On foreign policy, Kerry is Obama's good soldier

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democratic Sen. John Kerry stands tall as President Barack Obama's good soldier.

The Massachusetts lawmaker has flown to Afghanistan and Pakistan numerous times to tamp down diplomatic disputes, spending hours drinking tea and taking walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai or engaging in delicate negotiations in Islamabad.

It's a highly unusual role for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman: envoy with a special but undefined portfolio.

Kerry has pushed the White House's national security agenda in the Senate with mixed results. He successfully ensured ratification of a nuclear arms reduction treaty in 2010 and most recently failed to persuade Republicans to back a U.N. pact on the rights of the disabled.

Throughout this past election year, he skewered Obama's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at nearly every opportunity and was a vocal booster for the president's re-election. Kerry memorably told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August: "Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago."

Obama seems likely to reward all that work by nominating the 69-year-old Kerry, perhaps in the coming days, to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as the nation's top diplomat. The prospects for the five-term senator soared last week when U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, a top contender for the post, withdrew from consideration to avoid a fierce fight with Senate Republicans.

A Kerry nomination has been discussed with congressional leaders, and consultations between the White House and congressional Democrats have centered on the fate of his Senate seat, according to officials familiar with the situation who were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks. If the seat were in play, it could boost the prospects for recently defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown to win back a job in Washington.

At the same time, Obama is considering one of Kerry's former Senate colleagues, Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, for the Pentagon's top job.

The selection of Kerry would close a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national stage to Obama. Kerry lost that election to President George W. Bush. Four years later, Obama was the White House hopeful who succeeded where Kerry had failed.

Senate colleagues in both parties say Kerry's confirmation would be swift and near certain, another remarkable turnaround. Eight years ago, the GOP ridiculed Kerry as a wind-surfing, flip-flopper as he tried and failed to unseat Bush.

"If he is nominated, he comes into the position with a world of knowledge. He's someone who certainly understands how the legislative process works and I think he will be someone that Congress will want to work with in a very positive way," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is poised to become the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee next year.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said "there's no question he has a very strong depth of knowledge of these issues. Certainly qualified."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has taken to jokingly referring to Kerry as "Mr. Secretary."

Kerry and McCain, defeated presidential candidates who returned to the Senate, have joined forces repeatedly during the past few decades. In July 1995, the two decorated Vietnam War veterans provided political cover to President Bill Clinton when he normalized U.S. relations with Vietnam. Clinton had been dogged by questions about his lack of military service.

Last year, Kerry and McCain were outspoken in pushing for a no-fly zone over Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's forces attacked rebels and citizens. This month, they stood together in arguing for the disabilities treaty against staunch Republican opposition and complaints that it could undermine U.S. national sovereignty.

The pact fell five votes short of ratification, and Kerry called it "one of the saddest days I've seen" in his years in the Senate.

"Today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country," he said, his frustration evident.

Kerry has traveled extensively for the administration, to Afghanistan in May as a strategic partnership agreement loomed large in the decade-plus war. He was in Pakistan last year in the midst of a diplomatic crisis after Raymond Davis, a CIA-contracted American spy, was accused of the killing two Pakistanis.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to Pakistan around that time and recalled Kerry's influence.

"I arrived in Islamabad I think five days after Ray Davis had been taken into a jail in the Punjab and was at very real risk of being hauled out of the jail and lynched," Coons said. "Sen. Kerry was about to show up and negotiate on behalf of the administration. And it was clear that both the diplomats and the military folks we met with viewed him as a real man of credibility and experience who was likely to contribute meaningfully to those negotiations."

Davis pleaded self-defense. After weeks of wrangling between the U.S. and Pakistan, he was released in exchange for "blood money" paid to the dead men's relatives.

This year, Kerry has presided over committee hearings on treaties and other major issues, but there has been little legislative work. He didn't draw much attention to the committee, avoiding possible embarrassments for the administration in an election year.

Corker said he would have liked for the committee to devote more time to events in Libya, Syria and other countries.

"I think he's tried to accommodate our concerns and at the same time seek a balance ... giving the administration the headroom they needed to do what he and the administration felt was best. I understand that," he said, speaking of Kerry.

Coons said Kerry's deliberate work is often behind the scenes.

"The role of the chairman ... is not always getting your picture taken with George Clooney, standing around with heads of state, going to receptions in Foggy Bottom," he said. "It's also lots and lots of time listening to folks who've got concerns whether it's on behalf of the defense community, the business community, the diplomatic community and being the person who's at the intersection of all that and trying to keep the Senate productively engaged in a very dangerous world with a lot of emerging threats."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Boston contributed to this report.

___

Donna Cassata can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DonnaCassataAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/foreign-policy-kerry-obamas-good-soldier-173621370--politics.html

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Zuma asks South Africa's ANC to keep him as leader

The ruling party African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma sings before addressing delegates during the opening of their elective conference at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Zuma acknowledged Sunday that corruption and violence have marred the image of his African National Congress as it changed from a liberation movement to governing party, but called on members to again support him to be its leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The ruling party African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma sings before addressing delegates during the opening of their elective conference at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Zuma acknowledged Sunday that corruption and violence have marred the image of his African National Congress as it changed from a liberation movement to governing party, but called on members to again support him to be its leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The ruling party African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma reacts during the opening of their elective conference at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Zuma acknowledged Sunday that corruption and violence have marred the image of his African National Congress as it changed from a liberation movement to governing party, but called on members to again support him to be its leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

FILE - This Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012 photo from files shows South African president Jacob Zuma, left, and deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, right, during the opening of Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. South Africa's governing African National Congress political party will return Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, to where it first formed a century ago to fight apartheid, to pick its next leader, at a time some believe the movement is fighting to regain its moral high ground. (AP Photo Schalk van Zuydam-File)

A poster with a picture of former South African President Nelson Mandela in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, ahead of the ruling party elective conference where the current President Jacob Zuma will fight for a second term as head of the ruling party. Mandela on Friday, Dec 14 2012 entered the seventh day of a hospital stay for a lung infection as questions grow about where he is receiving treatment. The 94-year-old patriarch of South Africa's democracy has been hospitalized since Saturday, first undergoing tests and later being diagnosed with the ailment. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 22, 2006 photo from files the former deputy president Jacob Zuma, speaks during a news conference in Johannesburg. South Africa. South Africa's governing African National Congress political party will return Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, to where it first formed a century ago to fight apartheid to pick its next leader , at a time some believe the movement is fighting to regain its moral high ground. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe-file)

(AP) ? South African President Jacob Zuma acknowledged Sunday that corruption and violence have marred the image of the African National Congress under his watch, but called on members to again support him to be the political party's leader.

The ANC, once a liberation movement that started a century ago to fight apartheid, has been governing South Africa for 18 years and faces increasing criticism in this nation of 50 million people that's the continent's top economy. Some 4,000 delegates gathered Sunday for the start of the party's Mangaung conference, being held in the city also known as Bloemfontein, and listened to Zuma offer occasionally candid comments about the party's issues. Still, Zuma made promises and said his government remained on track to change South Africa, attempting to appeal to delegates who will decide whether Zuma or his quiet deputy Kgalema Motlanthe should take charge of the party. And while Zuma long has been trailed by corruption allegations and questions about his personal life, he remains the favorite among delegates to lead the party and likely become South Africa's president after the nation's 2014 elections.

"We want to dismiss the perceptions that the country is falling apart," Zuma said in his speech televised live across the country. However, he later admitted: "The challenges we face ? unemployment, poverty and inequality ? are South African in their origin, and are deep and structural."

The ANC remains the dominant political force in post-apartheid South Africa and opposition parties don't receive the same support at the polls, meaning whomever is named president of party will more than likely become the nation's next president. However, South Africa has seen credit downgrades in recent months, as well as violent protests across its mining industry that saw about 46 people killed at a Marikana platinum mine, most by police.

In his more than one hour and a half speech, Zuma called the violence at Marikana an "indictment" of the ANC for not being there for the miners. He also criticized the violence and bribery that accompanied ANC meetings leading up to the Mangaung conference, which saw several people killed.

"We should not allow the situation where those who have money turn ANC members into commodities," Zuma said. "All these tendencies have been creeping into the movement gradually and they need to be dealt with very strongly."

The 70-year-old Zuma also criticized the process that the government uses to award contracts for allowing corruption that is "turning people we know into something else." That comment, as well as others, drew murmurs from delegates that saw it as a reflection of the corruption allegations and claims of ethical impropriety that have clouded Zuma.

Zuma faces criticism over the millions of dollars of government-paid improvements made to his private homestead. That comes as most black South Africans, the base of the ANC's following, remain mired in poverty.

The president also has been implicated in a corruption probe surrounding a 1999 arms deal, as well as faced accusations from the media about being unable to manage his own personal finances. Zuma also has faced criticisms over his private life, ranging from his multiple marriages to his 2006 trial for charges of raping a family friend that ended in an acquittal.

His main competition in the ANC is Motlanthe, his 63-year-old deputy president and a former union leader. Motlanthe served as a caretaker president for South Africa from September 2008 to May 2009, after Zuma ousted Mbeki as leader of the ANC in tight party election. Motlanthe also offers what appears to be the opposite of Zuma's leadership ? a pensive and technocratic approach that differs from Zuma's crowd-pleasing comments and dancing.

Despite the challenge, Zuma still remains the favorite to lead the party. He won more provinces in recent local polls and delegates on Sunday sang pro-Zuma songs and raised their two fingers above their head ? a call for his second term. Those supporting Motlanthe rolled their fingers above their head, signifying they wanted a change.

In the coming days, delegates will vote for leaders by a secret ballot, without their mobile phones after concerns arose over people being told to photograph their ballots to prove who they vote for, ANC organizers have said. If it becomes a race with multiple candidates and no one gets more than 50 percent of the ballots cast, there will be a run-off with the top two candidates, they said.

In his speech, Zuma criticized the media and "alien" practices he said were trying to tear the ANC apart. While acknowledging the movement had become an established political party instead of the guerrilla movement of the apartheid era, he also talked about the group's revolutionary past and sang about Nelson Mandela, the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon who remains hospitalized after suffering from a lung infection and undergoing gallstone surgery.

In mentioning Mandela, as well as the ANC's past, Zuma appeared to try and link his current leadership with the larger history of the party. He cemented that by opening and closing his remarks by singing in Zulu: "The journey is long, ... Mandela told his followers that we'll meet on freedom day."

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-16-South%20Africa-ANC/id-6d7729f5974b42f0ad31f2f988523cb6

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Build A DeMarco Murray Jersey Policy For Your Web Advertising ...

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HBT: Twins set to sign Mike Pelfrey for $4 million

CBSSports.com?s Jon Heyman is reporting that the Twins and Mike Pelfrey have come to terms on a one-year deal worth $4 million.

The deal includes $1.5 million in incentives for the rehabbing right-hander.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old Pelfrey had a 2.29 ERA in three starts for the Mets last season before undergoing Tommy John surgery. He went 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA in 2010, but he slipped to 7-13 with a 4.74 ERA in 2011. The Mets non-tendered him earlier this month rather than pay him $5 million-$6 million in arbitration.

Once healthy, Pelfrey will join fellow National League imports Vance Worley and Kevin Correia in a rotation that has just one sure returnee in Scott Diamond. The Twins could also add one more veteran to compete with holdovers Nick Blackburn, Liam Hendriks and Cole De Vries for an opening.

The gamble on Pelfrey is interesting, considering that the Twins let the similarly positioned Scott Baker go to the Cubs in free agency earlier this winter. Baker, likewise rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, signed for $5.5 million, plus incentives. And unlike Pelfrey, Baker has already proven he can cut it in the AL. The Twins got burnt last year by Jason Marquis, who had no AL experience and was roasted to the turn of an 8.47 ERA in seven starts before earning his release.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/16/twins-set-to-sign-mike-pelfrey-for-4-million/related

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Republicans Say There's No Budget, And Use That To Stall Senate

WASHINGTON -- After complaining much of the year that Senate Democrats have not passed a federal budget, Republicans are now using the budget they say doesn't exist to block legislation.

Democrats, indeed, have prevented a budget resolution from coming to the floor for a vote for more than three years, and Republicans have reminded them relentlessly of the failure, saying the Senate has abdicated its responsibility to lead.

Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) has maintained that the Budget Control Act passed last year to resolve the debt ceiling standoff is better than a normal budget resolution. It's actually budget law, he said -- the portion of the "fiscal cliff" that comes from spending cuts.

Nevertheless, Republican senators have incessantly decried the lack of a normal spending blueprint. Much of their caucus did so in an especially vivid demonstration on the Senate floor in September, before Congress took a break for the election.

Lately, however, the Republican senators have been citing the Budget Control Act as if it is a budget to block legislation, raising budget "points of order" on measures that spend more than authorized in the Budget Control Act. By Senate rules, such a point of order requires 60 votes to waive, much the same as overcoming a filibuster.

Perhaps the most vigorous adherent of the point-of-order strategy is Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Budget Committee.

He raised a number of objections Thursday, stymying attempts to pass legislation to extend extra federal backing of large bank transactions.

?We will adhere to the budget agreement that we made with the American people 16 months ago,? Sessions said after his point of order succeeded, referring to the Budget Control Act.

?That budget point of order said that the legislation before us violates the budget, it spends too much and that we object,? Sessions said.

Sessions was among many in his party to declare there was no budget on Sept. 20, when most of the GOP caucus went to the Senate floor in protest.

"Today marks the 1,240th day since the Democratic leadership in the Senate adopted a budget. For three years, in a time of financial crisis, the Senate's Democratic majority has failed to comply with the United States code," Sessions said.

Sessions' spokesman, Stephen Miller, said the senator was referring not to an actual budget, but either to the 1974 Congressional Budget Act that allows points of order, or to the Budget Control Act simply as a set of spending limits, not a real budget.

"It is a fact beyond dispute that the Senate Democratic majority has no budget plan, has never offered a budget plan, has no intention of offering a budget plan and to say otherwise is to deny reality in the most obvious and desperate way," Miller said.

The lack of a normal budget resolution has not stopped the government from spending money because a resolution is basically a blueprint. The actual spending is specified in authorization bills and the funding is doled out via appropriations measures. Lacking a formally approved budget does make it more difficult for congressional spending, and it has been seen as politically advantageous for Democrats to mute that discussion.

A Democratic aide, speaking anonymously to avoid sparking a new public fight, saw the point of order trend as pure hypocrisy.

?This is absolutely shameless hypocrisy from Senator Sessions and other Senate Republicans who want to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to the Budget Control Act," the aide said. "They love crowing about the Senate not passing a budget when they want to rile up their Tea Party base, but then they come to the floor with a straight face and talk about our bills violating the Senate budget they claim doesn?t exist.?

Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/republicans-budget-stall-senate_n_2303345.html

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John Kerry Is Obama's Good Soldier On Foreign Policy

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. John Kerry stands tall as President Barack Obama's good soldier.

The Massachusetts lawmaker has flown to Afghanistan and Pakistan numerous times to tamp down diplomatic disputes, spending hours drinking tea and taking walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai or engaging in delicate negotiations in Islamabad.

It's a highly unusual role for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman: envoy with a special but undefined portfolio.

Kerry has pushed the White House's national security agenda in the Senate with mixed results. He successfully ensured ratification of a nuclear arms reduction treaty in 2010 and most recently failed to persuade Republicans to back a U.N. pact on the rights of the disabled.

Throughout this past election year, he skewered Obama's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at nearly every opportunity and was a vocal booster for the president's re-election. Kerry memorably told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August: "Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago."

Obama seems likely to reward all that work by nominating the 69-year-old Kerry, perhaps in the coming days, to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as the nation's top diplomat. The prospects for the five-term senator soared last week when U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, a top contender for the post, withdrew from consideration to avoid a fierce fight with Senate Republicans.

A Kerry nomination has been discussed with congressional leaders, and consultations between the White House and congressional Democrats have centered on the fate of his Senate seat, according to officials familiar with the situation who were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks. If the seat were in play, it could boost the prospects for recently defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown to win back a job in Washington.

At the same time, Obama is considering one of Kerry's former Senate colleagues, Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, for the Pentagon's top job.

The selection of Kerry would close a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national stage to Obama. Kerry lost that election to President George W. Bush. Four years later, Obama was the White House hopeful who succeeded where Kerry had failed.

Senate colleagues in both parties say Kerry's confirmation would be swift and near certain, another remarkable turnaround. Eight years ago, the GOP ridiculed Kerry as a wind-surfing, flip-flopper as he tried and failed to unseat Bush.

"If he is nominated, he comes into the position with a world of knowledge. He's someone who certainly understands how the legislative process works and I think he will be someone that Congress will want to work with in a very positive way," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is poised to become the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee next year.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said "there's no question he has a very strong depth of knowledge of these issues. Certainly qualified."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has taken to jokingly referring to Kerry as "Mr. Secretary."

Kerry and McCain, defeated presidential candidates who returned to the Senate, have joined forces repeatedly during the past few decades. In July 1995, the two decorated Vietnam War veterans provided political cover to President Bill Clinton when he normalized U.S. relations with Vietnam. Clinton had been dogged by questions about his lack of military service.

Last year, Kerry and McCain were outspoken in pushing for a no-fly zone over Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's forces attacked rebels and citizens. This month, they stood together in arguing for the disabilities treaty against staunch Republican opposition and complaints that it could undermine U.S. national sovereignty.

The pact fell five votes short of ratification, and Kerry called it "one of the saddest days I've seen" in his years in the Senate.

"Today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country," he said, his frustration evident.

Kerry has traveled extensively for the administration, to Afghanistan in May as a strategic partnership agreement loomed large in the decade-plus war. He was in Pakistan last year in the midst of a diplomatic crisis after Raymond Davis, a CIA-contracted American spy, was accused of the killing two Pakistanis.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to Pakistan around that time and recalled Kerry's influence.

"I arrived in Islamabad I think five days after Ray Davis had been taken into a jail in the Punjab and was at very real risk of being hauled out of the jail and lynched," Coons said. "Sen. Kerry was about to show up and negotiate on behalf of the administration. And it was clear that both the diplomats and the military folks we met with viewed him as a real man of credibility and experience who was likely to contribute meaningfully to those negotiations."

Davis pleaded self-defense. After weeks of wrangling between the U.S. and Pakistan, he was released in exchange for "blood money" paid to the dead men's relatives.

This year, Kerry has presided over committee hearings on treaties and other major issues, but there has been little legislative work. He didn't draw much attention to the committee, avoiding possible embarrassments for the administration in an election year.

Corker said he would have liked for the committee to devote more time to events in Libya, Syria and other countries.

"I think he's tried to accommodate our concerns and at the same time seek a balance ... giving the administration the headroom they needed to do what he and the administration felt was best. I understand that," he said, speaking of Kerry.

Coons said Kerry's deliberate work is often behind the scenes.

"The role of the chairman ... is not always getting your picture taken with George Clooney, standing around with heads of state, going to receptions in Foggy Bottom," he said. "It's also lots and lots of time listening to folks who've got concerns whether it's on behalf of the defense community, the business community, the diplomatic community and being the person who's at the intersection of all that and trying to keep the Senate productively engaged in a very dangerous world with a lot of emerging threats."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Boston contributed to this report.

___

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/john-kerry-obama_n_2311839.html

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Movie Reviews: The Hobbit, Playing for Keeps, Hyde Park and ...

Editor's Note: All reviews and information aggregated from Moviefone.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

?"Charming, spectacular, technically audacious? in short, everything you expect from a Peter Jackson movie. A feeling of familiarity does take hold in places, but this is an epically entertaining first course." From?Matthew Leyland of Total Film.?Full Review.??

"As epic, grandiose, and emotionally appealing as the previous pictures, The Hobbit doesn't stray far from the mold, but it's a thrilling ride that's one of the most enjoyable, exciting and engaging tentpoles of the year." From?Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist.?Full Review.??

"I'm holding the filmmaker responsible for getting us all back again - to feelings of excitement and delight. Vital as they are, Gollum and Bilbo can only do so much to keep us enchanted. Is Jackson able to sustain the magic in two more installments? I peer into Tolkien's Misty Mountains and embrace the journey. From?Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly.?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.?

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Playing the Field

"Jessica Biel all but steals the show as Stacie." From?Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times.?Full Review.

"As a movie, it's not much. But it's the best showcase for his charm that Butler has ever had." From Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle.?Full Review

"At some point you hope the actor (Butler) will find a movie that will give him the right material to make hearts truly beat faster. Until then, it appears we'll have to settle for films with more flaws than his characters. From Betsy Sharkey of Los Angeles Times.?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.?

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Hyde Park on Hudson

"In beauty, tone, technical achievement and cinematic artistry on every level, Hyde Park on Hudson is a movie unto itself - funny, believable, historic and hugely entertaining." From?Rex Reed of New York Observer.?Full Review.

"This isn't a serious historical film. It plays different instruments than Spielberg's "Lincoln." Murray, who has a wider range than we sometimes realize, finds the human core of this FDR and presents it tenderly." From?Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times.?Full Review.

"This hugely entertaining movie is about the wisdom and - with trenchant wit and sympathy - the human flaws in one of America's most idealized heads of state." From?Ella Taylor of NPR.?Full Review.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Have you seen it already? Leave a review of the film with a comment below.?

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Killing Them Softly

"The film is terribly smart in every respect, with ne'er-a-false note performances and superb craft work from top to bottom." From?Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter.?Full Review.?

"This is an unrepentantly cynical take on the hope-and-change promised to the US in 2008; this year's election race makes it look even bleaker, an icily confident black comedy of continued disillusion." From?Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian.?Full Review.

"Killing them Softly is a lurid and nasty little nihilistic hitman noir, with an ingenuity that sneaks up on you." From?Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly.?Full Review.

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Source: http://eureka-wildwood.patch.com/articles/movie-reviews-the-hobbit-playing-for-keeps-hyde-park-and-killing-them-softly

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UN court orders release of Argentine ship in Ghana

BERLIN (AP) ? A United Nations court ordered the immediate release Saturday of an Argentine navy training ship and crew detained in Ghana two months ago at the request of an American hedge fund.

The ARA Libertad training ship was seized Oct. 2 in the port of Tema as collateral for unpaid bonds dating from Argentina's economic crisis a decade ago.

Argentina appealed to the Hamburg, Germany-based U.N.'s International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for the ship's release, arguing that as a warship the Libertad is immune from being seized.

In an expedited ruling that sided with Argentina's argument, the court ordered that Ghana "forthwith and unconditionally release the frigate ARA Libertad" and ensure the ship and its crew can leave Ghanaian waters. It also ordered that the vessel should be resupplied as needed.

Detaining the ship was "a source of conflict that may endanger friendly relations among states," the court said.

The ruling leaves untouched the parties' rights to seek further international arbitration on the matter.

Ghana courts ordered the ship detained on a claim by Cayman Islands-based NML Capital Ltd. Its owner, American billionaire Paul Singer, leads a group demanding payment in full, plus interest, for dollar-based Argentine bonds bought at fire sale prices after Argentina's 2001-2002 economic collapse forced a sharp devaluation of its currency.

The vast majority of bondholders accepted about 30 cents on the dollar years ago, and that is roughly what the holdouts led by Singer initially paid for the bonds.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-court-orders-release-argentine-ship-ghana-145551007--finance.html

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Beck looks for new connection with 'Song Reader'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Beck Hansen wants you to think about the way music has changed over the last century and what that means about how human beings engage each other these days.

Laboring over the intricate and ornate details of his new "Song Reader" sheet music project, he was struck by how social music used to be ? something we've lost in the age of ear buds.

"You watch an old film and see how people would dance together in the '20s, '30s and '40s. You'd go out and people would switch partners and it was a way of social interaction," Hansen said. "It's something that was part of what brought people together. Playing music in the home is another aspect of that that's been lost. Again, I'm not on a campaign to get people to take up songs and play music in their home or anything. But it is interesting to me, the loss of that, what it means."

Beck hopes the "Song Reader" inspires some of us to pick up instruments and limber our vocal cords. It includes 20 songs annotated on sheet music that's been decorated in the style popular in the early 20th century when the songwriting industry was a thriving enterprise with billions of songs sold.

The 42-year-old singer notes in the book's preface that Bing Crosby's "Sweet Leilani" sold an estimated 54 million copies in 1937, meaning about 40 percent or more of the U.S. population was engaged in learning how to play that song. They were touching it directly, speeding it up, slowing it down, changing the lyrics and creating something new.

"There's popular bands now that people know the words to their songs and can sing along, but there's something about playing a song for yourself or for your friends and family that allows you to inhabit the song and by some sort of osmosis it becomes part of who you are in a way," he said. "So when I think of my great-grandparents' generations, music defined their lives in a different way than it does now."

Beck proposed the idea to McSweeney's Dave Eggers in 2004 and it soon blossomed into something more ambitious as the artist wrapped his mind around the challenge of not just writing a song, but presenting it in a classic way that also engages fans who might not be able to read music or play their own instruments.

They quickly agreed it would make no money, but it seemed like an idea worth exploring.

"And it seemed like only Beck would have thought of it," Eggers said in an email to the Associated Press. "It's a very generous project, in that he wrote a bunch of songs and just gives them to the world to interpret. That's a very expansive kind of generosity and inclusiveness that we're happy to be part of. On a formal level, we love projects like this, that are unprecedented, and that result in a beautiful object full of great art and great writing. And it all started with Beck. It's a testament to his groundbreaking approach to everything he does."

Beck hopes fans will record their own versions and upload them to the Internet so those songs grow into something more universal.

As for his own recorded music, that's a little more complicated.

Beck's not sure where he's headed at the moment. He recorded an album in 2008, but set it aside to work with Charlotte Gainsbourg on "IRM," which he wrote and produced. He's also been writing songs for soundtracks and special projects and producing artists like Thurston Moore, Stephen Malkmus and Dwight Yoakam. All that has left him feeling creatively satisfied, but he does acknowledge it's been a while since he released 2008's Danger Mouse-produced "Modern Guilt."

He says in many ways he's reached a crossroads he's not yet sure how to navigate.

"This last year I've been thinking about whether I'd finish those songs (from 2008), whether they're relevant or worthy of releasing. I know that doesn't sound very definitive," he said, laughing, "but that's the kind of place I'm in ? in this kind of limbo ? and, um, yeah."

The "Song Reader" spurred Beck to think about his own work in a new light as well. Spending six months finishing off the project after working on it sporadically over the years, he was struck by how much craft went into the creation of each song and how quickly music can come into existence today.

"There is so much music out there, to me," he said. "I don't know if it's just where I am in my own music making or if it's a product of the amount of music out there, but I feel like a piece of music does have to have a certain validity to be put out there and to ask people to listen. ... I feel like it's impossible for everyone to keep up, you know, so I guess I've been feeling like maybe there's something to picking what you're going to put out, about being more particular about what you put out."

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Online:

http://beck.com

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beck-looks-connection-song-reader-153006272.html

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