Sunday, July 31, 2011

Depression afflicts veterinary students

Students of veterinary medicine are more likely than human medicine students or undergraduate students to struggle with depression, U.S. researchers say.

Mac Hafen, a therapist and clinical instructor at Kansas State's College of Veterinary Medicine, and colleagues at Kansas State University, the University of Nebraska and East Carolina University, say they took a closer look at depression and anxiety among veterinary medical students.

Although the mental health of human medicine students has been extensively studied, the same extent of study had not been performed with veterinary medicine students, Hafen says.

"We are hoping to predict what contributes to depression levels so that we can intervene and make things run a little bit more smoothly for students themselves," Hafen says in a statement.

Once a semester, the researchers anonymously surveyed veterinary medicine students in various stages of academic study.

During the first year of veterinary school, 32 percent of the veterinary medicine students surveyed showed symptoms of depression, compared to 23 percent of human medicine students who showed symptoms above the clinical cutoff, as evidenced by other studies.

Veterinary students experience higher depression rates as early as the first semester of their first year of study, but the depression rates appear to increase even more during the second and third year of school. However, during the fourth year, depression rates drop down to first-year levels, Hafen says.

The findings are published in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine Education.

Motorcycle helmets may be hard on hearing

Motorcycle helmets may protect bikers' brains but they also may contribute to hearing loss, researchers in Britain say.

Researchers at the University of Bath and Bath Spa University in England say the distinctive roar of a Harley's engine is loud, but studies have revealed the biggest source of noise for motorcyclists is actually generated by air whooshing over the riders' helmets. Even at legal speeds, the sound can exceed safe levels, the researchers say.

The researchers placed motorcycles helmets atop mannequin heads, mounted them in a wind tunnel and turned on the fans. By placing microphones at various locations around the helmet and at the mannequin's ear, the researchers found that an area underneath the helmet and near the chin bar is a significant source of the noise that reaches riders' sensitive eardrums.

The team also investigated how helmet angle and wind speed affected the loudness.

The study, Aeroacoustic Sources of Motorcycle Helmet Noise, is accepted for publication in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Grapes may protect against sun radiation

Substances in grapes can reduce the amount of cell damage caused in skin exposed to the sun's ultraviolet radiation, researchers in Spain say.

Marta Cascante, a biochemist at the University of Barcelona, and colleagues at the Spanish National Research Council say UV rays act on the skin by activating "reactive oxygen species," and these compounds in turn oxidize macromolecules such as lipids and DNA, stimulating certain reactions and enzymes -- JNK and p38MAPK -- that cause cell death.

The researchers showed some polyphenolic substances extracted from grapes, flavonoids, can reduce the formation of reactive oxygen species in human epidermis cells that have been exposed to long-wave ultraviolet A and medium-wave ultraviolet B radiation.

"These polyphenolic fractions inhibit the generation of the reactive oxygen species and, as a result, the subsequent activation of the JNK and p38 enzymes, meaning they have a protective effect against ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun," Cascante says in a statement.

The study is published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Many cholesterol patients don't take drugs

There are significant differences between those diagnosed with high cholesterol and those with high cholesterol and hypertension, U.S. researchers say.

Jessica Brueggeman, director of behavioral services at MicroMass Communications in Cary, N.C., says despite these differences, one striking similarity is evident -- neither group is very good at taking cholesterol-lowering medications as prescribed.

Patients with high cholesterol alone perceive high cholesterol as influenced more by heredity than by poor eating and exercise habits, and are less likely to see the benefits of taking cholesterol-lowering medications, Brueggeman says.

"This group is self-motivated and likes to feel in control, so it's vital to convince them that high cholesterol is a serious health threat that can precipitate even more serious health conditions if not treated effectively, then demonstrate how compliance with prescribed therapy, along with changes in diet and exercise, is the proven route to effective treatment," she says.

In the group of patients with co-existing metabolic conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol is perceived as a threat, but treatment is given relatively low priority.

"This group has symptomatic conditions that demand constant attention, making their high cholesterol seem less urgent by comparison," Brueggeman explains.

"They view high cholesterol as something that comes and goes and are less diligent about taking their cholesterol-lowering medication as prescribed."


China bans books for dubious health claims

China has banned 104 health books officials say contain pseudoscientific information of little or no value to readers.

The General Administration of Press and Publication created a system last year to certify books in the health and medical field, Xinhua, the official government news agency, reported Saturday. Officials said checks on a sample of 50 books found almost half making claims that appeared to be dubious.

"Through a variety of means, some phony doctors and experts have been writing books and misleading the public by spreading their unscientific healthcare methods for quite some time," Liu Binjie, the agency's head, said.

One example cited by officials was "Eat Out the Disease You Have Eaten." The author, Zhang Wuben, said most diseases could be cured with a diet of mung beans, a theory that attracted so many people the price of the beans went up in Beijing.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/07/30/China-bans-books-for-dubious-health-claims/UPI-28241312075211/#ixzz1Thvc8oQX

Help for husbands whose wives have cancer

A men's support group at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas wrote a book, which shares stories of members whose wives had cancer.

Jack Hamilton, the group's facilitator, says the support group meets twice a month at Southwestern's Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and is open to any man whose wife or partner has cancer.

"There's a wealth of knowledge of men in the group who have been traveling this journey for a while," Hamilton says in a statement. "It really is the model of what a support group looks like."

In the foreword of the book, "Stages," Dr. James K.V. Willson, director of the Simmons Cancer Center, notes that for every one of the 6 million U.S. women who have cancer there are just as many or more family members affected.

"They are helping ill loved ones get through the practical challenges of day-to-day life as well as cope with the emotional hurdles of living, and sometimes dying, with cancer," Willson says. "In this book, you'll find the stories of five men who know firsthand what it's like to love and care for a cancer patient."

World's first 'printed' aircraft flies

Engineers at a British university say they've designed and flown the first "printed" aircraft, an unmanned air vehicle whose entire structure has been printed.

The Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft was printed on a nylon laser sintering machine that can fabricate plastic or metal objects by "printing" them in a 3D fashion, building up the item layer by layer, a university release said Thursday.

The SULSA aircraft uses no fasteners, relying on "snap fit" techniques so the entire aircraft can be assembled without tools in minutes, engineers said. The 6-foot-wingspan propeller-driven aircraft is powered by batteries and can reach a top speed of almost 100 mph.

The engineers said laser sintering allows shapes and structures that would normally involve costly traditional manufacturing techniques to be created quickly and inexpensively.

Construction that would normally take months -- using conventional materials and manufacturing techniques, such as composites -- is replaced by technology that allows a highly-tailored aircraft to be developed from concept to first flight in days, they said.


System could warn of bridge dangers

U.S. researchers say a new, affordable early warning system for the nation's aging bridges might avert bridge collapses that could result in loss of life.

A University of Maryland engineer says his inexpensive, wireless system could prevent the kind of bridge collapse that killed 13 people and injured 145 on a Minneapolis interstate bridge on Aug. 1, 2007, and do so at 1 percent of the cost of current wired systems.

"Potentially hundreds of lives could be saved," Mehdi Kalantari says. "One of every four U.S. highway bridges has known structural problems or exceeded its intended life-span. Most only get inspected once every one or two years. That's a bad mix."

Kalantari has developed tiny wireless sensors that monitor and transmit minute-by-minute data on a bridge's structural integrity that can be analyzed by a central computer to warn officials instantly of possible trouble, a UM release said Friday.

The sensors measure a number of indicators of a bridge's structural health -- including strain, vibration, flexibility and development of metal cracks.

"This new approach makes preventive maintenance affordable -- even at a time when budgets are tight," Kalantari says. "Officials will be able to catch problems early and will have weeks or month to fix a problem."

Alonzo Mourning in accident lawsuit

A lawsuit filed against former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning claims he left the scene of a car crash too soon, leaving a crash victim disabled and disfigured.

Mourning and the Florida Highway Patrol both say after Mourning crashed his Porsche into the side of a disabled car in Miami Beach early Sunday. He stopped to check on an accident victim before going home, calling police and then returning to the scene.

A suit filed Wednesday by Miami college student William Candelario, 21, claims Mourning acted negligently by failing to assist him, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

"This is not a witch hunt," Candelario's lawyer said in announcing the suit.

"We know that Alonzo Mourning is a respected and well-loved member of the community," attorney Spencer Aronfeld said.

"But we have questions. One is why did Mr. Mourning leave the scene of this accident? How and why did he leave the scene of the accident without calling fire-rescue or calling the police?"

Mourning has not been charged in the collision, and the highway patrol said an investigation was ongoing.

"I am now waiting for the police to finish their investigation, and happy they are conducting a thorough one," Mourning said.

"There's so much speculation going on out there," he said. "It's very unfair to me. The truth will come out as we continue to gather all the facts and I speak to authorities."


NBA players cleared to join other teams

The international federation overseeing basketball ruled Friday NBA players can play for other teams during the NBA lockout.

The NBA locked out its players effective July 1 as the team owners and players' union worked on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Several NBA players were reportedly in negotiations with overseas professional basketball teams in case the 2011-12 NBA season doesn't start as scheduled Nov. 1. Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets signed a contract with Turkish Basketball League member Besiktas.

FIBA, the international basketball federation, said players are free to play for their national team or other teams during the lockout.

"As the world governing body for basketball, we strongly hope that the labor dispute will be resolved as soon as possible and that the NBA season is able to begin as scheduled," said FIBA Secretary-General Patrick Baumann. "In view of our role to promote basketball worldwide, we support any player wishing to play the game, wherever and whenever."

The federation said it wouldn't object to a player joining a non-NBA but FIBA-affiliated team as long as the player was free to return to his NBA team when the lockout ends.


Tigers obtain Fister, Pauley from Mariners

The Detroit Tigers have acquired pitchers Doug Fister and David Pauley from the Seattle Mariners, the teams announced Saturday.

In return, the Tigers sent pitcher Charlie Furbush, outfielder Casper Wells, third baseman Francisco Martinez and a player to be named later to the Mariners.

Detroit, which entered Saturday's games with a 2 1/2-game lead over Cleveland and three games over Chicago in the American League Central, bolstered both their starting and relief corps with the deal.

Fister, 27, compiled a 3.33 ERA over 21 starts for Seattle this season but only had a 3-12 record, thanks to lack of run support. The right-hander ranks last in the American League in run support average (1.97 runs).

Pauley, 28, racked up a 5-4 record with a 2.15 ERA in 39 relief appearances for Seattle this year.

The left-hander Furbush is 1-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 17 games, including two starts, for Detroit this season, while Wells, 26, appeared in 64 games with the Tigers this year before being optioned to Triple-A Toledo July 20.

D-backs obtain Marquis from Nationals

The Arizona Diamondbacks strengthened their starting rotation Saturday, acquiring right-hander Jason Marquis from the Washington Nationals.

Minor league infielder Zachary Walters went to Washington in the deal.

Marquis, 32, has compiled an 8-5 mark with a 3.95 ERA over 20 starts this season. He has played for the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies and Nationals over his 12-year career.

Marquis is 104-97 with a 4.52 ERA for his career.

Walters, 21, was batting .302 with nine homers and 56 RBI in 97 games for Class A South Bend this season.

The Diamondbacks entered Saturday's action four games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West.

Rosie ready for early-night talk show

Despite the growing pains at the new Oprah Winfrey Network, Rosie O'Donnell is sold and says she wants no part of the major U.S. television networks.

O'Donnell was in Los Angeles this week to promote her new talk show on Winfrey's fledgling OWN network and said it was Conan O'Brien's departure from NBC that convinced her to stay away from the established nets.

"So my desire to attach to a major corporation that had just taken 15 years of service and treated it as if it was nothing was a huge factor in me not signing," O'Donnell said.

"The Rosie Show" will occupy the 7 p.m. time slot on OWN, which O'Donnell said was not as unusual a move as it might appear. "It's a great time," she said. "You can sit down with your family before your viewing night begins."

The Los Angeles Times said Saturday "The Rosie Show" has some high stakes for both O'Donnell and Winfrey. OWN has been battling for a niche in the crowded cable market, and O'Donnell has been looking for some career traction since she left her high-profile gig on "The View" in 2006.

"Television is a lot different than it was when I did my old show," O'Donnell said.

Princess Anne's daughter weds rugby star

Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, married Mike Tindall, captain of England's rugby team, in a private ceremony Saturday in the Scottish capital.

The afternoon ceremony was held at Canongate Kirk, followed by a reception at nearby Holyroodhouse, Queen Elizabeth's official residence in Edinburgh, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The wedding was a modest affair compared with the recent ceremony in Westminster Abbey for Prince William and the former Kate Middleton. While Phillips, who plans to keep her maiden name, is the queen's oldest granddaughter and 13th in line to the throne, she has no royal title.

But hundreds of people waited to catch a glimpse of the couple, the royal family and Tindall's fellow rugby stars, with about 30 camping out overnight. Prince William and his wife, the duchess of Cambridge, got the biggest cheer as they arrived.

Phillips, wearing a floor-length short-sleeved ivory dress and a short veil, was escorted into the church by her father, Mark Phillips, Anne's first husband.

The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be held in Scotland since Anne married Timothy Laurence, now a vice admiral in the Royal Navy, in 1992 at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral. The couple were married in Scotland because the Church of England refuses to marry divorced people.


Debbie Gibson ready to relive the '80s

Debbie Gibson says the idea of her upcoming tour with fellow 1980s teen queen Tiffany came from a surprising show of support at a recent appearance in New York.

Gibson, 40, said she was surprised at the buzz from folks who were still fans of their heyday more than 20 years ago.

"We did a little promo appearance at the Canal Room in New York City and people just went nuts seeing us together, so we were like, 'Hmmm,'" Gibson told Parade magazine.

Gibson said she and Tiffany had previously kicked around the idea of a nostalgia tour. The idea has now taken concrete form in the "Journey Through the '80s" national tour, which will include duets and solo performances.

"I'm doing all my hits and also a big medley of my favorite 80s songs that influenced me," Gibson said. "I'm also doing a medley of my theater songs.

"When Tiffany and I were putting the show together, we were talking about how our influences are so different," Gibson said. "Hers are rock and country; mine are singer-songwriters and real pop people and theater."

Paltrow lists infusion on beauty secrets

Gwyneth Paltrow says exercise and a $185 sonic infusion gadget have helped her stay in movie-star shape as she pushes 40.

Paltrow said in her latest fan newsletter the Clarisonic Opal Sonic Infusion is a "wonder gadget" that has become standard in her beauty regime.

"It focuses on fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes by infusing the skin with anti-aging serum," she wrote.

US magazine said this week the 38-year-old Paltrow's arsenal also includes foundations, sun screens and various scrubs for "beach ready skin."

All that work appears to have paid off. Paltrow has Coldplay front man Chris Martin as her main squeeze these days. But her good looks apparently haven't gotten her past the band's artistic boundaries. People magazine said Paltrow jokingly tweeted this week about who she would have to sleep with "to get an advance copy of the new Coldplay album. I mean, really."

Israeli students angry about economy

Israeli student protests over rising tuition and the economy have spread from Tel Aviv to at least a half-dozen other cities, officials said.

The protests started small about two weeks ago in Tel Aviv, the Israel capital, but the number of tents along the city's Rothschild Boulevard is growing, and protests are popping up in other cities, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Thousands of people marched in Tel Aviv Saturday in support of protesters calling for the Israeli government to take action.

Housing prices in Tel Aviv jumped nearly 50 percent from 2008 to 2010, government figures said, with rents increasing nationwide by 20 percent. Rents in Tel Aviv climbed by 30 percent in the first three months of 2010. Education costs have risen dramatically as well, students said.

Income hasn't kept pace and the situation is seen by many as one of the major issues faced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

"There's no quick, populist solution," said government spokesman Mark Regev. "The challenge of the government is to create a larger supply in a short period of time."

He said Netanyahu's plan is to free up more land for private development.

"The prime minister believes competition will drive down prices," Regev said.

Haaretz said tent cities have sprung up in several cities across the country in recent weeks. Protests were scheduled Saturday for several cities, including Tel Aviv.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/07/30/Israeli-students-angry-about-economy/UPI-39201312044981/#ixzz1TffttoAP

Banks prepare for federal cash crunch

U.S. banks are preparing for the possibility that millions of federal checks will be delayed if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, officials say.

"Every bank is doing things their own way to take care of their customers," Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association, told The Washington Post. "Obviously, they hope this deal is done quickly."

If the government is unable to borrow to cover expenses, it would depend on cash on hand to cover everything from Social Security checks to paychecks for military personnel and federal employees. The Treasury Department has said the cash crunch could come as soon as Wednesday if Congress fails to act by Tuesday.

Navy Federal Credit Union's plans include advancing pay to direct-deposit customers on active military service and Defense Department civilian employees. Officials say the credit union, the biggest in the United States, will speed approval for overdraft protection and higher credit card limits.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency plans to issue guidelines for the nationally chartered banks it regulates that would protect customers from high fees for bounced checks or overdrafts.

DNA confirms burned body is missing girl

Police say DNA testing has confirmed a burned body found in Detroit was that of a missing 5-year-old girl.

The charred remains of Mariha Smith, 5, were found July 24 in an abandoned house, not long after she had last been seen, the Detroit Free Press reported. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office determined the girl died of asphyxiation before she was set on fire.

Konesha Smith, Mariha's mother, told police she had passed out after drinking with friends at her home. When she woke up, Mariha was missing.

Family and friends had been searching for the girl all week until police confirmed Friday the burned body was in fact Mariha's.

"It hurt. We didn't want to believe it." said Desiree Dixon, who was in foster care with Mariha's mother.

Police said they had made no arrests. They were looking for a man who bought 41 cents worth of gasoline at a nearby filling station 10 minutes before Mariha's body was found.

Woman dies after detox treatment

A Quebec woman rushed to a hospital after participating in an intense sweating detoxification program has died, officials say.

The woman, 35, died Friday afternoon in the hospital where she and another woman were taken after being found unconscious at a detoxification spa, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The other woman regained consciousness in the ambulance and was listed in stable condition.

"The treatments consisted of a process of sweating by being all wrapped in plastic with mud, and also with blankets," Sgt. Eloise Cossette said.

The women were also enclosed in cardboard boxes.

The detoxification program, which takes place in a rented farmhouse in Durham, lasts for several hours without drinking any water. At least 10 people were taking part in the treatment at the time.

Police are investigating the farmhouse. The woman renting it offers an introduction to the practice of Reiki, developed by a Japanese Buddhist in the 1920s.

Neighbors have previously filed complaints against the farmhouse, saying they heard loud screaming on the property.


24 killed in Ukraine mine explosion

At least 24 people were killed in an explosion at a mine in Ukraine, emergency officials said Saturday.

The Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry said two people were missing from the Friday blast at the Sukhodilska-Vostochnaya Mine in the southeastern part of the country, RIA Novosti reported. Two of the 28 people in the mine early Friday morning escaped with burn injuries.

The collapse of a large excavating machine crane at another mine killed at least two people Friday, one of them a woman. Three people were still missing at the Bazhanov Mine in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

The Sukhodilska-Vostochnaya Mine is operated by Metinvest International, RIA Novosti said. The Swiss-based steel trading company operates three factories in Ukraine.

A miner was killed Tuesday in a roof collapse at another mine in the Donetsk region. Three others were still missing.

Can Obama raise the debt limit by himself? Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/07/31/Under-the-US-Supreme-Court-Can-Obama-raise-the-debt-l

The dance of raising the U.S. debt limit has gone on for weeks, with President Obama and Republicans circling each other like Sharks and Jets. But can the president use the Constitution to raise the debt limit by himself to avoid economic disaster?

Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on to whom you listen.

More on that later.

Another debate developing rather late in the game is whether failing to raise the debt limit by Aug. 2 would really be the catastrophe U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says it would be. Actually, in 1979, Congress briefly failed to raise the debt limit and the government briefly defaulted on a small portion of its bills.

Professor Peter Morici of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland was on SiriusXM radio last Monday and said failing to lift the debt ceiling only would be comparable to a government shutdown.

"There is absolutely no possibility that we have to default on our debt," he insisted. "We will only default if Secretary Geithner chooses to default to give the president political advantage."

Morici said the U.S. government takes in $180 billion a month, while interest payments on the national debt are less than $30 billion a month. "The U.S. would not be insolvent but rather in a political crisis."

Besides debt interest, he did not say how the government would pay other bills, including those generated by entitlement programs.

Another hard-shell conservative, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said earlier this month on "Fox News Sunday" Geithner was irresponsibly exaggerating.

"There certainly will be disruption, but this is not a deadline we should rush and make a bad deal," DeMint said.

In contrast, the administration points to international companies that threaten to lower the country's gold-plated triple-A bond rating if the debt limit isn't raised, or even if it isn't raised for a long period of time. Lowering the bond rating means higher interest rates for borrowing -- not just for the government but for personal credit cards and loans -- and gutting the value of the dollar, making the national debt that much harder to reduce.

One independent voice, George Pennacchi, a University of Illinois finance professor who studies financial institutions and the bond markets, says the effect of a default could be serious.

"If the [debt] ceiling is not raised by about Aug. 2, spending will have to be cut by almost 44 percent, down to the level of revenues, which are mostly tax receipts," Pennachi said in an interview with the university's New Bureau last week. "Then, the U.S. Treasury will be forced to prioritize which spending commitments get paid.

"I would speculate that the Treasury would continue to pay interest on Treasury securities to avoid defaulting on its existing debt," he said. "Also, it would have enough revenues to pay Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, unemployment benefits, as well as active military duty pay. Those would soak up about 83 percent of revenues."

The remainder of the revenue would have to be spread very thinly, and would pay "only about 18 percent of all other federal spending, including defense contractor payments, federal employee salaries and benefits, IRS refunds, and all other veterans, education, agricultural, commerce and housing programs."

Pennacchi said the worst-case scenario "would be if the Treasury decided to stop paying interest on Treasury securities -- that is, to default on its Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Potentially, such a default could lead to a financial market panic if investors decide to withdraw their savings from financial institutions that hold Treasury securities, such as money market mutual funds."

Pennacchi said other effects could include "a chain-reaction of financial institution failures," a freeze of financial markets, a substantial decline in the U.S. dollar, an increase in private sector layoffs, a decrease in profits and damage to financial markets, depending on how long the default lasts.

Democrats and Republicans also can't agree on how high to raise the debt limit -- whether the action should just cover the next six months or whether it should extend past the 2012 election cycle.

President Obama has proposed a large debt reduction package of $3 trillion in 10 years, including spending cuts and ending tax breaks for the wealthy and oil companies, and has said he would veto any proposal that does not push the next raising of the debt limit to 2012 or 2013.

Congressional Republicans call for fewer spending cuts, no elimination of tax breaks and and only a six-month extension of the debt limit -- a time span that allows the Republican majority in the House to use debt-limit political leverage more often.

Back in 1979, The Washington Post pointed out July 10: "Congress had been playing a game of chicken with the debt limit, raising it to $830 billion -- compared with today's $14.3 trillion -- only after Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal warned that the country was hours away from the first default in its history."

The last-minute approval, a flood of investor demand for Treasury bills and technical glitches in processing a paperwork backlog caused late payments to thousands of holders of Treasury bills maturing that April and May, the Post said, adding that it was only "a minor blip."

But, the article added, a study by Terry Zivney, a finance professor at Ball State University, and his partner Dick Marcus found "that the series of defaults resulted in a permanent increase in interest rates" of more than 0.5 percent. Over time, that meant billions of dollars in increased interest payments on the nation's debt, a cost eventually paid by taxpayers.

A Congressional Budget Office report in February said raising interest rates only a third of a percentage point now would mean paying $1.1 trillion more on national debt interest in 10 years.

After that brief partial default in 1979, Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., proposed the "Gephardt rule." The rule, which is still technically in effect, raises the debt limit automatically to the level projected by budget legislation.

But House Republicans set aside the rule in 1995, without actually killing it, to force President Bill Clinton to accept spending cuts. The showdown caused two government shutdowns but Clinton refused to give way and the GOP legislators eventually had to throw in the towel.

It was Clinton who focused attention this month on the prospect of Obama raising the debt limit on his own hook, if the political knife fight pushed a deal beyond Aug. 2. Others had broached the subject in political discussions but Clinton lit a fire beneath it.

In an exclusive interview with long-time supporter Joe Conason for his daily newsletter, The National Memo, Clinton said if he were in Obama's place he would damn Congress and use the U.S. Constitution to raise the debt limit by himself "without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me."

"I think the Constitution is clear and I think this idea that the Congress gets to vote twice on whether to pay for [expenditures] it has appropriated is crazy," Clinton said.

The former president was referring to Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which says in part: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

Some legal scholars say that provision gives the president the power to raise the debt limit ceiling on his own if Congress refuses to do so. Other legal scholars point to Article I Section 8 of the Constitution, which lists the powers given to Congress. Among them, "To borrow money on the credit of the United States."

Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley suggested in a taped conference call with reporters the debt ceiling itself may be unconstitutional because of the 14th Amendment, the Huffington Post reported.

He personally supported a debt ceiling because it imposes discipline, Grassley said.

"I think it's a discipline that Congress uses effectively from time to time, maybe not to cut down on the amount of spending but to have a refresher course," the Iowa Republican said. "It's a good discipline, so it bothers me if the Constitution provision would trump it, but that would be up to the courts to say. But who's going to argue against the Constitution? It's the basis of our government; it's the law of our land, and everybody has to abide by it."

The U.S. Supreme Court has rarely touched on the national debt, which is a political rather than a legal matter. But in 1935, in a unanimous ruling on defunct gold-backed bonds, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes cited precedent: "By virtue of the power to borrow money 'on the credit of the United States,' Congress is authorized to pledge that credit as assurance of payment as stipulated -- as the highest assurance the government can give -- its plighted faith. To say that Congress may withdraw or ignore that pledge is to assume that the Constitution contemplates a vain promise, a pledge having no other sanction than the pleasure and convenience of the pledgor."

And, Hughes said, "Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, declaring that 'the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law ... shall not be questioned,' is confirmatory of a fundamental principle ... and the expression 'validity of the public debt' embraces whatever concerns the integrity of the public obligations."

Some Republicans warn Obama would face impeachment if he uses the 14th Amendment to raise the debt limit on his own.

Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said earlier this month it would be "an impeachable offense" for Obama use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval, Politico reported.

On the other hand, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Monday Obama "would be impeached" if the United States defaults on bond payments, even without a debt limit deal, to pay other government obligations, presumably Social Security and Medicare.

Impeaching the president might be easy but politically costly in the House, where Republicans hold a 257-158 majority. Impeachment, roughly equivalent to an indictment, requires only a simple majority in the House. But conviction in a trial in the Democrat-controlled Senate, 53-47, requires a two-thirds vote and would be extremely unlikely.

For his part, Obama has reacted negatively to the few public suggestions that he use the 14th Amendment and raise the debt limit on his own -- though he has appeared intrigued.

At a "town hall" in Maryland earlier this month, the president said of the theory: "I have talked to my lawyers. They are not persuaded that that is a winning argument."

Last Monday, Obama suggested to a gathering of Latino activists there have been times during the debt ceiling debate that he's thought about raising the limit by himself because Congress has made the process too difficult.

But he quickly nixed the idea, Politico reported.

"Believe me, right now, dealing with Congress -- the idea --" he said, stopping and smiling as the crowd began chanting. "Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. ... Not just on immigration reform. But that's not how our system works. That's not how our democracy functions."

Senate puts off debt vote until Sunday

The U.S. Senate late Saturday put off a scheduled vote on a plan by Majority Leader Harry Reid to increase the federal debt limit.

The vote had been scheduled for 1 a.m. EDT Sunday but the Senate decided just after 10 p.m. Saturday to delay the vote until 1 p.m. Sunday. The House voted 246-173 Saturday to reject Reid's plan, before the Senate had even voted on it.

Speaking at a joint news conference after the House vote, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters they had been in touch with the White House and optimistic a debt deal will be reached before the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department.

"The only thing standing in the way of the House proposal over in the Senate is the president and Senator Reid," Boehner said. "It's time for them to tell us what they're for, time to tell us how they're going to get us out of the cul-de-sac they've driven our country into."

"We know the Reid proposal will not pass the Senate," McConnell said. "We know it will not pass the House. My view is we ought to end that charade and get serious."

McConnell said he had spoken with Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama within the previous hour, adding, "I'm confident and optimistic that we're going to get an agreement in the very near future."

However, Reid said on the Senate floor McConnell's observation was wrong, The Hill reported.

"The speaker and Republican leader should know that merely saying you have an agreement in front of television cameras doesn't make it so," Reid said.

"I'm more optimistic than my friend," McConnell said in response to Reid. "We both talked to the president today … we've got a chance of getting there."

Shortly before the House vote, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a statement saying the Obama administration "strongly supports" Reid's measure, which would raise the federal debt ceiling until after the next election.

After the vote, Obama called Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to the White House to discuss the next steps in the debt-limit debate.

Reid said after the White House meeting no agreement had been reached. The White House said the meeting ended at 5:05 p.m. EDT but had no other information about it, The Hill reported.

Earlier Saturday, McConnell sent a letter to Reid signed by 43 GOP senators indicating they oppose Reid's plan.

"We are writing to let you know that we will not vote for your $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment which, if enacted, would result in the single largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States," the letter states. "In addition to this unprecedented increase in borrowing authority, your amendment completely fails to address our current fiscal imbalance and lacks any serious effort to ensure that any subsequent spending cuts are enacted."

Obama is open to extending the country's Tuesday debt default date if Republicans show willingness to compromise, The Hill reported Saturday.

Unidentified Democratic sources told the Washington newspaper there had been little communication between the Republican-majority House of Representatives and the White House Friday night as the clock wound down to a financial default Tuesday.

Obama was willing to use executive authority to briefly extend the debt-ceiling deadline if he saw progress in the partisan stalemate, the newspaper said.

Boehner has taken a hard-line approach at capping the U.S. debt, cutting government spending and enacting legislation forcing a balanced budget.

In the Democratic-led Senate, Reid was reported to be working on legislation Saturday that could pass in the House.

Since winning the House majority last year, Republicans have focused on the country's $14 trillion debt and unemployment that's risen to 9.2 percent.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Inspiration: {Marion Cotillard for Dior}

{... introducing the Miss Dior campaign starring Marion Cotillard, for the latest handbag collection from the House of Dior}







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Friday, July 29, 2011

Worlds Largest Smiley Face

A smiley, or happy face is a stylized representation of a smiling  human face. It is commonly represented as a yellow (many other colors are also used) circle (or sphere) with two black dots representing eyes and a black arc representing the mouth. “Smiley” is also sometimes used as a generic term for any emoticon. There are 768 smiling people gathered in the Croatia capital, Zagreb to set the Guinness World Record for the largest human smiley face. The previous record was 551 participants and are held by residents of Riga, Latvia. To set the record was officially confirmed certified judge from Guinness World Records, Tarika Vara.
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20 Most Funny Conceptual Photography

Today I am presenting most funny and conceptual photography which really a big part for changing your mood or day. Horacio Salina was born in Argentina but lives and works in New York where he is a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine. It really takes powerful creative thinking to phantom ideas like these. Horacio Salinas has a weird and wonderful way of taking everyday objects and turning them into interesting pieces of  art.Asked how he would describe his original work, this photographer with an unlimited source of inspiration said: “If I have to do one picture about a topic, I want that picture to say everything in a second.” Shear excellence
Funny Conceptual Photography (20)
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