Tuesday, February 11, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Hollywood legend Shirley Temple dead at 85 – CBS
Last Updated Feb 11, 2014

Former child star Shirley Temple died in her Woodside, Calif. home late Monday night at the age of 85, her publicist, Cheryl Kagan says

She died of natural causes, Kagan adds.
She is survived by three children, one grandchild and two great granddaughters.
Temple was more than just "good." She was the most recognizable child star of all-time –funny, wholesome and sometimes even a bit naughty.
 
Temple was one of Hollywood's first superstars. And in the middle of the Great Depression, her on-screen adventures were a much needed diversion.
She made more than 50 movies, most filmed when she was between 4 and 10 years old.
"I think I was the luckiest child in America," she said in 1989.

Shirley Jane Temple was born in 1928. She began her career in a series of short films, called "Baby Burlesques," in which the three-and-a-half-year-old imitated some very grown-up ladies.

In one such film, she said, "I'm Polly Tix.  Boss Flynn sent me over to entertain you."

But it was her sweetness that eventually won out.
A string of hits made her the top movie star of the 1930s, earning $4 million by the time she was 12;  that's the equivalent of $64 million today.

She was known for her dimpled smile and her curls, exactly 56 of them every time, and a work ethic that outpaced most of her adult co-stars -- something she remembered 50 years later when she remarked in 1989, "I started working at 3 and a half, and I learned that time is money, and it's 'work', not 'play."'

Even at a young age, Temple could learn pages of dialogue and complicated steps with some of the best dancers in Hollywood.

And she could turn on the tears at will, never failing to break her audiences' hearts.
She often played an orphan, or the daughter of a single parent, usually changing the lives of those in trouble or despondent.  She could get anyone to do anything for her.
In "The Littlest Rebel," she said to the Abraham Lincoln character, "Mr. President, you won't let them shoot my daddy, will you?"

The real president at the time, Franklin Roosevelt, said, "As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we'll be alright."

Shirley Temple had it all as a child: her own car, an honorary Oscar, but the movie roles started to dry up when the adorable little girl grew into a nice but average-looking teenager.

The money was mostly gone, too, siphoned off by family and advisers. She retired from movie roles at the age of 21, not long after marrying one of her co-stars, John Agar.
But years later, there was an Act Two for Shirley Temple, whehn she became U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.

In 2006, she said, "Little Shirley always helps me open doors.  But if I don't know what to do or what to say or how to perform, then the doors close."
Temple seemed to always know how to perform -- always on-cue with that trademark giggle that made her an on-screen legend.

Among her many achievements, as listed in her official biography:
-- Presented with the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award by Dakota Fanning and Jamie Lee Curtis. (January 2006)

Awarded the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. [January 2006]
U.S. Chief of Protocol
Delegate to the United Nations
Recipient of Kennedy Center Honors
Release of the book, "Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Child Star" by Rita Dubas



Some actors and celebrities are always in the news for the wrong reasons – egging a neighbor's house – but Shirley Temple was one of the child actors who was not half insane. Watching her dance and sing and shake her curls is one of the fondest memories of my young years, along with Dinah Shore, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Raymond Burr, Andy Griffith and a host of others who worked hard at their craft and carried their stardom with grace. The fact that she went on as an adult to become an ambassador shows that she had real intelligence as well. I will miss her.




As clock ticks on debt limit, Republicans rustle up a plan – CBS
By Rebecca Kaplan CBS News February 11, 2014

It took several false starts, but House Republican leaders have finally decided what they want to trade for an increase in the debt ceiling, which must be lifted by the end of the month in order to avoid a default.

At a late-afternoon meeting of the House Republican Conference, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the House would vote Wednesday to raise the debt ceiling, and that he would attach a measure that would undo cuts to the cost-of-living formula for military retirees that were part of the budget deal negotiated last year. The measure, which saved $6 billion, was unpopular among many lawmakers who were uncomfortable with reducing veterans’ benefits.

In order to offset the price tag, the bill would also extend the sequester cuts to 2024, a House leadership aide told CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes.
The big question: will it pass?

There’s doubt on both the Republican and Democratic side. Some Republicans won’t increase the debt ceiling under any conditions, viewing it as a violation of their promise to come to Washington to cut spending.  And Democrats have stood by the White House’s position that they will not negotiate over increasing the debt ceiling, which they view as a fundamental responsibility of the Congress.

“With just days to prevent a default, Congress must act immediately. House Republicans have indicated that they intend to demand concessions in return for not holding our creditworthiness hostage a fourth time. To do so would be foolish and irresponsible. I – and the American people – hope that our Republican colleagues will use the next several days to prevent economic ruin rather than invite it. If they do, we Democrats will help them,” House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., wrote in a U.S. News and World Report op-ed Monday morning.

White House spokesman Jay Carney wouldn’t address possible provisions in his briefing with reporters Monday before Boehner announced his plan.

“I'm not going to get into a ‘what if this were in the bill or that were in the bill,'’’ he said. ‘‘Our position has not changed. It hasn’t changed for a long, long time. We’re not negotiating over Congress’ responsibility to pay its bills.’’
Buoying Boehner’s chances is the fact that some of the House’s most ardent conservatives who have opposed increasing the debt ceiling in the past are signaling that they recognize a fight is futile.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told the Washington Post Wednesday, “There is a pragmatism here…You’ve got to know when to hold them and when to fold them. My assessment is that most of us don’t think it’s the time to fight.”
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, suggested that the best route for the party is to let Democrats bear the brunt of the responsibility in extending borrowing authority, and also the brunt of the blame.

Adding to the sense of urgency is the fact that the House just a handful of working days before Feb. 27, the last day that the Treasury Department’s “extraordinary measures” will allow the U.S. to continue meeting its financial obligations. Lawmakers leave town Wednesday evening for a state work period and won’t return until Feb. 25, just two days before the deadline.

On the Senate side, meanwhile, restoring the full military pensions is a popular idea. Democrats and Republicans joined together, 94 to 0, in a test vote on the measure Monday. Republicans will offer amendments to offset the cuts from other parts of the budget.




Maybe we won't have a super tense cliff-hanger this time. It is clear that the Democrats won a psychological victory when they refused to play ball with the Republicans over the Affordable Care issue. Of course, in stead of the image of a ball game, what happened last time reminded me of a game among teenagers when I was young called “chicken,” in which two delinquent boys faced off against each other with their cars until one of them “chickened out.” Like that game, our country was on a truly dangerous path during the last battle when they closed down the government. I hope we will be spared that this time.





Hikers make rare visit to ice caves of Lake Superior – CBS
By Jamie Yuccas CBS News February 10, 2014

CORNUCOPIA, Wis. -- Each step is a challenge for the thousands making the mile-long hike across ice to an isolated stretch of coastline on Lake Superior. The reward: Caves seem to be covered in crystal and icicles dangle from cliffs two stories high.

 "It's just fantastic," says Jim McLaughlin, of Hayward, Wis. "It's a lot better than we thought it would be."

The one-billion-year-old sandstone is full of cracks. Lake water seeped in and froze on the walls and ceilings. James Fuchs has come twice from Shoreview, Minn.
"It's unique to see water in so many different forms and different colors and the way it's sculpted," he says. "It's just incredible. You couldn't dream this up. You couldn’t have a mind's eye to almost create this. You have to come and see it."
Winter access to the caves is only possible when the ice is thick enough to safely walk on. Conditions haven’t been right for this to happen in five years, and some fear the unusual event could become even rarer.

Thousands have hiked across ice to an isolated stretch of coastline on Lake Superior.
 Although it's been a brutal winter, a study of the Great Lakes ice pack found that over 30 years, it decreased by 70 percent. Park Superintendent Bob Krumenaker points to climate change.
 
Along the coast of Lake Superior, hikers are trekking a mile across the frozen water to see the breathtaking spectacle of ice-covered caves

 "We are referring to the ice cave experience as a truly endangered national park experience, because, like endangered animals, we can't predict its future, and it may not be there," Krumenaker says.

But for those lucky enough to enjoy this year's show, it's a moment frozen in time.
"It's in my mind," Fuchs says. "I won't forget this, it's too special."
A spectacle that ends when winter finally begins its surrender to spring.




I didn't know there was enough very cold weather to cause a phenomenon like this in the “lower 48” states. I wouldn't be able to make a hike across ice like that, but I would love to see it in person. The photograph on the CBS web site looked like a cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites, only it was clear ice – it was very stirring, knowing that the majesty of it is temporary. I also enjoy the festivals of ice in some parts of the world – Japan, for one – in which sculptors carve the ice into beautiful temporary art.




Should plastic shopping bags be banned? – CBS
By Bruce Kennedy Money Watch February 11, 2014

What are we to do about the billions of plastic shopping bags that Americans use – and often throw away – each year?

There have been efforts on a grass-roots level to make something useful out of these discards. A group of Iowans recently made news by collecting plastic bags and crocheting them into plastic mattresses for the homeless.

 But like it or not, plastic shopping bags are a big business in the U.S., and expected to remain that way.

According to a report issued late last year by research group IBEXWorld, the more than 3,300 companies that make up the nation's wholesale paper bag and disposable plastic product sector brought in $69.5 billion in revenue last year.

And while demand for paper packaging and plastic bags is expected to grow over the next five years as the economy revives, environmental concerns over the damage plastic bags can cause might bring some large changes to the market.

The Dallas city council is currently considering a ban on plastic shopping bags. And on New Year's Day Los Angeles became the biggest U.S. city to ban single-use plastic bags, while charging 10 cents for each paper carryout bag sold to a customer. The ordinance's intent, according to the city, is to reduce the "negative economic and environmental impacts" caused by the plastic film bags.

The ban initally affects all grocery retailers that make at least $2 million in gross annual sales, or use at least 10,000 square feet of rental space. Smaller, independent stores will also come under the ban beginning July 1.

"We use up over 2 billion plastic bags a year in L.A. alone," City Councilman Paul Koretz, who authored the measure, recently told KNX Radio. "It’s such a great source of litter, it causes a lot of harm to our rivers and our oceans."

California is also considering a state-wide ban on plastic bags, starting in July of 2015. The bill would also appropriate $2 million in state recycling funds to help plastic bag manufacturers retool their facilities and retrain their workers.
But not everyone is on board with the concept. Some critics say the bill would only replace the current, thin-film plastic bags with thicker versions that contain recycled plastic.

Nationally, reports say more plastic shopping bags are being recycled than in previous years, but the numbers are still small compared to the huge amount produced annually.

"The number of plastic bags being collected is very low compared to the 100 billion bags handed out in the United States each year," an unnamed legislative source in Washington, D.C., told industry trade PlasticsNews in 2012. ".... Besides, the industry still hasn’t adequately addressed the litter issue, or made a strong enough commitment to recycled content."




I, for one, wouldn't want to go to paper bags because they have to be carried up high at chest level and that hurts my back badly. I have bought two permanent cloth grocery bags with long straps on them which will allow me to carry them down at the full length of my arms as I do the plastic bags now. I haven't gotten organized enough – or committed enough – to bring those bags with me every time when I am heading to the store, so as a result I'm still bringing home plastic bags. I'm going to try to stop that. I think the trick is to put them in my car permanently and carry all my accumulated plastic bags to the recycling bins at Publix , my grocery store.

That does also mean that I'll have to start buying recyclable plastic bags for my garbage and dry trash, such as Hefty brand, and they're not cheap, as opposed to what I am now doing – reusing the plastic bags for dry trash. I have known for a couple of years now that those grocery store bags do not break down with weathering at the city's garbage dump sites, so I really should stop doing that, too.

I was watching a documentary on television about the problem with plastic when they showed footage of a permanent whirlpool in the ocean where various tides meet called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, and it is full of garbage of all kinds, much of it plastic. It seems that many plastics don't ever biodegrade, while there are others that break down into small particles which fish then eat until it fills their stomach; and they die horribly of hunger because their stomachs are stuffed full of something that has no food value.

If there were to be a federal or local law forbidding the further use of plastic bags, I would not be sorry, because they really do cause a great deal of damage, whether they sit in the local landfill forever or they are carried down city drains into our rivers and oceans. This subject of outlawing the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags has been on the news before now, and I know that many people are concerned about the matter. I hope they make it a law that we have to go to cloth bags, because then everybody will comply with it, though they may be complaining about having to make a change. The cloth bags that Publix sells for people to use only cost a couple of dollars, and they last forever. I have even put mine into the washing machine and the dryer and it doesn't hurt them. I'll put my cloth bags into the car today!





Raids in U.S., Italy target new Mafia drug trafficking route linking New York's Gambino family to 'ndrangheta crime syndicate – CBS
Last Updated Feb 11, 2014

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy -- A major joint operation by Italian police and FBI agents in Italy has robbed two of the world's most notorious organized crime operations of a new drug smuggling route from Latin America into Europe.

CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey was invited to witness the nighttime raids in Italy, and reports the operation was focused on breaking up the new route into the southern Italian port of Goia Tauro.

The trafficking route connected the Italian Mafia's 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate with the U.S. Sicilian Mafia. Raids were also carried out in the U.S. and Canada.
U.S. officials told CBS News that seven people were arrested by the FBI in the New York area raids. The raids in and around New York targeted members of the Gambino and Bonnano crime families.

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In a statement released later Tuesday morning, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said the seven arrested in the New York raids were to appear later in the day in federal court for arraignment. According to the statement, they face charges of "narcotics trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses based, in part, on their participation in a transnational heroin and cocaine trafficking conspiracy involving the ‘Ndrangheta, one of Italy’s most powerful organized crime syndicates."

The Attorney's office identified the U.S. suspects as Raffaele Valente, aka “Lello,” of the 'Ndrangheta syndicate, Gambino family associate Franco Lupoi, Bonanno associate Charles Centaro, aka “Charlie Pepsi,” Dominic Ali, Alexander Chan, Christos Fasarakis, and Jose Alfredo Garcia, also known as “Freddy.”

In Italy, police and FBI agents arrested 17 members and associates of the 'Ndrangheta syndicate, according to the statement. The U.S. Attorney's office said the investigation

“The defendant Lupoi sought to use his connections with both ‘Ndrangheta and the Gambino crime family to extend his own criminal reach literally around the globe," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in the statement. “Today, thanks to the vigilance and sustained cooperation of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners in Italy, the ‘Ndrangheta’s efforts to gain a foothold in New York have been dealt a lasting blow.”

Pizzey reports that the Italian raids were code-named “New Bridge,” and involved nearly 150 police officers swooping in on as many as 20 locations in the suburbs and villages around Goia Tauro, which is one of the largest shipping ports in Europe.
The operation took place in the dead of night under conditions of absolute secrecy. Pizzey says the area is so infested with local Mafia, that they literally have eyes and ears everywhere.

The FBI and Italian police were after as many as 26 suspects, including a member of the notorious New York-based Gambino crime family who officials say negotiated the new smuggling route.

FBI special agents, who CBS News is not identifying due to the nature of their work, were on hand for the raids in Italy, and Italian police took part in the operations in New York. 

Five carloads of police arrived at one location so fast, that the target only appeared to realize what was going on moments before he was placed under arrest -- when the officer in charge knocked politely on his door, and said good morning.
The head of the surprisingly modest household is an alleged member of the 'ndrangheta syndicate, the tightly knit, violent organization that is a major player in international heroin and cocaine smuggling and money laundering, and has ties to the powerful Gambino family in New York.

Police officers with dogs searched the house, but only a couple of officers outside drew guns -- as a precautionary measure. One of the FBI agents on the scene told CBS News the suspects targeted in these raids see getting caught and doing time in prison as part of the price of doing business.

One of the men taken into custody was escorted out of the house carrying a blue bag, and went so willingly he wasn’t even put in handcuffs.

Asked what it was like to take part in the raids that the FBI and its international partners spent two years building up to, one of the FBI special agents in Italy told CBS News it was "good to get to this point, to fully develop the evidence that we can use to indict individuals who engage in criminal activity."  

The arrests won't put an end to the Italian-U.S. drug connection, but as an FBI agent told Pizzey in Italy, "they'll certainly have a significant impact."



It's good to see some of the “big fish” among the criminals get caught. Too often arrests are made of lower level criminals only. There will still be plenty of drugs available on the streets of the US and Europe, but this new line of communication between the countries has been stopped permanently, according to Attorney Loretta Lynch. I wish there would be some joint raids in Mexico, too, to nab drug lords there. I understand the police in Mexico are often overwhelmed by drug lords who kidnap and kill people freely. I wouldn't even want to go to Mexico on a vacation anymore, despite the fact that it is a colorful and interesting country, and the people are friendly to Americans.




FDA wants more studies on women's libido pill – CBS

The drug, called flibanserin, aims to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women.  HSDD is defined as a recurrent lack of interest in sex that causes personal distress, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Drugmaker Sprout Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday that the FDA wants to see more data on how flibanserin interacts with other medications and how it affects driving ability. Almost 10 percent of women studied in company trials reported sleepiness while taking the daily pill.

The FDA's request represents another hurdle in the pharmaceutical industry's 15-year search for a female equivalent to Viagra.

But in a news release, Sprout Pharmaceuticals President Cindy Whitehead  described the development as a "significant step toward the approval of flibanserin." The three studies requested by the FDA are relatively small, involving 25 to 50 patients each. The company says it plans to resubmit its drug application to FDA in the third quarter.

The company based in Raleigh, N.C., said in December that it had reached an "impasse" with regulators after the agency issued a second rejection letter on the drug. The company filed a formal dispute over the agency's decision, which prompted the FDA's latest request for additional studies.

If approved, Sprout's daily pill would be the first drug for women who report a lack of sexual desire, a market that drugmakers have been trying to tap since the blockbuster success of Viagra for men in the late 1990s. While earlier drugs worked on hormone levels, flibanserin is the first attempt to increase sexual desire by acting on brain chemicals that affect appetite and mood.

The race to develop a female libido booster was once dominated by multinational companies like Viagra-maker Pfizer Inc. and Procter & Gamble, but today the space mainly consists of tiny startups. Sprout Pharmaceuticals, led by a husband and wife team, acquired flibanserin from Boehringer Ingelheim in 2011, after the German conglomerate abandoned development following an FDA rejection letter. Boehringer studies showed that women taking the drug reported only a modest uptick in "sexually satisfying events."

The FDA's initial rejection followed a 2010 meeting where a panel of expert advisers unanimously voted against the drug, citing its lackluster effectiveness and side effects such as fatigue, dizziness and nausea.

Since that rejection, the company added 14 new clinical studies with data on more than 3,000 new patients for its re-submitted application. In total, more than 11,000 women have tried out the drug.

Whitehead expressed confidence Tuesday that the drug would get approved in light of the FDA’s latest response.

“We are committed to working closely with the Agency to finally provide premenopausal women affected by HSDD with a medical treatment option,” she said in the statement.
Even if the FDA eventually approves flibanserin, Sprout will have to convince doctors to prescribe the drug for a condition that is still viewed with some skepticism.
Because so many factors affect female sexual appetite, there are a number of other possible causes doctors must rule out before diagnosing the condition, including relationship problems, hormone disorders, depression and mood issues caused by other drugs like sleeping aids and pain medications.



Since we have Viagra for men I think we do need something for women for those cases that involve conflict between the husband and wife over a perceived lack of sexual activity, or a desire on the part of the woman to reach a greater level of sexual satisfaction. So much depends on the ability of the man to gently and patiently build his wife's desire at any give time through foreplay and the expression of love, so that they can then achieve a deeply satisfying interaction. Many husbands don't even try to do that – they are just too disinterested in the woman's experience to try to please her. If there is threatening behavior on the part of the man or simply too much anger between the partners, women will often get “turned off” and withdraw.


Flibanserin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neurobiological pathway of female sexual desire involves interactions among multiple neurotransmitters, sex hormones and various psychosocial factors. Sexual desire is modulated in distinct brain areas by a balance between inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters, serotonin acting as an inhibitor while dopamine and norepinephrine act as a stimulator of sexual desire.[5][6] Flibanserin is a 5-HT1A receptor agonist and 5-HT2A receptor antagonist that had initially been investigated as an antidepressant.[7][8] Preclinical evidence suggested that flibanserin targets these receptors preferentially in selective brain areas and helps to restore a balance between these inhibitory and excitatory effects.[6][9] HSDD has been recognized as a distinct sexual function disorder for more than 30 years.[10]

Although the two North American trials that used the flibanserin 100 mg qhs dose showed a statistically significant difference between flibanserin and placebo for the endpoint of [satisfying sexual events], they both failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement on the co-primary endpoint of sexual desire. Therefore, neither study met the agreed-upon criteria for success in establishing the efficacy of flibanserin for the treatment of [Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder

On June 18, 2010, a federal advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unanimously voted against recommending approval of Flibanserin. Earlier in the week, a FDA staff report also recommended non-approval of the drug. While the FDA still might approve Flibanserin, in the past, negative panel votes tended to cause the FDA not to approve.[17]