Lawmakers: Syria chemical weapons could menace U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons could be a greater threat after that nation's president leaves power and could end up targeting Americans at home, lawmakers warned Sunday as they considered a U.S. response that stops short of sending military forces there.

U.S. officials last week declared that the Syrian government probably had used chemical weapons twice in March, newly provocative acts in the 2-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. The U.S. assessment followed similar conclusions from Britain, France, Israel and Qatar ? key allies eager for a more aggressive response to the Syrian conflict.

President Barack Obama has said Syria's likely action ? or the transfer of President Bashar Assad's stockpiles to terrorists ? would cross a "red line" that would compel the United States to act.

Lawmakers sought to remind viewers on Sunday news programs of Obama's declaration while discouraging a U.S. foothold on the ground there.

"The president has laid down the line, and it can't be a dotted line. It can't be anything other than a red line," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "And more than just Syria, Iran is paying attention to this. North Korea is paying attention to this."

Added Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.: "For America to sit on the sidelines and do nothing is a huge mistake."

Obama has insisted that any use of chemical weapons would change his thinking about the United States' role in Syria but said he didn't have enough information to order aggressive action.

"For the Syrian government to utilize chemical weapons on its people crosses a line that will change my calculus and how the United States approaches these issues," Obama said Friday.

But Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, said Sunday the United States needs to consider those weapons. She said that when Assad leaves power, his opponents could have access to those weapons or they could fall into the hands of U.S. enemies.

"The day after Assad is the day that these chemical weapons could be at risk ... (and) we could be in bigger, even bigger trouble," she said.

Both sides of the civil war already accuse each other of using the chemical weapons.

The deadliest such alleged attack was in the Khan al-Assal village in the Aleppo province in March. The Syrian government called for the United Nations to investigate alleged chemical weapons use by rebels in the attack that killed 31 people.

Syria, however, has not allowed a team of experts into the country because it wants the investigation limited to the single Khan al-Assal incident, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged "immediate and unfettered access" for an expanded investigation.

One of Obama's chief antagonists on Syria, Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., said the United States should go to Syria as part of an international force to safeguard the chemical weapons. But McCain added that he is not advocating sending ground troops to the nation.

"The worst thing the United States could do right now is put boots on the ground on Syria. That would turn the people against us," McCain said.

His friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said the United States could safeguard the weapons without a ground force. But he cautioned the weapons must be protected for fear that Americans could be targeted. Raising the specter of the lethal bomb at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Graham said the next attack on U.S. soil could employ weapons that were once part of Assad's arsenal.

"Chemical weapons ? enough to kill millions of people ? are going to be compromised and fall into the wrong hands, and the next bomb that goes off in America may not have nails and glass in it," he said.

Rogers and Schakowsky spoke to ABC's "This Week." Chambliss and Graham were interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation." McCain appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Philip_Elliott

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-syria-chemical-weapons-could-menace-us-154735931.html

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Leftist priests: Francis can fix church 'in ruins'

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? A new pope from Latin America known for ministering to the poor in his country's slums is raising the hopes of advocates of liberation theology, whose leftist social activism had alarmed previous pontiffs.

Prominent liberation theologian Leonardo Boff said Pope Francis has what it takes to fix a church "in ruins" and shares his movement's commitment to building a church for the world's poor.

"With this pope, a Jesuit and a pope from the Third World, we can breathe happiness," Boff said Saturday at a Buenos Aires book fair. "Pope Francis has both the vigor and tenderness that we need to create a new spiritual world."

The 74-year-old Brazilian theologian was pressured to remain silent by previous popes who tried to draw a hard line between socially active priests and leftist politics. As Argentina's leading cardinal before he became pope, Francis reinforced this line, suggesting in 2010 that reading the Gospel with a Marxist interpretation only gets priests in trouble.

But Boff says the label of a closed-minded conservative simply doesn't fit with Francis.

"Pope Francis comes with the perspective that many of us in Latin America share. In our churches we do not just discuss theological theories, like in European churches. Our churches work together to support universal causes, causes like human rights, from the perspective of the poor, the destiny of humanity that is suffering, services for people living on the margins."

The liberation theology movement, which seeks to free lives as well as souls, emerged in the 1960s and quickly spread, especially in Latin America. Priests and church laypeople became deeply involved in human rights and social struggles. Some were caught up in clashes between repressive governments and rebels, sometimes at the cost of their lives.

The movement's martyrs include El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose increasing criticism of his country's military-run government provoked his assassination as he was saying Mass in 1980. He was killed by thugs connected to the military hierarchy a day after he preached that "no soldier is obliged to obey an order that is contrary to the will of God." His killing presaged a civil war that killed nearly 90,000 over the next 12 years.

Romero's beatification cause languished under popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI due to their opposition to liberation theology, but he was put back on track to becoming a saint days after Francis became pope.

Scores of other liberation theologians were killed in the 1970s and 1980s. Six Jesuit teachers were slaughtered at their university in El Salvador in 1989. Other priests and lay workers were tortured and vanished in the prisons of Chile and Argentina. Some were shot to death while demanding land rights for the poor in Brazil. A handful went further and picked up arms, or died accompanying rebel columns as chaplains, such as American Jesuit James Carney, who died in Honduras in 1983.

While even John Paul embraced the "preferential option for the poor" at the heart of the movement, some church leaders were unhappy to see church intellectuals mixing doses of Marxism and class struggle into their analysis of the Gospel. It was a powerfully attractive mixture for idealistic Latin Americans who were raised in Catholic doctrine, educated by the region's army of Marxist-influenced teachers, and outraged by the hunger, inequality and bloody repression all around them.

John Paul and his chief theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, drove some of the most ardent and experimental liberation theologians out of the priesthood, castigated some of those who remained, and ensured that the bishops and cardinals they promoted took a wary view of leftist social activism.

Yet much of the movement remained, practiced by thousands of grassroots "base communities" working out of local parishes across the hemisphere, nurtured by nuns, priests and a few bishops who put freedom from hunger, poverty and social injustice at the heart of the Church's spiritual mission.

Hundreds of advocates at a conference in Brazil last year declared themselves ready for a comeback.

"At times embers are hidden beneath the ashes," said the meeting's final declaration, which expressed hopes of stirring ablaze "a fire that lights other fires in the church and in society."

Boff and other advocates are thrilled that this new pope spent so much time ministering in the slums, and are inspired by his writings, which see no heresy in social action.

"The option for the poor comes from the first centuries of Christianity. It is the Gospel itself," said then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio during a 2010 deposition in a human rights trial. He said that if he were to repeat "any of the sermons from the first fathers of the church, from the 2nd or 3rd century, about how the poor must be treated, they would say that mine would be Maoist or Trotskyite."

Msgr. Gregorio Rosa Chavez, the auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, said Romero and Francis have the same vision of the church. "When he says 'a church that is poor and for the poor,' that is what Monsignor Romero said so many times," he said.

Rosa Chavez said neither cardinal was among the most radical of churchmen.

"There are many theologies of liberation," he said. "The pope represents one of these currents, the most pastoral current, the current that combines action with teaching." He described Francis' version as "theologians on foot, who walk with the people and combine reflection with action," and contrasted them with "theologians of the desk, who are from university classrooms."

John Paul II himself embraced the term "liberation theology," but was also credited with inspiring resistance to the communist regime in his native Poland, and was allergic to socialist pieties.

For 30 years, the Vatican has been seeding Latin America, Africa and Asia with cardinals "who have tended to be, adverse, to put it kindly, to liberation theology," said Stacey Floyd-Thomas, a professor of ethics and society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

In Brazil, Sao Paulo Archbishop Odilo Scherer, widely considered a possible pope, told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper last year that liberation theology "lost its reason of being because of its Marxist ideological underpinnings . which are incompatible with Christian theology."

"It had its merits by helping bring back into focus matters like social justice, international justice and the liberation of oppressed peoples. But these were always constant themes in the teachings of the Church," Scherer said.

In 1984, Ratzinger put Boff in Galileo's chair for a Vatican inquisition over his writings, eventually stripping him of his church functions and ordering him to spend a year in "obedient silence." Nearly a decade later, in 1993, the Vatican pressured him again, and he quit the Franciscan order.

Now Boff says Francis has brought a "new spring" to the global church.

"Josef Ratzinger. He was against the cause of the poor, liberation theology," Boff said. "But this is from last century. Now we are under a new Pope."

___

Associated Press Writers Michael Warren in Buenos Aires, Jenny Barchfield in Rio de Janeiro, Marcos Aleman in San Salvador and John Rice in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leftist-priests-francis-fix-church-ruins-213627659.html

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Asian markets mostly up after US, Japan data

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Asian stock markets mostly rose on Monday as investors awaited the European Central Bank's interest rate decision later this week after disappointing U.S. growth data.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 5,118.00 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.1 percent to 22,568.15. Stocks in Taiwan, Indonesia and New Zealand also rose but South Korea's Kospi lost 0.2 percent to 1,941.35. Markets in mainland China and Japan were closed for holidays.

The U.S. government said Friday that the economy expanded 2.5 percent in the first quarter over a year earlier, falling short of expectations of 3 percent growth and compounding worries about the global economy. The report came after Japan said its consumer prices fell 0.9 percent in March, underlining challenges to the government's efforts to pull the economy out of a long spell of debilitating deflation.

The downbeat reports were tempered by expectations the European Central Bank will either lower interest rates or expand financial support for the 17-country euro area at its meeting Thursday, said Lim Ho-sang, a Seoul-based economist at Samsung Futures.

Investors are also waiting for more data to better assess the health of the U.S. private sector as the weaker-than-expected growth of the U.S. economy largely stemmed from lower government spending. U.S. March housing sales and April employment figures are scheduled to be released this week.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 38 cents to $92.62 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 64 cents to $93 a barrel on Friday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3049 from $1.3029. The dollar fell to 97.59 yen from 98.03 yen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-markets-mostly-us-japan-data-051238351.html

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GOP faces Senate recruitment woes in key states

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? Republicans are struggling to recruit strong U.S. Senate candidates in states where the party has the best chances to reclaim the majority in Washington.

It's a potentially troubling sign that the GOP's post-2012 soul-searching could spill over into next year's congressional elections.

The vote is more than 18 months away, so it's early. But candidate recruitment efforts are well underway, and thus far Republicans have been unable to field a top-tier candidate in Iowa or Michigan.

In those two Mideast swing states, the GOP hopes to make a play for seats left open by the retirement of veteran Democrats.

The GOP is facing the prospect of contentious and expensive primaries in Georgia and perhaps West Virginia, Republican-leaning states where incumbents, one from each party, are not running again.

President Barack Obama is not on the ballot, so Republicans may have their best chance in years to try to retake the Senate. Changing the balance of power in the Senate would put a major crimp on Obama's efforts to enact his agenda and shape his legacy in the final two years of his presidency.

Republicans need to gain six seats to gain control of the Senate. Democrats will be defending 21 seats to Republicans' 14, meaning the GOP has more opportunities to try to win on Democratic turf.

Only recently, Republicans were reveling in the fact that several veteran Democrats were retiring in states where the GOP had not had a chance to win in decades.

Last week, Democrat Max Baucus of Montana became the latest to announce his retirement in a state that typically tilts Republican.

But so far there's been a combination of no-thank-you's from prospective Republican candidates in Iowa, slow movement among others in Michigan and lack of consensus elsewhere over a single contender.

All that has complicated the early goings of what historically would be the GOP's moment to strike. In the sixth year of a presidency, the party out of power in the White House usually wins congressional seats.

Democrats, despite this historical disadvantage, are fighting to reclaim the majority in the U.S. House, where control will be decided by a couple of dozen swing states.

After embarrassing losses in GOP-leaning Indiana and Missouri last year, the new Republican Senate campaign leadership is responding by wading deep into the early stages of the 2014 races.

Strategists are conducting exhaustive research on would-be candidates, making hard pitches for those they prefer and discouraging those they don't, to the point of advertising against them. The hope is to limit the number of divisive primaries that only stand to remind voters of their reservations about Republicans.

"It's more about trying to get consensus and avoid a primary that would reopen those wounds, rather than the party struggling to find candidates," said Greg Strimple, a pollster who and consultant to several 2012 Republican Senate campaigns.

The party's top national Senate campaign strategists are so concerned about squandering potential opportunities by failing to persuade popular Republicans to run in critical states that they were in Iowa last week to survey the landscape. The visit came after top Senate prospects U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, a prolific fundraiser, and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a rising star, decided against running despite aggressive lobbying by the National Republican Senate Committee.

The committee's senior spokesman, Kevin McLaughlin, and its political director, Ward Baker, met privately Wednesday with state Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey and state Sen. Joni Ernst, who have expressed interest.

They invited Mark Jacobs, the former CEO of Reliant Energy, to breakfast Thursday. They also tried again, and in vain, it turns out, to persuade Terry Branstad, Iowa's longest-serving governor, to run for Senate instead of seeking another term as governor.

Despite all that, the Washington delegation shrugged off the recruitment troubles. "It's more important to take the time to get it right than it is to rush and get it wrong," McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin and others have lamented the national party's decision not to intervene in the candidate selection last year, when Republicans lost races viewed as winnable in Indiana, Missouri and elsewhere.

The mission in Iowa for 2014 is to beat Democrat Bruce Braley, a four-term congressman trying to succeed retiring six-term Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. Braley is the party's consensus prospect. He's won Harkin's endorsement and already has raised more than $1 million for his campaign.

Democrats are similarly set in Michigan, where Democrat Carl Levin is leaving the Senate after six terms. The Democratic field has been all but cleared for three-term Rep. Gary Peters, who already has more than $800,000 toward his campaign.

Last week, Debbie Dingell, wife of Michigan Rep. John Dingell, opted not to run for the Senate, after some of her key donors made clear they were for Peters.

But, as in Iowa, Republicans have faced recruitment challenges in Michigan.

The GOP's Senate campaign committee is planning a visit soon to Michigan and hopes to coax U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers into the race.

There's a belief in GOP circles in Washington and in Michigan that the seven-term Rogers, a former FBI agent who's chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, would be a stronger candidate than two-term Rep. Justin Amash, a tea party favroite with little money in his campaign account.

National Republican officials also are working to head off primaries in several states and are taking sides when they can't. That includes in West Virginia, which Republican president nominee Mitt Romney won in 2012 and where six-term Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller is retiring.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito quickly announced her candidacy and became a favorite of the GOP establishment. Some conservatives complained about her votes for financial industry bailouts, and former state Sen. Patrick McGeehan has announced plans to challenge her.

National Republican Senate Committee officials said they would campaign and run ads against McGeehan if he appeared to be a threat.

In Georgia, several Republican candidates are considering trying to succeed the retiring Republican Saxby Chambliss. But so far, the two who have entered the race are arch conservative House members Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey.

National Republicans are treading carefully to avoid enraging the conservative base in Georgia. But the primary field could eventually include up to a half-dozen people.

At the local level, some Republicans are worried the delay is costing precious organizing and fundraising time.

"Every day Iowa Republicans spend talking about potential candidate deliberations ... is a day lost," said Matt Strawn, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman.

But others say that the meddling from Washington stifles the voices of voters, who they say ought to be in charge of shaping the party's future, even if the primary is loud and divisive.

"It's a truer reflection of where the Republican Party needs to go," said Iowa Republican Doug Gross, a veteran adviser to Branstad.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-faces-senate-recruitment-woes-key-states-071637703.html

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Orji's model state of Law and Order - Vanguard

YOU cannot legislate a society of law and order into existence. Neither can you cause it by fiat. You build. Law and order are the conditions for all other socio-economic activities of man,? wrote Alozie Ogugbuaja, in his controversial memo on ?The People?s Police?.

Indeed, beyond the legacy projects, one outstanding achievement of great value by Governor Theodore Orji of AbiaState is the building of a new society of law and order. Orji?s Abia is standing tall in the federation as a model state in terms of law and order and social harmony. And this was not legislated into existence but a product of committed and pragmatic action.

In the midst of a country gripped by violence, where bloodshed either by accident or by deliberate? organised crime? make the headlines everyday in the papers, Abia State has remained an isolated case of a sort of haven on earth? where peace reigns and where residents sleep with their doors wide open. And, I emphasise again, this did not come by fiat or by providence but a product of judicious and strategic governance. Governor Orji toiled day and night, tasked his brain and mind to attain this state for his people.

From Umuahia, the state capital, to Aba, the business hub and to the villages and communities, it is a very commendable story of a society at peace with itself. The Governor succeeded in clamping down all manners of social deviancy, from street gangsterism, city mugging, and armed banditry to the menace of kidnapping.? Today, while the neighbouring states are still battling with the scourge of violent crimes, Orji has moved ahead to consolidate his vision of legacy projects. The Governor has even moved beyond Abia to invest energy on a programme of regional integration, with the argument of harnessing the regional abundances which were the glories of those regions.

If you realise that the first primary duty of government is the maintenance of law and order and the greatest achievement of any leader can make is the sustenance of peace in the land, then you would appreciate the sacrifice of Orji in building an Abia of peace and harmony. This is why I argue that societal peace which is a product of law and order is a cardinal human need. But, unfortunately, Abraham Maslow, the legendary psychologist missed this point in his theory of the hierarchy of human need.

For Governor Orji, peace and an atmosphere of law and order are the very ultimate of human need. Anybody who has experienced war like the Igbos of the Biafran generation would agree with Orji. In a state of anarchy, people abandon their shelter to find refuge in the cold corners of the bush. Nobody talks about the need for social acceptance or recognition. Nobody remembers the desire for comfort or pleasure. Self-actualisation becomes an illusion. The only drive and need become the protection and preservation of life.

It is on the basis of the importance of law and order and a sustainable atmosphere of peace that one must give kudos to the dynamic Governor of Abia for his vision of building a new society of peace out of the wreckage of the past. Orji inherited a society hanging precariously on the precipice of anarchy. He inherited an Abia where kidnappers and other sundry criminals were the lords of the manor.? But, today, all these anomalies have become a thing of the past.

At a time of global anarchy when violence has been let loose on earth and blood has dented our lands, peace becomes a treasured diamond. Law and order becomes an oasis for a hapless wanderer. In Nigeria particularly, it has been a regime of violence. From kidnapping in the South-South and South East, Boko Haram in the North, ethnic cleansing in the Plateau, armed banditry in the West, Nigeria has been a state under siege. But, in the midst of this upheaval, Orji?s Abia has been an oasis of sanity. With a sincere sense of purpose, he sanitised the streets of Aba and Umuahia and staged an intensive fight against insecurity in all its manifestations.

But, the ????????????? Black American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, once observed that: ?Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.?? The sad news of kidnapping emanating from neighbouring states and other sundry criminal activities and spate of insecurity still reigning in some parts of the region are obviously a threat to the peace of Abia. So also is the regime of bloodbath in the entire Nigeria.? They all constitute a threat to the ideal of law and order.

Thus, today, Orji is audaciously saying after the legendary Ghanaian leader, Kwame Nkrumah, that the liberation of Abia is meaningless unless it is linked up to the total liberation of the Nigeria. Orji is speaking to? the nation,? that the revolution he? orchestrated in Abia that has progressively expanded the frontiers of existence and uplifted the lives of the ordinary citizens? will be meaningless unless such? transformation? are? transmuted to other states.? This is precisely the new mandate and the new mission for this visionary leader.

Indeed, the Nigerian federation has a lesson to learn from Abia. The state of Abia today is a proof that law and order is not an utopian dream. Orji has proven beyond doubts that it is realisable even within the context of the limitations of Nigeria.? First, there is a lesson from Orji?s personality which he translated into governance. The Governor gave his heart and soul to the politics of service. The nation must draw from the workable mechanisms which Abia deployed in tackling insecurity and which has been very successful.? For technical reasons, security strategies are not discussed in the open which is why I suggest that Governor Orji must be the consultant for this national quest.

As the national dialogue and negotiation for peace and progress, Orji would become the inspiration for the affirmation of the possibility of national peace.? For the promoters and advocates, Abia must be the new signage for the campaign for a new Nigeria of peaceful co-existence.

Mr. ? GODWIN ADINDU, a social critic, wrote from Aba, Abia State.

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/orjis-model-state-of-law-and-order/

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2 police shot outside Italian premier's office

ROME (AP) ? A prosecutor says Italian politicians were the intended target of a gunman who shot and wounded two policemen in a crowded square outside the premier's office in Rome.

The attack Sunday came just as Italy's new government was being sworn in elsewhere in the city. Italy has suffered political deadlock since an inconclusive February election.

Rome Prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani told reporters he had questioned the alleged assailant, who was taken to a hospital with bruises after being wrestled to the ground.

Laviani says the "desperate" gunman had "lost work, had lost everything." He said the man "wanted to shoot politicians, but given that he couldn't reach any, he shot the Carabinieri" police at the edge of Chigi Square.

Laviani said the man "confessed everything" and didn't appear mentally unbalanced.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-police-shot-outside-italian-premiers-office-115304512.html

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Putin says opportunity for better US-Russian ties in Boston aftermath

Speaking in his annual town-hall meeting, which this year ran nearly five hours, the Russian president called for greater US-Russian cooperation on terrorism after the Boston bombing.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / April 25, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on television screens in a shop as he speaks during an annual call-in show on Russian television, 'Conversation With Vladimir Putin,' in Moscow on Thursday. Mr. Putin held forth on topics ranging from Russian-US cooperation on terrorism to whether he was happy.

Mikhail Metzel/AP

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The Boston Marathon bombing offers a fresh opportunity for the US and Russia to revisit the basics in their struggling relationship and prioritize security cooperation in order to prevent any repetition of the tragedy, Vladimir Putin said in his annual electronic town-hall meeting with the Russian public Thursday.

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"I just call for this tragedy to be an incentive for us to become closer in tackling common threats, with terrorism being one of the most important and dangerous of them. If indeed we combine our efforts, we won?t take such hits and sustain such losses," Mr. Putin said.

In the wake of the bombing it became known that one of the two suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had been on the radar of both the FBI and the Russian FSB security service, and that the Russian agency had warned both the FBI and the CIA about him in 2011. Yet a subsequent FBI check failed to validate the Russians' suspicions, and the FSB itself apparently did not follow up on Tamerlan when he made a six-month visit to the Russian republics of Dagestan and Chechnya the following year.

"We always have said that we shouldn't limit ourselves to declarations about terrorism being a common threat, and [that we should] engage in closer cooperation. Now these two criminals have proven the correctness of our thesis," Putin added.

Putin's yearly telethon, which took place even during the years Dmitry Medvedev was president and Putin was prime minister, is seldom a news-breaking event. But it is a good opportunity to take the Kremlin's temperature on, literally, scores of issues. Experts argue over how tightly stage-managed the sessions are ? they combine a studio audience, telelinks with viewers across the country, and questions submitted by electronic media ? but there is no doubt about the ability of the Russian leader to field an exhausting battery of questions, on almost every imaginable subject, and provide lengthy, detailed answers. The event has grown steadily in duration, from 2 hours, 27 minutes for the first one in 2001, to 4 hours, 33 minutes last year.

Today he talked for a whopping 4 hours, 47 minutes, and answered almost 100 queries, including: How goes the fight against corruption? When will Russia's new stealth fighter be ready for service? Will he sack the government of Prime Minister Medvedev over alarming signs that the Russian economy is slipping into recession? Does he think that the current crackdown on NGOs, and upcoming prosecution of protesters connected with an alleged "riot" at a protest rally last May, suggest "overtones of Stalinism" in current Russian politics? Is he happy?

On the issue that will be of greatest interest in the US, Putin combined his plea for greater security cooperation with some tough criticism of past US policies and attitudes.

"This [slump in Russia-US relations] didn't begin yesterday," he said. "Back when our American colleagues called upon us to join in the process [leading up to the 2003 invasion of] Iraq, we told them it was a mistake. Our position was open and honest, but relations grew cooler. After that there were the events in Libya, and other states. We are watching chaos unfold everywhere."

"Must we support what we consider erroneous? Why do they demand that we accept their standards? Let's not demand anything from each other, but rather look for ways to improve mutual understanding," he said.

He also argued that Western sympathy for the Chechen side in two brutal wars in the past 20 years ? a struggle that has morphed over that time from a secular nationalist bid for Chechen independence from Russia into a more diffuse, Cacausus-wide jihadist insurrection ? has been deeply misguided.

"I always felt indignation when our Western partners and Western media referred to terrorists who conducted brutal and bloody crimes on Russian soil as 'rebels,'" Putin said.

On corruption, Putin vowed ? as he has in most telethons since 2001 ? to crush it: "We will fight against [corruption] no less stubbornly than against inflation. We will wipe it out," he said.

Russia's cool new T-50 "fifth generation" fighter plane, which is claimed to be equivalent to the US F-22 Raptor, will enter service as promised in 2016, Putin said.

Despite persistent rumors that Putin may be preparing to sack Medvedev's government, and perhaps even call fresh Duma elections, Putin insisted "there is no division between the government and the president," on the economy. He added Medvedev's government has been in place for less than a year, and needs time to work.

Putin dismissed the question about echoes of Stalinism, saying "Stalinism is connected to the cult of personality, massive legal abuses, repressions, and gulags. There are no such things in Russia, and I hope they will never happen again."

He insisted that in contemporary Russia, people are jailed "for legal violations" and not for their political views.

Many critics argue that laws are selectively applied, and bent, in Russia in order to punish political opponents such as former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Pussy Riot performance-art band, currently on-trial protest leader Alexei Navalny, and almost 30 people soon to be tried, and facing serious jail time, over a fairly minor disturbance at a legal protest rally almost a year ago.

As for whether Putin is happy, he suggested the jury is still out on that.

"I am thankful to destiny and the citizens of Russia for showing the trust that allowed me to become Russian president," he said. "This is my whole life. Whether it's enough for happiness, that's another question."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/cA3gEBEh0G4/Putin-says-opportunity-for-better-US-Russian-ties-in-Boston-aftermath

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Petersen Museum Paying Tribute To Baja 1000 Glory - autoMedia

Honda Racing - 2012 Baja 1000

1971 Ford Bronco "Big Oly"

There is no race quite like the Baja 1000, and there is no better place to pay tribute to the legendary event like the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Next weekend, they?ll do just that with a trip down memory lane to celebrate the race that started with two motorcycles and turned into one of the most grueling competitions in motorsport.

Launched in 1962, with Honda eager to prove the mettle of their new CL72 Scrambler, drivers Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson blasted down the coast of Baja California and ended in La Paz. Ekins completed the 952.7-mile run in 39 hours and 56 minutes. Five years later, the first official NORRA Mexican 1000 Rally took place and media coverage brought the intense desert race into the magazines and televisions of fans all over the world. The rest is history, and it will all be on display at the Petersen on Saturday, May 4.

Today, the event includes more than 20 classes of trucks and buggies, plus about a dozen classes of motorcycles and ATVs. Overall winners in the past have included almost all major manufacturers, from the dominance of Ford and Chevrolet in recent years to an incredible nine wins from 1973-85 for Volkswagen, and even a couple of victories for Toyota sprinkled in there.

But it all comes back to Honda, the originators, and presenters of the Braving Baja: 1000 Miles to Glory event. The original CL72 Scrambler will be on display, alongsidethe Harley Davidson Baja 100 that won the 100cc class in 1971, the 1970 winning Miller Havens Volkswagen and a replica of the famous ?Big Oly? Ford Bronco that racing icon Parnelli Jones took to victory in 1971. Owners of Baja racers are encouraged to bring their own rides to the show, as well. For more information, click here to visit the official Braving Baja: 1000 Miles to Glory page.

*

Visit the?autoMedia.com?Honda Research Center?for quick access to reviews, pricing, photos, mpg and more. Make sure to follow?autoMedia.com?on?Twitter?and?Facebook.

Source: http://www.automedia.com/Blog/post/Petersen-Museum-Paying-Tribute-To-Baja-1000-Glory.aspx

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93% No

All Critics (96) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (89) | Rotten (7)

"No" is a picture that perches precariously on the cusp of a paradox.

A cunning and richly enjoyable combination of high-stakes drama and media satire from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.

A mesmerizing, realistic and often hilarious look at the politics of power and the power of ideas ...

A political drama, a personal drama, a sharp-eyed study of how the media manipulate us from all sides, No reels and ricochets with emotional force.

It's a funny look at the way the media warp public opinion, and a curiously hopeful one.

On every level, "No" leaves one with bittersweet feelings about democracy, love and the cost of compromise.

No is a great historical document as to how one very important revolution started with a commercial.

The understated performance by Bernal was inspiring, as was the pic.

It's not easy material but it's truly fascinating, and expertly done.

An extremely perceptive and intriguing examination of the effect that media hype and spin have on the political process.

...a bitter and knowing meditation on media manipulation and political subversion.

Larrain deftly mixes social satire and historical drama.

All historical and little drama.

Larrain does a fine job of making No look and sound authentic to its time period, although the VHS-quality photography, all washed-out with colors bleeding together as camcorders did in the '80s, is an occasional irritant.

Silliness is on the side of the angels in a brilliant and highly entertaining film that's part political thriller, part media satire.

It's clear that the language of advertising has become universal, and that political commodities can be sold like soap. But toppling a dictatorship? Now there's a story.

A reflection of a moment in time, made in the image of that moment.

Bernal deftly explores the layers of the character's complexity, including his political apathy.

"No" is filmmaking of the first order.

Old technology plus the packaging of a revolution add up to a Yes

Freshens up a decades-old story with vibrant humor and a good sense of storytelling.

No continually impresses for its slyness and savvy -- rarely has such an eyesore been so worth watching.

Larrain fashions an unlikely crowd-pleaser from a historical episode that has its share of tragedy as well as triumph.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012/

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New hope for Autistic children who never learn to speak

Apr. 24, 2013 ? An Autistica consultation published this month found that 24% of children with autism were non-verbal or minimally verbal, and it is known that these problems can persist into adulthood. Professionals have long attempted to support the development of language in these children but with mixed outcomes. An estimated 600,000 people in the UK and 70 million worldwide have autism, a neuro-developmental condition which is life-long.

Today, scientists at the University of Birmingham publish a paper in Frontiers in Neuroscience showing that while not all of the current interventions used are effective, there is real hope for progress by using interventions based on understanding natural language development and the role of motor and "motor mirroring" behaviour in toddlers.

The researchers, led by Dr Joe McCleery, who is supported by autism research charity Autistica, examined over 200 published papers and more than 60 different intervention studies, and found that:

• Motor behaviours, such as banging toys and copying gestures or facial expressions ("mirroring"), play a key role in the learning of language.
• Children with autism show specific motor impairments, and less "mirroring" brain activity, particularly in relation to strangers in whom they show very little interest. This finding may hold the key to language problems overall.
• Despite extensive use of sign language training to improve speech and communication skills in non-verbal children with autism, there is very little evidence that it makes a positive impact, potentially due to the impairments in motor behaviours and mirroring.
• Picture exchange training can lead to improvements in speech. Here, children gradually learn to "ask" for things by exchanging pictures. This may work well because it does not depend on complex motor skills or mirroring.
• Play-based approaches which employ explicit teaching strategies and are developmentally based are particularly successful.
• New studies involving a focus on motor skills alongside speech and language intervention are showing promising preliminary results. This is exciting because these interventions utilise our new understanding of the role of motor behaviours in the development of speech and social interaction.

With the support of Autistica, the UK's leading autism research charity, Dr McCleery's team have now embarked on new work which builds on these findings to design interventions which specifically target the aspects of development where there are deficits in non-verbal autistic children.

Dr McCleery says: "We feel that the field is approaching a turning point, with potentially dramatic breakthroughs to come in both our understanding of communication difficulties in people with autism, and the potential ways we can intervene to make a real difference for those children who are having difficulties learning to speak."

Christine Swabey, CEO of Autistica, says: "80% of the parents in our recent consultation wanted interventions straight after diagnosis. Dr McCleery's work shows how critical it is for all intervention to be evidence-based, and that the best approaches are based on a real understanding of the development of difficulties in autism. We are proud to be supporting the next steps in this vital research which will improve the quality of life for people with autism."

Alison Hardy, whose son Alfie is six, says: "As a parent of an autistic child, who is non-verbal, I feel quite vulnerable. People are always saying "try this, it worked wonders for us." But you can't try everything. We need a proper, scientific evidence base for what works and what does not. Then we can focus our time and our effort, with some confidence that we have a chance of helping our children. The publication of this research is an exciting step in giving us that confidence, it is great that Autistica is supporting this vital work."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Frontiers, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Joseph P. McCleery, Natasha A. Elliott, Dimitrios S. Sampanis, Chrysi A. Stefanidou. Motor development and motor resonance difficulties in autism: relevance to early intervention for language and communication skills. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 2013; 7 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2013.00030

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/0lZlMgGKZig/130424222552.htm

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Sprint reports quarterly net loss of $643 million, sees iPhone sales drop by a third

Sprint managed to lose a million customers and over a billion dollars last quarter. This time it's not quite as bad, with a net loss of $643 million on revenue that was broadly equivalent to the same quarter of last year (around $8.8 billion). Those following the carrier's big iPhone gamble will note that sales of Apple smartphones fell by around a third relative to last quarter, from 2.2 million down to 1.5 million. Total smartphone sales reached 5 million, which Sprint describes as "strong" and which helped it to slightly increase the amount of profit it makes from each postpaid customer. However, this wasn't enough to offset the impact of losing another half a million customers, specifically due to the ongoing exodus of Nextel subscribers. Partly as a result of this, the company's revenues continue to be wiped out by its huge costs of doing business -- not that its potential suitors seem to mind.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint

Comments

Source: Sprint

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/sprint-earnings-q1-2013/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Buzzword round-up (Unqualified Offerings)

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UK experts: Cosmetic surgery needs tighter rules

LONDON (AP) ? A group of independent experts has slammed Britain's cosmetic surgery industry for not protecting patients adequately and is calling for stricter controls in the aftermath of a breast implant scandal in Europe last year that left tens of thousands of women with cheap silicone implants prone to ruptures. A top British health official, meanwhile, signaled support for their recommendations.

In a review of how cosmetic procedures are regulated, the group said all skin fillers should be available by prescription only and that all practitioners ? from surgeons to aestheticians who inject Botox ? must be properly qualified. The expert group, commissioned by the U.K. Department of Health, also called for the creation of a registry of implants and other medical devices and an ombudsman for private health care, among other suggestions.

The recommendations were released in a report on Wednesday.

The British government has previously rejected calls to oversee cosmetic procedures and the industry is largely self-regulated. There are few rules on who is allowed to perform a non-surgical cosmetic intervention.

"Anyone can give you a (skin) filler anytime, anywhere," said Bruce Keogh, medical director of the National Health Service, who led the review. "This is a bizarre situation."

During an embargoed press briefing on Monday, Keogh said the commercialization of the industry has led to some questionable claims about the efficacy of certain procedures.

"This is a pretty data-free zone," Keogh said.

In the report, Keogh and others wrote that a person having a non-surgical procedure such as a Botox injection "has no more protection and redress than someone buying a ballpoint pen."

They noted that the cosmetic interventions sector has grown by 300 percent in the last five years and that the use of procedures such as injecting substances to smooth out the skin make up 75 percent of the market. "It is our view that dermal fillers are a crisis waiting to happen," the report concluded. Side effects from skin fillers can include scarring, infection and even blindness.

Catherine Kydd, a Briton who received faulty breast implants, said stricter ethical policies should be in place for those who perform cosmetic surgeries and procedures.

"When you see a surgeon, you shouldn't be seeing a salesman," she said.

Regulations on cosmetic interventions in the U.K. are more lax than elsewhere. In Denmark, anyone carrying out cosmetic interventions must be registered with a national health board. When standards are breached, the board can suspend a clinic's operations, impose fines, strike professionals off the register and refer cases to the police. There is no such system in the U.K.

Keogh noted there are about 190 different types of skin fillers available in Europe versus only 14 approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In a statement, Dr. Dan Poulter, a senior minister in the Department of Health, said it was time for the government to step in. "There is a significant risk of people falling into the hands of cowboy firms or individuals or individuals whose only aim is to make a quick profit," he said.

Poulter said the government would respond to the report in detail in the summer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-experts-cosmetic-surgery-needs-tighter-rules-024449117.html

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Lawmakers ask who knew what about bomb suspect

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

Pallbearers carry the casket of fallen Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier into St. Patrick's Church before a funeral Mass, in Stoneham, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Collier was fatally shot on the MIT campus Thursday, April 18, 2013. Authorities allege that the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were responsible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

This undated photo provided by Bill Richard shows his son, Martin Richard, in Boston. Martin Richard, 8, was among the at least three people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Richard)

Investigators from the FBI inspect the boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding on Friday night in a backyard in Watertown, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. There is blood spattered on the wheel fender of the trailer and bullet holes in the hull of the boat. Tsarnaev had gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hands when he was captured hiding out in the boat on Friday night, April 19, 2013. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L. Ryan) BOSTON HERALD OUT; QUINCY OUT; NO SALES

A man sweeps around the outdoor seating area at a business on Boylston Street in Boston Tuesday, April 23, 2013 about two blocks from the Boston Marathon finish line where two bombings killed three people and injured many. Boylston Street businesses near the finish area remain closed to the public, but business owners are slowly being allowed to prepare to re-open. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week's deadly assault.

Following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill with the FBI and other law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it doesn't appear yet that anyone "dropped the ball." But he said he was asking all the federal agencies for more information about who knew what about the suspect.

"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case," said committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny as funerals were held Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings and a campus police officer who authorities said was shot by Tsarnaev and his younger brother days later. A memorial service for the officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, is scheduled for Wednesday. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak.

Also Wednesday, Boylston Street, where the blasts occurred, reopened to the public after being closed since the bombings.

While family said that the older Tsarnaev had been influenced by a Muslim convert to follow a strict type of Islam, brother 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized after days of questioning over his role in the attacks. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police last week.

Conflicting stories appeared to emerge about which agencies knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's six-month trip to Russia last year how they handled it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration legislation that her agency knew about Tsarnaev's journey to his homeland.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the FBI "told me they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back."

Information-sharing failures between agencies prompted an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Meanwhile, evidence mounted that Tsarnaev had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam. Family members blamed the influence of a Muslim convert, known only to the family as Misha, for steering him toward a strict type of Islam.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.

Authorities don't believe Tsarnaev or his brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said that Tsarnaev frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

Eight-year-old Martin Richard, a Boston schoolboy and the youngest of those killed by the blasts, was laid to rest Tuesday after a family-only funeral Mass.

"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."

The Richards family said they would hold a public memorial service for Martin in the coming weeks.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair Tuesday as investigators continued building their case against him.

He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother in setting off shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. Three people were killed and over 260 injured. About 50 were still hospitalized.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard on Friday.

In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "the dominant force" behind the attacks and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.

The brothers' parents are from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russia. A U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday that a team of U.S. investigators has traveled to Dagestan to speak to the parents. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was influenced by Misha.

After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.

"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.

Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia. She said that even though the suspect's name was misspelled on a travel document, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia to speak to the brothers' parents, hoping to learn more about their motives.

In other developments:

? A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Tsarnaeva, said his client "is doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," although he would not say whether she had spoken with federal authorities. Another lawyer for Tsarnaeva said the 24-year-old deeply mourned the loss of innocent victims in the bombings.

? The Massachusetts state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.

? In New Jersey, the sisters of the suspects, Ailina and Bella Tsarnaeva, issued a statement saying they were saddened to "see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act." Later, in brief remarks to several news outlets, Ailina described her elder brother as a "kind and loving man." She said of both brothers: "I have no idea what got into them" and also that "at the end of the day no one knows the truth."

? Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February. Company Vice President William Weimer, however, said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted from the fireworks would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.

? A fund created to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks has generated $20 million. Mayor Thomas Menino said more than 50,000 donors from across the world have made donations to One Fund Boston.

___

Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-24-Boston%20Marathon-Explosions/id-e114b14b04a44e3f8d371350a18c3b53

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People care about source of money, attach less value to 'tainted' wealth

Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yasmin Anwar
yanwar@berkeley.edu
510-643-7944
University of California - Berkeley

UC Berkeley study suggests morality shapes our view of money

It's no accident that money obtained through dishonest or illegal means is called "dirty money." A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that when people perceive money as morally tainted, they also view it as having less value and purchasing power.

Challenging the belief that "all money is green," and that people will cross ethical boundaries to amass it, social scientists from UC Berkeley and Stanford University have found compelling evidence that the source of wealth really does matter. In fact, some people avoid ill-gotten gains such as profits from unfair labor practices or insider trading for fear of "moral contagion," according to a paper published this week in the online issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

"Our work suggests morality is an important force shaping economic decision-making," said Jennifer Stellar, a doctoral student in psychology and lead author of the study. "Though we often think $50 is $50, these results demonstrate that when money takes on negative moral associations, its value is diminished."

The findings help explain the psychology behind such economic trends as socially responsible investing and the boycotting of sweatshop-produced goods. They also shed some light on why companies go to great lengths to avoid the perception that they are accepting money from corrupt investors or are themselves profiting from illegal or unethical practices, researchers said.

"People possess powerful motivations to view themselves as fundamentally good and moral," said Robb Willer, associate professor of sociology at Stanford University and co-author of the paper. "We find this motivation is so great that it can even lead people to disassociate themselves from money that has acquired negative moral associations."

The first experiment involved 59 college-age participants who were told they could enter a raffle for a $50 cash prize sponsored by one of two corporations. They were then split into an "immoral money" group and a "neutral money" group.

The neutral money group was told that the raffle prize money was provided by the retail giant Target. Meanwhile, the "immoral money" group was told that the source of the prize money was Walmart, and also given information on a 2005 lawsuit by the International Labor Rights Forum that alleged Walmart had failed to meet internationally mandated labor standards. It was suggested that the raffle prize money might be tied to the profits of Walmart's labor practices.

The participants were then given 70 raffle tickets and told they could enter as many of them as they wished as long as they completed the tedious task of writing their names and contact information on each ticket. As predicted by the researchers, those in the "immoral money" group filled out fewer raffle tickets to win the Walmart cash prize.

Next, to gauge the value of tainted prize money, participants were asked to estimate how many of eight food or beverage items such as a gallon of milk, bottle of Pepsi and Snickers bar they could purchase with the $50. Those in the Walmart group consistently calculated that the $50 would buy them fewer items, compared to the Target group, indicating how they felt psychologically about the money they considered tainted.

In the second study, researchers sought to explain why people devalue morally tainted money. They recruited 140 men and women ages 18-68 through a national research website and paid them a small amount to participate in the study. They also were given the option of earning extra money by completing a series of word categorization tasks and were told the extra earnings would come from Walmart. The same information about the lawsuit alleging substandard labor practices was shown to them.

This time, the researchers used "moral licensing" on half of the participants, a technique in which people are primed to feel on solid moral ground by recounting the good deeds they had done. The researchers speculated that those groomed to feel more moral would consider their standing high enough to afford a little leeway in accepting morally tainted money. They were right. Those participants did the extra work for more money.

The results suggest individuals believe that acquiring morally tainted money threatens their own moral character. But by removing those fears and making participants feel certain in their moral high ground, the researchers are able to diminish the threat of accepting morally tainted money, Willer said.

"Money is often believed to separate individuals from their moral values," Willer said. "However, our results suggest that, for most people, morality is a powerful force that shapes economic decisions and even alters how we perceive the value of money itself."

###

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yasmin Anwar
yanwar@berkeley.edu
510-643-7944
University of California - Berkeley

UC Berkeley study suggests morality shapes our view of money

It's no accident that money obtained through dishonest or illegal means is called "dirty money." A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that when people perceive money as morally tainted, they also view it as having less value and purchasing power.

Challenging the belief that "all money is green," and that people will cross ethical boundaries to amass it, social scientists from UC Berkeley and Stanford University have found compelling evidence that the source of wealth really does matter. In fact, some people avoid ill-gotten gains such as profits from unfair labor practices or insider trading for fear of "moral contagion," according to a paper published this week in the online issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

"Our work suggests morality is an important force shaping economic decision-making," said Jennifer Stellar, a doctoral student in psychology and lead author of the study. "Though we often think $50 is $50, these results demonstrate that when money takes on negative moral associations, its value is diminished."

The findings help explain the psychology behind such economic trends as socially responsible investing and the boycotting of sweatshop-produced goods. They also shed some light on why companies go to great lengths to avoid the perception that they are accepting money from corrupt investors or are themselves profiting from illegal or unethical practices, researchers said.

"People possess powerful motivations to view themselves as fundamentally good and moral," said Robb Willer, associate professor of sociology at Stanford University and co-author of the paper. "We find this motivation is so great that it can even lead people to disassociate themselves from money that has acquired negative moral associations."

The first experiment involved 59 college-age participants who were told they could enter a raffle for a $50 cash prize sponsored by one of two corporations. They were then split into an "immoral money" group and a "neutral money" group.

The neutral money group was told that the raffle prize money was provided by the retail giant Target. Meanwhile, the "immoral money" group was told that the source of the prize money was Walmart, and also given information on a 2005 lawsuit by the International Labor Rights Forum that alleged Walmart had failed to meet internationally mandated labor standards. It was suggested that the raffle prize money might be tied to the profits of Walmart's labor practices.

The participants were then given 70 raffle tickets and told they could enter as many of them as they wished as long as they completed the tedious task of writing their names and contact information on each ticket. As predicted by the researchers, those in the "immoral money" group filled out fewer raffle tickets to win the Walmart cash prize.

Next, to gauge the value of tainted prize money, participants were asked to estimate how many of eight food or beverage items such as a gallon of milk, bottle of Pepsi and Snickers bar they could purchase with the $50. Those in the Walmart group consistently calculated that the $50 would buy them fewer items, compared to the Target group, indicating how they felt psychologically about the money they considered tainted.

In the second study, researchers sought to explain why people devalue morally tainted money. They recruited 140 men and women ages 18-68 through a national research website and paid them a small amount to participate in the study. They also were given the option of earning extra money by completing a series of word categorization tasks and were told the extra earnings would come from Walmart. The same information about the lawsuit alleging substandard labor practices was shown to them.

This time, the researchers used "moral licensing" on half of the participants, a technique in which people are primed to feel on solid moral ground by recounting the good deeds they had done. The researchers speculated that those groomed to feel more moral would consider their standing high enough to afford a little leeway in accepting morally tainted money. They were right. Those participants did the extra work for more money.

The results suggest individuals believe that acquiring morally tainted money threatens their own moral character. But by removing those fears and making participants feel certain in their moral high ground, the researchers are able to diminish the threat of accepting morally tainted money, Willer said.

"Money is often believed to separate individuals from their moral values," Willer said. "However, our results suggest that, for most people, morality is a powerful force that shapes economic decisions and even alters how we perceive the value of money itself."

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uoc--pca042313.php

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