Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/251920994?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, September 29, 2012
Progesterone test can predict viability of pregnancy, study finds
ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? Measuring progesterone levels in women with pain or bleeding during early pregnancy is a useful way to help discriminate between a viable and a non-viable pregnancy, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
The results suggest that a low level of progesterone in these women can rule out a viable pregnancy in the vast majority of cases.
Vaginal bleeding or pain occurs in around a third of women in early pregnancy. Doctors use ultrasound to test whether it is a viable pregnancy or a non-viable pregnancy, such as a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, but this can sometimes be inconclusive.
Some studies have suggested that a single progesterone measurement in early pregnancy may be a useful test, but results are conflicting.
So a team of UK and Dutch researchers set out to determine the accuracy with which a single progesterone measurement in early pregnancy can discriminate between a viable and a non-viable pregnancy.
They analysed the results of 26 studies involving 9,436 pregnant women. Seven studies looked at women with pain or bleeding and an inconclusive ultrasound assessment, while 19 studies looked at women with pain or bleeding alone.
Differences in study quality were taken into account to identify and minimise bias.
The results show that a single low progesterone measurement for women in early pregnancy presenting with bleeding or pain can discriminate between a viable and a non-viable pregnancy when an ultrasound investigation proves to be inconclusive.
For women with pain or bleeding who did not have an ultrasound, the progesterone test was less accurate in predicting viability of a pregnancy.
The researchers stress that low progesterone levels may occur in some viable pregnancies and, as such, "the test should be complemented by another test to increase its diagnostic accuracy."
They also suggest that "this test is highly accurate when complemented by ultrasound and could be added to the existing algorithms for the evaluation of women with pain or bleeding in early pregnancy as it can accelerate diagnosis."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BMJ-British Medical Journal.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Verhaegen J, Gallos ID, van Mello NM, Abdel-Aziz M, Takwoingi Y, Harb H, Deeks JJ, Mol BWJ. Accuracy of single progesterone test to predict early pregnancy outcome in women with pain or bleeding: meta-analysis of cohort studies. BMJ, 2012; 345: e6077 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e6077
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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/4iS35AgL_SU/120927185914.htm
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NHL, locked-out players resume bargaining
NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL and the players' association agreed on issues related to player safety and drug testing Friday, but the core economic divide that is preventing an end to the league's latest lockout was not even on the agenda.
The sides returned to the bargaining table after more than two weeks apart, and some progress was made in about two hours of discussions during a morning session.
"You would absolutely hope that things progress and kind of catch fire, but right now we're just going to take it one step at a time and try to come to an agreement on as many issues as possible," said former player Mathieu Schneider, now an NHLPA special assistant to the executive director. "We're taking baby steps right now."
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman took part in Friday morning's talks, but union head Donald Fehr wasn't present. He is expected to join the discussions during the course of the three-day meeting.
After breaking for lunch, the sides were expected to reconvene later Friday and then again on Saturday and Sunday.
"It says that both sides are committed to getting back to the table and working," Schneider said.
Schneider added that there were agreements on more rigorous drug testing, including increasing it to parts of the year during which testing is not currently done.
Both sides are on the same page in believing that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is not a problem in the NHL.
"We're in agreement that it's not an issue in our sport," Schneider said. "I think it's in the players' best interest as well as the sport to close off any possible time during the year where players could use."
Other topics on tap for Friday and through the weekend are various health and safety issues, time players spend at training facilities, and other non-economic topics.
"We like to say that nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to, but we've certainly made some headway," Schneider said. "A lot of it was done previous to this morning. We're taking notes of where we stand. I would say that we have a lot of mutual ground that we have found agreement on."
It is not impossible that monetary issues will come up for discussion in this round of talks, they just aren't scheduled. Neither side has indicated it is prepared to make a new offer now regarding how to split up the more than $3 billion annual pot of hockey-related revenue.
"In general, when you're dealing with collective bargaining, when you start to have agreements on smaller issues, it can lead to bigger issues," Schneider said, "but it's still too early to say."
These are the first talks since the lockout was put in place on Sept. 16 and they came a day after the league canceled the remaining preseason games. The regular season is to start Oct. 11.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nhl-locked-players-resume-bargaining-174413541--nhl.html
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Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Paul Ryan?s Secret Service code name: ?Bowhunter?
Ryan poses during a deer-hunting trip. (File)
Paul Ryan, who received Secret Service protection last month after being picked as Mitt Romney's running mate, has his new Secret Service code name to brandish: "Bowhunter."
A campaign official told GQ's Marc Ambinder that Ryan?a skilled archer and deer hunter whose kills are well-documented?chose the code name himself. Ryan's wife, Janna, is "Buttercup."
Romney, who has had Secret Service protection since January, is known as "Javelin"?a handle that could refer to a vintage muscle car manufactured by American Motors Corp., where Romney's father, George, was once chairman.
[Related: Secret Service code names for Romney and Santorum revealed]
President Barack Obama's Secret Service code name, chosen during his 2008 presidential campaign, is "Renegade." Michelle Obama's code name is "Renaissance," while first daughters Malia and Sasha go by "Radiance" and "Rosebud," respectively.
Obama's opponent in the 2008 election, Sen. John McCain, was "Phoenix," a nod to his home state. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, was "Denali."
The code name tradition dates back to when communications between the Secret Service and White House Military Office were not encrypted.
"Given modern capabilities to secure communications through encryption," Ed Donovan, spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, told GQ in March, "there is no longer any security relevance to protectee call signs."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/paul-ryan-secret-code-name-bowhunter-134549864--election.html
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USA foreclosures
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Source: http://www.oahu-handyman.com/blog/find-usa-foreclosures-in-my-home-town/
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Monday, September 3, 2012
A Thirst For Film-making > NH7 | Discover new music from India and ...
Features Writer
Ashish Gaikwad is a very young boy. He doesn?t even have much facial hair but is already winning accolades for his first self-directed film Tahaan (Thirst). The young film-maker was brought up by his mother and Aseema, an NGO since he was about four or five years of age. He is quite intelligent and loves the films of Charlie Chaplin, Majid Majidi and other Iranian New Wave directors. He has always been interested in stage and film productions and after working with Amole Gupte on a few projects, decided to direct his first short film.
The film is based on Gaikwad?s early childhood and tells the story of how scarcely-available, potable water was exchanged for money in the locality he lived in. His mother acted in the film and it was aided by Gupte?s production crew but the economy of the shots, the general mood and atmosphere the and and the lack of self-consciousness with which the story is told, make the film very special. I have no doubt that if I were making a film of this sort, I would either be patronising or extremely self-conscious, but Gaikwad doesn?t really come across as either. When I met him and spoke to him, he told me about how most of his batch-mates in the film-making workshops have given up on their dreams of being film-makers because they want a stable life, but for him making films was the only option because he loved it so much. We asked Gaikwad about his plans for the future, how he made his film among other things. Gaikwad is currently directing his first documentary along with Aseema about dumping grounds in Igatpuri. More on that as we find out.
Watch him talk about the making of Tahaan below.
Vishad is a features writer at NH7. When not constantly looking shocked, he writes about comic books and what firemen do on slow days.
Source: http://nh7.in/indiecision/2012/09/03/a-thirst-for-film-making/
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Email Marketing for Affiliates | Internet Marketing Secrets, Affiliate ...
In this post I discuss the process of building an email list for affiliate marketing purposes and how to do this the right way.
There are a number of very convincing reasons to build an email list in a niche market, the main reasons I?ve listed below. I also realize that not all niches markets lean well towards email marketing, but I must say the ones that do tend to be the ones I do best in.
4 Benefits of Building an Email List
- You have more opportunity to make the initial sale
- You have the chance of making repeat sales from each subscriber
- You can build up a reputation with your subscribers
- By sending your list back to your site it helps with SEO
Most of the above points should be quite obvious to you, however to briefly summarize, if you don?t capture the email then you have only one chance to get the person to take the action you want them to take on your site, and you can?t build a reputation with them as easily, unless they bookmark your site and come back later.
As far as helping with your SEO, by this I mean, search engines like Google can tell if someone comes back to your site, and by having a list you can send them back to your site on a regular basis, as you?ll notice I do with this blog. By doing this you increase your chances of your sites content getting shared on the social sites like Facebook and Twitter, and also it increases the chances of people viewing more content on your domain, which again looks good in the eyes of Google as they?ll view your domain as being high quality.
Tips for Building Your Email List
Now that we?ve discussed the benefits of building an email list, let?s now focus on some ways to gain more leads from your sites.
I like to make sure that my sites are optimized for the opt in. You will notice on this site my home page has a section at the top dedicated to the opt in, so it?s very prominent. I also use a popover to collect emails when the site loads. Some of you might think these popovers are annoying and don?t work. However I tested it on this site and it does increase the opt in rate. I?ve added a screen shot below to demonstrate number of opt ins I get, which I track by using a goal conversion in Google Analytics. The blue arrow is where I added the popover. The opt in rate for the site is currently 4.67% which is not too bad really.
Another place on the site to provide the opportunity to opt in is on the side bar, which I have on all the inner posts of this site, and most sites I own for that matter. Again this is very easy to see, however one thing I will say to critique myself is that I really should have a picture in the opt in box like I do for the home page, as this looks more appealing, so shame on me!!
Yet another place on the site for the opt in is at the end of the post, which you can see if you scroll down. I added this recently, when I realized I was wasting prime real estate at the end of the posts, which is where people look once they?ve finished reading my articles. Some of you might wonder how to do something like that, but be encouraged as it?s not hard to find someone who can do this easily and fast. All I did was hire a WordPress coder over at ODesk.com and he whipped it up in a few hours or less!
Marketing to Your List
Once you?re gaining leads and building up your email list, you obviously want to consider how you?ll be monetizing the leads, well actually you should have that planned before start! The key thing to keep in mind is that you want to provide great free advice for people as much as you possibly can. This can be done in a number of ways, through the emails themselves, or by creating videos for your subscribers to watch on your site. I personally prefer to send my leads back to my sites as much as I can, as I want to train them to go back to my site, as they?ll find more great content on the site which will help them.
In order to collect and manage the emails you send out, you first need an email marketing tool, I use Aweber for my affiliate sites and Mail Chimp for my E-commerce store. There are other alternatives out there, such as Get Response and others, but I have not used them myself.
Ideally you should have at least 12 emails lined up in your auto-responder sequence that will go out to new subscribers automatically upon sign up. Of course they don?t all go out at the same time, instead you stagger them over a period of weeks.
When it comes to the content they you want to send out to the list, I suggest researching the niche so that you can get in the mindset of a typical subscriber, this way you?ll have more of an idea of what they would consider helpful information. Once easy way to do this is to opt in to as many other email lists in the niche already and see what they?re doing. Best to set up a new email for this, subscribe to half a dozen, then after you?ve received a decent amount of emails from them spend some time analyzing their content?.(click the link below to continue to part two).
Related articles
Hate your day job? Build an online business with my free 12 part internet marketing video training course now!
We take your privacy very seriously. Your email address will never be shared or sold.Source: http://mattsmarketingblog.com/email-marketing/email-marketing-for-affiliates/
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JW Marriott thanks Romney for bringing attention to religion
BOSTON - The head of the prominent Marriott hotel chain and fellow Mormon J.W. Marriott thanked Mitt Romney today during a Mormon church service for bringing "positive attention" to the religion, which is often considered to be shrouded in mystery.
"There has never been as much positive attention to the church, thanks to the wonderful campaign of Mitt Romney and his family," Marriott said during a service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wolfeboro, N.H., the lakeside town where the Romney family has a home.
Marriott's remarks come after a noticeable shift in the campaign to highlight Romney's faith, a subject that has been rarely spoken about publicly by the candidate and his wife until last week, when both mentioned Mormonism in their speeches at the Republican National Convention. Additionally, several speakers arranged by the campaign to appear at the RNC highlighted the candidate's strong ties to his faith.
Romney and Ann Romney, who sat six rows back in the church this morning, showed little reaction to Marriott's testimony, according to a small group of reporters who accompanied the couple inside.
Marriott spoke about an interview he did in the 1990s with CBS News' Mike Wallace for "60 Minutes," retelling a story about the undergarments many practicing Mormons wear, another subject the Romneys have never discussed.
"Of course the one question that they put on the air was, I understand Mormons wear different underwear, and I said yes, and he says, "Do you?'" Marriott recalled.
Marriott explained that he told Wallace at the time that the underwear looks like a "T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts" and that it prompted him to tell a story about an instance he believes the garments saved his life.
"I'd been involved in a very serious boat accident, here in New Hampshire. I caught fire; my polyester pants had burned off all the way to my waist. But my undergarments from my waist down to my knees had not even been singed. There was not a mark on them. And I said, these holy undergarments saved my life," Marriott said.
"And after the interview we walked out together, and he looked at me, and said, 'I wish I had the faith of the Mormons. I lost my 19-year-old son while he was rock climbing a few years ago, and I don't know where he is and I don't know if I'll ever see him again,'" Marriott said.
The Romney family and the Marriott family have a long standing friendship. Romney's father, George Romney, was so close to John Willard Marriott, the founder of the Marriott enterprise, that he named Romney after him. Romney's first name is actually Willard, and Mitt is his middle name.
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Isaac promises drought relief, lousy holiday
Indianapolis Department of Public Works employee Toraine Briggs loads sandbags into a van in Indianapolis, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. Hundreds lined up to take advantage of free sandbags as they prepare for heavy rains expected as slow-moving Isaac makes its way north and east.(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indianapolis Department of Public Works employee Toraine Briggs loads sandbags into a van in Indianapolis, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. Hundreds lined up to take advantage of free sandbags as they prepare for heavy rains expected as slow-moving Isaac makes its way north and east.(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indianapolis Department of Public Works employee Toraine Briggs loads sandbags into a truck in Indianapolis, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. Hundreds lined up to take advantage of free sandbags as they prepare for heavy rains expected as slow-moving Isaac makes its way north and east. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Over 100 cars wait in line at the Indianapolis Department of Public Works in Indianapolis, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 to receive sands bags to prepare their home from possible flooding as slow-moving Isaac makes its way north and east. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
University of Illinois employee Ron Luna grooms the artificial turf at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 in Champaign, Ill. Illinois is scheduled to open the NCAA college football season on Saturday against Western Michigan. Forecasters say there could be a soaking that produces 6 to 8 inches or more of rain. But school officials say the brand-new turf can drain about 10 inches of rain an hour. (AP Photo/David Mercer)
University of Illinois employee Ron Luna grooms the artificial turf at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 in Champaign, Ill. Illinois is scheduled to open the NCAA college football season on Saturday against Western Michigan. Forecasters say there could be a soaking that produces 6 to 8 inches or more of rain. But school officials say the brand-new turf can drain about 10 inches of rain an hour. (AP Photo/David Mercer)
ST. LOUIS (AP) ? When drought made Fourth of July fireworks a fire hazard, organizers in Chesterfield, Mo., decided to try again Labor Day weekend. Go figure: Now rain from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac has forced them to cancel again.
The storm is expected to drop several inches of rain over parts of the Midwest this weekend, and residents are preparing for a soggy holiday with mixed emotions. People in drought-stricken areas have been begging, pleading and praying for rain. But did it have to ruin the end-of-summer party?
"Whoever thought we'd have a hurricane challenge this event again?" city of Chesterfield spokeswoman Libbey Tucker said of the ill-fated fireworks display. "Somebody joked that next time it will be snow that we'll have to cancel for."
What's left of Isaac has been plodding north into states that badly need moisture. The worst drought in decades stretches from Ohio west to California. Isaac will move straight through some of the hardest hit states: Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Lesser rain is expected to the west in portions of Oklahoma and Kansas.
State emergency agencies, city and county leaders and utility crews have been preparing for the deluge. In Indianapolis, a line of about 100 cars snaked from a Department of Public Works lot where free sandbags were being distributed Friday. Residents could pick up bags filled with 30 to 50 pounds of sand.
Jenny Bland, 50, of Indianapolis, waited in line more than 90 minutes so she could pick up bags for her family and elderly neighbors.
"People are taking this very seriously," Bland said.
Fears were well-founded in Arkansas, where some areas have had more than 6 inches of rain since Thursday, and thousands lost power. Tornado warnings were issued for several counties, but no touchdowns were confirmed late Friday and there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Brian Smith, senior forecaster for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said remnants of the hurricane were still affecting central and northeast Arkansas late Friday. Showers and thunderstorms were possible in the northern half of the state Saturday, he said.
Tornado warnings extended into southern Missouri on Friday, and flash flood warnings were common.
Farther north, the concern ? or hope, depending on your perspective ? was mostly rain.
"Overall, this rainfall is much needed and much appreciated," meteorologist Jayson Gosselin, of the National Weather Service in suburban St. Louis, said late Friday. "It will definitely help our drought conditions for Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas to the south."
He said there hadn't been any threats of flash flooding or river flooding.
"Right now, with it being so dry we can take quite a bit of water," Gosselin said.
Missouri and Illinois should see steady rain into Sunday, forecasters said.
"The fact that the rain is going to be spread over probably two days, that's good," said meteorologist Jim Kramper, also with the National Weather Service in suburban St. Louis. "We're looking at rainfall deficits of 9 to 12 inches in this state so this isn't going to solve the problem, but it'll put a dent into it."
The downside: The rain was likely to make a washout of a usually festive weekend, with some events called off and others moved inside.
Dozens of high school football games were canceled, postponed or rescheduled. College teams, however, were prepared to play.
"That field's not going to be slick, and we don't have a Plan B," said Arkansas coach John L. Smith, whose Razorbacks prepared to host Jacksonville State on Saturday night in Fayetteville. Besides, he added, "The sun always shines on the Hogs."
In Champaign, Ill., Thomas Maton planned to put his wallet and cellphone in plastic bags and wear clothes he doesn't mind getting soaked for the Illini opener Saturday against Western Michigan. He figured he'd sat through worse, including games in sub-freezing temperatures.
"There's a certain point in your mind where you cross a line, 'We're stepping out of sanity here,'" Maton said. "But it's like, what the heck, it's two to three hours."
The weather put a damper on tourism. Oleg Shneper, manager of the Extended Stay America hotel near Kings Island amusement park in suburban Cincinnati, received several cancellations because of the weather.
"People have called to say they can't get here because the rain is keeping them from getting out of airports," he said.
About 120 of the 400 reservations for campsites at Patoka Lake in southern Indiana had been canceled, said Nick Werner, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Those willing to brave the elements were urged to be careful. Officials at the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri suggested staying away from river banks and other waterways prone to flash flooding. At Brown County State Park in Nashville, Ind., manager Doug Baird advised horse and bike riders to stay off muddy trails.
But meteorologist Kramper said the long weekend shouldn't be a total washout. Sunny skies were expected throughout most of the Midwest on Monday.
___
AP reporters Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark.; Chris Blank in Jefferson City, Mo.; Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati; Tom Lobianco in Indianapolis; David Mercer in Champaign, Ill.; Kurt Voigt in Fayetteville, Ark., Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City; and Andale Gross in Chicago contributed to this report.
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Learning singing technique and practicing singing regularly, your ...
A number of newbie singer's fight back at nourishing their vocal skills when it must not be the scenario. If you're one of them and you are getting irritated at your apparent helplessness to assemble your musical aims, maybe you have laid down your too high benchmarks for yourself. Even if you're not a brilliant singer, you can yet cope up to sing melodious tones, notes & songs in the course of the high notes. This is achievable by enrolling yourself into the right vocal course UK. You will almost certainly have heard of vocal skill such as- the "lip roll", "break training" and "larynx lowering". Vocal singing UK classes' gives tips on various vocal techniques, these tips can serve as an excellent opening point for newbie's as well as troubleshooting solutions for singers who have obtained bad singing practices throughout the course of their singing career.
The principal obstruction that all singers require to conquer is laryngeal control. The vocal cords are situated in the larynx. These are essentially fine muscles that quiver to produce sound. The above part of the larynx plays the job of swallowing food. This work of swallowing forces the larynx to shift upward.
Of course, there are various singers who are born with natural talent. On the other hand, maximum of them will have their voices untutored. Even if you're an innate natural singer but have no objective of pursuing singing as his or her professional career, it is must to have some singing coaching to contour your voice to a professional degree. Although by getting singing technique and practicing singing regularly, your voice can achieve its absolute potential.
The principal obstruction that all singers require to conquer is laryngeal control. The vocal cords are situated in the larynx. These are essentially fine muscles that quiver to produce sound. The above part of the larynx plays the job of swallowing food. This work of swallowing forces the larynx to shift upward.
Obtaining command over the vocal cords and other muscles in the larynx is feasible. In undertaking so, not only will you observe perfection in the notes you create, you will also eradicate the worry and tension that is universally seen in beginner singers.
To get hold of the Lowering Larynx technique, follow below mentioned steps:-
1. Position your index finger above the edge at the peak of your Adam's apple.
2. Utter the phrase "drum" and continue it. This will root your larynx to move upwards and downwards.
3. After that, sing a complete song while putting your index finger in the similar position. You must experience the movement of your Larynx muscles.
This vocal skill is fashioned by the famous singer, music maker and star vocal trainer, Mr. Ken Tamplin and is employed by hobby singers, newbie's and various other famous pop stars.
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Sunday, September 2, 2012
U.S. ends criminal probe of controversial Arizona sheriff
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Two tough-on-immigration Arizona sheriffs with national profiles in the Republican Party were cleared of criminal wrongdoing on Friday in unrelated probes, though one remains accused of racial profiling and other abuses in a pair of federal lawsuits.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona said it had closed its criminal investigation of alleged financial misconduct by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, self-described as "America's toughest sheriff", and was declining to bring charges.
But a separate U.S. Justice Department investigation and lawsuit relating to alleged civil rights abuses by Arpaio's office, including accusations of widespread racial profiling in his immigration enforcement, is continuing, federal prosecutors said.
And a federal judge is expected to rule soon in a similar suit brought against Arpaio, this one a class-action case by five Hispanic citizens who claimed they were stopped by the sheriff's deputies because of their ethnicity.
Earlier on Friday, another Arizona lawman with national ties to the Republican Party and a reputation for cracking down on illegal border crossings, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, was cleared of criminal charges by the state attorney general's office.
Babeu resigned as co-chair of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's state campaign after allegations he threatened a male lover with deportation but asked for the state investigation of his conduct to clear his name.
Babeu acknowledged at the time he was gay and had a personal relationship with his accuser, Jose Orozco, who was reported to be from Mexico, but denied that he had made any threat to deport him.
"The Attorney General's Office will not file charges against either Babeu or Orozco," Solicitor General Dave Cole said in a statement.
"The investigation determined that Babeu did not commit any criminal violations and further concluded that, although Orozco conducted himself in a manner that may constitute a violation of the law, there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction or anything more than a misdemeanor charge," Cole added.
Babeu said in a statement that "the truth had won out in the end", and that he had been fully exonerated.
The decision on the Arpaio case marked the end of an investigation that began in November 2010 at the behest of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to examine alleged financial improprieties by the county sheriff and his deputies.
A criminal inquiry into several of those matters was concluded last summer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona declining to initiate charges.
'MY PEOPLE ARE NOT CROOKS'
Maricopa County authorities were informed on Friday that federal prosecutors had likewise declined to bring charges in connection with two remaining allegations against the sheriff's office - that it had misused county credit cards and misspent jail-enhancement excise taxes.
In addition, the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute two former officials of the county attorney's office who were accused of wrongfully prosecuting a local judge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Birmingham Scheel said in a statement that her office "is closing its investigation into allegations of criminal conduct by current and former members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office".
In a four-page letter to the county attorney elaborating on her decision, Scheel wrote: "After careful review, we do not believe the allegations presented to us are prosecutable as crimes."
Arpaio said he learned the case was dropped on his return to Arizona from the Republican National Convention in Florida.
"I said all along I would be cleared in this case," Arpaio, looking tired, told reporters gathered at his office in downtown Phoenix late Friday. "If I did something wrong, there would be indictments floating around all over the place."
He added: "My people are not crooks. They are trying to do their job."
Arpaio, 80, who is seeking re-election to a sixth term as sheriff in November, has ignited controversy over his aggressive enforcement of immigration laws and his politically charged, and fruitless, pursuit of evidence questioning the validity of President Barack Obama's U.S. birth certificate.
He has been under a federal investigation since 2008 over allegations that he and his deputies engaged in an extensive pattern of civil rights abuses. That probe led the Justice Department to file a lawsuit in May accusing the sheriff and his office of racial profiling and unlawful arrests of Latinos in a bid to crack down on illegal immigration.
The civil suit also accused Arpaio's office of routinely violating the constitutional free-speech rights of political opponents by retaliating against them through unsubstantiated legal action, including unlawful arrests.
A separate lawsuit accusing Arpaio and his deputies of racial profiling went to trial earlier this summer, with the sheriff denying under oath that his office ever arrested people "because of the color of their skin".
(Writing by Steve Gorman; editing by Peter Cooney, Mohammad Zargham and Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/government-shuts-probe-controversial-arizona-sheriff-no-charges-004357552.html
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Fiery Obama embarks on march to the Dem convention
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? President Barack Obama lampooned the just-completed Republican National Convention as better-suited to an era of black-and-white TV and " trickle-down, you're on your own" economics Saturday, and declared that Mitt Romney "did not offer a single new idea" to fix the economy.
"There was a lot of talk about hard truths and bold choices, but no one actually told you what they were," Obama said in Iowa, chuckling, as he set out on a three-day tour of battleground states in the run-up to his own convention. Later, Obama said, the Republican gathering was so rooted in the past, there should have been a rabbit-ears antenna on the convention hall.
Yet even the site of Obama's convention, Charlotte, N.C., served as an unwelcome reminder to the Democrats of an economy so weak that it threatens his chances for re-election.
The president carried North Carolina in 2008, but the state's unemployment rate is pegged at 9.6 percent, well higher than the nation's 8.3 percent and tied with next-door South Carolina for fifth from the bottom.
Obama's convention opens Tuesday at the Time Warner Cable arena with evening speeches by first lady Michelle Obama and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the keynote speaker.
The president will be nominated for a new term on Wednesday, when former President Bill Clinton also will speak. Vice President Joe Biden delivers his own acceptance speech the same evening.
Obama's prime-time acceptance speech, to be delivered at the outdoor Bank of America Stadium, caps the convention on Thursday night. Aides predict a capacity crowd will hear the speech at the site, which has a capacity of nearly 74,000 for football.
Democrats are taking their turn in the convention spotlight just days after the Republicans met in Tampa, Fla., to nominate former Massachusetts Gov. Romney for the White House and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to be vice president.
A parade of speakers in Tampa excoriated Obama's handling of the economy, which is struggling in the weakest recession recovery of the post-World War II era.
The economy has been the top-rated issue in opinion polls all year, and the president is eager to turn the focus onto Romney on that subject.
Republicans "will take us backwards," Obama said, to the age of "trickle-down, you're on your own" economics that begin with tax cuts for the rich but tax increases for the middle class.
The president made a brief detour to foreign policy in his speech.
"Gov. Romney had nothing to say about Afghanistan this week or the plans for the 33,000 troops who will have come home from the war by the end of this month," he said.
The Republican challenger "said ending the war in Iraq was tragic. I said we'd end that war and we did," Obama said.
Romney said late last year, in a veterans roundtable, "The precipitous withdrawal is unfortunate. It's more than unfortunate, I think it's tragic. It puts at risk many of the victories that were hard won by the men and women who served there."
Obama, pointing to successes, declared, "I said we'd take out bin Laden and we did."
His audience cheered the mention of the demise of the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who was killed in his hideout in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs last year. Obama ordered the raid, and even Republicans credit him for the decision.
Romney campaigned in Ohio during the day ? the opening of the college football season ? and proclaimed it was time the country had a winning season after years of a sluggish economy and high unemployment.
Referring to the number of jobless in the country, Romney told his own cheering crowd, "If you have a coach that's zero and 23 million, you say it's time to get a new coach."
He also pledged to cut the federal deficit and "get us on track for a balanced budget."
Yet Romney has yet to produce a budget for public inspection. Nor did he mention that, as chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan wrote a plan projecting the deficit would decline each year from 2013 through 2017 but then begin an inexorable rise again. Additionally, the federal debt is projected to rise each year, from a current level of nearly $16 trillion to an estimated $25 trillion at the end of 2022.
Obama made Iowa his first stop on what his campaign billed as "The Road to Charlotte."
Obama spoke in Urbandale, outside Des Moines, on a sprawling 500-acre property. With barns, American flags and Obama banners all around, the late summer scene offered him the quintessential heartland backdrop. He later spoke at a rally in Sioux City.
He told the crowd Iowa was first on his schedule "because it was you, Iowa, who kept us going when the pundits were writing us off."
There was another reason, as well.
Polls make the state one of eight or so battlegrounds where the election is most likely to be decided. The president carried Iowa in 2008, and in an indication of the struggle he now faces, he has been lavishing time on it in recent weeks. He spent three days in August on a bus tour that traversed the state from west to east.
Following two stops in Iowa, Obama was flying to Colorado for a Sunday appearance before college students at the University of Colorado.
Obama's schedule for Monday includes an appearance in Toledo, Ohio, yet another battleground state, before a trip to Louisiana to inspect damage from Hurricane Isaac.
Romney visited Louisiana on Friday.
Television ratings for the final night of the Republican convention were lower than four years ago. The Nielsen Co. said an estimated 30.3 million viewers watched Thursday night's coverage of Romney's acceptance speech. That was down by one-fourth from 2008, when John McCain spoke on the final night of the Republican gathering in St. Paul., Minn.
___
Feller reported from Urbandale and Sioux City, Iowa. Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt in Cincinnati, Beth Fouhy in Charlotte and Steve Peoples in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiery-obama-embarks-march-dem-convention-205439327.html
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Thai Oil
Bualuang Securities August 31, 2012 11:41 am
Thai Oil Plc (TOP)What's new? TOP issued a press release yesterday in which it said its board had approved the amalgamation of IPT (TOP has a 54.8percent stake) and PTTUT (60% held by PTTGC and 40% by PTT) to set up a new company. With the merger, TOP's shareholding in Merged Co will decline to 27.12%, while the stakes of PTT and PTTGC will fall to 37.31% and 30.31%, respectively, with J-Power group making up the balance.
Background: IPT owns and operates a 700MW gas-fired IPP unit. PTTUT manages a 657MWequivalent gas-fired co-generation unit in Rayong province. That said, Merged Co will have a total generating capacity of 1,357MWequivalent (comprising power capacity of 1,038MW and steam capacity of 1,340ton/hour).
Post-merger profit contribution almost unchanged ? While TOP's equity capacity in the power business will decline by 16MW to 433MW, the post-merger profit contribution from the power business will be materially unchanged and will the profit contribution to TOP. A more profitable co-generation business (mainly from steam sales) will offset the effect of diluted equity capacity, in our view. In any case. IPT's profit contribution to TOP comprises only 3% of its earnings.
?but improve long-term profit at the marginal expense of PTT and PTTGC ? Given that IPT started operating in August 2000, its earnings profile is on a downtrend as stipulated by its long-term PPA with EGAT. As such, the merger will mitigate TOP's declining power earnings trend. The impact on PTT and PTTGC will be negligible?power earnings comprise only 0.2% and 1.2% of their respective bottom-lines.
?and mean greater scope for capacity growth: In our view, the merger is in line with PTT's strategy of not just restructuring the group's power portfolio but creating a power flagship. Merged Co will play a key role in the conglomerate's future expansion, both in Thailand and abroad, including participating in upcoming new IPP tenders. As such, we believe the group's power restructuring will create value for TOP's power business over the long term.
Action: We expected the merger and regard it as essentially neutral with regard to sentiment toward TOP. While the group restructuring will improve the earnings profile of its power business, the benefits will take some time to materialize and in any case comprise only a few percentage points of TOP's bottom-line.
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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Thai-Oil-30189487.html
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Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider: Ryan accepts VP bid, skewers Democrats
From Tampa, Florida -?
To the resounding cheers of Republican delegates gathered in Tampa, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) thrilled GOP delegates as he accepted his party's nomination, urging Americans to again vote for change in the White House to help improve the nation's economic fortunes.
"Why would the next four years be any different from the first four years?" Ryan asked to loud applause in Tampa, Florida.
It was by far the biggest speech of Ryan's political career, and he seemed more than ready for it, much to the delight of thousands of Republicans who hope victory is in their future this November.
"After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Governor Mitt Romney," said Ryan.
Ryan repeatedly skewered the White House for trying to shift the blame on economic issues, accusing the Obama campaign of running a lowest common denominator bid for re-election.
"They?ve run out of ideas. Their moment came and went. Fear and division are all they?ve got left," said Ryan to more cheers.
One line that really had GOP partisans slapping their thighs in delight was where Ryan blasted the President over continuing economic problems, making the argument to young people that they should think about voting Republican in 2012.
"College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life," Ryan said to cheers, as Twitter lit up with the hashtag of #FadingObamaPosters almost immediately.
Ryan started off by introducing his family to delegates - and more importantly - to the nation, and the kids didn't disappoint, drawing smiles as they waved to the assembled crowd.
At one point, Ryan even joked about the generational difference between himself and Romney, boiling it down to what was on their Ipods.
"I hope it?s not a deal-breaker Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC, and ends with Zeppelin," Ryan said about what music he wanted to play at his campaign events.?
Now the stage is set for Mitt Romney. Will he deliver like his running mate?
Source: http://www.krmg.com/weblogs/jamie-dupree/2012/aug/29/ryan-accepts-vp-bid-skewers-democrats/
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Saturday, September 1, 2012
Notre Dame Vs. Navy: College Football Is Prettier In Ireland
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Source: http://www.sbnation.com/2012/9/1/3285202/notre-dame-navy-ireland-photos
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