discount hotels travel: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Weekend violence in Oakland: Is Occupy movement back, or broken?

Has the Occupy movement abandoned nonviolence??Oakland protesters and police issue contradictory accounts of clashes that led to hundreds of arrests and several injuries.?

As Oakland puts the Occupy movement back?in the national?spotlight with TV images of flag burning and violent police clashes, there is a media war going on to define the very nature of the Occupy movement itself, with Oakland as its potential flag-bearer.

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Competing narratives as to what transpired over the weekend?have been emerging in the digisphere and on YouTube.?Depending on?whose press releases or Tweets you believe ? which alternately portray the police or protesters as the violent?instigators ? this weekend could either be the black eye that becomes the Waterloo of the?four-month-old?global protest movement or the signal bell of?its?reawakening.

The struggle to define the group?s actions is already playing out in?an escalating rhetorical war. On Monday, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan told the local CBS affiliate she planned to call ?some of the national leadership of Occupy this week to say that the Oakland group is not nonviolent,? with the hope that the larger group will distance itself.

At the same time, Occupy Oakland media team member Shake Anderson dismisses Quan?s charge, saying simply, ?We did not attack the police,?they attacked us.?

On Saturday, according to an Occupy Oakland statement, protesters began a series of actions attempting to put ?a vacant building to better use,? which Mr. Anderson acknowledges can be seen as trespassing. The site in question has been vacant for six years, according to the statement, which continues,?asserting that the Occupy group had voted to mount a nonviolent?action to turn the space into a social center and headquarters of Occupy Oakland.

The crowd?was met with an overwhelming police force, says Anderson, a force buttressed by mutual aid from 13 surrounding cities.

?We?did not throw anything, says Anderson.

However,?the Oakland Police Department (OPD), which describes?the events in its own release, said that as activists began to march, ?the first dispersal order was given as the crowd began destroying construction equipment and fencing.?

?Officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices and burning flares,? the OPD release said, adding that police ?deployed smoke and tear gas.?

Anderson says simply, ?this is a lie.?

By the end of the evening, some 400 protesters?had been arrested and several?police officers treated for?injuries.

The OPD has not returned calls for comment. Its official statements say the protesters initiated the violent actions.

Reports from others on the ground paint a very different picture, however.?Dan?Miskulin, a 41-year old contractor from San Francisco,?describes a situation that many caught up in the action Tweeted, texted and blogged ?? saying that the police created an impossible situation for the protesters. According to these reports, police in riot gear surrounded the protesters, repeatedly funneling them into first a park?and then an area by the YMCA from which they had no exit.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/qctDNATfkGE/Weekend-violence-in-Oakland-Is-Occupy-movement-back-or-broken

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Monday, January 30, 2012

The Once and Future Front Runner: Why Romney Is Winning in Florida and What Comes Next (Time.com)

In a Republican primary season marked by political chaos, here's something that finally seems settled: Mitt Romney will win Tuesday's Florida primary. So say the latest public polls, several of which suggest Romney has a double-digit lead over Newt Gingrich. So say Romney supporters, who have delighted in discombobulating the former Speaker with a week of overwhelming force from all directions. And so say many Gingrich backers, who are already looking past Tuesday's contest to find states in which their candidate might live to fight another day.

Winning is always better than losing, of course, but a Florida victory would be particularly sweet for Romney. For months, his advisers prepared for scenarios in which Romney lost the Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary, relying instead on a Florida victory to fast-track his march to the nomination. But they didn't anticipate that Gingrich would be the one to win South Carolina or that a swirl of controversy over Romney's business background, tax payments, weak debate performances and moderate record as governor would accompany the loss. (PHOTOS: The Rich History of Mitt Romney)

Romney and his team have recovered in Florida by returning to attack mode and keeping the pressure on Gingrich. They have flooded the airwaves with TV and radio ads, released a phalanx of Establishment supporters to engage with the media, sent pro-Romney members of Congress to rattle Gingrich at his own campaign events, and debuted a more aggressive Romney on the stump and in the most recent debate. Even Romney's most optimistic backers could not have anticipated how thoroughly the former Speaker would be thrown off message by their assault. Just as in the weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Gingrich has faded rapidly in the polls and is now angrily defending himself against attacks that are accurate enough in parts to require a response and inaccurate enough in others to infuriate him.

However unlikely, Romney could still lose to Gingrich in Florida, which would make his path to the nomination much tougher. If his South Carolina loss was a grave test for the front runner, a Florida defeat would be a disaster, calling into question his viability as a general-election candidate. Many in the GOP Establishment would fear for Romney's chances against Barack Obama in the fall if Romney proved incapable of besting the underfunded Gingrich in a large battleground state.

But the reverse is also true: Republicans looking for a warrior to face off against Obama have been heartened by Romney's strong debate performances and his team's clinical take-down of Gingrich in Florida. Still, even with a win there, Romney faces major obstacles en route to the White House.

First, there is no indication Gingrich will give up any time soon. He's now talking about staying in all the way to the convention in Tampa, regardless of Tuesday's results, or, for that matter, those of the six electoral contests in February. Romney's dismantling of his opponent has been, in a way, too thorough: Attacked in TV ads paid for in part with Wall Street money, eviscerated in public by members of the Washington elite and disparaged in person by Romney himself, Gingrich will be indignant, irate and determined enough to fight on. And with more favorable contests in the South coming up in March, he may see no reason to exit the race, which is, after all, just beginning. (PHOTOS: Newt Gingrich's Life in Pictures)

Romney's campaign is determined not to repeat the mistakes it made after Iowa, when it became complacent about the Gingrich threat and shifted focus to the momentarily surging Rick Santorum. But Boston will have to carefully calibrate its attacks to ease Gingrich out of the race without alienating his supporters or provoking nuclear retaliation.

And Romney has his weaknesses. He still has a high unfavorable rating. In national polls, he continues to trail Gingrich. While he performs better than Gingrich against Obama in head-to-head matchups, he is beginning to slide as the President's approval ratings on the rise. Gingrich may be losing his momentum as he grapples with fundraising challenges and questions about his temperament, but Romney is failing to unite the party or attract independents.

Which leads to the second problem Romney now faces. Although he successfully defended his business record in last Thursday's debate, Romney has shown a vulnerability on the issue in recent weeks that has shaken his supporters. All sides have long known that Romney's work for -- and income from -- Bain Capital would be a symbolic issue in a general election, but his frequently tin-eared efforts to talk about it has left Democrats with a plateful of opposition goodies.

Add to that the disclosure of his 14% effective tax rate, curious financial holdings in the Cayman Islands and a recently closed Swiss bank account, and it is clear that President Obama's re-election campaign has picked up substantial political assets in the last few days. Indeed, even as Boston has eviscerated Gingrich, many Republicans have been unnerved by the sloppy way Romney and his team have handled his taxes, especially since they've had years to get Romney's fiscal house in order and to craft a response. Having funds in the Cayman Islands, regardless of whether they're fully taxed or under his control, is the kind of unforced error that can bury a candidate.

For now, Romney must grapple with the "oh-no!" factor. "Oh-no!" cried some Republicans after Gingrich won South Carolina, pondering the notion of the volatile former Speaker winning the nomination and driving the party to electoral ruin in November. Such visions prompted party luminaries like Bob Dole to hit Gingrich with maximum force. But if Romney claims victory in Florida on Tuesday, and the impatient media declares him the inevitable GOP nominee, shouts of "oh-no" will emanate from the right-leaning anti-Establishment. Sarah Palin, talk radio hosts and Tea Partyers, among other prominent conservatives, are not ready to crown a leader with Romney's record on health care, jobs and social issues.

So, starting on Wednesday morning, the questions hanging over the 2012 race will likely become: How will the once-and-current Republican front runner handle the incoming "oh-no!" wave from the right? And how will he juggle those concerns with the fresh resurgence of an incumbent President who's confident he can and will keep his job?

VIDEO: Mark Halperin Interviews Mitt Romney

MORE: Mitt Romney Releases Tax Returns, Paid Lower Taxes

View this article on Time.com

Hands-On With the Changers Solar Charger

I live in sunny Spain, so there’s no problem charging gadgets with solar energy pretty much all year round. The problem has been cost and practicality. Until now. For the past month or so I have been testing the Changers solar charger, a rugged, lightweight solar panel and battery. Changers comes in two main parts. [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/8JJn6V2CwHI/

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Video: Analyzing presidential campaign strategy

>> moderator of "meet the press." good evening. we just heard that newt gingrich is going all the way to the nomination. if he can't pull off a win on tuesday in florida, is that realistic?

>> reporter: it becomes very difficult, but certainly not impossible. it becomes difficult because after tuesday, not only a win in florida for romney puts him in a much more commanding position, but then you don't have a lot of contests until the end of february and you've got some contests in a primary calendar that favors romney . but this would give gingrich time to refuel. he has some money behind him at this point, so he could regroup. but he doesn't have any debates which is his real life 's blood for this campaign.

>> how concerned are republicans, the party, about the nomination fight? the longer it goes on, the more divisive things get. are they worried that the party damages the eventually nominee?

>> who's the they, that's the question. among officer holders, congressmen, senator, governors, people who have been in the party a long time, i think they're worried. i think they'd like to see romney wrap this thing up, particularly because gingrich is coming at him with much more populist attacks, the same kind that president obama will come at romney with if he's the nominee. but i think ron mott's reporting and some of that sound -- some of the information from sarah palin really says something. there was a grass roots in the republican party that does not want romney to sew this thing up yet. has real concerns about him as a conservative. that's going to keep things pretty interesting for a while.

>> makes it interesting to watch. david gregory , we'll be watching tomorrow morning . john mccain and obama campaign senior strategist david axelrod 's are david's guests tomorrow morning on "meet the press."

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46176614/

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Migrant trash piles up at remote U.S.-Mexico border areas (Reuters)

RIO RICO, Ariz (Reuters) ? Picking her way into the desert brush, Raquel Martinez gathered scores of plastic water bottles tossed in an Arizona desert valley near the Mexico border, often by migrants making a risky trek into the United States across increasingly remote terrain.

"We need more bags ... there's so much trash," said Martinez, one of scores of volunteers helping clean up the dry bed of the Santa Cruz River about 10 miles north of the Mexico border on Saturday.

Trash tossed by thousands of illegal immigrants as they chase the American Dream has been a persistent problem for years in the rugged Arizona borderlands that lie on a main migration and smuggling route from Mexico.

The problem was compounded as immigrants and drug traffickers responded to ramped up vigilance on the U.S.-Mexico border by taking increasingly remote routes, leaving more waste behind in out-of-the way and hard-to-clean areas, authorities say.

"Migants used to follow the washes or follow the roads or utility poles," said Robin Hoover, founder of the Tucson-based non-profit Humane Borders.

"Now they're having to move farther and farther from the middle of the valleys," he added. "They end making more camp sites and cutting more trails when they do that, and, unfortunately ... leave more trash."

Those making the punishing march carry food, water and often a change of clothes on the trek through remote desert areas that can take several days.

Most is tossed before they pile into vehicles at pickup sites like the one getting attention on the outskirts of Rio Rico, from where they head on to the U.S. interior.

"One of the problems that we are facing is that these sites are becoming more and more remote as law enforcement steps up its efforts," Henry Darwin, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, said of the flourishing borderland garbage dumps.

"There's probably sites out there that we haven't encountered yet or don't know about because there's a lot of people out in those areas," added Darwin, who gave testimony on the issue to state lawmakers earlier this month.

BACKPACKS AND WATER BOTTLES

There are no numbers to show exactly how many would-be migrants or smugglers take the illegal and surreptitious trek across the border into Arizona from Mexico each year.

But in an indication of the scale of the migration, federal border police made nearly 130,000 arrests last year in Arizona, where hundreds of Border Patrol agents, miles of fencing and several unmanned surveillance drones have been added in recent years to tighten security along the porous border.

With limited funding for clean up, Arizona environmental authorities draw on volunteers to help in drives like the one near Rio Rico, where an estimated 140 volunteers including residents, community and youth groups took part on Saturday.

Clean up efforts since 2008 by the department of environmental quality have included pulling 42 tons of trash from 160 acres of Cocopah tribal lands in far western Arizona, and clean ups at least seven sites on ranches and public land in areas south of Tucson.

Signs of illegal immigrants and even drug traffickers making the circuitous foot journey abound in the mesquite-studded riverbed near Rio Rico, a vigorous day's walk north of the border.

"I've found about a trillion water bottles," said David Burkett, a lawyer from Scottsdale, who worked up a sweat as he filled his fourth 50-pound trash bag. Nearby are tossed backpacks, food containers, a blanket and a pair of shoes.

He points out that alongside the apparent migrant trash is a large amount of other waste including a couch, kitchen countertops and yard debris, likely tossed by residents and contractors. Still, it is a shock to those living locally.

"We don't realize how bad it is until we come down and see it," said Candy Lamar, a volunteer who lives in sprawling, low density Rio Rico, as she works to pick up trash.

HAZARDOUS CLEANUP

The area getting attention on Saturday lies a few miles from a remote spot where the bodies of three suspected drug traffickers were found shot to death "execution style" last November.

The area is not far from another out-of-the-way spot where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot dead by suspected border bandits in December 2010. Volunteers working on Saturday were aware of the potential hazards.

As she stuffed a blue garbage sack with trash, retiree Sharon Christensen eyed discarded burlap sacking, blankets and cord -- the remains of a makeshift backpack of the type often used by drug traffickers walking marijuana loads up from Mexico.

"It would make me hesitant to come out here on my own, knowing that this kind of activity is going on ... It is a concern, and we need to be mindful," said Christensen, a retiree and hiking enthusiast.

Clean-up organizers liaise with Border Patrol and local police on security, in addition to warning volunteers of potential danger from snakes, scorpions or even bees that can swarm in discarded vehicle tires, and of potential hazards including medical waste and human excrement.

Equipped with gloves, volunteers such as Burkett, the Scottsdale lawyer, were glad to take part on Saturday.

"As an avid outdoors person in Arizona, I spend a lot of time using the desert," he said. "It's important to me personally to take the time to give back."

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/us_nm/us_immigration_usa_trash

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Arab League chief heads to U.N. over Syria (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby headed to New York on Sunday hoping to win support from the U.N. Security Council for a plan to end violence in Syria that calls on President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

Elaraby will brief the Security Council on Tuesday but the Arab initiative, which is backed by Western states, is facing resistance from Russia and China, two of the five permanent members of the council with veto powers.

The league sent observers to Syria in December to monitor whether it was heeding an earlier plan that included a call to withdraw the military from residential areas. The pan-Arab body suspended their work on Saturday after violence mounted.

The monitors, depleted since Gulf states quit the mission, are being pulled back to Damascus, a step one league source said he expected would lead to a decision by Arab states to scrap the mission. Arab foreign ministers meet on February 5.

Elaraby, the league's secretary-general, will be joined in New York by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads the league's committee charged with following Syrian developments. Qatar and fellow Gulf Arab state Saudi Arabia have been leading efforts to put pressure on Assad.

"We will hold several meetings with representatives from members of the Security Council to obtain the council's support and agreement to the Arab initiative," Elaraby told reporters at Cairo airport shortly before leaving for New York.

Asked about China and Russia's reluctance to take new steps over Syria, Elaraby said he hoped the two nations would change their position. "There are contacts with China and Russia on this issue," he said.

He said the Arab monitors had gathered in Damascus and would not leave the Syrian capital until their status was decided.

INFLUENCING THE SECURITY COUNCIL

League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters Arab foreign ministers meeting on February 5 would "take an appropriate decision on whether to support (the observer team), withdraw it or amend its mission."

A source in the observers operation room in league headquarters in Cairo said the head of the monitoring mission, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, was waiting for a decision from the Arab ministers on the fate of his team.

"I think personally that the Arab ministers will have no alternative to withdrawing the observers because the working conditions in Syria are extremely dangerous," the source said.

Thousands of people have been killed in a 10-month uprising against Assad's rule. Dabi, who had earlier said violence dipped after monitors arrived, said in his most recent report there had been an increase in violence in the period January 24-27.

Syria said it was surprised by the decision to suspend the monitoring work, describing the move as a bid to influence the Security Council and increase pressure for foreign intervention.

The Arab plan initially included demands for Damascus to pull the military out of residential areas, free political prisoners and start dialogue with the opposition. But Arab ministers, frustrated at the lack of progress, agreed on January 22 an initiative that called for Assad to step aside.

Some Arab states remain wary of stepping up sanctions or putting other pressure on Syria. Diplomats say some Arab states are also concerned that approaching the Security Council takes the issue out of Arab hands.

Elaraby said Algeria voiced reservations about the part of the league resolution related to informing the Security Council.

A diplomatic source from another Arab state told Reuters, regarding any move by the Security Council to impose sanctions: "If we review such cases in Iraq and other places, I think that kind of punishment didn't yield a lot."

Arabs imposed economic sanctions on Syria's government but diplomats say they have had limited impact because neighboring states such as Iraq and Lebanon did not implement them.

(Writing and additional reporting by Edmund Blair; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_syria_league_un

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Britain sticks to 2014 Afghan troop pullout goal (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? British Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday he was sticking to an end-2014 deadline for withdrawing British combat troops from Afghanistan despite French proposals to speed up NATO's handover of security to Afghan forces.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday French troops would leave Afghanistan at the end of 2013 and Paris would propose to NATO that all foreign combat operations in Afghanistan should be handed over next year, a year earlier than the alliance plans.

Cameron cautioned other NATO members that the rate of withdrawal of foreign troops must depend on Afghan security forces being ready to take charge of security.

"We ... want to have a long-term relationship with Afghanistan, long after our combat troops come home, and that will happen at the end of 2014," Cameron said during talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the prime minister's country residence Chequers outside London.

Paris has 3,600 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong NATO-led force, while Britain has some 9,500.

"Obviously, between now and 2014 there will be opportunities for different countries to reduce their troop numbers. Britain has reduced our troop numbers over the last year," Cameron said.

He said he did not want to see troops numbers falling off a "cliff edge" in 2014 with all remaining troops leaving at once.

"But clearly, between now and 2014, the rate at which we can reduce our troops will depend on the transition to Afghan control in the different parts of Afghanistan and that should be the same for all of the members of NATO who are all contributing and helping to a strong, stable and peaceful Afghanistan, which is in all our interests," Cameron said.

His words appeared to reflect concern expressed by some commentators that there could be a "rush for the exits" by Western forces from Afghanistan as their voters grow disillusioned at the cost in lives and money of the decade-long Afghan campaign.

Karzai and Cameron signed a partnership agreement setting out how their countries will work together after British combat troops leave Afghanistan.

Karzai had been due to visit Britain last month, immediately after the Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan, but cancelled the trip to return home after scores of people were killed in a wave of sectarian bomb attacks.

On the eve of Karzai's visit, Britain's Ministry of Defense announced that a British soldier had been shot dead while on foot patrol in Helmand province Friday, bringing to 397 the number of Britons killed in Afghanistan since October 2001.

Cameron, who visited British troops in Afghanistan last month, plans to leave some British troops behind to train their Afghan counterparts after they end combat operations.

Cameron has committed Britain to pulling out 500 soldiers this year but has not yet set out a timetable for further withdrawals.

(Additional reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_britain

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Iran is gearing up for elections and it isn't pretty

The arrest of at least 10 reporters since the turn of the year and new Internet restrictions point to a battening down of social control ahead of Iran's March elections.

The international focus may be on Iran's nuclear program and all the war talk that's surrounded it. But less noticed is that Iran is gearing up for parliamentary elections in March. Every early sign is that it will be as closely controlled an affair as the 2009 presidential contest that kept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for a second term.

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Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may have called Mr. Ahmadinejad's landslide victory a "divine assessment." But forces other than God probably had a hand in Ahmadinejad's victory; there was strong evidence of widespread fraud, which sparked protests on a scale not seen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

While those protests have since been quashed, the grievances behind them remain. If anything, they have gathered in strength, with an economy suffering blows from US-led international sanctions and ongoing crackdowns against citizens. The smart money is on a parliamentary election whose results are massaged, much as the presidential elections were. But even fixed results will still show shifts in Iran's complex political landscape.

All of this matters because Iran isn't the religious dictatorship that the West imagines. A democracy? Hardly. But there are factions within the elite, and powerful forces in broader society that have influence. Supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's power may be vast, and in theory stems from him being an emissary of God on earth, but in practice he has to bow to more prosaic concerns. There has been persistent speculation throughout the year that Ayatollah Khamenei is fed up with Mr. Ahmadinejad's obsession with end-times millenarian beliefs, representing just one of the fissures on the right in Iran.

Though the country is putting on a brave face internationally, there is evidence that the contradiction of having nominally democratic institutions under a theocratic umbrella is growing ever tougher to sustain. The country is desperately trying to tamp down on the free flow of information.

Human Rights Watch reports that 10 journalists and bloggers have been arrested since the start of the year and the arrests "appear to be part of the government?s most recent campaign to disrupt the free flow of information ahead of parliamentary elections."

Most of those were arrested by armed government agents storming their homes. Human Rights Watch says all of the detainees "have been associated with reformist papers or websites critical of government policies."

The Committee to Protect Journalists says that Iran had 42 reporters locked up last year, the highest number in the world.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/SkOs8hJeWE0/Iran-is-gearing-up-for-elections-and-it-isn-t-pretty

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

HBT: Mets' payroll drop biggest in MLB history?

This is fun. From Adam Rubin of ESPN New York:

After general manager Sandy Alderson revealed the organization lost $70 million last year, the Mets appear poised to have the biggest one-year payroll drop in MLB history ? roughly $52 million. That would surpass the former record: $48.4 million by the?Texas Rangers?from 2003 to 2004, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

On the one hand: depressing! ?Big market + new ballpark + their own sports network should = big payrolls.?On the other hand: they?ve had big payrolls for years, and they haven?t broken 80 wins since 2008.

The team is gonna be fairly bad this year no matter what. It may be kind of embarrassing for the league and for some fans that a New York team is slashing payroll so dramatically. But it?s probably better to be cheap and terrible than expensive and terrible, no?

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/27/the-mets-may-experience-the-largest-payroll-decline-in-baseball-history/related/

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Editor's Selections: Roman lead poisoning, Dyslexia, Intelligence in context, and A. bosei's teeth

By Krystal D'Costa?| January 26, 2012 |??

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Part of my online life includes editorial duties at ResearchBlogging.org, where I serve as the Social Sciences Editor. Each Thursday, I pick notable posts on research in anthropology, philosophy, social science, and research to share on the ResearchBlogging.org News site. To help highlight this writing, I also share my selections here on AiP.

Bloggers in the social sciences have been busy in the last week. You?ll find no shortage of interesting posts. There were some tough calls to make, but choose I must:

The fall of one of the most powerful empires to have existed continues to fascinate us 1500 years after the fact. At Powered by Osteons, Kristina Killgrove investigates whether lead poisoning might have played a role in the Roman Empire?s undoing.

One in ten people are on the spectrum for dyslexia. Dr. Stuart Farrimond makes a brief case for the genetic preservation of dyslexia, suggesting that it would have granted our evolutionary ancestors much needed benefits for survival in a world that was vastly different from out.

Have you ever been in a situation where you just didn?t feel smart? Greg Laden explains that intelligence may be a socio-cultural signal that varies from context to context.

What big teeth you have, A. bosei! At Lawn Chair Anthropology, Zachary Cofran tries to make sense of A. bosei?s dentition, which does not seem suited for its diet.

I?ll be back next week with more from anthropology, philosophy, and research.

About the Author: Krystal D'Costa is an anthropologist working in digital media in New York City. You can follow AiP on Facebook. Follow on Twitter @krystaldcosta.

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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5ba74019b422975348d70424cd2df229

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Paterno's son: 'Dad, you won. You can go home now'

Jay Paterno, son of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, speaks during a memorial service for Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pallbearers including sons Jay Paterno, foreground right, and Scott Paterno, foreground center, carry the casket with the remains of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno after funeral services at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday morning, Jan. 22. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Phil Knight adjust the microphones before he speaks during a memorial service for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. Knight, the Nike founder, got a standing ovation at Paterno's public memorial for defending the late coach's response to an accusation of child sex abuse against a former assistant. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Phil Knight, former CEO and co-founder of Nike, becomes emotional as he speaks during a memorial service for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Sue Paterno, center, wife of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, consoles her grandson as they leave a memorial service for Joe at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Jay Paterno leaned over his dying father, gave him a kiss, and whispered in his ear.

"Dad, you won," he said. "You did all you could do. You've done enough. We all love you. We won. You can go home now."

Joe Paterno died Sunday of lung cancer at age 85.

At a memorial service Thursday that drew some 12,000 people to the Penn State basketball arena, Jay Paterno reflected on what he called the "magnificent daylight" of his legendary father's life. It was primarily a glowing tribute to Paterno and his accomplishments during 46 years as Penn State's football coach ? but also an opportunity to defend his legacy against criticism that he failed to do more when told about an alleged child sexual assault involving one of his former assistants.

Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight won a thunderous standing ovation when he defended Paterno's handling of the 2002 allegations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Paterno, he hinted, had been made a scapegoat.

"If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno's response," Knight said. Paterno's widow, Sue, was among those rising to their feet.

Capping three days of mourning on campus, the 2?-hour ceremony was filled with lavish praise for the man called "JoePa." Paterno racked up more wins ? 409 ? than any other major-college football coach, led his team to two national championships, and preached "success with honor" while insisting his athletes focus on academics. The Paternos donated millions to Penn State.

Though the campus and surrounding community have been torn with anger over the Sandusky scandal and Paterno's summary dismissal by the board of trustees two months before his death, Jay Paterno said his father didn't hold a grudge.

"Despite all that had happened to him, he never wavered in his belief, in his dream, of Penn State. He told me he wanted to use his remaining time on earth to see Penn State continue to thrive. He never spoke ill and never wanted anyone to feel badly for him," Paterno said.

Players from each decade of Paterno's career as the Nittany Lions' coach spoke in loving terms about their mentor, saying he rode them hard, but always had their best interests at heart and encouraged them to complete their educations and become productive members of their communities.

Among the speakers were Michael Robinson, who played for Paterno from 2002 to 2005 and flew in from Hawaii, where he was practicing for his first Pro Bowl; star quarterback Todd Blackledge from the 1980s; and Jimmy Cefalo, a star in the 1970s. Like Robinson, Blackledge and Cefalo went on to play in the NFL.

Former NFL player Charles V. Pittman, speaking for players from the 1960s, called Paterno a lifelong influence and inspiration.

Pittman said Paterno challenged his young players, once bringing Pittman to tears in his sophomore year. He said he realized later that the coach was molding him into the man he would become.

"What I now know is that Joe wasn't trying to build perfection. That doesn't exist and he knew it. He was, bit by bit, building a habit of excellence," said Pittman, now a media executive on the board of The Associated Press.

Paterno was fired Nov. 9 after he was criticized for not going to police in 2002 when he was told that Sandusky had been seen sexually assaulting a boy in the showers. Sandusky was arrested in November and is awaiting trial on charges that he molested 10 boys over a 15-year span.

As the scandal erupted, Pennsylvania's state police commissioner said Paterno may have met his legal duty but not his moral one. Penn State president Graham Spanier was also fired in the fallout.

Knight, appearing about midway through the memorial, became the first speaker to explicitly address the scandal. He said the coach "gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation."

Lanny J. Davis, an attorney for the board, responded after the service by saying: "All the reasons for the board's difficult and anguished decision ? made unanimously, including former football players and everyone who still loves Coach Paterno and his memory ? reached a decision which was heartfelt. All 32."

"The facts speak for themselves" and include the grand jury testimony, he said.

Chris Marrone, another former player who eulogized Paterno, said Knight was his "new hero" for expressing the "pent-up frustration" of Paterno's supporters.

"I think the response that he got is indicative of how folks feel," Marrone said.

Only one member of the university administration ? the dean of the college of liberal arts ? and no one from the board of trustees spoke at the memorial, which was arranged primarily by the Paterno family.

People said it felt good to remember and celebrate the good times.

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak, who played for Paterno, said he attended the service "because I'm a part of his legacy."

"It was not only about football," Munchak said. "It was about life and how he affected all of us as men."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-27-Penn%20State-Paterno/id-369a863f19c3447cae0ce1d19ef2ffb7

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Gingrich, Romney play for cheers in Florida debate (reuters)

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

In State of the Union, Obama Says American Dream in Peril (Time.com)

(WASHINGTON) -- Declaring the American dream under siege, President Barack Obama called Tuesday night for a flurry of help for a hurting middle class and higher taxes on millionaires, delivering a State of the Union address packed with re-election themes. Restoring a fair shot for all, Obama said, is "the defining issue of our time."

Obama outlined a vastly different vision for fixing the country than the one pressed by the Republicans challenging him in Congress and fighting to take his job in the November election. He pleaded for an active government that ensures economic fairness for everyone, just as his opponents demand that the government back off and let the free market rule.

Obama offered steps to help students afford college, a plan for more struggling homeowners to refinance their homes and tax cuts for manufacturers. He threw in politically appealing references to accountability, including warning universities they will lose federal aid if they don't stop tuition from soaring. (More on what the government could do to help housing.)

Standing in front of a divided Congress, with bleak hope this election year for much of his legislative agenda, Obama spoke with voters in mind.

"We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said. "Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."

A rare wave of unity splashed over the House chamber at the start. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, survivor of an assassination attempt one year ago, received sustained applause from her peers and cheers of "Gabby, Gabby, Gabby." She blew a kiss to the podium. Obama embraced her.

Lawmakers leapt to their feet when Obama said near the start of his speech that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, killed by a raid authorized by the president, will no longer threaten America.

At the core of Obama's address was the improving but deeply wounded economy -- the matter still driving Americans' anxiety and the one likely to determine the next presidency.

"The state of our union is getting stronger," Obama said, calibrating his words as millions remain unemployed. Implicit in his declaration that the American dream is "within our reach" was the recognition that, after three years of an Obama presidency, the country is not there yet. (More on Obama's refinance program.)

He spoke of restoring basic goals: owning a home, earning enough to raise a family, putting a little money away for retirement.

"We can do this," Obama said. "I know we can." He said Americans are convinced that "Washington is broken," but he also said it wasn't too late to cooperate on important matters.

Republicans were not impressed. They applauded infrequently, though they did cheer when the president quoted "Republican Abraham Lincoln" as saying: "That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves -- and no more."

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, offering the formal GOP response, called Obama's policies "pro-poverty" and his tactics divisive.

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said in excerpts released before the address.

In a signature swipe at the nation's growing income gap, Obama called for a new minimum tax rate of at least 30 percent on anyone making over $1 million. Many millionaires -- including one of his chief rivals, Republican Mitt Romney -- pay a rate less than that because they get most of their income from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate.

"Now you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said, responding to a frequent criticism from the GOP presidential field. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

Obama calls this the "Buffett rule," named for billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said it's unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does. Emphasizing the point, Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, attended the address in first lady Michelle Obama's box.

Obama underlined every proposal with the idea that hard work and responsibility still count. He was targeting independent voters who helped seal his election in 2008 and the frustrated masses in a nation pessimistic about its course.

In a flag-waving defense of American power and influence abroad, Obama said the U.S. will safeguard its own security "against those who threaten our citizens, our friends and our interests." On Iran, he said that while all options are on the table to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon -- an implied threat to use military force -- "a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible."

With Congress almost universally held in low regard, Obama went after an easy target in calling for reforms to keep legislators from engaging in insider trading and holding them to the same conflict-of-interest standards as those that apply to the executive branch.

With the foreclosure crisis on ongoing sore spot despite a number of administration housing initiatives over the past three years, Obama proposed a new program to allow homeowners with privately held mortgages to refinance at lower interest rates. Administration officials offered few details but estimated savings at $3,000 a year for average borrowers.

Obama proposed steps to crack down on fraud in the financial sector and mortgage industry, with a Financial Crimes Unit to monitor bankers and financial service professionals, and a separate special unit of federal prosecutors and state attorneys general to expand investigations into abusive lending that led to the housing crisis.

At a time of tight federal budgets and heavy national debt, Obama found a ready source of money to finance his ideas: He proposed to devote half of the money no longer being spent on the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan to "do some nation-building right here at home," to help create more jobs and increase competitiveness. The other half, he said, would go to help pay down the national debt.

Obama also offered a defense of regulations that protect the American consumer -- regulations often criticized by Republicans as job-killing obstacles.

"Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same," Obama said. "It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."

Obama will follow up Tuesday night's address with a three-day tour of five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy, and in Michigan on Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training.

Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The speech Tuesday night comes just one week before the Florida Republican primary that could help set the trajectory for the rest of the race.

Romney, caught up in a tight contest with a resurgent Newt Gingrich, commented in advance to Obama's speech.

"Tonight will mark another chapter in the misguided policies of the last three years -- and the failed leadership of one man," Romney said from Florida.

PHOTOS: TIME's Pictures of the Week

PHOTOS: Cartoons of the Week

View this article on Time.com

Avastin, Sutent increase breast cancer stem cells

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Cancer treatments designed to block the growth of blood vessels were found to increase the number of cancer stem cells in breast tumors in mice, suggesting a possible explanation for why these drugs don't lead to longer survival, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The drugs Avastin and Sutent have been looked at as potential breast cancer treatments. But while they do shrink tumors and slow the time till the cancer progresses, the effect does not last, and the cancer eventually regrows and spreads.

"This study provides an explanation for the clinical trial results demonstrating that in women with breast cancer antiangiogenic agents such as Avastin delay the time to tumor recurrence but do not affect patient survival. If our results apply to the clinic, it suggests that in order to be effective, these agents will need to be combined with cancer stem cell inhibitors, an approach now being explored in the laboratory," says study author Max S. Wicha, M.D., director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The researchers treated mice with breast cancer using Avastin (bevacizumab) and Sutent (sunitinib), both of which work by stopping the growth and formation of blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. The researchers found that tumors treated with these drugs developed more cancer stem cells, the small number of cells within a tumor that fuel a cancer's growth and spread and that are often resistant to standard treatment. Both the number of cancer stem cells and the percentage of cancer stem cells that make up the tumor increased after being treated with each of these therapies.

The researchers found that the cancer stem cells increased because of a cellular response to low oxygen, a condition called hypoxia. And they were able to determine the specific pathways involved in hypoxia that activate the cancer stem cells.

Results of the study appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently revoked approval of Avastin for treating breast cancer, although the drug is approved for use in other types of cancer. The reversal was in response to clinical trials showing that the drug's benefit was short-lived, with breast cancer patients quickly relapsing and the cancer becoming more invasive and spreading further throughout the body. Overall, the drug did not help patients live any longer.

The current study suggests the possibility of combining anti-angiogenesis drugs with a cancer stem cell inhibitor to enhance the benefit of this treatment. The researchers are testing this approach in mice and preliminary data looks promising.

Breast cancer statistics: 209,060 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 40,230 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society

###

University of Michigan Health System: http://www.med.umich.edu

Thanks to University of Michigan Health System for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117049/Avastin__Sutent_increase_breast_cancer_stem_cells

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Chinese Researchers Lead in Howard Hughes Awards

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China?s government has spent billions in recent years into building a top-notch research establishment. Now comes a hint that the effort is beginning to pay off.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8a82a6da071a97ad05dd0a1687663a5e

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Giffords bids farewell but promises to return

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, left, tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with Community Food Bank CEO Bill Carnegie Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with her staffer Ron Barber, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., center, tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with Community Food Bank CEO Bill Carnegie and food bank board member Fran McNeely, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is Giffords' last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., center, tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with Community Food Bank CEO Bill Carnegie, left, and Food Bank board member Fran McNeely Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. Giffords announced Sunday that she would resign from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., left, greets board members as she tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with Community Food Back CEO Bill Carnegie, second left, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ? Outgoing Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords spent her last hours as Tucson's U.S. representative finishing the meeting she started on the morning she was shot and bidding farewell to constituents who have supported her through her recovery.

But it may not be the end. The woman whose improbable recovery has captivated the nation promised, "I will return."

Giffords spent time Monday at her office with other survivors of the shooting rampage that killed six people and injured 13. She hugged and talked with survivors, including Suzi Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her young friend and neighbor, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. The little girl died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

"The last time I did this I had Christina's hand," Hileman said. "It was something that was hanging out there, and now it's not."

Others who met with Giffords included Pat Maisch, who was hailed as a hero for wrestling a gun magazine from the shooter that day, and Daniel Hernandez, Giffords' intern at the time who helped save her life by trying to stop her bleeding until an ambulance arrived.

"It was very touching," said Maisch, who was not hurt in the attack. "I thanked her for her service, wished her well, and she just looked beautiful."

Giffords announced Sunday that she would resign from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. Maisch was sad to think that Giffords would no longer be her congresswoman.

"But I want her to do what's best for her," she said. "She's got to take care of herself."

However, an upbeat Giffords hinted that her departure from public life might be temporary. In a message sent on Twitter, she said: "I will return & we will work together for Arizona & this great country."

In her last act in Tucson as a congresswoman, the Democrat visited one of her favorite charities, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

The food bank established the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center with $215,000 it received in the wake of the shooting. Giffords' husband and former astronaut Mark Kelly told people who wanted to help Giffords after the shooting that the best way to do so was to donate to one of her favorite charities.

The center has helped 900 families get on food stamps in the last year and offered guidance to needy families seeking assistance with housing, insurance, clothing and other basic needs.

"It's a wonderful thing that she gets to come here and see the center we built," said Bill Carnegie, the food bank's CEO. "But it's also her exit from Congress. I'm concerned about the future."

Giffords' aides had to yell at TV cameramen and reporters who surrounded the congresswoman as she arrived, telling them to back up. Giffords didn't bat an eye and walked with confidence through the crowd and into the building, where she promptly hugged Carnegie and others.

When she saw the center that is named in her honor, she said "Wow" and "Awesome."

When one woman told Giffords, "I love your new hairstyle," she beamed and responded with "Thank you."

Giffords did not address reporters at the center and planned to head to the airport right after her visit. She was expected in Washington on Tuesday for President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

In her announcement Sunday, Giffords said that by stepping down, she was doing what is best for Arizona.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," she said in a video posted online.

The video showed a close-up of Giffords gazing directly at the camera and speaking in a voice that was both firm and halting.

"I have more work to do on my recovery," the congresswoman said at the end of the two-minute message, appearing to strain to communicate.

C.J. Karamargin, who was Giffords' spokesman until recently, said he can only imagine what she is feeling as she steps down.

"But Gabby would never want to do a job unless she could give everything to it," he said.

"The news of her stepping down was almost more emotional than this time last year because then, she had survived and had a positive prognosis. Now we've got this pause, this comma, in her career ... and she won't be back anytime soon."

Giffords was shot in the head at point-blank range as she was meeting with constituents outside a grocery store. Her recovery progressed to the point that she was able to walk into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

Giffords' resignation set up a free-for-all in a competitive district.

She could have stayed in office for another year even without seeking re-election, but her decision to resign scrambles the political landscape.

Arizona must hold a special primary and general election to find someone to finish out her remaining months in office. That will probably happen in the spring or early summer. Then voters will elect someone in November for a full two-year term.

Giffords would have been heavily favored to win again.

She was elected to her third term just two months before she was shot, winning by only about 1 percent over a tea party Republican. But she gained immense public support during her recovery.

Among those mentioned as potential candidates were several Republican and Democratic state lawmakers and the name of Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, although he has publicly quashed such speculation.

A state Democratic party official who met with Giffords on Sunday also suggested that she could return to politics.

Jim Woodbrey, a senior vice chairman of the state party, said Giffords strongly implied at a meeting that she would seek office again someday. He said the decision to resign came after much thought.

"It was Gabby's individual decision, and she was not in any condition to make that decision five months ago," he said. "So I think waiting so that she could make an informed decision on her own was the right thing to do."

___

Associated Press writers Bob Christie and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and David Espo in Washington contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-24-Giffords/id-08718619803544959b19f613150ce5a4

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