Pope appeals urgently for end to bloodshed in Syria

Pope Benedict XVI launched an urgent appeal for an end to bloodshed in Syria on Sunday, calling on the international community to do everything to help resolve the conflict.

"I continue to follow with alarm that tragic and growing episodes of violence in Syria with the sad succession of deaths and injuries," the pope said following his weekly angelus prayers at his summer residence near Rome.

"I renew an urgent appeal to bring an end to all violence and bloodshed," he said, calling for "no effort to be spared, particularly on the part of the international community, to reach a just political solution to the conflict."

The pontiff said his thoughts went in particular to the "huge number of internally displaced people and refugees in the neighbouring countries," and asked that they be guaranteed the "necessary humanitarian assistance and help."

A fierce battle between Syrian troops and rebel fighters raged in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo for the second day on Sunday, amid calls from peace envoy Kofi Annan for both sides to down weapons and find a political solution.

Human rights monitors say the conflict has killed more than 20,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

In his speech from a balcony at the Castel Gandolfo near Rome, Benedict told hundreds of flag-waving pilgrims that he was also concerned about recent violence in Iraq, and prayed the situation in the country would stabilise.

"My thoughts also go to the dear nation of Iraq, which has been hit by numerous, serious attacks which have caused many deaths and injuries," he said.

"May this great country find the path of stability, of reconciliation and of peace," he added.

On Monday, 113 people were killed and over 250 wounded in the worst spate of violence to hit Iraq in more than two and a half years, which came after Al-Qaeda warned it would seek to retake territory.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-appeals-urgently-end-bloodshed-syria-134153473.html

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Source: http://twitter.com/leaderswest/statuses/229686527595257856

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France says 'organised' African force needed for Mali crisis

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said any military intervention in Mali's rebel occupied north would have to be undertaken by a properly-equipped and organised African force.

"There is a lot of preparatory work involved," Fabius, who is currently visiting west Africa, told AFP in an interview in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

"It's up to Malians and to the Africans to take the necessary decisions with the backing of the international community," he said.

"It's not easy because one has to find adequate forces in Mali and neighbouring countries," he said, adding that the troops would have to be "organised, sufficient and equipped."

Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore returned to Bamako on Friday amid tight security after a two-month stay in Paris for medical treatment after he was attacked by a mob in his office.

Hardline Islamists have strengthened their hold on the vast desert north of Mali, which they seized after a March coup in Bamako.

The interim government which took over from the junta which staged the putsch has proved powerless to deal with the occupation.

Mali's prime minister is trying to cobble a wider unity government on the orders of mediators from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc to deal with the mounting crisis.

ECOWAS wants to send a 3,000-strong military force to Mali, but is waiting for United Nations approval and a formal request from Bamako from a more inclusive government.

Mali has until Tuesday to form the unity government, a process which faces further hurdles after key political parties called for Diarra to step down, accusing him of "incompetence and amateurishness".

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-says-organised-african-force-needed-mali-crisis-164123234.html

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Jackson move to Mayo could point to complications

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2011 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., is seen during the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington. When Jackson disappeared on a mysterious medical leave in June 2012, it took weeks for anyone in Washington to notice. Jackson has never lived up to the high expectations on the national stage. But none of that seems to matter in his district, where he?s brought home close to $1 billion in earmarks and other funding and won every election since 1995 in a landslide, despite nagging ethical questions over links to imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The dual roles could help explain why the Democrat has given so few details of his medical leave. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2011 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., is seen during the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington. When Jackson disappeared on a mysterious medical leave in June 2012, it took weeks for anyone in Washington to notice. Jackson has never lived up to the high expectations on the national stage. But none of that seems to matter in his district, where he?s brought home close to $1 billion in earmarks and other funding and won every election since 1995 in a landslide, despite nagging ethical questions over links to imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The dual roles could help explain why the Democrat has given so few details of his medical leave. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

CHICAGO (AP) ? The announcement that Jesse Jackson Jr. had been transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota pinned down his whereabouts for the first time in weeks and gave clear confirmation that the Illinois congressman is suffering from depression.

It also was the first mention that he's now being treated for a "gastrointestinal issue," which some experts said Saturday was a sign his condition is becoming more complicated.

The Chicago Democrat and son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has been on a secretive leave of absence for nearly seven weeks, during which his office has released only occasional snippets of information, including that he was undergoing treatment for a "mood disorder" at an undisclosed inpatient facility.

A new, three-sentence written statement from the congressman was distributed by the Mayo Clinic late Friday during the national broadcast of the Olympics' opening ceremony, when public attention was more likely fixed half a world away.

As in the past, the statement gave scant detail, an apparent ongoing strategy in the face of pressure from congressional colleagues and constituents clamoring for an in-depth explanation.

It said he had been transferred to the Mayo Clinic for "extensive inpatient evaluation for depression and gastrointestinal issues," but gave no information on the nature of his depression, where Jackson was being treated prior to arriving at the Mayo Clinic or his progress.

The clinic said Saturday it could not release anything further.

Mention of a gastrointestinal problem raised new questions ? whether it's linked to the depression, entirely unrelated or a complication from a 2004 procedure he underwent to help him lose weight.

"Certainly some people do, as part of their depression or anxiety disorder, manifest it with gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea," said Matthew Lilly, a psychiatrist in Rochester, Minn., who did a yearlong fellowship at Mayo in 2010 before going into private practice.

"But for them to even comment on that would, to me, sound as if it's a significant issue and not just a mild symptom associated with his illness," he said.

The Mayo Clinic has a highly rated gastrointestinal department as well as a free-standing inpatient psychiatric unit, said John Anderson of the Associates in Psychiatry and Psychology in southeastern Minnesota.

He said people receiving psychiatric care are often transferred to the clinic when a physical illness develops since both can be treated there.

"Mayo does an excellent job in terms of combining those, so they can treat what's essentially a dual diagnosis," Anderson said.

Phone messages left Saturday for Jackson's spokesman weren't immediately returned.

There was no word Saturday on how long Jackson might remain at the Mayo Clinic.

Typically, Mayo will keep someone as a psychiatric inpatient anywhere from several days to several weeks, Lilly said, though he added the use of the phrase "extensive inpatient evaluation" suggested to him it could be longer for Jackson.

"That would be pretty unusual for someone to stay as an inpatient more than a couple of weeks unless there were some pretty complicated issues going on," Lilly said.

The Mayo Clinic has treated other high-profile figures, including Saudi King Abdullah, and has a reputation for top-level security and strict patient privacy, which is evidently important to the congressman and those around him.

Clinic spokesman Ginger Plumbo said it released the brief statement only because Jackson's staff requested it.

"We would never just release information about any patient without their request or consent," Plumbo said.

The timing of Jackson's medical leave has raised questions, in part because Jackson is facing an ethics investigation in the U.S. House connected to imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The congressman went on leave June 10, but his office didn't disclose it until weeks later. Initially, his office said Jackson was being treated for exhaustion. Since then, the office has said his condition was more serious and required inpatient medical treatment.

Earlier this month, a statement from an unidentified doctor said Jackson was receiving intensive medical treatment at a residential treatment facility for "a mood disorder."

The House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that Jackson was involved in discussions about raising money for Blagojevich's campaign in exchange for the then-governor appointing him to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

Jackson was not charged and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-28-Jackson-Leave%20of%20Absence/id-4cb9fcbf83974fa98bd0d80f81b59fce

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3DS Mod - Animation Films Unparalleled Entertainment Option

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Creating an cartoon flick or movie is less easy. It needs good expertise and skills. It is very a pricey process. Most of the cartoon for movies and TV is done inside studios which deal with professional cartoon. In the past, various individual artists employed to create unique animated masterpiece of design. But with the advancement of research and technologies, there is a noticeable improvement inside the art of cartoon. Independent cartoon manufacturers are now working inside the professional cartoon business. These are generally creating some good cartoon films and video. The interactive 3d cartoon films are furthermore being appreciated.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 22nd, 2012 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://3dsmod.net/index.php/2012/07/animation-films-unparalleled-entertainment-option/

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Taxes & Waking Up With the House On Fire | The Bilerico Project

If your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't haggle over the price of your garden hose.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I wasn't planning on writing about this today, but take a moment to Andrew Leonard's Salon piece, "Thank God for Taxes." Read it from beginning to end, and you'll understand how a moment of personal terror and loss - waking up with the house on fire - inspired Leonard to meditate on taxes, and compose a counterpoint to Lindsey Graham's equation of tax avoidance with patriotism.

If you're like me, "waking up to strange crackling and popping sounds" is nightmare you can readily identify with. I'm slightly paranoid leaving the house or going to bed with the stove still burning. It's nothing for me to get back out of bed or turn around and go back into the house to make absolutely sure all the burners are off. I was the last to go to bed the night of our most recent power outage, and I found myself getting out of bed to be sure that all the candles downstairs were extinguished. (I ran them under the faucet just to make sure.)

Midnight in Berkeley, Calif. I am standing barefoot in the middle of the street watching firefighters rush in and out of my home. My phone rings. It is my daughter, calling from a small town in Normandy, France.

"Dad," she says. "What's going on? I got an email from a neighbor saying our house is on fire?!"

Yes, I tell her. Our house is on fire. As I speak into the phone, I watch a chainsaw-wielding firefighter cut a hole in my roof. Two others are getting their oxygen tanks replaced.

"What happened?"

What happened was something that could have happened to anyone. Leonard, while grilling burgers earlier in the day, failed to notice a charcoal ember that slipped through the "decrepit ash catcher" under his grill and sat smoldering on the deck until it finally burst into flame. Meanwhile Leonard sent his son to play video games at friends house, and went to bed early, in preparation for a busy morning parsing the Supreme Court ruling on health care reform.

The first fire engine arrived within five minutes, followed quickly by six others. And - unlike the scene that played out in South Fulton, TN, a couple of years ago - fire fighters set to work putting out the fire. Leonard's home was saved from total destruction, and no one was hurt.

Amid the ruins of his home, Leonard's thoughts moved beyond his personal tragedy.

I'm a politically minded person who writes about economics, and in the days that have followed the fire I have been unable to resist the impulse to put every tendril of flame into larger context. Consider today's crappy Weber grills, where every new model seems to degrade into obsolescence faster than the previous one, a victim of the cost pressures midwifed by Wal-Mart-style globalization. Or how about the lifesaving value of insurance, a point brought home to me as never before on the very same day that John Roberts astoundingly upheld the constitutionality of healthcare reform. (Note to mandate-haters: If my mortgage lender hadn't required that I have home insurance, would I have plunked down that check to Farmers every one of the last 16 years?) Also of interest: prior to the fire, I had no conception of how big an economic event a disaster like mine is for other people. The hubbub of job-creating activity related to my home in the past few weeks has injected instant cash into the local economy - from Santa Rosa down to Watsonville. I am my own Keynesian-stimulus. Want to get the U.S. economy really moving? Burn everything down.

But most of all, I am emerging from this drama with a renewed appreciation for the value of my taxpayer-supported public services. The Berkeley Fire Department did right by me - not only by saving most of my house from burning to the ground, but also by demonstrating real human kindness and connection in the middle of fire and chaos. In the rubble, I found magic. And in a strange way, I feel like I deserved it. In Berkeley, we are addicted to high taxes - in the 25 years I've lived here, I can't even count how many times I and my fellow citizens have said a resounding yes to yet another tax hike or bond measure. Two weeks ago, I got my money's worth.

Of course, Leonard's taxes not only paid for the fire department that ultimately saved his home, but paid also for that same fire department to put out a similar fire in his community just a few days earlier, and would have paid for the same had any of his neighbors' homes caught fire that night. Indeed, at least one neighbor's home was imperiled, and saved by fire fighters. When the fire spread to a the wooden fence separating their two homes, fire fighters chopped down burning section of the fence, saving the neighbor's home from damage.

Had Berkely's been privatized, fire fighters would have checked to see if Leonard had paid his fee before putting the fire consuming his house. And if he hadn't, they could simply watch it burn.

Firefighters aren't afraid to break down windows and doors to douse flames, but a Tennessee family's failure to pay a $75 fee stopped firefighters dead in their tracks last week as a home burned to the ground.

South Fulton, Tenn., firefighters stood on the sidelines, watching as flames engulfed Gene Cranick's Obion County home. They refused to help because Cranick had not paid an annual "pay to spray" subscription fee.

"I just forgot to pay my $75," homeowner Gene Cranick said. "I did it last year, the year before. ... It slipped my mind."

The city of South Fulton charges that $75 fire protection fee to rural residents who live outside the city limits. When a household has not paid the fee, firefighters are required by law to not respond.

"We have to follow the rules and the ordinances set forth to us, and that's exactly what we do," said Jeff Vowell, South Fulton city manager

Perversely, if sparks from Leonard's house fire ignited the home of a neighbor who had paid her fee, the same fire department would be justified in putting out their paying customer's fire even as Leonard's home burned down. And yes, conservatives like Glenn Beck were quick to disparage Cranick and defend the fire department that let his home burn down over a $75 fee.

And the takeaway quote from Beck:

If you don't pay the 75 dollars then that hurts the fire department. They can't use those resources, and you'd be sponging off your neighbor's resources.

That's right. A matter of days after losing everything they owned, including their home, their pets, family photographs -- everything -- and all because of a delinquent $75 fee, Gene Cranick and his family were excoriated, scolded and teased by multimillionaire celebrity televangelist Glenn Beck in front of a radio audience estimated at upwards of 10 million listeners.

Welcome to the world of Glenn Beck and Linsdey Graham, where everything is privatized, and the FDR quote at the top of this post is turned on its head: Haggling over the price of a garden hose while your neighbor's house burns down is patriotism at its finest.

Mitt Romney's tax exploits are just as American as apple pie, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Graham worked hard to get the point across that "it's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally." No, really, it really is:

"As long as it was legal, I'm OK with it," Graham said. "I don't blame anybody for using the tax code to their advantage. I blame us for having it so complicated and confused. Pick a rate and make people pay it."

In the meantime, anything within the rules goes, he argued.

"It's a game we play," Graham said. "Every American tries to find the way to get the most deductions they can. I see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up to be a game."

Welcome to Mitt Romney's America, which has fewer fire departments who will put out a house fire without charging a fee.

Yesterday was the last day of school for public school students in Montgomery County, Maryland, where we live - including our nine-year-old son, who just completed the third grade. I began the morning by sending a one last email to his teacher. I asked her about the summer reading and math packets we were expecting our son to bring. I also thanked her for all the work she'd done to help our son this year.

As I thought about how much our son has grown and improved over the past year, and how very much the dedicated teachers and staff at his school had to do with those changes, I couldn't help being mystified at Mitt Romney's assertion that our children need fewer teachers. Mystified, that is, but not surprised.

After saying President Barack Obama does not care about the private sector, Mitt Romney on Friday dismissed unemployment in the public sector, saying the country does not need more firemen, policemen or teachers.

"He wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers," Romney said at a press conference. "He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people."

Then there's the world that Andrew Leonard lives in. It's a world that still exists, though it's disappearing from America town by town; wiped out as "de facto austerity" starves cities and states of funding needed to keep public employees - like teachers, fire fighters, and police offiers - on the job.

In that disappearing world, you can wake up with the house on fire, and know that not only will the fire department come save your home - without checking your account status - but work to save your home and the memories it holds as if it were their own.

In that world, fire fighters took time to save his daughter's scrapbook, without having to consider whether it was within the terms of their contract.

I felt increasingly flustered, on the edge of tears. Desperate, I started opening the drawers of my daughter's dresser, though there was no reason why she would have put her scrapbook there.

Drawer after drawer was empty, scoured clean by the fabric restoration company. Until I reached the last drawer, at the bottom left-hand side of the dresser. And there, carefully protected from the fire and the smoke and the water and the dust, I saw, to my amazed delight, not just the scrapbook, but also all the family photos that had gone missing.

The more I think about this the more amazed I become. The firefighters told me that the fire had been an especially tricky one; they'd had to play whack-a-mole as it darted through the back wall from the basement to the attic. They were operating in the dark, in an old wooden house - just a few days earlier, a similar house had caught fire and the owner had died before the firefighters could get to her. Yet somehow, in the midst of all that madness, one of the firefighters had had the presence of mind and sensitivity to gather together some items that obviously held emotional significance for my family.

Was it the same guy who came out of the house with my Macbook and told me that he had put the charger underneath a tarp over the coffee table "because I know what a bitch it is to get those replaced"? I don't know. Was it the investigator who later attempted to console me by telling me that what I had done was not "a criminal act"?

"You made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes. Hell, I once burned down my own barn, when a trash fire got out of control."

I don't know.

What I do know is that as I stared down at my daughter's scrapbook, nestled next to a picture of my mother and grandfather, the tears started to flow for real. I was sandbagged by a sense of real human connection. For what seems like a lifetime I've been immersed in political warfare in which public sector workers - our teachers, our police officers, our firefighters - have become little more than proxies for partisan bickering. When we read about the bankruptcy of San Bernardino, Calif., someone is sure to point out the firefighter who is pulling down $150,000 grand, or complain about the cost of pension obligations. When we look at public sector layoffs, someone else immediately launches into a lecture about how government austerity is crimping economic growth. Mitt Romney tells us that the "lesson" of Wisconsin is that Americans don't want to pay for any more teachers or firefighters or police officers and Democrats pounce. Obama's last budget would cut federal support for firefighting services, but not by as much as the most recent House appropriations bill. The International Association of Firefighters claims that government cutbacks will result in thousands more layoffs nationwide. Republicans shrug - the IAFF is another Obama-supporting union.

And so the bullshit battle rages! Far too often, we're forgetting what our public servants do. All I can think about, right now, is that even while risking his or her life to beat back the flames, a Berkeley firefighter took time out to make my daughter smile.

That firefighter deserves a raise. Put it on my next ballot, please.

All which raises some questions: Is this still the America we want to live in? Do we still believe it's worth paying for?

Think about it, the next time you smell smoke.

(Fireman stock photo via Bigstock)

Source: http://www.bilerico.com/2012/07/taxes_waking_up_with_the_house_on_fire.php

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Nokia 8800 Arte Cell Phone Review | Internet Contents

Nokia 8800 Arte Mobile is categorized under Luxury fashion phones. It is the latest phone introduced by Nokia overcoming all the drawbacks of the previous models. They have a smacking original flavored 3G along with a 3.2 megapixel camera which adds to the high quality images. Arte is the phone which maintains the earlier minimized design and strong body. The entire phone is made of stainless steel and is also not too heavy to be handled. The profile of the phone has been stated to be a little trimmer than the earlier issued models.

The anti-finger paint along the front panel is another advantage of the Nokia 8800 Arte Mobile to avoid any greasy smears of soil. It has a QVGA quality display of the phone along with a scratch resistant glass. The slider phone works out to be the smoothest of all the features. There are several tricky plays along with the phone like the display of the analogue clock with just a tap or muting the incoming call by placing it upside down.

The camera comes out with 3.2 megapixels along with autofocus facility. It also has friendly video capture facility at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixel resolution. The music player plays with different formats including the MO3, eAAC+, AAC and also the WMA formats. The stereo Bluetooth is yet another latest addition which has seven band equalizers playing lively sound. The internal memory of the phone has been recognized to be 1GB and it is simply enough for a great music lover. You can just add up your entire favorite to listen to it under different formats and wonderful sound quality.

The Nokia 8800 Arte Mobile is sure to meet your standards and desires as it is latest and the most relevant luxury phones out in the market.

By John Axelberg http://www.electroniceasy.com

Content About : Nokia 8800 Arte Cell Phone Review Article

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Source: http://www.econtentz.com/contents/communications/mobile-cell-phone-reviews/nokia-8800-arte-cell-phone-review/

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The Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKU-EB) HSSC students perform better

July 14, 2012 ? 12:00

KARACHI?-?The Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKU-EB) on Friday announced its annual Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) results.

An official of the institution said that this year 21 per cent more candidates sat for the exam compared to last year. The overall pass rate for this year?s HSSC I and II exams was 77.79 and 79.27 per cent respectively.

Anum Zehra Raza of Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Karimabad, Karachi with 91 per cent marks secured first position; second position went to Hafsa Jawed of Habib Public High School (Girls), Karachi with 90.82 per cent marks while Adil Shah of Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Gahkuch, Gilgit-Baltistan with 90.18 per cent marks secured the third position.

Read more on Pakistan Today com

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Source: http://sjpaderborn.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/the-aga-khan-university-examination-board-aku-eb-hssc-students-perform-better/

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Union Heads' Pay Irks Some Teachers

Teachers across the country face pay freezes and possible layoffs, but the heads of the two biggest teachers unions saw their pay jump 20 percent last year, to nearly half a million dollars apiece.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's pay jumped to $407,323 between 2010 and 2011, while her counterpart at the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, got a raise to $362,644. Factor in stipends and other paid expenses and Weingarten took in $493,859 and Van Roekel $460,060 for 2011.?

?Are teachers or anyone in the private sector experiencing those increases in times of financial hardship?"

- Gary Beckner, Association of American Educators

The big salaries drew jeers from many educators and their advocates in the U.S., where the average nationwide salary for teachers is a scant $44,000 a year. By contrast, nearly 600 staffers at the NEA and AFT are raking in six-figure salaries, according to Association of American Educators Executive Director Gary Beckner.

?In terms of salaries, union executives rake in nearly 10 times the average household income and far more than any teacher," Beckner told FoxNews.com. ?Are teachers or anyone in the private sector experiencing those increases in times of financial hardship?"

"Last year, I and the other two AFT officers, as well as all management took a voluntary pay freeze," Weingarten said in a statement.?

"We did so because no one knows better than we do the economic distress our members are experiencing.?Unlike in the corporate sector, all of my salary, benefits and expenses are fully disclosed," Weingarten said.

The union bigwigs are well-insulated from the paycheck-to-paycheck lives of most schoolteachers, said Tracie Happel, a elementary school teacher in Lacrosse, Wisc., who has spoken out in the past against the practices of the unions.

?It?s always about the union. It?s never about the teachers or students,? Happel said. ?When you?re a teacher, you know you will not always be able to have the money for renovations on a house or go away on vacation, but it?s a tough pill to swallow when you can?t do those things when the people who are supposed to represent us get paid more and more every year.?

Happel added that while she is safe for now, many of her colleagues in worse situations.

?They are finding it hard to pay their bills. They are having trouble with basic monthly bills.?

Officials for the NEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But John Ellsworth, a teacher in the Michigan's Grand Ledge Public Schools, told the Mackinac Center, a Michigan-based think tank, that teachers deserve the best advocates union dues can buy.

"Public education is vital for the preservation and growth of our nation and its economy," Ellsworth said in an email. "Leaders of the national teachers' union try to rally people behind this truth. I wish we had people serving in government who recognized the importance of public education, but instead children and teachers need their own advocates since politicians abandon public education so readily."

Tony Amorose, a history teacher with the Dearborn School District in Michigan, said no one begrudges union officials fair salaries. But he said the steep increases are out of step with what the rank and file see. After 21 years of teaching, he earns $74,000 a year. He said he gets by just fine, but worries about the pay younger and less experienced teachers get.

?It would be nice if the unions held the line a bit in a show of solidarity,? said Amorose, who is campaigning for state office. ?I don?t mind paying dues, but I don?t see them going down with my compensation. They keep going up. I find it a bit frustrating that they would give themselves such significant salary and compensation increases.?

Michael Van Beek, Mackinac's director of education policy said the problem?isn't necessarily high pay for union leaders, it's the way they get it.

?These compensation levels are not based on market demand," Van Beek said. "This pay largely relies upon monopolistic collective bargaining privileges these unions enjoy, which forces school employees to financially support them. This is why transparency of these unions is so important.?

The significant raises of the two union leaders salaries came at a time when the saw memberships dwindling.

?They [the unions] want us to be seen as laborers and not professionals,? said Kristi LaCroix, an English teacher from Kenosha, Wisc., who added that the unions did not want to use Gov. Scott Walker?s controversial reform plan because it gave teachers the choice to be represented by a union which would give them the ability to avoid paying mandatory dues.

?They want us to be seen as laborers and not professionals. I get nothing for my dues except them going to keeping ineffective teachers employed and treated like a servant.?

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/14/teacher-union-bigs-rake-in-dough-despite-budget-cuts-across-education-sector/

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Kristen Stewart Feels 'Blast Of Energy' From Comic-Con Fans

'They're just as invested in it as I am, and to see that is mind-blowing,' 'Twilight' star tells MTV News before 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2' panel.
By Kara Warner

Kristen Stewart
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1689599/breaking-dawn-kristen-stewart-comic-con-fans.jhtml

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My life, the Google Docs folder.

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://dixiechicken.tumblr.com/post/27172281381

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S.Africa's Eskom seeks big jump in power rates: document

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-eskom-seeks-jump-power-rates-document-125307722--finance.html

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Weight Gain After Stopping Smoking - Pregnancy Weight Loss

More information has been unearthed about weight gain after stopping smoking.

It has always been known that stopping smoking is associated with weight gain. What has not always been clear is the extent of the weight gain. After all most of us are gaining weight.

Weight Gain after smoking

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal has demonstrated that those who stop smoking gain, on average, 5 kg by 12 months.

This is a large study, combining over 50 different studies that looked at the impact of quitting smoking and weight loss.

The reasons for weight gain are varied but important.

Weight gain after cessation of smoking is not universal, with 16% of ex-smokers losing weight and 13% gaining more than 10 kg.

excerpt:
To describe weight gain and its variation in smokers who achieve prolonged abstinence for up to 12 months and who quit without treatment or use drugs to assist cessation.

Results 62 studies were included.

Our meta-analysis has shown that abstinent smokers gain a mean weight of 4-5 kg after 12 months of abstinence. However, we have found substantial variation in weight gain, indicating that this mean value does not reflect many people who give up smoking.

Smoking cessation is associated with a mean increase of 4-5 kg in body weight after 12 months of abstinence, and most weight gain occurs within three months of quitting.

Source: British Medical Journal ? July 10 2012

Most smokers worry about gaining weight after stopping smoking. This is widespread. In the ligh to this study they are justified.

However, the weight gain has to be viewed within the context of health benefits gained after cessation of smoking.

There are numerous health benefit gains including reduced heart disease risk and lower cancer risk. Compared to the risks of gaining weight, the balance of benefits weigh in favour of stopping smoking.

There are numerous benefits for stopping smoking before pregnancy, or after childbirth, thus creating an environment that is healthy for the baby. We have, on this blog, discussed the importance of fetal programming. In that context, it is very difficult to compare benefits of stopping smoking against the disadvantages gaining weight during pregnancy. However, the average weight of 5 kg gained after stopping smoking is not universal and can be lost with more support.

?

Have you ever faced the dilemma of stopping smoking and weight gain? How easy has it been to stop smoking and keep the weight down?

Source: http://www.pregnancyweightlosshelp.com/weight-gain-after-stopping-smoking/

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Video: Smackdown: Bartiromo vs. Spitzer

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/48179989/

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L.E.N.S.(Lifestyle, Events, News, and Society)blogs: NSN&#39;s LIQUID ...

The answer to problematic mobile internet connection, at last!

The unexpected growth in demand for internet usage especially among Smartphone users, brought about by the popularity of social networking sites and radical evolution of new applications utilizing the internet, has caused downtime and often failure of mobile phone users to connect to the internet.

Often, those that have paid a premium for their internet connections, mostly post paid subscribers of Communications Service Providers (CSPs), end up frustrated about paying so much and not being able to succeed with their chat, calls, messaging or data download, games, movies or access to networking sites.

For the CSPs, which absorb the brunt of frustrated customers, the solution is often to upgrade the infrastructure (cell sites and more hardware and software acquisition and upgrades) that could hardly be recouped from their current subscriber base and sales of accounts.

To be able to earn more, they resort to giving packages, usually for pre-paid customers, like unlimited calls or text, unlimited surfing and immortal texts and calls. But these packages tend to aggravate the connection even more and the CSPs end up being more frustrated than ever to find ways to maximize or improve their revenues.

With the operation of the Network Labs of Nokia Siemens Network (NSN), opened last July 2011 by President Aquino, solutions to these recurring and worsening connectivity concerns are slowly being crafted and rolled out to operators like CSPs, social networking sites and even hardware and software providers.

NSN officials briefed media recently on the impact that smart phone applications left ?always on? for internet mails, social networking and other sites to connectivity issues. ?More often than not, leaving these applications always on?for instant updates?tend to deny access or interrupted connections to other smart phone users who have paid for the service,? said Manuel Palomo, Solutions Manager for NSN.

In addition, certain areas like central business district, malls and schools often experience ?peak loads? during the day, where connectivity problems occur. This demand shifts to residential at night time, which again the CSPs must be able to address in real time.

Internet connectivity issues are not exclusive to the Philippines. In fact, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where NSN launched its newer data solutions and applications last February, it was noted that ?always on? applications on ?keep alive? messages cause terminal state changes, for which the phone has to exchange signalling messages with the core network.

Smart devices send 8 times more signalling than laptops, it was reported in the Barcelona launch.

Providers of global voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services invest 5 times more for data than for voice, but ironically the revenues from voice is 5 times more than data.

And with the number of newer VoIP providers, who give this service free to customers growing like Facebook and Google (aside from Skype), the connectivity must be enhanced to ensure that customers do not suffer from interrupted service.

The global mobile traffic forecast is expected to hit 43 exabytes by 2015 coming from mobile voice (16 kbps); mobile tablet, mobile laptops and mobile handheld. ?The 1 gigabyte per subscriber per day usage is ?approaching faster than anticipated,? NSN said.

Through the liquid net approach, problems like providing connection to places where they are most needed at any time of the day will soon be addressed because the liquid net is self aware and self adapting and the software- defined apps are based on multi- purpose hardware.

Also, the liquid net provides for inter-lined architecture and is very evolutionary, the NSN said.

The other benefits of liquid net are: premium services with premium experience, higher revenue potential of more than 50 percent; the network can immediately follow where the demand is heavy, there is reduced risk of churn of 25 percent of high end smart phone users.

For the CSPs, the liquid net can unleash up to 80 percent of unused baseband capacity and up to 65percent of capacity gain in the cell, high operational expenditure savings in the core with up to 80 percent footprint reduction in the core and up to 65 percent lower energy consumption and up to 60 percent savings in transport network.

Photos:

In a recent briefing of local operators, , NSN Solutions Manager ?Medelle Oliviar explains how NSN?s Liquid Net Approach can innovate today?s network to meet the forthcoming broadband wave: unleash frozen network capacity, fluidly adapt to meet unpredictable broadband demand, enhance network capital efficiency, with superior user experience and new revenues.

NSN Customer Operations Manager Frankie Naranjilla, together with other NSN officers, updated the media on Nokia Siemens Networks company strategy, vision and business focus for 2012, Shaping the Digital World, which was presented at the Media World Congress 2012 held in Barcelona.

Source: http://mvlnunez.blogspot.com/2012/07/nsns-liquid-net-approach.html

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Romney Booed at NAACP Convention (WSJ)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/237577815?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Group may boycott Google over gay rights support

8 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

The American Family Association, a conservative nonprofit group that recently boycotted?Oreos over Kraft Food's support of gay rights, announced it may also boycott Google products for similar reasons. The search company recently started a campaign, "Legalize Love," in which it?pledges to fight anti-gay legislation worldwide.

Buster Wilson, host of the organization's AFA Today show, said during a July 9?broadcast that while a boycott seems in order given the others the group is maintaining, it won't be easy:

We are a part of boycotting efforts similar to this with other businesses ??this is going to be a hard one for a lot of us.

It's more than just a search engine.?Many of us have Android phones?... many of us use Google Calendar, Google Tasks, and?Gmail... YouTube, and all the other things, it's?not just the search engine.

Sustaining such a boycott in tech won't be as easy as changing cookie brands. Microsoft has openly supported gay marriage laws in its home state of Washington, IBM is renowned for being gay-friendly, and?Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, is believed to be gay (though he has never discussed it), which gives an indicator of the company's position on the topic.

Google's campaign, in the meantime, will be focusing on Poland and Singapore first before eventually coming to the U.S. and other countries.

Wilson did not give any details of the potential boycott, focusing simply on the fact that the Google initiative exists and that the AFA had a challenge in front of them. "This will test the meat of our convictions," he said.

??Via ThinkProgress?

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/group-may-boycott-google-over-gay-rights-support-874681

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