96% The Muppets

Two things that make me surprised after watching this movie : first one is how high the critics' rating for this movie that well-directed-but-not-great-from-the-cast-performances, while the other one is how many stars that make a cameo appearance in this movie such as Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, John Krasinski, Alan Arkin, Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, Emily Blunt, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, and not forget to mention Jack Black.. Jason Segel's idea to bring back 'The Muppets' live in cinema again is worthed cause he made a really enjoyable movie to be watched by everyone this time.. While for the reason why the main lady character goes to Amy Adams, all I can do is guessing because she once did a movie like this before -Enchanted- and she successfully nailed it.. The one that made me surprised a lot is I don't know Chris Cooper can sing! It like watching a president's debate but one of them suddenly start singing and dancing, it just so hilarious! While for The Muppets itself, I must say that I'm not growing up watching them but I know that they're irreplaceable in everybody's heart, even for kids these days that barely know them.. Overall, it's a fun and heart-winning family movie with a lot of enjoyable song to be loved about such as 'Man or Muppet' or 'Life's A Happy Song'

July 23, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets/

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Paper books vs. iBooks and Kindle books

There’s an interesting debate taking place about the merits and virtues of modern electronic books like Apple’s iBooks or Amazon’s Kindle books and their traditional counterparts — old fashioned paper

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/D9sttH-87AA/story01.htm

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3-vehicle crash preceded fatal mass pileup in Fla.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.?? The Florida Highway Patrol says there was a three-vehicle crash just hours before a series of pileups killed 10 people and injured 18 others on the same stretch of Interstate 75.

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According to the report released Monday, heavy smoke and fog resulted in low visibility along I-75 south of Gainesville late Saturday. About 11:55 p.m. Saturday, a tractor-trailer hit a Toyota in the northbound lanes. A Lexus then hit the back of the truck.

Authorities say a passenger in the Lexus was sent to the hospital in serious condition.

The Highway Patrol closed I-75 and nearby U.S. 441 a short time later, due to worsening road conditions. But the highway was then reopened early Sunday and a series of pileups began around 3:45 a.m., some of them fatal.

'People were screaming'
Steven R. Camps and some friends were driving home on the interstate when they heard "cars hitting each other."

"People were crying, People were screaming. It was crazy," the Gainesville resident told The Associated Press hours later. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

Some of the road's asphalt melted.

Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, described the pileup as "probably the worst one I've seen in 27 years."

Riordan said investigators are still trying to determine how many separate collisions occurred on the interstate.

The pileups happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75. When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile.

"That's a very scary thing when you can't see anything and hear the squealing of tires and don't know if 2,000 pounds of metal is coming at you,? Alachua County Sheriff's Sgt. Todd Kelly told the Gainesville Sun.

At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Hours later, twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All six lanes of the interstate were closed most of Sunday as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames.

The northbound lanes were reopened at about 5:30 p.m. The Gainesville Sun reported that the southbound lanes reopened at around 11 p.m. on Sunday.

No sign of lightning
At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved, police said. Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

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

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

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

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

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46186780/ns/us_news-life/

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As UN nuclear inspectors arrive, Iran says 'questions will be answered'

The three-day visit could shape the direction of Western efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is only for peaceful purposes.?

Iran Sunday declared itself optimistic about a UN experts' visit aimed at probing suspected military aspects of its nuclear work and lawmakers postponed debate on a proposed halt to oil flows to the European Union watched closely in energy markets.

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A team of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors began a three-day visit to try to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tensions with the West rose this month when Washington and the European Union imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest oil exporter to sell its crude.

Q&A: What's with all the war talk surrounding Iran?

The Mehr news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit,"

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine [nuclear] activities."

Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional, and technical" job or suffer the consequences.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Mr. Larijani, state media reported.

"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool [for major powers to pressure Iran], then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Iran's parliament in the past has approved bills to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped the Islamic state would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

Parliament debate postponed

Less than one week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1, Iranian lawmakers were due to debate a bill later Sunday that would cut off oil supplies to the European Union (EU) in a matter of days.

Iranian lawmakers postponed discussing the bill.

"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr.

"Some MPs had an idea that should be studied by the energy committee before being drafted as a bill. We hope our discussions will be finished by Friday."

Embargo would hit refiners

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/lGS3I8ZcyQ0/As-UN-nuclear-inspectors-arrive-Iran-says-questions-will-be-answered

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Nineteen pets killed in Spotsylvania fire - The News Desk

Nineteen pets died in a Saturday morning fire that destroyed a home in the Lake Wilderness I subdivision of Spotsylvania County.

Spotsylvania Deputy Fire Chief Monty Willaford said 12 cats and seven dogs perished inside the single-family home in the 12900 block of Dubin Drive. Another three cats were rescued, and four more were missing.

The residents of the house were not there when the fire occurred.

A 911 call about the fire came in at 11:16 a.m., Willaford said, and the first firefighters arrived about 10 minutes later. The 1,800-square-foot house was engulfed in flames when crews got there, and the roof soon collapsed. There were no injuries to any humans.

About 30 firefighters and rescuers assisted in the effort, but the fire resulted in a total loss of the house, which was valued at about $200,000, Willaford said. Heat from the blaze caused about $10,000 in damage to the next-door house, mostly to its vinyl siding.

Fire officials investigated the cause of the Saturday blaze throughout the day. Willaford said it is too early to tell if the fire was accidental, or what caused it.

-Bill Freehling

Source: http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2012/01/28/nineteen-pets-killed-in-spotsylvania-fire/

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Sanctions to hit EU buyback firms: Iran oil chief (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? European oil companies that are owed oil by Iran could lose out if Iran imposes a ban on crude exports to the EU next week, a measure currently before the Iranian parliament, the head of Iran's state oil company said Saturday.

"Generally, the parties to incur damage from the EU's recent decision will be European companies with pending contracts with Iran," Ahmad Qalebani, head of the National Iranian Oil Co. told the ISNA news agency.

"The European companies will have to abide by the provisions of the buyback contracts," he said. "If they act otherwise, they will be the parties to incur the relevant losses and will subject the repatriation of their capital to problems."

The EU banned imports of oil from Iran Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at deflecting Tehran's nuclear development program.

(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Ben Harding)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_iran_oil_sanctions

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As Sears Plans Closings, Cities Fight To Keep Stores

Sears Holdings Corp., the iconic company that sold millions of families their first appliances and christened America's tallest building, finally succumbed to shabby sales late December, announcing that it would close 100 to 120 of its of its Sears and Kmart stores. Many of the 81 store closings announced thus far are in small towns, where Sears is one of only a handful of retailers.

Now, at least four of the places affected -- Jackson, Miss., Cleveland, Tenn., New Smyrna Beach, Fla., and Harper Woods, Mich. -- are fighting the company's decision. Local governments, afraid of the economic impact of the closures, are appealing to Sears Holdings with petitions, rallies and even tax incentives, so far to no avail.

"We would like for a major store to remain in the Jackson area," pleaded Mary Garner on the online petition started by Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. "Please do not desert us." The petition had 3,251 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

Without a replacement store -- unlikely to emerge in this economy -- the departure of a Sears or Kmart means fewer jobs, less tax revenue and another ugly vacancy for already struggling cities. It also means a loss of pride. Even as affluent Americans protest the spread of chains like Walmart and shoppers look online for good deals, big box stores remain important symbols of prosperity for many small towns.

Once America's largest retailer -- and still one of its most ubiquitous, with almost as many store locations as Walmart -- Sears Holdings has struggled in recent years to refresh its staid brand and aging retail stores. After seeing same-store sales decline 5.2 percent in the eight weeks before Christmas (traditionally the most profitable time of the year), the company announced the closures.

"We appreciate the community support and in fact have seen an increase in traffic to these stores since the petitions have started," Tom Aiello, a Sears spokesperson, wrote in an email. "Unfortunately these stores have lost money for several years and Sears Holdings, as a company, cannot continue to support underperforming stores."

RALLIES AND INCENTIVES

Mayors Harvey Johnson Jr. of Jackson, Miss., and Tom Rowland, of Cleveland, Tenn., say that Sears Holdings didn't contact them before making the announcement and that their cities are in the midst of economic development projects that they had hoped would eventually bring more business to struggling stores like Sears'.

"I would hate to see us lose the Sears brand," Rowland said, noting that Cleveland, with a population of 41,285, is also the place where many of the Kenmore ranges -- a brand of ovens exclusive to Sears -- are manufactured. He cited a recently completed luxury apartment complex and a soon-to-open branch of the Whirlpool plant as examples of his city's vibrancy. While Cleveland has other big stores in the area, including branches of Home Depot and Kmart, the loss of one of its oldest department stores would hurt, he said.

Jackson, meanwhile, stands to lose much more: Sears is one of only two remaining anchor stores in the largest mall in Mississippi. City officials are considering offering the company an incentive package to keep it in the Metrocenter Mall, according to Chris Mims, director of communications for the mayor's office.

Jackson, the state's capital, has seen its population drop 5.8 percent since 2000, and the Metrocenter Mall has not fared well either. Since the mall's opening in 1978, it has declined along with the surrounding neighborhood as newer, nicer shopping centers opened in the northern part of the city. In 2010, the mall owners narrowly avoided foreclosure, and today only two of four anchor spaces are filled. That number will dwindle to one if Sears leaves.

Jackson city officials, working to fight the flight of retail from the area, are planning to move 200 to 300 employees from various government offices into one former anchor space in the mall, which they hope will bring new customers to stores like Sears, Mims said.

Any incentive package would most likely be made up of tax abatements, according to Mims. Jackson will lose $129,000 in property taxes annually should the store close. While proposing incentives for private companies is a bold move in a state currently considering cutting its public health budget, Sears is enough of a fixture in Jackson that public support (and petition signatures) are mounting for the plan.

'SEARS HELPED US'

So far, Sears Holdings has yet to respond publicly to the cities' efforts. It's not clear yet whether things will change before Sears Holdings completes the liquidation process for its stores in the next few months.

For cities, giving incentives to retailers doesn't always work out as planned. In 2002, when Kmart (then a separate company) announced store closings en masse, city officials in Buffalo, N.Y., presented the company with a $400,000 incentive package, including six months' worth of free rent, to keep its local store. While the company initially accepted the offer, a few months later it decided to close the Kmart anyway. The building remains vacant to this day, with Buffalo green-lighting plans for an Aldi discount supermarket to take over the space only this past summer.

In New Smyrna Beach, Fla., the petition drive to save Kmart hit a standstill last week when organizers failed to gain the support of the city commission and mayor, even though roughly 6,000 people had signed on. While there is a brand-new Super Walmart a few miles away, unlike Kmart, that store isn't accessible by public transportation. Some worry that those who don't have cars will be out of luck once Kmart is gone. "Poor and elderly people will be especially hurt," said Ellen Weller, 70, the retired nurse who launched the petition.

Dottie, a Kmart employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing her last set of paychecks, is one of those people. "I've worked here for 17 years and now I'm looking for another job," she said. "I'm 72 and I live on my own on a very tight budget. It's very scary."

Whether or not the stores will stay afloat, the news of their closing has generated one strange by-product: nostalgia. Since shoppers learned of the closures, there has been more effusive praise for the iconic glory of Sears than any other time in recent history (and certainly more than was ever generated by the company's own advertising campaigns).

"I would like to see the Sears at Metrocenter in Jackson MS remain open because of the great values on the everyday products that working class people need and want," wrote Anthony Clay on the Jackson petition. Below him, many others pledged earnestly to do all of their shopping at Sears until the store decided to remain open.

"Sears helped us, I believe we can and will help Sears," wrote Jim Watford.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/sears-closes-cities_n_1231326.html

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Today's sports briefs 1-27

Corn Belt classic pairings released

The Corn Belt Conference basketball classic will be held on Saturday in Freeman.

The classic starts at 11 a.m. at Freeman High School with the Menno girls playing Marion. At 12:30 p.m., the Menno boys play Marion.

The Canistota girls play Bridgewater-Emery at 2 p.m. and the Bridgewater-Emery boys play Freeman at 3:30 p.m. At 5 p.m., the Freeman girls play Hanson, and at 6:30 p.m., the Canistota boys play Hanson.

All-day admission for adults is $5, and students? admission is $4.

Craion, Oral Roberts pound South Dakota

TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? Michael Craion?s double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds paced Oral Roberts to its 12th straight victory in a 97-64 decision over South Dakota on Thursday night.

Mikey Manghum scored 18 points, all on 3-pointers, and Steven Roundtree 17 for the Golden Eagles (19-4, 11-0), whose winning streaks reached 19 at home and 18 in the Summit League. Warren Niles added 11 points and Dominique Morrison 10.

Charlie Westbrook scored 23 points and Trevor Gruis 11 for the Coyotes (7-13, 2-9), who have dropped four of five.

Manghum hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Oral Roberts a 20-15 lead with 11:04 to go in the first half, and the Golden Eagles never trailed after that.

The Golden Eagles outshot the Jackrabbits 56.7 percent to 45.5 percent, held a 36-26 rebounding advantage and piled up 13 steals and 21 assists.

Oral Roberts took the first meeting 79-67 on the road Dec. 30.

Bader, Oakland, Mich., top South Dakota St. 92-87

ROCHESTER, Mich. (AP) ? Travis Bader scored 37 points and set a school record with 10 3-pointers to lead Oakland, Mich., to a 92-87 victory over South Dakota State on Thursday night.

Bader went 10 of 14 from long range, and his 3-pointer with 1:36 left gave the Golden Grizzlies the lead for good at 81-79. He also tied the best 3-point output in Division I this season.

Drew Valentine scored 19 points for Oakland (12-11, 6-5 Summit League), which has won four of five. Reggie Hamilton added 16 points and Ryan Bass 10. Corey Petros grabbed 10 rebounds.

Two players had double-doubles for the Jackrabbits (16-6, 8-2), whose three-game winning streak ended. Jordan Dykstra scored 23 points with 10 rebounds, and Nate Wolters had 21 points and 12 assists. Griffan Callahan scored 17, and Taevaunn Prince had 10 rebounds.

The Golden Grizzlies earned a season split, having lost 76-64 at South Dakota State.

Bucs hire Greg Schiano as coach

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? The Buccaneers are counting on Greg Schiano to lead them back to respectability and transform Tampa Bay into consistent winners ? much in the same way he made Rutgers matter again.

The 45-year-old former Scarlet Knights coach was hired Thursday, more than three weeks after the Bucs fired Raheem Morris following a 4-12 finish.

Celtics beat Orlando 91-83

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? Paul Pierce had 24 points and 10 assists, and E?Twaun Moore added 16 points to help the Boston Celtics erase a 27-point deficit and beat the Orlando Magic for the second time this week, 91-83 on Thursday night.

Pierce and Moore had 10 points each in the fourth quarter.

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Orlando had an 11-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but shot 2 of 17 in the final 12 minutes.

Tags: sports,?updates

Source: http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/61640/

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George Clooney Plans to End Brad Pitt's Career With a Prank

George Clooney and Brad Pitt are known throughout Hollywood not just for their acting talent, blockbuster appeal, or good looks, but for their penchant for executing some really elaborate pranks on their costars and friends. But as Clooney tells it, Pitt should be afraid -- very, very afraid.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/george-clooney-plans-end-brad-pitts-career-prank/1-a-422647?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ageorge-clooney-plans-end-brad-pitts-career-prank-422647

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APNewsBreak: Army to cut combat brigades

FILE In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32, and broadly restructure its fighting force to save money and cut the size of the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32, and broadly restructure its fighting force to save money and cut the size of the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32 in a broad restructuring of its fighting force aimed at cutting costs and reducing the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans.

Officials said the sweeping changes will likely increase the size of each combat brigade ? generally by adding another battalion ? in an effort to ensure that those remaining brigades have the fighting capabilities they need when they go to war. A brigade is usually about 3,500 soldiers, but can be as large as 5,000 for the heavily armored units. A battalion is usually between 600-800 soldiers.

The brigade restructuring is intended to save money without eroding the military's ability to protect the country and wage war when needed. Army officials contend that while there would be fewer brigades, building them bigger will give them more capabilities and depth, and will reduce stress on the units.

They said specialty units, such as Army special operations forces, would not be affected by the cuts.

Reducing the overall number of brigades will also eliminate the need for the headquarters units that command and oversee them.

Officials acknowledged that merging battalions together into larger brigades could shift some soldiers to different bases across the country, although that effort could be stymied by members of Congress who don't like to see the staffing decline at bases that feed the local economy. Officials said the Army will try to limit such shifts.

The cuts come as the Pentagon puts the finishing touches on its 2013 fiscal year budget, which must reflect about $260 billion in savings in its five-year plan. Congress has ordered the Defense Department to come up with a total of $487 billion over the next 10 years, and could face cuts of double that amount if Congress can't reach an agreement to avoid automatic across-the-board reductions mandated by lawmakers last year.

Officials spoke about the budget plans on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public.

Military leaders, from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on down, insist they will come up with the budgets cuts without hurting the force's effectiveness. In fact, many of the top Army leaders who have been putting the budget together were around when massive budget cuts after the Vietnam war left Army units badly undermanned and ill-equipped ? leading to what they call a hollow force.

According to officials, plans call for the active duty Army to shrink from a high of about 570,000 soldiers to roughly 490,000 over the next decade or so. Initial cuts have been ongoing, and there are currently about 558,000 active duty soldiers in the Army.

Additionally, there are nearly 205,000 in the Army Reserve and close to 360,000 in the Army National Guard, the Army said Wednesday.

The Army plans to shed soldiers carefully, including through planned departures, separations for medical or behavioral problems, and by scaling back the number of people promoted or allowed to enlist and re-enlist.

One priority would be to make sure that the Army retains its mid-level officers, who routinely take up to 10 years to get to the rank of major or higher. Army leaders struggled through periods of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, using bonuses and other incentives to retain the mid-level officers they needed to command smaller units on the battlefield.

But Army officials also acknowledge that they will be forced to deny the reenlistment of many qualified soldiers, while also continuing to bring in quality recruits.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, chief of staff of the Army, has warned that cutting brigades was one way to cut the budget. And he said that shrinking the force will mean that the Army will no longer be able to handle two simultaneous conflicts ? long a requirement for the U.S. military.

But the new military strategy mapped out by President Barack Obama and his defense team envisions a shift away from the hard-fought ground wars of Iraq and Afghanistan that relied on tens of thousands of troops to battle stubborn terrorists and insurgent groups. The future military, instead, will focus more on Asian security risks such as China and North Korea, and build on partnerships in the Middle East to keep an eye on Iran.

One major reduction, already announced by Panetta, will cut the number of Army brigades stationed in Europe from four to two. Other units would rotate in and out of the region as needed.

Currently there are three brigades in Germany and one in Vicenza, Italy, and that would change so that there would be one in Germany and one in Vicenza.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-25-US-US-Army-Cuts/id-2f109480ffe240d7b7160e113a07c217

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A Legal Defense Fund for Climate Scientists - NYTimes.com

For years, climate scientists have been assailed from many sides ? through e-mail hacking, death threats, politician?s demands for documents, Freedom of Information requests (many having the strong smell of a fishing expedition).

A Climate Science Legal Defense Fund set up last fall has taken on a formal affiliation with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an established nonprofit group offering aid and advice to government whistleblowers and scientists working on environmental issues.

Below you can read a news release distributed by one of the organizers of the fund, Scott A. Mandia, a physical sciences professor* at Suffolk County Community College. There will be three focal points, according to the fund Web site:

Litigation: The Climate Science Defense Fund is taking an active interest in litigation. Currently several climate scientists have litigation in the courts. The Climate Science Defense Fund will play an active role in helping raise funds for their defense, serving as a resource in finding pro-bono representation, and providing support during difficult litigation proceedings.

Education: The Climate Science Defense Fund will work to educate the scientific community about their rights and their responsibilities with regard to legal issues surrounding their work.

Knowledge Bank: The Climate Science Defense Fund will serve as a clearinghouse for information related to legal actions taken against scientists. Our goal is to provide lawyers representing scientists with information about past cases and strategies.

I conducted a short e-mail interview with Jeff Ruch (video interview), the longtime executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:

Q.

Are you concerned that this stretches too far beyond PEER?s traditional role as protecting public employees, or is this a sign of PEER expanding beyond that sphere to any scientist working under public (federal) grants?

A.

PEER has always defended scientists working at public universities or working under federal grants (for example?). In addition, we have assembled legal defense funds for public employees facing legal costs (for example?).

So, we ? including our board of directors ? see the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund as a direct extension of our previous work. It is another arrow in our quiver to further our mission ? protecting public employees who protect our environment.

Q.

If that is the plan, are there specific foundation grants or other substantial initial individual contributions that have made this possible?

A.

No. All funds have come from individual contributions. We will likely seek foundation support for the non-litigation activities of the defense fund, such as educating climate scientists about their legal rights and responsibilities and assisting university counsel in responding to vacuum cleaner information requests.

Q.

Also most of the wording [in the news release] relates to ?corporate? or ?industry? funded efforts when in fact there are and have been substantial efforts backed by foundations and individuals who are not directly connected with industry. Is that an intentional distinction?

A.

The cases of which I am aware have a direct corporate connection, including the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Q.

Finally, when the issue is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), there?s a murky line between what is fishing and what isn?t. Many FOIA requests of green groups over the years could be cast as such. This is one reason the Union of Concerned Scientists, for example, has walked a fine line in its statements on abuse of FOIA. Should a researcher using a state university e-mail address and working under federal grants be entitled to presume his/her correspondence is ?private? (as described below)?

A.

?The central issue is whether the subject of the inquiry is public business. Generally, scientific articles submitted in the author?s name with a disclaimer that the work does not represent the institution falls outside what is official business. Our main concern is that industry-funded groups and law firms are seeking to criminalize the peer review process by obtaining internal editorial comments of reviewers as a means to impeach or impugn scientists.

The grants themselves and the grant reports are public but a federal grant does not transform a university lab into an executive branch agency ? which is the ambit of FOIA.

By the way, as an adjunct to our whistleblower practice, PEER makes extensive use of FOIA to force disclosure of matters other wise buried in agency cubicles. A good example of one our science-based FOIA [requesets] is this.

Here?s the news release from Mandia:

The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) has found a non-profit home in Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) which provides it fiscal sponsorship and logistical support. CSLDF lets scientific colleagues and the public directly help climate scientists protect themselves and their work from industry-funded legal attacks.

In recent years, these legal attacks have intensified, especially against climate scientists. The fund is designed to help scientists like Professor Michael Mann cope with the legal fees that stack up in fighting attempts by climate-skeptic groups to gain access to private emails and other correspondence through lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests at their public universities.

The project is co-directed by physical sciences Professor Scott Mandia of Suffolk County Community College and Joshua Wolfe, co-author of ?Climate Change: Picturing the Science.? The Fund started this past fall after Prof. Mandia posted a ?Dear Colleague? appeal for support which generated more than $10,000 in less than 24 hours (http://bit.ly/qzg7X4). To date, CSLDF has raised $25,000. All contributions to CSLDF are tax-deductible.

?Academic salaries are not designed to support ongoing legal expenses in fights with corporate-funded law firms and institutes,? said Prof. Mandia. ?These legal battles also have taken many of our brightest scientific minds away from their research.?

?Our goal is not only to defend the scientist but to protect the scientific endeavor,? explained Wolfe. ?The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund was established to make sure that these legal claims are not viewed as an action against one scientist or institution but as actions against the scientific endeavor as a whole.?

In addition to its core mission of defraying legal fees, CSLDF will ?

? Educate researchers about their legal rights and responsibilities on issues surrounding their work;
? Serve as a clearinghouse for information related to legal actions taken against scientists; and
? Recruit and assist lawyers representing these scientists.

?The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund dovetails with the mission of PEER ? to protect those who protect our environment,? stated PEER executive Director Jeff Ruch. ?When individual researchers find themselves under intense legal assault, they often have few resources. Their universities do not necessarily represent their interests and may be disinclined to resist corporate fishing expeditions. We are stepping into this void to provide direct aid to both the scientists and their institutions.?

---

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 25, 2012

The initial post incorrectly identified Scott Mandia as a professor of physics. He is a professor of physical sciences (with his degree in meteorology).

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/a-legal-defense-fund-for-climate-scientists/

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New Target Discovered for Pain Relief

News | Health

A neuropathic pain expert says, however, that in the past 30 years virtually no new drug targets have made it into the clinic as effective pain-relief drugs

By Katharine Sanderson and Nature magazine ?| January 22, 2012

Image: National Cancer Institute

An uncharted trawl through thousands of small molecules involved in the body's metabolism may have uncovered a potential route to treating pain caused by nerve damage.

Neuropathic pain is a widespread and distressing condition, and is notoriously difficult to treat. So Gary Siuzdak, a chemist and molecular biologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and his team decided to take an unusual route to finding a therapy. Their results are published today in?Nature Chemical Biology.

They took rats with surgically damaged paws, who were consequently suffering from neuropathic pain, and instead of analyzing changes in gene expression and proteins in the animals, focused on metabolites?the biochemical intermediates and end-products of bodily processes such as respiration and the synthesis and breakdown of molecules. The science that looks at the body's metabolite composition is known as metabolomics. Using mass spectrometry, which can detect many different chemicals simultaneously, the researchers were able to identify the metabolites present in these animals 21 days after surgery.

Surprise finding

The team analyzed samples of the injured rats? blood plasma, of tissue near the injured paw, and of tissue from different areas of the spinal column, and compared the metabolites present with that of the same site in healthy rats. One particular area differed markedly between the two cases: the dorsal horn in the spinal column.

"It took me by surprise,? says Siuzdak, who had expected to see most differences in metabolite composition near the site of injury.

The researchers then looked more closely at the metabolites and recognized that the ones that were changing the most were associated with the metabolic pathway that synthesizes and breaks down the phospholipid sphingomyelin, a component of cell membranes, and its ceramide precursors.

?It was a huge flare to us that this was something we should home in on,? says team member Gary Patti, a chemist at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri.

Using cultures of spinal cord cells the researchers then tried to work out which of the altered metabolites might be responsible for pain. One molecule,?the previously unidentified metabolite?N,N-dimethylsphingosine (DMS), stood out for the amount of pain signallng it triggered in the cells.

Untargeted screening

To test experimentally whether this molecule was involved in neuropathic pain, the team then injected small amounts of DMS into healthy rats, and sure enough, those rats showed signs of pain.

The team hopes that DMS might prove to be important in the biochemistry of pain, and perhaps offer a target for drug manufacturers. But neuropathic pain expert Andrew Rice at Imperial College London says that in the past 30 years he has seen many targets identified, but virtually none of them has made it into the clinic as an effective pain-relief drug.

Rice lauds the attention shown to neuropathic pain but is concerned that the current animal model for pain is limited: it only corresponds to pain resulting from trauma, and not to the many other sources of neuropathic pain, which include diabetes, HIV infection and stroke. ?I?d like to see if this is more than a peripheral nerve damage model,? he says.

Siuzdak says his untargeted screening technique could prove useful in identifying drug targets for many other conditions. The more conventional way of using metabolomics is with targeted searches, where the molecule of interest is identified first, before seeing where it might be present. ?[Our approach] is more challenging than targeted analyses,? he says. ?You have to be open to any possibility of what pathways are affected.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=729f452618f12f216eee34a1eb594370

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The White House joins Google+, invites you to Hangout

President Obama may have been on Google+ since November, but the administration is now stepping up its presence on the social network even further in anticipation of next week's State of the Union address and the forthcoming presidential campaign. It now has an official White House Google+ page, where it plans to post the usual news, photos and videos, and also host regular Hangout video chats. There's no promises yet that the President himself will take part, but the White House says it will regularly have administration officials and policy experts take part in the conversations, which will also be streamed on YouTube and WhiteHouse.gov. Those interested can click the link below to add the page to their Circles.

The White House joins Google+, invites you to Hangout originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  The White House (Google+), The White House Blog  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0pek1TkZwcM/

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Finding the Hawaii of 'The Descendants'

Doug Peebles / Kauai Visitors Bureau

By Lygia Navarro, msnbc.com contributor

Who hasn?t dreamt of Hawaii, fueled by a postcard from a friend vacationing there, an image in a magazine, or a movie scene? With the popularity of the Oscar-nominated film "The Descendants," crowds of travelers are being drawn to Hawaii by the film?s portrayal of what the author of the novel inspiring the film calls "the real Hawaii" ? Hawaiians struggling with workaday concerns (health problems, marital difficulties and arguments over an inheritance) amidst gorgeous island backdrops.

?It?s ironic that I wrote this book that shows other sides of Hawaii, that?s not so pretty and glamorous, and that?s why people want to come,? said author Kaui Hart Hemmings, a Hawaii native. ?I don?t think Hawaii has ever been captured on film, as it really is, until now.?

?It?s almost become like our modern-day ?South Pacific,? said Kauai Visitors Bureau executive director Sue Kanoho, comparing the film to the blockbuster 1958 musical shot on Kauai. Tour operators note the influx of visitors looking for scenes from the film, and the visitors bureau will begin surveying visitors on whether ?The Descendants? inspired their trip.

Hemmings and Kanoho both say director Alexander Payne worked to make the film look like their lives. ?He really took time to get it right,? said Kanoho, ?and gave a glimpse into modern-day Hawaii life. The film touches upon that it?s more than a sun and surf location, but really about the legacy of the land and the people.?

Protecting Hawaii?s natural beauty is a central drama in the film ? and in real life. ?People are very protective of the land, what you call the ?aina?? in Hawaiian, said Kanoho. ?The challenge is about having people come and experience the beauty, but then really understanding and respecting what [the land] means to the people here.?

/

The Hawaiian Islands are the perfect vacation destination for travelers of all types.

Kanoho says the conundrum over what to do with inherited land ? sell for the financial windfall, or keep for the islands? posterity ? is faced by many Hawaiian families. In fact, the property owned by the fictional King family in ?The Descendants? is a real cattle ranch: the former sugarcane plantation called Kipu Ranch, near Lihue, Kauai, is still owned by descendants of former Kauai governor William Hyde Rice, who bought the land from the Hawaiian monarchy in the 1870s.

For the view George Clooney?s character showed his daughters of their family?s land, visitors (including people with mobility issues and children at least five years old) can hop an all-terrain vehicle with Kipu Tours?for a three-hour ranch and mountain tour or a four-hour waterfall picnic tour. And Roberts Hawaii runs the Hawaii Movie Tour?on Kauai, highlighting spots shown in ?Jurassic Park,? ?Pirates of the Caribbean? and others, including Tahiti Nui, the restaurant and bar where Clooney?s and Beau Bridges? characters share a drink.

Robert Y. Ono / ? Robert Y. Ono/CORBIS

Her warm friendly people, inspiring natural beauty and unique culture draw people to the immaculate shores of Oahu.

On Oahu, where the fictional King family lives, author Hemmings recommends tourist favorites and stops off the beaten path. ?If this [film] gets people to venture out and get to know more, that?s a big score,? Hemmings said. Hemmings loves the bustle of Honolulu?s Chinatown?and the ?pockets of quiet? that can still be found in Kailua, where she lives, and on the north shore of Oahu, where visitors can watch surfers ride enormous waves.

Not to be missed, Hemmings says, is the volcano at Haleakala?? even if it is so touristy that hard-core hikers mix with Japanese tourists in high heels. ?It?s a big volcano ? there?s snow. You can hike down into the crater, but you really feel like you?re walking into the moon.??

More stories you might like:

Source: http://itineraries.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10219749-finding-the-hawaii-of-the-descendants

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Forensic Anthropology Gives Voice to Unidentified Remains

RALEIGH, N.C.?Bone-hunters and anthropologists typically guard their fossils as priceless specimens. I?ve learned to ask: ?Is that real or a cast?? when shown a specimen. Often it?s a replica. So, I was as thrilled as a 12-year-old today when I saw two real, contemporary human skeletons and several human skulls during a tour here of forensic anthropologist Ann Ross?s Osteology Lab in the Park Shops building at North Carolina State University (NCSU). (See Anna Kuchment?s longer article on this lab in the September 2010 issue of Scientific American, as well as this slide show and video that reveals other comparisons made by forensic anthropologists.) I admit to taking a ghoulish but also scientifically curious delight in learning about forensic science, and I?m clearly not alone given all the TV crime shows that trade on such details.

The focus in Ross?s lab, however, is as serious as murder. Anthropologists, entomologists and other experts at NCSU tackle about a dozen complicated cases a year referred to the Osteology Lab by the state medical examiner?typically dismemberment or child abuse cases. Ross?s lab will conduct analyses to determine the tool used by a criminal to cut apart bones. In fact, she casually pointed to several sawed-up pig bones set out on a lab bench. Their job: to help analysts determine whether a hand saw or powered saw was used in a recent human dismemberment case.

In Ross?s wet lab, tissue is removed from bones by boiling them in water for 30 minutes, or letting borax, bleach or laundry detergent go to work on them. Ross had set out a disarticulated skeleton on an exam table to show a group of us from the ScienceOnline2012 conference. Holding up a femur, then the skull, a radius and the pelvic girdle, she showed us some of the features used to identify corpses and determine the probable cause of death?worn-down processes, muscle-marked upper humerus, a retreating chin. DNA, radiographic, morphometric and dental data also contribute, when available. In this case, two bullet holes through the skull and an exit blast made the cause of death clear. Patterns of radiating fractures in the skull revealed which bullet struck first and gave clues about the caliber of the firearm used. Skull bone suture patterns accumulated over the first couple of decades of the victim?s life revealed clues to his ancestry?MesoAmerican. Missing teeth indicated poor nutrition.

Forensic anthropology has also been put to systematic use by Ross to help identify risk factors for genocide. Her studies have shown that genocide victims typically suffer from such conditions as poor nutrition, spina bifida, middle-ear infections and severe dental enamel defects. Preventive policy could be implemented in areas where a high presence of these factors confirms other social data to suggest an increased probability for regional genocide. She has conducted such analyses on bodies collected in Rwanda, Bosnia and Croatia.

Ross stresses that her role as a forensic anthropologist is to present the facts as clearly and as objectively as possible. ?I sit up nights and think about a case?did I missing something?? she said. Her goal is to ?bring resolution to someone who had no voice,? to people, often children, whose cases fell through the cracks of the criminal justice system.

Image caption: Case of human skulls in NCSU forensic anthropologist Ann Ross?s Osteology Lab. Can you tell which one is not a cast/replica? Credit: Robin Lloyd

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=408bfa3f5fa0cd4e9a8f69dc83daf778

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Gingrich wins South Carolina GOP primary

By Michael O'Brien, msnbc.com

?

Updated 8:46 p.m. ET

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, capping off a remarkable comeback for his presidential bid that reshapes the trajectory of the battle for the GOP nomination.

Based on exit polls and early returns, NBC News projects Gingrich as the winner of the primary, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will finish second.

The results mark the end of a tumultuous week in politics that saw Gingrich erase and then overcome the lead Romney had in the Palmetto State following his victory in the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary. Gingrich came on strong in the closing days of the campaign, looking to rally under his banner the many conservatives unwilling to get behind Romney, who had sought to posture himself as the eventual nominee.

The results upset the conventional wisdom in the race, which had set expectations for Romney to score a knockout blow against his competitors with a win in the Palmetto State. Gingrich?s victory reshapes the race, at a minimum extending the primary contest through the Jan. 31 primary in Florida, which appears set to feature a pitched battle between Romney and Gingrich.

VIEW full South Carolina primary results

"We're now three contests into a long primary season ... We've still got a long way to go, and a lot of work to do," Romney said in remarks shortly after 8 p.m., in which he previewed the line of attacks he'll use against Gingrich in Florida.

Gingrich, Romney said, had joined President Obama in launching a "frontal assault on free enterprise," referencing the ex-speaker's attack on Romney's record at Bain Capital.

"Those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow," Romney said. "If Republican leaders want to join this president in demonizing success...then they're not going to be fit to be our nominee."

After finishing second in the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney says the race is "getting even more interesting," and tells the crowd, "there is so much worth fighting."

Gingrich's performance in South Carolina was driven in thanks to late deciders, who broke decisively in his direction in the last few days of the campaign. That stretch saw two debate performances by Gingrich, on Monday and Thursday nights. Almost two-thirds of voters said the debates were an important factor in their decision, and Gingrich won about half of them.

More broadly, core elements of the GOP base in South Carolina ? conservatives, Tea Party supporters and evangelical Christians ? broke for Gingrich. And the former speaker even edged Romney in two important constituencies for the former Massachusetts governor: voters who said electability in November was their most important concern in a nominee, and voters who said the economy was their top issue.

?The South Carolina results underscore Romney?s lingering inability to overcome skepticism from conservatives about electing him as their standard-bearer against Obama this fall.

RELATED: Conservatives, evangelical Christians rebuff Romney in South Carolina

Gingrich had erased Romney?s lead by abandoning his previous pledge to wage a ?relentlessly positive? campaign. The former speaker eventually embraced a strategy of drawing strong contrasts with Romney and benefited from the negative advertising run on his behalf by a super PAC ? a practice Gingrich loudly denounced in Iowa, where he saw his poll numbers collapse amid attacks by a pro-Romney super PAC.

?I hope to win S.C.? Gingrich said Friday night in Orangeburg, ?God willing we'll win, and tomorrow night will be very interesting and then Florida will be even more interesting and I'm sure you'll want to come with us.?

His victory provides, if nothing else, a symbolic imprimatur; the winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the nomination in each Republican primary since the contest?s inception in 1980.

Voters headed to the polls in stormy conditions throughout most of the Palmetto State that could hold down turnout in some areas. County election officials reported light turnout in some areas, and heavier than expected voter rolls in other areas.

The South Carolina results capped one of the most tumultuous weeks in the presidential campaign thus far, a week that saw the veneer of inevitability the Romney campaign had built for itself erode by the end.

Recertified results in the Iowa caucuses found that he had actually lost the contest by a handful of votes to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. And Romney has fought to withstand some of the most intense scrutiny he?s faced during the campaign; critics have assailed his private equity career and demanded Romney release his tax returns ? demands which only reached a fever pitch after Romney estimated he pays an effective rate of 15 percent of his income in taxes.

Moreover, Romney?s performance in South Carolina will speak volumes about his fractious relationship with movement conservatives. He?s struggled at times to break through a ceiling on his support from those voters, who are skeptical of Romney?s past conversion on abortion rights and his embrace of authorship of a health care law as governor that closely resembles Obama?s 2010 reform law.

Romney had largely stuck to message in South Carolina, where he?s campaigned since winning Jan. 10?s New Hampshire primary, by keeping his focus on Obama and posturing himself more as a presumptive nominee.

But in an acknowledgement of Gingrich?s late push, the Romney campaign has also revived the attacks on the former speaker they used to great effect in Iowa to tamp down Gingrich?s December surge.

?Let's have him describe his relationships in Washington,? Romney said Saturday in Greenville, turning up the heat on Gingrich and highlighting the ex-speaker?s work on behalf of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac. ?If people think Washington is the answer, if people think someone who spent the great majority of their life in Washington, I'll be surprised."

Romney?s campaign appears poised to make that argument even more sharply in Florida. They circulated a ?flashback? video on Saturday reminding voters of the ethics investigation Gingrich had faced during his speakership.

Nonetheless, the fact that Gingrich has arrived at the precipice of political resurrection ? again ? this cycle is itself remarkable.

Political observers had questioned when, not if, he would drop out after suffering missteps at the outset of his campaign that led to the defection of virtually all of his top staff last June. But Gingrich stuck with it and climbed to the top of the polls in Iowa, only to see his numbers implode again after weathering attacks from super PACs and Texas Rep. Ron Paul?s campaign.

In South Carolina, the former speaker has been aided by a variety of factors contributing to his potential comeback. He?s scored major points with voters with a couple of strong debate performances this week, particularly by way of launching acerbic attacks on the media. His angry refusal to answer allegations made by an ex-wife topped headlines coming out of a debate on Thursday ? the same day that saw Texas Gov. Rick Perry drop his own campaign and endorse Gingrich.

GOP candidate Rick Santorum talks about the state of the race and reaffirms that he wants to be the voice for those people in America that don't have one in government

The winnowed field (Jon Huntsman also ended his campaign and endorsed Romney), only reduced the number of candidates threatening to divide the anti-Romney vote in South Carolina.

Santorum, crowned the winner of the Iowa caucuses upon further review of the vote totals, had doggedly criticized both Romney and Gingrich in hopes of rallying conservatives behind his unflashy, if consistent, record.

"Three states, three winners -- what a great country," he said in remarks Saturday evening, vowing to continue his campaign through Florida and subsequent nominating contests.

The Romney campaign is hoping that contest, which awards all of the delegates to its winner, features a primary closed to registered Republicans in a large swing state, will be its firewall. It?s a more expensive campaign to wage because of its multiple, expensive media markets, and is seen as a test of organizational strength.

Romney?s advantage there is one of the reasons the Paul campaign, which is polling third in South Carolina, at 16 percent, in a NBC News-Marist poll earlier this week, has elected to skip the next battle in Florida in favor of focusing on caucuses.

NBC?s Garrett Haake, Alex Moe and Andrew Rafferty contributed.

Source: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/21/10207281-gingrich-looks-to-cement-comeback-while-romney-fights-to-hold-on-in-sc

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Extraordinary Gingrich comeback also vindication

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich prepares to walk off stage with his grand daughter Maggie Cushman, after Gingrich spoke during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich prepares to walk off stage with his grand daughter Maggie Cushman, after Gingrich spoke during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich laughs while speaking during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waves to the crowd with his wife Callista during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, stands with his wife Ann as he speaks at his South Carolina primary election night reception at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary Saturday night. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? To say Newt Gingrich capped an extraordinary comeback with a South Carolina victory doesn't quite capture what happened.

It was more like vindication.

The former House speaker came from behind to overtake Mitt Romney on Saturday in a state that for decades has chosen the eventual Republican nominee. On the way there, Gingrich triumphed over months of campaign turmoil and at least two political near-death experiences as well as millions of dollars of attack advertisements and potentially damning personal allegations.

He did it by finding his voice and rallying conservatives with a populist defiance.

"The American people feel that they have elites who have been trying to force us to stop being Americans," Gingrich told cheering supporters in Columbia after he was declared the victor. "It's not that I am a good debater. It's that I articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people."

It was on the debate stage that the pugnacious Gingrich arguably revived his presidential campaign, not once but twice in the past year, by giving a tea party-infused GOP exactly what it's hungering for ? a no-holds-barred attack dog willing to go after President Barack Obama with abandon. If Gingrich wins the nomination, his confrontational attitude against all things Obama likely will be a big reason Republicans choose him over chief rival Romney.

Gingrich, a political strategist in his own right who has a knack for understanding precisely what the GOP electorate wants, has aggressively taken it to Obama since the moment he entered the race last spring determined to turn his nationwide grass-roots network of support that he's cultivated for a decade into a front-running White House campaign.

But he stumbled early, including by disparaging the House Republicans' Medicare proposal as "right-wing social engineering" and was all but forced to apologize after the conservative outcry. His campaign nearly imploded over strategy squabbles, with virtually his entire senior staff abandoning him before the summer even began. And he was broke after spending lavishly.

Gingrich spent the next six months running his own campaign on a shoestring. The former college professor used a series of debates in the fall ? and the free media they afforded him ? to show Republican voters his political and oratory skills. Their adoration ended up catapulting him back into contention in Iowa. He vowed to stay positive and focus on Obama ? even as his rivals, sensing a very real threat, went on the attack with a barrage of negative TV advertising.

His rivals and allied groups ? primarily the pro-Romney Restore Our Future political action committee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul ? castigated him for a tumultuous speakership and career in Washington after Congress, knocking him way off course and nearly bludgeoning him to political death.

It turned out Gingrich didn't have the money to respond on TV. And his standing slid as the new year began, and he ended up coming in a distant fourth place in the leadoff caucuses on Jan. 3.

He was but an afterthought in the next state to vote, New Hampshire, where he spent a full week on the attack against Romney while complaining about the beating he took in Iowa on the air. But the cash-strapped Gingrich didn't have money to take his criticism of Romney to the TV airwaves. He seemed completely off his game, losing big in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Then Sheldon Adelson came to the rescue.

The billionaire casino magnate and longtime Gingrich backer ponied up at least $5 million for an outside group ? made up of former Gingrich aides ? to help put his buddy back in the game. It wasn't long before the group ? Winning Our Future ? was exacting payback on Romney for his allies pummeling Gingrich in Iowa. And the group started raising questions about Romney's time at the helm of a private equity firm, Bain Capital, putting Romney on the defensive for the first time during the campaign.

When the race turned to South Carolina, it didn't take long for Gingrich? a former Georgia congressman ? to hit his stride. The state had always been a campaign firewall for him. He had visited often, built his biggest staff of any of the first three early-voting states and spent $2.5 million on advertising.

Over the past 10 days, he raised questions about Romney's private business experience while Winning Our Future reinforced the message by financing millions of dollars in South Carolina advertising characterizing Romney as a corporate predator who dismantled companies while running Bain Capital. Gingrich also started working to undercut Romney's strength ? the notion that the former Massachusetts governor was the Republicans' best chance to beat Obama in the fall.

"What you are seeing him doing is convincing people first that he can win," senior Gingrich adviser David Winston explained at one point. "He's in the process of crossing that threshold."

It was his performance in two debates last week that may have helped him seal the deal with undecided Republicans who were questioning his viability as a candidate.

He turned his vulnerabilities ? a comment some interpreted as racist and an allegation by an ex-wife that he had wanted an "open marriage" ? into moments of strength by answering questions about those issues with nothing short of a character assassination on the national media. In both instances, he clearly tickled his conservative audience ? many of whom are skeptical of a media industry they view as left-leaning.

In Myrtle Beach last Monday, Gingrich lashed out when FOX News Juan Williams had asked him if comments he made urging poor minority children to work as janitors were racially insensitive.

"The fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history," Gingrich retorted ? and then turned up the intensity.

His voice rose and he jabbed a finger into the podium as he said: "I believe every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. And if that makes liberals unhappy, I'm going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job, and learn some day to own the job."

The clip became the heart of Gingrich's final television ad in South Carolina, and won high praise from supporters at the barbecue joints and sportsmen's clubs he visited in the campaign's closing days.

But three days later, Gingrich had what seemed like a problem on his hands.

An ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, did an interview with ABC News in which she said Gingrich had asked her to allow him to have a mistress while they were married. It was unclear how the allegation would play in a Baptist state where many in the GOP electorate call themselves evangelical.

Gingrich ended up using the allegation to his advantage on a debate stage in Charleston, when CNN moderator John King opened the candidate face-off by asking Gingrich about his ex-wife's claim.

"Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things," an indigent Gingrich said. "To take an ex-wife and make it, two days before the primary, a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine."

The audience roared and rose to its feet.

Several things also fell Gingrich's way.

Romney's personal wealth was thrust into the spotlight as he stumbled over whether ? and then eventually when ? he would release his tax returns. Gingrich pounced, suggesting Romney may have something to hide that could pose a liability against Obama. Romney also took a hit when the Iowa GOP declared that Rick Santorum, not Romney had won the leadoff caucuses.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also quit the race two days before the primary and endorsed Gingrich. And evangelical conservatives in the state largely ignored the pleas of national Christian leaders who had voted to endorse Santorum and started coalescing behind Gingrich, the only other candidate in the race fighting over the support of the right flank.

In the end, South Carolina Republican strategist Chip Felkel said: "His supporters were fired up, and it's contagious, especially given Romney's failure to generate that kind of enthusiasm."

The coming weeks will determine whether Gingrich can stay on top this time.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-22-How%20Gingrich%20Won/id-b198132f95a94f409a8385de8e5cf7c4

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