22 wounded Libyan rebel fighters arrive in Mass.

A wounded Libyan fighter is helped off of a U.S. Air Force plane at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. The fighters will be treated at Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A wounded Libyan fighter is helped off of a U.S. Air Force plane at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. The fighters will be treated at Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A wounded Libyan fighter is taken of a U.S. Air Force plane at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. The fighters will be treated at Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A wounded Libyan is assisted as he prepares to board a U.S. military aircraft along with more than 20 others bound for the US for medical care in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. A U.S. military plane is flying more than 20 Libyans wounded in the country's eight-month civil war to the United States for treatment. Thousands have been wounded in the fight to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and Libya's new leaders say caring for them is a critical need. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

A wounded Libyan lies on a stretcher as he is readied to be loaded onto a U.S. military aircraft along with more than 20 others bound for the US for medical care in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. A U.S. military plane is flying more than 20 Libyans wounded in the country's eight-month civil war to the United States for treatment. Thousands have been wounded in the fight to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and Libya's new leaders say caring for them is a critical need. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Kretz makes remarks in front of a U.S. military aircraft bound for the United States to transport more then 20 wounded Libyans for medical care in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. A U.S. military plane is flying more than 20 Libyans wounded in the country's eight-month civil war to the United States for treatment. Thousands have been wounded in the fight to topple Moammar Gadhafi, and Libya's new leaders say caring for them is a critical need. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

BOSTON (AP) ? Nearly two dozen former Libyan rebel fighters were carried in stretchers or limped and hobbled out of a U.S. Air Force medical evacuation jet in Massachusetts on Saturday at the end of a 13-hour flight for treatment of wounds sustained in the war that ousted slain longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The envoy of Libya's National Transitional Council said the 22 fighters are the first of an estimated 200 combatants who will be flown to the United States for treatment. But Mark Ward, senior adviser on Arab transitions for the U.S. Department of State, later said several European nations have offered to treat some fighters, and the number of those who could come to this country has not been determined.

The fighters were brought to the country following a request to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to the Libyan capital of Tripoli last week, Ward said shortly before their flight landed at Boston's Logan International Airport in the midst of a wintry storm.

"The United States was very proud to help the Libyan people in eight months of struggle against Gadhafi and his regime," Ward said. "We know the struggle will now continue as they rebuild their country and, in particular, we wanted to help with some of the war wounded, some of those brave, young men that fought the regime's forces and brought it to its knees."

"Libya's new freedom has come at a price in human life and suffering. Just as the United States and the international community stood with the Libyan people during the revolution, we continue to work with them now to address urgent needs," Ward said.

The wounded fighters will be treated at the Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass., a long-term care facility.

An internationally established fund used by Libya's transitional government says it will pay the fighters' hospital bills.

The fighters were met at the airport by Ward and Ali Aujali, Libya's ambassador to the U.S. The combatants did not speak to reporters. Firefighters stationed at the airport, Massachusetts state troopers and Emergency Medical Services technicians immediately helped them get into ambulances that were waiting on the tarmac in the freezing rain.

Still, Ward said the former rebel fighters had mixed reaction on arrival in the United States.

"We were just on the plane with them ... they look very excited, but also a little bit apprehensive," Ward said. "Many of them have never been on an airplane before, this is a new country, it's very cold for them. ... Tripoli was warm when they left 13 hours ago, so this is going to be quite an experience for them, but also for the wonderful staff at Spaulding Hospital."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-29-Wounded%20Libyans-Boston/id-664b969da07f4c6a9f15ea2bc3e84655

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Liberia election chief resigns ahead of November 8 vote (Reuters)

MONROVIA (Reuters) ? The head of Liberia's election commission, who has been accused of bias by incumbent President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's challenger, has resigned, days ahead of a planned presidential run-off vote.

"I chose to step down for the sake of Liberia and so that (challenger Winston Tubman's) CDC (party) would not have an excuse not to participate in the run-off," National Election Commission (NEC) Chairman James Fromayan told Reuters Sunday.

Tubman last week threatened to withdraw from the November 8 run-off, the country's second post-war vote, unless there was a change of leadership at the election commission.

Fromayan, who has denied any wrong-doing, said he would be replaced by Elizabeth Nelson, his No.2, but he said he did not know it would be a permanent arrangement.

There was no immediate reaction from Tubman's camp.

Johnson-Sirleaf won 43.9 percent of the votes in the October 11 election while Tubman, her closest rival, won 32.7 percent.

Newly-named Nobel Peace laureate Johnson-Sirleaf is now strong favorite for the run-off having secured the backing of former rebel leader Prince Johnson, who came third in the poll with about 11.6 percent.

Last week, there was confusion over whether the CDC would take part in the second round of voting, with party officials issuing contradictory messages. Tubman has accused the election body of not taking his complaints seriously.

A row had also broken out over a letter, which was sent by the election commission and wrongly stated Tubman's running mate George Weah had won the majority of the votes in the first round.

The disputes had threatened to derail the country's first locally organized poll since its civil war. The vote will be seen as a bellwether of its progress since 14 years of on-and-off conflict ended in 2003.

The last poll was held in 2005 and foreign mining and oil firms are preparing to pour in billions of dollars to develop resources in the West African state.

(Reporting by Clair MacDougall; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111030/wl_nm/us_liberia_election

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Video: Pressure Mounts on MF Global

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US fugitive cites poor health in extradition fight (AP)

ALMOCAGEME, Portugal ? The wife of captured American fugitive George Wright said Friday her husband has a litany of health problems requiring treatment and should not be extradited to the United States to serve the rest of his time on a murder conviction after 41 years on the lam.

Maria do Rosario Valente said in an interview with The Associated Press at their home that Wright suffers from glaucoma, "very, very high" blood pressure caused by recent stress, and has complained of chest pains.

"We're having a bunch of tests done to see what's his current health condition," Valente said.

She also said he is a changed man who "regrets the choices he has made. If he could, he probably would have made different choices."

Wright, tall and slim with his head shaved bald, did not participate in the interview because of Portuguese court restrictions that prevent him from talking about the case. After it was over, he kissed her and made small talk about matters unrelated to his legal battle.

Wright's lawyer, Manuel Luis Ferreira, said he will include his client's health problems in legal arguments aimed at preventing him from being sent to the United States to serve the rest of a 15- to 30-year jail sentence for the 1962 killing of a New Jersey gas station worker.

"I didn't initially realize how bad off he was," Ferreira told the AP Friday. "Now that I've gotten to know him, I know his problems."

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined comment via email on what impact Wright's health could have on the extradition process, which could last months.

Wright, 68, was convicted of the murder of Walter Patterson in Wall Township, N.J. He escaped from the Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, in 1970 after serving more than seven years. The FBI says Wright also was part of a Black Liberation Army group that hijacked a U.S. plane from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Algeria in 1972.

The rest of the group was arrested in France, but Wright made his way to Portugal, and met Valente in the late 1970s in Portugal. The two later moved to the tiny West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, where the country's then-Marxist leaders granted him asylum and a new identity.

Wright lived openly using his real name in Guinea-Bissau and even socialized with American diplomats, but one former ambassador who served in the country while Wright was there and other U.S. diplomats who knew Wright have told the AP they did not know about his past.

His wife worked for years as a freelance translator for the U.S. embassy in the country's capital, Bissau, and Wright was a logistics coordinator for a Belgian nonprofit development group until the couple moved back to Portugal in 1993.

Valente said her husband has become a more peaceful man since his days as a militant. She showed the AP photographs of paintings by Wright and art work at local buildings ? a skill which has allowed him to earn money in Portugal among other odd jobs he's done over the years.

She spoke to the AP in English in the kitchen of the home she has shared with Wright for almost since they left Guinea-Bissau, at the end of a cobblestone street in a pretty hamlet on the Atlantic coast near a stunning beach and about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

The FBI says it requested Wright's detention after providing fingerprints to Portuguese authorities that matched his contained in a national fingerprint database for all citizens and residents. He was initially jailed, but a judge allowed him to return home wearing an electronic tag that monitors his movements and would alert authorities if he ventures outside his house.

Neighbors describe Wright as a friendly, churchgoing family man. He has a grown daughter and son with Valente. Some assumed he was from Africa when he moved here.

"If ... the purpose of sending someone to jail is to rehabilitate them, then that job is done," Valente said.

The main argument from Wright's lawyer for him to stay in Portugal is his Portuguese citizenship ? and a law from the country that allows Portuguese convicted of crimes to serve their time at home.

The citizenship is based on his new identity as "Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos" from Guinea-Bissau, including fake names for his parents.

Armed with that, he married Valente in 1990, and used his new identity and the marriage to convince Portuguese authorities to give him citizenship.

Ann Patterson, daughter of the man killed in New Jersey, declined comment Friday on Wright's health problems but said she still wants him returned to serve his sentence.

"Our world has been turned upside down," said Patterson, 63. "We've now had to grieve for our father for the second time when we never should have had to the first time."

____

AP reporter Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, N.J., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_re_eu/hijacker_fugitive_captured

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Video: Supercommittee Squabbles

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45069988#45069988

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Richard (RJ) Eskow: Wanna See a Real Ass Kicking (Itself)? Read the Dems' "Super Committee" Proposal

If you've ever questioned whether the so-called "Super Committee" represents a breakdown in the democratic process, yesterday's proposal from the group's Democratic members should put your doubts to rest. The system's seriously broken when unelected super-legislators from both parties keep trying to top each other in proposing inhumane and unpopular programs.

The party of the donkey is about to give itself a real ass-kicking.

Representatives from the "party of the people" want to cut Medicare and Social Security, and they're looking for bragging rights on who'd cut government more in a time of need.

If the regular folks' party is trying to impose this much pain on the elderly, poor, and disabled, what's the rich people's party going to do: sacrifice babies in Times Square on live television?

Change That Shatters

As I read the proposal I kept asking myself: Who are they trying to impress? Certainly not the electorate, which overwhelmingly rejects the positions they're advocating. And certainly not the Republicans, since even these Dems aren't naive enough to think their proposal will be accepted. So who?

The "Super Dems" are proposing twice as much in deficit cuts as the Committee's mandated to find. That bit of pointless grandstanding reinforces conservative notions that government spending is evil and deficits are our most urgent problem.

It's straight out of the Bill Clinton playbook. But Clinton operated in a period of artificially pumped up, bubble-fueled prosperity. Americans hunger for better policies now. That hunger helped Democrats win the White House and both houses of Congress in 2008. (Seems so long ago, doesn't it?) The Democratic Party website still proudly proclaims the Party's slogan: "Change That Matters."

Change? These are the same Republican Lite policies Clinton ran on in 1992. But we're a sadder and wiser nation now. We've reaped the bitter fruits of economic inequality and endured a disastrous crash as a result of these bipartisan policies. We've moved on, but these Democrats haven't. They're still slavishly (if meekly) echoing the failed conservative ideas of the past.

Indecent Proposal

Their plan calls for $400 billion in Medicare and Medicaid savings, half or which would come from benefit cuts for the seniors, disabled, and low-income people who rely on these programs. The higher out-of-pocket costs for these vulnerable populations would leave many of them with less to spend on necessities, taking billions out of the economy and creating even more economic stagnation. Not to mention the hardship and suffering ...

The other $200 billion would presumably be found by cutting provider reimbursements - which makes sense if done wisely, but which will only create shortages and access problems if done foolishly. (Wise or foolish: Bets, anyone?)

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Democrats also support moving the government to a "chained CPI" cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) calculation for Social Security. That would shortchange everybody receiving benefits, including people already receiving them.

The current COLA is already a raw deal for seniors, disabled people, and the poor, and now these Dems want to double down on it. The chained-CPI would also raise taxes on people who aren't already in the highest tax bracket by accelerating "bracket creep."

So let's sum up what we've heard so far: Democrats want to cut Social Security and Medicare, and they also want to raise taxes on everybody but the rich. Enjoy your "change," America.

Gestures

In a nod to their base, the Democrats are also proposing $300 billion in stimulus spending. But reports were vague on the specifics, with the Journal reporting only that "aides familiar with the Democratic plan say it also called for as much as $300 billion in spending for programs to create jobs and spur economic growth."

The Super Dems also also say they want $1 trillion in new revenue, but they don't say where it should come from. That means some or all of it could be raised by reducing or eliminating provisions like employer health and mortgage interest deductions that help the struggling middle class.

But then, why expend a lot of effort on a proposal you know is doomed from the start and which you don't intend to fight for? If that sounds too cynical, rest assured: We'd love to be proven wrong, and the Democrats on the Super Committee can prove us wrong with a word. That word is "no." If the Super Committee Dems announce that they'll say "no" to any plan that doesn't include stimulus funds, we'll gladly provide a full refund on the cynicism.

With interest.

A Smart Plan

What would an intelligent plan look like? It would be designed around three simple principles:

Arbitrary deficit reduction targets are meaningless and foolish. Why are we having a debate about whether to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion or $3 trillion? We don't know how big our economy will become in the coming years. We don't know how much money will be coming in, or how much we'll need to spend.

The best way to ensure a healthy Federal budget is to ensure a healthy national economy. When more people have jobs, the economy improves. And when the economy improves, more people have jobs. So we should be talking about jobs, jobs, jobs: As the economy grows through government investment, more people will have them. People with jobs pay taxes, so the government's bottom line will improve.

Government needs to learn a fundamental business principle: Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

No plan should take effect until we've achieved normal employment levels. Many of these proposals have been given start dates in coming years. But no plan to cut spending, especially spending that directly or indirectly affects employment, should take effect until overall employment returns to normal levels.

Now for a word from the party's sponsors: the voters who put them in office.

Reminder

When the Democrats were swept into office in 2008, here's what their platform said about Social Security: "We will fulfill our obligation to strengthen Social Security and to make sure that it provides guaranteed benefits Americans can count on, now and in future."

And here's what it said about Medicare: "We will protect and strengthen Medicare by cutting costs, protecting seniors from fraud, and fixing Medicare's prescription drug program."

Thought the Super Dems might want to tape this to the refrigerator or something before the next Committee meeting.

Ass-Kicking Time

It's like a Zen koan: What is the sound of one ass kicking itself? These proposals aren't just destructive. They're self-destructive. Pick a poll, any poll, and you'll see how unpopular these ideas are. Overwhelming majorities of Americans - including a majority of Republicans - oppose cutting Social Security or Medicare to fix the deficits. And strong majorities want higher taxes on the wealthy, a topic which the Super Dems are waffling about.

It's a political kamikaze stunt for Dems to adopt the GOP's "less government" theme. Ask yourself: If you want some government-cutting done, are you going to hire a Democrat or a Republican? If you want to fire government workers, are you going to hire Mitt Romney - who has a long track record of firing people - or Barack Obama? Every minute spent bragging that "we'll cut more" is a minute spent convincing people to vote for your opponent.

The President's repeating the mistakes he made during the healthcare and financial reform debates, and he's turning negotiations over to the same failed crowd. He's considered the leader of his party, but once again he's letting the party lead him instead. And when it's all over the GOP will run the same play it used last year, positioning itself as the party that defended Medicare. These Dems are helping them do it.

Which brings us back to the question: Who are they trying to impress? The big-money donors who have pivoted back to the GOP, but will still throw them a few bucks now and then? Billionaire Pete Peterson and the other foundations and think tank benefactors who might them sinecures after they retire? Their fellow inhabitants of a warped Washington culture that views Grandma-sacrifice as a totemic act of courage?

Stop them before they triangulate again

Maybe all of the above. But their self-preservation rests on getting re-elected. Do they expect a grateful nation will rush to the polls next year saying, "They didn't cut government enough, but at least they tried"? Twenty-four million Americans are un- or under-employed, and they all have family, friends, and neighbors. That's a lot of voters to convince that their misery is less important than who chose a bigger deficit-cutting number.

They Super Committee, the President, and other Democratic leaders need to get the message from voters, loud and clear. Maybe public pressure can save them from their self-inflicted impending doom. As Smokey the Bear might say, only you can prevent ass-kickings.

Any proposal they present will be defeated. They know that. So why do they keep offering watered down right-wing plans like this one? Why don't they start offering bold, courageous alternatives to the conservative economic madness that's failing in Europe and here at home?

People admire someone who goes down fighting, but they want to go down equivocating - or surrendering. In the end, they'll just go down. And if they aren't stopped they'll take the rest of their party with them. Strange. They know they can't succeed legislatively, yet they keep putting themselves on record as favoring destructive and unpopular policies.

It's sad but true: These guys don't even know how to fail right.

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Follow Richard (RJ) Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/wanna-see-an-ass-kicking_b_1063022.html

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Video: AMD Earnings

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Injured vet's uncle appalled by police action (Providence Journal)

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Prosecutor: Woman shot neighbor to keep him quiet (AP)

FORT DODGE, Iowa ? A woman forced a 20-year-old neighbor to write a diary framing her ex-husband in a murder-for-hire scheme and then killed him because she didn't think he could keep his role a secret, a prosecutor said Wednesday at her first-degree murder trial.

Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand told jurors in an opening statement that Tracey Richter invited Dustin Wehde to her home on Dec. 13, 2001 and forced him to create a diary claiming he had been hired by her first husband, John Pitman, to kill her and her 11-year-old son Bert.

Hammerand said the writing was interrupted mid-sentence when a friend who was planning to spend the night came to a side door, and Richter had Wehde leave out the front. But Richter canceled on the friend, saying she had to pick up her son from basketball practice, when in reality she planned to set up what looked like a burglary and home invasion involving Pitman, Hammerand.

The prosecutor said as part of the plan, Richter had Wehde, a loner who had spent time hanging out with her husband, back later that night and shot him nine times from two guns. Three shots that went through the back of Wehde's head would have been instantly fatal, he said.

Richter, 45, of Omaha, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting at her former home in Early, a small town 100 miles northwest of Des Moines. She claims she acted in self-defense and was hailed as a hero after the shooting by some gun rights advocates and TV personality Montel Williams, who applauded her story on national television.

She blew a kiss at her fiancee, who sat in the front row, as she entered the Fort Dodge courtroom. But she appeared to fight back tears as defense attorney Scott Bandstra shared her version of events ? that Wehde and another man broke into her home and strangled her with pantyhose before she was able to break free, unlock her gun safe and shoot Wehde. When he tried to get up, she shot him the last time with the second gun, the attorney said.

"On that day, her worst nightmare occurred," Bandstra said.

He said the evidence will show Wehde had a history of mental health issues and aggressive behavior. He also said law enforcement failed to investigate a man who could have been the second intruder and then ignored evidence that backs up his Richter's story.

The first Sac County sheriff's deputy to arrive on the scene, Daniel Bruscher, testified that Richter initially told him that two intruders fled the house on foot and "the one she shot was upstairs." She said that one of those who fled had "black curly hair," and she didn't see the other one.

When her 11-year-old son, Bert, told Bruscher the dead man was Wehde, Richter corrected him and said they did not know that yet, Bruscher said. He said he found Wehde slumped over on the upstairs bedroom floor. The air was hazy from gun smoke, and a blood splatter was on the wall.

Hammerand, an assistant attorney general, started his opening statement with dramatic flair: "The pink spiral notebook contained information only someone involved in the crime would know."

The details included the name of Pitman's divorce attorney, but the plastic surgeon from Virginia will testify he never met Wehde, the prosecutor said.

Hammerand said Richter worried she would lose custody of her son and child support payments if Wehde told police that he wrote the journal. Richter and Pitman divorced in 1996 but were still fighting over custody and visitation at the time of the shooting.

The first witness, Marie Friedman, testified she was friends with Richter because their husbands worked together. She said she showed up at Richter's home Dec. 13 planning to spend the night because their husbands were travelling on business.

Friedman said Richter told her after Wehde left that he was there asking about work, and she was glad he left because he creeped her out. She said she was surprised Richter cancelled their stay-over. She left after the two had tea and chatted.

Her husband, Ray Friedman, recalled how he and Richter's husband at the time, Michael Roberts, were driving home from Minneapolis when they heard about a shooting at Roberts' home. He said he let Roberts drive his car home because he could navigate dirt roads faster.

Both Friedmans, who now live in Florida, said they saw Richter at the hospital and she was distraught over the alleged home invasion and had red marks on her neck.

"Everything Tracey told me, it appeared to be that way to me," Marie Friedman said. "There was no question in my mind that she would not be telling the truth."

A defense lawyer noted Michael Roberts, who was investigated in connection with the shooting but is not a suspect, planned the business trip and gave Ray Friedman a $5,000 bonus and a $20,000 raise afterward.

Ray Friedman bristled at the suggestion that he was paid off, saying he was bringing the company $1 million in sales and asked for a raise to match his previous job's salary. He said he later left after he grew tired of the Roberts' antics.

"You just never knew what was going on," he said. "I didn't like the rollercoaster ride there. I live a very peaceful life and I don't want to be involved in other people's issues or chaos."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_re_us/us_hero_mom_or_killer

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Libya rulers plan trial for Gaddafi killers: TV (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Libya's ruling National Transition Council pledged on Thursday to bring the killers of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi to trial, news channel Al Arabiya reported in a brief screen caption.

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111027/ts_nm/us_libya_gaddafi_trial

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PFT: Cowher, Gruden linked to Dolphins job

On November 1, 2001, I busted a bottle of Boone?s Farm against my Commodore 64, and Profootballtalk.com was born.

There was no mission statement, no business plan, no bucket list.? I had done nine months of unpaid freelance work for the long-defunct NFLtalk.com, which was purchased along with the other Sportstalk.com sites in early 2001 after the tech bubble burst.? I then spent six months working from home for ESPN.com?s subscription-based Insider service, while also practicing law full time.

In October 2001, I was offered a one-year deal with ESPN.com, effective November 1.? (I still have the contract.)? I decided, for a variety of reasons that I won?t bore you with now (but might bore you with later), to launch an independent site (the word blog hadn?t been coined yet, and I have always despised it) that covered the NFL a bit more loosely, with entertainment being as important as information.

PFT launched November 1 of that year, we generated little or no revenue for at least three years, and then the snowball started to roll down the hill, a bit.? The watershed moment came in early 2006, when Ted Moon of Sprint reached out with a desire to explore an advertising relationship.? One thing led to another, we struck a deal, real money was flowing, and I knew at that point that, eventually, I wouldn?t be practicing law at all.

On July 1, 2009, it finally happened, and the two-plus years since then have been an exciting, fulfilling, challenging, and almost entirely enjoyable blur.

I?m not sure what we?ll do to commemorate the 10-year anniversary.? It would be nice if all of PFT Planet shows up next Tuesday and check in, if only to see if the hamsters powering the NBC servers will explode.? Maybe we?ll do something special for PFT Live.? Beyond that, I?m not looking for the day to be ensconced in self-congratulation.? It?s more about reflection and gratitude ? primarily to each of you ? and given the content of this post, the reflection already has started.

Actually, the reflection happens pretty much continuously.? I don?t know how or why this thing has grown, I don?t know how or why 90 percent of the people connected to the NFL read the site (the other 10 percent are lying), and I don?t know where this thing is going and how it will get there.? I?ve been enjoying the ride since Day One, and I?ll keep doing it as long as I can say that.

Hopefully, you?ve enjoyed it, too.? Hopefully, you?ll continue to do that.

If you have any suggestions on how we best should celebrate an unlikely 10-year anniversary, feel free to add them to the comments.? And be sure to check back next Tuesday to see what we do.? And every day between now and then.? And every day after that.? Until I either drop dead or decide to move on, or move out.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/25/cowher-gruden-linked-to-dolphins-job/related/

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Interest groups flex clout in judicial elections (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Interest groups pumped millions of dollars into state judicial elections at unprecedented levels around the country in the last election cycle, a trend that threatens to undermine the impartiality of judges, a report issued Thursday said.

Political parties and advocacy groups working independently from the candidates are accounting for a greater share of spending on judicial elections. Such independent expenditures accounted for $11.5 million, or nearly 30 percent, of the money spent in the 2009-2010 election cycle. That's up more than 60 percent from the 2005-06 election cycle.

That growth helps explain the nasty tone of some judicial elections. While candidates ran mostly positive advertisements, interest groups accounted for three out of every four attack ads, said the report, which was compiled by three organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

"The story of the 2009-10 elections, and their aftermath in state legislatures in 2011, reveals a coalescing national campaign that seeks to intimidate America's state judges into becoming accountable to money and ideologies instead of the constitution and the law," said the report.

High-court candidates across the U.S. spent $38.4 million during the 2009-2010 election cycle. Retention races in four states ? Illinois, Iowa, Alaska and Colorado ? cost nearly $4.9 million, more than double the $2.2 million for all retention elections nationwide for the entire decade.

The most expensive high-court elections took place in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois, where the courts were closely divided along party lines.

The nation's costliest retention election in a quarter century took place last year when Illinois Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride faced a simple up-or-down vote to keep his seat. Business groups sought his ouster after he helped overturn a state law capping damages in medical malpractice cases. Kilbride raised $2.8 million while business groups drew $688,000 in their campaign.

In Michigan, the state GOP spent an estimated $4 million and the Michigan Democratic Party spent $1.6 million. The report said the independent spending dwarfed that of the candidates, to the point that the candidates "seemed like bystanders in their own elections." The judicial elections in Michigan were the most expensive in the country.

Perhaps the most abrupt change took place in Iowa where not a single penny was spent in state high-court elections from 2000 to 2009. That changed when the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage. National groups, led by the National Organization for Marriage, spent nearly $1 million to vote out three state justices trying to retain their seats. A group called Fair Courts for Us, led by former governor Robert Ray, also spent about $400,000 in an unsuccessful bid to support the incumbents.

The report described the results of the Iowa election as chilling because the campaign was intended to send a warning to judges in all states.

But Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said he believes talk of intimidation by interest groups is just incorrect. Rather, he said, that the groups are putting their trust in voters.

"Is it intimidation when someone says to a politician you've gone too far. I can't vote for you again?" Brown said. "That's not intimidation. That's democracy at work."

The report also noted that a patchwork of disclosure laws can leave the public in the doubt about who funds the independent expenditure efforts to elect or remove judicial candidates. In Iowa, the laws made it clear who was supporting the effort to remove three justices. But in Michigan, the report said it was impossible to confirm who bankrolled the two party's spending in the judicial elections.

The Brennan Center worked with the National Institute on Money in State Politics and the Justice at Stake Campaign to compile the report. The latter is an advocacy group that describes its mission as keeping special interests out of the courtroom.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_el_ge/us_judicial_elections_interest_groups

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HP will not spin off PC business

After announcing this past August that it was considering a spin off of its PC business, HP confirmed on Thursday that it would keep its PC division.??HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It?s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,? said HP CEO Meg Whitman in a statement. ?HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.? The initial announcement, which was delivered alongside news that HP was discontinuing its two-moth-old TouchPad tablet and putting an end to its webOS hardware efforts, caused the company?s stock to tumble. Shares of HP are up 1% in after-hours trading following today?s announcement.

HP to Keep PC Division

Continued combination of HP and its Personal Systems Group expected to deliver greater customer and shareholder value

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 27, 2011

HP today announced that it has completed its evaluation of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG) and has decided the unit will remain part of the company.

?HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It?s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,? said?Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. ?HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.?

The strategic review involved subject matter experts from across the businesses and functions. The data-driven evaluation revealed the depth of the integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. It also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP?s solutions portfolio and overall brand value. Finally, it also showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation.

The outcome of this exercise reaffirms HP?s model and the value for its customers and shareholders. PSG is a key component of HP?s strategy to deliver higher value, lasting relationships with consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers. The HP board of directors is confident that PSG can drive profitable growth as part of the larger entity and accelerate solutions from other parts of HP?s business.

PSG has a history of innovation and technological leadership as well as an established record of industry-leading profitability. It is the No. 1 manufacturer of personal computers in the world with revenues totaling $40.7 billion for fiscal year 2010.

?As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry?s broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more,? said?Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. ?We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better.?

More information is available at?www.hp.com/investor/PSG-Decision.

Source: http://www.bgr.com/2011/10/27/hp-will-not-spin-off-pc-business/

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Analysis: How to get your piece of Obama's student loan relief (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama's new student loan relief plan may be less than meets the eye: It will not do anything to alleviate the pain for the millions of borrowers who have private student loans, and its centerpiece merely accelerates by two years a program to lighten the load for low-earning federal borrowers.

While it may not solve all troubles related to the almost $1 trillion in education indebtedness now burdening graduates and dropouts alike, it does have the potential to help millions of federal borrowers lower their payments or their interest rates -- if they play their cards right. And it may be as far as a president is able to go without congressional action.

"This is an important positive step," says Lauren Asher, president of the College Access and Success, an advocacy organization. To make the most of the program, borrowers have to take the right steps for themselves. Here's what you should do, depending on your circumstances:

--If you are out of school and have a lot of different federal loans.

Your loans might be a mix of direct federal loans and loans that were issued by private lenders but guaranteed by the federal government. (Those are called Federal Family Education Loan Program, or FFELP loans). Beginning on January 1, you can consolidate all of those loans into a single direct federal loan -- and get a discount off of your interest rate.

It works like this: You can already consolidate FFELP and direct loans at an interest rate that is the average of the rates on your loans, rounded up to the nearest eighth of a percent. The new program will offer additional rate cuts of 0.25 percentage points on your FFELP rates and an additional 0.25 percentage points on the entire loan, if you agree to an automated payment from your checking account.

But, move quickly in 2012, counsels Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid (http://www.Finaid.org) and a financial aid expert. The Budget Control Act of 2011 eliminates discounts like this from the student loan program, beginning July 1. It wouldn't raise rates for those who lock in these consolidated loans, but could close the window for new consolidators.

Not everyone will want to jump on this offer. If you have a mix of direct and FFELP loans with a broad range of interest rates -- say from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent -- and you are paying off the higher rate loans at an accelerated pace, you may end up picking up more interest rate costs if you roll them all together and take a blended rate, even with the discounts.

--If you are still a student, or about to enroll

Obama sweetened the existing income-based repayment plan for some 1.6 million current student borrowers. Once they leave school, they will be able to limit their repayments to 10 percent of their discretionary income if they are in low-paying occupations.

If they still have loan balances after 20 years of paying, the remainder of their loan would be forgiven. That offers some financial solace to people who choose typically low-paying service or artistic work. Those changes were scheduled to go into effect in 2014; now they will be accelerated into 2012.

Folks who have already left school and begun working can already opt into an income-based repayment plan, but it is somewhat less generous. Payments are limited to 15 percent of discretionary income, not 10 percent. And it takes 25 years before loan balances are forgiven.

Is this a good deal? Maybe. Stretching out payments over a longer period of time does allow more household income to go toward real life needs like mortgages and groceries. And stretching out a very low-interest rate loan as long as possible, when you believe rates will rise in the future, can make sound financial sense. But so does paying of a loan faster, especially if you can afford to make the payments.

--If you have private loans

Sorry, you're on your own. Without any authority to compel private lenders to lower their rates or forgive big balances, the White House hasn't addressed these loans, estimated by Kantrowitz to make up almost 1 in 6 of every student loan dollar. Private loans tend to be costlier than federal loans and issued at variable rates that can go sky high. They are also lacking in some advantages, such as access to the federal income-based repayment programs, says Asher, who recommends new borrowers limit their private loans.

Former students who are having trouble repaying their private loans should reach out to the lenders and see if they can get any forbearance. But those decisions are typically subjective and based on the goodwill of the lender.

The newly-formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking a closer look at those loans, and has recently published a tool that can help borrowers figure out how to organize and repay their student loans. The student debt repayment assistant tool (http://www.consumerfinance.gov/students/repay) can help you figure out which of your loans are direct, FFELP and private and then link you to a variety of repayment plans. Once that's organized, you'll have time for all those grad school applications.

(Editing by Beth Gladstone and Walden Siew)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111026/us_nm/us_studentloans

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Lockheed wins $1 billion UK MoD contract (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) said on Tuesday it had won a 642 million pound ($1 billion) contract to upgrade Britain's fleet of Warrior armored vehicles, supporting around 600 British jobs.

Lockheed Martin said, under the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP), it would be responsible for upgrades and enhancements extending the vehicles' service life to beyond 2040.

"The WCSP will provide a highly capable vehicle to fulfill the British Army's current and future requirements. It will also bring significant job opportunities for our team of suppliers based here in the UK," Alan McCormick, managing director in Lockheed Martin UK's Ampthill business, said.

The total cost of the upgrade is around 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of which Lockheed Martin can expect to book about two-thirds with the remainder going to other contractors.

Reuters had reported earlier on Tuesday that the deal would be confirmed when British Prime Minister David Cameron and the new Defense Secretary Philip Hammond visited Lockheed Martin's plant in Bedford, north of London.

"The upgraded Warriors will give commanders and their soldiers greater flexibility and firepower," Hammond said. "It also represents a great boost to British industry - sustaining jobs, skills and capability within the UK's armored vehicle sector."

Only Lockheed was left in the running to carry out the work after British defense group BAE Systems (BAES.L) was eliminated earlier this year by the Ministry of Defense.

($1 = 0.627 British Pounds)

(Reporting by Rhys Jones, Mohammed Abbas and Neil Maidment; editing by Paul Hoskins and Matt Scuffham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111025/bs_nm/us_lockheed_uk_warrior

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Obama tells students of plans to ease loan burden (Reuters)

DENVER (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday to take steps to ease the burden of student loans, potentially helping cash-strapped college graduates in a tough U.S. economy.

"I want America to have the most highly skilled workers doing the most advanced work. I want us to win the future," Obama told an audience of about 4,000 students at the University of Colorado-Denver.

"So that means we should be doing everything we can to put a college education within reach for every American."

In line with an announcement on Tuesday, Obama said he planned to speed up a plan to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income, bringing it forward to start in 2012 instead of 2014.

The White House estimates the loan changes could cut monthly payments for 1.6 million graduates.

Americans owe more on student loans than on outstanding credit card debt, and total loans outstanding are slated to exceed $1 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The rise in private student lending and growing debt defaults have also been highlighted by Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Under the plan, student debt will also be forgiven after 20 years, compared with 25 years under current law.

More than 36 million Americans have federal student loan debt, but only 450,000 have taken advantage of the existing income-based repayment program.

Obama will also make changes to allow 6 million students to bundle together certain federal loans to allow a single monthly payment. The move would reduce the risk of default caused by juggling several debts.

The option will be open from January. Those that take it up will also get a 0.5 percentage point cut in the interest rate on some of their loans, lowering monthly payments and potentially saving them hundreds of dollars in interest.

The loans initiative was the third such move by Obama in as many days, following action to aid homeowners and boost hiring of military veterans. The White House wants to show Obama is an activist president battling a "do-nothing" Congress.

The loan changes do not require approval by Congress.

Republican lawmakers blocked a $447 billion jobs plan put forward by Obama last month, citing among other reasons its increases in some taxes.

Students helped push Obama into the White House in 2008. As he campaigns for re-election in 2012, Obama's public approval ratings have fallen near 40 percent, the low of his presidency, largely because of discontent with his economic stewardship.

Obama was wrapping up a swing through western states that will be vital to his re-election campaign in 2012.

(Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111026/pl_nm/us_obama_students

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Rina strengthens, aims at Mexico coastal resorts

Fishermen secure their boat in anticipation of Hurricane Rina's arrival in Cancun, Mexico, Tuesday Oct. 25, 2011. Mexican authorities set up emergency shelters and cruise ships shifted course on Tuesday as Rina strengthened off the Caribbean coast on a projected track that would carry it whirling through Cancun and the resort-filled Mayan Riviera, Mexico's most popular tourist destination. (AP Photo/Israel Leal)

Fishermen secure their boat in anticipation of Hurricane Rina's arrival in Cancun, Mexico, Tuesday Oct. 25, 2011. Mexican authorities set up emergency shelters and cruise ships shifted course on Tuesday as Rina strengthened off the Caribbean coast on a projected track that would carry it whirling through Cancun and the resort-filled Mayan Riviera, Mexico's most popular tourist destination. (AP Photo/Israel Leal)

Fishermen secure their boat in anticipation of Hurricane Rina's arrival in Cancun, Mexico, Tuesday Oct. 25, 2011. Mexican authorities set up emergency shelters and cruise ships shifted course on Tuesday as Rina strengthened off the Caribbean coast on a projected track that would carry it whirling through Cancun and the resort-filled Mayan Riviera, Mexico's most popular tourist destination. (AP Photo/Israel Leal)

Fishermen work in their boats as hurricane Rina approaches the area in Cancun, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Mexican authorities set up emergency shelters and cruise ships shifted course on Tuesday as Hurricane Rina strengthened off the Caribbean coast on a projected track that would carry it whirling through Cancun and the Mayan Riviera. (AP Photo/Israel Leal)

This image provided by NASA show Hurrican Rina, bottom center, acquired at 12:31 a.m. EDT Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011. Rina's maximum sustained winds remained steady at about 110 mph (175 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, making it a Category 2 storm. Forecasters predict it will strengthen as it nears the Mexican coast Wednesday night before rolling over the island of Cozumel, a popular dive spot and cruise-ship port, then along the coast to Cancun. (AP Photo/NASA)

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) ? Authorities evacuated fishing communities on Mexico's resort-studded Caribbean coast and some tourists began to leave, as Hurricane Rina took aim at Cancun and the island of Cozumel on Wednesday.

Hundreds of residents from the fishing town of Punta Allen, south of Tulum, were taken to emergency shelters and a smaller group was evacuated from the low-lying hamlet of Banco Chinchorro Tuesday, and cruise ships shifted their routes in the face of expected storm surges, waves and heavy rains from Rina.

Rina's maximum sustained winds remained steady at about 110 mph (175 kph) early Wednesday, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, making it a Category 2 storm. Forecasters predict it will strengthen as it nears the Mexican coast Wednesday night before rolling over the island of Cozumel, a popular dive spot and cruise-ship port, then along the coast to Cancun.

Soldiers, marines and state police arrived with vehicles in Punta Allen on Tuesday to evacuate about 275 residents and take them to a storm shelter at a middle school; about 500 people are expected to be evacuated there in total, according to Quintana Roo state Civil Defense Director Luis Carlos Rodriguez.

The coastal area around Tulum is dotted with Mayan ruins, and further north is Playa del Carmen, another popular spot for international tourists and the departure point for ferries serving Cozumel.

State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez said there were about 83,000 tourists in the state, with about 45,000 of those on a stretch of coast south of Cancun that includes Tulum and Playa de Carmen, and almost 28,000 in Cancun.

There were only about 1,719 tourists in Cozumel, and many of them were leaving, Gonzalez Hernandez said.

"In the case of Cozumel, which could be hit hardest, people are leaving of their own accord and are cutting their reservations short," said Gonzalez Hernandez.

But some were planning to ride out Rina.

Douglas Baird, 40, of Glasgow, Scotland, said he had been in Playa del Carmen for 11 days on a tour with 10 other people. He plans to stay for the five remaining days of his vacation.

"I'll go to the bar," he said about his plans for waiting out his first hurricane. "It won't be a problem."

But Wendy Powers, a 49-year-old from Louisiana who was taking a stroll at a shopping mall with two other friends, said she hadn't heard anything about the storm until a reporter told her about it. Still, she said she wasn't worried.

"We had Katrina and we survived it," Powers said. "If the one coming here is a category 1 or 2, we could have a beach party."

In Cancun's hotel zone, a string of pickup trucks hauled small boats and jet skis away from marinas, while workers at shopping malls began boarding up windows.

At least eight cruise ships were changing itineraries away from the storm's path, said Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Vance Gulliksen.

Three cruise ships from the company Norwegian Cruise Line and one from Royal Caribbean have canceled their Friday port of call in the area, said Hiram Toledo, Quintana Roo port administrator.

The area was badly damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, when Cancun's famous white-sand beaches were largely washed away. Insurance officials estimated total damage at $3 billion.

State officials said they were readying more than 1,100 shelters that could handle nearly 200,000 people, though so far there was no word of any planned evacuations.

The hurricane was centered about 235 miles (380 kilometers) south-southeast of Cozumel early Wednesday and was moving west at near 5 mph (7 kph), the Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning is in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun.

Forecasters said Rina was likely to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of about 115 mph (185 kph) later Wednesday.

The forecast track shows it curving east toward Cuba by the weekend, but senior hurricane specialist Michael Brennan at the hurricane center said it could also move toward southern Florida.

___

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Mexico City contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-26-Tropical-Weather/id-353e1d438fd2419da9d96c278f7bbaa3

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IPhone 4S first phone for low-power Bluetooth

NEW YORK (AP) ? The iPhone 4S has a little-heralded feature that makes it unique among phones, at least for a while: It can talk to a new class of wireless devices, such as watches and heart-rate monitors.

The phone, which went on sale Oct. 14, is the first to have a new type of Bluetooth chip that can connect using very little power. The chip uses so little power that it can go into devices that are powered only by a standard "button cell" battery common in watches. The battery can last for years.

Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the industry group behind Bluetooth, on Monday said these small devices will be labeled "Bluetooth Smart." More fully featured devices such as the iPhone that can communicate with them and with other, standard Bluetooth devices will be labeled "Bluetooth Smart Ready."

Casio of Japan has said it will introduce a watch in late December that's Bluetooth Smart. It will be able to link to a smartphone and alert the wearer to incoming emails and text messages by beeping and vibrating.

Sony Ericsson had a watch five years ago that used regular Bluetooth to do the same things the Casio watch will be able to do. But the Sony Ericsson watch weighed nearly half a pound because of its big, rechargeable battery, and it lasted only three weeks on a charge.

Nordic Semiconductor, a Norwegian company, has said that one of its Bluetooth Smart chips will go into a belt that measures its wearer's heart rate and relays it to a smartphone.

Other possible Bluetooth Smart devices include glucose sensors for diabetics and home-automation sensors that could, for instance, tell a phone if all the windows in the home are closed, said Suke Jawanda, chief marketing officer of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

Besides the iPhone, the soon-to-be-released Razr from Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. will also be Bluetooth Smart Ready, Jawanda said. It's a touchscreen smartphone that doesn't have much in common with the old clamshell Razrs.

A few laptops already are already Bluetooth Smart Ready.

Bluetooth Smart was developed by Nokia Corp., which called it "Wibree." It yielded the technology to the Bluetooth SIG in 2007 to spread its adoption.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-10-24-US-TEC-TechBit-Smart-Bluetooth/id-b820126fc499468090d16e19af230ab7

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UK lawmakers say they'll defy gov't over Europe (AP)

LONDON ? Prime Minister David Cameron pleaded with Conservative Party lawmakers on Monday to drop their support for a national referendum on Britain leaving the European Union, comparing the bloc and its economic crisis to a house on fire that needs everyone's help.

Some 60 legislators in Cameron's Conservative Party have signed a motion calling for a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, leave it, or renegotiate membership, but the government has ordered its lawmakers to vote against it or face disciplinary action.

Cameron urged his party's lawmakers not to vote for a referendum, saying the "timing is wrong," given the economic crisis in the euro zone.

"When your neighbor's house is on fire, your first impulse should be to help them to put out the flames ? not least to stop the flames reaching your own house," Cameron told the House of Commons. "This is not the time to argue about walking away, not just for their sakes, but for ours."

Underscoring the emotion of the issue, after several hours of debate in the House of Commons, Conservative lawmaker Adam Holloway resigned his unpaid post as an aide to Europe minister David Lidington so he could vote for a referendum.

Monday's vote, which was triggered by a 100,000-signature public petition on the prime minister's website, is nonbinding. It will fail anyway because the other main parties oppose it, but any rebellion would be an embarrassment for Cameron.

The issue of Europe has long divided his Conservative Party, and also split Britain's governing coalition. Its junior partners, the Liberal Democrats, are strongly pro-Europe.

Britain is a member of the 27-nation EU, but is not among the 17 countries that use the euro single currency, and are struggling to hammer out a bailout for indebted member Greece.

Conservative lawmaker Bernard Jenkin, one of those backing a referendum, said most British people want a vote on EU membership.

"David Cameron is not just taking on the Conservative Party, he's taking on the whole of public opinion. The vast majority think it's time we had a say on our membership."

Cameron said he agrees with the need for fundamental EU reform and is committed to "bringing back more powers" from Brussels. But he said it is in Britain's national interest to remain part of the EU.

"Those who are supporting today's motion, but don't actually want to leave the EU, I say to you this: I respect your views, we disagree about ends, not about means, I support your aims," the prime minister told lawmakers. "Like you, I want fundamental reform, like you I want to refashion our membership of the EU so that it better serves our nation's interests. The time for reform is coming, that is the prize, let us not be distracted from seizing it."

Foreign Secretary William Hague, a longtime euroskeptic, said that with the EU mired in a debt crisis and Britain's economy fragile, a referendum "would create additional economic uncertainty in this country at a difficult economic time."

"Europe is undergoing a process of change and in an in-out referendum people would want to know where the change was going to finish up before they voted," Hague told the BBC. "Clearly an in/out referendum is not the right idea."

____

Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_europe

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Eric Payne: The Unexpected Joys of Fatherhood (Huffington post)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/152780119?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Successful screenwriter works temp gigs to pay the bills (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? The writer was on top of the world.

His first movie had grossed more than $80 million, and he had sold another. Want a Hollywood dream? He had it.

At least, that's what he figured.

Today, the 40-year-old screen scribe -- who fears notoriety from this article will exacerbate his employment situation should he be identified -- is working a two-week temporary job in sales.

"I didn't have any backend points and I knew that the residuals wouldn't last forever," he told TheWrap. "But you assume that once you have a hit movie out, more work will fall into place."

The economy changed that.

"I was doing fine for a while, and then it seemed like after the writers strike, studios and production companies used that as an excuse to cut in-house deals and use that as an excuse not to pay writers for anything."

He suddenly found himself competing with A-list writers for B-list jobs.

"A lot of the jobs I used to go up for, A-list, like super A-list writers are going for those jobs right now," he said. "In the past, they wouldn't have. There was enough of every level to go around."

Now, he said, with studios cutting back on the number of movies they make, it's a tougher world.

"They used to make films in the 5-to-10 million dollar range," he said. "Now everybody wants to do either the super micro-budget stuff, they want to make remakes or sequels, or they want to make tentpoles. A lot of those middle-ground movies that filled the marketplace, those assignments are gone now."

And he said studios have used the economy as a justification for their own greed.

"The studios aren't hurting," he said. "They're just trying to keep as much money as possible."

In addition, he said, "Studios used to buy and develop projects a lot more. Now, you almost have to have the project developed and packaged to get it picked up."

He said that when he was writing full time, "there were a lot more meetings, there were a lot more projects in development, there were a lot more deals being done."

But with the slowing economy, there were fewer projects.

And then, he said, "the residuals shrunk up, some projects didn't turn out like we had hoped they would, a couple of projects went direct to DVD."

He still has a manager and an agent, and he tries not to be discouraged.

Yet he finds that studios and production companies "basically want us to develop a project with them for free, and spec it out in the hopes that they're going to buy it down the road."

And while it's hard to do that while also working temp gigs to scrape enough money by to pay the bills, he does it. Still, he's afraid to let many people know how bad his situation is.

"Most people don't know, because obviously it's a business of perception," he said.

Even his family and old friends don't know how tight things have become. They figure he made a fortune.

"But when you only get a payment for your script and some residuals on DVDs -- which are dropping -- that's not going to last you long," he said. "This obviously isn't where I'd hoped to be at this point in my life, but I'm not depressed about it, or bent out of shape."

Instead, he copes by modifying his expectations.

"I adjusted to being 'As long as I'm living comfortably, I'll be happy.' And now it's down to, 'I gotta' pay my bills.' And I certainly think this will be just a temporary situation. I was kind of in denial for a little while, about how dire the situation was getting."

So, like newbie writers, he works his temp job in the day and writes at night. And he's finding that writing has lost its drudgery.

"Because I don't have a lot of time now to write, when I do get to write, it's really exciting," he said.

He has remained optimistic about his future. He has a few projects in the works, and is looking at directing, perhaps producing.

One thing he won't do is give up.

"I love movies and I love writing," he said. "That's one of the slings and arrows that we have. We don't have the stability of a full-time job with a steady income. But you make that sacrifice to do what you love.

"I'm still obviously fighting the good fight and have some projects that are moving forward, but I don't know if any triggers are going to be pulled," he said. "In the meantime, I'm having to do some temp work just to pay the bills."

While he's trying to stay upbeat, it's difficult.

He's thinking about approaching a temporary agency to look for more work.

"Luckily I have good office skills," he says.

But he won't work at an entertainment company. It'd just be too weird ... too uncomfortable.

"You don't want to answer phones in an office you've pitched to in the past," he said. "It's a little humiliating."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/media_nm/us_jobs_screenwriter

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