2012年1月31日星期二

Apple have escalated their legal battle worldwide

The commission is concerned that Samsung is using patents essential to wireless communications standards in legal cases against competitors, burberry 2012 and in turn stifling competition in the EU.

In the past year, Samsung and Apple have escalated their legal battle worldwide in their bid to take the lead in mobile computing in Europe through smartphone and tablet sales. Samsung has focused its lawsuits on technology patents rather than those covering design, as Apple has done.

Last April, Apple sued Samsung in California, claiming their devices had "slavishly" copied Apple's. Then, in the Netherlands in October, Samsung lost a case saying that Apple should pay Samsung royalties for 3G transmission technology used in its iPhones and iPads.

The formal investigation comes as a German court said earlier Tuesday that Samsung cannot distribute its Galaxy Tab 10.1 and smaller Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet computers in Germany, as they would imitate the iPad.

Samsung said in a statement it is disappointed with the ruling in Germany and "will continue to take all appropriate measures" including legal action to protect its products. Regarding the commission's investigation, a Samsung spokesman said the company "has not received any formal notice and is unable to discuss the matter at this time."

Apple declined to comment.Cheap burberry - designer bags, shoes, accessories, clothing outlet 2012.

The EU opened this latest investigation on its own initiative, without receiving complaints from other companies, a commission spokesman said. In November, the commission requested information on patents from Apple and Samsung.

"This is linked to injunctions which have been filed by Samsung against a number of competitors, concerning standards essential patents," a spokesman for EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia told reporters. "We're looking at the injunctions made on a broad basis…And whether these injunctions themselves are in breach of competition law."

The case hinges on standards-essential patents, which cover an area that is crucial to compliance with an industry standard, such as 3G or Wi-Fi.

The EU is studying Samsung's use of wireless patents. Above, EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia last week in Brussels.

Unlike regular patents, they must be licensed on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory basis—known as Frand. This means infringement can't lead to injunctions on use, or extraordinarily high royalty payments.

In 1998, Samsung, along with many other patent holders, promised the European Telecommunications Standards Institute that it would license any standard essential patents on a Frand basis.Burberry sunglasses outlet, buy cheap burberry sunglasses 2012 online.

"Standardization isn't sexy, but the issue here is a lot of these patents are proprietary and haven't found their way to formal standards," said Stephen Russell, a standardization expert. "This opens the door to these companies suing one another."

2012年1月30日星期一

The commercial opens with a seemingly

A 2-minute, 23-second extended version of "Matthew's Day Off" (chicagotribune.com/bueller) was released online Monday, with the 49-year-old Matthew Broderick in a sendup of the role he made famous 26 years ago. This time, it's burberry 2012 Broderick taking a day off by calling in sick for a movie shoot to spend the day gallivanting about Los Angeles … in a CR-V.

The commercial opens with a seemingly under-the-weather Broderick awakening in his luxurious Hollywood digs, on the phone and successfully begging off work — "One of the worst performances of my career, and he never doubted it for a second," Broderick triumphantly proclaims while readying for his big day.

Then he's off to his CR-V, which the valet has waiting ("Broderick … Broderick …")

The rest of the spot is Broderick driving oceanside, visiting Santa Monica Pier, singing in a parade — a day well spent, for sure, but clearly not in Chicago, where the legendary 1986 John Hughes film was set.

"There certainly was some thought to (filming in) Chicago," Honda brand manager Tom Peyton said of the spot, shot in early December. "It was primarily just a matter of timing and such that had it in L.A."

The full-length commercial includes more than two dozen "Easter eggs," Peyton said, hidden references to the movie — such as a store-window mannequin wearing Bueller's signature vest — that Honda hopes fans will spot, tweet and share on other social media.

A mysterious teaser clip to the commercial debuted on YouTube last Thursday and quickly went viral.Cheap burberry - designer bags, shoes, accessories, clothing outlet 2012.

Save for some strategically placed arms, Kourtney, Kim and Khloe strip down in new ads for their Kardashian Kollection denim line for Sears.

Shot by photographer Nick Saglimbeni (who also took the famous family’s Christmas portrait), the reality show siblings model three different styles named after themselves: The Kourtney Jean, The Kim Jean and The Khloé Jean.

“Denim is essential to every wardrobe,” Kim, 31, says in the company’s press release. “I wear jeans all the time — they are so easy to throw on with a white tee or dress up with heels and a blazer and fab accessories. A great pair of jeans can take you from day to night, but that perfect pair is tough to find.”

The jeans will sell for $46.99 to start.

The spotlight-loving trio said they designed the collection with curvy women in mind.

“My sisters and I have different body figures and I know how hard it is to find denim that is not only affordable but that also flatters and celebrates our individual shapes. We wanted to create a go-to line that women knew they could shop and find something to work with their body,” says younger sister Khloe, 27.Burberry sunglasses outlet, buy cheap burberry sunglasses 2012 online.

Adds Kourtney, 32: “We cannot wait for everyone to check our new line . . . and are excited to see our fans’ reactions to the designs.”

2012年1月29日星期日

There was no reserve-ratio cut during the holiday

China Vanke Co. (000002) and Poly Real Estate Group Co., the nation’s biggest developers, slid more than 1 percent after the Beijing burberry outlet Morning Post said home sales in the capital dropped during the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday. Liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co. paced declines for consumer stocks after retail sales growth slowed last week. Zijin Mining Group Co. led gains for gold producers after bullion prices jumped.

“There was no reserve-ratio cut during the holiday so liquidity will still be tight,” said Wu Kan, a Shanghai-based fund manager at Dazhong Insurance Co., which oversees $285 million. “It looks like the government isn’t in a hurry to release too much liquidity into the market as opposed to the market expectation of an immediate and aggressive relaxation.”

The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 6.45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,312.67 at 10:18 a.m. local time. The CSI 300 Index declined 0.5 percent to 2,492.91. The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index, the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, added 2.8 percent last week in New York. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.9 percent last week while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) rose 2.7 percent in the two trading days it was open last week.

Barclays Capital Asia Ltd., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Industrial Bank Co. said this month that lenders’ reserve ratios were likely to fall ahead of the Lunar New Year festival, which boosts demand for cash. The central bank instead used reverse- repurchase contracts to add money to the financial system.
Avoiding Credit ‘Explosion’

“The central bank aims to ease policies prudently and pace loan growth at the beginning of the year so as to avoid a replay of the credit explosion in 2009 and 2010 and prevent inflation from rebounding,” said Lu Zhengwei, a Shanghai-based economist at Industrial Bank.

China’s money-market rate jumped for the first time in four days today. The seven-day repurchase rate, a gauge of funding availability in the financial system, surged 20.8 basis points, or 0.208 percentage point, to 4.3353 percent as of 10:03 a.m. in Shanghai, according to a weighted average compiled by the National Interbank Funding Center.

Vanke, the nation’s biggest listed property developer, fell 1.3 percent to 7.80 yuan. Poly Real Estate, the second largest, lost 1.8 percent to 10.75 yuan.

Home sales in Beijing fell to zero during the holiday, the first time in three years that no sales were recorded for a week, the Beijing Morning Post burberry 2012 newspaper reported today, citing data from the local government. Average home prices dropped 23.6 percent from a year earlier as of Jan. 27, it said.
Economic Slowdown

Chinese manufacturing contracted in January for the second time in three months, according to the median estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg before the purchasing managers’ index’s release on Feb. 1.

Kweichow Moutai, China’s biggest producer of baijiu liquor by market value, fell 1.4 percent to 183.38 yuan. Sales by China’s main retailers and restaurants during the Chinese holiday rose 16.2 percent from a year earlier to 470 billion yuan, the Ministry of Commerce said in a Jan. 28 statement on its website. That compared with a 19 percent gain in the same period last year, according to Guotai Junan Securities Co.

The Shanghai Composite gained 3.3 percent in the week ended Jan. 20, its first back-to-back weekly gain in two months, on speculation slowing growth will prompt the central bank to relax monetary policies and the government will take measures to support stocks. It’s up 4.8 percent this year. The Shanghai index trades at 9.5 times estimated earnings, near the record low of 8.9 times reached on Jan. 6, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg.
Quantitative Easing

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke laid the groundwork last week for a third round of so-called quantitative easing, or QE3, saying that the Fed is prepared for further “accommodation.” The central bank, which bought $2.3 trillion of debt as part of QE1 and QE2, also reiterated a commitment to keep rates low until at least 2014.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annualized rate in the three months through December, compared with a forecast for a 3 percent increase. Growth accelerated from 1.8 percent in the previous quarter.

Emerging-market stocks would benefit from the cash injection created by a third round of U.S. asset purchases, with China, Russia and Taiwan looking “attractive,” Templeton Asset Management’s Mark Mobius said in a phone interview from Bangkok on Jan. 27.
Mobius Forecast

Chinese stocks will “probably see a rally” this week, said Mobius. “There’s no question” China will continue to loosen monetary policy and he recommends consumer, energy and commodity stocks in the country, he said.

Zijin Mining, China’s largest gold producer, rose 2.7 percent to 4.58 yuan. Zhongjin Gold Corp., the second largest, advanced 3.9 percent to 23.31 yuan.

Gold futures for April delivery gained 0.3 percent to settle at $1,735.40 an ounce on Jan. 27 in New York, the highest closing price since Dec. 7.Burberry childrenswear - jackets and coats, t-shirts, jeans, skirts, sweater.

Chinese listed companies have started to announce annual earnings reports and will finish before the end of April. Thirty-eight companies in the Shanghai Composite have released annual profits so far, gaining 19 percent on average and trailing estimates by 2.9 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with an increase of 38 percent in the previous year.

2012年1月24日星期二

Getting the Strait of Hormuz straight

The sanctions, agreed upon yesterday in Brussels burberry outlet but not to be implemented until July, comes with possible unintended consequences ranging from oil market disarray at a time of economic crisis to further brinkmanship by the Islamic Republic. Yet some experts feel that the EU's advertised toughness is less than meets the eye, and that the EU may have quietly kicked the can down the road, or at least left open the door for changes that could decrease pressure on Tehran.

“With delays of six months [to implement the sanctions] it seems a bit of a fudge,” says Paul Stevens of Chatham House, a London think tank, who argues that financial sanctions on Iran’s central bank, part of the EU approach, will have a greater effect. “I’m not sure that we’ve thought sanctions through. EU policymakers advocate sanctions, but oil people are not as convinced. The variables on sanctions are hard to gauge, and it is unclear if Saudi Arabia or Libya can supply the shortfall cheap moncler jackets.
"Over decades," he argues, "oil sanctions have proven too complicated and they’ve never actually worked.”

Iran internally sells its nuclear program as part of its rise as a great nation, and claims that its “right for uranium enrichment is nonnegotiable,” as one lawmaker gucci outlet, Ali Aghazadeh, said this week. “There is no reason for Iran to compromise over its rights. But Iran is open to discussions over concerns about its nuclear program.”

Iran is allowed to enrich uranium as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But the United Nations Security Council has forbid that enrichment until Iran clears up remaining concerns raised by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said EU nations no longer believe Iran’s assertion that its program is for civilian use, and said that sanctions are an alternative moncler jackets to military action.

2012年1月21日星期六

In exchange for Gonzalez

In exchange for Gonzalez, who went 16-12 with cheap burberry outlet 2012 a 3.12 ERA last season, the A's reportedly will receive pitching prospects A.J. Cole, Brad Peacock and Tom Milone and catcher Derek Norris.
The trade is not official, as neither team made an announcement, but Gonzalez told the Associated Press that "it's 99 percent done. ... It's pending a physical, and I'm just waiting to hear from my agent."
Right-handers Cole, 19, and Peacock, 23, are considered top prospects. One scout, requesting anonymity, said the A's made the best deal possible with Washington.
For many A's fans, that comes as little solace. They have seen this too many times.
With Gonzalez following another top pitcher out the door -- Cahill was an 18-game winner in 2010 -- it's reminiscent of 2004 when the A's traded Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder in a span of three days. Or the 2007-08 offseason, when they traded pitcher Dan Haren and outfielder Nick Swisher in a span of three weeks.

And this 1-2 punch to the gut comes at a time when the A's already have lost ground in the American League West, where they have finished third or lower in four of the past five seasons. The Los Angeles Angels signed Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson to big-money deals this month, and Texas this week bid $51.7 million just to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish. The Rangers also reportedly are in pursuit of Prince Fielder, as is Seattle.
The disparity isn't sitting well with some fans cheap moncler jackets finder.
"It disgusts me that we have all this talent that we're just giving away," longtime season ticket holder Jason DeFrancesco of Aptos said. "How does this let us compete in the A.L. West when the Angels are getting Pujols and Wilson and the Rangers are chasing Prince Fielder and others?
"It makes me question whether or not I want to be spending my money to see what's being put on the field."
In other corners, the feeling is one of resignation. On AthleticsNation.com, much of the talk centered on the four prospects the A's got -- "quite a haul" in the words of one fan.
Some scouts agree.
"If two of the four reach the level (the A's) think they are, it's a fair trade," one scout told this newspaper. "If three reach the level they think they are, it's a plus for the A's. And if all four reach that level, they did great."
Peacock, Cole and Norris were three of Washington's top nine prospects, according to Baseball America, with Cole's ceiling considered the highest. He was a fourth-round draft cheap gucci outlet 2012 pick in 2010 and last season went 4-7 with a 4.04 ERA for Single-A Hagerstown, with 108 strikeouts in 89 innings.
Peacock made his major league debut in 2011, going 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings for Washington. He was 15-3 with a 2.39 ERA in 146 innings while in Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse, walking 47 and striking out 177 moncler jackets 2011 outlet.

2012年1月17日星期二

We are not aware of any accidents

The fault, which could be a fire risk in some cases, is known to affect vehicles, including the Cooper S and John Cooper Works models, built between March 2006 and January 2011. Cheap gucci outlet 2012 - designer bags, cheap shoes, fashion sunglasses, luxury watches online.

Owners will be contacted in the coming weeks to arrange a part replacement.

The company said the issue had been picked up by internal quality control. The Mini is made in Oxford.

BMW said it was investigating one incident in the UK of an engine-related fire caused by the fault. There have been no reports of any injuries or road accidents resulting from it worldwide.

High temperatures
Customers should receive a letter inviting them to have the water pump replaced for free at a Mini dealership. The upgrade work takes about an hour.

The Mini plant in Oxford produces about 200,000 vehicles a year.

BMW said there was a "very low incidence" of the fault and the vehicles remained safe to drive.

"In more extreme cases, it could create a heat build-up in the wiring and some smouldering. Potentially it could cause a fire," a spokesman said www.cheapguccioutlet2012.com.

"We are not aware of any accidents or injuries connected with this. The important thing is that when people receive the letter, they simply go to their dealer and get a new water pump fitted if there is a problem."

The findings in children offer hope against grimmer figures predicted by previous research

Over the past seven years, the prevalence of obesity has hovered at around 36% for adults and at about 17% among children and adolescents,moncler jackets two separate CDC research teams reported online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings in children offer hope against grimmer figures predicted by previous research, Cynthia Ogden, PhD, of the National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues wrote.

"Some have suggested that the prevalence of obesity among children will reach 30% by 2030, but the data presented herein suggest that the rapid increases in obesity prevalence seen in the 1980s and 1990s have not continued in this decade and may be leveling off," they wrote.
Action Points

Still, certain groups of kids -- particularly teenage boys -- may be at greater risk of obesity than others, they warned. Between 1999 and 2010, this group appeared to drive an increase in obesity prevalence, they reported.

For their study, Ogden and colleagues looked at data on 4,111 children and adolescents from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010 and compared it with earlier data from the study series.

During the most recent time period, they found cheap moncler jackets 16.9% of children ages 2 to 19 were obese, and the prevalence was higher among males than females (18.6% versus 15%, P=0.01).

It also was higher among Hispanic and black children than whites, they reported (21.1% and 24.3%, respectively, versus 14%).

Even though childhood obesity rose in the 1980s and 1990s, the researchers said, there were no significant changes in prevalence between 2003 and 2010.

There was, however, a significant increase in obesity prevalence between 1999 and 2010 among males (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.10), which was largely driven by teenage boys. Those ages 12 to 19 were the only age group to have a significant increase in obesity during that time (P=0.04).

The researchers also found that 31.8% of children and teens were overweight or obese in the last year of the survey.

The adult study found that obesity in that group also appears to be flat-lining, with no significant changes in prevalence between 2003 and 2010. That's contrary to the 20 years prior -- from 1980 to 2000 -- when prevalence was moncler on the rise, the researchers reported.

It had been flat prior to that, between 1960 and 1980, they said.

Like the childhood obesity researchers, Katherine Flegal, PhD, of the National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues also used data from NHANES 2009-2010, but they studied data on 5,926 adults. They also analyzed data from previous NHANES studies from 1999-2008 totaling 22,847 adults.

The overall prevalence of obesity in the most recent period was 35.7% among men and 35.8% among women, they found, and ranged from 36.2% in white men to 38.8% in black men, and from 32.2% in white women to 58.5% in black women.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity combined in 2009-2010 was 68.8%, and the mean body mass index [BMI] for both men and women was 28.7.

Although obesity prevalence didn't rise for all women between 1999 and 2010, there were significant increases among black and Mexican American women, they reported (P=0.04 and P=0.046).

Men, on the other hand, had a significant jump in obesity prevalence over that time (AOR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.06, P<0.001). However, rates appeared to cheap moncler plateau around 2003 for both men and women, they found, noting that prior "increases [in obesity] appear to be slowing or leveling off."

2012年1月16日星期一

Santorum delivered one of the first blows

In one of the most sustained batterings he has endured in the 2012 presidential primary debates, Mitt Romney was repeatedly put on the defensive gucci 2012 over his business and government record and the attack ads by his supporters that are swamping South Carolina's airwaves.

The former Massachusetts governor's rivals have been increasingly desperate to derail his front-running candidacy as Romney looks to put a virtual lock on the Republican nomination in Saturday's primary.

Rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich both took aim at Romney, landing blows that, despite hitting their mark, may have canceled out either candidate's chances of emerging Monday night as Romney's key challenger.

Together the opponents sought to argue that Romney lacked principles, was exercising an unfair advantage through a "super PAC" created by his former aides, and was hiding his income taxes to deflect criticism.

Santorum delivered one of the first blows, laying a trap for Romney about voting rights for prisoners. A super PAC supporting Romney has been running ads accusing Santorum of backing the right of felons to vote from prison — a charge the former Pennsylvania senator said was false.

Santorum defended his Senate vote, saying the measure he supported was aimed at restoring voting rights for criminals who had served their time and finished their probation and parole requirements. He noted that Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and that the criminal population disproportionately included African Americans. He pressed Romney about whether he supported such a measure.

Romney said he did not believe that people who had committed violent crimes should ever be allowed to vote, leading Santorum to parry that when Romney was governor, violent felons in Massachusetts could vote even while they were on probation and parole. Gucci outlet, cheap gucci online, gucci 2012 new arrivals for sale.

"If in fact you felt so passionately about this that you were now going to go out and have somebody criticize me for restoring voting rights to people who have ... exhausted their sentence and served their time and paid their debt to society, then why didn't you try to change that when you were governor of Massachusetts?" Santorum said.

Romney responded that his state's Legislature was 85% Democratic, and he went on to criticize the existence of super PACs, although he has benefited the most from their existence this election cycle.

"We all would like to have super PACs disappear, to tell you the truth," he said later in the debate. "Wouldn't it be nice if people could give what they'd like to campaigns and campaigns could run their own ads and take responsibility for them?"

Gingrich criticized Romney's inability to get his supporters' super PAC to remove an ad that distorts Gingrich's position on abortion. He said it "makes you wonder how much influence he'd have if he were president" — a line that drew hoots of approval from the audience.

Romney shot back that Gingrich's supporters were running an ad replete with erroneous charges about his business record that is "probably the biggest hoax since Bigfoot."

With his experience as co-founder of a private equity firm, Bain Capital, under attack, Romney said for the first time that he would "probably" release his tax returns later this year if it was apparent he would be the nominee. Gucci sunglasses, cheap gucci sunglasses 2012 outlet for men and women.

Gingrich defended his assaults on Romney's business record, which includes job losses at some companies Bain invested in, and what Gingrich called a pattern of loading a "handful" of companies with debt, after which they went broke.

To applause, the former House speaker said that questioning Romney's record in private business was "exactly what campaigns ought to be about. And we need to satisfy the country that whoever we nominate has a record that can stand up to Barack Obama in a very effective way."

Weight loss was measured by looking at group changes

Weight loss was faster, greater and remained "significantly better" six years after gastric bypass compared with patients who received moncler jackets a gastric band, according to researchers.

The study, which involved more than 400 patients in Switzerland, is one of the longest studies of the two common procedures in the U.S. that limit the amount of food the stomach can hold. It was published online Monday in the Archives of Surgery.

Weight loss was measured by looking at group changes in body mass index at various times after surgery. BMI is a measure that estimates body fat by using a person's height and weight. People with BMIs of 30 or higher are considered obese.

Study participants started out with an average BMI of about 43. After a year, the average BMI in the bypass group fell below 30, while those receiving a gastric band had a BMI of about 34. Researchers said maximum weight loss was achieved after an average of three years for the gastric-band patients compared with 18 months for the bypass group.

Total cholesterol remained unchanged in patients cheap moncler jackets who underwent gastric banding but decreased in patients who underwent gastric bypass.

The study looked at what are considered treatment failures, which was measured by a reversal of the procedures, or patients who had a BMI of 35 six years after surgery. The failure rate for gastric banding was 48.3% compared with 12.3% for bypass.

Gastric banding involves the placements of a band around the top part of the stomach to create a small pouch. In gastric-bypass surgery, surgeons reduce the size of the stomach and the smaller stomach is then attached to the middle of the small intestine, bypassing a section of the intestine and thereby limiting the absorption of calories. About 200,000 Americans undergo surgical procedures to shrink their stomachs each year.

The study involved 442 patients who were operated on between moncler March 1998 and May 2005. Half of the patients received a gastric band while the other half underwent the Roux-en-Y procedure, a common gastric-bypass procedure in the U.S. Patients were matched according to sex, age and BMI. Patients had a BMI of more than 40, or more than 35 with at least one other disease such as diabetes, but didn't exceed a BMI of 50.

The gastric-bypass patients had a higher rate of complications immediately after surgery. The study showed the early complication rate for gastric bypass was 17.2% compared with 5.4% for banding. But in the long term, there were more complications and more follow-up operations after gastric banding.

Robin Blackstone, the president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery who practices in Scottsdale, Ariz., explained that gastric banding initially seemed safer than gastric-bypass surgery in the first three months after the procedure. She says the long-term data involving both procedures will help doctors better determine treatment choices for obese patients. "What's important is how effective both procedures are," she says.

Dr. Blackstone said obese patients who don't cheap moncler have underlying diseases like Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure can be good candidates for gastric-banding procedures while heavier and sicker patients are more likely to benefit from gastric bypass.

2012年1月15日星期日

In its place among top Twitter trends?

Then came the New England Patriots, and the national sensation was doused with a bucket of cold water.

Twitter references to "Tebow Time," which moncler jackets peaked during overtime of the Denver Broncos' wild-card win against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 8, this time hit its apex just before Saturday's kickoff vs. New England. They reduced to a murmur as it became clear that Tebow's playoff time was over.

In its place among top Twitter trends? Shaun Ellis, the defensive end who slammed Tebow to the turf during the Patriots' 45-10 walloping.
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Yet we've seen Tebow combebacks before. After cheap moncler jackets finder posting six consecutive wins, the Broncos finished the regular season by losing three and control of their playoff destiny. But an Oakland Raiders loss allowed the Broncos to advance, and the legend was born again.

How will Tebow re-enter the Twittersphere in 2012? Smart money is on Focus on the Family, the evangelical Christian organization that aired a commercial cashing in on the John 3:16 interest during Tebow's final postseason game. In 2010, it produced a Super Bowl spot featuring Tebow and his mother delivering a pro-family message.

But the group could be barking up the wrong tree. While Tebow often tweets references to Bible verses to his 1 million-plus followers, just 7% of the social media conversation about Tebow deals with religion, according to Social Media Group, a Toronto-based company.

America's newest favorite athlete, according cheap burberry bags to a new ESPN poll, might have a platform for his beliefs, but his left arm does all the talking.

Talk about an unexpected encounter.

Months after announcing their plans to divorce last November, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore found themselves just feet away from each other Friday at the CAA/Grey Goose Pre-Golden Globes bash at Soho House.

The actress, 49, arrived at the CAA Foundation bash before Kutcher, 33, and was spotted making conversation with Madonna and manager Jason Weinberg.

Kutcher made the rounds at the party, then, as he approached Moore's area, started chatting with Rumer Willis, her daughter, who was with the actress.

The two were all laughs and smiles as they talked for about 20 minutes before Willis, 23, went back to hanging out with her mom.

Moore recently stepped out with model cheap moncler and personal trainer Blake Corl-Baiette, although the two aren't dating, a source tells PEOPLE.

Two and a Half Men star also denied rumors that he was dating writer-director Lorene Scafaria last month.

2012年1月13日星期五

Erickson offered best wishes to Paterno

Erickson faced alumni for the third time in three days Friday night in lower Manhattan to answer questions in the wake of the child moncler jackets sexual charges against longtime football assistant Jerry Sandusky. As with the previous meetings in Pittsburgh and outside Philadelphia, the sometimes-tense town hall style event included multiple questions about Paterno's firing.

Erickson offered best wishes to Paterno, who was readmitted to the hospital Friday with complications from lung cancer treatment. He said he supported the Board of Trustees' decision to fire the Hall of Fame coach because "the ability to lead was compromised."

About 300 alumni attended the sometimes heated 90-minute session - the last of a series of meetings intended to calm anger about how the university has dealt with a child sex abuse scandal involving longtime assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Instead, the sessions have triggered more anguish and another round of introspection for the people who love the school and its football program.

That was apparent from the very first question from the audience Friday night - "where is the due process for Joe Paterno?"

The teary-eyed young woman's question was greeted with about 30 seconds of applause.

But so, too, were comments - including "evil moncler jackets for men flourishes when good men do nothing" - that supported Paterno's dismissal,

In his opening remarks Erickson said he "bleeds blue and white" and that these meetings with alumni were evidence of his commitment to create an atmosphere of greater openness and communication.

It's that perceived lack of communication by trustees in the two months since Paterno's firing on Nov. 9 that has roiled many graduates.

"What you hear over and over is `transparency,"' said Troy Krone, Class of 1995, of alums' biggest concern before Friday's town hall. "It didn't sound like that was coming out too clearly (in the first two meetings)."

Still, he understands why the university would hold the events now even if Erickson can't fully answer many queries yet.

"They'll probably have to do a second road show," he said.

Gene Burak, Class of 1967, said he wanted to hear about the future, not the past.

"I'm not looking for a rehash," he said. "I've read enough about that stuff in articles and blogs."

The harshest criticism at stops this week, including in suburban Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, were reserved for the school's Board of Trustees and its actions in the immediate aftermath of the criminal charges against Sandusky, a retired defensive coordinator.

The 67-year-old Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He maintains his innocence and remains out on $250,000 bail while awaiting trial. A charity he founded called The Second Mile, through which he met many of his alleged victims, said Friday it was selling a 60-acre property where it had been building an educational center.

Two Penn State administrators are facing charges they lied to a grand jury investigating Sandusky and failed to properly report suspected child abuse. Gary Schultz, a former vice president, and Tim Curley, the athletic director, have denied moncler jackets 2011 the allegations and await trial.

Paterno in early 2002 passed along a report of alleged sex abuse by Sandusky to his bosses but did not notify police. However, Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation.

Erickson withstood the heat of perhaps two dozen questions over 90 minutes. A day after saying he supported the board's decision to fire Paterno, he acknowledged Friday that he, too, was in favor of the move.

"The issue came down to a question of ability to lead under that set of circumstances," Erickson said.

Paterno initially announced his retirement at the end of the season on the morning of Nov. 9. That day, he called the scandal "one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

But trustees fired him about 12 hours later in a hastily called news conference.

The 85-year-old Paterno continues to undergo a "regimen of treatments" after being diagnosed two months ago with what his family has termed a treatable form of lung cancer.

"Certainly my best wishes cheap moncler go out to Joe and his family," Erickson said. "I was very sad to hear that Joe was back in the hospital for complications from his chemo. We certainly wish Joe a complete recovery."

2012年1月12日星期四

The panel decided by a four-vote margin

The FDA asked outside experts in December moncler jackets to discuss the safety of birth control that contains the compound drospirenone, including Bayer's Yaz and Yasmin.

The panel decided by a four-vote margin that the benefit of pregnancy prevention from these pills outweighed their risk of dangerous blood clots.

But according to court and public documents, three of the FDA's 26 advisers had research or financial ties to Bayer. A fourth adviser had a connection to a manufacturer of generic copies of Yaz, Barr Laboratories, now part of Teva Pharmaceuticals.

All four of these advisers voted that the drugs' benefits outweighed risks, meaning the pills could stay on the market, according to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisers, but often does, leading to scrutiny of who is providing advice.

"The American public must be able to trust new jackets for men 2011 that the FDA and its advisory committees are making decisions based on science, not industry influence," POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said.

The group sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg this week, asking her to discard the old vote and convene a new advisory committee on the pills' safety.

An FDA study estimated that 10 in 10,000 women taking the drospirenone-containing drugs would get a blood clot per year, compared with about six in 10,000 women taking older contraceptives.

A clot in blood vessels can prove fatal if it breaks loose and travels to the lungs, heart or brain.

Some consumer groups have urged the FDA to take the pills off the market, since women have other options available for birth control. Former FDA head David Kessler has also said Bayer withheld reports of blood clots from the agency and long coat for men did not adequately warn patients about safety problems.

During the meeting in December, FDA advisers said the scientific evidence was inconclusive for a higher rate of blood clots, although they recommended stronger safety labels on the pills.

POGO also asked the FDA to share the financial disclosure forms each adviser had to fill out. These forms are not currently public.

It is unclear whether the FDA knew of the advisers' conflicts.

"Since there were no waivers issued for the December 8 meeting, there were no conflicts found," said FDA spokeswoman Morgan Liscinsky.

The agency can issue waivers for panelists who have financial links, but past ties are usually not considered conflicts under the rules.

Bayer said it had no input about who the FDA selected to serve on its advisory committee.

In comments to POGO, three of the advisers who had conflicts said their ties from the past did not influence their votes. A fourth had cheap moncler no comment.

Recently, lawmakers have proposed loosening conflict of interest rules for FDA advisers to make it easier to find qualified experts.

2012年1月11日星期三

Left unsatisfied by the meal

Tiny "Lucy," who weighs just 2½ pounds, Burberry bags, cheap burberry handbags outlet, buy 2012 burberry purse was named the world's smallest working dog last week, bumping out a 6.6-pound police dog in Japan.
Three-year-old Lucy works as a therapy dog through the Cherry Hill program Leashes of Love.
She was headed for a pound two years ago when a woman brought her into the Paw Dazzle pet boutique in Smithville.According to ApppleInsider, the event is rumored to involve the announcement of improvements to the iBooks platform, possibly connected to education and digital book publishing. The launch of some piece of new hardware is not expected.
Unnamed sources have told All Things Digital’s John Paczkowski that the Cupertino company will be using the event “to talk about a textbook initiative” that could be “related to iBooks in education, presumably with some sort of tie-in to iTunes U.” iTunes U is part of Apple’s iTunes store and features more than 150,000 free educational media files from universities and cultural institutions around the world.
However, All Things Digital also reports that none of the major textbook publishers are known to be working with Apple’s iBooks platform or iOS at this time.
The New York Times seems in little doubt as to the purpose of the event, running with the headline, “Apple aims to take on the textbook market.” Its report states that the January 19 announcement will “showcase a new push by Apple into the digital textbook business,” saying its information came from a person close to the company.
The food fight began Sunday when Stephanie Stuck took her husband to Boners Barbecue, located near Turner Field, to celebrate his birthday.
Left unsatisfied by the meal, Stuck on Monday posted a negative review on the website Yelp.com.
Boners' owner, Andrew Capron, was alerted to the review and instead of offering her a free meal, posted a profanity-laced response on both Twitter and Facebook, accusing Stuck of stiffing the waitress.
"NOT WANTED!," Capron wrote. "(Stephanie S.) 2012 shoes left waitress 0.00 tip on a $40 tab after she received a Scoutmob discount. If you see this woman in your restaurant tell her to go outside and play hide and go f- yourself! Yelp that b--…"
He also included a picture of Stuck and linked to her Facebook page.
Stuck defended herself, saying she and her husband left two $20 bills on the table to cover the $30 meal. She also watched in amazement as Capron's angry response sent off a social media firestorm.
"He went off on me," she told WSB-TV. "It just keeps going and going and it keeps going further than that, just about this."
Capron also felt the heat and removed his posts from Facebook and Twitter, offered Stuck an apology via Facebook, and a coupon for dinner at the restaurant, on him.
"Dear, Stephanie S. - We are truly sorry, it was a bonehead move on our part. But more importantly - it was rude to you and an inappropriate use of social media, which has been a driving force for our business because we can't afford traditional advertising," he said. "We rely on word-of-mouth. Your experience was yours to share and not mine to abuse. Boners BBQ is my passion and my life. Please give me the opportunity to serve you again at our expense - if not please allow me to fully refund your money on me, Sincerely, Andrew Capron."
Stuck expressed sympathy for the position in which Capron put himself.
"I feel bad for the guy honestly. It's a small business www.cheapburberryoutlet2012.com and he's trying really hard. It's his passion," she said.

Here are some of the other key points

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made that comment Wednesday in a talk at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, moncler jackets as he made the case that America needs to drive universal broadband adoption by the end of the decade – and that to get there, we need incentive spectrum auctions to free up more space for wireless Internet service.

“We need ubiquitous broadband,” he says.

Here are some of the other key points he made in his remarks:

His takeaways from the show: over 3,000 companies on the show floor at CES this year.
Virtually every product on the CES floor is fueled by broadband Internet. Wired and wireless. If you shut off the Internet, virtually nothing on the CES floor would work.
Found on the floor: Smart textbooks, smart appliances, smart thermostats, smart health and fitness equipment.
The value of almost every device at the show goes up as bandwidth goes up.
We need ubiquitous broadband, Moncler Men Vest - Cheap Moncler Jackets he says. That means world-class wired and wireless infrastructure.
If we don’t create innovation zones based on massive broadband, jobs will flow to countries that do.
We need universal broadband adoption

Julius Genachowski: Time for incentive spectrum auctions.
100 million Americans do not have broadband at home.
He says they are taking steps to address the issues.
He says they have removed barriers to wired and wireless broadband buildout.
He says they are driving public/private initiatives to drive the industry. 100,000 broadband-enabled customer service jobs to be added in the next two years.
The opportunities of broadband economy are huge; so are the challenges.
Greatest opportunites/challenges in mobile broadband. We have more 3G subscribers than any other country in the world; U.S. has strong early land in 4G.
Genachowski is making the case for incentive auction. Spectrum owners turn in bandwidth; it would be auctioned off. He says they can generate $25 billion for the Treasury. “We need to get it done now, and we we need to get it done right.”
He notes that U.S. is first country to free up white space for unlicensed spectrum.
He notes that they have been sounding the alarm about a “spectrum crunch’ for three years. (Nowhere is there a bigger spectrum crunch than at CES, where getting connectivity is a major challenge.)
Genachowski says if they do not authorize incentive auctions, we will be swamped with demand and face slower speed and higher prices; innovators will be incentivized to launch in other countries, resulting in lost jobs and innovation.Moncler mens jackets, cheap moncler jackets for men, 70% off.
He cautions that getting it right is as important to get it done. Senate Commerce Committee voted 21-4 to give FCC authority to operate incentive auctions. There are sticking points. It would be wrong to prejudge to micro-manage FCC auctions. He says 112 leading economists wrote that giving the authority to offer incentive auctions with flexible rules would drive growth.
Genachowski is concerned about attempts to set rules in advance of any auctions that would restrict designating any spectrum for unlicensed use. (WiFi is unlicensed for instance.) Cordeless phones and Bluetooth also run on unlicensed spectrum. He says wireless carriers now embrace WiFi as part of their networks.
The second issue wants to stop the FCC from imposing eligibility rules for auctions. Genachowski says spectrum planning is complex and technical work. He says they should resist desire to be overly proscriptive in any auction.
At stake in this issue a America’s lead in broadband, he says. Capital can flow anywhere, and so can jobs.
He says Net creates 2.6 jobs for every 1 it eliminates. And all over the country, not just in Silicon Valley.
Genachowski says graph it any way you look at it, demand is going up, but infrastructure was never prepared for it. We have to take it seriously, he says.
New York does not need 28 broadcast cheap moncler television licenses, Genachowski says.
Asked about his legacy running the FCC, Genachowski says he is proud of the fact that he has focused the FCC on broadband.

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.0 Burberry men t-shirts, cheap burberry t-shirts for men 2012 outlet percent in 2011, preliminary Federal Statistics Office data showed on Wednesday, below the previous year's growth rate of 3.7 percent -- the fastest since reunification -- and in line with a Reuters poll estimate.

But GDP contracted by around 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, an official from the Statistics Office added.

"Germany cannot isolate itself so easily from tensions within the euro zone. In addition the export sector is facing a difficult period given the fall in global demand," said Joerg Zeuner, chief economist at VP Bank.

"Another quarter of contraction and thereby a technical recession are distinctly possible. However if there is no further escalation in the euro zone debt crisis the German economy should still grow in 2012, albeit at a moderate 0.5 percent," he added.

Germany's export-driven economy recovered quickly from the 2008/09 financial crisis, but began to feel the pinch late last year as the debt crisis spread from Greece to its key trading partners in the euro zone and weighed on the real economy.

Germany earns 28 percent of its GDP by exporting goods to EU countries and Switzerland, but only 2.5 percent in exports to China, Berenberg Bank pointed out.

Forward-looking orders data released on Friday also signalled a slump ahead, with orders falling at the fastest pace since the height of the financial crisis nearly three years ago as demand from outside the euro zone plummeted.

Many economists have cheap burberry cut their 2012 growth forecasts. The Bundesbank expects growth of 0.6 percent this year, less than the government's official forecast of 1.0 percent, while think tank IMK has even predicted a mild recession.

DEMAND FOR CARS DRIVES 2011 GROWTH

Roderich Egeler, head of the statistics office, said that Germany managed to continue its stellar recovery from the financial crisis last year, particularly due to strong demand at home.

"The economic recovery took place primarily in the first half of the year," Egeler, the head of the statistics office, told a news conference. "2011 saw strong private consumption," he added.

He added that demand for cars had been specifically strong.

German car sales rose 6.1 percent in December and Germany's Volkswagen and BMW retained leadership in their home market in 2011.

Private consumption grew 1.5 percent last year compared with 0.6 percent in 2010. This development was helped by a further fall in German unemployment.

The country's jobless rate fell in December to the lowest level since reunification two decades ago, while surveys showed new orders and jobs growth in the services www.cheapburberryoutlet2012.com industries helped its private sector to expand.

2012年1月10日星期二

We will see if the machines really perform as well as described

Life Technologies Corp. said Tuesday it was taking orders for the technology, which it expects to deliver in about a year. The Carlsbad,moncler jackets Calif., company said three major research institutions had already signed up for the $149,000 machine: the Baylor College of Medicine, the Yale School of Medicine and the Broad Institute of Cambridge, Mass.

A second company, Illumina of San Diego, also introduced a new technology Tuesday that it said will decode an entire genome in about 24 hours. Its statement did not estimate the cost per genome.

The machines, called sequencers, allow scientists to identify the arrangement of the 3 billion chemical building blocks that make up someone's DNA.

Since the first sequencing of the basic human genome was announced at the White House in 2000, the costs of sequencing DNA have steadily tumbled. The $1,000 target has long been cited as a key step toward making the technique practical 60% off moncler jackets for doctors to use to help their patients, such as for revealing vulnerabilities to certain diseases or tailoring medical treatment.

Sequencing whole genomes is now done primarily for research. It's different from the service some companies offer to consumers that cover just part of the genome or particular spots in it, such as for information on ancestry or disease susceptibility.

The $1,000 cost for a whole genome is about the same as many of today's lab tests, said Chad Nussbaum, co-director of the Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program at the Broad Institute. Tuesday's announcement is "bringing the DNA sequence closer" to being affordable and fast enough for doctors to use, Nussbaum said. If the machine works as expected, a doctor might send a patient's DNA to a lab and get useful information back in about a week, he said.

Whether genomes from the new machine will actually cost exactly $1,000 will depend on how one calculates that figure, Nussbaum said.Moncler mens jackets, cheap moncler jackets for men, 70% off. But even if it's just in the neighborhood, the technology could become widely adopted by doctors, he said.

Richard Gibbs, who directs the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor, said, "We will see if the machines really perform as well as described" in terms of cost and accuracy. "We're optimistic."

Nussbaum emphasized that uncovering a deluge of DNA data about a patient is one thing, and being able to analyze it for useful information is quite another.

"You've got to glean the news out of the genome and you've got to give it to the doctor in a usable way," he said. The ability to do that analysis is still "a developing story," he said.

In the shorter term, the relatively cheap moncler low cost of the machine itself is important because it will let more research laboratories get into DNA sequencing, Nussbaum said.

2012年1月9日星期一

Oettinger said the National Weather Service

The skies over Houston turned pitch black as the massive storms raced through the drought-stricken area, dropping several inches of rain over a two-hour period. Roads rapidly flooded and drivers became stranded on major arteries that connect the city's sprawling neighborhoods and suburbs cheapburberryoutlet2012.

In Texas City, a town about 40 miles southeast of Houston, a possible tornado damaged the roof and wall of the Mall of the Mainland, and Fire Chief Joe Gorman evacuated and shut down the building. In North and West Texas, meanwhile, the National Weather Service said a cold, steady downpour will drop an inch or two of much-needed rain.

The drought, however, is far from over.

"We're not going to end the drought this winter even if we have above-normal rainfall," said State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.

According to preliminary data, Texas got about 14.89 inches of rain in 2011, compared to a normal average of 29.39 inches -- levels that compare to 1917 and 1956, some of the driest years in recorded history, Nielsen-Gammon said. Recovering from that will take a wet winter, and a wetter-than-normal spring, he said.

By early Monday, up to 4 inches of rain had fallen on parts of Houston and neighboring areas. Some places were expected to end the day with more than that, said Don Oettinger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in League City, the office responsible for southeast Texas. Burberry bags, cheap burberry handbags outlet, buy 2012 burberry purse.

Oettinger said the National Weather Service will likely not know until Tuesday whether a tornado caused the damage at the mall in Texas City. A funnel cloud was seen southwest of Houston and heavy wind gusts were reported. Television images showed wind damage to some buildings.

Gorman said reports of a twister came in as wind and rain pounded the area. No injuries were reported at the mall, but the damage to the roof and wall prompted officials to evacuate the building and bring a structural engineer to investigate the stability of the structure.

Roads throughout downtown Houston flooded. Schools sent emails warning parents against trying to pick up their children before checking on road conditions. Flooding shut down major freeways. The municipal courts sent out advisories that while work would continue, people who could not make it to a hearing due to the weather would be excused.

Still, Oettinger agreed the rain was not nearly enough to end the drought.

"It certainly helps," he said. "But we need a number of days like this to have an effect on the overall drought."

In North and West Texas, Daniel Huckaby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said the "nice, steady rain" would help saturate the ground so that future rain would run off and help fill streams, lakes and reservoirs in drought-stricken areas. In the short-term, he said, the rain will help the growth of winter grass and reduce the danger of wildfires. Burberry ties, silk ties for men, cheap burberry tie on sale.

We understand that our record will be scrutinized

Amid anecdotal evidence on both sides,moncler jackets the full record has largely escaped a close look, because so many transactions are involved. The Wall Street Journal, aiming for a comprehensive assessment, examined 77 businesses Bain invested in while Mr. Romney led the firm from its 1984 start until early 1999, to see how they fared during Bain's involvement and shortly afterward.

Among the findings: 22% either filed for bankruptcy reorganization or closed their doors by the end of the eighth year after Bain first invested, sometimes with substantial job losses. An additional 8% ran into so much trouble that all of the money Bain invested was lost.

Another finding was that Bain produced stellar returns for its investors—yet the bulk of these came from just a small number of its investments. Ten deals produced more than 70% of the dollar gains.

Some of those companies, too, later ran into trouble. Of the 10 businesses on which Bain investors scored their biggest gains, four later landed in bankruptcy court.

Enlarge Image
BAIN
BAIN

A spokesman for Bain Capital said its "success rate in growing and turning around businesses in both strong and weak economic periods is very high…" The company called the Journal's analysis "inaccurate and misleading" and said it unfairly put the onus on Bain for events at companies after it no longer owned them.

Seeking the protection of a bankruptcy court isn't necessarily a sign of long-term business failure. Many of the Bain companies emerged from reorganization healthier, just as, for instance, General Motors did a few years ago. But while bankruptcy filings aren't a perfect measure of performance, they provide a way to assess a disparate array of target businesses that in many cases weren't required to make public financial filings.

The Journal's findings could provide fodder for both critics and supporters of Mr. Romney's presidential ambitions and of his role at Bain. Some experts, while conceding that available studies don't provide a direct comparison, said the rate at which the firms Bain invested in ran into trouble appears to be higher than experienced by some rival buyout firms during the era.

That notion could undermine a central 60% off moncler jackets thrust of Mr. Romney's campaign message: that his private-sector experience building companies makes him the best candidate to turn around the ailing U.S. economy.

The numbers, however, also reflect Bain's investing style, which, particularly during the firm's early years, was focused on smaller and sometimes troubled companies that Bain hoped to fix or build.

Bain was investing in "riskier deals," said Steven N. Kaplan, a finance professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. "For every one that went bankrupt, they had one that was a screaming success. The overall effect was terrific performance" for the firm's investors.

The Journal analysis shows that in total, Bain produced about $2.5 billion in gains for its investors in the 77 deals, on about $1.1 billion invested. Overall, Bain recorded roughly 50% to 80% annual gains in this period, which experts said was among the best track records for buyout firms in that era.

Some of the companies that ran into trouble did so after Bain was no longer involved and new owners had taken charge. Bain declined to provide information on when its involvement in its investments ended.

The Journal chose to look at target companies' fates by the end of the eighth year after Bain's initial investment, which appears close to the maximum time that Bain remained in control of any of its targets. Academic research has shown that buyout firms during this era exited their deals on average after 5? years, but in a large percentage of cases were still involved beyond seven years.


Bain backers argue that it is unfair to tag the firm with any bankruptcy that occurred several years after it took a company public or sold it. Others have said the firm and its former leader could still bear some responsibility for failing to leave a company in strong shape.

Bain said the evaluation "uses a fundamentally flawed methodology that unfairly assigns responsibility to us for many events that occurred in companies when we did not own or control them, and disregards dozens of successful venture capital investments."

Bain added: "We understand that our record will be scrutinized and distorted during the political campaign involving our partner who retired 12 years ago, but our focus remains on working with management teams to build great companies and improve their operations."

If the Journal analysis were limited to bankruptcies and closures occurring by the end of the fifth year after Bain first invested, the rate would move down to 12%. That measure would exclude several cases that have brought Mr. Romney political criticism, where businesses filed for bankruptcy seven or eight years after Bain's investment.

Mr. Romney has told potential voters how cheap moncler vest at Bain he helped launch or rebuild companies such as Staples Inc., Domino's Pizza Inc. and Sports Authority Inc., creating more than 100,000 jobs.

His rivals have sought to turn his Bain tenure against him. Rick Perry has run an ad saying Mr. Romney "made millions buying companies and laying off workers." Newt Gingrich has said Mr. Romney should "give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain."

Mr. Gingrich laced into Mr. Romney at this weekend's debates, and a group associated with the former House Speaker plans to release a 28-minute documentary blistering Mr. Romney's Bain tenure. Meanwhile, on ABC on Sunday, Obama strategist David Axelrod criticized Mr. Romney as "a corporate raider."

Mr. Romney describes job losses and bankruptcies as an inevitable byproduct of the capitalist system, and has said that in some cases, eliminating some jobs may save the rest of the company. In response to Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Romney said: "Doesn't he understand how the economy works? In the real economy, some businesses succeed and some fail."

Asked in an interview about Bain's bankruptcy and failure rate, Mr. Romney said that in buyout deals, "our orientation was by and large to acquire businesses that were out of favor and in some cases in trouble." He added that Bain wasn't the type of firm that stripped companies cheap moncler and fired workers, but instead, "our approach was to try to build a business. We were not always successful."

2012年1月8日星期日

By taking these two issues to the Supreme Court

They are two cases set to be heard cheap burberry outlet 2012 in the U.S. Supreme Court in the early part of this year, and the outcome of both will determine whether we are a cohesive country of laws or whether we are a divided states that would like to make up our own rules as we go along. It is the ultimate test for many of the rights we garnered throughout the decades, and the results of these rulings will directly impact each and every one of us as Americans and the values that we hold so dearly. The two pertinent cases involve Obama's health care reform legislation and the federal government's ability to supersede states when it comes to the notion of immigration.

By taking these two issues to the Supreme Court, some conservatives are making a feeble attempt to undo many of our civil liberties, but we, the people, refuse to stay silent. They may think they're slick, but guess what, Republicans, we know your games all too well.

On March 26th, my organization, National Action Network, will be rallying in front of the Supreme Court as it begins hearings on the ability of the federal government to enact the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. While this is merely politics for a Party struggling for relevance in an increasingly diverse nation, this case and health care reform are no laughing matter to millions of Americans living with little to no coverage. More than 2.5 million adults younger than 26 have already been able to stay on their parents' insurance plan, and millions of children with pre-existing conditions have not been denied coverage thanks to this Affordable Care Act. In essence, that is what this legislation is all about -- creating affordable options. It is the ability of millions of Americans to purchase insurance coverage at reasonable rates at a time when so many are either unemployed, underemployed or simply losing benefits as their employers cut costs cheap burberry bags.

Perhaps those pushing for an end to this health care reform bill have never felt the pain of deciding whether to take a young child to the doctor or buy groceries to put food on the table. Maybe they don't know the anguish of watching loved ones suffer because you can't afford the right medication or the necessary treatment that could possibly save his/her life. Too busy conjuring up politically divisive terms like "Obamacare," many on the extreme right have attempted to hide the tremendous benefits of this program that begins to rectify an unfair health care system. There is no reason why in the most powerful nation on Earth so many of its citizens are living without proper health care. As the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act reaches the Supreme Court, we will be there letting our collective voices be heard. Be sure to join us on March 26th.

The other case sadly finding its way to the Supreme Court this year is the regressive attempt by Republican-led states to enforce blatantly racist immigration laws. After Attorney General Eric Holder led the Justice Department to file a lawsuit against Arizona's SB 1070 immigration bill, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked much of the AZ law from taking effect, and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her decision in a 2-1 vote. Still unable to accept these rulings, AZ Gov. Jan Brewar is now taking the issue to the Supreme Court, as she and other harsh immigration law proponents are screaming states' rights and denouncing the federal government. Last time I checked, the federal government trumped states' rights -- and good thing they did or else we would still be sitting in "separate but equal" facilities, and still be barred from participating in much of society. With an increasingly conservative Supreme Court, we all need to pay extra attention to their findings and their rulings scheduled for later this year. And with Justice Elena Kagan recusing herself from this case, and with Justices Thomas and Scalia not recusing themselves from the health care case, we must wake up and see the bigger the picture. Burberry ties, silk ties for men, cheap burberry tie on sale.

If one tiny benefit has come out of this scandal

Jean-Claude Mas, the company’s elderly founder, reportedly told police last November that he had been concealing the material used in his implants since 1997. His PIP gel cost a fraction of the price of the officially approved Nusil gel, moncler jackets and he allegedly described it as “better”. The women who have received PIP implants, which many have come to regard as ticking time-bombs in their chests, are unlikely to agree.

If one tiny benefit has come out of this scandal – which will cause enormous distress and potential injury to so many – it has been the stripping away of glossy euphemism from the cosmetic surgery industry. Over the years, what was initially regarded as a bizarre lunacy, the stitching of a silicone bag into a healthy female breast, has become increasingly normalised, particularly among younger women.

We have got used to the sight of bullet-proof breasts that point skywards, and the cheery chat of “boob-jobs” and “double-Ds”. In the ubiquitous advertisements for cosmetic surgery clinics, and within their consulting rooms, the buzz-words are of “fullness”, “pertness” and “enhanced femininity”. (Which is clearly code for “big breasts” – except it doesn’t make sense. We can all admire a Marilyn Monroe, but no one could accuse the slenderer forms of Kate Moss, Vanessa Paradis, or Audrey Hepburn of lacking “femininity”.)

Somehow, the recent talk of PIP implants rupturing and leaking industrial-grade silicone into lymph nodes – and the sight of a removed, faulty implant spooling into viscous yellow strands like a nicotine-stained tramp’s beard – doesn’t sit well with the dream. And nor should it. For the truth is that post-operative problems are not confined to PIP implants: there is always a risk of rupture and leakage, although at least the official ones contain medical grade silicone, not the material for sofa stuffing.

A common complication after breast augmentation surgery is “capsular contracture”, during which scar tissue hardens painfully around the implant. This can be treated by the surgeon squeezing it manually until the “scar envelope” cracks open, or by the patient undergoing yet more incisions.

Feeling queasy yet? I am. Still, around 25,000 British women have breast augmentation each year, and it is estimated that only 5 per cent of that is for reconstructive purposes. They are caught up too powerfully in the dream of a better, bustier moncler jackets for men them to be deterred by dreary talk of complications.

To read the comments on chat forums hosted by cosmetic surgery groups such as MYA (Make Yourself Amazing) is to get a taster of the fizzing mixture of excitement and apprehension experienced by those who have just undergone, or are about to undergo, breast surgery.

There is talk of having diligently saved up, and detailed technical discussion of surgeons, and of sizes, shapes and brands of implants. There is a deluge of pre-op advice (in one case: “Go as big as your surgeon will let you”) and chat of post-op pain. The tone is sisterly, supportive, sometimes frightened: “I’ve convinced myself I’m going to die on the operating table… but at the same time I really want these boobs, like, more than anything.” Some writers admit that the moment they have one procedure, they are eager for another. In the quest for physical improvement, they can never be satisfied.

And then, on another website, there is discussion about PIP implants which have ruptured, the clunky, reluctant bureaucracy of removal and replacement, and the terrible worry: in these cases, the dream is already dead.

Reading it all, I cannot help but wonder what, exactly, the dream is really made from. Make Yourself Amazing, indeed. I don’t think it’s for men per se, who as husbands or boyfriends are rarely the driving force behind women’s surgery, although there may be the desire to attract male attention. I think it’s more from the conviction that women must endure painful, risky things to make themselves amazing, because they will never be amazing enough as they are.

When you think about it like that, it’s enough to make you feel a bit sad.

Garrulous ghosts in the machine

I’ve heard of a horse-whisperer, of course, but until last week I had no idea of the existence of ghost-twitterers, although apparently the profession has been practising for some time. Moncler jackets for women, cheap moncler women down jackets on sale.A ghost-twitterer is employed to send tweets while pretending to be someone else, and one of this shadowy band spectacularly outed himself in error last week.

Jason Hall, racing correspondent for a local newspaper, was tweeting on behalf of the Channel 4 pundit Simon Holt, when he accidentally made public a message intended for his own wife: “Oh and by the way, I want your hot body tonight babe xxxxx”. Cue much speculation, hilarity, and at least one very red face at Plumpton racecourse. Add to that the fact that the widespread excitement over Wendi Deng joining Twitter, and apparently flirting with Ricky Gervais, turned out to be misplaced when the account was revealed as a hoax. Finally, there was the case of Diane Abbott, who apparently forgot that Twitter is a very public forum and that when white folk aren’t off “playing divide and rule”, some of them can also read.

It’s all been a sharp reminder that Twitter, with its deceptive illusions of intimacy for both twitterer and follower, can be a slippery arena. And that perhaps there’s only one thing worse than being caught out using a ghost-twitterer, and that’s realising – once you have tweeted straight into a pile of trouble – that there is no one else to blame.

Yellow lines mean ready cash

A grim glimpse into the world of the parking warden has been provided by a tribunal for the case of Hakim Berkani. He was sacked by the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea’s parking firm, NSL, allegedly for refusing to issue large numbers of tickets without proper cause. Mr Berkani – a hero to local residents – claimed that the parking operation was “designed to extract as much cash as possible, by fair means or foul, from the motoring public”. NSL denies the allegation.

It is perhaps unfortunate for NSL, however, that Mr Berkani’s claims chime so exactly with public perception. Most people accept the need to regulate parking, but the indecent zeal of the wardens leaves drivers feeling like carp in cheap moncler an increasingly tight barrel. Everyone has their own tale of an inflexible parking warden who smears a patina of mean-mindedness across the day, but it is worth considering the extreme pressures placed on individuals who might otherwise be reasonable.

2012年1月6日星期五

After subsidizing the iPhone

The promotion starting Jan. 13 offers a 32-gigabyte model with a three-year plan, while a commitment to two years for a monthly fee of 386 yuan allows users to get the 16-gigabyte model, the company known as China Unicom said in a statement on its website yesterday www.cheapburberryoutlet2012.com.

China Unicom, the only one of the nation’s three carriers offering the iPhone with a service contract, is using the handset to woo high-end subscribers who play games and watch online videos using their phones. The user growth comes at a price as Unicom’s 3G subsidy costs in the first half of 2011 ballooned almost fourfold, driven by support for the iPhone.

“After subsidizing the iPhone, the operator will have less money for subsidizing other smartphone users that could be more profitable,” Steven Liu, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Standard Chartered Bank, said in an e-mail today. He rates the shares “underperform” and said the company’s subscriber growth will “slow down despite iPhone.” Burberry wallets, cheap burberry wallet for women 2012 sale.

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the company’s publicly traded unit, fell 1.8 percent to HK$16.34 at the midday break in in Hong Kong, compared with a 1.4 percent drop in the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Sophia Tso, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for China Unicom, said she couldn’t immediately comment on what the iPhone 4S pricing plan would mean for its subsidy costs.

Data Surge

China Unicom is increasingly relying on subscribers who use the Web on their phones as growth in voice traffic slows. In August, the Beijing-based company said 51 percent of sales growth in the first half of last year came from non-voice services, while data traffic on its 3G network jumped almost sevenfold in the same period. Burberry bags, cheap burberry handbags outlet, buy 2012 burberry purse.

To promote animal health, and to make animals grow faster

Emerging drug resistance in bacteria is one of the world's greatest health threats, according to the CDC, the FDA, the World Health moncler jackets Organization, and a wide range of medical professional societies.

These groups cite "strong evidence" that many of these hard-to-treat germs arise in food animals and spread to humans. For this reason, the FDA argues strongly against unwise -- "injudicious" -- use of antibiotics in livestock. Yet over 80% of animal antibiotics are used in these ways.

In January 2012, the FDA prohibited some uses of the cephalosporin class of antibiotics in food animals. But these antibiotics make up less than a fraction of 1% of the 15,000 tons of antibiotics used in U.S. food animals each year.

This raises important questions. Here are WebMD's answers.
Why are antibiotics used in food animals?

There are two main reasons: To promote animal health, and to make animals grow faster.

The FDA has no problem with the antibiotics used to treat disease in animals. And it has no problem with antibiotics used under the direct supervision of a veterinarian who is treating specific animals.

But over 80% of antibiotics used in food animals is put into their feed or water by livestock producers, almost always on a herd-wide basis. This makes animals put on weight faster even if they don't eat more food.

Such "production use" of antibiotics is what the FDA, in its June 2010 guidance to the industry, deemed unwise or "injudicious."
How can antibiotics given to animals create drug-resistant germs?

If you get an antibiotic prescription moncler jacket from your doctor, you'll be warned to take every single one of the pills exactly as prescribed. That's because the last few pills mop up the most drug-resistant germs. If you take too low a dose, the most resistant germs remain.

The same thing happens in animals. Veterinarians treat sick animals with appropriate doses of antibiotics.

But when antibiotics are used to make animals grow faster, they are given at low doses over long periods of time. That's a recipe for growing drug resistant bacteria in food animals.

Can drug-resistant bacteria in food animals find their way to humans?

There are some researchers, such as an expert panel of the Institute of Food Technologists, who say the odds are low that any of these bugs will find their way into humans. But in testimony before Congress, the USDA, the FDA, and the CDC all said that the use of antibiotics in food animals leads to infections with drug resistant bacteria to humans.

And in a letter to Congress, 14 health groups -- including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics -- said "overuse and misuse of important antibiotics in food animals must end, in order to protect human health."

The World Health Organization has also warned that overuse of antibiotics in food animals can lead to drug-resistant infections in people.

In January 2012, the FDA banned certain uses of cephalosporin antibiotics in food animals effective April 5, 2012.

The ruling prohibits giving food animals the kinds of cephalosporins used to treat disease in humans or in pets. Exceptions allow off-label use by veterinarians to treat specific diseases, and allow the use of an older cephalosporin called cephapirin, which is not used in humans.

Cephalosporins are not one of the antibiotics used to increase animal growth.

Cephalosporins are important human drugs introduced in 1964. They are often used to treat pneumonia. Cephalosporins are also used to treat ear, skin, urinary tract, and other infections.

In 2010, U.S. meat and poultry producers used 27 tons of cephalosporins. That sounds like a lot. But it's only a fraction of the 14,600 tons of antibiotics used in food animals that year.

One consumer group called the FDA action a step forward -- but only a baby step.
Will the FDA ban use of other antibiotics in food animals?

There is no indication that the FDA plans to ban food-animal use of other antibiotics already approved for such uses.

Antibiotics have been used for what the FDA now calls "injudicious uses" since the 1950s. In the now famous "Swann Report," U.K. researchers in 1969 concluded that feeding low-dose antibiotics to animals posed a health risk to humans.

The U.S. government in 1970 formed its own task force to look at the issue. Eventually -- in 1977 -- the FDA issued a formal finding that all animal use of penicillins and low-dose animal use of tetracyclines should be banned.

But the FDA never acted on this finding. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit to force FDA to act. The FDA asked for more time. On Dec. 22, 2011, the FDA finally withdrew its 1977 finding.

Meanwhile, in 1999 and in 2005 environmental moncler jackets 2011 groups filed citizen petitions demanding that the FDA ban non-health-related antibiotic use in food animals. In November 2011, the FDA issued a statement saying it was "concerned" about injudicious food-animal use of antibiotics -- but that the petitions were denied.
What is the FDA doing about its concerns over antibiotic use in food animals?

The FDA says it takes too long and costs too much to formally ban unwise use of antibiotics in food animals. Instead, in a formal response to the citizen petition to ban such use, the FDA said it would ask the food industry to voluntarily stop "production use" of antibiotics.

That strategy is outlined in an unusual "draft guidance to industry" issued in June 2010 but not yet made final. Entitled "The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals," the paper chronicles over 40 years of scientific and government reports linking antibiotic use in food animals to drug-resistant infections in humans.

The guidance stresses two main principles:

Antibiotics important to humans should be used in food animals only when necessary for the animals' health.
Use of these antibiotics in food animals should require the oversight of a veterinarian.

But the document makes it clear that the FDA expects industry to follow this guidance voluntarily. How has it worked so far?

The FDA tells WebMD that it hasn't worked yet because the guidance isn't yet final.

"There is no estimated time frame, but moving forward with strategies for implementing the recommendations outlined in the draft guidance is a priority for the agency," the FDA wrote in an email to WebMD in January 2012. "FDA intends to finalize the draft guidance (Guidance #209) in the near future as well as issue additional, cheap moncler more detailed guidance on implementing the recommendations."

Avinash Kar, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the environmental groups that had petitioned the FDA, is dubious.

2012年1月5日星期四

DONDA is the name of West’s late mother

Just one problem: DONDA is the name of West’s late mother. Cheap burberry - designer bags, shoes, accessories, clothing outlet 2012.

The New York Observer picked up on it, prompting an "editorial pow wow" and an apology, according to new Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio.

"I thought it was a half-assed apology," Daulerio told TheWrap. "I basically do not want people working for the site who do not care.

"I had a conversation with Seth and he told me he really didn't care."

What apology? This one:

“*DONDA is actually the name of Kanye's deceased mother, not the acronym above, which was meant to be the kind of thing Kanye would make up in a late-night creative writing fit, but has offended many people. So sorry, to everyone who was offended, and for the confusion. Sorries all around!”

The original post left the word uncensored, but it was updated to have stars replacing three of the letters and a strikethrough on the phrase. Then that note was added.

Daulerio, the former editor at Deadspin, does not officially begin his new gig until next week, but said this situation required his immediate attention.

"It's a horrible joke and I don't want it on the site regardless," Daulerio said. "... That was atrocious to me."

Daulerio added that Abramovitch's firing was not just a result of this post and the apology but a "series of events." He would not go into further detail.

Also Read: Kanye West's Epic Twitter Rant: Unite the Power of Steve Jobs, Michael Jackson and McQueen

How upset was Abramovitch?

He e-mailed this response to TheWrap:

"Yes, it's true, I'm leaving Gawker. I was a part-time freelancer since early last year, and I'm proud of the writing I've done there. I'm also looking forward to having my nights off again."

He seemed to make light of it in a comment on another of his posts, but did not respond to that element of our query. Burberry sunglasses outlet, buy cheap burberry sunglasses 2012 online.

In other news, the same Observer reporter (and Gawker alum) Foster Kamer obtained an internal memo from Gawker Media chief Nick Denton. Guess he still has his claws in.

No one in this country has ever been sued for giving epinephrine

Ammaria Johnson, 7, died Monday after suffering an allergic reaction during recess at her Chesterfield County moncler jackets elementary school, Hopkins Elementary.

"She came to the school clinic after feeling she had hives and shortness of breath," Lt. Jason Elmore, a spokesman for the Chesterfield County Fire Department, told ABC News. It's unclear how long Johnson was in the clinic before school officials called 911 at 2:26 p.m.

"When emergency crews arrived, she was already in cardiac arrest in the clinic," said Elmore.

Johnson was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.

What caused the reaction is still under investigation, but Johnson's mother, Laura Pendleton, told local reporters the girl had a peanut allergy.

"We can only assume that at this time," said Elmore. "We have EMS protocols in place for allergic reactions and we performed those in hopes of saving her life, but unfortunately this time we could not."

Calls to Pendleton were not immediately returned. She arrived at the hospital after Johnson had died, Elmore said.

The death is still under investigation by the Chesterfield County Police Department, according to a spokeswoman, but the state medical examiner will not be involved.

Experts say Johnson could have been saved by an EpiPen -- a device that injects epinephrine, currently available only by prescription.

"The epinephrine reverses severe moncler jackets symptoms, giving time to get the person to an emergency room for monitoring and more care," said Dr. Scott Sicherer of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

But Hopkins Elementary had no such device on hand for Johnson.

Chesterfield County school policy states that parents are responsible for providing the school "with all daily and emergency medications prescribed by the student's health-care provider," and keeping medications up to date.

"For any medication, the school would have to be in possession of that medication to provide it," said Shawn Smith, a spokesman for Chesterfield County Public Schools. Even if the school had an EpiPen prescribed for another student, they would not be able to use it.

"The medication we receive, or should receive, has to be specific to that child, whether it's over-the-counter or prescription," Smith said.

Smith declined to comment on Johnson's case specifically, but said managing severe allergies starts at home.

"At the beginning of the school year, we sent information to parents outlining the different responsibilities for the family and the child, the principal, the teacher, the doctor and the nurse," he said. "First and foremost, is does begin at home. Working with their doctor, the family would outline a health care plan that deals with those severe allergies."

Pendleton told local reporters her daughter did have a plan, but said the school refused to take Johnson's EpiPen and failed to give her Benedryl -- an over-the-counter antihistamine also listed in her plan -- at the first sign of a reaction.

Because severe allergies can develop without warning, some experts say schools should stock EpiPens like bandages and other first-aid supplies.

"There are kids who don't know they're food allergic until they get into the food," said Dr. Dan Atkins, head of ambulatory pediatric at National Jewish Health in Denver. "In that situation, it would be good to have an EpiPen available."

A school EpiPen stash could soon be a reality with a proposed bill that would encourage states to adopt laws requiring schools to have EpiPens on hand. The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, proposed in December 2011, would mean EpiPens could be used for any student or staff member in an anaphylactic emergency.

"When it comes to a life-threatening allergic reaction, it's so simple to save that life," said Maria Acebal, chief executive officer of the Fairfax, Va.-based Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, which championed the bill.Moncler women boots cheap sale, 2011 moncler winter boots outlet. "I have no doubt that the school where this little girl went had an EpiPen in the office -- it just didn't have Ammaria's name on it."

The bill would include liability protection for school officials who give epinephrine in good faith, Acebal said.

"No one in this country has ever been sued for giving epinephrine, to my knowledge," said Acebal. "All the lawsuits come about because school officials don't give it when it's needed."

In a healthy child, epinephrine can cause a rapid heart rate, nausea and light-headedness -- mild symptoms that wear off in 15 minutes. It would only be dangerous in children born with a congenital heart condition, which school officials would be aware of.

"We need to do a better job of educating the public about the safety of epinephrine," said Atkins. "Because it's an injection, it scares people. And because it's a device, it scares people. But rather than thinking, 'I might kill a kid with this,' they should be thinking, 'I could save a life.'"

Acebal, whose eldest daughter has a food allergy, said her other children learned how to inject epinephrine by age 6.

"If I can teach a 6-year-old to do it, we can teach school staff," she said.

Acebal said having epinephrine cheap moncler on hand in school would give students, staff and parents added peace of mind.