William Henning: Medicare cuts bad medicine for vulnerable California communities

By William Henning

Op-Ed

The Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of California (OPSC) asks that members of the U.S Congress carefully consider the impact on California beneficiaries of any changes to the highly successful and cost-effective Medicare Part D prescription drug program.

OPSC is a professional medical organization that represents the approximately 6,500 osteopathic physicians licensed to practice medicine in California, many in rural and underserved areas of our great state.

As additional Californians plan to enter the Medicare program, Part D will become even more essential in maintaining health and reducing costs. Making significant changes that create obstacles to beneficiaries' access to prescription drugs will render the program less effective.

This would be unfortunate -- and unnecessary -- for the California Medicare population, the entire Medicare program, and the nation. OPSC urges Congress to resist proposals to erode beneficiary protections in Medicare Part D that ensure broad and accessible prescription drug formularies for our California patients.

Part D simply is the wrong target for budget cuts. Every day, Part D improves the lives of more than 30 million Americans, including thousands of Californians, stimulates advancements in medicine, and saves money for consumers -- and the federal government.

Medicare

Part D was enacted in 2003 as an innovative way of providing prescription-drug coverage for Medicare recipients. Since then, it has exceeded even the highest expectations.

Part D doesn't work like most government programs. It empowers consumers to make choices in the marketplace by working through private insurers to offer prescription plans that offer different options for coverage, copayments and premiums, enabling beneficiaries to pick what will financially work best for them. Part D also gives California seniors meaningful options for their prescription drugs, ensuring access to the latest medications.

Most seniors agree that Part D works. A survey released in September found that satisfaction with Medicare prescription coverage stands at an impressive 90 percent. The survey's executive summary commented that seniors believe Medicare prescription coverage "works well and is meeting their expectations" and "this year, satisfaction is at peak levels."

Meanwhile, Part D has been a singular fiscal success, posting what is nothing short of an astonishing record for a federal program. The Washington-based think tank Heritage Foundation found that Part D's cost growth has come in 41.8 percent below its original cost estimate -- a total savings projected at $264.6 billion for taxpayers. Additionally, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, improved access and adherence to medicines through Part D saves Medicare about $1,200 per year in hospital, nursing home and other costs for each senior who previously lacked comprehensive drug coverage -- a $12 billion-per-year savings for Medicare.

Possibly more telling is a report from Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. According to his research, Part D changes being discussed inside the Beltway, including a rebate program, could increase Medicare prescription-drug coverage by as much as 40 percent.

Part D has empowered consumers at a time when so many are left out of the health-care equation. It has afforded California seniors meaningful choices and assured them life-changing and life-saving medicines. And it has done so while saving them -- and the nation's taxpayers -- hundreds of billions of dollars. That adds up to an almost unprecedented success, not only for Medicare but also by the standard of nearly any other federal program in history.

That's why it is crucial that Congress tread lightly in approaching Medicare Part D. It represents an unqualified success our nation's lawmakers can point to with pride. Given all the challenges facing health-care consumers today -- particularly California's seniors -- now is not the time to tamper with the near-perfection of Part D.

William Henning, DO is President of the Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of California (OPSC).

Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_22280267/william-henning-medicare-cuts-bad-medicine-vulnerable-california?source=rss_viewed

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California?s Landmark Climate Regulations Embrace Forests as Key Tool for Reducing Carbon Emissions

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) December 20, 2010

The Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) commends the Californias Air Resources Board?s Dec. 16 adoption of a set of regulations that will govern the states landmark cap and trade system. The board?s nine-to-one vote brings the state one step closer to implementing the first economy-wide cap on greenhouse emissions in the nation, by creating a cap and trade program. The program is a key component of Californias Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, otherwise known as AB 32, which requires California to reduce greenhouse gas pollution to 1990 levels by 2020.

California is creating the first compliance carbon market in the world to include projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions through improved forest management as a source of carbon offsets under its climate plan. Such offsets also called carbon credits can provide a portion of the carbon reductions required by the adopted regulations.

Forests are essential to climate protection, because of their ability to remove carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas fueling climate change from the atmosphere and safely store that carbon for very long periods of time.

The Pacific Forest Trust commends the California Air Resources Board for all the extraordinary and pioneering work they have done to craft this blueprint for Californias market-based system addressing climate change, said PFT President Laurie Wayburn. This truly is a historic moment. Its exciting to see California leading the way yet again with a robust cap and trade program that creates incentives for U.S. landowners to conserve and steward our forests as a vital climate defense.

The regulations approved Thursday include a compliance offset protocol for U.S. forest projects which is used to quantify forest-based emissions reduction projects for use in the states cap and trade program. Such projects create permanent emissions reductions from improved forest management, reforestation, and avoided conversion of forested lands for development. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) Compliance Offset Protocol for U.S. forest projects is the most rigorous forest carbon offset protocol developed to date. Offset credits issued from projects developed using ARB-adopted compliance offset protocols are required to meet essential AB 32 regulatory criteria that offsets be real, permanent, quantifiable, verifiable, and additional.

The ARB has crafted a strong system for governing the use of forest carbon emissions reductions that brings real value to the atmosphere and to landowners for their effort to conserve and steward private forestland, Wayburn said. We have worked closely with the ARB and many, many partners to develop this rigorous offset protocol. Its adoption is a crucial step towards a healthier climate and a more robust, diversified forest economy.

ARBs Forest Offset Protocol requires forest projects to demonstrate sustainable harvesting practices and requires the use of native tree species. Implementing a forest project does not prevent forest owners from managing their lands for timber resources, but rather allows forest owners to receive credit for actions taken to increase carbon sequestration and avoid emissions on their lands.

The forest protocol gives a financial incentive to landowners to manage their forests with longer rotations that let trees grow older and bigger. Its a win-win: climate protection through increased carbon sequestration and healthier, more natural forests, Wayburn said.

While the regulations adopted Thursday promise significant benefits for the climate, forest and forest landowners, some in the environmental community fear an element of the Protocol that allows timber companies to practice clear-cutting in specific cases on a limited area of forests they are managing as forest carbon emissions projects. Clear cuts are legal under California forest practice law, but they would not be encouraged by the carbon market. Forest offsets are credited for net gains in carbon that is absorbed and stored as trees grow larger and older.

California is counting on these forest-based emissions reductions to help meet its ambitious climate goals set by AB 32. Developed by the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) with direction from a 2001 California bill sponsored by Pacific Forest Trust, the Forest Project Protocol establishes the accounting methods used to establish how much carbon is being stored in forest sequestration projects above about beyond what would have been achieved with business as usual forest management.

The Pacific Forest Trust led the development of the first version of the Climate Action Reserve Forest Project Protocol adopted by the ARB as a voluntary, early-action tool to fight climate change in 2006 and have been intimately involved in all of the protocol revisions since then. Through our Working Forests, Winning Climate program, the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) has been deeply engaged in the development of AB32s provisions for ensuring our forests serve as a net carbon sink that will safely absorb and store even more carbon emissions over time.

About the Pacific Forest Trust

Since 1993, the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) has been dedicated to conserving and sustaining Americas vital, productive forest landscapes. Working with forest owners, communities and our partners we advance innovative, incentive-based strategies to safeguard our nations forests and their wealth of public benefits, including clean water, sustainably harvested wood, green jobs, wildlife habitat and a livable climate. Recognized as a national leader in sustainable forestry and conservation, PFT has provided expert advice and other services to the owners and managers of more than 10 million acres of forestland from coast to coast. To date, PFT has directly conserved more than 50,000 acres of forestland in California, Oregon and Washington valued at more than $ 160 million. Learn more about PFT by visiting http://www.PacificForest.org.

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Related Cap And Trade Press Releases

Tags: California's, Carbon, Climate, Embrace, Emissions, Forests, Landmark, Reducing, Regulations, Tool

Source: http://www.gsjournal.com/2012/12/californias-landmark-climate-regulations-embrace-forests-as-key-tool-for-reducing-carbon-emissions/

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Hillary Clinton hospitalized with blood clot

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital on Sunday with a blood clot linked to a concussion she suffered earlier this month, the State Department said in an announcement that looked sure to stir up speculation over the health of one of America's best-known political figures.

Clinton, 65, has been out of the public spotlight since mid-December, when officials said she suffered a concussion after fainting due to a stomach virus.

"In the course of a follow-up exam today, Secretary Clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago," State Department spokesman Philippe Reines said in a statement.

"She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours," Reines said. "They will determine if any further action is required."

U.S. officials said on December 15 that Clinton, who canceled an overseas trip because of the stomach virus, suffered a concussion after fainting due to dehydration.

They have since described her condition as improving and played down suggestions that it was more serious. She had been expected to return to work this week.

Clinton's illness forced her to cancel planned testimony to Congress on December 20 in connection with a report on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. The attack became the subject of heated political debate in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November.

Clinton's two top deputies testified in her place on the September 11 attack in Benghazi, which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans and raised questions about security at far-flung diplomatic posts.

Clinton indicated that she remained ready to testify and was expected to appear before lawmakers this month before she steps down, as planned, around the time of Obama's inauguration for his second term in late January.

After narrowly losing the Democratic presidential nomination to Obama in 2008, Clinton has been consistently rated as the most popular member of his Cabinet and is often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2016.

PRESIDENTIAL CREDENTIALS

Clinton has said she wants to take a break from public life and has laughed off suggestions that she may mount another bid to become the first woman president of the United States.

Her stint as secretary of state has further burnished the credentials she earned as a political partner to her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and later as a Democratic senator from New York.

In the four years since she became Obama's surprise choice as the top U.S. diplomat, Clinton has broken travel records as she dealt with immediate crises, including Libya and Syria, and sought to manage longer-term challenges, including U.S. relations with China and Russia.

She has repeatedly said that she only intended to serve one term, and aides said she was on track to leave office within the next few weeks, once a successor is confirmed by the Senate.

Her last months in office have been overshadowed by the Benghazi attack, the first to kill a U.S. ambassador in the line of duty since 1979, which brought sharp criticism of the State Department.

An independent inquiry this month found widespread failures in both security planning and internal management in the department.

It did not find Clinton personally responsible for any security failures, although she publicly took overall responsibility for Benghazi and the safety and security of U.S. diplomats overseas.

The State Department's top security officer resigned from his post under pressure and three other mid-level employees were relieved of their duties after the inquiry released its report.

The controversy also cost U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice her chance to succeed Clinton as secretary of state.

Rice drew heavy Republican criticism for comments on several television talk shows in which she said the attack appeared to be the result of a spontaneous demonstration rather than a planned assault. She ultimately withdrew her name for consideration for the top diplomatic job.

Obama on December 21 nominated Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to fill the position of secretary of state.

(Reporting By Andrew Quinn; Editing by Eric Walsh and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/secretary-state-clinton-hospitalized-blood-clot-spokesman-011207509.html

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Ouya releases SDK for $99 game console, shows off developer ...

Now that Ouya is shipping the first developer kits?of its upcoming $99 Android-based video game console, the company has opened a software developer portal, launched a software developer kit, and shown off an early preview of the user interface.

The Ouya team has also posted an unboxing video, giving us a good look at the first developer consoles.

What we?re looking at isn?t the finished hardware. While the developer kits have the same basic specs as the units that will ship to customers in April (including an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage), these special edition models have clear plastic cases.

That means you can see the guts of the Ouya game console without even opening it up ? and the same goes for the 2 wireless controllers that come with the kits.

Unfortunately the game controllers are still works in progress, and the team is still working out some of the kinks.

The developer kits also include microUSB ports that let you connect the system to a computer for Android programming and debugging. It?s not clear if the final product will have that port ? but one of the key goals of the Ouya project is to create an open platform, so I can?t see why the consumer device would ship without a microUSB port.

Meanwhile, folks interested in developing games for the Ouya who haven?t been able to snag one of the limited edition developer kits can check out the Developer Portal for details on coding for the Ouya using off-the-shelf hardware to test their games.

The Ouya is available for pre-order for $99 plus shipping, and it?s expected to ship in April, 2013.

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Source: http://liliputing.com/2012/12/ouya-releases-sdk-for-99-game-console-shows-off-developer-edition-hardware.html

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Proposals and Creative Writing | Event Experts

Students of the Academy will know that we promote the idea of story writing as a way to sell your ideas to clients. ?In my role as a tutor, I find that the idea of needing to ?write? scares many people but I also find, that almost everyone has the ability to write a story, if they try.

I am lucky, I enjoy the writing process and studied creative writing at University. ?I say lucky, not because that experience in itself gives me superior writing skills, but because my lecturers drummed into me two very important facts about writing. ?The first is that writing is a craft. ?It is not a super-natural ability you are just born with. ?Ok, some people do find that writing comes more naturally to them than others do, but even great writers must work at their craft. ?As writing is a craft it is something you can learn. So that is the good news. ? The second fact, related to the first, is that writer?s write. ?Writing comes more naturally to you the more you do it. ?Every writer cringes at work they did in their early years (and sometimes work they did yesterday too!) but they keep at it and if you do that too it will help you to develop your skills as a writer.

In this blog post, I explore the idea of writing creatively to sell your ideas to clients and I give you some writing exercises to help you on your way to improving your skills.

Do you have a writing tip or exercise? ?Share it with us here.

Source: http://www.eventexperts.com.au/general/proposals-and-creative-writing/

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Budget struggle raising anxiety for health care

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Confused about the federal budget struggle? So are doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals who serve the 100 million Americans covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

Rarely has the government sent so many conflicting signals in so short a time about the bottom line for the health care industry.

Cuts are coming, says Washington, and some could be really big. Yet more government spending is also being promised as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul advances and millions of uninsured people move closer to getting government-subsidized coverage.

"Imagine a person being told they are going to get a raise, but their taxes are also going to go up and they are going to be paying more for gas," said Thornton Kirby, president of the South Carolina Hospital Association. "They don't know if they are going to be taking home more or less. That's the uncertainty when there are so many variables in play."

Real money is at stake for big hospitals and small medical practices alike. Government at all levels pays nearly half the nation's health care tab, with federal funds accounting for most of that.

It's widely assumed that a budget deal will mean cuts for Medicare service providers. But which ones? How much? And will Medicaid and subsidies to help people get coverage under the health care law also be cut?

As House Speaker John Boehner famously said: "God only knows." The Ohio Republican was referring to the overall chances of getting a budget deal, but the same can be said of how health care ? one-sixth of the economy ? will fare.

"There is no political consensus to do anything significant," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "There is a collective walking away from things that matter. All the stuff on the lists of options becomes impossible, because there is no give-and-take."

As if things weren't complicated enough, doctors keep facing their own recurring fiscal cliff, separate from the bigger budget battle but embroiled in it nonetheless.

Come Jan. 1, doctors and certain other medical professionals face a 26.5 percent cut in their Medicare payments, the consequence of a 1990s deficit-reduction law gone awry. Lawmakers failed to repeal or replace that law even after it became obvious that it wasn't working. Instead, Congress usually passes a "doc fix" each year to waive the cuts.

This year, the fix got hung up in larger budget politics. Although a reprieve is expected sooner or later, doctors don't like being told to sit in the congressional waiting room.

"It seems like there is a presumption that physicians and patients can basically tolerate this kind of uncertainty while the Congress goes through whatever political machinations they are going through," said Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, president of the American Medical Association. "Our concern is that physician uncertainty and anxiety about being able to pay the bills will have an impact on taking care of patients."

A recent government survey indicates that Medicare beneficiaries are having more problems when trying to find a new primary care doctor, and Lazarus said that will only get worse.

Adding to their unease, doctors also face an additional reduction if automatic spending cuts go through. Those would be triggered if Obama and congressional leaders are unable to bridge partisan differences and strike a deal. They are part of the combination of tax increases and spending cuts dubbed the "fiscal cliff."

Medicare service providers would get hit with a 2 percent across-the-board cut, but Medicaid and subsidies for the uninsured under Obama's health care overhaul would be spared. The Medicare cut adds up to about $120 billion over ten years, with 40 percent falling on hospitals, according to Avalare's analysis. Nursing homes, Medicare Advantage plans and home health agencies also get hit.

The American Hospital Association says that would lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of hospital jobs in a labor intensive industry that also generates employment for other businesses in local communities.

"It's very difficult to believe hospitals can absorb the kinds of numbers they are talking about without reducing service or workforce," said Kirby, the hospital association head. "You may decide that a service a hospital provides is not affordable ? for example, obstetrics in a rural community ? if you're making a little bit of money or losing a little bit of money by continuing to deliver babies in a rural community."

Independent analysts like Mendelson doubt that a 2 percent Medicare cut to hospitals would be catastrophic, but say it will cost jobs somewhere.

Even if there is a budget deal, the squeeze will be on.

The administration has proposed $400 billion in health care cuts so far in the budget talks, coming mainly from Medicare spending. That's only a starting point as far as Republicans are concerned. They also want to pare back Medicaid and Obama's health care law, and have also sought an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/budget-struggle-raising-anxiety-health-care-102635702--politics.html

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The Lure of extreme sports Have you ever had the sudden urge to ...

?

The Lure of extreme sports Have you ever had the sudden urge to ride your bike off of a cliff and do aerial summersaults into a lake one hundred feet below? Believe it or not, this is just one of the emerging hobbies of extreme sports enthusiasts these days. But you dont need a bike in order to vault off a cliff; a parachute will do just finet least most of the timend if you have a parachute, you dont need a body of water to break your fall. What on earth motivates people to partake in such feats of madness? What about sailing around the world alone or snowboarding off the rock-cragged face of a mountain? Chances are, if youre like most people, you are perfectly content to be an armchair enthusiast when it comes to the intriguing and amazing world of extreme sports. Let the crazy, courageous souls of the world risk their lives and press the limits of human endurance; you say to yourself, while you sit in your safe, comfortable recliner and eat a bowl of ice cream. After all, you risk plenty just driving to work during rush hour traffic.The most important thing in the selection of the isabel marant shoes is to understand the importance of creating a personal image.. You may or may not be one of them, but there seems to be a certain kind of individual who is born to push the limits. They thrive on the challenge and the adrenalin rush experienced when they risk it all and come out intact. They take pride in doing something few humans have ever done before or would ever even dare to try. Its all about taking it to the next level, and then the next.This is a Nice collection of Discount Evening Gowns let's buy now.. Competition is in their blood, and there is a growing number of ways in which these athletes can compete on both an amateur and a professional level. Although many athletes compete in extreme sports competitions, there are others who just embark on various death-defying feats for the pure thrill of it. Scuba diving, sky-diving, and bull riding, for instance, have been around for a long time, but many contemporary and dangerous activities have come along to bump these off the top of the list.When you want to buy a Moncler Jackets Sale on our website, maybe you will worry about fabric quality. So we could ship the fabric sample out to you. You could check it, and then buy the dress from us.. Storm chasing, though technically not a sport, is one of them, and its becoming more popular, especially since TV shows have brought it to the masses. Then theres bungee jumping, something even an amateur can do. Those who have tried it and lived through it can attest to the way their legs shook in the moments before they plummeted toward the ground. As fun as these activities might seem, people dont always survive. Just as with any sport, the athletes assume the risk when they make up their mind to partake.For high school girls, there is no other thing will be more important than choosing a proper wedding wraps for her prom night.. There are a growing number of videos on the Internet showcasing athletes in all manner of extreme recreation that can blow your mind. Some of these feats of athletic danger would never have even been dreamed up years ago, yet they have become a reality. Its amazing what the human body can accomplish if a person can envision it and set his or her mind to it. It leaves one to wonder what the next big craze is going to be in the world of extreme sports.Just as what has mentioned above, Louis Vuitton Women Wallet in early times are very traditional.. What seemingly impossible, death-defying activities are going to spring to life in the next fifty years? Alexandru F Bobica is an author, business owner, and social media promoter. In addition to running TheBros, an internet marketing company he also creates niche sites about diverse topics such as .

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SAIC shows how DARPA's submarine-tracking drone ship finds its silent targets (video)

Some of us have been feeding advice to DARPA's ACTUV sub-tracking drone project for more than a year, but we haven't had a in-depth look at how the autonomous ship will go about its business, especially when chasing very silent diesel-electric subs. Thankfully, craft designer SAIC has stepped in with a detailed video tour. If there's suspicions that a diesel sub is in the area, the US Navy can deploy sonar buoys that give the ACTUV an inkling of where to go first. After that, the drone takes over with both long-range and short-range sonar. The vehicle can gauge the intent of ships in its path (with human failsafes) and hound a target for up to 13 weeks -- either letting the Navy close in for an attack or, ideally, spooking the sub into avoiding conflict in the first place. While ACTUV won't hit the waves for years, there's a promise that we'll always know about underwater threats and deal with them on our own terms.

Continue reading SAIC shows how DARPA's submarine-tracking drone ship finds its silent targets (video)

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Two new orchid species found

One of the world's newest orchid species is also its most delicate, with tiny white flowers smaller than a dime. Yet the flower finds its home amid boulders near the banks of rushing streams in Cuba's remote eastern mountains.

The orchid is one of two new species identified by botanists in Cuba, a hotbed for orchids ? the largest and most diverse plant family in the world. The islands of the Caribbean have more the 25,000 species of orchids tucked into their forests and rivers.

The new species was named Tetramicra riparia, a nod to its discovery along stony streams in the mountains of Baracoa, one of the rainiest and least explored areas in Cuba, ?ngel Vale, a researcher at the University of Vigo in Spain, said in a statement. The plant has an unusually broad, sturdy base: Its pedicel is almost four times as large as its column, Vale and his co-authors report.

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The second new orchid, from the western tip of the island, dwarfs its neighbor in size. The flower's showy purple and green petals are similar to a daffodil in appearance, spreading more than 2.5 inches, with up to 20 blooms on one plant.

Like many orchids, the flower, dubbed Encyclia navarroi, is epiphytic, meaning it grows on other plants for support, but not for nutrients. Along the western coast, the species preferred to perch on plumeria and ficus, the researchers discovered.

Both new species are deceit pollinators, Vale said, enticing bees to spread their pollen without a reward. "Contrary to most plants, many orchids do not produce nectar or other substances to compensate insects and birds that visit them," he said.

Vale and his colleagues are studying orchids throughout the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico) to reconstruct their evolutionary history and analyze the effect of pollinators in their development. One of the mysteries they aim to solve is whether deceit orchids have greater diversity than other nectar-producing species.

"Despite the fact that T. riparia's flowers have a complete central petal, just like other species that make up a subgenre endemic to Cuba; the way they grow is very similar to a more widespread group that seems to have diverged on the neighboring island of Hispaniola," Vale said. "Our work provides molecular evidence of the greater relationship of T. riparia with these species on the neighboring island."

The findings were detailed in the October 2012 issue of the journal Systematic Botany and the April 2012 issue of the journal Annales Botanici Fennici.

Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter@OAPlanet. We're also onFacebook and Google+.

? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50313488/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Spokesman: George H.W. Bush in 'guarded condition'

Former President George H.W. Bush is currently in the intensive care unit where his doctors have prescribed him a liquid-only diet. NBC's Natalie Morales reports.

By Charles Hadlock and Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News

Updated at 7:08 p.m. ET: Former President George H.W. Bush was battling an elevated fever Wednesday and was in "guarded condition" in a hospital intensive care unit, a family spokesman said.

?"The President is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family," said a statement from family spokesman Jim McGrath.?Bush, 88, was moved to the intensive care unit at The Methodist Hospital at the Texas Medical Center in Houston on Sunday, McGrath said.?

Bush has been in the hospital since?Nov. 29?for treatment of complications related to bronchitis. After initial expectations that he would be hospitalized for only a few days proved to be wrong, doctors said through a hospital statement on Dec. 13 that they expected Bush would "be able to?celebrate Christmas at home."

But the 41st president remained at The Methodist Hospital -- where he was visited on Christmas by his wife, Barbara, his son, Neil, Neil's wife, and his grandson, Pierce -- all of whom brought him a meal of Chinese food for Christmas dinner, The Houston Chronicle reported.

---

He also received gifts, emails, and telephone calls from family members and close friends, NBC's Janet Shamlian reported.

On Wednesday, McGrath told NBC News that the former president's fever was elevated from the previous day, although he said that he did not know by how much.?Earlier, McCrath had said that doctors saw a "slight improvement" in Bush's condition that morning.

McGrath said that Dorothy Bush, his daughter, visited Wednesday, and George W. Bush, the 43rd president, would be visiting soon.

Bronchitis is a common condition in which the bronchial tubes in the lungs become inflamed and produce mucus, which creates the need to cough, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can turn serious in people with weak immune systems, including children and the elderly. Symptoms such as chest pain, weakness and coughing typically last two weeks, but can linger for as long as two months.?

In the weeks since he was admitted, Bush has had a low-grade fever, but doctors have said they are "cautiously optimistic" he will recover, Shamlian reported.

George Kovacik, a hospital spokesman, said in a statement earlier this week that Bush was in stable condition.?

?His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home. They remain optimistic about his full recovery and are being extra cautious with his care,? the statement said.

Robert Sullivan / AFP - Getty Images

Leader of an American political dynasty, George Bush's influence was felt beyond his terms as president and vice president. Take a look back at his life and career.

Bush was elected president of the United States in 1988, the capstone of a long career of public service.

He was a Texas Republican member of the House of Representatives in the 1960s and 1970s and head of the CIA in 1976-1977.?The organization?s headquarters in Langley, Va., was later?renamed the ?George Bush Center for Intelligence.?

Bush lost his first bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency in 1980, at which time Ronald Reagan chose him to be his running mate. He went on to serve two terms as Reagan?s vice president before winning the presidency. He was defeated for re-election in 1992 by Bill Clinton.

In late 2004, Bush teamed up with Clinton to raise money for the victims of the Asian tsunami. That effort was so successful, the two former presidents did the same for Katrina victims in 2005.?

President George H.W. Bush remains in the hospital. NBC News' Janet Shamlian reports.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/26/16168864-george-hw-bush-in-guarded-condition-in-intensive-care-battling-elevated-fever-spokesman-says?lite

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2012: The Year in TV Moments

The Walking Dead became grimmer, grimier, grittier, and even good in its third season. The creators took a shotgun to the show?s horde of underwhelming plot lines, and have instead delivered a much-needed supply of memorable moments. We can summarize Season 3 in body parts. Hershel?s leg. Tomas? skull. T-Dogg?s neck. Floating zombie heads! Andrea?s butt. Glenn?s face. Maggie?s boobs. The Governor?s eye. But there?s one organ that stands (hangs?) above the rest: Lori?s womb.

Lori?s death in the throes of childbirth was horrible to watch, and it was the best thing to happen to this show. Unlike most of the deaths on Walking Dead, Lori?s was utterly surprising. The writers deftly misled us by focusing our attention on Lori?s strained relationship with Rick. It seemed mapped out: Over the course of the season, a few crises would make Rick and Lori realize how much they care for each other after all and prompt them to rebuild their marriage. But then: zombies! T-Dogg goes down, and Carol (seemingly) runs off to her doom. Oh, the show is only taking out the trash, you think. Then, Lori?s birth isn?t going so well. Hah! Nice try, writers, but I know it?s not a season finale! A minute later, Lori?s giving a heart-wrenching farewell to her son. The most reviled character on this show (next to Andrea) somehow summons our sympathy and suffers one of the most agonizing deaths I?ve ever seen on television. For punctuation, her child must put a bullet in her brain.

Lori?s death reverberated through subsequent episodes, rendering Rick half mad and Carl robotic. And it?s moments like this that brought The Walking Dead back from the brink and made it into one of the best shows on TV. It was incredibly well acted, it was brutal physically and emotionally, and it was more about the zombie apocalypse than the zombies.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=5adb427124704c82573a92c67c19c460

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Obama spending Christmas Day with family in Hawaii

KAILUA, Hawaii (AP) ? President Barack Obama is spending Christmas Day with his family at a rented vacation home in his native Hawaii.

White House officials have not released the details of all the first family's Christmas Day activities. On Tuesday morning, Obama traveled from the suburban Honolulu home to a Marine Corps base for a workout.

The Obama family flew to Hawaii from Washington on Friday night. White House officials have not announced when the president is expected to go back to Washington but say he is likely to curtail his holiday vacation, perhaps returning as early as Wednesday.

In the past, Obama has spent 10 to 14 days in Hawaii at Christmastime. Budget negotiations with lawmakers over the so-called fiscal cliff have complicated this year's trip.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-spending-christmas-day-family-hawaii-012830767.html

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Last full moon of 2012 rises Friday

The last full moon of 2012 will rise into the night sky this week in a year-ending lunar treat.

The full moon is actually an instantaneous event when the moon is exactly opposite the sun in the Earth's sky, and this month that occurs on Friday morning, Dec. 28, at 5:21 a.m. EST (1021 GMT). But, to the naked eye, the moon "looks" full for a couple of days on either side of that time, so the exact date doesn't matter.

1. Space news from NBCNews.com

   1. Grasshopper rocket takes 12-story-high hop for SpaceX

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: SpaceX's prototype Grasshopper rocket takes one giant leap, rising to a 12-story height and settling back down safely with a dummy cowboy riding along.

   2. Last full moon of 2012 rises Friday
   3. Telescope-toting balloon lifts off from Antarctica
   4. 'Star of Wonder' leaves lots to wonder about

Many owners of new telescopes are disappointed when they look at the planets. At its largest, the planet Venus is just barely one arc minute in diameter, about 1/30th of the diameter of the sun or the moon, and all the other planets appear smaller than that.

Telescope owners complain that the planets don't look any larger with a telescope than they do with the naked eye. That isn't true of course, because any telescope will magnify everything dozens or hundreds of times. But when something is as small as a planet, even a lot of magnification won't make it look very big.

[ Amazing Moon Photos of 2012 ]

Moon size comparison
The reason why the sun appears 30 times bigger than Venus is because the sun is very large. Its true diameter is more than 100 times that of Venus, or of Earth, for that matter, since Venus and Earth are about the same size. The moon appears 30 times bigger than Venus not because it is large, but because it is very close to us. The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter (3,475 kilometers), as compared to the Earth's 7,926 miles (12,756 km) and Venus' 7,521 miles (12,104 km).

In other words, the moon is just slightly more than a quarter of the diameter of the Earth or Venus. Mercury is the planet closest in size to the moon at 3,032 miles in diameter (4,879 km), about 40 percent larger than our moon. One of the reasons that Pluto was demoted to "dwarf planet" status was its small diameter of only 1,485 miles (2,390 km), two-thirds of the diameter of our moon.

Our moon is very large in proportion to its planet, Earth, more than any other moons in the solar system except for Pluto's moon Charon. But because other planets are much larger than Earth, several of their moons are much larger than ours, including three of Jupiter's moons (Io, Ganymede, and Callisto) and one of Saturn's (Titan). Of these, Ganymede is the largest at 3,270 miles (5,262 km), slightly larger than the planet Mercury.

The moon as a planet
Even if you don't own a telescope, looking at the moon with the naked eye can show you the challenges faced by planetary observers.

Earlier this week we saw Jupiter shining brightly alongside the moon. It would take a telescope magnifying about 40 times to make Jupiter appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye. When Mars was closest to Earth in 2003, it took a telescope magnifying 75 times to make Mars appear as big as the moon with the naked eye. At present Mars on the far side of the sun, and requires a telescope magnifying 430 times to make it appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye.

So, if you want an observing challenge similar to trying to spot Jupiter's Great Red Spot or Mars' polar cap, try observing detail on the moon with your naked eye.

The man in the moon
What most people see when they look at the moon is " the man in the moon." This is a pattern of light and dark caused by the albedo markings on the moon. ?Albedo? is a measure of how much light gets reflected by an area on a planet.

Darker areas on the moon's surface, which the early astronomers called "seas," although we now know that they are dry and airless, form the face of a man, in our mind?s eye. Or, they may form a woman, or a rabbit, depending on your culture. These are very similar to the dusky markings which astronomers observe with telescopes on Mars and Mercury, also called albedo markings.

If you try to sketch the markings you see on the moon, you will find, as experienced planetary observers do, that you can see much finer detail than the man in the moon. You should be able to see some of the smaller seas, such as the Mare Crisium, on the eastern limb of the moon, and one or two of the brighter craters, such as Tycho towards the southern limb.

Once you have tried to sketch the moon with your naked eye, try observing it with a small binocular. You will be amazed at how much more detail you can see, and will begin to experience the wonder Galileo must have felt when he first turned his primitive telescopes on the moon. There really is another world out there.

If you snap an amazing photo of the year's final full moon on Friday and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a potential story or gallery, submit photos and comments, including your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education , the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu .

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50297762/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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Friggin' Bizarre (talking-points-memo)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273115169?client_source=feed&format=rss

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New Year's Resolution: Innovate with Information

Doug Laney
VP Research, Business Analytics and Performance Management
1 years at Gartner
25 years IT industry

Doug Laney is a research vice president for Gartner Research, where he covers business analytics solutions and projects, information asset valuation and management, "big data" strategy, and data-governance-related issues. ...Read Full Bio

Coverage Areas:

by Doug Laney ?|? December 26, 2012 ?|? Submit a Comment

2012 has seen an acknowledgement and mainstream awareness of the challenges of managing the burgeoning streams of information generated and available to organizations, particularly big data. In 2013, I expect the focus to shift to the challenges of developing and implementing enterprise strategies for making use of all this data.

Opportunities abound for deploying information in transformative ways. Gartner?s 2013 research agenda will help IT and business leaders develop and execute strategies for achieving higher returns on their information assets. This includes leveraging big data, enhancing analytic capabilities, achieving more disciplined information asset management approaches, and incorporating new and expanded information-related roles:

The volume, velocity, and variety of information sources available today to organizations is more than just an information management challenge. Rather this phenomenon represents an incredible opportunity to improve enterprise performance significantly and even transform their businesses or industries. More than merely reporting on information or even basic decision making support, information assets are an instrument for innovation. Making this strategic shift quickly enough to meet create competitive advantage is the real challenge for most businesses.

Key issues Gartner will be exploring throughout the coming year are also questions business and IT leaders should be asking themselves:

Business uses and sources of information

• What are the range of internal and external sources of data available, starting with our own underutilized ?dark data??
• How can information be used, not just for decision-making, but for greater business insights and process automation?
• How can information be used to foster relationships and improve collaboration with our employees, partners, customers and/or suppliers?
• How can information facilitate business transformation and innovation, beyond just incremental performance improvements?
• How can information be monetized by packaging, sharing and/or selling it?

Information leadership

• How can we evolve to a more information-centric culture?
• How can our IT and business groups organize for achieving higher levels of information performance?
• What emerging information-related skills and methods should be considered, planned for, used or acquired?

Big Data

Value and economics of information (infonomics)

• Why should and how can we inventory, measure and quantify their information assets?
• How can information?s value be used to justifying and gauge the?ROI of information-related initiatives, as well as other IT and business initiatives?
• How can businesses manage information as an actual corporate asset?

So if you?re looking to make a corporate New Year?s resolution to do more with data for driving corporate value, consider developing answers to each of these questions. And keep an eye on Gartner?s Information Innovation research throughout 2013.

Follow Doug on Twitter: @doug_laney

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Category: Uncategorized ? ? Tags: analytics, big data, bigdata, infonomics, information management, innovation, new year's, planning, strategy, vision

Source: http://blogs.gartner.com/doug-laney/new-years-resolution-innovate-with-information/

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Kazakhstan military plane crashes, killing 27

MOSCOW (AP) ? Kazakhstan's acting border service chief was among 27 people killed in a military plane crash Tuesday near a southern city, another blow to the agency after he was appointed in June to deal with the aftermath of a mass killing involving a conscript.

The Russian-made An-72 crashed at 1255 GMT (7:55 a.m. EST) about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the city of Shymkent near the border with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security said in a statement.

The fatalities included a crew of seven and 20 border guards, including the acting head of the ex-Soviet nation's border protection service, Col. Turganbek Stambekov, the statement said.

Without specifying further details, authorities said an investigation was opened into the crash. No cause was given, but southern Kazakhstan over recent weeks has been buffeted by winds, heavy snows and low temperatures, causing widespread flight delays.

Stambekov was appointed acting head of the border service in June, after a mass killing of 14 frontier troops in a remote Kazakh outpost near China the month before. Vladislav Chelakh, a 20-year-old conscript, was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison after being found solely responsible for the killings.

The border service has come under close scrutiny in Kazakhstan since the killings, which many argued showed the lack of readiness and professionalism among serving troops. Legislation approved Thursday by the upper house of parliament and supported by Stambekov was designed to improve the process for selecting conscripts for the service.

The Kazakh-Uzbek border stretches 2,200 kilometers (1,350 miles) of Central Asian steppes and deserts.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-25-AS-Kazakhstan-Plane-Crash/id-c260ca56c87b4a71b6e8ed7e2d74a13f

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Gunfire kills young children daily in U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Before 20 first-graders were massacred at school by a gunman in Newtown, Conn., first-grader Luke Schuster, 6, was shot to death in New Town, N.D. Six-year-olds John Devine Jr. and Jayden Thompson were similarly killed in Kentucky and Texas.

Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, died in a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., while 6-year-old Kammia Perry was slain by her father outside her Cleveland home, according to an Associated Press review of 2012 media reports.

Yet there was no gunman on the loose when Julio Segura-McIntosh died in Tacoma, Wash. The 3-year-old accidentally shot himself in the head while playing with a gun he found inside a car.

As he mourned with the families of Newtown, President Barack Obama said the nation cannot accept such violent deaths of children as routine. But hundreds of young child deaths by gunfire ? whether intentional or accidental ? suggest it might already have.

Between 2006 and 2010, 561 children age 12 and under were killed by firearms, according to the FBI's most recent Uniform Crime Reports. The numbers each year are consistent: 120 in 2006; 115 in 2007; 116 in 2008, 114 in 2009 and 96 in 2010. The FBI's count does not include gun-related child deaths that authorities have ruled accidental.

"This happens on way too regular a basis and it affects families and communities ? not at once, so we don't see it and we don't understand it as part of our national experience," said Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.

The true number of small children who died by gunfire in 2012 won't be known for a couple of years, when official reports are collected and dumped into a database and analyzed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to release its 2011 count in the spring.

In response to what happened in Newtown, the National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun lobby, suggested shielding children from gun violence by putting an armed police officer in every school by the time classes resume in January.

"Politicians pass laws for gun-free school zones ... They post signs advertising them and in doing so they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk," said NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre.

Webster said children are more likely to die by gunfire at home or in the street. They tend to be safer when they are in school, he said.

None of the 61 deaths reviewed by The Associated Press happened at school.

Children die by many other methods as well: violent stabbings or throat slashings, drowning, beating and strangulation. But the gruesome recounts of gun deaths, sometimes just a few paragraphs in a newspaper or on a website, a few minutes on television or radio, bear witness that firearms too, are cutting short many youngsters' lives.

One week before the Newtown slayings, Alyssa Celaya, 8, bled to death after being shot by her father with a .38-caliber gun at the Tule River Indian Reservation in California. Her grandmother and two brothers also were killed, a younger sister and brother were shot and wounded. The father shot and killed himself amid a hail of gunfire from officers.

Delric Miller's life ended at 9 months and Angel Mauro Cortez Nava's at 14 months.

Delric was in the living room of a home on Detroit's west side Feb. 20 when someone sprayed it with gunfire from an AK-47. Other children in the home at the time were not injured.

Angel was cradled in his father's arms on a sidewalk near their home in Los Angeles when a bicyclist rode by on June 4 and opened fire, killing the infant.

Most media reports don't include information on the type of gun used, sometimes because police withhold it for investigation purposes.

Gun violence and the toll it is taking on children has been an issue raised for years in minority communities.

The NAACP failed in its attempt to hold gun makers accountable through a lawsuit filed in 1999. Some in the community raised the issue during the campaign and asked Obama after he was re-elected to make reducing gun violence, particularly as a cause of death for young children, part of his second-term agenda.

"Now that it's clear that no community in this country is invulnerable from gun violence, from its children being stolen ... we can finally have the national conversation we all need to have," said Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP.

This year's gun deaths reviewed by the AP show the problem is not confined to the inner city or is simply the result of gang or drug violence, as often is the perception.

Faith Ehlen, 22 months, Autumn Cochran, 10, and Alyssa Cochran, 11, all died Sept. 6. Their mother killed them with the shotgun before turning it on herself. Police said she had written a goodbye email to her boyfriend before killing the children in DeSoto, Mo., a community of about 6,300.

In Dundee, Ore., Randall Engels used a gun to kill his estranged wife Amy Engels and son Jackson, 11, as they ate pizza on the Fourth of July. An older sibling of Jackson's also was killed. Engels then committed suicide. The town of more than 5,000 people boasts on its website that it is a semirural town with "the cultural panache of a big city."

Many of the children who died in 2012 were shot with guns that belonged to their parents, relatives or baby sitters, or were simply in the home. Webster said children's accidental deaths by guns have fallen since states passed laws requiring that guns be locked away from youths or have safeties to keep them from firing.

But even people trained in gun use slip up ? and the mistakes are costly.

A Springville, Utah, police officer had a non-service gun in his home that officials said did not have external safeties. His 2-year-old son found the gun and shot himself on Sept. 11. The names of the father and son were not released at the time of the shooting.

Obama has tapped Vice President Joe Biden to shape the administration's response to the Newtown massacre. The administration will push to tighten gun laws, many that have faced resistance in Congress for years. The solutions may include reinstating a ban on assault-style rifles, closing gun buying background check loopholes and restricting high-capacity magazines.

Those may have limited effect for children like Amari Markel-Purrel Perkins, of Clinton, Md. He shot himself in the chest on April 9 with a gun that an adult had stashed inside a Spiderman backpack.

Like most of the child victims at Newtown, Amari was 6.

___

Follow Suzanne Gamboa at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa

Follow Monika Mathur at http://www.twiter.com/@monikamathur

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunfire-kills-young-children-daily-us-162939018.html

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What Matters in a Hearing Test?

Posted by Andrea Avery on 12/24/12 ? Categorized as Health and Fitness

For those who are experiencing some type of loss, a hearing test is one of the most important first steps to take. It will provide doctors with an understanding of what is happening with your ability to hear and why it is occurring. It is a good idea to factor in the concerns related to your ability to hear such as things like your exposure to loud sounds. You also want to discuss symptoms with your doctor that could be a clue about what is causing your problem. But, why does it matter? Why should you care about this type of loss?

It Is Not Always Preventable?

One of the misconceptions about loss is that it is something that can be prevented. That is rarely the case. In most situations, a hearing test will pinpoint damage to the inner ear that stems from exposure to loud sounds such as those occurring at work or during recreational activities. Yet many people have no idea why they are struggling with this. They may not have such exposure. Just getting older can cause loss. In other people, hereditary factors can play a role especially if you are losing your ability to hear at a young age. There?s not always a way to prevent it.

There Is Treatment Available

There is no cure for this type of loss. Most people who have damage to the inner ear will not overcome that loss, though it may improve significantly in some situations. In many situations, though, the use of a device that is placed inside the ear canal or on the outside of the ear can give you back some of your loss of the ability to hear. You will be able to do the things you used to do without having to worry about being unable to hear well.

Preventing Further Damage

In some situations, having a hearing test is important so that you know what is happening and why it is occurring. It may be possible to slow the progression of loss by using measures to prevent further damage to the inner ear. The use of protective devices over your ears, for example, can help to minimize your risks and give you some reassurance that your condition is not worsening.

A hearing test is not something to put off even if you just do not want to do it. It can provide answers to your questions, guide your decisions moving forward and help you to get treatment for your situation. This type of screening can also help you to know that your ears are completely healthy and not at risk. Don?t assume you know what is happening with your ears until your talk to your doctor about it.

Getting a regular new mexico hearing test can greatly improve your quality of life. Visit the wonderful staff at http://www.miracle-ear-newmexico.com and schedule yours today.

Source: http://www.articlesrx.com/what-matters-in-a-hearing-test/10007

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AARP Online Dating Survey - AARP

AARP commissioned this survey to understand the reasons why adults 50 and older who are currently single and dating try or do not try an online dating site.

Key finding include:

The top 3 reasons why people over 50 try an online dating site are:

1. They are able to meet a broader range of people (23%)
   
2. There is no pressure.? They don?t have to reply or talk to people
   they don?t want to (20%)
3. A friend recommended it (14%)
   

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The top 3 purposes why people over 50 use an online dating site are:

1. A serious relationship (48%)
2. Friendship/Companionship (26%)
3. Casual dating (14%)

The top 3 reasons why people over 50 never try an online dating site (other than currently dating someone) are:

1. Online dating does not fit their lifestyle (18%)
2. Heard too many negative stories about online dating (13%)
3. Too risky to talk to strangers online (12%)

This online survey of 1,000 adults 50 and over who were single and either currently dating or interesting in dating was conducted by Research Now from October 22-26, 2012 using an e-rewards online panel. There was a split between AARP members and non-members. For more information, contact Patricia David at 202-434-6043.

Source: http://www.aarp.org/home-family/dating/info-12-2012/online-dating-sites-survey.html

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Mom, aunt charged over home-alone fire deaths

By Alexandra Clark, NBCChicago.com

Police have charged the mother and aunt of two toddlers who were killed in an apartment fire in a Chicago suburb.

Early Saturday morning, 2-year-old Jaryiah and 3-year-old Jarvis Meakens were left alone with two other children when a fire broke out. The two toddlers died in the blaze.

Their mother Tatiana Meakens, 23, and aunt Britany Meakens, 22, of Englewood,?were each charged with two counts of felony for endangering a child causing death and two counts of misdemeanor for endangering the life and health of a child, according to a police press release.

Both were called in for questioning after police discovered the two had left four children alone to attend a party, police said.

Read more stories from NBCChicago.com

The two children who survived - a 7-year-old boy and a 4-year-old boy - were taken into the custody of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, while authorities conducted their investigation.

Saturday night, friends, neighbors, and members of the community mourned the loss of the two toddlers with a vigil and balloon release.

Tatiana and Britany are scheduled to appear in bond court on Monday.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/24/16122849-mother-aunt-charged-over-fire-deaths-of-two-home-alone-toddlers?lite

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Rewind 2012: Quebec filmmakers' creativity was there, but public ...

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Rachel Mwanza is terrific in Rebelle, Kim Nguyen?s child-soldier drama that is on the short list for Oscar nominations in the foreign language category.

MONTREAL ? Looking back on the past 12 months, there?s no escaping the fact that the defining story of the year in local showbiz circles was the ?crisis? in Quebec film. But those quotation marks tell a big part of the tale.

Fact is many, maybe most, in the film business, would deny there even is a crisis. Box office is down big time for local films. That?s the part that?s not up for debate. The year-end tally, which ticket-sales tracking firm Cin?ac will only release in January, will show that Quebec films accounted for about five per cent of the entire box-office pie, down from 10 per cent a year earlier.

But the producers, and no small number of pundits, claim this is just a blip on the radar, that there?s no need to worry. Not to mince words: they?re wrong. If folks aren?t plunking down their hard-earned cash to see local movies, something?s very wrong, and those producers have some tough questions to answer.

That?s the half-empty part. The half-full part of the equation is that there were so many terrific Qu?b?cois films in 2012, from Kim Nguyen?s child-soldier drama Rebelle to Xavier?s Dolan ambitious (if uneven) Laurence Anyways to Rafael Ouellet?s most accessible flick yet, Camion. I was perhaps most encouraged by the release of a series of remarkable, off-the-beaten-track indie pictures, like Simon Galiero?s La mise ? l?aveugle, Paul Barbeau?s Apr?s la neige, Denis C?t??s Bestiaire, Ivan Grbovic?s Rom?o Onze, and Steve Kerr?s Columbarium, easily the most under-rated homegrown title of the past year.

So the creativity is still there, but the public isn?t. The films mentioned above are all very good, but you?ll notice that the list does not include one film that rallied everyone the way C.R.A.Z.Y. or Incendies did.

The Quebec TV event of the year is even easier to pick. That would be Unit? 9, the extraordinary drama set in a female prison penned by head writer Danielle Trottier and produced by Fabienne Larouche. You can just mail Guylaine Tremblay her G?meaux trophy as best actress right now for her portrayal of Marie Lamontagne, a mother imprisoned for a crime of passion, but the rest of the cast is just as impressive. It was a big ratings hit and also generated an enormous amount of discussion.

What else? Sugar Sammy made off like a bandit, selling 100,000 tickets to his revolutionary Franglais show You?re Gonna Rire, which gave old-school nationalists nightmares, and to the politically correct all-French version En Francais SVP.

It was another huge year for Hollywood filming in Quebec with big U.S. films like RED 2, and White House Down. The cultural milieu in the province breathed a big sigh of relief a few weeks back when Pauline Marois?s first budget did not contain the major culture cuts many expected. But then artists noticed the budget also failed to live up to almost any of the cultural promises made by the Parti Qu?b?cois during the election campaign.

Artists were less pleased with the federal budget in March, which included 10-per-cent cuts to the CBC/Radio-Canada and to two Montreal-based institutions Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board of Canada.

Quebec film had the wind in its sails early in the year when Philippe Falardeau?s Monsieur Lazhar snared an Oscar nomination in the foreign-language-film category, the second straight year a made-in-Quebec film made it on to that prestigious short list.

And then there were none: Alternative weekly the Montreal Mirror went belly-up in late June, just weeks after the sad-sack online version of its rival weekly Hour had also unfolded. That leaves the city with no English-language cultural weeklies. The silver lining is that a slew of ex-Mirrorites immediately went and founded the online alt-culture must-read site Cult MTL.

This was also the year that former Montrealer Jessica Par? became a star in the space of a few minutes on the season?s debut episode of Mad Men, as she wowed new husband Don Draper and his ad-agency colleagues (and 3.5 million viewers) with her sultry rendition of the cult classic Zou Bisou Bisou.

Which has me thinking ? maybe a little dose of Par? is exactly what the slumping Quebec film scene needs. She hasn?t often been seen in major Quebec film releases in recent years. So why not bring her back to star in a big homegrown flick that?s both smart and accessible? Just a thought.

bkelly@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: @brendanshowbiz

? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

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Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Rewind+2012+Quebec+filmmakers+creativity/7739090/story.html

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