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Sunday, May 5, 2013
Rubio seeks to boost border language in new bill
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., right, accompanied by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., gestures as he speaks during a bipartisan group of leading senators to announce that they have reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rubio says a new immigration bill he helped write needs stronger border security provisions or it will fail in the House and may even have trouble getting through the Senate. Rubio, who is the chief emissary to conservatives on the contentious legislation, said he?s been hearing concerns in recent days that more work is needed to boost the bill?s language on the border and he said he?s committed to trying to make those changes. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., right, accompanied by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., gestures as he speaks during a bipartisan group of leading senators to announce that they have reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rubio says a new immigration bill he helped write needs stronger border security provisions or it will fail in the House and may even have trouble getting through the Senate. Rubio, who is the chief emissary to conservatives on the contentious legislation, said he?s been hearing concerns in recent days that more work is needed to boost the bill?s language on the border and he said he?s committed to trying to make those changes. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio says a new immigration bill he helped write needs stronger border security provisions or it will fail in the House and may even have trouble getting through the Senate.
Rubio, who is the chief emissary to conservatives on the contentious legislation, said in a radio interview and in an opinion piece being published in Friday's Wall Street Journal that he's been hearing concerns in recent days that more work is needed to boost the bill's language on the border and he said he's committed to trying to make those changes.
In his Wall Street Journal piece, Rubio cited "triggers" in the bill that aim to make new citizenship provisions contingent on border security accomplishments. Critics say those provisions are too weak, because in some cases the Homeland Security secretary is tasked with undertaking studies ? but not with delivering results ? before millions in the U.S. illegally can obtain legal status.
Rubio also mentioned revisiting "waivers" in the bill that give federal officials discretion in applying the law, another flashpoint for conservative critics; concerns about the bill's cost; and the possibility of making legalization provisions for immigrants already here "tougher, yet still realistic." He didn't offer details.
"Clearly what we have in there now is not good enough for too many people and so we've got to make it better. And that's what I'm asking for and that's what we're working on," Rubio said separately this week in an interview with "The Sean Hannity Show" radio program.
"This bill will not pass the House and, quite frankly, I think, may struggle to pass the Senate if it doesn't deal with that issue, so we've got some work to do on that front," he said.
Rubio's comments came during Congress' one-week recess. Back home, lawmakers are hearing feedback about the 844-page bill. Rubio and seven Democratic and Republican senators ? the so-called Gang of Eight ? introduced the legislation April 17. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to begin voting on it next week.
In addition to improving border security, the bill would create new visa programs to bring many more foreign workers into the U.S., require employers to check their workers' legal status, and create a new pathway to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living here illegally.
The bill faces a tough road in the Democratic-led Senate and an even tougher one in the GOP-controlled House, and some supporters say it will only be successful if Republicans believe it does enough on the border.
The bill allocates $5.5 billion for border measures aimed at achieving 100 percent surveillance of the entire border and blocking 90 percent of border crossers and would-be crossers in high-entrance areas.
The Homeland Security Department would have six months to create a new border security plan to achieve the 90 percent effectiveness rate. Also within six months, the department would have to create a plan to identify where new fencing is needed. Once that happens, people living here illegally could begin to apply for a provisional legal status.
If the 90 percent rate isn't achieved within five years, a commission made of border state officials would make recommendations on how to do it.
After 10 years, people with provisional legal status could apply for permanent residency if the new security and fencing plans are operating, a new mandatory employment verification system is in place, and a new electronic exit system is tracking who leaves the country.
Critics say these triggers don't do enough.
"The triggers aren't triggers at all," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in a statement. "The day the bill passes, there will be an effective amnesty for the vast majority of illegal immigrants ? abandoning the Gang of Eight's public promise of enforcement first."
But changes aimed at strengthening the border security provisions could cause heartburn among Democrats. Advocates and the Obama administration have been reluctant to see citizenship made contingent on border security. Immigrants here illegally already face a 13-year path to citizenship under the bill ? which Rubio said actually could stretch to as many as 20 years for some, given how long it takes to undertake certain steps ? and anything that could make it more onerous raises concerns with supporters on the left.
The border security agreement is "a very fragile and delicately worded part of the bill," said Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the liberal Center for American Progress. "To me it really goes to the fundamental question of workability."
Border security is just one issue that's likely to provoke a fight. There's also a brewing dispute over whether the bill should recognize gay unions so that gays could sponsor their partners to come to the U.S. Gay groups are pushing for an amendment in the Judiciary Committee to allow that, but Rubio and other Republicans have made clear it would cost their support.
White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked about the gay immigration issue on Air Force One en route to Mexico City on Thursday. "We have said that we support that provision, but we also think it's very important to recognize that the overall bill here accomplishes what the president believes needs to be accomplished," Carney said.
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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
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Saturday, May 4, 2013
Holland, Beltre lead Rangers over Red Sox 7-0
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Adrian Beltre cleared the bases this time, and the Texas Rangers got a big victory over the best team in the majors.
Beltre broke out of an extended slump just as manager Ron Washington had predicted, with a three-run double among his four hits, backing eight scoreless innings by Derek Holland in a 7-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
"It's nice to get involved with the other guys," Beltre said. "It's nice to get into the groove a little bit and hopefully that'll be the start of another streak."
Ian Kinsler and Mitch Moreland both had three hits for the AL West-leading Rangers, who rebounded from their first series loss of the season and four losses in the previous five games with a season-high 18 hits. The entire team had only three hits against the Chicago White Sox the previous night.
While his home run Thursday produced the only run in the Rangers' 3-1 loss to the White Sox, Beltre grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the sixth, and struck out with two runners on two innings later. He was only 4 for 31 (.129) his previous eight games and 2 for 20 the last five.
"Beltre has got a track record, and the guys in my lineup have got a track record," Washington said. "Beltre is a run producer, there wasn't anyone more upset about it than Beltre. But I'm happy that he said he's not frustrated because when you get frustrated you go blind. And undoubtedly, tonight he wasn't blind."
Holland (2-2) had a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed only six singles to win his fifth straight against the Red Sox.
"I had no clue," Holland said of that streak. "That's a great ball club over there. I'm not going to get caught up in that. They can strike back at any time. "
The left-hander's lone loss came as a rookie at Fenway Park in June 2009, his third career start. He's 5-1 with a 2.41 ERA in six starts against the Red Sox.
"That was pretty impressive," Moreland said. "He did whatever he wanted to with the ball, that was a lot of fun to watch and play behind because he was pretty dominant."
After Holland threw 112 pitches, Derek Lowe worked a perfect ninth to wrap up the Rangers' fifth shutout this season.
Boston (20-9) still has the best record in the majors, but was shut out for the third time this season.
Nine of Texas' hits off starter Felix Doubront (3-1) came with two outs, including Beltre's bases-clearing double to left-center in the fourth that made it 5-0 and chased the left-hander after 97 pitches.
"Overall, the lack of a finishing pitch. I think he had nine guys with two strikes and eight got on base," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "It wasn't as much finishing off an individual guy as it was finishing off an inning and it ran the pitch count up."
Mike Napoli, with a majors-best 22 extra-base hits and 31 RBIs in his first month with the Red Sox, was 0 for 4 in his first game back at Rangers Ballpark.
Napoli, who hit 54 home runs the last two seasons for the Rangers and made his only World Series appearance with them two years ago, was greeted with the old chants of "Nap-o-li!, Nap-oli!" when he batted for the first time. But the fans were cheering when the Red Sox first baseman then struck out.
"It was nice. I always loved playing here," Napoli said.
That was a much different reaction than five-time All-Star slugger Josh Hamilton got in his return with the Los Angeles Angels last month, when the 2010 AL MVP was booed throughout that weekend series.
Texas went ahead to stay when Jeff Baker had a two-out double in the second and scored on Craig Gentry's infield single. The Rangers had three singles in the third without scoring before their five-run outburst in the fourth.
Moreland had a one-out single in the fourth before Gentry struck out. Then Kinsler and Elvis Andrus had consecutive singles, the second pushing home a run to make it 2-0. Lance Berkman walked to load the bases, and everybody was running on a full-count pitch when Beltre doubled to left-center. Nelson Cruz then had an RBI single.
An inning later, Moreland had another one-out single and scored on Kinsler's seventh double in his nine-game hitting streak.
David Ortiz beat out an infield single leading off the second, extending his season-opening hitting streak to 11 games since coming off the disabled list. Ortiz has an overall hitting streak of 23 games dating to last season, the longest active streak in the majors.
NOTES: Doubront has a career ERA of 12.60 in his four career appearances at Rangers Ballpark. ... After Beltre's single to right in the first, Andrus was tagged out when he went too wide around second base and couldn't get back in time, ending the inning. ... Boston is 8-2 in series openers this season.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/holland-beltre-lead-rangers-over-red-sox-7-042931230.html
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Monkey math: Baboons show brain's ability to understand numbers
May 3, 2013 ? Opposing thumbs, expressive faces, complex social systems: it's hard to miss the similarities between apes and humans. Now a new study with a troop of zoo baboons and lots of peanuts shows that a less obvious trait -- the ability to understand numbers -- also is shared by humans and their primate cousins.
"The human capacity for complex symbolic math is clearly unique to our species," says co-author Jessica Cantlon, assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. "But where did this numeric prowess come from? In this study we've shown that non-human primates also possess basic quantitative abilities. In fact, non-human primates can be as accurate at discriminating between different quantities as a human child."
"This tells us that non-human primates have in common with humans a fundamental ability to make approximate quantity judgments," says Cantlon. "Humans build on this talent by learning number words and developing a linguistic system of numbers, but in the absence of language and counting, complex math abilities do still exist."
Cantlon, her research assistant Allison Barnard, postdoctoral fellow Kelly Hughes, and other colleagues at the University of Rochester and the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, N.Y., reported their findings online May 2 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Comparative Psychology. The study tracked eight olive baboons, ages 4 to 14, in 54 separate trials of guess-which-cup-has-the-most-treats. Researchers placed one to eight peanuts into each of two cups, varying the numbers in each container. The baboons received all the peanuts in the cup they chose, whether it was the cup with the most goodies or not. The baboons guessed the larger quantity roughly 75 percent of the time on easy pairs when the relative difference between the quantities was large, for example two versus seven. But when the ratios were more difficult to discriminate, say six versus seven, their accuracy fell to 55 percent.
That pattern, argue the authors, helps to resolve a standing question about how animals understand quantity. Scientists have speculated that animals may use two different systems for evaluating numbers: one based on keeping track of discrete objects -- a skill known to be limited to about three items at a time -- and a second approach based on comparing the approximate differences between counts.
The baboons' choices, conclude the authors, clearly relied on this latter "more than" or "less than" cognitive approach, known as the analog system. The baboons were able to consistently discriminate pairs with numbers larger than three as long as the relative difference between the peanuts in each cup was large. Research has shown that children who have not yet learned to count also depend on such comparisons to discriminate between number groups, as do human adults when they are required to quickly estimate quantity. Studies with other animals, including birds, lemurs, chimpanzees, and even fish, have also revealed a similar ability to estimate relative quantity, but scientists have been wary of the findings because much of this research is limited to animals trained extensively in experimental procedures. The concern is that the results could reflect more about the experimenters than about the innate ability of the animals.
"We want to make sure we are not creating a 'Clever Hans effect,'" cautions Cantlon, referring to the horse whose alleged aptitude for math was shown to rest instead on the ability to read the unintentional body language of his human trainer. To rule out such influence, the study relied on zoo baboons with no prior exposure to experimental procedures. Additionally, a control condition tested for human bias by using two experimenters -- each blind to the contents of the other cup -- and found that the choice patterns remained unchanged.
A final experiment tested two baboons over 130 more trials. The monkeys showed little improvement in their choice rate, indicating that learning did not play a significant role in understanding quantity.
"What's surprising is that without any prior training, these animals have the ability to solve numerical problems," says Cantlon. The results indicate that baboons not only use comparisons to understand numbers, but that these abilities occur naturally and in the wild, the authors conclude.
Finding a functioning baboon troop for cognitive research was serendipitous, explains study co-author Jenna Bovee, the elephant handler at the Seneca Park Zoo who is also the primary keeper for the baboons. The African monkeys are hierarchical, with an alpha male at the top of the social ladder and lots of jockeying for status among the other members of the group. Many zoos have to separate baboons that don't get along, leaving only a handful of zoos with functioning troops, Bovee explained.
Involvement in this study and ongoing research has been enriching for the 12-member troop, she said, noting that several baboons participate in research tasks about three days a week. "They enjoy it," she says. "We never have to force them to participate. If they don't want to do it that day, no big deal.
"It stimulates our animals in a new way that we hadn't thought of before," Bovee adds. "It kind of breaks up their routine during the day, gets them thinking. It gives them time by themselves to get the attention focused on them for once. And it reduces fighting among the troop. So it's good for everybody."
The zoo has actually adapted some of the research techniques, like a matching game with a touch-screen computer that dispenses treats, and taken it to the orangutans. "They're using an iPad," she says.
She also enjoys documenting the intelligence of her charges. "A lot of people don't realize how smart these animals are. Baboons can show you that five is more than two. That's as accurate as a typical three year old, so you have to give them that credit."
Cantlon extends those insights to young children: "In the same way that we underestimate the cognitive abilities of non-human animals, we sometimes underestimate the cognitive abilities of preverbal children. There are quantitative abilities that exist in children prior to formal schooling or even being able to use language."
Other University of Rochester co-authors on the study include Regina Gerhardt, an undergraduate student in brain and cognitive sciences, and Louis DiVincenti, a veterinarian and senior instructor in comparative medicine. This research was supported by the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Rochester, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Allison M. Barnard, Kelly D. Hughes, Regina R. Gerhardt, Louis DiVincenti, Jenna M. Bovee and Jessica F. Cantlon. Inherently Analog Quantity Representations in Olive Baboons (Papio anubis). Frontiers in Comparative Psychology, 2013 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00253
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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.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Bed9ywunf60/130503132719.htm
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Photo Series of Famous Musicians' Ridiculous Backstage Food and ...
Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses will have a constant supply of Dom P?rignon and Wonder Bread backstage. No, substitutes are not acceptable. Famous musicians can demand specific requirements. Food photographer Henry Hargreaves made a series of images of them, including Mariah Carey's Cristal with bendy straws and Lady Gaga's cheese on ice. You can view them all at the link.
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Galaxy Note on AT&T receiving Jelly Bean starting today
Update only available through Samsung's Kies desktop software
It's been a long time coming, but the original Galaxy Note for AT&T is finally receiving an update to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Starting today, willing users can grab the update although it will only be available via Samsung's Kies software and not OTA (Over The Air). But we're not going to look this gift horse in the mouth, as Jelly Bean will bring some serious improvements to the device. Above and beyond the improvements in terms of overall UI, you'll also be getting changes like Project Butter, a better camera interface and Google Now. AT&T also says that the update will improve both the keyboard and call quality.
Still holding onto the original AT&T Note? Head to the source link below for some detailed information on how to get Kies working on your computer and apply the update. Once you have the update loaded onto your device be sure to let other members in the forums know how the process went for you.
Source: AT&T; More: AT&T Galaxy Note Forums
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/pfQ33nJLex8/story01.htm
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