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As the mercury plunges in Japan's disaster-hit northeast, thousands of people in temporary homes are digging in for what could be a long, hard and very cold winter
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Judy Clark ? a nominee for the Scottish Designer of The Year title ? was commissioned to craft the gown, which was reportedly inspired by the Edwardian period. Using numerous small engine and gear parts, Clark created an oversized bustle that gives the dress the look of a much larger one despite its compact size classification. Fashionistas will be most enamored with the twin, red taillights hanging on the hips, which give the dress visual width and also create a swaying motion on the runway. According to the designer, the layered skirt mimics the look of flowing fuel. Complementing the look is a motorcycle jacket made from seat covering, accented with the speedometer set in the center on the back of the jacket and set to 60 mph. Clark was encouraged to use as many of the pieces as possible, but was also allowed the use of diesel-colored tweed, lace, leather, silk chiffon, and spray paint.
Despite not driving, English designer Katherine Hawkins went for a ?metropolis, robot-esque? style for the matching necklace. Initially intimidated by the size of the Focus? parts, Hawkins broke it all down and used the car?s center stack buttons as the focal point for the oversized pendant necklace. Coil springs dangle below the buttons and various computer chips to create an elegant, futuristic, and automotive design.
Check out the video below to see the finished pieces.
Source: Ford
Source: http://wot.motortrend.com/video-find-the-2012-ford-focus-in-dress-and-necklace-form-150987.html
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Source: www.aarp.org --- Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Here's what you need to know about handling rude and abusive Debt collectors. ...
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? GreenMedInfo
The most common scenario today following diagnosis of DCIS is for the oncologist to recommend lumpectomy, followed by radiation and hormone suppressive therapies such as Arimidex and Tamoxifen. The problem here is that women are not being educated about the nature of DCIS or the concept of "non-progressive" breast cancers. There is still the black and white perception out there that you either have cancer, or do not have cancer. In a poll on DCIS awareness published in 2000, 94% of women studied doubted even the possibility of non-progressive breast cancers.2 In other words, these women had no understanding of the nature of DCIS. And why would they? Major authorities frame DCIS as "pre-cancerous," implying its inevitable transformation into cancer. When the standard of care for DCIS is to suggest the same types of treatment used to treat invasive cancer, very few women are provided with the information needed to make an informed decision.
Early detection through x-ray mammography has been the clarion call of Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns for a quarter of a century now. However, very little progress has been made in making the public aware about the crucial differences between non-malignant lesions/tumors and invasive or non-invasive cancers detected through this technology. When all forms of breast pathology are looked at in the aggregate, irrespective of their relative risk for harm, disease of the breast takes on the appearance of a monolithic entity that you either have, or don't have; they call it breast cancer.
The concept of a breast cancer that has no symptoms, which can not be diagnosed through manual palpation of the breast and does not become invasive in the vast majority of cases, might sound unbelievable to most women. However, there does exist a rather mysterious clinical anomaly known as Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), which is, in fact, one of the most commonly diagnosed and unnecessarily treated forms of "breast cancer" today.
What women fail to understand - because their physicians do not know better or have not taken care to explain to them - is that they have a choice when diagnosed with DCIS. Rather than succumb to aggressive treatment with surgery, radiation and chemo-drugs, women can choose watchful waiting. Better yet, a radical lifestyle change can be focused on eliminating exposure to chemicals and radiation, as well as improved exercise and nutrition. This choice is not being made in most cases because the medical community is not informing their patients that there is such.
DUCTAL CARCINOMA IN SITU: BREAST CANCER OR BENIGN LESION?
Between 30-50% of new breast cancer diagnoses obtained through x-ray mammography screenings are classified as Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS).3 DCIS refers to the abnormal growth of cells within the milk ducts of the breast forming a calcified lesion commonly between 1-1.5 cm in diameter, and is considered non-invasive or "stage zero breast cancer," with some experts arguing for its complete re-classification as a non-cancerous condition.
Because DCIS is almost invariably asymptomatic and has no palpable lesions, it would not be known as a clinically relevant entity were it not for the use of x-ray diagnostic technology. Indeed, it was not until the development and widespread application of mammography in the early 1980s as the central push behind National Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns that rates of DCIS diagnosis began to expand to their present day epidemic proportions.4,5 It is no wonder, therefore, that the United States, which has one of the highest x-ray mammography rates, also has the highest level of DCIS in the world. As of January 2005, an estimated one-half million U.S. women were living with a diagnosis of DCIS.6
Proponents of breast screenings claim they are saving lives through the early detection and treatment of DCIS, regarding it as a potentially life-threatening condition, indistinct from invasive cancers. They view DCIS a priori as "pre-cancerous" and argue that, because it could cause harm if left untreated it should be treated in the same aggressive manner as invasive cancer. The problem with this approach is that while the rate at which DCIS progresses to invasive cancer is still largely unknown, the weight of evidence indicates that it is significantly less than 50% - perhaps as low as 2-4%. Indeed, the 10-year survival rates of patients with DCIS (96%-98%) post-treatment speaks volumes to the relatively benign nature of the condition.7,8 Another study found that at the 40-year follow-up period 40% of DCIS lesions still had no signs of invasiveness.9 Adding even more uncertainty, another study showed that coexisting DCIS independently predicts lower tumor aggressiveness in node-positive luminal breast cancer, indicating its possibly protective role. 10
WATCHFUL WAITING
A solid argument can be made that watchful waiting is the most appropriate response to the diagnosis of DCIS, and that in many cases DCIS would be better left over-diagnosed and under-treated. As one paper discusses:
"The central harm of screening is over-diagnosis - the detection of abnormalities that meet the pathologic definition of cancer but will never progress to cause symptoms." 11
A solid body of evidence has emerged suggesting that when DCIS is left undiagnosed and untreated rarely will it become malignant. DCIS was in fact poorly named from the outset, as it is does not behave like most carcinomas (cancers). Cancer, like the constellation named after it, derives from the Greek word for Crab, indicating the manner in which is expands outward in uncontrolled growth. In situ means exactly the opposite, "in place." An unmoving cancer is therefore a contradiction in terms. These problems with classification have not gone unnoticed in the medical journals:
"Despite the presence of the word carcinoma, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the poster child for this problem (a senior pathologist involved in developing classification systems confided to one of us that he regretted the use of the term carcinoma in DCIS). No one believes that DCIS always progresses to invasive cancer, and no one believes it never does. Although no one is sure what the probability of progression is, studies of DCIS that were missed at biopsy (1, 2) and the autopsy reservoir (3) suggest that the lifetime risk of progression must be considerably less than 50%."12
The true irony here is that while participation in x-ray mammography is considered by the public a form of breast cancer prevention and "watchful waiting," it has become - whether by design or accident - a very effective way of manufacturing breast cancer diagnoses and justifying unnecessary treatment. This is not unlike what has been seen with prostate cancer screenings that track Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA); the aggressive treatment of lesions/tumors identified through PSA markers may actually increase patient mortality relative to doing nothing at all.
Women diagnosed with DCIS are simply not given the option to decline treatment. The problem is illustrated below:
"Because the 'best guess' is that most DCIS won't progress to invasive cancer, the risk of over-diagnosis would be expected to be greater than 50%. The problem with over-diagnosis is that it leads to overtreatment. Because it is impossible to determine which individuals are over-diagnosed, almost everyone gets treated as if they had invasive cancer." 13Over-diagnosis is a huge problem, discussed in greater depth here:
"Over-diagnosis plays havoc with our understanding of cancer statistics. Because over-diagnosis effectively changes a healthy person into a diseased one, it causes overestimations of the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of screening tests and the incidence of disease (13). As the MLP and a recent analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)1 data illustrate (14), over-diagnosis also markedly increases the length of survival, regardless of whether screening or associated treatments are actually effective. However, over-diagnosis does not reduce disease-specific mortality because treating subjects with pseudo-disease does not help those who have real disease. Consequently, disease-specific mortality is the most valid end point for the evaluation of screening effectiveness."14Ultimately DCIS over-diagnoses contribute to the appearance that conventional breast cancer screenings and treatments are more successful and less harmful than they actually are, while at the same time making the industry far more profitable than otherwise would be the case.
Sayer Ji is the founder of GreenMedInfo.com, the world's largest, open source and evidence-based natural medicine and toxicology database, with close to 20,000 indexed across 2500 Diseases and 1500 Substances. He can be reached at Sayerji@greenmedinfo.com
References:
1,10. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast cancer: Rates of ductal carcinoma in situ: a US perspective. Breast Cancer Res. 2005 Nov. 11. PMID: 1657703
2. US women's attitudes to false positive mammography results and detection of ductal carcinoma in situ: cross sectional survey. BMJ 320 : 1635 doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7250.1635 (Published 17 June 2000)
3. The management of ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast. Endocrine-Related Cancer. 2011 8 33-45.
4,6. NIH State-of-the-Science Conference. Diagnosis and Management of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS), Sept. 2009 Source
5. The Dark Side of Breast Cancer Awareness Month GreenMedInfo.com. 2011 Oct 1.
7. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS): are we overdetecting it?
8. Mortality among women with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast in the population-based surveillance, epidemiology and end results program. Arch Intern Med. 2000 Apr 10;160(7):953-8. PMID: 1761960
9. Coexisting ductal carcinoma in situ independently predicts lower tumor aggressiveness in node-positive luminal breast cancer. Med Oncol. 2011 Oct 8. Epub 2011 Oct 8. PMID: 21983862
11, 12, 13. The Sea of Uncertainty Surrounding Ductal Carcinoma In Situ - The Price of Screening Mammmography. Journal of The National Cancer Institute 2008 Feb. 12. PMID: 18270336
14. Overdiagnosis: An Underrecognized Cause of Confusion and Harm in Cancer Screening. Journal of The National Cancer Institute 2000 PMID: 10944539
Source: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/239287-Is-X-Ray-Mammography-Finding-Cancer-or-Benign-Lesions-
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According to Floyd County Jail and Rome police records:
Donna Kaye Seay, 41, of 469 County Road 389 in Crossville, Ala., was arrested by Rome police on Friday at Walmart, 2510 Redmond Circle, and charged with theft by shoplifting.
Seay is accused of switching tags and hiding merchandise to avoid paying for a $79.96 PS3 Rocksmith game, a Perry clothing combo and a Punisher clothing combo valued at $13.50 each, and $12 worth of red and gold Christmas bows.
Security notified police and Seay was arrested.
Source: RN-T.com
Source: http://privateofficerbreakingnews.blogspot.com/2011/12/alabama-woman-arrested-for-ticket.html
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December 26, 2011, 8:26 PM ? After months of waiting, the Galaxy Nexus (and by extension, Android 4.0, aka "Ice Cream Sandwich") is finally here. We've already done an extensive review of the hardware, so here we will be looking much more closely at Ice Cream Sandwich. Whether you are an Android veteran or a smartphone first-timer, this new version of Google's mobile operating system has a few things you should know about before getting started.
Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is the biggest update to Android since the OS launched, and the changes are pretty significant. They aren't too dramatic for people used to Android, but people new to the OS may have some difficulties starting out. While Android 2.x was perhaps not the easiest OS to master, once you got the hang of it, it was rather straightforward. ICS, on the other hand, was designed to be easier to use, but even long-standing Android users will have to spend some time learning its ins and outs.
Here's one issue: Not all icons are clearly labeled, so it can be difficult to know what a button does in a particular app. The new Calendar app, for instance, has a small unlabeled square (it looks like a small calendar) that takes you to the present date. Other than pressing the button, you have no visual cues to tell you what that icon actually does. This isn't the same Android that we've all come to know, but rather a new OS that carries on the Android legacy.
A Fresh New Look
ICS is by far the most visually appealing version of Android that I have seen to date. The holographic interface in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) has been passed on to ICS, though it doesn't translate that well on a smaller display. On a tablet, the holographic interface looks as if it has some depth, but on a phone it appears extremely two-dimensional. ICS, however, adds a few new colors to Android's repertoire, swapping out the old green and gray for a vibrant blue.
Text is also much easier to read thanks to use of the new high-resolution font Roboto. Roboto was designed to be used on HD displays, and is a massive step up from the old Droid Serif in Android 2.x. The font looks a lot cleaner than the one used on Honeycomb, and complements the holographic UI quite nicely.
One of the biggest interface changes concerns the use of software navigation buttons for Android smartphones. Pre-Honeycomb Android devices all used hardware buttons for basic navigation (Home, Menu, Back, Search), while software keys were exclusive to Honeycomb tablets. The Galaxy Nexus has a buttonless design, and chances are high that we will be seeing more Android phones that take advantage of ICS software buttons.
The software keys include Back and Home, with the Menu and Search buttons replaced by a Recent Apps button (more on that later). While software keys work fine on a larger-sized tablet, I was initially worried that the software keys in ICS would be too easy to hit by accident on a smartphone. Fortunately, this was not the case, and not once in my time with Ice Cream Sandwich did I ever accidentally exit out of an app because of any of the software buttons.
One issue I do have with ICS is centered on the nestled menus. Whereas in previous versions of Android the menus would all appear in the same spot, ICS has you hunting around the screen looking for the three dots that indicate a menu drop-down. Again, not a big problem, but it makes navigation inconsistent from one app to another. In general, it seems menus appear in either the top-right or bottom-right of apps, the exception being that older apps will have the menu icon appear down next to Recent Apps.
Features Galore
More than just a pretty face, ICS also adds loads of new features to the Android OS. As mentioned earlier, you now have a Recent Apps button that allows you to quickly jump from one app to another. When you press Recent Apps, a carousel with the last 15 apps you've opened will pop up. You can either tap an app to go to it, or swipe it left or right to close it. It works extremely well and quickly became one of my favorite things in ICS.
Source: http://www.itworld.com/236139/users-guide-android-ice-cream-sandwich
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Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
A Franciscan monk attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Palestinian Christians attend Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Two Palestinian Muslim women pose for a snapshot in front a nativity scene inside the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Pakistani Christians walk around an illuminated display of nativity scenes specially set up on the eve of Christmas celebrations, at a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Tens of thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations Saturday, bringing warm holiday cheer to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on a raw, breezy and rainy night.
With turnout at its highest in more than a decade, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence.
Meanwhile, Christmas celebrations began to take place around the globe, with Pope Benedict XVI celebrating Christmas Eve Mass two hours before midnight at Vatican City and urging the faithful to look beyond the commercialization of the holiday and discover its true meaning.
"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light," Benedict told congregants in a packed St. Peter's Basilica.
Bethlehem, like the rest of the West Bank, fell onto hard times after the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in late 2000. As the fighting has subsided in recent years, the tourists have returned in large numbers.
By late night, the Israeli military, which controls movement in and out of town, said some 100,000 visitors, including foreigners and Arab Christians from Israel, had reached Bethlehem, up from 70,000 the previous year.
Thousands of Palestinians from inside West Bank also converged on the town.
"It's wonderful to be where Jesus was born," said Irma Goldsmith, 68, of Suffolk, Virginia. "I watch Christmas in Bethlehem each year on TV, but to be here in person is different. To be in the spot where our savior was born is amazing."
After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, along with a 50-foot-tall (15-meter-tall) Christmas tree, was awash in Christmas lights, and the town took on a festival-like atmosphere.
Vendors hawked balloons and corn on the cob, and bands played Christmas songs and tourists packed cafes that are sleepy the rest of the year. As rain began falling in the early evening, many people cleared out of the square and raced to nearby restaurants.
Festivities were to culminate with Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.
Among the visitors were a surprisingly large number of veiled Muslim women with their families, out to enjoy an evening out in what is normally a quiet town.
"We love to share this holiday with our Christian brothers," said Amal Ayash, 46, who came to Manger Square with her three daughters, all of them covered in veils. "It is a Palestinian holiday and we love to come here and watch."
Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion.
Pilgrims from around the world also wandered the streets, singing Christmas carols and visiting churches.
"It's a real treat to come here," said John Houston, 58, a restaurant owner from Long Beach, California. "It makes me feel really good to see what I have been learning from the time I was a kid in Sunday school until today."
Houston said he was surprised by Bethlehem's appearance, which is a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times. Today, it is a sprawling town of cement apartment blocs and narrow streets that combined with several surrounding communities has a population of some 50,000 people.
Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by a barrier Israel built to stop Palestinian militants from attacking last decade.
Palestinians say the barrier has damaged their economy by constricting movement in and out of town. Twenty-two percent of Bethlehem residents are unemployed, the Palestinian Authority says. Israeli settlements surrounding Bethlehem have added to the sense of confinement.
The Christmas season is essential for Bethlehem's economy, which depends heavily on tourism.
Most visitors entering Bethlehem, including the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, had to cross through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint to reach town.
Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan, arrived in a traditional midday procession from Jerusalem, and later, celebrated Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.
In his homily, he referred to the Arab Spring, imploring Arab leaders to have "wisdom, insight and a spirit of selflessness toward their countrymen" and praying for reconciliation in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and North Africa.
He also noted the Palestinian campaign to join the United Nations, and complained that the U.N. was "less than united" in its support for the now-stalled initiative. He also criticized the international community for pushing the Palestinians to "re-engage in a failed peace process" which has "left a bitter taste of broken promises and of mistrust."
The patriarch lamented the Israeli barrier enveloping Bethlehem ? "let us tear down the walls of our hearts in order to tear down the walls of concrete" ? and prayed for peace for both Palestinians and Israelis
The Palestinians have subtly tried to draw attention to their plight with this year's Christmas slogan, "Palestine celebrating hope," a veiled reference to their bid to win U.N. recognition. With peace talks at a standstill, the Palestinians are seeking membership as a state in the United Nations and recently gained admission to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency.
"We are celebrating this Christmas hoping that in the near future we'll get our right to self-determination, our right to establish our own democratic, secular Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. That is why this Christmas is unique," said Mayor Victor Batarseh, who is Christian.
Late Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a meeting of Christian leaders that he is committed to reaching peace with Israel, despite a three-year standstill in negotiations.
"I hope they will come back to their senses and understand that we are seekers of peace, not seekers of war or terrorism," said Abbas, a Muslim. "The mosque, church and synagogue stand side by side in this Holy Land."
Today, only about one-third of Bethlehem's residents are Christian, reflecting a broader exodus of Christians from the Middle East in recent decades. Overall, just 60,000 Christians live in the Palestinian territories, making up less than 2 percent of the population, according to Palestinian officials.
At the Vatican, Benedict kicked off an intense two weeks of public appearances that will test the 84-year-old pontiff's stamina amid signs that fatigue is starting to slow him down.
The Christmas Eve Mass was moved up to 10 p.m. from midnight several years ago to spare the pope a late night that is followed by an important Christmas Day speech. In a new concession this year, Benedict processed down the basilica's central aisle on a moving platform to spare him the long walk.
Benedict appeared tired by the end of the Mass and a dry cough interrupted his homily.
On Sunday, Benedict will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech, Latin for "to the city and the world," from the central loggia of St. Peter's overlooking the piazza. Usually, the speech is a survey of sorts of the hardships and wars confronting humanity, and ends with the pope delivering Christmas greetings in dozens of languages.
President Barack Obama was spending the holiday with his family in Hawaii. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama wished all Americans a merry Christmas and happy holidays, with a special message of thanks to U.S. troops, especially those serving in Afghanistan.
"Let's take a moment to give thanks for their service; for their families' service; for our veterans' service," the president said Saturday. Obama noted that with the Iraq war over, the last troops from that conflict are home for the holidays.
___
Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Vatican City.
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PORTSMOUTH, N.H. ? Deborah Bouchard-Smith was peeved at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
?Why did he just redirect the question?? she asked, scowling at Romney?s image on TV as he spun a question about electability into a spiel about his economic know-how. ?What was the question again? He went everywhere with that answer.?
Romney isn?t the only Republican presidential candidate that Bouchard-Smith, a business owner and undecided independent, reprimanded as she watched the debate with her husband, Ken Smith, and teenage daughter Mia last week.
?What is he, 12?? she asked as former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum made his own electability pitch, adding she?d love to hear him out but can?t focus because of his flashy, striped necktie. ?I?m distracted by the peppermint stick around his neck.?
Meet the Smiths.
The Herald will follow the Portsmouth family as they follow the GOP primary ? hashing out the pros and cons of the candidates while they run their small gift store, Maine-ly New Hampshire, take their kids to school and gather in the kitchen to make dinner and talk politics.
Deborah and Ken Smith, who is a Portsmouth city councilor, haven?t decided which of the GOP candidates they?ll support in the all-important Jan. 10 primary in New Hampshire, where presidential politics is a small-town, family affair. But the Smith family, like thousands of others in the Granite State, are closely following the roller-coaster-like process, and using it to teach their children, Grant, 16, and Mia, 13, the importance of their vote.
?They?re all so different,? Ken Smith said about the candidates. ?Each one of them brings a whole set of different ideas, different opinions, different experiences, and at the same time they also come with their own baggage.?
He said his business has given him a laser-like focus on jobs.
?We have to get businesses and people back to work. ... We have a lot of friends that are out of work, we have a lot of friends that are underemployed, you know, we see it in our small business that people don?t come in and spend what they used to,? he said. ?Really, when you?re hiring the president, you want someone who can do the job.?
Bouchard-Smith keeps an eye on the spouses.
?I take a really good, hard look at who has his ear at 2 o?clock in the morning in the president?s bed,? she said. ?What kind of influence is she going to have over that man??
She doesn?t have a good handle on Ann Romney or Callista Gingrich, but she couldn?t believe former candidate Herman Cain?s wife, Gloria, didn?t buttonhole her husband sooner amid the sex scandals.
?Really? If that was my husband I would be in his face and we?d be having a conversation,? she said as Ken chuckled.
The family has other ways of testing the candidates. Donald Trump visited the store when he was considering a run ? ?He was tall,? observed Mia ? and they are hoping former Speaker Newt Gingrich will stop in this week. They also make sure the kids stay on top of the news.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bostonherald/news/~3/EDgbJyPkd5s/view.bg
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COMMENTARY | The Speaker of the House should have slammed the phone down on Thursday when President Barack Obama told him "no" to his request to consider an alternative. Since when has Washington become so dysfunctional that political leaders are no longer willing to even listen to opposing viewpoints?
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the Oval Office to ask Obama to send his economic advisors to Capitol Hill in order to discuss proposals for a one-year extension to the payroll tax cuts that are set to expire next week, National Journal reported. Obama's answer: no.
Whether Obama likes the House Republican approach or not isn't really the issue. Politicians negotiate -- it's what they do. In the interest of keeping the lines of communication open, the president should have agreed to send his advisors to hear what the Speaker had to say. It is just possible -- however Obama may feel -- that Boehner has a workable idea worth hearing. To categorically dismiss a request of that nature is simply juvenile.
Obama told the speaker that "only viable option currently on the table" is the Senate's two-month extension bill that was passed with bipartisan support on Saturday. The House rejected that bill and is seeking a conference committee with the Senate to discuss differences. The president is wrong - the Senate bill is not the only option on the table. Clearly, Congress needs to keep talking through the remaining days of the year to prevent a tax increase that both parties agree should be avoided. With consensus, they need to follow Nike's advice and "Just do it!"
On Tuesday, the Daily Caller reported that Boehner asked Obama to order the Senate back into session for the express purpose of finding a resolution before the end of the year. The president has declined to do this.
This is one more example of a Congress that cannot work together and a president that will not cooperate with the legislative process. House Republicans should be ashamed of sending mixed messages to their leadership. The Senate should be embarrassed to have crafted such an unworkable piece of legislation in the first place. Six national organizations representing business filed opposition notifications with the House Ways & Means Committee.
Obama needs to show full cooperation with the legislative process, and that includes dispatching his advisors to meet with congressional leaders. And, this needs to be done now.
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A full assessment of the D.C. landmark after an earthquake finds it structurally sound but suffering from extensive cracking at its top. NBC?s Kate Snow reports.
Related Links:
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45780420/
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WASHINGTON ? The Justice Department announced Thursday that it will allow the creation of the world's largest stock exchange operator after the German conglomerate that wants to buy the New York Stock Exchange sells its stake in a third, smaller American stock exchange operator.
Justice Department lawyers filed papers in U.S. District Court in Washington that would allow the merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse AG after the German company orders one of its subsidiaries to sell its 31.5 percent stake in Direct Edge Holdings LLC, which is the United States' fourth largest stock exchange operator. In addition to the sale of Direct Edge, the proposed settlement between Justice and the two companies prohibits them from participating in the business or running of Direct Edge.
The German company, which operates the Frankfurt stock exchange, offered to buy NYSE Euronext for $10 billion in February. The transaction would create the world's largest exchange operator. NYSE Euronext owns exchanges in Paris, Lisbon, Brussels and Amsterdam, in addition to New York.
"Without the divestiture and other restrictions obtained by the Justice Department, a combined NYSE and Deutsche Borse entity could influence the actions of Direct Edge, and thereby lessen the zeal of an aggressive and innovative exchange competitor," said Sharis A. Pozen, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. "The remedy ensures that participants in the markets for U.S. equities exchange products and services will continue to receive the full benefits of robust competition in the form of competitive prices and increased innovation."
Under the terms of the settlement, Deutsche Borse's subsidiary, ISE, will divest itself of its interest in Direct Edge within two years.
The Deutsche Boerse-NYSE Eurostar merger would not only control important stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic, but also have a potentially dominant position in the trading of derivatives. Derivatives are complex financial products that allow investors to bet on movements in areas such as interest rates, stock indexes or commodity prices.
The combination of the two exchanges has been harshly criticized by competitors like the London Stock Exchange and U.S.-based Nasdaq.
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Courtesy of Harriet Baskas
The Russian-themed Christmas town inside Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen, Denmark.
By Harriet Baskas, msnbc.com contributor
This year, the traditional red-suited Santa Claus will not be in his sleigh greeting children at Tivoli, the amusement park that opened in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark in 1843.
Instead, the world?s second oldest amusement park, with annual attendance topping 3.7 million in 2010, is hosting Santa?s Russian counterpart, Father Frost. He dresses in bluish colors and adheres to the familiar holiday program with a white beard and a penchant for distributing presents.
Why the Santa-switch?
For the past 18 years Tivoli, which is traditionally closed for the fall and winter, has opened during November and December all decked out in its Christmas best.
This year, a temporary Russian-themed town has been set up inside Tivoli. Built at the cost of $10 million Danish krone (about $1.75 million in U.S. dollars), it is inspired by building styles popular in the Czarist days and includes onion domes and towers that are lit-up at night.?
Inside Tivoli?s version of St. Basil's Cathedral (the popular attraction on Moscow?s Red Square) visitors can ride a miniature Trans-Siberian railway that takes them through Russian landscapes, passing pixies, choirs and sparkling Faberg? eggs along the way.
?Events create unique experiences and attract tourists,? Lars Bernhard J?rgensen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen said in a statement, ?and with the new Tivoli initiative the tourists get even more good reasons to visit Copenhagen in the wintertime.? That includes the increasing number of tourists who are making a stop in Copenhagen as part of a Christmas cruise.
Tivoli is closed on December 24th and 25th, but festivities pick up again on the 26th, when the first of a five-night fireworks festival kicks off.??
Related stories:
Find more by Harriet Baskas on?StuckatTheAirport.com?and follow her on Twitter.
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AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Dutch prosecutors are not investigating a case of apparent cannibalism on a Dutch TV show in which presenters appeared to consume tiny pieces of each others' flesh that had been surgically removed.
Amsterdam prosecution spokeswoman Yvonne van der Leede said Thursday no investigation is under way. Thijs Verheij, spokesman for broadcaster BNN, said doctors and others involved in the stunt may have broken laws but police probably have more important things to do. BNN has insisted the case is not a hoax.
The show "Guinea Pigs" aired Wednesday and showed footage of what appeared to be the removal of tissue from a buttock of one presenter and the waist of another. In front of a studio audience, the pair described cooked fatty tissue as rubbery and disgusting, and muscle as indistinguishable from other meat.
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Could David Letterman have said his last mean joke at Jay Leno's expense on "Late Show" (Weeknights, 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS). It seems unlikely, but during a Twitter joke segment -- Letterman was sending out a joke Tweet to all his fellow late night talk show hosts -- he declared a truce with Leno.
"I've decided I'm declaring a truce," Letterman said of his ongoing feud with Leno. "I'm burying the hatchet. I like all of these guys ... So now I'm calling for an end to this, because we've all become brothers."
As for the jokes and why he said such terrible things about Leno, as Letterman said he's been asked. "it's just fun." So it's likely the rivalry will continue, only perhaps in a more friendly fashion. While it was in the middle of a segment where he was sending a message asking if the other hosts liked monkeys riding dogs, it did seem like a sincere gesture from Letterman.
Could the feud between the two that's dated back two decades to when the pair fought over Johnny Carson's late night throne on "The Tonight Show" be over? Has Letterman's bitterness finally come to an end? Time will tell.
Catch "Late Show With David Letterman" weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.
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PRAGUE (Reuters) ? Former Czech President Vaclav Havel died on Sunday, his secretary said in a statement.
Havel was comforted in his last moments by his wife Dagmara and several nuns, his secretary, Sabina Tancevova, said in the statement.
(Reporting by Michael Winfrey; Editing by Sophie Hares)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Obama administration accused a firebrand Arizona sheriff on Thursday of engaging in racial profiling of Latinos and making unlawful arrests in a crack down on illegal immigrants.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office -- led by Joe Arpaio, a sheriff famous for making inmates wear pink underwear -- regularly violated U.S. civil rights laws and the Constitution, the U.S. Justice Department said in a scathing report.
The Obama administration successfully blocked Arizona's anti-immigration law, passed in 2010, which empowered police officers to check the immigration status of those they stop. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to hear the state's appeal.
The Justice report released on Thursday also revealed evidence that deputies used excessive force, failed to protect the Hispanic community adequately and tried to harass or intimidate activists who protested their tactics.
The Justice Department said Arpaio's deputies regularly targeted dark-skinned people for traffic stops or for speaking Spanish at a local business. Additionally, they conducted raids aimed at sweeping up illegal immigrants.
"We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department," Thomas Perez, head of the civil rights division at Justice, told reporters. He cited a "penchant for retaliation for people who speak out against them."
Among the reforms sought, U.S. officials want the sheriff to institute new training, to develop a complaint and disciplinary system, and to engage in outreach to the Latino community.
Perez said a criminal investigation into the sheriff's office was ongoing and declined to elaborate.
The Justice Department report also went directly after Arpaio, saying his "own actions have helped nurture MCSO's culture of bias."
Arpaio has denied charges by Hispanic and civil rights activists that his department engages in racial profiling. The state has been particularly affected by an influx at the border of illegal immigrants from Mexico and beyond.
The sheriff's Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre said the Justice Department announcement smacked of politics with Perez holding a news conference in Arizona shortly after meeting attorneys. Arpaio is due to hold a news conference later on Thursday.
JAN. 4 DEADLINE
The Justice Department gave Maricopa County a January 4 deadline to agree to negotiations to address the problems and warned that if it balked, the government would go to court to try to compel compliance.
Perez said a criminal investigation into the sheriff's office was ongoing and declined to elaborate.
The Justice Department said officials discovered that Latino drivers were four times to nine times more likely to be stopped than non-Latinos. Over a three-year period one-fifth of traffic stops violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment protecting against unreasonable seizures, it said.
Political divisions run deep over the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, especially in states such as Arizona that border Mexico.
Perez said the actions by the police force had created a "wall of distrust" between them and the community which made it harder for residents to come forward to report crimes or raise concerns.
The federal government is also examining allegations that Arpaio's deputies failed to adequately investigate sexual assaults - a concern raised last week by the state's two U.S. senators.
Arpaio's office has admitted that more than 400 cases of sexual assault and child molestation were not properly investigated between 2005 and 2007.
(Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix, Editing by Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)
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Discussing the rising global supplies causing prices of agriculture commodities to go down, with Martin Richenhagen, AGCO chairman/CEO/president.
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LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Teen pop sensation Justin Bieber is performing a private concert for a Las Vegas elementary school that's gained publicity for services it provides for low-income families.
Bieber's concert is set for Friday morning at Whitney Elementary School and comes after the singer pledged to donate $100,000 to the school.
The 17-year-old pop star announced the gift in October during a taping of "The Ellen Degeneres Show" that aired on Nov. 1.
School officials told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper some of the students burst into tears of joy when they heard Bieber would stage a show for them.
Whitney Elementary was first featured on "The Ellen Degeneres Show" in September. The episode highlighted how the school provides a food pantry, clothes closet, free haircuts and literacy training for students' families.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? A top union leader who has been a strong ally of Argentina's government is taking an increasingly critical line, and the conflict could have political costs for President Cristina Fernandez.
Union leader Hugo Moyano said Thursday that Argentine workers will keep pressing for wages that they feel they deserve. He also issued a warning to Fernandez, saying that more than half of her votes in her re-election victory in October came thanks to union workers.
Moyano said in a speech that he is resigning his posts within Fernandez's party as interim president in the province of Buenos Aires and as a national vice president.
"I'm quitting my posts, but not the struggle," Moyano said, paraphrasing Eva Peron, the wife of former President Juan Domingo Peron. "We're going to rebuild Peronism."
He accused Fernandez's party of straying from the values of Peron.
Moyano, who spoke at a soccer stadium flanked by leaders of various union groups, questioned Fernandez for her criticisms of union stances during her Dec. 10 inauguration speech. Fernandez said then that "there is a right to strike, but not to blackmail nor to extort."
Moyano heads the General Labor Confederation, the largest union group in the country. He had smoother relations with Fernandez's husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner, who died last year.
Tensions between the government and unions have grown as the government has sought to show greater restraint in public spending with an eye to shielding Argentina's finances from world economic woes.
The government has sought to limit wage increases. Union leaders say they are concerned those limits are far below inflation. Private economists say prices are rising at an annual rate of at least 27 percent, while the government insists inflation is about one-third that.
Moyano's labor group has said there should be no ceiling in wage talks. The union leader has also said soaring inflation is a major problem.
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Rollins derives a handsome income from convincing college students and their parents to live in one of his 30 or so properties near campuses around the country. Rollins also appears to make a nice income from various investments and family enterprises.
But documents from Rollins' divorce case show that he stiffed his own children on support payments over a 33-month period from 2002 to 2005.
Rollins' teen-aged daughters, Sarah and Emma, now live in Birmingham with their mother, Sherry Carroll Rollins. Judges in the divorce action found that Ted Rollins owns multiple private jet craft and belongs to one of America's wealthiest families--the folks behind Rollins Inc., the parent company for Orkin Pest Control and other profitable businesses.
Why would a man of such means be a deadbeat dad? Why have support payments that were due more than six years ago still not been paid? We will put those questions, and others, to Ted Rollins in writing--although he has a tendency to not respond to our e-mails.
How big a deadbeat dad is Ted Rollins? To answer that question requires some background--and some math.
Sherry Carroll Rollins filed a complaint for divorce on June 5, 2001, in Greenville, South Carolina, where the family lived. The case was litigated in South Carolina for roughly three years and included a court order requiring Ted Rollins to maintain the mortgage and insurance payments on the former marital residence. A judge found that Sherry Rollins was entitled to "undisturbed use, possession, and occupancy" of the home "during the pendency of this action."
Were Sherry Rollins and the children undisturbed in their home? Not exactly. The mortgage was held by First National Bank of Oneida?in Scott County, Tennessee. Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker was a long-time board member of the bank and also was a close ally to John W. Rollins, the business magnate who was Ted Rollins' father. Court-ordered payments on the home apparently were not made, and officials from First National Bank kicked Ms. Rollins and her children out on the streets. They fled to Alabama, where Ms. Rollins had family.
Ted Rollins proceeded to file a divorce complaint against Sherry Rollins in Alabama, even though jurisdiction already had been established in South Carolina and could not lawfully be moved. Shelby County Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson did not let the actual law keep him from taking the case and giving Ted Rollins a judgment that was so extraordinarily favorable that his ex wife and children now are on food stamps.Why was Shelby County such a friendly jurisdiction for Ted Rollins? Well, his primary business lawyers are at the influential Birmingham firm of Bradley Arant. It appears that someone made sure Sherry Rollins and her daughters were the victims of legal "home cooking," Alabama style.
Shelby County, of course, is the same locale where Mrs. Schnauzer and I were on the receiving end of numerous unlawful rulings in a bogus lawsuit filed against me by a criminally inclined neighbor named Mike McGarity. So I was not at all surprised to learn that another adult, Sherry Rollins, had received a monstrous cheat job in Shelby County. I was slightly surprised to learn that a judge in Shelby County, a conservative outpost that touts itself as a "great place to raise a family," would go out of his way to screw two children.
You might call Al Crowson the "Jerry Sandusky of the Alabama legal world." What would you call Ted Rollins, the man who sat by while his own kids got hammered in court? "Deadbeat dad" probably is not a strong enough term to describe this guy.
To fully grasp the depravity of Ted Rollins' actions, you need to follow me with some math through several steps:
* A second pendente lite order, issued on February 8, 2002, in South Carolina, required Ted Rollins to pay $4,500 a month during the pendency of the divorce case. A pendente lite?is a temporary order, issued while discovery is pending, to make sure that parties in a divorce case have support while the case is heard.
* A contempt order, issued on October 17, 2002, in South Carolina, found that Ted Rollins was behind on his court-ordered payments by $70,410--$50,000 in attorney fees and $20,410 in family support. (See contempt order below.)
* After the case unlawfully was moved to Alabama, attorney G. John Durward Jr., wrote a letter to Judge Crowson that claimed his client, Ted Rollins, no longer owed support in South Carolina. Durward attached a South Carolina order stating that Ted Rollins had made a lump sum payment of $14,175 that left him with a support balance of zero. How could the balance be zero when Ted Rollins owed $70,410, and there is no record in the file of him paying that amount? John Durward's letter does not address that issue. (See Durward's letter below, with the accompanying court order.)
* A final judgment of divorce was issued in Shelby County on July 18, 2005.
How do the numbers stack up? When a contempt order was issued against Ted Rollins in October 2002, he was already behind on support by $70,410. From that date until the final judgment of divorce in July 2005 was 33 months--and throughout that time, Ted Rollins was under a court order to pay $4,500 in unallocated family support.
If you multiply $4,500 over 33 months, you find that Ted Rollins owed $148,500. When you add the $70,140 arrearage that apparently never was paid, you get a total of $218,910.
Sherry Rollins states that after she moved to Alabama, she received a payment from the state of South Carolina for $100,000. Why that figure? What was the explanation? She does not know.
As for the other $118,910, Sherry Rollins says that never has been paid--and there is no indication in court documents that it has been paid. Therefore, Ted Rollins is a deadbeat dad.
Rollins and one of his current attorneys, Chad Essick of the North Carolina firm Poyner Spruill, seem to acknowledge this in a recent letter to me. I had e-mailed Mr. Rollins several questions in writing, per his request, and part of the response from his lawyer was this:
You have suggest in your articles that Mr. Rollins does not adequately provide for his children and has missed child support payments. This is entirely false. Mr. Rollins has never failed to make a monthly payment as required by Alabama courts.
In fact, Mr. Rollins still owes $118,910. And that amount almost certainly is conservative.
The South Carolina court had ordered Ted Rollins to maintain mortgage and insurance payments on the family home. Sherry Rollins states that the monthly mortgage payment was roughly $4,500. A judge had ordered Ted Rollins to make sure that Sherry Rollins and their daughters had undisturbed use of the home throughout the pendency of the case. The case went on for roughly another 33 months, and payments obviously were missed because Ms. Rollins was kicked out of the house and wound up having to provide for her own shelter.
How many payments for shelter and insurance did Ted Rollins miss? It's unclear, but since Sherry Rollins was forced to flee to Alabama in 2003, he almost certainly missed at least 24 months. That would add another $108,000 to his unpaid amount, bringing the total to $226,910.
We should note that the first pendente lite order in South Carolina called for Ted Rollins to pay $8,355 a month ($3,355 in child support, $5,000 in alimony). That was reduced to $4,500 a month in unallocated family support, based on a motion for reconsideration from Ted Rollins' attorney. But the court's order on reconsideration never makes it clear why the reduction was justified. The reduction seems odd, considering that a judge had found that Rollins has substantial business interests, multiple private planes, and significant family wealth.
Curiously, Sherry Rollins' lawyer never objected to the reduction in payments. Is that a sign that her own lawyer was working against her? Based on my experiences in court, and a review of the Rollins v. Rollins file, I would say the answer is yes.
If the original pendente lite order had stayed in place, Ted Rollins would have owed $8,355 over 33 months, which comes to $275,715. When the $70,410 is added for the South Carolina arrearage, plus our conservative estimate of $108,000 in missed housing-related payments, that would bring the total to $454,125.
With credit for his $100,000 payment, Mr. Rollins would owe $354,125.
The bottom line? Our figures, based on public documents and statements from Sherry Rollins, show that Ted Rollins owes somewhere between $200,000 and $350,000 in family support. That amount has gone unpaid for more than six years.
How big a deadbeat dad is Ted Rollins? You make the call.
Below is a court order from October 2002, showing that Ted Rollins was behind on his court-ordered support payments by $70,410. After that is a letter and court order, from May 2005, showing that Rollins had made a payment of $14,175 and that--somehow--gave him a balance of zero.
How do you owe $70,410, pay $14,175, and wind up with a fully paid balance? We have no idea.
Court records show that, from October 2002 to May 2005, Ted Rollins was under a court order to pay $4,500 in family support, plus mortgage and insurance payments on the former marital residence. That's roughly 31 months of payments, and there is nothing in the record to indicate that was paid. How do you skip more than 30 months of court-ordered payments and wind up with a fully paid balance? We have no idea on that one either.
The Rollins v. Rollins file is filled with such legal and financial skulduggery. We are left with this overarching question: Did Ted Rollins' financial clout, from being a card-carrying member in one of America's wealthiest family, help him buy some mighty friendly "justice" in Alabama?
Ted Rollins Contempt Order
Ted Rollins Durward Letter
Source: http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2011/12/ted-rollins-ceo-of-campus-crest.html
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A downed tree litters the yard of a home in Altadena, Calif.
By msnbc.com staff and NBC News
Los Angeles County officials are asking the state and federal governments to declare the region a disaster area after last week's devastating wind storms left tens of thousands of customers without power and caused millions of dollars of damage.
Tabulations of how much disaster reimbursement the county will seek weren't complete Tuesday morning, and with high-wind advisories continuing into the late afternoon, it's hard to put a number on the total damage.
Just in Monrovia, east of?Pasadena, "overall damage could be as much as $4 million," Mayor Mary Ann Lutz told NBC station KNBC of Los Angeles.
Six days after powerful winds blew the region, nearly 15,000 customers were still without power late Tuesday morning, Southern California Edison said.
Map of current power failures in the Los Angeles area
The winds caused severe damage to the power grid, lines, poles and equipment, it said. Further damage is possible Tuesday as winds above 35 mph are forecast into the late afternoon.
A high-wind advisory was in effect until 3 p.m. PT for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the National Weather Service said, and until 4 p.m. south to the Mexican border. It said the winds could cause even more broken tree limbs and downed power lines.
Combined with clear, dry conditions, the potential for major fires is especially acute. An area from north of Santa Barbara to south of San Clemente remained under a red-flag warning, signaling an extreme fire danger.
Nearly a week into the ordeal, Southern Californians' nerves were at the breaking point.
With no electricity to run their refrigerators, many are using food as fast as they can, watching some of it go soft and mushy. And many are just bored without their computers and TVs.
"We're going to bed, like, at 6:30 at night because there's nothing to do," Vickie Lee of Montrose told KNBC. "You can't hardly keep your eyes open, it's so pitch dark."
NBC station KNBC of Los Angeles contributed to this report by msnbc.com's Alex Johnson.
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WASHINGTON ? Birth control drugs that were heavily promoted as having fewer side effects and the ability to clear up acne and other hormonal bothers are under new scrutiny from safety regulators.
Research suggesting that newer birth control formulations are more likely to cause blood clots than older drugs has prompted the Food and Drug Administration to consider new safety measures in meetings later this week. The increased risk is slight but significant because blood clots can cause heart attacks, strokes and blockages in lungs or blood vessels, which can be fatal.
Regulators could order new warning labels on several contraceptives that gained popularity in the last decade, including Bayer's pill Yaz, which was the best-selling birth control pill in the U.S. for 2008 and 2009.
Yaz, its Bayer precursor Yasmin, and similar drugs use a version of a female hormone that appears to reduce side effects found in older drugs, including bloating and mood swings.
On Tuesday, a judge unsealed several court documents suggesting Bayer may have withheld data from FDA about the blood clots risks of its drugs. The documents stem from expert opinion gathered by personal injury lawyers suing Bayer on behalf of patients.
According to one document, Bayer drafted a white paper in 2004 to address "FDA concerns," about clots with Yasmin. An early draft indicated that reports of blood clots with Yasmin were significantly higher than those for three other oral contraceptives. But that information was not included in the final paper submitted to the FDA, and instead the company said a more definitive study of blood clot risk would be forthcoming. That study did not show an increased risk.
"Based on the information that I have reviewed, and it is my opinion, that Bayer presented a selective view of the data, and that presentation obscured the potential risks associated with Yasmin," wrote Dr. David Kessler, a former FDA commissioner, in his expert testimony. Kessler was paid for his time and opinion by the plaintiffs' lawyers.
The FDA declined to accept the court documents for this week's hearings, saying the deadline for submissions was last month, according to an emailed message from an agency officer.
A Bayer spokeswoman said the company had no comment on the material in the documents, noting the issues would be addressed at trial.
Bayer AG spent more than $270 million on TV and magazine advertisements for Yaz between 2007 and 2010, according TNS Media Intelligence. Such big-budget campaigns are rare for birth control products. One advertisement featured young women singing the Twisted Sister anthem, "We're Not Gonna Take It," while popping balloons labeled "moodiness," "bloating" and "acne."
Sales of Yaz have fallen since regulators forced Bayer to correct advertisements that overstated Yaz's benefits and as safety questions drew scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe.
FDA also is reviewing research on clot risks associated with Johnson & Johnson's weekly Ortho Evra patch, which is marketed as an "option for busy women who are looking to simplify life." The drug uses a different version of the female hormone progestin than the pills under scrutiny.
Millions of women have used the products since they launched a decade ago, but recent studies comparing the medical histories of women taking the newer drugs to older ones suggest a slightly higher risk of blood clots in the legs and lungs. Last year, the U.S. market for female contraceptive drugs totaled $3.4 billion, according to IMS Health.
Sorting out the blood clot risk of birth control drugs is especially difficult because all hormone-based drugs increase the risk of clotting. Further complicating the issue is that clots can be caused by factors such as smoking, obesity or family history.
Yaz, Yasmin and other pills containing a synthetic hormone called drospirenone are the focus of a discussion Thursday. The next day's meeting focuses on the Ortho Evra patch, which uses the hormone norelgestromin.
Bayer says its studies have shown no difference in blood clot risk between its drugs and the older birth control drugs. But several large, independent studies suggest the risk with Yaz and similar medications is slightly higher. The latest analysis by the FDA estimates the risk of a blood clot with drospirenone-containing pills is 1.5-fold higher than other hormone-based contraceptives. That translates into an estimated 10 in 10,000 women on the newer drugs experiencing a blood clot, compared with 6 in 10,000 women on older contraceptives, according to the FDA.
"It's a very small percentage of patients that develop these, but it's such a serious side effect that I think doctors have to use a lot of caution," said Dr. Jennifer Wu, of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
Even if Yaz and other newer drugs get additional warning labels, some doctors say they don't expect to stop prescribing them. Doctors say the risk of blood clots with any birth control pill is still far lower than that associated with pregnancy and birth, when hormone levels and reduced blood flow increase clotting risk.
"At the end of the day I tell my patients the absolute risk is still very, very low compared to pregnancy and post-partum risk," said Dr. Rebecca Starck, of Cleveland Clinic's Fairview Hospital. "There are still many benefits to combination birth control pills."
The Ortho Evra patch already carries warning labels about an increased risk of blood clots compared with pills. Some, but not all, studies suggest patch users have twice the risk of clots. The FDA will try to further define that risk using the latest data.
Most birth control drugs use a combination of two female hormones, estrogen and progestin, to stop ovulation and help block sperm. But for decades many women have reported bloating and mood swings as side effects.
Introduced in 2001, Yasmin was the first birth control pill to use a new form of progestin called drospirenone, which appeared to have fewer side effects. The reformulated version of the drug, Yaz, was approved in 2006 with new claims on the label that it decreased acne and a severe type of mood disorder.
Yaz quickly grew into the best-selling birth control pill in the U.S. Sales plummeted more than 50 percent in 2010, after the company was forced to run corrective TV and magazine advertisements. Among other problems, the FDA said the company's commercials suggested Yaz could treat premenstrual syndrome when it has only been shown to decrease incidence of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a severe mood disorder associated with major depression. Less than 8 percent of U.S. women experience the disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Yaz currently ranks fourth in sales among contraceptive pills in the U.S. Last year doctors wrote roughly 13 million prescriptions for Yaz and two generic versions of the drug, according to IMS Health. Doctors prescribed the Ortho Evra patch nearly 1.6 million times.
Newer drugs like Yaz are no more effective than older pills, generally allowing one unplanned pregnancy per year for every 100 women.
"Many women will do fine on the older generation drugs, but some women will not," said Dr. Petra Casey, of the Mayo Clinic. "I think the newer drugs help many women in terms of mood and the water retention."
About 4,000 lawsuits against Bayer argue that any additional risk with the newer drugs should have been detected and emphasized to the public.
On Thursday, Cindy Rippee will tell the FDA panel about her 20-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who died Christmas Eve 2008 when a blood clot traveled to her lung. Rippee says her daughter had been taking Yasmin for about two months.
"I really feel that if my daughter had been told about the increased risk she would have made a different decision," said Rippee, of Escondido, Calif.
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