Jon Stewart's Rare Show of Hypocrisy Lights Up Cable TV (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | I am a huge fan of comedian Jon Stewart. I think he should run for president. He'd make a great one. That said, I am an equal opportunity commentator, and as such it would be unconscionable for me to allow Stewart a free pass after Tuesday evening's blatant hypocrisy regarding former Massachusetts governor and likely also-ran Mitt Romney.

According to the Huffington Post, Stewart blasted Romney, (who according to CBC earned $21.7 million in 2010) for his earnings and his low tax rate. "How in the world do you, Mitt Romney, justify making more in one day than the median American family makes in a year -- while paying the same tax rate as the guy who scans shoes at the airport?" asked Stewart. Romney's effective earnings, all from investments, as he is per his own words according to the New York Times, unemployed work out to about $57,000 per day in fiscal year 2010.

Here's the problem: According to celebritynetworth.com, Stewart earns $15 million per year as his salary on "The Daily Show." We can assume, because that is a job, he pays closer to the 30 percent rate than Romney's 13.9 percent.

However, that's only part of the picture. Stewart is also estimated to have a net worth of $80 million. Depending on how he is invested, he is also earning a substantial income from his $80 million nest egg. Even if he is invested conservatively, he's likely earning investment income of $4 million per year, which would be taxed at a rate equal to Romney's. Indeed, between investment income and book royalties, and his salary, more than likely Stewart earns more money in the fiscal year than Romney despite paying a marginally higher tax rate.

Stewart goes on to blast Romney for having lobbied against tax reform that would have been detrimental to his personal holdings, but the fact is Stewart benefits from the tax laws too, and as such should have disclosed the same.

Of course, rich men don't want to pay more taxes than they currently do. But what I can't figure out is why anyone thinks the rich man should like taxation any more than the poor man does. That's just insane. I love "The Daily Show" and its contribution to the national dialog, but that bit was just plain hypocritical. Come on, Jon. You're better than that.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120125/pl_ac/10885035_jon_stewarts_rare_show_of_hypocrisy_lights_up_cable_tv

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California ? Annual Defender Office Management Seminar ? Apr. 19th ? Oxnard

You are here: Home / Criminal Defense News / California ? Annual Defender Office Management Seminar ? Apr. 19th ? Oxnard

Thursday, April 19, 2012 Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort, Oxnard, California Coordinator: Gary Windom, Riverside County Public Defender This seminar covers practical, policy and ethical issues in public defender and indigent criminal defense offices. It is also a ?

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Source: http://michellawyers.com/2012/california-annual-defender-office-management-seminar-apr-19th-oxnard-2/

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Higher oil prices, asset sales boost Conoco profit (AP)

NEW YORK ? Higher oil prices are making it easier for ConocoPhillips to complete a massive transformation this year.

The Houston company said Wednesday that profits rose 66.1 percent in the fourth quarter. Much of that came from the sale of pipelines and other assets that rose in value with the price of oil.

From October to December, ConocoPhillips earned $3.39 billion, or $2.56 per share, compared with $2.04 billion, or $1.39 per share a year earlier. Revenue increased 17.2 percent to $62.4 billion.

Excluding gains, earnings were $2.02 per share. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.77 per share on revenue of $45.1 billion.

ConocoPhillips is in the final stages of a three-year overhaul of its worldwide operations. Since 2010, the company shed $10.7 billion in assets, including some of its least profitable businesses, and it plans to sell more than $1 billion more by the end of 2012.

It also will spin off its refining business into a separate company, Phillips 66, before June.

As it closed operations, worldwide oil production declined, including a 13.3 percent drop in the final three months of 2011. Exploration and production profits fell 5 percent in the quarter, but the decline would have been much worse if not for an increase in oil and natural gas prices.

ConocoPhillips sold crude worldwide for an average of $97.22 in the quarter, up 22.4 percent from the same period last year. It sold natural gas for $5.34 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 4.9 percent from last year.

Meanwhile, refining and market profits soared as the company sold $1.55 billion in pipelines and other refining assets. Altogether, the company's refining business earned $1.7 billion in the quarter.

ConocoPhillips' chemicals unit increased profits 32.2 percent to $156 million and its midstream business increased earnings 30 percent to $118 million.

For the full year, ConocoPhillips said it earned $12.4 billion, or $8.97 per share, compared with $11.4 billion, or $7.62 per share, in 2010. Annual revenue increased 26.5 percent to $251.2 billion.

ConocoPhillips is the first major oil company to report financial results for the fourth quarter. Chevron Corp. plans to release its quarterly figures on Friday, followed by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell next week. Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday reported a 35 percent jump in quarterly profits as it increased production and sold crude for higher prices.

ConocoPhillips shares fell by 11 cents to $70.50 in morning trading.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_conocophillips

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North Korea's Western Fans Mourn Kim Jong Il's Death (Time.com)

The day before Kim Jong Il's funeral last month, George Hadjipateras, 36, put on a black suit and tie and drove to the North Korean embassy in west London. Beneath a portrait of the Dear Leader, the office clerk laid a floral tribute, red carnations arranged in the shape of a star. He shook the hand of the first secretary lengthily as he pressed upon him that Kim was "a shining light, not just for his people, but for revolutionaries worldwide."

"I mentioned to him I had lost my own father in September, and so this was doubly tragic for me," Hadjipateras says. "My voice broke a bit then." He had been closely monitoring Kim's health since his 2008 stroke and was blindsided by the death. "It's tragic; he should have been getting better," he told TIME. "I was as upset as the English were when the Queen Mother died." (See photos of Kim Jong Il's state funeral.)

Kim's passing did not exactly move Hadjipateras' fellow Britons to similar displays of grief. Viewed outside his homeland as a crackpot dictator, his death was taken mostly as an opportunity to snicker at his excesses. But despite a scarcity of flowers at the embassy, Kim did not go unmourned in the West. For a decade, Hadjipateras has belonged to the Korean Friendship Association (KFA), an international fan club for the isolated, nuclear-armed neo-Stalinist regime. Its founder is Alejandro Cao de Ben?s, 37, a Spaniard sometimes known by his adopted Korean name Zo Sun Il, meaning Korea Is One.

Cao de Ben?s was an idealistic, revolutionary-minded teenager when he first struck up a relationship with North Korean delegates at an international tourism fair in Madrid. On subsequent trips to Pyongyang, he cultivated sufficiently influential connections that by 2000, he was able to convince the regime to allow him to set up the country's first Web page, the only fixed, widely accessible line of communication between the Hermit Kingdom and the wider world. Site traffic from foreigners curious to know more about the mysterious country prompted him to set up the KFA the same year, and he claims it now has 15,000 members in 120 countries.

Cao de Ben?s, who spends about six months of every year in Pyongyang, has since been recognized with honorary citizenship and a government position as a "special delegate" to its Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. (The latter position is unpaid, although Cao de Ben?s profits by brokering transactions between North Korea and foreign filmmakers, tourists, corporations and other interested parties.) (See photos of Kim Jong Il's busy life.)

North Korea, Cao de Ben?s says, was surprised to learn it had friends abroad, and part of his work had been to encourage the regime to show a more open face to its sympathizers. "The country has been under attack, which has made the DPRK [Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, the North's official name] so wary," he says. "I tell them, If you close the doors completely, nothing bad will enter, but nothing good will enter, either. We can't shut out our friends."

Those friends are typically drawn to North Korea by a sense of ideological solidarity with one of the last keepers of the Communist flame, but even more so by a powerful curiosity about the enigmatic society. Through the KFA, members can study juche, the state ideology of self-reliance, or buy obscure recordings of military parades or songs. Those seeking more active engagement can travel to North Korea on solidarity tours, or participate in pickets of the U.S. embassy. Frank Martin, a Parisian banker and KFA member, wrote to French newspaper editors in the days after Kim's death, chastising them for their mocking tone. "I read some [headlines] like: 'A Buffoon Who Composed Operas While His People Were Starving,'" he told TIME in an e-mail.

Read "North Korea's Runaway Sushi Chef Remembers Kim Jong Un."

Last November, about 20 of North Korea's friends gathered in a London community center for the KFA's annual international meeting. During a question-and-answer session, a man in a Chairman Mao cap and dark glasses complained of his experiences with local-council housing, and probed how someone in his situation might fare in Pyongyang. Cao de Ben?s told him he didn't know how good he had it, given the substandard shelter faced by millions. Besides, while moving to the DPRK was theoretically an option on the table for long-serving, senior KFA members, it was wisest to visit first. Even the staunchest friends of the North, Cao de Ben?s said, could find the rhythms of life there difficult to adjust to. "Every day I receive e-mails requesting to live in the DPRK," Cao de Ben?s said afterward. "Some because they lost their jobs, but many of them are tired of this Westernized life of artifice, criminality, consumerism."

The appeal of a country known for its food shortages, prison camps and repressive personality cult may be difficult to grasp, but for KFA members it exerts an undeniable pull. Its mystique centers on the impression it belongs to a simpler, more innocent time; members marvel at the way that it cannot be seen from the air at night because its lights are off. In a globalized world, it remains the only country truly off the grid. (See photos of North Koreans mourning the death of the Dear Leader.)

Hadjipateras put it this way. "People in the DPRK aren't wandering around with iPhones listening to Jay-Z. They can't stand in the middle of the street abusing their leaders. But where in the world can you avoid being constantly bombarded by Coca-Cola, McDonald's, the sexualization of children on TV, the Big Brother reality shows?" To those who suggest North Korea is a Big Brother reality show with 24 million unwitting participants, Hadjipateras is dismissive, although he's never been there to judge for himself. He would "be there in an instant," he says, but travel does not agree with him.

Cao de Ben?s also chooses to spend only half the year in the "workers' paradise," claiming he can better serve the republic by spending the rest of his time in the West, where he frequently acts as an unofficial regime spokesman in international media. His critics point to this as an indication that Cao de Ben?s is motivated by the rewards of his role as gatekeeper to the regime, rather than by genuine ideological conviction.

Leonid Petrov, a Korea specialist at the University of Sydney, has had dealings with Cao de Ben?s for more than a decade. He understands North Korea's unlikely charm and feels a warm sense of nostalgia for the Soviet Union of his youth whenever he visits. But, essentially, that appeal is contingent on being able to leave. "Crossing the border is the exciting thing," he says. "But you don't want to stay there -- the place is horrible. Alejandro enjoys acting as a guide who links the two worlds. He's obviously not a defector." (Read about North Korea's plan to preserve and display Kim Jong Il's body.)

While Hadjipateras mourned an icon he had never met, Cao de Ben?s had personally encountered Kim on numerous occasions in ceremonial capacities. None of the KFA members knows more about his mysterious son and successor Kim Jong Un than the general public: that he has a military background, is Swiss educated, resembles his grandfather, the state founder Kim Il Sung, and is young and inexperienced. Despite the latter, they hold no concerns about the stability of the regime. "Nothing will change," said Martin, via e-mail. "The DPRK has the bomb."

As far as Hadjipateras is concerned, life in the "workers' paradise" will continue as usual, despite dark days in recent months for his fellow revolutionaries. First Muammar Gaddafi, he laments, then the Dear Leader. "I don't know how I'll react when Fidel Castro dies," he says. "I don't even want to imagine."

See the top 10 pictures of 2011.

See TIME's 2011 Person of the Year: The Protester

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20120125/wl_time/08599210505300

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Lobsang Sangay Discusses Self-Immolation Of Tibetan Buddhist Monks

By Vishal Arora
Religion News Service

DHARMSALA, India (RNS) At least three Tibetan Buddhist monks drank gasoline and set themselves ablaze in January, bringing the count of self-immolations to 15 since March 2011.

Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, attributes the deaths to restrictions being imposed by the Chinese government on traditional Tibetan practices.

The U.S. State Department has raised concerns over the self-immolations. However, Beijing, which regards Tibet as part of China, alleges that Tibetan exiles are encouraging the monastic community to take this extreme step, disregarding the Buddhist principle of non-violence.

Sangay, a former scholar from Harvard Law School and the political successor of the Dalai Lama, spoke about religious restrictions and self-immolation in Tibet. Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why are monks and nuns self-immolating in Tibet?

A: Repressive policies of China have pushed them to the brink of desperation. Members of the Communist Party of China dictate what monks and nuns should do, how they should pray, and who should be allowed into the monasteries.

Those who give up worldly life to join a monastery see their follow monks as their world, their family. When they see their associates being expelled because they refused to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama or to stamp on his photograph, hopelessness sinks in. When they think their sufferings are not being noted, they take such a desperate step.

Q: Does Buddhism allow self-immolation?

A: It's a complex issue. One could refer to Jataka tales, which concern the previous births of the Buddha. In one story, the Buddha, in a previous incarnation, gives up his body to feed a starving tigress and her four cubs. Some other stories also talk about self-sacrifice by the Buddha.

Although suicide is violent and prohibited in Buddhism, some Buddhists believe it depends on the motivation. If you do it out of hatred and anger, then it is negative. But if you do it for a pure cause ... it's such a complex theological issue. You can't go either way or have a definitive answer. But the action is tragic, so painful.

Q: Do you discourage monks setting themselves ablaze?

A: My stand on self immolation is the same as that of the Dalai Lama, who has always discouraged drastic actions by Tibetans. He does not even endorse hunger strikes.

Q: Can you stop the wave of self-immolations?

A: I am expected to do something about it, but it has been challenging, difficult and painful. As a human being, it is so difficult to hear someone dying for a cause. And as a Buddhist, it is even more painful.

I went to the United Stated and Europe to get statements of support so that I could send a message of hope to Tibet. I tried my best to get everything I did covered by the Tibetan media. And during my visit -- almost until the last leg of my trip -- self-immolations stopped. I thought I was able to pass on the message of hope. But when I was in London, I heard there was one more self-immolation. That dampened my mood. I cancelled all my appointments for that morning.

Q: Do you see a solution to the Tibet-China conflict in sight?

A: I do believe so. That's why I have left Harvard to be in India to lead the movement. The Tibetan struggle has to go on. Had I not moved to India, where I am living on about $300 a month, my life would have been normal and boring.

One Buddhist lesson I have learned is that one who is born has to die. That means what you do is what you leave behind. If you live for yourself, you won't make much difference. I, as a Buddhist, as a Tibetan, want to live for a cause greater than myself and my life.

Also on HuffPost:

Below, an astoundingly beautiful collection of Buddhist pilgrimage sites in black and white:

Mt. Kailash in Tibet

1? of ?12

Mt. Kailash is a holy site for four different major religions: Tibetan Buddhism, Jainism, Bon and Hinduism. A steady stream of pilgrims from India, Tibet, Nepal and other countries come to pay homage to the mountain, following a route that takes them to altitudes in excess of 5,000 meters.
We camped out for two days at a spot where the north face of Mt. Kailash can be seen beyond numerous piles of "Mani stones" that have been placed there by the pilgrims.
The snow that fell the night before had covered the "Mani stones" as well as Mt. Kailash. As the first rays of the sun touched the 6,656-meter peak, the fresh snow was blown in a gust of wind, and wrapping the sacred mountain in a white veil. It was an encounter with the "atmosphere" of the place, an atmosphere quite appropriate for such a holy place.
After the first exposure, I changed lenses and made another. A few minutes later, the sunlight had reached the lower mountains and the "atmosphere" of disappeared.

Mt. Kailash is a holy site for four different major religions: Tibetan Buddhism, Jainism, Bon and Hinduism. A steady stream of pilgrims from India, Tibet, Nepal and other countries come to pay homage to the mountain, following a route that takes them to altitudes in excess of 5,000 meters.

We camped out for two days at a spot where the north face of Mt. Kailash can be seen beyond numerous piles of "Mani stones" that have been placed there by the pilgrims.

The snow that fell the night before had covered the "Mani stones" as well as Mt. Kailash. As the first rays of the sun touched the 6,656-meter peak, the fresh snow was blown in a gust of wind, and wrapping the sacred mountain in a white veil. It was an encounter with the "atmosphere" of the place, an atmosphere quite appropriate for such a holy place.

After the first exposure, I changed lenses and made another. A few minutes later, the sunlight had reached the lower mountains and the "atmosphere" of disappeared.

MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT?> ??|?? <?PREV

Mt. Kailash in Tibet

Mt. Kailash is a holy site for four different major religions: Tibetan Buddhism, Jainism, Bon and Hinduism. A steady stream of pilgrims from India, Tibet, Nepal and other countries come to pay homage to the mountain, following a route that takes them to altitudes in excess of 5,000 meters.
We camped out for two days at a spot where the north face of Mt. Kailash can be seen beyond numerous piles of "Mani stones" that have been placed there by the pilgrims.
The snow that fell the night before had covered the "Mani stones" as well as Mt. Kailash. As the first rays of the sun touched the 6,656-meter peak, the fresh snow was blown in a gust of wind, and wrapping the sacred mountain in a white veil. It was an encounter with the "atmosphere" of the place, an atmosphere quite appropriate for such a holy place.
After the first exposure, I changed lenses and made another. A few minutes later, the sunlight had reached the lower mountains and the "atmosphere" of disappeared.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/lobsang-sangay-immolation-tibetan-buddhist-monks_n_1231954.html

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Timehop, A Time Machine For Your Social Media Updates, Gets $1.1 From Foursquare Founders And Others

Screen Shot 2012-01-24 at 12.05.51 PMTimehop, a startup that humbly began as Foursquareandsevenyears ago, has just bagged a $1.1 million round of seed funding led by OATV and followed on by Techstars with additional participation from Spark Capital and a pretty worthy list of angels including Foursquare's Dennis Crowley, Naveen Selvadurai and Alex Rainert, Groupme's Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht, Rick Webb and Kevin Slavin. The startup started out aggregating user Foursquare checkins from a year ago in a daily email and recently broadened to included Facebook status updates, photos, Twitter updates and Instagram posts.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/E2khqgNtxP0/

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AP source: Fielder and Tigers close to 9-year deal

BC-BBA--Tigers-Fielder, 2nd Ld-Writethru,424AP source: Fielder and Tigers agree on 9-year dealAP Photo NY168, NY167, NY166Eds: Corrects to Rodriguez deal with Texas. Changes byline and dateline. With AP Photos.By NOAH TRISTERAP Sports Writer

DETROIT (AP) ? Free agent first baseman Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers agreed Tuesday on a nine-year, $214 million contract that fills the AL Central champions' need for a power hitter, a person familiar with the deal said.

CBS first reported the agreement.

The person told the Associated Press that the deal was subject to a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract was not yet complete.

Detroit boldly stepped up in the Fielder sweepstakes after the recent knee injury to star Victor Martinez. A week ago, the Tigers announced that the productive designated hitter could miss the entire season after tearing his left ACL.

The Tigers won their division by 15 games before losing in the AL championship series to Texas. Adding Fielder gives the Tigers two of the game's premier sluggers, pairing him with Miguel Cabrera.

The move also keeps Fielder's name in the Tigers' family. His father, Cecil, became a big league star when he returned to the majors from Japan and hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played with the Tigers into the 1996 season.

Several teams had shown interest this winter in the 27-year-old Fielder, who had spent his entire career with Milwaukee. He visited Texas, and the Washington Nationals also got involved in the discussions.

The beefy slugger hit .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs last season. He is a three-time All-Star and was the MVP of last year's event in Phoenix.

Fielder has averaged 40 homers and 113 RBIs over the past five years. He's also been among the most durable players in the majors, appearing in at least 157 games in each of the last six seasons.

The deal is only the fourth $200 million contract in baseball history, following Alex Rodriguez's $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, A-Rod's $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas and Albert Pujols' $240 million, 10-year contract last month with the Los Angeles Angels.

Among current players, his $23.78 million average salary is behind only A-Rod ($27.5 million), Ryan Howard ($25 million), and Cliff Lee and Pujols ($24 million each).

Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski said last week he felt finding a replacement for Martinez was a short-term problem, but he left himself some wriggle room, saying it depended who the player was.

Acquiring Fielder opens all sorts of possibilities, such as moving Cabrera to third base or having one of the two sluggers be the designated hitter.

___

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-Tigers-Fielder/id-a9fc60178e9c45a4bb24ca45e70ab75e

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Arctic freshwater bulge detected

UK scientists have detected a huge dome of freshwater that is developing in the western Arctic Ocean.

The bulge is some 8,000 cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002.

The team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the Beaufort Gyre.

This would force the water together, raising sea surface height, the group tells the journal Nature Geoscience.

"In the western Arctic, the Beaufort Gyre is driven by a permanent anti-cyclonic wind circulation. It drives the water, forcing it to pile up in the centre of gyre, and this domes the sea surface," explained lead author Dr Katharine Giles from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) at University College London.

"In our data, we see the trend being biggest in the centre of the gyre and less around the edges," she told BBC News.

Dr Giles and colleagues made their discovery using radar satellites belonging to the European Space Agency (Esa).

These spacecraft can measure sea-surface height even when there is widespread ice cover because they are adept at picking out the cracks, or leads, that frequently appear in the frozen floes.

The data (1995-2010) indicates a significant swelling of water in the Beaufort Gyre, particularly since the early part of the 2000s. The rising trend has been running at 2cm per year.

Model prediction

A lot of research from buoys and other in-situ sampling had already indicated that water in this region of the Arctic had been freshening.

This freshwater is coming in large part from the rivers running off the Eurasian (Russian) side of the Arctic basin.

Winds and currents have transported this freshwater around the ocean until it has been pulled into the gyre. The volume currently held in the circulation probably represents about 10% of all the freshwater in the Arctic.

Arctic ice

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Of interest to future observations is what might happen if the anticyclonic winds, which have been whipping up the bulge, change behaviour.

"What we seen occurring is precisely what the climate models had predicted," said Dr Giles.

"When you have clockwise rotation - the freshwater is stored. If the wind goes the other way - and that has happened in the past - then the freshwater can be pushed to the margins of the Arctic Ocean.

"If the spin-up starts to spin down, the freshwater could be released. It could go to the rest of the Arctic Ocean or even leave the Arctic Ocean."

If the freshwater were to enter the North Atlantic in large volumes, the concern would be that it might disturb the currents that have such a great influence on European weather patterns. These currents draw warm waters up from the tropics, maintaining milder temperatures in winter than would ordinarily be expected at northern European latitudes.

The creation of the Beaufort Gyre bulge is not a continuous development throughout the 15-year data-set, and only becomes a dominant feature in the latter half of the study period.

This may indicate a change in the relationship between the wind and the ocean in the Arctic brought about by the recent rapid decline in sea-ice cover, the CPOM team argues in its Nature Geoscience paper.

It is possible that the wind is now imparting momentum to the water in ways that were not possible when the sea-ice was thicker and more extensive.

"The ice is now much freer to move around," said Dr Giles.

"So, as the wind acts on the ice, it's able to pull the water around with it. Depending on how ridged the surface of ice is or how smooth the bottom of the ice is - this will all affect the drag on the water. If you have more leads, this also might provide more vertical ice surfaces for the wind to blow against."

One consequence of less sea-ice in the region is the possibility that winds could now initiate greater mixing of the different layers in the Arctic Ocean.

Scientists are aware that there is a lot of warm water at depth.

At present, this deep water's energy is unable to influence the sea-ice because of a buffer of colder, less dense water lying between it and the floes above.

But if this warm water were made to well up because of wind-driven changes at the surface, it could further accelerate the loss of seasonal ice cover.

The CPOM team is now investigating the likelihood of this happening with Cryosat-2, Esa's first radar satellite dedicated to the study of the polar regions.

"We now have the means to measure not only the ice thickness but also to monitor how the ocean under the ice is changing," says Dr Seymour Laxon, director of CPOM and co-author of the study, "and with CryoSat-2, we can now do so over the entire Arctic Ocean."

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16657122

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HuffPost Radio: Both Sides Now: Can Romney Rebound With an Atlas Shrugged Speech?

By Mark Green

Rick Perry's campaign hits a reef and capsizes. He'll be missed since few candidates assert that NATO ally Turkey is run by "Islamic terrorists" and that a Christian president has launched a war against his own religion.

The Fox and CNN debates last week made Kennedy-Nixon look tame by comparison. Discussing them and the curiouser and curiouser GOP contest, Eliot Spitzer and Mary Matalin reach consensus on what Romney needs to do to salvage his wounded candidacy but then clash over whether Gingrich was a racial demagogue in South Carolina or just a conservative populist.

*On Romney's Returns: Since he's confronted the issue of disclosing tax returns in his '94 Senate race, '02 governor's race, '08 presidential bid, why did Romney commit the "unforced error" of vacillation? "Maybe" he'd follow his father's example with a multi-year disclosure? [Host: after taping Both Sides Now and his loss in South Carolina, the former governor announced that he'd release two years, 2010 and 2011.]

Eliot and Mary agree with nearly all editorial writers that Romney needs to disclose years of his returns -- it's "political malpractice" not to do so, she declares -- but also that he change the subject from his Gekko-image to the "craziness" of the current tax code. Mary elaborates with a specific course of action: As Perot did on deficits, he should buy time on all stations to deliver a 30 minute address on the moral virtues of capitalism [like John Galt's 70 page stem-winder in Atlas Shrugged?] "If he doesn't or can't do it ," she concludes, "either Romney won't be the nominee or will lose to Obama."

Question: if FDR, JFK and ES were wealthy candidates who weren't as disparaged as Richie-Richs, why is Romney? "Because he's a Republican, duh," answers Mary with fervor. Eliot explains how he himself tried to connect with blue-collar voters and why Mitt, though personally frugal, doesn't. "$364,000 in speeches is a rounding error to a businessman used to big deals." So who then persuades the jury of white working-class male voters this Fall -- the white 1% businessman or the black professor/organizer/president? "Depends who can show life will be better in the future" says Mary.

*On Gingrich vs. the "food stamp president." Was Gingrich's now (in)famous debate exchange with Juan Williams -- and the thunderous audience approval -- based on a racial appeal or economic one? Mary observes that the big lesson she's learned in politics, "especially from my liberal friends", is that "what matters is not what you say but what they hear." She discounts any racial motive because Gingrich's larger point concerned "government overreach." Eliot condemns the former Speaker for using code words to his base and explains that a) food stamp use is high because of a great recession Obama didn't cause and b) no one, black or white, prefers food stamps to a job.

Mary counters that "liberals see things through race-colored glasses while conservatives see individuals." She challenges the charge of so-called "code words" -- "tell me what's the code? I don't know the code!" We then listen to a South Carolina woman telling Gingrich the day after the Fox debate, "Thank you for putting Juan Williams in his place." OK, Mary acknowledges, Newt did invoke the NAACP in making his point but, since nutrition programs aim to help both poor blacks and whites and isn't doing enough, "all of us should at least reexamine this policy."

*On John King and Marianne Gingrich. The two agree that CNN's King ("the best political reporter in the business" according to Mary) was right to ask a question based on the newsworthiness of Marianne's interview with ABC News that day. And that Gingrich was smart to blame-the-messenger -- ABC, CNN, the "elite media" -- for their "despicable, vicious, appalling" judgment to publicize his private life." The Host asks whether those words also describe Gingrich's attempt to impeach a sitting president for similar offenses? There's agreement that voters are free to consider or ignore such private philandering... a non-partisan understanding that would allow Kennedy, Clinton and Gingrich to run and serve. [But the segment runs out before discussing whether Gingrich Republicans will now cease the sanctimony of harshly judging the private morality of others.]

*On the Keystone Pipeline Decision. Eliot thinks that both parties are engaged in politics on this issue, noting that a) the GOP House forced a premature decision by tying it to a non-germane bill on the payroll tax extension and b) Obama has an environmental base he cares about. Mary emphasizes not politics but "the insanity of the policy" -- namely, America needs the energy and jobs that would come from a pipeline shipping hundreds of barrels of crude daily from Canada to the Gulf. Eliot wonders how she could ignore the environmental effects given such calamities as the Fukashima Nuclear plant to the BP explosion near her native New Orleans.

What do they make of the Obama campaign's first tv spot denouncing two billionaires for attack ads about the Administration's record on green jobs and ethics? Eliot believes that the President's spots are necessary to rebut a $6 million barrage from the Koch brothers against his renewable energy agenda in general and Solyndra in particular. Mary believes it to be too defensive and small-minded.

*Quick Takes: Marines. SOTU. What do both sides think of the video of Marines urinating on dead Taliban? They agree that it's deplorable and disgusting. But Mary expresses sympathy for the impossible situation of training young men how "to murder [in combat]" but then asking them to treat the dead respectfully. Eliot slams "those policymakers who pushed these kids into such a losing war."

What do they think President Obama will emphasize in his State of the Union Tuesday night? Mary doesn't bite, concluding that there shouldn't be a SOTU in an election year since it will only be about "the state of his election." Eliot argues that the President should argue that "we're winning the war against terrorism on his watch and the economy is slowly coming back because of his policies." Conclusion: if Mr. Spitzer has to listen to 17 GOP debates, Ms. Matalin should have to listen to one Democratic SOTU.

Mark Green is the creator and host of Both Sides Now, which is powered by the American Federation of Teachers.

Send all comments to Bothsidesradio.com, where you can also listen to prior shows.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-radio/newt-gingrich-mitt-romney_b_1222524.html

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Scientists discover new clue to chemical origins of life

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) ? Organic chemists at the University of York have made a significant advance towards establishing the origin of the carbohydrates (sugars) that form the building blocks of life.

A team led by Dr Paul Clarke in the Department of Chemistry at York has re-created a process which could have occurred in the prebiotic world.

Working with colleagues at the University of Nottingham, they have made the first step towards showing how simple sugars -- threose and erythrose -- developed. The research is published in Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry.

All biological molecules have an ability to exist as left-handed forms or right-handed forms. All sugars in biology are made up of the right-handed form of molecules and yet all the amino acids that make up the peptides and proteins are made up of the left-handed form.

The researchers found using simple left-handed amino acids to catalyse the formation of sugars resulted in the production of predominately right-handed form of sugars. It could explain how carbohydrates originated and why the right-handed form dominates in nature.

Dr Clarke said: "There are a lot of fundamental questions about the origins of life and many people think they are questions about biology. But for life to have evolved, you have to have a moment when non-living things become living -- everything up to that point is chemistry.

"We are trying to understand the chemical origins of life. One of the interesting questions is where carbohydrates come from because they are the building blocks of DNA and RNA. What we have achieved is the first step on that pathway to show how simple sugars -- threose and erythrose -- originated. We generated these sugars from a very simple set of materials that most scientists believe were around at the time that life began."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of York, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Laurence Burroughs, Paul A. Clarke, Henrietta Forintos, James A. R. Gilks, Christopher J. Hayes, Matthew E. Vale, William Wade, Myriam Zbytniewski. Asymmetric organocatalytic formation of protected and unprotected tetroses under potentially prebiotic conditions. Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, 2012; DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06798B

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/K5n27QN2MQ4/120124092930.htm

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