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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Rivals prepare for legal battle over abortion bans
FILE - In this April 16, 2012 file photo, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple speaks in Bismarck, N.D. Dalrymple signed legislation on March 26, 2013 that would make North Dakota the nation's most restrictive state on abortion rights, banning the procedure if a fetal heartbeat can be detected ? something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Rival legal teams, each well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for high-stakes court battles in the coming months over this law and one enacted in Arkansas that would would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. (AP Photo/Dale Wetzel, File)
FILE - In this April 16, 2012 file photo, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple speaks in Bismarck, N.D. Dalrymple signed legislation on March 26, 2013 that would make North Dakota the nation's most restrictive state on abortion rights, banning the procedure if a fetal heartbeat can be detected ? something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Rival legal teams, each well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for high-stakes court battles in the coming months over this law and one enacted in Arkansas that would would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. (AP Photo/Dale Wetzel, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2013 file photo, Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, explains his bill dealing with abortion at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. The bill, which was passed into law on March 6 when legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. Rival legal teams, each well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for high-stakes court battles over the coming months on this law and one in North Dakota that would impose the nation's toughest bans on abortion. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)
FILE - In this March 25, 2013 file photo, Kris Kitko leads chants of protest at an abortion-rights rally at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D. Rival legal teams, each well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for high-stakes court battles over the coming months on laws enacted in Arkansas and North Dakota that would impose the nation's toughest bans on abortion. The Arkansas law, approved March 6 when legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. On March 26, North Dakota went even further, with Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signing a measure that would ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can first be detected. (AP Photo/James MacPherson, File)
Rival legal teams, well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for court battles over the coming months on laws enacted in Arkansas and North Dakota that would impose the nation's toughest bans on abortion.
For all their differences, attorneys for the two states and the abortion-rights supporters opposing them agree on this: The laws represent an unprecedented frontal assault on the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.
The Arkansas law, approved March 6 when legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. On March 26, North Dakota went further, with Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signing a measure that would ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can first be detected and before some women even know they're pregnant.
Abortion-rights advocates plan to challenge both measures, contending they are unconstitutional violations of the Roe ruling that legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.
"I think they're going to be blocked immediately by the courts ? they are so far outside the clear bounds of what the Supreme Court has said for 40 years," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The center will be leading the North Dakota legal challenge and working in Arkansas alongside the American Civil Liberties Union's state and national offices. Both Northup and ACLU lawyers say they have ample resources to wage the battles, and they expect victories that would require their attorneys' fees to be paid by two states.
Dalrymple, in signing the ban, acknowledged that its chances of surviving a court challenge were questionable, but said it was worth the eventual price tag ? at this point unknown ? in order to test the boundaries of Roe.
North Dakota's attorney general, Wayne Stenehjem, initially said lawyers from his office would defend any lawsuits but is now considering hiring outside help. His office is working on a cost estimate for the litigation that could be presented to lawmakers soon.
"We're looking at a sufficient amount to adequately defend these enactments," Stenehjem said.
A lead sponsor of the Arkansas ban, Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert, said threats of lawsuits "should not prevent someone from doing what is right."
He contended that the ban had a chance of reaching the U.S. Supreme Court through the appeals process and suggested that the victory predictions made by abortion-rights lawyers amounted to "posturing" aimed at deterring other states from enacting similar bans.
In both Arkansas and North Dakota, the states' lawyers will be getting pro bono assistance from lawyers with Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group.
Mathew Staver, the group's chairman, said supporters of the bans were resolved to fight the legal battles to the end, and issued a caution to the rival side.
"They ought to hold off on their celebrations," he said. "The cases have a long way to go through the court system."
The North Dakota ban is scheduled to take effect Aug. 1, along with two other measures that have angered abortion-rights backers. One would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, the other would make North Dakota the first state to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is reviewing its options regarding the latter two bills, but definitely plans to challenge the 6-week ban before Aug. 1. Northup said her team is pondering whether to file suit in state court or U.S. district court.
In Arkansas, where the 12-week ban would take effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session, abortion-rights lawyers plan to file their challenge in federal court within the next few weeks.
Bettina Brownstein, who will be representing the ACLU of Arkansas in the case, said the U.S. district court with jurisdiction over Little Rock had issued rulings in past abortion-related cases that gave her confidence of victory this time.
"Eventually it could go to U.S. Supreme Court on appeal, but that would take a while, and they may not want to hear it," she said. "It's a question of how much money the state wants to spend."
Northup chided officials in both Arkansas and North Dakota for their willingness to spend taxpayers' money on difficult and divisive legal cases.
"It's important that the citizens of those states realize that every dollar spent to defend blatantly unconstitutional laws is taxpayers' dollars wasted," she said.
Attorneys' fees for the upcoming cases are impossible to estimate at this stage, but Northup said her organization received $1.3 million in fees from Alaska after that state lost a recent case regarding an abortion-related law.
The last few years have been intensely busy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, the ACLU and other abortion-rights legal groups as Republican-controlled legislatures have enacted scores of laws seeking to restrict access to abortion. At least two dozen such measures are currently the target of lawsuits, said Northup, who vowed that her organization "will not let unconstitutional laws go on challenged."
Some of the recent laws place new requirements on abortion clinics, others require abortion providers to perform certain procedures or offer state-mandated counseling before an abortion can take place.
At least 10 states have passed bills banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that stage. One of those laws, in Idaho, was struck down by a U.S. district judge on March 6, while the laws in Georgia and Arizona have been temporarily blocked by judges pending further court proceedings.
Abortion-rights advocates, while eager to defeat the new bans in North Dakota and Arkansas, worry about the impact of the broader surge of restrictions.
"I don't believe these bans are going to take effect, but the danger is that they make the other laws look reasonable," said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project. "The ultimate goal is to take this decision away from a woman and her doctor and give it to the politicians."
One of the most frequent targets of the anti-abortion laws is the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which ? in addition to providing a range of other health services ? is the nation's leading provider of abortions.
Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, said she found it frustrating that women "continue to be a political punching bag." But she saw an upside to the wave of anti-abortion legislation: more members and more donations for her organization.
"These attacks have served to energize our supporters," she said. "We've gained 2 million members in the past two years."
There's new energy on the other side as well.
The tough North Dakota laws have been welcomed by the protesters who gather weekly in Fargo outside the state's lone abortion clinic.
Among those on hand for the latest protest at the Red River Women's Clinic was Scott Carew, 50, who had brought two anti-abortion posters nailed to pieces of wood.
"Certainly, we're proud of the governor standing up for life," Carew said. "We're going to keep standing up for life until we can't stand up anymore."
___
Associated Press reporters James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., David Kolpack in Fargo, N.D., and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
___
Follow David Crary on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CraryAP
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How Dementia Changes Families - Symptoms of Alzheimer's ...
But then came the driving, the Mount Everest of aging-parent issues, the one that none of us could scale or deny. One day I watched her behind the wheel and it became clear she was lost in the suburban town she'd lived in for 40 years. Though she kept telling me we were going home, she had no idea how to get there. The drama not only exposed my mother's vulnerabilities as a driver but also precipitated a seismic shift between parent and adult child, a redefinition of authority and independence.
Control of the car keys is often a flash point for families dealing with dementia, I've since learned, because the disease makes it harder for a person to recognize when skills are fading. "It's the hottest topic we have," says Angela Lunde, a dementia education specialist at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Mayo Clinic. "In a disease with significant losses, the loss of driving ability happens early. Someone with even a mild dementing illness behind four tons of steel is not a good idea."
I understood my mother's passion for driving. At 3 she had contracted polio in a swimming pool in the Bronx, and although she didn't lose her ability to walk, it was never as easy for her as driving. To lose that mobility would be devastating.
Mom's neurologist was sympathetic. Of course she should keep driving, he assured her. All she needed to do was pass a simulated driving test at the nearby Burke Rehabilitation Center. She failed it. Twice.
My siblings and I looked to our father for guidance about Mom's situation, but he wasn't giving any. For the 50-plus years of their marriage, he had considered her the superwoman/wife/mom. She took care of their children, and she took care of him. The idea that he take care of her seemed to confound him. Putting the correct pills into the Morning, Noon and Night boxes of a plastic medication organizer proved such an ordeal, I had to cancel a business dinner and take a train from the city to do it myself.
This is not uncommon, says Lisa Gwyther, director of the Duke Family Support Program and an associate professor in the university's department of psychiatry. "A lot of spouses believe they're being disloyal to acknowledge incapacity in a spouse," she says. "That reflects on their choice, particularly with men. Many of them tell me, 'I need to believe she's going to get better in order to wake up every day and deal with her.'"
It became apparent that as a family, we needed some help. Our doctor put us in touch with a social worker, Roberta Epstein. With Mom now retired, Epstein and the doctor encouraged her to participate in recreational activities ? painting classes, museum field trips. My mother's dismissal was scorching. She was too old for summer camp.
But the doctor prevailed. It was essential, he said, to have activities to look forward to. We enrolled her in ceramics, a poststroke exercise class and a weekly lecture series. Visits to the library, her longtime haven, were no longer possible; she had lost her ability to read. "By the end of a paragraph, I can't remember how it started," she admitted reluctantly.
Next page: How to manage splitting up caregiving responsibilities among siblings. ?
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
North Korea says enters "state of war" against South
By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, but Seoul and its ally the United States played down the statement as tough talk.
Pyongyang also threatened to close a border industrial zone, the last remaining example of inter-Korean cooperation which gives the impoverished North access to $2 billion in trade a year.
The United States said it took Pyongyang's threats seriously but cautioned that the North had a history of bellicose rhetoric. Russia, another a permanent U.N. Security Council member, urged all sides to show restraint.
Tensions have been high since the North's new young leader Kim Jong-un ordered a third nuclear weapons test in February, breaching U.N. sanctions and ignoring warnings from North Korea's sole major ally, China, not to do so.
"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly," a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency said.
KCNA said the statement was issued jointly by the North's government, ruling party and other organizations.
The Seoul government said there was nothing in the North's latest statement to cause particular alarm.
"North Korea's statement today ... is not a new threat but is the continuation of provocative threats," the South's Unification Ministry, which handles political ties with the North, said in a statement.
On Friday, Kim signed an order putting the North's missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.
U.S. officials described the flight as a diplomatic sortie aimed at reassuring allies South Korea and Japan, and at trying to nudge Pyongyang back to nuclear talks, though there was no guarantee Kim Jong-un would get the message as intended.
The two Koreas have been technically in a state of war since a truce that ended their 1950-53 conflict. Despite its threats, few people see any indication Pyongyang will risk a near-certain defeat by re-starting full-scale war.
There was no sign of unusual activity in the North's military to suggest an imminent aggression, a South Korean defense ministry official said.
CALLS FOR RESTRAINT
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said North Korea's announcement followed a "familiar pattern" of rhetoric [ID:nL2N0CM05W].
Russia, which has often balanced criticism of North Korea, a Soviet-era client state, with calls on the United States and South Korea to refrain from belligerent actions, said a recurrence of war was unacceptable.
"We hope that all parties will exercise maximum responsibility and restraint and no-one will cross the point of no return," Grigory Logvinov, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official, told Interfax news agency.
France said it was deeply worried about the situation on the Korean peninsula while NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said the alliance hoped "that this is more posturing than a prelude to any armed hostilities."
China has repeatedly called for restraint on the peninsula.
The North has been threatening to attack the South and U.S. military bases almost on a daily basis since the beginning of March, when U.S. and South Korean militaries started routine drills that have been conducted for decades without incident.
Many in the South have regarded the North's willingness to keep open the Kaesong industrial zone, located just a few miles (km) north of the heavily-militarized border, as a sign that Pyongyang will not risk losing a lucrative source of foreign currency by mounting a real act of aggression.
The Kaesong zone is a vital source of hard currency for the North and hundreds of South Korean workers and vehicles enter daily after crossing the armed border.
"If the puppet traitor group continues to mention the Kaesong industrial zone is being kept operating and damages our dignity, it will be mercilessly shut off and shut down," KCNA quoted an agency that operates Kaesong as saying in a statement.
Closure could also trap hundreds of South Korean workers and managers of the more than 100 firms that have factories there.
The North has previously suspended operations at the factory zone at the height of political tensions with the South, only to let it resume operations later.
North Korea has canceled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.
(Additional reporting by Sung-won Shim and Jane Chung; Editing Rosalind Russell and Jon Boyle)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-says-enter-state-war-against-south-001304441.html
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Millennials poised to redefine the auto market
For most automakers, baby boomers are the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that still drives the industry, the biggest buying group in terms of raw vehicle sales and, in particular, the generation spending the most for each of the cars they buy.
But manufacturers are preparing for the arrival of a new group that could soon not only outnumber the boomers but also demand some big changes in the type and size of vehicles the industry produces. Generation Y, also known as the millennials, offer both tantalizing opportunities and major challenges, according to executives at this year?s New York International Auto Show.
Slideshow: The 2013 New York Auto Show
Millennials are becoming ?the new face? of American auto buyers, asserted Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co.?s global sales and marketing chief, during his keynote speech at the auto show. ?And we?ll be surprised,? he added, ?by what they choose.?
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, there are more than 80 million American consumers approaching age 30, which means that each year millions more are moving into the new vehicle buying demographic. Indeed, according to the recent ?Gen Y in the Driver?s Seat? study by consulting firm Deloitte, they already represent about 40 percent of the nation?s potential car buying population ? though they are still well outnumbered by boomers when it comes to the number of new vehicles sold each year.
Chevy Rolls Out New 2014 Camaro
In fact, that ?potential? doesn?t necessarily translate into the same mindset toward buying and owning cars that was seen when boomers came of age. Nearly a third of American 19-year-olds haven?t bothered to get a driver?s license, according to a new study, continuing a downward trend that finds fewer and fewer millennials plugging into the American car culture.
?Virtual contact reduces the need for actual contact,? suggested Michael Sivak, co-author of the study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. ?We found that the percentage of young drivers was inversely related to the availability of the Internet.?
In 1983, well before the advent of texting, e-mail and online gaming, 83 percent of American 19-year-olds were licensed. By 2010, found UMTRI, that was down to around 70 percent.
Another study, jointly carried out by General Motors and Viacom?s MTV Scratch unit, found just 32 percent of 3,000 American millennials surveyed saying they were interested in cars ? though it also showed 69 percnet viewing the purchase of a car a ?milestone? in becoming an adult.
Which brand millennials turn to is also up in the air. Auto data-tracking service Edmunds.com finds that Japanese makers have steadily lost ground with millennials at the expense of Detroit and Korean makers ? a sharp reversal of the trend when baby boomers were first entering the new car market.
?Don?t think we have the millennials figured out," Ford senior marketing executive Amy Marentec recently said, but she added that domestic automakers are beginning to show signs of ?cracking the code.?
The market data suggest that younger buyers are generally more interested in green technology than their parents? generation, something that could drive demand for hybrids, plug-ins and battery vehicles. On the other hand, the higher cost for such technologies is so far restricting sales.
Millennials are downsizing, several executives said. That?s one of the reasons why Audi has such big hopes for the next-generation A3 sedan it showed reporters during a sneak peek in New York. It will become ?the third leg? for the brand, said Audi of America chief Scott Keogh, and should drive other makers to rethink the future of their bigger products.
Booming Sales Put Volkswagen of America Back in the Black
Keogh also emphasized that the new generation of buyers ?isn?t willing to compromise,? even though they?re on a tighter budget than boomers. They expect that even entry-level products have a much higher level of refinement ? and advanced features like infotainment systems capable of accessing social media services.
The new generation has ?an incredible taste for luxury,? echoed Ford?s Farley, adding that millennials now expect to get more for less, no longer expecting that they have to pay a substantial premium for high-line brands. ?And as the price of luxury cars drops,? he said, ?don?t be surprised if they make luxury cars their first (new vehicle) purchase.?
For the industry, delivering on those expectations could be challenging. It could strain resources in the short-term, but those brands which can meet the demand could come to dominate the new generation much as marques like Toyota, Nissan and Honda were the favorites of the boomers.
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Bee deaths stir up renewed buzz
From 2012: Honeybees may be victims of widely used insecticides. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
This past winter has been exceptionally rough for honeybees ??and although it's too early to say exactly why, the usual suspects range from pesticides that appear to cause memory loss to pests that got an exceptionally early start last spring.
Friday marked the start of an annual survey that asks beekeepers to report how many bees they lost over the winter, conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership, the Apiary Inspectors of America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The advance word is that the results will be brutal.??The New York Times, for example, quoted beekeepers as saying the losses reached levels of 40 to 50 percent?? which would be double the average reported last year.
One beekeeper in Montana was quoted as saying that his bees seemed health last spring, but in September, "they started to fall on their face, to die like crazy."
Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland who is one of the leaders of the survey team, said he can't predict what the past winter's average loss figure will be. The beekeepers' reports are being solicited online for the next two weeks, and the figures are due for release on May 7.
"What I can say is, when we were in California this year, the strength of the colonies that were there was significantly lower than it was in previous years," vanEngelsdorp told NBC News.?
Pesticides at issue
That's consistent with a mysterious ailment known as colony collapse disorder, which has stirred scientists' concern for the past decade. The malady almost certainly due to combination of factors ??including the Varroa mite, a single-celled parasite known as Nosema, several varieties of viruses, and pesticides. Researchers point to one particular class of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, as a prime suspect.
Neonicotinoid-based pesticides are commonly applied as a coating on corn seeds, but the chemicals can persist in the environment. Although they have low toxicity for mammals, they've been found to have a significant neurotoxic effect on insects, including bees. Several European countries have banned neonicotinoids, the European Union has been looking at a wider ban, and the Environmental Protection Agency is considering new limitations as well. Just last week, a lawsuit called on the EPA to suspend the use of two types of neonicotinoids immediately.
Two recently published studies add to the concern: This week, researchers report in Nature Communications that neonicotinoids block the part of a bee's brain that associates scents with foods. They suggest that without that functionality, the bees effectively forget that floral scents mean food is nearby, and thus die off before they can pollinate. A study published in January in the Journal of Experimental Biology found a similar link to problems with scent-related learning and memory.
Mild winter, dry summer
Although neonicotinoids are currently front and center in the debate over colony collapse disorder, they're not necessarily the primary reason for this winter's dramatic dip in bee colonies.
VanEngelsdorp noted that the winter of 2011-2012 was easy on the bees: Losses amounted to just 21.9 percent, compared with a 2006-2011 average of 33 percent. However, the mild winter was kind to the bees' pests as well. VanEngelsdorp speculated that Varroa mites may have gained an early foothold in the hives last spring. By the time beekeepers started their treatments on the usual schedule, it was too late to keep the mites from weakening the colonies. That would help explain why the past winter's losses were worse than usual.
Scott Bauer / USDA via AP
A worker bee carries a Varroa mite, visible in this close-up view.
California beekeeper Randy Oliver, who discusses industry trends on the Scientific Beekeeping blog, said the past summer's drought was also a factor: "When there's a drought, the bees are in poor shape with the food," he told NBC News. He said he and other beekeepers predicted that there'd be heavy winter losses last July, when the scale of the drought became clear.
Heavy losses are bad news, and if bee colonies are becoming progressively weaker, that's worse news. It's not just because of the honey: The Department of Agriculture says that bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. A bee scarcity increases costs for the farmers who need them for pollination, and that could lead to higher food prices. But Oliver said it's important to keep a sense of perspective about the bad news.
"The situation with the bees is not dire," he said. "The bees are doing OK. There's no danger that the bees will go extinct. ... That's just not true."
More about bees:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Friday, March 29, 2013
Banks win dismissal of most rate-rigging claims
NEW YORK (AP) ? A group of banks including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have won dismissal of most of the claims in private lawsuits alleging that they rigged a key interest rate.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in New York dismissed antitrust claims brought against the banks by a group of plaintiffs that included the City of Baltimore and some pension funds. The plaintiffs alleged that they had suffered losses because the banks had manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR.
The judge said that while the banks had already paid billions of dollars of penalties to government regulatory agencies, private plaintiffs had to satisfy many requirements which governments didn't.
LIBOR is the rate banks use to borrow from each other ? and it is critical. The rate indirectly affects the cost of loans that people pay when they take out loans. It provides the basis for trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including bonds and consumer loans ? such as when consumers buy a home or car.
It is a self-policing system and relies on information that global banks submit to a British banking authority.
Cities and municipal agencies in the U.S. have filed a flurry of lawsuits against some of the banks that set the LIBOR. They have sought damages for losses they say they suffered as a result of an artificially low rate, which depressed the value of bonds and other investments pegged to the key interest rate.
Last fall a U.S. watchdog found that government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac and its larger sibling Fannie Mae together may have lost more than $3 billion on their investments from banks' rate-rigging.
Last week Freddie Mac sued JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and 12 other big international banks in federal court in Alexandria, Va., claiming the lenders rigged the key interest rate, causing the lender to incur huge losses.
Two big British banks and Switzerland's largest have been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for manipulating LIBOR by U.S. and British regulators.
Calls placed to attorneys for plaintiffs in the case were not immediately returned.
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You want to see this flying armbar (Video)
The flying arm bar is one of those submissions that happens so quickly, that you need to look twice to realize what happened. Skip to the 1:10 mark in this video and you'll see Oliver Fontaine pull it off at the Lyon Fighting Championship in France. And you have to feel for his opponent, Sofian Benchohra, who never saw the arm bar coming. With a record of 4-7-1, he hasn't won a fight since October of 2010.
Thanks, MMA Fighting.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/want-see-flying-armbar-video-151956671--mma.html
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Uncle Vernon actor from 'Harry Potter' dies at 65
Seth Wenig / AP
By Jill Lawless, Associated Press
Richard Griffiths, the versatile British actor who played the boy wizard's unsympathetic Uncle Vernon in the "Harry Potter" movies, has died. He was 65.?
Agent Simon Beresford announced Friday that Griffiths died a day earlier of complications following heart surgery at University Hospital in Coventry, central England.
He paid tribute to Griffiths as "a remarkable man and one of our greatest and best-loved actors."
Griffiths appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, but will be most widely remembered as a pair of contrasting uncles ? the hero's grudging Muggle guardian in the "Harry Potter" series, and flamboyant Uncle Monty in 1980s cult classic "Withnail and I."
"I was proud to say I knew him," said "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe.
A large man and a huge stage presence, Griffiths was one of Britain's leading theater actors, creating roles including the charismatic teacher Hector at the emotional heart of Alan Bennett's "The History Boys" -- a part he took to Broadway, winning a Tony Award, and repeated for the film adaptation.
National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner, who directed "The History Boys," called Griffiths' performance in that play "a masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously."
Griffiths also played poet W.H. Auden in Bennett's "The Habit of Art," a hugely persuasive performance despite the lack of physical resemblance between the two men.
Known for his sense of humor, large store of theatrical anecdotes and occasional bursts of temper, Griffiths was renowned for shaming audience members whose cell phones rang during plays by stopping the performance and ordering the offender to leave.
Griffiths' last major stage role was in a West End production of Neil Simon's comedy "The Sunshine Boys" last year opposite Danny DeVito.
In 2007 he appeared in a London production of "Equus" alongside the then 17-year-old Radcliffe.
"Richard was by my side during two of the most important moments of my career," Radcliffe said Friday.
"In August 2000, before official production had even begun on Potter, we filmed a shot outside the Dursleys', which was my first ever shot as Harry. I was nervous and he made me feel at ease.
?"Seven years later, we embarked on 'Equus' together. It was my first time doing a play but, terrified as I was, his encouragement, tutelage and humor made it a joy.
"In fact, any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence."
Griffiths is survived by his wife, Heather Gibson.
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Professional Business Marketing ? Business Insider's Slideshows ...
Business Insider has become known all-too-well for making its site sticky with a constant procession of topical?or newsy slideshows.
Well, the New York-based digital publisher this week started to monetize the idea with a sponsored gallery ad unit, and location-based marketing firm Yext has signed on as the first buyer. The ad unit lets brands own an entire slideshow gallery experience at BusinessInsider.com.
?We?ve done sponsored posts, and we?ve done sponsored email. So why not do sponsored slideshows?? Julie Hansen, Business Insider president and COO, told Adweek. ?It?s a pretty obvious extension for what we?ve been doing. And it?s part of what everyone is seeing in the larger native advertising trend.?
While Business Insider published Yext?s nine-slide gallery dubbed ?Why Local Search Is Important For Retailers?And Why It?s A Mess? on Wednesday, the publication will be pushing the slideshow in its featured section by mid-morning today. Yext is also getting the site?s top banner placement on the gallery?s pages, while promoting its recent quarterly report/white paper on local search.
Allison Tepley,?svp of marketing at Yext, said the gallery-takeover format is well-suited for her firm, which looks to educate brands about how its software can help them manage multiple online listings. ?For this, we are looking to get [white paper] downloads and create awareness of our data,? Tepley said.
Peter Spande, chief revenue officer at Business Insider, said, ?It?s another example of how brands are starting to use the same tools and techniques that professional content creators on the editorial side employ every day.?
Spande said his content team handled the production of the gallery for Yext and plans to do the same for future advertisers.
?I think it will attract companies like luxury auto manufacturers, consumer electronic firms and other brands with products that have a lot of need for product-detail differentiation,? he said. ?But I do think this is going to mainly be a B2B-focused ad solution because there?s generally a more nuanced and complex message to convey for those brands.?
Topics:
Allison Tepley, business insider, digital ads, Henry Blodget, Julie Hansen, native ads, native advertising, Online, online publishing, Peter Spande, publishing, sponsored content, Web publishing, Yext
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Source: http://lowbrowse.org/business-insiders-slideshows-are-now-ads-too.html
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Clearwire taps Sprint funds, boosting deal prospects
(Reuters) - Wireless service provider Clearwire Corp
Clearwire, which is already majority owned by Sprint, said on Wednesday that it would continue talks with Dish but that it has not changed its recommendation in favor of its agreement with No. 3 U.S. mobile provider Sprint.
"We anticipate filing our definitive proxy in the coming weeks," Clearwire Chief Executive Erik Prusch said in a filing.
Clearwire's latest comments did not appear to bode well for its shareholders' demands for a higher price tag than Sprint's $2.97 per-share offer or for Dish's counter-offer. The satellite company run by billionaire founder Charlie Ergen had said that its $3.30 per-share bid for Clearwire was conditional on Clearwire not drawing on Sprint's convertible debt offer.
"Every month that they draw down on that $80 million gives Sprint more stock and is another nail in the coffin of a prospective Dish deal," said D.A. Davidson analyst Donna Jaegers. Dish was not immediately available for comment.
Many Clearwire shareholders said they were unhappy with the Sprint offer, which would need approval from the majority of Clearwire's minority investors.
Sprint's December deal to buy out Clearwire included the option for the smaller company to draw on $800 million in convertible debt in 10 monthly installments.
Clearwire, which also drew on the financing in March, had declined the offer in January and February because it was considering the Dish offer.
Clearwire said on Wednesday that it has not made any decisions about whether it would accept future installments of the Sprint money.
It did not explain on Wednesday how it could continue talks with Dish despite its apparent flouting of Dish's condition that it reject's Sprint financing.
The financing is in the form of debt that will be convertible to Clearwire shares in the event that its shareholders vote against Sprint's offer.
So every installment that Clearwire accepts would further weaken its minority shareholders' clout in the future.
However, Clearwire's shares were still well above the Sprint offer price at $3.24 when the Nasdaq closed on Thursday, indicating that many shareholders were still hoping for a better deal.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew, additional reporting by Nicola Leske; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Maureen Bavdek and Richard Chang)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clearwire-taps-sprint-funds-boosting-deal-prospects-210741860--sector.html
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Kobe Bryant has bone spur in left foot
MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Kobe Bryant has a bone spur in his left foot.
Following Los Angeles' 113-103 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, the Lakers revealed the injury. He left the arena using one crutch, but appeared to be walking without pain.
Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points, leaving him four points behind Wilt Chamberlain for fourth place on the NBA's career list. Bryant played 36? minutes and didn't show any signs of difficulty during the game.
"Inflamed on me. I'll be all right," Bryant told Yahoo Sports.
Bryant struggled from the field, going 6 of 17, but made 18 of 20 free throws.
The Lakers are eighth in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of Utah for the final playoff spot.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kobe-bryant-bone-spur-left-foot-041102571--spt.html
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Hands-on with Katamari Damacy creator's crazy 16-button game controller (video)
You don't often see a video game specifically designed for a 16-button bespoke controller and for a special one-time party, but that's exactly what Keita Takahashi has done with Tenya Wanya Teens. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Takahashi is responsible for the enormously popular game franchise that is Katamari Damacy along with cult favorite Noby Noby Boy. Teens is his first foray as an independent creator under Uvula, a studio he formed with his wife Asuka Sakai, and is a result of a collaboration with event organizers Wild Rumpus and video game website Venus Patrol. As for the party in question, it's one that is being held concurrently with the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which is where we saw the controllers and the game in action.
As you can see above, the controller looks a lot like a modified arcade stick. A hand-made effort by programmer George Buckenham, both boxes were built in about five days for around 200£ ($302.50) each. According to Buckenham, the easiest part was assembling the electronics; it was the plywood housing that took him awhile to master. As for the game, Tenya Wanya Teens is a highly whimsical effort that is described as "a coming-of-age tale about love, hygiene, monsters and finding discarded erotic magazines in the woods." Tasks include peeing in the shower, punching monsters and taking on grizzly bears.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Lnc4ErzBgxQ/
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Colorado Veteran Finds Better Sleep With Donation of Easy Rest Adjustable Bed
Prior to receiving his Easy Rest Adjustable Bed, Army Corporal Nicholas Orchowski suffered from insomnia, muscle spasms and had a hard time finding comfort at night. Now, he?s not waking up as frequently and he?s getting a longer, deeper sleep that allows him to feel more rested in the morning.
Baltimore, Maryland (PRWEB) March 27, 2013
Army Corporal Nicholas Orchowski was only averaging four hours of sleep a night and had trouble finding comfort in bed after suffering a debilitating injury in Baghdad, Iraq nine years ago. Now, thanks to the donation of an Easy Rest Adjustable Bed, he?s enjoying a deeper, more solid sleep and he?s waking up feeling better rested, and with improved leg circulation, thanks to his new bed.?My wife and I are both getting better sleep,? said Cpl. Orchowski. ?With this bed it?s easier to get and stay comfortable and I?m not waking up as much to change positions during the night. Since receiving my Easy Rest Adjustable Bed I?m averaging a solid seven hours of sleep a night.?
Cpl. Orchowski served as a Military Police Officer in Baghdad in 2004. That May he was part of a mission to pick up firearms and ammunition for a new unit that was coming into Iraq. Cpl. Orchowski was assigned to be the gunner of the lead Humvee providing security for the convoy. During the drive between bases, his Humvee was hit head-on by a dump truck filled with bricks, loose rocks and explosives. The Humvee was blown into pieces and he was thrown from the vehicle. He broke several vertebrae in his back, shattered his right elbow, tore the patellar tendon in his right leg and suffered a traumatic brain injury. His injuries left him paralyzed from the neck down.
After being stabilized in the field, Cpl. Orchowski was flown to Landstuhl, Germany for the first of many surgeries and was quickly transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He spent three months there before moving to the VA Spinal Cord Injury Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After countless surgeries, and a great deal of therapy, he has regained some function in his legs and left arm and is considered an incomplete quadriplegic. Today he is walking with the use of braces and uses a wheelchair occasionally. He has not regained the use of his right arm but he is still fighting to strengthen his body.
?We are thrilled to be able to help Cpl. Orchowski achieve a better night?s sleep with an Easy Rest Adjustable Bed,? said Jeff Mowrey, Chief Operating Officer for the Company. ?He has given so much in service to our Country and it?s an honor to be able to thank him in this way. That's why we created the Beds For Our Troops Program.?
When asked what he thought was the beds best features Cpl. Orchowski didn?t hesitate with his answer. ?The ability to adjust the head and foot of the bed and the massage features are the best benefits for me,? he stated. ?No more using 20 pillows to find a comfortable position. And the massage is awesome and relaxing. My kids love that feature the most. We get into bed as a family and turn the massage motors on and it knocks the kids right out,? he added happily.
Cpl. Orchowski lives in Parker, Colorado with his wife and two daughters. He is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys participating in adaptive skiing, hunting and fishing programs.
About Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems
Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems founders have more than 100 years experience in the adjustable bed business. The company offers a modern line of high-quality, U.S.-made, electric, adjustable beds and adjustable mattresses to fit every health and comfort requirement, budget or lifestyle. Easy Rest stands behind every product it sells, and through its centralized national customer service office provides consumers swift and efficient responses to any product questions or problems.
To learn more about Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems, including the health and comfort benefits of its full range of quality beds and mattresses as well as bed sizes, options and features, please visit http://www.easyrest.com or call 1-800-217-5206 today.
Ann Mowrey
Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems
443-696-3018
Email Information
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-veteran-finds-better-sleep-donation-easy-rest-100222204.html
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RIM success in 4Q, but too early to declare win
TORONTO (AP) ? Research In Motion Ltd., once written off as dead amid fierce competition from more modern mobile devices such as the iPhone, surprised Wall Street Thursday by returning to profitability and shipping more BlackBerry 10 phones than expected in the most recent quarter.
It will take several quarters, though, to know whether RIM is on a path toward a successful turnaround. RIM just entered the crucial U.S. market with the new phone last week. And despite selling a million BlackBerry 10 phones in other countries, RIM lost subscribers for the second consecutive quarter.
Thursday's earnings report provided a first glimpse of how the BlackBerry 10 system, widely seen as crucial to the company's future, is selling internationally and in Canada since its debut Jan. 31. The 1 million new touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 phones were above the 915,000 that analysts had been expecting for the quarter that ended March 2. Details on U.S. sales are not part of the fiscal fourth quarter's financial results because the Z10 wasn't available there after the quarter ended.
Investors appeared happy with the financial results. RIM's stock rose 34 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $14.91 in afternoon trading Thursday after the release of results. Many analysts had written RIM off last year, but now believe the Canadian company has a future.
"I thought they were dead. This is a huge turnaround," Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said from New York.
Misek said the Canadian company "demolished" the numbers, especially its gross margins. RIM reported gross margins of 40 percent, up from 34 percent a year earlier. The company credited higher average selling prices and higher margins for devices.
"This is a really, really good result," Misek said. "It's off to a good start."
The new BlackBerry 10 phones are redesigned for the new multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers are now demanding.
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. RIM faced numerous delays modernizing its operating system with the BlackBerry 10. During that time, it had to cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70 billion.
In the most recent quarter, RIM earned $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. After adjusting for restructuring and other one-time items, RIM earned 22 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been expecting a loss of 31 cents.
Revenue fell 36 percent to $2.7 billion, from $4.2 billion. Analysts had expected $2.82 billion.
RIM shipped 6 million BlackBerry devices, including 1 million on the new system. But RIM lost about 3 million subscribers to end the quarter with 76 million. It's the second consecutive quarterly decline for RIM, whose subscriber based peaked at 80 million last summer.
Bill Kreyer, a tech analyst for Edward Jones, called the decline "pretty alarming."
"This is going to take a couple of quarters to really see how they are doing," Kreyer said.
The company also announced that co-founder Mike Lazaridis will leave the company. He and Jim Balsillie had stepped down as co-CEOs in January 2012 after several quarters of disappointing results, but Lazaridis said he stayed on as vice chairman and a board director to help new CEO Thorsten Heins and his team with the launch of the BlackBerry 10. With that underway, Lazaridis plans to retire May 1. He said he has no plans to sell his 5.7 percent stake in the company.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Lazaridis said the board wanted both him and Jim to stay, but Lazaridis decided "it was the right time" to leave.
Heins, formerly RIM's chief operating officer, has spent the past year cutting costs and steering the company toward the launch of new BlackBerry 10 phones. Lazaridis said Heins has done an excellent job completing the BlackBerry 10 system and launching it around the world.
"The results speak for themselves," Lazaridis said.
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said RIM returned to profitability much sooner than expected. He said it was driven by higher gross margins, cost reductions and the sale of the new BlackBerry.
In a research note, Wu wrote that RIM "is here to stay with stabilization in its business and balance sheet" but said the key question remains whether the company can maintain momentum in an industry dominated by Apple and Google's Android software.
The Z10 has received favorable reviews since its release, but the launch in the critical U.S. market was delayed until late this month as wireless carriers completed their testing.
A version with a physical keyboard, called the Q10, won't be released in the U.S. for two or three more months. The delay in selling the Q10 complicates RIM's efforts to hang on to customers tempted by the iPhone and a range of devices running Android. Even as the BlackBerry has fallen behind rivals in recent years, many users have stayed loyal because they prefer a physical keyboard over the touch screen on the iPhone and most Android devices.
RIM, which is changing is formal name to BlackBerry, said it expects to break even in the current quarter despite increasing spending on marketing by 50 percent compared with the previous quarter.
"To say it was a very challenging environment to deliver improved financial results could well be the understatement of the year," Heins said during a conference call with analysts.
Heins said more than half of the people buying the touch-screen Z10 were switching from rival systems. The company didn't provide details or specify whether those other systems were all smartphones. He said the Q10 will sell well among the existing BlackBerry user base. It's expected in some markets in April, but not in the U.S. until May or June.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rim-success-4q-too-early-declare-win-175330023--finance.html
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40 years on, Vietnam troop withdrawal remembered
Forty years ago, soldiers returning from Vietnam were advised to change into civilian clothes on their flights home so that they wouldn't be accosted by angry protesters at the airport. For a Vietnamese businessman who helped the U.S. government, a rising sense of panic set in as the last combat troops left the country on March 29, 1973 and he began to contemplate what he'd do next. A young North Vietnamese soldier who heard about the withdrawal felt emboldened to continue his push on the battlefields of southern Vietnam.
While the fall of Saigon two years later ? with its indelible images of frantic helicopter evacuations ? is remembered as the final day of the Vietnam War, Friday marks an anniversary that holds greater meaning for many who fought, protested or otherwise lived the war. Since then, they've embarked on careers, raised families and in many cases counseled a younger generation emerging from two other faraway wars.
Many veterans are encouraged by changes they see. The U.S. has a volunteer military these days, not a draft, and the troops coming home aren't derided for their service. People know what PTSD stands for, and they're insisting that the government take care of soldiers suffering from it and other injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Below are the stories of a few of the people who experienced a part of the Vietnam War firsthand.
___
Former Air Force Sgt. Howard Kern, who lives in central Ohio near Newark, spent a year in Vietnam before returning home in 1968.
He said that for a long time he refused to wear any service ribbons associating him with southeast Asia and he didn't even his tell his wife until a couple of years after they married that he had served in Vietnam. He said she was supportive of his war service and subsequent decision to go back to the Army to serve another 18 years.
Kern said that when he flew back from Vietnam with other service members, they were told to change out of uniform and into civilian clothes while they were still on the airplane to avoid the ire of protesters at the airport.
"What stands out most about everything is that before I went and after I got back, the news media only showed the bad things the military was doing over there and the body counts," said Kern, now 66. "A lot of combat troops would give their c rations to Vietnamese children, but you never saw anything about that ? you never saw all the good that GIs did over there."
Kern, an administrative assistant at the Licking County Veterans' Service Commission, said the public's attitude is a lot better toward veterans coming home for Iraq and Afghanistan ? something the attributes in part to Vietnam veterans.
"We're the ones that greet these soldiers at the airports. We're the ones who help with parades and stand alongside the road when they come back and applaud them and salute them," he said.
He said that while the public "might condemn war today, they don't condemn the warriors."
"I think the way the public is treating these kids today is a great thing," Kern said. "I wish they had treated us that way."
But he still worries about the toll that multiple tours can take on service members.
"When we went over there, you came home when your tour was over and didn't go back unless you volunteered. They are sending GIs back now maybe five or seven times, and that's way too much for a combat veteran," he said.
He remembers feeling glad when the last troops left Vietnam, but was sad to see Saigon fall two years later. "Vietnam was a very beautiful country, and I felt sorry for the people there," he said.
___
Tony Lam was 36 on the day the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam. He was a young husband and father, but most importantly, he was a businessman and U.S. contractor furnishing dehydrated rice to South Vietnamese troops. He also ran a fish meal plant and a refrigerated shipping business that exported shrimp.
As Lam, now 76, watched American forces dwindle and then disappear, he felt a rising panic. His close association with the Americans was well-known and he needed to get out ? and get his family out ? or risk being tagged as a spy and thrown into a Communist prison. He watched as South Vietnamese commanders fled, leaving whole battalions without a leader.
"We had no chance of surviving under the Communist invasion there. We were very much worried about the safety of our family, the safety of other people," he said this week from his adopted home in Westminster, Calif.
But Lam wouldn't leave for nearly two more years after the last U.S. combat troops, driven to stay by his love of his country and his belief that Vietnam and its economy would recover.
When Lam did leave, on April 21, 1975, it was aboard a packed C-130 that departed just as Saigon was about to fall. He had already worked for 24 hours at the airport to get others out after seeing his wife and two young children off to safety in the Philippines.
"My associate told me, 'You'd better go. It's critical. You don't want to end up as a Communist prisoner.' He pushed me on the flight out. I got tears in my eyes once the flight took off and I looked down from the plane for the last time," Lam recalled. "No one talked to each other about how critical it was, but we all knew it."
Now, Lam lives in Southern California's Little Saigon, the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam.
In 1992, Lam made history by becoming the first Vietnamese-American to elected to public office in the U.S. and he went on to serve on the Westminster City Council for 10 years.
Looking back over four decades, Lam says he doesn't regret being forced out of his country and forging a new, American, life.
"I went from being an industrialist to pumping gas at a service station," said Lam, who now works as a consultant and owns a Lee's Sandwich franchise, a well-known Vietnamese chain.
"But thank God I am safe and sound and settled here with my six children and 15 grandchildren," he said. "I'm a happy man."
___
Wayne Reynolds' nightmares got worse this week with the approach of the anniversary of the U.S. troop withdrawal.
Reynolds, 66, spent a year working as an Army medic on an evacuation helicopter in 1968 and 1969. On days when the fighting was worst, his chopper would make four or five landings in combat zones to rush wounded troops to emergency hospitals.
The terror of those missions comes back to him at night, along with images of the blood that was everywhere. The dreams are worst when he spends the most time thinking about Vietnam, like around anniversaries.
"I saw a lot of people die," said Reynolds.
Today, Reynolds lives in Athens, Ala., after a career that included stints as a public school superintendent and, most recently, a registered nurse. He is serving his 13th year as the Alabama president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and he also has served on the group's national board as treasurer.
Like many who came home from the war, Reynolds is haunted by the fact he survived Vietnam when thousands more didn't. Encountering war protesters after returning home made the readjustment to civilian life more difficult.
"I was literally spat on in Chicago in the airport," he said. "No one spoke out in my favor."
Reynolds said the lingering survivor's guilt and the rude reception back home are the main reasons he spends much of his time now working with veteran's groups to help others obtain medical benefits. He also acts as an advocate on veterans' issues, a role that landed him a spot on the program at a 40th anniversary ceremony planned for Friday in Huntsville, Ala.
It took a long time for Reynolds to acknowledge his past, though. For years after the war, Reynolds said, he didn't include his Vietnam service on his resume and rarely discussed it with anyone.
"A lot of that I blocked out of my memory. I almost never talk about my Vietnam experience other than to say, 'I was there,' even to my family," he said.
___
A former North Vietnamese soldier, Ho Van Minh heard about the American combat troop withdrawal during a weekly meeting with his commanders in the battlefields of southern Vietnam.
The news gave the northern forces fresh hope of victory, but the worst of the war was still to come for Minh: The 77-year-old lost his right leg to a land mine while advancing on Saigon, just a month before that city fell.
"The news of the withdrawal gave us more strength to fight," Minh said Thursday, after touring a museum in the capital, Hanoi, devoted to the Vietnamese victory and home to captured American tanks and destroyed aircraft.
"The U.S. left behind a weak South Vietnam army. Our spirits was so high and we all believed that Saigon would be liberated soon," he said.
Minh, who was on a two-week tour of northern Vietnam with other veterans, said he bears no ill will to the American soldiers even though much of the country was destroyed and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese died.
If he met an American veteran now he says, "I would not feel angry; instead I would extend my sympathy to them because they were sent to fight in Vietnam against their will."
But on his actions, he has no regrets. "If someone comes to destroy your house, you have to stand up to fight."
___
Two weeks before the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, Marine Corps Capt. James H. Warner was freed from North Vietnamese confinement after nearly 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He said those years of forced labor and interrogation reinforced his conviction that the United States was right to confront the spread of communism.
The past 40 years have proven that free enterprise is the key to prosperity, Warner said in an interview Thursday at a coffee shop near his home in Rohrersville, Md., about 60 miles from Washington. He said American ideals ultimately prevailed, even if our methods weren't as effective as they could have been.
"China has ditched socialism and gone in favor of improving their economy, and the same with Vietnam. The Berlin Wall is gone. So essentially, we won," he said. "We could have won faster if we had been a little more aggressive about pushing our ideas instead of just fighting."
Warner, 72, was the avionics officer in a Marine Corps attack squadron when his fighter plane was shot down north of the Demilitarized Zone in October 1967.
He said the communist-made goods he was issued as a prisoner, including razor blades and East German-made shovels, were inferior products that bolstered his resolve.
"It was worth it," he said.
A native of Ypsilanti, Mich., Warner went on to a career in law in government service. He is a member of the Republican Central Committee of Washington County, Md.
___
Denis Gray witnessed the Vietnam War twice ? as an Army captain stationed in Saigon from 1970 to 1971 for a U.S. military intelligence unit, and again as a reporter at the start of a 40-year career with the AP.
"Saigon in 1970-71 was full of American soldiers. It had a certain kind of vibe. There were the usual clubs, and the bars were going wild," Gray recalled. "Some parts of the city were very, very Americanized."
Gray's unit was helping to prepare for the troop pullout by turning over supplies and projects to the South Vietnamese during a period that Washington viewed as the final phase of the war. But morale among soldiers was low, reinforced by a feeling that the U.S. was leaving without finishing its job.
"Personally, I came to Vietnam and the military wanting to believe that I was in a ? maybe not a just war but a ? war that might have to be fought," Gray said. "Toward the end of it, myself and most of my fellow officers, and the men we were commanding didn't quite believe that ... so that made the situation really complex."
After his one-year service in Saigon ended in 1971, Gray returned home to Connecticut and got a job with the AP in Albany, N.Y. But he was soon posted to Indochina, and returned to Saigon in August 1973 ? four months after the U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam ? to discover a different city.
"The aggressiveness that militaries bring to any place they go ? that was all gone," he said. A small American presence remained, mostly diplomats, advisers and aid workers but the bulk of troops had left. The war between U.S.-allied South Vietnam and communist North Vietnam was continuing, and it was still two years before the fall of Saigon to the communist forces.
"There was certainly no panic or chaos ? that came much later in '74, '75. But certainly it was a city with a lot of anxiety in it."
The Vietnam War was the first of many wars Gray witnessed. As AP's Bangkok bureau chief for more than 30 years, Gray has covered wars in Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, and "many, many insurgencies along the way."
"I don't love war, I hate it," Gray said. "(But) when there have been other conflicts, I've been asked to go. So, it was definitely the shaping event of my professional life."
___
Harry Prestanski, 65, of West Chester, Ohio, served 16 months as a Marine in Vietnam and remembers having to celebrate his 21st birthday there. He is now retired from a career in public relations and spends a lot of time as an advocate for veterans, speaking to various organizations and trying to help veterans who are looking for jobs.
"The one thing I would tell those coming back today is to seek out other veterans and share their experiences," he said. "There are so many who will work with veterans and try to help them ? so many opportunities that weren't there when we came back."
He says that even though the recent wars are different in some ways from Vietnam, those serving in any war go through some of the same experiences.
"One of the most difficult things I ever had to do was to sit down with the mother of a friend of mine who didn't come back and try to console her while outside her office there were people protesting the Vietnam War," Prestanski said.
He said the public's response to veterans is not what it was 40 years ago and credits Vietnam veterans for helping with that.
"When we served, we were viewed as part of the problem," he said. "One thing about Vietnam veterans is that ? almost to the man ? we want to make sure that never happens to those serving today. We welcome them back and go out of our way to airports to wish them well when they leave."
He said some of the positive things that came out of his war service were the leadership skills and confidence he gained that helped him when he came back.
"I felt like I could take on the world," he said.
___
Flaccus reported from Los Angeles and Cornwell reported from Cincinnati. Also contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt in Hanoi, David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Md., and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/40-years-vietnam-troop-withdrawal-remembered-172252613.html
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Analysis: High court energizes gay rights cause
By Joan Biskupic
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After two days of Supreme Court arguments over same-sex marriage, the United States may be left with this irony: While the high court is not likely to alter the constitutional landscape for gays, the justices nevertheless have provided a rallying point for the gay-rights cause.
Three major legal outcomes appeared likely as the justices on Wednesday ended the second dramatic day of arguments in the most closely watched dispute of their current term:
* The court would not rule that gay people need special constitutional protection from discrimination.
* The court would not declare a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.
* At the same time, a majority would rule narrowly that the federal government must provide married same-sex couples the same benefits it gives their heterosexual counterparts.
Yet just as the nine black-robed justices made clear that they did not wish to play a leading role in the national conversation about same-sex marriage, they showed they could nonetheless raise its volume. Simply by agreeing to hear the two disputes - one over California's ban on same-sex marriage, the other over the federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples - the justices energized the debate.
Numerous public figures including former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 signed the law forbidding same-sex couples from obtaining federal benefits, and prominent groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics in recent weeks came out vigorously in support of same-sex marriage and gay civil rights.
Individual members of Congress - Democrats and Republicans - suddenly voiced new support for gay marriage.
Perhaps most dramatically, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, considered a possible future Republican presidential contender, earlier this month announced he was reversing his opposition to such same-sex marriage, citing the fact that his son two years earlier had told him he was gay.
Opponents of gay marriage have not witnessed any similar high-profile testimonials from people who were switching to their side. Recent opinion polls, taken in association with the Supreme Court's decision to take up the gay-marriage cases, have documented a surge in public support for same-sex unions.
The new cases also pushed the Obama administration to break new legal ground.
President Barack Obama had personally endorsed gay marriage but he had long asserted that same-sex marriage was a matter for the states to handle. At the last minute, however, his administration decided to enter the California dispute and argue that federal guarantees of constitutional equality forbid states from limiting marriage to heterosexuals.
The administration also contended that gays deserve extra constitutional protection from bias, as the Supreme Court has afforded women fighting sex discrimination.
Yet as much as the justices effectively propelled others to take a stand, they showed by their own comments and questions from the bench this week that they do not intend to be at the vanguard.
The lawyers who appeared on Tuesday and Wednesday were passionate in their presentations, yet none seemed to seize the justices and generate equal fervor.
To be sure, there were moments of excitement, including some sharp exchanges between lawyers and individual justices such as when Justice Elena Kagan challenged an attorney's assertion that government's overriding interest in marriage relates to procreation and childbearing.
'UNCHARTED WATERS'
There was also the suspense of what swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy might say. Kennedy sent conflicting messages at times, expressing concern about the children of gay parents who cannot marry but then suggesting the justices should be wise to stay out of "uncharted waters" on the issue.
There were moments of tedium, too, as the justices wrestled with procedural issues that could prevent them from deciding the merits of either case.
Such hurdles would likely prevent any decision on California's Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. A majority of the justices signaled they might not reach the merits, most likely because California state officials have declined to defend the law and Proposition 8 backers may lack "legal standing" in the case.
A court majority most certainly would not conclude - as the challengers to Proposition 8 argued on Tuesday - that all 50 U.S. states must allow same-sex marriage. Currently nine states permit such marriages, along with Washington, D.C.
Nothing that emerged in oral arguments on Wednesday over a provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) would suggest that the justices had any second thoughts about delving into the larger issues of gay marriage. In fact, their comments reinforced the notion that a majority on the generally conservative court is not ready to carve out new rights for gays.
The Obama administration and other challengers to DOMA had urged the court to declare that government rules tied to sexual orientation deserve "heightened" scrutiny, meaning that the government needs an exceedingly persuasive justification for the regulation.
If the court were to adopt such a level of constitutional protection for gays, as it has in the gender-discrimination context, bans on same-sex marriage would be legally undermined. But that proposition for tougher judicial scrutiny in gay-bias cases gained no traction at the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that the national activity surrounding this week's cases might have demonstrated that gays are, in fact, a political force in no need of special protection.
"As far as I can tell, political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Roberts told lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who was representing a New York woman denied a federal estate-tax exemption because her spouse was another woman, not a man.
Roberts may have been referring to national figures including Portman whose endorsement of gay marriage coincided with the court's consideration of the matter.
In the same vein, a record number of "friend of the court" briefs were submitted in the paired cases, most favoring gay rights. In yet another unusual move, marking one of corporate America's most high-profile efforts on same-sex marriage, close to 300 businesses urged the court to strike down the DOMA restriction. (Thomson Reuters Corp, which owns Reuters, was among them.)
Outside the marble-columned Supreme Court building, demonstrators rallying for gay marriage dominated the scene.
So no matter how this court ultimately rules - a decision is expected by late June - it seems clear that the justices' mere involvement was a boost to the gay-rights cause, at least in the court of public opinion.
(Reporting by Joan Biskupic; Editing by Eric Effron and Will Dunham)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-supreme-court-energizes-gay-rights-even-resists-002829126.html
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