Comments - The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

Introduction

Wait time is one of the most commonly cited barriers to substance abuse treatment (Claus, 2002; Festinger, 1995). To date, no national study has collected data about factors that might influence wait time. This week we review a study that identified program and client characteristics associated with longer wait time for entry in a substance abuse treatment program (Andrews, 2013).

Methods

• The researchers used data from the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (Gerstein, 1995), a national longitudinal study of outpatient substance abuse treatment programs serving underserved clients such as minorities, youth, and those in the criminal justice system. The sample was made up of 2,920 clients, racially and ethnically diverse, attending 57 substance abuse treatment programs.
• The researchers gathered client data (e.g., gender, race, treatment payment source, referral source, severity of substance abuse, HIV status) through computer-assisted, personal interviews. For wait time, respondents answered the question ??How long ago was your name put in for treatment this time?? using 6 categorical response options (i.e., 1 day, 2-6 days, 1-4 weeks, 1-3 months, 4-12 months, more than one year). Researchers collected program characteristics (e.g., financial resources, organizational structure, types of treatment provided) through interviews conducted with program administrators and clinical directors.?
• The researchers identified the proportion of clients who waited over one month to receive substance abuse treatment.
• Using generalized linear modeling, they examined program characteristics and client characteristics associated with wait time of over one month before entering treatment.

Results

• 28% of clients reported waiting over one month to enter treatment
• Odds ratios differed significantly for selected client-specific factors:
  • Clients of African-American ethnicity were 1.40 times more likely, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) [1.04, 1.88], compared to clients of white ethnicity, to report waiting for over a month before entering treatment,?p?< .05 ? ??
  • Clients who were referred through a criminal justice path were 1.70 times, 95% CI [1.18, 2.43], more likely than clients referred through social services or self-referred clients to report waiting for over a month before entering treatment,?p?< .01
  • Clients with a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS were less likely than clients without a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS to report waiting over a month to enter treatment, (0.38%, 95% CI [ 0.19, 0.77]),?p?< .01.
  • Those with relatively high severity of substance use were less likely than those with low severity to wait more than one month (0.99%, 95% CI [0.98, 1.0]), p?< .01 ?
  • Methadone treatment programs were significantly more likely to admit clients to treatment within one month (3.90%, 95% CI [1.0, 15.17]),?p?< .05. No other program-specific factors were significantly associated with wait time.?

Table 1: Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for selected associations between client and program-specific factors and waiting more than one month before substance use treatment. Adapted from Andrews, 2013.

?	Variable	OR	CI lower	CI upper
Client characteristics	African-American versus White	1.40 *	1.04	1.88
	Latino versus White	1.25	0.85	1.84
	Referred through criminal justice versus self-referral or social services	1.70 **	1.18	2.43
?	Referred through social services versus self-referral or criminal justice	0.94	0.58	1.52
?	HIV/AIDS diagnosis versus no diagnosis	0.38 **	0.19	0.77
?	Physical health problems versus no physical health problems	1.25	0.98	1.60
?	High severity of substance use versus low severity	0.99 **	0.98	1.00
Program characteristics	Methadone program versus other type of program	3.90 *	1.00	15.17
?	High program revenue versus low program revenue	0.93	0.33	2.81

* p
** p

Limitations

• The data were collected in 1992-1994 and therefore do not reflect and more recent national trends in drug use behavior and the availability of outpatient treatment. ?
• As with any measure based on retrospective self-report, the wait time data could be inaccurate.
• The response option for treatment wait times might be problematic, particularly the options ?1-4 weeks? and ?1-3 months?, which appear to overlap. This might further limit the reliability of wait time data.
• The results of the study only pertain to a limited sample?people who eventually enter treatment despite a longer waiting time?so it is impossible to account for selective attrition.

Discussion

This study analyzed factors associated with long wait time before entering substance abuse treatment. The results indicate that some treatment-seekers involuntarily wait longer than others to enter treatment for substance abuse.

The researchers speculate that HIV positive status and high addiction severity might have given clients priority entry to treatment; it is also possible, however, that some people with these characteristics dropped off wait lists more quickly, so that the pool of those who stayed and entered treatment was made up of people who experienced shorter wait times. The researchers further speculate that people referred through criminal justice were more motivated to enter treatment despite longer wait times because they were under supervision. They note also, that prior research indicates that African-Americans are more likely than Whites to report long wait lists as barriers to alcohol and substance abuse treatment (Grant, 1997). ?Although the reasons for this are unclear, this corroborates previous findings that disparities exist. It is likely that longer wait times are more common for populations considered to be socially or financially disadvantaged, and that this exists in a constellation of factors such as ability to pay and location of outpatient treatment.

For future research looking at wait time and program admission, it would be helpful to examine a wider sample of people?this means finding means of gathering data from people who did not enter programs as well as those who persevered. In light of the changes to access to treatment resulting from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), these investigations will be more important than ever.

-Kat Belkin

What do you think? Please use the comment link below to provide feedback on this article.

References

?Andrews, C. M., Shin, H., Marsh, J.C., Cao, D. (2013). Client and program characteristics associated with wait time to substance abuse entry. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 39(1), 61-68.

Claus, R. E., Kindleberger, L.R. . (2002). Engaging substance abusers after centralized assessment: predictors of treatment entry and dropout. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 34(1), 25-31.

Festinger, D. S., Lamb, R.J., Kountz, M.R., Kirby, K.C., Marlowe, D. (1995). Pretreatment dropout as a function of treatment delay and client variables. Addictive Behaviors, 20(1), 111-115.

Gerstein, D. R., Atta, A.R., Ingels, J.S., Johnson, R.A., Rasinski, K.A., Schildlaus, S., Talley, K., Jordan, K., Phillips, D.B., Anderson, D.W., Condelli, W.G., Collins, J.S. (1995). NTIES: National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study. Rockville, Maryland: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

Grant, B.F. (1997). Barriers to alcoholism treatment: reasons for not seeking treatment in a general population study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 58, 365-371.

? The researchers operationalized severity of substance use as the number of days of use of one of the five most common drugs in the past month.?

?

Source: http://www.basisonline.org/2013/01/stash-92lag-time-barriers-to-treatment-in-a-national-sample-of-people-with-substance-disorders.html

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Senator outlines obstacles to immigration deal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A key Democratic senator says a deal on reforming immigration could stall over how to define border security and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a leader in bipartisan negotiations, says another major obstacle is reaching agreement on a guest worker program ? something business wants and organized labor has concerns about.

Schumer and the other seven senators who proposed an immigration bill blueprint this week want assurances on border security before a path to citizenship can begin. Republicans say they can't support a bill without that.

The Senate working group has been meeting this week to discuss how to define border security. Schumer says lawmakers envision allowing the Homeland Security secretary final say on whether border security criteria have been met.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-31-Immigration/id-514b80942204477eb10deceda1b6437b

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Texas City: Marathon on track to take over BP refinery on Friday

by T. J. Aulds/ The Daily News

khou.com

Posted on January 28, 2013 at 10:48 AM

TEXAS CITY ? This likely marks the final week that the 475,000-barrel-per-day refinery at 2401 Fifth Ave. South will operate under the BP name. Marathon Petroleum, which purchased the nation?s fourth largest refinery as part of a $2.5 billion deal, is scheduled to take over the 1,200-acre refinery on Friday.

The two companies are expected to finalize the sale of the refinery this week.

Once the deal is closed, Marathon will own two refineries in Texas City ? its existing 80,000-barrel-per-day refinery and BP?s 475,000-barrel-per-day facility.

The new acquisition will be called Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery.

Marathon?s take over ends 14 years of BP?s ownership of the refinery, which it acquired in a merger with Amoco Oil in 1998.

Ray Brooks, who will be the manager of Marathon?s new acquisition, set up his management team; many already are top managers at the Texas City refinery.

Click here to read more at the Galveston County Daily News.

Source: http://www.khou.com/news/neighborhood-news/Texas-City--Marathon-on-track-to-take-over-BP-refinery-on-Friday-188680021.html

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Rights group: 65 found shot in head in Syria

Thomas Rassloff/EPA

Locals gather at the banks of a small canal containg the bodies of dozens of people on Jan. 29 in Aleppo, Syria.

By Alexander Dziadosz and Oliver Holmes, Reuters

BEIRUT ? At least 65 people, apparently shot in the head, were found dead with their hands bound in a district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, a pro-opposition monitoring group said.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could rise as high as 80 in what it called a "new massacre."

It was not clear who carried out the killings.

---

Photos posted online by activists showed the muddied bodies of about a dozen men lying by a small river in what they said was the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo.

Close-up shots of some of the corpses showed they had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head.

Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out summary executions in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

Rebels pushed into Aleppo, Syria's most populous city, over the summer, but have been stuck in a stalemate with government forces. The city is divided roughly in half between the two sides.

Related:

PhotoBlog: Syrian rebels take fight into Damascus

Syrian refugees: 'We escaped death'

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16752712-rights-group-at-least-65-people-found-bound-shot-in-head-in-syria-massacre?lite

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String Gardens By Shirley on Home & Family Show! | Eden Makers ...

Dear Friends,

I invite you to watch my gardening segment on the Hallmark Channel show, "Home & Family" airing on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 at 10AM EST.

Have you ever wanted to make a "string garden" but didn't know how to do it?

I'll be demonstrating the basics on the show and writing a step by step blog post later this week for you to enjoy.

?

?

String gardens are "no-container" hanging plants and are also known as "kokedama" planting arragements.

These unique hanging plants are expensive when bought but very inexpensive to make!

?

Set your recorders for the "Home & Family" show, and if you like what you see, please post a comment on the Hallmark Channel discussion forum!

Check your local listings for broadcast time in your area.

?

?

The Home & Family show is a unique talk show centered on home and family topics!

Hosts, Cristina Ferrare and Mark Steines welcome experts from every facet of lifestyle including cooking, crafts, design, gardening, relationships, celebrities, fashion and more!

Let the producers know how much you appreciate seeing gardening segments on the show.

Look for Home & Family on Facebook too!

?

Thanks!

Shirley

?

?

Source: http://edenmakersblog.com/?p=5198

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Light On Revenue At $1.18B, EA Barely Squeaks Out A Win For The Quarter, With Digital Up Thanks To Battlefield 3 & FIFA

Electronic Arts has just reported lower-than-expected third-quarter fiscal year 2013 earnings today, missing on revenue but just squeaking out a win on EPS. Revenue came in at $1.18 billion for the quarter, down from $1.6 billion in the same quarter last year, while non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.57. Non-GAAP net income was $176 million from the quarter, down from $334 million in Q3 2011.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nJ8zBjear24/

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01 ? What Causes Mesothelioma? ? MesoRFA Information and ...

Mesothelioma cancer affects many former workers who were employed at factory, military, shipyard and construction projects. ?Mesothelioma has been proven to be primarily caused by exposure to asbestos, even though there are other aggravating factors that also worsen a mesothelioma condition.

What is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma are tumors that affect the lining surrounding many of the body?s internal organs. ?The tumors can cause symptoms such as severe chest pain,?fatigue, anemia, low blood sugar levels, lung collapse, and shortness of breath. ?Mesothelioma can also spread as tumors all over the body except for the brain, the skeletal system and the adrenal glands. ?Mesothelioma symptoms will usually have a long latency time before they manifest as much as 15 to 30 years. ?The cancer is difficult to treat or prevent because in most cases it is not diagnosed until decades after the patient had their initial exposure to asbestos which caused the mesothelioma tumors.

How Does Asbestos Exposure Occur?

Asbestos is the common word given to a wide range of minerals that have been used for many years of history being most recently processed for use in several industrial applications.? Asbestos is efficient as an inexpensive insulator which made it popular for use in the construction of homes created before the 1970s.? It was also applied a lot to military ships during World War II.?? Asbestos in its raw mineral form has small particles which can easily become airborne, and when they are inhaled can cause a great risk to health.?? Once the asbestos particles get inside the body, their abrasive dust fragments lead to the development of mesothelioma tumor cancer.? Unfortunately, there have been shipyard workers and factory people that have been exposed to the inhalation of asbestos particles long before the correlation between asbestos and mesothelioma became recognized.

What Can Be Done About Mesothelioma

Contemporary construction workers involved with the renovation of older buildings are much at risk for exposure to asbestos which induces mesothelioma.? Because mesothelioma has many symptoms that are similar to many other common diseases, its early diagnosis is very complicated to do.? A detailed review of a patient?s medical history and occupational experience is necessary to obtain an accurate diagnosis of mesothelioma.? A thorough patient medical history review is usually followed by thorough physical examinations that include chest X-rays, lung function tests and CT scans or MRIs.

Mesothelioma can be resistant to surgery, so there are few other treatments that might provide some form of cancer relief.? Chemotherapy is a common treatment administered as a recourse, and immunotherapy treatments have shown promise to provide various results of success.

More Mesothelioma Articles

Related articles

Source: http://www.mesorfa.info/01-what-causes-mesothelioma/

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Lawyers for 9/11 suspects ask military judge to ... - NBC News

Brennan Linsley / AP file

In this photo, reviewed by a U.S. Dept of Defense official, a detainee shields his face as he peers out through the so-called "bean hole" which is used to pass food and other items into detainee cells, at Camp Delta detention center, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Dec. 4. 2006.

By Jane Sutton, Reuters

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Lawyers for five alleged conspirators who attacked America on September 11 and say they were tortured in secret CIA prisons have asked a U.S. military judge to order that the prisons be preserved as evidence.

The issue is one of more than two dozen on the docket for a week of pretrial hearings that began on Monday in the war crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba.

The defendants include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the hijacked plane attacks that killed 2,976 people on September 11, 2001. He wore a camouflage jacket to court over his white tunic and defiantly refused to answer the judge's questions.

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Defense lawyers also have asked the judge to order the U.S. government to turn over all White House or Justice Department documents authorizing the CIA to move suspected al-Qaida captives across borders without judicial review and hold and interrogate them in secret prisons after the September 11 attacks.

President George W. Bush announced in 2006 that the September 11 defendants were among a group of "high-value" captives sent to Guantanamo from the secret prisons.

The CIA has acknowledged that Mohammed was subjected to the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding. The defendants said they were also subjected to sleep deprivation, threats, and being chained in painful positions.

The defense lawyers will argue that their clients' treatment was illegal pretrial punishment and constituted "outrageous government misconduct" that could justify dismissal of the charges, or at least spare the defendants from execution if convicted.

"By its nature, torture affects the admissibility of evidence, the credibility of witnesses, the appropriateness of punishment and the legitimacy of the prosecution itself," the defense lawyers wrote in court documents.

At least one potential witness was also held in the CIA prisons and his treatment could raise questions about the admissibility of his testimony, said James Connell, defense attorney for Mohammed's nephew, defendant Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali.

The chief prosecutor, Brigadier General Mark Martins, said the prosecution does not plan to introduce any evidence obtained from the defendants or anyone else via torture, cruelty or inhuman treatment - which is prohibited by U.S. law and international treaty.

In a departure from the Bush administration, the Obama administration has made it clear that any interrogation techniques must adhere to those long established in the army field manual, which prohibits torture.

The defendants have been in U.S. custody for a decade, but there are still numerous legal and evidentiary issues that must be resolved before their trial begins on charges that include murder, hijacking, terrorism and attacking civilians.

Abu Ghraib as 'crime scene'
The judge presiding over the September 11 trial, Army Colonel James Pohl, ordered in 2004 that the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq be preserved as a "crime scene." He was at the time presiding over the trial of U.S. military police officers accused of torturing and photographing prisoners at Abu Ghraib.?

Iraq was then under U.S. occupation. It was unclear whether Pohl had authority to order the preservation of the CIA prisons, whose location the government has kept secret, arguing that disclosure could threaten U.S. national security and put allies at risk.

Polish prosecutors are investigating allegations that one of the sites was in Poland, and there is evidence the CIA set up others in Romania, Lithuania and Thailand, according to reports by the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

Lawyers for the September 11 defendants first made the request for preservation of the secret CIA prisons under seal in September of last year. The request was unsealed about a month later. But this week's pre-trial hearing marks the first time it has been presented in the Guantanamo court.

Before considering the CIA prisons issue, the court on Monday began slogging through issues such as whether the defendants had agreed to add lawyers to two defense teams and drop one from another and whether they must show up in court for pretrial hearings.

When two of them refused to answer whether they had approved the personnel changes, the judge took their lawyers' word for it that they had.

But he said he would not grant their request to skip some court sessions unless they first acknowledged vocally that they understood they had the right to be present for discussions that could affect their legal rights.

"They're going to have to tell me out of their own mouths, or they'll be here," Pohl said.

After a chaotic May 2012 arraignment session that dragged on for 13 hours, the defendants have alternated between refusing to speak to the judge and making accusatory statements against the United States. Although they largely ignored the judge on Monday, they whispered to their lawyers and appeared to be reading legal documents.

Mohammed and his nephew are Pakistani citizens. The other defendants are Walid bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh, both Yemenis, and Mustafa al Hawsawi, a Saudi.

Family members of 9/11 victims have traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to watch the arraignment of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who reportedly refused to listen to the judge or answer questions during Saturday's proceedings. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/28/16741196-lawyers-for-911-suspects-ask-military-judge-to-preserve-secret-cia-prisons-as-evidence

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Yahoo's 4Q report shows more signs of progress

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, file photo, Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, listens during the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. Yahoo showed more signs of progress during the fourth quarter of 2012m, as the Internet company took advantage of higher ad prices and rising earnings from its international investments to deliver numbers that exceeded analyst forecasts. The results announced Monday, Jan 28, 2013, covered Yahoo's first full quarter under Mayer. (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, file photo, Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, listens during the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. Yahoo showed more signs of progress during the fourth quarter of 2012m, as the Internet company took advantage of higher ad prices and rising earnings from its international investments to deliver numbers that exceeded analyst forecasts. The results announced Monday, Jan 28, 2013, covered Yahoo's first full quarter under Mayer. (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Yahoo got a little healthier during the last three months of 2012 as the long-suffering Internet company took advantage of higher ad prices and more money coming in from overseas investments to deliver numbers that exceeded analyst forecasts.

The results announced Monday covered Yahoo's first full quarter under CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo Inc. lured Mayer away from Google Inc. in mid-July in its latest attempt to snap out of a funk that had depressed its revenue and stock price.

Although Yahoo still isn't keeping pace with the overall growth of the Internet ad market, the company fared well enough during the fourth quarter to produce its first full-year gain in revenue since 2008. It was a scant increase: just $2.4 million higher than 2011's total of nearly $5 billion.

Yahoo is now being run by its fifth permanent or interim CEO since 2008.

Mayer, 37, has raised hopes among investors and employees with her Google pedigree and her pledge to transform Yahoo's website into a mesmerizing destination that attracts Web surfers and advertisers. During her first six months on the job, she has primarily focused on boosting employee morale and building better mobile and social-networking services so Yahoo can make more money from two of technology's hottest trends.

"The future of Yahoo will be about innovation, execution and continued progress on a multi-year march toward growth, delighting users and driving shareholder value," Mayer assured analysts in a Monday conference call.

Investors seem convinced Mayer is headed in the right direction. Yahoo's stock added 50 cents, or nearly 2.5 percent, to $20.81 in extended trading. The shares are up by more than 30 percent since Mayer joined the Sunnyvale, Calif., company.

Yahoo has been feeding the rally by using part of a $7.6 billion windfall that it received from selling half its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group. The company spent $1.5 billion buying back nearly 80 million of its shares at an average price of $18.24 in the fourth quarter. Buybacks help boost the stock price for remaining shareholders.

Mayer highlighted some of the company's recent strides during the conference call. She said internal surveys show 95 percent of Yahoo's 11,500 employees are optimistic about the company's future. Mayer also touted the potential of a recent redesign of Yahoo's email, saying the number of daily users has increased by 10 percent since the changes were unveiled last month.

Yet Mayer's efforts haven't made a huge difference in Yahoo's ad sales ? the company's main way of making money.

For instance, during the final three months of last year, Yahoo's ad revenue was $1.07 billion, roughly the same as a year earlier. By contrast, fourth-quarter ad revenue at Google surged by 19 percent from the previous year. Another rival, Facebook Inc., is expected to post much stronger ad growth Wednesday when the Internet social-networking leader is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter report.

Overall, Yahoo's fourth-quarter earnings dipped 8 percent to $272 million, or 23 cents per share, down from $296 million, or 24 cents per share. The earnings would have been higher than the previous year, if not for a charge to close its South Korea operations and other one-time accounting items.

If not for those charges, Yahoo said it would have earned 32 cents per share. On that basis, Yahoo topped the average estimate of 27 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Yahoo's fourth-quarter revenue increased 2 percent from the previous year to $1.35 billion.

After subtracting advertising commissions, Yahoo's fourth-quarter revenue stood at $1.22 billion ? about $10 million above analyst forecasts.

Yahoo apparently isn't expecting a big upturn this year. The company predicted its revenue, minus commissions, will range from $1.07 billion to $1.1 billion in the current quarter. That's slightly below analysts' average estimate of $1.12 billion.

In an encouraging sign, Yahoo's average price for display advertising on its website during the fourth quarter rose 7 percent from the previous year. Meanwhile, the average price for Yahoo's search ads increased by 1 percent from the previous year. This marked the first time that Yahoo has detailed the changes in its ad rates from the previous year. The fourth-quarter improvement could be an indication that advertisers believe Mayer's changes are starting to pay off.

Yahoo still needs to work on increasing the volume of display advertising, which declined by 10 percent from the previous year. The number of revenue-generating search ads, though, increased 11 percent from the previous year. That improvement provided proof that Yahoo is harvesting better returns from its Internet-search partnership with Microsoft Corp. The alliance has allowed Yahoo to lower its expenses by relying on Microsoft's technology for most of its search results, but the arrangement had been producing disappointing returns on the advertising front until recently.

Yahoo is still benefiting from its remaining holdings in Alibaba, as well as a roughly 35 percent in Yahoo Japan. Yahoo's fourth-quarter income from its investments increased 17 percent from the previous year to nearly $149 million. Because of a lag in how Yahoo books income from international revenue, the company's results still don't fully reflect the reduced stake in Alibaba. That will occur this year, reducing Yahoo's overseas earnings.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-28-US-Earns-Yahoo/id-e305900f0a424befb106b0824deb8823

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Duggar Family Forms Pro-Life Coalition to Fight "Abortion Holocaust"

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/duggar-family-forms-pro-life-coalition-to-fight-abortion-holocau/

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'Argo' on a roll with big win at SAG Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A few weeks ago, the Oscar race looked wide open. The stately, historical "Lincoln" seemed like the safe and likely choice, with the provocative "Zero Dark Thirty" and the quirky and inspiring "Silver Linings Playbook" very much in the mix for the Academy Award for best picture.

But now, an "Argo" juggernaut ? an "Argo"-naut, if you will ? seems to be rolling along and gathering momentum as we head toward Hollywood's top prize.

The international thriller from director Ben Affleck, who also stars as a CIA operative orchestrating a daring rescue during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, received the top honor of best ensemble cast in a movie at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards, their equivalent of the best-picture Oscar. It's a decent indicator of eventual Academy Awards success, with the two matching up about half the time.

The film, which also stars John Goodman and Alan Arkin as Hollywood veterans who help stage a fake movie as a cover, has received nearly unanimous critical raves and has proven to be a box-office favorite, as well, grossing nearly $190 million worldwide.

But "Argo" also won the Producers Guild of America Award on Saturday night, which is an excellent Oscar predictor, and it earned best picture and director statues from the Golden Globes two weeks earlier. The Directors Guild of America Awards next Saturday will help crystallize the situation even further.

The one tricky thing at work here: Affleck surprisingly didn't receive an Academy Award nomination in the director category, which most often goes hand in hand with best picture. (There are nine best-picture nominees but only five slots for directors.) Only once in modern times has a film won best picture without a directing nomination: 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy." The other two times came in the show's early years, at the first Oscars in 1929 with "Wings" and for 1932's "Grand Hotel."

Asked backstage at the SAG Awards what might happen when the Oscar winners are announced Feb. 24, Affleck said: "I don't do handicapping or try to divine what's going to happen down the road with movies.

"I didn't get nominated as a director and I thought, 'OK, that's that.' Then I remembered that I was nominated as a producer," said Affleck, who already has an original screenplay Oscar for writing 1997's "Good Will Hunting" with longtime friend Matt Damon. "Nothing may happen but it's a wonderful opportunity to be on the ride and I'm really honored."

Many of the usual suspects throughout the lengthy awards season heard their names called again Sunday night, including Daniel Day-Lewis as best actor for his intense, deeply immersed portrayal of the 16th U.S. president in "Lincoln." Accepting the prize on stage, he gave thanks to several of his colleagues including "The Master" star Joaquin Phoenix (who did not receive a SAG nomination), Leonardo DiCaprio and Liam Neeson.

Backstage, Day-Lewis elaborated for reporters that DiCaprio urged him to stick with Steven Spielberg's project, which was in the works for many years.

"He said, 'Don't give up, he's the greatest man of the 19th century,'" Day-Lewis said. "So this is all Leo's fault."

His co-star, Tommy Lee Jones, also won again in the supporting-actor category for his lacerating portrayal of abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens in Spielberg's Civil War epic.

Anne Hathaway, the front-runner for best supporting actress at the Oscars and a winner already at the Golden Globes, won at the SAGs for her performance as the doomed prostitute Fantine in the gritty musical "Les Miserables."

"I'm just thrilled I have dental," Hathaway joked on stage.

But in the already-tight best actress race, Jennifer Lawrence made things a little more interesting in winning for the drama "Silver Linings Playbook." The 22-year-old plays a damaged young widow opposite Bradley Cooper, whose character is fresh out of a mental institution. Jessica Chastain, the winner at the Golden Globes, has been her main competition as a driven CIA operative searching for Osama bin Laden in "Zero Dark Thirty."

Lawrence said on stage that she got her SAG card at 14 ? which was only eight short years ago ? for a promo for the MTV reality series "My Super Sweet 16," which she said felt like the best day of her life.

"And now I have this naked statue which means that some of you even voted for me, and that is an indescribable feeling," she said.

On the television side, the popular PBS series "Downton Abbey" bested more established shows like "Mad Men" to win the TV drama cast award in just its first nomination. "Modern Family won the comedy cast prize for the third straight year.

And Dick Van Dyke received the guild's life-achievement award, an honor he presented last year to his "The Dick Van Dyke Show" co-star, Mary Tyler Moore.

After receiving a lengthy standing ovation from the audience, he asked his fellow actors, "Aren't we lucky that we found a line of work that doesn't require growing up?"

____

Contact AP Movie Writer Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/argo-roll-big-win-sag-awards-072049335.html

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DB Networks Raises $4.5M From Khosla Ventures For Database Security To Protect Against Malware

DB Networks has raised $4.5 million in Series B funding from Khosla Ventures for its database security equipment. DB Networks has developed a security platform for real-time advanced database attack detection.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RmZS2hl5gcU/

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The Big Picture Behind Germany Taking Half of Its ... - Financial Sense

Bundesbank announced last week that they?ll repatriate 674 metric tons of their total 3,391 metric tonne gold reserves from vaults in Paris and New York to restore public confidence in the safety of Germany?s gold reserves. The transfer from the Federal Reserve is set to take place slowly over a seven year period and will only be completed in 2020.

The Bundesbank, the central bank of Germany is to store half of its gold reserves in its own vaults in Frankfurt.

It is planning a phased relocation of 300 tonnes of gold to Frankfurt from New York and 374 tonnes to Frankfurt from Paris by 2020.

In doing so, the Bundesbank will have 50% of its gold reserves in Frankfurt, 37% in New York and 13% in London.

The Bundesbank said that it is focusing on the two primary functions in relocating its gold reserve, to build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centers abroad within a short space of time.

Germany is the second largest gold holding country with 3,391.3 tonnes, behind the US with 8,133.5 tonnes.

Germany?s central bank will repatriate part of its $200 billion gold reserves stored in vaults in the Federal Reserve in New York and the Banque de France in Paris.

Before German reunification in 1990, 98% of Germany?s gold was stored abroad. The Bundesbank then started to bring its gold home and in 2000 transferred 931 tonnes from the Bank of England to Germany. It will continue to hold about 13% of its gold reserves in London, even after 2020.

With the introduction of the euro (12 years ago) the Bundesbank sees no need to hold any reserves at the Banque du France as it will no longer need them there for exchange for foreign currency, after all France uses the same currency now.

"This is above all a historical anomaly which is now being corrected," said David Marsh, chairman of think tank OMFIF, which issued a report earlier this month in which it foresaw growing importance for gold due to uncertainty stemming from the rise of China?s Yuan as an alternative to the dollar.

Why?

• There have been widespread stories that the Fed does not have the gold to return as gold held for governments is usually, ?unallocated?. This suggests that the German gold reserves were not ?allocated?. Ordinarily, central bank monetary reserves should be held in an ?allocated? format to evidence to whom they belong. As it is, held in an ?unallocated? form, in simplistic terms, this means that should the Fed fail, foreign central banks holding their gold there would be that unsecured creditors. This concern has been voiced inside Germany. It has been noted that the gold of Germany has not been audited in the past and it should be, on a regular basis. The German Court of Auditors told legislators that the gold had "never been verified physically" and ordered the Bundesbank to secure access to the storage sites. It called for repatriation of 150 tons over the next three years to test the quality and weight of the gold bars. But Germany has decided to move more than in this recommendation. It is said that Frankfurt has no register of the numbered gold bars.
• We noted that it is going to take 7 years or 10 shipments a year to move it to Germany. This is odd because it can be done much faster. Are they allowing the banks from which it is being drawn to pull it back from those to whom it has been leased? If this is the case and they have to go out and buy the gold to supply Germany with, will we see the three central banks [the Fed, the Bank of England and the Banque de France] enter the open gold market as buyers of the gold they can?t access in that time or has seven years been decided on because this matches the maturation of the leases?
• The function of gold reserves is to ensure the flow of trade in such critical times that it is the last remaining asset a nation has that is acceptable to overseas creditors, when other national assets fail. As Greenspan put it, it is ?money in extremis?. But is it necessary to keep all a nations gold outside the country for this purpose? The decision to repatriate half the gold only leaves gold available in the world?s financial centers for such purposes, while the gold held at home is available to be sent elsewhere. The problem of holding gold at home is that if it is needed for creditor payment it resides in the jurisdiction of the debtor, not a happy position.
• As we said above, it appears reasonable to think that as France is in the same currency, there seems little point in holding any of Germany?s gold in France. With the U.K. still using the pound sterling, keeping Germany?s gold there still makes sense. The same applies to the U.S. which remains the wealthiest nation in the world, at the moment.
• Are the nations where the gold is held the right places to store it? What if they face crises themselves? Is the move being made because of expectations of crises in those countries? What future monetary scene did Germany see that prompted the moves we see now? Nearly all the world?s nations are acknowledging that China is headed to the top of the wealthy nations pile and is going to take the Yuan to a major global reserve currency, but the prospect of holding German or any other developed nation?s gold in the People?s Bank of China takes a leap of faith and an admission that power and wealth has moved East into politically unknown waters that is just too much at this time.

As we said above, the move of this gold to Frankfurt will allow time to ensure the central banks where the gold is held, to get hold of the gold if they do not have it at the moment. The prospect of developed world central banks now competing with those of the emerging world in the gold market may well start the next leg of the gold bull market because this new, persistent, price-insensitive buying has the power to take gold to a whole new level! We watch to see. If this does happen, then the whole nature of gold in the money system will change even before the changes are ?officially? accepted. Gold will be in a ?de facto? pivotal position in the monetary system again. It will be a short time from that point before it is ?officially? accepted then. The way will have been paved for China to arrive on the scene and gold to have a vital function in the monetary system between two very different and unconnected, politically and economically, power blocs, the developed world and the emerging world with China as its hub.

The last time the world was divided on this basis was at the start of both world wars. The consequences to the monetary world then were so devastating and saw the destruction of national currencies on both sides, in Europe.

History teaches us another lesson. Ahead of the second war, when it became apparent that extremists had taken power in Germany and war became a probability again, gold came into the picture very forcefully. We? are all aware of the 1933 confiscation of gold then, with the stated objective of expanding the money supply through the devaluation of the dollar in the U.S. but one side of that event has not been the subject of full public examination.

What Happened to European Gold From 1935+?

Is the fear of future crises in those countries a motive for the move of Germany?s gold back home? It certainly was so in Venezuela?s case, fearful of the U.S.?s power over its gold and reserves. We don?t expect any further statement on the reasons from Germany because that?s the nature of central banks. But history tells us that there are other reasons which discount the future. These confirm the move of gold back to the monetary system and why confiscation of private gold has become a probability in the future too.

When the U.S. dollar was devalued in 1935, it was done so only in terms of gold. It was not devalued against foreign currencies. Exchange rates were then fixed against each other. Other governments did not devalue their currencies against gold. The result was that while gold was trading outside of the U.S. in the foreign currency equivalent of $20, there it was trading at $35 in the U.S.

With markets relatively unsophisticated in those days, alongside limited communication abilities the original ?arbitrageurs? [dealers between two markets] found they could buy gold at the foreign currency equivalent of $20 and sell it into the U.S. for $35. Is it any wonder that they U.S. gold stocks roared up to 26,000+ tonnes?

Was this a financial error in an undeveloped world? We have no doubt it was not. It was the ideal quick way to shift the gold reserves of Europe away from the war zone to the relative safety of the U.S. The war arrived in Europe four years later.

But foreign governments weren?t stupid. European governments permitted this move, even though it was seen as a market event. Remember that gold was the basis of money then so such a shift had to happen with government approval. This had to happen within the monetary system in force at the time. The fact that it happened so smoothly implied total government cooperation.

We see it also as an example of how the banks work completely with monetary authorities to ensure complete control over the monetary system. The same is true today as we see the efforts of governments primarily directed at repairing the banking system and government finances with scant attention to the national economies below them.

With a war on the way Europe sent its gold to the U.S. without governments being seen to do it. The move came about as a result of ?market forces?.

But you may rightly say that surely that wasn?t the end of the story? Of course not!

With a huge U.S. army based in Europe after the war, the flood of dollars from the U.S. to Europe happened from the forties right through to the sixties [Eurodollars] continued. European nations, including France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany led by President de Gaulle, kept selling their U.S. dollars for gold. Once Europe?s gold returned to it [as the war was out of the way and reconstruction just about complete], Europe had its gold back. Then the change in the monetary system changed and the dollar, the exclusive currency in which nations could buy their oil to run their economies with closed the gold window and excluded gold from the day-to-day system but remained in national vaults. It was then that the experiment, now 42 years old, in un-backed paper currencies began. European central banks were then rewarded by the extraordinary rise in the gold price in the seventies and eighties.

This two-way process of gold to and from the U.S. only became visible with hindsight.

Get the rest of the article, "The Big Picture of the Future" by subscribing @ GoldForecaster.com / SilverForecaster.com

Legal Notice / Disclaimer

This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Gold Forecaster - Global Watch / Julian D. W. Phillips / Peter Spina, have based this document on information obtained from sources it believes to be reliable but which it has not independently verified; Gold Forecaster - Global Watch / Julian D. W. Phillips / Peter Spina make no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Gold Forecaster - Global Watch / Julian D. W. Phillips / Peter Spina only and are subject to change without notice. Gold Forecaster - Global Watch / Julian D. W. Phillips / Peter Spina assume no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this Report.

Source: http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/julian-phillips/big-picture-behind-germany-taking-half-gold-home

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U.S. Military Little Affected by Flu Epidemic

The influenza epidemic that has been battering the United States has had little effect on the nation's military. That may be due, in large part, to the extremely high flu vaccination rate in all five services. The Department of Defense is also responsible for healthcare for many military dependents and for many military retirees, and those illness rates are also below civilian levels. This is in marked contrast to the pandemic influenza outbreak of 2009-10 that resulted in hundreds of illnesses in active duty military and forces postponement of some missions due to widespread illness.

2012-2013 Influenza Epidemic

The Jan. 24 Influenza Surveillance Summary from the Department of Defense shows that 96 percent of all active duty military personnel have been vaccinated for influenza this year. The Air Force and Coast Guard report a vaccination rate of 98 percent, the Army 97 percent, the Navy 94 percent and the Marine Corps is reporting a vaccination rate of 90 percent. Three active duty soldiers have had to be hospitalized this flu season, according to the Army. Worldwide, the various strains of influenza in circulation remain similar to those found by the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. civilian population except in Africa. The Army hospital in Kenya has detected only influenza B strains in central Africa and no influenza in east Africa. The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center noted in a Jan. 15 report that influenza-like illness rates in non-military patients treated in the military health network are not beyond those expected in a moderately severe influenza season.

2009-2012 Pandemic Influenza

The U.S. military began vaccinating for pandemic H1N1 influenza in October 2009. Prior to that point, the military experienced a high level of flu illnesses and related hospitalizations, especially in young people. Both serving military personnel and dependents were affected. Between April 1, 2009, and June 25, 2009, the military treated 1,327 pandemic flu cases, including 722 in active duty personnel and 31 in recruits. Median ages for all patients were significantly lower than those expected for seasonal influenza patients. The USS Dubuque was pulled from a mission on May 5 due to an influenza outbreak aboard the ship. In August, the Defense Department reported that Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany had a cluster of pandemic flu cases in its patients that were acquired in the hospital.

2009 Air Force Academy Outbreak

In June 2009, 1,376 cadets reported to the Air Force Academy. A pandemic flu outbreak over the next month resulted in 134 confirmed and 33 suspected illnesses from pandemic flu. This outbreak is among the most studied in modern times. Studies confirmed a number of suspicions about the spread of influenza, including the fact that the virus was still being shed by patients up to a week after the illness began.

The current influenza season does not seem to be impacting the United States military in the way that pandemic influenza did. The military healthcare system has vaccinated the vast majority of active duty personnel, and illnesses seem to be at or below expected rates among dependents and retirees.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-military-little-affected-flu-epidemic-174500746.html

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Video: Matthews: The GOP needs a ?Ronald Reagan for the 21st century?

>>> let me finish tonight with this. i think the republican party got the message. not all republicans, but a decent number of them. they ran a kennedy who didn't believe in what he was saying. people don't want to agree with the middle of this country. people would rather be right, even far right,than having a hand in picking a president. someone in that party has to come along and offer themselves as a true center right kennedy. someone who's solid on fiscal matters, strong on defense, but plays down their social issues. someone with charisma. i'm talking about a ronald reagan for the 21st century . unlikely to find such a candidate. but unless they do, they're stuck in second place, nationally. they can't beat hillary clinton , that's for sure. not with the rogue elements they've got joining their huddle. not with the candidate that only reads the words well enough to get the nomination. but not well enough, did you notice to be picked as a president? that's "hardball." thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50620451/

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Dolphins try to save dying companion

28 January 2013 Last updated at 07:40

Common dolphins have been seen gathering to aid a dying companion, trying to support it in the water and help it breathe.

This is the first time that a group of dolphins has been recorded trying to help or save another dying dolphin.

Korean-based scientists witnessed the event in the East Sea off the coast of Ulsan, in South Korea.

Five individual dolphins formed a raft with their bodies in an attempt to keep the stricken dolphin afloat.

Details of the behaviour are reported in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

Healthy cetaceans, the group of animals that includes whales and dolphins, have been seen attempting to provide supportive care to individuals before.

For example, in the mid-20th Century, a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in captivity was seen lifting her stillborn calf to the surface with her back.

Wild bottlenose dolphins have also been seen supporting dead or stillborn calves near the surface, while some have been recorded stimulating their babies by biting them.

But all previous examples involved just one or two adult dolphins trying to rescue a calf.

Now Kyum J Park of the Cetacean Research Institute in Ulsan, Korea, and colleagues report an incident when up to 10 long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis) tried to save the life of another adult.

The researchers routinely monitor cetaceans off the South Korean coast.

During one survey, they encountered a group of long-beaked common dolphins containing more that 400 individuals being followed by approximately 500 streaked shearwaters.

Both dolphins and birds were foraging, and the research vessel approached and observed the pod several times.

A small group of dolphins had separated from the pod and were splashing near to the boat.

Closer observation revealed at least 12 individuals swimming very slowly.

Among them, one dolphin was wriggling about, its body leaning over, with its abdomen showing to the surface.

Though it could move and splash its tail, its flippers appeared to be paralysed and it had red marks on its belly.

A number of dolphins circled this group, while those within appeared to be trying to help the stricken dolphin maintain its balance, by pushing it from the side and below.

Then the 10 remaining dolphins took turns to form a raft using their bodies.

Five dolphins at a time lined up horizontally into a raft-like formation, maintaining it while the stricken dolphin moved on top and rode on their backs.

One of the dolphins in the raft even flipped over its body to better support the ailing dolphin above, while another used its beak to try to keep the dying dolphin's head up.

A few minutes later the stricken dolphin appeared to die, its body hanging vertically in the water, with its head above the surface. It wasn't breathing.

Five of its associates continued to interact with the dead dolphin's body, rubbing and touching it, or swimming underneath, releasing bubbles onto it.

They carried on this way despite the dead dolphin's body showing signs of rigor mortis, say the researchers.

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21146455

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Observatory: Viagra as Diet Pill?

[unable to retrieve full-text content]In a German study, the erectile-dysfunction drug was found to help convert undesirable white fat cells to energy-burning beige fat cells in laboratory mice.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/science/viagra-as-diet-pill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Allysia Finley: Mickelson and the Sports Star Tax Migration (WSJ)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/280022025?client_source=feed&format=rss

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9/11 remains dominant political theme for US

By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

The attack of Sept. 11, 2001, has been so pervasive a theme in American politics in the years since that at times we scarcely notice its influence even though it explains so much of what came after that day.

Gary Cameron / Reuters

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questions Senator John Kerry (Not Pictured) during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Kerry's nomination to be secretary of state, on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 24, 2013.

Sometimes almost forgotten, 9/11 is an experience some Americans may recall only when they travel and must undergo screening from a select few of the army of 45,000 screeners that was created by the actions of 19 suicidal hijackers.

So it was remarkable that three times in the space of two Senate hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, the 9/11 attack percolated through the discussion.

Testifying Thursday morning at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be secretary of state, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., voiced his regret that one effect of that fateful day has been to make people abroad see American policy simply in terms of killing individual al Qaida leaders and pre-empting terrorist threats.

America?s foreign policy must not be ?defined by drones and deployments alone,? Kerry warned. ?We cannot allow the extraordinary good we do to save and change lives to be eclipsed entirely by the (counterterrorism) role we have had to play since September 11th, a role that was thrust upon us.?

A day before, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her testimony about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, used the 2001 attack to make the case for continued robust American involvement in North Africa.

She warned of the risks of a 9/11-style attack from the group Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

?People say to me all the time, well, AQIM hasn't attacked the United States. Well, before 9/11, 2001, we hadn't been attacked on our homeland since, I guess, the War of 1812 and Pearl Harbor. So you can't say, well, because they haven't done something they're not going to do it,? she said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Mali's "progress on democracy" was disrupted by the Kaddafi-supported militant and al-Qaeda loyalists, warning that we must not let the region become a haven for terrorists.

But a bit later Clinton came under assault from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who used 9/11 as his rhetorical theme.

?Ultimately with your leaving (the State Department), you accept the culpability for the worst tragedy since 9/11, and I really mean that,? Paul told Clinton. Democrats on the committee recoiled in anger at what they saw as a cheap exploitation of 9/11.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Clinton, ?I think if some people on this committee want to call the tragedy in Benghazi the worst since 9/11, it misunderstands the nature of 4,000 Americans-plus lost over 10 years of war in Iraq, fought under false pretenses. It was fought under false pretenses, but it was also fought, I think, because we had a misunderstanding of what we could do and what we could manage in that region for what was under our control.?

Murphy, first elected to the House in 2006 as part of the voter backlash against the Iraq war, didn?t mention that Clinton herself, serving in the Senate in 2002, voted for the congressional resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq.

Her vote was one liability during her bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination ? a liability which Barack Obama, a state senator when Congress voted on the Iraq invasion, didn?t have.

The 9/11 attack created the political environment which made possible, and perhaps even inevitable, the congressional vote authorizing Bush to use military force against Iraq.

In his Oct. 7, 2002, speech making the case for using force, Bush repeatedly invoked 9/11. To those American who wondered ?why do we need to confront it (the threat of Saddam Hussein) now?? Bush said, ?There?s a reason. We have experienced the horror of Sept. 11. We have seen that those who hate America are willing to crash airplanes into buildings full of innocent people.? And America?s enemies would be eager ?to use a biological or chemical, or a nuclear weapon.?

Four days later, the Senate voted for the Iraq war authorization, with Kerry, Clinton and then-Sen. Joe Biden among the 77 voting for it.

Just as Murphy had argued at Wednesday?s Senate hearing that Iraq was ?fought under false pretenses,? so, too, Democrats back in 2004 argued that Kerry, Clinton, Biden, then-Sen. Chuck Hagel and the other members of Congress who?d voted for the Iraq war resolution had been deceived.

But some antiwar Democrats argued that ? deception or not ? their party could never beat Bush in 2004 with a candidate who was compromised by having voted for the Iraq war resolution.

It?s impossible to know the answer to that question ? would Howard Dean or Sen. Bob Graham (who voted ?no? on the Iraq war resolution) have defeated Bush in 2004?

We do know that Bush held his party?s 2004 convention in New York City, a target of the 9/11 attack and defeated Kerry in the election.

His second term was an unhappy one for many reasons, but it was Bush ? not Kerry ? who got to the fill the next two vacancies on the Supreme Court.

And 9/11?s effect is also still directly felt in the current wrestling over fiscal policy. As Obama and congressional leaders try to figure out how to pay for ever-growing entitlement programs and reduce budget deficits, Republicans in Congress, but many Democrats, too, are reluctant to significantly reduce a $630 billion Defense Department budget that grew massively in the years after Sept. 11, 2001.

Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/26/16698169-kerry-clinton-paul-remind-americans-why-911-remains-dominant-political-theme?lite

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Ryan says GOP need to pick its fights with Obama

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., arrives at the ceremonial swearing-in for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., arrives at the ceremonial swearing-in for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rep. Paul Ryan said Saturday that Republicans need to stick together and pick their fights during President Barack Obama's second term, rejecting some White House proposals outright and trying to infuse others with conservative principles.

In a speech to conservatives, the GOP's 2012 vice presidential nominee said Obama would attempt to divide Republicans but that the party must avoid internal squabbles as it seeks to rebound from a second straight presidential loss.

"We can't get rattled. We won't play the villain in his morality plays. We have to stay united," Ryan said at the National Review Institute event. "We have to show that if given the chance, we can govern. We have better ideas."

The Wisconsin congressman outlined a pragmatic approach for a party dealing with last November's election defeats and trying to determine whether to oppose Obama's agenda at every turn or shape his proposals with conservative principles.

With a surging minority population altering the electorate, Republican leaders have discussed the need to attract more women and Hispanics while at the same time standing firm to the values that unite conservatives.

The party's future was a major theme during the three-day meeting of conservatives activists, who expected to hear from Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Ryan rejected the notion that Republicans were "in the wilderness," noting that the party controls the House and most statehouses. But he said Obama's victory over Mitt Romney meant that Republicans would need to recalibrate their approach to deal with the new political realities.

"If we want to promote conservatism, we'll need to use every tool at our disposal," Ryan said. "Sometimes, we will have to reject the president's proposals ? that time may come more than once. And sometimes we'll have to make them better." He said Republicans should have two main goals for the next four years, namely "to mitigate bad policies" and "to advance good policy wherever we can."

Ryan acknowledged that "we all didn't see eye to eye" on the recent "fiscal cliff" vote to deal with a combination of spending cuts and higher taxes that were set to take effect at the start of the year. He defended his support for the bill, saying it was the only way to avoid sweeping tax increases and prevent the economy from going into a free-fall.

As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan said Republicans needed to guard against a debt crisis for the country that would undermine the economy. He said he would promote changes to Medicare and Medicaid and would propose a budget "that will balance and pay down the debt."

But November's election results still linger. Ryan said he was "disappointed" by the outcome, saying he was "looking forward to taking on the big challenges" while living at the vice president's residence. "My kids were looking forward to having a pool," he joked.

___

Follow Ken Thomas at: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-26-Republicans/id-5713df3351ab4d60abb14881c83f2ff4

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Anonymous hijacks federal website to avenge activist's death

1 day

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON???The hacker-activist group Anonymous says it hijacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide. The FBI is investigating.

The website of the commission, an independent agency of the judicial branch (http://www.ussc.gov), was taken over early Saturday and replaced with a message warning that when Swartz killed himself two weeks ago "a line was crossed."

The hackers say they've infiltrated several government computer systems and copied secret information that they now threaten to make public.

Family and friends of Swartz, who helped create Reddit and RSS, say he killed himself after he was hounded by federal prosecutors. Officials say he helped post millions of court documents for free online, and that he illegally downloaded millions of academic articles from an online clearinghouse.

The FBI's Richard McFeely, executive assistant director of the agency's?Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement that "we were aware as soon as it happened and are handling it as a criminal investigation. We are always concerned when someone illegally accesses another person's or government agency's network."

Hours after the hijacking, pages on the USSC.gov website were available only sporadically.

This report was updated by NBC News.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/anonymous-hijacks-federal-website-protest-activist-aaron-swartzs-death-1C8125283

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