alisonlohhman: November 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Mo. student gives more details on arrest in Cairo

--> AAA??Nov. 27, 2011?3:42 PM ET
Mo. student gives more details on arrest in Cairo
AP

Derrik Sweeney, 19, of Jefferson City, Mo., smiles as he walks with his mother, Joy Sweeney, center, and sister Ashley Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Derrik Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, as arms from his mother, Joy Sweeney, wrap around from behind after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, left, walks with, from left to right, his mother, Joy Sweeney, sister Ashley Sweeney and father Kevin Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) ? An American student arrested during protests in Cairo says he feared for his life after he was taken into custody by four or five people in plain clothes.

Nineteen-year-old Derrik Sweeney tells The Associated Press in a Sunday interview via Skype that the evening started peacefully in Tahrir Square, where protesters have been gathering for more than a week.

He says he and others later wandered through the streets to the Interior Ministry but fled when shots were fired.

Sweeney says four or five "plain clothes Egyptians" then offered to lead the students to safety. He says they followed but found themselves taken into custody, beaten and threatened with guns.

Sweeney and the other two students flew back to the U.S. on Saturday after a court ordered them released.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-27-Egypt-American%20Students/id-6619799f161a4c0080fa134bca18035f

dream act roger williams roger williams tyler bray tyler bray rashard mendenhall san antonio weather

Sunday, November 27, 2011

TaxProf Blog: NY Times Editorial: Legal Education Reform

? Think Long Committee for California Releases Tax Reform Report | Main | Former AG Sues Five Additional Law Schools for Age Discrimination in Faculty Hiring ?

November 26, 2011

NY Times Editorial: Legal Education Reform

New York Times editorial, Legal Education Reform (comments here):

American legal education is in crisis. The economic downturn has left many recent law graduates saddled with crushing student loans and bleak job prospects. The law schools have been targets of lawsuits by students and scrutiny from the United States Senate for alleged false advertising about potential jobs. Yet, at the same time, more and more Americans find that they cannot afford any kind of legal help.

Addressing these issues requires changing legal education and how the profession sees its responsibility to serve the public interest as well as clients. Some schools are moving in promising directions. The majority are still stuck in an outdated instructional and business model. ...

Instead of a curriculum taught largely through professors? grilling of students about appellate cases, some schools are offering more apprentice-style learning in legal clinics and more courses that train students for their multiple future roles as advocates and counselors, negotiators and deal-shapers, and problem-solvers. ...

In American law schools, the choice is not between teaching legal theory or practice; the task is to teach useful legal ideas and skills in more effective ways. The case method has been the foundation of legal education for 140 years. Its premise was that students would learn legal reasoning by studying appellate rulings. That approach treated law as a form of science and as a source of truth.

That vision was dated by the 1920s. It was a relic by the 1960s. Law is now regarded as a means rather than an end, a tool for solving problems. In reforming themselves, law schools have the chance to help reinvigorate the legal profession and rebuild public confidence in what lawyers can provide.

November 26, 2011 in Legal Education | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c4eab53ef0162fcef661e970d

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference NY Times Editorial: Legal Education Reform:

Comments

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Mexican group asks ICC to probe president, officials (Reuters)

THE HAGUE/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexican human rights activists want the International Criminal Court to investigate President Felipe Calderon, top officials and the country's most-wanted drug trafficker, accusing them of allowing subordinates to kill, torture and kidnap civilians.

Netzai Sandoval, a Mexican human rights lawyer, filed a complaint with the ICC in The Hague on Friday, requesting an investigation into the deaths of hundreds of civilians at the hands of the military and drug traffickers in Mexico, where more than 45,000 have died in drug-related violence since 2006.

"The violence in Mexico is bigger than the violence in Afghanistan, the violence in Mexico is bigger than in Colombia," Sandoval said.

"We want the prosecutor to tell us if war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Mexico, and if the president and other top officials are responsible."

Signed by 23,000 Mexican citizens, the complaint names Sinaloa drug cartel boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who has a $5 million bounty on his head, as well as Public Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna and the commanders of Mexico's army and navy.

The lawyers asked the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, to open a formal investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mexico.

A decision by ICC prosecutors on whether to launch an investigation could take months or even years, legal experts say. The ICC has investigated crimes including genocide, murder, conscription of child soldiers and rape, mostly in Africa.

The Mexican government has denied the accusations and said security policy cannot constitute an international crime.

"In our country, society is not the victim of an authoritarian government or of systematic abuses by the armed forces," the foreign ministry said in a statement in October, when the petition was made public.

"In Mexico, there is a rule of law in which crime and impunity are fought without exception," the statement said.

TICKING THE BOXES

The office of the prosecutor said in a statement to Reuters that it had received the request, would study it, and "make a decision in due course."

The ICC tries cases of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in states that are unwilling or unable to prosecute these crimes on their own.

"There are a large number of boxes that the prosecutor would need to check off before he could actually open an investigation," said Richard Dicker, an international justice expert with Human Rights Watch.

"It's possible ... but I think you want to be clear on what the challenges and obstacles are."

Several of those requirements have been met: Mexico has signed up to the ICC, the crimes fall within the ICC's time frame, and the case is not already being prosecuted in Mexico.

But in considering the case, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo will have to decide if the crimes presented in the activists' complaint, such as the torture of criminal suspects, qualify as crimes against humanity.

"The crimes would have to be widespread or systematic, carried out by a state or organization in attacks on a civilian population," Dicker said.

"It's certainly very arguable," said William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University.

"The prosecutor has been very focused on Africa. The pattern is, he stays within the comfort zone of the United States. Going after Mexicans for the war on drugs falls outside that comfort zone."

Activists claim that Calderon has systematically allowed Mexican troops to commit abuses against the civilian population since the military was deployed to fight Mexican drug traffickers in 2006.

More than 50,000 troops are currently battling drug cartels around the country, while the ranks of federal police have swelled from 6,000 to 35,000 under Calderon's watch.

Human rights activists say that Mexican troops and police are regularly violating the rights of citizens in their crackdown on the cartels.

A Human Rights Watch report has found evidence that Mexican police and armed forces were involved in 170 cases of torture, 24 extrajudicial killings and 39 forced disappearances in five Mexican states.

"We have known for five years that the Mexican army is committing sexual abuse, executing people, torturing people and kidnapping, and there have been no sanctions," Sandoval said, adding that he, like many other Mexicans, knows people who have lost family members in the drug-related violence.

Mexico's national human rights commission received more than 4,000 complaints of abuses by the army from 2006 to 2010. In the same period it issued detailed reports on 65 cases involving army abuse, according to Human Rights Watch.

(Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/wl_nm/us_mexico_icc

dan wheldon walking dead weldon weldon danica patrick david garrard indy car

Attorney says suit planned in FAMU band death (AP)

MIAMI ? The family of a Florida A&M University drum major who died in what authorities suspect was a hazing incident will sue the school, an attorney said Friday.

The family of Robert Champion, 26, is spending the holiday weekend planning Champion's funeral, attorney Christopher Chestnut said.

The Atlanta resident was found on a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel Saturday night after the school's football team lost to rival Bethune-Cookman. Police said Champion had been vomiting and complained he couldn't breathe shortly before he collapsed.

The cause of Champion's death hasn't been determined. Preliminary autopsy results were inconclusive and a spokeswoman with the Orange County medical examiner's office said it could take up to three months to learn exactly what killed him.

Law enforcement officials have said they believe some form of hazing took place before 911 was called. Chestnut said he also believes the injuries Champion sustained were consistent with hazing.

A spokesman for the school, which was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, could not be immediately reached for comment Friday morning.

In Florida, any death involving hazing is a third-degree felony.

The fallout from Champion's death was immediate. On Tuesday, the school shuttered the famed marching band and the rest of the music department's performances. The next day, longtime band director Julian White was fired. And Florida Gov. Rick Scott said state investigators would join the probe and the college announced an independent review led by a former state attorney general.

Chestnut said Champion's distraught family believes the actions are "too little, too late."

Champion, a clarinet player, had recently been named drum major.

"He had worked all of his life to reach that goal and it ultimately cost him his life," Chestnut said.

The attorney said Champion's family hopes a lawsuit against the school will help raise awareness about the issue of band hazing.

"This is not an isolated incident," Chestnut said.

Hazing cases have cropped up in marching bands, especially at historically black colleges where a spot in the marching band is coveted. In many cases the bands are revered almost as much as the sports teams for which they play.

In 2008, two first-year French horn players in Southern University's marching band were hospitalized after a beating. In 2009, 20 members of Jackson State University's band were suspended over hazing accusations.

There have been numerous incidents at FAMU. In 2001, Marcus Parker suffered kidney damage after being beaten by a paddle.

Three years earlier, Ivery Luckey, a clarinet player from Ocala, Fla., said he was padded about 300 times, sending him to the hospital. He said he was emotionally and physically scarred. Some 20 band members were suspended and Luckey filed a lawsuit against the state Board of Regents. Reports indicate he settled for $50,000.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_re_us/us_famu_student_dead

lacuna lacuna paranormal activity 3 trailer paranormal activity 3 trailer oomph oomph cmj

Friday, November 25, 2011

SKorea flaunts firepower year after NKorean attack (AP)

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea ? South Korean attack helicopters screamed through the skies above the Koreas' disputed Yellow Sea waters Wednesday in a display of power exactly a year after North Korea launched a deadly artillery attack on a front-line island.

The South's military staged drills involving aircraft, rocket launchers and artillery guns to send a strong message to North Korean rivals stationed within sight just miles (kilometers) away, and to their authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Il.

The exercises off Baengnyeong Island represent far greater firepower than the South Korean military mounted last year in response to the barrage of artillery showered on military garrisons and fishing villages on nearby Yeonpyeong Island, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Bung-woo said Wednesday.

South Korea is prepared to "crush the enemy," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jung Seung-jo said Tuesday.

South Korea's delayed response to the shelling at the time ? the first on a civilian area since the three-year Korean War ended with a truce in 1953 ? drew heavy criticism and concern that Seoul was unprepared for a North Korean provocation. The defense minister resigned, and successor Kim Kwan-jin has pledged a fierce air strike if the North stages another attack.

Two construction workers and two marines were killed, dozens of homes decimated and scores evacuated to the mainland.

Pyongyang blamed Seoul for provoking the attack, saying it struck after warning the South not to carry out live-fire drills in waters both Koreas claim as their territory.

"The pursuit of continued military confrontation and war will eventually bring about the fate of devastation," North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Wednesday, again accusing South Korea of provoking the attack.

North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by the U.N. at the close of the war, and three deadly naval gunfights have taken place in the Yellow Sea waters since 1999. South Korea also holds North Korea responsible for the sinking of one of its warships in March last year; 46 sailors were killed. Pyongyang denies involvement.

In the past year, South Korea has spent millions of dollars to beef up its arsenal in the Yellow Sea, installing additional radars, setting up a separate defense command and deploying precision-guided rockets designed to take out North Korea's hidden coastal artillery.

Ceremonies on Yeonpyeong Island and at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, south of Seoul, were somber on a cold day.

Residents of the island, which lies just 7 miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores, laid flowers at statues erected to commemorate the four dead; a balloon carrying a banner with their portraits floated up into the sky.

At the National Cemetery, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik joined the families of the South Koreans killed in the attack for a solemn tribute.

In Seoul, North Korean defectors denounced North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

"The Yeonpyeong Island attack last year clearly showed that it is totally wrong to think that Kim Jong Il and his regime can change," Seo Jae-pyoung, a North Korean defector, said at a rally of about about 100 people who gathered in Seoul to denounce last year's shelling.

Since the attack a year ago, however, there have been signs that animosities between the rival Koreas are easing, with diplomats seeking to resume North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told officers that he was sorry North Korea has not yet apologized for the shelling, according to the presidential Blue House. Lee paid a visit Wednesday to a military command that handles the defense of the Yellow Sea area.

He said he expects Pyongyang to apologize if North Korea wants to improve the relations between the two Koreas.

___

Associated Press writers Sam Kim and Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_clash

darrell hammond tcu boise state boxer rebellion boxer rebellion stanford football lsu football schedule

Prosecutors seek four years in jail for Jackson doctor (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to sentence Michael Jackson's former doctor to the maximum four years in prison for his involuntary manslaughter conviction in the singer's 2009 death.

In a separate court filing, defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray, 58, sought to convince Los Angeles trial judge Michael Pastor to sentence their client to probation.

The dueling legal papers come in advance of a hearing on Tuesday at which Pastor will issue his sentence for Murray, who is currently in jail awaiting that court date.

Jackson was found lifeless at his mansion on June 25, 2009, about three weeks before he was due to begin a series of comeback concerts in London.

Murray was at the singer's house and had given him the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, which medical examiners said was the chief cause of his death.

Doctors testified at the trial that propofol, which is often used for surgery, should never be given in a home setting without adequate staffing and equipment.

In seeking to justify their request for a maximum prison sentence of four years for Murray, prosecutors David Walgren and Deborah Brazil argued that the doctor took advantage of Jackson's trust in him, all while being under salary for $150,000 a month.

"Instead of utilizing his medical knowledge and training to provide Mr. Jackson with proper medical care, the defendant acted as an employee and as a drug dealer and completely corrupted the trust necessary in a proper doctor-patient relationship," prosecutors stated.

Defense attorneys said in their court papers that Murray's "background and character" warrant a sentence of probation, not prison time. They also cited his history of treating poor patients regardless of their ability to pay.

"Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pail of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson," defense lawyers stated.

Legal experts have said that, because of overcrowding in California prisons, Murray may spend as little as a few months behind bars regardless of what he receives as a sentence.

California adopted a new law in October that sends low-risk prison inmates to county jails, and in turn officials who run Los Angeles county jails have been releasing inmates early because of a lack of space.

"It will be very difficult to achieve an appropriate sentence of incarceration for Dr. Conrad Murray," Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, whose office prosecuted the case, told reporters earlier this month.

In addition, an attorney for Jackson's estate said in a court filing that the singer would have earned $100 million had he completed all 50 shows at London's O2 arena that he was scheduled to perform before his death.

Murray has been in jail since November 7 awaiting his sentencing hearing, due to a decision by Pastor to not allow him to remain free until that upcoming hearing.

That decision was made on the same day that a Los Angeles found Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_prosecutors_seek_four_years_jail_jackson_doctor000558101/43700254/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/prosecutors-seek-four-years-jail-jackson-doctor-000558101.html

the fall kellen winslow ben folds apple announcement sprint iphone sprint iphone defamation

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Tear gas, scuffles as SKorea OKs US trade deal (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? South Korea's ruling party forced a long-stalled free trade deal with the United States through parliament Tuesday, enraging opposition lawmakers who blasted their political rivals with tear gas.

South Korean lawmakers voted 151 to 7 in favor of ratifying the landmark trade agreement in a surprise legislative session called by the ruling Grand National Party, parliamentary officials said.

Shouts and screams filled the National Assembly as ruling party lawmakers forced their way onto the parliamentary floor. Amid the scuffling, one opposition lawmaker doused rivals with tear gas.

Security guards hustled him out of the chamber as he shouted and tried to resist. Outside the National Assembly building, opponents of the deal scuffled with police mobilized to maintain order.

The pact is America's biggest free-trade agreement since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Two-way trade between the United States and South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, totaled about $90 billion last year, according to the South Korean government.

After the deal was approved less than an hour after the tussle began, dozens of opposition lawmakers and aides ? who fought hard to prevent passage of an agreement they say favors U.S. over South Korean workers ? sat slumped around the chamber podium. One legislator leaned her head against the shoulder of another as they both stared at the floor in silence.

Such chaotic scenes are not uncommon in South Korea's parliament, where rival parties have a history of resorting to physical confrontation over highly charged issues. In 2008, opposition lawmakers used a sledgehammer to try and force their way into a barricaded committee room to stop the ruling party from introducing a debate on the U.S. trade deal.

President Lee Myung-bak's ruling party commands a majority in South Korea's single-chamber, 295-seat parliament but hadn't forced the deal through earlier, apparently out of worry over a public backlash ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

The presidential Blue House welcomed the deal's passage, pledging in a statement to use it as a chance to boost the economy and create jobs. The main opposition Democratic Party said it would boycott all other parliamentary sessions in protest and demanded that top ruling party leaders resign.

Lawmakers have been wrangling over ratification of the free trade deal since the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama approved the deal last month after years of debate.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk welcomed the legislative approval in Seoul.

"This is a win-win agreement that will provide significant economic and strategic benefits to both countries," he said. "We look forward to working closely with the government of Korea to bring the agreement into force as soon as possible."

In South Korea, a key sticking point was a provision that opponents say would allow investors to take disputes falling under the agreement's jurisdiction to a U.S.-influenced international arbitration panel. The opposition calls for removal of the provision.

President Lee offered to seek re-negotiation of the provision if the opponents in parliament vote for ratification. The Democratic Party, however, rebuffed Lee's proposal, saying negotiations should take place first.

Debate over the deal has been heated, with nearly daily protests outside the National Assembly and opposition lawmakers camping out in a committee room for weeks to block the vote.

Earlier this month, South Korean police fired water cannons to disperse more than 2,000 protesters trying to break into the National Assembly during a debate.

There were concerns the demonstrations might mirror those in 2008, when South Korea's move to lift a ban on U.S. beef triggered weeks of massive street protests over worries about the meat's safety and criticism that Seoul had made too many concessions to Washington.

Economist Jung Tae-in said the trade deal would widen the gap between haves and have-nots. "South Korea will falter in the early stages of the implementation of the deal because the United States is economically more powerful," he said.

But Kim Jung-sik, an economics professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, said fears about damage to South Korea's economy are overblown. "Free trade still works to South Korea's advantage because the country is so reliant on exports."

South Korea, a major exporter of industrial goods such as automobiles and consumer electronics, has aggressively sought free trade agreements and already has several in effect, including with Chile, India, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement Tuesday that it will work to get the trade deal to take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

The U.S. Trade Representative's office said Washington would make "best efforts" to bring the trade agreement into force as quickly as possible in 2012.

Associated Press writers Sam Kim in Seoul and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_bi_ge/as_skorea_us_free_trade

how to be a gentleman iphone 5 case pawpaw pawpaw cantaloupe cantaloupe credit union

At DC DMV: Driver's license, tag renewal, HIV test (AP)

WASHINGTON ? At one Department of Motor Vehicles' office in the nation's capital, motorists can get a driver's license, temporary tags and something wholly unrelated to the road: a free HIV test.

In a city with one of the highest percentages of residents living with HIV or AIDS, health officials have spent the last year test-driving the HIV screening program. Since the program began last October, more than 5,000 people have been tested at the DMV site and gotten results while they waited.

Now, officials are expanding the program, offering testing for the first time at an office where Washington residents register for food stamps, Medicaid and other government assistance. On Monday, the first day of the program, 60 people got tested, officials said. As an incentive, they're being offered a $5 gift card to a local grocery store.

"You have to meet people where they are," explained Sheila Brockington, who oversees HIV testing at the DMV office in southeast Washington, the only one of the city's three DMV service centers where it is offered. "You're waiting anyway. You might as well."

The testing project isn't run by the DMV but by a nonprofit group, Family and Medical Counseling Service Inc., which uses an office inside the site. To ensure confidentiality, residents get tested and receive results in the private office, out of earshot of those going about their usual DMV business. The nonprofit got a $250,000 grant to do the testing and secured the support of the city's Health Department and the DMV. Now a second, similar grant is funding expansion.

Government statistics released in June show about 1.1 million Americans were living with the AIDS virus in 2008, and other studies show that about 10 percent to 20 percent of U.S. adults are tested annually. But those involved in HIV/AIDS work recognize that more needs to be done to identify people living with HIV, said Chris Collins, the vice president and director of public policy for amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.

"We need to be looking for creative ways to reach people who haven't tested in the past," said Collins, who hasn't studied Washington's program but said innovation and creativity by cities is important.

In Washington, not everyone was sold on the idea when it was proposed by the head of the Family and Medical Counseling Service, Angela Wood. She came up with the idea after sitting at a DMV office herself. Initially, some officials doubted many people would test. Now, however, between 25 and 35 people get tested every day at the DMV location. Anyone who agrees gets $7 off their DMV services.

For those who test positive, the nonprofit offers a free ride to its nearby office where they can arrange counseling and an appointment with a doctor. So far, less than 1 percent of those screened have tested positive, though some already knew their status. That's below the city's infection rate of 3 percent.

By now, the four people who run the program at the DMV office have their pitch for testing down. When people are on line, one of the testers approaches with the offer: free tests, money off your bill, and the promise that it won't hurt.

"We don't do blood. We do swabs," tester Karen Johnson tells patrons, explaining that the test of their saliva takes 20 minutes and that participants will not lose their place in the DMV line.

For patrons, the offer is generally a surprise, but not an unwelcome one.

Bus driver Nat Jordan, 35, was at the DMV office one day to get his car registered. He said he accepted because he gets tested once a year anyway. Colleen Russell, 28, a newly married nurse who was at the DMV to change her name on her driver's license, said she knew she was negative. But she said she got tested because she comes in contact with patients every day who could be infected.

Not all residents are sure of their status, though. One man who got tested and spoke on the condition that his name not be used said his wife is HIV positive. Though he had had a negative HIV test before, it reassured him to have a second one at the DMV.

Wood, the person who proposed the unconventional testing sites, said she understands they aren't right for everyone. That's fine, she said. The message: "It's important for you to take the test, whether you take it here or at another site."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_go_ot/us_dmv_aids_tests

advent calendar adobe air 2005yu55 advanced search a christmas carol personhood amendment haynesworth

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

New questions arise in no-show worker scandal (hamptonroads)

Share With Friends:

| Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/165415433?client_source=feed&format=rss

dale sveum tori spelling ny jets ny jets jets broncos nfl scores nfl scores

Proposal to tax Jack Daniel's whiskey derailed (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? Jack Daniel's officials are toasting the defeat of a proposal to tax whiskey at its celebrated Tennessee distillery.

The Moore County Council in Lynchburg, Tenn., voted 10-5 Monday evening to kill a proposal that could have taxed Jack Daniel's up to $5 million annually, with all the revenue going to local coffers.

"We hope we've been able to demonstrate that the distillery pays more than its fair share of taxes and that we've contributed to our way of life in Lynchburg," said Tom Beam, senior vice president and general manager of production at the facility.

The vote reversed an earlier one that had asked the Tennessee legislature to authorize a local referendum on the per-barrel tax proposal.

"We've educated the community a little more," Beam said Tuesday in a telephone interview from the distillery, located in the hills of south-central Tennessee. "They realized after we got our side of the story out how much we do."

The 145-year-old distillery and its employees, along with Lynchburg, have been the focus of Jack Daniel's folksy advertising for years. Bottles of the charcoal mellowed sippin' whiskey list Lynchburg's population as 361, but the town and county really have about 6,400.

The distillery, owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman, now pays $1.5 million in local property taxes.

"We hated to see this drive a wedge through our family here," Beam said. "This is our home and we'll try to do the right thing."

The Jack Daniel Distillery, with about 450 employees, is the largest employer in Moore County. The local Chamber of Commerce came out against the proposal at the meeting.

Supporters of the proposal said the issue is dead for now and they may quit trying.

"That's democracy in action, I suppose," Charles Rogers said of the vote after spearheading the proposal.

"I may bow out of this," he added. "But I still think people ought to have the right to vote on it (in a referendum)."

Ten million cases of the sour mash whiskey, led by Old No. 7, are sold worldwide every year, making it the No. 1 brand in sales globally.

"Our friends and neighbors around Moore County, the state, the country and even globally have been supportive," Beam said.

Company spokesmen never said whether the tax would have meant higher prices at the retail level.

Ironically, Moore County is dry, meaning Jack Daniel's cannot be sold legally in the county.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_us/us_taxing_jack

nfl week 12 picks nfl week 12 picks green bean casserole green bean casserole recipe urban meyer turkey recipes turkey recipes

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Fedor Emelianenko returns with win, visit from Vladimir Putin

Fedor Emelianenko stopped his losing streak?with a decision win over Jeff Monson at M-1 in Moscow over the weekend. This was his first win since losing to Fabricio Werdum last summer, then dropping bouts to Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson. Then, he was treated to a post-fight speech by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

My Russian is fuzzy, but that roughly translates to, "WOOOOO FEDOR!" Actually, according to the Washington Post, Putin called Emelianenko a real Russian knight with character and good muscles.

The crazy part of this is that Putin attended the fights, continuing his streak of being cooler than everyone. He has his own cheerleaders, goes horseback riding, races cars, has wrestled a bear, and then shows up at M-1 bouts and makes a speech. All in a day's work for Vladdy.

This was a much-needed win for Emelianenko, who spoke of retirement after losing to Werdum. He used kickboxing skills to batter Monson for three rounds, and dropped him three times. As seen in the video, a bloodied Monson had to be helped from the ring.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Fedor-Emelianenko-returns-with-win-visit-from-V?urn=mma-wp9874

jack o lantern dave thomas mean girls houston weather peter king hank williams jr hank williams jr

Monday, November 21, 2011

1 dead in small plane crash in suburban Chicago (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends:

| Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/164474749?client_source=feed&format=rss

alot are you afraid of the dark are you afraid of the dark lauren alaina dallas news google tv cornel west

Two die during Philadelphia Marathon races (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Two runners died on Sunday while competing in the Philadelphia Marathon and Half Marathon, organizers said without giving details.

"We are deeply saddened and our thoughts are with their families and friends," Philadelphia Marathon Race Weekend Executive Director Melanie Johnson said in a statement.

The statement did not identify the runners pending notification of relatives. It gave no details about the deaths.

A total of about 27,000 runners competed in the event's three races, with 15,000 in the 26.2-mile marathon, a spokeswoman said.

The men's race was won by Folisho Tuko of Ethiopia in two hours 19:14. The women's winner was Mariska Kramer of the Netherlands in 2:35:46.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson, editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111120/us_nm/us_marathon_deaths

frank lucas house of wax lego man lego man cheryl hines john lackey john lackey

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Engadget Podcast 265 - 11.18.2011

There's no better way to live out your TGIF dreams than to kick back with a stack of tablets and a a nice, tall glass of The Engadget Podcast...unless it's The Engadget Podcast with a side of Engadget father (and gdgt co-founder) Peter Rojas. Come with us as we take audio tours of The Modern Cloud and The Modern Bookstore, with a brief stop at your virtual homes to answer your burning-est questions about the week in tech.

Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guests: Peter Rojas (gdgt)
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: More Than A Feeling

01:20 - Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ first impressions (video)
05:32 - Qualcomm announces Snapdragon S4 Liquid mobile development platform tablet on The Engadget Show, we go hands-on (video)
10:08 - Amazon Kindle Fire review
13:00 - Amazon Kindle Touch review
18:19 - Kobo Vox unboxing and hands-on (video)
26:05 - Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet unboxing and hands-on (video)
41:51 - Google Music drops beta, MP3 store and Google+ integration along for the ride (updated)
43:07 - Google Music Artist Hub helps musicians promote, sell music (video)
44:00 - Google partners with Universal, EMI, Sony Music, 23 independent labels on Google Music, scores exclusive content
45:00 - Hands-on with Google Music MP3 store for web and the new Music app
47:56 - iTunes Match goes live: sync up your entire music collection for $24.99 a year
51:35 - HTC Rezound review
01:00:05 - Listener questions

Hear the podcast

Subscribe to the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)

Contact the podcast

Send your questions to @tim_stevens.
Leave us a voicemail: (423) 438-3005 (GADGET-3005)
E-mail us: podcast at engadget dot com
Twitter: @peterrojas, @bheater, @tim_stevens

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 265 - 11.18.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/engadget-podcast-265-11-18-2011/

mega millions amy smart michael jackson dead michael jackson dead prickly pear prickly pear jcole

Megachurch rises in Pakistani city of Karachi (AP)

KARACHI, Pakistan ? Pakistan's tiny and downtrodden Christian community thought big when constructing its latest church ? a domed, three-story building that towers over the sprawling slum it serves and is the largest yet in the violent, Muslim country.

St. Peter's of Karachi, which opened its doors this month and can fit around 5,000 people, is a sign of the resilience of a faith that has long suffered from state discrimination and attacks by extremists allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The church took 11 months to build and cost $3.8 million, raised from local donations and from Roman Catholics around the world, said Father Saleh Diego. It was built on the site of a smaller church in Azam Basti district, a jumble of lanes and simple brick houses that is home to around 15,000 Christians.

"There were so many people here it was not possible for us to accommodate them on Sundays. Some were sitting at the back, some in the corner, some on the terrace," said Diego. "Now we can pray together, all 5,000 people, worship the Lord and really share and strengthen our faith."

Pakistani towns and cities are dotted with striking churches dating back to the 19th century, when the subcontinent was ruled by Britain. Newer churches do get built, especially by Protestant and evangelical groups, but are smaller, single-room affairs.

In some predominantly Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Indonesia, the construction of new churches can trigger tensions and even violence, but those built in Pakistan normally sit in poor Christian neighborhoods like Azam Basti, so they rarely spark protests. Those few that are built in Muslim or commercial areas can expect some problems, said a Western missionary whose church is about to begin construction of a school and church complex in Punjab province.

"We had some opposition at the start," said the man, who has lived legally and openly on a missionary visa in Pakistan for many years, but declined to give his name for security reasons. "If we put up a big cross, and we called it a seminary, then we would expect that the locals would give us some problems. We will do it slowly."

Christians are often discriminated against in Muslim countries, but in Pakistan they face unique problems.

Most are the descendants of low-caste, "untouchable" Hindus, who converted to Christianity when the region was under British colonial rule. Today, many still do the same work as their ancestors: street sweeping, domestic service or other menial jobs.

They tend to live in ghettos of extreme poverty, often separated from their Muslim neighbors by high walls.

In Pakistan, Christians account for between 3 percent and 5 percent of the country's 180 million people, split approximately equally between Roman Catholics and Protestants. There are even smaller numbers of Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.

St. Peter's is roughly the same size as Karachi's imposing British-era cathedral, St. Patrick's. But it can accommodate many more worshippers because they sit on the floor, not on benches as is common in churches visited by wealthier Pakistanis like St. Patrick's.

The church is a simple rectangular building, adorned with arches and dozens of Gothic spires. Dozens of stained-glass windows depict the sufferings of Jesus Christ, while the walls inside are painted shiny white with large frescos.

On a recent evening, many hundreds flocked to the church, where several young girls were being confirmed.

Dressed in their best clothes, the worshippers took off their shoes ? which, like sitting on the floor, is an Islamic custom adopted by some churches here ? before walking inside. They sang hymns to the accompaniment of a piano and a 'dhol', a traditional drum.

Outside, conversation turned to the predicament facing the community.

When Pakistan achieved independence in 1947, the country's leaders envisaged a liberal Muslim state that protected minority rights, even if the constitution has always prevented Christians from becoming prime minister or president. But Islamist groups have steadily gained ground, pushing through laws that have marginalized minorities.

Over the past 10 years, the rise of al-Qaida and Taliban militancy has made Christians a frequent target of bombings and shootings, along with other non-Sunni Muslims. In March this year, militants shot and killed Shahbaz Bhatti, the sole Christian minister in the government, for his campaign to modify blasphemy laws used to persecute Christians.

"We are called sweepers, and Muslims do not like to share their meals with us," said 18-year-old Joseph Messieh, one of the worshippers at St. Peter's. "It is disgusting."

Sharoon Gill, another young man, disagreed, saying this was unfair.

"Most of my friends are Muslims and we dine out. I never feel discriminated against," he said.

Father Diego said the church was concerned about rising radicalism, but that his building had received no threats.

"Without persecution there is no Christianity," he said. "So we are faithful in persecution and we are faithful to the suffering."

___

Associated Press writer Chris Brummitt in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111120/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_megachurch

occupy san francisco jack the cat frank lucas house of wax lego man lego man cheryl hines

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Hanover resident joins rowing program at Washington (Md.) College

Jill Gobrecht found her new sport when visiting her new school.

The South Western High graduate and current Washington (Md.) College freshman saw her new school had a rowing team when she visited last year. She decided then to join the team.

Never mind she had never rowed and didn't know much about the sport or that rowing would consume plenty of time that could be devoted to studying.

Gobrecht was at the gym when Allison Murphy, the novice coach for the women's NCAA team, asked if Gobrecht was interested in rowing. The recruiting made sense.

"I'm really small," said Gobrecht, who had previously just danced and learned karate. "I have a good build to be a coxswain."

A scheduling conflict forced her to attend the men's team's informational meeting, and she became the coxswain for the novice eight-man team. The men's team is a varsity sport funded by the school, but is not an NCAA sport.

She joined a 12-person team in which eight of her teammates had never rowed. Gobrecht also learned how to row to familiarize herself with the movements to help her teammates when their strokes fell off pace, and she learned all of the commands.

"It's a challenge," men's novice coach Brendan Cunningham said. "There's a lot of hard work that goes into having success. I think she's doing pretty well. I think the guys want to row for her. It's always good to have a tight team."

The team, in what can be called its offseason, rows from 4 to 6 p.m. every weekday, lifts

weights from 6:45 to 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and rows from 8 to 10 a.m. on Saturdays.

Gobrecht said her favorite experience this fall was crossing the finish line at the team's first meet, which was held Oct. 8 in Philadelphia. Her boat finished second by just two seconds in the five-team Memorial Regatta on Nov. 13 in Washington College's final meet of the season.

The Shoremen won five first-place medals and two second-place medals in the competition.

Gobrecht looks forward to competing next season, but knows time will be limited because of a course load of 21 credits.

"Fortunately, it's a good experience for working on a team," she said. "It's good for time management. I know I have less time to waste."

Source: http://www.eveningsun.com/localsports/ci_19373267?source=rss

bohemian grove amazing race michael oher showtime the prisoner the prisoner gene simmons

Republican tax plan at a glance (AP)

Republicans on the congressional debt-reduction supercommittee have proposed a tax overhaul that they claim would raise about $290 billion in additional taxes over the next decade. The plan limits tax breaks as a way to pay for lower tax rates and some deficit reduction. Details of the plan, as proposed by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.:

? All marginal income tax rates would be lowered by 20 percent, meaning the top rate would go from 35 percent to 28 percent and the bottom rate would go from 10 percent to 8 percent.

? The top tax rate on capital gains would remain 15 percent.

? The top tax rate on dividends would remain 15 percent.

? The estate tax would stay at 35 percent, with the first $10 million of a married couple's estate exempt.

? The tax benefits from itemizing deductions and excluding employer-provided health insurance from taxable income would be limited to 2 percent of taxpayer's adjusted gross income.

? A new measure of inflation would be used to adjust the tax brackets each year, resulting in more people jumping into higher tax brackets as their wages increase.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_go_co/us_debt_supercommittee_taxes_glance

honda generator honda generator cc sabathia ruth madoff ruth madoff in living color enews

Natalie Wood detectives face conflicting accounts (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Natalie Wood's drowning death nearly 30 years ago came after a night of dinner, drinking and arguments but the question remains ? was it anything more than a tragic accident?

Conflicting versions of what happened on the yacht shared by Wood, her actor-husband Robert Wagner and their friend, actor Christopher Walken, have contributed to the mystery of how the actress died on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981.

Two sheriff's detectives are now diving into the mysterious events on the yacht Splendour, although whether they reach any different conclusions than their predecessors remains to be seen. They recently received new, seemingly credible information and heard from potential witnesses who weren't included in the original investigation of Wood's death, sheriff's Lt. John Corina said Friday.

But he said nothing has happened to changed the official view that Wood's death was originally an accidental drowning. Wagner, the star of "Hart and Hart" is not considered a suspect, he added.

Corina released few details about who investigators have contacted or plan to re-interview, but the inquiry will certainly lead them to speak with the three survivors of the trip ? Wagner, Walken and skipper Dennis Davern.

Wood's sister, Lana, was not on the boat, but told CNN's Piers Morgan on Friday that she has spoken with Davern many times and believes her sister did not fall off the boat.

"I don't think she fell, I don't know if she was pushed, I don't know whether there was an altercation and it happened accidentally but she shouldn't have died and that does stay with me and hurt," Lana Wood said.

"I would prefer to always believe that RJ (Wagner) would never do anything to hurt Natalie and that he loved her dearly, which he did, and I don't believe that whatever went on was deliberate. I've always cared about him. I always will care about him," she said.

The captain said on NBC's "Today" on Friday that Wagner is to blame for the Oscar-nominated actress' death in the chilly waters of Southern California in November 1981, but didn't offer many specifics. For years he has maintained that he heard the famous couple arguing on the boat before Wood went missing and Wagner refusing to immediately search the waters nearby for his wife.

Davern's account is dramatically different from what he told investigators after Wood's body was found in 1981, when no mention of an argument between the couple was made. Wood was wearing a nightgown, wool socks and red down coat when she was found floating off Santa Catalina Island.

The renewed investigation comes at a time when plenty of attention was sure to be focused on Wood, whose beauty and acting in films such as "West Side Story" and "Rebel Without a Cause" made her Hollywood royalty. Her death stunned the world and CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" has been looking into the case for a special airing on Saturday.

Sheriff's officials denied the renewed attention prompted their review, which could take months.

"We're not concerned with the anniversary date," Corina said. "It may have jarred some other people's memories."

Davern and Wagner agree on one point about the fateful night ? there was a heated argument on the yacht after the group returned from dinner on Catalina. All had been drinking, and here is where the three men's accounts begin to differ.

Davern said he heard Wagner and Wood arguing and its outcome had horrific consequences.

Was that fight "what ultimately led to her death?" Davern was asked by "Today" show host David Gregory.

"Yes," Davern replied.

"How so?"

"Like I said, that's going to be up to the investigators to decide," Davern responded after a long pause.

Wagner acknowledges a fight took place on the Splendour, but in his best-selling 2008 memoir "Pieces of My Heart," he wrote that the fighting was between him and Walken. The disagreement began over the acting profession and led to Wood retreating to her cabin, while the dispute raged on between Wagner and Walken. Later Walken went to bed, according to Wagner, who, after staying up with Davern for a while, went looking for his wife and couldn't find her on board. He then noticed that a dinghy attached to the boat _and his wife ? was gone.

Walken, who has rarely spoken about the events that led to Wood's death, denied in a 1982 interview on "Good Morning America" that he and Wagner quarreled.

"No, that's not true," Walken said when asked if a fight was the reason Wood left the yacht. "They were very good to me, that family, and that's not true.

"We were having a Thanksgiving weekend, a good time," he said.

But Walken told sheriff's detectives that there was an argument, according to a 2000 Vanity Fair piece that included statements from a report by the investigating detective. It also included comments from Davern, who told the magazine that he heard Wagner and Wood fighting before she went missing.

The detective, Wagner and Walken and coroner's officials all have maintained that Wood's death was an accident, possibly caused by her trying to secure the dinghy to the side of the yacht.

"The people who are convinced that there was something more to it than what came out in the investigation will never be satisfied with the truth," Walken was quoted in the Vanity Fair piece as saying during an interview in the 1980s. "Because the truth is, there is nothing more to it. It was an accident."

Wagner too addressed the uncertainty about what happened in his book.

"Nobody knows," he wrote. "There are only two possibilities; either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened."

Wagner said through a spokesman that his family trusts the sheriff's department to conduct a fair investigation into Wood's death.

The couple were married twice, first in 1957 before divorcing six years later. They remarried in 1972.

___

Associated Press writer Denise Petski contributed to this report.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111119/ap_on_en_mu/us_natalie_wood_investigation

stoma stoma money ball bill cunningham vladimir putin vladimir putin rampage jackson

Friday, November 18, 2011

GOP hopefuls challenge Obama on Iran (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential hopefuls are focusing on Iran as a weak spot in President Barack Obama's foreign policy record, and they're reviving many of the arguments that neoconservative proponents of armed intervention against Tehran lost in the latter years of George W. Bush's presidency.

Spurred by a recent United Nations report on Iran's nuclear weapons research, the leading GOP candidates are presenting themselves as hawkish alternatives to Obama and his administration's two-track policy of pressuring and engaging the Islamic republic. They propose more drastic approaches to prevent Iran from developing an atomic bomb ? from funding armed rebel movements to launching military attacks.

"If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon," Mitt Romney said during Saturday's foreign policy debate in South Carolina. "If you elect me as the next president, they will not have a nuclear weapon."

The former Massachusetts governor and Republican front-runner said the U.S. should be "working with the insurgents in the country to encourage regime change." But, if "there's nothing else we can do besides take military action, then of course you take military action."

The killing of Osama bin Laden, NATO's successful Libya campaign and as-promised U.S. troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan have helped transform foreign policy into one of Obama's strengths as he prepares for a difficult re-election campaign focused on the economy. Obama has failed to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but that elusive goal has confounded every American president since Jimmy Carter.

Iran's nuclear program offers an unusual point of attack for the Republican candidates. The paucity of reliable public information makes it hard to assess whether the Obama administration has hampered Iran's nuclear ambitions or allowed their advance, offering plenty of space for GOP candidates to present alternative tactics.

"There are a number of ways to be smart about Iran and relatively few ways to be dumb, and the administration skipped all the ways to be smart," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said at Saturday's debate. He called for "maximum covert operations to block and disrupt the Iranian program" and backed Romney's call for possible military action. If "the dictatorship persists, you have to take whatever steps are necessary to break its capacity to have a nuclear weapon."

Seeking to one-up Gingrich, longshot candidate Rick Santorum said there "isn't going to be enough time" for tougher sanctions on Iran and more support for pro-democracy groups. He acknowledged the Obama administration's possible involvement in some of the covert attacks on Iran's nuclear program.

But he suggested an even tougher approach alongside Israel to strike Iran's nuclear facilities pre-emptively ? similar to the operations the Jewish state conducted against Iraq in 1981 and Syria four years ago. The Reagan administration fumed over the first; the Bush administration acquiesced by silence to the second.

Iran insists its nuclear program is designed solely for peaceful processes, but an International Atomic Energy Agency report last week strongly suggested work toward atomic weaponry. The program has been hindered in recent years by the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, a virulent computer virus attacking its facilities and other possible interference ? which may or may not have been the result of covert American or Israeli activity.

For all the early talk of engagement, Obama has stuck largely to the Bush administration's latter-year policies of negotiations with Iran alongside international pressure ? without the inflammatory rhetoric such as accusations of Tehran's membership in an "axis of evil."

Republicans see the policy nevertheless as a failure and seem to be harkening back to the hard-line American posture taken after U.S. troops toppled Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 2003 and many conservative foreign policy thinkers made Iran's regime the next bogeyman that needed to be taken out.

Then, as now, the argument held that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a mortal threat to U.S. forces in the region and to U.S. ally Israel, whose U.S. backing is wide and deep. Then, as now, the more hawkish voices said time is running out for talking and the U.S. must make clear to Iran that it will use its overwhelming military advantage.

The most likely strategy would be a missile strike on one of Iran's known nuclear facilities, or sabotage from within the country.

Either is clearly within U.S. power, but Obama's calculation has thus far been the same as Bush's: A strike isn't yet worth the risks it carries. Iran could retaliate against U.S. interests or allies, and the Pentagon assesses that if Iran is bent on acquiring a nuclear weapon, a strike would delay but not prevent it.

GOP candidate Herman Cain said he wouldn't pursue a military conflict.

"The only way we can stop them is through economic means," he said.

Libertarian Ron Paul also held back, saying war powers were vested in Congress.

Rick Perry called for sanctions against Iran's central bank to "shut down that country's economy," something the Obama administration has examined in recent months but backed off doing. The fear is that isolating the bank beyond existing U.S. sanctions could drive up oil prices and imperil the fragile world economy.

Over the weekend, Obama argued that U.S. and international sanctions against Tehran have had "enormous bite" and said he'd consult with other nations on further efforts to stop Iran from acquiring an atomic weapon. Without specifically mentioning military action, he insisted, as Bush always did, that U.S. officials "are not taking any options off the table."

Still, the focus is on sanctions. Despite four rounds of economic sanctions against Iran ? three during Bush's presidency and the last under Obama ? the United Nations is being held back from tougher measures by veto-wielding Security Council members China and Russia. They've offered no sign of a change in posture since Obama's meetings Saturday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Romney has argued that Obama made a strategic blunder early in his presidency by failing to leverage Russian support for "crippling sanctions" against Iran before changing the Bush administration's plans for a missile defense system in Europe.

"This is, of course, President Obama's greatest failing from a foreign policy standpoint," he said. "He gave Russia what they wanted, their No. 1 foreign policy objective, and got nothing in return."

Romney's argument is undercut by Bush's similar struggles in rallying global unity against Iran and the assessment by many international security analysts that the sanctions applied under Bush and Obama have seriously undermined Iran's economy.

Responding a day later, Obama said: "Is this an easy issue? No. Anyone who claims it is is either politicking or doesn't know what they're talking about."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_on_el_pr/us_republicans_iran

just dance 3 cliff lee cliff lee the raven the raven lawrence o donnell fresno state

alisonlohhman