Pythons apparently wiping out Everglades mammals (AP)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. ? A burgeoning population of huge pythons ? many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big ? appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Everglades, a study says.

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically ? as much as 99 percent, in some cases ? in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to be lurking.

Scientists fear the pythons could disrupt the food chain and upset the Everglades' environmental balance in ways difficult to predict.

"The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the national park boundaries, are likely profound," said John Willson, a research scientist at Virginia Tech University and co-author of the study.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot one captured earlier this month.

For the study, researchers drove 39,000 miles along Everglades-area roads from 2003 through 2011, counting wildlife spotted along the way and comparing the results with surveys conducted on the same routes in 1996 and 1997.

The researchers found staggering declines in animal sightings: a drop of 99.3 percent among raccoons, 98.9 percent for opossums, 94.1 percent for white-tailed deer and 87.5 percent for bobcats. Along roads where python populations are believed to be smaller, declines were lower but still notable.

Rabbits and foxes, which were commonly spotted in 1996 and 1997, were not seen at all in the later counts. Researchers noted slight increases in coyotes, Florida panthers, rodents and other mammals, but discounted that finding because so few were spotted overall.

"The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park," said Michael Dorcas, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina and lead author of the study.

Although scientists cannot definitively say the pythons are killing off the mammals, the snakes are the prime suspect. The increase in pythons coincides with the mammals' decrease, and the decline appears to grow in magnitude with the size of the snakes' population in an area. A single disease appears unlikely to be the cause since several species were affected.

The report says the effect on the overall ecosystem is hard to predict. Declines among bobcats and foxes, which eat rabbits, could be linked to pythons' feasting on rabbits. On the flip side, declines among raccoons, which eat eggs, may help some turtles, crocodiles and birds.

Scientists point with concern to what happened in Guam, where the invasive brown tree snake has killed off birds, bats and lizards that pollinated trees and flowers and dispersed seeds. That has led to declines in native trees, fish-eating birds and certain plants.

In 2010, Florida banned private ownership of Burmese pythons. Earlier this month, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a federal ban on the import of Burmese pythons and three other snakes.

Salazar said Monday that the study shows why such restrictions were needed.

"This study paints a stark picture of the real damage that Burmese pythons are causing to native wildlife and the Florida economy," he said.

___

Follow Matt Sedensky at http://www.twitter.com/sedensky

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_sc/us_sci_everglades_pythons

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Alcohol and your heart: Friend or foe?

Monday, January 30, 2012

A meta-analysis done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) into the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease provides new insight into the long-held belief that drinking a glass of red wine a day can help protect against heart disease.

"It's complicated," says Dr. Juergen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at CAMH. Dr. Rehm's paper, co-authored by Michael Roerecke, was recently published in the journal Addiction. "While a cardioprotective association between alcohol use and ischaemic heart disease exists, it cannot be assumed for all drinkers, even at low levels of intake," says Dr. Rehm.

Ischaemic heart disease is a common cause of illness and death in the Western world. Symptoms are angina, heart pain, and heart failure. Based on 44 studies, the analyses used 38,627 ischaemic heart disease events (including deaths) among 957,684 people.

"We see substantial variation across studies, in particular for an average consumption of one to two drinks a day," says Dr. Rehm. The protective association may vary by gender, drinking patterns, and the specific health effects of interest. Differential risk curves were found by sex, with higher risk for morbidity and mortality in women.

Moreover, for any particular individual, the relationship between alcohol consumption and ischemic heart disease should not be isolated from other disease outcomes. Even at low levels, alcohol intake can have a detrimental effect on many other disease outcomes, including on several cancers.

"Even one drink a day increases risk of breast cancer, for example," says Dr. Rehm. "However, with as little as one drink a day, the net effect on mortality is still beneficial. After this, the net risk increases with every drink."

"If someone binge drinks even once a month, any health benefits from light to moderate drinking disappear." Binge drinking is defined more than four drinks on one occasion for women, and more than five for men.

Given the complex, potentially beneficial or detrimental effects of alcohol on ischaemic heart disease in addition to the detrimental effects on other disease categories, any advice by physicians on individual drinking has to take the individual risk constellation (such as familial predisposition for certain diseases and behavior with respect to other risk factors) into consideration.

"More evidence on the overall benefit-risk ratio of average alcohol consumption in relation to ischaemic heart disease and other diseases is needed in order to inform the general public or physicians about safe or low-risk drinking levels," the study concludes. "Findings from this study support current low-risk drinking guidelines, if these recognize lower drinking limits for women."

###

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: http://www.camh.net

Thanks to Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117182/Alcohol_and_your_heart__Friend_or_foe_

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Nigerian terror suspect's trial set for Oct. 1 (AP)

JOHANNESBURG ? A Nigerian terror suspect already jailed more than a year will remain in jail another eight months before his trial starts in South Africa, a judge ruled Monday.

Henry Okah's trial had been scheduled to start Monday. Instead of starting their arguments, prosecutor Shaun Abrahams and defense attorney Rudi Krause told Judge Geraldine Borchers they had agreed to ask for a postponement until Oct. 1. No reason was given, and the judge granted the request.

Okah, who was in court wearing a dark suit, took the news calmly. He has complained about conditions in jail and tried unsuccessfully to get judges to grant him bail in lengthy hearings over the last year.

Okah was arrested in South Africa, where he had been living for months, soon after deadly bombings in Nigeria's capital during Oct. 1, 2010 independence celebrations. He has denied involvement, and says he is not a member of the militant group the Nigerian government blames for bombings and widespread unrest in the delta.

Okah is being tried under South African anti-terror legislation. His government has not requested his extradition and its investigators are working with South African prosecutors in the Okah case.

Prosecutor Abrahams, speaking to reporters Monday, refused to say why he had requested the eight-month postponement. He said that trials for other suspects for the bombings had begun in Nigeria, and witnesses who were testifying in those proceedings may also testify in South Africa.

During earlier bail hearings, prosecutors presented evidence drawn from Okah's diaries and computer correspondence that they said bolstered accusations he masterminded the October bombings.

Nigerian officials say Okah leads the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility for the bombings. The group known as MEND accuses Nigeria's government of failing to alleviate poverty in the delta, even though it is earning billions of dollars from the region's oil.

In 2008, Okah was arrested in Angola and extradited to Nigeria, where he was accused of treason and terrorism and linked to a gunrunning scandal involving high-ranking military officials. His arrest and trial sparked an escalation in MEND attacks. Charges against Okah were dropped and he was freed in July 2009 as part of the amnesty program.

The delta militants have destroyed oil pipelines, kidnapped petroleum company workers and fought government troops. The violence in the delta is unrelated to unrest in northern Nigeria, where an Islamist sect claimed coordinated attacks this month that killed at least 185 people.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_af/af_south_africa_nigeria_terror_suspect

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Worn-out machines as leading indicator (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Delivery trucks wear out, computers break down, software becomes outdated -- and finally businesses have to start investing in new equipment. Companies that want to remain competitive have to start spending again as an economy slowly recovers.

Four years after the downturn began, the replacement cycle shows signs of kicking into a higher gear in the United States even among small businesses, and it could give an unexpected boost to growth and employment this year.

That assumes no further shocks to the world economy caused by the euro zone debt crisis.

Greece and its bankers have yet to agree on chopping the country's debt load to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, something the International Monetary Fund is demanding in return for the bailout money Greece needs to avoid a default in March.

But capital spending alone is insufficient to drive a U.S. recovery that will be strong enough to quickly lift employment as consumer demand is still limited by heavy debt loads.

In the United States, large corporations have already dug into huge cash piles to upgrade plant and equipment, adding incrementally to an economy that grew by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Now small businesses, which drive about half of U.S. economic growth and a big chunk of job creation, are increasing their spending on equipment, too, an important precursor to stronger hiring.

But the U.S. jobs report for January, due on Friday, is unlikely to show marked improvement in the labor market after strong gains in December.

Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast 150,000 new jobs in January against 200,000 the prior month. Some investment banks also warn the 8.5 percent unemployment rate could tick up as signs of a gradual firming of the economy encourages more people to return to the labor force.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said small businesses could start hiring more aggressively as the year progresses.

In the last economic cycle, they contributed about two-thirds of the jobs growth, and when they hang out the "help wanted" signs, they can be a powerful source of employment.

"Dollar for dollar in GDP terms, they generate two jobs for every one generated by a large corporation," Shepherdson said.

For the early signs of this small business revival, Shepherdson points to two factors: access to credit has improved markedly as shown by a surge in banks' commercial and industrial lending, and an index of capital expenditure intentions, as measured by the National Federation of Independent Business, is climbing.

The NFIB in December reported that capital outlays had increased for three straight months, the first solid improvement in three years. Owners planning capital investments in the next three to six months also rose to a 40-month high.

NFIB policy analyst Holly Wade said anecdotally she hears of more businesspeople talking of increasing their budgets.

"They have stretched out their machinery and equipment and would have normally invested in replacement, but they were waiting as long as possible. Now they are starting to see better sales and earnings, and they are more comfortable investing some of those dollars in capex," she said.

"In the next three to six months, it wouldn't be surprising to see the same rate of growth in capital outlays we have seen recently," she said.

A similar pattern is evident in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's Business Outlook Survey. In January the index for capital expenditure plans for the next six months more than doubled to a reading of 22.9 from 10.8. And the U.S. Commerce Department's durable goods report for December showed capital goods orders outside of defense and aircraft rose by 2.9 percent.

Industrial conglomerate Honeywell International IncN> is one of the big companies expanding, although overall corporations give a mixed outlook for their plans.

"We're looking to spend $100 to $150 million more in capital on a year over year basis. Some that is going into facility upgrades, some of that is going into technology centers," Honeywell's chief financial officer, Dave Anderson, said with the release of the company's earnings last week.

"Don't look for it to be a driving force for recovery, but capital spending will continue to be a supportive factor," said Ellen Zentner, economist at Nomura Securities.

U.S. car and truck sales, due on Wednesday, are getting a boost from businesses replacing worn out models. They are seen holding at the 13.5 million annual rate in January.

The Institute of Supply Management, an industry group, will also release its U.S. manufacturing index on Wednesday; it is seen rising to 54.5 in January from 53.9.

(Reporting By Stella Dawson; additional reporting by Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/bs_nm/us_global_economy_weekahead

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Obama seeks government reforms in Congress (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama, fresh from a five-state tour following his State of the Union address, is calling for government reforms to ease gridlock and bar members of Congress from profiting from their position.

In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he encountered during his trip were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."

"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.

The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.

Without mentioning him by name, the president noted that Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to lead a new consumer protection agency, a move that many Republicans have called unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."

"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.

Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.

In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."

"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because your feel the failure of his leadership every single day of the week."

Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.

The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work towards a new and prosperous American century."

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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Rick Santorum?s daughter Bella is hospitalized; candidate cancels Sunday morning campaign plans (Washington Post)

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Department of Insurance confirms fraud probe into Lap-Band | 89.3 ...

Google Maps

A Google Maps screenshot of a Lap-Band billboard on W 11th Street, Los Angeles, Calif. The billboards are under fire after the FDA criticized their misleading displays.

The Department of Insurance in California has launched a fraud probe into Lap-Band affiliated surgery centers connected with the 1-800-GET-THIN advertising campaign, according to Aetna Insurance and the Department of Insurance.

"I can now confirm that the DOI has initiated an investigation into the surgery centers of 1-800-GET-THIN," said Dave Althausen, deputy press secretary with the California Department of Insurance.

Aetna, a major insurance company, is also working with the Southern California Fraud Division of the Department of Insurance to investigate "alleged fraud against our members by the surgery centers affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN," according to spokesperson Anjie Coplin.

The probe comes a month after inquiries by the Food and Drug Administration into Lap-Band weight-loss surgery ads, and less than a week after calls from Congress to investigate the safety of 1-800-GET-THIN's marketing campaign.

"We believe the Committee should hold hearings to examine whether FDA device regulation has been ineffective in protecting the public from dangerous medical devices like the Lap-Band," said Rep. Henry Waxman in a letter to the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the L.A. Times reported. Rep. Diana DeGette and Rep. John D. Dingell also signed the letter.

Robert Silverman, president of 1-800-GET-THIN, has promised to send a statement regarding the probe. No statement has, as yet, been received.

At least five Southern California patients have died after Lap-Band procedures at clinics in Beverly Hills and West Hills that are affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN campaign, reports the Los Angeles Times after investigating various lawsuits, autopsy reports and other public records.

The Lap-Band surgery involves attaching an inflatable silicone device placed around the top portion of the stomach to treat obesity by reducing excess body fat.

Source: http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/01/27/30988/department-insurance-confirms-fraud-probe-lap-band/

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Mexico ups swine flu screening as cases increase (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Three years after swine flu closed Mexico City and caused an international scare, the Mexican government and local media are at odds over the severity of this season's flu virus. Newspapers are warning of an alarming increase in cases while the government insists there is no cause for alarm.

Federal and state health officials agree there is an increase, but they say the number of cases is within the range of a normal flu season.

The Mexican health ministry, however, has listed confusing numbers on its website and it hasn't specified the rise in cases despite repeated requests from The Associated Press.

The federal education ministry said Wednesday that it was instituting screening measures in all elementary schools for the H1N1 flu strain, commonly called swine flu when the first outbreak was discovered in Mexico in March 2009. The ministry revised its message later to say screenings are in place only at schools where children exhibit symptoms.

Local media reported a handful of schools in Mexico City have closed. The education ministry said they were private schools shuttered by administrators and parents, not by official government action.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that while Mexico is seeing more cases of the H1N1 virus, the U.S. is seeing more cases of a different strain, H3N2. Antibodies for both are part of this year's flu vaccine. H1N1 is now considered a seasonal flu.

"We are not aware of any unusual changes in the virus in Mexico that would be concerning," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said in an email to The Associated Press.

Besides the contradicting statements about screenings at schools, the Mexican government has also put out conflicting statistics.

The health ministry on Sunday reported 637 cases of confirmed flu cases so far in 2012 along with 10 deaths ? nine of them associated with 573 cases of H1N1.

On Jan. 15, it reported far lower numbers: 181 confirmed cases for all strains of flu and five deaths for 2012, meaning cases would have increased 250 percent in just one week.

The same health bulletin said that for all of last year, there were 870 cases of all strains of flu and 35 deaths.

The World Health Organization in 2009 declared swine flu the first global flu pandemic in 40 years after the outbreak of cases in Mexico that spring and then the strain spread to other countries.

Mexican authorities closed restaurants, schools, museums, libraries and theaters to stop the spread of the disease as initial reports suggested it was killing as many as one in 15 of those infected ? a horrifying death rate that would have been more than three times higher than the devastating flu pandemic of 1918-19.

Additional investigation in Mexico suggested that many people had suffered only mild illness. Those cases were not counted in initial reports, meaning the death rate was much, much lower than originally estimated.

By July 2010, the Mexican government reported nearly 76,000 cases of H1N1 and more than 1,300 deaths, the most recent accumulated statistics on its website.

The World Health Organizations estimates that flu causes 3 million to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide every year, with about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths, primarily among the elderly and the chronically ill.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_swine_flu

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Ind. House Dems end long right-to-work fight (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? In the end, they just didn't have the votes.

For two legislative sessions, Indiana Democrats fought the divisive labor measure known as right-to-work. They offered amendments aimed at changing the bill. They sought to put the issue before voters in a referendum. And in their most high-profile gambit, House Democrats staged occasional boycotts to deny the Republican-dominated chamber enough members to conduct business.

But that all ended Wednesday when the minority party acceded to the mathematical reality of the Republican's 60-40 majority in the chamber. Democrats showed up, and the Indiana House voted 54-44 to make Indiana the 23rd right-to-work state.

It is the latest successful legislative push targeting union power following a Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010, and if Gov. Mitch Daniels signs the bill as expected it will make Indiana the first Rust Belt state to ban contracts that require workers to pay mandatory union fees for representation.

Highlighting his party's lack of power, House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer said Wednesday that his caucus' ability to stall the measure for even a few weeks itself constituted a success, of sorts.

"The fact that the Senate is going to have another week on this was probably undreamed of by (Republicans)," he said, referring to the likely timeline for passage in the Indiana Senate. "They never though that a full month would go by before they shoved this down the employees of the state's throats."

The measure faces little opposition in Indiana's Republican-controlled Senate and could reach Daniels' desk shortly before the Feb. 5 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

"This announces, especially in the Rust Belt, that we are open for business here," Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said.

Indiana is the latest Midwestern state where Republicans have pushed labor legislation with safe voting margins even as the efforts have drawn large protests by union backers and spawned recall efforts.

Wisconsin and Ohio last year passed laws stripping most public sector unions of collective bargaining rights. In both states, the laws provoked a firestorm. Wisconsin Democrats staged a similar, and similarly unsuccessful, boycott of their chamber for a time but also lacked the votes to ultimately kill the measure. Its passage sparked a backlash and the ongoing efforts to recall GOP Gov. Scott Walker and several Republican legislators. In Ohio, the law was handily repealed in November by voters in a referendum, a stinging defeat for GOP Gov. John Kasich and his Republican allies.

In Indiana, it's unclear whether Wednesday's vote marks the end of the controversy or a new phase.

But without the votes, Democratic opponents and a handful of Republicans who crossed party lines to oppose the measure, were left only to deliver emotional pleas to block it.

Democratic Rep. Linda Lawson called the Republican measure an attack on the union strongholds throughout the state.

"What you are doing is destroying my community!" said Lawson, who represents a northwest Indiana district packed with heavy manufacturers and a major BP oil refinery.

"What if I came into your community and said `No more cows' and `No more pigs?'" she said, referring to the agriculturally heavy districts represented by many of the Republicans who supported the bill.

Indiana would mark the first win in 10 years for national right-to-work advocates who have pushed unsuccessfully for the measure in other states. But few right-to-work states boast Indiana's union clout, borne of a long manufacturing legacy.

Oklahoma passed right-to-work legislation in 2001 but has a rural-based economy that produces comparatively fewer union jobs than Indiana.

Teamsters President Jim Hoffa sounded resigned to the right-to-work measure's passage, in a statement released shortly after the vote, but promised a voter backlash like those seen in other Midwest states.

"I have little doubt in my mind that Gov. Daniels and Indiana's Republican members of the state House and Senate will see a tremendous backlash from their constituents if right-to-work is passed," Hoffa said. "If there's one thing that we have seen this past year, it's that working men and women will rise up to challenge any legislation that threatens the welfare of their families."

___

Tom LoBianco can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/tomlobianco

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_us/us_indiana_right_to_work

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Sabine Hervy: A French President Not Born in France? Possible, But Not Likely in 2012!

Eva Joly, presidential candidate for the green party in France, was born in Norway. ?She has been attacked by the right wing for her strong Norwegian accent and her foreign origins.

"I don't think this lady has a very far-reaching culture of French traditions, of French history and of French values." Last summer, this critical statement by the French Prime Minister Fran?ois Fillon triggered a controversy on the dual citizenship of Eva Joly, presidential candidate for the Green party in France. The prime minister had touched a nerve. There is a paradox here. In France, a foreign born citizen can stand for president. But when it happens, it's not all plain sailing. Eva Joly, 69, is the elected candidate for the Green party and she was born in Norway. She came to live in France when she was 20, married a Frenchman, had her children in France and worked almost all her life as a magistrate in our country. But people still doubt her capacity to lead France.

The very terms of this debate probably sound weird for an American audience. A French presidential candidate, not born in France? Yet, it's true: Unlike America, our Constitution allows naturalized citizens to run for president. In fact, having been brought up in France, I was a bit surprised to learn that the United States, considered here as a model of multiculturalism, still forbids "former foreigners" to run for the presidential election. I read some articles about Governor Schwarzenegger's "case." In spite of his amazing American career, he'll never be able to run for president of the U.S.A. Why? Because his parents were Austrian. And I thought "poor him" -- "Schwarzy" is probably as American as one can be.

This difference between our constitutions can easily be explained. The American one, (which states in its article 2, section 1 that "no person except a natural born citizen, or a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President") was drawn up at the end of the 18th century. Our Constitution is younger - it only dates back to the 1950s -- and it has evolved a lot to reflect new political and social realities. Indeed, many politicians in France were born in former colonies: S?gol?ne Royal, the unlucky Socialist candidate in the 2007 election, was born in Senegal; two current presidential candidates were born in Morocco.

But behind this window dressing of open-mindedness, France remains ambivalent about the question of nationality. This is exactly why we're currently having this debate about Eva Joly, the first presidential candidate in French history to possess dual citizenship. On the 14th of July, our National Day, she put forward the outrageous idea that maybe -- maybe -- the military parade had become a little bit out of date... This was a proposition voted on and agreed by all the members of her party. Yet, she was the one attacked on her supposed "francophobia."

There are many other examples. When French President Sarkozy married the Franco-Italian model Carla Bruni, some people asked the first lady to give up her Italian citizenship. When he was elected, some media even reported Nicolas Sarkozy as the first president of "foreign origins" -- his father was Hungarian... But he himself was born in Paris.

Yet, French people could -- and may one day -- elect a president born outside France. With Eva Joly, some proud defenders of our language feel threatened by her accent. However, it's likely the real objections about her abilities lie elsewhere. Many people voted for her green party in previous elections. In the 2009 European elections, the Ecologists even polled 3.63 percent of the vote in France and won the same number of European parliament seats as the Socialists. But in 2012, there's no way these people will vote for Eva Joly. This has nothing to do with her Norwegian origins. It has to do with her radical and very different view of ecology, her strange position about alliances with the other left-wing parties and her uptight personality. Even in her own party, some members said they would vote for the Socialist candidate instead of her.

The "Joly case" doesn't mean French people will never vote for a naturalized citizen. It just means they need to find a competent one to vote for.

?

Follow Sabine Hervy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sabinehervy

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sabine-hervy/eva-joly-elections_b_1231820.html

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'Final Countdown' actor Farentino dies at 73

By Associated Press

A family spokesman says actor James Farentino, who appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, has died in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 73.

Family spokesman Bob Palmer says Farentino died of heart failure after a long illness at Cedars-Sinai Hospital on Tuesday.

Farentino starred alongside Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen in a 1980 science fiction film "The Final Countdown."

Farentino also starred opposite Patty Duke in 1969's "Me, Natalie."

He also had recurring roles on "Dynasty," "Melrose Place," "The Bold Ones: The Lawyers" and "ER," playing the estranged father to George Clooney's character.

A four-time divorcee, Farentino's tumultuous personal life made headlines, too.

In March 1994 he pleaded no contest to stalking his ex-girlfriend Tina Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra.

More in TODAY entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10229483-final-countdown-actor-farentino-dies-at-age-73

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[OOC] The Neverland

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "The Neverland"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

M'ange

Member for 0 years

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I wouldn't mind playing one of the lost children. ^^
Do you want anime or real pictures?

MirrorMirror1498

Member for 1 years

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Okay, she's up! Tell me if I need to change anything! ^^

MirrorMirror1498

Member for 1 years

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May I reserve Tinkerbell? Pretty please with sprinkles on top. :)

Walking-travesty

Member for 0 years

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I'm making a set of twins, would you rather make two different character sheet or put them both on one.

snipergirl24

Member for 1 years

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Whatever is easiest for you. It might be better if they were on two character sheets though. c:

M'ange

Member for 0 years

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Oks I am interested but have a few questions. First off, do you mind if there is two sets of twins? I had an idea then checked here and saw there already is going to be a set of twins. As for my idea, i was wanting one twin to be a pirate, and the other to be a lost boy, though they do not completely hate each other. In fact, they are a bit neutral and actually serves as spies once in a while if it is to save the other siblings life.
Also, I was looking at the rules and you said everyone should make a male and female character. Is that still the rule?

~Living-Dead Doll~

Member for 2 years

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I don't mind if there is two sets of twins. Your idea is fine about having one be a pirate and the other be a lost boy. I just added the rule about one male and one female character because we have a lot more girl characters than boys, and it kind of ruins some fun in the role play if there is a lot more of one gender. Unless you're making a twin set of boys, then that's okay. But, if not, then there has to be one girl and one boy.

M'ange

Member for 0 years

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oks, that works perfectly. I planned on making one male and the other female. Thanks and I should have the character profiles submitted soon.

~Living-Dead Doll~

Member for 2 years

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WATCH: Seal Opens Up About His Split from Heidi Klum

Seal and his wife Heidi Klum might be getting divorced, but the singer says the two still love each other and plan for a peaceful separation.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/seal-talks-divorce-heidi-klum-tavis-smiley/1-a-421519?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aseal-talks-divorce-heidi-klum-tavis-smiley-421519

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New Genetic Clues to Breast Cancer? - iVillage

SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.

All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.

Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.

"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.

However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.

Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.

"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.

The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.

To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.

The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.

The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.

Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.

One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.

One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.

Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.

"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."

Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.

More information

For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/new-genetic-clues-breast-cancer/4-a-421078

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Cowen: Google?s Mobile Ad Revenues Could Surge To $5.8 Billion In 2012

How much does Google make in advertising from mobile? Cowen analyst Jim Friedland estimates that Google is generating $7 per year from each smartphone (and tablet). This includes both search and display advertising in mobile apps on both Android and iOS (iPhones and iPads). Thanks to the rapid growth in smart mobile devices from an estimated 509 million last year to nearly double that in 2012 to an estimated 914 million, Google's mobile ad revenues are expected to more than double from an estimated $2.5 billion last year to $5.8 billion in 2012 (see chart).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7YIJmkX760M/

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Giffords leaving Congress to recover from shooting (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Representative Gabrielle Giffords was due to meet on Monday with some of those present when she was shot in the head last year, part of a final flurry of duties before she resigns from the U.S. Congress this week.

Giffords was struck by a bullet on January 8, 2011, when a gunman opened fire at a congressional outreach meeting outside a Tucson grocery store, killing six people and wounding her and 12 others.

In an announcement on Sunday, the Arizona Democrat said she would resign from office this week to focus on her recovery from the head injury that left her with faltering speech and some restricted movement.

"I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week," Giffords said, posting the announcement on social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

"I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country. Thank you very much," she added.

In her final act in Tucson as a member of Congress, she planned to meet on Monday with some of the people who were present at the shooting, and then visit a food bank, her office said.

Giffords was seen as a rising political star, one of the Democrats to survive the Republican sweep of swing districts in the November 2010 elections.

Giffords, a Democrat who gained a reputation as a centrist, also plans to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday.

Her office said she would submit her letter of resignation this week to House Speaker John Boehner and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Arizona law requires Brewer to call a special election to fill Giffords' seat.

Since the shooting, she has received intensive therapy at a hospital in Houston, Texas, and she has been assisted by her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

Jared Loughner, a 23-year-old college dropout, was charged with attempting to assassinate Giffords and other crimes stemming from the incident. He pleaded not guilty and was found mentally unfit to stand trial.

After she announced her retirement, she received tributes from President Barack Obama and both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Congress.

"Cindy and I join our fellow Arizonans in thanking Gabby Giffords for her service in the U.S. Congress and to her constituents in Southern Arizona," Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who ran against Obama for president in 2008, said in a statement Monday.

"Gabby's courage in the face of tragedy inspired our nation and made all Arizonans proud. We wish Gabby and her family all the best in the future."

(Editing by Daniel Trotta)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/pl_nm/us_usa_giffords_resignation

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Marked 2 - sequel to a werewolf RP

After the success of the much loved "Marked" RP, which can be seen here, and converting it into a novel format available on Lulu, I've got the hankering to work on a sequel, and would love to work with other writers in doing this, by playing the bulk of it out in RP format.

Basically, the idea will be the same; a bunch of werewolves aged 16-20 living in the pack house under the care of the alpha, just dealing with situations as they come. I have quite a developed plot in mind, so this isn't a crapshoot - it should be good fun and has the potential to last!

I'd recommend looking at the intro of the old RP via the link at the top, because the original GM formulated an original system of what it means to be a werewolf, how a young werewolf "recieves their wolf", and in particular how they come to find out who their destined mate is. This, it goes without saying, was the most fun part of the original RP. :)

Anyway, I'm looking mainly for people to play the young people of the pack house. Anyone up for it?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/57zpd42p0w0/viewtopic.php

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Vodafone not liable for $4.4B India tax bill

MUMBAI, India (AP) ? British telecom giant Vodafone is not liable for up to $4.4 billion in back taxes and penalties, India's top court said Friday, in a ruling that removes significant uncertainty for foreign companies investing in the country.

The decision will come as a relief to international investors who feared the Vodafone precedent would expose them to unforeseen tax liabilities.

"We welcome the Supreme Court's decision, which underpins our confidence in India," Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said in a statement. "We will continue to grow our Indian business ? including making significant investments in rural areas and in 3G network coverage ? for the benefit of Indian consumers."

Faced with flagging growth and investment and a weakening currency, the Indian government has been scrambling to rekindle foreign investment.

Analysts say the Vodafone tax case had cast a chill on investor sentiment, serving as a powerful emblem of the danger of shifting regulations in Asia's third largest economy.

At the same time, the Indian government is eager to boost revenues to help balance its budget and pay for planned increases in spending on social programs in a country where some 800 million live on less than $2 a day.

Analysts say at least eight other companies are facing similar litigation, as India steps up tax collection efforts to help plug its growing fiscal deficit.

"This will improve investor sentiment tremendously," said Mumbai lawyer Nishith Desai. "Rule of law is re-established."

He said the verdict will hasten dealmaking which had stalled as companies awaited clarity on tax law.

"We will see a lot of interest in India in terms of FDI (foreign direct investment) and outbound investment as well," said Desai, who has done work for Vodafone.

The dispute centered on Vodafone's $11 billion acquisition of the Indian telecom assets of Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications in 2007.

In May 2007, Vodafone International Holdings BV ? a Dutch subsidiary of the British telecom giant ? acquired a 67 percent stake in CGP Investments Ltd., a Cayman Islands company which held the Indian telecom assets of Hutchison.

Vodafone says it doesn't owe tax on the deal because it took place between two foreign entities.

Friday's ruling overturns a high court decision which favored Indian tax authorities. Mumbai's high court had found that the deal was taxable in India because it involved the indirect transfer of Indian assets, which accrue revenue in India.

The government said Vodafone owed 112.2 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) in tax and interest, plus up to 100 percent in penalties.

Vodafone said the Supreme Court's decision absolved it of liability.

Vodafone said the court would also refund, with 4 percent interest, the 25 billion rupee ($496 million) deposit it made on the potential tax bill in November 2010.

GE, SAB Miller, Cadbury, AT&T, Sanofi, and Vedanta are among the companies fighting tax cases in India that could be affected by the Vodafone precedent, said Sandeep Ladda, executive director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in India.

"This settles a prolonged litigation which had created a lot of uncertainty for multinationals," he said. "This should provide much needed respite to other litigants in other cases."

But he cautioned that the legal precedent may have limited impact on new deals. India's new Direct Tax Code, likely to be implemented in 2013, currently contains provisions that would make transactions similar to the Vodafone deal liable to Indian tax, he said.

Desai said he hoped the new tax code would be changed to reflect Friday's judgment.

India is an increasingly important market for Vodafone. It was home to 145 million of Vodafone Group Plc's 391 million mobile customers worldwide as of September.

Vodafone lost 9 million pounds in India during the six months ending in September, but counted on the country for 9 percent of the group's 23.5 billion pound global revenues during the period.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-20-AS-India-Vodafone/id-aa4d0222f1e1452b93cf4fc097d76fbb

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Video: California Economy on the Mend

The nation's largest economy is showing signs of life. California's unemployment rate is dropping, job generation is growing and home sales are stabilizing, reports CNBC's Jane Wells.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46046115/

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Larry Page Is Super Excited To Announce That Google+ Has 90 Million Users

The official numbers are in for Google's new social network, Google+. Beating out most previous third-party estimates that we've seen, the company said today that it now has 90 million users worldwide. Presumably this means monthly uniques visitors given that the earnings release says "now," but we'll try to get more clarification around engagement numbers when we get on the quarterly call in a few minutes.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4Wsmxqiy7O0/

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Awards Tour 2012: BAFTA Awards Nominations

Swampfox on 01-18-2012 06:58 AM

I feel like a lot of people on here are praising Tinker Tailor but they actually haven't seen it. It's nothing more than a mediocre film let down by a flimsy story. Was the acting great? Yes. Do I love Gary Oldman? Of course. Did the movies plot engage me or thrill me in any way? No.

It's the most overrated movie since Tree of Life to come out. I actually haven't found one person that's actually enjoyed Tinker Tailor yet. They all come to the same conclusion I have.

On another note, happy for Drive. Also, am I the only one who thinks Jonah Hill didn't do much in Moneyball ? He did a fine job but not nearly anything close to Albert Brooks or Nick Nolte.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924323/news/1924323/

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Sunni-backed leader: Crisis tearing Iraq apart (AP)

BAGHDAD ? Iraq needs new leaders to prevent the country from disintegrating, the leader of the main Sunni-backed bloc said Wednesday, reflecting the severity of a sectarian political battle in the Shiite-led government, accompanied by violence, just a month after the exit of U.S. forces.

The leader of the Iraqiya bloc, Ayad Allawi, was responding to a bold step by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, issuing an arrest warrant against the nation's top Sunni official, sending him into virtual internal exile.

"Iraq is at a crossroads and I say that Iraq needs forgiving leaders, who will raise above their personal hatred," Allawi told a new conference in Baghdad, accusing the government of stoking sectarian tensions to divert attention from its failures.

Last month, al-Maliki's government issued an arrest warrant against Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, charging he ran death squads that targeted Shiite officials. In protest, Iraqiya began boycotting parliament and Cabinet sessions. On Tuesday the remaining Cabinet ministers suspended the Sunni-backed members until they end their boycott.

Al-Hashemi denied charges and fled to the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, out of reach of authorities in Baghdad. He is refusing to return for trial in Baghdad.

The political battle coincides with a wave of bombing attacks, most of them targeting Shiites, killing more than 160 people this year. The twin crises have raised fears of a reprise of a conflict five years ago, when heavily armed Shiite and Sunni militias battled each other and brought the nation to the brink of civil war.

On Wednesday, security forces detained another senior Sunni official, authorities said in Baghdad. Riyadh al-Adhadh, the deputy president of Baghdad's Provincial Council and a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning on terrorism charges, the Council said.

Allawi accused al-Maliki of unfairly targeting Sunni officials and deliberately triggering a political crisis that is tearing Iraq apart. Allawi said Iraq needs a new prime minister or new elections.

"This is not the country that we fought the dictatorship for ... (and) not the democracy and freedom that we made sacrifices for," said Allawi, who served as prime minister in the government the U.S. formed after toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

If it prefers not to call an election, Allawi said, al-Maliki's "National Alliance bloc should name a new prime minister," who will respect the U.S.-brokered power-sharing agreement that enabled the formation of the current government after months of political bargaining following an inconclusive parliamentary election in March 2010.

The government crisis has intensified sectarian resentments that have remained raw in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion unleashed fierce fighting between Sunni and Shiite militias battling for dominance and killing tens of thousands civilians on both sides of the sectarian divide just a few years ago.

Attacks have surged since the last U.S. troops left Dec. 18.

On Wednesday, suspected insurgents killed a member of the government-allied Sunni militia along with three of his sons in the city of Latifiyah, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad.

In Baghdad, police officials said a mortar round landed near the Turkish Embassy in the northeastern part of the capital. There were no casualties.

___

Associated Press writer Barbara Surk contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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GOP candidates vie for backing of SC military vets (AP)

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. ? Mitt Romney has ex-POW John McCain vouching for him. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum highlights his time on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich frequently calls himself an "Army brat" who grew up on military bases.

While Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are the only GOP candidates to have worn a military uniform, all of the Republican presidential contenders are emphasizing their military ties these days in a state that's home to 413,000 veterans and eight military bases, with thousands of people on active duty.

"My purpose in life was to never be the president of the United States," Perry says as he campaigns ahead of South Carolina's primary Saturday. "My purpose has always been to serve my country and my state whenever they need or they call. That's our duty as Americans."

Perry's days as an Air Force pilot in the 1970s and his father's B-17 tail-gunner missions in World War II are staples of his South Carolina message as he looks to right his struggling campaign.

Paul, a flight surgeon in the 1960s who made his name as an antiwar congressman, is filling mailboxes with five-page letters that include a picture of him as a young draftee in a full-brimmed Air Force hat. "Let me begin by telling you that the troops know first and foremost that I am one of them," he writes.

There's a reason for the intensive courting: As long as South Carolina has been instrumental in deciding GOP nominees, the state's voters have rewarded candidates with military service. Every GOP primary winner since Ronald Reagan in 1980 has been a veteran.

This year may end that streak. Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, leading the pack. With the economy pushing U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts to the back of voters' concerns, some in South Carolina argue that GOP voters aren't pining for the biggest hawk this time.

"Financially, people are in dire straits right now," said state Sen. Lee Bright, a backer of Michele Bachmann before she left the race. "They realize that the more money we spend overseas the less money they are going to spend at home."

Nonetheless, most of the candidates have spent considerable time along the South Carolina coastline, wooing active-duty military members and veterans ? many of whom lean toward the GOP ? clustered around the bases near Charleston that for many years fueled the state's economy.

Perry, for one, has struck an aggressive posture lately, pledging that as president he would send troops back to Iraq to prevent Iran from exerting too much muscle in the region. On one upstate swing, he solemnly inspected a memorial garden and read markers to five Medal of Honor winners. He was accompanied by a former Marine captain with burn scars over half his body from the explosive device that hit his vehicle in Iraq and killed some of his comrades.

That veteran, Dan Moran, delivered a full-throated endorsement of Perry before a rapt audience. "For what it's worth, coming from somebody who had the honor and privilege of being able to spill some blood for his country, this is the man and this is the time," Moran said. "This country needs him."

Perry also has tried the personal touch, at one point pulling up a chair at voter Linwood Mizell's table to share more with the Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient.

Despite the special attention, Mizell held back. "I really haven't totally made up my mind," he said.

Romney, for his part, has campaigned with McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee and Vietnam veteran, and seems to talk up the military everywhere he goes in the state.

"This is a proud military state," Romney said Saturday in Sumter. A day earlier, Romney was on Hilton Head Island for a veterans' event attended by hundreds.

Meanwhile, Santorum has traveled the state arguing that Democratic President Barack Obama is determined to shrink the Pentagon. The Republican insists the cuts will hurt national security and he often seeks out spouses and parents of military members to hear their concerns.

"I will not cut defense," Santorum pledged recently in Charleston. "I will not reduce the budget deficit by cutting the central role of the federal government. In fact, I will allow the Defense Department to grow to make sure that we are not cutting the benefits and the pay of our men and women in uniform."

___

Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Jim Davenport and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_military_pitch

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