Courtfighter Symbol Familiarize Muslims, Christians, Jews With The Dragon Part III by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com

Courtfighter Symbol Familiarize Muslims, Christians, Jews With The Dragon Part III by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com


Above: Official symbol of the Courtfighter
organization. Scales of Law in the State of
PA. The Two Dragons are reflecting the
Human Scale. And the Dragon Face on the
ledge reflects the Holy Book that are common
symbols for court justice for all.

To understand the behavior of dragons the ancient Eastern civilizations would have had to observe such birds and mammals as the dauphin, eagle, and cheetah. Like the dauphin, eagle, and cheetah, dragons could be both approachable and fierce protectors down in the water, up in the sky, and below on the ground. Dragons could thus be subdued.

Dinosaur and mammalian fossils were occasionally mistaken for the bones of dragons and other mythological creatures; for example, a discovery in 300 BC in Wucheng, Sichuan, China, was labeled as such by Chang Qu. The mistaken identity of dinosaur and mammalian fossils for the bones of dragons soon paved the way to associate the real dragon with other mythical animals. Suddenly, the oldest locations such as Africa, Asia, and China, in that order, where human and animal bones and literature were discovered was soon challenged by visitors who traveled from near-eastern locations having their own literature.

The ancient Semitic people had living as aliens in lands where their enemies saw Dragons as winged beings combined in ancient mythologies and religious beliefs.

The enemies of Semitic people linked dragons with winged gods from the heavens who came to Earth as a very important symbology in the creation blueprint of non-Semitic reality. Much of non-Semitic dragon lore told their neighbors that dragons were loathsome beasts and evil enemies to humankind below and perhaps gods above. The ancients from Africa, India, China, as well as Japan began to believe in several magical, spiritual and benevolent animals. Some were the Phoenix, the Tortoise, the Monkey, and the Unicorn. The Dragon was also one of them.

Among their earliest forms, dragons were associated with a good monster, represented usually as the appearance of a snake, a gigantic reptile breathing fire and having a lion's claws, the tail of a serpent, wings and scaly skin. Also, dragons were associated with the Great Mother god, the water god who had power during the rain, the thunder and lighting god, the warrior sun god, and the god of shrewdness, said to have had three heads or more. In these capacities dragons had the power to be both beneficent and destructive and were all-powerful good creatures in the mythical and real universe. The significance of the dragon was its control over the destiny of mankind and any other god.


Above: Official symbol of the
Courtfighter organization.
Scales of Law in the State of PA.
The woman represents Lady Justice,
without the blindfold. The Dragon
is reflecting the Human Scale,
and/or the Holy Book that are
common symbols for court
justice for all.

As the myth and religious belief developed where the Semitic people now lived, dragons came to represent the constant challenge of the balance of the law and order from above.

This type of dragon was considered by many to be the intermediate stage between a demon and the Devil, said to have had more than one head, and as such came into Semitic, and Christian belief.

In Jewish religious texts, the first mention of a dragon-like creature is in the Biblical works in the Midrash Rabba, the collective whole on the books of the Tanach, such as Genesis Rabbah, Exodus Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, Numbers Rabbah, Deuteronomy Rabbah, Canticles Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Esther Rabbah, Lamentations Rabbah, and Ecclesiastes Rabbah. According to the Midrash Rabba Genesis 1:21 as Leviathan from the word Taninim - "and God created the great sea-monsters."

However, the Torah simply renders Genesis 1:21 as “God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms; and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good. Therefore the sea monsters mean that there were more than one sea animal that must live in both water, the sky, and the earth. The sea animal mentioned at Genesis 1:21 would swim has wings and walk and slither. Birds of this kind would have a beginning from the sea and not land alone. Only certain forces of the deep that could fly and walk (the dragon) were recognized by writers of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament they are simply listed with other animals and not symbols of a demon, the Devil, or sin (evil) but as a natural element-like animal of the universe.

It is important to note that all mankind and animals have different elements in their physical bodies such as particular natural minerals from both the sea and the ground. That being mentioned the sea-monsters mentioned in Genesis 1:21 are different dragons variously called the names, Leviathan, Nahar, Yam, and Rahab in different books of the Old Testament. Rahab the sea dragon is called the lord of the sea in the Old Testament, making the legend, as defined to mean (a traditional historical tale or collection of related tales) popularly regarded as true but usually containing a mixture of fact and fiction), of the dragon real.

Evidently then, many tales, as defined to mean (a series of events or facts told or presented not fantasy or make believe), written in European, Asian, African, Chinese, Semitic, and Biblical text about humans are true. So to, many tales written in European, Asian, African, Chinese, Semitic and Biblical text about dragons are true.

Interestingly, the sea-monster was mentioned in Semitic text at Isaiah 51:9-10, also has "dragon-like" attributes as it refers to a human who is bad (evil).

The word "Leviathan" appears in several places in the Bible, such as the Book of Job 3:8, with the Book of Job, chapter 41 being dedicated to describing a Leviathan in detail. Also, Leviathan appears in the Bible in the Book of Psalms at: Psalms 74:14, Psalms 104:24-26, and the Book of Isaiah 27:1

The Bible mentions a dragon-like creature as, a gliding serpent in the Book of Job 26:13.

There are numerous examples of dragons in Semitic literature as dragons became a frequent theme - as symbol of sin (evil) but also as a natural element of the universe, fighting against man and holy strength from above. Semitic literature has made the dragon out to be a symbol of what is the complete opposite of any thing that represents a good dragon.

Boondocks at Phila. Front Page News

Boondocks at Phila. Front Page News

Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

American citizen Laura Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, right, speaks as Nicole Lankford, 18, of Middleton, Idaho, left, and Carla Thompson, 53, of Meridien, Idaho, center, look on during an interview with the Associated Press at police headquarters at the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010. Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Ten U.S. Baptists were being held in the Haitian capital Sunday after trying to take 33 children out of Haiti at a time of growing fears over possible child trafficking.

The church members, most from Idaho, said they were trying to rescue abandoned and traumatized children. But officials said they lacked the proper documents when they were arrested Friday night in a bus along with earthquake survivors aged from 2 months to 12 years.

The group said its "Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission" was an effort to help abandoned children by taking them to an orphanage across the border in the Dominican Republic.

"In this chaos the government is in right now, we were just trying to do the right thing," the group's spokeswoman, Laura Silsby, told The Associated Press at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held pending a Monday hearing before a judge. No charges had been filed.

The children, some of them sick and dehydrated, were taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children's Villages, which was trying to find their parents or close relatives, said a spokesman there, George Willeit.

"One child, an 8- or 9-year-old, said she thought she was going to some sort of summer or vacation camp in the Dominican Republic," Willeit said.

The Baptist group planned to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a 45-room hotel at Cabarete, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, that they were converting into an orphanage, Silsby told the AP.

Whether they realized it or not, these Americans - the first known to be taken into custody since the Jan. 12 quake - put themselves in the middle of a firestorm in Haiti, where government leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to child trafficking.

The quake apparently orphaned many children and left others separated from parents, adding to the difficulty of helping children in need while preventing exploitation of them.

While many legitimate adoption agencies and orphanages operate in Haiti, often run by religious groups, the intergovernmental International Organization for Migration reported in 2007 that bogus adoption agencies in Haiti were offering children to rich Haitians and foreigners in return for processing fees reaching US$10,000.

Silsby said her group, including members from Texas and Kansas, paid no money for the children, whom she said they obtained from a Haitian pastor named Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, was asked if she didn't consider it naive to cross the border without adoption papers at a time when Haitians are so concerned about child trafficking. "By no means are we any part of that. That's exactly what we are trying to combat," she said.

She said she hadn't been following news reports while in Haiti.

Social Affairs Minister Yves Cristallin told the AP that the Americans were suspected of taking part in an illegal adoption scheme.

Some members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, wept on Sunday as Pastor Clint Henry reported the team had been detained and asked for prayers.

"They have been arrested. They've been charged with child trafficking," he told the congregation. "You need to understand that obviously those are serious charges, but they're in a nation where this has been a practice, a wicked and evil practice."

Willeit, the SOS spokesman, said the children arrived at his orphanage "very hungry, very thirsty, some dehydrated." All had their names written on pink tape on their shirts.

Following the quake, children's rights groups have urged a halt to adoptions until it can be determined that the children have no relatives who can raise them. Many children in Haitian orphanages have parents who cannot afford to care for them.

The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking - though that has not stopped the flow of orphans abroad.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist told ABC News' Good Morning America on Sunday that his state has taken in 300 Haitian orphans since the quake, with 60 to 80 orphans arriving there Friday night alone.

UNICEF and other NGOs have been registering children who may have been separated from their parents and are placing them in temporary shelters while they try to find relatives or a permanent home.

U.S. diplomats met with the detained Americans and gave them bug spray and field rations, according to Sean Lankford of Meridian, Idaho, whose wife and 18-year-old daughter were being held.

"There are allegations of child trafficking and that really couldn't be farther from the truth," Lankford said. The children "were going to get the medical attention they needed. They were going to get the clothes and the food and the love they need to be healthy and to start recovering from the tragedy that just happened."

Silsby said they had documents from the Dominican government, but did not seek any paperwork from the Haitian authorities.

She said the children were brought to the Haitian pastor by distant relatives and only those with no close family would be put up for adoption.

The 10 Americans include members of Central Valley Baptist and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

The group had described its plans on a Web site where it asked for tax-deductible contributions to help it "gather" 100 orphans and bus them to Cabarete before building a more permanent orphanage in the Dominican town of Magante.

"Given the urgent needs from this earthquake, God has laid upon our hearts the need to go now versus waiting until the permanent facility is built," the group wrote.

Press Release: PHILADELPHIA FRONT PAGE NEWS TAP INTO WVSR 1360.1AM ONLINE DIGITAL FAN CLUB SOCIAL AND POLITICAL NETWORK TO DELIVER

Press Release: PHILADELPHIA FRONT PAGE NEWS TAP INTO WVSR 1360.1AM ONLINE DIGITAL FAN CLUB SOCIAL AND POLITICAL NETWORK TO DELIVER




Changeable ticker displays will feature live updates from WVSR1360.com News in nine of the top 20 states

PHILADELPHIA – January 30, 2010 – Philadelphia Front Page News, today announced that WVSR1360.1AM (“WVSR”) will promote its weekday entertainment and social news program, WVSR1360.com, via Online international digital fan club network. The program, architected and negotiated by Van Stone and Diane White, will run as part of an 11 month campaign, which marks the first brand execution utilizing multiple WVSR Online digital properties to disseminate simultaneous news alerts for an international audience, will begin appearing on Black History Month Day, February 1, on more than 100 electronic displays with an aggregate daily circulation of almost 1 million. Philadelphia Front Page News, www.frontpagenews.us will use WVSR’s changeable electronic displays to message entertainment and social stories being featured in that evening’s WVSR News program.

Diane White, VP of Marketing & Advertising, WVSR Radio, believes listeners look to us for reliable, up-to-the-minute entertainment and social news at all times, and in all places. With WVSR’s digital from-your-home or telephone network, we can engage listeners and viewers in some of the highest-traffic areas throughout the entire day, including just ahead of airtime to drive tune in.

This innovative use of from-your-home or telephone digital music, images and video is a bellwether for the future of the from-your-home experience. Leveraging technology and the ability to instantly and regularly update content taps into the true power of the medium and advances how brands make meaningful, immediate connections with consumers.

The flexible electronic fan club billboard medium – with its real-time information delivery capability – is becoming increasingly appealing to advertisers executing national, integrated campaigns. WVSR is one of the most established and trusted entertainment and social news sources in the country, and its creative execution with real-time headlines will be an exciting addition to our ad rotation reaching potential listeners and viewers across the country when they are away from their televisions.

About WVSR1360.com.
Based in Philadelphia, WVSR1360.com operates WVSR1360.1AM E! Radio, the 24-hour network with programming dedicated to entertainment and social news, Online; The style of network, the destination for men and women 18-65 with a passion for the best in reliable, inspiring and transformational lifestyle programming is also programmed in Harrisburg, PA. WVSR.com is currently available on all new media platforms any time and anywhere from online to broadband video to wireless to radio to VOD.

Contacts
WVSR1360.com
Diane White, 717-232-1722
diane@dlighten.com

Philadelphia Front Page News
Van Stone, 610-931-8810
Wvsr1360@yahoo.com
WVSR1360.com Contact Us: Station Manager Your Message Box

Democratic Candidates for Gov. Faceoff over Gay Marriage

Democratic Candidates for Gov. Faceoff over Gay Marriage

by KYW's Tony Romeo

Voters statewide got a chance to compare the four Democratic candidates for Governor Friday night in what was billed as the first debate of the campaign, seen live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

The debate was barely underway when the candidates were asked to address one of the hottest cultural issues of the day.

The candidates – appearing before a convention of progressives near Harrisburg – were evenly split on the issue of gay marriage. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty:

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Former Eagle Great Tom Brookshier Dies

Former Eagle Great Tom Brookshier Dies

by KYW's Amy Parmenter

One of the most popular players ever to wear a Philadelphia Eagles uniform -- Tom Brookshier -- has died.

According to a spokesperson for the Eagles, Brookshier died Friday night at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer.

The former football star was a defensive back for the Eagles from 1953 to 1961 and made the Pro Bowl twice. The Eagles retired his number "40" in 1962.

After his football career, Brookshier became an award-winning broadcaster, doing color for CBS football broadcasts and teaming up with Pat Summerall for the telecasts of three Super Bowl games.

He also worked for KYW Newsradio's sister station, WIP. Broadcaster Angelo Cataldi remembers his friend and colleague:

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Serena wins 5th Australian Open title, tops Henin

Serena wins 5th Australian Open title, tops Henin

Serena Williams of the United States holds the trophy after beating Justine Henin of Belgium, to win the Women's singles final match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Serena Williams won her second straight Australian Open championship, ending Justine Henin's hopes of a Grand Slam title in her return from retirement with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory Saturday.

Williams withstood a determined challenge from Henin before securing her fifth Australian Open title overall and 12th Grand Slam singles championship, tying Billie Jean King.

King was at the stadium on Saturday night to take part in a pre-match ceremony to honor the 40-year anniversary of Margaret Court's four Grand Slam tournament wins in 1970.

"Billie, we are tied," Williams said. "So I've reached my goal."

Williams' five Australian titles is the most by any woman in the Open Era, since 1968, surpassing the four held by Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Court holds 11 Australian Open titles overall, most coming before 1968.

Henin, who had most of the crowd support at Rod Laver Arena, couldn't match her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters' feat of winning in her Grand Slam comeback tournament. Clijsters won last year's U.S. Open in her return from a two-year retirement after getting married and having a daughter.

Williams won the last four games to clinch the championship in just over two hours, falling on her back in celebration after match point.

"It was definitely a tough match mentally and physically," Williams said. "We were both out there to prove something, and I think we did at the end of the day."

It was an impressive run by Henin. She lost in the final of the Brisbane International tournament to Clijsters two weeks ago.

The unranked and unseeded Henin then beat four seeded players en route to the Australian Open final, including No. 5 and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in the second round.

"It's been a very emotional two weeks for me," said Henin, who put her hand on her heart as she thanked the crowd for support. "I thought it would never happen to me again. I'd like to congratulate Serena. She's a real champion."

Later, Henin said there was a feeling of disappointment, but accomplishment.

"It's just more than what I could expect, I just have to remember that," Henin said. "Even if it's quite soon after the match now, I'm sure there will be a lot of positive things I can think about in a few days. It's been almost perfect. Just the last step, I couldn't make it."

And she's certain now about her decision to come back on the tour.

"I was curious about what my level would be and how I was going to deal with just the atmosphere on and off the court, how it would feel," Henin said.

"I felt I took the right decision, so it's good enough for me already. I got the results also in the last four weeks - two finals. So I can be really happy about that."

Henin saved two break points to hold for 3-3 in a four-game run in the second set, winning 13 of the last 14 points in a dominant finish to the set. She maintained the superiority early in the deciding set, increasing that to 18 of 19 points before Williams held serve to even the third set at 1-1.

Williams, with her right thigh and left knee heavily taped as it had been for much of the tournament, broke Henin to go up 2-1. The two then traded breaks, with Williams going up 3-2, a lead she never relinquished.

"I thought I was just giving it to her at that point," Williams said. "I didn't want to go out like that. I literally said to myself, 'I need to man up and start playing better.'"

Williams used an ace on her second serve to hold for a 4-2 lead, then broke again to move within a game of the title.

"It's good to have her back, it's exciting," Williams said of Henin. "She can definitely be No. 1, especially with our ranking system, if she keeps doing well."

The American holds an 8-6 edge in career meetings between the pair, including a 6-2, 6-0 win in Miami in 2008. At the time, it equaled the worst loss for a reigning No. 1, and Henin quit tennis two months later.

Henin won the Australian Open title in 2004. She quit during the 2006 final with stomach problems while trailing Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 2-0.

Williams' next goal is to reach the 18 majors held by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

"Honestly, I'm just doing what I can. I obviously enjoy playing in Melbourne, clearly," Williams said. "I never thought I could catch up with Martina, because she's such an amazing champion."

American twins Bob and Mike Bryan won their fourth Australian Open doubles title, defeating Daniel Nestor of Canada and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in the final.

The brothers have won the title four of the past five years. They have eight Grand Slam doubles titles, including two at the U.S. Open and one each at the French Open and Wimbledon.

The men's final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray will be held Sunday night, where Murray will attempt to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam major.

The Australian Open is Murray's 17th Grand Slam tournament, which is how many attempts Federer needed before winning for the first time at Wimbledon seven years ago against Mark Philippoussis.

Murray was beaten 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 in the U.S. Open final in 2008.

Two years later, the 22-year-old Murray thinks he knows how to end the 74-year drought.

"I'm going to need to play my best match ever," Murray said. "That's what I plan on doing. If I do, I've got a good chance of winning."

Federer played in all four finals last year and will be appearing in his 22nd Grand Slam final overall, a record. He acknowledged that the pressure will be on Murray.

"I know what it takes (to win) and how to do it, which is definitely an advantage," Federer said. "I don't feel like the pressure's really on me having to do it again. I think he really needs it more than I do."

Latrines join food, water on Haiti's crisis list

Latrines join food, water on Haiti's crisis list

Jean Claude Seyal, right, is helped by a friend to carry zinc sheets to rebuild his home that collapsed in the Jan. 12 earthquake in the Canape Vert neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. Defying pleas to wait for Haiti's reconstruction, families are building new homes on top of old ones devastated in the earthquake.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A lack of sanitation threatens to create killer diseases in the vast refugee camps where hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors have crammed in together, relief officials said Saturday.The need for latrines has joined food, water and shelter as a major concern.

Just one portable toilet serves about 2,000 people in a sprawling camp across from the collapsed National Palace. Most use a gutter next to where vendors cook food and mothers struggle to bathe their children.

"We wash the vegetables first from water brought in by trucks, but a lot of times the water isn't clean," said Marie Marthe, 45, cooking a large pot of collard greens, carrots and goat as flies gathered on her daughter's diaper. "We don't have any choice."

With an estimated 1 million made homeless by the quake, survivors have crammed into nearly every open space left in the capital, so tightly that finding a place to dig latrines is hard. "In some parks there is no physical space," said Silvia Gaya, UNICEF's coordinator for water and sanitation.

"As of yesterday we were in the process of digging latrines for about 20,000 people," Gaya said, adding that 1,100 squatting platforms were arriving Saturday, to be distributed in camps and covered with plastic sheeting for privacy.

Nearly three dozen organizations are joining in a U.N.-led effort to build latrines and handle solid waste disposal, said Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization. Authorities also plan to build more permanent resettlement camps with plumbing and sewage and have identified some locations.

The results of these efforts aren't yet evident in many places, exposing people to cholera, dysentery, tetanus; the mosquito-borne dengue and malaria, and other communicable diseases.

Some hospitals are already reporting that half the children they're treating have malaria. Although the rainy season won't start until April, thousands are living outside near standing water where mosquitoes breed.

Fumigation trucks to kill mosquitoes sprayed near camps across from the palace on Saturday.

Dr. Louise Ivers, Haiti clinical director for Partners in Health, said she fears "a mass outbreak of measles, which would really be potentially devastating for a camp where there are 10,000 people living."

Food distribution, at least, was becoming more organized. The World Food Program started its first systematic food distribution system on Saturday, handing out coupons that only women can use to collect food at 16 sites starting Sunday.

The idea is to ensure a dependable supply for families and prevent young men from forcing their way to the front and or stealing food from weaker people in line. The coupons entitle each family to 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of rice.

But the effort to respond to overwhelming emergency medical needs have suffered a setback, with the U.S. military halting flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States in an apparent dispute between states and the federal government over the cost of their care.

"We can't fly anyone without an accepting hospital on the other end," said Capt. Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command.

Quake survivors remain exposed not only to each other, but to the elements. Signs begging for help in English - not Haitian Creole - dot nearly every street corner in Port-au-Prince. It could take weeks to get the 200,000 tents needed for Haiti's homeless, said Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, the culture and communications minister. Haiti now has fewer than 5,000 donated tents and coordinating the aid operation remains a problem.

Some Haitians are so fed up with the camps that they are making a risky return to destroyed homes - the only semblance of property they have left.

"The situation is only getting worse," said Josielle Noel, 46, who was working with dozens of neighbors to rebuild in the concrete slum of Canape Vert, an area devastated by the Jan. 12 quake.

Tired of waiting for government help, they lugged heavy bundles of wood and tin up steep hillsides, putting up new structures amid the rubble.

"Even if it's unsafe, I can't imagine leaving. Even if the government helps, it will come too late. This is how it is in Haiti," said Noel Marie Jose, 44.

Jose and other families said they were worried both about the coming rainy season and fear they may lose their plots because they lack clear title or the government does not want them to rebuild on unsafe land.

Reconstruction, resettlement and land titles are all priorities of the government of President Rene Preval - but so far in name only.

The government has been nearly paralyzed by the quake, which destroyed its infrastructure and killed many officials. So far it has focused on appeals for foreign aid and dozens of meetings with potential outside contractors to discuss debris removal, sanitation and other long-term needs. It still hasn't produced detailed emergency response and recovery plans.

Its first priority is moving people from areas prone to more quakes and landslides into tent cities that have sanitation and security, but these resettlement camps have yet to be built.

About 200,000 people are in need of post-surgery follow-up treatment and an unknown number have untreated injuries, said Elisabeth Byrs, an official of the U.N.'s humanitarian coordination office. But she said sanitation is increasingly a major concern.

Nine Phila. Firefighters Get New Ranks, One Posthumously

by KYW's Hadas Kuznits

Nine Philadelphia firefighters were honored on Friday in a ceremony promoting them to higher ranks.

Philadelphia fire commissioner Lloyd Ayers administered the oath of office to the new promotees:

"Please raise your right hand and repeat after me..."

Eight firefighters were given new ranks, and one additional firefighter -- Stephen Cospelich -- was promoted posthumously, with a special presentation being made to his widow (right).

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Body in backyard is missing Fla. lottery winner's

Body in backyard is missing Fla. lottery winner's

*RETRANSMIT TO UPDATE CAPTION** FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office shows Abraham Shakespeare, 43, a truck driver's assistant who lived with his mother and who was reported missing Nov. 9, 2009. A body found buried in a backyard in Plant City, Fla., was identified Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, as missing Florida lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's office said the remains were identified through fingerprints, but a cause of death likely won't be known until Monday.

PLANT CITY, Fla. (AP) -- Winning $30 million in the Florida Lottery should have been the best thing that ever happened to Abraham Shakespeare. But with his newfound wealth came a string of bad choices and hangers-on who constantly hit him up for money. Nine months ago, he vanished. Friends and family hoped he was on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean. On Friday, detectives confirmed that a body buried under a concrete slab in a rural backyard was his.

The home Shakespeare was found behind belongs to the boyfriend of a woman who befriended him in 2007, the year after he won the lottery. Authorities believe he was murdered and the woman may know something about it, but they do not yet know how he died and have not arrested anyone.

Shakespeare's brother, Robert Brown, said Friday that Shakespeare often wished he had never bought the winning ticket.

"'I'd have been better off broke.' He said that to me all the time," Brown said.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's detectives used fingerprints to identify Shakespeare's body, which they found buried 5 feet deep and covered by a 30-by-30 concrete slab in the backyard of a two-story ranch house. There are no neighbors, save for an empty trailer next door and an orange grove across the street.

When Shakespeare won the lottery, he was an assistant truck driver who lived with his mother in a rural county east of Tampa. He was barely literate, had a criminal record and was extremely generous with his newly acquired wealth.

"He really didn't understand it at all," said Samuel Jones, who has known Shakespeare since both were 12. "It was moving so fast. It changed his life in a bad way."

Jones said Friday that Abraham told him in March that he wanted to get out of Lakeland, where he had bought a million-dollar home. After he chose a lump sum payment of nearly $17 million, people gathered outside his mother's home, clamoring for cash.

Jones said Abraham would tell him, "I thought all these people were my friends, but then I realized all they want is just money."

Among those new friends was Dorice Donegan "DeeDee" Moore. Shakespeare met her in 2007, shortly after he bought his home. She told him she was interested in writing a book about his life.

But officials said she was interested in his money.

"DeeDee Moore is a con artist, and if she tried to sell me anything, I certainly wouldn't buy it," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news release earlier this month. "DeeDee Moore has cheated Abraham Shakespeare out of his money, and possibly his life."

Moore - whose known phone numbers were all disconnected Friday - became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare.

Property records show her company, American Medical Professionals, bought his home for $655,000 in January 2009. In February, she helped him open a company and gave herself the ability to sign for money, detectives said, including a $1 million withdrawal.

Moore told detectives Shakespeare gave her the cash as a gift. She bought a Hummer, a Corvette and a truck, and went on vacation.

Three months later, 26-year-old Shar Krasniqi - identified by Judd as Moore's boyfriend - bought the home in Plant City that Shakespeare's body was found behind. A tip led detectives there this week.

Howard Stitzel, who happened to be Shakespeare's lawyer in a child support case, started working out Krasniqi's home after Shakespeare disappeared.

Stitzel said he could not comment when reached by The Associated Press on Friday. His lawyer, Glenn Lansky, said Stitzel rented space in the home in mid-2009.

"The landlord was DeeDee Moore," Lansky said. "If the police have any questions, we'll answer them."

A phone number listed in public records for Krasniqi rang to Stitzel's law firm Friday.

Shakespeare was last seen in April. Moore, who spoke several times to the Lakeland Ledger newspaper last year about his disappearance, said he was "laying low" because people constantly tried to get money out of him.

She also told the paper she helped Shakespeare disappear. But Polk detectives say she tried to make it appear that he was alive for several months, at one point using his phone to text his relatives and friends.

Detectives say Moore also paid one of Shakespeare's relatives $5,000 to deliver a birthday card with cash to Shakespeare's mother, suggesting it was from her son.

So far, only one person has faced charges in the case, but not for Shakespeare's disappearance or death. Troy McKay Young, 42, a Lakeland police officer, was charged with unlawful compensation and misuse of confidential information after detectives said he provided Moore with information he obtained through law enforcement databases.

Meanwhile, friends and family puzzled Friday over Shakespeare's rapid rise and fall. Jones said his friend lived a humble life, and just before he bought the winning ticket he joined a church and was baptized.

"When he won the lottery," Jones said, "he forgot about being saved."

Obama, GOP exchange barbs, ideas in rare encounter

Obama, GOP exchange barbs, ideas in rare encounter

President Barack Obama shakes hands with House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio as House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Va., looks on at right, after Obama took questions from Republican lawmakers at the GOP House Issues Conference in Baltimore, Friday, Jan. 29, 2010.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- In a remarkably sharp face-to-face confrontation, President Barack Obama chastised Republican lawmakers Friday for opposing him on taxes, health care and the economic stimulus, while they accused him in turn of brushing off their ideas and driving up the national debt.

The president and GOP House members took turns questioning and sometimes lecturing each other for more than an hour at a Republican gathering in Baltimore. The Republicans agreed to let TV cameras inside, resulting in an extended, point-by-point interchange that was almost unprecedented in U.S. politics, except perhaps during presidential debates.

With voters angry about partisanship and legislative logjams, both sides were eager to demonstrate they were ready to cooperate, resulting in the GOP invitation and Obama's acceptance. After polite introductions, however, Friday's exchange showed that Obama and the Republicans remain far apart on key issues, and neither side could resist the chance to challenge and even scold the other.

Obama said Republican lawmakers have attacked his health care overhaul so fiercely, "you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot." His proposals are mainstream, widely supported ideas, he said, and they deserve some GOP votes in Congress.

"I am not an ideologue," the president declared.

But Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., pointedly asked Obama: "What should we tell our constituents who know that Republicans have offered positive solutions" for health care, "and yet continue to hear out of the administration that we've offered nothing?"

Obama showed little sympathy, disputing Price's claim that a Republican plan would insure nearly all Americans without raising taxes.

"That's just not true," said Obama. He called such claims "boilerplate" meant to score political points.

At times it seemed more like Britain's "question time" - when lawmakers in the House of Commons trade barbs with the prime minister - than a meeting between a U.S. president and members of Congress.

Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana defended Price on the health care proposals. He said a GOP agenda booklet given to Obama at the start of the session "is backed up by precisely the kind of detailed legislation that Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and your administration have been busy ignoring for 12 months."

Obama shot back that he had read the Republican proposals and that they promise solutions that can't be realized.

In another barbed exchange, the president said some Republican lawmakers in the audience had attended ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects in their districts funded by the 2009 stimulus package that they voted against.

Pence said Obama was trying to defend "a so-called stimulus that was a piecemeal list of projects and boutique tax cuts."

Obama replied, "When you say they were boutique tax cuts, Mike, 95 percent of working Americans got tax cuts."

"This notion that this was a radical package is just not true," he said.

Republicans are feeling energized after winning a Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts, and Obama is trying to refocus his stalled agenda more on jobs than health care. With Obama at a podium facing a hotel conference room full of Republicans, both sides jumped to the debate.

"It was the kind of discussion that we frankly need to have more of," said House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.

"I'm having fun, this is great," Obama said when Pence asked if he had time for more questions.

"So are we," said Pence.

Some Republicans prefaced their questions with lengthy recitations of conservative talking points. The president sometimes listened impassively but sometimes broke in.

"I know there's a question in there somewhere, because you're making a whole bunch of assertions, half of which I disagree with," Obama said to Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, whom he mistakenly called "Jim."

Obama, a former law school professor, launched into lectures of his own at times. He warned lawmakers from both parties against demonizing a political opponent, because voters might find it incomprehensible if the two sides ever agree on anything.

"We've got to be careful about what we say about each other sometimes, because it boxes us in in ways that makes it difficult for us to work together because our constituents start believing us," Obama said. "So just a tone of civility instead of slash-and-burn would be helpful."

Republicans sat attentively for the most part. There was some grumbling when Obama remarked - after being pressed about closed-door health care negotiations - that much of the legislation was developed in congressional committees in front of television cameras.

"That was a messy process," Obama said.

GOP lawmakers pressured him to support a presidential line-item veto for spending bills and to endorse across-the-board tax cuts. Obama said he was ready to talk about the budget proposal, though he disputed accusations that his administration was to blame for big increases in deficit spending. And he demurred on the idea of cutting everyone's taxes, saying with a smile that billionaires don't need tax cuts.

In his opening remarks, Obama criticized what he said was a Washington culture driven by opinion polls and nonstop political campaigns.

"I don't believe that the American people want us to focus on our job security, they want us to focus on their job security," he said.

The president acknowledged that Republicans have joined Democrats in some efforts, such as sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. But he said he was disappointed and perplexed by virtually unanimous GOP opposition to other programs, such as the economic stimulus bill.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said of the event, "In some places I kind of felt like I was in my high school assembly being lectured by my principal. In others, I felt like he was listening."

When it was over, House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio issued a statement saying Obama "acknowledged the fact that House Republicans have offered better solutions over the last year."

Not exactly how the president and his allies saw it.

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87 - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87 - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

Courtfighter Symbol Familiarize Muslims, Christians, Jews With The Dragon Part II by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com

Courtfighter Symbol Familiarize Muslims, Christians, Jews With The Dragon Part II by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com



Above: Official symbol of the Courtfighter
organization. Scales of Law in the State of
PA. The Two Dragons are reflecting the
Human Scale. And the Dragon Face on the
ledge reflects the Holy Book that are common
symbols for court justice for all.

In the image, at left, is the Dragon depicting the European Dragon which was the most dangerous, killing hundreds of people each year. In the image, at right is the Dragon depicting the Americas Dragons, such as Vinland and California, which were aggressive but rarely assaulted humans without provocation. Both the Left Dragon and the Right Dragon symbol scales of injustice in the courts today.

Many Chinese people often use the term "Descendants of the Dragon" as a sign of ethnic identity.

In ancient times, many African people, such as the Egyptians used the art work of the Dragon as a sign of ethnic identity, sort of like Americans use human DNA today. Fire represented soul sparks of light emanating from the flame of creation, the base of your skull emerging from your spinal column, and clinical settings.

Dragons, were considered by some ancient Eastern civilizations to be similar to, in form and inhabitant, the lizard or crocodile, birds, and/or the blue whale depending on the variations of the ancient Chinese, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman literature.

Dragons were both water and land mammals. However, dragons were considered more biologically complex like reptiles despite their look and behavior of the mammal. It is believed that dragons also had vocalization abilities like the parrot and/or blue whale has today. Also, it is believed that dragons would spout fire from its mouth and/or nostrils.

Long and slender, the dragon’s body can be various shades of gold, purple, red, black, green, blue, and white, and somewhat lighter underneath.

Therefore, the dragon was a mammal that could completely reflect a balanced measure of the attributes of all the animals ever living on the earth combined into one beast. Dragons could swim, fly, walk, and also even talk, making it the most wisest, and powerful amongst any animal in any environment on the earth. Although the dragon was the fastest known animal in the water and in the air, it was not the fastest known animal on the ground. Ancient Africa text explains then and in modern times that there was no animal faster on the ground than the cheetah. Nevertheless, dragons laid eggs to give birth even though they were mammals.

Like the Blue Whale today that is at up to 32.9 metres (108 ft) in length and 172 metric tons (190 short tons) or more in weight, it is the largest animal ever to have existed, (larger than the largest known dinosaur), similar was the Dragon in size but not shape. Because of its size the dragon was an animal that represented supporting the will of what was from beneath and above.

As with other dragons, its diet consists almost exclusively of small fish. It would also eat whatever an eagle and cheetah would. However, like the blue whale, the dimensions of its throat are such that a blue whale cannot swallow an object wider than a beach ball, the dragon held objects in its belly for long periods of time.

Dragons had a tendency to congregate in water habitats like seas, oceans, rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water. Dragons also were known to congregate in land habitats such as caves adjacent to water and mountain area. But they were not like lions, territorial, or like hyenas, scavengers, animals that will eat you dead or alive.

Dragons most commonly lived alone or with one other individual. Dragons were independents that could roam about creating order for good or bad.



Above: Official symbol of the
Courtfighter organization.
Scales of Law in the State of PA.
The woman represents Lady Justice,
without the blindfold. The Dragon
is reflecting the Human Scale,
and/or the Holy Book that are
common symbols for court
justice for all.

Interestingly, like the blue whale’s only natural predator being the Orca, the dragon could face Orca attacks when in the water. In addition, dragon’s predator was known to be the eagle when in the air. And it’s predator was known to be the tiger (and lion), hyena, and wolf dog when on the ground.

Dragons could produce sounds during distress and in aggressive displays. They can also see extremely well, hear extremely well, and speak extremely well.

Like many large crocodilians that swallow stones (called gastroliths or stomach stones) which may act as ballast to balance their body or assist in crushing food, dragons too swallowed stones. Wherever dragons lay down, in an underground lair or cave, most often stones of fire would be about. Dragons swallowed firestones enabling them to breathe smoke and fire as long as the stones were hot.

Like crocodiles, dragons had smooth skin on their belly and side, while their dorsal surface is armored with large osteoderms. The armored skin had scales and was thick and rugged, providing some protection. But dragons did not and could not live in fire.

Holocaust 'Education Center' to be Built in Center City

by KYW's Jim Melwert

On this the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation introduced plans for a new building at 16th and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in center city.

Mayor Michael Nutter says the Center for Human Rights Education building won't be a museum, instead an education center reminding us of the horrors of the Holocaust:

"Because as time passes, you know that human nature allows us to forget certain things. And certainly the worst imaginable things. I'm here to say one more time, we can never forget. We can never forget."

About 30 Holocaust survivors were on-hand for the announcement, including Mariam Caine:

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

IRS Says Donations to Haiti Can Be Written Off for 2009

by KYW's John McDevitt

If you make a donation to an organization providing relief to those effected by the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, you may be able to write it off on your 2009 tax return.

To be eligible, your donation needs to be made specifically for relief victims after January 11th of this year and before March 1, 2010. You have to itemize. Contributions to foreign organizations are generally not deductible. The deduction can only be made for cash contributions, according to Dave Stewart with the IRS:

"You can use a debit card, a credit card. You can use your checking account and because of technology -- this is pretty slick -- you can through a text message donate to a charitable contribution if they have it set up as such."

For full story go to:

http://www.kyw1060.com/

Councilman Presses for Term Limits

Councilman Presses for Term Limits

by KYW's Mike Dunn

As Philadelphia City Council opened its 2010 session on Thursday, one member's proposal to limit the number of terms that the lawmakers could serve drew immediate criticism from his colleagues.

City councilman Wilson Goode Jr. (in file photo above) probably didn't make many friends in City Council chambers on Thursday by introducing a measure that would limit all councilmembers to three four-year terms.

Philadelphia does limit a mayor to two successive terms, but councilmembers have no term limits.

Goode notes that other cities do impose them:

"Actually, almost all of the major cities within the United States have term limits for the mayor and City Council."

For full story go to:

http://www.kyw1060.com/

Senate permits gov't to borrow an additional $1.9T

Senate permits gov't to borrow an additional $1.9T

From left, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., take part in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted Thursday to allow the government to go a whopping $1.9 trillion deeper in debt, offering a vivid election-year reminder that the government has to borrow 40 cents of every dollar it spends.

The measure would put the government on track for a national debt of $14.3 trillion - more than $45,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. And the debt is increasingly held by foreign nations such as China.

The budget for the current year is about $3.5 trillion and the deficit will probably match last year's $1.4 trillion. The government would have to borrow to cover that $1.4 trillion.

The measure passed 60-39 under ground rules insisted upon by Republicans that required 60 votes to pass it. Democrats and allied independents control 60 seats - for now - and were only able to win the vote because Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts has yet to be seated.

While Thursday's vote went smoothly, it came after weeks of difficult negotiations between the White House and both House and Senate Democrats.

Moderate House "Blue Dog" Democrats came away with a tough new "pay-as-you-go" budget law to make it harder to run up the deficit with new tax cuts or federal benefit programs. Senate Democrats won a promise from President Barack Obama to name a bipartisan task force to come up with a plan for dealing with the spiraling debt - but one whose recommendations are unlikely to ever see an up-or-down vote.

Meanwhile, Obama won symbolic support for his proposal for a partial domestic spending freeze.

A 56-strong majority of senators supported a plan, by Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., that was strikingly similar to Obama's freeze on domestic programs annually funded by Congress. It failed because 60 votes were required, but the tally serves as a positive sign that even though there's significant opposition from Democratic liberals, Obama's domestic freeze is likely to be adopted when Congress debates its budget.

The debt limit increase comes as a relief to Democrats worried about having to cast multiple, bite-sized increases in the debt in the run-up to the critical midterm elections this fall. Instead, the new limit would allow majority Democrats to avoid another vote until after the midterm elections this fall.

The House is slated to vote on the debt legislation next week to send it to Obama to be signed into law. The new pay-as-you-go rules, approved by the Thursday on a 60-40 vote, should help House leaders round up the votes, despite the political anxiety caused by Brown's stunning win in heavily-Democratic Massachusetts last week.

The new budget rules are designed to curb the spiraling deficit by requiring spending increases or tax cuts to be "paid for" with cuts to other programs or tax increases. If the rules are broken, the White House budget office would force automatic cuts to programs like Medicare, farm subsidies and veterans' pensions.

The idea is that the threat of cuts to such popular programs would be enough to block Congress' free-spending ways, but skeptics say lawmakers can find ways around them fairly easily. Weaker pay-as-you-go rules are in place already, but have been routinely waived.

The new rules would have the force of law and would make it harder to extend permanently some tax cuts - especially on large estates and middle-class tax filers threatened by the alternative minimum tax - that expire at the end of this year.

Lawmakers would be able to extend President Bush's middle-class tax cuts past their expiration a year from now even though they would add another $1.4 trillion to the debt over the next decade. But the top rate for individuals making more than $200,000 and couples earning over $250,000 would rise from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.

Extended unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless coming to a vote next month may also be exempt at a cost of tens of billions dollars more.

Republicans generally opposed the rules as a recipe for tax increases. There had been a few GOP supporters in the past, but Republicans who had voted for the rules in earlier years switched their positions and opposed them.

They included John McCain of Arizona, facing a primary battle with former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who's winning support from conservative anti-tax "tea party" activists.

Obama's promise to name a bipartisan deficit task force promises to have less of an impact.

Unlike a proposal rejected this week that would legally bind Congress to vote on a commission's plans, there's no way to force the Senate to take a vote on the panel's recommendations. Those would likely blend tax increases with painful spending curbs to programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security - which would probably die as a result of a filibuster.

Obama urges nervous Dems to fight for his agenda

Obama urges nervous Dems to fight for his agenda

President Barack Obama speaks at a town hall style meeting at the University of Tampa's Bob Martinez Sports Center in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama voiced determination Thursday to change the tone of Washington politics and urged Republicans to get "off the sidelines" and help fix health care and other problems.

Stopping on his way out of a town hall meeting in Tampa, Fla., Obama hammered again on his State of the Union message - insisting that voters and politicians needed to "start thinking of each other as Americans first."

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were in Florida to announce $8 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail projects nationwide - part of his push to combine spending on infrastructure with job creation.

Obama also used his first State of the Union speech Wednesday to push nervous Democrats to forge ahead on health care, despite voters' worries and opposition from newly strengthened Republicans.

On Thursday, he turned emphatically toward Republicans and implored cooperation.

"Our political dialogue in this country has always been messy and noisy," Obama told the crowd at the University of Tampa.

"We're all Americans. We all should anticipate that the other person, even if they disagree with us, has the best of intentions. We don't have to call them names. We don't have to demonize them."

Hanging over the Obama agenda and wobbly support among Democrats were fears fueled by events such as last week's stunning GOP victory in the Massachusetts Senate race.

That setback may have cost Democrats their filibuster-proof Senate majority, Obama said, but "we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills."

He accepted partial blame for the deep troubles facing his health care push, but he implored lawmakers to finish the task rather than yield to public opposition.

"The longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became," Obama told the joint session of Congress and a nationwide TV audience. But health care problems will continue for millions, he said, and "I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber."

House and Senate Democratic leaders are scrambling to see if they can salvage the ambitious health care package, which Republicans almost universally oppose. Obama offered no new strategies for overcoming the steep parliamentary and political hurdles they face.

The president devoted most of his speech to job-creation proposals, such as eliminating capital gains taxes on small business investment and extending tax breaks for businesses to invest in new plants and equipment. But those proposals also face uncertainty in Congress, where Senate Democrats say they may need a selective, piecemeal approach to win enough votes.

Obama said Republicans share a responsibility for governing, and he proposed meeting with their House and Senate leaders monthly. But his olive branch seemed brittle at times.

Without naming George W. Bush, he pointedly noted that the previous administration left him a big deficit and a deeply troubled economy. For good measure, Obama said the United States killed more al-Qaida terrorists in 2009 than in 2008.

Obama rebuked the Supreme Court for a recent decision that "reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests" and foreign corporations to make unlimited campaign contributions. At that, conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito made a dismissive face, shook his head in disagreement and seemed to mouth the words "not true."

Republicans in the House chamber generally greeted such remarks with stony gazes and smirks. The statements they issued as soon as Obama finished - or even before he finished, in some cases - were equally icy.

"We had hoped to hear a new commitment to keep his promises to govern from the center, change the tone in Washington, and work with both parties in a bipartisan way to help small businesses create jobs and get our economy moving again," said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio. "Unfortunately, the president and the Democrats in charge of Congress still aren't listening to the American people."

Vice President Joe Biden, appearing in an interview Thursday morning on NBC's "Today" show, described Obama as upset with the way his program has been handled in Congress.

"One of the things that's most frustrating to him," Biden said, "is the obstructionist ways of the United States Senate, on the part of the Republicans, requiring 60 votes, a supermajority, for virtually every single, solitary initiative we've had. Now that we have 59 votes, it's time for everybody to start taking responsibility."

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Sting Performs With The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday

Sting Performs With The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday

by KYW's Michelle Durham

Pop artist/singer/composer Sting will be taking the stage of the Academy of Music on Saturday, performing with The Philadelphia Orchestra for their 153rd Anniversary Concert.

Sting tells us what we can expect:

"I'm singing my own songs for a half-hour, maybe eight songs with one of the finest orchestras in the world, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and so I'm thrilled about that. I'm a little trepidations about it. I don't take this lightly."

His exposure to classical music came early:

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Review: Apple's iPad not just a bigger iPod Touch

Review: Apple's iPad not just a bigger iPod Touch

The Apple iPad is examined after its unveiling at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- After just an hour with an iPad, I came away with a preliminary verdict: Despite some flaws, this is one slick device.

Steve Jobs intrigued me in his slow, showman-like presentation Wednesday when he said the $499-and-up iPad is "so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone." The comparison to an iPhone makes sense, given the minimalist silver-and-black style of the iPad.

The first thing I wanted to do when I held it was browse the Web and check out the iPad's on-screen keyboard. My favorite Web sites looked great on its crisp screen, which is 9.7 inches on the diagonal - while the iPhone is just 3.5 inches. When you hold the iPad with the wider side down, in landscape mode, it's nearly big enough for touch typing - an improvement over the way that the iPhone's cramped keyboard sometimes causes errors.

As on the iPhone, the iPad's screen is extremely responsive to finger swipes and taps, which made it easy to scroll through Web sites like Facebook and select photos and articles I wanted to read on news sites.

It also seems like it would be a great way to read a book, curled up on my couch. The iPad comes with Apple's new iBook software, which opens up to reveal a realistic-looking wooden bookshelf stocked with all the titles in your e-book collection.

Click on a book cover, and the book will open. You can read one page at a time in portrait mode, or, turn the iPad to either side and it will show you two pages of text. The screen is sharp and the pages turn crisply, more like a real book than on electronic ink screens found on devices like the Kindle.

Like Amazon.com Inc. did for its Kindle, Apple is rolling out its own online bookstore, iBookstore, that can be used to download books straight to the iPad.

I had fun checking out videos and photos on the iPad, too. You can watch high-definition clips on YouTube, and they looked great magnified on the iPad's screen. It was simple to scroll through photos, and I could imagine enjoying sharing a slideshow with accompanying music piped out of the iPad's small built-in speakers.

A glance at the device's music player showed a simple-looking interface that was easy to navigate. I probably wouldn't use an iPad as my main music player - I'm guessing it wouldn't do well strapped to my arm during a run - but I would like to use it to listen to music while reading a book.

I quickly noticed some limitations, though. The iPad's operating software is based on that of the iPhone, so it, too, does not support Flash animation. This means you can't watch videos on some Web sites like Hulu - a big negative for something with such a pretty screen.

And the pretty screen can't make everything look great. Apple said that nearly any of the more than 140,000 applications available through its App Store will work on the iPad, and you can either view them in their original small size in the center of the screen or magnified. I tried the magnified version on several apps and it was simply too pixelated to bear. This may get better soon, though, as Apple is releasing updated tools so software developers can build applications for the iPad.

If you want to use a keyboard with the iPad for, say, writing the next great American novel, you'll have to buy a special keyboard that doubles as a charging dock. (Apple announced this accessory but did not reveal its price or availability.)

Overall, though, I was impressed by the iPad in the short time we had together. I can't yet say if I'll be among the first in line to buy one, but I'm definitely looking forward to playing with it some more.

A version that includes 16 gigabytes of flash memory will cost $499 when it comes out in March. Models with 32 gigabytes or 64 gigabytes will cost $599 and $699. These will go online in Wi-Fi hot spots only. For broader connectivity on AT&T's wireless network, Apple expects to start selling models in April that cost $130 more.

AP: Haiti govt gets 1 penny of US quake aid dollar

AP: Haiti govt gets 1 penny of US quake aid dollar

U.S. Marines move a crowd back as they get ready to unload aid in a makeshift refugee camp in Carrefour, Haiti, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010. The Marines unloaded hundreds of boxes of ready-to-eat meals at the camp Tuesday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Less than a penny of each dollar the U.S. is spending on earthquake relief in Haiti is going in the form of cash to the Haitian government, according to an Associated Press review of relief efforts.

Two weeks after President Obama announced an initial $100 million for Haiti earthquake relief, U.S. government spending on the disaster has nearly quadrupled to $379 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Wednesday. That's about $1.25 each from everyone in the United States.

Each American dollar roughly breaks down like this: 42 cents for disaster assistance, 33 cents for U.S. military aid, nine cents for food, nine cents to transport the food, five cents for paying Haitian survivors for recovery efforts, just less than one cent to the Haitian government, and about half a cent to the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. government money is part of close to $2 billion in relief aid flowing into Haiti - almost all of it managed by organizations other than the Haitian government, which has been struggling to re-establish its authority since the quake. On Wednesday, a defensive President Rene Preval acknowledged his country's reputation, but said aid money isn't lining the pockets of government officials.

"There's a perception of corruption, but I would like to tell the Haitian people that the Haitian government has not seen one penny of all the money that has been raised - millions are being made on the right, millions on the left, it's all going to the NGOs (nongovernmental organizations)" Preval said, speaking in Creole at a news conference.

Relief experts say it would be a mistake to send too much direct cash to the Haitian government, which was already unstable before the quake and routinely included on lists of the world's most corrupt countries.

"I really believe Americans are the most generous people who ever lived, but they want accountability," said Timothy R. Knight, a former US AID assistant director who spent 25 years distributing disaster aid. "In this situation they're being very deliberate not to just throw money at the situation but to analyze based on a clear assessment and make sure that money goes to the best place possible."

The AP review of federal budget spreadsheets, procurement reports and contract databases shows the vast majority of U.S. funds going to established and tested providers including the U.N. World Food Program, the Pan American Health Organization and nonprofit groups such as Save The Children, which have sent in everything from the $3.4 million barge that cleared the port for aid deliveries to pinto beans at 40 cents a pound.

"We are trying to respond as quickly as we can to this catastrophe of biblical proportions by mustering all of the resources that the United States government can bring to bear, first on rescue leading into relief, which is where we are right now, and hopefully seamlessly into recovery," said Lewis Lucke, U.S. special coordinator for relief and reconstruction.

Major relief efforts were launched within hours of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed at least 150,000, devastated the capital of Port-au-Prince and affected a third of its 9 million people. Behind each effort has been cash and contracts, airline tickets to be purchased and ocean freighters to be leased.

Of each U.S. taxpayer dollar, 42 cents funds US AID's disaster assistance - everything from $5,000 generators to $35 hygiene kits with soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste for a family of five.

Another 33 cents is going to the U.S. military, paying for security, search and rescue teams, and the Navy's hospital ship USNS Comfort.

Just under a dime has already been spent on food: 122 million pounds of pinto beans, black beans, rice, corn soy blend and vegetable oil. When purchased in bulk, the actual food prices are relatively low. Pinto beans, for example, cost the U.S. government 40 cents a pound when purchased in 5 million-pound batches last week.

Getting the food to Haitians - paying for freighters, trucks and distribution centers, and the people to staff them, took another nine cents from each dollar.

Initial disaster spending was aimed at saving lives; now the spending is shifting to recovery. The Obama administration is putting five cents of each dollar into efforts to pay survivors to work. One program already in place describes paying 40,000 Haitians $3 per day for 20 days to clean up around hospitals and dig latrines. That project also includes renting 10 excavators and loaders, at $600 each, and 10 dump trucks at $50 a load.

Just under one penny of each dollar is going straight to the shattered Haitian government, whose president is sleeping in a tent while struggling to organize an administration that was notoriously unstable even before the earthquake.

The U.S. rarely gives large amounts of money directly to governments, a practice that is "very defensible from my point of view," said John Simon, who coordinated U.S. responses to international disasters under President Bush's administration.

A final half-cent funds three Dominican Republic hospitals near the Haitian border, where refugees have been begging for help.

The U.S. is providing the largest slice of a global response that totals more than $1 billion in government pledges. The European Union's 27 nations are contributing $575 million. The U.S. also has long been the largest donor of ongoing foreign aid that Haiti depends on for up to 40 percent of its budget, with more than $260 million in U.S. money last year aimed at promoting stability, prosperity and democracy.

The money is flowing through federal agencies that administer $2.6 billion already appropriated in the 2010 budget for foreign disaster relief, said Thomas Gavin, a spokesman at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He said there are no plans to ask Congress for more money.

Of the private disaster aid flowing into Haiti, U.S. charities have raised $470 million, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Obama's goal: Get agenda moving, people believing

Obama's goal: Get agenda moving, people believing

President Barack Obama walks along the West Wing Colonnade toward the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, ahead of his State of the Union address.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- His presidency at a crossroads, President Barack Obama is promising in his first State of the Union address to solve the economic worries foremost on Americans' minds and become the transformative leader they thought they were getting.

Set to speak in prime time Wednesday night before a politician-packed House chamber and a TV audience of millions, Obama looked to change the conversation from how his presidency is stalling - over a messy health care debate, a limping economy and the missteps that led to Christmas Day's barely averted terrorist disaster - to how he is seizing the reins.

The president will devote about two-thirds of the 9 p.m. EST speech to the economy, emphasizing his ideas, some new but mostly old and explained anew, for restoring job growth, taming budget deficits and changing Washington's ways. These concerns are at the roots of voter emotions that drove supporters to Obama but now are turning on him as he governs.

To address economic fears, Obama will prod Congress to enact a second stimulus package and to provide new financial relief for the middle class. To acknowledge frustration at the government's habit of spending more than it has, he will seek a three-year freeze on some domestic spending (while proposing a 6.2 percent, or $4 billion, increase in the popular arena of education and supporting the debt-financed jobs bill) and announce he's creating a bipartisan deficit-reduction task force. To tackle the capital's polarized atmosphere, he will call on Republicans and Democrats to redouble efforts at cooperation.

Throughout, Obama aims to show he understands Americans' struggles to pay bills while big banks get bailouts and bonuses. Trying to position himself as a fighter for the regular guy, he'll urge Congress to blunt the impact of last week's Supreme Court decision handing corporations greater influence over elections.

But even before Obama spoke, many of the new proposals the White House revealed in advance were being dismissed - on the right or the left - as poorly targeted or too modest to make a difference.

The president will stand before a country dispirited by unemployment in double digits and federal deficits soaring to a record $1.4 trillion. He also faces a Democratic Party increasingly concerned about the fallen standing of a president they hoped would lead them through this fall's midterm elections.

With State of the Union messages constitutionally required and traditionally delivered at the end of January, Obama lucked into one of the presidency's biggest platforms just a week after Republicans scored an upset takeover of a Senate seat in Massachusetts. That election prompted hand-wringing over Obama's leadership and put a cloud of doubt over his agenda.

Senate allies, for instance, said Wednesday that a sizable, debt-financed package containing the proposals Obama wants is out of the question in the new climate and that they plan a trimmed-down measure with tax breaks for small businesses and help for state and local governments.

Republicans sought to capitalize on the Democrats' tough straits with their response, delivered by Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, who took his state from Democratic hands two months ago in one of the GOP's recent major election victories.

Obama wanted to avoid the usual with his speech: a feel-good assessment of the nation's health and a presidential laundry list of new proposals and priorities. Instead, he aimed for a plainspoken narrative, hoping to tell his presidency's story - looking forward and back - in a way that rekindles the energy he harnessed for his historic election. The president clearly understood the magnitude of the moment - and had a lot to say, as aides worked to whittle down the speech and still expected it to run as much as 75 minutes, an extraordinary length that could tax viewers' patience and would rival any State of the Union since the Clinton era.

Having already admitted he has failed since taking office to explain his agenda and connect with voters, Obama planned to further acknowledge missteps in communication and process. At the same time, he planned an unapologetic defense of pursuing the same agenda on which he won.

That includes an overhaul of the nation's health care system, an aggressive approach to global warming, sweeping changes to address the millions of illegal immigrants and radical reforms of how Wall Street is regulated and children are educated.

Health care was particularly imperiled by the Massachusetts election that erased Democrats' Senate supermajority, needed to pass most legislation.

Obama planned to make his commitment to his signature domestic priority clear, and to urge lawmakers to enact a far-reaching bill rather than a smaller-bore solution - though it's not clear there is a viable path for this in Congress. However, sticking to his well-established pattern, Obama will not offer lawmakers a specific prescription for salvaging a bill, said White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The guest list for first lady Michelle Obama's box in the gallery provides another message vehicle, featuring stories from entrepreneurial immigrants to families trying to make ends meet.

In a remarkable shift from past addresses, and notable for a president whose candidacy first caught fire over Iraq war opposition, foreign policy is taking a relative back seat.

The section will come behind the economy and be largely devoid of new policy, with Obama providing an update on the Afghanistan escalation he just ordered, looking ahead to the end of U.S. combat in Iraq and his hosting of an international nuclear weapons summit, and promising an aggressive fight against terrorists.

In a signal the Obama team considers itself at a turning point, it is reverting to techniques that successfully galvanized the grass roots during his campaign.

Obama's political arm-in-waiting, Obama for America, which has assumed a low profile since his election, texted watch-party information to supporters. The White House also solicited follow-up questions on YouTube.com/CitizenTube - saying Obama will answer them online next week.

The president was keeping to the tradition of taking his themes on the road. He will travel to Florida on Thursday to announce $8 billion for high-speed rail development, to Maryland on Friday to speak to a House Republican retreat, and to New Hampshire Tuesday for a jobs-focused event. Cabinet officials were fanning out too.

On Monday, Obama's priorities get another burst of attention, as he submits them in detail to Congress in his 2011 budget request.