WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday sought to blunt political attacks on the Obama administration over a botched gun sting operation, saying that the idea of allowing weapons to go across the border to Mexico came from field agents and prosecutors.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued a report just two days before Republicans on the same panel plan to grill Attorney General Eric Holder about the most recent operation, dubbed "Fast and Furious," in which as many as 2,000 guns may have been trafficked to Mexican drug cartels.
President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats said in the 89-page report that the operations and strategies dated back to the Bush administration and were the brainchild of field agents and prosecutors, not officials at the upper levels of government.
"Unfortunately this strategy failed to include sufficient operational controls to stop these dangerous weapons from getting into the hands of violent criminals, creating a danger to public safety on both sides of the border," Representative Elijah Cummings, the senior Democrat on the committee, said in a letter accompanying the 89-page report.
The panel chairman, Republican Darrell Issa, sent a letter to Holder on Tuesday accusing him of engaging in a cover-up and complaining that the Justice Department will not turn over more documents including those about its response to the scandal.
"If the department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress," Issa said.
A Justice Department official said the agency was cooperating with the committee and would continue to do so. The agency has turned over several thousand pages to the committee and allowed some senior officials to be interviewed.
Two guns from the Fast and Furious operation were found at the scene where a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed during a shootout with illegal immigrants. It was not clear, however, if those weapons fired the fatal shots.
That operation ran from late 2009 to early 2011 out of the Phoenix offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney. The goal was to try to track guns being smuggled from the initial purchaser to senior drug cartel members.
However, in most cases ATF agents did not follow the guns beyond the initial buyer. Republicans have questioned who in the administration knew about and approved the operation and its tactics and when. They have issued subpoenas for documents and for witnesses to testify.
Mexican authorities have complained about the flood of weapons coming into their country from the United States and contributing to the deadly war with the drug cartels.
OFFICIALS SAY THEY DID NOT KNOW
The Obama administration has admitted that the operation and its tactics were unacceptable, but senior Justice Department and ATF officials have denied that they knew of the specific tactics until early 2011 - after it was over.
Republicans have expressed doubts about those assertions and some have demanded Holder's resignation as well as that of his senior aide, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who runs the Justice Department's criminal division.
"Contrary to repeated claims by some, the committee has obtained no evidence that Operation Fast and Furious was a politically-motivated operation conceived and directed by high-level Obama Administration political appointees at the Department of Justice," Cummings said.
The report said that during "Fast and Furious", agents first sought to bring charges for smaller cases involving the gun buyers, known as straw purchasers, but that senior prosecutors wanted to wait to see if they could bring bigger cases.
It also revealed that authorities in the United States and Mexico had recovered 567 weapons from the botched operation as of January 2011, almost two-thirds of which were found in the United States.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Gaming Blend Monthly Recap: January, 2012. Gaming Blend "We're finishing off the very first month of 2012 and it has been an exciting month to say the least. This monthly recap is a short collection of some of the news highlights throughout ...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea's young new leader gets rock star treatment when he visits his troops ? just as his father did. But while the late Kim Jong Il mostly stayed aloof in dark shades, his son holds hands and hugs his soldiers.
Kim Jong Un seems to want to bond with his country's people.
The style harkens back to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and revered founder of the country and ruling dynasty, and may reflect an attempt to turn a corner on the periods of hardship and famine under Kim Jong Il, analysts say. Kim Il Sung's image as a daring young general fighting Japanese colonial troops is powerfully engraved in the minds of North Koreans.
Cheers, applause and calls of "Hurrah!" greet Kim Jong Un as he examines the heating systems of soldiers' quarters, the pressure of their water faucets, the books stacked in their libraries ? even the taste of their food.
The North Korean state media reports and video footage of such "guidance visits" provide rare windows into the personalities of North Korea's leaders for outsiders and for the country's people alike. Few North Koreans, for instance, even knew what the elder Kim's voice sounded like, analysts say, despite his ruling for 17 years until his death Dec. 17.
In visits made so far by Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, North Korea specialists have detected more warmth in his approach than the dour tours made in recent years by Kim Jong Il.
The younger Kim may be trying to emulate Kim Il Sung and move away from his father, who ruled during a famine in the mid- to late-1990s that killed hundreds of thousands, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul's Dongguk University. North Korea also has faced international condemnation and sanctions for its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"He'll try to look comfortable among the masses. He'll try to form an intimacy with the people, perhaps more than his father did," Koh said.
Imitating Kim Il Sung is a "positive for Kim Jong Un, because memories of his father Kim Jong Il aren't very good among ordinary people," Koh said. "People fondly remember the days of Kim Il Sung."
Kim Il Sung often was pictured surrounded by children, and Kim Jong Un resurrected that image during a recent visit to the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School.
As children in military uniforms cheered and clapped, a documentary on state TV showed Kim embracing one child's face with his hands. During lunch, Kim patted students in encouragement and watched with a grin as two women ladled out soup for students; he poured a drop of sauce on his thumb so he could taste it.
His main emphasis, however, has been on military posts ? with a half dozen such visits since the New Year. They seek to show citizens that their new leader is firmly in command of the country's most important institution, its 1.2 million-strong military, and that he is loved and respected by young troops and elderly generals alike.
While Kim Jong Il had two decades to prepare for leadership, Kim Jong Un was only publicly unveiled as heir in 2010, and outside observers have raised doubts about Kim Jong Un's ability to lead a country locked in a nuclear standoff with its neighbors and Washington and with a history of attacking South Korea.
Animosity is still high between the Koreas. Six decades after the Korean War, the peninsula remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter potential North Korean aggression.
Bloodshed spiked in 2010 when a South Korean warship exploded in disputed waters, killing 46. South Korea said the North torpedoed the warship; the North denied the allegation. North Korea also attacked a front-line South Korean island, killing four.
Kim Jong Un clearly has made attempts to appear active and engaged with his soldiers, and this "helps raise troops' morale and his profile," said Kim Yeon-su, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University. "North Korea is telling its people that Kim Jong Un is capable of doing all these military activities himself."
Kim Jong Un's first reported military visit after his father's death came on New Year's Day. He appeared at ease, laughing and clapping, pulling officers close to give them words of advice, inspecting bunks and testing water faucets.
State television has also played a documentary on Kim Jong Un meant to highlight his military experience, showing him in the cockpit of a tank, galloping by on horseback and poring over documents at night.
Despite his youth, Kim Jong Un often plays the part of a solicitous father during his meticulously documented military tours.
Wearing a dark overcoat similar to one Kim Il Sung favored as a young man or a light-colored parka like the one Kim Jong Il wore, he exchanges handshakes with cheering soldiers and takes group photos, often holding hands with the officers on either side of him.
He asks about the soldiers' warmth, their eating and sleeping arrangements, listens with apparent enjoyment to their musical performances, observes their "militant spirit of training," offers guidance to officers and takes "care of the soldiers' living as their real father would do," according to state media.
He even tastes their bean paste.
___
Associated Press writer Sam Kim contributed to this report from Seoul. Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/samkim_ap and twitter.com/APklug.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was hit hard pre-market by Wedbush?s lack of confidence. Wedbush believes that Q1 earnings will be poor, and 2012 consensus estimates ill drop a buck a share. Piper Jaffray, for what it?s worth, is optimistic about Netflix, as they think the customer base will stabilize and ultimately grow again.
Don?t Miss: Netflix?s Streaming Service Comes Up Short for Movie Buffs.
Halliburton?s?(NYSE:HAL) results came in this morning, and although EPS and revenues beat estimates, the higher expectations of the market were not met. Interesting tidbit: unconventional oil drilling has twice as much activity as unconventional gas drilling.
Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN): The entire pharmaceutical sector is being downgraded, and Amgen is no exception. Its stock has been downgraded to underweight by JP Morgan.
Earnings Report: PetMed Express Inc. Earnings: Shrinking Margins for Fifth Consecutive Quarter, Net Income Falls.
Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD): The performance of this stock has been remarkable: up 69% year to date, the stock jumped by 8% before coming down close to where it started at the beginning of trading. Some believe Sears is now in a classic short squeeze.
Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE:SWN) popped along with other natural gas producers because the spike of prices and Chesapeake?s planned cuts in production.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK): After sinking overnight to $2.20, natural gas futures jumped 6.4% in a matter of minutes. Apparently there were too many short-sellers in the natural gas market, and the market has taken care of them for the time being.
Tuesday
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"Defending Jacob" (Delacorte Press), by William Landay: An assistant district attorney receives a case that will change his life in William Landay's "Defending Jacob."
Andrew Barber has a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, Jacob, and great friends and colleagues. Then the murder of a 14-year-old boy in the woods near a school changes everything.
When the victim's classmates are interviewed, a terrifying pattern emerges: All the students seem to be elusive when authorities question them.
Then Jacob is charged with murder. Friends become enemies, and Barber becomes unemployed. His family life begins to crumble as he desperately tries to solve the case on his own and prove his son's innocence. The evidence begins to mount against Jacob, and when the courtroom battle begins, Barber has to face the man he trained and had considered a friend.
Secrets, political agendas and an examination of how tenuous life can be are all examined in the social microscope of the media and public opinion.
Landay has written a legal thriller that's comparable to classics such as Scott Turow's "Presumed Innocent." Jacob comes across as somewhat of an enigma, but the other characters and the storyline ring true.
Tragic and shocking, "Defending Jacob" is sure to generate buzz.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, of the AFC, catches a pass for a touchdown as Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas (29) of the NFC watches in the third quarter of an NFL football Pro Bowl game Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, of the AFC, catches a pass for a touchdown as Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas (29) of the NFC watches in the third quarter of an NFL football Pro Bowl game Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall (19) of the AFC pulls in a touchdown over Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas (29) of the NFC during the second quarter of the NFL Pro Bowl football game at Aloha Stadium, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, rear, of the NFC, can't pull in a catch over San Diego Chargers free safety Eric Weddle, of the AFC, during the third quarter of the NFL Pro Bowl football game at Aloha Stadium, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson (83) of the AFC rolls to a head stand after catching a pass against the NFC in the second quarter of the NFL football Pro Bowl game Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings (85) of the NFC shows the "G" for Green Bay on his gloves after a touchdown reception against the AFC in the second quarter of the NFL football Pro Bowl game Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
HONOLULU (AP) ? Brandon Marshall isn't taking time in the islands to relish his record-breaking Pro Bowl performance. He's ready to get back to work.
The Miami Dolphins wide receiver caught six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns, and the AFC used a second-half surge to beat the NFC 59-41 Sunday.
Marshall, who had a game filled with highlight-reel grabs, was selected the game's MVP, and his name now will join the likes of Walter Payton and Jerry Rice on the banners at Aloha Stadium.
"You know what? I wanted it," he said. "It's a Pro Bowl. Some guys are playing 100 (percent), some guys are playing 90, some guys aren't playing at all, but it means a lot to be up in the rafters with some of these guys."
Marshall hopes some of the Pro Bowl magic will carry over to next season, where the Dolphins will be under new coach Joe Philbin, Green Bay's offensive coordinator for the past five years.
"Hopefully down in Miami we can get some things turned around," Marshall said. "We have some special things to do, and we will do some special things down in South Beach."
Marshall had changed his flight to leave Honolulu on Sunday night, so he could meet Philbin on Monday. "I know he's going to do a great job," he said.
The 59 points by the AFC set a Pro Bowl mark, and the 100 points scored by the teams combined was the second highest, a touchdown shy of the 107 scored in 2004.
While everyone was playing at half-speed and ready to extend their Hawaiian vacations, Marshall played with urgency.
"You never know when you're going to be back," Marshall said, "and I wanted to go all out today because it could be my last Pro Bowl."
He hauled in a deflected, go-ahead 47-yard TD pass from Andy Dalton, while on his back, to give the AFC a 38-35 lead late in the third quarter. It was Marshall's third TD catch of the game, tying Jimmy Smith's Pro Bowl record set in 2004.
"It was the most unathletic highlight I ever had," he said. "Andy put it up there for me to make a play. I saw the ball, got nervous, fell, saw the ball, kicked it up and it just fell in my hands."
Marshall, making his third Pro Bowl appearance, then nabbed a 3-yard TD pass from Dalton that gave the AFC a 52-35 lead with 8:25 left.
Hawaii has been kind to Marshall, who also won MVP honors at Aloha Stadium in his final game at Central Florida in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl, where he caught 11 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.
Marshall noted he had six TDs this season, but four this game.
"It says a lot when you're playing with these type of quarterbacks," Marshall said. "They just put it in the right place and I just made the play. Hats off to those guys throwing me the ball."
The game featured rookie quarterbacks Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers and Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals, who replaced Super Bowl quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady and played the entire second half. Their selection made this Pro Bowl the first to feature two rookie signal callers.
While Dalton looked composed, Newton played horribly ? struggling to move the ball, stay in the pocket and find his targets, which drew some boos from the sun-splashed, sellout crowd of 48,423.
"No excuses," Newton said. "When you hang the ball up there, against these kind of players, that's what you get," Newton said. "It's the good and the bad of playing in a Pro Bowl. I learned a lot."
Newton finished 9 of 27 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Eric Weddle picked off Newton twice. Dalton, meanwhile, was 7 of 9 for 99 yards and two TDs.
For the NFC, Aaron Rodgers was 13 of 17 for 141 yards and two TDs. But he was watching late in the game as Newton struggled.
"It's tough to be the last guy in, when it's the fourth quarter and money becomes an issue," he said. "Guys are playing a little bit harder. They come at you."
The NFC had three players with 100-yard yard receiving: Tony Gonzalez (seven for 114), Larry Fitzgerald (6 for 111) and Steve Smith (5 for 118).
Rodgers and Fitzgerald connected for a pair of scores on back-to-back plays to put the NFC up 14-0 early in the game.
After stopping the AFC on fourth down at midfield, Rodgers drove the NFC down the field and threw a 10-yard TD toss to Fitzgerald. Six seconds later, Rodgers aired a 44-yard rainbow in the end zone to Fitzgerald for another score after the NFC got the ball back with a surprise onside kick.
The reception was Fitzgerald's sixth career TD catch in the Pro Bowl, tying Gonzalez's record. He would break the record with the game's last touchdown, on a 36-yard pass from Newton.
The AFC came right back and tied it up on two deep TD passes on the right side by Ben Roethlisberger. He threw a 34-yarder to rookie A.J. Green, and then connected with Marshall on a 74-yarder.
Each AFC player earned a record $50,000 for the win, while the NFC players received $25,000.
While the players hope to return to Hawaii next year, it's still unknown where the 2013 Pro Bowl will be played. Sunday's game marked the final one under contract between the NFL and Hawaii.
"As someone who played in the Pro Bowl when it was in a different city, I can tell you that it's not a real comparison," Rodgers said.
Rebels in Sudan's oil-producing border state of South Kordofan said on Sunday they were holding Chinese workers for their own safety after a battle with the Sudanese army.
The army has been fighting rebels of the SPLM-N in South Kordofan bordering newly independent South Sudan since June. Fighting spread to the northern Blue Nile state in September.
"We are holding 29 Chinese workers after a battle with the army yesterday," a spokesman for the SPLM-N said. "They are in good health. We are holding them for their own safety because the army was trying to strike again."
The army said rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company operating in the area between the towns of Abbasiya and Rashad in the north of the state and captured 70 civilians.
"Most of them are Chinese. They (the rebels) are targeting civilians," said army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad.
He said there had been no battle in the area and the army was now trying to rescue the civilians.
China's foreign ministry urged Sudan to guarantee the safety of Chinese personnel during the search and rescue process, according to a statement released in Beijing.
South Kordofan is the main oil-producing state in Sudan, while Blue Nile is rich in minerals such as chrome.
The fighting in both states has forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan, according to the United Nations.
Both states contain large groups who sided with the south in a decades-long civil war, and who say they continue to face persecution inside Sudan since South Sudan seceded in July.
The SPLM is now the ruling party in the independent south and denies supporting SPLM-North rebels across the border.
Events in South Kordofan and Blue Nile are difficult to verify because aid groups and diplomats are banned from areas where fighting takes place.
SPLM-North is one of a number of rebel movements in underdeveloped border areas who say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as the dominance of the Khartoum political elite.
Sudan and South Sudan, which still have to resolve a range of issues including the sharing of oil revenues, regularly trade accusations of supporting insurgencies on each other's territory.
Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz on the hit sitcom, and wife Jocelyn Towne are expecting their first child this spring, their rep confirms to PEOPLE.
FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2011, file photo, Charleston coach Bobby Cremins signals to his players during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game against Louisville, in Louisville, Ky. The school announced Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, that Cremins is taking an indefinite leave of absence for a medical condition and assistant coach Mark Byington will take over the team. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2011, file photo, Charleston coach Bobby Cremins signals to his players during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game against Louisville, in Louisville, Ky. The school announced Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, that Cremins is taking an indefinite leave of absence for a medical condition and assistant coach Mark Byington will take over the team. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Bobby Cremins' assistant says the veteran basketball coach hasn't looked well the past few weeks and Friday evening the College of Charleston announced Cremins will miss the rest of the season because of a medical problem.
Yet, Mark Byington ? who will take over as the Cougars' coach ? was still surprised when the 64-year-old Cremins called him Friday morning with the news.
"The despair in his voice last night and this morning, I knew something was wrong," Byington said.
Cremins was at his home on Hilton Head Island when the announcement was made at the school. The college did not specify Cremins' medical condition or put a time frame on his return, and asked reporters to respect his privacy. Charleston athletic director Joe Hull did say Cremins' condition was not life threatening.
"I personally hope he coaches for many years to come," Hull said.
The AD also plans to speak with Cremins over the next few weeks to determine it the coach will be out even longer.
Cremins issued a statement through the school, saying he knows his top assistant for all six of his years at Charleston will do well in his new role.
"I have complete faith in him as do our players," Cremins said.
The Cougars started this season 10-2 with wins over Clemson and Tennessee, but have lost six of their last eight. Hull said the goal is still to make it to the NCAA tournament. They are 4-5 in the Southern Conference and will need a late season run to get a bye into the second round of the conference tournament.
"It will be business as usual," Byington said. "There will be a different guy calling the signals, but we will move on."
Hull said he will keep in touch with Cremins, but has no plans for the program's future beyond having Byington finish the season.
Byington said Cremins has not looked healthy for the past few weeks, but he thought the coach just might need a day or two off. Instead, he got a phone call from a distraught Cremins at 7:15 a.m. Friday. He told athletic officials that Cremins was taking the rest of the season off, then gathered his team.
"I was very upset. The first thing the team asked when they heard is he OK?" guard Andrew Lawrence said. "Obviously if this has happened and he needs to take a leave of absence we are completely behind him."
Cremins is in his sixth season with the Cougars after spending 19 years coaching Georgia Tech. He has led Charleston to 20 victories in each of his seasons, but his teams haven't been able to win the Southern Conference tournament to get to the NCAAs. He is 579-375 in 31 seasons of coaching, and the Yellow Jackets named their home court for him before he returned to coaching in 2006.
Cremins grew up in the Bronx then came south to play for South Carolina and fellow New York-transplant Frank McGuire. He got his first head coaching job at Appalachian State, leading the Mountaineers to the NCAA tournament in 1979.
Three years later, he left for Georgia Tech and the Atlantic Coast Conference. He led the Yellow Jackets to nine NCAA tournament appearances and reached the Final Four in 1990. He also won three ACC tournament titles and two regular-season crowns before the program tailed off and he was let go after the 2000 season.
Cremins spent the next several years as a college basketball analyst, playing tennis on Hilton Head, until deciding to come back to coaching at the College of Charleston.
Byington has been at Charleston nine seasons. He led Friday's practice and told players they needed to play well for Cremins and just concentrate on Saturday's game against Wofford.
"We're going to make it through," Byington said. "You're going to deal with worse things in your life."
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks after receiving an endorsement from national Hispanic leaders at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks after receiving an endorsement from national Hispanic leaders at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at The Hispanic Leadership Network's Lunch at Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Fla., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during Hispanic Leadership Network conference at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, accompanied by his wife Callista, speaks during Hispanic Leadership Network conference at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, accompanied by his wife Callista, arrives before receiving an endorsement from national Hispanic leaders, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? Republican insiders are rising up to cut Newt Gingrich down to size, testament to the GOP establishment's fear that the mercurial candidate could lead the party to disaster this fall.
The gathering criticisms are bitingly sharp, as if edged by a touch of panic, a remarkable development considering the target once was speaker of the House and will go down in history as leader of the Republicans' 1994 return to power in Congress. The intended beneficiary is Mitt Romney, a once-moderate Massachusetts governor whom many rank-and-file Republicans view with suspicion.
"The Republican establishment might not be wild about Mitt Romney, but they're terrified by Newt Gingrich," said Dan Schnur, a former GOP campaign strategist who teaches politics at the University of Southern California.
The anti-Gingrich statements have come from conservative columnists, talk show hosts including Ann Coulter, former Reagan administration officials and others. One of the harshest was written by former Sen. Bob Dole, the party's 1996 presidential nominee.
"I have not been critical of Newt Gingrich but it is now time to take a stand before it is too late," Dole wrote in the conservative magazine National Review. "If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices."
As speaker from 1995 through 1998, Gingrich "had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall," Dole wrote. He said he struggled against Democrats' TV attacks in his 1996 campaign, "and in every one of them, Newt was in the ad."
Gingrich has reacted unevenly to the accusations, sometimes denouncing them, other times wearing them like a badge of honor.
"The Republican establishment is just as much as an establishment as the Democratic establishment, and they are just as determined to stop us," he told a tea party rally Thursday in central Florida.
The crowd cheered. But lingering near the back was an example of how the Romney campaign is taking advantage of the whacks at Gingrich: GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah. Chaffetz is beloved by many conservatives, and he goes from one Gingrich event to another to tell reporters why he thinks Romney would be a stronger challenger against President Barack Obama in the fall.
Gingrich aide R.C. Hammond confronted Chaffetz on Friday at an event in Delray, Fla., noting that some Republican officials criticize such shadowing tactics. Chaffetz defended his presence, saying Gingrich has vowed to show up everywhere Obama campaigns this fall, if several hours later.
Romney has drawn other high-ranking surrogates, with mixed results. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley annoyed some of her tea party supporters when she campaigned throughout her state for Romney, who lost to Gingrich by 12 percentage points.
It's unclear whether the anti-Gingrich push is driving a new wedge between establishment Republicans and anti-establishment insurgents such as the tea partyers.
"We don't like the Republican establishment anyway," said Mark Meckler, a Californian and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. He said tea partyers are heavily focused on state and local races, and are wary of getting drawn into the presidential quarrels.
After all, Meckler said, "it's not as though Newt Gingrich hasn't been part of the Republican establishment."
Many other conservative activists also noted Gingrich's long history as a Washington insider, including 20 years in Congress and 13 as a well-paid consultant, writer and Fox News commentator. His history complicates his efforts to rally angry, working-class Republicans who feel that an "elite" cadre of officials, journalists and others look down on them.
"He's in one sense attacking the establishment he says he helped lead," said John Feehery, a former top House GOP aide who contends the tea party's influence is often overstated. The chief complaints about Gingrich focus more on his personality than his politics, which are hard to nail down, Feehery said.
The most damaging criticisms have come from former friends and colleagues who worked closely with him in Congress. It's Gingrich's egotistic behavior, more than ideology, that is driving the attacks, Feehery said.
Among those defending Gingrich are Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who is admired by many tea partyers.
"Look at Newt Gingrich, what's going on with him via the establishment's attacks," Palin said this week on Fox Business Network. "They're trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years."
Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, who dropped out of the presidential race, are tea party favorites with minimal experience in Washington and in top GOP circles. Gingrich is trying to tap the sense of resentment among their followers. But his long and complicated Washington record and reputation for intra-party quarrels seem to leave some tea partyers unimpressed.
"It's truly a shame that this is where the Republican establishment has chosen to focus their energy," said Marianne Gasiecki, a tea party activist in Ohio. She added, however, that political activists should focus on congressional races. "If we have a conservative House and Senate," she said, "the power of the president is really insignificant."
As Gingrich's broadcast ads in Florida become more pointed, prominent Republicans are chiding him without endorsing Romney or any other candidates. Gingrich stopped running a radio ad that called Romney anti-immigrant after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said it was unfair and damaging to the party.
So long as party insiders' complaints about Gingrich focus on his personality and quirks, the GOP can postpone a more wrenching debate about ideology, which may be in store if the once-moderate Romney is nominated. For now, conservative stalwarts seem determined to depict Gingrich as too erratic to be the party's standard bearer, let alone president.
Columnist Charles Krauthammer told Fox News: "Gingrich isn't after victory, he's after vengeance." He added: "This is Captain Ahab on the loose."
Some Republican voters are pushing back. "I want so badly to be for Gingrich, and I'm not going to be bullied out of my vote," said Barb Johnson, 52, who attended the tea party rally in Mount Dora, Fla., on Thursday. "I like his strong presence."
Florida's primary is Tuesday.
___
Associated Press writer Brian Bakst contributed to this report from Delray, Fla.
Smartphone sales at Nokia dropped by almost a third in the fourth quarter as initial sales of the key Windows Phone platform failed to counter a slide in shipments of its older operating system.
However, the sharp decline was not as bad as analysts had predicted, even if the initial relief bounce faded to leave the Finnish company?s shares 2.7 per cent higher at ?4.16.
Nokia posted an operating loss of ?954m, compared with a profit of ?884m last year, which reflected a ?1.1bn writedown in its location and commerce division. There was a 21 per cent drop in sales to ?10bn in the fourth quarter.
Smartphones, most of which still use the old Symbian software, fell by about a third from a year ago to 19.6m handsets.
Stephen Elop, chief executive, said the fourth quarter was a ?significant step in Nokia?s transformation? but declined to give an annual target for 2012.
Nokia is forecast by analysts to have lost as much as 7 percentage points of global market share, to about 24 per cent, as its older smartphones struggled and its market-leading handsets in emerging markets met fierce competition from Chinese low-cost phones.
Even so, the company gave the first indications of a fightback for the high-end smartphone market ? crucial for the group?s long-term future ? after revealing that initial sales of handsets introduced in partnership with Microsoft last year exceeded 1m.
Nokia has so far launched two phones in Europe and Asia, including the flagship Lumia 800, as well as its first handsets in the US this year.
Mr Elop said: ?From this beachhead of more than 1m Lumia devices, you will see us push forward with the sales, marketing and successive product introductions necessary to be successful.?
The booming smartphone market has increasingly become an two-horse race between the Apple iPhone and Android?s many manufacturers, in spite of attempts by Nokia to claw back ground using the Windows Phone platform under a partnership agreed with Microsoft this time last year. This gulf has become particularly apparent this week given stellar earnings from Apple on Tuesday.
Nokia had been left behind in an unforgiving and swiftly moving market, a fact that led Mr Elop to declare the company to be on a ?burning platform? this time last year as he undertook extensive restructuring and pledged its smartphone future to the Microsoft platform. However, the results of this turnround strategy have yet to materialise, leading Mr Elop to declare 2012 as another year of transition.
Even so, the company shipped about 113.5m mobile devices globally in the fourth quarter, down about 8 per cent from last year. Nokia remains a popular brand of low-cost, reliable ?feature phone? handsets in emerging markets.
This week analysts at Kantar confirmed that the Lumia 800 had failed to break into the top 10 smartphones sold in the UK and the Windows platform had not taken more than 2 per cent of any market around the world.
The initial response from operators has been lukewarm in spite of their desire to see greater competition in the market.
The number of customer returns are reported to be several times higher than for the equivalent iPhone, although Nokia said it had addressed battery concerns by issuing a number of updates, and that consumer feedback had been positive.
Analysts also expect Nokia will gain ground during 2012 as the platform becomes more widely accepted, even if the dominance of Apple and Android looks unlikely to be challenged.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The head of the International Monetary Fund says that some countries that use the euro have the flexibility to boost growth to help shore up the eurozone economy.
Christine Lagarde says the eurozone should develop a "clear simple firewall" to contain the contagion of the debt crisis and restore trust. In addition, she says that the 17 countries that use the currency should continue tying their economies closer together over the months and years ahead.
Lagarde says the IMF has a role to play in restoring stability but that it needs more money. The IMF has said it needs around $500 billion more in financial firepower.
Lagarde spoke Saturday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
Former Bachelorette star Ali Fedotowsky has a type.
That type is apparently a Jewish guy with a sense of humor. Basically, the 27-year-old Massachusetts native's taste could be summarized as "good."
Newly single at the Bachelorette / Bachelor reunion held at The Mirage in Las Vegas, last weekend, she confessed her weakness for certain guys.
"I tend to like nice, funny Jewish boys," she said, adding that while she's not looking to date right now, she reveals she's open to it. Calling J-daters!
So who's her dream celebrity date? An SNL funnyman who had a Jewish upbringing. "Andy Samberg," she told Life & Style. "He's so funny."
She's a cutie, Andy. Might want to pick up the phone.
Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, who proposed to her on The Bachelorette season finale of in 2010, split in November after an 18 month engagement.
"We were trying to establish ourselves individually," A-Fed recently said of the breakup. "But a relationship should be solid regardless of circumstances."
Head & neck cancer in transplant patients: For better or worse?Public release date: 27-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Krista Hopson khopson1@hfhs.org 313-874-7207 Henry Ford Health System
DETROIT Transplant patients who develop head and neck cancer are more likely to be non-smokers and non-drinkers, and less likely than their non-transplant counterparts to survive past one year of diagnosis, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
As part of a 20-year review, Henry Ford researchers found cancers of the throat, tonsils and mouth may be more aggressive in transplant recipients as the result of long-term immunosuppressive therapy required to prevent solid organ rejection.
Transplant patients in the study who developed skin cancer in the head and neck region were more likely to have multiple lesions, compared to the general public. In all, 2.6% of transplant patients in the study developed some form of head and neck cancer.
While the risk for developing head and neck cancer is small, the study serves as an important reminder to all transplant recipients to be vigilant about any changes to their skin, as well as persistent sore throat, ear pain or swallowing issues all signs of head and neck cancer.
"The benefits of organ transplantation and immunosuppressive therapy still outweigh the risk of transplant patients developing head and neck cancer," says study author Robert Deeb, M.D., with the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Henry Ford.
"Still, our study highlights that head and neck cancer arising in transplant patients warrants the need for regular screenings and aggressive treatment."
The study will be presented Jan. 28 in Miami Beach at the annual Triological Society's Combined Sections Meeting.
More effective immunosuppressive therapies for transplant patients have greatly improved graft and recipient survival rates. But with longer survival, there has been an increase in long-term complications from immunosuppression, including head and neck cancer.
In fact, head and neck cancers account for 4 percent to 6 percent of all post-transplant malignancies.
The challenge is that transplant patients who develop head and neck cancer may have to consider forgoing immunosuppressive therapy in order to treat the cancer. But halting immunosupression could lead to organ failure, leaving patients with a very difficult decision: treat the cancer or save the organ. Transplant patients with most forms of skin cancer typically do not need to stop immunosuppressive therapy.
To gain a better understanding of post-transplant head and neck cancer, Dr. Deeb and Vanessa G. Schweitzer, M.D., conducted a comprehensive review of the 3,639 transplants that took place at the Transplant Institute at Henry Ford Hospital from January 1990 through December 2011.
Using electronic medical records, the researchers were able to track the incidence of head and neck cancer following solid organ transplantation during a 20-year period.
During that period, 95 transplant patients developed head and neck cancer - 78 had cutaneous (skin) cancer and 17 had non-cutaneous cancer.
For the 78 patients who developed skin cancer, the most common sites were the cheek and scalp. More than half of the patients were diagnosed with multiple skin malignancies in the head and neck region. The average age at cancer diagnosis was 61, and the mean time between transplant and skin cancer diagnosis was 48 months.
Seventeen patients in the study developed cancer in the upper aerodigestive tract (mouth, tongue and throat) post transplant. For this group, the average age at diagnosis was 60 and the mean time from transplant to cancer diagnosis was 66 months.
Among these patients, significantly fewer were alive at one year compared to their non-transplant counterparts, regardless of cancer stage at diagnosis.
The upper aerodigestive tract cancer patients also were more likely to be non-drinkers and non-smokers. An interesting finding, notes Dr. Deeb, since the majority of head and neck cancers in non-transplant patients (75%) are the result of alcohol and tobacco use.
"That our study group had a much lower rate of smoking and/or alcohol use than non-transplant patients strongly suggests the role of immunosuppression in the development of head and neck cancer," says Dr. Deeb.
###
Funding: Henry Ford Hospital
Along with Dr. Deeb, Henry Ford study co-authors are Saurabh Sharma, M.D.; Meredith Mahan; Samer al-Khudari, M.D.; Frances Hall, M.D.; Atsushi Yoshida, M.D.; and Vanessa G. Schweitzer, M.D.
NOTE: Study abstract is available online at http://www.triological.org/pdf/2012SectionsProgramLong.pdf
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Head & neck cancer in transplant patients: For better or worse?Public release date: 27-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Krista Hopson khopson1@hfhs.org 313-874-7207 Henry Ford Health System
DETROIT Transplant patients who develop head and neck cancer are more likely to be non-smokers and non-drinkers, and less likely than their non-transplant counterparts to survive past one year of diagnosis, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
As part of a 20-year review, Henry Ford researchers found cancers of the throat, tonsils and mouth may be more aggressive in transplant recipients as the result of long-term immunosuppressive therapy required to prevent solid organ rejection.
Transplant patients in the study who developed skin cancer in the head and neck region were more likely to have multiple lesions, compared to the general public. In all, 2.6% of transplant patients in the study developed some form of head and neck cancer.
While the risk for developing head and neck cancer is small, the study serves as an important reminder to all transplant recipients to be vigilant about any changes to their skin, as well as persistent sore throat, ear pain or swallowing issues all signs of head and neck cancer.
"The benefits of organ transplantation and immunosuppressive therapy still outweigh the risk of transplant patients developing head and neck cancer," says study author Robert Deeb, M.D., with the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Henry Ford.
"Still, our study highlights that head and neck cancer arising in transplant patients warrants the need for regular screenings and aggressive treatment."
The study will be presented Jan. 28 in Miami Beach at the annual Triological Society's Combined Sections Meeting.
More effective immunosuppressive therapies for transplant patients have greatly improved graft and recipient survival rates. But with longer survival, there has been an increase in long-term complications from immunosuppression, including head and neck cancer.
In fact, head and neck cancers account for 4 percent to 6 percent of all post-transplant malignancies.
The challenge is that transplant patients who develop head and neck cancer may have to consider forgoing immunosuppressive therapy in order to treat the cancer. But halting immunosupression could lead to organ failure, leaving patients with a very difficult decision: treat the cancer or save the organ. Transplant patients with most forms of skin cancer typically do not need to stop immunosuppressive therapy.
To gain a better understanding of post-transplant head and neck cancer, Dr. Deeb and Vanessa G. Schweitzer, M.D., conducted a comprehensive review of the 3,639 transplants that took place at the Transplant Institute at Henry Ford Hospital from January 1990 through December 2011.
Using electronic medical records, the researchers were able to track the incidence of head and neck cancer following solid organ transplantation during a 20-year period.
During that period, 95 transplant patients developed head and neck cancer - 78 had cutaneous (skin) cancer and 17 had non-cutaneous cancer.
For the 78 patients who developed skin cancer, the most common sites were the cheek and scalp. More than half of the patients were diagnosed with multiple skin malignancies in the head and neck region. The average age at cancer diagnosis was 61, and the mean time between transplant and skin cancer diagnosis was 48 months.
Seventeen patients in the study developed cancer in the upper aerodigestive tract (mouth, tongue and throat) post transplant. For this group, the average age at diagnosis was 60 and the mean time from transplant to cancer diagnosis was 66 months.
Among these patients, significantly fewer were alive at one year compared to their non-transplant counterparts, regardless of cancer stage at diagnosis.
The upper aerodigestive tract cancer patients also were more likely to be non-drinkers and non-smokers. An interesting finding, notes Dr. Deeb, since the majority of head and neck cancers in non-transplant patients (75%) are the result of alcohol and tobacco use.
"That our study group had a much lower rate of smoking and/or alcohol use than non-transplant patients strongly suggests the role of immunosuppression in the development of head and neck cancer," says Dr. Deeb.
###
Funding: Henry Ford Hospital
Along with Dr. Deeb, Henry Ford study co-authors are Saurabh Sharma, M.D.; Meredith Mahan; Samer al-Khudari, M.D.; Frances Hall, M.D.; Atsushi Yoshida, M.D.; and Vanessa G. Schweitzer, M.D.
NOTE: Study abstract is available online at http://www.triological.org/pdf/2012SectionsProgramLong.pdf
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
If mankind can ever reconcile its determination to construct edifices with its lust for things exploding in slow motion, we will have unlocked our essence as a species—t?te ? t?te with God herself. Until then, enjoy shit bustin'. More »
"Charge it" may soon have new meaning at shopping malls and retail centers across the country.
As sales of electric cars begin to pick up, retailers nationwide are installing electric vehicle charging stations in their parking lots so customers can plug in and juice up their vehicles while browsing inside.
Leading the way is drugstore chain Walgreen Co., which is installing chargers at about 800 stores nationwide, including about 100 Southland locations.
Macy's Inc. is installing chargers at a handful of department stores in San Diego. Kohl's Corp. is undertaking a pilot program to equip 33 stores nationwide with charging stations, and Best Buy said it will test them at 12 locations, including San Diego and Los Angeles.
Retailers view the chargers as a good investment for the future, a way to one-up competitors and burnish a green reputation. Although adoption of electric cars has been tepid so far ? only about 17,000 sold in the U.S. last year ? many retail chains are hoping to win goodwill with eco-conscious, high-income customers by offering an amenity that very few actually need yet.
California leads the nation with about 89,000 registered electric cars on the road last year, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
One roadblock for electric car sales has been the need for drivers to regularly recharge the batteries and the limited number of public places to do so.
There's even a term for it: "range anxiety," or the fear of getting stranded on the road with no outlet in sight. Only 5,084 public chargers are scattered around the country, and more than a quarter of them are in California, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Retailers are moving quickly to fill that void. And, for now, most are providing electricity for free.
At Walgreen "we said, 'Let's lead in this area," said Menno Enters, the Deerfield, Ill., drugstore chain's director of energy and sustainability. "We're all about convenience, and many of our stores are located around commuter routes. We realized that Walgreens was ideally situated to implement a strategy for electric chargers."
If the electric car movement takes off, Walgreen is hoping to snatch sales from nearby gas stations that "seek the same convenience-type customers," Enters said.
In the last three months, furniture giant Ikea has equipped five California stores along with a store in Portland, Ore., and one in Seattle with charging stations. Additional chargers are coming to locations in East Palo Alto, Calif., and Tempe, Ariz.
The Swedish retailer doesn't track how often the stations are used, but the chargers have been conversation pieces, said Ikea spokesman Joseph Roth.
"You can just stand and watch folks driving by in the parking lot. They see the space and you can kind of see that 'oh wow, that's kind of neat' look on their faces," Roth said. "We view it as another aspect of the shopping experience."
Whether shoppers think so is up for debate.
At an Ikea in Covina during a recent weekend, most shoppers walked into the store with nary a glance at the three chargers planted squarely in front of an entrance in the parking garage.
Although she's a frequent patron of the store, Jennifer Ingalls, 48, said she's never noticed the stations.
"I'm all for green, but that doesn't make me want to shop here more," said the 48-year-old human resources assistant. "I'm a big truck fan myself."
Retailersusually get most of the costs covered with subsidies by partnering with a handful of companies such as ECOtality and Coulomb Technologies that specialize in installing and supporting charging stations. These companies have in turn received money ? millions of dollars, in some cases ? from the Energy Department to build up an infrastructure that encourages increased use of electric vehicles.
The Florida Republican primary is less than a week away and the gloves are off.
Having been whomped in South Carolina, Mitt Romney came out firing in Monday night's Florida debate and has kept up the pressure on his GOP rival all week.
New pro-Romney ads are calling Gingrich a liar who's exaggerating loose ties to Ronald Reagan and drops names instead of touting his own policy credentials.
Newt lashed out at Mitt today for questioning his conservative values. Watch:
"This is the man who stood up the other night to question my credentials as a Reaganite? This is the kind of gall they have to think we are so stupid, and we are so timid," Gingrich said at an outdoor campaign event in Orlando, Florida.
Newt has slipped a bit in recent polls since his demonstrative win. Can he shift the momentum back his way when the candidates debate again tonight?
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Public release date: 27-Jan-2012
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