Mitt Romney doubled down on his position against same sex marriage, telling graduates at Liberty University Saturday that marriage between "one man and one woman" is an "enduring institution" that should be defended.Coming just days after President Obama endorsed the right of gays and lesbians to marry, the comment earned Romney a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 30,000 people—the ...
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Romney Defends Marriage and Faith in Liberty University Speech
NEW YORK (AP) The New York Liberty are coming back to Madison Square Garden earlier than planned.
The WNBA team's season opener on May 19 has been moved from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., because it will be used that day for Game 3 of the NHL playoff series between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.
Because of scheduled renovations during the summer at the Garden, the Liberty's home games - other than the opener - will be played at the Prudential Center for the second season of a three-year stretch until work is completed.
Ticket holders for the Liberty's game against the Connecticut Sun will be contacted by the team with details on how to get new tickets for the Garden.
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11-05-2012 16:31
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Libertarian Solution - Barry Short: End Alcohol Prohibition - Video
11-05-2012 16:37
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Libertarian Solution - Fred Stitt: End Government Electric Monopoly - Video
11-05-2012 16:54
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Libertarian Solution - Elizabeth B: Your Right to Self-Defense - Video
11-05-2012 17:00
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Libertarian Solution - Scott Spencer: Opt out of Gov. Regulation - Video
Former GOP Gov. Gary Johnson pulled an end run to get into the presidential elections by switching to the Libertarian Party and winning the party's nomination. But Johnson still faces the same challenge he had as a Republican -- trying to get to debate the top candidates.
The Commission on Presidential Debates tells Fox News a final determination will be made in early fall. But Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who supports gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana, appears to be facing long odds.
"We know what the challenges are," campaign spokesman Joe Hunter said Saturday. "To get the attention we believe we deserve, we have to stay relevant, say things that get people's attention."
Hunter said that like other third-party or second-tier candidates, Johnson has relied on the Internet to get out his message and on grassroots efforts, including a burgeoning unofficial campaign called Let Me Speak to get him into the debates.
Johnson, highlighting his outside-the-GOP-mainstream position, called out President Obama this week for supporting gay marriage, but saying it should remain a state issue.
"When the smoke clears, gay Americans will realize the president's words have gained them nothing," Johnson said in a blog post. "Millions of Americans in most states will continue to be denied true marriage equality. What is the President saying -- that he would eat a piece of cake at a gay wedding if the state the happy couple lives in allows it?"
Johnson was essentially shut out of the GOP debates for failing to garner even 1 percent of the popular vote until an exception was made and he was allowed to participate in two debates cosponsored by Fox News.
The criteria of getting in the presidential debates is that a candidate must be constitutionally eligible, which means being a natural-born U.S. citizen who is at least 35 and has lived in the country for 14 years. The other two rules are the candidate must be on enough state ballots to "at least have a mathematical chance" of getting the majority of Electoral College votes, which would be a minimum 270, and have at least 15 percent of the popular vote.
Johnson appears to be on the ballot in all 50 states, but getting 15 percent of the vote appears unlikely.
A committee official said earlier this week that Gallup will take the average of five national polls to determine the percentages for candidates. The non-partisan group has in years past made the announcement in September.
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Johnson gets Libertarian nomination but still faces debate challenge
"Are you going to cut me off?" "Yes, I am."
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Libertarian MSNBC Guest Gets Mic Cut Off for Refusing to Debate ‘Non-Story’
INDIANAPOLIS -
Indiana Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Rupert Boneham says he'll have more differences with the Republican and Democratic candidates than they will with each other and expects he'll gain support despite a spartan campaign operation.
Boneham told newspaper editors at the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors meeting on Saturday that his 20 years of running mentorship programs for youths gives him a unique perspective on what he calls the burdens of state government.
Boneham says Republican Mike Pence and Democrat John Gregg will take similar positions in their campaigns and that he'll pick up support as voters across the state learn that he is a serious candidate.
Boneham gained attention as a star in the "Survivor" TV reality series, winning $1 million in 2004 when he was voted the fan favorite.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This story may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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MEDIA RELEASE
Date: 11 May 2012
Feature Article
Islands in the sky conserving the cloud forests of Samoa
The cloud forest of Savaii could look like a wildlife scene out of a David Attenborough nature film next week, once biodiversity specialists and community members set up camp in untouched forestlands to conduct a special survey of the flora and fauna.
Known as the BIORAP, this project is the Rapid Biological Survey of the plants, birds and animals; the kaleidoscope of living creatures that inhabit the forests of Savaii. It will be the first time for the biodiversity in these cloud forests to be properly surveyed.
The BIORAP is very much a joint partner initiative that involves the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Conservation International, New Zealand Department of Conservation and the NZ Defence Force, as well as several other cooperating agencies. Funding is being provided by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.
A select team of wildlife biologists and locals will venture into approximately 65,000 hectares of cloud forest owned by village communities on Savaii, who are responsible for the care and stewardship of these natural resources.
Samoa, in particular Savaii, is of special biodiversity significance with the island ranked 23rd out of 226 South Pacific Islands in terms of conservation value. Savaiis forest ecosystem has been rated by Conservation International as one of two hotspots for biodiversity in Samoa and, it has also been said that the Savaii cloud forests are the largest remaining intact high-altitude forests in Polynesia.
The cloud forests could hold the key to the survival of the Samoan Woodhen punae which has not been recorded since 1873. A detailed survey of the habitat could also confirm the conservation of the tooth-billed pigeon manumea and even more exciting is the prospect of the project team discovering a new species.
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Islands in the sky – conserving the cloud forests of Samoa
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Moral rides tour-record putting effort to lead at Madeira Islands Open
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UpdatedMay 11, 2012 9:38 AM ET
Oliver Wilson of England boosted his hopes of capturing a first European Tour victory in shooting a second-round 65 on Friday to take a one-shot clubhouse lead at the Madeira Islands Open.
Wilson, who has nine second-place finishes in his tour career, moved to a 13-under par 131 with seven birdies on the mountainous Santa da Serra course.
''I again played really nice and no bogeys after two rounds is always very pleasing,'' Wilson said. ''I am just trying to play sensible and felt also that I left a few out there.''
Wilson, 31, competed in the 2008 Ryder Cup but lost his main tour card at the end of last year after finishing 130th.
His effort in Madeira is his lowest opening 36-hole tally since a pair of 66s over the first two days of the 2010 Hong Kong Open.
Wilson kick-started his second round in style when he chipped in from 15 feet and then birdied the next from six inches.
''To start in that manner was great and gave me the momentum I needed,'' he said. ''But there is a long way to go and the low scoring is going to carry on so I am going to have to keep going forward, and going forward low.''
The Swedish duo of Magnus Carlsson and 19-year old Joakim Lagergren, who both recorded rounds of 66, are joint second on 12 under.
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Published: 7:46AM Saturday May 12, 2012 Source: ONE News
Sir Geoffrey Henry - Source: ONE News
The state funeral of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Henry has been held today.
The 71-year-old, who served as prime minister for 10 years, lost his battle with cancer on Thursday.
He became leader of the Cook Islands Party (CIP) in 1979 after his cousin Albert Henry was forced to resign over using Government money to fly in voters from New Zealand.
Sir Geoffrey remained leader of the party until 2006 and was twice prime minister of the Cook Islands - for seven months in 1983, and again from 1989 until 1999.
He resigned as prime minister in July 1999 rather than face the break-up of the CIP due to party dissidents who opposed both his leadership and the nation's growing debt of more than $100 million.
Desperate to raise funds, Sir Geoffrey issued letters of guarantee for (US) $1.1 billion.
New Zealand was forced to step in and implement harsh measures in order to stop the country from going bankrupt. An independent report found that the Cook Islands were a gullible victim in a fraud which could have cost the nation all of its assets.
Despite the turmoil, Sir Geoffrey will be remembered for his support behind the Cook Islands protest against French nuclear testing and his fierce nationalism.
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May 11 (Infostrada Sports) - Leading second round scoresfrom the Madeira Islands Open at the par-72 course in Santo da Serra on Friday. ...
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May 12 (Infostrada Sports) - Leading third-round scores fromthe Madeira Islands Open at the par-72 course on Saturday inSanto da Serra 199 Carlos Del Moral (Spain) 69 67 63 202 Joakim Lagergren (Sweden) 66 66 70 203 Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 69 70 64 Ricardo Santos (Portugal) 68 67 68 Magnus Carlsson (Sweden) 66 66 71 Oliver Wilson (Britain) 66 65 72 204 Andreas Harto (Denmark) 67 71 66 Richard ...
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SANTO DA SERRA, Madeira Islands (AP) Oliver Wilson of England shot a 7-under 65 Friday to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Madeira Islands Open.
He has nine second-place finishes on the European Tour but has yet to win. He lost his main tour card at the end of last year
Wilson is at 13-under 131 on the mountainous Santa da Serra course. Tied for second are Sweden's Magnus Carlsson (66) and 19-year old Joakim Lagergren (66) and England's Andy Sullivan (64).
The tournament is being played on a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles west of Morocco.
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Ive written before about ancient diseases of the ice age, but this time Im going even further back in time, to diseases that were present in the first human-like hominids. Although many human infections only developed after human settlements and animal domistication, early human ancestors would still have been fighting off bacteria and other nasty diseases. Some of these diseases are still around today.
So how do you start exploring the age of bacteria, and trying to discover when they developed as a human-infecting species? One way to look for the age and relatedness of strains is by looking at the bacterial DNA and examining the rate of mutations that cause very small differences between bacterial strains (single nucleotide polymorphism shown in the image below). It is also possible to identify pseudogenes within the bacteria little bits of viral DNA or bacterial genes that became redundant due to a change in the bacterial lifestyle (for example genes for extracellular lifestyle that started decaying and mutating once the bacteria became fully intracellular). These can be dated using the molecular clock which assumes a steady rate of background mutation and can provide approximations of the age of genes.
Image by David Hall (Gringer). Created using Inkscape v0.45.1. Taken from wikimedia commons, credit link above.
The disease leprosy, caused by Mycobacteria leprae, has recently undergone this analysis and raised some interesting questions about its origins and spread. Although first recorded in humans around 600BC in India, the molecular evidence point to it being far older, possibly originating in Africa during thePaleolithic period. The lack of genetic variation between leprosy strains also points to a genetic bottleneck in the past. This is likely to have been caused by the bacterias low rate of infection. Despite the huge amount of social stigma associated with it leprosy is not highly infectious and could easily have been almost completely lost among early human societies.
Another bacteria to have gone through the genetic analysis is Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria responsible for whooping cough. Originally thought to have passed to humans via a similar species found in domestic animals, the molecular evidence once again suggests that it has been around since before animals were first domesticated. Instead it may have evolved from the bacteria B. bronchiseptica which was present around 2.5 million years ago with a preference for infecting hominids. This makes a rather neat little story of a bacteria adapting to fit the changing hominids as they became human and evolving specifically to fit the human niche (image below by Nathan Reading)
A rather beautiful picture of B. pertussis colonies growing on agar supplemented with charcoal (to provide extra carbon)
Although this research produces some exciting outcomes, it shouldnt be taken as the last word on bacterial origins as it does sometimes come up with some questionable results. Trying to combine SNP analysis results with the molecular clock dating of pseudogenes creates some interesting paradoxes, such as pseudogenes within M. leprae that arose over 9 billion years ago, when modern humans have only existed since approximately250,000 years ago! What is clear however is that not all diseases can be blamed on cities and animal domestication, and that some bacteria were infecting humans back when Homo sapiens was still an exciting new species to be. Deeper genome sequencing analysis andfurtherwork on dating the pseudogenes could give a fascinating look into the development of human diseases from the times of ourearliestancestors.
Ref 1: Trueba G, & Dunthorn M (2012). Many neglected tropical diseases may have originated in the Paleolithic or before: new insights from genetics. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 6 (3) PMID: 22479653
Ref 2: Monot, M., Honor, N., Garnier, T., Zidane, N., Sherafi, D., Paniz-Mondolfi, A., Matsuoka, M., Taylor, G., Donoghue, H., Bouwman, A., Mays, S., Watson, C., Lockwood, D., Khamispour, A., Dowlati, Y., Jianping, S., Rea, T., Vera-Cabrera, L., Stefani, M., Banu, S., Macdonald, M., Sapkota, B., Spencer, J., Thomas, J., Harshman, K., Singh, P., Busso, P., Gattiker, A., Rougemont, J., Brennan, P., & Cole, S. (2009). Comparative genomic and phylogeographic analysis of Mycobacterium leprae Nature Genetics, 41 (12), 1282-1289 DOI: 10.1038/ng.477
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Certain DNA variants associated with microbial types
Web edition : Friday, May 11th, 2012
COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. Microbes arent completely the boss of their human hosts. Peoples genes may have a say in which microbes come to live in and on the human body, a new study suggests.
Recent research has shown that the mix of microbes living in and on the human body is associated with some diseases. But exactly what determines which microbes settle a particular human host has been a mystery. Diet and geography are partially responsible, but the part human genetics plays in determining the microbial mix on the body has been unclear.
We know there is a genetic component, says Ran Blekhman, a geneticist at Cornell University. Were just not sure how big it is.
To find out, Blekhman and his colleagues turned to data collected by the Human Microbiome Project, an effort to genetically catalog the microbes living in and on the human body. Though the project looks for bacterial DNA in swabs of skin, mouths, feces and other sources, some human genetic material is shed in the samples too. The researchers combed the bacterial DNA data for traces of human DNA contamination, and found enough to reconstruct genetic profiles of 100 people.
Comparing the human and bacterial data revealed 51 different human genetic variants that are associated with the relative abundance of certain bacteria living in or on 15 body sites. Some of those genetic variants and the microbes they were associated with have also been linked to diseases. People with a genetic variant near the PCSK2 gene, which is involved in producing insulin, have more Bacteroides bacteria in their intestines, Blekhman reported May 9 at the Biology of Genomes meeting. That same genetic variant has been linked to type 2 diabetes. So has an overabundance of Bacteroides.
People who have a version of the CXCL12 gene previously associated with inflammatory diseases also carry more Granulicatella bacteria on their skin. Those bacteria have previously been linked to skin inflammation.
The findings present a chicken-versus-egg problem, Blekhman says. Still undetermined is if the bacteria are triggering disease in people who carry certain genetic variants, or if the diseases caused by genetic variants lead to more growth of some types of bacteria.
Doctors might be able to use bacterial mixes as markers that patients are at risk of getting certain diseases, says Benjamin Voight, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania. But first the researchers will need to establish a convincing statistical argument that genes, diseases and microbes are linked. There are arrows pointing in the right direction, Voight says. Its an interesting observation.
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