shareholder taskmaster: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Mexico health sec: Swine flu way up after low year (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Swine flu is back in Mexico, the epicenter of a world pandemic three years ago that panicked people around the globe.

The country registered more cases of all types of flu and more incidents of the H1N1 strain, originally called swine flu, in January than in all of 2011, federal health officials said Tuesday.

Despite the spike, the number of cases is well within a normal flu season for Mexico, which can see from 5,000 to 11,000 incidents of all strains, Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said.

"Last year, H1N1 barely circulated in the country or in the world," Chertorivski said to explain the dramatic jump in cases in January.

There have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico recorded so far for January, 90 percent of them H1N1, Chertorivski told reporters. Thirty-two people died from flu, all but three of them from H1N1, he said.

That compares with about 1,000 flu cases in Mexico during all of last year, with 35 deaths from all strains. About 250 cases in 2011 were swine flu.

The low appearance of the H1N1 virus the past two years is one reason it's drawing so much media attention in Mexico. People have been lining up in hospitals and at school nurses for checks. A handful of private schools decided to close last week, and pharmacies reported shortages in antiviral drugs.

Chertorivski said there are plenty of doses of antiviral drugs in the country, but pharmacies initially were understocked after the low incidence of last year. He said the problem had been corrected.

Public nervousness about H1N1 has been high since the first outbreak in spring 2009, when the virus initially appeared to have a high mortality rate and Mexican authorities closed restaurants, schools, museums, libraries and theaters to stop its spread.

"Since 2009, we've remained more sensitive to the issue of flu," Chertorivski said. "2009 made us more conscientious and increased the number of tests and confirmations."

Chertorivski said the virus first reappeared this year in Chile and the Andean region of South America, where the flu season has now passed. He said the initial cases in Mexico were in southern and central states.

Health officials expect the cases to migrate north through Mexico and into the U.S., where incidents of H1N1 have increased in recent weeks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Both the CDC and the Pan-American Health Organization also say that H1N1 cases this year are within the normal range.

The World Health Organization in 2009 declared swine flu the first global flu pandemic in 40 years.

Initial reports then suggested H1N1 was killing as many as one in 15 of those infected ? a death rate that would have been more than three times higher than the devastating flu pandemic of 1918-19. Later investigation, however, showed that many cases hadn't been reported by people who experienced mild symptoms and that the strain was lethal mostly to those with complicating circumstances. It is now considered a seasonal flu and included in the flu vaccine.

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 around the globe every year. It says about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths result, primarily among the elderly and the chronically ill.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_he_me/lt_mexico_swine_flu

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Video: Poll: Florida Latinos currently favoring Romney

>>> romney and gingrich have been targeting the hispanic community hard. the miami poll shows romney is the favorite, 52% to 28%. congressman, are you with us?

>> i'm here. i'm here. i can hear you.

>> gorgeous weather. you and two other prominent latinos gave your endorsement to romney . he said he would veto the dream act as president. i believe that you don't agree with him on immigration, but this is a big priority, is it not?

>> we don't agree on aspects of his immigration policy . he believes that border security is first and foremost and that has to happen before anything else. yeah, we disagree. what i do agree with him on is the fact that can has concern as everybody is about the economy and how a failed presidency made a bad situation worst. the hispanics are concerned about that. it's hard to get a job if you a hispanic in this country. that's the issue. borrowing from bill clinton . it's the economy. it's never be so true than today.

>> other latino leaders are upset about this. he says you are betraying the latino community by supporting romney . he wrote just days ago, he sin ults the skbejs intelligence of latin os living outside of florida. cuban republicans politicians seem to be out of touch. he cannot claim to be for free markets and capitalism when he supporters romney 's protectionist and isolation policy towards immigrations. what is your response to that?

>> let me apologize. i'm squinting, it's really bright. he has the right to his opinion. i think my record is clear. my representation of this community is pretty clear. again, here is the question. who is the person that can save this economy? we need a turn around master. we need someone that turn this country around from the failed policies of president obama and who can win in november. all the other issues, whether it's hugely important issues to me, education, the environment, everything else you can think of obviously national defense . if question not have an economy that allows us to afford all these other things, it's all for naught. who is the person that can beat president obama , defeat the failed policies of president obama , who can turn this country around. remember, for the first time in american history our debt has been degraded because of the incredible debt this president has accumulated over his three and a half years. who is the person who can do that? the name continues to pop up as mitt romney . i think what you'll hear in florida, i think you're going to see some strong support from the latino community from mitt romney because they understand that without jobs everybody else is impossible.

>> i want to play you some sound right here. this morning gingrich was attacking romney 's conservatism. he's been calling him a liberal. take a listen to this.

>> every time we nominate a moderate, we lose. why would anybody in the establishment think that a massachusetts moderate, which is a liberal by republican standards, proabortion. pro-gun control. pro- gay rights . why would they think he'll be able to debate barack obama .

>> is he liberal enough for the establishments?

>> i'm not sure what you mean by the establishment. governor romney came in just a few votes short in iowa. i don't think anybody has said iowa republicans are left-wing radicals radicals. the reason he's receiving the support, it's jobs. it's the economy, stupid as bill clinton used to say. he can win in november. to bring back the united states to the position that it needs to be economically and every other way around the world. the person who can do that is governor romney . don't take my word for it. look at who the white house is also targeting. look at who the white house and president obama is scared of and trying to defeat now so they don't have to run against him in november because they understand he's the strongest, that's governor mitt romney .

>> all right. we appreciate your time today, sir. thanks so much.

>> thank you.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46193176/

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Wasserman Schultz: Priebus ?cossed the line? comparing Obama to Costa Concordia captain (Washington Post)

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Ayla Reynolds Case: Blood Found At Home Where Maine Tot Was Last Seen

PORTLAND, Maine ? Investigators have been analyzing blood found in the basement of a Maine home where a missing toddler was last seen six weeks ago, an official said Saturday.

The blood was found early in the investigation into Ayla Reynolds' disappearance from her father's home in Waterville, state police spokesman Steve McCausland said. The state crime laboratory has been running tests on it since then, but it was unclear when results would be available.

Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro, reported her missing Dec. 17. He had put her to bed the night before and said she wasn't there the next morning.

McCausland called the discovery of the blood "troubling." He declined to discuss how much blood was found in the basement or how long it might have been there.

Ayla was 20 months old when she disappeared. She had been staying with her father at the time in the house where DiPietro lives with his mother. Her mother, Trista Reynolds, lives in Portland.

DiPietro told police she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them and had a soft cast on her broken left arm.

DiPietro, his mother and a third adult were home the night of Dec. 16, and police have questioned all three, McCausland said.

"We believe they have not given us the full story," he said.

Both of Ayla's parents participated in a vigil Saturday on the City Hall steps in downtown Waterville.

It was the first time the two came face to face since their daughter's disappearance, said Bob Vear, a friend of the DiPietro family who organized the vigil. They spoke privately for about 10 minutes before giving each other a hug, Vear said.

DiPietro declined to discuss the discovery of the blood.

"I'm not going to answer any questions about it, but I will say this: If there was something there, I don't think I'd be standing here with you right now," he told the Morning Sentinel newspaper in Waterville.

A woman who answered DiPietro's mother's cellphone hung up after being asked about the blood.

Reynolds could not be reached for comment.

In an interview earlier in the day with the Morning Sentinel, she said she was preparing herself for any outcome.

"As a mother, as a parent, you need to mentally prepare yourself for the good, the bad, the worst," she told the newspaper. "I have been preparing myself for all of it during the last 40 days. I have told myself anything can happen. I could get the greatest news or I could get the worst news ever."

The blood was among hundreds of pieces of potential evidence that were removed from their home as part of a criminal investigation into the girl's disappearance. The discovery of the blood was first reported Saturday by WCVB-TV in Boston.

Ronald Reynolds, who is Trista Reynolds' father, said DiPietro hasn't been forthcoming with his version of what happened or what he knows. DiPietro has said he took a polygraph test, but has declined to say what the results were.

"They haven't given the full story, but this family has gone through so much pain, so much hurt," said Reynolds, who lives in Portland. "We're going into two months now and don't know anything, and all we get is the runaround."

Vear said he was first made aware of the blood sample Dec. 24, but he doesn't think it'll amount to anything.

"I cut myself at home all the time," he said. "It could be Justin's, it could be the baby's. There were five or six people in the house that night."

Investigators are searching for Ayla Reynolds, a 20-month-old Maine girl believed to have vanished from her bed while her family slept. Reynolds' father, Justin DiPietro, told investigators he last saw the child at around 8 p.m. on Dec. 16 when he put her to sleep in her own bedroom. The following morning, at around 8:50 a.m., he called police to say her bed was empty. This photograph was posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the missing toddler. Investigators are searching for Ayla Reynolds, a 20-month-old Maine girl believed to have vanished from her bed while her family slept. Reynolds' father, Justin DiPietro, told investigators he last saw the child at around 8 p.m. on Dec. 16 when he put her to sleep in her own bedroom. The following morning, at around 8:50 a.m., he called police to say her bed was empty. This photograph was posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the missing toddler.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Oil Off Cuba: Washington and Havana Dance at Arms Length Over Spill Prevention (Time.com)

On Christmas Eve, a massive, Chinese-made maritime oil rig, the Scarabeo 9, arrived at Trinidad and Tobago for inspection. The Spanish oil company Repsol YPF, which keeps regional headquarters in Trinidad, ferried it to the Caribbean to perform deep-ocean drilling off Cuba -- whose communist government believes as much as 20 billion barrels of crude may lie near the island's northwest coast. But it wasn't Cuban authorities who came aboard the Scarabeo 9 to give it the once-over: officials from the U.S. Coast Guard and Interior Department did, even though the rig won't be operating in U.S. waters.

On any other occasion that might have raised the ire of the Cubans, who consider Washington their imperialista enemy. But the U.S. examination of the Scarabeo 9, which Repsol agreed to and Cuba abided, was part of an unusual choreography of cooperation between the two countries. Their otherwise bitter cold-war feud (they haven't had diplomatic relations since 1961) is best known for a 50-year-long trade embargo and history's scariest nuclear standoff. Now, Cuba's commitment to offshore oil exploration -- drilling may start this weekend -- raises a specter that haunts both nations: an oil spill in the Florida Straits like the BP calamity that tarred the nearby Gulf of Mexico two years ago and left $40 billion in U.S. damages.

The Straits, an equally vital body of water that's home to some of the world's most precious coral reefs, separates Havana and Key West, Florida, by a mere 90 miles. As a result, the U.S. has tacitly loosened its embargo against Cuba to give firms like Repsol easier access to the U.S. equipment they need to help avoid or contain possible spills. "Preventing drilling off Cuba better protects our interests than preparing for [a disaster] does," U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida tells TIME, noting the U.S. would prefer to stop the Cuban drilling -- but can't. "But the two are not mutually exclusive, and that's why we should aim to do both."

(MORE: Cuba Set to Begin Offshore Drilling: Is Florida In Eco-Straits?)

Cuba meanwhile has tacitly agreed to ensure that its safety measures meet U.S. standards (not that U.S. standards proved all that golden during the 2010 BP disaster) and is letting unofficial U.S. delegations in to discuss the precautions being taken by Havana and the international oil companies it is contracting. No Cuban official would discuss the matter, but Dan Whittle, senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund in New York, who was part of one recent delegation, says the Cubans "seem very motivated to do the right thing."

It's also the right business thing to do. Cuba's threadbare economy -- President Ra?l Castro currently has to lay off more than 500,000 state workers -- is acutely energy-dependent on allies like Venezuela, which ships the island 120,000 barrels of oil per day. So Havana is eager to drill for the major offshore reserves geologists discovered eight years ago (which the U.S. Geological Survey estimates at closer to 10 billion bbl.). Cuba has signed or is negotiating leases with Repsol and companies from eight other nations -- Norway, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, Venezuela, Angola and China -- for 59 drilling blocks inside a 43,000-sq.-mile (112,000 sq km) zone. Eventually, the government hopes to extract half a million bpd or more.

A serious oil spill could scuttle those drilling operations -- especially since Cuba hasn't the technology, infrastructure or means, like a clean-up fund similar to the $1 billion the U.S. keeps on reserve, to confront such an emergency. And there is another big economic anxiety: Cuba's $2 billion tourism industry. "The dilemma for Cuba is that as much as they want the oil, they care as much if not more about their ocean resources," says Billy Causey, southeast regional director for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's marine sanctuary program. Cuba's pristine beaches and reefs attract sunbathers and scuba divers the world over, and a quarter of its coastal environment is set aside as protected.

So is much of coastal Florida, where tourism generates $60 billion annually -- which is why the state keeps oil rigs out of its waters. The Florida Keys lie as close as 50 miles from where Repsol is drilling; and they run roughly parallel to the 350-mile-long (560 km) Florida Reef Tract (FRT), the world's third largest barrier reef and one of its most valuable ocean eco-systems. The FRT is already under assault from global warming, ocean acidification and overfishing of symbiotic species like parrotfish that keep coral pruned of corrosive algae. If a spill were to damage the FRT, which draws $2 billion from tourism each year and supports 33,000 jobs, "it would be a catastrophic event," says David Vaughan, director of Florida's private Mote Marine Laboratory.

(MORE: Will BP Spill Lower Risk of Deepwater Drilling?)

Which means America has its own dilemma. As much as the U.S. would like to thwart Cuban petro-profits -- Cuban-American leaders like U.S. Representative and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami say the oil will throw a lifeline to the Castro dictatorship -- it needs to care as much if not more about its own environment. Because fewer than a tenth of the Scarabeo 9's components were made in America, Washington can't wield the embargo cudgel and fine Repsol, which has interests in the U.S., for doing business with Cuba. (Most of the other firms don't have U.S. interests.) Nor can it in good conscience use the embargo in this case to keep U.S. companies from offering spill prevention/containment hardware and services to Repsol and other drilling contractors.

One of those U.S. firms is Helix Energy Solutions in Houston. Amid the Gulf disaster, Helix engineered a "capping stack" to plug damaged blow-out preventers like the one that failed on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig. (It later contained the spill.) Having that technology at hand -- especially since the Cuba rigs will often operate in deeper waters than the Deepwater rig was mining -- will be critical if a spill occurs off Cuba.

Helix has applied to the Treasury Department for a special license to lease its equipment, and speedily deliver it, to Cuba's contractors when needed. The license is still pending, but Helix spokesman Cameron Wallace says the company is confident it will come through since Cuba won't benefit economically from the arrangement. "This is a reasonable approach," says Wallace. "We can't just say we'll figure out what to do if a spill happens. We need this kind of preparation." Eco-advocates like Whittle agree: "It's a no-brainer for the U.S."

(MORE: U.S. Fails to Respond to Cuba's Freeing of Dissidents)

Preparation includes something the U.S.-Cuba cold-war time warp rarely allows: dialogue. Nelson has introduced legislation that would require federal agencies to consult Congress on how to work with countries like Cuba on offshore drilling safety and spill response, but the Administration has already shown some flexibility. Last month U.S. officials and scientists had contact with Cuban counterparts at a regional forum on drilling hazards. That's important because they need to be in synch, for example, about how to attack a spill without exacerbating the damage to coral reefs. Scientists like Vaughan worry that chemical dispersants used to fight the spill in the Gulf, where coral wasn't as prevalent, could be lethal to reefs in the Straits. That would breed more marine catastrophe, since coral reefs, though they make up only 1% of the world's sea bottoms, account for up to 40% of natural fisheries. "They're our underwater oases," says Vaughan, whose tests so far with dispersants and FRT species like Elkhorn coral don't augur well.

A rigid U.S. reluctance to engage communist Cuba is of course only half the problem. Another is Havana's notorious, Soviet-style secrecy -- which some fear "could override the need to immediately pick up the phone," as one environmentalist confides, if and when a spill occurs. As a result, some are also petitioning Washington to fund AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles) that marine biologists use to detect red tides, and which could also be used to sniff out oil spills in the Straits.

What experts on both sides of the Straits hope is that sea currents will carry any oil slick directly out into the Atlantic Ocean. But that's wishful thinking. So probably is the notion that U.S.-Cuba cooperation on offshore drilling can be duplicated on other fronts. Among them are the embargo, including the arguably unconstitutional ban on U.S. travel to Cuba, which has utterly failed to dislodge the Castro regime but which Washington keeps in place for fear of offending Cuban-American voters in swing-state Florida; and cases like that of Alan Gross, a U.S. aid worker imprisoned in Cuba since 2009 on what many call questionable spying charges.

U.S. inspectors this month gave the Scarabeo 9 the thumbs-up. Meanwhile, U.S. pols hope they can still dissuade foreign oil companies from operating off Cuba. Last month Nelson and Cuban-American Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey introduced a bill to hold firms financially responsible for spills that affect the U.S. even if they originate outside U.S. waters. (It would also lift a $75 million liability cap.) Others in Congress say Big Oil should be exempted from the embargo to let the U.S. benefit from the Cuba oil find too. Either way, the only thing likely to stop the drilling now would be the discovery that there's not as much crude there as anticipated. That, or a major spill.

PHOTOS: Fidel Castro Steps Down

View this article on Time.com

Saturday, January 28, 2012

AUTOMOTIVE - VINTAGE: 1912 Hispano Suiza Sports Car

VINTAGE: 1912 Hispano Suiza Sports Car

Based on a winning racer, the Alfonso XIII Jaquot Torpedo was driven in the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance and shown at the Concours.

One of the early vintage highlights of the Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance in August was this Hispano Suiza Alfonso XIII, built in 1912. Named after the Spanish King and based on the 1910 Coupe de l'Auto winning racer, the small Hispano is generally considered to be the world's first sports car.

The custom body includes a bullet-shaped nose most commonly found on the Hispano race cars. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) Only slightly more civilized than the competition car it was based on, most were fitted with simple touring bodies on par with the lightweight design of the chassis. The example shown at Pebble is unusual in that it sports a slightly more luxurious body complete with a bullet-shaped nose that was more commonly used on the Hispano racing cars.

The Jaquot Torpedo was one of the oldest participants of this year's Tour d'Elegance that traditionally precedes the Concours.

Under the inspired leadership of the talented Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt, Hispano Suiza launched a full range of luxury models in quick succession. Birkigt also recognized the marketing benefits of competing in races. When he learned that Spain's King Alfonso XIII would present one of the trophies during the nearby 1909 Catalan Cup, Birkigt quickly readied Hispano Suiza's first racing cars.

Instead of turning one of the existing models into a competition car, Birkigt opted to start from scratch. The four-cylinder engine differed from any of his earlier designs in that it was constructed from a single block as opposed to two blocks of two cylinders. Displacing just over 1.8 liters, the straight-four featured a ?T-head? with twin lateral camshafts actuating the side valves through push-rods. The engine was mounted relatively far back in the chassis for better weight balance.

The Jaquot Torpedo body includes a single third seat in the rear. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) Despite having relatively little time to prepare and test the company's first racing car, Hispano Suiza entered three cars in the Catalan Cup. The Spanish King saw one of the Hispanos get an early lead but eventually all succumbed to reliability issues and were forced to drop out.

Birkigt continued the development of the cars, increasing the displacement and fitting stronger wheels. The work paid off and in 1910, Hispano Suizas placed first, third and sixth in the prestigious Coupe de l'Auto race.

While continuing the development of new competition cars, Birkigt also used the Coupe de l'Auto-winning machine as the basis for a new production model launched in 1911. Officially dubbed the Type 15T or 15/45hp depending on the market, this high-performance Hispano Suiza is better known as the Alfonso XIII. It received this nickname after the prototype was gifted to the Spanish monarch by his wife. While keeping the ties with the royal family warm, Hispano Suiza also opened a factory in Paris, France.

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-1912-hispano-suiza-sports-car/

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Costa: $14,460 per person for ruined Italy cruises

In this undated photo released by the Italian Navy Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship is seen grounded off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. Italian authorities have identified the bodies of three German passengers as divers kept up the search for those still missing from the Costa Concordia cruise ship that rammed into a reef off Italy. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed so far in the disaster, but three of those bodies have yet to be identified. Another 16 people are still missing from the ship, which grounded Jan. 13, but officials have acknowledged that it would take a miracle to find any more survivors. Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies very close to a marine sanctuary. (AP Photo/Italian Navy)

Seagulls stand on a rock near the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Italian authorities have identified the bodies of three German passengers as divers kept up the search for those still missing from the Costa Concordia cruise ship that rammed into a reef off Italy. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed so far in the disaster, but three of those bodies have yet to be identified. Another 16 people are still missing from the ship, which grounded Jan. 13, but officials have acknowledged that it would take a miracle to find any more survivors. Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies very close to a marine sanctuary. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

A view of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Italian authorities have identified the bodies of three German passengers as divers kept up the search for those still missing from the Costa Concordia cruise ship that rammed into a reef off Italy. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed so far in the disaster, but three of those bodies have yet to be identified. Another 16 people are still missing from the ship, which grounded Jan. 13, but officials have acknowledged that it would take a miracle to find any more survivors. Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies very close to a marine sanctuary. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian firefighters, top, work on the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, as Italian Financial police scuba divers prepare to dive, bottom, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Italian authorities have identified the bodies of three German passengers as divers kept up the search for those still missing from the Costa Concordia cruise ship that rammed into a reef off Italy. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed so far in the disaster, but three of those bodies have yet to be identified. Another 16 people are still missing from the ship, which grounded Jan. 13, but officials have acknowledged that it would take a miracle to find any more survivors. Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies very close to a marine sanctuary. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian Navy scuba divers gestures as they return after assignment of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Italian authorities have identified the bodies of three German passengers as divers kept up the search for those still missing from the Costa Concordia cruise ship that rammed into a reef off Italy. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed so far in the disaster, but three of those bodies have yet to be identified. Another 16 people are still missing from the ship, which grounded Jan. 13, but officials have acknowledged that it would take a miracle to find any more survivors. Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies very close to a marine sanctuary. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

ROME (AP) ? Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers euro11,000 ($14,460) apiece Friday to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany.

But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured.

Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13.

In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding.

The deal does not apply to the hundreds of crew on the ship, many of whom have lost their jobs, the roughly 100 people who were injured in the chaotic evacuation or the families who lost loved ones. Sixteen bodies have already been recovered from the disaster and another 16 people who were on board are missing and presumed dead.

Passengers are free to pursue legal action on their own if they aren't satisfied with the deal and it was clear Friday ? two weeks after the grounding ? that some would.

"We're very worried about the children," said Claudia Urru of Cagliari, Sardinia, who was on board the ship with her husband and two sons aged 3 and 12. Her eldest child, she said, is seeing a psychiatrist: He won't speak about the incident or even look at television footage of the grounding.

"He's terrorized at night," she told The Associated Press. "He can't go to the bathroom alone. We're all sleeping together, except my husband, who has gone into another room because we don't all fit."

As a result, she said, her family has retained a lawyer because they don't know what the real impact ? financial or otherwise ? of the trauma will be. She said her family simply isn't able to make such decisions now.

"We are having a very, very hard time," she said.

Some consumer groups have already signed on as injured parties in the criminal case against the Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, who is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all those aboard were evacuated. He is under house arrest.

In addition, Codacons, one of Italy's best-known consumer groups, has engaged two U.S. law firms to launch a class-action lawsuit against Costa and Carnival in Miami, claiming that it expects to get anywhere from euro125,000 ($164,000) to euro1 million ($1.3 million) per passenger.

German attorney Hans Reinhardt, who currently represents 15 Germans who survived the accident and is in talks to represent families who lost loved ones, said he is advising his clients not to take the settlement.

Instead, he, like Codacons, is working with the U.S. law firm to pursue the class-action suit in Miami.

"What they have lost is much more than euro11,000," he told the AP.

But Roberto Corbella, who represented Costa in the negotiations, said the deal provides passengers with quick and "generous" restitution that consumer groups estimate could amount to some euro14,000 ($18,500) per passenger when it includes the other reimbursements.

"The big advantage that they have is an immediate response, no legal expenses, and they can put this whole thing behind them," he told AP.

Angry passenger Herbert Greszuk, a 62-year-old German who left behind everything he had with him, including his tuxedo, camera, jewelry, and even his dentures, told the AP before the compensation deal was announced that it was an issue of accountability.

"Something like this must not be allowed to happen again. So many people died; it's simply inexcusable," he said.

The Concordia gashed its hull on reefs off the island of Giglio after Schettino made an unauthorized deviation from its approved route to bring it closer to Giglio. Some 4,200 passengers and crew were hastily evacuated.

Search efforts for the missing resumed Friday as salvage crews set up to begin extracting some 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil on Saturday before it leaks into the pristine waters surrounding the ship. That pumping operation is expected to last nearly a month.

Italy's civil protection office on Friday released a list of some of the other possibly toxic substances aboard the cruise liner, including 50 liters of insecticide and 41 cubic meters of lubricants, among other things.

But so far, even though some film has been detected in the waters around the ship, tests on the waters indicate nothing outside the norm, according to Tuscany's regional environment agency.

"Toxic tests have all resulted negative," the agency said.

The crystal clear seas around Giglio are a haven for scuba divers and form part of a marine sanctuary for dolphins, porpoises and whales.

Passengers have said the evacuation was chaotic, with crew members unprepared to deal with an emergency and constantly downplaying the seriousness of the situation. Coast guard data shows the captain only sounded the evacuation alarm an hour after the initial collision, well after the Concordia had listed to the point that many lifeboats couldn't be lowered.

Schettino has admitted he had taken the ship on "touristic navigation" near Giglio but has said the rocks he hit weren't charted on his nautical maps.

Codacons has called for a criminal investigation into the not-infrequent practice of "tourist navigation" ? steering huge cruise ships close to shore to give passengers a view of key sites.

The chief executive of Costa, Pier Luigi Foschi, told Italian lawmakers this week that "tourist navigation" wasn't illegal, and was a "cruise product" increasingly sought out by passengers and offered by cruise lines to try to stay competitive.

___

David Rising in Berlin contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-27-EU-Italy-Cruise-Aground/id-219a8db18c6c4d478aa9208120b81705

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Friday, January 27, 2012

India's Razzies poke fun at "indulgent" Bollywood (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) ? Bollywood stars better watch out. Movie fans in India are handing out their own version of the Razzies, the annual Oscars spoof that spotlights Hollywood's worst performances.

The second Ghanta (bell) Awards and the fourth Golden Kela (golden banana) awards are doing the rounds of social media networks, with fans voting in various categories for the worst films of 2011.

The rise of what is known as the "multiplex audience," urban viewers who have a taste for edgier cinema and the spending power to watch it, has meant that Bollywood is exploring newer storylines and bolder themes.

But Indian actors and film makers continuing with stale family melodramas and bad scripts risk being pilloried by urban audiences exposed to top-notch Hollywood films who now expect the same standards in India.

This year, the Ghantas also have a holier-than-thou film award, for "indulgent film makers."

"These are typically personal stories that do not cater to mass sensibilities," says Karan Anshuman, film critic and co-founder of The Ghanta Awards.

"Here, films are inspired by the grammar of world cinema and not so much Bollywood," says Anshuman.

"And while this is an encouraging step toward making available different cinemas to an audience, more often than not the movies are ineptly made and just plain bad and silly."

With categories like "Most Atrocious lyrics," "Worst Rip-Off" and "Worst Holier-than-thou films," fans can take potshots at the worst of Bollywood cinema from the past year.

Big-ticket stars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are nominated in the worst actor categories at The Ghantas while the Shah Rukh Khan caper "Don 2" has been nominated in the "Worst Rip-Off" category for imitating "every Hollywood action film."

The response from the Indian online community has been encouraging. A day after voting began, more than a thousand users had cast their votes for the Ghantas. More than 300,000 people cast their votes for The Golden Kelas last year.

Organizers aren't counting on the same support from the Indian film industry.

"Bollywood isn't really known for laughing at itself and frankly has zero sense of humor," says Anshuman.

Organizers of the Golden Kela awards, which last year awarded the Worst Actor award to Shah Rukh Khan, say no Bollywood star or film maker shows up to claim their prizes.

This week, film maker Anurag Kashyap tweeted he would collect his Ghanta award in person if his film "That Girl in Yellow Boots" wins in the "holier-than-thou" category.

While the Ghantas will be announced in February in Mumbai, the Golden Kela award ceremony will be held in New Delhi in March.

(Reporting By Shilpa Jamkhandikar, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/stage_nm/us_bollywood_razzies

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

In GOP response, Daniels blames Obama for economy (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama has resorted to "extremism" with stifling, anti-growth policies and sought to divide Americans, not unite them, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday in the formal Republican response to the president's State of the Union address.

Eight months after deciding against a bid for his party's presidential nomination, Daniels used his nationally televised speech to lash out at Obama and cast the GOP as compassionate and eager to unchain the country's economic potential.

He took particular aim at Obama's efforts to raise taxes on the rich and castigate them for not contributing their fair share to the nation's burdens. Joined by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trails, the GOP goal was to both blunt and shift the focus away from Obama's theme on Tuesday of fairness, which included protecting the middle class and making sure the rich pay an equitable share of taxes.

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, speaking from Indianapolis. "As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat."

"This election is going to be a referendum on the president's economic policies," which have worsened the economy, said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The politics of envy, the politics of dividing our country is not what America is all about."

Also drawing frequent GOP attacks were Obama's proposed tax increases, which included making sure millionaire earners pay at least a 30 percent tax rate.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said Obama's proposals to boost taxes on the wealthy and give tax breaks for domestic U.S. manufacturers and others were "nothing more than the usual Washington game that has led to a tax code already littered with lobbyist loopholes."

Daniels is a rarity in the GOP these days ? a uniting and widely respected figure, contrasting with the divisiveness emanating from the contest for the presidential nomination being waged among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others.

President George W. Bush's first budget chief and a two-term Indiana governor, Daniels often rails against wasteful spending big budget deficits, though critics note he served during the abrupt shift from fleeting federal surpluses to massive deficits early in Bush's term.

"When President Obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true," Daniels said. He added that while Obama did not cause the country's economic and budget problems, "He was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse."

The night's rhetoric come at the dawn of a presidential and congressional election year in which the defining issues are the faltering economy and weak job market and the parties' clashing prescriptions for restoring both. Obama and congressional Democrats have focused on the more populist pathway of financing federal initiatives by taxing millionaires, while Republicans preach the virtues of less regulation and smaller government.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Obama's address "a campaign speech designed to please his liberal base," and warned that he should keep legislation advancing his priorities "free from poison pills like tax hikes on job creators."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who heads large group of House conservatives, said Obama's speech was riddled with "the ridiculous idea that America isn't fair because successful people get to keep too much of the money they earn."

Republicans fired back at Obama's vision of "an economy built to last," saying it was their party that understood the best way to trigger economic growth was to get the government out of the way.

"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly sane pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy," Daniels said.

Obama has halted, for now, work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas' Gulf Coast. Republicans say the project would create thousands of jobs, a claim opponents say is overstated. The administration has also pursued policies aimed at reducing pollution and global warming.

To underscore Obama's decision on Keystone, Boehner invited three officials from companies he said would be hurt by the pipeline's rejection to watch the speech in the House chamber, along with a pro-pipeline legislator from Nebraska, through which the project would pass.

Obama was delivering his address during a rowdy battle for the GOP presidential nomination that has ended up providing ammunition for Obama's theme of fairness.

That fight has called attention to the wealth of one of the top contenders, Romney, and the low ? but legal ? effective federal income tax rate of around 15 percent that the multimillionaire has paid in the past two years. Romney, in Florida campaigning for that state's Jan. 31 primary, released his tax documents for the two-year period on Tuesday.

"The president's agenda sounds less like `built to last' and more like doomed to fail," Romney said in Tampa, Fla. "What he's proposing is more of the same: more taxes, more spending, and more regulation."

Romney's chief rival at this point, Gingrich, said in a written statement that the top question about Obama's speech was whether he "will show a willingness to put aside the extremist ideology of the far left and call for a new set of policies that could lead to dramatic private sector job creation and economic growth."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_state_of_union_gop_reaction

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Wis. governor fights recall with out-of-state cash

MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Wisconsin's polarizing governor is fighting attempts to recall him with money from out-of-state donors, who helped him bring in more than $12 million since last year.

An Associated Press analysis of campaign finance reports Republican Gov. Scott Walker filed Monday showed 61 percent of the $4.1 million he raised during the five-week reporting period came from out of state.

Many of the contributions came from big donors, including $250,000 from conservative Texas financier Bob Perry and a total of $750,000 from three people in Missouri. More than half of Walker's money came from people who donated $20,000 or more, such as Michael Bidwill, president of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, who gave $25,000.

Walker's furious fundraising comes as Wisconsin election officials continue to review an estimated 1.9 million signatures collected to recall the governor, lieutenant governor and four Republican state senators.

The recall effort was spurred by anger over Walker's first year in office, in particular a law he pushed through that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

The $12.1 million Walker has raised since January 2011 breaks the previous record for fundraising by a candidate for state office in Wisconsin. Walker set the earlier record when he raised $10 million on his way to victory in 2010.

Walker's latest efforts take advantage of a state law that allows targets of a recall to ignore the usual $10,000 per-donor cap and raise unlimited amounts until an election is set. Walker has been traversing the country raising money and speaking at gatherings of conservatives from Texas to New York and Tennessee.

"We haven't seen anything like this before," Mike McCabe, director of the government watchdog group the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said Tuesday. His group's analysis of Walker's latest fundraising totals, which covered Dec. 11 through Jan. 17, showed that 33 donors gave between $20,000 and $250,000 for a total of $2.3 million.

Walker's campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said the level of donations shows Walker's message is resonating with voters.

"These donations will allow us to fight back against this baseless recall and ensure Gov. Walker can continue to lay the foundation for a more successful Wisconsin and keep government working on the side of taxpayers," she said.

Recall organizers raised just a fraction of what Walker did.

The Democratic Party and United Wisconsin, which worked together on the petition drive, reported raising $480,000 collectively since Dec. 11. Walker raised $4.5 million over the same five-week period, while Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch raised $102,000.

Two Democrats, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville, have announced they will seek their party's nomination to take on Walker. A number of others are considering running.

Unlike Walker's donors, most of those funding Democrats ? 67 percent ? live in Wisconsin.

Democrats, who are bound by the state's campaign donation limits, have said they don't expect to keep up with Walker's fundraising.

"We will be outspent three or four to one," state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said.

McCabe, with the Democracy Campaign, said Walker will have a "commanding" financial advantage over any challenger. Walker has repeatedly said he is going after out-of-state money because he anticipates national organized labor groups will spend heavily in support of the candidate Democrats eventually chose.

McCabe predicted that outside groups will come in on both sides, but Walker will maintain his financial advantage.

"There's no question," he said. "I don't think any Democratic candidate can possibly catch up."

Walker has spent $9.8 million over the past 54 weeks, with much of it going toward television advertising that started the night before those gathering signatures on recall petitions hit the streets. He reported having $2.6 million in cash left.

Some of Walker's biggest backers are well-known conservatives.

Bidwill is a frequent donor to Republican candidates across the country. Perry, a Texas home builder, helped pay for the Swift Boat Veterans ads that attacked Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign. Perry has a total of $500,000 to Walker's campaign.

The three others who gave Walker $250,000 each during one week this month were Missouri residents David C. Humphreys and his sister Sarah Atkins, both of Tamko Building Products, and Stanley M. Herzog of Herzog Contracting.

Members of the Humphreys family are some of the largest Republican donors in Missouri.

David Humphreys, who contributed $125,000 last year to the expected gubernatorial campaign of Missouri's Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, made news last fall by asking for his money back after Kinder admitted he frequented an Illinois strip club while he was a state senator in the 1990s. Kinder did not return the money but ultimately decided against running for governor.

___

Associated Press writers Troy Thibodeaux in New Orleans and David Lieb in Jefferson City, Mo., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-24-Wisconsin%20Governor-Recall/id-3a8c3cdc6cd94483bf7745e00a3dfa7e

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Blazers down Kings 101-89 (AP)

PORTLAND, Ore. ? Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 26 points and the Portland Trail Blazers returned home from a six-game road trip with a 101-89 win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night.

Gerald Wallace had 20 points and eight rebounds and LaMarcus Aldridge added 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Blazers, who were coming off a 2-4 trip. Portland improved to 7-1 at the Rose Garden, playing there for the first time since Jan. 11.

DeMarcus Cousins had 18 points and 13 rebounds, his 12th double-double of the season, for the Kings. Jimmer Fredette scored 13 points and Francisco Garcia added 12. Sacramento dropped to 2-9 on the road.

The Blazers (10-7) beat the Kings 101-79 on Dec. 27 and have taken 11 of the last 12 in the series.

Crawford, averaging 12.3 points per game, has been hot and cold since joining Portland as a free agent in December, but he seems to be finding his range. He scored 24 against Orlando on Jan. 11 and 22 on Wednesday at Atlanta.

The last time the two teams met, the Kings were coached by Paul Westphal. He was fired after seven games and replaced with assistant Keith Smart, who is 4-7 since taking over.

Sacramento was missing second-leading scorer Marcus Thornton with a thigh bruise. The Kings had won two in a row but fell 128-95 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, despite Fredette's career-high 20 points.

Against the Blazers, Sacramento led early in the game but couldn't sustain it. Returning from missing a game with a hand injury, Wallace had 15 points and eight rebounds in the first half for the Blazers. Portland went on a 20-7 run at the end of the second quarter, briefly opening a 20-point lead and took a 53-38 advantage into the break.

Portland went up 76-56 and the Kings didn't get any closer than 13 down until Isaiah Thomas and Fredette made 3-pointers in the last minute.

Notes: Portland was beginning its first back-to-back-to-back stretch of the season. The Blazers play Memphis Tuesday and Golden State Wednesday. ... Kings G John Salmons played after being hospitalized over the weekend in Memphis with food poisoning. He played 18 minutes and didn't score. ... Blazers C Marcus Camby played just 12 minutes. He sat much of the first half with three fouls and then left the game in the third quarter with a mild groin strain. He had just returned from missing three games with a sprained ankle.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_sp_bk_ga_su/bkn_kings_trail_blazers

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Anthony Bourdain's 'The Layover' In Los Angeles (VIDEO)

It was definitely boys' night out on "The Layover" last night. For the season finale, Anthony Bourdain flew into LAX, had the immediate customary In-N-Out meal, and then proceeded to hit up all of LA's restaurant bad boys: Ludo Lefebvre, Roy Choi, Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook.

Ludo Lefebvre did not disappoint. He tackled the usual East-West beef with some awesome advice for New Yorkers in an extra website segment: "I think New York is a little too fou-fou. You know, I just come back from New York and people need a fart, to poof a little, because they're all so stuffy in New York."

Roy Choi served as guide to Koreatown, where Bourdain got some insight into a Korean restaurant courting ritual. A holdover from an earlier era, women can expect to eat and drink for free at certain restaurants, as long as they agree to chat with men who are paying for their meals. Sounds fun, right? It may be, but not the way one woman described it: "it's kind of like speed dating, except, like, the girls have no agency."

The episode ends at Jumbo's Clown Room, which Bourdain visits with Dotolo and Shook after a debaucherous, foied-out dinner at Animal. As the dudes indulge in some burlesque and beer, Bourdain exclaimed that there was "something remarkably wholesome" about the exotic dancing bar. He also said he would even bring a significant other to Jumbo's, which sounds like another dubious date in the making. Since this is the only segment that doesn't get to live a second life on the Travel Channel's episode guide, here it is again for your viewing pleasure Warning: explicit material:

"I used to talk shit about LA because thats kind of what you're expected to do as a New Yorker," said Bourdain at the beginning of the episode. The truth is, though, that he loves our city -- but not enough to live here, which he was happy to keep repeating throughout the episode.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/anthony-bourdains-the-lay_n_1225961.html

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

EU envoys agree to impose Iran oil embargo: diplomat (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? European Union ambassadors agreed on Monday to impose an embargo on Iranian oil imports, but decided to delay the full implementation of the ban until July 1, an EU diplomat said.

Their agreement was the final step before EU foreign ministers can give their formal approval to the measure. The EU's 27 foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Monday.

"(EU ambassadors) have agreed on Iran sanctions," the senior EU diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Under the deal, EU governments will have to stop signing new contracts with Tehran from the moment the ban comes into place -- probably as soon as this week -- but will be able to fulfill existing contracts until July 1.

EU ministers are also expected to agree extra restrictive measures on Iran's central bank at Monday's meeting, but no details on those steps were immediately available.

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by Luke Baker)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_iran_eu_deal

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: It's Up To Women To Elect Pro-Choice Candidates In 2012

Last year, as a result of the 2010 midterm elections, the 112th Congress became the first in a generation to start out with fewer women in its ranks than the Congress before it. After decades of slow incremental growth in the number of women serving in Congress, last year we actually lost ground, dropping from 93 to 92 women (thankfully Kathy Hochul's victory last summer returned us to the previous level.)

But 2011 also saw the House of Representatives engage in an unprecedented assault on women's reproductive rights. Whether it was their passage of a bill to defund Planned Parenthood or their legislation that would allow hospitals receiving federal funds to refuse reproductive care to women even if their life was in danger, time and again, the House of Representatives proved it was hostile toward women's rights.

These things are not unrelated. The fact is, the more women we elect to office, the more women's voices are heard and the more the issues and values important to us become a priority. It's especially true on the issue of women's reproductive freedom. As we mark the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade today, we must recommit ourselves to doing all we can to elect more pro-choice Democratic women to Congress in 2012.

Looking just at the Senate, we have an unprecedented 11 Democratic pro-choice women running, either as the incumbent (6) or challenger (5.) We also have a real opportunity to regain a pro-choice majority in the House of Representatives with Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the helm.

But the only way we're going to accomplish this is if women make their voices heard this year, vote for pro-choice candidates in November and bring a surge of women candidates into Congress. That's exactly why I started Off The Sidelines, to serve as a call to action for women to get involved in politics. Whether it's registering to vote, volunteering for a candidate that shares your values, posting on Facebook, tweeting or running for office yourself, there are so many ways women can get off the sidelines and ensure that women's values and priorities are represented.

Remember the Rosie the Riveter campaign? It inspired 6 million women to enter the workforce during World War II. We need a Rosie the Riveter for our generation. Imagine if 6 million women were to register to vote this year...imagine if 6 million more women vote this year than did four years ago. We would see a dramatic change in the representation of Congress and in the policies it implements.

The House of Representatives passed several anti-choice bills last year, but they went nowhere because we have a pro-choice majority in the US Senate and a champion in the White House. In 2012, it's going to be up to women to make sure the extremist anti-choice policies of the right continue to fail. It's going to be up to women to re-elect Barack Obama and elect a pro-choice Congress.

How are you planning to get off the sidelines and elect pro-choice candidates in 2012? Tell me in the comments and tweet me at @SenGillibrand with the hashtag #offthesidelines.

Follow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SenGillibrand

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-kirsten-gillibrand/its-up-to-women-to-elect_b_1222082.html

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