WikiLeaks site attack continues into 10th day

55 min.

Controversial document-sharing?website WikiLeaks remained down Monday, as a massive?Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack continued. ?An individual or group identifying itself as "Anti?Leaks" takes?credit for the outage, which has also knocked out many?WikiLeaks mirror sites.

Hacker group Anonymous, behind many of the DDoS attacks on government websites in the past, including the CIA, and which posted the hacked?emails of law enforcement officials, said on one of its blogs:

We are now witnessing cyber wars, with most Wikileaks sites under sustained DDoS attack over several days. On one side are Wikileaks itself and it?s hactivist?(sic)?supporters, such as Anonymous. On the other side are US Govt supporters.

Anonymous, a strong supporter of WikiLeaks,?provided "two ways" to access WikiLeaks information, one using Tor, an anonymous network;?the other using a variety of mirror sites that have been set up but not yet attacked by AntiLeaks.

Among the sites is one called "Global Files," which features files?some?security experts speculate is the main reason behind the current?WikiLeaks attacks.??

The files are documents from intelligence firm Stratfor,?which deal with a secret surveillance system in the U.S.?called TrapWire. As?Carole Theriault of Sophos Security wrote Monday, the WikiLeaks attacks happened after the group published "the latest of its Global Intelligence Files (GIF), discussing the implementation of TrapWire in public spaces in the US."

Meanwhile, AntiLeaks said Monday in a posting?that Internet chatter that the group is U.S.-government backed?is not true:

"We find the speculation that we are not behind these attacks and/or that we are CIA/NSA/FBI or even wikileaks themselves to be downright comical."

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/wikileaks-site-attack-continues-10th-day-939383

nfl week 12 picks nfl week 12 picks jason witten ucla vs usc rich rodriguez rich rodriguez the muppet movie

The Aspartame Myth-information Campaign: You Can Live Without It ...

12 Aug 2012 22:22

Aspartame gets such bad press and is the subject of a very intensive misinformation campaign. The myths about this nonnutritive sweetener are so ingrained that I doubt I can change many minds with this post. Well, that's okay. Why should I care whether you avoid aspartame? There is certainly nothing wrong with that. But wallowing in ignorance is an invitation to being easily victimized by money-grabbing gurus.

They are very quick to tell you what is poisoning you, while they are also telling you how, for a fee, they can fix you. If there is one thing I cannot stand its cranks telling us how "they" are lying to us?while they lie to us.

I'm going to cover some basic information and then give you a link to a paper, on which I will expand with more detailed information.

Aspartame was invented in 1965 by James Schlatter, who was a chemist fro G.
D. Searle and Company, now a subsidiary of Pfizer. Schlatter was not trying to make a sweetener, but was instead working on an ulcer drug. While working with aspartame, it is said he accidentally got some on his fingers and when he licked his fingers to pick up a piece of pater he noticed a very sweet taste. He figured the sweet taste may have been from the aspartame, so he tasted some and wala, a highly successful and highly maligned sweetener was born.

Aspartame was reported as a sweetener in 1969 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. It is now distributed under several names, including Nutrasweet and Equal.

It was approved for use by the FDA in 1981.

Its about 200 times as sweet as table sugar (sucrose). However, it has a slightly bitter aftertaste.

cans of diet coke products aspartame

Diet Coke is Readily Associated with Aspartame
Being one of the first to use it and the number one
selling diet soda in the world.

Aspartame is produced by combining two common amino acids: phenylalanine and aspartic acid. I'd like to stress that these amino acids are COMMON. They are found in most of the protein foods we eat. The phenylalanine in aspartame is modified by the addition of a methyl group. Its chemical name is N-(L-?-Aspartyl)-L-phenylalanine, 1-methyl ester.

No. It must be broken down into it's constituent components. The primary breakdown products are the two aminos it is made from, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Some free methanol is also released.

According to the FDA the ADI for aspartame is 50mgs per kilogram of body weight. So, if you weigh about 75kgs, that would take about 20 cans of diet soda. If you drink that much, you've go a diet soda habit, for sure.

Diet drinks which contain aspartame must bear the following health warning: "Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine."

This has led many to jump to the conclusion that phenylalanine is poisonous. Why else would they put a warning on about it on a label? Well, because it is dangerous to some people who have a very rare disease known as phenylketonuria.

Phenylketonuria, or PKU for short, is an inherited condition that affects about one in 15,000 people. It is usually diagnosed at birth by a heal prick test known as the Guthrie test. People with the condition lack the enzyme, phenylalanine hydroxylase, necessary to deal with the amino acid phenylalanine.

Normally, the phenylalanine hydroxylase enzyme acts to convert phenylalanine to tyrosine. Lacking this enzyme, those with PKU can build up high levels of phenylalanine in their. The elevated levels of phenylalanine can cause damage to the developing brain of a child, resulting in brain damage and mental impairment. Also, the fact that the amino is not converted to tyrosine causes a lack of tyrosine in the body. Tyrosine is needed to make melanin, which is the dark brown pigment in the body (skin, eyes). PKU babies will tend to have blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin.

packets of nutrasweet, sweet n low, and sugar in a restaurant

Packets of Nutrasweet, Sweet-n-Low, and Sugar
are ubiquitous in restaurants across the U.S.
Image by Steve Snodgrass via flickr

PKU babies are normal at birth because the mother's body handles the phenylalanine. They start developing symptoms when they are fed and phenylalanine enters their system. The results, down the road, can be devastating. IQ's of less than thirty are common and they can have a lack of interet in other people, along with other cognitive and physical problems. Seizures can occur and they often suffer from bad eczema.

Once screened and detected, which usually occurs after 5 days or so, a baby with PKU must be put on a special low phenylalanine diet, which initially is a special formula made from beef serum. Later, high protein foods must be restricted, along with certain other phenylalanine containing foods, which includes anything containing aspartame. Levels of the amino are monitored and the special diet can often be discontinued in adolescence, unless high levels are detected again or symptoms are noticed. With proper diet, those with PKU can live normal lives.4

Phenylalanine poses no danger to anyone without PKU. However, in order to develop PKU, an individual must inherit the defect from both parents. Those who only inherit the defect frmo one parent are PKU carriers and known as PKU heterozygotes. These individuals have an impaired ability to metabolize phenyalanine but otherwise are normal. It is not recommended that PKU heterozygotes consume a special diet. However, there has been fear that aspartame could represent a particular danger to these individuals. Studies have not shown there to be any danger from aspartame for PKU heterozygotes, either short or long term.((bibcte hayes)).5

Most high protein foods contain much much more of the amino than a diet soda or other diet drink does. There is a particular concern among parents about the supposed harm of phenylalanine from aspartame in their children's diet. Keep in mind that since children are rapidly growing, they already take in a much higher proportion of phenylalanine than adults do. For all of us, there is a significantly higher amount of phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol from the rest of our diet than there is from aspartame.

See Aspartame and the Internet, publised The Lancet in 1999. Here are some further details of the particulars, excluding the supposed dangers of phenylalanine, which we've covered:

As mentioned, aspartame breaks down into it's constituent amino acids and methanol (metyl alcohol). The methanol content is approximately 10% by weight in aspartame, but it is an abundant naturally occurring compound found in the foods, including fruits, you eat, and fruit juices. Many claim that the methanol in aspartame is converted to formaldehyde which is broken down to formic acid. The danger from these trace amounts are greatly exaggerated. What these fear-mongers don't tell you is that methanol is a very common breakdown product from food and drink, usually in much larger amounts.

A can of diet soda with aspartame will yield about 20mg of methanol. Compare that to 40mg from the same volume of fruit juice. Except tomato juice gives 4 to 5 times the amount, 120mg for the same volume. Or, how about 60 to 100mg from an alcoholic beverage.

That's nothing. I know. Well, how about some other examples?

*One egg: 300mg of methanol
*One glass of milk: about 500mg of methanol
*A big old hamburger: 900mg of methanol

You'd have to drink a lot of diet soda to derive as much methanol as you do from these other things. And yet, even if you over-indulge, these chemicals are quickly broken down and excreted.

Methanol, when ingested, is quickly oxidized to formic acid. Formic acid can be toxic to the body in large amounts. This can occur if the production of formic acid exceeds the oxidation of formic acid. It has been estimated that the amount of methanol needed to produce these toxic amounts of formic acid is 200 to 500mg per kilogram of body weight. This is a huge amount. Let's say you weigh only 130 pounds. You'd have to drink 240 to 600 liters of aspartame sweetened drinks at one time. Notice I stressed the at one time part. The methanol is continually oxidized to formic acid and the formic acid is continually oxidized, in very short order. If you stagger your consumption, the danger from formic acid toxicity is removed. This is not to suggest that you should drink such ridiculous amounts of diet drinks, of course. I am only illustrating the point. The equivalent of 24 liters of aspartame flavored drink for a 130lb person has been administered to individuals and there was nowhere near enough peak methanol concentration in the blood to be toxic. What's more, there was no detectable change in blood formic acid amount.

There has been no evidence of toxic effects found from the consumption of the equivalent of 17 cans of diet soda a day, for a 70kg adult. What's more, there is no increase in plasma concentrations of methanol, formic acid, or phenylalanine.

The results in infants receiving 100mg/kg aspartame resulted in peak blood methanol concentrations similar to those in adults, which suggest a similar rate of clearance.

Longer term tolerance studies of up to 27 weeks showed no evidence of methanol toxicity as measured by changes in opthamalogic status or changes related to methanol toxicity.

The dose of methanol from aspartame is very tiny. Hell, the seemingly huge doses from these other foods are easily handled by the body, let alone the small amount from aspartame.

Aspartame has been claimed to cause many diseases and health conditions. Multiple Sclerosis, lupus, Parkinsons, diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's Disease, brain tumors. Coma! Vertigo, dizziness.

There is nothing to any of these claims. They are, in fact, quite ludicrous. The cancer claims, which of course, came from dosing rats with ridiculous amounts of the stuff, are silly, as well. The myth about cancer is not unique to aspartame. Artificial sweeteners in general are always being claimed to cause cancer yet none have been shown to. Even the cancer danger of saccharin has been overturned and saccharin containing products no longer need to carry a warning. The American Dietetic Association and the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society all concur that there is no correlation between artificial sweeteners and cancer.

I understand, of course, that you may be under the sway of a conspiracy theorist health guru who tells you that they all lie! Oh, well.

Aspartame and Seizures

The only common concern that may have a grain of truth is the claim that aspartame causes seizures. But this is not because it causes seizures out of the blue but that it can raise the threshold for seizures in those with epilepsy.

Since aspartame is chemically related to the excitatory amino acids glutamine and aspartate, and since these aminos, in large amounts, can cause seizures and neurotoxic changes, the concern has been raised that aspartame can cause seizures in those with epilepsy. However, there has been no evidence that aspartame causes seizures or neurotoxic effects when consumed in recommended (read reasonable) amounts. Also, it has been speculated that aspartame could increase phenylalanine concentrations in the brain and therefore cause a deficiency of monoamine neurotransmitters, thus increasing seizure susceptibility. This has not been found to be true. Reports claiming that aspartame caused seizures are anecdotal and there is no evidence that aspartame actually caused any seizures.

The only study to show a potentially significant alteration in neurophysiological parameters was done on children with primary absence epilepsy (sometimes called petit mal seizures), with several hours of EEG monitoring.3 In a double-blind crossover design, 40mg aspartame was used one day and a sucrose sweetened drink the next, as a placebo control. Children were found to spend more time in a 3-HZ spike-wave EEG pattern than in the placebo control. The actual amount of time was not given. Furthermore, diet was not controlled for and the choice of sucrose as a control is not without problems, as sucrose may have a positive effect on this type of EEG abnormality, so that the placebo could have been more like an actual treatment.2

Despite the lack of credible evidence, aspartame is often included in the scare books and articles about the oh so dangerous EXCITOTOXINS, along with MSG, another big bad boogeyman.

There is no credible evidence that aspartame increases energy intake, changes the distribution of macronutrient intake in the diet, or results in an increase in subjective feelings of hunger. Aspartame seems to have no different affect on hunger and satiety than sugar, except that it results in a significant decrease in caloric intake. For further reading see the sources below.

That is a fair question. So far, I have concentrated on diet drinks, especially sodas, containing aspartame. Soda has it's own negative campaign and aspartame is one of the "ingredients" of this campaign, along with high fructose corn syrup, caramel coloring, and other components. Therefore, it made sense to me to mention diet drinks, and it is fair to say that diet drinks represent by far the largest source of aspartame in the diet. As we've seen, it would be very difficult to ingest enough aspartame from diet drinks to represent any danger to our health.

Still, there are thousands of products that contain aspartame. First, let's clear up some common confusion concerning the ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake). This amount is supposed to represent what you can safely take in day after day for a lifetime safely. It is not about what you can take in on a given day. In other words, just because you consume an amount larger than the ADI for aspartame (or anything else), on one day, does not mean you are going to drop dead. To put the ADI further into perspective, consider that, in terms of sweetness, 5omg/kg of aspartame is like a 60kg person consuming 1.3lbs (600 grams) of sugar (sucrose) in a day.

If your diet has a large proportion of aspartame containing "diet foods" you are still probably not in much danger, but it would be wise to reevaluate such a diet, because it is obviously not a balanced and healthy one. A large proportion of such products would also mean a small proportion of fresh vegetables, fruits, fish, and lean meats.

If you want to get down and dirty about aspartame in a book check out The Clinical Evaluation of a Food Additive: Assessment of Aspartame. You can get it used for a very low price since the many scare books from the popular press easily outsell such a comprehensive and scholarly text. Maybe you'd rather believe all the pseudoscience crap, though, as it is nice to think that if we can simply avoid some poisons we can avoid disease or other health conditions and live forever.

There is an email that has been in wide distributions since 1997 or 98 claiming that aspartame causes a wide variety of diseases and problems, such as discussed above, and I have no doubt that this is the origin of most people's beliefs about aspartame. The email even coined the term "aspartame disease". It is beyond my why people believe random emails written by unknown individuals and received without warning in their inbox. This person, Nancy Markle, has never been found and, undobtedly, does not exist. The claims in the email are so ridiculous that any person with a modicum of rationality should laugh at, rather than believe, the claims. But rational thought is not at a premium when it comes to scare mongering claims about the collusion of our government with big business.

References

1. Hayes, A. W. "Artificial Sweeteners: A Special Issue of the Journal Comments on Toxicology." Comments on Toxicology III (1989)

2. Schanz, Christian. The Clinical Evaluation of a Food Additive: Assessment of Aspartame. Boca Raton: CRC, 1996.

3. Camfield, P. R., Et Al. "Aspartame Exacerbates EEG Spike-wave Discharge in Children with Generalized Absence Epilepsy: A Double-blind Controlled Study." Neurology 42.5 (1992): 1000-3.

4. Jacoby, David B. Encyclopedia of Family Health. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1998.

5. Tulchinsky, Theodore H., and Elena Varavikova. The New Public Health. Amsterdam: Elsevier / Academic, 2009.

Source: http://www.gustrength.com/eric-troy%3Athe-aspartame-mythinformation-campaign

aziz ansari katherine jenkins peyton manning broncos mexico city earthquake stand your ground law dancing with the stars season 14 david garrard

User:GravelyGustin743 - Stanford PowerToAct

Top 6 Fitness Tips

Achieving optimum fitness will increase your mind, body system and health, which fitness tips will help you to get amazing results.

1. Cross-Train: Cross-training includes using several types of exercise in one exercise. It is good since you do not have time to get sleepy, every single muscular inside your physique can be used also it decreases the risk of harm.

2. Try Something New: When you have followed the same workout schedule for some time, it may be a bit stale. At these times, among the best health and fitness tips is to incorporate new things to your schedule.

You could get involved inside a team sport, invest in some top quality home exercise space machines, or DVD's, or try a new outdoor activity. Doing this will provide you with renewed enthusiasm and prevent you from abandoning your wellbeing and fitness regime altogether.

investigate this site

3. Modify Your Health and Fitness Strategy According to the Season: If you are not cautious, the elements can definitely wreak chaos together with your fitness plan. Running might not seem so attractive within the hot sun, or the cold winter period. And black winter period evening may make a visit to the gym seem instantly unsightly.

Among the top fitness tips written by those who are dedicated to regular fitness would be to organize in advance for the period. Consider what you might caused by regulate your fitness plans for that elements, and set them into action well before you consider quitting.

4. Do Not Skimp on Stretching: When you're short on time, it's too easy to overlook extending pre and post your workout program. Do not be inclined to get this done yourself, because the results might be lethal.

Missing one stretching period could cause a personal injury that may damage your workout program for weeks. And while you cannot exercise, your body you have worked well so difficult for will decline.

5. Work Out to Songs You Love: Take the time to put an MP3 together which has music that you will prefer to exercise to. This really is one of the biggest health and fitness and health guidelines as studies have proven that enjoying music you appreciate actually improves dopamine stages, and enables you to feel happier.

Feeling satisfied improves your inspiration and entertainment and keep you motivated to operate extra hard.

6. Have a Progress Record: Reminding yourself of the items you've achieved will encourage you to definitely keep up your wellbeing and fitness regime and aim for new goals.

Source: http://disability.stanford.edu/wiki/index.php/User%3AGravelyGustin743

solar flares 2012 whitney houston will toyota recall northern lights sign of the times keystone pipeline purim

Perplexed about philanthropy | Public Finance Opinion - Strickland ...

The chancellor?s U-turn on limiting tax relief for charitable giving highlights Britain?s uncertain relationship with philanthropy. We understand the need for charitable donations but are uncomfortable when it comes to giving tax breaks to the well off

Now that the dust has well and truly settled following George Osborne?s 100% retreat on his so-called philanthropy tax, it is useful to reflect on what it told us. Not so much about how strange government decision making seems to be at present ? with policies brought in without thought only to be withdrawn a little later. Nor indeed how dysfunctional the Treasury is and how poor decision making is on tax in the UK.

No, what interests me more is what it seems to show we Brits think about the concept of philanthropy. Because we seem confused and perplexed.

Philanthropy is a strong word that has connotations of Victorian Britain, of the rich dispersing their largesse to look after the less fortunate, or to build municipal civic libraries or museums.? For many years we admired such people but were grateful that we no longer had to depend solely upon whether they decided to do good or not, nor what strings they might attach to it (be that religious strings or stipulations on what schools taught).

So rich people, giving away money is sort of good, and we love the fact that Bill Gates does it so much; but it is a little peculiar.

That is a problem given that as the state pulls back we are going to have to depend much more on the voluntary and charity sector, whether we call it the Big Society or not. One aspect of this will be much more reliance on volunteers keeping services going ? allowing some public services to be run on a shoestring as either charities that rely on volunteering undercut other contract bidders who do not, or where the community itself either has to run its library or community centre for free or just does not have one.

As the state withdraws, the relative importance too of the rich ? cutely and coyly known as high net worth individuals in the philanthropy and charity fundraising world ? does rise.? We need their money if we are to fund the arts and historic buildings that government has less money for but even more in areas like adult mental health, new approaches to isolation of older people, looking after and trying to solve the problems of homelessness and drug addiction ? all areas where cuts are biting hard.

So how do we persuade these well off people to put the money into charity rather than to spend it on yet another home or a new yacht??? Well, one of the answers ends up being about tax. And just as we all search for the most tax efficient place to put our (usually meagre) savings in we know the well off will be doing the same (with the help of expensive advisers) ? so it is intuitively right that we need some tax breaks to get them to give to charity not to mammon.

And then we get uncomfortable. We are giving tax breaks to very rich people to encourage them to give because the state has cut back its spending and there are more needy people as a consequence of a recession caused ? to at least some extent ? by very rich bankers.? All a little strange.

And where politicians are answerable to us for the way they spend our money, the tax-break spenders can give as they want. So if supporting an elite sports charity and one that does up old Georgian buildings or supporting Oxbridge to get ever nicer facilities takes their fancy more than looking after the poor in a forgotten northern town, then so be it.

There is no right or wrong answer to any of this. It reflects the British ambiguity to the role of the state and in our attitudes to wealth. It is also a manifestation of the tensions we feel as a nation between the desirability of local, do-it yourself, voluntaristic action to attack problems and the? horror of the unfairness of a postcode lottery in what services are available and a belief that the state must not just stand by when people are in trouble.

But while the mixed feelings will not go away, the need for philanthropic money is only going to increase. So we will get a lot more soul searching as the decade goes on.

Dan Corry is a leading economics and public policy expert. He is chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital, a think-tank and consultancy dedicated to transforming the third sector. He worked at Downing Street from 2007 to 2010 where he was head of the Number 10 Policy Unit and then the PM's senior adviser on the economy. Dan has also worked as a special adviser, been director of the New Local Government Network and was senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research. He is a former director of FTI Consulting.

Source: http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2012/08/perplexed-about-philanthropy/

nick cannon kidney failure consumer financial protection bureau casey anthony video recess appointment eastman kodak eastman kodak richard cordray

Source: http://cyril10.typepad.com/blog/2012/08/perplexed-about-philanthropy-public-finance-opinion.html

william shatner seattle weather skier sarah burke gingrich wife cheryl burke sarah burke mega upload

PLR Cash Domination | DotCom Membership

Do you struggle to create profitable products of your own? Have you made any REAL money online ?
Does it seem like it takes you way too long to create a single product while other marketers seem to releasing sizzling hot new products every other day? Do you find yourself wondering how they can hammer out monster product after monster product, all at lightening speed and seemingly without effort?

Ok, let?s be honest here, creating profitable information products can be a complex and lengthy process, especiallyif you are not used to creating products or have no experience.

Many marketers come from backgrounds where they have no experience in creating a lot of products
and so are completely overwhelmed by the whole idea. It?s not uncommon for new marketers to spend 3 to 6 months creating their first product. Me included.

During the product creation ?process?, many marketers aren?t earning from their online activities
and a fair percentage fall by the wayside and give up on their dream because it takes so long to create profitable products.

There has to be a shortcut, right?

Surely, some way of speeding up the product creation process so you could become an info product creation guru with a portfolio of highly profitable products all bringing you fantastic hands free income every single day.

Product Creation PLR

plr cash domination product

The answer to that secret and your Internet success is my brand new video training training program, PLR Cash Domination.

This 8 part, step by step video course shows you a simple (yet extremely powerful) method of creating profitable digital information products from other people?s work, using private label rights FAST.

You will be shocked how easily and effectively you can use PLR to create your very own MONSTER PRODUCT and convert them quickly into profit.

Many marketers have the wrong idea and when they buy PLR it either sits on their hard drive gathering dust or they turn it around and try to sell it as is.

Guess what ? WRONG! You can easily profit from PLR just by doing a tiny bit of work.

The PLR Cash Domination video series will show you exactly what you need to do in order to take your PLR products from your hard drive and transform them into money making digital internet
businesses that are profitable.

It really is so much easier than you think and anyone can do it, regardless of education, skills or experience!

No matter your level of experience you can create your own profitable digital info products from PLR using this simple, step by step method.

PLR is the quickest and easiest way for you to create your own products and now you can tap into and extract as much wealth from it as you want almost on demand!

What You Get

  • 100% Unique PLR Cash Domination Video Series ? These Videos are Unbranded, So Brand yourself as the expert.
  • Professionally Written Salesletter ? Includes professionally designed minisite with unique graphics & buyer triggers known to convert into sales.
  • Pre-made Thank You Page With Built In Backend Streams Profit On Autopilot With Built In Relevant Recommended Products On Your Thank You Page. Add your affiliate link and you are good to go.

Download this from free members area. Log in and download now.

Note: This product is a nice product. Not sure what is happening with RockStarPLR.com right now, the domain has not been renewed.

Source: http://www.dotcommembership.com/plr-cash-domination/

metta world peace suspension apple earnings report john l smith apple earnings the glass castle jennifer hudson trial north korea threat

Candidates continue trading accusations and ads

WASHINGTON (AP) ? If voters were looking for reasons to keep ignoring the presidential campaign this summer, they got plenty of them this week.

Friday capped a weeklong stretch of campaign character attacks masked in so-called television advertisements that sparked a series of claims that the other guy is fabricating the facts.

"What does it say about a president's character when his campaign tries to use the tragedy of a woman's death for political gain?" screams a new ad from Mitt Romney's campaign that seeks to link President Barack Obama to an outside group's commercial.

Hitting back, White House press secretary Jay Carney took Romney's campaign to task for a Republican group's ad suggesting that Obama isn't an American citizen.

The outrage must mean the ads at issue are blanketing the airwaves in battleground states, right?

Nope. Most of the ads bandied about by the campaigns and their backers this week are only being seen on the Internet or the occasional news show, according to Democrats and Republicans who track what ads are on the air and where. Instead, many of these big announcements of scathing ads are little more than tactical maneuvers aimed at proving a point, generating news coverage or sending up a trial balloon to see if any of the attacks stick.

In some cases, they're not intended for swing-voting viewers who tend to tell pollsters that negative advertising turns them off. Few people are paying attention anyway in the Olympics-filled summer lull before the conventions kick off the fall homestretch.

On one hand, none of this is really all that new.

Who can forget the explosive Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad in 2004 that questioned Democrat John Kerry's military service? It barely ran on the TV airwaves. Yet, it created huge controversy. The media coverage of it ? including the free airtime it got on news programs ? was immense and it so sullied the Massachusetts senator that summer that he could never recover.

Eight years later, the same game is being played but on a changed technological playing field.

Today, campaigns can more swiftly create hard-hitting campaign videos and, with a couple of keystrokes, blast them across the Internet by posting them on YouTube and emailing them to countless people in hopes that they go viral. For free. And without ever having to pay pricy rates to get them on TV.

No one is guiltless of playing this game. To varying degrees, Obama, Romney and their allies are all stretching the truth, taking comments out of context or simply calling each other names.

The president called his Republican challenger's tax plans "Romney Hood." Romney called the president's campaign attacks "Obama-loney," rhyming his new catch phrase with "baloney."

Carney, the Obama spokesman, called a Romney campaign ad on welfare ? one that actually is on the air ? "categorically false and blatantly dishonest." Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney adviser, said the Obama campaign had sunk "lower than a world-champion limbo dancer."

This comes from campaigns that often declare they wish the other side would focus on substance in an election both call the most important of our lifetime.

To be sure, Obama and Romney do talk about issues like jobs, the deficit and the Afghanistan war as they travel across the country and meet with voters. But any semblance of a substantive campaign is threatening to be drowned out by the increasing vitriol.

The situation reached new heights ? or rather low ones ? this week with a flurry of ads and unusually heated responses from the campaigns, even by the standards of this already negative race for the White House.

First, the Romney campaign released an ad attacking Obama for dismantling welfare reform. Unlike most of the ads released this week, this one is actually airing on television in nine politically important states.

Independent fact-checkers said the Romney ad misconstrued the facts. Obama's spokesman told reporters the ad showed "hypocrisy knows no bounds" and the campaign enlisted former President Bill Clinton, the architect of welfare reform, to discredit the attack as well.

The second salvo came from Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting Obama and run by two former White House aides. The spot seeks to link Romney to the death of woman whose husband lost his job and health insurance when his company was shut down by Romney's private equity firm.

Once again, fact-checkers said the ad shaded the truth. The Romney team said the ad was "despicable" and called on Obama to repudiate it.

As of Friday, the Priorities ad wasn't running on television. And Obama aides refused to condemn it, saying that because they are legally prohibited from coordinating with super PACs, they had no control over the ad and didn't know the facts about the man it featured.

The only problem with that claim? Joe Soptic, the man featured in the Priorities ad, appeared earlier this year in an official Obama campaign commercial and on a conference call.

So Obama's team tried another approach. Carney, the White House spokesman, said that if Republicans want Obama to disavow the Democratic super PAC's ads, then Romney should repudiate an ad from a GOP-leaning group that questions whether the president was born in the U.S.

Had enough? Only three more months until Election Day.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt in Boston, and Steve Peoples and Philip Elliott in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/candidates-continue-trading-accusations-ads-215803118.html

patrick witt leprosy tampa bay buccaneers birdman whip it gabby giffords gabby giffords

Peace and Dignity Journey 2012 | Watsonville Sports & Recreation ...

Seabright State Beach, Seabright Ave & E Cliff Dr, Santa Cruz, CA | Get?Directions??
FREE

Peace and Dignity Journeys 2012: Honoring the Water

A spiritual run to re-unite the indigenous nations of the Americas.

Runners arrive in Santa Cruz:
Friday, August 10, 2012
Time TBA (estimated at 5pm)

All are welcome to gather on the west end of Seabright Beach to receive the runners and welcome them with song and ceremony.

Because we don't know exactly when on August 10th the runners will reach Santa Cruz, we will be announcing via text message when they have come over the mountain pass and are about one hour away. At that time, we will begin gathering on Seabright Beach. To sign up for Friday's cellphone text announcements, send a text to 831-708-8199 with "PDJ" in the body (include your phone # if your # is blocked).

For more information:
http://peaceanddignityjourneys.org/
sheepandsagebrush@gmail.com / 831-708-8199
https://www.facebook.com/groups/115089728619992/

ABOUT:
Every four years since 1992, Peace and Dignity Journeys begin their voyage across the Western Hemisphere by foot. Starting from the North end of Alaska and the South end of Argentina and culminating at a final gathering in Central America, runners carry prayers and messages which they receive from communities along the way. Indigenous communities all over the Americas witness and partake in the tradition of welcoming runners with ceremonies unique to their community.

These journeys embody a prophecy that all indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere shall be reunited in a spiritual way in order to heal our nations, so we can begin to work towards a better future for our children and generations to come. The 2012 run is dedicated to Water, reminding all who have forgotten the importance of water that this naturally occurring element is the shared resource of all human beings.

HOW TO SUPPORT:
- Show up in support: Be present August 10th when the runners arrive.

- Donate: food, cash, gifts for runners, running shoes (new), supplies, vans, gas cards. You can donate to Peace and Dignity Journeys online, using PayPal:
http://complex-systems.ucsd.edu/pdj2012/node/1495

- Run: Join the runners on their final stretch through Santa Cruz. If you would like to join the run for a longer stretch, email [peaceanddignitysj@gmail.com]

Peace and Dignity Journeys is a grassroots organization that is fully sponsored by the communities that host the runners. It does not receive sponsorship from corporations, NGOs, or foundations.

36.96453

-122.00764

primary

Peace and Dignity Journey 2012

August 10, 2012, 5:00 pm?9:00 pm

Seabright State Beach

Seabright Ave & E Cliff Dr, Santa Cruz, CA

Seabright Beach Look for signs posted for directions for event

http://santacruz.patch.com/listings/seabright-state-beach

1734817

/locations/7597666

Source: http://watsonville.patch.com/events/peace-and-dignity-journey-2012-5b17c2e2

julianne hough bruins boston bruins michael pineda charles taylor calvin johnson calvin johnson

Destroy Documents By Hand With This Minimalist Manual Shredder [Design]

The Feds are pounding at your door. You have to destroy the evidence now. But they've cut the power! Your sophisticated top-of-the-line paper shredder needs electricity. What now?! The manual shredder has your back. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3DjJrF3Orpg/destroy-documents-by-hand-with-this-minimalist-manual-shredder

the colony kids choice awards ncaa final four 2012 texas chainsaw massacre uk vs louisville university of kansas buckeye

No Convention Speeches for Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann and Cain

Four high-profile former presidential candidates will apparently not be speaking at the Republican National Convention later this month in Tampa, Fla, The New York Times reports.

Newt Gingrich will be teaching workshops that will be dubbed ?Newt University,? while Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Herman Cain will be holding a ?unity rally? at a mega-church outside of town. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has also been passed over for a speaker?s role.

Convention planners are still considering whether to add Donald Trump and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the schedule, according to The Times.

Trump tells The Times that he's still popular with voters. ?They like what I say,? he said. ?I?m a very popular guy, as crazy as it might sound. It?s nice to be loved.?

During convention week, Trump will be honored as "Statesman of the Year" by the Republican Party of Sarasota County, Fla., about an hour's drive from the convention.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-convention-speeches-gingrich-perry-bachmann-cain-081914793.html

big miracle slab city super bowl snacks appleton super bowl recipes denver weather planned parenthood