Sitenet Info News - newsxyrm.blogspot.com: 04/22/12

On Oct. 10, 2010, a pair of aspiring American filmmakers--who had never made a film before--asked people in every country in the world to document something they saw that day and submit footage to them for inclusion in an ambitious film project.

"It was a big idea," Kyle Ruddick, the first-time director, told Yahoo News in a recent interview, "but simple enough to explain to a lot of people."

With some diplomatic help from the United Nations, Ruddick, 33, and Brandon Litman, a 30-year-old executive producer, received more than 3,000 hours of footage in more than 70 languages from over 19,000 people.

Sixteen months of translating and editing later, their film--"One Day on Earth"--makes its debut on Sunday, with free screenings in more than 160 countries--including one at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Litman used what he called "loose connections" with the U.N. to get a meeting, and the partnership helped them gain access to countries they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

The 105-minute film includes rare footage from places where filming isn't exactly allowed--including North Korea, where a military parade was secretly shot.

"We had someone who basically shot covert with a DSLR camera that was rolling video," Ruddick told Yahoo News. "It was harrowing to watch--you never want someone to get hurt."

Footage from South Sudan, North Africa and Tunisia--which in 2010 was on the brink of igniting the Arab spring--was just as difficult to obtain. The filmmakers also partnered with more than 60 NGOs, including Oxfam and Human Rights Watch--"people who know the logistics on the ground," Litman said.

The finished film--which cost several million dollars to produce--almost didn't happen. Out of money, Ruddick and Litman turned to Kickstarter in 2011 in a last-ditch effort to save their film.

"It was really a 'Hail Mary' pass," Ruddick said. "We were done." But they were able to raise $44,000 from more than 1,000 backers in a matter of days to keep the project going. Support from the Ford Foundation helped "push us over the finish line," Litman said. (That, and some "very understanding landlords," he said.)

Now the plan is to make "One Day on Earth" an annual project. Ruddick and Litman have already accumulated footage for 2011 (shooting on 11/11/11), though have yet to announce plans for 2012. (Dec. 12 is a good bet.)

Their agreement with the U.N. runs through 2015, and the pair say they have more than 30,000 filmmakers in their online network.

"We built a community as we made this movie," Litman said. "It's really going to be interesting, year-over-year, to see how politics and global affairs change visually, on the screen."

Click here for screenings.

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Article from YAHOO NEWS

Photos: World celebrates Earth Day

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Article from YAHOO NEWS

OPINION: Earth Day a reminder of industrial benefits

It's Earth Day, and you know what that means. We're supposed to think about how we're impacting the Earth. But notice: it's always assumed that we're have a negative impact, and that we should resolve to lessen it. But are we--and should we?

Well, consider this question: Is there any better environment for humans throughout history than the one we live in today? The further back we go Â 50, 100, 200, 500 years--the less impact humans had. But would you want to live back then? In particular, would you want to live before the Industrial Revolution, which has been radically transforming human life for 200 years?

If you want to live in an environment that is safe, healthy, clean, and otherwise hospitable to human life, today's highly-industrialized environment is without equal. Where previous generations faced the risk of disease from simply drinking water, which was often contaminated by animals, we have clean water, thanks to man-made reservoirs, treatment plants, underground pipes, and indoor plumbing. Where previous generations walked streets contaminated by large quantities of human and animal waste, we can conveniently and safely dispose of it thanks to sewer systems and the garbage industry. Where previous generations faced large-scale death whenever there was a severe freeze or heat wave, we can live in a comfortable climate year-round, thanks to sturdy homes and modern, high-energy heating and air-conditioning.

And the list of positives goes on. Thanks to industrial agriculture and transportation, we have grocery stores full of healthy food year-round. Thanks to modern transportation, we have unprecedented access to the rich cultural experiences and natural beauty that the world has to offer. Many of the benefits of today's environment are reflected in life-expectancy and population statistics: the average person lives longer, in better health, than ever before.

In sum, human beings have made the Earth a far, far better place to live for ourselves. Yet even though life is better than ever, we are wracked with green guilt over our industrial development. We hear endlessly that our â€œfootprintâ€--i.e., our impact on nature--is too big, and that we must â€œgo greenâ€ by making a smaller one. We are made to feel guilty for the impact that we have on land, on water, on plants, on animals. But impacting nature is precisely how human beings survive and flourish.

Nature, untamed, is not very friendly to human beings. It doesn't give us the food, clothing, shelter, and medicine, let alone leisure time, that we need. All of these require that we use our intelligence to develop nature to make it more suitable to human life--that we develop our environment. This means lots of mining operations, construction, roads, housing tracts, office parks, refineries, factories, hospitals, shopping centers, automobiles, airplanes, and research labs. Above all, it means lots of energy production and energy consumption, to power the industrial machines that make our environment so hospitable.

Why, then, do environmentalists champion non-impact, opposing new power plants, drilling rigs, housing developments, and mining operations at every turn?

One rationalization is that industrial life is â€œunsustainable,â€ since we will supposedly run out of resources. But the amount of available resources has dramatically increased, not decreased (and no resource has ever been exhausted) over the last 200 years, thanks to the kind of human ingenuity that can turn once-useless rocks into iron ore, once-useless oil deposits into gasoline, and once-useless uranium into electrical power.

Another rationalization is that our lifestyle causes too much pollution. But our air and water quality are better than ever, thanks to the wealth and technology of our modern industrial civilization. What about the â€œpollutionâ€ by CO2 emissions impacting climate? Observe that those who spread Hollywood horror scenarios about a â€œclimate change catastropheâ€ are utterly indifferent to the fact that fossil fuels have made all climates far more livable for humans.

The key determiner of human well-being going forward is not whether the average temperature goes up two degrees, but whether human beings engage in sufficient development to cope with whatever the climate, natural or man-made, throws at us. More development means more irrigation systems, such as those that turned Southern California and Las Vegas from hostile deserts to sought-after paradises. It means more sturdy structures to protect humans from hurricanes. It means more energy for ample heat and air-conditioning.

A real environmental catastrophe would be a world in which we cut down on these things--a world in which we stopped improving the Earth. Let's not let that happen. Let's improve our environment through industrial progress.

Alex Epstein is the Founder of the Center for Industrial Progress. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/thepursuitofenergywww.facebook.com/thepursuitofenergy and Twitter at @AlexEpstein.

Article from FOXNEWS

WWII vet punched, robbed after surprising intruder

A 90-year-old World War II veteran returning to his Massachusetts home after a trip to the grocery store was met by an intruder who assaulted and robbed the man, MyFoxBoston.com reports

Edward Collins, of Webster, came home Wednesday morning to find a man with his face covered coming through his kitchen holding zip ties, according to the station.

The man ordered Collins to put his hands up, but Collins resisted. Collins' daughter told Fox 25 the burglar then threatened to kill her father. That's when the burglar sent Collins to the floor with a punch to his face.

Collins activated his medical alert button and was able to notify police. The intruder left the scene with the veteran's wallet.

Police are still searching for the suspect.

Article from FOXNEWS

Doctor: Bee Gee Robin Gibb has colorectal cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has heard all the talk about joining a ticket with likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Rubio says that until now, the talk about picking a running mate has been theoretical. But now that Romney's path is clear, Rubio says "it'd be wise for all Republicans to kind of respect that process, myself included."

The Cuban-American and freshman lawmaker says Romney has made good decisions in his business and political career and "he's going to make a great choice" for a running mate.

Rubio tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he's not going to discuss the search any more. He says the last thing Romney needs is to have "us in the peanut gallery ... saying what we would or would not do."

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Olbermann: Dog-gate vastly raises \'absurdity\' of campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana thought long and hard before deciding not to run for president. Now, with Mitt Romney the likely nominee, he's professing no interest in joining the GOP ticket as a vice presidential candidate.

Daniels says that if Romney came calling, Daniels would "demand reconsideration" and send Romney a list of people he thinks would be better suited for the job.

Daniels tells "Fox News Sunday" says there's a lot of talent in the GOP and Romney will have a good pool to pick from.

The governor says he's promised the people in Indiana that he would serve out his second four-year term. He won election in 2004 and again in 2008.

Daniels says he likes "living up to the commitment, showing that it was real."

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Light bulb with 20-year life unveiled

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Why investors aren\'t impressed with profits

NEW YORK (AP) - When it comes to happy surprises on Wall Street, it's hard to get better than this.

U.S. companies made more money in the first three months this year than almost anyone expected. As earnings reports roll in, they're beating the estimates of stock analysts at a rate not seen in more than a decade.

Yet stocks have languished. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has fallen about 2 percent in April. So why aren't investors impressed?

For starters, earnings season has just begun. The real test is the next two weeks, when more than 300 companies in the S&P 500 report. Apple, the most valuable company in the world, reports Tuesday.

Topping estimates is no great feat. Publicly traded companies do it almost every quarter. They tell analysts to expect a number the companies know will be low. Then they can enjoy a "pop" in their stock price when - surprise! - they clear the hurdle.

And this quarter, it's not much of a hurdle. Just a month ago, companies got analysts to expect first-quarter earnings to grow so little you'd need an electron microscope to spot the rise - just 0.5 percent.

"People aren't as excited as they would be if the estimates hadn't been taken down," says Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners, a hedge fund.

Still, some beats are impressive. Yum Brands Inc., owner of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, turned a profit of 96 cents per share, trouncing the 73 cents expected by Wall Street.

Of every 10 companies that have reported first-quarter results, eight have posted higher profits than Wall Street analysts had estimated, according to S&P Capital IQ, a financial research firm.

That's the highest ratio of "beats" since 2001. In the fourth quarter of last year, the figure was less than six in 10.

Thanks to surprising results in the past two weeks, S&P 500 companies are on track now for earnings growth of 4.3 percent over the first quarter of 2011.

They're growing across industries, too. Analysts had expected seven of the 10 industry groups in the S&P to post lower profits than a year ago. They now think only three will - telecom companies, utilities and materials makers.

Here's a look at what the higher profits portend.

___

WILL THEY PUSH STOCKS UP?

Maybe, but only if investors believe future numbers are heading higher, too.

For all the upbeat reports, investors tend to buy and sell stocks based less on what companies earned in the past than on what they're likely to earn in the future. And the outlook is OK, not great.

After a 11 percent increase last year, companies in the S&P 500 are expected to grow earnings 7 percent in 2012, according to S&P Capital IQ. Just six months ago, Wall Street was expecting a 12 percent jump for this year.

The good news is that lower expectations don't always push stocks down. In the first three months this year, analysts slashed estimates for first-quarter profits, and the stock market had its best winter since 1998.

There even have been periods when earnings barely budged and stocks soared. In the five years through 1986, the S&P nearly doubled while earnings slipped 2 percent.

Sometimes stocks rise because investors get more comfortable with the idea of buying stocks generally, and they're willing to pay more for each dollar of profit - even if those profits are expected to grow more slowly.

And sometimes stocks fall even if profits grow faster. Chalk it up to less confidence about the future or perhaps higher expected inflation, which erodes investing gains.

The upshot: Investing is more complicated than just looking at past profits or guessing, even correctly, future ones.

"What's driving stock prices? Is it the beat rate, the forward guidance, a European recession forecast or the sovereign debt crisis?" asks Sam Stovall, chief equity analyst at S&P Capital IQ. "The answer is, Yes. They all do."

___

WILL HIGHER PROFITS HELP THE ECONOMY?

As with stocks, profits have a curious, sometimes counterintuitive, impact on the economy.

Unexpectedly strong earnings don't necessarily translate into surprising economic strength. Consider that profits have surged since the Great Recession ended in 2009, even as the economy has struggled to recover. That's because companies made profits mostly by slashing jobs and cutting costs.

The economy, helped by a modest rise in consumer spending, is expected to grow about 2.5 percent this year, up from a sluggish 1.7 percent in 2011.

But in 2010 and 2011, the economy stalled after getting off to a strong start. And a string of disappointing economic reports this month is raising fears of another midyear slowdown in growth.

"The economy is gradually getting better," says Josh Feinman, chief global economist at the investment firm DB Advisors, part of the Deutsch Bank Group. "But it's kind of a stop-go pattern. It's somewhat frustrating, somewhat maddening." He doesn't see "a whole lot of linkage" between corporate earnings and the economy's performance.

____

WHAT ABOUT PROFITS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR?

If analysts expected little this past quarter, they're not much more optimistic for the current quarter, either. They expect profits to grow just 2 percent for the three months that end June 30. Then they're expected to rise nearly 6 percent in the third quarter, followed by an impressive 16 percent in the last three months of the year.

Some Wall Street pros aren't buying it.

"It's loaded into the back half - flat and then a big jump," says Brian Lazorishak, portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel of Charlottesville, Va. "I don't think it's going to play out that way."

David Kostin, chief equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, is equally dour. He points out that the profit margins, or how much profit companies get out of each dollar of sales, are starting to flatten, as they usually do in a recovery before dropping fast.

The pattern is intuitive: Companies reach a point where they can't squeeze any more additional work out of their staffs, and other costs start rising, too.

What's unusual is that Wall Street analysts expect those margins to stop flattening, then hit a new peak of $9 for every $100 in sales by the fourth quarter. In the late 1990s, Kostin says, margins rose after stalling. But that was the only time in the past 40 years.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed

WASHINGTON (AP) - The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.

A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.

Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs - waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example - and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.

An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor's degrees.

Opportunities for college graduates vary widely.

While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor's degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.

Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.

"I don't even know what I'm looking for," says Michael Bledsoe, who described months of fruitless job searches as he served customers at a Seattle coffeehouse. The 23-year-old graduated in 2010 with a creative writing degree.

Initially hopeful that his college education would create opportunities, Bledsoe languished for three months before finally taking a job as a barista, a position he has held for the last two years. In the beginning he sent three or four resumes day. But, Bledsoe said, employers questioned his lack of experience or the practical worth of his major. Now he sends a resume once every two weeks or so.

Bledsoe, currently making just above minimum wage, says he got financial help from his parents to help pay off student loans. He is now mulling whether to go to graduate school, seeing few other options to advance his career. "There is not much out there, it seems," he said.

His situation highlights a widening but little-discussed labor problem. Perhaps more than ever, the choices that young adults make earlier in life - level of schooling, academic field and training, where to attend college, how to pay for it - are having long-lasting financial impact.

"You can make more money on average if you go to college, but it's not true for everybody," says Harvard economist Richard Freeman, noting the growing risk of a debt bubble with total U.S. student loan debt surpassing $1 trillion. "If you're not sure what you're going to be doing, it probably bodes well to take some job, if you can get one, and get a sense first of what you want from college."

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University who analyzed the numbers, said many people with a bachelor's degree face a double whammy of rising tuition and poor job outcomes. "Simply put, we're failing kids coming out of college," he said, emphasizing that when it comes to jobs, a college major can make all the difference. "We're going to need a lot better job growth and connections to the labor market, otherwise college debt will grow."

By region, the Mountain West was most likely to have young college graduates jobless or underemployed - roughly 3 in 5. It was followed by the more rural southeastern U.S., including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Pacific region, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, also was high on the list.

On the other end of the scale, the southern U.S., anchored by Texas, was most likely to have young college graduates in higher-skill jobs.

The figures are based on an analysis of 2011 Current Population Survey data by Northeastern University researchers and supplemented with material from Paul Harrington, an economist at Drexel University, and the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. They rely on Labor Department assessments of the level of education required to do the job in 900-plus U.S. occupations, which were used to calculate the shares of young adults with bachelor's degrees who were "underemployed."

About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.

Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.

Broken down by occupation, young college graduates were heavily represented in jobs that require a high school diploma or less.

In the last year, they were more likely to be employed as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined (100,000 versus 90,000). There were more working in office-related jobs such as receptionist or payroll clerk than in all computer professional jobs (163,000 versus 100,000). More also were employed as cashiers, retail clerks and customer representatives than engineers (125,000 versus 80,000).

According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor's degree or higher to fill the position - teachers, college professors and accountants. Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren't easily replaced by computers.

College graduates who majored in zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities were among the least likely to find jobs appropriate to their education level; those with nursing, teaching, accounting or computer science degrees were among the most likely.

In Nevada, where unemployment is the highest in the nation, Class of 2012 college seniors recently expressed feelings ranging from anxiety and fear to cautious optimism about what lies ahead.

With the state's economy languishing in an extended housing bust, a lot of young graduates have shown up at job placement centers in tears. Many have been squeezed out of jobs by more experienced workers, job counselors said, and are now having to explain to prospective employers the time gaps in their resumes.

"It's kind of scary," said Cameron Bawden, 22, who is graduating from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in December with a business degree. His family has warned him for years about the job market, so he has been building his resume by working part time on the Las Vegas Strip as a food runner and doing a marketing internship with a local airline.

Bawden said his friends who have graduated are either unemployed or working along the Vegas Strip in service jobs that don't require degrees. "There are so few jobs and it's a small city," he said. "It's all about who you know."

Any job gains are going mostly to workers at the top and bottom of the wage scale, at the expense of middle-income jobs commonly held by bachelor's degree holders. By some studies, up to 95 percent of positions lost during the economic recovery occurred in middle-income occupations such as bank tellers, the type of job not expected to return in a more high-tech age.

David Neumark, an economist at the University of California-Irvine, said a bachelor's degree can have benefits that aren't fully reflected in the government's labor data. He said even for lower-skilled jobs such as waitress or cashier, employers tend to value bachelor's degree-holders more highly than high-school graduates, paying them more for the same work and offering promotions.

In addition, U.S. workers increasingly may need to consider their position in a global economy, where they must compete with educated foreign-born residents for jobs. Longer-term government projections also may fail to consider "degree inflation," a growing ubiquity of bachelor's degrees that could make them more commonplace in lower-wage jobs but inadequate for higher-wage ones.

That future may be now for Kelman Edwards Jr., 24, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., who is waiting to see the returns on his college education.

After earning a biology degree last May, the only job he could find was as a construction worker for five months before he quit to focus on finding a job in his academic field. He applied for positions in laboratories but was told they were looking for people with specialized certifications.

"I thought that me having a biology degree was a gold ticket for me getting into places, but every other job wants you to have previous history in the field," he said. Edwards, who has about $5,500 in student debt, recently met with a career counselor at Middle Tennessee State University. The counselor's main advice: Pursue further education.

"Everyone is always telling you, 'Go to college,'" Edwards said. "But when you graduate, it's kind of an empty cliff."

___

Associated Press writers Manuel Valdes in Seattle; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tenn.; Cristina Silva in Las Vegas; and Sandra Chereb in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this report.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Lieberman: No plans for 2012 endorsement

After three consecutive election cycles of backing the losing team or being part of it, Sen. Joe Lieberman says he plans on sitting out the 2012 presidential race and not endorsing anybody.Â

"I'm going to try something different this year," Lieberman said on "Fox News Sunday," chuckling when asked whether he plans on supporting President Obama or presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney. "I'm going to try to stay out of this one."Â

Lieberman drew the ire of Democrats when he endorsed his friend and colleague Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., against Obama in the 2008 presidential race.Â

Four years earlier, Lieberman ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination, before bowing out and eventually getting behind party nominee John Kerry, who lost to George W. Bush. Before that, Lieberman was Democratic nominee Al Gore's running mate in their losing bid against Bush in 2000.Â

Lieberman said Sunday that he's staying out of the "nastiness" of campaigning in 2012. He said he plans to cast his choice in the privacy of the voting booth, and that's it.

Article from FOXNEWS

As Seen on TV: Michelle Obama Blankets Airwaves

April 11, 2012: In this photo provided by Comedy Central, first lady Michelle Obama laughs with Stephen Colbert during her appearance on The Colbert Report.AP

In a recent interview, Stephen Colbert asked first lady Michelle Obama which show "has more gravitas as a broadcaster" -- The Colbert Report or iCarly.Â

The funny man wasn't just fishing for compliments. He was pointing out that the first lady is just about everywhere, from Comedy Central to Nickelodeon.Â

Lately, Michelle Obama is no stranger to television entertainment. She's already outpaced past first ladies, like Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, in the number of TV appearances she's made over the first four years of a president's term.Â

Dan Gainor, of the Media Research Center, said Michelle Obama really is "off the charts" in the number of times she's appeared in entertainment television cameos, even more so "than I dare say many big name actors and actresses."Â

In just the last four months, viewers have seen Obama do push-ups with Ellen DeGeneres, play tug o' war with Jimmy Fallon, laugh along with Jay Leno and David Letterman, dance on Disney's "iCarly," work out with "The Biggest Loser" contestants at the White House, appear at the BET Honors, smile on "Sesame Street" and chat about healthy school lunches with Rachael Ray.Â

Whether the appearances are sincere or just political is up for debate. Democratic political strategist Doug Schoen suggested they were a little bit of both.Â

"I think they have a great asset and they're using it," Schoen said. "At its core, there is an election in seven months and it helps."Â

Between 2001 and 2004, Laura Bush appeared in about 12 television shows -- including "The Barbara Walters Summer Special," "Larry King Live," "The Tonight Show," "Fox and Friends," "The O'Reilly Factor," "LIVE! with Kelly," and "Sesame Street." Since President Obama took office in 2009, Michelle Obama has appeared on television about 44 times, and that number continues to grow.Â

Schoen, who was a researcher and strategic consultant for former President Bill Clinton, noted Hillary Clinton was not really on the campaign trail in 1996, but instead maintained a low profile while she published her book "It Takes a Village." Hillary Clinton made about 19 television appearances from 1993 to 1996, but most were for events like The Kennedy Center Honors or non-fiction television series not geared toward her husband's reelection. She also made an appearance on "Sesame Street" in 1993.Â

Obama's appearances are working for her, Schoen said.Â

"I think Michelle Obama is a terrific asset for the president," he said.Â

Gainor had no quarrel with that claim, but said it's all about the 2012 race.Â

Michelle Obama gains "an overwhelmingly amount of positive coverage" from being on these shows, said Gainor, who also added that these appearances allow her to campaign for her husband.Â

"What she's doing is political," said Gainor. "She's getting her face out there because it's an election year."Â

During these appearances, Obama is not burdened by questions about unemployment or health care -- many of the issues that stir controversy for the White House. Instead, she focuses on her initiatives like "Joining Forces," which is designed to honor U.S. troops, and "Let's Move," which tries to educate people on the dangers of childhood obesity.Â

Hannah August, Michelle Obama's press secretary, stressed the importance of the anti-obesity campaign in a statement to Fox News, and said the TV shows are a great venue for pushing out that message.Â

"There is no silver bullet to solve the problem of childhood obesity -- we need everyone from parents to teachers to business and faith leaders to join together to make our country healthier," August said. Â "We also need to make sure that families have the tools they need to be healthy, and TV programs that are popular with kids and parents are a great way to talk about how we can all work together to help our children lead healthier lives."Â

Schoen said "the initiatives are sincere," but it would be "wrong not to understand there is a political motivation."Â

Gainor argued this is one way for the Obama administration to reach out to Hollywood for fundraising. "It's ridiculous the amount of other shows that have put her on," he said.Â

President Obama recently attended a fundraiser in Hollywood as he mingled with supporters at the Westin Diplomat Hotel and tried to re-ignite support. George Clooney is also hosting a fundraiser for Obama at his Los Angeles home in May.Â

While the rise in the first lady's television appearances may have something to do with the increase in television shows and networks, Gainor said Hollywood celebrities give "overwhelmingly to Democrats" -- Â and Republican first ladies, like Laura Bush, "would get nowhere near the Hollywood support" or popularity as Michelle Obama.Â

Article from FOXNEWS

Obama on brink of clinching Democratic nomination- Lieberman: No plans for 2012 endorsement

April 20, 2012: President Obama greets members of the military after a ceremony at the White House.AP

WASHINGTON â€" Â It's official: President Obama will clinch the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday, ending a low-key primary race that many Americans probably didn't realize was happening.Â

Obama is certain to reach the 2,778 delegates he needs to secure his party nod for a second time when five states vote on Tuesday. He has won almost every delegate so far, with a few exceptions in some Southern states that won't vote Democratic in the fall anyway.Â

But don't expect a big party, or any party. Campaign officials say they are focused on the general election, as they have been for months, and the all-but-certain Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.Â

All this is a stark difference from four years ago.Â

At this time in 2008, Obama was still in an epic primary battle against Hillary Rodham Clinton. The fight for the nomination didn't end until June, on the last day of the primary calendar, when Obama inched across the finish line on his way to the general election and eventually the White House.Â

There was a party that night, and why not? Obama was a big underdog heading into the 2008 primaries. Facing the well-financed former first lady, Obama was the junior senator from Illinois, a black man with a funny sounding name. No foreign policy experience. No military experience.Â

Obama's resume may have been a bit thin, but he parlayed his compelling life story and an inspiring message of hope and change into an unlikely run for the Democratic nomination and victory over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.Â

The partying was intense that night in 2008 when Obama became the first black to win a major party nomination to run for president. Obama's top campaign aides were in a Chicago bar near campaign headquarters. The candidate wasn't there, but the bar tab was open.Â

"There are red shots, blue shots and green ones. I have no idea what I'm drinking, and don't give a damn," Jeff Berman, Obama's 2008 delegate expert, wrote in his new book about the 2008 campaign, "The Magic Number."Â

"Time after time, we lock arms, let out a yell, and send it down the hatch."Â

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt was succinct when asked if the campaign was planning a similar celebration Tuesday night, after the primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and Rhode Island.Â

"No sir."Â

This year, Obama's march to the nomination has generated little interest because he has no major primary challenger, no one who made the ballot in more than a handful of states.Â

In Iowa, which gave Obama his first victory in January 2008, Democratic caucus-goers didn't even vote for president this year. Instead, they held rallies to fire up supporters for the general election.Â

Democratic voters, however, are not unanimously behind the president.Â

In Oklahoma, anti-abortion protestor Randall Terry, who founded Operation Rescue, got 18 percent of the vote in the Democratic presidential primary March 6. That should have been good enough to win eight delegates, but state party officials said Terry didn't follow party rules and was not a "bona fide Democrat."Â

The delegates were awarded to Obama; Terry complained he was the victim of "political insider trading."Â

In Alabama, 18 percent of Democratic voters voted for "uncommitted" in the March 13 primary, so the state party will send eight uncommitted delegates to the Democratic national convention.Â

Obama is unlikely to win Oklahoma or Alabama in the general election. Regardless, LaBolt said Obama's campaign is busy building the largest grassroots operation ever.Â

"Now that we are on the doorstep of the general election, the choice Americans will have in November has already come into view: between a president who has fought every day to create jobs and restore economic security for the middle class, and a Republican nominee that would return to the same policies that led to the economic crisis," LaBolt said.Â

Republicans have a different view, now that Obama has a record to run on.Â

"He was a blank slate four years ago, and people projected onto that blank slate their hopes for the future," said John Ryder, a member of the Republican National Committee from Tennessee. "Now we've got a record. How'd that work out for you?"Â

Berman, who is not with the Obama campaign this year, said Obama may not be able to recapture the same magic he had in 2008, but he still has plenty of advantages.Â

"He can't have what he had the first time," Berman said in an interview. "But it's not like he lost everything. They know where their people are, they just have to figure out how to motivate them."

Article from FOXNEWS

Immigrant Has Long List of Crimes, but Stuck in US

He's a man without a country.

An immigrant in Alabama who has been arrested 35 times in 12 years cannot be extradited because the United States does not recognize his homeland, the Birmingham News reports.

According to the paper, federal authorities have tried to remove convicted felon Sofyan Eldani, 45, but couldn't send him to his native Palestine because the U.S. does not recognize it as a country. Eldani says he is a native of Palestine, though he carries an Egyptian passport.

Eldani's arrests include assault, fraudulent checks, criminal mischief, resisting arrests, reckless endangerment, shoplifting, burglary, drug possession, failure to appear, probation violation, possession of a drug paraphernalia and DUI.

He has at least nine convictions, including four felonies, and served six months in an Alabama prison for receiving stolen property. His most recent arrest was for allegedly being found with crack cocaine during a traffic stop, according to the Birmingham News.

For now, Eldani will remain in Alabama and face his most recent drug trafficking charge in state court.

Click for more on this story from The Birmingham News

Article from FOXNEWS

70,000 pray for \'correction\' of anti-Putin feminist punks

OSLO, Norway (AP) - You would have forgiven Norwegians for showing more outrage against confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik.

When he walks in to court flashing a right-wing salute. When he testifies effortlessly about killing their children, brothers and sisters as if they were flies. When he calls his teenage victims traitors who deserved to die for their political views.

The subdued atmosphere during the trial of a right-wing fanatic who confessed to slaughtering 77 people on July 22 reflects Norway's almost self-punishing efforts to avoid feelings of vengeance against the unrepentant gunman.

"This is the Norwegian way," said Trond Henry Blattmann, whose 17-year-old son was among the 69 people killed in Breivik's shooting massacre on Utoya island. "We need to carry this out in a dignified manner. If people were shouting and screaming this would be a circus and not a trial. We don't want it to be a circus."

Like other Scandinavians, Norwegians are not prone to express their emotions out loud. But the good behavior of the crowd inside courtroom 250 has surprised even some local observers.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen, a professor of social anthropology at Oslo University, said that by treating the trial with "respect and decency," Norwegians are showing defiance against Breivik by standing up for values at the core of their national identity.

When he called Breivik "pudgy" in Norwegian media before the trial, Eriksen said some people took offense.

"I received mail from people who said 'you shouldn't say that about his appearance. He has a mother. We have to treat him with respect.'"

Breivik has admitted setting off a car bomb outside the government headquarters, killing eight, before unleashing a shooting massacre at the governing Labor Party's youth camp on Utoya.

But he denies criminal guilt and rejects the authority of the court, saying it is a vehicle of a "multiculturalist" conspiracy to destroy Norway.

His testimony, which is set to end Monday, has been horrific. A hushed courtroom heard his macabre account of point-blank executions of shell-shocked youth on Utoya. The bereaved embraced and sobbed, but they let him finish, holding back the urge to scream out in agony.

"I think everybody has that urge. Even his lawyers have that urge. But will that help us?" asked Blattmann. "It would just give the terrorist more publicity."

The "dignity" of the process has won praise in Norwegian media. But between breaks there is sometimes discussions in the corridors about whether Breivik deserves it.

"It puzzles me a little bit," said Thomas Indreboe, a citizen judge who was dismissed from the case for an online comment that Breivik should get the death penalty, which is not applied in Europe, except for in Belarus.

"When you look at other countries, people shout and scream," he told The Associated Press.

Indreboe said he "didn't quite understand" why Breivik got to start his defense by reading an hour-long statement about his extremist political views. And he stands by his opinion that Breivik deserves to be put to death.

"Because what he did is so serious and horrible. There is no other justice," Indreboe told the AP.

Most people here say it's important that Breivik - like anybody accused of a crime - gets a chance to explain himself in an open court, despite the scale of the attacks.

That approach contrasts with how the U.S. has dealt with the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.

President Barack Obama wanted to close the Guantanamo prison and try the men in civilian court but was rebuffed by Congress, and the administration moved the case back to the military's war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo.

"I think it's being handled in a good way," Jannike Berger, a 25-year-old Oslo teacher said of the Breivik trial. "I think it's important that it is as open as it is ... and it is important that he gets to explain himself."

To some foreign observers, Norway's desire to do right has gone overboard, allowing the confessed mass killer just what he wants: a platform to promote his extreme political ideology. Print media can cover all parts of the trial. Norwegian TV broadcasts much of it live, including when he enters court, but isn't allowed to show his testimony.

In Germany, particularly sensitive to right-wing extremism, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung criticized how the "the murderer is smiling, grinning gloatingly, clenching his fist" before a world audience.

"The murderer had the center stage, as if the court's most pressing matter were how he stages himself," the newspaper said in an editorial.

Others applauded the way Norway has handled the case.

"Norway announced last year that it would respond to the attacks with more openness and democracy and, amazingly, has lived up to that pledge," Dutch daily De Volkskrant said. "The trial is a demonstration of the strength of democracy against a violent loner who is so weak he feels the need to take up arms."

Breivik, himself, ridiculed Norway's maximum prison sentence of 21 years, saying the only proper outcomes of the case would be death or acquittal.

If found sane - a key issue in the case - he would face 21 years in prison though he can be held longer if deemed a danger to society. If sentenced to psychiatric care, in theory he would be released once he's no longer deemed psychotic and dangerous.

Norwegian legal experts say it's crucial that every part of the proceedings is conducted by the book so that Breivik cannot claim he didn't get a fair trial. Many say it's also important that the gruesome details are documented to make sure that Breivik is kept away from society for a long time, maybe for the rest of his life.

"When Behring Breivik at some point in the future goes to court and demands to be released - whether from a prison or from a psychiatric hospital - the judgment will the be most central document in that evaluation," Inge D. Hanssen, one of Norway's most experienced crime reporters wrote in newspaper Aftenposten.

Following Norwegian custom, the prosecutors and even lawyers for the bereaved shook Breivik's hand on the first day in court. Prosecutors maintain a polite tone, even when Breivik is being evasive or challenges the point of their questions.

The general impression in Norway is that all parties in the case, from the prosecutors to the defense lawyers, are doing a good job.

But Magnus Ranstorp, a terror researcher from the Swedish Defense College, said once they have extracted all the information they want from him, they should increase the pressure.

"He needs to have his world rocked a little bit," Ranstorp said. "It should not go out this way. It should not be softy softy. It should switch to a different mode so that he understands what he did was pure evil."

That's not necessarily how Norway sees it. Outside the Oslo district court, the spirit of facing terror with tolerance that was so strong in Norway after the attacks has returned.

People are attaching roses to the fence surrounding the court, many with messages of support for victims' families and survivors of the massacre.

The closest thing to anger was a short message scribbled on a card decorated with a ribbon in the red-white-and-blue colors of the Norwegian flag. "Apologize, Breivik," it said.

___

Associated Press writers Bjoern H. Amland in Oslo, Juergen Baetz in Berlin, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.