Monumental Mistakes

Sculpture of former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, pictured on Oct. 22, 2012, in Mexico City

Last August, a statue of Heydar Aliyev, who ruled Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003, was erected along Mexico City's grand Paseo de la Reforma, in a park renamed the ?Mexico-Azerbaijan Friendship Park.? Around the same time, the Azerbaijani government built a second monument in a different park in memory of Azeri villagers killed by Armenian forces in 1992; the plaque in front of the statue refers to the massacre as a ?genocide.? Azerbaijan had renovated both public spaces at a cost of about $5.4 million.

The inauguration of the Aliyev monument was attended by several top Mexican government officials, including the mayor. But the Mexican public, then engrossed in a presidential election campaign, paid little attention to a statue of a man who once led a country 8,000 miles away.

When the nouveau riche attempt to use their money to buy respect and prestige, it often backfires. Such was the case of the Azerbaijani government?s effort to honor its former president. Because once Mexico City residents became aware of the statue that had risen in their midst, they saw the effort for what it was: an authoritarian government clumsily trying to buy influence and whitewash the legacy of a dictator.

This past weekend it ended in humiliation for Azerbaijan, when city workers, guarded by 200 police in riot gear, loaded the monument onto a flatbed truck in the middle of the night and carted it away. ?Now everybody talks about Azerbaijan, but in a bad way,? said Guillermo Osorno, a prominent journalist and member of a government commission appointed to study the monuments.

Aliyev's legacy is a complex one. Most Azeris credit him with leading their country, an oil-rich ex-Soviet republic wedged in between Russia and Iran, out of a deep crisis in the 1990s, when Azerbaijan's economy collapsed and the country lost a disastrous war with Armenia. Aliyev's steady hand put the country on a path to prosperity; the country enjoyed double-digit GDP growth for more than a decade. But he was also a ruthless dictator, true to his roots as a former head of Soviet Azerbaijan's KGB.

Azerbaijan is now led by Aliyev's son, Ilham, who has aggressively built up a cult of personality to his father. Heydar Aliyev's presence is ubiquitous in Azerbaijan. Posters and billboards of the ex-president look down at citizens everywhere, every city has a major street named after him, and there are more than 60 museums and cultural centers across the country that bear his name. In 2008, Baku State University created a ?Department of Aliyev Studies.?

The Heydar Aliyev sculpture

Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

But the internationalization of his cult of personality is a newer development. Over the last several years, Azerbaijan has arranged for at least 14 statues of Aliyev to be erected around the world, mainly in the Middle East and the former communist world. Mexico City's was the one farthest away from Azerbaijan and the first in the Western hemisphere.

Along with the Aliyev cult of personality, Azerbaijan also has been trying to advance its own interpretation of disputed recent history. In particular, it has sought international recognition of the 1992 massacre of hundreds of Azeri civilians in the village of Khojaly as a genocide. While certainly a war crime, the massacre?by official Azerbaijani accounts, 485 were killed?falls several orders of magnitude short of what is conventionally considered an attempt to wipe out an entire people. The massacre took place during the war over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan ultimately lost and the recapture of which is now the country?s top priority. So the real aim of the Khojaly campaign appears to be a weakening of Armenia's greatest claim to moral authority: its own genocide, when between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915.

Until recently, Azerbaijan had been making good progress in advancing its agenda in Mexico. Mexico's Senate in 2011 passed a resolution calling Khojaly a ?genocide,? one of only a handful of governments in the world to do so. (Mexico has never formally recognized the events of 1915 as such.) The same year, Mexico City's Museum of Memory and Tolerance hosted an event commemorating Khojaly.

But Azerbaijan seems to have overreached with the Aliyev statue. The monument initially drew little notice?as early as April, four months before it was erected, the Azerbaijani Embassy said it wanted a monument to Aliyev in the park. But the controversy only began in early September, a couple of weeks after the statue?s inauguration.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=7b6dff9e145948d47b6d57e9ba6f31d3

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The Engadget Mobile Podcast: BlackBerry 10 edition, live at 4pm ET!

We're not saying that the entire podcast will dedicated to today's launch of BlackBerry 10, but let's face it -- that's the news of the week, and there's a lot to talk about. We're hoping to be joined by some special guests as we discuss the new phones and what it means for the future of RIM. Regardless of who joins us, however, it's going to be a great podcast, so make sure to tune in!

January 30, 2013 4:00 PM EST

Filed under: Announcements, Mobile, RIM

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yRdvf97cUWg/

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Common genetic alteration found in head and neck cancers may not be key to effective treatment

Jan. 29, 2013 ? Although a large majority of head and neck cancers have a deregulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, data recently published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, indicated that deregulation of this pathway does not necessarily signify that the tumor is dependent on it for survival and progression.

Cancer, particularly of the head and neck, is highly heterogeneous, with a large number of genetic alterations rendering it resistant to specific targeted treatments. Because cancer is linked to genetic abnormalities, genomic and proteomic biomarkers are currently being used to design targeted therapeutic intervention for a variety of cancer indications.

Research has shown the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is deregulated in a large majority of solid tumors. Treatment with mTOR inhibitors results in robust activity in certain cancer cell lines, but they are not effective in all patients. Researchers are currently using biomarkers to try to stratify patients for response to mTOR inhibitors.

"However, these technologies have limited success due to their inherent limitations in lack of clarity in distinguishing driver mutations in pathways from those of passengers," said Pradip K. Majumder, Ph.D., of the division of cancer biology at Mitra Biotech, Bangalore, India.

Majumder and colleagues used a systems biology approach called tumor explant model to distinguish driver mutations, or those that are critical for a tumor's survival, from passenger mutations. This distinction is important for stratifying patients for current treatments and for developing novel rational combinations of anticancer agents.

The researchers collected fresh tumor tissue from 22 patients with head and neck cancers and conducted ex-vivo explant experiments. They were able to identify responders to rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor. However, a majority of the tumor samples did not have an antitumor effect after treatment with the mTOR inhibitor, possibly because rapamycin is known to activate the AKT pathway.

To combat the AKT pathway activation, Majumder and colleagues treated the tumor samples with rapamycin in combination with an AKT inhibitor. Rapamycin-induced AKT activation was reversed, but a subset of patients still failed to respond.

"While few tumors are dependent on only mTOR, others are dependent on both mTOR and AKT," Majumder said. "However, a majority of the mTOR pathway-activated tumors seemed to not be dependent on this axis for survival or maintenance."

Targeted phosphoproteomic characterization of tumors resistant to dual AKT/mTOR inhibitors showed that multiple pathways were supporting the tumors' proliferation and survival and likely responsible for treatment resistance. This approach of combining ex vivo functional analyses with molecular profiling could potentially be used to stratify patients for appropriate combination therapy, according to Majumder.

"A majority of anticancer drugs fail in the phase II efficacy stage of clinical development due to a lack of technologies to identify and appropriately stratify patients according to their tumor pathway dependence," Majumder said. "Using this approach, researchers may be able to develop a translational tool for further clinical development of novel anticancer drugs."

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Journal Reference:

1. Padhma Radhakrishnan, Ulaganathan Baraneedharan, Subhadra Veluchamy, Muthu Dhandapani, Dency D. Pinto, Saravanan Thiyagarajan, Allen Thayakumar, Arun Prasath, Kamal A, Ayyappan Velu, Misti Jain, Nilesh Brijwani, Prasad Narayanan, Vikram D. Kekatpure, Biswanath Majumder,. Inhibition of Rapamycin-Induced AKT Activation Elicits Differential Antitumor Response in Head and Neck Cancers. Cancer Res, January 29, 2013 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-2545

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/sVPRNYggTeY/130129144751.htm

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?Storage Wars: Texas?: Treasure Inside A Secret Compartment

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Source: http://www.scooprocket.com/odd-2/2013/01/30/storage-wars-texas-treasure-inside-a-secret-compartment/

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David Mamet, Michael Savage, Max Kampelman and the Politics of Conversion

Political evolutions are commonplace. The liberal college student becomes a conservative adult. The conservative adult grows more liberal on gay rights. The French orator Francois Guizot said of the anti-monarchists of his day "Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head". It?s a quote that?s been reworked a gazillion times since. It?s one dear to the heart of neoconservatives many of whom began as devotees of Trotsky and ended up embracing Reagan.

There are conversions that we may not like--Arianna Huffington from right to left or Norman Podhoretz from left to right--but which are considered and understandable. And then there are conversions that seem harder to fathom. See the cover of Newsweek where the much lauded playwright, author and producer David Mamet challenges gun control.

There are any number of coherent, intellectual and constitutional arguments to be made against the president?s proposals to limit magazine size and ban certain types of weapons as well as to expand the background check program. ?Mamet foregoes any reasonable argument for a piece that likens Obama to Marx and his proposals to totalitarianism. ?For it is, again, only the Marxists who assert that the government, which is to say the busy, corrupted, and hypocritical fools most elected officials are (have you ever had lunch with one?) should regulate gun ownership based on its assessment of needs.? ?Apparently the Marxists now include Joe Scarborough and Joe Manchin, if not Reagan and the Bushes.

Anyone who?s listened to Michael Savage, the talk radio host, is familiar with the zealotry of the convert. His Savage Nation program is among the most popular in the conservative talk show firmament and his conversion from San Francisco liberal to conservative provocateur ?is well known to his listeners. His incendiary rhetoric, though, has led even conservative broadcasters to distance themselves from him. Fox News contributor Bernard Goldman cited him as one of the ?people who are screwing up America.? He?s been lambasted for remarks about gays, muslims and even autism: ??Now, the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, ? ?Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.? ? Savage has a Ph.D. in nutritional ethnomedicine so he should know.

I couldn?t help think of Savage and Mamet when I read that ?Max Kampelman died this week at 92. If you were involved in politics and policy in Washington in the last quarter of the 20th century you?ve probably heard of Kampelman. Otherwise, it?s less likely. Born to Jewish immigrant parents, he was a longtime aide to Hubert Humphrey during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. An accomplished attorney whose name was on the smoked glass at the great firm Fried, Frank, he was asked by Jimmy Carter to be lead the talks to bring the Soviet Union and some of its satellites into compliance with the Helsinki human rights accords. This seems almost quaint now but the talks in Madrid, where he led the American delegation, were an important diplomatic forum for confronting the Soviets, one of the major avenues for cataloguing and confronting their abuse of liberty. Like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Kampelman was an eloquent and fearless voice for human rights.

President Reagan asked Kampelman to lead arms control talks with the Soviets that led to the START agreements cutting nuclear weapons. In his later years, he was a staple of international affairs and human rights organizations like Freedom House and the U.S. Institute of Peace, a lawyer diplomat of the likes of John J. McCloy or James Baker. He was a hawk with ties to neoconservative groups like the Committee on the Present Danger but he was a flexible one, willing to adapt to changing times. In 2007, he joined Sam Nunn and George Shultz in their efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons. His tone was civil and courtly. Richard Sauber, once a partner at Fried Frank and and who Kampelman tapped to offer legal advice to Freedom House remembers one particularly heated board meeting where Kampelman had the patience of Job. ?The board was filled with a who's who of foreign policy, and Max was like an adult among children: the most reasonable person with exquisite judgment.? (For the record, Sauber is my attorney, too.)

The interesting thing about Kampelman that relates to Mamet and Savage is that he had a political conversion. He began as a conscientious objector, so much so that he had a deferment not during Vietnam or Korea but during World War II-- the Good War, the one that helped save the Jewish people from extermination. As part of his ?CO? status, he went to the University of Minnesota where he participated in tests where he was voluntarily subjected to near starvation. And it?s in Minnesota where he found a job with Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey that Kampelman?s pacifism faded and he came to see the merits of a strong defense--a position that echoed that of Humphrey himself and the Democrats of a bygone era like the late Henry ?Scoop? Jackson, the Senator from Washington and leading voice for what was called guns and butter.

Presidents of both parties understood Kampelman?s greatness. Carter brought him in and Reagan kept him even though Kampelman had helped the 1984 Mondale campaign. Bill Clinton gave Kampelman the presidential medal of freedom even though he was Reagan?s negotiator. They saw in him a steady hand and a reasonable mind. For the rest, of us he?s a role model on how to manage our own political evolutions. Evolving from pacifist to hawk is about as big a pendulum swing as can be imagined but Kampelman did it in a way that made him beloved. See a bipartisan tribute to him here when he was awarded the 2008 Democracy Service Medal by the National Endowment for Democracy.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/david-mamet-michael-savage-max-kampelman-politics-conversion-121538341--politics.html

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Slickdeals' best in tech for January 28th: iPod touch, Blu-ray player, 13-inch MacBook Pro

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long.

We're back at it with another batch of tech deals to start out the week. This time, a pair of Apple devices see a bit of a price drop alongside a Dell laptop, Panasonic Blu-ray player and a set of Able Planet headphones -- enough to cover a few of those gadget bases, no doubt. Jump down past the break to inspect all of the details and access those tempting purchase links in order to empty your wallet.

Grab one of these from ShopRite.

This offer is available from Dell.

This deal is available over at eBay.

Snag these from World Wide Stereo.

Grab one from Fry's.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Laptops, Portable Audio/Video

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/28/slickdeals-best-in-tech-for-january-28th/

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From joy to tragedy: Inside deadly Brazil nightclub

Yuri Weber/ Agencia O Dia via Reuters

An interior view of the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, after it was destroyed by a fire on Jan. 27.

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Shoes, bottles and slices of lime lay scattered around the blackened remains of a dancefloor in Brazil on Monday ? signs of how quickly a Saturday night student party turned into one of the world?s worst nightclub fires.

End-of-summer celebrations were in full swing at the Kiss club in the university town of Santa Maria when a band?s pyrotechnic display set fire to the sound-proofed ceiling and started a fire that choked dozens to death and saw dozens more trampled in the ensuing panic.

The image of the burned, empty building was in stark contrast to the town?s packed gymnasium where relatives of the victims gathered late on Sunday to mourn after the mortuary became overwhelmed with bodies.

One woman fell to her knees in grief at the coffin of a relative, while others waited to identify their loved ones.

In total, at least 233 died - 120 men and 113 women - while 92 people are still being treated in hospitals, Reuters reported.

About 50 funerals were expected to take place at the municipal cemetery in Santa Maria on Monday, according to Brazilian television news broadcast Zero Hora.

The cemetery opened early, at 7:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET), and was planning to conduct burials at half-hour intervals, O Globo reported, saying the army had helped dig graves.

A Brazilian nightclub owner and two members of a band have been arrested by civil police investigating the blaze,?newspaper Diario de Santa Maria reported Monday. A fourth person is also being sought, the newspaper said.

It said businessman Elissandro Spohr, also known as ?Kiko? ? one of the owners of the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria ? was detained ?on a temporary basis.?

Marcelo Arigony, a police inspector, said the arrests were "provisional" and that there was not yet a criminal accusation. He declined to confirm the identities of those arrested, saying the investigation "is still quite precarious."

Sphor's lawyer, Jader Marques, told the Diario de Santa Maria that his client was present in the club with his pregnant wife at the moment that a spark from the pyrotechnic flare or fuse handled by the band lit the soundproofing on the ceiling.

One of the worst nightclub fires in history has claimed a terrible toll in the southern Brazil city of Santa Maria, with at least 233 dead by the most recent count. Authorities and witnesses are saying the fire may have been sparked by a pyrotechnics show. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

The main door of the nightclub was locked at the time, fire chief Guido Pedroso de Melo told O Globo.

He added that firefighters responding to the blaze initially had trouble getting inside the nightclub because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance.?

Survivors and the police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club, according to the AP, perhaps fearing that patrons would leave without paying their tab.

But Arigony said the guards didn't appear to block fleeing patrons for long. "It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he told the AP.

In a radio interview, the band?s guitarist Rodrigo Martins said the fire began shortly after the band took to the stage at 2.15 a.m. local time Sunday.

"When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working," he said, adding that the accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/28/16735889-from-joy-to-tragedy-inside-the-brazil-nightclub-where-233-died?lite

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Final salary pension schemes close at record rate

LONDON (Reuters) - UK companies closed final salary-based pension schemes at a record rate last year as funds struggled against rock bottom returns on their staple investments and growing life expectancy, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said on Monday.

Firms closed 31 percent of so-called defined benefit (DB) pension pots, compared with 23 percent in 2011.

Only 13 percent of DB schemes in the private sector were open to new joiners, down one third from 19 percent in 2011 and against 43 percent in 2005 when NAPF started keeping records.

Just over half of the schemes still open to new members said they were "considering further changes in the next few years".

DB pension schemes have been grappling with spiralling deficits amid pressure from an ageing workforce, red tape from the European Union and the UK government and lacklustre investment returns, NAPF said in its 2012 Annual Survey.

Over the last three years, 375 billion pounds of quantitative easing by the Bank of England has contributed to a sharp drop in the yield on British government bonds, key investments for pension pots.

The deficit of British final-salary linked company pension schemes more than doubled to 231 billion pounds in 2012, according to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

Meanwhile, EU legislation requiring funds to have enough cash to cover employee pensions if a company goes bust may stop British firms offering final-salary linked pensions altogether.

The proposed rules would force British firms to find an extra 300 billion pounds to strengthen pension pots.

DB pensions, linked to an employee's salary at retirement and length of service, are typically more expensive to provide than other annuity-purchase schemes.

The NAPF survey comes amid major changes to the pensions sector. Last October, the government introduced an "auto-enrolment" scheme to draw up to 10 million more people into a workplace pension.

The government is also considering a new type of pension scheme to encourage more people to save for retirement.

(Editing by David Cowell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/final-salary-pension-schemes-close-record-rate-145610366--sector.html

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Consumer alert: new health care markets on the way

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Buying your own health insurance will never be the same.

This fall, new insurance markets called exchanges will open in each state, marking the long-awaited and much-debated debut of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The goal is quality coverage for millions of uninsured people in the United States. What the reality will look like is anybody's guess ? from bureaucracy, confusion and indifference to seamless service and satisfied customers.

Exchanges will offer individuals and their families a choice of private health plans resembling what workers at major companies already get. The government will help many middle-class households pay their premiums, while low-income people will be referred to safety-net programs they might qualify for.

Most people will go online to pick a plan when open enrollment starts Oct. 1. Counselors will be available at call centers and in local communities, too. Some areas will get a storefront operation or kiosks at the mall. Translation to Spanish and other languages spoken by immigrants will be provided.

When you pick a plan, you'll no longer have to worry about getting turned down or charged more because of a medical problem. If you're a woman, you can't be charged a higher premium because of gender. Middle-aged people and those nearing retirement will get a price break: They can't be charged more than three times what younger customers pay, compared with six times or seven times today.

If all this sounds too good to be true, remember that nothing in life is free and change isn't easy.

Starting Jan. 1, 2014, when coverage takes effect in the exchanges, virtually everyone in the country will be required by law to have health insurance or face fines. The mandate is meant to get everybody paying into the insurance pool.

Obama's law is called the Affordable Care Act, but some people in the new markets might experience sticker shock over their premiums. Smokers will face a financial penalty. Younger, well-to-do people who haven't seen the need for health insurance may not be eligible for income-based assistance with their premiums.

Many people, even if they get government help, will find that health insurance still doesn't come cheaply. Monthly premiums will be less than the mortgage or rent, but maybe more than a car loan. The coverage, however, will be more robust than most individual plans currently sold.

Consider a hypothetical family of four making $60,000 and headed by a 40-year-old. They'll be eligible for a government tax credit of $7,193 toward their annual premium of $12,130. But they'd still have to pay $4,937, about 8 percent of their income, or about $410 a month.

A lower-income family would get a better deal from the government's sliding-scale subsidies.

Consider a similar four-person family making $35,000. They'd get a $10,742 tax credit toward the $12,130 annual premium. They'd have to pay $1,388, about 4 percent of their income, or about $115 a month.

The figures come from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation's online Health Reform Subsidy Calculator. But while the government assistance is called a tax credit and computed through the income tax system, the money doesn't come to you in a refund. It goes directly to insurers.

Obama's law is the biggest thing that's happened to health care since Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. But with open enrollment for exchange plans less than 10 months away, there's a dearth of consumer information. It's as if the consumer angle got drowned out by the political world's dispute over "Obamacare," the dismissive label coined by Republican foes.

Yet exchanges are coming to every state, even those led by staunch GOP opponents of the overhaul, such as Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Nikki Haley of South Carolina. In their states and close to 20 others that are objecting, the exchanges will be operated by the federal government, over state opposition. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has pledged that every citizen will have access to an exchange come next Jan. 1, and few doubt her word.

But what's starting to dawn on Obama administration officials, activists, and important players in the health care industry is that the lack of consumer involvement, unless reversed, could turn the big health care launch into a dud. What if Obama cut the ribbon and nobody cared?

"The people who stand to benefit the most are the least aware of the changes that are coming," said Rachel Klein, executive director of Enroll America, a nonprofit that's trying to generate consumer enthusiasm.

"My biggest fear is that we get to Oct. 1 and people haven't heard there is help coming, and they won't benefit from it as soon as they can," she added. "I think it is a realistic fear."

Even the term "exchange" could be a stumbling block. It was invented by policy nerds. Although the law calls them "American Health Benefit Exchanges," Sebelius is starting to use the term "marketplaces" instead.

Polls underscore the concerns. A national survey last October found that only 37 percent of the uninsured said they would personally be better off because of the health care law. Twenty-three percent said they would be worse off in the Kaiser poll, while 31 percent said it would make no difference to them.

Insurers, hospitals, drug companies and other businesses that stand to benefit from the hundreds of billions of dollars the government will pump in to subsidize coverage aren't waiting for Washington to educate the public.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, for example, are trying to carve out a new role for themselves as explainers of the exchanges. Somewhere around 12 million people now purchase coverage individually, but the size of the market could double or triple with the new approach, and taxpayers will underwrite it.

"Consumers are expecting their health insurance provider to be a helpful navigator to them," said Maureen Sullivan, a senior vice president for the Blues' national association. "We see 2013 as a huge year for education."

One goal is to help consumers master the "metals," the four levels of coverage that will be available through exchange plans ? bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.

Blue Cross is also working with tax preparer H&R Block, which is offering its customers a health insurance checkup at no additional charge this tax season. Returns filed this year for 2012 will be used by the government to help determine premium subsidies for 2014.

"This tax season is one of historical significance," said Meg Sutton, senior advisor for tax and health care at H&R Block. "The tax return you are filing is going to be key to determining your health care benefits on the exchange."

Only one state, Massachusetts, now has an exchange resembling what the administration wants to see around the country. With six years in business, the Health Connector enrolls about 240,000 Massachusetts residents. It was created under the health overhaul plan passed by former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney and has gotten generally positive reviews.

Connector customer Robert Schultz is a Boston area startup business consultant who got his MBA in 2008, when the economy was tanking. Yet he was able to find coverage when he graduated and hang on to his insurance through job changes since. Schultz says that's freed him to pursue his ambition of becoming a successful entrepreneur ? a job creator instead of an employee.

"It's being portrayed by opponents as being socialistic," said Schultz. "It is only socialistic in the sense of making sure that everybody in society is covered, because the cost of making sure everybody is covered in advance is much less than the cost of putting out fires."

The Connector's executive director, Glen Shor, said his state has proven the concept works and he's confident other states can succeed on their own terms.

"There is no backing away from all the challenges associated with expanding coverage," Shor said. "We are proud in Massachusetts that we overcame what had been years of policy paralysis."

___

Online:

Kaiser Health Reform Subsidy Calculator - http://healthreform.kff.org/subsidycalculator.aspx

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/consumer-alert-health-care-markets-131529045.html

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jOBS Review: a Satisfying Experience for an Apple Fan

Gizmodo reader Seth Kinkaid was one of the first people to watch jOBS—the first Steve Jobs' biopic starring Ashton Kutcher—at Sundance 2013. These are his impressions. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tqaGqqn12oE/jobs-review-a-satisfying-experience

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Afghan orphans hope music to win 'American hearts'

In a country where the arts and music suffered heavily under the Taliban, young musicians ? including dozens of girls ? are representing the potential in Afghanistan's future.

By Thanh Truong, Correspondent, NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan - From the cold basement of an orphanage in Kabul, the beat of a bass drum bounces through the halls.

Hitting the high hat and cymbals was Laila, a 13-year old orphan and the only known female drummer in Afghanistan.?

"I like playing the drums and there are no other girls in Afghanistan playing the drums,? Laila said with a big smile. ?I'm the only girl and I want to become well known as an Afghan girl playing drums.?

For now, she plays in a basement, but soon it'll be D.C.'s Kennedy Center and New York's Carnegie Hall.?

Laila and 10 other girls from her orphanage will be joining ensembles from the Afghan National Institute of Music as they make their U.S. debut.?

For many of the performers, it will be their first time out of the country and their first time in America.?

"I hear it is very clean and has big buildings and you have such freedom there,? 10-year old Sapna said. "I forget the name of the president of America, but I have heard of him."

Sapna plays the piano and likes the "fast songs" that allow her to move her little fingers quickly over the keys.?

As the security in Afghanistan crumbles, 'Nightly' returns to an orphanage that Brian Williams first visited in 2009 to find girls with big dreams who are focused on getting into college.

Music is part of the curriculum at this orphanage run by Andeisha Farid, the executive director of the Afghan Child Education and Caring Organization.?

'Hope for a better future'
In a country where female freedoms are few, Farid said these young girls represent the potential in Afghanistan's future.

"Afghan women, they suffer so badly. They even struggle for their very basic human rights,? Farid said. ?We hope for a better future for Afghanistan. If we can properly invest in these children, a long-term investment, they realize that there is hope in Afghanistan.?

The sheer fact that dozens of girls are practicing and learning music is a sign of progress in a country where only an estimated 15 percent of women can even read and write, never mind read music or play an instrument.

The arts and music suffered heavily under the Taliban, and not just for women.?

Oct. 30: Brian swaps eyewear with one of the girls at the Kabul orphanage.

Since 2001 a small group of Afghans have worked to bring music back to the country. Ahmad Sarmast, who holds a doctorate in music, spearheaded the movement and the effort culminated in the 2010 establishment of the Afghan National Institute of Music.?

Musicians and their mentors from the ANIM will embark on a two-week tour of the U.S. starting February 2. They'll be playing a combination of classical and Afghan pieces.

Music has given these children an opportunity that so few have in Afghanistan and they are eager to share what they've learned.

"People can understand each other's hearts through music. American people can understand Afghan hearts and Afghans can understand American hearts. It's universal," said Sapna.

Yet, hurdles remain.?

Oct. 30 2009: Andeisha Farid is making a difference in a dangerous place, providing a safe haven in Afghanistan. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Twelve-year-old Fareshta said pressure from her home village prevented her from playing the trumpet.

NBC first met Fareshta when Brian Williams visited her orphanage.

Fareshta said people in her village threatened to make her family outcasts if she kept on attending music school.?

She now only plays when she is in the orphanage. And, while the other girls prepare for their performances in the U.S., she won't be going.?

"I want to go music school and play more music," Fareshta said.

She shrugged when asked if it all seemed unfair. After all, so much that has and is happening in Afghanistan seems unfair.

But after listening to a girl like Laila practicing on the drums, it is easy to understand that the music these young people create is a message of hope in a country awash with disappointments.?

Related:?

Tears of joy: The moment an Afghan teen learned of Oscar nomination

Steeple, cross at U.S. Army base on Afghan frontier raise hackles

Afghanistan: Where actresses risk their lives for their art

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/27/16662922-afghan-orphans-hope-their-music-will-win-over-american-hearts-at-carnegie-hall?lite

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Using Technology in a Personal Injury Practice

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The changes would we have seen in the last 20 years not only in the law practice but in business in general have been profound and due largely to advances in technology.

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It seems like only yesterday that the newest and best was the fax machine. Next came email, SMS messaging, cloud computing, smart phones, mobile phones, iPads and tablets. We are now a connected society by virtue of 24/7 contact.

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At the Baumgartner Law Firm, we have decided that if you do not keep up with technology you get left behind and for that reason pride ourselves on using the latest and greatest technology available. Often, it is difficult to make the commitment to change, the old ?if it isn?t broken don?t fix it? mentality, however advances in technology have increased productivity and those who do not use technology to their benefit or not as productive as others.

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In the legal practice some of the technology that we find helpful are as follows:

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*Dragon Dictation ? Dragon Dictation is an application I use each and every day. For those who might find themselves ?typing challenged? Dragon is a lifesaver. This blog article is being produced entirely by Dragon.

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*Scan snap ? having a personal scanner on each computer enables you to email documents immediately and respond promptly, in addition to making your files more organized. Scan snap can even take a PDF document and scan it into Word for editing.

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*Internet Fax Service ? there are multiple providers of excellent Internet fax services that are very effective in maximizing your time in sending and receiving faxes. We still maintain the old dedicated fax service with a landline, but eventually the Internet fax service will make the old fax completely unnecessary.

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*IPad and iPad Mini ? the iPad is a truly fun and productive tool, not only did is it iPad very effective for trial presentations, it is invaluable in many other ways such as reviewing and annotating documents. There are multiple very good programs for making the iPad a very productive legal tool.

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*Cloud services ? services such as Dropbox, Box.net, Google Drive and others are very simple and inexpensive ways of keeping files that are not confidential available on any computer.

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There are many other technology advances for both Apple products and the PC that make law firms much more productive from practice management solutions to apps to improve productivity.

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There is no doubt that new technology requires a learning curve that scares many users away. Investing the time in implementing new technology is essential in the law practice of the 21st century.

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Source: http://www.texastriallawyers.com/blog/using-technology-in-a-personal-injury-practice/

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Tom Harkin: 'It's somebody else's turn' (Washington Post)

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BlackRock Buys A Stake In Twitter - Business Insider

">Matt Rosoff Business Insider

As Twitter slowly prepares for a public offering, BlackRock, the money-management firm, is taking a small stake in the company by buying shares from early employees.

The Financial Times reports that BlackRock is spending $80 million for a little under 1 percent of the company, valuing the whole at $9 billion.

That's a lower price than investors paid in deals last year that valued Twitter at $11 billion, but those involved smaller blocks of shares. Private-market transactions also tend to be volatile, given the lack of liquidity.

Twitter recently promoted its CFO, Ali Rowghani, to COO, and hired Zynga executive Mike Gupta to fill the CFO role. Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey and CEO Dick Costolo have described the company as preparing itself to go public, but deliberately and at a time of their choosing.

Costolo has also said that Twitter has a "truckload" of money still in the bank. So until a public offering happens, purchases from employees are likely to be the main source of shares for investors who want a stake in the company.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-buys-stake-twitter-employees-2013-1

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Once GOP stronghold, West veers into Dems' column

DENVER (AP) ? A political generation ago, the West signaled the nation's rightward swing, from the emergence of Ronald Reagan to the success of tax-limitation ballot measures in California and Colorado.

Now, however, the fabled expanse of deserts, jagged peaks, and emerald coastlines is trending in a different direction.

The West has become largely Democratic terrain.

Voters in Washington state in November legalized marijuana and upheld the legality of gay marriage. New Mexico was once a tightly contested state, but Republicans ceded it to Democrats in the presidential campaign.

There are, as always, exceptions.

Lightly populated Idaho and Wyoming remain strongly Republican, as does Utah. Democrats are struggling in Arizona, where the immigration debate has given Republicans a lock on statewide offices but may provide Democrats an opening by firming up their support among the state's growing Hispanic population.

Still, the overall trend is clear, according to analysts on all sides of the political spectrum.

"It's just a different world," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist in Los Angeles who has worked widely in the region. "Nevada became the next California and now Arizona looks like it will become the next Nevada. ... It's just pushing the West further and further from Republicans."

The shift in a region already imbued with a libertarian spirit is the result of several factors. One is the growing number of people who are seeking a better quality of life by moving from more liberal states. Also, the expanding immigrant population is turned off by increasingly hard-line Republican immigration proposals.

"Look at the migration patterns," said Sig Rogich, a Republican consultant in Las Vegas who worked on Reagan's presidential campaigns. "You're seeing the aftermath of a new generation of young men and women whose parents moved westward."

Western states generally have weak political parties, part of the legacy of their political maturation during the progressive era at the start of the 20th century. Most local elections are nonpartisan affairs and voters often have the right to set policy unilaterally via ballot initiative. Western voters long have cherished nonpartisan independence, even when they voted a relatively straight party ticket.

"The West is the most American part of America," said Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute, a libertarian think tank in Denver. "It is a place where you have much more respect for individual choice and you have more ability to be who you want to be."

During the 1980s and 1990s, that libertarian streak fed a series of Republican victories as voters approved tax-limitation initiatives, protested federal environmental rules and kept statehouses firmly in the GOP's hands. But nowadays it means something else, Carrick said.

"The libertarian thing is no longer about property rights or gun rights," he said. "It's now about letting people live their lives as they choose."

Ironically, Republicans' success may have contributed to that shift.

The party managed to enshrine staunch anti-tax measures in several states' constitutions through ballot initiatives, making it very difficult to raise taxes in California, Colorado and Washington state.

As a result, Democrats can't easily raise revenue, but they also can't be attacked for doing so, said Ron Dotzauer, a Seattle-based Democratic strategist. "They can't be defined as the pro-tax group because they can't tax," he said.

There are prominent Republicans who demonstrate that the party can still win the region.

Brian Sandoval in Nevada and Susana Martinez in New Mexico are popular Republican governors, but their relatively moderate stances often put them at odds with the national party. Both, for example, just agreed to the Medicaid expansion under President Barack Obama's health care plan, something that is anathema to many conservative Republicans.

"People appreciate a leader who takes more pragmatic approaches," said Nicole McCleskey, a New Mexico-based GOP pollster who advises Martinez.

McCleskey argued that Democrats' success in the region is overstated and she noted that, outside of California, Republicans in 2012 only lost one Western congressional seat. As an example of how Republicans can succeed, she cited New Mexico, where the party picked up seats in the Legislature despite the Obama wave.

But McCleskey acknowledged that New Mexico Republicans were helped by the national GOP basically giving up on the presidential race in the state. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney did not contest the state, minimizing the damage of a divisive presidential campaign.

"We were able to localize a lot of these races and build on the change that has taken place with a strong Republican governor," she said. "Republicans fought on state issues and the Democrats tried to fight on national issues."

Jill Hanauer is a Democratic strategist who engineered her party's takeover of the Colorado Legislature in 2004. She agrees with McCleskey that the West cannot be considered a Democratic lock.

"The reason Democrats or progressives are winning is that Republicans got fat and happy," said Hanauer, who is now president of Project New America, a political data and strategy company in Denver. "The worst thing that can happen for Democrats is to take it for granted."

In 2002, Ruy Teixeira, a Washington, D.C.-based Democratic strategist, co-wrote "The Emerging Democratic Majority," which predicted that demographic and social trends would turn parts of the country that were deep red, such as the interior Mountain West, into Democratic-leaning states. The book, published shortly after Republicans took back the U.S. Senate in the 2002 elections, was received skeptically.

Last year, Teixeira and other researchers published a new book on the Mountain West as America's new swing region. Now there was little pushback.

Teixeira said the West's shift has been dramatic because of the heavy migration to the region. Another factor is the ballot initiative process, which magnifies political trends by making it easier to enact dramatic policy changes such as marijuana legalization.

But he said in an interview that what's happened to the West is not very different from what's taking place across the country. Surveys for his book last year found it only slightly more libertarian on social issues and holding similar views toward government and taxation as other parts of the country. That, he said, is bad news for Republicans ? their problem is national, not regional.

"It's not like there's something in the water in state X that's making them harder for Republicans," Teixeira said. "It's just the same series of changes that are working themselves out in all states."

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Follow Nicholas Riccardi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nickriccardi

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/once-gop-stronghold-west-veers-dems-column-155520480--election.html

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Kutcher takes on tech idol Steve Jobs in 'jOBS'

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) ? Ashton Kutcher says playing Steve Jobs on screen "was honestly one of the most terrifying things I've ever tried to do in my life."

The 34-year-old actor helped premiere the biopic "jOBS" Friday, which was the closing-night film at the Sundance Film Festival.

Kutcher plays the Apple Inc. founder from the company's humble origins in the 1970s until the launch of the first iPod in 2001. A digital entrepreneur himself, Kutcher said he considers Jobs a personal hero.

"He's a guy who failed and got back on the horse," Kutcher said. "I think we can all sort of relate to that at some point in life."

Kutcher even embodied the Jobs character as he pursued his own high-tech interests off-screen.

"What was nice was when I was preparing for the character, I could still work on product development for technology companies, and I would sort of stay in character, in the mode of the character," he said. "But I didn't feel like I was compromising the work on the film by working on technology stuff because it was pretty much in the same field."

But playing the real-life tech icon who died in 2011 still felt risky, he said, because "he's fresh in our minds."

"It was kind of like throwing myself into this gauntlet of, I know, massive amounts of criticism because somebody's going to go 'well, it wasn't exactly...,'" Kutcher said.

While the filmmakers say they tried to be as historically accurate as possible, there was also a disclaimer at the very end of the credits that said portions of the film might not be completely accurate.

Still, realism was always the focus for Kutcher, who watched "hundreds of hours of footage," listened to Jobs' past speeches and interviewed several of his friends to prepare for the role.

The actor even adopted the entrepreneur's "fruitarian diet," which he said "can lead to some serious issues."

"I ended up in the hospital two days before we started shooting the movie," he said. "I was like doubled over in pain, and my pancreas levels were completely out of whack, which was completely terrifying, considering everything."

Jobs died of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Still, Kutcher was up to the challenge of playing Jobs, in part because of his admiration for the man who created the Macintosh computer and the iPod.

"I admire this man so much and what he's done. I admire the way he built things," Kutcher said. "This guy created a tool that we use every day in our life, and he believed in it when nobody else did."

The film also shows Jobs' less appealing side, withholding stock options from some of the company's original employees and denying child support to the mother of his eldest child.

Kutcher still found the man inspiring. Jobs had a singular focus, Kutcher said, and felt like anyone could change the world.

"I don't know if there's ever been an entrepreneur who's had more compassion and care for his consumer than Steve Jobs," Kutcher said. "He wanted to put something in your hand that you could use and you could use it easily... and he really cared about that."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kutcher-takes-tech-idol-steve-jobs-jobs-151543301.html

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Many businesses not ready for phase out of Canada's penny ...

OTTAWA ? The penny is about to drop? ? with many businesses unprepared and the federal government having only limited success informing Canadians of the looming change to, well, change.

The one-cent coin?s final days of widespread use are drawing near. The Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing pennies to financial institutions on Feb. 4 ? the same day businesses are encouraged to begin rounding cash transactions to the nearest five-cent increment in a ?fair and transparent manner.?

For example, a transaction totalling $1.02 would round down to $1, but a purchase of $1.03 would round up to $1.05, while $1.07 would round down to $1.05 and a purchase of $1.08 would round up to $1.10.

Transactions paid with cheques, credit cards and debit cards will continue to be settled to the cent. The GST and HST will be calculated on the pre-tax price, not the rounded price.

Canadians who hoard their pennies will still, however, be able to use pennies indefinitely to pay for purchases.

While the transition date is just days away, many small businesses are clearly not ready for the penny?s phase-out. Managers and business owners at a number of merchants in the national capital offered blank stares when asked about it. Other shop owners simply shrugged their shoulders.

?We?re not prepared in the least,? said Judy Mance, manager of Kameleon PopShop in Ottawa, a store specializing in jewelry and women?s fashion.

Mance said she has heard bits and pieces about the penny being phased out, but was unfamiliar with the Feb. 4 transition date or the specifics of when to round up or down.

She noted the family business ? located a block from Parliament Hill ? hasn?t received any notification from the federal government about the transition.

Nevertheless, she said the business is just as happy to round up or down for customers to avoid having to hand out pennies, something she said the store has regularly done for some time.

?Our small change has been devalued because it doesn?t buy much,? she added. ?I find people don?t even count their change anyway.?

The Conservative government announced in last March?s federal budget it was ending production of the penny because it actually cost 1.6 cents to mint each of the one-cent coins, due to rising metal, labour and other manufacturing costs.

Ottawa says that stamping out the penny for good also will save taxpayers around $11 million a year.

To help retailers, charities and consumers, the federal government has created a web portal on the Finance Canada website, including downloadable signage that can be displayed in-store.

The Mint has also launched a social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter to alert Canadians about the transition date. As well, approximately 225,000 printed flyers were placed in Canada Post outlets across the country explaining the changes.

A series of print, radio, television and online ads have begun to appear across Canada, and will circulate until the end of March.

Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) president Dan Kelly said a number of his members aren?t prepared for the transition away from the penny.

?Business awareness is low,? Kelly acknowledged, explaining many business owners likely won?t realize the change until they go to the bank and can no longer get rolls of pennies. ?There certainly will be a few transitional hiccups.?

The primary concern for business owners, he said, is consumers unaware of? the rounding off changes may think store employees are trying to cheat them out of a few pennies.

At Canada?s Four Corners, a crafts and souvenir shop in downtown Ottawa, manager Reza Ghaffari said the penny phase-out ?is not a big deal.? He would like to see the government also eliminate the nickel and round cash transactions to the nearest zero.

?I think it should average itself out during the day,? Ghaffari said.

Ian Kimmerly, owner of a stamp shop bearing his name, said Friday his business hasn?t done anything to prepare for the transition, nor is he in a hurry to do so. He said his business will continue to provide pennies, as long as they have them on hand, to customers who want them.

?We have a lot of older customers who remember when a penny was worth something. For those customers, we?ll be happy to give (pennies) to them,? he said.

Many consumers may not even notice the change. A majority of retail and hospitality purchases are paid by credit card (35 per cent) and debit card (27 per cent), according to data from the CFIB, which represents 109,000 small and medium-sized businesses in Canada.

Only 19 per cent of retail and hospitality transactions are paid by cash, with 15 per cent by cheque, says the CFIB.

Karen Proud, a vice-president at the Retail Council of Canada which represents about 45,000 stores,? figures approximately half of the businesses are ready for the change.

It will also take time for consumers to adjust, she said, as shoppers receive less or more change than they were expecting.

?In the short term, there is going to be a bit of confusion,? she said.

Along with the rising costs to stamp the penny coin, the government said ending the penny?s production was necessary because Canadians are indifferent to the coin and that it has retained only one-twentieth of its original purchasing power.

Billions of Canadian pennies remain either in circulation, stashed in piggy banks or lining drawers of homes across the country. It will take years to completely remove the coin from circulation.

?To ensure the transition is as smooth as possible and as smooth as in other countries, we?re undertaking a national public awareness campaign to help inform small businesses, retailers, charities, and consumers about how rounding will work,? Shelly Glover, parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said Friday in a statement.

jfekete@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/jasonfekete

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Source: http://o.canada.com/2013/01/25/many-businesses-not-ready-for-phase-out-of-canadas-penny/

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Technology Support Analyst-journey - 270201 Af It Network Services ...

Job Description: Information Technology and Computing Services (ITCS) is recruiting for a Technology Support Analyst to provide microcomputer support for ECU campus community. The position includes providing service and support including troubleshooting, hardware/software configuration, desktop automation, and new technology research and development. The selected candidate will be required to learn new tools and develop skills as project needs and technology change and will need to be adaptable, with an advanced troubleshooting skill set.

Knowledge of Microsoft Windows desktop and mobile computer systems, networking, and client-server applications, as well as experience with a strong emphasis on computer installation/configuration is essential. Candidates should have considerable experience providing end-user support in a large networked environment including network TCP/IP communication configuration, PC hardware and software troubleshooting, and advanced operating system and application troubleshooting skills.

Extensive experience using and supporting Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010, Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers, Outlook email client, and web-based applications. Windows 7 operating system experience is essential in addition to a working knowledge and experience with Microsoft Windows 7 in an Active Directory environment. Microsoft certifications would be considered a plus.

Candidates should possess excellent organizational, communication, and project management skills with the ability to effectively manage projects, milestones, current and concurrent tasks. It is critical that candidates possess effective oral and written communication skills, as well as exceptional interpersonal skills.

Minimum Qualifications: Associate's degree in computer science, information technology, or related discipline and one year of experience in the information technology field related to the area of assignment; or Bachelor's degree and one year of experience in the information technology field related to the area of assignment; or Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or related discipline; or equivalent combination of training and experience. All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.

Special Instructions to Applicants: This position is subject to the Career Banding Salary Administration Plan. If candidates are not identified at the Journey level, management may consider candidates at a lower competency level. Pay will be commensurate with applicant's competencies as well as budget, equity, and market considerations.

Salary Grade Equivalent: 72 (for reduction-in-force priority purposes only)

Job Close Date: 02/07/2013

East Carolina University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University and accommodates individuals with disabilities. Proper documentation of identity and employability is required at the time of employment.

Source: http://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=175713227

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White House, senators launching immigration push

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, where he announced that he will name current Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough as his next chief of staff. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, where he announced that he will name current Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough as his next chief of staff. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

White House press secretary Jay Carney gesture as he speaks during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Reviving an issue that has languished for years, President Barack Obama will launch a campaign next week aimed at overhauling the nation's flawed immigration system and creating legal status for millions, as a bipartisan Senate group nears agreement on achieving the same goals.

The proposals from Obama and lawmakers will mark the start of what is expected to be a contentious and emotional process with deep political implications. Latino voters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2012 election, leaving Republicans grappling for a way to regain their standing with an increasingly powerful pool of voters.

The president will press his case for immigration changes during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday. The Senate working group is also aiming to outline its proposals next week, according to a Senate aide.

Administration officials say Obama's second-term immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office but failed to act on. He is expected to revive his little-noticed 2011 immigration "blueprint," which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens.

"What has been absent in the time since he put those principles forward has been a willingness by Republicans, generally speaking, to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. "What he hopes is that that dynamic has changed."

The political dynamic does appear to have shifted following the November election. Despite making little progress on immigration in his first term, Obama won more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, in part because of the conservative positions on immigration that Republican nominee Mitt Romney staked out during the GOP primary. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November.

The president met privately Friday morning with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss his next steps on immigration. Among those in the meeting was Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., who said Obama told lawmakers "immigration reform is his number one legislative priority."

That could bump back the president's efforts to seek legislation enacting stricter gun laws, another issue he has vowed to make a top second term priority.

The Senate immigration group is also pressing for quick action, aiming to draft a bill by March and pass legislation in their chamber by August, said the aide, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private deliberations. The Republican-controlled House would also need to pass the legislation before it went to the White House for the president's signature.

Senate lawmakers working on the immigration effort include Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, according to Senate aides.

Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah have also been involved. It's not clear whether all those involved will sign on to the principles the group hopes to roll out next week.

Those principles are expected to include a process toward legalizing the status of unauthorized immigrants already in the country; border security; verification measures for employers hiring workers and ways for more temporary workers to be admitted into the country.

It's unclear whether the group will back the pathway to full citizenship that the president is seeking. Schumer and Graham have previously supported requiring illegal immigrants to admit they broke the law, perform community service, pay fines and back taxes, pass background checks and learn English before going to the back of the line of immigrants already in the system in order to legalize their immigration status.

Several of the senators negotiating the immigration principles are veterans of the failed comprehensive immigration reform effort under then-President George W. Bush. That process collapsed in 2007 when it came up well-short of the needed votes in the Senate, a bitter outcome for Bush and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrats' leader on the legislation.

Some Republicans still lament that result as a missed opportunity for the party that could have set the GOP on a different path to reach more Latino voters.

Rubio is a relative newcomer to Senate negotiations on the issue, but he's seen as a rising star in his party and a potential 2016 presidential candidate. As a charismatic young Hispanic leader his proposals on immigration have attracted wide notice in recent weeks. And as a conservative favorite, unlike McCain or Graham, his stamp of approval could be critical to drawing in other conservative lawmakers.

A Republican aide said that Rubio has made clear in his interactions with the Senate group that he couldn't sign on to proposals that deviated from the principles he himself has been laying out in recent media interviews, including border security first, a guest-worker program, more visas for high-tech workers and enforcement in the workplace.

As for the illegal immigrants already in the country, Rubio would have them pay a fine and back taxes, show they have not committed crimes, prove they've been in the country for some time and speak some English and apply for permanent residency. Ultimately citizenship too could be in reach but only after a process that doesn't nudge aside immigrants already in line, and Rubio hasn't provided details on how long it all might take.

___

Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-25-Immigration/id-4542a29dc77d498c89e7086269c205e7

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