bruno olde: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

GOP wins contempt fight, but legal dispute looms

FILE - In this June 12, 2012 file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. In email exchanges with subordinates in February and March 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder and the department's second-highest official expressed growing concern that something might have gone wrong in a federal gun-smuggling probe called Operation Fast and Furious. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

From left, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Md., Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-NY, walk out of the Capitol, arm-in-arm, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus and many House Democrats protest the vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, Thursday, June 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

From left, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Md., Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Rep, Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, and many House Democrats walk out of the Capitol during the vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, Thursday, June 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., center, holds hands with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., next to Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., right, as House Democrats leave the Capitol in protest of a House vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, Thursday, June 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after members of Congress walked off the House floor in protest of a contempt of Congress vote for Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Republicans won a historic political fight to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, but the GOP probably is still a long way from obtaining documents it wants in an investigation of a bungled Justice Department gun-tracking operation.

There are two routes to enforcing the contempt citations approved by the House on Thursday, a criminal prosecution and a civil lawsuit, although the White House on Friday virtually shut down the criminal path. The civil route through the courts would not be resolved anytime soon.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Justice Department going back to the administration of President Ronald Reagan has not pursued prosecutions in contempt cases involving assertions of executive privilege.

President Barack Obama invoked a broad form of the privilege to prevent sending department documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is leading the effort to get the material related to Operation Fast and Furious.

"This is pure politics," Carney said.

"Remarkably the chairman of the committee involved here has asserted that he has no evidence that the attorney general knew of Operation Fast and Furious or did anything but take the right action when he learned of it.

"No evidence, so if you have no evidence as he has stated now about the White House and the attorney general, what else could this be but politics?"

More than 100 Democrats walked out of the House chamber to boycott the first of two contempt votes, saying Republicans were more interested in shameful election-year politics than documents.

Republicans demanded the documents for an ongoing investigation, but their arguments focused more on the need for closure for the family of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Two guns from the gun-tracking operation were found near his body after a shootout in Arizona.

Democrats promised closure as well, but said a less-partisan Republican investigation was the only way to get it.

Adding to the emotion of the day, the family of the slain agent issued a statement backing the Republicans.

"The Terry family takes no pleasure in the contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder. Such a vote should not have been necessary. The Justice Department should have released the documents related to Fast and Furious months ago," the statement said.

It all happened on the day that President Barack Obama's health care law survived in the Supreme Court, prompting some Democrats to speculate that the votes were scheduled to be overwhelmed by news stories about the ruling.

About five hours after the court ruled, with news sites flooded with information about the health care ruling, the House voted 255-67 to declare Holder in criminal contempt.

The matter goes to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who works under Holder.

A second vote of 258-95 held Holder in civil contempt and authorized the House to file a lawsuit.

In past cases, courts have been reluctant to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government.

The issue became more complicated when Obama invoked a broad form of executive privilege, a legal position that is designed to keep private certain communications of executive branch agencies.

Issa's committee will consult with the House counsel's office about a court challenge to the administration's decision not to cooperate, spokesman Frederick Hill said.

The documents were written after Fast and Furious was shut down. The subpoena covered a 10-month period from February 2011, when the Justice Department denied that guns purchased in the U.S. were allowed to "walk" across the border into Mexico, to early December 2011 when the department acknowledged the earlier assertion was in error.

Republicans said the contempt citations were necessary because Holder refused to hand over documents that could explain why the Obama administration took 10 months to come clean about gun-walking. The operation identified more than 2,000 illicitly purchased weapons. Some 1,400 of them have yet to be recovered in the failed strategy to track the weapons to gun-running rings.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-06-29-Fast%20and%20Furious/id-b4f07cb212864109b3a604a95420fc73

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ROM & Wedding bouquets

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Source: http://www.perfectweddings.sg/forums/rom-wedding-bouquets-4441/

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Top women's secret to success: Title IX

La Salle University

Jennifer Ngo, now a special agent for the FBI, during her playing days at La Salle University

By Eve Tahmincioglu

Jennifer Ngo, 32, a special agent for the FBI, played basketball when she was in college. Elyse Darefsky, 54, an IT manager at Cigna, was a big collegiate volleyball and basketball player. And Sarah Ann Slater, 23, who starts graduate school at the London School of Economics in the fall, was a junior tennis champ.

All three women credit sports for their achievements beyond the playing field, and studies show playing sports in your youth can indeed contribute to future career success.

?For me, it was about being part of something bigger than yourself,? said Ngo, who also played soccer growing up. ?As I got older, it helped me with my career.?

Their experiences point to how important it is for girls to have opportunities in athletics.?They also?underscore the significance of Title IX, which paved the way for more gender equity in high school and college sports, and celebrates its 40^th anniversary this month.

Engaging in sports in youth can help women, and men, attain career success later in life, and many prominent women often point to that experience as a reason for their ability to climb the ladder.

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods, played everything from field hockey to basketball when she was in high school; former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin touted her sporting past as a basketball player for the Wasilla Warriors; and SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro was a lacrosse player in college.

As Title IX celebrates its 40th anniversary, hear from three women who've seen the battle from all sides.

Of her lacrosse background at Franklin & Marshall College, where she captained the first varsity team in 1977, Schapiro told Lacrosse Magazine in the March issue, that the game helped her professional life.

?Lacrosse is truly a team endeavor,? she said. ?You have work together, you have to be constantly mindful of where your teammates are, you have to be willing to be in the supporting role, you have to be able to read signals and be prepared to regroup ? all of these are important to workplace success. It also taught me to take risks.?

According to a report by research firm Catalyst published in May, 82 percent of women executives played organized sports after elementary school, and nearly 60 percent said it gave them ?a competitive edge over others in the business world.??

Learning how to compete is among the top life skills youth sport members gain from their participation, according to research from Boston University?s School of Education published last year.

There is ?a direct transfer of life skills from sport to work,? found the research titled ?Career Success and Life Skill Development Through Sports,? which was part of a doctoral thesis by Gavin Bruce Barton.

He found that besides competitiveness, sports participation also developed an individual?s work ethic, ability to handle pressure, resilience, teamwork and confidence.

Surprisingly, the study also found, that ?sport participation as a source of life skill development was cited far more frequently than family, work or education.?

And, the author added, ?Life skills developed in sport can contribute to later work success.?

You don?t have to tell Cigna?s Darefsky?s that. ?I learned more playing sports than I did in school,? she explained. ?I was an introvert, and the confidence that you gain playing sports, you can?t measure that.?

She recalled going on her first job interview at Cigna in her final year of college, right after her basketball team at Clark University had a huge win over Dartmouth. ?It gave me a sense of confidence,? she said, allowing her to nail the interview.

Slater, the recent grad who played tennis, also has seen the benefits.

Courtesy of Sarah Ann Slater

?Being a part of sports actively in my youth and throughout my adolescence really taught me a lot about discipline, time management, and taking responsibility for myself and my own successes or failures,? she said. ?Even though I am not active in competitive sports any more I?was able to successfully transfer those skills into other arenas of my life, mainly academics as a college student, and they continue to be a part of all decisions I make as I go forward with my life.?

Clearly, youth sports can be an ultimate career boon, and Title IX has opened the door for?many women to participate and then reap the future benefits, said Marilyn Strawbridge, professor of physical education at Butler University in Indianapolis, who has studied the impact of sports on women.

Despite the law?s success, however, we have a long way to go when it comes to ensuring more girls get some serious locker room time, an experience that will only help them as they go out into the work world.

?Title IX has been wonderful but there?s still parity to be reached,? stressed Strawbridge. ?Unfortunately we?re still seeing lower rates of sports participation by girls in high school and college and they still get a smaller part of the athletics dollar.?

And that?s a problem given the payoff sports engagement offers women later in their careers and in their lives overall, she pointed out.

Live Poll

Do you think that girls? (and boys?) participation in sports can help lead to greater success later in life?

186770
Yes
88%
186771
No
6%
186772
Not sure
6%

VoteTotal Votes: 462

?Women in sports are better equipped to view themselves as equals; they know how to compete and put themselves out there, and take risks for something better,? she explained. ?They live with consequence and are healthier individuals all the way around, mentally and physically.?

More money and business news:

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Tennis legend Billie Jean King has been a tireless advocate for Title IX both before and since its passage. She reflects on her career and the landmark legislation.

Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/29/12459328-playing-youth-sports-helps-women-in-their-careers?lite

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Friday, June 29, 2012

European Motorola XOOM ICS update has begun rolling out

XOOM

Motorola Europe announced this morning on their Facebook page that the Ice Cream Sandwich update has begun rolling out to XOOM tablets in certain regions. XOOM owners in Europe have been patiently awaiting the new version of Android and they'll finally be able to experience it. While the update has started today, it will continue over the next few weeks so if you don't have it yet, sit tight. To find out information about your particular region, visit Motorola XOOM Customer Support.

Source: Facebook

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/qv7kSwkJ1Z8/story01.htm

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TEN7ivan: Google Q&A with all product managers at Unicorn event. The Google Glass manager is getting 90% of the Qs http://t.co/sQ8dYFLA

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Source: http://twitter.com/TEN7ivan/statuses/218814386020683777

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Wall Street rallies after EU agreement

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Life on Saturn moon? Discovery of hidden ocean on Titan tantalizes.

Scientists already knew Titan has the building blocks for organic life in abundance. Now, the discovery of a underground sea with liquid water adds another intriguing element.?

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / June 28, 2012

This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn's largest moon, Titan, passing in front of the planet and its rings. A new study released Thursday suggests there may be an ocean below Titan's frigid surface.

NASA/AP/File

Enlarge

A global ocean appears to lurk miles beneath the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, adding to the allure of an object rich with the building blocks of organic life and often likened to Earth before life emerged.

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Cassini has already found large lakes ? most likely made of hydrocarbons such as liquid methane ? on Titan's surface. But a team of scientists using NASA's Cassini spacecraft have now found indirect but telltale signs of a subsurface sea, perhaps of water as well as ammonia, which would act like antifreeze.?

The data suggest that the ocean, perhaps more than 15 miles deep, is sandwiched between two layers of ice, each less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) thick. It rides atop one layer of ice covering the moon's rocky core and appears to be capped with another ice layer that forms Titan's surface.?

Titan has captured the imagination of scientists hunting for potential habitats for simple forms of life for decades. The temperature at Titan's surface is unbearably cold, minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit. It is paved with the methane ices and other organic solids on which Cassini's Huygens probe landed on Jan. 14, 2005. Its atmosphere is thought to mirror the composition of Earth's atmosphere before the emergence of life some 3.8 billion years ago.?

As hostile as the surface seems to be, "liquids from below would enhance the possibility of life being on the surface" as well as enhancing the possibility of aquatic habitats deep beneath Titan's crust, says Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University in Pullman with a keen interest in Titan's potential habitability.

Thursday's report represents "a nice step forward" in establishing an ocean's presence on Titan, he says.?

The new finding adds Titan to the growing list of moons thought to have subsurface oceans. The icy surface of Jupiter's Europa is believed to hide a vast ocean, and data from Cassini suggest a?large, if not global, region of water or slush under the icy sheath of Saturn's Enceladus.?Neptune's moon Triton may also have a subsurface ocean, and Ganymede and Callisto, two more Jovian moons, also are though to have under-ice seas.

But Titan stands out because researchers know that organic compounds are abundant there.?

Researchers led by Luciano Iess, a scientist at the Universita La Sepienza in Rome, used radio signals from Cassini to track changes in the effect Titan's gravity has on the orbiter during flybys. These readings?allow the team to measure the strength of Titan's gravity in the regions Cassini overflies.

This process allows researchers to "weigh the moon, basically,"?says Sami Asmar, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and?a member of the team that reported its results on Sciencexpress, the web outlet of?the journal Science.

If Titan was solid, its gravity field wouldn't change. Even when the moon?comes closest to Saturn on its elliptical orbit ??experiencing Saturn's strongest tug ? its?mass would remain fairly evenly distributed throughout the object.?

But Titan's gravity changes as it progresses along its orbit, the team found. The side of the moon that always faces Saturn bulged?as Titan made its closest approach to the ringed planet.

"We caught Titan in the act of deforming," Dr. Asmar says.

This tidal bulge represents a redistribution of material within the moon's interior ? a telltale sign that there is likely a fluid layer in the moon's interior.

It is as though Titan's rocky core with its icy cover was being drawn through the global subsurface ocean toward Jupiter as the moon made its closest approach, creating the bulge.

The friction of the moon's tidal interaction with Saturn generates heat, which could help sustain the ocean's liquid state ? as is the case within Enceladus and Europa.

The observation of a global ocean beneath Titan's icy exterior is indirect, Asmar says,?"But it's real evidence."

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Google Play Store gets movie purchases, TV shows and magazines

Android Central

Google just dropped the news that the Google Play Store is about to start offering up a whole lot more content. First up are movie purchases. Until now, movies have only been available to rent and watch once. Now, you'll be able to purchase movies right within the Play Store, and watch them again, and again, and again.

Next up, TV Shows. Google has announced a host of partners to bring your favorite TV show content to the Play Store. Magazines are also along for the ride as well. These are due to start from today, and Google's content provision service just got so much better. Perfect for tablets...

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R. Kelly Planned Best Of Both Worlds Collabo With Tupac Before Jay-Z

In his upcoming 'Soulacoaster' autobiography, R&B great remembers planning to record with 'Pac and making the Notorious B.I.G. cry.
By Rob Markman

R. Kelly
Photo:

R. Kelly and Jay-Z changed the landscape of hip-hop and R&B when they dropped their 2002 tag-team album Best of Both Worlds, but according to the Pied Piper, it was the late Tupac Shakur who originally sparked that genre-melding idea.

On Tuesday Rolling Stone ran an excerpt from Kellz's upcoming autobiography, "Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me," and in the chapter titled "Yo Pac! Yo Biggie!" the singer expresses his admiration for the two slain rap greats.

Kelly recalls a 1996 meeting with 'Pac in front of a hotel frequented by rappers and other music industry types. He says they planned to release a collaborative album at that meeting, but the idea came to a tragic end after Shakur was murdered later that year.

"Come September, and it looked like my schedule was opening up just before the holidays. I set up a meeting with Pac for us to plot our strategy, get firm dates and make the musical bomb that we both know would explode all around the world," Kelly wrote. "But another bomb exploded that no one saw coming."

Though he never got the chance to work with Shakur, Kelly and the Notorious B.I.G. did log in a few recording sessions. In 1995 Biggie made a cameo on the singer's "(You to Be) Be Happy," and they hooked up again shortly before B.I.G. was murdered, on 1997's "F--- You Tonight."

R. Kelly described Biggie as a kindred spirit of sorts who appreciated R&B music in ways that most rappers did not. After a night of partying, Kelly remembers playing a piano in a Detroit hotel lobby, writing the chords to what would soon become his Grammy Award-winning single "I Believe I Can Fly." According to the singer, Biggie rolled into the lobby and Kelly played a bare version of the song for his rapper friend, who immediately began to sing praises.

"I'm gonna tell you right now, B, that's a smash. That's a big hit right there. That's a Grammy winner, Rob," Kelly recalled a tearful B.I.G. saying. "They gonna be playing that when you and I have moved on to the other side of time."

"Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me" is due out on June 28.

What is your favorite R. Kelly song? Let us know in the comments!

Related Artists

R. Kelly

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

North Nigeria police station attacked with guns, explosives

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Famed Crystal Cathedral to become Catholic church

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) ? Retired schoolteacher Dolores Rommel has followed the Rev. Robert H. Schuller almost her entire adult life: She was baptized in his church as a young woman, sent her children to his Sunday school and laid her husband to rest near the soaring, glass-paned Crystal Cathedral that was to be the televangelist's ultimate legacy.

But when the Roman Catholic church bought the famous sanctuary and its cemetery in bankruptcy court last year, Rommel began looking for another spiritual home. She has resigned herself to being entombed in a Catholic cemetery so she can be near her husband, but not without plenty of soul-searching.

"I have no choice. I am going to be buried there because that was his choice and we paid a lot for that vault," said Rommel, who bought a two-casket tomb with her husband in 1997. "At the time, who would know that this was going to happen?"

The Crystal Cathedral congregation recently announced that it will vacate its modernist steel-and-glass church by June 2013. The Diocese of Orange re-baptized the church Christ Cathedral earlier this month and plans to turn the Protestant landmark where the "Hour of Power" TV ministry is based into its spiritual and administrative headquarters. The fast-growing, 1.2 million-person diocese bought the church campus for nearly $58 million last year.

The upcoming transition has been an emotional one for many longtime congregants like Rommel, who watched Schuller's blockbuster dynasty struggle to survive in recent years amid declining donations, a disastrous leadership transition and an endless family squabble that split the congregation.

Schuller built the church ? an architectural marvel with 10,000 windows and room for nearly 3,000 worshippers and 1,000 musicians ? in 1980, a decade after he began broadcasting his sermons on the "power of possibility thinking" into the homes of millions of evangelical Christians each Sunday.

Reaction to the church's sale was at first bitter: The children of one prominent philanthropist publicly threatened to disinter their father from its cemetery and another congregant sued for $30 billion, saying the transfer to Catholic hands had "permanently desecrated, defamed, polluted and cursed" the church.

Tempers have since cooled, but the recently announced timeline for the transfer to Catholic hands has revived questions about the fate of Schuller's ministry once it leaves behind the iconic building that gave it its name. The diocese will grant the congregation six months rent-free at a nearby Catholic church and it plans to continue filming the "Hour of Power."

"We could film in a studio," said John Charles, the new CEO of Crystal Cathedral Ministries. "We're still going to have the same great preaching, the same great music and pulpit guests. The ministry is not about the building ? it's more about our congregation and who we are."

Some, however, wonder whether the ministry will fizzle out ? or shrink dramatically ? without the building that gave it its name. Broadcasts of the "Hour of Power" were recently cut back to 30 minutes on Lifetime and Discovery channels and Schuller, now 85, no longer appears on the program and hasn't attended church since last fall.

His son and daughter, who each failed to assume their father's mantle, are no longer involved in the ministry. Sheila Schuller Coleman formed a new church after a falling out last year.

The congregation, which now numbers up to 1,700 people each Sunday, will also change its name once it moves.

"It really needs to go back to square one and say, 'Who are we going to be? We can't be what we were 10 to 15 years ago,'" said Kurt Fredrickson, an associate dean and assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. "There could be resurrection there or it could be that we say goodbye to a congregation and bless them and be grateful and thank God for years and years and years of really wonderful ministry."

Schuller tapped into California's blossoming car culture and the optimism of a post-World War II generation when he began preaching in 1955 from the roof of a snack bar at a drive-in movie theater in suburban Orange County. He exhorted worshippers to "come as you are in the family car" and his upbeat message resonated.

By 1970, Schuller was airing the "Hour of Power" and in 1980, he dedicated the Crystal Cathedral, an architectural marvel that served as the backdrop for the show. At its peak, the broadcast attracted 20 million viewers around the world.

The Rev. Christopher Smith, the Catholic episcopal vicar and rector of the newly baptized Christ Cathedral, recalls as a child watching from his grandparents' backyard as the young, energetic evangelist preached from the roof of the drive-in theater's concession stand. Now, Smith is in charge of a delicate transition as the diocese prepares to move into a religious and architectural touchstone cherished by evangelicals around the world.

The diocese hopes to honor Schuller and the history of his ministry with a museum that begins with the drive-in movie theater and ends with the Catholic acquisition. The diocese may also move its archives, which are currently not publicly available, to the cathedral grounds, said Smith.

"I just hope that we attend well to all the different people who are affected by this and also that this place be seen as a place where everyone is welcome to find hope and consolation and inspiration, whether they're Catholic or not," Smith said.

"That's the bishop's desire ? that we are a real credible witness to Christ in the world through our work here."

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

With $1.2 Billion Yammer Buy, Microsoft?s Social Enterprise Strategy Takes Shape

Microsoft just announced it has indeed acquired Yammer, the four-year-old social networking company for enterprises, for $1.2 billion in cash. The announcement confirms weeks of very credibly-sourced rumors that have been floating for weeks around the tech blogosphere

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Friends reel from shooting of teen lesbian couple

Courtesy of Jillian Manuel

Rainbow ribbons, goodbye messages, flowers and cut-out hearts were left near the site where police believe Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, were shot last week in Portland, Tex.

By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com

Friends and family of two teenage girls in a same-sex relationship who were shot in the head in a South Texas park expressed shock and grief Tuesday over the incident in which one of the young women was killed and the other severely injured.

Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, were found in knee-deep grass in a nature area in Portland by a couple Saturday, said Portland Police Chief Randy Wright, who confirmed to msnbc.com details first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller Times.

Rainbow ribbons, goodbye messages, flowers and cut-out hearts were posted around the site where they were found. On Friday, a candlelight vigil and walk will be held for Chapa and Olgin.

?It?s something that I think all of us are going to carry with us for a while,? Frank Reyna, a friend of both girls, told msnbc.com. ?It?s going to take a while to get past this, the idea that there is somebody still out there that did this to these two amazing, beautiful people and that they?re walking free right now.?

Olgin, originally from Ingleside but recently living in Corpus Christi, died; Chapa, of Sinton, was rushed to a hospital where she had surgery and was in serious but stable condition on Sunday, local NBC affiliate kristv.com reported. Wright said Chapa was still in the hospital on Monday.

Police are investigating the shooting of two teenage girls in a same-sex relationship in a small Texas community along the Gulf of Mexico. KRIS reporter Lindsay Curtis has the story.

Wright said police had recovered a bullet casing from a large-caliber gun at the scene, but they haven?t found the weapon. A resident living nearby reported hearing two loud bangs Friday before midnight but believed?they were?from firecrackers, the newspaper said.

?If we had a name, you know, we?d be having a different conversation right now. But we have not been able to gather enough information to identify a suspect yet,? Wright said Monday. ?It appears as if ? this was not just a random attack but that?s something that we really have to develop over time.?

Courtesy of Jillian Manuel

A makeshift memorial was set up near the site where police believe Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, were attacked last week in Portland, Tex.

Two calls placed Tuesday to Wright seeking an update on the case were not immediately returned.

Teen lesbian couple found shot in Texas park

Chandler Nunez, who noted that Olgin was one of her best friends in high school, said she was in shock.

? ? I cannot imagine anyone who would want to hurt such a loving and caring person,? she wrote to msnbc.com. ?This was incredibly unexpected and the lack of answers makes this tragedy all the more frustrating.?

Friends told kristv.com that the pair had been a couple for five months. Wright said he didn?t have any information about their relationship, noting that ?we understood from their friends that they were (in a romantic relationship). I know from ? Mollie?s parents that they were very close.?

Reyna, a 19-year-old university student, said he grew up with Chapa, and met Olgin his sophomore year of high school. He described Chapa as an athlete who played softball, and said Olgin, now a student at a nearby university, was focused on academics but also was a big joker. He last saw them together at a local coffee shop in May, which was the first time he saw them out as a couple.

?I?m glad that that was the last time that I saw Mollie in person, that that?s the memory that I can live with for the rest of my life, knowing that I saw her happy,? he said.

The couple?s relationship ?was a readily accepted thing,? he added, and was not what their friends focused on.

?We focused on their personalities and how they got along with everybody else ? their kindheartedness and their ability to just make other people smile and make each other smile,? he said. ?We didn?t care ? what they were, it?s who they were.?

When asked if police had been able to determine if the girls' sexuality played any role in the shootings, Wright told msnbc.com on Monday: ?That?s always something that we?re looking for, but as of this point, we have not been able to establish that that had anything to do with the attack.?

He also said they had been in communication with Chapa. He noted all indications were that ?third parties? were involved in the assault.

The park, more of nature area with some parts overgrown and no lights, was often frequented by visitors during the day, but not at night. It is located along a bluff overlooking a bay, Wright said, with some homes situated nearby.

?We?re not really sure how they got to the point that they were found,? he said. ?It is a scenic overlook with a wooden deck and there is a place at the edge of the deck where you can actually go down a very steep incline into a grassy area that leads down to the shoreline and that?s where they were found.?

Courtesy of Kristen Veit

Charlene Camp, Hilary Avila, Myracle Taylor, Bailey Sanders, Jillian Manuel, Tim Robinson (behind Manuel), Kristen Veit, LuAnn Garza, Valerie Tanon and Franceska Hiracheta were some of the couple's friends and well-wishers who created a memorial at the site around where police believe the young women were attacked last week in Portland, Tex.

While people in the South Texas community prepare for their memorial service, another candlelight vigil for the pair has been organized by Cleve Jones, a gay civil rights activist who conceived the AIDS Memorial Quilt, for Wednesday evening in San Francisco.

"You were taken too soon," Megan Olgin, who identified herself as Olgin?s sister on Facebook, wrote in a post. "I love you and always will. You're my guardian angel. I love you little sister. Forever and always ?"

Editor's note: Chapa's friends spell her name as Kristene, though the Portland police list it as Christine. Calls placed to the police to clarify were not immediately returned.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

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Kris Humphries to Myla Sinanaj: Where Was Kanye?!?

While the Kim Kardashian/Kanye West relationship may have come out of nowhere to most of the tabloid-reading public, Kris Humphries was reportedly convinced something was up between these two as far back as last summer.

How come? Because Kanye, despite being described as a "close family friend" by Kris Jenner last year, was NOT invited to Kris and Kim's ratings-based August wedding.

According to TMZ sources, Humphries openly wondered why this was the case, expressing suspicion to Myla Sinanaj during their time as a couple earlier this year.

Kim Kardashian Talks Kris Humphries Marriage

Sinanaj has suddenly become an important player in the ongoing divorce battle between Kris and Kim, with the latter's attorney's summoning her to a deposition in order to spill details on her relationship with Humphries.

The latest report claims Kris told his former gal pal that he "felt played" by Kardashian and that Myla and Kris were actually together when the latter first heard Kanye admit to loving Kim via rap song.

Humphries was allegedly "visibly upset" when he heard the track.

That's how we feel every time we read a story about these terrible people.

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Boehner to House GOP on health care ruling: ?There will be no spiking of the ball?

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told House Republicans in a memo yesterday that they shouldn?t break out the bubbly and throw confetti if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act next week.

?There will be no spiking of the ball,? Boehner wrote. ?We will not celebrate at a time when millions of our fellow Americans remain out of work.?

[The Hill]

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Does aspirin fight cancer?

Published on Sunday 24 June 2012 00:22

?Taking a low dose of aspirin every day can prevent and possibly even treat cancer,? BBC News today reported. The painkiller is already taken by thousands to cut their risk of heart attacks and strokes, but new, widely reported research has suggested it may have a role in fighting cancer that this study used.

In three research papers published simultaneously, doctors and researchers looked at cancer data recorded during dozens of trials testing aspirin for heart and circulatory health. They found that daily use of aspirin was linked to a drop in the short-term risk of developing cancer and could reduce both the risk of cancers spreading around the body and the risk of death due to cancer.

However, given that the trials were not originally designed to see whether aspirin would reduce people?s risks of cancer we cannot be sure that the drug?s potential cancer-fighting benefits are not outweighed by its known side-effects. For example, aspirin can cause painful stomach irritation and there is a small but important risk of serious bleeds associated with its use. Therefore, until there have been dedicated studies, it is too soon to recommend that people should start taking daily aspirin unless it has been recommended to them by a doctor.

Overall, aspirin is a highly effective medical treatment when used appropriately, but it is not yet a drug that should be taken unsupervised on a daily basis, even at low doses.

What is the basis for these current reports?

Although first created to act simply as a painkiller, aspirin is now routinely used to treat and prevent a range of health problems. For example, in the UK it can be prescribed as a blood-thinner to reduce the risk of clots, but only as a small daily dose, often around 75mg. This is much lower than the 300mg found in a typical aspirin painkilling tablet.

Some researchers have also suggested that the humble household drug can also reduce the risk of cancer, and various studies have looked at the issue over the years. However, The Lancet journal group has today published three related research papers examining the effects of aspirin on cancer incidence, cancer metastasis (spread) and cancer deaths. To examine whether or not aspirin has cancer-fighting properties, researchers conducted three reviews of the body of evidence provided from previous trials that had indirectly examined how aspirin-use related to cancer. In other words, the trials had been looking at issues other than cancer, but had recorded additional data on cancer that the researchers examined.

The reviews were conducted by Peter Rothwell of Oxford University, along with other researchers. Two reviews were published in The Lancet and the third was published in the group?s specialist cancer publication, Lancet Oncology. The researchers declared they received no external funding for any of the reviews.

What did the research find?

To conduct their review, researchers performed?systematic searches of research databases to gather all relevant studies on cancer incidence, cancer metastasis (spread) and cancer deaths. They then used recognised methods to produce three different review papers; the findings of which are summarised below.

Paper 1: Aspirin reduces the short-term risk of cancer incidence and mortality

The first study analysed individual patient data from 51?randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that had compared daily aspirin use with control treatments as a means of preventing vascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. In total, the trials featured 77,549 patients: 40,269 were prescribed aspirin and 37,280 were in control groups and were prescribed either an alternative treatment or no treatment at all.

The study found that aspirin reduces the risk of non-vascular death by around 12% compared with a control treatment. This effect was mainly due to fewer cancer deaths after five years, with the risk of cancer being 37% lower among aspirin users than the control group.

The researchers then considered only those trials examining aspirin use for the prevention of vascular events in people who had not yet had an event such as a heart attack or stroke, a practice known as ?primary prevention?. Doctors prescribe aspirin in this way when people are considered to be at risk due to factors such as their age, weight and lifestyle.

When examining aspirin as a primary prevention, the researchers found that after three years of use it reduced cancer incidence in both men and women, and in smokers and non-smokers. Aspirin also reduced the risk of heart attack and strokes, but increased the risk of bleeding ? a potentially serious side effect that some people experience when taking aspirin. The effect aspirin had on both cardiovascular risks and bleeds decreased with time, although the effect aspirin had on cancer remained.

Paper 2: Aspirin prevents distant metastasis

One particularly serious complication of cancer can be ?metastasis?, where cancerous cells spread to other tissues and organs. It can make the cancer harder to treat, and with many cancers metastasis can reduce the chances of a patient surviving.

Some theories have suggested that regular aspirin use could reduce the risk of metastasis, perhaps by the actions it has upon the blood. The second review examined this issue by analysing individual patient data to determine how common metastasis is in people who developed a solid cancer, such as stomach cancer (as opposed to a blood cancer, such as leukaemia) and whether their aspirin use had any impact on their risk of it. The patients were participants in RCTs comparing groups taking aspirin daily with control groups, for the prevention of vascular events. This study included patient data from five trials performed in the UK. These trials would have excluded patients with a recent diagnosis of cancer from entry into the study, and therefore only participants who were diagnosed with cancer during the course of the trial were looked at.

In total, 987 new solid cancers were diagnosed among 17,285 participants during the trials. Patients who received aspirin were 46% less likely to have cancer with distant metastasis than those using a control treatment.

The researchers then turned their attention to a particular type of cancer called adenocarcinoma, which can affect a range of different organs in the body. They found that:

Aspirin reduced the risk of adenocarcinoma with metastasis at initial diagnosis by 31%.
When patients were diagnosed with cancer but no metastasis, the risk of developing metastases later was 55% lower among aspirin users.
Aspirin also reduced the chances of death in patients with adenocarcinoma.
The effects were independent of age and sex, but smokers benefitted the most from taking aspirin.

Paper 3: The results of observational studies are consistent with the results of RCTs, and show that regular use of aspirin reduces the long-term risk of several cancers and the risk of distant metastases

The third study was a systematic review of observational studies that had reported associations between aspirin, risk of cancer and the outcome of cancer cases. The researchers compared the result with that of RCTs to see if they were consistent across the reviews.

Observational studies provide less evidence than RCTs, and cannot show causation. However, this study found that the results of the observational studies were consistent with those obtained from RCTs, which is that regular use of aspirin reduces the long-term risk of several cancers, including:

colorectal or bowel cancer
oesophageal or foodpipe cancer
gastric or stomach cancer
cancer of the bile duct
breast cancer

Observational studies also supported the finding that aspirin lowers the risk of distant metastasis.

Where there any limitations to the studies?

All of these studies were systematic reviews, which are considered to provide a higher amount of evidence, particularly those examining RCTs, as two of these reviews did.? However, it should be noted that the RCTs were designed to assess the effectiveness of aspirin as a means to prevent vascular events such as heart attack and stroke, and not as a means to prevent cancer. Given that the studies were not designed to look at cancer, they may have had limitations in the type of cancer-related information they recorded.

For many people at risk of cardiovascular disease, the benefits of taking prescribed daily aspirin under their doctor?s supervision outweigh the risks of taking the drug. However, this may not be the case in otherwise healthy people who are not at cardiovascular risk. Therefore, caution should be applied when applying these results to the general population. The authors report that, so far, there have only been a few small RCTs of aspirin for the treatment of cancer, but that two new trials have recently begun.

Should I start taking aspirin?

Although these studies provide compelling evidence, taking aspirin is not yet recommended to prevent cancer and people should not start taking it daily as a precautionary measure. This is because aspirin can potentially cause serious harmful effects, such as a small-but-important increase in the risk of stomach irritation and bleeding (haemorrhage).

The risk of complications also tends to be higher in:

the elderly
people with a history of stomach ulcers
people taking drugs that increase their risk of bleeding
people who have other medical conditions that increase their risk of bleeding.

Aspirin can also cause breathing problems in people with asthma. Other common side effects of aspirin include feeling sick and indigestion. Some people have allergic reactions to it.

Given that the potential risks could outweigh any benefits, it is not currently advised that healthy people with no risk factors for cardiovascular disease take aspirin to prevent possible cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. Furthermore, as the evidence for taking aspirin purely as cancer prevention or treatment is even less substantial than for blood thinning, again we cannot be sure that the potential benefits are not outweighed by the known risks.

Before taking aspirin, including for pain relief, talk to your doctor or pharmacist if:

You are pregnant, trying for a baby or breastfeeding.
You have a blood disorder.
You have ever had a stomach ulcer.
You suffer from asthma.
You have liver or kidney problems.
You have high blood pressure.
You have had an unusual or allergic-type reaction to any medicine.
You are taking other medicines.

Aspirin should not be given to children under the age of 16 due to the risk of Reye's syndrome, a rare but dangerous condition that can be triggered by aspirin. Aspirin has been removed as an ingredient from all UK child and baby medicines, so they should not carry a risk of Reye's syndrome.

The news has understandably generated a great deal of interest in aspirin as a potential way to cut cancer risk, but it should be remembered that there are many other lifestyle changes that people can make to reduce their risk of cancer, including giving up smoking, which do not have harmful side effects.

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Edmonds Parks & Rec sponsoring summer camp activities | My ...

Home ? Blog ? Edmonds Events ? Edmonds Parks & Rec sponsoring summer camp activities

Edmonds Parks & Rec sponsoring summer camp activities

A summer of fun is just around the corner at Edmonds Parks & Recreation with classes in scting, art/crafts, beach camp, day camp, gymnastics, jump rope, Legos, nature, photography, pirate, preschool, science and sports, among others.

View camp dates, times and fees at www.edmondscamps.org. Register at Edmonds Parks & Recreation by calling 425-771-0230 or online at www.reczone.org.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 and is filed under Edmonds Events, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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TheDC?s Political Roundup

In this edition of The Daily Caller?s Political Roundup, we take a look at intra-party strife in Maine, attack-by-campaign-sign in Montana, an unfortunate endorsement in a New York House race, an unwanted candidate in Tennessee, the impending Republican Senate primary in Utah and a Republican debate in Texas? never-ending Senate race.

1) Maine Senate race

In the Maine Senate race, both major parties have managed to field candidates seriously at odds with important members of their base, making it even more likely that independent Angus King ? the wildly popular former governor who has been the front-runner since the beginning ? will pull off the race.

As The Daily Caller reported Thursday, State Sen. Cynthia Dill is on the attack against her own party, going after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in a fundraising email sent Thursday.

?Don?t let the DSCC and other beltway insiders decide who Maine?s next United States Senator will be,? she wrote. ?We know these groups don?t share our ideals and will not fight for working families, small businesses and Maine values.?

The DSCC has not indicated any plans to get involved in the race on Dill?s behalf. In fact, King is seen as Democrats? best hope to control the seat, as he is widely expected to caucus with Democrats if elected. King, who supported President George W. Bush in 2000, Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and President Barack Obama in 2008, has refused to say who he would caucus with, and said he would not say so before being elected.

On the Republican side, a rift between the nominee, Secretary of State Charlie Summers, and Sen. Olympia Snowe has finally been publicly reported, though insiders have long been aware of the feud.

The Portland Press Herald?reported?on the feud last week.

Summers is a former Snowe staffer, but last year he opted ?not to endorse Snowe in her race against tea party-backed Scott D?Amboise.?

?Snowe had been targeted by the tea party, and as she ramped up her campaign against D?Amboise she approached Republican leaders in Maine for endorsements that could blunt a tea party surge against her,? the Portland Press Herald reported.

John Richter, Sen. Snowe?s chief of staff, confirmed the story, but told the paper that Snowe would back Summers as ?the duly chosen Republican nominee.? However, he indicated that Snowe might not back Summers financially, as has been her habit with Maine Republican candidates.

2) Montana Senate race

In Montana, things turned violent after a debate when a Democratic activist started hitting Republican candidate Denny Rehberg?s wife with a rolled up sign. Rehberg is running for Senate against Democratic incumbent John Tester.

TheDC?s Caroline May reported that the woman was in her late thirties, and that, ?After exchanging words with Jan Rehberg, she began hitting the candidate?s wife with a rolled up Tester sign.?

The owner of the venue ultimately threw the woman, along with two companions, out of the event.

3) An unwanted endorsement in New York

In what TheDC?s Neil Munro described?as ?an awkward problem,? a Democratic candidate for New York?s 10th Congressional District has earned the not-at-all-coveted endorsement of David Duke, a former Louisiana state representative and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Duke endorsed Democrat Charles Barron in the Democratic primary on Thursday. Barron is black, which makes the whole thing even more confusing, but Duke said he felt an affinity with the city councilman because of their shared distaste for Jews.

?The possible election of a dedicated anti-Zionist has thrown the Zionist-influenced media and the Zio-political establishment in a tizzy,? Duke said in a video posted to his website.

He goes on to say that he will support Barron over his opponent in the primary, State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries. Jeffries is also black.

?In an election of limited choices, I think Charles Barron is the better choice [because] there is no greater danger facing the United States of America ? and facing the world ? than the unbridled power of zionist globalism,? Duke declared in a June 21 video.

Duke, by the way, now says he supports ?diversity,? but advocates the separation of whites and blacks.

4) Tennessee

Speaking of unwanted attention for Democrats, the Tennessee Democratic Party is seeking ?legal remedy? to get Senate candidate Thomas K. Owens? name off the Democratic primary ballot after it came to light that he was charged with solicitation of a minor last year.

Owens is vying to obtain the nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Bob Corker.

According to The Tennessean, ?Authorities say a 7-year-old girl riding her bike? by Owens? apartment ?was invited inside. According to authorities, the 36-year-old then allegedly hugged the girl, unzipped his pants and asked her to perform a sex act. The girl ran home and told her mother, who notified police, authorities added.?

A mental evaluation by Lakeshore Mental Health Institute determined that though he was mentally competent to stand trial, he had suffering from a ?severe mental disease? during the time of his alleged crimes.

When asked to The Tennessean,?Owens? only comment on the matter was, ?I have a problem with that.?

Brandon Puttbrese, a spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said they are looking for a way to legally take Owens off the primary ballot.

?There?s no place for a candidate like that on the Democratic ticket in Tennessee,? he told The?Tennessean.

5) Utah Republican Senate primary

Tuesday?s Republican primary in Utah pits Sen. Orrin Hatch against State Sen. Dan Liljenquist, who is hoping to take down the longtime incumbent despite being dwarfed in terms of fundraising.

That is unlikely to happen, according to Utah politicos. Even FreedomWorks, which is in large part responsible for drafting Liljenquist into the race and has spent just under $1 million attacking Hatch, is downplaying expectations.

?Hatch wins by 20+,? one Utah political consultant predicted.

?FreedomWorks will try to explain this as a moral victory, but they got their hat handed to them,? the consultant added. ?They always took too much credit for Bennett defeat in 2010 and all they did was waste a million bucks that could have been used to defend Heller or pick up Colorado or Montana.?

Utah Democratic political consultant Doug Foxley also predicted that ?Hatch wins going away.?

FreedomWorks campaign manager Russ Walker said he was ?hopeful? for Tuesday, but sounded skeptical that Liljenquist could pull it off.

?It?s a tough campaign ? I think momentum is shifting our direction,? Walker said.??I just don?t know if it?s enough to win the campaign on election day.?

?It?s very difficult to beat someone, especially in Utah, who has the full support of the fair-haired child of Utah ? and that?s Mitt Romney ? in a year when he?s running for president,? Walker added. ?And that?s always kind of been an x-factor in this race, but you know, Sen. Hatch has tied himself to Mitt Romney?s coattails and he?s ridden them pretty hard.?

Liljenquist recently earned the endorsement of Romney?s primary opponent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Even if they didn?t win, Walker said, challenging Hatch had forced him farther to the right in his votes over the past two years, though it remained to be seen if he would stick to that level of conservatism after the election.

Nonetheless, Liljenquist himself expressed confidence.

?We feel very good,? Liljenquist told TheDC in a phone interview.

?This is a grassroots campaign and we?re working it to the end, and we?re confident we can win,? he said.

Hatch, though likely to win, sounded beaten down earlier this week, telling the Salt Lake Tribune: ?This race has not been fun. The attacks on me have been tough.?

6) Texas Senate primary

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former Solicitor General Ted Cruz will face off in their first televised debate on Friday.

?I think one thing you?ll see is that David Dewhurst will present a clear contrast in the race, which is between a Texas conservative businessman and a lawyer funded by Washington special interests,? said Dewhurst campaign spokesman Matt Hirsch.

Hirsch said Dewhurst would talk about his record as lieutenant governor, and specifically about the policy plan he released Thursday, which Hirsch described as ?his agenda to go to Washington and change business as usual.?

Among other things, the plan calls for term limits, decreasing congressional salaries, banning earmarks and reforming the lobbying rules to keep members of Congress from becoming lobbyists for four years after they leave Congress.

The Cruz campaign knocked Dewhurst for refusing to debate Cruz more.

?Since this race began, Ted has campaigned vigorously across the state, meeting with grassroots conservatives all over Texas, while David Dewhurst has skipped 36 debates and acted as if he were entitled to a U.S. Senate seat,? James Bernsen wrote in an email to TheDC. ?This rare Dewhurst debate appearance is an opportunity for Texas voters to hear why he supported a ?wage tax? that The Wall Street Journal called a ?fancy disguise for an income tax,? and why state spending grew by $72 billion during his tenure.?

?This race presents a clear choice between a go-along-to-get-along career politician in David Dewhurst and a conservative fighter who will stand up to the Obama administration, end the Obama war on jobs, stop out-of-control spending and rein in the growth of government power,? Bernsen added. ?More and more Texans every day are embracing Ted?s campaign because they recognize that he is that kind of fighter they?re looking for.?

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