As John Glenn, the world's most enduring and endearing spaceman, gets set to celebrate what no other living astronaut has done ? mark the 50th anniversary of his own spaceflight ? he finds himself in overdrive reflecting on what has been an undeniably charmed, golden life.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46434300#46434300
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For you gamers out there, what I?m about to say is going to shock and amaze you. This summer I purchased my first gaming console since the eighth grade, an Xbox 360.
When I arrived home with my prized possession, I couldn?t wait to show my roommate. I practically kicked down the door to his room only to receive a lifted eyebrow as my roommate said, ?Ha, welcome to 2005.?
Growing up my parents put a lot of stress on staying away from the TV. In all honesty, it worked. Even though all my friends throughout junior high and high school were pretty hardcore gamers, I seemed to completely avoid it. Throughout college I?ve been exposed to some passionate gamers; in fact, I now live with three of them.
My parents recently told me how proud they were that I never got caught up in the gaming scene that cost many a college freshman his college career.
The more I thought about this compliment, the more I realized that gaming really isn?t having an effect on my ?passionate gamer? friends? college careers. Why not? It?s because they, unlike their dropout counterparts, have found a way to balance gaming and the other important stuff that?s less cool.
Grant Knoble, a graduating senior and a mechanical engineering major, has been playing games since before he could read.
?I remember playing Zelda on NES and thinking to myself that I should really learn how to read,? Knoble said. ?I had no idea what the text on the screen meant.?
Knoble games about fifteen hours a week and sometimes all weekend and has been on the Dean?s list every semester of his college career. According to Knoble, the key to balancing college life and gaming is to make gaming an incentive to getting the important things accomplished first.
Jerrid Gimenez, a senior software engineering major, has also been gaming the majority of his life. ?Don?t get me wrong, I love not putting on pants and ragin? with my level twenty Pyromancer (fire wizard) on Dark Souls, but there is just other stuff that matters more,? Gimenez said.
Gimenez fully admits that there have been semesters early on in his college career that he put considerably more hours than he should have into video games and his grades suffered. Since then he?s learned to please his gamer addiction, but also do well in school.
Gimenez currently spends about twelve hours a week gaming and probably two to three on researching game tactics and reading forums to hone his skills.
Both of the students mentioned above enjoy playing video games and have been able to successfully balance gaming and reality. To those of you that are having a hard time with it, remember that you?re here to build the foundations of a career, to build yourself a life and to jam your head with useful knowledge, not to waste your time and money on video games. Video games are a hobby, not your life.
Source: http://www.uwpexponent.org/2012/02/17/gaming-can-be-part-of-college-life/
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Just a couple days after the official music video for "Safe and Sound" hit the Internet, the full track listing for The Hunger Games soundtrack has been released.
Who will join Taylor Swift on the album, which will be available for purchase on March 20? What songs, as teased above, are "from District 12 and beyond?" Check out the compilation below:
As you anticipate this CD, relive The Hunger Games trailer now and get psyched for the March 23 release of this blockbuster.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/02/the-hunger-games-soundtrack-track-listings-revealed/
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Even as we say change could be the only constant. The very idea of change holds for technology as well. Eventually, many technologies have evolved that have made our way of life simpler. Internet is one of them. Today, you?ll be able to ply their trade and get several items. Moreover, in the present hyper competitive time, it is mandatory for each and every business to get the online presence. Earlier, making a website involved plenty of work, and efforts. But the arrival of CMS web design, the task of website development has become easy. Go for longer an occasion consuming and cumbersome process. CMS development guarantees a specialist, dynamic and artistic website for Forex Trading System that is therapeutic for the business enterprise. This is the reason tastes people choose aCMS design to acquire a user-friendly and visually appealing website that is certainly corresponding to their positive online image.
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Source: http://www.detailsspecialnews.info/cms-a-power-tool-to-construct-dynamic-and-inventive-websites.php
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This is from a 1961 Club Harlem program booklet.
ATLANTIC CITY ? On Tuesday, Feb. 22, groundbreaking will commence on the newest Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian?s 19th museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, will occupy a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th streets N.W., between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian?s National Museum of American History.?
Although the museum isn?t slated to open until Fall 2015, intensive planning, collecting and architectural work has been ongoing for several years.?
Designed to ?illustrate the major periods of African American history, beginning with the origins in Africa and continuing through slavery, reconstruction, the Civil Rights era, the Harlem Renaissance and into the 21st century,? according to the Smithsonian, the new museum will also place ?special emphasis? on pop culture and ?the full spectrum of the arts.??
That?s where Dwandalyn R. Reece, PH.D. ? and Atlantic City ? come into the picture.?
Reece, the curator of the music and performing arts permanent exhibit for the new museum, has a vision that is slowly but surely coming to fruition. ?I am building the museum?s collection [of] the music and the performing arts,? Reece tells Atlantic City Weekly. ?My most immediate priority task is to develop the permanent exhibition on music.? ?
That permanent exhibition is slated to include Atlantic City?s former Club Harlem in a big way. ?I had the benefit in the early 1990s to work at the New Jersey State Museum,? says Reece, who has been traveling the country far and wide collecting objects and securing acquisitions for the permanent exhibit. ?The State Museum and the New Jersey Historical Commission were doing a collaborative project, looking at African American history in New Jersey. So I was brought in to work on that project ... to help research and locate objects on New Jersey. The focus of that exhibition was going to look at institutional life ? organizations, clubs and businesses in the light that explores New Jersey?s African American history through that lens. I was working with [a variety] of people [and] spent two years really traveling the state, following up on leads, and looking and meeting people ? and Club Harlem was one of the places that was brought to my attention.??
At that point, Reece recalls, ?I think the building was still standing [and] there were some objects still existing. I remember seeing photographs of the sign and some other things, so that was definitely going to be a focal point of this exhibition. When I had come and visited Atlantic City, and done some other research [I] met with a variety of people. So that?s where I got familiar with Atlantic City. ?
?When I got this job about two years ago, and I was tasked to do this exhibition, I was thinking about what I wanted to do and I wanted to really look at [several] parts of African American music history. We look just not at music and musicians, but really the social and cultural context, which would be performance venues, and working in the industry and all of that. Club Harlem popped back into my mind. And then I became re-acquainted with [Atlantic City historian and author] Vicki Gold-Levi. We started talking about it, and I always wanted to feature a real venue such as the Club Harlem to tell the story about, not only music, but the role that a venue that promotes African American performance plays in a community. So, Vicki and I became re-acquainted and started talking, and I did find out that it had been torn down. I was heartbroken to hear that.??
Reece, however, did not give up on her idea to re-create the Club Harlem for the museum, one of Atlantic City?s and the world?s most incredible music venues, which was in operation for a better part of the 20th century. ?
View: History of Atlantic City Nightlife
Reece has made several trips to Atlantic City over the past few years ? among other music history hot spots through the country ? doing research at the Atlantic City Free Public Library, meeting with local historians such as Ralph Hunter of the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey, Henrietta Shelton, of the Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation, and several others. Yet, she still has a lot of calls to make.?
?I?ve gotten a sense there are materials out there [and] people who are very passionate about the story,? says Reece. ?As a museum person I?m all for preserving the history, but as I work towards developing this exhibition, we need objects to help tell the story. So that?s where I am right now. This is still a placeholder for me, but I am hoping that I have enough that I can do a small segment. I mean, this is a large story that we?re doing on African American music and with a finite amount of space. I envisioned telling the story of Club Harlem as ? and telling the story of African American Atlantic City ? a venue that promoted African American performers and the community that came from it. And also I?d love to try and get more details about what the club was like ? the Breakfast Show, and the performers ? and trying to get more pictures of the interior.??
For the designers of this permanent exhibition, Reece needs to help them with ?trying to get a sense of what [Club Harlem] looked like,? so that the builders can re-create a version of it. ?
?We have had some donations,? says Reece, ?and I?ve got more names. I am hoping people will share what they have. I need the three-dimensional objects to tell the story. We really are building a collection and I really see this as an opportunity to recognize an important story on a national and international level. I know how collectors are and it?s hard to let go of things. And I also think it?s important that you have things in the community to help tell that story, but I am hoping that people will understand the opportunity here, and getting Atlantic City out there, and its uniqueness as a community, and its whole contribution to the entertainment scene.? ?
PICTURED: Lonnie Smith's Blue Note recording Move Your Hand was recorded live at the Club Harlem.
Although Reece has been dedicating as much time as possible to making the Club Harlem a permanent part of the new museum?s exhibit on African American music, she is also tasked with telling the story of African American music and performing arts as a whole. ?
Some objects she has recently obtained from across the country include a Cadillac from Chuck Berry, Lena Horne?s dress from the 1943 film Stormy Weather, Michael Jackson?s shirt and jacket, Harriet Tubman?s Gospel hymnal, and an early recital card for a Nina Simone performance ? when she was still known by her birth name, Eunice Waymon; she changed her name in Atlantic City, in fact ? in Philadelphia. ?
?I was just out in Las Vegas, and the discussion, while I was meeting with musicians, they were also talking about the history of Las Vegas, and how difficult it was to be black and get an opportunity to be on the Strip, and be a performer. It?s funny how Frank Sinatra kind of factors into several of these stories, helping to open doors and make opportunities for people. Through a little of his own subterfuge, you know, it?s interesting some of the parallels there.?
The one person Reece has yet to make contact with is the son of the late Atlantic City historian and drummer at the Club Harlem, Sid Trusty. ?
Trusty had a massive collection of memorabilia, posters, photos and items from the Club Harlem, carefully organized in his garage museum in Atlantic City prior to his death in August 2004. His son is rumored to have possession of the collection in Connecticut. ?
Now, more than ever, Reece needs help as she searches for objects for the new Smithsonian museum in Washington. ?
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"); fieldBody.value = bodyValue; if(navigator.appName == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer') { if(document.getElementById('submit').disabled) { document.getElementById('submit').disabled=false; } else { document.getElementById('submit').disabled=true; } } return insertComment(form,true,function(){return showEditorialComment(nameValue, bodyValue)}); } else { alert('Please enter a valid Email below.'); form.elements[field.email].focus(); return false; } }
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DETROIT ? Federal authorities worried about a perceived threat to the government and President Barack Obama "manipulated" facts and greatly overreached when they charged seven members of a Midwest militia with conspiring to rebel against the United States, a defense attorney told jurors Tuesday.
On the second day of trial, the jury heard opening statements from attorneys for three more defendants before prosecutors summoned their first witness, an FBI agent in charge of the two-year investigation that led to the March 2010 arrests of nine members of the southern Michigan-based militia, called Hutaree.
The defendants are accused of conspiring to someday ambush and kill a police officer, then attack the funeral procession with explosives and trigger a broader revolt against the U.S. government. Defense lawyer James Thomas said the startling allegations don't fit.
"A new president comes into office. The agencies that are sworn to investigate and protect him are very, very curious about what's going on out there," Thomas told jurors. "That premise ? that somebody would be out there who is going to be a danger, either to the country or to the president of the United States ? got distorted.
"It was a conclusion that was brought to be supported by facts, facts that were manipulated," he said.
On Monday, the government showed jurors automatic weapons, vests and other military gear seized when the nine group members were arrested in southern Michigan, Indiana and Ohio in March 2010. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Graveline said the group was looking for a conflict to trigger an attack ? maybe a traffic stop, a search warrant or a dispute between authorities and another militia.
"They wanted to start an armed confrontation. ... The war to them meant patriots rising up against the government," said Graveline, who held up automatic weapons and other items
Graveline showed the jury a video clip of leader David Stone declaring, "Welcome to the revolution." The government placed an undercover agent inside the Hutaree and also had a paid informant. More than 100 hours of audio and video were recorded.
"They were ready, willing and able to go to war. They were preparing for war," the prosecutor said.
Todd Shanker, attorney for David Stone Jr., acknowledged there are "offensive statements" on the recordings but said the words were "almost fantasy" made among people who were comfortable with each other.
"These are extreme charges. ... They are going to fail and they are going to fail miserably," said Shanker, adding later that the Hutaree really was more of a "social club" than any organized militia.
William Swor, attorney for David Stone, said his client was a firm believer in the Bible's book of Revelation and the coming of an "anti-Christ."
"The anti-Christ as David Stone understands it will come from overseas, and the troops of the anti-Christ will take over America. That is the resistance that David Stone was preparing for," Swor said.
He told jurors the government was displaying weapons in court to "make you afraid." Swor said members lived hand-to-mouth and couldn't even afford transportation to a regional militia meeting in Kentucky, a trip that wasn't completed because of bad winter weather. He said it was the undercover agent who supplied the van, gas and a secret camera that captured Stone on video.
Of the original nine defendants, Joshua Clough, of Blissfield, Mich., is the only one to make a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty in December to illegal use of a firearm, faces a mandatory five-year prison sentence and could be called as a witness to testify for the government.
Besides the Stones, the other defendants are Tina Mae Stone and Joshua Stone, both from Lenawee County; Thomas Piatek, of Whiting, Ind.; Michael Meeks, of Manchester, Mich.; and Kristopher Sickles, of Sandusky, Ohio. Jacob Ward, of Huron, Ohio, will have a separate trial. Besides conspiracy charges, all face at least one firearm charge and some have more.
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By msnbc.com staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. ? WUSA reporter Andrea McCarren says she will go back in?front of the cameras to deliver?her own stories about underage drinking after stepping away?when her children received insulting and threatening comments from their high school classmates.
Backlash to a WUSA series on underage drinking and drug use that began Feb. 1?received widespread media attention Wednesday. The Washington Post reported that?threats were delivered to?McCarren's?children in person and on Facebook, leading WUSA news director Fred D?Ambrosi and McCarren to agree she should stay off the air for a week and let colleague Derek McGinty report her story, which he did twice.
?My kids were targeted,? McCarren told the Post. ?That?s where I drew the line.?
Stories about the backlash over McCarren?s reports also appeared on The Huffington Post, Washington City Paper and media-industry websites.
But on Facebook Wednesday, McCarren posted:
?For the record, thanks to extraordinary support from my family, my colleagues and all of you, I will be fronting my own stories again later this week. As many pointed out, we don't want the 'terrorists' (or bullies) to win. I'm very proud of the stories you will see tonight, Thursday, Friday and in the months to come. Thank you.?
She confirmed to msnbc.com that she would be back on the air for?the 11 p.m. ET Wednesday broadcast.
McCarren?s reporting included her confrontation with the owner of a local market?where WUSA reported that?underage alcohol sales were being made, a police bust of a Bethesda, Md., underage drinking party, and ?pre-gaming," where youths get intoxicated or high before sporting events or concerts.
McCarren?s series was to continue Wednesday night with?a report on teenage girls being raped at underage drinking parties, WUSA said.
?Ninety-nine percent of the feedback we've received because of Andrea's reporting has been positive,? WUSA said?on its website?as it reported on the backlash. ??We've heard from schools, medical personnel, police, parents and even teenagers.?
The station cited a 17-year-old high school student ?brave enough? not to drink despite peer pressure:? "Please don't back down in face of threats. This is so rare that the media ... is trying to expose teen drinking and I applaud you for it. So on behalf of the 'team sober' kids, thanks."
Last week,?WUSA?said McCarren was ?stunned and heartbroken to find herself subjected to online name calling too foul to mention on TV.?
Police took threats so seriously that officers were stationed in front of McCarren?s house, WUSA said.
It cited Facebook posts aimed at her such as this: "You can't try and take away something that teens love without retaliation. Haven't you ever heard of teenage rebellion? Teens love to drink and I'm sure they'll be laughing it up about your report while they party tonight."
Msnbc.com's Jim Gold contributed to this story.
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Photo courtesy of all in green/Flickr
On Valentine?s day, the Western Montana Heart Gallery will display the faces of 5 foster care children in need of a permanent home. The children on display are a small fraction of the number of Montana children in need of a family. In Western Montana alone (including Missoula, Lake, Ravalli, Mineral, Flathead, and Sanderson counties) there are currently 80 children waiting to be adopted. Those 80 children are among the 354 children currently being cared for by only 221 foster families. These children are in desperate need of the love and support that only a permanent home can provide.
In 2010 the Heart Gallery presented Missoula with the faces of 6 children in need and 5 were adopted into a family. Nationally, children featured in Heart Galleries have a 90% adoption rate. One of the reasons for this is the ability of people to see and take responsibility for the need that exists in their own communities.
The grand opening of Missoula?s Heart Gallery will be at 1:00 P.M. on February 14, at the Southgate Mall near the central clock tower. The gallery will be on permanent display for mall visitors to view. Hopefully, Missoulians with the ability to do so will be able to give more than flowers and chocolate this Valentine?s day.
Source: http://kgvo1290.com/share-the-love-this-valentines-day-adopt-a-child/
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From: http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/wsj-economist-ron-paul-s-0-income-tax-would-be-world-s-greatest-job-creator?CID=obinsite
WSJ economist: Ron Paul's 0% income tax would be world's greatest job creator
Kenneth Schortgen Jr
Finance Examiner
During the January 16th debates in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Presidential candidate Ron Paul laid down a bombshell by advocating his goal of gradually lowering the personal income tax to 0%, while at the same time shrinking government and finding new sources of revenue for Washington to use to perform its duties. In response to this, economist and Senior editor for the Wall Street Journal not only agreed that Congressman Paul's plan was feasible, but it would also be the greatest job creator for a nation in the history of the world.
Judge Napolitano: But the biggest sound bite of last night comes from another cowboy from Texas. Congressman Ron Paul, whos tax ideas outgunned his opponents.
Ron Paul: We should have the lowest tax that we?ve ever had, and up till 1913 it was 0%. What?s so bad about that?
Debate moderator: So you?re answer is 0?
RP: Zero
JN: Zero! Joining me now to discuss abolishing the income tax is a man who?s no stranger to studying and analyzing taxes. He?s Steve Moore, head of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal.
JN: Can we take Congressman Paul seriously at his word? That were he to be nominated and elected President, he would move to reduce the income tax rates to zero, or as he says, gradually abolish the income tax, shrink the government down to its Constitutional size, and force it to go to other resources for cash.
Steve Moore: This is a point Ron Paul made very effectively last night, which was for the first roughly 130 or 140 years of our nation we didn?t have an income tax, and yet we did have a prosperous country, we got richer every year, and so there?s no reason we can?t imagine what America would be like without an income tax.
SM: As an economist, can you imagine America?s competitive position in the world if Ron Paul were able to get our income tax rate down to zero, when other countries have 30, 40, 50% rates? you would see the most insourcing of jobs into America in the history of the world. ? Freedom Watch
Advertisement
(Click on video to the left of this article to see entire interview)
Prior to 1913, there was no income tax instituted on the American people, and the US government collected revenues primarily from fees, licenses, and customs issued on foreign goods coming into the country. The infamous Port of New York and New York Customs House was so powerful in its time, that Chester Arthur used his position in the revenue collecting agency to run for, and win the Presidency after James Garfield was assassinated in office.
However, leading into the 20th century, banking forces continued to push for a central bank, and after the Panic of 1907, Congress finally passed legislation to create the Federal Reserve, and with it, pushed through the Income Tax Amendment (16th). Since the Federal Reserve was a privately owned bank, part of the contract required the government to create an income source to be able to borrow money from the Fed, and the taxing of citizens was the universal program to create that collateral.
Since 1913, the personal income tax system has gone through many major changes, but for the most part, it still remains an intrical part of government revenue collection. It's tiered system of higher tax rates on higher incomes has led to a decline in many Americans ability to spend in the economy, and has also led to a decrease in our nations manufacturing and industry.
Ron Paul's plan to gradually lower the personal income tax to 0% for the American people has received praise and confirmation by a very reputable economist at the Wall Street Journal. So much so, that his assessment of the plan would lead to the greatest job creation by a country in the history of the world.
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Source: http://thetruthbyrcoldguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/ron-pauls-0-income-tax-would-be-worlds.html
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) ? The second U.S. drone attack in two days in Pakistan's North Waziristan region killed five people on Thursday, including a senior militant commander with links to al Qaeda, Pakistani intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.
Badar Mansoor, leader of a faction of the Pakistani Taliban with close ties to al Qaeda, was one of the five killed in the strike in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, intelligence officials and Pakistani Taliban sources said.
"Badar Mansoor was living in a rented house here. He died in the drone strike this morning, and we have confirmation of five deaths," a Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters.
Officials said the death toll could rise because buildings next to the one targeted were also damaged and people could have been there.
On Wednesday, a U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles at a compound in a village near Miranshah killing 10 suspected militants, Pakistani officials and villagers said.
The Central Intelligence Agency's drone program, a key element of the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy in the region, was apparently halted after a November NATO cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, sparking fury in Pakistan.
The attacks with the unmanned aircraft in Pakistan's unruly northwestern ethnic Pashtun areas along the Afghan border were resumed on January 10.
Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, operate in Pakistan's semi-autonomous border regions, taking advantage of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border attacks, or plot violence elsewhere.
North Waziristan is also an important base for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, an Afghan militant faction allied with the Taliban, which the United States says is one of its deadliest adversaries in Afghanistan.
While the Haqqanis say they no longer need havens in North Waziristan and stay in Afghanistan, they are known to still maintain a presence in the Pakistani border region.
The use of the remotely piloted aircraft over Pakistan is opposed by most Pakistani politicians and the public, who consider drone strikes violations of sovereignty with unacceptable civilian casualties.
But despite public opposition, Pakistan has quietly supported the program, which President Barack Obama ramped up after taking office in 2009.
(Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN; Writing by Qasim Nauman; Editing by Chris Allbritton)
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NEW YORK ? Thousands of fans roared as New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning hoisted the team's Super Bowl trophy from a glittering blue-and-white float Tuesday during a victory parade through New York City, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg quipped should now be nicknamed the "Big Blue Apple."
The parade set off from the southern tip of Manhattan and moved slowly north to City Hall as fans stood dressed head-to-toe in Giants gear and confetti wafted slowly down from the high-rises that line the street.
Manning, joined by coach Tom Coughlin, Bloomberg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other teammates, waved and grinned from the float as a deep roar rose from the crowds.
The team was introduced with thunderous applause from the lucky 250 fans who got tickets to a ceremony at City Hall Plaza, where the Giants were honored with symbolic keys to the city. Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz did his trademark salsa moves as he accepted his key.
Bloomberg asked: "Are you feeling `deja blue' all over again?" referring to the team's 2008 win against the New England Patriots. The crowd cheered.
Coughlin said the Giants were successful because they never gave up.
"The key thing was to remember this: All things are possible for those who believe," Coughlin said. "We always believed."
Some fans waited since 6 a.m. to catch a glimpse of their favorite players. About half of a Long Island high school class skipped school to see "a whole nation coming together in one place ? this parade," said Mike King, 16, of Wantagh, N.Y.
King and seven school friends got up at dawn, arriving by subway in lower Manhattan to join the crowds packed behind police barricades lining Broadway. He attributed the win to the stellar performance of Manning and the hold-your-breath catch by Mario Manningham that led to the game-winning drive.
"It was one small step for the Giants, and one giant leap for the fans and the nation," King said.
Frank Capogrosso, 11, from Staten Island, with his dad and his best friend, standing at this beginning of parade route, leaning against the barricade with a grin on his face.
"This is better than TV. I love the cop cars, the toilet paper, and the ecstatic fans." He added: I'm ecstatic. I love the Giants, I love their style: They play, they don't talk."
The parade for the Super Bowl champions will have an estimated economic impact of up to $38 million for the city, depending on the number of spectators, Bloomberg said. As many as 1 million are expected ? about a third of them from outside New York.
After the parade, the team will travel to New Jersey for a 3 p.m. rally at MetLife Stadium.
This will be the second Super Bowl championship parade for the Giants in four years. They also beat the Patriots in the NFL title game in 2008.
But it's hard to imagine a victory more exciting than the Giants' last-minute 21-17 victory over the Patriots. The hero of this year's parade undoubtedly will be Super Bowl MVP Manning. Manning and Manningham connected on the clutch play, as the receiver made the over-the-shoulder catch along the sideline.
From a Broadway high-rise older than the ticker-tape tradition, members of the law firm Kenyon & Kenyon dumped shredded paper out their windows to the spectacular view below of the lauded athletes.
Jun Kim, 28, a Korean linguist, reserved his biggest batch for Manning. "You are a star!" he yelled as the quarterback passed by. "People thought he would crumble under pressure, but he didn't. He's the best."
New York City Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said he expected to see about 40 tons of paper showered down. That's a lot but not one for the record books. The city threw 5,438 tons of ticker tape on returning veterans at the end of World War II in 1945.
Even before the parade started, city sanitation crews with hand-held vacuums were ready to suck up the piles of confetti that would rain on Broadway.
The second-highest amount of paper was thrown to honor astronaut John Glenn in 1962 ? 3,474 tons. The actual ticker tape from those days has been replaced by recycled paper that's shredded into confetti.
Sanitation spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins says the department picked up 34.2 tons of paper after the Giants' last parade in 2008.
The streets Tuesday were a mass of metal police barricades, and security was tight with helicopters flying overhead and police command centers parked nearby.
Sanitation worker Joey Lobosco, 38, from Staten Island, cheered as the team passed by.
"I like the whole atmosphere here ? of winning in New York ? there's nothing like it. Winning in the greatest city in the world," Lobosco said.
Mindy Forman, 53, of Yorktown, N.Y., was one of the lucky few who scored a ticket to the festivities at City Hall. She said the win was a much-needed victory at a time when many could use some cheering up. She counted herself among that group: She was laid off two weeks ago from her job as a college administrator.
"It celebrates New York," she said. "It celebrates the city. It celebrates the state. And it gives people something to believe in in very hard times."
New York has feted its public heroes since 1919, with the first parade for World War I General John Pershing and his victorious troops.
They were followed by more than 200 parades honoring such people as aviator Charles Lindbergh, scientist Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul, South African leader Nelson Mandela and pianist Van Cliburn. Their names are chiseled into the Broadway sidewalks.
___
Associated Press Writer Samantha Gross contributed to this report. She can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/samanthagross
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Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/02/07/oscars-muppets-best-song/
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(Image: Vasko Miokovic/Vetta/Getty Images)
Physicists have discovered a new way to record data that could make future hard drives hundreds of times faster than existing technology - all you need is a little heat.
Hard drives store data using magnetic recording, with tiny sections of the disc magnetised in a particular direction to represent the 0 or 1 of a bit. Recording data involves flipping the direction, which is currently done using an external magnetic field. Now, a team of researchers led by Thomas Ostler at the University of York, UK have discovered that a short burst of heat can do the job much faster.
It was previously thought that heat could only assist in remagnetisation when used in conjunction with a magnetic field. It turns out that zapping a magnet with a laser for less than one trillionth of a second, momentarily raising the temperature by over 800 degrees Celsius, can have the same effect. The results were published today in the journal Nature Communications.
The researchers say this new method could be used to make hard drives capable of recording terabytes of information a second, which is hundreds of times faster than existing drives. The process also uses less energy than magnetic recording, meaning the new drives would be more energy efficient.
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GOLD BEACH, Ore. ? Dan Conne says he and his wife and son thought they were going to die after getting lost while picking mushrooms and spending nearly a week in the rugged forest of southwest Oregon.
They spent the nights huddled in a hollow log and considered sacrificing their pit bull, Jesse, for food.
"She's that good a dog, she'd have done it, too," Conne said.
But help finally arrived Saturday when a volunteer helicopter pilot decided to look outside the search area and spotted the family ? Dan, his wife, Belinda, and their 25-year-old son, Michael ? on the edge of a deep ravine in tall timber. The three were about 10 miles from the town of Gold Beach, roughly 330 miles south-southwest of Portland.
"The searchers were with us within 20 minutes of the first copter that found us," Dan Conne told The Associated Press. "There must have been nine or 10 of them. They just kept coming out of that brush.
"lt was just a real happy feeling 'cause we knew we wasn't going to die out there.'"
The Connes were airlifted to a Gold Beach hospital, where they stayed overnight.
Dan Conne hurt his back, and Belinda Conne had hypothermia, Curry County Sheriff John Bishop said. All three were hungry, and enjoyed their potato soup and sandwiches at the hospital.
Belinda and Dan Conne, both 47, were discharged Sunday. Their son, who suffered frostbite, hypothermia and a sprained ankle, remained in the hospital for more treatment.
While lost, the cold and hungry family could see search helicopters and airplanes flying low and slow overhead. But they couldn't get the pilots' attention through the thick, coastal forest vegetation.
They eventually used the screen on their dead cellphone and the blade of a sheath knife to flash a signal.
"The wife had the Blackberry, and I had the knife," Dan Conne said. "I kept flashing. The wife said, `You're blinding them.' But I wanted to make sure they seen us. I wasn't taking no chance."
The family was spotted by Jackson County Commissioner John Rachor, spending his first day searching for them in his own helicopter with Curry County Sheriff's Lt. John Ward.
Rachor had been up two hours and decided to go outside the search area, heading uphill from where the family parked their Jeep, instead of down.
"We couldn't find anything in the obvious places, so we decide to go to the not-obvious places," he said.
Rachor is the same pilot who found a San Francisco family lost in a snowstorm in 2006 just 35 miles from where he found the Connes. In 2006, Rachor flew Kati Kim and her two young daughters to safety after spotting them near their car. James Kim died of hypothermia trying to hike out for help.
On Saturday, Rachor saw a movement on the edge of a deep ravine in tall timber. A man in tan bib overalls was waving his arms.
Ward marked the spot on his GPS and called the Coast Guard for a helicopter to winch the family out. He also called a nearby ground team to give them immediate aid, then flew back to Gold Beach for fuel.
The Coast Guard lifted out Michael and Dan Conne first, then returned for Belinda. The dog walked out with searchers.
Dan Conne said the three got lost Jan. 29 after going back for a second load of hedgehog and black trumpet mushrooms, which they sell to a local buyer. It was Belinda's day off from her motel maid job.
They left their four Chihuahua dogs at the fifth-wheel trailer at the campground where they live, and drove to first one spot, then returned for peanut butter sandwiches and went to a new spot they were not familiar with.
In the heat of the afternoon, they left their jackets at the end of a gravel road. Their last meal was a peanut butter sandwich each on Sunday.
When they didn't come home the first night, the camp host alerted authorities. Searchers hit the ground Monday. Wednesday, searchers found the Connes' Jeep.
The Connes spent the first night in rain, sheltering under a pile of brush. The second day, they built a lean-to, but it fell down. Trying to find their way out, they discovered a hollow log they could all three squeeze into, and they stayed there, covering the opening with bark and hiking downhill to a creek to fill plastic bags with water. When it rained, they tried to plug the leaks with bits of wood.
"It was pretty tight in there," Dan Conne said. "I'm sure a bear would have been real comfortable in there."
They were never able to start a fire, having no matches or lighters.
"Every other time we been out there, every one of us had lighters, except this time," Dan Conne said. "Rubbing sticks together? That don't work. Slamming rocks together? Only on TV.
"There was a lot of debating, back and forth, whether to stay or go. Mikey couldn't walk. If we had to leave him, that wasn't an option. Belinda was down. I could barely walk. We just didn't know which way to go."
Searchers found a trail and a few hopeful clues along the way: a can of Pepsi, mushroom-picking buckets, a few pieces of clothing. But not the people they were searching for.
At one point, the Connes spotted a search helicopter close enough for them to see the sheriff riding inside, but their attempt to signal went unseen.
After getting out of the hospital, Dan Conne picked up Jesse and the Chihuahuas, which had been cared for at the animal shelter after the rescue. Jesse jumped and danced around at seeing him again.
"I don't think we could have done it," Belinda Conne said of eating their pet. "I probably would have starved to death first."
Dan Conne said he tried to eat a hedgehog mushroom while in the forest but found it "nasty." He gave away the mushrooms he collected.
"I don't ever want to see one of these again," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Nigel Duara in Portland contributed to this report.
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BEIJING ? Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is visiting China to discuss oil sales and other economic ties following U.S. President Barack Obama's rejection of a pipeline carrying Canadian oil across the continental United States.
Harper is due to arrive late Tuesday at the head of a 40-strong delegation of Canadian business leaders. He will meet with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other top officials following a welcoming ceremony Wednesday.
The visit highlights efforts by Canada to diversify energy sales. The U.S. market currently absorbs 97 percent of Canadian oil exports.
Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $16 billion in Canadian energy in the past two years and hope to gain steady supplies to fuel their country's booming economy. Chinese state-controlled Sinopec has a stake in a proposed Canadian pipeline to the Pacific Ocean that would substantially boost Chinese investment in Alberta oil sands.
Overall trade between the sides surged to almost $50 billion in 2011, according to official Chinese figures. Chinese have also increasingly looked to Canada as a destination for tourism and emigration.
Relations between China and Canada have improved significantly since Harper's first trip in 2009, when Wen publicly chided Harper for taking so long to visit. Harper has since altered Canada's hardline stance on human rights to avoid offending China's communist leadership.
Increasing energy exports has been a key theme of Harper's conservative administration. Canada has the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela: more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million by 2025, which the oil industry sees as a pressing reason to build the pipelines.
Harper remains determined to build a pipeline to Canada's Pacific Coast after Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have taken oil from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast.
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BEIJING (Reuters) ? China defended its rejection of a U.N. resolution pressing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to abandon power, with a top state newspaper saying Western intervention in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq exposed the risks of forced regime change.
China said its blocking, along with Russia, of the U.N. resolution which would have backed an Arab plan urging Assad to quit, did not amount to supporting the Syrian leader. Activists accused his forces of bombarding part of the city of Homs before the U.N. vote in the worst bloodshed of the 11-month uprising.
"On the issue of Syria, China is not playing favorites and nor is it deliberately opposing anyone, but rather is upholding an objective and fair stance and a responsible position," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters in Beijing.
Western powers that initiated the U.N. Security Council vote on their draft resolution were culpable for not going far enough in seeking compromise, said Liu.
"Our goal is for the Syrian people to escape violence, conflict and flames of war, and not to make the problem even more complicated," he said.
"Unfortunately, the countries that proposed the resolution forced a vote despite the serious differences among various sides, and this approach was not conducive to the unity and authority of Security Council and is not conducive to the appropriate resolution of the problem. Therefore, China voted against the draft resolution," Liu added.
China's explanation is unlikely to mollify critics in Western capitals and the Middle East.
The conflicting Chinese and Western positions have exposed a wider rift about how China should use its growing influence and whether it should forsake its long-standing, albeit unevenly applied, principle of non-interference in other countries' domestic conflicts.
China's siding with Russia over Syria could add to irritants with the United States. Vice President Xi Jinping, the Communist Party's likely next leader, is due to visit there next week.
"Whatever the (Syria) resolution may have said on paper, both China and Russia worried that it could have laid the way for legitimizing another armed intervention," said Guo Xian'gang, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, a government-run think tank in Beijing.
China is one of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members that hold the power to veto resolutions.
Russia and China's veto on Saturday came a day after activists said Syrian forces killed more than 200 people in Homs. Syrian forces bombarded the city again on Monday, killing 50 people, the opposition said.
All 13 other members of the Security Council voted for the resolution, which also called for a withdrawal of Syrian troops from towns and the beginning of a transition to democracy.
Dozens of Syrian and Libyan demonstrators threw rocks, eggs and tomatoes at the Chinese embassy in Tripoli, where they also broke windows and sprayed graffiti on walls in a show of disgust at the veto.
Asked about criticisms, such as those from the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who said more bloodshed would be on Russian and Chinese hands, Liu said: "China does not accept such accusations."
"FRESH SEEDS OF DISASTER"
The People's Daily, China's top party newspaper, also defended the veto, and suggested that Chinese distrust of Western intervention lay behind it.
"Currently, the situation in Syria is extremely complex. Simplistically supporting one side and suppressing the other might seem a helpful way of turning things around, but in fact it would be sowing fresh seeds of disaster," the newspaper, which echoes government thinking, said in the commentary.
The author of the commentary used the pen name "Zhong Sheng", which can mean "voice of China" and is often used to give the government's position on foreign policy.
The People's Daily spelled out broader Chinese concerns about U.S.-backed action in the Arab world and beyond, citing the campaign in Libya. In March, China abstained from a Security Council vote that authorized NATO intervention in Libya.
The resolution became the basis for the NATO air campaign that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, despite misgivings from Beijing and Moscow about the expanded campaign, which they said went beyond the resolution.
"Libya offers a negative case study. NATO abused the Security Council resolution about establishing a no-fly zone, and directly provided firepower assistance to one side," said the People's Daily.
"The calamities of Iraq and Afghanistan should be ample to wipe clear the world's eyes. Forceful prevention of a humanitarian disaster sounds filled with a sense of justice and responsibility," the paper said.
"But are not the unstoppable attacks and explosions over a decade after regime change a humanitarian disaster?"
Guo, the Beijing-based researcher, who is an expert on the Middle East, said the Libya experience probably still stung Chinese officials, who also worry about possible Western or Israeli military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
"If the Libya model was applied to Syria, then it could be applied again and again, so China and Russia were more resolute this time," said Guo.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama linked his economic policies to his Christian faith, saying on Thursday that meeting the nation's challenges requires strong values as much as smart policies.
Obama, making his third appearance as president at the National Prayer Breakfast, used his remarks to justify many of his actions, such as his call for the wealthy to pay more in taxes and his health care overhaul. He said they were not only economically sound but also rooted in his Christian values.
"When I talk about shared responsibility, it's because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling and at a time when we have enormous deficits, it's hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone," Obama said.
"But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus' teaching that, for unto whom much is given, much shall be required," he said.
His remarks came one day after Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney created a flap with clumsy comments about the struggling middle class. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich. They're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling. You can focus on the very poor, that's not my focus," Romney said.
Obama didn't mention Romney or the other Republican candidates. But his defense of his policies was a rare injection of politics into the prayer breakfast. The annual event is hosted by lawmakers from both parties, and speakers usually refrain from direct political references, sticking instead to calls for civility and respect in Washington.
The president said his faith also guides some of his foreign policy decision, including supporting foreign aid or sending U.S. troops to Africa to target a notoriously violent rebel group.
"It's not just about strengthening alliances or promoting democratic values or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure," he said. "It's also about the biblical call to care for the least of these, for the poor, for those at the margins of our society; to answer the responsibility we're given in Proverbs to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."
Obama said that while personal religious beliefs alone should not dictate a politician's decisions, leaders should not abandon their faith entirely.
"We can't leave our values at the door. If we leave our values at the door, we abandon much of the moral glue that has held our nation together for centuries and allowed us to become somewhat more perfect a union," he said.
Obama speaks often about his faith but prefers to worship in private. He said Thursday that he starts each morning with a brief prayer, then spends time reading scripture. Sometimes, he said, pastors come to the Oval Officer to pray with him, for his family and for the country.
___
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.
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If you have been smoking cigarettes for one year or many years, you?ll know how addictive they are. Your body gets used to the nicotine and the smoking habit, and it lets you know when you need to have a smoke break. What if you might free yourself of that craving, and enhance your health at the same time? A stop-smoking vaccine, or injection, will help you just do that.
There are many techniques and products on the market to help you quit smoking, and every one of them is effective for a few of the people although not for others. Some of these strategies include natural herbs, nicotine-free cigarettes, nicotine gum and patches. One of the methods which has shown to be best, with over 70 per cent of smokers achieving success in quitting, is the stop-smoking vaccine.
The vaccine, which must be administered by a doctor, works swiftly when you receive it to dam the receptors in your grey matter which recognize and crave nicotine. Stopping the thirst for nicotine is the hardest and important part in quitting smoking, and the results of this vaccine show themselves just about overnight. Once you now do not have to worry about craving nicotine, you will have more energy and self-control to give to breaking the smoking habit.
Along with the need for nicotine, there is simply a habit in stopping for smoke breaks, having something in your hands, and the social part of talking with others about your day while having a cigarette. You can start to learn to replace these habits with other, more fit behaviors that do not make you covet a cig. Try talking on the phone, or going outside for a five-minute walk. Even chewing gum can help break old habits.
Your doctor will be able to provide you with all of the info you want on stop-smoking vaccines, including how effective it'll be for you, if there are any likely complications, and what the cost will be. Although the price of the vaccine isn't astonishingly high, you will consider it out of your position. But take a moment to contemplate two things: how much you would spend on cigarettes over the course of your life, and what sorts of health issues you could end up with from smoking. This helps to put the cost of the vaccine in perspective, and you'll realize that it's definitely suitable to invest in.
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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning answers questions during Media Day for NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning answers questions during Media Day for NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady answers questions during Media Day for NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz smiles during Media Day for NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning holds up a foam finger during Media Day for NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning answers questions during Media Day for NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Quick, Wes Welker, spell Bill Belichick. Hey, Osi Umenyiora, know any other Elis besides that Manning guy? Rob Gronkowski, what's your favorite song by Madonna?
Not exactly challenging questions about Sunday's Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. But that's media day, the NFL's annual version of the circus, minus the ringmaster.
With players and coaches penned into cubicles, mainstream reporters were joined Tuesday by a guy in a superhero costume, another in an old-time football uniform, kids with microphones and some women who wore dresses that left little to the imagination. They asked the Patriots and Giants anything that crossed their minds.
And we do mean anything.
"This is crazy, man. It's crazy," said Patriots safety Patrick Chung. "I've never seen anything like this ever."
Actually, none of the players had. For the first time, the NFL let fans in on the act, too. For $25 ? or more, for those who waited until the last minute to buy their tickets ? fans could sit in the stands at the stadium and listen to the interviews over a headset.
"We can't hear all of the questions, so we have to guess," said Lee Clifford, who brought his sons, 10-year-old Ben and 8-year-old Nick. "I guess lots of people can get a pass to a media event."
Even people who carry their own disco ball, as the camera crew from Telemundo did.
Media day has never been the stuff of Woodward and Bernstein.
But it's gone from off-the-wall to downright goofy in recent years, the tipping point coming four years ago when a reporter from Mexico's TV Azteca showed up in a wedding dress from a slasher movie in hopes of winning Tom Brady's heart.
Imagine asking Vince Lombardi if he could name three Kardashians. Gronkowski actually did pretty well ? he got Kim and Khloe right away, but needed a few more seconds to come up with Kourtney. Or getting John Elway to salsa dance, as New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz did with singer Ciara.
There were no brides or proposals for Brady this year, although the fashion-conscious QB did talk about having his nails painted.
"They were pretty easy on me," Brady said when asked what it was like to grow up with three older sisters. "They dressed me up a few times in their clothes and painted my nails once, but it was nice."
Most of the players were good sports about the whole thing, knowing what they were in for when they arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium. Even the normally dour Belichick managed a chuckle or two.
"It's kind of catching me off guard," Patriots cornerback Sterling Moore said. "I definitely thought he'd be a little more strict in his interviews."
He might have been a little more cranky if he'd heard Welker when the receiver was asked if he knew how to spell Belichick's last name.
"Tough one. B-E-L-I-C-H-I," Welker said, and then paused. "K. Wait, that right? Is it CK?"
Told Belichick's name ended in "CK," Welker smacked his head.
Umenyiora fared better with the other Elis, naming Plaxico Burress' little boy, Elijah. As for Gronkowski and Madonna, he wasn't crazy for that question.
Silly stuff, to be sure. But the fans loved every minute of it. Parents let their kids skip school ? Zane Bishop, a high school senior, had his head buried in a book during the break, cramming for his AP Government exam Wednesday ? and the tickets were in such high demand people were actually scalping them.
"It's such an intimate experience," said Nick Lowery, a Patriots fan who drove from Columbia, Mo. "This is really cool."
Unlike the NFL draft, when rowdy New Yorkers waste no opportunity to heckle picks and boo players, the fans were on their best behavior. Most in the crowd of 7,300 were Colts fans, with many sporting Peyton Manning's No. 18 jersey. But the fans greeted both teams with applause when they came in, and cheered when Eli Manning, Brady and Welker talked about how much they were enjoying Indianapolis and praised Colts fans.
They even set aside their hatred for the Patriots, the Colts' biggest rival.
"Our philosophy has been 'Fans first.' It's all about Hoosier hospitality," said Toni Meyer of Indianapolis.
Added Bill Burns, "The Patriots, we really don't like 'em here. But there hasn't been any animosity."
The only complaint was that fans wanted more. Though they could hear interviews with the head coach and four players on the headset, they were restricted to the stands. No autographs, no photographs with their favorite players.
"I kind of wish we'd been on the field, but I understand," said Burns, who wore a hat with a "Press" card on the side and carried a toy purple microphone. "It probably would have been a bit of a madhouse."
Too late. It passed that threshold years ago.
___(equals)
Follow Nancy Armour at http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour
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United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, left, looks on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus, fueling some of the bloodiest fighting of the 10-month-old uprising, as Western diplomats tried to overcome Russia's rejection of a draft U.N. resolution demanding President Bashar Assad halt the violence and yield power. The U.N. Security Council was meeting Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and Arab diplomats. But Russia, one of Assad's strongest backers, has signaled it would veto action against Damascus. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, left, looks on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus, fueling some of the bloodiest fighting of the 10-month-old uprising, as Western diplomats tried to overcome Russia's rejection of a draft U.N. resolution demanding President Bashar Assad halt the violence and yield power. The U.N. Security Council was meeting Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and Arab diplomats. But Russia, one of Assad's strongest backers, has signaled it would veto action against Damascus. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe pose for a picture before their meeting at United Nations Headquarters Jan. 31, 2012. Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus, fueling some of the bloodiest fighting of the 10-month-old uprising, as Western diplomats tried to overcome Russia's rejection of a draft U.N. resolution demanding President Bashar Assad halt the violence and yield power. The U.N. Security Council was meeting Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and Arab diplomats. But Russia, one of Assad's strongest backers, has signaled it would veto action against Damascus. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Ja'afari addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus, fueling some of the bloodiest fighting of the 10-month-old uprising, as Western diplomats tried to overcome Russia's rejection of a draft U.N. resolution demanding President Bashar Assad halt the violence and yield power. The U.N. Security Council was meeting Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and Arab diplomats. But Russia, one of Assad's strongest backers, has signaled it would veto action against Damascus. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria as United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens at right, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, winks at British Foreign Secretary William Hague after he addressed a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus, fueling some of the bloodiest fighting of the 10-month-old uprising, as Western diplomats tried to overcome Russia's rejection of a draft U.N. resolution demanding President Bashar Assad halt the violence and yield power. The U.N. Security Council was meeting Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and Arab diplomats. But Russia, one of Assad's strongest backers, has signaled it would veto action against Damascus. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? Vowing to avoid "another Libya," the U.S. and its allies challenged Russia on Tuesday to overcome its opposition to a U.N. draft resolution demanding that Syrian President Bashar Assad yield power and end the violence that has killed thousands.
"It is time for the international community to put aside our own differences and send a clear message of support to the people of Syria," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the U.N. Security Council in backing an Arab League plan for the country.
Russia, one of Assad's strongest allies, has signaled it would veto any U.N. action against Damascus, fearing it could open the door to eventual international military involvement, the way an Arab-backed U.N. resolution led to NATO airstrikes in Libya.
But Clinton said U.N. action in Syria would not involve military intervention, unlike the NATO-led efforts that resulted in the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi.
"I know that some members here may be concerned that the Security Council is headed toward another Libya," Clinton said. "That is a false analogy."
The top diplomats from Britain, France and Arab League pressed the same point: The objective of the draft resolution was not military involvement and a continued delay would come at the cost of the lives of innocent civilians.
"We all have a choice: Stand with the people of Syria and the region or become complicit in the continuing violence there," Clinton told council members.
"Despite its ruthless tactics, the Assad regime's reign of terror will end and the people of Syria will have the chance to chart their own destiny," she said. "The question for us is: How many more innocent civilians will die before this country is able to move forward toward the kind of future it deserves?"
The diplomatic showdown came as Syrian government forces took back control of the eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, after rebel soldiers briefly captured the area in a startling advance last week. The two-day offensive left more than 100 people dead, making it among the bloodiest days since the uprising began in March, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group.
The U.N. estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,400 people have been killed in the Syrian government crackdown, but has not been able to update the figure.
Russia has stood by Assad as he tries to crush the uprising. In October, Moscow vetoed the first Security Council attempt to condemn Syria's crackdown and has shown little sign of budging in its opposition.
Moscow's stance is motivated in part by its strategic and defense ties, including weapons sales, with Syria. Russia also rejects what it sees as a world order dominated by the U.S.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Moscow "would never allow the Security Council to authorize anything similar to what happened in Libya."
Saying the U.N. should not choose sides, Lavrov told the ABC that all parties should cease violence and engage in dialogue. Russia "would not support anything that would be imposed on Syria," he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd emphasized that Assad must go and urged Russia to overcome its reservations regarding the Security Council resolution in lengthy discussions Tuesday with Lavrov.
"We cannot stand idly by while we see the death of Damascus unfold before us," Rudd told reporters in his hometown of Brisbane on Wednesday. "It's time that we had action from the U.N. Security Council to start to draw this appalling conflict ? this appalling loss of life ? to a close."
"Australia's position is clear as we put it to the Russian foreign minister yesterday and that is we need to take action in New York through the U.N. Security Council. President Assad must go, he must step down, a government of national unity must be formed which brings together elements of the Syrian opposition as well as all those other elements representatives of Syrian society," he added.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov also criticized the Western draft Security resolution on Syria. He wrote Tuesday on Twitter that it "does not lead to a search for compromise. Pushing this resolution is a path to civil war."
Still, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin indicated in his address to the council that agreement could still be reached with more negotiation. He said his country found "some of the elements of our text" in the current draft, "and that gives rise for hope."
An earlier proposal on Syria circulated by Russia had been rejected by some Western and Arab nations for not being strong enough. "We hope the council will come to consensus," Churkin said.
Clinton suggested that more negotiation on the text was necessary before a vote later in the week. "We will have a concerted effort over the next days to reach agreement in the Security Council to put forth a resolution that sends a message to President Assad and his regime," she told reporters.
Earlier in the session, the Arab League made a rare call to the council to condemn violence in a fellow Arab country, and adopt its peace plan.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told the council that the league wanted the Security Council to act "to support our initiative and not to take its place."
"We are attempting to avoid any foreign intervention, particularly military intervention" in Syria, he said. "We have always stressed full respect of the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian people."
British Foreign Minister William Hague called for speedy action.
"How long do Syrian families have to live in fear that their children will be killed or tortured, before the Security Council will act?" Hague asked. "How many people need to die before the consciences of world capitals are stirred?"
In its current form, the resolution demands that Assad halt the crackdown and implement an Arab League peace plan calling for him to hand over power to his vice president. If Assad fails to comply within 15 days, the council would consider "further measures," a reference to a possible move to impose economic or other sanctions.
In his response, Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari lashed out at the league, accusing it of acting without consulting the Syrian leadership."How strange it is for us to see some members of the League of Arab States seeking the support of the Security Council against Syria," Ja'afari said. He noted that the Security Council often has voted in support of Israel against Arab-backed measures.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, that he was "encouraged by the League of Arab States' initiative to seek a political solution" to the Syrian crisis.
"It is more urgent than ever to put an end to this bloodshed and violence, to start a credible political solution that addresses the legitimate aspiration of the Syrian people and to protect their fundamental freedoms," Ban said.
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Associated Press writer Eileen Alt Powell at the United Nations, and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Beirut contributed to this report.
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