Chavez: New regional group revives Bolivar's dream

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Cuba's President Raul Castro raise hands prior to the inauguration ceremony of a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Cuba's President Raul Castro raise hands prior to the inauguration ceremony of a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, talks to Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez during the inauguration ceremony of the Latin American and Caribbean States Community, CELAC, summit in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. At back is Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Brazil?s President Dilma Rousseff, left, speaks with Venezuela?s President Hugo Chavez during an agreement signing ceremony at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. Rousseff is in Venezuela to attend the Latin American and Caribbean Community, CELAC, summit that starts Friday in Venezuela?s Capital. The woman at center is a translator. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

In this photo provided by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, left, stands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in front of a painting of her late husband Nestor Kirchner after signing bilateral agreements at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Office)

Presidential guards stand at the entrance of the Teresa Carreno theater before the start of a presidential summit in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. Presidents of Latin American and Caribbean nations will attend the Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CELAC) summit starting Friday in Caracas. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? South American independence hero Simon Bolivar once dreamed of unifying several nations as a counterweight to their powerful hemispheric neighbor, the United States.

Two centuries later, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tapped into that legacy Friday as he hosted leaders from across the Americas at a two-day summit. Chavez described the new regional bloc that excludes the U.S. as a tribute to his idol Bolivar, saying the time has come to put an end to U.S. hegemony.

"Only unity will make us free," Chavez said to applause at the opening ceremony. "This is the path: Unity, unity, unity!"

He called it an achievement that Latin America has been seeking for 200 years, and shouted: "Viva Bolivar!"

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega echoed Chavez's sentiments, saying Latin American and Caribbean countries should ensure that the policy of U.S. intervention to protect the region's nations, declared by President James Monroe in 1823, is never revived.

"We are sentencing the Monroe Doctrine to death," Ortega said.

The 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States includes every country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States, or OAS, it will have Cuba as a full member and exclude the U.S. and Canada.

Cuban President Raul Castro said that if it's successful, the creation of the new bloc known by its Spanish initials CELAC will be "the biggest event in 200 years."

"I'm sorry it isn't Fidel who is occupying the place that I am, because he is the one who deserves it," Castro said of his elder brother, who permanently stepped down from Cuba's presidency in 2008.

Castro condemned this year's NATO airstrikes in Libya as a crime and said Latin American and Caribbean nations should declare themselves a "territory of peace and free of foreign militaries."

Other Latin American leaders said they see CELAC as a forum to build closer economic and political relations across the region, but not as a platform for challenging U.S. policies.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said it will be a group "to work in favor of unity and prosperity." Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who is a U.S. ally but also has friendly relations with Chavez, said that "CELAC isn't being born to be against anyone."

Daniel Restrepo, President Barack Obama's senior adviser on Latin America, told reporters in Miami that the U.S. government would watch to see what direction CELAC takes.

"There's one sector that wants an anti-American project, and that isn't sustainable. There are others who want to use it to face the challenges they have," Restrepo said.

At the summit, Chavez embraced leaders one-by-one, and later launched into a wide-ranging speech discussing poverty-reduction efforts as well as reading excerpts of Bolivar's letters and a passage from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

The summit was Chavez's international debut after months of cancer treatment that forced him to postpone the meeting originally scheduled for July.

Talking about his struggle with cancer, Chavez credited Fidel Castro with saving his life by insisting he undergo thorough medical tests that turned up a tumor during a June visit to Cuba.

Chavez said he had wanted to go ahead with the summit in July, but Castro had advised him: "You choose: the summit or your life. ... The summit can wait."

Following surgery to remove the tumor in his pelvic region, Chavez finished chemotherapy in September and declared himself to be cancer-free. He drew a standing ovation from the leaders when he referred to the recent cancer diagnosis of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying: "Lula will win that battle, too."

After initial speeches, the Venezuelan government treated the leaders to a concert by conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Outside the summit, small groups of Chavez opponents including university students put up protest signs on Caracas overpasses. Denouncing the country's high crime rate, some signs read: "Presidents, welcome to the crime capital." Police swiftly removed the signs.

Many leaders referred to Bolivar's legacy, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who focused on calling for a coordinated response to safeguard the region's growing economies from the global financial crisis.

"Together we can be stronger, together we can grow, and that should be beneficial for everyone," Rousseff said. "The economic, financial crisis should be at the center of our concerns."

Plans for the new organization, which grew out of the 24-nation Rio Group, have been in the works since a 2008 summit hosted by Silva.

Chavez has long sought inspiration in the legacy of Bolivar, who in the early 1800s served as president of Gran Colombia, a republic made up of much of northern South America and modern-day Panama until it broke up into individual states following years of dissent and political upheaval.

Chavez calls his political movement the Bolivarian Revolution and in 1999 promoted the approval of a new constitution that changed the country's name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Last year, Chavez even oversaw the opening of Bolivar's coffin to re-examine the cause of his death, and the Venezuelan government is building a new mausoleum to house Bolivar's remains.

Bolivar was an admirer of the American Revolution, although he warned that the unrivaled power of the United States could eventually pose a threat to the young nations of Latin America that had won independence from Spain.

___

Associated Press writers Ian James and Jorge Rueda in Caracas and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.

___

Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-02-LT-Venezuela-Summit/id-dd5432917cc04a518b48aaf082fadad6

derrick mason derrick mason lamichael james lamichael james epstein harrisburg pa chynna phillips

Bachmann: Former Cain backers moving her way (AP)

WASHINGTON ? GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann says many people who had supported Herman Cain in the race are getting behind her candidacy.

With Cain now out of the race, Bachmann says Republican voters see her as the tea party candidate and the "most consistent conservative" in the contest.

The Minnesota congresswoman tells CNN's "State of the Union" that Cain's supporters considered him as an outsider and that her conservative positions are most reflective of his.

Cain abandoned his White House bid on Saturday under the weight of sexual misconduct allegations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_el_pr/us_bachmann

brandon jacobs brandon jacobs fred davis fred davis fracking fracking drosselmeyer

Source:

unc basketball college basketball gunsmoke papelbon papelbon anita hill penn state football schedule

Paisley to hang with Urban after vocal surgery (omg!)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? No one has spoken to Keith Urban since his surgery last week to remove a polyp on his vocal chord.

That's because the country star is on complete vocal rest for the next couple of weeks.

Good friend Brad Paisley has checked in with Urban, and they have plans to hang out while Urban recovers.

"We're big guitar junkies, and we wanted to get together and maybe go through some amplifiers and go through some gear," said Paisley before the CMT Artists of the Year taping on Tuesday in Nashville. "I told him, 'Let's do that. You don't have to talk. We'll get together. We'll play guitar, set up some amps, go through some tubes, try some stuff out and tweak.' I'll do all the talking, which I am very capable of. He can just nod and grunt and do whatever he's allowed to do."

Paisley said he can't imagine what it's like to not be able to talk for weeks. But he thinks Urban's wife, Nicole Kidman, should take full advantage of the situation.

"I'm sure Nicole loves it. It's got to be great for her," he joked.

Before heading into surgery, Urban posted a video for fans, thanking them for their gifts and well wishes. He said he looks forward to seeing fans in 2012.

An earlier statement from Urban's publicist called the surgery a minor outpatient procedure. Urban postponed his "All For The Hall" concert to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame that was originally scheduled for Jan. 18. He also rescheduled the rest of his 2011 concert dates for next year.

Urban is a four-time Grammy winner with 13 No. 1 hits, including his most recent, "Long Hot Summer."

__

Online:

http://www.keithurban.net

__

For the latest country music news from The Associated Press, follow: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Country

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_paisley_hang_urban_vocal_surgery161501467/43784731/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/paisley-hang-urban-vocal-surgery-161501467.html

cadillac xts rambus rambus pabst blue ribbon pabst blue ribbon mac miller omarion

GOP ok with extending payroll tax cut only if budget cuts pay for it, not a millionaires' tax (Star Tribune)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168291077?client_source=feed&format=rss

ron white ron white alcs alcs miguel cabrera pay it forward pay it forward

Genes May Make Quitting Tougher for Smokers (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Despite decades of public health efforts aimed at snuffing out cigarette smoking, 20 percent of Americans still light up. New research suggests it might be because of their genes.

While anti-smoking campaigns are credited with slicing cigarette use drastically over the past 40 years -- from 42 percent of all Americans in 1965 to just under 20 percent in 2010 -- the number of people who haven't been able to nix their nicotine habit has flatlined in recent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two out of three adults who smoke want to quit, a CDC report out earlier this month said, and more than half (52 percent) had attempted to quit in the past year.

The authors of the new study, released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of Demography, say new tactics may be needed to help the remaining smokers.

"Federal and social policies may be somewhat less effective now because maybe the composition of those at risk [those who smoke] has changed," said study co-author Fred Pampel, a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a research associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science there. Those who can quit easily have probably done so, the authors said.

Study lead author Jason Boardman, an associate professor of sociology, said anti-smoking messages, higher taxes and restrictions on smoking have made a difference. "But for hard-core smokers, there may be something else going on," he said. That "something else" is likely genetics, he added.

The researchers drew this conclusion after analyzing the smoking habits between 1960 and 1980 of nearly 600 pairs of twins who answered an extensive health questionnaire -- 363 were identical sets of twins and 233 were fraternal twins. Identical twins come from the same fertilized egg before it splits into two embryos and they share the same genes or DNA, while fraternal twins come from two separately fertilized egg cells and only share some genetic similarities.

In the identical twin group, 65 percent of both individuals quit within a two-year period of each other, while only 55 percent of the fraternal twins quit within that same stretch of time.

"The logic here is that the identical twins share genes, so if they act alike it probably reflects a genetic component," said Pampel.

The new research adds to a growing body of literature suggesting there is probably a substantial genetic influence when it comes to nicotine addiction, said Dr. Aditi Satti, an assistant professor of medicine and director of the smoking cessation program at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. But scientists are still trying to pinpoint the gene or genes involved, she said.

"There has not been one specific gene linked to nicotine addiction," said Satti.

She noted that while numbers of smokers have decreased over the years, smoking is up among women and black Americans, possibly another clue as to who is genetically at risk. Inner city, low socioeconomic and less-educated populations are more likely to be smokers, too, Satti added.

"I think the combo of finding better medications and educating people, even if doctors just spend five minutes talking with your patient about smoking, will lead to higher quit rates," Satti said.

Boardman said a policy shift might be in line. Instead of government anti-smoking campaigns focusing on high taxes and splashy advertisements, he said current smokers may discover more success using medication aimed at nicotine addiction, as well as counseling.

"I'd argue that nicotine replacement therapies may be far more effective with existing smokers still trying to quit than the posters showing images of smokers that are not cool. Behavior-changing efforts -- I don't think that's going to help the two-pack a day smokers," said Boardman, who is also a research associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science.

Smoking-related diseases lead to approximately 443,000 deaths a year in the United States, including babies born prematurely to women who smoke while pregnant and those harmed by secondhand smoke, according to the American Lung Association.

Satti is concerned that cigarette addiction isn't taken seriously enough by some.

"Maybe we don't see smoking as being as important as alcohol and drug addiction, but I'm a pulmonologist and I see chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and lung cancer every day," she said. "And we know tobacco smoke is linked to cardiovascular disease and stroke. It's one of the most preventable things you can do. If you quit smoking, you'll see a huge impact on health."

More information

The American Cancer Society can help you determine if you need help to quit smoking.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111202/hl_hsn/genesmaymakequittingtougherforsmokers

pasadena pasadena famu famu kellie pickler martina mcbride terry jones

Video: Obama and GOP square off over payroll taxes

>>> on the democratic side, president obama heads to the battleground state of pennsylvania today, us what senior adviser david plouffe ran the president's 2008 campaign. mr. plouffe, good to see you, good morning.

>> thanks for having me, matt.

>> lisa myers just talked about the situation involving herman cain so i want to get you on the record about this. you don't work for him but you know a lot about politics and campaigning. do you see any scienary yoi under which herman cain can return to prominence on the gop side of things right now?

>> well, matt, as you mentioned i have been involved in presidential campaigns but not republican primaries so i'm certainly not an expert there. i'm sure herman cain 's asking advice from a lot of people. i'm certainly not one of them. what's clear is this is a very unsettled republican primary and voting is going to begin in iowa and new hampshire. what the president is focused on is delivering tax cuts for the middle class and trying to help this economy.

>> let's get you back to your comfort zone and talk about what the president is doing today, headed to scranton , pennsylvania , to push for an extension of the payroll tax cut. the republicans have already said this is dead on arrival , in part because they don't like the fact that it's paid for on the backs of the wealthy. now, you know the track record here is not good. republicans have succeeded in blocking these things in the past, so why is the president wasting his time on an effort that's probably not going to work?

>> well, we think it is going to work. remember, there was a payroll tax cut equal to about $1,000 for every middle class family in america that we passed with republican support at the end of 2010 . there are some republicans who supported this. many of them have voted for it in the past. the request he is now, with the clock ticking, are we going to raise taxes and that's what would happen. if we don't extend this working tax, every american would see their taxes go up. in this economy we can't afford it. the way this is going to get paid for, the vote that will happen in the senate this week, a tax cut for 160 million americans paid for by asking a little over 300,000 millionaires to pay a little bit more.

>> the president goes to scranton today to make this case. i want to talk about scranton as a location. according to "the new york times" unemployment in that city is about 9.7%, the highest in the state. the food bank there served a record number of meals on thanksgiving, even the democratic mayor of scranton , christopher dougherty hoped for more federal help under this democratic administration, and it hasn't come. his words, "four years ago it was about hope. now it's about his record," referring to the president. how does the president look the people of scranton , pennsylvania , for example, in the eye and say, "i know we talked about hope and change. it hasn't really worked out. i need more time."

>> well, obviously i would take issue about that. change is ending the iraq war , having economic and tax policy centered over the middle class , change is delivering health reform . we've delivered on a lot of commitments the president made to the american people . the economy is obviously far too week. the president's the first person to acknowledge that and that's why he's fighting so hard to deliver the people of scranton , americans all across the country, tax relief. we have to reduce our deficit, make sure we're smartly investing in things like education, research and technology but right now, we have to do some things to jump-start the economy. that's what the president's focused on, cutting taxes for workers, for small businesses, putting construction workers back to work in scranton . those are the things washington needs to be doing to help people in scranton and all across america.

>> david plouffe , thank you for your time this morning. i appreciate it.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45490035/

oomph oomph cmj olin kreutz olin kreutz au pair au pair