Pakistan official: 19 killed in attack on Shiites

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) ? A suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims in southwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing 19 people, a government official and eyewitnesses said.

Earlier Sunday, 21 tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan's troubled northwest tribal region, government officials said.

Pakistan has experienced a spike in killings over the last year by radical Sunni Muslims targeting Shiites who they consider heretics. The violence has been especially pronounced in Baluchistan province, where the latest attack occurred.

In addition to the 19 people killed in the bombing in Baluchistan's Mastung district, 25 others were wounded, many of them critically, said Tufail Ahmed, a local political official. The blast completely destroyed the bus that was hit and damaged a second bus carrying Shiites that was close by.

An eyewitness who was traveling in the second bus told Pakistan's Geo TV that first bus contained over 40 pilgrims headed to neighboring Iran, a majority Shiite country that is a popular religious tourism destination.

A second eyewitness said the bomber rushed by in a pick-up truck, swerved in front of the first bus and slammed on the brakes. The bus slammed into the pick-up truck and then a big explosion occurred.

Neither of the eyewitnesses provided their names while being interviewed on TV.

Shiites make up around 15 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people. They are scattered around the country, but the province of Baluchistan has the largest community, mainly made up of ethnic Hazaras, easily identified by their facial features which resemble those of Central Asians.

Sunni extremists have long carried out attacks against Shiites in Pakistan. But the sectarian campaign has stepped up in recent years, fueled mainly by the radical group Laskar-e-Jangvhi, aligned to Pakistani Taliban militants headquartered in the tribal region. More than 300 Shiites have been killed in Pakistan this year, according to Human Rights Watch.

The violence has pushed Baluchistan in particular deeper into chaos. The province was already facing an armed insurgency by ethnic Baluch separatists who frequently attack security forces and government facilities. But the secessionist violence has been overtaken by increasingly bold attacks against Shiites.

The sectarian bloodletting adds another layer to the turmoil in Pakistan, where the government is fighting an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban and where many fear Sunni hardliners are gaining strength. Shiites and rights group say the government does little to protect Shiites and that militants are emboldened because they are believed to have links to Pakistan's intelligence agencies.

The 21 tribal policemen who were shot dead were found by officials shortly after midnight Sunday in the Jabai area of Frontier Region Peshawar after being notified by one policeman who escaped, said Naveed Akbar Khan, a top political official in the area. Another policeman was found seriously wounded, said Khan.

The 23 policemen went missing before dawn Thursday when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two posts in Frontier Region Peshawar. Two policemen were also killed in the attacks.

Militants lined the policemen up on a cricket pitch late Saturday night and gunned them down, said another local official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Also Sunday, two Pakistani army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the country, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.

____

Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-official-19-killed-attack-shiites-074756030.html

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Mandarin Chinese becoming first choice as second language

Ivie Hunt was barely 6 last spring and had just finished kindergarten when she shocked the hostess at a Denver Asian restaurant by chatting comfortably in Mandarin Chinese.

?Here was this little blond, white girl having a full conversation with the hostess in Mandarin,? said her mother, Ann Hunt, who admitted to being a bit stunned herself.

That kind of surprise may wear off as Mandarin Chinese becomes the first choice of a growing number of second-language learners.

More language students are saying adios to the recent stampede to learn Spanish and huan ying ? or welcome ? to mastering a Chinese dialect now spoken by an estimated 100 million non-Chinese.

In Colorado, there are many Ivies ? ages 3 to 99 ? twisting their tongues and brains around the foreign concepts of Mandarin grammar, tones and characters.

More than 60 schools around the state ? ranging from primary-level immersion schools to universities to private language enterprises ? are teaching this most widely spoken language in the world. More online classes are popping up. Chinese-language clubs are taking over tables in coffee shops. Chinese tutors are becoming a hot commodity.

The popularity of Mandarin has been driven by several factors: China?s ascendancy in the global economy means anyone doing business on an international basis is likely to encounter Mandarin speakers. The spotlight on the 2008 Beijing Olympics increased tourism to China and heightened interest in Mandarin. Also, more Americans are traveling to China to adopt Chinese babies and want to be conversant with their children.

Speaking Mandarin has become a hot ticket on college applications as well as a starred addition to executive r?sum?s.

?If you are going to get around in the world, you are going to need to speak Chinese. It?s a language everyone is going to be speaking,? said aviation consultant Mike Boyd, who studies Mandarin for one intense hour a week at the Colorado Chinese Language Center in Denver.

That message may be catching the attention of the younger set ? and their parents ? the most.

It is no longer so unusual for preschoolers to be signed up for Mandarin instruction. At least one school district has dropped Spanish classes and added K-12 Chinese. Some charter schools are offering total immersion in Mandarin beginning in kindergarten. That?s how Ivie could chatter in Chinese after one year at the Denver Language School without ever being anywhere near the Great Wall or the Ming Tombs.

And that?s why Trinity Jones, 12, thinks nothing of having conversations in Mandarin while socializing with her classmates at the Denver Center for International Studies.

Trinity had the option of immersing herself in French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese or Lakota, but she was fixed on learning the language spoken by more than a billion people in the world.

?I knew it would help me in the future,? said Trinity, who already has her sights set on being a government translator or working for a company such as Apple in China.

Mandarin has become such an important language around the state that the University of Colorado at Boulder has added a program called Teaching East Asia. It is geared toward training more Chinese instructors and furthering learning about China for more students. It is also aimed at getting a handle this year on just how many Chinese-language schools and learners are out there.

The program uses funding from an initiative called STARTALK that was developed under President George W. Bush to promote teaching and understanding of ?strategically important? languages.

Jon Zeljo with the Teaching East Asia program said one focus of the summer institutes held for teachers and students the past three years has been to make Mandarin classes sustainable by giving Chinese teachers more resources and to expose more students to Mandarin at a young age.

The Chinese government is assisting in this endeavor by funding half the salaries of Chinese teachers through Chinese Language Council International programs called Confucius Institutes or through a Chinese Ministry of Education program called Hanban.

Kuo Li teaches Mandarin and Chinese culture to 144 students at Battle Mountain High School in Edwards with Chinese government help and said his students are learning much more than how to pronounce Chinese tones correctly.

?Chinese gives these students a larger horizon in their future lives,? he said.

Amanda Sauer is principal at Erie Elementary in the St. Vrain Valley School District, which has embraced the teaching of Mandarin more than any other district in the state. Four Chinese-language teachers are half funded by Hanban.

Sauer echoes Li?s statement.

?Our district looked at how to prepare kids for 21st-century jobs ? to help them have a global view,? she said.

Students in kindergarten through second grade in Erie start out with sessions every other week that focus more on Chinese culture than on learning grammar. Students move on to weekly classes focused on writing characters and language-building in third grade. They can then choose whether to continue learning Chinese in middle and high school.

Ann Hunt is pretty sure Ivie will continue her Chinese studies. She and her husband, Dr. James Hunt, have already decided their 2-year-old son will also have the chance to learn Mandarin. They have mused over what it will be like to eventually have two teenage children in the house who are fluent in a language that is a mystery to them and to the two older children in the family.

Already, they struggle with not being able to help Ivie with her Mandarin homework.

?Overwhelming is how I would describe it,? she said. ?Overwhelming but amazing.?

Or, as her daughter might tell her, in Mandarin it is jingren ? amazing.

Nancy Lofholm

The Asian Innovation Century, Again - Scott Anthony - Harvard ...

by Scott Anthony??|?? 8:00 AM December 31, 2012

Over the last three years I have consistently stated my belief that Asia was emerging as a global innovation powerhouse. It's one of the primary reasons why I moved to Singapore in early 2010. In late 2011, I even wrote, "The overarching trend I continue to see is a shift in the world's innovation energy to the east."

While my long-term optimism remains, I think the region must overcome some very real hurdles before it can realize its potential. Some of these, like creaky infrastructure and a lack of a fully functioning risk-capital market, are straightforward and don't require further detailing. More pernicious and harder to address are three critical mindset shifts that need to happen.

First, there needs to be substantially higher tolerance for failure. The lack of failure tolerance can be rooted in laws ? long-lasting penalties for bankruptcies lead people to avoid risk. But it also can be from pressure from peers, family, friends, and co-workers. It can set early when children are in school. Innovation isn't random, but it isn't perfectly predictable either. Any success will have its twists, turns, and false starts. Some of history's most world-changing ideas were in fact accidental discoveries. A fear of failure can choke off innovation.

Second, hierarchical decision-making approaches need to shift to approaches that favor good ideas wherever they might come from. I remember vividly one experience at a large Asian company. We were working with a young middle manager that was developing a business plan for a new idea. It was quickly clear the idea stunk, and the middle manager knew it. I said, "If we all know this is a dog, why are we working on it?" The unsurprising answer was, "The boss likes it." The argument that the boss would ultimately be happier to not waste time on an idea that was destined to flop fell on deaf ears. Innovation can't be a largest-title-wins game; it has to be a legitimately best-idea wins. Senior leaders with wisdom and institutional knowledge can certainly spark great ideas, but so too can 20-somethings that lack preconceived notions and are living tomorrow today.

Third, companies, particularly large ones, need a dose of humility. Many executives in Asia are appropriately proud of their role in building world-class companies in relatively short periods of time. That success has come from discipline and focused execution. Unfortunately, those skills are less helpful in guiding innovation or leading a company through transformation. Some organizations display deep humility. For example, many executives in the Singapore Government have a deep curiosity, honed by spending time living overseas. They are always on the lookout for a good idea, wherever it might be. Other organizations, however, that lack appropriate humility will find the fall from greatness surprisingly swift and punishing.

These mindsets won't change overnight. Focused work by policymakers and corporate leaders in three areas can help:

1. Encouraging intersections. Just as cross-breeding changes populations, cross-breeding can change mindsets. The more Asian leaders that spend time overseas, the more Asians educated in the West return home, the more Westerners spend time in Asia, the more historical mindsets will shift in some ways.
2. Role modeling. Many Asian success stories over the past few decades involve heavy government intervention, family legacies, or founders that muscled into resource-intense industries. The more these success stories are balanced by innovators ? both in startups and large companies ? the more mindsets will shift.
3. Balancing education. Many Asian countries have top-flight education systems. Yet, the overwhelming focus on facts and rote memorization can blunt students' creative edge. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shocked many Singaporeans earlier this year when he urged parents, "Please let your children have their childhood." The essence of the Prime Minister's argument is that encouraging free play and more balanced upbringing would ultimately lead to adults that had the curiosity, creativity, and willingness to fail that are so necessary in today's uncertain world.

Asia is as far from a monolith as you'll find in the world. Its people, cultures, heritages, religions, and customs are breathtakingly diverse. Imagine this diversity replicated in the business world. With the right mindset shifts, the vast well of innovation potential still lying dormant in Asia has the potential to change the world.

Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/anthony/2012/12/the_asian_innovation_century_a.html

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Agriculture panel leaders reach deal for extending farm bill, maintaining milk prices (Star Tribune)

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Solid Advice On How To Go About Cosmetic Surgery - jackie's bazaar

Related eBooks

You?re probably aware of the advantages and the possibilities involved in cosmetic surgery. You might have a favorite entertainment personality who is already familiar with plastic surgery. However, the situation may be different when you are the patient. You need to consider some important questions, and this article will help you do so.

Take the time to ask about your recovery time and post surgery needs. You may need to recuperate for some time before resuming your regular routine with some procedures. It?s vitally important that you get enough time to heal, so you should have a good idea of just how long your recuperation will take.

Surgery should be your last resort after trying other solutions. Many factors contribute to your overall appearance that will be unaffected by your surgery, so you must think about important long term lifestyle changes. Look to your eating habits and mood for possible issues to confront, before going under the knife.

Cosmetic procedures can be quite costly, and may also require you to miss work. For these 2 reasons, it?s recommended that you have a small amount of money saved for the expenses that come up from the procedure, as well as the expenses that come after the operation. This will help prevent stress and keep you focused on successfully recovering from your surgery.

You should be prepared for the pain and the scarring that accompanies cosmetic surgery procedures. A lot of people aren?t aware of the painful effects associated with cosmetic surgical procedures. You?ll heal faster if you are mentally ready for the pain you will feel in recovery.

Any cosmetic surgeon should have a good insurance policy for malpractice. This can have a huge impact on you if your procedure develops complications; a proper insurance policy will protect you from unfair out-of-pocket expenses. If your surgeon is not insured, you will want to look for alternative doctors.

It is essential that if you plan to have plastic surgery, you also know what to expect during your recovery. You must do exactly as the doctor says during this time to ensure proper healing and optimum results. The initial two weeks of recovery are the ones which impact results the greatest.

Your life could forever change when you decide to alter your appearance. Be sure to carefully consider your decisions before moving ahead. Using the information and strategies you?ve gathered here, you will surely be equipped to reach your goal.

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Cosmetic SurgeryCosmetic Surgery: Art and Techniques is an atlas of general cosmetic surgery that provides precise step-by-step descriptions of the full range of techniques, supported by photographs and illustrations of the highest standard. The book is comprehensive in its scope, covering the diverse procedures performed on the head and neck, breast, abdomen, buttocks, and extremities as well as other techniques such as labioplasty, penile enhancement, and total body lift. Risks and complications are fully explained, with clear advice on how to avoid and to treat them. All of the contributors are internationally recognized experts with extensive knowledge of their subject. This book will be of value to beginners, and experienced practitioners in not only cosmetic surgery but also plastic surgery, general surgery, oral maxillofacial surgery, neurosurgery, dermatology, otolaryngology, and ophthalmology. Body Contouring Surgery After Weight LossAre you among the tens of thousands of people who have lost a dramatic amount of weight?? If so, congratulations! You did it! Those years of struggling and failed diets are behind you. Perhaps you did it through weight loss surgery. Or, perhaps it was through diet and exercise. Either way, you have created a new body and a new life for yourself.????????????????But, now that the weight is gone, are you left with extra skin? If so, it likely causes you embarrassment and perhaps hygiene problems as well. Fortunately, body contouring surgery can help restore a more natural look to your body.
The authors of this book, respected plastic surgeons, have performed hundreds of body contouring procedures on weight loss patients, and they understand your concerns as you explore having reconstructive surgery. Among the questions they answer are:
?
??????????? ??? How soon after surgery can I have excess skin be removed?
??????????? ??? Which surgery should I have first?
??????????? ??? How many surgeries can I have at one time?
??????????? ??? Should I have a tummy tuck or a body lift?
??????????? ??? Will I have much pain after contouring surgery?
??????????? ??? Can my breasts be restored to normal?
??????????? ??? Where will scars from the surgery be visible?
??????????? ??? When can I return to work and resume physical activity?
??????????? ??? What about fees? Will insurance pay?
?
The book contains 136 color illustrations and photos, including dozens of "before & after" photos of surgery patients, as well as an appendix, resource section, glossary, and index. Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic SurgeryWhen did cosmetic surgery become a common practice, the stuff of everyday conversation? In a work that combines a provocative ethnography of plastic surgery and a penetrating analysis of beauty and feminism, Virginia L. Blum searches out the social conditions and imperatives that have made ours a culture of cosmetic surgery. From diverse viewpoints, ranging from cosmetic surgery patient to feminist cultural critic, she looks into the realities and fantasies that have made physical malleability an essential part of our modern-day identity.
For a cultural practice to develop such a tenacious grip, Blum argues, it must be fed from multiple directions: some pragmatic, including the profit motive of surgeons and the increasing need to appear young on the job; some philosophical, such as the notion that a new body is something you can buy or that appearance changes your life. Flesh Wounds is an inquiry into the ideas and practices that have forged such a culture. Tying the boom in cosmetic surgery to a culture-wide trend toward celebrity, Blum explores our growing compulsion to emulate what remain for most of us two-dimensional icons. Moving between personal experiences and observations, interviews with patients and surgeons, and readings of literature and cultural moments, her book reveals the ways in which the practice of cosmetic surgery captures the condition of identity in contemporary culture.

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Source: http://www.jackiesbazaar.com/womensinterests/cosmetic-surgery/solid-advice-on-how-to-go-about-cosmetic-surgery

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High School Sports Notes

Updated: December 30, 2012 5:53PM

Boys Swimming

Lockport will swim against the best Saturday at the Evanston Invitational, which will include defending state champion New Trier and state runner-up Naperville North.

?It?s a mini state meet,?? Lockport coach Grant Ferkaluk said. ?You?re seeing the best competition other than some of the teams that are from down south. It?s a big meet.??

Despite the tough competition, the top swimmers usually don?t avoid one another while they?re trying to do better than the next guy.

?With the guys teams, it seems like there?s a couple of stars at each program and all of them get along real well,?? Ferkaluk said. ?They enjoy competing against each other.??

?Swimming has always been in my life, but now it?s the primary sport I do,?? said Lockport?s Jake Knowles, a state qualifier last season in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard freestyle.

Speaking of elite competition, Lockport also will be in the New Trier Diving Invitational on Saturday.

Circle the calendar: The Lockport Invitational, which includes Stagg and Lincoln-Way Central, is Jan. 18 and 19.

Tim Tierney

Girls Bowling

Lockport has had a strong season thus far, winning titles at its own invitational and the Rock Island Invitational while finishing second in strong fields at the Palatine Invitational and Plainfield North Strikefest.

But although they?ve established themselves as one of the state?s top teams, the Porters know it won?t be easy to get to state out of a top-heavy Rich East Sectional.

Only two teams will advance out of the sectional that includes a Minooka squad that won the titles at Palatine and Plainfield North and finished second at Lockport.

Also in the sectional: defending state champion Andrew.

?We know it?s going to be a really tough sectional and we?re trying to get ready for it,? Lockport?s Bri Zabierek said. ?We?ve been kind of going back and forth with Minooka all year.?

Lincoln-Way West, with defending individual state champion Morgan Flaherty, is also in the sectional.

Plainfield East, Romeoville and the host Tigers will compete in the Plainfield North Sectional, where they will have to try to get past strong squads from Oswego and Oswego East.

Steve Millar

Cheerleading

Ten teams from the Joliet area qualified for the Illinois High School Association state meet last season and hope to return to Bloomington in February.

Those 10 squads and a host of other area teams will be heading to two sectionals ? Riverside-Brookfield and Mahomet-Seymour ? in late January.

In the large-school division, Lockport finished second to Sandburg for the state title and will head to Riverside-Brookfield along with Joliet West, which was seventh in the state.

Providence, which finished fourth in the state among large schools, will head to Mahomet-Seymour along with Lincoln-Way East (6th) and Plainfield Central (9th).

Lemont finished third in the medium-school division and will be heading to Riverside-Brookfield, along with Lincoln-Way West, which took 16th in the state last season.

In the small-school division, Wilmington (13th in the state last season) and Dwight (19th) will head to Riverside-Brookfield.

In the coed division, Joliet Central, which finished 23rd in the state, will head to Riverside-Brookfield.

Area squads have won five state titles since the tournament started in 2006. Lockport won in 2007 and 2008, while Lemont won three straight from 2009-11.

Jeff Vorva

Wrestling

Edwardsville senior Blake Blair was considered the top-ranked wrestler at 195 pounds and eyeing an undefeated campaign at the start of the season. The undefeated goal came to an abrupt end after he met Plainfield Central?s Jordan Ellingwood in the finals of the esteemed Dvorak Invitational.

Ellingwood won in convincing fashion, avenging a quarterfinal defeat to Blair from a season ago to take home the title with a 13-5 decision.

Lockport junior Brian Rossi hopes he and teammate Austin Strzelczyk can springboard their Lake Park Invitational co-Outstanding Wrestler nods to bigger and better things.

?Last year our teammate Shaun?Qae (McMurtry) won the award,? Rossi said. ?He ended up winning state. I?m hoping I can follow a similar path. Winning the award gives me confidence and shows what I can do.?

In other tournament action over the holiday, Lincoln-Way East?s Kyle Langenderfer, an Illinois recruit, kept his undefeated record intact with a 152-pound title at the 27-team Berman Classic. His Lincoln-Way East teammate Nick Allegretti had a strong showing, but the heavyweight lost in the finals to top-ranked Brian Allen of Hinsdale Central.

Logan Malloy

Source: http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/sports/17271666-419/high-school-sports-notes.html

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Type 'Sell' into Google Finance, Get Apple's Stock Price

It turns out that when you search for the word ?sell? on Google Finance, the site redirects you to the financial page for Apple Inc. The result is no different than when you search for Apple or aapl.

Given the vicious rivalry between Apple and Google, this odd result is pretty hilarious. It could be related to user queries (though we don?t know exactly how) or it could be an easter egg put in on purpose by a Google employee. Either way, there doesn?t appear to be any malicious agenda behind the move: if you click on the blue ?More results? button, there?s a long list of other companies that have ?sell? or ?sells? in their company description.

The oddity appears to have been first discovered by Greey Picks but was brought to our attention by Joe of m8 Capital on Twitter:

Again, it?s unclear why this happens, and searching around for similar results has not led to anything quite as odd. The query for ?buy,? for example, leads to Best Buy, which makes sense given that the word is half the name of the company. We can?t say the same thing about ?sell? and Apple Inc.

Other queries like ?trade? and ?stock? lead to landing pages that let you pick from a list of related companies and mutual funds. Unless there?s a company with the word ?sell? in its name, we think the same should happen for this query as well.

We?re still looking at other queries, but so far it seems like ?sell? is the only one that points to where it clearly shouldn?t. The Google Finance support page doesn?t seem particularly helpful in describing how this could be happening. Whatever glitch is causing this, the fact that Google apparently wants its users to sell Apple?s stock is quite amusing.

Update at 5:00PM EST: As pointed out in the comments, typing in ?over sold? takes you to Amazon?s stock price.

We have contacted Google about this query result. We will update this article if we hear back.

Update at 8:30PM EST: ?This isn?t deliberate ? our algorithms seem to be keying off of the words ?sell? and ?sells? in the description of this very popular stock symbol,? a Google spokesperson told TNW. ?We?re working on how to adjust things so it doesn?t happen anymore.?

See also ? Apple loses $34.9 billion in market cap in its worst trading day in 4 years, but why?

Image credit: sheridanck

Source: http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/12/29/heres-something-funny-type-sell-into-google-finance-and-youll-get-apples-stock-price/

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Boynton helps Florida pull away vs. Air Force

Florida's Erik Murphy, right, defends against Air Force guard Michael Lyons during the first half on Saturday in Sunrise. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)

Published: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 6:36 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 6:36 p.m.

SUNRISE ? Florida spent the practices following the Dec. 22 loss at Kansas State going over extra film.

The emphasis? Better shot selection to make the game easier for each other.

After a sluggish first half Saturday, the No. 14 Gators (9-2) pulled away to beat Air Force 78-61 at the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Classic before 12,779 at the BB&T Center.

Up just 33-31 at halftime, Florida went 16-of-23 from the field in the second half, scoring the 16 baskets off seven assists.

?I thought we got better the last couple of days recognizing each other's strengths, talents, abilities,? Florida coach Billy Donovan said. ?We showed that a little bit more in the second half.?

Senior forward Erik Murphy led the Gators, scoring 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field to earn game MVP honors.

?I was just trying to take open shots, and if they switched on me, try to take advantage of the mismatch in the post,? Murphy said. ?I just felt like sometimes it was open in the post because there were some smaller guys on me.?

Murphy went 2-of-3 from 3-point range and scored his remaining six baskets from inside 15 feet.

?He's capable of not just being a one-dimensional player, where he's just shooting 3s,? Donovan said. ?Certainly, he's a great 3-point shooter, but I think now when people are switching on him, we're finding him.

?We've got to make sure he's balanced. He's got to get 3s, he's got to get post touches. He's got to get 15-footers, he's got to get fouled and get to the free-throw line. And I thought today was really a complete game offensively for him doing those things.?

Senior Kenny Boynton also broke out of a long shooting slump in his homecoming game, adding 14 points while going 3-of-7 from 3-point range. Boynton had come into the game having made just 4 of his previous 32 3-point attempts.

?I just tried to make sure the game came to me,? Boynton said. ?I was going over a lot of film with coach Donovan with the shots that I've been taking. I just tried to take open ones, and that's what I tried to do in the second half.?

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Boynton extended Florida's lead to 43-34 early in the second half. He followed it up with a pretty feed to Casey Prather on a dunk in transition that put the Gators ahead 45-37. Boynton added three assists and four rebounds.

?It felt good, to come out and play an all-around good game,? Boynton said. ?We were definitely happy with the win. We had a couple of tough practices. So we're just basically trying to win out from here.?

Boynton grew up in nearby Pompano Beach and played high school basketball just down the road from the BB&T Center at American Heritage High. He had about 20 friends and family members at the game, including his parents.

?This is my last time playing in college to come down here, and I had fun,? Boynton said.

Air Force (8-3) stayed in the game early with a torrid start from 3-point range, making 6-of-13 attempts in the first half. The Falcons came into the game making 9.1 3-pointers per game.

?They hit 3s from all five spots,? Murphy said. ?Coach just emphasized at halftime to take away the 3-point line.?

In the second half, Florida sacrificed some inside baskets to overplay the 3-point line. Air Force took just seven 3-point attempts in the second half, making three.

Donovan also pointed out the strong defensive play of Scottie Wilbekin, who held Air Force senior guard Michael Lyons to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting. Lyons came into the game averaging 20.5 points per game.

?That's something that doesn't show up in the stat sheet, but Scottie was still able to impact the game,? Donovan said,

Offensively, Donovan emphasized the continuation of working the ball inside to Murphy and Patric Young after the Gators took 11 3-pointers in their first 19 shot attempts. Young scored 9 of his 13 points in the second half.

?Believe me, I'm an advocate of the 3-point line, but there's got to be some level of balance,? Donovan said. ?In the second half, we shoot 70 percent from the field, we're inside, we're out, we get a few steals, we're offensive rebounding. We're making better reads and better decisions.?

Note: UF freshman guard Dillon Graham was unavailable for the game due to an illness. Graham traveled with the team and took part in the morning shootaround but felt under the weather by gametime.

Contact Kevin Brockway at 352-374-5054 or brockwk@gvillesun.com. Also check out Brockway's blog at Gatorsports.com.

Source: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20121229/articles/121229593

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Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy

Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year

Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK

2012 review: The year in life science

The year's biggest stories in life science, including James Cameron's descent into the Mariana trench and efforts to break into Antarctica's buried lakes

Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

As the post-Sandy rebuild gets under way, coastal cities around the world will be watching

Best videos of 2012: First MRI movie of childbirth

Watch a unique view of a baby's birth, at number 2 in our countdown of the year's top science videos

Fleadom or death: Reviving the glorious flea circus

The parasite-based sideshows were almost done for by the domestic vacuum cleaner - but they are bouncing back, finds Graham Lawton

Approval for gene-modified salmon spawns controversy

Apparently months late, US regulators have declared genetically engineered fish safe to farm and eat, but final approval could be some way off

Best videos of 2012: New aircraft flies inside out

Watch a novel flying machine use a unique mechanism to propel itself, at number 3 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

2012 review: The year in technology

The year's biggest stories in technology, including Kinect devices that may spot signs of autism and controlling a robot by the power of thought

Superdoodles: The science of scribbling

Far from being a distraction, doodling has an important purpose - and you can harness it

2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

The Leap, a 3D motion control device set to launch next year, will let you control your computer with touch-free hand and finger movements

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Former President Bush moved out of intensive care

HOUSTON (AP) ? Former President George H.W. Bush's condition continued to improve Saturday, prompting doctors to move him out of intensive care, a spokesman said.

"President Bush's condition has improved, so he has been moved today from the intensive care unit to a regular patient room at The Methodist Hospital to continue his recovery," family spokesman Jim McGrath said Saturday. "The Bushes thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes."

Bush was hospitalized Nov. 23 for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough. He was moved to intensive care at the Houston hospital on Dec. 23 after he developed a fever.

On Friday, McGrath said Bush had improved since arriving in the ICU. He said he was alert and in good spirits and was even doing some singing.

McGrath said Saturday morning that future updates on Bush's condition would be made as warranted.

Bush, the 41st president, is the country's oldest living former president by a few months.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-president-bush-moved-intensive-care-210408456.html

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Officers' 'gut feeling' leads to missing LA tot

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky police officers Emily Smith, left, and Jennifer Ockerman followed what their instincts when they noticed a toddler improperly dressed for a frigid winter night on the campus.

?

NBC Los Angeles

Alouette Day-Moreno-Baltierra, 17 months, was spotted in Kentucky by two officers.

By Samantha Tata, NBC Los Angeles

When two University of Kentucky officers noticed a toddler in nothing but a short-sleeved onesie being pushed in a stroller on a windy, frigid night, they had a ?gut feeling? that something was amiss, said University of Kentucky Police Chief Joe Monroe.

That hunch led to the discovery of a 17-month-old girl who was reported abducted from Los Angeles, possibly by a family member, on Oct. 15.

A woman who police believe is the toddler?s grandmother was taking the child ? without shoes, gloves, hat or anything to protect her face ? on a stroll through the University of Kentucky campus Thursday night, when the temperature had dropped to 29 degrees and the wind was blowing about five miles per hour, Monroe told NBC Los Angeles.?

---

Read more at NBC Los Angeles

Campus police officers Jennifer Ockerman and Emily Smith spotted Maria Baltierra-Dejesus, 62, pushing Alouette Day-Moreno-Baltierra in a stroller through a campus parking lot.

"This is an example of where the responding officers followed a gut feeling that something just wasn?t right with the situation," Monroe said in a press release.

Baltierra-Dejesus, who lives in New York, was booked in Kentucky on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a minor and custodial interference. She was receiving medical treatment Friday night, though Monroe would not say why.

Monroe said it was not clear where the girl?s parents are, and that she apparently belonged to the State of California.

For now, Alouette is in custody of the Kentucky Child Protective Services, which is working with LAPD and the FBI to return her to California, Monroe said.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/29/16239339-officers-gut-feeling-leads-to-recovery-of-missing-la-toddler?lite

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Keith Jarrett: The K?ln Concert (Full Album) (Little green footballs)

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

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Final Friday with Cousin Mars ? Are Men ... - Black Bridal Bliss

Cousin Mars gives his three cents an the age-old relationship debate.

Do men really have a problem dating successful women? Better yet, do men truly have an issue committing to successful women? F.Y.I. ? There is a difference between dating and committing. I?ve dated multiple six figure earners. Two of these relationships were when six figures were still viewed as a huge deal. Several of my friends have also dated women that most would deem successful. Several of these relationships have graduated into marriage. Few have ended as a result the woman?s success ? well, kinda.

The relationships that ended at least partially because of the woman?s success were foreseen ? at least by me. Studies have shown that men in physically aggressive professions (i.e. police/corrections officers, football players, military personal) have a higher percentage of spousal/significant other abuse than their counterparts in more relaxed professions (i.e. monthly blog post writers). It is popular belief that the reason for this is people in these fields (and some others) aren?t able to hit the off switch on the aggressive behavior outside of work. Please understand that MOST police/corrections officers, football players, military personal are cool dudes. In the movie Along Came a Spider, Morgan Freeman?s character has a line ?You do what you are.? This line is in response to another character questioning her profession choice. If this line has any truth, my theory is supported. Many of the traits and characteristics that seem to be shared by a large percentage of successful women of color, are often suggested as the cause for many of these women being unmarried. I don?t think it is that simple. I believe many of these women, similar to the aforementioned men, are unable to hit the off switch outside of work.

I don?t think most men with good (not great) careers necessarily care if their better half earns more and/or holds a higher title. However, I do think many people wouldn?t want this thrown in their face ? and definitely not often. Although I don?t know why this is, I think many would agree that some of the most successful women are sometimes the most insecure in the privacy of their home. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that these women often wear the war mask / game face for the majority of each day. At home it is probably a relief to feel like little lady in the arms of the one they love.

I cannot believe that success is the biggest factor in the high percentage of unmarried successful women. My honest thoughts suggest the personalities of these individuals create more of an issue than the professional accolades. My crew and I are proof that success alone isn?t a deterrent to beginning a relationship. Times have changed during recent decades and I think the issue men had with dating successful women has diminished drastically.

What do you think of your fave cousin?s opinion here? Leave a comment with your thoughts. And feel free to revisit his previous Triple B posts here.

Source: http://blackbridalbliss.com/2012/12/28/final-friday-with-cousin-mars-are-men-intimidated-by-successful-women/

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Website Makes Real Estate Investment User Friendly ... - Eyes In

The newly released direct response designs by real estate investing and web development firm,?www.RealEstateInvestorsWebsite.net, for real estate investor websites are re-defining real estate investing, both in ease of management of their websites and businesses and marketing capabilities integrated into the websites.

The direct response designs and features aim to engage every website visitor and convert them to a prospect, then follow up with them automatically leading to closed real estate transactions.

For starters, the websites can be quickly adapted to run virtually any business model in real estate investing in a matter of minutes, directly from a simple virtual back office.

This means that even real estate investors with little to no internet experience can run their business successfully from these websites.

Secondly, the in-built marketing features on these websites allow them to actively attract leads from the internet and convert them to closed deals, whether they are looking to sell their houses, buy houses, or even if they are potential private money lenders.

Every visitor that lands on these websites is instantly engaged by a real life-like speaking model that commands instant attention and delivers a down to earth message that relates to the visitor?s needs.

This increases credibility and converts more visitors to closed deals.

Each website offers helpful free e-books that require visitors to provide their contact information to receive them. The website?s inbuilt auto responder systems then take over, following up with carefully pre-timed email messages whose goal is to convert every prospect to a closed deal.

Each website is also pre-loaded with numerous design choices as well as squeeze pages (landing pages) complete with pre-loaded auto responder messages, speaking models and videos.

The goal of each website delivered is to close more deals using less time, money and effort.

For more information, please visit?www.RealEstateInvestorsWebsites.net

?

Source: http://www.eyesin.com/real-estate/2012/website-makes-real-estate-investment-user-friendly/

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Iran begins naval maneuvers near Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's state TV is reporting the country's navy has begun maneuvers in the area of the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world's oil passes.

It says the maneuvers began early Friday, involving warships, submarines jet fighters and hovercrafts.

The drills come as the West increases its pressure over Iran's nuclear program. The West suspects it may be aimed at producing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.

Iran has threatened to close the straits over Western sanctions but has not repeated the threats lately.

The report says Iran warned ships to stay away from the site until Jan. 3. The maneuvers cover nearly 1 million sq. kilometers (400,000 sq. miles) from the Strait of Hormuz to northern part of Indian Ocean, including the Sea of Oman.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-28-Iran-Naval%20Drill/id-7eb2a5096479473f97536ec09656b5c1

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Ouya developer kits are shipping, $99 Android game console ...

The makers of the Ouya video game console have started shipping developer kits to folks who paid $699 or more during the team?s successful Kickstarter campaign. The company plans to start shipping Ouya units to customers early in 2013, with the video game console selling for about $99 plus shipping.

SlashGear reports the first units should begin arriving this week.

The Ouya game console is a small box with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, a USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, and HDMI ports.

It runs Google Android software, but it?s not a phone or a tablet. Instead the Ouya console is designed to be plugged into your television so you can play games on the big screen. It also includes a wireless game controller, a game store, and more.

The developer consoles come with two controllers ? but their main appeal is that they?re shipping a few months ahead of the final units, which should give game developers (or serious enthusiasts) a chance to try out the device before it?s available to the general public, and adapt games to run on the platform.

While there?s no shortage of video game consoles for the living room, the developers of the Ouya project want to lower the barriers to entry for independent game developers. Basically, if you can create a game that runs on Android, it can run on Ouya ? you don?t need to go through the hassle of signing with a game publisher, packaging the title on a disc and distributing it to game stores.

On the other hand, the Ouya is expected to ship to regular customers in early 2013 with hardware that was state of the art in early 2012. While you can still write some pretty nifty games for the Tegra 3 processor, Samsung and Qualcomm are already offering mobile processors with significantly more graphics power, and NVIDIA is expected to launch a Tegra 4 chip soon.

Will the Ouya feel dated by the time it finally arrives? Then again? with a $99 price tag, does it really matter?

via SlashGear and Ouya Forum

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• key specs
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• Game formatDownloadable
• Drive capacity8 GB
• Controller typeWireless
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• Announced07/10/2012

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Source: http://liliputing.com/2012/12/ouya-developer-kits-are-shipping-99-android-game-console-coming-in-2013.html

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Satellite Wars: China unveils 'cheaper' answer to GPS ? RT

Another BeiDou satellite goes up (Photo from facebook.com user Beidou Navigation System)

China?s rapidly-expanding rival to GPS, called BeiDou, has become available to customers across Asia-Pacific for the first time. It aims to claim a fifth of the satellite services market in the region in just three years.

Previously, the satellite constellation was only used by the country's military and government services. Now, it is being commercialized.

?The services now available include positioning, navigation, timing and short messages for China and surrounding areas. We hope BeiDou conquers 15 to 20 percent of the satellite services market in the Asia Pacific by 2015,? BeiDou spokesman Ran Chengqi announced at a press conference in Beijing, reported by Xinhua news agency.

China says that as it expands worldwide, the state-funded navigation system will bring in revenues of more than $60 billion a year.

At the moment, a user receiving BeiDou?s signal can determine their position to within ten meters. Most civilian GPS users are given positional data that is out by no more than 2 meters, but BeiDou?s makers say their services will be much cheaper than those of the US-government owned GPS.

BeiDou, which is the Chinese term for the Big Dipper star, is also expanding at an impressive rate, meaning it will soon be able to bridge the performance gap.

While GPS has been active since the 1970s, and has satellites in orbit that have been operating for two decades, BeiDou launched the first of its current generation satellites only five years ago.

GPS comprises 30 satellites, while BeiDou already has over fifteen, and is going to have another forty in orbit by the time the network is complete in 2020, at the cost of another $6 billion, according to Ran. The greater the number of satellites, the easier it is for the system to calculate location, time and velocity of moving objects.

But even if it matches the performance of the more established rival, BeiDou faces a long road to dislodging it from its dominance. As of now, 95 percent of equipment in China that uses a positioning system ? and that includes mobile phones, navigators, watches and ATMs ? relies on GPS services. The Chinese satellite data market is estimated to be worth almost $20 billion.

While BeiDou cannot be expected to supplant its successful predecessor instantaneously, many devices may be manufactured to receive signals from both of the systems, particularly with the government encouraging local producers to support the system. BeiDou receiver chips are currently more expensive than those for GPS, but prices should come down as they become more common.

Even if BeiDou does not hit its financial targets, it is still likely to be supported by Beijing at the behest of its armed forces, who are reluctant to rely on a foreign signal in all of its key military operations and equipment.? BeiDou?s first incarnation ? which was launched in 2000 and consists of 4 satellites ? was a largely military program.

The global satellite navigation segment has become a crowded marketplace over the past decade, and looks to become even more so. Russia recently completed its constellation of Glonass satellites (though it has since lost one). Europe is unrolling its Galileo system, while other countries such as India and Japan plan to develop at least regional navigation networks.

Whether these systems can truly compete with already accepted and functionally efficient GPS, or whether? they will remain vanity projects for emerging and powerful states, will be the big question over the next decade.

Source: http://rt.com/news/satellite-beidou-china-gps-944/

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Page Not Found - Yahoo!

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/weightloss

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World Renowned Blues Guitarist Rory Block Returns to The ...

Rory Block

Blues Guitarist Rory Block returns to The ArtsCenter on Friday, January 11th at 8:00 pm. A traditionalist and an innovator at the same time, Rory Block offers a compelling guitar and vocal style that redefines the boundaries of acoustic blues and folk. The New York Times declared: ?Her playing is perfect, her singing otherworldly as she wrestles with ghosts, shadows and legends.? Tickets are $17 in advance, $21 the day of the show and $13 for Friends of The ArtsCenter and may be purchased at www.artscenterlive.org or by calling 919-929-2787 ext. 201.

Rory Block grew up surrounded by the vibrant folk scene in New York City. In 1964 she heard her first country blues record and devoted herself to the blues. She met giants like Son House, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and the Rev. Gary Davis, and by age 15 she had become a major force among traditional country blues guitarists. Rory took a break from music to start a family and then made a brief attempt to write ?commercial music? on a major label. Fortunately, she soon came home to the blues, signed with Rounder Records in 1981, and became herself one of the giants of the blues. Her thirteenth release for Rounder, 1999?s Confessions of a Blues Singer, earned her second Blues Music Award for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year, a nice compliment to her two Blues Music Awards for Traditional Female Blues Artist of the Year.

In 2007 she won a fifth for Acoustic Album. She is currently recording and releasing a series of albums on Stony Plain paying tribute to her mentors. So far Son House, Rev, Gary Davis, and Mississippi Fred McDowell have earned the honor. An experienced world traveler, she recommends the Hotel Le Petit Manoir in Paris. Additional info appears in her well-received autobiography, When a Woman Gets the Blues. .??Today she is widely regarded as the top female interpreter and authority on traditional country blues worldwide.? ? The Blues Foundation.

Programs at The ArtsCenter are supported in part by Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, Courtyard by Marriott, Giorgios Hospitality Group, The North Carolina Arts Council and the Orange County Arts Commission.

The ArtsCenter is a non-profit teaching and presenting organization founded in 1974. The largest employer of artists in Orange County, NC, it serves nearly 60,000 people annually, through classes, studios, concerts, theatre, spoken word, gallery displays, more than 80 school shows, and more. The ArtsCenter exerts a local economic impact of almost $2,900,000 which generates the equivalent of 78 full time jobs and $231,000 in state and local tax revenue.
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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

World Renowned Blues Guitarist Rory Block Returns to The ArtsCenter on January 11th!, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/event/world-renowned-blues-guitarist-rory-block-returns-to-the-artscenter-on-january-11th/

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The Departed

Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), and Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Mich.)

Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Ovation; Photo by Andy Kropa/Getty Images; MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The next House of Representatives will contain 233 Republicans, 200 Democrats, and 80 freshmen. Redistricting, primaries, and retirements have culled a few centuries? worth of political experience. So in November and December, I talked to a few representative soon-to-be-former congressmen about what it?s been like to serve in an institution 85 percent of Americans can?t stand. Excerpts of their thoughts follow.

Rep. Steven LaTourette was elected in the 1994 Republican wave, taking over a seat in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. On paper, Democrats occasionally sketched theories of how he could be beat. But they never got close. LaTourette established himself as a pragmatic conservative and ally of John Boehner, there when the party needed him, and there to shame extremists when they blew up a compromise. Last week, after Boehner?s conference refused to pass a fiscal cliff ?Plan B,? LaTourette told reporters that the ?continued dumbing-down of the Republican Party? had done them in. He?d decided to retire months ago.

• The campaign against earmarks really started with Jeff Flake. He?d pick out the ones that had the funniest names, and force votes on them, before we could vote on spending bills. At the outset, he?d lose 300 or more votes, and the exercise seemed pretty much impotent. It never really got legs until the ?Bridge to Nowhere,? probably, in 2005. That became the symbol for earmarks. It became a symbol beyond a big amount of money going to a home state. It was something going to for-profit entities.
  
• Anytime you?re explaining, you?re losing. You can explain Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution. You can explain that this money will be appropriated whether or not members of Congress earmark it. But this new class that came in, in the last Congress, they?re looking around, they see the stimulus package, they see the administration handing out tiger grants or whatever it may be, 70 percent of them go into districts controlled by Democrats, and [these freshmen Republicans] stop earmarks. Eventually they want to rescue some scenic area in the district, and they?re told that earmarks were the way to do that. They say: Oh, I didn?t realize that.
  
• We have too many ?message? votes. I don?t need to have a vote on abortion every month, a vote on guns every month. I have a good relationship with labor. Labor wants one thing: Davis-Bacon. And these new guys, no matter what the bill was, wanted to put repeal of Davis-Bacon in it. It didn?t bother me, but it might have bothered some of the freshmen. Is anybody confused that someone from North Carolina or Georgia is right-to-work? No. Then why have the vote?
  
• You?ve had people for a generation running against the Congress. It?s not just enough that you have an honest disagreement with the Democrats. You have these groups?Heritage Action, Club for Growth?shooting at Republicans. It?s a constant pounding, people saying, ?You?re a RINO, you sold us out.? The Red State blog guys, I know that after I announced, they wrote: ?Best news of the century, LaTourette to retire.? How could that be the best news of the century?
  
• The best day I can remember here was when we passed the Balanced Budget Amendment in the House. I recall getting somewhat emotional over that. Between 1996 and 1998 you get welfare reform, you kick out a major highway bill. You get a lot of good work done, and it was because Bill Clinton was willing to triangulate the Democrats. He?d actually reach out and talk to us. This president doesn?t work with us at all.
• The Clinton impeachment was one of those things?and both parties do this?where we overplayed our hand. Public opinion was not treating President Clinton well, but it seemed like we had to go and make sure that people knew what he did. That?s always our tendency on these things?you want to jump in. But the American people love an underdog. It turns when they think you?re turning on President Clinton, they turn to him. It just had to go the way it went. People were too invested. When it left here, and it went to the Senate, there was no way the United States Senate would remove the president from office. So America got treated to this horrible display, and it wasn?t one of our better moments. President Clinton would have suffered, I think, in terms of popularity and his agenda, if we?d just left him alone.
  
• This fiscal cliff thing is the most foreseeable crisis in American history. People had time to put together solutions. There just wasn?t a lot of good work done. I don?t care how good the deal is, if Grover Norquist says it?s a tax increase, you?re going to have 40 to 120 Republicans voting against it. If it touches Medicare and Social Security, you?re going to have Democrats running against it. I think this was why, when I said I was going to retire, people were coming up to me and saying: ?I wish I would have done that.? Or, ?This is my last term.? There?s a high build-up of frustration in the way things are going.

Rep. Brad Miller got to Congress when the North Carolina Democratic party was still dominant. In 2001, as a state senator, Miller got a say in congressional redistricting. In 2002, he got to play for a seat that was ideal for him, capturing slices of the booming ?research triangle.? After the 2008 crash, Miller spent the bulk of his time on financial reform and ?cram-down? legislation that would have limited the costs for people stuck with bad mortgages. But in 2010, Republicans took over the legislature and drew a new map designed to squeeze out Miller and three other white Democrats. He announced his retirement this year.

• When did I know that this current Congress would be rough? Election Night 2010. I thought in late November and December, in the lame duck after the 2010 election, I thought the Obama administration was wildly unrealistic about how it could get along with the new Congress. They?d been inside the Beltway bubble and had no idea how extreme the Tea Party folks were, and that part of the Tea Party ethic was: Never compromise. They felt betrayed by people like Bob Bennett, Dick Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, and even Orrin Hatch?though he?s changed that tendency?who compromise.
  
• After the election, House Democrats had a conference meeting, Biden was there and so was Jack Lew. Their argument was: If we don?t extend all the Bush tax cuts, we?ll stall the economy, which is standard Keynesian economics. I thought they were realistic about that. But Republicans were willing to cut spending and hurt the economy even more. I voted against the extension because Republicans were going to come and begin making cuts through continuing resolutions that would do more to contract the economy than extending the tax cuts would expand it. And then I remember asking Biden: We also know we?re going to bump up against the debt ceiling. The usual pattern is that the majority grind their teeth, posture, and pass it. I said, what are we gonna do? The world as we know it will end if the debt ceiling is not extended. We don?t have an agreement. Biden?s response was: ?Oh, they won?t be that irresponsible. They?ll know they can?t do that. They won?t use the extension to make cuts to programs that we favor.? I thought: I?m not sure of that. I don?t think you?ve been with these people.
  
• I was disappointed the Obama administration didn?t come out and say, in good times we should cut spending, but not now. Instead, the Obama administration picked up the argument: Yes, we need to reduce the deficit, and the question is how. The argument that might have come in handy was that one reason the economy isn?t doing better is because of the cuts Republicans made. But that economic argument is hard to make in the context of politics. Most people instinctively think that the federal government should be run like a household.
  
• Demographically, if not philosophically, I?m a Blue Dog. I know a lot of the conservative Democrats because I?m like them. I?ve had more beers and watched more ball games with them than with the progressive crowd. When the Blue Dogs voted against Democratic bills, a lot of it was political calculation. They had tougher districts and were trying to figure out how votes would be used against them. On meaningless procedural votes, Blue Dogs would think about those stats and ratings that show how often you broke with the party. They?d try to drive those numbers down so it would be harder to tie them to Pelosi, to Obama. When health care passed, the Democrats who voted against it did not base it on a real detailed policy argument?tweak this, tweak that. It was to stave off the people demanding they vote against ?socialized health care.? They frequently adopted Republican rhetoric to explain their votes.
  
• FDR didn?t address Social Security in the first 100 days. He focused on the Great Depression, and Democrats actually expanded their majorities in the 1934 election. A realignment isn?t one election, it?s three elections. After the third election, people can look and say: Yes, that?s what we want. I thought that was a good model for us. If we had worked on the housing crisis first and the fiscal crisis first, then we would have been in a strong position, the midterms would have gone differently, and we could have passed health care reform in 2011. I?ve said this before and gotten some crap from progressives.
  
• A big driver of recovery, in the past, has been the housing market. The number of jobs lost in the housing industry was something like 1 million. Now, think about how angry people were when AIG gave out those bonuses. It looked like that spooked the White House. But if we?d taken that anger and directed it, which is a fair thing to do in politics, it would have been hard to resist it. Think if we?d directed that to housing. The economy would have done better. The American people would have thought: They?re standing up to powerful people, for us.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=9fc467e9b6ffa4aefdc2b717fed808c0

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