LOS ANGELES ? All Stanford assistant coach Pep Hamilton had to do this season was figure out a way to replace quarterback Andrew Luck, a two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
As if Luck?s shadow wasn?t already big enough, Hamilton found out in the spring that he had a new title. He was no longer just the Cardinal?s offensive coordinator, he was the Andrew Luck Director of Offense, a label created thanks to an anonymous donor giving, according to a news release, a ?very generous gift.?
Little did Hamilton know when the season began that the player he began grooming last season as Luck?s eventual replacement would end up igniting a late-season surge that resulted in a Pac-12 title. Stanford (11-2) will face the University of Wisconsin (8-5) in Tuesday?s Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
They haven?t forgotten Luck in Palo Alto, but redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan has shown signs that he could be the Cardinal?s next great quarterback.
?He?s definitely been a sparkplug for this offense,? Cardinal sophomore left tackle David Yankey said.
Stanford?s players and coaches spent the first few months answering questions about life after Luck. Close losses to Washington and Notre Dame in the first half of the season didn?t help matters.
?The Ghost of Andrew Luck wasn?t going to win us any games, unfortunately,? Yankey said.
Then along came Hogan, who began the season as the third-string quarterback but is 4-0 since replacing Josh Nunes as the starter. Each of those victories have come over ranked opponents, including a 17-14 overtime decision at then-No. 1 Oregon on Nov. 17.
The 6-foot-4, 224-pound Hogan ? his body type is similar to the 6-4, 234-pound Luck, who has led the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs in his rookie season ? has completed 72.9 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and three interceptions.
There is no doubt that the stars of the Stanford offense are still tailback Stepfan Taylor (1,442 yards, 14 touchdowns) and tight end Zach Ertz (66 receptions, 837 yards, six touchdowns), but Hogan has added a new dynamic because of his strong arm and ability to make plays with his feet.
?They did similar things,? Badgers junior linebacker Chris Borland said of Stanford?s offense now compared to before Hogan was inserted in the lineup. ?But from time to time he?d just make plays that they probably couldn?t have made previously.?
This isn?t the first dual-threat quarterback UW has faced this season. But unlike Nebraska?s Taylor Martinez and Ohio State?s Braxton Miller, Hogan is a pass-first, run-second quarterback.
?He?s definitely more of a passer, but I?ve seen him get the ball out when guys have him wrapped up,? UW junior defensive end David Gilbert said. ?He?s a big, strong kid. It?s going to be a challenge. We haven?t really played against a quarterback that has such a good combination of skills. Most guys who can throw don?t move that well. He?s got a good pocket presence and he?s a strong kid.?
Hogan had attempted one pass before Hamilton and Stanford coach David Shaw made the decision to replace Nunes after a slow start against Colorado. Hogan entered the game and led the Cardinal to six consecutive scoring drives.
So why didn?t Hogan have a bigger role earlier in the season? He?s the first to admit he wasn?t ready, primarily because he was having a difficult time grasping Stanford?s pro-style offense.
As it turned out, Hogan saved his best work for gamedays.
?I always knew he was a playmaker, but I didn?t know how well he?d adapt to the in-game checks,? Cardinal senior center Sam Schwartzstein said. ?He isn?t always perfect in practice, but come game time, he?s on point every single time.?
That sounds like Luck, who spent his final season at Stanford with Hogan watching his every move.
?His redshirt year,? Hamilton said, ?he had one job and that was to watch Andrew. ?Sit in the back of the room, be seen and not heard and emulate everything that Andrew Luck is doing, OK?? ?
To Hogan, the answer was a no-brainer.
?I?d just watch him,? Hogan said. ?I?d watch how he carried himself on the field as well as off the field. I?d watch his technique as well as his work ethic. He was a great manager of the game. He?s the ultimate leader of the offense. And just by watching him every day, and just by being in the room with him and around him really helped me.?
Have you ever wondered how to prepare matzo ball soup, challah, beef brisket, chopped liver, or potato knishes?
All are featured in "Eat! Something Already," a new cookbook published by Duluth's Temple Israel. The 190-page booklet features more than 100 traditional recipes from members of the Twin Ports Jewish community, including appetizers, desserts, side dishes, main courses, soups and salads, breads, and holiday specialties.
Temple Israel says the cookbook features easy-to-follow directions that will gide even the most novice cook in preparing meals that have been handed down from the ?old country.?
Copies are available for purchase at $20 each, plus $6 for postage and handling. Cookbook orders should be sent to: Cookbooks, Temple Israel, 1602 East Second Street, Duluth, Minnesota 55812. ?
Earlier in the year I wrote a piece for The New Writer about drafting poems. As the new year approaches I thought it might be time to dig out some of those poems in the 2012 drawer and give them an overhaul.
When is a poem ready to send out? Sometimes we?re too eager to submit our work when a little reflection and polishing might pay dividends in the long term and avoid those rejection slips. It?s becoming a costly business to submit to magazines and competitions (it costs ?1 in stamps to send our work out with an SAE) so it?s important that what we are putting out there is our very best and to do that we must draft and redraft our work.
I know some poets who put their poems away in a drawers and come back to them later with a little more objectivity. Eliot started to write Little Gidding in July 1941 and put it aside for about 12months before picking it up again. After five drafts he sent it out and it was? published in New English Weekly.
I?m not suggesting you leave a poem for months at a time, but often a little distance can be useful and avoids rushing something out to that?s not quite ready. It?s really helpful, almost essential, to workshop your poem or show it to people whose opinion you really value. I value Kim Moore?s opinions and have asked her to talk me through the process of drafting her poem The Thing which appears in If We Could Speak to Wolves (Smith/Doorstop).
We?re in good hands as this collection was a winner in the Poetry Business Competition judged by Carol Ann Duffy and Kim is a recipient of an Eric Gregory Award and the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize. So over to Kim.
When I?m writing first of all,
I like to write in a notebook.
When trying to decide which poem to focus on for this first draft to last draft exercise, I noticed something quite striking. A lot of my first lines in my first draft versions of poems remain the same in my final, published versions ? it?s almost like the poem has to have that first line or ?tune? to get me started. I then had a look at all the false starts I have of things that are still just pieces of writing in a folder that I?ve given up on, and sure enough the various versions of these had different first lines for every version.
This poem came from a free writing exercise in a Poetry School workshop. I think this was one of the first times I?d ever done free writing. The tutor gave us the line ?It was a morning like this? and then told us to write without lifting the pen from the page for two minutes.? I remember being surprised by what came out of that rather innocuous line
I was reading Don Paterson?s Rain at the time, and my favourite poem from that book was ?The Lie? and I think this poem is heavily influenced by that poem. At first I worried that it was too close to the poem to stand on its own and be original, and I did check this out with various writer friends.
When I?m writing first of all, I like to write in a notebook. Then I leave the notebook for a couple of days, and come back to it, and type up anything I think has something interesting. This first draft would have been written out as prose in my notebook ? I don?t put any line breaks in until I put it on the computer.
The reading aloud section completely vanishes
after that first draft
?
There are 10 drafts altogether of this poem but by draft 2 I?d organised it into four line stanzas. By draft 2 I?d realised ?so you didn?t wake it? wasn?t quite right and changed it to ?so you didn?t disturb it?. It took me till draft four to realise that left me with ?disturb? and ?disturbing? very close to each other, and it was then I changed it to alarmed.
The reading aloud section completely vanishes after that first draft, and never comes back again ? looking back now, although poetry doesn?t have to be true, it does have to have truth in it, and that doesn?t seem believable to me, that the speaker wouldn?t ask any questions, so I decided to not elaborate on what the protagonists in the poem think about The Thing ? but rather just to show what happened to them instead.
I remember liking the bit where The Thing is compared to various animals ? it took me till draft 6 to take the two ?crys? and change one to ?voice? which makes The Thing appear more human than animal.
The pavement image came in draft 2 ? relatively early on, although it?s not in the original first draft, and I knew that the ending to the first draft wasn?t right ? it seemed to fizzle out and lose its energy but it took until Draft 8 until I was brave enough to put the two questions in to the poem ? I?d been told by one tutor or another not to put questions in a poem unless it was for a very good reason, and it took me a while to get my confidence up to do this.
I don?t put any line breaks in
until I put it on the computer
My first drafts tend to be quite long ? I imagine them as a huge lump of rock that I have to chip away at to get at the poem inside and to find the shape that it should be. I think this is why I think free writing is so important ? because it gives you a chance to get all your ideas out without that critical voice in your head telling you they are a load of rubbish. I also print out each draft and keep them all in a folder, in order, one behind the other. I know this is?? scarily obsessive ? but I have a mortal fear of deleting something that I might want later on.
.
The Thing (1st draft)
It was a morning like this when you carried in the thing.? There was no-one to see but me, how it curled in your arms like something with feelings, how you moved like a ghost so you didn?t wake it.? That night as I read aloud to you, I thought there was little point asking you where it had come from, or what it meant.? At night its cry was disturbing. It was like a cat that asks for food at first and then like a dog that?s been stepped on and finally, when it realised itself abandoned its cry was suddenly human and lost. It drank all the colours in our house, sucked the red right out of everything ? the walls, the tablecloth, my jumpers.? We blamed each other for leaving the curtains open so it could steal the blue from the sky and when it turned to us, left us grey as faded newspapers, we didn?t look at each other anymore.
.
The Thing (Published Version)
It was a morning like this when you carried it in. There was no-one to see but me, how it curled in your arms like something with feelings, how you moved like a ghost so it wasn?t alarmed.
That night, its cry was disturbing, at first like a cat wanting food, then like a dog that?s been stepped on, and then, realising itself abandoned, its voice became suddenly human and lost.
It drank the colour from our house, sucked the red right out of everything ? the walls, the tablecloth, my jumper.? When it turned to us, left us the colour of pavement, we forgot how to see each other.
I blamed you for opening the curtains so it could steal the blue from the sky.? You went to get help, the thing at your heels, bright as a bouquet of flowers. How could you know that after you left the colours
came back, creeping, careful, wary? Each day I wait for your return, the sky grey, like something washed too many times.? Will we leave it unspoken, that the thing, like all things, needs a name?
.
from ?If We Could Speak Like Wolves? pub. Smith/Doorstop
'Les Mis?rables' has appealed to a lot of critics and has already racked up awards nominations, but it can also win over those who wouldn't be caught dead at a musical.
By Molly Driscoll,?Staff Writer / December 28, 2012
'Les Miserables' stars Hugh Jackman (l.) and Anne Hathaway (r.).
Universal Pictures/AP
Enlarge
For months, musical fans have been praising the casting decisions (Hugh Jackman! Anne Hathaway! Oh, fine, Russell Crowe), devouring trailers, and nodding with approval over the awards praise showered upon the film version of ?Les Mis?rables? by the Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Skip to next paragraph Molly Driscoll
Staff writer
Molly Driscoll is a Books and the Culture staff writer.
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So there?s no fear that the big-screen adaptation of ?Les Mis? will appeal to them, those super-fans who can tell you that Colm Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean in London and can recite every separate part of ensemble number ?One Day More.? They?ll be turning out to the theater in droves to see their beloved story of a French revolution and the people who are affected by it and will hum along to the songs under their breath as they soak in the vocal performances.
But you know who else should give the movie a chance? People who hate musicals.
There is a (fairly large) group of people to whom simply the word ?musical? is enough to conjure up shuddering. Singing, like people do on ?Glee?? And over-emoting and wearing over-the-top costumes? Count them out. They?ll be watching TV (not ?Glee?).
But I know of several people who view going to see a musical as on par with a tooth extraction who, through accident or being forced to go, saw the stage version of ?Les Mis.? I, the eager fan, asked them how they liked it, and got positive responses from all of them. ?It was? good? was the main reaction, almost all with a surprised tone.
And the reason that ?Les Mis?rables? can win over musical-allergic theatergoers is that it?s not glitzy. It?s not glamorous. There are no kick lines, no spangly outfits, no drawn-out dance numbers. It is the story of various people struggling to survive in nineteenth century France that happens to have some musical numbers attached.
The story is powerful enough that the book by Victor Hugo was a classic long before the musical came along ? some may complain that revolutionary student Marius and protagonist Jean Valjean?s adoptive daughter Cosette aren?t especially deep characters, and they?re right. But everyone remembers Jean Valjean himself, the escaped convict, and his moral struggles and the ruthless Inspector Javert who pursues him, certain that no criminal can be a good man and vice versa.
And the music?s just gorgeous ? if you simply like music that sounds beautiful, it will win you over, whether or not you?re a musical fan. (It will also get stuck in your head, especially the anthemic ?Do You Hear the People Sing?,? so beware.)?
Anyone who?s read the novel will know this beforehand, but it?s pretty darn good at subverting the happy ending most people associate with musicals, also. Let?s just say the show has a pretty high body count.
It?s a serious story about people struggling with almost insurmountable problems ? things like getting food and finding a job and when it?s right to stand up to your government. One character, Fantine, is forced to become a prostitute because she has no other options. Not exactly musical fun time, is it?
So yes, they sing. But give it a chance beyond that. There are no sequins ? I promise.
President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington after meeting with Congressional leaders regarding the fiscal cliff, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington after meeting with Congressional leaders regarding the fiscal cliff, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Confused about the federal budget struggle? So are doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals who serve the 100 million Americans covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Rarely has the government sent so many conflicting signals in so short a time about the bottom line for the health care industry.
Cuts are coming, says Washington, and some could be really big. Yet more government spending is also being promised as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul advances and millions of uninsured people move closer to getting government-subsidized coverage.
"Imagine a person being told they are going to get a raise, but their taxes are also going to go up and they are going to be paying more for gas," said Thornton Kirby, president of the South Carolina Hospital Association. "They don't know if they are going to be taking home more or less. That's the uncertainty when there are so many variables in play."
Real money is at stake for big hospitals and small medical practices alike. Government at all levels pays nearly half the nation's health care tab, with federal funds accounting for most of that.
It's widely assumed that a budget deal will mean cuts for Medicare service providers. But which ones? How much? And will Medicaid and subsidies to help people get coverage under the health care law also be cut?
As House Speaker John Boehner famously said: "God only knows." The Ohio Republican was referring to the overall chances of getting a budget deal, but the same can be said of how health care ? one-sixth of the economy ? will fare.
"There is no political consensus to do anything significant," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "There is a collective walking away from things that matter. All the stuff on the lists of options becomes impossible, because there is no give-and-take."
As if things weren't complicated enough, doctors keep facing their own recurring fiscal cliff, separate from the bigger budget battle but embroiled in it nonetheless.
Come Jan. 1, doctors and certain other medical professionals face a 26.5 percent cut in their Medicare payments, the consequence of a 1990s deficit-reduction law gone awry. Lawmakers failed to repeal or replace that law even after it became obvious that it wasn't working. Instead, Congress usually passes a "doc fix" each year to waive the cuts.
This year, the fix got hung up in larger budget politics. Although a reprieve is expected sooner or later, doctors don't like being told to sit in the congressional waiting room.
"It seems like there is a presumption that physicians and patients can basically tolerate this kind of uncertainty while the Congress goes through whatever political machinations they are going through," said Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, president of the American Medical Association. "Our concern is that physician uncertainty and anxiety about being able to pay the bills will have an impact on taking care of patients."
A recent government survey indicates that Medicare beneficiaries are having more problems when trying to find a new primary care doctor, and Lazarus said that will only get worse.
Adding to their unease, doctors also face an additional reduction if automatic spending cuts go through. Those would be triggered if Obama and congressional leaders are unable to bridge partisan differences and strike a deal. They are part of the combination of tax increases and spending cuts dubbed the "fiscal cliff."
Medicare service providers would get hit with a 2 percent across-the-board cut, but Medicaid and subsidies for the uninsured under Obama's health care overhaul would be spared. The Medicare cut adds up to about $120 billion over ten years, with 40 percent falling on hospitals, according to Avalare's analysis. Nursing homes, Medicare Advantage plans and home health agencies also get hit.
The American Hospital Association says that would lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of hospital jobs in a labor intensive industry that also generates employment for other businesses in local communities.
"It's very difficult to believe hospitals can absorb the kinds of numbers they are talking about without reducing service or workforce," said Kirby, the hospital association head. "You may decide that a service a hospital provides is not affordable ? for example, obstetrics in a rural community ? if you're making a little bit of money or losing a little bit of money by continuing to deliver babies in a rural community."
Independent analysts like Mendelson doubt that a 2 percent Medicare cut to hospitals would be catastrophic, but say it will cost jobs somewhere.
Even if there is a budget deal, the squeeze will be on.
The administration has proposed $400 billion in health care cuts so far in the budget talks, coming mainly from Medicare spending. That's only a starting point as far as Republicans are concerned. They also want to pare back Medicaid and Obama's health care law, and have also sought an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare.
In 2012, journalists and investors took to Twitter to express their feelings and frustrations about the financial world. We wracked our brains to pick out some of the best, most hilarious hashtags of the year.
#FedValentines
It began with a silly tweet, and it turned into a meme. University of Michigan professor and economist Justin Wolfers started the hashtag #FedValentines on Feb. 10, just ahead of Valentine?s Day on Feb. 14, to joke about the monetary easing measures he?d like to see Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve adopt.
Bernanke and his team put what?s commonly called ?Operation Twist??selling short-dated Treasurys to buy long-dated bonds and push down long-term interest rates?into motion in September 2011. But by the beginning of the year, investors were already pressing him to do more to stimulate a still sluggish US economy. The Twitter-verse was awash with corny finance jokes?
#Eurosongs
What do you get when you marry the Eurovision Song Contest, famous for its cheesy musical numbers, with a crisis threatening to destroy the euro? You get bored finance types inventing song titles to poke fun at Greece?s endless need for credit and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
#SpainIsNotUganda (and #UgandaIsNotSpain)
Spanish dignitaries had been adamant for a while that ?Spain is not Greece?. But after Spanish banks got a ?100 billion bailout in June, making the parallel with struggling Greece a little too close for comfort, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy felt compelled to text finance minister Luis de Guindos to keep calm because ?Spain is not Uganda.? The Ugandan foreign minister retorted the next day, ?Uganda does not want to be Spain!? This happened to be during Euro 2012, a massive soccer tournament. And so was born a Twitter frenzy.
#Bernankegifts
2012 was a disappointing year for many traders, with markets moving more on rumors, trading in Apple stock, and?most importantly?the decisions of central banks. Chief among market movers was Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who repeatedly dropped hints that further easing of monetary policy was not far away. Those statements invariably moved markets, leading traders to pray for new ?gifts? from the Fed.
#WhenInFinance (#WIF)
The blog When In Finance?and its associated Twitter hashtag?was born to handle all this sarcasm. The site, now home to more than 450 finance-oriented jokes, mostly using animated GIFs, parodies the foibles of working in finance:
?If I hear Betty Liu (or any Bloomberg anchor) ask someone what?s going to happen if Greece leaves the euro one more time.?
GIF via wheninfinance.tumblr.com
Photo of Luis de Guindos courtesy of Flickr, World Economic Forum
1. We celebrated my family Christmas on Sunday in Quincy.? My sister and her husband and son, my brother without his family, my son and husband and Mom and me were the extent of the crowd.? Mom cooked for us.? She lost the cherry crisp she had made.? It was found up in the pantry on a high shelf.? It made for a fun party game, if one discounts the worry about Mom's memory.
We played our family card game--pitch which is a bidding game that is a little like euchre and a little like bridge and is a real game on it's own.?
We gave Mom a new snazzy black cane and a new vacuum sweeper.? We took the old clunker home.? It weighs a ton (the old one).
2. Sunday was also my 34th wedding anniversary.? To couples planning a wedding at Christmas, I say don't.? The anniversary almost always gets crowded in by Christmas. This year we went out to eat at Red Lobster the night before. But, the anniversary comes and goes and Christmas overtakes it.
3. Monday was Christmas Eve.? The old crabby cat got us up at before the crack of dawn.? I had to get a few groceries and we went out for lunch.
4. Christmas was lovely. I am now a Kindle reader.? I hope I like that.
We had a feast.? It is a repeat of Thanksgiving, but a once a year treat that I serve twice.? Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, salad, and pumpkin pie. The dining room looked lovely.? And someday when I don't have a dining room again, I want to remember this one.
5. Wednesday it was supposed to snow.? We dodged a bullet and sent the snow south.? I am concerned about how dry it is.? They are predicting a second year of drought.? A little more snow would help the ground to moisten up a bit, so I do hope it snows this winter.?
6. And I went up to Quincy again to meet with my mom and the lawyer to get some things about her finances straightened out. It is hard to reach this point where we have to admit that Mom is no longer able to entirely handle her own affairs.? She is still driving, I wish she would plan to give that up.? But, she is already saying that she will drive if seh can pass the test again in June. She will be 92. Oh my!
7.? And once again, I didn't get a puppy for Christmas.? I reflect that may be a good thing.
Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade (3) and Charlotte Bobcats' Ramon Sessions (7) interact after Sessions was called for a foul as referee Zach Zarba (33) watches during the second half of their NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, in Charlotte. The Heat won 105-92. (AP Photo/The Charlotte Observer, David T. Foster III) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; NEWSPAPER INTERNET ONLY
Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade (3) and Charlotte Bobcats' Ramon Sessions (7) interact after Sessions was called for a foul as referee Zach Zarba (33) watches during the second half of their NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, in Charlotte. The Heat won 105-92. (AP Photo/The Charlotte Observer, David T. Foster III) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; NEWSPAPER INTERNET ONLY
NEW YORK (AP) ? Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade was suspended one game without pay by the NBA on Thursday for flailing his leg and making contact with the groin of Charlotte Bobcats' Ramon Sessions.
The incident happened with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter of the Heat's 105-92 victory over the Bobcats on Wednesday night. Sessions was called for a foul on the play. Wade will serve the suspension Friday night when the Heat visit the Detroit Pistons, and return Saturday night in Milwaukee.
"I'm far from being a dirty player, (plus) my intent was never 2 kick Ramon Sessions. I just reacted to the contact that I got from him," Wade tweeted Thursday night. "More than anything, I think of my boys watchin me be4 retaliating 2ward any player."
Editor's note: This post originally appeared on Business Insider
A common argument you hear from conservatives is that raising taxes on the rich is a joke of a deficit reduction proposal, because it hardly makes a dent in the deficit.
According to CNBC, reverting to Clinton-era levels would just get you about $40 billion to $45 billion in the first year.
GOP Congressman Tom Price has gotten a lot of attention for saying it would only fund the government for eight days... so what's the point?
So what is the point?
Well, it's not really about deficit reduction at all.
Related: Higher Taxes Will Create Jobs and Cut the Deficit: David Cay Johnston
Zachary Goldfarb at The Washington Post has a great piece on how Democrats once vehemently opposed the Bush tax cuts, but are now trying to permanently preserve all of them for the vast majority of taxpayers. One big reason is that the economy has changed, and there's a recognition among virtually everyone that the economy is too weak to let taxes rise above the board.
What?s more, income inequality has been growing. Sparing the middle class higher taxes while requiring the wealthy to pay more would tip the scales slightly in the other direction.
?The reason there?s been this movement toward broad consensus on renewing the tax cut for working- and middle-class families is that will give us a sharper progressivity in the tax system that is very much desired by Democrats and progressives who?ve seen an income distribution more and more distorted toward the wealthy,? said Betsey Stevenson, former chief economist in Obama?s Labor Department and a professor at the University of Michigan.
The point about making the tax code more progressive doesn't get talked enough. But this issue should be brought up in every discussion about changing marginal tax rates.
Related: Corporate Taxes: Notably Absent from the Fiscal Cliff Discussions
The truth of the matter is that it's not going to be that easy to close the deficit using the tax code, or even via lower spending. Deficits are closed via more growth, and that's about it.
A great predictor of deficits, going back decades, is the unemployment rate. The tax code has much less to do with it than people think.
But the tax code can help create more progressive outcomes, and at a time when inequality continues to rise, addressing that inequality is a major liberal goal.
More from The Daily Ticker:
Forget Stocks? Shilling's Backing Bonds for 2013
Housing Recovery Has Legs for Another 2-4 Years: Mark Zandi
Energy Prices Will Fall Next Year as Supplies Outpace Demand: Jefferies
NEW YORK (AP) ? The Denver Broncos strengthened their grip on the top spot in the AP Pro32 NFL power rankings after extending their winning streak to 10 games.
The AFC West champion Broncos (12-3) received nine first-place votes and 381 points in balloting Wednesday by The Associated Press' panel of 12 media members who regularly cover the league.
The NFC South champion Atlanta Falcons (13-2) moved up two places to second with one first-place vote and 363 points. Last week, the Broncos were first by three points over San Francisco, which dropped to sixth after its loss to Seattle.
The Seahawks are fifth and the 49ers sixth. Each received a first-place vote. Green Bay is third and New England fourth in the second-to-last rankings.
Kansas City is 32nd and last.
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
It?s the day after Christmas, and food is quite possibly the farthest thing from my mind. Jeanine here, and among other holiday indulgences, I?ve eaten more cookies than I?d like to admit and I?m, well, full. But the holiday season is still a week from over, so I think it?s time for a healthy reprive?
I love roasted sweet potatoes? don?t they make the perfect addition to a winter salad?
This one has been a favorite lately. Hearty roasted sweet potatoes tossed with tangy feta, sweet pomegranate seeds & toasted pistachios. It?s festive enough to bring to a holiday potluck, but simple enough to throw together for a weeknight dinner (and also lunch the following day if you make a little extra).
photos by?Love & Lemons
Sweet Potato & Pomegranate Salad
serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side
salad components:
2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed, plus olive oil, salt & pepper for roasting
Roast the sweet potatoes:?Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Chop the sweet potato into bite sized cubes. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until they start to edges start to turn darker and roasty.
Make the dressing: Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, honey, garlic, salt & pepper. Taste & adjust. Set aside.
Assemble all salad ingredients, toss lightly in the dressing.
BEIRUT ? Syria's wounded interior minister rushed home from a Beirut hospital on Wednesday for fear he would be arrested after some Lebanese called to put him on trial for his role in a 1986 crackdown by Syrian troops in Lebanon.
In another blow to President Bashar Assad, his commander of military police defected.
The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, is one of the most senior members of Assad's inner circle to join the opposition during the 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule. He appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying the army has been turned into a gang to kill and destroy.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, wounded in a bombing of his ministry in Damascus, left a Beirut hospital before his treatment was finished and flew home to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said.
Al-Shaar was wounded on Dec. 12 when a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Interior Ministry, killing five and wounding many. He was brought to the hospital in neighboring Lebanon a week ago.
A top Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that al-Shaar was rushed out of Lebanon after authorities there received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him because of his role in the crackdown against protesters in Syria.
Over the past week, some Lebanese officials and individuals have called for al-Shaar's arrest for his role in a 1986 crackdown in the northern city of Tripoli.
In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed Tripoli and crushed the Islamic Unification Movement ? a Sunni Muslim group that then supported former Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."
The Lebanese security official said Lebanese citizens had also begun taking steps to sue al-Shaar for his role during Syria's military domination of Lebanon for decades. Lebanese are deeply divided over the Syria crisis.
Al-Shaar and other Syrian officials are also on a list of people subjected to European Union sanctions for violence against anti-regime protesters in Syria.
"Lebanese officials contacted Syrian authorities and that sped up his departure," said the security official, adding that a Lebanese medical team is expected to go to Damascus to continue al-Shaar's treatment there. "If such arrest warrants are issued, Lebanese judicial authorities will have to arrest him and this could be an embarrassment for the country," he said.
The airport and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The Syrian government denied at first that al-Shaar was wounded. Then it emerged that he was brought to the Beirut hospital last week for treatment. It was the second time the minister was wounded in the civil war. He was also injured when a bomb went off on July 18 during a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top security officials.
Lebanon and Syria have a long and bitter history.
Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept into a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination.
That grip began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. Syria was widely accused of involvement ? something it has always denied ? and Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops. Even so, Damascus has since maintained considerable power and influence in Lebanon.
Shortly after he arrived in Beirut for treatment last week, anti-Syrian politicians, including legislators Jamal Jarrah and Mohammed Kabbara, called for al-Shaar's arrest. Another call came this week, when Lebanese lawyer Tarek Shandab filed a complaint to the country's prosecution accusing al-Shaar of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Tripoli.
In another setback for the regime, the defection of the military police chief came as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near the capital Damascus and elsewhere across the country.
The defector al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying he is joining "the people's revolution."
Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition.
Al-Shallal is one of the most senior and held a top post at the time that he left. He said in the video that the "army has derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and it has become a gang for killing and destruction." He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."
Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides. Anti-regime activists estimate more than 40,000 have died in the past 21 months.
In violence on Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including eight children, three women and nine others. An agricultural area near the village of Qahtaniyeh was hit by the shelling.
An amateur video showed the bodies of a dozen people including children lying in a row inside a room. Some of them had blood on their clothes, while weeping could be heard in the background.
The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
Also Wednesday, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.
In October, rebels captured Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway that links the capital Damascus with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major battleground in the civil war since July.
The attack on Wadi Deif comes a day after rebels captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border. The rebels have captured wide areas and military posts in northern Syria over the past weeks.
In Lebanon, airport officials in Beirut said Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow.
Their visit to Moscow comes two days after Assad met in Damascus with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria. Brahimi, who is scheduled to go to Moscow as well, gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
Brahimi is still in Syria and met Tuesday with representatives of the opposition National Coordination Body, state-run news agency SANA said. The head of the group, Hassan Abdul-Azim, said Brahimi briefed them on his efforts to reach an "international consensus, especially between Russia and the United Stated to reach a solution."
NCB spokesman Rajaa al-Naser said his group said there must be an end to violence and formation of a "transitional government with full prerogatives."
It's early Christmas morning on the west coast, and I want to wish you?wherever in the world you live?a very happy Christmas and a peaceful, healthy new year.
The Tyee has published some of my personal thoughts on the holiday under the title?Vanitas and Caritas.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Pilgrims and locals celebrated Christmas Day on Tuesday in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminating the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filling its overflowing halls.
Overcast skies and a cold wind didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers who came dressed in holiday finery and the traditional attire of foreign lands to mark the holy day in this biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited eagerly to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace.
Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va., traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands.
"I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party."
Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.
Hardock's girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Gemmell of Longmont, Colorado, compared the festive spirit in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, saying "it's like being at Times Square at New Year's."
The cavernous church was unable to hold all the worshippers who had hoped to celebrate Christmas Day Mass inside. A loudspeaker outside the church broadcast the service to the hundreds in the square who could not pack inside.
Tourists in the square posed for pictures as vendors hawked olive wood rosaries, nativity scenes, corn on the cob, roasted nuts, tea and coffee.
An official from the Palestinian tourism ministry predicted 10,000 foreigners would visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day and said 15,000 visited on Christmas Eve ? up 20 percent from a year earlier. The official, Rula Maia'a, attributed the rise in part to the Church of the Nativity's classification earlier this year as a U.N. World Heritage Site.
Christians from Israel ? Arab citizens and others ? also boosted the number of visitors.
Information technology consultant Martin Wzork came to Bethlehem with his wife and young daughter from Krakow, Poland.
"My wife believes in God, so it's important for her," said Wzork, who described himself as a non-believer. "For me, it's interesting because it's a historical place and famous."
On Christmas Eve, thousands of Christians from all over the world packed the square, which was awash in light, resplendent with decorations and adorned by a lavishly decorated, 17-meter (55-foot) fir tree. Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city's year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations' recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month.
Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago.
Later Tuesday, the world's Christmas focus will shift to Vatican City, where Pope Benedict XVI will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech ? Latin for "to the city and the world" ? from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered in the piazza below.
The speech traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, and ends with the pope delivering Christmas greetings in dozens of languages.
Autopsy-based study examines prevalence of atherosclerosis among US service membersPublic release date: 25-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sharon Willis sharon.willis@usuhs.edu 301-295-3578 JAMA and Archives Journals
Among deployed U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries between 2001-2011 and underwent autopsies, the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis was 8.5 percent, with factors associated with a higher prevalence of the disease including older age, lower educational level and prior diagnoses of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity, according to a study in the December 26 issue of JAMA.
"An early breakthrough in the understanding of the natural history of atherosclerotic heart disease was achieved in 1953, when Enos and colleagues at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology reported a 77 percent prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis among U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War. By demonstrating anatomically that atherosclerosis affected a large proportion of young individuals without clinical evidence of heart disease, their study revolutionized the understanding of the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease. A follow-up report in the Vietnam War era, along with a number of autopsy studies in the civilian population provided additional evidence that the onset of atherosclerosis may occur at an early age," according to background information in the article. Since the publication of these studies, health policies have been implemented to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, and smoking.
Bryant J. Webber, M.D., of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues conducted a study to assess the prevalence of atherosclerosis in the U.S. armed forces. The study included all U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn between October 2001 and August 2011 and whose cardiovascular autopsy reports were available at the time of data collection in January 2012. Prevalence of atherosclerosis was analyzed by various demographic characteristics and medical history. Classifications of coronary atherosclerosis severity were determined prior to data analysis and designed to provide consistency with previous military studies: minimal (fatty streaking only), moderate (10 percent - 49 percent luminal [interior of the vessel] narrowing of one or more vessels), and severe (50 percent or more narrowing of one or more vessels). Of the 3,832 service members included in the analysis, the average age was 26 years.
The overall prevalence of coronary or aortic atherosclerosis was 12.1 percent. The prevalence of any coronary atherosclerosis was 8.5 percent; severe coronary atherosclerosis was present in 2.3 percent, moderate in 4.7 percent, and minimal in 1.5 percent. The researchers found that age consistently produced the strongest association with prevalent atherosclerosis. Service members with atherosclerosis (average age, 30.5) were approximately 5 years older than those without; those 40 years of age and older had about 7 times the prevalence of disease as compared with those 24 years of age and younger (45.9 percent vs. 6.6 percent)
Lower education level and higher military entrance body mass index (BMI) were significantly associated with prevalent atherosclerosis, after adjusting for age. As compared with those who completed high school or less, those who completed at least some college had lower prevalence of disease. As compared with those with a normal BMI on military entrance, those with a BMI in the overweight or obese range had a significantly higher prevalence of atherosclerosis
The authors also found that age-adjusted atherosclerosis prevalence was associated with several diagnoses. As compared with those with no major cardiovascular risk factor diagnoses, those with a diagnosis of dyslipidemia (50.0 percent vs. 11.1 percent), hypertension (43.6 percent vs. 11.1 percent), or obesity (22.3 percent vs. 11.1 percent) had a significantly higher prevalence of atherosclerosis.
The researchers note that the prevalence rates found in this study demonstrate a decline from the rates of 77 percent noted in the Korean War and 45 percent in the Vietnam War, but add that targets for further improvement remain.
"Military and civilian health care systems should continue to help patients reduce their cardiovascular risk factors, beginning in childhood and continuing throughout adult life. Despite remarkable progress in prevention and treatment, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States and other developed nations, and even small improvements in the prevalence of smoking and other risk factors may reduce death rates further and prolong healthy lives."
(JAMA. 2012;308(24):2577-2583; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: This study was supported by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, and Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
Please Note: For this study, there will be multimedia content available, including the JAMA Report video, embedded and downloadable video, audio files, text, documents, and related links. This content will be available at 3 p.m. CT Tuesday, December 25 at this link.
Editorial: Combating the Epidemic of Heart Disease
Daniel Levy, M.D., of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Md., comments on the findings of this study in an accompanying editorial.
"Autopsy studies have demonstrated that coronary disease begins at a young age. Consequently, primary prevention campaigns to address obesity and related risks should begin in childhood. Declines in cardiovascular disease risk factors have almost certainly contributed to the observed reductions in prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis, incidence of clinical atherosclerotic disease, and deaths from heart disease. Although age-adjusted heart disease death rates have declined by 72 percent since their peak during the Vietnam War years, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. The national battle against heart disease is not over; increasing rates of obesity and diabetes signal a need to engage earlier and with greater intensity in a campaign of pre-emption and prevention.
(JAMA. 2012;308(24):2624-2625; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: The author has completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Autopsy-based study examines prevalence of atherosclerosis among US service membersPublic release date: 25-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sharon Willis sharon.willis@usuhs.edu 301-295-3578 JAMA and Archives Journals
Among deployed U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries between 2001-2011 and underwent autopsies, the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis was 8.5 percent, with factors associated with a higher prevalence of the disease including older age, lower educational level and prior diagnoses of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity, according to a study in the December 26 issue of JAMA.
"An early breakthrough in the understanding of the natural history of atherosclerotic heart disease was achieved in 1953, when Enos and colleagues at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology reported a 77 percent prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis among U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War. By demonstrating anatomically that atherosclerosis affected a large proportion of young individuals without clinical evidence of heart disease, their study revolutionized the understanding of the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease. A follow-up report in the Vietnam War era, along with a number of autopsy studies in the civilian population provided additional evidence that the onset of atherosclerosis may occur at an early age," according to background information in the article. Since the publication of these studies, health policies have been implemented to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, and smoking.
Bryant J. Webber, M.D., of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues conducted a study to assess the prevalence of atherosclerosis in the U.S. armed forces. The study included all U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn between October 2001 and August 2011 and whose cardiovascular autopsy reports were available at the time of data collection in January 2012. Prevalence of atherosclerosis was analyzed by various demographic characteristics and medical history. Classifications of coronary atherosclerosis severity were determined prior to data analysis and designed to provide consistency with previous military studies: minimal (fatty streaking only), moderate (10 percent - 49 percent luminal [interior of the vessel] narrowing of one or more vessels), and severe (50 percent or more narrowing of one or more vessels). Of the 3,832 service members included in the analysis, the average age was 26 years.
The overall prevalence of coronary or aortic atherosclerosis was 12.1 percent. The prevalence of any coronary atherosclerosis was 8.5 percent; severe coronary atherosclerosis was present in 2.3 percent, moderate in 4.7 percent, and minimal in 1.5 percent. The researchers found that age consistently produced the strongest association with prevalent atherosclerosis. Service members with atherosclerosis (average age, 30.5) were approximately 5 years older than those without; those 40 years of age and older had about 7 times the prevalence of disease as compared with those 24 years of age and younger (45.9 percent vs. 6.6 percent)
Lower education level and higher military entrance body mass index (BMI) were significantly associated with prevalent atherosclerosis, after adjusting for age. As compared with those who completed high school or less, those who completed at least some college had lower prevalence of disease. As compared with those with a normal BMI on military entrance, those with a BMI in the overweight or obese range had a significantly higher prevalence of atherosclerosis
The authors also found that age-adjusted atherosclerosis prevalence was associated with several diagnoses. As compared with those with no major cardiovascular risk factor diagnoses, those with a diagnosis of dyslipidemia (50.0 percent vs. 11.1 percent), hypertension (43.6 percent vs. 11.1 percent), or obesity (22.3 percent vs. 11.1 percent) had a significantly higher prevalence of atherosclerosis.
The researchers note that the prevalence rates found in this study demonstrate a decline from the rates of 77 percent noted in the Korean War and 45 percent in the Vietnam War, but add that targets for further improvement remain.
"Military and civilian health care systems should continue to help patients reduce their cardiovascular risk factors, beginning in childhood and continuing throughout adult life. Despite remarkable progress in prevention and treatment, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States and other developed nations, and even small improvements in the prevalence of smoking and other risk factors may reduce death rates further and prolong healthy lives."
(JAMA. 2012;308(24):2577-2583; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: This study was supported by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, and Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
Please Note: For this study, there will be multimedia content available, including the JAMA Report video, embedded and downloadable video, audio files, text, documents, and related links. This content will be available at 3 p.m. CT Tuesday, December 25 at this link.
Editorial: Combating the Epidemic of Heart Disease
Daniel Levy, M.D., of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Md., comments on the findings of this study in an accompanying editorial.
"Autopsy studies have demonstrated that coronary disease begins at a young age. Consequently, primary prevention campaigns to address obesity and related risks should begin in childhood. Declines in cardiovascular disease risk factors have almost certainly contributed to the observed reductions in prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis, incidence of clinical atherosclerotic disease, and deaths from heart disease. Although age-adjusted heart disease death rates have declined by 72 percent since their peak during the Vietnam War years, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. The national battle against heart disease is not over; increasing rates of obesity and diabetes signal a need to engage earlier and with greater intensity in a campaign of pre-emption and prevention.
(JAMA. 2012;308(24):2624-2625; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: The author has completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gunman who spent 17 years in prison for murder ambushed and killed two volunteer firefighters and wounded two others on Monday near Rochester, New York, as they responded to a house fire he deliberately set, police said.
William Spangler, 62, shot and killed himself after a gunfight with a police officer in Webster, a Rochester suburb, Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said.
"It was a trap set by Mr. Spangler, who laid in wait and shot first responders," Pickering told a news conference.
Separately, a police officer in Wisconsin and another in Texas were shot and killed on Monday, according to police and media reports.
The attacks on first responders came 10 days after one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history that left 20 students and six adults dead at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and intensified the debate about gun control in the United States.
Spangler was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 for beating his 92-year-old grandmother to death with a hammer, according to New York State Department of Corrections records, and after prison he spent eight years on parole.
"We don't have an easy reason" for the attack on the firefighters, Pickering said, "but just looking at the history ... obviously this was an individual with a lot of problems."
Spangler opened fire around 5:45 a.m. after two of the firefighters arrived at the house in a fire truck and two others responded in their own cars, Pickering said.
Pickering appeared to wipe tears from his eyes at a news conference earlier on Monday when he identified the dead firefighters as Lieutenant Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka. Chiapperini was also a police lieutenant.
The injured firefighters, one of whom was in critical condition, were identified as Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino. Off-duty Police Officer John Ritter was hit by gunfire as he drove past the scene.
Pickering said police had found several types of weapons, including a rifle used to shoot the firefighters. As a convicted felon it was illegal for Spangler to own guns.
Police had not had any contact with Spangler in the "recent past," Pickering said.
Four houses were destroyed by the fire and four were damaged, Pickering said.
COPS TARGETED
Police Officer Jennifer Sebena, 30, was found dead on Monday in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suburb of Wauwatosa, police said.
Sebena was on patrol between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and wearing body armor when she was shot several times, police said. She was found by another officer after she did not respond to calls from the police dispatcher.
In Houston, Texas, an officer with the Bellaire Police Department died after a shootout at around 9 a.m. and a bystander was also killed, according to local media reports.
A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department was not immediately available for comment. A police officer answering the telephone confirmed media reports but declined further comment. A suspect was in the hospital, according to reports.
Before Monday's killings, the Washington-based National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported that 125 federal, state and local officers had died in the line of duty this year.
Forty-seven deaths were firearms-related, 50 were from traffic-related incidents, and 28 were from other causes, it said.
(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by David Brunnstrom and M.D. Golan)
24 December 2012Last updated at 19:24 ETBy Matt McGrathEnvironment correspondent, BBC News
Wildlife campaigners are at odds over a new attempt to ban the global trade in polar bear parts.
Some activists say the market for rugs and ornaments made from the bears is driving them to extinction,
But others argue that the most pressing problem for the species is climate change and the disappearance of polar ice.
The issue will be decided at a UN wildlife conservation meeting in Thailand in March 2013.
The Humane Society International/UK says that polar bears have been brought to a tipping point by climate change but that increased hunting in recent years is pushing the species "beyond the brink."
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
We can't be arguing for the science when it suits us and then ignore it when it doesn't suit our case?
End QuoteDr Colman O'CriodainWWF
"The drivers for the increase in recent years in the trade in polar bear parts are the extremely worrying and rapidly increasing prices being paid on international markets for polar bear parts," said Mark Jones, executive director of the Humane Society International/UK
He points to the fact that in the five years up to 2012 there has been a 375% increase in the number of polar bear skins offered at auction, some selling for as much as $12,000 (?7.400).
Opinions divided
Every year around 600 bears are legally killed by hunters in Canada and in the decade to 2010 more than 30,000 bear parts were traded as trophies, rugs and ornaments.
Opponents of the trade have now proposed a ban on the international sales of polar bear parts. It will be tabled at the next meeting of the Convention on the trade in endangered species (CITES) taking place in Thailand next March.
The move is being supported by the US and Russian governments. The last time an attempt was made to change the ruling in 2010, it was defeated after the UK and the EU voted against. Mark Jones believes the UK government's position is very influential and wants them to support the ban.
"We urgently need the British government to step forward and be a champion for polar bears by supporting their maximum protection," he added.
But some prominent campaigners are against changing the protected status of the bears. WWF has had a long association with the iconic species but believes that the threat from international trade is not significant compared to the threat from climate change.
"If we were tempted to support it on the basis of trade being a major threat, it is not," says Dr Colman O'Criodain, WWF's wildlife trade policy analyst.
"We have to focus on what is the major threat and not distract ourselves with a relatively minor one. We can't be arguing for the science when it suits us and then ignore it when it doesn't suit our case." he added.
Little impact
WWF are supported by other groups including Traffic International and IUCN. But Mark Jones says the Humane Society International have broad support for their position as well.
"We're members of a very big campaigning group called the species survival network and we do believe we have a very wide consensus among groups on this particular issue." he said.
Dr Colman O'Criodain says that WWF won't actively campaign against the ban and will accept it if it is voted through. But he argues that would be a bad outcome for polar bears.
"You could say that this is just a distraction factor and that it could have the effect of making people think something has been done to address the threat when the net effect will be almost negligible." he said.
Indigenous groups in Canada are actively working against the proposed ban. And they particularly resent the fact that the US is leading the charge for change.
"The American government is using the threat of climate change to justify banning the international trade in polar bear parts while utterly failing to do anything to reduce their own activities" said James Eetoolook of the Nunavut Tunngavik, a group that represents Inuit interests.
They argue that their own research in the western Hudson Bay region carried out earlier this year indicated that bear numbers were increasing rather than declining.
Campaign groups in favour of the new ban are taking comfort from the fact that some governments are still undecided.
A spokesperson for the UK's department of the environment, farming and rural affairs added:
"We are currently considering the proposals ahead of the Conference of the Parties meeting next year."
Earlier in the year I wrote a piece for The New Writer about drafting poems. As the new year approaches I thought it might be time to dig out some of those poems in the 2012 drawer and give them an overhaul.
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Public release date: 25-Dec-2012
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