Qualifier in the lead as McIlroy barely makes cut

HUMBLE, Texas (AP) ? Steve Wheatcroft hates going to Monday qualifiers. He was reminded Friday why they can be worth it.

Wheatcroft, who narrowly qualified for the Houston Open at the start of the week, ran off three straight birdies early in his round and kept bogeys off his card for a second straight 5-under 67. That gave him a one-shot lead over D.A. Points and Jason Kokrak going into the weekend at Redstone Golf Club.

Rory McIlroy also will be around for two more days, but just barely.

In only his 10th full round of the year, McIlroy walked onto the seventh green ? his 16th hole of the day ? and saw that he was tied for 77th. He two-putted from 85 feet on the fringe for birdie on his next hole, and then safely found the green at the par-3 ninth for a 70. By the end of the day, McIlroy made the cut on the number.

"It a weekend where I can have a couple more rounds and try and get confidence in what I'm doing," McIlroy.

His big surprise came later. McIlroy, feeling as though he needs more rounds to get ready for the Masters, decided to enter the Texas Open next week.

Phil Mickelson also made the cut on the number after a bogey on the last hole for a 71. Mickelson, who has played the Masters with two drivers in the bag, decided to play Redstone on Friday with two 3-woods in the bag, though one of them is so strong it acts like a driver.

"If I can play like I did the back nine, I'm going to give myself a lot of birdie chances," Mickelson said.

Wheatcroft can't bank on anything.

Not only does he have no status on the PGA Tour, he has only conditional status in the minor leagues. After missing out on a Web.com Tour event last week in Louisiana, he figured he might as well enter the Houston Open qualifier Monday.

"Monday qualifiers are terrible. They're just not fun, plain and simple," Wheatcroft said. "I was on the PGA Tour in '07, played terribly. I had no status. So I had to be back to Monday qualifiers and pre-qualifiers the next year. I hate them."

Wheatcroft had some good sessions with swing coach Matt Killen, felt his game was getting better in the last month, and figured it was all about timing. He made it by one shot into the field, and he's playing well against a strong field at Redstone.

He was at 10-under 134, the first time he has ever been atop the leaderboard on the PGA Tour. The tournament is only halfway over, and Wheatcroft has been around long enough to not look too far ahead. Even so, this has Cinderella ramifications.

Wheatcroft can become the first Monday qualifier to win on the PGA Tour since Arjun Atwal at the Wyndham Championship in August 2010. A win would put him into the Masters for the first time, and perhaps more importantly, give him a two-year exemption.

A pair of 67s has given him confidence. A career bouncing around tours has given him perspective that it can all change.

"If I can be on top of the leaderboard at this point, I know I can keep playing well," he said. "There's no reason to think I can't. I've never won on the PGA Tour. I've won on the Web.com Tour ? I've won by 12. I know I can keep going forward. Who knows? I could shoot 61 tomorrow. I could shoot 81 tomorrow. I really don't know. I'm not going to sit here and think about it too much. I'm going to think about the first tee ball and we'll go from there."

Points had a 71 with 17 pars and one birdie. He didn't make anything on the greens, which he attributed to his putting stroke and firm, afternoon greens instead of the old putter he once borrowed from his mother.

"I made everything yesterday and made nothing today," Points said. "To be one shot back and be right in the mix is huge."

Kokrak at a 69 and will play in the final group with Wheatcroft, whom he knows well.

"I'm happy for him," Kokrak said. "I'm happy he's doing well. Hopefully, I can go out there and overtake the lead. Hopefully, I overtake him late Sunday."

Stewart Cink, winless since the British Open in 2009, showed more signs of getting his game on track. Cink contended in the Humana Challenge on late Sunday afternoon, and feels as if he's getting closer. He had a 66 and was tied for fourth with Brian Davis (70). Two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, the Argentine who has a home at Redstone, had a 72 and was four shots behind, along with Bill Haas (70) and Cameron Tringale (73).

Also lurking was Dustin Johnson, who threw away careless shots but was still only five shots out of the lead.

McIlroy remains a work in progress. He started slowly, not giving himself many birdie chances and hitting tee shots some 20 and 30 yards short of Johnson and Keegan Bradley. But the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland made birdie on the par-5 15th, followed with an 18-foot birdie on the 16th, and then cut loose with a tee shot that was some 20 yards beyond where Johnson hit his drive.

That wasn't an accident. McIlroy tends to hold back early in his round until he gets more comfortable with his scoring.

"The game is fickle," he said. "You make a couple of birdies, a few good shots, and your confidence goes up. A few bad ones, and it goes down a bit. I hit a couple of drive, and 17 is a good example, when I let it go and it's fine. It gets out there."

McIlroy said he hasn't played enough tournaments to get into that groove, and he was at least happy to have two more chances at the Houston Open. He headed to the practice range after lunch, and then decided to make sure he played some more by signing up for the Texas Open.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qualifier-lead-mcilroy-barely-makes-cut-001041103--spt.html

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Biggest Mistakes People do When setting up business online ...

I understand you've been there. You thought it was easy to make cash online through setting up a website or blog, buying a domain title or even picking up a free domain title through Blogger or Wordpress, connecting affiliate products to it from Clickbank or Clicksure, added some Adsense ads to develop some free cash, optimized the website by adding some actually good keywords, supplemented some content, then you've sat back and hoped that would appeal a allotment of free traffic and the cash would roll in. noise good, but regretful it doesn't rather happen like that. What people don?t appreciate is it still takes a bit of consistent hard work and sweat equity before the cash begins revolving in.

Here's a register of widespread mistakes people have made when trying to make cash online:

1. conceiving you need cash to start your online business. Well to start off with, you don't. You can set up a free blog through Blogger.com or through Wordpress and just pursue their tutorials. You can even proceed seek on Youtube and find out how to set up a free website or blog. If you desire to get begun Blogger is one of the easiest ways to start. It's fast, easy, and it's free, i.e. no monthly webhosting charge, no need to purchase a URL. one time you've set that up just connection some Adsense publicity into it, compose up some content or articles. proceed over to Ezine items and find some free content there and copy and paste that into your location. But just recall, give credit to the initial source. Read the copyright rules in Ezine items to save being penalized. But hey, you're just getting begun here. Of course the best data should arrive from you. You can add your own content subsequent when you get more self-assurance or have more time. Just get it started and get your location online. You don't have to be flawless because you can change it as you go. Then sign up into Clickbank marketplace, which is also free, and find some products to add to your location.

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2. Thinking you have to charter a Webmaster or Web designer to conceive a website or have a alallotmentment of know-how to a blog or website. Guess what? You don't. Just follow the tutorials in whichever location builder you desire to use, e.g. Blogger or Wordpress or seek Youtube or the web on how to. There's a allotment of free data out there. Use it to get begun. Start generating money first, and then maybe subsequent purchase other things to automate some of the work and free up some time.

3. Not having a goal. It's so significant to have a goal, and compose IT DOWN. Just compose it on a piece of paper, in a notebook. What I've habitually done is bought these really bargain school notebooks round the time they're on special, or just use your kid's old notebooks they haven't utilised. They're easy to carry round or shop away for easy get access to. Read your goals every forenoon and every evening if you can, a minimum of one time a day. You will be astonished at what that will do. Believe me, it works! When composing down your goals, use the intelligent. values: Be SPECIFIC, MEASUREABLE, ACHIEVABLE or ATTAINABLE,TIME-BASED. Set long term goals and then shatter them down into short term goals. It's significant to break down goals into tiny steps, e.g. daily goals. Have you perceived this, "How do you consume An Elephant? One bite at a time." That's how a goal should be; one step at a time - one bite at a time.

4. Not having a plan. You've got to have some sort of design. Would you build a dwelling without a design? No, I didn't think so. Not having a plan is like cruising a boat without a rudder. First of all, work out how much time you are going to consign to this enterprise. If you work full time as well and want this as a part time enterprise, work out how much time you can pay for to construct it. You can't use the excuse that you don't have sufficient time. Believe me, some of the most successful internet marketers in the world have started off working full time, and having other family firm pledge to contend with. It's a myth when they say you have to have 8 hours of doze a evening. You only need 4. Most people doze for about 7 to 8 hours a evening, but only 3 to 4 will be quality doze. You just need to learn how to relax or wind down before going to sleep. Read a book, read your goals, listen to some supple melodies. I go to bed about 10.30pm most nights and my interior clock wakes me about 4.30am. I'm up at 5.00am, ascertain emails and my enterprise until 6.00am and then do exercise for an hour (another item on it's own). shatter down each step. Here's certain thing to start you off:

? Set some Goals
? Find a niche market (Niche design)
? Find a merchandise or goods to sell on Clickbank
? conceive a Blog or Website
? Monetize your Blog, e.g. add some information, content or articles, add affiliate goods, Adsense, Keywords, etc.
? Drive traffic (Traffic Plan)

Of course these have to be broken down even further supplementing times to them as well (timeline). For me, when I started I expended a smallest of an hour a day in my business, discovering, supplementing content, creating traffic, checking email, supplementing remarks to Facebook and Twitter, etc. Remember if you had a laptop, intelligent phone or Ipad, you can be anywhere in the world construction this enterprise. Isn't technology large.

5. need of self-assurance in themselves. The best way to conquer this is construct up your information base. Search the internet for ways to construct up your confidence. Learn all about construction a enterprise online. All this data here will take time for you to work through. You will be employed through Clickbank tutorials, website tutorials, Youtube courses. A half an hour a day construction up the knowledge will pay off in the end. Just don't EVER give up. It took me 2 years to make cash online because my mind got overloaded and I just went off into different tangents. Of course the best way to do well at first is to follow somebody else who's been thriving, but their programmes can cost. Start off for free and then when you've got the cash subsequent, purchase programmes. But please be very cautious what you buy. There are allotments of scams out there, believe me, I discovered the hard way, but the good report occasionally you have to go wrong to win, that's how you discover. I want to save you from making those identical errors I did. If you're hesitant search Google and kind in the events they are trading then the phrases "scam". But read it correctly because occasionally these sites are just trying to take you away from a good merchandise and intice you into buying something they are encouraging.

6. Being a perfectionist. Yes this was my problem when I begun. I completed up trashing time tweaking this and tweaking that, and then completed up trashing a lot of time. Don't concern about being flawless at first. Just get your site on line. Make your website simple, don't add all the bells and whistles to it. Check other people's sites out - check out what's good and what's bad in their location.

7. Procrastination. I'm certain we all do it - procrastinate! This is where your goals and plan should kick in. compose every day goals (a every day list) of what you desire to accomplish. Try and attach to your plan and times you set for yourself.

8. Not being clear about a niche. aim on what you love. There are allotments of niches out there, e.g. weightloss, dog training, health, etc. Check out Google Adwords which is free. This will allow you to add a particular keyword, for example "dogs", and it will arrive up with what people are seeking for to do with that subject or niche. Again, aim on a niche that you love. It assists to hold inspired.

To discover more on how to make money or creating websites, just add your details in the Optin box overhead and I will email you three free ebooks on how to make cash. I will furthermore forward you a exact replicate of another great ebook on Blogging Simplified. Feel free to share other remarks or mistakes people can make while endeavouring to make cash.

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Source: http://www.updatenewsarena.com/2013/03/biggest-mistakes-people-do-when-setting.html

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Bungie shows off 'Destiny' characters on video

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 1 day

"Halo" creator Bungie has been sparing with details on the gameplay of its next big project, "Destiny," but liberal with concept art. The veil was lifted a little further Friday with the release of a video showing characters making the jump from concept to in-game model.

The video was shown at Bungie's panel at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. While it doesn't contain any actual gameplay, there's plenty of info to be extracted from the character models and animations.

For instance, the "Cabal" fighters are heavily armored and likely fill the role of tank. The three classes shown at the end ? Titan, Warlock, and Hunter ? fit neatly into the "warrior, wizard, rogue" archetypes already in place in thousands of games.

Sharp-eyed viewers will identify several influences, from "Warhammer 40K" and "Star Wars" to manga like "Appleseed" to, of course, Bungie's previous games. A batch of concept art was also released, which Kotaku has kindly collected here.

More substantial information about the game itself will likely be given out at E3 in June.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a254d92/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cingame0Cbungie0Eshows0Edestiny0Echaracters0Evideo0E1C9145348/story01.htm

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NICWA's Terry Cross: In Defense of Dusten Brown

PORTLAND,?Ore., March 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --?Terry Cross, the executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, released the following op-ed.

"He opted to look the other way. He should be absolutely ashamed of his character."
"He doesn't really care about the child."
?????????????????????Anonymous comments on media coverage of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl

At the heart of the case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl is the story of a father who desperately wants to raise his daughter. Dusten Brown is a good father and an honorable man who has found himself in extraordinary circumstances. He is also a parent who has weathered scathing criticism from a public largely miseducated on the facts of the case that brought him into a national spotlight that he never sought.

As followers of this case, what we know to be true can be found in court records. While the public relations firm retained on behalf of Adoptive Couple has been masterful in creating a withering narrative of Brown??spinning a tale of the deadbeat dad who waited two years before using a "legal loophole" to retrieve his daughter?it is clear that what makes for compelling PR doesn't always bode well for truth or decency.

In reality, court records paint a different portrait of Brown. Stationed at Fort Sill Army Base and engaged to be married when his daughter was conceived, Brown hoped to push his wedding date up so that his military benefits would provide for the mother and his child. Instead, the mother broke the engagement and cut off communication.

Shockingly little has been reported regarding Brown's military status and how it affected his daughter's removal to South Carolina and his subsequent efforts to contest adoption proceedings. In the months just after his daughter's birth, Brown was in the midst of intense pre-deployment preparations. He was being prepared to go to war.

Understanding this, attorneys for Adoptive Couple waited until days before his deployment to Iraq to serve him with notice of their intent to adopt his daughter. The process server threatened Brown with arrest when he questioned the true purpose of the papers he signed. Brown immediately sought legal counsel and took every legal measure he could to stop the attempt to adopt his child. He sought to have his daughter placed with his parents while he was in Iraq, a request staunchly opposed by Adoptive Couple.

Are these the actions of a deadbeat dad?

It took more than a year for Brown to fulfill his obligations to our country, completing his service honorably and admirably. Only upon his return could the adoption hearing occur. When the South Carolina Family Court finally heard the case, it denied Adoptive Couple's petition to adopt. More importantly, the court found that Brown "did not voluntarily consent to the termination of his parental rights or the adoption; and [that Adoptive Couple] failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Father's parental rights should be terminated or that granting custody of Baby Girl to Father would likely result in serious emotional or physical damage to Baby Girl."

When these are the facts, why have they been seldom mentioned? This winter, as I followed the case of another military father embroiled in a custody case that closely paralleled the one involving Brown, I often wondered this. In the case, Terry Achane, a U.S. Army drill instructor, won custody of his daughter from a Utah couple after it was revealed that his estranged wife cut off all communication with him while he was deployed and gave the child up for adoption without his consent.

While initially indicating they would fight the ruling, the Utah couple changed their minds. Their attorney explained that because they "love the child deeply and want her to succeed in life, they are willing to put her needs before their own hopes and desires and would rather drop the appeal than risk the child suffering potential psychological and emotional consequences."

The outpouring of support for Achane stands in stark contrast with Brown's treatment in the media. However, the tide is changing. The media has started to dig deeper in its reporting. As they do, more light is shed on Dusten Brown as a father and veteran. I can only hope that once these facts come to light, the same public that has vilified Brown will come to recognize him simply as a man who loves his daughter very much.

Terry Cross is a member of the?Seneca Nation?and the executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association in Portland, Oregon.

Media Contact: Nicole Adams, +1-503-754-0466, nicole@nicwa.org

SOURCE National Indian Child Welfare Association

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nicwas-terry-cross-defense-dusten-brown-023300981.html

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Iran, North Korea, Syria block U.N. arms trade treaty

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday prevented the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it was flawed and failed to ban weapons sales to rebel groups.

To get around the blockade, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant sent the draft treaty to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him on behalf of Mexico, Australia and a number of others to put it to a swift vote in the General Assembly.

U.N. diplomats said the 193-nation General Assembly could put the draft treaty to a vote as early as Tuesday.

"A good, strong treaty has been blocked," said Britain's chief delegate, Joanne Adamson. "Most people in the world want regulation and those are the voices that need to be heard."

"This is success deferred," she added.

The head of the U.S. delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman, told a group of reporters, "We look forward to this treaty being adopted very soon by the United Nations General Assembly." He declined to predict the result of a vote but said it would be a "substantial majority" in favor.

U.N. member states began meeting last week in a final push to end years of discussions and hammer out a binding international treaty to end the lack of regulation over cross-border conventional arms sales.

Arms control activists and human rights groups say a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

Delegates to the treaty-drafting conference said on Wednesday they were close to a deal to approve the treaty, but cautioned that Iran and other countries might attempt to block it. Iran, Syria and North Korea did just that, blocking the required consensus for it to pass.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told Iran's Press TV that Tehran supported the arms trade treaty. But Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the conference that he could not accept the treaty in its current form.

"The achievement of such a treaty has been rendered out of reach due to many legal flaws and loopholes," he said. "It is a matter of deep regret that genuine efforts of many countries for a robust, balanced and non-discriminatory treaty were ignored."

One of those flaws was its failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit "acts of aggression," ostensibly referring to rebel groups, he said. The current draft does not ban transfers to armed groups but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first.

'HELD HOSTAGE'

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari echoed the Iranian concerns, saying he also objected to the fact that it does not prohibit weapons transfers to rebel groups.

"Unfortunately our national concerns were not taken into consideration," he said. "It can't be accepted by my country."

North Korea's delegate voiced similar complaints, suggesting it was a discriminatory treaty: "This (treaty) is not balanced."

Iran, which is under a U.N. arms embargo over its nuclear program, is eager to ensure its arms imports and exports are not curtailed, diplomats said. Syria is in a two-year-old civil war and hopes Russian and Iranian arms keep flowing in, they added.

North Korea is also under a U.N. arms embargo due to its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Russia and China made clear they would not have blocked it but voiced serious reservations about the text and its failure to get consensus. A Russian delegate told the conference that Moscow would have to think hard about signing it if it were approved. India, Pakistan and others complained that the treaty favors exporters and creates disadvantages for arms importers.

If adopted by the General Assembly, the pact will need to be signed and ratified by at least 50 states to enter into force.

Several diplomats and human rights groups that have lobbied hard in favor of the treaty complained that the requirement of consensus for the pact to pass was something that the United States insisted on years ago. That rule gave every U.N. member state the ability to veto the draft treaty.

"The world has been held hostage by three states," said Anna Macdonald, an arms control expert at humanitarian agency Oxfam. "We have known all along that the consensus process was deeply flawed and today we see it is actually dysfunctional."

"Countries such as Iran, Syria and DPRK (North Korea) should not be allowed to dictate to the rest of the world how the sale of weapons should be regulated," she added.

The point of an arms trade treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons. It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law.

The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms exporter - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support an arms treaty.

Washington demanded that the conference be run on the basis of consensus because it wanted to be able to block any treaty that undermined the U.S. constitutional right to bear arms, a sensitive political issue in the United States. Countryman said the draft treaty did not undermine U.S. rights.

The National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group, opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification if it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights.

The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobby group, has said that the treaty would not impact the right to bear arms.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Will Dunham, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-north-korea-syria-block-u-n-arms-002525001.html

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Proximity to coal-tar-sealed pavement raises risk of cancer, study finds

Mar. 28, 2013 ? People living near asphalt pavement sealed with coal tar have an elevated risk of cancer, according to a study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Much of this calculated excess risk results from exposures in children, age six or younger, to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the sealant.

"The increased cancer risk associated with coal-tar-sealed asphalt (CSA) likely affects a large number of people in the U.S. Our results indicate that the presence of coal-tar-based pavement sealants is associated with significant increases in estimated excess lifetime cancer risk for nearby residents," said E. Spencer Williams, Ph.D., principal author of the study and Baylor University assistant research scientist at the Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences.

Researchers from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and the in Austin, Texas, are the first to report on the potential human health effects of PAHs in settled house dust and soil in living spaces and soil adjacent to parking lots sealed with coal-tar-based products.

"Exposure to these compounds in settled house dust is a particularly important source of risk for children younger than six years of age, as they are expected to ingest this material at higher rates," Williams said. "This indicates that the use of coal-tar-based pavement sealants magnifies aggregate exposures to PAHs in children and adults in residences adjacent to where these products are used and is associated with human health risks in excess of widely accepted standards."

Data on PAHs in settled house dust used for this analysis were published previously by the same authors. In that study, settled house dust and parking lot dust were sampled for 23 ground-floor apartments in Austin, Texas. The parking lot surfaces adjacent to the apartments were coal-tar-sealed asphalt, asphalt-based sealant over asphalt pavement, or unsealed concrete. Concentrations of PAHs were 25 times higher in house dust in residences adjacent to coal-tar-sealed pavement compared to those with other pavement types. "This study was the first to find a strong association between a product or a behavior and PAHs in house dust," said Barbara Mahler, the USGS research hydrologist who oversaw the study.

For this study, doses and risk associated with residences adjacent to unsealed asphalt lots were considered relative to those adjacent to (CSA) parking lots. Benzo(a)pyrene concentrations in CSA-affected settled house dust were high relative to those reported in most parts of the U.S. where coal-tar-based sealcoat is not used (California and Arizona). Data for PAHs in coal-tar-sealed asphalt-affected soils and unsealed asphalt-affected soils are available from samples from New Hampshire and suburban Chicago.

The analysis did not consider exposure to the dust on the pavement itself, which has PAH concentrations 10s to 100s of times higher than those in house dust or soil, or inhalation of air over sealed pavement. "Over time, about half of the PAHs in the sealcoat are released into the air, and concentrations in air are extremely high, particularly in the hours to days after application," said Peter Van Metre, USGS research hydrologist and author of two papers on volatilization of PAHs from sealcoat.

Sealcoat is a black, shiny substance sprayed or painted on the asphalt pavement of parking lots, driveways, and playgrounds to improve appearance and protect the underlying asphalt. An estimated 85 million gallons of coal-tar-based sealant are applied to pavement each year, primarily east of the Continental Divide in the U.S. and parts of Canada. Coal-tar-based pavement sealants are 15 to 35 percent coal-tar pitch, which has been classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Over time, the dried sealant is worn away from pavement surfaces, and the resulting mobile dust particles can be transported into nearby homes.

"Although the analysis presented here is based on a limited dataset, the results indicate that biomonitoring might be warranted to characterize the exposure of children and adults to PAHs associated with coal-tar-based pavement sealant," Williams said. "Further investigation is also needed into the impacts of coal-tar-based pavement sealants on PAH concentrations in indoor and outdoor environments."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Baylor University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. E. Spencer Williams, Barbara J. Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre. Cancer Risk from Incidental Ingestion Exposures to PAHs Associated with Coal-Tar-Sealed Pavement. Environmental Science & Technology, 2013; 47 (2): 1101 DOI: 10.1021/es303371t

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/fZe2BuEECVo/130328125236.htm

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Photographer catches camera thief in Craigslist sting operation

Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News ? ? ? 3 hrs.

When a San Francisco photographer discovered his stolen camera had turned up for sale on Craigslist, he turned Web sleuth, getting back his camera and assisting in the thief's arrest.

It all began when Jeff Hu and his roommate woke up one morning, after a packed St. Patrick's day house party that went on into the wee hours of the morning. There was the usual mess of cups and empty beer bottles and spills scattered between shifted furniture. But the camera Hu learned to shoot on? Gone.

Hu had lost his bike before, and knew that bike thieves in the San Francisco area made quick work of getting rid of their loot on Craigslist, so he decided to give the notorious classifieds website a check, just in case.

Sure enough, there it was.

"I didn't expect my camera to be there," Hu told NBC News. "I didn't think I would be that lucky to find it, but the first search I did ? it showed up ? in the same city, the day after it was stolen."

Hu recognized the camera, a Canon Rebel T2i, by scratch marks near its SD card slot. Suspiciously, the posting said the camera didn't come with a battery charger, or a lens case, or manual. Certain that it was his, Hu emailed the Craigslist poster asking to buy the instrument.

Then came Hu's first break: The Craigslist seller responded with a name. A quick Facebook search pulled up a person Hu recognized as someone he'd seen at his house, but hadn't spoken to, he said.

One last hurdle: How to prove the camera, marked with a unique serial number, was his? Hu found an application that seemed built for just such a purpose. StolenCameraFinder slurps up an uploaded photo and extracts the serial number of the camera that took it.

By now, Hu had filed a police report and spoken to a dispatcher. If Hu was able to meet the man with the camera, drop by the police department and see if any one can help, he was told.

Hu agreed to meet the suspicious Craigslist contact at a local coffee shop to complete the trade. ("Cash ONLY," the Craigslist post read.) But first, Hu and a friend stopped by the police department. Two plainclothes cops in an undercover car escorted them to the coffee shop.

As planned, the camera and its thief both turned up. From there, the cops took over. "The guy had a fake gun on him so that would have been scary," Hu said.

In the end, the thief was arrested ? Hu says the police already had a warrant out for him ? and after matching up serial numbers and other proofs of ownership, Hu got his camera back from the police. "I was surprised that I was able to find all this information so easily," he said.

With his amateur sleuthing career now behind him, Hu says he now plans to go back to photographing his favorite macros and landscapes.

For a full account of the sting, read Hu's post onPeta Pixel.

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a1bbba9/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Cphotographer0Ecatches0Ecamera0Ethief0Ecraigslist0Esting0Eoperation0E1C9128131/story01.htm

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Do intellectual property rights on existing technologies hinder subsequent innovation?

Mar. 27, 2013 ? A recent study published in the Journal of Political Economy suggests that some types of intellectual property rights discourage subsequent scientific research.

"The goal of intellectual property rights -- such as the patent system -- is to provide incentives for the development of new technologies.However, in recent years many have expressed concerns that patents may be impeding innovation if patents on existing technologies hinder subsequent innovation," said Heidi Williams, author of the study."We currently have very little empirical evidence on whether this is a problem in practice."

Williams investigated the sequencing of the human genome by the public Human Genome Project and the private firm Celera. Genes sequenced first by Celera were covered by a contract law-based form of intellectual property, whereas genes sequenced first by the Human Genome Project were placed in the public domain. Although Celera's intellectual property lasted a maximum of two years, it enabled Celera to sell its data for substantial fees and required firms to negotiate licensing agreements with Celera for any resulting commercial discoveries.

By linking a number of different datasets that had not previously been used by researchers, Williams was able to measure when genes were sequenced, which genes were held by Celera's intellectual property, and what subsequent investments were made in scientific research and product development on each gene. Williams' conclusion points to a persistent 20-30 percent reduction in subsequent scientific research and product development for those genes held by Celera's intellectual property.

"My take-away from this evidence is that -- at least in some contexts -- intellectual property can have substantial costs in terms of hindering subsequent innovation," said Williams."The fact that these costs were -- in this context -- 'large enough to care about' motivates wanting to better understand whether alternative policy tools could be used to achieve a better outcome.It isn't clear that they can, although economists such as Michael Kremer have proposed some ideas on how they might.I think this is an exciting area for future work."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago Press Journals.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Heidi L. Williams. Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: Evidence from the Human Genome. Journal of Political Economy, 121:1; February 2013

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/VcN79F2j5Kw/130327144133.htm

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Here Are 6 People Who'll Get Google Glass Before You

Google's finally starting to reveal the winners of its #ifihadglass promotion, and surprise! You're not one of them. Not yet, anyway, unless you happen to be one of the following six golden ticket recipients. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/qSmakt6Eqx8/here-are-6-people-wholl-get-google-glass-before-you

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Carlson named co-host of Fox weekend morning show

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2007 file photo, political commentator Tucker Carlson arrives for the 60th anniversary celebration of NBC's Meet the Press at the Newseum in Washington. Fox News Channel says veteran conservative commentator Tucker Channel will become co-host of the network's weekend morning show, ?Fox & Friends.? (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2007 file photo, political commentator Tucker Carlson arrives for the 60th anniversary celebration of NBC's Meet the Press at the Newseum in Washington. Fox News Channel says veteran conservative commentator Tucker Channel will become co-host of the network's weekend morning show, ?Fox & Friends.? (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Fox News Channel says veteran conservative commentator Tucker Carlson will become co-host of the network's weekend morning show, "Fox & Friends."

Carlson will replace Dave Briggs, who left Fox at the end of last year. His co-hosts on the weekend chat fest are Alisyn Camerota and Clayton Morris. Carlson will continue to make other appearances on Fox News programming.

The commentator, known for his bow ties, is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller. He worked at both CNN and MSNBC before joining Fox News.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-27-TV-Fox-Carlson/id-98ebd7f2f40a475495bd8c482ac0f4c2

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MakerBot To Enable Gamers To 3D-Print Their Own OUYA Android Console Cases

MakerBot and OUYA announced a partnership today that will allow gamers to print their own OUYA game console cases at home. The partnership will see OUYA create 3D design files for Thingiverse.com, MakerBot's 3D printing design repository, which are designed to be used with the MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D printer.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/46MT0rVtrdw/

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Dialogues on?Children's Concepts about Death and Dying

NEW YORK PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIETY & INSTITUTE:
CHILD & ADOLESCENT ANALYSIS DIVISION
DIALOGUES ON CHILDHOOD
Marianne and Nicholas Young Auditorium
247 East 82nd St., between 2nd & 3rd, NY, NY 10028
212-879-6900
www.psychoanalysis.org
www.nypsi.org

Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 8 ? 9:15 p.m.

Children at Every Stage:Healthy Eating or Eating Disorders?

Susan P. Sherkow, M.D.

Because there is nothing more intrinsic to development than eating, parents can become pre-occupied from the moment their child is born with how, what, and when to feed their baby. Often, the concerns about how, what, and when to feed their children persist throughout the developmental stages of toddlerhood, the grammar school years, and adolescence. What can experts teach us about how much control parents have in promoting healthy eating habits and avoid eating disturbances?

Q&A to follow.

?Dialogues on?? events are geared towards professionals and parents who are involved with the care of children in the school and home environments. Educators, school administrators, community leaders, grandparents and parents are welcome.

RSVP www.nypsi.org under Events and Lectures

Susan Sherkow serves on the child psychiatry faculties of both Mount Sinai College of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In addition, she is a Training and Supervising Analyst at Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute as well as a Supervising Analyst and an Instructor in courses on Child and Adolescent Development at New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. For a number of years, Dr. Sherkow managed an Eating Disorders Developmental Nursery as part of her private practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. She has presented and published widely on the topics of ?normal eating,? ?feeding disorders,? and ?the intergenerational transmission of eating disorders from mothers to children?.

The ?Dialogues on?? series is made possible by a generous donation to NYPSI from The Poses Family Foundation. Additional funding was received from The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation in honor of Ms. Themis Dimon.

Stay tuned for these upcoming Dialogues on:

Wednesday, May 8, 2013
8 ? 9:15 p.m.
?Dialogues on?the Impact of Learning Disorders on Psychological Development? with Josephine Wright, M.D.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013
8 ? 9:15 p.m.
?Dialogues on?Children?s Concepts about Death and Dying? with Pat Nachman, Ph.D.

For information about NYPSI training programs please visit us at

www.psychoanalysis.org or www.nypsi.org

??? Follow NYPSI on Twitter

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Explore posts in the same categories: Announcements

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 26th, 2013 at 6:56 am and is filed under Announcements. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.

Source: http://internationalpsychoanalysis.net/2013/03/26/dialogues-onchildrens-concepts-about-death-and-dying-with-patricia-nachman-ph-d-at-nypsi/

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Hollingsworth v. Perry: Full Transcript Of Oral Arguments On Gay Marriage Released

(Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

The Dallas Morning News reports:

Gov. Rick Perry reiterated his stance against same-sex unions as the U.S. Supreme Court hears two arguments this week that looks at recognition of gay marriage.

?In Texas, it is fairly clear about where this state stands on that issue,? Perry said when asked by reporters about the Supreme Court cases.

?As recently as a constitutional amendment that passed ? I believe, with 76 percent of the vote. The people of the state of Texas, myself included, believe marriage is between one man and one woman,? Perry said.

Click here to read more.

(Photo by HuffPost Intern William Wrigley)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern William Wrigley)

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the nation's only openly gay senator, plans to attend the Supreme Court's oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act on Wednesday. In a statement, she reflected on the progress the nation has made since she entered public service and said she is excited to attend the proceedings:

This is a historic week in the U.S. Supreme Court, where they will hear two important cases on marriage equality. Our country has made great progress since I first entered public service and was elected to political office in 1986. Over time, we have all seen with clarity that our nation is moving forward on issues of equal opportunity and fairness with a growing number of Americans supporting marriage equality. People?s views are changing because they believe that gay family members, friends, and neighbors deserve to be treated like everyone else in the United States.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will listen to arguments in cases that will decide whether our country becomes more equal, not less. The Court will decide whether gay American citizens can continue to be discriminated against simply because of who they love. On Wednesday, I look forward to being a witness to history as I am excited to have a chance to attend the U.S. Supreme Court proceedings. With these two historic cases, America?s highest court will have an opportunity to reflect the progress we have all witnessed across our country. They will have an opportunity to reaffirm our founding belief that all Americans are created equal under the law.

-- Amanda Terkel

(Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo by Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo by HuffPost Reporter Jen Bendery)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern Chelsea Kiene)

Listen to the full audio of Tuesday's oral arguments here.

Read the full transcript of Tuesday's oral arguments here:

12-144 by Joe Palazzolo

President Barack Obama was briefed on Tuesday's Supreme Court oral arguments, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

Carney didn't offer any reaction from the president to the day's proceedings, but confirmed that three administration officials attended the Prop 8 arguments, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler.

He also declined to get into predictions, noting that "recent history" has shown that oral arguments don't necessarily predict Supreme Court outcomes.

--Sabrina Siddiqui

From the top: Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo

(Photo by HuffPost Reporter Jen Bendery)

Andrew Sullivan, the longtime, openly gay, writer, editor and blogger, says that his ideal outcome for the Prop 8 case is not a ruling that the right to same sex marriage is constitutional, but a ruling that directs California's ban to be thrown out, and for each state to then consider the issue on its own schedule. From his post on Tuesday:

If I had my druthers, the perfect outcome would be dismissing the challenge to the ruling striking down Prop 8 on ?standing? grounds, thereby allowing civil marriages to continue in California, striking down that part of DOMA which forbids the federal government from recognizing a state?s valid legal marriage licenses, on federalism grounds, and on heightened scrutiny grounds, striking down the ?separate-but-equal? segregation of civil unions which are substantively identical to civil marriage.

The end result would be 17 states with marriage equality recognized by the feds, and the debate could then continue democratically as it should state by state.

Sullivan has been a leading voice in advocating same-sex marriage. So this may seem surprising. But he's also a conservative and his federalism approach to the gay marriage debate seems drawn from there.

-- Sam Stein

Constitutional Accountability Center Vice President Judith E. Schaeffer issued this statement following arguments at the Supreme Court on Tuesday:

?When pressed by the justices, the lawyer defending Proposition 8 could not come up with any legitimate reason for excluding gay and lesbian couples from the freedom to marry. The Justices, while uncomfortable with Proposition 8, seemed hesitant to rule on the merits, but as Justice Kennedy noted, there was concern about branding the families of nearly 40,000 children in California as second-class.

"One important question Justice Scalia asked former Bush Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who defended marriage equality, was when it became unconstitutional to deny gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. The answer is 1868, when the American people added the Fourteenth Amendment's universal guarantee of equality to the Constitution.?

-- Ryan J. Reilly

Ted Olson, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case before the Supreme Court, gave two thumbs up when asked by The Huffington Post how he felt about the day's oral arguments.

"We'll see," Olson added with a smile, as he slipped into a car and left the scene outside the court.

-- Jennifer Bendery

The possibility is quite real that the Supreme Court will rule that the parties who appealed the Prop 8 case to the Supreme Court don't have standing to make their appeal.

If that ruling is made it would, in effect, mean that the law remains invalidated, as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded, and that gay marriage in California is legal. It would also mean that the Supreme Court punted on the question of whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage and that other states could continue to not recognize marriage equality.

California is a massive state. And legalizing same-sex marriage there would mean that roughly a quarter of the country would, at this juncture, be able to marry their gay or lesbian partners. But would it be a victory for the legal team that has argued, for years, that there is a constitutional right?

Apparently so. Ted Olson, the Bush solicitor general said as much during his press conference outside the court after oral arguments on Tuesday.

-- Sam Stein

(Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern William Wrigley)

The two top lawyers arguing for the constitutionality of marriage addressed reporters shortly after arguing their case before the Supreme Court. And they readily admitted that they were completely in the dark about how the justices would rule on their arguments.

"Based upon the questions that the justices asked, I have no idea [how they will rule]," said Ted Olson, the former Bush administration solicitor general. "The court has several ways to decide this case."

Olson did note one positive development that came with the oral arguments. No one was actually questioning whether gay marriage should be prohibited, just whether or not it should be the purview of the state government or the federal government. His colleague, David Boies, echoed that point.

"There was no attempt to defend the ban on gay and lesbian marriage," Boies said. "There was no indication of any harm. All that was said in there is that this important constitutional right ought to be decided at the state level and not the federal government. But it is a federal constitution we have."

-- Sam Stein

(Photo by: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

CNN's Legal Analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, who made some sweeping conclusions about the health care legislation following the Supreme Court's oral argument last year, was a bit more hesitant in his feedback today.

"I am now not in the business of making predictions but I think it is even harder to predict the result of this case after hearing this argument," Toobin said. The conservative justices, he added, seemed very skeptical about imposing same-sex marriage from the bench. But he also noted that the justices "seemed almost to be groping for an answer."

NBC's Pete Williams, however, went more out on a ledge in his analysis. "It's quite obvious SCOTUS isn't ready to issue a sweeping ruling on gay rights," he said.

-- Sam Stein

(Photo by HuffPost Intern Preston Maddock)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern Preston Maddock)

(Photo by HuffPost Reporter Jen Bendery)

Oral arguments in the Prop 8 case concluded at roughly 11:30 a.m. Reporters are rushing to the cameras to offer their interpretations.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/hollingsworth-v-perry_n_2952605.html

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It was a different time, man. Green shag carpeting actually made sense. (Unqualified Offerings)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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New York Web Design Firm Offering High Quality Services | Web ...

In this age where internet use is so widespread, it is for any business owner a vehicle online that can represent their business in the virtual world important. A professional website designed and developed so that your products and services raises can best help you grow your business and profits. It can. Ensure a pleasant and impressive impression in the minds of visitors and potential customers An aesthetically designed website will help you, world wider audience without having much trouble generating means more profit.

So if you think also about made a website to explore one of the beautiful ways a suitable company in New York City is to find web design. While there are a large number of resources, the web design and development services in New York, here is the key to understanding how this particular organization is the best for you. Discussed here, some important characteristics of a good web design company because you know what are the most important things to look for when choosing a web design company.

Traits of New York Web Development Company

A professional company that will help you, your best website design may be one that needs to be all the things that a good website design can create research. Moreover, they are also pay attention to all of the other features such as look and feel factor, easy navigation and ease of use for the end user.

Professional New York web design company is well equipped with all the necessary resources to ensure an effective website design features to achieve. They have teams of trained and skilled designers and programmers with all the skills and technical knowledge in order to arrive at a site that is easy for others. The accounting and consulting firm website design make a step forward and also employ a professional team to take care of internet marketing and research needs to take engine optimization of your website. These are the things that the main reasons for the popularity of services NY based business website design professional. So, after getting a good web design company on the internet with online resources, you must make sure that they are popular with service providers in your area and can help you get the results you want. To do this, you must do your homework well, so that you can do to find a list of companies with good website design in New York. By comparing different options you. The one who can choose the best proposal for the analysis of your needs do

Such a development renowned New York Web offers the best web design quality and service development is known as the Macro Design Group. He has experience in the design of the popular sites that offer dynamic and positive results for your business. With design and web development, and other services provided by Macro Design Group costs and results-oriented online marketing services for your online resource to your website.

This entry was posted in article. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.occupytheweb.org/new-york-web-design-firm-offering-high-quality-services

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Defense Of Marriage Act Overturn Pressed By Military Same-Sex Couples

The death certificate read "single," even though the fallen soldier was married.

When it came time to inform the next of kin, casualty officers did not go to the widow's door in North Carolina, nor did she receive the flag that draped the casket of her beloved, a 29-year-old National Guard member killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Because federal law defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the military did not recognize the relationship of Army Sgt. Donna R. Johnson and Tracy Dice Johnson at all, rendering Johnson ineligible for the most basic survivor benefits, from return of the wedding ring recovered from the body to a monthly indemnity payment of $1,215.

"You cannot imagine the pain, to actually be shut out," said Dice Johnson, an Army staff sergeant who survived five bomb explosions during a 15-month tour in Iraq. "Not only is one of their soldiers being disrespected. Two of them are being disrespected."

As the Supreme Court prepares to consider the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, gay marriage advocates are focusing attention on the way they say the law dishonors gay service members and their spouses, who are denied survivor payments, plots in veterans' cemeteries, base housing and a host of other benefits that have been available to opposite-sex military couples for generations.

If the high court strikes down the DOMA, the ruling could bring sweeping changes to the way the military treats widows and widowers such as Dice Johnson, the first person to lose a same-sex spouse to war since "don't ask, don't tell" was lifted in 2011.

Although they can now serve openly, gay and lesbian service members "are anything but equal, and it's the DOMA that is really what's standing in the way," said Allyson Robinson, a West Point graduate who serves as executive director of OutServe-SLDN, an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender service members and veterans that filed a brief urging the court to strike down the law.

On the other side stands the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, an association of faith groups that screen chaplains for military service. It has asked justices to uphold the DOMA on the grounds that pastors and service members from religions that oppose homosexuality would find their voices silenced and their opportunities for advancement limited.

"The military has no tolerance for racists, so service members who are openly racist are not service members for long," the alliance's brief states. "And if the traditional religious views on marriage and family become the constitutional equivalent of racism, the many service members whose traditional religious beliefs shape their lives will be forced out of the military."

Retired Col. Ron Crews, the group's executive director, said Congress could find ways to honor war widows such as Dice Johnson without striking down the DOMA, which he said had served as "a wall" protecting military personnel with strong religious beliefs since the ban on openly gay service members was eliminated.

Before he left office in February, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines to extend to same-sex partners of military personnel certain benefits not precluded by the DOMA, including ID cards giving them access to on-base services and visitation rights at military hospitals. Some of those measures would have eased Dice Johnson's grief, if they had been in place earlier.

In the future, for example, same-sex survivors of service members will be eligible to receive a deceased partner's personal effects and to be presented with the folded flag at the funeral. But many of the acknowledgements available to military spouses in opposite-sex marriages remain out of reach.

The widows of the two men who lost their lives alongside Johnson on Oct. 1 heard the news from an Army casualty officer. But Dice Johnson, 43, found out from her sister-in-law. Johnson could not list her as primary next-of-kin since the government did not recognize their marriage.

Former Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral who was the highest-ranking officer ever elected to Congress, said such inequities have implications for national security. Many financial protections and support services are offered to military families not just out of gratitude, but so service members can focus on their jobs during dangerous deployments, Sestak said.

"When you step back and all of a sudden realize that a law would actually prevent, today, the spouse of somebody in our military (being) notified first that that solider or that sailor has been harmed or killed ... you sit back there and say, `What's going on?'" he said.

Dice Johnson and her wife had been together six years when they decided to get married. They waited until the military lifted the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and then exchanged vows last year on Valentine's Day in Washington, D.C. Soon after, Johnson volunteered for a second tour of duty, despite pleas from her wife and mother.

"There are a handful of things you can't tell your heart not to do. One is to serve your country, and the other is not to love who you love," Dice Johnson said.

Johnson had been in Afghanistan only a few weeks when a man wearing a vest packed with explosives drove a motorcycle into a group of soldiers on patrol in a market area in the city of Khost. Johnson was killed, along with two other members of the 514th Military Police Company, a translator, six Afghan police officers and six civilians.

When Dice Johnson learned that uniformed officers were at the North Carolina home of her mother-in-law and father-in-law, she grabbed her marriage certificate and raced over there. Johnson had requested that her wife be the first to hear in the event of her death, she said.

"I wanted to make sure they saw my face, even if they weren't going to notify me," she said. The notification officer assured her he had planned to visit her, too.

Johnson's mother, Sandra Johnson, knew how happy her daughter was to be married to Dice Johnson, and the fact that her daughter-in-law was not recognized as such outraged her. As primary next-of-kin, she made sure Dice Johnson was recognized as her daughter's wife, including insisting that she be allowed to accompany a military escort with her daughter's body.

"They hemmed and hawed, hemmed and hawed, and I said, `You will accept Tracy going up there because she will be our liaison. She will bring our daughter home, and she will bring her wife home,' " Johnson said.

One of Dice Johnson's duties as the escort was to take possession of her wife's property, including a velvet bag containing the wedding ring and St. Michael's medallion Johnson was wearing when she was killed. She was instructed to pass them on to her mother-in-law's casualty assistance officer. The night before she did, she slept with the jewelry, unsure if she would see the possessions again. The officer delivered them to Sandra Johnson, who immediately gave them back to her daughter-in-law.

"Every little step was a shaky step," said Dice Johnson. "You are definitely on uncertain ground."

Dice Johnson does not fault the Army. From the casualty officer to National Guard commanders, everyone did "the best they could," she said. In some instances, she was even surprised at her support. The condolence letter she received from President Barack Obama acknowledged Johnson as her wife.

If the DOMA is overturned before the one-year anniversary of the attack, Dice Johnson may become eligible for monthly survivor benefits, guaranteed health insurance and other financial compensation.

"My biggest thing, honestly, is to get her death certificate changed to married," she said. "That will be my victory."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/defense-of-marriage-act_n_2950920.html

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