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Tuesday 31 January 2012
How conservatives lost their moral compass (Politico)
Republicans must love to cheer. At their presidential primary debates last year, the audiences boisterously cheered candidates who raised their hands in support of waterboarding; Texas Gov. Rick Perry?s boast about how many prisoners he had sent to the death chamber; Rep. Ron Paul?s declaration that an uninsured 30-year-old man who needs medical care should be left to die; and Herman Cain?s gripe, ?If you don?t have a job and you?re not rich, blame yourself.?
Liberals chalked it up to a new, strange, coldhearted ultraconservatism that makes ?Reservoir Dogs? look like ?Mary Poppins.? But there is something much deeper and scarier here than demagogic campaign appeals to conservative rage ? something even deeper than the new conservative machismo that treats compassion as a weakness.
Continue ReadingWhat is happening to America is not the rise of a new conservatism. It is the demise of shame.
Conservatives of the past, like conservatives of today, excoriated government efforts to assist the needy. But they were quick to add it was government they hated ? not the needy themselves.
They might have grumbled about taxes and government giveaways and even federal incursions into what they considered state matters, like civil rights. But they didn?t take pride in being merciless or hateful. Indeed, even if they harbored those feelings, the nation?s overwhelming sense of Judeo-Christian moral righteousness forced them to at least talk about concern for the underprivileged. No one wanted to seem mean.
Not any more.
Over the past 40 years, as conservatives have complained, this nation has undergone a moral revolution. It?s just not the one they think. They bemoan greater tolerance for homosexuality; loosened sexual strictures; and overall sexualization of the culture, the coarsened language, provocative dress and a general lack of discipline. But gay rights aside, that is largely aesthetics, not morality.
America?s real moral revolution has been the abandonment of those old Judeo-Christian precepts to which both liberals and conservatives subscribed ? tolerance, compassion and generosity on the one hand and hard work, honesty and fairness on the other.
Conservatives and liberals have different worldviews. But they were bound by these dual moralities ? one of justice, the other of responsibility.
They were also bound by a powerful force that made these operational: shame.
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How conservatives lost their moral compass (Politico)
Republicans must love to cheer. At their presidential primary debates last year, the audiences boisterously cheered candidates who raised their hands in support of waterboarding; Texas Gov. Rick Perry?s boast about how many prisoners he had sent to the death chamber; Rep. Ron Paul?s declaration that an uninsured 30-year-old man who needs medical care should be left to die; and Herman Cain?s gripe, ?If you don?t have a job and you?re not rich, blame yourself.?
Liberals chalked it up to a new, strange, coldhearted ultraconservatism that makes ?Reservoir Dogs? look like ?Mary Poppins.? But there is something much deeper and scarier here than demagogic campaign appeals to conservative rage ? something even deeper than the new conservative machismo that treats compassion as a weakness.
Continue ReadingWhat is happening to America is not the rise of a new conservatism. It is the demise of shame.
Conservatives of the past, like conservatives of today, excoriated government efforts to assist the needy. But they were quick to add it was government they hated ? not the needy themselves.
They might have grumbled about taxes and government giveaways and even federal incursions into what they considered state matters, like civil rights. But they didn?t take pride in being merciless or hateful. Indeed, even if they harbored those feelings, the nation?s overwhelming sense of Judeo-Christian moral righteousness forced them to at least talk about concern for the underprivileged. No one wanted to seem mean.
Not any more.
Over the past 40 years, as conservatives have complained, this nation has undergone a moral revolution. It?s just not the one they think. They bemoan greater tolerance for homosexuality; loosened sexual strictures; and overall sexualization of the culture, the coarsened language, provocative dress and a general lack of discipline. But gay rights aside, that is largely aesthetics, not morality.
America?s real moral revolution has been the abandonment of those old Judeo-Christian precepts to which both liberals and conservatives subscribed ? tolerance, compassion and generosity on the one hand and hard work, honesty and fairness on the other.
Conservatives and liberals have different worldviews. But they were bound by these dual moralities ? one of justice, the other of responsibility.
They were also bound by a powerful force that made these operational: shame.
?
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Obama plays up auto industry success story (AP)
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama wears his decision to rescue General Motors and Chrysler three years ago as a badge of honor, a move to save jobs in an industry that helped create the backbone of the middle class more than a half-century ago.
For Obama, the auto bailout is a case study for his efforts to revive the economy and a potential point of contrast with Republican Mitt Romney, who opposed Obama's decision to pour billions of dollars into the auto companies. If Romney wins the GOP nomination, expect to hear a lot about the car industry.
"The American auto industry was on the verge of collapse. And some politicians were willing to let it just die. We said no," Obama told college students last week in Ann Arbor, Mich. "We believe in the workers of this state."
Obama was expected to visit the Washington Auto Show on Tuesday, giving him another forum to talk about GM and Chrysler, along with the administration's attention to manufacturers and efforts to boost fuel efficiency standards. The White House has taken every opportunity to highlight its efforts to rebuild the auto industry, pointing to GM's reemergence as the world's largest automaker and job growth and profitability in the U.S. auto industry.
The president's campaign views the auto storyline as a potent argument against Romney ? who, even though he is the son of a Detroit auto executive, opposed the bailout. As the industry was collapsing in the fall of 2008, the former Massachusetts governor predicted in a New York Times op-ed that if the companies received a federal bailout, "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye." Romney said the companies should have undergone a "managed bankruptcy" that would have avoided a government bailout.
"Whether it was by President Bush or by President Obama, it was the wrong way to go," Romney said at a GOP presidential debate in Michigan in November. Romney said the nation has "capital markets and bankruptcy ? it works in the U.S. The idea of billions of dollars being wasted initially, then finally they adopted the managed bankruptcy. I was among others that said we ought to do that."
Both the Bush and Obama administrations found themselves in uncharted territory in the fall of 2008 and early 2009. GM and Chrysler were on the verge of collapse when Congress failed to approve emergency loans in late 2008. Bush stepped in and signed off on $17.4 billion in loans, requiring the companies to develop restructuring plans under Obama's watch.
The following spring, Obama pumped billions more into GM and Chrysler but forced concessions from industry stakeholders, enabling the companies to go through swift bankruptcies. Obama aides said billions in aid ? about $85 billion for the industry in total ? was necessary because capital markets were essentially frozen at the time, meaning there was no way for GM and Chrysler to fund their bankruptcies privately.
Without any private financing or government support, they argued, the companies would have been forced to liquidate.
Three years later, Obama is trying to turn the tough decision into a political advantage in Ohio and Michigan, which Obama carried in 2008 and where unemployment has fallen of late. During last week's State of the Union address, Obama said the auto industry had hired tens of thousands of workers, and he predicted the Detroit turnaround could take root elsewhere.
Yet Obama's poll numbers in places like Ohio and Michigan remain in dangerous territory, under 50 percent, and the auto industry argument carries some inherent risks.
A Quinnipiac University poll in Ohio released Jan. 18 found Obama locked in a virtual tie with Romney in a hypothetical matchup, with about half the voters disapproving of Obama's performance as president. A poll in Michigan released last week by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA found 48 percent supporting Obama and 40 percent backing Romney in a potential matchup.
Republicans say the bailout still remains unpopular and the government intervention was hardly a cure-all. "The industry was bailed out but a lot of people lost their jobs," said David Doyle, a Michigan-based Republican strategist.
In a nation still soured on bailouts, the government owns more than a quarter of GM. The Treasury Department estimates the government will lose more than $23 billion on the auto bailout: GM is trading at $24 a share, well below the $53-per-share mark needed for the government to recoup its investment in the company.
Romney, facing attacks from Democrats on his work at private equity firm Bain Capital, has tried to use the GM and Chrysler cases to insulate himself against charges his firm gutted companies and fired workers. "How did you do when you were running General Motors as the president?" Romney said in a December debate. "Gee, you closed down factories. You closed down dealerships. And he'll say, well I did that to save the business. Same thing with us, Mr. President."
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and others say the decision, while unpopular, saved an estimated 1 million jobs throughout the Midwest and say the industry is coming back.
As a result of the restructuring, the companies can make money at far lower U.S. sales volumes than in the past. Industry analysts predict U.S. sales will grow by at least 1 million this year over last year's 12.8 million units as people replace aging cars and trucks. And North American operations at GM, Chrysler and Ford are thriving, boosting their companies' earnings ? all signs that Democrats say will make the difference in the Midwest.
"I don't know how any reasonable person can fail to acknowledge that this rescue plan worked and the country has benefited," said former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat.
___
AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.
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Monday 30 January 2012
Boatright attorney blasts NCAA after probe
Notre Dame's Eric Atkins, right, is guarded by Connecticut's Ryan Boatright, left, in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Notre Dame's Eric Atkins, right, is guarded by Connecticut's Ryan Boatright, left, in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Connecticut's Shabazz Napier (13) and Ryan Boatright (11) react after a foul in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Notre Dame won 50-48. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Notre Dame's Eric Atkins (0) shoots over Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb, back left, and Connecticut's Ryan Boatright, right, in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Atkins was top scorer for Notre Dame with 13 points. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Connecticut guard Ryan Boatright says he just wants to concentrate on basketball while his mother considers legal action in the wake of an NCAA news release detailing an investigation into the freshman's eligibility.
Boatright played Sunday in the 24th-ranked Huskies' 50-48 loss to Notre Dame after the NCAA said it would it take no further action, despite finding that he and his mother had accepted more than $8,000 in impermissible benefits from at least two people.
"It's finally over with," Boatright said after scoring six points. "We can finally put it behind us. We don't have to worry about me getting pulled out again. We just have to use this to our advantage and come together as a team and make this last final run."
But Scott Tompsett, an attorney representing Ryan's mother, Tanesha, issued a statement calling Saturday's NCAA news release that announced the findings false and misleading. He said the people providing the benefits were friends of the Boatright family and had "no expectation of repayment or reciprocation."
"And there's not a shred of evidence that they influenced Ryan's decision to attend UConn or that they intend to represent Ryan if he ever goes pro," he said. "The public also should know that the NCAA never told Tanesha and Ryan who made the accusations about them or told them the substance of the accusations so they could defend themselves."
Tompsett, who also has represented Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun in the past, said the Boatrights had been told the information they gave the NCAA would be kept confidential.
"The NCAA has violated the Boatrights' privacy by releasing their personal information," he said.
The NCAA said the benefits included car payments, travel expenses for his mother during four official visits to NCAA schools, and approximately $1,200.
"In addition, Mr. Boatright was provided travel expenses, hotel, meals and training expenses during a two-night trip to California," the organization said.
The NCAA said the benefits came from at least two people with links to "nonscholastic basketball and professional sports."
Several news organizations, including ESPN and The New York Times, had previously reported that a plane ticket was purchased for Boatright's mother by Reggie Rose, who runs the AAU team for which Boatright played. Rose, the brother of NBA star Derrick Rose, has declined to comment on the case.
The NCAA said it allowed Boatright to return to action after determining he has lived up to an agreement that gave him limited immunity for cooperating in the investigation, and is "likely the least culpable" of those involved in the violations.
NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn issued a statement Sunday saying the organization had not violated the family's privacy nor implied that the benefits were used to influence Boatright to attend UConn.
"In fact, both UConn. and Mr. Boatright should be commended for their cooperation throughout the process to gather information," she said. "The school and student-athlete's dedication to uncover the facts should be viewed as a positive example, not somehow construed negatively. Had Ms. Boatright cooperated fully from the beginning, this matter could have been settled months ago."
Boatright has missed nine games this season as a result of the investigation, including a six-game suspension to start the season. He also is repaying $4,500 in benefits. He was held out of the last three games as the NCAA looked into additional information.
He said he considers the matter closed.
"I'm just happy to be back on the court," he said. "Whatever my mom and the lawyer got going on, that's with them."
The 6-foot Boatright received a standing ovation when he entered the game just under 4 minutes into the first half. His first points came on a runner in the lane at the halftime buzzer that gave UConn a 24-21 lead. He finished 3 of 6 from the field.
"I'm sure that Ryan was trying to work out a lot of kinks," Calhoun said. "But, he's always going to give you a very good effort. He's a good basketball player and I think he has a great future with us."
Before Tompsett's release, university President Susan Herbst issued a statement on Sunday praising Boatright's character.
"This young man has shown tremendous patience and poise all the while in the national spotlight," she said. "This is a strength of character that is seldom demanded of college freshmen and I am extraordinarily proud of him, our team and our coaching staff."
Connecticut went 6-3 this season with Boatright out of the lineup, but dropped two of three when he was forced to sit out a second time. The Huskies (14-6, 4-4 Big East) won at Notre Dame, snapping the Irish's 29-game home-court winning streak, before losing consecutive games to Cincinnati and Tennessee, each by three points.
Boatright averaged more than 10 points and three assists in the 10 games he played after being reinstated to the team.
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Weekend box office awash in 'The Grey'
By Lisa Richwine, Reuters
Survival story "The Grey" starring Liam Neeson in a battle against weather and wolves led the box office pack with a better-than-expected $20 million in ticket sales over the weekend.
"The Grey" knocked last weekend's winner, "Underworld: Awakening," to second place. The vampire and werewolf sequel starring Kate Beckinsale brought in $12.5 million from Friday through Sunday at domestic theaters, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters on Sunday.
In "The Grey," Neeson returns to an action role as a man who leads a team of plane crash survivors who must fight harsh weather and a fierce pack of wolves in the Alaskan wilderness.
The movie played at 3,185 North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters and earned a per-theater average of $6,279, according to the box office division of Hollywood.com.
Liam Neeson stars as a survivor of a plane crash who must fight to survive not only against the wintry remote wilderness, but also a threatening pack of wolves. Opens Jan. 27.
Distributor Open Road Films acquired the film for about $5 million and had projected up to $12 million in debut weekend sales. The film beat that forecast because "it doesn't look like every other movie out there. In a crowded marketplace, I think it's important to be distinctive," said Open Road Films CEO Tom Ortenburg.
Katherine Heigl's new comedy, "One for the Money," finished in third place with $11.8 million, topping industry forecasts of less than $10 million for the film based on a best-selling book by Janet Evanovich. Distributor Lions Gate Entertainment said readers who loved the book helped the movie beat expectations.
"We think the audience that showed up are not frequent moviegoers. They're just huge fans of Janet Evanovich," said David Spitz, head of domestic distribution for Lions Gate.
In the film, Heigl plays a cash-strapped woman who joins a bail-bond business and must track down a wanted man who happens to be an ex-boyfriend. Audiences surveyed by exit polling firm CinemaScore game the movie a B-minus on average.
Oscar boost
The weekend's other new movie, crime drama "Man on a Ledge," landed in fifth place. The film was distributed by Lions Gate's newly acquired Summit Entertainment unit as release dates and marketing plans were set well before the studios combined earlier this month.
"Man on a Ledge" took in $8.3 million, within studio forecasts. The movie features "Avatar" star Sam Worthington as a fugitive who threatens to jump from a hotel ledge.
"Red Tails," a drama about black fighter pilots in World War?II, brought in $10.4 million to land in fourth place in its second weekend in theaters.
Also this weekend, a crop of films capitalized off last week's Oscar nominations.
"The Descendants," starring George Clooney as a father dealing with a family crisis, expanded to 2,001 theaters from 560 and gained 176 percent from last weekend. The movie took in $6.6 million, lifting its domestic tally to $58.5 million since its release last November. The movie has added $27 million in international markets for a worldwide total of $85.5 million.
Black-and-white silent film "The Artist" increased its weekend sales by 40 percent from a week earlier, bringing in $3.3 million after adding 235 more screens. To date, the film has grossed $16.7 million domestically.
Family film "Hugo," which led the Oscar nominations with 11, also jumped 143 percent to $2.3 million. Its total sales to date stand at $58.7 million domestically.
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Open Road Films, a joint venture between theater owners Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc, released "The Grey." The film unit of Sony Corp distributed "Underworld: Awakening." "Red Tails" and "The Descendants" were released by divisions of News Corp's Fox Filmed Entertainment. Privately-held The Weinstein Co released "The Artist," and Viacom Inc unit Paramount Pictures distributed "Hugo."
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Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/29/10265655-weekend-box-office-awash-in-the-grey
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Sunday 29 January 2012
Security chief during Mexico's 'dirty war' dies (AP)
MEXICO CITY ? Miguel Nazar Haro, who led Mexico's domestic spy agency and was accused of being behind the disappearances of alleged leftist guerrillas in the 1970s, has died at age 87.
His son, Jose Luis Nassar Daw, confirmed on Friday that Nazar Haro died late Thursday but didn't release a cause of death.
Nazar Haro headed Mexico's now-dissolved Federal Security Directorate from 1978 to 1982 at the height of the government's "dirty war" against leftist insurgents.
He was arrested in 2004 and put under house arrest on charges stemming from the disappearances of six farmers who were alleged members of a group called the Brigada Campesina de los Lacandones, an armed group that the government linked to at least one kidnapping.
A judge dismissed all charges against Nazar Haro in 2006.
The ruling was a setback for special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo, who had been named by then President Vicente Fox to shed light on wrongful imprisonment, torture, forced disappearances and slayings of hundreds of radical leftists and farm and union leaders during the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
The most brutal phase of the "dirty war" was President Luis Echeverria's administration from 1970 to 1976, when the government implemented a plan to get rid of guerrillas blamed for a series of kidnappings and attacks on soldiers.
During all the years of the conflict, Mexico's presidency was controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which moved to crush small bands of guerrillas seeking its overthrow. The PRI held the presidency for 71 years without interruption before losing the 2000 election to Fox, the candidate of the conservative National Action Party.
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Saturday 28 January 2012
Video: Researchers show how viruses evolve, and in some cases, become deadly
Friday, January 27, 2012
In the current issue of Science, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations.
The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called "Lambda" evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common E. coli bacterium. Lambda isn't dangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex and potentially deadly new traits, said Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who co-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
"We were surprised at first to see Lambda evolve this new function, this ability to attack and enter the cell through a new receptor ? and it happened so fast," Meyer said. "But when we re-ran the evolution experiment, we saw the same thing happen over and over."
Researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. Credit: Michigan State University/Jeremy Polk, National Science Foundation
Through research conducted at BEACON, MSU's National Science Foundation Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Meyer and his colleagues' ability to duplicate the results implied that adaptation by natural selection, or survival of the fittest, had an important role in the virus' evolution.
When the genomes of the adaptable virus were sequenced, they always had four mutations in common. The viruses that didn't evolve the new way of entering cells had some of the four mutations but never all four together, said Meyer, who holds the Barnett Rosenberg Fellowship in MSU's College of Natural Science.
"In other words, natural selection promoted the virus' evolution because the mutations helped them use both their old and new attacks," Meyer said. "The finding raises questions of whether the five bird flu mutations may also have multiple functions, and could they evolve naturally?"
###
National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov
Thanks to National Science Foundation for this article.
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To the Moon, Newt!
Now, four astronauts is not a permanent colony on the moon. To have a permanent colony, you would have to manufacture housing, most likely underground, or at least under significant shielding, since there is no atmosphere and no magnetic field to shield against the harmful effects of cosmic rays for an extended period. Not to mention the need to build facilities for waste recycling, plus food storage and preparation. That is, unless we continually provide food and other provisions for pilgrims from Earth, creating a non-self-sustaining colony. But Gingrich has already made it quite clear, in his attacks on President Obama, that he would not like to be remembered for championing any such sort of government-sponsored food program.
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UN refugee chief: economic crisis fueling conflict (AP)
DAVOS, Switzerland ? The U.N.'s refugee chief has warned leaders meeting in Switzerland this week that the global economic crisis is fueling conflicts around the world.
Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Friday that rising food prices and growing unemployment are hitting those already at the bottom hardest.
Guterres says existing humanitarian hotspots in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia aren't going away while new emergencies are emerging in places like South Sudan.
He urged donors to increase funding to prevent aid for 500,000 people in the newly independent country from drying up.
Guterres also says that only if political solutions are found to each crisis can there be peace and security in the world.
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Friday 27 January 2012
Pelosi: Case closed on Newt (Politico)
CAMBRIDGE, Md. ? House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday slammed the book shut on whether she knows private information about Newt Gingrich that could make the former speaker?s presidential bid go off the rails.
The House?s top Democrat, who was part of a panel in the 1990s that investigated Gingrich for ethics violations, repeatedly said she was talking about information that had already been disclosed.
Continue Reading?I have said over and over again, as far as Speaker Gingrich is concerned, I refer to the public record,? she told reporters here Thursday during the House Democrats? annual retreat. ?It?s a matter of public record.?
During a CNN interview earlier this week, Pelosi ? who like Gingrich is a former House speaker ? said ?there?s something I know, the Republicans, if they chose to nominate him, that?s their prerogative. I don?t even think that?s going to happen.? That prompted Gingrich to respond that if Pelosi knew something, she should ?spit it out? and that he has ?no idea what?s in Nancy Pelosi?s head.?
Pelosi?s interview was the second time that one of her remarks stoked speculation whether she knew damning information about Gingrich that hadn?t already been publicly aired. She told Talking Points Memo in December that she ?know[s] a lot about? Gingrich and said ?not right here ? when the time?s right? when asked to elaborate.
But on Thursday, Pelosi said her comments on Gingrich?s ethics history and his prospects on winning the presidency were spliced together in the media and led to a misinterpretation.
?I was saying I know he?ll never be president, and they sort of combined the two things,? Pelosi said. ?Why do I know he?ll never be president? Just an instinct.?
The 1,280-page report on the ethics investigation on Gingrich is posted on the House Ethics Committee website.
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?Welcome Back, Kotter? Star Robert Hegyes Dead At 60 (VIDEOS)
“Welcome Back, Kotter” Star Robert Hegyes Dead At 60 (VIDEOS)
“Welcome Back, Kotter” actor Robert Hegyes, who was known as the Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the popular 1970s show, has died at [...]
“Welcome Back, Kotter” Star Robert Hegyes Dead At 60 (VIDEOS) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
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Thursday 26 January 2012
Newt Gingrich mocks Romney for his ?self deport? immigration plan (The Ticket)
Gingrich slammed Romney in an interview with Jorge Ramos. (AP)
Newt Gingrich Wednesday criticized Mitt Romney's suggestion that illegal immigrants should deport themselves as an "Obama-level" fantasy that is inhumane. In an interview with Univision's Jorge Ramos, Gingrich laughed when asked about Romney's plan. "He certainly shows no humanity for the people who are already here," Gingrich said.
During Monday's debate, Romney said he would not round up and deport the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. Instead, he would encourage them to voluntarily return to their home countries by more strictly enforcing laws that forbid them from working. "The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here," he said.
The idea is not new. Kansas secretary of state and anti-illegal immigration activist Kris Kobach, who recently endorsed Romney, has written about how state and local politicians can mandate increased enforcement of immigration laws in an effort to get illegal immigrants to leave out of fear. Kobach writes model immigration legislation for other states. His laws, including Arizona's SB1070 and Alabama's version of it last year, have drawn suits from the federal government, which says the states are interfering with the federal government's control over immigration.
Unlike Romney, Gingrich has said he supports a limited path to legalization for immigrants who have lived in the country for decades and have strong ties to their communities. Both candidates say they would veto the Dream Act, a bill that would allow people who were brought to the country as children to earn legal status if they join the military or go to college. They support a military-only path to citizenship for this group.
In Florida, about 10 percent of registered Republican voters are Latino.
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97 arrested for fake Olympic tickets, hotel rooms
LONDON (AP) ? Nearly 100 people have been arrested for selling fake tickets and bogus hotel rooms ahead of the London Olympics.
With some six months to go before Britain's largest-ever planned security operation, Home Secretary Theresa May said police had arrested 97 people in scams involving tickets, fake Olympic websites and nonexistent hotel rooms.
The demand for tickets and hotels in London during the July 27-Aug. 12 games has been huge ? some rooms are going for more than 600 pounds per night (nearly $1,000).
"Police are sending a very clear message that we're not going to tolerate intrusions by organized criminals into the Olympic Games," May said during a speech at the Royal United Services Institute in London, a British security think-tank.
London police said the tickets involved in the scam were phony.
But the threat most on the minds of organizers is terrorism ? Britain was the first western European country to be targeted by al-Qaida-inspired suicide bombers who launched attacks on London's transit system in 2005, killing 52 people the day after the city won the 2012 Olympics bid.
Security officials are also haunted by the attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich that killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches.
Intelligence officials say there is nothing to suggest a specific and credible terror threat to the London Games, yet the threat level will rise to "severe."
Britain's police, the domestic spy agency MI5, the foreign intelligence agency MI6, government communications surveillance units and the military will all help secure the Olympics against possible threats. In addition, international law enforcement and policing agencies like Interpol and the FBI will help British authorities. More than 20,000 security guards are also being hired for extra protection.
"Many of our resources will be dedicated to counterterrorism operations," said Commander Bob Broadhurst, in charge of operational planning for Scotland Yard, who said one concern is being able to patrol parallel or unplanned events around the Olympics, such as concerts and other celebrations.
Although Broadhurst said protests would be allowed during the games, May said protest camps around key sites would be prohibited.
Security teams have already started testing their preparedness.
Two weeks ago, it was disclosed that British police testing security protocols had earlier managed to smuggle a fake bomb into Olympic Park. Last week, a police officer reportedly left documents about security arrangements for the London Olympics on a train.
Officials said those documents were not sensitive and such test-runs are part of the training.
Training events around London have been visible for months ? last week, British police joined up with the military to practice boarding suspect vessels on the River Thames and to stop others by using equipment that entangles their propellers.
Some 13,500 military personnel will be on hand for the Games, according to Gen. Nick Parker, commander of land forces for the British Ministry of Defense, who said forces would be testing Typhoon fighter jets and helicopters later this week.
Two warships and bomb disposal experts will also be on guard for the Games.
But the real test will come closer to July, when teams will have to search athletes, diplomats, spectators and others.
A core component of the security operation will be Britain's vast network of CCTVs and high-tech security equipment. Thousands of extra closed-circuit cameras will be added to Olympic venues ? Britain already has some of the most extensive surveillance powers in the world and has become a leader in what critics call "Big Brother" techniques with its more than 4.3 million CCTV cameras.
Associated Presssaul alinsky detroit tigers fred thompson fred thompson romney tax return red hook oscar nominees
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Family, football meant everything to Joe Paterno
FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2010 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno leaves Beaver Stadium after his weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo/Pat Little, file)
FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2010 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno leaves Beaver Stadium after his weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo/Pat Little, file)
FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2004 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno leads his team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against Akron in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo /Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement made Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)
A woman pays her respects at a statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State University campus after learning of his death Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
A flag and Penn State scarf are displayed on a statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State campus as fans pay their respects after learning of Paterno's death Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Other than family, football was everything to Joe Paterno. It was his lifeblood. It kept him pumped.
Life could not be the same without it.
"Right now, I'm not the coach. And I've got to get used to that," Paterno said after the Penn State Board of Trustees fired him at the height of a child sex abuse scandal.
Before he could, he ran out of time.
Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the scandal involving his one-time heir apparent, died Sunday at age 85.
His death came just 65 days after his son Scott said his father had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Mount Nittany Medical Center said he died at 9:25 a.m. of "metastatic small cell carcinoma of the lung," an aggressive cancer that has spread from one part of the body to an unrelated area.
Friends and former colleagues believe there were other factors ? the kind that wouldn't appear on a death certificate.
"You can die of heartbreak. I'm sure Joe had some heartbreak, too," said 82-year-old Bobby Bowden, the former Florida State coach who retired two years ago after 34 seasons in Tallahassee.
Longtime Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said he suspected "the emotional turmoil of the last few weeks might have played into it."
And Mickey Shuler, who played tight end for Paterno from 1975 to 1977, held his alma mater accountable.
"I don't think that the Penn State that he helped us to become and all the principles and values and things that he taught were carried out in the handling of his situation," he said.
Paterno's death just under three months following his last victory called to mind another coaching great, Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant, who died less than a month after retiring.
"Quit coaching?" Bryant said late in his career. "I'd croak in a week."
Paterno alluded to the remark made by his friend and rival, saying in 2003: "There isn't anything in my life anymore except my family and my football. I think about it all the time."
The winningest coach in major college football, Paterno roamed the Penn State sidelines for 46 seasons, his thick-rimmed glasses, windbreaker and jet-black sneakers as familiar as the Nittany Lions' blue and white uniforms.
His devotion to what he called "Success with Honor" made Paterno's fall all the more startling.
Happy Valley seemed perfect for him, a place where "JoePa" knew best, where he not only won more football games than any other major college coach, but won them the right way. With Paterno, character came first, championships second, academics before athletics. He insisted that on-field success not come at the expense of graduation rates.
But in the middle of his final season, the legend was shattered. Paterno was engulfed in a child sex abuse scandal when a former trusted assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year span, sometimes in the football building.
Outrage built quickly after the state's top law enforcement official said the coach hadn't fulfilled a moral obligation to go to authorities when a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, reported seeing Sandusky with a young boy in the showers of the football complex in 2002.
McQueary said that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. McQueary described Paterno as shocked and saddened and said the coach told him he had "done the right thing" by reporting the encounter.
Paterno waited a day before alerting school officials and never went to the police.
"I didn't know which way to go ... and rather than get in there and make a mistake," Paterno told The Washington Post in an interview nine days before his death.
"You know, (McQueary) didn't want to get specific," Paterno said. "And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."
When the scandal broke in November, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was "absolutely devastated" by the abuse case.
"This is a tragedy," he said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
But the university trustees fired Paterno, effective immediately. Graham Spanier, one of the longest-serving university presidents in the nation, also was fired.
Paterno was notified by phone, not in person, a decision that board vice chairman John Surma regretted, trustees said. Lanny Davis, the attorney retained by trustees as an adviser, said Surma intended to extend his regrets over the phone before Paterno hung up him.
After weeks of escalating criticism by some former players and alumni about a lack of transparency, trustees last week said they fired Paterno in part because he failed a moral obligation to do more in reporting the 2002 allegation.
An attorney for Paterno on Thursday called the board's comments self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, lawyer Wick Sollers said.
"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.
The lung cancer was found during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks later, Paterno broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.
The hospital said Paterno was surrounded by family members, who have requested privacy.
Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation after what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Washington Post writer Sally Jenkins, who conducted the final interview, described Paterno then as frail, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was done at his bedside.
On Sunday, two police officers were stationed to block traffic on the street where Paterno's modest ranch home stands next to a local park. The officers said the family had asked there be no public gathering outside the house, still decorated with a Christmas wreath, so Paterno's relatives could grieve privately. And, indeed, the street was quiet on a cold winter day.
Paterno's sons, Scott and Jay, arrived separately at the house late Sunday morning. Jay Paterno, who was his father's quarterbacks coach, was crying.
"His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled," the family said in a statement. "He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."
Paterno built a program based on the credo of "Success with Honor," and he found both. He won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.
The university handed the football team to one of Paterno's assistants, Tom Bradley, who said Paterno "will go down in history as one of the greatest men, who maybe most of you know as a great football coach."
"As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact," said the statement from the family. "That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country."
New Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien, hired earlier this month, offered his condolences.
"There are no words to express my respect for him as a man and as a coach," O'Brien said in a statement. "To be following in his footsteps at Penn State is an honor."
Paterno believed success was not measured entirely on the field. From his idealistic early days, he had implemented what he called a "grand experiment" ? to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field.
The team consistently ranked among the best in the Big Ten for graduating players. As of 2011, it had 49 academic All-Americans, the third-highest among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. All but two played under Paterno.
"He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man," former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. "Besides the football, he's preparing us to be good men in life."
Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence, lauded his former boss in a statement that said: "He maintained a high standard in a very difficult profession. Joe preached toughness, hard work and clean competition. Most importantly, he had the courage to practice what he preached."
Paterno certainly had detractors. One former Penn State professor called his high-minded words on academics a farce, and a former administrator said players often got special treatment. His coaching style often was considered too conservative. Some thought he held on to his job too long, and a move to push him out in 2004 failed.
But the critics were in the minority, and his program was never cited for major NCAA violations. The child sex abuse scandal, however, did prompt separate inquiries by the U.S. Department of Education and the NCAA into the school's handling.
Paterno didn't intend to become a coach. He played quarterback and defensive back for Brown University and set a school record with 14 career interceptions, but when he graduated in 1950 he planned to go to law school. He said his father hoped he would someday be president.
But when Paterno was 23, a former coach at Brown was moving to Penn State to become the head coach and persuaded Paterno to come with him as an assistant.
"I had no intention to coach when I got out of Brown," Paterno said in 2007 in an interview at Penn State's Beaver Stadium before being inducted into college football's Hall of Fame. "Come to this hick town? From Brooklyn?"
In 1963, he was offered a job by the late Al Davis ? $18,000, triple his salary at Penn State, plus a car to become general manager and coach of the AFL's Oakland Raiders. He said no. Rip Engle retired as Penn State head coach three years later, and Paterno took over.
At the time, Penn State was considered "Eastern football" ? inferior ? and Paterno courted newspaper coverage to raise the team's profile. In 1967, PSU began a 30-0-1 streak.
But Penn State couldn't get to the top of the polls. The Nittany Lions finished second in 1968 and 1969 despite perfect seasons. They were undefeated and untied again in 1973 at 12-0 again but finished fifth. Texas edged them in 1969 after President Richard Nixon, impressed with the Longhorns' bowl performance, declared them No. 1.
"I'd like to know," Paterno said later, "how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969?"
A national title finally came in 1982, after a 27-23 win over Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Another followed in 1986 after the Lions intercepted Vinny Testaverde five times and beat Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.
They made several title runs after that, including a 2005 run to the Orange Bowl and an 11-1 season in 2008 that ended in a 37-23 loss to Southern California in the Rose Bowl.
In his later years, physical ailments wore the old coach down.
Paterno was run over on the sideline during a game at Wisconsin in November 2006 and underwent knee surgery. He hurt his hip in 2008 demonstrating an onside kick. An intestinal illness and a bad reaction to antibiotics prescribed for dental work slowed him for most of the 2010 season. He began scaling back his speaking engagements that year, ending his summer caravan of speeches to alumni across the state.
Then a receiver bowled over Paterno at practice in August, sending him to the hospital with shoulder and pelvis injuries and consigning him to coach much of what would be his last season from the press box.
"The fact that we've won a lot of games is that the good Lord kept me healthy, not because I'm better than anybody else," Paterno said two days before he won his 409th game and passed Eddie Robinson of Grambling State for the most in Division I. "It's because I've been around a lot longer than anybody else."
Paterno could be conservative on the field, especially in big games, relying on the tried-and-true formula of defense, the running game and field position.
He and his wife, Sue, raised five children in State College. Anybody could telephone him at his home ? the same one he appeared in front of on the night he was fired ? by looking up "Paterno, Joseph V." in the phone book.
He walked to home games and was greeted and wished good luck by fans on the street. Former players paraded through his living room for the chance to say hello. But for the most part, he stayed out of the spotlight.
Paterno did have a knack for jokes. He referred to Twitter, the social media site, as "Twittle-do, Twittle-dee."
He also could be abrasive and stubborn, and he had his share of run-ins with his bosses or administrators. And as his legend grew, so did the attention to his on-field decisions, and the questions about when he would hang it up.
Calls for his retirement reached a crescendo in 2004. The next year, Penn State went 11-1 and won the Big Ten. In the Orange Bowl, PSU beat Florida State, coached by Bowden, who was eased out after the 2009 season after 34 years and 389 wins.
Like many others, he was outlasted by "JoePa."
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Tuesday 24 January 2012
Japan logs first trade deficit since 1980 (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan logged its first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years in 2011, calling into question how much longer the country can fund its huge public debt without relying on fickle foreign investors.
The aftermath of the March earthquake raised fuel import costs while slowing global growth and the yen's strength hit exports, data released on Wednesday showed, pushing the trade balance into negative territory.
Few analysts expect Japan to immediately run a deficit in the current account, which includes trade and returns on the country's huge portfolio of investments abroad. A steady inflow of profits and capital gains from overseas still outweighs the trade deficit.
But the trade figures underscore a broader trend of Japan's declining global competitive edge and a rapidly ageing population, compounding the immediate problem of increased reliance on fuel imports due to the loss of nuclear power.
Only four of the country's 54 nuclear power reactors are running due to public safety fears following the March disaster.
"What it means is that the time when Japan runs out of savings -- 'Sayonara net creditor country' -- that point is coming closer," said Jesper Koll, head of equities research at JPMorgan in Japan.
"It means Japan becomes dependent on global savings to fund its deficit and either the currency weakens or interest rates rise."
That prospect could give added impetus to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's push to double Japan's 5 percent sales tax in two stages by October 2015 to fund the bulging social security costs of a fast-ageing society.
The biggest opposition party, although agreeing with the need for a higher levy, is threatening to block legislation in parliament's upper house in hopes of forcing a general election.
Japan logged a trade deficit of 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) for 2011, Ministry of Finance data showed, the first annual deficit since 1980, after the economy was hit by the shock of rising oil prices.
"HOLLOWING OUT", AGEING POPULATION
Total exports shrank 2.7 percent last year while imports surged 12.0 percent, reflecting reduced earnings from goods and services and higher spending on crude and fuel oil, pushing annual imports of liquefied natural gas to a record amount.
In a sign of the continuing pain from slowing global growth, exports fell 8.0 percent in December from a year earlier, roughly matching a median market forecast for a 7.9 percent drop, due partly to weak shipments of electronics parts.
Imports rose 8.1 percent in December from a year earlier, in line with a 8.0 percent annual gain expected, bringing the trade balance to a deficit of 205.1 billion yen, against 139.7 billion yen expected. It marked the third straight month of deficits.
Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Tuesday he did not expect trade deficits to become a pattern, and did not foresee the country's current account balance tipping into the red in the near future.
But Japan's days of logging huge trade surpluses may be over as it relies more on fuel imports and manufacturers move production offshore to cope with rising costs and a strong yen, a trend that may weaken the Japanese currency longer term.
A fast-ageing population also means a growing number of elderly Japanese will be running down their savings.
Running a current account deficit would spell trouble for Japan as it means it cannot pay the cost of financing its huge public debt -- already twice the size of its $5 trillion economy -- without overseas funds.
"It is likely that we won't be able to rely too much on the sustainability of income surplus because the IS (investment-savings) balance of the Japanese economy is likely to deteriorate. So the current account is likely to diminish around 2016-17," said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo.
"Now 96 percent of JGB (Japanese government bond) issuance is digested by domestic investors, but if the current account goes to negative territory, theoretically this means that JGBs are unlikely to be sustainably funded by domestic investors."
(Additional writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Linda Sieg and Emily Kaiser)
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The Looming Threat of a Solar Superstorm
The forecasters in mid-October of 2003 were worried. For more than a week, they had watched plumes of material arcing out over our star?s southeastern limb. Something on the far side of the Sun was venting vast plumes of plasma into space. Soon, the Sun?s rotation spun the culprit into view: It was a region of sunspots more than 13 times the diameter of the Earth, bubbling with volatile magnetic fields.
Sunspots are the main sources for solar flares ? brief pulses of intense radiation created when the Sun?s magnetic loops spontaneously snap and rearrange themselves. Sometimes, a spate of solar flares will spur an even more violent phenomenon, a billion-ton belch of magnetized plasma that explodes out from our star at millions of miles per hour, plowing into anything in its path. Scientists call these solar belches "coronal mass ejections," or CMEs.
By October 28, the Sun?s rotation had brought the sunspot region into direct alignment with Earth. And then it happened. Around 7 am Eastern time, the region released a pulse of high-energy photons in one of the strongest solar flares ever recorded. Eight minutes later, satellites detected the photons arriving at Earth, followed some minutes later by a shower of slower-moving, high-energy subatomic particles. The particles accumulated in the Earth?s upper atmosphere, where they dramatically interfered with high-frequency radio communications and slightly increased radiation exposures for airplane crews and passengers. At a fuel cost of several tens of thousands of dollars per flight, commercial airlines began rerouting many of their planes on longer, safer routes that did not take them near the Earth?s polar regions, where our planet?s magnetic field caused most of the particles to linger. The flurry of particles also degraded GPS satellite signals, causing ground-based receivers to temporarily lose service or receive flawed navigation data.
As disruptive as the particle shower was, it was only the beginning. At 7:30 am, just after sunrise on the east coast of the United States, a satellite stationed directly between the Sun and the Earth observed our star gain an ominous glowing halo, the telltale sign of a CME aimed directly at our planet. All along the eastern seaboard, millions of people awoke to a seemingly normal, sunny day, unaware that they and our entire planet lay directly in the path of a vicious solar storm.
Shortly after 2 am Eastern time on October 29, the CME arrived at Earth, and the storm?s major effects began. A magnetized plasma front slammed into our planet?s magnetic field, pumping it full of energy to create a "geomagnetic storm" that sent powerful electric currents reverberating in and around the Earth. Vivid displays of auroral lights, normally restricted to higher latitudes, painted the night sky red and green in Florida and Australia.
A geomagnetic storm produces dangerous electrical currents in a manner analogous to a moving bar magnet raising currents in a coil of wire. When a CME hits the Earth?s magnetic field and sends it oscillating, those undulating magnetic fields raise currents in conductive material within and on the Earth itself. The currents that ripple through our planet can easily enter transformers that serve as nodes in regional, national, and global power grids. They can also seep into and corrode the steel in lengthy stretches of oil and gas pipeline.
On October 29, power grids around the world felt the strain from the geomagnetic currents. In North America, utility companies scaled back electricity generation to protect the grid. In Sweden, a fraction of a CME-induced electric current overloaded a high-voltage transformer, and blacked out the city of Malmo for almost an hour. The CME dumped an even larger mass of energetic particles into Earth?s upper atmosphere and orbital environment, where satellites began to fail because of cascading electronics glitches and anomalies. Most were recovered, but not all. Astronauts in low-Earth orbit inside the International Space Station retreated to the Station?s shielded core to wait out the space-weather storm. Even there, the astronauts received elevated doses of radiation, and occasionally saw brief flashes of brilliant white and blue?bursts of secondary radiation caused when a stray particle passed directly through the vitreous humor of the astronauts? eyes at nearly light-speed.
Flares and CMEs from the Sun continued to bombard the Earth until early November of that year, when at last our star?s most active surface regions rotated out of alignment with our planet. No lives were lost, but many hundreds of millions of dollars in damages had been sustained.
The event, now known as the Halloween Storm of 2003, deeply worried John Kappenman, an engineer and expert in geomagnetic storm effects. The Sun had fired a clear warning shot. Its activity roughly follows an 11-year cycle, and severe space weather tends to cluster around each cycle?s peak. The Sun?s next activity peak is expected to occur this year or next, and the chance of more disruptive geomagnetic storms will consequently increase.
Kappenman was particularly frightened by the blackout in Malmo. Subsequent investigations of the CME revealed that it had only struck a glancing blow ? its magnetic field was aligned so that much of the potential impact was dampened, rather than enhanced, by the Earth?s own. If, by chance, the alignment had been different, and our planet had absorbed the full brunt of the CME, who knew how large the blackout would have been, or how long it would have lasted?
Considering the possibility of a long blackout, stretching over weeks, months, even years, Kappenman suddenly saw a foreboding societal reliance on electricity everywhere he looked. Perishable foods and medicines would spoil or freeze in warehouses suddenly stripped of climate control. Municipal stores of fuel and potable water relying on electric pumps would be rendered all but inaccessible. Telecommunications would crash, preventing the general dissemination of information and large-scale coordination between emergency responders. The twin specters of social collapse and mass starvation would stalk entire continents.
"If you lose electricity, within a matter of days you essentially lose almost everything else," Kappenman says. "After the initial blackout, we wouldn?t really understand the seriousness of the situation until several days went by without having things restored. We?d rapidly lose the ability to provide the necessities for modern society."
All this may seem like doomsaying, but the historic record suggests otherwise: The Halloween Storm, in fact, pales in comparison to several earlier events. In 1989, ground currents from a less intense geomagnetic storm knocked out a high-voltage transformer at a hydroelectric power plant Quebec, plunging the Canadian province into a prolonged 9-hour blackout on an icy winter night. A far more extreme geomagnetic storm washed over the Earth in May of 1921, its magnitude illustrated in world-girdling aurorae and in fires that broke out in telegraph offices, telephone stations, and railroad routing terminals ? sites that sucked up geomagnetic currents traveling through nascent power grids. An even more extreme storm in September 1859 caused geomagnetic currents so strong that for days telegraph operators could disconnect their equipment from battery power and send messages solely via the "auroral current" induced in their transmission lines. The 1859 storm is known as the "Carrington Event," after a British astronomer who witnessed an associated solar flare and connected it with the subsequent earthbound disturbances.
"The physics of the Sun and of Earth?s magnetic field have not fundamentally changed, but we have," Kappenman says. "We decided to build the power grids, and we?ve progressively made them more vulnerable as we?ve connected them to every aspect of our lives. Another Carrington Event is going to occur someday." But unlike in 1859, when the telegraph network was the sole technology endangered by space weather, or in 1921, when electrification was in its infancy, today?s vulnerable systems are legion.
Over the past 50 years, global power-grid infrastructure has grown by about a factor of ten. That growth has been accompanied by a shift to higher operating voltages, which increase the efficiency of electricity transmission but make the grid less resistant to exterior impinging currents. As the grid has grown, so too has the practice of importing and exporting electricity between regions, across interstate and international lines. The electricity to power a street light in upstate New York may sometimes come from a hydroelectric plant in Quebec; a neon sign outside a nightclub in Tijuana sometimes gets its juice from a natural-gas power plant in Southern California. This interdependency of nodes in the grid means a power outage in one region can more easily cascade into others, increasing the risk of widespread collapse. We have created a continent-sized antennae?one exquisitely tuned to soak up ground currents caused by space weather, yet poorly equipped to counter their negative influence.
Kappenman has made a career of understanding how a geomagnetic storm as powerful as 1859?s Carrington Event could affect modern infrastructures, and has undertaken a series of studies on the topic underwritten by various branches of the U.S. federal government. He has consistently found that in a worst-case scenario where a great geomagnetic storm strikes with little forewarning, the excess current in the U.S. power grid could overheat hundreds or thousands of high-voltage transformers, melting crucial components and effectively crippling much of the nation?s generation capacity. Based on current production rates, building replacement transformers would take as long as 4 to 10 years, during which more than a hundred million people would be without centrally provided power, causing an estimated economic impact in the U.S. of $1 to $2 trillion in the first year alone.
In direct response to Kappenman?s work, last year the Department of Homeland Security asked an independent group of elite scientists, the JASON Defense Advisory Panel, to investigate his claims. In their report, issued in November 2011, the JASONs expressed skepticism that Kappenman?s worst-case scenario could occur, pointing out that his analyses used proprietary techniques that prevented their full vetting and replication by other researchers. Nonetheless, they sided with Kappenman in stating that in its current form, the U.S. power grid was vulnerable to severe damage from space weather. Like Kappenman, the JASONs called for more space-weather safeguards, recommending that the U.S. grid be hardened against geomagnetic currents and that the nation?s aging network of sun-observing satellites be bolstered.
Not everyone is optimistic that our modern society will successfully address the problem?including physicist Avi Schnurr, who is also the president of the Electric Infrastructure Security Council, a non-governmental organization advocating space-weather resilience. "If a Carrington Event happened right now it probably wouldn?t be a wake-up alarm?it would be a goodnight call," he says. "This is a case where we have to do something that is not often successfully achieved by governments, and certainly not by democracies: We have to take concerted action against a predicted threatening event without having actually experienced the event itself in modern times."
Protecting the power grid on Earth is, in principle, relatively straightforward. (Countries such as Finland and Canada have already begun to take action, with promising results.) Most high-voltage transformers are directly connected to the ground to neutralize power surges from lightning strikes and other transient phenomena. They?re vulnerable to space weather because geomagnetic currents flow upward through these ground connections.
By placing arrays of electrical resistors or capacitors as intermediaries between the ground and critical transformers, like those serving nuclear power plants and major metropolitan areas, that connection would be severed?and the space-weather threat greatly reduced if not entirely eliminated. Experts estimate this could be accomplished within a few years, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per transformer. In practice, however, it?s not so easy. So far, U.S. power companies have balked at voluntary installation of such devices, and current government regulations don?t require such protections.
In 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the GRID Act, which would grant the federal government authority to take action to protect the national power grid in the event of an emergency, but the bill floundered in the Senate. Undaunted, in February of 2011 Congressional proponents introduced a new, nearly identical bill, the SHIELD Act, which as of this writing has still not come to a floor vote in the House or the Senate. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a self-regulatory body for North American electric utilities, formed a Geomagnetic Disturbance Task Force in 2010 to craft new standards and regulations to protect the grid from cataclysmic space-weather-induced failures, but the Task Force?s reports are still forthcoming.
"The real danger here isn?t astrophysical, it?s institutional. The threat to everyone belongs to no one," says Peter Pry, a former official in the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. House Armed Services Committee who has tried to spur legislative action on the threat of space weather. After watching year after year in frustration as bills mandating protection of the grid repeatedly floundered in Congress, Pry helped form EMPACT America, a non-profit group chartered to raise public and governmental awareness of electromagnetic threats to the nation?s infrastructure. Pry currently serves as EMPACT?s president, and says the group is devoted to "ramrodding" the necessary legislation through Congress.
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