This May 2012 provided by Nicole Greenaway shows her 3-month-old daughter, Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway, of Clinton, Maine, who died while in a babysitter's care on July 8, 2012. A 10-year-old daughter of the caregiver was charged Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012, with manslaughter in the infant's death. (AP Photo/Nicole Greenaway)
This May 2012 provided by Nicole Greenaway shows her 3-month-old daughter, Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway, of Clinton, Maine, who died while in a babysitter's care on July 8, 2012. A 10-year-old daughter of the caregiver was charged Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012, with manslaughter in the infant's death. (AP Photo/Nicole Greenaway)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ? Maine's child welfare agency is placing blame for a baby's death on the mother of a 10-year-old accused of killing her, saying the mother shouldn't have left the infant with the girl and the baby's death was "a result of your neglect."
A case worker faulted the sitter for leaving the baby in her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom in the central Maine town of Fairfield. In a letter, the case worker said the girl had a behavior disorder that made her unsuitable for caring for the infant.
The 10-year-old girl was charged this week with manslaughter in the death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway of Clinton in a case that shocked the state because of the homicide suspect's tender age.
The mother, who has not been charged, declined to speak to The Associated Press on Friday. She referred the AP to her lawyer. No one answered her lawyer's office phone during business hours.
A roommate who was in the Fairfield house early on July 8 when Brooklyn died told the AP that the baby was sleeping in the girl's room and that she heard occasional crying from the bedroom before chaos erupted.
Ashley Tenney said she was awakened by a commotion and went upstairs to see a terrified look on the girl's face as the mother performed CPR on the baby.
"I was unsure what was going on because I was half asleep. I heard a lot of crying and screaming, and I heard the word 'dead,'" said Tenney, who has since moved out.
Both Tenney and Brooklyn's mother, Nicole "Nicki" Greenaway of Clinton, said the sitter should be held accountable for leaving the baby with the 10-year-old.
Since the infant's death, the 10-year-old was placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Christopher Filteau, a department case worker, said in a letter to the sitter that she made mistakes. The letter was first reported by the Kennebec Journal. The AP obtained a copy of the letter.
"You neglected to provide the proper level of supervision by allowing Brooklyn to remain in (the girl's) care," the case worker wrote on Aug. 10. "Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway has died as a result of your neglect."
The Associated Press is not naming the sitter because it could make known the juvenile suspect's identity.
The letter also says the girl has "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," ''oppositional defiant disorder" and "attachment disorder."
The woman has a right to appeal the state agency's findings, but it is unclear if she intends to do so. A DHHS spokeswoman declined comment Friday.
For now, the criminal investigation is focused on the actions of the girl, not her mother, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. A lawyer representing the girl declined to comment Friday.
Deputy Attorney General Bill Stokes said the girl is the youngest homicide suspect in his 35 years as a state prosecutor, and he said there will be no effort to have her tried in the state's adult court system.
More information will be filed in conjunction with the girl's first appearance in October in juvenile court, where the maximum penalty for a conviction is incarceration until age 21.
"The juvenile justice system is designed to hold people accountable but to deal with young offenders in a way that prevents future occurrences and gets them the help they need. That's the focus we'll be driving at," he said.
In Fairfield, 70 miles north of Portland, neighbors had nothing bad to say about the baby sitter or her children, who live in a tidy white house.
"She's very pleasant, not a neighborhood disruptor or anything like that," said neighbor Jon Cochran, who lives across the street. He called them "a regular family."
___
Associated Press writer Glenn Adams in Fairfield, Maine, contributed to this report.
T3 a Thyroid Gland Hormone is a successful Bipolar Disorder treatment with less side effects than Big Pharma drugs. It does have dietary restrictions which are contained in the video. If you eat within FOUR HOURS of taking the T3 (before or after the dose) you are wasting your money & not getting a full dose. Food interferes with the absorption of T3 so it must be taken on an empty stomach. Antacids such as Tums & Rollaids block T3. Acid Reducers such as Pepic AC & Prevacid also block T3. No Acid Reducers or Antacids are to be take within FOUR HOURS of the T3 (4 hours before or after the dose). No iron supplements are to be taken within FOUR HOURS of the T3 (4 hours before or after the dose) as iron blocks the absorption of T3. Journal Article Details: Journal Article I Cited Journal of Affective Disorders Issue 116 (year 2009) pages 222?226 www.elsevier.com/locate/jad The use of triiodothyronine as an augmentation agent in treatment-resistant bipolar II and bipolar disorder NOS Video Rating: 3 / 5
TOKYO (AP) ? A Tokyo court on Friday dismissed Apple Inc.'s claim that Samsung had infringed on its patent ? the latest ruling in the global legal battle between the two technology titans over smartphones.
The Japanese court case addressed only the synchronizing technology that allows media players to share data with personal computers and was not comparable in scope to the much larger victory that Apple won in the U.S. last week.
Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, the world's largest maker of phones, welcomed the Tokyo District Court ruling that its technology that allows media players and personal computers to share music files and other content did not infringe on Apple patents as confirming "our long-held position."
"We will continue to offer highly innovative products to consumers, and continue our contributions toward the mobile industry's development," the company said in a statement.
The Apple lawyer present at the courthouse declined comment, and the company said later it had no comment, including whether it intended to appeal.
In a session lasting just a few minutes, Judge Tamotsu Shoji said he did not think Samsung products fell into the realm of Apple technology and dismissed the lawsuit, filed by Apple in August last year.
Apple, the Cupertino, California-based maker of the hit iPhone and iPad, is embroiled in similar legal tussles around the world over whether Samsung smartphones, which rely on Google Inc.'s Android technology, illegally used Apple designs, ideas or technology.
In one such case, a jury in California ruled last week that Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the "bounce-back" feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.
The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages, and a judge is now evaluating Apple's request to have eight Samsung products pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smartphones. Samsung's latest hit, Galaxy S3, was not part of the U.S. ruling.
Friday's ruling was the first held in Japan in the Samsung-Apple global court battle, but other technology is being contested by the two companies in separate legal cases in Japan. Friday's case also did not involve a request to have Samsung products banned.
Apple products are extremely popular among Japanese consumers, but major Japanese carriers such as NTT DoCoMo sell Samsung smartphones as well. Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. also makes smartphones similar to Samsung's, using Android technology.
Samsung has sold more than 50 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 smartphones around the world. The legal battle also involves Samsung's Tab device, which Apple claims infringes on patents related to the iPad tablet.
___
AP Technology Writer Youkyung Lee in Seoul contributed to this report.
or whatever the crisis may be ? has a life of its own. Men and women keep dying, and U.S. policies keep accelerating the centrifugal forces that are driving the country toward civil conflict, which may have profound implications for future regional and international security." ? Sarah Chaynes, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in commentary published Sunday as analysts say that the a public worn down by a war that began just a month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, no longer cares about Afghanistan, and that the war has slipped off the radar screens and is now considered by many to be over.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A federal court on Thursday rejected a Texas law that would require voters to present photo IDs to election officials before being allowed to cast ballots in November.
A three-judge panel in Washington unanimously ruled that the law imposes "strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor" and noted that racial minorities in Texas are more likely to live in poverty.
The decision involves an increasingly contentious political issue: a push, largely by Republican-controlled legislatures and governors' offices, to impose strict identification requirements on voters.
Republicans are aggressively seeking the requirements in the name of stamping out voter fraud. Democrats, with support from a number of studies, say fraud at the polls is largely non-existent and that Republicans are simply trying to disenfranchise minorities, poor people and college students ? all groups that tend to back Democrats.
In the Texas case, the Justice Department called several lawmakers, all of them Democrats, who said they detected a clear racial motive in the push for the voter ID law. Lawyers for Texas argued that the state was simply tightening its laws. Texas called experts who demonstrated that voter ID laws had a minimal effect on turnout. Republican lawmakers testified that the legislation was the result of a popular demand for more election protections.
The judges in the Texas case are Rosemary Collyer, an appointee of President George W. Bush; Robert Wilkins, an appointee of President Barack Obama; and David Tatel, an appeals court judge appointed by President Bill Clinton.
Tatel, writing for the panel, called the Texas law "the most stringent in the nation." He said it would impose a heavier burden on voters than a similar law in Indiana, previously upheld by the Supreme Court, and one in Georgia, which the Justice Department allowed to take effect without objection.
The decision comes the same week that South Carolina's strict photo ID law is on trial in front of another three-judge panel in the same federal courthouse. A court ruling in the South Carolina case is expected before the November election.
During an appearance in Houston in July, Attorney General Eric Holder said Texas' photo ID requirement amounts to a poll tax, a term that harkens back to the days after Reconstruction when blacks across the South were stripped of their right to vote. The attorney general told the NAACP that many Texas voters seeking to cast ballots would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain the required photo ID.
Last December, South Carolina's voter ID requirement became the first such law to be rejected by the Justice Department in nearly 20 years. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the attorney general made a "very serious error" by blocking it. Romney said the requirement is easy to meet and will stem voter fraud.
"We don't want people voting multiple times" and "you can get a photo ID free from your state. You can get it at the time you register to vote," Romney said.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the Justice Department's chief civil rights enforcer, has said the Texas and South Carolina photo ID laws will hinder many citizens, particularly minorities, in exercising their right to vote.
Across much of the South, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is viewed as an overly intrusive burden on the states ? a relic once used by the Justice Department's civil rights division to remedy discriminatory practices that no longer exist. Under Section 5 of the act, Texas, South Carolina and all or parts of 14 other states must obtain clearance from the Justice Department's civil rights division or a federal court before carrying out changes in elections. The states are mostly in the South and all have a history of discriminating against blacks, American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives or Hispanics.
Last year, new voter ID laws passed in Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In addition to Texas and South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee tightened existing voter ID laws to require photo ID. Governors in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire and North Carolina vetoed strict new photo ID laws.
This year, Pennsylvania enacted its own law and voting-rights groups who filed suit in an effort to stop it are appealing to the state Supreme Court. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13 in Philadelphia. The Republican administration of Gov. Tom Corbett says a U.S. Justice Department inquiry into the state's tough new voter identification law is politically motivated. The department is requesting the state's voter registration list, plus any database of registered voters who lack a valid photo ID that the law requires voters to show before their ballots can be counted.
In Wisconsin, a county judge ruled in July that the state's new photo ID law impairs the right to vote. In an appeal, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, is arguing that the ID law doesn't impose an undue burden because voters can get free state ID cards.
Since the last election, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Wisconsin and Texas and other states have tried to limit or ban the use of student IDs as voter identification. In Florida, lawmakers tried to limit "third party" organizations, including student groups, from registering new voters.
At a recent congressional hearing, Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa said the decision to contest the Texas and South Carolina laws shows insensitivity by the Justice Department to voter fraud.
Election administrators and academics who monitor the issue said in-person fraud is rare because someone would have to impersonate a registered voter and risk arrest.
A report by the Brennan Center for Justice determined that new voting restrictions could suppress the votes of more than 5 million young, minority, low-income and disabled voters.
___
Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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New study evaluates noninvasive technology to determine heart diseasePublic release date: 29-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Steve Goodyear sgoodyear@mhif.org 612-863-1658 Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation serves as Integration Core Lab for DeFACTO Study
MINNEAPOLIS, MN August 29, 2012 A study published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) presented encouraging news regarding physicians' ability to determine blood flow and associated coronary artery disease (CAD) using noninvasive CT scanning technology. Data from the Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography (DeFACTO) study were presented on August 26 at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany. John R. Lesser, MD, a Cardiologist and senior researcher at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, served as a principal investigator for the DeFACTO study and Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Cardiologist and senior researcher Robert Schwartz, MD directed the Integration Core Lab coordinating data from 17 sites worldwide.
"The study showed improved diagnostic accuracy with CT scanning when we also use a new technique called fractional flow reserve that identifies the rate of coronary blood flow and possible blockages in the arteries that may interfere with flow," said Robert Schwartz, MD.
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has been identified as a procedure that may help to reduce unnecessary angiography and stenting when used. It requires a minimally invasive procedure. FFR with CT scanning requires no invasive procedure and has the potential to deliver equally useful data.
The objective of the DeFACTO study was to assess the diagnostic performance of CT with and without FFR for diagnosis of significant coronary stenosis. In its conclusion, the use of noninvasive FFRCT among patients with CAD was associated with improved diagnostic accuracy and discrimination.
"DeFACTO is worthy of note because, while it did not achieve it's endpoint, it definitely showed improved diagnostic accuracy using FFRCT vs. CT alone," stated Schwartz. "We are always looking to use the least invasive procedures to get the best results and DeFACTO indicates that we may soon have another useful tool in evaluating and treating heart disease."
In an editorial in JAMA, Manesh R. Patel, MD, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, wrote, "The current report describes an important noninvasive technology that may improve existing care and has the potential to outperform established noninvasive technologies."
DeFACTO is a multi-center diagnostic performance study involving 252 stable patients with suspected or known CAD from 17 centers in 5 countries who underwent CT, invasive coronary angiography (ICA), FFR, and FFRCT between October 2010 and October 2011. The primary study outcome assessed whether FFRCT plus CT could improve the per-patient diagnostic accuracy. Among study participants and compared with obstructive CAD diagnosed by CT alone, FFRCT was associated with improved diagnostic accuracy and discrimination.
###
The article in JAMA can be found here: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1352969
About the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation is dedicated to creating a world without heart disease through groundbreaking clinical research and innovative education programs. MHIF's mission is to promote and improve cardiovascular health, quality of life and longevity for all.
Scientific Innovation and Research Publishing more than 120 peer-reviewed studies each year, MHIF is a recognized research leader in the broadest range of cardiovascular medicine. Each year, cardiologists and hospitals around the world adopt MHIF protocols to save lives and improve patient care.
Education and Outreach Research shows that modifying specific health behaviors can significantly reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Through community programs, screenings and presentations, MHIF educates people of all walks of life about heart health. The goal of the Foundation's community outreach is to increase personal awareness of risk factors and provide the tools necessary to help people pursue heart- healthy lifestyles.
About the Minneapolis Heart Institute
The Minneapolis Heart Institute is recognized internationally as one of the world's leading providers of heart and vascular care. This state-of-the-art facility combines the finest in personalized patient care with sophisticated technology in a unique, family-oriented environment. The Institute's programs, a number of which are conducted in conjunction with Abbott Northwestern Hospital, address the full range of heart and vascular health needs: prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
Contact:
Steve Goodyear
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
612-863-1658
sgoodyear@mhif.org
http://mhif.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
New study evaluates noninvasive technology to determine heart diseasePublic release date: 29-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Steve Goodyear sgoodyear@mhif.org 612-863-1658 Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation serves as Integration Core Lab for DeFACTO Study
MINNEAPOLIS, MN August 29, 2012 A study published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) presented encouraging news regarding physicians' ability to determine blood flow and associated coronary artery disease (CAD) using noninvasive CT scanning technology. Data from the Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography (DeFACTO) study were presented on August 26 at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany. John R. Lesser, MD, a Cardiologist and senior researcher at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, served as a principal investigator for the DeFACTO study and Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Cardiologist and senior researcher Robert Schwartz, MD directed the Integration Core Lab coordinating data from 17 sites worldwide.
"The study showed improved diagnostic accuracy with CT scanning when we also use a new technique called fractional flow reserve that identifies the rate of coronary blood flow and possible blockages in the arteries that may interfere with flow," said Robert Schwartz, MD.
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has been identified as a procedure that may help to reduce unnecessary angiography and stenting when used. It requires a minimally invasive procedure. FFR with CT scanning requires no invasive procedure and has the potential to deliver equally useful data.
The objective of the DeFACTO study was to assess the diagnostic performance of CT with and without FFR for diagnosis of significant coronary stenosis. In its conclusion, the use of noninvasive FFRCT among patients with CAD was associated with improved diagnostic accuracy and discrimination.
"DeFACTO is worthy of note because, while it did not achieve it's endpoint, it definitely showed improved diagnostic accuracy using FFRCT vs. CT alone," stated Schwartz. "We are always looking to use the least invasive procedures to get the best results and DeFACTO indicates that we may soon have another useful tool in evaluating and treating heart disease."
In an editorial in JAMA, Manesh R. Patel, MD, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, wrote, "The current report describes an important noninvasive technology that may improve existing care and has the potential to outperform established noninvasive technologies."
DeFACTO is a multi-center diagnostic performance study involving 252 stable patients with suspected or known CAD from 17 centers in 5 countries who underwent CT, invasive coronary angiography (ICA), FFR, and FFRCT between October 2010 and October 2011. The primary study outcome assessed whether FFRCT plus CT could improve the per-patient diagnostic accuracy. Among study participants and compared with obstructive CAD diagnosed by CT alone, FFRCT was associated with improved diagnostic accuracy and discrimination.
###
The article in JAMA can be found here: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1352969
About the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation is dedicated to creating a world without heart disease through groundbreaking clinical research and innovative education programs. MHIF's mission is to promote and improve cardiovascular health, quality of life and longevity for all.
Scientific Innovation and Research Publishing more than 120 peer-reviewed studies each year, MHIF is a recognized research leader in the broadest range of cardiovascular medicine. Each year, cardiologists and hospitals around the world adopt MHIF protocols to save lives and improve patient care.
Education and Outreach Research shows that modifying specific health behaviors can significantly reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Through community programs, screenings and presentations, MHIF educates people of all walks of life about heart health. The goal of the Foundation's community outreach is to increase personal awareness of risk factors and provide the tools necessary to help people pursue heart- healthy lifestyles.
About the Minneapolis Heart Institute
The Minneapolis Heart Institute is recognized internationally as one of the world's leading providers of heart and vascular care. This state-of-the-art facility combines the finest in personalized patient care with sophisticated technology in a unique, family-oriented environment. The Institute's programs, a number of which are conducted in conjunction with Abbott Northwestern Hospital, address the full range of heart and vascular health needs: prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
Contact:
Steve Goodyear
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
612-863-1658
sgoodyear@mhif.org
http://mhif.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Here?s a recent email from a reader that offers the opportunity to talk about when enough is enough.
Dear Stacy, I know you deal with a LOT of debt collection questions, but I couldn?t find the answer to mine in a search of your website?maybe I don?t have the right terminology.
Isn?t there any way to get debt collectors, including?credit card?companies, to pause the debt collection process or the payments for a period of time? I am disabled and awaiting SSDI determination (it may drag on another year) and completely out of money now, living with family just to survive.
Citibank refused to work with me on a payment low enough for me to continue paying them, which would have at least given them assurance that I had not abandoned the debt. I suggested the same $5 a month I pay a on a medical debt, as I can usually make a very little each month holding yard sales of my last few possessions. Citi wouldn?t accept anything less than $200+/month. So this account has now gone to a debt collector who has offered to settle for less than the full amount, but it?s still way more than I can currently pay. And in the meantime Citi continues to charge me $35/month in late fees and 29%interest rate?on the overdue amount.
When I spoke to Chase about my overdue account with them, they transferred me to a debt management company, that also could not help me since debt management plans require INCOME! Given that I can?t afford a lawyer, is there some action that can get these agencies to at least stop charging penalties each month when I?ve already appraised them of my situation? What about a means of temporarily halting the collections process until I can get SSDI? I have already sold my furniture trying to pay these guys, and don?t have the money to pay for the medical treatment I need to stay alive now! The stress of constant calls and letters from collectors is adversely affecting my health. If I drop dead before Social Security Administration admits I?m disabled from illness I can?t pay Citi or Chase at all?they?ll just be beating a dead horse. And I?m not withholding any money from them?you just can?t squeeze water from a stone!
Why aren?t there protections for people who are the worst off of all? I have tried repeatedly to help myself out of this situation, but nothing works. Any suggestions? Or am I just sunk? - Jane (not her real name)
Jane, there is protection for people who are the worst off of all. It?s called bankruptcy, and you need to think about it.
I wish Jane had contacted me earlier. Like many others in her situation, a strong sense of pride combined with a lack of knowledge is keeping her from acknowledging the inevitable. As a result, she?s needlessly enduring monster stress and pouring what money she does have down the drain.?It breaks my heart when I see words like ?I have already sold my furniture trying to pay these guys, and don?t have the money to pay for the medical treatment I need to stay alive now!?
This is exactly why we have bankruptcy laws. (And why I?m for guaranteed health care for all Americans ? but that?s another story.)
When you should file bankruptcy
You don?t often read articles by personal finance writers suggesting bankruptcy. Instead, we prattle on about building budgets, targeting debts, and squeezing additional savings by using coupons and buying generics.
That kind of advice is fine for many people?even most. But it?s useless for people like Jane.
The magic word when it comes to debt problems is ?income.? If you have it, debt problems are often solvable. If you don?t, they?re not, especially when you?re in Jane?s situation: no savings and no prospects for significant future income.
In a story I did a few years back called ?Dealing With Debt: Bankruptcy,? the lawyer I interviewed gave me some simple advice: If you don?t have enough income left after eating and putting a roof over your head to make even minimum payments on your debts, it?s time to talk to a lawyer.
What about your moral obligation?
If you?ve read much of my stuff, you know that I?m a believer in paying back what you borrow. (See?Website Says It?s OK to Walk Away ? No It Isn?t.) But Jane?s situation is a textbook example of why we have bankruptcy laws.?Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and the last thing those people need is to be verbally abused by collection agencies or made to feel guilty.
When a credit card or other company loans you money, they understand the risk they?re taking. The interest rate they collect compensates them for it ? often handsomely.
In?How Much Tax Do the Most Profitable Companies Pay?, we point to?a study from NerdWallet?that reveals the profitability of many of America?s biggest companies.?If you think companies like Walmart are monstrously profitable, you?re right: Walmart made $24 billion last year ? $2 billion a month. But guess what company also made $24 billion? Wells Fargo Bank. JP Morgan Chase, one of the companies Jane owes, made even more: $26 billion.
You owe your creditors your best effort to meet your obligations. But you don?t owe them your health, your life, your sanity, or your self-respect. If you?ve done your best, put your head up, shoulders back, and deal with it.
Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase CEO, took home?$23,105,415?last year ? he?s going to be fine.
How do you pay a bankruptcy lawyer when you?re broke?
Just because bankruptcy is the correct course for people like Jane, however, doesn?t make it easy. In the ultimate?Catch-22, many Americans don?t have enough money to become bankrupt. In an article called?Too broke to go bankrupt, CNN/Money says hundreds of thousands of Americans can?t afford the $1,500 to file bankruptcy. Result?
?It ends up being the relatively better off, or middle-class consumers who can actually afford to file, and the people with lower incomes can?t afford to file.?
Have you ever read stupider words? Only people who by definition aren?t broke can afford to go broke. Sometimes life is truly stranger than fiction.
What Jane should do is find a local?bankruptcy attorney?and get a free consultation to explore her options, like perhaps creating a payment plan or finding a pro bono (free) lawyer. But she shouldn?t be surprised if that attorney ends up saying something like?
Sometimes the best course of action is to take no action
In her email, Jane says ?you just can?t squeeze water from a stone!? She?s right.
Bankruptcy is a good option for those who can?t pay their debts, and that?s especially true for those with assets to protect, like a house, expensive possessions, or a decent income.
Without the protection afforded by bankruptcy, your creditors can file a lawsuit for unpaid debts that could result in a monetary judgment against you. With that judgment in hand, they?ll go on an asset search to see if you have anything valuable they can force you to sell to satisfy the judgment. They could also potentially garnish your future wages to collect it.
But if you have few possessions and meager income, creditors or collection agencies may not bother suing, because it?s expensive and likely to be a waste of effort. You?re essentially ?judgment-proof.? Given what we know about Jane?s case, that?s probably exactly what she is. She should still, however, turn to an attorney for a free consultation and an expert, empathetic ear.
In summary, Jane, here?s what you should do
Stop paying your debts.?You?re not going to be able to repay your creditors with $5 a month anyway, and that money means more to you than them. Stop throwing it away.
Stop selling your stuff.?No matter what you do, nobody will ever have the legal right to strip you of simple personal possessions.
Don?t worry about the late fees.?You?re not going to pay them.
Don?t worry about your credit history.?It?s already trashed, and you don?t have the resources at this point to defend it. Water under the bridge.
Stop the collection calls.?There?s no law requiring you to talk to any creditor or collection agency. There is a law, however, that says you can stop their calls simply by telling them to quit contacting you. These people don?t care about you ? don?t talk to them. Read?this page of the FTC website?for more about your rights.
Talk to a lawyer.?It?s not going to cost you a dime, and it?s going to make you feel much, much better. I guarantee it.
Stop beating yourself up.?You didn?t get drunk and run over someone?s child. You became disabled and are unable to pay a couple of bills. It happens every day. You have nothing to feel guilty about. If you ultimately regain your financial footing, fine ? you can always pay them back then.
More from Money Talks News...
See also:?Now see 10 of the most embarrassing celebrity bankruptcies of all time >? >
?A party too patriotic for facts. A candidate too successful for taxes. A city too humid to breathe.? What? Would you expect a different tone from ?The Daily Show? coverage of the Republican National Convention?
Jon Stewart opened Comedy Central?s coverage of the RNC Tuesday night, live from Tampa. But after all the jokes about the city?s humidity and the strip clubs -- clearly hosting the convention brings ridicule as well as revenue ?- Stewart got to sit down with Senator Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who?s a rising star in the party.
Rubio was on the short list to be Mitt Romney?s vice president, but instead will have to content himself with introducing the nomine on Thursday. Jon Stewart tried to make Rubio feel better about the diss.
?You, my friend, you dodged it. Because let?s say he wins. As his vice president, it would have been uncomfortable for you to run against him in 2016.?
Rubio smiled the uncomfortable smile of someone who has thought about the next election once or twice before.
Stewart turned the subject to the introduction, and the contrast between the dynamic Rubio and the, well, more mundane Romney. ?Have they said to you, ?Hey, charisma boy, take it down a notch??
?The only thing they?ve asked me to do is introduce the governor,? Rubio said. ?They gave me 15 minutes to say anything I want.?
When Rubio takes the stage Thursday night, the theme will be ?American Exceptionalism. As Stewart said, that doesn?t seem controversial. But Rubio noted the similarities to the Obama message of four years ago.
?Who would be against hope and change -- until they show you what the change is?? Rubio said.
"America Strikes Back"
?Perhaps you?re more a fan of thinking of the campaign as ?America Strikes Back,? that paints the campaign like a "Star Wars" film where the Democrats are evilly seeking re-election and the noble Republicans are all that stand in their way?
If so, "The Colbert Report" was more your style. Though Steven Colbert isn?t in Tampa, he?s covering the convention with his usual amount of truthiness from the studio.
?It is going to be a thrilling week,? Colbert said. ?Warning, if you have heart condition or are pregnant, you should not watch. Not because of the excitement, but because you probably won?t like the Republican position on health care and reproductive rights.?
Colbert spent some time talking with conservative columnist/Obama supporter Andrew Sullivan, and the faux fangs were out from the beginning.
?Four years ago, you were an early conservative to come out in favor of Barack Obama and to say ?he?s the guy,? Colbert said. ?The guy you specifically said to lead us away from the sort of Nixonian fights over the culture wars. ... You were wrong!?
Clearly Colbert has a point, as evidenced by the ads that will be on every commercial break between now and Election Day. Sullivan admitted his error, but said, ?I was only wrong to think that the Republicans might just have the good grace a patriotism to actually cooperate with an incoming president,? but still supports Obama ?because the other party?s gotten nutsier than it was last time.?
Colbert also brought up same-sex marriage, an issue that Sullivan has championed.
?Isn?t the gay community all-in for him because he pandered -- ?pandered! -- by obeying his conscience,? Colbert asked.
?A lot of gay people are in for him, because he actually is the most important president in the history of our civil rights, and I?m grateful for that,? Sullivan said.
Zoologist Arthur Anker's picture of a Venezuela poodle moth has captured the curiosity of Internet onlookers.
By Alan Boyle
It's been compared to a fluffy dog, a Pokemon character and a Power Rangers villain ? but whatever it is, the Venezuelan poodle moth has captured the Internet like Mothra in a bad Japanese movie. Now it's up to the experts to figure out exactly where this moth belongs on the tree of life.
The first thing to emphasize is that the poodle moth is no phony concoction like the jackalope, dogerpillar or?chupacabra. Its cute, furry, scary look is totally in line with what's expected for a neotropical ornamental moth. In fact, cryptozoologist Karl Shuker found a similar picture of a white, fuzzy critter known as Diaphora mendica, or muslin moth, a member of the lepidopteran family Arctiidae.
The Venezuelan poodle moth is even more bizarre-looking than your run-of-the-mill muslin moth. That's largely due to the details that zoologist Arthur Anker of Brazil's Federal University of Ceara captured in the photograph he took?in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela's Canaima National Park several years ago.
The nearly head-on perspective, without any sense of size scale, led my colleague Rosa Golijan to compare the bug to a Power Rangers villain?? for example, Finster, the loyal servant of Rita Repulsa.?However, if this showy critter is indeed a neotropical relative of the muslin moth, it's much more benign: Such moths feed on herbaceous plants and cause little trouble. They're also relatively small: The muslin moth's wingspan amounts to little more than an inch (28 to 38 millimeters, according to the UKmoths website).
Shuker would love to nail down the flying poodle's precise species name: "Is it indeed a member of Arctiidae, or are its taxonomic affinities elsewhere? Could it even be a species still undescribed by science? Thousands of new insects are discovered every year in the South American rain forests, so it would be by no means unusual if Art's Venezuelan poodle moth proved to be one, too," he wrote on the ShukerNature blog.
The fact that there are so many types of moths in the Arctiidae family ? an estimated 11,000 species around the world, including 6,000 known species in the neotropical region?? would make it tricky to classify this particular insect, unless there's an actual specimen in hand that can be sampled for genetic analysis. Nevertheless, we've put out our own inquiries with lepidopterists, and if we hear anything back on the bizarre case of the Venezuelan poodle moth, we'll let you know in an update.
More about bizarre bugs:
Tip o' the Log to GrindTV.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) ? A second person has died of a rare, rodent-borne disease after visiting one of the most popular parts of Yosemite National Park earlier this summer, and park officials were warning past visitors to be aware of some flu-like aches and symptoms and seek medical help immediately if they appear.
Health officials learned this weekend of the second hantavirus death, which killed a person who visited the park in June, spokesman Scott Gediman said in a statement.
There was one other confirmed case of the illness, and a fourth is being investigated.
Yosemite officials said the four visitors might have been exposed while vacationing at the park's Curry Village, and are warning those who stayed in the village's tent cabins from mid-June through the end of August to beware of any symptoms of hantavirus, which can include fever, aches, dizziness and chills. An outreach effort is under way to contact visitors from that period who stayed in "Signature Tent Cabins," which have more insulation and amenities than other tent cabins.
Federal health officials say symptoms may develop up to 5 weeks after exposure to urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents, and Yosemite advised visitors to watch for symptoms for up to six weeks.
Of the 587 documented U.S. cases since the virus was identified in 1993, about one-third proved fatal. There is no specific treatment for the virus.
After-hours calls to Yosemite officials seeking further details were not immediately returned Monday night.
Following the first death, which was reported earlier this month, state health officials advised anyone with symptoms to seek medical attention and let doctors know if they were camping in Yosemite. Officials said thousands of people visit the park every month, so it would be impossible to track everyone who had set foot in Curry Village.
Curry Village is the most popular and economical lodging area in the park, a picturesque assemblage of rustic cabins at the base of the 3,000-foot promontory Glacier Point.
Gediman told the San Francisco Chronicle that of the 408 tent cabins in the village, 91 are of the "signature" variety where the four cases had stayed, which feature more insulation and amenities than the others.
It was not clear how many people stayed in the cabins in the period in which park officials are warning visitors.
Gediman said contractors are working on the signature cabins to protect park-goers.
"They're doing everything they can to eliminate areas where mice can get into the cabins," Gediman told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This was never because the cabins were dirty, it was never because we didn't take care of them. This is just because approximately 20 percent of all deer mice are infected with hantavirus. And they're here in Yosemite Valley."
This year's deaths mark the first such deaths in park visitors, although two others were stricken in a more remote area in 2000 and 2010, officials said.
___
Online:
? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's site on hantavirus: http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/
Bolstered by a huge victory in its patent-infringement case against Samsung, where could Apple turn next?
To the north, in Seattle, there's a juicy target: Amazon.com.
Amazon is widely expected to introduce new mobile devices next month?possibly a smartphone but almost certainly new Kindle tablets that compete with the iPad.
Either way, Apple's not going to like that.
Far more broadly, Amazon and Apple have been on a collision course in digital media and e-commerce for years.
Apple and Amazon sell music. Apple and Amazon sell movies. Apple and Amazon sell e-books. And Apple and Amazon both sell tablets, the iPad and the Kindle families, designed to consume the media they sell.
The companies weren't always on unfriendly terms. In 2000, Apple and Amazon struck a patent cross-licensing agreement that covered Amazon's famous 1-Click checkout.
And in the ensuing years, the companies have not publicly engaged in any notable patent battles, suggesting that the companies' deal may provide for an ongoing patent ceasefire.
We asked Apple and Amazon for comment on this story. Amazon declined to comment and Apple didn't respond to our request.
But even in that press release announcing its 1-Click deal, Apple was touting its own innovations. It noted that one-click downloading of digital software was an "industry first."
In the years since, Apple has been building up a formidable patent library in digital media. Patrice Gautier, an Apple engineering vice president in charge of the iTunes Store and iCloud, has his name on a dozen patents, most?related to downloading and purchasing digital media, and 30 pending applications.
In May, patents expert Florian Mueller speculated that Amazon could be a "logical" target for some of Apple's tablet-related patents.
Amazon has been busy, too. In 2010, it signed a cross-licensing deal with Microsoft to cover a variety of patents. And recently, it's been recruiting intellectual-property experts to build up its portfolio.
Apple and Amazon have been tussling in court over the term "app store" after Amazon launched its Android Appstore in March 2011. Apple believes it's a protected trademark. Amazon says it's a generic term.
Meanwhile, Apple has been making quiet moves into e-commerce, noting that 400 million users have registered credit cards to their iTunes accounts, more than double the number of active Amazon accounts. Its new mobile operating system, iOS 6, has a Passbook feature for coupons and tickets which many believe is its first step into offering a digital wallet.
If Apple and Amazon go to war, the dispute could blow away Apple v. Samsung, covering smartphones, tablets, e-commerce, and digital payments. The question of just how explosive it could get depends on the details of the agreement Amazon and Apple struck way back in 2000.
Get ready, because Apple and Amazon are already girded for battle.
FILE -- In a Sept. 11, 2011 file photo Samantha Stosur of Australia poses with the championship trophy after beating Serena Williams at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. In many ways, that 6-2, 6-3 victory over Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final seems more distant than just last year. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, file)
FILE -- In a Sept. 11, 2011 file photo Samantha Stosur of Australia poses with the championship trophy after beating Serena Williams at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. In many ways, that 6-2, 6-3 victory over Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final seems more distant than just last year. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, file)
NEW YORK (AP) ? None of this quite makes sense to Samantha Stosur.
There she was, center stage in the biggest tennis stadium in the world, taking on one of the game's most intimidating players, and making it look so easy.
But in so many ways, that 6-2, 6-3 victory over Serena Williams in the U.S. Open feels like it happened much more than a year ago.
So far in 2012, Stosur has lost in the first round in front of the home fans at the Australian Open. She has lost in the second round at Wimbledon, then again in the first round at the London Olympics. Sandwiched in between, she made a run to the semifinals of the French Open, but fell apart by committing 21 of her 48 unforced errors during an ugly third set loss to Sara Errani.
The questions that came up after all these losses: Did nerves get to her? Quite a strange thing to ask given the setting and the opponent for her first Grand Slam final victory last year.
"I think everyone suffers from nerves," Stosur conceded. "Sometimes, certain people make a bigger deal about it than what it is. It depends on what you're talking about. I don't think you'd find anyone who doesn't get a little bit nervous. It's just how you handle it. The more you get through it, the better you get at handling situations."
Stosur, seeded seventh this year, kicks off the tournament Monday as defending champion, playing the day's first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium against 64th-ranked Petra Martic of Croatia.
Despite her status as defending champion, Stosur is not considered one of the favorites coming into Flushing Meadows this year. British sports books have her listed at 28-1 to repeat, same as Venus Williams, who has a 1-2 record in Grand Slams in 2012, and behind No. 4 seed Serena Williams, No. 3 Maria Sharapova, No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and four others.
"It is what it is," Stosur said. "It's fine whether you're talked of as being the favorite or not. At this point during the tournament, it doesn't really matter. Everyone is starting from scratch, and obviously things become clearer as the weeks go on."
Other players starting Monday include third-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, coming off his Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics. He faces Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia. Top-seeded Roger Federer plays American Donald Young in the night session.
Also playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium are No. 3 Maria Sharapova, against Melinda Czink of Hungary, and No. 23 Kim Clijsters, opening the final tournament of her career with a first-round match against American Victoria Duval. Clijsters missed last year with an injury, but has won the tournament the last three times she's entered ? in 2005, 2009 and 2010.
"Obviously, this place is magical for me," Clijsters said. "I've had so many beautiful memories."
The Williams sisters, No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 20 Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion, are among those who start later in the week.
FILE -- In this Sunday Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, a Pakistani Taliban militant holds a rocket-propelled grenade at the Taliban stronghold of Shawal, in Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, Pakistan. Pakistani officials said Saturday that it is investigating whether the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network, Badruddin Haqqani, was killed in a U.S. drone strike this week. The U.S. has long viewed the Haqqani network as one of the biggest threats to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as the country?s long term stability. (AP Photo/ Ishtiaq Mahsud, File)
FILE -- In this Sunday Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, a Pakistani Taliban militant holds a rocket-propelled grenade at the Taliban stronghold of Shawal, in Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, Pakistan. Pakistani officials said Saturday that it is investigating whether the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network, Badruddin Haqqani, was killed in a U.S. drone strike this week. The U.S. has long viewed the Haqqani network as one of the biggest threats to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as the country?s long term stability. (AP Photo/ Ishtiaq Mahsud, File)
KHAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Dozens of militants from Afghanistan attacked an anti-Taliban militia post in northwest Pakistan for the third day Sunday, sparking fighting that killed one soldier and 20 militants, a Pakistani official said.
In addition to the dead, four soldiers and four militiamen were wounded in Sunday's attack in the Bajur tribal area, said Jahangir Azam Wazir, a local government administrator.
Pakistan has criticized Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces for not doing enough to stop the rising number of cross-border attacks by Pakistani Taliban militants holed up in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, across the border from Bajur.
That criticism could soften after the coalition killed a senior Pakistan Taliban commander in an airstrike in Kunar on Friday. Mullah Dadullah, was the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in Bajur. He was killed along with 11 others, including his deputy.
Four soldiers, six militiamen and 38 militants died during the cross-border attacks in the Salarzai area of Bajur on Friday and Saturday, Wazir said.
The airstrike that killed Dadullah followed the cross-border attack on Friday, but the NATO coalition said there was no coordination with Pakistan during the attack.
The U.S. and Afghan governments have long criticized Pakistan for failing to prevent militants using sanctuaries inside the country from attacking targets inside Afghanistan. The main focus has been on Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, the main militant sanctuary in the country and home to the Haqqani network, considered one of the most dangerous insurgent groups fighting in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Sunday that its operatives have confirmed that the son of the founder of the Haqqani network was killed in Pakistan, even as the Taliban vowed that he was alive and in Afghanistan.
Shafiquallh Tahriri, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, said Badruddin Haqqani was killed in an airstrike in Pakistan last week. He did not provide further details, and he would not say on what information the agency's operatives were basing their conclusion or whether they had seen the body.
Tahriri's account is similar to one provided Saturday by a senior Taliban leader who said Haqqani was killed in a drone strike. It also is close to a version provided by Pakistani officials who said they were 90 percent sure the militant commander was killed Tuesday in a missile strike in North Waziristan.
The U.S. said recently it expects Pakistan to launch an operation soon against the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan. But analysts doubt they will target the Haqqani network and other militants fighting in Afghanistan because they are not seen as much of a threat to Pakistan. Islamabad also has historical ties with the Haqqani network, and many analysts believe it is seen as an important potential ally in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw.
Pakistani military officials have said privately that they plan to increase the pressure against militants in North Waziristan slowly, not conduct a sweeping offensive as they have done in the other parts of the tribal region.
Hundreds of tribal elders, religious leaders and militants held a meeting in North Waziristan on Saturday and called on Pakistan not to launch a military operation, one of the participants said Sunday.
The group cited a nonaggression pact it says the army has with the most powerful local militant leader in the North Waziristan tribal area, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said Malik Nasrullah Khan, a tribal elder who attended the meeting. Commanders loyal to Bahadur were present at the meeting in Eidak town, he said.
Like the Haqqani network, authorities see Bahadur as less of a threat because he has focused attacks in Afghanistan, not Pakistan. The military has never officially acknowledged having a nonaggression pact with him.
___
Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Heidi Vogt in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
The LG Intuition may be one of Verizon's more poorly-kept secrets of recent memory. Apart from LG itself having confirmed that an Optimus Vu rebranding is due for the US within weeks, there's been pricing and even an uncannily detailed FCC filing to fill in the gaps. Why not throw official press images into the mix? From the renders DroidDog has managed to obtain, the Intuition is a bit more than just a one-for-one port of the original Korean phablet. While Verizon's influence is light outside of that attention-grabbing logo, there's a switch-up in the navigation keys to reflect that Android 4.0 will be there from the beginning -- a nice break from the ancient-feeling Android 2.3 layout of the original. About the only question left at this stage is that of the exact release date. There's a September 15th mention in one of the images, but we all know how dates in press imagery can be misleading.
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Public release date: 29-Aug-2012
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