Euro area crisis threatens EU sovereign ratings: Moody's (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Moody's Investors Service warned on Monday the rapid escalation of the euro zone sovereign and banking crisis threatens the credit standing of all European government bond ratings.

"While Moody's central scenario remains that the euro area will be preserved without further widespread defaults, even this 'positive' scenario carries very negative rating implications in the interim period," the agency said in a report.

Moody's also noted the political impetus to implement an effective resolution plan may only emerge after a series of shocks, which may lead to more countries losing access to market funding and requiring a support program.

"This would very likely cause those countries' ratings to be moved into speculative grade in view of the solvency tests that would likely be required and the burden-sharing that might be imposed if (as is likely) support were to be needed for a sustained period."

Financial markets have put Italy, Spain and now France under increasing pressure on skepticism of the ability of European leaders to resolve the debt crisis, that has already sparked financial bailouts for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti aims to shore up the country's strained public finances this week by unveiling measures that could include a revamped housing tax.

Contacts between the International Monetary Fund and Rome have intensified as concern has grown about a financial backstop for Italy, should the country need it.

Euro zone finance ministers are due on Tuesday to consider detailed operation rules for the area's bailout fund. Approvals will clear the way for the 440 billion euro ($583.83 billion)fund to attract cash aimed at boosting the fund's resources.

Moody's said the euro area is approaching a junction, leading to either closer integration or greater fragmentation.

The likelihood of even more negative scenarios has arisen in recent weeks, Moody's noted, reflecting political uncertainties in Greece and Italy and a worsening of the region's economic outlook, among other factors.

"The probability of multiple defaults by euro area countries is no longer negligible. In Moody's view, the longer the liquidity crisis continues, the more rapidly the probability of defaults will continue to rise," it said.

Such defaults would increase the chances that one or more members of the bloc would leave the euro area.

"Moody's believes that any multiple-exit scenario -- in other words, a fragmentation of the euro -- would have negative repercussions for the credit standing of all euro area and EU sovereigns."

In the absence of major policy initiatives in the near future that stabilize credit market conditions, or markets stabilizing for any other reason, "the point is likely to be reached where the overall architecture of Moody's ratings within the euro area, and possibly elsewhere, within the EU, will need to be revisited." ($1 = 0.7536 euros)

(Reporting by Ian Chua,; Writing by Neil Fullick, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/bs_nm/us_markets_ratings_europe

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Metabolic defects in mice corrected with transplanted embryonic neurons

Monday, November 28, 2011

A new study has revealed that immature neurons taken from healthy mouse embryos can repair damaged brain circuitry and partially normalize metabolism when transplanted into adult mice that have grown morbidly obese due to a genetic deficiency. This proof-of-principle discovery represents one step down a long road toward neuronal replacement therapy, which researchers hope might one day be used to repair brains that have been injured by trauma or disease.

Artur Czupryn and colleagues took the immature neurons from the hypothalamus of wild-type mouse embryos and transplanted them into the hypothalamus of adult mice lacking a receptor for the hormone, leptin, which is known to regulate body weight. The researchers observed that the donor neurons were able to differentiate into four distinct neuronal types that then formed functional connections in the brains of the obese mice.

Their study appears in the 25 November 2011 issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

"We chose this problem not because, even for a moment, we would pursue the idea of neuron transplantation for the treatment of obesity," explained Jeffrey Macklis from Harvard University, a corresponding author of the report. "What we did was take this very complicated circuitry in the hypothalamus that has a very clear, measurable outcome?not only obesity in the mice, but changes in their serum glucose (like diabetic human beings have), changes in their insulin levels and changes in their fat vs. lean body weights?and we used that complex circuitry as a test case for whether precisely selected and controlled neuron transplants could really rewire the brain."

The transplanted neurons did apparently restore leptin signaling in the brains of the obese mice because the rodents slimmed down and their metabolism began returning to normal levels, according to Czupryn and his colleagues.

"What we found is that these neurons not only turned into the right kinds of cells, but that they sent signals to the recipients' brain and received signals from the recipients' brain," said Macklis.

Although the researchers say that neuronal replacement is certainly not a practical approach to treating obesity, their study nonetheless provides evidence that the transplantation of donor neurons at the appropriate stage of development can promote functional recovery of a brain region that controls a complex phenotype.

###

American Association for the Advancement of Science: http://www.aaas.org

Thanks to American Association for the Advancement of Science for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115467/Metabolic_defects_in_mice_corrected_with_transplanted_embryonic_neurons_

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It's beginning to look like Xmas at White House (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and family dog Bo have witnessed arrival of a 19-foot balsam fir from Wisconsin as the official White House Christmas tree.

The fir came from Tom and Sue Schroeder's Forevergreens farm near Neshkoro, Wis. It's the first time one of the Schroeder's trees has made it to the White House.

The tree was hauled up the White House driveway on Friday by horse-drawn carriage, where the Obamas inspected it and then gave it a thumbs-up.

The fir is destined for the Blue Room, where it will serve as the centerpiece of White House Christmas decorations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_white_house_christmas_tree

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Exclusive: Spain's incoming government may seek outside aid (Reuters)

MADRID (Reuters) ? Spain's People's Party (PP), due to form a new government by mid-December, is considering applying for international aid as one option for shoring up its finances, sources close to the party say.

The PP inherits an economy on the verge of recession, a tough 2012 public deficit target, financing costs driven to near unsustainable levels by nervous debt markets and a battered bank sector with billions of euros of troubled assets on its books.

But Tuesday's launch by the International Monetary Fund of a credit facility for fiscally responsible countries at risk from the euro zone debt crisis gives it a potential lifeline it may wish to exploit.

"I don't believe the decision (to seek aid) has been made .. but it is one of the options on the table, because I've been asked about it. But we need more time and more information on the current state of things," one source close to the PP told Reuters.

A senior economic consultant to the PP confirmed to Reuters an application for IMF credit was just one option. In itself it would be insufficient and considered a transitory move, the consultant said.

Help under similar conditions may soon be available from the euro zone's European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund, which the bloc's policymakers plan to make more potent.

If extra funding is needed, either from the EFSF or the IMF, it would be politically preferable to make the decision independently and quickly, rather than being compelled by market forces at a later date.

"If we have to do it, we have to do it now," the first source said.

Asked about seeking outside aid, a PP spokeswoman denied that the party is studying such a plan and said the future government has not been formed yet.

The premium investors demand to hold Spanish over German debt stood at around 458 basis points on Friday afternoon, slightly higher than settlement on Thursday and off euro-era highs hit of over 470 hit earlier this week.

"The market perception on Spain would be enormously improved if there was a sense of resolution on the banks. They've probably missed the opportunity to do it on their own strength, but there's no point in dithering here," economist at Deutsche Bank Gilles Moec said.

"The absence of resolution on the banks outweighs the cost of calling for international help."

EURO CORE OR 'DEATH'

Earlier, Spain's treasury scrapped plans to sell a new three-year benchmark bond on December 1, replacing it instead with three off-the-run bonds maturing in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Analysts welcomed the move in light of yields on short-term debt issued by countries on the euro zone's periphery surging, as well as the fact that Italy too was set to issue a new three-year bond next week. That could allow bonds with different maturities to be more easily absorbed in the market.

The stakes are high for PP leader and incoming prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who will address fellow conservative leaders at a December 7th European People's Party congress in the French city of Marseilles, the first source close to the PP said.

The source said Rajoy would tell the congress that Spain would need to outdo German Chancellor Angela Merkel in terms of fiscal discipline, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy on governance former EU President Jacques Delors in terms of growth instruments.

Rajoy would aim to recover Spain's place as a European leader, he added, arguing that a two-speed euro zone which excluded Spain at its core would signal "death," he said.

The IMF on Tuesday increased its lending instruments and launched a six-month liquidity line offering help to countries with solid policies that may be at risk from the euro zone debt crisis.

The fund did not say which countries would qualify, though it would act as "insurance against future shocks and as a short-term liquidity window to address the needs of crisis bystanders."

Rajoy has not made an official appearance since his victory speech after the party trounced the Socialists on Sunday, and gave few details of his economic plans during the campaign.

On Thursday he sent his first tweet thanking supporters for their good wishes, saying he was "working hard."

This week he has been meeting with the heads of Spain's biggest banks to make a fuller assessment of the nation's economic health and decide what his first moves must be, the first source said.

Rajoy has pledged to stick to a deficit target of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, which would require huge spending cuts as well as a deeper overhaul of the financial sector hit by a collapse in property prices.

In 2012, Spain's Treasury must pay back around 120 billion euros in debt redemptions while also financing its deficit. That amounts to at least 200 billion euros.

Spain's problems could be solved if the European Central Bank adopts a policy of quantitative easing -- effectively printing money to buy sovereign bonds. But there is strong opposition to that from Germany and within the ECB.

"Spain would opt for (the ECB solution) first but if that doesn't happen we will have to get external financing," the consultant said.

(Additional reporting by Judy MacInnes and Fiona Ortiz, writing by Paul Day; editing by Mike Peacock, John Stonestreet)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/wl_nm/us_spain_aid

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Practice Investing For Beginners With Online Investing Stock ...

The process of investing for beginners can be a quite intimidating event. Even very experience professional investors started somewhere to find their comfort level. You can bet it wasn?t that easy their first day or two. Our world is changing so rapidly that we all wish that we had easy answers to the success of online investing. Either way, if you want to be a great trader then you might want to make the effort to trade stocks and options the right way.

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All beginners must have the best possible trading platform they can find. Wisdom tells us to compare the best brokers and pick the one with a trading platform that is easy to use. If you are just starting out this can be a difficult task but regardless, it is so very important since the trading platform chosen can have a critical impact on the expectation of profits.

Mainly, there are two ways that you can get acquainted with the trading process. One, as mentioned before, is to use free virtual stock trading and free virtual options trading offered from most brokers. With this, you can trade with a practice account so that you can avoid losing real money in the process. Alternatively, a second way is the most obvious. Simply call customer service and have them walk you through placing your first trade or two. Once on the phone, you can ask them anything necessary to get the appropriate advice.

If you find yourself getting the urge to trade too frequently you may want to reconsider this action. Low commissions and fast access can sometimes bring this on but it is more practical to trade slowly and consistently rather than frequently. Patience and consistency will allow a portfolio to grow along with the companies invested in. I trust you will be careful to minimize your fees in the process of all your trading.

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Source: http://www.articlesezinedaily.com/practice-investing-for-beginners-with-online-investing-stock-brokers/

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Pakistan: 24 troops dead in NATO helicopter attack (AP)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan ? Pakistan on Saturday accused NATO helicopters and fighter jets of firing on two army checkpoints in the country's northwest and killing 24 soldiers. Islamabad retaliated by closing the border crossings used by the international coalition to supply its troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

The incident before dawn Saturday was a major blow to already strained relations between Islamabad and U.S.-led forces fighting in Afghanistan. It will add to perceptions in Pakistan that the American presence in the region is malevolent, and further fuel resentment toward the weak government in Islamabad for its cooperation with Washington.

It comes a little more than a year after a similar but less deadly strike near the Afghan border in which U.S. helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani whom the pilots mistook for insurgents. Pakistan responded by closing the Torkham border crossing to NATO supplies for 10 days until the U.S. apologized.

On Saturday, Pakistan went further, closing both of the country's border crossings into landlocked Afghanistan. NATO trucks about 30 percent of the non-lethal supplies used by its Afghan-based forces through Pakistan. A short stoppage will have no effect on the war effort, but serves as a reminder of the leverage Pakistan has over the United States from the supply routes running through its territory.

A spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said it was "highly likely" that close air support called in by Afghan and coalition forces operating in the border area caused Pakistani casualties. NATO is investigating the incident to determine the exact details, he told BBC television.

Gen. John Allen, the top overall commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement that his "most sincere and personal heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of any members of Pakistan security forces who may have been killed or injured."

Much of the violence in Afghanistan is carried out by insurgents that are based just across the border in Pakistan. Coalition forces are not allowed to cross the frontier to attack the militants. The militants, however, sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line, reportedly from locations close to Pakistani army posts.

American officials have repeatedly accused Pakistani forces of supporting ? or turning a blind eye ? to militants using its territory for cross-border attacks. The border issue is the major source of tension between Islamabad and Washington, which wants to stabilize Afghanistan and withdraw its combat troops there by the end of 2014.

Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani "strongly condemned" the alleged attack on the two checkpoints, calling it a "blatant and unacceptable act," according to an army statement. It said the "unprovoked" attack was carried out by NATO helicopters and fighter jets, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others. Pakistani soldiers responded in self-defense "with all available weapons," said the statement.

The two checkpoints were around 1,000 feet apart, and one of them was attacked twice, said a government official in Mohmand and a security official in Peshawar, the main city in Pakistan's northwest. Two officers were among the dead, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The attack happened around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters.

Ties between Washington and Islamabad already have been hard hit by the covert U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town on May 2. The Pakistanis were outraged that they were not told about the operation beforehand, and now are even more sensitive about U.S. violations of the country's sovereignty.

Gilani summoned U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter to protest the alleged NATO attack, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. It said the attack was a "grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty" and could have serious repercussions on Islamabad's cooperation with NATO. Pakistan has also lodged protests in Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels, it said.

A Pakistani customs official told The Associated Press that he received verbal orders Saturday to stop all NATO supplies from crossing the border through Torkham in either direction. The operator of a terminal at the border where NATO trucks park before they cross confirmed the closure. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Saeed Ahmad, a spokesman for security forces at the other crossing in Chaman in southwest Pakistan, said that his crossing was also blocked following orders "from higher-ups."

The U.S., Pakistani, and Afghan militaries have long wrestled with the technical difficulties of patrolling a border that in many places is disputed or poorly marked.

Saturday's incident took place a day after a meeting between NATO's Gen. Allen and Pakistan army chief Gen. Kayani in Islamabad to discuss border operations.

The meeting tackled "coordination, communication and procedures between the Pakistan Army, ISAF (intelligence services) and (the) Afghan Army, aimed at enhancing border control on both sides," according to a statement from the Pakistani side.

The checkpoints that were attacked had been recently set up in Mohmand's Salala village by the army. They were intended to stop Pakistani Taliban militants holed up in Afghanistan from crossing the border and staging attacks, said two local government administrators, Maqsood Hasan and Hamid Khan.

The U.S. helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers on Sept. 30 of last year took place south of Mohmand in the Kurram tribal area. A joint U.S.-Pakistan investigation found that Pakistani soldiers fired at the two U.S. helicopters prior to the attack, a move the investigation team said was likely meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times.

Pakistan moved swiftly after the attack to close Torkham to NATO. Suspected militants took advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks carrying NATO supplies.

Senior U.S. diplomatic and military officials eventually apologized for the attack, saying it could have been prevented with greater coordination between the U.S. and Pakistan. Pakistan responded by reopening the border crossing.

____

Abbot reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Anwarullah Khan in Khar, Pakistan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman and Deb Reichmann in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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Sarkozy, Merkel agree to stop sniping on ECB crisis (Reuters)

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) ? France and Germany agreed on Thursday to stop arguing in public over whether the European Central Bank should do more to rescue the euro zone from a deepening sovereign debt crisis.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti that they trusted the independent central bank and would not touch its inflation-fighting mandate when they propose changes of the European Union's treaty to achieve closer fiscal union.

They also demonstrated their confidence in Monti, an unelected technocrat, to surmount Italy's daunting economic challenges, in contrast to the barely concealed disdain they showed for his predecessor, media billionaire Silvio Berlusconi.

"We all stated our confidence in the ECB and its leaders and stated that in respect of the independence of this essential institution we must refrain from making positive or negative demands of it," Sarkozy told a joint news conference in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.

French ministers have called repeatedly for the central bank to intervene decisively to counter a market stampede out of euro zone government bonds, while Merkel and her ministers have said the EU treaty bars it from acting as a lender of last resort.

Sarkozy said Paris and Berlin would circulate joint proposals before a December 9 EU summit for treaty amendments to entrench tougher budget discipline in the 17-nation euro area.

Merkel said the proposals for more intrusive powers to enforce EU budget rules, including the right to take delinquent governments to the European Court of Justice, were a first step toward deeper fiscal union.

But she said they would not modify the statute and mission of the central bank, nor soften her opposition to issuing joint euro zone bonds, except perhaps at the end of a long process of fiscal integration.

French aides had hoped Berlin would relent in its opposition to a bigger crisis-fighting role for the ECB after Germany itself suffered a failed bond auction on Wednesday, highlighting how investors are wary even of Europe's safest haven.

"There is urgency (for ECB intervention)," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told France Inter radio before the meeting.

Sarkozy took a step toward Merkel this week by agreeing to amend the treaty to insert powers to change national budgets in euro area countries that go off the rails. Juppe cautioned that treaty change could take years because of the need for 27 national parliaments to ratify it.

With contagion spreading fast, a majority of 20 leading economists polled by Reuters predicted that the euro zone was unlikely to survive the crisis in its current form, with some envisaging a "core" group that would exclude Greece.

Analysts believe that sense of crisis will in the end force dramatic action. "I think we are moving closer to a policy response probably, which could be either more aggressive ECB action or the idea of euro bonds could gain some traction," said Rainer Guntermann, strategist at Commerzbank.

RESISTANCE

In signs of public resistance to austerity in two southern states under EU/IMF bailout programs, riot police clashed with workers at Greece's biggest power producer protesting against a new property tax, and Portuguese workers staged a 24-hour general strike.

Credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Portugal's rating to junk status, saying a deepening recession made it "much more challenging" for the government to cut the budget deficit, highlighting a vicious circle facing Europe's debtors.

German bonds fell to their lowest level in nearly a month after Wednesday's auction, in which the German debt agency found no buyers for half of a 6 billion euro 10-year bond offering at a record low 2.0 percent interest rate.

The shortage of bids drove Germany's cost of borrowing over 10 years to 2.2 percent, above the 1.88 percent markets charge the United States and the 2.18 percent that heavily indebted Britain has to pay.

Bond investors are effectively on strike in the euro zone, interbank lending to euro area banks is freezing up, ever more banks are dependent on the ECB for funding, and depositors are withdrawing increasing amounts from southern European banks.

In one possible response, people familiar with the matter said the ECB is looking at extending the term of loans it offers banks to two or even three years to try to prevent a credit crunch that chokes the bloc's economy.

Monti repeated Italy's goal of achieving a balanced budget by 2013 but said there was room for a broader discussion about how fiscal targets could be adjusted in a worse-than-expected recession.

Italian bond yields' jumped this month to levels above 7 percent widely seen as unbearable in the long term, despite stop-go intervention by the ECB to buy limited quantities, triggering Berlusconi's fall.

Keeping Italy solvent and able to borrow on capital markets is vital to the sustainability of the euro zone. Key Italian bond auctions early next week will test market confidence.

GERMAN EXPOSURE

German officials said the failed auction did not mean the government had refinancing problems and several analysts said Berlin just needed to offer a more attractive yield.

But it was a sign that, as the bloc's paymaster, Germany may face creeping pressure as the crisis deepens that may cause it to re-examine its refusal to embrace a broader solution.

Economy Minister Philipp Roesler of the Free Democratic junior coalition partner called for parliament to reject euro zone bonds "because we don't want German interest rates to rise dramatically."

But some market analysts are convinced joint debt issuance will eventually have to be part of a political solution to hold the euro zone together.

"Although it is not easy to see how the region will get to a fiscal union with Eurobonds, we believe that this is the path that will be chosen," JP Morgan economist David Mackie said in a research note.

With time running out for politicians to forge a crisis plan that is seen as credible by the markets, the European Commission presented a study on Wednesday of joint euro zone bonds as a medium-term way to stabilize debt markets alongside tougher fiscal rules for member states.

The borrowing costs of almost all euro zone states, even those previously seen as safe such as France, Austria and the Netherlands, have spiked in the last two weeks as panicky investors dumped paper no longer seen as risk-free.

Outside the euro zone, a top British financial regulator said British banks should make contingency plans for a potentially disorderly break-up of the currency area, or the exit of some countries, as the sovereign debt crisis rages on.

"Good risk management means planning for unlikely but severe scenarios and this means that we must not ignore the prospect of a disorderly departure of some countries from the euro zone," Andrew Bailey, deputy head of the Prudential Business Unit at the UK's Financial Services Authority, told a conference.

In a Reuters poll conducted over the last 10 days, 14 out of 20 prominent academics, former policymakers and independent thinkers agreed the euro zone's make-up would change.

A new "core" euro zone with fewer members received qualified backing from 10 economists as a possible solution, with seven of them saying Greece should be excluded from it.

(Reporting by Stephen Brown, Noah Barkin, Natalia Drozdiak, Veronica Ek, Eva Kuehnen, Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Giselda Vagnoni; Writing by Paul Taylor, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Australia to create marine reserve in Coral Sea (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia ? Australia says it will create the world's largest marine reserve in the Coral Sea.

The Environment Ministry says the area has shallow reefs that support tropical ecosystems with sharks, coral, sponges and many fish species. The proposal includes seas beyond the already protected Great Barrier Reef Marine Park off northeast Australia.

The reserve would cover almost 400,000 square miles (nearly 1 million square kilometers).

Fishing would be allowed in parts of the reserve. Some conservationists raised concern such exceptions would make management of the reserve more difficult.

The proposal announced in a ministry statement Friday is now open for a 90-day comment period.

___

Online:

The proposal: http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/coralsea/index.html

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_coral_sea

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PFT: Ravens' Lewis questionable for Thursday

Getty Images

In the past, when Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has supplied his version of an on-field incident that resulted in a penalty or a fine, he seemed persuasive.

After Thursday?s Haynesworthy performance against the Packers, Suh?s effort to talk his way out of trouble comes off as pathetic.

?What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way that I felt in me being held down in the situation that I was in,? Suh said, via NFL.com.? ?My intentions were not to kick anybody, as I did not.? [I was] removing myself, as you see, I?m walking away from the situation.? And with that I apologize to my teammates, and my fans and my coaches for putting myself to be in position to be misinterpreted and taken out of the game.?

It gets better.? Or, for Suh, worse.

?I was on top of a guy being pulled down and trying to get up off the ground, which is why you see me pushing his helmet down,? Suh said.? ?As I?m getting up, I?m getting pushed so I?m getting myself unbalanced. . . .? With that a lot of people are going to interpret it as or create their own storylines, . . . but I know what I did, and the man upstairs knows what I did.?

What Suh did requires no interpretation.? He aggressively pushed the head of Evan Dietrich-Smith into the ground, and Suh stomped on Dietrich-Smith?s arm as Suh started to walk away.

?I understand in this world because of the type of player and type of person I am, all eyes are on me,? Suh said.? ?So why would I do something to jeopardize myself, jeopardize my team, first and foremost?? I don?t do bad things.? I have no intentions to hurt someone.? If I want to hurt him, I?m going to hit his quarterback as I did throughout that game.?

He needs to quit while he?s not ahead.

?If I see a guy stepping on somebody I feel like they?re going to lean into it and forcefully step on that person or stand over that person,? Suh said.? ?I?m going in the opposite direction to where he?s at.?

It?s an amazingly flimsy, and perhaps delusional, effort to explain what was obvious to anyone with eyes.? Apart from the ultimate penalty that will be imposed on Suh by the league office ? and plenty of people believe a suspension is coming ? Suh needs to be concerned about the impact of his behavior and his lame explanation of it on his marketability.? From Subway to Chrysler to any other company that has chosen to give Suh a lot of money to endorse its products, that money could be drying up, quickly.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/23/ray-lewis-is-questionable-again-for-thursday-night/related

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Creditors back expedited Dodgers' TV rights sale (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The committee of unsecured creditors for the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers threw its support behind the team's effort to sell TV broadcast rights earlier than expected, riling News Corp's Fox Sports.

In a document filed in Delaware bankruptcy court on Wednesday, the committee said it believed the expedited sale of the telecast rights would help facilitate the team's exit from bankruptcy and maximize the team's value.

This week, bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross appointed retired federal judge Joseph Farnan Jr. as a mediator to try to sort out the dispute between the team and Fox Sports regarding the sale of television telecast rights. The mediation is set to start on November 28 in Los Angeles.

Fox has a contract to broadcast Dodgers games through 2013 and the exclusive right to negotiate a new contract starting November 2012.

The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection in June as owner Frank McCourt struggled to cover costs. Major League Baseball fought McCourt's efforts to retain control of the team in bankruptcy court.

The Dodgers and Major League Baseball ended their long-running dispute in early November with a deal to sell the team, including the media rights. Now the Dodgers want to start the media rights auction soon instead of waiting for the contract to expire in order to boost the team's overall value.

Fox has asked the bankruptcy court to consider dismissing the bankruptcy case, arguing the team's bankruptcy was not valid and was an attempt to invalidate Fox's TV contract.

Financial information on the team and its assets is scheduled to go to potential buyers in December with initial bids due in January, two sources familiar with the process said last week. The sale of the team inherently includes media rights, whether or not it is free and clear of a Fox contract.

The sales process is expected to be wrapped up by the end of April, in time for the start of the 2012 Major League season, the sources said. The sale is expected to occur regardless of whether the issues with Fox are resolved, but those issues might affect the selling price, they said.

Also in the filing on Wednesday, the committee of unsecured creditors said they were hopeful the mediation would result in a settlement, but in the event it was not successful, the committee supported the Dodgers' motion to accelerate the sale of its broadcast rights.

The case is In re: Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-12010.

(Reporting by Sue Zeidler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/tv_nm/us_dodgers_bankruptcy

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Vienna opera singer Jurinac dies at 90 (AP)

BERLIN ? Sena Jurinac, one of the Vienna State Opera's most celebrated performers in the 1940s and 50s in roles as both a soprano and mezzo-soprano, has died in southern Germany at age 90.

The Vienna State Opera, which confirmed the death Wednesday, said Jurinac died Tuesday at her home near Augsburg.

"We are mourning the loss of a legendary artist who shaped not only the Vienna State Opera but also the entire opera world" opera director Dominique Meyer said in a statement.

Born in Travnik in Yugoslavia in October 1921, Jurinac studied at the academy of music in Zagreb and sang at the opera there before she made her debut at the Vienna opera as Cherubino in "The Marriage of Figaro" on May 1, 1945 ? the first production after World War II.

She performed as Cherubino 129 times and went on to become one of the best-known singers at the opera house in the 1940s and 50s, singing in operas including "Don Giovanni," "Der Rosenkavalier" and "La Boheme." Altogether she was on stage at the Vienna opera 1,268 times in 46 different parts.

Jurinac also appeared abroad, including performances at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, in San Francisco, Milan and Buenos Aires.

She became a darling of the public at the Salzburg Festival where she sang for the first time in 1947 as Dorabella in "Cosi fan tutte."

In a statement, the Salzburg Festival said that Jurinac was one of the artists that helped build Salzburg's international fame during the postwar years.

"The festival owes magic moments to Sena Jurinac for which both the audience and the press celebrated her alike," festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler said. "The black flag, which will fly at the festival's house today, is a tiny sign for the great sadness and gratitude that fulfills us."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_en_mu/eu_germany_obit_jurinac

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Gun issue represents tough politics for Obama (The Arizona Republic)

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Photojojo intros iPhone Lens Dial for fisheye, telephoto and wide-angle shooting

Annie Leibovitz seems to love the camera in the iPhone 4S as is, but if you'd ever hoped the snapshot darling were a bit more flexible, then Photojojo's new Lens Dial may be the solution. Available as a case that's compatible with the iPhone 4 and 4S, users are able to rotate between three different lenses -- including fisheye, telephoto and wide-angle -- to achieve their desired effect. Naturally, the enclosure will add quite a bit of thickness and heft to your handset (it weighs ten ounces, or twice that of the iPhone), but it also piles on flexibility, too, such as tripod mounts for landscape or portrait scenes. Shipping now for $250, the iPhone Lens Dial seems like the logical step after you've taken Holga's option for a spin.

Photojojo intros iPhone Lens Dial for fisheye, telephoto and wide-angle shooting originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/OVdvW1V1BqU/

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Obama should resurrect the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan (Seattle Times)

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Arduino geek develops Cold War Angst, starts spying on satellites (video)

Start with some Arduino and Gameduino hardware, add a splash of PLAN-13 satellite tracking software from 1983, and finish with a healthy dose of libertarianism. The result? A neat little hack called Angst, designed and built by Mark VandeWettering (aka Brainwagon). It can store details of up to 750 satellites on 128KB of EEPROM memory and display their predicted orbits in all the glory of SVGA display. Don't get lazy though -- the most reliable way to track those pesky snoops in the sky is still to don your anorak, step outdoors and snoop right back.

Continue reading Arduino geek develops Cold War Angst, starts spying on satellites (video)

Arduino geek develops Cold War Angst, starts spying on satellites (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magnet changes coming (Offthekuff)

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Another tech group speaks out against piracy bill (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (TheWrap.com) ? The Stop Online Piracy Act might be stopped before it ever gets online, as yet another influential voice has come out against it.

The Business Software Alliance, the self-described "voice of the world's software industry and its hardware partners" on policy affairs, has done an about face on its initial support of the anti-piracy bill currently under consideration by the House of Representatives.

On Monday alliance CEO and president Robert Holleyman posted his misgivings about the bill, which would authorize the Justice Department to shut down "rogue" websites trafficking in stolen or counterfeit materials, such as pirated films and bogus pharmaceuticals.

"Valid and important questions have been raised about the bill," wrote Holleyman, whose organization represents Apple, Microsoft and Dell, among other technology companies. "It is intended to get at the worst of the worst offenders. As it now stands, however, it could sweep in more than just truly egregious actors."

He said the law required clearer definitions regarding who could be targeted and how. The BSA has "long stood against filtering or monitoring the Internet," Holleyman added.

He said BSA was ready to work with the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), to improve its language.

Holleyman joins a slew of SOPA critics, including politicians from both sides of the aisle.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif) both came out against the bill after the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on it last week.

While the proposed law has enjoyed unwavering support from the entertainment industry, internet giants such as Google and Facebook have come out loudly against it, as have many free speech advocates.

Critics say that as written, SOPA could provide legal cover for censorship. This and other unintended consequence could have a chilling effect on the industry as a whole, they say, stifling innovation and growth.

BSA initially offered support of Smith's bill in a statement released October 26.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/media_nm/us_media_piracy

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UN committee criticizes NKorea human rights (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? A key U.N. committee has overwhelmingly approved a resolution aimed at maintaining pressure on North Korea over its systematic and widespread human rights violations.

The General Assembly's human rights committee adopted the non-binding resolution Monday by a vote of 112-16 with 55 abstentions. It must now be approved at a plenary session of the 193-member world body, where its adoption is virtually certain.

The resolution expresses regret at North Korea's failure to implement U.N. recommendations after the country allowed the U.N. Human Rights Council to review its rights record in March 2010.

It cites North Korea's use of torture and the death penalty for political and religious reasons.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_re_us/un_un_north_korea_rights

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Obama asserts growing US stake in Asia

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011, photo, U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011, photo, U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with China's Premier Wen Jiabao as they walk together for a family photo at the East Asia Summit Gala dinner in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's close attention to the Asia-Pacific region signaled both a turn toward a part of the world experiencing solid growth and one away from Europe's dark economic woes, at least temporarily.

The president's nine-day trip to Hawaii, Australia and Indonesia was marked by back-to-back summits and high-profile pronouncements, including decisions to station U.S. Marines in northern Australia, advocate a new free-trade area that leaves China out and call on Beijing not to buck the current world order.

He also made an overture to isolated, repressive Myanmar, also known as Burma, dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton there next month and speaking by phone with peace activist and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

With Europe's growth stalled, and the continent teetering on the edge of another recession, Obama redirected his focus across the Pacific to an area largely out of recession and steadily growing ? and which now accounts for roughly 50 percent of the world's economic output.

America's standing in Asia-Pacific has declined in the past decade as China's has increased. China now is the top trading partner for many countries across the region.

Obama portrayed his trip and his new, muscular approach toward China as an effort to help open new Asian markets that could lead to more jobs in the U.S. as he strives to help get the nation's economy back on track, a big order ahead of next year's presidential election.

He was able to perform as an active player in the summits in Hawaii and Bali, Indonesia, and in his visit to Australia ? after finding himself largely on the sidelines in efforts to resolve the euro zone's deepening debt crisis.

Obama's goal "is clearly a rebalancing on the economic side and Europe's current economic situation starkly underlines that," said Ernest Bower, director of Southeast Asia programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Europe is flat on its back, and Asia is growing like a snowball rolling down a hill."

China was the first major world economy to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis. And while it is has struggled to keep inflation at bay, it recently roared past Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. It's on track to overtake the U.S. and become No. 1 within the next few decades.

The financial-system meltdown that hobbled the U.S. and its European allies bypassed Australia and many of its neighbors. And while Japan is still struggling to recover, many of the region's other economies are exhibiting healthy growth.

Obama pledged greater involvement in a wide array of regional security and economic concerns as the U.S. ratchets down its military presence in the Middle East with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq; and as it seeks to extricate itself from Afghanistan.

"The Asian economies are the fastest growing economies on the planet. It's where the action is, where U.S. businesses are increasingly looking for growth," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "We've got to be looking toward Asia. Europe is in trouble."

Rapid growth of Asian economies could help offset weaknesses in Europe. Still, China and several other Asian exporting countries do substantial business selling their goods in European countries.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned that the European crisis is still "the central challenge to global growth" and urged Asia-Pacific leaders to do more to help keep the European contagion from spreading, including boosting demand in their own countries.

Still, economists generally say that so long as any new recession in Europe is relatively mild, it seems unlikely that it would drag down other economies.

"Asia is in ascendency while Europe is fading in the power lineup of the world," said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics. He said the new U.S. focus on the region "is long overdue."

Obama's trip follows congressional approval of a free-trade pact with South Korea, initially negotiated by the Bush administration. The president said the pact would help open the big South Korean market to U.S. goods and services and help create badly needed jobs in the United States.

With unemployment hovering at a stubbornly high 9 percent, and congressional negotiators straining to meet a November 23 deadline for delivering a deficit-cutting plan, Obama did take some heat from Republicans for leaving the country instead of focusing on domestic priorities, even as he promoted job-creation as a key part of his mission .

And a few Democrats voiced skepticism about some aspects of the trip.

"I guess the strategic purpose, we're told, is we have to contain China. I think we overdo that," said Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

"We have a legitimate strategic interest in deterring North Korea and in giving Taiwan some assurance, but I don't think we have to keep open the sea lanes. I don't think we have to mediate every dispute ... in the South China Sea," Frank told a foreign-policy forum. "I do not think that China is prepared to commit economic suicide by shutting down the sea lanes."

Many lawmakers blame China for America's economic woes. It is one of the few issues on which many Democrats and Republicans agree.

By a wide bipartisan margin, the Senate last month passed a bill to punish China for deliberately undervaluing its currency, a practice that makes Chinese products cheaper in the United States ? at a time when the U.S. manufacturing sector is struggling and jobs are scarce.

Lawmakers have also reached across the aisle to condemn Beijing for human rights abuses, intellectual property theft and the counterfeiting of components that end up in U.S. military hardware.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has thus far declined to take up the Senate China currency, agreeing with business interests that it could hurt, not help, the U.S. economy by triggering a trade war.

China has also become a hot political issue on the GOP presidential campaign trail. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said that, if elected, he would seek to sanction China as a currency manipulator on Day One of his presidency. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota suggests, without offering evidence, that the U.S. is helping to subsidize China's People's Liberation Army with the interest payments it makes to China on the debt.

Only former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman ? who recently was U.S. ambassador to China ? warns against actions against China that could result in trade retaliation. He is a former U.S. ambassador to China.

As to borrowing from China to help cover U.S. budget deficits, China buys Treasury bonds the same way as other countries, mutual and pension funds and individual investors do ? on the open market.

Last year, the federal government paid about $206 billion in interest for the portion of the national debt held by the public. China holds about 11 percent of that debt, making it the largest foreign creditor.

"I do think that in this populist age, a little China-bashing never hurts politically," said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.

___

Follow Tom Raum at http://twitter.com/tomraum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-21-Obama's%20Asian%20Focus/id-7911f5d71c784c38b576792c60ae254f

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PFT: Vince Young authors drive to remember

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Nine days after 11-11-11, the 11th Sunday of the 2011 regular season was played.

In the AFC, we?re no closer to knowing which teams are the best teams.? In the NFC, ineffectiveness and injuries are allowing two franchises with eight Lombardi Trophies between them to continue to separate from the pack.

But let?s go deeper than the same-old ?if the season ended today? scenarios or the other fairly obvious stuff you?ll see on certain four-letter networks today.

For some reason, I always can come up with only 10 things to say.

1.? Moral victory for the Bucs.

They say there are no moral victories.? I say ?they? say a lot of things, plenty of which are wrong.

In this specific case, here?s why.

Blown out 48-3 by the 49ers and 37-9 by the Texans, the Bucs desperately needed to avoid a similar fate at Lambeau Field.? It wasn?t looking good early, what with the Packers up 14-0.

But the Bucs scratched and clawed their way back into the game, making it competitive and keeping the score respectable.? For coach Raheem Morris, whose contract situation puts the team in a fire-him-extend-him-or-let-him-do-the-lame-duck-thing trilemma for 2012, avoiding an embarrassment was the next best thing to pulling what would have been a most unlikely upset.

That said, a couple of ill-advised onside kicks likely won?t help the ?keep Raheem? cause.? Overall, however, the Bucs have nothing about which to be ashamed ? apart from their recent effort to make excuses for their 4-6 record by pointing out how difficult their schedule is.

2.? Michael Bush, Kevin Smith prove the fungible nature of tailbacks.

On Sunday morning, an item from one of the Bay Area websites presumed that Raiders running back Michael Bush will be swimming in gold coins come free agency in 2012.? Though Bush definitely won?t be pitching a tent in Zucotti Park, he will still be earning a fraction of the game?s truly elite backs.

Bush, while talented, possesses skills that aren?t uncommon at the NFL level.? Every year, college programs throughout the country churn out men who will move the chains, with competent blocking.? Though Bush, who would have been a first-round pick but for a gruesome leg injury in the first game of his final season at Louisville, lands on the high end of the curve, he?s not in the Adrian Peterson/Chris Johnson financial district, yet.

The performance of guys like Lions? reclamation project Kevin Smith underscores that point, and eventually will undermine Bush?s case for big dollars.? Unwanted by the Lions after three seasons with the team and drawing zero interest elsewhere, Smith hung around and hung around until the Lions decided that their running game was sufficiently bad to justify bringing back one of the lone bright spots from that 0-16 team of 2008.

Smith responded Sunday with 201 total yards and three touchdowns.

Though the performance may have given Smith a short-term assignment pending the return of Jahvid Best, Kevin Smith?s career nevertheless will be remembered more like Timmy?s than Emmitt?s.? Yes, playing the position requires speed and toughness and courage and durability.? But of all the things that NFL players are required to do (other than kicking, punting, holding, and long-snapping), those traits seem to be the most common.

That?s why only a few get paid a ton of money, and that?s why veterans like Larry Johnson, Clinton Portis, and Tiki Barber are spending the 2011 season unemployed, and flabbergasted.

3.? Percy Harvin would be special, if he got the touches.

There?s a guy in Minnesota who has those interchangeable tailback skills, but at a far higher level than most.? The only problem is that, for reasons neither known nor apparent, the Vikings don?t use him as much as they should.

Percy Harvin made a big splash in 2009 as a rookie receiver and kickoff returner.? Lost in the shuffle of last year?s disappointing season, Harvin nevertheless had more yards from scrimmage.

This year, with not even a mention of an issue with migraines that previously plagued him at the pro level, his workload hasn?t spiked the way that it should for a third-year player who has shown a ton of potential.

Maybe it?ll come in 2012, after quarterback Christian Ponder gets more comfortable and the Vikings upgrade their offensive line via free agency and/or the draft.? Maybe it?ll eventually have to come after Harvin joins a new team.

Regardless, at some point Percy Harvin deserves a chance to become the total package ? whether as a full-time receiver or a part-time wideout/tailback or even as a full-time Darren Sproles-style option out of the backfield.? Harvin could be so much better than he has been, and he?s one of the few true stars that remain on the roster of a 2-8 team.

4.? Caveat emptor, quarterback edition.

Titans tailback Chris Johnson still isn?t earning his money.? A week after racking up 100-plus rushing yards for the first time since getting paid, Johnson?s average plunged to 1.1, with 13 yards on 12 carries.

The lesson to the Titans, and the rest of the league, is becoming more obvious:? Don?t pay big money to a running back who has held out for all of training camp and the preseason, especially when there are so many others who can do the job.

In Buffalo, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has provided another piece of advice for NFL teams: ?Don?t pay an up-and-coming quarterback during the season in which he?s up-and-coming.

Fitzpatrick?s game has evaporated since he put his name at bottom of a six-year, $59 million contract.? Yes, the Bills celebrated the new deal with a 23-0 win against the Redskins in Toronto.? But the team, and most importantly Fitzpatrick, had their mojo (along with their Deux Deux Deuxs) confiscated at the Canadian border.

Outscored 106-26 in games against the Jets, Cowboys, and Dolphins, Buffalo now finds itself in a 2008-style free-fall, with any realistic chances of a postseason appearance riding on the ability to somehow get their groove back.

And, please, don?t point out that the 2001 Patriots were also 5-5 after 10 games.? The Pats? arrow was pointing up a decade ago.? The Bills? tank is, by all appearances, on empty.

By giving Fitzpatrick that big contract, it will be harder for the Bills to effectively consider all their options come January, given the money that has been tied up in the contract for Fitzpatrick.

5.? It?s time to extend the goal posts, somehow.

On Sunday, a pair of field goals created a little controversy, due in part to the fact that today?s kickers routinely blast the ball higher than the uprights extend.

In Cleveland, Phil Dawson believed a 38-yarder that would have put the Browns up by seven points late was good, even though the officials disagreed.? The lost three-pointer nearly ended up haunting the Browns, who had to hold off one final charge by the Jaguars.

In Washington, Redskins coach Mike Shanahan didn?t agree that a 39-yard try in overtime from Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey had satisfied the standard for chalking up a field goal.

In both cases, the ability to determine whether the kick was good was complicated by the fact that the ball went above the uprights.

For kicks that go over the U-shaped structure, the rule book requires the ball to pass fully within the outside edge of the uprights.? Which basically means that if an official standing directly under the outside edge of the upright looks straight up and sees no portion of the ball, the kick is good.

Good luck getting in the right spot and making the right judgment while the ball is soaring right through the air at least 30 feet above the ground.

The easy fix would be to make the uprights taller.? Sure, they already look goofy with the extra-long extensions that would dwarf the H-shaped contraptions of yesteryear.? And the laws of physics would result in much greater stress being placed on the corners of the crossbar as wind blows the very tops of even longer beams.

Still, it?s 2011.? The NFL eventually found a fake grass that performs much better than green cement, and the NFL easily could find a material that would perform well when elongated by an extra 10 feet, even in high winds.

At a minimum, the league should consider a high-tech solution that would use sensors or lasers to visibly extend the post, or that would allow the officials to determine easily whether the ball indeed passes inside the outer edge of the uprights.

As the sport grows and the importance of the outcome of each game (or, for the fantasy football crowd, each extra point and field goal) becomes more significant, the league needs to be prepared to take all reasonable steps to iron out any potential glitches in the rules.? After Sunday, it?s obvious that the league needs to address the height of the goal posts.

6.? Sorting out the offsetting penalties in Eagles-Giants.

The PFT email box and Twitter pipeline exploded on Sunday night, after a penalty for illegal use of hands against the Giants during a 50-yard pass to Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson and a post-play taunting penalty on Jackson completely wiped out the gain and gave Philly an unwanted do-over from their own two yard line.

The prevailing thought was that Eagles should have been able to decline the penalty against the Giants, and then to have the 15 yards walked off after the play, giving Philly a 35-yard gain.

But the outcome reflected the proper application of a strange donut hole in the rule book.

The process gets started at Rule 14, Section 1, Article 9:?? ?If there has been a foul by either team during a down and there is a dead ball foul by the other team in the action immediately after the end of the down, it is a double foul, and all rules for enforcement of double fouls apply (see 14-3-1).?

Regarding double fouls, Article 14, Section 3, Rule 1 provides as follows:? ?If there is a double foul . . . without a change of possession, the penalties are offset and the down is replayed at the previous spot.?

In this case, a key exception almost applied, but ultimately didn?t.? ?If one of the fouls is of a nature that incurs a 15-yard penalty and the other foul of a double foul normally would result in a loss of 5 yards only (15 yards versus 5 yards),? the rule book states, ?the major penalty yardage is to be assessed from the previous spot.?? Since the penalty on the Giants entailed a five-yard penalty AND an automatic first down, the exception didn?t apply in Jackson?s case.? Even if it had (for example, if the Giants had simply been offside), the Eagles would have had the 15 yards walked off (or, in this case, half the distance to the goal) from the previous spot.

Either way, the penalty on the Giants ultimately penalized the Eagles.? Though the officials sorted it all out properly in real time, the rule book definitely needs to be tweaked to prevent such unfair outcomes.

7.? Vince Young clinches a second chance to start.

The stats weren?t pretty, especially with three interceptions and a passer rating of 69.0, but Vince Young?s performance in the clutch during a primetime game for the squad he unintentionally gave the ?Dream Team? label could go a long way toward giving him a shot at a starting job in 2012.

After Young signed with the Eagles following his unceremonious exile from Nashville, Eagles president Joe Banner told PFT Live that Young wanted a one-year deal, even though the Eagles had hoped to lock him up for two.? Young?s insistence on a shorter term lets him get back to the market again in March. Even if he doesn?t take another snap this year, he has done enough to earn extra consideration in this quarterback-need league.

Young, quite simply, is Tim Tebow plus the ability to throw the ball reasonably accurately, albeit unconventionally.? Young still can perform at a high level; the challenge will be to match him up with a coach who?ll be able to shepherd Young through the adversity he?ll inevitably face as a starting quarterback.

Young faced plenty of it last night, and he did enough to keep the ?Dream? alive, even if it dies for good next week against the Patriots.

8.? Eli catches the Romo disease.

Two weeks ago, many were singing the praises of Peyton Manning?s kid brother.? Since then, Eli has been playing like the evil twin of Tony Romo.

Late turnovers in losses to the 49ers and the Eagles have dropped the Giants from 6-2 to 6-4, plunging them into a tie with the Cowboys and giving the Eagles a glimmer of hope, especially since Philly currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Dallas and New York.

In each of the last three weeks, Eli?s passer rating for the season has dropped.? And last night?s 74.0 doesn?t take into account the play that killed the Giants? late hopes for a comeback ? a fumble when Eli was hit from behind by Jason Babin.

As the Giants find themselves in the midst of yet another late-season collapse, Eli needs to find a way to turn those late opportunities into something other than turnovers.? If he can?t, plenty of jobs could be turning over in New York after the season ends.

9.? Bears could be in a real bind.

Peter King explained late night for an exclusive SNF Extra video that the thumb injury to Bears quarterback Jay Cutler could be a killer for Chicago.? Contrary to the classic design of the Mike Martz offense, Cutler had been moving more out of the pocket in order to buy time behind a work-in-progress offensive line.

With Caleb Hanie getting the nod, the Bears either need to get him comfortable doing what Cutler was doing, or hope the offensive line gets a lot better.

In the interim, it could mean more reps for Matt Forte, who?ll only add to his pay-the-man case if the Bears climb onto his back while Cutler is out.

And as to anyone who thinks that my lobbying last week for the Texans to pursue Brett Favre in lieu of Matt Leinart applies to the Bears, my perceived lunacy doesn?t extend to Illinois.? The Martz offense is too complex, the Bears are too cheap, and Martz is too obsessive-compulsive to ever make Favre a potential match there, even though it would give Brett a shot at the Vikings and at least one crack at the Pack.

The best bet for the Bears is to hunker down with Hanie, and hope for the best.

Unless Marc Bulger, who ran the Martz offense in St. Louis, decides to emerge from retirement.

10.? Catching up with what?s a catch.

It had been five weeks since the last time the Calvin Johnson rule reared its head in a game situation.? On Sunday, the Bengals lost a touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham via the application of a rule that routinely defies with the expectations of the reasonable fan.

Gresham bobbled the ball near the end zone, got possession of it in the vicinity of the goal line, took two steps, fell to the ground with the ball in one hand, and lost the ball when the hand holding it struck the ground.

This year, the league has emphasized the element of time, treating such plays as valid receptions if the receiver who, while going to the ground, had enough time to make a football move, regardless of whether a football move was actually made.? And that seems to be what Gresham did.? Or at least could have done.

Perhaps more importantly, the fact the officials in real-time called it a catch (and thus a touchdown) would require conclusive 100-drunks-in-a-bar evidence to overturn the play.? With the question of whether Gresham had enough time to make a football move a topic that strays into the realm of professional judgment, referee Ron Winter should have deferred to the ruling on the field that Gresham had possession long enough to make a football move.

The outcome reconfirms that the league needs to clean up the rule book once and for all regarding what is and what isn?t a catch when a receiver hits the ground.? The ?football move? exception is a twist on the uncodified ?second act? rule, which allowed the requirement of maintaining possession through the ground to be disregarded when the receiver manages to break the plane of the goal line while falling.

The NFL needs to just start over, crafting a simple rule that the officials can consistently apply ? and that meshes with what a reasonable person would regard to be a catch, or not a catch.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/21/vince-young-authors-a-drive-to-remember/related/

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