Patent trolls? latest gambit: Sue businesses if they dare to use office scanners

Actors Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana have split up for a second time, apparently. Page Six says that the pair, who broke up last March only to get back together this fall, were supposed to spend New Year's Eve in Paris with Cooper's family, but Cooper ended up going it alone, while Saldana spent her evening in Miami with friends. Supposedly the couple couldn't make it work because of their busy schedules, with Cooper doing awards-blitz stuff for Silver Linings Playbook, and shooting a commercial of some sort in Prague, and Saldana doing Star Trek and a movie with Mila Kunis. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/patent-trolls-latest-gambit-sue-businesses-dare-office-201509995.html

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House faces test on ?fiscal cliff? deal

Vice President Joe Biden gives two thumbs up following a Senate Democratic caucus meeting about the fiscal cliff??

Updated 4:25 pm ET

A hard-fought bipartisan compromise passed in the Senate early Tuesday to spare all but the richest Americans from painful income-tax hikes teetered on the edge of collapse as angry House Republicans denounced its lack of spending cuts.

While House Speaker John Boehner considered whether to bring the Senate-passed measure to the floor for a vote Tuesday, Majority Leader Eric Cantor told fellow Republicans in a closed-door meeting that he opposed the legislation negotiated by Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and passed by the Senate 89-8 shortly after 2 a.m.

Cantor told the group he could not back the bill in its current form, according to two officials in the room, which could leave open the possibility of an attempt to modify the package and send it back to the upper chamber. But Democrats there have signaled that changing the compromise risks killing it.

A report released by the Congressional Budget Office Tuesday complicated matters further still. The nonpartisan group "scored" the Biden-McConnell compromise as likely adding nearly $4 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, hardening opposition among many Republicans seeking further spending cuts.

The country technically went over the ?fiscal cliff? at midnight, triggering across-the-board income-tax increases and deep, automatic cuts to domestic and defense programs. Taken together, those factors could plunge the still-fragile economy into a fresh recession. Financial markets were closed for New Year?s Day, potentially limiting the damage from the partisan impasse in dysfunctional Washington at least until Wednesday.

Time was running short for another reason, however: A new Congress will take office at noon on Thursday, forcing efforts to craft a compromise by the current Congress back to the drawing board.

?The Speaker and Leader laid out options to the members and listened to feedback,? Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement emailed to reporters. ?The lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today?s meeting.?

?Conversations with members will continue throughout the afternoon on the path forward,? Buck said.

As House Republicans raged at the bill, key House Democrats emerging from a closed-door meeting with Biden expressed support for the compromise and pressed Boehner for a vote on the legislation as currently written.

?Our Speaker has said when the Senate acts, we will have a vote in the House. That is what he said, that is what we expect, that is what the American people deserve?a straight up-or-down vote,? Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters.

Conservative activist organizations like the anti-tax Club for Growth warned lawmakers to oppose the compromise. The Club charged in a message to Congress that ?this bill raises taxes immediately with the promise of cutting spending later.?

Under the compromise arrangement, taxes would rise on income above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for households, while exemptions and deductions the wealthiest Americans use to reduce their tax bill would face new limits. The accord would also raise the taxes paid on large inheritances from 35% to 40% for estates over $5 million. And it would extend by one year unemployment benefits for some two million Americans. It would also prevent cuts in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients and spare tens of millions of Americans who otherwise would have been hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax. And it would extend some stimulus-era tax breaks championed by progressives.

The middle class will still see its taxes go up: The final deal did not include an extension of the payroll tax holiday.

Efforts to modify the first installment of $1.2 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense programs over 10 years -- the other portion of the ?fiscal cliff,? known as sequestration -- had proved a sticking point late in the game. Democrats had sought a year-long freeze but ultimately caved to Republican pressure and signed on to just a two-month delay while broader deficit-reduction talks continue.

That would put the next major battle over spending cuts right around the time that the White House and its Republican foes are battling it out over whether to raise the country's debt limit. Republicans have vowed to push for more spending cuts, equivalent to the amount of new borrowing. Obama has vowed not to negotiate as he did in 2011, when a bruising fight threatened the first-ever default on America's obligations and resulted in the first-ever downgrade of the country's credit rating. Biden sent that message to Democrats in Congress, two senators said.

?This agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay,? President Barack Obama said in a written statement shortly after the Senate vote.

There were signs that the 2016 presidential race shaped the outcome in the Senate. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, widely thought to have his eye on his party?s nomination, voted no. Republican Senator Rand Paul, who could take up the libertarian mantle of his father Ron Paul, did as well.

Biden's visit -- his second to Congressional Democrats in two days -- aimed to soothe concerns about the bill and about the coming battles on deficit reduction.

?This is a simple case of trying to Make sure that the perfect does not become the enemy of the good,? said Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, one of the chamber?s most steadfast liberals. ?Nobody?s going to like everything about it.?

Asked whether House progressives, who had hoped for a lower income threshold, would back the bill, Cummings said he could not predict but stressed: ?I am one of the most progressive members, and I will vote for it.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/senate-house-faces-test-fiscal-cliff-deal-161832950--politics.html

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S&P says U.S. fiscal deal will not affect credit outlook

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deal won't change Standard & Poor's perspective on the country's credit outlook, the rating agency said Wednesday, but the risk of another recession in the world's biggest economy has eased.

The budget compromise "doesn't affect our view of the country's credit outlook, given that we believe yesterday's agreement does little to place the U.S.'s medium-term public finances on a more sustainable footing," S&P said in a statement.

The hard-fought fiscal measures helped avert the so-called fiscal cliff of potentially devastating tax hikes and spending cuts. But more work remains for policymakers, S&P added.

Given the deal, however, "we've reduced our assessment of the risk of another recession in the next 12 months to 10 percent to 15 percent from 15 percent to 20 percent (with more weight placed on the lower end of the range)," the statement read.

S&P cut the U.S. sovereign rating to AA-plus with a negative outlook in 2011. (Reporting By Pam Niimi and Luciana Lopez)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-says-u-fiscal-deal-not-affect-credit-215525017--sector.html

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Best SEO tips: Travel and Leisure Back packs for Ladies - telola's

There are various sorts of travel backpacks for ladies designed for those who desire to choose backpacking for holiday. Traveling alone isn't just for guys, women these days travel on their own just about everywhere. Nevertheless the majority of individual or the what is known as solo vacation relating to backpacking is usually tailored for men Ladies really are exclusive since we really need to combat unneeded attention particularly when we vacation alone and it may be rather demanding for many people.

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A well specially designed holiday backpacks for women should be capable of support the actual shoulder blades pad as women are generally lighter weight compare with males and this will be more ergonomics to manage it. It shall be wiser to decide on light-weight backpacking due to the fact is really a safer choice compare to traditional holiday backpack simply because it helps to reduce chance of injuries for example sprained shoulder joint, back discomfort and knee complications.

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Single female vacationers face far more danger and also it's imperative to apply essential traveling safeguards. Take a compass and guide of course, if you can invest a Gps navigation that is loaded with the latest map which is extra reliable. Try and stay with a familiar path that's incredibly well visited to make sure that when you are confronted by misfortune aid is available out quicker. Once you have all your travel backpacks for ladies all securely filled you are prepared to enjoy the vacation!

Cloudysky has been travelling around for vacations and is giving tips on how to choose travel backpacks for women. For more infor mation abouttravels backpacks for women please read this review.

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Source: http://amyplund517.blogspot.com/2012/12/travel-and-leisure-back-packs-for-ladies.html

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Playboy Hugh Hefner marries his 'runaway bride'

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Hugh Hefner is celebrating the new year as a married man once again.

The 86-year-old Playboy magazine founder exchanged vows with his "runaway bride," Crystal Harris, at a private Playboy Mansion ceremony on New Year's Eve. Harris, a 26-year-old "Playmate of the Month" in 2009, broke off a previous engagement to Hefner just before they were to be married in 2011.

Playboy said on Tuesday that the couple celebrated at a New Year's Eve party at the mansion with guests that included comic Jon Lovitz, Gene Simmons of KISS and baseball star Evan Longoria.

The bride wore a strapless gown in soft pink, Hefner a black tux. Hefner's been married twice before but lived the single life between 1959 and 1989.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-01-People-Hefner%20Marries/id-90173bbab5314ff3b88fd468a8707240

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'Fiscal cliff' deal to block pay hike for Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Legislation to prevent the government from going over the so-called fiscal cliff will also block a $900 automatic pay hike for members of Congress.

It's one more reason for lawmakers to vote for the measure extending Bush-era tax cuts on individual income up to $450,000 while increasing rates for earnings above that threshold.

Under a 1989 law, lawmakers are supposed to receive automatic cost-of-living pay hikes, but as Congress' approval ratings have fallen, lawmakers have routinely voted to reject the raise.

Lawmakers make $174,000 a year. They had already voted in September to block the pay raise through March 27, but President Barack Obama recently issued an executive order to implement it, along with a pay increase for federal workers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiscal-cliff-deal-block-pay-hike-congress-041813369--politics.html

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Vigil recalls NJ homicides, an hour at a time

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) ? In this city, everybody knows someone who's been killed or charged with a murder. But no one's sure how to stop the violence.

Each year since 1995, Sister Helen Cole has organized a year-end vigil to remember those slain and to call for peace in the new year.

With an hour devoted to each victim and with a record 67 killings in 2012, the latest edition stretched over four days. Candles were lit and prayers were said for victims ranging in age from 2 to 66.

Most were killed with guns. Some were stabbed. One died in a fire. A handful died of blunt-force trauma.

Cole has spent 17 years running Guadalupe Family Services, an agency that provides counseling and social services in the North Camden neighborhood, and from her up-close view, the violence is confounding.

"If I had the answer," she said, "I would be on the mountaintop proclaiming it."

On Monday morning, relatives of 30-year-old Lateaf Anderson, a father of four and a personal trainer at a suburban gym, were there to pray for the man who was fatally shot in his girlfriend's apartment at 3:45 a.m. on Oct. 16.

His mother, Lisa Anderson, was too distraught to speak.

His father, Fernando Santiago, said they were there for a bigger purpose than remembering his son.

"The violence needs to stop in this city," he said, looking at a row of candles representing the victims. "It's unbelievable. So many lives taken for no reason."

Santiago shuffled out of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, but he said he'd be back: His little brother, 32-year-old Armando Carol, was killed in Camden on Nov. 20. A candle was to be lit for him in the evening.

Cole knew relatives of Anderson and Patricio Rodriguez, the 23-year-old man charged in his murder. Authorities said Rodriguez broke into the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, found Anderson there, and killed him.

Cole said she met Rodriguez eight years ago, when his brother was killed.

Camden, a city of 77,000 situated between Philadelphia and some of its well-off suburbs, is among the nation's most impoverished cities. It also ranks as among the most dangerous places.

The 67 homicides in 2012 were nine more than the previous record, set in 1995, the first year Cole organized the vigil. It has never been shorter than 24 hours.

If New Jersey, with 8.8 million people, had the same homicide rate as Camden, there would have been more than 7,500 slayings this year ? 20 times the number the state normally has in a year.

The city, once a manufacturing center, has been the focus of statewide efforts to expand affordable housing offerings in the suburbs with the goal of deconcentrating poverty and to improve urban schools, partly by bringing their funding in line with suburban districts. The state also has used taxpayer money to help expand the universities and hospitals in the city in hopes of creating jobs and sparking private investment.

A group of activists this year planted a cross for every homicide victim in a new park in front of City Hall to raise awareness and as a call for politicians to act. In December, the state attorney general ran a gun buyback program that brought in more than 1,100 weapons ? the most ever returned in such an effort in New Jersey.

Camden is a city full of churches and social service agencies that try from every angle to make life better.

Cole is proud of young people she's worked with who have become nurses and despairs of how parents in the city can raise one child who can be a model citizen and another a killer.

"How can you say it's because of parenting when the streets are calling their kid's names?" she asked.

She also believes that the availability of guns desensitizes people and turns arguments into killings. "What ever happened to punching someone in the nose?" she asked, before noting that two of the 2012 victims died after being punched.

Two years ago, about half the city's police department was laid off amid a budget crisis. Though officers have been hired back since, Cole said the layoffs changed things.

Before, she said, there were lawless people in the city. Now, criminals are fearless. Instead of hiding drug sales in houses or porches, she said, "they're right on the corner. They're coming up to my car, your car."

The city is in the process of dismantling its police force, which is to be replaced by a new county-run force. It's a change derided by police union officials, but authorities say it will put more officers on the street in 2013.

___

Follow Mulvihill at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vigil-recalls-nj-homicides-hour-time-190933217.html

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