TV fans have lots to look forward to in the coming months, with oodles of TV shows returning and/or premiering this spring. Here's a look at some of the notable ones!
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45827696/
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NEW DELHI -- India's Parliament was unable to pass an anti-corruption bill that had been cleared by the powerful lower house earlier this week, leaving the controversial legislation in limbo.
The upper house debated the bill for more than 13 hours Thursday before adjourning at midnight without clearing it, indefinitely delaying potential passage of the government's "Lokpal," or watchdog, bill.
The lower house passed the anti-graft bill Tuesday after hours of fierce debate with several amendments suggested by opposition lawmakers. The bill becomes a law after both houses of Parliament pass it and send it to the president for her signature.
Parliament will reconvene early next year, though the date is unclear. It must reconvene by March to pass the budget for the next year.
Like the lower house, the upper house saw impassioned, often angry debate, with opposition parties calling the bill weak and ineffective. The government's own allies also had issues with a section of the proposed legislation that allowed the central government to create an anti-corruption ombudsman for the states, who they said should be free to enact their own anti-corruption legislation.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a member of the ruling Congress party, accused the opposition of not making any constructive suggestions regarding the law, but "opposing for the sake of opposing."
The legislative showdown was the culmination of months of charged political debate and public protests that brought tens of thousands of middle-class Indians fed up with rampant corruption into the streets and put a scandal-plagued government on the defensive.
Hoping to defuse activist Anna Hazare's anti-corruption crusade, the government initiated debate Tuesday on a bill to create an anti-graft watchdog. But that failed to satisfy Hazare, who began a three-day hunger strike in Mumbai on Tuesday demanding the proposed ombudsman be made more powerful.
Hazare ended his fast Wednesday, a day earlier than planned, citing poor health, but he has vowed to keep fighting to ensure that Parliament passes his stringent version of the legislation.
He said his supporters would travel across the country to campaign against the political parties that did not support his proposals.
Hazare's main complaint with the anti-graft bill before Parliament is that the proposed corruption ombudsman would not have authority over the country's top investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation. He says the ombudsman position would be too weak without that authority.
The legislation covers senior politicians and officials. The prime minister's office is under its purview, but with restrictions. But it gives the ombudsman no powers to conduct independent investigations into complaints of corruption.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/29/2566346/india-anti-corruption-law-doesnt.html
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MONDAY, Dec. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Teens are more likely to be obese if they had a poor emotional relationship with their mother when they were toddlers, according to a new study.
The findings echo previous research showing that toddlers who didn't have close emotional ties with their parents were more likely to be obese by the time they were 4.5 years old.
In the latest study, researchers examined U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development data collected from hundreds of families who lived in nine states and had children who were born in 1991.
The analysis showed that the children's risk of obesity at age 15 was highest among those who had the lowest-quality emotional relationship with their mothers when they were toddlers, the Ohio State University researchers said.
More than one-quarter of the toddlers who had the lowest-quality relationships with their mothers were obese as teens, compared with 13 percent of those who had closer bonds with their mothers in their early years, according to the report published online and in the January print issue of the journal Pediatrics.
These and previous findings indicate that the risk of obesity may be affected by areas of the brain that control emotions and stress responses working together with those that control appetite and energy balance, the investigators explained.
The authors suggested that obesity prevention efforts should include strategies to improve the mother-child bond, as well as promoting healthier eating and exercise.
"It is possible that childhood obesity could be influenced by interventions that try to improve the emotional bonds between mothers and children rather than focusing only on children's food intake and activity," lead author Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology, said in an Ohio State University news release.
"The sensitivity a mother displays in interacting with her child may be influenced by factors she can't necessarily control. Societally, we need to think about how we can support better-quality maternal-child relationships, because that could have an impact on child health," Anderson added.
More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about overweight and obesity in children.
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Public release date: 28-Dec-2011
Share ] Contact: Adam Dormuth
dormutha@njh.org
303-398-1082
National Jewish Health
Allergists, pulmonologists and general practitioners can learn the approaches and methods used to diagnose and treat allergic, respiratory and immune diseases at the 34th Annual Pulmonary & Allergy Update conference hosted February 1-4 2012, by National Jewish Health. The program, co-chaired by National Jewish professors Harold Nelson, MD, Erwin Gelfand, MD, and Richard Martin, MD, offers an opportunity to interact with the world's leading specialists.
"For three decades this conference has assisted medical professionals in treating their patients who suffer from chronic diseases," said Dr. Nelson. "Year-after-year these four days provide tremendous opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in the nation."
The four-day conference features lectures and case-based workshops with pulmonary, allergy/immunology focuses. Pulmonary topics include lung disease in military veterans, diagnosis and treatment of asthma, mold exposure in respiratory disease and treatment updates in COPD. The allergy/immunology topics cover myths involved in atopic dermatitis, vaccinations, diagnosis and management of bronchiectasis, and nasal allergies.
All participants will observe presentations and participate in case-study discussions with National Jewish Health Faculty. Attendees can earn 14.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM or 15 CE nursing contact hours. National Jewish Health is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians, and is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the California Board of Registered Nursing.
###
National Jewish Health is the only medical and research center in the United States devoted to respiratory, immune, cardiac and related diseases, including asthma, tuberculosis, emphysema, severe allergies and autoimmune diseases, such as lupus. It has been rated the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation for 14 straight years by U.S. News & World Report.
For more information or to register for the conference please visit www.njhealth.org/Keystone or contact Mandy Comeau at 303-728-6585 or comeaum@njhealth.org.
The Keystone Conference Center is 90 miles west of Denver with a wide range of activities and services designed for the entire family.
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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.
Public release date: 28-Dec-2011 Share ] Contact: Adam Dormuth
dormutha@njh.org
303-398-1082
National Jewish Health
Allergists, pulmonologists and general practitioners can learn the approaches and methods used to diagnose and treat allergic, respiratory and immune diseases at the 34th Annual Pulmonary & Allergy Update conference hosted February 1-4 2012, by National Jewish Health. The program, co-chaired by National Jewish professors Harold Nelson, MD, Erwin Gelfand, MD, and Richard Martin, MD, offers an opportunity to interact with the world's leading specialists.
"For three decades this conference has assisted medical professionals in treating their patients who suffer from chronic diseases," said Dr. Nelson. "Year-after-year these four days provide tremendous opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in the nation."
The four-day conference features lectures and case-based workshops with pulmonary, allergy/immunology focuses. Pulmonary topics include lung disease in military veterans, diagnosis and treatment of asthma, mold exposure in respiratory disease and treatment updates in COPD. The allergy/immunology topics cover myths involved in atopic dermatitis, vaccinations, diagnosis and management of bronchiectasis, and nasal allergies.
All participants will observe presentations and participate in case-study discussions with National Jewish Health Faculty. Attendees can earn 14.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM or 15 CE nursing contact hours. National Jewish Health is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians, and is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the California Board of Registered Nursing.
###
National Jewish Health is the only medical and research center in the United States devoted to respiratory, immune, cardiac and related diseases, including asthma, tuberculosis, emphysema, severe allergies and autoimmune diseases, such as lupus. It has been rated the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation for 14 straight years by U.S. News & World Report.
For more information or to register for the conference please visit www.njhealth.org/Keystone or contact Mandy Comeau at 303-728-6585 or comeaum@njhealth.org.
The Keystone Conference Center is 90 miles west of Denver with a wide range of activities and services designed for the entire family.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/njh-3ap122811.php
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Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists launched a Qassam rocket attack Monday night at southern Israel.
The attack, launched from northern Gaza, was aimed at Israel's Gaza Belt region, located only a few kilometers from the Hamas terrorist-run region.
Qassam rockets, although modified in the past several years, still are limited to a range of approximately 10 to 15 kilometers.?One rocket reached southern Israel, landing in an open area in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council district.
No one was injured and no damage was reported.
The attack was the third in four days; Gaza terrorists fired two Qassam rockets at the Western Negev on Saturday evening. The two rockets landed in the Ashkelon Coastal Regional district and the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council district.
On Friday, the Eshkol Regional Council district was shelled as well.?There were no physical injuries and no damage reported in any of the attacks.
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151108
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California,
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Contact/Web Site |
Jan. 21, |
Gold Rush Championships |
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Feb. 4, |
Universal Studios Hollywood, |
Universal Studios Hollywood 'Cheer For A Cure' Championship |
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Cheer Tech Nationals |
Submit a Competition
Select
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Source: http://cheerleading.about.com/od/cheercompetitions/l/blcomp_CA.htm
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SAN FRANCISCO ? A former journalist who became the subject of a Hollywood movie after he was caught fabricating articles in the late 1990s is fighting to become a lawyer in California over the objections of a state bar committee.
Stephen Glass, whose ethical missteps at The New Republic and other magazines were recounted in the film "Shattered Glass" and an autobiographical novel, has challenged the bar committee's decision to deny him a license to practice law, the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/sfh2je ) reported Monday.
Glass attended law school at Georgetown University and passed California's bar exam in 2007. His application for an attorney's license was turned down by the state's Committee of Bar Examiners, which judged him morally unfit for his new profession.
But an independent state bar court ruled in Glass's favor in July and the California Supreme Court has since agreed to hear the committee's appeal. No date for oral arguments has been set.
The bar association's lawyers said in written filings that even though Glass' transgressions occurred when he was in his 20s, his attempts at atonement were inadequate and in some cases coincided with the publication of his novel. They faulted him for never compensating anyone who was hurt by his falsehoods.
Law and journalism "share common core values ? trust, candor, veracity, honor, respect for others," Rachel Grunberg, a lawyer for the State Bar of California, told the Chronicle. "He violated every one of them."
The bar court that overruled the committee in July was persuaded, however, that Glass was genuinely repentant and had been rehabilitated. His appeal included character references from 22 witnesses, including two judges who had employed him, two psychiatrists, and Martin Peretz, who owned The New Republic when Glass' deception occurred.
In his own statement to the bar, Glass said he was "greatly ashamed and remorseful about my lying" but "forthright and candid about my years of misconduct."
Glass tried to become a lawyer in New York after he passed that state's bar exam in 2003, but withdrew his application when his request for moral character approval from the New York bar languished.
Now 39, Glass works as a law clerk at a Beverly Hills firm. His lawyers did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages for comment Monday.
HONOLULU?? President Barack Obama exchanged gifts with his family, sang carols and attended church services as he celebrated Christmas in Hawaii.
The president and his family woke up early Sunday to exchange gifts, the White House said, then the Obamas had breakfast and sang Christmas carols at the multimillion-dollar house they rent in Kailua Beach, near Honolulu.
Later in the morning, the Obamas made the short trip to the chapel at Marine Corps Base Hawaii for Christmas church services. The president dressed casually in dark khaki pants and a short-sleeve blue shirt, and his wife and daughters donned sundresses for Christmas services on a bright and breezy day on the island of Oahu.
The White House said the president and Michelle Obama would return to the base later in the day to visit with service members and their families, as they have done in past years. Many of the Marines stationed at the base have deployed to Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, where the last American troops were withdrawn earlier this month.
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The president also called 10 service members stationed around the world ? two from each branch of the military ? on Christmas Eve. The White House said he thanked them for their service and the sacrifice of being away from their families at the holidays.
The Obamas planned to wrap up their Christmas festivities with dinner at the rental home with friends and family. Among those joining the first family in Hawaii are the president's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who lives on Oahu, and several friends Obama has known since high school.
The president has kept a low profile since arriving in Hawaii on Friday evening to start a vacation delayed by the stalemate in Washington over extending payroll tax cuts. He has no public events planned, and his only outings are expected to be to the golf course or to take his daughters for shave ice, a Hawaiian snow cone.
The Obamas are expected to return to Washington shortly after New Year's Day.
___
Associated Press writer Jaymes Song in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45787395/ns/us_news/
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Hm. RT @sunny_hundal: United States is a more unequal society than ancient Rome was. bit.ly/uEBMEV 
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Source: http://twitter.com/NickThornsby/statuses/150616613174001665
LONDON ? Britain's Prince Philip spent a third night in the hospital as he recovers after treatment for a blocked coronary artery.
The 90-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II is in good spirits and will remain under observation for "a short period," Buckingham Palace officials said Monday. There are no details of when he may be released.
The prince underwent a successful coronary stent procedure at Papworth, a specialist heart hospital in Cambridgeshire, where he was taken on Friday after complaining of chest pains.
It was the most serious health scare suffered by Philip, who is known to be active and robust. He has continued to appear at many engagements, most recently taking a 10-day tour of Australia with the queen.
He is likely to miss the Royal Family's traditional Boxing Day shooting party on Monday at the queen's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk, an event he usually leads.
Six of Philip's grandchildren, including Princes William and Harry, visited him Sunday in the hospital.
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by Allan C. Brownfeld
"The fact is that there is no Jewish vote--only the votes of millions of individual Jewish Americans. Those ballots are cast on the same basis as are those of Americans of other faiths. It is a dangerous challenge to our democracy to try to separate voters on the basis of religion, and to do so on the basis of a false picture of the nature of U.S. Middle East policy is harmful to all?to Israel, to the Palestinians, to American interests in the region and, perhaps most important, to the truth itself."
As the 2012 presidential election campaign gets under way, Republicans and Democrats alike are doing their best to appeal to what many perceive to be an Israel-centered "Jewish vote"?as if millions of Americans of the Jewish faith cast their ballots on the basis of criteria different from those of their Protestant, Catholic or Muslim fellow citizens.
In August, the Obama campaign appointed veteran political strategist Ira Forman, a former legislative liaison at AIPAC, as its director of Jewish outreach. Forman is a former Clinton administration official who managed the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) for nearly 15 years. "The fact that Ira is one of the first employees hired by the re-election effort speaks to the importance the campaign places on Jewish outreach," said William Daroff, the Jewish Federations of North America's chief lobbyist and a former Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) official.
The New York Times reported in September that, "It is no surprise that the Democratic National Committee meeting in Chicago...included briefings on jobs and health care, issues critical to President Obama's re-election. But the third topic presented to top party donors and fund-raisers was perhaps more surprising: 'Jewish messaging'...Matthew Brooks, the executive director of the RJC, said that the need to focus a discussion on Jewish outreach, alongside major national issues like jobs and health care, suggested the depth of skepticism Mr. Obama faced among some Jewish donors."
According to The Forward, "The potency of Israel as a wedge issue for Republicans going into 2012 was on full display when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu invited a small group of Democrats and Republicans to a first-ever joint meeting at Blair House one day before his May 24 speech to Congress...what was meant to be a show of bipartisanship ended as a war of words between heads of the NJDC and the RJC...Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the newly appointed head of the Democratic National Committee, suggested at the meeting that both parties pledge not to raise the issue of Israel in a partisan manner. But an angry Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC, responded the following day in a letter to Wasserman Schultz that her request, made in front of a foreign leader, was politically motivated."
Both Democrats and Republicans seem to consider Jews not as members of a religious community but as a special interest group to be appealed to on the basis of U.S. policy toward a foreign country, Israel. While there is a National Jewish Democratic Coalition and a Republican Jewish Coalition, we do not see similar groups aimed at other religious denominations. There is, for example, no Republican Presbyterian Coalition or Democratic Roman Catholic Forum.
National Jewish organizations, from the American Jewish Committee to the Anti-Defamation League to AIPAC, encourage the view that the dominant interest of Americans of Jewish faith in the political arena is Israel and U.S. Middle East policy. In a sense, Republicans and Democrats cannot be blamed for taking these Jewish groups at their word and appealing for Jewish votes on the basis presented to them.
The reality, of course, is that these Jewish organizations which pretend to speak for millions of American Jews, in fact speak only for their own small membership?if that. All available evidence indicates that there is no such thing as a "Jewish vote," and that Jewish voters cast their ballots on the basis of precisely the same issues as other voters.
A recent Gallup Poll indicates that Jewish voters are less happy with President Obama because of the nation's economic decline, not his policy toward Israel. Washington Jewish Weekreported that "Gallup's monthly trend in Jewish approval of Obama continues to roughly follow the path of Americans' approval of the president, more generally as it has since Obama took office in January 2009." Gallup found that "The 14-percentage point difference in the two groups' approval ratings in June?60 percent among U.S. Jews vs. 46 percent among all U.S. adults?is identical to the average gap seen over the past two and a half years."
This tracks with polling done by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) for a number of years which has shown that Jewish voters consistently prioritize the economy over Israel when they enter the polling booth. A poll in the fall of 2010 showed Obama with an approval rating of just 51 percent. Those who approved of his Middle East policy slightly outnumbered those who disapproved, 49 percent to 45 percent, while disapproval of his handling of the economy was at 51 percent, as opposed to 45 percent who approved.
The AJC polls also show that Jewish voters consistently list Israel as fifth among their priorities, outranked by issues such as the economy, health care and broader foreign policy concerns.
In his book A New Voice For Israel, J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami notes that although AIPAC claims to represent the traditional Jewish voice in American politics, surveys reveal that only 8 percent of American Jewish voters support its political positions. He goes on to argue that Israel's occupation over another people is a threat to both American and Israeli long-term interests and also violates the very letter of Israel's Declaration of Independence, which promises equality to all, regardless of race, religion or gender. According to Ben-Ami, Israel is on the brink of becoming an "apartheid state" and losing its status as a moral beacon to Jews and as the safe and democratic haven its pioneers sought to create.
In mid-September, voters in New York elected a conservative Republican to represent a Democratic district that has not been in Republican hands since the 1920s. Bob Turner, the winner, cast the election as a referendum on President Obama's stewardship of the economy and, in the state's Ninth Congressional District, which has a large proportion of Orthodox Jewish voters, the president's position on Israel. Turner, who is Roman Catholic, defeated David Weprin, an Orthodox Jew and strong supporter of Israel.
In this election, which has been discussed in terms of the president's growing difficulties with Jewish voters, many factors were involved. The Democratic candidate got into trouble with Orthodox Jewish voters as well as Roman Catholics because of his support of a same-sex marriage bill while serving in the state legislature. Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said that general voter frustration over the slumping economy, a poor get-out-the-vote campaign and Weprin's ill-advised spending of campaign money on TV ads had at least as much to do wih the election's outcome as issues related to Israel.
Whatever the results in New York really mean in political terms, the fact is that policy toward Israel and the alleged "Jewish vote" have become subjects of widespread discussion. According to The New York Times, "Republican groups are determined to make Israel a wedge issue...Billboards went up around New York City showing Mr. Obama smiling and shaking hands with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and declaring that the president is 'not pro-Israel.'"
Just as President Obama arrived at the U.N. in September to try to persuade Palestinian President Abbas not to proceed with his plan to seek admission to the U.N. as a member state, Republicans, sensing that the alleged "Jewish vote" could be influenced, harshly attacked Mr. Obama. Texas Gov. Rick Perry accused him of "appeasement" of the Palestinians and Mitt Romney charged the president with "repeated efforts over three years to throw Israel under the bus..." Republican members of the House even introduced legislation to support Israel's annexation of the West Bank which The Forward described as "a move contrary to both American and Israeli official policy and an absolute affront to international law and democratic rights."
The politicization of Middle East policy is complicating the president's role, declared The New York Times: "The relationship between the Israeli government and the Republican Party has...complicated the administration's diplomatic efforts to avert a confrontation at the U.N....over the Palestinian bid for full membership as a state, limiting President Obama's ability to exert pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to make concessions that could restart negotations..."
The quest for a mythical Israel-centered "Jewish vote" is causing this dangerous politicization of U.S. Middle East policy, and the government of Israel appears to be involving itself in internal American politics. A close Netanyahu ally, Knesset member Danny Danon, stood beside Rick Perry when he launched his attack on U.S. Middle East policy. TIME's Joe Klein declared that Netanyahu "has now overtly tossed his support to the Republicans."
One result may be that the U.S. loses influence throughout the Middle East and, because it is unable or unwilling to move the Israeli government toward a genuine two-state solution, will cede any ability to work as a mediator trusted by both parties.
The fact is that there is no Jewish vote--only the votes of millions of individual Jewish Americans. Those ballots are cast on the same basis as are those of Americans of other faiths. It is a dangerous challenge to our democracy to try to separate voters on the basis of religion, and to do so on the basis of a false picture of the nature of U.S. Middle East policy is harmful to all?to Israel, to the Palestinians, to American interests in the region and, perhaps most important, to the truth itself.
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BOSTON ? Drugmaker Merck & Co. will pay Massachusetts $24 million to settle a civil lawsuit accusing a former subsidiary of causing the state to overpay pharmacists for a widely used asthma medication.
State Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Tuesday the deal with Merck and 12 other drugmakers that settled previously enables the state to recover more than $47 million for Medicaid, a federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled.
The settlement comes more than a year after Merck announced plans to appeal a federal court verdict finding it liable for about $4.6 million in compensatory damages related to pricing of three generic albuterol products manufactured and sold by the defunct Warrick Pharmaceuticals.
Under the settlement, Merck doesn't admit liability or wrongdoing. The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company says the deal eliminates the uncertainty of ongoing litigation.
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MOSCOW ? Thousands took to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg on Sunday, braving strong winds and torrential rains for a second week of protests over Russia's fraud-tainted parliamentary vote.
About 4,000 supporters of the Communist Party rallied just outside the walls of the Kremlin on a snowy afternoon, demanding a re-count and the government's resignation. Wind and rain later turned into a blizzard.
Frustration has grown with the ruling United Russia party and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for over a decade.
"I think it's a crime to keep silent," said Vyacheslav Frolov, who was at the Moscow protest.
In St. Petersburg, a rally in a central square drew about 4,000 people from various political parties. Protesters chanted: "Russia without Putin!" and held posters saying "We want to live in an honest country!"
Natalya Sheikina, a 31-year-old teacher, said she went to the protest to show her discontent with the election results.
"The vote has been rigged," she said. "Exit polls and officials results differ dramatically."
The protests follow the Dec. 4 national parliamentary elections, in which United Russia lost a significant share of its seats in the State Duma, though it retained a narrow majority.
Opposition forces claim even that was unearned, supported by reports from local and international observers of widespread vote-count irregularities and outright fraud.
Sunday's demonstrations were small compared to nationwide rallies held in at least 60 Russian cities last weekend, including an unprecedented gathering of tens of thousands in Moscow.
_____
Irina Titova in St. Petersburg and Andrey Bulay in Moscow contributed to this report.
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BAGHDAD ? There was no "Mission Accomplished" banner. No victory parade down the center of this capital scarred and rearranged by nearly nine years of war. No crowds of cheering Iraqis grateful for liberation from Saddam Hussein.
Instead, the U.S. military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday with a businesslike closing ceremony behind blast walls in a fortified compound at Baghdad airport. The flag used by U.S. forces in Iraq was lowered and boxed up in a 45-minute ceremony. No senior Iraqi political figures attended.
With that, and brief words from top American officials who flew in under tight security still necessary because of the ongoing violence in Iraq, the U.S. drew the curtain on a war that left 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqis dead.
The conflict also left another 32,000 Americans and far more Iraqis wounded, drained more than $800 billion from America's treasury and soured a majority of Americans on a war many initially supported as a just extension of the fight against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.
As the last troops withdraw from Iraq, they leave behind a nation free of Saddam's tyranny but fractured by violence and fearful of the future. Bombings and gun battles are still common. And experts are concerned about the Iraqi security forces' ability to defend the nation against foreign threats.
"You will leave with great pride ? lasting pride," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the troops seated in front of a small domed building in the airport complex. "Secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to begin a new chapter in history."
Many Iraqis, however, are uncertain of how that chapter will unfold. Their relief at the end of Saddam, who was hanged on the last day of 2006, was tempered by a long and vicious war that was launched to find non-existent weapons of mass destruction and nearly plunged the nation into full-scale sectarian civil war.
"With this withdrawal, the Americans are leaving behind a destroyed country," said Mariam Khazim, a Shiite whose father was killed when a mortar shell struck his home in Sadr City. "The Americans did not leave modern schools or big factories behind them. Instead, they left thousands of widows and orphans. The Americans did not leave a free people and country behind them, in fact they left a ruined country and a divided nation."
Some Iraqis celebrated the exit of what they called American occupiers, neither invited not welcome in a proud country.
"The American ceremony represents the failure of the U.S. occupation of Iraq due to the great resistance of the Iraqi people," said lawmaker Amir al-Kinani, a member of the political coalition loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Others said that while grateful for U.S. help ousting Saddam, the war went on too long. A majority of Americans would agree, according to opinion polls.
The low-key nature of the ceremony stood in sharp contrast to the high octane start of the war, which began before dawn on March 20, 2003, with an airstrike in southern Baghdad where Saddam was believed to be hiding. U.S. and allied ground forces then stormed across the featureless Kuwaiti desert, accompanied by reporters, photographers and television crews embedded with the troops.
The final few thousand U.S. troops will leave Iraq in orderly caravans and tightly scheduled flights.
The ceremony at Baghdad International Airport also featured remarks from Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Austin led the massive logistical challenge of shuttering hundreds of bases and combat outposts, and methodically moving more than 50,000 U.S. troops and their equipment out of Iraq over the last year ? while still conducting training, security assistance and counterterrorism battles.
The war "tested our military's strength and our ability to adapt and evolve," he said, noting the development of the new counterinsurgency doctrine.
As of Thursday, there were two U.S. bases and about 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq ? a dramatic drop from the roughly 500 military installations and as many as 170,000 troops during the surge ordered by President George W. Bush in 2007, when violence and raging sectarianism gripped the country. All U.S. troops are slated to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, but officials are likely to meet that goal a bit before then.
The total U.S. departure is a bit earlier than initially planned, and military leaders worry that it is a bit premature for the still maturing Iraqi security forces, who face continuing struggles to develop the logistics, air operations, surveillance and intelligence-sharing capabilities they will need in what has long been a difficult region.
Despite President Barack Obama's earlier contention that all American troops would be home for Christmas, at least 4,000 forces will remain in Kuwait for some months. The troops will be able to help finalize the move out of Iraq, but could also be used as a quick reaction force if needed.
Despite the war's toll and unpopularity, Panetta said earlier this week, it "has not been in vain."
During a stop in Afghanistan, Panetta described the Iraq mission as "making that country sovereign and independent and able to govern and secure itself."
That, he said, is "a tribute to everybody ? everybody who fought in that war, everybody who spilled blood in that war, everybody who was dedicated to making sure we could achieve that mission."
Iraqi citizens offered a more pessimistic assessment. "The Americans are leaving behind them a destroyed country," said Mariam Khazim of Sadr City. "The Americans did not leave modern schools or big factories behind them. Instead, they left thousands of widows and orphans."
The Iraq Body Count website says more than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion. The vast majority were civilians.
Panetta echoed President Barack Obama's promise that the U.S. plans to keep a robust diplomatic presence in Iraq, foster a deep and lasting relationship with the nation and maintain a strong military force in the region.
U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on legal issues and troop immunity that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain. U.S. defense officials said they expect there will be no movement on that issue until sometime next year.
Obama met in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier this week, vowing to remain committed to Iraq as the two countries struggle to define their new relationship. Ending the war was an early goal of the Obama administration, and Thursday's ceremony will allow the president to fulfill a crucial campaign promise during a politically opportune time. The 2012 presidential race is roiling and Republicans are in a ferocious battle to determine who will face off against Obama in the election.
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Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to the media during a rally at Boiling Springs Fire Station, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to the media during a rally at Boiling Springs Fire Station, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
FILE -- In this May 5, 2011 file photo, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaks to the South Carolina Greenville Tea Party's "1st Presidential Debate Freedom Rally" in Greenville, S.C. Thursday, May 5, 2011. Haley endorsed Mitt Romney Friday morning, saying Romney is "someone that knows what it's like to make a decision and lead." (AP Photo/ Richard Shiro)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a rally at Missouri Valley Steel in Sioux City, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney takes a question during a rally at Missouri Valley Steel in Sioux City, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) ? Challenging Newt Gingrich's claim to South Carolina, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney charged into the state Friday with a key endorsement from the tea party-aligned governor, a packed campaign schedule and plans to start airing TV ads in the early primary state.
The show of force by Romney was a clear signal he intends to compete aggressively in a state that stymied him in 2008 and that Gingrich has made a cornerstone of his own campaign.
"It's a real kickoff of a major portion of our campaign," Romney told reporters after accepting an endorsement from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. "I want to win in South Carolina."
While Romney was planting his flag in a Gingrich stronghold, the former House speaker from neighboring Georgia spent the day off the campaign trail, with a book-signing near Washington and private family events in the capital city.
On Friday and in the previous night's debate, Romney steered clear of pointed attacks on Gingrich, entering the final sprint to the Jan. 3 leadoff Iowa caucuses with an air of confidence after a week of assailing Gingrich's leadership, judgment and temperament. That pivot suggested the Romney camp believes Gingrich's recent rise in opinion polls may have leveled off and Romney can campaign closer to his early stance as the all-but-inevitable nominee.
The New Hampshire primary follows one week after Iowa, then comes South Carolina on Jan. 21. While Romney was still in Iowa on Friday, Haley announced she was supporting him as the best Republican candidate to take on President Barack Obama in the battle for the White House next year.
South Carolina wasn't kind to Romney in 2008. He spent millions here only to come in fourth after disappointing losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. Critics suggested his Mormon faith caused problems with the state's significant conservative Christian vote.
On Friday, Haley argued that her state was past all that. "South Carolina just elected a 38-year-old Indian female for governor," said Haley, who was raised Sikh and converted to Christianity. "What the people of South Carolina care about is values and family and faith."
Not that Friday was all smooth sailing for Romney.
After more than a week of criticizing Gingrich as a loose cannon likely to be savaged by Democrats, Romney opened himself to similar complaints by saying he didn't understand Medicaid until he started working in government. One of the principal avenues of criticism against Romney is that he's spent his life among the privileged and is out-of-touch.
"You know, I have to admit I didn't know all the differences between these things before I got into government," Romney said, referring to the federal-state health care program for the poor, at a campaign stop in Iowa.
Romney later told reporters traveling with him to South Carolina that he understood the program but hadn't quite grasped how it was funded. He called his earlier comment a "self-deprecating understatement."
Meanwhile, he had no harsh words for Gingrich ? seeming content to leave that to his fellow Republican rivals and a political action committee that supports Romney. They have gone after Gingrich aggressively since he claimed the lead in national and Iowa polls this month.
The closest Romney came Friday was a veiled reference to the former congressional leader and longtime Washington consultant.
"What concerns me is that we have in Washington, D.C., a class of people who spent their whole time in Washington," Romney said.
His introductory South Carolina TV spot is upbeat.
The ad cost is modest, just $65,000 on cable television this week and next. But it signals an effort to cut into Gingrich's South Carolina showing heading into the bigger Florida primary, set for Jan. 31.
Romney was confident and relaxed campaigning Friday, traveling with his wife, Ann, and bringing reporters along on the campaign's charter flights for the first time this year.
Gingrich is still facing withering criticism from Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Romney also hopes to slow Gingrich heading into New Hampshire, a must-win state for Romney, who was governor in next-door Massachusetts. Romney, who has led comfortably in New Hampshire, began airing a new ad there featuring his conversations with New Englanders concerned about the economy.
Romney already had set aside campaign money to step up his South Carolina effort, although the focus will probably remain on advertising, not additional campaign staff.
No doubt in the works for South Carolina is another Romney ad before the Jan. 21 primary, one featuring Haley.
Haley's ties with Romney run deep. She endorsed him in 2008 when she was in the Legislature. Romney returned the favor when she ran for governor in 2010.
"Neither South Carolina nor the nation can afford four more years of President Obama, and Mitt Romney is the right person to take him on and get America back on track," Haley, a rising GOP star, said after announcing her endorsement on Fox News Channel.
She later told The Associated Press that Romney "has led in making decisions," a point Romney stresses in suggesting his decades in business and term as governor qualify him most for the GOP nomination.
Romney has focused heavily on winning New Hampshire's primary on Jan. 10. But he has been spending time, too, in Iowa, where he finished a disappointing second to Arkansas' Mike Huckabee after spending $10 million on his 2008 Iowa campaign.
The candidates ? except for Gingrich ? were making final pitches to voters on Friday before people begin focusing on the holidays.
Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry were taking their argument that Gingrich isn't conservative enough to lead the party to Iowa voters on separate bus tours in the state's conservative but lightly populated northwest.
Although Gingrich was off the trail, his campaign drew unwanted attention after two New Hampshire Republicans alleged in complaints filed with state authorities that they had received illegal political telephone calls from the Gingrich operation.
New Hampshire law prevents political campaigns from using recorded political messages, or "robo-calls," to contact residents who are registered on a national do-not-call list.
Gingrich's campaign denied wrongdoing.
___
Associated Press writer Jim Davenport in Spartanburg, S.C., and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.
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Este a?o hay 12.220 lobbistas registrados en la capital de Estados Unidos, financiados por empresas farmac?uticas, bancos, fabricantes de armas, inmobiliarias, aseguradoras, constructoras o grupos religiosos, que gastan millones de d?lares en tratar de marcar la agenda pol?tica. Seg?n la organizaci?n Center for Responsive Politics, estos lobbies se gastar?n este a?o unos 2.454 millones de d?lares. Pero si algo llama la atenci?n es el importante crecimiento de los lobbies religiosos, cuyo n?mero se ha multiplicado por cinco desde 1970 (desde unos 40 a m?s de 200, seg?n el Pew Research Center). Estos lobbies gastan unos 390 millones de d?lares al a?o en tratar de influir en cuestiones como el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo, el aborto o la investigaci?n con c?lulas madre. Un 19% de esos grupos de presi?n son cat?licos, un 18% evangelistas, un 12% jud?os y un 8% est?n vinculados a otras iglesias protestantes. Los grupos vinculados a otras religiones (musulmanes, budistas, etc.) son minoritarios, aunque su n?mero tambi?n crece. Solo el 1% de los lobbies estudiados por el Pew Research Center defienden intereses seculares, ateos o humanistas.
Si bien National Organization for Marriage es el grupo que m?s ha crecido en estos ?ltimos dos a?os, no es el que m?s dinero gasta para tratar de influir sobre los pol?ticos de Washington. El lobby religioso m?s importante es el American Israel Public Affairs Committee, organizaci?n que se define proisrael?. Le siguen la Conferencia Episcopal de Estados Unidos, muy activa en su oposici?n al matrimonio igualitario y al aborto, que gast? 26 millones de d?lares en 2009. Por detr?s estar?a la organizaci?n conservadora Family Research Council, que gast? en 2008 m?s de 14 millones.
Seg?n la tradici?n pol?tica estadounidense, el t?rmino ?lobby? se remonta a presidencia de Ulysses Grant, en el siglo XIX. Grant sol?a ir caminando desde la Casa Blanca al cercano Hotel Willard para tomar un brandy y fumar un puro. En el lobby del hotel le esperaban numerosas personas que trataban de entablar conversaci?n e influir sobre ?l. Lo cierto es que es el t?rmino parece ser en realidad m?s antiguo.
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