alcatraz whitefield: 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Gingrich meeting with Trump, running ad in Iowa

Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump talk to media after a meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, right, waves after meeting with Donald Trump, and talking to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump shake hands after they met and spoke to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Republican Newt Gingrich praised Donald Trump as a "true American icon" Monday, and said he had persuaded the celebrity real estate mogul to mentor a group of children from New York City's poorest schools. Trump said he was impressed by the former House speaker's strong showing in the GOP presidential contest, but said he would refrain from endorsing a candidate until after he hosts a televised debate in Iowa a week before that state's caucuses.

Gingrich was making several stops in New York the same day his campaign debuted a new television ad in Iowa. He's hoping to capitalize on polls showing him leading top rival Mitt Romney nationally and in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest January 3.

Gingrich met privately with Trump, who flirted with a bid for the Republican nomination last spring and has hosted many of the GOP contenders in the Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.

Gingrich, who recently sparked controversy by suggesting disadvantaged children as young as 9 should be encouraged to clean their schools in order to learn about work, told reporters he had pressed Trump to help train needy youngsters.

The idea, Gingrich said, would be "to get them into the world of work, get them into the opportunity to earn money, to get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort is rewarded and America is all about the work ethic."

Trump, who hosts the reality show "Celebrity Apprentice," said he was happy to take up Gingrich's challenge.

"I thought it was a great idea," Trump said. "We're going to be picking 10 young wonderful children and make them 'apprenti.' We're going to have a little fun with it."

Gingrich said he was pleased to participate in the Trump-hosted debate and dismissed criticism from rival Ron Paul that such a forum demeaned the presidency.

"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer to the presidency. This is a country that elected an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency," Gingrich said, referring to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. "Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman. I think one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs. We need to be open to new ways of doing things."

Trump has hinted he might run for president as an Independent if Republicans nominate a candidate who can't beat President Barack Obama. Trump sidestepped questions about a potential run but said he believes Paul has "zero chance" of getting the nomination.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-05-Gingrich-Show%20of%20Force/id-61293df5fee34699a956bdc7d2385078

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

[OOC] Hidden Peril

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Monday, December 5, 2011

Dr. Arnold Klein Under Investigation For Michael Jackson Drug Supplying

Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death, but the late singer's former dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein is under investigation by the Medical Board of California for his past treatment of his famous patient.

Klein has been accused - by Murray and others - of fueling MJ's addiction to prescription painkillers, and has been subpoenaed by the Board for questioning.

He just posted a letter on Facebook, apparently sent from his ex-lawyer, showing that officials are probing allegations that Klein over-prescribed Demerol.

The Board reportedly wants to grill Klein about the possibility that he self-prescribed narcotics, used false names on narcotics prescriptions, illegally handed out samples of dangerous drugs to his famous patients such as Michael Jackson.

By doing so, Klein, who has multiple sclerosis, may have committed gross negligence.

Also rumored to be the biological father of Prince and Paris Jackson, Klein has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and is not accused of any criminal conduct.

Time will tell if that changes and/or if the board takes any disciplinary action.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/dr-arnold-klein-under-investigation-for-michael-jackson-drug-sup/

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Sandusky accuser: Police knew of recent dinner

By The Associated Press

A Penn State accuser who dined with Jerry Sandusky this summer did so only after getting permission from police, the man's lawyer said Friday as he blasted suggestions that alleged victims remained friendly with the former Penn State coach.

"Police gave their seal of approval for him to attend. They even wanted him to wear an electronic listening device," attorney Howard Janet said Friday. He also called into question Sandusky's motives for inviting the man to dinner while the ex-coach knew he was under investigation.

Sandusky has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years. He is accused of mining the ranks of his Second Mile charity to find underprivileged boys to abuse.

Sandusky says he is innocent and his lawyer, Joseph Amendola, has questioned several accusers' claims and the depiction of his client made in a grand jury report that identified the alleged victims by number. Earlier this week, Amendola told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg that several accusers visited the Sandusky home and stayed on good terms with the ex-coach for years.

He told The Associated Press on Friday that another dinner guest that night was the man identified in the grand jury report as Victim No. 2, who Sandusky is accused of sodomizing in a Penn State shower.

Janet said another man identified as a victim in the grand jury report attended, but he did not specify who that was. He called Amendola's claim that accusers remained friendly with Sandusky was "grotesque."

Janet represents the man known in the grand jury report as Victim No. 6, who was allegedly bear-hugged by Sandusky as they showered together at Penn State in 1998, when the boy was 11. The boy's mother filed a complaint; a police investigation ended with no charges filed.

The alleged victim, now 24, contacted police this summer when Sandusky invited him over for dinner, Janet said. He didn't wear a wire because he was nervous but reported back to police about the dinner afterward, the lawyer said.

The dinner started at Sandusky's house and then moved to a restaurant, and included Sandusky and his wife.

Janet said Sandusky pitched the dinner as a chance for former Second Mile participants to get together. "Why was he arranging to meet with victims while under investigation? Was he trying to tamper with or improperly influence potential witnesses?" Janet said.

He would not say if the investigation came up in conversation that night, or detail what his client later reported back to police. The client didn't wear a wire because he was nervous, Janet said.

Sandusky's lawyer said the meeting was part of an effort by Sandusky and his wife to maintain "friendships with lots of kids they helped as those kids grew into adulthood."

"The dinner at a local State College restaurant last summer, which was attended by Jerry and Dottie and alleged victims 2 and 6, was simply an effort on the Sanduskys' part to maintain those long established positive relationships with young men whom the Sanduskys believed were their friends," Amendola said.

Victim No. 2 was the boy seen being abused by Sandusky in a Penn State shower in 2002, according to the grand jury report. The witness, since identified as then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, told coach Joe Paterno about the incident, the report said. Police were never notified.

The grand jury report said the boy had not been located. Amendola has said he believes the alleged victim is being represented by a State College attorney who did not respond to messages left by the AP late Friday.

Penn State fired Paterno and school President Graham Spanier after the report was made public. Two former Penn State officials are charged with failing to report complaints of abuse, and with lying to a grand jury. They have pleaded not guilty.

Sandusky is free on bail, and is next due in court on Dec. 13 for a preliminary hearing.

More news and feature stories from msnbc.com:

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9174552-sandusky-accuser-says-police-knew-of-recent-dinner

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

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It's been a long time since I've been here, at least a year or so. I don't think anyone would recognize me, but I'm excited to be part of rebuilding this community. It's great to be here!

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Yellow. I got suckered in the same way. Dammit!

Welcome back. Let's hope things change, huh?

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2.6 million Afghans at risk of hunger from drought (AP)

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan ? Zara, an Afghan mother of seven, doesn't know what to tell her children when they ask about dinner.

"I simply tell them that we must wait until their father gets home to see if he's going to bring anything," she said, speaking from under a dusty blue burqa covering her from head to toe.

Zara, who uses just one name, is one of an estimated 2.6 million Afghans facing food shortages after one of the worst droughts to strike northern Afghanistan in a decade, according to Afghan officials and aid agencies. Already living in poverty in a country at war, many have been left destitute by the drought, which has affected 14 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces ? all in the north.

Wells have dried up. Hundreds of children have been treated for malnutrition. Families are selling their animals at below-market prices. People are moving to cities to try to find food, water, work and, in some cases, a refuge from the fighting.

The Afghan government and aid agencies are racing to help them before snow blocks access to remote areas.

Rahmatullah Zahid, disaster coordinator in Balkh province, which has been hard-hit by the drought, said he is not worried yet about people starving to death, but he wonders how people will survive the winter, especially in remote areas.

"If the weather gets very, very cold in the remote areas and if the aid doesn't come, those families will be in danger of starvation," he said.

Beyond the relief effort, aid officials are trying to figure out how to end a vicious cycle of drought, drought relief and drought again in an area of the country that has suffered water and food shortages in eight of the past 11 years. Instead of trying to cultivate chronically dry land, perhaps farmers could grow almonds or grapes, which require less water than wheat, or industry could be lured to the area to extract its prevalent gas and oil.

Zara and her family moved to Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, so her husband, whose crops dried up, might find work as a day laborer.

She and hundreds of others who fled the rugged Alburz Mountains in the province gathered last week in a dirt lot in Mazar-e-Sharif to receive large canvas bags of kitchen supplies, blankets, lamps and other items, including a phone card. The aid was distributed by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

"We have very little food," Zara said, squatting next to her aid bag. "If my husband finds work, he can buy some breads and vegetables on his way home, but otherwise there is nothing."

As she spoke, a light mist began to fall. The rain came too late. The crops were ruined months ago.

"There was no rain so everything was burned up," said Mir Ahmad, a 58-year-old wheat farmer who also moved to Mazar-e-Sharif from the mountains.

"There is not much work here in the city right now," he said, fingering a strand of yellow prayer beads as the large blue bags were unloaded from a truck. "Some days there is nothing and I have to borrow food or money to feed my family."

The U.N. issued an appeal for $142 million on Oct. 1 to help those hit by the drought in 14 northern provinces, where up to 80 percent of non-irrigated fields yielded little to no crops. So far, about $49 million has been pledged by aid groups, the U.S. and European nations.

The Afghan government also is distributing about 40,000 tons of wheat, 5,000 tons of rice, 10,000 tons of wheat seed and 20,000 tons of animal feed.

Sayed Anwar Rahmati, the governor of neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, said more aid is needed.

"Every day people are coming and complaining," he said. "The crops were lost and the cattle were seriously affected."

Zainab Noori, a member of the local council in nearby Bamiyan province, said people in six districts were waiting for aid.

"If the aid is not delivered in the next month, the road will be blocked by snow," she said. "At least 50 families have left already to go to Kabul and Iran to find work."

Aidan O'Leary, head of the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said repeated droughts in northern Afghanistan suggest that economic development is needed in addition to drought relief.

"What you're dealing with here is basically trying to maintain a rural, agrarian lifestyle in a climate that might not be conducive," O'Leary said. "What's the solution? Are you looking at better seeds? ... Are you looking at alternative crops? Are you looking at alternative livelihoods?"

With the international focus on pulling troops from Afghanistan, it's difficult to get nations sending development aid to discuss long-term solutions that would end the need for drought relief in the north every couple of years, he said. Compounding the problem is that while international aid has been flowing into Afghanistan for years, only a fraction has been targeted to reducing poverty, he said.

O'Leary noted a World Bank report this month that said the expected decline in international aid will have only a modest impact on the poor. The report said the majority of aid was spent to improve security and governance mostly in more urban areas where there is less poverty.

Ironically, it rained both days last week that O'Leary traveled to the north to check on drought aid with Michael Keating, deputy special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Afghanistan with responsibility for relief, recovery and reconstruction. The first day it sprinkled. The second day it poured. Muddy water filled deep ruts in unpaved roads in Dawlat Abad district.

Keating and O'Leary tried to visit a nearby village, but one of the heavily armored U.N. vehicles in their convoy got stuck. They left the vehicle, turned around and drove on better roads to their next stop: a medical center where children are being treated for acute malnutrition.

The number of cases of malnutrition treated at the clinic increased threefold after the drought, said Dr. Said Mahmood Shah, nutrition coordinator for Save the Children. In the summer months, up to 90 malnourished children showed up at the center where a tiny office was crowded with cardboard boxes of eeZee Paste Nut, a peanut butter-like food with high energy, proteins and nutrients.

Now, rain, snow and poor roads have prevented some children from getting help, Shah said. "There are lots of cases, but they can't get here," he said.

The last stop was a meeting with villagers, including women who had received seeds and tools as part of a backyard garden project run by ActionAid, a British aid group.

One of the women, Jan Bibi, said that because of the drought, she and 10 other members of her family eat only once a day. Bibi, who is in her 70s with no land or home of her own, said she had not eaten meat for six to eight weeks.

"We are sticking to one meal a day," Bibi said, holding up a forefinger. "This year, it's really, really bad."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_empty_plates

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Outgoing Winder Mayor Chip Thompson seeks to slap at Journal

Outgoing Winder Mayor Chip Thompson apparently plans to use his last public meetings with the city council to try and get a resolution that would slap at the Barrow Journal, which he blames for his recent election defeat.

On Monday night?s council agenda is an item called ?Barrow County News/Barrow Journal Ads.? Thompson is reportedly planning to ask the city council to discuss adopting a resolution that would say the city?s legal and other advertising would not be run in the Journal, which was recently named the legal organ for Barrow County.

Instead, Thompson reportedly wants to name the Barrow County News as the city?s ?official advertising source.?

Thompson blames the Journal for its investigative stories that showed the city had mishandled the town?s voter registration list by attempting to cull nearly half of the registered voters? names. Thompson subsequently lost the mayor?s seat to challenger David Maynard.

Meanwhile, three Barrow County Constitutional Officers ? the sheriff, probate judge and clerk of court ? named the Journal as Barrow County?s official legal organ newspaper in early November.

Thompson, along with board of commissioner?s chairman Danny Yearwood, strongly lobbied against the naming of the Journal. Yearwood was angry, among other things, that the Journal supported changing the county government to a manager system, a move that was approved by voters in early November. The change in government effectively puts Yearwood out of a full-time job in 2013.

After the Journal was designated as Barrow?s legal organ, Thompson and Yearwood teamed up with Barrow County News publisher Dennis Stockton to try and have the constitutional officers change their vote. Those behind-the-scenes efforts failed.

Now Thompson and Yearwood are reportedly looking for ways to end-run the Journal?s status as legal organ with city and county public notices. In the past, Winder officials have said they only run their public notices in the county legal organ.

?It just a petty move by an outgoing politician,? said Journal co-publisher Mike Buffington. ?State law dictates what kind of public notices have to be published in what newspapers and even sets the rate newspapers can charge for much of that public notice advertising. Certain kinds of notices do not have to run in the legal organ, but about 90 percent of all city and county public notices do have to be published in the county legal organ. The outgoing mayor can?t change state law; and the Winder city council has bigger issues to deal with than this kind of personal pettiness.?

Thompson also has added to the agenda of his final meeting as mayor a proposal to give city employees across-the-board, cost-of-living raises. No details apparently have been given to the city council members, who must approve the raises but only received their meeting packets late Friday.

Sources say the percentage increase likely would be about 3 percent, which would cost taxpayers about $200,000 that has not been budgeted. It also could make it difficult for Maynard, who takes office in January, to complete the current fiscal year in the black.

In the past, the mayor has authorized Christmas bonuses for city employees without the approval of the city council.

Source: http://www.mainstreetnews.com/archives/21706-Outgoing-Winder-Mayor-Chip-Thompson-seeks-to-slap-at-Journal.html

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Taylor Swift in running for "Miserables" film role (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Is Universal and Working Title's adaptation of the Broadway hit "Les Miserables" finally about to get its Eponine?

Taylor Swift, Lea Michele, Scarlett Johansson and Evan Rachel Wood are being considered for the role in Tom Hooper's film, the New York Post reported Wednesday morning. All four actresses have reportedly auditioned for the role.

A representative for Universal declined comment on the casting to TheWrap, saying only that no decisions have been made.

In the Victor Hugo novel of the same name, Eponine is a child spoiled by her parents, the Thenardiers, until they become poor. She falls in love with Marius and dies trying to save his life.

Marius will be played by Eddie Redmayne in the Hooper film, which also stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Geoffrey Rush.

"Les Miserables" is due in theaters on December 7, 2012.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111130/film_nm/us_taylorswift

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Slowdown sparks scramble to shore up China growth (AP)

SHANGHAI ? China's leaders are reversing their two-year effort to cool the economy, seeking to counter slowdowns in manufacturing and property that are dragging growth lower and threatening to spur unrest.

In the latest sign the world's No. 2 economy is weakening faster than thought, business surveys released Thursday showed manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years.

That news came a day after Beijing moved to invigorate business activity by easing credit curbs, ending a long campaign to take some fizz out of rapidy expanding economy. China's leaders had resisted easing lending curbs out of fear that opening the spigots might revive an outright investment boom and re-ignite inflation.

High living costs are risky for China's communist leaders because they erode the economic gains that underpin the ruling party's claim to power. But slowing growth is another peril: already news of labor unrest at factories in the south suggests that workers are being squeezed as exporters juggle tight credit and slowing demand.

The decision by the People's Bank of China to reduce the amount of money that China's commercial lenders must hold in reserve by 0.5 percent of their deposits "is a clear signal that Beijing now sees the balance of risks as lying with growth rather than inflation," said Stephen Green, an economist with Standard Chartered in Shanghai.

The European debt crisis and feeble U.S. recovery have weakened demand in China's biggest export market, while at home efforts to curb inflation by cooling the property market are hurting a wide range of industries heavily dependent on housing and other construction.

The worsening conditions are no surprise to Chen Xiaoyan, a saleswoman at the Cangnan Qianku Qingfeng Pet Supplies Craft Factory in Wenzhou, a manufacturing base that has been hit especially hard by tight credit policies, leaving many factories short of operating cash.

"It was hard enough to do business last year. This year is the hardest," said Chen. "Our profit was 30 percent lower last year and it will be down another 10 percent this year," she said. Materials costs have come down in recent months, but labor costs have not, said Chen.

Worries over erring on the side of too fast growth are being overshadowed by greater alarm over a deeper slump as conditions worsen overseas.

"They're stuck," Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing said of China's policymakers.

That explains a comment by Vice Premier Wang Qishan to U.S. trade negotiators last week that "an unbalanced recovery is better than a balanced recession," he said.

The Chinese economy is one of the few still growing at a respectable pace, and Beijing's leaders intend to keep it that way.

China's economic growth eased to a still-robust 9.1 percent in the quarter ending in September from 9.5 the previous quarter. But indicators showing export industries and some other areas of the economy were cooling more sharply raised fears of job losses and possible unrest.

In the manufacturing sector, the activity gauge of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing fell an greater-than-expected 1.4 percentage points to 49 in November, well below the 50-level that signifies expansion. That was the first contraction in manufacturing activity since early 2009.

Another manufacturing survey by HSBC showed an even steeper decline, with its PMI dropping to 47.7 in November from 51.0 in October.

The property market also appears to have reached a turning point, at least in the biggest cities. New home sales fell 17 percent by transaction volume in China's top 20 cities in July-September compared with a year earlier.

Sharp discounts by some property developers have angered home buyers who bought when the market was at its peak, with some staging protests or storming real estate company offices.

"They promised us the price of our apartment would never go down, that it would only increase," complained Zhu Hongxia, a property owner in Shanghai who was standing with others outside the office of China Vanke, the country's biggest developer.

"You can't decrease the price suddenly by such a big amount," Zhu said.

While many homeowners have been angered by the drop, the government is seeking to prevent prices from surging further out of reach of most families. Leaders say property curbs will stay in place despite signs the effort to deflate the bubble is reverberating throughout an economy that already was slowing.

The construction slowdown has prompted builders to cut jobs ? losses that have fallen heavily on unskilled migrant laborers.

Beijing Xuanyu Construction Co. in Shunyi on the outskirts of Beijing, a subcontractor on apartment projects, has cut its workforce of construction site laborers from 100 a year ago to about 70, according to Liu Jun, a manager.

The core staff of about 200 engineers, project managers and administrators so far is unaffected, Liu said. He said bricklayers are paid about 200 yuan ($32) a day and lower-skilled workers at least 140 yuan ($23).

"The volume of business has declined," Liu said. "Our workforce costs are too high."

China is striving to shift its economy toward greater dependence on consumer demand, rather than construction investment and exports. But they remain key drivers in this developing economy, and the job-scarce U.S. recovery and Europe's recent upheavals do not bode well: export growth has fallen steadily since hitting a peak of nearly 36 percent in March.

China's monthly trade surplus with the 27-nation European Union fell 10.3 percent from a year earlier to $13 billion in October as countries that use the euro common currency struggle to contain a sovereign debt crisis.

___

China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (in Chinese): http://www.cflp.org.cn

___

Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed from Beijing and researcher Fu Ting from Shanghai.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_economy

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