Winners announced for 'WWE ?13' YouTube sweepstakes

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/2k/wwe-2k14/winners-announced-for-wwe-13-youtube-sweepstakes

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Report: Gandolfini's body en route to US

ROME (AP) ? The Italian news agency ANSA says the body of actor James Gandolfini has departed Rome and is en route to the United States.

ANSA did not cite any sources, but published a photo showing airport workers loading a coffin identified as that of the "Sopranos" star on to a plane.

The agency says the private plane took off at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) Sunday. Its exact U.S. destination was unclear.

Family spokesman Michael Kobold earlier told reporters the "provisional plan" was to repatriate Gandolfini's body Monday.

Gandolfini, 51, died Wednesday in Rome. Kobold has said an autopsy revealed the cause was a heart attack. Authorities have not released the report.

The actor had been headed to Sicily to appear at the Taormina Film Festival, which paid tribute to him Saturday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-gandolfinis-body-en-route-us-190541669.html

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Theodor Meron's '67 memo provided legal rationale for settlements

Editor's note:?In recent days we have done a couple of posts (here and here) about a scandal at the Hague, in which a Danish judge has accused Theodor Meron, the Israeli-American presiding judge of the tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, of acting to acquit Serb and Croat leaders convicted of war crimes lest the same standard of complicity is applied to American and Israeli leaders.

In the commentary, some noted Meron's good reputation: he authored a legal opinion in Israel back in 1967 warning Israeli leaders that settling in the occupied territories was illegal. Gershom Gorenberg wrote a long piece in the New York Times in 2006 praising that opinion, under the title, "Israel's Tragedy Foretold." Gorenberg quoted Meron: "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

An American who calls himself "Hostage" is a regular commenter on our site. He questioned the favorable interpretation of the Meron opinion, and at our request offered the following analysis. We protect his identity due to matters of employment.

The 1967 Meron opinion

In 2006 a declassified "Top Secret" advisory opinion written nearly forty years earlier by Theodor Meron was made public. Various accounts explained that it had flatly stated that civilian settlement in occupied territory contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

At the time, Meron served as a Legal Advisor to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Israel. The reports uncharacteristically portrayed Meron as a person who spoke truth to power and opposed Israeli government policies regarding the establishment of settlements in the captured Arab territories.

That portrayal was at odds with Meron's record as a Zionist bureaucrat, when he subsequently served as the Israeli Ambassador to the UN in Geneva. His time in office there had been a contentious one, marked by the usual theatrical performances provided by Israeli representatives to the UN Human Rights Commission. For example, when he was confronted by a reliable fact-finding report that said Israel was guilty of serious violations of the Geneva Conventions, including the establishment of illegal settlements and mass demolition of Arab houses, Meron questioned the legality of the investigating team's mandate and alleged that worse human rights violations existed elsewhere. He claimed that the investigators were enemies of Israel who didn't recognize its right to exist - and he dismissed the report's findings as half-truths and lies.[1] Decades latter, the International Court of Justice confirmed the substance of those Human Rights Commission findings.[2]???????? ?

Three years after the original news reports concerning the Meron Memo [3] the SOAS:Hotung Project made a version available to researchers in English, prepared by a professional legal translation company.[4] The new document cast Theodor Meron's opinion in a much different light than the summaries provided by authors Gershon Gorenburg and Donald Macintyre in their articles for the New York Times and The Independent.

Meron did advise that "civilian settlement" of the occupied territories would contravene the 4th Geneva Convention. But he also advised that, if the government decided to establish settlements in the Golan Heights anyway, it was essential that it be done by the army in the form of (the now-familiar) Nahal camps that would not point to the establishment of permanent settlements. He left no doubt that he was proposing government transfer of settlers into the occupied lands in question, saying: "Even if we settle an army and not civilians, we must, from the point of view of international law, have regard to the question of ownership of the land that we are settling."

With regard to Gush Etzion in the West Bank, he suggested that settlement there could, to a certain extent, be helped by claiming that this is a return to the settlers? homes. Gorenberg quoted what now appears to be an out-of-context snippet from this paragraph to support his belief that Meron had rejected the plans to settle or annex the West Bank. But the memo is full of qualified language and advice on how to skirt the law and settle portions of that territory anyway. Meron merely warned the higher-ups that the international community would probably object to settlement of Gush Etzion on the grounds of the Geneva Convention. Gorenberg was convinced that Meron rejected plans for settlement throughout the West Bank, and only took note of Israel's diplomatic arguments that the West Bank was not "normal" occupied territory.

But in the SOAS:Hotung version, Meron implicitly included himself among those persons who were trying to argue and promote those positions, although he admitted that they had been rejected by the international community and that, in truth, some of Israeli's actions had been inconsistent with those claims. Here's some of his argument:

In terms of settlement on the [West] Bank, we are trying not to admit that here too it is a matter of ?occupied territory?. We argue that this area of the Mandate on the Land of Israel was divided in 1949 only according to Armistice Lines, which, under the Armistice agreements themselves, had merely military, not political, significance and were not determinative until the final settlement. We go on to say that the agreements themselves were achieved as a temporary measure according to Security Council action based on Article 40 of the United Nations Charter. We also argue that Jordan itself unilaterally annexed the West Bank to the Kingdom of Jordan in 1950 and that the Armistice Lines no longer exist because the agreements expired due to the war and Arab aggression. We must nevertheless be aware that the international community has not accepted our argument that the [West] Bank is not ?normal? occupied territory and that certain countries (such as Britain in its speeches at the UN) have expressly stated that our status in the [West] Bank is that of an occupying state. In truth, even certain actions by Israel are inconsistent with the claim that the [West] Bank is not occupied territory.

His comments on the possibility of settlement in the Jordan Valley establish that he hadn't rejected the idea at all. He explicitly left the door open to further discussion once he had been fully briefed on the details of the plan:

"On the possibility of settlement in the Jordan Valley, the legal situation is even more complicated because we cannot claim to be dealing with people returning to their homes and we have to consider that problems of property will arise in the context of the Hague Regulations. I cannot go further into this question without having a lot more detail."

In the end, the legal subterfuges that Meron suggested didn't fool anyone. The Jewish Agency and the Government of Israel had established frontier fortresses along confrontation lines in the past and employed them to expand the boundaries of the Jewish State.

Just a few months later in 1968, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk advised Israel that "Existing settlements in the Golan Heights, Sinai, and at Etzion were justified by the GOI [Government of Israel] as para-military encampments serving security purposes. Recent reports (Tel Aviv A-716) indicate that these settlements are taking on aspects of permanent, civilian, kibbutz-like operations and some are, in fact, civilian kibbutzim with Nahal covers. .? .? .? By setting up civilian or quasi-civilian outposts in the occupied areas the GOI adds serious complications to the eventual task of drawing up a peace settlement. Further, the transfer of civilians to occupied areas, whether or not in settlements which are under military control, is contrary to Article 49 of the Geneva Convention".[5]

Although many people are understandably still under the impression, based on main stream media reports, that Meron was a hero who opposed them, the available evidence indicates that he was a co-perpetrator of the scheme to knowingly and intentionally establish the illegal settlements in the territories captured during the 1967 war.

So history has burnished Judge Theodor Meron's image on the basis of the cover letter to his advisory opinion, while ignoring the rest of its contents.

The advisory opinion that "he still stands by today" already contained all of the right-wing core elements of Yehuda Blum's "The Missing Reversioner: Reflections on the Status of Judea and Samaria"; Meir Shamgar's, "The observance of international law in the administered territories"; and Danny Ayalon's YouTube hasbara videos about the Jewish people's right to the disputed territories.?

When Meron is asked today about prosecuting Israeli officials in the ICC over the settlements, he doesn't offer any opinion, He simply says "there are complicated jurisdictional issues involved", and that he shouldn't comment because of his personal involvement or because he's a judge.

Notes:
[1] See UN Group?s Charges That Israel is Responsible for Deaths of Arab Prisoners Scored As Wild Accusation: link to www.jta.org and UN Human Rights Commission Votes 23-3 to Indict Israel link to www.jta.org

[2] (a) The annexation of parts of the occupied territories; (b) The establishment of Israeli settlers' colonies therein and the transfer of alien population thereto; (c) Mass destruction and demolition of Arab houses; (d) The evacuation, deportation, expulsion, displacement and transfer of Arab inhabitants of the occupied territories, and the denial of their right to return; (e) Mass arrests, administrative detention and ill-treatment of the Arab population; (f) The torture and ill-treatment of persons under detention and the violation of the relevant provisions of the Geneva Conventions; (g) The confiscation, expropriation and all transactions for the acquisition of Arab property and land by Israeli authorities and individuals; (h) The exploitation of human, natural and all other resources of the occupied territories and the promulgation of discriminatory economic legislation; (i) The pillaging of archaeological and cultural property; (j) The denial to the population of the occupied Arab territories of their right to national education and cultural life; (k) The interference with religious freedoms and practices;?

Compare E/CN.4/RES/1(XXXIII) 15 February 1977 link to unispal.un.org and A/31/218 1 October 1976 link to unispal.un.org with Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Palestinian Occupied Territories link to www.icj-cij.org? ?

[3] Israel's Tragedy Foretold link to www.nytimes.com
Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal: link to web.archive.org

[4] 1967 Meron opinion: link to www.soas.ac.uk

[5] 137. Airgram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel link to history.state.gov

Source: http://mondoweiss.net/2013/06/provided-rationale-settlements.html

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House investigators: Disability judges are too lax (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Study: Wiser medication use could cut health costs

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? If doctors and patients used prescription drugs more wisely, they could save the U.S. health care system at least $213 billion a year, by reducing medication overuse, underuse and other flaws in care that cause complications and longer, more-expensive treatments, researchers conclude.

The new findings by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics improve on numerous prior efforts to quantify the dollars wasted on health care.

Numerous experts previously have estimated that tens of billions, perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars, could be better used each year to improve patient care and outcomes and to slow down spending by government health programs, insurers and consumers.

The institute, part of data analysis and consulting firm IMS Health, used its proprietary data on prescriptions written by doctors ? many of which patients never fill ? plus other information to produce a current, more reliable estimate of avoidable costs solely related to medication use.

IMS arrived at the $213 billion figure based on six categories in which doctors, patients or both could be making better use of medication, from getting a prompt diagnosis when new symptoms arise to taking medicines as directed by the doctor. Across the six categories, the researchers generally focused on spending on a handful of very common or very expensive diseases ? from high cholesterol and blood pressure to HIV and diabetes ? for which costs of care and complications are well documented.

"There's even larger avoidable costs if we were to look at all disease areas" where patients aren't getting optimal care, Murray Aitken, the institute's executive director, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. "There's a big opportunity for improvement."

The $213 billion equals nearly 8 percent of the more than $2.7 trillion the U.S. spent on health care last year. Those billions could pay for the health care of more than 24 million Americans currently uninsured, according to IMS.

And Aitken said more-appropriate use of medication ? taking it exactly as prescribed, not taking antibiotics for viral illnesses, preventing medication errors and the like ? could prevent 6 million hospitalizations, 4 million trips to the emergency room and 78 million visits to doctors and other outpatient care providers each year.

"Those are staggering numbers," Aitken said.

The report, titled "Avoidable Costs in Healthcare," found the biggest area of waste is patients not taking medicines prescribed by their doctor, either at all or as directed. IMS estimates the cost of such "non-adherence" at about $105 billion a year.

Reasons for the longstanding problem include patients fearing drug side effects, not understanding complications that can occur without treatment, having mental health issues and not being able to afford their medicines. Price has become less of a factor, though, as there are now relatively inexpensive generic versions of drugs for most diseases.

"I think there's really good, solid evidence that if you adhere to medications, that keeps you out of the hospital," said M. Christopher Roebuck, president of health policy consultants Rx Economics LLC.

Roebuck, who was not involved in the study, said it's well done. But he said the estimates of potential savings are "quite conservative" for medication non-adherence and treatment delays.

Those delays are blamed for racking up about $39 billion a year in avoidable care costs ? due to patients putting off doctor visits and not getting medications they're prescribed, or doctors not promptly starting treatments proven to prevent expensive complications.

"We've got a lot of people without insurance who are not routinely going to the doctor, and even some with insurance aren't," Aitken said.

Other areas of waste noted in the report include:

? Prescribing antibiotics inappropriately, as for patients with the flu or another viral infection, costing about $35 billion annually. This can contribute to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, resulting in more expensive treatment and even hospitalization with a future infection.

? Medication errors, costing about $20 billion annually. Those include sloppy handwriting leading to the wrong drug or dose being dispensed and doctors not checking to see that the patient is getting better, meaning they've been getting the right medicine. Those errors are on the decline due to more doctors using electronic prescriptions and other changes.

? Not using generic drugs when they are available, costing about $12 billion annually. That's a decreasing problem, as strategies of health plans and pharmacies encourage patients to choose generics by setting copayments for brand-name drugs a few times higher than for the generics. Without insurance, generics can cost 90 percent less than brand-name drugs. Today, when a generic is available, it's dispensed about 95 percent of the time.

? Multiple medication confusion, costing about $1.3 billion annually. For elderly patients taking five or more medicines, it's easy to mix up which pills should be taken when, and for those who are frail, those mistakes can cause serious harm. That problem likely will grow significantly with our aging population.

The report will be shared with government, medical and policy groups and other stakeholders in the health system, Aitken said.

The institute, whose clients include major drugmakers, noted that its report was prepared without funding from government or the pharmaceutical industry.

___

Follow Linda A. Johnson at http://twitter.comLindaJ_onPharma

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-wiser-medication-could-cut-health-costs-100504412.html

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IRS draws new criticism over $70M bonuses

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Already reeling from a pair of scandals, the Internal Revenue Service is drawing new criticism over plans to hand out millions of dollars in employee bonuses.

The Obama administration has ordered agencies to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts, but the IRS says it's merely following legal obligations under a union contract.

The agency is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses, said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the IRS.

Grassley says his office has learned that the IRS was to execute an agreement with the employees' union Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley says the bonuses should be canceled under an April directive from the White House budget office.

The directive was written by Danny Werfel, a former budget official who has since been appointed acting IRS commissioner.

"The IRS always claims to be short on resources," Grassley said. "But it appears to have $70 million for union bonuses. And it appears to be making an extra effort to give the bonuses despite opportunities to renegotiate with the union and federal instruction to cease discretionary bonuses during sequestration."

On Wednesday, the IRS said it was still negotiating with the union over the matter. Under the union contract, employees can get individual performance bonuses of up to $3,500 a year.

"Because bargaining has not been completed, there has been no final determination made on the payment of performance awards for the bargaining unit employee population," IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said in a statement.

"IRS is under a legal obligation to comply with its collective bargaining agreement, which specifies the terms by which awards are paid to bargaining-unit employees," Eldridge said. However, she wouldn't say whether the IRS believes it is contractually obligated to pay the bonuses.

The National Treasury Employees Union says the bonuses are legally required as part of the collective bargaining agreement.

"NTEU has had a negotiated performance awards program at the IRS for decades, pursuant to the law and regulations which specifically authorize agencies to implement such merit-based incentive programs," NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said in a statement. "NTEU is currently in discussions with the IRS on this matter and other matters resulting from budget cutbacks."

The IRS has been under fire since last month, when IRS officials acknowledged that agents had improperly targeted conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections. A few weeks later, the agency's inspector general issued a report documenting lavish employee conferences during the same time period.

Three congressional committees and the Justice Department are investigating the targeting of conservative groups. The FBI has about 12 agents in Washington working on the case, as well as others around the country, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a congressional hearing Wednesday.

Also, key Republicans in Congress are promising more scrutiny of the agency's budget, especially as it ramps up to play a major role in implementing the new health care law.

Much of the agency's top leadership has been replaced since the scandals broke. President Barack Obama forced the acting commissioner to resign and replaced him with Werfel, who used to work in the White House budget office.

In a letter to Werfel on Tuesday, Grassley said the IRS notified the employee union March 25 that it intended to reclaim about $75 million that had been set aside for discretionary employee bonuses. However, Grassley said, his office has learned that the IRS never followed up on the notice. Instead, Grassley said, the IRS negotiated a new agreement with the bargaining unit to pay about $70 million in employee bonuses.

Grassley's office said the information came from a "person with knowledge of IRS budgetary procedures."

"While the IRS may claim that these bonuses are legally required under the original bargaining unit agreement, that claim would allegedly be inaccurate," Grassley wrote. "In fact, the original agreement allows for the re-appropriation of such award funding in the event of budgetary shortfall."

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said paying the bonuses "looks like a payoff to union workers at a time when we're drowning in a sea of red ink. Given the government guidelines on sequestration, this is certainly an issue that demands further scrutiny."

Werfel wrote the directive on discretionary employee bonuses while he was still working in the White House budget office. The directive was part of the Obama administration's efforts to impose across-the-board spending cuts enacted by Congress.

The spending cuts, known as "sequestration," are resulting in at least five unpaid furlough days this year for the IRS' 90,000 employees. On these days, the agency is closed and taxpayers cannot access many of the agency's assistance programs.

Werfel's April 4 memorandum "directs that discretionary monetary awards should not be issued while sequestration is in place, unless issuance of such awards is legally required. Discretionary monetary awards include annual performance awards, group awards, and special act cash awards, which comprise a sizeable majority of awards and incentives provided by the federal government to employees."

"Until further notice, agencies should not issue such monetary awards from sequestered accounts unless agency counsel determines the awards are legally required. Legal requirements include compliance with provisions in collective bargaining agreements governing awards."

___

Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irs-draws-criticism-over-70m-employee-bonuses-185904256.html

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Magnetic Origami Tables Shouldn?t Make Sense But They?re Perfect

When most of us hear the words ?flatpack furniture,? we?re wracked with flashbacks of sitting amongst mountains of dowels and particle board, sobbing. But Ying Zhang and Ida Thonsgaard, two Berlin-based designers, are taking the concept beyond Ikea.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MRdD48JHfoc/magnetic-origami-tables-shouldn-t-make-sense-but-they-r-513887987

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NSA whistleblower breaks silence in online chat

Edward Snowden (Guardian)

Edward Snowden, America's most-wanted whistle-blower, participated in a live online chat with the Guardian on Monday.

The 29-year-old former defense contractor, who exposed the National Security Agency's massive domestic surveillance program after fleeing the United States, answered a series of questions submitted through the Guardian's website and Twitter (hashtag #AskSnowden).

First, Snowden stressed that his controversial leaks did not reveal any U.S. "operations against legitimate military targets":

I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn't declared war on the countries?the majority of them are our allies?but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the "consent of the governed" is meaningless.

He was asked how many copies of the NSA documents he made, and "if anything happens to you, do they still exist?"

"All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," Snowden wrote. "Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

[Related: Is Edward Snowden a hero or traitor?]

According to the U.K. newspaper, the hour-and-a-half live chat was subject to Snowden's "security concerns and also his access to a secure Internet connection." Snowden did not disclose his location.

Earlier this month, Snowden was interviewed by the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald in his hotel room in Hong Kong. After the paper revealed his identity (at his request), he reportedly checked out of the hotel and went into hiding.

"I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest," Snowden said in his original interview. "There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is."

On Monday, Snowden was asked if he was "suggesting that Manning indiscriminately dumped secrets into the hands of WikiLeaks" and intended to harm people. Bradley Manning, whose trial by court-martial is in its third week, is a former Army intelligence analyst charged with aiding the enemy.

"No, I'm not," Snowden responded. "WikiLeaks is a legitimate journalistic outlet and they carefully redacted all of their releases in accordance with a judgment of public interest. The unredacted release of cables was due to the failure of a partner journalist to control a passphrase. However, I understand that many media outlets used the argument that 'documents were dumped' to smear Manning, and want to make it clear that it is not a valid assertion here."

[Also read: NSA whistle-blower?s girlfriend feels ?adrift?]

He was asked to elaborate on how much "direct access" the NSA had to phone-call records, and if analysts could listen to the content of domestic calls without a warrant.

"The reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want. Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset id (IMEI), and so on?it's all the same," Snowden replied. "The restrictions against this are policy based, not technically based, and can change at any time. Additionally, audits are cursory, incomplete, and easily fooled by fake justifications."

Under authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Snowden continued, "Americans? communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant. They excuse this as 'incidental' collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications":

All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time?and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants.

Snowden was also asked why he did not fly directly to Iceland, where he told the Guardian he would have preferred to seek asylum:

Leaving the US was an incredible risk, as NSA employees must declare their foreign travel 30 days in advance and are monitored. There was a distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel with no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained. Hong Kong provided that. Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance to make their feelings known, and I would not put that past the current US administration.

Snowden, who said he had not had contact with the Chinese, scoffed at speculation that he would provide classified information to the Chinese or other governments in exchange for asylum.

"This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public, as the US media has a knee-jerk 'RED CHINA!' reaction to anything involving [Hong Kong] or the [People's Republic of China] and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct," Snowden replied. "Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now."

He also responded to the argument, made by U.S. officials, that the NSA spy program has foiled dozens of terror plots:

Journalists should ask a specific question: since these programs began operation shortly after September 11th, how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive that, and ask yourself if it was worth it. Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.

Snowden thinks his revelation of the NSA spy program gives President Barack Obama "an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men. He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the President who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it."

Snowden added that he's become disillusioned with the public debate over his leak:

Initially I was very encouraged. Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/snowden-live-chat-144220722.html

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G8 urges Syria peace talks as fighting flares in north

By Andrew Osborn and Oliver Holmes

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Differences between Russia and the West mean an international peace conference on Syria is now unlikely before August, a source at a meeting of Group of Eight leaders said on Tuesday as surging government forces brought heavy fighting to Aleppo.

World leaders called for peace talks to be held as soon as possible to end the war in Syria but made no mention of a date for the international conference, which had been due to be held in Geneva next month.

In Aleppo, several fronts in Syria's biggest city that had been relatively quiet for some time were now experiencing heavy fighting as government troops have gained ground this month, according to an opposition monitoring group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a backer of Bashar al-Assad, appeared isolated at a summit of the Group of Eight in Northern Ireland, resisting attempts to persuade him to moderate his support for the Syrian president.

U.S. President Barack Obama, moving since last week towards arming the rebels fighting to oust Assad, said it was important to build a strong opposition that could function after the Syrian leader loses power.

"We remain committed to achieving a political solution to the crisis based on a vision for a united, inclusive and democratic Syria," G8 leaders said, according to a copy of the final communique seen by Reuters.

Peace talks envisaged for July were unlikely to be held before August, according to one source at the summit.

The communique made no mention of Assad, who Western leaders have said in the past said must step down as part of a resolution. Russia had said that any such reference to Assad's fate in the document would not be acceptable.

G8 leaders also called on the Syrian authorities and the opposition to commit to destroying all organizations affiliated with al Qaeda. Members of the militant group and allied Islamist fighters have been in action alongside the rebels.

Obama and his allies want Assad to cede power while Putin, whose rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Western since he was re-elected last year, believes that would be disastrous at a time when no clear transition plan exists.

Russia, which has given Assad diplomatic cover as well as weapons, urged the West to think "three or four times" before going ahead with plans to arm the rebels.

Moscow could not accept that Assad had used chemical weapons against the rebels, an allegation that had tipped Washington's hand in deciding to arm the anti-Assad fighters, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

FIGHTING IN NORTH

As peace efforts have faltered and arms have flowed into rebel hands, heavy fighting on the northern front lines in and around Aleppo has resumed. Government forces are seeking to build on battlefield gains further south.

Those backing the rebels - including Britain, France, Turkey and Arab countries as well as the United States - were driven to intensify support in recent weeks to rescue the rebellion after Assad's forces scored important military gains.

Just a few months ago, Western countries thought Assad's days were numbered. But last month he received the open support of thousands of fighters from Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Shi'ite militia in neighboring Lebanon, which helped him capture the strategic town of Qusair from the rebels this month.

Rami Abdelrahman, head of the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there were clashes in the eastern Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo as well as in the Old City, which sits between government and rebel-held territory.

An opposition activist said rebels and government forces were fighting in the alleyways of Aleppo's historic Old City.

The Observatory also reported clashes in Damascus, Homs, Hama, Deraa and the eastern city of Deir al-Zor.

In Idlib province, in the north west, a rocket hit the house of a prominent religious figure who is known to support pro-Assad militia, killing 20 people, the Observatory said.

In Lebanon, militants supporting opposing sides in Syria's civil war clashed in the southern city of Sidon on Tuesday, killing one person, a security source said, in a city where divisions have been simmering for months.

The recent upsurge of fighting has turned Syria's war into a sectarian conflict between Sunni Muslim rebels and members of Assad's Alwaite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and their Shi'ite Hezbollah allies.

Lebanon on Tuesday accused Assad's forces of driving Sunni Muslims across the border into its territory.

Syrian forces had committed what was "tantamount to ethnic cleansing next to the Syrian-Lebanese border", Wael Abu Faour, the Lebanese caretaker minister for social affairs, told Reuters.

"(Assad) is trying to displace all the Sunnis to Lebanon and this is why I expect to have more displaced people," he said.

The United Nations says 93,000 people have been killed in Syria and 1.6 million Syrians have fled abroad. Lebanon, the smallest of Syria's neighbors, has taken in more than half a million Syrian refugees.

(Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/g8-urges-syria-peace-talks-fighting-flares-north-000319529.html

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What's the Most 'Despicable' Thing Steve Carell Does?

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/carell-steals-wife-despicable-me-interview/1-a-216254?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acarell-steals-wife-despicable-me-interview-216254

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Is Kanye West A Lock For Huge First-Week Sales Debut?

J. Cole, Mac Miller projected to come in well behind 'Ye's Yeezus, according to experts who spoke to MTV News.
By Gil Kaufman and James Montgomery

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709094/kanye-west-j-cole-mac-miller-june-18-album-sales.jhtml

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'Cold snap' 116 million years ago triggered marine ecosystem crisis

June 16, 2013 ? A "cold snap" 116 million years ago triggered a similar marine ecosystem crisis to the ones witnessed in the past as a result of global warming, according to research published in Nature Geoscience.

The international study involving experts from the universities of Newcastle, UK, Cologne, Frankfurt and GEOMAR-Kiel, confirms the link between global cooling and a crash in the marine ecosystem during the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse period.

It also quantifies for the first time the amplitude and duration of the temperature change. Analysing the geochemistry and micropaleontology of a marine sediment core taken from the North Atlantic Ocean, the team show that a global temperature drop of up to 5^oC resulted in a major shift in the global carbon cycle over a period of 2.5 million years.

Occurring during a time of high tectonic activity that drove the breaking up of the super-continent Pangaea, the research explains how the opening and widening of new ocean basins around Africa, South America and Europe created additional space where large amounts of atmospheric CO₂ was fixed by photosynthetic organisms like marine algae. The dead organisms were then buried in the sediments on the sea bed, producing organic, carbon rich shale in these new basins, locking away the carbon that was previously in the atmosphere.

The result of this massive carbon fixing mechanism was a drop in the levels of atmospheric CO₂, reducing the greenhouse effect and lowering global temperature.

This period of global cooling came to an end after about 2 million years following the onset of a period of intense local volcanic activity in the Indian Ocean. Producing huge volumes of volcanic gas, carbon that had been removed from the atmosphere when it was locked away in the shale was replaced with CO₂ from Earth's interior, re-instating a greenhouse effect which led to warmer climate and an end to the "cold snap."

The research team highlight in this study how global climate is intrinsically linked to processes taking place in Earth's interior at million year time scales. These processes can modify ecospace for marine life, driving evolution.

Current research efforts tend to concentrate on global warming and the impact that a rise of a few degrees might have on past and present day ecosystems. This study shows that if global temperatures swing the other way by a similar amount, the result can be just as severe, at least for marine life.

However, the research team emphasise that the observed changes of the Earth system in the Cretaceous happened over millions of years, rather than decades or centennial, which cannot easily be related to our rapidly changing modern climate conditions.

"As always it's a question of fine balance and scale," explains Thomas Wagner, Professor of Earth Systems Science at Newcastle University, and one of the leaders of this study.

"All earth system processes are operating all the time and at different temporal and spatial scales; but when something upsets the balance -- be it a large scale but long term natural phenomenon or a short and massive change to global greenhouse gases due to anthropogenic activity -- there are multiple, potential knock-on effects on the whole system.

"The trick is to identify and quantify the initial drivers and consequences, which remains an ongoing challenge in climate research."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/GltB6_CZYnY/130616155209.htm

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What 802.11ac Networking Is, And Why You Want It

While we were all gushing over iOS 7 and the new Macs, it was easy to miss the relatively minor announcement that Apple has added support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi to two of its key hardware products: the MacBook Air and ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/nsi5WTq_V3o/

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Sisters take proactive approach to breast cancer prevention

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WINCHESTER, Ky. (WKYT) - Actress Angelina Jolie recently revealed she underwent a preventative double mastectomy.

Her courage has two Winchester sisters braving the unknown and fighting a killer that has already hit their family.

In pictures, it's evident over the years Susan Knuckles and Shawna Wells have shared a lot

"Ever since we were little we only had each other," said Susan Knuckles.

At 37 and 41-years-old the two might be closer than ever and are still taking pictures.

"We rely on each other for support, for laughter and for tears," said Knuckles.

Recently, Knuckles and Wells learned they shared something that might keep them from living a long life together.

With a family history of ovarian cancer and Wells having had several questionable mammograms she was encouraged to undergo genetic testing.

"When she ran the blood work it's about a 9-12 week wait to get the results and when they called me right after Christmas she said your BRCA 1 was negative, but your BRCA 2 was positive," said Shawna Wells.

The news was shocking, a genetic mutation revealed Wells runs an 85-90% chance of getting breast cancer and a 38-50% chance of getting ovarian cancer.

Knuckles realized she needed to know what her odds were too.

"When it came back it was an exact match to Shawna's," said Knuckles.

So together, sisters who have spent years sharing everything now faced a difficult decision.

"You could continue to go on and go every six months and just pray that you are going to get a good report or choose to do what Susan and I are going to do be proactive," said Wells.

Both have chosen to have a double mastectomy, Knuckles will also have a hysterectomy. Wells has already had her hysterectomy.

To some it may seem like a radical move.

Both say they like the odds in their favor better, and look at having surgery as a way to have a future.

They face a long road ahead of them, but as sisters their bond is strong, something cancer can't break.

"There are a lot things in life you do want to share, but you know sometimes the tragedy and the triumph are the best things to share," said Knuckles.

Since shooting this story, Susan Knuckles has had her double mastectomy and hysterectomy and is recovering. Shawna Wells will have her surgery in July.

Both women encourage others to talk to their doctor about genetic testing if they have a family history breast or ovarian cancer.

Source: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/Sisters-take-proactive-approach-to-breast-cancer-prevention-211602171.html

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Hobby losses: Answer to a higher authority - Business Management ...

Suppose you?ve turned a personal hobby into a money-making venture. The activity can provide some tax benefits if you can convince the IRS it?s now a for-profit business instead of a hobby.

Strategy: Operate in a business-like fashion in all respects. For instance, keep detailed records, maintain any licensing that is needed and fulfill similar responsibilities. Significantly, separate your business dealings from your personal pursuits.

If you qualify, you can deduct your bona fide expenses as a self-employed individual. Even better, you might use a business loss to offset highly taxed income.

Conversely, if the activity is treated as a hobby, your deductions for the activity are limited to the income received from the activity. Upshot: You can?t claim a net tax loss on your return. Also, hobby expenses must be deducted as miscellaneous expenses subject to a floor of 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI).

To determine if an activity is a ?business? or a ?hobby,? the IRS asks eight questions.

1. Does the time and effort put into the activity indicate an intention to make a profit?
2. Does the taxpayer depend on income from the activity?
3. If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond the taxpayer?s control or did they occur in the start-up phase of the business?
4. Has the taxpayer changed methods of operation to improve profitability?
5. Does the taxpayer or his or her advisors have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business?
6. Has the taxpayer made a profit in similar activities in the past?
7. Does the activity ever make a profit?
8. Can the taxpayer expect to make a profit in the future from the appreciation of assets used in the activity?

The more ?yes? answers you have, the more likely you will qualify for business deductions.

Nevertheless, this issue is often contested in the courts. Fortunately, an activity is presumed not to be a hobby if you show a profit in any three out of the last five consecutive years. (For activities involving breeding, training, showing or racing horses, the presumption applies if you show a profit in only two out of the last seven consecutive years.)

Tip: The IRS can rebut the presumption by producing evidence to the contrary.

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Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/35541/hobby-losses-answer-to-a-higher-authority

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Ex-Journey singer Perry treated for melanoma

Music

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

3 hours ago

Onetime Journey frontman Steve Perry has revealed that he recently was diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer, and that he has undergone two surgeries to remove the cancer cells.

"They think they got it all," wrote the "Don't Stop Believin'" singer, who fronted Journey from 1977-87 and 1995-98, on his Fan Asylum personal blog last Thursday.

Perry, who included with the post a photo of himself and former MTV DJ Martha Quinn taken after the surgery (Quinn also tweeted a similar photo, below), said that the diagnosis came after a "routine mole" was removed from his face.

He said he believed "no other treatments were required."

But there was a second, more tragic aspect to the birthday post he sent to his fans.

Perry, 64, wrote of how he fell for a woman named Kellie Nash after seeing her during a 2011 edit session of Lifetime's breast cancer special "Five." Nash a psychologist who was undergoing cancer treatment, caught his eye with her smile and he asked his friend if she could connect the two of them.

But his friend warned Perry that Nash might not have long to live; she was in Stage 4 of the cancer. He emailed her anyway, and the two became a couple. "I never felt like this before," he wrote. "I had finally found her."

Nash died of her cancer in December 2012. "She helped me in so many ways," wrote Perry.

"She was so strong, so courageous and we really loved each other so very much," he wrote. "I've been trying to grieve and not run from this loss so for the last 5 months that's what I've been doing along with recalling everything being in Love with Kellie taught me."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/ex-journey-frontman-steve-perry-recovering-melanoma-surgery-6C10272295

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Legal Theory Blog: Ng on Copyright's Core Content

Alina Ng (Mississippi College School of Law) has posted Finding Copyright's Core Content (University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Copyright laws are conventionally justified on consequentialist grounds. As a result, value judgements about the viability of copyright laws are often based on their social or economic consequences. However, despite longstanding conversations among scholars about the nature of copyright and its purported effects on societies and markets, a consensus of how copyright laws ought to be structured to encourage authorship and other forms of creative endeavor has yet to emerge. Framing the analysis of copyright laws within consequentialist frameworks as intellectual property scholars have conventionally tended to do, while important in studying the consequences of laws from a socio-economic perspective, has not yielded satisfactory answers to a more fundamental question about the proper content and scope of copyright laws. For many communities and societies with increasing humanistic interests and goals, this question about the law?s proper content is a perennial one. To answer this question, this paper draws from two sources. First, legal theories on natural law, which require as a general rule that man-made laws satisfy an objective moral standard, support a proposition that copyright laws have essential moral content that may be identified through reason. Second, catholic social teachings on the common good, respect for the life and dignity of the human person, and correlation of rights and responsibility offer a framework to inform and shape appropriate copyright laws and policies. This paper proposes that for the progress of science to be sustained, the core content of copyright laws must protect the conditions that contribute towards authentic forms of authorship and support the flourishing and thriving of relationship-oriented communities. By identifying core moral content to inform and guide the development of copyright law and policy, a healthy ecology for the production and distribution of creative works may emerge to produce greater equity in how literary and artistic resources are ultimately used in the information economy.

Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2013/06/ng-on-copyrights-core-content.html

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Obama, Xi in 2nd day of talks at informal summit

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) ? With a stroll under the California desert sun, President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping opened a second day of talks at a "get to know you" summit featuring a high-stakes agenda.

Obama described the talks as "terrific" as he and Xi walked side by side Saturday through the manicured gardens of the sprawling Sunnylands estate. In the spirit of the informal atmosphere at the meetings, the men went without jackets and ties.

The presidents rejoined advisers for a session expected to focus on economic issues, along with additional discussions on North Korea and cybersecurity. The White House said after a two-hour bilateral meeting, the presidents ended their visit by having tea with Xi's wife and the wife of the Chinese ambassador for about half an hour. There were no closing statements or final images of the leaders together.

The White House said in a statement shortly after Xi departed the sprawling estate that the two nations agreed to work together for the first time to reduce hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas. It is commonly used as a coolant in refrigerators, air conditioners, hair spray and other household items, along with industrial applications.

At a news conference Friday night, Obama said the United States and China were in "uncharted waters" regarding computer security. The presidents carefully avoided accusing each other's nation of high-tech intrusions, but acknowledged an urgent need to find a common approach on addressing the matter.

"We don't have the kind of protocols that have governed military issues and arms issues, where nations have a lot of experience in trying to negotiate what's acceptable and what's not," Obama said.

Obama also sought to distinguish between China's alleged cyberspying and his own government's monitoring of U.S. phone and Internet records. He insisted the two issues were separate and distinct, and that concerns over hacking and intellectual property theft shouldn't be confused with the debate over how governments collect data to combat terrorist threats.

"That's a conversation that I welcome," he said.

Xi, who called rapid technological advancements a "double-edged sword," claimed no responsibility for China's alleged cyberespionage. He said China was also a victim of cyberspying but did not assign any blame.

U.S. officials cast the summit as an opportunity for Obama and Xi to hold candid talks on the many issues that define the relationship between the two powers, including the economy, climate change and North Korea's nuclear provocations.

It was the leaders' first meeting since Xi took office in March.

They originally were scheduled to hold their first talks in September, on the sidelines of an economic summit in Russia. But both countries agreed there was a need to meet earlier.

U.S. officials see Xi as a potentially new kind of Chinese leader. He has deeper ties to the U.S. than many of his predecessors and appears more comfortable in public than the last president, Hu Jintao, with whom Obama never developed a strong personal rapport.

Many of the same issues that defined Obama's relationship with Hu remain.

Xi was expected to press China's claims of business discrimination in U.S. markets and to express concern over Obama's efforts to expand U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific region. China sees that as an attempt to contain its growing power.

On North Korea, U.S. officials said Obama was looking to build on Xi's apparent impatience with North Korea's nuclear provocations. The U.S. has welcomed Xi's recent calls for North Korea to return to nuclear talks, though it's unclear whether the North is ready to change its behavior.

Xi was due to depart for China in the afternoon. Obama planned to stay in California through the weekend, though he had no public events planned.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

___

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-xi-2nd-day-talks-informal-summit-182708312.html

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Harpo Marx: An Astrological Exploration of a Loud Silent Star | Pisces

Originally published in the 2012 Fall Issue of the Council of Vedic Astrology?s quarterly Journal, this article sheds light on the astrological phenomena behind Harpo Marx?s decision to keep his mouth shut for the majority of his professional career in show business; a most unusual decision for a Virgo Ascendant, who is ruled by Mercury, the planet of speech! I share the full article with you here:

In 1964, the entertainment industry lost a truly unique performer, a silent comedian who became famous for his ?pantomime? performances with numerous and odd props hidden in his over-sized coat sleeves, with wide, bright eyes shining from beneath the curls of a red wig, with the silliest honk of a horn, and the accompaniment of the celestial strings of the harp beneath his fingers? the one and only Harpo Marx.

According to Lois Rodden?s AstroDatabank, Harpo Marx was born on November 23, 1888 at 2:30AM in New York, New York, USA. In Vedic Astrology, using the sidereal zodiac, Harpo had a Virgo Ascendant with Moon in Cancer and Sun in Scorpio; a solid, enduring, and sensitive gentleman with the tumultuous emotionality and fluctuations of a deep, calm lake and a wildly wavy sea. In this article, his fascinating history and career will be looked at through his natal chart, and in the light of astrology, we will peek into the life experience of a most interesting individual.

The five Marx brothers with their parents in New York City, 1915; from left to right- Groucho, Gummo, Minnie (mother), Zeppo, Frenchy (father), Chico, and Harpo

Adolph Arthur Marx

Born Adolph Arthur Marx, Harpo was the third* oldest son born to Sam ?Frenchy? and Minnie Schonberg Marx. (*Their first son, Mannie, died at six-months.) His older brother was Leonard (Chico) and his younger brothers were Julius (Groucho), Milton (Gummo), and Herbert (Zeppo).

His father, Samuel Marx, worked in the home as a tailor while Harpo?s mother, Minnie, worked outside the house as a promoter for her famous vaudeville comedian brother, Al Shean.? In Harpo?s birth chart, his 9th House of the father is Taurus and ruled by Venus in the 4th House. This shows how the father held down the fort, as somewhat of a Mister Mom, and supported his clan through his own artistic skills as a tailor. In the divisional chart of the parents, Dwadashamsha,?the Sun (father) is in the 12th House, reflecting Sam?s position behind the scenes, while his children and wife actively pursued the limelight.

Strong Mother, Big Brother

Harpo?s mother, Minnie, wore the pants in the Marx household. In Harpo?s chart, the Moon (mother) is strong in its own sign of Cancer and is in an incredibly tight conjunction with Rahu, the North Node of the Moon, a conjunction which further exaggerates her power and influence. (The Moon is at 0?3 Cancer, Rahu is at 0?4 Cancer.) Her desires were the foundation and driving force behind the success of the Marx Brothers. In a wider orb, Saturn joins Moon-Rahu in Cancer, furthering her plan and methodology for pulling her brood together and making something out of them, giving them a structured experience in life, and teaching them the discipline and hard work necessary to be successful. It certainly helped having relatives already in vaudeville!

Harpo?s mother, Minnie Schonberg Marx

For Harpo, this concentration of strong energy and influence flowed from his 11th House, a house of aspiration, networking, and money from others. Not surprising then that his mother was more than just his mother but had become his agent. The 11th House also represents the older sibling, and for Harpo this would be his older brother, Chico, who must have, in his own right, served as a parental figure for Harpo.

Exalted Mars in 5th House Capricorn added fuel to the fire and propelled Minnie?s force and courage as a stage mother. This was, let?s not forget, a time when most women stayed at home raising children, cooking, and keeping the house clean. Harpo?s birth chart so clearly shows his own maternal instinct in addition to the strength of influence from his mother towards entertainment (5th house).

The strength of the Moon and Rahu with Saturn and the aspect of an exalted Mars from the 5th House of entertainment leaves one questioning, did Harpo really like entertaining? As Harpo revealed himself, ?I was being shanghaied to join Groucho, Gummo, and Leo Levy. On a stage. In front of people? It was probably the most wretched debut in the history of show business.? It is all possible that he may have experienced a love-hate relationship with acting, finding joy with the creative process and being in the moment, but struggling with discipline, schedules, and critics. He evidently saw himself in a realistic light and was able to acknowledge his weaknesses and his strengths.

To Each His Own Harp

Venus (the arts) is located in Harpo?s Sagittarius 4th House, the house which represents his mother. This speaks volumes to the adventurous mother she was; a woman who boldly aimed her arrow at the Hollywood stars, who enjoyed beauty, art, culture, and performing. Likewise, this shows Harpo?s own desire to explore the world of art, music, and entertainment and the joy it would bring him.

Harpo Marx, doing what he loved best

Years after his ?wretched debut?, Harpo received a harp from his mother, to ?add class to the act?. Harpo taught himself how to string the harp and play it, which according to experts was flat out wrong. After learning from a few teachers, Harpo continued to play the harp his own way, wrong or not, an indication of the boldness from Venus in the 4th House of Sagittarius. He played the way he felt most comfortable and able, the way he liked it, unafraid to break rules or go against the grain. And with Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius, in a conjunction with his Sun (self/ego), he played His way and he liked it. Jupiter-Sun in the intense sign of Scorpio in the 3rd House suggests a certain level of emotional attachment or possessiveness to the harp, perhaps making traditional, classical instruction to ?correct? him all the more challenging.

In his autobiography Harpo Speaks, Harpo shared, ?There?s a character? he wears a ratty wig and shredded rain coat. He can?t talk, but makes idiotic faces, honks a horn, whistles, and leaps after blondes. When he?s chasing a girl across the screen, it?s Him. When he sits down to play the harp, it?s Me. Whenever I touch the strings of the harp, I stop being an actor.?

Bullied into a Street Education

But this strong Cancer-Capricorn 11th/5th House axis brought challenges as well, particularly in Harpo?s earlier days. The only Jewish boy in a public school class, and small for his age, a not uncommon physical trait for Virgo Ascendants, Harpo had been bullied daily, until one day at age 8 when bullies threw him out the window and on to the street, he left school for good.

Exalted Mars positioned in the 7th House from the Moon produces difficulty with others, domineering people or dominating them, and forceful situations which could, in worst cases, include violence. Being tossed out of the window on a regular basis (and where were the teachers?), shows this cutting, disruptive quality of Mars, especially in its close conjunction to Ketu, the South Node of the Moon. Both enable detachment under the right circumstances from situations of disinterest. His religious-intolerant classmates literally wanted him removed, and did so. His Mercury-ruled Virgo Ascendant couldn?t stand up, especially with Mercury in Libra, the sign of mediation and harmony. With the only aspect to the Ascendant coming from Saturn, he experienced this oppressiveness, hitting hard while running Saturn?s Mahadasha or main planetary period.

Exalted Mars conjunct Ketu in the 5th House created difficulty gaining a proper education, while giving Harpo the courage and conviction to gain the intelligence he would need, when he would need it. He developed his own ?street education? once he dropped out of school. With exalted Mars as the ruler of the Aries 8th House and the Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Mars-ruled Scorpio ?in the 3rd House enabled him to fend for himself. He learned as he went, earning his own money, creating his own values and smarts as he encountered different situations.

Odd Jobs and Show Business

When the family could afford lessons for only one child, Minnie sent Chico to a piano teacher. It was Chico?s responsibility then to train his younger brother Harpo all of what he had learned. This didn?t work out well due to Chico?s less than perfect motivation.

In one particular situation, Chico, who looked very similar to Harpo, supposedly interviewed for a job as a theater pianist who, if hired, would play songs to accompany the movies that were playing. Chico was hired, but Harpo showed up for work, ill-prepared, since Chico had only taught his younger brother how to play two songs. Due to his inadequacy, Harpo was soon fired. This is a good example of his 11th House experience- the mother providing proper training for Chico, Chico?s minimal training for Harpo, and both the mother and Chico?s limited opportunity- yet in everyone?s best interest, including Harpo?s.

While Harpo struggled to find and keep jobs, his brothers Groucho and Gummo had begun performing with Leo Levy as ?The Three Nightingales?. In January 1910, Minnie?s plan finally included Harpo, and the three became ?The Four Nightingales?, marking the ?wretched debut? Harpo later spoke of. The following month, February 1910, Minnie and Aunt Hannah Schickler joined the group, who then became known as ?The Six Mascots?. During this time, Harpo was in his Saturn Mahadasha, Jupiter Bhukti (secondary planetary period)- still experiencing the structured planning (Saturn) of his mother but with new opportunity for growth (Jupiter).

The Marx Brothers. From the top: Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo

In 1912 during a performance without Minnie participating or watching, the group broke out into ?madcap comedy? and received a request to return the following week for a second performance, a request that launched them from singers to comedians. At this time, Harpo shifted from his long Saturn Mahadasha to his Mercury Mahadasha. The energy of these planets is so different, like the difference between heavy lead and fluid quicksilver. And with Mercury as Harpo?s Ascendant/1st House ruler, ruler of his 10th House of fame, and Mercury?s position in the 2nd House of communication, his childish antics, ?idiotic facial expressions?, and comedic stage presence took off running.

The Marx Brothers Emerge

The group, now recognized and known as ?The Marx Brothers?, performed for many years, particularly successful in 1912, 1913, 1914, 1918, and 1921, all during Harpo?s Mercury Mahadasha. Mercury, as stated earlier, is the ruler of Harpo?s Virgo chart, and therefore, becomes the planet which most intimately connects his individuality to the world. The individualized Mercurial expression which he presented to the world stage is his signature, his legacy. Positioned in his 2nd House in Libra, Mercury played a vital role in rooting Harpo into a field of creative expression. An air sign, Libra is a sign of harmony and the merging of the creative and intellectual mind. Where Venus-ruled Taurus is more about bringing beauty to form, Venus-ruled Libra is concerned with bringing about harmony and cooperation through creative thinking.

All is Quiet Now

Then something quite outrageous occurred, something most show business performers would dread and fear. While Harpo was in his Mercury Mahadasha, Ketu Bhukti, he received a horrible review of his performance in ?Home Again?. The reviewer stated something to the effect that Harpo was a talented ?pantomime? who ruined his performance every time he opened his mouth. It was said that Harpo had difficulty keeping up with the racy, witty, back-and-forth dialogue his brothers performed so fluidly. To this, Harpo disagreed.

Then why did he graciously step back, wholeheartedly listen to the review, and decide to clam up and not speak throughout the remainder of his professional acting career? A few things in Harpo?s natal chart illustrate this rather unusual decision.

The ability to stop and fine-tune the material for the shows came under Ketu?s influence, the Bhukti Harpo ran at the time. As much as Ketu can bury us firmly into something, often stemming from past influences, Ketu can separate us from it. In this case, Ketu, in the practical sign of Capricorn, brought a new way to entertain (Ketu in the 5th House), and he was able to break from a method that apparently was not working. After the bad review, Harpo?s lines were literally removed.

Exalted Mars in conjunction to Ketu in the 5th House gave him the courage to create, play, and perform in a different way. Rather than walk away, he had the determination and audacity to shift, and in so doing brought more fame and longevity to the Marx Brothers.

The ability to change his behavior for the good of the group, so the brothers as a team would remain in good standing with the industry and the audience can be seen from the gentleness of Virgo and the lunar nakshatra, Hasta, in which Harpo?s Ascendant resided in at the time of his birth.

Hasta gives one the ability of self-control, makes one hard-working, supports the ability of yogic practices (refraining from speech can be seen as a yogic practice), and encourages self-development. Likewise, it can bring impediments along with the cleverness to overcome any restraints. It is a beneficial nakshatra for entertaining, for artistic pursuits, communication, and public relations. Its overall motivation is Moksha, or liberation, giving Harpo the ability to rise above, turning a negative into a positive, taking a bad review and transforming his act with a long, successful career as the result. Hasta is ruled by the Moon, which gives depth of maternal instinct, the caring and willingness to please others, and the desire to nurture rather than create conflict.

Harpo?s natal Moon resided in the Jupiter-ruled nakshatra, Punarvasu. The quality of this lunar placement gives the ability to prosper through creative and inspired motivation, aimed towards material comfort. Punarvasu is referred to as ?the star of renewal?, so fitting to how Harpo renewed himself as a comedian, became ?silent?, entertained millions, and kept the Brothers moving forward.

Furthermore, Harpo?s Sun was positioned in Anuradha, a Saturn-ruled nakshatra. This lunar placement is referred to as ?the star of success? and gives courage, the love of travel, and cooperation. With Sun in Anuradha, the person is respected and responsible. Vedic Astrologer and author Dennis Harness states in his book The Nakshatras regarding Anuradha, ?Fame and recognition can be attained through friendly cooperation with other people.? Anuradha?s primary motivation is Dharma, or right activity, giving Harpo the skill to use his entire physicality (Sun) in a renewed manner in order to do the right thing for himself and for The Marx Brothers.

Mercury, the Planet of Speech

It seems a bit ironic that the planet of speech, Mercury, who is pleasantly positioned in Harpo?s 2nd House of communication and is the ruler of his Virgo Ascendant, would have to contend with a forced obstruction? Harpo?s decision to keep quiet. But Mercury is behind the playful antics, the childish honking horn, and the exaggerated facial expressions, too, which enabled Harpo to maintain stage presence and continue bringing humorous material to the shows.

A principle in Vedic astrology states that if the planetary indicator of a certain thing is located in the house that rules that same thing, there will be obstruction, delay, or denial of that thing. To clarify, this principle suggests that since Harpo has Mercury, the planet of speech, in the 2nd House, the house of speech, speech will present obstacles or be delayed in life. Of course this is true for the other 2nd house indications as well, such as security, values, and earned money.

Groucho, Harpo, and Chico

Mercury resided in the Jupiter-ruled nakshatra, Vishakha, at the time Harpo was born. Referred to as ?the star of purpose?, this nakshatra gives patience, the ability to accomplish tasks with determination and commitment, and shows positive results in the long run. With Jupiter conjunct Harpo?s Sun, the exploration of silent yet ?loudly? entertaining performances emerged and established an unforgettable image and legacy.

According to Wikipedia, in 1911 Harpo legally changed his name from Adolph to Arthur. He was in the Saturn Mahadasha, Jupiter Bhukti, and we see in his natal chart the aspect of Saturn on his Ascendant, which we could define as the worldly presentation of our individuality to the external environment around us. The Moon-Rahu conjunction with Saturn likely stirred a mental-emotional disturbance around the disliked name. His natal Jupiter is conjoined his Sun, the planet of self-image and the persona, and aspects the Saturn-Rahu-Moon conjunction in Cancer.

A Telling Transit: The Star of Restraint

It was during the year 1914 when Harpo became a ?pantomime? and virtually stopped talking for the remainder of his career. During 1914, Venus transited through Aries and the lunar nakshatra Bharani. This Venus-ruled nakshatra is referred to as ?the star of restraint?. Venus (arts and entertainment) in Aries (self-initiating, self-control) transited through Harpo?s 8th House of change and transformation, casting an aspect to his natal Mercury (speech, humor) in the 2nd house of communication.

One Successful Film After Another

1929 was a mixed year for the brothers with the stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression, the release of their first film ?Cocoanuts?, and the death of their mother Minnie.

Susan Fleming Marx

With the neutrality of Mercury, operating through a balanced Libran outlook and the support of Jupiterian optimism (from the nakshatra Vishakha) in the 2nd House of money and security, Harpo likely survived the financial loss of the stock market crash with steady enthusiasm. The success of their first film assured the Brothers material comfort. They had been better off than most Americans.

The Marx Brothers success rose steadily throughout the 30?s. Moving from vaudeville, to Broadway, and then to Hollywood films, their fame had been sealed with such hits as ?Animal Crackers? in 1930, ?Monkey Business? in 1931, ?Horse Feathers? in 1932, and ?Duck Soup? in 1933. During most of this decade, Harpo was in the Ketu Mahadasha, emphasizing his creative 5th House of entertainment where Ketu is conjunct the competitive, exalted Mars in hard-working Capricorn. They entertained US troops during the Second World War starting in 1939, and continued making movies through 1949 during Harpo?s Venus Mahadasha, which ran until 1955.

The Long-time Bachelor Accepts a Proposal

Venus, of course, represents the performing arts, music, and entertainment in general. It is also the indicator of marriage. In 1936 while running Venus Mahadasha, Venus Bhukti, Harpo married Susan Fleming, after first meeting on set in 1932, while Harpo was still in his Ketu period. It is said that Ms. Fleming proposed to Harpo three times before he finally accepted.

Harpo and three of his four adopted children

Harpo and Susan had no children of their own. They adopted four- Bill, Alex, Jimmy, and Minnie. The exaltation of Mars conjunct Ketu in the 5th House of children may have denied Harpo children of his own. Yet his Saptamsha chart for children has a Parivartana Yoga between Jupiter and Venus in the 5th and 10th Houses. This yoga means that Jupiter is in a Venus-ruled house while Venus is in a Jupiter-ruled house. This creates an intimate link between these two planets, and a link between children and the career. This yoga may provide a hint into the care and involvement his children would have in the preservation of their famous father?s legacy, such as their oldest child Bill Marx?s website harposplace.com. It is possible that Susan?s natal chart sheds additional light on the adoption of children rather than having had their own.

On September 28, 1964, Harpo passed away after open heart surgery. He was in the Moon Mahadasha, Rahu Bhukti, and Mars sub-sub period. At age 75, the trigger of this karmic axis and the power of exalted Mars with Ketu in the 5th house of the physical heart proved too much to overcome.

There can be countless more additional encounters, experiences, and accomplishments to address, but hopefully this brief research has shown significant highlights of Harpo?s life and career, and the amazing insight which astrology offers. For all the laughs given to the world by Harpo Marx, it seems appropriate to end this article with a bright-eyed smile, a wink, and a silly honk.

Renate Maria Bell is a professional Vedic Astrologer, certified through the American College of Vedic Astrology. She received the title Jyotish Visharada in 2010 and is an approved teacher with the Council of Vedic Astrology. Renate is also a certified Feng Shui interior design consultant and owner of Integrated-Interiors: Feng Shui Consultations. She currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina. For more information you can visit her website: www.integralartsinstitute.com

Disclaimer: all images embedded within this article are courtesy of Wikipedia or from Google Image search results. The author has no claim to them, but only wishes to share them to enrich the article with visual correspondence. The image of Harpo Marx? natal chart is courtesy of Andrew Foss?s Shri Jyoti Star software, of which Ms. Bell is a registered user. The chart is shown in the North Indian style.

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Source: http://wheredreamsbecomereal.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/harpo-marx-astrology/

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