By | Associated Press â€"Â
Article from YAHOO NEWS
|
|
|
Biden on Iran: \'We WereThe Problem\' Under Bush
-
May 2, 2012: Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.AP
Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday pinned the country's rocky negotiations with Iran on the Bush administration, saying only after President Obama took office and made “good faith†efforts toward dealing with the rogue nation did the world realize Iran is the problem.
“By going the extra diplomatic mile, presenting Iran with a clear choice, we demonstrated to the region and the world that Iran is the problem, not the United States,†Biden said at the Rabbinical Assembly's annual convention in Atlanta.
Biden said Obama's efforts also have created world-wide support for the U.S.'s recent get-tough policies in the face of what appears to be Iran's expanding nuclear program, including Obama's executive orders punishing those who make financial deals with that country.
“That's why China, that's why Russia, that's why Europe, that's why the rest of the world have joined us in these sanctions, and the president deserves the credit,†the vice president said, painting with a broad brush what actually has been a rather contentious dialogue between the U.S. and those other countries.
Such Obama administration criticism of the president's predecessor is not new, and the Obama re-election campaign has begun to look for ways to tout the president's foreign policy.Â
Biden's comment on the U.S. being diplomatically isolated during the Bush years, which outraged conservatives, was in reference to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Bush made the decision without United Nations' approval but with the backing of Britain and, initially, the support of a majority of Americans, according to polls at the time.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign called Biden's comments “reckless†and criticized the Obama administration for “all too often†trying to first blame America, apparently suggesting that Biden's criticisms of Bush were really aimed at the country as a whole.
"Biden's reckless statement today blaming America for â€" of all things â€" the progress of Iran's nuclear weapons program, has reached a new low," said Romney policy director Lanhee Chen. “The problem is not America. It is the ayatollahs who oppress their people.â€
“When we took office, let me remind you, there was virtually no international pressure on Iran,†Biden said. “We were the problem, we were diplomatically isolated in the world, in the region, in Europe. We were neither fully respected by our friends nor feared by our opponents. Today it is starkly, starkly different.â€
Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said Biden comments were "outrageous."
"Iran was the problem then and it is the problem now," he said. "It's foolishly misguided for the vice president to blame anyone or any country other than Iran."
Biden also said Iran is not monolithic and bet that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be out of power within two years.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Met Gala Style: So Hot, So Not
©2012 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. All market data delayed 20 minutes. Privacy - Terms
Article from FOXNEWS
New Jersey tanning mom inspires action figure
The overly tan New Jersey mom accused of taking her young daughter tanning has inspired an action figure. The $29.95 "Tanorexic" mom doll is available from HeroBuilders.com, the custom doll retailer behind the Michaele Salahi action figure, Anthony Weiner doll and other attention-grabbing toys. Patricia Krentcil, the real "tanning mom," pleaded not guilty to child [...]
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
NYC co-op board rejects $31.5 million bid for apartment
In today's housing market, good deals are waiting to be had. But for one New York co-op, a $31.5 million bid wasn't even enticing enough to merit an interview with the potential tenant. The prospective buyer also happens to be the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. He made [...]
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Man fired for using the Like button on Facebook
Have you ever used Facebook's Like button to show your support for a political candidate? Even if you haven't, someone you know probably has. After all, President Obama's Facebook page has over 26.4 million Likes and counting. But have you ever considered … Continue reading
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Detroit paying $65,000 to lease a 2004 Dodge Intrepid
For drivers who don't want to commit to a new car purchase, leasing has become a popular option. But for a police department in a city with a struggling economy, running up a $65,000 bill for what amounts to renting an … Continue reading
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Senate Republicans block Democratic student loan bill
Senate Republicans on Tuesday afternoon blocked the advancement of a Democratic bill to extend the current student loan interest rate over objections to how the measure will be funded.
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
‘Where The Wild Things Are\' author Maurice Sendak dies at 83
The renowned children's author whose books captivated generations of kids and simultaneously scared their parents died today. He was 83. Sendak passed away on Tuesday from complications caused by a recent stroke, his editor told the New York Times.
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Is Mitt Romney ‘still deciding\' his immigration position?
The Republican National Committee is making efforts to target Hispanic voters in key swing states in preparation for the November presidential election. And by their own admission, they're still working out some of the kinks.
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
George Zimmerman waives right to speedy trial
George Zimmerman's attorney filed motions to waive his client's right to a speedy trial and to request more time to ready a defense, The Orlando Sentinel reports. Zimmerman would have been guaranteed a trial within six months if he hadn't waived that right. Now, it's unclear when the trial will begin. Zimmerman, who is accused [...]
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Romney: Obama leading country ‘sideways or worse\'
Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of leading by "discredited" and "failed policies of the past" and said it's time for "new ideas, new answers and a new direction" for the country. Speaking at a community college in Lansing, Mich., on Tuesday, Romney said Americans are "tired of living on the edge" when it comes [...]
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Article from YAHOO NEWS
What Dogs Are Really Thinking
-
Callie wears ear protection as she prepares to enter the scanner. The research team includes, from left, Andrew Brooks, Gregory Berns and Mark Spivak.Bryan Meltz, Emory University
Fido's expressive face, including those longing puppy-dog eyes, may lead owners to wonder what exactly is going on in that doggy's head. Scientists decided to find out, using brain scans to explore the minds of our canine friends.
The researchers, who detailed their findings May 2 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, were interested in understanding the human-dog relationship from the four-legged perspective.
"When we saw those first [brain] images, it was unlike anything else," said lead researcher Gregory Berns in a video interview posted online. "Nobody, as far as I know, had ever captured images of a dog's brain that wasn't sedated. This was [a] fully awake, unrestrained dog, here we have a picture for the first time ever of her brain," added Berns, who is director of the Emory University Center for Neuropolicy.
'When we saw those first [brain] images, it was unlike anything else.'
- Lead researcher Gregory Berns
He added, "Now we can really begin to understand what dogs are thinking. We hope this opens a whole new door into canine cognition, social cognition of other species." [10 Barking Doggy Facts]
Sit … stay … still
Berns realized dogs could be trained to sit still in a brain-scanning machine after hearing that a U.S. Navy dog had been a member of the SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden. "I realized that if dogs can be trained to jump out of helicopters and airplanes, we could certainly train them to go into an fMRI to see what they're thinking," Berns said.
So he and his colleagues trained two dogs to walk into and stay completely still inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner that looks like a tube: Callie, a 2-year-old feist, or southern squirrel-hunting dog; and McKenzie, a 3-year-old border collie.
In the experiment, the dogs were trained to respond to hand signals, with the left hand pointing down signaling the dog would receive a hot-dog treat and the other gesture (both hands pointing toward each other horizontally) meaning "no treat." When the dogs saw the treat signal, the caudate region of the brain showed activity, a region associated with rewards in humans. That same area didn't rev up when dogs saw the no-treat signal. [Video of dog experiment]
"These results indicate that dogs pay very close attention to human signals," Berns said. "And these signals may have a direct line to the dog's reward system."
Mirror into human mind
The researchers think the findings open the door for further studies of canine cognition that could answer questions about humans' deep connection with dogs, including how dogs represent human facial expressions in their minds and how they process human language.
With such an evolutionary history between man and man's best friend, the studies, the researchers point out, "may provide a unique mirror into the human mind," they write.
"The dog's brain represents something special about how humans and animals came together. It's possible that dogs have even affected human evolution," Berns said.
In fact, research published in the August 2010 issue of the journal Current Anthropology suggests our love of these furry four-legged creatures may have deep roots in human evolution, even shaping how our ancestors developed language and other tools of civilization.
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Related Slideshow
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Witness: I warned Obama team about Edwards affair
A neighbor and buddy of the former campaign aide at the center of the John Edwards trial disclosed Tuesday that he went to the Obama campaign in 2008 to warn them directly about Edwards' hanky-panky.Â
The detail emerged during witness Tim Toben's aggressive cross-examination by Edwards' lawyers.Â
The witness claimed that following a June 2008 dinner in which Edwards expressed interest in being vice president, Toben called the Obama campaign.Â
"I said, 'I had dinner with Mr. Edwards and he seemed very bullish about his prospects of being on the ticket. You've seen the tabloid reports and usually they get these wrong. But in this case I don't think they did,'" Toben said.Â
He wouldn't have been the first person in Edwards' orbit to have concerns or doubts about Edwards' claims that the tabloid reports were wrong. Ex-staffers have testified over the course of the trial about the signs they noticed that he was having an affair.Â
Prosecutors later asked Toben why he warned the Obama campaign about Edwards' affair.
Toben said: "I was alarmed. I couldn't believe what I had heard. I couldn't believe that a man with a four-month-old baby was thinking about running for vice president."Â
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Allison Van Laningham also questioned Toben about his apparent role in encouraging Young to write his tell-all book about his boss's affair.Â
"You wanted him to out Mr. Edwards," she said.Â
Toben replied, "Oh, no ma'am. Well, I wanted him to tell the truth. This charade was ridiculous."Â
Laningham went into emails between Toben and Young to raise the issue of whether Toben profited from controversy surrounding the affair as well.Â
At one point, Toben interjected, "I can tell you that I never got any money from this."Â
Laningham: "This is something you thought was fun to do."Â
Toben: "I thought it was a worthwhile endeavor."Â
Laningham pointed out one email in which Toben advised Young on writing his book "to castigate Mr. Edwards."Â
"This was not about telling the absolute truth. This was about selling a book," the attorney said.Â
Toben disagreed, insisting he had advised Young to tell the truth.Â
Langingham brought up another email Toben sent Young, in which he described Edwards as a "pathetic little man."Â
In another email, Toben wrote to Young: "Can't wait for you to out him."Â
Asked about this, Toben said: "I was becoming very weary of the whole story at that point. And I was ready for it to end, yes."Â
In another email in 2009, Toben wrote to Young describing Edwards as "a sick evil bastard."Â
The prosecution asked Toben to elaborate more on why he encouraged Young to write his book.Â
Toben said: "I told him, 'It's done. ... He's not gonna come back. He's not the guy you thought he was. This is a story that needs to get out. You can't live your life under this cloud.'"
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Female assassin tied to 20 murders, Mexico cops say
Mexican authorities have arrested a woman who they say led a gang of assassins connected with at least 20 homicides and several kidnappings.
MarÃa Jiménez, 26, allegedly led a group that received $1,700 a month from Los Zetas, one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels, to carry out contract killings and other crimes, Mexican daily El Milenio reports.
Security forces captured Jiménez and other alleged members of the group last week. She confessed to the murders and other crimes, said security spokesman for the state of Nuevo León Jorge Domene Zambrano to  Reuters.
Jiménez, known by her alias as “La Tosca,†a Spanish word meaning “tough,†allegedly operated in the north of the country, including the country's murder capital of Ciudad Juárez. She was one of four women and three men arrested for their alleged involvement in the group.
Authorities swill charge her with murder, car theft and kidnapping.
Mexican security forces suspect Jiménez of involvement in the murder of a police detective and other drug dealers.
The group also controlled some 14 drug trafficking points within the northern industrial hub of Monterrey, where Mexican authorities announced the arrests Monday. They were arrested in the nearby town of Guadelupe Victoria on May 1.
Mexico has seen levels of drug-related violence skyrocket since President Felipe Calderón launched a frontal assault on the country's cartels in 2006. Over 50,000 drug war deaths have occurred over the course of his presidency.
Mexico will hold presidential elections in July.
Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino
Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino
Article from FOXNEWS
Feds Do Reversal AfterBomb Plot Is Revealed
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee suggested Tuesday that the Obama administration may have misled the public in keeping the lid on the latest Al Qaeda-affiliate bomb plot, and called for a review into the way the government handles top-secret information. Â Â
"I think we have to find a better way in the future to see or at least do (a review on) how we can tell the public, what we should tell the public," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News. King described the challenge as walking a "fine line," but said that if officials are trying to keep a secret, they should "do it in a way not to mislead the public."Â
Law enforcement sources also told Fox News that the credibility of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI has been undercut by this -- because in the run-up to the anniversary of Usama bin Laden's death they issued a bulletin saying there was no plot, when the administration, in fact, knew an explosive device was being tracked and intercepted.Â
The Obama administration, after prodding from reporters across Washington, ultimately confirmed late Monday what for weeks had been a highly classified operation. U.S. authorities had confiscated a sophisticated bomb that apparently was part of a plot by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to bring down a U.S.-bound airliner -- something the Al Qaeda affiliate failed to do in the attempted 2009 Christmas Day bombing plot.Â
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed Tuesday that President Obama was made aware of the operation in early April.Â
Yet in late April, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent out an intelligence bulletin claiming there was no specific, credible threat to the U.S. homeland in the run-up to the one-year anniversary of Usama bin Laden's death. The bulletin noted that terror groups would see an attack on the anniversary as a "symbolic victory," and warned about the danger of "lone-wolf" attacks around that time.Â
At the time, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also said "we have no specific or credible information about anything pinned to the anniversary."Â
And around the same time, a senior counterterrorism official was asked by Fox News during a formal briefing to mark the bin Laden death anniversary whether any explosive package had been recently picked up or intercepted. "Not that I know of, no," the official said.Â
Napolitano on Tuesday defended the administration's statements, calling them "accurate."Â
But King told Fox News that even though there's no "specific evidence" to show the plot was tied to the anniversary, Al Qaeda "does have respect for anniversaries."Â
"I would make the operating assumption (that) certainly the anniversary was a factor in choosing this time and place," King said.Â
He said determining how to discuss an ongoing operation like this in public is "always a challenge." The government, he said, wants to make the public aware without giving up the mission.Â
"Maybe they could have found a better way to express it -- and that there was a plot against the U.S. but no threat since we felt we had everything under control," King said.Â
Officials have said the latest counterterrorism operation was kept so secret in order to protect the operation itself.Â
One government source familiar with the intelligence told Fox News that the "operation is ongoing" still, and that a second potential threat has emerged out of the Middle East involving surgically implanted body bombs.Â
King acknowledged, "there's a lot that still can't be told on this."Â
He, like other lawmakers on Capitol Hill, praised the intelligence and law enforcement communities for a job well done in thwarting the potential plot. Â Â Â
"It's a victory for the U.S.," he said.
But King said he hopes the plot is a "wake-up call," casting doubt on Obama's recent claims on a surprise visit to Afghanistan that the war will end there.Â
"It's not going to end in Afghanistan. It's not going to end until Al Qaeda is destroyed worldwide," King said.Â
Fox News Chief Intelligence Correspondent Catherine Herridge's bestselling book "The Next Wave: On the Hunt for al Qaeda's American Recruits" was published by Crown on June 21. It draws on her reporting for Fox News into al-Awlaki and his new generation of recruits -- Al Qaeda 2.0. It is the first book to fully investigate al-Awlaki's American life, his connections to the hijackers, and how the cleric double-crossed the FBI after Sept. 11.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Mayor wants Little League scoreboard off his land
-
This photo, obtained by Fox affiliate WFXT-TV, shows the scoreboard at the center of the dispute.
A small town in western Massachusetts is sorely in need of an umpire.
The mayor of Leominster is in a battle with Little League officials, who he claims are refusing to move a scoreboard off his private land. The league says they'll do it, but not until they get a survey. The mayor says he'll be glad to provide the survey he had done and even pay to relocate the scoreboard, which is dedicated to Pfc. Jonathan Roberge, a local soldier killed in Iraq.
Yet, the standstill continues.
Both sides say there are other issues under the surface.
“This has nothing to do with kids playing baseball,†said Mayor Dean Mazzarella, who believes someone is out to "embarrass me politically."
Little League officials say they have “no problem†moving the 20-by-30-foot sign, and claim they've repeatedly asked the city to do the survey, but haven't gotten a response. A private survey could cost $5,000, according to Little League president Rob Lora.
“We all agree we're going to move the scoreboard,†Lora told FoxNews.com. “We need a survey done so we know where we're putting it.â€
'This has nothing to do with kids playing baseball.'
- Mayor Dean Mazzarella
“The scoreboard is a memorial and we don't want to have to move it twice,†he said. “It's sacred to us.â€
With Mazzarella demanding they get the scoreboard off his land, Lora said the league is seeking donations to pay for its own survey as well as the cost of moving the scoreboard.
“They want it done in a hurry and, as a non-profit, I don't have the tools to move it tomorrow,†Lora said. “We run the league on what the kids give us when they register.â€
Mazzarella, who has served as mayor for 19 years, said he bought land near the Little League fields nearly 30 years ago in the hopes that one day he'd build homes on the property for his children when they are grown. His spokeswoman, Wendy Wiiks, said Mazzarella is more than willing to foot the bill for moving the scoreboard.
"He's offered to do anything and everything to help resolve this," Wiiks said.
Over the years, Mazzarella allowed the league to use part of his private land for various purposes -- including the building of a field for physically disabled children, he said. In 2009, the league also used his  property to erect a scoreboard honoring Roberge, a former player in Leominster's Little League who was killed while serving in Iraq, Fox affiliate WFXT-TV reported.Â
“When I bought the land 30 years ago, I could have fenced it all off and that would have been the end of it,†Mazzarella told FoxNews.com. “But I wanted to be a good guy. Now, I'm being put through hell.â€
Mazzarella claims personal politics are behind the foot-dragging. He claimed one of its board members, James Xarras, has a grudge against him because Mazzarella denied him a liquor license years ago.
“He's not happy with me,†Mazzarella said.
Roberge's uncle, Fran Richard, who also serves on the Little League board, said the soldier's family has no issue with the scoreboard being moved -- as long as it is done with the utmost care. Â
"The memorial, like a flag, can never hit the ground," Richard said. "It has to be moved with the reverence it deserves and he [Mazzarella] has made that almost impossible."Â
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Mayor wants Little League scoreboard off his land
-
This photo, obtained by Fox affiliate WFXT-TV, shows the scoreboard at the center of the dispute.
A small town in western Massachusetts is sorely in need of an umpire.
The mayor of Leominster is in a battle with Little League officials, who he claims are refusing to move a scoreboard off his private land. The league says they'll do it, but not until they get a survey. The mayor says he'll be glad to provide the survey he had done and even pay to relocate the scoreboard, which is dedicated to Pfc. Jonathan Roberge, a local soldier killed in Iraq.
Yet, the standstill continues.
Both sides say there are other issues under the surface.
“This has nothing to do with kids playing baseball,†said Mayor Dean Mazzarella, who believes someone is out to "embarrass me politically."
Little League officials say they have “no problem†moving the 20-by-30-foot sign, and claim they've repeatedly asked the city to do the survey, but haven't gotten a response. A private survey could cost $5,000, according to Little League president Rob Lora.
“We all agree we're going to move the scoreboard,†Lora told FoxNews.com. “We need a survey done so we know where we're putting it.â€
'This has nothing to do with kids playing baseball.'
- Mayor Dean Mazzarella
“The scoreboard is a memorial and we don't want to have to move it twice,†he said. “It's sacred to us.â€
With Mazzarella demanding they get the scoreboard off his land, Lora said the league is seeking donations to pay for its own survey as well as the cost of moving the scoreboard.
“They want it done in a hurry and, as a non-profit, I don't have the tools to move it tomorrow,†Lora said. “We run the league on what the kids give us when they register.â€
Mazzarella, who has served as mayor for 19 years, said he bought land near the Little League fields nearly 30 years ago in the hopes that one day he'd build homes on the property for his children when they are grown. His spokeswoman, Wendy Wiiks, said Mazzarella is more than willing to foot the bill for moving the scoreboard.
"He's offered to do anything and everything to help resolve this," Wiiks said.
Over the years, Mazzarella allowed the league to use part of his private land for various purposes -- including the building of a field for physically disabled children, he said. In 2009, the league also used his  property to erect a scoreboard honoring Roberge, a former player in Leominster's Little League who was killed while serving in Iraq, Fox affiliate WFXT-TV reported.Â
“When I bought the land 30 years ago, I could have fenced it all off and that would have been the end of it,†Mazzarella told FoxNews.com. “But I wanted to be a good guy. Now, I'm being put through hell.â€
Mazzarella claims personal politics are behind the foot-dragging. He claimed one of its board members, James Xarras, has a grudge against him because Mazzarella denied him a liquor license years ago.
“He's not happy with me,†Mazzarella said.
Roberge's uncle, Fran Richard, who also serves on the Little League board, said the soldier's family has no issue with the scoreboard being moved -- as long as it is done with the utmost care. Â
"The memorial, like a flag, can never hit the ground," Richard said. "It has to be moved with the reverence it deserves and he [Mazzarella] has made that almost impossible."Â
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
iPhone Coming to T-Mobile
-
BGR
NEW ORLEANS â€"  While much of the attention on T-Mobile's planned $4 billion network upgrade has centered around its plans to launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology next year, there is another key component to the strategy.
The company also is looking to free up space in another part of its spectrum that should finally allow iPhone users to run on its network at full speed. The company has about a million iPhone subscribers even though devices can only run at slow 2G speeds. T-Mobile USA also does not sell the iPhone itself.
At a dinner event in New Orleans late Monday, T-Mobile chief technology officer Neville Ray said the effort to reclaim some of its 1,900-MHz spectrum should reach a critical mass in the fourth quarter of this year, allowing the company to more aggressively court AT&T subscribers who are no longer under contract.
He declined to comment on whether the company would directly target iPhone users in a big marketing push planned for later this year.
"It would make sense," Ray agreed, but added, "We're not there yet."
Read more on T-Mobile's plans for the iPhone at AllThingsDigital.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
1 million Olympic tickets to go on sale Friday
LONDON â€"  Olympic organizers are making nearly 1 million more tickets available in the latest round of sales for the London Games.
The organizing committee says the tickets will go on sale online starting at 6 a.m. EDT on Friday.
The tickets will be available on first-come, first-served basis to the nearly 1 million people who applied in previous rounds but came up empty handed.
Included are tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies, and the 100-meter final.
First priority will be given to the 20,000 people who were unsuccessful in the initial ballot and missed out again in a second sale. Those customers will be given 31 hours of exclusive access.
After that, the 1 million people who applied in the initial ballot but were unsuccessful will have an exclusive five-day window.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Issa to Holder: You can still avoid contempt if you give up Fast and Furious documents
A spokeswoman for House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder could still avoid the contempt of Congress proceedings on the horizon - if he cooperates with the congressional subpoena he's thus far failed to comply with.
“The Justice Department can still avoid contempt,†Issa spokeswoman Becca Watkins told TheDC. “They need to pledge their cooperation and stop stonewalling on critical documents outlined by the committee in the draft contempt report.â€
Watkins said those “critical documents†include “what high ranking officials knew about Fast and Furious and when they knew it, information about informants and their roles, and how the Justice Department changed its view from denying that gunwalking occurred to acknowledging that Fast and Furious was fundamentally flawed.â€
Holder has outright failed to comply with the subpoena Issa served him in October 2011 on Fast and Furious. That subpoena contains 22 parts, and Holder has failed to fulfill each and every one of those categories. For 13 of the categories, Holder has provided no documents whatsoever, and for the other nine categories, Holder remains far from compliant, as TheDC documented in full late last week.
All indications are that contempt proceedings for Holder will move forward, assuming he doesn't produce the documents. Issa released the lengthy contempt of Congress citation draft last week to Democrats and Republicans on his committee, and Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar is set to lead a “special order†on the House floor later this week. A special order is an official vehicle for House members to voice their concerns about Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice's stonewalling tactics and Holder's continued failure to comply with congressional subpoenas.
Both the special order and the contempt citation draft's release indicate House leadership support. (RELATED: Full coverage of Operation Fast and Furious)
Currently, 127 House members think Holder should resign or be fired over Fast and Furious, have expressed “no confidence†in him via a formal House resolution, or both. Three U.S. senators, two sitting governors and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney have joined those House members in demanding Holder's removal from office.
Follow Matthew on Twitter
Join the conversation on The Daily Caller
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
\'Where the Wild Things Are\' Author Maurice Sendak Dead at 83
Very sad news to report this morning: Maurice Sendak, the author of Where the Wild Things Are, has died at the age of 83, The New York Times reports via Twitter.Â
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Presidential Perks: Paying for Carter\'s postage, Bush\'s bills, and Clinton\'s rent
Taxpayers were on the hook for more than $3 million of expenses for the four surviving former U.S. presidents.
Article from YAHOO NEWS
Hoffman Heart Attack Hero
-
Actor Dustin Hoffman arrives at the premiere of the feature film "Barney's Version" in Los Angeles on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
He played an accidental hero in a film of the same name -- and Hollywood megastar Dustin Hoffman earned the title for real when he saved a heart attack victim.
The two-time Academy Award winner was taking a morning stroll in London's famous Hyde Park when he saw 27-year-old jogger Sam Dempster staggering and frothing at the mouth before collapsing, The Sun reported Tuesday.
Hoffman jumped into action immediately, racing to Dempster's side and ringing emergency services. When professional help arrived, the 74-year-old actor remained at the scene until paramedics restarted Dempster's heart.
"Dustin was fascinated. He seemed impressed we'd got this guy back so quickly," paramedic Martin Macarthur said. "When we were carrying the patient into the ambulance he walked up and said 'Great job, guys.'"
The emergency crew left with Hoffman's sunglasses and iPod, which they placed in a bag, believing that the items belonged to Dempster. The belongings have since been returned to the actor, who owns a $16 million home in nearby Kensington.
Following the incident last month Dempster was transported to a hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery after a life-saving heart operation.
"I have no memory of what happened. The paramedics told me I had been saved by Dustin Hoffman. It's unbelievable," he said. "I want to say 'Thank you' to Dustin Hoffman. He saved my life."
In the 1992 comedy-drama "Hero," Hoffman played a petty criminal who anonymously rescues survivors of a plane crash then sees another man take the credit.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Border Patrol unveils first new strategy in 8 years
SAN DIEGO â€"  The U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday unveiled its first national strategy in eight years, a period in which the number of agents more than doubled and apprehensions of people entering illegally from Mexico dropped to a 40-year low.Â
The new approach -- outlined in a 32-page document that took more than two years to develop -- uses buzzwords like "risk-based" and "intelligence-driven" to describe a more nuanced, targeted response to constantly evolving threats.Â
The Border Patrol previously relied on a strategy that blanketed heavily trafficked corridors for illegal immigrants with agents, pushing migrants to more remote areas where they would presumably be easier to capture and discouraged from trying again.Â
"The jury, for me at least, is out on whether that's a solid strategy," Chief Mike Fisher told The Associated Press.Â
The new strategy draws on intelligence to identify repeat crossers and to try to determine why they keep coming, said Fisher, who was expected to address a House subcommittee on the plan Tuesday.Â
"This whole risk-based approach is trying to figure out who are these people? What risk do they pose from a national security standpoint? The more we know, the better informed we are about identifying the threat and potential risk," he said in a recent interview.Â
Conditions on the border have changed dramatically since the last national strategy, putting pressure on the agency to adapt to a new landscape. An unprecedented hiring boom more than doubled the number of agents to 21,000 since 2004, accompanied by heavy spending on fencing, cameras, sensors and other gizmos.Â
At the same time, migration from Mexico has slowed significantly. Last year, the Border Patrol made 327,577 apprehensions on the Mexican border, down 80 percent from more than 1.6 million in 2000. It was the slowest year since 1971.Â
The Pew Hispanic Center reported last month that the largest wave of migrants from a single country in U.S. history had stopped increasing and may have reversed.Â
The new strategy moves to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment.Â
The Border Patrol now feels it has enough of a handle to begin imposing more serious consequences on almost everyone it catches from Texas' Rio Grande Valley to San Diego. In January, it expanded its "Consequence Delivery System" to the entire border, dividing border crossers into seven categories, ranging from first-time offenders to people with criminal records.Â
Punishments vary by region but there is a common thread: Simply turning people around after taking their fingerprints is the choice of last resort. Some, including children and the medically ill, will still get a free pass by being turned around at the nearest border crossing, but they will be few and far between.Â
The new strategy makes no mention of expanding fences and other physical barriers, a departure from the administration of President George W. Bush. Fisher said he would rule out more fences but, "It's not going to be part of our mantra."Â
The strategy makes only brief mention of technology in the wake of a failed $1 billion program that was supposed to put a network of cameras, ground sensors and radars along the entire border. Fisher said the agency is moving more toward mobile surveillance like unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters.Â
"We're still trying to understand what the capabilities are with all the technologies and the platforms," Fisher said. "I'm just trying to figure out what is the best suite on all this stuff."Â
The strategy makes it a top priority to ferret out corrupt agents, which has emerged as a growing threat as the agency has expanded.Â
It is the Border Patrol's third national strategy since 1994, when the agency poured resources into the San Diego and El Paso, Texas, areas. That effort pushed migrants to remote mountains and deserts and made Arizona the nation's busiest crossing for illegal crossings.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Colorado student critically injured after diving off roof
A Colorado State University student is in critical condition after attempting to jump from the top of a three-story apartment complex Saturday into a swimming pool after onlookers urged him not to attempt the plunge, 9News.com reported.
The channel identified the student as Ian Smith, a sophomore. Smith suffered a laundry list of injuries, including broken heels, broken ankles and multiple broken vertebrae in his lower back, the report said.
Amateur video appears to show Smith climbing onto the roof of the building and without hesitation taking the leap. He fell feet-first and slammed into the concrete surrounding the pool before rolling into the water. One witness told the station that she saw a “pool of blood†after the jump.
"It definitely made me sick," Brittany Polliard, a witness to the jump, told 9News.com. Witnesses told the station that Smith appeared to be drinking before the jump.
"I don't even feel bad for the kid because who thinks to get on a roof and run off into a 6-foot deep pool?" one woman told the channel. "I mean, even if he had made it into the pool, it wouldn't have been good."
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Thai man jailed for anti-royalty text dies, lawyer says
A 62-year-old Thai man who became known as "Uncle SMS" after he was convicted of defaming Thailand's royal family in text messages died Tuesday while serving his 20-year prison term.
The case of Amphon Tangnoppakul, a grandfather who had suffered from cancer, drew attention to Thailand's severe lese majeste law last November when he received one of the heaviest-ever sentences for someone accused of insulting the monarchy.
As news of his death spread, about 40 demonstrators gathered outside Bangkok's Central Criminal Court holding signs denouncing the defamation law and holding leaflets saying "Uncle is dead. Who killed him?"
His wife, Rosmalin Tangnoppakul, learned of his death while trying to visit him Tuesday at the Bangkok prison where he was being held. Friends later consoled her at a prison reception area while she burned and incense stick and prayed.
"Amphon Tangnoppakul, you can come home now," she said. "You're free now. Come home!"
The cause of Amphon's death early Tuesday was not immediately known, but he had complained of stomach pains on Friday and was transferred to a correctional department hospital, his lawyer Anon Numpa said. Officials planned an autopsy on Wednesday, the lawyer said.
Amphon was arrested in August 2010 and accused of using a mobile phone to send four text messages to a government official that were deemed offensive to the queen. He denied sending them, however, and said he didn't even know how to use the SMS function on his telephone to send texts.
He wept during his court proceedings, saying, "I love the King."
The sentence was believed to be the heaviest ever received in a lese majeste case because of additional penalties issued under a related law, the 2007 Computer Crimes Act.
Before his arrest, Amphon had lived with his wife, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren in a rented room in Samut Prakan province, on the outskirts of Bangkok. He was retired and suffered from cancer of the mouth.
Opponents of the lese majeste law -- known as Article 112 -- have been seeking its reform or abolition, but have met with fierce opposition by royalists.
"He was the victim of this draconian law, Article 112," said Suda Rangkupan, a Chulalongkorn University lecturer and member of the group Friends of Thai Political Prisoners. "And we also want to show to the court ... to the Thai court, that this death was caused by injustice in Thailand."
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Teen Mags Hurting Teen Girls?
According to thousands of young girls, Seventeen magazine isn't helping the teens it targets. Instead, they say its airbrushing policies and subject matter are doing more harm than good.
Julia Bluhm, who turned 14 last month, launched a petition on Change.org asking the monthly magazine to commit to printing one totally unaltered photo spread per month. The petition has attracted almost 60,000 signatures.Â
After being overwhelmed by the number of fellow high-schoolers in her ballet class lamenting their “fat days†and the seemingly impossible quest to be “pretty,†Bluhm realized that the images she saw in the iconic monthly magazine did not represent real adolescent females, and contributed to unattainable ideals.
"Those ‘pretty women' that we see in magazines are fake"
- Julia Bluhm, 14
“Here's what lots of girls don't know. Those ‘pretty women' that we see in magazines are fake. They are often Photoshopped, air-brushed, edited to look thinner, and to appear like they have perfect skin. A girl you see in a magazine probably looks a lot different in real life,†Bluhm said. “For the sake of all the struggling girls all over America, who read Seventeen and think these fake images are what they should be, I'm stepping up. I know how hurtful these photo shopped images can be.â€
Last week, Bluhm hand-delivered the petition to Seventeen's editor-in-chief, Ann Shoket, and held a mock photo shoot outside the magazine's New York City headquarters, in which she urged girls love their bodies “just the way they are.â€
Shoket then met with Bluhm and her mother, and invited the young activist to work with the editorial team on the forthcoming issue.
Seventeen did not respond to Fox411.com's request for further comment, but in a statement a rep said the magazine was “proud of Julia for being so passionate about an issue â€" it's exactly the kind of attitude we encourage in our readers,†claiming “there is no other magazine that highlights such a diversity of size, shape, skin tone and ethnicity.â€Â
However, the Hearst-published magazine has yet to accede to Bluhm's demands. And even if it did, some wonder why tween and teen-orientated magazines are airbrushed at all.
“I have a daughter who will not be allowed to read magazines like 17 unless they portray real girls as they are,†one woman commented on the petition, while another questioned: “Why only one spread a month? What is wrong with reality 24/7?â€
Human behavior expert Dr. Patrick Wanis says teens naturally struggle with their identity, and that this struggle is made more difficult by airbrushed magazines creating unattainable images.
“They see these and they look in the mirror and that leads to more self-loathing, eating disorders and even suicide,†he continued. “Teen magazines need to be promoting all-natural beauty.â€
However, model Jaime Hilfiger argues that a moderate airbrushing to correct minor skin imperfections is acceptable.
“Even ‘unaltered' photo spreads are still not ‘real' due to the affects of lighting, positioning and other basic elements that are needed for a photo shoot, so there is still a question of ‘realness' even if there's no airbrushing,†she explained. “And while photo spreads with no airbrushing are extreme, I can appreciate the petition because, as we continue to raise questions about body image, etc., it creates a dialogue.â€
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for free e-mail news alerts from FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com.
Article from FOXNEWS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)