Your Free Land

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Jawan Carter scored 26 points to lead Delaware to a 56-50 victory over Vermont on Sunday.
Carter shot 7-for-16 from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line for the Blue Hens (3-7). Kelvin McNeil added 13 points and 13 rebounds in the win.
Trailing 39-34 midway through the second half, the Blue Hens put together a 12-3 run, and a 3-pointer from D.J. Boney gave Delaware a 46-42 lead with 5:07 remaining. The Blue Hens never trailed again, as the Catamounts shot only 2-for-7 in the final 5 minutes.
Evan Fjeld led Vermont (6-5) with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Marqus Blakely chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds. With the loss, the Catamounts had their five-game winning streak snapped.
Vermont was outrebounded by Delaware 46-35. The Catamounts also suffered from poor free throw shooting, shooting only 59.1 percent from the line (13-for-22).

DUBAI (Reuters) –
Debt-ridden conglomerate Dubai World is expected on Monday to ask key creditors for more time to pay off its loans, but leave them none the wiser concerning their prospects of being paid back in full.

Saddled with a $22 billion debt pile and in need of restructuring, the Gulf Arab emirate's flagship company is expected to formalize a request for a payment standstill at a meeting with some 90 creditors at Dubai's World Trade Center complex.

Though important, the gathering will probably mark only an intermediate step in a lengthy process, with banking sources anticipating no detailed proposals on the terms of the potential standstill to be discussed.

"Providing clarity is clearly the number one priority," said Raj Madha, banking analyst at EFG-Hermes. "Obviously a standstill is not ideal. But a standstill with visibility of when payments will be received or the extent of these payments would be sufficient to call it a result."

Dubai sent shockwaves through global markets on November 25 when it requested a standstill on $26 billion of debts linked to Dubai World and its two property units Nakheel and Limitless.

A $10 billion lifeline from neighboring Abu Dhabi last week -- the third to Dubai this year -- helped it stave off default on a $4.1 billion Islamic bond, or sukuk, from Nakheel.

A local newspaper said on Sunday that Dubai may still repay lenders in full, citing unnamed sources.

The National daily said two top Dubai officials, on a confidence-building mission to Britain and the United States in recent days, told financial leaders in London that repaying all bank loans in full "was discussed as a medium-term possibility."

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, head of Dubai's Supreme Fiscal Committee and the uncle of Dubai's ruler, and Mohammed al-Shaibani, deputy head of the committee, met officials in London last week.

"They made clear there were a number of options the government of Dubai saw as feasible and desirable for Dubai World and repayment in full was one of them," the newspaper quoted a person who attended the talks as saying.

RUBBER-STAMPING?

But a full repayment seems the most unlikely of available options and bankers expect Dubai World to propose the extension of maturities for at least a year or more while paying interest.

"The top lenders have probably already agreed to a standstill, the local banks will just be expected to turn up and sign," said a Dubai-based banker.

A steering committee of Dubai World's largest lenders met the company on December 7.

The committee consists of London-listed Standard Chartered , HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, and local lenders Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

Lenders will take Dubai World's requests back to their credit committees, which are expected to agree the standstill request early in the New Year, several bankers said.

"A lot of banks will get information and background to the group (on Monday)," said a Dubai-based lawyer. "There will be a lot of questions asked but I don't think that many will be answered."

Speculation, meanwhile, continues to mount over which assets Dubai Inc., the network of government-owned companies, is willing to sell to help pay off its debt obligations.

One such asset, luxury hotelier Jumeirah Group, is not for sale, its owner Dubai Holding said.

"Jumeirah and Dubai Holding are part of each other and Jumeirah is not going anywhere," the group's chairman told a local newspaper.

(Editing by John Stonestreet)

Kites can be used to pull people and vehicles downwind. Efficient foil-type kites such as power kites can also be used to sail upwind under the same principles as used by other sailing craft, provided that lateral forces on the ground or in the water are redirected as with the keels, center boards, wheels and ice blades of traditional sailing craft. In the last two decades several kite sailing sports have become popular, such as kite buggying, kite landboarding and kite surfing. Snow kiting has also become popular in recent years.

Kite sailing opens several possibilities not available in traditional sailing:

Wind Spinners

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
Senators readied for a crucial pre-dawn Monday vote to pave the way for US health care reform, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, after a key holdout senator said he would back the sweeping legislation.

Democratic Senator Ben Nelson's resistance had kept fellow Democrats from corralling the 60 votes needed to ensure Senate passage over resistance from Republicans eager to hand Obama a crippling political defeat.

"Change is never easy, but change is what is needed in America today. I will vote for health care reform," said the Nebraska lawmaker, who announced Saturday he had secured the tough new restrictions he sought on public money from paying for abortions.

"With today's developments," Obama told reporters at the White House, "it now appears the American people will have the vote they deserve on genuine reform offering security to those who have health insurance and affordable options for those who do not."

While acknowledging "there is still much work left to be done," the president hailed what he called "a major step forward for the American people."

"After a nearly century-long struggle we are on the cusp of making health care reform a reality," he said.

But groups from opposites sides of the abortion debate assaulted the compromise. The pro-choice National Organization of Women called it a "cruelly over-compromised legislation," while the conservative Family Research Council blasted the "phony abortion 'compromise.'"

The House of Representatives approved similar curbs on abortion when it passed its own version of the legislation, but abortion-rights Democrats have vowed to strip them when the two chambers craft a final bill for Obama to sign into law.

Nelson warned -- "less as a threat, and more of a promise" -- that he would oppose the final House-Senate compromise if it included "material changes" that stripped out his demands, likely dooming the legislation.

His backing allowed Democrats to breathe a sign of relief ahead of a make-or-break 1:00 am (0600 GMT) Monday vote to end debate on Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's newly unveiled compromise health bill.

A tentative Democratic timeline also calls for key procedural votes around 7:00 am (1200 GMT) Tuesday and 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) Wednesday, with final passage at 7:00 pm Thursday (0000 GMT Friday) -- Christmas Eve.

If the Senate approves the bill, it will still need to reconcile stark differences with a House plan to pass a final measure before Obama's State of the Union address to the US Congress in January or early February.

Reid's measure strips out a government-backed "public option" plan to compete with private insurers, but would extend coverage to 31 million of the 36 million Americans who currently lack it, Democrats say.

It would forbid insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions and provide subsidies to low-income Americans.

Obama's Republican foes have sharply criticized Reid for only making the bill public Saturday and then pushing ahead with an accelerated schedule in order to meet a self-imposed Christmas deadline.

And Republicans made good on pledges to delay the bill at all costs -- forcing the Senate clerk to read the measure aloud, a process that took up most of the day.

"We will do everything in our power to stop it," vowed Republican Senator John Cornyn.

As a severe snowstorm pounded the US capital, Democrats took steps to ensure that they could call upon all 58 of their senators and the two independents who often side with them to prevail in the coming votes.

And they trumpeted a finding from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that the bill would cost 871 billion dollars over the next 10 years and cut the soaring US budget deficit by about 132 billion dollars -- bringing it in under Obama's top pricetag of 900 billion dollars.

The United States is the world's richest nation but the only industrialized democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens.

Washington spends more than double what Britain, France and Germany do per person on health care, but lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

TOPEKA, Kan. – Officials with medical software maker Cerner Corp. declined to comment Wednesday on a revised $230 million incentive package offered by Kansas to lure the company across the state line.
Cerner, based in Kansas City, Mo., and Major League Soccer's Kansas City Wizards have been negotiating with Kansas and Wyandotte County officials on a proposal to move the company and construct a new stadium for the team.
Kelli Christman, a spokeswoman for Cerner, declined to comment on the proposal or the status of negotiations with Kansas.
Cerner and OnGoal, the group representing the Wizards, are proposing a $414 million development near NASCAR's Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. The project includes an office complex for 4,500 Cerner employees, an 18,500-seat stadium for the Wizards and two dozen soccer fields for amateur teams.
Gov. Mark Parkinson issued a statement Tuesday saying the package presented to the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County to land the Cerner project had been modified. Under the new terms, Commerce Secretary Bill Thornton has agreed to make $47 million in financial incentives available immediately to help get the construction started.
"Nearly two months ago, we made an offer to Cerner that was aggressive yet responsible to the taxpayers," Thornton said Tuesday. "Over the course of negotiating with Cerner and the Unified Government for the past two months, we wanted to find a way to make the offer more palatable to Cerner without committing any more money than we offered in our original proposal.
"We have made the offer more palatable to them without committing a single penny more in state monies."
Parkinson said the state decided to revise the structure of the deal to get jobs created sooner, rather than later.
"As companies and businesses begin to regain their strength, making new hires often is one of the last steps they take on the path to recovery," Parkinson said. "Meanwhile, the unemployment rate continues to be too high, with too many Kansans out of work."
The Kansas proposal for the Cerner-Wizards project includes $85 million from the state in cash incentives, tax credits, training funds and sales tax exemptions. It also allows Wyandotte County to use almost $145 million in sales tax revenues collected from the area around Kansas Speedway to back bonds that would finance the soccer stadium.
A similar financial package was used by the state to encourage International Speedway Corp., the parent of Kansas Speedway, to build the 1.5-mile track. The area has been developed over the decade with shopping centers, restaurants and hotels, as well as a minor baseball park.
___
On the Net:
Governor's office: http://www.governor.ks.gov

LOS ANGELES – Nicolas Cage's ex-girlfriend is suing the actor and his former business manager, claiming she is owed more than $13 million and a house the actor promised her.
Christina Fulton, who is the mother of Cage's adult son, Weston, sued the Oscar-winner in Los Angeles on Tuesday. She claims Cage promised her a home in Los Angeles' Hancock Park neighborhood, but that she has now been ordered to leave the property.
Fulton is seeking the title and rights to the house as well as money for a series of debts she claims were caused by Cage's former business manager, Samuel J. Levin.
Cage's attorney, Marty Singer, called Fulton's claims against the actor absurd and said Cage has given her far more than the $6,000 per month he was required to pay her under a court order. Cage has paid $3 million per year on behalf of Fulton in recent years, he said.
"From Nic's standpoint, this is really a case of 'No good deed goes unpunished,'" Singer said.
He noted that many of the claims are leveled against Levin, whose attorney, Joseph Schleimer, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment on Wednesday.
Fulton's lawsuit is the latest in a string of financial woes for Cage, who stated in a $20 million lawsuit against Levin that he is being forced to sell properties around the world to make up for financial mismanagement. The Internal Revenue Service has filed more than $6.6 million in tax liens against the actor this year, records show.
Levin has countersued Cage, claiming the star owes him money and failed to heed his advice to curb his lavish spending habits.
Fulton and Cage's son was born in 1990, and the couple split about four years later, her lawsuit states.
Cage bought her a home in 2001 and told her she would own the title to the property, according to the lawsuit. It wasn't until earlier this year — when the actor told her in an e-mail that she should sell the home if she was having financial problems — that Fulton states she discovered her name wasn't on the title.
Foreclosure proceedings have begun on the home.
Fulton accuses Levin of failing to properly review credit statements and spot fraudulent charges. She also accused the accountant of exposing her to other debts, including a $1 million in government liens.
Public records show Levin has been a licensed certified public accountant in California for nearly 25 years and has no public record of disciplinary actions.
Cage is known for his dramatic roles in films such as "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Adaptation" as well as action turns in "The Rock" and "Con Air."

WASHINGTON – A California congressman is dropping his effort to honor Tiger Woods with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Democratic Rep. Joe Baca proposed legislation in March that called for the golfer to be recognized for promoting good sportsmanship and breaking down barriers in the sport.
Baca said in a statement Wednesday that "in light of the recent developments surrounding Tiger Woods and his family," he won't pursue legislation this session to give him the award.
Woods' recent car accident has led to a media firestorm surrounding his personal life. The world's No. 1 golfer hit a hydrant and a tree on Nov. 27, and he was cited for careless driving and fined $164.
The accident — and Woods' refusal to answer questions about it — fueled speculation about a possible dispute between him and his wife, Elin.
Woods has been out of the public eye since the crash and subsequent allegations of extramarital affairs.
Last week, Woods issued a statement saying he had let his family down with unspecified "transgressions" that he regrets with "all of my heart."
The medal is the highest award Congress has to honor civilians for achievements and contributions to society.
The Hill newspaper first reported Baca's decision to drop the effort.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina lawmakers recommended a formal rebuke on Wednesday for Gov. Mark Sanford for his summertime tryst and travel, opting to censure the Republican after nixing an impeachment measure.
A panel considering impeachment called his trip to see his Argentine mistress embarrassing and said his use of state planes was poor judgment, but they mostly agreed it was not serious misconduct that merited removal from office. Instead, the seven lawmakers unanimously sent a full legislative committee a measure that would censure Sanford.
Sanford has been under scrutiny since June when he tearfully revealed the affair. Ensuing probes of his travel and campaign spending led to more than three dozen state ethics charges and the potential for $74,000 in fines. His second and final term ends in January 2011.
"We can't impeach for hypocrisy. We can't impeach for arrogance. We can't impeach an officeholder for his lack of leadership skills," said Rep. James Harrison, the Columbia Republican who headed the panel.
Only eight U.S. governors have been removed by impeachment, and the only two removed in the last 80 years each faced criminal charges.
Technically, the outcome of Wednesday's vote will be sent as a recommendation to a full House Judiciary panel, which could revive an impeachment effort. However, that is unlikely given the margin of the vote.
Sanford also is the subject of a State Ethics Commission hearing on more than three dozen civil charges involving his use of state planes, pricey commercial airlines seats and campaign money. The state attorney general is considering whether those accusations will lead to criminal charges.
The lawmakers have honed in on Sanford's trip to Argentina in June, debating how seriously to consider the governor's five-day absence during which his staff was led to believe he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Legislators pushing for impeachment sought to punish Sanford for bringing "extreme dishonor and shame" and contended he was derelict in his duty.
"We have a governor forsaking, abandoning, deserting his office. We have a premeditated, intentional act where he abandoned his office in the state," said state Rep. Greg Delleney, a Republican who was the lone vote for impeachment. "He has lost all moral authority to lead this state."

Being a member of Congress rates as the least ethical and honest professions – faring worse than car salesmen by 4 percent – according to a new Gallup poll out Wednesday.
In a poll ranking how Americans view the honesty and ethical standards of 21 professions, Congressmen were rated as having a “low/very low” ethical standards by 55 percent of 1,017 adults across the nation. Only 9 percent said members of Congress have “high/very high” standards, while 35 percent gave the lawmakers an “average” rating.
Car salesmen were the only other professionals to get a “low/very low” rating by at least 50 percent of respondents, receiving 51 percent.
Senators ranked third lowest in the poll, earning a 49 percent “low/very low” ethical rating, beating out stockbrokers, 46 percent, and HMO managers at 43 percent.
Only 11 percent of respondents gave senators a “high/very high” ethical rating.
Nurses ranked as the most respected profession with an 83 percent positive rating. Following nurses were pharmacists at 66 percent, doctors at 65 percent, police officers at 63 percent and engineers, who received a 62 percent “high/very high” rating.
Governors were the only other political job polled, and ranked much higher than lawmakers in Washington. Only 15 percent said they had a “high/very high” opinion of governors, but 48 percent gave governors an “average” rating while 35 percent rated them as “low/very low."
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WASHINGTON – A House subcommittee has approved legislation aimed at forcing college football to switch to a playoff system to determine a national champion.
The bill would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I football game as a national championship unless that title contest is the result of a playoff.
The measure passed by a voice vote Wednesday by a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee.
The sponsor, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, said the current Bowl Championship Series is unfair and won't change unless prompted by Congress.
But some lawmakers on the subcommittee said Congress has better things to do than legislating on college football.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top official of the Bowl Championship Series says there are more important things for Congress to worry about than pressing for a playoff system for college football.
But lawmakers were taking a crack at it anyway Wednesday. A House panel was to consider a proposal to ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I football game as a national championship unless it's the outcome of a playoff.
"With everything going on in the country, I can't believe that Congress is wasting time and spending taxpayers' money on football," Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, said in a phone interview. "We feel strongly that managing of college sports is best left to the people in higher education."
The legislation is sponsored by Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The vote by the panel's commerce, trade and consumer protection subcommittee comes three days after the BCS selections were announced. Those include the Jan. 7 national title game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Texas.
Barton said Congress' attention is warranted, since "at this level, college football is a multibillion-dollar business" not much different from other businesses that face congressional oversight.
"With telecommunications, you're dealing with AT&T and Verizon and Sprint, and in this case you're dealing with the SEC and the Big 12 and the Pac-10," Barton said. "It's the same basic economic model."
But the measure faces long odds getting through Congress, given the wide geographic representation of schools in the six conferences that get automatic BCS bowl bids.
"The schools in those six conferences, which have such a huge financial benefit from the system, have enormous clout," said Gary Roberts, dean of the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and a sports law expert. "I don't see anything coming from this."
BCS officials don't appear worried that Barton's bill will become law.
"We just can't imagine that the members of Congress will think it's their job to dictate how college football should be played," Hancock said.
The current college bowl system features a championship game between the two top teams in the BCS standings, based on two polls and six computer rankings. Eight other schools get the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose bowls.
Under the BCS, six conference champions get automatic bids — the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC — while other conferences don't. Critics call that system unfair.

Although Alabama and Texas finished with undefeated seasons, so did several other teams that will not get a chance to play for the title game, including TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State. All three will get to play in a BCS bowl: Cincinnati is the Big East champ; TCU, champion of the Mountain West, gets a bid awarded to a non-automatic qualifying conference that meets certain criteria; and Boise State, winner of the Western Athletic Conference, gets an at-large bid.

"We're pleased that Congressman Barton's bill is moving forward because it will require the BCS to choose — either make college football's championship a competitively earned honor or admit that it's currently the equivalent of being elected homecoming king," said Matthew Sanderson, a founder of Playoff PAC, a political action committee aimed at electing members of Congress who favor a playoff system.

At a May hearing, Barton warned college football officials that unless they took action toward a playoff system within two months, Congress would probably move on his bill. It took a little longer, but the timing of this week's vote isn't exactly a coincidence.

"Part of it is because BCS is in the news," Barton said. He said he hasn't lobbied subcommittee members much but doesn't think there is much resistance to the idea that there should be a playoff in college football.

But there is opposition to the bill. Subcommittee member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said he would prefer to see affected parties work out a playoff system themselves rather than have Congress do it.

There is no Senate version, although Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has pressed for a Justice Department antitrust investigation into the BCS.

Shortly after his election last year, Obama said there should be a playoff system.

"I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit," Obama said at the time. "I think it's the right thing to do."

____

On the Net:

Read H.R.390, The College Football Playoffs Act, at http://thomas.loc.gov/

Bowl Championship Series: http://www.bcsfootball.org

House Energy and Commerce Committee: http://energycommerce.house.gov

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Stocks fell on Tuesday after disappointing corporate news from 3M Co and McDonald's, while negative developments in global credit markets caused a shift to safe-haven assets.

Equities faced pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar after Dubai's unresolved debt problems and Fitch Ratings' downgrade of Greece's bond rating dented risk appetite.

U.S. corporate news raised some doubts about consumer spending, a key requirement for the recovery to take hold.

Diversified manufacturer 3M (MMM.N) fell 1 percent to $77.11 after a weaker-than-expected outlook, while McDonald's (MCD.N) closed down 2.1 percent at $60.61 after reporting disappointing sales for a second straight month.

"We are seeing signs that indicate the global economy is not recovering as fast as expected, and at times of uncertainty, people run to the safe dollar," said Keith Springer, president of Capital Financial Advisory Services in Sacramento, California.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) fell 104.14 points, or 1.00 percent, at 10,285.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) closed down 11.31 points, or 1.03 percent, at 1,091.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) shed 16.62 points, or 0.76 percent, at 2,172.99.

After the closing bell, Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.N) raised its fourth-quarter earnings target and said revenue would be at the high end of its forecast range, but shares of the chipmaker fell 2.4 percent to $25.71 as some investors had even higher expectations.

In another sign on Tuesday of weak consumer spending, Kroger Co (KR.N) shares dipped 11.9 percent to $20.13 after the supermarket operator reported quarterly results far below expectations and cut its full-year forecast.

The S&P Consumer Staples index (.GSPS) slipped 1.2 percent.

The greenback (.DXY) gained 0.5 percent against a basket of six other major currencies, pressuring risk-associated assets such as U.S. crude oil, which dipped 1.4 percent to $72.96 a barrel.

Energy shares were among the top drags. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) was down 1.1 percent at $72.95 and Chevron (CVX.N) fell 1.8 percent to $76.76. The S&P energy index (.GSPE) shed 1.7 percent.

Another source of nervousness about the global recovery was an unexpected decline in German industrial output.

The disappointing earnings news overshadowed optimism late Monday from FedEx Corp (FDX.N), which gained 2.7 percent to $89.88 after forecasting second-quarter earnings would easily beat analysts' estimates.

Volume was light on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1.18 billion shares changing hands, below last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on the Nasdaq, about 1.97 billion shares traded, also below last year's daily average of 2.28 billion.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 20 to 9, while on the Nasdaq, 18 stocks fell for every eight that rose.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

PARIS (Reuters) –
French scientists have found a way to create human skin rapidly from stem cells, a discovery that could save the lives of many burns victims who are vulnerable to infection and now wait weeks for a skin graft.

The scientists made the breakthrough by creating a patch of human skin on a mouse's back using stem cells -- cells which have the ability to develop into any human cell.

Skin grafts have traditionally been created from cell cultures taken from the patient -- a process that takes three weeks, too long for some patients suffering extensive burns.

The new method using stem cells allows hospitals to order human skin as soon as they take in a burns victim.

"What our findings can provide is a way to cover the burns during those three weeks with skin epidermis ... produced in that factory and sent to the physician at the moment they receive a severely burned patient," Marc Peschanski, research director at the institute I-Stem, told Reuters Television.

"They call the factory and then, immediately, they will get a square meter of epidermis which will be a temporary way to cover the burns," he added.

"We grafted cells on the back of a mouse on which we had created a wound, and we observed twelve weeks later that the epidermis had mended itself," said Xavier Nissan, who took part in the study by I-stem, which develops regeneration therapies using stem cells.

In France, 200 to 300 people a year risk dying from severe burns, said Peschanski, who hopes the new method will become a common therapeutic tool.

"So it is really a new hope for those people and really, any one of us could become a severe burns patient," he said. (Reporting by Reuters TV; writing by Sophie Taylor, editing by Tim Pearce)

LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The leaders in the local large Orthodox Jewish community go to great lengths to keep out the outside world, discouraging nonbusiness use of the Internet and encouraging strict filters to keep the ungodly out when members must use the Web.
But last month, several rabbis and other elders did something astounding for them: They took a public stand on a political issue, declaring their opposition to same-sex marriage in the state.
"This really hurts us," said Rabbi Osher Lieberman, a key figure in the community in the suburbs about 30 miles east of Trenton. "To say (it's) immoral is not enough."
He said community members are being encouraged to do whatever they can to make sure lawmakers don't vote to recognize gay marriage.
In a state that leans a bit left, the conservative rabbis are one of a handful of groups taking a passionate — and maybe surprising — role in a debate that's likely to be decided by January. The newly political rabbis have joined a coalition including Roman Catholic bishops, evangelicals and some black and Latino leaders.
The other side of the debate, anchored by a well-organized, well-connected gay rights group, is getting a boost from heterosexual liberals.
When Republican Chris Christie unseated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in the gubernatorial election last month, it gave gay-rights activists more urgency to try to achieve their long-held goal of getting a same-sex marriage bill through the Legislature before Christie takes office Jan. 19.
The reason is simple: Corzine supports the bill. Christie says he would veto it.
If it's not passed by the end of the legislative session, that means the window will close for now on New Jersey joining Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut as the only states to recognize gay marriage.
Democratic lawmakers have been wrangling over whether the matter will get a debate in the Legislature. Most party leaders say they won't bring it up unless it looks as though it will pass.
Gay-rights supporters and social conservatives alike have been lobbying lawmakers, though it's a debate that doesn't seem to be enrapturing the state as a whole. Two polls last month found the public is divided over the issue. One found narrow support, the other narrow opposition.
But the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll, which found support, also showed that most residents think the issue is not a big deal.
It is a big deal to Betty Wyka, a museum employee from Parsippany who has long supported same-sex marriage. In February, she started volunteering for Garden State Equality, the state's main gay-rights group. Steven Goldstein, the chairman of the group, says that as a straight woman Wyka is typical of a new volunteer.
Wyka said she joined partly to counter a claim that gay-marriage opponents often make: that allowing gay couples to wed will make society value traditional marriages less.
"I got sick of hearing that same-sex marriage is going to impact my marriage. That's a bunch of hooey," she said. "It's a civil rights issue."
Lakewood's Orthodox community is mostly isolated from the rest of society. The men wear long beards, white shirts, black suits and black hats, and women are not nearly as visible as men. The community was founded in 1942 by a rabbinic leader who fled Poland and the Holocaust. It's now home to some 10,000 Orthodox families and the rabbinical school, which has more than 5,000 students.
Before last month's election, rabbis allowed distribution of a voting guide from the socially conservative New Jersey Family Policy Council. While religious institutions would not be required to marry gay couples, some say their religious freedom could be squeezed by permitting something they say runs against their beliefs.
Orthodox Jews, like many Christians, look to the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, which many interpret as saying that homosexuality is immoral.

A group of Lakewood community leaders granted an interview with an Associated Press reporter — a rarity and part of the effort to become involved in the push against gay marriage. The leaders said they're taking their position public because in the Internet age more information about the broader world is flowing into their community.

The large Orthodox community is not the first to speak out against the prospect of gay marriage. Last year, the New York-based Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America made a public statement in favor of California's Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment that outlawed gay marriage there months after a court allowed it.

And leaders in Lakewood say they received political guidance from some in the Orthodox Jewish community in Monsey, N.Y. In New York, the state Assembly already has passed a law to allow gay marriage, and the Senate is considering whether to follow.

Orthodox Jews traditionally have been regular voters who oppose candidates who support abortion rights and gay rights, said Yaakov S. Ariel, a professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"The visible part is what's new," Ariel said. "The opinions and the support of candidates is not new."

What's especially troubling to some in Lakewood is not just that New Jersey might recognize same-sex marriages but that Orthodox Jews would be more likely now than in the past to know about it — and think that it's OK to be gay.

"These type of laws bring an exposure to our community," Rabbi Aaron Sarscher said.

And that's why there's a new voice in the debate.

"I really don't believe in getting involved in government," said another community leader, David Sofer. "But when an issue is so dangerous, you have to stop it."

Live food is commonly used as feed for a variety of species of exotic pets and zoo animals, ranging from alligators to various snakes, frogs and lizards, but also including other, non-reptile, non-amphibian carnivores and omnivores (for instance, skunks, which are omnivorous mammals, can be technically be fed a limited amount of live food, though this is not known to be a common practice). Common live food ranges from crickets (used as an inexpensive form of feed for carnivorous and omnivorous reptiles such as bearded dragons and commonly available in pet stores for this reason), waxworms, mealworms and to a lesser extent cockroaches and locusts, to small birds and mammals such as mice or chickens.

Another common form of live food, most commonly used to feed snakes, is small rodents. The most commonly known small rodent used for live food is likely the mouse; many pet stores which carry snakes or cater to snake owners also carry "feeder mice" for this reason (see Fancy mouse).

Live Food

BOSTON – It is banned in 13 states and sure doesn't come in a six-pack.
The maker of Samuel Adams beer has released an updated version of its biennial beer Utopias — now the highest alcohol content beer on the market. At 27 percent alcohol by volume and $150 a bottle, the limited release of the brandy-colored Utopias comes as more brewers take advantage of improvements in science to boost potency and enhance taste.
"Just part of trying to push the envelope," said Jim Koch, founder and owner of the Boston Beer Co. the maker of Sam Adams. "I'm pushing it beyond what the laws of these 13 states ever contemplated when they passed those laws decades ago."
Since the 1990s, craft brewers like the Boston Beer Co. and the Delaware-based Dogfish Head have produced a number of "extreme beers" that challenge old notions of beer and the decades-old laws that have governed them.
By law, these specialty drinks still are classified as beer when they are based on fermented grain. And despite the hefty prices of the high-scale beer, brewers still have to pay the required nickel deposit on bottles.
Paul Gatza, director of the national Brewers Association based in Boulder, Colo., said new yeast research allowed brewers to experiment with the emerging science that pushed the traditional cap of 14 percent alcohol by volume for beer.
"As a result, these new beers, like Utopias, balance sweetness, higher alcohol content and more ingredients," Gatza said.
A few states also have moved to adapt their laws to allow for the emerging craft brew market. For example, Alabama and West Virginia recently passed laws to allow higher alcohol content in beer. Lawmakers in Iowa and Mississippi are considering similar legislation.
Gatza said consumers are also pushing for the changes.
That's what sparked a brew battle between the Boston Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head.
In 1993, Koch set a new bar by creating Triple Bock, a beverage with 17.5 percent alcohol by volume. In the early 2000s, Dogfish Head responded with beverages of their own that went to 22 percent.
But the latest Utopias alcohol volume gives Koch and Boston Beer Co. the clear title of having the strongest beer, said Sam Calagione, president and founder of Dogfish Head. "I must bow before him for Utopias," Calagione said. "I don't think we'll be brewing a beer that strong for a while."
Utopias has reached its unique strength through a 15-year aging process in barrels at the Boston Beer Co.'s brewery in Boston. It's aged and finished in wooden containers like Scotch whisky barrels and sherry casks. The drink's yeast strains are regularly used in making malts and champagne.
A quick sip unveils a cognac-like hit combined with vanilla, honey, and maple flavors.
The long production cycle is what limits its availability to once every two years. This holiday season, for example, Koch is only releasing 10,000 bottles with the suggested retail price of $150 apiece.
"It's like making 21-year-old Scotch," Koch said. "Yeah, you can make more. You just can't have it for 21 years."
The drink comes in a ceramic-and-copper bottle that resembles a tiny brew kettle. Thirteen states prohibit its sale because its alcohol content exceeds the legal limit for beer: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.
Chuck Hurley, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the group in general doesn't have a problem with extreme brands of beer like Utopias. However, he hopes the beverage's higher alcohol content is properly labeled and that it isn't marketed to minors.

"Right now, we're reserving judgment," Hurley said.

Koch said the Boston Beer Co. is presenting Utopias as an exclusive beer for sophisticated drinkers that should be consumed like champagne. He said it's not a beer for the weekend football game or for a regular dinner.

He would not speculate whether he would try to get more extreme with future brews, but noted that no one ever thought there would be an "insane brewer" who would be making such a strong Utopias.

"We'll see," he said.

PHOENIX – Government officials overseeing the construction of a "virtual fence" along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border hope to turn over the first segment to the Border Patrol in January, while beginning construction on a second stretch in coming weeks.
Although the government has plans to extend the network of cameras, ground sensors and radars along most of the border, officials said they'll draw on lessons from the first two segments in southern Arizona as they contemplate if and where to build more sections and how fast to complete them.
The government estimated it would cost $6.7 billion to cover most of the Mexican border by 2014.
"We do want some time to look at whether or not that really does make the most sense," said Mark Borkowski, the government's director of the virtual fence project. "Is it really sensible to spend all that money? Or are there other more measured approaches? Maybe there are some places along the border that make sense, but maybe not the entire border."
As it now stands, once both southern Arizona sections are in operation along 53 miles of the border, the next step would be to authorize construction through the majority of the 375-mile border in Arizona, the nation's busiest gateway for immigrant smuggling and a major thoroughfare for marijuana smuggling.
By using cameras, ground sensors and radars mounted on a series of towers, the system allows a small number of dispatchers to track illegal border-crossers on a computer monitor. They'll be able to zoom in with cameras to see whether it's a person or animal moving, and decide whether the movement requires sending Border Patrol agents to the scene.
The virtual fence, developed as part of then-President George W. Bush's border security plan, is designed to add another layer of protection at the border, along with thousands of Border Patrol agents and 650 miles of real fences.
The government and the contractor building the virtual fence said they were making solid progress after a series of setbacks earlier in the project.
While a prototype virtual fence in southern Arizona has been in use for nearly two years, the first permanent 23-mile stretch along the Mexican border near Sasabe, Ariz., would be handed over to the Border Patrol in January for testing, if everything goes as planned. The government hopes to begin construction on a second 30-mile section south of Ajo, Ariz., once environmental clearances are finalized.
The project was criticized because of delays and the government's finding in 2008 that the 28-mile prototype fence didn't work properly. That prompted the government to withhold some payments to its contractor, Boeing Co. The prototype will be replaced by the first permanent segment.
As virtual fence construction continues, the Border Patrol continues to use older technology that has limitations.
Borkowski, who took over as the project's top leader months after the prototype came under criticism, said it would be easy to blame Boeing for the project's early failures, but much of the fault rests with the government.
The government left it up to Boeing to figure out what the government needed, and the Border Patrol — the end user — wasn't asked to be very involved at the beginning, Borkowski said.
"Unfortunately, what we communicated was, 'We are going to put up a system, everybody is going to love it and when we turn it on, it will work right out of the box and the Border Patrol will be delighted.' And that's not what happened," Borkowski said.
Borkowski said he wasn't entirely satisfied with Boeing's work on the project, but that the company has shown improvements in recent months.
Tim Peters, a vice president for Boeing, said large, complex project experience fits and starts and that his company has made good progress in figuring how to tie together the project's off-the-shelf components.
"It's like sitting down at Christmas, and your kid or your nephew just got a box of Lincoln Logs, Legos and Tinker toys and now you have to figure out how to put those pieces together," Peters said. "And Legos don't necessarily play well with Tinker Toys, and Tinker Toys certainly don't play well with Lincoln Logs."
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors tougher immigration enforcement, said he wasn't confident that the virtual fence will end up being built along the whole length of the border and that the delays on the project show that the government wasn't serious about securing the border.

"The confidence will come when they actually have something out there that actually works and helps stop people from coming across the border," Mehlman said.

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On the Net:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border(underscore)security/sbi/

Boeing Co.: http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/sbinet/index.html

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Strong westerly winds in the southern Pacific Ocean have driven scores of icebergs originally headed toward New Zealand to the east, away from the country, an oceanographer said Tuesday.
A shipping alert was sent out last week and maritime authorities have been monitoring the iceberg flotilla as it drifted north from Antarctica toward New Zealand's South Island.
"It looks like they've all disappeared east of New Zealand," oceanographer Mike Williams, with New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, told The Associated Press. He said it would be unlikely they would be seen anywhere near the coastline.
The nearest one, measuring about 330 to 660 feet (100 to 200 meters) long, was 160 miles (260 kilometers) southeast of New Zealand's Stewart Island a week ago.
Australian glaciologist Neal Young said satellite imaging shows no sign of any icebergs northeast of Auckland Islands, 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of New Zealand.
"If ice is there, it's below 500 feet (150 meters) in length," the smallest size detectable on satellite images, Young said.
Williams said melting and erosion by waves would have made many of the icebergs quite small by now, and that it was unlikely scientists will spot them again on satellite.
Large numbers of icebergs last floated close to New Zealand in 2006, when some were visible from the coastline — the first such sighting since 1931.
Scientists say the current flotilla of icebergs likely split off Antarctica in 2000 when parts of two major ice shelves — the Ross Sea Ice Shelf and Ronne Ice Shelf — fractured. The Ross Sea Ice Shelf is the size of France and is also widely believed to be the origin of the 2006 icebergs.
Icebergs are routinely sloughed off as part of the natural development of ice shelves.
The latest appearance of the bergs in waters south of New Zealand depends as much on weather patterns and ocean currents as on the rate at which icebergs are calving off Antarctic ice shelves.
Rodney Russ, expedition leader on board the Spirit of Enderby eco-tourism vessel east of New Zealand, said they had earlier spotted two big icebergs north of Macquarie Island and also sighted two fishing boats working south of Auckland Islands.
"Traffic in this part of the world is pretty light at all times of the year. We're probably one of the only vessels that ply this area regularly," he told The AP in a telephone interview.
While the vessel has a fully ice-strengthened hull, it has up to three sailors on permanent watch in iceberg-affected ocean, a constant radar scanning and also uses powerful searchlights during the short, six- to seven-hour nights, he noted.
"It would be a foolhardy captain who would come down here and not step up the (iceberg) watch and increase the lookouts," Russ said.

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Forest Service is considering allowing its helicopters to attack wildfires at night, a practice the agency has long discouraged because of risks to pilots, a senior official said Monday.
The change would be a major shift for the agency that manages 200 million acres of public land.
Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management Director Tom Harbour said the current policy was being reviewed.
"We are in the process ... of one more time taking a look at night-flying operations. But we will have to make sure that those operations, before we change our policy, are worth the benefits," Harbour told The Associated Press.
"Night flying is a risky operation," he added.
Last week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors pushed for broader use of night flying after a wildfire in Angeles National Forest last summer burned more than 250 square miles, destroyed 89 homes and led to the deaths of two firefighters.
Harbour said the Forest Service experimented with night flying against wildfires in the 1970s and early 1980s but abandoned it after a helicopter collision.
The Forest Service has been criticized by local officials for the way it managed the blaze in Angeles National Forest, which became the largest fire in Los Angeles County history.
The county Fire Department concluded in a report that experienced county helicopter pilots could have made water drops on the first night of the fire — although it conceded that it was not known if that would have made a difference.
In addition, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has said the Forest Service erred by not calling in more aircraft to drop water and fire retardant in the early hours of the blaze.
The Forest Service can allow pilots from local agencies to fly on its land at night in some cases, Harbour said. But a federal review this month found the Angeles Forest wildfire raged out of control because it jumped into inaccessible terrain, not because the Forest Service failed to deploy enough firefighters and aircraft.
Harbour said there were scant cases where aircraft alone extinguish fires, since embers, brush and grasses on the forest floor can continue to burn even after a water or retardant drop.
"We've got to get boots on the ground to be effective. And there were places on that (Los Angeles County) fire ... where we simply couldn't get boots on the ground" because of the steep slopes, he said.
"It's a red herring to keep talking about helicopters and air tankers," Harbour said, referring to the same blaze.
"Aircraft serve a useful purpose in assisting the folks on the ground. ... Firefighters on the ground put out fire," he said.