Putin foe could be barred from Russian election (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Russian liberal opposition leader Grigory Yavlinsky could be barred from running against Vladimir Putin in a presidential election after officials said Monday there were problems with his registration as a candidate.

Opinion polls show Yavlinsky has no chance of winning the March 4 election but the refusal to let him run would be a slap in the face for leaders of protests by tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding fair elections and political reform.

Central Election Commission officials told Russian news agencies there were errors in about a quarter of the 2 million signatures of support Yavlinsky had submitted as a requirement to enter the election, much higher than the permitted amount.

A final decision on his candidacy is expected to be announced by the commission later this week or next.

Reducing the number of candidates could improve Putin's chances of winning the election in the first round, avoiding a run-off he would face if he does not receive at least 50 percent of the votes cast.

"This is a totally political decision," Yavlinsky, 59, told a news conference, a view shared by other opposition leaders and representatives of the Yabloko party he co-founded.

Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin wrote in a blog: "Putin will decide this matter himself."

Mitrokhin suggested Putin did not want Yavlinsky to run because it could take votes from billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, a liberal contender who he said was backed by Putin.

Mitrokhin also indicated that Yabloko representatives would be unable to monitor the election if Yavlinsky, who has twice run for president and lost, did not take part.

Election officials said Monday Prokhorov's candidacy had been confirmed after he submitted enough signatures.

PUTIN FACES CRITICISM

As independent candidates, Prokhorov and Yavlinsky had to collect 2 million signatures. Candidates from parties in parliament, such as Communist Gennady Zyuganov and nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, did not have to meet this requirement.

Prokhorov, whose assets in an $18-billion business empire include the New Jersey Nets, has dismissed rivals' allegations that he is a Kremlin tool who has been allowed to run to split the opposition and give the election an air of legitimacy.

Putin, 59, was president for eight years from 2000 and ushered his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, into the post in 2008 because the constitution barred him from a third successive term. Putin became prime minister but remained Russia's dominant leader.

Opinion polls suggest Putin will easily win the election but his image has been dented by unusually large protests in Russia since a parliamentary election on December 4 which independent monitors say was slanted to favor his United Russia party.

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in protests since then, mainly in Moscow and St Petersburg, to demand the election be rerun, the election commission chief dismissed and more opposition parties registered.

Human Rights Watch, an international rights monitor, said in its annual report released Sunday that Putin's decision to run for a six-year, third term as president cast a shadow over prospects for political reforms.

It also said pro-government parties had benefited from "disproportionate access to media and abuse of administrative resources."

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/ts_nm/us_russia_yavlinsky

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First Thoughts: What we learned from Gingrich's 12-point victory

The morning after his victory in South Carolina, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich sits down with David Gregory to talk about his rivals, criticism of his campaign and the path toward Florida.

What we learned after Gingrich?s 12-point victory over Romney (40%-28%) last night in SC: 1) The GOP race is on? 2) Romney hasn?t closed the deal with conservative voters? And 3) this contest can change in the blink of an eye? Sunday morning?s developments: Romney will release his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday (State of the Union day)? Gingrich casts Romney as the establishment candidate, while Chris Christie said Gingrich ?embarrassed? the GOP? The debates mattered in SC, and so did the pro-Gingrich Super PAC? Romney?s two advantages in FL: money and early voting? And Romney?s one disadvantage in FL: In terms of ideology, it isn?t New Hampshire.

By NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro

*** The race is on: Newt Gingrich's 12-point victory last night in South Carolina capped an extraordinary week in politics that taught us three things: 1) the GOP presidential race isn?t over; 2) Mitt Romney hasn?t closed the deal with conservative voters; and 3) this contest can change in the blink of an eye. Indeed, a week ago, it appeared that Romney was cruising to a win in the Palmetto State, that he was about to go 3-for-3 in the first three contests, and that conservatives and Republicans were beginning to unite around him. But as it turns out, Romney decisively lost South Carolina, he?s now 1-and-2 in the first three contests (after discovering he lost Iowa, too), and conservatives and Republicans -- according to last night?s exit polls -- are nowhere close to rallying around him. And now we move to Florida, where Romney has the ability to bounce back or where Gingrich can further upend this contest.

Full South Carolina primary results


?

*** Sunday morning developments: Here are some of the breaking developments from the Sunday morning shows. On FOX, per NBC?s Garrett Haake, Romney said that he would release his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday (State of the Union day), as well as an estimate of his returns for 2011. On ?Meet the Press,? Gingrich portrayed himself as the ?Reagan populist conservative? in the race, and he cast Romney as the establishment candidate. ?Do you want the establishment?s candidate ? or someone who would fundamentally transform Washington?? he asked. And also on ?Meet,? Romney surrogate Chris Christie said this about Gingrich: ?I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party? We all know the record. He was run out of his speakership.?

*** Conservatives break for Gingrich (and rebuke Romney): We?ve said this before and we?ll say it again: Romney is not going to be the de-facto nominee until he wins over the conservative base of his party (outside of New Hampshire). And last night in South Carolina, that base overwhelmingly broke for Gingrich. Among voters who described themselves as "very conservative" (who made up 36% of last night's primary electorate) Gingrich beat Romney, 48%-19%. Among Tea Party supporters, Gingrich had a 20-point edge, 45%-25%. And among those who are evangelicals or born-again Christians (who made up 65% of the electorate) Gingrich won, 44%-22%. And just as importantly, these folks finally coalesced around one anti-Romney alternative -- and that person was Gingrich. Also, don?t forget the role that religion played in South Carolina: Gingrich beat Romney, 46%-20%, among those who believe it matters that a candidate shares their religious views. Among those who don't believe it matters that a candidate share their religious views, Romney actually beat Gingrich, 39%-32%

*** Romney?s problem: message, not mechanics: Ultimately, Romney?s problem right now is message -- not mechanics. And as we saw in 2008, Romney doesn?t do the attack well. That?s what is going to make Monday night?s NBC debate so fascinating to watch.

*** The debates mattered -- and so did the pro-Gingrich Super PAC: Two things, in particular, benefited Gingrich (and hurt Romney) in South Carolina. First, as our NBC/Marist poll showed and then the exit polls confirmed, the debates fueled his momentum. Per the exits, Gingrich beat Romney among those who said they made up their minds in the ?last few days,? 43%-23%. Yet among those who said they made up their minds earlier than that, the score was even, 34%-34%.? But here?s a second factor that shouldn?t be overlooked. The pro-Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future (which spent $1.7 million in South Carolina) almost matched what the pro-Romney Restore Our Future spent ($2.5 million). Of course, Romney and his allies enjoyed a significant advertising advantage (a combined $4.4 million vs. $2.3 million for Gingrich and his allies). In Iowa, remember, Restore Our Future spent nearly $3 million hammering Gingrich, and there was very little response from Newt and his allies. That?s a big reason why Gingrich finished fourth in Iowa but won South Carolina.

*** Romney?s two advantages in Florida: But Romney has two advantages as we head into Florida on Jan. 31: money and early voting. Romney and the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore our Future have purchased more than $7 million of airtime in the Sunshine State. And how much advertising have Gingrich and his allies purchased? Zero. Also, per NBC?s Jamie Novogrod, more than 185,000 Republicans have already cast their votes via absentee ballot. And around 12,000 more Republicans have participated in early voting in the five counties where polling opened last week. What?s more, the snow birds are currently in Florida, and they?re more your Romney Republicans than Gingrich Republicans. So, despite his loss in South Carolina last night, Romney has to be the overwhelming favorite in Florida.

*** Romney?s disadvantage: Florida isn?t New Hampshire: But the GOP electorate in Florida has the potential to be unkind to Romney. Think South Carolina but with Cuban Americans in Miami thrown into the mix. According to the 2008 exit polls, 61% of Florida Republican primary voters considered themselves conservative (68% said they were conservative in South Carolina last night). And remember: Florida?s primary is closed, meaning that independents don?t get to vote. After all, it?s the same electorate that picked Rick Scott in 2010 over establishment favorite Bill McCollum. But the good news for Romney: Per the ?08 exits in Florida, only 39% were evangelicals or born-again Christians (compared with 65% who said they were evangelicals in South Carolina last night).

*** On the trail, per NBC?s Adam Perez: Today, Santorum stumps in Coral Springs, FL? And Romney holds a rally to discuss jobs in Ormond Beach, FL.

Countdown to Florida primary: 9 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 13 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 44 days
Countdown to Election Day: 289 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter. Follow us @chucktodd, @mmurraypolitics, @DomenicoNBC, @brookebrower

Source: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/22/10210334-first-thoughts-the-race-is-on

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Play a Mario Kart Ripoff, Scan Your Business Cards, and Defend ...

Play a Mario Kart Ripoff, Scan Your Business Cards, and Defend Your MinersThere are games we really want on the iPhone but we know we'll probably never get. Actually anything Nintendo makes would be great as an iPhone app. But there is one app in particular that would really make me happy: Mario Kart. Lucky for me, there's a complete ripoff of the game in the App Store right now. Plus, another tower defense game and a way to organize all those business cards, all in today's app deals.

Play a Mario Kart Ripoff, Scan Your Business Cards, and Defend Your MinersiOS: Mole Kart - Free

If you're looking for a Mario Kart ripoff, here it is. The sounds, tracks, music, they're all pretty much what you would expect if Nintendo decided to port its racing game to the iPhone. But it won't, so you might as well download Mole Kart before the Nintendo lawyers realize what's going on. Dropped from $3 to Free.[Apps-aholic]

Play a Mario Kart Ripoff, Scan Your Business Cards, and Defend Your MinersiOS: Business Card Reader - $1

Why are we still using business cards? I have hundreds of business cards I pass out to people almost every day. Or year, maybe. They in turn give me their business cards. Now I have a giant pile of other people's business cards. Business Card Reader scans the cards from a photo and automatically adds them to your contacts. Awesome. Dropped from $6 to $1. [AppShopper]

Play a Mario Kart Ripoff, Scan Your Business Cards, and Defend Your MinersiOS: Tower Defense: Lost Earth HD - $3

I do love tower defense games. I can't be the only one, the app store is full of them. Today's game involves defending your mining company against hostile creatures on an alien planet. Actually, this might be the one tower game where I'm rooting for the attackers. Dropped from $5 to $3. [Appsylum]

Play a Mario Kart Ripoff, Scan Your Business Cards, and Defend Your MinersAndroid: Lame Castle - Free

Mount your toy horse and race through this odd game. In Lame Castle, you're a knight running through the countryside kicking chickens, smashing through objects and destroying castles. What's not to like? Dropped from $1.50 to Free. [Apps-aholic]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5877953/play-a-mario-kart-ripoff-scan-your-business-cards-and-defend-your-miners

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Gingrich storms to SC victory, scrambling GOP race (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and suddenly scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Thank you, South Carolina!" a jubilant Gingrich tweeted to his supporters. He appealed for a flood of donations for the next-up Jan. 31primary. "Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his tweet.

Exit polls showed he led among voters who said their top priority was picking a candidate who could beat President Barack Obama ? a group that had preferred Romney in earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Romney, the national front-runner until now, was unbowed. He vowed to contest for every vote "in every state" and unleashed a double-barreled attack on Obama and Gingrich.

Referring to Gingrich's criticism of his business experience, Romney said, "When my opponents attack success and free enterprise, they're not only attacking me, they're attacking every person who dreams of a better future. He's attacking you," he told supporters, the closest he came to mentioning the primary winner's name.

Returns from 57 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 40 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was winning 18 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul 13 percent.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Based on the vote total, Gingrich won at least 15 of the 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake and none of the other contenders was yet assured of any.

But political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to Obama still in its early stages.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date.

Aides to the former Massachusetts governor had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination ? if South Carolina didn't first ? but that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls.

Romney swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph ? GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won ? while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.

Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.

By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.

Exit polling showed Gingrich, the former House speaker, leading by a wide margin among the state's heavy population of conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

In a state with 9.9 percent unemployment, about 80 percent of all voters said they were very worried about the direction of the economy. Gingrich's edge over Romney among that group tracked the overall totals closely, the former speaker winning 41 percent and the runner-up 27.

The exit poll was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left polls at 35 randomly selected sites. The survey involved interviews with 2,381 voters and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Santorum vowed to continue, although his weak third place finish could well portend financial difficulty for a campaign that has never been flush with cash. It's a wide-open race. Join the fight" he urged supporters at a rally in Charleston.

Paul had his worst finish of the year, and isn't expected to make a strong effort in Florida. Even so, he said to supporters, "Keep fighting." He has said he intends to focus his efforts on caucus contests in Nevada on Feb. 4 and Missouri several days later.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.

Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.

Romney's stumbles began even before his New Hampshire primary victory, when he told one audience that he had worried earlier in his career about the possibility of being laid off.

He gave a somewhat rambling, noncommittal response in a debate in Myrtle Beach last Monday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the primary. The following day, he told reporters that because most of his earnings come from investments, he paid about 15 percent of his income in taxes, roughly half the rate paid by millions of middle-class wage-earners. A day later, aides confirmed that some of his millions are invested in the Cayman Islands, although they said he did not use the offshore accounts as a tax haven.

Asked again at a debate in North Charleston on Thursday about releasing his taxes, his answer was anything but succinct and the audience appeared to boo.

Gingrich benefited from a shift in strategy that recalled his approach when he briefly soared to the top of the polls in Iowa. At mid-week he began airing a television commercial that dropped all references to Romney and his other rivals, and contended that he was the only Republican who could defeat Obama.

It featured several seconds from the first debate in which the audience cheered as he accused Obama of having put more Americans on food stamps than any other president.

Nor did Gingrich flinch when ex-wife Marianne said in an interview on ABC that he had been unfaithful for years before their divorce in 1999, and asked him for an open marriage.

Asked about the accusation in the opening moments of the second debate of the week, he unleashed an attack on ABC and debate host CNN and accused the "liberal news media" of trying to help Obama by attacking Republicans. His ex-wife's account, he said, was untrue.

___

Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_go_ot/us_gop_campaign

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Do Great Things

dogreatthings (1) FixedWe have a greater capacity to change the world today than the kings and presidents of just 50 years ago. Whether you're a programming prodigy or the office manager holding it all together, technology empowers small groups of passionate people with an astonishing degree of leverage to make the world a better place. Yet I fear that our industry is squandering its opportunity and its talent. In companies large and small, great minds are devoting their lives to endeavors that, even if wildly successful, fail to do great things.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/d82R3F8yy-Q/

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AP IMPACT: Health overhaul lags in states

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Here's a reality check for President Barack Obama's health overhaul: Three out of four uninsured Americans live in states that have yet to figure out how to deliver on its promise of affordable medical care.

This is the year that will make or break the health care law. States were supposed to be partners in carrying out the biggest safety net expansion since Medicare and Medicaid, and the White House claims they're making steady progress.

But an analysis by The Associated Press shows that states are moving in fits and starts. Combined with new insurance coverage estimates from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, it reveals a patchwork nation.

Such uneven progress could have real consequences.

If it continues, it will mean disparities and delays from state to state in carrying out an immense expansion of health insurance scheduled in the law for 2014. That could happen even if the Supreme Court upholds Obama's law, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"There will be something there, but if it doesn't mesh with the state's culture and if the state is not really supporting it, that certainly won't help it succeed," said Urban Institute senior researcher Matthew Buettgens.

The 13 states that have adopted a plan are home to only 1 in 4 of the uninsured. An additional 17 states are making headway, but it's not clear all will succeed. The 20 states lagging behind account for the biggest share of the uninsured, 42 percent.

Among the lagging states are four with arguably the most to gain. Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio together would add more than 7 million people to the insurance rolls, according to Urban Institute estimates, reducing the annual burden of charity care by $10.7 billion.

"It's not that we want something for free, but we want something we can afford," said Vicki McCuistion of Driftwood, Texas, who works two part-time jobs and is uninsured. With the nation's highest uninsured rate, her state has made little progress.

The Obama administration says McCuistion and others in the same predicament have nothing to fear. "The fact of states moving at different rates does not create disparities for a particular state's uninsured population," said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

That's because the law says that if a state isn't ready, the federal government will step in. Larsen insists the government will be ready, but it's not as easy as handing out insurance cards.

Someone has to set up health insurance exchanges, new one-stop supermarkets with online and landline capabilities for those who buy coverage individually.

A secure infrastructure must be created to verify income, legal residency and other personal information, and smooth enrollment in private insurance plans or Medicaid. Many middle-class households will be eligible for tax credits to help pay premiums for private coverage. Separate exchanges must be created for small businesses.

"It's a very heavy lift," said California's health secretary, Diana Dooley, whose state was one of the first to approve a plan. "Coverage is certainly important, but it's not the only part. It is very complex."

California has nearly 7.5 million residents without coverage, more than half of the 12.7 million uninsured in the states with a plan. An estimated 2.9 million Californians would gain coverage, according to the Urban Institute's research, funded by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Democrats who wrote the overhaul law had hoped that most states would be willing partners, putting aside partisan differences to build the exchanges and help cover more than 30 million uninsured nationally. It's not turning out that way.

Some states, mainly those led by Democrats, are far along. Others, usually led by Republicans, have done little. Separately, about half the states are suing to overturn the law.

Time is running out for states, which must have their plans ready for a federal approval deadline of Jan. 1, 2013. Those not ready risk triggering the default requirement that Washington run their exchange.

Yet in states where Republican repudiation of the health care law has blocked exchanges, there's little incentive to advance before the Supreme Court rules. A decision is expected this summer, and many state legislatures aren't scheduled to meet past late spring.

The result if the law is upheld could be greater federal sway over health care in the states, the very outcome conservatives say they want to prevent.

"If you give states the opportunity to decide their own destiny, and some choose to ignore it for partisan reasons, they almost make the case against themselves for more federal intervention," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

A conservative, Nelson was on the winning side of a heated argument among Democrats over who should run exchanges, the feds or the states. Liberals lost their demand for a federal exchange, insulated from state politics.

"It's pretty hard to take care of the states when they don't take care of themselves," said Nelson, who regrets that the concession he fought for has been dismissed by so many states.

The AP's analysis divided states into four broad groups: those that have adopted a plan for exchanges, those that made substantial progress, those where the outlook is unclear, and those with no significant progress. AP statehouse reporters were consulted in cases of conflicting information.

Thirteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have adopted a plan.

By contrast, in 20 states either the outlook is unclear or there has been no significant progress. Those states include more than 21 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans.

Four have made no significant progress. They are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire. The last three returned planning money to the federal government. In Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe ran into immovable GOP opposition in the Legislature. Beebe acknowledges that the federal government will have to run the exchange, but is exploring a fallback option.

In the other 16 states, the outlook is unclear because of failure to advance legislation or paralyzing political disputes that often pit Republicans fervently trying to stop what they deride as "Obamacare" against fellow Republicans who are more pragmatic.

In Kansas, for example, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger is pushing hard for a state exchange, but Gov. Sam Brownback returned a $31 million federal grant, saying the state would not act before the Supreme Court rules. Both officials are Republicans.

"It's just presidential politics," said Praeger, discussing the situation nationally. "It's less about whether exchanges make sense and more about trying to repeal the whole law." As a result, outlook is unclear for a state with 361,000 uninsured residents.

There is a bright spot for Obama and backers of the law.

An additional 17 states have made substantial progress, although that's no guarantee of success. Last week in Wisconsin, GOP Gov. Scott Walker abruptly halted planning and announced he will return $38 million in federal money.

AP defined states making substantial progress as ones where governors or legislatures have made a significant commitment to set up exchanges. Another important factor was state acceptance of a federal exchange establishment grant.

That group accounts for just under one-third of the uninsured, about 16 million people.

It includes populous states such as New York, Illinois, North Carolina and New Jersey, which combined would add more than 3 million people to the insurance rolls.

Several are led by Republican governors, including Virginia and Indiana, which have declared their intent to establish insurance exchanges under certain conditions. Other states that have advanced under Republican governors include Arizona and New Mexico.

For uninsured people living in states that have done little, the situation is demoralizing.

Gov. Rick Perry's opposition to the law scuttled plans to advance an exchange bill in the Texas Legislature last year, when Perry was contemplating his presidential run. The Legislature doesn't meet this year, so the situation is unclear.

McCuistion and her husband, Dan, are among the nearly 6.7 million Texans who lack coverage. Dan is self-employed as the owner of a specialty tree service. Vicki works part time for two nonprofit organizations. The McCuistions have been uninsured throughout their 17-year marriage, although their three daughters now have coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program. Dan McCuistion has been nursing a bad back for years, and it only seems to get worse.

"For me it almost feels like a ticking time bomb," his wife said.

Dan McCuistion says he doesn't believe Americans have a constitutional right to health care, but he would take advantage of affordable coverage if it was offered to him. He's exasperated with Perry and other Texas politicians. "They give a lot of rhetoric toward families, but their actions don't meet up with what they are saying," he said.

Perry's office says it's principle, not lack of compassion.

"Gov. Perry believes 'Obamacare' is unconstitutional, misguided and unsustainable, and Texas, along with other states, is taking legal action to end this massive government overreach," said spokeswoman Lucy Nashed. "There are no plans to implement an exchange."

___

Online:

AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2011/healthcare

Urban Institute estimates: http://tinyurl.com/86py8nd

Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight: http://cciio.cms.gov

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-US-Health-Overhaul-States/id-d24137291c1e4d1995924669a9499539

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Start Microsoft Office Programs Without the Splash Screen [Annoyances]

Start Microsoft Office Programs Without the Splash ScreenIf you're sick of staring at that Microsoft Word or Excel splash screen every time you start up the program, this little trick will keep it from popping up before the main window.

While the splash screen can be helpful in telling you that the program's actually started, Office has gotten fast enough where it doesn't matter quite as much, and the splash screen has just gotten annoying to look at. If you want to disable it, you can do so with a simple flag. This won't change anything about the program, just the shortcuts you choose to edit, so you aren't hacking the program in any irreversible fashion. To turn off the splash screen, create a new Word, Excel, or PowerPoint shortcut on your desktop by doing the following:

  1. Right-click on the desktop and go to New > Shortcut
  2. In the box, type one of the following, depending on which program you want the shortcut to activate (these commands are for Microsoft Office 2010):
    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\WINWORD.EXE" /q "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE" /e "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\POWERPOINT.EXE" /s
  3. Hit Next, Enter a name for the shortcut (like "Microsoft Word 2010"), and hit Finish.
  4. Repeat the process for the other two programs, if desired.

That's it! Now, when you use that shortcut, you should see that the splash screen is gone and that the main window just pops up once it's loaded. Note that this only works for when you're opening Office from these shortcuts?not when you open a .doc file from Explorer. To change that, you'll have to edit the Registry, which is a bit riskier, but will work system-wide. Hit the link to read more.

How To Disable Office 2010 Splash Screen | Into Windows

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/vPZ499vvZBg/start-microsoft-office-programs-without-the-splash-screen

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26 homes lost in Reno fire and 2,000 evacuated (AP)

RENO, Nev. ? Reno hasn't seen a winter this dry in more than 120 years. So residents welcomed a forecast that a storm was due to blow across the Sierra Nevada this week.

Instead, as many as 10,000 found themselves fleeing their homes while howling winds gusting to 82 mph pushed a fire toward them, destroying 26 homes and torching thousands of acres.

As the fire eased Friday, residents faced another threat: the storm was expected to bring high winds and a burst of rain and snow that could cause flash flooding on the charred land.

"The weather poses a significant threat," fire commander Paul Washam said. "We've got a lot of work to do and a short time to do it. If it rains, we'll have flood concerns."

Emergency crews, meanwhile, escorted evacuees in two separate burn areas to see their houses. Officials said evacuation orders would continue ? even in areas unaffected by the fire.

Connie Cryer went to the fire response command post on Friday with her 12-year-old granddaughter, Maddie Miramon, to find out if her house had survived the flames.

"We had to know so we could get some sleep," Cryer said, adding her house was spared but a neighbor's wasn't. She had seen wildfires before, but nothing on this scale.

"There was fire in front of me, fire beside me, fire behind me. It was everywhere," she said. "I don't know how more didn't burn up. It was terrible, all the wind and the smoke."

The blaze started shortly after noon Thursday and, fueled by the wind gusts, mushroomed to more than 6 square miles before firefighters stopped its surge toward Reno.

"The fire moved very, very fast," Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said. "Firefighters did an enormously good job of holding the number of structures down to 26."

The fire's cause isn't known. It started in a valley along a highway, which was closed because the heat destroyed some of the guardrails. Those rails will need to be replaced, state officials said.

Three schools were closed Friday and about 200 customers were without electricity.

The fire held steady around 3,900 acres and was 50 percent contained. Of the roughly 10,000 people ordered to leave their homes, about 2,000 of them remained under evacuation orders.

The high, erratic winds caused major challenges for crews evacuating residents, Sierra Front spokesman Mark Regan said. "In a matter of seconds, the wind would shift," he said.

Fire officials said Thursday's fire was "almost a carbon copy" of a blaze that destroyed 30 homes in Reno during similar summer-like conditions in mid-November.

State Forester Pete Anderson said he has not seen such hazardous fire conditions in winter in his 57 years in Nevada. Reno had no precipitation in December ? the last time that happened was 1883.

An inch of snow Monday ended the longest recorded dry spell in Reno history, a 56-day stretch that prompted Anderson to issue an unusual warning about wildfire threats.

"We're usually pretty much done with the fire season by the first of November, but this year it's been nonstop," Anderson said.

Firefighters were taking advantage of a break in the weather Friday to make more progress against the fire. At least 700 people, including firefighters from California, were expected to fight the fire.

Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said there was one fatality in the fire area but declined to provide more details, saying an autopsy would be needed to determine the cause of death.

Kit Bailey, U.S. Forest Service fire chief at nearby Lake Tahoe, said conditions are so dry that even a forecast calling for rain and snow might not take the Reno-Tahoe area out of fire danger.

"The scary thing is a few days of drying after this storm cycle and we could be back into fire season again," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas and Sandra Chereb in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_us/us_reno_brush_fire

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Today on New Scientist: 20 January 2012

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IMF seeks up to $500 billion in new funds (AP)

BRUSSELS ? The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that it's aiming to increase its financial firepower by around $500 billion so it can give out new loans to help ease a worsening financial crisis.

Responding to speculation surrounding its funding requirements, the Washington-based institution said its staff estimates that countries around the world will need about $1 trillion in loans over the coming years. Most of the concerns center on the 17 nations that use the euro and their debt crisis.

Thanks to about $200 billion that European countries have promised to the IMF, it's more than one-third of its way to reaching its fund-raising goal.

The IMF has put up about a third of the financing of the eurozone's bailouts over the past two years. But there are growing worries that non-European countries will also need more help because of the worsening economic outlook.

Earlier, its sister organization, the World Bank, urged emerging countries to be ready for a severe global downturn if the crisis in the 17-nation eurozone intensifies.

The eurozone, in particular, has been pushing countries around the globe to give more funds to the IMF. The idea is to build up a larger firewall to stop the continent's debt troubles from spreading to large economies like Spain, Italy or even France.

But so far, even countries relatively flush with cash as China or Brazil have been reluctant to put up more money for Europe. The United States is also reluctant to increase the fund's resources.

Eswar Prasad, a former top IMF official who teaches economics at Cornell University, said emerging market countries may have started to see the need for such support because Europe's debt crisis has begun to cut into their exports. He said also that concern about possible European bond defaults is triggering a flight to safer bonds. That means less capital is flowing to emerging markets.

"There is a sense among many countries that the problems of Europe are beginning to wash up on their shores so some action must be taken," Prasad said.

Prasad expects the issue to be discussed Thursday at a meeting of deputy finance ministers for Group of 20 countries in Mexico City. But he doesn't expect a decision until the G-20 finance ministers meet Feb. 24-25 in Mexico City.

Nor does Prasad expect the Obama administration to change its position. He expects it will continue to oppose further U.S. support to the IMF.

"The United States is almost certainly not going to put any more money on the table," Prasad said. "Even if the administration wanted to do it, there is little chance they could get it through Congress."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that the government would be prepared to back an increase but that he would require approval from his Parliament.

"We believe the IMF must always lend to countries, not to currencies," Cameron said at a news conference with Italian Premier Mario Monti. "We would only act if that was with others, not just as part of a eurozone measure.

But Cameron said it's up to the eurozone itself to prove that it's "standing behind its own currency."

Monti said British taxpayers wouldn't have to pay for Italy's economic woes.

"To my knowledge, my country has not cost a penny to the U.K.," Monti said. "I don't see a reason why this should change in the future."

How the IMF's fund-raising goal will be reached is set to be discussed at a meeting of finance ministers of the Group of 20 leading economies in Mexico next month.

____

David Stringer in London and Martin Crutsinger in Washington contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_imf_resources

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