Long-Term Investing Using Historical Low Price-To-Book Valuations ...

Disclosure: I am long BRK.B, GS. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

One of the long term investing methods that I employ is to find stocks that continually increase their book value per share (or tangible book value per share) over an extended period of time (years or decades). While screening for these companies, I allow small year over year declines (in the 20% or less region) assuming that this does not consistently happen. In general, the book value should be increasing year in and year out. I also rule out any companies that have a single occurrence of a large year over year decline in their book value. Needless to say, this becomes a very small list of companies.

Once a company passes this screen, a model is built to define an upper and lower valuation trend line based on historical price to book ratios. This is a must. If one buys great companies at historical high valuations, it can be decades before he or she might see a gain on this purchase. Needless to say, buying at an attractive valuation is very, very important. It is highly important to know what your downside risk in the stock may be after your purchase, and the lower valuation trend line is helpful in this regard. You must be comfortable holding the stock at your purchase price if the market temporarily heads lower, and your stock trades down to the lower valuation trend line. Knowing this ahead of the time may help one to hold the security during a rough patch in the market and not get "scared out" at an inopportune time.

After this, the third step in the process is to use technical analysis to aid in the actual entry level. This can be when a stock trades down to a former support level or is breaking out of resistance levels.

I have identified four companies that appear to have very nice entry levels based on this method. I will present two of them below, and I will have a follow up article for the other two.

The first company is Goldman Sachs (GS).

The last time that Goldman Sachs had a decrease in its tangible book value per share was in 2007 and it was a decrease of 15%. Goldman has a nice record of increasing its tangible book value per share year in and year out. Even during the great recession of the last few years, Goldman has been rock solid. See the graph below that illustrates this.

(click to enlarge)

Figure 1: GS Tangible Book Value Per Share

Next, we'll look at the upper and lower valuation trend lines based on historical tangible book value per share.

(click to enlarge)

Figure 2: GS Historical Price with Upper and Lower Valuation Trend Lines

The lower valuation trend line is set to be approximately 0.8 times tangible book value. This would set a lower valuation for GS of approximately $118.50 per share. With the stock trading at the $128 level, this gives downside of only 7.5% with a tremendous amount of upside based on historical valuations.

The chart for GS currently points to a very good entry level as well. It has had a breakout of a cup with handle pattern near the $126 level. The chart can also be viewed as a major double bottom with a break out level of approximately $128.

(click to enlarge)

Figure 3: GS Two Year Price Chart

Based on all the criteria presented above, Goldman Sachs seems to be presenting a very good long term risk/reward entry level for patient long term investors.

The second company is Berkshire Hathaway, (BRK.A and BRK.B).

In the last twenty years, Berkshire has only had a book value decrease of 6.25% in 2001 and 9.5% in 2008, quite an impressive record. See the graph below that illustrates this.

(click to enlarge)

Figure 4: BRKB Book Value Per Share

Next, we will look at the upper and lower valuation trend lines based on historical book value per share.

(click to enlarge)

Figure 5: BRKB Historical Price with Upper and Lower Valuation Trend Lines

The lower valuation trend line is set to be approximately 1.0 times book value. This would set a lower valuation for BRKB of approximately $75 per share. With the stock trading at the $128 level, this gives downside of only 16.67% with a tremendous amount of upside based on historical valuations. Also, the company has just announced a stock buyback that can occur at a premium of 20% (increased from 10%) above the book value. This would be in the area where the stock is currently trading. This may put a floor under the stock at the current levels.

Now let's look at the charts. BRKB seems to have broken above resistance at the $86-$88 level. This again is at their just announced stock buyback level. A second level of support seemed to have developed near the older buyback level of $82.

(click to enlarge)

Figure 6: BRKB Two Year Price Chart

Based on all the criteria presented above, Berkshire Hathaway also seems to be presenting a very good long term risk/reward entry level for patient long term investors.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1081491-long-term-investing-using-historical-low-price-to-book-valuations?source=feed

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Teachers with guns is a crazy idea (CNN)

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93% The Sessions

All Critics (151) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (141) | Rotten (10)

Achieves its sunny disposition by pulling punches.

A funny, tender and mostly unsentimentalized movie about physical and emotional triumph.

Forced to do all his acting with his face, Hawkes displays the kind of camera-arresting capability that has earned others Oscar nominations.

This is a crowd-pleaser of the finest sort.

Using only his tilted head, his eyes, nose, and mouth and that quizzical voice, Hawkes brings O'Brien to life.

This is one of the best, and certainly one of the best-acted, films of the year. I can't think of another film that mixed compassion and carnality in such an eloquent way.

The laughs are always gentle, which is descriptive of the film as a whole, as it strives to reconnect cinematic sex with shared humanity.

Vera is something of a missed opportunity here.

A movie about sex that shows a whole lot of sex, but isn't sex-obsessed. The Sessions grabs you in the heart rather than the loins.

An inspiring tale that celebrates the human spirit, underscores the value of connections, and laughs at the beautifully embarrassing urges that make us what we are.

Deeply moving. The Oscar-worthy (John) Hawkes invests his character with a sense of grace and humor that nullifies any potential pity. This is a great movie for adults and even for older adolescents.

It is rare to watch a movie where sex is treated with maturity, religion is treated with respect and characters are so heart-warmingly written and portrayed.

Raw, unrestrained and sympathetic without giving in to melodrama, 'The Sessions' is about a man facing a physical challenge who decides he wants to become intimate with a woman.

An intelligent, funny, insightful film that offers a frank examination of sex. It's not prurient or titillating, just truthful.

A remarkable actor, John Hawkes, gives a remarkable performance as a remarkable character.

Surprisingly funny and touching.

Presents the sensitive O'Brien as a brave, funny, unselfish and unlikely romantic-fantasy dream hero for disappointed, weary or jaded older female moviegoers.

The uplifting struggle for living a life of dignity for paralyzed from the neck down polio victim Mark O'Brien.

The sex scenes are frank and explicit, but never cheap and exploitative. (Yes, they get naked. Grow up.) The nudity isn't airbrushed pin-up perfection, but raw and real - and all the more lovely and moving because of it.

Taking the good with the bad, this isn't a terrible movie, though it is being rather overhyped. I found myself laughing a lot and enjoying the transformations the actors go through, but an unengaging story only serves to drag it down.

A film, inspired by the life of the late poet-journalist Mark O'Brien, that celebrates the relationship between physical and emotional intimacy.

Not just another weepy drama of overcoming odds, a My Left Foot with a different appendage. The Sessions is often brazenly funny, not from shocking dialogue but characters reacting the way people do, especially with such a flustering subject as sex.

an unusually frank and frequently humorous meditation on the transformative power of connection

Take away the nudity and the frank sex talk and you'd pretty much be left with a high-minded TV movie -- with unusually good actors.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_sessions/

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Iranian businessman denies EU sanctions-busting accusation

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian businessman named by the European Union for breaching sanctions against Iran denied any wrongdoing on Sunday, saying his bank and other companies did not work for the Iranian government.

"This is a mistake," Babak Zanjani told Reuters, speaking in his office in a high-rise tower in a financial district of Dubai a day after the sanctions came into force.

Neither his Malaysia-based First Islamic Bank nor his more than 60 other companies had done anything wrong, he said.

In the latest sanctions, agreed by the EU in October and put into effect on Saturday, Zanjani was subjected to "restrictive measures", forbidding EU companies or individuals doing Iran-related business with him.

The sanctions, aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear activities, include bans on financial transactions, sales to Iran of shipping equipment and steel, and imports of Iranian natural gas. The curbs are in addition to earlier bans, including on the OPEC producer's oil.

The new EU sanctions describe Zanjani as "a key facilitator for Iranian oil deals and transferring oil related money" and accuses First Islamic Bank of being used to channel Iranian oil-related payments.

Zanjani said the complex nature of his companies' transactions, involving large sums, might have misled EU authorities.

"I carry an Iranian passport and I send quite a lot of money to my companies all around the world. They must have thought we are up to something," he said.

Zanjani said there were 64 or 65 companies in his group operating in a range of industries such as cosmetics, food, oil and aviation. The website of his Sorinet Group shows at least a dozen company names, mostly based in the UAE, with some in Turkey.

He denied that his oil company, International Safe Oil, also added to the EU's list on Saturday, had any business with Iran's oil industry.

"I'd like them to show me how I work for Iran. For example they say we have ties with Iran's oil industry. I have an oil company but it has no links with Iran. We do business in Iraq," Zanjani said.

"I am an Iranian, if they had asked for such a help I could have, but they never did, I only do my private business."

He said that so far he had not received any negative reactions to the listing from his customers.

"We don't get financial support from the Iranian government. But this is bad for reputation," he said.

Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful but the European Union and the United States suspect it of pursuing weapons capability and hope the sanctions will restrict Iran's ability to advance the technology and force it to make concessions at negotiations.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-businessman-denies-eu-sanctions-busting-accusation-141202697.html

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Preparing for Emergency: Keeping the Lines of Communication ...

by Scott James,?December 23, 2012, 9:40 p.m.

The night was silent. Nani and Bill carefully crawled out of their bed, reaching underneath to pull out their hiking shoes. ?Was that an earthquake?? Bill asked. Nani replied, ?Either that or we just got hit by a semi truck.?

They heard glass shattering in the background. Nani flipped on her flashlight. ?Wow, what a mess,? Bill said as he looked around their bedroom. As they made their way to the front door with their Map Your Neighborhood guide, Bill tore off the last page. He affixed it to the outside of their door showing a large ?OK? to anyone passing by.

Nani tried both her cell phone and landline telephone. ?They?re both out.? she told Bill. ?Looks like our communication systems just went seriously low-tech.?

The desire for information is a common response after a natural disaster, which is made complicated when the disaster is widespread. Emergencies will knock out our normal means of communication and, unless we?ve done a bit of pre-planning, we?ll be left in the (informational) dark. In a widespread emergency, normal communications (telephone lines, cell towers) may not be restored for weeks to months, as we?ve seen in the aftermath of recent earthquakes and tsunamis. The information needed after an emergency ranges from broad (how widespread an area was affected, which dictates how soon help will arrive) to narrow (two people on our street need medical attention ASAP). By ensuring you have two-way communications to and from both your hyperlocal area as well as your region, you can make significantly better decisions for yourself, your family, and your neighbors.

Emergency Communication Strategies

As we learned in Dr. Johnson?s Map Your Neighborhood program, communications begin right away after a disaster with the placement of an OK sign or a HELP sign on your front door. Neighbors who have gathered and then sent out a team to canvas the street will use these signs to focus quickly on those most in need. Since we cannot rely on any technology communication such as telephones immediately after an emergency, this low-tech solution is both appropriate and efficient.

People Power.?Signs are one low-tech communication option. Bicycles, horses, and even a teenager from the cross country team are other possibilities for helping communications flow after a disaster that has blocked our roads from vehicular travel. Your daily walk will give you a good idea of how far you can travel by foot to solicit information from and share news with neighbors. Go! Bainbridge?is an organization dedicated to expanded nonvehicular travel and transportation around our town and a great resource for anyone walking, biking, or horse riding.

Two-Way Radios.?We can also leverage high-tech solutions during post-disaster Map Your Neighborhood safety sweeps, such as short-range two-way radios (also known as walkie talkies) that have been pre-charged or stored with fresh batteries removed but attached. Fast communication via these short-range devices is particularly important for more dense housing like apartment complexes where shouting for help to Map Your Neighborhood teammates will be ineffective as well as for exurban neighborhoods with more distance among homes.

Two-way radios are a useful addition to any go bag?and have value in nonemergency times when cell phones are not reliable, such as during hiking. Long-range two-way radios can transmit over distances from 5 to 20 miles. However, for both short- and long-range radios, keep in mind that the manufacturers grossly overstate the distance of effectiveness. Any obstruction to the signal (trees, walls, vehicles) will cause interference and lower the effective range.

Having at least one of these long-range radios in each neighborhood is important for communication with other neighborhoods and the emergency professionals in the area who are gathering information and coordinating relief efforts. Some disasters we can see coming?like a hurricane or a flood?and take appropriate measures. But many disasters, such as tornados or earthquakes, don?t announce themselves in advance. It?s for those unknowable emergencies that communication before the event is so important. A small bit of discussion and planning ahead of time can prepare a neighborhood. Part of that pre-planning includes equipping your street with the correct communications gear, since your local Ace Hardware will sell out of walkie talkies within the first 30 minutes of an emergency.

When looking at emergency weather radios and two-way communication devices (both short-range and long-range), remember to think through how to power those devices in a long emergency. After Hurricane Sandy, we saw citizens creating and sharing solar panel recharging hot spots on street corners. As we discussed in our article on energy, one set of chargers can power an entire street full of devices.

Let?s Talk Ham.?The use of both short- and long-wave handheld radios is important for family reunification plans that have wisely designated an out-of-area contact person to help coordinate the gathering of family members in a disaster area. But what to do when both cell and phone systems are down and you are trying to reach your out-of-area contact person? Ham radio bridges the gap between local communication and long-distance communication in a no-power scenario after a natural disaster.

Thankfully our town has an active radio club?that can connect the various parts of our small town even when our phone and cell systems have become overwhelmed and failed. David?Gutierrez of the Bainbridge Amateur Radio Club will work with the fire department in the aftermath of a disaster to reestablish communications across the town and beyond.

We currently have ham radio installations at several neighborhood shelters. Through Prepared Neighborhoods, we are recruiting more with the goal of having a shelter within walking distance of every neighborhood in our town. Post-disaster, after they secure their own family and immediate neighborhoods, local ham radio operators are to walk to their nearest shelter equipped with ham radio equipment so they can help with communications. These shelters?such as Islandwood?and the Senior Center?are being set up by Prepared Neighborhoods to provide for winter warmth and year-round communications with the emergency professionals in our town.

Emergency Operating Centers.?On Bainbridge Island, the fire department is responsible for training city employees in emergency preparedness, creating an Emergency Operating Center system, and encouraging Map Your Neighborhood preparation among citizens. I asked Assistant Fire Chief Luke Carpenter about our emergency procedures. He said,??The Emergency Operating Center (EOC) system exists to provide continuity of service for the governance of our island. It is a locus for information after a large disaster, for both the collection and dissemination of information. In an emergency, all community needs like public works come into our EOC. If our local resources can handle it, the resources get dispatched. If we can?t handle the request locally, we push it up to the county?s EOC, and the process repeats there with them pulling from their county resources. From there the request can quickly go up to state and federal levels for fulfillment.?

Carpenter gave an example specific to Bainbridge Island and the system of neighborhood shelters we are currently setting up: ?Let?s take fuel trucks as an example. If we lose power, the warming center at the Senior Center is activated. But if we lose power for an extended period, their propane-fired system will need to be refilled as it only has a six-day supply of fuel. That pending need comes to us, and our EOC looks at our facilities. Because there is no propane storage on the island, we would pass that request on to the next communication node off our island: the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management (KCDEM) EOC. The propane would likely be delivered via barge if the bridge is down and the ferries are not operating.?

Bulletin Boards.?Years ago our town had a bulletin board system in place for distributing information in situations in which Internet and telephone systems were inoperable. An acrylic holder was mounted outside Ace Hardware to protect the paper flyer that would be posted as part of that system. The system has since fallen by the wayside, but it could be resurrected quickly if citizens were to take responsibility for the its maintenance. An map of these bulletin board locations could be maintained by the Prepared Neighborhoods team for the use of our officials in an emergency.

Backup Communications Systems.?To further facilitate communications, Prepared Neighborhoods has contracted with the software development team Recovers?to create the backup systems that our town would be able to use?with or without power?for communications among neighborhoods, our shelters, and our professionals at the fire department. Bainbridge Island is the first Recovers project to be worked on before a natural disaster has struck (most of their clients are in the middle of experiencing a flood or the aftermath of a tornado).

The Recovers team has been quite responsive to our numerous change requests for tweaking their online tools to better fit a team working on preparedness rather than a team responding to an existing emergency. Caitria O?Neill is the CEO and Co-Founder of Recovers. We talk every week as we?re building out the Bainbridge Island site on their platform. I recently asked her specifically about the importance of communications.

Both disaster preparedness and recovery depend upon the ability of a community to communicate with itself and the outside world. Every community has a wide range of technical capability. There will be extremely tech-savvy households standing right next to a resident who chooses not to have any devices that connect to the Internet. When trying to reach people with information on how to prepare and recovery information in the case of a disaster, you have to keep this in mind. A working system has to continue to function when the web goes down in an emergency.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we saw a few amazing communication systems spring up. New York City residents with web connectivity and tech expertise scraped the Internet for information, updates, and explanations of how to access aid. They then shared this information using a variety of social media tools and other software. People who saw it could print off a resource sheet and distribute it in one of the ?dead zones? to those who could not access and collect this information themselves. Gaps in Internet access were covered by volunteers who knew that they could help by walking around with information on foot.

Really, the tools don?t matter as much as the plan. You can train residents right now where to find information to print and distribute after a disaster. You can leverage a door-to-door volunteer who is using an iPad or paper forms for data collection. The important thing is to start planning and to assume different levels of tech capability for each neighborhood.

Local Media.?In addition to leveraging communications experts from afar, we?ve also turned to experts in our own backyard to help our emergency preparedness professionals quickly and efficiently get out the word during and after emergencies. Our local go-to source for daily news on our island is called Inside Bainbridge,?published by Julie Hall and Sarah Lane (disclosure: Sarah is also one of my editors!). Just as other local citizens have their own Step 10 in the Map Your Neighborhood procedures, Sarah and Julie are on the hook for helping our fire department and local ham radio operators with navigating social media and texting for the dissemination of emergency response information. I asked Sarah about her preparation for post-disaster communication:

With our increased awareness of what happens to media in an emergency, in some ways it feels like we are returning to an older time, a time with a town crier or a posted broadside. But really what?s happening is we are learning to be more agile and to use the wide array of tools available to us. We start with our website. When that goes down, we use our phones and post via Twitter. When the cell towers are down, we turn to ham radio and send out news that way.

I feel we?re very fortunate to have a forward thinking Fire Department at the helm, inviting us to participate in the process early on, well before the emergency, because they have a good understanding of the options and the way the different technologies work and then stop working. They understand that commanding an audience and knowing how to deliver the news are essential, no matter what the medium.

Starting the Conversation Before the Disaster

Citizens can alleviate much of the pressure put on our preparedness professionals in a time of widespread crisis by coordinating efforts directly among neighborhoods to leverage our huge range of collective skills. As we discussed earlier, one Map Your Neighborhood street may have three medically trained citizens living on it, and another may have two structural engineers. When a disaster strikes, after each Map Your Neighborhood street has ensured its initial stability, residents can begin to communicate with other nearby streets to asses their needs. Being able to swap a nurse for a structural engineer greatly benefits both locations.

Communication is one of the building blocks to good relationships, whether it is with your spouse or the rest of your neighborhood. The success of your Map Your Neighborhood project relies on open dialogue with the rest of your neighbors at least once a year to update one other on any special needs, changes in the home, and additional skills you?ve learned that year that can be of benefit to the neighborhood.

Meeting the Neighbors.?We do our Map Your Neighborhood annual get-together as a post-holiday party each year, part of a ?we can survive another winter together? set of holiday parties, usually set in January after the business of the season has begun to wane a bit. We?ll spend ?about 45 minutes discussing Map Your Neighborhood and the rest of the evening socializing. But that?s just for our street.

Bainbridge Islander Leslie Marshall has spent several years combining individual streets in her Commodore neighborhood to form a cohesive Map Your Neighborhood group spanning 65 homes.

People have busy enough schedules that it is difficult to find a time that works for even a majority of the invitees, let alone everyone. What has worked for me is to go to every home in our neighborhood, explain to the adult who answers the door just what the MYN and Prepared Neighborhoods initiatives are all about, and have that person fill out the questionnaire right then. If no one is home when I visit or if it is just not a good time for a conversation, then I keep returning until I can have the chat and collect the data. (Some of the conversations continued for an hour or more!) If the person declines to participate (which happened for just two homes out of 65), I thank them and do not return.

This takes time but has the benefit of being good exercise in the fresh air for me! It also helps build trust. Some neighbors have, after our conversation, walked with me to their next-door neighbor to introduce me. I have gotten to know each of our neighbors personally through these conversations, and we chat briefly when I pass them by on my daily walks. We made an email distribution list, which has a secondary use when dealing with the rash of burglaries in our neighborhood about two years ago.

When I decided that our list really needed updating this year, it was much easier to collect the data?everyone except the newest neighbors knew me at least by name, and this time the data were going to our highly regarded Fire Department. Many thanked me for keeping us all informed and spontaneously offered even more assistance if any emergency did arise. This kind of approach obviously takes a lot of time, but the results are impressively thorough. And it is a great way for a newcomer (which I was when this all started) to get connected in a deep way to one?s community.

A Community Conversation. Communications about neighbors taking care of neighbors do not need to be limited to Map Your Neighborhood conversations. As we?ve been discussing in previous articles, the connection between emergency preparedness and sustainability in our neighborhoods spans multiple topics, from water and food to shelter and transportation.

Bringing interesting conversations to the forefront on a wide variety of topics important to citizens is the passion of Bainbridge Islander Ann Warman.?Ann?s most recent venture, VillageSpeak,is a forum in which local is put at the forefront. ?Local issues, local leaders, and local discussions? is the tagline for this forum that cultivates listening, learning, and engaging on issues important to the heart of a small town.

VillageSpeak was formed as a nonpartisan organization, to bring people together from all across town, connecting diverse voices and ideas. We wanted to deepen neighborly exchange and create a regular forum to explore local issues from many different perspectives before challenges hit the fire, not just during and after.

Connected community gives character to place. It?s through open conversations that town involvement deepens, that mutual concern is elevated, and that new paths are discovered, cultivating our community as a responsive, safe place for individuals and families. Building community is a process that spans the lifetime of a village and its people. Our town thrives when inclusion, collaborative discussion, and civic participation are honored and encouraged.

As Ann described, conversations within our neighborhoods about preparedness are not just relegated to what we do during and after an emergency. To build true resiliency and create true sustainability in our community and our individual lives, we can take action now. Rather than just lamenting the latest natural disaster or foolishly thinking ?it can?t happen here,? consider taking action instead. Start with a discussion with just a few of your neighbors about checking in on each other after a disaster. And enjoy the peace of mind those new relationships bring.

Related Posts:

Preparing for Emergency

Preparing for Emergency: Developing Resilience Within a Community

Preparing for Emergency: Starting with Food

Preparing for Emergency: Water?The Precious Resource

Preparing for Emergency: Come on Baby Light My Fire

Preparing for Emergency: Gimme Shelter

Disaster Preparedness Part 5: Bainbridge Hoods Organizing

Disaster Preparedness Part 4: Your New Year?s Resolution

Disaster Preparedness Part 3: Family First

Disaster Preparedness Part 2: People Get Ready

Disaster Preparedness Part 1: The Fire Department Takes Over?

Map Your Neighborhood Party This Evening: Get Prepared

Scott James is an entrepreneur, advisor, investor, and the founder of Prepared Neighborhoods, a program of Sustainable Bainbridge. More details at www.scottjames.me. Join the conversation about this series in the comments below or at?www.preparedneighborhoods.com.

Photos by Richard Topalovich, Matt Debnam, teofilo, Alan Turkus, Peter Fristedt, Jim Champion, and Bill Stilwell.

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?2012 Inside Bainbridge. All rights reserved. This material, including original photographs, may not be rewritten, republished, redistributed, or broadcast without permission.

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2 firefighters die in ambush at blazing NY house

Map locates Webster, N.Y. where firefighters were shot

Map locates Webster, N.Y. where firefighters were shot

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) ? A gunman ambushed four volunteer firefighters responding to an intense pre-dawn house fire Monday morning outside Rochester, N.Y., killing two before ending up dead himself, authorities said. Police used an armored vehicle to evacuate more than 30 nearby residents.

The gunman fired at the firefighters when they arrived shortly after 5:30 a.m. at the blaze near the Lake Ontario shore in Webster, town Police Chief Gerald Pickering said. The first Webster police officer who arrived chased the suspect and exchanged gunfire with him, authorities said.

"It does appear it was a trap" for the first responders to the fire, Pickering said at a news conference.

Authorities didn't say how the gunman died or whether anyone might have died in the fire itself.

One of the dead firefighters was also a town police lieutenant; it wasn't clear whether he returned fire. An off-duty police officer who was driving by was injured by shrapnel, Pickering said.

The fire started in one home and spread to two others and a car, officials said. The gunfire initially kept firefighters from battling the blazes. Police say four homes were destroyed and four damaged.

The West Webster Fire District learned of the fire early Monday after a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said.

The fire appeared from a distance as a pulsating ball of flame glowing against the early morning sky, flames licking into treetops and reflecting on the water, with huge bursts of smoke billowing away in a brisk wind.

Two of the firefighters arrived on a fire engine and two in their own vehicles, Pickering said. After the gunman fired, one of the wounded men managed to flee, but the other three couldn't because of flying gunfire.

A police armored vehicle was used to recover two of the men, and eventually it evacuated 33 people from nearby homes, the police chief said.

The dead men were identified as Police Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, the Webster Police Department's public information officer; and Tomasz Kaczowka, also a 911 dispatcher, whose age was not released.

Pickering described Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" with nearly 20 years with the department, and called Kaczowka a "tremendous young man."

The two wounded firefighters, Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino, were in guarded condition in the intensive care unit at Strong Memorial Hospital, authorities said. Both were awake and alert and are expected to recover.

Hofsetter, also a full-timer with the Rochester Fire Department, was hit once in the pelvis, and the bullet lodged in his spine, authorities said. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.

Monday's shooting and fires were in a neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes set close together across the road from the lakeshore. The area is popular with recreational boaters but is normally quiet this time of year.

"We have very few calls for service in that location," Pickering said. "Webster is a tremendous community. We are a safe community, and to have a tragedy befall us like this is just horrendous."

O'Flynn lamented the violence, which comes on the heels of other shootings including the massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"It's sad to see that that this is becoming more commonplace in communities across the nation," O'Flynn said.

Webster, a middle-class suburb, now is the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row.

Last Dec. 7, authorities say, a 15-year-old boy doused his home with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, 16 and 12. His mother and 13-year-old sister escaped with injuries. He is being prosecuted as an adult.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-24-Fire-Shooting/id-60a4537255984bb78bf9e23d3b89b414

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A banner day in the English Premier League (Powerlineblog)

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Stock market is a wild card in fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress and the White House can significantly soften the initial impact of the "fiscal cliff" even if they fail to reach a compromise by Dec. 31. One thing they cannot control, however, is the financial markets' reaction, which possibly could be a panicky sell-off that triggers economic reversals worldwide.

The stock market's unpredictability is perhaps the biggest wild card in the political showdown over the fiscal cliff.

President Barack Obama's re-election gives him a strong negotiating hand, as Republicans are increasingly acknowledging. And some Democrats are willing to let the Dec. 31 deadline pass, because a rash of broad-based tax hikes would pressure Republicans to give more ground in renewed deficit-reduction negotiations.

A chief fear for Obama's supporters, however, is that Wall Street would be so disgusted or dismayed that stocks would plummet before lawmakers could prove their newfound willingness to mitigate the fiscal cliff's harshest measures, including deep, across-the-board spending cuts that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says could significantly damage the nation's military posture. Some Republicans believe that fear will temper the president's insistence on a hard bargain this month. Obama and GOP House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday held their first meeting between just the two of them since the election, and spokesmen for both emphasized afterward their lines of communication remain open.

The so-called cliff's recipe of major tax hikes and spending cuts can actually be a gentle slope, because the policy changes would be phased in over time. Washington insiders say Congress and the White House would move quickly in January or February to undo many, but not all, of the tax hikes and spending cuts.

Financial markets, however, respond to emotion as well as to research, reason and promises. If New Year's headlines scream "Negotiations Collapse," an emotional sell-off could threaten the president's hopes for continued economic recovery in his second term, even if Republicans receive most of the blame for the impasse.

"Nobody can predict the markets' reaction," said Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.

Some Republicans are surprised that the White House has not made clearer efforts to reassure Wall Street that if the Dec. 31 deadline is breached, the worrisome pile of tax increases and spending cuts would not hit all at once.

A few liberal commentators are making just that case.

"If we go past the so-called fiscal cliff deadlines and all the resulting budget cuts and tax increases come into force, the administration can minimize the damage," Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote last week. "Obama can publicly announce he is delaying any cuts, on the theory that Congress will eventually vitiate some of them. And he can make sure the bond markets know of his plans well in advance. ... Everyone (especially Wall Street) should calm down."

Some financial bloggers agree. "Although it would be bad to let the spending cuts and tax hikes fully go into effect, if this thing is addressed in early January, things will be okay," wrote Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal.

So far, the stock markets have stayed calm. The S&P 500 index is up 12 percent for the year.

That might be because investors agree that a temporary trip over the cliff wouldn't be too harmful. Chastened lawmakers, the thinking goes, would quickly minimize the economic damage with a deficit-reduction compromise that eluded them in December.

Or, it's possible that investors view the most pessimistic tones surrounding the fiscal cliff talks as posturing that will give way to a last-minute deal. If that is the thinking ? and if the Dec. 31 deadline instead is breached ? Obama's fear might come to pass: The expectation of a deal might produce a significant decline in stock prices if it doesn't occur.

As bad as that sounds, some liberals think it will be necessary to force many Republicans to drop their opposition to higher tax rates on the wealthy that Obama says are crucial to trimming the deficit.

Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat who says temporarily going over the cliff wouldn't be so bad, noted what happened on Sept. 29, 2008. The House surprised investors by rejecting a proposed bailout of the crisis-stricken financial sector. Republicans strongly opposed the plan despite then-President George W. Bush's support. The Dow plunged 777 points, its largest one-day point drop ever.

Four days later the House, shaken by the market reaction, passed a slightly modified bailout bill.

Welch said a similar market meltdown next month, in the event of a fiscal cliff impasse, "is what will force members of Congress eventually to act."

Few lawmakers in either party are eager to predict how the stocks and bonds markets would react to a failure to reach a fiscal cliff accord by year's end.

"Let's not pretend the markets fully understand the politicians, or the politicians fully understand the markets," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who has served in Congress for 37 years.

---

Follow Charles Babington on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbabington

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-10-US-Fiscal-Cliff-Markets/id-63fd147e89d044eaa11e84cd982e0060

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At Pa. Society Dinner, Senator Casey Won't Rule Out Run For ...

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey. (Credit: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images)

By Larry Kane

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ? The Pennsylvania Society Dinner, a collection of all people political, has ended in New York. It?s a weekend of parties and politics ? and this year, some news.

The most intriguing story: Pa. Senator Bob Casey has refused to rule out a run for Governor in 2014. Sources close to the Casey campaign say he just refuses to say ?no? at such an early date.

(KYW?s Larry Kane)

If Casey keeps his name out there, that poses problems to the people who say they want to run against Republican Governor Tom Corbett.

They were also at the big social gathering, spreading their interest. They include Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, who has hired the financial wizard who ran the finances of the Democratic Committee; Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord; and a newcomer, Philadelphia State Senator Mike Stack, who says he?s interested.

Meantime, Montgomery County Commission Chair Josh Shapiro was present, but making no commitments. His fellow commission member Bruce Castor made it very clear to Republican fund raisers that he?s interested in running against Governor Corbett in a primary.

But Casey?s not ruling out a run was the overriding story to come out of the New York gala.

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/12/10/at-pa-society-dinner-senator-casey-wont-rule-out-run-for-governor/

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India?s Taj Mahal: An Arabian Fantasy

As a child I was obsessed with the 1,001 Tales of the Arabian Nights.?I read every story I could find; practised sliding my head back-and-forth, palms together above my head, like an Arabian dancer; and painted murals on my bedroom walls of genies materializing out of bottles and fabulous, turret-topped maharajah palaces. Stories of the ?exotic and mysterious east? have always fascinated me, and travelling in India is often, truly, a dream come true for me.?But this manifestation of fantasy reached a new level recently when I visited Agra, the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri.

The Taj Mahal is everything and more than you imagine. It is one of the few times in life when no matter how much you have heard or read; no matter how many photographs you?ve seen; no matter how much hyperbole you?ve been exposed to: actually standing in front of the Taj Mahal exceeds every expectation you could possibly have by 1,001 miles.

It is the world?s most beautiful building. ?A teardrop on the face of eternity,? as Rabindranath Tagore said. Nothing prepares you for the size (enormous), the colour (translucent white), the symmetry (perfect). I have seen it before, six years ago, but when I walked through the gate I was just as flummoxed as the first time. It?s a bit like falling in love. You feel bowled over, and unsure of yourself. You?re not sure which way to look ? but you can?t get enough. You try to measure the size of the experience and your feelings, and you can?t. And you try and separate the myth from the reality, and it?s impossible.

The story behind Taj Mahal and its building?? which is, after all, a mausoleum ? is part of the structure, part of the experience. The Mughal emperor of India, Shah Jahan, began building it after the death of his beloved favourite wife Mumtaz. She had just borne him their 14th child (six survived). The statistics about the length of time it took to build, the number of workers, the amount of marble (quarried from Rajasthan) are as remarkable and I will not repeat them here.

For me, the Taj Mahal is all about the sheer magnificence in an overburdened land: it is located in Utter Pradesh, one of the hottest, poorest and most overpopulated states in India. Around it is extensive grounds, surrounded by a buffer area that is meant to protect the Taj Mahal from smog: no industry and no cars are allowed within several kilometres.

But then, when you get away from the Taj Mahal zone, and enter the city of Agra, you are confronted with the reality of life in U.P. Agra is famously chaotic in a land of chaotic cities, and the infrastructure is a disaster. I always recommend that people visit Agra ? don?t let the stories of challenge deter you.

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Source: http://www.weblogtheworld.com/formats/featured/indias-taj-mahal-an-arabian-fantasy/

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Mayo has 40, Mavs win in McHale's return

HOUSTON (AP) ? O.J. Mayo scored 40 points, including 10 in the last three minutes, to lift the Dallas Mavericks to a 116-109 victory over the Rockets on Saturday night in coach Kevin McHale's return to the Houston bench.

James Harden had 30 points at halftime, but the Mavericks slowed him down in the second half. He scored just nine points in the second half.

McHale rejoined the team on Saturday after almost a month away from the team, and two weeks after the death of his daughter.

Chris Kaman added 20 points for Dallas, and Vince Carter and Darren Collison had 12 apiece.

A three-point play by Harden cut the Dallas lead to two points before a jump shot by Mayo made it 109-104. A 3-pointer by Toney Douglas seconds later put Houston back within two with about a minute to go, but Mayo's 3 seconds later extended the lead and the Mavericks held on for the win.

The Rockets battled back from a 19-point deficit with a strong second quarter to lead at halftime and were up by nine points with 7 1/2 to go. But Mayo got hot and the Rockets came up short as Dallas extended its winning streak in the series to eight games.

McHale took a leave of absence on Nov. 10 to be with his family as his daughter's health worsened. Alexandra "Sasha" McHale died Nov. 24 of complications from Lupus. She was 23.

Many of the Mavericks went over to McHale and hugged or patted him after introductions, and he received a standing ovation when the public address announcer welcomed him back to the team.

Dallas used a 13-2 run to take a 102-100 lead with about 4 ? minutes left. Carter scored five points to power the run, and Brandan Wright capped it with a dunk.

Chandler Parsons made the second of two free throws for the Rockets before Mayo scored five quick points to extend the Mavericks' lead to 107-101 with less than three minutes left.

Parsons finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Harden had nine assists and six rebounds.

The Rockets opened the second half with a 10-4 run to extend their lead to 76-67 with 8 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. The Rockets continued their hot 3-point shooting from the first half early in the quarter as Harden and Jeremy Lin both hit 3s to power that run.

Dallas got going after that and an 8-2 spurt got the Mavericks within 78-75 with about five minutes left in the third quarter.

Houston was up by eight near the end of the third quarter, but Jae Crowder's 3-pointer with 15 seconds left cut the Rockets' lead to 89-84 entering the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks were up by 19 points with less than two minutes left in the first quarter after a long 3-pointer by Carter and thanks in large part to a 16-point quarter by Mayo.

Houston used a 35-15 run after that to erase the deficit and take a 55-54 lead four minutes before halftime. Harden scored 17 points and Houston hit five 3-pointers in that stretch. Harden had two of them, and he waved three fingers to the crowd while running down the court after the second one.

The Rockets shot 70 percent and scored a season-high 42 points in the second quarter to just 40.9 percent shooting by the Mavericks to lead 66-63 at halftime.

NOTES: Houston's 42 second-quarter points marked the first time the Rockets have scored 40 points in a quarter since Dec. 31, 2010, against Toronto. ... Mayo has scored at least 20 points 11 times this season.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mayo-40-mavs-win-mchales-return-040510229--spt.html

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Cowboys' Brent arrested for drunk driving, crash kills teammate

(Reuters) - Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was arrested for drunk driving and charged with manslaughter on Saturday after a car he was driving crashed and killed teammate Jerry Brown Jr, in the second tragedy involving NFL players in a week.

Police in the Dallas suburb of Irving said that Brent, 24, was driving at high speed on a state highway at 2:21 a.m. when the car slammed into an "outside curb, causing the vehicle to flip at least one time before coming to rest in the middle of the service road."

Brown, who had been in the passenger seat, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later. Brent suffered "minor scrapes" and was booked into the Irving jail, where he remained on Saturday awaiting arraignment, police said.

"Officers at the scene believed alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash," police said, adding that Brent was given a sobriety test. "Based on the results and the officer's observations and conversations with Price-Brent, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated," Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said at a news conference.

Brown, 25, was a linebacker on the professional team's practice squad but had not played any games with the Cowboys. He had played in one NFL game for the Indianapolis Colts this season before joining the Cowboys.

Brown also played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 2011 and for two Arena Football League team, the Jacksonville Sharks in 2011 and the San Antonio Talons in 2012. Arena football is played indoors on a smaller field than NFL or Canadian outdoor football.

Brent, 24, has started in five games for the Cowboys and played 12 this season since regular starting defensive lineman Jay Ratliff was sidelined with injuries.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones issued a statement expressing his condolences to Brown's family.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of this accident and the passing of Jerry Brown. Our hearts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with the members of Jerry's family and all of those who knew him and loved him."

Brent remained in jail on Saturday and his bond will be set at his Sunday morning arraignment, police said. The drunk driving charge was upgraded to intoxication manslaughter, a second degree felony which is punishable in Texas by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

When police arrived on the scene of the accident after several 911 calls, part of the car was on fire. The 2007 Mercedes sedan was resting on its roof in the middle of the road, and Brent was dragging Brown out of the burning car, said Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz at a news conference.

Police believe, based on gouge marks and other physical evidence at the scene, that Brown was driving faster than the posted 45 miles per hour speed limit.

Argumaniz said the Texas police are still looking for witnesses to the crash, which did not appear to involve any other vehicles.

"There were people on scene," he said. "However, it's our understanding that no one saw what took place. They drove up after the accident."

Brent has been arrested for drunk driving before. While he was on the University of Illinois football team, he was arrested February 23, 2009, on a drunk driving charge, according to Champaign, Illinois, county records. He spent time in the county jail and was suspended from the team, according to local media reports. He eventually left school and was drafted by the Cowboys.

The Cowboys team, which has struggled to live up to high expectations this season with 6 wins and 6 losses, is playing the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati on Sunday.

The tragedy comes as the NFL is still reeling from the death of Kansas City Chiefs starting linebacker Jovan Belcher, who shot his girlfriend to death one week ago before driving to the team's training facility and killing himself in front of the coach and general manager.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks; Editing by Greg McCune and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cowboys-brent-arrested-drunk-driving-crash-kills-teammate-005356624--nfl.html

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Pro-Obama business group recruited small ... - The Daily Caller

A powerful Washington-based business organization that organized a series of fiscal-cliff policy discussions at the White House this week between senior Obama administration officials and local small business owners recruited each of the business owners to serve as community advocates and write op-eds supporting President Obama?s budget proposal, insiders believe.

The organization Business Forward has hosted more than 350 U.S. small business leaders over the last three weeks to discuss the fiscal cliff with senior officials in Washington, D.C., including White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett and White House Council of Economic Advisors chairman Alan Krueger.

The Business Forward Tumblr page features photographs of the specially-selected small business leaders engaged in workshops with the White House officials.

Though Business Forward has organized such workshops in the past, the organization?s Tumblr page was not updated with new photographs between March 19 and Nov. 19, when the current round of meetings on the fiscal cliff issue began.

Founded in 2009 to represent the business community in advocating for Obama?s economic policies, according to Washington insiders, Business Forward is a collaboration between some of the nation?s largest and most powerful companies.

?Members include Aetna, American Airlines, AT&T, CIT, Citi, Comcast, Dow, Duke Energy, Facebook, Fidelity, Ford, Hilton Hotels, HP, Intuit, Lockheed Martin, Nike, McDonald?s, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, Visa, United Health Group, AllScripts and Walmart,? according to the Business Forward website.

?These corporations work with Business Forward to identify, recruit and brief small business owners, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs of all kinds who are looking for a meaningful way to participate in policy debates,? according to the organization.

These small business owners include local success stories like Nancy Victor, president-elect of the San Antonio chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

?Nancy Victor is no stranger to the national scene,? gushed her hometown television station KSAT Nov. 26.?She ?went to the White House in June for talks on the local economy and job creation. Victor has been invited back to Washington, D.C., next week to give input about the talks surrounding the so-called ?fiscal cliff.??

Victor told KSAT that she was ?fortunate? to be invited to the White House. She also made a statement criticizing government spending cuts. Victor also said that Congress needs to ?move us forward.?

KSAT concluded the segment by mentioning Victor?s recent op-ed in the local Express News.

The small business owners ?recruited? by Business Forward don?t just participate in policy debates.

?They go back home and talk to their colleagues, their clients and their networks. They write op-eds, talk to reporters and talk about the need for a balanced approach,? Business Forward executive director Bert Kaufman told The Hill Thursday.

Though many of their op-eds are strikingly similar, none of them mention their affiliation with Business Forward.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/07/pro-obama-business-group-recruited-small-business-leaders-to-back-presidents-budget-plan/

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Boehner: No progress in fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a "fiscal cliff" combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January and called on President Barack Obama to produce a new offer.

Four days after House Republicans offered a plan to raise tax revenues and cut spending, Boehner told reporters that the White House has failed to outline its proposal and instead has pushed the nation closer to a fiscal cliff that economists warn could plunge the country into another recession. The two men also spoke privately by phone on Wednesday. Boehner described the conversation as pleasant, "but just more of the same."

"Since then, there's been no counteroffer from the White House," Boehner complained. "Instead, reports indicate that the president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow-walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff."

Boehner singled out for criticism White House aides who have said that Obama was willing to allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire on all Americans on Jan. 1 and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to kick in the next day. He called their comments "reckless talk."

Boehner repeated the long-standing Republican argument that raising tax rates would be detrimental to small businesses and "is not going to help our economy and it's not going to help those seeking work." Obama has insisted that any deal must include an increase in the tax rates for high earners.

But Boehner declined an opportunity to take a hard line on tax rates, skirting a direct question on whether he might be willing to accept some increase in the top tax rate, currently set at 35 percent.

"There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue that the president seeks on the table. But none of it's going to be possible if the president insists on his position ? insists on 'my way or the highway,' " Boehner said when asked whether he might be able to accept a compromise top rate of 37 percent. "That's not the way to get to an agreement."

The Republican leader pointed out that he had offered on Monday to raise tax revenues by $800 billion over the next decade by ending or reducing tax breaks, particularly on the wealthy. The Republican plan would cut spending by $1.4 trillion, including by trimming annual increases in Social Security payments and raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.

"When is he going to take a step toward us?" Boehner asked of Obama.

At the White House, officials used Friday's mixed jobs report, with its modest growth in hiring, as an argument to embrace Obama's plans to avoid the fiscal cliff with a package of rate hikes for the rich and public works spending and refinancing help for struggling homeowners.

"Most pressing, President Obama has proposed, and the Senate has passed, an extension of middle class income tax cuts that would prevent the typical middle class family from facing a $2,200 tax increase at the beginning of next year," said Alan Krueger, chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

Tax cuts enacted during President George W. Bush's first term are scheduled to expire Dec. 31 when they would automatically return to rates in place during President Bill Clinton's administration. Obama wants those increases only to affect households with earnings of more than $250,000.

Obama is insisting that rates for upper income taxpayers rise and also wants permanent authority to prevent Congress from blocking increases in the nation's borrowing limit. The government is on track to hit its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling later this month, though the Treasury could extend the day of reckoning to February.

Separately, top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California, called on GOP leaders to schedule a vote on Senate-passed legislation to hike the top two tax rates for individual income exceeding $200,000 and family income over $250,000.

"Why are you not bringing this to the floor?" Pelosi said. "Is this a forever, forever protection of the wealthiest people in the country at the expense of the middle class?"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-07-Fiscal%20Cliff/id-a76d8fad2dc9420cb04489935629964d

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Correction: People-PSY-Protests story

In a story Dec. 7 about the South Korean rapper PSY, The Associated Press erroneously reported the date of a charity concert where the singer is slated to perform. The concert is Sunday, Dec. 9, not Dec. 21. It will be broadcast on TNT on Dec. 21.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Viral rapper PSY apologizes for anti-US protests

PSY apologizes for anti-US protests; says they were 'deeply emotional' reaction to Iraq war

By CHRIS TALBOTT

AP Music Writer

South Korean rapper and Internet sensation PSY is apologizing to Americans for participating in anti-U.S. protests several years ago.

Park Jae-sang, who performs as PSY, issued a statement Friday after reports surfaced that he had participated in concerts protesting the U.S. military presence in South Korea during the early stages of the Iraq war.

At a 2004 concert, the "Gangnam Style" rapper performs a song with lyrics about killing "Yankees" who have been torturing Iraqi captives and their families "slowly and painfully." During a 2002 concert, he smashed a model of a U.S. tank on stage.

"While I'm grateful for the freedom to express one's self, I've learned there are limits to what language is appropriate and I'm deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted," he wrote in the statement. "I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused by those words."

The 34-year-old rapper says the protests were part of a "deeply emotional" reaction to the war and the death of two Korean school girls, who were killed when a U.S. military vehicle hit them as they walked alongside the road. He noted anti-war sentiment was high around the world at the time.

PSY attended college in the U.S. and says he understands the sacrifices U.S. military members have made to protect South Korea and other nations. He has recently performed in front of servicemen and women.

"And I hope they and all Americans can accept my apology," he wrote. "While it's important that we express our opinions, I deeply regret the inflammatory and inappropriate language I used to do so. In my music, I try to give people a release, a reason to smile. I have learned that thru music, our universal language we can all come together as a culture of humanity and I hope that you will accept my apology."

His participation in the protests was no secret in South Korea, where the U.S. has had a large military presence since the Korean War, but was not generally known in America until recent news reports.

PSY did not write "Dear American," a song by the Korean band N.EX.T, but he does perform it. The song exhorts the listener to kill the Yankees who are torturing Iraqi captives, their superiors who ordered the torture and their families. At one point he raps: "Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law, and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully."

PSY launched to international acclaim based on the viral nature of his "Gangnam Style" video. It became YouTube's most watched video, making him a millionaire who freely crossed cultural boundaries around the world. Much of that success has happened in the U.S., where the rapper has managed to weave himself into pop culture.

He recently appeared on the American Music Awards, dancing alongside MC Hammer in a melding of memorable dance moves that book-end the last two decades. And the Internet is awash with copycat versions of the song. Even former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, the 81-year-old co-chairman of President Barack Obama's deficit commission, got in on the fun, recently using the song in a video to urge young Americans to avoid credit card debt.

It remains to be seen how PSY's American fans will react. Obama, the father of two pop music fans, wasn't letting the news change his plans, though.

Earlier Friday, the White House confirmed Obama and his family will attend a Dec. 9 charity concert where PSY is among the performers. A spokesman says it's customary for the president to attend the "Christmas in Washington" concert, which will be broadcast Dec. 21 on TNT. The White House has no role in choosing performers for the event, which benefits the National Children's Medical Center.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-08-People-PSY-Protests/id-470a2140dcd245d4acd7bdcad139d34c

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