Egypt's top military commander promises army overhaul

By Marwa Awad

CAIRO | Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:04pm EDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's most senior military commander has promised better training and more modern weaponry for the army in an apparent effort to satisfy officers' demands for change, which have multiplied after an uprising last year.

Commander-in-Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is also the defense minister, was appointed by the country's first Islamist president Mohamed Mursi only last month and is under pressure to shake up a military which until recently had held the balance of power in Egypt for decades.

Addressing troops last week during the first military drill in a series to mark the 39th anniversary of the 1973 war with Israel, Sisi reassured troops that change was on its way despite the fact that the drill was being conducted using old arms like the Soviet BM-21, a rocket launcher in use for 40 years.

"We will devise a comprehensive programme that develops real training for the forces in all military branches to maximize the performance of individual officers and soldiers during my time here," he said, according to a live recording of his speech obtained by Reuters.

Addressing troops participating in the drill, which took place along Egypt's western border with Libya, Sisi, 57, acknowledged that Egypt's military capabilities trailed those of other armies.

The army would replace some of its arsenal within 3-6 months and was working to extend the range of a missile system known as "Saqr" to 45 kilometers, he said.

"Regarding the status of our military equipment, we may feel that some of it is modest but we must work with what arsenal we have. We will not be able to change all of our hardware completely. What we can do is achieve the highest standards of shooting and efficiency. This will compensate for the modest equipment we are gradually trying to replace," he said.

Egypt receives $1.3 billion in military aid annually from the United States but officials say that is not enough for the country to keep up with rivals such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Officers have said the U.S. money benefits American arms manufacturers as it forces Egypt to buy outdated weaponry.

PRESSURE OVER SINAI

Sisi's comments appeared to be aimed at army officers who have said they view Egypt's revolution - which toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak last year - as their own chance to win better salaries and improved conditions and training.

Sisi is also under pressure to tighten up security in the Sinai Peninsula, a desert area which borders Israel, and to crack down hard on Islamist militants operating there.

President Mursi sacked Sisi's predecessor, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi last month along with other senior military and police officials after an attack blamed on Islamist militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards in the area.

Israel, which has repeatedly urged Egypt's new rulers to tackle the Sinai problem is looking on nervously and is uneasy that Egypt is now being governed by Islamists.

Israeli troops used to occupy the Sinai Peninsula, the scene of several conflicts between it and Cairo, but withdrew in 1982.

To many officers, Sisi's words were a break with previous senior commanders who had been criticized for not developing the army's capacities.

Unlike previous drills, Sisi organized a discussion between lower ranking officers and commanders to try to ensure that lessons were learned and that the concerns of officers were heard.

One commander later remarked that Sisi "had introduced a new approach" to communications between officers and their superiors.

Officers say Sisi's elevation to the country's most senior military role upset many senior commanders who had a longer and richer record of service than him.

Earlier this month, Sisi - in coordination with Mursi - issued a list of long-serving generals who he said would retire, opening the door to more promotions, local papers reported.

(Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/29/us-egypt-military-drill-idUSBRE88S0GJ20120929?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

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Next cold war? Gas drilling boom rattles Russia

PITTSBURGH (AP) ? The Kremlin is watching, European nations are rebelling, and some suspect Moscow is secretly bankrolling a campaign to derail the West's strategic plans.

It's not some Cold War movie; it's about the U.S. boom in natural gas drilling, and the political implications are enormous.

Like falling dominoes, the drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is shaking up world energy markets from Washington to Moscow to Beijing. Some predict what was once unthinkable: that the U.S. won't need to import natural gas in the near future, and that Russia could be the big loser.

"This is where everything is being turned on its head," said Fiona Hill, an expert on Russia at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. "Their days of dominating the European gas markets are gone."

Any nations that trade in energy could potentially gain or lose.

"The relative fortunes of the United States, Russia, and China ? and their ability to exert influence in the world ? are tied in no small measure to global gas developments," Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government concluded in a report this summer.

The story began to unfold a few years ago, as advances in drilling opened up vast reserves of gas buried in deep shale rock, such as the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania and the Barnett, in Texas.

Experts had been predicting that the U.S. was running out of natural gas, but then shale gas began to flood the market, and prices plunged.

Russia had been exporting vast quantities to Europe and other countries for about $10 per unit, but the current price in the U.S. is now about $3 for the same quantity. That kind of math got the attention of energy companies, and politicians, around the world.

Some European governments began to envision a future with less Russian natural gas. In 2009, Russia had cut off gas shipments via Ukraine for nearly two weeks amid a price and payment dispute, and more than 15 European countries were sent scrambling to find alternative sources of energy.

The financial stakes are huge. Russia's Gazprom energy corporation, which is state-controlled, had $44 billion in profits last year. Gazprom, based in Moscow, is the world's largest producer of natural gas and exports much of it to other countries.

But last month Gazprom halted plans to develop a new arctic gas field, saying it couldn't justify the investment now, and its most recent financial report showed profits had dropped by almost 25 percent.

The U.S. presidential campaigns have already addressed the strategic potential.

A campaign position paper for Republican Mitt Romney said he "will pursue policies that work to decrease the reliance of European nations on Russian sources of energy."

In early September, President Barack Obama said the U.S. could "develop a hundred-year supply of natural gas that's right beneath our feet," which would "cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and support more than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone."

Poland's Ministry of the Environment wrote in a statement to The Associated Press that "an increased production of natural gas from shale formations in Europe will limit the import via pipelines from Algeria and Russia."

The issue has reached the highest levels of the Kremlin, too.

Hill, of the Brookings think tank, heard President Vladimir Putin speak in late 2011 at a Moscow gathering of academics and media. She said in a blog post that "the only time I thought that he became truly engaged was when he wanted to explain to us how dangerous fracking was."

But one top Gazprom executive said shale gas will actually help the country in the long run. Sergei Komlev, the head of export contracts and pricing, acknowledged the recent disruptions but predicted that the U.S. fuels wouldn't make their way to Europe on any important scale.

"Although we heard that the motive of these activities was to decrease dependence of certain countries on Gazprom gas, the end results of these efforts will be utterly favorable to us," Komlev wrote in an email to the AP. "The reason for remaining tranquil is that we do not expect the currently abnormally low prices in the USA to last for long."

In other words, if the marketplace for natural gas expands, Russia will have even more potential customers because it has tremendous reserves.

Komlev even thanked the U.S. for taking the role of "shale gas global lobbyist" and said Gazprom believes natural gas is more environmentally friendly than other fossil fuels.

"Gazprom group generally views shale gas as a great gift to the industry," he wrote. When natural gas prices rise, "it will make the U.S. plans to become a major gas exporter questionable."

Whether exports happen involves a dizzying mix of math, politics and marketplaces, along with the fact that U.S. natural gas companies ? and their shareholders ? want prices to rise, too.

James Diemer, an executive vice president for Pace Global, an international consulting company based in Virginia, believes that shale gas costs more to extract than the current market price. Pace, which recently released a report called "Shale Gas: The Numbers vs. The Hype," has been studying shale gas for Gazprom and other clients.

"The capital will stop flowing" to U.S. shale gas, and the price will go up, Diemer predicted. He would not divulge the kind of work Pace is doing for Gazprom. Pace is owned by Siemens, a German company.

Pace's work for Gazprom has raised some eyebrows in Washington, and Hill noted that industry watchers in Europe already believe Russia is bankrolling environmental groups that are loudly opposing plans for fracking in Europe, which could cut down on Russia's natural gas market.

"I've heard a lot of rumors that the Russians were funding this. I have no proof whatsoever," she said, noting that many critics give the rumors credence because Gazprom owns media companies throughout Russia and Europe that have run stories examining the environmental risks of fracking.

Gazprom dismissed such conspiracy theories, saying that "nothing could be more out of touch with Gazprom's inherent interests," because the shale boom promotes gas as an abundant, affordable energy source.

Many U.S. media outlets, including the AP, have run stories about shale gas and the environment. Regulators contend that overall, water and air pollution problems are rare, but environmental groups and some scientists say there hasn't been enough research.

U.S. energy companies are eager to export natural gas products. The issue is sensitive enough that the Obama administration has delayed a decision on export permits until after the election. In April, the Sierra Club sued to block one plan for exports, saying it would drive up the cost of domestic natural gas and lead to environmental damage.

But just the potential for exports could allow others to seek lower prices from Russia, said Kenneth Medlock III of the James Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.

"It changes the position at the bargaining table for everybody," Medlock said. "You stack all that up, and you start to realize, 'Wow.'"

There's one enormous unknown with the shale gas bounty in the U.S., Hill said. Unlike in Russia and some other countries, neither the government nor any one private company can really control or direct it.

"The question is, can the U.S. do what the Russians do, which is use this as a political tool?" she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/next-cold-war-gas-drilling-boom-rattles-russia-161809078.html

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Feeling Down? Spirituality Can Boost Your Mood

In 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama got himself into trouble by saying "bitter" voters "cling to guns or religion" in response to hard times. Obama later apologized and recanted the statement, but new research suggests he may not have been entirely wrong.

People do turn to spirituality after a bad day, according to a study published online Aug. 1 in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. And good news for spiritual folks, it works.

"We find that having a really spiritual day, committing to a power higher than yourself, carefully considering a purpose larger than yourself, it ends up leading to a lot of well-being," said study researcher Todd Kashdan, a psychologist at George Mason University in Virginia. "We find profound levels of meaning in life, greater positive emotions, less negative emotions, higher self-esteem."

Spirituality and happiness

A number of studies have found links between spirituality and happiness. A sense of spirituality, defined as the search for the sacred to differentiate it from organized religion, has even been linked to young women having more sex, perhaps because they feel a greater sense of interconnectedness and intimacy with others.

But most researchers have looked at the link between spirituality in a broad sense, with surveys that ask people about their spirituality in general. Kashdan and his colleagues wanted a day-to-day view. So they asked 87 college students to fill out daily online diaries about their emotions, their spiritual feelings and their self-esteem. They then looked at how spirituality matched up with daily emotional ups and downs.

The participants were a mix of religions, with 34 percent identifying as Catholic, 18 percent as Protestants, and the rest a mix of atheists, Buddhists, Eastern Orthodox, Mormons, Muslims and other faiths.

The diary analysis first found that daily spirituality is associated with a boost in self-esteem and positive mood. The reason, Kashdan told LiveScience, seems to be that spirituality gives people a sense of meaning in life. People's life meaning statistically explained 100 percent of spirituality's positive effect on mood, and 93 percent of the self-esteem boost. [8 Ways Religion Impacts your Life]

Sad today, spiritual tomorrow

For people who are high in spirituality, a bad day was linked to an increase in spiritual behavior, such as meditation or prayer, the next. A good day was associated with fewer spiritual behaviors.

"If today you're in a funk ? tomorrow you're much more likely to be spiritually inclined, to engage in spiritual practices and double down on your focus on things that transcend humanity," Kashdan said.

In turn, a spiritual day today led to a happier tomorrow, with people reporting greater meaning in life the day after they'd engaged in spiritual practices.

The same was not true for non-spiritual people, who became even less likely to engage in spiritual practices after a bad day.

The findings highlight how "clinging" to religion shouldn't necessarily be seen in a negative light, Kashdan said.

"Happiness is fleeting, but profound meaning is something like a stable architecture you can work with," Kashdan said. "If I know I have this profound meaning, it sticks with me despite bad things happening."

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feeling-down-spirituality-boost-mood-172114212.html

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NBA Preseason Rankings

Updated:?September 29, 2012,?2:37 pm?ET

9/29/12 ? The boldest moves of the offseason have been made.? Teams will tinker as training camps near, but by and large their rosters are set. The Los Angeles Lakers had the best offseason with the acquisitions of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and complementary role players like Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks.? The Miami HEAT won?t willingly relinquish their title and have improved.? The Nets have moved to Brooklyn and are suddenly neck-and-neck with the New York Knicks.? The Philadelphia 76ers stake their claim with the acquisition of big-man Andrew Bynum.? Meanwhile the Chicago Bulls will face much of the season without Derrick Rose.? The Orlando Magic are starting over after dealing Howard.? The New Orleans Hornets welcome rookie Anthony Davis.?

Here is the NBA rankings offseason edition:

*** NBA Standings are based on how teams finished last season.

Source: http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-preseason-rankings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nba-preseason-rankings

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Astrophile: Blobby old galaxy boasts hidden arms

Astrophile is our weekly column on curious cosmic objects, from the solar system to the far reaches of the multiverse

Object: The giant elliptical galaxy Centaurus A
Distance: About 12 million light years

Centaurus A was facing a midlife crisis. The giant elliptical galaxy's brightest stars were old and puffy, and it had nearly run out of gas needed to create new ones. The galaxy was just a featureless blob that had lost its sparkle.

Then a chance encounter allowed boring old Centaurus A to have a fling with a younger, smaller galaxy. The event revived the elder partner, triggering a fresh round of star birth and creating one of its most notable features: a dark dust lane along its middle.

In a surprise twist, new observations show the cosmic hanky-panky also caused Centaurus A to sprout two spiral arms ? something no other elliptical galaxy is known to have. The discovery offers new insights into how galaxies form and evolve, and hints at a new way for spiral structure to emerge.

Shocking revelation

The bisecting dust lane led astronomers in the early 19th century to think that Centaurus A might be two separate objects lying side by side. More recent studies have shown that the dust is most likely a disc left behind by a galactic merger.

By blocking visible light, the dust also conceals the intimacies of the galaxy's steamy affair. To gather more clues, Daniel Espada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and colleagues looked at Centaurus A in radio wavelengths.

These longer waves emerge from carbon monoxide gas at the galaxy's centre and can pierce the dusty veil, allowing the team to trace otherwise hidden structures. What they saw was shocking.

"We were quite surprised to find what clearly looked like spiral arms," says team member Alison Peck of the Joint ALMA Observatory in Santiago, Chile. Their images show the tentacles of gas curving around the galaxy's middle, with widths and orientations similar to those of the arms of spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.

What's more, the gas tentacles are "moving in a way that you would expect spiral arms to move", says Peck.

Gassy tendrils

Bruce Elmegreen, a spiral-structure expert at the IBM Research Division in Yorktown Heights, New York, says the arms on Centaurus A are unique because they are made of molecular gas instead of stars, the main components of the Milky Way's arms.

"It's really unusual," says Elmegreen. Usually a disc of gas around an object rotates in such a way that the gas clumps up rather than forming long filaments.

He suspects that Centaurus A is so massive and its stars are so centrally concentrated that the galaxy's rotating core creates a huge shear effect, one that sculpted the gas into spiral structures.

Since galaxies grow via mergers, the new study suggests it is possible that spiral arms exist on other elliptical galaxies. Unfortunately, most are too far away for us to get a detailed peek.

Journal reference: The Astrophysical Journal, DOI: doi.org/jfj

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Samsung Galaxy Note II variants for AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon possibly caught at the FCC

It's no secret that Samsung plans to bring the Galaxy Note II to many US carriers by mid-fall. Even so, getting there requires the FCC's blessing -- which makes us glad to see the regulator approve what might be three carriers' variants of the giant Android phone. The SGH-i317 looks to be the model for AT&T and Canadian carriers, having been greenlit for their key 3G and 4G bands while lining up with a briefly available benchmark of the device sharing the Note II's HD screen and use of Jelly Bean. The SCH-i605? Based on its inclusions of both CDMA and GSM, a lone 700MHz LTE band and a past screen capture leak, it's a dual-mode Note II destined for Verizon. As for the SGH-T889, it's even more conspicuous beyond what we've already seen: the T889's HSPA includes the 1,700MHz AWS frequency that T-Mobile will still call home for a long while. LTE likewise exists on the 1,700MHz and roaming-friendly 700MHz bands in possible instances of futureproofing. While we rarely want to say a mobile device is confirmed until we see it first-hand, the convenient timing and natures of the three FCC approvals only help to fuel suspicions that Samsung's pen-focused event on October 24th is all about the Note II's American launch.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II variants for AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon possibly caught at the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/28/samsung-galaxy-note-ii-variants-for-att-t-mobile-verizon-at-fcc/

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Identification of microbes in healthy lungs sheds light on cystic fibrosis

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? Healthy people's lungs are home to a diverse community of microbes that differs markedly from the bacteria found in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. That's the result of new research from Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, which has wide implications for treatment of cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases.

"The lung is not a sterile organ," said David Cornfield, MD, an author of the new study, published Sept. 26 in Science Translational Medicine. Although decades of received scientific wisdom said healthy lungs lacked resident microbes, scientists had begun questioning that notion. "This research confirmed a long-held suspicion that a forest of microbes exists in both healthy and diseased lungs," said Cornfield, a pulmonologist at Packard Children's and a professor of pediatrics in pulmonary medicine at the School of Medicine. "More surprising, our data presents a suggestion that the lung flora provides microbial homeostasis that might function to preserve health."

Healthy lungs' microbes have been overlooked in part because past research has focused heavily on lung diseases, Cornfield said. Another flaw in prior studies was a bias toward looking for micro-organisms that could be grown in labs. Many of the types of microbes that the Stanford researchers found in healthy lungs have never been cultured in a laboratory.

In contrast, a large body of research had previously shown chronic microbial colonization in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease characterized by serious, progressive lung problems and death from respiratory failure. For instance, CF patients are vulnerable to chronic infection with the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause pneumonia.

The new study used sputum samples from 16 CF patients and nine healthy control patients. The scientists also analyzed lung tissue samples from seven patients' explanted lungs, the organs removed when the patients received lung transplants. (Three lung-transplant recipients had CF; four had other lung diseases.) The researchers extracted DNA from the sputum and tissue, and selectively copied genes coding for the 16S ribosomal gene sequences, which are found only in bacteria. The resulting genetic material was measured to determine which phyla, or families, of bacteria it came from and the relative contributions of each bacterial phylum to the total bacterial population in the lungs.

Several differences emerged between CF patients and healthy people's communities of lung bacteria. In general, healthy individuals had more diversity among their lung bacteria. Different bacterial phyla predominated in the two groups: members of the Bacteroidetes and Fusobacteria phyla were much more prominent in healthy individuals, whereas CF patients had a larger percentage of Actinobacteria. Also, healthy people had a larger proportion of bacteria that had never been grown in a lab.

"I think the tendency toward decreased diversity can be metaphorically viewed as the same phenomenon that might happen in a rainforest," Cornfield said. "When the ecosystem of a rainforest is disturbed and one organism predominates, it undermines a carefully constructed balance and causes disturbances in overall ecosystem. I think it's reasonable to assume something similar could happen in the lung microbiome, where pathogenic bacteria may out-compete organisms that may play a salutary, health-affirming role."

The results open many questions for future research. No one has ever tested the idea that certain microbes benefit lung health, for instance. "We may need to consider strategies that allow favorable microbes to exist while eradicating disease-causing species," Cornfield said. "That paradigm, if it's true, would really turn the care of patients with pneumonia and other lower-airway diseases on its head." Future research might test whether CF or pneumonia patients could benefit from doses of probiotic bacteria to their lungs, he said.

In addition, no one is sure how the antibiotics often given to CF patients change the microbes in their lungs.

"The marked differences in composition and diversity of microbial communities from adults with cystic fibrosis and normal controls are intriguing," said Thomas Ferkol, MD, director of allergy, immunology and pulmonary medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "The question that remains to be answered is whether these differences are directly related to the underlying lung disease or simply a consequence of frequent antibiotic use, which has been shown to change microbiota of the upper airways." Ferkol was not involved in the research.

More questions arise from the fact that bacterial profiles varied within the group of CF patients. CF patients differ widely in their disease progression, even when they have the same disease-causing gene mutations. It is possible that patients' lung function may be linked to the bacteria present in their lungs. The research team now plans to study whether individual patients' bacterial profiles can be used to predict their clinical condition.

Cornfield collaborated with first author Paul Blainey, PhD, previously a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford and now a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carlos Milla, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics in pulmonary medicine at Stanford and a pulmonologist at Packard Children's; and senior author Stephen Quake, PhD, professor of bioengineering and of applied physics at Stanford and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. The original article was written by Erin Digitale.

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Journal Reference:

1. P. C. Blainey, C. E. Milla, D. N. Cornfield, S. R. Quake. Quantitative Analysis of the Human Airway Microbial Ecology Reveals a Pervasive Signature for Cystic Fibrosis. Science Translational Medicine, 2012; 4 (153): 153ra130 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3004458

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/_iuHkP9bvbk/120928103804.htm

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Minneapolis-St. Paul Tap Room Directory ? The Heavy Table ...

Sarah McGee / Heavy Table

In May 2011, the Minnesota Legislature passed H.F. 0703, popularly known as the Surly Bill, which allows for brewers to operate an on-sale establishment on their brewing premises. Since then, new brewing ventures have been popping up all over the cities, and a majority of them are including tap rooms in their build-out plans.

In an effort to organize the brewery news of note, and to let you know where you can drink a pint on site, we present The Heavy Table Minneapolis-St. Paul Tap Room Directory. We?ll regularly update this directory with news about the established tap rooms and those upcoming.

John Garland / Heavy Table

Excelsior Brewing Company
421 3rd St
Excelsior, MN 55331
952.474.7837

Hours: Thu-Fri 4pm-10pm, Sat 2pm-10pm

Tap Room Open Since: July 2012

Beer: You can taste four of Excelsior?s brews at their tap room. We prefer the crisp XLCR Pale Ale, followed closely by the light, refreshing Big Island Blond. They?ll also have available a weighty 8.0% IPA called Bridge Jumper and a seasonal. Currently, it?s a brown ale, soon it?ll be an Oktoberfest. Pints are $5-6 and growlers and other swag items are on sale as well.

Food: Nothing at the brewery, though there?s plenty of eating on Water Street. We like the Italian staples served up at Biella, where Excelsior is currently on tap.

Details: Located off the parking lot behind Water Street. Enter off Third (you?ll see Petunia?s Home & Garden shop at 421 from the street). It?s a pleasantly rowdy atmosphere in their warehouse-turned-brewery, with a couple stacks of bar Jenga and two small tap tables where you can sample their lineup. The brewer is Bob DuVernois, a former president of the Minnesota Craft Brewer?s Guild. He comes to Excelsior after a well-regarded stint at Great Waters in St. Paul, where he developed a reputation for excellent cask beers. A few firkins have come out of Excelsior so far, with a more regular program most certainly on the way.

John Garland / Heavy Table

Fulton Brewing
414 6th Ave N
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612.333.3208

Hours: Thu-Fri 3pm-10pm, Sat 12pm-10pm, Sun 11am-7pm, also opens 2 hrs. before Twins home games.

Tap Room Open Since: March 2012

Beer: Their two mainstays, Lonely Blonde and Sweet Child of Vine IPA, are always on tap, along with one or two others ? we especially like their lighter Ringer Pale Ale. The stack of barrels on the far wall previously held 2 Gingers Whiskey, and soon will hold some of Fulton?s malty, red Libertine ale. They also tap a new firkin every Thursday ? the way their Worthy Adversary Imperial Stout mellows in the cask is magical.

Food: A most agreeable assortment of food trucks set up shop in Fulton?s front lot ? check their website?s schedule. Or, if you want to sit down somewhere, it?s just a few blocks to Black Sheep Pizza and, soon, the brick-and-mortar Smack Shack.

Details:? A warehouse brewery for the Warehouse District. A five-minute walk from Target Field, it?s a terrific pre-game location at which to commiserate with fellow Twins fans. Heck, skip the first inning or two ? they?ll have the game on their TVs. Plus, you?re going to need another pint to watch that team. Growlers and other swag items are also available for purchase.

John Garland / Heavy Table

Harriet Brewing
3036 Minnehaha Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612.225.2184

Hours: Wed-Fri 4pm-12am, Sat 1pm-12am

Tap Room Open Since: March 2012

Beer: Two or three of Harriet?s brews will be available. Their West Side Belgian IPA is the mainstay ? right now their lighter Marzen is the seasonal. Pints are $5.

Food: Harriet features a regular lineup of food trucks ? check their tap room calendar.? If you?re looking for something else in the neighborhood, we?d suggest Gandhi Mahal for some great Indian around the block.

Details: There may not be a tap room in the city that looks as comfortable in its own skin as Harriet?s. The brewery?s rear annex, cordoned off by a bright yellow wall full of local art, has a small corner stage featuring live music every night. Sip your beer on their patio while there?s still time and enjoy the downtown skyline view. Also be on the lookout for Harriet?s more involved festivals (including Rauchfest Sept. 29 and Sound Unseen Oct. 10-13). Growlers are available for purchase in the small tasting room at the front of the building. Parking is available in the gravel lot to the left of the brewery.

John Garland / Heavy Table

Indeed Brewing Company
711 15th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
612.843.5090

Hours: Thu-Fri 3-10, Sat 11am-10pm

Tap Room Open Since: August 2012

Beer: You?ll find three or four beers on tap at Indeed, with a couple more in casks. We get a kick out of their Daytripper Pale Ale ? that rush of citrusy hops on the nose is mesmerizing. Also, their Midnight Ryder American Black Ale is silky with a deep roast character and a crisp, bitter finish. 750-ml bottles are available for purchase at the brewery for around $6. Six packs of cans will be made available in retail stores sometime this fall / winter.

Food:?Food trucks are always scheduled to be on hand?? check the schedule on Indeed?s website.

Details:?Indeed Brewing is the first in a rush of breweries scheduled to open in Northeast Minneapolis in 2012-2013. Josh Bischoff is the brewer, coming off an award-filled tenure at Town Hall. The Solar Arts building delivers a great neighborhood atmosphere for the brewery. The space is like an artist?s studio meets old-school club room. Check out the tables, emblazoned with signatures from the guest registry of the old Miller Publishing Group. The room has a shuffleboard table, and a small patio flanks the building facing the railroad tracks.

John Garland / Heavy Table

Lift Bridge Brewing
1900 Tower Dr
Stillwater, MN 55082
888.430.2337

Hours: Tue-Thu 5pm-8pm, Fri 12pm-8pm, Sat 12pm-5pm

Tap Room Open Since: September 2011

Beer: You?ll find six of Lift Bridge?s brews on tap. You know and love the citrusy haze of Farm Girl Saison. We also quite like the spectacularly resinous Hop Dish IPA and the brilliant, crisp Pathway Pilsner. Expect a couple seasonals to be on hand. Right now, it?s a lighter Oktoberfest. This winter, they expect to roll out a series of stouts ? milk, oyster, and Irish coffee. Also on tap: house-made root beer (ask for a taste, it?s incredible). Pints are $4, flights are $6-9, and growlers are available as well.

Food: No food trucks out in Stillwater, but there?s plenty of solid eating within a couple minutes? drive. We recommend the laid-back Patriots Tavern for soups / sandwiches, the same goes for Chilkoot Cafe & Cyclery (especially their more elegant dinner menu), Roma Restaurant for good old-fashioned Italian favorites, and Phil?s Tara Hideaway for great Mediterranean.

Details: There?s no better way to wait out the Highway 36 rush hour than having a pint at Lift Bridge. They?ve built out a small bar that seats about 10 in the brewery?s front reception room, with a few picnic tables for extra seating. Though they?ve won the people?s choice Golden Firkin at Happy Gnome?s Firkin Fest multiple times, it?s somewhat surprising that they don?t already have cask ales available at the tap room. It?s in the works, though. They already have a beer engine and will begin to feature rotating casks in the near future. If you want their cask beer now, you may find some at Ngon Bistro, Republic, or Groveland Tap.

John Garland / Heavy Table

Summit Brewing Company
910 Montreal Cir
St. Paul, MN 55102
651.265.7800

Hours: Fridays, 3-8pm

Tap Room Opening: September 28, 2012

Beer: You?ll be able to sample 10 or so of Summit?s brews. All of their year-round beers will be poured, along with current releases from the Unchained series when available (the Belgian Abbey Ale is currently out of stock), as well as some special casks and limited runs from their pilot brewing system. Pints will be $5, with flights of four beers for $7.

Food: They will feature a rotating mix of food trucks during drinking hours. Barrio will be on hand for the inaugural Friday.

Details: After a soft opening for family and friends last Friday, the venerable St. Paul brewery will begin hosting open tap room hours this week. The large Rathskeller hall is frequently used for events and opened up to nonprofits for fundraising, so they?re keeping hours limited to Fridays for now. They haven?t changed the space much, just built out the bar a touch. In November, they?ll add a brewery tour on Fridays at 1pm, which will let out as tap room hours begin.

UPCOMING TAP ROOMS:

612Brew
945 Broadway St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Expected Opening: Late 2012

Details So Far: Six blocks from Indeed Brewing in Northeast Minneapolis sits the Broadway building, home of the upcoming 612Brew tap house and brewery. The preliminary design sketches promise a beautiful build out, with old brick and exposed beams contrasting the steel brewing vessels. The open floor plan looks to leave very little distinction between brewery and tap room space ? you?ll be sitting mere feet from their tanks. It?s being designed with room for concerts and other events very much in mind.

A selection of Indian food will accompany their brews (co-owner Adit Kalra?s family owns Tandoor) so they?ll have snacks available even when the food trucks have packed up for the winter. Their initial brew lineup looks to include a Pale Ale, a fully bodied hoppy Rye Ale, and an American Black Ale that will only be available at the tap room. Expect a rotating group of seasonals as well.

Dangerous Man Brewing
1300 2nd St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
612.206.2626

Expected Opening: Late 2012-early 2013

Details So Far: Dangerous Man looks to join Indeed and 612Brew as cornerstones of the Northeast ?Brew District.? Their tap room license was approved by the City of Minneapolis on September 24. The walls have been framed, the ceiling painted, and the concrete floor stained. It looks closer to opening every week, it seems.

They have no plans to release the product to tap or retail accounts, so if you want their unique brews, you?ll have to visit the tap house. They?ll be featuring six ever-changing selections of one-off, small batch stuff, so expect lots of experimentation with ingredients and styles.

HammerHeart Brewing Company
Lino Lakes, MN
651.964.2160

Expected Opening: 2013, beginning production hopefully by the end of 2012

Details So Far: The guys behind HammerHeart envision an old Norse drinking hall feel for their brewery?s tap room. Outside will be a gravel patio with a fire pit, enclosed by pine trees ? a north woods retreat in Lino Lakes. Set to begin pouring sometime next year, they refer to their beers as ?hoppy, smoked, and sometimes oaked. Unfiltered and balanced.? They will generally stick to English styles ? no Belgians or German Lagers ? and will have six on tap. If the beers are ?sometimes oaked? we wouldn?t be surprised to see them develop a regular casking program like the others.

Steel Toe Brewing
4848 W 35th?St
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
952.955.9965

Current Growler Sale Hours: Tue-Thu 3-5pm, Fri 5:30-7:30pm, Sat 10am-12pm

Expected Opening: Late 2012-early 2013

Details So Far: Currently waiting on the license and finalizing build-out details.

Surly Brewing?Company

Expected Opening: 2013-2014? Site may be finalized by end of 2012.

Details So Far: Surly has selected the architecture firm HGA to design its planned 60,000-square-foot, $20 million ?Destination Brewery.? They are looking at seven to 10 acres for their complex, which will include a bar, restaurant, beer garden, and event center. The site search has been also been reportedly narrowed down to just a handful, including a few potential spots in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center.

Source: http://heavytable.com/minneapolis-st-paul-tap-room-directory/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=minneapolis-st-paul-tap-room-directory

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Braves are in!

First baseman's 9th-inning walk-off downs Marlins 4-3, clinching wild-card spot

David Goldman / AP

Teammates douse Atlanta's Freddie Freeman?with champagne?in the clubhouse after Freeman'swalk-off two-run home run propelled the Braves into the playoffs.

By George Henry

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:45 p.m. ET Sept. 25, 2012

ATLANTA - Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the Atlanta Braves back in the playoffs with a 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.

Freeman's dramatic drive off Mike Dunn clinched at least a National League wild-card berth for the Braves, who squandered a big lead in the wild-card race last year with a huge September collapse.

Longtime star Chipper Jones, who plans to retire at the end of the season, led off the ninth with a double. He moved to third on a wild pitch by Dunn (0-3) and scored when Freeman's 22nd homer easily cleared the center-field wall.

"There was never any doubt," Jones said during the clubhouse celebration. "We knew that last year was somewhat of a fluke."

Craig Kimbrel (3-1) worked a scoreless inning to help the Braves win their 22nd straight game started by Kris Medlen. The streak is the longest in the majors since the New York Yankees won 22 consecutive games started by Whitey Ford in 1950 and `53.

Returning to the postseason helps wipe away some of last season's frustration for the Braves, who blew an 8 1/2-game lead in the wild-card standings and finished September 9-18. They missed the playoffs after one of the biggest collapses in baseball history.

This year, Atlanta cruised most of the way and wrapped up a postseason spot with more than a week to spare. And the Braves still have a chance to catch first-place Washington in the NL East. They moved within four games of the Nationals, who lost to Philadelphia 6-3, with eight to play.

"We are shooting for the stars," Jones said. "It makes it all worth it. I'm happier for these guys because they worked hard."

While he was being interviewed on television, the 40-year-old slugger was doused with bubbly and beer by teammates in a jubilant clubhouse.

"I am so cold right now!" he said.

Four of the five NL playoff spots are secured. In addition to Atlanta, Washington, Cincinnati and San Francisco have all punched their tickets to the postseason.

The second-place Braves have a comfortable cushion in the wild-card race, and St. Louis leads the chase for the league's second wild card.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Braves are in!

Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the Atlanta Braves back in the playoffs with a 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.

Yanks fall to Twins, fail to stretch lead

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Phil Hughes ran out of gas in the seventh inning and Boone Logan couldn't hold the lead for him as the New York Yankees missed a chance to go up 21/2 games on Baltimore in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49173355/ns/sports-baseball/

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Roth Ira Conversion Questions: 401K, Multiple Accounts, Taxes ...

A Retirement Account (IRA) is an account that allows anyone to contribute pre-taxed dollars for growth. However in choosing your firm, you must keep in mind that roth ira fees absolutely vary several institutions.

You still judging around available retirement plans on what they in order to offer offer you? Are you still inquiring on the most beneficial IRA account for you? Are you searching for topic . roth ira basis in town? Well, the answers will differ from person to person and every one company that in order to to. A trader must be meticulous in choosing their her retirement intend. Choosing an IRA will depend on you need and what you are interested with. Having the best roth iras is almost everybody?s aim. Being interested in lands and properties is a fantastic bargain since it incorporates high demand a person can take part in real estate in a self directed IRA. This article enable you be more familiar on the IRAs.

Research indicates that about 90 % of a portfolio?s performance is relying on the allocation for this assets, not with individual investments or market timing. A common rule for placement of the fund?s assets is addressed in Age Tenet. Some financial advisers will recommend stock game or equity exposure equal to 120 minus your age. Meaning if you are 50 years old, then no less than 70 percent of one?s portfolio should live in stocks. Another 30 percent could be held in fixed-income investments like bonds, bond funds or certificates of money. These options are generally low risk and will generate annual interest income as well.

Locating out what is IRA account, that you might learn that utilized convert your account from the Traditional Ira account into a roth ira contribution rules. Up to a whopping 2009 there were income limitations it is possible to be able generate a conversion. However in 2010 these limitations were relaxed permit for conversion regardless of revenue. And up to present day time many have done so.

It?s evident that Congress need to continue to supply expanded retirement preparing opportunities for that individual worker. The guidelines will constantly change, but the creating is very significantly around the wall.

Firstly all, the distributions are tax-free right now there is no required minimum distribution, regardless of there is no requirement to withdraw any of you retirement funds during your lifetime. Make a decision when and why you want to withdraw the money. Taxpayers who to perform be in higher tax bracket when retiring will benefit more from the roth ira and will have the ability to save a lot of money over a longer period of instance. This also benefits those that keep their take advantage a retirement fund for a longer time frame of time, as they possibly can grow due to smart investments. Also, the roth ira provides your heirs with an income tax-free legacy, in case you die. This is very important for people that think about utilizes to their family after their death.

An additional use your employer-related qualified plan money, request your company to roll it over directly into to your own IRA tax totally free of charge. Now decide how you want to speculate or distribute cash. You can purchase real estate, but you?ll for you to transfer your IRA money to a self-directed IRA.

The web site comes directly from the Internal Revenue Tools. It is a more professional website than a friendly one. It includes a pdf document that is around 600 pages. It also has a video and also links which explain a lot of queries. It?s overall information about opening an IRA account to contributing and withdrawing.

Source: http://socialebenevento.org/roth-ira-conversion-questions-401k-multiple-accounts-taxes/

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Girls Hockey Weekend! | Cranberry Sports & Recreation Events on ...

Saturday, October 13, 2012, 11:20 pm

103 Marshall Dr, Warrendale, PA | Get?Directions??
FREE

North Pittsburgh Youth Hockey Association is proud to be a host site for IIHF's Girls Hockey Weekend!?

Girls' Hockey Weekend is October 13-14, 2012 and is intended to celebrate the love of the girls game, introduce new girls to hockey, and grow the sport.

Check out these events and stay tuned for more!

Girls Try Hockey for FREE

Have a girl who wants to try hockey? On Saturday, October 13, 2012 the North Pittsburgh Youth Hockey Association is hosting a Girls Try Hockey for Free Event!

The on-ice session will be from 11:30 am - 12:20 pm at the Bladerunners rink in Warrendale.? We will go over the fundamentals of skating, stickhandling, passing and shooting and will of course have a blast!

We have limited equipment available so please use any you have from siblings if you can!

Please fill out the form on our site and email Girls Hockey Coordinator Leigh Crawford at coachleigh@ymail.com to register!? We are capping enrollment at 25.

North Pittsburgh Girls Hockey Scrimmages

Come cheer on your local girls hockey teams!? In honor of Girls Hockey weekend we are hosting 3 scrimmages on October 13, 2012:

Girls u12 vs. Pittsburgh Renegades (3:00 pm)

Girls u14 vs. Erie Lady Lions (4:20 pm)

Girls u19 vs. TBD (5:40 pm)

40.668727

-80.102418

primary

/events/girls-hockey-weekend

/locations/7883979

Source: http://cranberry.patch.com/events/girls-hockey-weekend

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Frugal Family Tree: Save Money With Coupons: Food and Personal ...

Save Money With Coupons: Food and Personal Care

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• SAVE 50? when you buy any flavor Yoplait? Fruplait? Yogurt Multipacks (Void in LA, NV, NJ, ND & TN)
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• SAVE 50? when you buy any flavor Yoplait? Light with Fiber Yogurt Multipacks (Void in LA, NV, NJ, ND & TN)
• SAVE 40? ON SIX when you buy SIX CUPS any variety Yoplait? Yogurt (Void in LA, NV, NJ, ND & TN)
• SAVE 50? ON TWO when you buy TWO BOXES any Nature Valley? Granola Bars (5 count or larger) OR Nature Valley? Granola Thins
• SAVE 50? when you buy ONE BOX any flavor Fiber One? 90 Calorie Brownies
• SAVE 50? ON TWO when you buy TWO BOXES any flavor/variety Ocean Spray? Fruit Flavored Snacks, Mott?s? Fruit Flavored Snacks OR Sunkist? F
• SAVE 50? when you buy ONE BOX any flavor Fiber One? Chewy Bars
• SAVE 50? when you buy ONE PACKAGE any flavor 7 OZ. OR LARGER Pillsbury? Baguette Chips
• SAVE 75? ON THREE when you buy THREE any flavor/variety L?RABAR?, ?BER? OR JOCALAT? bars

Personal Care

Source: http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2012/09/save-money-with-coupons-food-and.html

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Mexican draft labor bill weakened by congressional body

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican congressional working group has gutted a planned reform of several measures intended to make trade unions more transparent before a vote on the bill later this week.

Put forward by outgoing President Felipe Calderon at the start of the month, the draft labor law aims to make it easier for companies to hire and fire employees and combat abuses by the country's trade unions.

Viewed as a litmus test of cooperation between Calderon's conservatives and the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto, the bill must be voted on by the lower house of Congress this month.

No major labor reform has passed Congress for four decades to the frustration of business leaders in Latin America's second biggest economy, who say the rules must be updated to allow Mexican companies to compete.

Calderon's original proposal had sought to impose external audits on the unions, force them to divulge details of their balance sheets to members, and give workers a legal right to seek suspension of the fees they must pay to unions.

The revised bill, seen by Reuters, replaces these terms with a general pledge to impose "rules on accountability" that will "consider" the right of workers to receive information on how funds are spent and procedures to resolve disputes.

The changes did not stop hundreds of people from protesting against the bill outside Congress on Tuesday.

The PRI insisted it had the country's interests at heart.

"The PRI is only protecting workers' rights," said Manlio Fabio Beltrones, head of the PRI bloc in the lower house. "I am convinced that combining respect for rights with labor flexibility and modernization is what this country needs."

The new document, which could still be revised again, also strips out a clause that insisted the election of union leadership would have to be free, direct and secret.

It retains measures from Calderon's bill that will make work contracts more flexible, such as by providing for trial periods for new employees. And it stipulates that productivity, not seniority, should take precedence when new jobs are awarded.

The measures also seek to streamline the settlement of labor lawsuits which can be costly and time consuming.

The changes to Calderon's original bill reflect the PRI's desire to defend the power of unions, which have been a keystone of support for the party that long dominated Mexico.

However, critics say too many unions are corrupt, squander funds and must be opened up to greater scrutiny.

Lawmakers from the PRI and Calderon's National Action Party (PAN) have said a labor bill is likely to be approved. If it passes the lower house, which could come as soon as Thursday, it must still go through the Senate.

The PRI ruled Mexico for 71 consecutive years between 1929 and 2000 before its defeat by the PAN under Vicente Fox, Calderon's predecessor as president. (Additional reporting by Dave Graham, editing by Philip Barbara and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-draft-labor-bill-weakened-congressional-body-220047414--sector.html

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Obama Medicare plan: No voucher but maybe a bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? He'll never turn Medicare into a voucher, but if you are lucky enough to be financially comfortable in retirement, odds are you'll pay higher premiums under President Barack Obama's plan. It's not just the 1 percent who'll feel the pinch.

And take note, baby boomers: The Medicare you get won't be quite as generous as what your parents' generation enjoys. A higher deductible here, a new co-payment there, and the tweaks add up.

With the future of Medicare on the line in the presidential election, The Associated Press asked the Obama campaign five questions about how his plans for seniors' health care would affect critical issues of costs and benefits. (The AP also sent Republican Mitt Romney a set of questions, and the responses are the subject of a companion report.)

Unlike Romney, Obama is not calling for a major Medicare remake. Most of the president's cost-cutting ideas are incorporated in his health care law, and will phase in unless Romney wins and makes good on his pledge to repeal it. Other Obama proposals are drawn from government advisory groups or bipartisan commissions seeking consensus on how to reduce deficits.

It doesn't mean they're pain-free. AARP gave a thumbs-down to this year's Obama budget, citing Medicare cost shifts.

If Obama is re-elected and plunges into deficit negotiations with congressional Republicans, he will be pushed for greater Medicare savings, by cutting payments to service providers or squeezing more from recipients.

"Neither one of (the candidates) is going to basically lay his cards on the table before the election," said former AARP CEO Bill Novelli, now at Georgetown University in Washington. "Obama is going to have to raise the price of benefits, whether by hundreds or thousands, I don't know. Where else is the money going to come from, besides printing it?"

Some Medicare questions for consumers to watch, along with answers from the Obama campaign and the views of several experts:

Q: What new costs can seniors expect under Obama's plan for Medicare?

A: You may need a CPA degree to understand the complicated details of changes proposed by the president.

Broadly speaking, Obama would raise monthly premiums for retirees making $85,000 or more ($170,000 for married couples). He also would hit newly joining baby boomers with a series of fees.

Currently only about 5 percent of beneficiaries pay higher, income-based monthly premiums for outpatient coverage under Medicare Part B and even fewer pay higher premiums for prescription drug coverage.

Under Obama's proposal, a growing share of seniors would pay the higher premiums over time. He'd also bump up the premiums paid by higher-income beneficiaries by 15 percent.

After about 20 years, the top 25 percent of Medicare recipients would be paying higher, income-based premiums.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that in 2017, a single retiree with income of $86,000 would pay $447 more in premiums for Medicare's outpatient and prescription drug coverage. A married couple with income of $175,000 would pay about $894 more in that year.

As for the fees on newly joining baby boomers, they'd face a $25 increase in their annual outpatient deductible (initially for a few years only), some limits on the use of 'Medigap' insurance to fill in gaps left by Medicare, and a new home health co-payment in certain cases.

Think of these proposals as the president's opening bid in budget talks.

Q: Hasn't Obama also hinted he might be willing to increase the eligibility age for Medicare?

A: In budget negotiations with Republicans last year, Obama indicated a willingness to consider gradually raising the eligibility age to 67, from 65 now. Romney supports the idea. But the president has since walked it back.

"President Obama has always been willing to make hard choices to confront big challenges, and sometimes that means listening to other ideas," said campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher. "But (Obama) believes we can strengthen the future of Medicare without raising the eligibility age."

Translation: The idea is not quite off the table, and Obama, if re-elected, will again face the choice in budget negotiations.

"I think it will continue to be analyzed," said Don Berwick, Obama's first Medicare chief. Berwick believes there is a downside to postponing Medicare eligibility, because a sizable number of future retirees would join the program in weaker health.

"As an administration official, I was not impressed that it would save money for the (Medicare) trust fund," said Berwick. "But I would say it will continue to be studied."

Q: Medicare's in-house economic analysts have warned that cuts in Obama's health care law could eventually drive some hospitals into the red. The health care industry is pushing for repeal of a Medicare cost-control board in the law, saying more cuts will reduce access for seniors. What will Obama do if seniors start having problems getting the care they need?

A: The administration says that's unlikely to happen. Cuts are being introduced gradually, and dozens of pilot programs are testing ways to provide better care for less money. Health care costs are in a lull, buying time to make changes. Studies indicate there is plenty of waste to be cut.

"The president will continue to make sure that seniors have access to the benefits they have earned," Fetcher.

But if Obama's advisers are wrong and the system starts to seize up, most experts believe Congress would intervene. "Congress is always going to step in if there is a real perception that quality and access for Medicare beneficiaries would suffer broadly," said Mark McClellan, who ran Medicare for President George W. Bush.

Q: Obama's health care law already increases the Medicare payroll tax for individuals making over $200,000. What's to rule out a broader tax increase?

A: McClellan says that's always a risk, particularly because Obama's health care law funnels the higher Medicare payroll tax into providing coverage for working-age uninsured people.

"Because those revenues are dedicated to the coverage expansion, everything else being equal, the government is going to need more revenue to cover the cost of the (Medicare) program," he said. "If that money had been used for deficit reduction, or to increase the life of the trust fund, the government would have more existing resources."

The White House says there are no plans to propose higher Medicare taxes.

Q: The administration pulled the plug on a new long-term care insurance program because of financing problems. How does Obama plan to address this unmet national need in his second term?

A: The campaign says Obama is willing to work with anyone who has good ideas about long-term care, and that Medicaid and Medicare will continue working to help seniors who want to stay in their own homes, instead of going into nursing facilities.

But Novelli said paying for long-term care remains a huge problem for middle-class elders and their families.

Obama "may have to punt, they may not want to go there," said Novelli. "But, yes, as a society we've got to go there."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-medicare-plan-no-voucher-maybe-bill-122340156--finance.html

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