What Did Kristen Stewart Get Robert Pattinson for Christmas?

It's still unclear whether or not Robert Pattinson actually plans to release an album.

But if the actor ever does choose to add "musician" to his resume, girlfriend Kristen Stewart has made sure he's prepared: Us Weekly confirms the Twilight Saga star purchased two vintage guitars for Robert over Christmas, a 1959 Fender Jazzmaster and a 1947 K&F Lap Steel. Total price tag: $12,000.

"She said 'He's gonna sh-t when he sees them!'" Norman Harris, the owner of Norman's Rare Guitars and the man who sold the items to Stewart, told the tabloid.

It's unclear what Rob got Kristen in return, but this much is certain: despite various rumors to the contrary, these two are doing just fine.

[Photo: Pacific Coast News]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/what-did-kristen-stewart-get-robert-pattinson-for-christmas/

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Debrah Kelly-Pospisil commented on Debrah Kelly-Pospisil's group 'Rick Santorum for President'

Ann Coulter (who is totally in the tank for Romney, btw) has a new column out saying Rick Santorum would be great if only he were not soft on illegal immigration. This is a false claim. Rick objected to E-Verify as it was written into legislation, because he said the system was flawed and could be better done by a private contractor, instead of government employees. So he is not against E-Verify, just E-Verify the way it was originally written. In all areas of illegal immigration, he is tough as nails. I guess Ann feels threatened that Rick is gaining on "her guy". Here is a link:

Source: http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/xn/detail/2488056%3AComment%3A768754?xg_source=activity

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Two charged over claims in Sugarland collapse

Two women are being charged after the Marion County prosecutor said they filed false claims related to the Indiana State Fair stage collapse.

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Prosecutor Terry Curry says Stephanie Murry and Sandra Hurn submitted claims to the Indiana State Fair Remembrance Fund (ISFRF) and the Indiana Tort Claim Fund, which is administered by the Indiana Attorney General's Office. Authorities say the women each submitted claims totaling $22,500.

According to the prosecutor, the women claimed they were injured in the Aug. 13 stage collapse. The prosecutor's office alleges that the women falsified hospital records in order to be eligible to make claims to both funds.

"The state police determined pretty that the medical records submitted were falsified," said Curry.

In fact, Curry said, neither Hurn nor Murry even attended the concert.

"It would certainly appear from the investigation that neither woman was actually at the State Fair," Curry told Eyewitness News. "Sandra Hurn stated who she went with and that she was there for a couple of the Sugarland songs which obviously Sugarland never performed that night."

The scaffolding on the stage collapsed when a strong thunderstorm moved through that night. That happened after Sara Bareilles left the stage but before Sugarland came on.

Curry says Hurn collected $7,500 from the ISFRF, but Murry's claim was denied because her alleged injuries did not meet qualifications to receive ISFRF funds.

Both women also submitted a notice of tort claim to the Indiana attorney general's office, and both were notified they would receive money from the fund. But Hurn was arrested when she went to pick up a claim check, and Murry was arrested a short time after that.

"It's beyond troubling in a situation which was clearly a tragedy, people were legitimately injured even killed, that there are people out there that in turn exploit it for their own gain," said Curry.

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The alleged false claims are especially disheartening for the people who were there that night and did suffer injuries.

"I can't believe that someone could stoop that low to do that. I'm appalled. I'm actually very angry," said Laura Magdziarz, who suffered a broken leg that night. Her young daughter Maggie had a critical arm injury. "That's just unbelievable. There are people out there that desperately needed the money and there's a lot of people that didn't get any money for the same reasons - they had people at different hospitals; they needed to find their family and that was more important than staying in the hospital."

That was the situation for Magdziarz, whose own claim was denied because she was not admitted to the hospital that night despite having broken her leg as the scaffolding came down that night. Magdziarz' first priority was to be by the bedside of her four-year-old daughter, who was undergoing surgery at a different hospital.

"Somebody either has to be really desperate or cold-hearted. That's like adding insult to injury," Magdziarz said. "I'm glad they caught them. I hope they throw the book at them."

Stephanie Murry has been charged with one count of forgery (class C felony), one count of perjury (class D felony), and one count of attempt theft (class D felony).

Sandra Hurn has been charged with three counts of forgery (class C felony), two counts of perjury (class D felony), one count of theft (class D felony), and one count of attempt theft (class D felony).

The maximum penalty both women could face for a class C felony is eight years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45804542/ns/today-entertainment/

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Sinead O'Connor Reveals Why She Ended Her Marriage

Sinead O'Connor is being quite candid about the reasons she ended her marriage after only 18 days.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/sinead-oconnor-reveals-more-about-why-she-ended-her-18-day-marriage/1-a-414369?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Asinead-oconnor-reveals-more-about-why-she-ended-her-18-day-marriage-414369

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Asian stocks mostly down on Europe bank worries (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid new signs of pressure on Europe's banking system and a downturn on Wall Street.

Benchmark oil lingered above $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 percent to 8,367.73. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.9 percent lower at 18,349.90. Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 0.6 percent to 4,064.20. Benchmarks in India and Indonesia were also lower.

But South Korea's Kospi reversed earlier losses and gained 0.1 percent to 1,827.17. Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan also rose after a lower opening. Shares in mainland China and Malaysia were also higher. Overall, stock markets were quieter than normal as many traders go on vacation the week between Christmas and New Year's.

Investor sentiment waned hours after the European Central Bank said banks had parked $590.72 billion with it overnight, surpassing the record set only Monday. That means European banks were less willing to take the risk of making short-term loans to each other, opting instead to earn low interest rates from the ECB ? with money lent by the central bank itself.

Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong, said the action on the part of the banks "defeated the purpose" of the ECB lending operation, which was to spur business activity.

"Investors are disappointed at the development," Lun said. "Europe still has not found an answer on how to solve its sovereign debt crisis. There's no solution, and they are trying cosmetic measures, which really do not address the problem."

The development also shook confidence in the euro, which on Wednesday dropped to $1.2910 ? its lowest level against the dollar in nearly a year ? before recovering slightly.

"As we have seen time and time again throughout 2011, when EUR/USD falls, so does equities, and so does gold, with traders buying into fixed income assets," Chris Weston of IG Markets in Melbourne wrote in a research note.

Even successful bond auctions in Italy failed to lift the euro against the dollar. Demand for Italian bonds was strong Wednesday, and the country was able to pay lower interest rates.

Meanwhile, the yen's rise to a 10-year high against the euro put stress on Japan's exporters. Kyodo News agency said the euro briefly fell to 100.35 yen in Tokyo, its lowest level against the Japanese currency since June 2001.

Honda Motor Corp. fell 1.4 percent. Sharp Corp. shed 3.6 percent. Yamaha Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp. both lost 1 percent.

Commodity shares in Australia came under pressure amid worries about the state of the global economy. Gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. lost 3.1 percent. Woodside Petroleum fell 1.1 percent. OZ Minerals fell 3.3 percent after the company said copper concentrate may have spilled from a derailed train.

In currency trading Thursday, the euro fell to $1.2929 from $1.2941 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 77.72 yen from 77.91 yen.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.1 percent to 12,151.41. The S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent to 1,249.64. The Nasdaq composite declined 1.3 percent to 2,589.98.

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 6 cents to $99.42 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.98 to settle at $99.36 in New York on Wednesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_as/world_markets

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A Christmas miracle on ice for UML hockey coach Bazin

Norm Bazin runs a UMass Lowell River Hawks practice at Tsongas Center. Since a crash in November 2003 left him near death with a torn aorta, the first-year coach is happy to be back on the ice. SUN/Tory Germann

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.

LOWELL -- We have all known the disappointment, the sadness, and perhaps even the shock of unwrapping a present on Christmas Day and finding that the contents have been broken.

Now imagine the sadness and shock of looking at the shattered body of a human being on Christmas, yet at the same time grateful and even joyful that the one you love is still alive.

Michelle Bazin doesn't have to imagine it. She lived it.

On Christmas Day 2003, Norm Bazin was in a hospital bed in Colorado Springs, Colo., with multiple fractures and beginning his recovery from a torn aorta that nearly ended his life.

Just over a month earlier, Norm, then an assistant hockey coach at Colorado College, had been on a recruiting trip to Canada

UMass Lowell hockey coach Norm Bazin with his wife, Michelle, and sons Coleston, 4, left, and Blake, 7. Courtesy photo

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.

when his rental car was hit by an SUV driven by a drunk driver just outside Spokane, Wash.

The car was all but vaporized in the collision at a closing speed of 111 mph. Bazin suffered a broken jaw, broken left arm, four broken ribs and a cracked pelvis, and both legs had multiple fractures. But it was the tear in his aorta that threatened his life.

The chances of surviving a torn aorta, says Norm, now in his first year as head hockey coach at UMass Lowell, are minuscule. As many as 85 percent of victims die before reaching the hospital, and less than 10 percent survive after reaching the hospital. It took an hour for rescue personnel just to extract Norm from the wreck and another 45 minutes for the ambulance to transport him to

the Deaconess Hospital trauma center in Spokane, Wash., where emergency-room doctors and a cardiothoracic surgeon were able to save his life.

Dr. Dan Coulston tended to Norm during the next few critical days. The Bazins' second son, Coleston, now 4, is named after him.

Norm was in a coma for seven days. Three weeks later, a few days before Christmas, he was transferred by air ambulance to Colorado Springs.

Michelle, seven months pregnant with their first son, Blake, remembers seeing her husband for the first time after the collision.

"To see someone, especially someone who was in as great physical shape, as Norm was, in intensive care on a ventilator with multiple tubes connected to him -- that would be a shock for anybody," she says.

There was a lot of anxiety for the Bazins that Christmas, but also gratitude.

"The uncertainty of everything produced the most anxiety," remembers Norm, who didn't know if he'd ever be able to walk again, much less skate. "But we had plenty to be thankful for at that time. Michelle was pretty well along in her pregnancy, so we didn't need to have gifts for it to be a special Christmas."

"He was heavily medicated but beginning to do some physical therapy," Michelle recalls. "The wires had been removed from his jaw, so being able to hear him talk again after not hearing him talk for a couple of weeks was a nice gift."

Most precious of all was the gift of life.

"I'd always heard that," says Michelle, who met Norm when both were students at UMass Lowell in the early 1990s. "But until you're faced with the possibility of death, you don't realize how true that is."

"Michelle was an absolute rock during this very difficult time," Norm says. "She deserves a lot of credit for her will and strength during a time when her unborn son and husband needed her most."

Blake was born in February, 2004. By then, Norm was home and in physical therapy. Another year would pass, however, before he could return to coaching hockey.

As good as it was to be alive at Christmas in 2003, Christmas 2004 was remembered with much more fondness. Norm got to spend it with the son he almost never saw.

"Presents are great at Christmas," he agrees, "but we were able to spend together the first year of my first son's life. When you do have kids, it's not about you anymore. I remember it best because it was Blake's first Christmas, and that's always a special time of the year."

"Having your first-born child is a wonderful gift," Michelle says, "and it was a good bonding time for him and Blake.

"I could see he was getting better and anxious to get back to coaching," she adds. "But it was good that he took all the time he needed to rehabilitate himself instead of trying to return too soon when he really wasn't physically ready yet."

"I'm very lucky," Norm says. "I've gotten to see both my kids grow up and be with my family. We have a lot to be grateful for, and I enjoy every single day.

"Every Christmas has been special since then and will be from here on in."

Source: http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_19624619?source=rss_viewed

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Ron Paul: I Wouldn't Risk US Troops to Stop the Holocaust

Ron Paul: I Wouldn't Risk US Troops to Stop the Holocaust

As a historical matter, the US didn't risk troops to end the Holocaust; FDR rejected Morgenthau's entreaties that he bomb the train lines to Auschwitz or take similar actions, on the theory that the US wouldn't support the war if it became perceived as a War for Jews. FDR seemed to believe there was a lot of anti-semitism in the country.

Speaking of which:

And so I asked Congressman Paul: if he were President of the United States during World War II, and as president he knew what we now know about the Holocaust, but the Third Reich presented no threat to the U.S., would he have sent American troops to Nazi Germany purely as a moral imperative to save the Jews?
And the Congressman answered:
No, I wouldnt. I wouldnt risk American lives to do that. If someone wants to do that on their own because they want to do that, well, thats fine, but I wouldnt do that. Paul then looked at me, and I politely thanked him for his time. He smiled at me again and nodded his head, and many of his young followers were also smiling, and nodding their heads in agreement. Clearly, I was the only one in the room who was disturbed by his response.

We didn't fight WW2 to end the Holocaust, of course. FDR specifically rejected any actions which might reduce the German's Jew-murdering machine. But Ron Paul seems to believe we did. It's always the Jews.

Ron Paul is most assuredly an isolationist. He denies this charge vociferously. But I can tell you straight out, I had countless arguments/discussions with him over his personal views. For example, he strenuously does not believe the United States had any business getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII. He expressed to me countless times, that saving the Jews, was absolutely none of our business. When pressed, he often times brings up conspiracy theories like FDR knew about the attacks of Pearl Harbor weeks before hand, or that WWII was just blowback, for Woodrow Wilsons foreign policy errors, and such. I would challenge him, like for example, what about the instances of German U-boats attacking U.S. ships, or even landing on the coast of North Carolina or Long Island, NY. Hed finally concede that that and only that was reason enough to counter-attack against the Nazis, not any humanitarian causes like preventing the Holocaust.

But Ron Paul goes a step further than that: He actually casts WWII, which was not a "humanitarian" intervention, as a humanitarian intervention, just so the facts agree with his eternal conclusion. Of course Ron Paul's supporters don't sweat details like that. They've got bigger issues to worry themselves about.

When not listening to Alex Jones and Jeff Rense, chemtrail believers obsessively take photographs of the poison trails and evil clouds. Of course, since the alien-lizard-Zionist-Bilderbergers forbid the puppet governments of the world from admitting that chemtrails exist, the intrepid chemtrail hunters have been stymied. Sure, they can photograph them, but they cant stop em.
Or CAN they? This year, a movement has spread like dengue fever among chemtrail sleuths. This movement claims that chemtrails can be killed with vinegar, sprayed upward from the ground. And hundreds of chemtrail true believers are doing just that and theyre uploading videos to Youtube, Dailymotion, Ebaumsworld, and elsewhere, documenting their chemtrail kills.
Of the hundreds of chemtrail kill videos, the majority are made by self-described Ron Paul supporters. Ive dubbed this branch of the Paul camp the Paulsamics (as in Paulsamic vinegar). If you want to see the sheer volume of Paulsamic videos online, just Google or Youtube-search chemtrails and vinegar. Below, Ive embedded the very best video of the lot. Its ten minutes long. Normally, I would grab a video of that length and edit a highlight reel. But its impossible to edit this one down; its too damn perfect as it is. Watch as a chemtrail-obsessed, Ron Paul-obsessed mom uses her trusty spray bottle to combat the marauding trails, as her long-suffering teenage son is forced to record her. Witness her great victory as she reemerges later to find that she has cleaned the sky.

Video at the link. This is what really bothers me about Ron Paul. He's not merely courting the paranoid fringe; he is the paranoid fringe. I can almost deal with the racism and antisemitism. These are easily understandable, at least. We're used to such things and prepared for the distortions in thought such impulses will produce. What I cannot abide is a "man's" full-tilt white-knuckle freak-out over the "New Money."

Congressman Ron Paul Monday morning Dear Fellow American: You may not have much time left. Next year, or next month, the New Money could wipe you out destroy everything youve worked and saved for and leave your family destitute. It could happen any time. And I dont mind telling you Im scared. For myself, for my family, for my friends, for my country. Weve seen a lot of financial tyrannies from Washington in this century. This one could take the cake. And popping out of the cake, with a big Surprise!, will be an IRS agent with an AK-47. Picture this: your feet are aching, your back is sore, and your patience ran out about two hours ago. How dare these bureaucrats treat you like this? How dare they make you wait in this line, this incredibly tedious line, to turn in your greenbacks? Then, when its finally your turn, its not so tedious after all. An IRS agent with the dead eyes of a mako shark, asks with that chilling police politeness for your name, address, Social Security number, and explanation. From his tone and body language, you expect the Miranda warning next. While muggers, robbers, and rapists run free on the streets, the power of the state is focused on you. And no wonder. Youre a suspicious character. Youve always kept some emergency cash. And now youre in trouble. . . because you tried to take care of yourself and your family, because you saved and planned ahead. When President Bush announced the New Money during a War-on-Drugs speech, few realized what it meant, or just how bad it would be for innocent Americans, not drug dealers. Turning in all your old money for a new currency wasnt so bad. Theyd done it often enough in Latin America, after all. ... I uncovered the New Money plans during my last term in the U.S. Congress, and I held the ugly new bills in my hands. I can tell you they made my skin crawl. These totalitarian bills were tinted pink and blue and brown, and blighted with holograms, diffraction gratings, metal and plastic threads, and chemical alarms. It wasnt money for a free people. It was a portable inquisition, a paper third-degree, to allow the feds to keep track of American cash, and American citizens. As one federal scientist confirmed to me, these bills can be computer imprinted and read, to lay a paper trail hundreds of transactions long. Who uses them, when, and where. The taggents chemical alarms will set off federal cash-detection machines at airports and anyplace else they choose. And there are other swindles involved as well. Thank goodness, a patriotic American within the Federal Reserve told me about this financial Manhattan Project. But this time, the government wants to drop the bomb on us. To manufacture the New Money, the feds have built a colossal blockhouse in Ft. Worth, Texas, as ugly as it is evil. Designed in Stalin-style, guarded by KGB-level security, and full of three-color printing presses and spy device embedders, it belongs in Moscow, not Texas. Stage One of the New Money microprinting and a polyester thread was meant to lull us to sleep, before the knife fell. But the bureaucrats scheme went awry when the old Bureau of Engraving and Printing plant in Washington, D.C., couldnt handle the new technology. Theyve fixed that now, and Stage Two will chill your blood. The New Money will steal our freedom and our prosperity; it will accelerate the transfer wealth and power from the people to the government and its friends.

Yeah, the "New Money" is now in your wallets and it exists, as was always planned, to make it a little harder for North Korea to counterfeit. If a man were a dedicated UFOlogist and believed in all of it, and was convinced Men in Black existed and all of that too, would we consider electing him just because some of his alleged "policies" were conservative-sounding? No, we wouldn't, because we'd question his judgment. A man who is afraid of shadow-people and faeries in the garden has an addled mind which cannot distinguish between serious threats, less serious threats which are nonetheless real, and just made-up "I want to worry about this so I don't have to worry about real things" fun-time phantasmal threats. Ron Paul is crazy. People toss this term around a lot, but I'm saying it seriously, not metaphorically. Political paranoia is just a low-grade, livable form of the serious mental illness called paranoid schizophrenia. And it causes all sorts of misprioritizations. While Ron Paul worries about Conspiracies Against The Currency, for example, others of us worry about, say, Islamists killing people by the hundreds. Now, Ron Paul insists the former worry -- the Conspiracy Against the Currency -- is real, and the latter concern, the terrorist one, is made-up by neocons and Jews (but I repeat myself). The man is literally crazy, at least in a low-level, non-commitment, doesn't-expose-himself-in-public way, and apparently Step One in our effort to take back the White House is to announce to America, in Iowa, that this man represents our views. Of course, half or more of his support isn't even from conservatives or Republicans, but what are conservatives and Republicans doing adding to his numbers?
Posted by: Ace at 12:04 PM

Source: http://minx.cc/?post=325080

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Missing Ind. girl found dead, babysitter arrested

FILE -- This undated file photo provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Department shows Aliahna Lemmon. Lemmon, 9, has been found dead, and the neighbor who was watching her before she disappeared was arrested on a murder charge Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011, authorities said. (AP Photo/Allen County Sheriff's Department/file)

FILE -- This undated file photo provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Department shows Aliahna Lemmon. Lemmon, 9, has been found dead, and the neighbor who was watching her before she disappeared was arrested on a murder charge Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011, authorities said. (AP Photo/Allen County Sheriff's Department/file)

In a Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 photo, Mike Plumadore sits next to the chair Aliahna Lemmon, 9, was last seen before she went missing on Friday. Authorities said Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011 that Aliahna Lemmon had been found dead and Plumadore, 39, who was watching Aliahna and her two sisters when she went missing Friday, was being held on a murder charge. He and Aliahna's family lived in the same mobile home park in Fort Wayne. He will be formally charged with murder Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/The Journall-Gazette, Cathie Rowand) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT

Megan Lehman, center, stands amongst a crowd of over 50 people who gathered Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011, for a candlelight vigil for missing 9-year-old girl Aliahna Lemmon, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Lemmon was last seen Friday, Dec. 23. (AP Photo/The Journal Gazette, Swikar Patel) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT

A woman raises her hand to volunteer for a search party after a candlelight vigil for missing 9-year-old girl Aliahna Lemmon, Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011 in Fort Wayne, Ind. Lemmon was last seen Friday, Dec. 23. (AP Photo/The Journal Gazette, Swikar Patel) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT

During an interview Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 Amber Story, left, Tarah's mom, and Tarah Souders talk about Tarah's daughter Aliahna Lemmon, 9, who is missing since Friday in Fort Wayne, Ind. (AP Photo/The Journal Gazette, Cathie Rowand)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) ? The neighbor who was babysitting a 9-year-old Indiana girl when she went missing last week will be formally charged with murder Tuesday, a heartbreaking turn for the girl's relatives who considered him a family friend.

Authorities said Monday night that Aliahna Lemmon had been found dead and Mike Plumadore, who was watching Aliahna and her two sisters when she went missing Friday, was being held on a murder charge. He and Aliahna's family lived in the same mobile home park in Fort Wayne.

"He was a trusted family friend," Aliahna's step-grandfather, David Story, told The Associated Press late Monday, saying he was surprised by the arrest.

Plumadore, 39, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning.

Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries said Plumadore told investigators on Monday where the girl's body could be found, ending the hopes of authorities that Aliahna would be found safe.

"It did come to a horrible conclusion," Fries told WANE-TV. "We have somebody in custody now who can pay the price for it."

Investigators said Aliahna's body was found in the northeastern Indiana county, but no details were released.

On Monday, FBI agents descended on the rundown mobile home park where Aliahna lived and was last seen. It's a known haven for registered sex offenders, though Plumadore is not on Indiana's registered sex offenders list. He has a criminal record in Florida and North Carolina that includes convictions for trespassing and assault.

No active search was done Sunday for Aliahna, though more than 100 emergency workers searched for her Saturday around the mobile home park. Allen County sheriff's spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said the same size search could not be sustained because of the Christmas holiday.

Aliahna's mother, Tarah Souders, told The Journal Gazette on Sunday that her daughter had vision, hearing and emotional problems and suffered from attention deficit disorder. Aliahna and her sisters were staying with Plumadore because their mother had been sick with the flu and Aliahna's stepfather works at night and sleeps during the day.

Plumadore told the newspaper Sunday that he left the three girls in his mobile home about 6 a.m. Friday and went to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the store's surveillance video shows him there about that time.

"I had dead-bolted the door," he said. "When I got back, all the girls was here."

He said he smoked his cigar and went back to sleep, then woke up about 10 a.m. when Aliahna's mother called. After that call, he realized the door to the home was unlocked and that Aliahna was gone. He said Aliahna's 6-year-old sisters told him Aliahna had left with her mother.

Plumadore said it wasn't until he talked with Aliahna's mother about 8:30 p.m. that they realized she was missing and police were notified. Souders said the miscommunication caused the delay in determining that Aliahna had vanished.

"She's never wandered off," she said Sunday.

The sheriff said Plumadore was arrested after being interviewed by detectives for several hours Monday ? and was also questioned Friday and Saturday.

"The story just didn't make sense to our investigators or to me when I first heard it," Fries said. "I thought this is the guy we needed to focus on. If we are going to find her, he's going to be the one who has the answers for us."

Elizabeth Watkins, who lives nearby, said residents are cautious and keep to themselves in part because of the number of sex offenders living in the mobile home park. According to a state website, 15 registered sex offenders live in the park that numbers about two dozen homes. Watkins and she didn't know Plumadore and was shocked when told of the girl's death.

"I'm numb, I'm totally numb. I don't know what to think," she said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-27-Indiana-Girl's%20Death/id-a20dc23315c348ef81ce7a9216c9e16c

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Top 10 pundit do-overs of 2011 (Politico)

The wildly volatile early stages of the Republican presidential race made it especially hard for pundits to see around corners this year ? particularly when the line between prognosticating and wishing seemed occasionally to disappear. Trying to gauge the impact of scandals also proved difficult. And a tragic crime caused some classic overreaction.

Here are the year?s biggest screw-ups from the commentariat.

Continue Reading

Violent right-wing rhetoric caused the Tucson shootings.

Jared Loughner is crazy. That?s the opinion of the experts who diagnosed him with schizophrenia, the judge who ruled in May that he was not mentally competent to stand trial, and many of the friends and family members who watched him stop making sense, stop being able to hold down a job and stop being able to relate to people in recent years.

These facts were not yet widely known on Jan. 8, the day that Loughner shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in the head and killed six others in Tucson, but that didn?t stop the country?s most prominent liberal commentators from drawing political meaning out of the act that very day.

Within hours of the shooting, Paul Krugman posted to his blog and Keith Olbermann demanded on the air that conservative figures like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin disavow their violent rhetoric.

Subsequent reporting suggested that Loughner was not engaged in partisan politics, and as Time magazine later put it in its look into Loughner?s mental state, ?In short, saying Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck caused Loughner?s actions is, to put it charitably, completely idiotic.?

Michele Bachmann will win the Republican nomination.

Bachmann?s moment at the top of the polls in Iowa may have been fleeting, but in midsummer it was convincing enough to inspire MSNBC?s Chris Matthews to make a bold prediction: She would beat Mitt Romney and win the Republican nomination for president.

Matthews told the live audience on ?Real Time With Bill Maher? in July, ?She?s my hero. She?s going all the way. She?s going to win this thing. I tell you right now, I predict she beats Romney. She?s going to beat him in New Hampshire.?

He pointed to Pat Buchanan?s performance in the state against George H.W. Bush and McCain?s victory over Romney last time around. ?I think you?re going to see a huge upset,? he predicted, because Bachmann has ?passion? and is ?not a fake.?

Current polling puts her in a single-digit fifth place in both Iowa and the nation ? and a 3.8 percent in New Hampshire, according to the Real Clear Politics average.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_70862_html/44022265/SIG=11m7jctvf/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70862.html

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State senator aims to double lobby fee in California -- to 14 cents a day

California's 1,000 registered lobbyists are so influential they're known as the "The Third House." Many work from gleaming office towers that overshadow the state Capitol dome, making it look like just so much cheese for the snatching.

Yet the price of such unmatched access is barely a bar tab -- just $25 in lobbying registration fees a year -- when some states charge up to $1,000.

Now, a Bay Area lawmaker is arguing that needs to change. State Sen. Leland Yee is proposing to double fees that now amount to just 7 cents a day -- and until last year were only half that. "It's one of the hidden secrets of lobbying," Yee said.

The San Francisco Democrat is seizing an opportune moment to propose his legislation next month. Cal-Access -- the website that reveals the money behind politics, including campaign contributions and lobbying trails -- has been on the blink for weeks. And Yee wants lobbyists to help fix it by raising fees for only the second time since 1974.

Backed by the government watchdog group Common Cause, Yee's bill would increase lobbying fees to $100 each two-year legislative session -- up from the current $50. The funds would add $50,000 to maintain California's political database.

It's too early to tell whether the Third House will use its political heft to beat back the bill. Although the Secretary of State raised fees -- from $12.50 to $25 a year -- in the last legislative session, lobbyists successfully

stymied another proposal for a more dramatic hike in 2010. A ballot initiative that year would have charged lobbying firms an annual $350 to pay for publicly financed elections for the Secretary of State post.

In an email, the president of the Institute of Governmental Advocates, Christina Dillon DiCaro, said her lobbying group for the lobbyists is so far reserving judgment, until the bill is formally introduced next year. But she did note: "While we fully support public access to campaign finance and lobbying reports, to ask the lobbying community alone to fund upgrades to the system is not the solution, as there are many other affected parties who benefit from the use of Cal-Access."

The current site, designed in 1999 in the state that is home to the most modern tech wizardry, has been mostly dysfunctional since Nov. 30. The California Automated Lobbying and Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Search System is the apparent victim of a disk array controller suffering from a "physical memory failure," state officials report.

Citizen watchdog groups are irate. But lobbyists, too, are lamenting the downed site. They use the information to devise strategy and advise clients on who's throwing money where. And in early discussions with Yee's office, they have not been wholly opposed to contributing more to the site's upkeep -- amounts that are little more than pocket change for those working at the multimillion-dollar firms.

"We've talked to a number of lobbyists, and they also agree it's high time to increase it," Yee said. "Given the problems with Cal-Access, they'll be fine with the bill."

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, states from Alabama to Alaska charge $100 a year, compared with California's $25. Despite the influence peddling long endemic in Illinois, lobbyists there pay $300 a year and as much as $1,000 annually in Massachusetts.

Ray LeBov, a California registered lobbyist since 1992 who trains other lobbyists, said his initial reaction to Yee's bill proposal is that "it seems reasonable."

LeBov and other lobbyists opposed the last attempt to raise lobbying fees, arguing that the profession was being singled out for disproportionate increases. But "in this instance," LeBov said, "you have an outdated system of vital public importance, and this would help ensure raising the necessary funding to make it functional."

Contact Karen de S? at 408-920-5781.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_19619569?source=rss

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Police: Girl, 9, dismembered by 'trusted' babysitter

FORT WAYNE, Ind.?? A babysitter and trusted neighbor confessed that he bludgeoned a 9-year-old girl to death with a brick and then dismembered her, hiding her head, hands and feet at his home and dumping the rest of her remains nearby, police said Tuesday.

Allen County sheriff's investigators said in an affidavit that Michael Plumadore, 39, admitted he killed Aliahna Lemmon last Friday.

The girl and her family lived in the same trailer park as Plumadore. Another resident said the family had moved there so that Aliahna's mom, Tarah Souders, could help take care of her dying father, a convicted sex offender.

The park was teeming with convicted sex offenders, with one living at nearly every occupied trailer home.

Souders worried about neighbors with sex offense records who had been helping her father get by, according to trailer park residents. And before she arrived, she even asked her father if her children could be at risk for abuse from two specific men ? including Plumadore.

"He said, 'No. They will not touch your children. They're doing everything they're supposed to do,'" said Greg Shumaker, one of 15 convicted sex offenders who live at the park and the other man that Souders had inquired about.

Shumaker said Aliahna's family moved there to help take care of 66-year-old James E. "Shorty" Lemmon, who also was a convicted sex offender and died Dec. 3. He said Lemmon was "getting old" and "had trouble breathing."

Shumaker said he introduced Plumadore to Lemmon shortly after Plumadore moved into the trailer park, and Plumadore moved in with Lemmon a few days later. Shumaker said he knew Lemmon because they were both sex offenders and were in jail together.

Sheriff's department spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel confirmed that Lemmon was a sex offender. Indiana Department of Correction records show he was convicted of child molesting in March 2006.

Plumadore is not on Indiana's registered sex offenders list. But he has been on the run for 11 years for battery of a Florida law enforcement officer in 2000.

Florida Department of Correction records show that Plumadore fled the state after he was sentenced to a year in prison in May 2000. Details of the incident in Miami Beach weren't immediately available. (Read the fugitive warrant.)

No motive reported
According to the affidavit, Plumadore told police that after beating Aliahna to death, he stuffed her body into trash bags and hid her in the freezer at his trailer. He said he later chopped up her body and stuffed her remains into freezer bags.

Police said Plumadore told them he had hidden Aliahna's head, feet and hands at his trailer and that he had discarded her other remains at a nearby business. Police obtained a warrant to search his trailer on Monday and found the body parts.

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The affidavit does not provide details about why Plumadore killed the child.

A judge ordered Plumadore held without bail or bond at an initial hearing Tuesday. He has yet to be formally charged in Aliahna's death.

Aliahna and her two younger sisters were staying with Plumadore, a neighbor, for about a week because their mother had been sick with the flu.

Plumadore told The Journal Gazette on Sunday that Aliahna disappeared from his home Friday morning while he was sleeping after having gone to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the store's surveillance video shows him there about that time.

More than 100 emergency workers searched for her Saturday around the rundown mobile home park where Aliahna and Plumadore lived and FBI agents were there Monday.

A Facebook profile belonging to a Michael Plumadore in Fort Wayne, Ind., had a photo album called ?The kids,? which included apparent photos of a smiling Aliahna and other children. The profile, which could not be verified as belonging to the suspect, suggested he was originally from Charlotte, N.C.

Richard Patee, 58, whose trailer is next to where Plumadore was living, said he didn't think it was odd that Aliahna's mother had him watching the girls for an extended period.

"They had known each other for somewhere of three to four years, I know that, and he took care of their grandfather," Patee said. "I didn't see any reason to question it at all. I talked with Mike on and off for the past two-and-a-half years and he never had a cross word."

The discovery of her remains late Monday was a heartbreaking turn for the girl's relatives, who considered Plumadore a family friend.

"He was a trusted family friend," Aliahna's step-grandfather, David Story, told The Associated Press late Monday.

Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries said Plumadore told investigators on Monday where the girl's body could be found, ending the hopes of authorities that Aliahna would be found safe.

"It did come to a horrible conclusion," Fries told WANE-TV. "We have somebody in custody now who can pay the price for it."

Aliahna had emotional, physical problems
Souders told The Journal Gazette on Sunday that her daughter had vision, hearing and emotional problems and suffered from attention deficit disorder.

Aliahna and her sisters were staying with Plumadore because their mother had been sick with the flu and Aliahna's stepfather works at night and sleeps during the day.

"This was a child with the face of an angel," Story told the newspaper. "She truly believed everybody had good in them, it just had to be found."

The sheriff said Plumadore was arrested after being interviewed by detectives for several hours Monday ? and was also questioned Friday and Saturday.

"The story just didn't make sense to our investigators or to me when I first heard it," Fries said. "I thought this is the guy we needed to focus on. If we are going to find her, he's going to be the one who has the answers for us."

Elizabeth Watkins, who lives nearby, said residents are cautious and keep to themselves in part because of the number of sex offenders living in the mobile home park.

According to a state website, 15 registered sex offenders live in the park that numbers about two dozen homes. Watkins and she didn't know Plumadore and was shocked when told of the girl's death.

"I'm numb, I'm totally numb. I don't know what to think," she said.

This article inlcudes reporting by The Associated Press and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45795486/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Analysis: Caution mutes US response to NKorea (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration's cautious response to the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il reflects unease and uncertainty about the leadership transition in the reclusive country that has confounded U.S. presidents since Harry S. Truman.

For the past 60 years, the "hermit kingdom" has vexed the United States and its allies with war, nuclear tests, missile launches, belligerence and bellicose bombast. But since he took office, President Barack Obama has had to deal with the country at perhaps its most secretive point: an unclear succession at the very top at a time of deep concern about the stability of the regime.

Thus, the administration's carefully worded public messages have underscored the administration's desire for better relations with the autocratic nation and its concern about the welfare of the North Korean people. They are also gentle reminders that Washington expects Pyongyang to follow through on denuclearization pledges and improve ties with its neighbors, particularly South Korea.

The kid gloves treatment accorded to the North's youthful new leader, Kim's twenty-something son Kim Jong Un, has attracted criticism from some who see this is a moment to make a forceful case for dramatic reform and regime change.

But without solid intelligence of the opaque transition process and fearful of misunderstandings that could lead to provocations with the notoriously erratic North, U.S. officials concluded that the best course is to say little, wait and watch.

Indeed, the administration's initial reactions to Kim's death have contained little substance at all and were couched in niceties.

"All I can say is that we're monitoring the situation closely," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday as North Korean state media broadcast pictures of wailing mourners, apparently overcome with grief. "Kim Jong Il had designated Kim Jong Un as his official successor, and at this time we have no indication that that has changed."

Carney added: "We hope that the new North Korean leadership will take the steps necessary to support peace, prosperity and a better future for the North Korean people, including through acting on its commitments to denuclearization."

Those comments echoed words from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Monday, more than 16 hours after Kim's death was announced, she was the first senior U.S. official to comment publicly on the developments. In intentionally vague comments, she called for "a peaceful and stable transition in North Korea" and expressed hope that it would not affect "regional peace and stability."

Ironically, it was Clinton who first stirred the pot about a possible succession crisis in North Korea.

Nearly three years ago, on her first trip to Asia as secretary of state, she stunned diplomatic circles with a frank appraisal of U.S. concerns amid rampant speculation about the health of Kim Jong Il, who had suffered a stroke in 2008, and his choice of a successor.

"If there is a succession, even if it's a peaceful succession, that creates more uncertainty and it also may encourage behaviors that are even more provocative as a way to consolidate power within the society," Clinton told reporters on her way to South Korea on Feb. 20, 2009.

Her remarks on a previously taboo subject sparked great debate. In Seoul the next day, she expressed surprise at the uproar, noting that reports of Kim choosing his youngest son Kim Jung Un to succeed him had "been in the news for months."

"I don't think that it's a forbidden subject to talk about succession in the hermit kingdom," Clinton said. "In fact, it seems to me it's got to be factored into any policy review that one is undertaking. ... I think it would be irresponsible for it not to be factored into what you were thinking about."

That same month, U.S. diplomats were scrambling to collect any information they could about Kim Jong Un from South Korean, Chinese and Japanese officials and experts, according to leaked State Department cables published by WikiLeaks.

Unfortunately for the Americans, their interlocutors had sharply divided opinions, according to the cables. Some predicted the North Korean regime would collapse politically within two to three years of Kim Jong Il's death. Others foresaw a power struggle between the young and untested Kim Jong Un and rivals in the elite but differed over who would prevail. Others believed there would be little change.

One apparent area of convergence, however, was that most South Korean experts believed the challenge for the younger Kim would come after his father's death.

Thus, as North Korea's transition is under way, the lack of clarity has put U.S. policy on hold.

Before Kim's passing, the administration had been expected this week to announce the resumption in food aid to North Korea and a potential bilateral meeting on nuclear disarmament. Although the State Department said there had been brief exchange with North Korean officials in New York on Monday, both initiatives are now in flux pending the end of the North's mourning period.

The administration says it is respecting that mourning period by understanding that North Korean officials will not be available for discussions. Yet it has steadfastly refused to express any sympathy for the death of Kim, whose Stalinist regime is accused of having one of the worst, if not the worst, human rights records in the world.

While showering the late Czech democracy leader Vaclev Havel with effusive eulogies, American officials have refused to even utter the word "condolence" in relation to Kim.

"With regard to the C-word," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday, "I think we didn't consider it appropriate in this case."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Matthew Lee covers international affairs and U.S. foreign policy for The Associated Press.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_nkorea_analysis

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Suspect in Va. slayings, boy's abduction at large

In this image provided by the Virginia State Police authorities late Saturday Dec. 24, 2011 identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va. They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon. A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old Kaiden Burnside who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police)

In this image provided by the Virginia State Police authorities late Saturday Dec. 24, 2011 identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va. They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon. A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old Kaiden Burnside who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ? Richmond, Va., police have identified the two people slain on Christmas Eve that led to a search for a 2-year-old boy abducted from the scene who was later found safe in the backseat of an SUV.

Police on Sunday said 60-year-old Edward Lee Bowmer Jr. and 56-year-old Robin Sheryl Clapp were shot to death.

Bowmer was from the street where the bodies were found and Clapp was from Mechanicsville.

Neither was related to 2-year-old Kaiden Burnside. Police say the shooting suspect stole the vehicle in which Kaiden was seated.

Police are looking for suspect 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons. They say Clemons faces abduction, robbery and other charges.

Police say the boy has been reunited with his mother.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-26-Richmond%20Double%20Killing/id-4749d9dcb22c429f879ddd861427948c

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KMFlower: yr-end Palestinian pop stats: 4.23 mil in Pal. territory, 1.37 mil in Israel, 4.99 mil in Mideast & 636k in other http://t.co/ezVxoHuV

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Consumer, business spending point to slower growth (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Consumer spending was tepid in November and a gauge of business investment fell for a second straight month, suggesting the economy lost some of its recent momentum.

Some analysts trimmed fourth-quarter growth forecasts after the weak consumption and factory data on Friday. But many still expected output to expand at an annual pace of more than 3 percent, faster than the 1.8 percent in the July-September period.

"The economy got off to a solid start this quarter, but it seems to have cooled a little bit in November. Growth is still going to be strong this quarter, but it's going to slow in the first half of 2012 because of Europe," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Consumer spending ticked up 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said, after rising by the same margin in October. Economists had expected spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, to rise 0.3 percent.

When adjusted for inflation, spending rose 0.2 percent last month after a similar gain in October.

In another report, the department said non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, fell 1.2 percent last month after declining 0.9 percent in October.

Shipments of these so-called core capital goods, which go into calculations of U.S. gross domestic product, dropped for a third straight month.

This suggests that business spending, which has been robust since the start of the recovery in mid-2009, could slow considerably from the third-quarter's 15.7 growth percent pace.

Economists said uncertainty about fiscal policy at home and the debt crisis in Europe were causing businesses to becoming more cautious about spending.

The ability of U.S. consumers to keep on spending while incomes remain weak is also a potential drag on growth in early 2012.

"No one is putting themselves out there in terms of business expansion and capital equipment because it's a dangerous world out there and there are still a lot of risks in terms of Europe and China," said Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York.

Still, the economy continues to show resilience in the face of slowing global demand. New orders for manufactured goods meant to last three years and more jumped 3.8 percent last month after being flat in October.

Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.3 percent after rising 1.5 percent in October. Order backlogs are building up and inventories at factories are not rising much, indicating that manufacturing activity will continue to expand.

Other data added to signs a tentative recovery in the housing market, which should also help to support growth.

Investors on Wall Street latched onto the positive aspects of the reports and pushed up stocks for a fourth straight day.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index turned positive for the year. Prices for long-dated U.S. Treasury debt fell sharply, while the dollar was broadly unchanged.

INCOME BARELY RISES

The weak consumer spending data stood in stark contrast with the robust sales reported for Black Friday, the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. Some retailers have been forced to offer heavy discounts to get shoppers to spend.

"Retail has been very promotional and consumers have been very value-conscious," Best Buy Co CEO Brian Dunn said on a conference call last week.

Income ticked up 0.1 percent, the weakest reading since August, as wages and salaries fell. Disposable income was flat.

A strengthening in the labor market has offered some hope income growth will quicken, but analysts said the report augured poorly for consumer spending at the start of the new year.

"The lack of real income growth really raises questions as to what is going to happen to the economy in the first quarter," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

HOUSING SHOWS A PULSE

While households may not be spending robustly, they are starting to show more interest in buying houses. Sales of new single-family homes rose 1.6 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted 315,000-unit annual rate.

That was the highest in seven months. In addition, the months' supply of houses on the market dropped to a 5-1/2 year-low, further signs of a budding recovery.

Data this week showed a rise in sales of previously owned homes and a surge in housing starts, but further progress will depend on the health of household finances.

Already, consumers have been saving less to prop up their spending. The saving rate, the percentage of disposal income socked away, dipped to a 3.5 percent annual rate last month from 3.6 percent in October.

On the bright side, the report confirmed an easing in inflation, which should help to support spending. Further help should also come from the temporary extension of payroll tax cut and benefits for the long-term unemployed.

A price index for personal spending was flat last month after falling 0.1 percent in October. In the 12 months through November, the PCE price index was up 2.5 percent, the smallest rise since April.

A core inflation measure, which strips out food and energy costs, edged up 0.1 percent last month after a similar gain in October. In the 12 months through November, it was up 1.7 percent after increasing 1.7 percent in October.

(Additional reporting by Chris Reese in New York)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111223/bs_nm/us_usa_economy

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WinFuture: Tablets: Mehrzahl der Panels geht derzeit an iPad-Konkurrenten - 9,7-Zoll-LCDs unter 50% der Liefermengen http://t.co/M7fWmDBe

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Nationals Athletics Trade Baseball

Nationals Athletics Trade Baseball

FILE - In this April 14, 2011, file photo, Oakland Athletics' Gio Gonzalez pitches against the Detroit Tigers during a baseball game in Oakland, Calif. Gonzalez said Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, the Washington Nationals have agreed to acquire him in a trade from the Athletics, and the deal is nearly finished. "It's 99 percent done," Gonzalez said in a phone interview. "It's pending a physical and I'm just waiting to hear from my agent." (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Source: AP - Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=app-08609d13-1456-4b25-b1eb-89b3fba1ae88&show_article=1

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Benefits of new air quality rules greatly outweigh costs

Public release date: 21-Dec-2011
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Contact: Stephanie Berger
sb2247@columbia.edu
212-305-4372
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Study finds that regulations costing $195 billion will bring over $1 trillion in health and environmental benefits, particularly for minorities and the poor

A report by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides an expanded review of six new air quality regulations proposed or recently adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA). These include the first national standards for reducing dangerous emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants. Though the cost of implementing the new regulations is estimated to be about $195 billion over the next 20 years or so, the economic, environmental and health benefits amount to well over $1 trillion, considerably outweighing the control costs, according to the report, which was issued by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Patrick L. Kinney, ScD, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health's Program on Climate and Health, and MPH candidate Amruta Nori-Sarma also examined the role that environmental justice issues play in the development of EPA regulations. The researchers further analyzed the findings in light of a recent poll conducted by the Joint Center on climate change, health and conservation behaviors.

Building on the data from EPA, the report finds that six new air quality regulations would offer benefits and savings in doctors' visits, hospitalizations, and a reduction in cases of bronchitis, respiratory illness, and aggravated asthma particularly for African American populations and residents in vulnerable communities. The rules analyzed include the Heavy-duty Vehicles Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Standards, the 2017-2025 Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Emissions and Caf Standards, the Utility Air Toxics Rule, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, the Boiler MACT, and the standards of Performance for Petroleum Refineries

The paper highlights the importance of the two motor vehicle rules, since urban air pollution tends to be dominated by motor vehicle emissions. The most beneficial of these rules is the light-duty vehicle rule, which will cost an estimated $140 billion but bring about $561 billion in benefits that include billions of barrels of oil saved, reduced emissions, and the health benefits related to non-greenhouse gas pollutants over the lifetime of vehicles sold between 2017 and 2025. According to the analysis, these will yield net societal benefits of $421 billion.

The findings also show that Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will provide significant health and environmental benefits to low income, minority, and tribal individuals in both rural areas and inner cities in the regions affected by the rule.

The poll, which surveyed 1500 African American adults in Atlanta, Cleveland and Philadelphia, asked respondents about issues related to air quality, climate change and the need for new regulations.

Among the poll's key findings:

• A solid majority (59%) of African Americans polled in the three cities believe that global warming is causing serious problems
• 84% of respondents want the federal government to take strong action to deal with global warming
• 80% support EPA's Toxics Rule
• 40% described the air quality where they lived as excellent or good, while 59% said the air quality where they lived was fair or poor
• 83% believe that environmental factors such as air pollution play a major role in causing asthma in children

The authors believe that the close correspondence between public opinion and analytical findings pointing to the health and economic benefits of further air quality improvements should provide a strong mandate for action by the federal government.

###

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Public release date: 21-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Stephanie Berger
sb2247@columbia.edu
212-305-4372
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Study finds that regulations costing $195 billion will bring over $1 trillion in health and environmental benefits, particularly for minorities and the poor

A report by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides an expanded review of six new air quality regulations proposed or recently adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA). These include the first national standards for reducing dangerous emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants. Though the cost of implementing the new regulations is estimated to be about $195 billion over the next 20 years or so, the economic, environmental and health benefits amount to well over $1 trillion, considerably outweighing the control costs, according to the report, which was issued by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Patrick L. Kinney, ScD, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health's Program on Climate and Health, and MPH candidate Amruta Nori-Sarma also examined the role that environmental justice issues play in the development of EPA regulations. The researchers further analyzed the findings in light of a recent poll conducted by the Joint Center on climate change, health and conservation behaviors.

Building on the data from EPA, the report finds that six new air quality regulations would offer benefits and savings in doctors' visits, hospitalizations, and a reduction in cases of bronchitis, respiratory illness, and aggravated asthma particularly for African American populations and residents in vulnerable communities. The rules analyzed include the Heavy-duty Vehicles Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Standards, the 2017-2025 Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Emissions and Caf Standards, the Utility Air Toxics Rule, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, the Boiler MACT, and the standards of Performance for Petroleum Refineries

The paper highlights the importance of the two motor vehicle rules, since urban air pollution tends to be dominated by motor vehicle emissions. The most beneficial of these rules is the light-duty vehicle rule, which will cost an estimated $140 billion but bring about $561 billion in benefits that include billions of barrels of oil saved, reduced emissions, and the health benefits related to non-greenhouse gas pollutants over the lifetime of vehicles sold between 2017 and 2025. According to the analysis, these will yield net societal benefits of $421 billion.

The findings also show that Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will provide significant health and environmental benefits to low income, minority, and tribal individuals in both rural areas and inner cities in the regions affected by the rule.

The poll, which surveyed 1500 African American adults in Atlanta, Cleveland and Philadelphia, asked respondents about issues related to air quality, climate change and the need for new regulations.

Among the poll's key findings:

• A solid majority (59%) of African Americans polled in the three cities believe that global warming is causing serious problems
• 84% of respondents want the federal government to take strong action to deal with global warming
• 80% support EPA's Toxics Rule
• 40% described the air quality where they lived as excellent or good, while 59% said the air quality where they lived was fair or poor
• 83% believe that environmental factors such as air pollution play a major role in causing asthma in children

The authors believe that the close correspondence between public opinion and analytical findings pointing to the health and economic benefits of further air quality improvements should provide a strong mandate for action by the federal government.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/cums-nea122111.php

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