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Friday, December 23, 2011
GOP Cheat Sheet -- Four Things You Might Not Know About Gingrich, Romney and Perry
With the first contest in early January, iVillage Chief Correspondent Kelly Wallace and iVillage contributor and Pundit Mom Joanne Bamberger do the work for you, revealing four things you might not know about three of the top candidates.
Washington State coasts past Pepperdine 67-56
SEATTLE ? Faisal Aden scored 17 points off the bench and Washington State continued to recover from its early-season slump with a 67-56 win over Pepperdine on Thursday night.
DaVonte Lacy added 15 for the Cougars (8-4), who have won six straight games - albeit not against the strongest competition - as they head into Pac-12 Conference play next Thursday against Oregon in Spokane, Wash.
Washington State improved to 7-0 playing its annual game at Seattle's KeyArena. It is part of a long stretch of more than a month where the Cougars will technically play three home games but none on campus in Pullman.
Corbin Moore led Pepperdine (6-5) with 14 points.
The Associated Press
Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/22/washington-state-coasts-past-pepperdine-67-56/
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Feud between Romney, Gingrich intensifies (AP)
OSKALOOSA, Iowa ? The slugfest between Republican presidential frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich is escalating, with two sparred from a distance over attack ads that have come to dominate the volatile contest.
The rift underscores the contrasting campaign styles of the two men as they ready their final pitches to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. And it left each decrying a new campaign finance system ? fueled by deep-pocketed political action committees ? that each benefits from.
In Iowa, Gingrich vowed his White House bid would remain positive, while in the next breath he labeled the Romney camp's tactics "disgusting." The former House speaker, known for a bare-knuckles campaign style when he engineered the GOP takeover of the House in the 1990s, suggested at a campaign stop on Tuesday that his opponents "hire consultants who get drunk, sit around and write stupid ads."
Romney protested that he couldn't control the independent PAC expenditures, but pointedly declined to disavow the ads. The former businessman and Massachusetts governor, who's been on the stump in New Hampshire, is seeking to project a tough, pragmatic image, allowing there's "no whining in politics."
"I'm a big boy," he said on MSNBC.
Meanwhile, Ron Paul has emerged as a wild card in the race. The blunt-spoken Texas congressman is set to hit the trail in Iowa again on Wednesday, along with other candidates in the field. With less than two weeks to go until the first-in-the nation Iowa caucuses, the race remains unpredictable, as voters weigh electability against conservative credentials.
Jenny Turner, a 31-year-old wedding videographer from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, summed it up this way: "My heart is with Newt. But Mitt Romney is the back of my mind."
The bickering over negative ads has highlighted the role of so-called super PACs, independent groups which may accept unlimited donations but are not supposed to directly coordinate with candidates. Such groups have sprung up to work on behalf of every serious Republican candidate in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that allowed people, unions and corporations to donate unlimited sums of money to outfits advocating the election or defeat of candidates.
Romney has labeled the system a "disaster"; Gingrich calls it "a nightmare."
Still, each has PACs leveraging dollars on their behalf.
Among the most visible is the pro-Romney PAC Restore our Future, run by former Romney aides. It has been blanketing the airwaves in Iowa with a series of caustic ads painting Gingrich as an ethically-challenged Washington power broker. The onslaught has chipped away at Gingrich's poll numbers in the state
Gingrich has challenged Romney to demand the ads come down.
However, two pro-Gingrich PACs have also been raking in cash. Gingrich's longtime aide Rick Tyler just signed on with one of them.
Gingrich trails Romney badly in fundraising and his campaign had been deeply in debt following staff upheaval earlier this year. The PAC spending could help him rapidly make up that gap. Gingrich said Wednesday he would disavow any PAC that runs negative ads, but that doesn't mean they could not do so anyway.
Gingrich and Romney were each expected back on the campaign trail Wednesday, one of the last full days before the campaigns go dark for the holidays. Romney had a full day of campaign stops in New Hampshire, a must-win state for him. He was set to pick up the endorsement of a key conservative activist.
Gingrich was collecting the support from state House speakers in Iowa and New Hampshire and was set to hold events in both states. He was then set to rush to Virginia, which the former Georgia congressman now calls home, to help ensure he has the needed signatures to get on the ballot in the state.
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Christmas In Havana: President Obama prevails on Cuban family travel rules
But the standoff in Congress over food exports and family travel to Cuba is a reminder, writes guest blogger Anya Landau French, of how far some are willing to go to punish Cuba's leaders.
Whenever someone asked me why we have the same anachronistic policy toward an island nation 90 ninety from our shores that we have had for half a century, I generally tell them that Cuba simply "doesn't matter." In a big-picture sense, our policy hasn't changed (or has only gotten hotter) since the Cold War ended and left two combatants behind on the field.
Skip to next paragraphBut this week, Cuba finally mattered, and it tested the resolve of a US president. After nearly a week of brinksmanship over bigger, far more sensitive issues played out, there were a slew of bills ready to be packaged and voted on by a weary, anxious-to-get-out-of-here Congress, but for a provision that would have ruined the Christmas and New Year holidays for thousands of Cuban Americans and their families in Cuba. But after House Republicans filed a bill yesterday morning offering Democrats a take-it-or-leave it choice on their Consolidated Appropriations Bill for FY 2012, a White House seeking to protect a campaign promise fulfilled - unrestricted family travel to Cuba - prevailed, and the House leadership agreed to remove the offending provision if Senate Democrats would then move the agreed upon bill. The bill to be voted on is here, and the Cuba provision had been in Division C (Section 634 ? which is gone).
Count me among those who doubted the president and the Congress. Not at first, of course. For months I thought the president's veto threat was enough to settle the Cuba question early. But for the Cuba provision to stay in the bill nearly to the very end tells us that the House Republican leadership ? presumably urged on by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart ? believed the president and the Senate Democrats would cave. It also reminds us how very much Cuba matters to a certain few. It was a sobering reminder to all the Cuban Americans these few claim to represent how very far these representatives would go to pursue their personal ideology on Cuba ? regardless of whom in their districts it might harm. ??
RELATED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz
The White House stood firm and stood up for those Cuban Americans, and Senator Reid stood by the president (he's not exactly a Cuba sanctions reformer). But there were casualties, to the lobby no one thought would lose.
Two provisions that would have simplified one-way food trade (exports) to Cuba, and made our exports more competitive without offering Cuba any credit, were dropped ? even one that had been adopted for several years in a row to define how to comply with the cash-in-advance terms of the trade. This latter provision, because it was always tied to the fiscal year, had no practical effect but was symbolically important to the agriculture community nonetheless, and it telegraphed to them that Congress understood their priorities even if it couldn't manage to enact them fully. I imagine there will be plenty of questions about why provisions that would help America's export standing, and help feed the Cuban people (something Cuban agriculture reforms have still not achieved) had to come out in order to save Christmas for thousands of Cuban Americans who shouldn't have been on the block either. Who goes after food trade in this day and age, particularly after Congress resolved never again to use food as a weapon with the passage of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000? To the two or three congressmembers for whom their personal obsession with punishing Cuba's leaders ? regardless of who gets hurt in the process ? matters most of all.
? Anya Landau French blogs for The Havana Note, a project of the "US-Cuba Policy Initiative,? directed by Ms. Landau French, at the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of Latin America bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.
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North Korea: Kim Jong Il dead, son is 'successor'
FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2010 photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il applauds following a massive military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the communist nation's ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2010 photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il applauds following a massive military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the communist nation's ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi shake hands after their first-ever summit meeting at a guesthouse in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Il's death after 17 years as leader was announced Monday, Dec. 19, 2011 by state television two days after he died. He was 69. (AP Photo/Japan Pool, File) JAPAN OUT
FILE - In this May 25, 2011 file p hoto released by China's Xinhua news agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao during a meeting in Beijing. North Korean state media announced Kim's death on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Xueren) NO SALES
FILE - In this June 14, 2000 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, right, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung raise their arms together before signing a joint declaration at the end of the second day of a three-day summit in Pyongyang. In a breakthrough at the historic summit, the two signed an agreement aimed at easing half a century of conflict on the heavily armed Korean Peninsula and working toward its eventual reunification. Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. His death was announced Monday, Dec. 19, 2011 by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. He was 69. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Pool, File) KOREA OUT
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2010 photo released by China's official Xinhua news agency, Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Changchun, in northeast China's Jilin province. Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Ju Peng, File) NO SALES
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea announced the death of supreme leader Kim Jong Il and urged its people to rally behind his young son and heir-apparent Monday, while the world watched warily for signs of instability in a nation pursuing nuclear weapons.
South Korea, anxious about the untested, 20-something Kim Jong Un after his father's 17-year rule, put its military on high alert against the North's 1.2 million-strong armed forces. President Barack Obama agreed by phone with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to closely monitor developments.
People on the streets of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, wailed in grief, some kneeling on the ground or bowing repeatedly as they learned the news that their "dear general" had died of heart failure Saturday at age 69 while carrying out official duties on a train trip.
"How could the heavens be so cruel? Please come back, general. We cannot believe you're gone," Hong Son Ok shouted in an interview with North Korea's official television, her body shaking wildly.
"He passed away too suddenly to our profound regret," said a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "The heart of Kim Jong Il stopped beating, but his noble and august name and benevolent image will always be remembered by our army and people."
While there was no immediate statement on official succession, indications were clear that Kim Jong Un, the third son of Kim Jong Il, would be in charge.
The North said in a dispatch that the people and the military "have pledged to uphold the leadership of comrade Kim Jong Un" and called him a "great successor" of the country's revolutionary philosophy of juche, or self reliance.
The death could set back efforts by the United States and others to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, because the untested successor may seek to avoid any perceived weakness as he moves to consolidate control.
"The situation could become extremely volatile. What the North Korean military does in the next 24-48 hours will be decisive," said Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has made several high-profile visits to North Korea.
The death comes at a sensitive time for North Korea as it prepares for next year's 100th anniversary of the birth of founder Kim Il Sung ? Kim Jong Il's father. The preparations include massive construction projects throughout the city as part of Kim Jong Il's unfulfilled promise to bring prosperity to his people.
Seoul and Washington will worry that Kim Jong Un "may feel it necessary in the future to precipitate a crisis to prove his mettle to other senior leaders," according to Bruce Klingner, an Asia analyst at The Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and is thought to have enough plutonium for at least a half-dozen weapons. But experts doubt that the North has mastered the miniaturization technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Also Monday, North Korea conducted at least one short-range missile test Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Two South Korean military officials said they couldn't immediately confirm the report, saying to do so would breach a policy of not commenting on intelligence matters. Both said any firing would be part of a routine drill and have little relation to Kim Jong Il's death. They both spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
Yonhap cited unidentified government and military officials as saying the firing occurred off the east coast.
In Seoul, parliamentary official Lee Kyu-yun said he was thinking of stocking up food in case of soaring military tensions.
Lee Byung-joon, 27, feared South Korea might have to fight a war against the North if high-ranking officials challenge the inexperienced Kim Jong Un and Pyongyang becomes unstable.
"I definitely think the chance of war breaking out between the South and the North is higher now than before," Lee said.
Some analysts, however, said Kim's death was unlikely to plunge the country into chaos because it already was preparing for a transition. Kim Jong Il indicated a year ago that Kim Jong Un would be his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.
"There won't be any emergencies in the North at least in the next few months," said Baek Seung-joo of the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in South Korea.
Another analyst said an internal power struggle could break out between Kim Jong Un and his aunt's husband, Jang Song Thaek, who was elevated in the government last year and likely will be given a caretaker role in the new administration
"Tension will arise between Jang and Kim Jong Un, because Kim will have no choice but to share some power with Jang," said Ryoo Kihl-jae, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, which is in South Korea.
The North said it would place Kim's body in the Kumsusan memorial palace in Pyongyang and that his funeral would be Dec. 28. No entertainment will be allowed during a 10-day mourning period, and the country will accept no "foreign delegations hoping to express condolences," it said.
South Korea's President Lee urged his people to remain calm while his Cabinet and the parliament convened emergency meetings. The Defense Ministry said the South Korean military and the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea bolstered reconnaissance and were sharing intelligence on North Korea. Lee also talked with the leaders of Japan and Russia.
The White House said in a statement that it is closely monitoring reports of Kim's death. "We remain committed to stability on the Korean peninsula, and to the freedom and security of our allies," the statement said.
The Obama administration may postpone decisions on re-engaging the North in nuclear talks and providing it with food aid, U.S. officials said.
The administration had been expected to decide on both issues this week, possibly as early as Monday, but the officials said Kim's death would likely delay the process. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation. They said the U.S. was particularly concerned about any changes that Kim's death might spark in the military postures of North and South Korea but were hopeful that calm would prevail.
In a "special broadcast" Monday from the North Korean capital, state media said Kim died on a train due to a "great mental and physical strain" during a "high intensity field inspection." It said an autopsy was done on Dec. 18 and "fully confirmed" the diagnosis.
Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, but he had appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media.
"It is the biggest loss for the party ... and it is our people and nation's biggest sadness," an anchorwoman clad in black Korean traditional dress said in a voice choked with tears.
Chae Jae-eun, a South Korean company worker, said from Seoul that she worried mostly about the economic implications of Kim Jong Il's death.
Asian stock markets moved lower following the news.
A group of North Koreans waiting at Beijing airport for their flight to Pyongyang reacted with shock when asked of Kim's death. One woman broke into tears as she pulled out a handkerchief. One of her companions led her away when she looked as if she would collapse.
___
Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Pyongyang, Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim, Sam Kim and Jiyoung Won in Seoul and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this story.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Drugmakers extend cut-price pneumonia vaccine deal (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are increasing sales of cut-price pneumonia vaccine to developing countries by more than 50 percent, marking the scale-up of an international program to protect millions of children.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) is buying an additional 180 million doses of Pfizer's pneumococcal vaccine Prevenar 13 and a similar quantity of GSK's Synflorix at a deeply discounted price of $3.50 a shot.
The two companies said on Friday they would supply the extra vaccine through 2023, building on an original commitment last year to supply 300 million doses apiece.
The GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership set up in 2000 to speed the introduction of vaccines into the world's poorest countries, hopes to avert up to 7 million deaths by 2030 by giving the vaccines to infants and young children.
Pneumococcal disease, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis, kills more than half a million children every year, the vast majority of them in poorer countries.
GSK's Synflorix protects against 10 strains of the streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, while Pfizer's Prevenar 13 shot protects against 13 strains.
In exchange for large orders, GAVI has negotiated a low price with the two drug companies, which get $7 per dose for the first 20 percent and $3.50 for the remainder of their orders under a so-called Advance Market Commitment (AMC) scheme.
A Pfizer spokeswoman said $3.50 was more than a 90 percent reduction from prices charged in some industrialized countries.
The pneumococcal vaccination program was initially started a year ago in Nicaragua and has now been rolled out to 15 other countries in Africa and Latin America.
The latest agreement shows how momentum is building behind the GAVI program, even as experts worry about funding cutbacks in other areas of global health due to austerity measures in donor countries hit by the economic crisis.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's largest financial backer of HIV treatment and prevention programs, said last month it was cancelling new grants for countries battling these diseases and would make no new funding available until 2014.
By contrast, GAVI secured a bigger-than-expected $4.3 billion in pledges from its donors last June, reflecting widespread acknowledgement of the value of its immunization work.
Overall, development assistance for health in all forms has continued to grow in 2011, although the rate of growth has slowed, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle said in a report this week.
It estimated that spending increased by 4 percent each year between 2009 and 2011, reaching a total of $27.7 billion, down from 17 percent between 2007 and 2008.
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The Democratic Plan to Destroy Mitt Romney (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | The conventional wisdom among some conservative pundits is that Mitt Romney is more electable than Newt Gingrich because the Democrats would have a harder time demonizing them. The Washington Post begs to disagree.
The Democrats have already developed their plan to destroy Romney should he become the Republican nominee. The smooth, dapper businessman who created jobs and turned around failing companies will be transformed into a heartless capitalist who destroyed lives and dreams in order to enrich himself. Romney will be turned into Gordon Gekko, the villain of the Oliver Stone indictment of capitalism "Wall Street."
It might not work. The Democratic strategy is based on the supposition that large number of Americans share the disdain for capitalism that the Occupy Wall Street protestors have. But the fact the occupier movement started as a public nuisance and is ending as a parody of itself suggests the Democrats are in error.
Of course that is not the point. Just as Gingrich can be attacked for some of his baggage, Romney will be attacked for some of his. If the capitalist pig gambit does not work, the Democrats will play the Mormon card, just as they did when Romney had the temerity to run against Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994 despite claims to the contrary. According to Atlantic Wire, Sen. Kennedy's nephew Joe Kennedy assailed the Mormon religion as "racist." The Democrats may use code words like "weird," but it will be understood what is meant by that.
The truth of the matter is that while Democrats are not very good at governing, they are excellent practitioners of political combat. It will not matter who the Republicans nominate. The Democrats will endeavor to paint him or her as a combination of Darth Vader and Chance Gardiner, the Peter Sellers mentally challenged character who seemed profound to those around him, but was not.
Therefore Republican voters should set aside notions of who is the most electable and who is most difficult to demonize. They should instead focus when considering who to nominate on who would make the better president and who can take the fight to President Barack Obama.
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