Obama's Marijuana Comments Prompt Call For Official Policy From California Advocates

SAN FRANCISCO -- President Barack Obama says he won't go after pot users in Colorado and Washington, two states that just legalized the drug for recreational use. But advocates argue the president said the same thing about medical marijuana ? and yet U.S. attorneys continue to force the closure of dispensaries across the U.S.

Welcome to the confusing and often conflicting policy on pot in the U.S., where medical marijuana is legal in many states, but it is increasingly difficult to grow, distribute or sell it. And at the federal level, at least officially, it is still an illegal drug everywhere.

Obama's statement Friday provided little clarity in a world where marijuana is inching ever so carefully toward legitimacy.

That conflict is perhaps the greatest in California, where the state's four U.S. Attorneys criminally prosecuted large growers and launched a coordinated crackdown on the state's medical marijuana industry last year by threatening landlords with property forfeiture actions. Hundreds of pot shops went out of business.

Steve DeAngelo, executive director of an Oakland, Calif., dispensary that claims to be the nation's largest, called for a federal policy that treats recreational and medical uses of the drug equally.

"If we're going to recognize the rights of recreational users, then we should certainly protect the rights of medical cannabis patients who legally access the medicine their doctors have recommended," he said.

The government is planning to soon release policies for dealing with marijuana in Colorado and Washington, where federal law still prohibits pot, as elsewhere in the country.

"It would be nice to get something concrete to follow," said William Osterhoudt, a San Francisco criminal defense attorney representing government officials in Mendocino County who recently received a demand from federal investigators for detailed information about a local system for licensing growers of medical marijuana.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano said he was frustrated by Obama's comments because the federal government continues to shutter dispensaries in states with medical marijuana laws, including California.

"A good step here would be to stop raiding those legal dispensaries who are doing what they are allowed to do by law," said the San Francisco Democrat. "There's a feeling that the federal government has gone rogue on hundreds of legal, transparent medical marijuana dispensaries, so there's this feeling of them being in limbo. And it puts the patients, the businesses and the advocates in a very untenable place."

Obama, in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters, said Friday that federal authorities have "bigger fish to fry" when it comes to targeting recreational pot smokers in Colorado and Washington.

Some advocates said the statement showed the president's willingness to allow residents of states with marijuana laws to use the drug without fear of federal prosecution.

"It's a tremendous step forward," said Joe Elford, general counsel for Americans for Safe Access. "It suggests the feds are taking seriously enough the idea that there should be a carve-out for states with marijuana laws."

Obama's statements on recreational use mirror the federal policy toward states that allow marijuana use for medical purposes.

"We are not focusing on backyard grows with small amounts of marijuana for use by seriously ill people," said Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner in Sacramento. "We are targeting money-making commercial growers and distributors who use the trappings of state law as cover, but they are actually abusing state law."

Alison Holcomb, who led the legalization drive in Washington state, said she doesn't expect Obama's comment to prompt the federal government to treat recreational marijuana and medical marijuana differently.

"At this point, what the president is looking at is a response to marijuana in general. The federal government has never recognized the difference between medical and non-medical marijuana," she said. "I don't think this is the time he'd carve out separate policies. I think he's looking for a more comprehensive response."

Washington voters approved a medical marijuana law in 1998, and dispensaries have proliferated across the state in recent years.

Last year, Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed legislation that would have created a state system for licensing medical dispensaries over concern that it would require state workers to violate the federal Controlled Substances Act.

For the most part, dispensaries in western Washington have been left alone. But federal authorities did conduct raids earlier this year on dispensaries they said were acting outside the state law, such as selling marijuana to non-patients. Warning letters have been sent to dispensaries that operate too close to schools.

"What we've seen is enforcement of civil laws and warnings, with a handful of arrests of people who were operating outside state law," Holcomb said.

Eastern Washington has seen more raids because the U.S. attorney there is more active, Holcomb added.

Colorado's marijuana measure requires lawmakers to allow commercial pot sales, and a state task force that will begin writing those regulations meets Monday.

State officials have reached out to the Justice Department seeking help on regulating a new legal marijuana industry but haven't heard back.

DeAngelo said Friday that the Justice Department should freeze all pending enforcement actions against legal medical cannabis providers and review its policies to make sure they're consistent with the president's position. He estimated federal officials have shuttered 600 dispensaries in the state and 1,000 nationwide.

DeAngelo's Harborside Health Center is facing eviction after the U.S. attorney in San Francisco pressured his landlord to stop harboring what the government considers an illegal business.

"While it's nice to hear these sorts of positive words from the president, we are facing efforts by the Justice Department to shut us down, so it's hard for me to take them seriously," DeAngelo said.

The dispensary has a hearing Thursday in federal court on the matter.

__

Associated Press writers Terry Collins in San Francisco and Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/obamas-marijuana-comments_n_2308601.html

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Exclusive: Pension fund slams San Bernardino for "sham" - NewsDaily

Exclusive: Pension fund slams San Bernardino for "sham" bankruptcy

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By Tim Reid
and Jim ChristiePosted 2012/12/15 at 12:18 am EST

LOS ANGELES/ SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15, 2012 (Reuters) ? A high-stakes legal battle intensified Friday as the largest U.S. pension fund filed court papers denouncing the financially troubled California city of San Bernardino for what it called a "sham" bankruptcy and accused the city of "criminal behavior" in withholding payments to the pension plan.

Cracks in the parking lot are seen in front of the Carousel shopping mall in San Bernardino, California September 11, 2012. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

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The filing by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, came 10 days after San Bernardino city officials traveled to Sacramento to plead with top Calpers executives for more time to make its payments.

At issue is whether the pensions of government workers take precedence over other payments in a municipal bankruptcy - which could have ramifications for municipal creditors, including Wall Street bondholders, as more cities and towns have trouble meeting their obligations.

No agreement after the Calpers and San Bernardino meeting was reached, and Calpers officials told Reuters they have little latitude to allow San Bernardino ? or any other city that pays into its pension fund ? to alter the payment schedule.

In a closely related action, bond insurers who are responsible for the debt of Stockton, California, filed papers in that city's bankruptcy case denouncing Calpers' efforts to be treated differently from other creditors. Stockton has continued to make payments to Calpers while halting payments to some bondholders.

Both cities went bankrupt in the wake of the housing bust and years of financial mismanagement, and the two comparatively rare municipal bankruptcy cases are expected to set important precedents as to who gets paid when a government goes broke.

But while Stockton was well prepared when it filed for bankruptcy protection last June, San Bernardino's finances and government operations are in deep disarray as political factions battle one another, according to an ongoing Reuters investigation. The city filed for bankruptcy on August 1 with no plans as to how it would meet its obligations.

SAN BERNARDINO EMERGENCY BUDGET 'NO PLAN AT ALL'

Calpers, which manages $241 billion in assets and serves many California cities and counties, said in its legal filing that San Bernardino appears to have been operating for more than a decade without necessary financial controls and lacks even basic mechanisms such as monthly cash-flow reports.

Calpers said San Bernardino's proposed plan for operating in bankruptcy, filed last month, was "no plan at all."

"It is merely an attempt to buy time, at the expense of Calpers and other post (bankruptcy) petition creditors," Calpers said in arguing the city was not entitled to bankruptcy protection. Calpers has already filed actions in state court, which could end up arbitrating the situation if bankruptcy protection is denied.

Calpers accused the city of "criminal" conduct for not making pension payments that are part of employee compensation agreements.

In markedly aggressive language, Calpers said the city had "buried its head in the sand," rather than deal with a long-standing financial crisis.

"The city gravely needs to get its house in order... Ten years of history suggest that the city is not going to implement meaningful change until forced to do so. This court needs to hold the city's feet to the fire."

Calls and emails to San Bernardino's city manager and budget chief went unanswered. Most city employees do not work on Fridays.

San Bernardino, a city of 210,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, is broke and can barely make payroll, city officials have said. It has not made its $1.2 million biweekly payments to Calpers since the bankruptcy filing and now owes at least $8 million, in addition to a long-term debt to the fund that the city pegs at $143 million.

Calpers argues that under California law it has primacy as a creditor, asserting that it is in essence an "arm" of the state and must continue to be paid in full, even in a bankruptcy.

Wall Street bondholders and insurers vehemently disagree, arguing that federal bankruptcy law trumps state authority and should allow them to fight with Calpers in court as equal creditors.

Both sides have told Reuters they are willing to fight this issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could take years.

STOCKTON HAMMERED BY BOND INSURERS

In a filing late Friday in the Stockton case, bond insurers Assured Guaranty Corp and Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp argued that Stockton should not be eligible for bankruptcy because the city "cannot provide sufficient, persuasive and credible evidence of insolvency."

The bond insurers also hammered the city for not seeking concessions from Calpers.

Stockton aims to unfairly restructure its finances "on the backs of those from whom it previously borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars," the insurers' lawyers said in their objection.

A Calpers spokesperson said the bond insurers were aiming to "cover their business losses by raiding the retirement funds of hard working employees who serve the people of California."

Stockton, a city of 300,000, in June became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history after its leaders said deeper spending cuts would endanger public safety services.

A statement issued by Stockton's spokeswoman said the city's elected leaders and staff must "maintain the city's ability to deliver critical health and safety related municipal services to Stockton residents."

In San Bernardino, the first city ever to deliberately halt payment to Calpers, city officials are in a desperate scramble.

On December 5 senior finance officials from San Bernardino met with Calpers' chief executive officer and chief financial officer at the pension fund's Sacramento headquarters. The meeting lasted about 90 minutes.

According to Calpers officials, the meeting was cordial and the city officials stressed that their plan to defer payments is made in good faith.

But in its court filing Friday, Calpers alleged just the opposite, accusing the city of acting in bad faith in failing to propose a viable plan to meet its obligations.

Calpers officials say it is highly unlikely they can accede to any proposal to defer payments.

"Calpers does not have the power to 'negotiate' the amount of employer contributions owed by the city," Peter Mixon, Calpers' General Counsel, told Reuters. "The city of San Bernardino cannot alter the requirements of state law."

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles and Jim Christie in San Francisco. Editing by Jonathan Weber and Lisa Shumaker)

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Source: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre8be02q-us-usa-debt-bernardino/

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Gunman?s computers may be key in Connecticut school shooting investigation

NEWTOWN, Conn. ? Alleged school shooter Adam Lanza reportedly occupied two bedrooms in his family's sprawling suburban home, one where he slept and another to stash his computer equipment.

For a young man who has been described as withdrawn from the outside world, Lanza's computer room is likely a gold mine for detectives, a veteran law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told Yahoo News.

"If he visited certain websites, they are going to glean whatever information they can from that and see what it means," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. "Does he have friends he communicates with online? Was there a fight with somebody?"

Police have already hinted that evidence inside the 4,000-square-foot home has been helpful in determining a possible motive for the rampage that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adult staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home before driving to the school and commencing his deadly rampage, police say. Adam Lanza's body was later found inside the building, where police believe he took his own life. Results from the autopsies on the alleged gunman and his mother are still pending.

Lt. J. Paul Vance with the Connecticut State Police told reporters Sunday morning that investigators are scrutinizing the guns Lanza took to the school, including the semiautomatic military-style rifle the state's medical examiner said was used in the school killings.

"The weaponry involved, we are tracing historically all the way back to when they were on the workbench being assembled," Lt. Vance said.

However, he declined to discuss what else has been recovered from the Lanza home.

"Simply stated, we have a great deal of evidence that we're analyzing," Lt. Vance said. "The forensic part is an important part. That's not done yet."

While the gunman is thought to have acted alone, the law enforcement source said a deep dive into Lanza's computers could provide more clues.

"You don't know if this kid was put up to this by somebody else," the source said. "You don't know if there was a conspiracy of sorts. You don't know if there wasn't somebody who wasn't goading this kid on."

Family and friends say Lanza suffered from a personality disorder and that his mother, whom he killed just prior to the school shootings, struggled with her troubled son.

"Has he been seeing a child psychologist throughout his lifetime? Was he on medication?" the law enforcement source said. "These are a zillion logical who, what, whey, why, where questions that need to be answered. They need to be asked without any fear of any stigmatism ? and you can't be politically correct in asking those questions."

Nor should the public be shy about discussing whatever is learned about Lanza's life and what prompted him to act, forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie told CNN.

"The opportunity is nearly always there to discover and disrupt," he said.

Dr. Mohandie said warning signs can include self destructiveness, hopelessness, desperation, interest in other mass shooters and a dysfunctional interest in weaponry.

Police say the guns used in the rampage were apparently owned and registered to Lanza's mother.

Without know specifics about the Lanza household, Dr. Mohandie pleaded for greater care with firearms.

"If you've got individuals who are unstable and you know it, it's probably a good idea restrict their access to firearms within their own home," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/gunman-computers-may-key-connecticut-school-shooting-investigation-174438304.html

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Scottish Golf View - Golf News from Scotland

JACK NICKLAUS GOLF LEARNING LEAGUES INITIATIVE IN AMERICA

NEWS RELEASE
In an effort to bring golf into the mainstream of American youth sports, golf legend Jack Nicklaus has embarked on an initiative to grow the game with the assistance of SNAG? Golf (Starting New at Golf) and the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). The new Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues, powered by SNAG, will be introduced at select local park and recreation facilities in the States in 2013, and for the first time golf will be made available to youngsters as a team sport.?
The innovative Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues, combined with SNAG?s well-established, first-touch development program, will provide a golf learning experience for children, ages 5 through 12, in a safe, affordable and accessible environment.
Nicklaus has been an important advocate for growing the game and he envisions that with SNAG?s programming and modified equipment, and the active participation of local park and recreation agencies through the National Recreation and Park Association, golf at last will have a competitive footing with such team sports as soccer, basketball and football.
?There are so many sports?team sports?played in the park system today,? Nicklaus said. ?Today, kids start playing athletics when they are as young as 4 or 5 years old, and by the time they are just 7, 8 or 9 years old, many of them have picked the two or three sports that they might want to play in the different seasons.?
"If golf is not part of the sports introduced and available to them at their local park and recreation facilities, they will play other sports and not golf. So we need to get golf in their local parks and have them play our sport, and I think the team concept is the way to do it.
?Children seem to embrace the team concept of looking to and relying on other children, so it is not all on their shoulders. A lot of kids shy away from golf because of that.?
"When I picked up the game at age 10, one of the beauties of the sport was that I could do it by myself. I didn?t need someone to throw a ball to me or catch a ball or defend me. I could be as good as the time and effort that I wanted to put into it.?
"But at the very young age many children are introduced to sports, many don?t want so much placed on their shoulders.?
"The idea is to bring kids into the game, keep them into the game, have them learn, let them have fun, have fun with their friends, and then they can advance to the next level where they get on a golf course and develop.?
Some 300 Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues are planned for spring 2013 and an estimated 400 are projected to launch in 2014.
Terry Anton, founder and CEO of SNAG Golf, is enthusiastic about the leadership position of Jack Nicklaus in the establishment of the Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues.
?Jack Nicklaus? vision to bring golf to the same venues where other organized sports thrive will make it easier to develop our future golfers,? Anton said. ?These leagues will introduce millions of new players to the sport and will help nurture children developing their motor skills and do it in a fun way. SNAG is honored to have been selected to participate with history?s greatest golfer and the NRPA in the Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues.?
"Our task is to make his vision a reality by implementing SNAG?s programming in the parks and directing this feeder system into all on-course golf programs.?
"This is an important stepping stone for the industry to capture interest in golf early so that youngsters will transition with confidence to play with actual golf equipment on a traditional course. The more fun we make golf for children, the more chance they have to play the game for a lifetime.?
The use of parent-coaches and turning soccer and other playing fields into venues for this golf competition will be pivotal to the implementation of the Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues, through the auspices of the National Recreation and Park Association.
?Local parks and recreation are the go-to places where children can learn to play sports and develop a connection to healthy activities,? says Barbara Tulipane, president and CEO of the National Recreation and Park Association.?
?We are so proud to be bringing the Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues and SNAG to park and recreation agencies across the country, because not only is it a great program but it means more children will have the chance to participate in the sport of golf in a fun and unique way and develop a connection to a healthy activity that will last them a lifetime.?
The NRPA will administer grants to park and recreation facilities across the U.S. to underwrite the costs associated with providing Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues equipment, coaching and programming.
For information on G.O.L.F. visit www.snaggolf.com/jnll.html.)
The Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues will be separated by age groups: 5- and 6-year-olds; 7-8; 9-10; and 11-12. Each league will have a set number of children per team and incorporate a specialized, age-appropriate format and learning curriculum.
The Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues ultimately will be a global philanthropic endeavour to bring the sport to countries that are embracing the game as part of the Olympic movement.?
For further information about the Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues, powered by SNAG, call (866) 946-5092 or e-mail jnll@snaggolf.com. For information about the grant program for park and recreation agencies visit www.nrpa.org/snag.

Copyright ? Colin Farquharson

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Source: http://www.scottishgolfview.com/2012/12/in-effort-to-bring-golf-into-mainstream.html

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Video: A gift idea for every type of guy

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In housing debt we trust. | ZeroHedge

The assumption that households are doing much better simply because the stock market is up is really a problematic understanding of how wealth is dispersed across the United States. I vividly remember a handful of parties back during the peak of the bubble where people would often quote how much their net worth went up courtesy of the housing bubble. ?My home that I bought in the 1990s is now worth over $1 million.? As all of you know, until you sell the home those gains are largely on paper and many did not sell. In fact, many tapped out large portions of that equity and spent it. This is why even with home prices moderately recovering US households still have close to record low equity in their homes. It probably does not help that low down payment FHA insured loans are such a large part of the market encouraging Americans to make the biggest purchase of their lives with very little down. The Fed reported last week on net worth figures and it is worth digging deep into the data.

Home is where the net worth is for most Americans

The strong rally in the stock market has done very little to improve the balance sheet of most Americans. Why? Because most do not own significant levels of stocks or mutual funds:

The bottom 90 percent of Americans own 6 percent of all financial securities. This same group only owns 19 percent of all stock mutual funds. To the point, the median family?s portfolio is worth well under $50,000. Keep in mind the stock market is down 10 percent from the previous peak. Does going from $50,000 to say $45,000 really change the dynamics of your typical American family? Probably not. But think of someone that bought at the peak with a FHA insured loan. Let us assume they paid $250,000 and went in with 3.5 percent down which is the most common down payment for these loans:

Home price: $250,000

Down payment: $8,750

Current home price: $175,000

Underwater: -$75,000

To reach the initial sale price, home prices would need to rise over 42 percent.

Welcome to the wonderful world of debt leverage. That massive stock rally has done very little for the typical household portfolio. Yet the now 30 percent decline in real estate values has blasted a hole in their net worth. Where are we getting the above numbers from? Right from the market:

While the stock market is only off by 10 percent from the peaks reached in 2007, housing is still down by 30 percent. This is why the good news in the Fed report needs to be looked at more carefully:

Q3 2012 household net worth: $64.8 trillion

Q3 2007 (peak) household net worth: $67.3 trillion

So overall, household net worth is down $2.5 trillion from the peak (3.7%)

Real estate values however are still significantly down (main net worth item for most families):

Q3 2012 household real estate values: $17.2 trillion

Peak was at $22.7 trillion (according to the Fed, real estate values are down 24 percent from the peak versus the Case Shiller which shows a 30 percent fall from the peak). This is why this recovery still feels very much like a recession to the vast majority of Americans.

Even though housing values have gone up in 2012 (largely due to low interest rates increasing leverage and a massive decline in inventory) most Americans have near record low equity in their homes:

And this should be no surprise since a large portion of the market is being driven by low down payment FHA insured loans:

The market is addicted to real estate debt. This is also an explanation as to why so few new homes are being built even though the market is signaling for more property (that is, affordable property). The underreported story of all of this is Americans have very little saved up at a time when tens of thousands are reaching retirement age. As the adage goes, you have to live somewhere. But you also have to eat and pay for those medical bills plus send your kids to college. Younger buyers are opting for these low down payment mortgages in droves because of lower incomes and also, higher debt burdens from giant levels of student loan debt.

People think that somehow, a wealthier state like California has the majority of people buying homes with all cash. While this may be true in areas like Beverly Hills or Atherton, most California homeowners are deep in debt on their home purchase.

In California, only 22 percent of homeowners own their property free and clear (a much lower figure than the nationwide 30 percent figure). Not only is this the case, but a large number of Californians are underwater on their mortgages:

Roughly 30 percent of California homeowners are underwater and this figure goes up to 35 percent if we count those near negative equity. Equity in housing does count. And as the previous chart shows, equity in housing has been falling for a very long time. This is why those comments of ?and after 30 years, you will pay off your house!? That was true in previous generations. That is no longer the case. According to Census data and figures from the NAR, the typical homeowner stays put between 6 to 8 years. As many know, the first few years are heavily tilted to paying interest and less on principal. Throw in the 5 to 6 percent commissions for selling a home and a good portion of the equity can be wiped out unless you are in a market with perpetually higher home prices. We got a boost courtesy of the Fed with record low rates and QE but we are likely hitting a lower bound. Even if rates maintain the boost will run out of steam to match up with actual household incomes.

The current market is heavily dependent on real estate debt. The FHA now backs over $1 trillion in mortgage debt and is providing an obscene 30x leverage for many buyers. Then you wonder why they are in the red to the tune of $16 billion and are massively increasing mortgage insurance premiums.

We are starting to see the myth of ?well after 30 years you will own your home? and then these are the same people looking to hop on the property ladder once they rid themselves of their starter home in 7 years. As we pointed out, in hyper consumption states like California, very few actually own their home free and clear because of this mentality.

Keeping up with the Joneses

I have recently seen many people so blindly focused on one tiny aspect of their balance sheet diving into buying a home because they ran the numbers. In fact, one couple I know bought last year and on paper, everything looked good. Heavily discounted home compared to bubble price. Just a bit more than renting on a net-net basis. That is, until they started trying to keep up with their neighbors. First, they ?had? to buy a new car. After all, that 10 year old car looked like a clunker in a neighborhood with $40,000 to $60,000 SUVs. So add that as a new expense. These cars carry a much higher insurance premium. Add more to your monthly insurance. They also needed new furniture so there goes thousands of dollars. The spending is only beginning. They now need to update the kitchen and living room to match up with other hipsters. Clearly they have not worked with contractors in SoCal. The bill is going to jump up very quickly.

This is largely what happens. They also had to put their kids in a more expensive prep school. If all goes well, these kids might get accepted to a great college (if private, look at $50,000+ inflation adjusted to the future per year unless they are super star scholars). Then add to the mix that this will be the ?starter home? and they will look to move into a bigger (more expensive) home shortly. 5 to 6 percent will come off the top in that transaction.

So on paper, yes, it didn?t seem all that bad of a move to buy. Yet ancillary spending increased dramatically. Also, many younger people that buy are likely to lose one income for a period of time after a child is born if they plan on starting a family shortly after buying. If they go back to work, add in the cost of daycare. That is a sizeable hit to the bottom line.

And this is one of the items that people only focused on the numbers will miss. Consumer psychology and mass behavior. You have to examine both and this is part of behavioral economics but most can understand the common sense of this. This is why the home equity figures still look anemic above even in the face of rising home values. It is rather obvious that Americans are willing to go into massive debt to purchase (just look at FHA insured loans). The notion that everyone that is buying right now is going to stay put for 15 to 30 years flies in the face of the data. The idea that people will just buy and somehow not increase their spending to reflect that of their neighbors misses the core of our marketing driven nation. All you need to do is look at the hipster flippers and how they are tailoring their homes. This applies to many upper-income suburbs and cities. Keep in mind that with the typical US home costing $180,000 and median household income at $50,000 in raw numbers, most Americans can afford to buy (funny how that 3x annual income to mortgage ratio is coming back in line). Yet we are talking about households trying to purchase $600,000 homes with $100,000 incomes.

Some people get angry with flippers but remember someone on the other side has to close escrow on the place. In California, over 23 percent of mortgaged homes have either a second mortgage or a home equity loan:

Can you purchase in a prime neighborhood and not increase your spending? Of course. Yet the vast majority will not. You think all these people squeezing in with a 3.5 percent down payment have loads of cash? Of course not, otherwise they would go for a more conventional loan with better terms. It is interesting how the psychology of housing has shifted in the last generation. Today, we are still left with the mentality that housing is the road to riches asset class whereas in previous generations it was a place to live. You are even seeing this today where people are talking about how they perfectly timed the market. It reminds me of those people back in the high days of the bubble talking about the hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity they built up but never actually sold their home. Until you get that check when escrow closes, that money is just on paper. Many wanted the best of both worlds and simply tapped out the equity via more mortgage debt. Many can?t sell even today because they would ?have? to buy an equally high priced home in the same location. That is, if they didn?t tap out their equity. There is one certainty about our economy and that is, we as a nation have very little fear of going into massive consumption debt.

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Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-12-14/housing-debt-we-trust

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The Best Jazz Albums of 2012

Ravi Coltrane.

Photo by Deborah Feingold/Courtesy Ravi Coltrane.

It?s been a solid year for jazz recordings: no truly great new albums (I doubt that any of them will make the decade?s top 10 list at the end of 2019), but all of the ones below are very good.

If your father was John Coltrane, it?s a nervy thing to take up the tenor sax, but that?s what Ravi Coltrane?s been doing for a living the past quarter-century and now, at 46, he?s found his own voice, even achieved a certain mastery. Spirit Fiction reveals a restless drive but also a craftsman?s precision, an art for shaping a song from the most elusive structure, as well as a full-bodied tone. The two bands he plays with are top notch, but he is clearly the leader here.

The pianist Vijay Iyer?s previous albums struck me as a bit mannered, but on Accelerando he?s not only technically impressive, he?s bristling with rhythmic drive and a lilting lyricism. This is head-spinning music, mostly of his own composition.

But there are also transfixing covers of Ellington, Heatwave, and Michael Jackson?s ?Human Nature.?

This is Fred Hersch?s strongest piano-trio album in a decade, 15 tracks?spread out across two discs?from a week?s worth of sets at the Village Vanguard: ballads, bop, blues, show tunes, covers, originals. No living jazz pianist is so adept at stretching and compressing the pace of a musical passage or at immersing himself, and us, into a song so fully.

Very much in the tradition of Ornette Coleman?s piano-less quartet (the opening tune begins with a bass dirge reminiscent of ?Lonely Woman?), the album is both dissonant and jaunty, mind-twisting and accessibly, even dance-ably exuberant.

This two-disc set, taken from two weeks of live sessions at the Blue Note club in New York, is billed as a Bill Evans tribute. Gomez and Motian played in different incarnations of Evans? trios, and the title is a riff on Evans? 1959 album Explorations?but the key word here is Further. Chick Corea, maybe the most insouciantly virtuosic pianist in jazz, goes beyond the Evans songbook and, even when he stays inside, takes the tunes well beyond their rhythmic confines. This was one of Motian?s last albums (he died in 2011), and he?s all over the drum kit without losing the pulse.

A gorgeous album of hymns by, improbably, Dave Douglas, the most versatile trumpeter in jazz, his new quartet (which includes the agile but punctilious bassist, Linda Oh) and the airy folk singer Aoife O?Donovan, it also features cool horn harmonies that evoke ?Abide with Me? from Monk?s Music and sonics by engineer Joe Ferla that put the players right in the room with you.

Kimbrough, best known for his work with Maria Schneider?s Jazz Orchestra, is also a riveting composer, bandleader, improviser?maybe the most underrated jazz pianist out there. This is music with an implosive sizzle, meant for close listening: originals and covers of Ellington, Oscar Pettiford, Andrew Hill, Paul Motian, and a quietly rapturous ?Lover Man.?

Ron Miles, a Denver-based trumpeter with a clarion tone, teams up with electric guitarist Bill Frisell (who fuses jazz, folk, and bluegrass, all in one strum or twang) and drummer Brian Blade (the polyrhythmic life of Wayne Shorter?s quartet) for a mix of ballads and swing tunes that?s at once intricate and playful.

Violinist Jenny Scheinman can segue from silky ballads to dirty Delta blues to Celtic melancholia to note-shredding rock, and the Mischief & Mayhem quartet, which includes Wilco?s Nels Cline on electric guitar, glides and screeches across the entire range.

A quietly intense, high-wire act of an album, with Abercrombie?s single-note guitar lines in ensemble with Joe Lovano?s tenor sax, Drew Gress? bass, and Joey Baron?s drums, playing jazz classics from the late ?50s and early ?60s: for instance, Sonny Rollins? ?Without a Song? and ?Where Are You,? but reworked as if the guitarist Jim Hall had been the leader on the set. A lovely, simmering brew.

Best Historical Releases of the Year:

Charles Mingus, The Jazz Workshop Concerts, 1964-65 (Mosaic Records). Five live concerts, spread out on seven CDs, featuring Mingus? most adventurous but least-recorded ensemble (much of what?s here is previously unreleased), featuring Eric Dolphy, Jaki Byard, and Clifford Jordan. Uneven, but when they?re on, they?re on fire.

Thelonious Monk Quartet, The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection (Sony Legacy). Monk?s work in the ?60s has been underrated (there?s little new material, his regular band had no all-stars), but this box of six discs (just $40 retail) should change that. This is Monk at his most Monkish: essential stuff.

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Ella & Louis Again (Verve/Analogue Productions, 45rpm, 2LPs). One of the most delightful jazz vocal albums ever, done up on pristine vinyl, mastered at 45rpm (thus spread out on two 12? LPs). If you have a very good stereo system, you?ll think Ella and Satch are in the room; or, as a jazz critic friend said after listening, it?s like ?an acid trip.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=3c20a3b80047614ce3e0c4b07ac967ac

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The Brightest Distro Stars of 2012

Well the year is rapidly drawing to a close, so naturally it's time for the requisite stream of "looking back at 2012" and "looking ahead at 2013" story headlines on the news wires. The Linux blogosphere, needless to say, is no exception. Case in point: "Best Distro 2012" was the topic of a TuxRadar poll under way earlier this month, and now the results are in.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/2690e4ac/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C768390Bhtml/story01.htm

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Fiscal Cliff Poll Shows Strong GOP Support For Raising Taxes On Wealthy

(Adds new poll results)
* Boehner warns talks could extend through holidays
* Poll shows strong Republican support for raising taxes on the rich
* White House firm on raising taxes for top 2 percent of earners
By Kim Dixon and David Lawder
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Sharp differences remained on Wednesday between congressional Republicans and the White House in talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" of steep tax hikes and budget cuts, and negotiators warned the showdown could drag on past Christmas.
A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll released late on Wednesday, however, held the potential to shake up the stalemate. Three-quarters of those surveyed, including 61 percent of Republicans, said they would accept raising taxes on the wealthy to avoid the so-called cliff, as Democratic President Barack Obama is demanding.
With Republicans in Congress already divided, that rejection by their own supporters of the core demand of Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner could further weaken his position.
Both sides refused to give any ground in public, one day after what Boehner described as a "frank" conversation with President Barack Obama about the remaining hurdles to a deal.
Boehner said Obama's latest proposal for $1.4 trillion in new tax revenues did not fulfill his promise for a balanced approach to taming the federal deficit and could not pass Congress.
"I remain the most optimistic person in this town, but we've got some serious differences," Boehner told reporters after a meeting with House Republicans where he warned members the negotiations could run through the holidays and up to the end-of-year deadline.
If a deal is not reached, taxes will go up for almost all working Americans at the start of the New Year and steep government spending cuts will kick in.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would not relent on his demand that Republicans drop their opposition to raising new revenue by increasing the tax rates for the wealthiest 2 percent of all Americans.
"There is no way to do this without rates going up on the top earners," Carney said. The Republican stance that sufficient revenue could be gained by closing tax loopholes and limiting deductions was "just not plausible economic policy," he said.
In what has now become a daily battle of sound bites and political stagecraft, a group of Republican congressmen posed in the cold outside the Capitol with a few dozen small children to illustrate their argument that Obama's budget proposals would bury the next generation in unsustainable debt.
"We are going to relegate these kids, our grandkids, to a lower standard of living," Republican Representative Sean Duffy of Wisconsin said. "We are going to leave them with higher tax rates. This is unacceptable."
Obama and Boehner each have proposed cutting deficits by more than $4 trillion in the next 10 years as part of a deal to avert the cliff, but they differ on how to get there. Economists have warned that failure to strike a deal could send the economy back into recession.
On Tuesday, Boehner rejected a White House proposal to shrink the amount of deficit reduction that comes from revenue to $1.4 trillion from $1.6 trillion over 10 years. Boehner has called for $800 billion in revenue through tax reform.

'A PRETTY FRANK CONVERSATION'
Boehner said Obama's plan did not do enough to reduce the federal deficit. "The president and I had a pretty frank conversation about just how far apart we are," he said of their Tuesday phone talk.
Carney ridiculed the Republican argument that sufficient revenue could be raised by closing tax loopholes or capping deductions. "Those magic beans are just beans, and that fairy dust is just dust," he said. "It is not serious."
Boehner has repeatedly offered gloomy assessments of the state of the talks in public, even as signs of progress have sprouted on Capitol Hill. The pace of staff-level talks has quickened in recent days as the two sides exchanged counter-offers that neither side said was sufficiently detailed.
The stubborn differences have dampened hopes of a potential deal before the Christmas holiday. "Keep your Christmas decorations up and make no plans" to leave Washington, was Boehner's advice in the closed-door meeting with Republicans, Representative John Shimkus of Illinois told reporters.
In exchange for more tax revenues, Republicans have demanded deep spending cuts in politically popular social entitlement programs like the government-funded Medicare and Medicaid healthcare plans.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said that House Democrats objected to Republican efforts to raise the age when seniors become eligible for Medicare, which now stands at 65, as a way to cut government spending.
"Raising the retirement age does not get you that much money, so you're doing a bad thing when it comes to seniors, and you're not achieving your goal," she told CBS.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said on Wednesday that Boehner and Republicans needed to make concessions on taxes. "To this point there hasn't been a lot of progress, and I'm very, very disappointed," he said on the Senate floor.
Financial markets have watched the negotiations with interest. JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon said the United States could have a "booming economy" in a couple of months if lawmakers in Washington reach agreement.
A budget deal could mean 4 percent economic growth and a drop in unemployment, Dimon said at a New York Times conference in New York. A deal would need to link any tax increases with spending cuts, he said.
"The table is set very well right now," Dimon said.
The stock market was closely following an announcement by the Federal Reserve of a new stimulus plan but the fiscal cliff was not far from investors' minds.
"This was expected, and the market is waiting for the year-end 'fiscal cliff' issue to be solved, so what we have to do is have confidence our political system can actually make a functional decision," said Troy Logan, managing director and senior economist at Warren Financial Service, in Exton, Pennsylvania. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Richard Cowan, Rachelle Younglai, Mark Felsenthal; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Alistair Bell and Christopher Wilson)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/fiscal-cliff-poll-gop_n_2289056.html

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The Pope Didn't Technically Send That First Tweet Himself

When the Pope tweets, people listen. And watch, apparently. And... applaud? Sure, why not! Here's Benedict XVI, in all his divine glory, sending out his first 140-character missive to the massive. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZXffb93vThE/the-pope-didnt-technically-send-that-first-tweet

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#SciAmBlogs Tuesday - Biosphere 2, Seroquel Suicide, Conifer Evolution, Cave Weta, Wireless EV Charging, Hobbit, and more.

By Bora Zivkovic?| December 11, 2012 |??

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Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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#SciAmBlogs Tuesday ? Biosphere 2, Seroquel Suicide, Conifer Evolution, Cave Weta, Wireless EV Charging, Hobbit, and more.

About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=e0e34f22a4827ea0591b0e0415895818

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Sky refreshes mobile app, lets you remotely download on-demand content to your Sky Box

Sky is ensuring that you'll have some TV to binge on once all of that turkey's been polished off. It's updated the Sky+ app to include on-demand listings, letting you set programs to download to your Sky Box remotely. That way, if you're out and about, you can tee-up a half-day's worth of Game of Thrones to make leaving the house worth your while. That said, if you just want to watch the shows while you're pretending to shoot the breeze with your relatives, there's always Sky Go.

Continue reading Sky refreshes mobile app, lets you remotely download on-demand content to your Sky Box

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD

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Source: Sky+ (App Store)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/OqAtD8nRSq8/

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De La Rosa Named USA Track & Field Athlete of the Week

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDIANAPOLIS - Estevan De La Rosa (Arcadia, Calif.) has been named USA Track & Field?s Athlete of the Week after winning the young men?s division at the USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.

De La Rosa won the 5 km race in a time of 15:42.75 to record the largest margin of victory of the day as he crossed the line 30 seconds before his nearest competitor. This is De La Rosa?s second consecutive Junior Olympic title as he also won the 2011 intermediate boy?s division.

De La Rosa led the O?Brien?s Army team to the overall title in a very tight race with the Equalizers Track Club. Both team?s finished with an identical score of 48 points, but O?Brien?s Army came out on top when the tie was broken with the sixth man.

Now in its 11th year, USATF?s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on www.usatf.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

2012 Winners: January 5, Landon Peacock; January 11, Kirubel Erassa; January 18, Shalane Flanagan; January 26, John Nunn; February 1, Gunnar Nixon; February 8, Jenn Suhr; February 14, Jillian-Camarena Williams; February 22, Brycen Spratling; February 28, Chaunte Lowe; March 7, Eric Broadbent; March 14, Ashton Eaton; March 21, Jeanne Daprano; March 27, Wallace Spearmon; April 3, Trevor Barron; April 9, Kevin Castille; April 18, Brittney Reese; April 25, Amy Sproston; May 2, Leo Manzano; May 9, Stephanie Brown-Trafton; May 16, Allyson Felix; May 23, Nick Hartle; May 30, Kimberlyn Duncan; June 6, Jessica Cosby and Meghan Vogel; June 13, Jesse Williams; June 20, Shelby Ashe; June 27, Ashton Eaton; July 4, Allyson Felix; July 12, Christian Cantwell; July 18, Gunnar Nixon; July 25 Evan Jager; August 1, Denzel Harper; August 15, Allyson Felix; August 23, Reese Hoffa; August 29, Carmelita Jeter; September 5, Matt Tegenkamp; September 12, Aries Merritt; September 19, Ben True; September 26, Willie Banks; October 3, Jan Holmquist; October 10, Dathan Ritzenhein; October 17, Alana Hadley; October 22, Sarah Baxter; October 31, Laura Hollander; November 7, Cody Moat; November 14, Neely Spence; November 21, Christy Cazzola; November 28, Galen Rupp; December 5, Daniel Tapia; December 12, Estevan De La Rosa

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.

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Source: http://theconningtower.blogspot.com/2012/12/de-la-rosa-named-usa-track-field.html

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Life Is Hard For South Korea's Internet Porn Cops - Business Insider

Law enforcement in South Korea is having a hard time battling online pornography.

Even though pornography is illegal in South Korea, it is very prevalenet in the nation.

So the government consistently relies on the help of a group of nearly 800 volunteers called the "Nuri Cops."

This group, which includes students, housewives, IT workers, and housewives, helps the government identify sites that should be blocked due to obscene material.?

"It's like shoveling snow in a blizzard," Nuri Cop Moon Tae-Hwa told?Hyung-Jin Kim of The Huffington Post.

South Korea President Lee Myung-bak said in September that watching porn online can lead to sex crimes. That's why the nation is trying hard to crack down on offenders.

South Korean authorities arresested more than 6,400 people for making, selling, and posting pornography online in a six-month period this year, Kim reports.

Reported sex crimes in South Korea have also increased in the last decade. But researchers say it's probably because victims are more willing to report abuse than they have been in the past.?

More recently, police shut down 37 websites, and put another 134 sites under investigation for porn-related activity.?

But this doesn't happen easily. As Kim writes, the Nuri Cops realize they are fighting an increasingly difficult battle.

Porn enthusiasts have accused Nuri Cops of being enemies of South Korean men. One Nuri Cop, Bae Young Ho, said that he even found about 5,000 messages attacking him online.?

But Young Ho, along with other pornography opponents, plan to keep moving forward. That's because they feel that what they're doing is important for society, given the number of recent sex crimes in the nation.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/life-is-hard-for-south-koreas-internet-porn-cops-2012-12

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X-47B unmanned jet fighter starts light workouts aboard USS Truman (video)

While the USAF has been tacking missiles onto Predator drones for quite some time, so far a true unmanned fighter has yet to grace any carrier decks -- until now. The US Navy has started flogging an X-47B Unmanned Combat Aircraft System (UCAS) aboard the USS Truman, with a video (below the break) showing it taxiing around the flight deck. The current round of tests has focused on "handling and control characteristics," but officials have said the robotic stealth fighters could be launched from the ship's catapult "if all conditions are nominal." The X-47B has already completed some flight tests, and was even launched from a sling on November 29th, but all that happened at naval air bases, not on the open water. With all the unmanned aircraft coming into the military's system, we can imagine a lot of pilots on the Truman were giving it the stink-eye.

Continue reading X-47B unmanned jet fighter starts light workouts aboard USS Truman (video)

Filed under: Robots, Transportation

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Obama's envoy to Sudan, South Sudan stepping down after 2 years on the job (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Goldman lawyer says bank not liable for Dragon founders' losses

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Goldman Sachs Group Inc attorney argued on Tuesday that the bank cannot be liable for the losses of a husband and wife pair who sold their company to a Belgian software firm that collapsed in an accounting fraud, since Goldman had not been hired to seek out a fraud.

The Wall Street giant is facing off in U.S. District Court in Boston against the founders of speech-recognition software company Dragon Systems, who contend they lost their life's work and about $600 million after selling their company to Lernout & Hauspie in an all-stock deal months before L&H collapsed.

"There is no question that Dragon and its stockholders were also defrauded," said John Donovan, an attorney with Boston law firm Ropes & Gray, in his opening remarks defending Goldman in the civil suit. "Goldman's job was not to detect fraud. When you hire a banker, you ask it to do certain things but delving into the books, doing accounting and finding fraud is not one of them."

A day earlier, the attorney for Janet and James Baker, who founded Dragon in 1982 in their suburban Boston home with $30,000, had argued that the couple relied on Goldman's advice in agreeing to sell their firm.

The Bakers owned 51 percent of the company but only were able to sell a few million dollars worth of L&H stock before the company collapsed in an accounting fraud. The Bakers and two other early Dragon employees are seeking several hundred million dollars in damages.

Goldman's reputation has been tarnished in recent years amid allegations that it has treated clients shabbily. Earlier this year one executive leaving the bank published a resignation letter calling the bank a "toxic" place where managing directors referred to their clients as "muppets."

In the months leading up to Dragon's decision to sell to L&H, Dragon management and owners were under intense financial pressure, facing falling sales and a cash crunch, Donovan said.

He said that Goldman had urged Dragon's board to slow the pace of negotiations with L&H and to commission more active accounting reviews of the buyer's results. Instead, Dragon management pushed aggressively ahead, with Janet Baker and a counterpart at their suitor writing out a deal on a piece of paper that changed L&H's offer from cash and stock to all stock, Donovan said.

They pushed ahead with the deal because after a failed 1999 initial public offering, Dragon needed cash to continue, Donovan argued.

"If Goldman had told them to walk away, as they now say Goldman should have, they would have been left with tears in their eyes," he said.

Goldman denied civil claims that include gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The jury trial is expected to last two months.

The Dragon software is now owned by Nuance Communications Inc .

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/goldman-lawyer-says-bank-not-liable-dragon-founders-163839197--sector.html

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Could Climate Change Make Mars Suitable for Human Life?

Q. Could Mars be made suitable for human life by raising plants to produce oxygen?

A. Plants are indeed part of one theoretical plan for turning Mars into a suitable environment for human beings, a process called terraforming. Raising plants is not the initial step, but would come very late in the game, probably after centuries of climate change.

Chris McKay, a Mars expert at the NASA Ames Research Center, theorizes that engineers would first have to encourage the kind of global warming they want to avoid on Earth. This could be done by releasing greenhouse gases, like chlorofluorocarbons or perfluorocarbons, into the atmosphere. The goal would be to increase the surface temperature of Mars by a total of about 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit.

The gases would be produced on the planet by processing chemicals from its atmosphere and soil in giant factories. Each factory would require as much power as would be produced by a large nuclear plant. With the rise in temperature, heat-trapping carbon dioxide would eventually be released from the planet?s south polar ice cap, producing a further average temperature rise of even greater magnitude, perhaps as much as 70 degrees Celsius, or 126 degrees Fahrenheit.

These high temperatures would melt ice to produce the water needed for living things. Only then would trees be planted to absorb carbon dioxide and produce enough oxygen for humans.

C. CLAIBORNE RAY

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/science/space/could-climate-change-make-mars-suitable-for-human-life.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Rotting whale carcass in Malibu towed out to sea

A woman walks her dog past a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

A woman walks her dog past a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

People look at a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Sea birds pick at the carcass of a young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center.( AP Photo/Nick Ut)

People look at a dead young male fin whale that washed up Monday between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The rotting carcass near celebrity homes is causing a gigantic cleanup problem as authorities try to decide who's responsible for getting rid of it. Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea, perhaps at high tide Thursday, said Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) ? The decaying carcass of a whale that washed onto a California beach was towed out to sea Saturday, five days after it washed ashore and created a stench near the Malibu homes of movie stars and millionaires.

A tugboat hired by a homeowners' association towed the carcass of the huge fin whale about 20 miles from shore, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Brian Riley said.

The 40-foot-long, 40,000-pound juvenile male washed ashore Monday near Point Dume, attracting onlookers who wandered down the narrow beach to look at the remains ? white bones, rolls of blubber and the tail flukes trailing along the water's edge. Massive estates line the cliffs high above the beach in Malibu.

Jonsie Ross, marine mammal coordinator for the California Wildlife Center, said evidence suggests the whale was hit by a ship.

No government agency took action to remove the dead whale, and it appeared the job would be left to Mother Nature.

The prospect frustrated James Respondek, who worried that the carcass would draw sharks and pose a threat to his young daughter, who swims in the cove, and to his favorite surfing spot down the beach.

"There seems to be no readiness to take responsibility, to take action, just a lot of excuses.'I don't have a boat, I don't have the money, I don't have the resources,' they all told me," he said Friday.

The Fire Department's lifeguards patrol beaches in Malibu, but the homeowners' association did not take their offered to assist with the towing, Riley said.

Fin whales are endangered, and about 2,300 live along the West Coast. They're the second-largest species of whale after blue whales and can grow up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live to be 90 years old.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-09-Dead%20Whale/id-db2dd0e29ead4267bb7f0bc69a9c0d42

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