Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/09/this-accessory-for-ios-devices-tests-your-alcohol-level/
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Monday, March 11, 2013
This accessory for iOS devices tests your alcohol level
I’ve seen little devices like this before, but this one apparently has a Lightning connector to work with the newest generation of iOS devices. ?The Alcohol Tester for iPhone 5, 5th-gen iPod touch, iPad 4, and the iPad mini needs no apps to work; you just plug it in to the Apple device and it’s [...]
Sunday, March 10, 2013
How to thrive in battery acid and among toxic metals
Friday, March 8, 2013
In the movie Alien, the title character is an extraterrestrial creature that can survive brutal heat and resist the effects of toxins.
In real life, organisms with similar traits exist, such as the "extremophile" red alga Galdieria sulphuraria.
In hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, Galdieria uses energy from the sun to produce sugars through photosynthesis.
In the darkness of old mineshafts in drainage as caustic as battery acid, it feeds on bacteria and survives high concentrations of arsenic and heavy metals.
How has a one-celled alga acquired such flexibility and resilience?
To answer this question, an international research team led by Gerald Schoenknecht of Oklahoma State University and Andreas Weber and Martin Lercher of Heinrich-Heine-Universitat (Heinrich-Heine University) in Dusseldorf, Germany, decoded genetic information in Galdieria.
They are three of 18 co-authors of a paper on the findings published in this week's issue of the journal Science.
The scientists made an unexpected discovery: Galdieria's genome shows clear signs of borrowing genes from its neighbors.
Many genes that contribute to Galdieria's adaptations were not inherited from its ancestor red algae, but were acquired from bacteria or archaebacteria.
This "horizontal gene transfer" is typical for the evolution of bacteria, researchers say.
However, Galdieria is the first known organism with a nucleus (called a eukaryote) that has adapted to extreme environments based on horizontal gene transfer.
"The age of comparative genome sequencing began only slightly more than a decade ago, and revealed a new mechanism of evolution--horizontal gene transfer--that would not have been discovered any other way," says Matt Kane, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.
Galdieria's heat tolerance seems to come from genes that exist in hundreds of copies in its genome, all descending from a single gene the alga copied millions of years ago from an archaebacterium.
"The results give us new insights into evolution," Schoenknecht says. "Before this, there was not much indication that eukaryotes acquire genes from bacteria."
The alga owes its ability to survive the toxic effects of such elements as mercury and arsenic to transport proteins and enzymes that originated in genes it swiped from bacteria.
It also copied genes offering tolerance to high salt concentrations, and an ability to make use of a wide variety of food sources. The genes were copied from bacteria that live in the same extreme environment as Galdieria.
"Why reinvent the wheel if you can copy it from your neighbor?" asks Lercher.
"It's usually assumed that organisms with a nucleus cannot copy genes from different species--that's why eukaryotes depend on sex to recombine their genomes.
"How has Galdieria managed to overcome this limitation? It's an exciting question."
What Galdieria did is "a dream come true for biotechnology," says Weber.
"Galdieria has acquired genes with interesting properties from different organisms, integrated them into a functional network and developed unique properties and adaptations."
In the future, genetic engineering may allow other algae to make use of the proteins that offer stress tolerance to Galdieria.
Such a development would be relevant to biofuel production, says Schoenknecht, as oil-producing algae don't yet have the ability to withstand the same extreme conditions as Galdieria.
###
National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov
Thanks to National Science Foundation for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127217/How_to_thrive_in_battery_acid_and_among_toxic_metals
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Family: Woman killed by lion was a tragic accident
This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Hanson)
This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Hanson)
This Oct. 12, 2012 photo released by JP Marketing shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/JP Marketing, Vicken Massoyan)
This 2012 photo provided by the KFSN-TV shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/KFSN-TV) OUT KGPE, KSEE, KMPH, KFTV; FRESNO BEE OUT, VISALIA TIMES-DELTA OUT
This 2012 photo provided by KFSN-TV shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/KFSN-TV) OUT KGPE, KSEE, KMPH, KFTV; FRESNO BEE OUT, VISALIA TIMES-DELTA OUT
Dale Anderson, founder of Project Survival Cat Haven near Dunlap, Calif. speaks to the media Thursday, March 7 2013 a day after Cat Haven sanctuary worker Dianna Hanson, 24, died from a lion attack. (AP Photo/Eric Paul Zamora, The Fresno Bee)
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? Family members of the young woman killed in a lion attack at a Central California animal park say they believe no rules were broken and the volunteer worker's death was a tragic accident.
Investigators think the 550-pound male African lion lifted the door of a partially closed feeding cage with its paw and killed 24-year-old Dianna Hanson as she cleaned a bigger enclosure area Wednesday, Fresno County Coroner David Hadden has said.
Hanson died immediately from a broken neck, according to the coroner's autopsy report. Other injuries were sustained after her death, the report states.
Family members say they're relieved the young woman was killed instantly when the lion swiped or lunged at her at Cat Haven, a 100-acre private zoo run by the nonprofit group Project Survival.
"We're thankful to know she didn't suffer," Hanson's brother, Paul R. Hanson, told The Associated Press.
Family members said Friday they don't believe it was a mauling, but rather a lion's rough play that turned tragic.
"It sounds like it was an accident. Maybe the latch had not been completely closed. ... You know, house cats are smart, they can open doors," Paul Hanson said. "It wasn't a vicious attack ... because you would expect severe lacerations and biting on the neck and that was not the case."
Paul Hanson and his wife Tiffany Windle-Hanson, who was the victim's college roommate, believe the facility followed safety protocols.
"It was just a tragic accident," Windle-Hanson said.
Investigators were focusing on the cage door that the 5-year-old animal managed to escape through to reach the volunteer intern.
"The lion had been fed, the young woman was cleaning the large enclosure, and the lion was in the small cage," Hadden said. "The gate of the cage was partially open, which allowed the lion called Cous Cous to lift it up with his paw."
Hadden said the lion then ran at Hanson.
The coroner said Hanson was talking with a co-worker on a cellphone in the moments before she was killed. The co-worker became concerned when the conversation ended abruptly and Hanson failed to call back. The co-worker then called authorities when she went to check on Hanson.
Family members say Hanson was actually using a walkie-talkie, which they understood to be the policy at the animal park.
"She wasn't distracted, she wasn't like that," Windle-Hanson said. "It's a safety protocol to have walkie-talkies there, which is important in case a situation like this occurs."
Sheriff's deputies shot Cous Cous after the animal couldn't be coaxed away from Hanson's body.
Hanson had been working for two months as an intern at Cat Haven.
Her father, Paul Hanson, described his daughter as a "fearless" lover of big cats and said her goal was to work with the animals at an accredited zoo. She died doing what she loves, he said.
Hanson's Facebook page is plastered with photos of her petting tigers and other big cats. She told her father she was frustrated that Cat Haven did not allow direct contact with animals.
"Dianna had a tremendous respect for big cats. It's something she wanted to do since she was 3 years old," said Dianna Hanson's aunt, Karen Postema, who lives in Laurel, Mont.
"She was a vivacious, terrific kid, and we are heartbroken about her death," she said. "But we wanted people to know that she loved what she was doing, and we don't want this accident to cast dispersions on her character or hurt the program at Cat Haven."
Dale Anderson, the owner of the zoo, said safety protocols were in place but he would not discuss them because they are a part of the law enforcement investigation.
Anderson said he's the only person allowed in the enclosure when lions are present.
"We want to assure the community that we have followed all safety protocols," Anderson said. "We have been incident-free since 1998."
He said the facility will reopen to the public Sunday.
When the attack occurred, Anderson said he and two other Cat Haven workers had left to take a cheetah to exhibit at a school. Hanson and another worker remained at the facility.
Whether Hanson was performing a function that placed her in danger is being investigated by Cal-OSHA, which also is trying to determine if employees were properly instructed about potential danger, as required.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, is also looking to understand why the lion turned on the intern.
USDA inspectors conduct multiple unannounced inspections of Cat Haven every year and never had found a violation, Sacks said. Federal regulations pertain only to animal treatment.
Cat Haven breeds and keeps lions, tigers, jaguars, lynx and other exotic cats and takes them out for public appearances. There are 29 wild cats left at the park, including one female lion that lived with Cous Cous in the same enclosure.
On Friday, Hanson's family announced that a fund has been set up in her memory and urged people to donate to the wildlife organizations she loved, including Cat Haven.
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Friday, March 8, 2013
Crazy days in Rome with papal and political void
FILE - This March 1, 2013 file photo shows nuns walking behind a billboard with a torn poster of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)
FILE - This March 1, 2013 file photo shows nuns walking behind a billboard with a torn poster of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)
FILE - This March 1, 2013 file photo shows a poster with a picture of Nigerian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson with writing reading: "For the next conclave vote for Turkson", in front of the St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)
This March 1, 2013 photo shows a billboard with a torn poster of Pope Benedict XVI, with writing reading in Italian "You'll always be with us, Thank you", in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Joji Sakurai)
FILE - This Feb. 28, 2013 file photo shows a nun walking past posters of Pope Benedict XVI reading in Italian, " You will stay always with us. Thank you" along a street in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)
FILE - This March 4, 2013 file photo shows Cardinal Dominik Duka, of the Czech Republic, is escorted by police, surrounded by journalists, as he arrives for a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Monday, March 4, 2013. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. We Romans are living truly surreal times when a bearded comedian whose surname means "cricket" is now one of the nation's most powerful leaders, and aging cardinals from around the world are mobbed by paparazzi as if they were Hollywood starlets. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
ROME (AP) ? These are crazy days in Rome, where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy.
Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy's going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church?
For now, at least, nobody really knows.
We Romans are living truly surreal times when a bearded comedian is now one of the nation's most powerful leaders, and aging cardinals from around the world are mobbed by paparazzi as if they were Hollywood starlets.
Then there are the eerie silences in a normally raucous city.
With no ruling pope, St. Peter's Square was strangely quiet as the Vatican saw its first Sunday without a papal window blessing, a weekly appointment that will normally draw thousands of pilgrims and tourists. With no government after inconclusive elections, downtown streets are blessedly free of the crush of lawmakers in dark blue official cars that speed through congested Rome with legislative impunity ? and are one of the notorious perks of being a parliamentarian.
Since Italians recently voted in national elections, it's no surprise to see the walls of Rome still plastered with campaign posters.
But ? Mamma Mia ? a poster urging votes for a cardinal in the upcoming papal conclave?
That's precisely the sight that Romans are seeing near several Rome basilicas ? with the campaign-style image of Africa's strongest papal contender looking up to the heavens against a slogan reading: "AT THE CONCLAVE VOTE PETER KODWO APPIAH TURKSON."
Nobody knows who's behind it, but it's widely regarded as a spoof campaign ahead of the solemn meetings in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope
Other papal posters point to Italians' cantankerous mood.
The day Benedict XVI went into retirement, the city of Rome plastered walls with posters of the pontiff thanking him for his service. "YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US. THANK YOU!," the posters read.
Romans woke up the next morning to the sight of many of them torn, defaced or simply gone.
And in a time when Rome is busy filling important vacancies, it's perhaps only natural that there are gatecrashers.
Despite all the security at the Vatican as cardinals meet to organize the conclave, a prankster in bishop's garb, an impressive cross across his chest and decidedly un-clerical black sneakers, managed to sneak into the congregation of cardinals this week and mingle. Photographers snapped him shaking hands with Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the Italian prelate named to clean up the disgraced Legion of Christ order.
Yet perhaps the biggest gatecrasher of all is Beppe Grillo, who has upset the established order by riding a self-styled "tsunami" of disgust with the powers-that-be and grabbing a quarter of the parliamentary vote. Grillo has no qualms about seeming a little bit off-the-wall: He was recently photographed jogging on a beach wearing what looked like a space alien outfit.
And while Grillo gleefully insults mainstream politicians, a German governor this week referred to the comedian and scandal-plagued former Premier Silvio Berlusconi as "two clowns" ? forcing visiting Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to skip lunch with him to preserve Italian pride.
For now, the cardinals are commanding the spotlight.
Each morning and afternoon, as they set out for their meetings, they are mobbed by a frightening wave of journalists staked out for hours waiting for them to appear in the narrow streets surrounding the Vatican. Even as affable a type as German Cardinal Walter Kasper took refuge behind policemen as he walked the gantlet on Monday.
One relief from the chaos appears to be lunch.
The cardinals are lining up in the Borgo, a picturesque knot of alleyways near the Vatican. Corriere delle Sera reported that Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, a Vatican heavyweight, showed up for lunch at "Il Passetto di Borgo" where his favorites include spaghetti with raw tomatoes, filet of sole and fried calamari.
Even a cardinal tied to vows of poverty, it seems, has to eat.
"In a few days, when the conclave begins, it will be goodbye to turbot and rigatoni alla Norcia," Corriere lamented ? referring to a dish of short pasta with sausages and creamy tomato sauce.
It noted that the poor cardinals will soon have to settle for institutional cooking while they are sequestered during the conclave at the Santa Marta residence, the Vatican's hotel.
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The future of ion traps: Technology will continue to be leader in development of quantum computing architectures
Mar. 7, 2013 ? Recently Science Magazine invited JQI fellow Chris Monroe and Duke Professor Jungsang Kim to speculate on ion trap technology as a scalable option for quantum information processing. The article is highlighted on the cover of the March 8, 2013 issue, which is dedicated to quantum information.
The cover portrays a photograph of a surface trap that was fabricated by Sandia National Labs and used to trap ions at JQI and Duke, among other laboratories.
Trapped atomic ions are a promising architecture that satisfies many of the critical requirements for constructing a quantum computer. At the heart of quantum computers are qubits, systems maintained in two or more quantum states simultaneously. Here, the qubits are manifested in the internal energy levels of the ions, and are manipulated through laser and microwave radiation. These technologies are a key factor in the success of atomic ions: scientists can set the frequency of the radiation to match that of the ion's energy level spacings with extreme precision.
The qubits have long coherence time -- meaning they can be placed in quantum states and remain that way long enough to perform calculations. The qubit's states are not sensitive to ambient disturbances like magnetic fields, giving them inherent protection from the destructive environment.
Additionally, the ions are in a vacuum of lower than 10-11 torr. This is about 100 trillion times lower than atmospheric pressure. To visualize this daunting number, imagine light particles like hydrogen or nitrogen in a vacuum chamber. After special pumps remove most of the air, there are so few molecules left that before one molecule will collide with another, it will typically travel a distance comparable to the circumference of Earth. At atmospheric pressure, even though we can't see them with our eyes, there are so many molecules floating about that they only travel about a hundredth the width of a human hair before they bump into a neighboring particle.
Scientists want to go even further. Using cryogenics (cooling to near absolute zero temperature), they expect to push a few more factors of ten lower in pressure. Cooling the system is effective because it makes the molecules stick to the walls, thus removing them from the region where the ions rest.
Ion traps themselves were invented more than a half-century ago, but researchers have implemented new technologies in order to store large ion crystals and shuttle ions around as quantum operations are executed. Professionally micro-fabricated devices, like the one shown on the cover, resemble traditional computer components. Some researchers are also integrating optics on-board the traps. Although quantum logic operations in such chip traps remain elusive, the obstacles are not prohibitive. In the US, researchers at institutions such as NIST (Boulder), Sandia National Labs, Georgia Tech Research Institute, JQI, Duke, MIT, and others are now, often collaboratively, fabricating and testing these technologies.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/Pgi0qz10np8/130307145722.htm
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New TSA policy on knives, bats sparks backlash
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2006, file photo, knives of all sizes and types are piled in a box at the State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga., and are just a few of the hundreds of items discarded at the security checkpoints of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will be for sale at the store. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration's new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes.
The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which representing nearly 90,000 flight attendants, said it is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public education campaign to reverse the policy announced by TSA Administrator John Pistole this week. A petition posted by the flight attendants on the White House's "We the People" website had more than 9,300 signatures early Friday urging the administration to tell the TSA to keep knives off planes.
"Our nation's aviation system is the safest in the world thanks to multilayered security measures that include prohibition on many items that could pose a threat to the integrity of the aircraft cabin," the coalition, which is made up of five unions, said in a statement. "The continued ban on dangerous objects is an integral layer in aviation security and must remain in place."
Jon Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, whose 26,000 members include federal air marshals, complained that he and other "stakeholders" weren't consulted by TSA before the "countersafety policy" was announced. He said the association will ask Congress to block the policy change.
The Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations, which represents 22,000 pilots, said it opposes allowing knives of any kind in airliner cabins.
"We believe the (terrorism) threat is still real and the removal of any layer of security will put crewmembers and the flying public unnecessarily in harm's way," Mike Karn, the coalition's president, said.
The new policy, which goes into effect on April 25, permits folding knives with blades that are 2.36 inches or less in length and are less than 1/2-inch wide. The policy is aimed at allowing passengers to carry pen knives, corkscrews with small blades and other small knives.
Passengers also will be allowed to include in their carry-on luggage novelty-sized baseball bats less than 24 inches long, toy plastic bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs. Items like box cutters and razor blades are still prohibited.
There has been a gradual easing of some of the security measures applied to airline passengers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The new policy conforms U.S. security standards to international standards and allows the TSA to concentrate its energies on more serious safety threats, the agency said when it announced the change this week.
The policy change was based on a recommendation from an internal TSA working group, which decided the items represented no real danger, the agency said.
A TSA spokesman said the presence on flights of gun-carrying pilots traveling as passengers, federal air marshals and airline crew members trained in self-defense provide additional layers of security to protect against misuse of the newly allowed items.
Not all flights, however, have federal air marshals or armed pilots onboard.
The new policy has touched off a debate over the mission of TSA and whether the agency is supposed to concentrate exclusively on preventing terrorists from hijacking or blowing up planes, or whether it should also help protect air travelers and flight crews from unruly and sometimes dangerous passengers.
"The charter, the mission of TSA is to stop an airplane from being used as a weapon and to stop catastrophic damage to that aircraft," David Castelveter, a spokesman for the agency, said. Pistole's position is "these small knives, these baseball bats, these sporting items aren't going to contribute to bringing an airplane down," he said.
In era of reinforced cockpit doors and passengers who have shown a willingness to intervene, the threat from terrorism has been greatly reduced, Andrew R. Thomas, a University of Akron business professor and author of several books on the airline industry and security, said.
Rather, "acts of aberrant, abusive and abnormal passenger behavior known as air rage remain the most persistent threat to aviation security," he said.
The International Air Transport Association recently reported that the incidence of air rage cases was way up, with an estimated 10,000-plus such events annually, Thomas said.
Adler, representing the air marshals, said aviation security is neither "terrorist proof nor psycho proof," and both should be protected against.
TSA's "primary concern, and their only concern, is to protect the cockpit to make sure the planes aren't turned into missiles," he complained. "Traveling Americans are expendable, disposable and otherwise irrelevant to air travel safety."
The new policy has aviation insurers concerned as well.
"We think this move is a bad idea, and isn't in the interests of the traveling public or flight crews in the aviation industry," said Joe Strickland, head of American operations for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, a leading global aviation insurer.
"Safety is the highest priority of every commercial air carrier, flight crew member and air traffic controller," he said. "We don't see how these changes support this priority."
___
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Senator ends filibuster of Brennan CIA nomination
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kentucky Republican Rand Paul took the floor of the Senate on Wednesday and spoke for nearly 13 hours in an attempt to block the confirmation of John Brennan as President Barack Obama's next CIA director in a protest of the administration's policy of using drones in targeted killings.
Paul began shortly before noon in a rare old-fashioned filibuster - in which a senator speaks until he can continue no longer - yielding the floor shortly before 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Thursday.
"I've discovered that there are some limits to filibustering, and I am going to have to take care of one of those in a few minutes here," he said to laughter, after thanking his supporters, staff and U.S. Capitol employees.
Paul's action did not keep the Senate from voting on whether Brennan, Obama's counter-terrorism advisor, should lead the U.S. spy agency, but he delayed it until at least Thursday.
After Paul finished, Senator Richard Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, entered motions to clear the way for the confirmation to move ahead.
There could still be a further wait for a final confirmation vote, because of Senate rules that require 60 votes to stop debate, followed by a waiting period before a final vote.
It was not clear whether Republicans would agree to waive those rules. The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, who like Paul represents Kentucky, said during the filibuster that he would not back a motion to end debate and clear the way for a vote.
Brennan's confirmation, which requires only a simple majority of 51 votes in the full 100-member Senate, is expected when the vote finally takes place. The Democrats control 55 votes in the Senate and Brennan is also supported by many Republicans.
The filibuster was not a protest of Brennan's qualifications to lead the CIA, but a vehicle for Paul to draw attention to his demands for more information about the drone program.
Best known for his libertarian tendencies, Paul said he was protesting against a U.S. policy of using unmanned drone aircraft in foreign conflicts, as well as Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to rule out any possibility of drone strikes against U.S. citizens on American soil.
"I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court," Paul said.
SEEKING ANSWERS ON DRONE POLICY
Twelve other Republicans, including Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Texas' Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio of Florida and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who had just had dinner with Obama, took the floor to ask Paul questions during the filibuster, giving him a break.
McConnell's participation late in the evening signaled that Paul's cause had extended beyond the Republican Party's most conservative wing.
Liberal Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who has expressed strong doubts about the drone program, also participated in the filibuster, despite his vote for Brennan in the Senate Intelligence committee.
Durbin also spoke, but used his time to question some of Paul's assertions and suggest that he give up and raise his concerns in a Senate hearing.
Paul was the first senator to embark on a traditional talking filibuster - of the sort immortalized in the 1939 movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" - since the Senate voted early this year to make it more difficult to stop votes by using procedural tactics.
The last talking filibuster was by Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, who spoke for more than 8-1/2 hours against a tax bill in 2010. That speech was turned into a book.
The longest filibuster on record was by the late Senator Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted by an overwhelming 12-3 majority to approve Brennan's nomination and send it to the full Senate for a final vote.
Some Republican critics of President Barack Obama's administration had threatened to try to delay the nomination until the White House discloses more information about its response to the attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 last year.
The Intelligence Committee put off a vote on Brennan last week because of squabbling among both Democratic and Republican committee members and the White House over congressional access to sensitive documents related to the Benghazi incident and the use of drones to attack suspected militants.
(Editing by Christopher Wilson and Xavier Briand)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senator-leads-filibuster-brennan-nomination-cia-head-020410432.html
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