latisha undershot: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

I'm Sorry, Steve Jobs: We Could Have Saved You

Siddhartha Mukherjee in Newsweek:

Sid We are failing to treat and prevent cancer?even as the promise of life-saving remedies await us. On the anniversary of Steve Jobs?s death, leading oncologist and the author of The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee explains how we failed to save an icon and why we will lose so many more lives if we do not give cancer research the funding it deserves. In Oct. 5, the night that Steve Jobs died, I ascended 30,000 feet into the thin air above New York on a flight to California. On my lap was a stash of scientific papers. I was reading and taking notes?where else??on an iPad.

Jobs?s death?like a generational Rorschach test?had provoked complex reactions within each of us. There was grief in abundance, of course, admixed with a sense of loss, with desolation and nostalgia. Outside the Apple store in SoHo, New York, that evening, there were bouquets of white gerberas and red roses. Someone had left a bushel of apples by the doorstep and a sign that read ?I-miss ...? I missed Jobs, too?but I also felt a personal embarrassment in his death. I am an oncologist and a cancer researcher. I felt as if my profession, my discipline, and my generation had let him down. Steve Jobs had promised?and then delivered?life-altering technologies. Had we, in all honesty, given him any such life-altering technologies back? I ask the question in all earnestness. Jobs?s life ended because of a form of pancreatic cancer called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, or PNET. These tumors are fleetingly rare: about five in every million men and women are diagnosed with PNETs each year. Deciphering the biology of rare cancers is often challenging. But the past five years have revealed extraordinary insights into the biology of some rare cancers?and PNETs, coincidentally enough, have led part of that charge. By comparing several such tumors, scientists are beginning to understand the biology of these peculiar tumors.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/3quarksdaily/~3/WPEkkM0mnjA/im-sorry-steve-jobs-we-could-have-saved-you.html

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Patient selection for bilateral total knee replacement needs improvement

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2012) ? Because there are more risks with having a total knee replacement in both legs at the same time than having a knee replacement in one leg, doctors in recent years have been selecting younger and healthier patients for the bilateral procedure. Now a new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery has revealed that although patients are younger and healthier than those undergoing only one-sided surgery, they are becoming sicker and some complication rates have risen.

"Although we are selecting younger people, we can't ignore the fact that the population in general is getting sicker," said Stavros Memtsoudis, M.D., Ph.D., director of Critical Care Services at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, who led the study. "Many of the complications that we studied didn't decrease over time as you would expect with younger patients and better health care, and some of the complications even increased." The study is published online ahead of print in the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Rising levels of obesity appear to be driving the complication rates, as well as the increase in the utilization of total knee replacements. Obesity puts extra stress on joints and bones and can cause premature osteoarthritis.

To conduct their research into trends regarding bilateral total knee replacements, researchers at HSS turned to the Nationwide Inpatient Survey, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This is the largest inpatient database available in the United States that includes information on patients of all ages. It collects data from about 20% of all hospitalizations in the U.S. The study investigators identified 258,524 bilateral total knee replacements performed between 1999 and 2008. The number of annual bilateral procedures increased by 75%. In 1999, bilateral procedures accounted for 3.7% of all knee replacement operations and in 2008, they accounted for 6% of the operations.

The average age of patients undergoing bilateral knee replacement decreased by 2.5 years from 1999 to 2008. As the years marched on, patients presented with higher rates of comorbidities, including renal failure, neurologic disease, liver disease, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Obesity increased by 131% during the study period. The only comorbidity that decreased was congestive heart failure.

Over the time period studied, the researchers identified a 3% increase in pneumonia, a 6% increase in pulmonary embolism, and a 3% increase in nonmyocardial infarction cardiac complications.

"The take home message of this paper is that we are fighting an uphill battle, because people are getting sicker, despite us attempting to limit risk by choosing younger people to do these procedures in," said Dr. Memtsoudis. "We have to start thinking of other interventions other than patient selection that we can implement in order to reduce these complications."

On a positive note, the investigators also found that absolute in-hospital mortality rates decreased at an average rate of 10% per year. The researchers attribute this decrease to advances in medicine and increased use of telemetry and observation in the last 10 to 15 years. "With advances in medicine and monitoring, we have been able to counteract this extreme event of mortality. If you get a complication and it is not recognized, you may die from it," said Dr. Memtsoudis. "If you observe people more thoroughly, you may not be able to prevent the complication, but you may be able to prevent a mortal event resulting from it."

The researchers also identified a cost shifting landscape. Patients stayed in the hospital an average of five days after their procedure in 1999 and an average of four days in 2008, but the proportion of discharges to a home or customary residence without home health care decreased at an average rate of 5.5% per year.

"Before this study, we were under the assumption that patient complications were steadily decreasing after bilateral knee arthroplasty, because of better patient selection and improvements in medical care," said Dr. Memtsoudis. "Now we understand that the picture is more complex. Patients being selected for the procedure may be getting younger, but they are not getting healthier and maybe that is why we don't see a drastic drop in complications."

Before embarking on a bilateral knee replacement, he said, patients should "critically look at themselves and talk to their physicians about how their health status plays into the choice of surgery."

More work is needed to identify ways to prevent complications in patients undergoing bilateral knee replacement and a recent conference sponsored by the Hospital for Special Surgery is aiming to do just that. The Consensus Conference on the Creation of Guidelines for Bilateral Knee Arthroplasty involved 40 experts from 16 institutions. The guidelines coming out of this conference, which are expected to be published within the next six months, address issues such as determining the appropriate workup and management for a patient undergoing bilateral knee replacement, and how long doctors should wait between procedures if a patient undergoes two operations.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Hospital for Special Surgery, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

Journal Reference:

Stavros G. Memtsoudis, Carlos B. Mantilla, Javad Parvizi, Ottokar Stundner, Madhu Mazumdar. Have Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasties Become Safer?: A Population-Based Trend Analysis. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research?, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s11999-012-2608-9

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/aTlkoVATYFQ/120929140401.htm

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Sony to invest $645m in Olympus, focus on endoscopes

TOKYO: Electronics giant Sony will invest ¥50 billion ($645 million) in scandal-tainted Olympus, the firms said yesterday, as they both look to turn the page on disastrous chapters.

The investment will make cash-bleeding Sony the single biggest shareholder in Olympus, with slightly more than 11 per cent of its outstanding stock. The companies will also establish a joint venture to develop endoscopes, with the focus on a type used in keyhole surgery, the statements said.

"At Sony, we are aggressively pursuing the growth of our medical business, with the aim of developing it into a key pillar of our overall business portfolio,-? said Sony president Kazuo Hirai in a statement.

"The business and capital alliances we have agreed with Olympus today will be integral to these plans,-? he said. Sony will take a ¥50 billion private placement of Olympus shares by the fiscal year-end for ¥1,454 a share.

The price represents a saving on Olympus's shares on the open market, where they closed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at ¥1,520.
Olympus's reputation was badly damaged after its British former chief executive blew the whistle last year on an accounting scam that saw $1.7 billion worth of losses moved off its balance sheet.

The camera-maker has since announced a major overhaul that includes cutting about seven percent of its workforce, while its new boss had publicly said he was seeking a capital injection to shore up the company's finances.

Olympus reported a 4.46 billion yen loss in the April to June quarter. For the fiscal year to March, Olympus has said it expects to book a net profit of ¥7 billion on sales of ¥920 billion.

"Investment from Sony will help strengthen our financial base,-? said Hiroyuki Sasa, president of Olympus, in its statement.

The alliance will enable the embattled company to "contribute to world medical progress by developing a variety of new medical devices that would not be possible by Olympus alone-?, he said.

For Sony, which continues to lose money in its mainstay television business and has completed the sale of its chemical products in its streamlining effort, strengthening its medical equipment business has been a stated management goal.

Olympus dominates the global market for endoscopes, which are used for internal medical examinations, with nearly 70 per cent of the market. The two companies also hope the alliance will strengthen each other's camera businesses.

(Follow timesofoman.com on Facebook and on Twitter for updates that you can share with your friends.)

Source: http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.aspx?detail=13171

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Nokia Parking helps you find and pay for a spot, we go hands-on (video)

Parking in Paris is a nightmare. No, it's worse -- it's bad enough to keep you awake at night, worrying that your precious machine will be scratched up or simply missing the next morning. Nokia, at least, is trying to make things a little easier with an upcoming service it's just calling Nokia Parking. It's a comprehensive parking database launching in Europe in November that can not only help you find parking but even help you pay for it once you do. More details, and a video demo, after the break.

Continue reading Nokia Parking helps you find and pay for a spot, we go hands-on (video)

Filed under: Software, Nokia

Nokia Parking helps you find and pay for a spot, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Rare September Tornado Hits Near Pittsburgh, Pa.

September 29, 2012; 3:26 PM

Video shot by Matt Whyel
Posted to Facebook by the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh

A tornado touched down in Eighty Four, Pa., on Thursday around 4 p.m. The tornado did minimal damage; however, there was no tornado warning out for the area. The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh gave a detailed explanation of why the storm that produced the tornado did not meet the criteria for a warning:

"A surface low pressure system was moving across the upper Ohio Valley towards the Pittsburgh area associated with showers. As the system moved over Allegheny County, however, it strengthened and spawned heavy rain with windy conditions. The system then moved east and weakened. The greatest instability for thunderstorms to develop was well to the south along the Mason-Dixon Line. Thunderstorms did indeed occur in parts of West Virginia and Maryland in the evening.

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issues Tornado Watches and Severe Thunderstorm Watches. There were no watches issued for our forecast area. In fact, the Pittsburgh area was not even in a Slight Risk area for severe thunderstorms. The nearest Slight Risk area issued by SPC was to our southeast over parts of WV, MD, and VA.

So you're probably wondering what happened with all these reports of flooding, wind damage, and possibly a tornado and what defines a severe thunderstorm. By definition the National Weather Service defines a severe thunderstorm as producing at least 1 inch in diameter of hail, winds of at least 58 mph, or 1 or more tornado (the result of a tornado would be a Tornado Warning). The "huge swirl" on the radar some of you may have seen was the actual surface low pressure spinning counter-clockwise associated with vorticity maximum within the shortwave crossing the region.

Again, the feature was best seen as it was crossing Allegheny County when the system was its strongest and the radar had the best view. Some of the winds had mixed down with the heavy showers causing sporadic areas of damage. Notice how I mentioned heavy showers and not thunderstorms. The reason for that is that there was no lightning and no thunder with the system spinning through the Pittsburgh area! There was however, one (the only one) strike of lightning in Moon Township near our office but that was it. Two areas of heavy rain moved across the Pittsburgh metro area causing some street flooding mainly due to poor drainage areas. Along with the heavy showers, the wind in some areas around the West End region caused several trees to fall, maybe due to the fact that the ground was very saturated from the recent rain in the last week.

At this time, several Special Weather Statements had already been issued to inform about high wind gusts up to 50mph and heavy rainfall that could potentially cause minor flooding and ponding on roads. A Flash Flood warning had been issued for the Pittsburgh Metro area to account for rapidly rising water on roads due to poor drainage. Certainly, severe weather is not very much expected to occur over western PA in late September, especially when the environment is not [capable] of even producing a thunderstorm with almost no instability. The velocity signatures seen on the radar were adequate enough for statements to be issued especially if funnel clouds were reported.

What's the difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado? A funnel cloud is when a rotating column of air does not make it to the ground and a tornado is a rotating column of air that extends from the cloud to the ground. It can't be certain from the video above that the funnel cloud actually made it to the ground due to certain obstructions. The storm survey will give a better indication of what happened and whether the damage done was caused by a tornado or a microburst (rapidly sinking air producing wind damage that is similar to, but distinguishable from, tornadoes)."

Below are radar images of the Washington County, Pa., tornado. The storm was a small supercell with rotation as shown on radar. A supercell is a type of storm that has rotating winds. Tornadoes usually come from supercell storms.

The two images to the left show the wind fields. Wind fields show weather the winds are moving toward or away from the radar. The reddish dots show strong winds.

The top right image is the radar data. The bottom right is an image showing where the strongest wind rotation is in the storm.

Source: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/western-pennsylvania-tornado/80695

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Bioengineers introduce 'Bi-Fi' -- The biological 'Internet'

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? If you were a bacterium, the virus M13 might seem innocuous enough. It insinuates more than it invades, setting up shop like a freeloading houseguest, not a killer. Once inside it makes itself at home, eating your food, texting indiscriminately. Recently, however, bioengineers at Stanford University have given M13 a bit of a makeover.

The researchers, Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in bioengineering, and Drew Endy, PhD, an assistant professor of bioengineering, have parasitized the parasite and harnessed M13's key attributes -- its non-lethality and its ability to package and broadcast arbitrary DNA strands -- to create what might be termed the biological Internet, or "Bi-Fi." Their findings were published online Sept. 7 in the Journal of Biological Engineering.

Using the virus, Ortiz and Endy have created a biological mechanism to send genetic messages from cell to cell. The system greatly increases the complexity and amount of data that can be communicated between cells and could lead to greater control of biological functions within cell communities. The advance could prove a boon to bioengineers looking to create complex, multicellular communities that work in concert to accomplish important biological functions.

Medium and message

M13 is a packager of genetic messages. It reproduces within its host, taking strands of DNA -- strands that engineers can control -- wrapping them up one by one and sending them out encapsulated within proteins produced by M13 that can infect other cells. Once inside the new hosts, they release the packaged DNA message.

The M13-based system is essentially a communication channel. It acts like a wireless Internet connection that enables cells to send or receive messages, but it does not care what secrets the transmitted messages contain.

"Effectively, we've separated the message from the channel. We can now send any DNA message we want to specific cells within a complex microbial community," said Ortiz, the first author of the study.

It is well-known that cells naturally use various mechanisms, including chemicals, to communicate, but such messaging can be extremely limited in both complexity and bandwidth. Simple chemical signals are typically both message and messenger -- two functions that cannot be separated.

"If your network connection is based on sugar then your messages are limited to 'more sugar,' 'less sugar,' or 'no sugar'" explained Endy.

Cells engineered with M13 can be programmed to communicate in much more complex, powerful ways than ever before. The possible messages are limited only by what can be encoded in DNA and thus can include any sort of genetic instruction: start growing, stop growing, come closer, swim away, produce insulin and so forth.

Rates and ranges

In harnessing DNA for cell-cell messaging the researchers have also greatly increased the amount of data they can transmit at any one time. In digital terms, they have increased the bit rate of their system. The largest DNA strand M13 is known to have packaged includes more than 40,000 base pairs. Base pairs, like 1s and 0s in digital encoding, are the basic building blocks of genetic data. Most genetic messages of interest in bioengineering range from several hundred to many thousand base pairs.

Ortiz was even able to broadcast her genetic messages between cells separated by a gelatinous medium at a distance of greater than 7 centimeters.

"That's very long-range communication, cellularly speaking," she said.

Down the road, the biological Internet could lead to biosynthetic factories in which huge masses of microbes collaborate to make more complicated fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful chemicals. With improvements, the engineers say, their cell-cell communication platform might someday allow more complex three-dimensional programming of cellular systems, including the regeneration of tissue or organs.

"The ability to communicate 'arbitrary' messages is a fundamental leap -- from just a signal-and-response relationship to a true language of interaction," said Radhika Nagpal, professor of computer science at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, who was not involved in the research. "Orchestrating the cooperation of cells to form artificial tissues, or even artificial organisms is just one possibility. This opens a door to new biological systems and solving problems that have no direct analog in nature."

Ortiz added: "The biological Internet is in its very earliest stages. When the information Internet was first introduced in the 1970s, it would have been hard to imagine the myriad uses it sees today, so there's no telling all the places this new work might lead."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Andrew Myers.

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

Journal Reference:

Monica E Ortiz, Drew Endy. Engineered cell-cell communication via DNA messaging. Journal of Biological Engineering, 2012; 6 (1): 16 DOI: 10.1186/1754-1611-6-16

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/U83jqgGqS48/120928103802.htm

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Netanyahu-Obama tensions nothing new: 5 low points in US-Israel ties

Will US-Israel relations fray over Iran? Not likely ? they've seen worse. Here are five noteworthy hiccups in the 'special relationship' since Israel's founding in 1948.

1. 1956 Suez fallout: Eisenhower threatens to withhold aid

When Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, Israel invaded Egypt and quickly captured the vast Sinai peninsula. This provoked an international backlash. The United Nations Security Council issued a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw in exchange for a UN protection force in the Sinai.

Israel mostly complied, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted that Israeli forces withdraw completely. In February 1957, he threatened to withhold more than $100 million in annual US aid if they didn?t.

Within less than a month, all Israeli troops had left, and by late March oil was flowing through the Suez once again.

While Eisenhower took a firm stance, believing that ?the future of the United Nations and peace in the Middle East may be at stake,? throughout the crisis he emphasized America?s friendship with Israel.

?I need not assure you of the deep interest which the United States has in your country, nor recall the various elements of our policy of support to Israel in so many ways,? he wrote in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion on Nov. 7, 1956. ?It is in this context that I urge you to comply with the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with the current crisis and to make your decision known immediately. It would be a matter of the greatest regret to all my countrymen if Israeli policy on a matter of such grave concern to the world should in any way impair the friendly cooperation between our two countries.?

2. 1975 ?reassessment? of America?s ties with Israel

As elsewhere, many of the United States' moves in the Middle East in the 1970s were shaped by cold-war calculations. When Egypt?s relationship with the Soviets fell apart, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saw an opportunity to pull Cairo more firmly into the American camp by helping it regain the Sinai, which Israel had recaptured in 1967 and successfully defended in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

From 1973-75, Mr. Kissinger embarked on a flurry of shuttle diplomacy, securing a cease-fire and an Israeli agreement to pull back from the banks of the Suez. But in March 1975, while trying to negotiate a fuller withdrawal, Kissinger lost his temper with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who refused to cede strategic passes in the Sinai as well as oil fields that provided Israel with roughly 60 percent of its oil.

?You don?t understand, I?m trying to save you,? Kissinger reportedly said, according to an account in Commentary Magazine. ?You are making me, the Secretary of State of the United States of America, wander around the Middle East like a Levantine rug merchant?.Are you out of your mind??

The President Gerald Ford sent Rabin a letter informing him that ?I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel?? The US also put the brakes on an Israeli request for F-15 fighter planes and froze scheduled arms deliveries.

But US senators rallied in support of Israel, and while President Ford stood firm on withdrawing from the passes, he added enticements including $2 billion in financial aid to Israel. In September an agreement was reached, under which Israel and Egypt agreed that American ?technicians? and the UN would oversee the strategic passes. By the end of the decade, Israel and Egypt signed a formal peace treaty mediated by President Jimmy Carter.

3. 1981: Israeli strike on Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq

Israel?s 1981 surprise strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor known as Osirak put President Ronald Reagan in a tough spot.

While Reagan was a strong supporter of Israel, Iraq had recently become a de facto friend by going to war with America?s enemy, Iran. The fact that Israel had used US-supplied fighter planes to hit the Iraqi plant boded ill for that nascent friendship.

?Eager to dispel any semblance of collusion in an attack against America?s new de facto ally, Reagan delayed the delivery of additional jet fighters to Israel,? writes historian Michael Oren in his 2007 book ?Power, Faith, and Fantasy? on America?s involvement in the Middle East. ?He also permitted America?s pertinacious ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick, to confer with her Iraqi counterpart in drafting a Security Council condemnation of the raid.?

But the raid ?did not, in the end, impair US-Israel relations ? ? concludes Dr. Oren, who has since become the Israeli ambassador to the US.

4. 1991-92: Delay of US aid over Israeli settlements

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, an ?migr? from Poland whose parents had died in the Holocaust, was intent on bringing as many new immigrants to Israel as possible. When the Ethiopian government collapsed in 1991, he had 14,000 Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel. And he convinced the US to stop accepting Soviet Jews as refugees, funneling more than 1 million Soviet Jews to Israel instead.

But all of this cost money. During the end of President George H.W. Bush?s term, Mr. Shamir sought loan guarantees of $10 billion from the US to help cover the resettlement costs, which included building new homes and roads, finding jobs, and providing services for the new immigrants. (The mechanism was akin to co-signing a mortgage, in which a wealthier party with better credit can help a party with more modest funds to secure lower interest rates.)

The Bush administration was concerned, however, that the funding would be used to build new settlements that could jeopardize peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians.

In the end, Shamir ? a staunch believer that the West Bank and Gaza rightfully belonged to the Jews ? never accepted Bush?s terms to freeze settlement expansion in exchange for the loan guarantees. But in 1992, when Yitzhak Rabin replaced him, Bush agreed to the full $10 billion in loan guarantees in exchange for only limited curtailment of settlement building ? perhaps because he viewed Rabin?s centrist government as more supportive of America?s peacemaking efforts in the region.

The following year, Rabin signed the 1993 Oslo Accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

5. 2010: Settlement flap during Biden visit

Despite the Oslo Accords, however, the population of Israeli settlements in the West Bank nearly tripled over the next two decades ? from 115,000 to more than 300,000 ? and the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem grew to more than 200,000.

Building in both areas, which Israel captured in the 1967 war, is considered illegal under international law and many see it as prejudicing an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

When President Obama took office in 2009, his administration called for a full settlement freeze. But in an incident widely seen as Israel thumbing its nose at that demand, Israeli officials announced approval for 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden in March 2010.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scolded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a 43-minute phone call about the "insult" caused to Biden. While Congress gave Mr. Netanyahu a warm welcome when he arrived in Washington the next week, the White House departed from protocol and refused to allow photo ops or issue statements about his visit.

According to one account, Obama curtly presented Netanyahu with a list of demands and when he stalled, the American president abruptly left to have dinner with his family.

The next month, it was reported that Israel?s ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, told Israeli consul generals on a conference call that relations between the two countries were at a 35-year low. Ambassador Oren denied having made that remark, however, and both sides seemed to make an effort to smooth out the relationship.

While differing timetables over Iran have brought US-Israel tensions back to the fore in recent months, much of that has been attributed to personality differences and election campaigning rather than a fundamental breakdown in ties. Obama is on the homestretch of his reelection campaign, and Netanyahu is expected to announce early elections before the end of the year.

Hiring Mobile Apps Developer - Business Insider

User magerleagues on Flickr

Business Insider is seeking an experienced mobile applications developer to join the BI tech team and the fast-paced, exciting world of software development at a digital media startup.

The successful candidate will help maintain and extend our just-released new iPhone app and forthcoming new iPad and Android apps, as well as create new mobile-first apps. The position demands a self-motivated professional with strong IOS development experience. Android experience is not necessary but is a major plus. The ideal candidate should have big ideas about mobile news, a startup mindset, and the skills to implement our collective ideas.

Applicants should have a self-starting work-hard-play-hard startup mindset. We don't let bureaucracy get in our way, and we don't have a lot of meetings, but we do play a lot of ping-pong. A candidate who could strongly represent the tech team and give perennial champ Jay Yarow a challenge at the ping pong table would also be a plus.

Requirements:

Experience building and releasing IOS applications
Experience implementing mobile apps that call RESTful web APIs
Experience building mobile user-focused interfaces
Android development knowledge a plus
Strong communication skills
Based in New York ? you will need to be able to work out of our office on Park Avenue South.
Some telecommuting is fine
Three+ years of experience preferred

We offer a competitive salary and good benefits.?Please email a cover letter, resume, and a short code sample to?pax@businessinsider.com. Thanks in advance.
.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-mobile-apps-developer-2012-9

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Virginia GOP group chuckles over its caricature of thuggish Obama (Los Angeles Times)

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Strikeforce fighters compensated after fight cancellation

After Strikeforce canceled Saturday's events, fighters worried about their finances because they didn't have the fight pay day. The good news is that they still will receive some compensation from Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC and Strikeforce.

MMA Junkie confirmed that the fighters left without a bout will get their "show money," or the amount they would get for fighting regardless of the bout's outcome. As far as the sponsors who also add to their fight night payout, it's up to each individual sponsor on how they want to proceed.

[Kevin Iole: It's time for Showtime, Strikeforce to cut losses, move on]

Since finding out they didn't have a fight, a few fighters took advantage of not having to cut weight.

Aahh,I confess,2 1/2 ice cream pints,entire box of 12 donuts,2 footlong dark chocolate hershey bars w Almond milk.gotta go sweat! #sosick

? Jorge Gurgel (@JorgeGurgel) September 25, 2012

Gian Villante had to cut down from 240 to 205. He was in the 220 range when the fight was canceled. He headed to Taco Bell when he heard the news.

"If I'm going to be honest, the first thing I think is, alright, I'll just go to Taco Bell, but I don't want to go crazy," Villante said to MMA Fighting. "So I went with a cheesy gordita crunch with chicken, and they have this new thing, a Doritos taco shell, that just looked amazing. That was calling my name, I went for that one. I had about three of those. I went home and there was this veal parm hero that was in the fridge for about a week now that my brother left in the refrigerator. It's been looking at me for a week and it's just torture, so, I'm like you know what, I'm eating this thing. I ate half a veal parm hero that was a week old and didn't even taste good, and then I had about a half a gallon of ice cream, chocolate chip cookie dough."

That's downright astounding. Thank goodness he is being paid at least his show money, as he might need to stock up on some healthy food to make up for that binge.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/strikeforce-fighters-compensated-fight-cancellation-153645747--mma.html

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Police chief resigns, NM force has gone to the dog

VAUGHN, N.M. (AP) ? The police chief of the small eastern New Mexico town of Vaughn resigned Wednesday, leaving the town with just one certified member on its police force ? a drug-sniffing dog named Nikka.

Dave Romero, attorney for the town, said Wednesday that police Chief Ernest "Chris" Armijo decided to step down after news stories reported that he wasn't allowed to carry a gun because of his criminal background.

"He decided the attention was distracting," Romero said.

State officials said Armijo couldn't carry a gun since acknowledging that he owed tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent child support payments in Texas. Armijo also faces new felony charges after being accused of selling a town-owned rifle and pocketing the cash.

Romero said Armijo is working to clear up the latest case. He said Armijo has not ruled out seeking the police chief's position again if his case is resolved and the position is open.

According to records, the only qualified member of the Vaughn Police Department is Nikka, a drug-sniffing dog. Vaughn's other officer isn't certified and pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery last year. Noncertified officers can't make arrests and can't carry firearms.

But Romero said not having an officer qualified to carry a gun didn't put Vaughn at risk. "England doesn't allow police officers to carry guns," he said. "Sometime the strongest weapon in law enforcement is communication."

Vaughn, a town of about 450 located 104 miles east of Albuquerque, is a quiet town that is an overnight stop for railroad workers. And while residents say there is no crime problem, the town is set deep in what U.S. Homeland Security Investigations officials say is an isolated region of the state popular with drug traffickers. Officials say the desolate roads in Guadalupe County make it hard for authorities to catch smugglers moving drugs from Mexico.

Guadalupe County Sheriff Michael Lucero said since news about the police chief's record became public his department has helped patrol Vaughn. But he said those efforts have put a slight strain on his already short-staffed department.

"I visit the town at least once a month," said Lucero. "The important thing is to keep a presence so residents know we're there to help if we're needed."

Romero said town officials are considering whether to hire another police chief or keep the department staffed with just one officer. He said it's unclear whether the town will keep the police dog, which had been in Armijo's care.

When approached by a reporter from The Associated Press at his Vaughn home, Armijo said he had no comment, and he declined to grant access to the canine for photographs or video.

The dog's kennel could be seen in Armijo's backyard, and a police truck marked "K-9" was parked in his driveway.

At Penny's Diner, residents said they were embarrassed by the attention the episode has put on the small town.

"There's just a whole lot of nothing going on here," said cook Joyce Tabor. "We have very little crime. It's quiet. So this really doesn't matter."

___

Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-chief-resigns-nm-force-gone-dog-200452443.html

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

$10 Off at KiwiCrate

If you are a mom with a little one at home you have to check this out! It isn?t very often that I find a brand that I brag about this much. Sorry for the lengthy post?you may wanna grab a cup of coffee.

A few months ago I grabbed a deal at Plum District for Kiwi Crate.? Kiwi Crate is a company that will send a box of craft supplies to your house each month for your child.? I bought it because it sounded interesting and I have a 4 year old that needed entertained (And loves mail).

When the first box arrived I intercepted it.? When I opened the package I was shocked.? This is no ordinary box of craft supplies.? These are high quality art supplies with a purpose.? They come with detailed instructions with several projects in the box all related to a theme.? This was a homeschooling moms dream. Heck, any mom?s dream!

When my daily deal subscription ended, I quickly went to KiwiCrate and resubscribed?again, I don?t do this often.? The cost is a bit more than I would typically pay, but when I weighed what I would pay for these supplies at the store with the fact that the projects are spelled out with educational information, I couldn?t say no.

Right now?new KiwiCrate Members?can get?$10 off by using this exclusive link.? That makes the first box just $9.95 and I can guarantee you will be hooked. They typically cost?$19.95 a month fort one of these KiwiCrate Boxes delivered to your door.? Don?t worry if you have more than one child ages 3-7, you can pay just $7.95 for each additional childs supplies.

We just got this month?s Kiwi Crate last week and since Audrey was home sick we decided that we would sit down and work on it this morning. ?It has fruits and veggies that the kids ?sew? together with laces plus an apron to decorate.

Then it came with this great play money and credit cards for them to make their own store. ?Plus there are little booklets full of more great ideas with the supplies in the box! This has been one of her favorite crates so far!

Tagged as: Coupons, Homeschool, kids

Source: http://afewshortcuts.com/2012/09/10-off-at-kiwicrate-2/

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Suu Kyi urges end to US sanctions against Myanmar

Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi receives a traditional Chin shawl before speaking in Fort Wayne, Ind., Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. Fort Wayne is home to one of the largest Burmese population in the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks in Fort Wayne, Ind., Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. Fort Wayne is home to one of the largest Burmese population in the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Jennifer Min, 13, photographs the stage where Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will speak in Fort Wayne, Ind., Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. Fort Wayne is home to one of the United States? largest Burmese populations. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A infant in the audience wears the flag of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy as Suu Kyi speaks in Fort Wayne, Ind., Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. Fort Wayne is home to one of the United States? largest Myanmar populations. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

People wait outside the Memorial Coliseum Fort Wayne, Ind., for the doors to open to hear Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speak Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/The Journal-Gazette, Cathie Rowand) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT, NO SALES; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) ? Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated a call Tuesday for the lifting of sanctions against her impoverished country, and vowed to use her new parliamentary role to foment more change.

Thousands of elated supporters greeted Suu Kyi with cheers, tears and a standing ovation as she took to the stage at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind., the fourth stop on her 17-day U.S. tour.

Sixty-seven-year-old Suu Kyi, who was recently elected to parliament after spending 15 years under house arrest for opposing Myanmar's military rulers, voiced optimism for democracy in her Southeast Asian home.

"The important thing is to learn how to resolve problems. How to face them and how to find the right answers through discussion and debate," the Nobel Laureate told the more than 5,000 people who gathered to hear her speak. Fort Wayne is home to one of the largest Burmese communities in the United States.

Myanmar's half century of military rule made the country something of a pariah in the international community, inviting crippling sanctions. But President Thein Sein has introduced political and economic reforms in recent years and the U.S. administration is considering easing the main plank of its remaining sanctions, a ban on imports.

Suu Kyi said the sanctions were effective in pushing the junta to reform, but that "they should now be lifted" so that Myanmar can rebuild its economy.

"We cannot only depend on external support and support of our friends from other nations. We should also depend on ourselves to reach this goal," she said.

Suu Kyi has already stopped in New York, Louisville, Ky., and Washington, D.C., where she met with President Barack Obama and received the Congressional Gold Medal. Thein Sein separately is visiting New York this week to attend the U.N. General Assembly, making him the first Myanmar leader to visit the U.S. in more than 40 years.

Hundreds of supporters lined up outside the arena hours before Suu Kyi was due to speak. As the doors opened at 7:30 a.m., supporters flooded inside to claim the best seats.

"People had so much going on in their minds: joy, happiness, everything. They just came together as a joy. Everybody was tearing up," said May Ayaroo, a 27-year-old engineer at defense company BAE Systems in Fort Wayne.

Factory worker Kaung Shein, 42, said he had been among the approximately 1 million students who took part in a failed pro-democracy uprising to protest Burma's military-backed regime in August 1988. Oxford-educated Suu Kyi rose to prominence during that period.

"We are from the 88 Generation," Kaung Shein said. "We align with her. ... We are very excited to be here. We've been waiting for 20 years."

Thousands of the 1988 protesters were killed and tens of thousands more ? including Suu Kyi ? spent years as political prisoners. Her National League for Democracy party was subsequently stymied by the junta's iron grip on the country. But Suu Kyi voiced cautious hope.

"The differences and problems we have amongst ourselves, I think we can join hands and reconcile and move forward and solve any problems," she said. Suu Kyi delivered most of her speech ? and answered most questions ? in Burmese, with an English translation by video.

Since 1991, when a single Burmese refugee resettled in Fort Wayne ? about two hours north of Indianapolis and 8,000 miles from Myanmar ? thousands more have followed, many of them relocating under a federal program after years in refugee camps in Thailand.

For some of Fort Wayne's Burmese residents, Suu Kyi's visit is the first tangible connection with the homeland they hope to return to one day.

I will try my best for anyone who wishes to return to Burma to be able to come back and we should all work together to achieve this goal," Suu Kyi said.

Thiya Ba Kyi, a former dentist who earned an MBA after coming to the U.S. in 1994 and now works for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, wants to be a part of the change Suu Kyi is expected to bring.

"I would like to move back," he said. "Hopefully, they'll need educated people who have experience in a democratic country."

Many Burmese refugees left behind careers and have had to learn new skills while others rely on food stamps to survive.

U Tun Oo was elected to parliament in the 1990 election won by Suu Kyi's party that was nullified by the military regime and served as finance minister for the elected government in exile. Now Tun Oo, who was a construction engineer in Asia, works in a Fort Wayne factory. When he's not working, he heads the local branch of Suu Kyi's party.

"She is the hope for the people," said Ba Kyi, who helps the Burmese opposition in exile. "She can bring democracy again in Burma."

But in her Tuesday speech, Suu Kyi warned her supporters ? this time in English ? that she is not infallible.

"A popular leader is not the same as a good leader," Suu Kyi said. "I hope you keep that in mind."

___

Associated Press writer Charles Wilson contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-25-Suu%20Kyi-Indiana/id-fd9d066ab3e8410bb80a9764ef09d653

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Should you move or remodel? - WordPress.com ? Get a Free Blog

Deciding whether you should move or remodel is a big decision. The most important things you need to consider, before you make this decision, are the four things you can?t change:?

*Your home?s value compared to the rest of the neighborhood
* How much you love your neighborhoodThe size of your lot
* The cost to move your stuff to a new house?

Just about everything else ? remodeling costs, the hassle of living in a construction zone, or the ability to live happily without one more bathroom ? is a personal preference.

?1. Will remodeling make your home better than everyone else?s?

To make the right move-or-remodel decision, you have to know:??????????????????????

*Your home?s value. Easy. Just ask a Realtor? to estimate it and tell you how it compares with the value of the other homes in your immediate neighborhood. Ask your Realtor? what your house will be worth after the improvements too.

*Your neighbors? home value. Hit some open houses. Seeing the inside of area homes will inspire you; help you make good choices about finishes, room sizes, and how much to spend; and, admit it, entertain you.

*Your remodeling costs. Once you?ve got your renovation vision, get a quote from a home improvement contractor or, if you?re remodeling it yourself, tally the costs of the items on your supplies shopping list.

?*Then add the remodeling costs to the value of your home. If the number you get is more than 10% above the average value of homes in your neighborhood, you?re over-improving and probably won?t be able to sell for what you put into the remodel.

?2. Do you love where you live?

Want to keep your kids in the same school district, but can?t find or afford a bigger, better house? Love the neighbors? Have an easy commute to work? Stay put. If you?ve soured on the traffic, the neighborhood?s crime rate, or the nosy neighbors, move on.?

3. Do you have room to expand?

If your remodeling plans include increasing the overall size of your home, the size of your lot may be the deciding factor in whether to move or remodel. If you live in a 1,500 sq. ft. ranch on a 3,000 sq. ft. lot, you might be able to add a second story to turn it into a 3,000 sq. ft. two-story, but you?re not likely to add 1,500 sq. ft. at ground level. And if you have a septic tank and well, the location of those will limit how and where you add onto your home (or cost you a bundle to move).

?4. Can you afford to move?

Consider these moving costs: closing costs for your existing home, shipping your household goods, buying window treatments and possibly furniture for the new house, costs to fix up your existing home before the sale, higher utility costs (if your next house is larger), insurance cost differences, and property taxes.

?For help with making the final decision on whether to move or remodel, contact your local Realtor?.

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Source: http://louisvillerealtors.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/should-you-move-or-remodel/

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Toyota unplugs electric car hype

Toyota decides to scale back its electric minicar plans and scraps plans for a second electric vehicle.?

By Phil LeBeau,?CNBC correspondent / September 24, 2012

A participant to a press event by Toyota Motor Corp. puts a quick-charger plug into the newly developed compact electric vehicle 'eQ' during a test drive at a press event in Tokyo Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. Toyota is boosting its green vehicle lineup, but it is scaling back plans for all-electric vehicles.

Koji Sasahara/AP

Enlarge

What does Toyota know that GM and Nissan don?t?

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BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 starts tomorrow, get your liveblog here!

You may think that RIM's down and out, but Thorsten Heins thinks he has the Canadian mobile giant back on track, and he'll be telling us why at BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012. The show starts at 8:30AM Pacific Time tomorrow, so keep it locked on our liveblog and see what he has to say as it happens. We can't say for certain precisely what he'll be talking about, but we've got a sneaking suspicion that BlackBerry 10 will be heavily involved. Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 starts tomorrow, get your liveblog here! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/6mKPphXdZys/

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Motorola XPRT update brings Gingerbread and bugfixes

Android Central

The Motorola XPRT, that BlackBerry-like keyboard phone on Sprint, has finally made its move to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Along with bumping up to the next platform version, the update brings a decent grouping of bug fixes for the device:

Email User Interface fixes.
Contact User Interface fixes.
UXD fix to color backgrounds (remove red).
Fix the ability to use Bluetooth car kits.
Improve EAS GAL (Global Address List) Search.
Improve EAS First Sync timing.
Fix Forward / Reply markers to original email. (this is if you reply or forward an email from your phone, it would not display in your EAS email account.)
SMS fix when using () in SMS body.
Bluetooth toasts when syncing contacts improved.

The latest software version, 4.5.1-110-kns-46, is available now and your device should prompt you to update. If you haven't been updated yet, a quick trip to Settings > About phone > System updates should remedy that. As far as Ice Cream Sandwich goes, we think this is probably the end of the road for updates on the XPRT.

Source: Sprint Support

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/m1UddTRMTzg/story01.htm

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Monday, September 24, 2012

Buying Appropriate Road Bike Frames | Content for Reprint

Author: Abu Fakhri | Total views: 69 Comments: 0
Word Count: 661 Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 6:59 PM

In a bike, there are some essential parts and each of which gives different contribution to the bike. One of the parts is called road bike frames. The frames are the main components of a bike since the frames of a road bike attach the wheels with other bike components. Thus, without frames, bikes will not be able to be ridden. The bikes are constructed based on a construction that encloses a main triangle and a paired rear triangle. Talking about bike frames, there are many things that should be dealt with here. The first thing that should be noted about bike frames is the variations of the frame. There are more than eleven types of bike frames. They are Diamond, Step-through, Cantilever, Recumbent, Prone, Cross or girder, Truss, Monocoque, Fulding, Penny-farthing, Tandem and Sociable and some others. Some of the frames may not be used anymore today, yet it is still worth knowing.

The second thing that should be noted about road bike frames is the bike frame tube. There are seven frame tubes in bike frames, which are Head Tube, Top Tube, Down Tube, Seat Tube, Chain Stays, Seat Stays and Bottom Bracket Shell. The third thing which is also crucial to know is about frame geometry. In frame geometry, there are frame size, road and triathlon bicycles, track bicycles, mountain bicycles, Roadster or utility bicycles and diamond frame variations. Frame materials are the last thing to be concerned with. There are some materials of frames that are usually used in making bike frames, such as steel, aluminum alloys, titanium, carbon fiber, thermoplastic, magnesium, scandium, bamboo, wood and the combination of some of those materials.

In buying road bike frames, you need to consider the type of frame that the bikes use. If you want to buy a bike that will be ridden on the road, for instance, you should not buy a bike with off-road frame. The suitable frame for that kind of bike is a light and thin bike frame which is usually used in mountain bikes. It is important to pay attention to the types of frame you are going to buy because it determines the comfort in riding a bike. If you buy a bike whose frame does not match to what you actually need, you will not be able to ride your bike comfortably. Because of that reason, you have to determine your purpose in buying a bike first. Having a purpose before buying a bike will help you find the appropriate bike you need. In addition, you also have to pay attention to the comfort that the bike gives to you. You have to ask for a ride check before buying a certain bike. If you find the bike comfortable during the riding, you are suggested to buy that bike.

If you want to buy bikes with good and appropriate road bike frames, you should find much information related to the bike stores in your area before deciding where you can buy the bikes you want to possess. You also can find the reviews of those places in the internet. There are many reviews and feedbacks given by the customers that are directed to many bike stores which you can use as references. When you have decided the place where you are going to buy the bikes that you want, you have to make sure that this place gives you detail information about the bikes. The workers of the store have to tell you the advantages and disadvantages of having that kind of bike. Moreover, you should also ask some questions related to the bike if necessary. The first question you should ask is about the bike frame because this very component is the basic component of the bike. You should ask whether the bike frame has a good quality or not, and whether or not it suits your purpose in buying the bike.

Abu Fakhri, will serve about cheap road bike spare part, hobbies and sport. Any interesting subject you will find at this site http://cheap-roadbikes.com/road-bike-frames or blog http://cheap-road-bicycle.blogspot.com/2012/05/road-bike-frames.html

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Both these companies make great products, but they do so utilizing completely different technologies So which is best, and further more which is the better choice when considering purchasing a dive watch

2: The Role of Agility Training for Tennis Players

Agility is such an important component when it comes to an athlete being fast. Tennis requires the athlete to be fast over short distances, in multiple directions and have the ability to develop explo

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Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/recreation-and-leisure/sports/buying-appropriate-road-bike-frames.htm

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PhilaUnion: RT @ChrisVito: Full time: Union 3, Dynamo 1. Union win for the first time since July 29 because they didn't underestimate the importance ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/PhilaUnion/statuses/249991627123355648

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Do we have to wait 30 years for human rights in China?

When President Obama on Wednesday expressed the hope that "30 years from now, we will have seen further evolution" in China's respect for human rights, I thought about Geng He, who had come to visit me the day before.

Geng He, 43, is a soft-spoken woman who doesn't know whether her husband, Gao Zhisheng, is dead or alive. She knows that over the past five years, he has been repeatedly tortured by Chinese security agents. She knows that he was last seen nine months ago, when some of those agents spirited him away. She's pretty sure that he has not been charged with a crime, but the government will not say where he is.

Gao is not a dissident. He is something China's government apparently finds even more threatening: a lawyer who has sought, while adhering scrupulously to Chinese law, to represent dissidents, members of religious minorities and other victims of Communist Party repression.

"For him, being a lawyer is more than just a profession," Geng told me. "He's tried to educate the public about justice, about the law, and about what's right or wrong. Now, there seems to be no room for someone like that to survive in China."

Geng had hoped that Obama would speak out about her husband's case, both because such attention might help him and because Obama's words could have a big impact more broadly in China. As she wrote in a Post op-ed last year:

"I worry about the next generation of Chinese lawyers. Will disappearances like my husband's deter them from becoming rights defenders? I imagine so. But if the United States were to speak out on my husband's behalf, perhaps this would change."

And also:

"My 8-year-old son, Peter, was surprised to discover last week that President Obama is a lawyer. To him, lawyers are people the government throws into prison, not leaders of the government itself. He asked me whether this meant that President Obama could help free his father. I told him that I hoped so. We are waiting to see."

Obama said in a prepared statement, leading off a White House news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, that the two leaders had discussed human rights in their private meeting. I hope those discussions will help Gao as well as other individuals Obama chose not to mention publicly, such as imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, who is under de facto house arrest. When I asked whether Obama had raised Gao's case with China's president, a White House spokesman e-mailed me that "the President referred to the list of names he had raised in the past that included Gao."

What may have a bigger impact is Obama's apparent acceptance, in his off-the-cuff answers, of China's own rationalizations for repression: that "China's at a different stage of development than we are"; that "part of human rights is people being able to make a living and having enough to eat"; and, most of all, that "there has been an evolution in China over the last 30 years. . . . And my expectation is that 30 years from now we will have seen further evolution and further change."

What's alarming is not just that 30 years is a long time to ask Gao's two children to wait. It's the assumption that China is moving, perhaps too slowly but inexorably, in the right direction, because that's how nations evolve as they become more prosperous. The statement uncannily echoes Bush administration comments about Russia over the past decade, as President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin chipped away at freedom there.

Of course, the Bush officials were right that Russia remained freer than it was in the days of the gulag, and Obama is right that China is freer today than in the lunatic days of the Cultural Revolution. But as Freedom House documented in a report last week, the world has become, on balance, less free over the past decade, with China and Russia leading the retrenchment. In China, as the most recent State Department annual report noted, "The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas."

Since Hu became Communist Party secretary in 2002, in fact, repression has intensified steadily - against Internet freedom, democracy activists, religious liberty, Tibetans and other ethnic minorities, and, perhaps most notably, against lawyers such as Gao who tried to work within the system. Much like Russia in its neighborhood, China also has flexed its muscles to protect autocracies and stymie democracy from advancing in smaller nearby countries such as Burma and Cambodia.

The question is whether the United States and other democracies will acknowledge the dictators' successful push back and seek strategies to counter it. Such strategies would be difficult. They would demand trade-offs against other goals. They might fail.

The alternative - to assume that in 30 years things will be better - comfortably absolves the United States of having to do anything. That removes any risk of failure - but also any chance of helping to steer things Gao's way.

fredhiatt@washpost.com

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401615_xml/~3/gO0opheLYxc/AR2011012003700.html

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