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Monday, February 18, 2013
Teenager Shot Dead In East London
A teenager has died and a man is fighting for his life after being shot in east London.
The pair were shot in Hindrey Road, Clapton, at 8.20pm on Saturday, Scotland Yard said.
Paramedics took them to hospital where the younger victim, 19, later died.
A 32-year-old man was understood to be in a stable condition, police said.
Detectives from Operation Trident, which investigates gang-related crime, are hunting two suspects seen running from the scene.
One is black, police said, while the second is light-skinned, possibly of Asian or Turkish appearance.
They were seen running away from Hindrey Road after the shooting towards the nearby Pembury Estate.
Police said there was as yet no clear motive for the shootings, and no-one has been arrested.
"At this very early stage we must retain an open mind regarding the circumstances of the incident and any motive," the spokesman said.
"Detectives from Trident are leading the inquiry and an incident room will open in the morning."
A post-mortem examination is to be arranged.
Source: http://news.sky.com/story/1053166
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13.02.17 00:00 , A Month Long MLK In Motion - Sunday February 17, 2013 @ DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY
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NCAA Selection Chair: ?No Momentum Whatsoever? For Tournament Expansion
(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
By Adam Harris-
(WSCR)?Mike Bobinski is a busy man. He is currently the athletics director at Xavier University and will be the Georgia Tech AD starting April 1. But perhaps his most interesting title is as the NCAA Selection Committee Chairman.
Bobinski has the all important job of leading the committee that decides what schools will participate in the NCAA Tournament.
The pool is currently at 68 teams and as Bobinski told 670 The Score?s Connor McKnight and Adam Hoge Saturday, that?s where it will stay.
?As we sit here today, I don?t think the landscape of college basketball warrants expansion at this moment of time,? Bobinski said on 670 The Score. ?There is no inclination and no momentum whatsoever for a conversation regarding expansion.?
Some may feel stations stand to make more money with an expanded field, but Bobinski put the kibosh on that theory.
?I can tell you that our broadcast partners, Turner and CBS, our agreements with them have absolutely no expansion mandates or clauses in there whatsoever,? he said. ?I think right now we are at the right place with 68 and I don?t see it changing for the foreseeable future.?
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
Merrick gets his first win at home
John Merrick holds the winner's trophy after his victory in the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
John Merrick holds the winner's trophy after his victory in the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
John Merrick, left, poses with the his wife Jody and their children Chase, 1, and Gemma, 1 month old, after his victory in the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Charlie Beljan reacts to a putt on the first hole in the final round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
John Merrick misses an eagle putt but makes birdie on the first green watches in the final round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Fredrik Jacobson, of Sweden, watches the eagle putt miss and makes birdie on the first green in the final round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? John Merrick never allowed himself to think about winning at Riviera.
Not when he was a kid attending his local PGA Tour event. Not when he was at UCLA and could play the fabled course. And certainly not late Sunday afternoon in a playoff when he faced a daunting 3-iron shot under a row of eucalyptus trees, and his opponent was in the middle of the fairway with a wedge in his hand.
No wonder Merrick was at a loss for words when he won the Northern Trust Open.
"Yeah, you dream," Merrick said, his eyes still glossy. "When you're alone sometimes, you think about different scenarios of winning tournaments. It was fun. We would always play here at UCLA and have great games out here. To be able to play the tournament was a dream of mine. But to win? I can't describe it. It's so much fun."
Merrick hit the perfect shot under the trees on the 18th to escape with par, and he followed with another flawless shot to a skinny section of the 10th green on the second playoff hole to 18 feet. He made another par, and won when Charlie Beljan missed a 5-foot par putt.
It was the second straight year the Northern Trust Open was decided in a playoff on the 10th, a diabolical par 4 at 315 yards that requires skill and strategy, a hole where players are happy to walk off with par. Beljan made bogey twice on the 10th, once in a regulation and then when the tournament was on the line.
He went long and left both times, and in the playoff, his chip didn't quite reach the green and he took three putts from 70 feet.
"I think you could play here 10,000 times and still not know how to play No. 10," he said. "Eighteen is a great golf hole. I just find it tough that we go to No. 10 to play a playoff hole. I think it's a great hole, don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking it. But it's just a tough hole to have a playoff on. We might as well go and put a windmill out there and hit some putts."
Beljan, famous for having an anxiety attack when he won at Disney late last year, holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, similar to the theatrics provided last year by Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, to close with a 4-under 67 and wind up in a playoff.
Merrick, who grew up in Long Beach, had a number of big breaks on the back nine. None was bigger than his second shot on the par-5 17th headed toward the trees, only to find that he had just enough of a gap to go for the green and make par. He had a 69 and finished on 11-under 273.
He also hit the trees with his tee shot on the 15th, and while it left him a hybrid to reach the green, it could have gone anywhere.
"You give me 100 balls off that tee, I'm not going to be there in that spot," Merrick said. "I just hit a bad tee shot and was able to make par there."
Such are the breaks it takes to win, and for Merrick, it was a long time coming. He won in his 169th start on the PGA Tour, earned another trip to the Masters and is virtually assured to qualifying for his first World Golf Championship next month at Doral.
Fredrik Jacobson missed a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole that would have put the Swede in a playoff. He wound up with a 69 and tied for third with Charl Schwartzel (70) and Bill Haas (73), who also had chances to win at different stages in their rounds.
The final round contained far more drama than anyone imagined at the start of the day, when Haas had a three-shot lead. Six players were separated by one shot going into the final hour at Riviera, and it easily could have been a repeat of that six-man playoff in 2001 in the cold rain.
This pleasant day of bright sunshine brought a few cloudy moments.
Hunter Mahan was tied for the lead after a 30-foot birdie on the 14th, only to drop four shots on the last four holes. Nothing stung worse than the par-5 17th, where he three-putted from about 30 feet for bogey. He wound up with a 69. Jacobson was tied for the lead when he missed an 8-foot birdie attempt on the 17th, and then badly pulled a 4-foot par putt on the last hole and missed out on the playoff. The Swede closed with a 69, and bristled when asked about the final hole.
"You want me to touch that one, only that one? I cannot speak about something else?" he said, before eventually conceding, "The last putt wasn't very good."
No one was more disgusted than Schwartzel, the former Masters champion. One shot out of the lead, he missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th, and then three-putted the 17th, missing a 6-footer for birdie. He closed with a 70 and tied for third, his seventh straight finish in the top five around the world.
Haas faded much sooner. He made five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of his round, and his birdie-birdie finish allowed him to tie for third.
"Positives to be taken, but overall, you don't get this many opportunities," Haas said. "A three-shot lead at one of the best tournaments of the year is a great opportunity that I squandered."
Haas looked to be in good position to join Mickelson, Mike Weir, Corey Pavin and Ben Hogan as the only back-to-back winners at Riviera. And when he dropped in a 30-foot birdie putt on the third hole, he looked as though he would be tough to catch.
Instead of running away from the field, he let everyone back into the tournament. Haas made back-to-back bogeys late on the front nine, and his lead was down to one when he made the turn. It all began to take shape at No. 10, the hole where a year ago Haas holed a 45-foot birdie putt to win in a playoff.
Merrick laid up on the short par 4, and his wedge was inches from tumbling into a front bunker when it checked up on the fringe. He made birdie from just inside 15 feet and tied Haas for the lead.
Haas went just through the green and rolled down a slope into the rough, and from there he pitched too strong and into the bunker. He failed to get up-and-down and made bogey to fall out of the lead for the first time all day, and he never caught up. His tee shots sailed into the trees and into the rough, and he was out of the picture.
Beljan's only bogey in the final round was on the 10th hole. He was flawless the rest of the way, until coming to the 10th hole in a playoff with the tournament on the line.
"I made every clutch putt that you would ever ask to make," Beljan said. "And then to make that putt on 18 and hear the roar was really special. Obviously, not the way I wanted to end it, but you know what? You win some, you lose some, and that's how it goes."
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Westwood mixes politics and fashion
LONDON (AP) ? Few designers so consistently mix fashion with politics, or manage to secure her fans' adoration with the same looks almost every season. But Vivienne Westwood is not any designer.
The flame-haired grand dame of British fashion on Sunday sent her models walking down the catwalk in her signature tight-fitting dresses and nipped-in jackets, then in the finale joined them wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a giant image of her own face and a slogan that read "I am Julian Assange."
As always, Westwood was less interested in talking about her designs than about climate change, a subject she has long campaigned about.
"There's no latest thing, it's all rubbish," she said, brushing off questions about fashion. Instead, she patiently explained to reporters why she feels so passionately about her climate change campaign.
"Every small thing you do can really change your life," she said. "And the first thing they must do is inform themselves, believe the scientists . then they'll stop being consumers and start being more interested in the world."
It's anyone's guess how many people attending the Vivienne Westwood Red Label autumn collection shared her enthusiasm, but the crowds were clearly taken by the designs shown on the catwalk, which was held at the Saatchi Gallery.
Although the makeup was startling ? chalky white faces paired with eyes and lips outlined in stark, cartoonish lines ? the clothes lived up to her legendary fame.
Jackets and blazers were beautifully tailored to accentuate the waist and hips, and dresses were draped in all the right places to draw the eye to the curves. The palette highlighted a delicious plum, teals, and metallics.
There were dramatic pieces, for sure: a metallic zebra-stripe was printed on coats and a striking prom style dress with stiff underskirts, and an iridescent foil-like tight biker jacket that shimmered purple and green was paired with harem pants dripping in sequins.
Westwood has been selling the Assange T-shirts to raise support for the WikiLeaks founder, who is living in the Ecuador's Embassy in London. He is seeking asylum from the country to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault questions.
She recently wore the shirt when she went to visit Assange in October.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/westwood-mixes-politics-fashion-210434773.html
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US manufacturers added about 5 lakh jobs in 3 years: Obama
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SPORTS: Women?s basketball team improves after rough beginning
The Big Green women?s basketball team looks to improve play and move up in the standings.
By Henry Arndt, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Friday, February 15, 2013
The Dartmouth women?s basketball team is now riding a four-game Ivy winning streak after suffering a 12-game losing skid during the regular season. Despite a rough start to the season, their recent success comes as no surprise to the team.
?We played one of the most difficult non-league schedules in the country,? head coach Chris Wielgus said. ?We played against a lot of the top teams, like Brigham Young [University], Villanova [University] and Syracuse [University]. We threw the kids into the fire, and we were able to compete, just not for 40 minutes.?
After opening Ivy League play with a road loss to Harvard University, the Big Green (6-13, 4-1 Ivy) has turned their season around with consecutive victories over Harvard (13-6, 4-1 Ivy), Brown University, Yale University and Columbia University.
?I definitely think that the two week break in between the Harvard games was a huge shift for us,? captain Faziah Steen ?13 said. ?We got more focused, and we realized Ivy League play isn?t going to be easy. In those two weeks we focused a lot on defense and that?s become our staple ? dominating the boards and holding our opponents below their averages.?
In its last four games, the team has outscored its opponents 232 to 184 overall. The current winning streak is even more impressive considering the team?s ability to build on its early season losses.
?It was challenging for them day-to-day,? Wielgus said. ?I?m really not good at holding their hands. The game of basketball is brutally honest, and you have to be prepared for it. If you?re soft, it just won?t work.?
The team has the second youngest roster in all of NCAA Division I basketball, consisting of seven freshmen and only one senior. This presents clear challenges in a sport that depends so much on chemistry and cohesion between players in order to generate offensive opportunities.
?Not everything?s going to click the first game of the season,? co-captain Nicola Zimmer ?14 said. ?We tried to get everyone experience and confidence on the court during the regular season. Now we?re starting to click, and we?re much more comfortable running our sets.?
This season, the women have been more successful on the road than at home. They have won two games in Leede Arena and four when playing away.
?I like playing on the road, to be honest, because there are fewer distractions,? Wielgus said. ?When we?re on the road, there?s a specific rhythm. We get up, shoot in the morning and then we leave from the gym and there?s nothing else involved. Dartmouth students have a tendency to fit as much as they can in a day, so when we?re home, [the players] are doing everything they have to do, running around right up until game time.?
After sitting out with a torn ACL her freshman season, Abbey Schmitt ?15 has became a major addition to a team that relies heavily on its ability to outsize its opponents and dominate post-play. Schmitt has won Ivy League Rookie of the Week three times, sits in the top 10 in the Ivy League with 6.1 rebounds per game and has recorded two double-doubles so far this season.
?It?s kind of funny because the team had never seen Abbey play before this year since she came in with an injury,? Zimmer said. ?We were playing pick-up at the beginning of this season and we were just like ?Wow, Abbey can hoop!? As a point guard, I really love playing with her because she just knows where to be.?
Schmitt was able to make the most out of her injury by familiarizing herself with the team before playing. Even though this is her rookie campaign, she was not thrown into the fire in the same way the other rookies were.
?It was hard to sit and watch on the sidelines, but I learned a lot about the plays we ran and the kind of things coach wanted,? Schmitt said. ?I was able to learn her pack line defense, which is a special type of help defense where we don?t allow teams to penetrate the paint. It helped contribute a lot to my play this year.?
The Big Green returns to action this weekend with road games against Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania.
?We have an unbelievably challenging weekend coming up,? Wielgus said. ?It?s never been smooth sailing. We?ve had bumps before, and that?s part of gaining experience.?
Source: http://thedartmouth.com/2013/02/15/sports/wbasketball/
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Saturday, February 16, 2013
Vintage Wedding
Hello visitors, hope you all enjoyed Valentines day.
All the girls at work received an origami heart badge?yesterday for Valentines?made by a?lovely chap who is?well known for his origami masterpieces.? Here's mine:
If you have 2-3 minutes to spare and like vintage clothing circa 1939, you might like to watch my video - it is originally 1939 vintage of my great aunt Olive's wedding, she is given away by my grandfather Jute and the little boy is my father.? There were a lot of sisters involved (9?I think)?and you can see they all seemed to like the same style of? eye glasses and have the same odd swaggering walk!? A proper vintage wedding, it was unusual to have weddings?film in those days, we had it copied to dvd and the flowers enhanced but otherwise it's original.? !? Hope you can view it HERE?courtesy of Youtube.? (p.s. I hope nobody will be offended by the men larking about at the end).
Cake making doesn't always work out with me - but today I made a coffee sponge followed by a lemon drizzle cake ... here's the sponge - either I am on a roll or this is it for the year as two per annum is about my success rate!
I'm working this weekend and the coming week, then it is my birthday so there will be a bit of celebrating -?I might be absent for a while, will?catch up on your blogs after that.? I hope all the swap partners?have?made contact and that you are all happy??- please let me know if anyone has any worries though.
Have a lovely weekend - Betty x
Source: http://betty-thewoodfairy.blogspot.com/2013/02/vintage-wedding.html
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NYU?s Chinese Mei Society presents a night of food and fun...
Fri Feb 15
NYU?s Chinese Mei Society presents a night of food and fun this Friday at 7 p.m. For questions email?cms.club@nyu.edu.
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'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius' arrest stuns South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa ? He was a national treasure who inspired the world when he made Olympics history as the first double amputee runner to compete using prosthetic blades. She was a blond-haired, blue-eyed cover girl and celebrity model, with a law degree and an interest in women's rights.
But in a Valentine's Day tragedy involving South Africa's "Blade Runner," Oscar Pistorius, the body of a woman was found in a pool of blood early Thursday at his home in an upscale suburb of Pretoria. Pistorius was charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
She died of several bullet wounds to the head and arm.
South Africans reacted as though the news concerned a family member or close friend: "Did you hear what happened with Oscar?"
Pistorius bolted to fame in 2004 on curved carbon-fiber legs and made history when he reached the semifinals of the London Olympics in 2012. In the intervening years, he won awards, honorary doctorates and sponsorships and became one of South Africa's best-known individuals. In 2008 and 2012, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
"Oscar was our good thing," wrote Mail and Guardian columnist Sarah Britten, describing a sense of collective shock. "Oscar was our story, a hero who, for all his flaws, overcame the odds and exemplified the greatness of the human spirit.
"He was a great South African brand, and now his story, and our part of it, lay in tatters."
Although his relationship with Steenkamp was relatively new ? the first time the two were linked in public was at the South African Sports Awards several months ago ? they had appeared a golden couple, both attractive and highly regarded. Some unconfirmed reports suggest they'd been dating for a year.
Many seized on early news reports that he accidentally shot Steenkamp, mistaking her for a burglar, a common enough tragedy in a country with one of the highest rates of homicide and violent crime, where many people keep guns at home to guard against intruders.
For a man to shoot the woman he loved was, people reasoned, a sign of just how frightened South Africans are in their own homes because of violent robberies.
A New York Times Magazine profile of Pistorius early last year mentioned an incident in which his home burglar alarm went off in the middle of the night, and he went downstairs with a gun. That turned out to be a false alarm.
Just in November, Pistorius, who practiced target shooting for leisure, had posted a comical remark on Twitter: "Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking it's an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry!"
As the shock about the incident reverberated on social media, few were willing to entertain an alternative scenario: Perhaps this story involved a different kind of violence.
But as the day wore on, the Pistorius legend began to fray. Police appeared to discount the reports that Pistorius had killed his girlfriend by accident. A police spokeswoman, Denise Beukes, said police were surprised by the reports, according to the South African Press Assn.
"I confirm there had been previous incidents of a domestic nature at his place," Beukes said, and that police had interviewed neighbors who heard sounds at Pistorius' home earlier in the evening and at the time the killing reportedly took place.
Prosecutors said Pistorius would spend the night in jail, and police indicated they would oppose bail at a hearing Friday, without elaborating on why.
Pistorius' father, Henke Pistorius, told reporters that he didn't know the facts about Steenkamp's death but said his son was sad.
"I don't know nothing. It will be extremely obnoxious and rude to speculate," he said in a radio interview. "If anyone makes a statement, it will have to be Oscar."
Within hours of the news of the killing, billboards and TV advertisements featuring the Olympian were taken down. A Nike ad on Pistorius' website describing him as "the bullet in the chamber" was removed, although Nike told a local newspaper, Business Day, that it was withholding judgment on the tragedy.
Steenkamp had something special planned for Pistorius for Valentine's Day, judging by one of her last tweets, on Wednesday: "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?"
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NFL Draft: Looking at the 49ers' biggest needs
With the 2013 NFL Draft being 69 days away, it is never too early to start looking ahead at what the team needs to do. Here are some needs for the 49ers heading into the draft:
Defensive Line: Isaac Sopoaga and Ricky Jean Francois are set to be free agents and it is unlikely both of them will be retained. That leaves Ian Williams as the team's only nose tackle on the roster. Justin Smith will be entering his contract year at age 34, so it will be important for the team to draft depth. When Smith went down with an injury, the defensive line and linebackers proved to be ineffective.
Placekicker: With David Akers is due $3 million, giving the team three million reasons to release him. With the struggles he had in 2012, expect a new kicker to come in via free agency or the draft
Wide Receiver: Randy Moss and Ted Ginn are free agents while Mario Manningham and Kyle Williams are both coming back from torn ACL injuries. First-round draft pick A.J. Jenkins will most likely be playing alongside Michael Crabtree to start 2013. With Manningham and Williams coming off injuries, it is possible the 49ers draft a long-term project in the draft to fill the wide receiver depth.
Tight End: This is only a need if Delanie Walker leaves in free agency. Two tight ends are required for the 49ers' run-first offense. The team would draft a third tight end to go with Garrett Celek and Vernon Davis.
Offensive Tackle: The 49ers are fine at the interior of the offensive line, but if Anthony Davis or Joe Staley went down, Alex Boone would be moved to the outside with Daniel Kilgore most likely to play as a guard. There can never be enough offensive line depth.
Backup Quarterback: With Alex Smith set to leave, the 49ers only have Scott Tolzien as the only backup quarterback on the roster behind Colin Kaepernick. They can easily draft a QB this year in order to promote competition with Tolzien.
Safety: Dashon Goldson is expected to return, but there is uncertainty for the backups. Darcel McBath might not return and Trenton Robinson is still a project.
Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/nfl-draft-looking-at-the-49ers-biggest-needs?cid=rss
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
Dispute over conditions on stranded cruise ship
HOUSTON (AP) ? A cruise line says it is making the passengers stranded aboard a disabled ship in the Gulf of Mexico as comfortable as possible with running water and some working bathrooms, contradicting the accounts of some passengers who told relatives of filthy, hot conditions and limited access to food.
The ship, the Carnival Triumph, is still at least a day from being guided to a port in Mobile, Ala.
Carnival President Gerry Cahill said Tuesday the ship has running water and most of its 23 public restrooms and some of the guest cabin bathrooms were working. He downplayed the possibility of an outbreak of disease from unsanitary conditions, saying the ship had not seen an abnormal number of people reporting to the infirmary as being ill.
"No one here from Carnival is happy about the conditions onboard the ship," Cahill said at a news conference in Miami. "We obviously are very, very sorry about what is taking place."
Jimmy Mowlam, 63, whose 37-year-old son, Rob Mowlam, got married Saturday onboard the ship, said his son told him by phone Monday night that there is no running water and few working toilets. He said passengers were given plastic bags to "use for their business."
Despite a forecast of brisker winds and slightly higher seas, the Coast Guard and Carnival said they did not expect conditions to deteriorate aboard ship.
A cold front was expected to cross the central Gulf where the vessel is under tow, bringing north and northwesterly winds of 15 to 25 mph and seas of 4 to 6 feet, said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.
However, such conditions shouldn't affect conditions aboard ship, said Bill Segelken, spokesman for the Coast Guard Galveston command center.
The ship was about 200 miles south of Mobile, Ala., as Tuesday faded into Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. Carnival says the ship is expected to arrive in Mobile on Thursday.
The ship left Galveston, Texas, for a four-day cruise last Thursday with 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members. The ship was about 150 miles off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday when an engine room fire knocked out its primary power source, crippling its water and plumbing systems and leaving it adrift on only a backup power.
No one was injured in the fire, but Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva said Tuesday that a passenger with a pre-existing medical condition was taken off the ship as a precaution.
Everyone else likely will have to remain onboard until the ship reaches Mobile, Ala., which is expected to happen Thursday, weather permitting.
Besides two tugs, at least two other Carnival cruise ships have been diverted to the Triumph to leave supplies and a 210-foot Coast Guard cutter was at the scene, Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm said Tuesday.
Mowlam said his son told him the lack of ventilation on the Triumph had made it too hot to sleep inside and that many passengers had set up camp on the ocean liner's decks and in its common areas. Mowlam said he wasn't sure where his son was sleeping.
"He said up on deck it looks like a shanty town, with sheets, almost like tents, mattresses, anything else they can pull to sleep on," said Mowlam, of the southeast Texas town of Warren. His son is from nearby Nederland.
Mowlam said his son indicated that passengers are trying to make the best of a bad situation.
"So far people have been pretty much taking it in stride," Mowlam said his son told him.
Rob Mowlam told his father the ship's crew had started giving free alcohol to passengers.
"He was concerned about what that was going to lead to when people start drinking too much," Mowlam said.
Other passengers have described more dire conditions, including overflowing toilets and limited access to food.
Jay Herring, a former senior officer for Carnival Cruise Lines, said one of the biggest concerns crew members will have until the ship docks is the potential for disease outbreak, particularly norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea.
"Housekeeping, others are probably working double shifts to keep the mess clean and wipe down and sanitize all the common areas," said Herring, who worked for Carnival from 2002 to 2004 and spent four months on the Triumph.
Carnival hasn't determined what caused the fire, said Oliva, the company spokeswoman.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday it has opened an investigation into the cause of the fire. The NTSB said the Bahamas Maritime Agency will lead the investigation because the ship carries a Bahamian flag.
The ship was originally going to be towed to a port in Progreso, Mexico, but after currents pushed it northward, the company decided to take it to Alabama, saying it would make it easier for passengers without passports to get home.
Cahill said Carnival has reserved more than 1,500 hotel rooms in Mobile and New Orleans for Thursday. The company plans to return passengers back to Houston on Friday using charter flights.
A similar situation occurred on a Carnival cruise ship in November 2010. That vessel, named Splendor, was stranded with 4,500 people aboard after a fire in the engine room. When the passengers disembarked in San Diego, they described a nightmarish three days in the Pacific with limited food, power and bathroom access.
Cahill said the Spendor's fire was different because it involved a "catastrophic explosion" in a diesel generator, and the Triumph's fire had "some other cause." He could not say what the economic impact will be due to the fire aboard the Triumph. The impact from the Splendor was $40 million, he said.
Carnival canceled the Triumph's next two voyages, scheduled to depart Monday and Saturday. Passengers aboard the stranded ship will also receive a full refund.
___
Associated Press writers Terry Wallace in Dallas and Christine Armario in Miami contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conditions-disabled-cruise-ship-dispute-082634245.html
Guppies hang around ugly friends to look more attractive
LONDON (AP) ? When it comes to mating, guppies treasure their ugly friends - because they look so good by comparison.
An article published Wednesday by Britain's Royal Society says that male guppies prefer to associate with their drab-colored counterparts when females are around.
"Males actively choose the social context that maximizes their relative attractiveness," the article said. Or, as lead author Clelia Gasparini put it, "If you are surrounded by ugly friends, you look better."
Gasparini and her colleagues at Italy's University of Padua built their theory on a kind of guppy dating game. An aquarium was set up with one female in partition on either end. Guppy bachelorette No. 1 had two attractive, brightly-colored males placed on either side of her. Guppy bachelorette No. 2 was stuck with uglier, drab-colored fish.
When a male guppy was put in the middle of the tank, and given the choice of which female to sidle up to, Bachelorette No. 2 was the more popular pick, with male guppies spending about 62 percent of their time hanging around her side of the aquarium.
What's more, the researchers found that the time guppies spent with bachelorette No. 2 correlated with their unattractiveness. The uglier the guppy, the less likely it was that he would hang around the brightly colored fish placed next to bachelorette No. 1.
Because it could be argued that that guppies avoided their brightly colored pals because attractive fish were more aggressive, or because predators were more likely to spot them, the experiment was repeated. Researchers ran it without any females, and again with the lights in the male enclosures turned down so that the test guppies couldn't see them.
Gasparini, who's now a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Western Australia, said the extra experiments showed that aggression or predators weren't a factor.
But a big question remained: Could results from the aquarium be applied to a night out at the bar?
"As a researcher I cannot compare human mating systems with the guppy's one," she said. "But if you ask me as a person, sure ... I saw this tactic working pretty well with humans.
"If you want to impress someone, do you think you will look more attractive in comparison with Mr. Bean or George Clooney?"
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guppies-ugly-friends-seem-more-attractive-114930178.html
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
President Barack Obama?s State of the Union Address ? As Prepared for Delivery
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 12, 2013
President Barack Obama?s State of the Union Address ? As Prepared for Delivery
Editor?s note: use your browser?s search function (ctrl+F on most browsers) and type in ?executive order? to find the part where he talks about the cybersecurity executive order he signed today.
Remarks of President Barack Obama ? As Prepared for Delivery
State of the Union Address
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Washington, DC
As Prepared for Delivery ?
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, fellow citizens:
Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this Chamber that ?the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress?It is my task,? he said, ?to report the State of the Union ? to improve it is the task of us all.?
Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in twenty. Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before.
Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger.
But we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs ? but too many people still can?t find full-time employment. Corporate profits have rocketed to all-time highs ? but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged.
It is our generation?s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America?s economic growth ? a rising, thriving middle class.
It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country ? the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love.
It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation.
The American people don?t expect government to solve every problem. They don?t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation?s interests before party. They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together; and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all.
Our work must begin by making some basic decisions about our budget ? decisions that will have a huge impact on the strength of our recovery.
Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion ? mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.
Now we need to finish the job. And the question is, how?
In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn?t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars? worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. They?d devastate priorities like education, energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. That?s why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in Washington as ?the sequester,? are a really bad idea.
Now, some in this Congress have proposed preventing only the defense cuts by making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training; Medicare and Social Security benefits.
That idea is even worse. Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms ? otherwise, our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations.
But we can?t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and most powerful. We won?t grow the middle class simply by shifting the cost of health care or college onto families that are already struggling, or by forcing communities to lay off more teachers, cops, and firefighters. Most Americans ? Democrats, Republicans, and Independents ? understand that we can?t just cut our way to prosperity. They know that broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction, with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody doing their fair share. And that?s the approach I offer tonight.
On Medicare, I?m prepared to enact reforms that will achieve the same amount of health care savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission. Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs. The reforms I?m proposing go even further. We?ll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. We?ll bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare, because our medical bills shouldn?t be based on the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital ? they should be based on the quality of care that our seniors receive. And I am open to additional reforms from both parties, so long as they don?t violate the guarantee of a secure retirement. Our government shouldn?t make promises we cannot keep ? but we must keep the promises we?ve already made.
To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and well-connected. After all, why would we choose to make deeper cuts to education and Medicare just to protect special interest tax breaks? How is that fair? How does that promote growth?
Now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. The American people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses spend less time filling out complicated forms, and more time expanding and hiring; a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered accountants can?t pay a lower rate than their hard-working secretaries; a tax code that lowers incentives to move jobs overseas, and lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that create jobs right here in America. That?s what tax reform can deliver. That?s what we can do together.
I realize that tax reform and entitlement reform won?t be easy. The politics will be hard for both sides. None of us will get 100 percent of what we want. But the alternative will cost us jobs, hurt our economy, and visit hardship on millions of hardworking Americans. So let?s set party interests aside, and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future. And let?s do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors. The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. Let?s agree, right here, right now, to keep the people?s government open, pay our bills on time, and always uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of America. The American people have worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause another.
Now, most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of our agenda. But let?s be clear: deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs ? that must be the North Star that guides our efforts. Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?
A year and a half ago, I put forward an American Jobs Act that independent economists said would create more than one million new jobs. I thank the last Congress for passing some of that agenda, and I urge this Congress to pass the rest. Tonight, I?ll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago. Let me repeat ? nothing I?m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It?s not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth.
Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.
After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. After locating plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here at home. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.
There are things we can do, right now, to accelerate this trend. Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There?s no reason this can?t happen in other towns. So tonight, I?m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of fifteen of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is Made in America.
If we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer?s; developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries ten times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. And today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy.
After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar ? with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before ? and nearly everyone?s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.
But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it?s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods ? all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science ? and act before it?s too late.
The good news is, we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won?t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.
Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. We?ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let?s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year ? so let?s drive costs down even further. As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.
In the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. That?s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and water.
Indeed, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good. If a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let?s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we?ve put up with for far too long. I?m also issuing a new goal for America: let?s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.
America?s energy sector is just one part of an aging infrastructure badly in need of repair. Ask any CEO where they?d rather locate and hire: a country with deteriorating roads and bridges, or one with high-speed rail and internet; high-tech schools and self-healing power grids. The CEO of Siemens America ? a company that brought hundreds of new jobs to North Carolina ? has said that if we upgrade our infrastructure, they?ll bring even more jobs. And I know that you want these job-creating projects in your districts. I?ve seen you all at the ribbon-cuttings.
Tonight, I propose a ?Fix-It-First? program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country. And to make sure taxpayers don?t shoulder the whole burden, I?m also proposing a Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of our children. Let?s prove that there is no better place to do business than the United States of America. And let?s start right away.
Part of our rebuilding effort must also involve our housing sector. Today, our housing market is finally healing from the collapse of 2007. Home prices are rising at the fastest pace in six years, home purchases are up nearly 50 percent, and construction is expanding again.
But even with mortgage rates near a 50-year low, too many families with solid credit who want to buy a home are being rejected. Too many families who have never missed a payment and want to refinance are being told no. That?s holding our entire economy back, and we need to fix it. Right now, there?s a bill in this Congress that would give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at today?s rates. Democrats and Republicans have supported it before. What are we waiting for? Take a vote, and send me that bill. Right now, overlapping regulations keep responsible young families from buying their first home. What?s holding us back? Let?s streamline the process, and help our economy grow.
These initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and housing will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand and create new jobs. But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs. And that has to start at the earliest possible age.
Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can?t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives.
Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on ? by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let?s do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let?s give our kids that chance.
Let?s also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job. Right now, countries like Germany focus on graduating their high school students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges, so that they?re ready for a job. At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineering.
We need to give every American student opportunities like this. Four years ago, we started Race to the Top ? a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I?m announcing a new challenge to redesign America?s high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. We?ll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math ? the skills today?s employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future.
Now, even with better high schools, most young people will need some higher education. It?s a simple fact: the more education you have, the more likely you are to have a job and work your way into the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt.
Through tax credits, grants, and better loans, we have made college more affordable for millions of students and families over the last few years. But taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the soaring cost of higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it?s our job to make sure they do. Tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act, so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. And tomorrow, my Administration will release a new ?College Scorecard? that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.
To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today?s jobs require. But we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone who?s willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead.
Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my Administration has already made ? putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history, and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.
Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship ? a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.
And real reform means fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting periods, reduce bureaucracy, and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy.
In other words, we know what needs to be done. As we speak, bipartisan groups in both chambers are working diligently to draft a bill, and I applaud their efforts. Now let?s get this done. Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away.
But we can?t stop there. We know our economy is stronger when our wives, mothers, and daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace, and free from the fear of domestic violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. I urge the House to do the same. And I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts, and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year.
We know our economy is stronger when we reward an honest day?s work with honest wages. But today, a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. Even with the tax relief we?ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That?s wrong. That?s why, since the last time this Congress raised the minimum wage, nineteen states have chosen to bump theirs even higher.
Tonight, let?s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. In fact, working folks shouldn?t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while CEO pay has never been higher. So here?s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: let?s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.
Tonight, let?s also recognize that there are communities in this country where no matter how hard you work, it?s virtually impossible to get ahead. Factory towns decimated from years of plants packing up. Inescapable pockets of poverty, urban and rural, where young adults are still fighting for their first job. America is not a place where chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that is why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them.
Let?s offer incentives to companies that hire Americans who?ve got what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that no one will give them a chance. Let?s put people back to work rebuilding vacant homes in run-down neighborhoods. And this year, my Administration will begin to partner with 20 of the hardest-hit towns in America to get these communities back on their feet. We?ll work with local leaders to target resources at public safety, education, and housing. We?ll give new tax credits to businesses that hire and invest. And we?ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples, and doing more to encourage fatherhood ? because what makes you a man isn?t the ability to conceive a child; it?s having the courage to raise one.
Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger America. It is this kind of prosperity ? broad, shared, and built on a thriving middle class ? that has always been the source of our progress at home. It is also the foundation of our power and influence throughout the world.
Tonight, we stand united in saluting the troops and civilians who sacrifice every day to protect us. Because of them, we can say with confidence that America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al Qaeda. Already, we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen and women. This spring, our forces will move into a support role, while Afghan security forces take the lead. Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan. This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.
Beyond 2014, America?s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.
Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self. Different al Qaeda affiliates and extremist groups have emerged ? from the Arabian Peninsula to Africa. The threat these groups pose is evolving. But to meet this threat, we don?t need to send tens of thousands of our sons and daughters abroad, or occupy other nations. Instead, we will need to help countries like Yemen, Libya, and Somalia provide for their own security, and help allies who take the fight to terrorists, as we have in Mali. And, where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans.
As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight. That is why my Administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism operations. Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. I recognize that in our democracy, no one should just take my word that we?re doing things the right way. So, in the months ahead, I will continue to engage with Congress to ensure not only that our targeting, detention, and prosecution of terrorists remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.
Of course, our challenges don?t end with al Qaeda. America will continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world?s most dangerous weapons. The regime in North Korea must know that they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations. Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense, and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats.
Likewise, the leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that they meet their obligations, and we will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. At the same time, we will engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands ? because our ability to influence others depends on our willingness to lead.
America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks. We know hackers steal people?s identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.
That?s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy. Now, Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks.
Even as we protect our people, we should remember that today?s world presents not only dangers, but opportunities. To boost American exports, support American jobs, and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership. And tonight, I am announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union ? because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs.
We also know that progress in the most impoverished parts of our world enriches us all. In many places, people live on little more than a dollar a day. So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades: by connecting more people to the global economy and empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds new opportunities to serve and helping communities to feed, power, and educate themselves; by saving the world?s children from preventable deaths; and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation.
Above all, America must remain a beacon to all who seek freedom during this period of historic change. I saw the power of hope last year in Rangoon ? when Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed an American President into the home where she had been imprisoned for years; when thousands of Burmese lined the streets, waving American flags, including a man who said, ?There is justice and law in the United States. I want our country to be like that.?
In defense of freedom, we will remain the anchor of strong alliances from the Americas to Africa; from Europe to Asia. In the Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights, and support stable transitions to democracy. The process will be messy, and we cannot presume to dictate the course of change in countries like Egypt; but we can ? and will ? insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people. We will keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that has murdered its own people, and support opposition leaders that respect the rights of every Syrian. And we will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace. These are the messages I will deliver when I travel to the Middle East next month.
All this work depends on the courage and sacrifice of those who serve in dangerous places at great personal risk ? our diplomats, our intelligence officers, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. As long as I?m Commander-in-Chief, we will do whatever we must to protect those who serve their country abroad, and we will maintain the best military in the world. We will invest in new capabilities, even as we reduce waste and wartime spending. We will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families ? gay and straight. We will draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters, because women have proven under fire that they are ready for combat. We will keep faith with our veterans ? investing in world-class care, including mental health care, for our wounded warriors; supporting our military families; and giving our veterans the benefits, education, and job opportunities they have earned. And I want to thank my wife Michelle and Dr. Jill Biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they serve us.
But defending our freedom is not the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes our most fundamental right as citizens: the right to vote. When any Americans ? no matter where they live or what their party ? are denied that right simply because they can?t wait for five, six, seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. That?s why, tonight, I?m announcing a non-partisan commission to improve the voting experience in America. And I?m asking two long-time experts in the field, who?ve recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for Governor Romney?s campaign, to lead it. We can fix this, and we will. The American people demand it. And so does our democracy.
Of course, what I?ve said tonight matters little if we don?t come together to protect our most precious resource ? our children.
It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans ? Americans who believe in the 2nd Amendment ? have come together around commonsense reform ? like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because they are tired of being outgunned.
Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. If you want to vote no, that?s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote. Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun.
One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend. Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house.
Hadiya?s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.
Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.
The families of Newtown deserve a vote.
The families of Aurora deserve a vote.
The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence ? they deserve a simple vote.
Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. Indeed, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I?ve outlined tonight. But we were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, and uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.
We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all across this country. We should follow their example.
We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez. When Hurricane Sandy plunged her hospital into darkness, her thoughts were not with how her own home was faring ? they were with the twenty precious newborns in her care and the rescue plan she devised that kept them all safe.
We should follow the example of a North Miami woman named Desiline Victor. When she arrived at her polling place, she was told the wait to vote might be six hours. And as time ticked by, her concern was not with her tired body or aching feet, but whether folks like her would get to have their say. Hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in line in support of her. Because Desiline is 102 years old. And they erupted in cheers when she finally put on a sticker that read ?I Voted.?
We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived, and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside ? even as he lay bleeding from twelve bullet wounds.
When asked how he did that, Brian said, ?That?s just the way we?re made.?
That?s just the way we?re made.
We may do different jobs, and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title:
We are citizens. It?s a word that doesn?t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we?re made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in our American story.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
Source: GlobalSecurity
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