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Volcanic eruptions emerge as lead cause for Little Ice Age

The Little Ice Age began in the late 13th century, scientists now posit, and lasted about 400 years. Some regions cooled significantly. A series of volcanic eruptions has become a leading culprit.

Sequences of explosive volcanic eruptions in the tropics were the likely trigger for the Little Ice Age, according to a new study.

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The research attempts to answer two longstanding questions swirling?around the roughly 400-year span of slightly cooler-than normal?temperatures: Exactly when did it begin? And what was its initial trigger?

Previous estimates for the onset of the Little Ice Age range from as?early as the late 1200s to as late as the 1500s, the research team?notes. Globally, temperatures averaged a modest 0.6 degrees Celsius, or?about 1 degree Fahrenheit cooler than usual.

But regionally, cooling could be profound. Glaciers in the Alps grew, bulldozing mountain villages. In Europe, the growing season became shorter, with spring and summers often cold and wet, triggering famines. In China, provinces that for centuries had produced bountiful citrus harvests no longer could provide them. With an additional climate-cooling blast from Mt. Tambora in Indonesia in 1815, North America and Europe experienced the year without summer in 1816.

Researchers have proposed a range of possible causes for the Little Ice Age ? from decline in the sun's output, volcanic activity, some combination of the two, or some form of natural variability within the climate system.

The problem either with a decline in the sun's output, which happened during this period, or volcanism is that neither was powerful enough on its own to account for the cooling, says Gifford Miller, a climate scientist at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine research at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Recent research on solar activity has indicated the sun didn't dim as deeply as earlier research suggested. And volcanic activity typically affects climate only for a few years after an explosive eruption. It does this by hurling vast amounts of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, where the SO2 particles reflect sunlight back into space. Those particles eventually drift back into the lower atmosphere, where they get washed out of the sky during storms.

Instead, Dr. Miller's team proposed that the initial trigger involved several major volcano eruptions occurring within about a decade of one another, followed by another set roughly 150 years later, which intensified the cooling.

The cooling effect of those eruptions, the team posits, probably triggered the growth of Arctic summer sea-ice cover and changes in North Atlantic ocean circulation. These changes reinforced the cooling trend, turning what might have been relatively short cool periods into a centuries-long chill.

The Little Ice Age is the coldest century-scale climate swing in the Northern Hemisphere in the past 8,000 years, Miller says. ?Our work says: Here is a potential way that you can explain it.?

The Little Ice Age began suddenly between 1275 and 1300 AD, the team estimates. It bases its estimate on vegetation samples gathered from Canada's Baffin Island during field trips between 2005 and 2010. The location once was covered with ice but lost it to global warming. Because the ice was on relatively flat ground, it preserved the vegetation it buried, without grinding it to powder. Using carbon-14 dating, the team analyzed some 147 samples and found two sudden periods of intense die-offs that took place when the ice cap experienced growth spurts. One occurred between 1275 and 1300, and the other between 1430 and 1450.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/yasSlql9YPU/Volcanic-eruptions-emerge-as-lead-cause-for-Little-Ice-Age

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Sanctions to hit EU buyback firms: Iran oil chief (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? European companies owed oil by Iran could lose out if Tehran imposes a ban on crude exports to the European Union next week, the head of Iran's state oil company said on Saturday.

Iran's parliament is due to debate a bill on Sunday that would cut off oil supplies to the EU in a matter of days, in revenge for a decision last Monday by the 27 EU member states to stop importing crude from Iran as of July 1.

"Generally, the parties to incur damage from the EU's recent decision will be European companies with pending contracts with Iran," Ahmad Qalebani, head of the National Iranian Oil Co. told the ISNA news agency.

"The European companies will have to abide by the provisions of the buyback contracts," he said. "If they act otherwise, they will be the parties to incur the relevant losses and will subject the repatriation of their capital to problems."

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, Iranian lawmakers hope to deny Europe the six-month window it had planned to give those countries most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile - time to adapt.

The EU banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at deflecting Tehran's nuclear development programme.

Under buyback contracts, a common feature of the Iranian oil industry, investments in oil field projects are paid back in oil, often over many years.

Italy's Eni says it is owed $1.4-1.5 billion in oil for contracts in Iran dating from 2000 and 2001 and has been assured by EU policymakers its buyback contracts will not be part of the European embargo but the prospect of Iran acting first may put that into doubt.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011.

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/ts_nm/us_iran_oil_sanctions

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Gingrich unloads on Romney, ads, in Florida speech (AP)

MOUNT DORA, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich on Thursday dramatically ramped up his attacks on Mitt Romney, saying the former Massachusetts governor is guilty of lies, desperation and hypocrisy that should make "every American angry."

Gingrich, the former House speaker, said he was infuriated by a barrage of attack ads that are blistering him on Florida TV stations ahead of Tuesday's GOP presidential primary. Most are funded by an outside organization backing Romney, but some are from Romney's own campaign. Unable to match Romney's money machine, Gingrich implored Florida Republicans to punish his chief rival for what Gingrich called callously dishonest ads.

"This is the desperate last stand of the old order," Gingrich told an outdoor crowd of more than 1,000 northwest of Orlando. "This is the kind of gall they have to think we're so stupid and we're so timid."

The nature and volume of the attack ads are similar to those that badly damaged Gingrich in Iowa a month ago.

"I think all the weight of his negative advertising and all the weight of his dishonesty has hurt us some," Gingrich said. But "I am not going to allow the moneyed interests that are buying those ads to come in here and to come into other states to misinform people and then to think we are too dumb to fight back."

Romney steered clear of his rival during a subsequent campaign appearance.

Gingrich later told reporters he decided to sharpen his criticisms after Romney's tax returns showed investments held in Cayman Island accounts, the government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac and other entities.

"Here's a guy who owns Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae stock," Gingrich said. "He owns a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, which is foreclosing on Floridians. And on that front he decides to lie about my career? There's something about the hypocrisy that should make every American angry."

Romney has been hammering Gingrich for consulting work he performed for Freddie Mac and telling Florida voters that Gingrich was paid by a company that contributed to the state's poor housing market.

The acerbic remarks came three days after Gingrich took a much more moderate tone in a televised debate in Tampa, when Romney sharpened his own attacks. Gingrich strongly hinted he will be more aggressive in a CNN debate scheduled for Thursday night in Jacksonville.

Romney, meanwhile, toured a Jacksonville factory that is closing because of the economy before he addressed several hundred people gathered outside. He acknowledged that the live audience at Thursday's debate may be fairly raucous, a dynamic that seems to favor Gingrich and his populist, us-against-the-media and us-against-the-establishment style.

"There may be some give and take," Romney said. "That's always fun and entertaining, I know. If you all could get there, we'd love to see you all there cheering."

In his remarks, Romney criticized President Barack Obama and steered clear of Gingrich. He called Obama's administration a "Groundhog Day" presidency in which nothing gets better.

Polls suggest the Florida primary is close, coming 10 days after Gingrich beat Romney by 12 percentage points in South Carolina. Asked if he felt Florida was slipping toward Romney, Gingrich said, "I feel that it's useful for people to look at the totality of his record and ask yourself, `How can a guy who literally owns stock in a Goldman Sachs investment fund that forecloses on Floridians run the ads he's been running?'"

Goldman Sachs employees and their families contributed $367,200 to Romney's campaign through Sept. 30, his largest source of campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul also were participating in Thursday's debate, the final one before the GOP presidential primary in Florida on Tuesday. But both candidates have set their sights elsewhere and have largely stayed away from the Romney-Gingrich drama.

Whoever wins Florida will score something no one has yet claimed in a tumultuous primary season: a second victory. The first three contests have been won by three different candidates. Only Paul has yet to score a win.

The hits for Romney and Gingrich were coming from many directions.

The "super" political action committees backing them have spent more than $10 million combined on ads to date in Florida, far more than their respective campaigns. The Romney-leaning Restore Our Future has spent $8.8 million in ads as of late Tuesday, bringing to $14 million the total spent on ads supporting Romney in the state. That doesn't include money already spent on radio and Internet advertising.

As of late Tuesday, the Gingrich-backing Winning Our Future had booked $1.8 million in television ads in Florida, a check made possible by a new donation from Miriam Adelson. She and her husband, Sheldon, this month gave $5 million apiece to the group, which supports Gingrich but legally must remain independent.

Santorum, meanwhile, seemed to be recognizing that he stood almost no chance of winning Florida. He and his advisers planned no advertising in the state and instead were focused on raising money and calling potential supporters in upcoming states. He all but gave up trying to woo a network of pastors and was scaling back his schedule in Florida.

Chuck Laudner, an influential adviser who helped Santorum score an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses, was returning to the Midwest to start piecing together coalitions in Missouri and Minnesota. Both states have media markets that overlap with Iowa, where Santorum proved to be the big story.

Paul, virtually absent from Florida except for appearances built around the debates, was concentrating instead on caucus states where his loyal backers can carry a louder voice.

___

Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Philip Elliott, Kasie Hunt and David Espo in Florida contributed to this report. Jack Gillum contributed from Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Mixed record for Obama's State of the Union goals

WASHINGTON (AP) ? As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his annual address to Congress, many goals he outlined in previous State of the Union speeches remain unfulfilled. From reforming immigration laws to meeting monthly with congressional leaders of both parties, the promises fell victim to congressional opposition or faded in face of other priorities as the unruly realities of governing set in.

For Obama, like presidents before him, the State of the Union is an opportunity like no other to state his case on a grand stage, before both houses of Congress and a prime time television audience. But as with other presidents, the aspirations he's laid out have often turned out to be ephemeral, unable to secure the needed congressional consent or requiring follow-through that's not been forthcoming.

As Obama's first term marches to an end amid bitterly divided government and an intense campaign by Republicans to take his job, it's going to be even harder for him to get things done this year. So Tuesday night's speech may focus as much on making an overarching case for his presidency ? and for a second term ? as on the kind of laundry list of initiatives that sometimes characterize State of the Union appeals.

"State of the Union addresses are kind of like the foam rubber rocks they used on Star Trek ? they look solid but aren't," said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. "Presidents will talk about solving some policy problem, and then the bold language of the State of the Union address disappears into the messy reality of governing."

For Obama, last year's State of the Union offers a case study in that dynamic. Speaking to a newly divided government not long after the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., Obama pleaded for national unity, a grand goal that never came to pass as Washington quickly dissolved into one partisan dispute after another.

Many of the particulars Obama rolled out that night proved just as hard to pull off.

Among the initiatives Obama promoted then that have yet to come to fruition a year later: eliminating subsidies to oil companies; replacing No Child Left Behind with a better education law; making a tuition tax credit permanent; rewriting immigration laws; and reforming the tax system.

The list of what he succeeded in accomplishing is considerably shorter, including: securing congressional approval of a South Korea free trade deal; signing legislation to undo a burdensome tax reporting requirement in his health care law; and establishing a website to show taxpayers where their tax dollars go.

White House press secretary Jay Carney argued Monday that the unfinished business from last year's speech didn't represent a failure.

"I think that any State of the Union address which lays out an agenda has to be ambitious, and if you got through a year and you achieved everything on your list then you probably didn't aim high enough," Carney said.

One of Obama's pledges from last January's speech ? to undertake a reorganization of the federal government ? he got around to rolling out only this month. And other promises are vaguer or more long term, such as declaring a "Sputnik moment" for today's generation and calling for renewed commitments to research and development and clean energy technology; pushing to prepare more educators to teach science, technology and math; promoting high-speed rail and accessible broadband; and seeking greater investments in infrastructure.

"Clearly as time goes on and a presidency matures you get less and less of it and the State of the Union becomes an aspiration for what you want to do as opposed to a road map for what you can accomplish," said Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer. As voters' enthusiasm fades and opposition deepens, Zelizer said, "You lose some of your power and you get closer to the next election and no one wants to work with you."

Last year's address already contained more modest goals than the speech Obama gave to a joint session of Congress a month after his inauguration, which although not technically a State of the Union report had the feel of one. At the time Obama called for overhauling health care and ending the war in Iraq ? promises he kept ? but also for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and imposing caps on carbon pollution ? promises unmet.

Obama this month announced plans to use tax credits to encourage employers to create jobs in the U.S. instead of overseas ? an idea he also raised in his State of the Union speech two years ago. Some of his goals, such as immigration and education reform, have resurfaced in multiple addresses, but still without being accomplished.

And rarely has Obama's rhetoric as president reached as high as the lofty promises of his campaign, when he pledged to change the very way Washington does business and remake politics itself. It's a far cry from those promises of change to the ambition of meeting monthly with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders ? but even that relatively modest goal, from Obama's 2010 State of the Union, went unfulfilled.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-23-State%20of%20the%20Union-Promises/id-78cb8e1e85eb4f4e8f07c5ce3ad13ebc

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Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup

This week, Rick Perry closed out his presidential run while Newt Gingrich's second ex-wife claimed he'd wanted an open marriage -- and President Obama brought down the house at the Apollo by revealing his heretofore hidden inner-Al Green. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney, unable to counter the hardening narrative that he's a tone deaf, out of touch mega-millionaire, didn't help matters with his response to being asked about his tax returns. When you are being booed for lack of financial transparency by a GOP debate crowd, odds are you've probably royally screwed up. It's never a good idea -- and especially not this year -- to be seen as completely out of touch with the economic concerns of ordinary Americans. Perhaps as he hobbles into Florida, he'll be helped by a shadowy new super PAC, Rich Kids for Romney (see the group's first ad here).

Add your voice to the conversation on Twitter: twitter.com/ariannahuff

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sunday-roundup_217_b_1221015.html

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SC verdict: Romney, Gingrich face off in primary

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Tommy's Country Ham House, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., on South Carolina's Republican primary election day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Tommy's Country Ham House, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., on South Carolina's Republican primary election day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at The Citadel Patriots Dinner in Charleston, S.C., Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks during a campaign stop at Tommy's Country Ham House, where former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also scheduled an appearance on South Carolina's Republican primary election day in Greenville, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate former, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, seen with his wife Callista at center, campaigns at a Chick-Fil-A in Anderson, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, on South Carolina's Republican primary election day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich collided Saturday in the South Carolina primary, the first Southern testing ground in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and historically a harbinger of the final outcome.

Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul rounded out the field in a campaign defined by its unpredictability.

There were 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake, but political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama still in its early stages.

In all, more than $12 million was spent on television ads by the candidates and their allies in South Carolina, much of it on attacks designed to degrade the support of rivals.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in next-up Florida with a significant ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date. The state's primary is Jan. 31.

Interviews with voters as they left polling places showed nearly half saying their top priority was finding a candidate who could defeat President Barack Obama in the fall, followed by wishes for experience, strong moral character and true conservatism.

In a state with 9.9 percent unemployment, concern about the economy was high, and almost one-third of those voting reported a family member had lost a job in the past three years.

The exit poll was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left polls at 35 randomly selected sites. The survey involved interviews with 1,577 voters and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph ? GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won ? while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Rep. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.

Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.

By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.

One piece of primary day theater failed to materialize when the two men avoided crossing paths at Tommy's Ham House in Greenville, packed with partisans holding signs that read either "Romney" or "Newt 2012."

Romney rolled in earlier than expected, and had left by the time Gingrich arrived.

Santorum got a lift hours before the polls closed when the Iowa Republican Party declared him the winner of the caucuses on Jan. 3. Romney was pronounced the victor by eight votes initially, but on Thursday, party officials said a recount showed Santorum ahead by 34. Even so, they declared the outcome a tie.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.

Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years.

Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Romney's stumbles began even before his New Hampshire primary victory, when he told one audience that he had worried earlier in his career about the possibility of being laid off.

He gave a somewhat rambling, noncommittal response in a debate in Myrtle Beach last Monday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the primary. The following day, he told reporters that because most of his earnings come from investments, he paid about 15 percent of his income in taxes, roughly half the rate paid by millions of middle-class wage-earners. A day later, aides confirmed that some of his millions are invested in the Cayman Islands, although they said he did not use the offshore accounts as a tax haven.

Asked again at a debate in North Charleston on Thursday about releasing his taxes, his answer was anything but succinct and the audience appeared to boo.

Gingrich benefited from a shift in strategy that recalled his approach when he briefly soared to the top of the polls in Iowa. At mid-week he began airing a television commercial that dropped all references to Romney and his other rivals, and contended that he was the only Republican who could defeat Obama.

It featured several seconds from the first debate in which the audience cheered as he accused Obama of having put more Americans on food stamps than any other president.

Nor did Gingrich flinch when ex-wife Marianne said in an interview on ABC that he had been unfaithful for years before their divorce in 1999, and asked him for an open marriage.

Asked about the accusation in the opening moments of the second debate of the week, he unleashed an attack on ABC and debate host CNN and accused the "liberal news media" of trying to help Obama by attacking Republicans. His ex-wife's account, he said, was untrue.

___

Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-21-GOP%20Campaign/id-8382b698a8504d228e6059c21ef9b6fa

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The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!

The calm after the storm? No sir. CES may be over, but the tech news is still flowing like sweet, sweet strawberry wine. Tim and Darren are both in town for that little Apple event that unfolded earlier today, so they'll be doing a live, in-studio throw down with Brian, Engadget Podcast-style. Follow along in the chat, after the jump.

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!

The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/the-engadget-podcast-is-live-tonight-at-5pm/

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The curious case of Grammy nominee Linda Chorney (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? Linda Chorney is the feel-good, do-it-yourself success story of this year's Grammy Awards. Or she's an unworthy impostor who broke the unwritten rules regarding self-promotion for music's top showcase.

It just depends who you talk to.

How the little-known 51-year-old singer-songwriter parlayed pluck into a career milestone provides an interesting window into the inner politics of the Grammys and the role influence can play in shaping nominations. Chorney's nod for best Americana album at the Feb. 12 ceremony has drawn a range of reactions, not all of them kind. She's been mocked on Twitter and by a majority of taste-making bloggers, and only occasionally has anyone come to her defense.

Since her Nov. 30 nomination for her self-produced independent double album "Emotional Jukebox," she's been taking advantage of the opportunities while turning some of the criticism back on itself in the same irrepressible way she's carved out a career in music over the past three decades.

"It's not cool," she said. "But what can you do?" The positive reaction has outweighed the negative, she says: "I've had an outcry of letters from people my age who have said what an inspiration this is. That it gave them hope. So that's been pretty nice. I didn't expect to hear that, which was really beautiful."

Her critics say Chorney's use of a National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences social-networking site to introduce her music to voters ran afoul of informal rules about lobbying. David Macias, a Grammy winner based in Nashville, thinks her nomination could have damaged the credibility of music's most prestigious showcase.

"The Grammys run the risk of being diluted," Macias said.

Chorney has defended herself, saying she simply took advantage of the Grammy365.com social-networking program the academy encouraged her to use. And Neil Portnow, the academy's president, agrees. He says her story shows there truly is a level playing field for all artists.

"It shows everybody has a shot," Portnow said. "That really is the truth."

Her competition is previous category winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Levon Helm, Country Music Hall of Fame member Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Ry Cooder ? owners of nearly two dozen Grammys collectively. Chorney's detractors say she doesn't belong.

In what seemed to be a veiled swipe at Chorney, when Lost Highway Records congratulated Williams on her nominations on its website, it added: "One might think Lucinda would be up for the award alongside the likes of amazing albums such as `KMAG YOYO (& other American stories)' from Hayes Carll or Robert Earl Keen's `Ready for Confetti,' but alas, here is a full list of the Americana Album nominees," then listed Chorney's name first.

Chorney, a resident of Sea Bright, N.J., has made a living as a musician for 30 years outside the label system, visiting all seven continents and releasing six albums along the way. While she never achieved her larger goals, she engineered a career with a willingness to barter and surprisingly lucrative gigs in resort locales ? at one, she memorably sang in exchange for rounds of golf.

"Will sing for greens fees," Chorney said. "Seriously. It's an alternative way. I tried making it in the business, to get the big record deal, but I've had a pretty good life singing all around the world. I like to climb. I went to Mount Everest. So it's been pretty rewarding."

Along the way she made lifelong friends who contributed to her career in interesting ways. One gave her a pass that allowed her to fly standby anywhere in the world for seven straight years and she crisscrossed the globe. Another friend, anesthesiologist Jonathan Schneider, sent her career in a completely unexpected direction when he offered to pay for "Emotional Jukebox," dropping around $80,000.

Backed by a strong crew of musicians that included "Saturday Night Live" band member Leon Pendarvis, "Late Show" bassist Will Lee and famed session singer Lisa Fischer among others, Chorney produced what she feels was the best album of her career. The first disc includes eight original songs and covers of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. A second disc includes an original classical symphony.

She became an academy member at another friend's suggestion. With two weeks to go until the close of nominations, someone else urged her to use the Grammy365.com website to seek voter support. About 1,500 of the academy's 12,000 voters accepted her contact and after that it was up to them to listen to her music and make a decision.

"I think the system is a wonderful opportunity for independent artists," Chorney said. "Basically a one-year membership is $100. Grammy365 to me is, you buy your $100 lottery ticket and the odds are like winning the lottery. Except, rather than having a number, you have your music, which can make your odds better if your music speaks for itself and gives you an edge."

It's that edge Macias objects to. He says over the years, NARAS officials had made it clear in "unwritten rules" that blatant self-promotion was out of bounds. Not only was it always difficult to determine who voters were, if a publicist or artist did cross into forbidden territory they were asked to step back in line.

Macias, a Nashville-based artist manager who runs the management and marketing firm Thirty Tigers, is one of the few members of the loose-knit roots rock community willing to talk on the record about Chorney's nomination. He makes it clear that his opinion is his own and not that of the Americana Music Association, of which he is the outgoing president.

AMA's executive director Jed Hilly declined comment. And interview requests extended to the publicists or managers of the category's nominees and the artists who produced the top 10 most-played Americana albums in 2010 went mostly unanswered.

Macias realizes that he's coming off like a jerk for going after Chorney, but he believes she broke the unwritten rules about promoting yourself, depriving artists like Carll, Jason Isbell and John Hiatt of a well-deserved nod.

"I guess it just comes down to the question: What do the Grammys mean?" he said. "... Honestly, I think people voted for it because she asked them to and she worked really hard. And I think the Grammy voters by and large ? I hate to say it ? I feel like maybe they just weren't paying as close attention."

Portnow and Bill Freimuth, the academy's vice president of awards, said it's as easy as ever to make educated decisions, however. A listening function available to voters offers more than 90 percent of music that's eligible for nomination.

That's one of a handful of recent changes that Chorney was able to capitalize on while seeking her nomination. Freimuth said about four years ago the academy changed its outlook on lobbying and now embraces the practice within certain guidelines. Along with the Grammy365.com website, the academy worked with Billboard Magazine this year to produce a voter's guide that included "for your consideration" style advertising, for example.

Chorney simply used the system to her advantage.

"She kept herself very busy reaching out to the voting membership and tried to make sure as many people as possible, especially those who were voting in that category, knew about her work," Freimuth said. "All of that is perfectly legitimate as far as our process goes."

Enough people heard Chorney's voice that she's being fitted for a new dress, borrowing $6,000 earrings and heading to Los Angeles next month. And she intends to have a blast.

___

Online:

http://www.lindachorney.com

http://www.grammy.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_en_mu/us_music_grammywatch_chorney

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Twitter buys Summify, helps you automatically turn off the noise

Summify is a beloved little news-curation platform that works out (based on your reading habits and those of your friends) what news is most relevant to you. Yesterday the Vancouver-based start-up announced that it had been snapped up by Twitter and will commence shutting down in the next week. Fortunately, the team is relocating down to the micro-blogging site's San Francisco base, ostensibly to bake the service into forthcoming variations of the site -- which might be enough to stop us complaining about losing our retweets panel. Hopefully this means that we can dial out all the noise about Lindsay Lohan without having to ask it: truly we are living in the future.

Twitter buys Summify, helps you automatically turn off the noise originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/20/twitter-buys-summify/

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Blocking Keystone Won't Stop Oil Sands Production

Andy Clark/Reuters/Landov

Oil storage tanks at the Chevron Burnaby Oil Refinery on the shores of Burrard Inlet, east of Vancouver, British Columbia.

President Obama is feeling election-year pressure over the pending decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans say the Canadian project would provide the U.S. with oil and new jobs, but environmentalists want Obama to block it. They say Alberta's oil sands generate more greenhouse gases than other kinds of oil, and Americans must not become dependent on such a dirty source of energy. But it may already be too late to change that.

Tucked in among the ranch houses in Burnaby, British Columbia, a quiet suburb east of Vancouver, is the terminal for the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which brings in oil from Alberta. For decades, that oil was mainly consumed in the Vancouver region. But that is changing.

Ben West, an anti-oil tanker activist with a group called the Wilderness Committee, says when the pipeline company Kinder Morgan bought this facility in 2005, it shifted its focus to exports ? primarily to the American West Coast.

"We've seen this huge increase of tanker traffic," he says. "We went from 22 tankers in 2005, up to 79. You know these 700,000-barrel tankers that are now coming through the Burrard Inlet, which passes through one of the most populated areas of British Columbia."

The pipeline also has a branch that crosses the border, feeding crude oil to refineries in Washington state. Kinder Morgan is now exploring the possibility of doubling the pipeline's capacity. West calls it the "quiet repurposing" of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. And because of it, oil sands gasoline is now fueling cars from Seattle to San Francisco.

Philip Verleger, an economist who specializes in oil markets, says even if environmentalists convince Obama to block the Keystone XL pipeline, it won't stop the growth of production in the Canadian oil sands.

"With prices around a hundred dollars a barrel globally, that oil is going to make it to the market somehow," Verleger says. "The development may be slowed for a year or two. But one can move the oil west on the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline. They could expand pipelines east. Those pipelines already exist, and they can be expanded."

In fact, Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, recently asked Canadian regulators for permission to reverse the direction of one of its pipelines in Ontario, which many see as the first step to move more Canadian oil to the American East Coast ? and relieve some of the Canadian oil glut in the upper Midwest.

Back in Burnaby, activist West is well aware of the spider's web of pipelines exporting oil from Alberta, but that doesn't make him any less opposed to the Keystone XL.

"I think it's true that the Keystone pipeline is not the only way that the oil is making its way to market, and there's definitely enough demand that if one of these gets built, people will want to build the other ones," West says. "But, you know, we really need to turn that around."

But demand is the key, say most economists. If you can get American drivers to buy less gas ? by raising fuel efficiency standards, as the Obama administration recently did ? then, they say, you stand a much better chance of slowing production in the oil sands.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/18/145347485/blocking-keystone-wont-stop-oil-sands-production?ft=1&f=1007

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Rick Perry Doubles Down, Calls Leaders of Turkey 'Islamic Terrorists' Again (Little green footballs)

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Front-runner Romney fends off SC debate attacks (AP)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. ? Under heavy debate pressure from his rivals, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney defended his record as a venture capitalist, insisted he bears no responsibility for attack ads aired by his allies and grudgingly said in campaign debate Monday night he might release his income tax returns this spring.

"I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so," he said. "I sort of feel like we're showing a lot of exposure at this point," he added.

Romney came under criticism from Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum across two hours in the first of a pair of debates in the run-up to this weekend's first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina. The former Massachusetts governor won the first two events of the campaign, the Iowa caucuses and last week's New Hampshire primary, leads in the pre-primary polls in South Carolina and won an endorsement from campaign dropout Jon Huntsman earlier in the day.

Gingrich has virtually conceded that a victory for Romney in South Carolina would assure his nomination as Democratic President Barack Obama's Republican rival in the fall, and none of the other remaining contenders has challenged that conclusion.

That only elevated the stakes for Monday night's debate, feisty from the outset as former House Speaker Gingrich, Texas Gov. Perry and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sought to knock Romney off stride while generally being careful to wrap their criticism in anti-Obama rhetoric.

"We need to satisfy the country that whoever we nominate has a record that can stand up to Barack Obama in a very effective way," said Gingrich.

The five men on stage also sought to outdo one another in calling for lower taxes.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul won that competition handily, saying he thought the top personal tax rate should be zero.

In South Carolina, a state with a heavy military presence, the tone turned muscular at times.

Gingrich drew strong applause when he said: "Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear idea about America's enemies. Kill them."

Perry also won favor from the crowd when he said the Obama administration had overreacted in its criticism of the Marines who were videotaped urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

The former House speaker and Perry led the assault against Romney's record at Bain Capital, a private equity firm that bought companies and sought to remake them into more competitive enterprises, with uneven results.

"There was a pattern in some companies ... of leaving them with enormous debt and then within a year or two or three having them go broke," Gingrich said. "I think that's something he ought to answer."

Perry referred to a steel mill in Georgetown, S.C. where, he said, "Bain swept in, they picked that company over and a lot of people lost jobs there."

Romney said that the steel industry was battered by unfair competition from China. As for other firms, he said, "Four of the companies that we invested in ... ended up today having some 120,000 jobs.

"Some of the businesses we invested in were not successful and lost jobs," he acknowledged.

It was Perry who challenged Romney, a multimillionaire, to release his income tax returns. The Texas governor said he has already done so, adding he believes Gingrich will do likewise later in the week.

"Mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money. ... We cannot fire our nominee in September. We need to know now."

Later, a debate moderator pressed Romney on releasing his tax returns.

His answer was anything but crisp.

"But you know if that's been the tradition I'm not opposed to doing that. Time will tell. But I anticipate that most likely I'm going to get asked to do that in the April time period and I'll keep that open," he said.

Prodded again, he said, "I think I've heard enough from folks saying look, you know, let's see your tax records. I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so. I sort of feel like we're showing a lot of exposure at this point, and if I become our nominee and what's happened in history is people have released them in about April of the coming year and that's probably what I'd do."

Afterward, Gingrich said that wasn't good enough. "If there's nothing there, why is he waiting till April?" the former House speaker told reporters.

Santorum stayed away from the clash over taxes, instead starting a dispute of his own. He said a campaign group supporting Romney has been attacking him for supporting voter rights for convicted felons, and asked Romney what his position was on the issue.

Romney initially ducked a direct answer, preferring to ask Santorum if the ad was accurate.

He then said he doesn't believe convicted violent felons should have the right to vote, even after serving their terms. Santorum instantly said that as governor of Massachusetts, Romney hadn't made any attempt to change a law that permitted convicted felons to vote while still on parole, a law that the former Pennsylvania senator said was more liberal than the one he has been assailed for supporting.

Romney replied that as Republican governor, he was confronted with a legislature that was heavily Democratic and held a different position.

He also reminded Santorum that candidates have no control over the campaign groups that have played a pivotal role in the race to date.

"It is inaccurate," Santorum said of the ad assailing him, seeking the last word. "I would go out and say, `Stop it. That you're representing me and you're representing my campaign. Stop it.'"

That issue returned more than an hour later, when Gingrich said he, too, faces false attacks from the same group that is criticizing Santorum. He noted that Romney says he lacks sway over the group, "which makes you wonder how much influence he would have if he were president."

Romney said he hoped no group would run inaccurate ads, and he said the organization backing Gingrich was airing a commercial that is so false that "it's probably the biggest hoax since bigfoot."

He called for scuttling the current system of campaign finance laws to permit individuals to donate as much money as they want to the candidates of their choice.

Noting that the debate was occurring on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one moderator asked Gingrich if his previous statements about poor children lacking a work ethic were "insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?

"No," he said emphatically, adding his aim was to break dependence on government programs.

"I'm going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn to get a better job and learn someday to own the job," he said.

Romney is the leader in the public opinion polls in South Carolina, although his rivals hope the state's 9.9 percent unemployment rate and the presence of large numbers of socially conservative evangelical voters will allow one of them to slip by him.

Huntsman was the second campaign dropout to endorse Romney, after former Minnesota Gov. Tom Pawlenty. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who quit after a last-place finish in Iowa, has not yet said which of the remaining contenders she supports. Herman Cain, who left the race in December after facing allegations of sexual impropriety, has promised an endorsement soon.

Huntsman's parting announcement included a reference to the differences he and Romney had. But he left the podium without responding to questions about his remark last week, in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary, that Romney was unelectable and out of touch.

It was unclear why Romney did not attend the announcement. He was in town for a later campaign appearance and then the debate.

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Columbia and Beth Fouhy in Myrtle Beach contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_el_pr/us_republicans_debate

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A tamer Ricky Gervais leads predictable Golden Globes

The victory for "The Descendants" in the best drama category sets it up in an expected battle at the Academy Awards with "The Artist," which won the award for best musical or comedy.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association dared to let Ricky Gervais come back and host the Golden Globe Awards, a year after he insulted the organization and nearly everyone in the star-studded room with his lacerating wit.

Skip to next paragraph

But Gervais and the show seemed tamer and more predictable this year, not quite living up to outrageous reputations. Even the winners themselves, including "The Descendants" and its star, George Clooney, were predictable.

The victory for "The Descendants" in the best drama category sets it up in an expected battle at the Academy Awards with "The Artist," which won the award for best musical or comedy. Both had been frontrunners all along among people who are the business of prognosticating these things; Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 24, with the ceremony itself coming Feb. 26.

Clooney won for his portrayal of a middle-aged husband struggling to raise his two daughters while their mother is in a coma. Jean Dujardin won the same award in the musical or comedy category for "The Artist" as a silent film actor whose career derails with the arrival of sound. ("The Artist" won the most film awards with three total, including one for Ludovic Bource's original score.)

It took the presenters and winners themselves to liven up the program ? and that includes Uggie, Dujardin's scene-stealing Jack Russell terrier in "The Artist," who performed some of his signature tricks on stage toward the end of the night.

Even Meryl Streep ? the grand dame of them all who won for best actress in a drama for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" ? let an expletive slip during her acceptance speech. Streep got flustered when she realized she forgot her glasses at her table; instead she winged it, giving a rambling (but gracious) speech praising other actresses' performances, including some who hadn't even been nominated that night.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/lCqjOqs1uxU/A-tamer-Ricky-Gervais-leads-predictable-Golden-Globes

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Oregon Scientific's Portable WiFi Projector comes with a hinge, flirts with your ceiling

A projector from Oregon Scientific, you say? Nope, it's not one of those clock and weather projectors, but rather an actual DLP pico projector. At CES 2012, the company was kind enough to show us an early prototype of its Portable WiFi Projector that'll handle FWVGA (854 x 480) at 1,000:1 contrast and a good 80 lumens of brightness (50 if powered by USB alone). Apparently at 3.2 meters from the wall, such combination should produce a clear 120-inch wide picture in total darkness, so we shall see. The final unit -- dummy pictured above -- will be slightly smaller than the working prototype, yet it'll pack a 90-degree hinge (not a first, of course), a focus slide, a 3.5mm headphone jack and some buttons for power and brightness.

Gallery: Oregon Scientific's Portable WiFi Projector comes with a hinge, flirts with your ceiling

Continue reading Oregon Scientific's Portable WiFi Projector comes with a hinge, flirts with your ceiling

Oregon Scientific's Portable WiFi Projector comes with a hinge, flirts with your ceiling originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/r1zV1P_81vs/

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Video: How much that ticket really costs

>>> we are back now with some big changes coming to the airlines and the way most americans buy their tickets. the government had ordered the airlines to make the advertised tickets far more transparent so passengers know from the beginning how much that ticket really costs. including all the extra taxes and fees. here's nbc 's tom costello.

>> reporter: if you bought an airline ticket online, chances are it's happened to you. think you have found a great deal, you click buy and then --

>> get really upset because i don't think it's fair. you're all excited. you have a budget. you think it's the one price and then they add all this other prices. and it stinks.

>> they don't show that online. they show you one price and then by the time you get the ticket it's another price.

>> reporter: all of that is about to change as truth in advertising comes to the airline industry .

>> total tax, title, licee, any time you do an advertisement, any time you display a type of fare.

>> reporter: beginning january 26 , all airline ticket prices must include any government taxes and fees when the ticket price is made public. once it's added up that can raise a ticket price by 20% and they have to tell you the cost upfront of checking your luggage.

>> all of the fees that the airline will charge you will be listed whether it's a baggage fee, the tacks you might way.

>> reporter: but the airlines are pointing out when you shop in a store, tacks and fees aren't included until you go pay at the register. that what's happens when you buy a ticket online. in a statement to nbc news, the airline industry says all members, airlines, provide details on ticket prices and other charges prior to purchase today, before you click buy. southwest, spirit and alleejent airlines are suing to block the rules, although a decision isn't expected soon. meanwhile, a few more customer friendly rules take effect this month. airlines must promptly notify of diversions or delays of more than 30 minutes . customers will have 24 hours after making a reservation to change or cancel the reservation without a penalty.

>> i got one yesterday that was $100 in taxes.

>> reporter: at least now all the taxes and fees will be clearly stated before you click. tom costello, nbc news, washington.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46000124/

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Video: Maria's Market Insight

CNBC's Maria Bartiromo discusses the day's top business and financial stories, and looks ahead to tomorrow's Closing Bell.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45977792/

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Paterno: Didn't know how to handle sex abuse case

Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, in an interview with The Washington Post, expresses disappointment that he didn't do more to find out what was being done about Jerry Sandusky's alleged behavior. NBC national Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff reports.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/14/10158419-paterno-i-didnt-know-exactly-how-to-handle-sex-abuse-case

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Elizabeth Olsen to play Jack Kerouac's lover in new film (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Elizabeth Olsen will star alongside Daniel Radcliffe in the Killer Films thriller "Kill Your Darlings," TheWrap has confirmed. She will play the girlfriend of Jack Kerouac.

Dane DeHaan ("Chronicle") and Jack Huston ("The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") have also joined the cast of the film, directed and written by John Krokidas. He is a director of short films ("Slo-Mo," "Heroines"); this is first feature film.

"Kill Your Darlings" is based on the true story of the murder of David Kammerer that united Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe), Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944. Kammerer had been stalking Kerouac's friend, Lucien Carr (DeHaan), who became Ginsberg's love interest.

Olsen plays Edie Parker, a wealthy art student who was Kerouac's girlfriend and, eventually, his wife.

Principle photography for the movie starts March 12 in New York.

Killer Films' Christine Vachon is producing with Michael Benaroya of Benaroya Pictures and Rose Ganguzza of Rose Pictures. Killer's Pam Koffer is serving as executive producer.

The movie is due to hit theaters in 2013.

Olsen, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, made her big-screen debut in 2011 with leading roles in "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "Peace, Love & Misunderstanding." She also stars in "Silent House," which hits theaters March 9.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120113/film_nm/us_elizabetholsen

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Verizon's Droid 4 priced up: $249 on a two-year contract

This slider was still lacking its most important spec when we went hands-on, but a carrier document outed over at Droid-life fills in the blank: it lists a "minimum advertised price" of $249 on 24-month bond to VZW. Of course, we're still waiting on the second most important spec -- the release date, which hopefully won't be as futuristic as the handset's appearance.

Verizon's Droid 4 priced up: $249 on a two-year contract originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Muslim man from Kosovo charged in Fla. bomb plot

This photo provided by the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Office shows Sami Osmakac. Osmakac, 25, from the former Yugoslavia, has been charged, federal authorities said Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 with an alleged plot to attack crowded locations in the Tampa area including a night club, with a bomb, assault rifle and other explosives. Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack. (AP Photo/Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

This photo provided by the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Office shows Sami Osmakac. Osmakac, 25, from the former Yugoslavia, has been charged, federal authorities said Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 with an alleged plot to attack crowded locations in the Tampa area including a night club, with a bomb, assault rifle and other explosives. Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack. (AP Photo/Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? A Kosovo-born man was charged with plotting to attack Tampa-area nightclubs and a sheriff's office with bombs and an assault rifle to avenge wrongs done to Muslims, federal authorities said Monday.

According to a federal complaint, 25-year-old Sami Osmakac recorded an eight-minute video shortly before his arrest explaining why he wanted to bring terror to his "victims' hearts" in the Tampa Bay area. Osmakac is a naturalized American citizen born in Kosovo, then part of the former Yugoslavia in eastern Europe.

In the video, Osmakac is seen cross-legged on the floor with a pistol in his hand and an AK-47 behind him. Osmakac said in the video that Muslim blood was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam, according to the complaint. He said he wanted "payback" for wrong that was done to Muslims, according to the complaint.

There is no indication that Osmakac planned to attack the Republican National Convention, which will be held in Tampa in August, federal authorities said.

The area's Muslim community helped provide authorities with information, said Steve Ibison, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa division.

"This case is not about the Muslim religion and it's not about the Muslim community," Ibison said. "It's about an individual who committed a crime."

Hassan Shibly, a Tampa attorney and the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met Osmakac briefly over the summer. Osmakac was "ranting" about how CAIR was an "infidel organization," Shibly said.

"It was very clear he was very disturbed very angry and very misguided about the Islamic faith," said Shibly, adding that Osmakac did not appear to be a member of any of the area's mosques and had "disassociated himself" from those houses of worship. "He was very, very ignorant of Islam. He didn't know Arabic or anything about basic Islamic teachings about promoting peace."

Shibly said the CAIR office received calls from people in the Islamic community who were concerned about Osmakac's extreme views.

"Contact the authorities as soon as possible," Shibly said he told those people.

Osmakac gave only brief answers to basic questions during his first appearance in federal court Monday. He wore a blue jail outfit and was shackled at his wrists and ankles. His public defender, Alec Hall, declined to comment afterward.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli ordered Osmakac held without bail. If convicted on the single count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, Osmakac could face life in prison.

Osmakac was arrested Saturday ? the day officials said he was planning his attack ? after he allegedly bought explosive devices and firearms from an undercover agent. The firearms and explosives were disabled before the sale.

Osmakac lived with his parents in a tan stucco home in Pinellas Park, Fla., a small city west of Tampa. He worked occasionally at the Balkan Food Store and Bakery in St. Petersburg, a small store owned by his parents.

On Monday, a man identifying himself as Osmakac's older brother was at the store. He would not give The Associated Press his name but said his brother was innocent.

"It's all made up," the man said. "I don't believe it."

According to public records, Osmakac had one prior brush with the law. In April 2011, Tampa Police said Osmakac, dressed in "what appeared to be traditional Middle-Eastern attire with a small cloth" on his head, got into an argument over religion outside a Lady Gaga concert in downtown Tampa.

A police report said anti-gay Christian protesters outside the concert saw Osmakac driving by in a truck and turned their attention to him because of his appearance.

"The protesters began verbally berating the man and the Muslim faith and their attacks became personal and nasty," wrote Tampa officer Kevin Krupa.

The report said Osmakac parked his vehicle, walked up to the protesters and got into an argument with one man who insulted Allah, Mohammed and the Quran. Osmakac was accused of head butting one man and was charged with battery ? although Krupa noted that the protesters were "not promoting peace or tolerance, but rather of inciting violence and hate."

That case had not yet been resolved, according to court records.

Federal officials say Osmakac's new charges stem from information given to them by a confidential source in September 2011.

According to the federal report, Osmakac walked into the source's business looking for al-Qaida flags. The confidential source then hired Osmakac and was in constant contact with federal officials and audio or video taped their conversations.

Two months later, the federal complaint said, Osmakac and the confidential source discussed and identified potential targets in Tampa that Osmakac wanted to attack.

Osmakac allegedly asked the source for help getting firearms and explosives for the attacks, and the source put him in touch with an undercover FBI employee.

On Dec. 21, Osmakac met with the undercover agent and allegedly told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and an explosive belt. During a later meeting, Osmakac gave the agent a $500 down payment for the items.

Osmakac also asked the undercover employee to build bombs that could be placed in three different vehicles and detonated remotely, the U.S. Justice Department said in a press release. Osmakac then planned to follow up with an attack using the other weapons he asked for, authorities said.

On Jan. 1, Osmakac told the agent he wanted to bomb nightclubs, the operations center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and a business in Tampa.

Osmakac told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to detonate a car bomb and use the explosive belt to "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people" and take hostages.

Osmakac told the agent that after he took hostages he wanted to demand something from the "kuffar" ? an Arabic word that means infidels or disbelievers of Islam, federal authorities said.

According to the affidavit, he also said, "Honestly, I would love to go for the Army people, but their bases are so locked up, I have to do something else."

Osmakac said he wanted to take down the bridges that link Tampa to neighboring Pinellas County.

"This will crush the whole economy," he allegedly said to the agent. "This would crush everything man, they would have no more food coming in. They would, nobody would have work."

During that meeting, the agent told Osmakac he could always change his mind about his plot.

"According to the complaint, Osmakac immediately shook his head in the negative and stated, 'We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?'" according to the press release.

___

Tamara Lush can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-09-US-Bomb-Plot-Arrest/id-7661a544e1d4477e9c2fe4c9044df959

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