Bayer: Threshold met for $750 million rice deal (AP)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? Rice growers met a threshold to move forward with a $750 million settlement over genetically modified rice, the company blamed for the problem said Thursday.

Bayer CropScience had agreed to the settlement this summer, five years after the company inadvertently introduced a strain of genetically altered long-grain rice into the U.S. market. As part of the settlement, Bayer set a threshold of 85 percent of rice acreage involved and could have opted out of the deal if enough farmers didn't sign up.

"Although Bayer CropScience believes it acted responsibly in the handling of its biotech rice, the company considered it important to resolve the litigation so that it can move forward focused on its fundamental mission of providing innovative solutions to modern agriculture," spokesman Greg Coffey said in a statement.

Farmers in Arkansas ? where about half of the nation's rice is produced ? as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas sued Bayer after the German conglomerate developed an experimental strain of rice called LibertyLink to withstand its Liberty herbicide. Federal regulators had not yet approved it for human consumption when trace amounts were found mixed with conventional rice seed in storage bins.

No human health problems have been associated with the contamination, but that wasn't known at the time.

The fear that the rice was unsafe, along with the notion that genetically altered rice was somehow impure, quashed sales in major markets. The mistake also left growers with huge losses, since prices fell.

The settlement applies to long-grain rice, which is often used in pilaf or mixed with beans. It doesn't affect farmers who grow medium-grain rice, often used in sushi, or short-grain rice, found in cereal.

The deal will pay farmers for market losses based on acreage and how many years they grew rice. For example, a farmer who planted 500 acres of rice annually from 2006 to 2010 would receive an initial payment of $150,000, at a rate of $300 per acre. Such a farmer could receive more money per acre later on if there's enough money leftover in the pot. Plus, growers can collect more if they switched to crops that typically offer lower profits, such as wheat or soybeans.

Scott Powell, a Birmingham, Ala.-based lawyer who represents some of the farmers involved in the settlement, said most farmers should see payments in the first week of January.

"They've had a tough go of it for the last five years," Powell said Thursday. "It's a great day for them."

Arlon Welch, a 44-year-old farmer in northeast Arkansas, said he'll use the settlement money to pay off the debts he racked up after Bayer's strain of modified rice seeds contaminated the food supply and drove down crop prices.

"We've been dealing with this since 2006," said Welch, who said he doesn't know yet exactly how much he's getting. "We're still hurting."

But the settlement money isn't enough to restore his confidence in rice; Welch planted soybeans and wheat this year.

"We're a little bit nervous with the rice," he said.

___

Follow Jeannie Nuss at http://twitter.com/jeannienuss.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_us/us_bayer_rice_settlement

alec baldwin kicked off plane alec baldwin kicked off plane mumia mumia uss arizona memorial uss arizona memorial d day

FACT CHECK: Gingrich off on his budget history

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Newt Gingrich overlooked a couple of years of red ink when he asserted Thursday night that he balanced the budget for four years as House speaker. And in claiming sole credit for the achievement, he glossed over the fact that budgets are not a one-man show: There was a Democratic president in town, too.

In the last debate before the leadoff Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Gingrich persisted in repeating a claim he has made often in the campaign, sometimes more accurately than others. Here and there, other candidates, too, reprised misstatements or partial truths from the string of debates and from the stump. Mitt Romney once again declared he has spent his life in the private sector, once again ignoring his years as governor and political candidate.

A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts:

GINGRICH: "I balanced the budget for four straight years, paid off $405 billion in debt ? pretty conservative."

THE FACTS: In the 1996 and 1997 budget years, the first two years he shaped as speaker of the House of Representatives, the government actually ran deficits. In 1998 and 1999, the government ran surpluses. Two more years of surpluses followed, but Gingrich was gone from politics by then and had nothing to do with them.

Moreover, the national debt went up during the four years Gingrich was speaker. In January 1995, when he became speaker, the gross national debt was $4.8 trillion. When he left four years later, it was $5.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion.

To be sure, Gingrich did not single-handedly deepen America's debt, just as he didn't balance any budgets on his own. He was a driving force along with Democratic President Bill Clinton and figures in both houses of Congress in the economic setbacks and advancements of that time.

___

ROMNEY: "I spent my life, my career, in the private sector."

THE FACTS: Except, that is, for four years as Massachusetts governor, recent years running for president in the 2008 and 2012 elections, a few years running the Olympics, and the time he put into his failed run for a Senate seat in 1994.

In essence, Romney has devoted himself to political endeavors since his successful run for governor in 2002, and has been pursuing the presidency for five years.

The month after his term as governor ended in 2007, he announced his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. After John McCain defeated him for the nomination, Romney devoted himself to building a political network, helping Republican candidates raise money, and writing a book that set the stage for his second run for president.

Indeed, Romney, who made his fortune as founder of the investment firm Bain Capital, has not held a private-sector job with a regular paycheck in more than a decade.

___

MICHELE BACHMANN: "We have an IAEA report that just recently came out that said literally Iran is within just months of being able to obtain that (a nuclear) weapon."

RON PAUL: "There is no U.N. report that said that. It's totally wrong, what you just said."

Bachmann: "It's the IAEA report."

THE FACTS: As Paul said, the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency does not state that Iran is within months of having nuclear arms. The U.N. agency report does suggest that Iran conducted secret experiments whose sole purpose is the development of nuclear weapons but did not put a time frame on when Iran might succeed in building a bomb, and it made no final conclusion on Tehran's intent.

Bachmann also erred by arguing that Iran has "stated they will use it (a nuclear weapon) against the United States."

Iran vehemently rejects that it is developing a nuclear bomb, let alone that it plans to drop one on the U.S.

___

ROMNEY: "I'm firmly in support of people not being discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation. At the same time, I oppose same-sex marriage. That's been my position from the beginning."

THE FACTS: In large measure, Romney has been consistent in those two positions, despite accusations of flip-flopping on gay rights.

He walked a fine line back in his failed 1994 Senate campaign, vowing to fight for equality but stopping short of endorsing gay marriage. That's the same line he walked Thursday night.

He has changed, though, on whether gay marriage should be addressed at the state or federal level. He has favored a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage at least since the beginning of his 2008 presidential bid, when he was the only major Republican candidate to do so. In 1994, he had said the matter should be decided by individual states. That was before the idea of a constitutional ban had gained traction in politics.

___

BACHMANN: "After the debates that we had last week, PolitiFact came out and said that everything I said was true."

THE FACTS: Not true.

For the second debate in a row, Gingrich complained that Bachmann wasn't getting her facts straight, this time when she went after him for the big money he made from Freddie Mac. In her own defense, Bachmann cited ratings from PolitiFact, a fact-checking organization that ranks statements on a scale from true to false, with the worst offender being "Pants on Fire" false.

PolitiFact rated two Bachmann statements from last week's debate. One, claiming Gingrich once believed in an individual health care mandate, was ranked mostly true. The other, that Romney introduced "socialized medicine" in his state, was judged burning-pants false.

Indeed, Bachmann has the worst record of accuracy in the Republican field, as rated by that organization and traced by others. Fully 73 percent of her statements checked by PolitiFact were judged mostly false or worse. Gingrich was wrong the next most often, 59 percent of the time.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples, Bradley Klapper, Douglass K. Daniel and Jim Drinkard contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-16-Republicans-Debate-Fact%20Check/id-dc12901fdf7b43d9b0597e8f43c678d5

phaedra parks oklahoma earthquake new madrid fault current time judy garland earthquake today earthquake today

Rachel Paine Caufield: Drake and the Caucuses: How Iowa Reveals the Great Oz

I will freely admit that ten years ago I had no idea why I was coming to Iowa, beyond the fact that I really liked Drake University. But over the past decade, the land of financial services, corn and pigs (in Iowa-speak, I should say hogs) has made me a better political scientist. The upcoming presidential debate on campus helps illustrate why.

Something really interesting happens in Iowa -- candidates come and hang out with us for years at a time. Some, like Chris Dodd in 2008, literally become Iowa residents. I spent seven years in Washington, D.C. and I'm fairly certain that none of the presidential candidates just up and move there so that they can get to know the people of D.C. But here in the rolling hills of middle America, they flock to us, chat with us, eat really bizarre foods on sticks at our state fair (not to mention gelatinous concoctions in church basements), visit us at work, tromp through the snow and ice, and exhibit tremendous patience as we quiz them on everything from immigration to healthcare to energy to foreign policy.

Iowans are tough customers when it comes to getting to know candidates, and we expect the undivided attention of every major American politician. If you want to be president, we expect you to come through us first.

That, naturally, makes for a very odd world. One random Saturday in the middle of June, you may be taking a leisurely stroll through the farmers market, sampling the tasty tomatoes, and bump into a legitimate presidential contender. Or a friend may call and say, "Hey, let's go see Mitt Romney tonight," and before you know it, you're sitting six feet away from someone who could be the next commander-in-chief. Go to the Drake Diner for lunch someday and you're likely to witness a quick campaign trail meal for Hillary Clinton, Rick Perry or Wesley Clark (all of whom I've actually seen eating at the Diner)...

It's weird. And it takes a little getting used to.

For those of us who have chosen to be political scientists, it's a particularly strange thing. Any undergraduate student who has ever declared a political science major knows the most common pitfall of doing so -- you go home for Thanksgiving break and all your parents friends ask, "so, you're going to be a politician?" with a wary smile, as if to say "gosh, I thought you were a good kid, but now I really question allowing you to babysit my children -- apparently, you are a delusional and/or greedy and/or power-hungry and/or egotistical freak."

But it's a rare political scientist who actually becomes a politician. Woodrow Wilson and Iowa's own Congressman David Loebsack are among the limited few. Most of us study politics, which doesn't mean that we practice politics particularly well. Really, it's amazing how non-political most political scientists actually are.

Nonetheless, we have grand visions of creating engaged citizens. We care about politics, at least in the abstract. We vote. We watch the news. We follow presidential elections. We collect data and analyze it, with the goal of understanding what we see. We assume that our attention to the political world will naturally foster interest among our students.

Sometimes it works well. Sometimes it doesn't. But my experience shows that Iowa is a particularly effective petri dish for political enthusiasm -- one need only look at the buzz around this upcoming ABC/The Des Moines Register/Republican Party of Iowa/Yahoo debate (on Twitter #IowaDebate) as evidence.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-paine-caufield/drake-and-the-caucuses-ho_b_1131666.html

bradley cooper elisabeth hasselbeck roger craig roger craig cadillac xts rambus rambus

The Beauty and Brains Behind 'Hedy's Folly'

In a new book, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Richard Rhodes tells the behind-the-scenes story of movie star?and inventor? Hedy Lamarr, "the most beautiful woman in the world." Lamarr invented "frequency hopping," a concept that's still used in today's wireless technology.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/02/143055128/the-beauty-and-brains-behind-hedys-folly?ft=1&f=1007

powerball lenny dykstra top chef texas stanley tucci stanley tucci x factor voting “do a barrel roll”

Williams sisters win doubles in Milan exhibition

AAA??Dec. 3, 2011?3:02 PM ET
Williams sisters win doubles in Milan exhibition
DANIELLA MATARDANIELLA MATAR, Associated Press??

Venus Williams, left, and her sister Serena, of the United States, celebrate after winning a point during an exhibition double tennis match against Italy's Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Venus Williams, left, and her sister Serena, of the United States, celebrate after winning a point during an exhibition double tennis match against Italy's Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italy's Francesca Schiavone, left, and Flavia Pennetta wave thir fans prior to the start of an exhibition double tennis match against Serena and Venus Williams, of the United States, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Serena Williams of the United States gestures at the end of an exhibition tennis match against Italy's Flavio Pennetta, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italy's Francesca Schiavone, left, and Flavia Pennetta dance to Michael Jackson's song "Beat It" prior to the start of an exhibition double tennis match against Serena and Venus Williams, of the United States, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italy's Flavia Pennetta returns the ball to Serena Williams, of the United States, during an exhibition tennis match, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

MILAN (AP) ? Francesca Schiavone defeated both Venus and Serena Williams in singles on Saturday before they rallied to win the doubles in an exhibition in Milan.

Schiavone defeated Venus 7-5, 7-3, then countered a strong comeback from Serena to defeat the younger sibling 7-3, 8-10, 8-6.

Flavia Pennetta also beat Venus, whose strap broke on her dress before a sellout crowd of 11,000. Venus dashed off the court and returned in her third outfit of the event. She also brought popcorn to share with Pennetta, who won 7-6, 7-2.

Serena defeated Pennetta 6-8, 7-3, 7-3 before the Williams sisters won the doubles 3-7, 8-6, 8-6.

The Italian pair delighted the crowd in the warmup by dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

Venus has played just once since pulling out of the U.S. Open three months ago because of an immune system disease. Venus defeated Serena in an exhibition match in Colombia last week.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-03-TEN-Milan-Exhibition/id-9cb4c5d6a3da45b1ba197b2f4cc63814

donald glover julio cesar chavez jr jason segel turducken power rangers jungle fury power rangers jungle fury ufc 139 fight card

Janine R. Wedel: It Was A Wonderful Life: My Odyssey with Bank of America (Huffington post)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168544269?client_source=feed&format=rss

wayne gretzky occupy los angeles occupy los angeles jim boeheim jim boeheim comedian patrice o neal ndamukong suh

Capitol Confidential ? Schumer wades into flood insurance fray

I had a story earlier in the week about the turf battle between the Cuomo Administration and FEMA over who will police the handling of thousands of flood insurance claims being followed in the wake of Irene and Lee.

Now, Sen. Chuck Schumer is also leaning on insurers to speed the process, saying that FEMA money can get hung up by insurance delays as well.

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on flood insurance companies to speed up the processing of insurance claims from tropical storms Irene and Lee to ensure that FEMA aid reaches flood-damaged communities more quickly. With winter fast approaching, making recovery and rebuilding work more difficult, there are still outstanding insurance claims that have yet to be processed.

Preliminary data, compiled by FEMA and based on surveys of flood insurance companies, suggests that as of two months after the storm, on average nearly half of the claims from Irene and Lee had yet to be processed. In some cases, this processing delay has blocked the delivery of FEMA?s individual assistance because before FEMA will send funds to homeowners and businesses, that individual or company?s flood insurance claim must be processed and paid out by their provider. FEMA cannot provide individual assistance to cover damages that are already covered by an individual or business?s flood insurance policy.

Schumer?s office has received numerous complaints that insurance companies are moving slowly, causing a delay in the issuance of individual assistance, and media reports indicate that the problem could be widespread throughout the state. In order to spur the companies to move quickly, Schumer is demanding that they provide a public report detailing the number of claims that were filed as a result of the storm, the number of those claims that have been processed, and the average time that each completed claim took to process.

?Plodding flood insurance providers can be a fly in the ointment that holds up the prompt delivery of desperately-needed federal aid,? said Schumer. ?Enough is enough. In order for FEMA to be responsive and put money on the ground, the private flood insurance firms must move more quickly to process and approve claims from those families and businesses that were harmed by these devastating storms. With winter bearing down and communities still reeling from Irene and Lee, the insurance companies need to get a move on and get out of the way so that FEMA aid can reach those that need it the most.?

FEMA conducted a survey of flood insurance companies, collecting the outstanding number of claims during the first two months following the storm. Data provided to Schumer?s office this week shows that flood insurance companies received 14,500 claims related to damage from Tropical Storm Irene, but only 62% had been processed. Tropical Storm Lee caused 3,150 policyholders to file claims with their flood insurance provider, and as of the most recent data, only 49% have been closed. Three months after these back to back storms left serious devastation in their wake, Schumer is calling on the insurance companies to provide updated and complete data on the number of outstanding flood insurance policy claims, and to speed up their processing of claims. With winter set to make repairs even more difficult, Schumer is demanding immediate action so that homeowners do not find themselves receiving FEMA individual assistance and flood insurance policy payments after winter weather has made the repairs impossible.

?When faced with a disaster of the severity wreaked by Tropical Storms Lee and Irene, we need focused, intense and prompt follow up, not lollygagging-insurance-company-business-as-usual when it comes to processing the claims of families and small businesses that were hammered and need to make repairs, now, before winter sets in,? said Schumer.

In his letter to New York?s flood insurance providers, Schumer writes, ?the NFIP write your own (WYO) insurance companies have been woefully slow in processing flood insurance claims and my office has received numerous complaints about slow processing time and subsequent delays in receiving individual assistance. For example, the Schoharie County Treasurer has been renting an apartment for several months while he waits to learn how much money flood insurance money he?ll receive to rebuild his house. Other families in Schoharie huddle together in makeshift homes, spending the holidays with strangers and wondering if and when their insurance companies will stop the delays and pay out flood insurance money that is rightfully theirs.?

?When I visited the Hudson Valley, Schoharie, the Au Sable, Binghamton and other towns throughout the state, it was abundantly clear that we would need all hands on deck to help rebuild,? continued Schumer. ?Irene and Lee were so powerful that both private insurance and federal disaster assistance are absolutely vital. Insurance companies need to pay out their policies to homeowners so that they get that assistance, but they also need to process these claims quickly so FEMA can step in and provide individual assistance to eligible homeowners.?

A copy of Senator Schumer?s letter to New York?s flood insurance providers appears below:

December 1, 2011

Dear Sir/Madam:

I write to express deep concern regarding a critical issue facing the residents of New York who were impacted by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.

As you know, New York was ravaged this summer by two massive natural disasters. Almost thirty counties in New York experienced the devastating effects of Tropical Storm Irene including record flooding, power outages, road and bridge closures, dam failures, and damages to other public infrastructure. Numerous communities were evacuated and supplies were even airlifted to those stuck in areas that were isolated due to flooded roadways.

Shortly after Tropical Storm Irene, Tropical Storm Lee hit New York with deadly force, causing massive destruction. Remnants of this storm caused severe and catastrophic flooding in portions of the Southern Tier and the Schoharie and Mohawk Valley regions of the state. Flooding in these areas surpassed that which was seen during the 2006 floods, when in one county alone, losses exceeded $55 million.

Many of the people impacted by these storms have for years paid thousands of dollars into the federal government?s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and, rightfully so, policy holders expect to be reimbursed for expenses dispensed as a result of this storm. Unfortunately, the NFIP write your own (WYO) insurance companies have been woefully slow in processing flood insurance claims and my office has received numerous complaints about slow processing time. For example, the Schoharie County Treasurer has been renting an apartment for several months while he waits to learn how much money flood insurance money he?ll receive to rebuild his house. Other families in Schoharie huddle together in makeshift homes, spending the holidays with strangers and wondering if and when their insurance companies will stop the delays and pay out flood insurance money that is rightfully theirs.

Flood insurance policy payout data provided did not instill confidence that my constituents would be able to be back in their homes before winter. For example, for Tropical Storm Irene, WYO insurers have received approximately 14,500 claims, but only 60 percent of those claims had been paid out. Likewise, for Tropical Storm Lee roughly 3,150 insurance claims have been received, but only 49 percent have been paid. Three months after two of the largest storms in New York State history and WYO insurers have on average processed only half of the insurance claims submitted. Policy holders get hit once by their insurance providers, and then take another hit when FEMA refuses to provide desperately needed Individual Assistance until flood insurance claims are finalized. This is simply unacceptable.

At this time, I request that you work with your members who write flood insurance in the affected regions of New York State to immediately release to the public the number of Irene- and Lee-related insurance claims submitted to each WYO insurer, the number of outstanding claims, and each insurer?s average processing time. I also request that your members commit to prioritizing claims submitted in response to these disasters. During these enormously challenging economic times and with the onset of possibly another harsh winter, WYOs owe disaster victims a prompt response and efficient and orderly payout.

Source: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/92402/schumer-wades-into-flood-insurance-fray/

gunner kiel baby lisa baby lisa paranormal activity wvu football meteor shower tonight district 9

New Breaking Dawn Part 1 ?Edward & Bella Wedding Still? now in HQ

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

Source: http://thinkingofrob.com/2011/11/27/breaking-dawn-part-1-edward-bella-wedding-still-larger-and-in-better-quality/

quarry fred shuttlesworth rule 34 steve jobs bill gates frances bean cobain bill gates michael lewis