Arbor Newtworks, bahrain, Egypt, Internet block, protests For more Social Media coverage: • Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter • Become a Fan on Facebook • Subscribe to the Social Media channel • Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

A Search Engine Entirely Dedicated to Vinyl: Awesome or Anachronistic?

Brenna Ehrlich (Mashable!)

I actually use. And while Amazon has a pretty extensive vinyl catalogue, I’d much rather support Not everyone has an awesome smaller sites like Boomkat and neighborhood record store run by Insound because I think what they an obsessive, borderline recluse do for music is really important.” who can suggest a disc based on Remember Musikki, the search the way you walk and your choice engine that centers entirely around of drink. finding bands? Well, Find You That’s why engineer Lucas Some Vinyl operates by the same Hrabovsky created Find You principle. Say you wanted the new Some Vinyl, a search engine for Radiohead album on vinyl — all finding records, at Music Hack y o u h a v e t o d o i s s e a r c h Day in New York City.

“Radiohead, The King of Limbs,” “I’ve been building up my vinyl and the service will hypothetically collection recently, and I was tired tell what record stores carry that of having to search a wide range disc, and provide a direct link to of different sites every time I was the “Buy” page. curious looking into an album, Right now, this hack is not fully new or old,” Hrabovsky says. “As b u i l t o u t — s i n c e i t w a s massive as they are, services like constructed in a weekend — and Google Shopping don’t generally SEARCH page 90 link to the online vinyl stores that Submitted at 2/18/2011 10:48:58 AM

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HUAWEI

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only contains results from Amazon, Insound, Interpunk and Boomkat. Still, we can imagine it becoming useful once Hrabovsky adds more results and tightens up the UI a bit.

“I’m definitely very interested in finding other sites to fold in,” Hrabovsky says. “I’ve worked on fixing most of the bugs and adding a few new features.”

Photo courtesy of Flickr, hell*yeah More About: find-you-some-

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vinyl, music, music-hack-daynyc, vinyl For more Media coverage: • Follow Mashable Media on Twitter • Become a Fan on Facebook • Subscribe to the Media channel • Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

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Caption Contest: Obama has dinner with tech industry CEOs Vlad Savov (Engadget)

education, and research spending.

We're not here for that, though, we're here to drop zingers about Barack Obama is a president well one all-powerful dude and his bigknown for being in touch with time CEO buddies. technology, so it's no surprise to Thomas:"Here's to project see him wining and dining the Soylent Green." i n d u s t r y ' s b i g g e s t d e c i s i o n Joe:"This sure beats the Four makers. Larry Ellison, Eric Loko Summit we held last Schmidt, Carol Bartz, Mark summer on the White House a 'kill switch' on this party."

Zuckerberg, and yes, even Steve lawn."

Paul:"At this very moment we're Jobs joined el presidente for an Chris:"So let's just jam through millions of miles from a doomed informal dinner on Thursday to this dinner real quick." planet Earth!" discuss important things like jobs, Josh T:"I hope no one authorizes Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:30:00 AM

Nilay:"Gentlemen, Ballmer has neutralized the Finnish threat."

Richard Lai:"Drink up, kids -- it's Dance Central time!"

Tim: "Zuck, it's like Final Club, except with the President."

Caption Contest: Obama has dinner with tech industry CEOs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| The White House (Flickr)| Email this| Comments

Huawei IDEOS X3 hands-on (video) Myriam Joire (Engadget)

downmarket, and the X5 is looking to bring high-end features to the mid-end, the X3 is aimed Yesterday at MWC we got our squarely at bread-and-butter hands on the Huawei IDEOS X3, devices like the LG Optimus T. an Android 2.3 phone slotted right Spec-wise, you'll find a 3.2-inch between the IDEOS / Comet we HVGA capacitive touchscreen, reviewed recently and the X5 we Q u a l c o m m M S M 7 2 2 7 C P U saw at CES. While the original (likely 600 MHz), 256GB of camera, front-facing camera, IDEOS took Android significantly RAM, 3.2 megapixel autofocus WiFi b / g / n, and dualband Submitted at 2/18/2011 11:53:00 AM

HSPA plus quadband EDGE radios, all powered by a 1200mAh battery. Contrary to its siblings, the X3 is not a Google Experience device, and runs a custom skin on top of Gingerbread. See our pictures in the gallery below and jump the break for our first impressions and hands-on video.

Gallery: Huawei IDEOS X3

hands-on (video) Continue reading Huawei IDEOS X3 hands-on (video) Huawei IDEOS X3 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| HUAWEI page 90