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Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
brazzil: RT @ansa_live: Parata di zombie a Mexico City: Per raggiungere un nuovo record: in nove mila si presentano in strada http://t.co/lX5547sh
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Fullmetal Alchemist Roleplay, anyone?
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
Target.com: B1G1 Sale on Pillow Pets :: Southern Savers
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Oil prices fall on global economic worries (AP)
NEW YORK ? Worries that the global economy is weakening pushed oil prices down Wednesday, even though the government said that oil supplies fell sharply in the U.S.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark used to price oil in much of the U.S., fell $1.38 to $96.63 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price oil produced in many foreign countries, fell $2.05 to $106.60 a barrel in London.
Oil prices and stock prices have fluctuated for weeks with concerns over the European debt crisis. On Wednesday those worries intensified after a German bond offering failed to attract buyers. Germany is Europe's largest economy, and among its strongest, so its struggle to raise money raised fears that weaker economies could face a disastrous cash crunch that could cripple the global financial system.
Oil prices have remained generally high, however, because investors are anxious that continuing strife in the Middle East could disrupt supplies. Also, demand for oil in China and other developing nations has remained strong. Global oil demand is expected to reach record levels this year of more than 89 million barrels per day.
But even China's economy appeared to be weakening after a survey found manufacturing activity slowing there.
When economies slow, demand for crude oil and refined products like diesel, jet fuel and gasoline falls because fewer goods are produced and shipped, and people travel less. Oil has fallen 7 percent since last Wednesday, when it spiked to $102.59 per barrel.
Phil Flynn, an analyst at PFG Best in Chicago said oil prices likely would have fallen much further this Wednesday, but U.S. government data showed that stocks of crude fell nearly 2 percent. That suggests more oil will be needed to replenish supplies.
Crude supplies fell by 6.2 million barrels, or 1.8 percent, to 330.8 million barrels, which is about 8 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Supplies of gasoline, however, rose sharply. Gasoline supplies increased by 4.5 million barrels, or 2.2 percent, to 209.6 million barrels. That's triple the amount analysts expected.
Demand for gasoline in the U.S. has fallen steadily this year as pump prices rose to near record levels in the spring and remained high throughout the year. Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Nov. 18 averaged 8.6 million barrels a day, 4 percent lower than a year earlier when gasoline was 14 percent cheaper.
The reason, analysts say, is that demand for diesel has been extraordinarily strong around the globe, especially in Asia and Latin America. U.S. refiners have been working at near-full capacity to produce diesel, but the process also creates gasoline, adding to supplies even though the market is soft.
That's good news for U.S. drivers. Retail gasoline prices are lower than expected, given the relatively high price of crude.
On Wednesday pump prices extended a two-week slide that has seen average prices down 11 cents a gallon since Nov. 10. The average price of retail gasoline fell a penny to $3.33 per gallon, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express.
Gasoline futures rose 5 cents to $2.5109 a gallon in New York.
In other energy trading in New York, natural gas rose 4 cents to $3.45 per 1,000 cubic feet, and heating oil fell 6 cents to $2.9883 a gallon.
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.
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Video: EU Recession in 2012
As more concern over the eurozone weighs on investor sentiment, some market pros expect a recession in Europe in 2012, with David Sowerby, Loomis Sayles & Co., and Vadim Zlotnikov, AllianceBernstein.
Related Links:
Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45421102/
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
DOD's Gordon Heddell resigns (Politico)
Defense Department Inspector General Gordon Heddell will step down on Dec. 24.
?My family obligations make this the right time for me to pursue a new career challenge, but it?s difficult to imagine that any other job could be more rewarding than working as the DOD inspector general,? Heddell said in an email message to staff obtained by POLITICO.
Continue Reading?While this is the right time for me personally, it is also the right time for the organization. The new strategic plan that we developed will provide the framework for the next five years as you move forward to accomplish our organization?s mission.?
A former Secret Service agent, Heddell became inspector general in July 2009 after serving in an acting capacity for a year. Before that, he was inspector general at the Labor Department.
Hezbollah, Iran uncover CIA informants (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? In an apparently serious setback for U.S. intelligence against a key adversary, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi'ite militia, has succeeded in identifying and arresting informants within its ranks who were working for the CIA, current and former U.S. officials said.
Separately, counterintelligence officers in Iran also succeeded in uncovering the identities of at least a handful of alleged CIA informants, the officials said.
Some former U.S. officials said that the CIA informants, believed to be local recruits rather than U.S. citizens, were uncovered, at least in part, due to sloppy procedures - known in the espionage world as "tradecraft" - used by the agency.
But Bob Baer, a former CIA operations officer whose books inspired the Hollywood movie Syriana, said that Hezbollah's counterintelligence capabilities are formidable and should not be underestimated.
"Hezbollah's security is as good as any in the world's. It's the best. It's better than that of the KGB," the former Soviet spy agency, Baer said.
Hezbollah, founded with Iranian help during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, has grown from a militia that fought Israeli forces in south Lebanon into the most powerful political and military force in the country. Hezbollah and its allies dominate the Lebanese government formed in June.
Baer said one reason Hezbollah has been successful in rooting out spies is that it is so powerful it has forced Lebanese government security forces to hand over sensitive communications and spy gear supplied by the U.S. government. Hezbollah then used this U.S. equipment to identify and track down CIA informants.
U.S. officials were coy about the extent and seriousness of CIA losses. But they said damage to U.S. intelligence was serious enough for extensive briefings and discussions to have been held with congressional oversight committees. A congressional source said any discussions remain classified.
Hezbollah, which the U.S. government labels a terrorist group, and Iran, which it accuses of developing a nuclear weapon and sponsoring attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, are major targets of interest for U.S. spy agencies and the White House.
There was no word about the unmasked operatives' fate.
The CIA declined to comment on the latest developments. Agency spokesman Preston Golson said the CIA "does not, as a rule discuss allegations of operational activities."
However, U.S. officials explicitly denied a claim, reported by the Los Angeles Times on Monday, that CIA operations in Lebanon have effectively been crippled due to Hezbollah's
actions.
Nonetheless, U.S. officials confirmed to Reuters that some CIA informants assigned to gather information on Hezbollah and the government of Iran had been compromised, and that any such losses are considered damaging to U.S. intelligence collection efforts.
'EXTREMELY COMPLICATED ENEMY'
"Espionage has always been a perilous business. Collecting sensitive information on adversaries who are aggressively trying to uncover spies in their midst will always be fraught with risk," said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official acknowledged: "Hezbollah is an extremely complicated enemy. ... It's a determined terrorist group, a power political player, a mighty military, and an accomplished intelligence organization formidable and ruthless. No one underestimates its capabilities."
During the past year, leaders of both Hezbollah and Iran have publicly touted what they said were successes by their security and counterintelligence forces in uncovering CIA informants.
In June, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said two of the group's members had been arrested on suspicion of being affiliated with the CIA, and a third was held for working either for the CIA or for European or Israeli intelligence agencies.
In May, Iran's intelligence minister said more than two dozen spies for the United States and Israel had been uncovered. ABC News reported that Iranian TV had broadcast what the U.S. network described as accurate video of websites used by the CIA.
A former U.S. intelligence official who worked in the region said U.S. operatives have been "battling for most of the last decade" in a shadow war with what he described as Hezbollah's extremely effective counterintelligence operatives.
Over the years, Hezbollah has proven persistent, and sometimes successful, both in spotting CIA informants within its ranks and in trying to plant its own double agents on the CIA, the former official said.
One frequent tactic used by the group, the former official said, is to send "walk-in" operatives into U.S. embassies in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries claiming to have information about attacks being planned against U.S. targets.
Instead of having information about real attack planning, however, the "walk-ins" use their visits to U.S. embassy buildings to gather information about embassy security measures and procedures which could then be used to plan possible attacks, according to the former official.
(Editing by Warren Strobel and Mohammad Zargham)
(Email: mark.hosenball@thomsonreuters.com)
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
[OOC] Wonder of the World
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This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
"Wonder of the World"
I'm interested, but I'm having comprehension issues at the moment. So there is the unknown planet, which has inhabitants that use the 'hometown strangers' as hosts, correct? Then there are the outcasts, who used to be their friends?
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Wonder of the World?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup."Wonder of the World"
1) Please no making others feel bad, or even a tiny bit uncomfertable.
2) Reserves ARE allowed
3) Have fun~
Please do follow these rules, I want this to be a 'safe' envoriment. I doubt anything bad will happen, but I'm only trying to make sure. If there IS any problems, please PM me right away. I'll ban them from the roleplay and even contact someone to help if he/she will not stop.
DATE-
11-22-11
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AmiOfTheRain - Member for 0 years
Can I reserve the weird misfit? I'll be able to play her well...
Last edited by Aixulram on Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.-
Aixulram - Member for 0 years
I'd love to reserve the crossdresser, pleaaaase!
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Vio-Lance - Member for 1 years
Please can reserve the Rebel :D
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Annaky - Member for 1 years
I'm interested, but I'm having comprehension issues at the moment. So there is the unknown planet, which has inhabitants that use the 'hometown strangers' as hosts, correct? Then there are the outcasts, who used to be their friends?
Oh, and Id' like to reserve the deaf tomboy.
Food ish yummy."Dreams are necessary to life."
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"I used to lie in bed in my flat
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SlightlyInsane - Member for 0 years
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'Breaking Dawn' Carolina Herrera Wedding Gown To Hit Stores
Also, Alfred Angelo's official replica of the designer's 'Twilight' dress is available nationwide for $799.
By Rob Markman
Alfred Angelo's replica of Bella Swan's dress from "Breaking Dawn"
Photo: Alfred Angelo
You too can look like Bella Swan on her wedding day now that the official replica of the elegant gown Kristen Stewart wore in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" is available in stores. The Carolina Herrera-designed dress that Stewart wears when she and Robert Pattinson trade vows onscreen arrived in stores on Monday, priced at $799, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In addition to the movie's much ballyhooed sex scene, fans eagerly anticipated the wedding scene, where Bella dons the glorious long-sleeve lace bridal gown. Though the film's version of the dress was designed by Herrera, bridal retailer Alfred Angelo handled the replication and has been working with Summit Entertainment since May to get the item in stores in time for the film's premiere. The dresses are available at Alfred Angelo stores nationwide.
Herrera herself will also be selling the gown in her CHNY boutiques next year, according to a Reuters report. Details on how many dresses will be produced and how much the gown will cost have not been released.
During our "MTV First: Breaking Dawn" live stream earlier this month, Stewart, flanked by co-stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, described the fantasy nuptials as "realistically ceremonial" and "very, very emotional." She even kept the dress a secret from her castmates, except for Pattinson, who caught a sneak peek, much to her dismay.
"Nobody saw it until I walked out, which made me so ...," Stewart said, struggling for the right word. "It wasn't about the dress, it was just everything involved. I was like, ugh, so very the center of attention at that very moment."
Herrera's original design was, of course, inspired by the book. "I was called by Stephenie Meyer. We had to discuss a lot, but I was very inspired by her book and the description of the wedding," Herrera said at the film's premiere. "I was very flattered I was asked to do it; it's a big scene for me."
Though she made the dress for Stewart, a big-time actress in one of the highest-grossing films of the year, Herrera approached the design just as she would any other bride.
"Wedding dresses are different, because you have to know that it's the most important day in the life of a woman," she said. "You have to please the bride first of all, and it has to be a secret. I cannot talk about the dress before the groom sees it.
"I treated [Kristen Stewart's Bella] like every other bride," she admitted. "I think [Stewart] was very moved when she tried it on. And that means a lot, because she felt that it was the right one."
Would you purchase a replica of Bella Swan's wedding gown for your special day? Tell us in the comments!
Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."
For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.
- MTV Rough Cut: 'Breaking Dawn Part -1' Director And Screenwriter
- MTV Rough Cut: 'Breaking Dawn - Part 1'
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674816/breaking-dawn-bella-swan-wedding-dress.jhtml
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Insight: Lessons for U.S. from Canada's "basket case" moment (Reuters)
OTTAWA (Reuters) ? Finance officials bit their nails and nervously watched the clock. There were 30 minutes left in a bond auction aimed at funding the deficit and there was not a single bid.
Sounds like today's Italy or Greece?
No, this was Canada in 1994.
Bids eventually came in, but that close call, along with downgrades and the Wall Street Journal calling Canada "an honorary member of the Third World," helped the nation's people and politicians understand how scary its budget problem was.
"There would have been a day when we would have been the Greece of today," recalled then-prime minister Jean Chretien, a Liberal who ended up chopping cherished social programs in one of the most dramatic fiscal turnarounds ever.
"I knew we were in a bind and we had to do something," Chretien, 77, told Reuters in a rare interview.
Canada's shift from pariah to fiscal darling provides lessons for Washington as lawmakers find few easy answers to the huge U.S. deficit and debt burden, and for European countries staggering under their own massive budget problems.
"Everyone wants to know how we did it," said political economist Brian Lee Crowley, head of the Ottawa-based thinktank Macdonald-Laurier Institute, who has examined the lessons of the 1990s.
But to win its budget wars, Canada first had to realize how dire its situation was and then dramatically shrink the size of government rather than just limit the pace of spending growth.
It would eventually oversee the biggest reduction in Canadian government spending since demobilization after World War Two. The big cuts, and relatively small tax increases, brought a budget surplus within four years.
Canadian debt shrank to 29 percent of gross domestic product in 2008-09, from a peak of 68 percent in 1995-96, and the budget was in the black for 11 consecutive years until the 2008-09 recession.
For Canada, the vicious debt circle turned into a virtuous cycle which rescued a currency that had been dubbed the "northern peso." Canada went from having the second worst fiscal position in the Group of Seven industrialized countries, behind only Italy, to easily the best.
It is far from a coincidence that the recent recession was shorter and shallower here than in the United States. Indeed, by January, Canada had recovered all the jobs lost in the downturn, while the U.S. has hardly been able to dent its high unemployment.
"We used to thank God that Italy was there because we were the second worst in the G7," said Scott Clark, associate deputy finance minister in the 1990s.
Canada's experience turned on its head the prevailing wisdom that spending promises were the easiest way to win elections. Politicians of all kinds and at all levels of government learned that austerity could win.
"I WILL DO IT"
The turnaround began with Chretien's arrival as prime minister in November 1993, when his Liberal Party - in some ways Canada's equivalent of the Democrats in the U.S. - swept to victory with a strong majority. The new government took one look at the dreadful state of the books and decided to act.
"I said to myself, I will do it. I might be prime minister for only one term, but I will do it," said Chretien.
A shrewd political strategist, Chretien believed Canadians were on board, after they were shocked and embarrassed a year earlier when Standard & Poor's downgraded Canadian foreign currency debt to AA plus from AAA.
He wanted history to remember him as the man who rescued Canada from financial ruin and humiliation.
Chretien sat his skeptical cabinet down and laid down the hard truth. He would get rid of the deficit, it would be painful and unpopular and nobody would be spared. There was no choice, no room for negotiation. It had to be done.
The chill in the room was such that newly appointed junior minister for veterans affairs, Lawrence MacAulay, called his wife afterward to say he would soon be out of a job.
"He said, 'Darling, I will be back home in the next election. I will be defeated, because the prime minister explained to us this morning what he intended to do,'" according to Chretien's recollection.
MacAulay, who represents the Prince Edward Island fishing community of Cardigan, has been reelected six times and sits in the House of Commons today. He couldn't be immediately reached for comment to recall the conversation.
RAISING THE ALARM
Canada's scrape with disaster had been building for a long time.
Over a decade earlier, top finance department bureaucrats had begun raising the alarm about the problem of rising debt, a hangover from the big government era of the 1970s.
The period before Chretien came to power in Canada is often likened to the situation in the U.S. today. The country was not yet peering over a precipice, but was fast approaching it.
Clark said he and his colleagues sent memos to their bosses in the 1980s explaining "the arithmetic": growth was low, interest rates were high and it was only a matter of time before Ottawa would not be able to pay interest on its debt.
But successive governments ignored the warnings and wrote budgets that allowed spending to continue to grow.
"It was hugely frustrating," said Clark. "Every year we put out forecasts showing the deficit going away. We just based every budget on ridiculous assumptions."
The budget deficit more than doubled between 1980 and 1990, rising to 8 percent of GDP in 1983 and 1984, before shrinking to a still unsustainable 5.6 percent just before Chretien took over, and all the time debt was soaring. The debt-to-GDP ratio shot up to 67 percent in 1993-94 from 29 percent in 1980.
The numbers aren't that different to the U.S. today with its deficit of around 9 percent for 2011, and debt-to-GDP ratio at 74 percent, up from 40 percent at the end of 2008.
Drawing a parallel to Washington, Clark said Canadian leaders before Chretien paid lip service to the debt problem but did nothing.
"There are no lights blinking saying you're at the edge of the cliff," he said. "The one lesson others can give the U.S. is that the higher that debt-to-GDP ratio goes, the more difficult it's going to be."
Canada already faced a gaping current account deficit, a weakening currency and high interest rates, and more misery was inevitable if the debt crisis wasn't addressed.
The first kick in the teeth from abroad came from the October 1992 S&P downgrade.
Even two decades later, Don Drummond, in charge of the budget at the finance ministry at the time, bristles at the memory, saying that the downgrade should have been "completely irrelevant" because so little of Canada's debt was in foreign currency. But the damage to public opinion was done.
"We were just mobbed by the media. Here's some foreign institution that says Canada is a basket case. If we had had a Canadian agency downgrade us, probably nobody would have shown up," said Drummond.
The politicians had ignored the bureaucrats, but there was no way to sweep international criticism under the rug.
"Fear drives people. It drove us," said Clark.
"THEY DON'T GET IT"
The Liberals thought their first, rushed budget - delivered in February 1994, three months after taking office, was tough.
It reformed unemployment insurance entitlements, and cut defense and foreign aid, as well as closing some business tax loopholes and ending a C$100,000 lifetime capital gains exemption. The savings totaled C$10 billion over two years.
The government said it would review all programs and predicted a deficit of 3 percent of GDP in 1996. But program spending was still budgeted to rise slightly, and the budget was widely seen as a failure.
Pete DeVries, who headed the fiscal policy division, remembers overhearing chatter from economists' and others as he waited for a flight to Toronto just after the budget.
"The mood was so depressed on that plane that I thought we're never going to get off the ground and if we did get off the ground we'd crash, because it was just doom and gloom," he said. "Everywhere you heard the words, 'They don't get it. They just don't get it.'"
Voters certainly didn't get it. People who had canceled vacations or taken a second job to make ends meet in the recession couldn't understand why Ottawa thought it could live beyond its means.
The upstart Reform Party, then the main national opposition party, had campaigned on "zero-in-three" - balance the budget in three years. "We were always trying to go faster," said Reform's leader at the time, Preston Manning.
Three months later, Moody's Investors Service lowered its rating on Canada's foreign currency debt, citing the government's large and growing debt.
In December 1994, Mexico suffered a run on its currency and the following month the Wall Street Journal stung with its "Bankrupt Canada" editorial, lumping Canada with Mexico as a country that might need an International Monetary Fund bailout.
STIFFENING SPINES, AVOIDING CLIFFS
The Liberals were stung by the criticism and, at first reluctantly but then with gusto, they got out the chain saws.
"I think the Moody's and Wall Street Journal stuff reflected what we knew inside," said then-industry minister John Manley.
Cutting government spending programs went against the Liberal grain. Contrary to the Reform Party, the Liberals saw a more important role for government.
Paul Martin now has a lasting reputation as the finance minister who slayed Canada's deficit, but the conversion from spender to cutter was painful. His father, also called Paul, had helped create Medicare, Canada's publicly funded health care system, and suddenly here was Paul Junior contemplating massive cuts.
Clark remembers riding in a taxi with Martin after meetings in New York.
"He said, 'I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this.' And I said to him, 'You don't have any choice because if we don't do it that means you won't be able to keep the programs you've already got. We're going to go over the cliff and we'll be cutting like you won't even believe,'" Clark said.
"We told him you are still a Liberal but you have to be a small 'c' fiscal conservative to be a nice good Liberal."
In the end, Martin famously vowed to tackle the deficit "come hell or high water."
Chretien and Martin later parted ways bitterly, but they formed a formidable duo during the budget cutting.
At one 1994 cabinet meeting, Martin announced a spending freeze. A minister put forward a project that needed funding but Chretien cut him off, reminding him of Martin's freeze.
A second minister raised his hand to ask for funding, and a testy Chretien told the cabinet that the next minister to ask for new money would see his whole budget cut by 20 percent.
Chretien's scrappiness, which was one result of his upbringing in a working class family in rural Quebec, had already earned him the nickname of "Dr. No" when he was finance minister in the 1970s.
"The prime minister was the man with the steel rod up his spine. He was inflexible," Manley said.
For ministers it was brutal. Manley lost half his budget as industry minister in the 1994 budget and went from 54 programs down to 11.
"Everyone knew they had to face the music, and they did it," Chretien said in the interview in his law offices. "They had no choice. There was no great debate. I had made my view very clear."
MORE SPENDING CUTS THAN TAX HIKES
The ratio of spending cuts to tax hikes was seven-to-one. Asked why, Chretien said simply: "There was more need on one side than the other."
That contrasts with proposals this year by President Barack Obama and the Democrats to have a much higher proportion of revenue increases in the deficit-tackling mix.
Canadian ministers were told how much they had to cut and then told to come back with a plan on how to do it. Cuts ranged from five percent to 65 percent of departmental budgets and included controversial cuts in transfers that help provinces pay for health and education, decisions that lengthened medical waiting lists for years to come.
Chretien exempted just a few areas from the cuts, including the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. He also blocked big changes to benefits for the elderly and made sure tax collectors had enough resources.
In the end, program spending (everything except interest payments on the debt) fell by about 12 percent, or C$14 billion, between 1994-95 and 1998-99. The percentage fall was substantially more after adjusting for inflation.
The gloomy Canadian reaction to the 1994 budget changed to applause in 1995. "People came up to me to say, 'You guys got it,'" DeVries said.
The deficit disappeared by 1997 and the debt-to-GDP ratio began a rapid decline - it is now at about 34 percent.
"The entire political class decided to stop treating this as a matter of political contention and started treating it as a matter of national interest," said Crowley, the political economist.
After wrestling the deficit to the ground, Canada enjoyed what Crowley calls the payoff decade, outperforming the rest of the G7 on growth, job creation and inward investment. From 1997 to 2007, it averaged 3.3 percent economic growth. while U.S. growth averaged 2.9 percent.
The Canadian dollar weakened from around C$1.38 to the U.S. dollar at the time of the 1995 budget to almost C$1.62 in 2002, helping make Canada more competitive. But it has since roared back and now stands close to parity with the greenback.
SHEER DUMB LUCK
Canadians are the first to admit that a lot of their success was the result of good timing that cannot be replicated today. The rosy global economy then contrasts with today's turmoil. There was no euro zone crisis to worry about. The United States and China were growing fast, demanding Canadian exports. Nobody else was reining in spending.
Canadian interest rates plummeted by more than 1,000 basis points between 1990 and 1994, generating huge savings on debt payments and encouraging business investment.
Clark says the U.S. dollar's role as the world's reserve currency may be disguising Washington's problems and means the critical period could be a ways away.
"There's no market discipline," said Clark. "People want to buy U.S. Treasuries and they always know they will get paid."
The parliamentary political system also helped Chretien, since there is no effective division of powers between the executive and legislative branches as in the United States. A prime minister with a majority in the House of Commons can push through whatever he wants.
And politicians were almost all on board. The opposition Reform Party was screaming for even deeper cuts and public opinion was ahead of the politicians in calling for austerity.
SACRED COWS
Some of Canada's lessons are applicable elsewhere and Britain's Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives both cited the Canadian model when peddling their austerity plans to voters in their successful 2010 election campaigns.
Chretien said he had had no qualms in telling Britain's coalition government that it was wrong to exempt areas such as the National Health Service, regarded as sacred by many in Britain, from the drastic spending cuts.
"I told them they made a mistake," Chretien said. "I remember talking with a very senior person in health who said to me privately, 'I'm not very happy that I'm exempt' ... He needed the same pressure as the others."
The Canadian mantra was to go big, spreading the pain and sparing no one, to prevent rivalries and resentment.
"You have to take immediate action and it's got to be primarily on the spending side..., but at the same time everybody has got to come to the market and that really means tax increases as well," Martin told Reuters in August.
CANADIAN LESSONS
Members of the deficit slaying team have since advised countries as far ranging as Bahrain and Bangladesh. Canada has touted its fiscal record to push for coordinated deficit reduction in the Group of 20 most powerful economies.
Some veterans of Canada's successful rebound believe the United States needs a value-added tax similar to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Canada's Conservatives introduced in 1991.
The Liberals say they were pragmatic, not ideological, on taxes. But they could not boost tax revenues much because Canadians' top marginal income tax rate was already uncompetitive at around 55 percent and the unpopular GST was already on the books.
Reform Party's Manning said the U.S. spending-versus-tax debate does not have to be a question of either/or, but he saw a lesson from the way Ottawa cut its own fat before holding out its hand to taxpayers.
"So you don't completely rule out tax changes or tax increases in the future, but you make them conditional on achieving a certain degree of financial order now," he said.
Former bureaucrats also say flat, across-the-board spending cuts are a bad idea, even though it's more palatable to staff to shave 5 percent off the top of each program.
Unless whole programs are killed, departments might simply postpone vitally needed capital spending, including such things as maintenance and repair, and have to boost it back to former levels within a few years.
The final lesson is that you can impose painful spending cuts and still win elections. Chretien went on to win two more back-to-back to form majority governments, a rare feat. He argued that a responsible Liberal who believes the state has a role in reducing poverty can only do so by ensuring a financially healthy government.
Drummond, who later moved to the private sector and is now an advisor helping the Ontario provincial government slash its deficit, noted that governments on the right and left in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario won more voter support after their own budget cuts in the 1990s.
"Brutal, brutal fiscal restraint, and all won majority governments right afterward," he said.
(Editing by Janet Guttsman and Martin Howell)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/bs_nm/us_crisis
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Bush tax cut debate dooms deal to cut deficit
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A long-running war between Democrats and Republicans over Bush-era tax cuts doomed the chances of the deficit-reduction supercommittee reaching a deal. Efforts to overhaul the tax code may await the same fate as both parties gear up to make taxes a central issue in 2012 elections.
Republicans insisted during the supercommittee negotiations that curbing tax breaks to raise revenues be coupled with guarantees that tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush be made permanent. Democrats balked, fueling a debate that is unlikely to be settled before voting next November.
Republicans want to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent. Most Democrats want to extend them only for individuals making less than $200,000 a year and married couples making less than $250,000.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
94% Take Shelter
schizophrenia or prophecy? this is a hard film to score. its at least a 4 star film, and potentially 5, so ill go in between. it doesnt have a high re-watchability factor which is my only criticism, and that isnt really a criticism because its more a product of the material then the quality of the film. this is easily one of the best films of the year, and one of the better films in the past few years. shannon and chastain were both amazing in their roles, which for chastain amazes me because she has so little experience in film, and even the supporting players around them all added wonderful performances. the subject matter is as engaging as it gets, and as i hoped for through the entire film, things are not what they seem. beautiful direction by nichols, amazing cinematography for such a small scale story, and the material was handled with perfect care. nichols, shannon, and chastain probably all deserve oscar noms, and this is the type of soul stirring film that must be seen. i havent felt like this leaving a film since "a serious man".
November 7, 2011Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_shelter/
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A goat is a chef's best friend
Fairmont Hotels incorporate 'farm connections' to bring fresh, local tastes to their customers.
While the rise of urban farming is prompting even city dwellers to raise their own tomatoes and chickens, chefs are also bringing the source of the dishes they create ever closer to their kitchens. And sometimes that means a personal bond between an executive chef and a goat.
Skip to next paragraph Kendra NordinKendra Nordin thinks cooking and sharing a meal is an act of creativity that everyone should do every single day. Light some candles, set fresh flowers on the table, and sit down to enjoy a meal with friends ? this stuff feeds the soul. She is also a staff editor for The Christian Science Monitor and produces Stir It Up!
Recent posts
Fairmont Newport Beach in California has adopted seven goats ? Suzy Q, Snickers, Frankie, Lucy, Cali, Trixie and Taffy ? as part of its focus on sustainability and local foods. In collaboration with local Drake Farms Goat Dairy, where the milk-producing goats actually live, the animals are cared for by dedicated farmers and staff and receive regular visits from the hotel?s executive chef Chad Blunston. With its team of goats, Drake Farms produces the organic goat cheese that? Chef Blunston uses in his creations for hotel guests.
Fairmont Newport Beach follows in the footsteps of Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, which adopted one goat, affectionately named Blanche Neige (Snow White, pictured above), last year. A registered ?show goat? with an impressive pedigree, Blanche Neige was adopted from the local Fromagerie du Vieux St-Fran?ois, where she still lives. Blanche Neige is a Saanen goat, a breed from the Saanen Valley of Switzerland. She produces cheese for the menu at The Beaver Club, as well as for sale at the Fairmont Store.
In nearby Quebec City, Executive Chef Jean Soulard of Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac recently added a few new tenants to his rooftop garden: five hens now reside alongside the hotel?s resident honey bees. Chantecler hens, the only 100 percent Qu?bec breed, have been carefully selected by Chef Soulard and have been placed in a coop equipped with a copper roof that matches the architecture of the hotel and fed only organic grains.
Now that is a fancy hen house!
Goat Cheese Pannacotta
Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels
20 white asparagus, sliced
6 teaspoons clarified butter
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup shallots, chopped
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 leaf gelatin
Salt, pepper, to taste
Fresh basil
Melt clarified butter in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add asparagus slices, shallots and garlic. Saut? until soft but not brown. Add liquid and cook for approx. 45 minutes on low heat. Let cool. Transfer to blender. Add goat cheese, basil. Mix well for 3 minutes and add gelatin. Strain and pour in silicone molds (rectangular if you have). Refrigerate.
Gaspacho
Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels
15 yellow tomatoes, peeled
1 cucumber, seeds removed
2 yellow peppers, peeled
Fresh mint
3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt, pepper
Mix well in blender and refrigerate.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/0OxMOMX2ymw/A-goat-is-a-chef-s-best-friend
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'Hawks stuff Rams 24-7
By R.B. FALLSTROM
updated 8:06 p.m. ET Nov. 20, 2011
ST. LOUIS - The Seattle Seahawks opened the game with a 55-yard trick play followed by an interception by Tarvaris Jackson.
No matter. A defense led by Chris Clemons made sure they didn't need too much scoring to put away the St. Louis Rams.
Wide receiver Sidney Rice completed a 55-yard pass to open the game, caught a touchdown pass and drew a pass interference call to set up a field goal as the Seahawks beat the Rams 24-7 on Sunday.
Clemons had three of Seattle's five sacks on Sam Bradford and also forced the Rams quarterback to fumble twice, both of which led to touchdowns.
Marshawn Lynch scored for the fourth straight week, although he missed on a third straight 100-yard game, finishing with 88 yards on 27 carries . The Rams (2-8) totaled 185 yards.
The Seahawks (4-6) won on consecutive weeks for the first time, following up on an upset over Baltimore, and have won 12 of 13 in the series.
Seattle improved to 2-4 on the road in a game notable for sloppy play and 19 punts, including a season-high 10 by the Rams' Donnie Jones.
Lynch scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter, five plays after Bradford fumbled at the St. Louis 25, and Justin Forsett broke several tackles on a 22-yarder on third-and-11 to clinch it with 4:21 to go. The clincher came three plays after Red Bryant intercepted a pass tipped at the line by Brandon Mebane.
Running behind an injury-riddled line, St. Louis' Steven Jackson had 42 yards on 15 carries to end a run of three straight games of 125 or more yards.
The Rams opened without starting tackles with Rodger Saffold (pectoral) and Jason Smith (concussion). Practice squad callup Kevin Hughes was called on to play after fill-in tackle Mark Levoir injured his right shoulder in the first half.
With under seven minutes to go in the first quarter, the Rams had two interceptions, a blocked punt and their first touchdown in the opening quarter since Jackson scored on a 47-yard run on St. Louis' first offensive snap of the season against the Eagles.
After that, they couldn't get going. A defense that totaled four sacks kept it close for a while, but the Rams never made it to the red zone and crossed the 50 only three times.
Seattle took a 10-7 lead on Steven Hauschka's 19-yard field goal to end the half, one play after Justin King was called for interference in the end zone against Rice.
Rice executed a flea-flicker on the game's first play, hitting Mike Williams in stride with a step on King for a 55-yard gain to the Rams 30. On the next play, Jackson was intercepted by Chris Chamberlain.
The Rams didn't cash in on that turnover, but Quintin Mikell's pick on the Seahawks' next series set up Brandon Lloyd's 30-yard touchdown catch. Lloyd fell down on his route and then sprang to his feet to catch cornerback Richard Sherman by surprise.
Rice made his second big play on a 14-yard catch that tied it 7-all midway through the second quarter.
The Rams' 10 first-down snaps in the half produced minus-2 yards.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsYoung authors drive to remember
PFT: For one drive Sunday night, Eagles quarterback Vince Young reminded everyone what made him so special when he was ripping off victories as a rookie with the Tennessee Titans.
Young leads Eagles past Giants
Vince Young threw a go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper with 2:45 to play as undermanned Philadelphia beat the Giants 17-10.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45379981/ns/sports-nfl/
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Sunday, November 20, 2011
Selena Gomez?s Stalker Thomas Bronicki On 5150 Psychiatric Hold
Selena Gomez’s Stalker Thomas Bronicki On 5150 Psychiatric Hold
Selena Gomez’s scary stalker, Thomas Brodnicki, who told a therapist that God ordered him to kill the singer, was released on Wednesday after a judge [...]
Selena Gomez’s Stalker Thomas Bronicki On 5150 Psychiatric Hold Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
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Facebook Employees Go Nuts As Zuckerberg Tells Them The IPO Is ...
Image: abraham.williams
This is not a photo of Zuckerburg telling employees about the IPO.
A source close to Facebook employees emailed us yesterday to say that the rumor flitting from employee to employee is that "a Facebook S1 filing is coming really soon. ?Possibly as soon as next month.""The IPO talk inside Facebook has ramped up the past 6 weeks and Zuckerberg repeatedly has said that it is 'coming,' which he *never* said in the history of Facebook."
The truth is that Facebook is going to go public, and relatively soon. Because it's surpassed the SEC's 500 shareholder limit, the company has to disclose its financials in April. That doesn't mean it has to IPO, but we understand the company plans to bite the bullet and go for it around then anyway.
As for whether or not Facebook will file its S-1 very soon, we're skeptical. A source close to the IPO process tells us Facebook has not yet decided which banks will underwrite the offering. That's a step that has to happen before the S-1 gets written and published.
Facebook employees who joined the company three or four or more years ago have endured a lovely, teasing kind of torture.
Back then, they joined a startup that was already the hottest in Silicon Valley ? worth a couple billion dollars.
They all got a bunch of stock options or, later, restricted stock units, that would someday turn into real equity. The payout looked good based on where Facebook was then.
But then Facebook's valuation exploded in a way that few dared to predict. In 2007, it got a $15 billion valuation. In 2009, a Russian billionaire invested $100 million at a $10 billion valuation. At the end of 2011, Goldman Sachs invested at a $50 billion valuation. The company currently has an ~$80 billion implied valuation on the secondary markets.
The torture part of the equation was this: even as the theoretical value of their vested RSUs and options exploded, there wasn't much employees could do about it.
Employees who joined before fall 2007 got real options that, when vested, turned into real stock. But they weren't allowed to sell it on secondary markets unless they quit the company. Employees who joined after Fall 2007 had it even worse. They didn't get real options. They got RSUs that wouldn't become liquid until after Facebook held an intial public offering.
This was, and is, a particularly brutal restriction because over the past five years, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly and privately abhorred the idea of rushing the company into an IPO.? Some, including Zuckerberg's biographer, suggested that Facebook might never IPO.
Now, obviously, this torture is one that most of the rest of us would happily endure ? with a big smile on our faces. Also, there were a few occaisions where Facebook employees were able trade in some of their vested options (never RSUs) for cash.
But still, sitting there and watching your theoretical net worth shoot to the moon and not being able to do much about it has created an atmosphere of taut suspense among Facebook employees. It's been like the pressure that builds inside a kettle.
These days, the kettle is starting to whistle.
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Saturday, November 19, 2011
Asia needs further steps amid euro zone crisis: Japan PM (Reuters)
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) ? Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday Asia needs to consider further steps to avoid a financial crisis as the euro zone's debt problems could spill into the region.
While Asia has become more resilient due to its economic management since the region's own financial crisis in 1997/98, it is not immune to Europe's problems, Noda said.
"I don't think Asia is necessarily vulnerable to external shocks (from Europe)," Noda told a news conference after the East Asia Summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
"Given efforts to conduct sound economic policy, the region generally enjoys a current account surplus and its foreign reserves are at high levels, so it has become more resilient to external shocks."
"Having said that, there is no doubt that we could face adverse impact if we cannot build a firewall against the European crisis."
Policymakers around the world are worried that Europe's inability to unify around a debt strategy could hurt their economies.
Greece, Ireland and Portugal - all small, peripheral euro zone economies - have already been forced to accept EU/IMF bailouts as they can no longer afford to borrow commercially.
Now Italy's borrowing costs have reached unsustainable levels, while Spain's are nearing this point and the crisis is even starting to affect triple-A rated France.
While giving no details on what kind of further steps Asia should take, Noda said boosting regional financial cooperation is basically the way to go as Asia tries to prepare itself for possible meltdowns in Europe.
Japan, China and South Korea lead a $120 billion emergency fund, under the so-called the Chiang Mai Initiative, with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) - part of a move to strengthen ties and avert the repeat of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
In a move to beef up its foreign exchange defenses in the wake of global uncertainties, South Korea last month signed an agreement with China to double the value of their bilateral currency swap pact after securing a similar deal with Japan.
In addition to such efforts, Asia needs further crisis prevention measures, Noda said.
"Japan is leading discussions on how to prevent crisis and on introducing further steps to avert crisis at a regional level. We need to quickly wrap up those and I proposed that at the summit of ASEAN+3 (ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea)."
(Editing by Jason Szep)
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Why can't Pakistan clear its terrorist safe havens? Envoy explains. (video)
The US and Pakistan are stuck in an unsatisfactory arrangement where neither side gets what it wants, the envoy says: no Pakistani crackdown on North Waziristan, and ongoing US drone strikes.?
Pakistan, following its own national security interests, will resist US pressure to launch a military campaign against terrorist groups in its North Waziristan region that target US forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
Skip to next paragraphAnd in the absence of a full-scale Pakistani assault, the US will continue to target militants in North Waziristan with drone strikes ? as it did this week, killing at least seven suspected terrorists.
The result of this arrangement between Pakistan and the United States, which doesn?t fully satisfy either side, is that tensions between two partners that have soared to new heights this year are likely to continue.
That scenario, as unsatisfactory as it may be to both Pakistan and the US, looks to be around for a while, based on an assessment of US-Pakistani relations by Pakistan?s ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani.
?I think both sides understand the other?s positions,? Pakistan?s chief diplomat in Washington said as he fielded journalists? questions at a Monitor breakfast Wednesday. ?We are moving ahead in ways that American lives won?t be put at risk in Afghanistan, and that ensure Pakistan is able to maintain its interests.?
But Ambassador Haqqani also reiterated Pakistan?s insistence that the military, which officials say is stretched thin fighting militants elsewhere, won?t launch the kind of assault in North Waziristan that it has in South Waziristan and in the Swat Valley.?
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a surprise trip to Islamabad last month, during which she laid out a ?time to get with the program? message on the need for Pakistan to take on the militant groups it has harbored and in some cases nurtured.
A focus of that message was the Haqqani network based in North Waziristan, a group involved in attacks on US forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
But Haqqani said Wednesday that US officials now understand better Pakistan?s internal constraints in confronting some groups. He listed two red lines that Pakistan has laid down with the US concerning what it will and won?t do in the battle with terrorism: Pakistan won?t act in ways that involve ?taking risks with our own internal cohesion,? he said, or that would pose ?risks to our own national security.?
The down side of that approach for Pakistan is that it virtually guarantees that the strikes by unmanned US drones will continue and even increase.?Suspected US drones struck just before midnight Tuesday in South Waziristan, killing 16 suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials were quoted as saying Wednesday.
Haqqani repeated Pakistan?s public position that the drone strikes are a violation of Pakistani sovereignty, and that they contribute to America?s poor image in the country ? a problem he said actually boosts militants? recruiting efforts.
?We have always let be known our opposition to the American strikes,? he said, adding that the issue is also not one that ?we want to bring into open debate.? But he noted that even American officials have questioned the use of drones to hit suspected militants, wondering if over the longer term ?we are creating more rather than less bad guys.?
Pakistan has continued to receive billions of dollars a year in American military and civilian development assistance despite a perception in the US that Pakistan is working against US interests. That sentiment has led a number of US officials and others ? most recently several Republican presidential candidates ? to question the wisdom of continuing the aid.
Haqqani said the US needs to consider that the aid it offers Pakistan works in America?s interest. ?From your country?s perspective, [aid] makes sense,? he said, noting specifically that high-profile efforts like recent assistance to earthquake and flood victims in Pakistan ?win hearts and minds.?
But he also acknowledged that the effort to improve America?s image has a long way to go, noting that a recent Pew Research Center survey found a meager 12 percent of Pakistanis have a positive view of the US. The dislike appears to be mutual: Haqqani noted that another recent survey from Rasmussen found that 40 percent of Americans consider Pakistan to be America?s ?enemy.?
In any case, Haqqani said that Pakistan, while it appreciates the aid it receives, is more interested in building a relationship with the US based on trade and mutual strategic interests ? something closer, in other words, to what the US is developing with Pakistan?s regional rival, India.
That may be the goal, but even given the somewhat-varnished tableau Haqqani painted of US-Pakistan relations, the two uneasy partners seem unlikely to get there any time soon.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Chromosome glitch tied to separation anxiety
Finding joins other links between extra or missing genes and mental conditions
Web edition : 8:05 am
WASHINGTON ? Separation anxiety in some children may be due to extra doses of a particular gene.
The gene, GTF2I, is located on human chromosome 7. People missing part of the chromosome that contains GTF2I have a condition called Williams syndrome and are generally extra social. On the other hand, people who have extra copies of that part of chromosome 7 may have social and other types of anxiety: About 26 percent of children with an extra copy the region containing GTF2I have been diagnosed by a doctor as having separation anxiety, human geneticist Lucy Osborne of the University of Toronto said November 15 at a press conference at the Society for Neuroscience?s annual meeting.
Osborne and colleagues genetically engineered mice to have a duplicate copy or two of GTF2I, or to be missing one copy of the gene, then tested the effect of the gene dosage on separation anxiety with a squeak test. Week-old baby mice separated from their mothers send out ultrasonic distress calls. ?It?s a ?come get me? signal,? Osborne said.
Baby mice with a normal two copies of GTF2I squeaked an average of 192 times over four minutes when removed briefly from their nests. Mice with three or four copies squeaked nearly twice as much, indicating greater anxiety at being separated from their mothers. Mice missing one copy of the gene were a little bit less vocal.
Previous studies have linked missing or duplicated genes to schizophrenia (SN: 4/25/09, p. 16), autism (SN: 7/3/10, p. 12) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (SN: 9/10/11, p. 12), but this is the first study to show that some forms of anxiety may be linked to added or subtracted genes. The researchers don?t yet know how the gene leads to anxiety, but GTF2I regulates the activity of other genes and helps control levels of calcium, which brain cells use to communicate with each other.
The mouse experiments make the observation of greater separation anxiety of children with extra copies of GTF2I much more believable than a mere association of a genetic change with a certain human disease, says Klaus Miczek of Tufts University in Boston, who was not involved in the work.
Even though the researchers have shown that duplications of the gene may be involved in some cases of separation anxiety, the gene is probably not involved in all types of anxiety, Osborne said. And not every child with separation anxiety will have extra copies of GTF2I.
Found in: Genes & Cells
Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336222/title/Chromosome_glitch_tied_to_separation_anxiety
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Quick look at the 4 issues in health care case (AP)
The questions the Supreme Court asked lawyers to argue when the justices consider appeals of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in March:
? Does Congress have the power to mandate that Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty?
? If the requirement to buy insurance is unconstitutional, is the whole law unconstitutional? What other parts of the law, if any, could survive?
? Is Congress illegally coercing states to expand Medicaid, the subsidized health care for the poor and disabled, by threatening to withhold funding from states that refuse?
? Since the penalty for not buying health insurance doesn't go into effect until federal income taxes are due in 2015, are legal arguments currently brought against the health care overhaul premature?
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