US commandos hand over troubled area to Afghans

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 file photo a member of the Afghan special forces, left, briefs soldiers after a training exercise on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 file photo a member of the Afghan special forces, left, briefs soldiers after a training exercise on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, file photo U.S. Army soldiers from 7th Special Forces Group, based at an Afghan Commando training facility, fire their pistols at a range at their base in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, March 16, 2013 file photo Afghan men chant "U.S. special operations forces out!" as several hundred demonstrators marched to the Afghan parliament building in Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 file photo members of Afghan special forces conduct a training exercise using actors on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan?s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? U.S. special operations forces handed over their base in a strategic region of eastern Afghanistan to local Afghan commandos on Saturday, a senior U.S. commander said. The withdrawal from Nirkh district meets a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces leave the area after allegations that the Americans' Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there.

"We're coming out of Nirkh," said Maj. Gen. Tony Thomas, the top U.S. special operations commander in Afghanistan, in an interview with The Associated Press.

Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Wardak province outside Kabul in which Nirkh is located, confirmed that U.S. special operations forces withdrew and were replaced by a joint Afghan security forces team.

The transfer of authority ends a controversial chapter in which Karzai accused U.S. troops and an interpreter working with them of torture, kidnapping and summary execution of militant suspects in Nirkh ? charges U.S. officials including top commander in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford firmly denied.

The incident shows the larger struggle of Karzai's government to assert its authority over security matters, even as its green security forces try to assume control of much of the country from coalition forces on a rushed timeline, ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most of coalition forces by December 2014.

Karzai had originally demanded the U.S. special operations forces pull out from the entire province, a gateway and staging area for Taliban and other militants for attacks on the capital Kabul. But he scaled down his demands to just the single district after negotiations with Dunford and other U.S. officials.

"President Karzai was specific, it's only for Nirkh, that was a provocative point," Thomas said. "American special operations forces are integral in the defense of Wardak from now until the foreseeable future."

U.S. commandos will also continue to visit the Afghan team in Nirkh.

"We're going to support them from a distance," Thomas said. "The reality is there was such a groundswell of support (from locals) in Wardak after the initial allegations that we're keeping several teams down there to work with the Afghan security forces for the future, with an idea that we'll transition over time."

The Americans are paired with and live alongside locally recruited and trained teams known as Afghan local police. Thomas said most of the local police will be paired with Afghan security forces by the end of the summer, with the Americans making occasional visits as they will do in Nirkh, to assess whether they need logistic or other support.

One Wardak government official expressed relief that the agreement crafted with Karzai did not mean the complete pullout of U.S. forces from the province, saying that local officials were worried their new forces would not yet be able to keep hardcore insurgents out of the area.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because his comments run counter to public statements made by Karzai, that the Afghan security forces are ready for complete independence in Wardak.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-30-Afghanistan/id-5c0a6e44044a4d0ead5d03abc74e0f3d

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Rising Smartphone Technologies ? meccabrowser.com

Cell phones became vital and today engage in a big part with everyone?s existence. With the current technological innovation which includes manufactured persons as well as nations around the world much closer, cellular as well as portable gadgets can easily truly be regarded as good pioneer technology as well as inventions. Gone are the days any time you have to go back home very first just before the guy can take advantage of the cell phone or perhaps check out a open public mobile phone sales space to place an all-important call to some cherished one or perhaps organization call. With the existence of cell phones, people have right now gone cellular. Transmission possesses, without a doubt, switched a breeze for everyone.

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Sarah Edwards is a masterful artist in over 11 yrs & have been learning awesome innovations in mobile communication tower as part with her affiliation with New Ideas Team ,a new creative team for innovating persons. Learn All about her website to learn All about her mobile communication advice over the years.

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Source: http://meccabrowser.com/rising-smartphone-technologies

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Paulos: Investing in workers makes cents | The Salt Lake Tribune

I have owned my advertising and PR agency here in Salt Lake City, The Summit Group Communications, for 31 years. Now, that certainly does not make me John D. Rockefeller or Steve Jobs, but I have learned some very important things, like the correlation between the culture of a workplace and its bottom-line success.

When I talk about a company?s culture, I am not talking about its brand ? which is what a company is and provides for its consumers. I am talking about who and what a company is for its most important assets ? its employees.

I have found (and, as it turns out, there is fascinating research to support) that the happier employees are, the better they perform for the company, directly affecting its profits. And, as research conducted by the American Sociological Association shows, diversity in the workplace also has a direct and positive correlation with profit. In fact, it showed that "workplace diversity is among the most important predictors of a business? sales revenue, customer numbers and profitability."

So, how to create a happy and diverse workforce?

First, recruit well. There is incredible talent out there looking for rewarding work. For example, I want my compensation packages to be competitive, opening the company up to as broad a talent pool as possible. And especially as the job market continues to recover, potential employees are scrutinizing potential employers as much as we are evaluating them.

Second, we have to take care of our employees so they want to stay. This means having inclusive policies and procedures ? whether mandated by law or not ? so that everyone is treated fairly and can work in environments free from discrimination and harassment. We have to spell this out and we have to enforce it. No exceptions. Some of history?s most successful individuals were women, people of color, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities and so on. Successful businesses invite and protect everyone.

Creating a happy and diverse workforce also includes investing in programs that make work fun and positive. This is not to say that all companies have to provide a game room the size of Google?s, but a rolling nacho cart every now and again can be quite nice. At TSG, we liken our work to running intervals. We expect our folks to sprint for us, so we make sure to provide them with rest and proverbial Gatorade.

Without progressive benefits, inclusive nondiscrimination policies, institutionalized programs for fun and good health, we all suffer. And although it creates a competitive advantage for me when other companies do not provide the basic protections and benefits to their employees, I very much believe that all workers deserve open and safe workplaces.

Now, I certainly want my company to see continued success, but for me, taking care of my employees is more about doing what I think is right than it is about profit. And while we may not all agree on that, can we all agree to invest in a safe and productive workplace for the people who make sacrifices for us every day?

story continues below

Bill Paulos founded The Summit Group Communications in 1982. Today, its 80 employees do business in 32 states and TSG is the longest running, independently owned advertising and public relations firm in Utah.

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/56075825-82/employees-company-paulos-bill.html.csp

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Artificial spleen to treat bloodstream infections: Sepsis therapeutic device under development

Mar. 30, 2013 ? The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that it was awarded a $9.25 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further advance a blood-cleansing technology developed at the Institute with prior DARPA support, and help accelerate its translation to humans as a new type of sepsis therapy.

The device will be used to treat bloodstream infections that are the leading cause of death in critically ill patients and soldiers injured in combat.

To rapidly cleanse the blood of pathogens, the patient's blood is mixed with magnetic nanobeads coated with a genetically engineered version of a human blood 'opsonin' protein that binds to a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and toxins. It is then flowed through microchannels in the device where magnetic forces pull out the bead-bound pathogens without removing human blood cells, proteins, fluids, or electrolytes -- much like a human spleen does. The cleansed blood then flows back to the patient.

"In just a few years we have been able to develop a suite of new technologies, and to integrate them to create a powerful new device that could potentially transform the way we treat sepsis," said Wyss founding director and project leader, Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. "The continued support from DARPA enables us to advance our device manufacturing capabilities and to obtain validation in large animal models, which is precisely what is required to enable this technology to be moved towards testing in humans."

The team will work to develop manufacturing and integration strategies for its core pathogen-binding opsonin and Spleen-on-a-Chip fluidic separation technologies, as well as a novel coating technology called "SLIPS," which is a super-hydrophobic coating inspired from the slippery surface of a pitcher plant that repels nearly any material it contacts. By coating the inner surface of the channels of the device with SLIPS, blood cleansing can be carried out without the need for anticoagulants to prevent blood clotting.

In addition to Ingber, the multidisciplinary team behind this effort includes Wyss core faculty and Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty member Joanna Aizenberg, Ph.D., who developed the SLIPS technology; Wyss senior staff member Michael Super, Ph.D., who engineered the human opsonin protein; and Mark Puder, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School who will be assisting with animal studies.

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Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/O8CKu3xNkz0/130330130531.htm

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7 Things I Was Baffled By When I Started Online

I?d like to share some of the problems that prevented me making any money whatsoever for around 7-8 months after I began online almost exactly 3 years ago. I?ll also explain how I overcame them by giving some recommendations for each.

It?s quite interesting for me to see how my thinking and understanding of how to start and build a successful web business has changed over time.

But more importantly I hope you?ll be able to get a lot out of this because from talking to others I?ve learned that most people face the same challenges that I?ve experienced.

Let?s dive in with 7 things I was baffled by when I started out:?

1. How To Create Web Pages

Like all of us I visited lots of different websites on a daily basis but I really didn?t understand how to replicate them. Do you have to learn web design and HTML and get involved in the technical side of things?

Luckily, I was introduced to WordPress pretty early on. Although I have built a few pages in other systems (such as the free HTML editor Kompozer) I really never looked back.

What began as a blogging platform has now developed into a fully fledged content management system (CMS) for websites and for running a home business, there are very few cases when it makes sense to not use WordPress.

My Recommendation: If you don?t know WordPress. Learn it. Just create a simple personal blog and get acquainted. It?s time very well spent.

2. How To Get Traffic

I thought the only options were SEO (ranking your web pages high in Google) or Adwords (Google Paid ads).

Like most newcomers I didn?t want to risk any money so I went down the SEO path.

The trouble was by 2010 SEO was already becoming harder, more long term and increasingly uncertain. This didn?t stop me spending a small fortune on SEO software and training courses which resulted in virtually no revenue whatsoever.

My Recommendation: Traffic is a KEY element in your online success. So invest some time in learning about it. There are countless ways to promote your websites and many of them have been discussed on this blog (here and here?for example). Also, although I wouldn?t completely ignore SEO, I also highly recommend you don?t rely on it. Less than 10% of my traffic comes from SEO ? quite honestly I wouldn?t bother with it much at all!

3. Why The Websites Of Successful Marketers Didn?t Look Like Mine

During my ?SEO phase? I followed several ?gurus? who were very keen to tell me (and sell me) strategies which could rank my websites high in Google. Most of these involved setting up blogs, choosing the keywords, meta tags, headlines, H1 tags correctly and building backlinks to my site.

So how come when I visited these gurus? sites they had none of these things? I remember checking the backlinks and wondering why there weren?t any? How could they be making money if they didn?t seem to do the things they were telling me to do?

Also, a lot of their websites just had places for your name and email address (what I later learnt were called ?squeeze pages?) and had no content on them at all. Google wouldn?t rank these surely so I was baffled.

I was very na?ve really. But it just goes to show if you don?t know something then you just don?t know.

Of course, the reality was the the gurus were using joint ventures (JVs), affiliates and paid traffic to promote their websites. As silly as it might sound it really took me about 10 months to fully recognize this.

My Recommendation: Always ask yourself, ?Are the strategies that this person is teaching me what they actually use to make money themselves??. You can?t always be sure but being aware of this question really helps!

4. Who To Trust

A biggy.

As with any business ? online or offline ? there are scams and people who just want your money. In the internet marketing area there are definitely these kinds of people but also many very genuine businesses and marketers who provide solid products and services which can help you.

My Recommendation: Rather than expand on this here I will refer to a previous post where we covered this issue in detail.

5. Which Niche To Go Into

Again, usually a problem most of us have, especially at the early stage of our business.

This is partly related to ?I?m not an expert in anything? thinking but also because there are literally SO many different niches that it can become difficult to decide!

What I did was go into lots of niches. I don?t recommend this because you end up juggling so many balls that you can?t give the attention each niche deserves.

My Recommendation: Brainstorm niches you are interested in, check for sufficient audience size and profitability. Then pick one and go with it. Later on you can (as I have done) expand it more than one niche but that?s when you?ll have the experience of setting them up and promoting them. Also, understand you don?t need to be an expert: 1) You can learn, 2) You can get another expert to help (e.g., by interviewing them), 3) Many products (e.g., software) don?t rely on you being an expert at all.

6. How Can I Keep Up With The Information Coming At Me

Yes, the old information overload problem here!

What I specifically referring to though is the emails that I received as a result of signing up to people?s lists.

This distraction can manifest in at least 2 ways: 1) You are reading emails instead of implementing and taking action, 2) You get mixed messages and conflicting information which stops you taking action on your current plans by introducing doubt and shiny object syndrome.

My Recommendation: Unsubscribe from any list which just promotes things all the time. Follow the people you trust (or at worst think you trust!) ? see above for tips on this. Pick one project and stick with it, emotionally detach (as best you can) and work on your business (imagine you are consulting on someone else?s business which helps) instead of in your business.

7. Sales Funnels

Again I?m admitting naivety here but after coming online I really didn?t understand the importance of having a funnel or even what one was!

Basically, the sales funnel is process people go through after they go up the ?on ramp? into your business.

For example, they might sign up at for your squeeze page, get offered a promotion on the thank you page, receive email follow ups which offer free content and promotions which increase in price and value.

My recommendation: Be aware all the time of sales funnels and every time you purchase something or sign up for something watch what happens and take notes. I actually have a Word files called ?Other Marketers Swipe? which I take notes on what I see from my journeys around the internet in different niches.

3 Final Tips

Overall, If I could go back in time and speak to myself when I started out I?d give this advice:

• Focus soley on building a list of subscribers in a profitable niche that you are interested in
• Go to live events and meetups
• Invest some time and money in solid training from people who have achieved what you want to achieve

If you can relate to any of my experiences I?ve described in this post then this is the same advice I?d give to you. Regardless of your history and where you are right now with your business the PERFECT time is NOW!

What things have baffled you in terms on setting up a successful web business? Please LIKE/TWEET if you enjoyed this and start some discussion by dropping a comment below. Cheers, Rob.

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Source: http://www.gainhigherground.com/7-things-i-was-baffled-by-when-i-started-online/

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EPA Proposes Cleaner Fuel, Car Standards - Health News and ...

FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) ? New standards for cleaner fuel and vehicles proposed Friday will reduce air pollution and help prevent thousands of deaths and hospitalizations each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says.

The EPA?s proposals to slash emissions of harmful pollutants include reducing smog-forming volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, reducing fuel vapor emissions to near zero and cutting vehicle emissions of toxic air pollutants, such as benzene and 1,3-butadiene, by up to 40 percent. A 70 percent tighter particulate matter standard is also recommended.

These ?common-sense? standards are an ?example of how we can protect the environment and public health in an affordable and practical way,? EPA acting administrator Bob Perciasepe said in an agency news release.

By 2030, the new regulations will help prevent up to 2,400 premature deaths, 23,000 cases of respiratory ailments in children, and 3,200 hospital admissions and asthma-related emergency room visits a year, the EPA estimates.

Each year, the new rules will also prevent 1.8 million lost school days, work days and days when activities are restricted because of air pollution.

The health-related benefits will total between $8 billion and $23 billion a year, according to the EPA news release.

The regulations also would reduce pollution exposure near roads. More than 50 million Americans live, work or go to school close to high-traffic roads.

The EPA estimates that the new rules would provide up to $7 in health benefits for every dollar spent to meet the standards, which will have an average cost of about $130 per vehicle in 2025.

The agency will accept public comment and hold public meetings on the proposed standards, which were developed with input from states, the auto and oil and gas industries, and environmental, consumer and public health organizations.

The new regulations are designed to be implemented over the same period as the next phase of EPA?s program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks. That phase begins in model year 2017.

More information

The Union of Concerned Scientists has more about vehicles and air pollution.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/03/29/epa-proposes-cleaner-fuel-car-standards/

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The South: A near-solid block against 'Obamacare'

FILE ? In this March 15, 2013 file photo Republican governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley speaks at the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. As more Republicans give in to President Barack Obama?s health-care overhaul, an opposition bloc remains across the South, which includes governors who lead some of the nation?s poorest and unhealthiest states. ?We will not expand Medicaid on President Obama?s watch. We will not expand Medicaid ever,? Haley told the audience at CPAC. Medicaid is financed mostly by Congress, with state?s putting up match funding. Obama?s law mandated that states open Medicaid to everyone with household income up to 133 percent of the federal poverty rate, but the Supreme Court ruled states must have a choice. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE ? In this March 15, 2013 file photo Republican governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley speaks at the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. As more Republicans give in to President Barack Obama?s health-care overhaul, an opposition bloc remains across the South, which includes governors who lead some of the nation?s poorest and unhealthiest states. ?We will not expand Medicaid on President Obama?s watch. We will not expand Medicaid ever,? Haley told the audience at CPAC. Medicaid is financed mostly by Congress, with state?s putting up match funding. Obama?s law mandated that states open Medicaid to everyone with household income up to 133 percent of the federal poverty rate, but the Supreme Court ruled states must have a choice. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal addresses the Senate on the last day of the legislative session, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Atlanta. Deal paid legislators a visit late Thursday afternoon as lawmakers neared the final gavel of the 2013 session. It's a ceremonial tradition for Deal, who served in the General Assembly before being elected to Congress and then the governor's office. But the governor is able to celebrate a session that gave him most of what he wanted from lawmakers. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

ATLANTA (AP) ? As more Republicans give in to President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul, an opposition bloc remains across the South, including from governors who lead some of the nation's poorest and unhealthiest states.

"Not in South Carolina," Gov. Nikki Haley declared at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference. "We will not expand Medicaid on President Obama's watch. We will not expand Medicaid ever."

Widening Medicaid insurance rolls, a joint federal-state program for low-income Americans, is an anchor of the law Obama signed in 2010. But states get to decide whether to take the deal, and from Virginia to Texas ? a region encompassing the old Confederacy and Civil War border states ? Florida's Rick Scott is the only Republican governor to endorse expansion, and he faces opposition from his GOP colleagues in the legislature. Tennessee's Bill Haslam, the Deep South's last governor to take a side, added his name to the opposition on Wednesday.

Haley offers the common explanation, saying expansion will "bust our budgets." But the policy reality is more complicated. The hospital industry and other advocacy groups continue to tell GOP governors that expansion would be a good arrangement, and there are signs that some Republicans are trying to find ways to expand insurance coverage under the law.

Haslam told Tennessee lawmakers that he'd rather use any new money to subsidize private insurance. That's actually the approach of another anchor of Obama's law: insurance exchanges where Americans can buy private policies with premium subsidies from taxpayers.

Yet for now, governors' rejection of Medicaid expansion will leave large swaths of Americans without coverage because they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid as it exists but not enough to get the subsidies to buy insurance in the exchanges. Many public health studies show that the same population suffers from higher-than-average rates of obesity, smoking and diabetes ? variables that yield bad health outcomes and expensive hospital care.

"Many of the citizens who would benefit the most from this live in the reddest of states with the most intense opposition," said Drew Altman, president of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

So why are these states holding out? The short-term calculus seems heavily influenced by politics.

Haley, Haslam, Nathan Deal of Georgia and Robert Bentley of Alabama face re-election next year. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is up for re-election in 2015. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is term-limited at home but may seek the presidency in 2016. While they all govern GOP-leaning states, they still must safeguard their support among Republican voters who dislike large-scale federal initiatives in general and distrust Obama in particular. Florida's Scott, the South's GOP exception on expansion, faces a different dynamic. He won just 49 percent of the vote in 2010 and must face an electorate that twice supported Obama.

A South Carolina legislator put it bluntly earlier this year. State Rep. Kris Crawford told a business journal that he supports expansion, but said electoral math is the trump card. "It is good politics to oppose the black guy in the White House right now, especially for the Republican Party," he said.

Whit Ayers, a leading Republican pollster, was more measured, but offered the same bottom line. "This law remains toxic among Republican primary voters," he told The Associated Press.

At the Tennessee Hospital Association, president Craig Becker has spent months trying to break through that barrier as he travels to civic and business groups across Tennessee. "It's really hard for some of them to separate something that has the name 'Obamacare' on it from what's going to be best for the state," he said, explaining that personality driven politics are easier to understand than the complicated way that the U.S. pays for health care.

Medicaid is financed mostly by Congress, though states have to put in their own money to qualify for the cash from Washington. The federal amount is determined by a state's per-capita income, with poorer states getting more help. On average in 2012, the feds paid 57 cents of every Medicaid dollar. It was 74 cents in Mississippi, 71 in Kentucky, 70 in Arkansas and South Carolina, 68 in Alabama. Those numbers would be even higher counting bonuses from Obama's 2009 stimulus bill.

Obama's law mandated that states open Medicaid to everyone with household income up to 138 percent of the federal poverty rate ? $15,420 a year for an individual or $31,812 for a family of four. The federal government would cover all costs of new Medicaid patients from 2014 to 2016 and pick up most of the price tag after that, requiring states to pay up to 10 percent. The existing Medicaid population would continue under the old formula. In its ruling on the law, the Supreme Court left the details alone, but declared that states could choose whether to expand.

Hospital and physician lobbying groups around the country have endorsed a bigger Medicaid program. Becker said he explains on his road show that the Obama law paired Medicaid growth with cuts to payments to hospitals for treating the uninsured. Just as they do with Medicaid insurance, states already must contribute their own money in order to get federal help with those so-called "uncompensated care" payments.

The idea was instead of paying hospitals directly, states and Congress could spend that money on Medicaid and have those new beneficiaries ? who now drive costs with preventable hospital admissions and expensive emergency room visits ? use the primary care system. But the Supreme Court ruling creates a scenario where hospitals can lose existing revenue with getting the replacement cash Congress intended, all while still having to treat the uninsured patients who can't get coverage.

Becker said that explanation has gotten local chambers of commerce across Tennessee to endorse expansion. "These are rock-ribbed Republicans," he said. "But they all scratch their heads and say, 'Well, if that's the case, then of course we do this.'"

In Louisiana, Jindal's health care agency quietly released an analysis saying the changes could actually save money over time. But the Republican Governors Association chairman is steadfast in his opposition. In Georgia, Deal answers pressure from his state's hospital association with skepticism about projected "uncompensated care" savings and Congress' pledge to finance 90 percent of the new Medicaid costs.

Altman, the Kaiser foundation leader, predicted that opposition will wane over time.

Arkansas Republicans, who oppose Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's call for expansion, have floated the same idea as Haslam: pushing would-be Medicaid recipients into the insurance exchanges. Jindal, using his RGA post, has pushed the Obama administration to give states more "flexibility" in how to run Medicaid.

Deal convinced Georgia lawmakers this year to let an appointed state board set a hospital industry tax to generate some of the state money that supports Medicaid. That fee ? which 49 states use in some way ? is the same tool that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is using to cover her state's Medicaid expansion. Georgia Democrats and some hospital executives have quietly mused that Deal is leaving himself an option to widen Medicaid in his expected term.

"These guys are looking for ways to do this while still saying they are against 'Obamacare,'" Altman said. "As time goes by, we'll see this law acquire a more bipartisan complexion."

-----

Follow Barrow on Twitter (at)BillBarrowAP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-30-US-Medicaid-South/id-d25f617a548b4650a44ae4581e58805c

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PST: Henry's work of art leads Bulls past Union

No question that Mike Petke (pictured) preferred not to wait five matches for his initial win as the New York Red Bulls manager. It must be like getting your first new car ? but being told it will take six weeks to ship.

Either way, New York?s slightly concerning start in 2013 can be dismissed, apparently. The Red Bulls, playing well but unable to pop the top on a sweet victory soda before Saturday, got Petke and themselves a 2-1 win against Philadelphia.

It took something special from Thierry Henry, whose wonderful game-winner was a technical work of art. Truly, Henry doesn?t just score goals, he still scores magnificent ones.

Two things should not be lost in the instinct and expertise of Henry?s awesome, 81^st minute two-touch wonder:

Debuting newcomer P?guy Luyindula supplied a swell ball from just beyond the penalty area, giving Henry just enough to work with. The French midfielder, who made 130 appearances over five years at Paris Saint-Germain, already looks like a terrific find for the Red Bulls. His intelligent work off the ball matches the good work with it.

And RBNY midfielder Dax McCarty, who continues to hold his place among Major League Soccer?s most underrated brigade, scored a goal that was every bit as important as Henry?s. McCarty?s goal may not have contained the same aesthetic, but it represented the very height of useful opportunism. It was all about awareness and optimism, mixed with enough craftsmanship to finish the job.

McCarty made something from very little, a critical second-half scoring opener for his club, which was having some issues scoring goals at home before that one.

Here are Saturday?s highlights from Harrison:

.

Source: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/30/highlights-new-york-red-bulls-finally-get-a-win/related/

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Home Improvements - Outdoor Decoration with Northern Virgina ...

A house with some extra outdoor space could be very well turned into a fine living space with Northern Virgina concrete patios. This would create a good space for the friends and family to use a common place outside the house, for recreational activities. Getting a concrete patio done is best if you wish to have a seamless integration of both the exterior and interior living areas. This particular upgrade of the backyard to a decorative space of concrete patio will instantly make an improvement in the overall appearance of the entire place. This will be more so because the concrete is easier to maintain. Moreover, it stands up to all kind of harsh weather conditions while needing very minimalistic maintenance.

The design options are unlimited with the Northern Virgina concrete patios, as it can be molded into any shape, size or corners of the landscape. The color options are also endless with the use of integrated colors or stains to it. This allows it to match the Northern Virgina concrete patios with the exterior and the landscape of the house. This is not very much convenient with the use of Northern Virgina brick patios or with the Northern Virgina flagstone patios. However, the concrete could always be stamped or engraved to get the required pattern that would mirror the more costly paving materials, like flagstone, brick, slate as well as tile.

The cost on Northern Virgina concrete patios is less in comparison to Northern Virgina brick patios and Northern Virgina flagstone patios. It is important to comprehend that the lower cost of the investment in the concrete patio, coupled with a wide variety of choices in colors and patterns; combined with the lowest cost of maintenance makes it absolutely economical. This fact can be checked and rechecked as many times as a doubtful owner of a house may want.But the cost will always be economically viable in comparison to the budget of other patio designs. Adding to that is the customized design by the professionals in patio designing, could easily accommodate the restricted corners of the backyard, the garden, swimming pool, pool pumps at a little more consultancy charges. Though, all these will be worth the total satisfaction that the owner will have after the complete installation of concrete patio is over.

After the professional designing, the proficient and experienced experts install the concrete patio in line with the prescribed design that they have received. A planned outline of the entire work is very necessary in order to save time and money. The most appropriate thing a home owner can do before he jumps in speculating the entire idea by himself, he may get the professional consultation at his place by the experienced people of this field. This will let him have the idea on what are the best options available at what price. It will further allow him to prepare the budget for the entire things, which is the most important part of it; money. This way the outdoor decoration could be very well achieved by the Northern Virgina concrete patios.

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Source: http://home-improvements.s-article.com/outdoor-decoration-with-northern-virgina-concrete-patios.html

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Veterans fight changes to disability payments

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.

Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.

Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.

"I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."

Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.

But the veterans groups point out that their members bore the burden of a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the past month, they've held news conferences on Capitol Hill and raised the issue in meetings with lawmakers and their staffs. They'll be closely watching the unveiling of the president's budget next month to see whether he continues to recommend the change.

Obama and others support changing the benefit calculations to a variation of the Consumer Price Index, a measure called "chained CPI." The conventional CPI measures changes in retail prices of a constant marketbasket of goods and services. Chained CPI considers changes in the quantity of goods purchased as well as the prices of those goods. If the price of steak goes up, for example, many consumers will buy more chicken, a cheaper alternative to steak, rather than buying less steak or going without meat.

Supporters argue that chained CPI is a truer indication of inflation because it measures changes in consumer behavior. It also tends to be less than the conventional CPI, which would impact how cost-of-living raises are computed.

Under the current inflation update, monthly disability and pension payments increased 1.7 percent this year. Under chained CPI, those payments would have increased 1.4 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that moving to chained CPI would trim the deficit by nearly $340 billion over the next decade. About two-thirds of the deficit closing would come from less spending and the other third would come from additional revenue because of adjustments that tax brackets would undergo.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said she understands why veterans, senior citizens and others have come out against the change, but she believes it's necessary.

"We are in an era where benefits are going to be reduced and revenues are going to rise. There's just no way around that. We're on an unsustainable fiscal course," Sawhill said. "Dealing with it is going to be painful, and the American public has not yet accepted that. As long as every group keeps saying, 'I need a carve-out, I need an exception,' this is not going to work."

Sawhill argued that making changes now will actually make it easier for veterans in the long run.

"The longer we wait to make these changes, the worse the hole we'll be in and the more draconian the cuts will have to be," she said.

That's not the way Sen. Bernie Sanders sees it. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs said he recently warned Obama that every veterans group he knows of has come out strongly against changing the benefit calculations for disability benefits and pensions by using chained CPI.

"I don't believe the American people want to see our budget balanced on the backs of disabled veterans. It's especially absurd for the White House, which has been quite generous in terms of funding for the VA," said Sanders, I-Vt. "Why they now want to do this, I just don't understand."

Sanders succeeded in getting the Senate to approve an amendment last week against changing how the cost-of-living increases are calculated, but the vote was largely symbolic. Lawmakers would still have a decision to make if moving to chained CPI were to be included as part of a bargain on taxes and spending.

Sanders' counterpart on the House side, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, appears at least open to the idea of going to chained CPI.

"My first priority is ensuring that America's more than 20 million veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned, but with a national debt fast approaching $17 trillion, Washington's fiscal irresponsibility may threaten the very provision of veterans' benefits," Miller said. "Achieving a balanced budget and reducing our national debt will help us keep the promises America has made to those who have worn the uniform, and I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to do just that."

Marshall Archer, 30, a former Marine Corps corporal who served two stints in Iraq, has a unique perspective about the impact of slowing the growth of veterans' benefits. He collects disability payments to compensate him for damaged knees and shoulders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. He also works as a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, helping some 200 low-income veterans find housing.

Archer notes that on a personal level, the reduction in future disability payments would also be accompanied down the road by a smaller Social Security check when he retires. That means he would take a double hit to his income.

"We all volunteered to serve, so we all volunteered to sacrifice," he said. "I don't believe that you should ever ask those who have already volunteered to sacrifice to then sacrifice again."

That said, Archer indicated he would be willing to "chip in" if he believes that everyone is required to give as well.

He said he's more worried about the veterans he's trying to help find a place to sleep. About a third of his clients rely on VA pension payments averaging just over $1,000 a month. He said their VA pension allows them to pay rent, heat their home and buy groceries, but that's about it.

"This policy, if it ever went into effect, would actually place those already in poverty in even more poverty," Archer said.

The changes that would occur by using the slower inflation calculation seem modest at first. For a veteran with no dependents who has a 60 percent disability rating, the use of chained CPI this year would have lowered the veteran's monthly payments by $3 a month. Instead of getting $1,026 a month, the veteran would have received $1,023.

Raymond Kelly, legislative director for Veterans of Foreign Wars, acknowledged that veterans would see little change in their income during the first few years of the change. But even a $36 hit over the course of a year is "huge" for many of the disabled veterans living on the edge, he said.

The amount lost over time becomes more substantial as the years go by. Sanders said that a veteran with a 100 percent disability rating who begins getting payments at age 30 would see their annual payments trimmed by more than $2,300 a year when they turn 55.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/veterans-fight-changes-disability-payments-070421575--politics.html

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Maine Zumba instructor pleads guilty in prostitution case

John Ewing / AP

Alexis Wright appears with her attorney, Sarah Churchill, on Friday in Cumberland County Court in Portland, Maine.

By Katy Tur and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

The Zumba instructor who was accused of running a prostitution ring from her dance studio in the seaside town of Kennebunk, Maine, pleaded guilty to 20 counts on Friday.

The felony charges against Alexis Wright were reduced to misdemeanors, defense attorney Sarah Churchill confirmed to NBC News.

The case against Wright, 30, gained national attention as allegations emerged of an extensive, detailed client list and videotaped sexual encounters. Prosecutors said that Wright had maintained records showing she netted $150,000 over 18 months through prostitution.

A subdued Wright answered "guilty" as the judge read the 20 counts Friday, The Associated Press reported.

She is due to be sentenced May 31. Prosecutors are set to ask for a sentence of 10 months.

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Wright had previously pleaded not guilty to 106 counts, including engaging in prostitution, and had been expected to stand trial some time later this year.

Mark Strong, a 57-year-old insurance agent, was convicted of 12 counts of promotion to commit prostitution and one count of conspiracy to commit prostitution on March 6. Prosecutors said Strong helped Wright run a prostitution ring from her Zumba studio in Kennebunk.

Strong was sentenced to 20 days in prison and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine on March 21.

Lawyers argued over the admissibility of 577 red-hot Skype shots in Strong?s trial, with Strong?s attorneys saying that there was no way that jurors would be able to decide fairly after seeing the ?extremely sexual? material.

?I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won?t possibly get a fair trial,? defense attorney Daniel Lilley argued five days into Strong?s trial.

Strong struck an apologetic note during his sentencing.

?Mostly, I?d like to apologize to my wife and my sons and my entire family for causing so much harm,? Strong said at his sentencing, according to local paper the Portland Press Herald.

The guilty plea Wright entered Friday will allow her to avoid the embarrassing courtroom revelations Strong endured.

The case rattled the quiet town of Kennebunk, where Wright operated her Pura Vida studio. Kennebunk Police Chief Bob MacKenzie said Friday that he was ?content? with Wright?s plea.

?This will put it to rest,? MacKenzie told the Bangor Daily News. ?We?ll finally be able to move beyond this.?

Related:

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Dems criticize GOP support of fed marriage act

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The cost to taxpayers for a House Republican decision to fund the legal team supporting the Defense of Marriage Act has climbed from $500,000 to as much as $3 million, Democrats say in questioning the GOP stance on the gay marriage issue now before the Supreme Court.

"It's really disappointing and unworthy of a subject that is going before the Supreme Court of our country," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday, referring to Republicans spending that money without input from House Democrats. Pelosi made the comments after emerging from the court hearing on whether to strike down parts of the 1996 law that denies married gay couples the federal benefits available to other couples.

She said Democrats had no input in several modifications to the legal contract that has increased the ceiling for spending on the legal defense of DOMA from the initial $500,000 to $3 million.

Shortly after the administration of President Barack Obama in early 2011 declared that DOMA was not constitutional, House Republicans convened a meeting of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group and, according to Pelosi, used their 3-2 majority to authorize funds to defend the law. Pelosi said the advisory group held no more meetings on the issue and that Republicans acted on their own to increase the funding ceiling as the case dragged on. Paul Clement, one of Washington's most prominent attorney's was hired to argue the case for DOMA supporters.

"Again, $3 million speaks very loudly, especially $3 million that has gone forth without benefit of a vote in the so-called Bipartisan (Legal) Advisory Group," Pelosi said.

House Speaker John Boehner, at a news conference last week, defended the GOP role in the lawsuit, saying that Congress passed the law in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed it, "and in our system of government, the administration doesn't get to decide what's constitutional. The Supreme Court does. And our financing the lawsuit was to make sure that the proper forum was used to make sure that we know what's constitutional and what isn't."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., at a recent Appropriations subcommittee hearing on congressional budgets, also questioned why the House was spending up to $3 million to defend DOMA when the personal staff budgets of House lawmakers were being cut 8.2 percent because of automatic budget cuts.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dems-criticize-gop-support-fed-192017299.html

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3 of 4 reptiles stolen from Calif. museum found

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? Three of four reptiles that were swiped from a science museum and thrown together into a garbage bag during a heist were recovered Friday, though a 3-foot-long ball python remained at large, officials said.

The 3?-foot savannah monitor lizard, a 7-foot-long red-tailed boa constrictor and another 3-foot-long ball python were in good condition, said Mary Ellen Wright, the director of the Fresno Discovery Center. Authorities were searching for the missing python in an area frequented by a suspect, who has been arrested.

Wright had been worried about the reptiles' confinement together in the bag "because they are mortal enemies," she said.

"It would be like throwing two pit bulls in a locked room," she added, noting that the monitor lizard has sharp, 2-inch claws.

The reptiles were taken in a robbery that has perplexed museum officials and authorities, who have not released a motive.

Fresno Police Lt. Donald Gross said Friday Devin Michael Madej, 20, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and possession of stolen property.

The museum's education coordinator, Ian Goudelock, said the burglar didn't appear to be out to intentionally hurt the animals though the museum planned to have the reptiles checked by a veterinarian.

"It's just a strange theft. We're still trying to figure out why," he said. "It does kind of more or less have a happy ending."

Surveillance video showed the burglar broke into the Central California museum sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday, smashed the tanks that held the four reptiles ? worth hundreds of dollars ? and popped them into a garbage bag.

He also went into the center's gift shop and stole children's toys, the phone system and the security monitor, the Fresno Bee reported.

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Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-03-30-Reptiles%20Stolen/id-b9c36f1ca78d4f0ea82c9ee7b10b4205

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If All Embassies Looked Like This There Wouldn't Be Any Wars

Believe it or not, this is the Dutch Embassy in Ethiopia. It doesn't look like your average bureaucratic building, but perhaps more government agencies should take cues from not just its unusual aesthetic, but how the architects—Dick van Gameren and Bjarne Mastenbroek—drew influence from two different cultures. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/PFb_pt3Xz9g/if-all-embassies-looked-like-this-there-wouldnt-be-any-wars

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Google patent application would tie camera settings to local weather

GPS is burgeoning into a tool for more than just finding our way, such as choosing gears on a weekend drive. If one of Google's newly published patent applications becomes reality, positioning might also fix our off-color photos. Its proposed technique would use GPS to automatically tune a camera based on both the local climate and whether or not you're outdoors: the white balance and saturation could be different for a sunny day in the park than a rainy day stuck inside, for example. While automatic settings are already commonplace, the method could lead to more accurate output that reduces the urge to flick on a manual mode. There's no guarantee that we'll ever see the patent in a shipping product, but don't be surprised if future Android smartphones produce uncannily good photography with little effort.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, GPS, Google

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Source: USPTO

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/r8vhY7GOK4M/

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TV drama reopens debate over Germans' war guilt

BERLIN (AP) ? With the wartime generation rapidly disappearing, a television drama about five young Germans in World War II has revived debate in Germany about the role ordinary men and women played in the Nazis' murderous campaign to conquer Europe.

Millions tuned in last week to watch the three-part series "Our Mothers, Our Fathers," which follows five young Germans ? two brothers, a nurse, an aspiring female singer and a Jewish tailor ? as they struggle through one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

Three of the characters, including the Jew, survive ? disillusioned and physically broken ? to confront each other and their own demons in the final episode in the ruins of Berlin.

The series begins in 1941, as the Nazis launch their doomed assault on the Soviet Union, with each character slowly realizing that the world they believed in is falling apart. The brothers realize the German army isn't as noble as they thought; the nurse regrets betraying a Jewish colleague; the singer's liaison with an SS member turns sour; and the Jew has to fight his fellow Germans to survive.

The mixed reactions to the series underscore how, nearly 70 years after World War II, the conflict remains a source of bitterness in Europe, even for people born after the fighting ended.

Many critics have praised the series as a milestone in Germany's troubled reckoning with its past and an overdue examination of individual guilt in the war. But the drama's depiction of Polish resistance fighters as anti-Semites and Russian soldiers raping the German nurse have drawn particularly angry reactions in Eastern Europe, which suffered the most from the slaughter.

In Germany, meanwhile, some accuse the film of sidelining the Holocaust and depicting Germans as victims rather than a nation responsible for starting a war and committing genocide.

"A film about World War II that omits the bothersome question of six million dead Jews," remarked columnist Jennifer Nathalie Pyka in Juedische Allgemeine, Germany's leading Jewish weekly.

Jan Sueselbeck, a researcher at the University of Marburg, said the series reflects wishful thinking rather than historical facts. The drama glosses over Adolf Hitler's rise to power and the outbreak of war by beginning the story in 1941, two years into the European conflict.

"This film depicts Germans once more the way they would like to have been, but in fact the broad masses were never like that," Sueselbeck said.

On Wednesday, Poland's ambassador to Berlin, Jerzy Marganski, slammed the series in a letter sent to Germany public television ZDF, which broadcast the 14 million-euro production.

"The image of Poland and the Polish resistance against the German occupiers as conveyed by this series is perceived by most Poles as extremely unjust and offensive," Marganski wrote. "I, too, am shocked."

Among other criticisms, Marganski said viewers learn nothing of the Warsaw uprising, in which up to 200,000 Polish civilians died, nor of the many Poles who helped Jews. Producer Nico Hofmann said the depictions of "the Polish situation .... are based on historically vetted material" and there was no intention to defame the Poles.

The series also includes an improbable ending in which the Jewish character, Viktor, survives the war but his German lover Greta is executed for trying to save him.

The only American shown is a cigar-chomping officer who ignores Viktor's anguished protest against forgiving a former SS member in the post-war West German administration.

Many Germans born after the war remain largely ignorant of what their parents did because, like many combat veterans or survivors, the elders don't want to talk about it.

Hofmann said one of his goals was to encourage a national debate among the generations "to speak for the first time about the experience" of the war. He said the third and final episode drew a 20.5 percent market share among viewers aged 14-59 years, which he described as "extremely high" for ZDF.

A full, dispassionate accounting of German actions during the war never occurred because the Cold War division of Europe forced former enemies on both sides of the Iron Curtain to set aside their differences to confront a new set of rivals.

Until German reunification in October 1990, communist East Germany promoted the notion that Hitler and his fellow Nazis alone were responsible for the war and that Germans who were not Nazi party members were victims, too. Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, many Germans still believe that ordinary soldiers didn't participate in and were ignorant of the atrocities committed by Hitler's feared SS and SA units.

"Were German soldiers really so brutal?" mass-circulation daily Bild newspaper asked after one episode showed German soldiers killing civilians in revenge for a partisan attack.

In fact, soldiers killed thousands of civilians throughout the war and assisted death squads in the large-scale extermination of Eastern Europe's Jews. Some 3 million Russian soldiers died in German captivity, while the final stages of the war saw fanatical Hitler loyalists hand out thousands of death sentences to deserting German soldiers and so-called defeatists.

Since the series aired, newspapers and online forums have been filled with comments by descendants of the war generation, with many saying their parents rarely, if ever, spoke of their experiences.

The debate comes at a sensitive time for Germany's army, which broke with the post-war taboo of sending soldiers abroad only around 20 years ago. Today, almost 5,000 German soldiers are serving alongside Americans and British troops in Afghanistan. Others are involved in international missions in Kosovo, Lebanon and Mali.

"I can imagine that in many families where there are survivors there will be conversations," said Jens Wehner, a historian at the German Military Museum in Dresden.

Many families will have already missed the opportunity to do so, because the number of Germans old enough to have participated in the war and still alive today is dwindling fast.

Census records obtained by The Associated Press put the figure at about 1.85 million, of which fewer than 600,000 are men.

About 5.3 million German soldiers were killed in the war. Another 2.5 million German civilians died in the conflict, excluding almost 150,000 Germans Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

"Soon nobody will be left who experienced (the war)," warned Frank Schirrmacher, publisher of the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He praised the series "for the earnestness, the love of detail and the unwillingness to compromise," which allowed it to have "what it takes to touch the soul of the country."?

Hofmann said he produced the series partly for his own father, who volunteered to join Hitler's army at 18, nearly died from wounds and to this day won't say if he took part in atrocities.

Tomasz Szarota, a historian and expert on Poland's wartime underground movement, said the film appeared to contain numerous factual inaccuracies. But a bigger problem was that the series reinforces a current German interpretation that compares Germany's suffering to that of its victims, he said.

"There is this wave in Germany now of being able to talk about German suffering," Szarota said. "The Germans were the last victim of the war that they themselves started."

___

Frank Jordans can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter

___

Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tv-drama-reopens-debate-over-germans-war-guilt-145519356.html

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How herpesvirus invades nervous system

Mar. 27, 2013 ? Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a component of the herpesvirus that "hijacks" machinery inside human cells, allowing the virus to rapidly and successfully invade the nervous system upon initial exposure.

Led by Gregory Smith, associate professor in immunology and microbiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, researchers found that viral protein 1-2, or VP1/2, allows the herpesvirus to interact with cellular motors, known as dynein. Once the protein has overtaken this motor, the virus can speed along intercellular highways, or microtubules, to move unobstructed from the tips of nerves in skin to the nuclei of neurons within the nervous system.

This is the first time researchers have shown a viral protein directly engaging and subverting the cellular motor; most other viruses passively hitch a ride into the nervous system.

"This protein not only grabs the wheel, it steps on the gas," says Smith. "Overtaking the cellular motor to invade the nervous system is a complicated accomplishment that most viruses are incapable of achieving. Yet the herpesvirus uses one protein, no others required, to transport its genetic information over long distances without stopping."

Herpesvirus is widespread in humans and affects more than 90 percent of adults in the United States. It is associated with several types of recurring diseases, including cold sores, genital herpes, chicken pox, and shingles. The virus can live dormant in humans for a lifetime, and most infected people do not know they are disease carriers. The virus can occasionally turn deadly, resulting in encephalitis in some.

Until now, scientists knew that herpesviruses travel quickly to reach neurons located deep inside the body, but the mechanism by which they advance remained a mystery.

Smith's team conducted a variety of experiments with VP1/2 to demonstrate its important role in transporting the virus, including artificial activation and genetic mutation of the protein. The team studied the herpesvirus in animals, and also in human and animal cells in culture under high-resolution microscopy. In one experiment, scientists mutated the virus with a slower form of the protein dyed red, and raced it against a healthy virus dyed green. They observed that the healthy virus outran the mutated version down nerves to the neuron body to insert DNA and establish infection.

"Remarkably, this viral protein can be artificially activated, and in these conditions it zips around within cells in the absence of any virus. It is striking to watch," Smith says.

He says that understanding how the viruses move within people, especially from the skin to the nervous system, can help better prevent the virus from spreading.

Additionally, Smith says, "By learning how the virus infects our nervous system, we can mimic this process to treat unrelated neurologic diseases. Even now, laboratories are working on how to use herpesviruses to deliver genes into the nervous system and kill cancer cells."

Smith's team will next work to better understand how the protein functions. He notes that many researchers use viruses to learn how neurons are connected to the brain.

"Some of our mutants will advance brain mapping studies by resolving these connections more clearly than was previously possible," he says.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sofia?V. Zaichick, Kevin?P. Bohannon, Ami Hughes, Patricia?J. Sollars, Gary?E. Pickard, Gregory?A. Smith. The Herpesvirus VP1/2 Protein Is an Effector of Dynein-Mediated Capsid Transport and Neuroinvasion. Cell Host & Microbe, 2013; 13 (2): 193 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2013.01.009

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/DpfJns9Ndl0/130328091754.htm

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