Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the AFP Defending the Dream Conference in Milwaukee, Wis., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the AFP Defending the Dream Conference in Milwaukee, Wis., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A shadow is cast on a placard by Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, as he campaigns in Metairie, La., Friday, March 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum shakes hands, signs autographs, and takes photos with supporters at his prep rally Friday, March 23, 2012, at the Holiday Inn in Shreveport, La. Twenty delegates are up for grabs in Saturday?s Republican presidential preference primary, but state party chairman Roger Villere says something else is also at stake: ?Perception of momentum.? (AP Photo/The Shreveport Times, Henrietta Wildsmith) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT SHREVEPORTTIMES.COM
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Preliminary results of an exit poll of voters in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary show Rick Santorum winning with his most dominant performance yet this year among conservatives and blue-collar voters and getting robust support from nearly all types of people.
Highlighting his strength, the former Pennsylvania senator bested Mitt Romney for the first time among those calling the economy the campaign's dominant issue.
Romney retained his usual edge among voters whose most prized characteristic in a GOP candidate is backing someone who can defeat President Barack Obama this fall. But the Massachusetts governor's margin over Santorum on that question was his slimmest yet.
Santorum was winning the votes of nearly half of conservatives, and just over half of those without college degrees ? a measure of blue-collar voters.
The Earth was a very different place 4 billion years ago: The planet was much hotter ? uninhabitable for even the hardiest forms of life ? and the familiar landscapes we know today were completely absent.
During this time, the so-called Archean Eon, the first continents were beginning to coagulate at the Earth's surface. How they got there has been one of the longest standing and most debated questions for geoscientists.
Now a team from Germany thinks it may have an answer: Rather than boiling up from the mantle, the earliest continents oozed from crust near the Earth's surface.
"This might sound a little unspectacular, but it may have serious implications as to how we think about the face of the early Earth," said team member Thorsten Nagel, a geologist at the University of Bonn.
Modeling molten mixtures
To study the oldest continental rocks, Nagel's team first had to find some.
They focused on southwestern Greenland's Isua region because it's home to some of the planet's oldest and most studied ancient rocks. What's more, Isua's old continental rocks are found next to old basalts, types of rock that makes up the ocean floor.
The Earth's oldest continental rocks probably were born from ancient, partially melted basalts, Nagel said.
Finding the two types of old rock together gave Nagel's team a chance to compare their makeup and figure out how the basalts could have melted to form the continental rocks. Basalts (and all other rocks) form different "melts" ? or molten mixtures ? at different temperatures and pressures, so the final composition of a rock is a clue to how deep within the Earth it formed.
Nagel and his team ran sets of computer experiments to see what would happen to the old Isua basalts if they melted at different depths. They modeled basalt melts at 62 miles (100 kilometers) deep ? where most geoscientists think the oldest continental rocks formed ? and melts at 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 km) deep.
The answers they got were surprising.
"A very simple model suddenly explained all the geochemical data," said Carsten Munker, a geologist from the University of Cologne, who co-authored the study.
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To subduct, or to ooze?
Using the deeper melt model ? the one that most geologists currently favor ? the predicted makeup of the old continental rocks did not match what's found at Isua. But when the team modeled melting basalts at the shallower depths, the compositions matched perfectly.
"The results could not be better," Nagel told OurAmazingPlanet. "One experiment resulted in a scarily good reproduction" of the old Isua continental rocks.
The real difference between the two models is that, in the deeper one, the early continents have to form within the mantle at a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate plunges into the mantle under another. But in the shallower model, the early continents "ooze" out at the surface of the Earth, completely within the crust, not the mantle.
The new shallower model opens the door to a fundamental question: Did the early Earth even have subduction zones?
Nagel isn't sure whether it did, but the answer to that question could change a lot of what scientists think they know about the early Earth.
"Our present-day planet and its topography, climate and the distribution of land and sea is shaped by modern plate tectonics," Nagel said. "The early Earth was certainly hotter than today, and this might have had fundamental consequences on how plate tectonics worked, ?in a hard-to-predict way."
"The way the early Earth worked might still hold a lot of surprises for us," he added.
The team's findings appear in the April issue of the journal Geology.
? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.
SAY Media launched a redesigned version?yesterday of Dogster, its community for dog owners, as well as sister site Catster. Via email, the team gave me more details about their vision and where they go from here. SAY was created after video ad company VideoEgg acquired blogging platform Six Apart. Dogster was its first acquisition, and since then SAY?been redesigning or launching sites as part of a strategy called the Clean Campaign, which emphasizes a clear editorial vision, cleaner design, and premium advertising.
At the end of China?s ritualistic annual parliament session, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao?went further than ever before in urging 'reform of the leadership system of our party and country.'
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao issued a strong call for political reform Wednesday, warning that unless the ruling Communist Party changes, China may lose its economic gains and fall back into political turmoil.
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In his swansong press conference at the end of China?s ritualistic annual parliament session, Mr. Wen went further than he had ever done before in urging ?reform of the leadership system of our party and country,??pressing a case that has so far appeared to gain little traction among his fellow leaders.
?Reform is at a critical stage,? Wen declared, and unless it moves forward ?such historical tragedies as the Cultural Revolution may happen again.
?New problems arise, including income disparity, lack of credibility and corruption, and to resolve these problems requires economic reform and political reform,? he insisted. ?This is an urgent task.?
Wen has made a name for himself as a would-be reformer and has spoken before?about the need for political reforms to promote what he called ?socialist democracy.? With one year left in office, says Beijing-based political analyst Russell Leigh Moses, ?it is clear that he is unwilling to leave the table without putting political reform onto it.?
Whether he will be successful, as a new generation of leaders prepare to take the reins in China at next autumn?s Communist Party congress, is unclear, says Dr. Moses. ?At the moment there is very little evidence to suggest that the issue is on the table front and center,? he says.
Wen also took the opportunity to strike out against one of China?s most controversial politicians, the Communist Party chief of Chongqing, in Southwestern China, Bo Xilai.?
Mr. Bo, who had until recently been considered a serious candidate for the top party leadership when it is chosen next autumn, has been hurt by a scandal involving his handpicked police chief, Wang Lijun, who is now in detention after apparently seeking asylum at a US consulate last month.
Bo had built his reputation on an anti-Mafia crackdown in Chongqing and a campaign there to revive Mao-era morality and revolutionary songs in what many saw as a nascent personality cult.
In the clearest criticism yet by a top Chinese leader of this approach, Wen took a swipe at Bo?s nostalgia for the Maoist period, which is far from fashionable in top Communist circles, stressing that ?our practice ? must be based on the experience and lessons we have learned from history, and ? must be able to stand the test of history and reality.
?We must free our minds and seek truth from facts,? he said, citing Deng Xiaoping?s famous dictum.
Bo has proved a resilient figure, and has many powerful allies in the Communist party. Wen?s unusually blunt remarks, however, suggest to most observers that Bo?s political ambitions are probably at an end.?
For any other team, trading for receiver Brandon Marshall would be viewed as a calculated risk, with a potentially high reward.? For the Bears, still only a few months away from the embarrassing revelation that receiver Sam Hurd was signed to a multi-million-dollar deal while firmly on the federal government?s radar as an aspiring Tony Montana, acquiring Marshall takes on a higher level of potential peril.
Marshall has a long history of off-field misconduct, most of which has come from his rocky relationships with women.? But he also was a central figure in the fracas that preceded the shooting death of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, and Marshall disclosed last year that he has borderline personality disorder.? (While the Bears shouldn?t avoid him for that reason, they?d better be sure that it?s under control.)
With the Bears missing what any competent security department should have easily discovered regarding Hurd, the question of whether the Bears should take a chance on Marshall now takes a back seat to whether the Bears knew or should have known about the new allegation that he punched a woman in the face over the weekend.
The league makes certain otherwise confidential information regarding players available ? on request ? if a team is considering adding that player to the roster.? Presumably, the Bears asked all the right questions.
Regardless, they now look foolish.? Either they knew about the latest off-field issue and decided to make the trade anyway or they didn?t know and appear to be even more incompetent given what happened (or, more accurately, didn?t happen) with Sam Hurd.
And so, even if there?s a way to argue that the Dolphins knew and failed to share the information with the league or the Bears, the Bears will simply be drawing more attention to their ineptitude on these matters by trying to annul the trade or otherwise demanding a partial refund or some other relief from the Dolphins.
Either way, it should make for some interesting questions at the press conference.? Perhaps the best move would be not to have one.
UPDATE 8:53 a.m. ET:? And, of course, three minutes after this item was posted, the Bears issued a statement acknowledging they knew about the situation.
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@haupt @chris_roberson But I got laid, got better at sports AND I could see Star Trek better. Contacts were life-altering, LASIK more so.il y a environ 2 heuresvia Twitter for iPhone en r?ponse ? haupt
New Health And Fitness.Org - Health Information You Can Use
Senior home care services are a rising trend for today?s elder who are known as the ?baby boomer? generation. The increase in demand results from today?s demographic, economic, and technological changes which have created a population of seniors that are living longer, healthier, and active lives.
We are not blaming the parents of yester year, however, the baby boom generation is not settling for the ?alone and invisible? scenario as their parents experienced. In taking care of their aging parents, experienced seniors know and understand the heavy burden of caretaking.
The baby boomers recognize and respect that their adult children have lives, careers, and a family of their own, which overtime may cause conflict in providing the necessary care for them. In some cases, the adult children may eventually be or unable to provide any care for them. From that lesson, today?s seniors are initiating pro-active planning for life after retirement and as they continue aging.
In bygone days, elders and their adult children lived in old-fashioned neighborhoods where a nucleus of family, friends, and neighbors have a support network that allowed them to assist each other with the caretaking of aging members of the community. The caretaking activities would have included taking the elder members to doctor appointments, grocery shopping, recreational outings, conversations, administrating medication(s), gatherings, or meal preparations. The responsibility was shared; caretaking was less stressful for the adult children and other families.
For the current society, if the adult children are unable to provide the necessary care for parents, the caregiver is often faced with searching for alternative living arrangements and/or caregiving providers such as nursing services, respite care, or assistant living facilities. Depending on the services, the cost may be astronomical, along with other barriers such as cultural, language, mis-housed in care facilities, or tolerating a young staffer?s impatience.
The most heart wrenching, challenging, and difficult barriers to care for some seniors are the required liquidation of valuable assets in order to qualify for Medicare benefits. To qualify for Medicare services, the senior must spend down all their assets to zero to receive Medicare.
Senior boomers dream of having access to affordable housing, using assets toward care, convenient services, an inter-generational community and a model that is not based solely on business but inclusive of client-centered and/or elder-friendly society. In being prepared, baby boomers can make informed decisions about the best elder care services for themselves.
Therefore, with a community created and focused on being a elder-friendly will provide the type of senior home care structure that is practical, affordable, convenient, and bundle with a stimulating social environment. Thus, a senior?s desire to live in a home of their own is fulfill.
I?m a healthcare consultant specializing in senior home care. For more resources and information, check out BrightStar.
There are several work-at-home business ideas for the future entrepreneur ? they are a dime a dozen. Work-at-home business ideas are numerous. Though business ideas in the States can be found in great the hundreds, people frequently fail to find the right kind of business opportunity. Just about the most interesting of small home based business ideas you can consider is that of online marketing. With the unemployment rate, home business ideas have become another solution for people out in the employment force working to make money and also support themselves and their families. In a recession, depression or other down times in the economy, income generating ideas seem limited.
Home businesses are becoming more and more popular with time as people struggle to make ends meet. Home businesses have become extremely popular, with a higher number of people beginning them in the 1990s and into the early 2000s than in the past. Remember that that home based businesses are by no means a recent breakthrough.
In fact, for centuries there were many companies we have been familiar with who started out life as a tiny home business run by one or two people. Home businesses have always been an economical way to start a business and also the internet has really made them even more so.
All successful internet home-based businesses are using internet marketing in one means or another in addition to more traditional methods like direct mail to market their goods. Therefore, if you want to create publicity in a big and also effective way and drive qualified traffic to your websites on a regular basis then you will should find out how to correctly utilize verified methods of internet marketing. In summary they are three home based business ideas to start and make money on rapidly.
When you home based you can make money online. Internet home based opportunities are usually abundant, but all are not at all times what they appear to be. You can work from your home online selling affiliate products so long as you have internet connection. For those who desire to start a work from home business on the internet but don?t have a merchandise or encounter, affiliate programs provide a great remedy. It is a genuine work from home chance, but it does require regular effort. Data entry jobs are some of the best jobs that you can discover online.
Want to discover more favorite friendship quotes and also how to get more of what you want with the universal laws of attraction.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2012 at 2:21 pm and is filed under internet marketers blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
EA SPORTS? SSX (Snowboard Super Cross) game franchise now has their own 59Fifty fitted baseball cap. The series first debuted in 2000. The latest chapter of the next generation snowboarding game takes players to some of the most extreme descents on the planet and tosses in a helicopter and parachute drop. The cap features an oversized SSX logo in raised embroidery. Over a Grey base, available in sizes 6-7/8 to 8 online at http://shop.neweracap.com
Mr. Obama, you run the United States, but as of April 26, 2012, Mr. Griffin III runs DC. Friday night, the Washington Redskins orchestrated quite possibly the biggest trade in the franchise's near 80-year history.
The Redskins have agreed to trade the No. 6 pick in the 2012 NFL draft, two future first-rounders, and additional picks for the Rams' No. 2 selection in April's draft, according to Jay Glazer and FoxSports.com. It is all but a guarantee that the Redskins will draft Heisman winner Robert Griffin III with that selection.
Pundits, critics, fans and abhorrent Cowboy fans will lambaste the trade, deriding the 'Skins for sacrificing too much. Yes, the 'Skins did surrender a lot. And the Rams brass looks very smart right now. Very, very smart. But if the 'Skins did not make the trade, they would have been sacrificing even more.
The Redskins have not had a franchise quarterback since the great?Joe Theismann. If the Redskins didn't pull the trigger now, they possibly risked next season, and the season after that, mired in mediocrity (or worse).
There is no guarantee the Redskins would finish with few enough wins to draft Matt Barkley in the 2013 draft. The time is now for this franchise. With RGIII, the team not only drafts talent and endless possibilities, but they draft hope. Honestly, when was the last time that Redskins fans really were filled with hope? (Keep thinking and get back to me tomorrow.)
In the world of finance, they characterize a trade of this proportion as "high risk, high reward." For my younger readers, the colloquialism of Meek Mill sums it up as "scared money don't make no money." The Redskins have gambled with their future because it was the right move at the right time.
If Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan are serious about building a contender, then the need for a franchise quarterback was by far the greatest. Friday night, Allen and Shanahan not only recognized this as the foremost need, but addressed it with a resounding solution.
Losing the additional first-rounders will hurt, but the sting on missing out on a possible franchise quarterback for the next decade-and-a-half would have been a much greater hurt. As Redskins legend George Allen would say, "the future is now."
Historic Flooding in 2011 Brought Reminder of Need for Coverage
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --?Because the risk of severe flooding increases during warmer months, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department is encouraging homeowners to consider buying flood insurance now. Pennsylvania is one of the most flood-prone states in the nation and flooding can occur at any time of year.
"Many Pennsylvanians experienced significant flooding damage last year, including some who had never before experienced water issues," Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine said. "It's a risk homeowners should reassess in light of last year's events."
When Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hit Pennsylvania last year, more than 400 homes were destroyed, 200,000 residents were displaced and 18 people died. In 2011, there were nearly 67,000 flood insurance claims filed, from the more than 70,000 policies in effect statewide. The payout was nearly $1 billion.
"You need to have flood insurance if you live in a designated flood zone, but flooding can happen inland and away from major waterways," he added. "If your home could be flooded by an overflowing creek or pond, water running down a steep hill or melting snow, you should consider buying a policy."
Importantly, homeowners insurance policies do not cover flood damage. Also, it takes 30 days for newly purchased flood insurance policies to go into effect, so the ideal time to buy a policy is long before flooding is forecast.? ??
Flood insurance premiums will vary, depending on the risk level for a flood loss. Consumers can purchase a policy for any physical damage to their property. A separate policy can also be purchased for the contents inside the home.
Foundational elements and items usually located in a basement for making a home habitable, such as furnaces and water heaters, generally are covered. Finished elements in a basement, such as paneling, rugs and furniture, are not covered.
Backed by the National Flood Insurance Program, flood insurance is available to most homeowners, renters and businesses, and can be purchased through any licensed property-casualty insurance agent.
Information on how to obtain flood insurance, and determine your risk for flooding, can be found at www.floodsmart.gov, or by calling 1-888-379-9531.
The Insurance Department also offers disaster preparedness information at www.insurance.pa.gov. ?
Media contact: Rosanne Placey or Melissa Fox, 717-787-3289
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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Managing a business is not a simple task. And it is simply not enough that you know what to do, you also have to know how to do it. Entrepreneurs like you have a lot of things to know and understand about your buyers, market, trends, competition and everything for you the manage the business successfully. And so as to do all of these areas well and effectively, you should to hire a business consultant.
There are many accomplished folks who can do business consulting. They use this as their means to help folks understand what they have to do so they can gain better and higher profits. Business consulting is employed not only by new companies; those who are already well established. Both need to gain additional information about business strategy to enhance their status on the market and create a competitive advantage over other firms. It's not enough that you know your business well and the way to run it, you also have to take a better look of the other aspects of the market so you can compete better.
Business specialists can offer you a good array of consulting services that can do great to your business. They will help you with interim management, cash & liquidity management, supply chain management, finance & cost control and asset management.
An alternative way that they can help you is by giving you audit reporting financial guidance, policy & process documentation and business mentoring. They can also do corporate troubleshooting and create your fiscal systems & procedures which you can utilize to boost your business.
Even the best business in the world often require a professional expert so they can improve themselves and adapt with the changes that are steadily going down around. An association that isn?t ready to adapt to changes will not make a great profit irrespective of how good and unique they suspect their product is. So do not hesitate to consult a business specialist regardless if you are a new or old business.
To find more on Business Consulting in your neighborhood, visit this Online Advertising Directory.
A towering dust devil casts a serpentine shadow over the Martian surface in this image, acquired on Feb. 16 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
By Alan Boyle
A Martian mini-tornado caught on camera by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter brings new meaning to the word "twister."
This isn't the first dust devil to show up on Martian imagery. The whirlwinds have been photographed by NASA probes for more than 30 years, and in some places, the Red Planet's landscape is heavily crisscrossed by dust devil tracks. In 2005, the Spirit rover's time-lapse view of multiple dust devils was made into a movie. But this picture, taken on Feb. 16 as the orbiter passed over the Amazonia Planitia region of northern Mars, has to rank among the most artistic of the dust devil delights.
Scientists estimate that the dust devil rose to a height of more than half a mile (800 meters), with a plume that's about 30 yards (meters) in diameter. A westerly breeze adds a delicate arc to the plume, and the afternoon sun creates a curving, stretched-out shadow.
Dust devils on Mars, like their cousins on Earth, are spinning columns of air that are made visible by the dust they stir up. They typically arise on a clear day when the ground is heated by the sun. As the atmospheric layer near the surface warms, air rises through a pocket in the cooler layer above it, taking on a spin when the conditions are just right.
Martian air is much thinner than our earthly atmosphere, and composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide. But the Red Planet's winds can still pack a huge punch. Over the years, NASA's rovers have benefited from wind-driven "cleaning events" that sweep the dust off their power-generating solar panels. Last month, the Opportunity rover underwent a slight cleaning that put it in a better position to endure the Martian winter ? which just goes to show that a devil can be an angel on the Red Planet.
More from Mars:
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Last week I speculated that in order for Valve?s Steam digital game service to remain on top, it needed to embrace streaming games just like OnLive and Gaikai offer. However, there is another route Valve could take that I didn?t consider, and it is looking increasingly likely to happen.
Valve is thought to be planning the release of a game console called the Steam Box. The machine would basically offer up access to Steam and all its games in console form on your TV. Not only that, but it would also be compatible with competing services such as EA?s Origin digital games service.
The hardware is based on the Alienware X51 and includes a Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, and a Nvidia GPU solution. That combination makes it capable of playing every game Steam has to offer, as well as most, if not all future titles for a couple of years at least.
Supporting other digital gaming services would certainly make this a more desirable piece of kit to consumers, but Valve is apparently going further than that. It doesn?t actually want to handle the hardware side itself, and instead wants to have hardware partners who follow the spec and use Steam to run the system. That means we could see Steam Box implementations from multiple companies and therefore some serious pricing competition.
Developers will also be happy if this turns out to be real as they suddenly have a static platform to develop PC games on. Apparently Valve won?t be asking for any licensing fees either, so it?s the equivalent of the App Store for PC games where Valve just take a cut of every sale. But as is typical with gaming PCs, they can expect and prepare for a Steam Box hardware refresh every 4 years or so.
Of course, this is all rumor and speculation for now, but Gabe Newell has made it very clear that Valve isn?t against selling hardware. They also used GDC 2011 to announce big picture mode for Steam on HDTVs. That hasn?t been released, but would be integral to the Steam Box.
The one big question that remains is how much a Steam Box would cost? Valve already has the games library in place, and finding hardware partners for typical PC hardware won?t be hard. For it to work though, we?d have to see a price point on a par with the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Maybe we?ll see a $250-$300 Steam Box appearing this summer at E3. However, with the Alienware X51 starting at $699, that?s going to be very tough to achieve.
Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen, some wearing army uniforms, raged through a western Iraq city Monday in a pre-dawn shooting spree that killed 27 policemen, including two officers killed execution-style.
The assault, launched at about 2:00 am (2300 GMT on Sunday), saw insurgents dressed in military uniforms simultaneously attacking two checkpoints in the east and west of Haditha before storming other security posts and raiding the homes of the two officers.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the killings, telling reporters: "These attacks are again a blatant attempt by extremists to undermine the progress that Iraq is trying to make."
Monday's violence, the deadliest in Iraq since February 23, comes just weeks before an Arab League summit due to be held in Baghdad at the end of the month, preparation for which has been completed, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.
"We received 27 dead bodies, all of them policemen, and treated three policemen who were wounded," Fadhil al-Nimrawi, director of Haditha's hospital, told AFP. He added that the hospital also received the body of a gunman.
Anbar security chief Lieutenant General Abdulaziz Mohammed Jassim was fired in the wake of the attacks, deputy provincial council head Saadun Obeid Shaalan told AFP.
Haditha police spokesman Major Tareq Sayeh Hardan described the attack as beginning when "several armed men wearing security uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants attacked several checkpoints."
"Al-Qaeda is responsible for this," Hardan said, noting that investigators found Al-Qaeda literature in a vehicle that the attackers left behind.
Officers offered conflicting accounts of whether the attackers were riding in stolen army vehicles, or 4x4s with fabricated insignia.
Security forces in the town imposed a vehicle curfew and shut down several main roads, an AFP journalist said, while reinforcements were being called in from the rest of Anbar province as police and soldiers hunted for the attackers.
According to police Lieutenant Colonel Owaid Khalaf, who said he was involved in some of Monday's firefights, the gunmen first attacked checkpoints at the eastern and western edges of Haditha.
"They then entered the town and were distributed throughout Haditha, where other gunmen were waiting for them in civilian cars," said Khalaf.
"More than 50 gunmen altogether started attacking checkpoints all over the town," he added, noting that at least one attacker was killed in the gunfights.
Khalaf said the attackers also targeted two senior police officers' homes -- Colonel Mohammed Hussein Shofair and Captain Khaled Mohammed Sayil. They killed three bodyguards at each of the officer's houses, and kidnapped both.
Shofair's body was found in a Haditha marketplace and Sayil was discovered in an alleyway, blindfolded with fatal gunshots to the head.
The attack in Haditha, 210 kilometres (130 miles) northeast of Baghdad, is the first major instance of violence in the town since a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bank, killing nine people and wounding eight others in March 2011.
Monday was Iraq's deadliest day since a wave of attacks killed 42 people on February 23, and the first major attack on security forces since a suicide bomber struck a Baghdad police academy on February 19.
The violence comes ahead of a March 29 Arab League summit in Baghdad, the first non-emergency meeting of the 22-nation body to be held in the Iraqi capital in more than 30 years.
Talabani said in a statement on Monday that preparations for the summit were complete, "and Baghdad is now ready to receive the Arab leaders."
Haditha is in western Sunni Arab Anbar province. It was one of several towns along the Euphrates valley that became Al-Qaeda strongholds after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
However, in 2006, local Sunni tribes sided with the US military and unrest dwindled in Anbar as rebel fighters were ejected from the region.
Violence across the country is down from its peaks in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 150 Iraqis were killed in February, according to official figures.
Ethnic diversity in public organizations important for democracyPublic release date: 5-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nazem Tahvilzadeh nazem.tahvilzadeh@spa.gu.se 46-070-791-3658 University of Gothenburg
Politicians are supposed to represent the citizens. Yet public officials also represent groups they belong to and identify with, according to a new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
'Public administrators are affected by their group affiliations and life experiences. If you have an immigrant background, it's going to affect how you do your job as a public official,' says Nazem Tahvilzadeh, researcher at the School of Public Administration and author of the thesis.
The study is based on interviews with 12 minority administrators in five municipalities. Their positions varied from local government heads and administrative directors to integration strategists. Tahvilzadeh also interviewed politicians, colleagues of the minority administrators and representatives from local organisations.
The results show that administrators represent similar to politicians the groups with which they identify. This representation can be observed when they support and guide certain individuals and when they try to bring issues related to integration and diversity to the political agenda. The minority administrators act this way because they care about and identify with minority groups, and because their roles as public administrators offer opportunities for advocacy. This occurs in particular when issues regarding the multi-cultural society are politicised in local politics.
'Public officials are often portrayed as neutral and impartial in the public debate,' says Tahvilzadeh. 'But the results of the study clearly show that administrators often serve important political roles. Public administrators have good prospects of first affecting the decisions that are made and then influencing how they are implemented.'
Public authorities have a responsibility to promote democracy and rule of law. This implies that all citizens should be treated equally and should be given opportunities to affect their everyday lives. However, what goes on in a municipal building in the end depends on the individuals who work there.
'My study confirms what many American studies have found, that public administrators are affected by their group affiliations and life experiences. If the public administration would consist of only Swedish-born white males from white-collar homes, then many perspectives and political interests would be absent in the political process,' says Tahvilzadeh.
Ethnic diversity is an important factor in a democracy. And since public administrators are influencing the political process, sometimes even more than politicians, it is important that the make-up of those who work in the public sector reflects the population at large.
'The diversity debate has for some reason focused on efficiency gains,' says Tahvilzadeh. 'From a democracy perspective, it is at least as important to achieve a representative administration.'
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Ethnic diversity in public organizations important for democracyPublic release date: 5-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nazem Tahvilzadeh nazem.tahvilzadeh@spa.gu.se 46-070-791-3658 University of Gothenburg
Politicians are supposed to represent the citizens. Yet public officials also represent groups they belong to and identify with, according to a new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
'Public administrators are affected by their group affiliations and life experiences. If you have an immigrant background, it's going to affect how you do your job as a public official,' says Nazem Tahvilzadeh, researcher at the School of Public Administration and author of the thesis.
The study is based on interviews with 12 minority administrators in five municipalities. Their positions varied from local government heads and administrative directors to integration strategists. Tahvilzadeh also interviewed politicians, colleagues of the minority administrators and representatives from local organisations.
The results show that administrators represent similar to politicians the groups with which they identify. This representation can be observed when they support and guide certain individuals and when they try to bring issues related to integration and diversity to the political agenda. The minority administrators act this way because they care about and identify with minority groups, and because their roles as public administrators offer opportunities for advocacy. This occurs in particular when issues regarding the multi-cultural society are politicised in local politics.
'Public officials are often portrayed as neutral and impartial in the public debate,' says Tahvilzadeh. 'But the results of the study clearly show that administrators often serve important political roles. Public administrators have good prospects of first affecting the decisions that are made and then influencing how they are implemented.'
Public authorities have a responsibility to promote democracy and rule of law. This implies that all citizens should be treated equally and should be given opportunities to affect their everyday lives. However, what goes on in a municipal building in the end depends on the individuals who work there.
'My study confirms what many American studies have found, that public administrators are affected by their group affiliations and life experiences. If the public administration would consist of only Swedish-born white males from white-collar homes, then many perspectives and political interests would be absent in the political process,' says Tahvilzadeh.
Ethnic diversity is an important factor in a democracy. And since public administrators are influencing the political process, sometimes even more than politicians, it is important that the make-up of those who work in the public sector reflects the population at large.
'The diversity debate has for some reason focused on efficiency gains,' says Tahvilzadeh. 'From a democracy perspective, it is at least as important to achieve a representative administration.'
###
[ | 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.
What are age-old formula for big income that also functions these days which is used by lots of very affiliate marketers;
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Thinking about taking your family on a Christmas vacation?
Although it has long been tradition to wait at home for Santa to arrive, a number of American families spend Christmas away from home each year. Christmas vacations are becoming more and more popular and you will likely find that there is a wide variety of fun holiday vacations available to you.
What better place to visit during the holiday season than the North Pole ? North Pole, New York that is.
Located in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, North Pole is one of the most magical places to visit during your Christmas vacation. Perfect for kids and kids at heart, North Pole is open for five weekends prior to Christmas during November and December.
Visitors are offered Christmas vacation packages that include meals, lodging, and admission to Santa?s workshop. Santa?s Village features shops where you can find the perfect souvenir from your Christmas vacation. There is often live music to keep the crowds entertained and you and your family can enjoy watching glassblowers, puppet shows and other holiday entertainment.
If New York state seems a little far from the real North Pole, try getting a little closer to the real thing by visiting North Pole, Alaska on your Christmas vacation. The Alaskan vacation package also includes a visit to Santa?s house in the North Pole. Also offered is an optional dog sled ride through Santa?s village in the North Pole. Enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience as you race through the magical North Pole on an authentic Alaskan dog sled. Like the vacation package in North Pole, New York, the Alaskan North Pole offers one or two night stays during weekends.
The Alaskan North Pole Christmas vacation includes hotel accommodations in nearby Fairbanks and at the Chena Hot Springs Resort. There is also lodging available at the Santaland RV Park. The Santa House also offers a large store where guests to the North Pole can find every type of souvenir from ?I Believe in Santa? hats to ?Santa Claus Crossing? signs and refrigerator magnets. Whether you are two or ninety-two the magic of Christmas in North Pole, Alaska will have you believing in Saint Nick.
If you are traveling before or during the Christmas season, then consider Hershey, Pennsylvania as your vacation destination. The home of Hershey?s candy, Hershey Park becomes home to Christmas Candyland, where over one million Christmas lights are put on display. In addition to the lights, the staff at Hershey Park constructs a number of animated displays that are sure to delight both you are your children.
Christmas Candyland is undoubtedly one of the most exciting Christmas time getaways for kids young and old. In addition to Christmas Candyland guests can enjoy the rest of the Park. Hershey Park is a popular destination for travelers year round, as it offers a wide variety of both entertainment and great candy. Christmas Candyland typically runs for a month prior to Christmas.
If your family has never taken a Disney vacation, Christmastime may be the perfect time to do it. In addition to enjoying the Walt Disney World parade which is televised each year from Disney World in Orlando, Florida, your kids will also enjoy seeing all their favorite Disney characters decked out in their Santa hats and Christmas outfits. There are also a number of special Christmas time shows put on in the parks including Mickey Mouse?s ?Twas the Night Before Christmas and Belle?s Enchanted Christmas Storytelling.
These Christmas activities can be great for young children. Giant Christmas trees are erected throughout the parks and lit up with thousands of Christmas lights, bringing the spirit of Christmas alive throughout the already magical Disney World. The weeks around the Christmas season are also times where lodging rates at Disney World resorts are typically lower than the peak season rates.
By traveling during the Christmas season you are likely to get tons of fun at a reduced price. The weather in central Florida during the Christmas season is typically in the mid-70s, a great change of pace if you are used to cold, wintry Christmas seasons. Santa?s sleigh may have some trouble landing without snow but the magic of the Christmas season is alive and well at Disney World.
Did you enjoy this article, here are two other of Arthur Lavache?s recently made articles What is a Travel Agency and Traveling Cheap !
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Public release date: 5-Mar-2012
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