Most people regard watching television as a passive activity. You sit, you watch. Occasionally, you change the channel. But a new study reveals that even this passive diversion may lead to actively damaging effects, particularly when it comes to issues of race.
In a series of intricately designed experiments, psychologists at Tufts University demonstrate that subtle racial biases are often expressed by characters on popular television shows, and that viewers not only pick up these attitudes but allow them to shape their own outlooks on race. The most insidious part of this cultural traffic, the researchers found, is that the transmission of race bias appears to occur subconsciously, unbeknownst to the viewer. (Watch a video of the best television series of 2009.)
Led by Max Weisbuch, a postdoctoral student in the lab of Tufts psychology professor Nalini Ambady, researchers designed the multipart study to examine the communication of race bias on television to white college-age volunteers. Weisbuch and his team were intrigued by the fact that despite a significant reduction in overt expressions of racism in modern American society - the country has, after all, just elected its first black president - studies consistently find that many people still show biased or negative attitudes toward African-Americans, primarily through nonverbal means such as facial expressions, crossed arms and averted gazes. The psychologists wondered how such biases could persist in a society in which racism is socially unacceptable and indeed publicly denounced.
So the group decided to examine the medium of television, which connects the vast majority of Americans, and through which many people predominantly receive their social and cultural cues. The study looked at 11 popular prime-time TV shows, such as Heroes, Scrubs, House, CSI: Miami and Grey's Anatomy, whose casts include both white and black recurring characters of equal status.
In the first of a series of four studies, researchers showed participants TV clips in which a white character and black character interact - but the segments were stripped of sound and the black character was digitally deleted. The idea was to ensure that neither race nor dialogue would color viewers' analysis. The exercise was repeated with the white character deleted. Researchers then asked the viewers, white college students, to evaluate in each circumstance, whether the unseen character appeared to be treated positively or negatively by the seen character, and how well liked he or she appeared to be. In the end, across the majority of TV shows, viewers consistently said that the white characters had received more positive treatment and were better liked than their black counterparts. (See the top 10 TV series of 2009.)
What fascinated Weisbuch was that the viewers' judgment of the characters was based purely on nonverbal cues, from facial expressions to body language. In fact, when participants were given transcripts of the verbal content of the clips, they saw no difference in the way black or white target characters were treated by speaking characters. These expressions may have been scripted into the show by writers, or by productions editors or the director, but nevertheless, researchers say they demonstrate unfavorably biased attitudes toward black characters.
Next, researchers tried to figure out whether this nonverbal bias was being communicated to people watching the show. Researchers created two sets of short, silent clips, one pro-white and the other pro-black. In the pro-white set, white characters were treated positively and black characters were treated negatively; in the pro-black clips, the reverse was true. A separate group of students was asked to view either the pro-white or pro-black TV clips. Afterward, the students completed a questionnaire that was presented as a different study, but actually served as a measure of their racial bias. The results suggested that students who viewed the pro-white clips were much more likely to demonstrate racial bias than those watching the pro-black clips. "That suggests that exposure to the nonverbal behaviors affects bias," says Prof. Ambady.
The scientists went on to demonstrate that the viewers were unaware of the clips' effect. In another part of the study, students were asked to watch the same pro-white and pro-black clips, but this time they were also instructed to be on the look- out for evidence of subtle biased behavior. Afterward, viewers were asked to determine whether white characters or black characters were treated better.
Because each set of clips was created to favor one group or the other, there was only one right answer to the question. The students had a 50-50 chance of responding correctly - and that's exactly how well they did, no better than chance. In other words, the patterns of bias expressed in the characters' nonverbal behavior were not obvious to the viewers. "The effect [television has] on viewers might be something less than conscious," says Weisbuch.
The findings suggest that despite the progress that has been made in addressing racism in the America, we may still be perpetuating prejudice in subtle ways - and, if Weisbuch's findings are validated, in ways that we may not even realize. "Human beings are thinking, cognizant, conscious beings who can be strategic and intentional," says John Dovidio, a professor of psychology at Yale University who wrote an editorial accompanying Weisbuch's study, published Thursday in Science. "But we are also kind of emotional and we do a lot of things without full conscious awareness. What this research suggests is that although our minds are in the right places, and we may truly believe we are not prejudiced, our hearts aren't quite there yet."
Acknowledging the disconnect may be the first step in bridging the gap between our hearts and minds, says Ambady. Figuring out exactly where and how subtle biases creep into our culture would be a start. To do that, we may have to start watching television more actively, and astutely, instead of passively absorbing everything we see.
See the top 10 TV ads of 2009.
See the top 10 TV episodes of 2009.
View this article on Time.comRelated articles on Time.com:Study: TV May Perpetuate Race Bias Dead Tree Alert: The Third Bias Why Racial Profiling Persists in Medical Research Doctor's Orders TV for Babies: Does It Help or Hurt?

ROME (Reuters) –
A collection of Futurist paintings and other works of art owned by Italian air carrier Alitalia has raised 1.2 million euros ($1.77 million) under the hammer, the auction house said on Wednesday.

The Italian national airline had put up the art -- some of which hung inside its planes -- after filing for bankruptcy last year after years of losses due to strikes and inefficiencies.

It was relaunched this year by a group of Italian investors who bought its best bits, while the rest is being liquidated.

Paintings by Futurist artists like Giacomo Balla and Enrico Prampolini formed the bulk of the art sold, while select works by Italian artists like Francesco Lo Savio and Carla Accardi also enjoyed considerable success, the auction house said.

Private talks are being held to sell a large painting by Gino Severini. Some of the pieces fetched prices four times pre-sale estimates.

"But the true surprise was the enthusiasm with which the works of lesser-known artists in the catalog were greeted, whose extraordinary results are surely in part influenced by the public's open desire to buy at least a souvenir of our flagship airline," the Finarte Casa d'Aste auction house said.

Alitalia began flying in 1947 and became a proud symbol of Italy's economic prowess in the post-war period, before falling on hard times.

(Writing by Deepa Babington, editing by Paul Casciato)

WASHINGTON – A top U.S. general is telling Congress that progress against the insurgency in Afghanistan probably will be slower than during the surge of American forces in Iraq two years ago.
Gen. David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-uhs), who executed the Iraq surge in 2007, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that he supports the escalation of US forces in Afghanistan.
Petraeus is commanding general of US Central Command, which has responsibility for overseeing US military activities in Central Asia — including Afghanistan and Pakistan — as well as the Middle East.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. inspector general's office overseeing Afghanistan's reconstruction has failed to hire enough staff and issued too few audits and investigative reports, three senators are warning President Barack Obama.
The office of the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, headed by retired Marine Corps Gen. Arnold Fields, lacks leadership and focus at a time when aggressive, independent oversight of the country's reconstruction is more important than ever, the three senators said in a letter Tuesday to Obama.
In a statement, Fields said the Dec. 8 letter from Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., paints an inaccurate picture. The office "started from scratch with minimal funding," Fields said, adding that he has formed an experienced team that is helping to improve the reconstruction effort.
The inspector general's office is responsible for monitoring a broad range of projects, including training of the Afghan army and police, and ensuring U.S. tax dollars are spent properly. The office was created by Congress in 2008, nearly seven years after U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan.
In their letter to Obama, obtained by The Associated Press, the senators don't call for Fields' resignation. But they do want the White House to conduct a thorough review of the office "to determine if improvements can be made to the organization."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The senators are members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The criticism of Fields' office comes as the Obama administration is escalating the U.S. mission in Afghanistan to stabilize the government and defeat the Taliban insurgency. But corruption with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and the primitive state of much of the country's infrastructure have led to concerns the goals may not be met even with more money and people.
According to the most recent quarterly report to Congress from Fields' office, the U.S. has committed $39 billion for reconstruction programs in Afghanistan. That figure is expected to hit $50 billion in 2010.
Without vigorous oversight by an experienced staff, the senators say, the rebuilding of Afghanistan will run into the same problems that occurred in Iraq, where nearly $50 billion was spent on reconstruction projects marred by waste and fraud.
Fields' office has "experienced significant, ongoing difficulty in recruiting adequate, qualified staff," the letter states. Of particular concern is the inability to hire investigators and auditors working in the office overseeing Iraq's reconstruction. As that effort winds down, those employees should be looking for new opportunities.
But because of "the perception that the leadership and quality of work" in Fields' office are not as robust, there's little interest in moving there, the senators say.
Fields says he is "perplexed" by that allegation. His office has hired employees from the Iraq office, but he also notes that he agreed "not to poach their staff."
He also says auditors and investigators are hired on merit and rejected the idea that his office simply absorbs employees from another organization without considering their qualifications.
They also find fault in the number of reports the office has done and the topics selected. Since Fields was sworn in July 2008, his office has issued 14 audits and inspection reports, the senators say. By comparison, the Iraq oversight office issued nearly 70 reports in its first 18 months.
The senators say Fields' office has chosen questionable subjects for review. A report issued in late October examined the role of women in Afghanistan's recent presidential election when the office should be concentrating on contracting. The senators call the failure to set priorities for what the office examines a matter of "grave concern."
Fields said five more reports will be published in coming weeks and 13 other reviews of major programs and contracts are under way.
He also defended the election report, saying Congress allotted $150 million for the promotion of gender equality in Afghanistan.

To harness the experience of the Iraq oversight staff, McCaskill, Collins and Coburn recommend the two offices be combined with a single person in charge. Their letter doesn't suggest any candidates for the post.

Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, has held that job since October 2004.

__

On the Net:

Special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction: http://www.sigar.mil/

MOSCOW – Astronauts from Canada and Belgium and a Russian cosmonaut landed safely on the Kazakhstan steppes on Tuesday, wrapping up a six-month stint on the International Space Station.
The Russian Soyuz TMA-15 capsule carrying Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and European Space Agency's astronaut Frank De Winne, of Belgium, touched down without a hitch near the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan's barren north, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
Parachutes slowed the craft to a soft touchdown at 10:15 a.m. Moscow time (0715 GMT), as scheduled.
Russian medical teams arrived in all-terrain vehicles to help the crew out of the capsule, in a carefully choreographed recovery operation.
The three crew members were later driven away to Arkalyk, located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the landing site. They are to be flown to Moscow later in the day.
A NASA doctor at the site of the landing reported that the three astronauts appeared to be doing very well after spending 188 days in space and their return to earth, according to a NASA Webcast.
The trio blasted off to the International Space Station on May 27. Their arrival marked the doubling of the station's permanent crew to six people.
With the mission, all five of the international partner agencies — NASA, Russia's Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency — were represented in orbit together for the first time, helping burnish the station's international credentials.
The expedition was also a milestone for the Canadian space program, marking the first time a Canadian has taken part in a long-term mission.
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian Maxim Surayev remain on the station. They are to be joined later this month by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA's Timothy J. Creamer, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The first space station crew arrived in 2000, two years after the first part was launched. Until the May launch, no more than three people lived up there at a time. The space outpost has since expanded to accommodate a permanent crew of six.
With the U.S. shuttle fleet set to be grounded soon, NASA and other international partners will have to rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft alone to ferry their astronauts to the space station and back.
____
Associated Press writer Peter Leonard contributed to this report.

Servitudes are legal arrangements of land use arising out of private agreements. Under the feudal system, most land in England was cultivated in common fields, where peasants were allocated strips of arable land that were used to support the needs of the local village or manor. By the sixteenth century the growth of population and prosperity provided incentives for landowners to use their land in more profitable ways, dispossessing the peasantry. Common fields were aggregated and enclosed by large and enterprising farmers -- either through negotiation among one another or by lease from the landlord -- to maximize the productivity of the available land and contain livestock. Fences redefined the means by which land is used, resulting in the modern law of servitudes.

On private land in the United Kingdom, it is the landowner's responsibility to fence their livestock in. Conversely, for common land, it is the surrounding landowners' responsibility to fence the common's livestock out.

Wrought Iron Gates

ROME (Reuters) –
An Italian inventor has combined faith and ingenuity to come up with a way to keep church traditions alive for the faithful without the fear of contracting swine flu -- an electronic holy water dispenser.

The terracotta dispenser, used in the northern town of Fornaci di Briosco, functions like an automatic soap dispenser in public washrooms -- a churchgoer waves his or her hand under a sensor and the machine spurts out holy water.

"It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it," said Father Pierangelo Motta.

Catholics entering and leaving churches usually dip their hands into fonts full of holy water -- which has been blessed by a priest -- and make the sign of the cross.

But fear of contracting the H1N1 virus has led many in Italy -- where some 15 people have died of swine flu -- not to dip their hands in the communal water font.

"It's great," said worshipper Marta Caimm as she entered the church. "Thanks to this we are not worried about catching swine flu. It is the right thing for the times," she said.

Luciano Marabese, who invented the dispenser, said he did so out of concern that fear of swine flu was eroding traditions.

And he is now blessing himself all the way to the bank.

"After all the news that some churches, like Milan's cathedral, were suspending the use of holy water fonts as a measure against swine flu, demands for my invention shot to the stars. I have received orders from all over the world," he said.

(Reporting by Eleanor Biles; Writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Louise Ireland)

WASHINGTON — Small businesses would have an easier time banding together to offer insurance to employees. Consumers could cross state lines to buy coverage. There'd be no big government expansion.

Those are among the ideas that Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to push later this week, as lawmakers expect to begin debating how to overhaul the nation's health care system.

One longtime favorite Republican proposal apparently will be absent: The Republican plan will contain no tax incentives for consumers who buy insurance individually, said House Minority Leader John Boehner , R- Ohio .

"Cost," he said, was the reason for the omission.

Chances are that little or none of the Republican plan will become law, since the House has 177 Republicans and 256 Democrats and Democrats control 60 of the Senate's 100 seats.

The Republican strategy has two missions: Illustrate what the party stands for, and try to demonize and defeat Democratic initiatives.

Some analysts questioned whether the effort would work.

"It's hard to see how Americans worried about the cost of insurance or who goes without coverage would see this as a viable alternative to the Democratic plan. I guess its appeal is to the middle class, who may see it as a way of bargaining down costs," said Steven Smith , the director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis .

House Democrats have proposed a 1,990-page bill that includes a government-run insurance plan, or "public option," that would compete with private insurers. Savings in Medicare and a tax on the wealthy largely would pay for the legislation, which has been estimated to cost a net $894 billion over 10 years. The tax surcharge would apply to adjusted gross incomes of more than $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint filers.

Debate on that plan could begin late this week, with final votes late this week or early next week. The Republican plan would be offered as an alternative.

House Republicans plan a series of efforts, including a 12-hour online town hall meeting beginning Thursday afternoon, to call attention to what they see as problems with the Democrats' plan.

Their message: "This would be a government takeover of health care in this country," House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana said.

In the Senate , Majority Leader Harry Reid , D- Nev. , has proposed a public option that would permit states to "opt out" of the plan. He's encountered serious resistance from party centrists, and no Senate debate is expected this week.

Many of the Republican ideas are expected to surface in the Senate , where the rules make it easier to amend legislation.

In the House, Republican leaders began mounting an offensive last week built around four key principles, as Boehner outlined Monday:
— Giving states more flexibility to "create their own innovative reforms."

Republicans wouldn't bar insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, as Democratic legislation would, but they'd provide financial incentives for the private marketplace to create high-risk pools.

House Republican leaders fear that putting sicker consumers in with lesser risks could make coverage more expensive for the better risks. By encouraging high-risk pools, people with long medical histories would still be able to get coverage.

— Revamping medical malpractice laws to make it harder to bring what Boehner called "junk lawsuits." Republicans have long sought changes in medical malpractice laws, but Democrats traditionally have blocked them and show no inclination to bend this time.

— Permitting families and businesses to buy health insurance across state lines.

— Making it easier for employers, individuals and small businesses to set up risk pools.

Under one scenario, a small business that operates in different states could draw customers — and thus pool risks — from all states where it conducts business. Currently, such pools are subject to the rules and regulations of each state, which critics see as burdensome.

The Republican effort faces huge hurdles. There isn't yet a firm estimate of how much the entire plan would cost, nor is there a Congressional Budget Office estimate of how many people the Republican provisions would cover.

ON THE WEB

House Republicans on health care

House Democratic leaders information on health care taxes

House Democratic leaders' health care bill

Side-by-side comparison of health care bills

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

Moderate Democrats hold health bill's fate in their hands

Reid includes public option in latest health care bill

Americans cutting back on health care to save money

For more McClatchy politics coverage visit Planet Washington

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.
On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.
The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame's CIA identity were orchestrated at the highest level of the White House and carried out by, among others, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.
Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?
Libby's own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney's reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes — notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI — the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.
Sharing the information with Cheney was in itself an unusual step at the outset of a criminal investigation in which potential White House witnesses were being ordered by their superiors not to talk to each other about the Plame matter.
In the FBI interview of Cheney on May 8, 2004, investigators specifically asked the vice president and his lawyers not to talk to other witnesses in the probe. It was important to ensure that everything be done to keep the recollections of other witnesses from being influenced, Fitzgerald told Cheney, according to the FBI interview summary. Cheney lawyer Terrence O'Donnell replied that he could not make a binding commitment to refrain from discussing the interview with people who may need to help O'Donnell properly represent his client, the FBI summary stated.
Eight months earlier, Libby had gone to Cheney, telling the vice president that "I have a note saying that I had heard about" Plame's CIA identity "from you," according to Libby's grand jury testimony.
And what did Cheney say in response? Fitzgerald asked Libby.
"He didn't say much," Libby testified. "You know, he said something about 'From me?' something like that, and tilted his head, something he does commonly, and that was that."
Cheney's version of the conversation, as related in the FBI interview summary?
Cheney "cannot recall Scooter Libby telling him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson's employment from the vice president ... but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation."
On another basic point, Cheney simply refused to answer.
Fitzgerald had gathered evidence that Cheney apparently persuaded President George W. Bush to hurriedly declassify portions of a prewar National Intelligence Estimate on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The declassification was followed by Libby providing the information to a New York Times reporter while simultaneously talking to reporters about Plame's CIA identity.
As Fitzgerald pressed the issue in the FBI interview, Cheney refused to confirm any discussion with Bush, saying that he must refrain from commenting about any private or privileged conversations he may have had with the president.
It was an instance of Libby, who had testified two months earlier to a federal grand jury, being more forthcoming than Cheney.
Prosecutors obtained information about the leaking of the declassified NIE from Cheney's chief of staff, who testified that he had talked to New York Times reporter Judith Miller about the National Intelligence Estimate following the "president's approval relayed to me through the vice president." It was that point that investigators wanted to pin down with Cheney, who refused to say whether he had ever advised Libby that the president had decided to declassify the NIE.
Cheney's FBI interview is a study in contrasts.

Expressing uncertainty on many areas he was being questioned about and refusing to discuss another area altogether, Cheney was emphatic on at least one basic point.

According to the FBI summary, Cheney said there was no discussion of using Plame's employment with the CIA to counter her husband's criticism that the Bush administration had manipulated prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. There was no discussion, Cheney insisted, of "pushing back" on Joseph Wilson's credibility by raising the issue of nepotism, the fact that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, the same agency that dispatched him to the African nation of Niger to run down the report of an agreement to supply uranium "yellowcake" to Iraq.

It was one example of Cheney being categorical and Libby seeming uncertain.

"In a prior FBI interview, you indicated it was possible that you may have talked to the Vice President on Air Force Two ... about whether you should share the information with the press about Wilson's wife?" the prosecutor asked Libby in his grand jury testimony.

"It's possible that would have been one of the times I could have talked to him about what I had learned," Libby replied.

"As you sit here today, do you recall whether you had such a conversation with the vice president on Air Force Two?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, sir. My, my best recollection of that conversation was what I had on my note card which we have produced which doesn't reflect anything about that," Libby replied.

Libby was indicted, tried and convicted for perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI. The president commuted his 30-month prison sentence, but rejected Cheney's pleas in the last days of the administration to pardon the vice president's former chief of staff.

The Cheney interview summary was released Friday to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued to get the material under the Freedom of Information Act.

___

On the Net:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:

http://www.citizensforethics.org

MINNEAPOLIS – Two Northwest Airlines pilots failed to make radio contact with ground controllers for more than an hour and overflew their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles before discovering the mistake and turning around.
The plane landed safely Wednesday evening, apparently without passengers realizing that anything had been amiss. No one was hurt.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew told authorities they became distracted during a heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location, but federal officials are investigating whether pilot fatigue might also have played a role.
The National Transportation Safety Board does not yet know if the crew fell asleep, spokesman Keith Holloway said, calling that idea "speculative."
Flight 188, an Airbus A320, was flying from San Diego to Minneapolis with 144 passengers and five crew. The pilots dropped out of radio contact with controllers just before 7 p.m. CDT, when they were at 37,000 feet. The jet flew over the airport just before 8 p.m. and overshot it before communications were re-established at 8:14 p.m, the NTSB said.
The FAA notified the military, which put Air National Guard fighter jets on alert at two locations. As many as four planes could have been scrambled, but none took to the air.
"After FAA re-established communications, we pulled off," said Michael Kucharek, a North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman.
Andrea Allmon, who had been traveling from San Diego on business, said no one on the plane knew anything was amiss until the end of the flight.
"Everybody got up to get their luggage and the plane was swarmed by police as we were getting our bags down from the overhead bins," she said.
She said they were kept on the plane briefly while police talked to the crew, then allowed off. She said she was "horrified" to learn what had happened.
"When I do my job I do my job," she said. "These guys are supposed to be paying attention to the flight. The safety of the passengers should be first and foremost. (It's) unbelievable to me that they weren't paying attention. Just not paying attention."
As of Thursday afternoon, NTSB investigators had not yet examined the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which were being sent to Washington for analysis. He said the agency was also seeking to interview the pilots, but had not scheduled a meeting.
One of the two pilots should have been paying attention to the radio, said Ronald Carr, a former Air Force and American Airlines pilot who teaches flight physiology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. But he added that "sometimes you can have such heated discussions and get so distracted that you lose situational awareness, and when you're traveling seven miles a minute, that can happen pretty quick."
The two pilots have been suspended from flying while Delta Air Lines Inc. conducts an internal investigation, said Anthony Black, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based airline, which acquired Northwest last year. He refused to name them or give further details on their background or what happened in the air.
Air traffic controllers in Denver had been in contact with the pilots as they flew over the Rockies, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. But as the plane got closer to Minneapolis, she said, "the Denver center tried to contact the flight but couldn't get anyone."
Denver controllers notified their counterparts in Minneapolis, who also tried to reach the crew without success, Brown said. Controllers and the pilots finally resumed communication when the plane was over Eau Claire, Wis.
"Radar controllers were the whole time trying to make audio contact with that plane," said Tony Molinaro, an FAA spokesman in Chicago. He said he was not aware of controllers diverting any other flights, which was unnecessary because the Northwest jet was flying high enough to safely avoid planes approaching Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
It was not clear who initiated communications when contact finally was made, Brown said.

After the plane landed, two airport police officers boarded the plane at the gate, which authorities said is standard procedure after a crew loses communication with air traffic controllers.

Kelly Regus, a spokeswoman for the Delta branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, declined to comment.

The Federal Aviation Administration is updating decades-old rules governing how long commercial pilots can fly and remain on duty. The NTSB also cautioned government agencies this week about the risks of sleep apnea contributing to transportation accidents.

The board cited an incident in January 2008 when two go! airlines pilots feel asleep for at least 18 minutes during a midmorning flight from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii. The plane passed its destination before controllers raised the pilots, who landed safely. The captain was later diagnosed with sleep apnea.

___

Associated Press Airlines Reporter Joshua Freed in Minneapolis, AP writers Martiga Lohn and Brian Bakst in St. Paul, David Koenig in Dallas and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

FlightAware.com tracking of Northwest Flight 188: http://bit.ly/2QV9hX

Cholesterol is a lipidic, waxy alcohol found in the cell membranes and transported in the blood plasma of all animals. It is an essential component of mammalian cell membranes where it is required to establish proper membrane permeability and fluidity. Cholesterol is the principal sterol synthesized by animals, but small quantities are synthesized in other eukaryotes, such as plants and fungi. It is almost completely absent among prokaryotes, which include bacteria. Cholesterol is classified as a sterol (a portmanteau of steroid and alcohol).

The name cholesterol originates from the Greek chole- (bile) and stereos (solid), and the chemical suffix -ol for an alcohol, as François Poulletier de la Salle first identified cholesterol in solid form in gallstones, in 1769. However, it was only in 1815 that chemist Eugène Chevreul named the compound "cholesterine".

Lower High Blood Pressure

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) –
Tropical Storm Rick formed off Mexico's Pacific coast on Thursday and could become a hurricane within the next day, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Rick was located 345 miles south-southeast of the resort city of Acapulco with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph.

"Continued strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours," the Miami-based hurricane center said.

Salina Cruz, Mexico's main oil-exporting port on the Pacific coast, was not in the path of the storm. Most of Mexico's oil installations are in the Gulf of Mexico.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Peter Cooney)

At a meeting last April with corporate lobbyists, aides to President Barack Obama and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) helped set in motion a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, primarily financed by industry groups, that has played a key role in bolstering public support for health care reform.
The role Baucus’s chief of staff, Jon Selib, and deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina played in launching the groups was part of a successful effort by Democrats to enlist traditional enemies of health care reform to their side. No quid pro quo was involved, they insist, as do the lobbyists themselves.
The result has been a somewhat unlikely alliance between an administration that came into power criticizing George W. Bush for his closeness to Big Business and groups such as the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the American Medical Association.
The previously undisclosed meeting April 15 at the offices of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee led to the creation of two groups — Americans for Stable Quality Care and a now-defunct predecessor group called Healthy Economy Now — that have spent tens of millions of dollars on TV advertising supporting health reform efforts.
In the most recent ad sponsored by Americans for Stable Quality Care, Obama speaks directly into the camera for 60 seconds, extolling the virtues of health care reform, while text at the bottom of the screen encourages viewers to visit the websites of the White House and the Finance Committee, which this week approved a 10-year, $829 billion health overhaul.
Both coalitions operate independently of the administration and Senate Democrats, and spokesmen for both the White House and Baucus said that no pressure — implicit or otherwise — to join the pro-health-care reform groups was applied to industry representatives at the meeting.
After arriving late, Messina delivered a presentation to what was one of many such “outreach” meetings he has attended, and he left before the other participants began talking strategy. Selib, who had convened the gathering, “didn’t ask anyone for money,” said committee spokesman Scott Mulhauser.
Indeed, attendees describe a more subtle dynamic: The Democratic officials made no overt demands. Rather, they brought together the players and laid the groundwork for the creation of the coalition, and that was followed by more-direct solicitations from an outside Democratic consultant, Nick Baldick, retained by Healthy Economy Now, asking attendees at the meeting to join the coalition and contribute to its ad campaigns.
One ethics expert, however, said the meeting still raises issues. No matter how careful Messina and Selib were to avoid conversation about Healthy Economy Now, their mere presence at what proved to be the coalition’s creation raises questions, according to Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that advocates for greater transparency and ethics in government.
“There’s no problem with sitting down at the table and talking,” said Allison. “But if they are signaling that they would really like these groups to support health care reform and trying to tell the groups how they’ll benefit from the plan, they’re laying a ‘quid’ on the table, and — even if they don’t discuss dollar amounts or advertising strategies — they’re suggesting what the ‘quo’ is, which is the groups’ support for the plan.”
The White House and committee officials said the meeting and the months of talks that followed it — between officials putting together the health care proposals and the stakeholders who would be affected by them — prove a willingness by the Obama administration and Baucus to engage groups traditionally considered adversaries of health care reform.
Ken Johnson, a senior vice president at PhRMA, called the April meeting “one of the key points where there was a coming together and a discussion of ideas and shared goals.”
Johnson said PhRMA, which ultimately provided the lion’s share of the $24 million to the two coalitions, “could have walked away at any time.”
Days after the meeting, Healthy Economy Now’s website address was registered, and meeting attendees began receiving unsolicited calls asking for cash for the coalition from Baldick, whose firm — Hilltop Public Solutions — had been hired to run Healthy Economy Now.
In addition to PhRMA and the American Medical Association, the strange-bedfellows coalition included the AARP, the American Cancer Society, the Business Roundtable, the advocacy group Families USA and the Service Employees International Union, as well as trade groups for biotech and medical device firms.
Other attendees opted out. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and America’s Health Insurance Plans refused to participate in a group backing a plan that they would ultimately oppose — and the insurance group this week emerged as the most aggressive opponent to the bill Baucus shepherded through his committee.
Many participants in the meeting had a great deal at stake in health care legislation. At the time Healthy Economy Now launched the first of its ads May 12, PhRMA was negotiating with Baucus and the White House a complex deal in which drug makers would contribute $80 million to lower costs in exchange for avoiding downward pressure on drug prices.
The Associated Press later revealed that PhRMA had agreed to spend a whopping $150 million pushing the health overhaul — a sum that included its contributions to Healthy Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care.

Also attending was a group representing device makers — which has been battling plans to fund reform by taxing medical devices — and groups representing employers and workers, which also have major interests in the outcome of the health fight.

Some participants said they felt distinct pressure to sign on to the coalitions. “What were we supposed to say? No?” asked a participant who represented a group that joined the coalition but who did not want to be identified discussing the meeting for fear of jeopardizing the group’s position in ongoing talks.

But others said the meeting only formalized what had already functioned as an informal alliance.

“This is a natural outgrowth of groups that have worked together previously on health reform issues,” said Richard Deem, the senior vice president for advocacy at the American Medical Association.

The group’s backers “had a record of pooling their resources long before the coalition,” Baldick said, adding that “a core group of these stakeholders approached Hilltop and others about formalizing a coalition.”

“The idea that this group of stakeholders — who deal with the problems in health care every day — needed to be told that it was important to communicate about health care, or how to do it, is absurd,” he said.

Allison said that it is not only the April meeting that troubles him but also the whole approach Baucus and the White House have taken in attempting to negotiate with potential adversaries.

“What you’ve had was the Senate and the White House sitting down and cutting deals with special interests,” he said. “I don’t think that’s quite what the American people signed up for when the Obama campaign said that they were going to limit the influence of special interests in this White House.”

Criticism — from the left and the right — of the PhRMA deal and the coalitions became more pointed after it was revealed in August that the coalitions were paying two firms with close ties to the White House to cut ads: AKPD Message and Media, which was founded by White House senior adviser David Axelrod, still owes him $2 million and employs one of his sons — and GMMB.

Liberals contended drug companies were being let off the hook. And congressional Republicans distributed talking points asserting the PhRMA deal raised “serious questions as to whether the drug lobby is helping to bankroll a multimillion-dollar severance package for one of the president’s senior advisers.”

The coalition spawned from the April meeting has evolved since its formation. The AARP, a member of Healthy Economy Now, did not join Americans for Stable Quality Care, which welcomed a range of smaller medical groups left out of Healthy Economy Now. The SEIU — dissenting from the implicit endorsement of Baucus’s more conservative legislation in the group’s most recent ad — recently left the group.

But participants say the coalition will continue its large-scale efforts on behalf of the legislation.

“In the not-too-distant future, you’ll see a new set of ads” from Americans for Stable Quality Care, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a coalition member that also belonged to Healthy Economy Now.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) –
The "Mother of Judo" waited 50 years to get the gold medal that was snatched from her in her first serious competition, a gender injustice that fueled Rusty Kanokogi's winning crusade for women's judo in the Olympics.

The gruff, plain talking Kanokogi who has received praise and recognition from the government of Japan, the International Judo Federation and International Women's Hall of Fame, was denied the prize at a YMCA tournament for being a woman.

"This should never, never happen to a woman again in sports," Kanokogi said about the rage she felt back in 1959.

The 74-year-old was speaking in an interview with Reuters on the eve of last week's medal ceremony that rectified the wrong half a century later.

"It was a negative for a while but I turned it around into a positive. I started the maneuvering for the recognition of women's judo and other sports. Basically it was encouragement.

"If the medal had not been taken away from me, who knows? Women's judo could still be waiting to get into the Olympics."

The gender-equality fighter who is now battling a rare form of cancer was born Rena Glickman and grew up tough on the streets of Brooklyn's Coney Island when girls were not allowed to play most school sports.

BOYS ONLY

"I was a strong girl, very physically active with no sports in school because that was for boys only," she said.

"So I took pleasure in hitting the heavy bag (punch bag) after school. I had a chip on my shoulder so I started using people in the street as a heavy bag.

"I was getting in trouble. Here I had the physical ability of a strong male with the mentality of a teenage girl. I was kind of lost. I was a lost soul with no place to go."

Kanokogi found herself in judo, intrigued after a friend showed her some moves.

She threw herself into the sport and practiced with the young men at the local YMCA when asked by the coach to fill in for an injured boy in a competition at upstate Utica, New York.

Told to try and earn a draw in her match to help the team, the 24-year-old produced a surprise.

"Instinctively, once I took hold of my opponent's judo gee (uniform top) I just went in for the big attack and I threw him," she recalled. "It worked. I got a full point."

Kanokogi said that although it was not in the rules that competitors had to be male, she disguised herself anyway. "I wasn't told to take the ace (stretch) bandage and bind up my boobs," she said. "I did that on my own."

However, the tournament director confronted her afterwards, insisting girls could not compete and saying she would have to give her medal back or her team would be disqualified.

"I took the medal off and handed it to him," she said. "All of the guys wanted to give the medals back and the trophy and I refused to let them do that. We had a solemn ride back to the city."

NO SHRINKING

Kanokogi did not shrink from the episode.

Instead, she worked even harder as a competitor and instructor, traveling to Japan three years later to study the Japanese martial art. There she met future husband Ryohei Kanokogi, a coach for Japan's Olympic team.

She dedicated herself to the sport and the premise that women deserved the right to compete in judo at the Olympics, which men had done since in 1964.

Kanokogi, who married her judo soul-mate in 1965 in a partnership that produced two children, organized the first women's world championships in 1980 at Madison Square Garden, assembling 27 countries to satisfy an Olympic pre-requisite.

"In 1984 at the LA Olympics they once again rejected women's judo from the Games. I went crazy," she said.

Enlisting help from the American Civil Liberties Union and politicians, Kanokogi threatened legal action over sex discrimination and finally broke through when women's judo was staged as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Four years later it became a fully-fledged part of the Olympic program in Barcelona.

"I wanted it not just for United States women but for women round the world to be able to be in the Olympics," said Kanokogi, who last year was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan, its highest honor for a foreigner.

"What the hell was the problem? It was mentality. Full contact sport for women. The first in Olympic history.

"Could the IOC relate to it? They could think of mommy on a horse but they couldn't think of mommy fighting."

Eileen O'Connor, head of the Brooklyn YMCA, presented Kanokogi a medal in "recognition for a lifetime of inspirational leadership and commitment to equality for women in sports."

The feisty Kanokogi is now fighting a battle for her health. She suffers from multiple myeloma, a cancer that has also led to kidney failure, forcing her on dialysis.

"Through the judo, my spirit is still extremely strong," she said. "I've lost some weight and I need a cane. However, I can use that cane like a Samurai sword. I'm not worried."

(Editing by Dave Thompson; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

NEWARK, N.J. – A man from the West African nation Togo has admitted his role in the smuggling of dozens of girls and women who were forced to work at hair braiding salons in New Jersey.
Lassissi Afolabi pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to conspiring with his ex-wife and others to commit forced labor and related crimes in Newark and East Orange, where he lived.
Afolabi has been held without bail since his arrest in September 2007. He could face up to life in prison when he's sentenced Dec. 8.
Prosecutors say between October 2002 and September 2007 at least 20 girls and women were taken from Togo using fraudulent visas. The girls were forced to work six or seven days a week and to turn over all of their earnings to the defendants.