Zoo wants company to stop using chimps in TV ads

This video grab provided by CareerBuilders.com, shows the executive chimpanzee advertisement that will air during Super Bowl XLVI Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo says there's nothing funny about a commercial featuring suit-and-tie wearing chimpanzees scheduled to air Sunday during the Super Bowl. Dr. Steven Ross of the zoo says CareerBuilder.com's commercial that shows the chimps outsmarting a human co-worker actually poses a risk to chimpanzees because people lose sight of the fact they're an endangered species and less likely to try to save them. (AP Photo/CareerBuilders.com)

This video grab provided by CareerBuilders.com, shows the executive chimpanzee advertisement that will air during Super Bowl XLVI Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo says there's nothing funny about a commercial featuring suit-and-tie wearing chimpanzees scheduled to air Sunday during the Super Bowl. Dr. Steven Ross of the zoo says CareerBuilder.com's commercial that shows the chimps outsmarting a human co-worker actually poses a risk to chimpanzees because people lose sight of the fact they're an endangered species and less likely to try to save them. (AP Photo/CareerBuilders.com)

Steven Ross, with Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, sits by the chimpanzee habitat, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Chicago. Ross says the CareerBuilder.com commercial that shows the chimps outsmarting a human co-worker actually poses a risk to chimpanzees because people lose sight of the fact they're an endangered species and less likely to try and save them. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

CHICAGO (AP) ? A Chicago zoo is mounting a campaign to stop a company from airing a Super Bowl Sunday commercial featuring mischievous suit-and-tie wearing chimpanzees playing tricks on their human co-worker, saying all that monkey business proves deadly for the endangered species.

Lincoln Park Zoo officials fear images of the frolicking chimps broadcast worldwide do little to help conservation efforts, inaccurately portraying the animals as unthreatened and even as cuddly and harmless pets.

"If people see them that way they are less likely to try and conserve them," Dr. Steve Ross, assistant director of the zoo's Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, said of the commercial that shows chimps laughing at a 'Kick Me" sign on the human. "Individual chimps are being harmed and wild populations are being harmed by this frivolous use of an endangered species."

Ross said he and other animal welfare advocates have been complaining to CareerBuilder.com ever since the company started using chimps in Super Bowl commercials in 2005. But this year is different because he's armed with a Duke University study that he says supports his longtime claims: Commercialized chimps dressed as people ? even when running up big banana daiquiri bar tabs ? makes viewers less concerned about the plight of wild chimps.

"The argument they (CareerBuilder.com) make is it doesn't matter how they're portrayed, they are helping to protect them," said Dr. Brian Hare, an assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology who led the study. "The opposite is true. These commercials are negatively affecting people's decisions about how they support conservation."

CareerBuilder.com declined to comment on the study or any suggestion that the commercials put wild chimpanzees in danger. But in a prepared statement, the Chicago-based company said the "chimpanzee stars" were not harmed and that the American Humane Society watched the commercial being filmed to ensure the animals were "treated with respect."

Hare is particularly concerned about how a Super Bowl commercial ? shown around the world ? will persuade people in Africa, some desperately poor, to capture and sell the animals.

"This advertisement teaches them there is a market for these animals, that there are some crazy people in America and Europe who would want them as pets," he said. "Even if there isn't a market, they think there's a market."

And that, he said, could devastate the wild population of chimpanzees that has already dwindled from more than 1 million to about 100,000.

Further, he and Ross said the message that chimps make good pets is a dangerous one, as was demonstrated in 2009 when a chimpanzee attacked a Connecticut woman, ripping off her nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being shot to death by police.

Ross said he's not optimistic that CareerBuilder.com will pull the ad before this year's Super Bowl. "They already paid for this one," he said, adding that the company has never responded to any of the letters he's written them since 2005.

In fact, in an effort to drum up publicity about the ad, the company sent another email to The Associated Press trumpeting the upcoming commercial starring "CareerBuilder's beloved chimpanzees" that was back by "popular demand."

In that email, the company pointed to statistics that showed CareerBuilder.com business surged after previous Super Bowls and that its brand awareness also has grown dramatically.

But, he said in an email, maybe his concerns will find an audience of its own that the response from "a wider segment of the public ... is negative enough for (CareerBuilder.com) not to invest more money in extending the campaign with new ads."

Ross and Hare are encouraged by another conclusion of the Duke study: The commercials may not be all that effective. Contrary to Careerbuilder.com's suggestion that the commercials helped their business, Hare said people who watched the commercials reported that they found commercials with chimpanzees less interesting than those that featured athletes, music and other things.

That is not surprising to Peter Dabol, chief executive of Ace Metrix, a firm that rates the effectiveness of ads.

"These kinds of slapsticky, kind of funny ads and these ads in particular, were relatively low scoring ads even though their likeability is high," he said.

"These (CareerBuilder.com) ads performed at the bottom of the pack of all Super Bowl ads," he said. "That's typical of what we see as pure humor, cheap laugh ads."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-31-Super%20Bowl-Chimp%20Ads/id-2c8b18c3c8eb47798de4e8f9e4a90d15

sharjah sharjah observe and report observe and report auburn football auburn football costumes

Leo W. Gerard: Retirees Occupy Century Aluminum

On Dec. 18, a dozen retirees, men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va. In tents and under tarps, a small group stays overnight, despite hypertension, arthritis and other old age ailments. One has suffered a stroke.

These vulnerable people expose themselves to weather extremes although some have no health insurance at all. Century cancelled it. That's why they're occupying Century.

The retirees labored their entire lives for wages and pensions comparably lower than those of other aluminum workers. They did it believing they made those sacrifices in exchange for good, lifelong health coverage. Over the past two years, however, Century evicted them, about 540 retirees altogether, from the insurance plan.

The betrayal burns. Executives at Century, corporate 1 percenters, committed the same sort of treachery that is being condemned by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators representing the victimized 99 percent across the country. Thus the retirees adopted the grandchildren's protest tactic of encampment.

Century shuttered the 50-year-old Ravenswood smelter in February of 2009, throwing 651 workers out of jobs. Century, headquartered in Monterey, Calif., didn't go bankrupt though. It still operates aluminum plants in Kentucky, South Carolina and Iceland. And it didn't immediately cancel promised insurance for retirees.

Nine months after the shutdown, it announced it would terminate as of June 1, 2010 health benefits for retirees eligible for Medicare. Then on Nov. 1, 2010, Century told its retirees who weren't yet eligible for Medicare that it would stop paying for their coverage as of Jan. 1, 2011.

This revoking of earned benefits isn't an isolated incident or a fluke. It is part of a pattern documented by Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Ellen E. Schultz in her new book "Retirement Heist." The subtitle is, "How companies plunder and profit from the nest eggs of American workers.

She describes in gory detail how corporations raided worker pension accounts, siphoning off surpluses that would be needed later to prop up plans damaged by the Wall Street collapse. She provides detailed accounts of executives gouging the funds to pay for their own exorbitant retirement packages. She tells of corporate executives ending retiree health insurance and freezing pensions but deceptively calling the changes improvements, so that CEOs could pump up company profits with money that had been pledged to workers.

While breaking promises to workers and violating contracts, these CEO 1 percenters falsely portrayed themselves as beleaguered champions of workers, valiantly attempting to preserve underfunded pensions. Like Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino saving himself while abandoning passengers on his sinking cruise ship, the captains of industry padded their own pockets with pension and health care funds intended for retirees, then deserted the workers. Schultz describes the CEO scams this way in the book:

"In reality, they're the silent pirates who looted the ships and left them to sink, along with the retirees, as they sailed away safely in their lifeboats."

Most of the Costa Concordia passengers survived, but more than a dozen drowned. In West Virginia, most of the retirees are still kicking. A leader among the Century occupiers, Karen Gorrell, explained:

"We may have one foot in the grave, but we are kicking like hell with the other."

But some have succumbed. Gorrell, wife of a 33-year veteran aluminum worker, says Century has retiree blood on its hands.

She tells of two tragedies. There's Bryce Earl Turner who Karen encountered after her first meeting with Century retirees in Ravenswood. He was scared and sick. Both alternatives he faced -- buying private insurance or paying for his leukemia treatments out of pocket -- were way beyond his means. Losing his insurance was a death sentence. The retirees worked desperately to get him more time.

With the help of West Virginia's U.S. senators, Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, and a provision in Obama's health care reform law, the retirees managed to get coverage extended to Sept. 1, 2011. Bryce Earl Turner, 59, who worked 37 years at the aluminum plant, died the next day.

The other tragedy is Sam McKinney. He attended a meeting of the retirees on Feb. 14, 2011. He said he feared losing the insurance because his wife was ill. Karen recounts:

"He was very emotional because he had taken his wife to Charleston to try to get some assistance with her health care costs and had been turned down."

He said, she recalled, that it was hard to believe that in America after a person expended his usefulness to industry, a corporation could coldly cast him aside as if his life had no value.

After the meeting, Sam McKinney took his wife to Outback Steakhouse in Parkersburg for Valentine's Day. As they left, he collapsed and died in the parking lot. Karen is sure the stress killed him. Wrongful stress. Stress he'd not have experienced if Century was good for its word.

Karen says of Turner and McKinney:

"It was murder without a gun."

Though Century failed to fulfill its obligation to pay for retiree health care, it handed its last CEO, Logan W. Kruger, $4.9 million in 2010. That's twelve times more than Americans pay their president, the leader of the free world. Century gave Kruger another $6.2 million to leave last November. Still, he's suing for $20 million on top of that. Century also is defending against a lawsuit filed for the retirees by the United Steelworkers (USW) union, which represented most of the Century workers.

The USW hopes, however, to resolve the dispute outside the courtroom, with the help of the retirees and West Virginia lawmakers. The elderly agitators managed to win the support of the state's U.S. senators, its governor and its legislature. So last year when Century went begging to the state for $20 million it claimed it needed to re-open the Ravenswood smelter, the lawmakers sent Century away empty handed with a directive to settle with the retirees before seeking reconsideration.

Not long afterward, Century booted Kruger, and the new management team is negotiating with the USW and the retirees.

The protesters don't have what they want yet, and they're not leaving their tents until they do.

Century gave the retiree occupiers port-o-potties and installed concrete barriers to prevent cars careening on an icy Route 33 from plowing through the encampment.

Very nice gesture. But resuming payment for promised health insurance would be a whole lot better.

?

Follow Leo W. Gerard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/uswblogger

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-w-gerard/retirees-occupy-century-a_b_1240105.html

x factor voting “do a barrel roll” oakland texas judge texas judge tom brokaw maria shriver

Florida highway pileup kills at least 10 people

Firemen hose down a commercial carrier truck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., after it was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which killed at least 9 people in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Firemen hose down a commercial carrier truck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., after it was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which killed at least 9 people in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Firemen spray foam on a truck that was part of a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Wrecked vehicles sit along the road at the scene of a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Firemen watch as cleanup crews work on vehicles that were involved in a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

A small passenger vehicle sits lodged beneath a semitrailer after a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) ? A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed.

When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile, police said.

Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," he said. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.

Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and warned Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to them when another vehicle hit the man's car.

The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.

All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.

"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."

Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities and a "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup.

At least 18 people were taken to a hospital.

All six lanes of the interstate ? which runs virtually the entire length of Florida ? were closed most of Sunday afternoon as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames.

The northbound lanes of I-75 were reopened around 5:30 p.m. EST, but the southbound lanes remained closed.

"Our standard operating procedure is to get the road open as quickly as possible but let's not forget we have 10 people who are not with us today," said Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman. "So we are going to take our time assessing the situation."

It was not clear when the highway would fully reopen because part of the road melted, police said.

At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of the fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved.

Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

Traffic was being diverted much of Sunday onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.

Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.

Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.

In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.

___

Associated Press Writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-29-Deadly%20Interstate%20Crash/id-2aacfa95183948c9a2355f31c3c73259

bengals vs texans nfl playoffs cincinnati bengals bengals the stand josh mcdaniels cotton bowl

Apple?s Off-The-Charts iPhone And iPad Sales

Sometimes you have to see things to truly appreciate their magnitude. Apple's latest quarter was so massive that MG had to write two posts about it: $46 billion in revenues, 37 million iPhones sold, 15 million iPads. The chart above, which comes from Francesco Schwarz, using data from Apple and Asymco (see a fully interactive version here), shows how unusual this quarter was for Apple.

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

weather miami angus t. jones belgian malinois girl fight jacoby brissett danielle staub last of the mohicans

Gingrich: Romney 'carpet bombing' rival with ads

RETRANSMISSION FOR IMPROVED TONING - Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gestures during the Orange County Lincoln Day Dinner at Rosen Shingle Creek, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

RETRANSMISSION FOR IMPROVED TONING - Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gestures during the Orange County Lincoln Day Dinner at Rosen Shingle Creek, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during the Orange County Lincoln Day Dinner at Rosen Shingle Creek, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Newt Gingrich says Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney "has a basic policy of carpet bombing his opponent" and that the "old establishment" in the party is trying to block Gingrich's path to nomination.

Gingrich tells "Fox News Sunday" that Romney has done little to bolster his own campaign and instead has focused on attacking his competitors. The former House speaker says conservatives should rally behind one candidate and punish Romney's negativity.

Gingrich and Romney are in a fierce contest in Florida, which has its primary on Tuesday.

Gingrich is campaigning as the most viable conservative and casts Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate."

Gingrich is being far outspent, including one ad that highlights his resignation from Congress amid ethics allegations. Gingrich says Romney is "running an ad that is factually false."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-29-Gingrich/id-eae642a38a4c4fe8a2398b9e1551ac8e

matt barkley melanie amaro x factor boise state anencephaly jordans prometheus movie indianapolis colts

OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity

It's MacWorld, which means those providers of Apple gear are busting out wares for aftermarket insertion into your objects of desire. Other World Computing's latest offering is a slender solid-state drive ready to be crow-barred into last year's MacBook Airs. The bombastically named OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is a SATA Rev. 3.0 drive with a promised 6GB/s data speed at sizes of up to 480GB. Since the stock drives are limited to the 3GB/s SATA Rev. 2.0 (but the controllers run 3.0), you should find a significant performance bump when swapping in the new unit. The toggle-synchronous NAND drives come in a variety of sizes from 120GB ($260) all the way to 480GB ($1,150), but you'll get a three-year warranty for all that cash. We may never give you our money, nor our funny pages, but you can have the press release that's after the break.

Continue reading OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity

OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/lvDRPXsSuN4/

florida state ted kennedy warren zevon caroline kennedy caroline kennedy day of rage sportscenter

US judge denies bid to block NV mustang roundups

File-In this July 13,2008 file photo a livestock helicopter pilot rounds up wild horses from the Fox & Lake Herd Management Area from the range in Washoe County, Nev., near the town on Empire, Nev. A federal judge in Nevada that handed horse protection advocates a rare victory last fall has rejected their latest request to block government roundups of free roaming mustangs in the West, saying they?ll have to go to Congress if they think the animals need more protection. (AP Photo/Brad Horn,File)

File-In this July 13,2008 file photo a livestock helicopter pilot rounds up wild horses from the Fox & Lake Herd Management Area from the range in Washoe County, Nev., near the town on Empire, Nev. A federal judge in Nevada that handed horse protection advocates a rare victory last fall has rejected their latest request to block government roundups of free roaming mustangs in the West, saying they?ll have to go to Congress if they think the animals need more protection. (AP Photo/Brad Horn,File)

RENO, Nev. (AP) ? A federal judge in Nevada who handed horse protection advocates a rare victory last fall has rejected their latest request to block government roundups of free-roaming mustangs in the West, saying they'll have to go to Congress if they think the animals are being treated inhumanely and need more protection.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben granted a temporary restraining order on Aug. 30 that cut short by a day a roundup near the Nevada-Utah line after he determined a helicopter flew too close to a horse in violation of the law.

But he said during a hearing in Reno Thursday that he was denying a new injunction request from the Texas-based Wild Horse Freedom Federation partly because the Bureau of Land Management has made some positive changes since then. He also said he can't issue injunctions based on speculation about future abuses.

"This court is really not in a position to be the overseer of the BLM," McKibben said. "This court is not going to police all gathers in the U.S. or even all gathers in the district of northern Nevada."

"This Court is not Congress, not an administrative agency. We are not the first branch of government. We are not the second branch. We're here to consider grievances," he said.

His ruling was a disappointment to horse protection advocates who were buoyed by his court order last fall when he took the BLM to task for its actions at the Triple B complex roundup near the Nevada-Utah line northwest of Ely, Nev.

"Your honor, you are the last vestige of hope here," said Gordon Cowan, a lawyer for the group. "Basically, there is no other accountability."

Erik Petersen, a Justice Department lawyer representing BLM, said the agency took McKibben's earlier order seriously and responded with its own internal review of the Triple B roundup "in great part in response to this court's ruling on the temporary restraining order."

The law already dictates the horses be treated humanely but the agency now has "a half dozen specific instructions" or guidelines for roundup contractors to follow, including prohibiting helicopters from flying too close to animals, Petersen said.

The BLM said in a formal review made public in December that some mustangs in the Triple B complex were whipped in the face, kicked in the head, dragged by a rope around the neck, and repeatedly shocked with electrical prods, but the agency concluded none of the mistreatment rose to the level of being inhumane. BLM Director Bob Abbey did, however, determine additional training is needed for the workers and contractors involved.

The government's wild horse program is intended to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. About 33,000 wild horses live in 10 Western states, of which about half are in Nevada. Under the program, thousands of horses are forced into holding pens, where many are vaccinated or neutered before being placed for adoption or sent to long-term corrals in the Midwest.

Animal rights advocates complain that the roundups are inhumane, but ranchers and other groups say they're needed to protect fragile grazing lands that are used by cattle, Bighorn sheep and other wildlife.

Petersen said the Triple B roundup ended the day after McKibben's previous order on Aug. 30. He said BLM has no plans to resume that roundup ? the only one specifically targeted in the group's original lawsuit filed last year.

But Cowan said he said there's no question BLM eventually will return to the area for another roundup.

"They finished it to avoid your temporary restraining order," Cowan said. "They are coming back whether they say it or not. Triple B is not over," he said.

If that happens, McKibben said the issue will be ripe again for legal challenge. He repeated several times that he couldn't understand why the critics won't acknowledge BLM is taking steps to treat the horses more humanely.

"Is your position that absolutely nothing constructive has happened ... that everything done so far is basically meaningless?" he asked Cowan, who answered "yes" each time.

"I don't happen to agree," the judge said. "I think frankly that hurts your argument."

Cowan said that's the group's position because group Vice President Laura Leigh continues to observe abuse of horses at other gathers.

McKibben said the new BLM guidelines were an improvement.

"While they have not resulted in the embodiment of new rules or regulations, I see some positive things that happened between the time we were in court before and today," he said.

"I would strongly urge the Bureau of Land Management to proceed in that direction. But that's a decision that must be made by the first branch (Congress)."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-01-27-Wild%20Horses-Lawsuit/id-f56bb396452045678f286608480f091d

jules verne jules verne als puppies miss universe 2011 contestants hells angels hells angels

Do women feel more pain than men? (The Week)

New York ? After conducting a massive study, researchers argue that women are more likely than men to say "ouch"

According to a new study published in the appropriately titled Journal of Pain, women, on average, experience higher levels of pain than their male counterparts ? and by a large margin. What's the evidence? Here, a guide:

How was this study conducted?
Researchers analyzed the electronic medical records of 11,000 men and women who were patients at the Stanford Hospital and Clinics. They specifically looked at how each person rated their pain on a 0 ("no pain") to 11 ("worst pain imaginable") scale ? sifitng through a total of more than 161,000 pain scores. The study included patients suffering from 47 different disorders and 250 different diagnoses, ranging from cancer to back conditions to infectious diseases.

SEE ALSO: Does yoga really 'wreck your body'?

?

And women felt more pain?
Yes. Women's pain scores in nearly each one of the diseases were, on average, 20 percent higher than men's scores, says Rachael Rettner at Mother Nature Network. The most surprising finding, says Dr. Atul Butte, the study's lead author, is that this was the case across nearly every disorder. Pain was particularly more potent for women in the lower back, knee, neck muscles, and sinuses.

Why?
Hormones may account for the gender gap, says Alice Park at TIME. Estrogen in women can dampen the activity of pain receptors, which, on its face, would allow women to actually tolerate higher levels of pain. However, that also means "they may become more sensitive to pain during low-estrogen parts of the menstrual cycle."

SEE ALSO: America's 'worrisome' ADHD drug shortage

?

Any other explanations?
The observed difference might not be biological at all. Men may be compelled by cultural stereotypes to appear tough about pain, and therefore report feeling less of it than they actually do ? "especially when asked by the mostly female nursing staff," Park says. In the end,?says University of Florida pain researcher Roger B. Fillingim, more research is needed to pinpoint the exact reason for these differences in pain perception.

Sources: ABC News, Journal of Pain, Mother Nature Network, San Jose Mercury News, TIME

SEE ALSO: The 'mysterious' Tourette-like syndrome plaguing a N.Y. town

?

View this article on TheWeek.com
Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

Other stories from this section:

Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newsletter

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20120125/cm_theweek/223668

ruby tuesday aliens michael j fox lvs oxycodone copd hon

Experts: Paterno's death won't stop court cases

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement made Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement made Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Joe Paterno would no doubt have made a dramatic courtroom witness. But legal experts said his death will have little or no effect on the criminal or civil cases to come out of the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal.

"Obviously, you're taking away a great deal of the high-profile nature of this case, because it deals with Joe Paterno's football program," said Jeffrey Lindy, a criminal defense lawyer involved in a clergy-abuse case in Philadelphia. "But with regard to the legal impact of his death, there is none."

Paterno died Sunday at 85, two months after former coaching assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with molesting boys and two university officials were accused of perjury and failing to report child sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky to police.

The criminal case against the two university officials may even become more streamlined without Paterno in the mix.

Former university vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley are charged with failing to report to police what graduate assistant Mike McQueary said he told them in 2002: that McQueary saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in a locker room shower.

McQueary first told Paterno, who said he reported it to Curley and Schultz the next day. The administrators told the grand jury they were never informed that the allegations were sexual in nature.

With Paterno's death, though, a jury is free to focus not on what Paterno knew or did, but on the defendants' actions.

What McQueary told Paterno "was a distraction, and now that that part of the case is really gone, it will focus much more on his interaction not with Paterno, but with the Penn State officials," said Duquesne University law professor Nicholas P. Cafardi.

McQueary is also the more crucial witness in the case against Sandusky, who is charged with abusing 10 boys, at least two of them on the Penn State campus.

Paterno testified for just seven minutes last January before the grand jury. He gave only vague answers ? and was never pressed ? when asked what he knew about anyone accusing Sandusky of molesting boys.

"Without getting into any graphic detail, what did Mr. McQueary tell you he had seen and where?" Paterno was asked, according to the grand jury testimony read in court last month.

"Well, he had seen a person, an older ? not an older, but a mature person who was fondling, whatever you might call it ? I'm not sure what the term would be ? a young boy," Paterno replied.

He was asked if he ever heard of any other allegations against Sandusky, who had been the subject of a lengthy campus police investigation four years earlier after a mother complained Sandusky had showered with her young son at the football complex.

"I do not know of anything else that Jerry would be involved in of that nature, no. I do not know of it," Paterno said, adding, "You did mention ? I think you said something about a rumor. It may have been discussed in my presence, something else about somebody. I don't know."

Paterno's grand jury testimony cannot be used in court, because the defense never had the chance to cross-examine him.

"His passing deprives folks from finding out, directly from his lips, exactly what he knew and when he knew it, and what he did or didn't do. But the reality is, sometimes those things can be proved by other means," said Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul, Minn., lawyer who filed the first civil case against Penn State on behalf of a Sandusky accuser.

It's not unusual for a witness to die or become infirm before trial, especially in child sex-abuse cases, which can take years or even decades to surface. In Philadelphia, prosecutors won the right to question 88-year-old retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua on video last year to preserve his testimony before the spring trial of three priests and a church official. Bevilacqua suffers from dementia and cancer.

Prosecutors never got the chance to preserve Paterno's testimony, given his surprise cancer diagnosis and rapid decline after they filed the charges Nov. 4.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-22-Paterno-Legal/id-5bc7bfbf3a914437a49e15cb7bce7219

2012 predictions times square new years eve ball drop new years eve times square 2012 earthquake phish prosperity

Somber farewell begins for Paterno

John Emigh, left, Darren Dixon, and Terrence Krumrine, back right, raise an American flag to half staff in honor of former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno in front of Old Main on the Penn State campus Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the scandal involving his one-time heir apparent, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 in State College. He was 85. .(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

John Emigh, left, Darren Dixon, and Terrence Krumrine, back right, raise an American flag to half staff in honor of former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno in front of Old Main on the Penn State campus Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the scandal involving his one-time heir apparent, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 in State College. He was 85. .(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Former Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, center, visits while waiting in line for a public viewing for legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State University campus, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Samantha Maceil of Pittsburgh, places a Bear Bryant style hat on a statue of legendary former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday at age 85, less than three months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A newspaper with the headline re-written, is left in remembrance around a statue of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State campus Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Frank and Sylvia Pasquerilla Spiritual Center stands on the Penn State University campus in State College, Pa., Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The public viewing for legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will be held Tuesday and Wednesday in the Worship room of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. Paterno died Sunday at age 85, less than three months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Penn State football players past and present filed past the closed casket of Joe Paterno at the campus spiritual center Tuesday, mourning the coach who helped shape the university for more than a half century. Among those paying their respects was Mike McQueary, a key figure in the events that led to Paterno's firing.

The players wore dark suits and filed out of three blue Penn State buses ? the same buses that once carried Paterno and the team to games at Beaver Stadium on fall Saturdays. Son Scott Paterno was seen coming in and out of the center.

McQueary, then a graduate assistant for Penn State, went to Paterno in 2002 saying he had witnessed former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky assaulting a boy in the shower at the Penn State football building. Paterno relayed that to his bosses ? including the head of campus police ? but university trustees felt he should have done more, and it played into their decision to fire the longtime coach on Nov. 9. That came four days after Sandusky was arrested on multiple child sex-abuse counts.

Dressed in a blue coat and tie with a white shirt, the school colors, McQueary was among thousands of expected mourners at an event that was to stretch late into Tuesday night.

One current and one former team member will stand guard over the casket for the duration of the public viewing, athletic department spokesman Jeff Nelson said.

"He left us too early and I think about the impact he could have made once he retired from coaching," Nelson said.

The 85-year-old Paterno, the winningest coach in major college football, died Sunday. His lung cancer was disclosed in November, just days after he was fired.

Paterno's family gathered earlier Tuesday for a private viewing, Nelson said. The family was joined by current players and new Penn State coach Bill O'Brien, followed by former players.

A line of ex-players stretched around the corner and down the block. Among the mourners were former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris. Others there included NFL receivers Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood, Norwood's father and Baylor assistant coach Brian Norwood and former quarterback Daryll Clark.

The event marked the start of three days of public mourning as the Penn State community in State College and beyond said goodbye to the man who led the Nittany Lions to 409 wins over 46 years.

Big crowds were expected to show their love for Paterno, starting with a 10-hour public viewing that begins in early afternoon at Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. There is another public viewing Wednesday, and after that Paterno's family will hold a private funeral and procession through State College.

On Thursday, the school's basketball arena will be the site of a public service called "A Memorial for Joe." Penn State was expecting a huge demand for seats and set a two-per-person limit on tickets.

Former players began arriving shortly after members of Paterno's last team filed in. Some players hugged and O'Brien shook hands at the curb outside the center. By midmorning, with two busloads of players still paying respects, dozens more mourners showed up, lined up along the sidewalk.

With crowds spilling onto the curb, traffic slowed. A few people stared out windows from a classroom building across street.

Penn State linebacker Khairi Fortt recalled his coach's lessons.

"He said the most important thing for us was to keep the Penn State tradition going," the sophomore from Stamford, Conn., said after leaving the viewing.

Scott Paterno has said that despite the turmoil surrounding his termination from the school, Paterno remained peaceful and upbeat in his final days and still loved Penn State.

Bitterness over Paterno's firing has turned up in many forms, from online postings to a rewritten newspaper headline placed next to Paterno's statue at the football stadium blaming the trustees for his death. A headline that read "FIRED" was crossed out and made to read, "Killed by Trustees." Lanny Davis, lawyer for the school's board, said threats have been made against the trustees.

Scott Paterno, however, stressed his father did not die with a broken heart and did not harbor resentment toward Penn State.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Scolforo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-Penn%20State-Paterno/id-ceabcea8e2c94bed85ec2224b1472297

savannah brinson mount rainier ohio state football michigan state michigan state capital one bowl 2012 nfl draft order

Researchers quantify muscle soreness

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Quantifying how sore a person is after a long workout is a challenge for doctors and researchers, but scientists from Loma Linda and Asuza Pacific Universities think they may have figured it out. Their research article describing a new technique to measure muscle soreness will be published in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE).

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) or exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) is one of the most common sports injuries, but without a reliable method of quantifying muscle soreness, assessing treatments is difficult.

Traditionally, muscle soreness has been measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS). Participants mark their level of agreement to a statement along a continuous line. Rather than measuring soreness subjectively, the researchers used thermal imaging to detect subtle changes in the temperature of the skin above exercised muscles.

"The main advantage of this technique," said paper author Dr. Jerrold Petrofsky, "is that unlike visual scales, which are kind of a subjective measure of whether someone is sore or not, this technique gives you quantifiable, absolute data."

"There is no gold standard for measuring DOMS and other techniques, such as needle biopsies, are invasive and painful for patients," said JoVE Editor, Leiam Colbert. "The technique presented here allows for earlier diagnosis and quicker treatment of soreness."

The very visual technique was published recently in JoVE, the world's only peer reviewed, PubMed indexed science video journal.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Journal of Visualized Experiments.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123175703.htm

miss universe 2011 miss universe 2011 augmentin d2l d2l example example

NATO official previews Chicago summit (AP)

LONDON ? The U.S. Ambassador to NATO says America is committed to staying its course in Afghanistan until 2014.

But whether cash-strapped European nations feel the same at an upcoming Chicago summit in May is another question.

Ambassador Ivo Daadler said Monday the summit will focus on NATO's strategy in Afghanistan, costs and the alliance's capabilities. He said its planned missile defense system will go forward with or without the cooperation of Russia.

Daadler also spoke about Iran, saying international isolation may force Tehran back to the bargaining table.

The EU on Monday banned the purchase of Iranian oil. Iran responded, threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude is transported.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_nato

michelle duggar heisman cp3 lakers news rachel crow rachel crow steelers browns

Lana Del Rey's 'SNL' Set Defended By Andy Samberg

' 'Video Games' is a great song,' he tells MTV News at Sundance about Del Rey's 'Saturday Night Live' appearance.
By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Andy Samberg
Photo: MTV News

PARK CITY, Utah — The critics have not been kind to Lana Del Rey following her recent performance on "Saturday Night Live." "Wack-a-doodle" was how Eliza Dushku described it, while actress Juliette Lewis likened the performance to "watching a 12-year-old in their bedroom when they're pretending to sing and perform." At times, it seems that just about everybody has it in for Del Rey.

But "SNL" castmember Andy Samberg is not so quick to criticize. Speaking with MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival — where he's busy promoting his romantic dramedy "Celeste and Jesse Forever" — Samberg acknowledged the outcry against Del Rey but took the opportunity to compliment her.

"People gave her a lot of crap. I saw it online. BriWi," he said when asked about Del Rey, referring to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams' assessment of the performance as "one of the worst outings in 'SNL' history."

"But 'Video Games' is a great song," Samberg added.

Also there to offer support was Samberg's "Celeste and Jesse" co-star Rashida Jones, who doesn't envy anybody who has to grace the pressure-filled "SNL" stage. "It's a tough venue," she said. "You're not actually performing in front of an audience; you're performing in front of cameras. But I didn't see it, so I don't know."

"Yeah, I didn't see it either, so I can't really speak to it," Samberg quickly added, followed by a long pause and an uncomfortable look. (Perhaps there's something he's not telling us ... )

Samberg and Jones aren't the only two who have come to Del Rey's defense. Daniel Radcliffe, who served as "SNL" host during the singer's appearance, has already condemned the way people criticized her. "It was unfortunate that people seemed to turn on her so quickly," Radcliffe told the British media earlier this week. "I also think people are making it about things other than the performance. ... If you read what people are saying about her online, it's all about her past and her family and stuff that's nobody else's business. I don't think [the performance] warranted anywhere near that reaction.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.

Related Videos

• Sundance 2012: Interviews From Park City
• MTV News Extended Play: Lana Del Rey

Related Photos

• Celebrities Hit The Ground At Sundance 2012 Film Fest
• Sundance 2012: MTV Celebrity Photo Booth

Related Artists

• Lana Del Rey

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677675/andy-samberg-defends-lana-del-ray-snl.jhtml

mol obama speech elizabeth taylor star trek democracy democracy doctor

NFL officiating getting attention this postseason

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011 file photo, referee Ed Hochuli , center, exits a replay booth on the sidelines during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns in Pittsburgh. Thanks to a handful of attention-getting calls in this year's playoffs, the officiating is a topic of conversation. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011 file photo, referee Ed Hochuli , center, exits a replay booth on the sidelines during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns in Pittsburgh. Thanks to a handful of attention-getting calls in this year's playoffs, the officiating is a topic of conversation. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Here's the deal, football fans: NFL officials are going to mess up. Calls will be missed. Others will be made that shouldn't have been.

Even the league knows that ? and it wants to make sure you remember, too.

"Certainly there have been some calls we wish had not caused so much attention," NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Ray Anderson said in a telephone interview Friday. "When things are going 100 mph, at game speed and with game pressure, sometimes mistakes are going to be made. When it comes to officiating, fans apparently tend to be less forgiving."

Thanks to a handful of eyebrow-raising calls in these playoffs, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's mention of a proposal to start hiring some game officials as full-time employees, the men in black-and-white striped shirts are a topic of conversation heading into the Ravens-Patriots and Giants-49ers conference championship games Sunday.

"We're never completely satisfied. We certainly think we can do better, and are certainly hoping all the crews remaining will do better in the games upcoming," Anderson said. "We want to make sure that the whole officiating body is performing at the highest level. We would prefer to have calls ... not take center stage for the entire next week."

Or longer.

Mike Pereira was NFL vice president of officiating from 2001-09, and nothing ate at him more than the prospect of a blown call in the Big Game.

"That's always a concern. The eyes of the world are upon you. The Super Bowl is clearly your most important game for a lot of reasons, including how officiating is going to be perceived," Pereira said. "I went through all those Super Bowls where, I mean, I sat in the operations booth and I was nervous as a cat, because you know you're in the spotlight, and you just beg not to be a part of the discussion when the game is over."

In the Giants' 37-20 upset of the reigning champion Packers last weekend, there were a couple of rulings that stood out: A phantom blow-to-the-head penalty on New York defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora, and a "He fumbled the ball; no, wait, he didn't; upon further review, we'll stick with no fumble" call on a play involving Green Bay receiver Greg Jennings.

Both benefited the Packers and both baffled plenty of observers.

The Jennings call drew the most notice.

"I thought the officiating was really on a roll, and then it got to the game in Green Bay. And that obviously painted a different picture," said Pereira, who appears on Fox's NFL telecasts. "You had a lack of a replay reversal that 99 percent of the country, including me, thought would be reversed."

And yet, Giants coach Tom Coughlin said, "I doubt there will be any explanation at all" from the league.

Among other curious calls this postseason were the whistle that brought action to a halt before the Lions got a chance to return a fumble in their 45-28 loss to the Saints, and a lateral by the Steelers mistakenly thought to be an incomplete forward pass in their 29-23 overtime loss to the Broncos.

The good news for the league is the outcome of those games weren't affected. But there have been other, more pivotal, officiating decisions in postseasons past.

One example: This week marks the 10th anniversary of the "Tuck Rule Game," when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady appeared to fumble the football in the last two minutes while trailing the Oakland Raiders, who recovered. Eventually, it was ruled an incomplete pass; New England retained possession, tied the score, and wound up winning in overtime.

One more: The last time the 49ers and Giants met in the playoffs, in January 2003, San Francisco rallied to win 39-38. In the final 10 seconds, the Giants lined up for a go-ahead field-goal attempt. But there was a bad snap, and the holder tried to throw a pass downfield to guard Rich Seubert, who had been announced as an eligible receiver. Before the ball arrived, Seubert was knocked down by a 49ers player, but another Giants lineman was penalized for being downfield illegally, and the game ended. A day later, the NFL ? Pereira, actually ? apologized, saying the correct call would have been offsetting penalties, allowing the Giants another kick.

"The reality is that things happen in 1/26th of a second in real time, and officials have to make judgment calls real quick," Pereira says now, "and you don't get a second chance. So there's going to be inconsistency."

Meeting with fans before one of last weekend's playoff games, Goodell was asked a question about consistency in officiating, and he responded by saying the league will consider making about 10 officials full-time employees next season. They would be part of game crews and also spend time at the league's New York headquarters.

Currently, all 120 or so game officials are part-time employees.

"Consistency is exactly what every club wants, and I think every fan wants. You want consistency in the way rules are applied," Goodell said.

In the past, the NFL's Anderson said, concerns were raised that it would be too expensive to make any officials year-round employees in a roughly six-month sport. But, he said, that's "not a barrier anymore. ... New people on the scene, including myself, are of the opinion that those types of impediments can be overcome under the right circumstances."

The league's collective bargaining agreement with officials expires during the upcoming offseason, so it could make sense to try to switch some now to full time.

"That's an idea we've been thinking about for some time," Anderson said. "There's a lot of potential positives in terms of upgrading the communication and communicating points of emphasis ... particularly with regard to the critical calls."

Pereira cautioned against overreacting to a play such as Jennings' from last weekend, estimating officials get about a half-dozen ultimate rulings wrong among the 315 or so times instant replay is used throughout a season.

And there are some who are impressed by how many calls are made correctly.

"I'm not one to harp on officiating very much," said NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner, who won one Super Bowl and played in two others. "Some of those bang-bang plays, it's hard to tell. ... The game is so fast. And to get as many right as they do? They impress me."

There are all sorts of factors involved, including what replay angles are available from whichever TV network is showing a particular game.

In Philadelphia 35-31 loss at Atlanta in Week 2 of the regular season, for example, a second-half pass from Michael Vick was intercepted by Kelvin Hayden, who made a diving grab, got up and ran 2 yards before he was tackled. NBC showed three replays before the Falcons ran the next play, but none made clear whether the ball bounced before Hayden caught it, so Eagles coach Andy Reid decided not to challenge the call. The Falcons quickly scored a touchdown.

During a commercial break after that TD, NBC found a fourth replay, which showed Hayden didn't make a clean catch. That replay eventually was aired on TV ? but by then it was too late, of course, for Reid to throw his red flag. An NBC producer later apologized to the team.

And, well, as Anderson and Pereira point out, the occasional mea culpa is bound to be needed.

"We have to recognize that the game is played by players, it is coached by coaches, and it is officiated by officials, and they're all human beings; they're all going to make mistakes. And the only of those groups held to a standard of expected perfection is the group of officials. And it's not going to happen," Pereira said.

"Players drop passes. Coaches make bad calls. And officials are going to miss calls," he added. "Officiating needs to improve ? and it's going to improve ? but as you look into the future, you're never going to make it perfect."

___

AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley in Santa Clara, Calif., and Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-20-FBN-Upon-Further-Review/id-25d7b9e63496479cb718a42c66e15cd0

andy rooney dies andy rooney dies bank transfer day daylight savings 2011 day light savings day light savings us geological survey

Contentious NY Senate feuds over 'women's week' (AP)

ALBANY, N.Y. ? The often contentious New York Senate can agree on one thing ? women make up more than half of the nation's population.

Otherwise, state Democrats and Republicans disagreed Thursday on everything else in a proposed proclamation to recognize Jan. 22-28 as "Reproductive Rights and Justice Week."

Democrats proposed the proclamation. Then Republicans struck through 10 entire paragraphs of the 12-paragraph proposal. The two sides disagreed on whether women are solely responsible for bearing children, and Republicans gutted support for abortion rights, contraception and "medically accurate sexuality education."

Democrats can bring the proposal back up but say they won't support the Republican version.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_ny_senate

dominica fiji fiji ruby tuesday aliens michael j fox lvs

Now NY's Legislature gets Cuomo's budget

New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers the 2012 New York State Budget at The Egg, in Albany, N.Y. Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Stewart Cairns)

New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers the 2012 New York State Budget at The Egg, in Albany, N.Y. Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Stewart Cairns)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers the 2012 New York State Budget at The Egg, in Albany, New York, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. Cuomo tried to turn the annual address into a kickoff for taming Albany's status quo of politics and special interests, which he said serves itself rather than taxpayers, or even children. (AP Photo/Stewart Cairns)

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? With a little cheerleading, a little cajoling and a little threatening, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has turned his 2012-13 budget into a rallying cry for reform of the status quo in Albany, demonizing some of its most powerful public labor unions.

The Democrat again cast himself as the outsider in Tuesday's presentation of his mostly flat $132.5 billion budget. He called for reform of the status quo of the Capitol he's been part of for 30 years since his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, held the office and after spending his own first year pulling the strings of state government more than any governor in decades.

"We created a sense of optimism and hope," Cuomo told lawmakers as he called the first-year accomplishments of himself and the Legislature staggeringly successful. New Yorkers "believe in government. ... They have hope once again for themselves, their state, their families and their communities and that is a great, great gift."

Cuomo seized the moment Tuesday in the state theater, well chilled as usual for when he speaks to a big crowd to keep spectators from acting logy from body heat. The budget address was one of only two certain joint meetings all year with intense statewide media attention.

Along the way, he made it clear to lawmakers from both parties that this legislative election year voters will either see them as partners in another year of "all-star" accomplishments, or as obstacles.

"This is a pro-economic growth strategy based on fiscal discipline, real reform and the exciting area of entrepreneurial government to lead us to a new New York," Cuomo said. "This is posing dramatic change in the system ... what we're talking about here are major shifts. Don't underestimate what we are trying to achieve ... we're changing it from the special interest focus to focus on the people."

One of Cuomo's biggest targets was the state's teachers unions, which he accused of blocking a tougher evaluation system for teachers that is threatening nearly $700 million in federal Race to the Top funds that require the action. The other big targets were the other major public employee unions that Cuomo wants to be forced to accept a new pension plan that would cut state and local government pension costs in half.

"I'm not sure we're going to adopt every last thing that he presented today, but if we can make progress on some of the big ones, I think the education piece is critical," said Senate Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous, a Broome County Republican. "We can't afford to lose money."

"If you lose funding, you lose jobs," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat. "So I think you'll see a lot of agreements across the state, and I think that's fine."

Silver also said he'd be open to discussing Cuomo's pension proposal, a long simmering proposal pushed by Senate Republicans and local governments with lighter ties to powerful public unions than Assembly Democrats.

"I think you've got to look at it," Silver said, "because that option saves a significant amount of money."

Cuomo's overall budget proposal would increase state spending by 2 percent, much of it involving 4-percent school aid and Medicaid spending hikes agreed to last year with legislative leaders. But the overall plan, including federal funding, is a fraction of 1 percent lower than the current budget, and eliminates a $2 billion deficit. Cuomo's plan calls for using $1.9 billion in revenue from a "millionaire tax" approved in December and making just over $1 billion in cuts while embarking on a three-year takeover of Medicaid costs from local governments, now cracking under the $8 billion a year strain.

Cuomo's proposal would also merge some state agencies and withhold increases in state aid to school districts that fail to enact tougher evaluations for teachers and principals. Failure to do so threatens $700 million in federal Race to the Top grants.

Union leaders ? primarily those representing teachers and public employees ? signaled Cuomo would get fierce opposition.

Richard Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers union, said Cuomo's 4-percent increase for school aid is still $500 million short, and he'll pursue those funds in the Legislature.

Cuomo also wants a less costly pension tier for new hires, including a voluntary retirement using a type of 401(k) plan that would save state and local governments billions of dollars over 30 years.

"The proposal for a new public employee pension tier is an assault on the middle class and a cheap shot at public employees," said Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association union with 265,000 members. "It will provide no short-term savings and will mean people will have to work longer, pay more and gain less benefit."

But Cuomo was engaging in a fight some budget analysts have long sought in Albany.

"This budget, if enacted, will mark a second year of serious reform for New York state," said Elizabeth Lynam of the independent Citizens Budget Commission.

Like many who watched Albany through years of partisanship that threatened officials' once certain re-election bids, she was skeptical of the policies adopted last year that replaced the usual months-long battles over funding, rather than managing the funds.

"Now, they really seemed to have been able to focus on some of these key issues," Lynam said.

___

AP Writer Michael Virtanen contributed to this report from Albany.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-18-NY%20Budget/id-968edb59758f4f68b6a0a3e3baea2654

celtics braylon edwards jimmer fredette mall of america mennonite gordon hayward smokey robinson