Quotes on Phil Ramone from luminaries

NEW YORK (AP) ? Reactions to Phil Ramone's death:

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"A friend, a musical genius and the most lovable person. It was a thrill for me to have worked with Phil, and I have so many wonderful memories." ? Elton John

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"I'm so saddened to learn of Phil's passing. We first worked together in 1967 when I did a free concert in Central Park. His brilliance at capturing sound was immediately evident. Later we worked together on the film 'A Star Is Born' where Phil was able to record me singing live, including 'Evergreen.' In the next decade we worked on the soundtrack to 'Yentl' and many other recordings. Phil had impeccable musical taste, great ears and the most gentle way of bringing out the best in all the artists he worked with. The monumental recordings he produced will endure for all time." ? Barbra Streisand

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"There aren't enough words to express how heavy my heart is with the news of the passing of my dear friend and brother Phil Ramone. From Andy Williams and Lesley Gore, to Billy Eckstine, Paul Simon and all of my albums including 'Soul Bossa Nova' and 'Q's Jook Joint,' Phil was a collaborator in the studio and a friend in life for more than 50 years. Whenever I was in the studio recording, if Phil wasn't there by my side it would seem like one ingredient was missing. Today we lost one of the true musicians, innovators and geniuses of the record industry. His immense talents were only surpassed by the gigantic size of his heart, and I will miss him terribly." ? Quincy Jones

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"I always thought of Phil Ramone as the most talented guy in my band. He was the guy that no one ever ever saw onstage. He was with me as long as any of the musicians I ever played with ? longer than most. So much of my music was shaped by him and brought to fruition by him. I have lost a dear friend ? and my greatest mentor. The music world lost a giant today." ? Billy Joel

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What a heartbreak to all of us who knew him and loved him. What a great man, what a kind spirit, such an incredible producer. The star of stars behind the stars. Phil will be missed always. Truly a tragic loss for us on earth but what a wonderful blessing for heaven. As I've always said, 'Love you Phil, God Bless.'" ? Stevie Wonder

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"Phil Ramone was a lovely person and a very gifted musician and producer. It was a joy to have him work with me in the recording studio on so many projects as he had a wonderful sense of humor and a deep love of music. Phil had the admiration and respect from everyone in the entertainment industry and his passing is a great loss." ? Tony Bennett

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"Phil was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. It was an honor to know him. He was an angel and I loved him dearly. This is a profound loss for the music world, for all the lives he touched and of course for his family ... Rest in Peace, Phil ... You will be deeply missed and never forgotten." ? Michael Buble

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As co-founder of A&R Recordings, he was a pioneer of audio technological developments ? creating new innovations for the compact disc and surround sound technologies. His impressive career spanned all genres in which he collaborated with a diverse group of artists including Tony Bennett, Etta James, Paul McCartney, Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and numerous others ... Our industry has lost an immense talent and a true visionary and genius, and The Academy has lost a very dear and close friend." ? Neil Portnow, President/CEO, The Recording Academy

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quotes-phil-ramone-luminaries-000307518.html

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Veterans fight changes to disability payments

In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this March 24, 2013 photo, veterans' liaison Marshall Archer, a former Marine Corps corporal, poses for a photo in Portland, Maine. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.

Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.

Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.

"I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."

Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.

But the veterans groups point out that their members bore the burden of a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the past month, they've held news conferences on Capitol Hill and raised the issue in meetings with lawmakers and their staffs. They'll be closely watching the unveiling of the president's budget next month to see whether he continues to recommend the change.

Obama and others support changing the benefit calculations to a variation of the Consumer Price Index, a measure called "chained CPI." The conventional CPI measures changes in retail prices of a constant marketbasket of goods and services. Chained CPI considers changes in the quantity of goods purchased as well as the prices of those goods. If the price of steak goes up, for example, many consumers will buy more chicken, a cheaper alternative to steak, rather than buying less steak or going without meat.

Supporters argue that chained CPI is a truer indication of inflation because it measures changes in consumer behavior. It also tends to be less than the conventional CPI, which would impact how cost-of-living raises are computed.

Under the current inflation update, monthly disability and pension payments increased 1.7 percent this year. Under chained CPI, those payments would have increased 1.4 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that moving to chained CPI would trim the deficit by nearly $340 billion over the next decade. About two-thirds of the deficit closing would come from less spending and the other third would come from additional revenue because of adjustments that tax brackets would undergo.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said she understands why veterans, senior citizens and others have come out against the change, but she believes it's necessary.

"We are in an era where benefits are going to be reduced and revenues are going to rise. There's just no way around that. We're on an unsustainable fiscal course," Sawhill said. "Dealing with it is going to be painful, and the American public has not yet accepted that. As long as every group keeps saying, 'I need a carve-out, I need an exception,' this is not going to work."

Sawhill argued that making changes now will actually make it easier for veterans in the long run.

"The longer we wait to make these changes, the worse the hole we'll be in and the more draconian the cuts will have to be," she said.

That's not the way Sen. Bernie Sanders sees it. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs said he recently warned Obama that every veterans group he knows of has come out strongly against changing the benefit calculations for disability benefits and pensions by using chained CPI.

"I don't believe the American people want to see our budget balanced on the backs of disabled veterans. It's especially absurd for the White House, which has been quite generous in terms of funding for the VA," said Sanders, I-Vt. "Why they now want to do this, I just don't understand."

Sanders succeeded in getting the Senate to approve an amendment last week against changing how the cost-of-living increases are calculated, but the vote was largely symbolic. Lawmakers would still have a decision to make if moving to chained CPI were to be included as part of a bargain on taxes and spending.

Sanders' counterpart on the House side, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, appears at least open to the idea of going to chained CPI.

"My first priority is ensuring that America's more than 20 million veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned, but with a national debt fast approaching $17 trillion, Washington's fiscal irresponsibility may threaten the very provision of veterans' benefits," Miller said. "Achieving a balanced budget and reducing our national debt will help us keep the promises America has made to those who have worn the uniform, and I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to do just that."

Marshall Archer, 30, a former Marine Corps corporal who served two stints in Iraq, has a unique perspective about the impact of slowing the growth of veterans' benefits. He collects disability payments to compensate him for damaged knees and shoulders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. He also works as a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, helping some 200 low-income veterans find housing.

Archer notes that on a personal level, the reduction in future disability payments would also be accompanied down the road by a smaller Social Security check when he retires. That means he would take a double hit to his income.

"We all volunteered to serve, so we all volunteered to sacrifice," he said. "I don't believe that you should ever ask those who have already volunteered to sacrifice to then sacrifice again."

That said, Archer indicated he would be willing to "chip in" if he believes that everyone is required to give as well.

He said he's more worried about the veterans he's trying to help find a place to sleep. About a third of his clients rely on VA pension payments averaging just over $1,000 a month. He said their VA pension allows them to pay rent, heat their home and buy groceries, but that's about it.

"This policy, if it ever went into effect, would actually place those already in poverty in even more poverty," Archer said.

The changes that would occur by using the slower inflation calculation seem modest at first. For a veteran with no dependents who has a 60 percent disability rating, the use of chained CPI this year would have lowered the veteran's monthly payments by $3 a month. Instead of getting $1,026 a month, the veteran would have received $1,023.

Raymond Kelly, legislative director for Veterans of Foreign Wars, acknowledged that veterans would see little change in their income during the first few years of the change. But even a $36 hit over the course of a year is "huge" for many of the disabled veterans living on the edge, he said.

The amount lost over time becomes more substantial as the years go by. Sanders said that a veteran with a 100 percent disability rating who begins getting payments at age 30 would see their annual payments trimmed by more than $2,300 a year when they turn 55.

.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-30-US-Budget-Battle-Veterans/id-05819c3ebd0c4cbf8ae5701f9cf62fc5

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Italy's president declines to resign, will stay to deal with crisis

By Giselda Vagnoni

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday ruled out standing down early to make way for new parliamentary elections, following the failure of attempts to form a government this week.

Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, spoke after news reports suggested he might resign to get around constitutional provisions which prevent a president dissolving parliament and calling elections in the final months of his mandate.

The 87-year-old told reporters he would continue his efforts to break the deadlock since inconclusive elections last month that left no group able to form a government.

"I will continue until the last day of my mandate to do as my sense of national responsibility suggests, without hiding from the country the difficulties that I am still facing," he told reporters at his Quirinale palace.

He said he would ask two small groups of experts to formulate proposals for institutional and social and economic reforms that could be supported by all political parties.

But he acknowledged that he had limited scope to force the divided parties to find a way out of political situation that he said was "frozen between irreconcilable positions".

Napolitano met leaders of the main parties on Friday to try to find a way out of the stalemate, which has created deep uncertainty just as the Cyprus banking crisis has revived fears about the stability of the euro zone.

However with all of the three main groups in parliament clinging to entrenched positions that have prevented a majority being formed in parliament, hopes of a solution that would prevent the need to go back to the polls have faded.

Center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, whose party controls the lower house but does not have a majority in the Senate, failed to win enough support to form a government from any of the other parties during a week of talks.

He rejected demands by center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi for a cross-party coalition deal that would give the scandal-plagued former prime minister a share in power and the right to decide Napolitano's successor.

Both Berlusconi's group and the populist 5-Star Movement led by ex-comic Beppe Grillo have also ruled out a new technocrat government like the one led by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, blocking what appears to be the only other option.

IRRECONCILABLE

With investors mindful of the 2011 debt crisis that brought down Berlusconi's last government, the gridlock has fed worries about Italy's ability to confront an economic crisis that has fuelled rising social tensions and disillusion with its political class.

Napolitano's pledge to stay on appears to rule out the threat of a power vacuum with weeks of uncertainty until new elections, which would have to be called within 70 days of parliament being dissolved.

He stressed that Prime Minister Mario Monti retained full authority at the head of a caretaker administration until a new government can be formed.

Whether or not that can happen, parliament will soon have to begin preparations to vote for a new president either to oversee the first steps of a new government or early elections.

The election of the head of state, by a joint sitting of parliament and representatives from the regions, is likely to cause another bitter fight between the three main blocs which have become increasingly hostile to each other since the election.

A person close to the situation told Reuters on Saturday that Napolitano had considered resigning and the apparently coordinated leak of his thinking to newspapers may have been a move to increase pressure on the parties to secure a deal.

With bond markets closed for the Easter break, investors have been left on the sidelines but a poorly received auction of mid- and long-term debt last week underlined the danger if the crisis drags on.

Italy has been in deep recession for more than a year, with record unemployment, especially among the young and a 2-trillion-euro ($2.6-trillion) public debt that is dangerously exposed to swings on international bond markets.

Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli, responding to questions about market rumors of a ratings downgrade, told reporters on Thursday he had no knowledge of any imminent decision by Moody's to cut Italy's sovereign debt rating.

Moody's already rates Italy only two notches above "junk" grade, partly due to the uncertain political outlook.

(Writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Barry Moody)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-president-could-resign-allow-election-source-083108238--business.html

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US appeals court grants Hobby Lobby full hearing (Providence Journal)

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French 'Survivor' contestant dies while on show

By Rhonda Richford, The Hollywood Reporter

Production on "Koh-Lanta," the French adaptation of "Survivor," has been stopped and the series canceled for the 2013 season following the death of a contestant during filming in Cambodia.

Channel TF1 and production company Adventure Line Productions jointly made the decision to cancel the season. "It is not really a question,? said TF1 spokesman Alexander Petit following the death of Gerald Babin, 25. ?Everyone is being flown back to France.?

No decision has been made about the long-term continuation of the series.

Gerald Babin?died Friday after suffering cardiac arrest during the first day of filming. After the group jumped from a boat and participated in a tug of war, Babin complained of cramps in his arms and was given medical attention at the scene by the staff doctor before being airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital. He suffered a series of cardiac arrests during the transfer before reaching the facility, the companies said.

?Adventure Line Productions, TF1 and [host]?Denis Broginart?are devastated and join in the profound sadness of Gerald?s family,? the channel said in a statement.? TF1 has flown Babin?s family to Cambodia to recover his body.?

VIDEO:?'Survivor: Caramoan': Fan Laura on Being Blindsided by Her Alliance

ALP said that all candidates had received extensive medical examinations and testing as part of the selection process.?

The French version of?Survivor?has been a consistent hit for channel TF1, with a high of 8 million viewers and a 40 percent share in the 2007 season and an average of 7.4 million viewers and a 29.9 percent share in the 2012 season. Ad rates for the finale were $117,000 (?90,000) for a 30-second spot. After?The Voice, the show is the biggest hit on TF1 and considered the flagship of the channel. Since its debut in 2001, TF1 has aired 12 series and two special ?all star? editions.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/03/29/17519239-french-survivor-contestant-dies-while-on-show?lite

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EPA takes aim at auto emissions, sulfur in gas

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration proposed new regulations Friday to clean up gasoline and automobile emissions, claiming the new standards would provide $7 in health benefits from cleaner air for each dollar spent to implement them. The costs likely would be passed on to consumers in higher gasoline and automobile prices.

The Environmental Protection Agency said the new rule would reduce sulfur in gasoline and tighten automobile emission standards beginning in 2017, resulting in an increase in gas prices of less than a penny per gallon. The agency estimated it also would add $130 to the cost of a vehicle in 2025, but predicted it would yield billions of dollars in health benefits by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution.

EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe said the proposal is designed to "protect the environment and public health in an affordable and practical way."

The oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats wanted EPA to delay the rule, citing higher costs. An oil industry study says it could increase gasoline prices by 6 to 9 cents a gallon.

"Consumers care about the price of fuel, and our government should not be adding unnecessary regulations that raise manufacturing costs, especially when there are no proven environmental benefits," said Bob Greco, an American Petroleum Institute official. "We should not pile on new regulations when existing regulations are working."

Environmentalists hailed the proposal as potentially the most significant in President Barack Obama's second term.

The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. For states, the regulation would make it easier to comply with health-based standards for the main ingredient in smog and soot. For automakers, the regulation allows them to sell the same autos in all 50 states.

The Obama administration already has moved to clean up motor vehicles by adopting rules that will double fuel efficiency and putting in place the first standards to reduce the pollution from cars and trucks blamed for global warming.

"We know of no other air pollution control strategy that can achieve such substantial, cost-effective and immediate emission reductions," said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. Becker said the rule would reduce pollution equal to taking 33 million cars off the road.

But the head of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Charles Drevna, questioned the motives behind the agency's regulation, since refining companies already have spent $10 billion to reduce sulfur by 90 percent. The additional cuts, while smaller, will cost just as much, Drevna said, and the energy needed for the additional refining actually could increase carbon pollution by 1 percent to 2 percent.

"I haven't seen an EPA rule on fuels that has come out since 1995 that hasn't said it would cost only a penny or two more," Drevna said.

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute estimated that lowering the sulfur in gasoline would add 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon to refiners' manufacturing costs, an increase that likely would be passed on to consumers at the pump. The EPA estimate of less than 1 cent is also an additional manufacturing cost and likely to be passed on.

A senior administration official said Thursday that only 16 of 111 refineries would need to invest in major equipment to meet the new standards, which could be final by the end of this year. Of the remaining refineries, 29 already are meeting the standards because they are selling cleaner fuel in California or other countries, and 66 would have to make modifications.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the rule was still undergoing White House budget office review.

___

Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinacappiello

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/epa-takes-aim-auto-emissions-sulfur-gas-144338346--finance.html

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Welcome To Miami

Obama Miami

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

OBAMA'S SUNSHINE STATE PITCH: President Obama travels to Miami today to promote his economic agenda. According to the White House the president will visit PortMiami where "he will tour a tunnel project before delivering remarks on ways to create jobs and strengthen the economy by investing in infrastructure." His remarks are scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. The president returns to the White House this evening.

THE PLAN: According to the Associated Press' Julie Pace, "Among the proposals Obama will call for: Higher caps on "private activity bonds" to encourage more private spending on highways and other infrastructure projects. State and local governments use the bonds to attract investment; Giving foreign pension funds tax-exempt status when selling U.S. infrastructure, property or real estate assets. U.S. pension funds are generally tax exempt in those circumstances. The administration says some international pension funds cite the tax burden as a reason for not investing in American infrastructure; $4 billion in new spending on two infrastructure programs that award loans and grants; A renewed call for a $10 billion national "infrastructure bank" - a proposal from his first term that gained little traction." http://bit.ly/Xnz668

REPUBLICAN RESPONSE: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio penned an Op-Ed in the The Miami Herald today pre-butting the president's visit under the headline: "Obama's Policies Don't Help Middle Class." Here's an excerpt: "President Obama should also listen to the stories of many of my neighbors to get a true sense of the effect more tax increases and spending hikes will have on our nation's middle class. By listening to them, he would learn that many aspects of policies like Obamacare have ended up hurting many middle-class families instead of helping them. He would find that the expanding role of our government has created uncertainty by establishing rules that many small businesses can't afford to follow. Miami is where I learned that America's private sector - if allowed to operate freely - is the greatest engine for prosperity and economic mobility the world has ever known." http://hrld.us/YH4gnU

THIS WEEK ON 'THIS WEEK': In a special Easter Sunday broadcast, Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan comes to "This Week" Sunday. Plus, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., join the powerhouse political roundtable to debate all the week's politics, including the Supreme Court taking on the debate over gay marriage. And a special roundtable examines the intersection of religion and politics and the spiritual state of the nation. See the "This Week" page for full guest listings. Tune in Sunday: http://abcnews.go.com/thisweek

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Now probably isn't the time for members of Congress patting themselves on the back. But the pep-talk memo circulated by House Speaker John Boehner to his colleagues yesterday is remarkable in that it could have been sent at all. When you consider where House leaders started the year - coming off a rough election, forced to swallow a fiscal cliff deal that included tax hikes, with Boehner facing a mini-coup attempt - Republicans have a right to feel good about how the politics of spending have been handled in 2013. A month into the sequester, public backlash hasn't really developed, at least not yet. And by taking a grown-up approach to the potential confrontations, choosing battles carefully, Boehner and his conference have stayed united - and effective.

ABC's SARAH PARNASS: The number of Congressional Democrats who publicly oppose gay marriage dwindled this week as arguments in two Supreme Court cases drew national attention - and political pressure - to the issue. In a matter of four days, six Democratic senators issued statements indicating that their view of the marriage debate had changed in favor of allowing Americans to marry regardless of gender. Only nine of the 53 Democrats in the Senate continue to oppose marriage equality in some way, and of those, few come down staunchly on the side of preserving the traditional one-man, one-woman definition. (They are Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bill Nelson of Florida, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Tim Johnson of South Dakota). Of the nine, some oppose DOMA, some have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, others are less specific. And some of those with more complicated stances on the issue tend to value a term President Obama once used to describe his views on gay marriage: "evolving." http://abcn.ws/YH0tXK

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: If anyone was wondering if and when Sarah Palin was going to weigh in on the 2014 midterm elections, that question was answered this week with a resounding "yes." In a video released by Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, she revved up conservatives and Tea Party Republicans for 2014 with snippets of her CPAC speech from earlier this month as well as media coverage praising the speech and her string of successful past endorsements. It begins with praise from the mainstream media she is always quick to criticize. Those clips help push her view that she doesn't need a Fox News contract to get her point of view out there or to have the press talking about her. The other star of the video is new conservative superstar Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who introduced Palin at CPAC. "She is fearless, she is principled, she can pick winners," Cruz says in a clip from his introduction. It ends with the former Alaska governor's signature mama grizzly roaring and a warning to those who may think she won't be involved going forward: "We haven't yet begun to fight!" http://abcn.ws/XHYnDH

ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE: Southern politics with a side of scandal. That was the theme of last night's debate between former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford and his opponent Curtis Bostic who are running in the Republican primary for the state's first district Congressional seat. "My faults are out - exposed - and all I can say, I have learned mightily from all of those mistakes," Sanford said at event, referring to the revelations of his disappearance in 2009 while serving as governor and extramarital affair with an Argentinean woman. Last night Bostic sought to label Sanford a "compromised candidate" whose biggest vulnerability in a race against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Colbert Busch (Stephen Colbert's sister) would be "trust." It's clear that if Sanford advances to the general election - and keen South Carolina political observers expect him to - expect the events of 2009 to get another public airing. "While my skeletons are certainly out there, they're out there." Sanford said last night, but that won't stop them from becoming the central issue of the race.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

-L.A. ARCHBISHOP: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SHOULD BE GIVEN ACCESS TO THE AMERICAN DREAM. As the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jos? Gomez represents the largest archdiocese in the United States-a significant percentage of whom are Hispanic-and tells ABC's Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila in an exclusive interview that the 10-12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States deserve the opportunity to obtain full citizenship. "We have to give them the opportunity if they want to be citizens," says Gomez, who also serves as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration. "If?they don't have the opportunity, then we will create a permanent underclass in our society, which is not fair, and it's not the American way." On the subject of the new pope, Gomez says the American continents, and especially the Latino community, are celebrating Pope Francis' ascension. "Having somebody from Latin America that can understand your culture, and your traditions, and the way that you worship, and the way you relate to each other I think is going to be a big encouragement for Catholics in the whole continent, and especially for Latinos," says Gomez. http://yhoo.it/163iik1

-GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS: Could Legalizing Same Sex Marriage Help Reduce the Deficit? This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in two landmark cases regarding same-sex marriage: Hollingsworth v. Perry, which deals with California's Proposition 8, and the United States v. Windsor, which deals with the Defense of Marriage Act. The court likely won't hand down a ruling in these cases for several months, but many of you had questions about the legal and economic implications of both cases and of course, about the potential outcomes. ABC's George Stephanopoulos took questions from Facebook and Twitter, including this one from Donna Lynn Lewis, who wrote in on Facebook: "My friend argues that it would somehow hurt the economy as far as benefits or social security, this doesn't make sense to me. Maybe you could explain what the financial effect would be for our society?" WATCH George's answer: http://abcn.ws/XeTRl9

BUZZ

NO ABORTIONS FOR 800 MILES. For women seeking abortions in North Dakota, there's only one place to go. Soon, it could close its doors, ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports. For more than a decade, women have driven for hundreds of miles, sometimes up to eight hours, to visit the Red River Women's Clinic in downtown Fargo - the lone abortion provider in North Dakota since 2001 - then getting back in their cars after the procedure to drive home. "It happens all the time," said Tammi Kromenaker, the clinic's director, reading off directions for a woman who was soon to travel six hours and 17 minutes from the heart of North Dakota's booming oil country. "They'll drive through a blizzard, they'll drive through a flood," Kromenaker told ABC News. "We've had women who've hit deer on the way here, who've had flat tires on the way here, and they'll come through hell or high water because they don't want to be pregnant." If a new law goes into effect, the Red River Women's Clinic will likely close - leaving one of the nation's largest swaths without an abortion provider. The area would include western North Dakota, eastern Montana and western South Dakota, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion-rights research group. http://abcn.ws/11UBK5R

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY: To the east and south, the closest abortion providers to Fargo are three and a half hours away in Minneapolis, Minn., and Sioux Falls, S.D. To the west, the closest is in Billings, Mont., about 600 miles and eight-and-a-half hours away. Red River's closure would leave a stretch of more than 800 miles across the northern Great Plains without an abortion clinic. On Tuesday, North Dakota enacted the nation's most restrictive ban on abortions, prohibiting them as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The state overtook Arkansas, which passed a 12-week ban earlier this month, as the nation's least abortion-friendly state, and it's one of four states - including Mississippi, South Dakota, and Wyoming - with only one abortion provider. http://abcn.ws/11UBK5R

OBAMA: 'SHAME ON US IF WE'VE FORGOTTEN' NEWTOWN.' President Obama yesterday vowed to never forget the 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre as he made an emotional and poignant plea for Congress to take action against gun violence, ABC's JIM AVILA and MARY BRUCE report. "The entire country was shocked, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different," the president said as he stood in the East Room of the White House with 21 mothers working to combat gun violence in America. "Shame on us if we've forgotten. I haven't forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we've forgotten," he said, channeling the anger and frustration he expressed in the days after the December shooting in Connecticut. Adopting a somber tone, the president told the audience, which included the parents of victims of the Newtown shooting, that "we've cried enough" and it's time for Congress to act on the proposals put forth by Senate Democrats. "Tears aren't enough. Expressions of sympathy aren't enough. Speeches aren't enough," Obama said. "What we're proposing is not radical. It's not taking away anybody's gun rights. It's something that if we are serious, we will do. And now's the time to turn that heartbreak into something real." http://abcn.ws/11SR6nM

OBAMA TO CONGRESS: DON'T BE 'SQUISHY.' The president demanded that Congress not get "squishy" because time has passed since the deadly shooting and rebuked the "powerful voices" that oppose pending gun-control measures, saying they are "interested in running up a clock" and preventing tougher from happening. "They're doing everything they can to make all our progress collapse under the weight of fear and frustration. ? Their assumption is that people will just forget about it," he said. http://abcn.ws/11SR6nM

REPUBLICAN SENATOR 'EVOLVING' ON GAY MARRIAGE. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is "evolving" on the issue of gay marriage, but she has stopped short of joining the other senator from Alaska, Mark Begich, D-Alaska, in endorsing it, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE notes. Following an address at the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, she said, "The term 'evolving view' has been perhaps overused, but I think it is an appropriate term for me to use," Murkowski said, according to the Chugiak-Eagle River Star. "I think it's important to acknowledge that there is a change afoot in this country in terms of how marriage is viewed." Murkowski said she is reviewing her stance on the issue. "It may be that Alaska will come to revisit its position on gay marriage, and as a policy maker I am certainly reviewing that very closely," Murkowski said, indicating that she had spoken to her two sons about the issue. http://abcn.ws/11RqHu7

RUSH LIMBAUGH: GAY MARRIAGE IS 'INEVITABLE.' In his radio show yesterday, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said defenders of traditional marriage have lost the battle, even though the Supreme Court won't hand down its decisions for another few months, according to ABC's SARAH PARNASS. "I don't care what the Supreme Court does, this is now inevitable," Limbaugh said, "and it's inevitable because we lost the language on this." Limbaugh took issue with the idea that the word marriage was already applied to gay couples. Therefore, he asserted, modifiers like "hetero" or "opposite-sex" are now at times added to denote a union between a man and a woman. "I maintain to you that we lost the issue when we started allowing the word 'marriage' to be bastardized and redefined by simply adding words to it - because marriage is one thing, and it was not established on the basis of discrimination. It wasn't established on the basis of denying people anything," the radio host said. "Marriage is not a tradition that a bunch of people concocted to be mean to other people with. But we allowed the left to have people believe that it was structured that way." http://abcn.ws/16l2NpP

WHAT WE'RE READING

"TEXAN'S PLANS PUT WALL STREET ON EDGE," by the Wall Street Journal's Patrick O'Connor. During Jeb Hensarling's first congressional bid, a man at a campaign stop in Athens, Texas, asked the Republican if he was 'pro-business.' 'No,' the candidate replied, drawing curious stares from local business leaders who had gathered to hear him speak, a former Hensarling aide recalled. 'I'm not pro-business. I'm pro-free enterprise.' Now, more than a decade later, that distinction has Wall Street on edge. The new chairman of the House financial services committee wants to limit taxpayers' exposure to banking, insurance and mortgage lending by unwinding government control of institutions and programs the private sector depends on, from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to flood insurance. ? In interviews, a half-dozen industry representatives expressed some level of anxiety about Mr. Hensarling's legislative agenda. However, because the chairman hasn't offered details yet, they were reluctant to speak publicly about his plans." http://on.wsj.com/YHiC83

IN THE NOTE'S INBOX

-GUN CONTROL GROUP RECALLS REAGAN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT. A new video out today observes the 32nd anniversary (tomorrow) of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and recalls his view that it might never have happened if a background check law were on the books, according to the group behind the spot, The United Network of Rational Americans - a new online advocacy organization for gun owners who support the Second Amendment and who also support universal background checks. According to a representative for the group, the video is "aimed at Republicans in Congress in the pocket of the big gun makers who oppose universal background checks despite near universal support from their constituents." The UNRA was created by Watchdog Causes, LLC, the founders of "Dogs Against Romney." WATCH: http://bit.ly/11UKPf1

WHO'S TWEETING?

@jwpetersNYT: 5 senators now pledge to filibuster gun bills. NRA declares "most dire threat" to its existence w @peterbakernyt http://nyti.ms/170ILC6

@brbilberry: Mother Jones @AndrewKroll: "Will Ken Cuccinelli's Slavery-Abortion Video Haunt His Virginia Gubernatorial Bid?" http://bit.ly/10YTlXz

@mckaycoppins: Obama now among the millions of Christians turning to fresh interpretations of the BIble to support marriage equality http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/how-obama-decided-god-was-ok-with-marriage-equality ?

@blakehounshell: Worth a click or twelve RT @ForeignPolicy: Combat Camera: A look at the year's best war photos http://atfp.co/10m8oYQ

@1bobcohn: Congratulations @mollyesque, winner of Robin Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting for @TheAtlantic work. http://newhouse.syr.edu/Newsroom/read_news.cfm?id=905 ?

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/welcome-miami-note-131011291--abc-news-politics.html

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Hands on with Tiny Troopers 2 for iOS at GDC 2012

Live from GDC Simon and I went hands-on with Chillingo's latest tile, Tiny Troopers 2. If you're familiar with the first game, the sequel brings you more of the same great stuff -- more gear, more guns, more machines, more mayhem. We're talking Humvee's with .50 caliber machine guns.

Check out the video up top and if you like what you see, Tiny Troopers 2 has just hit the App Store so go grab it now.

• $0.99 - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/kpgL3j_F0vU/story01.htm

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PFT: NFLPA prez: Multiple gay players to come out

Getty Images

Former NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia working with Jets starter-for-now Mark Sanchez seems like a legitimate opportunity for a man well-versed in the West Coast Offense to share his wisdom.

Throw in JaMarcus Russell, and it sounds like a punch line that?s looking for a joke.

But Garcia said he was impressed with the work Sanchez was doing, as he gets used to the changes new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg is bringing to the Jets.

?He?s doing an excellent job ? the progress Mark has made over the past three weeks is definitely very positive,? Garcia told Jim Corbett of USA Today. ?It shows Mark is committed to bettering himself and getting himself more mentally prepared.

?

?The most important thing for Mark is to take that tough season last year as a learning experience from the standpoint of how he can get better and give his team the best chance to win. That has to be done in terms of being confident in his ability to run this system and speak the language correctly. So now when he takes the field in OTAs, he?ll be in that much more comfortable of a place.?

Garcia?s a good tutor for the system, and he threw for career-best numbers under Mornhinweg?s tutelage in San Francisco in 2000.

?Marty and I communicated a few weeks ago [about] what he?d like to introduce to Mark,? Garcia said. ?Mark is definitely getting more comfortable speaking the West Coast terminology. He had a brief glimpse of the West Coast system at USC.

?The toughest thing is this will be Mark?s third offensive coordinator in six seasons. The guy has had to learn a new system just about every other year. From a consistency standpoint, that just doesn?t translate to success in the NFL. You really need to be secure in what you?re doing mentally in order to compete at the highest level.?

Speaking of which, Garcia said Russell?s trying to get in shape for a pro day in a month or so, hoping to get another chance.

?Granted his back is against the wall,? Garcia said of the former first-overall pick. ?This is a situation where if he doesn?t do it now, it may never happen. But if you look at where he was two months ago to where he is today, he?s come a long way in demanding more out of himself than he ever did.?

If he had done that the first time through, he might not be a reclamation case.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/28/domonique-foxworth-thinks-multiple-gay-players-will-come-out/related/

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SGN - Seattle Gay News - Page 7 - Huck won't have it - Former ...

by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Less than 24 hours after being endorsed by RNC chair Reince Priebus as a potential Republican Party spokesperson on LGBT issues, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee threatened that he and his fellow evangelicals would 'take a walk' if the GOP supports marriage equality.

As a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Huckabee won a reputation as a common-sense politician with a sense of humor and the ability to relate to rank-and-file voters.

'I always tell people: Listen to Governor Mike Huckabee,' Priebus said March 25, echoing the public perception of the former governor. 'I don't know anyone that talks about [same-sex marriage] any better.'

Huckabee's reputation was always at odds with his fundamentalist religious views, however, as he demonstrated in a NewsMax interview soon after Priebus's remarks. Asked about Republican Sen. Rob Portman's endorsement of marriage equality and the possibility that the GOP as a whole might also reverse course and accept same-sex marriage, Huckabee responded with a threat to withdraw from the party.

'They might [endorse same-sex marriage],' he said. 'And if they do, they're going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk.'

AN 'OBJECTIVE STANDARD'
'And it's not because there's an anti-homosexual mood, and nobody's homophobic that I know of, but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard,' Huckabee continued.

'I have great sympathy and extraordinary admiration for Senator Portman. I consider him a friend and I value his work in the Senate and think he's a great person. The mistake is that we sometimes base our public-policy decisions on how we feel, how we think, maybe even some personal experiences, and we don't regard a lot of these issues from the standpoint of an objective standard.

'Let me explain what I mean by that. If we have subjective standards, that means that we're willing to move our standards based on the prevailing whims of culture. Politicians have an obligation to be thermostats, not just thermometers. They're not simply to reflect the temperature of the room, or the culture, as it were. They're to set the standards for law, for what's right, for what's wrong, understanding that not everybody's going to agree with it.

'On this issue, I recognize the culture is moving away from the traditional standard, but it's almost like saying, well, we have a basketball team and nobody on the team can hit the goal that's 10 feet off the floor so we're going to lower the goal down to six feet and that way everybody can slam-dunk the ball.

'So the question is, have you have improved your basketball game? Or have you actually just changed the standard so it looks like you're doing better? And that's my concern.'

FIGHTING THE FUTURE
While these views might have come as a surprise to Reince Priebus, they should not surprise anyone who is familiar with Huckabee's record.

'I support and have always supported passage of a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman,' Huckabee wrote on his 2008 campaign website. 'As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My personal belief is that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life.'

Huckabee has also opposed ENDA, DADT repeal, federal hate-crimes protections for LGBT people, and adoption rights for Gay and Lesbian couples.

If Huckabee's intransigent opposition to equality is typical of the evangelical wing of the Republican Party, and it probably is, the GOP will face huge obstacles trying to update its image and appeal to younger voters, who overwhelmingly accept Gay and Lesbian relationships.

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Source: http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews41_13/page7.cfm

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Hawaiians are laid back about North Korean threats

By Suzanne Roig

HONOLULU (Reuters) - When Japanese warplanes strafed the USS Honolulu in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Navy sailor Ray Emory fired back with a machine gun, so the World War Two veteran knows all about being on the front line of America's defenses.

But North Korea's latest threats of a pre-emptive nuclear strike and rocket attacks on Hawaii do not faze him.

"They're not gonna do anything," Emory, 91, said at his Honolulu home. "They can't even control their missiles. North Korea doesn't bother me. It really doesn't," he added.

Emory's attitude seems to be the norm in the lush, tropical islands, where this week residents and tourists appeared to be pretty much ignoring Pyongyang's rhetoric.

If anybody was seriously preparing for the worst, Jared Aiwohi would know. He is the owner of a store called Uncle Jesse's Place in Wailuku, Maui, that specializes in camouflage clothing, martial arts gear, hunting and bow supplies - the kind of gear favored by survivalists who fear a Doomsday scenario.

"The lifestyle here is laid back and people don't tend to be concerned about these things," Aiwohi said. "We always have the regulars prepping for things like this, but they haven't come in."

The U.S. military announced on March 15 it was bolstering missile defenses in response to the threats from North Korea, which has specifically mentioned Hawaii and the Pacific Island territory of Guam as potential targets.

"Yes, I'm concerned, but what can I do?" said Hawaiian homemaker Cheryl Yamamoto, 57. "Nothing."

Few believe North Korea will risk starting a full-out war - and Yamamoto said the ritual of going to work, getting dinner and taking care of her family weighed more on her mind than what the North Koreans might or might not do.

"I can't let them run my life," she said.

Joey Augustine and Doug Tojeiro, visiting from the continental United States, took time out from enjoying the local wild life (sea turtles) to discuss the threats as they walked up a rocky path from the beach. Both were skeptical.

"I think they're just trying to intimidate us, to see if they can get a rise out of us," Tojeiro said, as he wiped the salt water from his face. "We have the greatest military in the world to stay at peace."

On Guam, which lies about 2,500 miles closer to Pyongyang than Honolulu, the island's flow of tourists has been unaffected by rhetoric from North Korea, residents said.

While still on peoples' minds, concerns over the tension have receded somewhat as residents of the predominantly Catholic island have turned their attention to Easter celebrations.

Tammy Cruz, 38, a teacher from the village of Santa Rita, admitted she'd been a little worried: "Of course it's a scare to hear that our island is threatened." But she was focused on more immediate things: "Our tradition is to get together as a family and to come together to eat as well as have the kids play and to do an Easter Egg hunt."

While U.S. Stealth bombers and a B-52 bomber flew practice runs over South Korea this week, Honolulu's Department of Emergency Management said it had not received any particular alert about potential threats.

"In the event of a rocket attack, then the national defense system would render it useless," said Mel Kaku, director of the Department of Emergency Management. "The best recommendation to our people would be to shelter in place until the threat was eliminated," he added.

In the event of any attack, Kaku's advice to residents is "stay away from windows, or open areas, stay indoors."

"Kind of like during a hurricane, the blast would be similar, with high winds and projectiles," he said.

The Pentagon has declined to define the range of North Korea's rockets, saying it is classified. But Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged on March 15 that one type of North Korean missile likely had the range to reach the United States.

(Additional reporting by Maureen N. Maratita in Guam; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hawaiians-laid-back-north-korean-threats-223901951.html

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Sex offenders in Texas could catch a break

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Four convicted sex offenders huddled in a busy hallway at the Texas Capitol, congratulating each other for going public and testifying against a bill that would plaster their criminal past on their Facebook profiles.

As expected, not everyone was moved by their objections.

"I don't feel bad for the guys that came in here whining," Republican state Rep. Steve Toth said after the men had left the room at a recent House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee meeting. A Democrat switched on her microphone to voice on the record that she, too, had no sympathy.

In the Texas Legislature and statehouses nationwide, bills aimed at curbing how and where sex offenders can live and work are routine. But for the 72,000 registered sex offenders in Texas this year, there is optimism. A legislative victory is in sight, and it's not for sinking a fresh round of get-tougher proposals ? but scaling back one already in place.

Pushing forward what advocates say would mark a minor but extraordinary softening of the state's sex offender laws, the GOP-controlled Senate has passed a bill to remove employer information from Texas' online sex offender registry.

"I've been on that registry for 15 years and going on for a lifetime," said Hwi-Kee Wong, 34, who works in information technology and said he was arrested at 18 for copying illegal images. "I've never re-offended. I have no intention to re-offend."

It's not a change of heart swaying lawmakers but the wringing hands of frustrated business leaders ? they complain their bottom line suffers when the public discovers who's on the payroll.

The odd result: Sex offenders and Gov. Rick Perry's favorite conservative think tank is among those left seeing eye-to-eye. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, which backs business-friendly bills, argues the current registry comes between the private relationship between employer and employee.

"We've seen if it bleeds, it leads in news coverage for years," said Marc Levin, director of the foundation's Center for Effective Justice. "Obviously, people may be able to make money by doing a news report, 'We went to a McDonald's and there was a sex offender serving as a cashier' or something. It may be salacious, but what's the public interest?"

Mary Sue Molnar, executive director of Texas Voices for Reason and Justice and the mother of a registered sex offender, said the bill is only the second her group has endorsed since forming in 2007.

Hers and a small band of similar organizations typically play defense in statehouses, arguing that decades of stacking one restriction atop another has pushed sex offenders to society's fringes. They say the result is growing ranks of unemployable and homeless outcasts, who then become more likely to commit new crimes.

"(Texas) would have every right to crow, jump up and down, dance jigs ? whatever," said Brenda Jones, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Reform Sex Offender Laws Inc. "It would be a huge win. It's very difficult to do."

Pressure on lawmakers to step up restrictions began intensified in 2005 when 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford of Florida was sexually assaulted and killed by a sex offender, according to a 2006 report by Texas House researchers. States began enacting sweeping "Jessica's Laws" that generally included mandatory minimum sentences and prohibiting sex offenders from living with 2,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.

Rules were being put in place prior to that. In 2001, for example, a Texas judge ordered sex offenders to place conspicuous signs in their front yards announcing their convictions to neighbors. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld that sex offender registries are not punitive, though an Indiana federal appeals court this month did uphold the rights of sex offenders to have social media accounts.

And states ? Texas included? continue to roll out new legislation to more closely track sex offenders and restrict what they can and cannot do. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder this month signed a new law expanding the state's public sex offender registry to include a wider range of crimes involving minors. In Arkansas, a proposal would keep sex offenders whose victim was under 18 on the registry for life, whereas now they can petition for removal after 15 years.

About a dozen bills in the Texas Legislature this session would create new restrictions, including one reinforcing the authority of cities to keep sex offenders away from playgrounds and swimming pools.

In all, it's a reality check that keeps groups stopping short of predicting that wiping employer information off the registry will lead to a wave of other rollbacks.

Tough-on-crime conservatives aren't the only ones piling on the restrictions, either: The Texas proposal that would require sex offenders to list their convictions on social media profiles was filed by Democrats' go-to political attack dog, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer.

"The state made a public policy decision in 1991 to get into this business. Every year we've expanded it," Martinez Fischer said. "It's all been done under the rubric that we need to protect the public. And most important, we need to protect those who probably can't protect themselves."

Phil Taylor, a licensed sex offender treatment provider in Dallas, told lawmakers the social media bill would only further stigmatize sex offenders and hamper their efforts to rejoin society. He said 80 percent of sex offenders don't relapse after prison, and pointed out that the group has lower recidivism rates than burglars and other criminals.

Sex offenders, meanwhile, sought to make a pragmatic case to lawmakers: money and resources. State law requires released sex offenders to register within seven days of leaving prison. Jonathan Cooney, 43, said he fell out of compliance that first week of freedom because the state was so backlogged. Three months passed before Cooney said he was finally registered.

"I think if more people knew the person behind the mug shot, they would be more in favor of turning away from sex offender registry," Cooney said.

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-sex-offenders-sight-rare-policy-win-163110300.html

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Google launching same-day delivery service for online shoppers ...

MICHAEL LIEDTKE ? ? ? 8 hrs.

Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery.

The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., didn't say how many people will be part of the test.

If the pilot program goes well, Google plans to expand delivery service to other markets.

"We hope this will help users explore the benefits of a local, same-day delivery service, and help us kick the tires on the new service," Google said in a Thursday statement.

The delivery service is part of Google's effort to increase consumer reliance on the Internet, so it will have more opportunities to show online ads, which generate most of its revenue.

Google has learned that the more time people spend online, the more likely they are to use its dominant search engine or one of its other popular services, like its YouTube video site or Gmail, that include advertising.

The delivery service also could spur merchants to buy more online ads if Google's same-day delivery service encourages consumers to do more of their shopping online. Having to wait days or, in some cases, more than a week for the delivery of online orders ranks among the biggest drawbacks to Internet shopping.

It's a problem that Amazon.com and eBay, which operate the largest e-commerce sites, already have been trying to solve by offering same-day service in some U.S. markets. Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, also offers same-day delivery in five markets.

A mix of national, regional and neighborhood merchants are enlisting in Google Shopping Express. The best-known names on the list include Target and Walgreen. All the merchants in the Google program will sell certain items through a central website. Google has hired courier services to pick up the orders at the merchant stores and then deliver them to the customer's home or office.

Although the couriers will be working on a contract basis, they will be driving Google-branded vehicles and wearing company-issued uniforms.

It remains unclear whether Internet shopping and same-day delivery can be profitable. Online grocer Webvan collapsed in 2001, largely because it couldn't devise a pricing plan that would pay for the costs of same-day delivery without alienating shoppers unwilling to pay too much extra for the added convenience.

Google is still trying to figure out how much to charge for its same-day delivery service. For the six-month test period in the San Francisco area, consumers won't have to pay a surcharge. Google instead will receive a commission from participating merchants.

The expansion into same-day delivery comes at the same time that Google is preparing to close some of its older online services so it can devote more attention and money to other projects.

The realignment has irked some Google users. The biggest complaints have centered on Google Reader, which allows people to automatically receive headlines and links from their favorite sites, and iGoogle, which allows Web surfers to design a page consisting of the Google search engine surrounded set up other online features, such as local weather reports and stock market quotes.

Google Reader is scheduled to close in July and iGoogle will shut down in November.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/google-launching-same-day-delivery-service-online-shoppers-1C9143458

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Consumer watchdog unveils list of top lending gripes

By Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) made its database of complaints against mortgage issuers, student loan firms, credit bureaus and other kinds of lenders available to the public for the first time on Thursday.?

The database covers 90,000 complaints with more than 1 million data points covering 450 companies.

The CFPB spreadsheet allows consumers to find the most complained-about banks in highly specific categories. For example, Capital One received the most complaints about credit cards, and Bank of America received the most complaints about traditional adjustable-rate mortgages.

It's important to note that the data isn't normalized and that banks with more customers receive more complaints.

Data can be sorted at the bureau's website by state or company. It can also be downloaded for free and used in privately developed applications.?

---

The agency's complaint database was released on a limited scale last year, and included only 19,000 credit card-related complaints. Thursday's announcement represents a large expansion of publicly available data.?

The bureau hopes consumers can use the information to make more informed choices about banks they do business with.?"By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services,? said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. ?The database is good for consumers and it is also good for honest businesses."

Complaints are listed in the CFPB database only after the company responds to the complaint or after they have had the complaint for 15 days. Records include the type of complaint, the consumer's ZIP code, the company, and the resolution. Consumers' names and other personal information are not shared.

Among student loans and mortgages, about two-thirds of the complaints involve consumers who are having trouble repaying their loans, according to an analysis provided by the CFPB?of complaints filed through February. Many of the mortgage complaints reflect consumers' paperwork-related frustrations when attempting loan modifications.?

Nearly three-quarters of the 6,700 complaints filed against credit bureaus involve inaccurate information. Credit card complaints are more scattered, with billing disputes making up 15 percent. A common gripe, the bureau says: Consumers don't realize they have to dispute a suspicious item on their credit card bills within 60 days.

In a blog post that accompanied?the release of the data, CFPB official Scott Pluta said he hoped consumers would be creative and find new ways to examine and use the data.

"From infographics to iPhone apps, we?ve seen people do amazing things with the credit card complaint data that was available before today," Pluta said. "We encourage the public, including consumers, analysts, data scientists, civic hackers and companies that serve consumers, to analyze, augment, and build on the information in the database to develop ways for consumers to use the complaint data or mash it up with other public data sets to reveal potential trends."

The bureau plans to expand the data to other complaint categories in the future, he added.

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Saddam-linked legal adviser jailed for fraud

LONDON (AP) ? A flamboyant but unqualified lawyer whose clients included deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in jail for fraud.

Giovanni Di Stefano was nicknamed "The Devil's Advocate" for speaking on behalf of figures including Saddam, former Iraqi Vice President Tariq Aziz and British train robber Ronnie Biggs.

Prosecutors say he conned clients out of millions of pounds by operating as a lawyer when he had no legal qualifications and was not registered to practice in Britain or Italy, where he had offices.

"Some predators hunt down their victims, others lie in wait for them," the judge, Alistair McCreath, told Di Stefano. "Your victims in this case were all desperate people and people who, because of their desperation, were vulnerable."

Di Stefano, who was born in Italy and raised in Britain, was one of several non-Arab lawyers who acted as consultants to the team that defended the deposed Iraqi dictator and associates in his regime.

He also represented many ordinary people, whom the judge said had been left emotionally scarred by "the building of false hopes, always and inevitably dashed, followed by years of misery and frustration as they tried to recover what you had stolen."

Di Stefano was convicted at London's Southwark Crown Court this week of 25 charges, including deception, fraud and money laundering.

He pleaded guilty Thursday to two other fraud charges, including stealing 150,000 pounds ($225,000) in compensation intended for a man who had lost an arm in a car crash. Prosecutors said Di Stefano had the money paid into his own business account instead.

Passing sentence, the judge said Di Stefano had caused distress to many people, adding: "Your only concern was to line your own pockets."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/saddam-linked-legal-adviser-jailed-fraud-134823645.html

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