Senate Democrats have reached a "broad agreement" on a health reform bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday night — a plan that would replace the public option in the current Senate bill with a new national insurance plan offered by private insurers, and a chance for older Americans to “buy in” to Medicare.
Democrats on Tuesday night took a major step forward on a plan by agreeing to ask congressional scorekeepers to give them cost estimates on a possible compromise that would break the impasse over health reform in the Senate.
In doing so, Senate negotiators moved decisively away from including a government-run health insurance plan that would start on Day One in any final compromise, a major disappointment for the Democratic base but one that is likely to prove necessary to win over fiscally moderate senators.
Instead, Democrats are considering including a “trigger” that would allow a public plan to kick in – but only in the event that private insurers didn’t step up and offer policies for the new national health insurance plan, which seemed unlikely.
To win over liberals disappointed at losing the public option, Democrats would allow older Americans starting at age 55 to buy into Medicare, the popular program for the aged. The Medicare expansion would be a significant victory for Democrats, who spent years pushing for it. The proposal would in effect create a public health insurance option for older Americans, since Medicare is government-funded and government-run.
If the Senate reaches a compromise based on these principles, it would set up a major clash with the House, which included a pure public option in a bill passed last month. Some House progressives, like Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), have been critical of the Senate’s national plan idea, calling it “a "whitewash" and "not even reminiscent" of the public option.
The broad outlines of the Senate deal had been discussed for days, but Democrats emerged from a closed-door session about 8 p.m. with news of the breakthrough. Some were reluctant to call it a deal until hearing back from the Congressional Budget Office about how much the proposed new provisions would cost.
“This is a consensus that will help insure that the American people win in a couple different ways. One, insurance companies will certainly have more competition. And two, the American people will certainly have more choices," Reid told reporters in the Capitol, but refused to divulge details of the agreement.
“Not everyone will agree to every piece we sent over there,” Reid said. “But believe me that we've got something that's good...it moves this bill way down the road."
Reid also disputed that the public insurance option would be eliminated under the proposed agreement, but he did not elaborate.
The state “opt-out” public option in the current Senate bill is no longer in play. But the group sent a proposal to the Congressional Budget Office for the public option “trigger,” according to people familiar with the talks.
The group also reached a consensus to expand access to Medicare, allowing people 55 to 64 to purchase coverage in the program. Details of who would be eligible within that age group were unclear Tuesday. 
The “buy-in” period could kick in as early as 2011 – three years ahead of when the larger set of reforms would begin – although the coverage for the interim period would not be subsidized.
The national insurance plan would be administered by the same federal agency that oversees the respected Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. But the insurance options within that plan would be offered by private, nonprofit entities.
There was movement towards placing tighter regulations on the insurance industry. At the top of the list was a proposal from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) requiring insurers to spend at least 90 percent of premium money on medical care, rather than on administrative costs or profits.
The agreement also includes a proposal from Rockefeller to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which was set to expire in Oct. 1, 2013.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) was described by sources as one of the last holdouts within the room on the public option. He released a statement Tuesday indicating that he has not signed onto the proposal.
“While I appreciate the willingness of all parties to engage in good-faith discussions, I do not support proposals that would replace the public option in the bill with a purely private approach,” he said. “We need to have some competition for the insurance industry to keep rates down and save taxpayer dollars. I will base my vote on the bill on the entirety of what is in the bill, and whether I think the bill is good for Wisconsin.”

Other key progressives did not respond as critically.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who supports the need for a public option, said: “Do I like it? No, but I'm going to support it to the hilt.”

On MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), perhaps the most ardent public option booster, said the proposal was a “tradeoff.”

Howard Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had repeatedly called for the bill’s defeat without a pure public option. But on “Countdown,” he said the Medicare expansion was a “big deal.”

The Senate breakthrough came as the clock was already winding down on Reid’s hopes of getting a bill done by Christmas. He had told negotiators – five liberal and five moderates – that he needed a deal by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

Reid credited Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) with helping the group of 10 complete what the majority leader called an "impossible job."

With a deadline imminent, Democratic senators had scrambled Tuesday to break a months-long impasse over the public option, but stubborn political obstacles emerged as details of the possible compromise took shape.

As quickly as the outline of an agreement seemed to emerge Monday, parts of it had fallen away by Tuesday afternoon — the casualty of opposition raised by moderates. At the same time, progressive senators were still resisting pressure to give up entirely on the public option, while some moderates were balking at the trigger, according to an official briefed on the meetings. 

There was also pressure not to further expand a proposal from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that would allow states to negotiate with private industry to provide group coverage for low-income people. The bill limits states to negotiating for people who earn up to twice the federal poverty line.

By Tuesday evening, the group was no longer considering opening Medicaid to people with incomes 150 percent above the poverty line, according to senators involved in the talks. It faded as a realistic option amid concerns among moderates and many governors that it would put too much of a burden on state governments, which pick up a portion of the coverage costs.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who is still being wooed by Democrats, expressed strong skepticism toward another key element, the expansion of Medicare to people between 55 and 64. She said she was concerned the bill would rely too much on government to fill gaps in insurance coverage that the private sector should handle.

Reid said he had not spoken to Snowe since the Democratic group concluded its talks.

An added difficulty was the Senate’s rejection Tuesday of an amendment by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to strengthen restrictions on federal funding for abortion coverage. He has said he would filibuster the bill if it didn’t provide adequate restrictions but Tuesday would only say that the defeat of his amendment “makes it harder to be supportive.”

“I had no Plan B, and I’m not looking for a Plan B,” Nelson said.

Nelson said he would look at any compromises on the abortion language that were presented to him but does not plan to work on one himself. Nelson continued to participate in the public option talks, but it was unclear Tuesday night if he had signed onto the “broad agreement.”

Earlier in the day, Snowe was highly skeptical of a proposal to expand Medicare and Medicaid — signaling that her support for an emerging public option compromise will be difficult to secure.

Democrats have been hopeful they could attract Snowe’s vote for a final health reform deal and gain a little breathing room in trying to reach 60 votes. But Snowe said the latest proposals on the table would take the legislation in the wrong direction, adding more government involvement at a time when voters want less.

“My deep concern is about the breadth and scale of this legislation, taking it in a more expansionistic approach for government’s role rather than the reverse,” Snowe told reporters. “You can design incentives in this legislation to maximize the power of the marketplace in making sure the industry performs.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), another undecided moderate who opposes any version of the public plan, hasn’t been participating in the meetings. But his staff is present, and he speaks with Schumer every day, Lieberman told reporters Tuesday.

He said he is encouraged by a proposal to remove the public option and replace it with a national nonprofit insurance program administered by a federal agency. Regarding Medicare and Medicaid, Lieberman said he needed to examine the additional costs.

Both the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals sent alerts to its members Tuesday urging them to call senators in opposition to the proposals.

“Remember that we worked hard to successfully and significantly change the House bill so its public option was not entirely based on Medicare rates, but largely negotiated rates, and in the Senate we worked to ensure that the Finance Committee bill has a nonprofit, nongovernmental public option based on negotiated rates and not tied to Medicare or Medicaid,” read the alert from the American Hospital Association.

“Adding millions of people to these programs at a time when they already severely underfund hospitals is unwise and should be opposed.”

Read More Stories from POLITICOExpectations game awaits Obama'Danish text' triggers outcry at talksGay marriage's 'inevitability' testedCritics start fast in CopenhagenCoakley easily takes Dem primary

A related type of tax is the value-added tax or VAT. It is a system in which all businesses remit taxes on their sales but they are also refunded the amount of VAT remitted by their suppliers. In addition to avoiding cascading, under VAT there is no need for government to determine which sales are taxable and which are not, since all sales--retail, wholesale and intermediate--are taxed.

Some or all of these taxes may be refunded but it generates a lot of paperwork (and income). The VAT paperwork can be burdensome but it remains a major source of tax income for most of the European Union, Mexico and other countries which charge on average a 15-25% VAT rate. Canadian sales taxes range from 5% in Alberta to an effective 16.6% in Prince Edward Island where sales tax is also applied to the federal Goods and Services Tax.

Sales Tax Consulting

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
BP Plc discovered an oil and gas spill on a pipeline that serves the giant Prudhoe Bay oil fields in Alaska over the weekend, a company spokesman said on Monday.

BP was assessing damages after it found the leak early Sunday. The line is one of dozens serving Prudhoe Bay, the biggest U.S. oil field complex, whose production usually tops 400,000 barrels per day, BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said by phone from Alaska.

Prudhoe Bay output was not immediately affected. The company may be forced to shut in some oil production as it repairs the leaking line, or idles others that share a T-shaped pipe support infrastructure, Rinehart said.

"There may be some associated impact with neighboring lines, but at this point there's no way to quantify that," Rinehart said.

The spill occurred on an BP-operated, 18-inch common line carrying a mixture of crude, water and natural gas, Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation said in a situation report. What caused the spill wasn't clear.

The line, which transports hydrocarbons to a gathering station before supplies are embarked on a larger southbound pipeline, was not operating when the leak was found, although it held some oil and gas, Rinehart said.

It was not clear how much oil spilled. A spill area estimated by Alaskan authorities at 8,400 square feet of "snow-covered tundra" was not expanding, Rinehart said.

No contamination reached the waters of Prudhoe Bay, a spill report issued by Alaskan authorities said.

BP faced serious operational issues in Alaska in 2006, when it discovered extensive pipeline corrosion following an oil spill, forcing it to temporarily shut in much of Prudhoe Bay's output and later pay environmental fines.

The line affected by Sunday's spill is linked to the Lisburne production center, which processes part of Prudhoe Bay's output, according to a company website. A cleanup plan for the spill site is subject to approval by Alaskan authorities, Rinehart said.

BP shares fell on Monday by 1.6 percent on the London Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Bruce Nichols in Houston; Editing by Walter Bagley)

ORLANDO, Fla. – You can't blame this one on McDonald's: Researchers have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies.
"We think of it as being caused by modern risk factors," such as fast food, smoking and a lack of exercise, but the findings show that these aren't the only reasons arteries clog, said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.
He and several other researchers used CT scans, a type of X-ray, on 22 mummies kept in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. The subjects were from 1981 B.C. to 334 A.D. Half were thought to be over 45 when they died, and average lifespan was under 50 back then.
Sixteen mummies had heart and blood vessel tissue to analyze. Definite or probable hardening of the arteries was seen in nine.
"We were struck by the similar appearance of vascular calcification in the mummies and our present-day patients," said another researcher, Dr. Michael Miyamoto of the University of California at San Diego. "Perhaps the development of atherosclerosis is a part of being human."
One mummy had evidence of a possible heart attack but scientists don't know if it was fatal. Nor can they tell how much these people weighed — mummification dehydrates the body.
Of those whose identities could be determined, all were of high social status, and many served in the court of the Pharaoh or as priests or priestesses.
"Rich people ate meat, and they did salt meat, so maybe they had hypertension (high blood pressure), but that's speculation," Thompson said.
With modern diets, "we all sort of live in the Pharaoh's court," said another of the researchers, Dr. Samuel Wann of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Milwaukee.
The oldest mummy with heart disease signs was Lady Rai, a nursemaid to Queen Ahmose Nefertari who died around 1530 B.C. — 200 years before King Tutankhamun.
German imaging company Siemens AG, the National Bank of Egypt and the Mid-America Heart Institute paid for the work. Results are in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association and were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference.
___
On the Net:
JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) –
A priest accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been acquitted, the second release in as many days, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said on Tuesday.

The U.N. court ordered the immediate release of Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, who was a priest at a Catholic secondary school during the three months of slaughter of some 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus in 1994.

The court said it could not conclude that Nsengimana, 55, was guilty of any of the crimes, which included killing Tutsi priests, a judge and other Tutsi victims.

"The Chamber did not find a sufficient factual and legal basis for concluding that Nsengimana was guilty of any of the crimes," the tribunal said.

The prosecution said Nsengimana was at the center of a group of Hutu extremists that planned and carried out targeted attacks and participated directly in killings.

Nsengimana has been in prison since his arrest in Cameroon in 2002. He is the second indicted person to be released by the ICTR, based in Arusha in northern Tanzania, in as many days.

On Monday an appeals chamber acquitted Protais Zigiranyirazo, known as "Mr. Z," of genocide and extermination after he was previously sentenced to 20 years.

Judges reversed the conviction citing several serious factual and legal errors.

ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga told Reuters the acquittals were not a disappointment for the court.

"It's not a sign of a problem," he said by telephone. "This is to show you that the justice system is not one way -- it can go both ways.

He said that so far 39 people have been convicted of 47 cases.

"It's an incredible record of efficiency on the part of the prosecution. This is the first stage of the process, now we have to see whether the prosecution will appeal today's judgment," he said.

(Reporting by Katrina Manson; Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura)

Christmas and Easter costumes typically portray mythical characters such as Santa Claus (by donning a santa suit and beard) or the Easter Bunny by putting on an animal costume. Costumes may serve to portray various other characters during secular holidays, such as an Uncle Sam costume worn on the Independence day for example.

Women appear blusher, and have stronger eyes and lips (Cooper 78). Men apply a browner shade for their lips and have a stronger shadow for their jaw line. Dancers should also dust their faces with color and lightly add blush to their knuckles so it doesn’t contrast with their face (Art of Production 125).

Adult Costumes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
U.S. President Barack Obama warned on Monday that more U.S. job losses lay ahead despite a turnaround in the economy, and he called for a new "post bubble growth model" with greater focus on U.S. exports.

"If Germany, a wealthy, highly unionized industrial nation, can generate 40 percent of its economy as export-based, then it seems to me that there is something we're missing that they are doing right, and we have got to figure that out," he told a meeting of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

A sharp rebound in U.S. growth between July and September ended the worst economic slump in 70 years, but unemployment has jumped to 9.8 percent and is seen going higher.

"We anticipate that we are going to continue to see some job losses in the weeks and months to come," Obama told the advisory board in a meeting shown on the White House website.

"There is a -- always a lag of several months between businesses starting to make profits again and investing again, and then actually rehiring again," he said.

Obama said the economy was beginning to stabilize, but cautioned that it still had a long way to go and that policymakers need to find new models for future growth.

"Are there mechanisms that we can start putting in place where we see the kind of growth that used to characterize the U.S. economy -- export-driven growth, manufacturing growth," he demanded of the panel, which included business leaders as well as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

He said past U.S. growth had been "debt-driven" and that was no longer feasible. With the United States running record budget deficits as it spends furiously to try to stimulate the economy, Obama said it is going to be vital to find innovative new ways to finance growth, and the old approach would not do.

"The kinds of current account deficits, trade deficits we were developing were not ones that would serve as a model for long-term economic prosperity," Obama said.

The U.S. current account deficit, which is the broadest measure of U.S. trade in goods and services with the rest of the world, has more than halved to 2.8 percent of gross domestic product from around seven percent before the economy crashed.

Obama, in a reference to the off-shoring of U.S. manufacturing jobs that has created simmering resentment among U.S. workers, said it may not be in America's interest to fight against ultra low-cost foreign producers, and argued that it should pursue higher-value jobs that help enrich the economy.

"Part of what we want is an aggressive trade policy that says we can compete, we're not afraid of competing, we want to make sure we are competing in a fair way, and that other countries are not seeing the U.S. markets as simply the engine for their growth, without any reciprocity," he said.

"Figuring out how to get that balance, I think, will be very important."

Free trade pacts with Panama, Colombia and South Korea have not yet been put to U.S. lawmakers for a vote as the Obama administration concentrates on an overhaul of the country's $2.5 trillion healthcare industry as its top domestic policy priority.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)

All forms of diabetes have been treatable since insulin became medically available in 1921, but there is no cure. The injections by a syringe, insulin pump, or insulin pen deliver insulin, which is a basic treatment of type 1 diabetes. Type 2 is managed with a combination of dietary treatment, exercise, medications and insulin supplementation.

Patients (usually with type 1 diabetes) may also initially present with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), an extreme state of metabolic dysregulation characterized by the smell of acetone on the patient's breath; a rapid, deep breathing known as Kussmaul breathing; polyuria; nausea; vomiting and abdominal pain; and any of many altered states of consciousness or arousal (such as hostility and mania or, equally, confusion and lethargy). In severe DKA, coma may follow, progressing to death. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a medical emergency and requires immediate hospitalization.

Diabetic Supplies

WASHINGTON – Seven Indian tribes in North Carolina and Virginia would gain federal recognition and become eligible for federal aid under legislation approved Thursday by a Senate committee.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and six Virginia tribes would be eligible for up to $800 million in federal funds under two bills passed by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The bills, which bar the tribes from building casinos, have already passed the House.
Lawmakers said Congress does not have the expertise to determine federal recognition of tribes, but noted that they have faced lengthy delays in accessing federal funding for housing, education and health benefits.
In some cases, it has taken 20 or 30 years for their federal recognition to be processed through the Interior Department and that needs to be fixed, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the committee's chairman.
"The administrative process is broken," he said.
President Barack Obama has pledged support for the Lumbee Tribe, which has sought federal recognition for more than a century. The administration has not said whether it will support recognition of the Virginia tribes.
Regarding the Virginia tribes, Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said "in most circumstances we prefer the uniformity and certainty provided by the existing administrative process."
The six Virginia tribes, which have around 3,000 members, have been seeking recognition since the 1990s. They are the Eastern Chickahominy, Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Monacan and Nansemond tribes.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine told lawmakers earlier this year that the identities of tribal members were stripped away by Virginia's Racial Integrity Act, a state law in effect from 1924 to 1967. Racial identifications of those without white ancestry were changed to "colored" on birth certificates during that period.
There are an estimated 55,000 Lumbee Indians in North Carolina's Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland counties. Congress has been considering federal recognition for the tribe since before the first bill was introduced in 1899.

Business Valuations in NJ

A business (also called firm or an enterprise) is a legally recognized organizational entity designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. A business needs a market. A consumer is an essential part of a business. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit to increase the wealth of owners. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. Notable exceptions include cooperative businesses and state-owned enterprises. Socialistic systems involve either government, public, or worker ownership of most sizable businesses.

In some specialized businesses, there may also be licenses required, either due to special laws that govern entry into certain trades, occupations or professions, which may require special education, or by local governments who just want your money. Professions that require special licenses run the gamut from law and medicine to flying airplanes to selling liquor to radio broadcasting to selling investment securities to selling used cars to roofing. Local jurisdictions may also require special licenses and taxes just to operate a business without regard to the type of business involved.

GENEVA – The U.N. Human Rights Council voted Friday to endorse a Gaza war crimes report and send it to the Security Council, possibly setting up international prosecution of Israelis and Palestinians accused of war crimes.
The council approved a Palestinian-backed resolution after two days of debate on the Goldstone report, which it had commissioned following the Dec. 27-Jan. 18 conflict in which almost 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
The resolution passed 25-6, with mostly developing countries in favor and the United States and five European countries — Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine _opposing.
Eleven mostly European and African countries abstained, while Britain, France and three other members of the 47-nation body declined to vote. Russia and China, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, were among those voting yes.
"The clock on the report starts now," said Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, adding that he hoped the Security Council in New York would take up the report.
If the report is considered by the 15-member Security Council, the U.S. is likely to use its veto to block any call for getting the International Criminal Court involved in the dispute over Gaza or taking action against Israel.
The 575-page report, compiled by an expert group led by Judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure during its incursion into the Gaza Strip to root out Palestinian rocket squads.
It also accused Palestinian armed groups including Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through rocket attacks on southern Israel.
In Ramallah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed Friday's vote.
"What is important now is to translate words into deeds in order to protect our people in the future from any new aggression," Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.
Israel and the U.S. called the Goldstone report "flawed" because it ignored Israel's right to defend its people from Palestinian rocket fire. They warned that the vote could jeopardize Middle East peace prospects.
Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, also said endorsing the report could have far-reaching consequences.
"Whoever votes in favor of endorsing the report must understand that next time it will be the soldiers and officers of NATO in Afghanistan, and then Russian soldiers and officers in Chechnya," Lieberman said late Thursday.
U.S. diplomat Douglas M. Griffiths told the council that Washington was disappointed with the outcome of the vote.
"We're focused on moving forward in the peace process and we feel that this is a distraction from that," Griffiths told The Associated Press.
The resolution — which also condemns recent Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem — endorses the report's recommendation that both sides in the conflict should show the Security Council within six months that they are carrying out credible investigations into alleged Gaza abuses. If they are not, the matter should then be referred to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo had no comment Friday on a possible war crimes probe into the Gaza conflict.
Prosecutors are analyzing a declaration in January in which the Palestinian Authority accepted the court's authority over territory it controls — something only sovereign nations are allowed to do.

Palestinians filed their recognition in the hope that if the court accepts it, Moreno Ocampo would then have jurisdiction to launch an investigation into war crimes committed by both sides during the Gaza conflict even without an order from the Security Council.

Israel does not accept the court's jurisdiction.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged both sides earlier this week "to carry out impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations into reported violations of human rights and humanitarian law."

___

Associated Press Writer Mike Corder in The Hague and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

SAN FRANCISCO – President Barack Obama, who has called on Americans to perform more community service, is joining former President George H.W. Bush in urging citizens to volunteer.
Bush on Friday was to host a forum on volunteering at Texas A&M University, to be attended by Obama, who initiated a "United We Serve" call to service in June that culminated in a national day of service on the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The forum is affiliated with the Points of Light Institute, an organization that honors people and groups who participate in community service. Bush created the Daily Point of Light Award in 1989 to honor volunteers. The forum will be held at the A&M campus at College Station, Texas, where Bush's presidential library is located. It was expected to draw students, faculty and Points of Light award winners. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a former president of the university, was planning to attend as well.
As a candidate, Obama promised to make a call to public service a cornerstone of his presidency.
On the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this year, on Jan. 19, the day before Obama's inauguration, the president-elect, Hollywood stars and thousands of other Americans volunteered across the country.
In April, Obama signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which tripled the size of the AmeriCorps community service program.
And in late June, when Obama kicked off the call to service program, he and his family worked with other volunteers at Fort McNair in Washington and helped load 15,000 backpacks with books, healthy snacks and toys for children with parents in the armed forces.
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On the Net:
George Bush Presidential Library: http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu

PHILADELPHIA – All Cole Hamels had to do to regain his dominant form was stop trying to be too perfect.
Hamels pitched a two-hitter, Ryan Howard drove in the only run with a fourth-inning double and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Hamels (8-8) allowed a leadoff double to Ryan Garko in the second inning and a single to pinch-hitter Rich Aurilia to start the ninth. He struck out nine and walked one in his fourth career shutout and second this season. The left-hander extended his scoreless innings streak to 19, tying a career best, and won for the first time since July 28 against Arizona.
"I really tried not to stress myself out and go out and not try to be too good," Hamels said. "All I can do is throw strikes and let the team behind me take care of it."
Hamels learned a valuable lesson when he got roughed up by the New York Mets' B team two weeks ago. He allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings against an injury-depleted lineup that was missing most of its regulars.
"Getting roughed up by bench guys, you have to put things in perspective," Hamels said. "I was overdoing."
Jonathan Sanchez (6-11) was the hard-luck loser for the Giants. He allowed one run and three hits, striking out eight in six innings.
The NL East-leading Phillies have won 15 of 20 and have a 7 1/2-game cushion over Atlanta.
The Giants fell a game behind wild-card leader Colorado.
"We got good pitching. We just got beat," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said.
For much of this season, Hamels hasn't pitched like the guy who was MVP of the NLCS and World Series last October. But he was outstanding in his previous start, tossing eight scoreless innings in Philadelphia's 4-1, extra-inning win at Pittsburgh last Wednesday.
He was sharp right from the start of this one, mixing a sharp fastball with his trademark changeup and an effective curve. Hamels retired 24 in a row after Garko's hit.
"When he gets going, he keeps it for a while. That's what we're looking for. He looked like the old Cole," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Rockies 8, Mets 3
At Denver, Todd Helton hit a three-run homer and Colorado snapped a five-game skid.
Carlos Gonzalez also homered for the Rockies, who grabbed sole possession of the wild-card lead as they started a 10-game homestand against losing teams.
Jason Giambi made his Rockies — and National League — debut in the seventh when he batted for the pitcher with the bases loaded and drew a four-pitch walk from Sean Green.
All-Star third baseman David Wright went 1 for 3 with a single and scored in his first game for the Mets since getting beaned by San Francisco's Matt Cain on Aug. 15.

Braves 4, Marlins 3

At Miami, Tim Hudson pitched effectively in his return to the majors, following a rain delay of 2 hours, 50 minutes.

Hudson (1-0) gave up two runs in 5 1-3 innings in his first big league start since having elbow ligament replacement surgery almost 13 months ago.

Brian McCann and Garret Anderson each had an RBI, and the Braves took advantage of a balk by starter Anibal Sanchez (2-6) to beat the Marlins for the second straight night. Atlanta is three games behind Colorado for the wild card, while Florida fell five back.

Cardinals 7, Brewers 6

At St. Louis, Matt Holliday's three-run homer snapped a seventh-inning tie, lifting Joel Pineiro (14-9) to his eighth straight win.

Albert Pujols added his major league-leading 42nd homer for the Cardinals, a major league-best 26-9 since acquiring Holliday in a July 24 trade with Oakland. They are 30-4 since July 1 in starts by their big three — Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Pineiro.

Ryan Franklin earned his NL-leading 37th save in 39 chances.

Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 3

At Los Angeles, Matt Kemp homered for the fourth consecutive game and right fielder Andre Ethier preserved the lead with an outstanding catch in the eighth.

Ethier also drew a bases-loaded walk that broke a seventh-inning tie. Jonathan Broxton earned his 30th save, ending Arizona's five-game winning streak.

Cubs 4, Astros 1

At Chicago, Milton Bradley homered and Randy Wells (10-7) became the first Cubs rookie to reach 10 wins since Kerry Wood in 1998. Carlos Marmol got his seventh save.

Reds 11, Pirates 5

At Cincinnati, Craig Tatum drove in four runs to double his previous career total and Justin Lehr (4-1) overcame control problems, sending Pittsburgh to its sixth consecutive loss.

The Pirates are four defeats shy of becoming the first major American professional team to string together 17 straight losing seasons. Cincinnati has won three straight and eight of 10.

Padres 4, Nationals 1

At San Diego, Clayton Richard (4-1) took a shutout into the seventh and fellow rookie Will Venable made another spectacular catch.

Richard, one of four pitchers acquired from the Chicago White Sox for ace Jake Peavy on July 31, struck out six. Heath Bell got his 33rd save as the Padres beat the Nationals for the 30th time in 39 games.

Washington has lost five straight and 12 of 15.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It is one thing to trust in God, but quite another to be ordered to rely on protection from above during national emergencies, a judge has ruled.
Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate said in Wednesday's decision that references to a dependence on "Almighty God" in the law that created the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security is akin to establishing a religion, which the government is prohibited from doing in the U.S. and Kentucky constitutions. Ten Kentucky residents and a national atheist group sued to have the reference stricken.
"It is breathtakingly unconstitutional," said Edwin Kagin, national legal director for American Atheists Inc. in Union, "and Judge Wingate goes to great detail as to why it is."
The judge wrote in the 18-page ruling: "The statute pronounces very plainly that current citizens of the Commonwealth cannot be safe, neither now, nor in the future, without the aid of Almighty God. Even assuming that most of this nation's citizens have historically depended upon God, by choice, for their protection, this does not give the General Assembly the right to force citizens to do so now."
The language in the 2006 legislation had been inserted by state Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville, a pastor of Christ is King Baptist Church in Louisville.
Riner said he planned to ask Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway to seek a reconsideration of the order. Conway has 10 days to do that, and 30 days to appeal.
"They make the argument ... that it has to do with a religion," Riner said, "and promoting a religion. God is not a religion. God is God."
A spokeswoman for Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway says he has not yet decided whether to appeal.
The state Office of Homeland Security was created in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, Wingate said in the order, and two amendments added to the statute creating the office were at issue.
One required that training materials include information that the General Assembly stressed a "dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth." The other required a plaque to be placed at the entrance to the state's Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort that said, in part, "the safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."
Wingate noted in the order that there are 32 references to God or Almighty God in state statutes and the state constitution.
But the reference in the homeland security law "places an affirmative duty to rely on Almighty God for the protection of the Commonwealth," Wingate wrote. "This makes the statute exceptional among thousands of others, and therefore, unconstitutional."
Riner said he was not willing to consider rewording the phrases to make them pass muster.
"This is no small matter, the understanding that God is real," he said. "There are real benefits to acknowledging Him. There was not a single founder or framer of the Constitution who didn't believe that."
(This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling of Riner's name in penultimate graf.)

NEW YORK – Author Dominick Dunne, who told stories of shocking crimes among the rich and famous through his magazine articles and best-selling novels such as "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," died Wednesday in his home at age 83.
Dunne's son, actor-director Griffin Dunne, said in a statement released by Vanity Fair magazine that his father had been battling bladder cancer. But the cancer had not prevented Dunne from working and socializing, his twin passions.
In September 2008, against the orders of his doctor and the wishes of his family, Dunne flew to Las Vegas to attend the kidnap-robbery trial of O.J. Simpson, a postscript to his coverage of Simpson's 1995 murder trial, which spiked Dunne's considerable fame.
In the past year, Dunne had traveled to Germany and the Dominican Republic for experimental stem cell treatments to fight his cancer. He wrote that he and actress Farrah Fawcett were in the same cancer clinic in Bavaria but didn't see each other. Fawcett, a 1970s sex symbol and TV star of "Charlie's Angels," died in June at age 62.
Dunne discontinued his column at Vanity Fair to concentrate on finishing another novel, "Too Much Money," which is to come out in December. He also made a number of appearances to promote a documentary film about his life, "After the Party," which was being released on DVD.
Dunne, who lived in Manhattan, was beginning to write his memoirs and, until close to the end of his life, he posted messages on his Web site commenting on events in his life and thanking his fans for their support.
Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter praised Dunne as a gifted reporter who proved as fascinating as the people he wrote about.
"Anyone who remembers the sight of O.J. Simpson trying on the famous glove probably remembers a bespectacled Dunne, resplendent in his trademark Turnbull & Asser monogrammed shirt, on the court bench behind him," Carter wrote in a statement released Wednesday. "It is fair to say that the halls of Vanity Fair will be lonelier without him and that, indeed, we will not see his like anytime soon, if ever again."
Earlier this summer, Dunne was well enough to attend a Manhattan party hosted by Tina Brown. Chatting with an Associated Press reporter, he spoke of Michael Jackson, who had recently died, and remembered lunching with the singer and Elizabeth Taylor. Jackson was so excited to see her, Dunne said, he presented her with a diamond necklace just for the occasion.
Dunne was part of a famous family that also included his brother, novelist and screenwriter John Gregory Dunne; his brother's wife, author Joan Didion; and his son.
A one-time movie producer, Dunne carved a new career starting in the 1980s as a chronicler of the problems of the wealthy and powerful.
Tragedy struck his life in 1982 when his actress daughter, Dominique, was slain — and that experience informed his fiction and his journalistic efforts from then on.
"If you go through what I went through, losing my daughter, you have strong, strong feelings of revenge," Dunne said in 1990 in discussing his novel "People Like Us," in which the protagonist shoots the man convicted of killing his daughter.
"As a novelist, I could create a situation in which I could do in the book what I couldn't do in real life. I intended for Gus (the character in the book) to kill the guy. But when I got to that part I couldn't write it. He wounds him and goes to prison himself for a couple of years."
He was as successful as a journalist as he was as a novelist and spent many of his later years in courtrooms covering high profile trials. Writing for Vanity Fair, he covered such cases as the William Kennedy Smith rape trial in 1991 and the trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, accused of murdering their millionaire parents, in 1993.
"You're talking about kids who had everything — the cars, the tennis courts, swimming pools, credit cards. And yet this happened," he said at the time of the Menendez trial.
As much as those trials riveted the nation, they were far overshadowed in 1994 when football great O.J. Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. With a trial that stretched out over a year and cable TV outlets providing endless coverage, the bespectacled Dunne became a familiar face to millions.
"I especially like to watch the jurors," Dunne explained to Fox TV during the trial. "I always pick out about four jurors who become my favorites. I sort of try to anticipate what they are thinking and how they are reacting."

He called his book on the Simpson trial, "Another City, Not My Own," "a novel in the form of a memoir." It, too, reached the best-seller lists.

"Every word is true, but it's written in the style of a novel," he said.

From the gritty world of the courtroom during the day, he would move into the glamorous realm of high society at night, dining with the rich and famous, charming them with his inside stories of the Simpson trial.

He was a colorful raconteur and his stories mesmerized listeners. He was a much sought after dinner guest on both coasts and in the glamour capitals of Europe where he frequently traveled. He was a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, interviewing members of royalty and movie stars.

His assignments took him to London to cover the inquest into Princess Diana's death and to Monaco to look into the mysterious death of billionaire Edmond Safra.

He continued appearing regularly on television, and in 2002 debuted a weekly program on Court TV, "Power, Privilege and Justice."

"I am openly pro-prosecution and make no bones about it," he told the San Francisco Chronicle that year. "I don't think there are enough people out there sticking up for victims."

The show gave him an added dose of celebrity when it was distributed in foreign countries.

He had already been working on "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," a fictionalized retelling of a sensational 1950s society murder, when his 22-year-old daughter Dominique was strangled by her former boyfriend, John Sweeney, in 1982, shortly after she had completed her first movie, "Poltergeist."

Sweeney was convicted only of voluntary manslaughter, not murder, and was freed after serving less than four years of a six-year sentence. The verdict was seen as a major victory for the defense, and Dunne bitterly told the judge in court, "you withheld important information from this jury about this man's history of violent behavior." He later told the Los Angeles Times the sentence was "a tap on the wrist."

In a 1985 AP interview, Dunne said he nearly stopped writing when Dominique was slain.

"I was going to stop the book," Dunne said. "I didn't want to do a book that dealt with a murder. But my book editor wouldn't let me quit. She was incredibly sympathetic and lenient on time. I'm glad now that she didn't let me quit."

"People Like Us" and "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles" were both turned into miniseries, and he stressed he had nothing to do with the changes the TV scriptwriters made.

"If I had wanted it that way, I would have written it that way," Dunne told TV Guide, referring to changes made in the key character in "People Like Us" to make him more sympathetic.

Among his other books were the 1993 "A Season in Purgatory," that helped revive interest in the 1975 slaying of teenager Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Conn. A Kennedy relative, Michael Skakel, was convicted in the killing in 2002.

He also wrote "An Inconvenient Woman" and "The Mansions of Limbo."

In 1999, Dunne published a memoir called, "The Way We Lived Then," a compilation of photographs of him and his family with famous people and his recollections of the glamour life he and his wife Lenny enjoyed for many years.

Dunne was born in 1925 in Hartford, Conn., to a wealthy Roman Catholic family and grew up in some of the same social circles as the Kennedys. In his memoir, he traced his fascination with Hollywood to a childhood trip he took "out West" with an aunt. They took one of those home of the stars bus tours and he vowed to come back and be part of the glamorous world he had glimpsed.

He served in the Army during World War II and graduated from Williams College in 1949.

While in the Army, he was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism in 1944 for carrying two wounded men to safety at the Battle of Merz in Feisberg, Germany.

He wrote that, "Winning a medal was the only thing I can ever remember doing that won any admiration from my father."

At Williams College in Massachusetts, he and a fellow student, Stephen Sondheim, appeared in plays together. After college, he went to New York where he landed a job in the fledgling TV industry as stage manager of the "Howdy Doody" children's show. NBC brought him to Hollywood to stage manage the famous TV version of "The Petrified Forest' with Humphrey Bogart.

Among his credits as a producer were the TV series "Adventures in Paradise" and "The Boys in the Band," a pioneering 1970 drama about gay life. Two of his films, "The Panic in Needle Park" and "Play It As It Lays," were written or co-written by his brother John and sister-in-law Didion.

He was invited to celebrity parties and said he decided then, "This is how I want to live."

But Dunne said his years living the high life in Hollywood left him divorced, broke and addicted, and he moved to a cabin in Oregon to dry out and to start over as a novelist. While his brother was the famous Dunne at that time, the Times said, "nowadays, (Dominick) Dunne is far better known."

John Gregory Dunne died in 2003.

Dunne and his wife, Ellen Griffin Dunne, known as Lenny, were married in 1954. They divorced in the 1960s but he wrote that afterward they remained close nonetheless. She died in 1997.

Beside Dominique, they had two sons, Alexander and Griffin. Griffin has acted in such films as "An American Werewolf in London" and "After Hours." He branched into directing and producing as well, with "Fierce People" and "Practical Magic" among his credits.

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Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles and AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.