US Auto Express

WASHINGTON – Democrats on a key Senate committee are circulating details of a revised health care plan that includes a government-backed insurance option and a fee on employers if they do not offer coverage to their workers.
In a letter to members of the HELP Committee, the backers of the plan say it will result in 97 percent of Americans having health coverage, at a net cost of slightly over $600 billion over the next 10 years. That's far less than an earlier $1 trillion estimate from the Congressional Budget Office in mid-June.
A description of the plan was sent to committee members in a letter Wednesday night from Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Chris Dodd of Connecticut. The Associated Press obtained a copy.

In computer terminology, a 'home' is a starting view that branches off into other tasks, e.g. a homepage or a desktop. Many such home pages on the internet start with introductory information, recent news or events, and links to subpages.

Since it can be said that humans are generally creatures of habit, the state of a person's home has been known to physiologically influence their behavior, emotions, and overall mental health.[citation needed]

Growth Charts

Los Angeles (E! Online) –
R. Kelly isn't having girl trouble. Literally.

A rep for the R&B star has vehemently denied a National Enquirer report that Kelly's home had been searched by Chicago-area police as part of their hunt for a missing 17-year-old girl.

"A wildly exaggerated and inaccurate report has been circulating on the Internet that Olympia Fields police showed up at R. Kelly's house with a search warrant just before the singer left for his three-week concert tour in Africa last month and then searched the place looking for a missing 17-year-old girl," rep Allan Mayer said in a statement.
"This is completely false. No police ever showed up at Kelly's house with a search warrant nor was his house ever searched. It is also not true, as the unsubstantiated report claimed, that any such girl ever stayed overnight in Kelly's house or that she had been there but left shortly before some mythical police search."

Meanwhile, the teen has since been located and the Olympia Fields Police Department says that it has been fielding calls for three days about the bogus story.

Kelly is not involved in any investigation, authorities said.

Good thing. The "Trapped in the Closet" artist was acquitted on child-pornography charges involving a 13-year-old girl barely a year ago.

··· THEY SAID WHAT? Get today's most commented stories now at www.eonline.com

LOS ANGELES – A judge ruled Wednesday that Katherine Jackson will retain control of 2,000 items from Neverland Ranch until another hearing is held Monday, despite claims that the Jackson family had moved too quickly to take control of the pop star's $500 million estate.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff called for a speedy compromise between attorneys for Katherine Jackson and the two co-executors of Michael Jackson's will — lawyer John Branca and John McClain, a music executive and a family friend.
"I would like the family to sit down and try to make this work so that we don't have a difficult time in court," the judge said.
The decision came after Paul Gordon Hoffman, an attorney for Branca and McClain, told Beckloff his clients were the proper people to take over Jackson's financial affairs.
He said Katherine Jackson's attorneys had already overstepped their authority by sending letters seeking documents and money from people who control Jackson's accounts. Hoffman did not elaborate.
However, he called Jackson's attempt to get limited power over her son's estate on Monday, "a race to the courthouse that is frankly improper."
The judge said he saw no urgency to give the executors authority over the Neverland items this week.
Katherine Jackson's attorney, L. Londell McMillan, said in a statement they were pleased with Beckloff's ruling.
On Monday, Beckloff granted Katherine Jackson "slim" authority to take control of the Neverland items that had been slated for auction earlier this year. The sale was stopped after Jackson sued.
Katherine Jackson, 79, had sought to take control of the singer's financial assets on Monday, but Beckloff refused. Documents filed then by the family said they believed Jackson died without a valid will.
Records show Katherine Jackson's petition was filed just hours before Branca met with the family and presented them with a copy of the will and the trust that is designated to receive all his assets.
Family spokesman Shawn Sachs did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Details of the trust were not revealed.
Katherine Jackson's attorneys wrote in a court filing that the Neverland memorabilia was being held by a former Jackson representative. Beckloff said Wednesday he thought it was valid to be concerned that some of those items might go missing.
Earlier in the day, lawyers for Branca and McClain presented a five-page, typed will signed by Michael Jackson that named his mother as the guardian of her son's three children and their estates.
Control of Michael Jackson's estate — estimated at more than $500 million — goes to Branca and McClain in the will and managed by the trust.
Jackson's mother and children, ranging in ages from 7 to 12, were named as beneficiaries of a trust.
Another attorney for the executors, Jeryll S. Cohen, told Beckloff that Branca and McClain could negotiate a deal this week to minimize a hit to Jackson's estate from the refund of an estimated $85 million in tickets sold for a series of London concerts.

Michael Jackson had been in the late stages of preparing for those concerts when he unexpectedly died in Los Angeles on Thursday.

___

Associated Press writer Jacob Adelman in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Manny Ramirez returns from baseball exile Friday, and the only question the Dodgers have is how soon he will be able to revive the team's suddenly anemic offense. Good thing, because it appears that will be the only question Ramirez has any interest in answering.
He's paid his debt to the game that made him rich and his dreadlocks famous, and he's moving on. There will be no press conferences, no explanations.
Dodger fans don't seem to mind. Neither does team owner Frank McCourt, who was last seen handing out All-Star ballots to fans with his star slugger's name circled on them.
Some day Ramirez will retire, and maybe he'll write a tell-all book that really tells all. Until then, we'll probably never know why he felt compelled to use a fertility drug when it's obvious his best child-bearing years are behind him.
Not that anyone besides the fans at AT&T Park care a lot about knowing the whole story.
Yes, Ramirez likely will take some abuse when he goes on the road to San Francisco, if only because memories are still fresh about the abuse Dodger fans gave the bloated one when Barry Bonds traveled to Los Angeles.
But they'll welcome him back like a rock star at Dodger Stadium, where Mannywood may be gone but Mannymania is only a home run or two from erupting once again. By the time the National League West is decided, fake dreadlocks will be back in vogue in always fashionable Southern California, and any talk about the legitimacy of Ramirez's home run totals will be long forgotten.
He was cheered by sold-out crowds at every one of his five minor league tuneup games. He'll be cheered every time he steps to the plate in LA.
It's become a familiar pattern in this steroid-fueled era, so it's not like Dodger fans are setting any new trends. Bonds was always cheered — if not actually loved — in San Francisco, Yankee fans couldn't wait for Alex Rodriguez to get back in the lineup, and the only concern about Miguel Tejada in Houston this year is that he has hit only six home runs while playing in a hitter-friendly park.
As reviled as he is by some, Roger Clemens would get a standing ovation if he came back to pitch one of his old teams into the World Series. And, even knowing what they know now, long suffering Cub fans would pack Wrigley Field if Sammy Sosa somehow decided to make a comeback.
It could be that we're simply a forgiving society, and baseball fans are the most forgiving of all. Maybe we're eager to embrace the dogma of McGwire and not dwell on the past.
Or, quite possibly, we want to be entertained and don't want to have to deal with anything that gets in the way of rooting for our favorite team.
That's the feeling I got when Ramirez was banished for 50 games from the first-place Dodgers. I was at Dodger Stadium that night and the talk in the dugout and the stands (yes, sometimes writers leave the press box) was mostly how the Dodgers had to hang on during Manny's absence and, boy, would they be good when he got back.
Hang on they did, and more. The Dodgers were 29-21 while Ramirez was taking an enforced vacation, and he'll return in San Diego to a team that is still comfortably in first place despite recent difficulties at the plate.
But LA is a town built on stars, and the Dodgers haven't had a star generate such excitement since a left-hander by the name of Koufax toiled on the mound more than 40 years ago. Little wonder that McCourt absolved Ramirez of any responsibility for his actions almost immediately and will surely be the first at the clubhouse door to welcome him back.
The anti-Manny, meanwhile, will head straight to the bench. All Juan Pierre is doing this year is hitting .322 and there's never been a suggestion he uses steroids. But he's hit only one home run in the last three years and there is no Juanwood section at Dodger Stadium.
Indeed, if there's anything we've learned from the era of juiced ballplayers, it's that fans pay to see home runs. We've also learned that they'll continue to pay to see players hit home runs even if they know they had to cheat to do it.
The return of Ramirez will simply confirm that. The high moral ground on the steroids issue has long since been ceded, and Ramirez will neither have to apologize for what he did nor explain what he did.

All Manny will have to do is be Manny once again.

____

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org

WASHINGTON – For years, the brick facade of a three-story house near the Capitol has functioned as a shield for the lawmakers who live and pray there, offering sanctuary from the temptations of political life — and discretion for those who succumbed.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford blew away much of the privacy of the place over the past week, revealing he had confided in his "C Street" friends, a collection of current and former lawmakers, about the cross-continental affair he had hidden from his wife.
Their universal response: Break up with the mistress, according to several knowledgeable people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That these details and more have been connected with the red brick house at 133 C Street SE defies the secrecy that those associated with the Christian facility have long sought to maintain.
The building, registered in District of Columbia tax records as a religious and commercial building, is affiliated with a Christian group of many names, including the "Fellowship Foundation." The group sponsors the annual National Prayer Breakfast attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries around the world.
It also hosts luncheons and prayer groups on the first two floors. The top floor of bedrooms is occupied by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, all Christians, who pay rent that, in the past has been partially subsidized by the fellowship.
Those who have lived and prayed there have described the building as a home away from home for lawmakers, a space for them to socialize, live a Christian lifestyle and confide in each other while they're away from their families.
Some of those private subjects have become embarrassingly public. Two lawmakers connected to the so-called "C Street community" have revealed they had had extramarital affairs.
Sanford, who apparently has never lived there, nonetheless said he turned to "C Street" for counsel and solace while in the throes of extramarital romance with a woman named Maria from Argentina. His spiritual adviser, Warren "Cubby" Culbertson, in an interview with The Associated Press, described the C Street crowd as "the guys Mark hung out with in Washington."
One of group on Wednesday confirmed counseling Sanford about the governor's affair.
"Former Rep. Steve Largent, a member of the C Street community, said he had discussions with both Mark and Jenny Sanford this year, regarding their marriage," Largent said in a statement to the AP.
Sanford wasn't a unique case. Sen. John Ensign, who has lived at the C Street address, is reported to have been confronted about his recently disclosed affair with a female campaign staffer who was married to one of his top Senate aides. The woman's husband, Douglas Hampton, wrote in a letter to Fox News that another resident of the house, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., did the confronting.
All the recent talk has made for a convulsion of publicity, tinged with scandal, for a house and a community of the devout who have labored for years to avoid it.
At least six lawmakers lived at the house as of January, including Coburn and Ensign, according to information provided by knowledgeable Republican, Democratic and nonpartisan officials who demanded anonymity because the information was not public.
Representatives for the Fellowship are hard to find. No spokesman could be reached directly or had responded by Wednesday to requests for comment submitted through members of the C Street community. The building itself is owned by a group called Youth With A Mission Washington DC Inc. C St. Center, according to city records. An e-mail to the founders of Youth With A Mission seeking comment went unanswered.
In a 2003 AP story, Richard Carver, then a member of the group's board of directors, said that the group's goal with members of Congress was "to hope that we can assist them in better understandings of the teachings of Christ, and applying it to their jobs."
Jim Winkler, then a lobbyist for the church, said of lawmakers, "We don't approach them and ask for their support for anything."
It is not the only Capitol Hill home away from home run by a religious group for lawmakers.

The United Methodist Building, at 100 Maryland Avenue across from the Capitol, has for 75 years been the church's office in Washington. It also has been home to members of Congress and even the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ecumenical offices, from which the march on Washington was planned, according to its Web site.

There's a difference, according to one who has worked in the Methodist Building. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says the secrecy surrounding the C Street house makes it possible for the Fellowship to influence lawmakers who live and pray there beyond the public eye.

They have said community members "sit down every week at a specific time and talk about religion in our lives. Well, these are members of Congress," Lynn said. "Part of their life is what they're voting on in Congress."

"When you have this kind of cozy secretive arrangement it does raise red flags," he added. "And the continuing secrecy makes the red brighter."

___

Associated Press Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report from Columbia, S.C.

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency to address California's deficit and has ordered state offices closed three days a month to save cash.
The Legislature will have 45 days to send him a plan to balance the state's budget, which ended the fiscal year with a $24.3 billion deficit. The shortfall is expected to grow by $7 billion because the Legislature did not enact several stopgap measures Tuesday.
If lawmakers fail to act within the 45 days, they cannot adjourn or act on other bills until they solve the crisis.
The government shutdown will lead to a third furlough day each month for 235,000 state employees, bringing their total pay cut to about 14 percent.
California began its new budget year Wednesday without a balanced spending plan, which will force the controller to issue IOUs.

WASHINGTON – For years, the brick facade of a three-story house near the Capitol has functioned as a shield for the lawmakers who live and pray there, offering sanctuary from the temptations of political life — and discretion for those who succumbed.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford blew away much of the privacy of the place over the past week, revealing he had confided in his "C Street" friends, a collection of current and former lawmakers, about the cross-continental affair he had hidden from his wife.
Their universal response: Break up with the mistress, according to several knowledgeable people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That these details and more have been connected with the red brick house at 133 C Street SE defies the secrecy that those associated with the Christian facility have long sought to maintain.
The building, registered in District of Columbia tax records as a religious and commercial building, is affiliated with a Christian group of many names, including the "Fellowship Foundation." The group sponsors the annual National Prayer Breakfast attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries around the world.
It also hosts luncheons and prayer groups on the first two floors. The top floor of bedrooms is occupied by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, all Christians, who pay rent that, in the past has been partially subsidized by the fellowship.
Those who have lived and prayed there have described the building as a home away from home for lawmakers, a space for them to socialize, live a Christian lifestyle and confide in each other while they're away from their families.
Some of those private subjects have become embarrassingly public. Two lawmakers connected to the so-called "C Street community" have revealed they had had extramarital affairs.
Sanford, who apparently has never lived there, nonetheless said he turned to "C Street" for counsel and solace while in the throes of extramarital romance with a woman named Maria from Argentina. His spiritual adviser, Warren "Cubby" Culbertson, in an interview with The Associated Press, described the C Street crowd as "the guys Mark hung out with in Washington."
One of group on Wednesday confirmed counseling Sanford about the governor's affair.
"Former Rep. Steve Largent, a member of the C Street community, said he had discussions with both Mark and Jenny Sanford this year, regarding their marriage," Largent said in a statement to the AP.
Sanford wasn't a unique case. Sen. John Ensign, who has lived at the C Street address, is reported to have been confronted about his recently disclosed affair with a female campaign staffer who was married to one of his top Senate aides. The woman's husband, Douglas Hampton, wrote in a letter to Fox News that another resident of the house, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., did the confronting.
All the recent talk has made for a convulsion of publicity, tinged with scandal, for a house and a community of the devout who have labored for years to avoid it.
At least six lawmakers lived at the house as of January, including Coburn and Ensign, according to information provided by knowledgeable Republican, Democratic and nonpartisan officials who demanded anonymity because the information was not public.
Representatives for the Fellowship are hard to find. No spokesman could be reached directly or had responded by Wednesday to requests for comment submitted through members of the C Street community. The building itself is owned by a group called Youth With A Mission Washington DC Inc. C St. Center, according to city records. An e-mail to the founders of Youth With A Mission seeking comment went unanswered.
In a 2003 AP story, Richard Carver, then a member of the group's board of directors, said that the group's goal with members of Congress was "to hope that we can assist them in better understandings of the teachings of Christ, and applying it to their jobs."
Jim Winkler, then a lobbyist for the church, said of lawmakers, "We don't approach them and ask for their support for anything."
It is not the only Capitol Hill home away from home run by a religious group for lawmakers.

The United Methodist Building, at 100 Maryland Avenue across from the Capitol, has for 75 years been the church's office in Washington. It also has been home to members of Congress and even the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ecumenical offices, from which the march on Washington was planned, according to its Web site.

There's a difference, according to one who has worked in the Methodist Building. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says the secrecy surrounding the C Street house makes it possible for the Fellowship to influence lawmakers who live and pray there beyond the public eye.

They have said community members "sit down every week at a specific time and talk about religion in our lives. Well, these are members of Congress," Lynn said. "Part of their life is what they're voting on in Congress."

"When you have this kind of cozy secretive arrangement it does raise red flags," he added. "And the continuing secrecy makes the red brighter."

___

Associated Press Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report from Columbia, S.C.

In the 2000s, the term "home cinema" encompasses a range of systems. The most basic system could be a DVD player, a standard CRT television, and a "home theater in a box", a 2.1 speaker system with left and right speakers and a small 8" subwoofer cabinet. An expensive home cinema set-up might include a High-Definition DVD format such as Blu-ray, a 60" High-Definition Television with a "cinema-style" 16 X 9 format, a several thousand-watt home theatre receiver with five to seven surround sound speakers, and a powered subwoofer with a 12" subwoofer. The most expensive home theater set-ups, which can cost over $100,000 US, have digital projectors, expensive screens, and custom-built screening rooms which include cinema-style chairs and audiophile-grade sound equipment.

Home theater seating consists of chairs specifically engineered and designed for viewing movies in a personal home theater setting. Most home theater seats have cup holder built into the chairs' armrests and a shared armrest between each seat. Some seating is movie theater-style chairs like those seen in a movie cinema, which features a flip up seat cushion. Other seating systems have plush leather reclining lounger types, with flip-out footrests. Additional features like storage compartments, snack trays, tactile transducers (nicknamed "Bass Shakers"), or even electric motors to recline the chair are available, depending on the model.

Link

NEW YORK – American International Group Inc. on Wednesday said it agreed to sell all of its ownership interests in its consumer finance operations in Colombia, the latest in a recent string of asset sales by the embattled insurer to bolster its finances.
New York-based AIG is selling 100 percent of its interests in Inversora Pichincha SA and Interdinco SA to Banco Pichincha CA of Ecuador and other parties. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is subject to conditions including approvals from regulators in Colombia and Ecuador.
Inversora Pichincha offers consumer finance products in Colombia including vehicle financing and personal, student and commercial loans through 19 branches in Colombia.
Wednesday's sale brings to 18 the total number of asset sales AIG has announced since last fall, when the company's near-collapse led the U.S. government to offer the company a financial lifeline. The government now has an 80 percent stake in AIG.
Shares of AIG fell $5.12, or 22 percent, to finish at $18.08 on Wednesday, a day after shareholders at the company's annual meeting approved a 1-for-20 reverse-stock split.

MORONI (AFP) –
The only known survivor of the crash of the Yemeni airliner clung to wreckage in the Indian Ocean for more than 10 hours before she was rescued, officials said Wednesday, hailing the girl's courage.

Bahia Bakari, a timid 12-year-old, spent the day recovering in hospital in the Comoros capital Moroni, not far from where the Yemenia airlines jet plunged into the sea in the early hours of Tuesday, killing the other 152 on board.

"She showed admirable courage," France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet told reporters after meeting the girl in hospital, and before she boarded his aircraft to return home to Paris.

"She spent close to 10 hours waiting to be rescued after the crash."

Bahia's father, Kassim Bakari, told AFP that his daughter was ejected from the Airbus A310 into the ocean -- suffering a fractured collarbone and burns to her knee, but no life-threatening injuries.

"She didn't feel a thing. She found herself in water," Bakari told the RTL station after speaking to her by phone, adding that -- as she told to him -- some others survived the impact with the rough seas, at least for a while.

"She could hear people talking, but in the middle of the night she couldn't see a thing. She managed to hold on to a piece of something."

"She said that, at a point in time, instructions were given to passengers to strap themselves in," added Joyandet, also on RTL radio. "She said that afterwards, she felt something like electricity -- that was the term she used."

"And then, very quickly, she found herself in the water hanging on to a piece of the aircraft with which she struggled to stay alive for more than 10 or so hours."

When rescuers emerged in the clear light of day, she was too weak to react.

"We tried to throw a life buoy. She could not grab it. I had to jump in the water to get her," one rescuer told France's Europe 1 radio, saying that she was spotted bobbing in the middle of bodies and debris.

"She was shaking, shaking. We put four covers on her. We gave her hot, sugary water. We simply asked her name, village."

The head of the government crisis cell in the Comoros said the youngster survived astonishing odds. "It is truly, truly, miraculous," said Ibrahim Abdoulazeb. "The young girl can barely swim."

Bakari said his daughter had been told her mother survived the crash.

"When I spoke to her she was asking for her mother. They told her she was in a room next door, so as not to traumatise her. But it's not true. I don't know who is going to tell her."

Joyandet gave the girl's age as 12. Officials have variously said she was 14 or 13, but the minister's spokesman said she would turn 13 on August 15.

He scotched rumours that a second child had been found alive, reported by doctors who said their hospital had been put on alert.

Yemenia airlines, which has come under attack from victims' families angry over its safety record, said it will make an initial payment of 20,000 euros (28,000 dollars) to the families of each victim.

Chairman Abdul Khaleq al-Qadi told reporters in Sanaa the payments would be "a first instalment," without saying when they would begin.

The announcement came amid mounting anger over the condition of the 19-year-old Yemenia jet, which had been banned from France's airspace because of doubts about its safety. Airbus has stopped manufacturing the long-haul plane since 2007.

Comoros Vice President Idi Nadhoim criticised France over the crash, saying Paris should have alerted them that the twin-engine aircraft was unsafe.

"It could have been easier for us if France had communicated to us the list of Airbus planes not good to fly, which is not the case," Nadhoim told France 24 television.

The flight left Paris on Monday for Marseille and Sanaa aboard a modern Airbus A330 before passengers switched to the older Airbus jet to continue to Djibouti and Moroni.

Comorans in Marseille, home to more Comorans than the Indian Ocean state's capital, said the tragedy was waiting to happen.

"We had been sounding the alarm bells, both here and in the Comoros," said Moegni Toahiry, 39, as he stood outside his Comoran consulate hoping for news of his cousin and three children who were on the flight.

Some Comorans staged a protest at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday delaying a Yemenia flight for 40 minutes to highlight what they called poor safety conditions on the planes.

Around 100 protestors forced two Marseille travel agents selling Yemenia tickets to shut down on Wednesday.

A desperate hunt for other survivors continued, with French military headquarters in Paris saying the sound of a rescue beacon had been picked up by a Transall search plane -- but no sign of bodies or major debris.

Airbus, still reeling from the crash of an Air France A330 into the Atlantic on June 1 with 228 people on board, has sent investigators to the Comoros, while a judicial investigation was announced by French prosecutors.

MORONI (AFP) –
The only known survivor of the crash of the Yemeni airliner clung to wreckage in the Indian Ocean for more than 10 hours before she was rescued, officials said Wednesday, hailing the girl's courage.

Bahia Bakari, a timid 12-year-old, spent the day recovering in hospital in the Comoros capital Moroni, not far from where the Yemenia airlines jet plunged into the sea in the early hours of Tuesday, killing the other 152 on board.

"She showed admirable courage," France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet told reporters after meeting the girl in hospital, and before she boarded his aircraft to return home to Paris.

"She spent close to 10 hours waiting to be rescued after the crash."

Bahia's father, Kassim Bakari, told AFP that his daughter was ejected from the Airbus A310 into the ocean -- suffering a fractured collarbone and burns to her knee, but no life-threatening injuries.

"She didn't feel a thing. She found herself in water," Bakari told the RTL station after speaking to her by phone, adding that -- as she told to him -- some others survived the impact with the rough seas, at least for a while.

"She could hear people talking, but in the middle of the night she couldn't see a thing. She managed to hold on to a piece of something."

"She said that, at a point in time, instructions were given to passengers to strap themselves in," added Joyandet, also on RTL radio. "She said that afterwards, she felt something like electricity -- that was the term she used."

"And then, very quickly, she found herself in the water hanging on to a piece of the aircraft with which she struggled to stay alive for more than 10 or so hours."

When rescuers emerged in the clear light of day, she was too weak to react.

"We tried to throw a life buoy. She could not grab it. I had to jump in the water to get her," one rescuer told France's Europe 1 radio, saying that she was spotted bobbing in the middle of bodies and debris.

"She was shaking, shaking. We put four covers on her. We gave her hot, sugary water. We simply asked her name, village."

The head of the government crisis cell in the Comoros said the youngster survived astonishing odds. "It is truly, truly, miraculous," said Ibrahim Abdoulazeb. "The young girl can barely swim."

Bakari said his daughter had been told her mother survived the crash.

"When I spoke to her she was asking for her mother. They told her she was in a room next door, so as not to traumatise her. But it's not true. I don't know who is going to tell her."

Joyandet gave the girl's age as 12. Officials have variously said she was 14 or 13, but the minister's spokesman said she would turn 13 on August 15.

He scotched rumours that a second child had been found alive, reported by doctors who said their hospital had been put on alert.

Yemenia airlines, which has come under attack from victims' families angry over its safety record, said it will make an initial payment of 20,000 euros (28,000 dollars) to the families of each victim.

Chairman Abdul Khaleq al-Qadi told reporters in Sanaa the payments would be "a first instalment," without saying when they would begin.

The announcement came amid mounting anger over the condition of the 19-year-old Yemenia jet, which had been banned from France's airspace because of doubts about its safety. Airbus has stopped manufacturing the long-haul plane since 2007.

Comoros Vice President Idi Nadhoim criticised France over the crash, saying Paris should have alerted them that the twin-engine aircraft was unsafe.

"It could have been easier for us if France had communicated to us the list of Airbus planes not good to fly, which is not the case," Nadhoim told France 24 television.

The flight left Paris on Monday for Marseille and Sanaa aboard a modern Airbus A330 before passengers switched to the older Airbus jet to continue to Djibouti and Moroni.

Comorans in Marseille, home to more Comorans than the Indian Ocean state's capital, said the tragedy was waiting to happen.

"We had been sounding the alarm bells, both here and in the Comoros," said Moegni Toahiry, 39, as he stood outside his Comoran consulate hoping for news of his cousin and three children who were on the flight.

Some Comorans staged a protest at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday delaying a Yemenia flight for 40 minutes to highlight what they called poor safety conditions on the planes.

Around 100 protestors forced two Marseille travel agents selling Yemenia tickets to shut down on Wednesday.

A desperate hunt for other survivors continued, with French military headquarters in Paris saying the sound of a rescue beacon had been picked up by a Transall search plane -- but no sign of bodies or major debris.

Airbus, still reeling from the crash of an Air France A330 into the Atlantic on June 1 with 228 people on board, has sent investigators to the Comoros, while a judicial investigation was announced by French prosecutors.

Campaign finance mavens John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., are joining forces once again - this time to block President Obama's nomination of labor lawyer John J. Sullivan to the Federal Election Commission.

If confirmed by the Senate, Sullivan would fill one of three Democratic seats on the evenly divided FEC, taking over from Democrat Ellen Weintraub, who continues to sit on the commission even though her term expired on April 30, 2007.

But the two senators, who succeeded in getting landmark campaign finance legislation enacted in 2002, have indicated that they will lift the hold only if Obama picks two more nominees to replace FEC Chairman Steven T. Walther, a Democrat, and commissioner Donald F. McGahn II, a Republican, whose terms ran out on May 1.

"Until the White House nominates replacements for the two other commissioners whose terms have expired, we cannot consent to Mr. Sullivan's confirmation," McCain and Feingold said in a joint statement. "The FEC is currently mired in anti-enforcement gridlock; the president must nominate new commissioners with a demonstrated commitment to the existence and enforcement of the campaign finance laws."

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Reid supports Sullivan's nomination and "there is no reason to hold up a pending nomination for additional names."

A White House official did not respond to questions about the hold, but reiterated Obama's support for Sullivan.

"After 20 years of practice, John Sullivan has a deep understanding and respect for federal election law," the official said. "He will approach any issue that comes before him on the FEC with seriousness and integrity, and we hope the Senate will confirm him quickly."

During his presidential run, Obama's decision to not accept public financing for both the nomination and general election campaigns worried many of those pushing to reduce the influence of money on elections. But Obama sought to reassure them by promising that as president he would try to fix the system.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Obama has done nothing to live up to those promises, and praised the move by McCain and Feingold. Sloan said their hold likely has little to do with Sullivan. Rather, she said, the senators are "trying to force the president's hand" on overhauling the agency and replacing McGahn, whom she called a force for campaign finance deregulation.

"I'm really glad they did it. The FEC is a disaster, it couldn't be worse," Sloan said. "[Obama] is letting Don McGahn run the place into the ground."

But some advocates of stronger campaign finance enforcement have criticized Obama's choice of Sullivan, who has been a campaign lawyer at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) since 1997.

As associate general counsel of SEIU, Sullivan questioned the need for disclosure rules on advertisements aimed at influencing voters. And in 2006, he filed comments with the FEC questioning limits on coordinated communications between candidates and outside groups, such as labor unions.

After Sullivan's selection, J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, said in a statement, "The gusto with which Mr. Sullivan has bashed important elements" of the 2002 campaign finance law (PL 107-155) "and repeatedly taken radical deregulatory positions does not inspire confidence."

In his testimony before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee last month, Sullivan addressed Hebert's comments and made it clear that he would respect Supreme Court precedent when enforcing federal election law.

Meredith McGehee, the policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, said that she was "very pleased" about the hold, but that it has nothing to do with Sullivan personally.

"I think there's a pretty clear notion here that Mr. Sullivan's nomination will proceed," McGehee said. "This is about McGahn, and that is a battle worth having. ... He is using his position to render most of the campaign finance laws meaningless."

But Center for Competitive Politics Chairman Bradley A. Smith, a former FEC commissioner and an ardent critic of the 2002 law, vehemently disagrees. He called on McCain and Feingold to lift the hold, saying it is "congressional meddling with the independence of the FEC at its worst."

"This vindictive move by McCain and Feingold is akin to announcing they won't vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court unless Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are replaced, too," Smith said in a statement. "FEC Republicans, including apparent hold target Don McGahn, are faithfully exercising their duties in light of legitimate concerns about their constitutional and statutory authority, not simply bulldozing ahead with burdensome campaign finance regulation despite Supreme Court rulings rolling back portions of McCain-Feingold and the reach of campaign finance restrictions as a whole."

ANNANDALE, Va. – President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia woman did just that Wednesday.
Fighting back tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job. The president hugged her — she's a volunteer for his political operation — and called her "exhibit A" in an unsustainable system that is too expensive and complex for millions of Americans.
"We are going to try to find ways to help you immediately," he told Smith as hundreds looked on at a community college forum — and countless others watched on television. But the nation's long-term needs require a greater emphasis on preventive care and "cost-effective care," he said.
Smith, of Appalachia, Va., is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic National Committee. She obtained her ticket through the White House.
The health care changes that Obama called for Wednesday would reshape the nation's medical landscape. He says he wants to cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans, to persuade doctors to stress quality over quantity of care, to squeeze billions of dollars from spending.
But details on exactly how to do those things were generally lacking in his hour-long town hall forum before a supportive audience in a Washington suburb. The lingering questions underscore the tough negotiations awaiting Congress, the administration and dozens of special interest groups in the coming months. Lawmakers will return to debating the issue when they return from a one-week recess on Monday.
Some of Obama's questioners Wednesday were from friendly sources, including a member of the Service Employees International Union and a member of Health Care for America Now, which organized a Capitol Hill rally last week calling for an overhaul.
Obama made no new proposals at the sometimes emotional event. But he vigorously defended his plans while fielding seven questions from the live audience at the forum and on the Internet.
The president would bar insurance companies from turning down applicants because of their "pre-existing conditions." He would establish health care exchanges that would spread the costs of treating patients such as Smith over a large number of people.
Obama called for shifting huge sums of money from current health care spending to new goals. About two-thirds of the overall new costs "will come from reallocating money that is already being spent in the health care system but isn't being spent wisely," he said.
He restated his pledge to cut $177 billion over the next decade from Medicare Advantage insurance plans. And he noted that doctors, hospitals, corporations and others have pledged to decrease the annual rate of spending growth by 1.5 percent, or $2 trillion over 10 years.
Such savings are not guaranteed, however, and many Republican lawmakers say Obama's plans will prove too costly.
"The biggest thing we can do to hold down costs is to change the incentives of a health care system that automatically equates expensive care with better care," the president said. He said the formula system drives up costs "but doesn't make you better."
Obama did not make specific recommendations for changing the incentive formulas.
One questioner said limits on awards from medical malpractice lawsuits would bring down health care costs.
Obama replied, "I don't like the idea of an artificial cap" on such awards for a patient's injuries. He also said there was little evidence that various states' efforts to limit such awards have uniformly brought down costs.
Obama said, however, that he is working with the American Medical Association to explore ways to reduce liability for doctors and hospitals "when they've done nothing wrong." He offered no specifics for a problem that has vexed the medical and legal industries for decades.
The president repeatedly said the current health care system is not acceptable and must be overhauled this year. He urged the audience, which included people following on Facebook and YouTube, to reject critics who say his plans are too costly or a step toward socialized medicine.

Obama said a government-run "single-payer" health care system works well in some countries. But it is not appropriate in the United States, he said, because so many people get insurance through their employers working with private companies.

Still, he again called for a government-run "public option" to compete with private insurers, a plan that many Republicans oppose.

In stroke play, every player (or team) counts the number of shots taken for the whole round or tournament to produce the total score, and the player with the lowest score wins.

There are six principal tours for women, each based in a different country or continent. The most prestigious of these is the United States based LPGA Tour.

Link

During the 20th century, the popularity of cosmetics increased rapidly.[citation needed] Especially in the United States, cosmetics are used by girls at an increasingly young age.[citation needed] Many companies[who?] have catered to this expanding market by introducing more flavored lipsticks and glosses, cosmetics packaged in glittery, sparkly packaging and marketing and advertising using young models.[citation needed] The social consequences of younger and younger beautification has had much attention in the media over the last few years.

While there is assurance from the largest cosmetic companies that their various ingredients are safe to use, there is a growing preference for cosmetics that are without any "synthetic" ingredients, especially those derived from petroleum. Once a niche market, certified organic products are becoming more mainstream. New cosmetics using organogels that are water free, perservative free and surfactant free have recently been developed that contain natural products. Cosmetics that use an organogel base are suitable for use by persons with sensitive skin.

visit

Adult Diapers

The purpose of a diaper is to absorb moisture and contain mess so that the wearer can remain dry and comfortable after wetting or soiling themselves. When diapers become full and can no longer hold any more waste, they require changing; this process is often performed by a secondary person such as a parent or caregiver. Failure to change a diaper on a regular enough basis can result in diaper rash.

The decision to use cloth or disposable diapers is a controversial one, owing to issues ranging from convenience, health, cost, and their effect on the environment. Currently, disposable diapers are the most commonly used, with Pampers and Huggies being the most well-known brands in the industry. Plastic pants can be worn over diapers to avoid leaks.

ATLANTA – The wife of R&B singer Usher was surprised when the entertainer filed for divorce earlier this month and claims the two were intimate less than a week before he moved to end the marriage, according to court documents.
Tameka Raymond, 38, disputes Usher's claims the couple have been separated since July 2008. She said in court documents filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court that she "had every reason to believe her marriage was intact" and that two were "intimately together as husband and wife as recently as June 6."
Usher, whose real name is Usher Raymond IV, filed for divorce June 12, claiming there is "no reasonable hope of reconciliation" and the marriage is "irretrievably broken." He is seeking joint custody of the couple's two sons, 1 1/2-year-old Usher Raymond V and 6-month-old Naviyd Ely Raymond.
Tameka Raymond has three children from a previous marriage. She said through her divorce attorney, Randy Kessler, that she has been a faithful wife and loving mother during the marriage.
In Monday's filing, Tameka Raymond asked a judge to ensure that Usher continues to support his family while the divorce works its way through the courts, including paying her legal fees.
The couple married in August 2007 in a lavish ceremony. About 200 people attended their wedding at resort built in the style of a 16th-century-style French chateau on 3,500 hilly acres outside Atlanta.
A call to Usher's divorce lawyer was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Before the two married, Usher had a string of romances, most notably his three-year relationship with Chilli from the group TLC.
The Grammy-winning artist's hits include "Confessions," "Burn," "You Make Me Wanna" and "Yeah!"

Halloween is very popular in Ireland, where it originated, and is known in Irish as Oíche Shamhna (pron: ee-hah how-nah), literally "Samhain Night". Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain (pronounced /ˈsˠaunʲ/from the Old Irish samain), "End of Summer", a pastoral and agricultural "fire festival" or feast, when the dead revisited the mortal world, and large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits.

In the barmbrack were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, "to beat one's wife with", would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be married within the year. Commercially produced barmbracks for the Halloween market still include a toy ring.

Halloween Costume

Home cinema, also called home theater, are entertainment systems that seek to reproduce cinema quality video and audio in a private home. In the 1950s, home movies became popular in the United States with Kodak 8 mm film projector equipment became affordable. The development of multi-channel audio systems and laserdisc in the 1980s created a new paradigm for home cinema. In the early to mid 1990's, a typical home cinema would have a Laserdisc or S-VHS videocassette player fed to a large rear projection television. In the late 1990s, home theather technology progressed with the development of DVD, Dolby Digital 5.1-channel audio ("surround sound"), and High-Definition Television.

Some people have built upon the idea, and constructed mobile drive-in theaters that can play movies in public open spaces. Usually, these require a powerful projector, a laptop or DVD player, outdoor speakers and/or an FM transmitter to broadcast the audio to other car radios.

Home Theater Chairs

DETROIT – Gunmen in a green minivan opened fire on a group of teenagers waiting at a bus stop near a Detroit school on Tuesday, wounding at least seven including two who were in critical condition, authorities said.
At least five of the teens, including the two in critical condition, had just gotten out of summer classes at Cody Ninth Grade Academy when they were shot at the nearby bus stop, said Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes.
Two gunmen, possibly three, emerged from the green minivan and "asked for a person by name" before they "opened fire at the crowd," Detroit Police spokesman Rod Liggons told WXYZ-TV.
The students' names and ages weren't immediately released.
"We have confirmed the name of several of the students, but we have to make sure we talk with the parents," Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said at the scene of the shooting on Detroit's west side.
Bria Wilson, 15, was standing at the bus stop when she heard the gunfire. Wilson said she was facing away from the shooters and ran away after the shots were fired. She said she saw a 16-year-old male friend lying on the ground, bleeding.
"They were so close — it almost hit me," said Wilson, who was heading home from summer school classes at Cody Academy.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Leubsdorf and David N. Goodman contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS RECASTS; UPDATES with details, witness quote, other comment; corrects that shootings were at a 9th grade academy, not Cody High School; ADDS byline, contributor line.)

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Pirates, swapping outfielders at a rapid rate for the second successive season, sent starting left fielder Njyer Morgan to the Washington Nationals in a four-player deal involving outfielder Lastings Milledge and also shipped backup Eric Hinske to the Yankees on Tuesday.
The Pirates, who have pushed to restock a thin farm system by making numerous trades over the last year, get Milledge and reliever Joel Hanrahan from the Nationals for the fleet Morgan and left-hander Sean Burnett, a former first-round draft pick.
Earlier, they sent 2002 AL Rookie of the Year Hinske to the Yankees for minor-league right-hander Casey Erickson and outfielder Eric Fryer. The Yankees also get some cash to help pay Hinske's $1.5 million salary.
Just as they did last season by dealing Jason Bay and Xavier Nady, the Pirates have traded two of their three starting outfielders before Aug. 1. They sent former NL All-Star center fielder Nate McLouth to the Braves on June 4 for pitcher Charlie Morton and two other prospects.
Though rumored for several days, the Nationals trade is somewhat surprising because the Pirates dealt Morgan — who turns 28 on Thursday — less than halfway through a promising first season as a starter. He is hitting .277 with 2 homers and 27 RBIs, only four fewer than No. 3 hitter Freddy Sanchez, and has 18 steals, although he has been thrown out 10 times.
Milledge, a former top Mets prospect, has played in only seven games with Washington while part of the season rehabilitating a broken right ring finger that required surgery in May. He is expected to join Triple-A Indianapolis before being called up by Pittsburgh later this month.
Milledge, 23, has more power than Morgan — he has 25 homers in 897 career at-bats — but has bothered frequently by injury problems that include a broken right hand, sore foot and groin strain. He hit .268 with 14 homers, 61 RBIs and 24 doubles in 138 games last season, earning him a spot on the cover of the Nationals' media guide this season.
Still, Milledge was a major disappointment to the Nationals, who dealt two starters — catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church — to acquire Milledge from the Mets in November 2007.
The right-handed Hanrahan, 27, is 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA in 34 games — he was demoted from the closer's job — and has a 5.30 ERA in 115 career games. Burnett, the Pirates' top pick in 2000, is 1-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 38 games and has pitched in 96 games the last two seasons.
The 31-year-old Hinske hit .255 in 106 at-bats this season with nine doubles, one homer and 11 RBIs, playing right field, first base and third base. He was 8 for 24 as a pinch hitter and has been disappointed by a lack of playing time.
Through June 29 last year, he had 13 home runs en route to a 20-home run season with the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays. He won the rookie award with Toronto in 2002, when he hit .279 with 24 homers and 84 RBIs, and was a member of Boston's World Series championship team in 2007.
The 23-year-old Erickson was 3-3 with a 2.25 ERA in three starts and 18 relief appearances at Class A Charleston this season. Fryer, also 23, hit .250 with 11 doubles, two homers, 24 RBIs and 11 steals for Class A Tampa after leading the South Atlantic League with a .335 average last year for West Virginia. He was obtained by the Yankees in February for left-hander Chase Wright.
To fill Hinske's roster spot, Pittsburgh purchased the contract of 28-year-old outfielder Garrett Jones from Triple-A Indianapolis, where he hit .307 with 18 doubles, 12 homers, 48 RBIs and 14 steals.

FAIRVIEW, N.J. – For five years, immigrant day laborer Leo Chamale wired money twice a month from New Jersey to his family in Guatemala. Recently, he stepped up to the money transfer window for a different purpose — to ask that his family send some of his savings back to him.
"I hadn't worked for five months, and I was two months behind on rent, so I had them send $1,500," the 21-year-old Chamale said in Spanish. "My mother said, `That's a lot of money!'"
With the U.S. economy in a ditch, money transfer agencies have been reporting a decline in the wages immigrants are sending back to their home countries. Now, it appears some immigrants are going a step further — asking their relatives to wire them money back.
"We've never seen this before," said Marlen Miranda, manager of Peerless Travel in Fairview, which runs a money transfer service. "I mean, one or two people might receive money for a special reason, but not this quantity of people."
Miranda said she has seen her customer base dwindle from 200 people to 75 who regularly use her money transfer services each month. Of those 75, Miranda said, about 20 now come in to receive money instead of sending it home.
"They can't send them much, because the economy in their countries is so bad," Miranda said. "Sometimes people only receive $20 from home."
It is not clear how much money is being sent back to the U.S. or how widespread the phenomenon is. Large money transfer agencies, such as Western Union, said they do not disclose how much money is sent or received by their field offices. Banks in foreign countries often track only money sent into the country by their citizens living abroad.
But clearly, these "reverse remittances" — as the money wired back to the U.S. is called — are extremely small when compared to the money immigrants send home.
Immigrants working in the U.S. sent more than $50 billion back to their native countries last year, according to the World Bank, which predicts the amount will drop 5 percent in 2009. Mexico's central bank said remittances sent to that country are down more than 18 percent in the past year, and registered their biggest decline on record in April.
Alejandro Tejada, manager of Tenares Communications, a Western Union office in Passaic, said he, too, has noticed money flowing in reverse, into the U.S. — a phenomenon he rarely, if ever, saw before.
It began around late March, Tejada said, after a tough winter in which construction projects and other ventures that usually employ immigrant day laborers ground to a halt.
World Bank economist Dilip Ratha said he devised his own measure of how much money is sent back to immigrants living in the U.S. and other countries. Analyzing foreign currency deposits in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and India from February 2008 to January 2009, Ratha found that immigrants from those countries tapped into their savings accounts — money they had previously wired home — at an accelerated rate as the global economy worsened.
The amount of foreign currency on deposit declined 7 percent in the Dominican Republic, 12 percent in India, and 6 percent in Mexico during the 12-month period, Ratha said.
Nevertheless, "people are sending far, far, far more back home than what they are taking out," he said.
Ratha said the surge in money wired back to the U.S. will not last long.
"The ability of, let's say, a Mexican family or a Nepalese family to be able to send dollar remittances to maintain somebody to pay for living expenses in the U.S. or in Europe is very weak, because they are very poor," Ratha said. "And the savings that are there of the migrants are also not very significant in most cases — so those savings will run out very quickly."
Standing on a street corner a recent morning in Palisades Park, looking for work, Chamale said he is now hoping to earn just enough for a plane ticket home.
"I was forced to ask for money from home during the winter months," he said. "After that, I said to myself, `That's it — I'm heading back to my country.'"

In 2005 Golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world, approximately half of them in the United States. The countries with most golf courses in relation to population, starting with the best endowed were: Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Wales, United States, Sweden, and England (countries with fewer than 500,000 people were excluded). Apart from Sweden, all of these countries have English as the majority language, but the number of courses in new territories is increasing rapidly. For example the first golf course in the People's Republic of China opened in the mid-1980s, but by 2005 there were 200 courses in that country.

A handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer's ability to play golf over 18 holes. Handicaps can be applied either for stroke play competition or match play competition. In either competition, a handicap generally represents the number of strokes above par that a player will achieve on an above average day.

Putting Contest

A clock is an instrument used for indicating and maintaining the time and passage thereof. The word clock is derived ultimately (via Dutch, Northern French, and Medieval Latin) from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". For horologists and other specialists the term clock continues to mean exclusively a device with a striking mechanism for announcing intervals of time acoustically, by ringing a bell, a set of chimes, or a gong.[citation needed] A silent instrument lacking such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece. In general usage today, however, a "clock" refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time which, unlike a watch, is not worn on the person.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, clockmaking flourished, particularly in the metalworking towns of Nuremberg and Augsburg, and in France, Blois. Some of the more basic table clocks have only one time-keeping hand, with the dial between the hour markers being divided into four equal parts making the clocks readable to the nearest 15 minutes. Other clocks were exhibitions of craftsmanship and skill, incorporating astronomical indicators and musical movements. The cross-beat escapement[citation needed] was developed in 1585 by Jost Burgi, who also developed the remontoire. Burgi's accurate clocks helped Tycho Brahe to observe astronomical events with much greater precision than before.

Refurbished Time Clocks

here

Nursing assistants, orderlies, auxiliary nurses, medical assistants. These types of health care workers work both in acute and primary settings, with the supervision of registered nurses or licensed practical nurses (in the US). They assist nurses by giving basic care, taking vital signs, administering hygienic care, assisting with feeding, giving basic psychosocial care, housekeeping, and similar duties. See also hospital volunteers.

All nurses in New Zealand are expected to maintain both professional knowledge and clinical competence in order to receive an annual practicing certificate from the Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ). Recent legislation (the 2004 Health Practitioners Competency Assurance Act) sets standards for both scope of practice and requirements in terms of ongoing development.

Honey's natural antioxidant and anti-microbial properties and ability to absorb and retain moisture have been recognised and used extensively in skin care treatments as they help to protect the skin from the damage of the sun's rays and rejuvenate depleted skin.

Shea butter is derived from the kernel of the "Karite" tree, or Tree of Life. It can be found in a multitude of products at drug stores, high-end beauty boutiques, and e-tailers. When it is used in its purest, unrefined, certified organic form, it can provide healing for conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, stretch marks, and dermatitis. Shea butter is also a staple of African pharmacology due to its potent healing abilities. Even today, clinical trials demonstrate shea butter's ability to deliver effective therapeutic results as well as safe and natural skincare.

http://www.dermavio.com/

Gambling or gaming is designed at the start so that the odds are not affected by the players' conduct or behavior and not required to conduct risk mitigation practices. But players can prepare and increase their odds of winning in certain games such as poker or blackjack. In contrast to gambling or gaming, to obtain certain types of insurance, such as fire insurance, policyholders can be required to conduct risk mitigation practices, such as installing sprinklers and using fireproof building materials to reduce the odds of loss to fire. In addition, after a proven loss, insurers specialize in providing rehabilitation to minimize the total loss.

In many countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, the tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death.

Georgia Insurance

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
A woman who inherited some Chinese carved jade from her father has scored the first $1 million (601,557 pounds) appraisal from experts on the U.S. television program "Antiques Roadshow," the producers said on Monday.

In a record for the show, four pieces of Chinese carved jade and celadon from the Chien Lung Dynasty (1736-1795), including a large bowl crafted for the Emperor, were given a conservative auction estimate of up to $1.07 million.

"For 13 years, we've been hoping to feature a million-dollar appraisal on 'Antiques Roadshow;' it's been our 'Great White Whale,'" executive producer Marsha Bemko said.

"We're thrilled that, despite this year's slow economy, 'Roadshow' finally captured this elusive trophy," she said in a statement released by Boston-based production company WGBH, which licensed the format from the British show of the same name produced by the BBC.

On both shows, members of the public bring in items to be appraised by professionals in the hope of discovering that junk from the attic is actually a valuable treasure.

A spokeswoman said the appraisal was a record for the U.S. show, which is not affiliated with the BBC original. According to British media, the BBC's version had its first million pound appraisal ($1.655 million) last November -- a scale model of Anthony Gormley's artwork, "The Angel of the North."

The statement said the owner of the jade inherited the collection from her father, who bought the objects in the 1930s and 1940s, while stationed in China as a military liaison.

She brought them to an "Antiques Roadshow" event in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday.

Asian arts appraiser James Callahan said the fine quality of the pieces indicated they were not made for tourists.

"He was rewarded by finding a mark on the bottom of the jade bowl that translates as 'by Imperial order,'" the statement said.

The previous highest appraisal on the show was a 1937 painting by American Abstract Expressionist artist Clyfford Still, found in Palm Springs, California, in 2008. The painting had been given a retail estimate of $500,000.

The appraisal of the jade items will be shown in the next series of "Antiques Roadshow" starting January 4 on PBS, the producers said.

Creators Syndicate –
"You have no notion of the intrigue that goes on in this blessed world of science," wrote Thomas Huxley. "Science is, I fear, no purer than any other region of human activity; though it should be."

As "Darwin's bulldog," Huxley would himself engage in intrigue, deceit and intellectual property theft to make his master's theory gospel truth in Great Britain.

He is quoted above for two reasons.

First is House passage of a "cap-and-trade" climate-change bill. Depending on which scientists you believe, the dire consequences of global warming are inconvenient truths — or a fearmongering scheme to siphon off the wealth of individuals and empower bureaucrats.

The second is publication of "The End of Darwinism: And How a Flawed and Disastrous Theory Was Stolen and Sold," by Eugene G. Windchy, a splendid little book that begins with Huxley's lament.

That Darwinism has proven "disastrous theory" is indisputable.

"Karl Marx loved Darwinism," writes Windchy. "To him, survival of the fittest as the source of progress justified violence in bringing about social and political change, in other words, the revolution."

"Darwin suits my purpose," Marx wrote.

Darwin suited Adolf Hitler's purposes, too.

"Although born to a Catholic family Hitler become a hard-eyed Darwinist who saw life as a constant struggle between the strong and the weak. His Darwinism was so extreme that he thought it would have been better for the world if the Muslims had won the eighth century battle of Tours, which stopped the Arabs' advance into France. Had the Christians lost, (Hitler) reasoned, Germanic people would have acquired a more warlike creed and, because of their natural superiority, would have become the leaders of an Islamic empire."

Charles Darwin also suited the purpose of the eugenicists and Herbert Spencer, who preached a survival-of-the-fittest social Darwinism to robber baron industrialists exploiting 19th-century immigrants.

Historian Jacques Barzun believes Darwinism brought on World War I: "Since in every European country between 1870 and 1914 there was a war party demanding armaments, an individualist party demanding ruthless competition, an imperialist party demanding a free hand over backward peoples, a socialist party demanding the conquest of power and a racialist party demanding internal purges against aliens — all of them, when appeals to greed and glory failed, invoked Spencer and Darwin, which was to say science incarnate."

Yet a theory can produce evil — and still be true.

And here Windchy does his best demolition work.

Darwin, he demonstrates, stole his theory from Alfred Wallace, who had sent him a "completed formal paper on evolution by natural selection."

"All my originality ... will be smashed," wailed Darwin when he got Wallace's manuscript.

Darwin also lied in "The Origin of Species" about believing in a Creator. By 1859, he was a confirmed agnostic and so admitted in his posthumous autobiography, which was censored by his family.

Darwin's examples of natural selection — such as the giraffe acquiring its long neck to reach ever higher into the trees for the leaves upon which it fed to survive — have been debunked. Giraffes eat grass and bushes. And if, as Darwin claimed, inches meant life or death, how did female giraffes, two or three feet shorter, survive?

Windchy goes on to relate such scientific hoaxes as "Nebraska Man" — an anthropoid ape ancestor to man, whose tooth turned out to belong to a wild pig — and Piltdown Man, the missing link between monkey and man.

Discovered in England in 1912, Piltdown Man was a sensation until exposed by a 1950s investigator as the skull of a Medieval Englishman attached to the jaw of an Asian ape whose teeth had been filed down to look human and whose bones had been stained to look old.

Yet three English scientists were knighted for Piltdown Man.

Other myths are demolished. Bird feathers do not come from the scales of reptiles. There are no gills in human embryos.

For 150 years, the fossil record has failed to validate Darwin.

"The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontologists," admitted Stephen J. Gould in 1977. But that fossil record now contains even more species that appear fully developed, with no traceable ancestors.

Darwin ruled out such "miracles."

And Darwinists still have not explained the origin of life, nor have they been able to produce life from non-life.

The most delicious chapter is Windchy's exposure of the Scopes Monkey Trial and Hollywood's Bible-mocking movie "Inherit the Wind," starring Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow.

The trial was a hoked-up scam to garner publicity for Dayton, Tenn. Scopes never taught evolution and never took the stand. His students were tutored to commit perjury. And William Jennings Bryan held his own against the atheist Darrow in the transcript of the trial.

In 1981, Gould had this advice for beleaguered Darwinists:

"Perhaps we should all lie low and rally round the flag of strict Darwinism ... a kind of old-time religion on our part."

Exactly. Darwinism is not science. It is faith. Always was.

Patrick Buchanan is the author of the new book "Churchill, Hitler and 'The Unnecessary War." To find out more about Patrick Buchanan, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.