Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315216034?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Celebrity chef Paula Deen denies she is a racist, sobs in TV interview
(Editor's Note: please be advised that paragraphs 6, 18 contain language that may be offensive)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. celebrity chef Paula Deen, under fire after she admitted using a racial slur, said in a tearful TV interview on Wednesday that she is not a racist and would never intentionally hurt anyone.
The Southern food doyenne said in an interview on NBC's "The Today Show" that it was important for her to tell "everyone out there what I believe and how I live my life."
When asked if she felt she had racist tendencies she replied, "No."
It was her first TV interview since The Food Network said last Friday it would drop her show after she was sued for racial discrimination and admitted in a legal deposition to using a racial slur in the past.
Deen, who has built a business empire that includes cookbooks, restaurants and kitchen supplies, said she was raised in a home where her father would not tolerate unkindness to anyone or bad behavior.
The controversy surrounding Deen erupted last week when a deposition was released in transcript form in which Deen, who is white, was asked if she had used the "N-word," and responded, "Yes, of course." The "N-word" is a euphemism for "nigger," an epithet for black people.
Asked about the epithet in the deposition, Deen said she had used the slur when describing, probably to her husband, how a black man robbed a bank where she was working in the 1980s. She said she had used the word since, "but it's been a very long time."
In Wednesday's interview, she recalled the bank robbery and said: "I had had a gun put to my head, a shakin' gun." She did not give a full description of that incident.
She said: "As a child, I was raised in a home that my father tolerated bad grades. He would tolerate ... maybe me breakin' a curfew. But he told me, he said, 'Girl, if I ever find out that you have behaved in a way where you think you're better than others, or have been unkind, your butt is gonna be mine'."
DEEN SAYS SHE IS "HEARTBROKEN"
Deen said she was thankful for the support she has received, and also heartbroken because she has had to comfort friends who were distressed about things being said about her that she said were untrue.
"If there's anyone out there that has never said something that they wish they could take back, if you're out there, please pick up that stone and throw it so hard at my head that it kills me. Please, I want to meet you. I want to meet you," she said, sobbing.
The 66-year-old celebrity chef had called off a scheduled interview with NBC on Friday to discuss the situation and instead released a video defending herself.
The Food Network, which is owned by Scripps Network Interactive Inc, later said it would not renew her contract when it expired at the end of June.
Pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc also dropped Deen, who had a name-brand line of hams with the company.
The controversy was sparked by the release of a deposition which had been taken as part of a lawsuit in which Deen, who is white, was asked if she had used the racial slur and she responded, "Yes, of course."
The deposition related to a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee, Lisa Jackson, who worked for Paula Deen Enterprises.
The lawsuit alleges that, while discussing with Jackson plans for Hiers' 2007 wedding, Deen said she wanted a "true southern plantation-style wedding."
"Well, what I would really like is a bunch of little niggers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around," Deen said, according to the lawsuit.
(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by David Storey)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/celebrity-chef-paula-deen-denies-she-racist-sobs-151206035.html
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Dems move past Scott Brown ghost with Mass. win
BOSTON (AP) ? Drawing on the political might of the White House, Democrats have exorcized the ghost of Scott Brown.
Three years after the little-known Republican state senator shocked the political world with an unlikely victory here, veteran Democratic Congressman Ed Markey won the special election for U.S. Senate to replace John Kerry on Tuesday, defeating a Republican political newcomer with an all-star resume who failed to inspire Massachusetts voters and Washington's Republican leaders alike.
It was a resounding victory in a low-turnout election for a national Democratic Party still haunted by Brown's 2010 special election stunner.
"To everyone in the state, regardless of how you voted, I say to you tonight this is your seat in the United States Senate," Markey, 66, declared in his victory speech, echoing one of Brown's most common lines.
Markey defeated Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, 55 percent to 45 percent.
Tuesday's contest served as a reminder that President Barack Obama has vowed to play a more aggressive political role for his party through next year's mid-term elections with huge stakes for his legacy and final-term agenda. Democrats face several competitive Senate contests in less-friendly terrain in 2014, when their grip on the Senate majority will be tested.
The White House, led by Obama himself, invested heavily in the Massachusetts' election, fueled largely by widespread fear of another Brown-like surprise.
"The people of Massachusetts can be proud that they have another strong leader fighting for them in the Senate, and people across the country will benefit from Ed's talent and integrity," Obama said in a statement Tuesday night.
Republicans claimed a moral victory of sorts, having forced Democrats to deploy their biggest political stars in an election in which Markey enjoyed significant advantages in Democrat-friendly Massachusetts. Markey's victory follows personal visits by Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton and Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
"Not every fight is a fair fight," Gomez said in his concession speech. "Sometimes you face overpowering force. We were massively overspent. We went up against literally the whole national Democratic Party. And all its allies."
From the beginning, it appeared that national Democrats were more committed to the contest than national Republicans, raising questions about the GOP's commitment to candidates who might help improve the party's appeal after a painful 2012 election season.
Washington Republican leaders distanced themselves from Gomez partly by design. The 47-year-old businessman attacked Markey as the ultimate Washington insider and was reluctant to link himself to the same national forces he condemned. But as Democrats poured money and manpower into Massachusetts, Gomez needed help to capitalize on Markey's weaknesses.
U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned in Boston for Gomez.
But what help he got appeared to be too little too late.
"It's unclear whether Republicans in Washington intended to compete in this race and truly let an opportunity slip away or they were just blowing smoke the whole time," Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, wrote in a post-election memo.
Both sides conceded that Markey was not a perfect candidate.
The senator-elect, who first became a congressman in 1977, struggled to connect with voters at times on the campaign trail. He also faced repeated questions about whether he was a full-time resident of Washington or Massachusetts.
On paper, Gomez's credentials appeared to fit the gold standard for the new breed of mass-appeal Republican that the GOP wants as it works to improve its standing among women and minorities. A former Navy SEAL turned businessman, Gomez speaks Spanish, supports immigration reform and moderate positions on social issues ? characteristics the Republican National Committee recently called for in a post-election internal autopsy as key to GOP growth.
Washington's traditional Republican campaign apparatus sent Gomez some paid workers and campaign cash, but Markey and his national allies dramatically outspent Gomez's side. The disparity was fueled by Gomez's inability to attract pro-Republican super PACs that funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into elections to help Republican candidates last fall.
At the same time, Gomez's moderate positions alienated the GOP's most passionate voters. The national tea party movement that helped fuel Brown's rise sat out the race.
"Gomez left his base unenthused and unexcited," said Sal Russo, chief strategist to the Tea Party Express, which was among the first national groups to help Brown's 2010 campaign. "When a Republican tries to look like a Democrat-light, what Democrats do is vote for a Democrat. You have to create some contrast."
Still, Republicans suggest that Markey's need to involve the White House could mean trouble for Democrats in the mid-term elections.
Almost immediately after winning re-election, Obama vowed to go all out for his party for the 2014 elections, mindful that sending more Democrats to Congress could be the difference between success and failure for key aspects of his second-term agenda like immigration, climate change and a budget deal.
Already, Obama and the first lady have hit the campaign trail with vigor this year, traversing the nation to raise money and rally support for Democratic candidates and the committees that work to elect them. In addition to Massachusetts, the president has campaigned this year in California, Texas, Illinois, New York and Georgia. But Republicans and Democrats agree that Obama's direct involvement would be less helpful in competitive 2014 Senate contests in states such as South Dakota, West Virginia, Arkansas and Iowa, where he's not as popular as in Massachusetts.
"The national climate for Democrats is not good," said Republican strategist Ron Kaufman, also a Massachusetts national Republican committeeman. "I promise it's not good in places like Iowa and the Dakotas where we have open Democrat seats."
Meanwhile, Gomez's future is unclear.
He said this week that, win or lose, he'd be willing to help the GOP expand its appeal among the nation's growing Hispanic population. And he has repeatedly hinted that his political career would not end with Tuesday's election.
"In the future, we are going to be better," Gomez said in Spanish at the end of his concession speech.
Markey, who serves out the rest of Kerry's term, faces his first re-election test in 2014.
___
Associated Press writers Steve LeBlanc and Bob Salsberg contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dems-move-past-scott-brown-ghost-mass-win-064117313.html
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After Supreme Court Ruling, Senate to Hold Hearings on Voting Rights Act
Patrick Leahy Now that the Supreme Court has kicked the Voting Rights Act over to Congress, Congress will take it up.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings next month after the court on Tuesday invalidated the Voting Rights Act's coverage formula, which determines which voting districts must gain pre-approval from the Department of Justice for voting policy and procedure changes.
The court left standing Section 5, which requires states with histories of racial discrimination to seek such approval, only invalidating the formula that determines which districts fall under that provision. Congress last reauthorized the law in 2006.
Read more about the Supreme Court's landmark decision on voting rights.
Now, it's essentially up to Congress to re-write the formula.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced the Voting Rights Act hearings to Democratic senators at their weekly caucus luncheon, held about two and a half hours after the Supreme Court handed down its decision, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters.
The committee will likely hold "multiple" hearings, a committee aide told ABC News.
Reid criticized the ruling, saying there is "general displeasure" over it among Senate Democrats.
"This is a dark day for the Supreme Court," Reid said.
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Gene mutation may have effect on benefit of aspirin use for colorectal cancer
June 25, 2013 ? In 2 large studies, the association between aspirin use and risk of colorectal cancer was affected by mutation of the gene BRAF, with regular aspirin use associated with a lower risk of BRAF-wild-type colorectal cancer but not with risk of BRAF-mutated cancer, findings that suggest that BRAF-mutant colon tumor cells may be less sensitive to the effect of aspirin, according to a study in the June 26 issue of JAMA.
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that aspirin use reduces the risk of colorectal cancer, according to background information in the article. Experimental evidence has suggested that BRAF-mutant colonic cells might be less sensitive to the antitumor effects of aspirin than BRAF-wild-type (the typical form of a gene as it occurs in nature) neoplastic cells.
Reiko Nishihara, Ph.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues examined the association of aspirin use with the risk of colorectal cancer according to BRAF mutation status. The researchers collected biennial questionnaire data on aspirin use and followed up participants in the Nurses' Health Study (from 1980) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (from 1986) until July 2006 for cancer incidence and until January 2012 for cancer mortality.
Among 127,865 individuals, 1,226 incident rectal and colon cancers were identified with available molecular data. The researchers found that regular aspirin use was associated with a significantly lower risk (27 percent) of BRAF-wild-type cancer. Regular aspirin use was not associated with a lower risk of BRAF-mutated cancer. "The association of aspirin use with colorectal cancer risk differed significantly according to BRAF mutation status."
The authors also observed a lower risk of BRAF-wild-type cancer with increasing aspirin tablets per week; however, there was not a significant trend in risk reduction for BRAF-mutated cancer. "The association of aspirin tablets per week with cancer risk differed significantly by BRAF mutation status. Compared with individuals who reported no aspirin use, a significantly lower risk of BRAF-wild-type cancer was observed among individuals who used 6 to 14 tablets of aspirin per week and among those who used more than 14 tablets of aspirin per week."
In addition, longer duration of aspirin use was associated with significant risk reduction for BRAF-wild-type cancer, whereas duration of aspirin use was not significantly associated with BRAF-mutated cancer risk.
"There was no statistically significant interaction between post-diagnosis aspirin use and BRAF mutation status in colorectal cancer-specific or overall survival analysis. This suggests that the potential protective effect of aspirin may differ by BRAF status in the early phase of tumor evolution before clinical detection but not during later phases of tumor progression," the authors write.
"The identification of specific cancer-subtypes that are prevented by aspirin is important for several reasons. First, it enhances our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of colorectal neoplasia and the mechanisms through which aspirin may exert its antineoplastic effects. Second, development of clinical, genetic, or molecular predictors of specific subtypes of colorectal cancer might lead to the development of more tailored screening or chemo-preventive strategies. Nevertheless, given the modest absolute risk difference, further investigations are necessary to evaluate clinical implications of our findings. Lastly, our data provide additional support for a causal association between aspirin use and risk reduction for a specific subtype of colorectal cancers. Accumulating evidence supports preventive effect of aspirin against colorectal cancer."
Editorial: Differential Effects of Aspirin Before and After Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer
In an accompanying editorial, Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, (and JAMA contributing editor), comments on the findings of this study.
"Nishihara el al derived their report from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which include a large number of female and male health professionals. This population is predominantly white: 98 percent of the participants in the Nurses' Health Study and 95 percent of participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study are of a non-Hispanic white ethnic background. However, black individuals have the highest incidence of colorectal cancer in the United States and represent the ethnic group for whom colorectal cancer prevention may have the greatest benefit. Therefore, it will be important to determine whether the findings reported by Nishihara et al are confirmed in black individuals."
"In summary, these results identify biomarkers of response to aspirin administered either preventively or therapeutically and are likely to help tailor the use of aspirin in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer."
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/W6jQRekd7fU/130625161853.htm
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Finance Ministry seeks punishment for Ponzi scheme participation ...
Published time: June 26, 2013 12:56 
The Russian government is considering a set of amendments to the Criminal Code that establish preventive measures against Ponzi schemes, including jail terms for active participants.
The amendments have been drafted by the Finance Ministry and were submitted to the government at the end of last week, Business daily Kommersant reported, claiming its journalists received the full text of the draft.
The document suggests that the Criminal Code is amended with a separate article called ?Illegal activity to obtain monetary funds?. Under this article organizers of Ponzi schemes and their active participants (those who attracted over 1.5 million roubles ($46,000)) could face up to seven years in prison. Other participants in the scam and people who promote it could be fined up to 15,000 roubles ($460).
The bill defines a Ponzi scheme (that are called ?financial pyramids? in Russian) as ?activities to attract monetary funds or other assets from physical persons with repayment of income from earlier attracted funds in cases when organizers are not engaged in investment or any other legal business?.? It also reads that such activity poses a great threat to social stability in the country.
So far, only Russia?s major law enforcement agency ? the Investigative Committee ? has voiced an objection to the bill saying that it contradicts the current Civil Code that reads that there can be no restrictions for attracting citizens? means in the form of loans.
Usually Ponzi scheme organizers are charged with fraud, but this could only happen after the scheme crashes and the cheated investors can act as an aggrieved party in court. The new bill allows for preventive measures.
According to law enforcers over 400,000 Russians have been duped by Ponzi schemes since 2008 and the combined losses amount to over 40 billion roubles ($1.25 billion) . The situation was even more dire in the 1990s ? back then just one swindler Sergey Mavrodi? managed to defraud 1.5 million people. Mavrodi was put on trial and after a period on the run was put in prison and served a four-and-a-half year term.
He attempted to get back into Ponzi schemes in 2011 and 2012 and this prompted Russian authorities to order a special law preventing such activities.
Currently Mavrodi is again on trial over large-scale fraud, and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million roubles (over $31,000).
Source: http://rt.com/politics/punishment-ponzi-participation-scheme-258/
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