PBT: In dispatching the Celtics on Tuesday, Miami looked like a relentless machine. The Heat were two games away from a title and they look better than they did last season. Much better. Which is scary for the other 29 teams.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45799904#45799904
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DoSomething.org's annual list ranks the 20 most charity-friendly stars.
By Terri Schwartz
Lady Gaga
Photo: Scott Gries/ Picture Group
Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and George Clooney better have received something nice from Santa this year, because they certainly weren't on his naughty list. Those three toplined DoSomething.org's Top 20 Celebs Gone Good, the organization's annual roundup of the most charity-friendly stars in the business.
This is Gaga's second year in a row at the #1 spot. In 2011 she dedicated much of her time to putting an end to bullying and even started a new charitable organization called Born This Way. The "Marry the Night" singer did plenty more to help out those less fortunate in 2011, including auctioning off a nude sketch for charity and performing at the Bill Clinton Foundation fundraiser. However, this was really Bieber's year to shine. He rocketed up DoSomething.org's list from #10 last year to #2 this year. It helps that Bieber donated some of his profits from his Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe, and his self-named perfume to various charitable organizations. Bieber also kept up his work with Pencils of Promise, a group that has built 41 schools in Laos, Nicaragua and Guatemala and was founded by his manager's brother.
Rounding out the top five were Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio. This was a year for celeb power couples, with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie clocking at #8, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at #12 and newlyweds Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert at #14. Other notable standouts this year were Demi Lovato at #10, Lea Michele making her charitable debut at #16, Daniel Radcliffe at #17, Miley Cyrus at #18 and Taylor Swift rounding out the list at #20. What do you think of DoSomething.org's list? Leave your comments below!
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If you were to look up the allergy medicine Allegra, you'd find that the highest number of problems with the drug were reported around 2005, and that the majority of problems were neurological. DrugCite provides simple graphs that break down the number of reported issues related to the medicine in question and cross-reference that information to provide other useful statistics. Each drug report will also tell you its age, the number of adverse reports over its lifespan, and a gender breakdown of that report. Over 40 years, Allegra only received 2,710 reports. That's only about 68 per year, and that's out of millions of people. While low numbers don't guarantee you anything, and these statistics are only related to reported issues, if you're worried about taking a specific type of medication it can help to see how rare certain problems are to make yourself a little more comfortable.
DrugCite
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FILE - In this file Feb. 11, 2009 file photo, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sources say Nelson will retire. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - In this file Feb. 11, 2009 file photo, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sources say Nelson will retire. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - In this April 26, 2010 file photo, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. leaves the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sources say Nelson will retire. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson survived nearly two decades representing heavily Republican Nebraska by carving a path down the political center. But faced with navigating that road in an increasingly polarizing climate, Nelson is stepping away ? and swinging the door wide open for the GOP.
Nelson, the lone Democrat in Nebraska's five-member congressional delegation, announced Tuesday that he wouldn't seek a third term. He was facing a tough campaign against several Republicans who've spent the past several months attacking his support for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and federal stimulus legislation.
"Who can blame him given the current political mood of the country?" said former state Democratic Party Chairman Steve Achelpohl.
Other Democrats lamented Nelson's decision to retire, fearing it sets up the GOP for an easy victory next year. Republicans need to net just four seats to reclaim control of the Senate, and Nebraska looks to be an easy pickup.
There are no Democrats in line to take Nelson's place in the increasingly conservative state. He joins several other Democrats to retire from the Senate, including Virginia's Jim Webb and North Dakota's Kent Conrad.
After months of speculation that he would leave office, the 70-year-old conservative Democrat told supporters in an emailed statement that he felt it was time he "step away from elective office, spend more time with my family, and look for new ways to serve our state and nation."
"Therefore, I am announcing today that I will not seek re-election," he said. "Simply put: It is time to move on."
The former two-term governor thrived in Nebraska politics partly because he was willing to support Republican ideas when he believed they were in the state's best interests, Achelpohl said.
"Nebraskans are generally independent thinkers, and he was certainly an independent thinker," Achelpohl said. "He just had his finger right on the pulse of the predominant political thinking right in our state and nationally."
Democrats banking on Nelson's ability to leverage those centrist stances and capture statewide races were left scrambling, and many state activists acknowledged being taken by surprise.
While some floated the names of state Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha and Nelson's former lieutenant governor, Kim Robak, as possible contenders, many said it was too early to know who might run. Messages seeking comment were left for Lathrop and Robak.
A dream candidate for Democrats: former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey. Traveling in India on Tuesday, Kerrey told The Washington Post, "Ben's retirement is a huge loss for Nebraska. I am very sad he's leaving. That is as far as I am going (right now)."
Democrats acknowledged the party will face a steep uphill fight to hold on to Nelson's seat, but pointed to a crowded GOP primary field with no obvious front-runner. The ticket includes Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, state Treasurer Don Stenberg, state Sen. Deb Fischer, and investment adviser Pat Flynn.
"This virtually guarantees a Republican victory in 2012," said University of Nebraska Lincoln political scientist Mike Wagner. "There's almost no scenario in which a Democrat can win ? especially at this late stage."
National Republican party leaders also have encouraged Gov. Dave Heineman to join the race, but Heineman has said it would take a lot to persuade him.
The Senate's Democratic campaign chairman, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said she expected that Republicans would "have their hands full with a very divisive primary in the state, which will provide an opportunity for Democrats to remain competitive."
State Sen. Heath Mello, an Omaha Democrat who worked as an aide to Nelson, said he feared Nelson's retirement would inject more partisan politics into an already heated race.
"That is not the way Nebraskans have chosen their senators in the past," Mello said. "We've always elected independent-minded people to represent Nebraska's interests, ahead of the political parties."
Nelson has recently expressed dismay about a divided Congress' inability to pass meaningful legislation, frustration that echoed in his statement Tuesday.
"I encourage those who will follow in my footsteps to look for common ground and to work together in bipartisan ways to do what's best for the country, not just one political party," he said.
Even as Nelson wavered about a re-election bid, he piled up campaign cash, hired a campaign manager and watched his party spend more than $1 million on ads supporting him. The preparation left him with more than $3 million campaign cash on hand last month, about twice his nearest competitor.
The Democrats' Majority PAC alone spent more than $406,000 on media buys and production costs for Nelson's expected re-election campaign in seven separate expenditures between Sept. 9 and Dec. 9.
"I'm absolutely stunned," Kathleen Fahey, a Democratic super-delegate in 2008, said of Nelson's announcement. "Ben has been such a great senator for everybody. I'm not liking this."
Nelson first was elected to the Senate in 2000, defeating Stenberg, a Republican and currently the state treasurer, to replace the retired Kerrey. Nelson positioned himself as a centrist supporting both Democratic and Republican legislation.
He was among only two Senate Democrats to support a failed GOP bid to block new federal controls on power plant pollution that blows downwind into other states earlier this year, and he took great pride in his membership in the 2005 "Gang of 14," made up of Republicans and Democrats who brokered a deal to avoid a filibuster showdown over President George W. Bush's judicial nominees.
However, Nelson's vote in favor of Obama's signature health reform legislation left the GOP confident that they could beat him next year. The health reforms are strongly opposed by many Nebraska conservatives, and after the vote Nebraska Republicans immediately kicked off a "Give Ben the Boot" campaign.
Nelson also was one of five Democratic senators targeted by a national conservative group with ties to GOP strategist Karl Rove. The group, Crossroads GPS, spent $1.6 million on ads attacking Nelson as well as Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida, Clair McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio ? all considered top targets by national Republicans in 2012.
"For once Senator Nelson has listened to Nebraskans," Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mark Fahleson said Tuesday. "The Nebraska Republican Party is more focused than ever on electing another conservative Republican to join Sen. Mike Johanns and recapturing the U.S. Senate so that we can reverse the damage done by Ben Nelson, Washington Democrats and the Obama Administration."
Nelson upset incumbent Nebraska Gov. Kay Orr in 1990 to earn his first statewide office and was re-elected governor in 1994 by a landslide. In 1996, he reneged on a campaign pledge that he wouldn't seek higher office while governor and announced his candidacy for the Senate seat vacated by the retiring Sen. Jim Exon.
Omaha millionaire businessman Chuck Hagel soundly defeated Nelson in that Senate race, but the two later served as colleagues when Nelson was elected in 2000.
Bruning on Tuesday wished Nelson well and praised him as "a dedicated public servant of the state of Nebraska for over two decades," while Fischer expressed confidence the GOP would now claim the seat.
"I think we have a strong group of Republicans, and I happen to believe the seat will go to a Republican," she said.
Stenberg thanked Nelson for his service, but said Nebraskans need "a genuine, lifelong conservative."
___
Associated Press writer Larry Margasak in Washington and Grant Schulte in Lincoln, Neb., contributed to this report.
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Moe Lane provides the introduction:
...the very short version is that the VA GOP only certified Mitt Romney and Ron Paul for its primary ballot. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich both had too many signatures tossed; Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann didn?t even try. Of the seven candidates, one (Romney) had more than enough signatures (15K) to bypass the verification process entirely. All of this has caused a lot of agitation among Republicans following the primary process, of course; and not just from people who disapprove of what the VA GOP has done...
...There has been a good deal of defending of the outcome; and one argument heavily used in this defense has been that the campaigns all knew the rules and that previous Republican campaigns were able to get on the ballot, so clearly a competent current Republican campaign should have done so.
One small problem with that: as Winger argues, the rules were allegedly drastically changed. In November of this year.
...prior to the 2012 elections it was Republican party policy in Virginia to simply deem any candidate that brought in ten thousand raw signatures as having met the primary ballot requirements under Virginian state election law.
And why did the rules change?
...On October 24th independent state delegate candidate Michael Osborne filed suit against the Republican party of Virginia [challenging the signature review process and who performs it] ... according to Winger the VA GOP decided in response to bump up from 10K to 15K the threshold for simply deeming the requirements as being met.
...I think that John Fund?s general comment is correct: this is going to go to the courts. John was not discussing this specific wrinkle, but his larger point that Virginia?s ballot access policies have systemic problems gets a big boost when it turns out that the state party can effectively increase by fifty percent the practical threshold for ballot access ? in a day, and in the middle of an existing campaign.
...If it is true that the Republican party of Virginia decided in November of 2011 to increase the threshold for automatic certification from 10K to 15K, then it is reasonable to suggest that this was a change that unfairly rewarded candidates who had previously run for President in Virginia.
Either way, the issue is going to the courts.
And, either way, the Virginia GOP looks incompetent... or ill-intentioned against conservative candidates.
Action Alert: I urge you to contact the Virginia GOP and demand that they include Gingrich and Perry on the ballot. Be polite, but firm. There's no excuse for issuing new rules at the last minute that just happen to exclude the leading candidates. In fact, it's an outrage.
? Email: Contact Form
? Phone: 804-780-0111
? Fax: 804-343-1060
? Facebook: www.facebook.com/VirginiaGOP
? Twitter: @va_gop
Make contact now. Time is growing short.
Labels: Gingrich, Paul, Perry, Protecting America, Romney
Source: http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/12/action-alert-virginia-gop-changed.html
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Texas Congressman Ron Paul runs a distance third at 5 percent; no other candidate gets more than 3 percent. More than one-third (37 percent) have no preference.
The poll also finds that Obama holds a strong lead in head-to-head matchups with all three GOP front-runners. While Romney does best, Obama leads him by 51 percent to 32 percent. The president doubles Gingrich, 54 percent to 27 percent, while Paul loses, 50 percent to 29 percent.
?New Jersey reflects the rise of Newt Gingrich seen elsewhere, though he has not managed to dethrone Mitt Romney, who has led in every poll we?ve done,? said poll director David Redlawsk, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. ?At the same time, Romney has yet to break out of the 20s in our open-ended question and more than a third have no preference at all. Gingrich is just the latest in a series of threats, which included Sarah Palin and Chris Christie early in the year, and Rick Perry and Herman Cain more recently.?
Results are from 823 registered voters drawn from a survey of 907 adult respondents conducted from Dec. 15-18. The registered voter sample has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. The subsample of 260 registered Republicans and independents leaning Republican has a margin of error of +/- 6.0 percentage points.
The Republican race in New Jersey
Despite more than a dozen nationally televised GOP debates so far, and extensive news coverage of the campaign, 38 percent of Garden State Republicans are still not sure who to support. Although Romney has led in every Rutgers-Eagleton Poll this year, he has not been able to break away, even with Christie?s vocal support.
Although Romney leads among Republican voters, Gingrich ties the former Massachusetts governor among conservatives, at 26 percent. Moderate Republicans prefer Romney to Gingrich by 2 to 1 (28 percent to 14 percent), but are also much more likely to be unable to name any candidate. Almost half (46 percent) are unsure of their final choice compared to 30 percent of conservatives. Women are also more likely than men to be unsure: 49 percent cannot name a preferred candidate, versus 29 percent of men. Twenty-one percent of women support Romney, 15 percent Gingrich and 8 percent name Paul. Among men, 33 percent prefer Romney, 24 percent Gingrich and 4 percent Paul.
?While Governor Christie has had success getting New Jersey Republican to line up behind Romney, rank-and-file voters are not really there yet,? said Redlawsk. ?In spite of leading throughout 2011, Romney has yet to break 30 percent support. Most Republicans seem to be casting about for alternatives, if they can name any candidate at all.?
Despite lukewarm ratings, Obama strong in head-to-heads
Two keys to the president?s strength are that Democrats are nearly united behind him and independents are currently swinging his way. More than eight in 10 Democrats support Obama against any of his challengers. Republican voters are less unified, except in the case of a Romney-Obama race. Paul does best among independents in losing to Obama by 13 points. Romney falls 15 points short and Gingrich trails by 24 points among independents.
?Several months ago we asked whether Obama deserves to be re-elected, and just about as many voters said no as yes,? said Redlawsk. ?But faced with specific challengers, voters can focus, and they now prefer to re-elect the president. Voters are not very thrilled with Obama?s job performance, but they like him better than the Republican contenders.?
The gender gap is alive and well in New Jersey, Redlawsk noted. Obama does extremely well with women, leading Romney by 30 points, Paul by 36 points and Gingrich by 37 points. The Republicans do much better among men, where Paul trails by four points, Romney by seven points and Gingrich by 15 points.
Romney holds his own among white voters; at 41 percent, he lags Obama by one percentage point. Gingrich and Paul do noticeably worse with whites: Gingrich trails, 46 percent to 35 percent, and Paul trails, 42 percent to 35 percent. Obama continues to win about 90 percent of African-American voters.
Republican candidates do best in the northwestern part of the state, with Romney and Gingrich both leading Obama in exurban New Jersey, while Paul draws even. Obama is strongest in north Jersey urban areas, leading all Republicans by about 40 points or more, though he leads in all parts of the state outside northwestern New Jersey.
?Obama?s strength reflects that New Jersey is still a Democratic state when it comes to presidential elections,? said Redlawsk. ?Overcoming that for any Republican may be tough. Of course, the election is nearly year away, and New Jersey voters have yet to become engaged in it. Once the Republicans have a nominee, we should expect to see things tighten.?
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Media Contact: David Redlawsk
732-932-9384, ext. 285
E-mail: redlawsk@rutgers.edu
Source: http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/news-releases/2011/12/rutgers-eagleton-pol-20111220
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While others are spending the weekend bundled up to keep warm, Simon Cowell decided to head south to Barbados to celebrate the Christmas holiday.
The "X Factor" judge was spotted enjoying some time on a personal watercraft Dec. 24 -- just days after the "X Factor" finale in which 19-year-old Melanie Amaro took home the winning title.
"She was a good contestant because she thought long and hard about how she would interpret songs," Cowell told PEOPLE after Amaro won. "Every week we were discovering something new in her."
Check out the photo of Cowell below!
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Stacy Keibler hit the high seas in Mexico, jet skiing while on vacation with some friends.
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