Plans for giant Antarctic marine sanctuary falter

In this Dec. 1, 2006 photo released by Fish Eye Films, a small group of emperor penguin stand on the edge of an ice drift in the Ross Sea in the Antarctic. Antarctica?s Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But even here it has proven difficult, and maybe impossible, for nations to agree on how strongly to protect the environment. (AP Photo/Fish Eye Films, John Weller) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE

In this Dec. 1, 2006 photo released by Fish Eye Films, a small group of emperor penguin stand on the edge of an ice drift in the Ross Sea in the Antarctic. Antarctica?s Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But even here it has proven difficult, and maybe impossible, for nations to agree on how strongly to protect the environment. (AP Photo/Fish Eye Films, John Weller) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE

In this Dec. 1, 2006 photo released by Fish Eye Films, a lone emperor penguin stands on the edge of an iceberg drift in the Ross Sea in the Antarctic. Antarctica?s Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But even here it has proven difficult, and maybe impossible, for nations to agree on how strongly to protect the environment. (AP Photo/Fish Eye Films, John Weller) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE

In this Dec. 1, 2006, photo released by Fish Eye Films, a small group of emperor penguin stand on the edge of an ice drift in the Ross Sea in the Antarctic. Antarctica?s Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But even here it has proven difficult, and maybe impossible, for nations to agree on how strongly to protect the environment. (AP Photo/Fish Eye Films, John Weller) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? Antarctica's Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But even there it has proven difficult, and maybe impossible, for nations to agree on how strongly to protect the environment.

The United States and New Zealand have spent two years trying to agree on an Alaska-sized marine sanctuary where fishing would be banned and scientists could study climate change. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton took a strong interest in the outcome, regularly prodding diplomats, and New Zealand recently sent a delegation to Washington to reach a tentative deal.

That compromise, over a region that accounts for less than 2 percent of New Zealand's fishing industry, flopped this month when senior New Zealand politicians rejected it behind closed doors.

The U.S. and New Zealand have now sent competing plans to the 25 countries that meet annually each October to decide the fate of Antarctica's waters. Their inability to agree greatly increases the chances that nothing will get done.

Evan Bloom, director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, said the U.S. put a great deal of effort into its reserve proposal because it believes the Ross Sea is the best place on Earth for scientists to carry out studies away from the influence of mankind.

"If you can't do it in Antarctica, where can you do it?" said Bloom.

Both countries advocated for marine sanctuaries. The differences between the two plans seem small on a map, but they center on the areas of the sea where marine life is most abundant.

The U.S. does not have fishing interests in the Ross Sea, though fish caught there often end up in high-end American restaurants, marketed as Chilean sea bass.

The species is actually an ugly creature called the Antarctic toothfish. Fishermen from New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and other nations have been catching them in the Ross Sea since the 1990s. They use lines that can stretch more than a mile to catch about 100,000 of them a year.

The U.S. aimed to reach an agreement with a nation that fishes the Ross Sea in hopes it would lead to a broader deal to protect marine habitats there.

New Zealand wanted to minimize disruption to its fisheries, but also wanted to burnish its conservation credentials. The country not only prides itself as an environmental leader, but it also makes money by marketing its clean, green image to trading partners and tourists. And it has criticized other nations' environmental records at sea, particularly nations that allow whaling.

Clinton urged diplomats to craft a deal. When she visited the Cook Islands last month, she described the Ross Sea as "one of the last great marine wilderness areas on the planet" and said the U.S. was working with other countries, "in particular New Zealand," to establish protected areas. Murray McCully, New Zealand's foreign affairs minister, echoed her comments.

Late last month, senior New Zealand diplomat Gerard van Bohemen led a team to Washington that spent four days grinding out the details of a compromise. After he brought the proposal back to New Zealand's ruling National Party, its senior Cabinet of lawmakers met in a closed session and rejected it.

Exactly why, they're not saying. Van Bohemen and Cabinet minister Steven Joyce declined to give interviews.

McCully also declined to discuss what happened, although he said in an email that New Zealand will keep working closely with the Americans.

The Ross Sea fishery is small on a global scale, worth about $60 million per year. The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council says New Zealand's Ross Sea catch accounts for just $16 million of a national industry worth over $1 billion.

But council spokesman Don Carson said New Zealand relies on dozens of species being fished in dozens of places. "None of them are huge, but they are very diverse, and we are keen not to lose any of them," he said.

Carson said the Ross Sea is being fished conservatively and sustainably, so further restrictions are unnecessary.

"We fish in a very limited area for a very limited season," he said. "We don't want to be buffeted by the winds of popular sentiment when that sentiment is based on a misapprehension of what's going on."

Antarctic fishing is regulated by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the 25-nation group scheduled to meet next month. Its executive secretary, Andrew Wright, said fishing in the Ross Sea is carefully regulated with quota limits set each year, and that available science points to the fishery being sustainable.

Peter Young, a New Zealander who recently directed an environmental advocacy documentary on the sea titled "The Last Ocean," said an international agreement that protects Antarctic land from exploitation should be extended to its seas.

"Almost every other ocean on earth has been impacted and affected by humanity," he said. "We're down to the last few places, and we've got to protect it and have something to hand on to future generations."

___

Follow Nick Perry on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nickgbperry

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-09-14-Antarctic-Sanctuary/id-a6e06b465e954149bd684a0ce75dfc0f

new york jets etch a sketch romney sean payton saints bounty program toulouse france ny jets ny jets

Anti-Muslim film promoter outspoken on Islam

In this frame grab from a video made on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, Steve Klein, an insurance agent and Christian activist involved in "Innocence of Muslims," a film denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Middle East, speaks during an interview at his office in Hemet, Calif. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

In this frame grab from a video made on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, Steve Klein, an insurance agent and Christian activist involved in "Innocence of Muslims," a film denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Middle East, speaks during an interview at his office in Hemet, Calif. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

In this frame grab from a video made on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, Steve Klein, an insurance agent and Christian activist involved in "Innocence of Muslims," a film denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Middle East, speaks during an interview at his office in Hemet, Calif. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

HEMET, Calif. (AP) ? The public face for the anti-Muslim film inflaming the Middle East is not the filmmaker, but an insurance agent and Vietnam War veteran whose unabashed and outspoken hatred of radical Muslims has drawn the attention of civil libertarians, who say he's a hate monger.

With the Coptic Christian filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula in hiding, film promoter Steve Klein has taken center stage in the unfolding international drama. He's given a stream of interviews about the film and the man he says he knew only as Sam Bacile, and is using the attention to talk about his own political views.

Nakoula, who used Bacile spelled multiple ways as a pseudonym, contacted Klein months ago for advice about the limits of American free speech and asked for help vetting the movie's script, Klein said in an interview with The Associated Press. The filmmaker asked the 61-year-old grandfather if he would act as a spokesman if the film "caught on," and he agreed.

The role dovetailed with Klein's relentless pursuit of radical Muslims in America, an activity he says he began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It took on more meaning in 2007, when his son, then a 27-year-old Army staff sergeant, was seriously injured in Iraq. Matthew Klein, a medic, was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor and a Purple Heart for injuries he suffered in the attack by a suicide bomber, according to the Army Human Resources Command.

"What do I get out of this? I get to die one of these days hoping my granddaughters and my grandsons will be safe from these monsters," Klein said while sipping a beer on the front porch of his home.

He claimed to have visited "every mosque in California" and identified "500 to 750 of these people who are future suicide bombers and murderers."

"Those are the guys I'm looking for. I'm not interested in mom and pop running a pizza store or running a smoky shop, a hookah shop," he said.

Klein works with his wife as an insurance agent out of a small office on the second floor of a downtrodden business complex in Hemet, a small city in the shadows of the San Jacinto Mountains about 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles. He describes himself as a failed real estate investor who lost 20 properties in the recession. In 2002, he was the American Independent Party's candidate for state insurance commissioner, receiving 2 percent of the vote.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says they have been tracking Klein for several years and have labeled two of the organizations he is affiliated with as hate groups.

Klein founded Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques, and started Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, which preaches against Muslims and publishes volumes of anti-Muslim propaganda that Klein distributes. He also has helped train paramilitary militias at the church of Kaweah near Three Rivers, about an hour southeast of Fresno, to prepare for what they believe is a coming holy war with Muslim sleeper cells, according to the law center.

"It's extreme, ugly, violent rhetoric and the fact that he's involved in that weapons training at that church, when you combine things like weapons training with hatred of a people, that's very concerning to us. Those are the kind of things that lead to hate crimes," said Heidi Beirich, director of the center's Intelligence Project.

Beirich said her group has not linked Klein to any violence. A review of California court records shows only two minor traffic cases for Klein.

Klein is not affiliated with the church of Kaweah, Pastor Warren Mark Campbell said. He was invited to speak about Islam and hasn't been back in more than a year.

Klein dismissed the concerns of his critics, angrily calling them "the wife-beaters and the pedophiles."

"Those people are screwballs. End of comment," he said.

What Klein has been eager to discuss in the days since his name became publicly linked to Nakoula is his role in the film's creation and his own political views.

Klein said he recognized parallels between what he saw in Vietnam, where he says he infiltrated Viet Cong cells, and "Muslim sleeper cells" he began finding after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He visits mosques and confronts young Muslim men who "dress up like Osama bin Laden and Yasser Arafat."

Military records obtained by the AP from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis show he served in the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1977 on active duty and received a service star for participating in the campaign in Vietnam. He also received a good conduct medal and a combat action medal before retiring in 1980 with the rank of first lieutenant.

"I'm kind of an unsophisticated James Bond operative. I want to piss this guy off, I want to find out, Why does he want to kill me?" he said. "Why does he want to capture my daughter and granddaughter and rape them? Why does this guy want to act this way?"

That work indirectly led him to his affiliation with Nakoula, an Egyptian Christian living outside Los Angeles, who contacted him about making an anti-Muslim movie.

Klein reviewed the script and then the man disappeared, only to resurface months later with a complete film ready to show at a movie theater in Hollywood.

The filmmaker's idea was to give the film a title that would draw in "hardcore Muslims" and then trick them into watching a movie that bashed Islam in the hopes that they would give up their faith, Klein said.

Nakoula papered Southern California mosques with flyers about the "Innocence of Muslims," but not one ticket was sold, said Klein, who said Nakoula was crushed.

The AP has tried without success to find a copy of the entire film.

Later, a 14-minute trailer showed up on YouTube and has been blamed for inflaming mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya this week as well as U.S. Embassy in Yemen on Thursday. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was one of four Americans killed Tuesday in an attack in Libya.

Klein said he had no regrets about participating in the movie's creation.

"Do I have blood on my hands? No. Did I kill this guy? No," he said. "Do I feel guilty that these people were incited? Guess what? I didn't incite them. They're pre-incited, they're pre-programmed to do this."

_______

Associated Press Writers Rachel Zoll and Randy Herschaft and Associated Press Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York; Tracie Cone in Three Rivers, Calif., and Amy Taxin in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-14-Egypt%20Filmmaker-Promoter/id-20f3004a46474fb5a605a2585c84a2d5

Espn College Football Eddie Murphy died Suzanne Barr Clint Eastwood speech Maria Montessori clint eastwood Julian Castro

Judge rules in favor of Legion in contested will

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? A U.S. judge has ruled in favor of the Legion of Christ in throwing out a lawsuit contesting the will of an elderly widow who gave more than $30 million to the disgraced Roman Catholic religious order.

But Judge Michael Silverstein of Rhode Island Superior Court found evidence that the woman, Gabrielle Mee, had been unduly persuaded to change her will and give the Legion her money, detailing the process by which the Legion slowly took over control of her finances as she became more deeply involved in the movement.

Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel lived a double life: he sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women. The pope ordered a wholesale reform of the order after finding serious problems with its very culture, and named a papal delegate to oversee it.

The Maciel scandal has been particularly damaging for the church given that the Mexican-born priest was held up by Pope John Paul II as a model for the faithful, admired for his perceived orthodoxy and ability to bring in money and attract new seminarians.

It was that high esteem that attracted Mee, a devout Roman Catholic, to the Legion in the first place, Silverstein wrote in his Sept. 7 order throwing out a lawsuit filed by Mee's niece contesting her will.

The niece, Mary Lou Dauray, had alleged that Mee was defrauded by the Legion and unduly influenced by its priests into giving away her fortune. Her late husband was a one-time director of Fleet National Bank.

Silverstein, however, ruled that Dauray had no standing. Dauray's attorney, Bernard Jackvony, said his client was considering an appeal.

Yet in his 39-page ruling, Silverstein took pains to cite evidence submitted by Dauray's attorneys to detail the process by which the Legion wooed Mee, bending the rules to let her become a "consecrated" member of its lay movement, giving her privileged access to Maciel and inviting her on special trips to Rome and Mexico.

He cited letters from the Legion thanking Mee for her money, emphasizing how her generosity was "pleasing both the Lord and assisting his mission" while also satisfying her late husband's wishes.

Such fundraising tactics have long been a hallmark of the Legion: critics have pointed to the process by which typically good-looking priests would shower wealthy patrons with praise, access and spiritual guidance while persuading them to donate their fortunes.

"The transfer of millions of dollars worth of assets ? through will, trust and gifts ? from a steadfastly spiritual elderly woman to her trusted but clandestinely dubious religious leaders raises a red flag to this court," Silverstein wrote.

Maciel himself, whom Mee considered a living saint, gave her financial advice, and another Legion priest helped her with her estate planning, Silverstein wrote. He detailed how Mee, after she became consecrated, created a Legion-appointed committee to determine distributions from her trust and eventually gave the Legion full control over her finances.

At the same time, the Legion withheld full information about Maciel's misdeeds, which first came to light in 1997 with a newspaper article alleging the sexual abuse, Silverstein wrote. By 2006, Legion leaders knew of Maciel's child.

The Legion claimed in court filings that Mee was informed of Maciel's double life, but Silverstein cited evidence disputing that and also noted that she cut off support to another religious movement as soon as she learned that one of its founders had had sexual relations with another man.

"Plaintiffs argue, and the court recognizes, that this could reasonably indicate how Mrs. Mee would have acted if she had known of the allegations (or the extent of the allegations) against Father Maciel," he wrote.

An email seeking comment Friday from the Legion was not immediately returned.

The Legion has been facing a serious slump in fundraising following the revelations of Maciel's double life. Properties have been sold off and schools have been closed as the Legion's once exponential growth has contracted, with dozens of priests leaving the order and fewer seminarians joining its ranks.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-14-EU-Vatican-Legion-of-Christ/id-45aac07e4f12460a85f8b1998dec2870

shame shame the waltons the waltons weta weta rudolph the red nosed reindeer

Hot Dog (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/247920561?client_source=feed&format=rss

amber portwood Phyllis Diller Darla Moore newsweek Tony Scott UFC 151 empire state building

Egypt constitution talks stumble on role of Islam

CAIRO (Reuters) - A proposal by ultraconservative Salafis to give Egypt's main Islamic institution the final say on whether the law of the land adheres to Islamic laws threatens to bring the already painfully slow process of drafting the new constitution to a grinding halt.

The proposal would give the revered Al-Azhar power similar to a supreme court by making it the arbiter of whether a law conforms with the principles of sharia, already cited in the constitution of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak as Egypt's "main source" of legislation.

Opponents say the move would only exacerbate Egypt's volatile politics and make it harder to heal social tensions in a country where one tenth of the population is Christian.

The argument is also diverting energy away from other essential points of law - the balance of power between president and parliament, the influence of the army, defense of personal freedoms and an independent judiciary.

"Lack of trust is so deep-seated now in Egypt," said Shadi Hamid, a political analyst at the Brookings Doha Center. "Anything in the constitution will be interpreted through this lens of mistrust."

A constitutional assembly of 100 thinkers, scholars, professionals and political and religious leaders dominated by Islamists is drawing up the constitution, without which the country cannot hold elections to replace a parliament that a court declared void in June.

Islamist President Mohamed Mursi holds lawmaking power for now, an awkward arrangement that erodes the credibility of his government, elected after Mubarak was overthrown last year.

Some liberals committed to a more secular state have already boycotted the assembly and are challenging it in court, saying Islamists have too much control and want to turn Egypt into an Iran-style theocracy.

"An assembly that doesn't reflect the intellectual diversity and a constitution in which core values aren't agreed on will lead to a deep social rift," Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said on his Twitter account earlier this month. He has not responded to invitations to attend a hearing session at the assembly.

"BRING BACK SHARIA"

The assembly aims to complete a first draft of the constitution by late September, although a court has yet to rule on whether the assembly itself is legitimate.

The assembly is working by breaking the document apart: four committees are handling one section each. After they agree the articles in their sections they send drafts to the phrasing committee, which is where the Al-Azhar proposal now sits for debate - now delayed - over the exact wording.

Articles will then be approved by general consensus, or if that fails by more than two-thirds vote, and if that fails, then after more discussion, with at least 57 votes. The draft constitution must finally be approved by public referendum.

Analysts expect the new document to have a more Islamic flavor than its predecessor, including articles prohibiting criticism of God and establishing an institution to collect zakat, or charitable donations for the poor, while cancelling an article banning parties based on religion.

At the vanguard of this movement are the Salafis, who were kept out of politics under Mubarak but leaped onto the scene after his fall, taking second place in the country's first free and fair parliamentary vote in six decades.

Their slogan was to "bring back sharia" - laws derived from Islam's Holy Koran and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad - in the belief it would solve Egypt's moral and social ills.

They say that since Article 2 of the old constitution already says "the principles of sharia" are the main foundation of legislation, they merely want to see this idea fully applied, if not by strengthening the role of Azhar, then by changing the wording to make it just "sharia" itself rather than its principles.

"Egypt is entering a new age that will witness a confirmation of the reference to sharia law in constitutions and a better application of it," said independent Salafi scholar Mohamed Youssry Ibrahim.

Some liberals accept the idea of giving laws a religious seal of approval but say Azhar's advice must not be binding.

The head of Azhar, founded over 1,000 years ago and widely respected among Sunni Muslims, is named by the president, but that arrangement is set to change. A new law will allow its leading Sheikh to be elected by a committee of 40 scholars proposed by the outgoing Sheikh and approved by the president, giving the prestigious institution more independence.

Given the composition of the assembly, and the public's general support for a more Islamic political leadership, the Salafis proposal would have a good chance of passing if put to a vote. But it could also spark a wholesale boycott that would delay - and maybe even scupper - the entire process.

"If there is no consensus, I think it will be difficult to have a draft constitution," said Waheed Abdel Maguid, a liberal member of the assembly and its spokesman.

BACK TO FRONT

Egypt's military leadership threw out the legal rule book when they removed Mubarak from power in February 2011 to end mass street protests and embarked on 18 months of rule by decree.

Mursi's election in June brought some clarity but the final extent of his powers still hangs on the deliberations of the constitutional assembly - an odd outcome caused by the back-to-front transition devised by the generals.

Judges are wading through a flurry of court cases and appeals challenging decrees from Mursi, the legality of the Brotherhood's political party and the move to void parliament.

Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood allies, whose party was the largest in the dissolved legislature, have avoided weighing into the dispute over Article 2 in an attempt to forge a consensus.

"We don't have a problem with it ... because Egyptians are religious by nature," said Hussein Ibrahim, former head of the Brotherhood parliamentary bloc and a member of the assembly.

Critics of the Salafis accuse them of trying to foist onto Azhar a role that contradicts a tenet of Sunni Islam - that no one holds a monopoly in interpreting the word of God.

Others say that making any Islamic body an arbiter of civil law ignores the rights of a Christian minority anxious at the growing assertiveness of Islamists in the nation of 83 million, the most populous in the Arab world.

"When you take away the monitoring ... from the constitutional court and give it to a religious entity, this is discrimination against Christians," said Hafez Abu Saeda, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

Salafis in the constitutional assembly say they have watered down their original demands, which included an article that would have stated that "sovereignty is with God".

"We don't seek dramatic change," said Salafi ex-MP Younes Makhyoun. "We are a minority and nothing is passed except through consensus."

But he added: "After the revolution, Egyptians chose Islamists. Egyptians want Islam and the application of sharia. No one (opposes it) except TV personalities who have a loud voice and are trying to impose a different reality".

If and when the sharia debate is resolved, other vital details must be hammered out before the constitution can be put to a popular referendum, such as oversight of the army's budget and the power of competing institutions.

"How do you wield power? ... to what extent does it guarantee freedom of expression? These are issues that will really have an effect on people's lives," said analyst Hamid.

(Editing by Tom Pfeiffer and Sonya Hepinstall)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-constitution-talks-stumble-role-islam-140437198.html

sassafras mardi gras 2012 the secret world of arrietty cee lo allen iverson jr smith chris anderson

Nick and Vanessa Lachey welcome a son

FILE - This Feb. 12, 2011 file photo shows Nick Lachey, left, and Vanessa Lachey arriving at the Pre-Grammy Gala & Salute to Industry Icons with Clive Davis honoring David Geffen in Beverly Hills, Calif. They welcomed their first child, a son named Camden John, on Wednesday. He weighed 8 lbs., 9 oz., and measured 21 inches. In a statement, the couple said: "Love has truly been redefined for both of us." The Lacheys wed in 2011. Last month, 38-year-old Nick Lachey reunited with his band, 98 Degrees, on the ?Today? show and in concert in Hershey, Pa. He also competed on NBC's reality competition show "Stars Earn Stripes." Vanessa Lachey, 31, is a co-host on ABC's "Wipeout." (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)

FILE - This Feb. 12, 2011 file photo shows Nick Lachey, left, and Vanessa Lachey arriving at the Pre-Grammy Gala & Salute to Industry Icons with Clive Davis honoring David Geffen in Beverly Hills, Calif. They welcomed their first child, a son named Camden John, on Wednesday. He weighed 8 lbs., 9 oz., and measured 21 inches. In a statement, the couple said: "Love has truly been redefined for both of us." The Lacheys wed in 2011. Last month, 38-year-old Nick Lachey reunited with his band, 98 Degrees, on the ?Today? show and in concert in Hershey, Pa. He also competed on NBC's reality competition show "Stars Earn Stripes." Vanessa Lachey, 31, is a co-host on ABC's "Wipeout." (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)

FILE - This Feb. 12, 2011 file photo shows Nick Lachey, left, and Vanessa Lachey arriving at the Pre-Grammy Gala & Salute to Industry Icons with Clive Davis honoring David Geffen in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Nick and Vanessa Lachey are now on diaper duty.

They welcomed their first child, a son named Camden John, on Wednesday. He weighed 8 lbs., 9 oz., and measured 21 inches.

In a statement, the couple said: "Love has truly been redefined for both of us."

The Lacheys wed in 2011. Last month, 38-year-old Nick Lachey reunited with his band, 98 Degrees, on the "Today" show and in concert in Hershey, Pa. He also competed on NBC's reality competition show "Stars Earn Stripes."

Vanessa Lachey, 31, is a co-host on ABC's "Wipeout."

The birth was reported on People.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-09-13-People-Lachey/id-7bf8bc27b1ec4841b330ec1275f780dd

pipa and sopa sopa pipa wikipedia blackout kyla pratt justified season 3 custer scott walker

Obama administration pushes to renew controversial terror surveillance program

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration maintains it is unable to say how many times one of the government's most politically sensitive anti-terrorism surveillance programs ? which is up for renewal this week on Capitol Hill ? has inadvertently gathered intelligence about U.S. citizens.

In a briefing for reporters on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Tuesday that the program designed to monitor international communications by terrorist suspects has collected an extraordinary amount of valuable intelligence overseas about foreign terrorist suspects while simultaneously protecting civil liberties of Americans.

Originated by the George W. Bush administration, the program was publicly disclosed by The New York Times in 2005 and was restructured in 2008 to provide oversight by a secret federal court and with additional oversight from Congress.

Civil liberties groups and some members of Congress have expressed concern that the government may be reviewing the emails and phone calls of law-abiding Americans in the U.S. who are at the other end of communications with foreign terrorist suspects being monitored abroad.

The House began debating renewal of the program Tuesday and expected to vote Wednesday. A hold has been placed on the legislation in the Senate by one of the program's critics, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The program "is not a tool for spying on Americans," said Robert Litt, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Litt said the program cannot be used to target American citizens and cannot be used to target people within the U.S. In addition, it cannot be used to collect the contents of any communication when all the participants are in the United States, said the ODNI's general counsel.

There has never been any intentional effort to bypass restrictions, he added.

At Tuesday's news briefing, reporters repeatedly pressed Litt on how many times there had been incidental collections of intelligence on Americans.

Litt pointed out that the National Security Agency, the ODNI and independent inspectors general for each office have said information is not readily available on the number of instances involving unintentional monitoring of U.S. citizens.

Some members of Congress have suggested that the law contains a loophole that enables intelligence-gathering on U.S. citizens.

"I strongly take exception to the suggestion that there is a 'loophole,'" James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a letter to 11 Senate Democrats and two Senate Republicans on Aug. 24.

The law prohibits "reverse targeting ? targeting a person located outside the United States as a pretext when the real goal is to target a person inside the United States."

On Tuesday night, Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said the DNI's Aug. 24 response does not sufficiently address Udall's concerns regarding "the possibility of unauthorized surveillance of Americans." Wyden criticized the lack of "even a ballpark estimate of how many Americans have had their communications collected under this law."

Asked at the news briefing about the program's successes, Litt said that the ability to collect certain kinds of communications that cannot be gathered any other way is "incredibly helpful." He said that being more specific would signal to the targets of the surveillance what was being collected.

In July, the administration acknowledged in a rare disclosure that the program had exceeded legal limits on at least one occasion, but that the problem had been remedied. The ODNI made the comment in a letter to Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

On at least one occasion, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held that an intelligence collection effort was "unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment" requirement to obtain a court warrant, Wyden said at the time.

In response, the intelligence office said that Wyden's statements "may convey an incomplete and potentially misleading understanding" of what is at issue.

Litt said he had met with Wyden, talked through the issues and that the ODNI was prepared to continue doing that.

"If a problem develops, we fix it," Litt said of the program.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/administration-urges-terror-surveillance-renewal-182138348.html

green bean casserole sweet potato recipes the sound of music celebration church new york auto show 2012 tulsa easter eggs