Pegasus's Daily News, etc.

[the flying reindeer]

National Chicken Month
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 249th day of 2012 with 116 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 6:31 p.m., it's fair , temp 80ºF [Feels like 81ºF], winds NW @ 5 mph, humidity 46%, pressure 29.86 in and falling, dew point 59ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1548--Catherine Parr (sixth and widowed wife of Henry VIII of England) died five days after giving birth to her only child.
1666--Firefighters in London begin blowing up homes in a desperate attempt to halt the spread of a great fire through the city that more than 100,000 people homeless.
1774--the 1rst session of Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.
1793--the Reign of Terror began in France.
1836--Sam Houston was elected as president of the Republic of Texas.
1847--famous outlaw Jesse James was born in Missouri; shot to death 3 Apr 1882 at age 34.
1863--U.S. ambassador for Great Britain, Charles Francis Adams, warns the British that war could erupt if it allows a pair of powerful ironclad ships, designed to help the Confederates break the Union naval blockade, to set sail.
1877--Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Neb.
1881--high winds flared forest fires in Michigan into an inferno, burning more than 1 million acres with 125 people killed.
1886--the Theatre Royal in Exeter, England had a fire break out backstage when gas lighting ignighted some gauze resulting in 186 deaths.
1882--10,000 workers marched in the first Labor Day parade in New York City.
1905--Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of POrtsmouth, ending their war.
1912--John Milton Cage, the experimental American composer, was born.; died 1992 at age 79.
1914--World War I" the Battle of the Marne begins - more than two million soldiers fought and 100,000 of them were killed or wounded in the 1st major victory for the allies.
1921--silent film comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was accused of the rape and accidental murder of young film actress Virginia Rappe, destroying his career although he was acquitted.
1944--Benelux (an economic union between the three monarchies of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) was founded.
1964--"House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals tops the U.S. pop charts ("There is a house in New Orleans that's called the Rising Sun. It's been the ruin of many young men and I, oh lord, am one.") Loved that sone!!
1969--Lt. William Calley was charged in the case of the My Lai, Vietnam massacred of innocent civilians.
1970--US forces launched the last major American operation of the Vietnam War.
1972--six members of the Arab terrorist group known as Black September attacked the Israeli Olympic team at the summer games in Munich; 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, five terrorists and a police officer were killed.
1975--Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of mass murderer Charles Manson, failed in an attempt to shoot Pres. Ford.
1980--the longest underground motorway in the world, Switzerland’s 10+ miles St. Gotthard Auto Tunnel, opened.
1984--the Space Shuttle Discovery landsedafter its maiden mission in space.
1986--PanAm Flight 73 was hijacked while preparing to depart from Karachi International Airport in Pakistan.
1997--at least 172 people were slain in Algeria in three incidents believed linked to the country's upcoming election and to the long civil war.
2005--Katie Couric made her network evening anchor debut to become the first solo female anchor on a major network..
2005--Pres. Bush announced he would nominate US Circuit Judge John Roberts to succeed the late William Rehnquist as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
2005--Mandala Airlines FL 091 crashed after taking off from Polonia International Airport in Indonesia: 148 fatalaties.
2007--Hurricane Felix struck Central America as a category 5 resulting in over 130 deaths and 160,000 people affected.
2007--German security forces arrested three Islamic men reportedly in the act of mixing chemicals for bombing Frankfurt airport and a U.S. military base.

World News Capsules:
i. US will hold part of Afghan prison after handover.

....The US military will continue indefinitely to operate a section of the Parwan detention complex holding foreign combatants, even as the two countries prepare to mark a Sept. 10 handover.
2. Two shot at victory party for separatists in Quebec.

....One man was dead and another was in critical condition after a gunman opened fire during the victory speech by Pauline Marois of Parti Québécois.
3. Key figure in scandal that felled Bo Xilai is charged.
....A once powerful Chongqing police official, Wang Lijun, is accused of defection, abuse of power and corruption, China’s state media reported
a. No movement on key disputes as Clinton meets with Chinese leaders.

....The US and China sparred over the violence in Syria and growing tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
4. Colombia will restart peace process with FARC.
....Pres. Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said that the two sides would soon sit down to a new phase of peace talks.
5. Powerful quake hits Costa Rica; tsunami warning issued.
....A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked Costa Rica on Wednesday, rattling buildings and cutting power in some areas of the capital
6. Europe prepares to investigate Chinese dumping of solar panels.
....The case could lead to steep tariffs on much of China's $20 billion in annual exports of solar products to Europe. China has threatened to retaliate against European wines and industrial materials.
7, 2 injured in steam blast at French nuclear plant.
....A steam release from a chemical reaction at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, France’s oldest, gave two workers slight burns on their hands but did not cause a fire or radiation problem, officials said.
8. British premier reshuffles cabinet, promoting official linked to Murdoch.
....In a bid to reshape his government, Prime Minister David Cameron shook up his cabinet, appointing Jeremy Hunt, who became entangled in the News Corporation scandal, to a top ministerial post.
9. Two hungry nations collide over fishing.

....A fishing war is straining relations between India and Sri Lanka, as Indian fishermen, often poor and desperate, regularly cross international waters and run afoul of the Sri Lankan Navy.
a. India and China agree to resume joint military exercises.
....The defense ministers of India and China agreed Tuesday to resume joint military exercises, which were frozen two years ago, signaling a thaw in relations.
10. Iran supplying Syrian military via Iraqi airspace.

....Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace, showing the limits of American influence in the region after the White House pressed Baghdad to close the corridor.
11. President of Tokyo Electric urges nuclear future.
....Japan would be punished with sky-high energy prices and would see its greenhouse gas emissions surge if it went nuclear-free, said Naomi Hirose, president of the Tokyo Electric Power Co.
12. North Korea may be preparing economic changes.
....South Korean analysts said a meeting of North Korea’s Parliament later this month may officially introduce Kim Jong-un’s program to revitalize his country’s moribund economy

US News Capsules:
1. Prolonged CPR holds benefits, a study finds.
....The findings challenged conventional medical thinking, which holds that prolonged resuscitation for hospital patients that go into cardiac arrest is usually futile.
2. Joe Frazier wins belated embrace as Philadelphia starts a fight.

....A year after Mr. Frazier's death, a movement has taken off to cement the boxer's legacy in his adopted city.
3. Critics say California law hurts effort to add jobs.
....With high unemployment in California, environmentalists and politicians see the need to overhaul the state's landmark environmental law, which can delay even green projects.
a. Nearly 800 firefighters battle blaze in national forest in Southern California.
....With hot, dry conditions continuing, officials said they did not expect to fully contain the fire for at least another week.
4. Banks face suits as states weigh labor losses.
....The scandal over global interest rates has states working to build a case for suing the nation's largest banks.
5. ARTS: Stereotypes in toeshoes.

....Though race-blind casting has been widespread in ballet for decades, clichéd and sometimes offensive views of race remain alive and well across the art form.
6. Motorola introduces first phones of its new Google era.

....After being quiet for nearly a year, Motorola Mobility, recently acquired by Google, is returning to the mobile market with three new smartphones for Verizon customers.
7. Far from 'junk,' DNA dark matter plays crucial rule.
....At least four million gene switches that reside in bits of DNA once thought to be inactive turn out to play critical roles in health, researchers reported,
i. Yosemite visitors from 39 nations warned of hantavirus.

....The CDC says up to 10,000 people are at risk. Six cases of the rodent-borne virus have been reported at Yosemite, including two deaths.
POLITICS:
1. DEMOCRATS: Michelle Obama tops opening night for Democrats.
....Democrats had two simple messages for voters: Mitt Romney does not get it, and Pres. Obama does. The main attraction was Mr. Obama's lead character witness: his wife, Michelle.
a. Obama faces test from voters who drifted away.

....Pres. Obama prepares to make an aggressive pitch at the Democratic convention, hoping to return to the fold voters who supported him in 2008 but now express disappointment.
b. Obama-Clinton: a solid relationship?
[/img]
....Former Pres. Clinton has displayed a tendency to drift off-message. But the Obama campaign says it has "absolute confidence" in tonight's featured DNC speaker.
c. Catholic nun brings her star power to DNC.

....Sister Simone Campbell will get what may be the biggest media platform of her life, when she addresses the Democrats in Charlotte, NC, but the Catholic nun already has plenty of star power.
2. GOP shift moves center far to right.
....A look back at Richard Nixon's stands on big government programs and new regulations underscores how much the political center has moved.
3. Party platforms are poles apart in their view of the nation.
....The Democratic Party platform approved Tuesday offered a stark contrast to the Republican one adopted last week, especially on abortion rights, gay marriage and the future of Medicare and Social Security.
4. Carving a legacy of giving (to his party, too).
....On a recent trip to Africa, Bill Clinton showed how he is bringing his family deeper into the Clinton Foundation, perhaps confronting a future without him.

Sport's Headlines of Interest[/u]:
1. NFL: Giants' seret weapon no longer.
....A year removed from his breakout season, Victor Cruz will be on every opponent's radar.
a. Players, coaches and fans must adjust to replacement refs.

....The NFL knows it is taking a chance using replacements during the officials’ lockout, and coaches and players have no choice but to bite their tongues.
b. From Cowboys, the grinding of teeth.
....The Dallas Cowboys will open their N.F.L. season Wednesday against the Giants, who knocked them out of the playoffs last year and have owned the series lately.
2. MLB: That 10-game lead is down to zero.
....The Yankees' 5-2 loss, their 10th in their last 14 games, knocked them out of sole possession of the division lead for the first time since June 11.
a. A's are hittnig home runs and beating the odds.
....The Athletics, who have not finished above .500 since 2006, started play yesterday with the best record in the majors since the All-Star break, and held one of the two wild-card spots in the American League.
3. US OPEN: A new first for No. 1-ranked Azarenka.
....Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka outlasted Sam Stosur in a third-set tiebreaker on Tuesday and moved on to play Maria Sharapova or Marion Bartoli in the semifinals.
4. NCAAFB: For new cadet, football is a break from plege year.

....As a first-year player on the Army football team in 2011, Larry Dixon quickly learned that being a college running back was easy compared with being a plebe at West Point.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
[bSweet stars hint at building blocks of life][/b][/u]

It's not exactly the kind of sugar you'd want to put in your coffee, but astronomers have found simple sugar molecules called glycolaldehyde around a star similar to our own Sun. Here's the sweet part: Glycolaldehyde is used in the formation of RNA (a genetic material related to DNA). That makes it a building block of life. The molecules were found at a distance from the binary star IRAS 16293-2422 comparable to the distance between Uranus and the Sun. This is the first time that these building-block sugar molecules have been found around such a star.
"If we can show that the same molecules exist around additional Sun-like stars, that would be an indication that they also have been present around the Sun 4.5 billion years ago," lead study author Jes Jørgensen, of the Neils Bohr Institude in Denmark, said in an e-mail. "This is the first evidence that these simple pre-biotic molecules are present around Sun-like stars on scales where planets and comets may be forming."
The glycolaldehyde molecules, aside from being present around a Sun-like star, are also moving towards one of the stars in the binary system. In a release, Cecile Favre of Aarhus University in Denmark and one of the members of the research team, said, "The sugar molecules are not only in the right place to find their way onto a planet, but they are also going in the right direction." Further research could show how life might arise on another planet. Jørgensen is careful to point out, however, that the discovery of glycolaldehyde is a very, very preliminary step in figuring out how organic life as we know it might have begun.
"For us, the main question now is whether we can show through similar kinds of observations that the chemical complexity can be taken even further," he said. Glycolaldehyde molecules could make their way into proto-planetary discs around young stars, leading to the formation of planets or becoming a part of the material comets are made of, Jørgensen said. Either way, they could become part of young planets.
Amazing!!

Thought for Today
"Moral indignation: jealousy with a halo."
--[/i]H. G. Wells (1866-1946) English autor


[/size][/color]

[the flying reindeer]

World's richest woman lauds $2-a-day wages
Australian Gina Rinehart, a mining heiress thought to be the world's richest woman, chastised miners for being “too expensive,” saying, “Africans want to work. Its workers are willing to work for less than $2 per day.”

I've for a suggestion for her - give us your money and you try to live on $2 per day.

Drew Peterson found guilty of murdering 3rd wife
At least it appears that the jury system is still alive and well in the US.

[the flying reindeer]

Be Kind To Editors and Writers Month
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 251st day of 2012 with 114 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 6:23 p.m., it's fair, temp 80ºF [Feels like 82ºF], winds SSE @ 6 mph, humidity 54%, pressure 29.87 in and falling, dew point 62ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1533--Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1558-1603), was born; died 1603 at age 69.
1776--the American submersible craft Turtle tried to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship Eagle in New York Harbor, the first use of a submarine in warfare.
1813--the US got its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the Army during the War of 1812 and stamped the barrels with "U.S." for United States, but soldiers began referring to the grub as "Uncle Sam's." The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for the U.S. federal government.
1822--Brazil declared independence from Portugal.
1860--Lady Elgin (steamship) wrecked in Lake Michigan off Chicago, Ill. with a loss of 400 lives.
1864--Civil War: the city of Atlanta, Ga. was evacauated.
1876--Minnesotans nearly wiped out the James-Younger gang who had tried to rob the Northfield, Minn. bank.
1901--the Boxer Rebellion in China ended with a peace agreement between China and other world powers,.
1911--Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested for stealing the Mona Lisa painting.
1921--a flash flood hit San Antonio, Tex., killing 51 people and causing millions of dollars in damages.
1921--the first Miss America Pagent was held in Atlantic City, NJ. with Margaret Gorman winning the crown
1940-- 300 German bombers raid London, in the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. in a bombing "blitzkrieg" that lasted untill May 1941.
1950--the UN Security Council rejected a Soviet resolution that would condemn the American bombing of North Korea.
1953--Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly won the US Open to become the first women to win the Grand Slam of tennis (all 4 majors in one year).
1965--in the Vietnam War, the US Marines launched Operation Piranha.
1977--Pres. Carter and Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos signed a treaty agreeing to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
1979--the ESPN (Entertainment Sports Programming Network) was launched.
1986--Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Desmond Tutu became the archbishop of Cape Town, and the first black to head the country's Anglican Church.
1992 Black soldiers in South Africa killed 23 people and wounded nearly 200 others when they fired on thousands of African National Congress supporters.
1993--South Africa's ruling National Party agreed to share power with a multiparty council that would be established within two months
1996--actor and hip-hop recording artist Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas, Nev. and died three days later.
1998--Google, Inc. was formally incorporated by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, Calif.
1999--in Athens, Greece, a 5.9 earthquake ruptured a previously unknown fault killing 143, injuring more than 500 and leaving 50,000 homeless.
2004--Hurricane Ivan (category 5) passed directly over Grenada killing 39 people and damaging 90% of the island's buildings.
2007--the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed to pay almost $200 million to 144 people who claimed sexual abuse by clergy.

World News Capsules:
1. US State Department blacklists militant Haqqani Network


....Secretary of State Clinton signed an order designating the network, responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, a terrorist organization.
a. Culture clash with Afghans on display at briefing.
....A press briefing by American and Afghan commanders on insider attacks led to complaints, and a wider cultural discussion.
b. Prince Harry in Afghanistan to fly in Apache copters.

....Prince Harry began a four-month combat tour Friday in Afghanistan as a gunner on an Apache attack helicopter.
2. Canada closes embassy in Iran and expels Iranian diplomats.
....Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and will expel all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days, foreign minister John Baird said, denouncing Tehran as the biggest threat to global security. Among other things, Iran "refuses to comply with UN resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program; it routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide; it is among the world's worst violators of human rights; and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups," Baird said.
3. Earthquakes in China kill dozens.

....A series of earthquakes in southwest China shook two rural provinces populated by some of the country’s poorest people, damaging 20,000 homes and killing 67, an official said.
4. Family life according to the Brotherhood.
....Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is committed to upholding patriarchal and traditional values around a woman's place in society, and many Egyptian women need no convincing
5. Huge step taken by Europe's bank to abate a crisis.
....The European Central Bank took its broadest step yet toward easing the euro zone crisis, throwing its financial clout behind an effort to fend off financial collapse for Spain and Italy.
6. France sends funds to Syrian civic groups in rebel-held areas

....A senior French diplomat said the government was providing funds to five revolutionary councils in rebel-held parts of Syria to help them restore water supplies, sanitation, health services and bakeries.
a. French president must cut deficit, but how?
....François Hollande is facing rising discontent as he prepares to assemble the package of tax increases and spending cuts required to reduce the deficit.
b. Two vehicles seen near site of French killings

....A 7-year-old girl wounded when her parents and a third person were killed in France is in a medically induced coma, says a prosecutor, as police try to trace a motorbike and a 4x4 vehicle.
7. Indian Parliament's "monsoon session" ends in washout.
....Repeated disturbances kept Parliament from passing bills and discussing issues, leading to a debate about whether disruption is a legitimate parliamentary tool.
8. Israeli soldiers kill 3 Palestinians near Gaza security fence

....Israel said that the men were planting a bomb; a Gazan official said the men died after ambulances came under fire and were delayed.
a. Israel to admit 3 of 21 Africans waiting in desert.
....The government is in the midst of putting in place a tough new policy intended to stem the influx of African immigrants and asylum seekers
9. Pakistan may be expelling aid group's foreign staff.
....A senior aid official in Pakistan said the staff members of Save the Children had been given until Sept. 12 to leave the country, suggesting the aid workers had been helping a foreign spy agency operating on Pakistani soil., but hours later the interior minister issued a temporary reprieve.
a. Girl is granted bail in blasphemy case.
....Rimsha Masih has been detained in a high-security prison since mid-August, when Muslim neighbors accused her of burning a textbook used to teach the Koran to children.
10. Putin's latest stunt invites ridicule.

....Satirical remixes of Pres. Vladimir Putin were flowing onto the Internet so quickly after his flight with cranes that it seemed as if they were being produced in some espresso-fueled sweatshop.
a. Putin says missile deal is more likely with Obama.
....Pres. Putin praised Pres/ Obama and said that if he is re-elected, a compromise could be reached on the contentious issue of American plans for a missile defense system in Europe.
b. Putin's ambitions turn to the Far East.
....Pres. Putin is hoping to strengthen ties with the Pacific Rim and pursuing ambitious development in Russia itself.
11. Twin bomb attacks hit Damascus.

....Two bombs went off in Damascus, killing at least five policemen and wounding others in the latest violence in the capital.
a. Assassination highlights rifts facing Syria rebels.
....The killing of a rebel fighter linked to al-Qaeda called new attention to the ideological differences among rebels fighting the government of Pres. Assad.
12. A Venezuelan diplomat's swift rise ends with a murder in Kenya.
....Dwight Sagaray, 35, was second-in-command at the Venezuelan Embassy in Kenya, even briefly heading the mission. He is now stripped of immunity and accused of murdering his boss.

US News Capsules:
1. With Medicaid, long-term care of elderly looms as a rising cost.
....The program is the only safety net for millions of middle-class people whose needs for long-term care, at home or in a nursing home, outlast their resources.
2. New Orleans levees held, and outsiders want in
....Residents outside the ring of levees that protect New Orleans want the federal government to erect walls to protect them, too, especially after Hurricane Isaac caused the river to overflow.
3. DROUGHT: Most US farmland still in drought, even ater storm
....The worst drought in decades is expected to continue choking areas of the Plains and Rockies that did not get soaked by Hurricane Isaac.
a, With their food scarce from drought, more animals try dining in town

....Growing numbers of bears and other animals are descending from mountains and mesas, desperate to eat whatever they can find before winter arrives.
4. Kansas City bishop convicted of shielding pedophile priests
....Bishop Robert W. Finn was sentenced to two years of court-supervised probation for failing to report suspected child abuse,
5. Ford expands offerings fo rEurope
....Ford Motor Co. said it would introduce several models to bolster its struggling European division, including the Edge sport utility vehicle and the Mustang sports car.
6. As child allergies rise, so do sales of an antidote

....Mylan, the maker of the epinephrine injector EpiPen, is expanding its marketing efforts in the face of new, competing devices and the surging rates of allergies in children.
7. Arizona immigration law survives ruling
....The authorities will be required to verify the status of people who they suspect are in the country illegally.
8. Woodward book details battles over deficit
....Bob Woodward’s The Price of Politics paints a portrait of dysfunction that began even before Pres. Obama was inaugurated and has only grown worse.
9. Judge rejects new rules on access to prisoners
....A federal court ruled that the Obama administration was overstepping its authority, and violating the separation of powers in regards to restrictions on lawyers’ access to prisoners at Guantánamo Bay,
10. Colorado State to offer credits for online class
....Colorado State University’s Global Campus would give three credits to students who complete one of Udacity’s free “massive open online courses.
POLITICS:
1. Democratic Convention: Obama makes case for 2nd term: "Harder" path to "better Place."

....In accepting the Democratic nomination for a second term, Pres/ Obama conceded the country's difficulties, but argued that it would "take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades."
a. Obama and Democrats point to foreign policy strength.
....President Obama and his allies made the case for him as commander in chief and criticized their rivals’ lack of experience, with Mr. Obama saying Mitt Romney was stuck in a “cold war time warp.”
b. Not by design, another Clinton watches a convention from afar.

....As Democrats gathered in Charlotte, N.. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been doing what she has done throughout Pres. Obama’s term: forswearing partisan politics.
c. Joblessness may undermine Obama convention bump
....For Pres. Obama, the August employment report, which showed fewer new jobs than expected, was a blunt reminder of the forces working against him as his convention closed.
2. Looking past November for a preview of 2016
....The convention has offered an early glimpse of some of the party’s ambitious prospects, including Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.

Sports Headlines:
1. MLB: Baltimore's Orioles bash their way back into a tie
....The Orioles slugged six home runs, including three in the eighth inning, to stun the Yankees 10-6 and draw even again atop the American League East.
a. Dodgers and Giants rejuvenate a rivalry
....This weekend at AT&T Park, the Dodgers and Giants meet for the first time since the Dodgers' industry-rattling trade last month, with the Giants holding a four-and-a-half-game lead.
2. NFL: Suspensions for Saints players overturned

....Days before their first games of the season, an appeals panel has overturned the suspensions of four players in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal.

Thought for Today
"Few things are more irritating than when someone who is wrong is also very effective in making his point.”
--Mark Twain (1835-1910) American author.

[the flying reindeer]

Grandparents Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 253rd day of 2012 with 112 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:57 p.m., it's fair , temp 68ºF [Feels like 68ºF], winds variable @ 3 mph, humidity 52%, pressure 29.90 in and falling, dew point 58ºF, chance of precipitation 30%.

Today in History:
1087--William the Conqueror, King of England, Duke of Normandy, died at the Convent of Saint Gervais in Rouen. France.
1513--Battle of Flodden Fields; English of Henry VIII defeated the forces of James IV of Scotland, who was killed, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.
1543--Mary Stuart, at age nine months, was officially crowned Queen of Scots.
1739--Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in the American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupted near Charleston, SC.
1776--Congress renamed the nation "United States of America," replacing the term "United Colonies."
1841--the Great Lakes steamer Erie sunk off Silver Creek NY, killing 300.
1850--California became the 31st state in record time, while New Mexico and Utah became US territories.
1850--the Compromise of 1850 stripped Texas of a third of its claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) in return for the federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.
1863--federal trops captured Chattanooga, Tenn.
1867--the Grand Ducky of Luxembourg gained its independence.
1893--Esther Cleveland, the daughter of Pres. Grover Cleveland, was the first child born in the White House (and still is).
1901--Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter, printmaker, draftsman and illustratior, died.
1919--6he infamous Boston Police Strike began and criminals took the opportuinty to loot the city.
1926--NBC (National Broadcasting Co.) was established.
1939--audiences were treated to surprise preview of the blockbuster movie Gone with the Wind.
1942--a Japanese floatplane dropped incendiary bombs on an Oregon state forest in the first and only air attack on the US mainland in the war.
1943--the Allies landed at Salerno and Taranto, Sicily.
1947--1st documented "computer bug" case occurred involving a moth getting trapped between relays in the Harvard University Mark II Computer.
1948--North Korea formally declared its independence from Japan.
1954--a powrful earthquake shook Algeria.
1956--Elvis Presley appeared on national television for the first time, on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1965--Hurricane Betsy (one of the most intense, deadly and costly storms to hit the US) slammed into New Orleans, La.
1966--Pres. Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.
1971--the notorious Attica (NY) prison riot began with more than 1,000 inmates taking 35 people hostage..
1976--Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Repubic of China, died in Beijing at age 82.
1990--Liberian Pres. Samuel Doe was captured and killed by rebels after visiting West African peacekeeping forces in Monrovia.
1991--Tajikistan declared independence from the Soviet Union.
1993--the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace and security and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin declared the PLO the representative of the Palestinian people.
1999--more than 90 people died in the bombing of a Moscow apartment building by Chechnyan terrorists.
2003--the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston reached an agreement with sexual abuse victims that could run as high as $85 million.
2004--the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed killing 9 and wounding over 150 others.
2005--Michael Brown, the embattled director of FEMA, was replaced by U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen.
2008--Pres. Bush said some 8,000 U.S. troops would be returning home from Iraq without replacement, but additional trops would be deployed to Afghanistan.

World News Capsules:
1. Potential for a mining boom splits factions in Afghanistan.
....With a trillion-dollar cache of oil, gold and other resources underground, hopes of self-sufficiency in Afghanistan are tempered by worries about corruption and security.
a. Bomber strikes near NATO offices in Afghanistan
....A bomber blew himself up Saturday morning near Western embassies and the headquarters of NATO forces, killing at least four civilians, Afghan officials said.
2. Hong Kong retreats on 'National Education' plan

....As tens of thousands protested the Beijing-backed “moral and national education” plan as brainwashing and political indoctrination, Hong Kong’s chief executive revoked a 2015 deadline for the project.
a. Construction at forefront of slowdown in China
...As the government released more data showing sputtering growth, developers and builders said they had decelerated construction to the slowest pace possible without setting off default clauses.
b. Death toll rises to 80 after China earthquakes; hundreds injured.

....The death toll from earthquakes that rocked southwest China rose to 80, after the tremors destroyed roads and communication lines, and forced tens of thousands of evacuations, state media reported.
3. India and Pakistan sign visa agreement easing travel
....The agreement, which will make travel easier for businessmen, tourists and others, is seen as a tentative step between the rival countries to normalize their troubled relations.
4. Death sentence for Sunni on day of violence in Iraq

....Tariq al-Hashemi, accused of commanding sectarian death squads, was sentenced hours after a wave of attacks killed more than 50 people across the country.
5. What happens when the two Israels meet
....The expiration of the law exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the Israeli army places female soldiers in a more uncertain position.
6. Mexico holds suspect in death of US border officer
....The suspect, Jesús Leonel Sánchez Meza, is one of five men charged with killing Brian A. Terry in December 2010 during a shootout in Arizona near the Mexico border.
7. Thousands evacuated after volcano in Nicaragua erupts

....More than 1,500 people have been evacuated after San Cristobal volcano in western Nicaragua erupted, shooting gas and ash 2 1/2 miles into the sky, government officials said.
8. Defying parents, some Pakistani women risk all to marry whom they choose
....Women are increasingly asserting their rights against the traditions of forced marriage and parental authority, challenging one of the most powerful institutions in Pakistani society.
9. Clinton tells Russia that sanctions will soon end
....Speaking at a summit meeting, Secretary of State Clinton did not address legislation in Congress that has so far blocked the move to lift cold-war-era trade sanctions.
a. Russia and Japan in agreement on natural gas deal
....Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, signed an accord with the government of Japan to continue with plans for construction of a $13 billion natural gas terminal.
10. Syria criticizes France's support for rebels
....Days after the French government said that it would provide assistance directly to Syrian rebels, Syria accused France of undermining the new United Nations envoy.
a. Clashes worsen misery in Syria's biggest cities
....Battles between the Syrian military and rebels burst a main pipe that delivered drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents of Aleppo, opposition groups said.
11. Turkey's female athletes, like women nationwide, reap rewards
....The success of the runners Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut at the London Games has brought an outpouring of support at home in Turkey.
12. Summer of siege for West Africa as discontent boils into street

....Political evolution on the continent’s western side is often a series of eruptions: order appears to be established, and then the volcano explodes again,

US News Capsules:
1. Dispute over costs delays opening of 9/11 museum.
....Because of a disagreement between Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a museum at ground zero will not open even by next year's anniversary of the attacks.
2. Mow yard, drop off kids, take a drive on Mars

....As one member of the team that operates the remote rover Curiosity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory put it, "Last night I drove on Mars, today I mowed the lawn - it's completely surreal."
3. More choices, and more confusion, in quest for healthy eating
....Even as a recent study questions some of the basis for considering organic food superior, the emphasis is shifting toward a more general quest for locally grown and natural.
4. Doubts as Portland weighs fluoride and its civic values
....In Portland, Ore., the largest American city not fluoridating its water, a decision involves questions of personal choice and societal burden.
5. Debt collectors cashing in on student loans
....Last year the Department of Education paid $1.4 billion to collection agencies to hunt down defaulters, a group that includes nearly one in six with a balance.
6. Game maker without a rule book

....Valve, the uncorporate but influential video game company, thinks it may be onto the next big thing in games: wearable computing.
7. Film is dead? Long live movies
....Digital technology is changing movies in such groundbreaking ways that "film" is usually a word of convenience and tradition.
POLITICS:
1. Five crucial factors to watch, just 58 days from the election
....Two months before the election, Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney agree on at least one thing: the collection of states where the race will be decided.
2. In Romney's hands, Pledge of Allegiance is framework for criticism
....At a rally Saturday, Mitt Romney did not just recite the Pledge of Allegiance; he metaphorically wrapped his stump speech in it, using each line of the pledge to attack President Obama.
a. Romney says GOOP made 'mistake'

....Mitt Romney said congressional Republicans were wrong to accept a deal last year that could ultimately result in across-the-board spending cuts, including massive cuts to the military.
3. Obama, stumping in Florida, tries to turn focus to Medicare from jobs
....President Obama’s advisers have indicated that they are eager to re-engage their opponents on their Medicare plan, while the Romney camp would prefer to talk about the economy.

Sports Headlines:
1. US Open: Super Saturday skies: cloudy, partly happy
....Andy Murray defeated Tomas Berdych in four sets, but severe weather conditions caused the day's other two big matches - the second men's semifinal and the women's final - to be postponed.
a. Djokovic dominates Ferrer to set up showdown with Murray

....When their semifinal match was postponed Saturday because of weather, David Ferrer led, 5-2, in the first set. When it resumed Sunday, Novak Djokovic battered Ferrer throughout.
b. Grand finale in grand slam
....After an embarrassing early loss at Wimbledon, Pete Sampras won what proved to be his last tournament 10 years ago, beating Andre Agassi in the United States Open/
2. NFL: Two Jets defensive linemen hope reunion continues at the quarterback
....Muhammad Wilkerson and Quinton Coples, defensive linemen who played together in military school, were the Jets’ top draft picks in consecutive years.
a. Players' support of gay marriage alters NFL image
....Two players in the National Football League, Brendon Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe, have lent their support for gay marriage, helping alter the league's stigma of having a homophobic culture,
3. MLB: Dodgers hope to be this year's late bloomers
....For Los Angeles’ manager Don Mattingly, the struggling Dodgers can learn from last year’s Cardinals, whose late-season surge resulted in a title for St. Louis.
4. NCAAFB: LSU crushes Washington without having to strain

....Quarterback Zach Mettenberger looked nonchalant behind LSU’s offensive line, helping the Tigers dismantle Washington 41-3 in the team’s 39th consecutive nonconference win.
a. Storm and Syracuse can't stop No. 2 USC
....Despite erratic play from both teams, the Heisman contender Matt Barkley got into a rhythm in the second half and finished with six touchdown passes in the Trojans’ 42-28 victory over the Orange.
b. Gators recover in 2nd half to spoil SEC start for Aggies
....Trailing by 10 points in the first half, the Florida Gators awoke in time to welcome Texas A&M to its new league 20-17, spoiling the Aggies’ season opener before a crowd of 87,114 at Kyle Field/
5. PGA: Mickelson's 64 shouts: Remember, I can play
....Phil Mickelson shot an eight-under-par 64 on Saturday to move into a tie for the lead with Vijay Singh at the BMW Championship.

Thought for Today
"The worst of all deceptions is self-deception."
--Plato (429-347 BC) ancient Greek philosopher

[the flying reindeer]

National Line Dancing Week
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 254th day of 2012 with 111 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:55 p.m., it's fair , temp 66ºF [Feels like 66ºF], winds NNW @ 17 mph, humidity 34%, pressure 30.14 in and falling, dew point 37ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

World News Capsules:
1. Prison transferred to Afghans, but questions remain

....Top American commanders were absent from the ceremony marking the hand-over of Bagram prison to Afghan control, and even agreement on a crucial point of the signed prison deal itself was elusive.
a. Bomber kills 16 in attack on Afghan protest site
....The demonstration in Kunduz had been called by residents of Kanam village, who last week lost 11 men killed by militiamen who had been angered by the village’s alleged support for Taliban insurgents.
b. Records missing on Afghan Army fuel costs
....American investigators say that records covering more than four years may have been shredded.
2. Fighting for Bangladesh labor, and ending up in pauper's grave

....The murder of a labor organizer bore a grim familiarity in a country with a brutal legacy of politically motivated killings.
3. China's presumptive new leader is mysteriously absent
....Speculation intensified over the whereabouts of Xi Jinping, China’s presumptive new president, who has been missing from public view in recent days.
a. Pro-Beijing candidates outmaneuver opponents as Hong Kong votes
....Pro-democracy candidates won strong voter support but came away with fewer seats than expected as pro-Beijing candidates used electoral procedures to their advantage.
b. Construction and real estate hinder China's growth
....Investment in new buildings and other fixed assets, once a mainstay of the nation's economy, grew at the second-lowest pace since 2002.
4. To smuggle more drugs, traffickers go under the sea
....American authorities have discovered models of a new drug-ferrying submarine capable of traveling, unseen from the surface, from Ecuador to Los Angeles.
5. German envoy goes to Greece, leaving lectures behind
....Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has sent Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, a jovial, brass-band-loving Black Forester, to Greece to help mend frayed relations.
a. Europe plan faces threat in Germany
....The work of the European Central Bank could be undone in a stroke by judges in Germany, who have the power to block the country from contributing to the European rescue fund.
6. British police evacuate area around murder victims' home

....The British police evacuated an area around the home of a British-Iraqi family targeted in last week’s killing in the French Alps.
7. Top Iraqi leader calls his death sentence 'unjust'
....Tariq al-Hashimi, a prominent Sunni Muslim who was convicted of murder in a trial conducted in absentia, depicted the court’s finding as “an acquittal, confirming my innocence."
8. Kazakhstan is accused of abusing oil workers
....A Human Rights Watch report, which investigated violence last winter in the western oil town of Zhanaozen, says Kazakhstan and three oil companies repressed workers.
9. North Korea is ready to discuss aid from Seoul
....North Korea said that it was ready to discuss humanitarian aid from the South to alleviate damage caused by flooding and typhoons.
10. 'Forgotten neighborhood' underscores the poverty of an isolated enclave

(Palestinians in a makeshift, rubble-strewn home in Gaza’s Forgotten Neighborhood)
....A UN report cites widespread shortages of food, water, electricity, jobs, hospital beds and classrooms amid an exploding population in an area of Gaza,
11. For Putin, a flight of fancy at a summit meeting's close
....Pres. Putin of Russia hit back at political opponents who mocked his latest stunt: flying a motorized glider to help lead endangered cranes from Siberia south.
a. In Russia, Chinese-run farms solve each side's needs

....The influx of Chinese farm labor in Russia reflects the growing trade and economic ties between the two countries, one rich in land and resources, the other in people.
12. Syria criticizes France for supporting rebels, as fears grow of Islamist infiltration

([/i]A wedding at a refugee camp in Jordan[/size])
....Days after the French government said that it would provide assistance directly to Syrian rebels, Syria accused France of undermining the new United Nations envoy.

US News Capsules:
1. Teacher strike begins in Chicago, amid signs that deal isn't close

....Union leaders for Chicago's public schoolteachers said they would strike Monday morning after negotiations ended late Sunday with no contract agreement
2. [Cancer study points to tighter pairing of drugs and patients/u]
....Research on a common lung cancer could foretell a type of treatment in which drugs - many of which are in the pipeline already - are chosen to match the genetic mutation in each patient.
a. Ovarian cancer screenings are not effective, panel says
....Not only do the tests not lower the death rate from the disease, they also expose women to unnecessary risk, the US Preeventive Services Task Force said.
3. Door to door in the heartland preching healthy living
....With money allocated by the Obama health care law, local governments are creating programs to help curb the incidence of obesity and other diseases and promote healthy lifestyles,
4. How resilient is post-9/11 America?

....Can the US learn resilience without suffering the repeated murderous attacks that have bloodied such nations as Israel and Britain?
5. In one city, signing up for Internet becomes a civic cause.
.....Leaders pushed to sign up poorer, predominantly black neighborhoods of Kansas City, Mo., to qualify for Google’s new Internet service, fearing that otherwise they will lag further behind.
6. More young adults have insurance after health care law, study says
....The share of young adults without health insurance fell by one-sixth in 2011 from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
7. On campus, an experiment to save local news
....Mercer University is undertaking a $5.6 million project, which partners student work with news organizations in the area, in the hopes of reviving local journalism.
POLITICS:

1. A tight election may be tangled in legal battles
....With federal and state courts handing down decisions on ballot casting and counting, the presidential election may hinge partly on last-minute legal battles by both parties.
2. Romney's tax plan leaves key variables blank
....Mitt Romney has pledged to cut individual income tax rates for everyone, but he has provided few specifics, confounding analysts and leaving himself open to attack from Democrats.
a. Romney, easing, says health law isn't all bad.
....In a rare interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Mitt Romney offered praise for some of Pres. Obama’s policies, and said he would retain some aspects of his health care overhaul.
3. Congress comes back to a face-off with angry farmers

....Lawmakers, fresh off their parties’ conventions, appear to favor action this fall on bills that emphasize their political agendas over actual lawmaking.

Sports Headlines:
1. US Open tennis: Surprising even herself, Williams rallies to title

....4th-ranked Serena Williams defeated No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, after a tense third set in the women's final.
a. With help of schools, trickle of talent could become a flood
....The US is suffering the consequences of leaning on a model that often limits tennis to those who can afford it. The solution would be using the public school system to widen the talent pool.
b. Weather is new, Djokovic is fierce
....When their semifinal match was postponed Saturday because of weather, David Ferrer led, 5-2, in the first set. When it resumed Sunday, Novak Djokovic battered Ferrer throughout.
2. MLB: In capital, protecting a trasured right (arm)

....The Washington Nationals' decision to end the successful season of the young pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who had elbow reconstruction surgery in 2010, has drawn mixed reactions from baseball.
a. With offense on track, Yanks plow through Orioles
....Even as Mark Teixeira was lost again with an aggravated calf strain, the Yankees routed the Orioles to once again push Baltimore a game behind them in the A.L. East.
3. NFL: Jets 38, Bills 28. Any other questions?
....The Jets' demolition of the Bills was not as close as the score indicated, amounting to an emphatic I-told-you-so from Coach Rex Ryan. The Jets controlled the game against the Bills from the start and scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams in the victory.
a. Manning forgoes a grace period in Denver

....Bill Polian, the Colt executive who drafted Peyton Manning and now works for ESPN, was surprised that Manning and his teammates seemed to be in sync so soon.
b. With balanced offense and physical defense, 49ers control the Packers 30-22
....With its balanced offense, led by quarterback Alex Smith, and an opportunistic defense, San Francisco contained Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers.
4. NCAAFB: For Savannah State, a 55-0 defeat served its purpose
....Savannah State received payments totaling $860,000, about 17 percent of its athletic budget, for a 55-0 loss to Florida State and an 84-0 loss to Oklahoma State
5. GOLF:Fighting off biggest names, McIlroy again tops the list
....Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland had three birdies on the closing nine en route to a 20-under-par 268 to win the BMW Championship by two strokes over Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood.

Thought for Today
"The seven blunders that human society commits and cause all the violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience,
knowledge without character, commerce without morality,
science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principles."
--[/i]Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian civil rights activist


[/size][/color]

[the flying reindeer]

National Guitar Flat-Picking Championships
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 256th day of 2012 with 109 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:07 p.m., it's fair , temp 79ºF [Feels like 79ºF], winds SSW @ 6 mph, humidity 35%, pressure 30.29 in and falling, dew point 49ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1492--Lorenzo de' Medici, Florentine ruler (1513-9), was born; died 1519 at age 26
1609--English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into the river that now bears his name.
1777--the Continental Congress received news of the patriots defeat at Brandywine.
1845--poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope and settle in Italy.
1861--in the Civil War, the First Battle of Lexington, Missouri, began.
1898--Giuseppe Saragat, Italian founder of the Socialist Party of Italian Workers, was born; died 1988 at age 89.
1918--US troops launch the Saint-Mihiel offensive in World War I.
1938--in a speech in Nuremberg, Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia
1940--Lascaux cave paintings discovered are discovered by four French teenagers who followed their dog into a cavern.
1943--German paratroopers rescued former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from the hotel where he was being held prisoner by his own government
1953--Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island.
1953--Nikita Khrushchev was elected the leader of the USSR.
1954--Lassie made its TV debut on CBS.
1959--Bonanza premiered on NBC.
1974--violence erupted in Boston, Mass. over racial busing.
1974--Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by Ethiopia's military after ruling for 58 years.
1977--Steven Biko, leader of South Africa's "Black Consciousness Movement," died in prison of severe head trauma, triggering an international outcry..
1988--Hurricane Gilbert slammed into Jamaica, killing hundreds of people.
1993--the rebuilt floating bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, over Lake Washington opened in Seattle, carruomg the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 (the westbound lanes cross the lake on a separate bridge).
2000--Dutch lawmakers gave same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children.
2003--country singer-musician Johnny Cash died at age 71.
2005--FEMA director Michael Brown resigned, three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
2006--Pope Benedict XVI quoted from an obscure medieval text that characterized some teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," unleashing a torrent of rage across the Islamic world.
2008--acommuter train engineer ran a red light while text messaging and struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing himself and 24 other people.

World News Capsules:
1. Western and Afghan officials split over Karzai nomination for spy chief
....Pres. Karzai’s pick to lead the Afghan spy agency, Asadullah Khalid, has been accused of torture and drug trafficking, but is also seen as a man with political skills and wide connections..
2. Activists face obstacles in return to disputed islands
....A group of activists who triggered a confrontation between China and Japan by sailing to disputed islands last month said that a return trip was complicated by legal and financial barriers.
a. China accuses Japan of stealing after purchase of group of disputed islands
....The charge comes after Japan bought the islands in the East China Sea for nearly $30 million from private owners.
3. In victory for Merkel, German court backs Euro rescue fund
....Germany’s constitutional court gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a significant victory in her bid to master the debt crisis that has buffeted Europe for years and endangered its common currency.
4. Hungarians stage a fast over rules for voters
....The weeklong fast outside Parliament is the latest protest against the policies of Hungary’s prime minister, who has been accused of undermining the country’s young democracy.
5. Netanyahu's comments cause stir in Israel
....A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Obama administration over Iran, Israelis were sympathetic to Mr. Netanyahu even as they mulled the possible damage to ties with the White House.
6. US suspects Libya attack was planned

....Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed along with three of his staff members in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi. It was the first death of an American envoy abroad in more than two decades.
a. Anger over a film fuels anti-American attacks in Libya
....Protesters upset over an American-made video denouncing Islam attacked the US Consulate in Libya, while Egyptian demonstrators stormed over the walls of the US Embassy in Cairo.
b. For veteran envoy, return to Libya was full of hope

....American ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, 52, was killed in the attack in Benghazi. He knew the opportunities and travails facing Libya after the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
c. Why Muslims are sensitive on the prophet

....Violence over depictions of the prophet Mohammed speaks to a central tenet of Islam: that the prophet was a man, not God, and that portraying him threatens to lead to worshiping a human instead of Allah.
7. North Korea rejects offer of aid from South Korea
....North Korea also rejected a similar offer from the South last year, calling it too small and dashing hopes of easing relations.
8. More than 300 people die in two Pakistan fires

....At least 300 people were killed when fires engulfed two factories in two major cities, renewing concerns about lax building safety measures and dismal conditions for factory workers in Pakistan.
9. Relief crisis grows as refugees stream out of Syria

....Two million Syrian citizens who desperately need help are not receiving it, according to international officials, and with thousands fleeing daily, the exodus now exceeds a quarter of a million.
10. Car bomb kills 12 in Yemen, but targeted minister escapes harm

....A blast alongside a convoy of vehicles used by Yemen’s defense minister came one day after a top operative for Al Qaeda in the country was killed.

US News Capsules:
1. National schools debate is on displaly in Chicago

....Questions on how teachers should be evaluated have been added to traditional issues of pay, benefits and working conditions as Chicago teachers walk picket lines.
a. Teachers' leader in Chicago strike shows her edge
....In Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, which completed a second day on strike from public schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel may have met his match.
2. Gay marriage vote rises as test in upstate NY GOP race.
....The re-election bid by State Senator Roy J. McDonald has become a referendum on one issue: his decision to vote to legalize same-sex marriage.
3. Mapping military needs, aided by a big projection.
....Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is asking top military officials to examine what challenges will face American forces in five years and beyond.
4. Apple offers a new iPhone, lighter and more powerful

....The new version also requires a new connector cord — and a new adapter to make it work with existing accessories.
5. Quick start to program offering immigrants a reprieve
....More than 72,000 young immigrants who are in the US illegally have applied for two-year deportation deferrals, and this week the first approvals have been granted.
6. Whistle-blower awarded $104 million by IRS
....Bradley Birkenfeld, who got out of jail last month after serving time for helping Americans dodge taxes, received a lavish bonus for his role in exposing tax schemes at UBS.
7. Stir builds over casting light-skinned actress as Nina Simone


....Protests are greeting the news that the light-skinned actress Zoe Saldana will play the singer Nina Simone.
8. Poverty leveled off last year, even as incomes dropped
....The median household income in 2011 was $50,054, a level last seen in 1996.
9. American Muslim leaders condemn attacks
....American Muslim organizations denounced the violence against American diplomatic outposts in Libya and Egypt.
10. Moody's warns that US may face debt downgrade
....Congressional leaders dug in their heels against any quick deal to resolve a looming fiscal disaster before the election, even as the ratings agency warned of a downgrade if no solution was found by year’s end.
11. Study of US health care system finds both waste and opportunity to improve.
....The Institute of Medicine says the American medical system loses $750 billion annually by squandering 30 cents of every dollar,
a. New medical care networks show savings
....A study indicated a slowing of costs for hospitals and doctors that collaborated to keep a defined group of patients healthier, a model promoted by the federal health care law.
POLITICS:
1. Candidates look to balance need for campaigning with need for money
....Having both declined public money, Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney are committing to ambitious fund-raising schedules that are eating into valuable campaign time.
2. Embracing role as surrogate, Clinton hits campaign trail
....Before a crowd of 2,300, Bill Clinton reprised much of the defense of Pres. Obama’s first term that he delivered at the Democratic National Convention.
2. Democrats outraged with Romney foreign policy attacks
....Mitt Romney's harsh chiding of Pres. Obama's response to attacks in Libya and Egypt spurred a firestorm of backlash from Democrats, who claim the GOP candidate is politicizing a tragedy that killed four, including the US ambassador and three others, in US offices in Benghazi, Libya.

Sports Headlines:
1. MLB: Putting the wild in the wild-card races

....Eighteen of baseball’s 30 teams have a legitimate chance to win one of the 10 available postseason positions.
a. For Valentine, a ruined season and spoiler's role.
....Stuck in last place in the AL East, the Red Sox and Manager Bobby Valentine could salvage some respect if they can block the Yankees’ road to the playoffs.
b. Osessions surround agents absent from steroids report
....Questions have arisen as to why two prominent agents were not mentioned in the Mitchell report on steroid use in baseball, even when players they represented were implicated.
2. NCAAFB: Notre Dame to join ACC, but not in football
....The ACC said that the Irish would play five football games a year against league opponents and be a full member in all sports except football and hockey.
3. NHL: The union tries legal maneuver in Canada
....As formal negotiations have broken off, the Players’ Association is trying an unusual legal gambit to block team owners from locking out players in Quebec and Alberta,
4. GOLF: Women's golf money leader could end US drought

....This weekend, as the LPGA heads into the year’s final major, the Women’s British Open, Stacy Lewis has the chance to record the finest season by an American woman in nearly two decades.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Questions surround man behind anti-Islam film.

(a burnt vehicle at the US Consulate in Benghazi)
Little is known about the man behind an online film that mocked Islam and went relatively unnoticed until Tuesday, when it sparked Muslim rage and violent protests in Libya and Egypt. In Egypt and Libya, violent mobs targeted U.S. missions and blamed America for the film although it remains unclear whether that attack was solely incited by the film.
The Wall Street Journal identified the filmmaker as Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American real estate developer -- but by Wednesday afternoon, doubt surfaced over whether anyone by that name even exists. The Journal reported that, in its telephone interview with Bacile, he characterized his film called "Innocence of Muslims" as "a political effort to call attention to the hypocrisies of Islam." "Islam is a cancer," he told the newspaper. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie." An online trailer for the film depicts Islam as a fraudulent religion bent on getting rid of nonbelievers. Cartoonish scenes show Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer, child molester, ruthless killer. Other scenes show security forces ordered to do nothing as rampaging Muslims destroy Christian homes, and a donkey anointed the first Muslim animal.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said it doesn't know who Bacle is. "This guy is totally anonymous. At this point no one can confirm he holds Israeli citizenship and even if he did we are not involved," ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "No Israeli institution, government department or office has any involvement in this. This guy acted on his own behalf."
A consultant, Steve Klein, said he worked with Bacile on the movie and said the filmmaker is now in hiding. "He's very depressed, and he's upset," Klein said. "I talked to him this morning, and he said that he was very concerned for what happened to the ambassador." Klein, however, said it was not the film's fault that protests had turned bloody.Further casting doubt on the filmmaker's identity, The Atlantic quoted Klein as saying Sam Bacile is a pseudonym and "he did not know Bacile's real name."
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood -- the party of its new President Mohamed Morsy -- has called for peaceful protests this Friday to denounce the film. In Afghanistan, the Taliban charged that the movie was made with the permission of the US government, while Pres. Hamid Karzai condemned the film as abhorrent and an act of desecration. In America, a Muslim advocacy group called the movie "trashy" and said its producers did not represent the United States or the Christian faith."We urge that this ignorant attempt to provoke the religious feelings of Muslims in the Arabic-speaking world be ignored and that its extremist producers not be given the cheap publicity they so desperately seek," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Oh, Gina, where art thou when we need you. This is a perfect incident fit for a conspiracy theory of which you are so expert.

Thought for Today
""It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end."
--[/i]Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian Renaissance genius.


[/size][/color]

[the flying reindeer]

Roald Dahl Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 257th day of 2012 with 108 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:19 p.m., it's fair , temp 78ºF [Feels like 78ºF], winds S @ 8 mph, humidity 46%, pressure 30.33 in and steady, dew point 56ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
122--construction of Hadrian's Wall, a stone and turf wall across present-day northern England, was begun by the Roman Empire.
1189--Richard I (aka the Lionheart), wkswar son of Henry II, was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
1242--St Francis of Assisi, Roman Catholic friar and founder of the Order of Friars Minor or Franciscans, had a vision from which he received the stigmata.
1321--Dante Alighieri , Florentine poet ("The Devine Comedy") & politician, died.
1759--7-Years War: (French and Indian War in the colonies): the British under Gen. James Wolfe defeated the Marquis de Montcalm's French forces on the Plains of Abraham. below Quebec, Both generals were fatally wounded but the victory ensured British supremacy in Canada.
1788--the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election and declared New York City the temporary national capital.
1814--Francis Scott Key pens a poem which is later set to music to become "The Star-Spangled Banner."
1847--Gen. Winfield Scott stormed the Chapultepec fortress in Mexico.
1851--Walter Reed, pathologist and bacteriologist, was born; died 1902 at age 51.
1860--John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, was born.; died 1948 at age 88.
1862--Union troops discovered the Confederate's Antietam battle plan.
1914--former British diplomat Sir Roger Casement secretly met with Franz von Papen, the German military attaché, to seek Germany’s support in winning independence from British rule for Ireland.
1936--the Cleveland Indians teenage phenom pittcher (age 17), "Rapid" Bob Feller, struck out 17 and allowed 2 hits while beating the Philadelphia A's 5-2.
1940--Italy invaded Egypt during World War II.
1943--Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.
1948--Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me.) was elected to the US Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
1949--the Ladies Professional Golf Association of America was formed in New York City.
1971--the 4-day riot at Attica Prison ended violently as law enforcement officials opened fire, killing 29 inmates and 10 hostages and injuring many more. The prison insurrection was the bloodiest in US history.
1988--Hurricane Gilbert (currently the second most intense hurricane from the Atlantic) spawned more than 29 tornadoes and killed 318 people .
1990--The drama series Law & Order debuted on NBC.
1993--at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
1996--Hip hop star Tupac Shakur, age 26, died of gunshot wounds from a previous Las Vegas drive-by shooting.
1998--NBC's Frasier won a record fifth consecutive Emmy as TV's best comedy series.
1999--a bomb blamed on Chechen rebels devastated an 8-story apartment building in Moscow, killing at least 124 people.
2000--Chase Manhattan agreed to buy J.P. Morgan for more than $35 billion, creating the 3rd largest financial company in the US.
2001--Secretary of State Colin Powell named Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the US.
2008--Hurricane Ike finally dissipated after killing 195 people with damages estimated at $32 billion making it the 3rd costliest Atlantic Hurricane.

World News Capsules:
1. Egypt may be bigger concern than Libya for White House
....The tepid response from the Egyptian government to violence at the American Embassy in Cairo gave American officials cause for worry.
2. In victory for Merkel, German court ruling favors European bailout fund
....Germany’s constitutional court gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a significant victory in her bid to master the debt crisis that has buffeted Europe and endangered its common currency.
3. Haiti's quake-damaged national palace being demolished.

....The white French Renaissance palace, which ended up as little more than a symbol of the stalled recovery from the 2010 earthquake, will be ripped apart over the coming months and carted off
4. UN nuclearwatchdog passes resolution on Iran
....The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency criticized Iran for defying demands to curb its uranium enrichment and failing to quell mounting concerns about its suspected research into atomic bombs.
5. Israelis fear fallout from Netanyahu's blunt comments
....A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Obama administration over Iran, Israelis were sympathetic to Mr. Netanyahu even as they mulled the possible damage to ties with the White House.
6. For veteran envoy, return to Libya was full of hope
....J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador who was killed on Tuesday, knew the opportunities and travails facing Libya after the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
a. At least 1 arrest made in Libya attack as protests spread

....Anger and outrage over an obscure film spread across Muslim countries today with protests in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Tunisia and Morocco.
7. Mexico announces capture of Gulf cartel leader

....Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, known as El Coss, was arrested , the Mexican Navy said in a statement.
8. Middle East dplomats pulled two ways, between protection and accessibility
....An ambassador’s death most likely will only increase efforts to protect American diplomatic personnel from the chaos of the countries where they are posted.
9. Spport for the euro is seen in Dutch election results
....Dutch voters appeared to give Prime Minister Mark Rutte a narrow victory, which will bring a sigh of relief to European allies anxious about rising euro skepticism in the richer countries of the north.
10. More than 300 killed in Pakistani factory fires

....Fires engulfed two factories in two major cities, killing more than 300 and reviving long-running questions about the regulation of the country’s manufacturing sector.
11. Medvedev says rockers have served enough jail time for cathedral performance.

....The Russian prime minister said further incarceration of the three women in the group Riot would be unproductive.
12. In South Africa, labor unrest in mining deepens
....A platinum producer suspended operations, and tear gas was fired at protesting workers at a gold mine in signs that spreading turmoil is destabilizing a crucial industry.
13. The country beckons Spaniards as jobs in cities grow scarce
....For generations, Spaniards have left their homes in the country to seek jobs in the city, but now many are moving back.
14. Turmoil over contentious video spreads to Yemen and Iran

....Protesters angered by an anti-Islam film tried to storm the American Embassy in Sana, the Yemeni capital, two days after assailants killed the United States ambassador to Libya.

US News Capsules:
1. Fresh hopes for end to Chicago teacher strike by weekend


....Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said she was optimistic that a deal could be reached to end the teachers’ strike in time for children to return to class Monday.
a. As Chicago teachers strike, students are on the loose and at loose ends
....Students could be found in contingency programs at schools, in churches and in day care centers. Some slept late, stayed home alone and wandered neighborhoods.
b. Push to add charter schools hangs over strike
....Mayor Rahm Emanuel's oft-cited goal of expanding charter schools is not officially on the table, but a union official called it "the elephant in the room."
2. McDonald's menu to post calorie data
....The fast-food chain plans to act before a pending federal requirement, and may bring other restaurants with it.
3. Fed pledges action until economy shows gains

....The Federal Reserve said it would expand its holdings of mortgage-backed securities, and potentially undertake other new policies, until unemployment drops sufficiently or inflation rises too fast.
4. Decades later, a vision survives
....A new park on Roosevelt Island is based on a plan four decades old: Louis Kahn's Four Freedoms Park. It opens on Oct. 24 as Kahn's only work in New York City,
5. Judge rules against law on indefinite detention
....The ruling came as the House voted to extend another contested law connected to fighting terrorism, an expansion of warrantless surveillance.
POLITICS:
1. A challenger's criticism is furiously returned.
....From Mitt Romney's perspective, the time was ripe to cast the president as someone who apologizes for America.
2. Obama grows more reliant on big-money contributors
....Pres. Obama's top "bundlers" raised or gave at least $200 million for his re-election bid and the Democratic National Committee through the end of May, close to halve the total.
3. Deal on a farm bill appears unlikely

....If Congress fails to reach a deal, direct payments to farmers would still continue but nearly 40 other programs would not be financed after the end of this month.
4. After mistakenly purging citizens, Florida agrees to let them vote
....In settling a lawsuit, Florida agreed that residents who were removed from voting rolls after mistakenly being classified as noncitizens will be allowed to vote in November.
a. Social networks can affect voter turnout, study says
....A large study of Facebook users found that a “get out the vote” message using pictures of friends got 340,000 additional people to the polls.

Thought for Today
"[H]e that thinks absolute power purifies men's blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need read the history of this, or any other age, to be convinced to the contrary."
--John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher & political theorist. (Considered the ideological progenitor of the American Revolution and who, by far, was the most often non-biblical writer quoted by the Founding Fathers .)

[the flying reindeer]

Stand Up to Cancer Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 258th day of 2012 with 107 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:33 p.m., it's fair , temp 81ºF [Feels like 82ºF], winds SSW @ 9 mph, humidity 41%, pressure 30.08 in and falling, dew point 55ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1262--Cadiz was captured by Alfonso X of Castille, ending a 500-year occupation of the city by the Moors.
1741--after only 23 days, George Frederick Handel completed his "Messiah".
1752--Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar.
1779--Col. Daniel Brodhead concluded an assault vs. the Seneca Indians in the Allegheny Valley of Pennsylvania, while Maj. Gen. John Sullivan had attacked the Iroquois of Central New York.
1812--Napoleon's Grande Armée entered Moscow, only to find the population evacuated and the Russian army gone.
1847--Mexican War: Gen. Winfield Scott captured Mexico City.
1854--allied armies, including those of Britain and France, landed in the Crimea to oppose the Russians, who had sparked the Crimean War by invading Turkey.
1862--the North and South clashed at the Battle of South Mountain, Md., allowing Lee time to gather his forces further west along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg.
1868--the first recorded hole-in-one at golf was scored by Tom Morris at Prestwick in Scotland.
1879--Margaret Sanger, the outspoken early 20th-century advocate of birth control, was born; died 1966 at age 86
1901--Pres. William McKinley died after being shot by a deranged anarchist during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.
1901--Vice Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, age 42, was sworn in as the youngest president in U.S. history.
1927--Isadora Duncan, a proponent of modern dance, was killed when her scarf caught in the wheel the Bugatti in which she was riding.
1930--the National Socialist (Nazi) Party won a stunning election triumph in Germany, becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag.
1939--the first successful helicopter, Igor Sikorsky's VS-300, made its first flight.
1940--Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act, providing for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
1944--the U.S. 1st Marine Division landed on the island of Peleliu, as part of a larger operation to provide support for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was preparing to invade the Philippines., but at extraordinary cost of American lives.
1959--the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon, crashing onto the lunar surface.
1960--the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
1964--1962 Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck was awarded the US Medal of Freedom.
1966--Operation Attleboro was launched in War Zone C in Vietnam.
1968--pitcher Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers became a 30-game winner.
1974--"I Shot the Sheriff" (written by reggae legend Bob Marley) recorded by Eric Clapton hit No. 1 on the music charts.
1975--Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized by Pope Paul VI, becoming the first American-born Catholic saint.
1982--Hollywood star and real-life princess Grace Kelly died at age 52 from injuries suffered when her car plunged off a cliff.
1994--the remainder of the major league baseball season was cancelled on the 34th day of a strike by players.

World News Capsules:
1. Off-scrpt scramble for power in a Chinese leader's absence
....If and when China's presumptive new leader, Xi Jinping, re-emerges, he will do so in the midst of a contentious Communist Party preparing to shake up its leadership.
a. Chinese ships enter Japanese-controlled waters to protest sale of islands

....It was the first such move by China since Japan announced that it had bought a group of disputed uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
b. Trial set for Chinese official embroiled in scandal

....Wang Lijun, the charismatic police chief under the fallen politician Bo Xilai, will be tried in the southwestern city of Chengdu, according to a court official.
2. Egypt, hearing from Obama, moves to heal rift from protests
....A blunt phone call from Pres. Obama prompted Egyptian leaders to scramble to try to repair the country's alliance with Washington.
3. Energy policy divides governing coalition in France
....Compromises on nuclear power have placed the Green Party’s leadership at odds with its base, and some are wondering if the Greens’ alliance with the Socialist Party can survive.
a. Catherine 'upset' over topless photos

....UK royals consider legal action after a French magazine stoked controversy by publishing topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge, taken while she was on vacation with Prince William. at a private home,
4. UN agency rebukes Iran for failing to cooperate
....The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a measure that rebuked Iran for defying demands to curb its uranium enrichment and expressed concern about its nuclear advances
5. Obama rebuffs Netanyahu on setting limits on Iran's nuclear program
....Pres/ Obama rejected an appeal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to spell out a specific “red line” that Iran could not cross in its nuclear program.
6. Japan will try to halt nuclear power by the end of the 2039s
....Japan’s government said it intends to stop using nuclear power by the 2030s, marking a major shift from policy goals set before last year’s Fukushima disaster
7. Pope Benedict arrives in Lebanon amid turmoil

....Even before protests against an incendiary video erupted this week, upheaval in the region had complicated Pope Benedict XVI’s trip, although the Vatican downplayed security concerns.
8. In Libya, chaos was followed by organized ambush, official says
....The mayhem that killed and wounded more than a dozen American officials was actually two attacks - the first spontaneous and the second organized, a top Libyan security official said. Four people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead.
9. Anti-American protests over film expand to more than a dozen countries

....Protests expanded to more than a dozen countries on Friday, as demonstrators breached the American Embassy in Tunisia and protesters in Sudan broadened their targets to include Germany and Britain.
a. As violence spreads in Arab World, Google blocks access to inflammatory video
...In the category of closing the barn after the horse is stolen: Google blocked an anti-Muslim video on YouTube, which it owns, in Egypt and in Libya, but did not take it down altogether.
b. Protests continue for a 4th day
....The authorities in much of the Muslim world braced for demonstrations after Friday Prayer — an occasion often associated with public displays of dissent.
10. Though not yet open, a huge mine is transforming Mongoia's landscape

....Enormous reserves of gold and copper will bring prosperity, but at a human, cultural and environmental cost. While gold and copper mining have made Mongolia the world’s fastest-growing economy, they have also created some health and environmental problems in boom towns throughout the Gobi Desert.
11. Hundreds die in two Pakistan factory fires
....A fire at a shoe factory in Lahore killed at least 25. Hours later, a fire ravaged a textile factory complex in Karachi, killing almost 300 in Pakistan’s worst industrial accident, officials said.
a. Anger rolls across Pakistani city in Aftermath of factory fire
....Several survivors said that as the fire spread, plant managers forced them to stay in order to save the company's stock: piles of stonewashed jeans.
12. Russian Parliament expels a Putin opponent
....The legislator, Gennadi V. Gudkov, crossed a political line in the sand when he joined crowds calling for the ouster of the Russian president.
13. Super typhoon headed for South Korea

....A huge typhoon packing fierce winds is moving north toward the Japanese island of Okinawa and is projected to eventually hit the Korean Peninsula, where dozens of people were killed by a big storm last month..
14. UN envoy says he'll 'spare no effort' to halt Syria bloodshed

....The newly minted UN-Arab League envoy to Syria vowed during his first visit to Damascus to "spare no effort" to help end that country's civil war.

US News Capsules:
1. Fed ties new aid to jobs recovery in forceful move
....The Federal Reserve opened a new chapter in its efforts to stimulate the American economy, saying that it intends to buy large quantities of mortgage bonds until the job market improves substantially.
2. Born to be wild, aging bikers settle for comfy

....When motorcyclists have trouble meeting the physical demands of a bike, many decide that it might be time to add a third wheel.
3. Fresh hopes for end to Chicago teacher strike by weekend


....Leaders on both sides of the contract fight said they had an outline in place for an agreement that could clear the way for schools to reopen Monday.
4. Despite virus, visitors trek to Yosemite, if a bit warily
....Though anxious, thousands of people went to the park over the weekend, just days after the authorities announced that a third person had died from hantavirus.
5. Uneasy allies in the grocery aisle
....A ballot measure to require labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients is putting organic brands like Kashi, owned by Kellogg, at odds with their owners.
6. Taking pointers from web sites, USA Today modernizes its look

....The Gannett-owned newspaper will look more like a Web site and its new Web site will read more like an iPad.
7. No explosives found after mob threats at colleges

....The University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D., had ordered campus evacuations on Friday morning.
8. Panetta set to discuss US shaft in Asia trip
....Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will outline how the Pentagon is refocusing on the Pacific, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over or winding down.
9. US declares a disaster for fishery in northeast

....The Commerce Department issued a formal disaster declaration that could pave the way for financial relief for the battered industry and the communities that depend on it.
POLITICS:
1. Fossil fuel ads dominate TV in campaign
....Major fossil fuel companies are financing an effort to defeat Pres. Obama, while his former allies in promoting wind and solar power are disenchanted and sitting out the campaign.
2. In states with GM plants, bailout's success is no guarantee of votes

....Even Wentzville, Mo., where a new General Motors plant is under construction, is expected to favor Mitt Romney, who opposed saving the automaker.
3. Amid Mideast turmoil, aides say what a President Romney would do
....Tying Egypt’s debt forgiveness to the country’s efforts to protect American interests there and shaping a post-Qaddafi Libya were among the specific positions Mitt Romney’s advisers said he would take,
4. Kansas election officials seek copy of Obama's birth certificate
....The officials, including the conservative secretary of state, said they were required to act after a resident filed a challenge - UN-BEEE-LIEV--ABUL!!!!
5. House Republicans welcome back Ryan, and his vote, on a sspending measure

....Rep. Paul D. Ryan detoured from the campaign trail to vote on a measure that will avoid a government default and an election-season battle.

Sports Headlines:
1. Hughes pitches well, Jeter has a big hit and the Yankees keep pace
....Phil Hughes was masterly for seven and a third innings as the Yankees beat Boston 2-0 to remain in a first-place tie with Baltimore.
a. History shows feling on power is not a weakness

....Home runs have been a hallmark of plenty of current contenders and past champions.
2. NFL: Jets' Revis ruled out of Steelers game after concussion


....Darrelle Revis did not receive the N.F.L.-mandated authorization to resume contact after sustaining a concussion in the season opener.
a. Yards don't equal wins
....Cam Newton puts up big numbers, but the Carolina Panthers are still struggling. Will that change against New Orleans?.
3. Olympic Sports: A source of thrills

....Amid concerns of further industrialization of the Nile, the best freestyle kayakers make sure to visit Uganda to try out their skills on the Nile Special, a whipping, meters-tall rapid that surges year round.
4. NCAABK: Passion for victory that knew no bounds

....For 26 years, through bouts with cancer, and other afflictions and distractions, Jim Calhoun badgered and bullied his Connecticut program to dizzying heights.
5. NHL: Talks still frozen as words heat up
....As the N.H.L. labor dispute remained deadlocked, the Board of Governors voted unanimously to support a lockout if no agreement had been reached by midnight Saturday.
6. TENNIS: Spain sweeps US in singles for 2-0 Davis Cup lead

....David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro won their clay-court matches against Sam Querrey and John Isner to give Spain a commanding 2-0 lead over the United States in the Davis Cup semifinal.

Thought for Today
"The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."
--Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher

[the flying reindeer]

R.I.P. William Safire, 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist (NY Times), speechwriter for Pres. Nixon and oracle of language, died at age 79 of pancreatic cancer at a hospice in Rockville, Md. He is survived by his wife Helene, son Mark and daughter Annabel and a granddaughter, Lily Safire.

He was a man of many talents. He was a college dropout and proud of it, a public relations go-getter who set up the famous Nixon-Khrushchev “kitchen debate” in Moscow, and a White House wordsmith in the tumultuous era of war in Vietnam, Nixon’s visit to China and the gathering storm of the Watergate scandal, which drove the president from office.
From 1973 to 2005, Mr. Safire wrote his twice-weekly “Essay” for the Op-Ed page of The Times, a forceful conservative voice in the liberal chorus. Unlike most Washington columnists who offer judgments with Olympian detachment, Mr. Safire was a pugnacious contrarian who did much of his own reporting, called people liars in print and laced his opinions with outrageous wordplay. And from 1979 until earlier this month, he wrote “On Language,” a New York Times Magazine column that explored written and oral trends, plumbed the origins and meanings of words and phrases, and drew a devoted following, including a stable of correspondents he called his Lexicographic Irregulars. The columns, many collected in books, made him an unofficial arbiter of usage and one of the most widely read writers on language. It also tapped into the lighter side of the dour-looking Mr. Safire: a Pickwickian quibbler who gleefully pounced on gaffes, inexactitudes, neologisms, misnomers, solecisms and perversely peccant puns, like “the president’s populism” and “the first lady’s momulism,” written during the Carter presidency.
Mr. Safire also wrote four novels, including Full Disclosure (1977), a best-seller about succession issues after a president is blinded in an assassination attempt, and nonfiction that included The New Language of Politics and Before the Fall, a memoir of his White House years.
His last Op-Ed column was “Never Retire.” He then became chairman of the Dana Foundation, which supports research in neuroscience, immunology and brain disorders. In 2005, he testified at a Senate hearing in favor of a law to shield reporters from prosecutors’ demands to disclose sources and other information. In 2006, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush. From 1995 to 2004, he was a member of the board that awards the Pulitzer Prizes.

R.I.P. William Safire, matchless wordsmith. It will be a long, long time before another like you will come along, if ever.

[the flying reindeer]

National Hispanic Heritage Month
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 259th day of 2012 with 106 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:55 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 65ºF [Feels like 65ºF], winds N @ 3 mph, humidity 58%, pressure 30.16 in and steady, dew point 50ºF, chance of precipitation 10%

Today in History:
1776--British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.
1779--French Commander Charles Count d'Estaing captured two British frigates and two British supply ships in the Savannah River.
1789--James Fenimore Cooper, novelist (The Last of the Mohicans) for whom Cooperstown is named, was born; died 1851 at age 61.
1794--Virginian & founding father James Madison married Dolley Payne Todd.
1821--Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador became independent from Spain.
1858--the 1st transcontinental mail service to San Francisco began.
1862--Confederate Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson captured Harpers Ferry (present-day West Virginia), and some 12,000 Union soldiers.
1890--Dame Agatha Christie, English detective novelist and playwright (The Mousetrap), was born; died 1976 at age 85.
1914--the first trenches on the Western Front were dug.
1916--the first used of tanks in war was in the Battle of the Somme in World War I.
1917--Russia was proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.
1935--German Jews were stripped of their citizenship, reducing them to mere "subjects" of the state. under the Nuremberg race laws that also made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.
1940--the Battle of Britain reached its climax when the Royal Air Force (RAF) downed 56 invading German aircraft in two dogfights lasting less than an hour. The costly raid convinced the German high command that the Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over Britain.
1950--Korean War: UN forces landed at Inchon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul
1954--the famous Marilyn Monroe "skirt" scene in The 7-Year Itch was filmed.
1958--a commuter train plunged off a bridge into Newark Bay in New Jersey killing 47 passengers as the result of mistakes made by the train's crew.
1959--USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev arrived for a summit with Pres. Eisenhouwer in Wasington, D.C.
1962--The Four Seasons earn their first #1 hit with "Sherry"
1963--a bomb explodes during Sunday morning services in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala,, killing four young black schoolgirls.
1972--South Vietnamese forces retake Quang Tri City.
1978--Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his career, the first fighter ever to do so.
1982--the first edition of the USA Today newspaper was published.
2000--the first Olympic Games of the 21st century opened in Sydney, Australia.
2001--Pres. Bush identified Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and told Americans to prepare for a long, difficult war against terrorism.
2004--National Hockey League owners agreed to lock out the players. (The 2004-05 season was eventually canceled.)
2005--Pres. Bush acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina and urged Congress to approve a massive reconstruction program.
2008--Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection – the largest in US history.

World News Capsules:
1. Two NATO soldiers killed by man thought to be Afghan police officer
....A man thought to be an Afghan policeman killed two NATO soldiers in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Profince before he was himself shot dead. That followed an attack on NATO's Camp Bastion in Helmand Province., where 2 US Marines were killed at the base, where Britain's Prince Harry is stationed. with the Taliban claiming responsibility.
a. Young lives, lost to suicide attacks
....Indiscriminate suicide bombings are robbing Afghanistan’s children of their dreams.
b. Afghans act to fill top security posts
....Afghan lawmakers approved all three of the president’s nominees for the government’s top security jobs on Saturday, avoiding a prolonged power vacuum.
2. Anti-Japan protests erupt in China over islands dispute

....Thousands besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing hurling rocks, eggs and bottles; demonstrations broke out in other cities.
a. A Chinese leader returns amid tumult
....Xi Jinping reappeared on Saturday as diplomatic tensions boiled over with hundreds of demonstrators throwing rocks and eggs at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing
3. Streets are cleared in Cairo; unresst toward film subsides
....Egyptian security forces, under intense pressure from the United States, arrested scores of protesters on Saturday as anti-American protests seemed to subside across the region
4. The Champs-Élysées, a Mall of America
....The grand boulevard, overrun with clothing outlets and burger joints, has largely lost its distinctive character and has become less French.
5. Indian coal scandal stirs doubt on leaders and ability to fix woes
....A brazen brand of crony capitalism has created huge fortunes for a few, at the expense of the nation as a whole, which is falling short in energy infrastructure.
6 Berlusconi magazine to publish duchess photos
....The images of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless first appeared in the French magazine Closer, which is also owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Mondadori group
7. Pope cites multi-faith Lebanon as a model for turbulent Mideast

....Pope Benedict urged multi-faith Lebanon on Saturday to be a model of peace and religious coexistence for the Middle East, which he called a turbulent region that "seems to endure interminable birth pangs".
8. Diplomats' bodies return to US, and Libyan guards recpimt dead;u ropt
....Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens reportedly took shelter in a hot, smoke-filled room and lost consciousness there during the attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
9. US is preparing for a long siege of Arab unrest

....The White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and President Obama’s ability to shape the forces of change in the Arab world.
10. Solidarity in Myanmar
.....A prominent activist is canceling a trip to the United States to receive a democracy award, to show solidarity with colleagues whose passports have apparently been denied.
11. Undaunted by arrests, the opposition marches against Putin
....Russia’s opposition hoped to show that its ranks were unfazed by a battery of restrictions or the two-year prison sentences handed down to members of the punk rock band Riot.
12. Clashes after South African cops raid miners' hostels to seize weapons.

....About 500 South African police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse miners from Lonmin's Karee platinum mine rallying in Marikana after raids on their hostels to seize arms.
13. Large anti-austerity protests in Spain, Portugal
....Thousands of people took to the streets to protest punishing austerity measures imposed by the financial crisis
14. Sudan rejects US plan to send Marines to protect embassy
...."Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum," minister tells media a day after US announced a platoon of Marines would be deployed amid anti-Western violence.
15. New international envoy, meeting with Syrian president, says crisis is worsening
....Lakhdar Brahimi, the special envoy representing the United Nations and the Arab League, said President Bashar al-Assad was “more aware than me of the scope and the seriousness of the crisis.”

US News Capsules:
1. Turbines are helping in Europe: how many would power East Coast?

Placing 144,000 wind turbines off the East Coast could meet the entire demand for electricity from Florida to Maine, according to engineering experts at Stanford University.
2. Obama says US has 'profound respect' for people of all faiths as protests spread
....Pres. Obama insists there is no excuse for attacks on US embassies, as hundreds demonstrate in Australia.
3. Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker taken for questioning by federal probation officers

....A man, Nakoula Besseley Nakoula, purported to be a filmmaker involved with the anti-Islam video sparking violent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa was escorted by deputies from his Cerritos, Calif., home shortly after midnight Saturday morning,
4. Chicago forges outline to end teacher strike

....After a weeklong strike, Chicago teachers and the school board said that they had the outlines of a contract deal. Schools in the nation's third largest district are expected to reopen on Monday,
a. 1000s gather in support of Chicago teachers
....It was the largest show of union force since the strike began, even as schools were expected to reopen Monday.
5. California tries to guide the way on health law
....Officials in California have begun to set up an online marketplace where millions of residents will be able to shop for medical coverage.
6. Money-laundering inquiry is said to aim at US banks
....Regulators, led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are said to be close to taking action against JPMorgan Chase for insufficient safeguards.
7. Forgoing college to pursue dreams.

....Thiel Fellowships pay young people to forgo college and to plunge into real-world projects.
8. With the crowds gone, it's down to some serious fising

....The annual Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby knits a Martha’s Vineyard town of 15,000 back together after its residents live among a summer population swelling to 105,000/
0/ Man, 18, is accused of making a jihadist attempt to bomb a bar in downtown Chicago
....The man, an American citizen, expressed interest online in carrying out a deadly attack, law enforcement officials said.
9. A push for clemency as an execution nears
....Thousands of people argue that Terrance Williams, scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Oct. 3, should be spared in Pennsylvania because he had been sexually abused by his victim.
POLITICS:
1. Do tax cuts lead to economic growth/
....Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have laid out a plan to cut taxes. They have not yet explained why and how it is also an economic-growth plan.
2. Some Republicans try out a new campaign theme: bipartisanship
....Getting the blame for gridlock has prompted a different approach for some candidates as Election Day draws near.
3. In dueling ads, candidates seek to poiticize issues of China amd manufacturing
....Who’s to blame for sending our jobs to China? Ads with elements of truth are nonetheless essentially misleading.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
Spheres spark new Martian mystery

Eight years ago, NASA's Opportunity rover came across strange-looking spheres that were nicknamed Martian blueberries — and now the Mars rover has sent back a picture showing a different flavor of berry that has the experts scratching their heads. "This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," Cornell astronomer Steve Squyres, the rover mission's principal investigator, said today.
The golf-cart-sized Opportunity rover used the microscopic imager on the end of its robotic arm to take a super-close look at the spherical shapes. These particular berries, measuring as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter, cover an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of Endeavour Crater's western rim. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects," Squyres said. "Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars."
Iron-rich Martian blueberries first came to light soon after Opportunity headed out from its landing site on Mars' Meridiani Planum in early 2004. The fact that they have layers of a mineral called hematite suggests that the spherules were formed by the action of mineral-laden water percolating through rocks. That's how similar spherules formed on Earth, where they're known as thunderballs, shaman stones or Moqui marbles.
Last week's discovery adds a new twist to the berry investigation. Many of the spheres on the Kirkwood outcrop have been broken open and eroded by the wind, NASA said. The eroded berries show signs of a concentric structure. To investigate further, Opportunity aimed its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer at the berries and analyzed their elemental composition. The preliminary analysis indicates that the recently found spheres do not have the high iron content seen in the original Martian blueberries. "They are different in concentration. They are different in structure. They are different in composition. They are different in distribution. So, we have a wonderful geological puzzle in front of us. We have multiple working hypotheses, and we have no favorite hypothesis at this time. It's going to take a while to work this out, so the thing to do now is keep an open mind and let the rocks do the talking," Squyres said.
It's been 8 1/2 years since Opportunity dropped onto the Martian surface, cushioned by a layer of bouncy airbags. It and its twin on the other side of the planet, ]/i]Spirit, were expected to last at least three months. Both of those rovers became overachievers. Spirit finally gave up the ghost just a couple of years ago, but Oppy is still going strong at 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer-wide) Endeavour Crater. After weathering another Martian winter, it's rarring to go. This week, the team received the prestigious Haley Space Flight Award for pioneering "new techniques in extraterrestrial robotic system operations."
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, NASA's Curiosity rover is on the move after completing the checkouts on its robotic arm. It arrived on Mars a little more than a month ago and is about twice the size of Oppy — and thanks to its nuclear power source, it could theoretically last for decades. The rover is heading for its first major destination: a geologically interesting spot called Glenelg, roughly a quarter-mile (400 meters) away from its landing site in Gale Crater. NASA reported today that Curiosity "perambulated over 105 feet (32 meters) of unpaved Gale Crater" over the past Martian day, or sol. It has put 466 feet (142 meters) on its odometer, and is roughly a quarter of the way to Glenelg. The rover's main objective is to study Martian soil and rock for the chemical signatures of potential habitability. After spending a few weeks at Glenelg, the rover is due to begin a 12-mile (20-kilometer) odyssey to reach the flanks of a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain in the middle of Gale Crater, known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. The layers of rock on that mountainside could preserve the biggest geological record ever studied on Mars, going back billions of years — and provide new pointers in the search for traces of life on Mars.
As I said yesterday "Fascinating."

Thought for Today
"Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood."
--William Howard Taft (1857-1930) 27th US president (1909-13).

[the flying reindeer]

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 260th day of 2012 with 105 days left in the year. Rosh Hashanah began at sun down,

Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4;18 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 69ºF [Feels like 69ºF], winds W @ 5 mph, humidity 47%, pressure 30.10 in and falling, dew point 48ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1620--the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, headed for the New World.
1630--the Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.
1638--France's King Louis XIV, "the Sun King" (1643-1715), was born; died 1715 at age 76
1776--Battle of Harlem Heights restores American confidence as they forced a small British retreat from their positions.
1810--the successful Mexican war for independence from Napoleonic Spain began.
1845--Phineas Wilcox was stabbed to death by fellow Mormons in Nauvoo, Ill., because they believed he was a Christian spy.
1857--the song "Jingle Bells" by James Pierpont was copyrighted under its original title, "One Horse Open Sleigh."
1875--J. C. Penney, American business leader and founder of the chain of stores bearing his name, was born; died 1971 at age 95.
1893--hundreds of thousands of settlers took part in a land run in Oklahoma's "Cherokee Strip."
1908--William Durant formed General Motors in Fling, Mich.
1919--the American Legion was incorporated by an act of Congress.
1924--Lauren "Betty" Bacall, film and stage actress, was born and turns 88.
1925--B.B. King, Hall of Fame blues musician, was born and turns 87.
1932--in his cell at Yerovda Jail near Bombay, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi began a hunger strike in protest of the British decision to separate India's electoral system by caste.
1940--Pres. Franklin Roosevelt approved the first peacetime military draft in US history.
1940--Rep. Samuel T. Rayburn )D-Tex.), the longest-serving House speaker in history, was first elected Speaker.
1960--Christian A. Herter, the US Ambassador in Saigon warns that situation is worsening with the Viet Cong taking over more of the countryside.
1966--the Metropolitan Opera opened its new home at New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
1969--Pres. Nixon announced the withdrawal of a further 35,000 troops from Vietnam.
1974--Pres. Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.
1978--a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Iran killing 25,000.
1981--"Sugar" Ray Leonard knocked out Thomas Hearns in the 13th round to unify boxing’s middleweight title.
1982--Phalangist militiamen begin a massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon.
1993--Frasier, a spin-off of the long-running mega-hit sitcom Cheers, made its debut on NBC.
2002--UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that Iraq had unconditionally accepted the return of UN weapons inspectors.
2004--Hurricane Ivan plowed into the Gulf Coast with 130 mph wind and a major storm surge; blamed for at least 115 deaths, 43 in the US.
2007--a deadly shooting in Baghdad involving the US security firm Blackwater USA left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
2008--the federal government announced an emergency $85 billion loan to rescue AIG, the world's largest insurance company.

World News Capsules:
1. Two insider attacks kill six coalition members in Afghanistan
....Afghan security forces killed six service members from the American-led military coalition in a pair of attacks in southern Afghanistan this weekend, raising the number of troops killed in such attacks to 51 this year.
2. Anti-Japanese protests continue in China over Pacific islands
....Demonstrations reported in several cities as the government offered mixed signals on whether it would continue to tolerate the sometimes violent outbursts.
3. European bank overhaul meets opposition from finance ministers
....A plan by the European Union to overhaul bank supervision and help troubled lenders hit a roadblock at a meeting of finance ministers.
4. Scandal poses a riddle: Will India ever be able to tackle corruption?
....A brazen brand of crony capitalism has created huge fortunes for a few, at the expense of the nation as a whole, which is falling short in energy infrastructure.
5. Japan won't stop work on reactors, official says
....Yukio Edano, the minister for economy, trade and industry, cast further doubt on whether the resource-poor nation will follow through on a contentious plan to phase out nuclear power
6. Typhoon Sanba hits Manila in the Philippines and Okinawa with heavy rains

....Typhoon Sanba was lashing the Philippines with monsoon rains that flooded parts of Manila before moving on to Okinawa, before heading for South Korea on Monday.
7. South Africa raids houses for weapons of miners
....Police officers swarmed the living quarters of workers at a platinum mine, searching for illegal weapons as part of a new government push to end a series of violent strikes.
8. Opposition makes pick in South Korea
....A former human rights lawyer and close ally of the late Pres. Roh Moo-hyun was chosen as the main opposition Democratic United Party’s candidate for December’s election.

US News Capsules:
1. US is preparing for a long siege of Arab unrest

....The White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and Pres/ Obama's ability to shape the forces of change in the Arab world.
2. In prosecutors, debt collectors find a partner
....In exchange for a fee, district attorneys' offices have been allowing debt collectors to use their letterhead when going after people behind on their bills.
3. A firsts: Organs tailor-made with body's own cells
....Tissue engineers have succeeded in making artificial organs that use a patient’s cells to become a living part of the body, with hope for eventual organ regeneration.
4. Decision looms for Chicago teachers

....Chicago teachers will decide Sunday whether to end a strike that has paralyzed the nation's third-largest public school system and left hundreds of thousands of students out of class for a week.
POLITICS:
1. Challenged on Medicare, GOP loses ground
....Pres. Obama and his campaign are arguing that the Romney-Ryan approach to Medicare would leave older Americans vulnerable to rising health care costs.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Drought of 2012 conjures up Dust Bowl memories, raises questions for tomorrow

Some 3.5 million people fled their homes in Oklahoma, Texas, and elsewhere, the bone-dry landscape, blistering heat and choking dust storms unfit for growing and raising the crops and cattle they relied on to survive, Thousands more, many of them children and seniors, could not escape, killed by an infection dubbed "dust pneumonia" and other illnesses tied not just to the extreme weather and poor living conditions but to massive, fast-moving dust clouds. There were suicides, there were bankruptcies, there were people scrapping for whatever they could find to live. And these were not overnight horror stories: They were repeated day after day and year after year, at a time when much of the United States and world was already debilitated by the Great Depression.
"If you can imagine what's happening now and multiply it by a factor of four or five, that's what it was like," said Bill Ganzel, a Nebraska-based media producer who interviewed survivors of the 1930s' environmental and economic disaster and penned a book, Dust Bowl Descent. "And it lasted for the entire decade." Nothing in U.S. history can compare to that calamity of eight decades ago, including the historic drought now gripping much of the country.
That doesn't mean, though, there isn't considerable suffering and devastation now in most of the United States. Or that dire conditions could well persist for several years, as they did during the 1930s -- compounding negative impacts of drought, thus ruining even more livelihoods and lives despite technological and agricultural advancements of recent years. "Mother Nature holds all the cards," said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. "You roll the dice ... every year. Nothing will make you quote-unquote drought-proof."
Over 63% of the contiguous United States in early September was suffering moderate to exceptional drought, nearly twice the land affected a year ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Using July data, the National Climatic Data Center reported that America is in the midst of its most expansive drought since December 1956. The combination of dry conditions and extreme heat -- including hundreds of record-breaking temperatures this summer -- has been unbearable for many. The drought's impact has been seen in ways big and small, from leaves falling early and lawns turning brown to farmers giving up and lakes drying up, exposing hundreds of dead fish.
While consumers may be worried about rising food prices tied to the drought, many farmers have seen their incomes all but evaporate because crops won't grow -- finding even irrigated farmlands cannot pump in enough moisture, given the rate it evaporates back into the atmosphere in high heat. It hasn't been easier for those who raising cattle and other animals, at a time of scorched pastures and scanty, costly hay and other feed. Ranchers have been forced to prematurely sell off their cattle, saying they had no other choice because it cost more to feed them than to keep them.
Oklahoma ranchers "liquidated" -- meaning slaughtered or sold off, without replacing them with newborns or new purchases -- 14% of their livestock last year, said Derrell Peel, an Oklahoma State University faculty member who works with ranchers and affiliated companies in that state. The only reason rates haven't been similarly high after this summer is because ranchers don't have as many animals to sell, he said.
What farmers and ranchers have working in their favor, compared to the 1930s, are new tools, techniques and other developments that help them better manage droughts, storms and other harsh weather realities -- from more effective soil preservation measures to hybrid seeds to the inception of center pivot irrigation. Things like cell phones and computers make it easier for farmers, ranchers and others to understand what's coming, then adjust.
If the precipitation picks up, "row farmers" cultivating crops like corn, soy beans and sorghum using modern farming practices should be able to recover next year. "If they have a normal rain pattern, it's basically a zero recovery period," said Rippey. "You are going from a (devastated) 2012 crop to normal."
But those raising livestock may feel the effects of this drought for longer, even if there's more rain. Some strained pastureland and hay fields may revive with above average, more sustained rainfalls than ordinary. But other lands may be a lost cause, with replanting the only way to save them. The next one to two months are "critical," as some rain soon may help save these lands so ranchers do not have to start from scratch. Still, even if their pastures improve or hay prices drop, those who sold off many of their livestock in recent years likely cannot afford to buy the same number back, and return to normal, anytime soon.
If drought conditions do persist, they can have a steamroller effect. "The suns' rays are more efficient (when) you have parched soils," said Rippey, the USDA meteorologist, adding that it becomes harder for new moisture to make an immediate impact. These droughts, when they tend to go multiple years, it really starts to feed on itself,
We haven't got there quite yet, but we could be if more precipitation doesn't fall over the Great Plains and beyond. As they try to predict the drought's future, meteorologists say they will look first to whether this fall and winter are wetter and cooler than last year, hoping that it will saturate soils and rivers and spur a wetter trend that continues into next spring and summer.

As is, some states out west had two straight La Nina winters that has a domino effect on global weather -- leading to more rainfall than normal in some locales and drought in others. But the odds of La Nina (continuing) are very small right now. Still, no one predicted practically a full decade of minimal rain, maximum heat during the Dust Bowl era either. The fact is, for all the forecasts and farming innovations, keeping one's fingers crossed for change in the weather may be as useful as anything else. "Right now, it's just a question of Mother Nature giving us a break," said Derrell Peel, from Oklahoma State.

Thought for Today
"The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking".
--Robert H. Schuller (b. 1926) American reformed church minister, entrepreneur and author

[the flying reindeer]

US Constitution Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 261st day of 2012 with 14 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:25 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 74ºF [Feels like 72ºF], winds S @ 15 mph, humidity 40%, pressure 30.04 in and falling, dew point 48ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1778--Indians and Loyalists under Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant and Cpat. William Cadwell burn German Flats (now Herkimer), New York.
1787--the US Constitution was signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pa.
1796--Pres. George Washington prepared the final draft of his presidential farewell address.
1862--Confederate and Union troops clashed near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest one-day battle in American history with 23,100 were killed, wounded or captured.
1884--an Oakland, Calif/ judge disposed 13 cases in one day, setting a record for trying criminal cases.
1916--Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, downed his first plane in World War I.
1920--the American Professional Football Association - a precursor of the National Football League - was formed in Canton, Ohio.
1923--a fire threatened Univ.Calif. @ Berkeley, killing 2 people and causing $10 million in damages.
1934--Maureen Connolly, the first woman to win the tennis Grand Slam, was born; died 1969 at age 34.
1939--in league with Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia invaded Poland.
1947--James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first US secretary of defense.
1972--the TV comedy series M.A.S.H. premiered on CBS.
1976--NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, Calif.
1978--at the US White House, Egyptian Pres. Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords, brokered by Pres. Carter,
1980--former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in Paraguay.
1983--Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America.
1986--the US Senate confirmed the nomination of William H. Rehnquist as the 16th chief justice of the United States.
1996--Oprah launched her influential book club.
2001--Wall Street trading resumed for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks - its longest shutdown since the Depression; the Dow lost 684.81 points, its worst one-day point drop to date.
2003--New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso resigned amid a furor over his $139.5 million pay package.
2004--Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the school siege in Beslan and other terrorist attacks in Russia that claimed more than 430 lives.
2004--San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit his 700th career home run, joining Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) as the only players to reach the 700 milestone
2011--a demonstration calling itself Occupy Wall Street began in New York.

World News Capsules:
1. Police contain Afghan rage over film, as protests spread elsewhere

....Hundreds of Afghans burned tires and pelted police in Afghanistan’s first significant spasm of violence over an anti-Islam film that has inflamed parts of the Muslim world.
a. Audacious raid on NATO base shows Taliban's reach
....The assault late Friday on one of the best-defended posts in Afghanistan was troubling because the attackers were able to penetrate the base, killing two and causing more than $200 million in damage.
2. Where Daniel the Cuckold and Zig-Zag Clown vie for office
....Do strange nicknames confer an electoral advantage? Some candidates for office in Brazil, including Ladi Gaga, Christ of Jerusalem and several Batmans, seem to think so.
3. Beijing mixes messages over anti-Japan protests

....Demonstrations were reported in several cities as the government offered mixed signals on whether it would continue to tolerate the sometimes violent outbursts.
a. Trial begins of police chief in Bo Xtlai scandal
....The police chief, Wang Lijun, attempted to seek refuge in a US Consulate in February, igniting China’s biggest political scandal in a generation,
b. US files trade case against China over cars
....The Obama administration accused China of unfairly subsidizing its exports of autos and auto parts, while China filed its own trade case against the US.
4. [Cultural clash fuels Muslims raging at film/u]

....In Egypt, some say that the protests at the American Embassy in Cairo and in about 20 countries over an anti-Islamic video was about more than religious sensitivity.
5. EU plan to put more women on boards runs into opposition
....Legislation to impose sanctions on companies that do not allocate 40% of the seats on their boards to women may be blocked before it is officially proposed.
6. Israeli leader makes case against Iran on US television
....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on TV to make his case about Iran even more urgently to a broader American audience.
7. Italian magazine publishes disputed images of Duchess

....Chi, an Italian gossip magazine, run by the daughter of the former Italian premier, became the latest outlet to publish images of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, sunbathing topless in France.
8. US and Japan agree to deploy advanced missile defense systerm
....The two nations will deploy a 2nd missile-defense radar on Japanese territory, an effort designed to counter the North Korean threat but likely to anger China.
a. Japanese companies close facilities in China as tensions rise
....The dispute between Japan and China, over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, has led to violent attacks on factories, shops and even cars of well-known Japanese brands.
9. In Lebanon, Pope laments strife in Syria, where the war rages on
....On the final day of his trip to Lebanon, Pope Benedict XVI said a prayer for the victims of the conflict in Syria and appealed to the region and the world to find a solution.
10. As leader prepares for UN visit, Myanmar frees prisoners
....The government said it had released 514 prisoners, many of whom were reported to have been political prisoners.
11. Mideast unrest intensifies on US intervention in Syria

....The attacks on American and European diplomatic posts in recent weeks have roused calls for disengagement from the Arab world.
a. UN reports sharp jump in attacks on Syrian citizens
....UN investigators said they have “a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence” against those responsible for an increase in government attacks on civilians..
12. Report on 2010 Thai riots warns that conflicts persist
....The Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand warned Monday that conflicts in Thai society were still simmering and that the country risked another “escalation to violence.”

US News Capsules:
1. Shell delays Arctic oil drilling until next year

....A testing mishap further delayed the company’s six-year, $4.5 billion effort to drill off the coast of Alaska, although it will not stop preliminary work on several wells in the region this year,
2. Earnings in US are beginning to feel a pinch
....The estimated drop in corporate profits removes what had been an economic bright spot in an otherwise cloudy picture.
3. Teachers union in Chicago to extend strike into 2nd week

....Union leaders said they needed more time to consider a contract deal reached over the weekend, infuriating Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who told city lawyers to seek an injunction to end the strike.
a. Chicago school system asks court to end strike

....School officials argued that the walkout, now in its second week, was illegal and represented a danger to public safety.
4. As grocery dies off, down-and-out town lives on, if barely
....After years of watching his Central Valley town grow more and more desperate, a grocery store owner in California decided it was time to close down.
5. Human muscle, regrown on animal scaffolding
....Researchers are using extracellular matrix, a natural scaffolding that underlies all tissues and organs, from animals to engineer the growth of replacement tissue like limb muscle lost in injuries.
6. 'Joseph Anton'

....In Joseph Anton, Salman Rushdie recounts his years in hiding.
7. Report faults military strategies on drug and alcohol abuse

....Despite a well-documented increase in the abuse of alcohol and prescription medications among military personnel over the past decade, the Defense Department's strategies for screening, treating and preventing remains behind the times, a major new report finds.
8. Forest fire research questions the wisdom of prescribed burns
....The US Forest Service uses small fires to reduce the chances of big fires. Scientists are arguing whether this strategy helps or hurts the forests and the creatures that live in them.
9. Scandal at Florida A&M leaves a football season without its soundtrack
....With the school’s band, the Marching 100, on suspension because of a hazing scandal that resulted in a death, the first home football game was notable for what was missing.
10. Online mentors to guide women into the sciences
....By connecting female college students with accomplished women working in science and technology fields, a new program hopes to increase the number going into these fields.
11. The reality of Islamophobia

....US Christians must own up to the reality of evangelical Islamophobia, which often uses downright lies to rail against what it trumpets as the so-called evils of Islam.
12. Judge to hear new testimony on Fatal Vision case[/u]

....One of the most sensational and infamous murder cases in modern U.S. history is returning to a courtroom this week on whether Jeffrey MacDonald, the former Green Beret doctor convicted of killing his family, should get a new trial.
POLITICS:
1. Looking, very closely, for voter fraud
....Busloads of illegal voters, cited by voter fraud groups like True the Vote, have yet to be seen. But that has not deterred such organizations, which widely support conservative causes.
2. Amid discord, Romney seeks to sharpen message

....With an outbreak of finger-pointing signaling trouble in his campaign, Mitt Romney plans to say more clearly what he wants for the country, his aides said.
3. For both campaigns, a need to control the message
....The events in the Middle East have forced both campaigns to improvise and abandon the economic playbook they had imagined using.
4. Outside groups foot bill for nearly half of campaign ads
....Outside groups, including well-heeled Super PACs, have accounted for almost half of all ad spending during this presidential general election.
5. 150 arrested on Occupy's one-year anniversary

....Looking to reignite their movement on its one-year anniversary, several hundred Occupy Wall Street activists protested in lower Manhattan Monday, staging a sit-in near the iconic New York Stock Exchange and swarming through the streets in costumes and toting American flags and signs.

Thought for Today
"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government."
--[/i]James Madison (1751-1836), 4th US President and father of US Constitution,


[/size][/color]

[the flying reindeer]

Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 262nd day of 2012 with 103 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:41 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 69ºF [Feels like 71ºF], winds S @ 6 mph, humidity 78%, pressure 29.51 in and steady, dew point 62ºF, chance of precipitation 50%.

Today in History:
1180--Philip Augustus was crowned Philip II, King of France.
1634--Anne Hutchinson, an Englishwoman who would become an outspoken religious thinker in the American colonies, arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony with her family.
1709--Samuel Johnson, English critic, biographer, lexicographer, essayist and poet, was born; died 1784 at age 75.
1759--French & Indian War: the French surrendered Quebec to the British .
1793--George Washington laid the cornerstone to the US Capitol building,
1810--Chile declared its independence from Spain.
1812--Napoleonic Wars: Moscow was burned under Count Rastopchin's orders after the Battle of Borodino, destroying an est. 3/4 of Moscow before it ended.
1819--Jean-Bernard Foucault, French physicist and inventor of the "Foucault pendulum," was born; died 1868 at age 48.
1837--Charles Tiffany and Teddy Young founded "Tiffany and Young" (later to become Tiffany & Co.) as a stationery and fancy goods emporium.
1846--the struggling Donner Party sent ahead to California for food.
1850--the US Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slaveowners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to other states.
1851--the first edition of The New York Times was published by Henry Raymond and George Jones.
1862--Gen. George McClellan let Gen. Lee's Confederate troops retreat from the Antietam battlefield.
1873--the Panic of 1873 was a severe nationwide economic depression in the US that lasted until 1877.
1879--Blackpool Illuminations (an annual lights festival held each autumn that runs for 66 days) is first switched on.
1905--Greta Garbo, the Swedish-born American film icon, was bornl died 1990 at age 84.
1911--Pyotr Stolypin, Prime Minister of Russia. was assassinated at the Kiev Opera House in front of Tsar Nicholas II.
1927--the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) was founded by William S. Pauley with a network of 16 radio stations.
1928--a hurricane that lashed Florida and the West Indies for five days left an estimated 4,000 people dead and $30 million in damage.
1945--Gen. Douglas MacArthur moves his command headquarters to Tokyo for hiis new role as architect of a democratic and capitalist postwar Japan.
1947--the National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect.
1959--Serial killer Harvey Glatman was executed in a California gas chamber for murdering three young women in Los Angeles.
1960--Fidel Castro arrived in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.
1961--UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia.
1970--rock musician Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose at age 27.
1974--Hurricane Fifi (a deadly hurricane that caused over 8,000 deaths in Honduras through flash flooding) washed away 14 bridges.
1975--newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1977--Voyager I, NASA space probe, takes the first picture of the earth and moon together.
1987--an accidental poisoning occurred in Brazil and cesium-137 was removed from an abandoned cancer-therapy machine.
1990--Winnie Mandela, wife of South African black leader Nelson Mandela, was charged with assault and kidnapping in the 1988 abduction and slaying of a 14-year-old boy by her chief bodyguard.
1996--the shuttle Atlantis docked with the Mir space station to pick up astronaut Shannon Lucid, who had set a US record for time spent in space.
2003--Hurricane Isabel slammed into the North Carolina coast, eventually causing a reported 40 deaths and inflicting property damage estimated at $5 billion.
2004--the UN Security Council called for Sudan to put an end to the killings in the Darfur region.
2008--the US House of Representatives joined the Senate in approving a civil rights bill that broadens the definition of disability to include epilepsy, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses.
2009--Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in defiance of Iran's Islamic leadership, clashing with police and confronting state-run anti-Israel rallies

World News Capsules:
1. ?Coalition sharply reduces joint operations with Afghan troops

....A spike in attacks on international troops by Afghan soldiers and police pushed the American-led military coalition to curb ground operations with their Afghan counterparts.
a. Bomber strikes vehicle carrryinng foreigners in Kabul
....A police official said 14 people, including French, South African and Russian citizens, most of whom worked as flight crew members under contract with the United States government and were killed in the attack on a main road near the city's airport.
b. Afghan suicide bomber strikes minibus carrying foreigners
....A suicide bomber killed 14 people including 10 foreigners.
2. Protests resume in China over Japan and islands

....China drove home its opposition to Japanese control of a contested group of islands Tuesday, with angry protests in dozens of cities and a warning from its defense minister that “further actions” were possible.
3. 9 foreign ministers call for greater EU integration
....Nine E.U. foreign ministers, led by Germany's Guido Westerwelle, have called for a big increase in economic, political, diplomatic and even military integration within the European Union
4. French court trebukes magazine for photos of royal couple

....The court ordered the publisher of the magazine Closerto hand over all digital copies of images of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, sunbathing topless in France.
5. Keystrokes in Google bare shocking rumors in Germany
....Bettina Wulff, a former first lady of Germany, has sued the search engine over rumors that she was once an escort,
6, Maverick minister in India is as perplexing as she is powerful

....Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, is praised and maligned in equal measure. But Indians agree that she has the ability to bring down India’s governing coalition. She has angrily announced that she was withdrawing her support for the coalition.
7. Iranian official says blasts targeted nuclear sites
....Iran's top atomic energy official said that explosions were intended to cut power to two uranium enrichment facilities and claimed saboteurs had infiltrated an international inspection agency.
8. Leader of Madrid regional government resigns
....Esperanza Aguirre, the head of Madrid's regional government and one of Spain's most influential and outspoken politicians, resigned on Monday.
9. Civilian attacks rise in Syria, UN says.
....UN investigators said they have “a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence” against those responsible for an increase in government attacks on civilians.
10. Turks sour on leaders' support for Syrian uprising

....Although many Turks at first agreed with their government’s support for the Syrian opposition, many now believe it is undermining Turkey’s economy and security.

US News Capsules:
1. In car country, Obama trumpets China trade case.
....Pres. Obama filed a broad new trade case against China at the World Trade Organization. He announced the action in the industrial battleground of Ohio.
2. Limits placed on immigrants in health care law
....The White House says that those young illegal immigrants who will be eligible for delayed deportation will not be covered under the new health care law.
3. Israeli diplomat is man in middle
....Ambassador Michael B. Oren, who happens to have been born and bred in New Jersey, is representing a prime minister who has infuriated the White House.
4. A faded piece of papyrus refers to Jesus' wife

....A Harvard historian of early Christianity said the papyrus, written in Coptic in the fourth century, contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’
5. Striking Chicago teachers meet to consider deal
....Union delegates were expected to vote on whether to accept a tentative contract that was negotiated over the weekend.
6. US Appeals judge grants stay of ruling on detention law
....A ruling blocking enforcement of a law authorizing the infinite detention of terrorism suspects is on hold for now, after an “emergency” stay requested by the Obama administration.
POLITICS:
1. Romney says remarks on voters help clarify position
....Facing criticism for characterizing 47% of voters as people who believe they are “victims,” Mitt Romney sought to steer the conversation toward a debate about government’s role in people’s lives,

Thought for Today
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
--George Orwell (1903-1950) British author

[the flying reindeer]

R.I.P. Steve Sabol, NFL Films pioneer (with his father Ed) and president, died at age 69 after an 18-month battle with brain cancer.

Steve Sabol helped his father Ed establish the Emmy-winning production company NFL FIlms that changed the way people viewed professional football. NFL Films, which has filmed every NFL game since 1965, produced weekly highlight shows in the days before sports cable networks, breaking away from highlight reels of the past by showing action in slow motion with multiple ground-level cameras, with stirring music and sound from the sidelines. The company was founded by his father, Ed Sabol, but Steve was with the outfit from the beginning and took it over in 1987, helping it become a business with revenue of tens of millions of dollars, with programs on several networks.
Ed Sabol founded Blair Motion Pictures in 1962 and bid a few thousand dollars for the rights to film the 1962 NFL Championship Game. With Steve as a cameraman in the six-person crew, the company produced the film The NFL’s Longest Day, which persuaded the league to buy the company. In 1967, the outfit produced the film They Call It Pro Football, which debuted one of the hallmarks of NFL Films’ early years – announcer John Facenda, whose rich, firm voice led to his nickname “The Voice of God.” One of the company’s innovations under the Sabols’ guidance was putting wireless microphones on the players and coaches during games. “All of that’s standard stuff today, but before NFL Films it was unheard of,” the NFL Network said in its obituary for Steve Sabol. “But then, Steve never thought like a sports filmmaker, he thought like a Hollywood storyteller.” Steve Sabol won 35 Emmy awards for cinematography, editing, writing, directing and producing. Both Sabols won the Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003, and Steve Sabol introduced his father during the elder Sabol’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year.
R.I.P. Steve Sabol, NFL Films pioneer and storyteller.

[the flying reindeer]

Aaaargh, shiver me timbers but it's the International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 263rd day of 2012 with 102 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 2?56 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 60ºF [Feels like 60ºF], winds W @ 7 mph, humidity 71%, pressure 30.13 in and rising, dew point 36ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1187--Saladin began the siege of Jerusalem.
1356--Battle of Poitiers: an English army led by The Black Prince, son of Edward III, defeated King John II of France at the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years War.
1519--Ferdinand Magellan set sail with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
1633--Galileo Galilei was tried before the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth orbits the Sun.
1676--Bacon's Rebellion, an uprising in the Virginia Colony led by Nathaniel Bacon, occurred.
1692--Giles Corey was pressed to death for being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1777--Generals Nrmrfovy Arnold and Horatio Gates argued about tactics at the 1st battle of Saratoga (NY), also known as the Battle of Freeman's Farm.
1799--a combined Russian and British army under the Duke of York was defeated and forced to withdraw by the French under Vandamme at the battle of Bergen-op-Zoom.
1827--after a duel turns into an all-out brawl, Jim Bowie disemboweled a banker in Alexandria, La., with an early version of his famous Bowie knife.
1862--Union troops under Gen/ Rosecrans defeated a Confederate force under Gen. Sterling Price at Iuka in northern Mississippi.
1870--in the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussians began a siege of Paris.
1876--Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Mich/ patented the carpet sweeper.
1881--80 days after a failed office seeker shot him, Pres. James A. Garfield died of complications from his wounds.
1893--with the signing of the Electoral Bill by Gov. Lord Glasgow, New Zealand became the 1st country to grant voting rights to women.
1918--the British began an offensive in Palestine during World War I.
1930--actor Adam West (Batman) turns 82
1934--Bruno Hauptmann was arrested in New York and charged with the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby.
1941--the German Luftwaffe bombarded Leningrad.
1952--as result of the US "red scare", comedic actor Charlie Chaplin was denied entry into the US returning from the UK.
1955--Argentine Pres. Juan Peron was deposed in a military coup.
1957--the US conducted its first underground nuclear test, in the Nevada desert.
1959--On his visit to the UN, Nikita Khrushchev was barred from Disneyland.
1962--the TV western The Virginian premiered,
1964--Flipper, a story about a dolphin, had its premiere on TV..
1970--one of TV's all-time favorite sitcoms, The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuted on CBS-TV.
1983--the TVg ame show Wheel of Fortune premiered in primetime.
1985--the first (magnitude 8.1) of two devastating earthquakes struck Mexico City leaving 10,000 people dead, 30,000 injured and thousands more homeless.
1988--in Seoul, Greg Louganis won Olympic gold in springboard diving just one day after sustaining a head injury.
1991--In Switzerland, Otzi the iceman (well-preserved mummy from circa 3300 BC) was discovered in the Schnalstal glacer by two German tourists.
1994--the popular medical drama series ER made its debut on TV.
1994--US troops entered Haiti to enforce the return of exiled Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1995--The New York Times and The Washington Post published a 35,000-word manifesto written by the Unabomber.
2001--the Pentagon ordered combat aircraft to the Persian Gulf in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2002--Pres. Bush asked Congress for authority to use military force if necessary to disarm and overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein if he did not abandon weapons of mass destruction.
2004--Hu Jintao became the undisputed leader of China with the departure of former Pres. Jiang Zemin from his top military post.
2008--struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration asked Congress for $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions.
2008--AMC's Mad Men became the first basic-cable show to win a top series Emmy award.
2010--The BP oil well that had spilled hundred of millions of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was sealed with a permanent cement plug.
2012--Ganesh Chaturthi (10 day Hindu Festival) begins - the period when the Lord Ganesha is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees
.
World News Capsules:
1. Coalition sharply reduces joint operations with Afghan troops
....A spike in attacks on international troops by Afghan soldiers and police pushed the American-led military coalition to curb ground operations with their Afghan counterparts.
2. Testimony implicates Chinese official in cover-up of Briton's death
....In an official account Wang Lijun, a former police chief, essentially accused the disgraced politician Bo Xilai of trying to cover up the murder of a British businessman by his wife.
a. In China, Panetta says US focus on Asia isnot threat

(Panetta presented with a plate from the Chinese defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie)
....Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta declared that the US was not trying to contain a rising China.
3. Circumcision debate in Europe reflects deeper tensions
....The dispute over ritual circumcision in Germany reflects the secularization of European life that, in the eyes of some religious leaders, has mutated into a form of intolerance.
4. Free speech or incitement? French magazine runs cartoons that mock Muhammad

....France planned to close its embassies in 20 countries on Friday after illustrations in a satirical magazine set off new outrage by Muslims.
a. New Islamic galleries at the Louvre
....Ten years in the making, the project was financed in part by the French government, along with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia.
5. A resignation and protests follow the release of prison abuse videos in Georgia

....The country’s senior official in charge of prisons stepped down after a TV station broadcast graphic footage of inmates being beaten and sodomized by guards.
6. Greenland's unfrozen future
....Greenland's receding ice has exposed vast deposits of valuable oil, gas and minerals and new opportunities for an island in economic decline is causing jockeying among nations.
7. More partners threaten to pull support from India's governing coalition
....Turmoil surrounding India’s government intensified with a former ally calling for the prime minister to seek a fresh electoral mandate.
8. Outsider breathing new ideas into Jakarta elections
....Joko Widodo, the mayor of Surakarta, Indonesia, has a message of change that has propelled him into the upstart contender for leader of Jakarta, one of Asia’s most important metropolises.
9. Japan backs off goal to phase out nuclear power by 2040
....Japan’s reversal on a plan to eliminate its use of nuclear power came after intense opposition from business groups and communities that host the country’s nuclear plants.
10. Blast near Pkistani air base kills 10
....A car bomb apparently aimed at a military vehicle killed 10 people and wounded 27 at a busy intersection in Peshawar, as rowdy anti-American protests continued across the country.
11. Russia demands US end support of democracy groups

....The Kremlin views American financial support for a wide range of civil society programs as thinly veiled meddling in the country's internal affairs.
a. Russia boots out USAID
....Russia has thrown out the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. State Department said, claiming that the aid agency has undermined Russia's sovereignty.
12. New voice in South Korean politics enters presidential race
....Ahn Cheol-soo, a 50-year-old graduate school dean whose appeal to disaffected voters has made him a political star, officially declared his candidacy for president of South Korea.
13. As uncertainty about bailout lingers, Spain sells $6 billion in short-term debt
....An auction of short-term debt sold out at slightly lower rates, but uncertainty persisted over whether Spain would ask for aid from its European partners.
14. Rebels are said to defeat Syrian forces in battle at border

....Syria’s civil war again spilled into border areas as rebels reportedly drove government troops from a northern frontier crossing.
a. Kerry says Iraq aid could be tied to halting flights to Syria
....Sen. John Kerry said that aid to Iraq might be made contingent on cutting off flights shuttling military supplies from Iran to the repressive regime in Syria.

US News Capsules:
1. Teachers end Chicago strike on 2nd try and children return to class

....Union delegates endorsed a proposed contract, allowing 350,000 children to return to classes on Wednesday.
a. Next schoool crisis for Chicgo - pension fund is running dry
....The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund is paying out more than $1 billion a year — much more than it has been taking in — and experts say the fund could collapse within a few years.
2. Prosecutors deny priest was urged to lie in abuse case
....A motion filed in Philadelphia said that a former clergyman was pressured to falsely admit to abusing a boy as part of the terms of a plea deal.
3. Dallas copes with unpredictability of West Nile virus
....As the West Nile virus outbreak seems to be subsiding, the hardest-hit county in the nation, Dallas County, tries to come to terms with the seeming randomness of the fatalities.
4. Seeking revenue, Post Office plans to deliver more junk mail

....Its first-class mail volume dropping, the Postal Service hopes to substitute marketing material, even as consumers seek ways to block the catalogs and credit card applications.
5. 'Fast and Furious' misguided but not criminal, probe finds

....The Justice Department’s inspector general faulted a group of federal prosecutors and drug agents in the botched gun-trafficking inquiry called Operation Fast and Furious.
6. Education site expands slate of universities and courses
....Coursera, just five months old, has drawn a number of notable institutions into its free online learning system, including Brown, Columbia and Wesleyan.
7. Spinach recall! Spinach recall! Spinach reall!

....The Kroger chain of grocery stores announced Tuesday that it has issued a voluntary recall of bagged spinach on fears of listeria contamination.
8. Housing recovery blossoms

....The U.S. housing industry -- crucial to any jobs recovery -- showed more signs of strength, according to two reports issued Wednesday.
POLITICS:
1. Romney says remarks on voters help clarify position
....Facing criticism for characterizing 47% of voters as people who believe they are "victims," Mitt Romney sought to steer the conversation toward a debate about government's role in people's lives.
a. Romney's remarks: Bad mistake or brutal truth?

....Were Romney's remarks a gaffe big enough to dent his campaign or a brutal truth others don't want to hear? People share how they're voting after hearing his words
b. Wisconsin offers window on hurdles ahead for Romney
....Mitt Romney’s campaign has pointed to a Republican resurgence in Wisconsin, but Mr. Romney trails by six points among likely voters, a new poll found.
2. Republicans push bill to help foreign science graduates stay

....The largely partisan measure would allocate up to 55,000 visas of the current annual pool to graduates with advanced degrees in science and technology.

Thought for Today
"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant."
--[/i]James Madison(1751-1836), 4th US President, founding father & father of the Constitution.


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[the flying reindeer]

International Day of Peace
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 265th day of 2012 with 100 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:12 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 70ºF [Feels like 670ºF], winds S @ 8 mph, humidity 68%, pressure 29.92 in and falling, dew point 59ºF, chance of precipitation 70%.

Today in History:
1327--King Edward II of England was murdered in Berkeley Castle and was succeeded by his son Edward III.
1599--William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, was performed for the first time by the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
1745--the Battle of Prestonpans, Scotland: the Jacobite army of just over 3,000 under Bonnie Prince Charlie defeated the English Royal forces led by Sir John Cope.
1746--after a short siege the French under Admiral La Bourdonnais took Madras, India, from the English.
1779--Spaniarads with the aide of American troops and militia volunteers captured Baton Rouge.
1780--Gen. Benedict Arnold met with British Maj. John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army.
1784--the US' first daily paper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, was published.
1792--in revolutionary France, the Legislative Assembly voted to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic.
1827--according to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Joseph translated intoThe Book of Mormon.
1863--Union forces retreat to Chattanooga after defeat at Chickamauga.
1893--the first successful American-made, gasoline-operated motorcar by Charles and Frank Duryea appeared on the streets of Springfield, Mass.
1897--The New York Sun ran an editorial answering a question from an 8-year-old girl that included the line, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
1898--Empress Dowager Cixi resumed the role of regent for China and in a coup d'etat took control of the country.
1904--the great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph, 64, died on the Colville reservation in northern Washington.
1917--Austria-Hungary and Germany made separate replies to the proposal issued by Pope Benedict XV for an immediate armistice between the Allied and Central Powers.
1931--Larry Hagman, actor (I Dream of Jeannie, Dallas), was born and turns 81.
1937--The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was published.
1938--the Great New England/Long Island Express hurricane, a powerful Category 3 hurricane, slammmed into Long Island and southern New England, causing 600 deaths.
1938--the Czech government agreed to Anglo-French plans to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.
1939--Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt urged repeal of Neutrality Act embargo provisions.
1942--the B-29 Superfortress, the largest bomber used in the war by any nation, made its debut flight in Seattle, Wash.
1943--Jerry Bruckheimer, TV producer (CSI productions), was born and turns 69.
1948--Milton Berle debuted as permanent host of The Texaco Star Theater on NBC.
1949--Mao Zedong outlined the new Chinese Communisst government.
1957--the TV courtroom drama series, Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS.
1964--Malta gained independence from Britain.
1967--troops from Thailand arrived to fight in Vietnam.
1968--Jeannie C. Riley, 23, was the first woman to top the Country and Pop charts simultaneously with "Harper Valley P.T.A."
1970--NFL Monday Night Football debuted on ABC with Howard Cosell, ‘Dandy’ Don Meredith and Keith Jackson.
1973--Henry Kissinger was the first naturalized citizen to be confirmed by the US Senate as Secretary of State.
1981--Sandra Day O'Connor was approved as the first female US Supreme Court justice.
1982--the National Football League players began a 57-day strike.
1983--Interior Secretary James G. Watt described a special advisory panel as consisting of "a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple." Watt later apologized and resigned.
1983--the mutilated body of 13-year-old paperboy Danny Joe Eberle was found in Bellevue, Neb.
1985--Western intelligence estimates said the Iran-Iraq war in five years had cost nearly 1 million lives.
1989--Gen. Colin Powell became the first black Joint Chiefs of Staff' chairman.
1989--Hurricane Hugo, a category 5 hurricane, killed 82 people and left 56,000 homeless.
1991--Armenia became the 12th Soviet republic to declare independence.
1991--a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan caused over 2,000 deaths, 11,000 wounded and destroyed 44,000 houses.
1996--the board of Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.
1998--Pres. Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal was publicly broadcast.
1998--Olympic gold medal track star Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, died in her sleep after suffering an epilectic seizure.
1999--at least 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Taiwan.
2001--the US Congress approved $15 billion to help an airline industry reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2001--a telecast by top movie stars and musicians raised more than $500 million for survivors of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2003--the spacecraft Galileo approached the fringes of Jupiter's atmosphere and then was directed to destroy itself in a high-speed plunge.
2005--Texas coastal residents were ordered to evacuate, creating a mass exodus from the Houston and Galveston area as Hurricane Rita became the third-most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, with windes near 165 mph..
2008--Mad Men became the first basic-cable show to win a top series Emmy award.
2008--a pre-dawn gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in China's Henan province, killing a reported 37 miners and injuring seven more.

World News Capsules:
1. Restrictions on religion are tightening, study finds
....Government restrictions on religion around the world were highest in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in the period before the Arab Spring uprisings, a Pew study found..
2. Troop surge in Afghanistan ends with little fanfare
....The milestone, which still leaves 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan, went nearly unremarked in the country, with no statement from Pres. Karzai or the US military commander, Gen. John R. Allen.
3. Sleepy islands and a smoldering dispute

....A clash over contested territory has set off worries about the effect on business ties between China and Japan.
4. At the Holocaust Center, Hollande confronts grim chapter for France
....Pres. François Hollande urged the nation to turn to the “transmission,” or passing on, of a difficult history.
5. British regulator declares BSkyB "fit and proper"
....The announcement about Britain's biggest satellite pay-TV group, British Sky Broadcasting, offered a victory for its largest shareholder, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
6. Indian Prime Minister makes appeal to support his plans
....The prime minister made a rare televised address to defend steps he has taken to revive the economy that have prompted anger and protests.
7. Iranian dissidents convince US to drop Terror label
....The Mujahedeen Khalq, an opposition group that mounted an extraordinary campaign to get off the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, has succeeded, officials said.
a. Iran's top atomic official says nation issued false nuclear data to fool spies
....Fereydoon Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, did not reveal the nature of the information or say when it was presented or to whom.
8. Israeli soldier killed as attackers breach border with Egypt
....Another soldier was seriously injured, and the Israeli military said it killed the three attackers, whom a spokesman called “well equipped.”.
9. For scandal-weary Italians, another scandal
....Italians who thought they had seen everything when it came to politics were taken aback when photographs were published of regional officials having a “return of Ulysses” party.
10. Japan's beleaguered premier wins party leadership role
....Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda fended off a challenge to his leadership of Japan’s governing party, but his victory may be short-lived.
11. After Libya attack, a fleeting sense of survival

....The assault on American diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, which the White House is now calling a terrorist attack, began as a moblike attack but became a sophisticated ambush.
12. After long absence, a US defense secretary visits New Zealand
....Leon E. Panetta became the first Pentagon chief to visit the country in three decades, an absence prompted by a breakdown in ties after New Zealand prohibited American nuclear warships from its territorial waters.
13. UN presses Pakistan over the fate of 100s of missing people
....A delegation met with Pakistani government officials and relatives of hundreds of people who have disappeared into the illegal custody of the country’s powerful intelligence and law enforcement agencies over the last decade.
a. 19 reported dead as Pakistanis protest Muhammad video

....Violent crowds furious over an anti-Islamic video made in the US convulsed Pakistan’s largest cities, leaving more than 160 people injured in a day of government-sanctioned protests.
14. Year after effort at UN, new aim for Palestinians
....Palestinians are returning to the General Assembly next week seeking largely symbolic “nonmember state” status, lamenting a “lost year” of no peace talks, expanding Israeli settlements and deteriorating economic conditions.
15. Putin's Russia hits the 'clear' button on the Medvedev era

....With Vladimir V. Putin president again, the Kremlin is reversing Dmitri A. Medvedev’s policies on everything from civil liberties and elections to daylight saving time.
16. South Korea fires warning shots at fishing boats from North
....The North’s boats fled warning shots in contested waters in the Yellow Sea without casualties, the South Korean military said.
a. Viral video gets propaganda treatment
....A South Korean phenomenon behind a dance video called “Gangnam Style” got an even clearer sign of success when North Korea parodied the video.
17. Spain's leader fails to reach deal with Catalonia
....The impasse exacerbates the challenge of a separatist push by Catalonia, the nation’s most economically powerful region.
18. Syrian planes said to strike gas station
....At least 30 people, and as many as 100, were killed in Syria in the northern Raqqa Province, when government warplanes bombed a gasoline station crowded with people, according to activist groups.
19. Turkish court convicts 330 in military coup plot trial
....Military officers, including three former top generals, had been accused of planning to overthrow the government nearly a decade ago.

US News Capsules:
1. Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh, police say

....An armed man, identified as Klein Michael Thornton, age 22, who took a hostage inside a Pittsburgh high-rise building has released his hostage and surrendered, authorities said.
2. Amish sect leader and followers guilty of hate crimes
....A federal jury found Samuel Mullet Sr. and 15 followers guilty of conspiracy and hate crimes in a series of beard- and hair-cutting attacks in Ohio.
3. A family pulled into the fray over an agent's death
....The family of Brian A. Terry, a Border Patrol agent who died in a shootout linked to Operation Fast and Furious, has sought answers after revelations over his death.
4. Coptic scholars doubt and hail a reference to Jesus' wife
....A historian's finding of a fragment of ancient Coptic text in which Jesus is said to utter the words "my wife" has drawn strong reaction from Christian scholars.
5. Behind the scenes, lawmakers lobby to curb bank rules
....In public letters and closed-door meetings, more than 100 lawmakers have appealed to the Federal Reserve and other authorities over the Volcker Rule, records show.
6. Wal-Mart is deleting the kindle from stores
....Retailers have been worried that displaying the new Kindles will encourage customers to browse in stores and then buy from online competitors instead, analysts said.
7. Tax credit in doubt, wind power industry is withering
....The American wind sector has been buffeted by weak demand for electricity, stiff competition from gas and uncertainty over a tax credit that has become a campaign wedge issue.
8. TV: The bodice ripper that started it all
....The rivalries and resentments that animate Homeland and Downton Abbey, among the best-drama nominees at the Emmy Awards, churned within a popular mini-series a decade ago, The Forsyte Saga.
9. To stay relevant in a career, workers train nonstop
[/img]
10. Califoria debt higher than earlier estimates, a task force reports
....When Jerry Brown became governor of California he estimated the state’s debt at $28 billion, but that amount is now estimated to be as much as 12 times greater/
POLITICS:
1. Rommney's bad stretch puts a dent in his poll numbers

....Recent surveys show Pres. Obama with more of an edge in key states following a series of flubs by his GOP opponent.
a. Daunting path greets Romney before debate
....There are 46 days left in this presidential race for Mitt Romney to change the dynamic of a campaign that by many indicators is tilting against him.
b. Romney releases 2011 tax return
....Mitt Romney paid 14.1% in taxes on his 2011 investment income, his campaign said, making good Friday on Mr. Romney’s promise to release his 2011 returns.
2. Obama's journey to tougher tack on a rising China
....In the presidential campaign, China has become a focal point encompassing both security and economic concerns and highlighting the nations' complex, tense relationship.
3. For 1st time, gay marriage may win statewide vote

....Polls show majorities back same-sex marriage in Maryland, Washington and Maine, and they indicate a tight battle in Minnesota – the four states holding votes on the issue in November.
4. Investigator finds Waters didn't violate ethics rules in bank case
The findings, which still must be acted on by the Ethics Committee, represent some of the final steps in what has been a three-year investigation into Ms. Waters’s actions during the financial crisis.
5. Brown and Warren spar in tense televised debate over Massachusetts Senae seat
....Senator Scott P. Brown and Elizabeth Warren traded accusations in the first of four encounters that could determine one of the hardest fought races in the country.
6. Day of political maneuvering and fights stalls Congress's close
....Congress’s expected departure for the campaign trail was held up by the political fortunes of two senators battling for survival.
7. Bill to keep graduates in US fails in the House.
....A Republican bill to provide permanent resident visas for foreigners who graduate from American universities with advanced degrees in science and technology failed to pass the House.

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: Despite risks, NFL leaves helmet choices in players' hands
....Even as head injuries have become a major concern, the NFL has not required players to wear helmet models that offer the best protection.
a. Understudies play starring roles
....Running back Andre Brown, who replaced the injured Ahmad Bradshaw, and receiver Ramses Barden, filling in for Hakeem Nicks, provided welcome support in the Giants' dominant 36-7 victory over the Panthers.
b. With usual referees away, players try to stretch the rules

....The National Football League's replacement referees struggled to control games in Week 2 more than they did in Week 1, perhaps because players tried to exploit their inexperience.
2. MLB: Melky Cabrera is out of race for batting title

....It took a rule change, but Melky Cabrera, who is serving a 50-game suspension, will not be eligible for the National League batting title.
3. NHL: As lockout drags on, owners' resolve could be tested

....Six days into the National Hockey League lockout, a lost season and the prospects of losing the money and publicity from the Winter Classic could induce owners to settle for a deal.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
Life span drops sharply for least-educated whites

....For generations of Americans, it was a given that children would live longer than their parents. But there is now mounting evidence that this enduring trend has reversed itself for the country’s least-educated whites, an increasingly troubled group whose life expectancy has fallen by four years since 1990. The reasons for the decline remain unclear, but researchers offered possible explanations, including a spike in prescription drug overdoses among young whites, higher rates of smoking among less educated white women, rising obesity, and a steady increase in the number of the least educated Americans who lack health insurance. The steepest declines were for white women without a high school diploma, who lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, said S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the lead investigator on the study, published last month in Health Affairs. By 2008, life expectancy for black women without a high school diploma had surpassed that of white women of the same education level, the study found.

Thought for Today
"[W]hensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force."
--[/i]Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd US President and a foudning father who drafted the Declaration of Independence,


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[the flying reindeer]

Constitution Week
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 267th day of 2012 with 98 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:27 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 59ºF [Feels like 59ºF], winds WNW @ 9 mph, humidity 39%, pressure 30.07 in and steady, dew point 34ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
64 BC--Caesar Augustus , 1st Roman Emperor, was born in Rome; died 14 AD at age 49.
1122--Holy Roman Emperor Henry V renounced the right of investiture in the Concordat of Worms.
1459--War of the Roses, the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Blore Heath.
1719--Liechtenstein became an independent principality within the Holy Roman Empire.
1779--John Paul Jones, commanding the Bonhomme Richard, beat the British ships Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the eastern coast of England.
1803--the British under Arthur Wellesley routed Sindhia of Gwalior .s army at Assaye, India, in the 2nd British-Mahratta War.
1806--the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis from exploring to and from the Pacific Northwest.
1817--Spain signed a treaty with Britain to end slave trade.
1838--Victoria Clafin Woodhull Martin, women's rights activist who ran for US presidency in 1872, was born; died 1927 age 88,
1845--standardized rules were established for baseball.
1846--German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle at the Berlin Observatory discovered the planet Neptune, becoming the 1sr planet discovered by mathematicl prediction.
1863--after the defeat of the Union army at Chickamauga, Gs., Lincoln planned to send reinforcements to Chattnooga, Tenn.
1875--Billy the Kid was arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry.
1906--Devils Tower, a monolithic volcanic neck in the Black Hills of Wyoming, was declared the first US National Monument by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt.
1912--the first Mack Senett Keystone Kops movie was released.
1916--Aldo Moro, 5-time Italian premier; murdered 1978 at age 61 by terrorists.
1933--Standard Oil geologists arrive in Saudi Arabia to "explore and search for and drill and extract petroleum.
1939--Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, suffering from cancer, died at age 83 by assisted suicide (his friend and doctor administered an overdose of morphine).
1944--Pres. Roosevelt defended his dog, who had recently been the subject of a Republican political attack - "It's not enough they attack me. Now they must attack my small dog Fala."
1952--Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the “Checkers” speech as he denied allegations of improper campaign financing.
1957--nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.
1962--The Jetsons debuted on ABC's Sunday night prime time lineup
1964--the Paris Opera unveiled a stunning new ceiling painted as a gift by Marc Chagall, who spent much of his life in France.
1966--a Rolling Stones concert at England's Royal Albert concert hall was halted temporarily when screaming girls attacked Mick Jagger onstage.
1969--the Chicago 8 trial opened in that city.
1973--Juan Peron was again elected president of Argentina after 18 years in exile.
1981--A two-month manhunt for Jack Henry Abbott, a murdering writer out on parole due to Norman Mailer, came to an end.
1987--Bob Fosse, choreographer married to Gwen Verdon, died from a heart attack at age 60.
1990---raq threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and attack Israel if other nations tried to force it from Kuwait.
1991--44 UN inspectors were detained in Baghdad after attempting to remove secret Iraqi plans for building nuclear weapons. and releaed five days later.
1992--the worst storm in years struck southeastern France, triggering flash flooding that left 34 people dead and 50 missing.
1993--the Israeli Knesset approved the peace agreement with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1994--the movie The Shawshank Redemption, starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, made its debut.
1999--the Mars Climate Observer apparently burned up as it was about to go into orbit around the Red Planet.
1999--Russian planes began three days of attacks on various targets in Chechnya, in response to several bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities.
2003--Thai police reportedly foiled an al-Qaida plot to shoot down an El Al passenger jet with a surface-to-air missile at Bangkok's airport.
2004--Hurricane Jeanne struck Haiti causing over 3,000 deaths.
2005--a reported 24 people were killed when a bus carrying Texas nursing home evacuees from Hurricane Rita was destroyed by fire.
2007--Yasuo Fukuda, a long-time political force and son of a former prime minister, was chosen prime minister of Japan.
2008--a 22-year-old male student killed 11 fellow adult students and himself at a western Finland vocational college 205 miles north of Helsinki.
2010--Teresa Lewis, convicted of arranging for the murders of her husband and stepson, became the 1st woman executed by lethal injection in Virginia.
2011--the soap opera All My Children broadcast its final episode on ABC, ending a 41-year run .

World News Capsules:
1. In shark-infested waters, resolve of two giants is tested
....Nationalists in China and Japan have seized on a territorial dispute and placed it at the heart of the debate on the balance of power in the region.
2. Egypt's new leader spells out terms for US-Arab ties

....On the eve of his first trip to the US as Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsi said the US must fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world.
3. Greenland's unfrozen future
....The surface of Greenland's massive ice sheet has melted this month over an unusually large area, Nasa has said., but the climate change could bring Jobs and prosperity.
4. Iran says nuclear equipment was sabotaged
....It accused the German technology company Siemens of planting tiny explosives inside equipment Iran bought for the disputed program, a charge Siemens denied.
5. Failed efforts and challenges of America's last months in Iraq
....With Iraq, the goal has been to leave a stable, representative government, avoid a power vacuum and maintain sufficient influence, but the Obama administration has fallen short of some of those objectives.
6. Two Islamist militias disband in Libya mid anger over killings
....The groups announced Sthat they were disbanding, bowing to a wave of anti-militia anger that has swept parts of the country since a deadly attack on an American diplomatic mission.
7. A tiny Mediterranean nation, awash in immigrants with nowhere to go
....Malta has the highest ratio of immigrants per capita of any European Union member, but it lacks the resources to house them and by law cannot let them move off the island.
8. In New York, reverence for Myanmar's opposition leader
....Burmese immigrants and visitors from as far away as Miami came to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who spoke at Queens College.
9. Pakistani minister offers bounty over anti-Islam video
....A cabinet minister offered a $100,000 reward for the death of the person behind the anti-Islam video made in the US that has roiled Muslims around the world.
10. With aid cutoff, Kremlin recalibrates

....The decision to terminate the US Agency for International Development’s programs marks the end of an extraordinary collaboration between the two cold war enemies.
11. Somali lawmaker slain
....Gunmen fatally shot the lawmaker, Mustaf Haji Mohamed, on Saturday, witnesses said, the first assassination of a member of the war-torn country’s newly appointed Parliament.
12. Rebels announce move of headquarters from Turkey to 'liberated' Syria territory
....The practical effect of a move to “liberated areas” of Syria by the main umbrella group for those fighting Pres. Assad remains unclear, and the new location carries risks.
13. Unlikely joint effort by US and Venezuela leads to a drug lord's arrest
....Venezuela’s national drug police took part in an operation directed from Washington to capture one of South America’s most wanted kingpins.

US News Capsules:
1. Power, pollution and the Internet

....Helping to process the staggering amount of Internet activity that occurs, data centers waste vast amounts of energy, belying the information industry's image of environmental friendliness.
2. Double payments bedevil veterans' pension system
....Technology and practices at the Department of Veterans Affairs that make it hard for some people to collect benefits apparently also result in overpayments.
3. In Kennedy recordings, history's raw materials
....Secret recordings made by Pres. Kennedy, which include Oval Office discussions about Cuba and space exploration, will now be made accessible to the general public.
4. University is uneasy as court ruling allows guns on campus

....Some faculty members warn of a climate of fear and intimidation if concealed weapons are permitted on the University of Colorado campus after a State Supreme Court ruling.
5. CEO's and the pay-'em-or-lose-;'em myth
....The argument that C.E.O.'s will leave if they aren't compensated well, perhaps even lavishly, is bogus, according to a new study.
6. Middle schools add a team rule: get a drug test

....Required screening for participation in athletics or other activities can begin early, despite debate over whether it deters abuse.
7. Tim Burton, at home in his own head
....The director of "Beetlejuice," "Batman" and the new "Frankenweenie" may be cinema's most widely embraced loner.
8. A violin once owned by Goebbels keeps its secrets
....A trail of whispers has followed the Japanese violinist Nejiko Suwa and her violin, a gift from Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
9. Genetic study divides breast cancer into 4 distinct types
....New findings are reshaping the understanding of breast cancer, pointing to the use of drugs approved for other cancers. “This is the road map for how we might cure breast cancer in the future,” a researcher said.
10. Panda cub dies at Smithsonian's National Zoo.
....The giant panda cub born a week ago at the Smithsonian's National Zoo has died, officials said Sunday. Veterinarians at the zoo pronounced the cub dead at 10:28 a.m. Sunday, about an hour after volunteers and zookeepers heard its mother honk in distress.
POLITICS:

1. An evangelical back from exile, lifting Romney
....Ralph Reed, who turned the Christian Coalition into a powerful political force, is planning a sophisticated, microtargeted get-out-the-evangelical-vote operation for Mitt Romney.
2. With rich donors, a more candid Romney emerges.
....Mitt Romney’s remarks at fund-raisers highlight the differences, both subtle and significant, in how he talks to voters and donors, his two key constituencies.
3. In Ryan country, Obama keeps up attack over '47 percent' remarks
....In Wisconsin, Pres. Obama said Mitt Romney’s vision for the country had no room for the middle class, the elderly, students or veterans

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: In the NFL, the show goes on and on and on.....

....With two weeks of sluggish games already played, a question that strikes at the core of the NFL's appeal is being raised: Are the replacement officials diminishing the entertainment value?
a. As punts get longer, so do returns
....Though punters are booting the ball farther than ever, returners scored 20 touchdowns in 2011, their 2nd-highest season total, and this year already have five
2. NCAAFB: Seminoles stand atop ACC after offense vs. offense duel

....Florida State amassed 667 yards on offense, rallying from a two-touchdown deficit, and beat Clemson in a matchup of top-10 teams to remain the only unbeaten team in the ACC.
a. Notre Dame improves to 4-0 for the first time in a decade
....In a game that featured 8 turnovers — 6 by Michigan — and 10 penalties, Notre Dame made more than its fair share of mistakes in winning 13-6, but the Wolverines just made more.
3. MLB: Mets hang on 4-3 to give Dickey his 19th victory
....R. A. Dickey pitched into the ninth inning and strengthened his case for the National League Cy Young Award.
a. Relocation of A's has all the plans but no permit
....Lew Wolff, the owner of the Oakland Athletics, said his team needed a new stadium in San Jose, Calif., to keep the club above baseball’s poverty line.
4. NHL: Exploring Europe's options as NHL players seek work
....The NHL may be in the throes of another lockout, but leagues in Europe are up and running, with many players from North America jumping across the Atlantic.
a. Boogaard's parents file lawsuit against the NHL Players' Association
....The parents of Derek Boogaard say the union, after initial discussions with them after Boogaard’s death, did not meet a deadline to file a grievance seeking the final three years of his Ranger salary.
5. Horse Racing: At the track, racing economics collide with veterinarians' oath

....Horse-racing veterinarians are both doctor and drugstore; the more drugs they prescribe, the more money they make,
6. Golf: Snedeker grabs a lead; now he'll try to keep it

....Brandt Snedeker shot a six-under-par 64 that catapulted him into a first-place tie at eight-under 202 with the midway leader Justin Rose in the third round of the Tour Championship.

Thought for Today
"Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice."
--Lao-Tzu (570-490 BC) founder of Taoism. Source: Tao Te Ching

[the flying reindeer]

National Punctuation Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 268th day of 2012 with 97 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:15 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 50ºF [Feels like 50ºF], winds SW @ 9 mph, humidity 68%, pressure 30.16 in and steady, dew point 40ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
622--the prophet Muhammad completed his Hegira, or "flight," from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution.
768--Pepin the Short, King of the Franks and father of Charlemagne, died,
1493--Christopher Columbus' left on his 2nd expedition to the New World.
1664--The Netherlands surrendered New Amsterdam to England.
1755--John Marshall, congressman, secretary of state and the 4th chief justice of the United States, was born in Germantown, Va.; died 1835 at age 79
1776--the Continental Congress prepared instructions for negotiating a treaty with France.
1780--Benedict Arnold escaped to the British after his attempt to betray West Point.
1789--Congress created the US Post Office and passed the First Judiciary Act, which provided for an attorney general and a Supreme Court.
1838--the Anti-Corn-Law League formed to repeal English Corn Law.
1852--Henri Giffard, a French engineer, made the first powered flight in a dirigible.
1869--financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving thousands of investors in financial ruin.
1890--faced with the eminent destruction of their church and way of life, Mormon leaders reluctantly issue the "Mormon Manifesto" in which they commanded all Latter-day Saints to uphold the anti-polygamy laws of the nation.
1896--F. Scott Fitzgerald, the famed American novelist of the Jazz Age, was born; died 1940 at age 44.
1918--Bulgaria sought a ceasefire with the Allied powers.
1941--the Japanese gathered preliminary data on Pearl Harbor.
1948--the Honda Motor Company was incorporated.
1957--the Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field before moving to Los Angeles.
1959--Pres. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev met at Camp David, Md.
1960--the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Va.
1961--Bullwinkle J. Moose and friend, Rocket J. "Rocky" Squirrel, were first seen in prime time on NBC-TV in The Bullwinkle Show.
1963--the United States Senate ratified a treaty with Britain and the USSR that limited nuclear testing.
1964--the Warren Commission report on the Kennedy assassination was delivered to Pres. Johnson.
1966--"Last Train To Clarksville" gave the made-for-TV Monkees a real-life pop hit.
1966--Hurricane Inez battered the Caribbean.
1968--60 Minutes, the longest-running newsmagazine on television, premiered on CBS. The counter-culture police television drama, The Mod Squad, debuted on ABC.
1976--newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery with her former captors, the Symbionese LIberation Army.
1977--The Love Boat left port on ABC-TV.
1988--Canadian Ben Johnson set a new world record of 9.79 seconds for the 100 meters at the Olympic Games in Seoul. Six days later he was stripped of his medal for taking drugs.
1990--Saturn's Great White Spot (formed by periodic storms large enough to be visible by telescop from Earth) was observed.
1993--Norodom Sihanouk was reinstalled as King of Cambodia after the National Assembly voted to restore the monarchy.
1993--South African black leader Nelson Mandela called for the lifting of remaining international economic sanctions against South Africa.
1994--it was reported that CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames had exposed 55 secret US and allied operations to the Soviet Union.
1995--30 years of Israeli occupation of West Bank cities ended with the signing of a pact by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1995--13 people were killed in the southern French town of Cuers when Eric Borel, 16, ran amok with a rifle a day after he had killed three members of his family.
1996--the US and the world’s other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.
1998--Iran's foreign minister announced that its 1989 call for the death of Salman Rushdie for his The Satanic Verses was dropped.
2002--armed assailants killed 29 people and wounded 75 in an attack on a Hindu temple in Gandhinagar, India.
2006-- Shortly after Katrina, Hurricane Rita came ashore near the Texas-Louisiana state line.
2006--a report said the war in Iraq had fueled global terrorism by fanning Islamic radicalism and creating new types of lethal terror methods.
2007--United Auto Workers walked off the job at GM plants in the first nationwide strike since 1976. (A tentative pact ended the walkout two days later/)

World News Capsules:
1. Belarus votes as Europe keeps a watch for signs that sanctions can end
....The question was not whether President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s supporters would continue to dominate Parliament, but whether electoral changes would pass muster with the European Union/
2. Police chief in Chinese murder scandal convicted and sentenced to 15 years
....The Chinese authorities announced the guilty verdict for Wang Lijun, who exposed the slaying of a British businessman by a senior politician’s wife.
a. Foxconn plant closed after riot, company says
....A spokesman said a fight among employees on Sunday night turned into a riot that had to be broken up by thousands of police officers.
3. A melting Greenland weighs perils against potential

....As warming temperatures are upending traditional Greenlandic life, they are also offering up intriguing new opportunities.
4. Iran's president, in New York, says Israelis have no Mideast roots

....Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israelis have no historical roots in the Middle East and that the existence of Israel is just a passing phase in the region’s long history.
5. Former Israeli premier gets suspended sentence
....Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister of Israel, was sentenced by a Jerusalem court to a one-year suspended jail term and a maximum fine of about $19,000 for breach of trust.
a. Israeli defense chief proposes West Bank pullout
....The defense minister, Ehud Barak, called for a unilateral pullout from much of the West Bank, in comments published in the Israel Hayom newspaper, saying Israel must take “practical steps” if peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled.
b. Sinai group claims role in attack on Israel.
....An obscure militant group based in the Sinai region claimed responsibility for a cross-border attack Friday that killed an Israeli soldier.
6. Deadly attack in Libya was major blow to CIA efforts

....Among personnel pulled from Benghazi after the assault on the American mission were intelligence operatives and contractors who were crucial to surveillance on militants.
a. Government issues order to disband Libya forces
....Libya’s interim government ordered the breakup of all militias that do not fall under its authority, and demanded that those militias pull out of military compounds and public property within 48 hours.
7. New Syria envoy gives bleak appraisal as warplanes hit Aleppo

....Lakhdar Brahimi, the new Syria peace envoy, told Security Council diplomats that there was no immediate prospect for a diplomatic breakthrough.
8. Opening of UN General Assembly session
....World leaders gather in New York as the UN General Assembly opens. Pres. Mohamed Morsi of Egypt speaks to The New York Times ahead of his first speech at the United Nations..
9. Vietnam convicts 3 bloggers for anti-government posts
....A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy.

US News Capsules:
1. Liking it or not, states prepare for health law
....A handful of states whose Republican governors oppose Pres. Obama's health care overhaul are working to have an insurance exchange ready before the deadline next month to create one.
2. A manager of overseas crises, as much as the world permits
....Gray-suited, meticulous and little known to the public, Tom Donilon is Pres. Obama's national security adviser and central figure in American foreign policy.
3. Data barns in a farm town, gobbling power and flexing muscle
....When Internet factories come to town, they can feel less like their sleek, clean and convenient image and more like old-time manufacturing.
4. referendum may offer answer
....Chicago's fight may be over, but in Idaho, the debate over schools has morphed into a harsh discussion about whom the voters should trust.
5. Television's fall season endures
....The idea of a fall season of TV premieres, originally tied to the model year for cars, has survived changing viewer habits and the constant flow of new cable programs.
6. Apple's feud with Google is now felt on iPhone
....Once the best of friends, Google and Apple are battling in courtrooms and in the consumer marketplace, with iPhone users in the cross-fire after Apple removed Google's maps app and YouTube.
7. Homeland takes emmys for drama[/u]
....At the "Primetime Emmy Awards" on Sunday Showtime's new thriller Homeland ended the Mad Men winning streak for best drama, but ABC's Modern Family maintained its grip on best comedy.
a. Cable television casts shadow over networks
....The evening was like a cable eclipse of the networks — not a single network show was nominated for best drama.
8. Public television takes role in curbing dropout rates
....More than 100 public television stations showed a seven-hour telethon on Saturday that asked viewers to work with community organizations to lower the nation's high school dropout rate.
9. Mobile services and cable TV are unexpected allies

....A little-noticed result of Verizon’s $3.9 billion airwave purchase is that cable companies can now use the carrier’s retail presence to sell cable packaged with phone and wireless service.
10. Teachers' unions court GOP

....The unions are navigating a delicate political landscape where, after being challenged by old allies, they increasingly pursue friends in unlikely places.
11. Panda cub that died had liver abnormalities
....As condolences poured in from around the world, National Zoo officials waited Monday for word on why a 6-day-old panda cub died and lamented a heartbreaking setback to their closely watched breeding program.
POLITICS:
1. Obama and Romney offer a possible preview of their first debate

....In separate interviews for the CBS News program 60 Minutes, the candidates criticized each other over foreign and domestic policies.
2. More and more, in Obama's corner
....Barack Obama split the baby boomer vote in 2008, but recent polls show him leading Mitt Romney in that age group.
3. Running as outsiders, with a catch: They're in
....Members of Congress would prefer not to advertise it — they are doctors and cowboys and anything else, while their opponents are Washington insiders.
4. Conservatives want to 'Let Ryan be Ryan' on campaign trail
....Rep. Paul D. Ryan’s slow fade into the afterthought role usually played by running mates has given Republicans a new outlet for frustration over the state of the race.

Thought for Today
"The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity."
--[/i]James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) author

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[the flying reindeer]

R.I.P. Andy Williams, the silky-voiced, clean-cut crooner, whose hit recording “Moon River” and years of popular Christmas TV shows brought him fans the world over, has died at age 84 after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer at home in Branson, Mo. He is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children by his first wife, Robert, Noelle and Christian.

With an easy style and a mellow voice, Williams proved ideal for television. The Andy Williams Show, which lasted in various formats from 1957 to 1971, featured Williams alternately performing his stable of easy-listening ballads and bantering casually with his guest stars. He received 18 gold and three platinum albums over his long career and was nominated for five Grammy awards. He released an autobiography in 2009, Moon River and Me: A Memoir. It was on that show that Williams introduced the world to the original four singing Osmond Brothers of Utah and their younger sibling Donny also debuted there in 1963 when he was 6 years old.
Williams’ clean-cut persona, which made him a popular act in conservative Branson, Mo., also carried over into his personal life. He was connected with scandal only once — indirectly — when his ex-wife, former Las Vegas showgirl Claudine Longet, shot her lover, skiing champion Spider Sabich, to death in 1976.
Howard Andrew Williams began performing with his older brothers Dick, Bob and Don in the local Presbyterian church choir when he was 8, before going into show buniness. Eventually,
the three older brothers tired of the constant travel and left to pursue other careers. Andy got a role on Steve Allen's original Tonight show and a record contract. Among his hit records: “Canadian Sunset,” ”The Hawaiian Wedding Song,” ”Dear Heart,” ”Days of Wine and Roses,” the theme from the movie “Love Story” and “Charade.” After leaving TV and touring, he settled in Branson, Mo. with its dozens of theaters featuring live music, comedy and magic acts.
When he arrived in 1992, the town was dominated by country music performers, but Williams changed that, building the classy, $13 million Andy Williams Moon River Theater in the heart of the city’s entertainment district and performing two shows a night, six days a week, nine months of the year. Only in recent years did he begin to cut back to one show a night. He and his second wife, the former Debbie Haas, divided their time between homes in Branson and Palm Springs, where he spent his leisure hours on the golf course when Branson’s theaters were dark during the winter months following Christmas.

R.I.P. Andy Williams, last of the smooth baritone crooners.

[the flying reindeer]

Yom Kippur

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 270th day of 2012 with 95 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 8:28 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 67ºF [Feels like 67ºF], winds SW @ 6 mph, humidity 73%, pressure 29.98 in and steady, dew point 58ºF, chance of precipitation .0%.

Today in History:
1087--King William II, son of William the Conqueror, was crowned King of England.
1580--English privateer, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe on The Golden Fleece in 33 months.
1687--the Acropolis in Athens was attacked by the Venetian army trying to eject the Turks, badly damaging the entrance and the Parthenon.
1776--the Continental Congress Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee as agents to negotiate a treaty with France.
1789--Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first secretary of state and John Jay the first chief justice.
1820--the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone died in Missouri.
1835--Gaetano Donizetti composed Lucia de Lammermoor, one of opera's greatest tragic love stories.
1864--Confederate troops began an attack against Fort Davidson, Mo.
1892--John Phillip Sousa and his band presented their first public concert, playing Sousa's "Liberty Bell March."
1897--Paul VI, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (1963-1978), was born; died 1978 at age 80.
1907--New Zealand, which had been a colony of Great Britain, became a dominion.
1914--the Federal Trade Commission was established
1918--French and US troops attacked German lines to begin the battle of the Meuse-Argonne Forest in World War I.
1944-- Operation Market-Garden, a plan to seize bridges in the Dutch town of Arnhem, failed, as 1000s of British and Polish troops were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.
1950--UN troops recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul from the North Koreans.
1957--West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, running for 734 performances.
1960--the first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago.
1962--the Soviet Union made an offer to end the Cuban Missile Crisis by taking its missile bases out of Cuba if the U.S. agreed to not invade Cuba.
1962--The Beverly Hillbillies debuted on CBS-TV.
1969--the 13th and final Beatles album Abbey Road was released.
1969--The Brady Bunch, a sitcom that will become an icon of American pop culture, aired for the first time.
1971--Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer won his 20th game of the year, becoming the fourth Orioles pitcher to win 20 games in that season.
1986--William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as an associate justice.
1996--Shannon Lucid returns to Earth in the shuttle Atlantis following six months in orbit aboard the Russian space station.
2000--Slobodan Milosevic conceded that Vojislav Kostunica had finished first in Yugoslavia's presidential election, but declared a runoff, prompting mass protests leading to his ouster.
2002--a ferry from Senegalsank off the Gambian coast and only 84 out of 1,000+ passengers were rescued, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in history.
2005--Army Pfc. Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury on six counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
2005--international weapons inspectors announced the Irish Republican Army's full disarmament.
2007--a mistrial was declared in the Phil Spector murder case.
2007--Myanmar began a violent crackdown on protests, beating and dragging away dozens of monks.
2008--screen legend, businessman and philanthropist Paul Newman died.

World News Capsules:
1. After a sputtering start, the Louvre Abu Dhabi project gathers pace
....The global financial crisis bit hard, but the Gulf museum is offering some views before its scheduled completion in 2015.
2. Training Afghan allies, with guard firmly up
....After recent attacks by Afghan forces against Western soldiers and Marines, American military advisers are extremely wary, laying bare the challenge of preparing the Afghans to fight on their own.
3. Turnover at top paralyzes China as it faces economic crisis
....China’s Communist Party appears so distracted by its leadership transition that it is not pursuing the bold agenda that may be necessary to prevent severe economic pain.
a. China launches carrier, but experts doubt its worth
....Beijing put its first aircraft carrier into service, a move intended to signal its growing military might.
4. Egypt and Yemen, at UN, urge curbs on free speech

....Two new Middle Eastern leaders, despite being swept to power by popular uprisings, issued rebuttals to Pres. Obama’s defense of Western values at the UN.
a. Millionaire's love for art spawns plan for east-west dialogue

....Shafik Gab, the Egyptian millionaire, has financed a series of international panel discussions on themes of “cultural exchange and Orientalism.”.
5. Proposal sets circumcision regulations in Germany
....The proposal comes in response to calls by lawmakers for legal clarity in the wake of a regional court ruling that equated the practice of ritual circumcision with bodily injury to minors.
6. Former Murdoch aides appear in court
....Two of the most senior former executives at newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, both close at one time to Prime Minister David Cameron, were set to appear in court.
7. European markets jolted amid protests in Greece and Spain

....Trade unions in Greece called a nationwide strike to contest new cuts being discussed by the government, and protesters in Spain surrounded Parliament for a second day over the prime minister’s austerity program.
8. Japan's opposition picks Nationalist ex-premier as leader
....Shinzo Abe won the race to lead Japan’s Liberal Democractic Party, giving him a chance of regaining the nation’s top job.
9. Clinton sees link to Qaida offshoot in deadly Libya ttack
....Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested that an affiliate of Al Qaida in North Africa was behind the attack on the US mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans.
10. Myanmar opposition leader not bitter about past
....Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel laureate, said in an interview that she bore no ill will toward the generals who have gradually relaxed their grip on the country.
a. In battling mine project in Myanmar, a 'Iron Ladies' rise
....Aye Net and Thwe Thwe Win, the daughters of farmers, have rocketed to national prominence for their defiance of a copper mining project run by the Myanmar military and its Chinese partner.
11. Priest investigated in ivory-smuggling inquiry in Philippines
....The investigation was prompted by an article in National Geographic that quotes Msgr. Cristóbal Garcia as telling an American reporter how to smuggle illegal figurines into the US.
12. South African firebrand is charged with money laundering
....Julius Malema, the former leader of the African National Congress youth wing, is charged in connection with state contracts with an engineering company linked to him.
13. In Spain, austerity and hunger
....As Spain tries to meet its budget targets, it has been forced to introduce one austerity measure after another.
a. Protesters take to street in Madrid

....Thousands besieged Parliament as Spain's two largest regions posed challenges to the country's leadership.
14. Correspondent for Iranian TV killed after blasts rock Syrian military site

....Large explosions at a military site in the Syrian capital were followed by a gunfight that left an Iranian television correspondent dead, his station reported.
15. As refugees flood Turkey, asylum system nears breakdown
....A United Nations agency helps some resettle, but many decide instead to fend for themselves.

US News Capsules:
1. UN leader opens General Assembly on somber note
....The secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said conflicts roiling the Middle East were a major concern.
2. Obama tells UN new democracies need free speech

....Pres. Obama used his last major address on a global stage before the November election to deliver a defense of freedom of speech, challenging fledgling democracies to ensure that right.
3. Taxes threaten an island culture in Georgia

....Increasing economic pressures are forcing the saltwater Geechees of Sapelo Island, Ga., to wonder if their fragile community will finally succumb to cultural erosion.
4. Deportation deferrals put employers of immigrants in a bind
....Asked by program applicants to verify a job, farmers and small businesses are worried about exposing themselves to prosecution for hiring illegal workers.
5. Seeking cures, patients enlist mice stand-ins
....In what could be the ultimate in personalized medicine, animal models, referred to by researchers as avatars, are being used to help determine the best treatment for a patient,
6. An electric carmaker struggles as its production lags
....To ease a financial crisis, Tesla, the maker of a high-performance electric car, said it had renegotiated the terms of an energy loan from the government,
7. Home prices rise again, this time on the low end

....The housing market is still gathering strength, new data showed, and the gains appear to be spreading even to the cheapest homes in many cities,
8. Fraternity suspended for alcohol enemas

....The University of Tennessee says it suspended a fraternity chapter indefinitely after a student was hospitalized following an alcohol enema.
POLITICS:
1. Test for Obama as deficit stays over $1 trillion
....Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney have very different ideas on reducing the budget deficit, but experts have doubts that either plan is up to the challenge.
2. Polls show Obama is widening his lead in Ohio and Florida
....Mitt Romney's burden is no longer to win over undecided voters, but also to woo back the voters who seem to be growing a little comfortable with the idea of a second Obama term.
3. House panel recommends new rules on ethics
....After concluding its investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters, the panel advocated a tightening of rules to prevent conflicts of interest and to keep partisan politics out of future inquiries,
4. One coalition stays true to Todd Akin: home-schoolers
....Mitt Romney’s burden is no longer to win undecided voters, but also to woo back those who seem to be growing a little comfortable with the idea of a second term for Pres. Obama.
5. A GOP reunion, with plans for more togetherness
....The Republican ticket will start campaigning together more often, which suggests that aides fear that Mitt Romney, on his own, is not generating enough attention and excitement.

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: NFL and referees are close to a deal

....The NFL and the referees’ union are close to reaching an agreement to end the lockout, but a remaining issue is how quickly the regular NFL referees can return to work.
2. MLB: Sabathia gives Yankees' bullpen a break

....C. C. Sabathia (14-6) struck out 10 in eight solid innings as the Yankees moved closer to clinching the American League East, beating the Twins 8-2.
a. Sizing up a crown that is rarely worn
....The Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera is tantalizingly close to doing what Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron could not: enter baseball’s musty triple crown fraternity, which has admitted no new members in 45 years.
b. Atlanta Braves early clinch paying dividends

....The Braves will all but certainly play the NL Wild Card game at home and are now in position to set up their rotation as they want, while Joe Posnanski points out that the AL contenders have no such luxury
c. CNN or MLB Network?
....Every four years, the nation’s capital is consumed by a presidential race. For the first time since 1933, a baseball team has given journalists, pundits and politicians a second pennant chase to obsess over.
3. Ryder Cup: Out of the pool, Phelps finds hte water at Medinah
....Michael Phelps, the 22-time Olympic swimming medalist, played in Tuesday’s celebrity scramble at Medinah Country Club, where the Ryder Cup will begin on Friday.
a. Belgian has come a long way to hit it a long way
....Nicolas Colsaerts’s road to the Ryder Cup was not a straight shot. He qualified for the European Tour at 18, then dropped to 1,305th in the world before becoming the first Belgian to qualify for this week’s tournament.

Thought for Today
"Humankind cannot take too much reality."
..'/i]T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-born English poet and playwright.

[the flying reindeer]

Ancestor Appreciation Day

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 271st day of 2012 with 94 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:41 p.m., it's fair , temp 63ºF [Feels like 63ºF], winds variable @ 5 mph, humidity 48%, pressure 30.20 in and rising, dew point 4.ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

Today in History:
1540--the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits--a Roman Catholic missionary organization--received its charter from Pope Paul III.
1590--Pope Urban VII diesd13 days after being elected pope, making his the shortest papal reign in history.
1779--the Continental Congress appointed John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain. On the same day, John Jay was apppointed minister to Spain.
1822--Jean-Francois Champollion ,(rench classical scholar, announced that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone .
1825--the first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.
1854--sudden and heavy fog caused two ships to collide, killing 322 people off the coast of Newfoundland.
1864--William "Bloody Bill" Anderson's Confederate guerillas sack edCentralia, Mo., killing 22 and wounding over 100 Union troops.
1869--Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok proved too wild for Hays City, Kan.
1920--Jayne Meadows, actress, wife of comedian Steve Allen and sister of fellow actress Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners), turns 92.
1928--the US recognized the Nationalist Chinese government.
1937--the Bali Tiger (a subspecies of tiger found solely on the small Indonesian island of Bali) was declared extinct.
1938--Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt appealed to Hitler for peace.
1939--Poland surrendered to the German blitzkrieg and invading Soviet forces.
1940--the Tripartite Pact is signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan.
1954--Tonight! hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.
1960--Sylvia Pankhurst, British suffragette and international socialist, died in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the age of 78.
1964--the Warren Commission reported that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating Pres. Kennedy.
1967--a French television network began to broadcast the first (and only) season of the American sitcom My Mother, The Car, which the 2002 TV Guide named the 2nd-worst television show of all time. (First on the list was The Jerry Springer Show.)
1969--Hair (The musical) opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London and ran until July 1973 when a roof collapse forced closure.
1987--mudslides in slum areas of Medellin, Colombia, killed up to 500 people.
1989--Zsa Zsa Gabor, on trial for slapping a police officer, stormsed out of the courtroom in the middle of the district attorney's closing argument.
1991--the US Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
1994--over 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the US House.
1996--the F. Scott Fitzgerald stamp was issued by the US Post Office.
1999--operatic tenor Placido Domingo breaks Caruso's record 17 opening-nights at the Metropolitan Opera with his 18th opener.
2003--Pres. Bush and Russian Pres. Putin said they would join forces to oppose nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.
2007--nine people were reported killed and another 100 injured as the Myanmar military junta sought to break up nine days of demonstrations by Buddhist monks and nuns.
2008--a bomb made of more than 400 pounds of explosives killed 17 people near a Shiite shrine in Damascus.

World News Capsules:
1. In Afghanistan, American trainers kep their armor on
....In the field, where small teams of American advisers are now working with Afghan units, even minor misunderstandings are treated as potentially violent confrontations.
2. Chinese scientist finds no evidence of cyanide poisoning in trial testimony

....The government scientist said testimony in the trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of a disgraced politician, did not show that Neil Heywood, a British businessman, was poisoned by cyanide.
3. Europe to seek sanctions against US over Boeing subsidies

....In the latest move in a seven-year dispute, the European Union said it would ask the World Trade Organization for permission to levy up to $12 billion in sanctions.
4. Greek coalition claims progress on austerity talks

....As the country's leaders prepared for negotiations with international lenders, leaders on the left warned that they would oppose across-the-board cuts to salaries and pensions.
a. Tensions intensify in Greece
....Clashes erupted in central Athens and across Greece on Wednesday as trade unions called a nationwide strike to contest new salary and pension cuts being discussed by the government and its international creditors/
5. Netanyahu warns Iran is close to making a bomb

....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told the UN that he believes Iran’s ability to make an atomic weapon will be irreversible by next spring or summer.
a. Israeli foreign ministry calls for more sanctions on Iran
....A leaked report appears to be a rare Israeli acknowledgment that there might be time to halt the Iranian nuclear program without military action.
6. Italian premier says he'd consider another term
....Mario Monti said he would think about leading another Italian government if elections scheduled for next spring do not produce a strong majority for any party coalition.
7. Myanmar leader praises Aung San Sun Kyi at UN
....Presi. Thein Sein of Myanmar said his country has taken irreversible steps toward democracy and paid unprecedented public tribute to opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
8. Philippine priest facing scrutiny over ivory and abuse
....Msgr. Cristóbal Garcia, accused of ivory smuggling, is also under investigation by the Vatican in connection with unrelated allegations of sexual abuse, a church spokesman said.
9. Russians eagerly participate in medical experiments, despite risks
....Even though tests sometimes go awry, patients in Russia are eager to join drug trials because often they are the only way to receive modern medical care.
10. Spain unveils sweeping budet cuts
....The budget involves an average cut of almost 9% in the spending of each government ministry next year. Civil servants, meanwhile, will have their salaries frozen for a third consecutive year.
a. In Spain, austerity and hunger

....As Spain tries to meet its budget targets, it has been forced to introduce one austerity measure after another.
11. Sudan and South Sudan sign cooperation deal

....The agreement signed by the two countries’ leaders should permit oil exports to resume, which its economies desperately need, but leaves important issues unresolved.
12. Rebels make gains in blunting Syrian air attacks

....For the rebels, managing to deny the use of an important airfield has undermined the government’s ability to exert its full authority in some parts of the country.
a. UN says Syrian refugee numbers are surging
....The number of Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries for safety and aid is likely to exceed 700,000 by the end of the year, humanitarian agencies said.

US News Capsules:
1. Budget cuts to archives put history out of rach
....As Georgia's state archives prepares to reduce its staff and accessibility drastically next month, archivists worry about a long-term impact on public records nationwide.
2. In Texas conviction, an immigrant rallying cry

....Rosa Jimenez, an illegal Mexican immigrant in a Texas prison for a crime she says she did not commit, has become a cause célèbre for critics of the American criminal justice system.
3. Resort's snow won't be pure this year, it'll be sewage
....Arizona Snowbowl will become the first ski resort in the world to use 100 % sewage effluent to make artificial snow. Members of the Navajo tribe say the snow will ruin sacred ground.
4. Toyota moves to revamp its lexis luxury line
....After falling behind from a product shortage, the automaker is planning to rejuvenate its Lexus brand by making the line more appealing to younger and more adventurous buyers.
5. Two faces of national security on Homeland[/u]
....The second season of Homeland, which begins on Showtime on Sunday, has to pry even deeper into its entwined and deeply damaged protagonists without burning out their mystery.
6. Decorated general charged with violations of military law

....Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, the former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, has been charged with forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct and other violations.
7. Cyberwarfare emerges from shadows for public discussion by US officials
....The federal government’s announcement of a program to enlist contractors to develop technology is seen as a turning point in a long-secret program.
POLITICS:
1. Election may decide when interrogation amounts to torture
....The future of American government practices when interrogating high-level terrorism suspects appears likely to turn on the outcome of the presidential race.
2. Republicans intensify drive to win over Jewish voters
....In battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Nevada, Republicans are trying to persuade Jewish voters who might typically be expected to support Democrats to vote for Mitt Romney.
a. Romney ad reaches out to working class

....Mitt Romney stepped up his efforts to repair the damage from his “47 percent” comments, trying to reassure voters that he cares about the poor and middle class.
3. 'Super PACs' finally a draw for Democrats
....With the election just weeks away, Democratic “super PACs” are finally getting the kind of wealthy donors who have made Republican outside groups a pivotal force in the campaign.

Sports Headlines:
1. NFL: The NFL reaches labor deal with referess

....With a new 8-year deal in place, regular officials will work Thursday's Ravens-Browns game, and the officials' union will vote Friday to ratify the contract and work Sunday's games.
2. NHL Boogaard lawsuit may shake up hockey
....A lawsuit filed by Derek Boogaard's family accuses the players union of squandering a chance at a financial claim. But it also contains serious charges that could be explored.
3. NBA: Barclays Arean rivals the Garden's glow

....Big-name performers are adding tour dates at the Nets new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where costs can be lower and profit margins higher than at Madison Square Garden.

Today's Headlines of Interest:
Rare albino whale puts on a show off Australian coast

A rare white whale, nicknamed "Migaloo" by researchers is thrilling Australians off the eastern coast. Albino whales are rare and Migaloo is the only documented all-white humpback adult, according to Peter Harrison, director of marine ecology research at Southern Cross University in Australia. Migaloo was first seen in 1991 when he was a juvenile, Harrison says, and researchers believe he is now in his 20s. The humpbacks are on their annual migration from their breeding grounds along the Great Barrier Reef back to feed in the Antarctic.
Migaloo is expected to pass by Cape Byron, the easternmost point in Australia, in the coming hours after passing by Surfer's Paradise, says Oskar Peterson, who runs a website that tracks sightings of white whales.

Male humpbacks can travel up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) a day during their migration, according to experts. But they often hang around Cape Byron searching for mates, so whale watchers may see the albino humpback for a few more days, Harrison says. He warns fans to steer clear -- at least 500 meters away at all times -- to ensure the whale's survival. Too much noise and chasing can disturb him and cause him to use precious energy he needs for migration. Whale watchers may be able to enjoy Migaloo for decades. Humpback whales are believed to survive as long as 90 years in the wild, Harrison says.

Thought for Today
"We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves."
..[/i]Henri Frederic Amiel(1821-1881) Swiss writer.


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[the flying reindeer]

World Rabies Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 272md day of 2012 with 93 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:37 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 54ºF [Feels like 54ºF], winds NNW @ 5 mph, humidity 94%, pressure 30.06 in and steady, dew point 52ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
48 BC--oafter losing his battle with Caesar, Pompey the Great, Roman general and statesman, landed in Egypt where he was assassinated on the orders of King Ptolemy.
935--Saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, was murdered by his brother, Boleslaus I of Bohemia.
1066--claiming he had a right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England.
1542--Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into present-day San Diego Bay during the course of his explorations of the northwest shores of Mexico on behalf of Spain.
1643--25-year-old English poet John Milton's masque, Comus with its theme of evil vs. good, was performed.
1745--the British national anthem, "God Save the King/Queen," had its first public performance at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.
1781--the last battle of the Amerian Revolution began at Yorktown, Va.
1850--flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the US Navy.
1863--Union Generals Alexander M. McCook and Thomas Crittenden were ordered to Indianapolis, Ind., to face a court of inquiry following the Federal defeat at the battle of Chickamauga in Georgia.
1891--Herman Melville. author best known for his novel Moby Dick, died at his home in New York City at age 72.
1895--Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist best known for his Pasteurization process, died near Paris from a series of strokes.
1918--the flu pandemic hit Philadelphia, Pa.
1920--a grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox players for throwing the 1919 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.
1924--two US Army planes landed in Seattle, Wash., having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
1928--Sir Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory discovering what is now known as penicillin.
1941--Ted Williams played the last day of the season and gets six hits in eight trips to the plate, to boost his batting average to .406 and become the first player since Bill Terry in 1930 to hit .400 and the last to do so.
1962--Padding Tram Depot, Brisbane, Australia, iwadestroyed by fire along with 65 trams.
1968--in Vietnam the battle for Thuong Duc began.
1982--reports appeared of deaths in the Chicago area from Extra-strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. seven died and the unsolved case resulted in tamper-proof packaging for consumer products.
1989--Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii.
1991--famed jazz trumpeter Miles Davis died.
1994--the Estonia disaster occurred on the ferry's crossing of the Baltic Sea to Stockholm when it takes on water and capsizes with 852 perisheding.
1995--Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat signed phase two of their peace agreement in Washington .
2003--legendary Broadway and film director Elia Kazan died at his home in New York City at the age of 94.
2004--the price of oil topped $50 a barrel for the first time in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
2006--to boost support for the Afghan government, NATO voted to dramatically expand operations in Afghanistan.
2008--US congressional negotiators and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed on a $700 billion banking industry bailout plan that gave the Treasury unprecedented authority, including the ability to buy a range of troubled financial assets.

World News Capsules:
1. Ousted from party in China, Bo Xilai faces prosecution

....Beijing officials announced Friday that the disgraced politician had been expelled from the Communist Party and would be prosecuted on criminal charges. The state news agency also said the party congress was scheduled for Nov. 8.
a. China alters its strategy in diplomatic crisis with Japan
....There are hints that the government was tacitly encouraging the nationalistic demonstrations against a former enemy, and has now decided to rein them in.
2. White House move to give Egypt $450 million in aid meets resistance
....Lawmakers in Congress wary of foreign aid in general, and of Egypt’s new leadership in particular, protested the infusion of cash.
3. Hollande's new budget focuses on cutting France's deficit
....Although he was elected on a pro-growth platform, the first budget from Pres. François Hollande instead emphasizes freezing government spending and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
4. Merkel's former finance minister to run agains her

....Many Germans remember Peer Steinbrück as a quick-witted and effective finance minister in the early days of the euro zone debt crisis.
5. Greece agrees on new package of budget cuts and taxes
....The Greek government’s proposal — $15 billion in cuts and $2.6 billion in new taxes — could set off a new wave of protests.
6. Iran envoy is assaulted by protesters near the UN
....A spokesman for the Iranian Mission at the UN was shoved and shouted at by a small group of Iranian exiles protesting a speech at the General Assembly by Iran’s president.
7. Militants attack Iraqi prison and kill 15 police officers
....A group of militants laid siege to a prison near Tikrit and an ensuing gun battle left at least 15 police officers dead and more than 80 prisoners on the loose, officials said.
8. Netanyahu's bomb diagram stirs confusion in Israel

....Did the “90 percent” on the prime minister’s cartoonish bomb drawing refer generally to Iranian progress or specifically to levels of uranium enrichment? Interpretations differed.
9. Osaka mayor's radical message has broad appeal in a weary Japan
....The charisma of Toru Hashimoto, Osaka’s new mayor, has made a new party a feared force in Japanese politics, seemingly overnight.
10. Kenya says it has captured last Islamist bastion in Somalia

....The capture of the port town of Kismayu, if confirmed, would spell an end to the Shabab’s ability to control large tracts of territory and the start of a guerrilla phase of fighting.
11. Security fears hobble inquiry on Libya attack

....Unable to safely investigate in Benghazi, the FBI is trying to piece together a deadly attack from more than 400 miles away, and it’s facing “a cavalcade of obstacles,” one American official says.
12. At UN, Myanmar leader highlights steps to reform
....Pres. Thein Sein, saying his country was leaving behind five decades of authoritarian rule, paid public tribute to the country’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
a. In battle over Myanmar mine, folk heroines emerge
....In a sign of how things are changing in Myanmar, two village women have won national prominence for defying a copper mine project backed by the military.
13. Plane going to Mount Everest region crashes, killing 19

....A small plane carrying 19 people struck a bird and crashed soon after takeoff in Katmandu, killing everyone on board, officials said.
14. Not in script for Kremlin: a eal race for governor
....The Russian region of Ryazan seemed primed for a real race until an insurgent candidate was removed from the race.
15. Despite public protests, Spain's 2013 budget plan includes more austerity
....The budget involves an average cut of almost 9% in the spending of each government ministry next year. Civil servants, meanwhile, will have their salaries frozen for a third consecutive year.
16. Syrian rebels announce big offensive in Aleppo

....The number of Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries for safety and aid is likely to exceed 700,000 by the end of the year, according to the UN and humanitarian agencies.
a. Aleppo fight intensifies, as UN warns of rising flow of refugees
....The UN’ human rights body voted to strengthen and extend the term of the commission gathering evidence of abuses in Syria.
17. Vatican says papyrus referring to Jesus' wife is probably a fake

....The Vatican called the fragment of a Coptic text “problematic and controversial,” and most likely an “inept forgery.”
18. Why did the tourist cross the road? The real riddle is 'how'
....A decade or so of capitalist fervor has transformed Hanoi’s once-quiet tree-lined boulevards and side streets into roaring rivers of rubber and steel.

US News Capsules:
1. Tim Cook apologizes for Apple's maps

....Complaints and jokes about Apple's new maps have not stopped since the company released iOS 6 last week, a software update that replaced Google's maps with its own. Now the company's chief executive, Tim Cook, is apologizing.
2. US is tightening web privacy rule to shield young
....Federal regulations intended to curb the collection of data from youngsters without their parents' permission might cause companies to stop creating child-centric sites.
3. Man tied to anti-Islam video held on probation charge
....The man suspected of making the anti-Islam video that set off deadly protests across the Muslim world is accused of violating an order in a bank fraud case that restricted his use of the Internet.
4. A flood of applications, with a trickle of approvals
....A little more than two dozen immigrants nationwide have received approval for a two-year deferral of deportation under a program that Pres. Obama announced in June.
5. Veterans wait for benefits as claims pile up

....A crushing inventory of claims for disability, pension and educational benefits has overwhelmed the Department of Veterans Affairs.
6. mmunition for a trade war between US and Mexico
....The Department of Commerce took steps to end a 16-year-old agreement with Mexico that makes Mexican tomatoes a bargain in American supermarkets.
7. US economy still weak, but feel more secure
....A closely watched measure of consumer confidence surged to its highest level since February, even as job growth and the overall economy had weakened.
8. Nostalgic for thet giant 1970s machine? It may be here

....The Computer History Museum, which opened in 2011, has a 25,000-square-foot permanent exhibition: “Revolution: First 2,000 Years of Computing.”
9. Raising frogs for freedom, prison project opens doors

....Washington State’s Sustainability in Prisons program enlists inmates to help rescue imperiled species like the Oregon spotted frog.
POLITICS:
1. Obama fills in blanks of Romney's plans, and GOP sees falsehoods
....The Obama campaign is taking advantage of the unknown details of Mitt Romney’s policy proposals by filling in the blanks, but some charges are more specific than the facts warrant
2. September, November: 40 precious days to spend on early vote
....A stream of voters arrived at election offices across Iowa to cast their ballots, and waves of absentee ballots have started landing in mailboxes in 30 other states.
3. An enduring ritual of politics loud and close
....Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney crisscrossed Ohio, speaking to supporters at events essentially unchanged since the days of Andrew Jackson.

Sports Headlines:
1. MLB: Dickey wins 20th game for the Mets
....The Mets' bullpen survived a two-run ninth inning and eventually saved R. A. Dickey's win, making him the first Mets pitcher since Frank Viola in 1990 to win 20 games.
a. The dertiest part of a catcher's job

....Examining the decisions a catcher makes while bracing for a potential collision at home plate, through the eyes of Russell Martin of the Yankees.
2. NFL: Referees feel the love, at least for one game

....With an agreement to end the lockout reached, regular N.F.L. officials were unanimously celebrated and praised as they returned to the field on Thursday night.
a. The powerful NLF is humbled
....The NFL's debacle with replacement referees proves that the league is not invincible.
3. NHL: Preseason canceled: Labor talks to resume
....The league’s commissioner and the head of the players union will meet Friday in the first formal negotiations since Sept. 12.
4. RYDER CUP: US and Europe tied after morning matches
[/img]
....After the European team surged early, the Americans battled for a 2-2 tie in the morning foursomes. Tiger Woods struggled as he and Steve Stricker lost their opening match.
5. Horse Racing: Inquiry faults racing officials in horse fatalities at Aquaduct
....A New York State report says a spike in horse fatalities at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens might have been prevented had racing authorities more closely monitored the use of prescription drugs.
a. Breakdown: The lab race
....At a time when the racing industry is in crisis over the widespread doping of racehorses, testing laboratories play a vital role in cleaning up the sport.

Thought for Today
"The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered."
--[/i]Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Irish-born British statesman, parliamentary orator & political thinker


[/size][/color]

[the flying reindeer]

International Day of Rural Women
Good evening from Tuxy and me
This is the 289th day of 2012 with 76 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 8:47 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 52ºF [Feels like 52ºF], winds WSW @ 13 mph, humidity 71%, pressure 29.73 in and rising, dew point 43ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
70 BC--Virgil, Roman poet ("The Aeneid"), was born; died 19 BC at age 48.
1581--commissioned by Catherine De Medici, the "Ballet Comique de la Reine" was staged in Paris., considered to be the first major ballet.
1780--1,000 British regulars, Hessians, Loyalists and Indians, led by Loyalist Sir John Johnson and Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, tried to attack Middleburgh , NY.
1815--Napoleon, French military and political leader, was exiled by the British to the island of St. Helena.
1863--a Confederate submarine sank during tests.
1880--Chiricahua Apache leader Victorio was killed south of El Paso, Tex.
1892--the US government made the Crow Indians relinquish 1.8 million acres of their reservation for 50 cents per acre, which was then opened to white settlement.
1917--Mata Hari wais executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.
1928--the German airship Graf Zeppelin completed its first journey across the Atlantic from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst, NJ. 1945--Pierre Laval, the puppet leader of Nazi-occupied Vichy France, was executed by firing squad for treason against France.
1946--Herman Goering, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe and Hitler's designated successor, committed suicide hours before he was to have been executed.
1951--the situation comedy I Love Lucy premiered on CBS .
1954--Hurricane Hazel ,the 4th major hurricane of 1954, hammered southern Ontario, Canada, after everywhere from Jamaica to Canada, killing more than 400 people and causing over $1 billion in damages.
1965-- the first public burning of a draft card in the US was staged by student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam.
1966--Operation Attleboro continued in Tay Ninh Province.
1969--National Moratorium demonstrations by anti-war activists were held across the US.
1970--West Gate Bridge, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, collapsed during construction killing 35 workers.
1976--Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Republican Bob Dole faced off in the first debate between vice-presidential nominees.
1984--astronomers in Pasadena, Calif., displayed the first photographic evidence of another solar system 293 trillion miles from Earth.
1987--Great Storm of 1987 was an unusually strong weather system that became the worst storm to hit England since 1703.
1989--Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's NHL career scoring record of 1,850 points, during a game with the Edmonton Oilers.
1990--Mikhail Gorbachev won Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending Cold War tensions.
1991--Clarence Thomas was confirmed 52-48 to the Supreme Court by the US Senate.
1992--a man who terrorized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don for more than a decade with a series of more than 50 grisly killings was sentenced to death.
1993--Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.
1993--the Pentagon censured three US Navy admirals who organized the Tailhook Association convention in 1991 during which scores of women had been subjected to abuse and indignities by junior officers.
1997--Cassini Probe (NASA Fly-by orbiter and lander commissioned to study Saturn and its moons) was launched.
1999--the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the international group Doctors Without Borders.
2001--a package containing a substance believed to be anthrax was opened in the personal office of US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-SD.
2001--NASA's Galileo Orbiter spacecraft came within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon IO
2002--the Washington-area sniper claimed his ninth fatality, a female FBI analyst, as the massive manhunt continued.
2002--ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal pleaded guilty in New York in the biotech company's insider trading scandal.
2003--China launches Shenzhou 5 - its first human spaceflight mission.
2004--"Funeral coaches" weere exempted from car-seat law.
2004--the UN said it was getting reports of attacks against internally displaced people in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region where tens of thousands had been killed and 1.6 million others displaced.
2007--Drew Carey debuted as new host of The Price is Right.
2009--a false report that a 6-year-old boy was aboard a runaway balloon in Colorado captivated a global TV audience. (The boy's parents later pleaded guilty to charges they made up the story.)

World News Capsules:
1. Occupy supporters stage protest in London
....Several supporters of the anti-corporate Occupy movement chained themselves to the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral to mark the anniversary of its now-dismantled protest camp outside the London landmark.
2. North Koreans see few gains below top tier
...Interviews in China with four North Koreans suggest daily life has not improved under Kim Jong-un for those who fall outside the nation's elite.
3. Malala Yousafzai is sent to Britain for medical treatment

....Ms. Yousafzai, who was shot by Taliban gunmen for advocating for girls' education, will require prolonged care to fully recover physically and psychologically, a military spokesman said.
a. Pakisstan offers bounty over shooting
....Pakistan's interior minister offered a $1 million bounty for the Pakistani Taliban's spokesman over the shooting of Pakistani schoolgirl activist Malala Yousufzai.
4. Austerity protests are rude awakening in Portugal
....The Portuguese have suddenly joined the swelling ranks of Europe's discontented, following Greece and Spain.
5. Spain may pay price for delying aid requiest
....Economists are warning that waiting to seek aid, and the uncertainty the delay engenders, threatens to push the economy deeper into recession.
6. Rebel arms flow is said to benefit Jihadists in Syria
....Doubt on whether the White House's strategy of minimal and indirect intervention in the Syrian conflict is aiding a democratic-minded opposition.
7. As tension escalates, Turkey issues a ban on all Syrian aircraft

....The announcement followed Syria's ban on Turkish aircraft and became the latest volley in an increasingly aggressive dispute between the two neighbors over Syria's devastating civil war.

US News Capsules:
1. A risky lifeline for seniors is costing some their homes
....Regulators are noting new abuses tied to reverse mortgages, which let people 62 and older borrow money against the value of their homes and not pay it back until they move out or die.
2. 24 miles, 4 minutes and 834 mph, all in one jump

...In a 24-mile jump, Felix Baumgartner, a professional daredevil, became the first sky diver to break the speed of sound. "It was harder than I expected," he said.
3. Christian group finds gay agenda in an anti-bullying day
....The American Family Association is urging parents to keep children home on a day when schools encourage students to eat lunch with someone they don't usually speak to.
4. ACLU to sue Morgan Stanley over mortgage loans

....In a complaint expected to be filed Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union is accusing Morgan Stanley of fueling the production of risky, expensive loans that targeted African-American borrowers.
5. Unique morning show on NPR thrives as others slip
....NPR's "Morning Edition" has one of the most peculiar formats of any morning show on radio or television: its hosts Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne are split between the East Coast and the West.
6. Nobel Prize for economics awarded to two US economists


....Alvin E. Roth of Harvard University and Lloyd Shapley of UCLA have been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for their work in market design and matching theory, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.
POLITICS:
1. Never to be outdone, Vegas sets record for political ads
....The city, home not just to a closely fought presidential race but to competitive House and Senate races as well, is the epicenter of a nationwide advertising binge.
2. The US Supreme Court to hear case on Arizona voter registration
.....The court agreed to decide whether Arizona may require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections.
3. Spoiler alert! GOP fighting Libertarian's spot on the ballot
....Concerned that the Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson could hurt the Romney campaign, Republicans across the country have been working to keep him off the ballot.
4. Most crucial time for candidates may be after the debate
....If Tuesday’s debate is seen as a draw, the winner will be decided in the hours and days after, with perceptions shaped by whichever campaign manages the aftermath more effectively.

Thought for Today
"Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth."
--Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), playwright,

[the flying reindeer]

Gaudy Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 291st day of 2012 with 74 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 9:27 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 58ºF [Feels like 58ºF], winds SE @ 5 mph, humidity 57%, pressure 29.86 in and falling, dew point 43ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
1610--Louis XIII of France ascended the throne at age 8 1/2 upon the assassination of his father
1777--British Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered 5,000 British and Hessian troops to American Gen. Horatio Gates at Saratoga, NY.
1814--The Beer Flood of London occurred killing 9 with 8 due to drowning and one due to alcohol poioning.
1835--the resolution formally creating the Texas Rangers was approved by voters.
1864--Confederate Gen. James Longstreet assumed command of his corps in the Army of Northern Virginia after being wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia in May.
1906--Wilhelm Voigt, a 57-year-old German shoemaker, exploited the German army's blind obedience to authority by impersonating an army officer and leading an entire squad of soldiers to help him steal 4,000 marks.
1912--Serbia and Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire in First Balkan War.
1912--Pope John Paul I, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (1978), was born; died 1978 at ge 65.
1918--Rita Hayworth, the legendary Hollywood star, was born; died 1987 from Alzheimer's disease at age 68.
1919--the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was created.
1931--gangster Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.
1941--the government of Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, collapsed, leaving little hope for peace in the Pacific.
1945--Col. Juan Peron staged a coup, becoming absolute ruler of Argentina.
1957--French author Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.
1961--Paris police massacre more than 200 Algerians marching to support peace talks ending their country's war of independence.
1968--Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos were forced to return their medals because of their black-power salute during the medal ceremony.
1970--Pierre LaPorte, Canadian Vice-Premiere and Minister of Labout. was found dead in the trunk of a car.
1973--the OPEC states declared an oil embargo against any nation that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
1974--{res/ Ford explained his pardon of Pres. Nixon to Congress.
1979--Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on behalf of the destitute in Calcutta.
1986--Pres. Reagan signed the act approving $100 million of military and "humanitarian" aid for the Contras in Nicaragua.
1986--the US Congress passed a landmark immigration bill, the first authorizing penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens.
1989--the Loma Prieta earthquake strikes near San Francisco, during the warm-up for the 3rd World Series Game, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages.
1990--UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said military force would be a legitimate response to the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.
1998--British police arrested former Chilean dictator Gen. Pinochet for questioning about crimes of genocide and terrorism.
2004--Brazil authorized its air force to shoot down planes suspected of smuggling drugs.
2006--North Korea termed U.N. sanctions to punish it for its recent nuclear test a declaration of war.
2007--Pres. Bush, raising Beijing's ire, presented the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal and urged Chinese leaders to welcome the monk to Beijing.

World News Capsules:
1. Former Bosnian leader begins his deefense in genocide trial

....Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, told judges at the UN War Crimes Tribunal that he should be "rewarded for all the good things I have done."
2. Thousands mourn former King Sihanouk in Cambodain capital

....Norodom Sihanouk died at 89, after six decades of deep involvement in Cambodia’s often devastating post-independence politics.
3. US ambassador confirms meeting with Tibetans in western China
....Gary F. Locke visited two Tibetan monasteries on Sept. 26 as part of a trip to several places in western China where Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule.
4. Easing path out of country, Cuba is dropping exit visas
....The move by the government would allow many Cubans to depart for vacations, or forever, with only a passport and a visa from the country where they plan to go.
5. Talks on Euro Zone approach, this time under calmer conditions
....For once, the crisis atmosphere that usually accompanies such summit meetings is absent, with general recognition that the euro seems here to stay.
6. $11 million severance reported for Murdoch aide
....Rebekah Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's scandal-plagued British newspaper group, still faces a variety of charges.
a. As crisis widens, fears that Britain aims to exit European Union
....Though Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants Britain to stay in the European Union, popular opinion against such membership is rising in the country.
7. Greek negotiations hit snags, from inside andout
....The Greek prime minister will show up at the European summit meeting that starts Thursday with something short of an agreement on an austerity budget package.
8. For the crowded masses, a push to provide more escape patches

....With open space scarce, and much of it accessible only to those who can afford it, advocates want India’s commercial capital to create additional oases.
9. Iran media officials castigate Europe over satellite blackout
....Outrage followed a decision by Europe’s largest satellite providers to cease transmission of Iran’s 19 state-operated channels that broadcast to Europe and parts of the Middle East.
a. Persian calligraphy opens a door to modern art
....The Iranian artist Pouran Jinchi repurposes ancient forms in works that touch on abstraction. She has recently found an international audience of collectors and institutions.
10. US troops arrive in Israel for missile-defense exercise
....Austere Challenge 2012 will be the sixth in a series of joint exercises and had been planned for more than two years.
a. Israel counted Gaza calorie needs during blockade
....The Israeli military calculated the number of calories Gaza’s residents would need to consume to avoid malnutrition during a blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory between 2007 and mid-2010, according to a document released by the Defense Ministry.
11. Japanese politician's visit to shrine raises worries
....Shinzo Abe’s action raises fresh concerns about whether as a national leader he would push a right-wing agenda that would further damage Japan’s ties with Asian neighbors when they are already strained by island disputes.
12. Libya singles out Islamist as a commander in consulate attack, Libyans say
....The man, Ahmed Abu Khattala, is a leader of the Benghazi-based Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia and is still at large/
a. Clearing the record about Benghazi
....Questions mount over what happened in the attack on the American diplomatic compound last month.
13. A Picasso and a Gauguin are among 7 works stolen from a Dutch museum
....Art thieves made off overnight with seven paintings, including a Picasso, a Matisse, a Gauguin and two Monets, from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam.
14. Russia arrests opposition activist, citing terrorism threat
....The accusations against Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of a radical socialist group, suggest an acceleration of government efforts against opposition leaders.
15. Hezbollah offering direct help to Syrian Army, rebels say

....Syrian activists and rebels, and opponents of Hezbollah in Lebanon, have long accused the Islamist party of taking a direct role in the Syrian conflict, but until recently, evidence was thin
16. Venezuela's opposition struggles for unity
....Battered by the re-election of Pres. Chávez, the opposition has the difficult task of rousing its supporters for the elections for governors in the nation’s 23 states on Dec. 16.

US News Capsules:
1. A new painkiller crackdown targets drug distributors

....In a new approach to combating prescription painkiller abuse, the federal government is focusing on the middlemen between drug makers and the doctors and pharmacies that dispense drugs.
2. SCIENCE: New planet in neighborhood, astronomically speaking
....The discovery of the planet brings the search for another Earth about as close as it will ever get. But don't plan on moving in any time soon. Its surface temperature is 1,200 degrees.
3. A town abuzz over prostitution and a client list
....The release of clients' names has stirred dread and division in the postcard-perfect coastal town of Kennebunk, Me.
4. Investigators visit company tied to meningitis cases
....Agents from the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations visited the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., for the first time, acting on a sealed warrant.
5. Maker of batteries files for bankruptcy
....The filing by A123 Systems dealt a blow to the Obama administration's program to jump-start a domestic battery industry and spur development of electric vehicles.
6. Income inequality may take toll on growth
....The concentration of income in a few hands might mean, many economists say, a less vigorous economy.
7. Halting a slow fade to history
....Americans who knew the Iran hostage crisis firsthand reflect on Argo, a film about a "footnote" to that episode in history.
8. A vision to avoid demolition for a '70s pioneer

....Jeanne Gang, a leading Chicago architect, has drawn up a plan to try to save the outmoded, late-Modernist Prentice Women’s Hospital.
9. University of Phoenix to shutter 115 locations
....The University of Phoenix has announced plans to close more than half of its brick-and-mortar locations and to lay off about 800 employees, reflecting declines in the for-profit higher education sector.
10. Multivitamin use linked to lowered cancer risk

....A large clinical trial of older male physicians followed for more than a decade found that those taking a daily multivitamin experienced 8 percent fewer cancers than the subjects taking dummy pills.
11. Man is charged with plotting to bomb Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan

....A man who the authorities said came from Bangladesh with the intent of carrying out a terror attack was caught in an F.B.I. sting operation, trying to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb .
POLITICS:
1. Rivals bring bare fists to rematch

....In a charged and clenched debate, Pres. Obama portrayed Mitt Romney as a former corporate raider, while Mr. Romney kept bringing the discussion back to Mr. Obama's record.
2. Selling the future by debating the past
....The four candidates for president and vice president have spent most of their time on the biggest public stage of the campaign fighting more about what happened in the last term than what should happen in the next.
3. Scant gains for Romney in a poll of young voters
....Despite Republican efforts, Pres. Obama has maintained a strong advantage over Mitt Romney among the crucial constituency of the young.
4. Debate moves women to fore in race for the White House
....Pres. Obama argued that Mitt Romney would oppose equal pay for women and block access to birth control, but Mr. Romney sought to defend his policies as better for women.
5. California ballot initiatives, born in Populism, now come from billionaires
....California’s ballot propositions include several from billionaires, a sign that the wealthy are using “super PACs” to influence politics in the nation’s most populous state.

Thought for Today
"At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political ideas."
--Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English writer

[the flying reindeer]

Saint Luke: Feast Day
Good evening from Tuxy and me
This is the 292nd day of 2012 with 73 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 6:28 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 64ºF [Feels like 64ºF], winds SSE @ 15 mph, humidity 43%, pressure 29.81 in and rising, dew point 41ºF, chance of precipitation 60%.

Today in History:
1356--Great Basel earthquake was the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history.
1469--Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, beginning a cooperative reign that would unite all the dominions of Spain and elevate the nation to a dominant world power.
1595--Edward Winslow, English founder of Plymouth Colony, was born; died 1655 at age 59.
1685--King Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had established the legal toleration the Protestant Huguenots.
1744--Sarah Churchill, the 1st Duchess of Marlborough, died at age 85 at Marlborough House and was buried at Blenheim Palace.
1767--Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
1851--Moby Dick, the novel by Herman Melville) was first published under the title "The Whale".
1860--British troops occupying Peking, China, loot and then burn the Yuanmingyuan, the fabulous Summer Palace built by the Manchu emperors in the 18th century.
1863--Gen. Sickles was informed by Gen. Meade that he could not resume his command until healed from his injuries incurred at Gettysburg, Pa.
1867--the US formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre.
1898--in the Spanish-American war, the US took control of Puerto Rico.
1922--the British Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (later the British Broadcasting Corp. or BBC) was founded.
1931--Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, died at home in West Orange, NJ, at the age of 84.
1933--R. Buckminster Fuller tried to patent his Dymaxion Car.
1942--Vice. Adm. William F. Halsey replaced Vice Adm. Robert L. Ghormley as commander, South Pacific.
1955--Vietnamese Emperor Bao Dai's office in Paris announced that he had dismissed Ngo Dinh Diem from the premiership and annulled his powers.
1959--the Soviet Union announced an unmanned space vehicle had taken the first pictures of the far side of the moon.
1968--the stock market soared with rumors of bombing halt in Vietnam.
1968--John Lennon and Yoko Ono werw arrested for drug possession at their home near Montagu Square in London.
1972--the US Congress passed the Clean Water Act, overriding Pres. Nixon's veto.
1977--Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees hit three home runs to lead New York to an 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding Game 6 of the World Series.
1982--former first lady Bess Truman died in Independence, Mo., at age 97.
1984--Pres. Reagan ordered an investigation of a CIA handbook for Nicaraguan rebels that suggested assassination as a political tactic.
1989--East Germany and Hungary take significant steps toward ending the communist domination of their countries.
1991--Israel and the Soviet Union agreed to renew full diplomatic relations for the first time since 1967.
1991--Azerbaijan became independent of the Soviet Union .
1998--a pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria, killed 700 people with the resulting fire burning for nearly a week.
2001--four defendants were convicted in New York for the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.
2002--North Korea revealed it was working on a secret nuclear weapons program for which Pakistan was a major supplier.
2004--exhumation orders were issued for 42 bodies in Sonthofen, Germany, where a hospital orderly admitted to giving lethal injections to 16 patients.
2005--Iraqi election officials said parliamentary election results would be delayed a few days while procedures were checked.
2006--the US reportedly pressed the Iraqi government to offer a broad amnesty to insurgents.
2007--former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned home after eight years in exile when a suicide bomber killed a reported 139 people in her convoy.
2008 Public health officials in North Bay, Ontario, said the number of people sickened by E. coli bacteria at Harvey's fast-food restaurant had risen to 131.

World News Capsules:
1. Colombia tries again to end drug-fed war
....For the first time in a decade, rebels and the government of Colombia came together with the goal of ending the longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere.
2. Twitter blocks Germans' access to Neo-Nazi group
....The decision to block the group’s posts from being seen in Germany, but not other countries, was the first time that Twitter acted on a policy known as “country withheld content.”
3. Greeks take to the streets, some violently, in a strike over austerity

....Tens of thousands of Greeks pelted riot police with rocks, bottles and firebombs to bring the country to a near-standstill in a bid to show European Union leaders that fresh austerity cuts would be crippling.
4. Corruption rattles Italians' already shaky trust in politicians
....Twenty years after Italy's postwar political order collapsed in a scandal, accusations are again flying in new scandals that are eroding Italians' trust in their politicians.
5. Pakistani police detain family of suspect in attack on girl
....Pakistani security forces have detained the family of a man accused of attacking Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by Taliban gunmen for advocating for girls’ education.
6. At least 40 die as planes bomb a Syrian town held by rebels

....The bombardment of a town along a vital highway was among the most intense since the regular deployment of warplanes and helicopters against the Syrian insurgency began.
a. Denial slipping away as war rattles Damascus, Syria

....As his troops battled insurgents all around the country, Bashar al-Assad was determined that in Damascus, at least, he would preserve an air of normalcy, but such illusions are no longer possible.
b. Iran and Turkey join Syria peace envoy n cal for truce
....The new peace envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, said a temporary halt to the fighting would constitute only a tiny step toward resolving the conflict.

US News Capsules:
1. Boy Scout files detail decades of alleed sex abuse

....The release of documents by the Boy Scouts of America created, for the first time, a public database on specific sexual abuse accusations.
a. As partners, Mormons and Scouts turn boys into men
....The Mormon Church gives the Boy Scouts a central role in preparing male youths for missionary stints and adulthood as lay priests, and the relationship is a boon to scouting.
2. A new painkiller crackdown targets drug distributors
....In a new approach to combating prescription painkiller abuse, the federal government is focusing on the middlemen between drug makers and the doctors and pharmacies that dispense drugs.
3. Cool, commercial, unmistakable

....“Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective,” at the National Gallery of Art, is the first major survey of the artist’s work since his death in 1997.
4. A second Appeals Court calls marriage law unfair to gays
....A Manhattan federal appeals court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, saying it violated the equal-protection clause.
5. Multivitamin use linked to lowered cancer risk
....A large clinical trial of older male physicians followed for more than a decade found that those taking a daily multivitamin experienced 8% fewer cancers than the subjects taking dummy pills.
POLITICS:
1. Rival campaigns intently pursue votes of women
....With Election Day looming, the push for votes is coming down not only to a state-by-state fight, but also to one for the allegiance of vital demographic groups, chief among them undecided women.
2. Bloomberg starts 'Super PAC, ' seeking national influence
....Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, a billionaire and registered independent, will back candidates in close races who support some of his biggest policy initiatives.
3. More Asian immigrants are finding ballots in their native tongue
....Eleven states with surging Asian populations are being compelled by federal law to print ballots in languages other than English.
4. Obama's new stump speech boils down to one word: vote

....For the president and his campaign, the challenge is to overcome a decline in voter enthusiasm from 2008.

Thought for Today
"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people."
--G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) English writer.

[the flying reindeer]

Yorktown Day
Good evening from Tuxy and me
This is the 293rd day of 2012 with 72 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 6:47 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 60ºF [Feels like 60ºF], winds SSW @ 3 mph, humidity 78%, pressure 29.63 in and falling, dew point 53ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1216--John of England. youngest son of Henry II, died from dysentery at Newark Castle leaving his nine-year-old son Henry to succeed him.
1765--the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
1781--at Yorktown, Va., British Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to the larger Franco-American force, bringing an end to the American Revolution.
1796--an editorial accused presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson of affair with a slave.
1812--Napoleon began the Grand Armee's disastrous retreat from Moscow.
1864--Union forces under Gen. Philip Sheridan were victorious at the Battle of Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, Va.
1869--construction begins on the Sutro Tunnel in Virginia City, Nev., a 4-mile-long tunnel through the solid rock of the Comstock Lode mining district.
1914--the First Battle of Ypres: Allied and German forces began the first of three battles to control the city and its advantageous positions on the north coast of Belgium.
1935--Ethiopia stands alone when the League of Nations deliberately imposed ineefectual economic sanctions against Fascist Italy for its invasion.
1943--the local Chinese and Snative uluks revolted against the Japanese occupation in North Borneo.
1950--UN forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1957--Maurice "the Rocket" Richard of the MOntreal Canadiens scored his 500th goal.
1960--the US imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba.
1965--Communists attacked the Plei Me Special Forces camp.
1969--Vice Pres. Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs.
1982--automaker John Z. DeLorean was arrested in $24 million cocaine scheme aimed at salvaging his bankrupt sports car company.
1987--the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6% in value – its biggest-ever percentage drop.
1989--the Guildford Four, convicted of the 1975 IRA bombings of public houses in England, were cleared of all charges after nearly 15 years in prison.
1991--fire swept through the Oakland, Calif. hills, burning 1000s of homes and killing 25 people.
1994--more than 20 people were killed in the terrorist bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel.
2001--two Army Rangers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan in the first combat-related American deaths of the military campaign in Afghanistan.
2003--Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa during a ceremony in St. Peter's Square.
2005--Hurricane Wilma became the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a mimimum pressure of 882mb .
2005--a defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture at his trial in Baghdad.
2008--retired Gen. Colin Powell broke with the GOP and endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president.
2008--Taliban insurgents pulled 30 young men from a bus in Afghanistan and beheaded them, claiming they were members of the Afghan army.
2011--in Greece, 100s of youths smashed and looted stores in central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-government rally against painful new austerity measures.

World News Capsules:
1. Afghan officials spar over 2014 vote
....Western observers fear the next election might not be "acceptable," let alone "free and fair," if Afghanistan's president and Parliament cannot agree on new laws.
2. Seizure of ship from Argentina forces shake-up
....Argentina’s military intelligence director is the latest official to leave her job after one of the nation’s creditors seized a navy training vessel.
3. Twitter removes anti-semitic postings, French Jewish group says
....The move comes after the social-networking site blocked access in Germany to a Neo-Nazi group’s account.
4. Twister blocks Germans' access to Neo-Nazi group
....The decision to block the group's posts from being seen in Germany, but not other countries, was the first time that Twitter acted on a policy known as "country withheld content."
5. Allegations of abuse by BBC host are 'unprecedented,' British police say
....Scotland Yard says it is now following 400 leads, with at least 200 potential victims alleging that a well-known television personality, Jimmy Savile, sexually abused them.
6. Killings derail effort at grass-roots governance in India
....The unsolved murders of two officials have set off a panic among the new village councils in a district of Kashmir.
7. Curfew imposed on US troops in Japan after rape allegations
....The US military imposed a curfew on its nearly 50,000 personnel stationed in Japan, as it tried to respond to public outrage over the suspected rape of a woman in Okinawa by two American sailors.
8. Bomb in Beirut kills a security chief, reviving old fears

....An explosion in the heart of Beirut’s Christian section killed a top Lebanese official and stirred dread in a city where the conflict in Syria has resurrected memories of Lebanon’s long civil war.
9. Suspect in Libya attack, in plain sight, scoffs at US
....Days after Pres. Obama vowed to apprehend those behind the Sept. 11 attack on American diplomats, a suspected ringleader spent an evening at a luxury hotel full of journalists.
10. On these soccer fields, a brief respite from the killing fields

....This year’s Homeless World Cup, in Mexico City, drew young people whose lives have been affected by the particular pain of the country these days: drug violence.
11. North Korea threatens violent response to propaganda campaign
....North Korea threatened to attack the South if activists proceeded with distributing leaflets critical of the Pyongyang regime. South Korea’s military said it would strike back if the North did so.
12. South Africa's president unveils $100 billion jobs program
....Pres. Jacob Zuma moves to stem mounting criticism over labor unrest as well as persistent poverty and low wages in South Africa.
13. As bombs fall, Turkey backs call for sease-fire in Syria
....Turkey, a major regional player in the Syrian crisis, threw its diplomatic weight on Friday behind an appeal for a cease-fire “at least” through a three-day Islamic holiday
14. 14 soldiers and 12 insurgents killed inbattle in Yemen.
....The soldiers and Qaeda operatives were killed early Friday when suicide bombers attacked a military base in south Yemen, the Defense Ministry and local residents said.

US News Capsules:
1, Boy Scout files give glimpse into 20 years of sex abuse
....Details of sexual abuse and what experts say was a corrosive culture of secrecy in the Boy Scouts of America came to light in documents on accusations across the country.
2. At Newsweek, ending print and a blen of two styles[/u]
....The struggling weekly magazine will publish its final print edition on Dec. 31 and move into an all-digital format next year, announced its editor, Tina Brown.
3. Real-world pitch for high fashion

....A Web site, Rent the Runway, is offering women the opportunity to see someone their age and size in expensive clothing before renting it.
4. Forgotten hero of labor fight: his son's lonely quest

....A son’s mission is to bring to light the accomplishments of his father, Larry Itliong, and his role in the largely forgotten Filipino contribution to labor activism.
5. The brothers and sisters of the 21st century
....A program called the Alliance for Catholic Education, created at Notre Dame, puts young idealists in needy schools to fill an educational and a spiritual gap.
POLITICS:
1. Democrats use health law to assail Republicans
....A provision of the law requiring members of Congress to use the new insurance exchanges has inspired a barrage of political advertising that some call misleading.
2. The opiate of exceptionalism
....Of serious presidential candidates, and even of presidents, Americans demand constant reassurance that their country, their achievements and their values are extraordinary.
3. With race hardly over, jockeying begins for cabinet positions
....The subtle and not-so-subtle positioning for choice posts in the still-theoretical next administration has intensified, according to Democratic and Republican insiders.
4. Campaigns sue Latino voters as deciders in 3 key states
....In Colorado, Florida and Nevada, ads and volunteers are being dispatched to make cases for Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney.

Thought for Today
"Worries go down better with soup than without."
--[/i]Jewish proverb.


[/size][/color]

[the flying reindeer]

Vegetarian Month
Good evening from Tuxy and me
This is the 294th day of 2012 with 71 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:27 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 56ºF [Feels like 56ºF], winds SW @ 12 mph, humidity 53%, pressure 29.69 in and falling, dew point 39ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1632--Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (St Paul's Cathedral), was born; died 1723 at age 90.
1740--Charles VI. Holy Roman Emperor and father of Empress Maria Theresa. died.
1774--the First Continental Congress created the Continental Association, which calls for a complete ban on all trade between America and Great Britain of all goods, wares or merchandise.
1803--the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
1818--the US and Britain agreed to establish the 49th parallel as the official boundary between the United States and Canada.
1827--in the Greek War of Independence, the Turkish and Egyptian fleets were destroyed by the British, French and Russians at the Battle of Navarino.
1873--P.T. Barnum opened the Hippodrome in New York City to accommodate his "Greatest Show on Earth".
1918--Germany accepted Pres. Woodrow Wilson's terms to end World War I.
1918--the Turks send British officer Gen, Charles Townshend to the Greek Isles to negotiate armistice terms between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.
1935--Mao's Long March of 368 days and 6,000 miles concluded in Shensi Province in northwest China with 4,000 survivors where he set up his Chinese Communist headquarters.
1944--two liquid gas tanks explode in Cleveland, Ohio, killing 130 people, taking all of the city's firefighters to control it.
1944--Gen. Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines as promised, landing at Leyte Island.
1947--the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence in the motion picture industry.
1953--science fiction writer Ray Bradbury's chilling futuristic anti-book novel, Fahrenheit 451, was published.
1955--No Time for Sergeants opened on Broadway, starring Andy Griffith.
1964--Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the US, died at age 90 in New York City.
1971--West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1973--Saturday Night Massacre: Solicitor General Robert Bork dismissed Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox after Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus resigned in protest.
1973--the iconic Sydney Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
1977--three members of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, died in a Mississippi chartered airplane crash.
1979--the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston was dedicated.
1982--the world's worst soccer disaster occurred in Moscow when 340 fans were crushed to death in an open staircase during a game between Soviet and Dutch players.
1990--2 Live Crew members were acquitted of obscenity charges in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., arising from a performance of selections from the album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.
1992--the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in the first World Series game played outside the US.
2000--Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, a US citizen who'd served in the Army, pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan the US embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people.
2004--retired Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's 6th president after winning the country's first direct elections for head of state.
2005--Pakistan set the official death toll of the Oct. 8 quake at 47,000 but various aid officials claim it was closer to 80,000.
2011--Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi iwas captured and Killed.

World News Capsules:
1. As Afghan forces kill, trust is also a casualty
....The details of an insider shooting that happened Sept. 29 underscore the escalating distrust that surrounds interactions between American and Afghan troops. Insider killings have broken trust between Afghan and American military forces and laid bare the anger and fear each harbors toward the other.
a. Afghan police officers attack colleagues
....Over the past two days, Afghan police officers opened fire on their colleagues, leaving at least eight dead.
2. China is wary of US candidates' tough talk
....Some Chinese officials and business leaders express a growing concern about negativity toward China that may not all be campaign talk.
a. China-Korean tensions rise after failed venture
....A Chinese mining conglomerate accused the North Korean government of sabotaging its $40 million investment.
b. As China weighs shifting economic policy, a rivalry for its stewardship
....An experienced vice prime minister and former banker, with a progressive approach to the economy, appears to be losing ground to the probable next prime minister, who has much more traditional views.
3. Another day, another claim that Castro is really dead
....More rumors that Fidel Castro has died are being denied by the government and his family.
4. Amid the echoes of an economic crash, the sounds of Greek society being torn
....Divisions are rising to the surface as neo-Nazis clash with leftists and immigrants, lawmakers become mired in scandals and tensions increase between the haves and have-nots.
5. Guatemala shooting raises concerns about military's expanded role
....Guatemala has forged closer military ties with the United States as it fights drug trafficking, but the fatal shooting of demonstrators and revelations of ties between former soldiers and drug gangs are worrying human rights groups
6. US officials say Iran has agreed to nuclear talks

....But with Iran unwilling to talk until after the presidential elections, there is a risk the apparent breakthrough is only one more effort to buy time.
7. Israel seizes activist ship en route to Gaza Strip

....The European ship was the latest attempt by activists to break Israel’s maritime blockade against the Hamas-controlled region.
8. Unrest shakes Lebanon's fragile government
....Lebanon’s main opposition group called for widespread protests in the wake of a powerful bomb attack for which it blamed Syria.\
a. Blast in Beirut is seen as an extension of Syria's war
....An explosion in a Christian section of Lebanon’s capital killed an official viewed by Syria as an enemy and was the most provocative violence in Lebanon tied to the Syrian conflict.
9. Attacks tied to Islamist sect kill at least 30 in Nigeria
....Violence linked to Boko Haram’s insurgency in northern and central Nigeria, including killings by security forces, is believed to have left more than 2,800 people dead since 2009.
10. 'Malala Moment' may have passed in Pakistan, as rage over shooting ebbs
....What had been a unified voice against the Taliban, and the possibility of action, is receding before a backlash,
a. Pakistani schoolgirl shot by Taliban is showng progress
....Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by Taliban gunmen in Pakistan, is now able to stand with help and write, medical officials at the British hospital where she is being treated said.
11. Hamas finds itself aligned with Israel over extremist groups
....Hamas is working to suppress the more radical Islamic militant groups that have emerged in Gaza, made up of extremists who are challenging its cease-fire with Israel, activists say.
12. Symbol of Romanian leaership? Hands on a throat
....Perhaps the best that can be said of relations between the president and prime minister of Romania is that they are unambiguous: they can’t stand each other.
13. With two big deals approaching, Bosneft stands to become a global oil power
....Two pending deals would bring more than half of Russia's oil industry under government control for the first time since the early 1990s and create a new player on the world stage.
14. Twitter gives Saudi Arabia a revolution of its own
....The medium has allowed Saudis to cross social boundaries and address delicate subjects collectively and in real time.
15. Spain's premier hopes to avoid electoral setback on austerity and separatism
....Regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country are considered critical bellwethers of public attitudes toward Spanish government policy.
16. Syrians place booby-trapped ammunition in rebels' guns
....The Syrian government has salted ammunition with ordnance that explodes inside antigovernment fighters’ guns, killing or wounding them while destroying their weapons.
17. As bombs fall, Turkey backs call for cease-fire in Syria
....Turkey, a major regional player in the Syrian crisis, threw its diplomatic weight behind an appeal for a cease-fire “at least” through a three-day Islamic holiday.

US News Capsules:
1. Housecleaning, then dinner? Silicon Valley perks come home
....As technology blurs the line between work and home, many companies are eschewing traditional benefits like bonuses for stress reducers like free housecleaning and dinner deliveries.
2. After the boom in natural gas

....Low prices for consumers. Big profits for bankers. But the gas glut in the United States has meant much pain for gas exploration companies and their investors
3. Boys - like girls - now enter puberty younger, study suggests, but it's unclear why

....Because of the lack of precision in earlier studies, it cannot be decisively said that male puberty is starting at a younger age, but the evidence points that way.
4. Free speech is one thing, vagrants, another
....Hardly a stranger to political movements, the city of Berkeley has championed free speech, no nukes, the antiwar movement and now: no sitting on the sidewalk,
5. Shares fall as earnings disappoint on Wall Street
....Investors were spooked on Friday by a growing number of pessimistic reports from corporate executives.
6. ARTS: Despite fans' fears, Disney's Country Bears remain corny

....Walt Disney World has changed its Country Bear Jamboree attraction, but not much.
7. Struggling to save the old in a town that values the new

....It’s an uphill battle for architectural preservationists in Phoenix, where many old structures have been felled by fire, decay or development.
8. Mother Marianne Cope becomes an American saint

....An American health care pioneer, working with patients suffering with Hansen's disease or leprosy, will receive the Roman Catholic Church's highest honor this weekend., along with another North American, Katen Tekakwitha.
POLITICS:
1. Romney as a manager: unhurried and Socratic

....A serial chief executive, Mitt Romney is steeped in management theory and eschews gut instincts, wading deeply into the kind of raw data that is usually left to junior aides.
a. Gosh, who talks like that now? Romney does
....Mitt Romney’s way of speaking is polite, formal and anachronistic, linguistically setting him apart, and influencing the word choices of those who work with and for him.
2. In South, Republicans find that dominance does not ensure solidarity
....As the South is settling in once again to an era of one-party dominance, many Republicans are learning that governing is not quite the same as campaigning,
3. As Senate race in Indiana tightens, candidates seem to move to center
....A contest between Richard E. Mourdock, a Tea Party-backed candidate, and Democratic Representative Joe Donnelly heats up in one of the few states expected to decide control of the chamber.

Thought for Today
"A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor."
--Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French author

[the flying reindeer]

International School Library Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 296th day of 2012 with 69 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:13 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 66ºF [Feels like 66ºF], winds variable @ 3 mph, humidity 40%, pressure 30.07 in and falling, dew point 41ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1746--Princeton University received its charter.
1797--French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet.
1811--Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer, was born; died 1886 at age 74.
1836--Gen. Sam Houston was sworn in as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1864, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood pulled his battered army into Guntersville, Ala,, then continues traveling westward with his dfeated army.
1883--the Metropolitan Opera House opened in NYC with a performance of Faust.
1906--Paul Cezanne , French post-impressionist painter, died.
1910--Dr. Harvey Hawley Crippen was found guilty of murdering his wife.
1913--a coal mine explosion in Dawson, NM, killed more than 250 workers.
1917--Joan Fontaine, Oscar-winning actress, turns 95
1914--the Germans captured Langemarck during First Battle of Ypres.
1919--Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize-winning author, turns 93
1934--the notorious bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was killed by the FBI in a cornfield in East Liverpool, Ohio.
1942--Allies confer secretly about Operation Torch, the first Allied amphibious landing of the war.
1954--West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1957--the US suffered its first casualties in Vietnam when 13 are wounded in bombings of the Military Assistance Advisory Group and U.S. Information Service installations in Saigon.
1962--Pres. Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island.
1964--John Paul Sartre won the Nobel Prize for literature and declined it.
1965--Pres. Johnson signed the Highway Beautification Act.
1966--The Supremes became the first all-female group to score a No. 1 album, with Supremes a Go-Go.
1968--Apollo 7, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard, returned to Earth.
1975--Air Force Sgt Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, was given a "general" discharge by the Air Force after publicly declaring his homosexuality.
1979--the US government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment.
1981--the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.
1990--Pres. Bush vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1990, saying it would lead to a quota system.
2001--anthrax spores were found in a mail-opening machine serving the White House.
2002--a bus driver was shot to death in Aspen Hill, Md., in the 13th and final attack by the Washington-area sniper.
2004--rescuers confirmed 64 dead following an explosion in a central China coal mine with 84 missing in the toxic gas-filled shaft.
2005--Afghanistan Pres. Karzai ordered an investigation into the reported desecration of bodies by US troops captured on tape by a TV crew.
2007--China's Communist Party gave Pres. Hu Jintao a second five-year term.

World News Capsules:
1. Two campaigns skirt talk of tough choices in Afghanistan
....For either Pres. Obama or Mitt Romney, finding a satisfactory end to the war in Afghanistan and maintaining American influence in Pakistan will be a challenge.
2. China's doldrums put pressure on US exporters

....Job reductions are emerging in industries like mining, heavy machinery and scrap metal that boomed along with China, illustrating the risks to the American economy if growth continues to slow.
a. Many urge next leader of China to liberalize
....As the nation’s critical leadership transition approaches, officials, policy advisers and intellectuals are again pushing for what they broadly call “reform.”
3. In Guatemalan tourist haven, corruption case is talk of the town

4. Iran's political infighting erupts in full view
....Pres. Ahmadinejad verbally attacked the government’s highest judicial official after being denied access to the jail where his top press adviser is being held.
5. Scientists convicted of manslaughter after quake

....An Italian court convicted six scientists and a government official of manslaughter on Monday and sentenced them to six years in prison for failing to give adequate warning of a deadly earthquake in 2009.
6. Lebanese Army warns against score-settling

....The Lebanese military moved forcefully to quell simmering sectarian tensions around the country stoked by a bombing in Beirut last week.
a. Angry Lebanese attempt to storm government offices
....Lebanon's jittery composure throughout the long Syrian uprising wobbled but held, as political and religious leaders quelled street protests.
7. Libyan town under siege is a center of resistance to the new government

....A one-time bastion of support for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, Bani Walid is under assault, stirring protests elsewhere and imperiling the country’s fragile political transition.
8. Leaflets sent by balloon to North Korea despite ban, activists say
....The South Korean police blocked activists from dropping anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea after the North threatened to retaliate with a military attack.
9. Civic duty and economic worries drive Palestinian voters in parats of West Bank
....The municipal elections, the first of any kind in the Palestinian territories in six years, were dismissed by many as unimportant because Hamas refused to take part.
10. Voting favors Spain's leader in home area
....Elections in other parts of the country were less favorable toward the embattled prime minister/
11. Explosion rocks Damascus neighborhood
....The latest violence came on a day when President Bashar al-Assad of Syria discussed the civil war with Lakhdar Brahimi, the envoy representing the United Nations and the Arab League.
a. JOrdanian soldier killed in Syrian border clash
....Islamic extremists attacked Jordanian soldiers on the border with Syria Sunday night, hours after Jordan’s government announced that it had foiled a major terrorist plot against foreign diplomats and tourists

US News Capsules:
1. 'Worried sick': Meningitis risk haunts 14,000

....For thousands of people who may have been infected by a contaminated drug, there is little to do but wait and see what happens.
2. Three killed in shooting at nail salon in Wisconsin

....A gunman opened fire at a day spa in a suburb of Milwaukee, killing at least three people and injuring four, the police said. Zina Haughton, wife of the alleged gunman, was one of the three victims in Sunday's shooting at a Wisconsin salon.
3. NBC finds itsel fin unfamiliar territory, on top
.....NBC's surprise top-ranking among younger viewers is in large part a result of the poor performance of its network rivals, which have failed to deliver any hot new shows.
4. Lawsuits claim Knoedler made huge profits on fakes
....Lawsuits against the former Knoedler Gallery in New York claim that markups on disputed artworks were suspiciously high.
5. Settlement eases rules for some Medicare patients
....Tens of thousands of people with chronic conditions and disabilities may find it easier to qualify for home health care, nursing home stays and outpatient therapy.
6. No jail for student in FAMU death

....A student who allegedly held Robert Champion in a bear hug during a hazing initiation was sentenced to supervised probation and 200 hours of community service for his role in the band member's death.
POLITICS:
1. Final showdown: Global edition

....Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney have a final chance to impress voters on the debate stage, with Round 3 focused on global hot spots.
2. Benghazi and Arab Spring rear up in US campaign
....The attack in Libya last month has become the focal point of a fierce debate over what role the US should seek to play in shaping the new order emerging from the Arab Spring.
a. Explnation for Benhgazi attack under scrutiny
....As more information emerges about the American response to the attack on its diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, the White House looks increasingly vulnerable to criticism.

Thought for Today
"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."
--George F. Will (b. 1941), Conservative columnist & writer

[the flying reindeer]

Black Cat and Pumpkin Day

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 298th day of 2012 with 67 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:57 p.m., it's foggy , temp 57ºF [Feels like 57ºF], winds calm, humidity 94%, pressure 30.09 in and steady, dew point 55ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1637--Jane Seymour, 3rd wife of Henry VIII, died from postnatal complications following the birth of her only child, Edward VI.
1648--the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the Thirty Years War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe with the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
1775--Virginia's last royal governor, Lord John Murray Dunmore, ordered a British naval fleet to attack Patriot troops and destroy the town of Norfolk, Va.
1861--Western Union completed the first transcontinental telegraph. with the first message sent by Pres. Lincoln to California.
1862--Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell was replaced because of his ineffective pursuit of the Confederates after the Battle of Perryville, Ky.
1901--a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
1929--Black Thursday - stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange
1931--Pres. Roosevelt dedicated the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River.
1940--the 40-hour work week went into effect in the US.
1945--the UN was formally established with the ratification of the United Nations Charter.
1946--V-2 #13 Rocket took the first photograph of Earth from space.
1947--two rush-hour commuter trains collided in South Croydon, England, killing 32 people.
1947--Walt Disney testified before the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) naming Disney employees he believed to be communists.
1951--Pres. Truman declared the war with Germany officially over.
1952--Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared, "I shall go to Korea" as he promised to end the conflict.
1960--the Nedelin Disaster occurred when a Soviet ICBM's 2nd stage motors ignited prematurely exploding on the launch pad killing over 120 peop0le.
1962--James Brown recorded his breakthrough Live at the Apollo album.
1964--Northern Rhodesia gained independence from the UK and became the Republic of Zambia.
1970--leftist politician Salvador Allende was elected president of Chile.
1984--the FBI arrested 11 alleged chiefs of the Colombo crime family in New York City on charges of racketeering.
1989--TV evangelist Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000 for fleecing his flock.
1992--the Toronto Blue Jays won a World Series for Canada, defeating the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in Game 6.
1998--Deep Space 1, a NASA unmanned spacecraft launched to test new technologies and make flybys of an asteroid and comet.
2002--authorities arrested Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo in connection with the Washington-area sniper attacks.
2003--the supersonic Concorde jet made its last commercial passenger flight, traveling at twice the speed of sound from New York City to London.
2004--a series of severe earthquakes in northern Japan killed 21 people and injured more than 1,500 others.
2005--Hurricane Wilma roared into Florida, packing 125 mph winds and lashing rain, inflicting heavy damage to beaches and buildings, killing 10.
2005--Pres. Bush nominated Ben Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve Board chairman.
2005--civil rights activist Rosa Parks died at age 92.
2007--Facebook Inc. sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft Corp. for $240 million, spurning a competing offer from Google Inc.
2007--strong winds fanning 15 large wildfires in Southern California began to ease after 656 square miles and at least 1,155 homes had been charred.

World News Capsules:
1. Memorial to Roma Holocaust victims opens in Berlin
....The site, in Tiergarten park near the German Parliament, honors the Roma and Sinti victims of the Nazis’ racial purge of Europe.
2. BBC leader admits 'horror' as a sexual abuse inquiry opens
....The director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation said the organization's response to a burgeoning sex abuse scandal was "the opposite of an attempt to hide things."
a. Prosecutors to review cases in BBC abuse scandal
....Officials will scrutinize a decision in 2009 not to bring charges of sexual abuse against the television host Jimmy Savile.
3. Greece official says deal reached with troika of leaders
....Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said that Greece’s European partners had also agreed to grant Athens more time to implement the 13.5 billion euro austerity package.
4. Iran's warning to oil market fails to send prices higher
....A threat to halt all exports was issued in response to possible further sanctions, but in a possible reflection of how steeply Iran’s influence on the market has eroded, oil prices fell.
5. Buon appetito, but not next to the monuments
....A new ordinance outlaws eating and drinking at historic sites in Rome to better protect the city's monuments, with fines of up to $650.
6. Details hint at insider role in Lebanese general's death
....Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan was killed by a car bomb in a residential Beirut neighborhood; an inside job is suspected by many opponents of the Hezbollah-led government.
7. The whiff of conflict grows in Mali

....Despite an international consensus that military force is required to take back large areas of northern Mali controlled by Islamist rebels, there are few volunteers.
8. Four Palestinian militants killed in Israeli airstrikes
....Four Palestinian militants in rocket-launching squads were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Palestinian officials, hours after a visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar.
9. Qatar's emir visits Gaza, pledging $400 million to Hamas
....The visit by the emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, threatened to widen the rift between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which leads the West Bank.
10. Russian opposition figure says abductors threatened his children
...Leonid Razvozzhayev, a jailed Russian activist who disappeared from Kiev, Ukraine, said he was held for three days by masked men who threatened to kill his children if he did not sign a confession.
11. Military factory bombed in Sudan's capital
....Four aircraft bombed a complex in Khartoum, killing two people in an explosion and fire for which Sudan blamed Israel.
12. Envoy announces tentative cease-fire in Syria, but doubts remain

....Lakhdar Brahimi’s plan calls for guns to be silent on the main Muslim holiday of the year, but numerous aspects of the plan immediately called its effectiveness into question.
13. Using cheese to bridge the Turkey-Armenia gap
....Across a border that has been closed for almost two decades, cheese makers in Gyumri and Kars produce and market a “Caucasian cheese,” invented in 2008 to foster cross-border cooperation.

US News Capsules:
1. Styruggling against a venti Starbucks tide

....Tully’s Coffee, a local chain that positioned itself years ago as the alternative choice for Seattle coffee-heads, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month.
2. US court gives would-be bomber 37 years in prison
....Ahmed Ressam, the man known as the Millennium Bomber, got 37 years for his plot to set off explosives at Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Eve in 1999.
3. In cyberattack on Saudi firm, US sees Iran firing back
....American officials believe a virus unleashed on an oil giant was a return volley in a conflict begun by the US and Israel with software that targeted Iran's centrifuges.
4. Turning the page on an open checkbook for the security colossus
....The looming federal budget crunch, waning predictions of attacks on the United States and bipartisan criticism may mean the end of lavish counterterrorism spending.
5. Unarmend and gunned down by homeowner in his 'castle'
....Brice Harper shot and killed Dan Fredenberg in September, but the county attorney did not prosecute, saying that Montana's "castle doctrine" law protected Mr. Harper's rights to defend himself in his home.
6. Sterility found lacking at drug site in outbreak
....The compounding pharmacy responsible for a deadly national meningitis outbreak repeatedly failed to follow standard procedures to keep its facility clean and its products sterile, Massachusetts officials said.
7. Safety becomes a concern with hgh-caffeine drinks
....As consumption of energy drinks soars in the United States, critics say the Food and Drug Administration has allowed the drinks to languish in a regulatory gray area.
8. New federal rules for debt collectors
....Collection agencies, whose sometimes aggressive tactics have earned them scrutiny, will come under supervision beginning of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau beginning Jan. 2.
9. Peanut butter takes on an unlikely best friend
....Jelly gets kicked to the curb, and pickles take its place, making the PB&P a cult snack option.
10. Scratch the surface tofind a hidden Picasso

....Picasso reused an old canvas for “Woman Ironing,” which was recently cleaned and restored by the Guggenheim Museum.
11. Tigers vs. Giants was a century in the making
....The San Francisco/New York Giants have reached the World Series 19 times, the Detroit Tigers 11 times. Yet this is their first date for the championship.
12. Report says college prices, once stable, are up again
....The price students actually pay for college, after deducting financial aid awards and tax credits from the bill, had its largest increase since 2003.
POLITICS:
1. Standards of living are in the shadows as election issue
....A decade-long stagnation in family incomes, a bedrock issue for the nation, has been caused by automation and globalization, among other factors not easily remedied in Washington.
2. With debates over, candidates race to clinch vital states
....Pres. Obama began a furious two-week effort to beat back a late surge by Mitt Romney and hang on to battleground states where many voters are already casting ballots.
3. Strident anti-Obama messages flood key states
....Conservatives are testing the boundaries of how far they can go to disqualify Pres.000000000000000000000000 Obama.

Thought for Today
"It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."
--W. Somerset Maugham(1874- 965), English author

[the flying reindeer]

Say Hey Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 299th day of 2012 with 66 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 5:47 p.m., it's fair , temp 74ºF [Feels like 73ºF], winds SE @ 9 mph, humidity 57%, pressure 30.06 in and falling, dew point 58ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

Today in History:
286-http://www.kathrynrblake.com/images/115_Martydom_of_Saint_Crispin-286_10-25.jpg-Saint Crispin's Day - when Saints Crispin and Crispinian were martyred.
1415--the Hundred Years' War: Henry V, the young king of England, leads his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France.
1748--Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones, was commissioned as justice of the peace for Westminster and Middlesex.
1760--George II of England died of an aortic aneurysm and was succeeded by his grandson, George III .
1764--John Adams, a Massachusetts lawyer-farmer married Abigail Smith.
1774--the First Continental Congress petitioned King George III to address their grievances against the British Parliament.
1825--the Erie Canal, America's first man-made waterway, was opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Hudson River.
1828--St Katherine Docks are officially opened in London.
1853--Paiute Indians attacked a party of 37 soldiers and railroad surveyors near Sevier Lake, Utah.
1854--the English suffered heavy losses against Russia in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War, inspring Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Charge of the Light Brigade."
1861--the keel of the USS Monitor was laid at Greenpoint, NY.
1881--Pablo Ruiz Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, was born in Malaga, Spain; died 1973 at age 91.
1910--white race car driver Barney Oldfield beat prizefighter Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, in two five-mile car races in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
1916--French troops celebrated the recapture of Fort Douaumont at Verdun in World War I.
1929--Albert B. Fall, ex-secretary of the interior in Pres. Harding's cabinet, was found guilty of accepting a bribe in the Teapot Dome scandal.
1944--the battle of Leyte Gulf was fought.
1962--author John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.
1971--the UN General Assembly voted to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.
1972--Pres. Nixon suspended the bombing of North Vietnam.
1976--the National Theatre of London was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
1983--US troops, supported by six Caribbean nations, invaded the tiny, leftist-ruled island of Grenada; 19 Americans died.
1986--the NY Mets won Game 6 of the World Series in the 10th inning when a routine ground ball went through Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner's legs.
1993--Canadian voters rejected the Progressive Conservative party of Prime Minister Kim Campbell and gave the Liberal Party, led by Jean Chretien of Quebec, a firm majority in Parliament.
1994--Susan Smith reported a false carjacking to cover her murder of her two sons by drowning.
1995--in Fox River Grove, Ill., a train collision occurred when a school bus, stopped for a red light, was struck by a Metra commuter train,
2000--a Russian military plane crashed into a mountain in Georgia, killing all 83 people on board.
2001--Microsoft released the Windows XP operating system.
2001--the US Senate, by a 90-1 vote, approved a final package of anti-terror reforms designed to help law enforcement monitor and detain suspected terrorists.
2002--Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., 58, was killed in a plane crash in northern Minnesota.
2003--Florida State's Bobby Bowden became the winningest coach in major college football history with his 339th victory as the Seminoles beat Wake Forest 48-24.
2004--at least 78 Muslim detainees suffocated or were crushed to death in southern Thailand after the police rounded up 1,300 people and packed them into trucks following a riot.
2005--the US military deaths in Iraq reached 2,000.
2006--The NJ Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples.
2007--the House of Representatives passed a revised version of a vetoed bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program that made illegal immigrants ineligible.
2008--Yemen authorities reported 48 people dead or missing in flash flooding in the country's Hadramout region.
2009--Baghdad Suicide Bombings occurred when two suicide car bombs targeting the Ministry of Justice exploded killing 155 and injuring over 721.
2010--eruption of Mount Merapi and an earthquake in Indonesia occurred in the Sumatran fault triggering a tsunami that killed hundreds and injured many more.

World News Capsules:
1. Four international service members killed in Afghan atacks
....In what are being investigated as possible insider attacks, two British services members died in a gun battle and two United States Forces-Afghanistan members were killed.
2. Hurricane Sandy hits Bahamas after sweeping through Cuba and Haiti

....The hurricane was expected to reach Florida by Friday morning and mix with a winter storm whose effects will be felt along the East Coast as far as Maine.
3. Billions in hidden riches for family of Chinese leader

.....It is unclear how much Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, who has staked a position as a populist and a reformer, knows about the $2.7 billion in assets that his family has amassed.
a. New leaders of military in China announced
....China announced the promotions of five generals this week, shaping the top leadership of the rapidly modernizing military ahead of the 18th Party Congress.
b. China blocks web access to Times after article[/u]
....The Chinese government began blocking access to [/i]The Times after publication of an article describing the wealth accumulated by relatives of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
4. Police prepare 'arrest strategy' as BBC sexual abuse case grows
....The scandal at the BBC expanded from its focus on Jimmy Savile to questions about other parts of the institution and to suggestions of abuse at hospitals, news reports said.
a. British Parliament questions former BBC chief's role
....As the investigation into the BBC’s handling of Jimmy Savile continues, the actions of its former director general, Mark Thompson, are coming under increased scrutiny.
5. Amid cutbacks, Greek doctors offer message to poor: You are not alone
....Until recently, Greece had a typical European health system offering universal care, but the unemployed are now often left on their own if they get sick.
6. Iran said to nearly finish nuclear enrichment plant
....The installation of the last of nearly 3,000 centrifuges, deep under a mountain inside a military base, puts Iran closer to being able to build a nuclear weapon.
7. Official silence in Israel over Sudan's accusatioins of air attack
....Though Israel maintained official silence over Sudan’s assertion that the Israeli military destroyed a Khartoum weapons factory, officials spoke openly about what they described as Sudan’s destabilizing role.
a. Netanyahu announces coalition with a nationalist party
....The move sharpened the divide between the left and right camps in Israeli politics, after years during which the major-party leaders had gravitated toward the political center.
b. Israeli officials asked to be silent on issue of US-Iran talks
....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides were trying to head off political problems over a report on the possibility of bilateral talks between the US and Iran.
8. Berlusconi's retreat upends political field
....Silvio Berlusconi’s decision not to lead his party in Italy’s spring elections has radically reshuffled the political deck and opened a race for the center.
9. Fish off Japan's coast said to contain elevated levels of cesium
....New research to be published in the journal Science suggests that radioactive particles from last year’s nuclear disaster have accumulated on the sea floor and could contaminate sea life for decades.
a. Tokyos firebrand governor quits to form new national party
....The move by Shintaro Ishihara could escalate a territorial dispute with China and shift allegiances in Japan’s soon-to-be-called elections.
10. Bleary-eyed Syrian troops fight a building at a time

....Syrian soldiers' battle to retake a rebel-held school in Homs reflects an exhausting war of attrition, a seesaw in which the opposition gains ground and the government takes it back.
a. Syrian military declares holiday truce, but will respond to rebel attacks
....If the fighting does stop for Id al-Adha, it will be the first time since April that the two sides in the uprising have at least said they would try to halt the violence.

US News Capsules:
1. Panetta says risk impeded deployment to Benghazi
....Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta says that he and top military commanders felt that they needed more information before deploying troops after the Sept. 11 attack.
2. Bully! Museum restores its shrine to Roosevelt

....With the reopening of its Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, the American Museum of Natural History offers refreshed perspectives about the 26th president.
3. Prison may be the nxt stop on a gold currency journey
....Bernard von NotHaus, a professed monetary architect, will soon be sentenced for minting and distributing a form of private money called the Liberty Dollar.
4. Spotlight put on founders of drug firm in outbreak
....The Conigliaro family's enterprises are under intense scrutiny by federal and state authorities and personal-injury lawyers after a deadly meningitis outbreak linked to their compounding pharmacy.
5. US sues Bank of America for $1 billion over 'brazen' fraud
....The bank is accused of selling bad mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled housing giants, which suffered heavy losses and many foreclosures.
6. Gallerists to the people

....Artsicle is an online business that rents inexpensive art cheaply, aimed at novice collectors with small budgets, limited art knowledge and no appetite for intimidating galleries.
7. Transcript of 1944 Bretton Woods conference found at Treasury
....Unknown to historians, a transcript existed of the meeting of Allied nations during the heat of World War II, and three versions were in Washington-area libraries and archives.
8. Buyers of a Wright home in Phoenix reconsider a deal 'too good to be true'

....A development team that bought a Phoenix house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright will sell the house rather than accept landmark status for it.
9. Early worries that Hurricane Sandy could be a 'perfect storm'
....Now barreling through the Bahamas as a Category 2 hurricane, the storm could combine with a system over land in the United States to form a grave threat to the Atlantic coast next week.
POLITICS:
1. Crucial subject: female voters still deciding
....While female voters generally tend to favor President Obama, that cannot be said of white women without college degrees, a subset known - in this race - as waitress moms.
2. Tax policy center in spotlight for its Romney study
....A study by a respected nonpartisan research center has been met with dissent after it found that Mitt Romney could not keep all of the promises he has made on individual tax reform.
3.Michigan vote a test case on enshrining the rights of unions
....Unions in Michigan are asking voters to approve a referendum that would secure labor protections.
4. Campaigns find that for many Latinas, issues are personal and financial
....Campaigns face a gender challenge in appealing to Latinos, whose votes are crucial to President Obama and Mitt Romney.
5. Business leaders urge deficit deeal even with more taxes
....Business leaders are stepping up pressure on Washington to get a deficit-reduction deal completed even if it calls for more revenues — including higher tax bills for them.

Thought for Today
"A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom."
--Imamu Amiri Baraka (b. 1934) African American black nationalist poet, playwright, essayist and novelist.


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