Iced Tea, a Tee, Personality | Tempo - News in a Flash

Manila, Philippines ? What is ?lifestyle journalism,? as lifestyle editor Arnel Patawaran calls it? Whose lifestyles get noticed in lifestyle articles and publications? Do lifestyle writers have more fun?

As far as my eyes can see and my nose can smell, lifestyle journalism is all about Iced Tea, a Tee, Personality. In other words, food and drink, fashion and such, personalities and personality (which is not the same as its plural form).

Arnel is the editor of Sense and Style, a sister publication of this newspaper. He cut his teeth at the Philippines? first glossy, the original Lifestyle Asia, followed by a shorter stint putting together a travel-and-leisure magazine, and then eight years of the daily grind with the Manila Standard. Because of his association with me, for good or ill, I cannot escape being referred to as his ?mentor,? and to that I plead guilty.

But we could not be more different. Arnel is quiet, so slim he?s hardly visible in a crowd, and underneath his self-effacing calm he is Victorian in manners and behavior. If behavior were the outward expression of one?s inner thoughts, then his writing has to be Victorian as well. Almost prudish and certainly prudent, he?s not one to write about scandals (even if he has heard the latest tidbit) ? his magazine sells the good life, you know, iced tea, tee shirts and tee-offs, celebrity and occasional serenity in a cup, a watering hole, a resort. What makes Arnel different? He is literate and articulate, he is sensitive and imbued with a world view grounded in a lifetime of reading.

Now Arnel is the author of Write Here, Write Now, a book designed to sustain the lure of the printed word. Do lifestyle writers have more fun? Looking at Arnel as the poster boy of lifestyle journalism, it?s not only fun, it?s an entire education! (JULLIE YAP DAZA)

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Source: http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/12/iced-tea-a-tee-personality/

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AAAS Council elected physicist Anton Zeilinger as a Fellow

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Nov-2012
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Contact: Alexandra Frey
alexandra.frey@univie.ac.at
43-142-771-7533
University of Vienna

AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded in 1874 and is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal "Science". Its mission is to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. This year 702 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications one of those is Anton Zeilinger in "Section of physics".

"I am very glad to receive this distinction", says Zeilinger, "and I am honored to be a fellow of the AAAS."

About Anton Zeilinger

Zeilinger was born 1945 in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria) and studied physics in Vienna. He has held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Technical University of Munich, the Technical University of Vienna, the University of Innsbruck, the University of Melbourne and the College de France (Paris), and conducted research activities in Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) and at Merton College of Oxford University. Since 1999 he is Professor for Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna, since 2004 Scientific Director of the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is also since 2006 Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees from the Institute of Science and Technology of Austria and a founding board member (2010) of the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ).

###

More information about Zeilinger: http://www.quantum.at/zeilinger

Contact:

Verena Bock
Office Anton Zeilinger
Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics & Quantum Information
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI)
Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090 Vienna
T +43-1-4277-512 01
zeilinger-office@univie.ac.at

VCQ Press&Media
Mag. Barbara Suchanek
Boltzmanngasse 5
1090 Vienna
+43-1-4277-725 45
vcq@quantum.at
http://vcq.quantum.at


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?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Alexandra Frey
alexandra.frey@univie.ac.at
43-142-771-7533
University of Vienna

AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded in 1874 and is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal "Science". Its mission is to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. This year 702 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications one of those is Anton Zeilinger in "Section of physics".

"I am very glad to receive this distinction", says Zeilinger, "and I am honored to be a fellow of the AAAS."

About Anton Zeilinger

Zeilinger was born 1945 in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria) and studied physics in Vienna. He has held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Technical University of Munich, the Technical University of Vienna, the University of Innsbruck, the University of Melbourne and the College de France (Paris), and conducted research activities in Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) and at Merton College of Oxford University. Since 1999 he is Professor for Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna, since 2004 Scientific Director of the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is also since 2006 Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees from the Institute of Science and Technology of Austria and a founding board member (2010) of the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ).

###

More information about Zeilinger: http://www.quantum.at/zeilinger

Contact:

Verena Bock
Office Anton Zeilinger
Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics & Quantum Information
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI)
Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090 Vienna
T +43-1-4277-512 01
zeilinger-office@univie.ac.at

VCQ Press&Media
Mag. Barbara Suchanek
Boltzmanngasse 5
1090 Vienna
+43-1-4277-725 45
vcq@quantum.at
http://vcq.quantum.at


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/uov-ace113012.php

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Could Bill Clinton Be Getting a New Job in Washington? Who Else is Coming to Town?

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been married for five years. I recently discovered that she made between 10 and 20 porn videos when she was 19. We got married when she was 27. We have four kids from two previous marriages.I am devastated. When I confronted her about it, she cried harder than I had ever seen. She said she was lost, and it's the biggest regret of her entire life.I understand how hard it can be to tell someone you have done something like this. I haven't led a perfect life either, and I have my own skeletons and things that I would never mention. But still, I can't get over this. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-bill-clinton-getting-job-washington-else-coming-200437492--abc-news-politics.html

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Researchers aid effort to sequence the complex wheat genome

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Intent on developing wheat varieties with higher yields and enhanced nutritional content, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have teamed up with scientists at nine other institutions in an attempt to sequence the wheat genome.

Results from that endeavor, led by researchers at the U.K.-based Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, will be reported Nov. 29 in the journal Nature.

"This work moves us one step closer to a comprehensive and highly detailed genome sequence for bread wheat, which along with rice and maize is one of the three pillars on which the global food supply rests," said Jan Dvorak, professor of plant sciences at UC Davis and a study co-author.

"The world's population is projected to grow from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050," he said. "It is clear that, with no new farmable land available to bring into cultivation, we must develop higher-yielding varieties of these three cereals to meet the growing global demand for food."

The bread wheat genome is especially complex because bread wheat originated from three ancient grass species. Its genome is, therefore, a composite of three genomes ? and is five times the size of the human genome.

Wheat geneticists have historically designated the genomes of those parent grasses as the A, B and D genomes, each containing a similar set of genes. As a result, most bread wheat genes exist in triplicate.

To aid the sequence assembly of bread wheat, Dvorak and the UC Davis researchers have worked with scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and with scientists at two other U.S. institutions on sequencing of the genome of the parent species Aegilops tauschii ? the source of the bread wheat D genome.

The U.S. team shared the Aegilops tauschii sequences with the British team, which was assembling all three of the wheat A, B and D genomes.

Comparing the Aegilops tauschii sequence with modern wheat allows researchers to assess genomic changes that have taken place in bread wheat since its origin approximately 8,000 years ago.

In the study reported in Nature, the researchers used the whole genome "shotgun sequencing" approach, which generates billions of random genome sequence "reads" and then pieces them together. The results provide information about the DNA making up wheat genes that will help wheat breeders develop hardier varieties by linking genes to key traits, such as disease resistance and drought tolerance.

"This sequencing effort has yielded important information that will accelerate wheat genetics and breeding and help us better understand wheat evolution," Dvorak said. "It cannot be overemphasized, however, that this is just one step in the global effort to produce a high-quality draft of the bread wheat genome sequence."

He said completion of such a high-quality genome sequence for bread wheat is still a few years away and will require broad international collaboration to complete.

###

University of California - Davis: http://www.ucdavis.edu

Thanks to University of California - Davis for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 38 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125577/Researchers_aid_effort_to_sequence_the_complex_wheat_genome

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Landscape Supply and Designing | Home Improvement For All

landscape supply NJLandscape designing has become as important and common as interior design, because owning a garden supposes arranging it so as to feel comfortable and peaceful when spending time in it. It is essential for a garden or yard to be both beautiful and practical, and to that end, owners appeal to specialized designing and development companies. Designing the garden supposes esthetic sense, solid ecology and horticulture knowledge, as well as garden history, art, architecture, industrial design, geology and environmental psychology knowledge.

Exactly like in architecture plans, landscape design must be based on previous social, geological and ecological conditions investigation, and must propose a creative intervention of the given space. There are specific instructions related to composition, concept and design, soil preparation and plant maintenance. Of course, proper landscape supply needs to be used.

The esthetics of a garden must not be affected by its functionality. Moreover, all adjacent elements that help develop a harmonious life within the garden space must be conceived in virtue of an esthetic principle. In comparison to territorial development, where functionality is more important, a garden needs to be a work or art. Therefore, landscape supply refers, first of all, to all the gardening tools: scissors, rakes, shovels, mowing machines and so on. Secondly, it implies all the irrigation system instruments: canals, pipes, hoses. Then, all the plant seeds, flowerpots, fertilizers are also included in landscape supply.

Other components are objects or constructions that beautify the garden, such as: garden furniture, basins, swimming pools, cupolas, gazebos, fountains, concrete decorations etc. At times, people with very spacious gardens, build tennis courts, mini golf courses or football fields. These are more complex developments that imply massive landscape supply, like excavators or elevators, which are put at disposal by construction companies.

Once the garden fundament is achieved, the plants, alleys, water canals and elevation are decided, planting and vegetation arrangements can be accomplished. Because it supposes a distinct technology, the lawn must be treated differently. It is considered part of landscape supply, because there are pre-grown lawn carpets that ensure an immediate effect. Lawn can be seeded, too, but it takes months for the grass to grow. Because of temperature variations, there is a multitude of parasites and diseases that attack plants all through the year. Thus, services are diverse and oriented towards a good protection against pests, companies providing professional prevention and destroying solutions, which are landscape supply items.

Landscape Supply and Designing has been brought to you by Peach Country Landscape Supply located in beautiful Mullica Hill NJ. ?Peach Country is the leading landscape supply NJ company for the entire region.

?

Source: http://homeimprovement-pro.com/landscape-supply-and-designing

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Sweet, sweet revenge

Brees picked off 5 times as record TD streak snapped in 23-13 loss; Atlanta improves to 11-1

Image: New Orleans Saints v Atlanta FalconsGetty Images

Atlanta's Sean Weatherspoon celebrates after making a defensive stop against New Orleans on Thursday.

By PAUL NEWBERRY

updated 12:14 a.m. ET Nov. 30, 2012

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Falcons moved to the brink of clinching a division championship.

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints wound up with egg on their faces.

After racing to a 17-0 lead, the Falcons turned to their defense to make it stand up, picking off five of Brees' passes and ending his NFL-record touchdown streak in a 23-13 victory over the Saints on Thursday night.

The Falcons (11-1) will clinch the NFC South with a month to go if Tampa Bay loses at Denver on Sunday. They also dealt a big blow to the Saints (5-7) and their fading playoff hopes.

William Moore had two of the five interceptions, which were the most of Brees' career and came four days after he had two passes picked off and returned for touchdowns in a loss to San Francisco.

"That's the first time that's ever happened to me, so that's extremely disappointing," Brees said. "I pride myself on being a good decision-maker and not someone who will be a detriment to the game."

Brees had thrown a touchdown pass in 54 consecutive games, breaking Johnny Unitas' long-standing record earlier this season. There was an apparent scoring pass to Darren Sproles late in the first half, but it was nullified by a penalty.

"I didn't realize that until we walked off the field," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "That's an unbelievable streak. Drew Brees is an outstanding quarterback. The way the defense played tonight speaks volumes. The guys had gone out there and thrown touchdown after touchdown game after game after game."

After the Sproles TD was wiped off the board, Brees made another huge mistake with New Orleans inside the Atlanta 10, allowing the clock to run out without at least attempting a field goal.

When the Saints arrived in Atlanta, their bus was pelted by eggs at the airport, epitomizing the long rivalry between the teams. New Orleans had dominated in recent years, winning four in a row and 11 of 13.

This time, Michael Turner scored on Atlanta's opening possession, Tony Gonzalez hauled in a touchdown pass from Matt Ryan, and Matt Bryant booted three field goals, including a 55-yarder.

The defense did the rest. Thomas DeCoud, Sean Weatherspoon and Jonathan Babineaux also had interceptions for Atlanta, and another pick by Corey Peters didn't count because of a penalty.

Brees had a couple of games with four picks, but nothing like this. He finished 28 of 50 for 341 yards.

The defending NFC South champion Saints lost their second in a row and will likely have to win out to have even a faint hope of making the postseason during a tumultuous year that was marred by a bounty scandal and a season-long suspension for coach Sean Payton.

After winning so many close games, the Falcons started this one as if they were intent on a rout.

Ryan completed a pass on the first play from scrimmage, then turned it over to a running game that has struggled most of the season. Turner burst around right end for a 35-yard gain. Jacquizz Rodgers broke off two straight 14-yard gains. Finally, it was Turner going in standing from 3 yards out, giving Atlanta a quick 7-0 lead.

That was Turner's 58th touchdown in five seasons with the Falcons, breaking the team record he had shared with Terance Mathis.

Atlanta struck again in the opening minute of the second period. Julio Jones hauled in an 18-yard throw from Ryan, setting up a 17-yard touchdown pass to Gonzalez in the back of the end zone. He beat former teammate Curtis Lofton; maybe as a sign of respect, Gonzo just flipped the ball over the crossbar instead of his customary basketball dunk.

Brees' second interception, this one a sloppy pass behind running Chris Ivory that deflected into the arms of Sean Weatherspoon, set up Bryant's 45-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead.

Then, suddenly, the game completely changed.

For the rest of the second quarter and most of the third, the Saints totally dominated. Mark Ingram scored on a 1-yard run, capping an 11-play, 80-yard drive, and New Orleans should have tacked on more points at the end of the half. But Brees made a rookie-like mistake with 12 seconds remaining, dumping a pass over the middle to Sproles with no timeouts. He was wrapped up at the Atlanta 3 and the clock ran out before the Saints could spike the ball.

"Honestly, I thought we had more time than we did," Brees said. "The last time I remember, we had 17 seconds. ... But it was down to seven when I looked up after the completion. That wasn't enough time to get the spike. That's on me."

But New Orleans got the ball to start the second half, and Brees went back to work. This time, he made a couple of nifty moves to avoid sacks, completing six passes on an 83-yard drive consuming 15 plays and more than 6 1/2 minutes. But the Falcons held again, forcing Garrett Hartley to boot a 21-yard field goal that cut it to 17-10.

Hartley connected again from much farther out on the Saints' next possession, a 52-yarder that brought New Orleans even closer.

The Falcons, meanwhile, couldn't do anything offensively. They failed to pick up a first down on five straight possessions, a stretch in which the Saints had a 289-30 lead in total yards and a staggering 18 first downs.

But the Atlanta defense kept coming through when it counted.

Late in the third, Brees rolled to his right and threw over the middle. Moore stepped in front of the receiver and returned it to the New Orleans 16. Ryan connected on first-down throws to Gonzalez and Roddy White to set up Bryant for a 29-yarder that extended the lead back to a touchdown.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Sweet, sweet revenge

The Falcons avenged their lone loss of the season and crushed the Saints' playoff hopes, picking off Drew Brees five times and snapping his record touchdown streak in a 23-13 win.

Getty Images

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50019809/ns/sports-nfl/

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Family, Parenting, Reviews, and Giveaways - The Attic Girl: {2012 ...

holiday gifts, gift ideas










My daughter loves her "stuffies" as we call them. ?She has a collection of bears, bunnies, and other cuddly friends that she sleeps with and takes on car rides and shopping trips. ? Comfort items are really important with little ones, especially when it comes to bedtime.





The Cuddletunes bear is one of the most unique teddy bears that I have seen. ?It has a built-in MP3 player with 1 GB of storage (approx 250 songs!). ?You can upload your own songs, stories, whatever you choose, and the bear will play them. ?It is a truly outstanding technology!



You can create your soundtrack online; choose from 5 songs that they will insert your child's name into, or you can upload/record your own. ? My husband recorded himself singing the song he sang to her the first night she came home. ? It took a bit of time to get it just right; he suggests you speak directly into the microphone on your computer so it will be loud enough. ? You will also need to have a quiet room without background noises.




Once your soundtrack is created, it can be automatically uploaded to your bear. ?The great thing about this is that you can keep adding new songs to your play list! ?Cuddletunes has a cable to the MP3 player inside its body that attaches right to your computer. ?Family members who are away can easily add their special story or song recording online and you can add it to your bear on your computer at home. ?Switching out your play list keeps it fresh and fun!




Operating the bear is very easy. ?To turn on, you press the on/play button on their foot for a few seconds and you'll see a red flashing light over his heart. ?It also has options to rewind or fast forward through the play list. ?When you are finished, press stop and then the on/play button, the light will flash again, then turn off. ?The light flashes like a heart beat and reminds you that your bear is on.

My husband is often working late hours and isn't always home before The Attic Baby is in bed. ?She misses her daddy at night and asks for him often. ?The Cuddletunes bear provides a way for her to hear her daddy's voice throughout the day without having to interrupt his work time. ?She loves listening to her daddy sing!




I am cautious about giving her the bear to sleep with just yet since she's under two. ?I do not want her to open up the velcro and get to the box inside the bear. ?Unfortunately, the velcro is pretty easy to undo and is too tempting for a curious toddler. ? It'd be better if they had a toddler proof ?way to tuck the box and cord inside the bear. ?The only downside is I'll have to wait until she's older for her to sleep with it.

This will make a great personalized gift for children with parents in the military, parents who work long shifts, and grandparents who live far away. ?It will give the comfort of hearing a loved ones' voice even when they can't be physically present. ?


Where to Purchase: ?$59.99 at Cuddletunes site

Connect?with Cuddletunes:

Facebook?https://www.facebook.com/cuddletunes
Twitter ?@cuddletunes


For more holiday gift?ideas, be sure to check out the?2012 Holiday Gift Guide!



Disclosure: ? I received a Cuddletunes bear for review purposes. ?All opinions are my own; your experience may differ from mine. ??For more info. see my Disclosure Policy.


Source: http://www.atticgirl.com/2012/11/2012-holiday-gift-guide-cuddletunes-bear.html

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Manning: Thoughts of suicide, made noose

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ? An Army private charged with leaking classified material to WikiLeaks said Friday that he tied a bedsheet into a noose while considering suicide during his pretrial confinement in Kuwait.

Pfc. Bradley Manning testified on the fourth day of a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade near Baltimore. Manning testified under cross-examination that he made the noose in Kuwait before he was moved to a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. He claims that his treatment later at Quantico was so harsh that the charges against him should be dismissed.

He arrived at Quantico classified as a suicide risk. Eight days later, he was upgraded to the less-restrictive "prevention of injury" status.

Manning maintains that neither designation was appropriate because he didn't feel like hurting himself after leaving Kuwait.

Under questioning by prosecutor Maj. Ashden Fein, Manning said that upon arrival at Quantico in July 2010, he was told he would be processed into the brig as a suicide risk. He said he noted on his intake form that he had considered suicide.

He also wrote on the form that he was "always planning and never acting" upon suicidal thoughts.

In January 2011, after complaining about his custody classification, Manning met with a board of officers that made custody status recommendations. He said when he was asked about the statement on his intake form about planning and never acting, he told the board that he might have lied.

"I did say it might have been a sarcastic answer," Manning said. "I told them today, the end of January 2011, I'm not suicidal. I'm not trying to harm myself or anything like that."

The testimony marked the first time military prosecutors went face-to-face with Manning.

He spoke publicly Thursday for the first time since his May 2010 arrest, saying he got so used to leg irons and being locked up 23 hours a day that when he was finally transferred to medium-security confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in April 2011, he felt uneasy moving freely around the cell block.

"There was the sense of, 'OK, I know they're going to put the hammer down on me soon,'" Manning said near the end of his five hours on the witness stand.

Besides being classified "maximum custody," Manning was subjected to additional restraints during his nine months at Quantico. Commanders maintained the extra restrictions despite repeated recommendations by brig psychiatrists that they be eased. They included scratchy, suicide-prevention bedding and sometimes having all his clothing, eyeglasses and reading material removed from his cell.

The military contends the treatment was proper.

At one point during his testimony Thursday, Manning donned a dark-green, suicide-prevention smock resembling an oversized tank top made of stiff, thick fabric. He said it was similar to one he was issued in March 2011, several days after Quantico jailers started requiring him to surrender all his clothing and eyeglasses each night as a suicide-prevention measure. This occurred after he told them ? out of frustration, he said ? that if he really wanted to hurt himself, he could have done so with his underwear waistband or flip-flops.

The 5-foot-3 soldier looked youthful in his dark-blue dress uniform, close-cropped hair and rimless eyeglasses. He was animated, often speaking in emphatic bursts, swiveling in the witness chair and gesturing with his hands.

Also Thursday, the military judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, accepted the terms under which Manning may plead guilty to eight of the 22 charges he faces. Coombs revealed the plea offer in early November, saying it would enable Manning to take responsibility for sending U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks.

Lind hasn't formally accepted the pleas but has indicated she will consider them at a hearing starting Dec. 10.

Under the offer, Manning would plead guilty to certain charges as violations of military regulations rather than as violations of federal espionage and computer security laws. The offenses would then carry maximum prison terms totaling 16 years rather than 72.

The pleas would include admissions that Manning sent WikiLeaks classified memos, Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, Guantanamo Bay prison records and a 2007 video clip of a U.S. helicopter crew gunning down 11 men later found to have included a Reuters news photographer and his driver. The video, titled "Collateral Murder" on WikiLeaks, garnered worldwide attention. The Pentagon concluded the troops acted appropriately during the attack, having mistaken the camera equipment for weapons.

The government could still prosecute Manning for all 22 counts he faces, including aiding the enemy. That offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Manning is accused of engineering the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history. Besides the video, he is charged with sending hundreds of thousands of classified Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and more than 250,000 diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gi-charged-wikileaks-case-admits-making-noose-155605657.html

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Locking Homeowners Out of Their Favorite Deduction

The mortgage interest deduction ? considered by many to be the sacred cow of tax breaks ? has joined the list of possible items on the chopping block in the growing debate between President Obama and Congress about the so-called ?fiscal cliff.?

However, research coauthored by Wharton real estate professor Todd Sinai indicates that eliminating the deduction may not pay off. In a recent paper titled, ?Revenue Costs and Incentive Effects of the Mortgage Interest Deduction for Owner-occupied Housing,? Sinai and James Poterba, a professor of economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, examine consumer finance data to ?analyze how changes in the income tax deduction for mortgage interest would affect loan-to-value ratios on owner-occupied homes, the distribution of income tax liabilities and the consumption of housing services.? (The paper was included as a chapter in the book, Economic Analysis of Tax Expenditures, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research last year.)

In light of the evolving budget talks in Congress, K@W Today spoke with Sinai about his research, and what an elimination of the mortgage interest deduction would mean for consumers and the housing market.

K@W Today: Why do you think the mortgage interest deduction has gone from being viewed as largely ?untouchable? to being one possible area for cutting in the budget debate?

Todd Sinai: I am not sure it is any less ?untouchable? than it was before. Instead, when Congress decides it needs more revenue, the two easiest ways to raise it are to increase tax rates or eliminate exceptions from the tax base, called ?tax expenditures.? Tax expenditures are big-ticket items. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that over the five-year period spanning 2012-2016, the tax revenues foregone by allowing a deduction for mortgage interest will total $609 billion, the second largest tax expenditure (behind not taxing employer-paid medical insurance premiums as income, at $1.07 trillion). If the government needs revenue, it needs to look at these big-ticket items, and thus the mortgage interest deduction (MID) has surfaced in the debate about the fiscal cliff.

Nonetheless, ?raising revenues? still means someone has to pay more taxes, so the political difficulty of eliminating the mortgage interest deduction remains. Not only will tax bills rise, but as my Wharton colleague Joe Gyourko and I found in earlier research, they will rise disproportionately in the major metropolitan areas of the Northeast (from Washington, D.C., to Boston), and along the West Coast. Residents of those metropolitan areas, who have high incomes and expensive houses, have the largest tax savings from the mortgage interest deduction and thus stand to lose the most if the deduction is capped or eliminated.

It seems politically difficult to reduce a tax expenditure that benefits a concentrated group of politically important citizens ? the residents of these metro areas ? but perhaps the fiscal cliff will create the political will to do so. Also, bundling a mortgage interest deduction reform with other tax changes that might offset some of the distributional impact, much in the way the Simpson-Bowles Commission had in mind, could perhaps help make a change in the mortgage interest deduction more politically palatable.

K@W Today: Based on your research, what effect would eliminating this deduction have on the average consumer?

Sinai: If the deduction were eliminated completely, the average household?s annual tax bill would increase by a little more than $1,000. That number masks the real impact, however. Households earning less than $40,000 per year would see their tax bills rise by less than $110 on average ? few of those households itemize on their tax returns and thus gain little benefit from the mortgage interest deduction, and those that do itemize tend to have relatively inexpensive houses. Households earning between $125,000 and $250,000, by contrast, would stand to lose nearly $2,700 in annual tax savings. And those making more than $250,000 ? the ones subject to deduction caps under some tax reform proposals ? currently save $5,400 per year on average from the mortgage deduction. It is worth noting that within any of those income groups, seniors (taxpayers age 65 or above) typically would face a much smaller tax increase than the average. By the time someone is age 65 or 70, they typically have paid off all, or nearly all, of their mortgage and thus have little interest to deduct.

Of course, households could mitigate the tax burden from the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction by using their savings to pay down their mortgages. They would have less mortgage debt, but they also would have less investment income and thus would owe less tax. However, many households are limited in their ability to do this reallocation. Households with a big mortgage typically don?t have a lot of investments that could be used to pay it off.

K@W Today: What effect would an elimination of the deduction have on the housing market?

Sinai: For the homeownership rate, probably not much. Most research indicates that the mortgage interest deduction is not a particularly effective way of getting people to buy houses instead of renting. So, eliminating it would not deter many potential home buyers.

Rather, what the mortgage interest deduction is good at is encouraging households to spend more on housing once they decide to buy one. In the absence of the mortgage interest deduction, households would buy smaller or less fancy houses, or house prices would fall to partially compensate for home buyers? having a higher after-tax interest rate. This effect would be largest in those metropolitan areas that currently gain the biggest tax savings from the mortgage interest deduction.

How much of an impact on existing home prices there would be from eliminating the MID is difficult to determine. The price effects are likely to be larger in the coastal and northeast corridor cities ? not only do they have bigger subsidies, more of the subsidy is capitalized into house prices ? but just how large is currently an unknown.

K@W Today: Is there any upside to eliminating the deduction?

Sinai: Sure! There is a paucity of evidence that the mortgage interest deduction serves any useful economic purpose. While there are some arguments to be made that homeownership benefits communities and children, I?ve already noted that the MID is a poor mechanism for encouraging homeownership. If homeownership is our policy goal, we could eliminate the MID and redeploy the funds in a more effective way. Rather, since the MID mainly encourages housing consumption among people who would have bought houses anyway, we would be better off by eliminating the economic distortion that comes from subsidizing additional spending on that sector.

However, there are many factors at play besides the simple calculation of the economic inefficiency of a mortgage interest deduction. The MID has a large effect on the distribution of the tax burden across households of different incomes and ages, and some policymakers might view that as a positive. And, even if it would have been ideal to never have created a mortgage interest deduction in the first place, it does not follow that it is a good idea to eliminate or reduce the MID once it exists. Changing the mortgage interest deduction will likely reduce house prices in at least some vulnerable metropolitan areas, possibly leading to more foreclosures and certainly damaging the wealth of some older households who are counting on selling their houses to finance retirement. Reducing the value of the MID would have to be managed carefully to avoid collateral damage for individual households or the overall economy. Any plan would have to either be phased in slowly or use offsetting changes in the tax code to mitigate the risk of an excessive burden falling on any particular set of taxpayers.

Source: http://knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu/2012/11/locking-homeowners-out-of-their-favorite-deduction-at-what-price/

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