Updates and Photos of CPAC 2012 from day 1

Updates and Photos of "CPAC 2012" from day 1

Cain compares self to Bible’s David

In the most anticipated address of the day on Thursday, Herman Cain compared himself to the biblical David, who slew Goliath.

Cain said he dropped out of the presidential race because he values his family, and then offered the strong analogy.

“There were two reasons I dropped out of the race – gutter politics and, No. 2, I chose to put family first,” he said. “And in making that decision, I knew that we together could change Washington, D.C., from the outside and from the bottom up even if your David didn’t make it to the White House.”

The crowd didn’t immediately seem to know which David that Cain was referring to, but later in his comments, it became clearer that his reference was to the Bible.

Cain also took time out of his speech to recognize Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber,” who is waging a quixotic campaign for Congress in a very tough Ohio district.

“Some of us choose to get off the sidelines, and I admire that,” Cain said. “I don’t regret the move that I made, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

Perry plays off ‘halftime in America

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign may not have panned out, but he was in his element at CPAC today, and he had one of the lines of the conference so far.

Referring to the controversial Clint Eastwood Chrysler commercial during the Super Bowl over the weekend, Perry said the metaphor might actually be apt — but that it’s time for a change in the lineup.

“If it’s halftime in America, I’m fearful of what’s going to happen in the second half if we let the president start at quarterback,” Perry said.

Perry also signaled that he will be a national voice in the years ahead and that he will continue to be a big advocate for states’ rights and fiscal conservatism.

Of his presidential campaign, he joked that he didn’t lose, he “just ran out of time” — a famous Vince Lombardi line.

Boehner preaches earmark purity

A theme at this year’s conference seems to be Republicans not playing by the old Washington games, and the GOP leaders of the Senate and House both touched on it in their remarks Thursday.

“It’s not easy to pass bills when you don’t have goodies to hand out,” House speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, arguing that while it’s harder to pass legislation without earmarks, it’s also the right thing to do.

Boehner also addressed recent polling that shows Congress’s approval rating reaching a new low.

“No one loves Congress, but I can tell you the House is a different place than it was a few years ago,” Boehner said, referencing the GOP’s control and the earmark ban.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), meanwhile, berated Democrats for buying votes for Obama’s health-care bill with favors like the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback.”

The 10 States to recieve No Child left behind waivers "Obama" Sed

Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma need action by their state legislatures or boards of education, Duncan said, or their waivers will be revoked.

An additional 28 states, including Virginia and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia, have indicated that they intend to apply this month for a second round of waivers.

After states applied for waivers, their plans were read by peer reviewers, and the administration suggested changes.

“There’s a huge gap between what the states asked for and what they ended up with,” said Michael J. Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank. “The states asked for a mile, and the administration is giving them an inch.”

But some said the administration might be giving too much leeway. Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, an advocacy group that seeks to close the achievement gap, said she is concerned that plans submitted by Indiana and Oklahoma don’t do enough to hold schools accountable for educating Latino, African American and other minority children.

When Congress passed No Child Left Behind in 2001, it was a bipartisan effort to hold schools accountable to parents and taxpayers and a federal commitment to attack student achievement gaps.

For the first time, the law required schools to test all children annually in grades 3 through 8 and at least once in high school and report results by subgroups — including race, English learners and students with disabilities — so it was clear how every student was faring.

But administrators and teachers complained that the law unfairly labeled schools as “failures” if just one subgroup failed to meet annual goals and that it focused too much attention a single high-stakes test as opposed to student academic growth over the school year.

According to the Center on Education Policy, 48 percent of the nation’s schools were “failures” last year under No Child Left Behind.

States that receive waivers will still test students annually, but in September, their schools will no longer face the punitive measures outlined in No Child Left Behind, such as firing half a school’s staff members, removing the principal or even shutting down a school altogether.

Whale shark hauled onto Pakistani Pier

40-foot-long threatened animal, hauled onto Pakistani pier

Fishermen discovered a massive whale shark unconscious offshore 10 days ago, the 40-foot-long, seven-ton fish was finally pulled out of the water in Karachi on Tuesday, CBS News reports. At least five cranes were used to lift the giant carcass, as a crowd of curious onlookers stood by. The shark was later sold for its meat for 1.7 million rupees, the equivalent of $18,000.




The Post’s Juliet Eilperin, author of the book “Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks,” said it is unusual for an injured whale sharks to wash up on shore. But Mote Marine Laboratory scientist Robert Hueter wrote in an e-mail Wednesday that young whale sharks do show up swimming off the coasts of India.


Whale shark hunting is banned in many countries in Southeast Asia, and yet the giant fish continues to be highly sought after. TRAFFIC International recently placed Pakistan as 12th among the shark exporting countries in the world.




Whale sharks “play a game of Russian Roulette passing through ... the waters of nations like Bangladesh, where they are still not protected and ruthlessly hunted,” a scuba diver who swims with whale sharks noted recently on his blog.


Although whale sharks may seem imposing, they are a gentle fish that do not strike divers who swim alongside them.


Whale sharks have also increasingly been found mutilated with their fins cut off, left by their hunters to die. In October, Eilperin reported on newly released photos by the Pew Environment Group, which showed rows and rows of fins in Taiwan, as far as the eye could see. The photos “suggest that Taiwan, which reports the fourth-largest shark catch in the world, is an even greater player in the international shark trade than previously thought,” Eilperin wrote. Whale sharks are known as “tofu fish” in Taiwan because of the taste and texture of their flesh.

Philippine earthquake survivors

The 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 11:49 (03:49 GMT) at a depth of 20km, according to the US Geological Survey.

 

The rescue efforts are continuing after Monday's powerful earthquake in the central Philippines that left dozens of people dead or missing.

Army teams were carrying out search operations, said Ver Neil Balaba, operations officer at the regional Office of Civil Defence, and police had been deployed to prevent looting.

"The most urgent needs now are water, tents and food," he said.

At 17:00 local time, the Office of Civil Defence put the number of dead at 21 people, with 71 others reported missing and 52 injured.

The death toll includes two children, according to the government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

One local report on Monday put the number of dead at 43, including many people killed in a landslide in the badly-hit coastal area of Guihulngan.

But this report has not yet been confirmed by the central authorities. Telecommunications have been cut in many areas.

A series of aftershocks followed the initial quake, one of them registered a magnitude of 6.2 at the epicentre.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami alert for the area, but had lifted it by 14:30.

'Trapped inside'

On Tuesday, public schools and two universities in Negros Oriental province were closed.

Regional officials and an administrator from Manila had also arrived in the area and were assessing damage and needs, said Mr Balaba, who is based in Cebu.

Damaged roads and bridges added to challenges faced by rescue workers and the transport of aid and supplies.

In the town of Guihulngan, about 90km north of Dumaguete, reports said some houses had been completely buried by landslides, and the market and court house were also damaged.

The town's 42-strong police force, joined by army personnel and volunteers, had been searching for survivors and clearing debris, said Inspector Alvin Futalan, police chief of Guihulngan.

"The army (troops) had to walk about 50km from the last stop reachable by vehicle to reach us," he told the Agence France Presse news agency.

Nine bridges were damaged in Negros Oriental, with four no longer passable, said Governor Roel Degamo.

The quake also caused a landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, in the same province.

Goodbye Ben Gazzara and Zalman King

Two of cinema’s most proficient, actor Ben Gazzara and filmmaker/writer Zalman King have left us for the multiplex in the sky.
Gazzara, 81, probably best known to readers as the villain in Swayze ‘gem’ “Roadhouse” (1989), succumbed to Pancreatic cancer. His many other film and television credits include “Anatomy of a Murder”, “The Strange One”, “Run for Your Life” and “The Big Lebowski”.
Bloody great actor. Big-ass loss.

Zalman King, 69, is a name most of our readers will recognize; he was the man who gave us our jollies throughout the ’80s and early ’90s with such soft-porn classics as “Nine and a Half Weeks” (he co-wrote the pic), “Two Moon Junction”, and TV’s “Red Shoe Diaries”. Some might also remember that King was an actor before he started concealing himself behind the lens, starring in films like “Galaxy of Terror”.
Though “Two Moon Junction” was obviously the high-point of King’s directing career, it’s “Wild Orchid” that probably received the most publicity. Aside from causing quite a ruckus and garnering lots of attention when it was screening at the Drive-In I worked at as a youngster (it’s rumoured barrage of 18+ sex scenes led to many asking if I could sneak them in), the movie got lots of attention because of how real Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis’s sex scenes were – it was said that they weren’t actually pretending to screw onscreen. That was the real thing. The movie was atrocious, but it certainly gained a reputation and quickly.
Both Gazzara and King, specifically for their work in “Roadhouse” and “Two Moon Junction”, respectively, played a big part in my cinematic diet back in the ’80s. Thanks for all your fun, hot, tight nights gentlemen.


source: www.moviehole.net

Manny Paquiao Next fight for 2012

Timothy Bradley

Timothy Bradley - 25-0, 11 KO - Junior Welterweight World Champion
Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley is an exciting, undefeated young junior welterweight and former WBO/WBC Junior Welterweight Champion. He fights out of Palm Springs California.


Amateur Career
Bradley was ranked third in the nation as an amateur before he turned professional. He had an extensive and dominant amateur career, fighting in over 145 bouts and losing only 20. Bradley won a Silver Medal in the 2003 National Golden Gloves Championships, losing to Andre Berto.


Early Pro Career
Bradley made his professional debut in August of 2004 where he knocked out Francisco Martinez in the second round. He won his first 12 fights in dominant fashion over particularly unimpressive opponents.


WBC World Junior Welterweight Championship Fight vs. Junior Witter - in 2008, Bradley was given the chance to take on Junior Witter in Witter’s hometown in the United Kingdom for the WBC Junior Welterweight Championship. Bradley was able to earn a hard fought split decision victory over Witter and earn the WBC title.


WBC/WBO Unification fight vs. Holt – On April 4th, 2009, Bradley fought Kendall Holt in an effort to unify his WBC light welterweight title with Holt’s WBO title. Although Bradley was knocked down in the first and twelfth rounds, he thoroughly out boxed Holt in the remainder of the fight, earning a unanimous decision victory and earning the title of WBC and WBO Junior Welterweight Champion.


Post Unification Controversy – This title did not last long. A few days after he earned the unification title, Bradley was stripped of his title for failing to take on Devon Alexander (his mandatory challenger) on time, making the title vacant. Devon Alexander then earned the title by defeating top contender Junior Witter.


On the same card, Bradley fought to a no decision against Nate Campbell. In this fight, a cut formed over Campbell’s left eye and he was forced to retire. Although at first, Bradley was awarded the TKO victory, it was later proved that the cut was caused by a clash of heads, making the fight a no decision.


Bradley recently improved his record to 25-0 with 1 no decision in very impressive fashion by winning a dominant unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Lamont Peterson.


source: www.proboxing-fans.com

Planned Parenthood

Planning for parenthood is a busy -- if joyful -- affair. There are cribs to pick out, names to select, books to read and classes to take. Amid the whirlwind of baby showers and ultrasounds, however, moms- and dads-to-be often overlook one of the most important steps of parenthood -- getting their legal and financial house in order.


"Finances tend to take a back seat, but the truth is that's a great time to step back and take a look at the big picture," says David Yeske, a certified financial planner with Yeske Buie in San Francisco. “Children aren’t just expensive for a year or two. They’re expensive for many decades. You need to plan for that.”


The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates it will cost middle-income families with a baby born last year (2007) $204,060 to raise their child through age 18 – in clothes, food, shelter, childcare, and other necessities.

So, here are 10 steps that will benefit your family.


1. Review jobs and income

Before you make a decision to quit or continue working after the baby arrives, calculate the cost of childcare and weigh that against your income. Don’t forget to factor in the intangible cost of one spouse quitting a job -- the loss of future promotions, loss of retirement contributions and the probability that they may reenter the workforce down the road at a lesser position. You may be able to arrange a more flexible schedule, or accept a part-time position instead, that would allow you to be home more with your child, continue earning a paycheck and keep your career intact.


2. Review insurance


Now more than ever, you need to be sure your family has adequate insurance protection, covering life, disability and health.
As a rule of thumb, many financial planners recommend parents have at least five times their earnings in life insurance, plus enough to cover college costs. But Yeske says it’s best to establish your own financial goals and crunch the numbers accordingly. For example, do you want your policy to provide living expenses for your spouse for life – or only until your kids graduate college, at which time he or she could return to work? Do you want it to cover your kid’s education?


If you have health insurance already, make sure it’s still the one that best meets your family’s needs and register early in the pregnancy to take full advantage of maternity benefits including prenatal vitamins, ultrasounds and regular check ups.


3. Plan your estate


This means establishing or updating your will, naming a legal guardian to care for your child should anything happen to you and updating beneficiaries on your retirement plans. If your assets are significant, you may also wish to create a trust for college education or living expenses that spells out how much your child should receive and when. You would also have to name a trustee to distribute the money. An attorney can advise you on all of these fronts.


4. Tell Uncle Sam


Be sure to apply for a Social Security number as soon as your child is born. You’ll need it to claim exemptions and tax credits on your return and open savings and investment accounts on your child’s behalf.


5. Revisit your budget


It’s time to build extra expenses into your monthly budget. This step is particularly important if you’re going from a two-income family to just one. According to Yeske, you should factor in the cost of childcare (if relevant), food and diapers, projected medical expenses (higher insurance premiums and deductibles for well-baby check-ups), clothes, higher utility bills (if the baby is home all day with a parent or nanny) and any savings for college you’re able to set aside.


6. Save for college


As with retirement savings, the sooner you sock away money for higher education the better. Through the power of compounded interest, even small contributions can grow substantially. Assuming a 7-percent annual return, for example, you would be able to fully cover costs at a four-year public university (in-state) in 18 years by contributing just $328 a month to a tax-favorable account like a 529 savings plan. If there’s no money to spare at the end of each month, consider using any windfalls you receive (bonuses, raises, inheritance checks or tax refunds) for an education account.


These are not only tax-free gifts to your children, but the the earnings grow tax free (as long as the money is used for qualified education expenses.)


7. Explore FSAs


Ask your employer about any flexible spending accounts available through the standard benefits package. Many companies these days, particularly large ones , allow parents to set aside pre-tax dollars to cover childcare or healthcare expenses. It lowers your tax bill.


8. Maximize tax breaks


You should consult your accountant on this. At the very least, however, you’ll need to update your W-4 tax exemptions to reflect your new dependent. That reduces tax withholding and puts more money in your pocket to pay for diapers and formula. If your income is below certain limits, you may also qualify for a child tax credit of up to $1,000 per child. The benefit phases out as income rises. The IRS posts the most current info on its Website.


Lastly, if you and your spouse both work, your child is under age 13 and you pay for childcare, you may qualify for the child-care tax credit.


9. Continue financial planning


Just because you’re a parent now, doesn’t mean you should stop planning for your own short- and long-term financial goals. Sit down with a planner who can help you develop a strategy for saving and investing for the future. That may include a larger house down the road, a new car every five years or an annual vacation (without the kids!).


10. Teach money management


If you want your children to grow up with a healthy respect for saving, spending and investing you’ll have to tackle that job yourself. By modeling good financial behavior and giving your kids opportunities to develop money management skills (and learn from small mistakes while they’re young), you will arm them with the tools they need to become financially disciplined adults. And that’s one of the best gifts you can give.


There’s no doubt about it, bringing a child into the world is one of life’s greatest joys. But with the staggering expense involved, you’ll sleep better at night -- a feat of its own where newborns are concerned -- knowing you’ve laid the groundwork for a lifetime of financial security for your family.