Santorum, Gingrich vie for Southern supremacy
March 13, 2012

Coming off another victory in conservative territory, Rick Santorum on Sunday rejected arguments that frontrunner Mitt Romney's lead in the delegate count for the Republican presidential nomination was virtually insurmountable.
"This isn't a mathematical formula -- this race has a tremendous amount of dynamics," Santorum told the NBC program "Meet the Press" the day after winning the Kansas caucuses to bolster his second-place standing behind Romney.
According to CNN's estimate, Romney had 458 delegates, compared with 203 for Santorum, 118 for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 66 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
A candidate needs 1,144 delegates at the Republican convention this summer to secure the nomination to face President Barack Obama in November.

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U.S. offers condolences as U.S. service member investigated for alleged killing of Afghan civilians
March 12, 2012

President Obama and U.S. officials offered their condolences for the alleged shooting of civilians by a U.S. service member in Afghanistan amid fears the incident could trigger another wave of anti-American violence in the region and fuel a push to abandon the war-worn country.
Tensions between the U.S. and Afghanistan had appeared to be easing after Americans burning Korans last month sparked deadly protests across the country.
"This is a fatal hammer blow on the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan. Whatever sliver of trust and credibility we might have had following the burnings of the Koran is now gone," said David Cortright, the director of policy studies at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and an advocate for a quick withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Residents said Sunday's attack began around 3 a.m. in two villages in Panjwai district, a rural region outside Kandahar that is the cradle of the Taliban and where coalition forces have fought for control for years. The villages are about 500 yards from a U.S. base in a region that was the focus of Obama's military surge strategy in the south starting in 2009.
Villagers described cowering in fear as gunshots rang out as a soldier stalked house after house firing on those inside. They said he entered three homes in all and set fire to some of the bodies. Eleven of the dead were from a single family, and nine of the victims were children.
U.S. officials said the shooter, identified as an Army staff sergeant, acted alone, leaving his base in southern Afghanistan and opening fire on sleeping families in two villages. Initial reports indicated he returned to the base after the shooting and turned himself in. He was in custody at a NATO base in Afghanistan.

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Rush Limbaugh-Sandra Fluke flap: Is it time to move on?
March 12, 2012

It's been only seven days since Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute," but it seems like the ensuing controversy has been raging for much longer than that. Attitudes about the talk show host's treatment of the Georgetown University Law student have begun to calcify into a partisan divide. Is it time for liberals to just get over it, move on, and accept the apology Limbaugh has offered?

Bill Maher thinks so. At first glance that's surprising - comedian Maher announced the other day that he'll give $1 million to a super PAC that backs President Obama. But he's got his reasons as to why he thinks it's time to let go of the Fluke controversy.
"Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout," wrote Maher on his Twitter feed Wednesday.
Of course, Maher's been accused of saying some pretty crass gynecological things about Sarah Palin and other conservative women, so he might have a vested interest in damping down the fire here.

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Cat Detects Owner's Breast Cancer Before Doctors, Saving Her Life
March 12, 2012

Call it a sixth sense, a special connection, or just plain mystery. But whatever gift cats and dogs have that allows them to detect health conditions in their owners sure has been saving a lot of lives.
Wendy Humphreys, a mother of two from Britain, found out first-hand how powerful that gift can be when her cat Fidge sniffed out a potentially fatal health condition that even doctors hadn't detected, the Daily Mail reports.

Bewildered at first, Humphreys was compelled to visit a physician after the 10-month-old cat began jumping on her breast and continued to do so for weeks on end.
What doctors found astounded Humphreys: She had a malignant tumor in her breast about the size of a pea that could have metastasized if it hadn't been discovered early. She is now scheduled to undergo chemotherapy and credits Fidge with saving her life,according to the paper.

Studies have shown that dogs, too, can pick up on illnesses and physical ailments by detecting acute changes in people's smell. In a 2011 study, researchers in Japan conducted trials to see how well a dog could identify people with colorectal cancer.The dog had a 98 percent accuracy rate, NPR reported.

Sometimes, however, animals' aptitude for detecting changes in humans defies scientific explanation. In 2006, a cat named Oscar confounded experts by "predicting" the deaths of a number of residents at a Rhode Island nursing home. Oscar would begin hanging around people days before they passed away, according to CBS News.

"Oscar is a normal cat with an extra-normal sense for death," Dr. Joan M. Teno, professor of community health at Brown and associate medical director of Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, told the Boston Globe. "As a scientist, I want to offer a biological explanation for this," she said. "But I can't."

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Gerber Voluntarily Recalls Infant Formula Over Foul Odor
March 12, 2012

Gerber has announced the voluntary recall of some powdered infant formula.
The recall involves Gerber Good Start Gentle powdered infant formula from batch number is GXP1684, according to a news release on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's website.
While company officials say the formula doesn't pose a health risk to kids, it may have a foul odor.
The recall involves the 23.2 ounce plastic packages with an expiration date of March 5, 2013
Those, who purchased the product, should call the Gerber Parents Resource Center for a replacement. Dial 1 (800) 487-7763.

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Man charged with bigamy after wives meet on Facebook
March 12, 2012

A Seattle-area corrections officer has been charged with bigamy after his two wives learned about each other on Facebook, prosecutors say.
Alan O'Neill, 41, married his first wife in 2001, when he was known as Alan Fulk, according to The News Tribune of Tacoma. The couple split up eight years later, and Fulk moved out, but the pair never divorced, the newspaper reported.
Last December, he reportedly petitioned to have his name changed to O'Neill before marrying his second wife.
The first wife allegedly learned about the second wife when Facebook recommended the two women become "friends," Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The News Tribune.

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New England Now Offering A Lottery With A Lifelong Jackpot
March 12, 2012

Lottery officials in the six New England states have joined forces for the first time to offer a regional game, hoping to leverage the buying power and excitement of more than 14.4 million residents and provide a substantially larger prize to players and much-needed revenues for their states' coffers.
Beginning Sunday, the Lucky for Life tickets will go on sale for $2 apiece in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The top prize is $1,000 a day for a winner's life.
The concept has been successful in Connecticut, which has had a state draw game and scratch tickets that offer a guaranteed payout for life since 2009. Anne Noble, president and CEO of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, said the regional version comes at a time when the seasoned New England lotteries - most about 40 years old - are looking for something fresh and innovative to spur growth.
"Lotteries, as they age, look for more and more exciting ways to deliver new products to their players and this was a way to do that," she said. "The smaller states can't deliver a prize this big to their players, so it required a collaboration."

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Deal not sealed, Romney hits Santorum with big ad buys
March 11, 2012

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign would like to be focusing its attacks on Democratic President Barack Obama around now.
But after failing to seize control of the Republican nomination race on "Super Tuesday," Romney cannot shake off rival Rick Santorum, whom he criticized on Thursday as a political insider.
Opening up a new front against Santorum, the Romney campaign accused him of being a lobbyist in his home state of Pennsylvania even before he went to Washington in 1991.
Romney's campaign also attacked Santorum for holding regular meetings with lobbyists as a Senate leader, part of the Republican "K Street Project" seeking to increase the party's influence in the capital.
"Senator Santorum's claims to be a Washington outsider are at odds with the facts. After serving as a lobbyist in Pennsylvania before running for Congress, Santorum became a go-to guy for D.C. lobbyists while he served in the Senate," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement headlined: "Lobbyist/Congressman/Senator Rick Santorum: The Insider's Insider."
With an appeal to evangelicals and conservatives that Romney often lacks, Santorum is challenging the idea his rival is the inevitable Republican nominee to face Obama in November's election.

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What's In Your Brew? Black Tea
March 10, 2012

Tea and herbal infusions (herbal teas) come in all colors of the rainbow. "True" tea comes from the top leaves and buds of an evergreen shrub called Camellia sinensis; it's available in thousands of different forms; similar to chardonnay wine, with the region, climate, soil, and processing determining its characteristics. Tea is split into four main varieties: black, green, oolong, and white. Black tea will be the focus of this article.

How is black tea made? The leaf is withered and water is evaporated, allowing the leaf to absorb more oxygen from the air aka oxidation. The dark brown and black leaf comes from the full oxidation and it yields a hearty and more pronounced flavor as well as higher caffeine content than other teas. In the Chinese language, black tea is actually know as red tea, describing the color of the infused liquid that results from steeping the black tea leaves.

What are some health benefits of black tea? Tea has many health properties and an increasing number of studies show that the benefits of drinking tea are numerous. Besides being a refreshing drink with no calories, tea is a good source of manganese (essential for physical development) and potassium (maintains body's fluid balance, also an electrolyte).

Studies also show that tea drinkers are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease than non-drinkers. In fact a recent study from researchers at The University of Western Australia and Unilever discovered that black tea lowers systolic and diastolic blood pressure - high blood pressure can increase risk of heart disease.

In the study, 95 Australian participants aged between 35 and 75 were recruited to drink either three cups of black tea or a placebo with the same flavor and caffeine content, but not derived from tea. After six months, researchers found that compared with the placebo, participants who drank black tea had a lower 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure of between 2 and 3 mmHg. More research is required to better understand how tea may reduce blood pressure.

Black tea is also packed with flavonoids (antioxidants) that help combat free radicals. The already famous flavanoids also demonstrate their ability to help prevent the oxidation of "bad" cholesterol, as well as protecting the blood vessels from inflammation and inhibiting blood clotting. Black tea is also a natural source of fluoride, which can help strengthen tooth enamel, and helps cut down plaque on teeth. Being a fluid, tea can help replace the lost fluids from the body on a daily basis. Tea contains about half the amount (or less) of caffeine as coffee.

What types of tea should you look for in the market?
Look for fair trade certified, which ensures that farmers are getting paid fairly, and that your tea is grown sustainably. Choose loose leaf tea for a rich tea experience, but if loose leaf is not available at your local grocer, read tea labels for ingredients - stay away from teas with artificial flavors and added sugars.

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Do Fruits and Veggies Make You More Attractive?
March 10, 2012

Need a new reason to boost the amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet?
Consider this: Eating more produce is an all-natural way to make your skin look more attractive, a new study suggests. It's Mother Nature's way of giving skin a healthy hue.
In fact, Scottish researchers suggest that changes in the redness and yellowness of skin in white people may be linked to the number of servings of fruit and vegetables they eat on a daily basis. These antioxidant-rich foods, which are loaded with plant-based pigments, seem to affect skin tone.
For the study, which appears in the online journal PLoS ONE, scientists analyzed data from 35 college students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The average age was 21.
Participants completed food frequency questionnaires describing how often they ate certain foods during all three sessions of the study over a six-week period. On average, the students ate 3.5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
Scientists also measured each person's skin tone at seven body locations, including the cheeks, forehead, shoulder, and upper arm, at the beginning of the study as well as at three weeks and six weeks.

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