THE PEGASUS DAILY NEWS

[pegasus]

Stand Up to Cancer Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 258th day of 2012 with 107 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:33 p.m., it's fair , temp 81ºF [Feels like 82ºF], winds SSW @ 9 mph, humidity 41%, pressure 30.08 in and falling, dew point 55ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1262--Cadiz was captured by Alfonso X of Castille, ending a 500-year occupation of the city by the Moors.
1741--after only 23 days, George Frederick Handel completed his "Messiah".
1752--Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar.
1779--Col. Daniel Brodhead concluded an assault vs. the Seneca Indians in the Allegheny Valley of Pennsylvania, while Maj. Gen. John Sullivan had attacked the Iroquois of Central New York.
1812--Napoleon's Grande Armée entered Moscow, only to find the population evacuated and the Russian army gone.
1847--Mexican War: Gen. Winfield Scott captured Mexico City.
1854--allied armies, including those of Britain and France, landed in the Crimea to oppose the Russians, who had sparked the Crimean War by invading Turkey.
1862--the North and South clashed at the Battle of South Mountain, Md., allowing Lee time to gather his forces further west along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg.
1868--the first recorded hole-in-one at golf was scored by Tom Morris at Prestwick in Scotland.
1879--Margaret Sanger, the outspoken early 20th-century advocate of birth control, was born; died 1966 at age 86
1901--Pres. William McKinley died after being shot by a deranged anarchist during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.
1901--Vice Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, age 42, was sworn in as the youngest president in U.S. history.
1927--Isadora Duncan, a proponent of modern dance, was killed when her scarf caught in the wheel the Bugatti in which she was riding.
1930--the National Socialist (Nazi) Party won a stunning election triumph in Germany, becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag.
1939--the first successful helicopter, Igor Sikorsky's VS-300, made its first flight.
1940--Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act, providing for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
1944--the U.S. 1st Marine Division landed on the island of Peleliu, as part of a larger operation to provide support for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was preparing to invade the Philippines., but at extraordinary cost of American lives.
1959--the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon, crashing onto the lunar surface.
1960--the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
1964--1962 Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck was awarded the US Medal of Freedom.
1966--Operation Attleboro was launched in War Zone C in Vietnam.
1968--pitcher Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers became a 30-game winner.
1974--"I Shot the Sheriff" (written by reggae legend Bob Marley) recorded by Eric Clapton hit No. 1 on the music charts.
1975--Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized by Pope Paul VI, becoming the first American-born Catholic saint.
1982--Hollywood star and real-life princess Grace Kelly died at age 52 from injuries suffered when her car plunged off a cliff.
1994--the remainder of the major league baseball season was cancelled on the 34th day of a strike by players.

World News Capsules:
1. Off-scrpt scramble for power in a Chinese leader's absence
....If and when China's presumptive new leader, Xi Jinping, re-emerges, he will do so in the midst of a contentious Communist Party preparing to shake up its leadership.
a. Chinese ships enter Japanese-controlled waters to protest sale of islands

....It was the first such move by China since Japan announced that it had bought a group of disputed uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
b. Trial set for Chinese official embroiled in scandal

....Wang Lijun, the charismatic police chief under the fallen politician Bo Xilai, will be tried in the southwestern city of Chengdu, according to a court official.
2. Egypt, hearing from Obama, moves to heal rift from protests
....A blunt phone call from Pres. Obama prompted Egyptian leaders to scramble to try to repair the country's alliance with Washington.
3. Energy policy divides governing coalition in France
....Compromises on nuclear power have placed the Green Party’s leadership at odds with its base, and some are wondering if the Greens’ alliance with the Socialist Party can survive.
a. Catherine 'upset' over topless photos

....UK royals consider legal action after a French magazine stoked controversy by publishing topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge, taken while she was on vacation with Prince William. at a private home,
4. UN agency rebukes Iran for failing to cooperate
....The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a measure that rebuked Iran for defying demands to curb its uranium enrichment and expressed concern about its nuclear advances
5. Obama rebuffs Netanyahu on setting limits on Iran's nuclear program
....Pres/ Obama rejected an appeal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to spell out a specific “red line” that Iran could not cross in its nuclear program.
6. Japan will try to halt nuclear power by the end of the 2039s
....Japan’s government said it intends to stop using nuclear power by the 2030s, marking a major shift from policy goals set before last year’s Fukushima disaster
7. Pope Benedict arrives in Lebanon amid turmoil

....Even before protests against an incendiary video erupted this week, upheaval in the region had complicated Pope Benedict XVI’s trip, although the Vatican downplayed security concerns.
8. In Libya, chaos was followed by organized ambush, official says
....The mayhem that killed and wounded more than a dozen American officials was actually two attacks - the first spontaneous and the second organized, a top Libyan security official said. Four people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead.
9. Anti-American protests over film expand to more than a dozen countries

....Protests expanded to more than a dozen countries on Friday, as demonstrators breached the American Embassy in Tunisia and protesters in Sudan broadened their targets to include Germany and Britain.
a. As violence spreads in Arab World, Google blocks access to inflammatory video
...In the category of closing the barn after the horse is stolen: Google blocked an anti-Muslim video on YouTube, which it owns, in Egypt and in Libya, but did not take it down altogether.
b. Protests continue for a 4th day
....The authorities in much of the Muslim world braced for demonstrations after Friday Prayer — an occasion often associated with public displays of dissent.
10. Though not yet open, a huge mine is transforming Mongoia's landscape

....Enormous reserves of gold and copper will bring prosperity, but at a human, cultural and environmental cost. While gold and copper mining have made Mongolia the world’s fastest-growing economy, they have also created some health and environmental problems in boom towns throughout the Gobi Desert.
11. Hundreds die in two Pakistan factory fires
....A fire at a shoe factory in Lahore killed at least 25. Hours later, a fire ravaged a textile factory complex in Karachi, killing almost 300 in Pakistan’s worst industrial accident, officials said.
a. Anger rolls across Pakistani city in Aftermath of factory fire
....Several survivors said that as the fire spread, plant managers forced them to stay in order to save the company's stock: piles of stonewashed jeans.
12. Russian Parliament expels a Putin opponent
....The legislator, Gennadi V. Gudkov, crossed a political line in the sand when he joined crowds calling for the ouster of the Russian president.
13. Super typhoon headed for South Korea

....A huge typhoon packing fierce winds is moving north toward the Japanese island of Okinawa and is projected to eventually hit the Korean Peninsula, where dozens of people were killed by a big storm last month..
14. UN envoy says he'll 'spare no effort' to halt Syria bloodshed

....The newly minted UN-Arab League envoy to Syria vowed during his first visit to Damascus to "spare no effort" to help end that country's civil war.

US News Capsules:
1. Fed ties new aid to jobs recovery in forceful move
....The Federal Reserve opened a new chapter in its efforts to stimulate the American economy, saying that it intends to buy large quantities of mortgage bonds until the job market improves substantially.
2. Born to be wild, aging bikers settle for comfy

....When motorcyclists have trouble meeting the physical demands of a bike, many decide that it might be time to add a third wheel.
3. Fresh hopes for end to Chicago teacher strike by weekend


....Leaders on both sides of the contract fight said they had an outline in place for an agreement that could clear the way for schools to reopen Monday.
4. Despite virus, visitors trek to Yosemite, if a bit warily
....Though anxious, thousands of people went to the park over the weekend, just days after the authorities announced that a third person had died from hantavirus.
5. Uneasy allies in the grocery aisle
....A ballot measure to require labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients is putting organic brands like Kashi, owned by Kellogg, at odds with their owners.
6. Taking pointers from web sites, USA Today modernizes its look

....The Gannett-owned newspaper will look more like a Web site and its new Web site will read more like an iPad.
7. No explosives found after mob threats at colleges

....The University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D., had ordered campus evacuations on Friday morning.
8. Panetta set to discuss US shaft in Asia trip
....Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will outline how the Pentagon is refocusing on the Pacific, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over or winding down.
9. US declares a disaster for fishery in northeast

....The Commerce Department issued a formal disaster declaration that could pave the way for financial relief for the battered industry and the communities that depend on it.
POLITICS:
1. Fossil fuel ads dominate TV in campaign
....Major fossil fuel companies are financing an effort to defeat Pres. Obama, while his former allies in promoting wind and solar power are disenchanted and sitting out the campaign.
2. In states with GM plants, bailout's success is no guarantee of votes

....Even Wentzville, Mo., where a new General Motors plant is under construction, is expected to favor Mitt Romney, who opposed saving the automaker.
3. Amid Mideast turmoil, aides say what a President Romney would do
....Tying Egypt’s debt forgiveness to the country’s efforts to protect American interests there and shaping a post-Qaddafi Libya were among the specific positions Mitt Romney’s advisers said he would take,
4. Kansas election officials seek copy of Obama's birth certificate
....The officials, including the conservative secretary of state, said they were required to act after a resident filed a challenge - UN-BEEE-LIEV--ABUL!!!!
5. House Republicans welcome back Ryan, and his vote, on a sspending measure

....Rep. Paul D. Ryan detoured from the campaign trail to vote on a measure that will avoid a government default and an election-season battle.

Sports Headlines:
1. Hughes pitches well, Jeter has a big hit and the Yankees keep pace
....Phil Hughes was masterly for seven and a third innings as the Yankees beat Boston 2-0 to remain in a first-place tie with Baltimore.
a. History shows feling on power is not a weakness

....Home runs have been a hallmark of plenty of current contenders and past champions.
2. NFL: Jets' Revis ruled out of Steelers game after concussion


....Darrelle Revis did not receive the N.F.L.-mandated authorization to resume contact after sustaining a concussion in the season opener.
a. Yards don't equal wins
....Cam Newton puts up big numbers, but the Carolina Panthers are still struggling. Will that change against New Orleans?.
3. Olympic Sports: A source of thrills

....Amid concerns of further industrialization of the Nile, the best freestyle kayakers make sure to visit Uganda to try out their skills on the Nile Special, a whipping, meters-tall rapid that surges year round.
4. NCAABK: Passion for victory that knew no bounds

....For 26 years, through bouts with cancer, and other afflictions and distractions, Jim Calhoun badgered and bullied his Connecticut program to dizzying heights.
5. NHL: Talks still frozen as words heat up
....As the N.H.L. labor dispute remained deadlocked, the Board of Governors voted unanimously to support a lockout if no agreement had been reached by midnight Saturday.
6. TENNIS: Spain sweeps US in singles for 2-0 Davis Cup lead

....David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro won their clay-court matches against Sam Querrey and John Isner to give Spain a commanding 2-0 lead over the United States in the Davis Cup semifinal.

Thought for Today
"The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."
--Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher

[pegasus]

National Hispanic Heritage Month
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 259th day of 2012 with 106 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:55 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 65ºF [Feels like 65ºF], winds N @ 3 mph, humidity 58%, pressure 30.16 in and steady, dew point 50ºF, chance of precipitation 10%

Today in History:
1776--British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.
1779--French Commander Charles Count d'Estaing captured two British frigates and two British supply ships in the Savannah River.
1789--James Fenimore Cooper, novelist (The Last of the Mohicans) for whom Cooperstown is named, was born; died 1851 at age 61.
1794--Virginian & founding father James Madison married Dolley Payne Todd.
1821--Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador became independent from Spain.
1858--the 1st transcontinental mail service to San Francisco began.
1862--Confederate Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson captured Harpers Ferry (present-day West Virginia), and some 12,000 Union soldiers.
1890--Dame Agatha Christie, English detective novelist and playwright (The Mousetrap), was born; died 1976 at age 85.
1914--the first trenches on the Western Front were dug.
1916--the first used of tanks in war was in the Battle of the Somme in World War I.
1917--Russia was proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.
1935--German Jews were stripped of their citizenship, reducing them to mere "subjects" of the state. under the Nuremberg race laws that also made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.
1940--the Battle of Britain reached its climax when the Royal Air Force (RAF) downed 56 invading German aircraft in two dogfights lasting less than an hour. The costly raid convinced the German high command that the Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over Britain.
1950--Korean War: UN forces landed at Inchon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul
1954--the famous Marilyn Monroe "skirt" scene in The 7-Year Itch was filmed.
1958--a commuter train plunged off a bridge into Newark Bay in New Jersey killing 47 passengers as the result of mistakes made by the train's crew.
1959--USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev arrived for a summit with Pres. Eisenhouwer in Wasington, D.C.
1962--The Four Seasons earn their first #1 hit with "Sherry"
1963--a bomb explodes during Sunday morning services in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala,, killing four young black schoolgirls.
1972--South Vietnamese forces retake Quang Tri City.
1978--Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his career, the first fighter ever to do so.
1982--the first edition of the USA Today newspaper was published.
2000--the first Olympic Games of the 21st century opened in Sydney, Australia.
2001--Pres. Bush identified Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and told Americans to prepare for a long, difficult war against terrorism.
2004--National Hockey League owners agreed to lock out the players. (The 2004-05 season was eventually canceled.)
2005--Pres. Bush acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina and urged Congress to approve a massive reconstruction program.
2008--Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection – the largest in US history.

World News Capsules:
1. Two NATO soldiers killed by man thought to be Afghan police officer
....A man thought to be an Afghan policeman killed two NATO soldiers in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Profince before he was himself shot dead. That followed an attack on NATO's Camp Bastion in Helmand Province., where 2 US Marines were killed at the base, where Britain's Prince Harry is stationed. with the Taliban claiming responsibility.
a. Young lives, lost to suicide attacks
....Indiscriminate suicide bombings are robbing Afghanistan’s children of their dreams.
b. Afghans act to fill top security posts
....Afghan lawmakers approved all three of the president’s nominees for the government’s top security jobs on Saturday, avoiding a prolonged power vacuum.
2. Anti-Japan protests erupt in China over islands dispute

....Thousands besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing hurling rocks, eggs and bottles; demonstrations broke out in other cities.
a. A Chinese leader returns amid tumult
....Xi Jinping reappeared on Saturday as diplomatic tensions boiled over with hundreds of demonstrators throwing rocks and eggs at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing
3. Streets are cleared in Cairo; unresst toward film subsides
....Egyptian security forces, under intense pressure from the United States, arrested scores of protesters on Saturday as anti-American protests seemed to subside across the region
4. The Champs-Élysées, a Mall of America
....The grand boulevard, overrun with clothing outlets and burger joints, has largely lost its distinctive character and has become less French.
5. Indian coal scandal stirs doubt on leaders and ability to fix woes
....A brazen brand of crony capitalism has created huge fortunes for a few, at the expense of the nation as a whole, which is falling short in energy infrastructure.
6 Berlusconi magazine to publish duchess photos
....The images of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless first appeared in the French magazine Closer, which is also owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Mondadori group
7. Pope cites multi-faith Lebanon as a model for turbulent Mideast

....Pope Benedict urged multi-faith Lebanon on Saturday to be a model of peace and religious coexistence for the Middle East, which he called a turbulent region that "seems to endure interminable birth pangs".
8. Diplomats' bodies return to US, and Libyan guards recpimt dead;u ropt
....Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens reportedly took shelter in a hot, smoke-filled room and lost consciousness there during the attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
9. US is preparing for a long siege of Arab unrest

....The White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and President Obama’s ability to shape the forces of change in the Arab world.
10. Solidarity in Myanmar
.....A prominent activist is canceling a trip to the United States to receive a democracy award, to show solidarity with colleagues whose passports have apparently been denied.
11. Undaunted by arrests, the opposition marches against Putin
....Russia’s opposition hoped to show that its ranks were unfazed by a battery of restrictions or the two-year prison sentences handed down to members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot.
12. Clashes after South African cops raid miners' hostels to seize weapons.

....About 500 South African police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse miners from Lonmin's Karee platinum mine rallying in Marikana after raids on their hostels to seize arms.
13. Large anti-austerity protests in Spain, Portugal
....Thousands of people took to the streets to protest punishing austerity measures imposed by the financial crisis
14. Sudan rejects US plan to send Marines to protect embassy
...."Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum," minister tells media a day after US announced a platoon of Marines would be deployed amid anti-Western violence.
15. New international envoy, meeting with Syrian president, says crisis is worsening
....Lakhdar Brahimi, the special envoy representing the United Nations and the Arab League, said President Bashar al-Assad was “more aware than me of the scope and the seriousness of the crisis.”

US News Capsules:
1. Turbines are helping in Europe: how many would power East Coast?

Placing 144,000 wind turbines off the East Coast could meet the entire demand for electricity from Florida to Maine, according to engineering experts at Stanford University.
2. Obama says US has 'profound respect' for people of all faiths as protests spread
....Pres. Obama insists there is no excuse for attacks on US embassies, as hundreds demonstrate in Australia.
3. Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker taken for questioning by federal probation officers

....A man, Nakoula Besseley Nakoula, purported to be a filmmaker involved with the anti-Islam video sparking violent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa was escorted by deputies from his Cerritos, Calif., home shortly after midnight Saturday morning,
4. Chicago forges outline to end teacher strike

....After a weeklong strike, Chicago teachers and the school board said that they had the outlines of a contract deal. Schools in the nation's third largest district are expected to reopen on Monday,
a. 1000s gather in support of Chicago teachers
....It was the largest show of union force since the strike began, even as schools were expected to reopen Monday.
5. California tries to guide the way on health law
....Officials in California have begun to set up an online marketplace where millions of residents will be able to shop for medical coverage.
6. Money-laundering inquiry is said to aim at US banks
....Regulators, led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are said to be close to taking action against JPMorgan Chase for insufficient safeguards.
7. Forgoing college to pursue dreams.

....Thiel Fellowships pay young people to forgo college and to plunge into real-world projects.
8. With the crowds gone, it's down to some serious fising

....The annual Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby knits a Martha’s Vineyard town of 15,000 back together after its residents live among a summer population swelling to 105,000/
0/ Man, 18, is accused of making a jihadist attempt to bomb a bar in downtown Chicago
....The man, an American citizen, expressed interest online in carrying out a deadly attack, law enforcement officials said.
9. A push for clemency as an execution nears
....Thousands of people argue that Terrance Williams, scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Oct. 3, should be spared in Pennsylvania because he had been sexually abused by his victim.
POLITICS:
1. Do tax cuts lead to economic growth/
....Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have laid out a plan to cut taxes. They have not yet explained why and how it is also an economic-growth plan.
2. Some Republicans try out a new campaign theme: bipartisanship
....Getting the blame for gridlock has prompted a different approach for some candidates as Election Day draws near.
3. In dueling ads, candidates seek to poiticize issues of China amd manufacturing
....Who’s to blame for sending our jobs to China? Ads with elements of truth are nonetheless essentially misleading.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
Spheres spark new Martian mystery

Eight years ago, NASA's Opportunity rover came across strange-looking spheres that were nicknamed Martian blueberries — and now the Mars rover has sent back a picture showing a different flavor of berry that has the experts scratching their heads. "This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," Cornell astronomer Steve Squyres, the rover mission's principal investigator, said today.
The golf-cart-sized Opportunity rover used the microscopic imager on the end of its robotic arm to take a super-close look at the spherical shapes. These particular berries, measuring as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter, cover an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of Endeavour Crater's western rim. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects," Squyres said. "Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars."
Iron-rich Martian blueberries first came to light soon after Opportunity headed out from its landing site on Mars' Meridiani Planum in early 2004. The fact that they have layers of a mineral called hematite suggests that the spherules were formed by the action of mineral-laden water percolating through rocks. That's how similar spherules formed on Earth, where they're known as thunderballs, shaman stones or Moqui marbles.
Last week's discovery adds a new twist to the berry investigation. Many of the spheres on the Kirkwood outcrop have been broken open and eroded by the wind, NASA said. The eroded berries show signs of a concentric structure. To investigate further, Opportunity aimed its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer at the berries and analyzed their elemental composition. The preliminary analysis indicates that the recently found spheres do not have the high iron content seen in the original Martian blueberries. "They are different in concentration. They are different in structure. They are different in composition. They are different in distribution. So, we have a wonderful geological puzzle in front of us. We have multiple working hypotheses, and we have no favorite hypothesis at this time. It's going to take a while to work this out, so the thing to do now is keep an open mind and let the rocks do the talking," Squyres said.
It's been 8 1/2 years since Opportunity dropped onto the Martian surface, cushioned by a layer of bouncy airbags. It and its twin on the other side of the planet, ]/i]Spirit, were expected to last at least three months. Both of those rovers became overachievers. Spirit finally gave up the ghost just a couple of years ago, but Oppy is still going strong at 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer-wide) Endeavour Crater. After weathering another Martian winter, it's rarring to go. This week, the team received the prestigious Haley Space Flight Award for pioneering "new techniques in extraterrestrial robotic system operations."
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, NASA's Curiosity rover is on the move after completing the checkouts on its robotic arm. It arrived on Mars a little more than a month ago and is about twice the size of Oppy — and thanks to its nuclear power source, it could theoretically last for decades. The rover is heading for its first major destination: a geologically interesting spot called Glenelg, roughly a quarter-mile (400 meters) away from its landing site in Gale Crater. NASA reported today that Curiosity "perambulated over 105 feet (32 meters) of unpaved Gale Crater" over the past Martian day, or sol. It has put 466 feet (142 meters) on its odometer, and is roughly a quarter of the way to Glenelg. The rover's main objective is to study Martian soil and rock for the chemical signatures of potential habitability. After spending a few weeks at Glenelg, the rover is due to begin a 12-mile (20-kilometer) odyssey to reach the flanks of a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain in the middle of Gale Crater, known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. The layers of rock on that mountainside could preserve the biggest geological record ever studied on Mars, going back billions of years — and provide new pointers in the search for traces of life on Mars.
As I said yesterday "Fascinating."

Thought for Today
"Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood."
--William Howard Taft (1857-1930) 27th US president (1909-13).

[pegasus]

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 260th day of 2012 with 105 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4;18 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 69ºF [Feels like 69ºF], winds W @ 5 mph, humidity 47%, pressure 30.10 in and falling, dew point 48ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1620--the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, headed for the New World.
1630--the Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.
1638--France's King Louis XIV, "the Sun King" (1643-1715), was born; died 1715 at age 76
1776--Battle of Harlem Heights restores American confidence as they forced a small British retreat from their positions.
1810--the successful Mexican war for independence from Napoleonic Spain began.
1845--Phineas Wilcox was stabbed to death by fellow Mormons in Nauvoo, Ill., because they believed he was a Christian spy.
1857--the song "Jingle Bells" by James Pierpont was copyrighted under its original title, "One Horse Open Sleigh."
1875--J. C. Penney, American business leader and founder of the chain of stores bearing his name, was born; died 1971 at age 95.
1893--hundreds of thousands of settlers took part in a land run in Oklahoma's "Cherokee Strip."
1908--William Durant formed General Motors in Fling, Mich.
1919--the American Legion was incorporated by an act of Congress.
1924--Lauren "Betty" Bacall, film and stage actress, was born and turns 88.
1925--B.B. King, Hall of Fame blues musician, was born and turns 87.
1932--in his cell at Yerovda Jail near Bombay, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi began a hunger strike in protest of the British decision to separate India's electoral system by caste.
1940--Pres. Franklin Roosevelt approved the first peacetime military draft in US history.
1940--Rep. Samuel T. Rayburn )D-Tex.), the longest-serving House speaker in history, was first elected Speaker.
1960--Christian A. Herter, the US Ambassador in Saigon warns that situation is worsening with the Viet Cong taking over more of the countryside.
1966--the Metropolitan Opera opened its new home at New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
1969--Pres. Nixon announced the withdrawal of a further 35,000 troops from Vietnam.
1974--Pres. Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.
1978--a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Iran killing 25,000.
1981--"Sugar" Ray Leonard knocked out Thomas Hearns in the 13th round to unify boxing’s middleweight title.
1982--Phalangist militiamen begin a massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon.
1993--Frasier, a spin-off of the long-running mega-hit sitcom Cheers, made its debut on NBC.
2002--UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that Iraq had unconditionally accepted the return of UN weapons inspectors.
2004--Hurricane Ivan plowed into the Gulf Coast with 130 mph wind and a major storm surge; blamed for at least 115 deaths, 43 in the US.
2007--a deadly shooting in Baghdad involving the US security firm Blackwater USA left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
2008--the federal government announced an emergency $85 billion loan to rescue AIG, the world's largest insurance company.

World News Capsules:
1. Two insider attacks kill six coalition members in Afghanistan
....Afghan security forces killed six service members from the American-led military coalition in a pair of attacks in southern Afghanistan this weekend, raising the number of troops killed in such attacks to 51 this year.
2. Anti-Japanese protests continue in China over Pacific islands
....Demonstrations reported in several cities as the government offered mixed signals on whether it would continue to tolerate the sometimes violent outbursts.
3. European bank overhaul meets opposition from finance ministers
....A plan by the European Union to overhaul bank supervision and help troubled lenders hit a roadblock at a meeting of finance ministers.
4. Scandal poses a riddle: Will India ever be able to tackle corruption?
....A brazen brand of crony capitalism has created huge fortunes for a few, at the expense of the nation as a whole, which is falling short in energy infrastructure.
5. Japan won't stop work on reactors, official says
....Yukio Edano, the minister for economy, trade and industry, cast further doubt on whether the resource-poor nation will follow through on a contentious plan to phase out nuclear power
6. Typhoon Sanba hits Manila in the Philippines and Okinawa with heavy rains

....Typhoon Sanba was lashing the Philippines with monsoon rains that flooded parts of Manila before moving on to Okinawa, before heading for South Korea on Monday.
7. South Africa raids houses for weapons of miners
....Police officers swarmed the living quarters of workers at a platinum mine, searching for illegal weapons as part of a new government push to end a series of violent strikes.
8. Opposition makes pick in South Korea
....A former human rights lawyer and close ally of the late Pres. Roh Moo-hyun was chosen as the main opposition Democratic United Party’s candidate for December’s election.

US News Capsules:
1. US is preparing for a long siege of Arab unrest

....The White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and Pres/ Obama's ability to shape the forces of change in the Arab world.
2. In prosecutors, debt collectors find a partner
....In exchange for a fee, district attorneys' offices have been allowing debt collectors to use their letterhead when going after people behind on their bills.
3. A firsts: Organs tailor-made with body's own cells
....Tissue engineers have succeeded in making artificial organs that use a patient’s cells to become a living part of the body, with hope for eventual organ regeneration.
4. Decision looms for Chicago teachers

....Chicago teachers will decide Sunday whether to end a strike that has paralyzed the nation's third-largest public school system and left hundreds of thousands of students out of class for a week.
POLITICS:
1. Challenged on Medicare, GOP loses ground
....Pres. Obama and his campaign are arguing that the Romney-Ryan approach to Medicare would leave older Americans vulnerable to rising health care costs.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Drought of 2012 conjures up Dust Bowl memories, raises questions for tomorrow

Some 3.5 million people fled their homes in Oklahoma, Texas, and elsewhere, the bone-dry landscape, blistering heat and choking dust storms unfit for growing and raising the crops and cattle they relied on to survive, Thousands more, many of them children and seniors, could not escape, killed by an infection dubbed "dust pneumonia" and other illnesses tied not just to the extreme weather and poor living conditions but to massive, fast-moving dust clouds. There were suicides, there were bankruptcies, there were people scrapping for whatever they could find to live. And these were not overnight horror stories: They were repeated day after day and year after year, at a time when much of the United States and world was already debilitated by the Great Depression.
"If you can imagine what's happening now and multiply it by a factor of four or five, that's what it was like," said Bill Ganzel, a Nebraska-based media producer who interviewed survivors of the 1930s' environmental and economic disaster and penned a book, Dust Bowl Descent. "And it lasted for the entire decade." Nothing in U.S. history can compare to that calamity of eight decades ago, including the historic drought now gripping much of the country.
That doesn't mean, though, there isn't considerable suffering and devastation now in most of the United States. Or that dire conditions could well persist for several years, as they did during the 1930s -- compounding negative impacts of drought, thus ruining even more livelihoods and lives despite technological and agricultural advancements of recent years. "Mother Nature holds all the cards," said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. "You roll the dice ... every year. Nothing will make you quote-unquote drought-proof."
Over 63% of the contiguous United States in early September was suffering moderate to exceptional drought, nearly twice the land affected a year ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Using July data, the National Climatic Data Center reported that America is in the midst of its most expansive drought since December 1956. The combination of dry conditions and extreme heat -- including hundreds of record-breaking temperatures this summer -- has been unbearable for many. The drought's impact has been seen in ways big and small, from leaves falling early and lawns turning brown to farmers giving up and lakes drying up, exposing hundreds of dead fish.
While consumers may be worried about rising food prices tied to the drought, many farmers have seen their incomes all but evaporate because crops won't grow -- finding even irrigated farmlands cannot pump in enough moisture, given the rate it evaporates back into the atmosphere in high heat. It hasn't been easier for those who raising cattle and other animals, at a time of scorched pastures and scanty, costly hay and other feed. Ranchers have been forced to prematurely sell off their cattle, saying they had no other choice because it cost more to feed them than to keep them.
Oklahoma ranchers "liquidated" -- meaning slaughtered or sold off, without replacing them with newborns or new purchases -- 14% of their livestock last year, said Derrell Peel, an Oklahoma State University faculty member who works with ranchers and affiliated companies in that state. The only reason rates haven't been similarly high after this summer is because ranchers don't have as many animals to sell, he said.
What farmers and ranchers have working in their favor, compared to the 1930s, are new tools, techniques and other developments that help them better manage droughts, storms and other harsh weather realities -- from more effective soil preservation measures to hybrid seeds to the inception of center pivot irrigation. Things like cell phones and computers make it easier for farmers, ranchers and others to understand what's coming, then adjust.
If the precipitation picks up, "row farmers" cultivating crops like corn, soy beans and sorghum using modern farming practices should be able to recover next year. "If they have a normal rain pattern, it's basically a zero recovery period," said Rippey. "You are going from a (devastated) 2012 crop to normal."
But those raising livestock may feel the effects of this drought for longer, even if there's more rain. Some strained pastureland and hay fields may revive with above average, more sustained rainfalls than ordinary. But other lands may be a lost cause, with replanting the only way to save them. The next one to two months are "critical," as some rain soon may help save these lands so ranchers do not have to start from scratch. Still, even if their pastures improve or hay prices drop, those who sold off many of their livestock in recent years likely cannot afford to buy the same number back, and return to normal, anytime soon.
If drought conditions do persist, they can have a steamroller effect. "The suns' rays are more efficient (when) you have parched soils," said Rippey, the USDA meteorologist, adding that it becomes harder for new moisture to make an immediate impact. These droughts, when they tend to go multiple years, it really starts to feed on itself,
We haven't got there quite yet, but we could be if more precipitation doesn't fall over the Great Plains and beyond. As they try to predict the drought's future, meteorologists say they will look first to whether this fall and winter are wetter and cooler than last year, hoping that it will saturate soils and rivers and spur a wetter trend that continues into next spring and summer.

As is, some states out west had two straight La Nina winters that has a domino effect on global weather -- leading to more rainfall than normal in some locales and drought in others. But the odds of La Nina (continuing) are very small right now. Still, no one predicted practically a full decade of minimal rain, maximum heat during the Dust Bowl era either. The fact is, for all the forecasts and farming innovations, keeping one's fingers crossed for change in the weather may be as useful as anything else. "Right now, it's just a question of Mother Nature giving us a break," said Derrell Peel, from Oklahoma State.

Thought for Today
"The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking".
--Robert H. Schuller (b. 1926) American reformed church minister, entrepreneur and author

[pegasus]

US Constitution Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 261st day of 2012 with 14 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:25 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 74ºF [Feels like 72ºF], winds S @ 15 mph, humidity 40%, pressure 30.04 in and falling, dew point 48ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1778--Indians and Loyalists under Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant and Cpat. William Cadwell burn German Flats (now Herkimer), New York.
1787--the US Constitution was signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pa.
1796--Pres. George Washington prepared the final draft of his presidential farewell address.
1862--Confederate and Union troops clashed near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest one-day battle in American history with 23,100 were killed, wounded or captured.
1884--an Oakland, Calif/ judge disposed 13 cases in one day, setting a record for trying criminal cases.
1916--Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, downed his first plane in World War I.
1920--the American Professional Football Association - a precursor of the National Football League - was formed in Canton, Ohio.
1923--a fire threatened Univ.Calif. @ Berkeley, killing 2 people and causing $10 million in damages.
1934--Maureen Connolly, the first woman to win the tennis Grand Slam, was born; died 1969 at age 34.
1939--in league with Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia invaded Poland.
1947--James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first US secretary of defense.
1972--the TV comedy series M.A.S.H. premiered on CBS.
1976--NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, Calif.
1978--at the US White House, Egyptian Pres. Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords, brokered by Pres. Carter,
1980--former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in Paraguay.
1983--Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America.
1986--the US Senate confirmed the nomination of William H. Rehnquist as the 16th chief justice of the United States.
1996--Oprah launched her influential book club.
2001--Wall Street trading resumed for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks - its longest shutdown since the Depression; the Dow lost 684.81 points, its worst one-day point drop to date.
2003--New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso resigned amid a furor over his $139.5 million pay package.
2004--Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the school siege in Beslan and other terrorist attacks in Russia that claimed more than 430 lives.
2004--San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit his 700th career home run, joining Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) as the only players to reach the 700 milestone
2011--a demonstration calling itself Occupy Wall Street began in New York.

World News Capsules:
1. Police contain Afghan rage over film, as protests spread elsewhere

....Hundreds of Afghans burned tires and pelted police in Afghanistan’s first significant spasm of violence over an anti-Islam film that has inflamed parts of the Muslim world.
a. Audacious raid on NATO base shows Taliban's reach
....The assault late Friday on one of the best-defended posts in Afghanistan was troubling because the attackers were able to penetrate the base, killing two and causing more than $200 million in damage.
2. Where Daniel the Cuckold and Zig-Zag Clown vie for office
....Do strange nicknames confer an electoral advantage? Some candidates for office in Brazil, including Ladi Gaga, Christ of Jerusalem and several Batmans, seem to think so.
3. Beijing mixes messages over anti-Japan protests

....Demonstrations were reported in several cities as the government offered mixed signals on whether it would continue to tolerate the sometimes violent outbursts.
a. Trial begins of police chief in Bo Xtlai scandal
....The police chief, Wang Lijun, attempted to seek refuge in a US Consulate in February, igniting China’s biggest political scandal in a generation,
b. US files trade case against China over cars
....The Obama administration accused China of unfairly subsidizing its exports of autos and auto parts, while China filed its own trade case against the US.
4. [Cultural clash fuels Muslims raging at film/u]

....In Egypt, some say that the protests at the American Embassy in Cairo and in about 20 countries over an anti-Islamic video was about more than religious sensitivity.
5. EU plan to put more women on boards runs into opposition
....Legislation to impose sanctions on companies that do not allocate 40% of the seats on their boards to women may be blocked before it is officially proposed.
6. Israeli leader makes case against Iran on US television
....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on TV to make his case about Iran even more urgently to a broader American audience.
7. Italian magazine publishes disputed images of Duchess

....Chi, an Italian gossip magazine, run by the daughter of the former Italian premier, became the latest outlet to publish images of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, sunbathing topless in France.
8. US and Japan agree to deploy advanced missile defense systerm
....The two nations will deploy a 2nd missile-defense radar on Japanese territory, an effort designed to counter the North Korean threat but likely to anger China.
a. Japanese companies close facilities in China as tensions rise
....The dispute between Japan and China, over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, has led to violent attacks on factories, shops and even cars of well-known Japanese brands.
9. In Lebanon, Pope laments strife in Syria, where the war rages on
....On the final day of his trip to Lebanon, Pope Benedict XVI said a prayer for the victims of the conflict in Syria and appealed to the region and the world to find a solution.
10. As leader prepares for UN visit, Myanmar frees prisoners
....The government said it had released 514 prisoners, many of whom were reported to have been political prisoners.
11. Mideast unrest intensifies on US intervention in Syria

....The attacks on American and European diplomatic posts in recent weeks have roused calls for disengagement from the Arab world.
a. UN reports sharp jump in attacks on Syrian citizens
....UN investigators said they have “a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence” against those responsible for an increase in government attacks on civilians..
12. Report on 2010 Thai riots warns that conflicts persist
....The Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand warned Monday that conflicts in Thai society were still simmering and that the country risked another “escalation to violence.”

US News Capsules:
1. Shell delays Arctic oil drilling until next year

....A testing mishap further delayed the company’s six-year, $4.5 billion effort to drill off the coast of Alaska, although it will not stop preliminary work on several wells in the region this year,
2. Earnings in US are beginning to feel a pinch
....The estimated drop in corporate profits removes what had been an economic bright spot in an otherwise cloudy picture.
3. Teachers union in Chicago to extend strike into 2nd week

....Union leaders said they needed more time to consider a contract deal reached over the weekend, infuriating Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who told city lawyers to seek an injunction to end the strike.
a. Chicago school system asks court to end strike

....School officials argued that the walkout, now in its second week, was illegal and represented a danger to public safety.
4. As grocery dies off, down-and-out town lives on, if barely
....After years of watching his Central Valley town grow more and more desperate, a grocery store owner in California decided it was time to close down.
5. Human muscle, regrown on animal scaffolding
....Researchers are using extracellular matrix, a natural scaffolding that underlies all tissues and organs, from animals to engineer the growth of replacement tissue like limb muscle lost in injuries.
6. 'Joseph Anton'

....In Joseph Anton, Salman Rushdie recounts his years in hiding.
7. Report faults military strategies on drug and alcohol abuse

....Despite a well-documented increase in the abuse of alcohol and prescription medications among military personnel over the past decade, the Defense Department's strategies for screening, treating and preventing remains behind the times, a major new report finds.
8. Forest fire research questions the wisdom of prescribed burns
....The US Forest Service uses small fires to reduce the chances of big fires. Scientists are arguing whether this strategy helps or hurts the forests and the creatures that live in them.
9. Scandal at Florida A&M leaves a football season without its soundtrack
....With the school’s band, the Marching 100, on suspension because of a hazing scandal that resulted in a death, the first home football game was notable for what was missing.
10. Online mentors to guide women into the sciences
....By connecting female college students with accomplished women working in science and technology fields, a new program hopes to increase the number going into these fields.
11. The reality of Islamophobia

....US Christians must own up to the reality of evangelical Islamophobia, which often uses downright lies to rail against what it trumpets as the so-called evils of Islam.
12. Judge to hear new testimony on Fatal Vision case[/u]

....One of the most sensational and infamous murder cases in modern U.S. history is returning to a courtroom this week on whether Jeffrey MacDonald, the former Green Beret doctor convicted of killing his family, should get a new trial.
POLITICS:
1. Looking, very closely, for voter fraud
....Busloads of illegal voters, cited by voter fraud groups like True the Vote, have yet to be seen. But that has not deterred such organizations, which widely support conservative causes.
2. Amid discord, Romney seeks to sharpen message

....With an outbreak of finger-pointing signaling trouble in his campaign, Mitt Romney plans to say more clearly what he wants for the country, his aides said.
3. For both campaigns, a need to control the message
....The events in the Middle East have forced both campaigns to improvise and abandon the economic playbook they had imagined using.
4. Outside groups foot bill for nearly half of campaign ads
....Outside groups, including well-heeled Super PACs, have accounted for almost half of all ad spending during this presidential general election.
5. 150 arrested on Occupy's one-year anniversary

....Looking to reignite their movement on its one-year anniversary, several hundred Occupy Wall Street activists protested in lower Manhattan Monday, staging a sit-in near the iconic New York Stock Exchange and swarming through the streets in costumes and toting American flags and signs.

Thought for Today
"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government."
--[/i]James Madison (1751-1836), 4th US President and father of US Constitution,


[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 262nd day of 2012 with 103 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:41 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 69ºF [Feels like 71ºF], winds S @ 6 mph, humidity 78%, pressure 29.51 in and steady, dew point 62ºF, chance of precipitation 50%.

Today in History:
1180--Philip Augustus was crowned Philip II, King of France.
1634--Anne Hutchinson, an Englishwoman who would become an outspoken religious thinker in the American colonies, arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony with her family.
1709--Samuel Johnson, English critic, biographer, lexicographer, essayist and poet, was born; died 1784 at age 75.
1759--French & Indian War: the French surrendered Quebec to the British .
1793--George Washington laid the cornerstone to the US Capitol building,
1810--Chile declared its independence from Spain.
1812--Napoleonic Wars: Moscow was burned under Count Rastopchin's orders after the Battle of Borodino, destroying an est. 3/4 of Moscow before it ended.
1819--Jean-Bernard Foucault, French physicist and inventor of the "Foucault pendulum," was born; died 1868 at age 48.
1837--Charles Tiffany and Teddy Young founded "Tiffany and Young" (later to become Tiffany & Co.) as a stationery and fancy goods emporium.
1846--the struggling Donner Party sent ahead to California for food.
1850--the US Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slaveowners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to other states.
1851--the first edition of The New York Times was published by Henry Raymond and George Jones.
1862--Gen. George McClellan let Gen. Lee's Confederate troops retreat from the Antietam battlefield.
1873--the Panic of 1873 was a severe nationwide economic depression in the US that lasted until 1877.
1879--Blackpool Illuminations (an annual lights festival held each autumn that runs for 66 days) is first switched on.
1905--Greta Garbo, the Swedish-born American film icon, was bornl died 1990 at age 84.
1911--Pyotr Stolypin, Prime Minister of Russia. was assassinated at the Kiev Opera House in front of Tsar Nicholas II.
1927--the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) was founded by William S. Pauley with a network of 16 radio stations.
1928--a hurricane that lashed Florida and the West Indies for five days left an estimated 4,000 people dead and $30 million in damage.
1945--Gen. Douglas MacArthur moves his command headquarters to Tokyo for hiis new role as architect of a democratic and capitalist postwar Japan.
1947--the National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect.
1959--Serial killer Harvey Glatman was executed in a California gas chamber for murdering three young women in Los Angeles.
1960--Fidel Castro arrived in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.
1961--UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia.
1970--rock musician Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose at age 27.
1974--Hurricane Fifi (a deadly hurricane that caused over 8,000 deaths in Honduras through flash flooding) washed away 14 bridges.
1975--newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1977--Voyager I, NASA space probe, takes the first picture of the earth and moon together.
1987--an accidental poisoning occurred in Brazil and cesium-137 was removed from an abandoned cancer-therapy machine.
1990--Winnie Mandela, wife of South African black leader Nelson Mandela, was charged with assault and kidnapping in the 1988 abduction and slaying of a 14-year-old boy by her chief bodyguard.
1996--the shuttle Atlantis docked with the Mir space station to pick up astronaut Shannon Lucid, who had set a US record for time spent in space.
2003--Hurricane Isabel slammed into the North Carolina coast, eventually causing a reported 40 deaths and inflicting property damage estimated at $5 billion.
2004--the UN Security Council called for Sudan to put an end to the killings in the Darfur region.
2008--the US House of Representatives joined the Senate in approving a civil rights bill that broadens the definition of disability to include epilepsy, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses.
2009--Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in defiance of Iran's Islamic leadership, clashing with police and confronting state-run anti-Israel rallies

World News Capsules:
1. ?Coalition sharply reduces joint operations with Afghan troops

....A spike in attacks on international troops by Afghan soldiers and police pushed the American-led military coalition to curb ground operations with their Afghan counterparts.
a. Bomber strikes vehicle carrryinng foreigners in Kabul
....A police official said 14 people, including French, South African and Russian citizens, most of whom worked as flight crew members under contract with the United States government and were killed in the attack on a main road near the city's airport.
b. Afghan suicide bomber strikes minibus carrying foreigners
....A suicide bomber killed 14 people including 10 foreigners.
2. Protests resume in China over Japan and islands

....China drove home its opposition to Japanese control of a contested group of islands Tuesday, with angry protests in dozens of cities and a warning from its defense minister that “further actions” were possible.
3. 9 foreign ministers call for greater EU integration
....Nine E.U. foreign ministers, led by Germany's Guido Westerwelle, have called for a big increase in economic, political, diplomatic and even military integration within the European Union
4. French court trebukes magazine for photos of royal couple

....The court ordered the publisher of the magazine Closerto hand over all digital copies of images of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, sunbathing topless in France.
5. Keystrokes in Google bare shocking rumors in Germany
....Bettina Wulff, a former first lady of Germany, has sued the search engine over rumors that she was once an escort,
6, Maverick minister in India is as perplexing as she is powerful

....Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, is praised and maligned in equal measure. But Indians agree that she has the ability to bring down India’s governing coalition. She has angrily announced that she was withdrawing her support for the coalition.
7. Iranian official says blasts targeted nuclear sites
....Iran's top atomic energy official said that explosions were intended to cut power to two uranium enrichment facilities and claimed saboteurs had infiltrated an international inspection agency.
8. Leader of Madrid regional government resigns
....Esperanza Aguirre, the head of Madrid's regional government and one of Spain's most influential and outspoken politicians, resigned on Monday.
9. Civilian attacks rise in Syria, UN says.
....UN investigators said they have “a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence” against those responsible for an increase in government attacks on civilians.
10. Turks sour on leaders' support for Syrian uprising

....Although many Turks at first agreed with their government’s support for the Syrian opposition, many now believe it is undermining Turkey’s economy and security.

US News Capsules:
1. In car country, Obama trumpets China trade case.
....Pres. Obama filed a broad new trade case against China at the World Trade Organization. He announced the action in the industrial battleground of Ohio.
2. Limits placed on immigrants in health care law
....The White House says that those young illegal immigrants who will be eligible for delayed deportation will not be covered under the new health care law.
3. Israeli diplomat is man in middle
....Ambassador Michael B. Oren, who happens to have been born and bred in New Jersey, is representing a prime minister who has infuriated the White House.
4. A faded piece of papyrus refers to Jesus' wife

....A Harvard historian of early Christianity said the papyrus, written in Coptic in the fourth century, contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’
5. Striking Chicago teachers meet to consider deal
....Union delegates were expected to vote on whether to accept a tentative contract that was negotiated over the weekend.
6. US Appeals judge grants stay of ruling on detention law
....A ruling blocking enforcement of a law authorizing the infinite detention of terrorism suspects is on hold for now, after an “emergency” stay requested by the Obama administration.
POLITICS:
1. Romney says remarks on voters help clarify position
....Facing criticism for characterizing 47% of voters as people who believe they are “victims,” Mitt Romney sought to steer the conversation toward a debate about government’s role in people’s lives,

Thought for Today
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
--George Orwell (1903-1950) British author

[pegasus]

Aaaargh, shiver me timbers but it's the International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 263rd day of 2012 with 102 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 2?56 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 60ºF [Feels like 60ºF], winds W @ 7 mph, humidity 71%, pressure 30.13 in and rising, dew point 36ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1187--Saladin began the siege of Jerusalem.
1356--Battle of Poitiers: an English army led by The Black Prince, son of Edward III, defeated King John II of France at the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years War.
1519--Ferdinand Magellan set sail with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
1633--Galileo Galilei was tried before the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth orbits the Sun.
1676--Bacon's Rebellion, an uprising in the Virginia Colony led by Nathaniel Bacon, occurred.
1692--Giles Corey was pressed to death for being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1777--Generals Nrmrfovy Arnold and Horatio Gates argued about tactics at the 1st battle of Saratoga (NY), also known as the Battle of Freeman's Farm.
1799--a combined Russian and British army under the Duke of York was defeated and forced to withdraw by the French under Vandamme at the battle of Bergen-op-Zoom.
1827--after a duel turns into an all-out brawl, Jim Bowie disemboweled a banker in Alexandria, La., with an early version of his famous Bowie knife.
1862--Union troops under Gen/ Rosecrans defeated a Confederate force under Gen. Sterling Price at Iuka in northern Mississippi.
1870--in the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussians began a siege of Paris.
1876--Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Mich/ patented the carpet sweeper.
1881--80 days after a failed office seeker shot him, Pres. James A. Garfield died of complications from his wounds.
1893--with the signing of the Electoral Bill by Gov. Lord Glasgow, New Zealand became the 1st country to grant voting rights to women.
1918--the British began an offensive in Palestine during World War I.
1930--actor Adam West (Batman) turns 82
1934--Bruno Hauptmann was arrested in New York and charged with the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby.
1941--the German Luftwaffe bombarded Leningrad.
1952--as result of the US "red scare", comedic actor Charlie Chaplin was denied entry into the US returning from the UK.
1955--Argentine Pres. Juan Peron was deposed in a military coup.
1957--the US conducted its first underground nuclear test, in the Nevada desert.
1959--On his visit to the UN, Nikita Khrushchev was barred from Disneyland.
1962--the TV western The Virginian premiered,
1964--Flipper, a story about a dolphin, had its premiere on TV..
1970--one of TV's all-time favorite sitcoms, The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuted on CBS-TV.
1983--the TVg ame show Wheel of Fortune premiered in primetime.
1985--the first (magnitude 8.1) of two devastating earthquakes struck Mexico City leaving 10,000 people dead, 30,000 injured and thousands more homeless.
1988--in Seoul, Greg Louganis won Olympic gold in springboard diving just one day after sustaining a head injury.
1991--In Switzerland, Otzi the iceman (well-preserved mummy from circa 3300 BC) was discovered in the Schnalstal glacer by two German tourists.
1994--the popular medical drama series ER made its debut on TV.
1994--US troops entered Haiti to enforce the return of exiled Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1995--The New York Times and The Washington Post published a 35,000-word manifesto written by the Unabomber.
2001--the Pentagon ordered combat aircraft to the Persian Gulf in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2002--Pres. Bush asked Congress for authority to use military force if necessary to disarm and overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein if he did not abandon weapons of mass destruction.
2004--Hu Jintao became the undisputed leader of China with the departure of former Pres. Jiang Zemin from his top military post.
2008--struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration asked Congress for $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions.
2008--AMC's Mad Men became the first basic-cable show to win a top series Emmy award.
2010--The BP oil well that had spilled hundred of millions of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was sealed with a permanent cement plug.
2012--Ganesh Chaturthi (10 day Hindu Festival) begins - the period when the Lord Ganesha is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees
.
World News Capsules:
1. Coalition sharply reduces joint operations with Afghan troops
....A spike in attacks on international troops by Afghan soldiers and police pushed the American-led military coalition to curb ground operations with their Afghan counterparts.
2. Testimony implicates Chinese official in cover-up of Briton's death
....In an official account Wang Lijun, a former police chief, essentially accused the disgraced politician Bo Xilai of trying to cover up the murder of a British businessman by his wife.
a. In China, Panetta says US focus on Asia isnot threat

(Panetta presented with a plate from the Chinese defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie)
....Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta declared that the US was not trying to contain a rising China.
3. Circumcision debate in Europe reflects deeper tensions
....The dispute over ritual circumcision in Germany reflects the secularization of European life that, in the eyes of some religious leaders, has mutated into a form of intolerance.
4. Free speech or incitement? French magazine runs cartoons that mock Muhammad

....France planned to close its embassies in 20 countries on Friday after illustrations in a satirical magazine set off new outrage by Muslims.
a. New Islamic galleries at the Louvre
....Ten years in the making, the project was financed in part by the French government, along with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia.
5. A resignation and protests follow the release of prison abuse videos in Georgia

....The country’s senior official in charge of prisons stepped down after a TV station broadcast graphic footage of inmates being beaten and sodomized by guards.
6. Greenland's unfrozen future
....Greenland's receding ice has exposed vast deposits of valuable oil, gas and minerals and new opportunities for an island in economic decline is causing jockeying among nations.
7. More partners threaten to pull support from India's governing coalition
....Turmoil surrounding India’s government intensified with a former ally calling for the prime minister to seek a fresh electoral mandate.
8. Outsider breathing new ideas into Jakarta elections
....Joko Widodo, the mayor of Surakarta, Indonesia, has a message of change that has propelled him into the upstart contender for leader of Jakarta, one of Asia’s most important metropolises.
9. Japan backs off goal to phase out nuclear power by 2040
....Japan’s reversal on a plan to eliminate its use of nuclear power came after intense opposition from business groups and communities that host the country’s nuclear plants.
10. Blast near Pkistani air base kills 10
....A car bomb apparently aimed at a military vehicle killed 10 people and wounded 27 at a busy intersection in Peshawar, as rowdy anti-American protests continued across the country.
11. Russia demands US end support of democracy groups

....The Kremlin views American financial support for a wide range of civil society programs as thinly veiled meddling in the country's internal affairs.
a. Russia boots out USAID
....Russia has thrown out the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. State Department said, claiming that the aid agency has undermined Russia's sovereignty.
12. New voice in South Korean politics enters presidential race
....Ahn Cheol-soo, a 50-year-old graduate school dean whose appeal to disaffected voters has made him a political star, officially declared his candidacy for president of South Korea.
13. As uncertainty about bailout lingers, Spain sells $6 billion in short-term debt
....An auction of short-term debt sold out at slightly lower rates, but uncertainty persisted over whether Spain would ask for aid from its European partners.
14. Rebels are said to defeat Syrian forces in battle at border

....Syria’s civil war again spilled into border areas as rebels reportedly drove government troops from a northern frontier crossing.
a. Kerry says Iraq aid could be tied to halting flights to Syria
....Sen. John Kerry said that aid to Iraq might be made contingent on cutting off flights shuttling military supplies from Iran to the repressive regime in Syria.

US News Capsules:
1. Teachers end Chicago strike on 2nd try and children return to class

....Union delegates endorsed a proposed contract, allowing 350,000 children to return to classes on Wednesday.
a. Next schoool crisis for Chicgo - pension fund is running dry
....The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund is paying out more than $1 billion a year — much more than it has been taking in — and experts say the fund could collapse within a few years.
2. Prosecutors deny priest was urged to lie in abuse case
....A motion filed in Philadelphia said that a former clergyman was pressured to falsely admit to abusing a boy as part of the terms of a plea deal.
3. Dallas copes with unpredictability of West Nile virus
....As the West Nile virus outbreak seems to be subsiding, the hardest-hit county in the nation, Dallas County, tries to come to terms with the seeming randomness of the fatalities.
4. Seeking revenue, Post Office plans to deliver more junk mail

....Its first-class mail volume dropping, the Postal Service hopes to substitute marketing material, even as consumers seek ways to block the catalogs and credit card applications.
5. 'Fast and Furious' misguided but not criminal, probe finds

....The Justice Department’s inspector general faulted a group of federal prosecutors and drug agents in the botched gun-trafficking inquiry called Operation Fast and Furious.
6. Education site expands slate of universities and courses
....Coursera, just five months old, has drawn a number of notable institutions into its free online learning system, including Brown, Columbia and Wesleyan.
7. Spinach recall! Spinach recall! Spinach reall!

....The Kroger chain of grocery stores announced Tuesday that it has issued a voluntary recall of bagged spinach on fears of listeria contamination.
8. Housing recovery blossoms

....The U.S. housing industry -- crucial to any jobs recovery -- showed more signs of strength, according to two reports issued Wednesday.
POLITICS:
1. Romney says remarks on voters help clarify position
....Facing criticism for characterizing 47% of voters as people who believe they are "victims," Mitt Romney sought to steer the conversation toward a debate about government's role in people's lives.
a. Romney's remarks: Bad mistake or brutal truth?

....Were Romney's remarks a gaffe big enough to dent his campaign or a brutal truth others don't want to hear? People share how they're voting after hearing his words
b. Wisconsin offers window on hurdles ahead for Romney
....Mitt Romney’s campaign has pointed to a Republican resurgence in Wisconsin, but Mr. Romney trails by six points among likely voters, a new poll found.
2. Republicans push bill to help foreign science graduates stay

....The largely partisan measure would allocate up to 55,000 visas of the current annual pool to graduates with advanced degrees in science and technology.

Thought for Today
"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant."
--[/i]James Madison(1751-1836), 4th US President, founding father & father of the Constitution.


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[pegasus]

National Punch Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 264th day of 2012 with 101 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:41 p.m., it's fair , temp 66ºF [Feels like 66ºF], winds SSW @ 14 mph, humidity 45%, pressure 30.06 in and falling, dew point 44ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

Today in History:
1258--the Salisbury Cathedral, England, one of the most important examples of gothic architecture, was consecrated.
1519--Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Seville, Spain, with a fleet of five ships in an attempt to circumnavigate the world.
1585--Spanish forces under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés captured the French Huguenot settlement of Fort Caroline, near present-day Jacksonville, Fla. in the 1st European battle on American soil.
1746--with the help of Flora McDonald, the young pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart) fled to France from Scotland following his unsuccessful attempt to capture the British throne.
1777--British soldiers killed sleeping Americans in the Paoli Massacre in Pennylvania.
1797 US frigate Constitution ("Old Ironsides")was launched in Boston , Mass.
1803--Robert Emmet, the Irish patriot, was hanged for his part in trying to seize Dublin Castle.
1806--the returning Lewis and Clark expedition reached the first white settlement on the Missouri.
1854--the British and French defeat the Russians at Alma, in the Crimea.
1860--the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) became the first British royal to visit the US.
1863--Confederates score a victory at the Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, Tenn,.
1870--Italian troops under Victor Emmanuel IItook control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.
1873--panic swept the NY Stock Exchange in the wake of railroad bond defaults and bank failures.
1881--Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the US, succeeding the assassinated James A. Garfield.
1943--British submarines attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz as it sits in Norwegian waters, as Operation Source gets underway.
1963--Pres. Kennedy proposes joint mission with Soviet Russia to the moon.
1973--in a $100,000 winner-take-all "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs i6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
1977--the first wave of Southeast Asian "boat people" arrived in San Francisco under a US resettlement program.
1984--Marvin Gaye's father accepts a plea bargain in the shooting death of his son.
1984--a suicide car bomber attacked the US Embassy annex in north Beirut, Lebanon, killing a dozen people.
1993--leaders of the three factions fighting in Bosnia broke off negotiations aboard a British aircraft carrier in the Adriatic Sea.
1998--after playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games over 16 seasons, Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles sat out a game against the NY Yankees.
2000--the six-year Whitewater investigation of U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton ended without any indictments being issued.
2002--Israeli forces demolished all but one building of the office compound of Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat after a suicide bomber killed seven people aboard a Tel Aviv bus.
2002--Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide occurs (following a partial collapse of the Kolka Glacier in Russia) results in an avalanche and mudflow that buried a village and killed 125 people/
2001--Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was named to head the new Department of Homeland Security.
2005--Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal died at age 96.
2006--a poll indicated that U.S. voters had an overwhelmingly negative opinion of the Republican-led U.S. Congress.
2008--the Bush White House fannounced a vast bailout plan for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in so-called toxic mortgage-related assets in order to restore confidence among investors and banks reluctant to make loans.
2008--more than 50 people were killed and 100s injured when a truck bomb exploded outside the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
2011--repeal of the 18-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy took effect, allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly.




World News Capsules:

US News Capsules:

Sports Headlines:

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"

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[pegasus]

International Day of Peace
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 265th day of 2012 with 100 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:12 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 70ºF [Feels like 670ºF], winds S @ 8 mph, humidity 68%, pressure 29.92 in and falling, dew point 59ºF, chance of precipitation 70%.

Today in History:
1327--King Edward II of England was murdered in Berkeley Castle and was succeeded by his son Edward III.
1599--William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, was performed for the first time by the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
1745--the Battle of Prestonpans, Scotland: the Jacobite army of just over 3,000 under Bonnie Prince Charlie defeated the English Royal forces led by Sir John Cope.
1746--after a short siege the French under Admiral La Bourdonnais took Madras, India, from the English.
1779--Spaniarads with the aide of American troops and militia volunteers captured Baton Rouge.
1780--Gen. Benedict Arnold met with British Maj. John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army.
1784--the US' first daily paper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, was published.
1792--in revolutionary France, the Legislative Assembly voted to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic.
1827--according to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Joseph translated intoThe Book of Mormon.
1863--Union forces retreat to Chattanooga after defeat at Chickamauga.
1893--the first successful American-made, gasoline-operated motorcar by Charles and Frank Duryea appeared on the streets of Springfield, Mass.
1897--The New York Sun ran an editorial answering a question from an 8-year-old girl that included the line, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
1898--Empress Dowager Cixi resumed the role of regent for China and in a coup d'etat took control of the country.
1904--the great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph, 64, died on the Colville reservation in northern Washington.
1917--Austria-Hungary and Germany made separate replies to the proposal issued by Pope Benedict XV for an immediate armistice between the Allied and Central Powers.
1931--Larry Hagman, actor (I Dream of Jeannie, Dallas), was born and turns 81.
1937--The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was published.
1938--the Great New England/Long Island Express hurricane, a powerful Category 3 hurricane, slammmed into Long Island and southern New England, causing 600 deaths.
1938--the Czech government agreed to Anglo-French plans to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.
1939--Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt urged repeal of Neutrality Act embargo provisions.
1942--the B-29 Superfortress, the largest bomber used in the war by any nation, made its debut flight in Seattle, Wash.
1943--Jerry Bruckheimer, TV producer (CSI productions), was born and turns 69.
1948--Milton Berle debuted as permanent host of The Texaco Star Theater on NBC.
1949--Mao Zedong outlined the new Chinese Communisst government.
1957--the TV courtroom drama series, Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS.
1964--Malta gained independence from Britain.
1967--troops from Thailand arrived to fight in Vietnam.
1968--Jeannie C. Riley, 23, was the first woman to top the Country and Pop charts simultaneously with "Harper Valley P.T.A."
1970--NFL Monday Night Football debuted on ABC with Howard Cosell, ‘Dandy’ Don Meredith and Keith Jackson.
1973--Henry Kissinger was the first naturalized citizen to be confirmed by the US Senate as Secretary of State.
1981--Sandra Day O'Connor was approved as the first female US Supreme Court justice.
1982--the National Football League players began a 57-day strike.
1983--Interior Secretary James G. Watt described a special advisory panel as consisting of "a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple." Watt later apologized and resigned.
1983--the mutilated body of 13-year-old paperboy Danny Joe Eberle was found in Bellevue, Neb.
1985--Western intelligence estimates said the Iran-Iraq war in five years had cost nearly 1 million lives.
1989--Gen. Colin Powell became the first black Joint Chiefs of Staff' chairman.
1989--Hurricane Hugo, a category 5 hurricane, killed 82 people and left 56,000 homeless.
1991--Armenia became the 12th Soviet republic to declare independence.
1991--a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan caused over 2,000 deaths, 11,000 wounded and destroyed 44,000 houses.
1996--the board of Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.
1998--Pres. Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal was publicly broadcast.
1998--Olympic gold medal track star Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, died in her sleep after suffering an epilectic seizure.
1999--at least 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Taiwan.
2001--the US Congress approved $15 billion to help an airline industry reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2001--a telecast by top movie stars and musicians raised more than $500 million for survivors of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2003--the spacecraft Galileo approached the fringes of Jupiter's atmosphere and then was directed to destroy itself in a high-speed plunge.
2005--Texas coastal residents were ordered to evacuate, creating a mass exodus from the Houston and Galveston area as Hurricane Rita became the third-most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, with windes near 165 mph..
2008--Mad Men became the first basic-cable show to win a top series Emmy award.
2008--a pre-dawn gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in China's Henan province, killing a reported 37 miners and injuring seven more.

World News Capsules:
1. Restrictions on religion are tightening, study finds
....Government restrictions on religion around the world were highest in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in the period before the Arab Spring uprisings, a Pew study found..
2. Troop surge in Afghanistan ends with little fanfare
....The milestone, which still leaves 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan, went nearly unremarked in the country, with no statement from Pres. Karzai or the US military commander, Gen. John R. Allen.
3. Sleepy islands and a smoldering dispute

....A clash over contested territory has set off worries about the effect on business ties between China and Japan.
4. At the Holocaust Center, Hollande confronts grim chapter for France
....Pres. François Hollande urged the nation to turn to the “transmission,” or passing on, of a difficult history.
5. British regulator declares BSkyB "fit and proper"
....The announcement about Britain's biggest satellite pay-TV group, British Sky Broadcasting, offered a victory for its largest shareholder, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
6. Indian Prime Minister makes appeal to support his plans
....The prime minister made a rare televised address to defend steps he has taken to revive the economy that have prompted anger and protests.
7. Iranian dissidents convince US to drop Terror label
....The Mujahedeen Khalq, an opposition group that mounted an extraordinary campaign to get off the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, has succeeded, officials said.
a. Iran's top atomic official says nation issued false nuclear data to fool spies
....Fereydoon Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, did not reveal the nature of the information or say when it was presented or to whom.
8. Israeli soldier killed as attackers breach border with Egypt
....Another soldier was seriously injured, and the Israeli military said it killed the three attackers, whom a spokesman called “well equipped.”.
9. For scandal-weary Italians, another scandal
....Italians who thought they had seen everything when it came to politics were taken aback when photographs were published of regional officials having a “return of Ulysses” party.
10. Japan's beleaguered premier wins party leadership role
....Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda fended off a challenge to his leadership of Japan’s governing party, but his victory may be short-lived.
11. After Libya attack, a fleeting sense of survival

....The assault on American diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, which the White House is now calling a terrorist attack, began as a moblike attack but became a sophisticated ambush.
12. After long absence, a US defense secretary visits New Zealand
....Leon E. Panetta became the first Pentagon chief to visit the country in three decades, an absence prompted by a breakdown in ties after New Zealand prohibited American nuclear warships from its territorial waters.
13. UN presses Pakistan over the fate of 100s of missing people
....A delegation met with Pakistani government officials and relatives of hundreds of people who have disappeared into the illegal custody of the country’s powerful intelligence and law enforcement agencies over the last decade.
a. 19 reported dead as Pakistanis protest Muhammad video

....Violent crowds furious over an anti-Islamic video made in the US convulsed Pakistan’s largest cities, leaving more than 160 people injured in a day of government-sanctioned protests.
14. Year after effort at UN, new aim for Palestinians
....Palestinians are returning to the General Assembly next week seeking largely symbolic “nonmember state” status, lamenting a “lost year” of no peace talks, expanding Israeli settlements and deteriorating economic conditions.
15. Putin's Russia hits the 'clear' button on the Medvedev era

....With Vladimir V. Putin president again, the Kremlin is reversing Dmitri A. Medvedev’s policies on everything from civil liberties and elections to daylight saving time.
16. South Korea fires warning shots at fishing boats from North
....The North’s boats fled warning shots in contested waters in the Yellow Sea without casualties, the South Korean military said.
a. Viral video gets propaganda treatment
....A South Korean phenomenon behind a dance video called “Gangnam Style” got an even clearer sign of success when North Korea parodied the video.
17. Spain's leader fails to reach deal with Catalonia
....The impasse exacerbates the challenge of a separatist push by Catalonia, the nation’s most economically powerful region.
18. Syrian planes said to strike gas station
....At least 30 people, and as many as 100, were killed in Syria in the northern Raqqa Province, when government warplanes bombed a gasoline station crowded with people, according to activist groups.
19. Turkish court convicts 330 in military coup plot trial
....Military officers, including three former top generals, had been accused of planning to overthrow the government nearly a decade ago.

US News Capsules:
1. Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh, police say

....An armed man, identified as Klein Michael Thornton, age 22, who took a hostage inside a Pittsburgh high-rise building has released his hostage and surrendered, authorities said.
2. Amish sect leader and followers guilty of hate crimes
....A federal jury found Samuel Mullet Sr. and 15 followers guilty of conspiracy and hate crimes in a series of beard- and hair-cutting attacks in Ohio.
3. A family pulled into the fray over an agent's death
....The family of Brian A. Terry, a Border Patrol agent who died in a shootout linked to Operation Fast and Furious, has sought answers after revelations over his death.
4. Coptic scholars doubt and hail a reference to Jesus' wife
....A historian's finding of a fragment of ancient Coptic text in which Jesus is said to utter the words "my wife" has drawn strong reaction from Christian scholars.
5. Behind the scenes, lawmakers lobby to curb bank rules
....In public letters and closed-door meetings, more than 100 lawmakers have appealed to the Federal Reserve and other authorities over the Volcker Rule, records show.
6. Wal-Mart is deleting the kindle from stores
....Retailers have been worried that displaying the new Kindles will encourage customers to browse in stores and then buy from online competitors instead, analysts said.
7. Tax credit in doubt, wind power industry is withering
....The American wind sector has been buffeted by weak demand for electricity, stiff competition from gas and uncertainty over a tax credit that has become a campaign wedge issue.
8. TV: The bodice ripper that started it all
....The rivalries and resentments that animate Homeland and Downton Abbey, among the best-drama nominees at the Emmy Awards, churned within a popular mini-series a decade ago, The Forsyte Saga.
9. To stay relevant in a career, workers train nonstop
[/img]
10. Califoria debt higher than earlier estimates, a task force reports
....When Jerry Brown became governor of California he estimated the state’s debt at $28 billion, but that amount is now estimated to be as much as 12 times greater/
POLITICS:
1. Rommney's bad stretch puts a dent in his poll numbers

....Recent surveys show Pres. Obama with more of an edge in key states following a series of flubs by his GOP opponent.
a. Daunting path greets Romney before debate
....There are 46 days left in this presidential race for Mitt Romney to change the dynamic of a campaign that by many indicators is tilting against him.
b. Romney releases 2011 tax return
....Mitt Romney paid 14.1% in taxes on his 2011 investment income, his campaign said, making good Friday on Mr. Romney’s promise to release his 2011 returns.
2. Obama's journey to tougher tack on a rising China
....In the presidential campaign, China has become a focal point encompassing both security and economic concerns and highlighting the nations' complex, tense relationship.
3. For 1st time, gay marriage may win statewide vote

....Polls show majorities back same-sex marriage in Maryland, Washington and Maine, and they indicate a tight battle in Minnesota – the four states holding votes on the issue in November.
4. Investigator finds Waters didn't violate ethics rules in bank case
The findings, which still must be acted on by the Ethics Committee, represent some of the final steps in what has been a three-year investigation into Ms. Waters’s actions during the financial crisis.
5. Brown and Warren spar in tense televised debate over Massachusetts Senae seat
....Senator Scott P. Brown and Elizabeth Warren traded accusations in the first of four encounters that could determine one of the hardest fought races in the country.
6. Day of political maneuvering and fights stalls Congress's close
....Congress’s expected departure for the campaign trail was held up by the political fortunes of two senators battling for survival.
7. Bill to keep graduates in US fails in the House.
....A Republican bill to provide permanent resident visas for foreigners who graduate from American universities with advanced degrees in science and technology failed to pass the House.

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: Despite risks, NFL leaves helmet choices in players' hands
....Even as head injuries have become a major concern, the NFL has not required players to wear helmet models that offer the best protection.
a. Understudies play starring roles
....Running back Andre Brown, who replaced the injured Ahmad Bradshaw, and receiver Ramses Barden, filling in for Hakeem Nicks, provided welcome support in the Giants' dominant 36-7 victory over the Panthers.
b. With usual referees away, players try to stretch the rules

....The National Football League's replacement referees struggled to control games in Week 2 more than they did in Week 1, perhaps because players tried to exploit their inexperience.
2. MLB: Melky Cabrera is out of race for batting title

....It took a rule change, but Melky Cabrera, who is serving a 50-game suspension, will not be eligible for the National League batting title.
3. NHL: As lockout drags on, owners' resolve could be tested

....Six days into the National Hockey League lockout, a lost season and the prospects of losing the money and publicity from the Winter Classic could induce owners to settle for a deal.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
Life span drops sharply for least-educated whites

....For generations of Americans, it was a given that children would live longer than their parents. But there is now mounting evidence that this enduring trend has reversed itself for the country’s least-educated whites, an increasingly troubled group whose life expectancy has fallen by four years since 1990. The reasons for the decline remain unclear, but researchers offered possible explanations, including a spike in prescription drug overdoses among young whites, higher rates of smoking among less educated white women, rising obesity, and a steady increase in the number of the least educated Americans who lack health insurance. The steepest declines were for white women without a high school diploma, who lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, said S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the lead investigator on the study, published last month in Health Affairs. By 2008, life expectancy for black women without a high school diploma had surpassed that of white women of the same education level, the study found.

Thought for Today
"[W]hensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force."
--[/i]Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd US President and a foudning father who drafted the Declaration of Independence,


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[pegasus]

Constitution Week
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 267th day of 2012 with 98 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:07 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 58ºF [Feels like 58ºF], winds SW @ 9 mph, humidity 49%, pressure 30.08 in and steady, dew point 39ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:


World News Capsules:

US News Capsules:

Sports Headlines:

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"

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[pegasus]

Constitution Week
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 267th day of 2012 with 98 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:27 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 59ºF [Feels like 59ºF], winds WNW @ 9 mph, humidity 39%, pressure 30.07 in and steady, dew point 34ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
64 BC--Caesar Augustus , 1st Roman Emperor, was born in Rome; died 14 AD at age 49.
1122--Holy Roman Emperor Henry V renounced the right of investiture in the Concordat of Worms.
1459--War of the Roses, the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Blore Heath.
1719--Liechtenstein became an independent principality within the Holy Roman Empire.
1779--John Paul Jones, commanding the Bonhomme Richard, beat the British ships Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the eastern coast of England.
1803--the British under Arthur Wellesley routed Sindhia of Gwalior .s army at Assaye, India, in the 2nd British-Mahratta War.
1806--the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis from exploring to and from the Pacific Northwest.
1817--Spain signed a treaty with Britain to end slave trade.
1838--Victoria Clafin Woodhull Martin, women's rights activist who ran for US presidency in 1872, was born; died 1927 age 88,
1845--standardized rules were established for baseball.
1846--German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle at the Berlin Observatory discovered the planet Neptune, becoming the 1sr planet discovered by mathematicl prediction.
1863--after the defeat of the Union army at Chickamauga, Gs., Lincoln planned to send reinforcements to Chattnooga, Tenn.
1875--Billy the Kid was arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry.
1906--Devils Tower, a monolithic volcanic neck in the Black Hills of Wyoming, was declared the first US National Monument by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt.
1912--the first Mack Senett Keystone Kops movie was released.
1916--Aldo Moro, 5-time Italian premier; murdered 1978 at age 61 by terrorists.
1933--Standard Oil geologists arrive in Saudi Arabia to "explore and search for and drill and extract petroleum.
1939--Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, suffering from cancer, died at age 83 by assisted suicide (his friend and doctor administered an overdose of morphine).
1944--Pres. Roosevelt defended his dog, who had recently been the subject of a Republican political attack - "It's not enough they attack me. Now they must attack my small dog Fala."
1952--Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the “Checkers” speech as he denied allegations of improper campaign financing.
1957--nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.
1962--The Jetsons debuted on ABC's Sunday night prime time lineup
1964--the Paris Opera unveiled a stunning new ceiling painted as a gift by Marc Chagall, who spent much of his life in France.
1966--a Rolling Stones concert at England's Royal Albert concert hall was halted temporarily when screaming girls attacked Mick Jagger onstage.
1969--the Chicago 8 trial opened in that city.
1973--Juan Peron was again elected president of Argentina after 18 years in exile.
1981--A two-month manhunt for Jack Henry Abbott, a murdering writer out on parole due to Norman Mailer, came to an end.
1987--Bob Fosse, choreographer married to Gwen Verdon, died from a heart attack at age 60.
1990---raq threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and attack Israel if other nations tried to force it from Kuwait.
1991--44 UN inspectors were detained in Baghdad after attempting to remove secret Iraqi plans for building nuclear weapons. and releaed five days later.
1992--the worst storm in years struck southeastern France, triggering flash flooding that left 34 people dead and 50 missing.
1993--the Israeli Knesset approved the peace agreement with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1994--the movie The Shawshank Redemption, starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, made its debut.
1999--the Mars Climate Observer apparently burned up as it was about to go into orbit around the Red Planet.
1999--Russian planes began three days of attacks on various targets in Chechnya, in response to several bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities.
2003--Thai police reportedly foiled an al-Qaida plot to shoot down an El Al passenger jet with a surface-to-air missile at Bangkok's airport.
2004--Hurricane Jeanne struck Haiti causing over 3,000 deaths.
2005--a reported 24 people were killed when a bus carrying Texas nursing home evacuees from Hurricane Rita was destroyed by fire.
2007--Yasuo Fukuda, a long-time political force and son of a former prime minister, was chosen prime minister of Japan.
2008--a 22-year-old male student killed 11 fellow adult students and himself at a western Finland vocational college 205 miles north of Helsinki.
2010--Teresa Lewis, convicted of arranging for the murders of her husband and stepson, became the 1st woman executed by lethal injection in Virginia.
2011--the soap opera All My Children broadcast its final episode on ABC, ending a 41-year run .

World News Capsules:
1. In shark-infested waters, resolve of two giants is tested
....Nationalists in China and Japan have seized on a territorial dispute and placed it at the heart of the debate on the balance of power in the region.
2. Egypt's new leader spells out terms for US-Arab ties

....On the eve of his first trip to the US as Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsi said the US must fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world.
3. Greenland's unfrozen future
....The surface of Greenland's massive ice sheet has melted this month over an unusually large area, Nasa has said., but the climate change could bring Jobs and prosperity.
4. Iran says nuclear equipment was sabotaged
....It accused the German technology company Siemens of planting tiny explosives inside equipment Iran bought for the disputed program, a charge Siemens denied.
5. Failed efforts and challenges of America's last months in Iraq
....With Iraq, the goal has been to leave a stable, representative government, avoid a power vacuum and maintain sufficient influence, but the Obama administration has fallen short of some of those objectives.
6. Two Islamist militias disband in Libya mid anger over killings
....The groups announced Sthat they were disbanding, bowing to a wave of anti-militia anger that has swept parts of the country since a deadly attack on an American diplomatic mission.
7. A tiny Mediterranean nation, awash in immigrants with nowhere to go
....Malta has the highest ratio of immigrants per capita of any European Union member, but it lacks the resources to house them and by law cannot let them move off the island.
8. In New York, reverence for Myanmar's opposition leader
....Burmese immigrants and visitors from as far away as Miami came to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who spoke at Queens College.
9. Pakistani minister offers bounty over anti-Islam video
....A cabinet minister offered a $100,000 reward for the death of the person behind the anti-Islam video made in the US that has roiled Muslims around the world.
10. With aid cutoff, Kremlin recalibrates

....The decision to terminate the US Agency for International Development’s programs marks the end of an extraordinary collaboration between the two cold war enemies.
11. Somali lawmaker slain
....Gunmen fatally shot the lawmaker, Mustaf Haji Mohamed, on Saturday, witnesses said, the first assassination of a member of the war-torn country’s newly appointed Parliament.
12. Rebels announce move of headquarters from Turkey to 'liberated' Syria territory
....The practical effect of a move to “liberated areas” of Syria by the main umbrella group for those fighting Pres. Assad remains unclear, and the new location carries risks.
13. Unlikely joint effort by US and Venezuela leads to a drug lord's arrest
....Venezuela’s national drug police took part in an operation directed from Washington to capture one of South America’s most wanted kingpins.

US News Capsules:
1. Power, pollution and the Internet

....Helping to process the staggering amount of Internet activity that occurs, data centers waste vast amounts of energy, belying the information industry's image of environmental friendliness.
2. Double payments bedevil veterans' pension system
....Technology and practices at the Department of Veterans Affairs that make it hard for some people to collect benefits apparently also result in overpayments.
3. In Kennedy recordings, history's raw materials
....Secret recordings made by Pres. Kennedy, which include Oval Office discussions about Cuba and space exploration, will now be made accessible to the general public.
4. University is uneasy as court ruling allows guns on campus

....Some faculty members warn of a climate of fear and intimidation if concealed weapons are permitted on the University of Colorado campus after a State Supreme Court ruling.
5. CEO's and the pay-'em-or-lose-;'em myth
....The argument that C.E.O.'s will leave if they aren't compensated well, perhaps even lavishly, is bogus, according to a new study.
6. Middle schools add a team rule: get a drug test

....Required screening for participation in athletics or other activities can begin early, despite debate over whether it deters abuse.
7. Tim Burton, at home in his own head
....The director of "Beetlejuice," "Batman" and the new "Frankenweenie" may be cinema's most widely embraced loner.
8. A violin once owned by Goebbels keeps its secrets
....A trail of whispers has followed the Japanese violinist Nejiko Suwa and her violin, a gift from Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
9. Genetic study divides breast cancer into 4 distinct types
....New findings are reshaping the understanding of breast cancer, pointing to the use of drugs approved for other cancers. “This is the road map for how we might cure breast cancer in the future,” a researcher said.
10. Panda cub dies at Smithsonian's National Zoo.
....The giant panda cub born a week ago at the Smithsonian's National Zoo has died, officials said Sunday. Veterinarians at the zoo pronounced the cub dead at 10:28 a.m. Sunday, about an hour after volunteers and zookeepers heard its mother honk in distress.
POLITICS:

1. An evangelical back from exile, lifting Romney
....Ralph Reed, who turned the Christian Coalition into a powerful political force, is planning a sophisticated, microtargeted get-out-the-evangelical-vote operation for Mitt Romney.
2. With rich donors, a more candid Romney emerges.
....Mitt Romney’s remarks at fund-raisers highlight the differences, both subtle and significant, in how he talks to voters and donors, his two key constituencies.
3. In Ryan country, Obama keeps up attack over '47 percent' remarks
....In Wisconsin, Pres. Obama said Mitt Romney’s vision for the country had no room for the middle class, the elderly, students or veterans

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: In the NFL, the show goes on and on and on.....

....With two weeks of sluggish games already played, a question that strikes at the core of the NFL's appeal is being raised: Are the replacement officials diminishing the entertainment value?
a. As punts get longer, so do returns
....Though punters are booting the ball farther than ever, returners scored 20 touchdowns in 2011, their 2nd-highest season total, and this year already have five
2. NCAAFB: Seminoles stand atop ACC after offense vs. offense duel

....Florida State amassed 667 yards on offense, rallying from a two-touchdown deficit, and beat Clemson in a matchup of top-10 teams to remain the only unbeaten team in the ACC.
a. Notre Dame improves to 4-0 for the first time in a decade
....In a game that featured 8 turnovers — 6 by Michigan — and 10 penalties, Notre Dame made more than its fair share of mistakes in winning 13-6, but the Wolverines just made more.
3. MLB: Mets hang on 4-3 to give Dickey his 19th victory
....R. A. Dickey pitched into the ninth inning and strengthened his case for the National League Cy Young Award.
a. Relocation of A's has all the plans but no permit
....Lew Wolff, the owner of the Oakland Athletics, said his team needed a new stadium in San Jose, Calif., to keep the club above baseball’s poverty line.
4. NHL: Exploring Europe's options as NHL players seek work
....The NHL may be in the throes of another lockout, but leagues in Europe are up and running, with many players from North America jumping across the Atlantic.
a. Boogaard's parents file lawsuit against the NHL Players' Association
....The parents of Derek Boogaard say the union, after initial discussions with them after Boogaard’s death, did not meet a deadline to file a grievance seeking the final three years of his Ranger salary.
5. Horse Racing: At the track, racing economics collide with veterinarians' oath

....Horse-racing veterinarians are both doctor and drugstore; the more drugs they prescribe, the more money they make,
6. Golf: Snedeker grabs a lead; now he'll try to keep it

....Brandt Snedeker shot a six-under-par 64 that catapulted him into a first-place tie at eight-under 202 with the midway leader Justin Rose in the third round of the Tour Championship.

Thought for Today
"Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice."
--Lao-Tzu (570-490 BC) founder of Taoism. Source: Tao Te Ching

[pegasus]

National Punctuation Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 268th day of 2012 with 97 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:15 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 50ºF [Feels like 50ºF], winds SW @ 9 mph, humidity 68%, pressure 30.16 in and steady, dew point 40ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
622--the prophet Muhammad completed his Hegira, or "flight," from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution.
768--Pepin the Short, King of the Franks and father of Charlemagne, died,
1493--Christopher Columbus' left on his 2nd expedition to the New World.
1664--The Netherlands surrendered New Amsterdam to England.
1755--John Marshall, congressman, secretary of state and the 4th chief justice of the United States, was born in Germantown, Va.; died 1835 at age 79
1776--the Continental Congress prepared instructions for negotiating a treaty with France.
1780--Benedict Arnold escaped to the British after his attempt to betray West Point.
1789--Congress created the US Post Office and passed the First Judiciary Act, which provided for an attorney general and a Supreme Court.
1838--the Anti-Corn-Law League formed to repeal English Corn Law.
1852--Henri Giffard, a French engineer, made the first powered flight in a dirigible.
1869--financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving thousands of investors in financial ruin.
1890--faced with the eminent destruction of their church and way of life, Mormon leaders reluctantly issue the "Mormon Manifesto" in which they commanded all Latter-day Saints to uphold the anti-polygamy laws of the nation.
1896--F. Scott Fitzgerald, the famed American novelist of the Jazz Age, was born; died 1940 at age 44.
1918--Bulgaria sought a ceasefire with the Allied powers.
1941--the Japanese gathered preliminary data on Pearl Harbor.
1948--the Honda Motor Company was incorporated.
1957--the Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field before moving to Los Angeles.
1959--Pres. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev met at Camp David, Md.
1960--the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Va.
1961--Bullwinkle J. Moose and friend, Rocket J. "Rocky" Squirrel, were first seen in prime time on NBC-TV in The Bullwinkle Show.
1963--the United States Senate ratified a treaty with Britain and the USSR that limited nuclear testing.
1964--the Warren Commission report on the Kennedy assassination was delivered to Pres. Johnson.
1966--"Last Train To Clarksville" gave the made-for-TV Monkees a real-life pop hit.
1966--Hurricane Inez battered the Caribbean.
1968--60 Minutes, the longest-running newsmagazine on television, premiered on CBS. The counter-culture police television drama, The Mod Squad, debuted on ABC.
1976--newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery with her former captors, the Symbionese LIberation Army.
1977--The Love Boat left port on ABC-TV.
1988--Canadian Ben Johnson set a new world record of 9.79 seconds for the 100 meters at the Olympic Games in Seoul. Six days later he was stripped of his medal for taking drugs.
1990--Saturn's Great White Spot (formed by periodic storms large enough to be visible by telescop from Earth) was observed.
1993--Norodom Sihanouk was reinstalled as King of Cambodia after the National Assembly voted to restore the monarchy.
1993--South African black leader Nelson Mandela called for the lifting of remaining international economic sanctions against South Africa.
1994--it was reported that CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames had exposed 55 secret US and allied operations to the Soviet Union.
1995--30 years of Israeli occupation of West Bank cities ended with the signing of a pact by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1995--13 people were killed in the southern French town of Cuers when Eric Borel, 16, ran amok with a rifle a day after he had killed three members of his family.
1996--the US and the world’s other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.
1998--Iran's foreign minister announced that its 1989 call for the death of Salman Rushdie for his The Satanic Verses was dropped.
2002--armed assailants killed 29 people and wounded 75 in an attack on a Hindu temple in Gandhinagar, India.
2006-- Shortly after Katrina, Hurricane Rita came ashore near the Texas-Louisiana state line.
2006--a report said the war in Iraq had fueled global terrorism by fanning Islamic radicalism and creating new types of lethal terror methods.
2007--United Auto Workers walked off the job at GM plants in the first nationwide strike since 1976. (A tentative pact ended the walkout two days later/)

World News Capsules:
1. Belarus votes as Europe keeps a watch for signs that sanctions can end
....The question was not whether President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s supporters would continue to dominate Parliament, but whether electoral changes would pass muster with the European Union/
2. Police chief in Chinese murder scandal convicted and sentenced to 15 years
....The Chinese authorities announced the guilty verdict for Wang Lijun, who exposed the slaying of a British businessman by a senior politician’s wife.
a. Foxconn plant closed after riot, company says
....A spokesman said a fight among employees on Sunday night turned into a riot that had to be broken up by thousands of police officers.
3. A melting Greenland weighs perils against potential

....As warming temperatures are upending traditional Greenlandic life, they are also offering up intriguing new opportunities.
4. Iran's president, in New York, says Israelis have no Mideast roots

....Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israelis have no historical roots in the Middle East and that the existence of Israel is just a passing phase in the region’s long history.
5. Former Israeli premier gets suspended sentence
....Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister of Israel, was sentenced by a Jerusalem court to a one-year suspended jail term and a maximum fine of about $19,000 for breach of trust.
a. Israeli defense chief proposes West Bank pullout
....The defense minister, Ehud Barak, called for a unilateral pullout from much of the West Bank, in comments published in the Israel Hayom newspaper, saying Israel must take “practical steps” if peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled.
b. Sinai group claims role in attack on Israel.
....An obscure militant group based in the Sinai region claimed responsibility for a cross-border attack Friday that killed an Israeli soldier.
6. Deadly attack in Libya was major blow to CIA efforts

....Among personnel pulled from Benghazi after the assault on the American mission were intelligence operatives and contractors who were crucial to surveillance on militants.
a. Government issues order to disband Libya forces
....Libya’s interim government ordered the breakup of all militias that do not fall under its authority, and demanded that those militias pull out of military compounds and public property within 48 hours.
7. New Syria envoy gives bleak appraisal as warplanes hit Aleppo

....Lakhdar Brahimi, the new Syria peace envoy, told Security Council diplomats that there was no immediate prospect for a diplomatic breakthrough.
8. Opening of UN General Assembly session
....World leaders gather in New York as the UN General Assembly opens. Pres. Mohamed Morsi of Egypt speaks to The New York Times ahead of his first speech at the United Nations..
9. Vietnam convicts 3 bloggers for anti-government posts
....A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy.

US News Capsules:
1. Liking it or not, states prepare for health law
....A handful of states whose Republican governors oppose Pres. Obama's health care overhaul are working to have an insurance exchange ready before the deadline next month to create one.
2. A manager of overseas crises, as much as the world permits
....Gray-suited, meticulous and little known to the public, Tom Donilon is Pres. Obama's national security adviser and central figure in American foreign policy.
3. Data barns in a farm town, gobbling power and flexing muscle
....When Internet factories come to town, they can feel less like their sleek, clean and convenient image and more like old-time manufacturing.
4. referendum may offer answer
....Chicago's fight may be over, but in Idaho, the debate over schools has morphed into a harsh discussion about whom the voters should trust.
5. Television's fall season endures
....The idea of a fall season of TV premieres, originally tied to the model year for cars, has survived changing viewer habits and the constant flow of new cable programs.
6. Apple's feud with Google is now felt on iPhone
....Once the best of friends, Google and Apple are battling in courtrooms and in the consumer marketplace, with iPhone users in the cross-fire after Apple removed Google's maps app and YouTube.
7. Homeland takes emmys for drama[/u]
....At the "Primetime Emmy Awards" on Sunday Showtime's new thriller Homeland ended the Mad Men winning streak for best drama, but ABC's Modern Family maintained its grip on best comedy.
a. Cable television casts shadow over networks
....The evening was like a cable eclipse of the networks — not a single network show was nominated for best drama.
8. Public television takes role in curbing dropout rates
....More than 100 public television stations showed a seven-hour telethon on Saturday that asked viewers to work with community organizations to lower the nation's high school dropout rate.
9. Mobile services and cable TV are unexpected allies

....A little-noticed result of Verizon’s $3.9 billion airwave purchase is that cable companies can now use the carrier’s retail presence to sell cable packaged with phone and wireless service.
10. Teachers' unions court GOP

....The unions are navigating a delicate political landscape where, after being challenged by old allies, they increasingly pursue friends in unlikely places.
11. Panda cub that died had liver abnormalities
....As condolences poured in from around the world, National Zoo officials waited Monday for word on why a 6-day-old panda cub died and lamented a heartbreaking setback to their closely watched breeding program.
POLITICS:
1. Obama and Romney offer a possible preview of their first debate

....In separate interviews for the CBS News program 60 Minutes, the candidates criticized each other over foreign and domestic policies.
2. More and more, in Obama's corner
....Barack Obama split the baby boomer vote in 2008, but recent polls show him leading Mitt Romney in that age group.
3. Running as outsiders, with a catch: They're in
....Members of Congress would prefer not to advertise it — they are doctors and cowboys and anything else, while their opponents are Washington insiders.
4. Conservatives want to 'Let Ryan be Ryan' on campaign trail
....Rep. Paul D. Ryan’s slow fade into the afterthought role usually played by running mates has given Republicans a new outlet for frustration over the state of the race.

Thought for Today
"The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity."
--[/i]James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) author


[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Yom Kippur

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 270th day of 2012 with 95 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 8:28 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 67ºF [Feels like 67ºF], winds SW @ 6 mph, humidity 73%, pressure 29.98 in and steady, dew point 58ºF, chance of precipitation .0%.

Today in History:
1087--King William II, son of William the Conqueror, was crowned King of England.
1580--English privateer, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe on The Golden Fleece in 33 months.
1687--the Acropolis in Athens was attacked by the Venetian army trying to eject the Turks, badly damaging the entrance and the Parthenon.
1776--the Continental Congress Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee as agents to negotiate a treaty with France.
1789--Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first secretary of state and John Jay the first chief justice.
1820--the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone died in Missouri.
1835--Gaetano Donizetti composed Lucia de Lammermoor, one of opera's greatest tragic love stories.
1864--Confederate troops began an attack against Fort Davidson, Mo.
1892--John Phillip Sousa and his band presented their first public concert, playing Sousa's "Liberty Bell March."
1897--Paul VI, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (1963-1978), was born; died 1978 at age 80.
1907--New Zealand, which had been a colony of Great Britain, became a dominion.
1914--the Federal Trade Commission was established
1918--French and US troops attacked German lines to begin the battle of the Meuse-Argonne Forest in World War I.
1944-- Operation Market-Garden, a plan to seize bridges in the Dutch town of Arnhem, failed, as 1000s of British and Polish troops were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.
1950--UN troops recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul from the North Koreans.
1957--West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, running for 734 performances.
1960--the first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago.
1962--the Soviet Union made an offer to end the Cuban Missile Crisis by taking its missile bases out of Cuba if the U.S. agreed to not invade Cuba.
1962--The Beverly Hillbillies debuted on CBS-TV.
1969--the 13th and final Beatles album Abbey Road was released.
1969--The Brady Bunch, a sitcom that will become an icon of American pop culture, aired for the first time.
1971--Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer won his 20th game of the year, becoming the fourth Orioles pitcher to win 20 games in that season.
1986--William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as an associate justice.
1996--Shannon Lucid returns to Earth in the shuttle Atlantis following six months in orbit aboard the Russian space station.
2000--Slobodan Milosevic conceded that Vojislav Kostunica had finished first in Yugoslavia's presidential election, but declared a runoff, prompting mass protests leading to his ouster.
2002--a ferry from Senegalsank off the Gambian coast and only 84 out of 1,000+ passengers were rescued, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in history.
2005--Army Pfc. Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury on six counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
2005--international weapons inspectors announced the Irish Republican Army's full disarmament.
2007--a mistrial was declared in the Phil Spector murder case.
2007--Myanmar began a violent crackdown on protests, beating and dragging away dozens of monks.
2008--screen legend, businessman and philanthropist Paul Newman died.

World News Capsules:
1. After a sputtering start, the Louvre Abu Dhabi project gathers pace
....The global financial crisis bit hard, but the Gulf museum is offering some views before its scheduled completion in 2015.
2. Training Afghan allies, with guard firmly up
....After recent attacks by Afghan forces against Western soldiers and Marines, American military advisers are extremely wary, laying bare the challenge of preparing the Afghans to fight on their own.
3. Turnover at top paralyzes China as it faces economic crisis
....China’s Communist Party appears so distracted by its leadership transition that it is not pursuing the bold agenda that may be necessary to prevent severe economic pain.
a. China launches carrier, but experts doubt its worth
....Beijing put its first aircraft carrier into service, a move intended to signal its growing military might.
4. Egypt and Yemen, at UN, urge curbs on free speech

....Two new Middle Eastern leaders, despite being swept to power by popular uprisings, issued rebuttals to Pres. Obama’s defense of Western values at the UN.
a. Millionaire's love for art spawns plan for east-west dialogue

....Shafik Gab, the Egyptian millionaire, has financed a series of international panel discussions on themes of “cultural exchange and Orientalism.”.
5. Proposal sets circumcision regulations in Germany
....The proposal comes in response to calls by lawmakers for legal clarity in the wake of a regional court ruling that equated the practice of ritual circumcision with bodily injury to minors.
6. Former Murdoch aides appear in court
....Two of the most senior former executives at newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, both close at one time to Prime Minister David Cameron, were set to appear in court.
7. European markets jolted amid protests in Greece and Spain

....Trade unions in Greece called a nationwide strike to contest new cuts being discussed by the government, and protesters in Spain surrounded Parliament for a second day over the prime minister’s austerity program.
8. Japan's opposition picks Nationalist ex-premier as leader
....Shinzo Abe won the race to lead Japan’s Liberal Democractic Party, giving him a chance of regaining the nation’s top job.
9. Clinton sees link to Qaida offshoot in deadly Libya ttack
....Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested that an affiliate of Al Qaida in North Africa was behind the attack on the US mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans.
10. Myanmar opposition leader not bitter about past
....Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel laureate, said in an interview that she bore no ill will toward the generals who have gradually relaxed their grip on the country.
a. In battling mine project in Myanmar, a 'Iron Ladies' rise
....Aye Net and Thwe Thwe Win, the daughters of farmers, have rocketed to national prominence for their defiance of a copper mining project run by the Myanmar military and its Chinese partner.
11. Priest investigated in ivory-smuggling inquiry in Philippines
....The investigation was prompted by an article in National Geographic that quotes Msgr. Cristóbal Garcia as telling an American reporter how to smuggle illegal figurines into the US.
12. South African firebrand is charged with money laundering
....Julius Malema, the former leader of the African National Congress youth wing, is charged in connection with state contracts with an engineering company linked to him.
13. In Spain, austerity and hunger
....As Spain tries to meet its budget targets, it has been forced to introduce one austerity measure after another.
a. Protesters take to street in Madrid

....Thousands besieged Parliament as Spain's two largest regions posed challenges to the country's leadership.
14. Correspondent for Iranian TV killed after blasts rock Syrian military site

....Large explosions at a military site in the Syrian capital were followed by a gunfight that left an Iranian television correspondent dead, his station reported.
15. As refugees flood Turkey, asylum system nears breakdown
....A United Nations agency helps some resettle, but many decide instead to fend for themselves.

US News Capsules:
1. UN leader opens General Assembly on somber note
....The secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said conflicts roiling the Middle East were a major concern.
2. Obama tells UN new democracies need free speech

....Pres. Obama used his last major address on a global stage before the November election to deliver a defense of freedom of speech, challenging fledgling democracies to ensure that right.
3. Taxes threaten an island culture in Georgia

....Increasing economic pressures are forcing the saltwater Geechees of Sapelo Island, Ga., to wonder if their fragile community will finally succumb to cultural erosion.
4. Deportation deferrals put employers of immigrants in a bind
....Asked by program applicants to verify a job, farmers and small businesses are worried about exposing themselves to prosecution for hiring illegal workers.
5. Seeking cures, patients enlist mice stand-ins
....In what could be the ultimate in personalized medicine, animal models, referred to by researchers as avatars, are being used to help determine the best treatment for a patient,
6. An electric carmaker struggles as its production lags
....To ease a financial crisis, Tesla, the maker of a high-performance electric car, said it had renegotiated the terms of an energy loan from the government,
7. Home prices rise again, this time on the low end

....The housing market is still gathering strength, new data showed, and the gains appear to be spreading even to the cheapest homes in many cities,
8. Fraternity suspended for alcohol enemas

....The University of Tennessee says it suspended a fraternity chapter indefinitely after a student was hospitalized following an alcohol enema.
POLITICS:
1. Test for Obama as deficit stays over $1 trillion
....Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney have very different ideas on reducing the budget deficit, but experts have doubts that either plan is up to the challenge.
2. Polls show Obama is widening his lead in Ohio and Florida
....Mitt Romney's burden is no longer to win over undecided voters, but also to woo back the voters who seem to be growing a little comfortable with the idea of a second Obama term.
3. House panel recommends new rules on ethics
....After concluding its investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters, the panel advocated a tightening of rules to prevent conflicts of interest and to keep partisan politics out of future inquiries,
4. One coalition stays true to Todd Akin: home-schoolers
....Mitt Romney’s burden is no longer to win undecided voters, but also to woo back those who seem to be growing a little comfortable with the idea of a second term for Pres. Obama.
5. A GOP reunion, with plans for more togetherness
....The Republican ticket will start campaigning together more often, which suggests that aides fear that Mitt Romney, on his own, is not generating enough attention and excitement.

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: NFL and referees are close to a deal

....The NFL and the referees’ union are close to reaching an agreement to end the lockout, but a remaining issue is how quickly the regular NFL referees can return to work.
2. MLB: Sabathia gives Yankees' bullpen a break

....C. C. Sabathia (14-6) struck out 10 in eight solid innings as the Yankees moved closer to clinching the American League East, beating the Twins 8-2.
a. Sizing up a crown that is rarely worn
....The Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera is tantalizingly close to doing what Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron could not: enter baseball’s musty triple crown fraternity, which has admitted no new members in 45 years.
b. Atlanta Braves early clinch paying dividends

....The Braves will all but certainly play the NL Wild Card game at home and are now in position to set up their rotation as they want, while Joe Posnanski points out that the AL contenders have no such luxury
c. CNN or MLB Network?
....Every four years, the nation’s capital is consumed by a presidential race. For the first time since 1933, a baseball team has given journalists, pundits and politicians a second pennant chase to obsess over.
3. Ryder Cup: Out of the pool, Phelps finds hte water at Medinah
....Michael Phelps, the 22-time Olympic swimming medalist, played in Tuesday’s celebrity scramble at Medinah Country Club, where the Ryder Cup will begin on Friday.
a. Belgian has come a long way to hit it a long way
....Nicolas Colsaerts’s road to the Ryder Cup was not a straight shot. He qualified for the European Tour at 18, then dropped to 1,305th in the world before becoming the first Belgian to qualify for this week’s tournament.

Thought for Today
"Humankind cannot take too much reality."
..'/i]T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-born English poet and playwright.

[pegasus]

Ancestor Appreciation Day

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 271st day of 2012 with 94 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:41 p.m., it's fair , temp 63ºF [Feels like 63ºF], winds variable @ 5 mph, humidity 48%, pressure 30.20 in and rising, dew point 4.ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

Today in History:
1540--the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits--a Roman Catholic missionary organization--received its charter from Pope Paul III.
1590--Pope Urban VII diesd13 days after being elected pope, making his the shortest papal reign in history.
1779--the Continental Congress appointed John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain. On the same day, John Jay was apppointed minister to Spain.
1822--Jean-Francois Champollion ,(rench classical scholar, announced that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone .
1825--the first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.
1854--sudden and heavy fog caused two ships to collide, killing 322 people off the coast of Newfoundland.
1864--William "Bloody Bill" Anderson's Confederate guerillas sack edCentralia, Mo., killing 22 and wounding over 100 Union troops.
1869--Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok proved too wild for Hays City, Kan.
1920--Jayne Meadows, actress, wife of comedian Steve Allen and sister of fellow actress Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners), turns 92.
1928--the US recognized the Nationalist Chinese government.
1937--the Bali Tiger (a subspecies of tiger found solely on the small Indonesian island of Bali) was declared extinct.
1938--Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt appealed to Hitler for peace.
1939--Poland surrendered to the German blitzkrieg and invading Soviet forces.
1940--the Tripartite Pact is signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan.
1954--Tonight! hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.
1960--Sylvia Pankhurst, British suffragette and international socialist, died in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the age of 78.
1964--the Warren Commission reported that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating Pres. Kennedy.
1967--a French television network began to broadcast the first (and only) season of the American sitcom My Mother, The Car, which the 2002 TV Guide named the 2nd-worst television show of all time. (First on the list was The Jerry Springer Show.)
1969--Hair (The musical) opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London and ran until July 1973 when a roof collapse forced closure.
1987--mudslides in slum areas of Medellin, Colombia, killed up to 500 people.
1989--Zsa Zsa Gabor, on trial for slapping a police officer, stormsed out of the courtroom in the middle of the district attorney's closing argument.
1991--the US Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
1994--over 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the US House.
1996--the F. Scott Fitzgerald stamp was issued by the US Post Office.
1999--operatic tenor Placido Domingo breaks Caruso's record 17 opening-nights at the Metropolitan Opera with his 18th opener.
2003--Pres. Bush and Russian Pres. Putin said they would join forces to oppose nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.
2007--nine people were reported killed and another 100 injured as the Myanmar military junta sought to break up nine days of demonstrations by Buddhist monks and nuns.
2008--a bomb made of more than 400 pounds of explosives killed 17 people near a Shiite shrine in Damascus.

World News Capsules:
1. In Afghanistan, American trainers kep their armor on
....In the field, where small teams of American advisers are now working with Afghan units, even minor misunderstandings are treated as potentially violent confrontations.
2. Chinese scientist finds no evidence of cyanide poisoning in trial testimony

....The government scientist said testimony in the trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of a disgraced politician, did not show that Neil Heywood, a British businessman, was poisoned by cyanide.
3. Europe to seek sanctions against US over Boeing subsidies

....In the latest move in a seven-year dispute, the European Union said it would ask the World Trade Organization for permission to levy up to $12 billion in sanctions.
4. Greek coalition claims progress on austerity talks

....As the country's leaders prepared for negotiations with international lenders, leaders on the left warned that they would oppose across-the-board cuts to salaries and pensions.
a. Tensions intensify in Greece
....Clashes erupted in central Athens and across Greece on Wednesday as trade unions called a nationwide strike to contest new salary and pension cuts being discussed by the government and its international creditors/
5. Netanyahu warns Iran is close to making a bomb

....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told the UN that he believes Iran’s ability to make an atomic weapon will be irreversible by next spring or summer.
a. Israeli foreign ministry calls for more sanctions on Iran
....A leaked report appears to be a rare Israeli acknowledgment that there might be time to halt the Iranian nuclear program without military action.
6. Italian premier says he'd consider another term
....Mario Monti said he would think about leading another Italian government if elections scheduled for next spring do not produce a strong majority for any party coalition.
7. Myanmar leader praises Aung San Sun Kyi at UN
....Presi. Thein Sein of Myanmar said his country has taken irreversible steps toward democracy and paid unprecedented public tribute to opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
8. Philippine priest facing scrutiny over ivory and abuse
....Msgr. Cristóbal Garcia, accused of ivory smuggling, is also under investigation by the Vatican in connection with unrelated allegations of sexual abuse, a church spokesman said.
9. Russians eagerly participate in medical experiments, despite risks
....Even though tests sometimes go awry, patients in Russia are eager to join drug trials because often they are the only way to receive modern medical care.
10. Spain unveils sweeping budet cuts
....The budget involves an average cut of almost 9% in the spending of each government ministry next year. Civil servants, meanwhile, will have their salaries frozen for a third consecutive year.
a. In Spain, austerity and hunger

....As Spain tries to meet its budget targets, it has been forced to introduce one austerity measure after another.
11. Sudan and South Sudan sign cooperation deal

....The agreement signed by the two countries’ leaders should permit oil exports to resume, which its economies desperately need, but leaves important issues unresolved.
12. Rebels make gains in blunting Syrian air attacks

....For the rebels, managing to deny the use of an important airfield has undermined the government’s ability to exert its full authority in some parts of the country.
a. UN says Syrian refugee numbers are surging
....The number of Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries for safety and aid is likely to exceed 700,000 by the end of the year, humanitarian agencies said.

US News Capsules:
1. Budget cuts to archives put history out of rach
....As Georgia's state archives prepares to reduce its staff and accessibility drastically next month, archivists worry about a long-term impact on public records nationwide.
2. In Texas conviction, an immigrant rallying cry

....Rosa Jimenez, an illegal Mexican immigrant in a Texas prison for a crime she says she did not commit, has become a cause célèbre for critics of the American criminal justice system.
3. Resort's snow won't be pure this year, it'll be sewage
....Arizona Snowbowl will become the first ski resort in the world to use 100 % sewage effluent to make artificial snow. Members of the Navajo tribe say the snow will ruin sacred ground.
4. Toyota moves to revamp its lexis luxury line
....After falling behind from a product shortage, the automaker is planning to rejuvenate its Lexus brand by making the line more appealing to younger and more adventurous buyers.
5. Two faces of national security on Homeland[/u]
....The second season of Homeland, which begins on Showtime on Sunday, has to pry even deeper into its entwined and deeply damaged protagonists without burning out their mystery.
6. Decorated general charged with violations of military law

....Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, the former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, has been charged with forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct and other violations.
7. Cyberwarfare emerges from shadows for public discussion by US officials
....The federal government’s announcement of a program to enlist contractors to develop technology is seen as a turning point in a long-secret program.
POLITICS:
1. Election may decide when interrogation amounts to torture
....The future of American government practices when interrogating high-level terrorism suspects appears likely to turn on the outcome of the presidential race.
2. Republicans intensify drive to win over Jewish voters
....In battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Nevada, Republicans are trying to persuade Jewish voters who might typically be expected to support Democrats to vote for Mitt Romney.
a. Romney ad reaches out to working class

....Mitt Romney stepped up his efforts to repair the damage from his “47 percent” comments, trying to reassure voters that he cares about the poor and middle class.
3. 'Super PACs' finally a draw for Democrats
....With the election just weeks away, Democratic “super PACs” are finally getting the kind of wealthy donors who have made Republican outside groups a pivotal force in the campaign.

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: The NFL reaches labor deal with referess

....With a new 8-year deal in place, regular officials will work Thursday's Ravens-Browns game, and the officials' union will vote Friday to ratify the contract and work Sunday's games.
2. NHL Boogaard lawsuit may shake up hockey
....A lawsuit filed by Derek Boogaard's family accuses the players union of squandering a chance at a financial claim. But it also contains serious charges that could be explored.
3. NBA: Barclays Arean rivals the Garden's glow

....Big-name performers are adding tour dates at the Nets new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where costs can be lower and profit margins higher than at Madison Square Garden.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
Rare albino whale puts on a show off Australian coast

A rare white whale, nicknamed "Migaloo" by researchers is thrilling Australians off the eastern coast. Albino whales are rare and Migaloo is the only documented all-white humpback adult, according to Peter Harrison, director of marine ecology research at Southern Cross University in Australia. Migaloo was first seen in 1991 when he was a juvenile, Harrison says, and researchers believe he is now in his 20s. The humpbacks are on their annual migration from their breeding grounds along the Great Barrier Reef back to feed in the Antarctic.
Migaloo is expected to pass by Cape Byron, the easternmost point in Australia, in the coming hours after passing by Surfer's Paradise, says Oskar Peterson, who runs a website that tracks sightings of white whales.

Male humpbacks can travel up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) a day during their migration, according to experts. But they often hang around Cape Byron searching for mates, so whale watchers may see the albino humpback for a few more days, Harrison says. He warns fans to steer clear -- at least 500 meters away at all times -- to ensure the whale's survival. Too much noise and chasing can disturb him and cause him to use precious energy he needs for migration. Whale watchers may be able to enjoy Migaloo for decades. Humpback whales are believed to survive as long as 90 years in the wild, Harrison says.

Thought for Today
"We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves."
..[/i]Henri Frederic Amiel(1821-1881) Swiss writer.


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[pegasus]

World Rabies Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 272md day of 2012 with 93 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:37 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 54ºF [Feels like 54ºF], winds NNW @ 5 mph, humidity 94%, pressure 30.06 in and steady, dew point 52ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
48 BC--oafter losing his battle with Caesar, Pompey the Great, Roman general and statesman, landed in Egypt where he was assassinated on the orders of King Ptolemy.
935--Saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, was murdered by his brother, Boleslaus I of Bohemia.
1066--claiming he had a right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England.
1542--Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into present-day San Diego Bay during the course of his explorations of the northwest shores of Mexico on behalf of Spain.
1643--25-year-old English poet John Milton's masque, Comus with its theme of evil vs. good, was performed.
1745--the British national anthem, "God Save the King/Queen," had its first public performance at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.
1781--the last battle of the Amerian Revolution began at Yorktown, Va.
1850--flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the US Navy.
1863--Union Generals Alexander M. McCook and Thomas Crittenden were ordered to Indianapolis, Ind., to face a court of inquiry following the Federal defeat at the battle of Chickamauga in Georgia.
1891--Herman Melville. author best known for his novel Moby Dick, died at his home in New York City at age 72.
1895--Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist best known for his Pasteurization process, died near Paris from a series of strokes.
1918--the flu pandemic hit Philadelphia, Pa.
1920--a grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox players for throwing the 1919 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.
1924--two US Army planes landed in Seattle, Wash., having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
1928--Sir Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory discovering what is now known as penicillin.
1941--Ted Williams played the last day of the season and gets six hits in eight trips to the plate, to boost his batting average to .406 and become the first player since Bill Terry in 1930 to hit .400 and the last to do so.
1962--Padding Tram Depot, Brisbane, Australia, iwadestroyed by fire along with 65 trams.
1968--in Vietnam the battle for Thuong Duc began.
1982--reports appeared of deaths in the Chicago area from Extra-strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. seven died and the unsolved case resulted in tamper-proof packaging for consumer products.
1989--Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii.
1991--famed jazz trumpeter Miles Davis died.
1994--the Estonia disaster occurred on the ferry's crossing of the Baltic Sea to Stockholm when it takes on water and capsizes with 852 perisheding.
1995--Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat signed phase two of their peace agreement in Washington .
2003--legendary Broadway and film director Elia Kazan died at his home in New York City at the age of 94.
2004--the price of oil topped $50 a barrel for the first time in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
2006--to boost support for the Afghan government, NATO voted to dramatically expand operations in Afghanistan.
2008--US congressional negotiators and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed on a $700 billion banking industry bailout plan that gave the Treasury unprecedented authority, including the ability to buy a range of troubled financial assets.

World News Capsules:
1. Ousted from party in China, Bo Xilai faces prosecution

....Beijing officials announced Friday that the disgraced politician had been expelled from the Communist Party and would be prosecuted on criminal charges. The state news agency also said the party congress was scheduled for Nov. 8.
a. China alters its strategy in diplomatic crisis with Japan
....There are hints that the government was tacitly encouraging the nationalistic demonstrations against a former enemy, and has now decided to rein them in.
2. White House move to give Egypt $450 million in aid meets resistance
....Lawmakers in Congress wary of foreign aid in general, and of Egypt’s new leadership in particular, protested the infusion of cash.
3. Hollande's new budget focuses on cutting France's deficit
....Although he was elected on a pro-growth platform, the first budget from Pres. François Hollande instead emphasizes freezing government spending and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
4. Merkel's former finance minister to run agains her

....Many Germans remember Peer Steinbrück as a quick-witted and effective finance minister in the early days of the euro zone debt crisis.
5. Greece agrees on new package of budget cuts and taxes
....The Greek government’s proposal — $15 billion in cuts and $2.6 billion in new taxes — could set off a new wave of protests.
6. Iran envoy is assaulted by protesters near the UN
....A spokesman for the Iranian Mission at the UN was shoved and shouted at by a small group of Iranian exiles protesting a speech at the General Assembly by Iran’s president.
7. Militants attack Iraqi prison and kill 15 police officers
....A group of militants laid siege to a prison near Tikrit and an ensuing gun battle left at least 15 police officers dead and more than 80 prisoners on the loose, officials said.
8. Netanyahu's bomb diagram stirs confusion in Israel

....Did the “90 percent” on the prime minister’s cartoonish bomb drawing refer generally to Iranian progress or specifically to levels of uranium enrichment? Interpretations differed.
9. Osaka mayor's radical message has broad appeal in a weary Japan
....The charisma of Toru Hashimoto, Osaka’s new mayor, has made a new party a feared force in Japanese politics, seemingly overnight.
10. Kenya says it has captured last Islamist bastion in Somalia

....The capture of the port town of Kismayu, if confirmed, would spell an end to the Shabab’s ability to control large tracts of territory and the start of a guerrilla phase of fighting.
11. Security fears hobble inquiry on Libya attack

....Unable to safely investigate in Benghazi, the FBI is trying to piece together a deadly attack from more than 400 miles away, and it’s facing “a cavalcade of obstacles,” one American official says.
12. At UN, Myanmar leader highlights steps to reform
....Pres. Thein Sein, saying his country was leaving behind five decades of authoritarian rule, paid public tribute to the country’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
a. In battle over Myanmar mine, folk heroines emerge
....In a sign of how things are changing in Myanmar, two village women have won national prominence for defying a copper mine project backed by the military.
13. Plane going to Mount Everest region crashes, killing 19

....A small plane carrying 19 people struck a bird and crashed soon after takeoff in Katmandu, killing everyone on board, officials said.
14. Not in script for Kremlin: a eal race for governor
....The Russian region of Ryazan seemed primed for a real race until an insurgent candidate was removed from the race.
15. Despite public protests, Spain's 2013 budget plan includes more austerity
....The budget involves an average cut of almost 9% in the spending of each government ministry next year. Civil servants, meanwhile, will have their salaries frozen for a third consecutive year.
16. Syrian rebels announce big offensive in Aleppo

....The number of Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries for safety and aid is likely to exceed 700,000 by the end of the year, according to the UN and humanitarian agencies.
a. Aleppo fight intensifies, as UN warns of rising flow of refugees
....The UN’ human rights body voted to strengthen and extend the term of the commission gathering evidence of abuses in Syria.
17. Vatican says papyrus referring to Jesus' wife is probably a fake

....The Vatican called the fragment of a Coptic text “problematic and controversial,” and most likely an “inept forgery.”
18. Why did the tourist cross the road? The real riddle is 'how'
....A decade or so of capitalist fervor has transformed Hanoi’s once-quiet tree-lined boulevards and side streets into roaring rivers of rubber and steel.

US News Capsules:
1. Tim Cook apologizes for Apple's maps

....Complaints and jokes about Apple's new maps have not stopped since the company released iOS 6 last week, a software update that replaced Google's maps with its own. Now the company's chief executive, Tim Cook, is apologizing.
2. US is tightening web privacy rule to shield young
....Federal regulations intended to curb the collection of data from youngsters without their parents' permission might cause companies to stop creating child-centric sites.
3. Man tied to anti-Islam video held on probation charge
....The man suspected of making the anti-Islam video that set off deadly protests across the Muslim world is accused of violating an order in a bank fraud case that restricted his use of the Internet.
4. A flood of applications, with a trickle of approvals
....A little more than two dozen immigrants nationwide have received approval for a two-year deferral of deportation under a program that Pres. Obama announced in June.
5. Veterans wait for benefits as claims pile up

....A crushing inventory of claims for disability, pension and educational benefits has overwhelmed the Department of Veterans Affairs.
6. mmunition for a trade war between US and Mexico
....The Department of Commerce took steps to end a 16-year-old agreement with Mexico that makes Mexican tomatoes a bargain in American supermarkets.
7. US economy still weak, but feel more secure
....A closely watched measure of consumer confidence surged to its highest level since February, even as job growth and the overall economy had weakened.
8. Nostalgic for thet giant 1970s machine? It may be here

....The Computer History Museum, which opened in 2011, has a 25,000-square-foot permanent exhibition: “Revolution: First 2,000 Years of Computing.”
9. Raising frogs for freedom, prison project opens doors

....Washington State’s Sustainability in Prisons program enlists inmates to help rescue imperiled species like the Oregon spotted frog.
POLITICS:
1. Obama fills in blanks of Romney's plans, and GOP sees falsehoods
....The Obama campaign is taking advantage of the unknown details of Mitt Romney’s policy proposals by filling in the blanks, but some charges are more specific than the facts warrant
2. September, November: 40 precious days to spend on early vote
....A stream of voters arrived at election offices across Iowa to cast their ballots, and waves of absentee ballots have started landing in mailboxes in 30 other states.
3. An enduring ritual of politics loud and close
....Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney crisscrossed Ohio, speaking to supporters at events essentially unchanged since the days of Andrew Jackson.

Sports Headlines:
1. MLB: Dickey wins 20th game for the Mets
....The Mets' bullpen survived a two-run ninth inning and eventually saved R. A. Dickey's win, making him the first Mets pitcher since Frank Viola in 1990 to win 20 games.
a. The dertiest part of a catcher's job

....Examining the decisions a catcher makes while bracing for a potential collision at home plate, through the eyes of Russell Martin of the Yankees.
2. NFL: Referees feel the love, at least for one game

....With an agreement to end the lockout reached, regular N.F.L. officials were unanimously celebrated and praised as they returned to the field on Thursday night.
a. The powerful NLF is humbled
....The NFL's debacle with replacement referees proves that the league is not invincible.
3. NHL: Preseason canceled: Labor talks to resume
....The league’s commissioner and the head of the players union will meet Friday in the first formal negotiations since Sept. 12.
4. RYDER CUP: US and Europe tied after morning matches
[/img]
....After the European team surged early, the Americans battled for a 2-2 tie in the morning foursomes. Tiger Woods struggled as he and Steve Stricker lost their opening match.
5. Horse Racing: Inquiry faults racing officials in horse fatalities at Aquaduct
....A New York State report says a spike in horse fatalities at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens might have been prevented had racing authorities more closely monitored the use of prescription drugs.
a. Breakdown: The lab race
....At a time when the racing industry is in crisis over the widespread doping of racehorses, testing laboratories play a vital role in cleaning up the sport.

Thought for Today
"The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered."
--[/i]Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Irish-born British statesman, parliamentary orator & political thinker


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[pegasus]

Banned Books Week & Gold Star Morther's Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 274th day of 2012 with 91 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:12 p.m., it's heavily raining , temp 52ºF [Feels like 52ºF], winds WNW @ 5 mph, humidity 94%, pressure 29.84 in and steady, dew point 50ºF, chance of precipitation 60%.

Today in History:
1399--Henry Bolingbroke of Lancasster was proclaimed King Henry IV of England upon the abdication of King Richard II.
1776--Washington blamed the Patriot reliance on the militia as the chief root of his problems in the devastating loss of Long Island and Manhattan to the British.
1788--the Pennsylvania Legislature elected the first two members of the U.S. Senate - William Maclay of Harrisburg and Robert Morris of Philadelphia,
1791--Mozart's opera The Magic Flute premiered in Vienna, Austria.
1864--Battle of Poplar Springs Church in a failed attempt to cut the last train line into Petersburg, Va. by Union forces.
1868--the virst volume of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was published.
1889--Wyoming legislators wrote the first state constitution to grant women the right to vote.
1924--Truman Capote, author (Breakfast at Tiffany's, In Cold Blood) was born in New Orleans; died 1984 at age 60.
1927--Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season.
1928--Elie Wiesel, authr and Nobel laureate, turns 84.
1938--British and French premiers appeased Hitler by allowing Nazi Germany to occupy sections of the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia.
1946--an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.
1949--the Berlin Airlift officially ended after 15 months and more than 250,000 flights--one of the greatest logistical feats in modern history.
1954--the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, was commissioned.
1955--movie star James Dean died at age 24 in a car crash on a California highway.
1962--in Oxford, Miss., federal troops escorte James H. Meredith onto the University of Mississippi campus, setting off a deadly riot that was quelled by more than 3,000 federal soldiers.
1964--the first large scale anti-war deomonstration was staged at the University of California at Berkeley.
1966--the Republic of Botswana declared its independence from Britain
1968--Hubert Humphrey announced that if elected president, he would end the bombing of North Vietnam.
1982--the situation comedy Cheers premiered on NBC-TV.
1991--the military in Haiti overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's first freely-elected president.
1993--a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southern India, killing an estimated 10,000 people.
1997--France's Roman Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the systematic persecution and deportation of Jews by the pro-Nazi Vichy regime.
1999--large doses of radiation were released at Japan's Tokaimura nuclear plant due to worker error; 1 person killed, 49 injured.
2004--Merck & Co. pulled Vioxx, its heavily promoted arthritis drug, from the market after a study found it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
2005--cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad were published in a Danish newspaper, offending many Muslims worldwide.


World News Capsules:
1. 5 dead after clash between US and Afghan troops
....The incident killed two Americans and three Afghans, just days after Pentagon officials confirmed that joint operations between American and Afghan forces were returning to normal.
2. Bahrain faces riots after boy dies in protest
....The riot police sought to subdue protesters hurling stones as a funeral march for a young demonstrator killed the day before turned violent.
3. Muslim protesters torch Buddhist temples and homes in Bangladesh

....100s of Muslims in Bangladesh burned at least four Buddhist temples and 15 homes after complaining that a Buddhist man had insulted Islam, police and residents said.
4. Elite and deft, Xi aimed high early in China

....An early move to rural China offers a window on the political savvy of Xi Jinping, who is on the cusp of taking over as China's supreme leader.
5. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia
....The quake was centered 28 miles (45 km) south of Popayan, Colombia, close to the Ecuador border.
6. Better off than they were in Years past, Georgian voters ask: At what cost?
....The parliamentary election has become a referendum on the trade-offs of the so-called Rose Revolution.
7. More children ill from food malady
....German health authorities said that 8,400 children had fallen ill after eating food from school cafeterias and day care centers.
8. Potentially deadly virus related to SARS appears to be not easily spread
....The World Health Organization issued an initial alert last Sunday saying that researchers had discovered the new virus in a 49-year-old Qatari man visiting London.
9. Another wave of bombings across Iraq

....Sunday’s attacks were the latest instance in which insurgents coordinated attacks in multiple cities in a single day, apparently intending to rekindle sectarian conflict.
10. Tension, though no violence, as Protestants parade in Belfast
....A parade to commemorate a 1912 accord that helped lead to the partition of Ireland was watched over by a heavy police presence.
11. Islamist rebels flee key port city in Somalia
....The withdrawal from Kismayo, the last major stronghold of the Islamist rebels, came a day after Kenyan troops invaded and marched toward the city center and seaside port.
12. Ex-South Korea leader haunts presidential bid
....Park Geun-hye, seeking the presidency as the candidate of the New Frontier Party, is riding on her father’s residual popularity but also carrying the burden of his more negative legacy.
13. Bound to sea but buried in debt, Spain's fishermen blame bloc's policies

....A decline in fish stocks, rising operating costs and a sharp economic downturn have devastated much of Spain’s coastal economy and intensified criticism of subsidies.
a. Tornado and flooding pound southern Spain
....A tornado damaged several rides and cut electricity in a temporary fair set up in the main square of Gandia on Friday, according to its town hall Web site.
14. In Syria's largest city, fire ravages ancient market
....A vast and well-preserved labyrinth of storehouses, schools and courtyards in Aleppo was damaged as fierce clashes between security forces and insurgents continued.
a. Away from cities, a life laced with violence for Syrians
....Residents of the Idlib countryside endure a wearying grind punctuated, in flashes and roars, by moments of spectacular and often indiscriminate assaults.
15. Ukraine ex-premier airs video
....Yulia V. Tymoshenko lashed out against Pres. Viktor F. Yanukovich, widely viewed as responsible for her imprisonment, and urged voters to defeat his party in parliamentary elections next month.
16. Pope's former butler on trial in theft of personal papers
....The trial of Paolo Gabriele comes as the Roman Catholic Church is racked by a pedophilia scandal, internal disputes and challenges to preserve its moral authoritativeness within rapidly changing societies..

US News Capsules:
1. US Supreme Court faces weighty cases and a new dynamic
....The new term will probably include major decisions on affirmative action in higher education admissions, same-sex marriage and a challenge to the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
2. Longshoremen's lament
....Automation and large machines have cut deeply into the human workforce on the waterfront, loading and unloading the millions of containers that enter the Port of New York and New Jersey,
3. After decades in institutions, a bumpy journey to a new life

....100s of severely disabled citizens in Georgia are being reintegrated into society amid pressure from the Justice Department to end discrimination against the cognitively and physically impaired.
4. Political and class issues complicate a Coloradoland dispute
....Bill Koch's effort to acquire some public land, including a piece that cuts through his 4,500-acre ranch, has run into hostility from his neighbors.
5. A guitar maker aims to stay plugged in

....Fender, the guitar company made famous by the likes of Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, is facing big challenges amid the fickle tastes of Wall Street and the music industry.
6. Turning up the volume on global poverty

....The Global Citizen Festival to combat poverty drew more than 60,000 people to Central Park for a concert featuring Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, the Black Keys, Band of Horses and K’Naan.
7. San Francisco's new archbishop worries gay Catholics
....Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, who will be installed as the leader of the San Francisco Archdiocese, led the fight against same-sex marriage in California.
8. Science: So far unfruitful, fusion project faces a frugal Congress
....Physicists eager to achieve controlled fusion with a giant laser at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will have to offer Congress some explanations if they are to get more money to keep the project alive.
9. New Mexico offers look at US elections of the future
....The unique demographics of New Mexico are significant for both campaigns, which have been there trying to engage Latino voters — eyeing both the November vote and others to come.
10. "Carmageddon II" bridge collapse not in the plan

....A massive Southern California highway project dubbed saw an unscripted moment when a section of a bridge unexpectedly collapsed, narrowly missing construction crews, officials said.
11. Lottery winne charged with welfare fraud, found dead

....An autopsy has been completed on the Lincoln Park woman who was cut off from state food assistance after it was revealed that she had won $1,000,000 in the Michigan Lottery.
POLITICS:
1. The new stars in Republican commercials attacking Obama: babies
....Attack ads from Republicans are using babies to target politically independent women with an emphasis on what effect the deficit will have on their children.
2. Romney shifted right on nergy as presidential politics beckoned
....Mitt Romney is more apt today to talk about his support for oil drilling than about the environmental policies that he advocated while governor of Massachusetts.
3. More suspicious voter forms are found
....Irregularities have been found in 10 Florida counties on registrations submitted by a company working for the state Republican Party.
4. Christie: Romney debate performance will change course of presidential race

...."Come Thursday morning, the entire narrative of this race is going to change," the Republican New Jersey governor tells Dave Gregory on Meet the Press.
a. McCain expects a debate for the history books

....Sen. John McCain -- who has debated both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney -- said today he expects Wednesday's presidential debate to draw historic numbers.

Thought for Today
"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
--Truman Capote (1924-1984) novelist, short-story writer & playwright.