Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., center, flanked Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., center, flanked Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate voted Tuesday to effectively block the Justice Department from undertaking gun-smuggling probes like the flawed "Operation Fast and Furious" aimed at breaking up networks running guns to Mexican drug cartels but that lost track of hundreds of the weapons, some of which were used to commit crimes in Mexico and the United States.
The 99-0 vote would block the government from transferring guns to drug cartels unless federal agents "continuously monitor or control" the weapons. The amendment's sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the vote "just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement."
The Justice Department has already stopped the program.
A Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Congress did not ask the department for its views, said the amendment essentially reflects DOJ policy.
In an interview Tuesday with ABC News, President Barack Obama said "we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected."
The vote came as the Senate debated a $128 billion spending measure that would fund Justice Department operations and those of several other Cabinet agencies for the 2012 budget year already under way.
Operation Fast and Furious was a gun-smuggling investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives aimed at tracking small-time illicit gun buyers up the chain to major traffickers in an effort to take down arms networks. In the process, ATF agents lost track of many of the weapons.
Fast and Furious came to light after two assault rifles purchased by a now-indicted small-time buyer under scrutiny in the operation turned up at a shootout in Arizona where Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry was killed.
The operation has caused something of a firestorm in Washington and is the focus of an investigation by House Republicans, who have questioned whether Attorney General Eric Holder has been candid about all he knows about the botched operation.
Holder already has called a halt to the practice of allowing guns to "walk" in an effort to track them to arms traffickers, saying in a recent letter to lawmakers that "those tactics should never again be adopted in any investigation."
In the past two weeks, two gun-trafficking investigations from the Bush administration have surfaced using the same controversial tactic for which congressional Republicans have been criticizing the Obama administration on Fast and Furious.
Emails obtained by The Associated Press show how in a 2007 investigation in Phoenix, ATF agents ? depending on Mexican authorities to follow up ? let guns "walk" across the border in an effort to identify higher-ups in gun networks. Separately, it was disclosed that ATF agents carried out an operation in 2006 called Wide Receiver that resulted in hundreds of guns being transferred to suspected arms traffickers.
Fast and Furious was designed to respond to criticism that the agency had focused on small-time gun arrests while major traffickers had eluded prosecution.
As recently as 11 months ago, the Justice Department's inspector general criticized ATF for focusing "largely on inspections of gun dealers and investigations of straw purchasers, rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns."
The IG said some ATF managers discourage agents from conducting complex conspiracy investigations that target high-level traffickers.
___
Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.
Early this morning, markets in Europe were booming.
The DAX was up 1.7%.
Now it's just barely higher.
The euro has faded too.
The cause? Basically some comments from Wolfgang Schaeuble and Merkel about how there wouldn't be a complete solution at next weekend's EU summit.
As we mentioned, European leaders have a pretty tall order ahead of them in just the next few days, at least if the rhetoric from the G20 is to be believed.
"The Solo Cup: How the disposable drinking vessel became an American party staple," by Seth Stevenson. Ever since it hit the American marketplace in the 1970s, the red drinking cup manufactured by Solo has been a staple of the college kegger. But the company recently redesigned the cup?s most distinguishing characteristics: It ditched the round bottom for a square one and slapped on side grips for sticky Budweiser fingers. ?Stevenson concludes that the changes make the cups slightly less appealing. But, he reassures readers, the newly designed cups work just as well for drinking games.
"Monster Truck Mamas: Who knew that crushing junk cars is an excellent part-time job for working mothers?" by Margaret Eby. Forget the PTA. Cool working moms drive monster trucks in their spare time, Eby writes. In this piece, Eby heads out to the racetrack and hears firsthand from the female pioneers of a sport that has long been known for its hyper-masculine culture and mostly male drivers. One of the few obstacles for mothers, Eby learns, is that it?s tough transitioning back to the carpool lane after driving over junked minivans all day.
"Go Ahead, a Little TV Won?t Hurt Him: Why doctors? prohibitions on screen time for toddlers don?t make sense," by Farhad Manjoo. If you?re a parent who feels guilty letting the TV baby-sit ?every now and then, you should go easy on yourself?especially if your kid is watching educational programs, Manjoo writes. Although some research indicates that excessive tube watching is harmful to children?s attention spans, the science is hazy on whether a moderate amount of television for kids is also a bad idea. ?
"Are Americans Secretly Homesick? According to a new history, we were never a nation of rugged individualists. We were?and still are?nostalgic homebodies," by Libby Copeland. Americans are famous for their rootlessness. Our national heroes are revered for bravely setting out into uncharted territory. But as Copeland notes in her review of Susan J. Matt's new book, Homesickness: An American History, the tradition of homesickness on the frontier was just as potent as the pioneering spirit. ?In one story in Matt?s book, two sisters venture off to a nearby farm, only to discover they miss the familiarity of home. They eventually head back and are relieved to find that nothing on the homestead has changed: ?the scent of flowers and the sound of ice tinkling in the milk-pitcher, the raspberries and sponge cake on the tea table, their mother dressed in white.?
"Go Slow To Go Fast: Why highways move more swiftly when you force cars to crawl along at 55 mph," by Tom Vanderbilt. You?ve been there before. You?re on the highway in the fast lane and in a hurry. But there?s a slowpoke in front of you who?s interfering with your urge to press on the gas pedal. You might want to keep your frustration in check, Vanderbilt writes, because several new experiments in Colorado suggest that when all the cars on the highway go more slowly, everyone gets to where they want go faster. Does this sound impossible? Read Vanderbilt?s article and find out why it might not be.
"Water, Water Everywhere: What?s the best-tasting kind of water?" by Julia Felsenthal. These days, shopping for bottled water is like shopping for a pair of designer jeans. You?re inundated with choices, and it can be tough to know which brand to settle on. Felsenthal decided to solve this problem by organizing a bottled water taste test, which she carried out with the help of Slate staffers. The results are in and the reviews are telling. One well-known luxury water found itself on the less favorable end of the spectrum: A staffer compared the taste to the liquid that?s ?wrung out from sweaty socks.? Ouch.
MLK Memorial plans have been dogged by controversy over links to China. The MLK Memorial was built by a Chinese sculptor from Chinese granite. But backers are pleased with the result.
The stern, bulky visage of Martin Luther King Jr. now gracing the National Mall has brought forth tears of joy and redemption from onlookers. But for some Americans, the massive monument will forever be marred by where it was made: China.
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The MLK Memorial was created by Chinese master sculptor Lei Yixin and the Dingli Stone Carving Co. out of 159 pieces of pink Chinese granite, and, its defenders say, is intended to embrace Dr. King's legacy as a global icon.
"Martin Luther King is not only a hero of Americans, he also is a hero of the world, and he pursued the universal dream of the people of the world," Mr. Lei said through a translator in August, before hurricane Irene pushed back the dedication of the memorial to Oct. 16.
To be sure, the ultimate arbiters will be onlookers, and so far those closest to King have been pleased. "This particular artist, he has done a good job," Martin Luther King III, King's son, told USA Today.
But as America prepares to dedicate its first National Mall monument to an African-American, the process continues to dog the product.
At issue are two philosophical ideas: One is that a sculptor's job is to simply put into stone the vision of a patron, and the other is that art is the reflection of its creator.
It's not the first time such questions have dogged US monument patrons. The decision to use a French sculptor to carve the likeness of Robert E. Lee for a late 19th century monument in Richmond, Va., was met with ?a lot of rumbling and grumbling? from Confederate veterans, who argued that only a Virginian could sculpt an appropriate likeness of Lee, says Kirk Savage, a University of Pittsburgh art historian.
Mr. Savage, the author of this year's "Monument Wars," a book about the transformation of the National Mall, sees an equivalent in the debate over a Chinese sculptor carving King.
?The idea is that a portrait likeness is supposed to be more than the features of a person, should convey the character or soul of that person, and that a Chinese person can't do that [with King],? he says. ?But the fact is a competent, good artist can certainly do a better job than somebody who is not a competent artist, but who has a personal connection.?
Someone new to King's legacy, as Lei was, could even offer a fresh look at a face so familiar to Americans, he adds.
Aerospace engineer honored by NASA receives NJIT alum honor Public release date: 14-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sheryl Weinstein 973-596-3436 New Jersey Institute of Technology
When Neil Armstrong took one small step for a man and a giant leap for mankind on the moon in 1969, he did so with the help of many people. They were the thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians who helped to make the Apollo moon-landing program a national triumph. Those individuals included NJIT alumnus Stanley Barauskas, who recently received one of six NJIT Alumni Awards.
Barauskas, fascinated by space travel as he grew up in Jersey City, avidly read science fiction and watched TV "space operas" like Tom Corbett Space Cadet and Rocky Jones Space Ranger. In elementary school, he recalls, "I wrote an essay about how I wanted to become a chemist and work on fuel for rockets."
Space flight was much more than grist for imaginative entertainment when Barauskas enrolled at NJIT's Newark College of Engineering. U.S. technological complacency had been shaken by the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite and its development of nuclear-armed missiles. In 1961, the year that Barauskas graduated, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth, followed in catch-up mode by Alan Shephard's sub-orbital flight.
These events and President John F. Kennedy's inspiring commitment to surpass the Russians by landing humans on the moon gave Barauskas the opportunity for a fulfilling aerospace career. But it's a career that actually began by chance. At NCE, Barauskas earned a degree in mechanical engineering, a discipline he found more appealing than chemistry. Upon graduation, he considered jobs in various fields, not necessarily one related to space.
Fortuitously, Barauskas saw a newspaper ad placed by General Dynamics, a major aerospace contractor. The ad led to his working on the first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile, the Atlas. Moving to California and eventually to employment with North American Aviation, Barauskas was responsible for the installation and operational certification of the attitude-control rocket engines critical to guiding the Apollo service and command modules to the moon. After the moon program ended in the early 1970s, he contributed his expertise to the Skylab missions and the symbolically significant linkup of U.S. Apollo and Russian Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit.
Next, with Space Shuttle contractor Rockwell International, Barauskas worked on the system that powered hydraulic operation of the main engine valves upon takeoff and flight control when the Shuttle descended through the atmosphere to land. He was involved with this aspect of Shuttle technology until the recent final mission of the program.
As a Manned Flight Awareness Honoree, Barauskas has been accorded NASA's highest tribute to professional abilities that support the human presence in space. He has also received two Astronaut Achievement Awards, presented to individuals personally selected by those who have flown in space for contributions to mission safety and success.
Barauskas acknowledges the considerable economic challenges of manned space flight, and that private-sector companies may be able to take over transporting humans to the International Space Station at acceptable cost. Robotic craft also have their place in exploring the depths of space.
"But only humans have the resourcefulness to react to the unexpected in ways that exploration really requires, as well as the intelligence and imagination that lead to important discoveries," he says.
When it comes to the cost of returning humans to the moon and traveling on to the asteroids and Mars, Barauskas asserts that the worth of such journeys should not be judged by short-term profit. He is sure that the knowledge gained would ultimately yield invaluable dividends for all of humanity.
###
NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 9,558 students pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 120 programs. The university consists of six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, College of Computing Sciences and Albert Dorman Honors College. U.S. News & World Report's 2010 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities. NJIT is internationally recognized for being at the edge in knowledge in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. Many courses and certificate programs, as well as graduate degrees, are available online through the Office of Continuing Professional Education.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Aerospace engineer honored by NASA receives NJIT alum honor Public release date: 14-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sheryl Weinstein 973-596-3436 New Jersey Institute of Technology
When Neil Armstrong took one small step for a man and a giant leap for mankind on the moon in 1969, he did so with the help of many people. They were the thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians who helped to make the Apollo moon-landing program a national triumph. Those individuals included NJIT alumnus Stanley Barauskas, who recently received one of six NJIT Alumni Awards.
Barauskas, fascinated by space travel as he grew up in Jersey City, avidly read science fiction and watched TV "space operas" like Tom Corbett Space Cadet and Rocky Jones Space Ranger. In elementary school, he recalls, "I wrote an essay about how I wanted to become a chemist and work on fuel for rockets."
Space flight was much more than grist for imaginative entertainment when Barauskas enrolled at NJIT's Newark College of Engineering. U.S. technological complacency had been shaken by the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite and its development of nuclear-armed missiles. In 1961, the year that Barauskas graduated, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth, followed in catch-up mode by Alan Shephard's sub-orbital flight.
These events and President John F. Kennedy's inspiring commitment to surpass the Russians by landing humans on the moon gave Barauskas the opportunity for a fulfilling aerospace career. But it's a career that actually began by chance. At NCE, Barauskas earned a degree in mechanical engineering, a discipline he found more appealing than chemistry. Upon graduation, he considered jobs in various fields, not necessarily one related to space.
Fortuitously, Barauskas saw a newspaper ad placed by General Dynamics, a major aerospace contractor. The ad led to his working on the first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile, the Atlas. Moving to California and eventually to employment with North American Aviation, Barauskas was responsible for the installation and operational certification of the attitude-control rocket engines critical to guiding the Apollo service and command modules to the moon. After the moon program ended in the early 1970s, he contributed his expertise to the Skylab missions and the symbolically significant linkup of U.S. Apollo and Russian Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit.
Next, with Space Shuttle contractor Rockwell International, Barauskas worked on the system that powered hydraulic operation of the main engine valves upon takeoff and flight control when the Shuttle descended through the atmosphere to land. He was involved with this aspect of Shuttle technology until the recent final mission of the program.
As a Manned Flight Awareness Honoree, Barauskas has been accorded NASA's highest tribute to professional abilities that support the human presence in space. He has also received two Astronaut Achievement Awards, presented to individuals personally selected by those who have flown in space for contributions to mission safety and success.
Barauskas acknowledges the considerable economic challenges of manned space flight, and that private-sector companies may be able to take over transporting humans to the International Space Station at acceptable cost. Robotic craft also have their place in exploring the depths of space.
"But only humans have the resourcefulness to react to the unexpected in ways that exploration really requires, as well as the intelligence and imagination that lead to important discoveries," he says.
When it comes to the cost of returning humans to the moon and traveling on to the asteroids and Mars, Barauskas asserts that the worth of such journeys should not be judged by short-term profit. He is sure that the knowledge gained would ultimately yield invaluable dividends for all of humanity.
###
NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 9,558 students pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 120 programs. The university consists of six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, College of Computing Sciences and Albert Dorman Honors College. U.S. News & World Report's 2010 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities. NJIT is internationally recognized for being at the edge in knowledge in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. Many courses and certificate programs, as well as graduate degrees, are available online through the Office of Continuing Professional Education.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
File - In this Nov. 18, 2010 file photo, a magnifying glass is used to illustrate an excerpt from the Top Internet Service Goggle Maps, recorded in Bremen, Germany. Google Inc., releases quarterly financial results Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011, after the market close. (AP Photo/dapd, Joerg Sarbach, File)
File - In this Nov. 18, 2010 file photo, a magnifying glass is used to illustrate an excerpt from the Top Internet Service Goggle Maps, recorded in Bremen, Germany. Google Inc., releases quarterly financial results Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011, after the market close. (AP Photo/dapd, Joerg Sarbach, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Mounting worries about another global recession haven't shaken Google.
The online search and advertising leader's third-quarter earnings, released Thursday, are the latest reminder of how Google's position as the Internet's dominant gateway has spawned a business that endures economic turbulence better than most companies.
"When I look back at the last quarter, the word that springs to mind is, 'Gangbusters,' Google CEO Larry Page crowed during a Thursday conference call with analysts.
Investors quickly chimed in with their approval as Google's stock price surged more than 6 percent. The stock climbed $35.94 to $594.93 in extended trading after the release of results.
The third-quarter numbers painted a picture of a company operating in a bubble of prosperity amid a sputtering economy.
Even as a stubbornly high unemployment rate vexes the U.S., Google added nearly 2,600 more workers to its payroll to guarantee that 2011 will be the biggest hiring year in the company's 13-year history. Google ended September with more than 31,500 workers, an increase of 28 percent, or nearly 7,000 jobs, from the end of last year.
While the U.S. economy's growth is shrinking, Google's is accelerating. The company's third-quarter revenue of $9.7 billion was 33 percent higher than the same time last year. It marked the fourth consecutive quarter that Google's year-over-year revenue growth has climbed.
Google earned $2.7 billion, or $8.33 per share, in the three months ending in September. That was up 26 percent from nearly $2.2 billion, or $6.72 per share, a year earlier.
If not for expenses covering employee stock compensation, Google would have earned $9.72 per share. That figure easily beat the average estimate of $8.77 per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
After subtracting the commissions that Google pays its advertising partners, Google's revenue stood at $7.5 billion ? about $200 million above analyst projections.
Google is doing well because of the reach of its search engine and the effectiveness of its ads. Google processes about two out of three searches in the U.S. and an even higher percentage in Europe and other parts of the world. Those searches provide Google with the traffic and marketing insights prized by advertisers.
Internet ads also are generally less expensive than print and broadcasting campaigns, making online promotions less susceptible to corporate cutbacks during tough times.
But not all online ad sellers do as good a job as Google. Yahoo Inc. and AOL Corp., a pair of Internet pioneers that started before Google, have been struggling mightily ? something that isn't expected to change when those companies report their third-quarter results. Yahoo's numbers are out next month while AOL will release its results Nov. 2.
Google is also helped by its expansion into mobile phones with its popular Android software. The company's mobile revenue is now running at about $625 million per quarter, Page said Thursday. He sounded confident that mobile will become an even bigger moneymaker with next week's scheduled release of updated Nexus phone from Samsung and Google's proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of cell phone maker Motorola Mobility Inc.
Page is also bullish on Google's 3 ?-month-old Plus service, a social networking alternative to Facebook's online hangout. With 800 million users, Facebook is widely seen the biggest threat to Google. Plus has more than 40 million users, Page said.
As well as Google is doing, it won't be immune if the economy tumbles into a recession. Google's growth slowed dramatically during the first half of 2009 as a financial crisis caused the deepest recession since World War II. But Google never cut back as dramatically as most companies during the last recession and bounced back much more quickly.
Many analysts are more concerned about Google's Motorola Mobility acquisition, which is still under review by the U.S. Justice Department. Google is buying Motorola primarily for about 17,000 patents, but it also plans to manufacture cell phones ?an area of technology that's not as lucrative as Internet search. Owning Motorola also could alienate Samsung and other handset makers that currently use the Android software.
For now, Google's third-quarter should bolster Wall Street's faith in Page, who initially got a cool reception from investors when he replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO six months ago. Google has now blown past analyst forecasts with Page calling the shots in each of the past two quarters. Although the company has usually topped analyst projections since it went public seven years ago, Google has been clearing Wall Street's hurdles by a greater margin under Page.
Google would have made even more money, if not for Page's determination to invest heavily in projects, people and computers that he believes the company needs to become even more powerful.
Excluding employee stock compensation, Google's operating expenses rose by nearly 40 percent to $6.1 billion.
Page has offset some of the higher spending by jettisoning Google services that haven't been paying off. He told investors he has dumped about 20 products so far, enabling Google employees can focus more on more promising areas like Plus and its Chrome Web browser, which now has more than 200 million users.
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Public release date: 14-Oct-2011
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