JFK library releases last of his secret tapes

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN PRINT, ON LINE OR IN BROADCAST BEFORE 12:01 A.M. JAN. 24 - This Nov. 20, 1963 photo released by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, shows President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Mrs. Warren, and others descending the Grand Staircase during the Judicial Reception at the White House, in Washington. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, the Kennedy Llibrary will release the final 45 hours of White House recordings secretly taped during President Kennedy?s time in office. The last tapes were made on Nov. 20, 1963, two days before his assassination in Dallas. (AP Photo/The White House, Cecil Stoughton)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN PRINT, ON LINE OR IN BROADCAST BEFORE 12:01 A.M. JAN. 24 - This Nov. 20, 1963 photo released by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, shows President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Mrs. Warren, and others descending the Grand Staircase during the Judicial Reception at the White House, in Washington. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, the Kennedy Llibrary will release the final 45 hours of White House recordings secretly taped during President Kennedy?s time in office. The last tapes were made on Nov. 20, 1963, two days before his assassination in Dallas. (AP Photo/The White House, Cecil Stoughton)

BOSTON (AP) ? Newly released final recordings President John F. Kennedy secretly made in the Oval Office include an eerie conversation about what would become the day of his funeral.

While trying to arrange his schedule, Kennedy remarked that Nov. 25 was shaping up to be a "tough day" after his return from Texas and time at Cape Cod.

"It's a hell of a day, Mr. President," a staffer agreed.

The exchange was among the last 45 hours of private recordings Kennedy made. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum released the tapes Tuesday. They provide a window into the final months of the 35th American president's life.

"Kennedy did not tape as systematically as Johnson or Nixon. But what he did tape was often very important discussions," said David Coleman, the professor who chairs the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia. "...What you have is an unusually rich collection of decisions being made in real time."

The tapes include discussions of conflict in Vietnam, Soviet relations and the race to space, plans for the 1964 Democratic Convention and re-election strategy. There also are moments with his children.

Kennedy kept the recordings a secret from his top aides. He made the last one two days before his death.

Kennedy library archivist Maura Porter said Monday that JFK may have been saving them for a memoir.

The latest batch of recordings captured meetings from the last three months of Kennedy's administration. In a conversation with political advisers about young voters, Kennedy asks, "What is it we have to sell them?"

"We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil," he says. "He's not unprosperous, but he's not very prosperous. ... And the people who really are well off hate our guts."

Kennedy talks about a disconnect between the political machine and voters.

"We've got so mechanical an operation here in Washington that it doesn't have much identity where these people are concerned," he says.

On another recording, Kennedy questions conflicting reports military and diplomatic advisers bring back from Vietnam, asking the two men: "You both went to the same country?"

He also talks about trying to create films for the 1964 Democratic Convention in color instead of black and white.

"The color is so damn good," he says. "If you do it right."

Porter said the public first heard about the existence of the Kennedy recordings during the Watergate hearings.

In 1983, JFK Library and Museum officials started reviewing tapes without classified materials and releasing recordings to the public. Porter said officials were able to go through all the recordings by 1993, working with government agencies when it came to national security issues and what they could make public.

In all, she said, the JFK Library and Museum has put out about 40 recordings. She said officials excised about 5 to 10 minutes of this last group of recordings due to family discussions and about 30 minutes because of national security concerns.

Porter said Kennedy comes across as an intelligent man who had a knack for public relations and was very interested in his public image. But she said the tapes also reveal times when the president became bored or annoyed and moments when he used swear words.

The sound of the president's children, Caroline and John Jr., playing outside the Oval Office is part of a recording on which he introduces them to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.

"Hello, hello," Gromyko says as the children come in, telling their father, "They are very popular in our country."

JFK tells the children, mentioning a dog Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted the family: "His chief is the one who sent you Pushinka. You know that? You have the puppies."

JFK Library spokeswoman Rachel Flor said the daughter of the late president has heard many of the recordings, but she wasn't sure if she had heard this batch.

"He'd go from being a president to being a father," Porter said of the recordings. "... And that was really cute."

___

Online:

http://www.jfklibrary.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-Kennedy%20Tapes/id-d87522f8d4db4391853947dbdfce5e8a

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Study finds new genetic loci associated with menopause onset

Monday, January 23, 2012

An international team of researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and other institutions has uncovered 13 genetic loci, linked to immune function and DNA repair, that are factors in the age of onset of menopause.

Menopause -- the cessation of reproductive function of the ovaries -- is a major hormonal change that affects most women when they are in their early 50s. Most prior studies of the age of onset of menopause have focused on genes from the estrogen-production pathway or vascular components.

In the new study, published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics, a research team led by Kathryn Lunetta, professor of biostatistics at the BU School of Public Health, and Joanne Murabito, associate professor of medicine at the BU School of Medicine, identified 13 novel loci associated with menopause onset, while confirming four previously established loci. Most of the 17 loci are associated with genes related to DNA damage repair or auto-immune disease; others are linked to hormonal regulation.

"Our findings demonstrate the role of genes which regulate DNA repair and immune function, as well as genes affecting neuroendocrine pathways of ovarian function in regulating age at menopause, indicating the process of aging is involved in both somatic and germ line aging" the authors said.

Lunetta said the new findings "bring us closer to understanding the genetic basis for the timing of menopause. They may also provide clues to the genetic basis of early onset or premature menopause and reduced fertility.

"We hope that as a better understanding of the biologic effects of these menopause-related variants are uncovered, we will gain new insights into the connections between menopause and cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and other traits related to aging, and that this will provide avenues for prevention and treatment of these conditions," she said.

According to Murabito, director of the research clinic at the Framingham Heart Study, "It will be important to determine if a genetic variant that directly influences age at menopause also increases risk for later life health conditions, such as breast cancer."

The authors said they expected further research to identify "a substantial number of additional common variants" that impact age of menopause, and that many of them will be located in genes identified in their study. The study examined more than 50,000 women of European descent who had experienced menopause between the ages of 40 and 60.

The research team noted that a large-scale study of menopause onset in African-American women is underway, which will help to determine whether the genetic variations that affect menopause onset in African-American women are similar or substantially different for women of primarily European descent.

Besides Lunetta and Murabito, senior authors on the study include: Anna Murray, a senior lecturer in genetics at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter (UK); and Jenny A. Visser, a scientist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands).

###

Boston University Medical Center: http://www.bmc.org

Thanks to Boston University Medical Center for this article.

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Lady Gaga in duet with ... Harvard? (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Pop culture and higher education are once again merging -- and hopefully this time it will go better than Snooki's ill-conceived visit to Rutgers.

Lady Gaga is teaming up with Harvard University to form the Born This Way Foundation, a non-profit, charitable organization.

Its purpose: to "explore the best ways to reach youth and create a new culture of kindness, bravery, acceptance and empowerment" with a focus on issues such as "self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development and advocacy," according to a Harvard release.

The foundation -- which is named after the singer's most recent album and is a collaboration between Gaga, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment, Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Harvard Graduate School of Education -- will officially launch with a February 29 event at Harvard's Sanders Theatre. The singer and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, will be on hand for the reveal.

"My daughter's foundation was born out of her passion to create a better world where people are kinder and nicer to one another and are accepted for who they are, regardless of how different they may be," Cynthia Germanotta said of the new organization.

"She has experienced many of the struggles that our youth encounter today, and identifies with the lasting effects they can have without proper support. Together, we look forward to creating a new movement that will engage and empower youth and accept them as valuable members of our society."

Gaga, a frequent champion of gay rights, was honored earlier this week with a GLAAD Media Awards nomination, in the Outstanding Music Artist category.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/people_nm/us_ladygaga_harvard

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Jim Reeves' music royalties at issue in trial

FILE - In this in 1958 file photo Country singer Jim Reeves poses with his Gibson J-200 guitar on the "Country Music Jubilee." A trial over how music royalties of the late country singer "Gentleman" Jim Reeves should be split is set to begin this week. Reeves was a country music sensation when he died nearly 50 years ago in a plane crash at the age of 39. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this in 1958 file photo Country singer Jim Reeves poses with his Gibson J-200 guitar on the "Country Music Jubilee." A trial over how music royalties of the late country singer "Gentleman" Jim Reeves should be split is set to begin this week. Reeves was a country music sensation when he died nearly 50 years ago in a plane crash at the age of 39. (AP Photo, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? A trial over how music royalties of the late country singer "Gentleman" Jim Reeves should be split is set to begin this week.

Reeves was a country music sensation when he died nearly 50 years ago in a plane crash at the age of 39.

The two-day trial that begins Monday will focus on how much Terry Davis, who married Reeves' widow, should receive from royalties of up to $400,000 a year, The Tennessean reported (http://tnne.ws/w4mgtF ).

Reeves is best known for the lyric "Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone" but he stayed on the charts from 1970 through 1984 because of how his widow, Mary Reeves Davis, managed his posthumous career. His most popular songs included "He'll Have To Go" and "Welcome To My World."

Terry Davis has been locked in a battle with Reeves' nephew and niece since Mary Reeves Davis died in 1999.

The case will determine if Terry Davis should receive more than the $100,000 and some land that Mary Reeves Davis left to him. Terry Davis, who was married to Mary Reeves Davis for 30 years, has cited a provision of law allowing spouses an "elective share" of an estate based on how long the marriage lasted..

Associated Press

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Extraordinary Gingrich comeback also vindication

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich prepares to walk off stage with his grand daughter Maggie Cushman, after Gingrich spoke during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich prepares to walk off stage with his grand daughter Maggie Cushman, after Gingrich spoke during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich laughs while speaking during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waves to the crowd with his wife Callista during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a?South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, stands with his wife Ann as he speaks at his South Carolina primary election night reception at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary Saturday night. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? To say Newt Gingrich capped an extraordinary comeback with a South Carolina victory doesn't quite capture what happened.

It was more like vindication.

The former House speaker came from behind to overtake Mitt Romney on Saturday in a state that for decades has chosen the eventual Republican nominee. On the way there, Gingrich triumphed over months of campaign turmoil and at least two political near-death experiences as well as millions of dollars of attack advertisements and potentially damning personal allegations.

He did it by finding his voice and rallying conservatives with a populist defiance.

"The American people feel that they have elites who have been trying to force us to stop being Americans," Gingrich told cheering supporters in Columbia after he was declared the victor. "It's not that I am a good debater. It's that I articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people."

It was on the debate stage that the pugnacious Gingrich arguably revived his presidential campaign, not once but twice in the past year, by giving a tea party-infused GOP exactly what it's hungering for ? a no-holds-barred attack dog willing to go after President Barack Obama with abandon. If Gingrich wins the nomination, his confrontational attitude against all things Obama likely will be a big reason Republicans choose him over chief rival Romney.

Gingrich, a political strategist in his own right who has a knack for understanding precisely what the GOP electorate wants, has aggressively taken it to Obama since the moment he entered the race last spring determined to turn his nationwide grass-roots network of support that he's cultivated for a decade into a front-running White House campaign.

But he stumbled early, including by disparaging the House Republicans' Medicare proposal as "right-wing social engineering" and was all but forced to apologize after the conservative outcry. His campaign nearly imploded over strategy squabbles, with virtually his entire senior staff abandoning him before the summer even began. And he was broke after spending lavishly.

Gingrich spent the next six months running his own campaign on a shoestring. The former college professor used a series of debates in the fall ? and the free media they afforded him ? to show Republican voters his political and oratory skills. Their adoration ended up catapulting him back into contention in Iowa. He vowed to stay positive and focus on Obama ? even as his rivals, sensing a very real threat, went on the attack with a barrage of negative TV advertising.

His rivals and allied groups ? primarily the pro-Romney Restore Our Future political action committee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul ? castigated him for a tumultuous speakership and career in Washington after Congress, knocking him way off course and nearly bludgeoning him to political death.

It turned out Gingrich didn't have the money to respond on TV. And his standing slid as the new year began, and he ended up coming in a distant fourth place in the leadoff caucuses on Jan. 3.

He was but an afterthought in the next state to vote, New Hampshire, where he spent a full week on the attack against Romney while complaining about the beating he took in Iowa on the air. But the cash-strapped Gingrich didn't have money to take his criticism of Romney to the TV airwaves. He seemed completely off his game, losing big in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Then Sheldon Adelson came to the rescue.

The billionaire casino magnate and longtime Gingrich backer ponied up at least $5 million for an outside group ? made up of former Gingrich aides ? to help put his buddy back in the game. It wasn't long before the group ? Winning Our Future ? was exacting payback on Romney for his allies pummeling Gingrich in Iowa. And the group started raising questions about Romney's time at the helm of a private equity firm, Bain Capital, putting Romney on the defensive for the first time during the campaign.

When the race turned to South Carolina, it didn't take long for Gingrich? a former Georgia congressman ? to hit his stride. The state had always been a campaign firewall for him. He had visited often, built his biggest staff of any of the first three early-voting states and spent $2.5 million on advertising.

Over the past 10 days, he raised questions about Romney's private business experience while Winning Our Future reinforced the message by financing millions of dollars in South Carolina advertising characterizing Romney as a corporate predator who dismantled companies while running Bain Capital. Gingrich also started working to undercut Romney's strength ? the notion that the former Massachusetts governor was the Republicans' best chance to beat Obama in the fall.

"What you are seeing him doing is convincing people first that he can win," senior Gingrich adviser David Winston explained at one point. "He's in the process of crossing that threshold."

It was his performance in two debates last week that may have helped him seal the deal with undecided Republicans who were questioning his viability as a candidate.

He turned his vulnerabilities ? a comment some interpreted as racist and an allegation by an ex-wife that he had wanted an "open marriage" ? into moments of strength by answering questions about those issues with nothing short of a character assassination on the national media. In both instances, he clearly tickled his conservative audience ? many of whom are skeptical of a media industry they view as left-leaning.

In Myrtle Beach last Monday, Gingrich lashed out when FOX News Juan Williams had asked him if comments he made urging poor minority children to work as janitors were racially insensitive.

"The fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history," Gingrich retorted ? and then turned up the intensity.

His voice rose and he jabbed a finger into the podium as he said: "I believe every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. And if that makes liberals unhappy, I'm going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job, and learn some day to own the job."

The clip became the heart of Gingrich's final television ad in South Carolina, and won high praise from supporters at the barbecue joints and sportsmen's clubs he visited in the campaign's closing days.

But three days later, Gingrich had what seemed like a problem on his hands.

An ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, did an interview with ABC News in which she said Gingrich had asked her to allow him to have a mistress while they were married. It was unclear how the allegation would play in a Baptist state where many in the GOP electorate call themselves evangelical.

Gingrich ended up using the allegation to his advantage on a debate stage in Charleston, when CNN moderator John King opened the candidate face-off by asking Gingrich about his ex-wife's claim.

"Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things," an indignant Gingrich said. "To take an ex-wife and make it, two days before the primary, a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine."

The audience roared and rose to its feet.

Several things also fell Gingrich's way.

Romney's personal wealth was thrust into the spotlight as he stumbled over whether ? and then eventually when ? he would release his tax returns. Gingrich pounced, suggesting Romney may have something to hide that could pose a liability against Obama. Romney also took a hit when the Iowa GOP declared that Rick Santorum, not Romney had won the leadoff caucuses.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also quit the race two days before the primary and endorsed Gingrich. And evangelical conservatives in the state largely ignored the pleas of national Christian leaders who had voted to endorse Santorum and started coalescing behind Gingrich, the only other candidate in the race fighting over the support of the right flank.

In the end, South Carolina Republican strategist Chip Felkel said: "His supporters were fired up, and it's contagious, especially given Romney's failure to generate that kind of enthusiasm."

The coming weeks will determine whether Gingrich can stay on top this time.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-How%20Gingrich%20Won/id-6ecdcedee10e4ea9990fa133c45ca1f1

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Madrid's Pepe apologizes for Messi foot stomp

/

updated 4:23 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2012

MADRID - Real Madrid's Pepe has apologized to Lionel Messi for stepping on the Barcelona forward's hand during this week's Copa del Rey quarterfinal, saying that it wasn't intentional.

Pepe told Real Madrid's website Thursday that "as far as the play with Leo Messi, I want to say that it was an involuntary act."

The Portuguese defender added that "even so, if Messi is offended I ask his forgiveness because I want to defend my team and club. ... It never passed through my head to cause harm to a fellow professional."

Pepe received a yellow card in the 17th minute of Madrid's 2-1 loss during Wednesday's first leg when he barged into Sergio Busquets, but referee Muniz Fernandez did not penalize him for stomping on Messi's hand when the forward was on the ground in the 68th minute.

Pepe also fell to the field in the 65th minute clutching his face after coming into contact with Cesc Fabregas, but replays showed the Barcelona midfielder made contact with his arm and chest.

Pepe's actions, as well as Madrid's defensive tactics, have been widely criticized in the Spanish media, including the Madrid-friendly sports dailies.

Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said in the post-match news conference that he hadn't seen the incident, but that it would be "punishable" if it was done on purpose.

The 28-year-old center back has collected eight yellow cards in 11 "clasico" matches and a red card in last season's Champions League semifinal with Barcelona. Pepe was suspended for 10 games in April 2009 after lashing out at two Getafe players in a skirmish that included him stamping on the back of Javier Casquero after pushing the player to the ground, unprovoked.

The second leg of the total-goals quarterfinal will be played at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium next week.

Barcelona has beaten Madrid 10 times in their last 13 meetings. This was its sixth win against Madrid since Mourinho arrived in 2010.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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He's back

David Beckham has re-signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy, agreeing to a new two-year contract with the Major League Soccer club.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46061529/ns/sports-soccer/

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Google's 4Q disappoints as advertising prices sink

In this Jan. 17, 2012 photo, a sign for Google is displayed behind the Google android robot, at the National Retail Federation, in New York. Google Inc., releases quarterly financial results Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, after the market close. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Jan. 17, 2012 photo, a sign for Google is displayed behind the Google android robot, at the National Retail Federation, in New York. Google Inc., releases quarterly financial results Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, after the market close. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? What was supposed to be a celebration of the most prosperous quarter in Google's 13-year history instead turned into a major letdown.

The disappointment sunk in Thursday after Google's fourth-quarter earnings report showed the Internet search leader fetched less money per click on its ubiquitous online ads.

That came as an unsettling surprise because investors had assumed a surge in online holiday shopping in the U.S. would enable Google Inc. to charge more for its ads. Instead, the average price decreased by 8 percent from the same time in 2010.

Google executives traced part of the decline to technical changes aimed at delivering more ads that attract people's interest. Those tweaks apparently paid off as the total clicks on Google's ads increased 34 percent from the previous year.

Most of the trouble seemed to be rooted in Europe, where government debt woes are hurting the economy, said Benchmark Co. analyst Clayton Moran. "I think everyone underestimated how quickly the European online ad market would suffer."

The weakening euro also converted into fewer dollars during the quarter, another factor that undercut Google.

It all added up to a dramatic slowdown in Google's earnings growth that alarmed investors. Net income edged up just 6 percent from the same October-December period in 2010, coming off year-over-year increases of more than 25 percent in each of the previous two quarters.

Google shares plunged $57.67, or 9 percent, to $581.90 in extended trading after the results were announced.

The showing could renew Wall Street concerns about Google's moneymaking prowess under the direction of co-founder Larry Page, who replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO last April. Page took the job with a reputation for being more willing to invest in long-term projects at the expense of short-term profits. In the latest quarter, Google's operating expenses rose 34 percent from the previous year, outpacing a 25 percent increase in revenue.

If Google's stock falls as sharply during Friday's regular trading as it did in Thursday's extended trading, the shares will be worth slightly less than they were when Page became CEO.

Even before the deceleration in Google's fourth-quarter earnings, analysts have been fretting that the company's proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. will crimp profits. The deal is still awaiting approval from regulators in U.S. and Europe.

Buying Motorola is part of Page's push to expand Google's empire beyond the dominant Internet search engine that generates most of the company's revenue. Much of the money is being poured into Google's Android software for smartphones, its Chrome web browser, its YouTube video site and a social networking service called Plus that is being quickly built to challenge Facebook.

Page, 38, made it clear he sees no reason to change what he has been doing so far. "I am very happy with our results overall in the quarter," he told analysts during a Thursday conference call.

More people probably would have shared in his ebullience if not for the curse of great expectations.

With more people than ever before shopping for holiday gifts and bargains on computers and mobile devices, Google was supposed to scale new financial heights in the October-December period.

Analysts had forecast Google would earn $3 billion for the first time during any three-month period since the company's 1998 inception. Instead, Google made slightly less money than it did a quarter earlier.

The company earned $2.7 billion, or $8.22 per share, in the fourth quarter. That compared to net income of $2.5 billion, or $7.81 per share, at the same time in 2010.

The most recent quarter included an $88 million charge to account for the diminished value of a $500 million investment that Google made in wireless network provider Clearwire Corp. in 2008. Google had previously absorbed a $355 million charge on its Clearwire investment.

If not for costs covering employee stock awards, Google said it would have earned $9.50 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected $10.51 per share.

Revenue totaled $10.6 billion, up from $8.4 billion in the previous year. It's the first time Google's quarterly revenue topped $10 billion, but even that figure fell shy of analyst projections.

After subtracting ad commissions, Google's revenue totaled $8.1 billion. That was about $300 million below the average analyst forecast. Revenue would have been about $240 million higher had exchange rates in Europe remained steady with the third quarter's rates, according to Patrick Pichette, Google's chief financial officer.

While investors fixated on Google's falling ad prices, Page hailed the inroads the company is making beyond the Internet search engine that brings in most of its revenue.

The Plus service that Google introduced seven months ago now has more than 90 million users, Page said. That's more than double the approximately 40 million users of three months ago. Facebook still has a big lead with more than 800 million users after nearly eight years in existence.

About 80 percent of Plus users visit the service at least once a week, according to Google. The company is trying to increase the frequency by including recommendations about Plus accounts in its search results, a recent change that has raised questions about whether Google is abusing its position as the Internet's leading gateway to unfairly promote its own services over its rivals.

Page is hoping Plus can be as successful as Google's Gmail service, which now has 350 million accounts, and the Android software, which is now running on 250 million smartphones and other devices, according to numbers the company released Thursday.

Associated Press

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All Hands Update: Energy Conservation Goals

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This edition features a story about how Fleet Activity Sasebo is doing its part to meet the Secretary of the Navy's energy conservation goals. Produced by Petty Officer 3rd Class Houston Waters.

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Video: Preview: 'The Goldfinger Mystery'

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

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iPhone 4S bites into Android U.S. smart phone sales

January 18, 2012, 10:14 AM ?

Due either to pent-up demand or Siri, Apple's iPhone 4S sold 44.5 percent of all U.S. smartphones in December.

New sales data from Nielsen confirmed earlier reports of a big bump in Apple iPhone sales and surge in market share against still-leading Android phones. The combined market share of Android phones from multiple makers still lead Apple iPhone's share, 46.9 to 44.5 percent, but that is the narrowest the gap has been in a long time.

Reasons for the surge point to pent-up demand for a new phone from Apple (despite the disappointment in not seeing an iPhone 5), Siri's popularity, and the higher number of Apple iPhone carriers. Sprint and Verizon both made big pushes with their new iPhones. Whether the upcoming Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices will widen the gap back in Android's favor remains to be seen. These have just hit the market, starting in mid-December with the Galaxy Nexus.

Go Apple

Shareholder smiley time.
Ireland on appleinsider.com

I?d wager a guess and say that the reasoning here is that people are simply unimpressed with Android, which matches my own observations
Wayne Smallman on gigaom.com

The numbers Apple pulled off are remarkable given the breadth of the Android handsets variations.
Aizmov on appleinsider.com

Go Android

clearly as the Android line is always above the iOS it is clear that Android sold more.
p0kes on endgadget.com

wordwide
1. Android
2. Symbian
3. iOS
peacekeeper05 on endgadget.com

Please remember that this uptick is in direct relation to a new product release. Mark my words. As 1st and 2nd quarter approaches, iOS share will quickly return to its proper levels, and will continue to drop year to year.
slapppy on appleinsider.com

Keep fighting, fellas

All in all, I welcome the existence of both operating systems as they push one another to provide consumers with better and better technology.
Jon on gigaom.com

Article screams "fanboy catfight below".
rattyuk on endgadget.com

Only interesting story in all of this coming year will be how many Windows 7 Mobile phones sell
Marc Telesha on gigaom.com

If Apple iPhone and Android are the fighting elephants, are RIM and Windows Mobile the ones getting trampled?

Source: http://www.itworld.com/networking/242393/iphone-4s-bites-android-us-smart-phone-sales

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Video: Romney refuses to release tax returns

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46031058#46031058

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Apparent smoke bomb tossed at White House

Rachel Maddow reports breaking news that the White House is on "lockdown" after a "smoke bomb like device" was thrown over the north fence.

?

By msnbc and nbc news staff

Someone threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb over the White House north fence Tuesday night, according to the Secret Service. The White House was locked down while authorities investigated.

The incident took place at the same time?a rally was going on outside the White House.

About 1,000?protesters from the Occupy DC movement marched from Capitol Hill to the White House,?Secret Service public affairs officer George Ogilvie told NBC News.

The crowd largely dissipated later in the evening, he said.?

No arrests were reported.

See the original story at NBCWashington.com.?

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/17/10177904-apparent-smoke-bomb-tossed-at-white-house

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Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang leaving company

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2008 file photo of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang gestures in the Yahoo booth after he gave his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Yang announced Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. Yang expressed his support of Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2008 file photo of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang gestures in the Yahoo booth after he gave his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Yang announced Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. Yang expressed his support of Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE- In this Nov. 5, 2008 file photo, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang ponders a question during a talk at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Yang announced Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. Yang expressed his support of Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - in this Nov. 26, 2011 file photo, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang takes pictures at an NCAA college football game in Stanford, Calif. Yang on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 announced that he is leaving Yahoo. The surprise departure comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thomson as its CEO. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is leaving the struggling Internet company, as it tries to revive its revenue growth and win over disgruntled shareholders under a new leader.

The departure, announced Tuesday, punctuates the end of an era at Yahoo, a tarnished Internet icon that has spent much of the last decade scrambling to catch up to Internet search leader Google Inc. ? a company that got early encouragement and advice from Yang. It comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as its CEO.

Thompson is the fourth CEO in less than five years to try to turn around Yahoo. It's a daunting assignment that Yang was unable to pull off during his own tumultuous 18-month reign as the company's CEO in 2007 and 2008.

Yang, 43, endorsed Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception.

"My time at Yahoo, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life," Yang wrote in a letter to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock. "However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo."

The letter didn't say what Yang plans to do next. He doesn't need to work, thanks to the fortune he has amassed since he began working on Yahoo in a trailer at Stanford University with fellow graduate student David Filo. Yang is worth about $1.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine's latest estimates.

Yang is also stepping down from the boards of China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is negotiating to sell its stakes in both of the Asian companies as part of its efforts to placate investors. The deal could be worth as much as $17 billion, but it still faces a series of potential stumbling blocks.

Besides surrendering the board seats, Yang is giving up his position as "Chief Yahoo," an honorary title he held as he mingled among workers, while keeping tabs on various company projects.

Thompson could have an easier time overhauling Yahoo without Yang looking over his shoulder and possibly second guessing his decisions, said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.

"This has the fingerprints of frustration on it," Gillis said. "It's one of those situations where it looks like (Yang) is losing the battle to control the company's direction and now he is saying, 'That's it, I'm out.'"

Although a popular figure among Yahoo employees, Yang had alienated the company's shareholders by turning down a chance to sell Yahoo in its entirety to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, in May 2008. Yahoo shares haven't topped $20 for more than three years. The stock gained 44 cents to $15.87 in extended trading after Yang's decision was announced.

The slump in Yahoo's stock has diminished Yang's wealth. He still owns a 3.6 percent stake in the company.

Yang conceivably could leverage those holdings to attempt to buy Yahoo's U.S. business after the Asian investments are sold. That is, if he can line up additional financing, Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a research note late Tuesday. Several buyout firms have already expressed interest in buying a substantial stake in Yahoo, spurring speculation that Yang might work with them to acquire a controlling interest in what remains of the company if the Asian assets are sold.

When he announced Thompson's hiring earlier this month, Bostock stressed that Yahoo intended to remain an independent, publicly traded company.

Yang had been someone more interested in preserving the company than he created than dismantling parts of its to boost the stock price, analysts said. "Investors tend to want to keep trying to fix the company than carve it apart," Gillis said.

Now that he is out of the way, investors are likely to conclude the sale of the Asian investments will eventually be completed, Schachter wrote.

Investor anger over Yang's handling of the Microsoft negotiations led to his resignation as CEO in late 2008 and the hiring of Silicon Valley veteran Carol Bartz to replace him. Bartz and Yang had gotten to know each other as part of Cisco Systems Inc.'s board of directors.

After initially hailing Bartz as the solution to Yahoo's problems, Yang and the rest of Yahoo's board fired her as CEO in September.

Yahoo's revenue has been falling in recent years even as advertisers have poured more money into the Internet. Much of the money, though, has been going to Google and Facebook's online social network, as Yahoo has fallen further behind in the race to innovate and develop products that attract Web traffic.

Despite its struggles, Yahoo remains profitable and still boasts a worldwide audience of 700 million people.

But visitors aren't sticking around Yahoo's services as much as they once did, depriving the company of more opportunities to sell ads ? the main source of its revenue.

It has been a jarring comedown for Yahoo, which emerged as one of the Internet's first stars after Yang and Filo expanded the service beyond its roots as a hand-picked directory of websites.

Yahoo's early success turned it into a Wall Street darling and landed Yang on the covers of leading business magazines. At the height of the dot-com bubble 12 years ago, Yahoo's stock was trading above a split-adjusted $100 amid talk that the company might eventually try to buy a long-established media franchise such as the Walt Disney Co.

But now investors widely regard Yahoo as a misguided company that can't come up with a cohesive plan to define itself for Web surfers and advertisers.

Yang and Bostock have been the focal point for much of the criticism, partly because of their key roles in the Microsoft talks in 2008. After buying a 5.2 percent stake in Yahoo last autumn, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb demanded that both Bostock and Yang step down from the company's board. If they refused, Loeb indicated he would finance a shareholder rebellion to oust both men from the board.

Loeb's fund, Third Point LLC, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment late Tuesday.

Bostock, Yahoo's chairman for the past four years, has given no indication that he plans to step down.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-17-US-Yahoo-Founder-Resigns/id-2a3efa809f7742c39d4cee8c5397f22d

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Lohan returns to court for latest probation update (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Lindsay Lohan is returning to court to give a judge her second update on how she's faring under strict new probation requirements.

The hearing on Tuesday is expected to be much like Lohan's last progress update: short and without surprises.

The starlet has been doing cleanup work at the county morgue and attending psychotherapy sessions in an effort to avoid problems with her probation for separate drunken driving and theft cases.

Lohan's spokesman Steve Honig says the actress has made her community service her "primary focus" and is eager for Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner to receive the details.

The 25-year-old struggled with her probation until Sautner imposed a series of tough new rules, including monthly meetings with the court, in November.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_lohan_returns_court_latest_probation091513947/44202502/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/lohan-returns-court-latest-probation-091513947.html

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Drop in Melanoma Deaths Limited to Educated Whites: Study (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Recent declines in death rates due to the skin cancer melanoma among white Americans appear to be limited to those with higher levels of education, researchers have found.

The findings reveal a widening education-related disparity in melanoma death rates and highlight the need for early-detection strategies to effectively target high-risk, low-educated whites, the American Cancer Society researchers said.

The investigators noted that overall melanoma death rates among white men and women aged 25 to 64 in the United States have been declining since the early 1990s, but it hasn't been known if death rates among whites might vary depending on a person's socioeconomic status, a term used to describe their levels of income and education.

To examine the issue, the researchers reviewed death certificates from 26 states and found that melanoma deaths declined about 10 percent between 1993-1997 and 2003-2007 in both men and women.

However, reductions occurred only among whites with at least 13 years of education, and there were actually slight increases among those with the least education. As a result, the education-related gap in melanoma death rates rose by nearly 52 percent in men and by almost 36 percent in women between 1993-1997 and 2003-2007, the investigators found.

The study was published in the Jan. 16 online edition of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to document this education gap in melanoma mortality trends among non-Hispanic whites in the U.S.," study leader Vilma Cokkinides said in an American Cancer Society news release.

"The reasons for the widening of the educational gap in mortality rates are not yet understood, but we do know the cornerstone of melanoma control is recognizing the signs of melanoma early. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with suboptimal knowledge and awareness of melanoma, inadequate health insurance, and lower rates of skin self-examination or physician screening," she explained.

The researchers said there's a need for more vigilant primary and secondary melanoma-prevention education campaigns that target high-risk people with low socioeconomic status and the doctors who care for them.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about melanoma.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120116/hl_hsn/dropinmelanomadeathslimitedtoeducatedwhitesstudy

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?I Engaged In A Week-Long Drug-Fueled Orgy With Corporate Income Taxes? (Theagitator)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/186698918?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Desecration of the dead is as old as war itself

This image made on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 from undated video posted on the Internet on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 by a YouTube user who identified themself as "semperfiLoneVoice" shows men in U.S. Marine combat gear, standing in a semi-circle over three bodies. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is branding as "utterly despicable" the video purporting to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. The Marine Corps had said Wednesday that it was looking into the YouTube video but hadn't yet verified its origin or authenticity. (AP Photo)

This image made on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 from undated video posted on the Internet on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 by a YouTube user who identified themself as "semperfiLoneVoice" shows men in U.S. Marine combat gear, standing in a semi-circle over three bodies. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is branding as "utterly despicable" the video purporting to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. The Marine Corps had said Wednesday that it was looking into the YouTube video but hadn't yet verified its origin or authenticity. (AP Photo)

Since before Achilles dragged Hector's body around the walls of Troy, warriors have been desecrating the corpses of their vanquished enemies, whether to send a message or exact revenge.

And for just as long, they have known in their hearts it was wrong.

The video that surfaced this week of four Marines apparently urinating on three Taliban corpses has stirred outrage in the U.S. and beyond, but also focused attention on the brutalizing effects of war on those sent to wage it.

Reserve Marine Lt. Col. Paul Hackett, who teaches the law of war to Marines before they are sent off to Afghanistan, made it clear Friday that he was not condoning the Marines' actions. But he warned against judging them too harshly, saying: "When you ask young men to go kill people for a living, it takes a whole lot of effort to rein that in."

In the long history of war, the episode pales in comparison to other battlefield atrocities. But one difference this time was that, in the Internet age, it was captured on camera and instantly shared with the rest of the world.

"This outrage is so interesting to me because it almost tops that" of other, more ghastly war crimes, said psychologist Eric Zillmer, a Drexel University professor and co-editor of the book "Military Psychology: Clinical and Operational Applications." ''Because of the technology, the video, you actually see it. Most of the other war crimes, you heard about, you read about."

The Geneva Conventions forbid the desecration of the dead, and officials in the U.S. and abroad have called for swift punishment for the four Marines, identified as members of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which fought in the Afghan province of Helmand for seven months before returning to Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The prohibition against desecrating the battlefield dead is almost as old as war itself.

In Homer's "Iliad," the epic poem about the Trojan War, which may have occurred in the 12th century B.C., Achilles kills Hector and refuses to allow for a proper burial. He relents after Zeus sends word that Achilles "tempts the wrath of heaven too far" with his desire to "vent his mad vengeance on the sacred dead."

In the 7th century, Abu Bakr, father-in-law of the prophet Muhammad and Islam's first caliph, issued 10 rules to his people for their guidance on the battlefield. Among them: "You must not mutilate dead bodies."

In 1907, the Hague Convention said that after every engagement, the combatants should take steps to protect the dead against "pillage." The first Geneva Convention in 1949 addressed preventing the dead from "being despoiled."

The history of war is replete with stories of atrocities committed to send a message. In the 15th century, Prince Vlad III of Wallachia struck fear in his Turkish enemies ? and earned his gruesome nickname, Vlad the Impaler ? by littering the battlefield with the impaled corpses of the vanquished.

Over the centuries, fingers, scalps and other body parts have been taken as battlefield trophies.

Nevertheless, Zillmer said the desecration of a dead foe is "taboo across cultures."

"It doesn't need to be explained to be inappropriate," he said. "Anybody who looks at it says it's disgusting."

But, like Hackett, he said it can be difficult for soldiers, particularly members of a tightknit group, to go on killing missions and then just "switch off." And he said the inhibitions against such misconduct tend to fall away as the number of participants increases, a phenomenon he calls "diffusion of responsibility."

Soldiers have long understood that savagery begets savagery ? or at least breeds indifference.

In his World War II memoir "With the Old Breed," E.B. Sledge wrote of seeing the bloated, blackened corpse of a fellow Marine on the Pacific island of Peleliu, his head and hands cut off, his severed penis stuffed in his mouth.

"My emotions solidified into rage and a hatred for the Japanese beyond anything I ever had experienced," he wrote. "From that moment on I never felt the least pity or compassion for them no matter what the circumstances. My comrades would field-strip their packs and pockets for souvenirs and take gold teeth, but I never saw a Marine commit the kind of barbaric mutilation the Japanese committed if they had access to our dead."

Urinating on the dead is not exactly a new idea.

In the same book, Sledge wrote with disgust about a young Marine officer on Okinawa: "If he could, that 'gentleman by the act of Congress' would locate a Japanese corpse, stand over it, and urinate in its mouth. It was the most repulsive thing I ever saw an American do in the war. I was ashamed that he was a Marine officer."

On the very day the video from Afghanistan emerged, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz took the stand in a courtroom at Camp Pendleton in California and testified that he urinated on the skull of a dead Iraqi in 2005. Dela Cruz made the admission during the court-martial of a Marine charged in the killings of 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha.

Dela Cruz said he was overcome with grief over a comrade killed by a roadside bomb. "The emotion took over, sir," he told a military defense attorney.

Marty Brenner, an anger management specialist in Beverly Hills, Calif., who treats combat veterans and civilians, said the acts depicted in the video ? and the Marines' recording of it ? demonstrate rage.

"They have no other way of expressing their anger at these people," Brenner said, "so what they're doing is urinating on them to show, 'I'm better. I want the world to see you guys are crap and that's what you deserve.'"

In Jacksonville, N.C., the home of Camp Lejeune, some people resented criticism of the Marines over the video, and some expressed fear the footage would make their job harder.

"It demolished me to see that," said Arthur Wade, a Vietnam veteran who retired in 1989. "If one of those men being urinated on was your father, would you want to help the United States?"

But Maynard Sinclair, a Marine veteran of Vietnam and the peacekeeping mission in Beirut, said the outrage shows the public's naivet? about war.

"I did a hell of a lot worse in Vietnam than urinate on some dead bodies," he said. "We cut left ears off and wore them around our necks to show we were warriors, and we knew how to get revenge."

Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University, said the Internet has added a dimension that soldiers in the past did not have to deal with: "In Vietnam, when you screwed up, no one back home heard about it."

___

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C., Watson from San Diego. Associated Press writer Tom Breen also contributed to this story from Jacksonville, N.C.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-13-Desecrating%20Corpses/id-6e2de8029ffe444ea25b8b706d6fc271

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Conservatives torn over defending, opposing Romney (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Torn between reality and their political dreams, leading conservatives are defending Mitt Romney against attacks on his work in the private sector even as they search for a more palatable candidate amid a growing sense that his nomination may be certain.

Romney is marching steadily through South Carolina, a state still uncertain about him, and picking up a prominent conservative's endorsement while sending a message to his party: It's time to stop the bickering.

Not just yet, some conservative leaders say.

"Honestly, it looks like Governor Romney's nomination is inevitable," said the Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. "Evangelicals, come November, might have to hold their noses and vote for the lesser of two evils. But it's not November yet."

Just over a week before South Carolina's first-in-the-South vote, there are signs that conservatives are struggling with their goal of finding what some would call "the anti-Romney." They appear no more organized in their search for a credible challenger than they were before former Sen. Rick Santorum raised their hopes with his second-place finish in Iowa.

More than 100 conservative leaders, many of them evangelical in their faiths, were set to converge this weekend at the Texas ranch of former state appeals court Judge Paul Pressler to consider their options, if any. Surrogates for each campaign were expected to make presentations and take questions.

In spite of their reluctance to embrace Romney as the GOP nominee, some conservatives have been drawn into defending him against charges of "vulture" capitalism from rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry. Both are potential recipients of conservative backing in the effort to oppose Romney.

Trying to tap into populist sentiment, Gingrich and Perry accused Romney of being a fat-cat venture capitalist during his days running the private equity firm Bain Capital, saying he laid off workers as he restructured companies and filled his own pockets.

That strategy boomeranged. A long list of conservative leaders who have not endorsed Romney are nonetheless sticking up for his success ? former Bush adviser Karl Rove, former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Club for Growth, an array of conservative talk show hosts and even Santorum. Conservative leaders say the attack amounts to an assault on capitalism and the free market system at the heart of their movement.

"It's a sad day in South Carolina and across this country if Republicans are talking against the free market, let me tell you that," said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a tea party star who has endorsed Romney.

"It's just been foolish," said Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which does not endorse presidential candidates. "They're not doing anything other than setting up the ad base for their (Democratic) opponents."

On that point, the anti-Romney conservatives agree.

"I've not talked to many conservatives that support these attacks on Romney," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. Evangelicals, he pointed out, support a free market with moral restraints and generally wouldn't object to Romney's success at Bain. "I don't think they see that as the real issue. It sounds more like something the Democrats might bring up."

It's a stark turnabout from last week, when speculation crackled through conservative ranks over whether Santorum could capture support from the large chunk of Republicans who aren't behind Romney.

Post-Iowa, things went sour for this group. Romney's second-in-a-row win in New Hampshire on Tuesday solidified his standing atop the GOP field. He was followed in that race not by Santorum but Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Gingrich and Perry also drew only tepid support in the opening contests.

Now, everyone's looking to South Carolina's Jan. 21 primary as potentially the last stand for the anti-Romney crowd.

"He is not anything near conservative enough," said Rock Hill, S.C., resident Carlene Madison, 54, shaking her head and making an unpleasant face.

Polling shows Romney gaining ground in South Carolina. He won Iowa with only 25 percent of the vote and New Hampshire with a more robust 38 percent. A poll conducted Jan. 4-5 by CNN/Time/ORC International showed Romney with the support of 37 percent of the state's likely Republican primary voters, up from 20 percent a month earlier.

He also won the endorsement this week of former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a favorite of conservatives for his consistent criticism of President Barack Obama's foreign policy.

Romney has a difficult history with South Carolina's Republican voters, who are some of the nation's most conservative. In exit polling from the state's 2008 Republican presidential contest, 60 percent of primary voters said they were born-again Christians. Romney, whose Mormon faith is not considered a Christian denomination by some, carried just 11 percent of their votes, fewer than his 15 percent tally overall. Mormons consider themselves Christians.

Conservatives looking to back someone else have a heavy workload in a compressed period of time. Romney's closest rival, Santorum, is 18 points behind in South Carolina, followed by Gingrich, Paul, Perry and Huntsman, according to the CNN/Time/ORC International poll. Six percent are undecided, the survey found.

Jeffress, the Baptist minister, who once called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a cult and doesn't consider it a Christian faith, said he is skipping the Texas conference of conservatives but might eventually recommend voting for the former Massachusetts governor.

His rationale: "It's probably better to embrace a non-Christian like Romney, who embraces biblical values like the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, rather than a professing Christian like President Obama, who embraces unbiblical positions."

___

Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey and Rachel Zoll in South Carolina contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_conservative_angst

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