White House won't accept new tax offer from Republican leader

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is not ready to accept a new offer from the Republican leader of the U.S. the House of Representatives to raise taxes on top earners in exchange for major cuts in entitlement programs, a source said late Saturday.

The shape and details of Boehner's offer were uncertain Saturday night, as was the exact reason the president was prepared to reject it.

The source said Obama sees the offer made on Friday by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner as a sign of progress, but simply believes it is not enough and there is much more to be worked out before Obama can reciprocate.

Tax rates and entitlements are the two most difficult issues in the so-far unproductive negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff" of steep tax hikes and spending cuts set for the new year unless Congress and the president reach a deal to avoid them.

The Boehner offer is the first significant sign of a shift in the Republican insistence that low tax rates set to expire on December 31 be extended for all taxpayers, and comes at some risk to the speaker.

Conservatives, particularly Tea Party-supported Republicans, see opposition to tax increases for anyone as an abandonment of party principles, and of the Republican base.

Obama wants high earners - those earning roughly $250,000 a year or more - to pay higher taxes in order to put the burden of deficit reduction on those he says can best afford it.

Republicans have privately spoken of coming back at Obama with a threshold of $1 million. Obama has previously called that unacceptable because it would not raise enough money on its own to cut the deficit significantly or provide enough money to avert across-the-board spending cuts.

On entitlements, the president faces pressures of his own from Democrats, who see protecting Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors, as a bedrock principle.

A major bloc of congressional Democrats has already signaled they will not accept major cutbacks in Medicare as part of any deal.

It was unclear on Saturday if the president had communicated his response to Boehner.

NOT A COMPLETE SURPRISE

Boehner's shift did not come as a complete surprise. Recent polls have suggested little public support for his position and he has been getting pressure from Senate Republicans to be more flexible.

The massacre in Connecticut silenced fiscal cliff talk in public on Saturday as the both sides got ready for a final scramble, with sessions of the House now scheduled just days before Christmas.

Obama canceled a trip he had planned to make next Wednesday to Portland, Maine, to press his case for tax hikes for the wealthy. He is heading on Sunday to Newtown, the site of Friday's school shootings, in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults before taking his own life. The gunman also killed his mother, according to police.

Boehner of Ohio canceled the standard Republican radio response on Saturday to Obama "so that President Obama can speak for the entire nation at this time of mourning," he said in a statement issued late on Friday.

The moratorium on cliff pronouncements masked a growing recognition the two sides could remain deadlocked at the end of the year on the key sticking points - taxes and entitlements.

Senate Republicans prodded their counterparts in the House to beat a retreat on tax hikes, in a fashion that would allow Obama's proposal to pass the Republican-controlled House while allowing Republicans to cast a face-saving vote against it.

Republicans could then shift the debate onto territory they consider more favorable to them, cutting government spending to reduce the deficit.

"Just about everyone is throwing stuff on the wall to see if anything sticks," one Republican aide said in reference to various proposals being discussed on how to proceed.

Alluding to public opinion polls, the aide added: "We know if there is no deal, we will get blamed."

"We could win the argument on spending cuts," said a Republican senator who asked not to be identified. "We aren't winning the argument on taxes."

However, Republican leaders in both chambers are leery about seeming to cave on taxes. "There's concern that if we did that, Obama would simply declare victory and walk away and not address spending," said one aide. "We don't trust these guys."

'A BALANCED PLAN'

Some of the prodding was coming from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Don Stewart, a McConnell spokesman, said the minority leader in the Democratic-controlled Senate hasn't embraced any single plan, but has discussed and circulated measures offered by fellow Senate Republicans.

"Senator McConnell does not advocate raising taxes on anybody or anything," Stewart said.

"We're focused on getting a balanced plan from the White House that will begin to solve the problem of our debt and deficit to improve the economy and create American jobs," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

"Right now, all the president is offering is massive tax hikes with little or no spending cuts and reforms," Steel said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor scheduled "possible legislation related to expiring provisions of law," a reference to the expiring tax cuts, for the end of the week, portending a weekend session.

Cantor has said the House would meet through the Christmas holidays and beyond.

Hopes expressed after the November 6 general election of some "grand bargain" on deficit reduction have all but disappeared, at least for this year.

This is partly because time is running out and partly the result of growing warnings from Democrats in Congress that they would not support big changes in the Medicare program, the government-run health insurance program for seniors that is a major contributor to the government's debt.

House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California ruled out one frequently mentioned proposal - raising the age of eligibility for Medicare, in a December 12 CBS television interview.

Asked if she was drawing a "red line" around that idea, Pelosi said her comments were "something that says, 'don't go there,' because it doesn't produce money.

(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro, Richard Cowan and Kim Dixon; Editing by Fred Barbash and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-wont-accept-tax-offer-republican-leader-040241251--business.html

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Superstorm Sandy's Toll On Mental Health Emerges Among Survivors

NEW YORK -- The image of his brother trapped in a car with water rising to his neck, his eyes silently pleading for help, is part of a recurring nightmare that wakes Anthony Gatti up, screaming, at night.

Gatti hauled his brother out of the car just in time, saving his life at the height of Superstorm Sandy. The two men rode out the hurricane in their childhood Staten Island home and survived. But weeks afterward, Gatti still hasn't moved on.

Now he's living in a tent in the backyard, burning pieces of furniture as firewood, refusing to leave until the place is demolished. Day and night, he is haunted by memories of the storm.

"My mind don't let me get past the fact that I can't get him out of the car. And I know I did," Gatti said, squeezing his eyes tightly shut at the memory. "But my mind don't let me think that. My mind tells me I couldn't save him, he dies."

As communities battered by Sandy clear away the physical wreckage, a new crisis is emerging: the mental and emotional trauma that storm victims, including children, have endured. The extent of the problem is difficult to measure, as many people are too anxious to even leave their homes, wracked by fears of wind and water and parting from their loved ones. Others are too busy dealing with losses of property and livelihood to deal with their grief.

To tackle the problem, government officials are dispatching more than 1,000 crisis counselors to the worst-hit areas in New York and New Jersey, helping victims begin the long work of repairing Sandy's emotional damage.

Counselors are assuring people that anxiety and insomnia are natural after a disaster. But when the trauma starts to interfere with daily life, it's probably time to seek help. And in a pattern that played out in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, symptoms may only get worse as victims transition from the initial shock to the disillusionment phase of the recovery.

"Folks are starting to realize that they may be in this for the long haul," said Eric Hierholzer, a commander in the U.S. Public Health Service. "And things aren't necessarily going to get better tomorrow or next week."

At St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, the psychiatry department has recorded a 20 percent increase in walk-in patients since the storm hit, with residents reporting the whole gamut of stress-related symptoms. Anxiety. Insomnia. Panic attacks.

Local schools have referred 25 percent more children than usual to the hospital's outpatient mental health programs.

"The children are very, very traumatized," said Fern Zagor, who runs the Staten Island Mental Health Society. "They have a hard time making sense of this sudden change in their world. It's frightening to them."

A 5-year-old girl who was pulled from floodwaters clinging to her father hasn't been able to attend kindergarten since the storm, Zagor said, because she's too traumatized to be parted from him now. An 11-year-old boy is working with counselors after floating in water up to his neck on the second floor of his home for several hours before being rescued.

"This child has said he worries about rain," Zagor said. "He worries about whether he'll ever want to swim in a swimming pool again."

The society is among many mental health providers who are working with Project Hope, a New York crisis counseling program funded by an $8.2 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that has just begun sending counselors to local communities. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office estimates the program will help more than 200,000 people.

Project Hope Counselor Yomira Natera has been seeking out storm victims who don't speak English as their first language.

"We've seen an increase in substance abuse with folks who may have language barriers," she said, "who may be frustrated with the system, who find it difficult to communicate."

At least 20,000 people have so far made contact with counselors from the New Jersey Hope and Healing Program, which has dispatched hundreds of state-trained disaster crisis response counselors into the storm zone. The state also launched a hotline for people to call and talk to a counselor.

In Union Beach, N.J., a working-class enclave on Raritan Bay, Kathy Parsells volunteered at a FEMA recovery center on a recent afternoon, helping to coordinate deliveries. Her daughter and grandchildren had to be rescued during the storm.

"I'm OK," she said, stifling tears. "My grandsons have nightmares. My grandson, the first night, was screaming: `It's coming up the stairs.'"

Jeannette Van Houten, who lost her home in Union Beach, said in a telephone interview that she feels like she's going through the same stages of grief that she endured when her niece was murdered in 2008.

"I have days that I can't put a thought together. Like you start talking and you forget what you're saying," said Van Houten, who sleeps just two or three hours on a good night nowadays. "And the numbness, like you look at things that are happening around you, but you're not part of it."

The Rev. Matthew Dowling, a pastor at the Monmouth Church of Christ in Tinton Falls, N.J., volunteered as a crisis counselor in the days after the storm and heard a lot of survivor's remorse from people who were more fortunate than their neighbors. But there was also a great deal of frustration.

"When FEMA arrives, they think everything is going to be fixed," Dowling said. "The reality is it's going to take months and months to get back to normal. Just like the steps of grief there's anger at the new normal."

Distress calls to LifeNet, New York City's local crisis hotline, doubled during the first few weeks after the storm hit, averaging more than 2,000 calls per week from people who were angry and worried that basic needs ? food, clothing, shelter ? had not been met.

Officials are now preparing for a new wave of calls from people struggling with depression and other mental health issues, said Christian Burgess, director of the Disaster Distress Helpline, a national crisis hotline run by the federal government that provides a network of trained counselors in the aftermath of a major disaster.

Coming to grips with the loss of everything she owned has been difficult for Carol Stenquist, who stood outside borough hall in Union Beach, nervously dragging on a cigarette and crying.

"I have anxiety over it. Even when I lay down at night I feel my heart palpitating with the loss of everything," said Stenquist, whose home was destroyed. "I was there for 20 years."

She thinks she needs to talk to a professional counselor, but hasn't sought one out yet.

"I'm kind of afraid that the emotional stuff I feel now is just part of what I'm going to feel when it's over," she said. "I've had my breakdowns, cries, feelings of depression. I've had all of that."

On Staten Island, volunteers have been quietly stopping by Anthony Gatti's tent to check in on him during his long vigil, dropping off boxes of cereal and cans of coffee. A volunteer therapist tried to talk him into leaving, but to no avail. He spends his days patrolling the property for looters and gazing at photos of the storm's destruction on his laptop.

"I keep trying to make him understand. It's a lot of wood and metal and pipes, that's all it is," said his mother, Marge Gatti. "You've got to get numb. You gotta get tough. If I'm not numb, I can't function."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/sandy-mental-health-superstorm-anxiety-insomnia-_n_2307787.html

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The Shield attacked and injured Randy Orton on SmackDown

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2012-12-14/the-shield-attacked-and-injured-randy-orton-on-smackdown

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Is feminism incompatible with monogamy? Talking feminism and ...

| December 14, 2012

• feminist_current_-_feminism_polyamory_-_dec._14_2012_-_rabble.mp3

Artist: Feminist Current

Title: Feminist Current - Feminism & Polyamory - Dec. 14 2012 - RABBLE

Year: 2012

Length: 37:36 minutes (34.43 MB)

Format: 44.1kHz, 128Kbps

Show Notes:

Some question whether monogamy is a patriarchal invention that mainly benefits men and functions as a mechanism of control. In response, some people practice non-monogamy as an alternative. But is non-monogamy necessarily 'more' feminist? Is monogamy necessairily contradictory to feminist ideals? Well, it's not as simple as all that.

In this episode, your host, Meghan Murphy speaks with Meg Barker, senior lecturer in psychology at the?Open University, a sex and relationship therapist, and the author of Rewriting the Rules: An Integrative Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships about some of the reasons people might enter into non-monogamous relationships as well as some of the challenges they might face. Later on the show we hear from Katie, an undergraduate student in her late twenties, who shares her experiences navigating a non-monogamous relationship as a feminist.

?

For more on Feminist Current, visit us online: www.feministcurrent.com

Source: http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/feminist-current/2012/12/feminism-incompatible-monogamy

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Seo Specialist - Greyhound Awareness League Forum

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Source: http://www.gal.org.uk/index.php/forums/viewthread/2746/

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American Rivers | Investing in Resilient Infrastructure after ...

Devin Dotson, Marketing and Online Communications Associate
December?13,?2012 | Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains, Stormwater & Sewage

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A guest blog written by communications intern Johannes Dreisbach.

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Post-Sandy flooding in Matnoloking, NJ | Greg Thompson, USFWS

When Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast in early November, it wreaked unprecedented destruction. ?

In addition to flooding streets and subway tunnels, uprooting trees, damaging cars and houses, and injuring and killing residents of the area, Sandy also caused incredible damage to New York and New Jersey?s water infrastructure.?

Water treatment plants across the region were inundated by storm surges, sending hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into flooded city streets and local waterways. ?These spills are devastating to the environment and pose a significant public health risk to residents.

Although it?s been over a month since Sandy hit and communities are slowly cleaning up and drying out, the pollutants, toxins, and bacteria carried by floodwaters are still present. ?These pollutants came not only from spilled sewage, but also from oils, pesticides, and other substances washed off of city streets. ?Many homes are completely uninhabitable and workers helping in the cleanup process are at risk of becoming sick.

The economic costs of Sandy are still being calculated, but estimates place it as one of the costliest storms on record along with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The devastating results of Superstorm Sandy illustrate the importance of our water infrastructure systems. ?With the increasing likelihood of severe storms due to a changing climate, our current management systems should be updated to mitigate future disasters. ?While the focus is often on replacing damaged or destroyed infrastructure, some officials are acknowledging that changes and upgrades should be made such as raising the motors of treatment plants above rising flood lines and waterproofing circuitry.

In order to plan for a more resilient future, it is important to consider climate change in all aspects of water management planning because it can impact the water resources as well as the infrastructure necessary to provide clean and safe water. ?In our report Weathering Change, we look at what the Federal Government can do to prepare our water infrastructure for what is becoming an uncertain future.?

In particular, we suggest that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should revise the infrastructure funding criteria to require consideration of climate change impacts in the siting and design of projects. ?Additionally, we recommend that the federal government directs federal funding toward more innovative and climate-adaptive infrastructure, like green infrastructure and natural flood management.

The Obama Administration has been responsive to the idea of making water infrastructure more resilient. ?We had the opportunity to take part in EPA?s work group on Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU). ?Here, we worked with a diverse group of stakeholders to assist drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities in becoming ?climate ready.? ?

CRWU has provided resources for the water sector to adapt to climate change by promoting the consideration of integrated water resources management (IWRM) planning in the water sector when thinking about climate and water. ?Additionally, in the Obama Administration?s emergency funding request for Superstorm Sandy, there was acknowledgement that climate change is real and it is critical that we begin addressing it in a comprehensive way in order to help communities prepare for increased climate impacts, asking for almost $13 billion for ?mitigation? efforts that will help various agencies prepare for and prevent similar damage on such a devastating scale in the future. ?

Investing in innovative infrastructure that considers future climate conditions will be critical to preparing for and mitigating the impact of future natural disasters.

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Comment Policy: Our goal is to provide a forum for sharing and interacting with others about issues that are affecting our rivers and our clean water. All comments offered in the spirit of civil conversation are welcome! Commercial spam, obscenity and other rude behavior are not, and will be removed.

Source: http://www.americanrivers.org/newsroom/blog/ddotson-20121213-investing-in-resilient-infrastructure-superstorm-sandy.html

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The Voice Top 3: Who Will Win It All?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/the-voice-top-3-who-will-win-it-all/

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