The Royal Road to Romney

So Herman Cain dropped out of the race. Yawn.

And Newt Gingrich is surging. Yawn again.

Republican primary voters aren't enthused by Mitt Romney. But he is the more disciplined candidate. And he has better organization skills. And a bigger war chest. ... Yawn, yawn and yawn.

If you really want to know how the GOP presidential primary is going to turn out, you don't need much analysis. You didn't have to wait this long, either. Long before trapeze artists Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain ended their acts with spectacular thummps, long before the false springs of Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee, long before today?s leading candidates had even declared they were running?all you had to know is that the winner of the GOP presidential primary is the candidate who came in second last time wins this time.

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Citadel lawyer hoped to avoid criminal probe of abuse (Reuters)

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters)- Newly released documents tied to a 2007 internal probe of child sexual abuse allegations against a camp counselor at The Citadel show a school lawyer hoped a criminal investigation of the matter could be avoided.

Local and state police are investigating The Citadel -- South Carolina's military college -- for not reporting to authorities a 2007 allegation by a former summer camper that he was sexually abused by the counselor five years earlier, when he was 14.

The case emerged in public in the wake of the child abuse scandal at Penn State University involving a football coach. Another case of alleged sexual abuse by a coach has prompted an investigation at Syracuse University.

The man at the center of the allegations, former camp counselor Louis "Skip" ReVille, was arrested last month on separate charges of abusing five boys in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Police said he had admitted to those crimes, and more charges have since been filed.

A Citadel graduate, ReVille had worked as a counselor at the school's camp for three summers between 2001 and 2003. The Citadel closed its camp in 2006. ReVille had worked elsewhere as a school principal and sports coach.

The Citadel did not report the allegations to police, instead asking in-house counsel Mark Brandenburg to investigate, and took no further action.

"I found (the former camper) to be believable," Brandenburg wrote in an e-mail in August 2007, according to the documents released by The Citadel on Wednesday.

"His story remained the same as the one he related to me over to the phone some time ago," Brandenburg wrote.

"No 'formal' civil or criminal investigation has been initiated," he wrote in another email that month.

"Although the complainant could certainly file a report with the police, which would start a criminal investigation, or file a lawsuit in civil court, which would start a civil investigation, the complainant has done neither."

"Moreover, I am hopeful that, by conducting an investigation on behalf of the school, no 'formal' investigation -- civil or criminal -- will occur," Brandenburg wrote.

According to an interview transcript, which The Citadel released last month, the young man told Brandenburg he and other campers used to hang out in ReVille's room "and then one night, he pulled out a pornographic video and put it in and started masturbating".

"He encouraged everyone in the room to join in. And they did. And I guess he made an agreement with these kids that he would keep buying them Chinese food and pizza and all these good things and give them privileges if they continued to come to his room," the interview document said.

The emails show Brandenburg writing that the former camper's parents felt "the school can be part of the solution, even as it was part of the problem," and that the ex-camper expressed interest in attending The Citadel.

The documents state The Citadel wanted to reach a financial settlement with the family, and Brandenburg was authorized to offer them $20,000.

Julie Moore, a Charleston lawyer for the former camper, said last month that: "When (the family) went to The Citadel in 2007, they wanted to make sure that there were no other victims of Skip ReVille. They didn't want any other family to go through what they went through."

"Fortunately, since we now have an interview with (the former camper), we have an unequivocal trigger for the statute of limitations," Brandenburg wrote in a November 2007 email, going on to detail when the period for bringing formal charges might expire under the statute.

The documents show Brandenburg referring to the former camper's allegations as "a new round of sexual abuse at the summer camp" and linked the case with a previous child sexual assault case at The Citadel.

In 2006, the school paid a $3.8 million judgment in a civil suit filed by five former campers who said they were sexually assault by Marine officer and camp counselor Michael Arpaio. Arpaio was court-martialed for the crimes by the U.S. Marine Corps and served time in Charleston's Navy Brig.

"Skip (ReVille), as I have reported, denies all this," Brandenburg wrote in an e-mail. "However, Arpaio's initial denials were equally forceful, and, unfortunately, ultimately proved totally false."

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has said he will review the sexual abuse scandal when police investigations finish.

Citadel President John W. Rosa apologized at a news conference last month.

"This should have been reported (to police)," he said. "We're profoundly sorry, sorry that we didn't pursue it more. We acted on what we thought was our best information ... We're all held accountable."

(Editing by Jerry Norton and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/us_nm/us_crime_abuse_citadel

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RIM says Carrier IQ software not for BlackBerry (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? Research In Motion does not install nor authorize its carrier partners to install "Carrier IQ" monitoring software on its BlackBerry smartphones, the company said on Thursday.

RIM made the statement after a security researcher said the "Carrier IQ" application, which can monitor what device users are doing, has been installed on mobile devices from multiple vendors without the knowledge or consent of customers.

Trevor Eckhart, the researcher who demonstrated in online videos how the software works, focused on devices using Google's Android operating system, but he also mentioned other operating systems, including RIM's BlackBerry and the Nokia system as having the software installed.

"RIM does not pre-install the Carrier IQ app on BlackBerry smartphones or authorize its carrier partners to install the Carrier IQ app before sales or distribution," RIM said.

"RIM also did not develop or commission the development of the Carrier IQ application, and has no involvement in the testing, promotion, or distribution of the app."

In a statement posted to its website last month, Carrier IQ said its software is used by network operators to help improve network quality and troubleshoot device problems.

"While we look at many aspects of a device's performance, we are counting and summarizing performance, not recording keystrokes, or providing tracking tools," the Mountain View, California-based company said.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Peter Galloway)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/tc_nm/us_rim

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Neil G. Giuliano: Saving Lives, One HIV/AIDS Campaign at a Time (PHOTOS)

In 1987 "AIDS: Fight the Fear with the Facts" was an AIDS education effort coordinated by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in tandem with all the AIDS education agencies/programs throughout Northern California. This effort was partially funded by the California State Department of Health Services and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. "AIDS: Fight the Fear with the Facts" was a media-intensive program focusing on educating the general public, not specifically high-risk groups. It was designed to increase general awareness and understanding about AIDS. The objectives of this education campaign were to state the facts about AIDS; to reduce the unnecessary epidemic of fear and refute inaccurate misconceptions about AIDS; and, to emphasize where additional information can be obtained about AIDS. Education has been proven to be a successful and powerful tool in stopping the spread of the AIDS virus; the same tool can be just as powerful in stopping the spread of AlDS-related fear. "AIDS: Fight the Fear with the Facts" emphasized the vital need for education among all people -- all races, ages and sexes. The education messages were introduced to the public via television public service announcements, print advertising and media outreach efforts.

In 1987 "AIDS: Fight the Fear with the Facts" was an AIDS education effort coordinated by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in tandem with all the AIDS education agencies/programs throughout Northern California. This effort was partially funded by the California State Department of Health Services and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

"AIDS: Fight the Fear with the Facts" was a media-intensive program focusing on educating the general public, not specifically high-risk groups. It was designed to increase general awareness and understanding about AIDS. The objectives of this education campaign were to state the facts about AIDS; to reduce the unnecessary epidemic of fear and refute inaccurate misconceptions about AIDS; and, to emphasize where additional information can be obtained about AIDS. Education has been proven to be a successful and powerful tool in stopping the spread of the AIDS virus; the same tool can be just as powerful in stopping the spread of AlDS-related fear.

"AIDS: Fight the Fear with the Facts" emphasized the vital need for education among all people -- all races, ages and sexes. The education messages were introduced to the public via television public service announcements, print advertising and media outreach efforts.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-g-giuliano/san-francisco-aids-foundation_b_1108132.html

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ECB's Noyer: Italy not weak, euro breakup out of (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Italy's economy is fundamentally sound and should be able to win back market confidence if it shows fiscal discipline, European Central Bank member Christian Noyer said on Monday, ruling out a collapse of the euro zone because of the sovereign debt crisis.

Noyer, also Bank of France governor, said he could not comment on reports that Italy was talking to the International Monetary Fund about possible support if investors continue to push up its borrowing costs.

The euro, under selling pressure for weeks, rose on Monday on reports that debt-strapped Italy could turn to the IMF as a lack of consensus hampers Europe's response to its debt problems which threaten to undermine the global economy.

"Italy should not be considered a weak economy," Noyer told reporters in Tokyo.

"A breakup of the euro zone is out of the question. There is no plan B."

Though Italy's debt levels are relatively high, it runs a primary budget surplus and has a strong industrial base, Noyer said. A primary budget balance excludes debt servicing costs and income from bond sales.

One source with knowledge of the matter said contacts between the IMF and Italy had intensified in recent days as concern grows that German opposition to an expanded role for the ECB could leave Italy without a financial backstop.

The source said it was unclear what form of support the IMF might offer, such as a traditional standby arrangement or a precautionary credit line, if a market selloff on Monday forced immediate action.

Policymakers and economists have floated a few possible solutions for Europe's woes, which include common bonds for the euro zone, increased sovereign debt purchases by the ECB and increasing the size of a bailout fund for the region.

Opposition from Germany and other hardliners in the ECB to some of these proposals has fueled speculation that a crisis sparked by Greece's high public debt will spread through Europe largely unchecked.

Noyer said he opposed expanding the ECB's government debt purchases so as to preserve price stability and protect the value of the euro over the long term.

"I believe that virtue will eventually be rewarded," Noyer said earlier in a speech.

"In the next decade, markets and lenders will trust those currencies that, whatever the circumstances, are managed with one overriding priority: preserving price stability and the intrinsic value of the currency unit."

It is up to European governments to provide a lasting backstop for liquidity, Noyer added.

French banks do not face significant problems with funding, so there is no need for the government to re-enact emergency lending facilities used in 2008 at the height of the U.S. subprime loan crisis, he said.

He termed "unreasonable" recent gains in French government bond yields and declines in French bank shares, saying France's fiscal position is stronger than that of many other countries.

Yields are low now in countries whose central banks purchase government debt, but this could become unstable if the inflation environment changes, Noyer said.

A rise in sovereign yield spreads and a loss of confidence in Europe shows there are downside risks to price stability, he said.

Noyer said marking banks' sovereign debt holdings to market prices has unintentionally created more problems as banks felt they would be penalized in the future for holding such debt.

Involving private-sector investors in restructuring Greek debt also shows that sovereign debt is no longer risk free, he said.

(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jonathan Thatcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/bs_nm/us_eurozone_noyer

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Gingrich wins NH backing as Romney plugs along

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2011, file photo, Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during the Republican presidential debate in Washington. Newt Gingrich landed editorial endorsement of NH Union Leader Sunday Nov. 27, 2011, 45 days before GOP primary. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2011, file photo, Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during the Republican presidential debate in Washington. Newt Gingrich landed editorial endorsement of NH Union Leader Sunday Nov. 27, 2011, 45 days before GOP primary. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011, file photo Republican presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, greets a young supporter during a town hall event in Peterborough, N.H. Romney enjoys solid leads in New Hampshire polls and remains at the front of the pack nationally. A poll released last week showed him with 42 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State poll. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich landed the endorsement of New Hampshire's largest newspaper on Sunday while rival Mitt Romney earned a dismissive wave, potentially resetting the race in the state with the first-in-the-nation primary.

For Gingrich, the former House speaker, the backing builds on his recent rise in the polls and quick work to build a campaign after a disastrous start in the summer. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has a vacation home in the state and has been called a "nearly native son of New Hampshire," absorbed the blow heading into the Jan. 10 vote that's vital to his campaign strategy.

"We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," The New Hampshire Union Leader said in its front-page editorial, which was as much a promotion of Gingrich as a discreet rebuke of Romney.

"We don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job," the endorsement said.

The Union Leader's editorial telegraphed conservatives' concerns about Romney's shifts on crucial issues of abortion and gay rights were unlikely to fade. Those worries have led Romney to keep Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses ? where conservatives hold great sway ? at arm's length.

At the same time, the endorsement boosts Gingrich's conservative credentials. He spent the week defending his immigration policies against accusations that they a form of amnesty. On Monday, Gingrich takes a campaign swing through South Carolina, the South's first primary state.

Even Democrats on Sunday were noting Gingrich's rise.

"He's clearly a smart guy," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York. "And look, I give him some credit for not just blowing with the winds on an issue like immigration. That showed some real courage."

Romney, taking a few days' break for the Thanksgiving holiday, has kept focused on a long-term strategy that doesn't lurch from one development to another. Last week, he picked up the backing of Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota conservative, to add to his impressive roster of supporters.

The Union Leader's rejection of Romney wasn't surprising despite his efforts to woo state leaders. The newspaper rejected Romney four years ago in favor of Arizona Sen. John McCain, using front-page columns and editorials to promote McCain and criticize Romney. In the time since, Romney courted publisher Joseph W. McQuaid. Earlier this year Romney and his wife, Ann, had dinner with the McQuaids at the Bedford Village Inn near Manchester, hoping to reset the relationship. It didn't prove enough.

Romney's advisers were quick to point out that Gingrich went into October with more than $1 million in campaign debt. Romney, meanwhile, was sitting on a pile of cash and only last week began running television ads ? a luxury Gingrich can't yet afford.

The duo's rivals, meanwhile, tried to gain traction.

Herman Cain on Sunday criticized any immigration proposal that included residency or citizenship but struggled to explain how he would deal with the millions of people estimated to be currently living illegally in the United States.

Cain, who joined the race to great fanfare, has seen his luster fade as his seemed to have trouble articulating the nuances of his policy positions. For instance, he was unable to explain the difference between "targeted identification," which he says would determine common characteristics of people who want to harm the United States, and racial profiling.

At the same time, Cain acknowledged that accusations that he sexually harassed several women during his days running the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s have pulled him from among the front-runners. He has flatly denied the allegations repeatedly.

"Well, obviously false accusations and confusion about some of my positions has contributed" to his fall in the polls, Cain said.

While Romney enjoys solid support in national polls, many Republicans have shifted from candidate to candidate in search of an alternative to Romney. That led to the rise ? and fall ? of potential challengers such as Cain, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Romney enjoys solid leads in New Hampshire polls, too. A poll released last week showed him with 42 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State poll.

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas posted 12 percent support and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman found 8 percent support in that survey.

Those numbers could shift based on the backing of The Union Leader, a newspaper that proudly works to influence elections, from school boards to the White House, in the politically savvy state.

Huntsman, President Barack Obama's former ambassador to China, said the endorsement points to how competitive the New Hampshire contest is.

"A month ago for Newt Gingrich to have been in the running to capture The (New Hampshire) Union Leader endorsement would have been unthinkable," Huntsman said in an interview Sunday during a break in campaigning. "I think it reflects, more than anything else, the fluidity, the unpredictability of the race right now."

The endorsement, signed by McQuaid, suggested that New Hampshire's only state-wide newspaper was ready to assert itself again as a player in the GOP primary ? even if the newspaper has reservations.

"We don't have to agree with them on every issue," McQuaid wrote in the editorial that ran the width of the front page. "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear."

Yet with six weeks until the primary, The Union Leader's move could again shuffle the race, further boosting Gingrich and priving a steady stream of criticism against his rivals. In recent weeks, Gingrich has seen a surge in some polls as Republicans focus more closely on deciding which candidate they consider best positioned to take on Obama.

He has also started to put together a strong campaign organization.

In New Hampshire, he brought on respected tea party leader Andrew Hemingway and his team has been contacting almost 1,000 voters each day. Gingrich hasn't begun television advertising and has refused to go negative on his opponents.

The newspaper has a decidedly mixed record of picking candidates. It backed Steve Forbes in 2000 and Pat Buchanan's 1992 and 1996 bids. Neither candidate won the Republican nomination.

Gingrich, who left the House in 1999 under the cloud of an ethics investigation and after disastrous midterm elections for the GOP, has faced skepticism of his personal life. He married to his third wife and acknowledged infidelity during his first marriages.

Even so, voters are giving Gingrich a look ? and the timing appears to be ideal for him.

"Romney is a very play-it-safe candidate. He doesn't want to offend everybody or anybody," said Drew Cline, the op-ed editor of The Union Leader. "He wants to be liked. He wants to try to reach out and be very safe, reach out to everybody, bring everybody on board."

That isn't the brand of candidate The Union Leader was looking to back, he said.

___

Schumer was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press." Cain and Cline spoke with CNN's "State of the Union." Huntsman appeared on "Fox News Sunday."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-27-Campaign-2012/id-87e5c1cbdcd94681a82bef368c86346c

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Engadget's Black Friday 2011 roundup

Black Friday is just around the bend -- in less than 36 hours, many a deal hunter will be camping outside their prospective Wally Worlds searching for prey. Thankfully, we've eagled-up in advance and thrown together a few deals in the meantime that should cause a sparkle in at least a few eyes. (Just to be safe, we've also included links to each store's full line-up of deals.) So, join us after the break, read along and see if anything strikes your interest. What's to lose, really? A chance to miss out on a good deal, of course! Feel free to thank us later or let us know about anything else you spot in the comments below.

Continue reading Engadget's Black Friday 2011 roundup

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Dubai's City Hospital unveils new cancer treatment | Healthcare ...

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Saturday, November 26 - 2011 at 13:01 UAE local time (GMT+4)

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