Friday, October 18, 2013


Poll: Amid shutdown, Republican falls further behind in race for Va. governor

A new NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll finds Republican Ken Cuccinelli slipping further behind Democrat Terry McAuliffe, 46 to 38 percent in the race for Virginia governor among likely voters. That’s 3 points wider than McAuliffe’s 43 to 38 percent lead a month ago -- before the shutdown. Libertarian Robert Sarvis gets 9 percent.

Virginia was one of the top states impacted by the shutdown -- with hundreds of thousands of federal workers, contractors, and military service members and retirees in the state. And a majority (54 percent) in the poll blames Republicans for the shutdown. Just 31 percent of likely voters blame President Barack Obama.
Four-in-10 – 39 percent – said either they or a family member has been affected by the shutdown, whether it’s employment, services or benefits.
Many say the shutdown will have an impact on their vote -- 38 percent of registered voters said it would have a major impact on it; 21 percent said it would have a minor one. Among respondents who said it has had a major impact on their vote, McAuliffe is winning them 55-27 percent. Among those who say it is a minor issue, McAuliffe also leads, 52-33 percent.

The Republican Party brand appears to be badly damaged in the commonwealth – 62 percent said they had an unfavorable view of the party, while just 33 percent said they viewed the party favorably. Among independents, it was even worse. By a 71-23 percent margin, the GOP was viewed negatively.
The Democratic Party and President Obama get better scores – 45-50 percent unfavorable for the party, 50-48 percent favorable for Obama.
Cuccinelli, the Tea Party-aligned attorney general, has been outspent on the airwaves 2-to-1 since the shutdown, and he has seen his likability rating take a hit. A majority now say they view him negatively (37-54 percent) up from 49 percent a month ago. By contrast, McAuliffe is 44-43 percent favorable. (His negative rating, however, is also up 7 points from last month

“It’s not that independents are enamored with McAuliffe,” Miringoff said, “they just dislike Cuccinelli more.”
And that just might be the theme of this campaign.
“When you have a majority viewing you negatively, it’s hard to win an election,” said Barbara Carvalho, who also helped conduct the poll. “It’s not that McAuliffe has closed the deal, it’s that he’s the lesser of two evils.”

Cucinelli is a Tea Party candidate, according to this article. I do hope the Tea Party will generally come to be seen as irresponsible and extreme by the majority of registered voters. The shutdown was unnerving and totally unnecessary. They have also tried to hold up the budget and the country's ability to pay its bills before. This “hostage-taking” ploy should be against the rules of the congress, so that they can't do that again.


Former top Pentagon lawyer is Obama pick for DHS

Senior administration officials confirm that President Barack Obama has chosen former Defense Department general counsel Jeh Johnson to succeed Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary.
Obama is expected to formally nominate Johnson for the position on Friday. If confirmed, Johnson, 56, would become the first African-American to lead DHS. 
As the Pentagon's top lawyer from 2009 until last year, Johnson was at the center of many of the Obama administration's major decisions on issues like counterterrorism, the use of drones, and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.
He co-authored a report that helped pave the way for repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military. 

He also won headlines in 2012 for a speech at Oxford University for describing a future "tipping point" at which al Qaeda would be so weakened that it would be unable to mount an attack on the United States and would be "effectively destroyed." 
During the Clinton Administration, Johnson served as the general counsel of the Department of the Air Force from 1998 to 2001. Previously, he has also served an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York.
He left the Pentagon last year to return to New York law firm Paul Weiss. In his role there, he has represented Citigroup and Gillette, among other major companies, according to the firm's web site. 
Napolitano stepped down in early September to lead the University of California system. The department has been without a leader for six weeks, prompting many to call for a swift nomination and confirmation of a new secretary. 

The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell was a good decision, it seems to me. People if left to their own devices will only occasionally move to increase justice for all. There is a wider appreciation of gay rights now in the society as a whole, so hopefully the new policy will be peacefully received by the soldiers.

As for the use of drones, that is not such a good policy, to me. Drones can be targeted inaccurately, killing people who are not the enemy. The only thing I can say about it is that it seems to generate less complaint from foreign governments than sending in soldiers would. I only hope it is really helpful in eliminating active terrorists. I noticed the young Pakistani woman Malala, in the NBC article below, spoke up against the use of drones.


Ancient rock formation's destruction could draw charges against Utah men

Two men congratulate each other after one toppled a rock formation in Utah's Goblin Valley State Park. The image is taken from a video that was posted on a Facebook page of one of the three men who appear in the video.

Authorities in Utah are considering criminal charges against a group of men who gleefully shoved a boulder off its perch in a state park — and disturbed a rock formation that park officials say is 170 million years old.
The men, identified by The Salt Lake Tribune as Boy Scout leaders, recorded the antics, and cheered and high-fived after they toppled the rock. As one of the men was jostling the boulder loose, the cameraman sang a 1990 dance-party hit: “Wiggle it — just a little bit.”

The cameraman shows how the boulder, in Goblin Valley State Park, was perched on a small ledge that appears no more than a foot or two wide.
“Some little kid was about ready to walk down here and die,” the cameraman says, “and Glenn saved his life by getting the boulder out of the way.” Glenn is shown striking a pro wrestling-style strongman pose.
“We have now modified Goblin Valley,” says the cameraman, identified by local news outlets as Dave Hall.
Utah authorities did not see it that way. County and state prosecutors are considering criminal charges, Eugene Swalberg, a spokesman for the Utah state parks, told the Deseret News newspaper.
“This is not behavior that is appreciated or should exist in state parks,” he said. “This has been formed for literally millions of years, and it’s supposed to last for a long time. It doesn’t need individuals doing the work of Mother Nature.”
Swalberg said the rock formations, known as goblins for their shape, date to the Jurassic Era.
Hall, the cameraman, and Glenn Taylor, his companion, told the newspaper that they meant no harm.
“Neither one of us were out there intending to do illegal activity,” Hall told the Deseret News. “It just made sense to us at the time — remove the danger so that we don’t have to hear about somebody dying.”
Taylor said: “If we were defacing property, if we had been going around knocking over all kinds of rocks, I would feel really guilty. As it is, I feel guilty because I have a conscience. But my conscience also says I did the right thing.”


Utah rock vandals 'reprehensible,' say Boy Scouts officials

The Boy Scouts of America blasted two Utah leaders who gleefully toppled a boulder from a Jurassic-era rock formation in a state park and said they could face punishment by the organization, in addition to possible criminal charges.
“We are shocked and disappointed by this reprehensible behavior," Deron Smith, a spokesman for the venerable scouting group, said in a statement on Friday as police and prosecutors investigated the incident.
Smith said the 3.7 million children and adults who participate in scouting are supposed to adhere to the principle of "Leave No Trace" when exploring the great outdoors.
"The isolated actions of these individuals are absolutely counter to our beliefs and what we teach," Smith said. "We are reviewing this matter and will take appropriate action.”

Thank goodness the officials of the Boy Scouts intervened quickly. At the very least, the men in question should be removed from a position of influence over young boys.



Rhinos to get microchips in horns as Kenya fights poachers

Conservationists in Kenya are to implant microchips in the horns of the country's rhinos in its fight against increasingly sophisticated poachers.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said it will use the chips along with DNA records to track the country's dwindling rhino population, which is thought to be around 1,000.
It hopes the technology will protect living rhinos - and also provide evidence when it comes to bringing poachers to justice in court.
“This is the first time have used technology or done anything like this to try to preserve the rhino population,” said Robert Magori, Kenya’s spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which donated the microchips to the KWS. “It is a unique way of tackling our increasing problem with poachers.”

The WWF on Wednesday handed over more than 1,000 microchips and five scanners, allowing the KWS to deploy tracking systems to monitor every rhino in Kenya. The equipment cost around $15,000 but tranquilizing the rhinos and fitting the technology will cost considerably more.
“This will serve to strengthen rhino monitoring, protect the animals on site and also support anti-trafficking mechanisms, nationally and regionally,” a statement from the KWS said.
The system will work by putting one microchip in the rhino’s horn and one in its body. If a horn is removed, investigators will be able to track it around the world and match it to the body.
Magori said the KWS and WWF had to take decisive action because the number of rhinos being poached in Kenya, like in other African countries, has been rising dramatically in recent years.
Conservationists estimate that their horns can sell for $65,000 per kilogram -- more expensive than gold. Each rhino's horn weighs between 1 - 3 kilograms.
Rhino horns were once widely sought after to make dagger handles and Chinese fever medicine, but these were regulated and poaching figures were down worldwide by the late 1990s.
However, a rumor that a Vietnamese politician cured his cancer by eating rhino horn has caused the demand in South East Asia to surge once more.
In South Africa, where there are some 22,000 rhinos, poaching has skyrocketed. If the current trend continues, more than 1,000 rhinos could be poached there in 2014.

“We are facing an even greater challenge because the poachers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They have night-vision goggles and long-range rifles.”
He said that not only had poaching become more common, but cases are being seen in areas previously considered to be safe.
In August, poachers shot dead a white rhino in the national park in Nairobi - once thought to be one of Kenya’s best-guarded areas.

Hopefully the placing of a microchip in the horns will be enough to discourage poachers. Will it make the horn be worth less on the black market, or help to catch the poachers? Popular Chinese medicine cures are the cause of other animals becoming endangered, too. Tigers and bears have been poached for this reason, and of course elephant ivory is also sold for a high price. Gorilla hands are considered magical by some African people, causing them to be killed. Modern society hasn't become uniformly enlightened just because computers can be found among the more undeveloped populations in many places. Folklore and magic still exist, and just as the early North American tribes are widely thought to have killed off the mammoths, humans still wreak havoc around the world without regard for the loss of species. It makes me sad to think about it. It's one of those things that I can't do much about, though.


FBI, NYPD Make 2nd Terror-Related Arrest in Investigation Involving Former Long Island High School Student

Federal agents and local police have made a second terror-related arrest in connection with an ongoing investigation involving an 18-year-old former Long Island high school student who admitted helping terrorists abroad earlier this year, law enforcement sources said.
The FBI, NYPD and prosecutors are not commenting on Friday morning's arrest or the suspect's identity. One official said there will be a court hearing later in the day.
NBC 4 New York has learned this case is connected to the arrest of Justin Kaliebe, of Babylon, who pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists Feb. 8. He was arrested in January after trying to fly to Yemen to help al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula wage "violent jihad." 
Kaliebe was a student at Babylon High School at the time.
Kaliebe pleaded guilty after being caught on tape. Court records show he met with others on Long Island about plans to help kill Americans overseas. 
Investigators had said Kaliebe approached an undercover officer about joining a terror group and admitted he followed teachings of terrorist Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman — the blind sheik tied to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
In secret recordings, Kaliebe claimed he wanted to travel to Yemen to fight the “Yemeni army” and to kill “those who are fighting against the Sharia of Allah … whether it’s the U.S. drones or their puppets,” prosecutors said.
Kaliebe then allegedly said he hoped he could die fighting for his terrorist cause. In a July 9 recording, officials said he praised Osama bin Laden for showing how to bring “an entire nation to its knees.”

At least the authorities seem to be catching some of the would-be terrorists who keep appearing in our society. This boy was only 18 years old – grown in body but not in mind. They are probably seeking adventure, though that age is also prone to impulsive religious conversions and joining authoritarian groups who will do the thinking for them. It gives them a place to fit into without the work of getting a job and learning to live as an adult.



Fiscal deal opens door to big tax and entitlement changes

“While a lot of the news focused on the aspects of the deal that ended the shutdown and prevented default, the plan also calls for an agreement by mid-December on a long-term budget plan.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday that under his agreement with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, the two leaders would name members to a bicameral budget conference committee “that will set our country on a long-term path to fiscal sustainability.”

The House and Senate each have already passed their own conflicting versions of a budget plan for 2014. The aim of this committee would be to come up with a compromise budget blueprint which would then be put to a vote in each House.
This blueprint could be the vehicle for major policy changes intended to reduce budget deficits and debt. These might include tax increases and curbs in the entitlement programs such as Medicare.
The budget plan could also include a relaxation of the cuts in discretionary spending -- the sequester -- that are required by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

The ultimate deal may end up looking like the one that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., proposed last week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “We could provide relief from the discretionary spending levels in the Budget Control Act in exchange for structural reforms to entitlement programs.”
Ryan -- who would be a leader of the conference committee -- said what he has in mind “isn’t a grand bargain,” but “modest reforms to entitlement programs and the tax code.”
He noted approvingly that Obama has already called for wealthier retirees to pay higher premiums for their Medicare coverage than they now do.
A filibuster-proof fast track to reform
Under Senate rules, a budget resolution is subject to a special fast-track process. The rules do not allow a member -- Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or any other senator -- to use a filibuster to block it. This fast-track process is called “budget reconciliation.”
“Probably the most important part of budget reconciliation is that a reconciliation bill can approve policy reforms with only 51 votes in the Senate,” said Loren Adler, the research director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. This fast-track process “could be critical in increasing the chances for tax reform” and reform of entitlement programs to succeed.
Adler added, “Now that we have lawmakers back to the negotiating table, this is our best opportunity to enact a deal to reform our entitlements and tax code, restore investments and put our debt on a sustainable downward path as a share of the economy.”
Of course, there’s no guarantee that the conference committee members will be able to agree on a plan.
Taking a pessimistic view was Jason Fichtner, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University who served as chief economist of the Social Security Administration.
“We’ve been here before,” Fichtner said. “How can we seriously expect any new conference committee to resolve the same difficult decisions that faced the (2011) Super Committee, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (a.k.a. Simpson-Bowles) and have faced the House and Senate that resulted in this government shutdown in the first place? We can’t.”

In particular, Republicans did not get:
Immediate agreed-to entitlement spending reductions or curbs, which was one of House Speaker John Boehner’s demands in return for increasing the debt limit.
A defunding of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, a goal of Cruz and his conservative allies, or a delay in Obamacare’s individual mandate, the requirement that uninsured people buy health insurance.
A repeal of or delay in the medical device tax, a part of the Affordable Care Act designed to raise money to help pay the cost of insuring uninsured people. That tax will cost medical device manufacturers and importers $32.5 billion over the next ten years. 
Ending the policy of the federal government paying a share of health insurance costs for members of Congress and congressional employees, an idea championed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

While I see the need for less spending, I hope the cuts won't all be aimed at the poor. I would agree that Congress could give up their health insurance subsidies since most of them are wealthy, but I see that item is not on the list of agreements --- surprise, surprise! Maybe the wealthy could afford to lose some of their income tax loopholes, too. The countries that have the best social safety nets also have much higher taxes. It takes a lot of money to run the government for such a populous nation as ours. A big country needs a big government. Still maybe they can make some cuts. We shouldn't keep borrowing from China forever.

I would like to see whatever bill they come up with to have no unrelated attachments that can cause the whole budget to be voted down. While they are making new and stricter rules about what Congress can do, they should outlaw these miscellaneous additions that are put on in the last hours before the vote. If a bill isn't strong enough to go through on its own merits, it should be voted down.


Just being born triggers development of senses in brain

The mere act of being born triggers development of the brain's sensory system, new research shows.
In a mouse study, the birthing process caused levels of a brain chemical called serotonin to drop, triggering the formation of the brain's sensory maps that organize input from vision, touch and other senses. The findings could help scientists understand healthy human brain development and mental illness, the researchers say.
"Our results clearly demonstrate that birth has active roles in brain formation and maturation," study leader Hiroshi Kawasaki of Kanazawa University in Japan said in a statement. [11 Surprising Facts About a Baby's Brain]
The brains of humans, mice and other mammals are equipped with maps for processing different types of sensory information. For example, the barrel cortex in rodents represents tactile information from the whiskers, and the layout of the neurons in that map mirrors the layout of whiskers on the animal's face.
Previously, researchers found that the brain chemical serotonin, the target of many depression medications, also plays a role in the development of sensory maps. But serotonin's exact involvement was not well understood.
Now, Kawasaki and his team have found the birthing process in mice causes a dip in serotonin in their brains, which triggers new neural wiring in the barrel cortex and the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a brain region involved in visual processing. The researchers ruled out several other possible causes of the barrel cortex formation, such as increased tactile input after birth, or the release of the pups from their mamas (rather than the actual birthing process).
When the researchers gave the pregnant mice drugs to induce an early birth or lower their serotonin levels, circuits in the barrel cortex and LGN in the resulting newborn mice formed faster. But when they gave the mice a drug that boosted serotonin signaling, those circuits didn't form.
The findings, detailed Monday in the journal Developmental Cell, suggest that reducing serotonin levels is key to healthy sensory map development.
Mental disorders often involve serotonin, so abnormal births and the effects on serotonin signaling might increase the risk of psychiatric illness, the researchers say. Once scientists understand the full effects of serotonin during birth, they may be able to develop therapies to reduce the risk of these illnesses, Kawasaki said.

So probably premature births won't be mentally deficient, at least. Nature has set up a survival characteristic even though the baby is premature. Psychologists have made great progress in knowledge of brain function and maladies since they began to be experimental rather than simply doing Freudian talk therapy and the horrible conditions in mental hospitals in the early part of the 1900's, such as lobotomy and electroshock therapy. Some people are against medicating mental patients, for instance the Scientologists, but when the medications are correctly prescribed they produce much better results than simple talk therapy alone, and are ever so much better than lobotomy. Using talk therapy as well can't hurt, of course.


Malala: I had to miss school to meet the queen
Malala Yousafzai, the teenage Pakistani activist who has risked her life campaigning for girls’ right to education, took a rare holiday from school on Friday when she met with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. 
“I had to miss school because I was meeting the queen,” she told reporters at the event. “It's such an honor for me to be here at Buckingham Palace. It's really an honor to meet the queen. I also wanted to raise the issue of girls not being educated on a higher platform so that the government in each country takes action on it. We need to fight for education in the suffering countries and developing countries, but also here.”
Malala, 16, and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, chatted with the queen and Prince Philip as they joined hundreds of other guests from around the world at a royal reception. The young activist presented the queen with a copy of her new memoir, “I Am Malala.” She giggled as Prince Philip joked that in England, parents want their children to go to school so they can get them out of the house. 
Malala has been living in Great Britain since undergoing major surgery there following the shooting. A week before greeting the queen, she met with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House. She released a statement challenging the U.S. on drone strikes in Pakistan and saying more effort should be put into promoting education in her home nation. On Oct. 8, she released her memoir, in which she writes about the shooting and her determination to keep advocating for education for young girls in Pakistan.
“The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died,’’ she told the United Nations in July. “Strength, power and courage was born. I am not against anyone, neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I’m here to speak up for the right of education for every child. I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists.”
Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was shot by the Taliban for speaking out against Pakistani militants and promoting education for girls.

This young girl is showing great courage, since the Taliban have said that they will try again to kill her. I hope she doesn't go back to Pakistan.

It's 1:18. There are no more interesting news headlines, so I'll finish my coffee and read my book. 3:37 I've been to the library, the grocery store and the drugstore. I also bought a “double stacker” at Wendy's and got a free small Frosty. I got three non-fiction books, a mystery and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, which I've read, but it's been 40 years since I did. I'll settle in to read my fantasy mystery now.