THE PEGASUS DAILY NEWS

[pegasus]

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 69th day of 2012 with 296 days left in the year.

Today in History:
1152--Frederick I "barbarossa" was crowned King of German.
1497--Nicolaus Copernicus made his first recorded astronomical observation.
1566--David Rizzio, secretary to Mary, Queen of Scot, was murdered by her future husband, and cousin Lord Darnley.
1661--Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the chief minister of France, died, leaving King Louis XIV in full control.
1796--Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. (The couple later divorced.)
1858--Gustav Stickley, designer-maker of Mission furniture, was born; died 1942 at age 84.
1861-the Confederate Congress, meeting in Montgomery, Ala., authorized the issuing of paper currency, in the form of interest-bearing notes.
1862--the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.
1864--Gen. Ulsses S. Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of all Union forces.
1873--the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were founded.
1916--Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, NM, killing 18 Americans.
1932--Eamon de Valera was appointed head of government of the Irish Free State.
1934--Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut & the first man in space, was born; killed 1968 in an air crash at age 34.
1945--U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.
1954--CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's anti-Communism campaign on See It Now.
1959--Mattel's Barbie doll made its public debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.
1961--Dan Rather made his debut as principal anchorman of The CBS Evening News; he signed off for the last time on the same date in 2005.
1964--the first production of Ford Musang assembled in Dearborn, Mich.
1977--about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. for three days.
1987--Chrysler Corp. announced it had agreed to buy the financially ailing American Motors Corp.
1997--gangsta rapper The Notorious B.I.G. [aka. Christopher Wallace] was killed in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; he was 24.
2002--Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, the 1960s black power radical formerly known as H. Rap Brown, was convicted in Atlanta of murder in the shooting death of Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy Ricky Kinchen.
2002--The space shuttle Columbia's astronauts released the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit after five days of repairs.
2007--Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller acknowledged the FBI had improperly used the Patriot Act to secretly pry out personal information about Americans.
2009--Pres. Obama lifted limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research that Pres. Bush had put in place.
2011--Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in his state and commuting the sentences of all remaining death row inmates.
2011--the shuttle Discovery ended its career as the most flown US spaceship, returning from orbit for the last time.

World News Capsules:
1. US and Afghanistan agree on ahndover of prisoners.

....The US will greatly accelerate its handover of a detention center housing 3,000 people to Afghan control, but retain a veto over who can be released
a. Afghan officer sought in killing of 9 colleagues.
....Nine Afghan police officers were killed as they slept on Wednesday, and a 10th was suspected of assisting Taliban insurgents in the attack
2. An ambitious Chinese party chief admits failure.
....Bo Xilai, the embattled Communist Party chief of Chongqing, said that he had failed to supervise a trusted aide who recently fled to an American consulate, causing a national sensation,
3. Iran is pressed on access for nuclear inspectors.
....In insisting on access to suspected nuclear sites like Parchin, six world powers signaled a unified resolve in renewed negotiations with Iran, which were suspended in frustration more than a year ago.
4. Pondering a threat, but taking panic off the table.
....Rising tensions with Iran demonstrate how Israelis are used to taking doomsday scenarios in stride.
5. Tax cheats become Italy's public enemy.
....There has been a growing appreciation among many Italians that the government is deadly serious in countering what is considered one of the chief scourges of Italian society: a failure to declare taxes.
6. Three wounded in North Nigeria police statio attack.
....Police say gunmen wounded three policemen in a northern Nigeria city that has seen a sudden rise in sect attacks.
7. Syrian Kurds flee into Iraqi refugee limbo.

....The number of Kurds fleeing to Iraq from Syria has so far been small, but if Syria’s largest ethnic minority were to unite, it could shift the momentum against Pres. Assad.
a. As defections in Syria mount, rebels are said to reject talks.
....An international effort to nudge President Bashar al-Assad toward peace talks ran into difficulties on Friday even before it got under way.
8. UNESCO backs dictator's divisive prize.
....A scientific award sponsored by a repressive West African dictator was approved by the UN cultural heritage agency, but it will not bear his name.

US News Capsules:
1. Online, a distant conflict soars to topic #1

....If Joseph Kony wasn't the most wanted man in the world, he may be now. Through social media, Jason Russell did in mere days what diplomats and academics have tried to do for decades: draw attention to the abuses of Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.
2. Hacker, informant and party boy of the projects.
....On the Internet he was Sabu, a notorious celebrity who led a scattered tribe of politically motivated “hacktivists.” Then he slipped into the role of federal informant.
3. Florida prep school copes with shock and loss.
....No one has been able to explain why a Spanish teacher who had been fired from the Episcopal School of Jacksonville fatally shot the head of the school and himself with an assault rifle.
4. Spanish-language TV dramas heat up Miami.
....Incentives, safety and the inexpensive sets as a result of the housing crisis have shifted productions of Spanish-language soap operas from Mexico to Miami
5. US extends its run of strong job growth another month.

....The US added 227,000 jobs in February, the third straight month of gains over 200,000, while the unemployment rate stayed at 8.3%, the Labor Department reported.
6. US trade deficit widens.
....Imports hit a high in January, the Commerce Department reported, reflecting demand for foreign-made cars, computers and food products.
7. MOVIES: The wild, wild west of a certain red planet.

....John Carter stars Taylor Kitsch as a Civil War veteran transported from the Old West to another internecine battle - on Mars, of all places.
a. Creataive sheik wants to stock desert with fish.
....The director Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat) has transformed Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, based on an absurdist political satire, into a whimsical romantic comedy.
b. Haunted home looks great by lantern light.
....Silent House, starring Elizabeth Olsen, is a horror movie whose gimmicks are more interesting than its frights.
c. Making a leading man, many movies at a time.

....Channing Tatum, one of moviedom’s best hopes for a new male superstar, is working almost nonstop to stand out from Hollywood’s pretty boys.
d. The stuff of life in bitter marginalia.

....A father and son are Talmudic scholars and academic competitors in Joseph Cedar’s Footnote, in which petty rivalries encompass a larger gravitas.
8. Bank of America reaches deal on housing.
....The bank will provide deeper-than-anticipated principal reductions for 200,000 homeowners under newly-disclosed terms of a foreclosure settlement with authorities.
a. Mortgage crisis inspires Lenten season message to banks.
....Some churches across the country are withdrawing their holdings from Bank of America and other banks implicated in the mortgage crisis and urging repentence.
9. Court blocks parts of law on migrants in Alabama.
....A federal appeals court prohibited enforcement of sections of a 2011 law that restricted commercial and government transactions for illegal immigrants.
POLITICS:
1. White House works to shape debate over health law.

....The Obama administration has begun an aggressive campaign to use approaching Supreme Court arguments on the new health care law as a moment to build support for the measure.
2. As stars rally for candidate, rival objects.

....Elizabeth Warren has drawn support for her Massachusetts Senate campaign from all over the country, a fact her opponent is trying to use against her.
3. South Carolina Lt. Governor resigns amid criminal investigation.
....The investigation of Lt. Gov. Ken Ard centers on whether he spent campaign funds on personal expenses, including iPads and football tickets.
4. Perry pledges to finance Texas women's health program.
....Gov. Rick Perry said Texas will step in if the federal government cuts financing over the state’s opposition to Planned Parenthood.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Mormon church tries to lmit baptism of deceased Jews.
Mormon leaders put up a firewall in their massive genealogical database to block anyone who attempts to access the names of hundreds of thousands of Holocaust victims. The move comes amid criticism that the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hasn't done enough to live up to commitments to stop its members worldwide from performing the baptism ritual on Holocaust victims and other notable Jews.
Mormons believe the baptism ritual allows deceased people a way to the afterlife — if they choose to accept it. But the practice offends members of many other religions, especially Jews, who have expressed outrage at attempts to alter the religion of Holocaust victims because they were killed based on their beliefs. Nobel-laureate Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel called on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last month to use his affiliation with the church to block Mormon members from the posthumous practice, The Washington Post reported. A spokeswoman for Romney said his campaign would not comment on the matter, directing all comments to the church.
In the 1990s, after negotiations with Jewish leaders, the church agreed to end to the practice, but revelations by an ex-Mormon researcher have shown it continues. In recent weeks, researcher Helen Radkey, using confidential Mormon sources who had access to the LDS database, revealed that Mormon temples had posthumously baptized the family of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal, Anne Frank and Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a Jewish writer who was murdered while on assignment in Pakistan.
I've never liked the Mormon religion and this just reinforces that dislike. How dare they? These are people who lived and died for their religious beliefs and should be left in peace. Their religious beliefs and practices should not be contravened by some other's prejudicial religious views.

Thought for Today
"Cowardice asks, Is it safe? Expediency asks, Is it politic? Vanity asks, Is it popular? But conscience asks, Is it right?"
—- William Morley Punshon, English clergyman (1824-1881)

Today's flower: Hibiscus syriacus 'Boule de Feu' or fireball Rose of Sharon

[pegasus]

Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 a.m.
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 70th day of 2012 with 295 days left in the year.

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:45 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 26ºF [Feels like 21ºF], winds WNW @ 5 mph, humidity 53%, pressure 30.54 in and falling, dew point 14ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
418--Jews were excluded from public office in the Roman Empire.
1496--Christopher Columbus concluded his 2nd visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.
1629--England's King Charles I dissolved Parliament for 11 years.
1785--Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.
1791--John Stone of Concord, Mass patented the pile driver.
1848--the US Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico.
1849--Abraham Lincoln applied for a patent - the only US president to do so.
1864--Monatana vigilantes hanged local hell-raiser Jack Slade in one of the more troubling incidents of frontier justice.
1906--a mine explosion killed 1,060 in France.
1917--Turkish troops begin evacuation of Baghdad.
1926--Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman, the first Book-of-the-Month Club selection was published. by Viking Press.
1945--the firebombing of Tokyo continued.
1948--the communist-controlled government of Czechoslovakia reported that the noncommunist Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk committed suicide, which was greeted with skepticism in the West
1959--Tibetans band together in revolt, surrounding the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces.
1965--Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple opened on Broadway.
1969--James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
1980--Scarsdale Diet author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death in Purchase, N.Y. (His lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of murder and served nearly 12 years in prison.)
1985--Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at age 73 ans was succeeded by Politburo member Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
1993--Dr. David Gunn was shot to death outside his Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic by an anti-abortion activist.
1997--Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted on the WB network.
2002--Israeli helicopters destroyed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office in Gaza City, hours after 11 Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing in a cafe across the street from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's residence in Jerusalem.
2004--teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was sentenced in Chesapeake, Va., to life in prison.

World News Capsules:
1. Afghans hinder smuggling inquiry, 2 US officials say.
....The Americans say Afghan officials have impeded an investigation into a possible smuggling ring that may have involved an officer who shot eight American service members last year.
2. Protesters renew calls for reforms in Bahrain.
Tens of thousands of Bahrainis turned out for demonstrations to demand democratic reforms, the largest protest against the government in a year of unrest.
3. A keeper of a vast garden of art in the hills of Brazil.
....Bernardo Paz, a mining magnate, employs 1,000 people at Inhotim, his 5,000-acre complex of contemporary art and exotic gardens.
4. German leader and IMF chief split over debt.
....Despite their friendship, Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde face difficult discussions over how to handle a future crisis, with opposing stances on the amount of money needed to protect vulnerable economies and how it should be raised.
5. India eyes Muslims left behind by quota system.
....The issue of affirmative action for Muslims surfaced in an election in Uttar Pradesh, with promises to Muslims of quotas like those for low-caste Hindus.
6. Netanyahu says US and Israeli 'clocks' differ on Iran's threat.
....The Israeli prime minister said that distance and relative strength tended to make the US view Tehran’s nuclear program differently than his country does.
a. Israeli airstrikes kill militants in Gaza.

....The Israeli military said the strike, which killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, was meant to thwart a terrorist attack the group was planning.
7. Nuclear disaster in Japan was avoidable, critics contend.
....Insiders from the country's nuclear industry described a culture in which regulators looked the other way while the industry put a higher priority on promoting nuclear energy than protecting public safety.
8. Failed raid to rescue hostages in Nigeria stirs Iraly's anger.
....Italy said Friday that Britain had not informed them of attempt to rescue a Briton and an Italian held hostage by an Islamist militant group in Nigeria. Both men were found dead.
9. Pakistan picks new director for spy agency.
....Lt. Gen. Zahir Ul Islam will take over as the director general of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, known as the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate or ISI.
10. Moscow's winter of dissent farces reality of Putin's win.
....As protesters gathered once more in Moscow, the movement collided with its own limitations and the reality of Vladimir V. Putin’s victory last week.
11. No talks with opposition groups, Syria leader tells UN envoy.

....Diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting in Syria foundered as Pres. Assad shut the door on any immediate negotiations and escalated a new assault on the city of Idlib.
12. In Uganda, few can see Kony video.
....Debates have broken out over the accuracy of the online campaign and the intentions of the charity that prepared.

US News Capsules:
1. Fighting war crmes, without leaving the couch?
....Do social media campaigns like Kony 2012 give young people a false sense of accomplishment, detracting from real action?
2. Ad campaign for US Marines cites chaos as a job perk.
....The Marine Corps’ latest marketing effort will underscore two points: That while no one knows where the next global hot spot will be, the Marines are ready to charge there.
3. Discreetly digital, erotic novel sets American women abuzz.

...The book, Fifty Shades of Grey by an obscure author, E L James, has been described as "Mommy porn" and "Twilight" for grown-ups.
4. TV: The children of old Tehran go Hollywood.
....The new Bravo reality show Shahs of Sunset follows affluent, preening Iranian-Americans as they mostly shop and play around Los Angeles.
5. ARTS: Off Broadway faces perils of prosperity.
....Off Broadway's major companies, regenerating for years, are now opening a spate of new theaters, raising questions of commercialism.
6. Retailers add gadgets for shoppers at ease with technology[u/].
....Retailers like Macy’s and Nordstrom are accommodating younger consumers who prefer using technology to research products instead of asking employees.
7. YouTube subtracts racy and raucous to add a teaching tool.
....The video-sharing Web site has created a way to let schools limit students’ access to selected content, providing a portal for free educational materials.
8. Vying for camps president, illegal immigrant gets a gamut of responses.
....Jose Luis Zelaya’s failed bid to become the student body president at Texas A&M University exposed a range of feelings surrounding his status as an illegal immigrant.
9. Health care exchange rules to be set.
....Federal officials said they would give states wide discretion on details, but would set up and operate exchanges if states refused to do so.
POLITICS:
1. Legislators reall a governor who didn't mngle.
....For Massachusetts officials used to the glad-handing of local politics, Mitt Romney was an unfamiliar breed. His approach could offer hints of how a possible President Romney might deal with Congress.
2. Wary but loyal, aide answered call frm Giffords to run.

....Ron Barber, who was at Gabrielle Giffords's side when she was shot and is recovering from some injuries himself, said he could not say no when she asked him to run.
3. Solid in Kansas, Santorum seeks to build margin.

....Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have largely bypassed Kansas, and Rick Santorum is using his position there to encourage his supporters to turn out in large numbers.
4. Tea Party movement takes the long view.
....Many Tea Party supporters said that while they would work to help Mitt Romney defeat Pres. Obama, their real passion was for electing small-government conservatives further down the ballot.
5. Federal government halts funds to Texas women's program over abortion spat.
....The federal government will withdraw funding for a Texas program providing more than 100,000 poor women with birth control and other health services because Planned Parenthood clinics are not allowed to participate, a US Health and Human Services spokeswoman said,

Today's Headlines of Interest:

How much would Keystone XL oil pipeline really help US consumers?
As often happens, lost in the political wrangling over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline – on hold after Pres, Obama rejected TransCanada’s initial construction proposal – are some key findings that run counter to the rosy picture of abundant supply and lower prices so often painted by US politicians.
1st - Canadian companies backing the Keystone XL – touted as enhancing US energy security with a big new surge of imported Canadian oil – actually expect it to supply more lucrative Gulf Coast export markets as well as raise Midwest oil prices by reducing “oversupply” in that region. These little-publicized findings are contained in the studies and testimony of experts working for TransCanada, the company that wants to build the pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands across America’s heartland to Gulf Coast refineries.
Most analysts agree that more Canadian oil flowing south would help reduce imports from other regions. Less obvious, however, is the fact that the Keystone XL pipeline is not actually needed to bring all that new Canadian oil to the US – a flow now projected to rise to 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030, according to the Dept. of Energy study. Often characterized by proponents as validating the need for the pipeline, that study actually found that Canadian oil import growth will go on at “almost identical” levels through 2030 using existing and new pipeline capacity as well as rail shipments – whether or not Keystone XL is built.
2nd - The president's denial unleashed a furor as GOP presidential candidates and oil industry backers lambasted the White House for denying the US economy oil and jobs. “The president demonstrates a lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment, restoring economic growth, and achieving energy independence,” GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said in a statement. Newt Gingrich said the decision “weakens America's national security and kills thousands of well-paying American jobs.”
“Rather than providing the US with more Canadian oil, Keystone XL will simply shift oil from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, where much of it can be exported to international buyers – decreasing US energy supply and increasing the cost of oil in the American Midwest,” concludes a new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy non-profit group, citing numerous TransCanada studies and the transcripts of Canadian federal hearings. "The firms involved have asked the US State Department to approve this project, even as they’ve told Canadian government officials how the pipeline can be used to add at least $4 billion to the US fuel bill,” Philip K. Verleger, president of PKVerleger LLC, a Colorado consulting firm that specializes in research on oil market economics, wrote in a Minneapolis Star-Tribune commentary last March. But that is not merely Verleger’s opinion. It’s based on findings of the economic consultants hired by TransCanada – contained in their analyses of the pipeline’s impact on Canadian oil producers and in official testimony before Canada's National Energy Board.
“Existing markets for Canadian heavy crude, principally [the US Midwest], are currently oversupplied, resulting in price discounting for Canadian heavy crude oil,” concludes a 2009 analysis on behalf of TransCanada by Purvin & Gertz, Inc., an oil economics firm based in Houston. “Access to the [US Gulf Coast] via the Keystone XL Pipeline is expected to strengthen Canadian crude oil pricing in [the Midwest market] by removing this oversupply. This is expected to increase the price of heavy crude to the equivalent cost of imported crude.” As a result of those increases in the price of heavy crude in the Midwest and sales of higher-margin refined products shipped out from Gulf Coast refineries to other markets, Canadian oil producers could be expected to reap $2 billion to $3.9 billion more each year, the analysis says.
3rd - Why Canadian crude oil producers would choose Keystone XL when other pipelines to the US are running well below capacity has much to do with diversifying away from the US market to more lucrative markets in Europe, China, and other Asian countries, Verleger and others argue. Trends seem to support this thesis. That trend was captured in testimony Sept. 17, 2009, before Canada’s National Energy Board. Seven Canadian companies were willing to pay higher pipeline tariff costs for using the Keystone XL pipeline, the testimony showed, in order to bypass Midwest refineries by sending 500,000 barrels per day, the lion’s share of the pipeline’s capacity, to Gulf refineries.
In addition to winning higher prices for Canadian oil in the Gulf, the pipeline would boost revenues by shuttling existing oil supplies out of the Midwest – boosting prices, the Canadian study and testimony also show.
“So seven shippers or seven producers are, in your view, pursuing this strategy in order to increase the [Midwest oil market] and Ontario prices. Do I have it right?” D. Davies, a Canadian energy board examiner asked Thomas Wise, the Purvin & Gertz expert who authored the economic analysis for TransCanada. “If a minority of the barrels were sold at the Gulf Coast at a Gulf Coast price, that would have the effect of raising the price not only in the Midwest and Ontario but in Western Canada,” Mr. Wise responded.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, was alarmed enough to call last year for a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into the matter based in part on the Canadian National Energy Board testimony. “While the full nature of the arrangements agreed upon by the Canadian shippers is unclear, there is clear indication that there is a coordinated ‘strategy’ among Canadian suppliers to gain higher prices,” Senator Wyden wrote Jonathan Liebowitz, chairman of the FTC in an April 6, 2011, letter. “This will have the effect of manipulating supply levels allowing prices of oil refined in [the Midwest oil market] to rise and ultimately benefitting the Canadian companies with higher prices.” On Thursday, it was Wyden who put forward an amendment to the transportation bill that would have prohibited the sale of the Keystone oil overseas and imposed other regulatory requirements. His amendment was defeated 64 to 34.
And nowhere does anyone take up the environmental record of TransCanada. They have had numerous pipeline breaks spilling oil onto the Canadian countryside. And there is no reaso to expect the pipeline in the US to be an better. And so we could be faced with numerous devastating oil spills. Remember BP and the Guld Coast? Why so they need this pipeline. As cited above, there are already existing pipelines that are not running to capacity that could be used.

Thought for Today
"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius."
--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930), English author & lecturer

Today's flower: Baptisia australis or wild blue baptisia

[pegasus]

GIRL SCOUT WEEK
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 71st day of 2012 with 294 days left in the year.

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:44 p.m., it's fair , temp 56ºF [Feels like 56ºF], winds SW @ 14 mph, humidity 30%, pressure 30.30 in and falling, dew point 25ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

Today in History:
1779--the US Congress stablished the US Army Corps of Engineers.
1810--French Emperor Napoleon I was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.
1818--Mary Shelley published Frankentein.
1861--the Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Ala.
1862--Pres. Lincoln removed Gen. George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies, leaving him in command of the Army of the Potomac, a post McClellan also ended up losing.
1888--the famous Blizzard of '88 began inundating the northeastern US, resulting in some 400 deaths.
1918--the first cases in the historic influenza epidemicwere reported at Fort Riley, Kan.
1926--Ralph Abernathy, the American pastor and civil rights leader, was born.; died 1990 at age 64.
1931--media mogul Rupert Murcoch turned 81 years old today.
1941--Pres. Roosevelt's Lend-Lease program, which provides money and materials for allies in the war, goes into effect.
1942--as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, saying "I shall return."
1959--the Lorraine Hansberry drama A Raisin in the Sun[/img] opened at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater.
1965--the Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.
1977--more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C. by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.
1985--Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko.
1990--Lithuania proclaimed its independence from Moscow.
1993--North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
2002--two columns of light soared skyward from Ground Zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
2002--Pres. Bush unveiled a commemorative stamp to raise money to help 9/11 victims "get their lives back in order."
2002--Israel lifted Yasser Arafat's three-month confinement in the West Bank.
2004--ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.
2006--former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic was found dead of a heart attack in his cell during his war crimes trial in The Hague.
2007--newborn Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was found safe in Clovis, N.M., a day after she was abducted from a hospital in Lubbock, Texas.
2009--Toyota sold the 1 millionth hybrid in the US.
2011--Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a measure to eliminate most union rights for public employees.
2011--a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan's northeastern coast, a combined disaster that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused grave damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

World News Capsules:
1. Army sergeant accused of slaying 16 in Afghan village.

....A US service member methodically killed at least 16 civilians, 9 of them children, in southern Afghanistan early Sunday, igniting fears of a new wave of anti-American hostility, officials said.
a. Security fears lead groups to rethink work in Afghanistan.
....Anti-American unrest and an Afghan government plan to abolish private security companies have muddled the plans and projects of private aid groups, officials say.
2. Egyptian court acquits doctor of violating rights of women.
....The ruling by a military court came after a civilian court had concluded that the military had wrongly forced detained protesters to undergo forced “virginity tests.
3. Exodus from north signals Iraqi Christians' skiw deckube.

....Iraq's dwindling Christians are leaving because they say they feel discouraged by unemployment and a creeping fear that the violence they had fled was catching up to them.
a. Killings strike fear in Iraqi gay and emo youth.
....A recent spate of killings and intimidation aimed at gay Iraqis and teenagers dressed in brash Western fashions is sending waves of fear through Iraq’s secular circles.
4. Violence continues for Israel and militants.
....Israeli airstrikes that began on Friday afternoon killed more Palestinian militants and militant groups fired scores of rockets into southern Israel.
5. Effects of Japan's disaster are still unfolding.

....As grieving families gathered to mark the one-year anniversary of Japan’s tsunami, some communities are still coming to terms with the calamity’s scale, complexity and fallout.
a. Japan finds story of hope in undertaker who ofered calm amid disorder.
....As the nation marks the anniversary of the 2011 quake and tsunami, an undertaker who cared for nearly 1,000 corpses using Buddhist rituals is lauded as a hero.
6. Remains of 167 discovered in Mexico cave.
....Prosecutors in Chiapas State said the bodies, believed to be 50 years old, were in an area frequently used by Central American migrants traveling north.
7. Anti-Putin protesters struggle to keep up steam.
....As protesters gathered again in Moscow, their movement collided with its own limitations and Vladimir V. Putin's decisive victory in Russia's presidential vote.
8. UN envoy leaves Syria empty-handed.
....As the conflict ground on with heavy shelling in Idlib, Kofi Annan, a former secretary general, said he was optimistic about the possibility of a deal to end the fighting.

US News Capsules:
1. Deficits push NY cities and counties to desperation.
....Local governments in New York are finding themselves in the middle of a financial crisis, with problems spreading as they face a toxic mix of soaring pension and retiree health costs.
2. Prisons rethink isolation, saving money, lives and sanity.

....A growing number of states are rethinking the use of long-term isolation and re-evaluating how many inmates require the punishment that's been long opposed by humanitarian groups.
3. Lights! Cameras! (and cheers) for a rock weighing 340 tons.
....The journey of "Levitated Mass" followed a circuitous route through four counties and 22 cities, took 11 days and ended at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
4. Immigration decreases, but tensions remain high.
.....At a meeting in Arizona, federal and local law enforcement officials expressed sharp differences over the effect of declines in illegal border crossings.
5. Hits, and misses, in a war on bribery.
....The Justice Department is waging an aggressive - and controversial - campaign against bribery in global business.
6. Gas price disparity seems here to stay.
....Although global energy markets establish the national trend for oil and gasoline prices, many factors are much more local — including the proximity of refineries to crude oil sources.
7. In Charlotte, hopes for rental gold rush during the Democratic convention.
....Thousands of residents in Charlotte, N.C., are weighing whether to rent their homes at high rates during the Democratic National Convention in September.
8. Crystal Cathedral's founder quits its board.
....The departure is the latest upheaval for a televangelist ministry that has seen many of them in recent years.
9. Doomsday has its day in the sun,
....Two new reality shows, [/i]Doomsday Preppers on the National Geographic Channel and Doomsday Bunkers on Discovery, feature people preparing for some kind of apocalypse,
10, NCAA: No. 1 seeds - Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse and North Carolina.

....Wildcats, Orange, and Tar Heels are still among the teams to beat despite falling in conference tournaments. Now it's time to fill out your brackets.
POLITICS:
1. Obama plans big effort to build support amng women.
....Pres. Obama's campaign will use the debate over the new health care law to amplify an appeal that seems to be benefiting from clashes on birth control and abortion.
2. Santorum wins in Kansas caucuses.
....Rick Santorum again demonstrated his strength with conservatives by taking Kansas, while Mitt Romney scored victories in Wyoming and elsewhere.
3. Centrist wome tell of disenchantment with Republicans.
....Some moderate Republican and independent women — a crucial swing group — have felt alienated by the focus on birth control and abortion in the presidential race.

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"It's all right to hesitate if you then go ahead."
—- Bertholt Brecht, German poet and dramatist (1898-1956).

Today's flower: Phlox paniculata or Laura hybrid tall phlox - Just when the flowers in many gardens are fading, these beauties emerge to revive them, growing up to 40 inches.



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

GIRL SCOUT WEEK
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 72nd day of 2012 with 290 days left in the year.

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 2:31 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 64ºF [Feels like 64ºF], winds SSW @ 9 mph, humidity 28%, pressure 30.16 in and falling, dew point 30ºF, chance of precipitation 40%.

Today in History:
1664--England's King Charles II granted an area of land in present-day North America known as New Netherland to his brother James, the Duke of York, hency New York.
1858--Adolph Simon Ochs, the American publisher who built The New York Times into one of the world's top newspapers, was born; died 1935 at age 77.
1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by Pres. Lincoln.
1854--the Union Red River Campaign began in Louisiana.
1888--China approved a treaty forbidding Chinese laborers to enter the US for 20 years.
1903--the New York Highlanders (Yankess) joined American League.
1912,--the Girl Scouts of America had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides, a movement which had originated in Britain along with the Boy Scouts.
1913--Canberra was officially designated the future capital of Australia.
1928--Edward Albee, playwright (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf), turns 84
1930--Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.
1932--the so-called "Swedish Match King," Ivar Kreuger, was found shot dead in his Paris apartment, an apparent suicide, leaving behind a financial empire that turned out to be worthless.
1933--Pres. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.
1938--the Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.
1939--Pope Pius XII was crowned at the Vatican.
1947--Pres. Truman established what became known as the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.
1947--Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate, turned 65 today.
1951--Dennis the Menace, created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.
1969--London police conductrf a drug raid at home of George Harrison.
1971--Hafez Assad was confirmed as president of Syria in a referendum.
1972--Australia withdrew its troops from South Vietnam.
1980--a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys.
1987--the musical play Les Miserables opened on Broadway.
1993--Janet Reno was sworn in as the nation's first female attorney general.
1994--the Church of England ordained its first female priests.
1999--the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO.
2002--Houston homemaker Andrea Yates was convicted of murder in the drowning deaths of her five children in the family bathtub.
2002--the UN Security Council approved a US-sponsored resolution endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time.
2002--the space shuttle Columbia returned to Earth, ending the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.
2007--masked Palestinians kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston at gunpoint in Gaza City.
2008--New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned two days after reports had surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring.
2009--disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history.
2011--15 passengers were killed when a tour bus returning from a Connecticut casino scraped along a guard rail on the outskirts of New York City, tipped on its side and slammed into a pole that sheared it nearly end to end. (The driver faces charges of manslaughter and reckless driving.)
2011--the Arab League asked the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone to protect Libyan rebels.

World News Capsules:
1. In assessing the damage, fears of an emboldened Taliban.

....The effects of Sunday's attack on civilians and the recent burning of Korans imperil President Obama's plan to hand control to the Afghans while drawing the Taliban to talks.
a. Killings add to worries at soldier's home base.
....Troops at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which was already under scrutiny, anticipate greater risks when deployed to Afghanistan.
b. Attack widely condemned by Afghans as US investigates.
....The unexplained massacre by an American soldier brought a moment of unity to three major factions as Afghan officials, civilians and insurgents united in denouncing the attack.
c. Soldier from Stryker brigade accused in Afghan massacre could face death.
....The case is one of the worst instances of alleged mass murder by a U.S. service member since the Vietnam War/
2. Tested section of new high-speed rail track disintegrates in China.
....The collapsed section raised new doubts about the quality of work and training on the high-speed rail system, one of China’s most ambitious modernizations
3. [uIKeeper of Islamic Flame rises as Egypt's new decisive Voce][/u].
....Khairat el-Shater, a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and an advocate for moderation and modernization, says that recent elections have proved that Egyptians want an explicitly Islamic state.
4. Sarkozy, in rousing talk, takes conservative stands.
....During a campaign appearance, Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull France out of the European Union’s open-borders accord unless protections against illegal immigration were strengthened..
5. Stroke victim wins right to seek legal euthanasia.
...A British stroke victim won the right to seek changes in a law that would enable a doctor to end what he has called 'intolerable life' without risking murder charges.
5. Greek leaders turn focus to preparing for elections.
....Greek leaders jumped into campaign mode to prepare for elections expected by early May amid voter dissatisfaction and the rise of groups on the far left and far right.
6. An anniversary of 'heartbreaking grief' in Japan.

....A year after the tsunami, communities are still grappling with how to assess the risk of radiation exposure with grieving families marking one year since the tsunami; some communities are still coming to terms with the calamity’s scale and complexity.
7. As rockets fly, new conditions shape fight in Gaza.
....The success of Israel’s Iron Dome antirocket missile system has had an impact on the recent outbreak of hostilities with the Palestinians
8. An indigenous language with nique staying power.
....Unusual features of Paraguay’s history and politics mean that Guaraní is widely spoken, despite a relatively small indigenous population.
9. Russian opposition urges US to end cold war trade sanctions.
....Antigovernment organizers said a failure by Congress to establish normal trade would help President-elect Putin.
a. Russian activists see political reprisal in court case.
....Prosecutors in Moscow filed formal charges against the husband of a protest leader, stirring concerns of a campaign of political revenge against antigovernment activists.
10. Leftist party wins in Slovakia parliamentary election.
....The party of Robert Fico, the former prime minister, received an unprecedented 44.4 percent of the vote, which will allow for ruling without a coalition partner.
11. South Korean Judges losing in court of public opinion.
....A movie based on the story of a man who was convicted of shooting a judge with an arrow has tapped public mistrust of the judiciary,
12. A surgeon's call to duty.

....Dr. Jacques Bérès, a 71-year-old French surgeon, smuggled himself into Homs, Syria, to treat the wounded in a makeshift hospital, operating on 89 people before the government's relentless assault forced him to leave.
a. Syria and rebels trade accusations over brutal killings.
....Claims of civilian deaths in Homs emerged a day after a UN envoy ended talks with Syria’s president.
1) 45 women, kids die in Homs massacre, opposition says.

....Children were stabbed to death in front of their mothers, and girls were sexually assaulted before being shot, the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights said.

US News Capsules:
1. Health Care Act offers Roberts a signature case.
....Considered likely to join the Supreme Court majority either way the case is decided, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. may never encounter a more important ruling.
2. US militay points to risks of a Syrian interventioin.
....Senior Pentagon officials are stepping up warnings that military intervention in Syria would be a daunting operation with the potential for killing thousands of civilians.
3. Founding family decides to leave Crystal Cathedral.
....A daughter of Robert H. Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral megachurch in California, said the family would cut ties with the beleaguered church after a financial dispute.
4. Matches made in the wilderness, in the name of science.
....A program enlists outdoor athletes as hardy field assistants to scientists in need of data from far-flung places,
5. Familiarity with drugs helps a group speak for users.
....The San Francisco Drug Users' Union is one of several groups in the United States and Canada that seek to represent the political interests - and practical needs - of drug abusers.
6. Latest stress tests are expected to show progress at most banks.
...The Federal Reserve this week will release the results of its latest stress tests, which are expected to show broadly improved balance sheets at most institutions,
7. Solyndra is blamed as clean-energy loan program stalls.

....Some companies contend that federal loans for developing fuel-efficient cars have dried up because of a political firestorm that followed the bankruptcy last year of the solar-panel company Solyndra.
8. [/i]Istar lands on Mars[/u].
....John Carter, Disney's big-budget epic, is a new example of the Hollywood studios' habit of pouring more money into looming flops to stay on good terms with their stars.
9. Justice Dept. blocks Texas law requiring photo ID at polls
.
....The Civil Rights Division contended that the rule would disproportionately suppress turnout among eligible Hispanic voters.
10. Use of public transit grew in 2011, report shows.
....In another indication that employment is picking up, Americans took 200 million more rides last year on subways, trains, light rail and buses than they did the year before.
11. Priest who denied communion to lesbian suspended.
....A Maryland priest who denied communion to a lesbian at her mother's funeral has been placed on leave for engaging in intimidating behavior, according to the Roman Catholic archdiocese. “When questions arise about whether or not an individual should present themselves for communion, it is not the policy of the Archdiocese of Washington to publicly reprimand the person,” the statement said. “Any issues regarding the suitability of an individual to receive communion should be addressed by the priest with that person in a private, pastoral setting.”
12. ARTS: A theater tied by heartstrings to the old country.

....The Millennium Theater in Brooklyn is a bit like a Lincoln Center for Russian-speaking immigrants who live in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, but still remember their days in Odessa, Tbilisi, Kiev or Minsk.
a. Iranian ceremony to honor [/i]Separation director is canceled[/u].
....Two Iranian film groups issued an apologetic statement saying their intended ceremony for Asghar Farhadi had been denied government permission..
POLITICS:
1. Tight GOP primaries suggest less-predictable South.
....Volatile contests in Alabama and Mississippi, both of which hold primaries on Tuesday, suggest a fragmented and fickle Southern electorate.
2. Pitched appeals in 3-2ay race in Deep South.
....A day before polls open in Mississippi and Alabama, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum appealed to conservatives, while Mitt Romney made another stab at Southern folksiness/
3. Labor leaders plan to apply new clout in effort for Obama.
....A 2010 ruling that set the stage for unlimited donations to “super PACs” also enabled unions to send their foot soldiers to the homes of voters who don’t belong to unions.
4. Obama a frequent flier to 2012 swing states.
....As the president prepares for his re-election effort, he must carry out both official duties and campaign objectives; his travel schedule in the coming days addresses both at the same time

Thought for Today
"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience."
—-[/i]Miguel de Cervantes[i[, Spanish novelist, dramatist & poet (1547-1616).

Today's flower: [/i]Clethra alnifolia or ruby spice summersweet - This native shrub fills your borders and naturalized gardens with a unique spicy-sweet perfume.



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

GIRL SCOUT WEEK
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 73rd day of 2012 with 292 days left in the year.

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:31 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 64ºF [Feels like 64ºF], winds WNW @ 13 mph, humidity 50%, pressure 29.93 in and falling, dew point 45ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1639--New College was renamed Harvard College for clergyman & benefactor John Harvard.
1781--the seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered by Sir William Herschel.
1845--Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, had its premiere in Leipzig, Germany.
1836--the newly commissioned Texan Gen. Sam Houston began a series of strategic retreats to buy time for training.
1852--"Uncle Sam" made his debut as a cartoon character in the New York Lantern.
1862--Pres. Lincoln signed a measure prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners, effectively superseding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
1865--the Confederacy began approving black soldiers for their armies.
1868--the impeachment trial of Pres. Andrew Johnson began.
1881--Czar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated in St Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the Peopl's Will revolutionary group.
1884--Standard Time was adopted throughout the US.
1901--Benjamin Harrison, 23rd Pres. of the US, died in Indianapolis at age 67.
1915--British forces end their three-day assault on the German trenches near the village of Neuve Chapelle in northern France,
1925--the Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.
1933--banks began to reopen after a "holiday" declared by Pres. Roosevelt.
1942--the US Army Quartermaster Corps (QMC) began training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or "K-9 Corps."
1944--London suspended travel between Ireland and Britain.
1947--the Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon, about a Scottish village which magically reappears once every hundred years, opened on Broadway.
1954--a force of 40,000 Viet Minh with heavy artillery surround 15,000 French troops at Dien Bien Phu, the beginning of the end of French control.
1961--Pres. Kennedy proposed the Alliance for Progress to improve relations with Latin America.
1964--bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her Queens, N.Y. home; the case generated controversy over the supposed failure of Genovese's neighbors to respond to her cries for help.
1969--the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.
1975--Ban Me Thuot, capital of Darlac Province in the Central Highlands, falls to North Vietnamese troops.
1980--Ford Motor Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found the company not guilty of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.
1992--the House of Representatives, trying to weather a politically embarrassing firestorm, voted unanimously to publicly identify 355 current and former members who had overdrawn their accounts at the House bank.
1992--a 6.8-magnitude earthquake near Erzincan, Turkey, and an unusually powerful aftershock two days later killed at least 500 people and left 50,000 people homeless.
1996, 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 kindergarten children and their teacher before killing himself.
2002--Pres. Bush declared that Iraqi Pres. Hussein was a menace "and we're going to deal with him."
2007--Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in how the Justice Department had handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign.
2011--the estimated death toll from Japan's earthquake and tsunami climbed past 10,000 as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find food and water.

World News Capsules:
1. Killing Afghans is as serious as killing Americans, Obama says.

....President's remarks come as protests escalate in Afghanistan over massacre of 16 civilians.
a. Shootings due to chain-of-command failure?
....Pursuant to the agreement between the US and Afghanistan, the sergeant will be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This means that a General Officer, probably John Allen, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan, will appoint an officer, almost certainly a military lawyer, to investigate the incident. The investigator will interview witnesses and
then make a recommendation to the commander about how to deal with the case.
b. US officials debate speeding Afghan pullout.
....With a belief in the White House that the mission's costs now outweigh benefits, some suggest accelerating the drawdown, but military commanders remain opposed.
c. Militants attack Afghan delegation at site of kiling spree.

....Militants attacked an Afghan government delegation visiting the village where an American soldier is accused of killing 16 people in a door-to-door rampage.
2. Dozens dead after ferry capsizes in Bangladesh.
....Rescuers were searching for survivors on Tuesday after a ferry carrying as many as 200 passengers capsized in Bangladesh, killing at least 24.
3. Deadly mosque arson in Belgium attributed to Sunni-Shiite faction.
....An arsonist’s attack on a Shiite mosque in a Brussels suburb left its imam dead. Authorities attributed the attack to tensions between the Shiite and Sunni communities, not to anti-Muslim feeling.
4. Hague court to decide where former dictator of Chad will be tried.
....Hissène Habré, 69, former dictator of Chad, has lived undisturbed in his luxury villa in Dakar, Senegal, since he fled Chad in 1990. A top court in The Hague will decide where he should be tried.
5. US, EU, Japan challenge China on trade.
....The European Union, US and Japan formally asked the World Trade Organization on Tuesday to settle a dispute with China over Beijing's restriction on exports of raw materials, including rare earth elements critical to electronics makers. The dispute is one of several between Beijing and the other three economic powers, as Chinese industry remolds the world economic order. It is the first case to be jointly filed by the EU, US and Japan at the WTO, an EU official said. Even if the United States wins a trade case against China, by the time policies are changed, more Western and Japanese factories that use rare earth metals will have moved there.
a. In China, part of railway collapses despite test runs.
....The collapsed section raised new doubts about the quality of work and training on the high-speed rail system, one of China’s most ambitious modernizations.
6. In 'battle' with media, a new tactic in Ecuador.
....Despite pardoning four newspaper employees, Rafael Correa maintains that elites run his nation’s news media. Opponents say a new law will hamper coverage of elections.
7. Artifacts show sophistication of ancient nomads.

....Recent excavations have dispelled notions that nomadic societies on the arid Eurasian steppes were less developed than many sedentary ones.
8. Group suggests that Kaddafi aided Sarkozy's 2007 campaign.
....A spokesman for Pres. Sarkozy of France denied a suggestion by Mediapart that the campaign received illegal financial support from Col. Muammar el-Kaddafi.
9. Merkel defends Germany's nuclear power deadline.
....After critics questioned whether reactors could be phased out by 2022, Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted she had made the right decision.
10. Former Murdoch editor is said to be arreted in Britain.

....Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, was said to be among six arrested as part of the investigation into a phone-hacking scandal at the company’s tabloids.
a Stroke victim wins right to seek legal euthanasia.
....A British stroke victim won the right to seek changes in a law that would enable a doctor to end what he has called “intolerable life” without risking murder charges.
b. Britain to join Obama indiscouraging a strike on Iran.
....Prime Minister David Cameron , heading to Washington for a three-day visit, will add his voice to Pres. Obama’s in discouraging an Israeli military strike on Iran, a diplomat said.
11. India orders Bayer to license a patented drug.
....The decision requires Bayer to license the drug Nexavar to Natco Pharma, which must pay Bayer a royalty on its sales but will sell the drug for about 3% of Bayer’s price.
12. Kyrgyzstan wants military role to end at US base.
....A Kyrgyzstan defense official said a crucial air base should have “no military mission” when its lease expires, creating a potential hurdle to American withdrawal plans in Afghanistan.
13. Unannounced truce calms violence in Gaza.

....An Egyptian-brokered truce appeared to be taking effect, ending four days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.
14. Out of jail, ex-professor and his crossbow fight Soth Korea's judiciary.
....A new movie about a South Korean man’s fight against the country’s judiciary system has revived complaints about the courts.
15. Massacre is reported in Homs, raising pressure for intervention in Syria.
....Dozens were reportedly killed, prompting exile opposition groups to push further for international military action.
a. Syria expands assault, hitting rebel enclaves in cit in north.

....As opposition activists described heavy shelling around Idlib on Tuesday, a rights group said Syria had planted mines near borders, presenting a danger to refugees.
16. For some in Vietnam, prosperity is a South Korean son-in-law.
....Driven by dreams of better lives for themselves and Confucian filial piety for their parents, young women emigrated from Vietnam to marry older South Korean men.

US News Capsules:
1. 15 inches of rain flodded Louisiana homes, roads.

....States of emergency were in force in four Louisiana parishes after torrential rain left homes and roads under several feet of water and 100s fled their homes and dozens of motorists had to be rescued.
2. 3 big brands may be tied to chicken jerky illness in dogs, FDA records show.

....Stumped by mysterious illnesses in at least 600 dogs in the U.S., federal health officials have turned to consumers for help investigating problems possibly tied to chicken jerky pet treats made in China. They are Waggin’ Train or Canyon Creek Ranch jerky treats or tenders, both produced by Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Milo’s Kitchen Home-style Dog Treats, produced by the Del Monte Corp.
3. Foreign students sexually abused in exchange program.
....Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, an NBC News investigation has found.
4. Warmth records falling across Northeast, Midwest.

....Expect records for high temps to be broken all week across the Northeast and Midwest, a rare event given that we're still in winter.
5. Report: 9-year-old who skipped school is Tasered.
....An Ohio police officer says he used a stun gun twice on a 9-year-old who skipped school because the child refused to cooperate with his commands. The Mount Sterling officer went to the boy's home on a truancy complaint last week. He says the child's mother warned the boy, who weighs between 200 and 250 pounds, to obey the officer or he'd be shocked.
6. On West Coast, looking for flotsam of a disaster.
....Wreckage from the tsunami off the coast of Japan last year is slowly making its way to American shores, and beachcombers say the debris has begun to reach land.
7. Church puts legal pressure on abuse victims' group.

....The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said broad subpoenas in two Missouri sex-abuse cases were a means of intimidation, an accusation the church disputed.
8. Seattle gets a street view on the quality of its lights.
....The city conducted a public survey to decide whether to replace its streetlights' sodium light bulbs with L.E.D.'s, a move that could save money and energy.
9. MF Global customers said to get offers for their claims.
....The 1000s of MF Global customers whose lives and businesses were derailed after $1.6 billion vanished in the collapse of the brokerage firm have now received offers to sell their claims and recoup nearly the entire shortfall, people involved in the negotiations said.
10. Life on Mars? Funds to find answer fade.

....Two ambitious missions that NASA had hoped to launch to Mars, in 2016 and 2018, will be canceled.
11. Small-picture approach flips medical economics.

....Accountable care organizations, a new kind of health care practice, are gaining momentum in part because of the Affordable Care Act signed into law two years ago,
12, Stocks rally to pre-crisis heights.

....Stocks climbed to new heights in part on rosy retail sales data, pushing the broad market to levels last seen in June 2008 and the Nasdaq composite index past the 3,000 milestone for the first time since 2000.
13. SCIENCE: Brains of bee scouts are wired for adventure.
....Thrill-seeking bees that fearlessly leave their hives and search for new sources of food and hive locations have genetic brain patterns that set them apart from more timid bees, a new study suggests.
a. Reasons that vitamin D may matter.
....Though there are still no large trials to prove or disprove the full worth of vitamin D, studies have linked low levels of it to risks of heart disease, high blood pressure and other diseases.
POLITICS:
1. Gingrich, Santorum vie to be Romney's main competition
.

....Voters in Missisippi and Alabama, two of the states composing the heart of the modern Republican Party, are casting their ballots in yet another high-stakes GOP primary battle with both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich looking to finally conclude the argument over who should carry the banner in a one-on-one race with Mitt Romney.
a. Gingrich opens door to teaming up with Santorum.?

....As Newt Gingrich competes with Rick Santorum for the conservative vote in the Deep South this week, the former House speaker said Tuesday he wouldn't be surprised if the two forces eventually paired up.
2. Senate vote on jobs bill hung up on judicial fight.
....Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) offered to allow a swift vote on the JOBS Act, a Republican-led jobs bill that passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, in exchange for Republicans dropping their objections to confirming some of Pres. Obama's judicial nominees.
3. Obama's rating falls as poll reflects volatility.
....Despite improving job growth and an extended Republican primary, Pres. Obama's approval rating dropped substantially in recent weeks, according to the latest New York Times[/img]/CBS News poll.
4. Support for Afghan fight drops among GOP candidates.
....The views of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, in particular, echo recent polls that show public support for the Afghan war has fallen sharply among voters of all parties.

Sports Headlines of Interest:
It's a Bracket Buster: Syracuse won't have Fab Melo for NCAA tournament.

Syracuse’s NCAA tournament title hopes took a significant hit Tuesday when the school announced sophomore center Fab Melo will not participate because of eligibility issues. Melo did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh for its first-round game. The school did not offer any further details but from the way the team played the last time he was ineligible, don't be surprised if the 'Cuse lose. The East’s top seed should still get by UNC Asheville in the first round, but later games against the likes of Kansas State, Vanderbilt or Wisconsin loom large.


Thought for Today
"If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think."
—-[/i]Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), American lawyer.

Today's flower: Tulipa 'Perestroyka' or towering prism tulip



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

GIRL SCOUT WEEK
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 74th day of 2012 with 291 days left in the year.

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:39 p.m., it's fair , temp 62ºF [Feels like 62ºF], winds NW @ 10 mph, humidity 21%, pressure 30.13 in and falling, dew point 21ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

Today in History:
1743--the first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston.
1776--Alexander Hamilton was named captain of an artillary company.
1794--Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.
1862--at New Bern, N.C., Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside captured North Carolina's 2nd largest city and closed another port through which the Confederates could slip supplies.
1879, Albert Einstein, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and one of the great thinkers of the ages, was born; died 1955 at age 76.
1885, the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London.
1915--after being cornered by the British navy, the German light cruiser Dresden was scuttled by its crew.
1919--prolific wstern novelist Max Brand publishes his first novel.
1922--John "Jack" Mack, who co-founded what would become one of North America's largest makers of heavy-duty trucks, was killed when his car collided with a trolley in Philadelphia, Pa.
1923--Pres. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report.
1928--Mercury astronaut Frank Borman turned 84 today.
1932, photography pioneer George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Co., committed suicide at age 77 in Rochester, N.Y.
1939--the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.
1950--the FBI debuted its 10 Most Wanted list.
1951--the UN forces recaptured Seoul from North Korea.
1958--the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)awards first Gold Record to Perry Como for "Catch A Falling Star."
1958--Prince Albert, ruler of Monaco, turned 54 today.
1962-- Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) launched his successful candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat once held by his brother, Pres. Kennedy, (He served for nearly 47 years.)
1964--a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of Pres. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death.
1965--the allies lauched the 2nd wave of Rolling Thunder in Vietnam.
1967--the body of Pres. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery.
1969--Pres. Nixon discussed the possibility of US troop withdrawal from Vietnam.
1980--a LOT Polish Airlines jet crashed while attempting to land in Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of the US amateur boxing team.
1990--Mikhail Gorbachev was elected president of the USSR.
1991--a British court overturned the wrongful convictions of the "Birmingham Six," who had spent 16 years in prison for a 1974 Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.
2002--the government charged the Arthur Andersen accounting firm with obstruction of justice, securing its first indictment in the collapse of Enron. The damage to the firm's reputation was enough to put it out of business.
2002--Serbia and Montenegro signed a historic accord to radically restructure their federation, dropping the name "Yugoslavia" and granting greater autonomy to prevent the country's final breakup.
2004--Russian Pres.r Putin captured more than 70% of the vote to win a 2nd term in an election that European observers said fell short of democratic standards.
2004--opposition Socialists scored a dramatic upset win in Spain's general election, unseating conservatives stung by charges they'd provoked the Madrid terror bombings by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
2005--a judge in San Francisco ruled that California's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
2005--about 1 million people rallied in Beirut, Lebanon, demanding Syrian withdrawal and the arrest of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's killers.
2007--The Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z."
2008--protests led by Buddhist monks in Tibet turned violent, leading to an extensive crackdown by China's military
2011--Olympic champion Evan Lysacek won the 2010 Sullivan Award, becoming the fourth figure skater to be honored as the top amateur athlete in the US.

World News Capsules:
1. Panetta is safe after breach near his plane at Afghan base.

....An Afghan drove a stolen vehicle on to a runway ramp at a military base in southern Afghanistan and then ran from it ablaze as a plane carrying Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta landed there.
a. After massacre, aerial recording caught US soldier's return.
....The American soldier accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians was recorded on surveillance video returning to his military outpost in southern Afghanistan after the attack.
b. Bombers strike twice in southern Afghanistan.
...A motorcycle detonated near an Afghan intelligence directorate office in southern Afghanistan, killing one security official and injuring two others.
c. Home base of accused soldier has faced scrutiny.
....Questions have only increased since a Lewis-McChord soldier was accused of killing at least 16 Afghan civilians, including 9 children, in an assassination-style ambush
2. Wen calls for political reform but sidesteps details.
....Prime Minister Wen Jiabao warned that China risk chaos unless the Communist Party overhauls its leadership and clears the way for economic reform.
a. China passes new safeguards for criminal suspects.
....The legislation also upheld the right of the police to hold certain suspects in secret residential locations for up to six months, ignoring a last-minute online campaign by activists.
b. Another Tibetan monks sets himself on fire to protest Chinese rule.
....Jamyang Palden is believed to have survived,
3. Congolese warlord convicted of using child soldiers.
....Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader from the Congo, was found guilty of recruiting and enlisting boys and girls under the age of 15 and using them to make war.
4. Top challenger in Egypt vote is an Islamist, and moderate.
....Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who is running for president in Egypt, is a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood whose campaign is attracting liberal supporters.
5. El Salvador prisons packed to the bars.

....The country's 19 prisons were built to hold a total of 8,000 prisoners - today, 24,000 are stuffed into them. And El Salvador is far from unique in Latin America.
6. Iranian parliament questions Ahmadinejad.

....The questioning of Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over economic mismanagement was the first interrogation of its kind since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
7. Iraq's tribal chiefs step into the breach with swift justice.
....As a new Iraq takes shape, the centuries-old customs and swagger of tribal leaders are keeping their hold.
8. 'Fascinating' Libya to be next tourist hot spot?

....Libya has all it takes to become a vacation paradise: 1,300 miles of palm-fringed coastline, five world-class cultural heritage sites and an attractive historic quarter in Tripoli featuring fine colonial buildings. What is doesn’t have, though, is tourists.
9. Terrorist was not killed in airstrike, Malaysian oficial said.
....A major Qaeda-linked terrorist probably survived an airstrike last month, despite claims by the Philippine military that he had been killed, a senior Malaysian police official said.
10. A most unlikely liberator in Myanmar.
....There are no pat answers as to why U Thein Sein, a bespectacled and bookish 66-year-old with a sphinxlike smile, decided to shake up Myanmar, one of Asia’s poorest and most hermetic countries.
11. In Sudan's Nuba Mountains, government rocket attacks sow fear, witnesses say.
....Government efforts to suppress a local revolt have taken a fearful and deadly turn with the indiscriminate use of long-range rockets.
12. Ski trip tragedy: 22 kids among dead as bus crashes in 3wiss tunnel.

....A bus carrying Belgian students returning from a ski holiday crashed into a wall in a Swiss tunnel at Sierre, Switzerland, killing 28 people, 22 of these were children, and another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries.,
13. Emboldened Syrian Army now moves to quell southern city.
....Gathering confidence after forcing rebels out of strongholds in the north, the Syrian government launched its biggest raid in months on the southern city of Dara’a.
14. Ugandan gay rights group sues American evangelist.
....The lawsuit alleges that beginning in 2002, Scott Lively conspired with religious and political leaders in Uganda to whip up anti-gay hysteria.

US News Capsules:
1. Northern Arapaho tribe given permit to kill bqld eagles.

....In Wyoming, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has taken the unusual step of issuing a permit allowing a Native American tribe to kill two bald eagles for religious purposes, The agency's decision comes after the tribe filed a federal lawsuit last year contending the refusal to issue such permits violates tribal members' religious freedom.
2. Gay spying case: Will jury convict for 'hate'?

....Dharun Ravi could face a decade in prison over charges that he used a web camera to spy on the romantic encounters of his gay roommate, who later took his life. As jurors mull his fate, experts disagree over whether he should be convicted of the most serious charge: bias intimidation.
3. [Kidnap survivor Jayce Dugard says she will remain in hiding until her kids are old enough to understand/u].
....Jaycee Dugard made her first public appearance over the weekend at a star-studded New York awards ceremony, but she plans to remain in hiding until her daughters, ages 14 and 17, are mature enough to understand what happened to them, she said in a recent interview.
4. Rising sea levels seen as threat to coastal US.

....Flooding that was once exceedingly rare could become an every-few-years occurrence, new research shows.
5. New interest in hacking as thrat to security.
....An increase in attacks on computer systems that control critical infrastructure, factories and databases has prompted a new focus on cybersecurity legislation.
6. Detroit officials criticize state's proposal for fiscal oversight panel.
....Leaders of the financially ailing city have opposed a state takeover, but the compromise proposed by the governor's office also seemed unlikely to win their approval.
7. Detention for immigrants that looks less like prison.
....A federal detention center in Karnes County, Tex., is the first to be built under new guidelines intended to improve living conditions and provide a less punitive setting.
8. After244 years, Encyclopaedia Britannica stsops the presses[/u].
....Bowing to the competition online, the encyclopedia's publisher said the 2010 edition, a 32-volume set that weighs in at 129 pounds, would be the last.
9. A public exit from Goldman Sachs hits at a wounded Wall Street.

....Greg Smith’s resignation is bringing new attention to Wall Street’s culture, which he decried in an open diatribe.
10. Woman shot dead, r hurt outside court.

....One person was killed and four wounded by a man who left a courthouse, retrieved a gun from his car and started firing in the parking lot, police in Beaumont, Tex.
11. HBO suspends filming of horses after 3rd death on set of [/i]Luck[/u].

....HBO has temporarily suspended the use of horses during production on Season 2 of its drama "Luck" after a third horse was injured on the set and euthanized. The incident occurred when one of the horses in the stable for the Dustin Hoffman/Nick Nolte horse racing drama suffered an accident while returning to the stall.
12. Warm spell breaks 138 records, more on the way.

....It feels like May in March, and that means plenty of temperature records are being broken this week, including 138 sites across the Midwest and Northeast on Tuesday. Dozens more areas were expected to set records on Wednesday, when temperatures in some places could be 35 degrees above normal.
POLITICS:
1. Poor results in South highlight message problem for Romney.
....Despite a big lead in the delegate race, third-place finishes in Alabama and Mississippi add to former governor's "loser" label .
2. Santorum sweeps Ala., Miss.; Romney takes Hawaii.

....Rick Santorum scored victories in the Mississippi and Alabama primaries, depriving Mitt Romney of a signature win in a conservative stronghold and raising fresh doubts about the viability of Newt Gingrich's campaign,
3. Obama campaign fears uphill clmb raisng 'Supr PAC' money.
....Democrats are warning supporters that a huge cash advantage mustered by Republican groups could overwhelm Pres. Obama in the fall.
4. Delegate system gives small states outsize clout at convention.
....Both Democrats and Republicans have long used formulas that award a state’s delegates based not just on population, but also on party loyalty in previous elections.
5. Senate passes transportation bill, putting pressure on House.
....The two-year, $109 billion measure was approved as a deadline looms on the highway trust fund,
6. Muddled economic picture muddles the political one, too.
....The economic numbers over the next couple of months, including the April 6 unemployment report, will have a major impact on President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

TSA testing new security procedures for elderly fliers.

The Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday announced it will begin testing new procedures that could reduce the number of pat-downs for travelers ages 75 and older. On March 19, modified airport screening procedures for elderly passengers will begin at Chicago's O’Hare International, Denver International, Orlando International and Portland International airports. The percentage of passengers in that age group is higher at those airports, said TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.
The modified procedures being tested will be similar to those recently implemented for children age 12 and under, which means elderly travelers at the selected airports may no longer need to remove their shoes and light outerwear at airport checkpoints and are allowed a "do-over" through the advanced imaging technology to clear any anomalies. However, as with the procedures for young children, TSA reserves the right to ask elderly fliers to remove shoes and undergo a pat-down if any anomalies detected during screening cannot be resolved through other procedures. At the participating checkpoints, signs will alert travelers to the program. “We think people 75 and older will announce themselves,” said Farbstein. She added that officers will also do visual assessments and direct those who qualify to a special lane for expedited screening
The new procedures, along with greater use of explosives trace detection, could ultimately reduce pat-downs of elderly fliers. The announcement comes after recent high-profile passenger-TSA run-ins:
•An 85-year-old New York grandmother claimed she was humiliated while strip searched at JFK Airport last fall after she asked not to go through a body scanner;
•An 88-year-old woman said she was pulled aside at JFK and asked to pull her pants down to show her colostomy bag;
•A mastectomy patient said a checkpoint screener at JFK patted down her chest after declining to review her medical information card
TSA has implemented several other initiatives in the past year that have reduced and/or changed the screening requirements for many passengers. Those programs include the Known Crew Member program, the use of expanded behavior detection techniques, the PreCheck expedited screening initiative and TSA CARES, a toll-free number (1-855-787-2227) to assist travelers with disabilities and medical conditions and answer questions about screening policies, procedures and what to expect at the airport security checkpoint. I still think that I'll take the train.

Jury: Mega Millions winner must share with co-workers.

A jury has ruled that a New Jersey man will have to share a portion of his jackpot winnings from a 2009 lottery ticket with his former co-workers: $20 million to be exact. Former construction worker Americo Lopes, 52, won $38.5 million ($24 million after taxes) on Nov. 10, 2009. He claimed to his colleagues that he bought 12 tickets, including the jackpot winner, for himself, as a side bet in addition to the lottery pool tickets he purchased for the group. But his co-workers said he used their money to hit the winning numbers. On Wednesday, a Union County, N.J., jury sided with the plaintiffs, awarding the five other men in his pool about $4 million each. The men all worked with Lopes at Berto Construction Inc. in Elizabeth, N.J. when they began playing the lottery together in 2007. Lopes hid the news at the time that one of their tickets ended up being one of two winners of a $77 million total Mega Millions jackpot, reported The New York Post. His lawyer presented copious notes to the courtroom in an attempt to prove that the numbers drawn for the winning ticket were his own, not a combination the group had come up with. "They robbed me," Lopes said in Portuguese outside the courthouse, reported NJ.com.







Thought for Today
"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction."
—-[/i]Albert Einstein, German-born American physicist (1879-1955).

Today's flower: Rhododendron or Mary Poppins azalea



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

IDES OF MARCH
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 75th day of 2012 with 290 days left in the year.

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 2:27 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 65ºF [Feels like 65ºF], winds calm, humidity 43%, pressure 30.13 in and steady, dew point 42ºF, chance of precipitation 30%.

Today in History:
44 BC-- Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.
1493--Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
1783--Gen. Washington put an end to the Newburgh Conspiracy, making a surprise appearance at an assembly of army officers at Newburgh, N.Y., to calm the growing frustration and distrust they had been openly expressing towards Congress for failing to honor its promise to pay them and for its failure to settle accounts for repayment of food and clothing. The officers began circulating an anonymous letter condemning Congress and calling for a revolt.
1820--Maine became the 23rd state.
1913--Pres. Wilson held the first open presidential news conference.
1917--Czar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate.
1919--members of the American Expeditionary Force from World War I convened in Paris for a three-day meeting to found the American Legion.
1933--Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice, US Supreme Court, turned 79 today.
1939--Hitler's forces invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia--a nation sacrificed on the altar of the Munich Pact in a vain attempt to prevent Germany's imperial aims.
1941--a fast-moving and severe blizzard hit North Dakota and Minnesota, killing 151 people
1944--Allied bombers again raided German-held Monte Cassino.
1956--the Lerner and Loewe musical play My Fair Lady, based on Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, opened on Broadway.
1959--Frankie Avalon's record of "Venus" hit No. 1.
1962--a chartered Flying Tiger Line airplane carrying 107 people, most of them U.S. Army personnel, disappeared while en route from Guam to the Philippines.
1962--Pres. Kennedy called for legislation protecting consumers' rights.
1964--actress Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in Montreal; it was her fifth marriage, his second.
1965--Pres. Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American’s right to vote.
1968--construction beganon the US's highest vehcle tunnel, the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel on Interstate 70 in Colorado, some 60 miles west of Denver.
1970--Boston Bruin Bobby Orr became the first defenseman in NHL history to score 100 points in a season (finished with 120),
1972--The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola's epic gangster movie based on the Mario Puzo novel and starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, premiered in New York City.
1985--the first Internet domain name, symbolics.com, was registered by the Symbolics Computer Corp. of Massachusetts.
1989--Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev called for radical agricultural reform.
2002--TV pioneer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, who had created NBC's Today and onight shows, died in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 93.
2003--Hu Jintao was chosen to replace Jiang Zemin as the president of China.
2003--the World Health Organization issued a worldwide health alert for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
2007--in the Senate, Republicans easily turned back Democratic legislation requiring a troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin within 120 days.
2011--William Melchert-Dinkel, a former nurse accused of seeking out depressed people online and encouraging two to kill themselves, was found guilty by a judge in Faribault, Minn., of aiding the suicides of an English man and Canadian woman.
2011--John Baker became the first Alaska Native musher to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race since Jerry Riley did it in 1976.

World News Capsules:
1. Afghan Pres. Karzai: Get US troops out of our villages.

....Afghanistan's president called for U.S. and other foreign forces to leave villages in the country and move to larger bases instead,
a. In reactions to two incidents, a US-Afghan disconnect
.....The muted response in Afghanistan to a massacre of 16 Afghans relative to outrage at the burning of Korans, and American surprise at the difference, is evidence of a cultural gap.
b. Taliban suspend peace talks.

....Prospects for an orderly NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan suffered two setbacks as Pres. Karzai demanded limits on US troops and the Taliban halted peace talks.
c. Cameron and Obama show unity on Afghanistan.
....Pres. Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain addressed concerns in the Middle East and said they would stick by their timetable for Afghanistan.
2. Party ousts Chinese regional chief, haliting his rise.

....The removal of Bo Xilai, a Communist Party official, after a scandal involving one of his key deputies, effectively ends his political ambitions and complicates China’s leadership transition.
3. Egypt charges 75 including top police officers over soccer riot.
....Egypt's top prosecutor charged nine senior police officers Thursday with assisting a murderous mob of soccer fans who killed 74 rival supporters last month after a match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said
4. Ethiopian troops enter Eritrea.
....Ethiopia’s government said its ground forces intended to wipe out bases used by militants it contends have attacked Ethiopian targets and are given sanctuary by Eritrea,
5. Witness intimidation alleged in arrest in hacking scandal.
....The arrest of a former chief reporter for one of Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids raised the first allegations of witness tampering.
6. With arms for Yemen rebels, Iran seeks wider Mideast role.
....The scale of Iran's involvement remains unclear, and some Yemeni officials and analysts remain skeptical about the impact of any weapons shipments. American officials see the aid as part of a broader Iranian “shadow war.”
7. Seeking to preserve the past, but stumbling on the present.

....1000s of Iraqis have taken up residence among the poorly guarded ruins of Mesopotamia in illegally built homes, shops, greenhouses and garages, and they do not want to leave.
8. Koreas' war of words raises concerns.
....As relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated in the past few years, both sides seem to be reverting to the Cold War habit of hurling insults -- and the volume has risen in recent weeks.
9. Nigeria says hostages died before failed rescue raid.

....A Briton and an Italian who had been abducted by Islamist militants were executed before they could be rescued by Nigerian troops and Royal Marines, Nigerian officials said.
9. 8-month ordeal in Pakistan ends for a Swiss hostage.
....An ordeal for two Swiss citizens held hostage in northwestern Pakistan ended when their Taliban captors set them free.
10. Russia may let NATO use airfield as Afghan hub.
....The decision, which requires government approval, would provide a much-needed logistics hub at a time when overland supply routes through Pakistan have been closed off.
11. Syria puts on mass rally in support of Assad.
....On the first anniversary of protests that marked the start of the uprising in Syria, 1000s gathered in the capital of Damascus to rally for the government of Pres. Assad.
a. Syria to host monitors as death toll reported near 10,000
.

....International officials will assess humanitarian conditions in Syria as the death toll from the government's year-long crackdown nears 10,000 according to one activist..

US News Capsules:
1. 14 years old: too young for life in prison?
....Evan Miller and Kuntrell Jackson are lifers, condemned at 14 to spend their lives in prison without the possibility of parole for their involvement in separate murders. Their backers say their sentences are cruel and unusual, leaving them without the second chance the young are so often given. They hope the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
2. Goldman Sachs, roiled by "Muppetgate", loses $2 billion.

....The bank’s market value was wiped out after one of its directors, Greg Smith, resigned from the company and penned an op-ed piece in The New York Times attacking the firm’s culture and treatment of clients, its shares falling 3.3% in trading.
3. Obama's image on American flag angers vets.

....A group of veterans angered by an American flag bearing the image of Pres. Obama descended on the local Democratic party headquarters in central Florida and demanded it be taken down. which tt was, but not before heated words were exchanged between the two sides.
4. DC cherry blossoms peak early due to warmth.

....The predicted peak bloom for Washington's cherry trees has been moved forward to March 20 to 23 because of temperatures well above normal, a spokeswoman for the National Cherry Blossom Festival said on Wednesday. Blooming is expected to start on March 18 for the trees, which are centered on the Tidal Basin. The average date for peak bloom is April 4.
5. Blagojevich gets 'lost' on way to Colorado prison.

....It wasn't immediately clear where Rod Blagojevich's car was headed when it passed up the entrance to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Englewood more than once on his way to begin serving his 14-year sentence. Attorney Aaron Goldstein later confirmed they initially got lost on the way to the facility and then decided to get lunch.
6. 'Ecosanctuary' plans for wild horses add tourism to the mix.
....A pilot project under review on privately held land in Wyoming is part of a new chapter in a strange and tangled tale that helped define the West.
7. Private businesses fight federal prisons for contracts.
....Critics say competition from Federal Prison Industries, a corporation owned by the government that employs inmates for labor, threatens some jobs on the outside.
8. Wall Street's latest campus recruiting crisis.

....The industry’s loss of cachet, which started during the financial crisis, is facing a blow following the public resignation of a former Goldman executive.
9. US backs anti-smoking ad campaign.
....A relatively modest ad campaign will be the government’s first directly financed attack against tobacco addiction.
10. New guidelines advise less frequent pap smears.
....A federal panel and other groups recommend that the Pap test, which screens for cervical cancer and for decades was a yearly ritual for many women, should be done only every third year.
11. Like their human brethren, seeking solace in alcohol.

....A new study finds that young male fruit flies that have been rejected by females apparently self-medicate with alcohol just like humans do.
POLITICS:
1. Fortunes turn, as does style, for Santorum.

....In his first public event the day after winning the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, Rick Santorum projected an air that seemed more ... presidential.
a. Santorum stands by English condition for Puerto Rico statehood.
....While campaigning in Puerto Rico, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum defended a condition he said must be met to be eligible for statehood - "English needs to be the principal language."
2. Women figure anew in Sentae's latest battle.

....Senate Democrats are beginning a push to renew the Violence Against Women Act, the once broadly bipartisan 1994 legislation that now faces fierce opposition from conservatives.
a. Senate passes 2-year transportation bill.
....The two-year, $109 billion measure was approved as a deadline looms on the highway trust fund
3. Obama defends energy policy, itting back at presidential candidates.
....The president delivered a notably sarcastic rebuttal to his Republican presidential challengers, particularly Newt Gingrich, who has promised to bring down gas prices to $2.50 a gallon.
a. Biden goes on offense for Obama campaign.

....Vice Pres. Joe Biden assumed the role of top campaign surrogate for Pres. Obama, harshly criticizing the economic policies of the GOP candidates.
4. Anti-Mormonism bites Romney in South.

....The polls and the campaign dialogue aren't much help in assessing the Mormon factor in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries. The distinct feeling on the ground was that it had an impact, leading many evangelical Christians to reject pragmatic arguments to ignore Mitt Romney's Mormonism because of his presumed electability.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

US ranchers say feds downplay 'spillover violence' from Mexico.

Along the Mexican border, an easy way to get into a fierce debate is to ask a simple question: "How much violence and crime linked to Mexican drug traffickers has spilled over into the United States?" As it turns out, the answer varies wildly and depends on who you talk to, especially in a presidential election year when border security and immigration are sensitive topics. The argument is further complicated by the failure of federal and state law enforcement officials to even agree over how to define spillover violence and other related crimes. "The danger in not having an accurate accounting of spillover violence is that we fail to see that our cities, American cities, are permeated by Mexican drug cartels who are heavily armed, who are criminals involved in multiple different enterprises," said Howard Campbell, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at El Paso who has studied the drug cartels extensively
Pres. Obama joked during a speech about critics who call for even tougher security measures along the border. "Maybe they'll need a moat, maybe they want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that, that's politics." In Cochise County, Ariz., which shares an 84-mile-long border with Mexico, Sheriff Larry Dever was among many border officials who did not laugh at the president's joke about moats and alligators. "I can't tell you how angry it made not only me, but my constituents, to make a mockery of one of the most serious situations we face in our entire lifetime," he said. "I'd say the border is more dangerous than it's ever been." Dever has lost four friends -- three police officers and a rancher -- to cartel violence, and insists Mexican traffickers crossing into his county are well-armed and much more aggressive now than they were just a few years ago. "We're getting overrun from the south, because the federal government isn't doing its job," he said. The long-time sheriff argued that the FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics cited by the White House fail to include many of the crimes committed by traffickers, including kidnapping, extortion, public corruption, drug and human smuggling, and trespassing. "I invite them to come down here, come live with us and go camp out at some rancher's house and see what happens at night," he said. When asked if anyone from Washington had ever agreed to do that, Dever said, "Heck no, they come for photo ops.”.
According to Congressional testimony in 2009 and 2011, the current federal interagency definition of Mexican spillover violence is: "…deliberate, planned attacks by the cartels on U.S. assets, including civilian, military, or law enforcement officials or physical institutions such as government buildings, consulates or businesses. This definition does not include trafficker on trafficker violence, whether perpetrated in Mexico or the U.S." Many state officials say trafficker on trafficker violence should not be excluded, because cartel shootouts seen in Texas, Arizona and other states can put civilians in danger and in fear for their lives. Dever and other regional officials argue that all crimes linked to Mexican traffickers should be gathered to assess the true scope of border threats so that law enforcement needs can more accurately be determined.
Professor Howard Campbell of the University of Texas at El Paso said even though there have been relatively few homicides in the US committed by Mexican traffickers, there is definitely a lot of other crime. "There has been a spillover of crime and drug trafficking culture and a greater amount of violent encounters between Mexican drug traffickers and U.S. Border Patrol agents and other agents of the U.S. government," he said. "I think claiming the border is safer than ever is absurd." As for the failure between federal and state officials to agree on how to define the problem, Campbell says it is important to understand the issues in a "scientific, clear way," and to make effective policies based on that. He also suggested that collecting crime statistics is not the only way to gather this important information. "I think it would be better to talk to people who actually live on that border that experience this on a day to day basis," he said.
Presidential politics has a lot to answer for and not the least is the false picture being painted of our southern border. I hate to admit it, but the Republicans are much more in the right than the adiministration is.

Thought for Today
"There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown helpless about them."
—-Clare Boothe Luce(1903-1987), author, diplomat, member of Congress & wife of Time-Life founder Henry Luce .

Today's flower: Iris germanica or Lest we forget reblooming iris.

[pegasus]

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 76th day of 2012 with 289 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:52 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 64ºF [Feels like 64ºF], winds SSW @ 8 mph, humidity 70%, pressure 30.07 in and steady, dew point 54ºF, chance of precipitation 15%.

Today in History:
A.D. 37--Roman emperor Tiberius died; he was succeeded by Caligula.
1521--Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.
1802--Pres. Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the US Military Academy at West Point.
1850--Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter was first published.
1865--the Confederates were swept aside at the Battle of Averasboro in North Carolina.
1916--German Admiral Alfred von Tirptz, the man largely responsible for the buildup of the German navyI and the aggressive naval strategy pursued by Germany during the first two years of the war, surprisingly resigned.
1926, rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass.
1926--comedian-director Jerry Lewis turns 86 today.
1935--Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles and ordered the rearming of Germany.
1945--US forces declared they had secured Iwo Jima, although pockets of Japanese resistance remained.
1968--the My Lai Massacre of Vietnamese civilians was carried out by US Army troops; estimates of the death toll vary between 347 and 504.
1972--Pres. Nixon called for a moratorium on court-ordered school busing to achieve racial desegregation.
1975--the South Vietnamese fled Pleiku and Kontum.
1978--one of the world's worst supertanker disasters takes places when the Amoco Cadiz wrecks off the coast of Portsall, France, spilling 68 million gallons of oil.
1982--Claus Von Bulow was found guilty in Newport, R.. of trying to kill his comatose wife, Martha, with insulin. (Von Bulow was acquitted in a retrial. She died in 2008).
1985--reporter Terry Anderson kidnapped in Lebanon.
1988--Pres. Reagan ordered US troops into Honduras to protect American interests.
2002--gunmen killed Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino, a prominent critic of Colombia's leftist guerrillas, in Cali.
2002--13-year-old Brittanie Cecil was struck by a flying hockey puck during a game between the hometown Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames. (She died two days later.)
2003--American activist Rachel Corrie, 23, was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer while trying to block the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip.
2005--Robert Blake was acquitted of his wife's murder.
2007--Valerie Plame, ex-CIA operative, told a House committee that White House and State Department officials had "carelessly and recklessly" blown her cover in a politically motivated smear of her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (disputed Pres. Bush's assertion that Saddam Hussein was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear bomb.)
2007--Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of dog and cat food recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food after reports of kidney failure and deaths.
2011-- Pakistan abruptly freed CIA contractor Raymond Allen Davis, who had shot and killed two men in a gunfight in Lahore, after a deal was sealed to pay $2.34 million to the men's families.

World News Capsules:
1. Karzai calls on US to pull back aas Taliban cancel talks.

....Prospects for an orderly NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan suffered two setbacks as President Hamid Karzai demanded limits on United States troops and the Taliban halted peace talks.
a. PTSD defense likely for US soldier accused of Afghan massacre.

....Case against the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers is "more political than legal," his lawyer says, and reorts of marital problems "not true." Attorney John Henry Browne, who is representing the soldier, said the suspect had been training to become a military recruiter after four tours of duty in Iraq but had been ordered to return to Afghanistan "overnight."
2. A US tie to surveillance push in Chinese cities.

....As the Chinese government forges ahead on an effort to blanket the country with cameras, Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney, stands to profit.
a. In China, a rare view of infighting by leaders.
....The coming leadership transition, sparked by the Communist Party's ouster of Bo Xilai, was supposed to leave behind the political intrigue of the past.

US News Capsules:
1. Former Rutgers student guilty in webcam spying case.

....Dharun Ravi convicted of hate crime and invasion of privacy in a case involving his use of a webcam to spy on his college roommate kissing another man; his roommate later committed suicide.
2. George Clooney arrested, handcuffed, outside Sudanese Embassy in D.C.

....No, it wasn't for a movie. Actor George Clooney, long a political activist, was arrested and handcuffed outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington for protesting the country's blockage of food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains area of the country, as well as its treatment of its people.
3. Ex-FBI chief, others probed over paid speeches to Iranian dissdent group on terror list.

(Gen. Hugh Shelton, left, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh)
....Speaking firms representing ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton have received federal subpoenas as part of an expanding investigation into the source of payments to former top government officials who have publicly advocated removing an Iranian dissident group from the State Department list of terrorist groups.
POLITICS:
1. GOP strategy for Hispanic voters: It's the economy.
....In swing states like Colorado, Republicans are using concerns about the sluggish recovery to appeal to Hispanic voters, long a solid part of the Democratic base.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Poachers slaughter half the elephant population in Cameroon park

At least half the elephants in Cameroon's Bouba N'Djida reserve were slaughtered because the west African nation sent too few security forces to tackle poachers, the World Wide Fund for Nature said. In what was described as one of the worst poaching massacres in decades, as many as 200 elephants have been killed for their tusks since January by poachers on horseback from Chad and Sudan, the fund said. "WWF is disturbed by reports that the poaching continues unabated," Natasha Kofoworola Quist, WWF's representative in the region, said in a statement.
It was the second major elephant-poaching report out of Africa this month. On March 5, the warden at Virunga National Park, a UN World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said poaching had become so severe that rangers began using bloodhounds to track down poachers. The Virunga elephant population has fallen to fewer than 400 from an estimated 3,000 in the 1980s.
In Cameroon, about 20 fresh elephant carcasses were discovered last week, a WWF spokesperson said. The government of the Central African state has sent special forces to track the poachers and end the killing spree in the north of the country, but the WWF said this may be too little, too late. "The forces arrived too late to save most of the park's elephants and were too few to deter the poachers," Quist said. She said the organization regretted that a soldier was killed during a clash with the poachers.
Biologically diverse and Bouba N’djida is located near Cameroon’s porous northern border, where it presents a tempting target for poachers from Sudan and Chad, the magazine Nature reported. They typically cross into the park on horseback at the beginning of each dry season and return north before rains begin in April, using ivory profits to procure more weaponry. The International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, said the scale of this year’s killings was unprecedented. IFAW said it was not clear how many elephants remained in Cameroon but a 2007 estimate put the figure at between 1,000 and 5,000.
Conservation groups have said the spike in poaching and illegal ivory trade in Africa was a direct consequence of China's investment drive into the continent and as the demand for ivory, used in jewelry and ornaments, grows in Asia. In South Africa, rhinos are under assault by poachers, who killed more than 400 last year.
This is appalling. And shocking. And I realy have no words for how I feel about this terrible situation. Don't there African countries care about what happens to the elephants or rhinos?
"Protected only by unarmed rangers" is a devastating indictment of government inaction to prevent this slaughter. I'm a regular contributor to the World Wildlife Fund, but without the strong backing of the African governments, our efforts are futile.

Primary sog willhave long term impact, but will it help or hurt GOP?

....The biggest consequence of Rick Santorum’s victories on Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi on is that a competitive GOP primary race will continue through at least April -- and maybe even longer than that. And for Mitt Romney, that situation will inevitably shape the contours of the general election, in potentially good and bad ways for him. Let’s start with the good: A longer primary season would allow him to make the sale to conservatives and the GOP base that he’s their guy. What’s more, a la the ’08 Democratic race, an extended primary season will take him to competitive general-election states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, and simply engaging the GOP electorate there could increase the amount of volunteers and interest for the fall. (MSNBC.com’s Mike O’Brien will have a piece later today comparing that long ’08 race to this current one.) But here’s the bad: A longer primary season will only bleed money. While Karl Rove wrote yesterday that the Obama campaign has a high burn rate (and they do, but don’t forget how the Obama campaign uses the DNC), it doesn’t compare to the 287% burn rate Team Romney racked up in January (raising $6.5 million but spending $18.8 million). In addition, the longer the GOP race goes on, the less time Romney will have to fix his image problem with independents, who gave him a 22%/38% fav/unfav rating in the most recent NBC/WSJ poll.

Thought for Today
"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true."
--[/i]Nathaniel Hawthorne, (1804-1864) in The Scarlet Letter.

Today's flower: Phlox paniculata or starfire tall phlox



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 77th day of 2012 with 288 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 2:22 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 64ºF [Feels like 64ºF], winds calm, humidity 60%, pressure 30.26 in and falling, dew point 50ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
461 (or A.D. 493, depending on sources)--St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, Christian missionary & bishop of Irelanddied in Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland.
1762--New York City's first St. Patrick's Day parade took place.
1776--British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.
1861--Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed the first king of a united Italy.
1863--North and South clashed at the Battle of Kelly's Ford, Va.
1901--paintings by the late Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh were shown at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris and caused a sensation across the art world 11 years after his death.
1902--Bobby Jones, the American golfer who was the first winner of the Grand Slam, was born; died 1971 at age 69.
1905--Franklin D. Roosevelt married his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, in New York City. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's fifth cousin, gave his niece away.
1906--Pres. Roosevelt first likened crusading journalists to a man with "the muckrake in his hand" in a speech to the Gridiron Club in Washington.
1906--earthquakes killed more than 1,200 in Taiwan.
1910--the US National Museum, a precursor to the National Museum of Natural History, opened in Washington, D.C.
1912--the Camp Fire Girls organization was incorporated in Washington, D.C., two years to the day after it was founded in Thetford, Vt.
1941--the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
1942--six days after departing the Philippines, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater.
1950--scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, "californium."
1955--actor Gary Sinnise (CSI: NY)turned 57 today.
1959--the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule
1966--a US midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb which had fallen from an American bomber into the Mediterranean off Spain.
1969--Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel .
1970--the US cast its first veto in the UN Security Council (a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia).
1990--Lithuania rejected the Soviet demand to renounce its independence.
1992--Sen. Alan Dixon was defeated in his primary re-election bid by Carol Moseley-Braun, who went on to become the first black woman in the US Senate.
1992--29 people were killed in the truck bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Illinois.
2000--with the release of the movie Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts became the first actress to command $20 million per movie.
2002--a grenade attack on a Protestant church in Islamabad, Pakistan, killed five people.
2005--baseball players Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified before Congress that they hadn't used steroids; Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had.
2007--protesters across the country raised their voices against US policy in Iraq and marched by the 1000s to the Pentagon.
2009--the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition.
2009 --US journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korea while reporting on North Korean refugees living across the border in China.
2011--the UN Security Council paved the way for international air strikes against Moammar Gadhafi's forces, voting to authorize military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
2011--targeting a heavily armed group coneected to al-Qaida, US drone missiles hit a village in Pakistan; but Pakistani said the missiles hit a community meeting, killing four Taliban fighters and 38 civilians and tribal police.

World News Capsules:
1. Gulf widens between US and a more volatile Karzai.

....Ever since the Koran-burning episode on Feb. 20, the relationship between the United States and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has lurched from one crisis to another.
2. John Demjanjuk, 91, dogged by charges of atrocities as Nazi camp guard, died.

....Mr. Demjanjuk was convicted of collaborating with the Nazis at death camps, reprieved and convicted again, but steadfastly denied the accusations,
3. In Great Britain, the Archbishop of Cnaterbury to step dow at end of year.
....Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the world's Anglicans, is stepping down at a time of shrinking congregations and divisions over social issues.
4. North Korea says it will lauch satellite into orbit.
....The US warned that a launch would scuttle a recent agreement with North Korea, intensifying diplomatic and military tensions surrounding the North's nuclear weapons program.
5. Despite bold talk on Syria, Turkey sees limits of its power.
....As the lethal crackdown by the Syrian government intensifies, Turkey has struggled to take concrete steps to contain the crisis unfolding on its doorstep.

US News Capsules:
1. An Irish tradition with an only-in-America star.
....An Ohio youth of mixed heritage was the first person of color to win the world championship for Irish dancing, and he has won the contest for three straight years.
2. Justice Dept. investigation is sought in Florida teenager's shooting death.
....Trayvon Martin, who was black and unarmed, was shot by a neighborhood crime watch volunteer who is white and Hispanic. The shooter has not been arrested and is claiming self-defense.
3. Price of gas matters to voters, but doesn't seem to sway votes.
....There is not much evidence that gas prices deserve an outsize reputation for holding economic and political influence.
4. When businesses can't stop asking, "How am i doing?"
....The onslaught of questionnaires from businesses has led to declining response rates and a condition known as survey fatigue, but it's not likely to let up soon,
5. 63 years flying, from glamour to days of gray.

....Though no one tracks seniority across all airlines, Ron Akana is widely believed to be the longest-serving flight attendant in the United States, clocking some 20 million miles along the way
6. TV: On the ice and under it, nature thrives.

....The seven-episode Frozen Planet switches between the Antarctic and the Arctic to explore nature in its cold glory.
7. THE ARTS: Artists find benefactors in web crowd.
....The prospect of financial crowd-sourcing on the Internet has been enthusiastically embraced by some as an important new model for the future of arts financing.

Today's Sports Headlines[:
1. [MARCH MADNESS: Norfolk State shocks No. 2-seeded Missouri.
....Norfolk State toppled Missouri and became the first 15th seed since Hampton in 1991 to knock off a No. 2 seed, and only the fifth since 1985. Later, Lehigh became the sixth.
a. Fast and fearless Lehigh stuns Duke.
....C.J. McCollum scored 30 points and Lehigh upset Duke to become the second No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2, after Norfolk State performed the feat earlier in the day.
b/ Ohio (just Ohio) ousts No. 4 Michigan.
....No. 13 Ohio pulled off its 2nd NCAA tournament upset in the past three years, leading for nearly the entire game and beating Michigan.
2. Too good to fail, Syracuse moves on to Round of 16.

....The Orange were led by the senior Scoop Jardine, whose dynamic second half allowed the Orange to seize control over Kansas State to win 75-59.


Thought for Today
"It is my rule never to lose me temper till it would be detrimental to keep it."
—-Sean O'Casey (1880-1964), Irish playwright

Today's flower: Dicentra or King of Hearts bleeding heart

[pegasus]

Happy Quilt Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 78th day of 2012 with 287 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:52 p.m., it's fair , temp 70ºF [Feels like 70ºF], winds S @ 9 mph, humidity 53%, pressure 30.21 in and falling, dew point 52ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1190--Crusaders killed 57 Jews in Bury St Edmonds, England.
1766--the British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.
1773--Oliver Goldsmith's comedy She Stoops to Conquer premiered in London.
1813--David Melville of Newport, RI patented the gas streetlight.
1834--1st railroad tunnel in US completed, in Pennsylvania.
1837--Grover Cleveland, the only US president who served two non-consecutive terms, was born; died 1908 at age 71.
1852--Henry Wells & William Fargo formed American Express in Buffalo, NY.
1858--Rudolf Diesel, German thermal engineer who invented the internal-combustion engine, was born: died 1913 at age 55.
1865--the Congress of Confederate States of American adjourned for last time.
1870--the 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland Calif.) was established.
1892--in Canada, Lord Stanley proposed a silver challenge cup for hockey (Stanley Cup).
1902--Enrico Caruso recorded 10 arias for the Gramophone Co. in Milan, Italy walked away with $500 for his effort.
1911--Irving Berlin copyrights the biggest po song of the early 20th century, "Alexander's Ragtime BAnd."
1915--the Allies opened an attack on the Dardanelles.
1922--Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced to prison in India for civil disobedience.
1931--Schick Inc. marketed the first electric razor.
1937--nearly 300 students in Texas are killed by an explosion of natural gas at their school.
1940--Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini held a meeting at the Brenner Pass during which the Italian dictator agreed to join in Germany's war against France and Britain.
1942--Pres. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which was put in charge of interning Japanese-Americans.
1953--major-league baseball announced the first team relocation since 1903 with the Boston Braves moving west to Milwaukee, Wis.
1962--France and Algerian rebels agreed to a truce after more than seven years of war.
1965--the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod 2 capsule and remained outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes, secured by a tether.
1969--the US bombed Cambodia for the 1st time.
1974--most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the US.
2000--Taiwan ended more than a half century of Nationalist Party rule by electing opposition leader Chen Shui-bian president.
2005--doctors in Florida, acting on orders of a state judge, removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. (The brain-damaged woman died 13 days later.)
2010--Pres. Obama signed a $38 billion jobs bill containing a modest mix of tax breaks and spending designed to encourage the private sector to start hiring again.
2011--Pres. Obama demanded that Moammar Gadhafi halt all military attacks on civilians or the US would join other nations in launching military action against him.

World News Capsules:
1. Gulf widens between US and a more volatile Karzai.
.... Ever since the Koran-burning episode on Feb. 20, the relationship between the US and Pres. Karzai has lurched from one crisis to another.
a. Suspect's deployments put focus on war strains.
....Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan last week, was deployed four times to Iraq and Afghanistan over a decade, raising questions about the stress of combat, Karilyn Bales posted a blog about life as a military wife.
2. Belarussian is executed over attack on subway.
....Vladislav Kovalyov, 26, was convicted of helping his childhood friend carry out the April 2011 bombing, but human rights groups have cast serious doubt on the verdict.
3. Tibetans protest in northwest China.
....A demonstration that began after the death of a farmer who set himself on fire was the latest in a spate of self-immolations by Tibetans protesting Chinese policies.
4. Coptic pope dies in Egypt amid curch's struggles.
....The death of Pope Shenouda III comes at a time of rising fears for Egypt’s Coptic Christians, who have felt increasingly vulnerable since Pres. Mubarak’s fall.
5. US faces a tricky task in assessment of data on Iran.

....Discerning the intentions of Iran's leaders on the crucial steps to building a nuclear bomb is the most covert aspect of one of the world's most difficult intelligence collection targets.
6. In Mexico, a kidnapping ignored as crime worsens.
....Six years into a mostly military assault on drug cartels, impunity across much of Mexico has worsened, and justice is harder to find.
7. Russia's scandalous 'It Girl' remakes herself as an unlikely face of protest.

....Kseniya Sobchak, a pampered fixture of tabloid culture in Vladimir Putin's Russia, has restyled herself as a leader of the opposition.
8. Spain to US divers: Give up the booty.

....Tug of war over 200 year-old shipwreck goes before federal judge. Last month, Spanish military planes flew home with nearly 600,000 silver coins and other artifacts after prevailing in a five-year legal battle over ownership with Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration. Now, Spain wants the rest of it -- specifically some artifacts that Odyssey left behind in Gibraltar when it flew the coins to the United States in May 2007.
9. Two blasts strike near security agencies in Syria.

....Explosions hit intelligence and security buildings in Damascus, the capital, killing or wounding dozens of civilians and security personnel, Syrian state news media reported.
10. Two nurses suspected of killing dozens in Uruguay.

....Two hospital nurses in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, have been arrested as police investigate allegations that they killed critical care but not terminally ill patients, possibly up to 200, over several years at two hospitals. They are suspected of using some sort of poison brought in from neighboring Brail.
11. In Yemen, new leader faces threates in the south.
....Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Yemen's new president, faces many challenges, but possibly none as daunting as that in the south, where many are eager for secession.
a. Gunman kills US charity worker in Yemen.


....Group linked to al-Qaida claims responsibility for shooting.

US News Capsules:
1. monument to a Sioux warrior, its completion date somewhat unclear.
....The Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota, which was to be the largest sculpture in the world, has turned out to be a multigenerational commitment.
2. In new office designs, room to roam and to think.

....The 21st-century workplace extols the value of open space, background noise and outside light — and questions the worth of private offices and other signs of hierarchy.
3. Defiant St. Louis church wins archdiocese suit.
....A dispute between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and a local parish has taken a step forward with a state judge’s ruling that the parish has rightful control of its assets and property.
4. Can stock market rally keep chugging along?
....Investors are beginning to wonder if this Energizer Bunny of a rally can just keep going without taking a break or a fall, as the VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, has plunged to a 5-year-low.
POLITICS:
1. All odds aside, GOP girding for floor fight.

....With Mitt Romney struggling to hold off Rick Santorum, the campaigns and party leaders are preparing for a delegate fight unlike any since 1976.
2. Romney brushes off criticism over Bain purchase in China
.
....Mitt Romney reacted to Bain Capital’s purchase of a Chinese video surveillance company, while the Obama campaign accused him of “utter hypocrisy” on China.
3. GOP primary hits Puerto Rico, continues in Missouri caucuses.
....The Republican primary process rolls on nearly eleven months after it kicked off in Iowa, and with no definitive end in sight as Missouri began its process of awarding delegates and the campaigns of Romney and Santorum aggressively contested Puerto Rico.
3. Santorum: If I win Illinois, I win nomination.

....Rick Santorum guaranteed that a win in the Illinois primary will result in his nomination as the Republican presidential nominee.

Today's Sports Headlines:
1. March Madness: Indiana holds off VCU 63-61 as resurgence continues.
[/img]
....Will Sheehey hit the game-winning jumper with 12.7 seconds remaining and Indiana advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in a decade.
a. A Missed shot and an unlikely star lift Wisconsin 60-57 over Vanderbilt.
....The Badgers' Ben Brust had been the forgotten man on the Wisconsin squad, but he was instrumental in helping the Badgers squeak by Vanderbilt.
b. Southern upstart, New York swagger.

....An influx of talent from the New York City area has bolstered Norfolk State, which knocked second-seeded Missouri out of the N.C.A.A. tournament.
c. Siva rights the Cardinals ship.
....Guard Peyton Siva calmed the Cardinals and quelled the comeback by New Mexico, winning 59-56.
2. Women's March Madness: Prized recrit happy back home i Delaware.
....Elena Delle Donne, who left Connecticut after two days, has led Delaware to a No. 3 seed with an average of 27.5 points a game.
3. MLB: Petitte drawn back into a brotherhood.
....Andy Pettitte, self-proclaimed homebody, spent one summer with the family in Houston and that apparently was all he could bear to be away from the special club within the clubhouse. Even before Andy Pettitte’s announcement, the Yankees were already sorting through four starters — Freddy Garcia, Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes and Michael Pineda — for three rotation spots.
a. Closing the book on an October epic, the Ragers' bullpen moves on.
....The Texas relief corps collapsed in an extra-inning loss to the Cardinals in the 2011 World Series. Now the Rangers want to put it in the past.
4. Avalanche's goalie masters the Rangers 3-1.
....New York struggled to get the puck past Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov, despite carrying the play for most of the game.
5. NBA: Knicks ride defense and bench to 3rd straight win.
....Mike Woodson, the team’s interim coach, stretched his record to 3-0 as the Knicks revived memories of Linsanity.

Thought for Today
"What annoyances are more painful than those of which we cannot complain?"
--[/i]Marquis De Custine (1790-1857), French aristocrat & writer.

Today's flower: Iris ensata or Japanese iris mix.



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Let's Laugh Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 79th day of 2012 with 286 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:08 p.m., it's fair , temp 66ºF [Feels like 66ºF], winds WSW @ 5 mph, humidity 70%, pressure 30.18 in and steady, dew point 56ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1286--Alexander III, King of Scots, was killed accidentally at Kinghorn, Fife.
1524--Giovanni de Varrazano of France sighted land around area of Carolinas .
1563--in France, the Peace of Amboise ended the First War of Religion, granting the Huguenots a limited amount of toleration.
1644--200 members of Peking imperial family/court commit suicide.
1687--Explorer Robert, Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, was murdered by his own men.
1702--James II's daughter Anne Stuart became the reigning queen of Great Britain after the death of her brother-in-law William III.
1748--English Naturalization Act passed granting Jews right to colonize thr American colonies.
1822--Boston, Mass. was incorporated as a city.
1831--the first bank robbery in the US was reported at the City Bank of New York City, which lost $245,000.
1848--Wyatt Earp, American frontiersman; became lawman and gambler, was born; died 1928 at age 80.
1853--during the Taiping Rebellion in China, the rebels captured Nanking and renamed it T'ien-ching (Heavenly Capital).
1855--the vehicular suspension bridge across the Niagara River Gorge (built in 1848) was strengthened for the passage of railway trains. (The original wooden trusses were replaced by steel in 1880.)
1861--the First Taranaki War, a Maori insurrection in New Zealand, ended when they finally surrendered.
1865--after the Battle of Bentonville, Confederates retreated from Greenville NC., failing to stop the Yankee advance.
1891--Earl Warren, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1953-1969), was born; died 1974 at age 82.
1915--Pluto was photographed for the first time but was not recognized as a planet.
1916--eight US planes took off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first US air-combat mission.
1917--the US Navy Department authorized enrollment of women in the US Naval Reserve.
1917--the US Supreme Court upheld the eight-hour work day for railroad workers (Adamson Act).
1918--the US Congress approved daylight-saving time.
1920--the US Senate rejected for the second time the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 49-35, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.
1931--Nevada legalized gambling.
1933--Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Philip Roth (Portney's Complaint) turned 79 today.
1941--Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded Decca Records’ all-time greatest hit, "Green Eyes", featuring vocalists Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly.
1944--under pressure from Hitler, Hungary allows German troops to cross the border into the country.
1945--Adolf Hitler issued his so-called "Nero Decree" ordering the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands.
1947--3-time Oscar-winning actress Glenn Close turned 65 today.
1949--in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the American Museum of Atomic Energy opened.
1949--East Germany approves a new constitution.
1950--writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, died.
1951--Herman Wouk's novel, The Caine Mutiny, was published and later won the Pulitzer Prize.
1957--Elvis Presley put a down payment on Graceland.
1964--the Great St. Bernard Tunnel under the Alps between Switzerland and Italy was opened to traffic.
1969--British troops took over the island of Anguilla following internal political wranglings.
1970--the heads of the West and East German governments, Willy Brandt and Willi Stoph, met at Erfurt, the first east-west meeting since Germany was divided.
1971--an earthquake sets off a series of calamities—a landslide, flood and avalanche--that results in the destruction of the town of Chungar, Peru, and the death of 600 of its inhabitants.
1977--the final episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show aired on CBS, after seven seasons. Many critics feel that it is the benchmark to judge quality TV entertainment.
1978--the UN Security Council voted to send an Interim Force to Lebanon.
1982--N Argentine scrap metal dealer landed on South Georgia and planted an Argentinean flag. The situation escalated and eventually led to the Falklands war with Great Britain.
1983--the hit single, "Beat It," recorded by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney and featuring lead guitar work by Eddie Van Halen, entered Billboard's popular record charts, eventually becoming #1 for 3 weeks.
1987--televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex-and-money scandal involving a former church secretary, Jessica Hahn.
1988 --two British soldiers were shot to death after they were dragged from a car and beaten by mourners attending an Irish Republican Army funeral in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1991--in Iraq, Kurdish rebels captured the northern oil town of Kirkuk.
1994--a powerful bomb blast tore through a crowded metro train in the Azerbaijan capital Baku, killing 12 people and injuring 53.
1995--Britain's Queen Elizabeth II started an historic state visit to post-apartheid South Africa.
1996--Sarajevo became a united city again after four years when Moslem-Croat authorities took control of the last district held by Serbs
2001--California officials declared a power alert, ordering the first of two days of rolling blackouts.
2003--Pres. Bush announced the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom that included coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom..
2003--Mahmoud Abbas accepted the new position of Palestinian prime minister.
2011--the US fired more than 100 cruise missiles from the sea while French fighter jets targeted Moammar Gadhafi's forces from the air, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising.

World News Capsules:
1. New details emerge of a top Chinese official's removal.
....Bo Xilai, removed last week as the party chief in Chongqing, plotted to remove the head of police to shut down a corruption case involving his family, a leaked report states.
a. Chinese activist is missing, rights group says.
....Liu Ping, who has angered officials in China, has been missing since she was detained in Beijing on March 6, an advocacy group says.
2. France hunts drive-by shooter linked ot three attacks.

....French President Nicholas Sarkozy orders security to be stepped up at Jewish and Islamic centers across France after police link three attacks to a drive-by gunman, including one at a Jewish school.
a. Prominent French families battle over a missing Monet.

....Ginette Heilbronn Moulin, 85, the chairwoman of the Galeries Lafayette, contends that the Wildensteins, a dynasty of art dealers, is concealing information about a stolen Monet landscape.
3. A tale of Greek enterprise and olive oil, smothered in red tape.
....Despite the government's promises to improve, starting a business in Greece remains discouragingly complicated, as is demonstrated by one man's effort to sell olive products online.
a. Finance minister takes over Greece's Socialist Party.
....The change of power at the party, Pasok, comes as Greece prepares for a national election this spring.
b. In Greek crisis, a little-known adviser with outsize influence..

....BlackRock is helping to determine how much capital Greece's banks will need to raise in the coming months, a crucial step as Greece tries to fix its banking industry and its broader economy, but a risky one.
4. Israeli hawks steeing debate on how to take on Iran.
....Clear fissures have developed among pro-Israel groups, including among hard-liners themselves, over just how aggressively to confront Iran.
5. Mauritania - slavery's last redoubt.

....Mauritani's endless sea of sand dunes hides an open secret: An estimated 10% to 20% of the population lives in slavery.
6. North Korea invites nuclear inspectors to return.
....North Korea has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to return, nearly three years after it kicked U.N. nuclear inspectors out of the country, the IAEA said Monday
7. Drones at issue as US rebuilds ties to Pakistan.
....The CIA's pilotless planes hurt militants, but in Pakistan, public discourse rings with thunderous condemnations of breached sovereignty and civilian casualties.
8. UN panel seeks vote on carnage in Sri Lanka.
....The United Nations Human Rights Council will vote this week on an American-led initiative calling on Sri Lanka to account for the carnage that ended its civil war three years ago
9. Fighting intensifies in Damascus, Syria as an upscale neighborhood becomes a battleground.

....Rebels fought government forces in a wealthy and well-protected area of Damascus on Monday, in the most violent gun battles the Syrian capital has seen since the start of the year-long revolt against Pres. Assad, opposition activists said.
a. Peace march in Damascus is cut short by authorities.
....The Syrian authorities briefly detained 11 members of one of Syria’s most moderate opposition groups, which has opposed the use of violence in the yearlong uprising..
10. Zimbabwe convicts 6 who viewed revolt news.

....Six political activists who gathered last year to watch and discuss television news broadcasts of the Arab Spring protests were convicted Monday of plotting to overthrow the government

US News Capsules:
1. 'Kratom' leaf makes presence felt in US emergency room.

....In addition to its possible medicinal uses, kratom is beginning to show up in U.S. emergency rooms, with doctors saying they are dealing with people sick from taking it — especially teens who try it to get high.
2. Side effects of synthetic pot - aka 'Spice' - may be missed by ER doctors.
....Teens who use synthetic marijuana, also called K2 or spice, could end up in the emergency room experiencing some serious side effects, according to a new case report.
3. Modern-day gold rush creates new mining jobs in Nevada.

....In almost every way Nevada is still reeling from the recession with the highest unemployment rate in the country at almost 13%, and one of the highest foreclosure rates. But in the northeast corner of the state, almost 500 miles from the Vegas strip, life is suddenly very good. In Nevada's gold country the global boom that’s pushed gold prices to an all-time high – currently hovering around $1,700 per ounce -- brought an influx of jobs to mining towns like Elko, Nev., population 18,000.
4. At home, asking how 'our Bobby' became war crime suspect.
....Family and friends of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, say he was a solid young man who was changed by war, but there are also glimpses of a darker story line.
5. Gender gap persists in cost of health insurance.
....Research shows that most women still pay more for health insurance than men, though the 2010 health care reform law will prohibit such "gender rating" beginning in two years.
a. At center of health care fight, a farmer's 1942 case.
....Both sides believe that a 70-year-old precedent involving the Constitution’s commerce clause supports their arguments.
6. Mortgages for drilling properties may face hurdle.
....The Department of Agriculture may require an extensive environmental review before issuing mortgages to people who have leased their land for oil and gas drilling.
7. Surprise increase in rates is credited to signs of recovery.
....Bond yields had their biggest move since October last week, with a sell-off that lifted the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds to 2.31%.
8. NY Mets' owners agree to settle Madoff suit for $162 million.

....Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz settled the lawsuit brought against them by Irving H. Picard, the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s fraud, for $162 million.
9. A vision of reviving tribal ways in a remote corner of California.
....The Yurok Indians are building a traditional village from scratch, with plank houses and a ceremonial dance pit where young tribe members can connect with their cultural heritage.
10. The downside of a balmy winter: Long walks with the dog aren't carefree.
....Entomologists say that an explosion of the tick population is unlikely, but just like humans and dogs, ticks appear to be enjoying the great outdoors a little earlier this year.
11. Pentagon finds perils for US if Israel were to strike Iran.
....A classified war game held this month forecast that such an attack would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the US, officials said.
12. Wendy's overtakes Burger King as #2 US burger chain.

....Dave Thomas's restaurants became the No. 2-selling hamburger chain in the country last year, industry research firm Technomic said, pushing Burger King back to the No. 3 spot. Burger King had been No. 2 spot since at least 1972, the earliest year for which Technomic has data.
13. ARTS: Another pint of melancholy.
....Once, based on a hit movie about two musicians, an Irishman and a Czech, who fall in love, reaches Broadway after an Off Broadway run.
POLITICS:
1. Ron Paul , the incredible shrinking candidate, falling behind - in social media.

....Accusations that news organizations are ignoring Paul's presidential campaign are an organizing principle of his supporters, who take to Facebook and Twitter to complain that the only reason Paul isn't leading is a "media blackout."
2. Drifting right, Illinois is test for Romney.
....Illinois has traditionally favored moderate Republicans, but as voters there prepare to go the polls for tomorrow's Republican primary, Mitt Romney has a fight on his hands.
3. In Santorum's writings, a consistently conservative voice.
....Rick Santorum has been a prolific writer of articles, letters and columns, all displaying many of the traits that define him as a presidential candidate.
a. Santorum: Illinois surprise would guarantee the GOP nod.

.....Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum launched a final campaign blitz across Illinois, where a poll gave Romney a solid lead going into Tuesday's Republican primary.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Terror attack? At least four shot dead at Jewish school in Toulouse, France.

At least four people, including three children and a rabbi, were shot dead by a gunman at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, on Monday, officials said. The shooter fled the private Ozar Hatorah school -- located in Jolimont district of Toulouse -- on a black scooter; other reports described the vehicle as a motorbike. Several other people were injured, two of them seriously, Reuters said.
The killings – described as “a vision of horror” by a parent of a child at the school – happened just days after three French soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in the area and a French government minister noted “similarities” between the incidents. Paris prosecutors said in a statement that they were opening anti-terrorism investigations into all three incidents.
France's Le Monde newspaper, reported that the gunman had two weapons. Witnesses said the shooter opened fire from the scooter, but this gun jammed. The gunman then left the scooter and ran into the school yard and started shooting with another weapon, the witnesses added.
Monday's shootings come days after three soldiers were killed in two separate shootings in the same area by a man who also escaped from the scene by scooter, Reuters reported. French TV station BFM said that the gun used in the attack at the school was of the same caliber as that used in the soldiers' shootings.
Investigators said that the murders of two French paratroopers in southwest France Thursday were linked to the killing of another soldier in Toulouse at the previous weekend, after they discovered the same weapon was used in both crimes. Two uniformed French soldiers were shot dead and a third seriously injured by a masked gunman Thursday as they tried to withdraw money from a cash machine in Montauban, close to the barracks of the 17th paratroop regiment. In the first shooting, a 30-year-old soldier in civilian clothes was shot dead in Toulouse.
Good grief, what's going on here? Are all the incidents linked or is the school shooting a copycat scenario? Why two incidents of shooting soldiers and then shooting up a Jewish school. Are they linked or is it a coincidence? Whatever it is, it is very definitely a horrible incident and it's natural to thnk of it as a hate crime.
UPDARW: The same gun was used in all three shootings.

Thought for Today
"Diplomacy--the art of saying "Nice doggie" till you can find a rock."
--Woody Allen[], comedian & film director (b. 1935)

Today's flower: [/i]Gerbera jamesonii or mixed gerbera daisies



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

FIRST DAY OF SPRING
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 80th day of 2012 with 285 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:52 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 66ºF [Feels like 66ºF], winds SSW @ 7 mph, humidity 70%, pressure 30.27 in and falling, dew point 56ºF, chance of rain 20%.

Today in History:
A1345--according to scholars at the University of Paris, the Black Death was created from what they call "a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius," The Black Death, also known as the Plague, swept across Europe, the Middle East and Asia during the 14th century, leaving an estimated 25 million dead in its wake.
1413--England's King Henry IV died; succeeded by Henry V.
1727--physicist, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton died in London.
1778--Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee presented themselves to France's King Louis XVI as official representatives of the United States.
1815--Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
1816--the US Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions.
1852--Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel about slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was first published in book form after being serialized.
1854--the Republican Party was founded by former Whig Party members in Ripon, Wis.
1861--Presi. Lincoln's sons, Willie and Tad, were diagnosed with the measles, adding to the president's many troubles.
1912--a coal mine explosion in McCurtain, Okla., claimed the lives of 73 workers.
1917--Dame Vera Lynn, British songstress, turned 95 today.
1922--producer-director-comedian Carl Reiner (and father of actor Rob REiner) turned 90 today.
1933--Florida executed Giuseppe Zangara for the shooting death of Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak at a Miami event attended by President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, the presumed target.
1946--British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma (now Myanmar) from the Japanese.
1952--the US Senate ratified, 66-10, the Treaty of Peace with Japan.
1953--Nikita Khrushchev began his rise to power.
1954--the US was alarmed about the impending defeat of the 16.000 French troops in Vietnam at Dien Bien Phu.
1965--Pres. Johnson sent federal troops to Alabama to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
1977--voters in Paris chose former French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac to be the French capital's first mayor in more than a century.
1982--Joan Jett topped the op charts with :L Love Rock 'n' Roll."
1985--Libby Riddles of Teller, Ala., became the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race.
1987--the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.
1995--Aum Shinrikyoa, a doomsday cult, released sarin nerve gas in five Tokyo subway stations, killing 12 people and injuring more than 5,500.
1996--a jury in Los Angeles convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez of first-degree murder in the shotgun slayings of their millionaire parents.
1997--Liggett Group settled 22 state lawsuits by admitting the industry markets cigarettes to teenagers and agreeing to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive.
1999--Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Britain became the first aviators to fly a hot-air balloon around the world nonstop.
2002--the US Congress approved the most far-reaching changes to the nation's campaign finance system since the Watergate era.
2002--the accounting firm Arthur Andersen pleaded not guilty to charges it had shredded documents and deleted computer files related to Enron.
2002--seven Israelis died when an Islamic militant blew himself up in a packed bus.
2002--a car bomb exploded outside the US Embassy in Lima, killing 10 people, three days before a visit by Pres. Bush.
2004--the US military charged six soldiers with abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
2007--Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, was hanged in Baghdad, the fourth man to be executed in the killings of 148 Shiites.
2011--AT&T Inc. said it would buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $39 billion (however, AT&T later dropped its bid following fierce government antitrust objections.)

World News Capsules:
1. General tells Congress that o sudden Afghan drawdown is planned].
....Gen. John R. Allen told Congress that he had no intention of recommending further American troop reductions until late this year.
2. Mining tax clears, but Gillard on shaky ground in Australia.
....Prime Minister Julia Gillard celebrated the passage of a controversial tax on profits generated by Australia's mining boom/
3. In China, call to end to physicals for government applicants.
....A civil rights group called for an end to physical examinations that the government administers to applicants for civil service posts to determine whether they have sexually transmitted diseases.
a. China quietly releaxes controls on foreign capital.
....Chinese officials are making it easier for foreign investors to put money into China’s stock market, indicating that they are eager to counter an accelerating flight of capital.
b. US to place tariffs on solar panels from China
.
....The Commerce Department decided to impose the tariffs after concluding that the Chinese government provided illegal export subsidies to manufacturers in China.
4. Thousands mourn Coptic Pope in Cairo.

([/i]A woman faints as crowds converge on Saint Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo[/size])
....Pope Shenouda III was remembered as both a wit and a “wise captain” who strengthened the identity of the Coptic Orthodox church.
5. Gunman reoortedly filmed lethal shooting spree at French Jewish school.

....French authorities offered new details of an assault that has stunned the nation, saying the lone gunman seemed to be filming his actions as he shot his victims to death. Paris Chief Prosecutor Francois Molins warned Tuesday. that the killer is determined and is targeting victims based on race or religion. The soldiers killed were of North African and Caribbean origin.
6. Obama exempts Japan and 10 European nations from Iran sanctions law.
....The Obama administration exempted Japan and 10 European nations from biting sanctions intended to punish those who continued to purchase oil from Iran.
a. Duelng Iranian New Year greetings from Obama and Khamenei.
....The leaders issued starkly divergent New Year messages on their respective web sites to Iran’s home audience.
7. Dozens killed in string of bomb attacks across Iraq.

....Ahead of a meeting next week of Arab leaders, at least 43 people were killed in attacks on police stations and civilian targets in half a dozen cities across Iraq, security officials said.
8. Vatican inquiry finds progress in Irish abuse scandal.
....The investigation was part of the Vatican’s response to a series of scathing reports by the Irish government that found cases of sexual abuse by priests and evidence of a widespread cover-up.
a. Library recovers tome missing for 100 years.

....A book missing from Archbishop Marsh's Library in Dublin for 100 years has been returned. It was published in Basel, Switzerland, in 1538, and had been in the Dublin library's collection since 1701. The hero of the story is an Irish barrister who plucked the tome from a junk shop. The attorney paid the princely sum of €90 (about $119), picking up an antique mirror into the bargain. Realizing there was something rather special about the book, he brought it to Marsh's Library, where the librarians recognized it as their own.
9. US war game sees perils of Israeli strike against Iran.

....A classified war game held this month forecast that such an attack would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the US, officials said.
a. Israel criticizes EU official for comments on French school attack.
....Remarks by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, were perceived as equating the murders of three children at a Jewish school in France with the death of children during the fighting in Gaza.
10. Weight of pension obigations threaten to sink small companies in Japan.
....A program from the 1960s allowed companies to borrow government money to leverage their pension investments, but decades of deflation have left weaker firms unable to repay the debt.
11. Malaysians living abroad want a say in next election.
....Under Malaysian law, only limited categories of Malaysians can vote while living abroad. But with an election expected sometime this year, many are asking why they can't cast a ballot
12. Strong, long 7.4 quake shakes Mexico City.

....A strong 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Mexico, shaking central and southern parts of the country, collapsing a pedestrian bridge and swaying buildings in Mexico City. Plaster fell from ceilings and windows broke in the center of the capital, but the president said there were no immediate reports of major damage.
13. Pakistani Parliament demands end to US drone strikes.
....A major parliamentary review of relations with the US opened with calls for an end to drone strikes and an unconditional apology for an American attack on Pakistani soldiers last November.
14. Syrian insurgents accused of rights abuses.

....A human rights group offered a more complex vision of the Syrian insurgents, accusing them of a catalog of abuses including kidnapping, detention and torture.

US News Capsules:
1. Grand jury to investigate shooting of Trayvon Martin.
....Outrage grows over killing of teen by volunteer watchman.
a. Florida shooting focuses attention on 'Stand Your Ground' law.

....Outrage over the death of a Florida teenager has focused attention on a state law permitting the use of deadly force in self-defense.
2. The military path to justice could be lengthy,
....Once preliminary charges are announced against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, suspected of killing 16 Afghans, the military justice system will proceed deliberately.
3. BP settlement, milestone for some victims, a setback for others.
....Some people whose livelihoods were affected by the gulf oil spill will not be helped by the proposed settlement with BP, and others have had their own settlements affected.
4. In Texas tradition, museums that enshrine the quirky.
....Devil's Rope Museum, which showcases barbed wire, is part of a Texas tradition of institutions dedicated to niche interests, many curated by hobbyists.
5. Behind the blood money.
....Certain minerals, mined in strife-torn Africa and used in products like cellphones, are part of a debate before the Securities and Exchange Commission.
6. For 2nd years, a sharp drop in Law School Admission Tests.
....The Law School Admission Test was administered 16% fewer times than a year ago, the largest decline in more than a decade.
SCIENCE:
1. A drumbeat on profit takers.

....Dr. Arnold S. Relman and Dr. Marcia Angell, both former editors of The New England Journal of Medicine, continue to advocate against the “commercial exploitation of medicine.”
2. In search for alien life, researchers enlist human minds.
....With new Web-based software called SETILive, an army of independent citizen-scientists are being recruited to detect unusual signals in space.
3. Honeybees benefit from queen's promiscuity.
....Queens that mate with many males have more “good” bacteria in their hives, a study finds, probably improving the health and nutrition of their colonies.
4. Ferns fling their spores with a one-two catapult.
....Using high-speed cameras, researchers see that ferns catapult their spores by unfurling and then closing on two different time scales, ensuring that spores are ejected up and away
5. Rocket plunge to deep end of the planet.

....James Cameron plans to ride a vertical torpedo into the planet’s deepest recess, the Challenger Deep in the western Pacific, nearly seven miles down
POLITICS:
1. Illinois votes in rare turn in spotlight.

....The Illinois primary has largely come down to a battle between Mitt Romney, who leads in delegates, and Rick Santorum, and in recent days the two campaigned furiously across the state.
2. House GOP lays down mrker with new budget plan.
....The Republicans, believing that worries over the deficit will outweigh affection for Medicare and other popular programs, will unveil a budget blueprint with deep cuts.
3. Fed nominees face Senate committee.
....Harvard University economist Jeremy C. Stein and Jerome H. Powell, a former private equity executive and Treasury official, moved closer to confirmation after the Banking Committee hearing.


Today's Headlines of Interest:

New GOP budget carries risk for 2012 candidates.

Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) plan could force them to embrace or reject proposals that have little chance of becoming law, but carry some political risk. His second official budget as the chairman of the committee overseeing fiscal matters contained proposals for sweeping reforms to entitlement programs, along with other cuts in spending. “I would tell them to support it,” said Gretchen Hamel, the executive director of the right-leaning Public Notice, of her advice to the GOP hopefuls. “I think that they have a lot to gain by supporting a bold proposal on Capitol Hill. They also find a way to speak to the base through this.”
Mitt Romney hedged for months on the Ryan's first budgt plan. "I appreciate what Paul Ryan has done," Romney said last May, per an Associated Press account. "I'm going to have my own plan." He eventually said he would sign the Ryan budget if he were president, and his campaign embraced the plan more fully last fall as a means of attacking Newt Gingrich. The former House speaker had famously decried the Ryan budget at first as “right-wing social engineering,” precisely because of its bold changes to entitlements. Gingrich backtracked on that criticism after Ryan publicly quipped, “With friends like that, who needs the left?”
Democrats will be attentive to how Romney and the other hopeful nominees react to the new proposal, though they believe Republicans had already made their beds with support for last year’s budget. "There’s a reason they call them the third rail of politics,” said Eddie Vale, a spokesman for Protect Your Care, a group dedicated to promoting the president’s health reform law. “After the backlash they faced last year, even from Newt Gingrich, it’s amazing that they’re going to take another whack at it.”
Ryan argued \that it was incumbent on the GOP to offer a contrast with Obama on major spending programs in this fall's election — a kind of referendum on the reforms he and other Republicans have proposed. "Let's give the country the choice of very clear two futures, let the people of this country decide in the fall and whoever wins that referendum gets to implement that plan," Ryan said.
A firm embrace of the Ryan plan would also carry some political benefit for any of the GOP hopefuls.Ryan is considered one of the GOP’s rising stars, and his name is on many short lists to become the running mate of the eventual nominee. And he's one of the few Republican figures of note yet to make an endorsement in the presidential race, and his support would help any of the candidates firm up their fiscal conservative credentials..
Liberal groups will largely wrap the new Ryan plan and any of its proposed changes to Medicare into their overall defense of the president’s health care law during the next two weeks, which features the anniversary of President Barack Obama signing that bill into law, and Supreme Court arguments challenging the constitutionality of its reforms.
The GOP plan released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would, if enacted into law, wrestle the deficit to a manageable size in short order, but only by cutting Medicaid, food stamps, Pell Grants and a host of other programs that Obama has promised to protect.
To deal with the influx of retiring Baby Boomers, the GOP budget reprises a controversial approach to overhauling Medicare that would switch the program — for those under 55 today — from a traditional "fee for service" framework in which the government pays doctor and hospital bills to a voucherlike "premium support" approach in which the government subsidizes purchases of health insurance.
Republicans say the new approach forces competition upon a wasteful health care system, lowering cost increases and giving senior more options. But Democratic opponents of the idea say the new system — designed by Ryan and liberal Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon — cuts costs too steeply and would provide the elderly with a steadily shrinking menu of options and higher out-of-pocket costs.
Naturally, the Democrats differed. "The House budget once again fails the test of balance, fairness, and shared responsibility," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a written statement charging that the GOP proposal would dole out tax cuts to rich while protecting tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers.. "What's worse is that all of these tax breaks would be paid for by undermining Medicare and the very things we need to grow our economy and the middle class — things like education, basic research, and new sources of energy," Pfeiffer said.
The resulting political battle is sure to spill beyond the Capital Beltway into the presidential race and contests for control of the House and Senate this fall. As if to underscore that reality, Ryan released a campaign-style video Monday evening telling viewers that "Americans have a choice to make" in a none-too-subtle appeal to voters.
The budget's lower deficit figures build on cuts to annual agency budgets imposed last year and rely on new savings comes from benefit programs outside Social Security and the costly Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and the poor. That means big cuts to food stamps, student loans, welfare, farm subsidies and other programs whose budgets now mostly run on autopilot. On taxes, the measure calls for eliminating a host of tax deductions and credits in order to produce a far simpler income tax code with just two rates for individuals: 10 percent and 25 percent. But Ryan doesn't say the income levels at which the new rates would apply, nor does he specify which popular tax breaks — like the child tax credit or the mortgage interest deduction — might be spared. Medicaid would be sharply cut and awarded to states as a flexible block grant.
On Monday, two powerful Senate committee chairmen sent top House GOP leaders a letter protesting a GOP plan to cut agency operating budgets funded annually by Congress below levels negotiated just last summer. Instead of going with a $1.047 trillion cap on agency budgets as called for under last summer's debt and budget pact, the House panel is looking at cutting domestic agencies by $19 billion more. They warned that breaking with the agreement only guarantees delays later this year and "represents a breach of faith that will make it more difficult to negotiate future agreements."
Also at issue, though, are across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect in January, punishment for the failure of last year's supercommittee to come up with a new package of $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade as part of last summer's deal to let the government keep borrowing.
Ryan's plan last year involved a voucher system for Medicare and was proven to be unacceptable to senior citizens. It was estimated their health costs would be up by 68%, which is an impossibl burder for mot to bear. The Republicans have been trying to destroy Medicare ever since it came into existence and this is just their latest effort. Hopefully it will be as unsuccessful as previous tries. I still feel that raising the retirement age and doing away with the salary ceiling on collecting social security taxes is a more equitable solution. Above all, you cannot expect to reign in the deficit by budget cuts alone. You must come up with new revenue, which means taxes. The Republicans refusal to even consider this tells yu where their priorities lie. Cut Fod Samps, Pell grants, and other program tageted for the poor and the middle class and leave those who can must afford to pay more alone. And let the 1% get richer and the 99% get poorer.

Thought for Today
"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes."
—-[/i[Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer & poet (1803-1882).

Today's flower: Verbena canadensis or homestead purple verbena - Its low-growing, spreading form makes this verbena variety the perfect ground cover from spring until frost.



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

SINGLE PARENTS DAY
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 81st day of 2012 with 284 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:42 p.m., it's fair , temp 75ºF [Feels like 75ºF], winds SE @ 8 mph, humidity 45%, pressure 30.20 in and falling, dew point 52ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1556--Thomas Cranmer, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned at the stake for heresy.
1678--the London Gazette offers a reward to anyone revealing the author of a pamphlet called "An Account of the Growth of Popery." It's author was finally revealed in 1877 as Andrew Marvell.
1685--Johann S. Bach, German omposer of the Baroque era, was born; died 1750 at age 65.
1778--British Loyalists and Hessians surprise the colonial militia at Hancock's Bridge in New Jersey.
1790--Thomas Jefferson took office as America's first secretary of state.
1804--the French civil code, or the "Code Napoleon" as it was later called, was adopted.
1806--Benito Juarez, Mexican national hero and president (1861-72), was born; died 1872 at age 66.
1871--journalist Henry M. Stanley began his famous expedition in Africa to locate the missing Scottish missionary Dr. David Livingstone.
1907--US Marines arrived in Honduras to protect American lives and interests in the wake of political violence.
1918--Germany launched the 2nd Battle of the Somme offensive, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive.
1932--a series of tornadoes hit the southeastern US.
1940--a new government was formed in France by Paul Reynaud, who became prime minister, succeeding Edouard Daladier.
1951--the Moondog Coronatino Ball in Cleveland, Ohio was the world's 1st rock concert.
1960--about 70 people were killed in Sharpeville, South Africa, when police fired on black protesters.
1962--the first Taco Bell restaurant was opened by Glen Bell in Downey, Calif.
1963--Alcatraz, the federal prison island in San Francisco Bay, was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
1965--more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
1967--North Vietnamese rejected a proposal for direct talks with the US.
1972--the Supreme Court, in Dunn v. Blumstein, ruled that states may not require at least a year's residency for voting eligibility.
1972--in Cambodia, more than 100 civilians are killed and 280 wounded as communist artillery and rockets strike Phnom Penh and outlying areas.
1980--Pres. Carter tells the US Olympic Team of the boycott of the Moscow Olympic games.
1985--police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of Sharpeville; the reported death toll varied between 29 and 43.
2000--a divided Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.
2002-- Marjorie Knoller, whose two huge dogs had mauled neighbor Diane Whipple to death in their San Francisco apartment building, was convicted in Los Angeles of 2nd-degree murder; her husband, Robert Noel, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
2007--former Vice Pres. Al Gore made an emotional return to Congress as he pleaded with House and Senate committees to fight global warming.
2011--Syrians chanting "No more fear!" held a defiant march after a deadly government crackdown failed to quash three days of mass protests in the southern city of Deraa.

World News Capsules:
1. Afghan officials deny French suspect escaped their prison.
....Officials in Kandahar Province say it was a different Mohammad Merah who was convicted of planting bombs.
2. French police raid Toulouse house for school shooting suspect.

....Elite police raided a house in Toulouse in pursuit of a man claiming ties to Al Qaida and suspected in the killings this week at a Jewish school. French lawyer says shooting suspect was petty criminal before radicalization.
a. Killings could stall election's nationalist turn.
....In the middle of a heated presidential race, shootings at a Jewish school have raised new questions about the tone of a debate about what it is to be French.
3. For India's dominant party, electoral setback stirs self-doubt.
....The Indian National Congress Party, which leads India's troubled coalition government, has been weakened by lackluster showings in recent state elections.
4. Tpulouse victims buried in Israel.

....The bodies of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, a religious instructor at the school; his two sons, Arye, 6, and Gabriel, 3; and Miriam Monsonego, 8, the daughter of the school’s principal, were flown overnight from France.
5. Myanmar invites western election monitors.
....The US said that it was “encouraged” that Myanmar had invited American and European representatives to monitor elections on April 1.
6. In the Netherlands, Dutch church is accused of castrating young men.
....A young man who had been taken in by the Catholic Church was surgically castrated decades ago after reporting sexual abuse, new evidence shows.
7. North Korea warns against criticism of nuclear progam.
....As global leaders prepared to meet on nuclear security in Seoul, North Korea warned that criticism of its nuclear weapons program would be considered a “declaration of war."
8. Kidnapped British woman freed in Somalia.

....Judith Tebbutt, a British tourist seized by Somali raiders from a secluded Indian Ocean resort in Kenya six months ago, was set free, British officials said.
9. For Syrians, no easy exit from conflict.
....Impervious to a sustained popular uprising and beyond the reach of outside intervention, Syria's war of attrition stands out among the countries swept up in the regional Arab revolts.
a. Fighting flares nears Damascus, Security Council endorses peace effort.
....As news reports spoke of government forces using tanks and helicopters in the fringes of the capital, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, called the escalating crisis in Syria “extremely dangerous.”.

US News Capsules:
1. Giant boulder breaks loose, crushing cars, home in Ohio.

....The boulder -- about 25 feet in diameter -- broke free from a hillside and gravity took over. The boulder knocked down phone, power and cable lines as it rolled, and only stopped after crushing the cars and tearing off part of an Athens, Ohio family's home.
2. Generic drugs prove resistant to damage suits.
....Lawsuits aimed at generic drugs are being thrown out across the country in the wake of a 2011 Supreme Court decision favorable to the drugs' makers.
3. A Florida law gets scrutiny after a teenager's killing.

....Seven years after Florida adopted the "Stand Your Ground" law, the shooting of Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed, has put that law at the center of an increasingly angry debate.
4.Justices back Mayo Clinic argument on patents.
....The US Supreme Court ruled that an abstract idea based on natural phenomena was not eligible to be patented.
a. Supreme Court revisits issue of harsh sentences for juveniles.
....A majority of justices appeared ready to take an additional step in limiting such punishments, but it was not clear whether it would be modest or large.
b. Justices limit suits filed over Family Leave Act violations.
....The Supreme Court split along ideological lines in ruling that state workers may not sue their employers for violations of part of the act, prompting the term’s first dissent read from the bench.
5. Broadway musicals hang on for payoffs beyond weekly gross.
....Some musicals keep on running to give future touring companies the benefit of "Broadway hit" status.
6. MOVIES: The better to entertain you with, my dear.

....The screen comedy Mirror Mirror reflects Hollywood’s preoccupation with fairy tales, as do the television series Grimm and Once Upon a Time.
a. Hunger Games brings out legions of fans, and inflatable mattresses[/u].
....Crowds formed a line nearly three blocks long in Manhattan, hoping for admission to an appearance by the stars of the movie based on Suzanne Collins’s best-selling books.
7. TV: Digs will harm patrimony, scholars say.
....The cable channel Spike defends its American Digger show from complaints by scholarly archaeologists.
8. US finance leaders see much reduced risk from Europe[/u[].

....Top economic policy makers said Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis continued to weigh on growth, but its threat to the American economy has significantly diminished.
9. Studies link daily doses of aspirin to reduced risk of cancer.
....The findings add to evidence suggesting that aspirin may be a powerful if overlooked weapon against cancer, but some physicians and health officials are concerned about side effects.
a. A cheap drug is found to save bleeding victims.
.....Hospitals in the US have been slow to adopt the blood-clotting drug tranexamic acid, even though a recent study found that it could save up to 4,000 American lives each year.
10. University professor and his students crack $70 million cybercrime ring.

....Hackers stole $70 million from the payroll accounts of some 400 American companies and organizations — all from the safety of their homes in Eastern Europe.
11. Driver gets life sentence in Mississippi hate-crime case.

....A white Mississippi man was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty in the murder of an African-American man, with the judge calling it a "despicable crime."
POLITICS:
1. Romney wins by wide margin in Illinois.
....Mitt Romney used the full force of his campaign and an argument that he had the best chance of defeating Pres. Obama to overcome doubts among the more conservative voters.
2. 'Super PACs' supply millions as GOP race drains field.
....With a series of expensive races ahead, the candidates are increasingly reliant on a small group funneling millions to the organizations.
3. 'Right to Work' bills face uncertain future in an election year.
....In some statehouses, Republicans are facing a tugging match between conservative members who promote bills that critics see as attacks on unions, and moderates who fear political repercussions.
4. Obama takes on Republicans over energy policy.
....The president will try to counter Republican resistance to alternative energy subsidies at the expense of oil and gas.
5. Santorum puts a stress on history, in hopes of making it..
....Rick Santorum has increasingly peppered his speeches with allusions to pivotal American moments.

Thought for Today
"Is it worse to be scared than to be bored, that is the question."
—-[/i]Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), ex-patriate American writer.

Today's flower: Hemerocallis or Strawberry candy dwarf daylily - Although the blooms last a single day, they keep coming for weeks every summer.



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

International Goof Off Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 82nd day of 2012 with 283 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 2:05 p.m., it's fair , temp 74ºF [Feels like 74ºF], winds variable @ 5 mph, humidity 46%, pressure 30.17 in and falling, dew point 52ºF, chance of precipitation 150.

Today in History:
1312--Pope Clement V issued a papal bull ordering the dissolution of the Order of the Knights Templar.
1599--Sir Anthony Van Dyke, Flemish painter, etcher & draftsman, was born; died 1641 at age 42.
1638--religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for defying Puritan orthodoxy.
1765--e British Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765 to raise money from the American colonies, which fiercely resisted the tax.
1820--US naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron near Washington, D.C.
1882--Congress outlawed polygamy .
1894,--ockey's first Stanley Cup championship game was played; home team Montreal defeated Ottawa, 3-1.
1908--Louis L'Amour, the best-selling American author who wrote more than 100 books, minly westerns, was born.; died 1988 at age 80.
1930--Stephen Sondheim, Broadway composer, turned 82 today.
1934--Orrin Hatch, US Senator (R-Utah), turned 78 today.
1933--during Prohibition, Pres. Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine and beer containing up to 3.2% alcohol legal.
1941--the Grand Coulee hydroelectric dam in Washington state went into operation.
1945--the Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
1946-the British mandate in Transjordan came to an end.
1962--the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale, featuring the debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand, opened at the Shubert Theater in New York.
1963--The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was released in Great Britain .
1972--Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. It fell short of the three-fourths approval needed.
1978--Karl Wallenda, the 73-year-old patriarch of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act, fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotel towers in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1990 --ajury in Anchorage, Alaska, found former tanker captain Joseph Hazelwood innocent of three major charges in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
1991--high school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of manipulating her student-lover into killing her husband, was convicted in Exeter, N.H., of murder-conspiracy.
1992--27 people were killed when a USAir jetliner crashed on takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport; 24 people survived.
1995--Colin Ferguson was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train in 1993.
1997--Tara Lipinski, at age 14 years and 10 months, became the youngest ladies' world figure skating champion in Lausanne, Switzerland.
2002--Pres. Bush at a UN poverty summit in Monterrey, Mexico, urged world leaders to demand political reform from poor countries in exchange for increased aid and warned that unchecked poverty can foster terrorism.
2006--the Basque separatist group ETA announced a permanent cease-fire with Spain.
2007--a rocket exploded 50 yards from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Baghdad's Green Zone just minutes after Iraq's prime minister said the visit showed the city was "on the road to stability."
2010--Google announced it would stop censoring search results on its site in China by shifting it from the mainland to Hong Kong
2011--Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, his support. crumbling among political allies and the army, warned that the country could slide into civil war as the opposition rejected his offer to step down by the end of the year.

World News Capsules:
1. 7-year manhunt ends in rural Australia.
....Malcolm John Naden, 38, had become somewhat of a legend in the rural region where he was caught.
2. Chinese lawyers chafe at new oath in Communist Party.
....In recent years, China has moved to curtail the ability of lawyers to practice, with what scholars of Chinese law say are severe rollbacks to the establishment of rule of law and legal reform.
a. Beijing switches sides in the race for Hong Kong's chief executive.
....China’s leaders have abandoned their support for a wealthy civil servant whose candidacy has been plagued by scandals and are now actively backing a populist to become the next chief executive.
b. Indicators fall in Cina and Europe.
....Signs of slowing manufacturing in China and flagging business sentiment in Europe compounded concerns about the global recovery.
3. Brotherhood reconsiders plan to sit out presidential race in Egypt.
....The Muslim Brotherhood had planned merely to endorse a candidate rather than putting forth one itself, but several have declined the group’s support.
4. Suspect in French killings slain as police raid home.

....Mohammed Merah, a Frenchman who claimed to have killed seven people, was shot dead as officers raided the home where he had been holed up for more than 30 hours.
5. 15-year inquiry finds corruption widespead in Irish politics.
....The 3,270-page report paints a damning picture of Ireland’s political culture, and has sent ripples of consternation through Irish society.
6. Libya resists International Court's claim on war crimes case.
....Libya's interim authorities escalated their face-off against the International Criminal Court over custody of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's son and spy chief.
7. Soldiers declare coup in Mali.

....France called for rapid elections in its former colony of Mali after mutinous troops were reported to have ousted Pres. Amadou Toumani Touré.
8. Toll of Mexican crime wave, written on faces on the wall.
....Enormous photographic portraits of crime victims cover concrete homes in Ecatepec, near Mexico City, in an effort to show the human cost of the country's crime wave.
9. Myanmar invites Americans and Europeans to monitor vote.
....The United States said Wednesday that it was “encouraged” that Myanmar had invited American and European representatives to monitor elections on April 1..
10. Rights body passes measure on Sri Lanka.
....A US initiative on Sri Lanka to account for the loss of civilian life at the end of its civil war three years ago has won support from the UN Human Rights Council.
11, Fighting returns to areas Syria had declared secure.
....Syrian forces carried out a bombardment in the city of Homs and deployed tanks and helicopters to rout rebels just outside the capital, activists said. Some experts believe Syria has moved into a new stage of prolonged fighting and instability.
a. UN Council backs plan for ending Syria conflict.
....Overcoming months of bitter division, the UN Security Council delivered a diplomatic setback to Pres. Assad of Syria.

US News Capsules:
1. Florida police chief steps down in fatal shooting.
....Under pressure to resign over the investigation into the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Chief Bill Lee Jr. of the Sanford Police Department announces that he will temporarily step aside.
2. Justices' ruling expands rights of accused in plea bargains.
....Because about 95% of criminal convictions arise from guilty pleas, two Supreme Court decisions represent a vast expansion of judicial supervision of the criminal justice system.
3. US intelligence report warns of global water tensions.
....A report released on Thursday indicated that problems with water could destabilize countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia over the next decade.
4. Calls grow for leader of Komen to step down.
....The resignation of the chief executive of the group's New York affiliate added to pressure on Nancy G. Brinker to step down following a controversy over funding for Planned Parenthood.
5. Fox show will start worldwide.
....In a move to attract multinational advertisers and combat online piracy, [uT]ouch,[/u], a new drama from News Corp., will start almost simultaneously in 100 countries and territories.
6. US notes Europe's progress in easing its debt crisis.
....Europe has made good progress in easing its debt crisis, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told a House committee.
7. TV: Oblivious to the battle raging outside.

....Mad Men returns to AMC for a fifth season, and times have changed — again.
8. To draw releuctant young buyers, GM turns to MTV.

....The goal is to solve one of the most vexing problems facing the car industry: many young consumers today do not care that much about cars.
9. US is inching toward elusive goal of energy independence.
....Declining consumption of oil and increased energy production have brought the US closer to a goal that has tantalized many American presidents.
10. Whitney Houston died by drownng, coroner says.
....Coroner’s officials have ruled heart disease and cocaine use were also factors in the singer’s death.
11. <aler [i;;s [estocode a,od fear pf tpxocotu.
....The controversial soil fumigant, known as methyl iodide and sold under the label Midas, will be withdrawn immediately
POLITICS:
1. Obama tours four states to defend energy policy.
....The president will try to counter Republican resistance to alternative energy subsidies at the expense of oil and gas,
2. The selling of a politician, and the ads almost broadcast.
....Every presidential campaign has commercials, like one for George W. Bush in which Ben Stein reprised his role from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” that never make it to air.
3. Santorum puts a stress on history, in hopes of making it.
....Rick Santorum has increasingly peppered his speeches with allusions to pivotal American moments.

Thought for Today
"Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it."
—-Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), Russian author.

Today's flower: [/i]Campanula poscharskyana or trailing bellflowers



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Happy Liberty Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 83rd day of 2012 with 282 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:28 p.m., it's fair , temp 56ºF [Feels like 56ºF], winds calm, humidity 70%, pressure 30.18 in and steady, dew point 53ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1066--18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
1324--Louis IV, emperor of Germany, was excommunicated by Pope John XXII.
1490--1st dated edition of Maimonides Mishna Torah published.
1534--Pope Clement declared the marriage between Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon was still valid. The marriage had been dissolved the year before in England, leading to the break with Catholicism and extablishment of the Anglican religion.
1708--English pretender to the throne as James III lands at Firth of Forth in Scotland.
1743--George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah had its premiere, in London. A precedent was set as King George II stood during the "Hallelujah Chorus".
1775--Patrick Henry delivered his "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech to the Virginia Provincial Convention,
1792--Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major (the "Surprise" symphony) had its first public performance in London.
1794--Lt. Gen. Tadeusz Kosciuszko returns to Poland from America.
1801--Paul I, Tsar of Russia, was assassinated and succeeded by Alexander I.
1806--Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, began their journey back east.
1808--Napoleon's brother Joseph took the throne of Spain .
1839--the initials "O.K." were first published in The Boston Morning Post. Meant as an abbreviation for "oll correct," a popular slang misspelling of "all correct" at the time, OK steadily made its way into the everyday speech of Americans.
1862--at the 1st Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, Confederate Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson suffered a rare defeat when his attacked Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley fails.
1913-- a devastating tornado ripped through Nebraska, near Omaha, one of five twisters that struck in Nebraska and Iowa, killing 115 people in total.
1918--an explosion in the Place de la Republique in Paris announced the first attack of a new German gun, "Big Bertha", a 210mm with a 118 foot-long barrel which could fire a shell some 25 miles.
1919, Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.
1929--Sir Roger Bannister, the English runner who broke the 4-minute mile in 1954, turned 83 today.
1933, the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers.
1944--German occupiers shoot more than 300 Italian civilians as a reprisal for an Italian partisan attack on an SS unit.
1950--Beat the Clock, starring radio’s first "Superman", Bud Collyer, debuted on CBS-TV.
1956--Pakistan became an Islamic republic, with Maj. Gen. Iskander Mirza as first provisional president.
1961--one of the 1st US casualties in Southeast Asia, an intelligence-gathering plane en route from Laos to Saigon was shot down over the Plain of Jars in central Laos.
1966--the Archbishop of Canterbury met the Pope in Rome, the first meeting between the heads of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches for 400 years.
1970--South Africa was banned from the Davis Cup tennis tournament because of its apartheid policies.
1973--Concentration, the longest-running game show in television, starring Hugh Downs, came to an end after 15 years on NBC.
1979--a federal judge sentenced Guillermo Novo and Alvin Ross Diaz for the murder of Orlando Letelier, Chilean ambassador and two friends who were car bombed on Embassy Row in Washington, DC.
1981--the US Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions.
1981--British great train robber Ronald Biggs was taken into custody in Barbados after his abduction from Brazil.
1983--Pres. Reagan first proposed developing technology to intercept incoming enemy missiles — an idea that came to be known as the Strategic Defense Initiative.
1994--Wayne Gretsky scores goal number 802, breaking his childhood idol Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League record for most goals scored in a career.
1994--Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexico's leading presidential candidate, was assassinated in Tijuana.
1996--Lee Teng-hui was sworn in as Taiwan's first democratically elected President.
1998--James Cameron's Titanic won a record 11 Academy Awards. (Later it was tied by Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2009.)
2001--Russia's orbiting Mir space station ended its 15-year odyssey with a fiery plunge into the South Pacific.
2002--girls in Afghanistan celebrated their return to school for the first time in years.
2003--a US Army maintenance convoy was ambushed in Iraq; 11 soldiers were killed and seven were captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch.
2007--the US House of Representatives voted to clamp a cutoff deadline on the Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by late 2008.
2007--Iranian forces captured 15 British sailors and marines who were searching a merchant ship in the disputed Shatt Al-Arab waterway Persian Gulf; they were held for 13 days.
2010--Pres. Obama signed a $938 billion health care overhaul, declaring "a new season in America."
2011--NATO ships began patrolling off Libya's coast as airstrikes, missiles and energized rebels forced Moammar Gadhafi's tanks to roll back from two key western cities.
2011--a blast blamed on Palestinian militants ripped through a bus stop in Jerusalem, killing Mary Jean Gardner, a 59-year-old British tourist and wounding two dozen other people, including five Americans.
2011--Army Spc. Jeremy Morlock pleaded guilty to the murders of three unarmed Afghan civilians.
2011--Oscar-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed film goddess whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame and glamour made her one of the last of the classic movie stars, died in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure at age 79.

World News Capsules:
1. Africna Union force to step up hunt for Kony.
....The African Union will send 5,000 soldiers to join the hunt for rebel leader Joseph Kony in a new mission to remove the Lord’s Resistance Army from Central Africa’s vast jungle
2. In Cuba, church's uneasy balancing act.
....Ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's visit, the Roman Catholic Church keeps struggling to attract more worshipers while facing criticism that it has grown too cozy with Cuba's Communist government.
a. Tibetan self-immolatins rise as China tightens grip.

....The authorities in Beijing, alarmed about the threat to stability in a region seething with discontent over religious and cultural controls, have responded with heavy-handed measures.
b. China moves to stop transplants of organs after executions.
....China said that it planned to end within three to five years the practice of transplanting organs from executed prisoners.
3. Once imperiled, US aid to Egypt is restored.
....The Obama administration said that national security interests favored the release of $1.3 billion in military assistance.
4. Suspect called French school attack 'improvised,' spy chief says.
....The director of a French intelligence service said that the confessed killer had “improvised” his attack on a Jewish school after failing to find a soldier to kill the same morning.
5. Russia eases law on political parties.
....Responding to the outcry over disputed parliamentary elections, Russian lawmakers unanimously approved legislation to make it easier to form and maintain new political parties.
6. In a divided city, many blacks see echoes of white superiority.
....A recent Twitter dispute over whether Cape Town, South Africa, is racist has given way to soul-searching in the city, which many blacks see as the last bastion of white rule.
7. North Korea and Iran will dominate nuclear summit meeting in Seoul.

....Pres. Obama will join the leaders of more than 50 countries in Seoul, South Korea, next week for a nuclear security summit.
8. Spain not out of the woods yet.
....Fiscal austerity and a real estate bust threaten to set off a vicious economic circle in Spain similar to the one that has pummeled Greece
9. Clans and villages now fleeing Syria, investigators say.
....A UN inquiry commission offered grim new details, including the uprooting of extended clans and villages forced to flee into neighboring countries.
10. In the Vatican, Pope takes aim at violence in Mexico and Maarxism in Cuba.
....Catholics from all over Latin America gathered in central Mexico, clogging roads, carrying rosary beads, and praying for a meaningful glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI.

US News Capsules:
1. US inches toward goal of energy independence.
....Declining oil consumption and new energy production have brought the US closer to a goal that has tantalized presidents since Richard Nixon.
2. US relaxes limits on use of data in terror analysis.
....Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. signed new guidelines on how analysts may access, store and search information gathered by government agencies about Americans.
3. Taking on police tactic, critics hit racial divide.
....Black and Latino lawmakers, fed up over the frequency with which New York City police officers are stopping and frisking minority men, are seeking laws to curb the practice.
4. US sergeant faces 17 counts of murder in Afghan killings.

....Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will be charged today in connection with the March 11 shooting deaths of Afghan civilians, a senior US official said.
5, "If I had a son," Obama says, he'd look like Treyvon Martin.

....Pres. Obama was asked about the case of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager killed by a neighborhood watch captain who has claimed self-defense.
a. Shooting focuses attention on a program that seeks to avoid guns.
....A neighborhood watch coordinator for the Sanford, Fla., police department said the death of Trayvon Martin was a singular bad example of an otherwise valuable community resource.
6. When the ground goes bump in the night.

....Residents of Dlintonville, Wis. have been awakened by mysterious noises that seem to come from underground. - the cause? A "swarm" of minor earthquakes amplified by the unique bedrock beneath the state of Wisconsin.
7. Stronger hand for judges in the 'bazaar' of plea deals.
....Legal scholars said the Supreme Court rulings on Wednesday will have significant impact on the criminal justice system, though it will be tough to predict their effects.
8. Three plead guilty to hate crimes in killing of black man in Mississippi.
....Three white men involved in the killing admitted they used to drive into Jackson, Miss., from a neighboring county determined to find blacks to assault.
9. US rejects environmental reviews on mortgages linked to drilling.
....The Department of Agriculture said environmental reviews are not required before home loans can be issued to owners of properties with drilling leases.
10. As young lose interest in cars, GM turns to MTV for help.
....The goal is to solve one of the most vexing problems facing the car industry: many young consumers today do not care that much about cars.
11. Drug dosage was approved despite warning.
....The Alzheimer's drug Aricept 23 was set to lose its patent, but its makers received approval for a higher dosage that extended their exclusivity.
a. . Hip device phaseout followed FDA data request.
....Shortly after getting a request from the Food and Drug Administration for safety data about an artificial hip, Johnson & Johnson executives decided to discontinue making the device.
b. FDA is ordered to restrict antibiotics' use in livestock.
....Environmental and health groups had sued to limit the broad use of penicillin and tetracycline to boost animal growth, a practice that may help dangerous infections proliferate.
12. Seeing packaging as more than a throwaway.
....While government requirements for recycling remain limited, pressure from environmentally minded consumers and the cost advantages of reusing materials are bringing change.
13. Cocaine, heart disease contributed to Houston's drowning, coroner says.

....Whitney Houston died from an accidental drowning in a hotel bathtub, but the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use" were contributing factors in her death, the Los Angeles County coroner said in an initial autopsy report.
14. ARTS: A glitzy execution in a religious revival.
....The Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar employs modern dress and an arena-rock atmosphere.
15. REALITY TV: Kim Kardashian gets flour-bombed on red carpet.

....According to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the reality-show star was doing interviews outside the London Hotel in West Hollywood when a woman walked up and doused her with what the police report referred to as "powder."
POLITICS:
1. Obama seizes chance to score as an everyman.
....Basketball provides an opportunity to exploit what the Obama campaign regards as the president’s advantage over Mitt Romney in the battle over which candidate can seem more “ordinary."
2. Panel extends ethics reviews of two House members.
....Representatives Vern Buchanan (R-Fla) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) have been accused of improprieties in their outside business interests.
3. House votes to kill a Medicare cost panel.
....The Republican-controlled House passed a bill to abolish a cost control board created by the new health care law.
4. Insider trading ban for lawmakers clears Congress.
....The Senate approved a bill prohibiting members of Congress from trading securities on the basis of confidential information they receive as lawmakers.
5. GOP candidates focus on Louisiana.
....A poll released Friday shows Rick Santorum with a comfortable lead over front-runner Mitt Romney in Saturday's Louisiana Republican primary,.
a. Rivals pounce on Santorum remark.
....Santorum said Thursday, "we might as well stay with what we have" in the White House when comparing Romney to President Barack Obama.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Mankind kept 2011 global temperatures near record

Human activity kept global temperatures close to a record high in 2011 despite the cooling influence of a powerful La Nina weather pattern, the World Meteorological Organization said today. On average, global temperatures in 2011 were lower than the record level hit the previous year but were still 0.40 degrees Centigrade above the 1961-1990 average and the 11th highest on record, the report said. WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud warned that the consequences of global warming could be permanent. "The world is warming because of human activities and this is resulting in far-reaching and potentially irreversible impact on our Earth, atmosphere and oceans," he said.
La Nina, a natural weather phenomenon linked to heavy rains and flooding in the Asia-Pacific and South America and drought in Africa, was one of the strongest in the past 60 years and stayed active in the tropical Pacific until May 2011. Further signs of man's contribution to climate change will put the biggest polluters in the spotlight after they agreed for the first time last December at UN climate talks in Durban to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Critics of the agreement have said that the plan was too timid to slow global warming.
The WMO, part of the UN, said that elevated temperatures had contributed to extreme weather conditions such as intense droughts and flooding and droughts in east Africa and North America. Global tropical cyclone activity was below average last year but the US had one of the most destructive tornado seasons on record, the report said. Another impact of high temperatures was shrinking Arctic sea ice and its extent was the 2nd-lowest minimum on record and the volume was the lowest.
The WMO also said that the decade between 2001-2010 was the warmest ever recorded across all of the world's continents ahead of the release of its 'Decadal Global Climate Summary'. 2010 tied for the warmest year since data started in 1880, capping a decade of record high temperatures that shows mankind's greenhouse gas emissions are heating the planet, two U.S. agencies said. I'm afraid that there will be more dangerous weather phenomena before the world finally really makes an effort to get things under control. I just hope they don't wait too long.

Thought for Today
"When people say, 'She's got everything,' I've got one answer — I haven't had tomorrow."
—-Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011), Oscar-winning actress.

Today's flower: Alcea or Crème de Cassis Hollyhock