livejasmin.net blog

Leeches help doctors reattach woman's face
"The most important thing was to get blood into the torn off body part," woman's doctor said
Source: www.cbsnews.com

Doc accused of snapping pics of naked patients
A Swedish woman who had just had a rectal examination was surprised when her doctor whipped out his mobile phone and showed her pictures he had taken of other patients in various states of undress.
Source: www.thelocal.se

Swedish woman's face saved by leeches after pet dog bit it off
Sweden, Sept 21 (ANI): A Swedish woman's face has been saved by hundreds of leeches after a massive chunk was bitten off by her own pet dog.
Source: in.news.yahoo.com

Swedish woman finds toad in pre-packed salad
A woman in central Sweden was shocked to discover a living toad at the bottom of a bag of pre-packaged salad that had been in her fridge for almost a week.
Source: www.thelocal.se

'Abduction' gives Lautner plenty of time to bare his abs

It takes all of five minutes for Taylor Lautner to lose his shirt in “Abduction” — and about 10 more before the film becomes so awful that the uncontrollable laughter bursts forth.

Lautner, who shot to superstardom virtually overnight playing the werewolf Jacob in the “Twilight” series, was paid a whopping $7.5 million to star in this generic action picture, although it would be unfair to single him out. Everyone involved in this ridiculous film, from co-stars Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver to director John Singleton (who was once the youngest filmmaker ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar, for “Boyz n the Hood,” but has since sadly become a hack-for-hire), is in it strictly for the money.

The debut of screenwriter Shawn Christensen, who after this movie should never be allowed near even a word processor or any sort of writing utensil again, the movie centers on Nathan (Lautner), an ordinary teenager who discovers a photo of him taken as a child on a website for missing persons.

Read more

Source: www.kansas.com

‘Moneyball’ hits a home run

Baseball movies are a genre unto their own, whether funny (“Bull Durham”) or serious (“Field of Dreams”). And baseball usually transcends the limits of the game, becoming a symbol of the human spirit.

It’s only fitting, then, that “Moneyball” transcends the limits of a baseball movie. With a tight yet sweeping script by Oscar-winning screenwriters Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”), the film is funny, moving and thrilling, though it’s rooted in anything but: statistics.

Based on the book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” by Michael Lewis, the real-life story follows Billy Beane (a career-best Brad Pitt), as the general manager of the Oakland A’s in the early 2000s, as his team is about to lose three star players.

Read more

Source: www.kansas.com

Duvall makes good-hearted ‘Utopia’ work

Many golfers who spend their weekends chasing tiny white balls across long ranges of green grass consider the sport an almost religious experience. “Seven Days in Utopia” takes that spiritual approach one step further to show how one man finds true religion through golf.

Based on David L. Cook’s novel, “Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia,” the movie follows Luke Chisholm (Lucas Black) as he finally reaches the goal his father has pushed him to obtain: a chance to play professional golf. His debut is a disaster, so he escapes from the spotlight to the sleepy little Texas town of Utopia. It’s a place where Sunday socials, neighborly ways and catching lightning bugs still exist.

It’s also where Chisholm meets Johnny Crawford (Robert Duvall), a former pro golfer with the wisdom of Yoda. His mentoring of Chisholm in the ways of golf and life turn the film into a putting-green version of “The Karate Kid.” Crawford teaches golf through fly fishing, painting and airplane rides.

Read more

Source: www.kansas.com

Refund Anticipation and the Tax Gap

There has been a significant expansion of refundable credits over the past twenty years. This trend is likely to continue as part of federal policy to stimulate the economy and promote non-tax related social benefits. With the growing use of the tax system to deliver refundable benefits to individuals, the tax preparation industry as a whole has become, in some significant respects, a vehicle for cross-marketing of non-tax goods and services. Refund anticipation loans, or RALs, are one example of these non-tax products that paid preparers facilitate for their customers. RALS are short-term loans secured by a taxpayer's anticipated tax refund amount. A taxpayer will borrow against the anticipated refund, and will be required to repay the loan regardless of the size of the actual refund amount. The RAL lender issues the taxpayer the amount of the anticipated refund less any preparation fees, as well as any filing, finance, and processing charges. The IRS refund is then transferred directly to the lender to pay back the loan. RAL customers receive their money between two and six weeks faster than waiting for their refund check. RALs have created a substantial market, with about $900 million in loan-related RAL fees being generated annually. The creation of RALs has opened up a major market niche, with their popularity largely coming with the advent of the IRS's e-filing program, and their use often associated with the receipt of earned income tax credit (EITC)-generated refunds. Over time, RAL providers have come under fire from consumer advocates, elected officials, and IRS officials. The criticisms of RALs have come from two general starting points: 1) a social policy standpoint that draws heavily from general consumer protection concerns, including that RALs compromise taxpayer privacy and unfairly drain away precious tax benefits through fees that are high when computed on an annual percentage basis, and 2) a more targeted tax compliance perspective examining the role that RALS play in contributing to the underreporting aspect of the tax gap. While noting that consumer privacy and general consumer protection concerns are independent bases for further regulation, this essay focuses on the debate over RALs' effect on tax compliance, and its contribution to the tax gap. While RALs are regulated to a limited extent by the IRS and Treasury, the IRS and the National Taxpayer Advocate have raised concerns about whether RALS create incentives for less compliant behavior among preparers who facilitate access to RAL lenders. In 2008 the IRS issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR), seeking comments to determine to what degree RALs and other similar products should be further regulated. The rule on which the IRS and Treasury were seeking guidance would prohibit the use of information obtained during the tax preparation process for the purpose of marketing any product. This new rule would, at a minimum, inject additional costs for preparers and consumers and likely limit their use in some way. The question that the IRS raised in its ANPR focused on whether RALs contribute to increased demand for overstated tax refunds. This question itself raises many unanswered questions. For example, does the additional speed in which individuals receive money embolden inappropriate taxpayer conduct? If the answer is yes, assuming practitioners can influence taxpayer compliance decisions, will increased regulation of preparers generally or RALs in particular result in fewer taxpayers willing to misstate facts to generate an improper refund? Do additional profits derived from RALs contribute to preparers' willingness to turn a blind eye to existing due diligence rules? Or even worse, do RALs contribute to conditions where preparers themselves are facilitating the noncompliance through more preparer-generated noncompliance efforts? These questions highlight the lack of information that hampers policymakers in designing effective measures to reduce the tax gap. Until the IRS generates quantitative data that identifies, for example, preparer types and correlates error rates with types of preparers, and generates studies comparing error rates among preparers offering RALs as compared with non RAL-seeking taxpayers, it is difficult to justify taking measures that may effectively limit RALs on compliance reasons alone. This essay argues that in addition to the importance of additional research relating to preparers to backstop heavy-handed regulatory efforts, the IRS should broadly consider the insights from responsive regulation, and in particular consider ways to encourage preparers to self-regulate. Self-regulation allows the IRS to preserve scarce compliance resources for egregious actors. The focus on RALs in this essay allows for a further inquiry into the special role that preparers play in our tax system, and reflects the possibility that meaningfully working with the preparer community can be a means to reducing the tax gap in the thorny area of refundable credits.

Source: works.bepress.com

Sweden urges sex-trafficking law reform
SWEDISH police have said if Ireland and other countries adopted their stringent anti-prostitution laws, it would aid police co-operation and help make Europe a no-go area for sex traffickers.
Source: www.irishexaminer.com

IP and Entrepreneurship in an Evolving Economy: A Case Study

What if you built an intellectual property clinic and hardly anyone came? This brief book chapter is a case study of the first two years of a new entrepreneurship law clinic in an evolving economy: West Virginia. While the clinic had entrepreneurial clients, those clients had developed little intellectual property.

This chapter takes a closer look at the chicken-and-egg problem of knowledge development in an evolving economy, and concludes that law clinics can only support IP growth - they cannot create it on their own. The chapter then generalizes from the experience to suggest ways that law clinics can support their entrepreneurial communities while assisting in intellectual property growth.

The chapter and book are part of the Creativity and the Law series.

Source: works.bepress.com

Criminalising men can cut prostitution, say visiting experts
THE CRIMINALISATION of men who purchase sex must be central to any strategy to combat prostitution, according to a number of world experts on the issue who are in Dublin to brief the Gardaí and the HSE.
Source: rss.feedsportal.com

WikiLeaks chief denies sex allegations in memoir
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says in a new memoir that he did not sexually assault two women who have accused him of rape, and claims he was warned the U.S government was trying to entrap him.
Source: biz.yahoo.com

Stories About Science in Law: Literary and Historical Images of Acquired Expertise

Presenting examples of how literary accounts can provide a supplement to our understanding of science in law, this book challenges the view that law and science are completely different. It focuses on stories which explore the relationship between law and science, especially cultural images of science that prevail in legal contexts. Contrasting with other studies of the transfer and construction of expertise in legal settings, this book considers the intersection of three interdisciplinary projects: law and science, law and literature, and literature and science. Looking at the appropriation of scientific expertise into law from these perspectives, this book presents an original introduction into how we can gain insight into the use of science in the courtroom and in policy and regulatory settings through literary sources.

Source: works.bepress.com

Miss Bristol emcee named
BRISTOL — Miss Connecticut 2009 Sharalynn Kuziak of Southington will be the emcee for the 51st annual Miss Bristol and Miss Bristol’s Outstanding Teen Pageant on Oct. 1 at Bristol Central High School.
Source: m.bristolpress.com

alex's link

Source: myband.multiply.com

JAMMING @ JUN 03 !!!!!!!
REALLY FINAL SONG LIST Attendance so far: Me, Fred, Bryan, Hao, Owen, Linda and James. Songs covering: Intro noise: Sweet Child of Mine [no v] Warm up: Paradise [v - Bryan] 1. The Reason [v - Owen?] 2. No Surprises [v - Owen/James?] 3. Don't Look Back In Anger [v - James] 4. Lithium [v - James] 5. 1979 [v - Wei Kiat] 6. Tonight, Tonight [v - Wei Kiat] 7. In My Place [v - Owen] 8. Yellow [v - Owen] 9. Dakota [v - Alfred] 10. Zhen De Ai Ni [v - Bryan] 11. Californication [v - Alex] 12. Creep [v - Alex] Additional: Smell Like Teen Spirit, Don't Go Away, November Rain…
Source: myband.multiply.com

Jess Lee's sexy suffering
Taiwan-based Malaysian singer Jess Lee Kar Wei, 23, releases debut single "Suffering" with music video starring adult model Jennifer Chu.
Source: my.news.yahoo.com

Thomson makes it to very small screen
MP embroiled in scandal has earned the attention of Taiwanese news animators, becoming an online viral sensation. 
Source: www.news.com.au

Outing week…

There are nice movie which are out this week and as well there's a number of event…

1)  Inital D

2)  Be with you (Japanese movie) (From the director of "Beautiful Life)

I intend to watch Inital D together on the 1st july, evening time. As for "Be with you", will be on 8th july. Or provide the time, day which everybody is free.

"DreamCar Asia"

From 30th June to 3rd of July, there's an event in Singapore Expo, which is "Dreamcar asia" and also can consider as "Dreambabe asia". If it's ok with you guys, we go down on 2nd July, and our Jam session will be on 3rd July, evening time.

"Cosfesta 2005″

10th July, there will be a cosplay competition held at Pasir Ris, Downtown east. It's a free entry. I will be there taking photos.

Goodwin Liu Confirmation Gives CA Court Majority of Asian Justices
 Last week  a three-member state commission unanimously approved U.C. Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu’s nomination to the California Supreme Court. Liu, who is Taiwanese-American, will join the seven-member high court, giving it a majority of Asian justices for the first…
Source: newamericamedia.org

Proposed Songs To Play..

Before Three,
End Of The World,
Friday I'm In Love,
I Don't Know What's Going On
— The Cure —

drummer; isc.

Source: myband.multiply.com

Hotlinks for 3/21 & 3/22
Train cars in New Castle, Indiana: Check out the videos that inspired our story on YouTube » Watch our story on CNN.com » The Redneck Mommy: Watch Eric's whole interview from the archives here. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be captivated by Tanis: The Redneck Mommy. Halftime "Water Cell" escape scare: See the raw footage […]

Train cars in New Castle, Indiana:
Check out the videos that inspired our story on YouTube »
Watch our story on CNN.com »

The Redneck Mommy:
Watch Eric's whole interview from the archives here. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be captivated by Tanis: The Redneck Mommy.

Halftime "Water Cell" escape scare:
See the raw footage on YouTube: Houdini Water Torture Cell Gone Bad. Then surf over to RidgewayandJohnson.com for a look at what this amazing stunt looks like when everything goes right!
See the "News To Me" story again on CNN.com »

Toothpics in a beard:
Check out the full video on YouTube »

This is why you're fat:
Did we make you hungry? Visit the site that started it all: ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com »
Watch our story on CNN.com »

Mac Vs. PC – for reals!
Filmmaker Nick Greenlee's epic battle between good vs. evil (we'll let YOU choose which is which) is racking up the views on YouTube. To get a look at how he did it and what else Nick has up his sleeve, check out our video on CNN.com »

Source: rss.cnn.com

"NTM" Augmented Reality sneak peek
Howdy gang. Reading this blog is finally going to pay off for you! Click the play button above to watch Eric demonstrate one of the coolest things we've seen in a long time. Definitely something you'll be showing off to your friends and family. WATCH » Cool right? OK… to do it yourself, you need […]

Click play button to watch Eric demonstrate Augmented Reality.

Howdy gang. Reading this blog is finally going to pay off for you! Click the play button above to watch Eric demonstrate one of the coolest things we've seen in a long time. Definitely something you'll be showing off to your friends and family. WATCH »

Cool right? OK… to do it yourself, you need a printer and a web cam… then click over to plugintothesmartgrid.com and have at it! Let 'em know "News To Me" on HLN sent you!

Have fun with that. We'll see you this weekend with even more coolness from the web on "News To Me."

Source: rss.cnn.com

"News To Me" – final episode
We just wanted to let you know that this weekend’s episode of "News To Me" (airing March 28th and 29th) will be the last. Starting in April, "News To Me' is leaving the HLN schedule to make way for a new weekend edition of "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell." More details and a proper thank-you are […]

We just wanted to let you know that this weekend’s episode of "News To Me" (airing March 28th and 29th) will be the last.

Starting in April, "News To Me' is leaving the HLN schedule to make way for a new weekend edition of "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell."

More details and a proper thank-you are forthcoming.

Source: rss.cnn.com

Final show "thank you's" from Eric
This weekend is our final show on HLN. It's been a good run and as they say, "All good things must come to an end." If you'll allow me just a brief moment of your time, I'd like to say thanks to some of the people who made "News To Me" possible: You, the viewers. […]

This weekend is our final show on HLN. It's been a good run and as they say, "All good things must come to an end."

If you'll allow me just a brief moment of your time, I'd like to say thanks to some of the people who made "News To Me" possible:

You, the viewers. It was your show all along, so I hope you liked it.

The locations. We shot in just about every neighborhood in Atlanta. Thanks for the food, drink and fun stories.

The crew. Simply the best shooters, audio techs & PA’s in the business.

The HLN staff and executives. Thanks for everything. You allowed us to have fun and make good TV.

Interns. Hope you learned something and I need to be nice to you in case you are my boss in the future. Good luck.

Mike, Grayson, Aaron, Charles… great friends. Good luck, kick butt.

Teague. "Allright DH!" Great work, thanks for making me always look and sound good.

JB. Thanks for the chance.

-Eric

Source: rss.cnn.com

Recording Eric at the "mothership"
There are a lot of reasons why we don’t shoot "News To Me" in a studio. For one: Eric is allergic to teleprompters. It’s a rare allergy, but it can be quite debilitating. Especially for someone who makes their living as a TV presenter. Two: Inside a TV studio there are a lot more of […]

There are a lot of reasons why we don’t shoot "News To Me" in a studio.

For one: Eric is allergic to teleprompters. It’s a rare allergy, but it can be quite debilitating. Especially for someone who makes their living as a TV presenter.

Two: Inside a TV studio there are a lot more of US than there are of YOU, and the "News To Me" motto is, "YOU shoot it, we show it." So we steer clear of the climate controlled sound stages and get out into the elements, where YOU are.

For this weekend's show we blurred those lines just a little. We shot Eric’s "on camera" stuff all around CNN Center here in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Some of us refer to CNN Center as "The Mothership" because it’s home to CNN (of course), CNN International, CNN en Espanol, CNN Radio, CNN.com, the Airport Network, the Inside CNN Studio Tour and HLN – the home of "News To Me."

The Inside CNN Studio Tour is a behind the scenes tour of the Global Headquarters of CNN and it is VERY popular. In the shot above you see Eric with Kat who brought her parents (visiting from England) to take the tour that also includes a look at the newsroom and studios of HLN. Little did Kat (or her parents) know that before the day was over she would actually end up ON HLN!

It’s not hard to find a bridge in Atlanta… a lot of the city is actually built a few stories above the ground in order to leave passages open for the freight trains that rumble through all day long.

Cameraman/writer/editor/Activia-eater Teague is a master at making something as mundane as this concrete bridge belly interesting … see if you can spot the shot he’s shooting above in the show tomorrow!

What's going on here? Three little words: I dare you.

OK… Eric didn't really lick that graffiti-covered support pillar in the parking deck. Or did he? Find out if he's immune to the Norwalk virus this weekend on "News To Me!"

Source: rss.cnn.com

Hotlinks for 3/14 & 3/15
Here are the links to everything on "News To Me" this weekend: Living in an airstream trailer: See the iReport that started it all: From Beverly Hills to Hillbillies » Visit Leah's blog: leahthebird.blogspot.com Saudi dust storm: iReporter Lutz Arnhold took amazing shots of the storm from the top of Al Faisaliah Tower » Eco-warrior […]

Here are the links to everything on "News To Me" this weekend:

Living in an airstream trailer:
See the iReport that started it all: From Beverly Hills to Hillbillies »
Visit Leah's blog: leahthebird.blogspot.com

Saudi dust storm:
iReporter Lutz Arnhold took amazing shots of the storm from the top of Al Faisaliah Tower »

Eco-warrior at London auto show:
iReporter Chris Smith takes on the Hummer and it's fans in London. Check out his full iReport here »

Oakland's diagonal crosswalk:
Most of us had never seen anything like this! Thanks to iReporter Dr Derrick Norbert Morris for uploading his report about the intersection of Webster and Franklyn in Oakland, CA »

Augmented reality:
You need a printer and a webcam to get the full experience from GE's entertaining website plugintothesmartgrid.com.
Eric's demonstration: WATCH »

Teacher draws a perfect circle:
Check out the raw video on YouTube »

Dalmatian rides a bike:
Thank you wacky Japanese game show for this video of a spotted dog riding a bicycle. Watch »

Ideas by Chuck:
His name is Chuck, he has ideas. ideasbychuck.com »

Thanks for watching! See you next weekend.

Source: rss.cnn.com

San Diego military jet crash follow-up
Back in December, iReporters provided "News To Me" with an almost TOO-close view of the devastation caused when a military jet crashed into a suburban San Diego neighborhood. The pilot ejected and survived, but, on the ground, one man’s entire family was killed. I know I will never forget how I felt watching Dong Yun […]

Back in December, iReporters provided "News To Me" with an almost TOO-close view of the devastation caused when a military jet crashed into a suburban San Diego neighborhood. The pilot ejected and survived, but, on the ground, one man’s entire family was killed.

I know I will never forget how I felt watching Dong Yun Yoon talking to the media the next day. It had only been hours since learning that he’d lost his wife, daughters and mother-in-law to the crash. With emotions still so raw, he came out and eulogized his wife and daughters… and then, he asked us to pray for the pilot as well. His press conference was one of the most touching and “real” things I have ever seen on TV.

"Horrible thing to happen" watch »

The Marines have been investigating what went wrong that day… and have determined a number of things, including deferred maintenance and faulty decisions by the pilot, contributed to the accident. Four people have been fired… and nine others have been relieved of duty.

Full Story »

Source: rss.cnn.com

Hotlinks for 2/28 – 3/1
This weekend we're exceptionally proud of the first story you'll see at 7:30pm and 9:30pm EST. It's the story of a very brave man named Ed who needs some help, and his friend who turned a missed deadline into an iReport that touched and inspired all of us. Eric will introduce you to both these […]

This weekend we're exceptionally proud of the first story you'll see at 7:30pm and 9:30pm EST. It's the story of a very brave man named Ed who needs some help, and his friend who turned a missed deadline into an iReport that touched and inspired all of us. Eric will introduce you to both these guys on this weekend's episode of "News To Me" and, like Ed, you may see the world a little differently after wards.

As compelling as Ed’s story is, his isn’t the only story in the show this weekend. There’s a lot more to see on "News To Me," so without further ado… here are the links to all the raw video that made up this episode:

Ed Port:
- Donations to raise the funds for an operation that could help Ed see and hear clearly again can be made at any Chase Bank. There is a non-profit account set up there called "Ed Needs A Miracle." You can also make donations via his website: edneedsamiracle.com.
- The full video submitted by Ed's friend Michael Murphy is on iReport.com.
- To learn more about Ed's condition visit the Children's Tumor Research Foundation.

Cars sliding down an icy hill:
- Visit iReporter Bob Cronk's iReporter profile page for links to the complete video and a wintery tour of his hometown!

Elephant plays a harmonica:
- The full video is streaming right now on iReport.com.

Rent-a-Gent:
- It's been one of CNN.com's most popular videos… CNN affiliate KTXA finds a guy who has come up with an interesting way to make ends meet. He's for rent, but not like THAT! Watch Rent-A-Gent »

Bankok nightclub fire:
- This raw iReport may contain images that some viewers may find distrubing. That being said, you can see the full clip right now on iReport.com.

Get Mortified:
- Find all YOUR old unsent love letters and tear stained journal entries from Jr. High and then find a "mortified" event near you!
getmortified.com

Eric explores CES:
- To get a feel for what it was like during our week in Vegas for the 2009 Consumer Electronics show, check out all our blog entries about the event or check out a behind the scenes video of the CNN/HLN/CNN.com workspace: Behind the scenes at CES »

CES Gadgets Eric featured on "News To Me:"
- Inada Sogno massage chair
- fuji enviromax batteries
- Tri-Specs bluetooth sunglasses
- Electric bike from ELV Motors
- LED jacket by Nyx Illuminated Clothing Company
- Underwater digital camera scuba mask
- Hitachi Gesture Control TV Interface prototype
- Faithful Friends host Electra Mustaine
- Mattel Mind Flex mind control game (due out in the fall)

Let us know what you thought of the show, and what you'd like to see in upcoming episodes! Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week!

Source: rss.cnn.com

Poll: Most Americans Say U.S. Economy is on 'Wrong Course'
In the latest Bloomberg National Poll, most Americans say the economy is on the wrong track and they are more-pessimistic about its prospects — something that doesn't bode well for President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats in the next election, if economic conditions don't improve in the quarters ahead.
Source: www.ibtimes.com

New Book Makes Scandalous Claims About Sarah Palin
Joe McGinniss' book titled "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin," alleges that the former republican Vice Presidential candidate had an affair with then-University of Michigan star basketball player, Glen Rice, in the 1980s, snorted cocaine, had an affair with her husband…
Source: www.ibtimes.com

Breast, Cervical Cancer a Growing Threat for Women in Developing Nations: Study
The number of breast and cervical cancer fatalities have skyrocketed in developing nations in the last three decades, while they have fallen in wealthier countries, according to an analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Source: www.ibtimes.com

Bloomberg Riots: Mayor Mike Says High Unemployment Rate Could Trigger Riots in U.S.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg cautioned Friday that social unrest in the United States could ensue if action is not taken by policy makers to create jobs and lower the U.S.'s high 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
Source: www.ibtimes.com

A Clarification of the Constitution’s Application Abroad: Making the "Impracticable and Anomalous" Standard More Practicable and Less Anomalous

This Article explores how to apply the “impracticable and anomalous” standard, which is the test that courts have used in determining whether and how the Constitution applies to U.S. conduct abroad. Under this test, the Constitution constrains U.S. conduct abroad unless it would be impracticable and anomalous to do so. The “impracticable and anomalous” standard has been implicitly applied since the Insular Cases, a group of cases decided in the early 20th century, and explicitly applied since 1957 in Reid v. Covert, but it is still unclear what the standard means, even after the Supreme Court’s landmark 2008 decision applying the test in Boumediene v. Bush to determine whether and how the Suspension Clause applies to U.S. conduct in Guantanamo Bay.

Indeed, the syntactic structure of the “impracticable and anomalous” standard is still ambiguous, as the Court has not clarified whether it is a disjunctive or conjunctive standard, and there is also confusion about the standard’s semantic content, since the Court has provided little insight into what the words “impracticable” and “anomalous” mean in this context. With so many ambiguities, the doctrine is itself impracticable, because judges cannot apply it objectively and predictably, and it is also anomalous in the Court’s constitutional jurisprudence, because although many judicial doctrines contain some ambiguity, it is difficult to think of one whose semantic and syntactic structure is this amorphous.

Although there has been little scholarly inquiry into how to apply the standard, the issue is now heating up, as Gerald Neuman and Christina Duffy Burnett, two leading lights on the Constitution’s transnational applicability, have recently written significant articles on how they believe courts do and should apply the standard. But despite the enhanced interest in the issue, Neuman and Burnett agree that “a full elaboration and defense of [the standard] has yet to be written.” This Article undertakes this challenge to become the first “full elaboration and defense of” the standard, and in the process, to make it more practicable as a judicial doctrine and less anomalous in the Court’s constitutional jurisprudence.

Source: works.bepress.com

Electric Vehicles: Car Battery Production Expected to be Double Demand by 2013
Electric car battery production may exceed demand to such a degree by 2013 that battery prices will plummet. But will the price drop help or delay the advancement of car battery technology?
Source: www.ibtimes.com

Common People - William Shatner (arranged by Ben Folds)
Common People - William Shatner (arranged by Ben Folds)
Source: www.rhapsody.com

Zuton Fever - The Zutons
Zuton Fever - The Zutons
Source: www.rhapsody.com

The Black Amnesias - Hope Of The States
The Black Amnesias - Hope Of The States
Source: www.rhapsody.com

Man-Revolutionary! - Rogue Wave
Man-Revolutionary! - Rogue Wave
Source: www.rhapsody.com

El Salvador - Athlete
El Salvador - Athlete
Source: www.rhapsody.com

Unrecorded - M83
Unrecorded - M83
Source: www.rhapsody.com

Evil - Interpol
Evil - Interpol
Source: www.rhapsody.com

Portions For Foxes - Rilo Kiley
Portions For Foxes - Rilo Kiley
Source: www.rhapsody.com

Best bets opening today

Contagion

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") brings an ensemble cast of stars (including Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Marion Cotillard) to this tale exploring the fear that overcomes civilization after the outbreak of a deadly disease.

Warrior

Read more

Source: www.kansas.com

‘The Debt’ is chilling, complex

The little-seen 2007 Israeli spy thriller “The Debt” gets a boost of international star power in its remake. The film is a complex suspense story, with shifting chronologies and new angles of observation on a decades-old Mossad mission to Cold War East Berlin.

In one story strand, Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain, “The Help”) and two fellow agents (Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas ) infiltrate the city’s Soviet zone to capture Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel, who has assumed a new identity. In a parallel narrative, Rachel (now played by Helen Mirren) and her colleagues (Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds) deal with explosive loose ends from the 30-year-old mission.

The plot is a dark skein of unraveling secrets too clever and original to reveal. “The Debt’s” 1960s scenes are love letters to the old-school secret-agent novels of John Le Carre and Len Deighton, with their low-tech spycraft, conflicted antiheroes and morally murky missions. The Danish actor Jesper Christensen is riveting as Vogel, the concentration-camp surgeon who has gone underground as a gynecologist. The scenes in which Rachel, posing as a patient, climbs into his examination stirrups are chilling.

Read more

Source: www.kansas.com

‘Attack the Block’ a fun, witty monster movie

This has been the year of the alien, with such alien-invasion flicks as “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Paul,” “Super 8” and others.

So the British indie “Attack the Block” — which started a limited release stateside earlier this summer and opens in Wichita today — is in good company. And while it doesn’t exactly offer anything new on the genre, it does it with energy, humor and suspense.

The story starts as a teenage street gang in South London, led by the fearless, commanding Moses (John Boyega), mugs innocent nursing student Sam (Jodie Whittaker) on her way home.

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Source: www.kansas.com

'Shark Night' summer's worst film

HASH(0xe90a858)

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Source: www.kansas.com

'Idiot Brother' is hapless, sweet

“Our Idiot Brother” has sex, nudity, pot use and profanity. But the unfailing sweetness of Paul Rudd’s lead performance makes what could have been another raunchy and rude R-rated farce a bracing change of pace in a summer of aggressive comedies about aggressive people, from “Bad Teachers” to “Horrible Bosses.”

Rudd plays Ned, a “bio-dynamic farmer,” when we meet him, a soul so open-hearted and trusting that he listens to a sob story from a uniformed cop at his farmer’s market stall, gives him the pot he begs for — and then stares, slack-jawed, as the jerk slaps cuffs on him.

“I’m such an idiot,” Ned mutters, and not for the first time.

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Source: www.kansas.com

Tone sets 'Straw Dogs' apart from the original 1971 film

“Straw Dogs” is an artful provocation — a meditation on masculinity and societal mores in the guise of an explosive thriller. While remaking Sam Peckinpah’s controversial 1971 classic, writer-director Rod Lurie (“The Contender,” “The Last Castle”) has kept the plot virtually intact.

What makes the two films feel radically different is tone. Where Peckinpah was borderline nihilistic, Lurie is unabashedly humanist, simultaneously celebrating and mourning the primal savagery we all harbor within us — a savagery that has been lulled into dormancy by civilization.

On paper, James Marsden and Kate Bosworth seem like odd substitutes for Dustin Hoffman and Susan George: These young, attractive actors are best known for their work in comic-book movies (“X -Men,” “Superman Returns”) and comedies. But their casting turns out to be a stroke of genius — so far removed from the stars of the original film that the inevitable comparisons are rendered moot. Marsden and Bosworth, delivering career-high performances, make these characters their own.

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Source: www.kansas.com

Review: Besson's 'Colombiana' is laughable exploitation

Writer-producer Luc Besson gives us a parody of his earliest hits “La Femme Nikita” and “The Professional” with “Colombiana,” a lady-assassin star vehicle for “Avatar’s” blue angel, Zoe Saldana.

See Zoe kill. See Zoe strip. Many times. See Zoe shower — a PG-13 shower. See Zoe dance seductively all by herself. See Zoe slip into a cat suit to carry out a hit from inside a jailhouse. See Zoe go for a swim. With sharks. In a sexy swimsuit.

“Colombiana” is a laugh-out-loud exploitation film about a young girl who, with bravery and confidence and physical skills beyond her years, escaped from the drug lords who killed her drug-lord daddy in Bogota, only to travel to America where she grows up and becomes a “tag killer,” somebody who marks her victims with a Cataleya orchid, since Cataleya is her name.

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Source: www.kansas.com

Best bets opening today

Contagion

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") brings an ensemble cast of stars (including Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Marion Cotillard) to this tale exploring the fear that overcomes civilization after the outbreak of a deadly disease.

Warrior

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Source: www.kansas.com

Kubrick's 'Killing,' 'Colossus': Offbeat flicks from the '50s

A couple of offbeat films recently released on DVD grab our attention this week:

"The Killing" (Criterion Collection, $29.95/$39.95 Blu-ray, not rated) —Not to be confused with the recent AMC detective series which irritated many of its viewers with an inconclusive season-ender, this 1956 film noir was the first major feature film by Stanley Kubrick, then 27 years old. The director who went on to make some of the most ingenious and creative movies of his generation, including "Dr. Strangelove," "A Clockwork Orange," "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Full Metal Jacket," captured the attention of serious movie watchers with this tale about a robbery at a horse racing track.

Sterling Hayden stars as the ex-con who masterminds the caper, the guy who brings together all of the diverse personnel needed to pull off a major heist.

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Source: www.kansas.com

‘Attack the Block’ a fun, witty monster movie

This has been the year of the alien, with such alien-invasion flicks as “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Paul,” “Super 8” and others.

So the British indie “Attack the Block” — which started a limited release stateside earlier this summer and opens in Wichita today — is in good company. And while it doesn’t exactly offer anything new on the genre, it does it with energy, humor and suspense.

The story starts as a teenage street gang in South London, led by the fearless, commanding Moses (John Boyega), mugs innocent nursing student Sam (Jodie Whittaker) on her way home.

Read more

Source: www.kansas.com

Best bets opening today (Sept. 16)

Drive

Stylistically adventurous director Nicolas Winding Refn, who gave us the hyper-violent "Bronson" (and a breakout role for Tom Hardy of "Warrior") and the eerily quiet but gruesome viking tale "Valhalla Rising," won best director at the Cannes Film Festival with this noirish tale of a movie stunt car driver (Ryan Gosling, everywhere these days) who moonlights as a driver for heists.

Straw Dogs

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Source: www.kansas.com

Gosling oozes cool in ‘Drive’

If you want to make your getaway, you need to play it cool. No squealing tires. No panic at the first sign of the police.

You need to stick to the speed limit. You need to know when to pull over behind a truck, turn off your lights and wait for the po-po to pass you by.

Or you need to hire “the kid,” a guy who knows those things. Ryan Gosling oozes Steve McQueen cool in “Drive,” a lean, pulsating thriller about a mechanic and part-time movie stunt-driver who moonlights as a “wheelman,” the fellow who can pick you up, take you to your robbery and get you out of there before the cops catch you.

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Source: www.kansas.com