Richard (RJ) Eskow: Do GOP Candidates and the Press Have a "Gentlemen's Agreement" Not to Discuss Social Security in Florida?

You'd think Social Security would top the list of subjects for a Presidential debate in Florida. How many questions did Wolf Blitzer ask about it during Thursday night's Republican debate in Jacksonville?

Answer: None. The words "Social Security" never passed his lips.

It was almost as if there were a "gentlemen's agreement" among the five people on the stage. And we use that phrase advisedly, since Blitzer sealed the boy's club atmosphere by asking each of the candidates why his wife would make the best First Lady.

The candidates did mention Social Security a couple of times, but only in passing and only in the most misleading ways possible. It's too bad there wasn't, oh, a journalist nearby - one who was inclined to ask follow-up questions.

What was said that night? Rick Santorum and Ron Paul both attacked Newt Gingrich from the right on Social Security. Santorum suggested that the Speaker's proposals, which would cut benefits, were too expensive and would "create a brand new Social Security entitlement."

Not true.

Ron Paul said that Gingrich's claim to have helped cut the Federal deficit was false - which is true. But then he said that the reason it's untrue is because Gingrich "doesn't count the money he takes out of Social Security" - which is false!

Confused yet? Stick around. The layers of artificial reality became as mind-bending as a Philip K. Dick novel when Gingrich responded.

Gingrich attacked Obama from the left on Social Security:

I propose that we take Social Security off budget so no president can ever again get threaten, as Obama did in August, that he would not send the check out, and you could set Social Security back up as a free-standing trust fund. It does have enough money and you could in fact pay the checks without regard to politics in Washington.

Those two sentences include five statements. Let's take a look:

• "I propose that we take Social Security off-budget ..." It's already is off-budget, if by "off-budget" Gingrich meant that it's forbidden to contribute to the national deficit. It's required by law to be an entirely self-funded program.


• "No president can ever threaten ... that he would not send the check out ..." Obama suggested that checks might not be delivered if the budget impasse closed the government, which would always remain a possibility unless Social Security were removed from the government and privatized - which is Gingrich's real (and extremely unpopular) proposal.


• "It does have enough money ..." True, and it's projected to have enough until some time in the mid- to late 2030's, at which point it would pay 75 percent of benefits if nothing else was changed. Most GOP proposals to fix this "crisis" would cut benefits even more.


• "... you could in fact pay the checks without regard to politics in Washington." That's why the program was designed to be self-funded - so that, in Franklin D. Roosevelt's words, "no damn politician" could ever cut its benefits.

What Gingrich doesn't say is that he wants to privatize Social Security with a plan that would ultimately cut benefits and put what's left at risk for the next financial crisis, while making trillions of dollars for Wall Street. He also keeps pushing the widely disproved notions that it's a "Ponzi scheme" and "a fraud." (The best takedown of those ideas was done in 1958 by a bipartisan panel convened by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower.)

President Obama could have prevented these kinds of disingenuous attacks a lot more effectively if he had not done things like appoint two avowedly anti-Social Security figures to lead his "Deficit Commission," repeatedly offered to cut Social Security, and then used the payroll tax that funds Social Security for a "middle-class tax break" that also benefits millionaires.

He even repeated the offer to cut Social Security and Medicare in last week's "Occupy-themed" State of the Union message! Oy. Still, any one of the candidates onstage last Thursday would do even more to cut the program needlessly - far more.

So why wasn't it a topic that Blitzer and CNN considered important enough to discuss? When Santorum first mentioned Social Security, Blitzer said "We're going to get to that in a moment." Iit sounded like the "it" in question was Social Security, but Blitzer never mentioned it again.

I can certainly understand why the candidates didn't want the subject raised. More than three and a half million Republican voters rely on Social Security, including seniors, disabled people, and surviving spouses. In fact, the candidates in Tuesday's primary would be crazy not to hide their opinions on the topic:

Mitt Romney's been pushing to privatize Social Security for years. After the financial crisis of 2008, Americans understand how risky it would be to place their financial security in the hands of greedy, reckless, and irresponsible financiers - or as Mitt probably thinks of them, "the fellas."

Ron Paul says Social Security is "unconstitutional."

All of the candidates would raise the retirement age - except Paul, who presumably would end Social Security altogether.

With proposals like these, who wouldn't want to keep the Sunshine State in the dark? An AARP survey showed that likely Republican voters in Florida oppose Social Security cuts by more than two to one. As the Christian Science Monitor reports, a slight majority would favor raising the retirement age, but more Republicans favor the solution that's typically called "progressive" - lifting or raising the cap on payroll taxes so that higher income levels are subject to the tax. All four Republican candidates strongly oppose this idea, which is their voters' preferred option.

"We're afraid that (Social Security's) going to be cut," said one voter, "or that we're going to lose what we put into it." Those are precisely the kinds of options the candidates in Tuesday's primary are offering. No wonder they're zipping their lips on the subject.

Some voters noticed the omission. As USA Today reported on the morning before the debate, "people are frustrated that the Republican presidential candidates have largely avoided the issues of Medicare and Social Security." You'd think that would have made the subject even more important for CNN to raise. A news organization's job is to ask candidates the questions they don't want asked. Surely they could have squeezed one in, perhaps after asking the First Lady question? (Gingrich graciously said they'd all be wonderful at the job.)

Remember the movie "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead"? This week's Florida primary should be renamed "Don't Tell Grandma Social Security Will Be Dead - and Medicare Too - If We're Elected." Mitt Romney's already on record as saying income inequality shouldn't be discussed openly. Was there some sort of "gentleman's agreement" to ignore Social Security too?

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Follow Richard (RJ) Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/do-gop-candidates-and-the_b_1240758.html

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4-week vaccination regimen knocks out early breast cancer tumors, Penn researchers report

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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Contact: Holly Auer
holly.auer@uphs.upenn.edu
215-200-2313
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Majority of patients treated develop strong, lasting immune responses

PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report that a short course of vaccination with an anti-HER2 dendritic cell vaccine made partly from the patient's own cells triggers a complete tumor eradication in nearly 20 percent of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early breast cancer. More than 85 percent of patients appear to have a sustained immune response after vaccination, which may reduce their risk of developing a more invasive cancer in the future. The results of the study were published online this month of Cancer and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy.

The researchers say the results provide new evidence that therapeutic breast cancer vaccines may be most effective for early, localized disease, and when the treatment goes after a protein critical to cancer cell survival.

"I think these data more than prove that vaccination works in situations where the target is right," says the study's leader, Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, surgical director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center at the University of Pennsylvania and Surgical Director of the Immunotherapy Program for the Abramson Cancer Center. "Previous vaccines targeted tissue antigens that were expressed on the cancer cells, but were not necessary for tumor survival. So a vaccine response would cause the tumor to just stop expressing the antigen and the tumor would be fine. Here we're going after HER2/neu, which is critical for survival of early breast cancers. If we knock it out with the immune response, we cripple the tumor cells."

Czerniecki and colleagues enrolled 27 women with HER2-positive DCIS. They isolated specialized white cells from the patients' blood using standard apheresis techniques similar to the blood donation process. Once isolated, the researchers activated the dendritic cells, which are key regulators of the immune system, and primed them with small pieces of the HER2/neu protein. Each patient then received four shots, one week apart, of their personalized anti-HER2 vaccine. And two weeks later patients had surgery to remove any remaining disease, which is standard care for DCIS patients.

The new approach has several critical advantages, compared to testing a vaccine in patients with more advanced disease. First, the activated immune cells have fewer tumor cells to kill. Second, patients' immune systems are still responsive, unlike advanced cancer patients whose immune systems have been suppressed by their disease. Third, the investigators are able to see results quickly, by looking at serum and tumor biomarkers.

In fact, when the team compared pre-vaccination biopsy samples with post-vaccination surgical samples, they saw dramatic changes: Five patients had no disease visible at the time of surgery, indicating that their immune system had wiped out the tumor. Of the remaining 22 patients, HER2 expression was eliminated in half (11 patients), and reduced by 20 percent or more in another two. "We are continuing to see this pattern in our second, ongoing trial," Czerniecki says.

When the team looked at immune responses, they found that 85 percent of patients had HER2-reactive CD4 and CD8 T cells, suggesting that the patients developed a robust and relatively complete immune response after vaccination. Importantly, some patients maintained their immune responses as long as 52 months, which means that they continue to have some protection from recurrence of HER2-positive disease a key insurance policy for patients, since doctors currently are unable to accurately predict which women are likely to develop invasive breast cancer following a DCIS diagnosis.

The results of the study show the vaccine is safe and relatively easy for the women, with only low-grade side effects. The most common side effects were malaise (72 percent), injection site soreness (59 percent), chills or rigors (38 percent), fever (28 percent) and headaches (24 percent).

While the numbers of patients treated in the trial are relatively small, Czerniecki thinks they will have some idea whether the vaccination reduces the risk of disease recurrence within the next two years. In the meantime, the team continues enrolling patients in a larger study, is designing another study to test the approach in women with early invasive breast cancer, and also plans to test vaccination with additional antigens, including HER3 and HER1.

"I think if we target several of the HER2 family members, we'll drive the tumor to a place where it has nowhere to go," Czerniecki says. "Basically, we'll push it over a cliff because those pathways are critical for tumor survival."

Czerniecki notes that what the team is learning in DCIS is applicable to invasive breast cancer, and to other solid tumors that rely on the HER family of signaling proteins, including melanoma, lung, brain, and colon cancers.

###

Co-authors include Anupama Sharma, MD, Ursula Koldovsky, PhD, Shuwen Xu, MD, Rosemarie Mick, MS, Robert Roses, MD, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, BS, Susan Weinstein, MD, Harvey Nisenbaum, MD, Bruce L. Levine, MD, Kevin Fox, MD, and Paul Zhang, MD, PhD from Penn, and Gary Koski, PhD, from Kent State University in Ohio.

This study was funded by an NIH grant (R01 CA096997), the Harrington Foundation, Pennies-in-action.org, and the Mistler Foundation.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Holly Auer
holly.auer@uphs.upenn.edu
215-200-2313
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Majority of patients treated develop strong, lasting immune responses

PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report that a short course of vaccination with an anti-HER2 dendritic cell vaccine made partly from the patient's own cells triggers a complete tumor eradication in nearly 20 percent of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early breast cancer. More than 85 percent of patients appear to have a sustained immune response after vaccination, which may reduce their risk of developing a more invasive cancer in the future. The results of the study were published online this month of Cancer and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy.

The researchers say the results provide new evidence that therapeutic breast cancer vaccines may be most effective for early, localized disease, and when the treatment goes after a protein critical to cancer cell survival.

"I think these data more than prove that vaccination works in situations where the target is right," says the study's leader, Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, surgical director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center at the University of Pennsylvania and Surgical Director of the Immunotherapy Program for the Abramson Cancer Center. "Previous vaccines targeted tissue antigens that were expressed on the cancer cells, but were not necessary for tumor survival. So a vaccine response would cause the tumor to just stop expressing the antigen and the tumor would be fine. Here we're going after HER2/neu, which is critical for survival of early breast cancers. If we knock it out with the immune response, we cripple the tumor cells."

Czerniecki and colleagues enrolled 27 women with HER2-positive DCIS. They isolated specialized white cells from the patients' blood using standard apheresis techniques similar to the blood donation process. Once isolated, the researchers activated the dendritic cells, which are key regulators of the immune system, and primed them with small pieces of the HER2/neu protein. Each patient then received four shots, one week apart, of their personalized anti-HER2 vaccine. And two weeks later patients had surgery to remove any remaining disease, which is standard care for DCIS patients.

The new approach has several critical advantages, compared to testing a vaccine in patients with more advanced disease. First, the activated immune cells have fewer tumor cells to kill. Second, patients' immune systems are still responsive, unlike advanced cancer patients whose immune systems have been suppressed by their disease. Third, the investigators are able to see results quickly, by looking at serum and tumor biomarkers.

In fact, when the team compared pre-vaccination biopsy samples with post-vaccination surgical samples, they saw dramatic changes: Five patients had no disease visible at the time of surgery, indicating that their immune system had wiped out the tumor. Of the remaining 22 patients, HER2 expression was eliminated in half (11 patients), and reduced by 20 percent or more in another two. "We are continuing to see this pattern in our second, ongoing trial," Czerniecki says.

When the team looked at immune responses, they found that 85 percent of patients had HER2-reactive CD4 and CD8 T cells, suggesting that the patients developed a robust and relatively complete immune response after vaccination. Importantly, some patients maintained their immune responses as long as 52 months, which means that they continue to have some protection from recurrence of HER2-positive disease a key insurance policy for patients, since doctors currently are unable to accurately predict which women are likely to develop invasive breast cancer following a DCIS diagnosis.

The results of the study show the vaccine is safe and relatively easy for the women, with only low-grade side effects. The most common side effects were malaise (72 percent), injection site soreness (59 percent), chills or rigors (38 percent), fever (28 percent) and headaches (24 percent).

While the numbers of patients treated in the trial are relatively small, Czerniecki thinks they will have some idea whether the vaccination reduces the risk of disease recurrence within the next two years. In the meantime, the team continues enrolling patients in a larger study, is designing another study to test the approach in women with early invasive breast cancer, and also plans to test vaccination with additional antigens, including HER3 and HER1.

"I think if we target several of the HER2 family members, we'll drive the tumor to a place where it has nowhere to go," Czerniecki says. "Basically, we'll push it over a cliff because those pathways are critical for tumor survival."

Czerniecki notes that what the team is learning in DCIS is applicable to invasive breast cancer, and to other solid tumors that rely on the HER family of signaling proteins, including melanoma, lung, brain, and colon cancers.

###

Co-authors include Anupama Sharma, MD, Ursula Koldovsky, PhD, Shuwen Xu, MD, Rosemarie Mick, MS, Robert Roses, MD, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, BS, Susan Weinstein, MD, Harvey Nisenbaum, MD, Bruce L. Levine, MD, Kevin Fox, MD, and Paul Zhang, MD, PhD from Penn, and Gary Koski, PhD, from Kent State University in Ohio.

This study was funded by an NIH grant (R01 CA096997), the Harrington Foundation, Pennies-in-action.org, and the Mistler Foundation.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uops-fvr013012.php

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Peru: 26 killed in fire at rehabilitation center (AP)

LIMA, Peru ? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 26 people and critically injuring six as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.

The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.

Six men rescued from the building were hospitalized in critical condition, said Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, adding that most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.

The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.

"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."

One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.

Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.

"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.

AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.

Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.

"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.

Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.

The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.

Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.

She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.

Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.

Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.

Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.

"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.

Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.

One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.

"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.

___

Associated Press journalists Mauricio Munoz, Cesar Barreto and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_peru_fire

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Neeson's 'The Grey' tops box office with $20M

NEW YORK (AP) ? Beware the Liam in Winter. Liam Neeson's "The Grey" topped the weekend box office with $20 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, continuing the actor's success as an action star in the winter months.

The Alaskan survivalist thriller opened above expectations with a performance on par with previous Neeson thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown." Those films, both January-February releases, opened with $24.7 million and $21.9 million, respectively.

But the R-rated "The Grey," which has received good reviews, drove home the strong appeal of Neeson, action star. It's an unlikely turn for the 59-year-old Neeson, previously better known for his dramatic performances, like those in "Schindler's List" and "Kinsey."

"Liam is a true movie star, period," said Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films. It's the second release for the newly formed distributor, created by theater chains AMC and Regal.

"My guess is that Liam Neeson in action thrillers would work just about any time of year."

January is often a dumping ground for less-stellar releases, a tradition held up by two badly reviewed new wide releases: "Man on a Ledge," with Sam Worthington, and "One for the Money" with Katherine Heigl.

"One for the Money" fared better, earning $11.8 million, while "Man on a Ledge" opened with $8.3 million.

Those were reasonably solid returns, and, in an unusual twist, were both ultimately for Lions Gate Entertainment. Its film studio, Lionsgate, released the romantic comedy "One for the Money." The action thriller "Man on a Ledge" was released by Summit Entertainment, which Lions Gate bought for $412.5 million earlier this month.

"One for the Money" was helped by a promotion with Groupon, the Internet discount site, with which Lionsgate previously partnered for "The Lincoln Lawyer." David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate, said the large number of older, female subscribers of Groupon matched well with the audience of "One for the Money."

Groupon email blasts, he said, had a significant promotional effect.

Last week's box-office leader, "Underworld: Awakenings," Sony's Screen Gem's latest installment in its vampire series, came in second with $12.5 million, bringing its cumulative total to $45.1 million.

The unexpectedly large haul for "The Grey," strong holdovers (such as the George Lucas-produced World War II action film "Red Tails," which earned $10.4 million in its second week) and the bump for Oscar contending films following Tuesday's nominations added up to a good weekend for Hollywood. The box office was up about 15 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

So far, every weekend this year has been an "up" weekend, after a somewhat dismal fourth quarter in 2011.

"'Mission: Impossible,' I think, really helped reinvigorate the marketplace, and that's carried over into the first part of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "That's good news for Hollywood after the down-trending box office of 2011."

Oscar favorites "The Descendants," ''Hugo" and "The Artist" sought to capitalize on their recent Academy Awards nominations. Each expanded to more theaters and saw an uptick in business.

Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," which is nominated for five Oscars including best picture, added 1,441 screens in its 11th week of release. It added $6.6 million and has now made $58.8 million, making it one of Fox Searchlight's most successful releases.

Sheila DeLoach, senior vice president of distribution for Fox Searchlight, said the film's nominations and its recent Golden Globes wins (for best drama and best actor, George Clooney) "played a big role" in its weekend box office.

Paramount's "Hugo," which led Oscar nominations with 11 including best picture, saw a 143 percent jump in business over its last weekend. In its tenth week of release, it earned $2.3 million, bringing its total to $58.7 million.

The Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist," with 10 Oscar nominations including best picture, expanded a modest 235 screens to bring it to a total of 897 screens in its 10th week of release. It earned $3.3 million, with a total of $16.7 million.

The Weinstein Co. is being careful with the black-and-white, largely silent film. Thus far, it has appealed particularly to older audiences.

"It's not the same type of picture as any other picture in the marketplace," said Erik Loomis, head of distribution for the Weinstein Co. "Now that the nominations are out, we're going to look to capitalize on it as best we can. ... We're being very, very meticulous with it. We're not throwing it out there and grabbing every theater we can. At some point, we'll open the floodgates on the movie, maybe closer to the awards."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Grey," $20 million.

2. "Underworld: Awakening," $12.5 million.

3. "One for the Money," $11.8 million.

4. "Red Tails," $10.4 million.

5. "Man on a Ledge," $8.3 million.

6. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," $7.1 million.

7. "The Descendants," $6.6 million.

8. "Contraband," $6.5 million.

9. "Beauty and the Beast," $5.3 million.

10. "Haywire," $4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-29-US-Box-Office/id-3a45dd8e69224f159d9850fb268e5b4f

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Pats' line has tough job against Giants' pass rush (AP)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ? Tom Brady felt the power of the New York Giants' pass rushers when he was sacked five times in their first Super Bowl confrontation.

Four years later, the New England Patriots' offensive linemen expect another fierce attack on their quarterback in the championship rematch on Feb. 5. The Giants will indeed have plenty of strong, speedy pass rushers zeroing in on Brady.

"This year, they're definitely the best defensive line in football," Patriots right guard Brian Waters said Friday. "The wave of good football players they throw at you definitely makes them a difficult task."

There's Jason Pierre-Paul with 16 1/2 sacks, Osi Umenyiora with nine and Justin Tuck with five. Chris Canty and Mathias Kiwanuka also can put pressure on the quarterback.

"They've got good pass rushers across the board," left guard Logan Mankins said, "and when their backups come in they're good, too, so you're going to always have four guys that are very good pass rushers in the game."

At least Brady has Super Bowl experience against an aggressive Giants pass rush.

The Patriots' quest for a perfect 19-0 season ended with a 17-14 loss in the 2008 Super Bowl. After the Giants scored the decisive touchdown with 35 seconds left, Brady was sacked for the fifth and final time.

Mankins didn't care to discuss his memories of the Giants' pass rush on that day.

"That was four years ago," he said Friday. "Next question."

But Umenyiora thinks the Patriots view the upcoming game as a chance to get even.

"Of course," he said. "I mean, if I were them, that's what I would be doing. Great players ? Mankins, (Matt) Light, the (Sebastian) Vollmer kid. They have some very good football players. They were embarrassed about that last game and they are going to do everything in their power not to allow that to happen."

The Patriots have had some memorable, if regrettable, games when Brady's gotten hit.

In the opener of the 2008 season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury when he was hit by Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard. In a 33-14 wild-card playoff loss to Baltimore on Jan. 10, 2010, Brady was sacked three times. The next year, he was sacked five times as the New York Jets won a divisional playoff game 28-21.

But Brady has received decent protection recently. He was sacked a respectable 32 times in the regular season. In the playoffs, he wasn't sacked in a 45-10 win over Denver and was sacked just once in a 23-20 win over Baltimore in the AFC championship game.

The Giants sacked him just twice in their 24-20 win on Nov. 6. But one of those sacks, by Michael Boley, forced a fumble and the Giants took a 10-0 lead on the next play on Brandon Jacobs 10-yard run.

"Tom has been in this position before," said running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who may do more blocking than usual. "We have to come out and just be assignment sound."

At times, the Giants use four defensive ends, trying to generate speed against the power of the offensive linemen.

"That's the biggest difference," Waters said, "knowing who you're going against from play to play. You have to know that every one of those guys have different elements of their game from JPP (Pierre-Paul) and his long arms and his super athletic ability to a guy like Tuck, who is a veteran, a guy who is always going to give you one look and do something different to the bigger guys in the middle, the guys who are real physical."

So what's an offense to do?

It can keep an extra blocker in, a running back or wide receiver. It can have a wide receiver or tight end throw a chip block before starting his route. It can throw quick passes before the pressure reaches Brady.

Draw plays and screen passes can slow down pass rushers by making them hesitate before charging the quarterback, but the Patriots have used those infrequently this season.

Deion Branch came up with an original tactic for him and his fellow wide receivers.

"Well, if we can switch positions with the linemen, hopefully (defensive) linemen move out and then we block the corners," he said with a laugh. "But, overall, there's a lot of things we can do. We'll make those adjustments on the sideline."

They can also fight.

Umenyiora said he and Patriots left tackle Light did that in their first meeting this season.

"I've actually fought him twice, a for-real fight on the football field twice. Me and him have history and we are going to rekindle that," Umenyiora said. "He wasn't as bad in the Super Bowl, but this past game we fought again. I don't know what it is he does, but there is something he is doing that really gets under my skin. I am not that type of guy. He is the only guy I have ever fought on the football field.

"I think he is more important to his team than I am right now. So if we both fight and get kicked out (Pierre-Paul) and Tuck will have a field day."

___

AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J. contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_patriots_protecting_brady

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CEOs make huge sums when companies go bankrupt

By Martha C. White

When companies go bankrupt, the misery is?shared among many: Bond holders are wiped out, retirees see their pensions and benefits vanish, and employees lose their jobs.

But some feel no pain at all: CEOs and other top executives of companies that go through Chapter 11 receive robust compensation in the form of salary, stock grants and other benefits.

In some cases, they earn even more money than they did before the filing, even while other stakeholders suffer.?It's the most unlikely fast-track to a fat payout ever, and it goes on in spite of federal legislation meant to crack down on corporate honchos feasting while everyone else fights over crumbs.?

It wasn't supposed to be like this. In the wake of corporate catastrophes such as Enron, Congress passed legislation aimed at preventing companies from paying retention bonuses to executives at firms going through Chapter 11.?

"You can't pay someone for just staying at a bankrupt company," said Robert Jackson, an associate professor at Columbia Law School at Columbia University, and former advisory to senior Treasury officials on executive compensation during the financial crisis. "But that's different from paying them from doing well at a bankrupt company," he said.?

That distinction has become a loophole. Since the law allows performance-based incentives, huge executive payouts have morphed over the years to be little more than retention bonuses by another name, according to critics who say executives net outsized payouts even when they negotiate agreements that leave stakeholders out in the cold.

"There seems to be no sense of accountability at this level," said Steven Kropp, a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law. "In most of these cases, the unsecured creditors aren't being paid back in full, employees are being laid off, and in addition, they're finding their health insurance and pensions diminished." An investigation by The Wall Street Journal found that median compensation of CEOs at 21 companies that filed for bankruptcy was $8.7 million, just $400,000 less than the median compensation earned by CEOs at healthy companies.?

Companies are required to go to court and argue their case for big bonuses with the bankruptcy judge, explaining why the CEO deserves the set level of compensation and what targets they must meet in order to earn their bonus. The problem is that often?the bar is set so low that even lackluster performance will be measured as success.?

"It's all fine and well to say you're going to pay people for performance, but the key is what kind of performance," Jackson said. "It's very hard for a judge to know if an earnings target is easy or hard to hit. Are they just window dressings?" To make this determination, the court has to rely on evidence from the company's executives and lawyers, who may have an incentive to give themselves easy assignments.

Judges also have to rely on the input of compensation experts ? also hired by the company ? to know if the bonuses being proposed are appropriate for the industry and the task at hand, which also raises the prospect of manipulation.?

To keep companies from taking advantage of this, Jackson said, bankruptcy courts could have their own industry-specific experts to vet the numbers being proposed by people on the company payroll.?

Critics of the current status quo say there are other legal ways to patch the ballooning-bonus loophole. "You could simply amend the bankruptcy code to preclude a company in bankruptcy from paying bonuses in excess of prior salary to its existing executives," John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School, said via email. "Or you could limit the amount of any additional income in excess of their prior compensation?from the firm to some reasonable percentage."?

Kropp suggests using clawback provisions to cap executive compensation in the event of bankruptcy and funneling the recovered funds into employees' investment accounts. Even advocates of reforms like these, though, admit that they're a political no-go for lawmakers in today's contentious legislative environment.?

The argument in favor of big bonuses, even when they come at the expense of employees, retirees and other unsecured creditors, is that successfully guiding a company through bankruptcy and emerging on the other side is a challenging, risky job, and most CEOs would bolt without the promise of millions in cash and stock for their trouble.

But research done by Ethan Bernstein, a Kauffman Foundation Fellow on leave from Harvard Law School, shows that CEOs of financially troubled companies quit or are ousted at the same rate whether or not they file for bankruptcy or muddle through with private restructuring.

For some, this raises the troubling possibility that Chapter 11 has become a back door for CEOs to grant themselves raises, especially in light of the fact that the Journal's research found CEOs at some troubled firms actually earned more after filing for Chapter 11.

"My belief is that CEOs and other senior executives can panic a board with the implied threat that they might desert the sinking ship if some formula is not found to give them extraordinary pay for their service in a crisis," Coffee said.?

Pulling a teetering company back from the brink is hard, and it's an increasingly specialized job, which Bernstein said contributes to the high number ??37 percent ??of CEOs brought on either during a bankruptcy reorganization or in the year leading up to it.?

He said key stakeholders want a "bankruptcy guru," and they're willing to shell out enormous sums for the services of a CEO they think can pull the most money out of a troubled company. The catch is that this slate of decision-makers increasingly includes big creditors, negotiating with the kind of clout once limited to shareholders. What a creditor sees as the best return on its investment may very well be a bloodbath for the company's rank-and-file.

Do you think these CEO compensation deals are fair? Share your thoughts on Facebook.

?

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10252581-ceos-rake-in-huge-sums-when-their-companies-go-bankrupt

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Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana celebrate at Sundance (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana came to the Sundance Film Festival to promote their closing-night film, "The Words."

The two actors play a married couple in the movie, which follows an aspiring writer who gains fame when he finds an old manuscript and passes it off as his own.

The pair avoided any appearance of their reported off-screen romance by staying apart from one another while posing for photos and giving interviews to support the film. Saldana did affectionately touch Cooper as they passed in a hallway, though.

Both had been to Sundance before, where snow fell throughout the festival and the weather dipped into the teens. Still, Saldana maintained her fashionista edge.

"I did bring warm stuff but I also brought fashion-y stuff. Come on. You've got to pay the price, even if it's too cold," she said.

The 33-year-old actress wore green suede shoes with spiked stiletto heels despite the slushy conditions.

"They're kind of fabulous. They're also lethal. So I have to be really careful, and somebody has to be careful not to piss me off," she said with a smile. "Yeah right. I'm just trying not to fall. It's like `Please don't fall. Please don't fall,' if I'm walking."

Cooper's first time at the festival was 12 years earlier with the eventual cult comedy hit "Wet Hot American Summer."

"I wasn't even able to get into the screening," he recalled.

Saldana said playing Cooper's wife in "The Words" made her think about how she approaches relationships and the concept of unconditional love.

"Like how unconditional am I when I'm in love. Do you bypass certain things? Would I be able to be with a man ? or with someone ? that feels incomplete, doesn't matter what we do?" she said. "If we change this, if we get married, if we have a baby ? just someone that feels incomplete. Would I be able to deal with that for so many years and accept them as who they are and go, `Come as you are. This is who I fell in love with and I don't want to change you?'

"I'm not like that, which is why I wanted to play her, because it was a challenge, you know. Look at me, I totally said I'm not unconditional at all. So awful."

Cooper's part as author-plagiarist Rory Jansen is his second writerly role after playing a novelist in last year's "Limitless." But that's just coincidence, he said. Despite having a degree in English, the 37-year-old actor says he typically only writes in his "girlnal."

"Journal, sorry," he said. "That's a `Wet Hot' reference. Paul Rudd says that."

Saldana, meanwhile, is in the midst of shooting the "Star Trek" sequel in Los Angeles with director J.J. Abrams and much of the original's cast.

"It's wonderful because I've been dying to work with the cast again, to work with JJ," she said. "I love him so much. He's such an amazing human being and such an amazing storyteller and a great director, so what more can I ask for? I start the year and I'm literally going back to a very familiar environment and being a part of a great story."

"The Words," which also stars Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons, Ben Barnes and Olivia Wilde, premiered Friday. It was acquired early in the festival by CBS Films, which plans to release it theatrically in the fall. Sundance continues through Sunday.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson contributed to this report.

___

Online:

www.sundance.org/festival

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_en_mo/us_film_sundance_cooper_saldana

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NYPD boss could face questions about probe of son

FILE - New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and son Greg attend the New York City Police Foundations 31st Annual Gala in New York, in this March 3, 2009 file photo. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

FILE - New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and son Greg attend the New York City Police Foundations 31st Annual Gala in New York, in this March 3, 2009 file photo. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The police commissioner's TV show host son is accused of sexually assaulting and impregnating a woman. Some activists are calling for the commissioner's resignation for appearing in a film they call anti-Muslim. And the CIA is pulling an operative out of his unusual assignment at the NYPD, a partnership he helped create.

It's been a daunting couple of days for Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who's been the city's influential police boss for the last decade. And Friday likely won't be much easier, with Kelly potentially facing questions publicly for the first time since the allegations surfaced Wednesday against his son Greg, who denies them and has not been charged with any crime.

The department was planning a promotion ceremony Friday. The commissioner usually answers questions from reporters after such events.

The Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating a woman's allegation that Greg Kelly, 43, met her for drinks on Oct. 8, then assaulted her after the two went to her lower Manhattan law office, one person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press. She told authorities she was not capable of consenting to sex, the person said.

She said she became pregnant from the encounter and had an abortion, according to a law enforcement official. Neither the person nor the law enforcement official were authorized to speak publicly and talked to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The woman reported the alleged attack Tuesday to police, who quickly turned the matter over to Manhattan DA Cyrus R. Vance Jr.'s office because of the potential conflict of interest in investigating one of the commissioner's sons, the person familiar with the probe said.

The DA's office declined to comment about the matter Thursday as Greg Kelly took time off from his job as an anchor of the local morning show "Good Day New York," and Mayor Michael Bloomberg found himself facing questions about how police handled the matter, including an episode in which the woman's boyfriend approached the commissioner himself at a public event.

"He said, 'Your son ruined my girlfriend's life,'" chief police spokesman Paul Browne said. "The commissioner said, 'Well, what do you mean?' He said he didn't want to talk about it here, so the commissioner told him to send a letter."

Browne said that, to his knowledge, no letter was sent. He said he couldn't comment on the investigation because of the potential conflict of interest.

Bloomberg said Thursday that he "thought the police department did exactly what they should do" by turning the matter over to the district attorney.

"Keep in mind: Everyone has a right to have their complaints investigated," the mayor said, noting that Greg Kelly hasn't been charged with any crime.

It wasn't clear how much time elapsed between the man's remarks to the commissioner and the woman's decision to go to a police station Tuesday; why she had waited for nearly three months after the alleged attack to make a report; or whether she supplied any medical evidence to authorities to support her claim.

It's also unclear how long the woman and Greg Kelly knew each other before the alleged encounter at her office. But they apparently were in touch afterward, according to the person familiar with the investigation.

Kelly "strenuously denies any wrongdoing of any kind," his attorney, Andrew Lankler, said in a statement. "We know that the district attorney's investigation will prove Mr. Kelly's innocence."

The woman's identity has not been released, and the AP does not name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified or come forward publicly.

Kelly didn't appear Thursday on "Good Day New York," which airs on local Fox affiliate WNYW-TV. General Manager Lew Leone said later that Kelly had requested some time off; Leone didn't elaborate.

One of Kelly's recent guests was Vance, who appeared on the show on Monday to discuss the problem of elder abuse.

Kelly began his journalism career at NewsChannel 34 in Binghamton, N.Y., after serving for nearly a decade in the Marine Corps. He later covered the Iraq War and the White House for Fox News before joining "Good Day New York" in 2008.

He's been involved in an ongoing feud with Joel McHale, host of "The Soup" on E! Entertainment. The show plays clips from television shows to poke fun at people, and McHale has frequently targeted Kelly and "Good Day New York."

One clip noted his sullen response to co-host Rosanna Scotto the morning after a loss by the NFL's New York Jets. Another showed Kelly playing disco music on his laptop coming off a commercial.

Kelly struck back last Halloween by showing up on "Good Day New York" in a McHale costume and making fun of "The Soup."

In 2007, the television show "Extra" identified Kelly as the most eligible anchorman on TV. The show's website said Kelly "has enough heart and courage to make any woman swoon."

After serving as police commissioner for a stint in the 1990s, Raymond Kelly returned to the post in 2002.

About 20 activists held a news conference Thursday on the City Hall steps to urge Kelly to step down and criticize him for giving an interview to the producers of "The Third Jihad," a film shown to police trainees. The activists said the film encourages Americans to be suspicious of all Muslims. Kelly has apologized for the interview. Bloomberg said Thursday he stood by the commissioner but Kelly would need to redouble his efforts to forge ties with Muslims.

Meanwhile, the CIA operative's assignment inside the New York Police Department is being cut short after an internal investigation that faulted the agency for sending an officer to New York with little oversight after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and leaving him there too long, according to officials who have read or been briefed on the inquiry. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation.

The inspector general opened its investigation after a series of AP articles revealed how the NYPD, working in close collaboration with the CIA, set up spying operations that put Muslim communities under scrutiny. The CIA said last month that the inspector general cleared the agency of any wrongdoing.

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Samantha Gross and AP Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-27-Police%20Commissioner-Son/id-7c1e2f2a655543bea5ecb8392cd0687e

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Bacteria help reveal a secret to evolution

The arms race between a virus and the bacteria it attacks has helped scientists better understand one of the mysteries of evolution: How new traits evolve.

In a series of experiments, the bacteria-infecting viruses repeatedly acquired the ability to attack their host bacteria through a different "doorway," or receptor on the bacteria's cellular membrane, explained Justin Meyer, the lead researcher and a graduate student at Michigan State University.

Their results offer insight into a difficult question about evolution: Where do new traits come from?

According to evolutionary theory, natural selection can favor certain members of a population because of traits they possess, such as camouflage or an ability to get at food others can't reach. These favored organisms are more likely to reproduce, passing on the genes for their helpful traits to future generations.

While it's clear how natural selection causes a population to change, or adapt, explaining how new traits arise has been trickier, Meyer said.

For instance, do random genetic mutations gradually accumulate until they produce new traits? Or, does natural selection drive the process from the start, favoring certain mutations as they arise, until a whole new trait appears?

To get an idea, he and others, including two undergraduate researchers, prompted a virus to evolve a new way to infect the bacteria, then looked at the genetic changes associated with this new ability. They also found that changes in the bacteria could prevent the virus from acquiring this new trait.

In 102 trials, they combined E. coli cells with the virus, called lambda. Lambda normally infects the bacteria by targeting a receptor, LamB, on the bacterium's outer membrane. The virus does this using a so-called J protein at the end of its tail; this protein unlocks the door into the bacterial cell, Meyer said.

When cultured under certain conditions, most E. coli cells developed resistance to the virus by no longer producing LamB receptors. To infect the bacterial cells, then, the virus had to find another doorway into the cell. (Once inside, the virus hijacks the bacteria's cellular machinery to copy its own genetic code and reproduce.)

In 25 of the 102 trials, the virus acquired the ability to infect bacteria through another receptor, called OmpF. The viruses were genetically identical at the beginning of the experiment, so the researchers looked to see what genetic changes had occurred.

They found that all the strains that could infect the bacteria shared at least four changes, all of which were in the genetic code for the J protein, and which worked together, according to Meyer.

"When you have three of the four mutations, the virus is still unable to infect (the E. coli)," Meyer said. "When you have four of four, they all interact with each other. ? In this case, the sum is much more than its component parts."

However, natural selection appears to have driven the rise of these individual mutations, he said, because the same mutations arose over and over again, and because they appear to affect the function of the J protein.

"The mutations are really centered on a small part of the gene and genome that would affect binding," he said.

?

So, why, in most cases, did the virus fail to acquire the ability to enter through the OmpF doorway? The researchers looked to see if other changes in the virus, or changes in the bacteria, interfered.

They found that while other changes in the virus did not seem to interfere, a specific change found in the E. coli populations from 80 trials did.? Disruptions appeared in bacterial genes responsible for producing a protein complex, called ManXYZ, in the inner membrane. That change in the inner membrane meant the virus couldn't get all the way inside the cell, whether through LamB or OmpF.

"So there is this interesting co-evolutionary dance," Meyer said. "One mutation in the host and four mutations in the virus lead to a new virus. One mutation (in the host) and only a few mutations in the virus and a second mutation in the host, and the whole system shuts down."

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46152646/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Keith Urban's voice in good shape after surgery (omg!)

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - Country singer Keith Urban says that during the three weeks he was ordered not to speak late last year after vocal surgery, he learned a few valuable lessons about communication including this: sometimes people talk too much.

"I was amazed at how much noise there is on television and in conversations," Urban told Reuters on Wednesday. "It's rubbish. We could strip away so much ... be more succinct ... and still make our point.

"I realized I'm as guilty as anybody. I learned that when you have to write stuff down you get real particular as to how and what you want to say."

The singer underwent surgery in November to remove polyps from a vocal chord, causing his doctor put him on vocal rest for three weeks and bar him from singing until February.

Urban, who has nothched a No. 1 single "Long Hot Summer" with co-writer Richard Marx, said that while he was unable to talk, his other senses improved, especially hearing.

He thought ahead, too, and prepared for how he would communicate with his three-year-old daughter, Sunday Rose. He recorded several of her favorite books onto a tape, and after his surgery, he would take the recorder to her room at night, press play and turn the pages of the book so he could "read."

Sunday Rose would let the tape play for a little while and then she'd hit the stop button. She would look at her dad and say, "I want you to read it," Urban said.

His wife, actress Nicole Kidman, would have to explain to Sunday Rose why daddy couldn't actually read to her.

Urban, whose hits include "You Look Good in My Shirt" "Making Memories of Us" and "Somebody Like You," is fully recovered from his surgery and plans to return to the stage on February 4, when he performs at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He is also planning a huge benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville on April 10.

(Reporting By Vernell Hackett, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_keith_urbans_voice_good_shape_surgery040557989/44309336/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/keith-urbans-voice-good-shape-surgery-040557989.html

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'UFO video' from L.A. throws up red flags

Friday the 13th ended up being a very lucky day for a California man who videoed several UFOs flying near Los Angeles. The video, allegedly shot by a freelance photographer going by the name Nerdumb, shows several bright lights in the sky over Hermosa Beach that disappear as a helicopter crosses below them. It was posted to YouTube and is making the rounds in UFO circles.

Many people noted that the lights look very much like planes taking off from Los Angeles International Airport, a few miles north of Hermosa Beach. Could they simply be aircraft? Probably not, because the lights seem to be stationary, and there's no reason commercial airplanes would suddenly switch off their lights in that pattern.

Tracey Parece, a writer for Examiner.com, wrote, "The video shows six bright lights suspended across the sky at sunset in an almost perfect straight line. The unidentified flying objects were so bright that they are very easy to spot in the video. ... A close-up of one of the objects shows a UFO that emanated red rays of light from its body." Parece concluded that Nerdumb's video "looks very convincing."

While some seem convinced the video may represent the best evidence of UFOs in 2012, others smell a hoax. For someone who claims to be a professional photographer the videos are very poorly shot and composed. Nerdumb holds the camera unsteadily, and amateurishly zooms in and out. The camera movements are very suspicious, especially the way he pans left to right as the UFO lights go out one by one, also from left to right. Instead of holding the frame steady to see if the lights reappear, he just keeps panning right for no particular reason ? almost like he knows exactly what's going to happen.

Another red flag is that the anonymous photographer is a "repeater" ? someone who has made multiple UFO reports. In fact, his YouTube channel has several other similar videos featuring a series of approximately equidistant lights in the sky that appear and flicker out in more or less the same sequence as the newest video. The credibility of witnesses is suspect when they claim to see Bigfoot or UFOs over and over again, while most people never see them at all.

1. More science news from msnbc.com

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   4. If? you see a Bigfoot, should you shoot him?

This brings us to another curiosity: Why is Nerdumb apparently the only person seeing and videotaping these mysterious lights in the sky? For such a high-profile event in such a populated area, it's suspicious that there seem to be no reports or videos taken by anyone else of these UFOs. How does Nerdumb know where in the sky to look, and when to see the extraterrestrial craft? He claims it's not luck ? the aliens communicate with him in his dreams, telling him where to go. If his videos are real, Nerdumb would gain a lot of credibility by publicizing his alien meet-up information so that the public and other UFO researchers could be at the right place and time to see and record it for themselves.

Derek Serra, a Hollywood visual effects artist who analyzed previous UFO videos (including the infamous "Jerusalem UFO" hoax last year), told Life's Little Mysteries that the video was probably faked. "The video looks similar to a photograph, with the lights and helicopter added later as separate elements," Serra said. "The camera controls and hand-held feel would be added later to make it appear as recorded video. The software to do this is readily available, and it doesn't take an expert. The video has many qualities typical of amateur visual effects artists ... it lacks finesse. That finesse may not be obvious to the average viewer, but sticks out like a sore thumb to experienced artists."

Short of a confession from Nerdumb, it's impossible to know for certain whether this video is a hoax, but red flags abound. Maybe it's an ingenious double-deception, and aliens really are here but cleverly disguising their spacecraft to look exactly like faked video images.

7 Things That Create Convincing UFO Sightings

Russian Scientist's Claim of Life on Venus Debunked

Will We Really Find Alien Life in 20 Years?

Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.

Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and author of Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries. His Web site is www.BenjaminRadford.com.

? 2012 LifesLittleMysteries.com. All rights reserved. More from LifesLittleMysteries.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46119327/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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It's Official: Google Is Evil Now [Google]

In a radical privacy policy shift, Google announced today that it will begin tracking users across all services—email, Search, YouTube and more—sharing information with no option to opt out. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/w6s-Otq-aEo/its-official-google-is-evil-now

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Newcomer Gina Rodriguez wows Sundance as "Filly Brown" (Reuters)

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) ? Gina Rodriguez may have arrived at the Sundance Film Festival as a complete unknown, but the 27-year Puerto Rican is leaving it an indie film star.

Rodriguez became the toast of the Sundance Film Festival's opening weekend playing the title character in new movie "Filly Brown," about a young Latina rapper struggling to keep her family together after her mom is jailed on drug charges.

When Filly gets a crack at musical stardom, she must make a choice between staying true to her poetic lyrics or accepting a deal that focuses on her sexuality but guarantees a paycheck.

Under the tutelage of Latin hip-hop record veterans Lisa "Khool-Aid" Rios and Edward "E-Dub" Rios, who served as the film's music producers, Rodriguez was so convincing as a singer that in a question-and-answer session after the film's premiere, audience members asked where they could buy her music.

The Hollywood Reporter said Rodriguez delivered a "magnetic star turn" and a "dynamic breakout performance" in a film where her screen time is split between churning out dramatic acting and rapping numerous hip-hop numbers.

With reactions and reviews like that, there can be little doubt that "Filly Brown" marks a career-making performance for Rodriguez, who last year appeared on TV soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" and in a supporting role in the film "Go For It!"

She told Reuters that playing Filly Brown was amazing opportunity to portray a character with whom she could identify.

"It's a powerful Latina lead, and seldom do I get the opportunity to audition for something like that," said Rodriguez. "Filly is tough, or least she uses the toughness to hide her pain sometimes, and I think we all do that."

"Filly had a dream, and she didn't know how to go about doing it and she didn't really have help," Rodriguez said. "I can understand that."

FROM CHICAGO TO SUNDANCE

Born and raised in an inner city neighborhood of Chicago, Rodriguez "came from nothing" as the youngest of three sisters of Puerto Rican immigrants who stressed education with their daughters. Heeding that advice, Rodriguez's older sisters went on to become an investment banker and a lawyer, but Rodriguez wanted to act, much to her father's dismay.

She studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and worked in theater before booking her first guest-starring role on TV crime show "Law & Order." But it was her father seeing her play Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in an American Stage production of "Casa Blue" that served as a turning point for the young actress.

"He turned to me and said he was proud," said Rodriguez, her eyes tearing up. "Having him accept what I did, that was my big break. It's so important to me to make my father and mother proud. And I want to do it with integrity and respect."

With buzz building, she already has secured a talent development deal at the ABC television network and is plotting to work on a movie where she'd play a female boxer.

Additionally, now that she's a legitimate music artist thanks to the songs she recorded in "Filly Brown," Rodriguez is not averse to pursuing a music career.

"I've always had an alter ego; I sing in the shower like everybody else does," she laughed.

She is spending time in a recording studio with Khool-Aid and E-Dub, both of whom helped Rodriguez find her voice and introduced her to Latino hip-hop and artists and others.

But even as movie and music executives come knocking at her with the riches promised by stardom, Rodriguez wants to use any new fame to be a role model for young Latina girls.

"I want to give a voice to these girls in the 'hood where I grew up and let them know that you can be an investment banker, or a doctor, and we can portray that on screen," said Rodriguez.

"Any dream you have takes hard work, doesn't happen overnight and you shouldn't be afraid of that," she said. "If you put your heart and soul into it, and you do it with honesty and integrity and respect, you will succeed. I am a testament to that."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/en_nm/us_sundance_ginarodriguez

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Scorsese's 'Hugo' leads Oscars 11 nominations

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, Asa Butterfield portrays Hugo Cabret in a scene from "Hugo." The film was nominated Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 for an Oscar for best film. The Oscars will be presented Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC. (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Jaap Buitendijk)

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, Asa Butterfield portrays Hugo Cabret in a scene from "Hugo." The film was nominated Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 for an Oscar for best film. The Oscars will be presented Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC. (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Jaap Buitendijk)

FILE- In this file film publicity image released by The Weinstein Company, Jean Dujardin portrays George Valentin, left, and Berenice Bejo portrays Peppy Miller in a scene from "The Artist." (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, FILE)

FILE- In this file film publicity image released by Disney, Viola Davis is shown in a scene from "The Help." (AP Photo/Disney, Dale Robinette, FILE)

In this image released by Fox Searchlight Films, George Clooney, left, and Shailene Woodley are shown in a scene from "The Descendants." The film was nominated Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 for an Oscar for best film. The Oscars will be presented Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC. (AP Photo/Fox Searchlight Films, Merie Wallace)

Jennifer Lawrence, left, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announce the best motion picture of the year nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 in Beverly Hills, Calif. The 84th Annual Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo" leads the Academy Awards with 11 nominations, among them best picture and the latest director slot for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

Also nominated for best picture Tuesday: the silent film "The Artist"; the family drama "The Descendants"; the Sept. 11 tale "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"; the Deep South drama "The Help"; the romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris"; the sports tale "Moneyball"; the family chronicle "The Tree of Life"; and the World War I epic "War Horse."

The nominations set up a best-picture showdown between the top films at the Golden Globes: best musical or comedy recipient "The Artist" and best drama winner "The Descendants."

"The Artist" ran second with 10 nominations, among them writing and directing nominations for French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, a best-actor honor for Jean Dujardin and a supporting-actress slot for Berenice Bejo.

Because of a rule change requiring films to receive a certain number of first-place votes, the best-picture field has only nine nominees rather than the 10 that were in the running the last two years.

Dujardin, who won the Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy as a silent-era star whose career goes kaput with the arrival of talking pictures, will be up against Globe dramatic actor winner George Clooney for "The Descendants," in which the Oscar-winning superstar plays a dad trying to hold his Hawaiian family together after a boating accident puts his wife in a coma.

Other best-actor contenders are: Demian Bechir as an immigrant father in "A Better Life"; Gary Oldman as British spymaster George Smiley in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"; and Brad Pitt as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane in "Moneyball."

Globe winners Meryl Streep (best dramatic actress as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady") and Michelle Williams (best musical or comedy actress as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn") scored Oscar nominations for best actress.

Two-time Oscar winner Streep padded her record as the most-nominated actress, raising her total to 17 nominations, five more than Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who are tied for second-place.

Streep went two-for-four on her first nominations, winning supporting actress for 1979's "Kramer vs. Kramer" and best actress for 1982's "Sophie's Choice." But she has lost her last 12 times, and the Globe win for her spot-on personification of Thatcher looks like her best chance yet to break that losing streak.

Along with Streep and Williams, best-actress nominees are: Glenn Close as a 19th century Irishwoman masquerading as a male butler in "Albert Nobbs"; Viola Davis as a black maid going public with tales of white Southern employers in "The Help"; and Rooney Mara as a traumatized, vengeful computer genius in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

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David Germain reported from Park City, Utah.

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Online:

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Associated Press

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