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SEOUL (AFP) –
North Korea has test-fired two more missiles on the eve of American Independence Day celebrations, according to South Korea's defence ministry, further stoking tensions amid an international nuclear standoff.

The firing of the missiles, reported to be Scuds with a range of 500 kilometres (312 miles), follow a series of missile launches earlier this week by the isolated Stalinist state.

"North Korea launched two missiles this morning," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The missiles were launched between 8:00 am and 8:30 am (2300-2330 GMT Friday) from Kitdaeryong Base near the eastern port of Wonsan into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), it said.

"The military, on the basis of a strong joint defence alliance with the United States, is fully prepared to fend off any threats or provocations by the North," it said.

An unidentified government official quoted by Yonhap news agency said both missiles were believed to be Scuds with a range of 500 kilometres (312 miles), which would allow the North to strike almost anywhere in South Korea.

North Korea fired four short-range missiles on Thursday into the Sea of Japan but the range of those missiles was estimated to be only around 120 km.

"The Scuds fired today impose a greater security threat to us because of their longer ranges," the official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

"Thursday's missile tests were apparently made as part of a military drill but today's launches, which came on the eve of the US Independence Day, are believed to be aimed at political purposes," the official said.

Japan condemned the latest missile launches as a "serious act of provocation".

"It is a serious act of provocation against the security of neighbouring countries, including our country," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura was quoted by Jiji Press as saying.

The government's top spokesman also said the act was against a UN Security Council resolution, according to Jiji.

Analysts said the North was flexing its military muscle amid tough international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

Baek Seung-Joo of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses said the North test fires missiles three to four times each year to improve technology and maintain missile exports.

"Today's launches were part of a usual military drill but by firing 500km-range Scuds, the North was clearly displaying its ability to strike back against any international sanctions involving military means," Baek told AFP.

He said, however, there is no sign of the North preparing to fire another long-range missile.

The North has made a series of bellicose moves this year. A long-range rocket launch on April 5 was followed by the nuclear test -- the second since 2006 -- on May 25.

In the days after its atomic test, Pyongyang fired a total of six short-range missiles, renounced the truce in force on the Korean peninsula for half a century and threatened possible attacks on Seoul.

When the United Nations tightened sanctions on its missile and atomic activities, the North vowed to build more nuclear bombs.

US and South Korean officials believe ailing leader Kim Jong-Il, 67, is staging a show of strength to bolster his authority as he tries to put in place a succession plan involving his youngest son Jong-Un.

This week's missile launches were the first military action the hardline communist state had taken since the United Nations on June 12 imposed tougher sanctions for the second nuclear test.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled anew Friday that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be questioned about lawsuits charging racial bias during her tenure on the board of a Latino legal advocacy group.

But her critics are likely to find little new ammunition in a batch of documents released Friday by LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the advocacy group known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) during Sotomayor's affiliation with it.

The 71 documents, totaling hundreds of pages, released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, cover the period between 1980 to 1992 when Sotomayor was a board member of PRLDEF.

The organization searched its files under a joint request of committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

Republicans made clear they still intend to make Sotomayor's involvement in PRLDEF a focus of their inquiry when her confirmation is scheduled to begin on July 13.

In particular, Republicans are seeking to tie lawsuits in which PRLDEF was involved to a Supreme Court decision this week overturning a reverse discrimination opinion Sotomayor participated in as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

A Senate Judiciary GOP statement released Friday noted Sotomayor chaired PRLDEF's litigation committee in 1987, when it was involved in a trio of lawsuits against New York City agencies charging their promotion exams had a discriminatory impact on minority candidates.

Leahy said in a statement that the documents fulfill the committee's request for additional information.

"The receipt of these documents is timely, and appears to be complete and responsive to the request for additional information, materials not called for in the bipartisan committee questionnaire submitted by Judge Sotomayor," he said.

The documents released Friday include court filings and internal summaries of those cases but nothing Sotomayor wrote about them or other documents that indicated she played any role in the litigation.

The only documentation of her role as chairwoman of PRLDEF's litigation committee are minutes from board meetings in 1987 where she describes efforts to obtain access for the group's lawyers to the legal database Lexis Nexis and studying the legal department's structure.

After an earlier release of documents on July 1, committee Republicans suggested those were just the "tip of the iceberg" and show that she played "a substantive role" in the group.

But in a letter Thursday, White House counsel Gregory Craig told Sessions that Sotomayor has already provided the committee with all relevant documents related to her involvement with the group.

Craig said Republicans are seeking documents "that were not written, edited, reviewed or approved by Judge Sotomayor."

WASHINGTON – For years, the brick facade of a three-story house near the Capitol has functioned as a shield for the lawmakers who live and pray there, offering sanctuary from the temptations of political life — and discretion for those who succumbed.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford blew away much of the privacy of the place over the past week, revealing he had confided in his "C Street" friends, a collection of current and former lawmakers, about the cross-continental affair he had hidden from his wife.
Their universal response: Break up with the mistress, according to several knowledgeable people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That these details and more have been connected with the red brick house at 133 C Street SE defies the secrecy that those associated with the Christian facility have long sought to maintain.
The building, registered in District of Columbia tax records as a religious and commercial building, is affiliated with a Christian group of many names, including the "Fellowship Foundation." The group sponsors the annual National Prayer Breakfast attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries around the world.
It also hosts luncheons and prayer groups on the first two floors. The top floor of bedrooms is occupied by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, all Christians, who pay rent that, in the past has been partially subsidized by the fellowship.
Those who have lived and prayed there have described the building as a home away from home for lawmakers, a space for them to socialize, live a Christian lifestyle and confide in each other while they're away from their families.
Some of those private subjects have become embarrassingly public. Two lawmakers connected to the so-called "C Street community" have revealed they had had extramarital affairs.
Sanford, who apparently has never lived there, nonetheless said he turned to "C Street" for counsel and solace while in the throes of extramarital romance with a woman named Maria from Argentina. His spiritual adviser, Warren "Cubby" Culbertson, in an interview with The Associated Press, described the C Street crowd as "the guys Mark hung out with in Washington."
One of group on Wednesday confirmed counseling Sanford about the governor's affair.
"Former Rep. Steve Largent, a member of the C Street community, said he had discussions with both Mark and Jenny Sanford this year, regarding their marriage," Largent said in a statement to the AP.
Sanford wasn't a unique case. Sen. John Ensign, who has lived at the C Street address, is reported to have been confronted about his recently disclosed affair with a female campaign staffer who was married to one of his top Senate aides. The woman's husband, Douglas Hampton, wrote in a letter to Fox News that another resident of the house, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., did the confronting.
All the recent talk has made for a convulsion of publicity, tinged with scandal, for a house and a community of the devout who have labored for years to avoid it.
At least six lawmakers lived at the house as of January, including Coburn and Ensign, according to information provided by knowledgeable Republican, Democratic and nonpartisan officials who demanded anonymity because the information was not public.
Representatives for the Fellowship are hard to find. No spokesman could be reached directly or had responded by Wednesday to requests for comment submitted through members of the C Street community. The building itself is owned by a group called Youth With A Mission Washington DC Inc. C St. Center, according to city records. An e-mail to the founders of Youth With A Mission seeking comment went unanswered.
In a 2003 AP story, Richard Carver, then a member of the group's board of directors, said that the group's goal with members of Congress was "to hope that we can assist them in better understandings of the teachings of Christ, and applying it to their jobs."
Jim Winkler, then a lobbyist for the church, said of lawmakers, "We don't approach them and ask for their support for anything."
It is not the only Capitol Hill home away from home run by a religious group for lawmakers.

The United Methodist Building, at 100 Maryland Avenue across from the Capitol, has for 75 years been the church's office in Washington. It also has been home to members of Congress and even the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ecumenical offices, from which the march on Washington was planned, according to its Web site.

There's a difference, according to one who has worked in the Methodist Building. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says the secrecy surrounding the C Street house makes it possible for the Fellowship to influence lawmakers who live and pray there beyond the public eye.

They have said community members "sit down every week at a specific time and talk about religion in our lives. Well, these are members of Congress," Lynn said. "Part of their life is what they're voting on in Congress."

"When you have this kind of cozy secretive arrangement it does raise red flags," he added. "And the continuing secrecy makes the red brighter."

___

Associated Press Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report from Columbia, S.C.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
President Barack Obama is pushing ahead with plans to shore up dwindling federal reserves for highway construction and establish a government-run bank to pay for future transportation projects.

Documents obtained by Reuters late on Wednesday detailed Transportation Department proposals for injecting $20 billion of general tax revenue into a government-run trust that funds highway and transit infrastructure projects, and Obama's longer-term plans for ensuring financial backing for new initiatives.

The administration projects the Highway Trust Fund, which is funded by the federal tax on gasoline, will run dry in late August or early September. It is proposing to replenish it over 18 months while Congress develops a six-year blueprint for transportation priorities and funding.

Officials at the Transportation Department said in the documents sent to Congress that lawmakers should approve the stop-gap measure before their next recess in August to avoid further strain on state budgets.

The administration also released details of Obama's vision for a national infrastructure bank, a centerpiece transportation initiative he promised to pursue during his campaign for president that was broadly described in his proposed budget.

(Reporting by John Crawley and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

LOS ANGELES – Karl Malden, the onetime Indiana steelworker and Academy Award-winning actor whose intelligent characterizations on stage and screen made him a star despite his plain looks, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 97.
Malden died of natural causes surrounded by his family at his Brentwood home, they told the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He served as the academy's president from 1989-92.
"Karl lived a rich, full life," Academy president Sid Ganis said. "He has the greatest and most loving family; a career that has spanned the spectrum of the arts from theater to film and television, to some very famous commercial work."
While he tackled a variety of characters over the years, he was often seen in working-class garb or military uniform. His authenticity in grittier roles came naturally: He was the son of a Czech mother and a Serbian father, and worked for a time in the steel mills of Gary, Ind., after dropping out of college.
Malden said he got his celebrated bulbous nose when he broke it a couple of times playing basketball or football, joking that he was "the only actor in Hollywood whose nose qualifies him for handicapped parking." He liked to say he had "an open-hearth face."
Malden won a supporting actor Oscar in 1951 for his role as Blanche DuBois' naive suitor Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire" — a role he also played on Broadway.
He was nominated again as best supporting actor in 1954 for his performance as Father Corrigan, a fearless, friend-of-the-workingman priest in "On the Waterfront." In both movies, he costarred with Marlon Brando.
"When you worked with him, he was the character," said Eva Marie Saint, who garnered a supporting actress Oscar for her role in "Waterfront." "He was the consummate actor and he loved acting. He was dear and smart. Whatever he did he enjoyed life."
Among Malden's more than 50 film credits were: "Patton," in which he played Gen. Omar Bradley, "Pollyanna," "Fear Strikes Out," "The Sting II," "Bombers B-52," "Cheyenne Autumn," and "All Fall Down."
One of his most controversial films was "Baby Doll" in 1956, in which he played a dullard husband whose child bride is exploited by a businessman. It was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency for what was termed its "carnal suggestiveness." The story was by "Streetcar" author Tennessee Williams.
Malden gained perhaps his greatest fame as Lt. Mike Stone in the 1970s television show "The Streets of San Francisco," in which Michael Douglas played the veteran detective's junior partner.
"Karl `The Mentor' Malden was a great actor, father and husband. I admired and loved him deeply," Douglas, who was in Europe, said through his publicist.
Douglas saluted Malden last month when he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.
"It was Karl who, more than anyone, got me to understand that an actor is just one part of a whole team that makes a TV series or movie work," Douglas said in the upcoming July 19 airing of the event on TV Land.
In the '70s, Malden gained a lucrative 21-year sideline and a place in pop culture with his "Don't leave home without them" ads for American Express.
"The Streets of San Francisco" earned him five Emmy nominations. He won one for his role as a murder victim's father out to bring his former son-in-law to justice in the 1985 miniseries "Fatal Vision." He and Saint played husband and wife.
Malden played Barbra Streisand's stepfather in the 1987 film "Nuts;" Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr. in the 1988 TV film "My Father, My Son;" and Leon Klinghoffer, the cruise ship passenger murdered by terrorists in 1985, in the 1989 TV film "The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro."
He acted sparingly in recent years, appearing in 2000 in a small role on TV's "The West Wing."

In 2004, Malden received the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award, telling the group in his acceptance speech that "this is the peak for me."

Malden first gained prominence on Broadway in the late 1930s, making his debut in "Golden Boy" by Clifford Odets. It was during this time that he met Elia Kazan, who later was to direct him in "Streetcar" and "Waterfront."

He steadily gained more prominent roles, with time out for service in the Army in World War II (and a role in an Army show, "Winged Victory.")

"A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway in 1947 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle awards. Brando's breakthrough performance might have gotten most of the attention, but Malden did not want for praise. Once critic called him "one of the ablest young actors extant."

Among his other stage appearances were "Key Largo," "Winged Victory," Arthur Miller's "All My Sons," "The Desperate Hours," and "The Egghead."

Malden was known for his meticulous preparation, studying a script carefully long before he stepped into his role.

"I not only figure out my own interpretation of the role, but try to guess other approaches that the director might like. I prepare them, too," he said in a 1962 Associated Press interview. "That way, I can switch in the middle of a scene with no sweat."

"There's no such thing as an easy job, not if you do it right," he added.

He was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago on March 22, 1912. Malden regretted that in order to become an actor he had to change his name. He insisted that Fred Gwynne's character in "On the Waterfront" be named Sekulovich to honor his heritage.

The family moved to Gary, Ind., when he was small. He quit his steel job 1934 to study acting at Chicago's Goodman Theatre "because I wasn't getting anywhere in the mills," he recalled.

"When I told my father, he said, `Are you crazy? You want to give up a good job in the middle of the Depression?' Thank god for my mother. She said to give it a try."

In 2005, the U.S. Postal Service honored Malden by naming the post office in Brentwood to honor his achievement in film and his contributions to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which meets to discuss ideas for stamp designs.

Malden helped create the "Legends of Hollywood" stamp series that has featured Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Gary Cooper, and another celebrating Hollywood's behind-the-scenes workers.

"As a kid, all the letters that would come from the old country, he would see the stamps and they always intrigued him," said David Failor, executive director of stamp services for the Postal Service. "He was such a regular guy."

Malden and his wife, Mona, a fellow acting student at the Goodman, had one of Hollywood's longest marriages, having celebrated their 70th anniversary in December.

"That was sort of the last goodbye," said Saint, who attended a party in the couple's honor. "His wish was, `After I die, I don't want you to do anything but have a party.' So another party is coming up."

Besides his wife, Malden is survived by daughters Mila and Cara, his sons-in-law, three granddaughters, and four great grandchildren.

___

Associated Press writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

An air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. Air purifiers for residential use are commonly marketed as being particularly beneficial to allergy sufferers and asthmatics, and at reducing or eliminating second-hand tobacco smoke.Commercial grade air purifiers are manufactured as both a small stand-alone unit, and as larger units that can be affixed to an air handler unit (AHU) or to an HVAC unit found in the medical, industrial, and commercial industries.

Dust, pollen, pet dander, mold spores, and dust mite feces can act as allergens, triggering allergies in sensitive people. Smoke particles and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can pose a risk to health. Exposure to various components such as VOCs increases the likelihood of experiencing symptoms of sick building syndrome. Additionally, with the advancement in technology, air purifiers are becoming increasingly capable of capturing a greater number of bacterial, virus, and DNA particulates. Air purifiers are used to reduce the concentration of these airborne contaminants and though very useful for people who suffer from allergies and asthma, technological and scientific studies are finding that poor air quality is more a contributing factor of some forms of cancer, respiratory illnesses, COPD, and other pulmonary infections and illnesses. They also reduce the need for frequent room and area cleaning. Air purifiers use a small amount of electrical energy, causing a small amount of expense and environmental effect.

http://www.vitalfoodstore.com/industrial-air-purifiers-commercial-air-purifier-p/770112v.htm

An air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. Air purifiers for residential use are commonly marketed as being particularly beneficial to allergy sufferers and asthmatics, and at reducing or eliminating second-hand tobacco smoke.Commercial grade air purifiers are manufactured as both a small stand-alone unit, and as larger units that can be affixed to an air handler unit (AHU) or to an HVAC unit found in the medical, industrial, and commercial industries.

Dust, pollen, pet dander, mold spores, and dust mite feces can act as allergens, triggering allergies in sensitive people. Smoke particles and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can pose a risk to health. Exposure to various components such as VOCs increases the likelihood of experiencing symptoms of sick building syndrome. Additionally, with the advancement in technology, air purifiers are becoming increasingly capable of capturing a greater number of bacterial, virus, and DNA particulates. Air purifiers are used to reduce the concentration of these airborne contaminants and though very useful for people who suffer from allergies and asthma, technological and scientific studies are finding that poor air quality is more a contributing factor of some forms of cancer, respiratory illnesses, COPD, and other pulmonary infections and illnesses. They also reduce the need for frequent room and area cleaning. Air purifiers use a small amount of electrical energy, causing a small amount of expense and environmental effect.

http://www.vitalfoodstore.com/industrial-air-purifiers-commercial-air-purifier-p/770112v.htm

BETHESDA, Md. – It's not often that a player is bold enough to challenge Tiger Woods on the golf course. Rarer still is when it happens during a pro-am round from one of his amateur partners.
"That still puts me 1 up," Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said to him Wednesday morning.
"Does it, now?" Woods replied, not sounding the least bit concerned.
The world's No. 1 player then smoked a fairway metal down the 17th at Congressional Country Club. Romo, a scratch player who asked to play from the championship tees, followed with a 3-wood that traveled about a yard farther.
On the par-3 second, Romo appeared to have the edge when Woods bladed a bunker shot over the green and into the gallery. He didn't finish out the hole, and when Romo three-putted from the fringe, the quarterback said, "You wouldn't have made 4 from there."
They didn't mention the stakes or how many shots Woods gave Romo — if any — although it had a familiar conclusion.
"He contributed to my spending fund, which is nice," Woods said later on his Web site.
The bold move by Woods was playing with the Cowboys' quarterback in Washington Redskins country, and while it attracted a large gallery for the 6:30 a.m. tee time, the cheers and jeers were relatively tame.
"How about an autograph?" one fan said to Romo. "I've got a Tony Romo jersey on and I've already been in three fights."
Romo kept walking.
"Jason Campbell signed it," the fan called to him.
Campbell, the Redskins quarterback, played in another pro-am group, while Woods and Romo were joined by House Minority Leader John Boehner, who spent most of his day picking up his ball before he reached the green.
There was plenty of star power at Congressional, even during the opening ceremony when Jessica Simpson sang the national anthem.
When the AT&T National gets under way Thursday, the biggest star will be the tournament host.
Woods missed his own tournament last year, which was played a week after he had season-ending knee surgery. He had to watch from his couch as Anthony Kim closed with a bogey-free 65 for a two-shot victory.
"I thought he was here last year," Kim said. "His name was all over the place."
It is everywhere but the trophy.
One obscure piece of trivia that could come out of this tournament is a chance for Woods to match Jack Nicklaus by winning his tournament on the second try. Nicklaus won the Memorial in 1977, the second year of the tournament.

The only Nicklaus record that matters to Woods is 18 professional majors, and that's on his mind, too.

Woods is playing for the first time since he failed to defend his title in the U.S. Open at Bethpage, largely due to his putting. Next up is the British Open in two weeks at Turnberry, a links course he has only seen on television.

For now, he is intent on being a "greedy host."

He wants the 120-man field at Congressional to have a great week, as long as he goes home with the trophy.

"I always put in as much as I possibly can to win an event," he said. "It is fun winning your own event."

He has won the Chevron World Challenge, his charity tournament in California, four times. Woods also is going for a hat trick of sorts by trying to win three tournaments in one year hosted by PGA Tour players, having previously won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the Memorial, which Nicklaus runs.

Strangely enough, both those tournaments were his final events before a major.

And the majors haven't worked out for him so far this year.

In both majors he tied for sixth, four shots out of the lead. He hit the ball poorly at the Masters, but knew Augusta National well enough and made enough putts to at least give himself an outside chance Sunday. He hit the ball beautifully at Bethpage Black, only to fail miserably on the greens.

"Just like all major championships, you have to have all the pieces going," Woods said. "You have to hit the ball well, chip well, putt well, think well. And that's the whole idea of majors. Every single facet of your game is tested. And it just didn't work out.

"Looking forward to the next two."

Preparations for Turnberry really won't start until he arrives, although he can start by making sure his game is sound on a Congressional course that will host the U.S. Open in 2011.

The field features U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh from the top 10 in the world ranking.

"It's a place that I would always put on my schedule because I think the world of the golf course," Furyk said. "I've played very well here the last couple years, so I've got some good memories."

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes are keeping Erik Cole with a two-year deal.
He and the Hurricanes agreed to a contract Wednesday that will pay him $2.8 million this upcoming season and $3 million in 2010-11.
Carolina dealt Cole to Edmonton last summer, then reacquired him at the trading deadline. His return re-energized the Hurricanes — and All-Star Eric Staal in particular — down the stretch, but he struggled in the playoffs with no goals and five assists in 18 games.
He had 18 goals and 24 assists in 80 regular-season games.
Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford called Cole "an important piece for our franchise for a long time."
Cole became the second player to re-sign with Carolina this week. Jussi Jokinen previously signed on for two years.

LONDON (Reuters) –
The promoter of Michael Jackson's planned run of 50 concerts in London wants his family to stage an all-star show in his memory and said on Tuesday he had discussed the idea with them.

Randy Phillips, chief executive of AEG Live, also said Jackson appeared to be fit and ready to perform the day before he died last Thursday, aged 50, after suffering cardiac arrest.

"At some point the world needs to see this production, and I would imagine if we could do it, it would be done as a tribute with the family ... but also other stars who loved Michael and were influenced by him," Phillips told Sky News.

"But the world needs to see this production, and it's done," he said, referring to the spectacular that Jackson and AEG Live created for the run of shows at London's O2 Arena which had been scheduled to open on July 13.

"We're discussing that with the family and obviously the sooner the better."

Countering suggestions that Jackson was in poor health and should not have been pushed to rehearse for a series of physically demanding concerts, Phillips said he had spoken to the star the day before he died.

"He gave me a hug and whispered into my ear: 'Now I know I can do this', he was that engaged."

Photographer Kevin Mazur told Reuters earlier that Jackson had been "full of energy" at rehearsals in Los Angeles.

"A picture tells a story," he said, referring to images he took in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 23, two days before Jackson's death. They were released to the media this week.

"He was just the same old Michael and when he hit the stage he was full of energy, happy, very upbeat, having fun."

Phillips said AEG Live was considering releasing footage of Jackson rehearsing in order to prove this point.

FINANCIAL FALLOUT

Insurance experts have said AEG Live, which has offered full refunds to the 750,000 people who snapped up tickets to the Jackson shows, faced sizeable financial losses. Phillips conceded that hiring Jackson had been a risk.

"When you're in business like we are, you take risks all the time and in the case of Michael Jackson ... we thought it was an acceptable risk.

"We had (insurance) coverage and stuff like that. We probably will be fine financially from this but, right now, we're trying to do the best thing for the estate."

Phillips described what he saw at the Los Angeles hospital where Jackson was taken after falling ill.

"They brought him in on a stretcher and they put him into the emergency room," he said. "I was sitting in a chair right outside the ...operating room, and there was tons of activity, and they were trying to resuscitate him and save him and working really hard.

"I sat there ... it seemed, honestly, like an eternity. But it took about an hour, an hour and a half before the nurse came out and told (Jackson manager) Frank (DiLeo) and I that there was no hope."

He said Jackson's doctor Carlton Murray was one of the people who told the singer's children that he had died.

"I stood at the doorway when they went in and they told them and just the look of fear in their faces... it was hard. I'll think about that the rest of my life. But they seem to be doing really well."

He added that he had tried to dissuade Jackson from hiring Murray as his personal doctor, because of the costs involved.

"Michael told me ... 'you don't understand. My body is the machine that fuels this business and I need personal care and I want a doctor 24/7 like President Obama would have and this is my doctor'."

(Additional reporting by Avril Ormsby; editing by Robert Woodward)

Demoscene intros came to feature their own particular style of chiptune music. Although chiptune could historically refer to any style of music, the term is mostly used today to refer to the style of music used in these intros, since other styles of music have moved on to more sophisticated technology.

The June 2008 issue of Paste Magazine has an article on chiptune artist Jeremiah "Nullsleep" Johnson, and the included sampler CD features chiptune song "Local Hero" by Crazy Q.

Voice Chips

Vinyl will never completely die. Despite being dethroned by cassette tapes, bludgeoned by CDs, and pummeled by MP3s, records are still out there and the people who love them are rabidly enthusiastic about the medium. Still, despite being the most public face of vinyl's livelihood, many DJs actually have divided feelings about its practicality. The allure of trading in a back-breaking crate of records for a palm-size hard drive loaded with digital audio is a convenience few DJs can resist.

While the Stanton T.90 has a dizzying array of features compared to most consumer turntables, it's only about average compared to many modern DJ turntables such as the Numark TTX and Vestax PDX-2300MK2 Pro. There's a mode selector switch for 33, 45, and 78RPMs, dual start/stop brakes, a reverse button, pitch control with selectable 8 percent and 12 percent ranges, and a key-lock mode for digitally modifying a song's speed independent of pitch. On the back you'll find a USB port for connecting to your computer, stereo RCA outputs with a switch for phono or line impedance, an S/PDIF digital coaxial output, and a power switch.

USB Turntable

LOS ANGELES – The life of "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett is being celebrated Tuesday at a private funeral held, fittingly, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Her longtime companion, Ryan O'Neal, and her friend, Alana Stewart, both wore black as they entered the service, which was closed to media and the public.
Fawcett died Thursday at age 62 after a public battle with cancer. O'Neal and Stewart were at her side.
"After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away," O'Neal said in a statement last week. "Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world."
Diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2006, Fawcett's battle with the disease was documented in "Farrah's Story," which aired last month on NBC.
Stewart, a producer of the documentary, said Fawcett was "much more than a friend; she was my sister."
"Although I will miss her terribly, I know in my heart that she will always be there as that angel on the shoulder of everyone who loved her," Stewart said in a statement.
Fawcett and O'Neal, 68, have a son, 24-year-old Redmond, who has been jailed since April 5 on drug charges.
Last week, a judge granted his request to attend Fawcett's funeral. The order by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jane Godfrey allows Redmond O'Neal to be released for three hours and wear street clothes to attend the funeral.

DALLAS – Mark Cuban wants to be first in line to talk to Jason Kidd.
Cuban posted Tuesday on Twitter, "Getting ready to fly up to NYC for Free Agent meeting at 12:01," and that free agent is Kidd, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because NBA rules prevent commenting on such things.
Cuban has made it clear he wants to keep Kidd, but it might not be that easy. The New York Knicks are believed to be interested, too, as could LeBron James and the Cavaliers or perhaps Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Kidd has never won an NBA championship, but has won an Olympic gold medal alongside James and Bryant.
ESPN.com first reported Cuban's meeting with Kidd.

Home Theater Design

In the early to mid 90's, a typical Home Cinema would have a Laserdisc or S-VHS player fed to a large screen: rear projection for the more affordable setups, and LCD or CRT front projection in the more elaborate. In the late 1990s, the development of DVD, 5.1-channel audio, and high-quality video projectors that provide a cinema experience at a price that rivals a big-screen HDTVs sparked a new wave of home cinema interest. In the 2000s, developments such as High Definition video and newer HD display technologies enable people to enjoy a cinematic feeling in their own home at an affordable price.

In places that have the proper outdoor atmosphere, it is possible for people to set up a home theater in their backyard. Depending on the space available, it may simply be a temporary version with foldable screen, a projector and couple of speakers, or a permanent fixture with huge screens and dedicated audio set up poolside. Due to the outdoor nature, it is quite popular with BBQ parties and pool parties.

NEW YORK – It's one of the biggest mysteries in the Michael Jackson saga: How much was the lavish-spending, massively debt-ridden pop icon really worth?
In the most detailed account yet of the singer's tangled financial empire, documents obtained by The Associated Press show Jackson claimed to have a net worth of $236.6 million as of March 31, 2007. But less than $700,000 of that amount was in cash — a relatively paltry sum given his opulent lifestyle, prodigious borrowing and seven-figure shopping sprees.
The dollar amounts, which previously consisted of estimates, are crucial because Jackson's estate is expected to become the focus of a legal battle between the singer's family and creditors.
The revelation came Tuesday as Jackson's family reversed itself and said the singer did in fact have a will — complicating a bid by Jackson's mother to take control of her son's finances.
Jackson had $567.6 million in assets, including his Neverland Ranch and his share of the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog, which includes the rights to songs by the Beatles, according to a statement of financial condition prepared by Washington, D.C.-based accounting firm Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates.
The report was prepared at a time when Jackson had large sums of debt coming due that had to be refinanced. The financial statement, which is not as thorough as an audit, was based in large part on estimates provided by Jackson's advisers that the accounting firm said it could not verify.
In the documents, the firm also said it omitted the amount Jackson owed in income taxes.
The documents do not show how much money he had coming in that year or how much he was spending, which makes it hard to estimate just how cash-poor he was. Still, the statement paints a picture of Jackson's tangled finances and the mountain of debt he left behind.
The five-page report says Jackson had debts of $331 million. The singer had just $668,215 in cash, according to the report.
The accounting firm did not return calls seeking comment.
The report puts a net value on Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog — his most prized asset — at $390.6 million. The 750,000-song catalog includes music by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Lady Gaga and the Jonas Brothers.
A separate document obtained by the AP details Jackson's dealings with Sony Music Entertainment Inc., which owns the other half of Sony/ATV. Jackson was guaranteed a cash distribution of $11 million a year from the venture through September 2011, according to the May 25, 2007, document that was signed by the pop star.
The document also detailed Sony's ability to buy an unspecified percentage of Jackson's remaining share in Sony/ATV.
It said Sony agreed to guarantee loans made to Jackson through September 2011 and to help him refinance his debts. Sony also agreed to advance Jackson money to help pay the interest to his main creditor at the time, Fortress Investment Group LLC, to avoid defaulting. Barclays Bank PLC took over the Fortress loan, which is now around $315 million, in December 2007.
The documents also show that Jackson gave his approval for Sony/ATV to use up to $400 million to purchase the 125,000-song Famous Music LLC catalog from Viacom Inc., which holds such songs as "Footloose" and "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem. The deal was announced a week later.
A Sony/ATV spokesman declined to comment.
Another of Jackson's prized possessions, his Neverland Ranch, is valued at $33 million, according to the accounting firm's report. He also had $20 million worth of cars, antiques, collectibles and other property.
It's likely that Neverland, a 2,500-acre property in the rolling hills of Santa Barbara County, has dropped in value since 2007 along with the rest of the battered California housing market, experts said.

"The luxury market in the past year has really taken a hit in markets across the country," said Rick Goodwin, publisher of Ultimate Homes and its parent publication, Unique Homes.

The ranch in central California's wine country was set to be sold in March 2008 because of missed payments on a $24.5 million loan, but Jackson managed to cut an 11th-hour deal to keep it off the auction block.

The fact that few, if any, similar properties in the area are selling makes it even harder to determine Neverland's current market value. A couple of properties in the 500-acre range are on the market in the area for around $10 million, said Steve Schott, a real estate appraiser based in Santa Barbara.

Jackson died Thursday at age 50 of what his family has said was cardiac arrest. Medical examiners in Los Angeles are perhaps weeks away from determining the official cause of death.

The divvying up of Jackson's assets — and the settling of his debts — are likely to be hotly contested in court. On Monday, lawyers for Katherine and Joe Jackson won temporary custody of Michael Jackson's three children and moved to become administrators of his estate.

A judge granted 79-year-old Katherine Jackson temporary guardianship of the children, who range in age from 7 to 12. He also gave her control over some of her son's personal property that is now in the hands of an unnamed third party. But the judge did not immediately rule on her requests to take charge of the children's and Jackson's estates.

___

Associated Press writers Alex Veiga, Ryan Nakashima and Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

When a new skin is being put on a drum, this whole pulling process is preceded by soaking a skin in water until it is very pliable. That wet skin is placed on the drum with the ring system while the rope verticals gently pull the rings down a bit. Then it's left to dry completely before the vigorous pulling and twisting described above happens.

Intermediate and advanced players usually join workshops with many students (sometimes up to 15) and learn new phrases and rhythms from master drummers. Literature for these two levels of drummers is still scarce if not unavailable.

Djembe

Usually, sandals are worn in warmer climates or during warmer parts of the year, because feet stay cool and dry. The chances of developing athlete's foot is lower than with enclosed shoes, and wearing sandals may be part of the treatment for such an infection.

Sandals are an open type of footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs passing over the instep and around the ankle. While the distinction between sandals and other types of footwear can sometimes be blurry (as in the case of huaraches—the woven leather footwear seen in Mexico), the common understanding is that a sandal leave most or all of the foot exposed. People may choose to wear sandals for several reasons, among them economy (sandals tend to require less material than shoes), comfort in warm weather, and as a fashion choice.

Womens Sandals

RIO DE JANEIRO – Signals from the black boxes of Air France Flight 447 are fading, weakening along with hopes of resolving what experts are calling one of history's most challenging plane crash investigations.
Emergency beacons attached to cockpit voice and data recorders are built to emit strong "pings" for 30 days after a crash before fading away, though experts said they could continue for as long as 45 days.
Wednesday marks Day 30 since the plane dropped out of the sky with 228 people on board in a remote area of the Atlantic far off Brazil's northeastern coast and from radar coverage. A burst of automated messages emitted by the plane before it fell gave rescuers only a vague location to begin their search.
"Without that starting point, the 'needle in the haystack' analogy would look like an easy assignment compared to this," said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. "This is the most difficult accident in terms of recovery operations that I've ever seen."
Those hunting for the two black boxes said the search will continue. On Tuesday, Martine del Bono, spokeswoman for the French air accident agency leading the investigation, said it "is continuing the search" as long as there is a "reasonable" chance of locating the black boxes. She gave no final deadline.
U.S. Air Force Col. Willie Berges, the Brazil-based commander of the American military forces supporting the effort, has said searchers are likely to keep looking for 12 to 15 days beyond the crash's 30-day mark. The Americans are operating two U.S. Navy pinger locators that are being towed by French-contracted ships. A French nuclear submarine is scouring a search area with a radius of 50 miles (80 kilometers) in the area where the plane is thought to have crashed.
The logistics of recovering debris and remains from the Air France flight are complicated by its disappearance 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) off Brazil's mainland. Investigators should have an easier time recovering debris and clues in the crash of a Yemeni Airbus 310 with 153 people on board that went down Tuesday just nine miles (14.5 kilometers) north of the Indian Ocean island-nation of Comoros.
The black boxes emit an electronic tapping sound that can be heard up to 1.25 miles (two kilometers) away. While searchers for the Air France plane have detected some noise in the deep ocean, they have heard nothing from the flight recorders.
The Airbus A330 jet went down in the middle of the Atlantic shortly after midnight June 1. The crash date had been reported as May 31, as it was 11:14 p.m. on Brazil's mainland when the plane sent its last automated messages. But as searchers found debris and those messages were made public, it was clear the plane had crossed into a new time zone — and a new day — before it went into the ocean.
Without the crucial evidence the black boxes contain, investigators may never be able to determine definitively why the jet fell — despite the recovery of a substantial amount of wreckage and the remains of 51 people.
"The most you can do is a detailed forensic analysis of what affected the recovered items," Goelz said. "That may or may not give you a picture of what went on. But it isn't going to go to the cause of the accident, it will go to what happened after the event occurred."
With the recorders still missing, investigators are focusing on the automated messages sent by the plane minutes before it lost contact. One indicates the plane was receiving incorrect speed information from external monitoring instruments, which could destabilize the plane's control systems. Experts have suggested those external instruments might have iced over. Air France has now replaced the monitors, called Pitot tubes, on all its Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft.
But the mystery of what really caused the crash continues, leaving aviation safety experts unclear about what needs to be changed to stop a similar catastrophe in the future.
"Any time you have an accident that remains a question mark, it is a problem for the whole aviation community," Goelz said. "The aviation community and the public want to know what happened so we can prevent it from happening again."
___
Associated Press Writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

KARLSRUHE, Germany (AFP) –
Germany's top court on Tuesday delayed the ratification of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty but leaders expressed confidence that the landmark reforms would still be adopted soon.

In a keenly awaited decision, the Federal Constitutional Court said the treaty -- aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-nation bloc -- must be put on ice until a law protecting national parliamentary powers is passed.

"If one wanted to summarise this result, one could say: the constitution says 'yes' to the Lisbon Treaty but demands that parliament's right to participation be strengthened at the national level," the court said.

The court also rejected complaints that the treaty would transfer too much power to Brussels and said the reforms were fundamentally in line with the country's laws.

That led Chancellor Angela Merkel to hail the ruling as a "good day for the Lisbon Treaty".

"The important message of the day is that the Lisbon Treaty has cleared another significant hurdle. I am very pleased about that," Merkel told reporters in Berlin after the judgement.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "I am sure that the treaty will be ratified this year."

In Brussels, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was also upbeat about the treaty's future.

"I am confident that we can complete the process of ratification ... in all countries by the autumn," he said.

The treaty -- which aims not only to make the EU run more smoothly but also seeks to give the bloc a stronger voice on the world stage -- must be ratified by all 27 member states before it can come into force.

To speed up ratification in Germany, lawmakers will hold special sessions on August 26 and September 8 to pass a law that satisfies the court's demands.

A European affairs analyst at the Bertelsmann Foundation, Joachim Fritz-Vannahme, said he thought the process would now run rapidly.

"I can well expect this to happen as quickly as possible so that the ratification ... is not slowed down any more," he said.

The foreign minister of Sweden, which is due to take the EU helm on Wednesday, also said he was unconcerned about the decision.

"There is no major dissent on the political scene in Germany on this particular issue," Carl Bildt told journalists.

France's new secretary of state for foreign affairs, Pierre Lellouche, on his first official visit to Berlin, told reporters he saw a "real consensus on the German side" and that he had "received assurances that Germany will be ready by early September" to ratify the treaty.

Although the treaty was approved by a large majority in both houses of the German parliament, the country's president, Horst Koehler, has delayed signing the document pending the court's decision.

While it seems like the treaty will be ratified in Germany in September, the document's rocky road to adoption may still throw up some tricky pitfalls as three other countries -- the Czech Republic, Ireland and Poland -- have still not signed.

Ireland, which voted against the treaty last year, will hold a second referendum, probably in October, after receiving guarantees the treaty would not affect issues close to voters' hearts, such as military neutrality and abortion.

Recent polls have shown the Irish are more likely to vote in favour of the reforms the second time around as the global financial crisis has hit the former "Celtic Tiger" economy harder than most.

The eurosceptic Czech and Polish presidents have said they will not sign the treaty until Ireland has voted again.

And fears are growing in Brussels that Britain could yet torpedo the treaty if, as polls suggest, the eurosceptic Conservative party comes to power in elections that must be held before June 2010.

Conservative leader David Cameron has vowed to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if he becomes prime minister, with surveys indicating that Britain would vote decisively against it.

If the Lisbon Treaty were to come into force, the EU would do away with the current unwieldy system of the rotating presidency in favour of the selection of a leader for a limited term.

A powerful foreign policy supremo would also be appointed.

The treaty itself is a watered-down version of the European constitution that was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

The word "money" is believed to originate from a temple of Hera, located on Capitoline, one of Rome's seven hills. In the ancient world Hera was often associated with money. The temple of Juno Moneta at Rome was the place where the mint of Ancient Rome was located. The name "Juno" may derive from the Etruscan goddess Uni (which means "the one", "unique", "unit", "union", "united") and "Moneta" either from the Latin word "monere" (remind, warn, or instruct) or the Greek word "moneres" (alone, unique).

The term "price system" is sometimes used to refer to methods using commodity valuation or money accounting systems.

Fast Cash

All forms of diabetes have been treatable since insulin became medically available in 1921, but there is no cure. The injections by a syringe, insulin pump, or insulin pen deliver insulin, which is a basic treatment of type 1 diabetes. Type 2 is managed with a combination of dietary treatment, exercise, medications and insulin supplementation.

Insulin is the principal hormone that regulates uptake of glucose from the blood into most cells (primarily muscle and fat cells, but not central nervous system cells). Therefore deficiency of insulin or the insensitivity of its receptors plays a central role in all forms of diabetes mellitus.

Diabetic Supplies

MANCHESTER (AFP) –
Manchester United said on Tuesday they have signed Wigan winger Antonio Valencia on a four-year contract for a fee believed to be in the region of 16 million pounds (22 million dollars).

"Joining Manchester United is a dream come true for me," the 23-year-old Ecuadoran told the club website www.manutd.com.

"I have enjoyed my time at Wigan, but I am thrilled to have the chance to challenge for the biggest honours in club football here," he added.

"Playing in front of 76,000 fans alongside players like Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs will be an amazing experience. I can't wait to get started."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been a fan of Valencia, who spent two seasons with Wigan and helped turn the club into an established top flight side.

"Antonio is a player we have admired for some time now, having spent the last two years in the Premier League with Wigan," Ferguson said.

"I am sure his pace and ability will make a significant contribution to the team."

Valencia should fill the gap left by Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, who signed for Real Madrid for 80million pounds earlier this month.

BAGHDAD (AFP) –
Iraqi security forces jubilantly paraded in tanks and armoured vehicles on Tuesday as they took control of towns and cities, but the celebrations were marred by a car bomb that killed 27 people.

Iraq marked the June 30 pullback of US troops with a national holiday six years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein but which sparked an insurgency and sectarian bloodshed that left tens of thousands dead.

American troops were set to quit their posts in built-up areas by midnight (2100 GMT), ahead of a complete pullout by the end of 2011.

Before a car bomb in the northern oil hub Kirkuk overshadowed the festivities, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki took issue with critics of Iraq's army and police, insisting they were up to the task of defending the country in the wake of the US withdrawal.

"It is an offence to the Iraqis. The people who said that the foreign troops would never withdraw and would keep permanent bases in our country were giving a green light to the terrorists to kill civilians," he said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described the US pullback as an "important step forward" but added that the remaining US forces in Iraq would remain "vigilant".

Twenty-seven people, including women and children, were killed and 80 wounded in the early evening attack in Kirkuk, according to the city's director of health.

Maliki, who laid a wreath at Iraq's tomb of the unknown soldier inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, wanted the pullback date to coincide with the outbreak in 1920 of a revolt against British occupation after World War I.

President Jalal Talabani thanked US forces for their role in overthrowing Saddam's regime in 2003, and in the years of bloodshed that followed.

"They bore the burden and dangers against the most cruel regime and against the mutual enemy -- the terror," Talabani said on state television.

The handover coincided with a US army announcement that four of its soldiers died from combat-related injuries on Monday, taking to 4,321 the number of American troops killed since the invasion.

General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, told reporters he believed Iraq was now a better country.

"I believe the Iraqi people are much better off not having a dictator such as Saddam Hussein," he said. "They are now going to be able to see that they can move ahead and the people of Iraq will have a say in their government."

Odierno, however, refused to give a number for how many US troops would be left in urban centres.

"The reason I won't do it is because it will be different every single day," he told US journalists in a video-briefing from Iraq, adding that the remaining US troops would be acting as trainers and advisers to Iraqi security forces.

In Beirut, visiting US Central Command chief General David Petraeus said the withdrawal was "moving smoothly, although there have been some sensational attacks."

Tuesday's pullback is part of a security agreement signed in November setting the terms for a continued US troop presence in Iraq. There are now some 133,000 US personnel in Iraq.

Across Baghdad, tanks and armoured vehicles manned by soldiers and police and decorated with artificial flowers, flags and banners passed through the city, as nationalistic songs and popular music played.

"We are happy to receive the security responsibilities and we are able to totally protect our citizens," said policeman Ibrahim al-Mashhadani.

The security shake-up was celebrated by huge crowds in Baghdad's largest park on Monday. Revellers had to undergo three security checks to enter. Even policemen joined in the fun, dancing with the partygoers.

Maliki warned earlier this month that insurgent groups and militias were likely to step up attacks in the run-up to June 30 in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraq's own security forces.

There have been several huge bombings since, the deadliest near Kirkuk on June 20 when 72 people were killed.

The Status of Forces Agreement, which set the pullback deadline, says US commanders must now seek Iraqi permission to conduct operations, but their troops retain a unilateral right to "legitimate self-defence."

Three out of four Americans support the withdrawal from urban centres, although they believe the pullout may lead to increased violence, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released on Tuesday.

The Nation -- When Governor Mark Sanford was merely thought to be clearing his mind on the Appalachian Trial on Naked Hiking Day and all the nanny-state fuss-budgets and media finger-pointers were freaking out, Joe Scarborough knew better: His pal Sanford was the real tax-hating, stimulus-refusing, rugged individual deal, a John Wayne 2.0 who'd stroll back into South Carolina's capital without a care in the world.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cMoment of Zen - Joe Scarborough Knows Mark Sanfordthedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorJason Jones in Iran

Yeah! That's what I'm talking about, wrote RedState.com editor Erick Erickson who called it "refreshing that Mark Sanford is secure enough in himself and the people of South Carolina that he does not view himself as an indispensable man." Government can go take a hike.

So powerful is the myth of the diehard individualist against the state that even after Sanford's gripping press conference--in which he confessed to cheating on his wife, apologized for going AWOL, and emotionally fell apart--some of his fellow Ayn Rand men are trying to shrug off his affair by transferring blame to...Obama.

"The best way to put it--and it's working--he's trying to kill spirit," Rush Limbaugh said of the president. That's right, Obama drove Sanford into the arms of Maria Belen Chapur in Buenos Aires. "He had just tried to fight the stimulus money coming to South Carolina," Rush logicified. "He didn't want any part of it. He lost the battle and said, 'What the hell? The Federal government is taking over! I want to enjoy life!' One of the first things I thought."

Of course it's one of the first things Rush thought--the thrice- divorced, oxycondone addict clearly knows a thing or two about the urge to say the hell with it. But in Sanford's case, "it" is less Obama or the Federal government than the impossibly rigid fiscal and moral puritanism (enforced in no small part by Limbaugh's lash) that makes all those hardcore lone-wolves wanna bust the hell out.

Like many a sanctimonious sinner before him, Sanford's stands on gay marriage, abstinence-only education, and impeaching Bill Clinton for lying about sex have set him up to fall all the harder. But beneath the obvious hypocrisy of a family values Republican committing an offense-of-marriage act lies a deeper contradiction, one that must cleave the Republican soul. Whatever Sanford's--or John Ensign's, David Vitter's, or Larry Craig's--personal demons, their bad-boy adventures cut to the central irony of today's GOP: It's devoted to idea of private wealth and securing the rights of the individual against the tyranny of the majority, but its members themselves must adhere to an ever-narrowing set of acceptable thoughts.

Lest the religious "base" and the party's financiers witch-hunt them as RINOs, avowed conservatives must (and this is a partial list): deny global warming, vilify immigrants and Nancy Pelosi, praise Jesus and Ronald Reagan, and push for war, guns, torture, and excessive compensation for the oligarchy. They must, in effect, demand that society not be generous or feel human sympathy, not even for any of their own irregular yearnings. To fit through the smaller and smaller eye of the needle, all that laissez faire individuality must be severely trimmed.

And while it might seem intuitive that someone who is tight with money will be tight with his personal virtue, in fact nothing is farther from the truth, and the GOP's insistence on both at once is self-selecting a crew of outrageous hypocrites as party leaders. Even the most loyal Republican soldier may think he believes the whole litany of party rights and wrongs, but, whoopsy-daisy, there he is tapping his feet in public restrooms, asking prostitutes if they're good with diapers, bedding a campaign staffer who is his wife's best friend, or disabling his car's tracking device to flee to Argentina undetected.

For years, ever since he rode into the Gingrich congress in 1994, Mark Sanford didn't seem to be one of those extremists in secret distress, torn by the urges to both conform and transgress. In fact, he appeared to be the rare synthesis of those opposing fervors: an anti-government, culture-war populist who was comfortable alternating readings from the corporate and religious scripts. What with his Tea Party, Christian, and Wall Street bona fides (he of Goldman Sachs met his millionaire wife Jenny, of Lazard Freres, in the Hamptons), Sanford was nothing less than the 2012 presidential "holy grail," evangelical writer Warren Smith told The Daily Beast's Max Blumenthal. The governor, adds Tea Party macher Brendan Steinhauser, could have been the guy who finally "unites the different wings of the Republican Party. Economic conservatives, social conservatives, national security conservatives."

Maybe, but throughout his political career, Sanford has displayed an odd absolutism, a rigidity that allowed for zero exceptions to the rules.

Though Sanford's been getting kudos lately for evincing love for both wife and mistress, in 2000, he cast the sole vote in Congress against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

In December, 1998, when Bob Livingston, Newt Gingrich's proposed successor as Speaker of the House, admitted to adultery, Sanford helped show him the door. Although Livingston hadn't broken the law (or even lied in a deposition, as Clinton had earlier that year), Sanford took a stern view worthy of an old Pharoah, telling CNN, "The bottom line...is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife." (As Sanford said in last week's press conference before admitting his affair, "I'm a bottom-line kind of guy.")

And the governor's ultimately failed fatwa against accepting stimulus money to rebuild South Carolina's devastated schools did not seem grafted on. He may have hoped it'd boost his presidential profile, but his stinginess is authentic. "If he found an index card in the garbage and saw that only one side of it had been used," said Will Folks, his former spokesman, "he would explain to the staffer, `This is how campaigns are lost.'"

When you've buried both your heart and your wallet under the same telltale floorboards, after a while maybe you just have to transgress. Repression itself can be a turn-on: denying sexual energy, like denying stim funds, can produce a build-up that's got to find a release. (No, no, don't give me money, withhold it, yes, yes, yes, withhold it!) No wonder Sanford felt the need to ease the torque in his head by digging holes on his estate--deep, hydraulically excavated holes, something he rhapsodized about to Maria, without adding the detail that, according to The American Conservative magazine, he paid some $300,000 to an African-American family whose eight-year-old daughter died after apparently falling into what has been variously described as a "pit" or a "retaining pond" on his property.

Democrats, as Fox News reminds us every day, have their share of sex scandals, and while they do suffer the consequences (Gary Hart, John Edwards, Clinton), their falls from grace lack the Goppers' full-fledged bingo! That may be because, as then-Representative Mark Sanford said of Clinton's apparent Teflon in 1998: "In politics you can get away with anything as long as it's what's expected. If people expect you to be a rascal, you can be a rascal."

And if Democrats are expected to be rascals, it's in part because conservatives have been painting them as wanton libertines about money and sex for ages--and by doing so, whoopsy-daisy, Republicans have painted themselves into one very tight corner. Sanford's biggest sin of all was exposing just how phony the Republican coalition between bankers and religious folks really is. The Holy Grail brings life only to the knight whose heart is true.

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WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday released a list of 44 coal-fired power plant waste sites in 10 states with a high hazard potential, including 12 sites in North Carolina , seven in Kentucky and a large storage pond in Pennsylvania .

The list is the result of an investigation that the EPA ordered after the failure of a Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash pond in Kingston, Tenn. , flooded more than 300 acres of land in December. After the spill, the EPA required electric utilities that store coal ash in surface impoundments to respond to mandatory questionnaires about their sites.

The EPA initially refused to disclose the location of the high-hazard sites to the public, saying it would share the information only with members of Congress and their staffs. Sen. Barbara Boxer , D- Calif. , the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee , pressed the agency to release the list, saying the public had a right to know.

Coal combustion waste stored for many years in impoundment sites at power plants contains toxins such as arsenic, selenium, cadmium and chromium. Even so, national regulations for coal ash are less strict than those for household trash. The EPA is working on new regulations for coal ash waste that are expected by the end of the year.

The next step is for the EPA to review the information it has gathered about the coal-ash sites and call for cleanup and repairs as needed, the agency said in a news release.

The EPA said the high-hazard rating at the 44 sites didn't mean that they were structurally weak, but rather that a failure would probably kill people nearby.

"The presence of liquid coal ash impoundments near our homes, schools and business could pose a serious risk to life and property in the event of an impoundment rupture," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a statement. "By compiling a list of these facilities, EPA will be better able to identify and reduce potential risks by working with states and local emergency responders."

The 44 include 10 Duke Energy ponds at plants in Spencer , Eden , Terrell , Belmont , Walnut Cove and Mount Holly, N.C. , and two Progress Energy Carolinas ponds in Arden, N.C. ; two Kentucky Utilities ponds near Harrodsburg, Ky. , and three in Ghent, Ky. ; a Louisville Gas & Electric pond in Louisville, Ky. ; and a Georgia Power facility in Milledgeville, Ga.

Also on the list was the large Little Blue Run Dam pond that holds waste from the First Energy Generation plant at Shippingport, Pa.

The list also include impoundments in Arizona , Indiana , Illinois , West Virginia , Ohio and Montana .

Boxer said that she was glad to see the EPA release the list of the sites.

"I called on the administration to release the list of these high hazard sites so that people have the information they need to quickly press for action to make these sites safer. One of the lessons we all learned from the TVA coal ash spill is that a close look at these waste sites is extremely important," she said in a statement.

The December spill in Kingston flooded 300 acres and released coal ash into the Emory and Clinch rivers in Tennessee . No one was killed, but homes and other property were damaged. The TVA estimated cleanup costs at up to $825 million .

ON THE WEB

The EPA site list

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BAGHDAD – The top U.S. military commander in Iraq on Tuesday accused Iran of continuing to support and train militants who are carrying out attacks, including most of the ones in Baghdad.
Gen. Ray Odierno said the attacks have fallen in number but are still a problem. He made the comments just after the U.S. relinquished security for Baghdad and other urban areas to Iraqi forces, part of a security agreement that will see all American soldiers out of the country by the end of 2011.
"Iran is still supporting, funding and training surrogates inside Iraq," Odierno told reporters at his base outside Baghdad. "I think many of the attacks in Baghdad are in fact done by individuals supported by Iran."
Odierno said the attacks were mainly indirect fire — a term usually reserved for mortars, rockets and artillery — and EFP's. That weapon, also known as an explosively formed penetrator, is designed to attack armored vehicles such as Humvees. U.S. officials have said the main component of the EFP is manufactured in Iran.
The weapons are among the main killers of U.S. troops in Iraq.
On Monday, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill said he was concerned about military reports showing that illegal arms continue to flow into Iraq from Iran, although he could not say if they had been reduced or increased amid the recent security gains.
"Certainly we've seen examples of this which are not consistent with a good neighbor policy," he told The Associated Press.
"The Iraqi government is also very concerned about this and I think the Iraqi government is taking a very tough minded view of some of these insurgent groups that the Iranians have clearly been supporting over the last year or so," he added.
Hill also said that Iran was still trying to exert a "malevolent influence" over neighboring Iraq but said he was hopeful Iraqis aren't responding.
The U.S. military accuses Iran of backing Shiite militias in Iraq with training and weapons and says it remains a major threat to Iraq's stability as American combat troops pull back from cities in a first step toward a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.
Tehran denies allegations that it is supporting violence in Iraq.

In 2005 Golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world, approximately half of them in the United States. The countries with most golf courses in relation to population, starting with the best endowed were: Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Wales, United States, Sweden, and England (countries with fewer than 500,000 people were excluded). Apart from Sweden, all of these countries have English as the majority language, but the number of courses in new territories is increasing rapidly. For example the first golf course in the People's Republic of China opened in the mid-1980s, but by 2005 there were 200 courses in that country.

A handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer's ability to play golf over 18 holes. Handicaps can be applied either for stroke play competition or match play competition. In either competition, a handicap generally represents the number of strokes above par that a player will achieve on an above average day.

Putting Contest

TIRANA, Albania – Albania's governing party was in a close race with the Socialist opposition on Monday as the votes were slowly counted in the country's parliamentary election.
The conduct of the ballot is seen as a crucial test of the Balkan country's hopes of EU membership, and a preliminary report by international election observers found signs of both improvement and violations.
Exit polls from Sunday's vote indicated that Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha's Democratic Party had won another term in office.
But official results from 57 percent of the ballot boxes counted by 9 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT) Monday showed Albania's 12 electoral districts equally split between the Democrats and the Socialist Party, led by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama.
Berisha was narrowly ahead in the largest district, Tirana, which elects 32 of Albania's 140 lawmakers.
But officials said the counting process was delayed as ballots were being counted electronically for the first time in Albania, and it was unclear when the first nationwide results would be announced.
Central Election Commission spokesman Leonard Olli said the counting was expected to end Tuesday morning, after which central authorities would have 48 hours to calculate the final results.
Olli said the voting and counting process were "free of incidents."
But monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted that, despite improvements from previous elections, violations had persisted.
And opposition leader Rama called on police to intervene in what he claimed was an effort by the Democrats to influence the vote-counting process.
"I am speaking about a plan for verbal aggression with the illegal presence of persons at the counting centers where the Socialist Party is ahead," Rama told a news conference late Monday.
Berisha rejected Rama's allegations as "absurdities."
An OSCE statement said observers "noted procedural violations related in particular to inking procedures and widespread family voting."
"The country has matured, it has made progress, and many of the fears we had only some months ago have not materialized," said Wolfgang Grossruck, a top official among the 500 international election observers. "I'm certainly happy about the progress we saw, but there is also a considerable number of issues that need to be tackled, in particular the polarized political climate."
U.S. Ambassador John Withers said he agreed with the monitors' findings.
"I ... urge the Albanian authorities to build on (Sunday's) success to meet higher, more demanding international standards on future occasions," he said.
Berisha and Rama's parties campaigned on similar platforms, pledging to fight poverty and take Albania closer to the European Union.
In its seventh parliamentary election since the fall of communism in 1990, Albania came under intense international pressure to make sure the vote was fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred previous polls. Albania became a NATO member on April 1 and is seeking to join the 27-nation European Union.

Some 4,300 candidates representing 34 political parties were vying for the 140 seats in Parliament.

Three people have been killed in recent weeks in what local media said were politically motivated attacks, although that remains unclear.

A regional leader for the small Christian Democratic Party was driving when his car exploded earlier this month. A man was shot dead during an argument over a campaign poster, also in June, and an opposition lawmaker was gunned down in May.

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Cap Cana