A Good Cup Of Coffee Starts With The Best Coffee Grinder

Larger-scale cultivators now use drying machines that dry the beans in about per day. Brazil produces almost one third of all coffee, as well as Columbia where roasts would be the most well known type of pinto beans. And the environmental problems should are already handled over the growers finding out how to farm with organic methods.

You could possibly be able to have online services for coffee delivery. An espresso coffee machine, can be a perfect illustration of said multi function machines. Over time some of those with MCI will progress to dementia (DEM), a syndrome that encompasses symptoms of a number of diseases like Alzheimer's.

You can get a month's supply from vitamin stores approximately $20-$25 dollars. Once you receive the perfect roaster, you will need your unroasted coffee beans. If you're feeling you are saddled with your goal of becoming healthier, you may want to give a little more to your family routine.

In that study, the volatile extract of Hawaiian green coffee beans exhibited strong antioxidant activity by 50 % testing systems. "Our own studies published by other scientists advise that such a treatment may, indeed, exist. If you are really looking to save on coffee, your best option is usually to buy green pinto beans wholesale.

And does the extract contain caffeine? Most roasters use ovens that are powered by gas. Yet it's during each of the steps afterwards of hulling, coffee roasting so on the problems appear.

Scoop them out with a spoon, and hang up them on wax paper. Shed off those extra calories and eliminate the fat accumulated inside one's body. Again drink coffee sparingly, pay attention in your own body.

Although, you can find thousands that like to drink coffee for the go, it's not necessary to as long as you will get delivery. Actually, in lots of different ways, it's indeed beneficial to have Grind and Brew coffee maker within the household. Although it sounds so innocuous, coffee roasting is fairly an involved process and produces pollutants as byproducts. Green coffee bean extract.

The benefits from the delivery could make you be on time and obtain coffee accumulated for others. The temperature inside the coffee bean starts to increase plus the bean begins to break which means it's got reached its next crack. You can dismiss all of the billboards advertising the lap band or the latest weight loss procedure.

About the Author:
He is known by the name of Tory Foutz and he feels comfortable when people use the full name.

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Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/A-Good-Cup-Of-Coffee-Starts-With-The-Best-Coffee-Grinder/5187003

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UK banks' insurance bill tops 10 billion pounds and rising

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's banks have paid out more than 10 billion pounds for mis-selling loan insurance, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday, and the bill is rising with no deadline set for claims.

Separately, the FCA said it will levy a hefty fine next month on a firm for poor handling of complaints about insurance it sold to cover the loss or theft of mobile phones.

The FCA - launched in April after the financial crisis convinced legislators the Financial Services Authority was too lenient a regulator and had to be scrapped - is mandated to protect consumers and end years of mis-selling products.

It said banks have paid 10.1 billion pounds to customers hit by the country's biggest financial mis-selling scandal. Compensation is still being paid out at the rate of about 400 million pounds a month.

The Bank told five British banks last week to increase their capital buffers by a collective 13 billion pounds by December, partly because of the rising bill for mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI).

Banks have made PPI provisions of about 14 billion pounds and had hoped that the FCA would set a deadline for claims, but talks with the regulator broke down.

In a review of mobile phone insurance (MPI), the watchdog said there is a gap between what the customer expects from a policy and what it gets from a sector dominated by nine, unnamed firms.

Some products were not designed to meet customers' needs, terms and conditions were unclear and unfair, and claims were poorly handled, the FCA said.

"Although the costs of MPI are relatively low, with premiums for some policies as little as a few pounds a month, the product is widely held with over 10 million customers," the FCA said.

One man lost his phone in the back of cab and made a claim after being unable to recover it, but it was rejected on the basis he'd left the phone unattended in a public place.

Another claimant was rejected because of "mis-use" of his phone - it had not been used in the last two weeks.

"We have begun communicating the findings to the firms that took part in the review and they are making improvements," FCA director of supervision, Clive Adamson said.

The review is the latest example of how the regulator is stepping in earlier and scrutinising the products themselves more closely, compared with looking at sales practices in the past long after evidence of mis-selling had emerged.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-banks-insurance-bill-tops-10-billion-pounds-113743494.html

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Obama in South Africa for next leg of Africa tour

CENTURION, South Africa (AP) ? President Barack Obama is in South Africa, embarking on the second leg of his three-country African journey. The visit comes at a poignant time, with former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela ailing in a Johannesburg hospital.

Obama is expected to meet with U.S. consulate staff in Johannesburg Friday. On Saturday he is to meet with South African President Jacob Zuma. The two men are then expected to hold a joint news conference.

Obama said Friday he wasn't certain whether he'd be able to see Mandela, who is gravely ill, during his visit.

Following his visit to South Africa, Obama is scheduled to go to Tanzania. He traveled to South Africa from Dakar, Senegal.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-south-africa-next-leg-africa-tour-181534727.html

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Power Grid Security Strategy Not Yet Proved | Stuff.co.nz

The auditor-general says Transpower's efforts to bolster the security of the national electricity grid have paid off, but further tests are needed to tell if longer term risk management strategies will work.

Testifying before the Commerce Committee yesterday, the deputy head of the auditor-general's Performance Audit Group, Mike Scott, said the firm had come a long way since a damning 2011 report.

That investigation found that while Transpower managed its corporate risks well, it found poor practices when it came to managing the condition of grid assets.

As such the firm, which manages the backbone that transports power from plant to lines companies, could not identify where potential weaknesses were likely to occur, increasing the likelihood of power outages.

Since then Transpower has undertaken a $3.8 billion upgrade, based on a "security of supply design".

The grid design and Transpower's planning had now reduced the short-term risk of failure, Scott said.

Transpower had also changed the way it managed spare parts, keeping them in various parts of the country to speed up repair times in the event of a failure.

However the auditor-general was unable to assess whether Transpower's efforts to manage longer term risks were sufficient, with a recently installed technical risk tool only going live in July.

"The long-term strategy is where Transpower needs to do the most work, managing assets and the risk in terms of condition of those assets and where the risk is," Scott said.

The new platform would be based on international PAS 55 risk management standards, but further testing would be needed to assess its suitability. The result is likely to be available in early 2014.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8851801/Power-grid-security-strategy-not-yet-proved

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Kuwaitis campaign privately to arm Syrian rebels

By Sylvia Westall and Mahmoud Harby

KUWAIT (Reuters) - At a traditional evening meeting known as a "diwaniya", Kuwaiti men drop banknotes into a box, opening a campaign to arm up to 12,000 anti-government fighters in Syria. A new Mercedes is parked outside to be auctioned off for cash.

They are Sunni Muslim and mainly Islamist like many Syrian rebels who have been trying for two years to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect, a branch of Shi'ite Islam. Shi'ites are also a minority in Kuwait.

"The world has abandoned the Syrian people and the Syrian revolution so it is normal that people start to give money to people who are fighting," said Falah al-Sawagh, a former opposition member of Kuwait's parliament, surrounded by friends drinking sweet tea and eating cakes.

In just four hours the campaign collected 80,000 dinars ($282,500). The box moves to a new house each day for a week. Sawagh estimates this type of campaign in Kuwait, one of the world's richest countries per capita, raised several million dollars during the last Ramadan religious holiday.

The fighting in Syria has stoked Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in the region, with Iran and Lebanese Shi'ite militia Hezbollah backing Assad, and Sunni-ruled nations such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar backing the rebels.

Sunni-ruled Kuwait has denounced the Syrian army's actions and sent $300 million in humanitarian aid to help the millions displaced by the conflict in which more than 90,000 have died.

Arming the rebels is against government policy but U.S. ally Kuwait allows more public debate than other Gulf states and has tolerated campaigns in private houses or on social media that are difficult to control.

Kuwaiti authorities are nevertheless worried that the fundraising for Syria could stir sectarian tensions. Unofficial funding of Syria's opposition is also under scrutiny by the West in case it goes to al Qaeda militants among the rebels.

Some opposition Islamist politicians and Sunni clerics have openly campaigned to arm rebel fighters, using social media and posters with telephone hotlines in public places. Former MP Waleed al-Tabtabie, a conservative Salafi Islamist, posted pictures of himself on Twitter clad in combat gear in Syria.

Kuwait's minister for cabinet affairs, Sheikh Mohammad al-Mubarak al-Sabah, said what was happening in Syria was "heart-wrenching" and understood why Kuwaitis wanted to help.

"Human nature is such that you cannot control what people believe in and how they want to act," he said.

"What is happening in Syria just inflames the emotions on both sides. That's why we are trying to steer a middle ground."

SUITCASES OF CASH

Syria is blocked from international bank transfers from Kuwait because of sanctions, so former MP Sawagh visited the Syrian town of Aleppo last month with cash in his luggage for rebel fighters. He did not say how much he took.

"Our only rule is to collect money and to deliver this money to our brothers which are helping the Syrian people," said Sawagh, a member of a local group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood which is in power in Egypt and is influential in other Arab states.

Sawagh and others in his campaign also travel to Turkey and Jordan to hand over money to intermediaries.

"They have absolute freedom to spend this money. If they can recruit mujahideen for defending themselves and their sanctity with this money, then this is their choice," he said, referring to fighters who engage in jihad or holy war.

Washington is worried the money may help strengthen fighters with links to al Qaeda who are hostile not just to Assad but also to the United States and U.S.-allied Gulf ruling families.

It wants Western and Arab allies to direct all aid to Syrian rebels through the Western-backed Supreme Military Council.

A fiery speech by Kuwaiti Sunni Muslim cleric Shafi al-Ajami raised alarm earlier this month with a call for more arms.

"The mujahideen, we are arming them from here, and from the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey," he said.

The speech was laced with references to the sectarian nature of the conflict and unnerved authorities in Kuwait where Shi'ites make up an estimated 15 to 20 percent minority of the population. Parliament, the cabinet and the ruling emir issued strong rebukes.

"I do not hide from your feelings of anxiety about what emerged recently ... manifestations and practices that carry the abhorrent breath of sectarianism which should be denounced," Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah said on state television. Such acts could "lure the fire of fanaticism and extremism," he said.

JIHAD

Ajami spoke following a call by prominent cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian based in Qatar, for jihad in Syria after fighters from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group, intervened to help Assad's army.

The calls to holy war by several influential clerics in the region only encouraged more donations, Kuwaitis said.

"Women have also been donating their gold," said Bader al-Dahoum, a former Islamist opposition MP.

"After the fatwas (edicts), people are giving more."

The men at the diwaniya said one large Kuwaiti family planned to equip 28 mujahideen in Syria, estimating the cost at 700 dinars per fighter. Smaller families sponsor two or three, while a member of one of Kuwait's powerful merchant families donated 250,000 dinars.

Weapons supplied by Qatar and its allies include small arms such as AK-47 rifles, rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades and ammunition, according to a Qatari official. Qatar also provides instructions on battlefield techniques.

Campaigning for funds to arm the rebels makes certain politicians more popular in Kuwait, said Osama al-Munawer, a former opposition MP.

"I was a member of the National Assembly and people were blaming us - why don't you give them weapons?" he said.

"They said, food - they have it, but they need to defend themselves because the situation is very bad." ($1 = 0.2832 Kuwaiti dinars)

(Additional reporting by William Maclean and Ahmed Hagagy; editing by Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kuwaitis-campaign-privately-arm-syrian-rebels-095244987.html

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Clinton, Obama Slip in Popularity; Uncertainty About Rubio Stays High

President Obama and Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton has lost some ground in personal favorability this year, but continues to outpace both Barack Obama and, by a wide margin, Marco Rubio - like Clinton, a possible successor to Obama - in this basic measure of public popularity.

Six in 10 Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll see Clinton favorably, down 6 percentage points from her career high in January. Obama's seen favorably by 53 percent, down 7 points from January and back to his pre-re-election level across most of 2012.

See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

Rubio, a Republican U.S. senator from Florida involved in the immigration reform effort, is far less known on the national stage. Half of Americans express no opinion of him at all, similar to its level last August, when he first was being mooted as a possible presidential candidate. The rest divide evenly on Rubio in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates.

The single-digit comedowns for Obama and Clinton are unsurprising. Since his re-election, the president's waded into contentious policy areas such as gun control and immigration, while dealing with the Internal Revenue Service and National Security Administration controversies. Obama's job approval likewise is off from his post-election high in ABC/Post polls.

Clinton, for her part, has stepped away from her popular role as secretary of state and may be seen in an increasingly partisan light given wide discussion of her possible candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Last week she said she hopes to see a woman president, and, even without being a formal candidate, was endorsed by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri). A campaign fundraising committee has been created to support Clinton (without her endorsement), as has one to oppose her.

GROUPS - Indicating increased partisanship, Clinton's popularity since January has dropped by 10 points among Republicans and among "somewhat" conservative Americans; she's also lost 9 points among whites, 10 points among seniors and 11 points among college graduates.

Obama, on the other hand, has lost ground disproportionately among some key Democratic-leaning groups, down 12 points in favorability among liberals, 10 points among those without a college degree, and 9 points each among nonwhites and people with household incomes less than $50,000 a year. His favorable rating also is down 11 points among independents, dipping just below the halfway mark.

While Rubio retains a broad recognition deficit, partisan divisions about him have lessened from last August, with negative views among Democrats down by 13 points and positive views among Republicans down by 11 points. His support for immigration reform - a cause more popular among Democrats than among Republicans - may be a factor.

METHODOLOGY - This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cell phone June 19-23, 2013, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,010 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points. The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling, data collection and tabulation by SSRS/Social Science Research Solutions of Media, Pa.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-obama-slip-popularity-uncertainty-rubio-stays-high-111054219--abc-news-politics.html

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Getting the carbon out of emissions

June 26, 2013 ? Proposed method could be more efficient than previous systems and easier to retrofit in existing power plants.

Many researchers around the world are seeking ways to "scrub" carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the emissions of fossil-fuel power plants as a way of curbing the gas that is considered most responsible for global climate change. But most such systems rely on complex plumbing to divert the steam used to drive the turbines that generate power in these plants, and such systems are not practical as retrofits to existing plants.

Now, researchers at MIT have come up with a scrubbing system that requires no steam connection, can operate at lower temperatures, and would essentially be a "plug-and-play" solution that could be added relatively easily to any existing power plant.

The new electrochemical system is described in a paper just published online in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, and written by doctoral student Michael Stern, chemical engineering professor T. Alan Hatton and two others.

The system is a variation on a well-studied technology that uses chemical compounds called amines, which bind with CO₂ in the plant's emission stream and can then release the gas when heated in a separate chamber. But the conventional process requires that almost half of the power plant's low-pressure steam be diverted to provide the heat needed to force the amines to release the gas. That massive diversion would require such extensive changes to existing power plants that it is not considered economically feasible as a retrofit.

In the new system, an electrochemical process replaces the steam-based separation of amines and CO₂. This system only requires electricity, so it can easily be added to an existing plant.

The system uses a solution of amines, injected at the top of an absorption column in which the effluent gases are rising from below. The amines bind with CO₂ in the emissions stream and are collected in liquid form at the bottom of the column. Then, they are processed electrochemically, using a metal electrode to force the release of the CO₂; the original amine molecules are then regenerated and reused.

As with the conventional thermal-amine scrubber systems, this technology should be capable of removing 90 percent of CO₂ from a plant's emissions, the researchers say. But while the conventional CO₂-capture process uses about 40 percent of a plant's power output, the new system would consume only about 25 percent of the power, making it more attractive.

In addition, while steam-based systems must operate continuously, the all-electric system can be dialed back during peak demand, providing greater operational flexibility, Stern says. "Our system is something you just plug in, so you can quickly turn it down when you have a high cost or high need for electricity," he says.

Another advantage is that this process produces CO₂ under pressure, which is required to inject the gas into underground reservoirs for long-term disposal. Other systems require a separate compressor to pressurize the gas, creating further complexity and inefficiency.

The chemicals themselves -- mostly small polyamines -- are widely used and easily available industrial materials, says Hatton, the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering Practice. Further research will examine which of several such compounds works best in the proposed system.

So far, the research team, which also includes former MIT research scientist Fritz Simeon and Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, has done mathematical modeling and a small-scale laboratory test of the system. Next, they hope to move on to larger-scale tests to prove the system's performance. They say it could take five to 10 years for the system to be developed to the point of widespread commercialization.

Because it does not rely on steam from a boiler, this system could also be used for other applications that do not involve steam -- such as cement factories, which are among the leading producers of CO₂ emissions, Stern says. It could also be used to curb emissions from steel or aluminum plants.

It could also be useful in other CO₂ removal, Hatton says, such as in submarines or spacecraft, where carbon dioxide can accumulate to levels that could endanger human health, and must be continually removed.

The work was supported by Siemens AG and by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/8uT9pW8An2g/130626143110.htm

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Halle Berry describes daughter's harassment terror

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? With dozens of journalists tailing her every move, Academy Award-winner Halle Berry appeared at the California Capitol on Tuesday to testify for a bill that would limit the ability of paparazzi to photograph the children of celebrities and public figures.

"My daughter doesn't want to go to school because she knows 'the men' are watching for her," the actor told the Assembly Committee on Public Safety. "They jump out of the bushes and from behind cars and who knows where else, besieging these children just to get a photo."

Berry, who is pregnant, said she was speaking in favor of the anti-harassment bill by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, as a "mother of a daughter and the baby boy in my belly."

"If it passes, the quality of my life and my children's lives will be dramatically changed," she said.

The committee obliged, and the bill now goes to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, where supporters promised to clarify language that would protect the First Amendments rights of journalists gathering news.

"It's a broad definition to harass," Assembly Member Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, said in calling for the explanation.

The bill would change the definition of harassment to include photographing or recording a child without the permission of a legal guardian by following the child or guardian's activities or by lying in wait.

It also increases the penalties for people convicted of such behavior. Anyone convicted of a first offense could spend between 10 days and a year in jail. It also allows civil lawsuits to be filed.

The goal is also to protect the children of public officials, including judges and law enforcement, said Greg Hayes, spokesman for the senator.

But journalism advocates fear the bill will interfere with reporters and photographers gathering news. In an age when everyone with a cellphone has a camera, some say it also potentially puts private citizens at risk of prosecution.

"It sweeps legitimate newsgathering activities into the new definition of harassment and exposes everyday activities that journalists do to criminal and civil liability," said Jim Ewert of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, which registered the organization's opposition.

Some opponents of the bill found it difficult to testify in the presence of the cinematic superstar without deference. A representative of the Motion Picture Association of America, which opposes the bill, said it was a "privilege to be here with Academy Award-winner Halle Berry." A lobbyist representing 1,000 of the state's radio and television stations said he stood "between Halle Berry and First Amendment Rights."

The bill also was supported by many Southern California law enforcement organizations.

The "Monster's Ball" star and one-time Bond Girl talked about the recent infamous tabloid blowup between her family and the paparazzi that occurred at Los Angeles International Airport as they returned from a Hawaiian vacation. She said their relaxed good time turned to terror when they were cornered by 50 photographers with flashes who blocked their way out.

"They were trying to start a fight with my fiance because if they get a photo of that it's more money," Berry said, adding that her daughter was terrified. "She asked 'Mommy, are they going to kill us?' She didn't get to sleep until 3 a.m. because she can't get this out of her mind and she doesn't understand what just happened to her."

After the hearing, journalists scurried after Berry, recording her every move until she boarded a private elevator with de Leon.

___

Reach Tracie Cone: www.Twitter.com/TConeAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/halle-berry-describes-daughters-harassment-terror-200230740.html

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Microsoft teases a Metro-style version of Office, no word yet on availability (update)

We already knew that Windows RT tablets would be getting their very own Outlook app with Windows 8.1, but apparently Microsoft has even more plans up its sleeve. Here at Build, the company is teasing a Metro-style Office suite that will be available through the Windows Store, just like any other non-desktop Windows program. Unfortunately, this is a tease in the truest sense of the word: Redmond won't say when the app will be available, and isn't providing many official screenshots. However, a company spokesperson did tell reporters that PowerPoint will have "all of the same transitions, the same graphic power [and] file format capability" as the desktop version, so presumably the same is true of Word and Excel too. That's all we have to share for now, though you can bet we'll be back with a proper hands-on as soon as Microsoft is ready to show off a more final version of the app.

Update: ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reports that the Metro-style Office applications (codenamed Gemini) will hit the Windows Store in 2014.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/XipNRB-Yavc/

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Hyperbole Much? CBS Legal Analyst Compares Voting Rights Act ...

Writing for the liberal Atlantic magazine today, CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen jumped off the proverbial deep end by comparing today's Supreme Court ruling invalidating section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 to two infamous Supreme Court decisions from the 19th century.

"[T]he Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County is one of the worst in the history of the institution. As a matter of fact, and of law, it is indefensible. It will be viewed by future scholars on a par with the Court's odious Dred Scott and Plessy decisions and other utterly lamentable expressions of judicial indifference to the ugly realities of racial life in America," Cohen righteously thundered deep with his 18-paragraph screed.?

From the lead paragraph, the NYU Law School Brennan Center for Justice fellow [profile picture shown below at right] flung invective and overwrought, partisan rage but went light on legal reasoning. Here's how Cohen opened his piece:

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Let's be clear about what has just happened. Five unelected, life-tenured men this morning declared that overt racial discrimination in the nation's voting practices is over and no longer needs all of the special federal protections it once did. They did so, without a trace of irony, by striking down as unconstitutionally outdated a key provision of a federal law that this past election cycle alone protected the franchise for tens of millions of minority citizens. And they did so on behalf of an unrepentant county in the Deep South whose officials complained about the curse of federal oversight even as they continued to this very day to enact and implement racially discriminatory voting laws.

In deciding Shelby County v. Holder, in striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, the five conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, didn't just rescue one recalcitrant Alabama jurisdiction from the clutches of racial justice and universal enfranchisement. By voiding the legislative formula that determines which jurisdictions must get federal "preclearance" for changes to voting laws, today's ruling enables officials in virtually every Southern county, and in many other jurisdictions as well, to more conveniently impose restrictive new voting rules on minority citizens. And they will. That was the whole point of the lawsuit. Here is the link to the ruling.

In a 5-4 ruling over liberal dissent, the Supreme Court today declared "accomplished" a "mission" that has become more, not less, dire in the four years since the justices last revisited the subject. They have done so by focusing on voter turnout, which surely has changed for the better in the past fifty years, and by ignoring the other ruses now widely employed to suppress minority votes. In so doing, the five federal judges responsible for this result, all appointed by Republican presidents, have made it materially easier for Republican lawmakers to hassle and harry and disenfranchise likely Democratic voters. And they have done so by claiming that the Congress didn't mean what it said when it renewed the act by landslide votes in 2006.

When Cohen finally got into actually touching upon the substance of Chief Justice Roberts's ruling, he made sure to give a mere thumbnail sketch of the majority opinion, rather than go through and systematically take it apart. One would think that a legal analyst, trained in the law and familiar with legal reasoning, might attempt to do a little bit of that, albeit in layman's terms for the benefit of a general readership.

Cohen not only failed to do that, but he outright misled readers with this fallacious charge:

The Fifteenth Amendment, which decrees "that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race or color," the Chief Justice wrote in a remarkable passage, "is not designed to punish for the past; its purpose is to ensure a better future." Yet the Court's ruling today directly contradicts that lofty premise. A black voter in Shelby County today, as a result of this ruling, has a much grimmer "future" when it comes to voting rights than she did yesterday. Without Section 4's formula, Section 5 is neutered, and without Section 5 that black voter in Shelby County will have to litigate for her rights herself after the discriminatory law has come into effect.

That is patently not true. The Voting Rights Act's section 2 -- which allows challenges to state election laws under the VRA in federal courts -- was not challenged in the case and remains in effect. Under section 2, any "aggrieved party" with standing to sue OR the U.S. attorney general can file a challenge to suspect state or local laws in federal court.

Additionally, while Cohen railed to readers that the ruling today had "used the banner of 'states rights' to undermine the most basic right any individual can have in a free society -- the right to be able to vote free from racial discrimination employed by public official," he conveniently failed to explain how Roberts followed the threads of longstanding precedent regarding uniform enforcement of federal law and the sovereignty of the states (emphasis mine):

despite the tradition of equal sovereignty, the Act applies to only nine States (and several additional coun
-ties). While one State waits months or years and expends funds to implement a validly enacted law, its neighbor
can typically put the same law into effect immediately, through the normal legislative process. Even if a noncov-ered jurisdiction is sued, there are important differences between those proceedings and preclearance proceedings; the preclearance proceeding ?not only switches the burden of proof to the supplicant jurisdiction, but also applies substantive standards quite different from those govern-ing the rest of the nation.?

All this explains why, when we first upheld the Act in 1966, we described it as ?stringent? and ?potent.? Katzen-bach,
383 U. S., at 308, 315, 337. We recognized that it ?may have been an uncommon exercise of congressional
power,? but concluded that ?legislative measures not oth-erwise appropriate? could be
justified by ?exceptional con-ditions.? Id.,at 334. We have since noted that the Act ?authorizes federal intrusion into sensitive areas of state and local policymaking,? Lopez, 525 U. S., at 282, and represents an ?extraordinary departure from the tradi-tional course of relations between the States and the Federal Government,? Presley v. Etowah County Comm?n, 502 U. S. 491, 500?501 (1992). As we reiterated in Northwest Austin, the Act constitutes ?extraordinary legislation otherwise unfamiliar to our federal system.? 557 U. S., at 211

Had Cohen desired, he could have given readers a more thoughtful, intellectual, less bombastic and less partisan critique of the Shelby County ruling. Indeed, on June 19 he authored a fairly measured and staid piece "Life After the Voting Rights Act," in which he predicted, fairly accurately, the outcome of the Court's deliberations.

But where's the fun in that when the goal in the liberal media circus is creating a big splash and whipping up liberal voters in a frenzy?

Source: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2013/06/25/hyperbole-much-cbs-legal-analyst-compares-voting-rights-act-ruling-dre

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Allianz says new life policies need less capital

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Allianz said its new life insurance products without long term interest rate guarantees will require less capital backing, benefiting both policy and share holders.

Europe's biggest insurer is launching the savings products in Germany early next month in response to low capital market interest rates and tighter European Union insurance regulations.

The policies will give the insurer more flexibility in using its risk capital than classical life insurance savings products that carry guaranteed interest rate, Allianz said on Tuesday.

"When we have more flexibility and less capital constraint, we can share more return with the customer," Allianz's Chief Financial Officer Dieter Wemmer said in a presentation to analysts and investors.

Wemmer said the new products combined the customer's perspective with that of the shareholder.

"We're offering a better deal for both of them," he said.

Low interest rates in the wake of the financial crisis have slashed the income insurers can earn from their investments in safe assets like government bonds, making the burden of meeting past pledges to policy holders increasingly onerous.

In addition, new EU safety rules for insurers known as Solvency II, due to come into force in the next few years, are expected to place a heavier capital burden on business with returns that are guaranteed over the lifetime of the policy.

Allianz, by far the biggest life player in its home market, will offer the new policies alongside traditional guarantee products and was not reacting to Solvency II in a "slavish" way, Wemmer said.

For several years, German insurers have been required to trim the minimum interest rate they are allowed to offer on the guarantee products.

The rate now stands at 1.75 percent for new policies, which further reduces to around 1 percent once insurers' costs have been deducted.

"Many customers ask if that's really a worthwhile promise," said Alf Neumann, a board member at Allianz's German life insurance unit.

Rival insurer Ergo has also reworked its product offering.

Allianz hopes its new policies will attract customers because they can offer a higher overall return if capital is not tied up to meet the annual guarantee.

As well as revamping its product line, Allianz is also seeking better yields from its investments.

In the presentation, Allianz's German life business said it aimed to double its exposure to alternative investments such as real estate, private equity funds, infrastructure and renewable energy to roughly 20 billion euros ($26.2 billion) in the medium term.

It also expected to ramp up its activity in direct debt financing in areas such as residential and commercial mortgage lending, as well as in corporate and infrastructure loans, bringing the total volume to around 25 billion euros in the medium term, from 16.3 billion euros now.

(Reporting by Jonathan Gould and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/allianz-says-life-policies-less-capital-161326809.html

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What Did You Want to Be When You Were 8?

Gerry Allen, left, helps a little friend bring the cannon ball to the cannon.

Courtesy Gerry Allen

By the time he was 8 years old, Gerry Allen had already chosen a career. ?I wanted to be a National Park ranger. That?s all I wanted to do,? he recalls. When he got to Auburn University, he shaped his studies?a biology major and minors in forestry, outdoor recreation, and wildlife management?with the aim of becoming ?the world?s greatest park ranger.? But he came of age during the Vietnam War, and rather than being drafted, he interrupted his studies for a four-year stint in the Coast Guard. By the time he finished college, he was married, and he and his wife, Linda, had welcomed the first of their two sons. Suddenly, becoming a ranger didn?t seem like the most responsible option.

?The Park Service is part of the government, and down low, there?s not much money,? Allen says. ?Once the kids came along, I needed to take care of them.? It wasn?t just a matter of income; he wanted to give his kids a stable home base, and park rangers often serve in extreme locations. ?Starting out, it would?ve been hard to provide what I wanted to out in the middle of Death Valley with plywood down on the floors.?

So Allen and his family settled in Atlanta, and he went to work for Delta Air Lines, where he helped set up the company?s environmental programs. It wasn?t the work that he?d dreamed of, but that doesn?t mean he was unhappy. ?It was a wonderful job, a great job,? he says. He got to travel the world, develop programs to identify and clean up hazardous waste, and ensure that the facilities where airlines store their fuel supplies were environmentally sound.

Still, as much as he enjoyed his 29 years at Delta, he never lost sight of his boyhood dream. Thinking back on those years, he laughs, remembering, ?When we?d go on vacation, I?d always take my kids to national parks, and every time I?d see a park ranger, I?d say, ?That sucker?s got my job.? ?

In 2001, after the disruptions of 9/11, Delta offered thousands of employees an early retirement package. Gerry was 56 at the time, and Linda recognized an opportunity to start over. ?My wife said, ?You know, the kids are gone. They?re offering us a pretty good package. I?m willing to sell the house and move around like a gypsy if you want to go to work for the park service.? ?

And so the Allens? great second-act adventure began.

Gerry Allen took a job in a Bass Pro Shop while he conducted his job search. After four months and between 60 and 80 applications to parks all over the country, he landed his first Park Service post, at Vicksburg National Military Park as a ?visitor use assistant, fee collector.? ?That?s the guy who sits at the gate and takes $5 as the cars come through,? he says.

Moving from Atlanta to Mississippi to take the job may seem a little extreme, but Allen was happy. ?I got to wear the uniform,? he says. Of course, that doesn?t mean he was content in that position. Determined to work as an interpretive park ranger, he progressed up the Park Service career ladder?with stops at three other parks along the way?until he found his current position at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. ?We've moved house about eight times in the last 10 years,? he recalls. ?That's where my wife is the key. She could've stopped it all if she'd wanted to, but she was adventurous, too.?

Allen finally has his dream job, instructing visitors?often school parties?about the history of the park and the Civil War battles that occurred there. He?s essentially an educator, but unlike most teachers, his lesson plans sometimes involve firing cannons and shooting rifles, and, of course, he wears a uniform?in his case, a standard National Park Service ranger issue. ?A lot of the guys dress up like soldiers, but I?m too old for that,? he says.

Allen is 67 now, and while he has no thoughts of retirement, he doesn?t plan to move again anytime soon. When he first launched his second career, he was willing to do just about anything for a job in the National Park Service. ?I would?ve gone anywhere from Alaska to Guam to the Everglades. But now with the grandkids??four have come along since Gerry and Linda left Atlanta??we like to be within a day?s drive of them all.? (Slate Web designer Holly Allen is their daughter-in-law.)

Asked to offer advice to anyone considering a midlife career switch, Allen says, ?You can?t be afraid. If you?re afraid, don?t do it.? Looking back at all the challenges of breaking into a new profession, his early days at the bottom of the Park Service ladder, and all the packing and unpacking the Allens faced as they hopped from park to park, Gerry still feels incredibly lucky to have landed his dream job. ?Timing, hard work, and the support of my wife were the keys for me. But I really wanted to do it,? he says. ?It all comes down to how bad you want to do it.?

This month, Slate is sharing stories of people who started over?like budget wonk Ina Garten,?better known as the Barefoot Contessa?in our "Second Acts" Hive. We want to hear your tales, too. Please?go here?to submit your story about starting over.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/second_acts/2013/06/what_did_you_want_to_be_when_you_were_8.html

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