Senate changes its rules to ease gridlock

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate changed its rules on Thursday in a bid to ease partisan gridlock blamed for turning the chamber into a legislative graveyard.

Senators approved the changes on bipartisan votes of 78-16 and 86-9. The changes fell far short, however, of what many Democratic reformers wanted. They preserved the right of minority Republicans to block votes on legislation with procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.

But the revisions drew praise from President Barack Obama, who said in a statement, "Too often over the past four years, a single senator or a handful of senators has been able to unilaterally block or delay bipartisan legislation for the sole purpose of making a political point.

"At a time when we face critical decisions on a whole range of issues - from preventing further gun violence, to reforming our broken immigration system, to getting our fiscal house in order and creating good paying jobs - we cannot afford unnecessary obstruction," he said.

Sixty votes will still be needed in the 100-member chamber to end a filibuster - despite calls by some Democrats to reduce the figure to as few as 51.

In exchange, Republicans will no longer be able to stop senators from beginning consideration of a bill - provided both sides are given votes on at least two amendments.

Rule changes would also expedite consideration of low-level presidential nominations, reduce debate time before some votes and require filibustering senators to make objections known.

"Perhaps I'm too optimistic, but hopefully because of this we will be able to pass legislation," said Republican Senator John McCain.

That in turn, McCain said, might help raise the chamber's record low approval ratings in recent years, which now stand at about 15 percent.

Assistant Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin voiced confidence the rule changes would make for a more productive chamber provided there was "good will" on both sides.

"There are always ways to find some exception, a little loophole here, a little loophole there," Durbin said.

"I hope there will be a more positive reaction to these rules changes and get the Senate back into the business of what it's supposed to be, the most deliberative body in the body politic of America," Durbin said.

WEEKS OF NEGOTIATION

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, drafted the rule changes after weeks of negotiations.

If there had been no compromise and Democrats tried to force changes without the approval of Republicans, there likely would have been partisan fights that turned the chamber into knots.

Since 2007, Reid has filed nearly 400 cloture motions to stop Republican-backed filibusters. He stopped less than half of them with the needed 60 votes.

In the other cases, Republicans blocked legislation, even though most senators backed it. Critics complained they were effectively violating a basic tenet of democracy - majority rule.

Filibuster proponents say procedural roadblocks are needed to protect the rights of the minority and force the majority to compromise.

A number of Senate Democrats defend the right to filibuster, reasoning they will be in the minority at some point and will want to use it.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley applauded the rule change, but preferred tougher curbs on filibusters that are ostensibly waged to give senators more time to debate.

"If 41 senators vote for more debate, then senators should have the courage of their convictions to stand on the floor and make their case," Merkley said. "Then the American people could decide if obstructing senators are heroes or bums."

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Fred Barbash and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-changes-rules-ease-gridlock-014611243.html

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GPS Guide: Brian Penny Shares More Wisdom

The stress and strain of constantly being connected can sometimes take your life -- and your well-being -- off course. GPS For The Soul can help you find your way back to balance.

GPS Guides are our way of showing you what has relieved others' stress in the hopes that you will be able to identify solutions that work for you. We all have de-stressing "secret weapons" that we pull out in times of tension or anxiety, whether they be photos that relax us or make us smile, songs that bring us back to our heart, quotes or poems that create a feeling of harmony, or meditative exercises that help us find a sense of silence and calm. We encourage you to look at the GPS Guide below, visit our other GPS Guides here, and share with us your own personal tips for finding peace, balance and tranquility.

In the GPS Guide below, Brian Penny shares more inspirational life tips (see his "Five Rules To Live By," here). Are there certain mantras and quotes that help to guide your life's journey? Let us know in the comments below.

• When times get really tough, it helps to remember I chose this life. I chose the battles I fight. I chose the path I walk. Remembering I?m in control of my situation gives me the confidence to take another step toward my destiny. I like to look at it as the destiny existed in the path. I just happened to be the guy who chose to walk it.

• This quote always makes me smile. While I happen to share Hunter?s outlook on many of the finer pleasures in life, what?s most important is to remember that what works for you works for you, even if it?s not one of Oprah?s favorite things?

• I spend a lot of time alone in a room figuring things out. Part of getting in touch with yourself is discovering your own opinions. Sitting alone in your room is your time to sort through all your thoughts and experiences for the day. If something happens during the day that you don?t like, just jot it down on a post it or make a note on your phone to go through it during your alone time. Once it?s done, it?s done, and you can move on with taking care of yourself, getting a healthy amount of sleep, and wake up refreshed for the next day.

Brian Penny is a former business analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower who spent the last 2 years helping regulators and attorneys uncover the largest bank and insurance fraud in history. He documents his experiences working with Anonymous and fighting the banks on his blog . He?s currently in the Tampa Bay area preparing to live in a van and training to be a yogi under Ally Ford .

For more GPS Guides, click here.

To see Penny's "Rules To Live By," click here.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/25/brian-penny-gps-guide_n_2546588.html

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HTML Pioneer Tim Berners-Lee Calls For More Online Innovation ...

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the hyperlinked World Wide Web, isn?t entirely happy with what he has helped create ? and has thrown down the gauntlet to web developers to come up with more disruptive forms of online communication that can break down cultural not just geographical barriers.

Talking about the web as it is today, rather than the ?collaborative tool? he originally designed, he said:??World peace has not miraculously occurred. People still mainly talk to their neighbours, people still mainly talk to the people who have the same religion, and the same culture, so for all its breaking down geographical boundaries in principle it hasn?t really broken down cultural boundaries.?Can we develop systems on the web which will actually help solve that sort of ?challenge??

Berners-Lee was speaking in an interview at the World Economic Forum today,?entitled ?what?s wrong with social networking?? but he joked the title had been cooked up merely to draw in the crowds.

?As a universal platform the web wasn?t supposed to dictate what you did with it,? he told his audience in Davos. ?The world wide web is a platform and humanity does what it can with it??There?s lots of people who think we could do more. What do we really want to get out of this web thing? What do we really want to get out of human communication??

While it began as a collaborative tool, the web subsequently took off as a publishing medium ? or it did to a ?certain extent?, said Berners-Lee, pointing to the fact that publishing online remains a relatively elite activity and therefore, again, does not live up to his original collaborative vision for a truly global web.

?We?ve got wikis, we?ve got blogs, but still most people? aren?t publishing on the web. And actually when you go to most places you?re not in a position where you can take place in the conversation very much. Sometimes you can comment but actually the comment tends to be at a second level,? he said.

Asked about the erosion of online openness threatened by walled garden social networks, Berners-Lee said the networks both help humanity by providing the data that enables computers to help people but also highlighted how there is ?a lot of frustration, from a lot of people? that they can?t connect up the personal data they have entered into different services in all the ways they might like to.

?Each of these social network systems is a silo so there is a frustration that I?ve told it all my data but I don?t have access to that,? he said.

Despite yearning for more openness and fewer shackles stifling the free flow of online data, Berners-Lee was careful to say he was not calling for an online data free-for-all. There do need to be ?reasonable boundaries?, he accepted ? whether it?s sensitive personal or government or military data. ?The web isn?t about just sharing everything, destroying privacy? [but] if I want to share something with you it shouldn?t be the technology that gets in the way.?

Turning to the economic argument, Berners-Lee conceded there is a problem with current online business models ? especially when it comes to finding ways to pay musicians. The web should be ?about spreading culture, music and getting payment back to musicians?, he said. ? We?ve got to find new ways of doing that.?

Specifically he called for new protocols to be developed to support online payments. ?We need to find a whole lot of new business models ? I think we should develop new payment protocols so that when you?re using a web browser it?s a lot easier to pay for things.?

He also argued for the economic value in opening up data that is unnecessarily locked away, pointing to a U.K. initiative to open up government data so that the citizens who have paid for the data to be created in the first place can have the benefit of using it ? and use it to create new businesses. ?You?re making a great common good, that?s making the world run more efficiently,? he argued.

Likewise, he argued that the benefit to humanity of opening up scientific data ? to ?scientists everywhere? ? would be ?huge?.??It?s a?question of unlocking this potential that we really already have ? it?s getting huge benefit for very little cost,? he said.

Berners-Lee was also asked about Internet activist?Aaron Swartz, who was arrested for downloading academic journals and subsequently committed suicide ? and argued that Swartz?s tragedy is an example of what can happen when ?legislation gets too strong?.

?He was an incredibly ethical person. He thought a huge amount about what was right and how the world should be? but because [the FBI] saw that what he was doing was accessing a computer system there seems to be a deep suspicion of that,? he said.

?He used his programming to try to make a point, in a way as a protest. But they ended up using a very unfair law which had been changed from its original form which said that if you break into a computer system in any way then you are guilty of a felony? ?People are thinking now about that law, and there already proposals to change it.?

?To be a hacker ? when I use the term ? is somebody who is creative and does wonderful things,? Berners-Lee added. ?We need more coders, we need more people who understand how to put data online.?

A graduate of Oxford University, England, in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990. His specifications of URIs, HTTP and HTML were refined as Web technology spread. He is the 3COM Founders Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science...

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/25/tim-berners-lee-at-davos/

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How To Enhance Your Fx Trading Success Charge - Finance

Personal traders can find opportunities of all kinds with forex. The rewards can be substantial for those who heed sound advice, and put in the hours necessary to succeed. When learning the basics of forex trading, an investor must be able to draw on the experiences of other traders. This article contains tips on what to do when forex trading.

Learn what an expert market advisor is and how to use one. The main goal of an expert market advisor is to constantly monitor the Forex market on your behalf, especially when you are asleep or away. You can configure them to send you alerts and reminders if something happens that you should know about.

When you see a win on Forex, enjoy it! Ensure you send withdrawal orders at the right times to get your money out. When you earn money, you have the right to use it.

Make sure your Forex trading software has the ability to analyze market conditions. This feature helps you select the best currency pair for exchanges. If you are undecided, check out some trusted online reviews.

Always devise a plan for forex market trading. Do not look for short cuts in this market. Plan carefully before you invest. Understand the market and how you intend to act.

As a beginner trading Forex, it can be rather tempting to start investing in several different currencies. Start investing in only a single currency pair until after you have learned more about the forex market. Try not to venture in too deeply until you develop a better understanding of how things work. This will minimize your losses.

In order to prevent trading losses, implement stop loss orders. Do not fall into the trap that many traders fall into by staying in the market with a losing trade. It is dangerous to bet on the market changing in your favor when you are waiting it out and taking losses.

Stay away from using uncommon currency pairs to complete your trades. If you stick with the few currency pairs with the highest volume, you can make trades very quickly because there is always someone wanting to buy or sell those currencies. With rare currency pairs, however, when you want to trade in your position, you may struggle to source a buyer who will give you a fair price.

Set your stop loss point and don?t budge. Choose a stop point, and then leave it. Moving a stop point never has a rational motivation; instead, it?s a result of emotional turmoil or hunger for higher profits. You will only lose money if you do this.

Forex is a massive market. This is great for those who follow the global market and know the worth of foreign currency. For the average joe, guessing with currencies is risky.

Try out These Beneficial Recommendations For Investing In The Stock Market place, For Fantastic Advice On How To Invest, Test These Useful Tips!

Source: http://www.bestfinancialtrading.com/2013/01/19/how-to-enhance-your-fx-trading-success-charge/

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West African leaders gather for Mali summit

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? West African leaders headed to a special Mali summit in Ivory Coast on Saturday to discuss how to step up their role as the French-led military intervention to oust Islamic extremists from power entered its second week.

Neighboring countries are expected to contribute around 3,000 troops to the operation in Mali, aimed at preventing the militants who rule northern Mali from advancing further south toward the capital.

While some initial contributions from Togo and Nigeria have arrived to help the French, concerns about the mission have delayed other neighbors from sending their promised troops so far.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said Saturday that Mali's neighbors must work together to eradicate terrorism in the region.

"No other nation in the world, no other region in the world will be spared" if large swaths of the Sahel are allowed to become a 'no man's land,'" he said.

At Saturday's meeting, the big issue will be sorting out a central command for the African force, a French official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive security matters.

Nigerian Gen. Shehu Usman Abdulkadir is expected to be named the force commander.

Speaking Saturday on French 3 television, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Drian said France now has 2,000 troops in Mali and has mobilized 2,900 in the overall operation in places like Senegal, Burkina Faso and Niger.

He said France "could go beyond" the 2,500 troops initially announced for Mali, and said that at full deployment, Operation Serval would involve some 4,000 troops in the region.

Meanwhile, Le Drian insisted "there has been no ground combat in Diabaly" involving French troops,

French forces have moved around Diabaly to cut off supplies to the Islamist extremists who took the town on Monday, said a French official who spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss sensitive security matters.

Mali once enjoyed a reputation as one of West Africa's most stable democracies with the majority of its 15.8 million people practicing a moderate form of Islam.

That changed last March, following a coup in the capital which created the disarray that allowed Islamist extremists to take over the main cities in the distant north.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that the fighting in Mali could force as many as 700,000 people to flee their homes in the coming months.

___

Corey-Boulet reported from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Associated Press writers Krista Larson in Bamako, Mali and Jamey Keaten in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/west-african-leaders-gather-mali-summit-140131254.html

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Making Scrapbooks and Memory Books for Graduations, Events and ...

One of the things WordPress tells us bloggers is the search string users used to find our blog post. And one of the most common questions has to do with making memory books or scrap books for dementia or other events.

I will write about this topic in two parts. First ? why make scrapbooks and memory books? And in a later post, I will write about how to make scrapbooks and memory books.

Scrapbooking is a tradition that goes back a hundred years or more. Young girls and women often kept a scrap book of ephemera to remember important events in their lives. My mother had scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, birth announcements, greeting cards, report cards and many other mementos of her life.

Following that tradition, I also kept scrapbooks from when I was a teenager and young mother right through my divorce and after. These scrapbooks were kept in traditional paper books and the mementos were attached with glue or tape.

In the early 1990?s companies started to come out with products to make scrapbooking more archival. One could buy acid free products such as papers, pens, photo corners, etc. in order to preserve our memories without destroying them with destructive products.

During this time period, I removed all of the photographs and paper clippings from the so-called ?magnetic albums? which did not preserve photos with magnetism at all. These albums contained an adhesive that destroyed the photos by permanently gluing them to the page. Acid ate at the photos as well and they began to deteriorate.

I moved all of my pictures and scraps to acid free archival sleeves to maintain them in albums while protecting them from the elements. My daughters and I all spent a lot of time making memory books and writing (journaling) about the events shown in the photographs.

In addition, we had developed the habit of obtaining copies of our photos in triplicate so we could both keep and share them. Not only was this expensive, but it took a lot of storage space to keep them all. I enjoyed making these books but soon realized they took a lot more space on my shelves than traditional photo books.

Around this time photographic web sites such as the Kodak Gallery (now defunct) and Shutterfly appeared. These companies made it easy for the user to create digital photo albums with journaling to describe the events. My whole family eventually gravitated over to the digital albums because they were easy to create and share.

Types of Scrapbooks and Memory Books

Often we make such scrapbooks prospectively. These scrap books, photo books, etc. were created to preserve photos and stories about current events as they occurred. My children created memory books about the past year or a special event and gave them as gifts to me and others.

I made some to commemorate specific occasions such as my parents? 50th Wedding Anniversary and my 60th Birthday celebration. I made some to document trips I took using digital technology to create books to keep and show my friends.

I made some scrapbooks retrospectively to preserve the memories of a specific time or place. I made scrapbooks of my children?s school years that were given to each of them when they graduated from high school.

I had saved their best papers, photographs and stories in a folder (one for each child) without much of a plan about what I would do with them. Then as the oldest prepared to graduate from high school, I decided to make a memory book of all her school years. This was among her favorite graduation gifts and all of my other children then expected me to make similar scrapbooks for them also.

It wasn?t until mom began having memory problems that I realized how scrapbooks and memory books could help mom remember the people and events of the past. Mom kept asking for pictures of my children and for me to remind her of my grandchildren?s names and how they fit into the family structure.

I made calendars with family pictures, photo plates to commemorate special wedding anniversaries, family reunions and other events. One Christmas I made mom a book of pictures of my children and grandchildren, grouped by family to help her remember names and faces.

After mom passed away, I made a book of pictures from mom?s life and a calendar of pictures of mom with her grandchildren. These were gifts to dad for his birthday and Christmas. He spent hours every day looking at the pictures of mom. It helped him with his grief to be able to look at these pictures.

I am a retired and the primary caregiver for my father. I have children and grandchildren. This blog is an attempt to connect with others who are also trying to care for a family member and share ideas and experiences. I hope you will let me know what worked for you if you had an experience similar to mine. The main issues I am going to talk about are elder care, death and dying, assisted living, family relationships and hoarders and hoarding. Other topics will come up as I address the issues around the care of my father and the relationship with other family members.

Source: http://letstalkaboutfamily.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/making-scrapbooks-and-memory-books-for-graduations-events-andor-alzheimers-and-dementia-i/

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The Saturdays Invite Sean Paul To Their Sold-Out NYC Show

U.K. girl group started a dance party at Highline Ballroom ahead of their reality-show debut this weekend.
By Jocelyn Vena

The Saturdays [file]
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700425/the-saturdays-nyc-show-sean-paul.jhtml

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