THE RACE: Health care lives on as campaign issue

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after the Supreme Court ruled on his health care legislation. (AP Photo/Luke Sharrett/Pool)

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after the Supreme Court ruled on his health care legislation. (AP Photo/Luke Sharrett/Pool)

With the Capitol in the background, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks about the Supreme Court's health care ruling, Thursday, June 28, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Supporters of President Barack Obama's health care law celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after the court's ruling was announced. AP Photo/David Goldman)

The decision is in but the impact is unclear.

The Supreme Court's basic upholding of the constitutionality of the health-care law on Thursday handed President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats a clear political victory.

But at the same time, the 5-4 decision only upholds the law for now. Its ultimate fate will be determined by which party controls the White House and Congress after the November elections.

And that gives Republican challenger Mitt Romney and congressional Republican candidates more ammunition for appealing to like-minded voters, firepower they would have lost had the law been overturned.

"Obamacare was bad policy yesterday, it's bad policy today," Romney said after the ruling, which he called incorrect. With the Capitol behind him, he pledged "to replace President Obama" and work to replace the law.

Obama called the ruling "a victory for people all over the country" and told reporters, "We will continue to implement this law."

Most of the law's mandates, including the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty, don't take effect until 2014. So it remains a potent campaign issue.

At the same time, health care legislation has never been at the top of the list of voter concerns. The economy is.

And its sluggishness was underscored again on Thursday by two lackluster government reports.

One showed the economy grew at just a 1.9 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, a weak pace that few economists see improving much before Election Day. The other showed a decline in the number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits last week ? but only slightly from the week before.

On Thursday, Obama visited wounded troops at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Romney was heading to New York City for a fundraiser.

__

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum. For more AP political coverage, look for the 2012 Presidential Race in AP Mobile's Big Stories section. Also follow https://twitter.com/APCampaign and AP journalists covering the campaign: https://twitter.com/AP/ap-campaign-2012

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-06-28-The%20Race/id-70e1290c005a435783a00860e3328a89

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Heat celebrate in the streets of Miami

MIAMI (AP) ? The NBA championship trophy was center stage, bathed in white light and sitting on a pedestal. And each Miami Heat player offered it a different greeting.

Mike Miller bowed. Udonis Haslem kissed it three times. Chris Bosh hugged it, and LeBron James strolled past before waving at the crowd.

Dwyane Wade did something different. In a nod to his preferred postgame fashion style throughout the playoffs, he emerged with a pair of faux eyeglasses and slipped the frames onto the neck of the trophy. Heat president Pat Riley, coach Erik Spoelstra and team managing general partner Micky Arison all donned the black spectacles as well at various points during the party.

The glasses were fake. The sentiments were all real.

And with that, two years after Wade, James and Bosh opened their time together with a celebration, they got the party they really wanted on Monday. An estimated 400,000 people filled the streets of Miami for the Heat championship parade, and then 15,000 more got into the arena afterward for a long, loud reception for the NBA's new kings.

"It's the best feeling I've ever had. ... This was my dream, right here, to be able to hoist that Larry O'Brien Trophy up, hug it, grab it, never want to let it go," James said.

During the parade, players and coaches were on double-decker buses with friends and family, most of them taking photos and video of the crowd. Other Heat staff were on flatbed trucks, as confetti fell and horns blared every step of the way. Wade cradled the championship trophy in his arms for much of the ride.

"I appreciate all our fans for sticking with us," said the now two-time NBA champion Wade, adding, "Best fans in the world."

And then the party moved inside, with a similar setup to the event that welcomed James and Bosh to Miami to play alongside Wade in July 2010. Music blared for nearly an hour as fans danced for joy, before the arena went dark briefly ? and the trophy was sneaked onto the stage.

For nearly 90 minutes afterward, the Heat relived so many aspects of the season, from Haslem's flagrant foul against Indiana's Tyler Hansbrough in the Eastern Conference semifinals ("the greatest flagrant foul in team history," Heat broadcaster Eric Reid told the crowd) to countless highlights from the NBA Finals against Oklahoma City, the Heat left few stones unturned.

Juwan Howard ? the first member of Michigan's Fab Five to win an NBA title ? did the Cabbage Patch dance, as teammates broke into absolute hysterics, waving their arms in time with him. Mario Chalmers was asked about why Wade and James yell at him so much on the court, as a montage of some of their more fiery moments played on the giant video screens. And the Miami natives, Haslem and James Jones, got perhaps the loudest ovations of anyone outside of the finals MVP.

"Feels great, man," said Haslem, who along with Wade is the lone holdover from Miami's 2006 championship club. "Changing my name from Mr. Miami to Mr. Two-Time. I ain't Mr. Miami no more. I'm Mr. Two-Time. ... It never gets old. But this one is more gratifying because of the way last season ended."

Spoelstra had a similar sentiment, talking to the crowd about the team's commitment, especially after Miami lost last season's finals to Dallas.

"People from the outside, they criticized this group, this team," Spoelstra said. "They counted this team out. But they never estimated how close this group was as a family. Every single one of these players had to sacrifice something, either money, opportunity, minutes to be a part of this dream. And it was all for a moment like this."

After the celebrating was done, there was business. Wade reiterated that he would seek medical advice before committing to play with the Olympic team. Bosh ? who missed nine playoff games with a strained lower abdominal muscle ? said he was "all in, for now" on being part of the London Games. And Miller, who was hobbled by back and foot issues, said on Twitter he planned to meet with Miami neurosurgeon Dr. Barth Green on Tuesday, presumably to get checked out and discuss options.

Miami won the title by defeating Oklahoma City in five games in the NBA Finals. It was the second title for the Heat and the first for James, who nodded and pointed to fans for much of the parade. James came to Miami after seven years in Cleveland, and after he and the Heat fell in the finals a year ago, he's finally a champion.

"It's good being around other people who support LeBron," said Doug Mead of Toledo, Ohio, who came to the parade with his family. "They really don't like him in Ohio. They celebrate when he loses."

Everyone was celebrating in Miami on Monday. Arison snapped and tweeted several photos during the parade. Riley shouted "Thank you" to fans over and over, as his wife, Chris, stood to his left and led "Let's go Heat" chants.

Some fans began lining up for spots along the parade route Sunday night.

"I've been a fan since '89. For me personally I feel like I'm part of the Heat family," said Dexter Pace of West Palm Beach, Fla. "I've been through the goods, the bads, the losses, the trades, and now it's like someone in my family has accomplished something. .... It's going to mean a lot for the city of Miami, winning the championship."

As the event ended, Bosh thanked both the fans inside the arena and those outside, saying that without them, nothing would be possible for the Heat.

"It feels right," Bosh said. "This is how it's supposed to be ... and I would like to do it all the time."

___

Associated Press Writer Jennifer Kay contributed.

___

Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

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A One-Two Punch for Your Physique ? Scottsdale Personal Training

If you want to get in the best shape of your life, Scottsdale Personal Trainers suggest trying this technique on for size. It?s called SUPERSETS. A superset is two exercises performed back-to-back, without resting in between.

For example, let?s say you do a set of bench presses. As soon as you?re done, follow it up immediately with a set of lat pulldowns. After you?re done with that back exercise, you can rest. Then, repeat the process.

Working out this way burns tons of calories, according to Scottsdale Personal Trainers, mainly because of the intensity ? you?re not resting in between sets. Supersets also stimulate the production of Growth Hormone (GH) in your body. GH is the hormone that helps you both burn fat and build muscle.

Think of supersets as a one-two punch that works your muscles, your heart and lungs (think cardio). Here?s a sample superset workout by Scottsdale Personal Trainers you can start using right away.

Antagonistic SUPERSET Workout

For this workout, you?re going to work opposing muscle groups. For example, you?ll work chest then back?biceps then triceps?quads then hamstrings.

SUPERSET #1

Dumbbell Bench Press ? Grab two medium weight dumbbells. Lie on a flat bench. Press the dumbbells up toward the ceiling. Do 10-12 reps.

Bent Over Barbell Row ? Grab a light to medium-light weight barbell. Bend over about 45 degrees while keeping your lower back straight and flat. Hold the barbell palms down and let your arms hang straight in front of you. Bend your elbows and lift the barbell toward your sternum. Do 10-12 reps.

Rest 60 seconds and repeat this superset two more times, resting 60 more seconds at the end of the superset.

SUPERSET #2

Biceps Dumbbell Curl ? Grab two light to medium-light dumbbells. Stand and let your arms hang to your side. Curl both dumbbells up at the same time, and turn your palms to face your body. Then bring the weights down. Repeat 10-12 times.

Triceps Pushups ? Get into pushup position. Bring your hands close together, so that your thumbs are basically touching each other. Slowly lower down and then press back up. Do 10-12 reps.

Rest 60 seconds and repeat two more times, resting 60 seconds after the superset.

SUPERSET #3

Jump Squats ? Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and squat down. Jump up as hard as you can, and reach your hands up to the ceiling. Repeat 20-30 times.

Stiff Leg Deadlifts ? Grab two medium weight dumbbells. Stand upright holding the dumbbells at your thighs with your arms straight and your feet hip-width apart. Lower the dumbbells to just below your knees shifting your hips back and keeping your legs straight and back flat. Return to the upright start position. Do 10-12 reps.

Rest 60 seconds. Repeat two more times, resting 60 seconds after each superset.

Try this superset workout by Scottsdale Personal Trainers, and once you get comfortable with it, add new exercises. Just make sure you follow the principle of opposing muscle groups. You?ll love how effective and intense it is to work out this way. More than anything else, you?re going to love the results!

Read more health and fitness articles by Scottsdale Personal Trainers here.

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Timing of ADHD medication affect academic progress

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) ? A team of researchers led by an epidemiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and University of Iceland has found a correlation between the age at which children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) begin taking medication, and how well they perform on standardized tests, particularly in math.

The study, titled, "A Population-Based Study of Stimulant Drug Treatment of ADHD and Academic Progress in Children," appears in the July, 2012, edition of Pediatrics, and can be viewed online on June 25. Using data from the Icelandic Medicines Registry and the Database of National Scholastic Examinations, the researchers studied 11,872 Icelandic children born between 1994 and 1996. The children started medication for ADHD at different times between fourth and seventh grades.

The findings showed that children who began drug treatment within 12 months of their fourth-grade test declined 0.3 percent in math by the time they took their seventh-grade test, compared with a decline of 9.4 percent in children who began taking medication 25-to-36 months after their fourth-grade test.

The data also showed that girls benefited only in mathematics, whereas boys had marginal benefits in math and language arts.

"Children who began taking medications immediately after their fourth-grade standardized tests showed the smallest declines in academic performance," said the study's lead author Helga Zoega, PhD, Post Doctoral Fellow of Epidemiology at Mount Sinai's Institute for Translational Epidemiology. "The effect was greater in girls than boys and also greater for children who did poorly on their fourth grade test."

Stimulants are widely used in the United States as a therapeutic option for children with inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity associated with ADHD. The medications are less frequently used in Europe, although their use in Iceland most closely resembles the U.S. Long-term follow-up studies of stimulant use and academic performance are scarce, according to the researchers.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Helga Zo?ga, Kenneth J. Rothman, Krista F. Huybrechts, ?rn ?lafsson, G?sli Baldursson, Anna B. Almarsd?ttir, S?lveig J?nsd?ttir, Matth?as Halld?rsson, Sonia Hern?ndez-Diaz, and Unnur A. Valdimarsd?ttir. A Population-Based Study of Stimulant Drug Treatment of ADHD and Academic Progress in Children. Pediatrics peds, June 25, 2012 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2011-3493

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Is there life on Mars?

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) ? A new study reveals that parts of Mars may have been modified by liquid water in recent geologic times, which might indicate more favourable conditions for life on the planet. Carried out by researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in conjunction with German planetary researchers at Wilhelm?s University in Muenster and the Germany Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin, the study have now been published in the journal ICARUS, the International Journal for Solar System Studies.

The surface of Mars displays a diverse landscape, and a new study shows that large areas of the northern hemisphere have undergone a number of freeze-thaw cycles.

?This process is common in our own Arctic permafrost environments and causes the formation of lobate features on slopes,? says Andreas Johnsson at the University of Gothenburg?s Department of Earth Sciences. ?As the Martian landscapes we?re studying feature ground-ice, our interpretation is that liquid water has been available in the ground during thaw periods.?

Gullies formed by water

When the ice melted, the near-surface sediment on the slopes became saturated with the melt water and then slowly began to move downwards on top of the still frozen permafrost table due to gravity.

?You can see these structures in close proximity to what are known as gullies,? says Andreas Johnsson.

The researchers have long suspected that the gullies, which are geologically young landforms, were formed by liquid water.

?Our question was: if liquid water can occur in local niches, predominantly in impact craters, where most of the gullies are to be found, then shouldn?t we see more signs of thawing and the effects of melt water, along the lines of those in our own Arctic environments??

In the study, which focuses on the northern hemisphere of Mars, the researchers could see lobate features in close proximity to the gullies. Morphologically similar landforms are also to be found in Arctic areas on Earth, and are known as solifluction lobes.

Comparisons with Earth

In the study, the researchers compared Martian landforms with known solifluction landforms in Svalbard.

?Unlike local ice-melting, as suggested by the ravines, the solifluction lobes indicate that there has probably been more widespread thawing of the Martian landscape,? says Andreas Johnsson. ?Consequently there must have been liquid water in large areas, which is interesting for our understanding of past climates.?

The results show either that the climate models for Mars must be fine-tuned to include the climatic conditions required by these features, or that there is another factor at play.

Since the Mars Phoenix Lander mission it has been confirmed that the ground contains salts that can affect the freezing point of water on Mars so that it can be liquid even at sub-zero temperatures and low atmospheric pressure.

?We don?t yet know which of these scenarios is more likely ? it could be a combination of the two.?

Searching for life on Mars

Transient liquid water is also of considerable interest when looking for favourable environments for life on Mars. Research has shown that organisms can survive for long periods without water in cold environments on Earth, but that there must be access to water at times.

?On Mars, these landforms may suggest that the ice melts during favourable ?warm? periods and the ground is temporarily saturated with water before freezing again when a new cold period comes along. This process is probably seasonal and linked to periods when Mars? polar axis was more tilted. Given the varying climate on Mars, it is possible that these conditions are recurring. It has to be emphasized, however, that process-landform interpretation can be problematic due to convergence, which means that different sets of processes may result in similar-looking landforms. Nevertheless, based on comparative morphology, morphometry relationships and the proximity to gullies make these landforms consistent with solifluction.?

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Gothenburg.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. A. Johnsson, D. Reiss, E. Hauber, M. Zanetti, H. Hiesinger, L. Johansson, M. Olvmo. Periglacial mass-wasting landforms on Mars suggestive of transient liquid water in the recent past: Insights from solifluction lobes on Svalbard. Icarus, 2012; 218 (1): 489 DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2011.12.021

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Ariz. law drafter calls court ruling a 'victory'

PHOENIX (AP) ? Arizona officials claimed a partial victory Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the "show me your papers" provision of the state's immigration law, while rights groups vowed to prevent it from ever taking effect.

While the court struck down most of the law, it preserved a section that requires police to check the status of people stopped for various reasons and who also might appear to be in the U.S. illegally.

The court, however, prohibited officers from arresting people on immigration charges.

The justices also added that the immigration status check could be subject to additional legal challenges. Critics have argued that it allows police officers to racially profile people.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called the decision a victory for all Americans, saying that the law could now be enforced and that any officer who violates a person's civil rights will be held accountable.

Brewer said she expected lawsuits to challenge the implementation of the law. "It's certainly not the end of our journey," she said.

Immigration rights groups said they were surprised and disappointed by the court's decision, and planned to ask the lower courts to block implementation.

"The opinion invites the challenges that we are bringing. It's going to cause racial profiling. It will cause prolonged detentions," said Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center, one of the groups pushing a separate challenge to the Arizona law.

Kansas attorney Kris Kobach, who helped draft the Arizona law and has advised officials in other states wanting to crack down on illegal immigration, called the ruling "a big victory for Arizona" while acknowledging that "it's not a complete victory."

The ruling gives states "a green light" to enact "check your papers" laws, as well as other initiatives, such as requiring employers to use the federal e-Verify database to check the status of new workers, said Kobach, a Republican who is the Kansas secretary of state.

Arizona passed the law in 2010, with lawmakers arguing that that federal government wasn't adequately preventing illegal immigration. The Obama administration sued to block it, saying that enforcing immigration laws was a federal responsibility.

Federal courts had refused to let the four key provisions take effect.

Five states ? Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah ? have adopted variations on Arizona's law. Parts of those laws also are on hold pending the outcome of the Supreme Court case.

Kobach said the decision was not a 100 percent victory for Arizona because "some of the less important provisions of the law were struck down." He added: "The reason can be summed up in two words: Justice Kennedy."

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for the court, a unanimous decision on allowing the status check to go forward. The court, however, was divided on striking down the other portions.

They were the sections that required all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers, made it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job and allowed police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants.

Arizona has spent almost $3 million defending the law for the last two years, the Arizona Republic reported Monday.

In the Phoenix area, some residents were pleased that the court struck down most of the law.

Standing outside of a Home Depot, Carlos Beltran was looking for day labor work. Beltran, who was born in the U.S. but whose parents are illegal immigrants, said he was glad to hear the court struck down most of the law.

"We can still be here today, find a job and go home and tell our wives we have something to eat tonight," he said.

With the ruling, Beltran said, the potential for racial profiling will now become worse. "I don't want to have my dad afraid of looking for a job. He has four kids. They shouldn't be afraid of trying to make a living," he said.

Audrey Pulido, who owns The Garage Bike Shop, said she was pleased that most of the law was struck down but said it's unfair that police still can check a person's immigration status.

"Actually what you're doing is you're stereotyping a person," said Pulido, whose husband was in the U.S. illegally before they were married. "It's like judging a book before you even read it, just by what they are. They are human beings, first of all."

Pulido's shop sits inside a shopping area in the predominantly Hispanic town of Guadalupe in the Phoenix area. She said residents do not talk much about the law but it has instilled fear in them and factors into how they plan out their lives.

Pulido said a waitress in the restaurant next door asked her if she would sign a notarized document to care for her son if the woman got deported. "I would do it in a heartbeat," she said. "I would not hesitate.

"You don't get that all the time," Pulido said. "They have to think that way ? 'What's going to happen to me?'"

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington; Terry Tang and Felicia Fonseca in Phoenix; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., contributed to this report.

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Chinese Crew Completes Manual Docking With Orbiting Module

A few days back, the crew of the Shenzhou 9 were along for the ride as their craft docked to ? or rather, was docked to ? an orbiting module. On Sunday, the docking procedure was repeated, but under the direction of the Chinese astronauts themselves rather than controllers on the ground.

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Why Home Inspection Cost Varies and It's ... - IdeaMarketers.com

Every person, who is planning to buy a new house, will be apprehensive towards his new investment. When it is the matter of buying house, one has to think for home inspection costs. New Jersey is a place where Home Inspection costs are not certain. They fluctuate according to multiple factors. Here, we are going to all of them for the convenience of the buyers.

Home Inspection Costs varies:

Basically, Home Inspection is the first thing buyers should do. Home Inspection costs NJ completely depends on the buyers wish, type of inspection he wants. Usually, this cost starts from $75 and can exceed up to $400. You must be curious to know the reason behind such a huge difference.

Basically, the buyers who could not afford higher costs do not consider Home Inspection a priority. They even go for the cheapest home inspection. Usually, Licensed Home Inspection NJ is very costly and it takes a huge span of time too. These days home inspection cost is getting highly affected because of the vast competition in the market.

Factors behind the cost of home inspection:

Let's have a look at different factors behind the Home Inspection NJ.

• Time taken for Inspection: The basic reason behind higher cost of inspection is the time taken for the inspection. Lesser the time lesser will be the cost.
• Licensed or experienced Inspector: If you are approaching a licensed and experienced inspector for Home Inspection then definitely you have to pay a heavier bag of bucks.
• Geographical location: It has been observed that geographical location also plays an important role in the home inspection prices NJ.
• Market competition: These days to let down the competitor's business, many inspectors facilitate you with the same amenities at a lower cost.

Why it is important to conduct home inspection?

Next major question is why it is important to conduct home inspection NJ. As we all know for buying a house, one has to take loan of some amount. To slake the bank's expectation, buyer has to go for Home Inspection. This inspection ensures the bank that it is not investing in any bad property. Secondly, a person himself explores some hidden areas of house which he would not be aware previously. In a nutshell, home inspection clears the picture of all the corners of house and endows you with a detailed report for further use.

Impacts of higher costs of Home inspection:

Home inspection costs NJ sometimes goes beyond your wildest dream and becomes difficult to afford for some buyers. Therefore, they skip the inspection part and go for other solutions which could lead them in major troubles.

Conclusion:

Home inspection costs could see higher to some of the buyers, therefore, they should first compare the rates of multiple home inspectors, try to convince them for affordable cost and then finally hire the most compatible person. This process will definitely help you and will enhance your experience of conducting Home inspection in NJ.

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Those Phony Directionators, Romney?s Silent Faith, and the Case for Longer Tweets

?The Gay Parents Study,? a dialogue between William Saletan and?Mark Regnerus. Following the publication of Regnerus? gay parents study and the subsequent critique and defense by Saletan, the two continued the discussion in an open, five-part dialogue. In Part I, Regnerus defends the study?s findings by explaining the statistical background of the study. In Part 2, Saletan questions whether the study?s financers have manipulated the data to match their own political agenda. Regnerus responds in Part 3 by asserting that the study has little power over how their financial backers present the data on their website. Saletan summarizes the major questions the study and its data has brought to life in Part 4 and concludes by asking Regnerus whether he has changed his mind about the study and its findings. In Part 5, Regnerus concludes that gay and lesbian households in America are too diverse to be defined by a simple image.

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34 days to go until London 2012

Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders (NZL) began sailing together four years ago with the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition the overall goal. Whilst Saunders admits they're not attached at the hip most of the time their relationship in the boat works and will be aiming for a podium finish.

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Poor Credit Debt Consolidation And Debt Reduction Deciding When ...

If you notice any incorrect information on your credit reports, dispute it in writing with the credit bureau immediately. You may also find it helpful to contact the creditor directly, notify them of the incorrect information and ask that they correct it with the credit bureau and on each of your credit reports.Title:
Poor Credit Debt Consolidation And Debt Reduction ? Deciding When To Consolidate Debts

354

Making the decision to become debt free is commendable. However, outlines an effective strategy for alleviating debts is more problematic. Today, there are many ways to eliminate and reduce debts. While some people choose bankruptcy as an option, there are other less damaging solutions.

The Effects of Bad Credit

If you have bad credit, obtaining a car or home loan may be impossible. Furthermore, even if a lender approves your loan request, the finance fees and interest ?

debt consolidation, poor credit

Making the decision to become debt free is commendable. However, outlines an effective strategy for alleviating debts is more problematic. Today, there are many ways to eliminate and reduce debts. While some people choose bankruptcy as an option, there are other less damaging solutions.

The Effects of Bad Credit

If you have bad credit, obtaining a car or home loan may be impossible. Furthermore, even if a lender approves your loan request, the finance fees and interest are incredibly high. Thus, many people with bad credit refuse to finance merchandise. Bad credit does not have to last forever. Before accepting a life of bad credit, consider your options for fixing the problem.

Benefits of Debt Consolidation and Reduction

Debt Consolidation is an effective approach for eliminating unnecessary debt. While a consolidation will not miraculously make your debts disappear, consolidation loans and programs have lower interest rates, which make it possible to become debt free sooner. Moreover, all your debt payments are lumped into one loan. This makes it easier to manage debts.

There are many ways to obtain the funds for debt consolidation. If your credit is bad, you will likely be unable to get a personal debt consolidation loan. On the other hand, if you own a home, it is possible to get approved for a home equity loan or mortgage refinancing. The funds acquired from the transaction may be used to payoff creditors and improve credit rating.

If your debt reduction options are limited, consider using a debt management agency. Debt management agencies will consolidate and help you reduce your debts without collateral, credit check, or owning a home.

When is the Right Time to Consolidate Debts?

If you can no longer manage your debt payments, strongly consider a consolidation. The process is simple and easy. In fact, you can submit an application with a debt management agency online. Using the internet is effective because you have the opportunity to compare various debt management companies before choosing the right one. Once the company outlines a strategy for eliminating debts, you can expect to be living debt free within five to seven years.

Tags: bad credit, debt, debt consolidation, debt management, home equity, interest

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 at 11:44 pm and is filed under Apply for a credit card, Credit Card Debt Management, Credit Cards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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Dick Cheney's daughter marries her partner

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Negotiators closing in on student loan deal

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 21, 2012, in Washington, to call on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling on July 1. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 21, 2012, in Washington, to call on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling on July 1. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama greets students after he called on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling next month during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama greets students after he called on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling next month during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congressional bargainers appeared to be closing in on a compromise that would head off a July 1 doubling of interest rates on federal loans to 7.4 million college students and end an election-year battle between President Barack Obama and Congress.

Senate aides from both parties said Friday the two sides were moving toward a deal on how to pay the measure's $6 billion price tag, the chief source of partisan conflict.

The goal is to push legislation through Congress next week so the current 3.4 percent interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans can be preserved for another year. A 2007 law gradually reduced interest rates on the loans but required them to balloon back to 6.8 percent this July 1 in a cost-saving maneuver.

On another front, the two sides were also close to an agreement to overhaul federal transportation programs, according to House and Senate aides from both parties. Negotiations were expected to continue through the weekend, with votes expected next week on either a major transportation bill or an extension of current programs, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the talks.

Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address there was "no excuse for inaction."

"Right now, we are seven days away from thousands of American workers having to walk off the job because Congress hasn't passed a transportation bill. We are eight days away from nearly seven and a half million students seeing their loan rates double because Congress hasn't acted to stop it," Obama said. "This makes no sense."

For weeks, Obama has ridiculed Republicans for not moving quickly to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling, a stance that Democrats have hoped will boost his support among young voters who broadly backed him in the 2008 election. With college costs and student debt growing steadily, the issue ties directly into concerns about the economy and jobs that polls show dominate voters' worries.

Though some rank-and-file GOP lawmakers have opposed letting the government set the rates, Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney and GOP congressional leaders have backed the one-year extension. The remaining dispute has been over how to pay for it.

Republicans have accused Obama of creating a phony issue and drawing out the battle in an attempt to reap political points. In late May, they proposed several options to pay for the measure, all of which were culled from budget savings Obama himself had proposed in the past, but they said the White House was ignoring them.

"Even though the White House refuses to respond to our bipartisan approach, Senate Democrats are finally working with us, and a solution is within reach ? despite the president's failure to act," said Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The talks have involved aides to McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Democrats said the White House has been kept abreast of the talks, while Republicans said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been kept informed but hasn't participated in the negotiations.

According to Democratic aides, negotiators are approaching a deal to cover the bill's costs by charging companies more to insure pensions and changing rules so companies take fewer tax deductions for their pension contributions. Reid proposed both of those ideas this month.

They said additional money would come from a list of options McConnell has offered, probably one to limit federal subsidies of undergraduates' loans to six years. The government does not begin charging interest on Stafford loans until after students graduate, which can take longer than six years.

"While we're not there, we're well down the road. I think we can get something done," Reid told reporters Thursday. He said McConnell and Boehner "are compromising just as we are and hope we can get something done."

If allowed to double, the higher 6.8 percent rate would apply only to new subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates approved starting on July 1 and would not affect existing loans.

According to the Education Department, 7.4 million students are expected to get new Stafford loans in the year beginning July 1, with each borrowing an average $4,226. A doubling of interest rates would add about $1,000 to the costs of the average loan, which students typically pay off over 10 or more years.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said last month that student loan debt grew this year to $904 billion, even as other types of consumer debt were falling.

___

Associated Press writer Joan Lowy contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Catholic official convicted in priest-abuse trial

Matt Rourke / AP

Monsignor William Lynn walks to the Criminal Justice Center before a scheduled verdict reading on Friday in Philadelphia.

By NBC News and news services

UPDATED AT 3:43 p.m. ET: PHILADELPHIA -- A Roman Catholic church official was convicted Friday of child endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy in a groundbreaking clergy-abuse trial, becoming the first U.S. church official convicted of a crime for how he handled abuse claims.

Monsignor William Lynn helped the archdiocese keep predators in ministry, and the public in the dark, by telling parishes their priest was being removed for health reasons and then sending the men to unsuspecting churches, prosecutors said.

Lynn, 61, had faced about 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts he faced ? conspiracy and two counts of child endangerment. He was convicted on one of the endangerment counts and acquitted of the other two counts, leaving him with the possibility of?up?to seven years in prison.

---

The jury began deliberating earlier this month after hearing 10 weeks of testimony in a trial that re-focused attention on the broader sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, costing billions in settlements, driving prominent U.S. dioceses into bankruptcy and testing the faith of Roman Catholics.

In this case, Lynn's job was supervising 800 priests, including investigating sex abuse claims, from 1992 to 2004, in the nation's sixth largest archdiocese, with 1.5 million members.

Lynn was on trial with Rev. James Brennan. Brennan, 49,?was charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996, along with child endangerment.

In Brennan's case, the jury remained deadlocked?on one count of attempted rape and another count of endangering the welfare of a child, NBC10.com reported.

Read complete coverage from Philadelphia's NBC10.com of the priest abuse trial

Brennan did not testify during the trial, while Lynn spent three days on the witness stand saying that he did what he could to stop molestation by clergy but that he was only doing his job when he reassigned suspected clergy.

On cross-examination, Lynn acknowledged that he had not helped the 10-year-old altar boy raped by the Rev. Edward Avery in 1999, seven years after Lynn met with another Avery accuser.

?And I'm sorry about that,? Lynn said.

Avery is in prison after admitting the crime.

One of the key exhibits was a gray folder found in a locked safe at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The folder contains a list of 35 suspected predator-priests -- and was compiled by Lynn in 1994. At least one priest on the list was a parish pastor until this year.

Lynn, the former secretary for clergy, testified that he created the list from secret church files containing hundreds of child sex-abuse complaints. He said he hoped Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and other superiors would address the growing crisis. Bevilacqua died in January.

It's unclear who put the surviving copy of Lynn's list in the safe. Lynn denied doing so, or owning the safe. The gray file was found when the safe was smashed open in 2006, two years after Lynn left his archdiocese job. An in-house lawyer said he put the gray folder in his files in 2006 without realizing the list -- sought by a grand jury in 2004 -- was inside.

A new team of lawyers for the archdiocese turned it over to prosecutors in early February, days after Bevilacqua died. Lynn's trial started March 26.

Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

The jury heard from more than a dozen alleged victims, including a nun, a former priest and a series of troubled adults.

Lynn said he did more than his colleagues to help victims and advance the church's response to both accusers and the accused priests, who were often sent for evaluation or treatment before transfers to new, unsuspecting parishes. Lynn said that only Bevilacqua had the power to remove priests from ministry.

But prosecutors say Lynn could have quit or called police. Instead, he stayed in the job for 12 years -- and acknowledged he never once contacted authorities.

This article by NBC10.com includes reporting from The Associated Press and Reuters.

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Egypt's Brotherhood urges fast election results

CAIRO (AP) ? With tens of thousands of protesters rallying to support him, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for president called on the Egyptian authorities Friday to release the results of the weekend's election as soon as possible and warned against trying to manipulate the "popular will."

The comments by Mohammed Morsi came soon after the ruling military council blamed the fundamentalist Islamic group for fueling tensions in the country by announcing that their candidate won hours after the voting ended instead of waiting for an official announcement. That claim of victory was contested by Morsi's rival, Ahmed Shafiq, ousted President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister.

The public exchange of blame between the Islamists and the military council signal an escalation of pressure by both sides as Egyptians wait for the electoral commission to release final results from the June 16-17 runoff vote. The official declaration was postponed from Thursday and no new date has been set. That has set off a wave of accusations of fraud and manipulation aimed at all sides.

Morsi, appearing at a news conference alongside a group of public figures and youth representatives, said a united front is forming against the decisions by the military council.

"We are all in favor of announcing the results and we expect the higher election committee to announce those results as soon as possible and without delay," Morsi said. "The expected results are known to all. We won't accept any manipulation."

In a stern message earlier, the military council blamed the Brotherhood for the tension and confusion that has ensued.

"Announcing the results of the presidential election early, before the official statement, is unjustified and is one of the main reasons behind the division and confusion prevailing on the political scene," said the military statement read on state TV, without naming the Brotherhood.

The military, which has promised to hand over power by July 1, also defended its newly issued "constitutional declaration" that granted the generals sweeping powers, including legislative powers and approval of the budget. The declaration was met by international condemnation, saying it raised doubts about the military's commitment to transferring powers to an elected civilian authority.

The Brotherhood-led parliament also was dissolved by a court order, and a government decision gave the military police and intelligence the right to arrest and detain civilians over a wide range of issues, including traffic obstruction.

The constitutional declaration was "a necessity" during this "critical period," the military statement said. "Whatever decisions issued by the (military council) are guided only by higher national interests and not any other."

The military council also rebuffed calls to reinstate the Brotherhood-dominated parliament, saying court decisions must be respected. It warned that any attempt to "harm public and private interests" would draw a "firm" response, suggesting it would not tolerate violent protests.

Tens of thousands rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak last year, for the fourth straight day, escalating pressure on the generals. Friday's rally was the largest since the first post-Mubarak election began in late May.

Most demonstrators were Muslim Brotherhood members and backers ? unlike the mostly secular and liberal protesters who dominated the popular revolution. They were joined by a few youth revolutionary groups that have long protested against the generals, accusing them of mismanaging the transition. Similar protests were held in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city and other cities.

Before leading Friday prayers in the Cairo square, cleric Mazhar Shaheen said Morsi was the clear winner in the election.

"From here, we tell Morsi ... to be president for all Egyptians ? those who voted for him and those who didn't ? and to reach out to Muslims and Christians. He is president for all," the cleric told the crowd from a podium. About 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people are Christians.

Morsi also sought to assuage his critics. Secular and liberal groups have been highly critical of the Brotherhood, accusing it of being power hungry at the expense of forming a national consensus.

He appeared at the press conference with a group of leading public figures and protest leaders who said it was time to "forgive" the Brotherhood's mistakes to face what they said were attempts to establish a "military state."

He promised the groups a national coalition government with an independent prime minister who is not a Brotherhood member and wide representation in the presidency.

Wael Ghonim, a former Google executive and one of the leading figures behind the protests against Mubarak last year, was among those rallying behind Morsi. He said it was time to put political differences aside.

"Our support is not to the Brotherhood, but to the legitimacy and democracy against any attempts by anyone ? either those with guns or those waging misleading media campaigns," Ghonim said.

Meanwhile, state media has taken a sharp tone against the Brotherhood, accusing the group of fomenting unrest and warning it against unleashing armed militias.

Late Thursday, Shafiq repeated his claim of victory and charged that the Brotherhood was "playing games" and striking "backdoor deals" with outside powers to influence the results.

Shafiq denounced the Brotherhood's public appeals. "These protests in the squares and fear-mongering campaigns in the media are all aimed at putting pressure on the election commission," he said.

By the Brotherhood's count, Morsi took 52 percent of the vote to Shafiq's 48 percent. The claim was based on the group's own compilation of election officials' returns from nearly all polling centers. The Brotherhood's early partial counts proved generally accurate in last month's first round of the presidential election.

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Online video of NY bullying stirs passion, anger

In this June 20, 2012 photo, Karen Klein, 68, of Greece, N.Y., talks about the verbal abuse she endured from Greece middle school students while she was school bus monitor. Since the incident was captured in a 10-minute video posted to YouTube, more than $120,000 has been raised to send the grandmother on vacation. The Greece School District is investigating the incident. (AP Photo/Democrat & Chronicle, Jamie Germano) MAGS OUT; NO SALES

In this June 20, 2012 photo, Karen Klein, 68, of Greece, N.Y., talks about the verbal abuse she endured from Greece middle school students while she was school bus monitor. Since the incident was captured in a 10-minute video posted to YouTube, more than $120,000 has been raised to send the grandmother on vacation. The Greece School District is investigating the incident. (AP Photo/Democrat & Chronicle, Jamie Germano) MAGS OUT; NO SALES

A video of four seventh-grade boys mercilessly taunting a 68-year-old bus monitor in New York state that went viral has turned the victim into an international fundraising juggernaut and opened her tormentors to an onslaught of threats and abuse.

From around the world, small donations for Karen Klein poured into the crowd-funding site indiegogo.com, at one point crashing the site and pulling in a staggering $443,057 by early Friday.

At the same time, police in the Rochester suburb of Greece, N.Y., were stepping up patrols around the houses of the middle-schoolers accused of taunting her. Police didn't name the boys but their purported identities leaked out on the Web.

Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton was compelled to warn against vigilante justice. One boy received more than a thousand death threats and commenters online were clear ? and sometimes venomous ? in their desire that the boys be severely punished.

"A threat for a threat does not make the situation better," Chatterton said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

The verbal abuse was captured in a 10-minute cellphone video recorded Monday by a student of Athena Middle School and later posted to YouTube. The video shows Klein trying her best to ignore the stream of profanity, insults and outright threats. One student taunted: "You don't have a family because they all killed themselves because they don't want to be near you."

Klein's oldest son killed himself 10 years ago.

Eventually, she appears to break down in tears.

The swell of support for Klein follows a recent surge in awareness of bullying that has brought the issue from the classroom to the stage and screen to the White House. Bullying expert Stephen Birchak, a professor of counseling at Albany's College of Saint Rose, said the enormous flow of money for Klein is no surprise given the shame we feel as a society over the incident.

The stickier question is: How could the students be so cruel?

Birchak noted that the kids are growing up in a world of harsh political debates and reality TV shows in which berating people is part of the entertainment. Meanwhile, taking videos of people in humiliating situations and sharing the images has become all too normal among many adolescents, "Kids are growing up saying, 'OK, this is how you treat your fellow human being and it's OK to do those things,'" he said.

Police said Klein does not want the boys to face criminal charges, partly because of the storm of criticism leveled at them.

Klein told NBC's "Today" show Thursday that it took "a lot of willpower" not to respond to the jeers from the four boys riding the bus operated by the Greece Central School District. Klein said she was "amazed" at the support she received.

"I've got these nice letters, emails, Facebook messages," she said. "It's like, wow, there's a whole world out there that I didn't know. It's really awesome."

Klein did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The fundraiser flew past its goal of $5,000, initially designed to send the grandmother of eight on a "vacation of a lifetime." Some 20,875 people had donated by early Friday, many in denominations of $20 or less.

"You want to jump into that bus and you want to grab those kids and say 'Knock it off!' And you want to hold her," said Amy Weber, a 43-year-old independent filmmaker from the Detroit area who pledged $100.

"I think we hear about bullying every day and we become a little desensitized to it. This puts it in our face" said Weber, who is making a feature film about a bully.

Slava Rubin, Indiegogo's chief executive officer and co-founder, called the outpouring "an incredible campaign."

"We're seeing good Samaritans come together to support this brave woman, and we hope that this campaign contributes positively to the important national discussion about bullying," Rubin said in a prepared statement.

The boys had not yet apologized to Klein as of Thursday afternoon, though police said they regretted their acts. The district will pursue disciplinary actions against all four students.

___

Carola and Hill reported from Albany. Associated Press writer Mary Esch in Albany contributed.

Associated Press

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Leading film critic Andrew Sarris dies at 83

NEW YORK (AP) ? Andrew Sarris, a leading movie critic during a golden age for reviewers who popularized the French reverence for directors and inspired debate about countless films and filmmakers, died Wednesday. He was 83.

Sarris died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan after complications developed from a stomach virus, according to his wife, film critic Molly Haskell.

Sarris was best known for his work with the Village Voice, his opinions especially vital during the 1960s and 1970s, when movies became films, or even cinema, and critics and fans argued about them the way they once might have contended over paintings or novels.

No longer was the big screen just entertainment. Thanks to film studies courses and revival houses, movies were analyzed in classrooms and cafes. Audiences discovered such foreign directors as Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, rediscovered older works by Howard Hawks, John Ford and others from Hollywood, and welcomed new favorites such as Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese.

Filmmakers were heroes and critics were sages, including Sarris, Pauline Kael, Stanley Kauffmann and Manny Farber.

"Andrew Sarris was a vital figure in teaching America to respond to foreign films as well as American movies," fellow critic David Thomson said Wednesday. "As writer, teacher, friend and husband he was an essential. History has gone."

Sarris started with the Voice in 1960 and established himself as a major reviewer in 1962 with the essay "Notes on the Auteur Theory." Acknowledging the influence of French critics and even previous American writers, Sarris argued for the primacy of directors and called the "ultimate glory" of movies "the tension between a director's personality and his material."

He not only helped draw up the rules, but he filled in the names. He was a pioneer of the annual "Top 10" film lists that remain fixtures in the media. In 1968, he published "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968," what Sarris described as "a collection of facts, a reminder of movies to be resurrected, of genres to be redeemed, of directors to be rediscovered." Among his favorites: Ford, Hawks, Orson Welles and Fritz Lang. Categorized as "Less Than Meets the Eye": John Huston, David Lean, Elia Kazan and Fred Zinnemann.

The critic himself would be criticized, especially by his enduring rival, Kael, a West Coast-based reviewer who in 1967 was hired by The New Yorker. In the 1963 essay "Circles and Squares," Kael mocked Sarris' ideas as vague and derivative, trivial and immature. She later wrote off the auteur theory as "an attempt by adult males to justify staying inside the small range of experience of their boyhood and adolescence."

Athough Kael herself went on to celebrate such directors as Altman and Brian De Palma, the two never reconciled and friends divided into "Sarristes" and "Paulettes." When Kael died, in 2001, Sarris acknowledged that they "never much liked each other" and added that he found her passing less upsetting than the demise days earlier of actress Jane Greer.

"The terms of the battles he fought for the films he loved have receded into the past ? the rivalry with Pauline Kael that we saw as epic at the time, the campaigns on behalf of the auteur theory," Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern said Wednesday. "Yet Andrew's passion for films ? and for his beloved Molly ? remained undiminished, despite declining health. Indeed, in recent years his film love seemed to intensify as it grew ever more inclusive."

Kael aside, Sarris was greatly admired by his peers and even some directors. "Citizen Sarris," a collection of essays about the critic published in 2001, included contributions from critics Roger Ebert and Thomson, and from filmmakers Scorsese, John Sayles and Budd Boetticher. Scorsese, with whom Sarris briefly shared an office at New York University, praised him as "a fundamental teacher" and credited him for helping Scorsese "see the genius in American movies." A former student, "Superbad" director Greg Mottola, tweeted Wednesday that Sarris was an "inspirational film writer and teacher."

Sarris was a heavyset and sad-eyed man, a deeply knowledgeable, elegiac critic with a notable willingness to admit error. He dismissed Billy Wilder in 1968 as being "too cynical to believe even his own cynicism," then years later (with a nudge from Francois Truffaut) said he was wrong. After initially panning Stanley Kubrick's "2001: Space Odyssey," he gave the 1968 film another try ? under different circumstances ? in 1970.

"I must report that I recently paid another visit to Stanley Kubrick's '2001' while under the influence of a smoked substance that I was assured by my contact was somewhat stronger and more authentic than oregano on a King Sano (cigarette) base," he confided.

"Anyway, I prepared to watch '2001' under what I have always been assured were optimum conditions, and surprisingly (for me) I find myself reversing my original opinion. '2001' is indeed a major work by a major artist."

Sarris was born in Brooklyn in 1928, the son of a real estate investor who lost much of his fortune during the Great Depression. (Always broke but never poor, was how Sarris remembered his childhood.)

According to a family story, young Andrew was being pushed in a standing stroller when he dashed into a nearby movie house and had to be dragged out, screaming. "Womblike," was how Sarris later described his bond to the screen. As an undergraduate at Columbia University, he found himself edging away from campus and "ever deeper into the darkness of movie houses, not so much in search of a vocation as in flight from the laborious realities of careerism."

He called himself a "middle-class cultural guerrilla," an arsenal of ideas and emotions. "Novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poems slithered off my typewriter in haphazard spasms of abortive creation," he later wrote.

By the mid-1950s, he was absorbing the writings of the influential French journal Cahiers du Cinema, where contributors included such future directors as Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Eric Rohmer. In 1960, he became the Village Voice's film critic, starting with a review of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," which he praised for "making previous horror films look like variations of 'Pollyanna.'"

Sarris left the Voice in 1989 to write for the New York Observer, where he remained until he was laid off in 2009. In 2000, Sarris was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for criticism and in 2012 received a $10,000 prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for "progressive, original, and experimental" criticism. He was also a founding member of the National Society of Film Critics, wrote screenplays for the films "A Promise at Dawn" and "Justine" and worked as a story consultant for 20th Century Fox from 1955-65.

He was a longtime professor of film at Columbia University, and also taught at New York University and Yale University. His other books included "Politics and Cinema" and "The Primal Screen."

In 1969, Sarris married Haskell, a union Kael predicted wouldn't last. Haskell, who hopes to arrange a public memorial in the fall, said Wednesday that "he had a wonderful life" and that it was fitting he died near Columbia.

"He was never unhappy," she said. "He wanted to go on living as long as he could ? watching movies and talking about movies and being with me."

____

AP Film Critic Christy Lemire in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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PBT: All that's left for LeBron now is the ring

PBT: On Tuesday night, LeBron James got the signature moment all superstar champions have. He needed one because he is soon going to both have a ring and be the finals MVP. Yes, the Heat still must close out this series, but up 3-1 history says that they will ? maybe as soon as Thursday ? and when that happens you will see Jmes' highlight clip a lot over the years.

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Republicans want food stamps cut in big farm bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The 1,000-page "farm bill" being debated in the Senate is somewhat of a misnomer. Four of every five dollars in it ? roughly $80 billion a year ? goes for grocery bills for one of every seven Americans through food stamps.

Republicans say Congress could cut the cost $2 billion a year by just closing a pair of loopholes that some states use to award benefits to people who otherwise might not qualify.

"This is more than just a financial issue. It is a moral issue," says Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., one of several Republicans pushing for cuts in spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP.

The program has swelled from 28 million to 46 million participants and its costs have doubled in the past four years. The recession and slow recovery have increased the number of people unemployed over the same period from 8 million to 12 million.

The Agriculture Department credits the program with keeping about 5 million Americans out of poverty every year. Before 2004, people received paper stamps or coupons worth $1, $5 or $10. Since then, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Island and Guam have moved to debit-type cards that allow recipients to authorize transferring their benefits from a federal account to retailer accounts.

Democrats led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are resisting a proposal by Agriculture Committee leaders in both parties to trim a modest $250 million from the program each year by cracking down on abuses.

They say that would deprive about half a million households losing an average $90 a month in food aid.

The Republican-controlled House, which has yet to write its own farm bill, is certain to demand greater food stamp cuts, too. Finding common ground with the Democratic-led Senate could be key to whether Congress can pass a 1,000-page bill that also makes fundamental changes in farm subsidies before the current legislation bill expires at the end of September.

Sessions points out that the federal government now spends twice as much on food stamps as it does on fixing the nation's roads and bridges, and that SNAP is now the government's second-largest federal welfare program, following Medicaid.

To qualify, households, except those with elderly or disabled members, must have gross incomes below 130 percent of the poverty line. The Agriculture Department, which runs the program, says the average monthly benefit per person as of last November was $134.15. As for helping the economy, it calculates that each dollar in benefits generates $1.72 in economic activity, including 16 cents for farmers who grow the food.

While critics such as Sessions say the program is ripe for savings, the department says SNAP is doing a good job of eradicating fraud and error, with only 3 percent of payments in 2010 being excessive or going to ineligible households.

The Senate last week rejected an amendment by Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have saved $322 billion over 10 years by cutting it $45 billion a year and turning spending decisions over to the states. The vote was 65-32 against, with 13 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposing it.

"I think Americans would be flabbergasted at the amount of money" spent on food stamps, Paul said.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who chairs the Agriculture Committee, said the Paul amendment was "outrageous and would go completely against the commitment we as a country have made to help those who truly need it."

She said the bill already takes steps to eliminate abuses in the system, such as barring lottery winners from receiving benefits, ending misuse by college students, cracking down on benefit trafficking and preventing liquor and tobacco stores from accepting food assistance benefits. It also targets a practice of some 16 states of giving as little as $1 to individuals in home heating assistance so that they can qualify for additional food stamp benefits.

In an agreement reached by the two parties late Monday on what amendments to the farm bill will be allowed, Sessions will get a vote on amendments that target efforts by states to get as large a share of federal food stamp aid as possible. None of the changes, he said, would result in people going hungry.

One was similar to an amendment Sessions proposed that would save nearly $1 billion a year by stopping the practice of 14 states and the District of Columbia providing people with as little as $1 a year in home heating assistance ? even if they don't have a heating bill ? so they can automatically qualify them for greater food stamp benefits of up to $100 a month.

Another $1.1 billion a year, he says, could be saved by assuring that recipients don't have assets exceeding federal eligibility limits.

The Congressional Research Service says 40 states plus Guam and the Virgin Islands use what is called "broad-based categorical eligibility" to let people who exceed federal asset limits on eligibility collect food stamps if they're getting some other federal benefit, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

This year, for example, households with liquid assets above $2,000 could not qualify for food stamps. The limit is $3,250 if the household includes an elderly or disabled person. The value of a home, retirement and education savings and up to $4,650 of the fair market value of a household's motor vehicles are excluded from the assets test.

Sessions also would end a program of bonus payments for states that increase registration for food stamp benefits and require the government to verify that recipients are in the country legally.

The House is waiting to see what the Senate will do on the farm bill before acting, but Republicans there already have made it clear that food stamps are fair game as lawmakers look for ways to cut government deficits.

The House Republican budget introduced earlier this year would reduce food stamp spending by an average $13.3 billion a year over the coming decade and turn the program into block grants for the states. And in May, the House Agriculture Committee approved an average $3.3 billion annual cut in food stamp benefits as part of a GOP proposal to avert automatic cuts in defense spending to go into effect next year. Both those proposals are going nowhere in the Senate.

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