Thursday, December 12, 2013
CONTACT ME AT: manessmorrison2@yahoo.com


News Clips For The Day



Honeymoon over for gay couples after Australia overturns fledgling same-sex marriage law – NBC
By Thuy Ong, Reuters

SYDNEY — The honeymoon was short-lived for Australia's gay couples who married in the past five days after the High Court overturned new same-sex marriage laws on Thursday, invalidating wedding ceremonies performed since Saturday.

Western Australian politician Stephen Dawson, right, gives his husband Dennis Liddelow a kiss after they married in front of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Dec. 7.

"This is devastating for those couples who married this week and for their families," Australian Marriage Equality National Director Rodney Croome said in a statement.
Around 20 gay couples had tied the knot since December 7, when Australia's first same-sex marriage laws came into force in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The first ceremonies were celebrated a minute after midnight (8 a.m. ET Friday).

"I don't want to be unmarried this afternoon," Ivan Hinton, who married his partner Chris Teoh in the national capital Canberra, told Australian media outside the High Court.

Australia's conservative national government had challenged the law in the High Court on the grounds it conflicted with federal law. On Thursday, the court upheld the challenge and unanimously decided that the ACT law was invalid.

The court said the issue of same-sex marriage was a matter for the national parliament. Laws to legalize same-sex marriage failed to pass in the national parliament in September 2012.

"This is just a temporary defeat," said a defiant Croome. "What is far more important is that the ACT's law facilitated the first same-sex marriage on Australian soil and showed the nation the love and commitment of same-sex couples," he said.
Other countries where same-sex marriages are completely legal include Canada, Spain, Sweden and New Zealand, which in April became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage.


Gays and lesbians are slowly gaining the right to marriage in the US on a state by state basis, with the IRS recognizing them as of September 23, 2013 if they are recognized in their own state. Insurance coverage is also proceeding state by state. Statistically, see a long article by the Pew Research Center on web site http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/20/growing-support-for-gay-marriage-changed-minds-and-changing-demographics/, which states: “Two-thirds of Americans (66%) say they think same-sex couples should have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples; just 30% disagree.” Those who disagree do so largely for religious reasons.





Newtown anniversary: School in Chicago suburb leads the way in keeping kids safe – NBC
By Jeff Rossen, Josh Davis and Jovanna Billington

Don’t visit Viola Nelson Elementary School in Niles, Ill., if there’s a warrant out for your arrest. All guests must present a photo ID. before they can get past the staffer at the school’s locked doors, and when they do a computer runs an instant criminal background check.

As the anniversary of Newtown looms, security experts say the grade school in suburban Chicago is a model of the sort of technology, security training and forethought that can prevent a worst-case scenario.

“What the Nelson School is doing is absolutely correct,” said safety consultant Sal Lifrieri, a former director of security at the New York City Office of Emergency Management. “They understand the reality and are taking the steps necessary to protect students.”

“We’re not expecting schools to do the impossible, we’re expecting them to do what’s reasonable,” said Dr. Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center, “and this is a good example of that.”

East Maine School District 63 has committed $5 million to add extra security to Nelson and its six other schools, which together serve more than 3,600 students.
Visitors to Nelson find that when they go through the school’s front doors, they’re actually entering a security vestibule. On the other side of the vestibule are the doors to the school area itself, which are locked. Inside the vestibule is a window where visitors must present their i.d. to a secretary.

After the background check, via software called Raptor, an approved visitor gets an i.d. badge.  In case of an emergency, the secretary can pull down a bullet-resistant gate. The secretary can also hit a panic-button under her desk and alert local police. In fact, there’s a panic button in every single classroom.

Nelson Principal Jean LeBlanc said the technology doesn’t interfere with the school’s mission. “Most of what we have in place here, the kids don’t really even notice,” said LeBlanc. “They don’t necessarily see all the things that we have in place. They just focus on student learning.”

At least as important as Raptor and the panic buttons, however, are the measures that require very little technology, like lockdown drills, which Nelson Elementary conducts on a regular basis. Security experts say that lockdown drills are the most effective protection against intruders.

Students are trained to stay close to each other and to their teacher. They’re supposed to gather in a corner and stay out of sight and silent. Classroom doors are locked, the shades come down, and the lights go off.

Two students told NBC News that the drills made them feel safe.

Olivia, also in fifth grade, said she understood why the drills were necessary. “It was pretty terrifying and sad what happened to Sandy Hook,” she said. “The world is kind of scary, so it can happen, and we have to be prepared.”

But security experts noted that school security is about much more than school shootings, which, though tragic, are rare.

Said Lifrieri, “On a daily basis schools deal with sexual predators, custodial interference, and other dangerous matters. …These systems like [background] checks and lockdown drills are very effective to combat these risks.”

At one of the schools in Nelson Elementary’s district, in fact, the new Raptor software addressed one of those risks. The background check system identified a deliveryman as a registered sex offender. He was stopped before he could get anywhere near the students.


It's too bad that such extensive school security should be necessary, but the world that allowed me as a child to roam daily with my dog in the woods behind my house is no longer in place. Children are kidnapped on their way to and from school or on neighborhood errands, and school shootings have been occurring more often in recent years. According to this article the students are not bothered by the security, but rather feel better for it. Children often have fears that they have to overcome – there's a monster under the bed, for instance – and these real life fears must be adding stress to their daily life. Olivia, a fifth grader quoted in this article says: “The world is kind of scary, so it can happen, and we have to be prepared.” It's sad that this is her reality.




GOP poised for overnight talkathon to protest filibuster rules change – NBC
By Kasie Hunt, NBC News


The Senate is set to spend Wednesday night debating executive nominees as Republicans protest Democratic attempts to force Obama administration nominations through in the wake of last month's change in the filibuster rules.

An aide to Sen. Harry Reid says the majority leader is prepared to keep the Senate in session around the clock from now until Saturday to approve 10 executive nominations. Republicans have prepared an all-night talkathon that will force a rare 1 a.m. vote on Nina Pillard's nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court.

After that, another cloture vote would be scheduled for approximately 5 a.m. Security officials protecting Senate leaders have been informed of the change and had their shifts adjusted to prepare for the overnight schedule.

The Republicans' move is in retaliation to Reid's deployment of the so-called "nuclear" option. Last month, Reid and Senate Democrats changed the filibuster rules so that executive and judicial nominations (except for Supreme Court appointments) only require a simple majority of votes to be confirmed. Previously, 60 votes were required.

"Anyone who bought the line that the nuclear option would make the Senate more efficient, well, that's just not the case," a Senate Republican leadership aide said.
Earlier this week, Reid set up a formal debating process on a package of 10 nominees, including Jeh Johnson, President Barack Obama's pick to head the Department of Homeland Security. Those nominees have differing requirements for how many hours of debate each much be subjected to before a vote; some require just four, but Johnson, as a Cabinet nominee, requires 30 hours of debate.

Typically, both sides give up some of that time – or both sides agree to dispense with the required time and move more quickly than the rules say they can. But Republicans are vowing to use all of theirs to protest the rule change. If that happens, Democrats say, the Senate could be in continuous overnight session until Saturday evening.

Under the rules, while the nominations are being considered, all other business would grind to a halt. The chamber wouldn't move forward on the budget deal or a major defense authorization bill until after the nomination votes are finished. Senate committees would be allowed to meet for only 2 hours a day.


When I read things like this I see why both the Senate and Congress seem so disorganized and inefficient. It's all a game with arcane rules that reminds me of a wrestling match with two mega-sized opponents each grappling for his hold on the other, until one is immobilized. Debate and voting are finally allowed to occur after hours of nonsense have elapsed. It almost makes it impossible for well-crafted laws to emerge.





Fraternity says hazing ritual that killed Baruch College pledge was banned – NBC
By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

A national fraternity said Thursday said it is suspending some activities for all chapters after a freshman pledge from Baruch College in New York City was killed during a "prohibited" hazing event over the weekend.

Chun Hsien "Michael" Deng, a pledge for the Pi Delta Psi frat, suffered "major brain trauma" Sunday while taking part in a ritual that required recruits to wear a blindfold, wear a weighted bag and run a gauntlet while being repeatedly pushed, shoved and knocked down, police said.

"Our early understanding is that this incident occurred at an unsanctioned event that was strictly prohibited by our organization," Andy Meng, national president of the fraternity, said in a statement.

"As a result of this incident we are immediately suspending all new member education nationwide until further notice."

Deng, 19, had traveled from Baruch's Manhattan campus to a rented house in the Poconos with at least 20 other members of Pi Delta Psi, which describes itself as an Asian-American cultural organization.

Baruch College in Manhattan is part of the City University of New York.
Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief Harry Lewis told NBC News that pledges were told they had to get from one point to another with their eyes covered while carrying a load while others came at them.

The activity is similar to hazing rituals commonly known as "the gauntlet" that have been implicated in other deaths of college students in recent years, including one at Florida A&M University in 2011 and one at North Carolina's Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2008.

After Deng was knocked unconscious, his frat brothers brought him inside. Although he was unresponsive, there was "a considerable delay" before they drove him to the emergency room, Lewis said.

"Shortly after beginning treatment, physicians determined Deng suffered major brain trauma and he was placed on life support," the Monroe County District Attorney's office said in a news release.

Deng, who graduated from the elite Bronx High School of Science, died Monday morning.
"It's very tragic," Lewis said.

Lewis said police are still waiting for a toxicology report but it does not appear alcohol was a major factor in the incident. No one has been charged, but the investigation is continuing.

Baruch College, part of the City University of New York, said the pledging event was "unsanctioned" and that the school has a "zero-tolerance policy" for hazing.
"Baruch College had no knowledge of this event or that the fraternity was rushing a pledge class," it said in a statement. "Pi Delta Psi did not request permission nor were they approved by Baruch on this matter."

"Michael’s death is a deeply painful reminder that no individual should ever be put into a position where his or her personal safety is in jeopardy."

On its website, Pi Delta Psi says it takes "hazing allegations very seriously."
"Hazing is a charged and stigmatized word within our community. It describes a practice that puts our new members in unnecessary mental and physical harm," the site says.

It's intake, or pledging process, "is rooted in a curriculum that familiarizes our members with Asian American history, contemporary social issues, and role models...While we do keep our ritual practices a secret, our general in-take process is outlined and available upon request. We also maintain a risk management document that outlines restricted practices and subsequent consequences."


There was no racial discrimination going on here, but the local fraternity group stepped outside the bounds of their national organization in having this event. I wonder if such incidents would occur among older and more mature adults, but even as I say that, I recall an incident called “Tail Hook” that occurred in the Air Force some years ago.

I'm just not a “group person.” I can't understand it and I don't approve of such things. It doesn't seem like the act of a group of friends. Of course, the Masons also have their secret initiation rites, and they are supposedly mature people. I've never heard of a Mason being killed in an initiation ritual, however. There's something about swearing fealty, secrecy and having to parrot a group political or philosophical viewpoint that I think are basically outside the American way.





Huge crash on Jupiter's Europa may have delivered life's building blocks – NBC
Megan Gannon Space.com


A new look at data from a NASA spacecraft has revealed evidence of a colossal impact on Jupiter's moon Europa, a collision that may have delivered key minerals and perhaps even the raw ingredients for life, scientists say.

The cosmic crash scene, which NASA billed a "spectacular collision with an asteroid or comet," is the first time claylike minerals have ever been detected on Europa. The discovery is based on a new analysis of images from NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter and is intriguing to scientists because comets and asteroids are often carriers of organic compounds, which can serve as ingredients for primitive life.

"Organic materials, which are important building blocks for life, are often found in comets and primitive asteroids," Jim Shirley, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement Wednesday. "Finding the rocky residues of this comet crash on Europa's surface may open up a new chapter in the story of the search for life on Europa." [Photos: Europa, Mysterious Icy Moon of Jupiter]

Scientists have held that Europa — one of more than 60 moons that circle Jupiter — may be one of the best places to look for extraterrestrial life in our solar system. Beneath its icy outer crust, the moon is thought to be hiding a saltwater ocean. Scientists have suspected that Europa is also home to organic materials, the carbon-based materials that make up the building blocks of life like proteins and DNA.
The new research supports the theory that comet or asteroid impacts could have delivered organic material to Europa. (Other research has suggested that space rocks also brought these seeds of life to Earth.)

This image, using data from NASA's Galileo mission, shows the first detection of claylike minerals on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The claylike minerals appear in blue in the false-color patch of data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Areas rich in water ice appear in red.

Shirley and colleagues made the discovery while looking at 15-year-old near-infrared images from NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in 1995 and circled the gas giant for eight years.

By today's standards, the resolution of the photos is quite low. But with new noise-eliminating techniques, Shirley and colleagues report they were able to see a broken ring of minerals called phyllosilicates about 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide in the landscape of Europa. (Phyllosilicates are claylike minerals that form in the presence of water.)

The researchers say it is unlikely that these phyllosilicates on the surface came from Europa's interior; the moon's thick outer shell, up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) thick in some areas, would present a formidable obstacle. Instead, this broken ring may represent the splash-back of ejected materials scattered over Europa when a space rock hit the moon's surface from a shallow angle, the scientists say.

The phyllosilicate formation was located about 75 miles (120 km) away from the center of a 20-mile-diameter (30 km) crater site, the researchers say. Based on the size of this crater, the researchers think it may have been carved out by a 3,600-foot-wide (1,100 meters) asteroid, or perhaps a 5,600-foot-wide (1,700 meters) comet (similar in size to the recently deceased Comet ISON).

Another JPL scientist, Bob Pappalardo, who is working on a proposed mission to Europa, said researchers will need future missions to the moon to understand the specifics of Europa's chemistry and what it might mean for the possibility of life.
"Understanding Europa's composition is key to deciphering its history and its potential habitability," Pappalardo said in a statement.

The research, which was funded by a NASA Outer Planets Research grant, will be presented on Friday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco


I wonder how scientists can tell that there is a salt sea under the ice? It says they photographed Europa with infrared light and the clay-like minerals show as blue. Wikipedia said of the silicate minerals “The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, constituting approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth. They are classified based on the structure of their silicate group which contain different ratios of silicon and oxygen.” Clay minerals are on earth due to the breakdown of silicates. What do they have to do with forming life? See below the explanation from the following website.

http://geology.about.com/od/minerals/a/aa_sedminerals.htm

Clay minerals are not much to look at, but life on Earth depends on them. At the microscopic level, clays are tiny flakes, like mica but infinitely smaller. At the molecular level, clay is a sandwich made of sheets of silica (SiO4) tetrahedra and sheets of magnesium or aluminum hydroxide (Mg(OH)2 and Al(OH)3). Some clays are a proper three-layer sandwich, a Mg/Al layer between two silica layers, while others are open-face sandwiches of two layers.
What makes clays so valuable for life is that with their tiny particle size and open-faced construction, they have very large surface areas and can readily accept many substitute cations for their Si, Al and Mg atoms. Oxygen and hydrogen are available in abundance. From the viewpoint of living cells, clay minerals are like machine shops full of tools and power hookups. Indeed, even the building blocks of life—amino acids and other organic molecules—are enlivened by the energetic, catalytic environment of clays.