Republican presidential candidate, former House speaker Newt Gingrich answers a question during a campaign stop, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, in Marshalltown, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, former House speaker Newt Gingrich answers a question during a campaign stop, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, in Marshalltown, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is seen on a television screen at a sport bar as Republican presidential candidate, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, right, and wife, Callista, center, make a campaign stop, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, in Marshalltown, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives for a church service at St. Ambrose Cathedral on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012 in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich looks on during a church service at St. Ambrose Cathedral on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012 in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) ? Struggling to reverse a slide in his standing, Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said Sunday he'd been "Romney-boated" in Iowa and suggested his GOP rival would buy the presidency if he could.
The sharp words against Mitt Romney, a multimillionaire many times over who is in strong contention to win Iowa, come two days before voters here weigh in on the Republican field. It was part of a stepped-up effort by Gingrich to contrast himself with Romney, and the candidate said he would adopt an even more aggressive strategy when the race moves to New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor's backyard.
Gingrich's nautical attack was a reference to a 2004 TV ad campaign by a group called the "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" that bloodied Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. This year, Gingrich has faced an onslaught of negative TV advertisements by a group aligned with Romney.
Asked Sunday whether he felt that he had been "swiftboated," Gingrich replied, "I feel Romney-boated."
It was his second swipe of the day at the Republican frontrunner.
Speaking to reporters after attending morning Mass at the St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Gingrich said the amount Romney will eventually spend on his various campaigns will rival the spending of billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has poured at least $261 million of his own money into his mayoral campaigns.
"Romney would buy the election if he could," Gingrich said.
A new Des Moines Register poll put Gingrich in fourth place, after leading the field a few weeks ago.
Gingrich, who has pledged to run a positive campaign, sought to make up ground by attacking Romney ? and promised more to come.
Even as he attacked Romney, Gingrich insisted he would not go negative ? which he defined as distortions and lies ? but would work to correct misleading charges against himself and draw a clearer contrast with Romney. He said a counter-offensive would probably include television ads.
"New Hampshire is the perfect state to have a debate over Romneycare and to have a debate about tax-paid abortions, which he signed, and to have a debate about putting Planned Parenthood on a government board, which he signed. And to have a debate about appointing liberal judges, which he did," Gingrich told reporters at a stop in Marshalltown.
"And so I think New Hampshire is a good place to start the debate for South Carolina."
"Romneycare" is what critics call Massachusetts' 2006 health care overhaul, which Romney signed into law and which served as a template for the national health care overhaul under President Barack Obama that conservatives detest.
Gingrich ignored the fact that in the past he has advocated for coverage mandates that are included in both overhauls.
Unlike some Republicans who are making a beeline for South Carolina, Gingrich said he would campaign in New Hampshire.
At his final event Sunday, in Waterloo, Iowa, Gingrich was asked what his greatest weakness was.
"It's probably that I'm too reasonable," Gingrich replied. "And I should've responded to the negative ads sooner."
_____
Follow Shannon McCaffrey at www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13
Contact: Gabriel Brammer gbrammer@eso.org 56-994-890-075 ESO
The recently discovered Comet Lovejoy has been captured in stunning photos and time-lapse video taken from ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. The comet graced the southern sky after it had unexpectedly survived a close encounter with the Sun.
A new time-lapse video sequence was taken by Gabriel Brammer from ESO less than two days ago on 22 December 2011. Gabriel was finishing his shift as support astronomer at the Paranal Observatory when Comet Lovejoy rose over the horizon just before dawn.
In the words of Gabriel Brammer himself: "On the last morning of my shift I tried to try catch it on camera before sunrise. The tail of the comet was easily visible with the naked eye, and the combination of the crescent Moon, comet, Milky Way and the laser guide star was nearly as impressive to the naked eye as it appears in the long-exposure photos."
The sequence also features the pencil-thin beam of the VLT's Laser Guide Star set against the beautiful backdrop of the Milky Way, as astronomers conduct their last observations for the night.
ESO optician Guillaume Blanchard made a marvellous wide-angle photo of Comet Lovejoy and ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky, captured the spectacle from Santiago de Chile. Blanchard said: "For me this comet is a Christmas present to the people who will stay at Paranal over Christmas".
This bright comet was also seen from the International Space Station in another stunning time-lapse sequence on 21 December as the crew filmed lightning on the Earth's night side.
Comet Lovejoy has been the talk of the astronomy community over the past few weeks. It was discovered on 27 November by the Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy and was classified as a Kreutz sungrazer, with its orbit taking it very close to the Sun [1]. Just last week, the comet entered the Sun's corona, a much-anticipated event, passing a mere 140 000 kilometres from the Sun's surface. A close shave indeed...
The comet was expected to break up and vaporise, but instead it survived its steaming hot encounter with the Sun and re-emerged a few days later, much to everyone's surprise. It is now visible from the southern hemisphere, appearing at dawn, and features a bright tail millions of kilometres long, composed of dust particles that are being blown away from the comet by the solar wind.
Lovejoy will now continue in its highly eccentric orbit around the Sun and once again disappear into the distant Solar System. It would be interesting to know if it will actually survive to re-appear in our skies in 314 years as predicted.
With this spectacular sequence of the 2011 Christmas Comet Lovejoy, ESO would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
###
Notes
[1] Kreutz sungrazers are members of a family of comets thought to come from the break up of one single large comet in the 12th century, and which now orbit the Sun along the same path.
More information
The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
Gabriel Brammer's web page
Guillaume Blanchard's web page
ESO Photo Ambassadors
Contacts
Gabriel Brammer
ESO
Vitacura, Chile
Cell: 56-9-94-89-00-75
Email: gbrammer@eso.org
Lars Lindberg Christensen
Head, ESO education and Public Outreach Department
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Cell: 49-173-3872-621
Email: lars@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Gabriel Brammer gbrammer@eso.org 56-994-890-075 ESO
The recently discovered Comet Lovejoy has been captured in stunning photos and time-lapse video taken from ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. The comet graced the southern sky after it had unexpectedly survived a close encounter with the Sun.
A new time-lapse video sequence was taken by Gabriel Brammer from ESO less than two days ago on 22 December 2011. Gabriel was finishing his shift as support astronomer at the Paranal Observatory when Comet Lovejoy rose over the horizon just before dawn.
In the words of Gabriel Brammer himself: "On the last morning of my shift I tried to try catch it on camera before sunrise. The tail of the comet was easily visible with the naked eye, and the combination of the crescent Moon, comet, Milky Way and the laser guide star was nearly as impressive to the naked eye as it appears in the long-exposure photos."
The sequence also features the pencil-thin beam of the VLT's Laser Guide Star set against the beautiful backdrop of the Milky Way, as astronomers conduct their last observations for the night.
ESO optician Guillaume Blanchard made a marvellous wide-angle photo of Comet Lovejoy and ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky, captured the spectacle from Santiago de Chile. Blanchard said: "For me this comet is a Christmas present to the people who will stay at Paranal over Christmas".
This bright comet was also seen from the International Space Station in another stunning time-lapse sequence on 21 December as the crew filmed lightning on the Earth's night side.
Comet Lovejoy has been the talk of the astronomy community over the past few weeks. It was discovered on 27 November by the Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy and was classified as a Kreutz sungrazer, with its orbit taking it very close to the Sun [1]. Just last week, the comet entered the Sun's corona, a much-anticipated event, passing a mere 140 000 kilometres from the Sun's surface. A close shave indeed...
The comet was expected to break up and vaporise, but instead it survived its steaming hot encounter with the Sun and re-emerged a few days later, much to everyone's surprise. It is now visible from the southern hemisphere, appearing at dawn, and features a bright tail millions of kilometres long, composed of dust particles that are being blown away from the comet by the solar wind.
Lovejoy will now continue in its highly eccentric orbit around the Sun and once again disappear into the distant Solar System. It would be interesting to know if it will actually survive to re-appear in our skies in 314 years as predicted.
With this spectacular sequence of the 2011 Christmas Comet Lovejoy, ESO would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
###
Notes
[1] Kreutz sungrazers are members of a family of comets thought to come from the break up of one single large comet in the 12th century, and which now orbit the Sun along the same path.
More information
The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
Gabriel Brammer's web page
Guillaume Blanchard's web page
ESO Photo Ambassadors
Contacts
Gabriel Brammer
ESO
Vitacura, Chile
Cell: 56-9-94-89-00-75
Email: gbrammer@eso.org
Lars Lindberg Christensen
Head, ESO education and Public Outreach Department
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Cell: 49-173-3872-621
Email: lars@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MADRID (AP) -Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is more concerned about hanging onto his current squad of players during the winter transfer window than signing new ones.
Madrid's bench has meant players such as Kaka have not featured as expected, but the Spanish leader remains in the hunt for the league, Champions League and defending its Copa del Rey title, with a last 16 match against Malaga on Tuesday.
Mourinho says he is "open" to player movement but would prefer "that nobody leaves ... this group is well-balanced to play all three competitions."
Madrid leads three-time defending champion Barcelona by three points in the standings and faces CSKA Moscow in the last 16 of the Champions League.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsGlyn Kirk / AFP - Getty Images
Fulham rallies past Arsenal
Roundup: Steve Sidwell tied the score in the 85th minute and Bobby Zamora got the go-ahead goal in the second minute of stoppage time, giving Fulham a 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Monday that knocked the Gunners from the Premier League's top four.
Off-field woes
Soccer?in 2011 was dominated by events off the field rather than on it.
LONDON ? Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter, famed for playing quirky characters as well as British royalty, joins a former prisoner, a reality TV guru and several Olympics organizers on the list of people being awarded honors by Queen Elizabeth II this New Year.
Bonham Carter missed out on the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth, the supportive wife of King George VI in "The King's Speech." Her other major roles have included characters in films such as "Planet of the Apes" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
The queen, who is the daughter of King George VI and Elizabeth, awarded Bonham Carter a CBE, short for Commanders of the Order of the British Empire. Bonham Carter has said she is dedicating the CBE to her late father.
Businessman Gerald Ronson, who was convicted in 1990 for a share-trading scandal and served six months of a one-year jail sentence, was awarded a CBE for his services to charity. Ronson fought a long legal battle to clear his name, and although the European Court of Human Rights later ruled his trial was unfair but Britain's highest appeal court never overturned his conviction. He now runs property company Heron International and is a leading philanthropist.
Peter Bazalgette, who brought the show "Big Brother" to the U.K. and devised a string of much-copied lifestyle and reality shows, was made a knight. Professor Geoffrey Hill, who has been described as the greatest living poet in the English language, also became a knight.
Britain's honors are bestowed twice a year by the monarch ? at New Year's and on her official birthday in June. Recipients are selected by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.
In descending order, the honors are knighthoods, CBE, OBE ? an Officer of the Order of the British Empire_ and MBE ? Member of the Order of the British Empire. Knights are addressed as "sir" or "dame." Recipients of the other honors have no title but can put the letters after their names.
The queen or occasionally another member of the royal family presents the award at a ceremony known as an "investiture." Several investitures are held at Buckingham Palace in London throughout the year.
Most of the honors go to people who are not in the limelight, for services to community or industry, but they also reward a sprinkling of famous faces.
As Britain prepares for the 2012 London Olympics, several organizers were recognized for their work.
John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is building the venues and infrastructure of the games, was made a knight for services to engineering and construction. Charles Allen, who is in charge of making sure the whole country benefits from the games, was also made a knight. Howard Shiplee, director of construction at the ODA, was made a CBE.
Record producer Steve Lillywhite who worked with rock groups such as U2, The Rolling Stones and The Smiths was awarded a CBE for services to music.
Sky News journalist Alex Crawford, who filmed from a newly liberated Tripoli after traveling there with Libyan fighters who had overthrown Moammar Gadhafi's regime, was awarded an OBE, or an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
SAN DIEGO ? ?U.S. troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.
The abuse of the drug has so alarmed military officials that they've launched an aggressive testing program that this year has led to the investigation of more than 1,100 suspected users, according to military figures.
So-called "synthetic" pot is readily available on the Internet and has become popular nationwide in recent years, but its use among troops and sailors has raised concerns among the Pentagon brass.
"You can just imagine the work that we do in a military environment," said Mark Ridley, deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, adding, "you need to be in your right mind when you do a job. That's why the Navy has always taken a zero tolerance policy toward drugs."
Two years ago, only 29 Marines and sailors were investigated for Spice. This year, the number topped 700, the investigative service said. Those found guilty of using Spice are kicked out, although the Navy does not track the overall number of dismissals.
The Air Force has punished 497 airmen so far this year, compared to last year's 380, according to figures provided by the Pentagon. The Army does not track Spice investigations but says it has medically treated 119 soldiers for the synthetic drug in total.
Military officials emphasize those caught represent a tiny fraction of all service members and note none was in a leadership position or believed high while on duty.
Spice is made up of exotic plants from Asia like Blue Lotus and Bay Bean. Their leaves are coated with chemicals that mimic the effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, but are five to 200 times more potent.
More than 40 states have banned some of its chemicals, prompting sellers to turn to the Internet, where it is marketed as incense or potpourri. In some states, Spice is sold at bars, smoke shops and convenience stores. The packets usually say the ingredients are not for human consumption but also tout them as "mood enhancing."
Service members preferred it because up until this year there was no way to detect it with urine tests. A test was developed after the Drug Enforcement Administration put a one-year emergency ban on five chemicals found in the drug.
Manufacturers are adapting to avoid detection, even on the new tests, and skirt new laws banning the main chemicals.
"It's a moving target," said Capt. J.A. "Cappy" Surette, spokesman for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
The military can calibrate its equipment to test for those five banned chemicals "but underground chemists can keep altering the properties and make up to more than 100 permutations," Surette said.
Complicating their efforts further, there are more than 200 other chemicals used in the drug. They remain legal and their effects on the mind and body remain largely unknown, Navy doctors say.
A Clemson University created many of the chemicals for research purposes in 1990s. They were never tested on humans.
Civilian deaths have been reported and emergency crews have responded to calls of "hyper-excited" people doing things like tearing off their clothes and running down the street naked.
Navy investigators compare the drug to angel dust because no two batches are the same. Some may just feel a euphoric buzz, but others have suffered delusions lasting up to a week.
While the problem has surfaced in all branches of the military, the Navy has been the most aggressive in drawing attention to the problem.
It produced a video based on cases to warn sailors of the drug's dangers and publicized busts of crew members on some of its most-storied ships, including the USS Carl Vinson, from which Osama bin Laden's was dropped into the sea.
Two of the largest busts this year involved sailors in the San Diego-based U.S. Third Fleet, which announced last month that it planned to dismiss 28 sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
A month earlier, 64 sailors, including 49 from the Vinson, were accused of being involved in a Spice ring.
Many of the cases were discovered after one person was caught with the drug, prompting broader investigations.
Lt. Commander Donald Hurst, a fourth-year psychiatry resident at San Diego's Naval Medical Center, said the hospital is believed to have seen more cases than any other health facility in the country.
Doctors saw users experiencing bad reactions once a month, but now see them weekly. Users suffer everything from vomiting, elevated blood pressure and seizures to extreme agitation, anxiety and delusions.
Hurst said the behavior in many cases he witnessed at first seemed akin to schizophrenia. Usually within minutes, however, the person became completely lucid. Sometimes, the person goes in and out of such episodes for days.
He recalled one especially bizarre case of a sailor who came in with his sobbing wife.
"He stood their holding a sandwich in front of him with no clue as to what to do," he said. "He opened it up, looked at it, touched it. I took it and folded it over and then he took a bite out it. But then we had to tell him, `you have to chew."'
An hour later when Hurst went back to evaluate him, he was completely normal and worried about being in trouble.
"That's something you don't see with acute schizophrenic patients," he said. "Then we found out based on the numbers of people coming in like this, that OK there's a new drug out there."
Hurst decided to study 10 cases. Some also had smoked marijuana or drank alcohol, while others only smoked Spice.
Of the 10, nine had lost a sense of reality. Seven babbled incoherently. The symptoms for seven of them lasted four to eight days. Three are believed to now be schizophrenic. Hurst believed the drug may have triggered the symptoms in people with that genetic disposition. His findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in October.
He said there are countless questions that still need answering, including the drug's effects on people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or traumatic brain injuries.
What the research has confirmed, he said, is: "These are not drugs to mess with."
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Public release date: 2-Jan-2012
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